Clearly the shrewdies at Paddy Power, City Index & Bet365 etc are not quite as enamoured with our new signings as some of our fans are. In fact, a glance at the markets this morning shows than every bookie Ba -none does not think much of our summer strengthening, and has us finishing in the Bottom 3....along with Rotherham and Huddersfield. It's quite an achievement to be rated a poorer survival hope than MK Dons and Preston before a ball has even been kicked. I wonder who has called it wrong - the super-bright odds compilers who rely on their wits to make a living, or the Bovril slurping home knit scarf brigade who think Bauer is the new Beckenbauer
i cant see us going up or down to be honest. i can safely say we wont have another 3 month winless period. the one good thing about the douch ownership is that when we start to slump, they do change things up drastically.
I wonder what the odds are on Luzon being the first Championship manager sacked? My money would not be on him however, I think that honour will go to the guy at QPR or Steve Bruce at U'll....Ohhh?... what about Leeds...I'd forgotten about Leeds!
I occasionally look at the Udders message boards, and there is certainly no widespread adulation for Sir Chris up there. If we get off to a bad start - quite possible looking at our fixtures - we all know the Crouching Tiger will be gone, replaced by an unknown entity like Jose Riga or Robert Peeters. My money on first Championship managerial casualty is little Chris Ramsay at QPR. A token appointment if ever there was one.
You mean a cheap appointment. Onest Arry left a note saying "There's no money left". It was a photocopy of the one he wrote at Portsmouth.
Ramsey seems to be one of footballs "good guys", though that's not how a manager should be measured. He's got a very difficult job on his hands, and I don't see the board supporting him like they did 'arry. As for us, if we don't get that defence sorted then relegation is a possibility. However, one solid signing in that position would see us finish mid table again. Oh, and a goalkeeper as we saw what happened when hendo was injured last season
I wonder what the plans are for Pope now that Ben Roberts has gone? I'm surprised Bury haven't "snapped him up" yet. However he's still here at the moment and is a perfectly good no. 2. As I've droned on before, Gudmundsson should be our creative mid, then we need a RM.
Too son to say yet. We were a relegation bet according to some the year we won League 1 with record points, so I don't see this as anything other than hot air. If the bookies are so clever, why are they bookies?
As someone who studies these matters daily, I can assure you that we were never rated by the bookies as likely candidates for relegation from League One. Quite the opposite. We ended up pissing a very poor league with the Jenkinson money.
Surely the truth is that none of us knows how we're going to do this season. The signings are more-or-less completely unknown to the fans. Maybe Bauer will be our Beckenbauer, maybe Ba will be our Kinsella and maybe Makienok will be our Mendonca. Equally, they could all turn out to be rubbish. Bookies definitely have more of an idea of how good these players are, so perhaps their predictions for us our indicative that our signings so far aren't much cop. But bookies are frequently wrong, and there's a month to go before the season starts yet for more signings to come in. We showed last season that on our day we can beat anyone. We also showed that we could very easily be pushed over, and that a bad run of form could extend into a three month slump. Strengths in the squad are Watt, JBG (if he stays), Henderson, Solly and potentially Vetokele if he can rediscover his early form. Weaknesses are at centre-back (losing both Gomez and Ben Haim is a big blow) and left back if Wiggins' injury problems surface again. I don't mean to sound too harsh on Fox, but at the moment I think he's only capable of being a back-up left back. Essentially I don't see massive cause for optimism or much reason for pessimism. I just want the season to start. I'll miss the opening game as I'm going off on holiday that day to the Peak District, but handily that locates me perfectly for the game at Derby which I'll definitely go to. It is a tough start, but then again, we managed to beat them that time last season...
10/1 it was. Without looking, I think we're currently 20/1 to get promoted, 66/1 to win it. The odds on the championship and league one have shortened massively in recent years following Blackpool and burnley. Even palace. As a betting man, I'd say we would be worth putting in a double to get promoted.
A bit like Bournemouth to win it last year @66/1 and Wigan to win it @11/4. So much for Victor, William, Coral, Fred, Paddy and their mates!!
Absolutely correct CAFC. Way too many variables. We could sign class players on who don't fit in with the team. We could (and have) signed average players who fit in and form a good team - don't forget it's a team game, one man can't win the league on his own. Then you have to factor in just how the other 22 teams are going to perform. If they all have problems then we'll win the league with a very (below) average squad. Unlikely but possible. Truth is, no one will really know until March, April or even 7 May.
Wigan were not 11/4 to win the title last season, they were between 10/1 and 14/1. I know, because I backed them in trebles with Chelsea and Bristol City
Agree with Nick, Wigan weren't the favourites and were around 10's. Bookies can be used as a good yard stick with certain things, but they should never be deemed as gospel. I still think we have some work to do this summer, particularly in defence, but as it stands having us as second favourites to go down is off.
Go on Betfair and lay on Charlton not to go down. You could be liable to lose money if you do, but otherwise, safe bet if it's mid-table mediocrity. The ExchangeMarkets I take more than the bookies, as these are a bit more indicative of who people sign, etc. We're still second favourites to go down, but I reckon it's because of the fact that we've been in the fighting relegation for two seasons now. Personally I reckon that the three that will go down, is Rotherham, Leeds, Cardiff. Rotherham: Really the weakest out of the bunch Cardiff: Not strong enough; lost good players; poor manager Leeds: Too many managers chopping and changing; after sacking assistant went on a massive winless run
