I couldn't find another thread that lets us purely about the football league as I know alot of members, myself included are interested in more than just the Premier League. So here it is! First day of the football league today! Who are you looking forward to watching? Who do you think will do well? Who do you think will flop? Whose made the best signings? Aaaand.... go!
Burnley vs Bolton was a decent game. Trippier picked up MOTM and looked pretty good in fairness to him, can really pick a pass. Looking forward to seeing how Newport do this year after 25 years out of the football league they are back in league two! Amazing aswell that I've just heard Harry say it is unfair that they are labelled favourites Not sure how he worked that out considering the amount he has spent / the squad he has! Watford also flouting the rules again this year. A rule was introduced to stop them signing all of Udinese's / Granada's reserve players on loan.... so they just transferred them permanently for (virtually) free instead. Something HAS to be done about Watford and I will be cheering on every team they are playing against.
I've been to see Newport a couple of times, so I'll be rooting for them throughout the season. they've been the first team in a while that hasn't been properly bankrolled out of the Conference (ala Crawley and Fleetwood), so it'll be quite intresting to see how they get on, and hopefully they'll do well. I do like to keep an eye on Pompey and Plymouth as well, just to see how things are moving with them after their respective financial woes. And the Championship in general is probably one of my favourite leagues, including the Premier League, because the old clique of 'Anybody can beat anyone' genuinely applies. Form and history play a near insignificant role in that division.
Keeping an eye out for Swindon so I can check on the progress of Hall, Pritch, Mass and Mason. Harry Maguire is someone I've started taking note of too, actually scored Sheff Utd's winner yesterday vs Notts County. 20 year old CB who's clocked up nearly 100 appearances for the Blades already, with Walker, Jagielka and Naughton to go by, Utd have a decent track record of making good/ decent defenders. With no Caulker, someone like Maguire would be a good replacement to come in and learn from Daws, Jan and Younes in the hope that he can take their places in the future, or even a buy now but loan back option would be good, depending on how our CB situation goes.
Quality manager at his level, relatively humble too, which is nice to see. Can see him reach the Championship at least as a boss, whether its with Newport will be left to see.
Also, would recommend you all to keep an eye open for Will Hughes of Derby. It wouldn't surprise me if we became interested in him soon, although he's a CM and we've got enough to last a life time, this kid seems really special. Plays one-twos really quickly and has great technique with the ball. He's the sort of young English talent we sniff around though I wouldn't blame Derby if they either A) Refuse to sell or B) Ask for a figure of £10m-£15m+ with add ons, really looks a specail talent. They have another lad called Mason Bennett too, think he's a striker/ wing forward. Not seen as much of him as I have with Hughes but he seems highly thought of.
Oh really? Must have missed that. Would love to see us strike a deal for him, but let him stay with Derby for one or two more seasons. At 18 he's already their star man, super talent.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tottenham-transfer-news-spurs-ready-1504330 Lots of clubs have an eye on him already, so this could be a really big season for him.
Cheers PNP £10m figure just as I thought. Doesn't surprise me about the interest in him. Has more potential than any other young English CM in my opinion. Maybe jumping the gun, but I reckon he could be a player who could reach Lampard's or Gerrard's sort of level, that's how highly I rate him.
Maybe we should start picking the England team from the Championship. With the financial restraints starting to hit most clubs they are having to really invest and put their faith in youth. If these youngsters get given their chance and take it, it can only be a good thing.
...and then they get signed by a Premier League club for an inflated fee, and get dropped after six games.
They lost, but Peterborough away is as tough as it gets in this league. Oldham won - but they did sign Rooney. QPR got a lucky win v Sheff Wed. And Portsmouth already look like Conference material next season.
Barnsley & Millwall look dead in the water. Pompey will bounce back. League 1 should be fascinating. Sheff Utd, Preston, Wolves, Brentford etc all in the mix. Some huge clubs down there
