http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/next-season-relegation what do you know, we're right down there. Only the championship promoted sides are below us, and i reckon with a few signings one of them at least will rise above us. Never mind that we finished 11th. Or that we showed that we have the quality to beat 5 of the top 6 this year. Or that we are showing ambition in the transfer market, having already addressed our biggest flaw this year. We seem to be a lazy mans vote for relegation every time. Lots of people thinking we're still little ol' Norwich. It'll make it all the more fun when we take on the big boys and beat the odds again next year!
I have given odds all season on the Relegation Watch thread.But I always add the proviso that these really represent perceptions of what a likely outcome is rather than the actual chances.I am a little surprised,but not much.I would thinkthe three promoted sides not being big names will figure prominently.This season I have been confident in our survival from about late October.I think our odds dropped to 7/2 at one point after the Villa defeat.
Don't really care what the bookies think. I think we have the basis of quite a useful team providing they are allowed the freedom to express themselves and this is going to be crucial in determining our success or failure next season. I do hope CH has learned something from the last two games and while we can argue that neither WBA or Man City put up a "real" test on the days we beat them, neither team is rubbish and the work-rate, passing, tackling etc still needed to be done right to get the results. If the team is given more freedom than we have seen between January and April this season then I think we should not be looking over the shoulder come mid April next season. Where the real encouragement comes for me is the home record we have enjoyed (mostly), now all we have to do is stop Liverpool scoring 5 when they next visit and we can say progress is being made
The thing is that the difference between finishing 11th and say 18th was not that great and a point here or there made a massive impact. Effectively, the league for us is 8th - 20th and this year we came 4th at the end. That is a hell of an achievement and one I fully expect us to equal next year. The promoted sides will have a really difficult task (moreso than ever before I reckon) and others have overperformed this year like West Brom. With more shrewd quality signings we are looking good.
