The Championship- You Decide.

[bigmac]

This may be a long boring thread to some, but my beloved Wolves are there so this is what league interests me most. I will try and detail each team and see who should improve on last season and try to find the teams I think will struggle.

Barnsley-Struggled last term and cant really see any improvement. Nardiello was there best player last season and is no longer there.
Last season 20th 50pts. My Prediction

Blackpool-Promoted team, Could be anything. Managed to hold on to Wes Hoolahan ( best player ) played some good football last season. Might be a shout for a top half finish.

Bristol City- Promoted team, Chairman has money, good following, signed Lee Trundle and Michael Mcindoe , can only see improvement.

Burnley- Got rid of some dead wood and signed Kiraly and Robbie Blake. Should improve on last seasons 15th place and 57pts.

Cardiff- Last years run away leaders found life tough after xmas and fell away badly. They've got rid of so many players including Chopra, but signed some interesting ones, Steven Mclean,Michael Oakes,Trevor Sinclair and most notably Robbie Fowler. Can see them there or thereabouts but will just fall short I'm affraid. Last season 13th, 64pts

Charlton- Many pundits favourites. Relegated teams do find life tough back in this league and cant really see Charlton going straight back up. They've signed some decent sorts in Todorov,Varney,Iwelumo but lost so many others, Hasslebaink,Bent,Hreidasson,Carson,Kishishev,El-Karkouri and Rommehdal to name a few, 6/1 favs your having a laugh

Colchester- 10th last season and over-achieved to be honest. Signed Sheringham but cant see them improving.
Last season 10th, 69pts. Mid table for me.

Coventry- Signed some decent players in, Borrowdale,Konstantopoulos,Best and Hughes and I feel these could spring a suprise. Should deffo improve on last years 17th and 56pts haul.

Crystal Palace- Finished 12th last term and have'nt really signed anyone of note so cant really see them improving. There best player for me was Jobi McAnuff and he's no longer there.
Last season 12th, 65pts.

Hull- Sorry hull fans, nothing to write about here, signed Windass and thats it im affraid. Will struggle.
Last season 21st, 49pts.

Ipswich- No money to strengthen, no signings of any influence, sorry Ipswich fans, will struggle.
Last season 14th, 62pts.

Leicester- Mandarich got the ball rolling and also got cramp in his wrist from writing all them cheques over the summer. Good manager in Martin Allen,and 13 new players at the last count, some good ones too, Leicester will be a force this season without a doubt. Top 6
Last season 19th, 53pts.

Norwich- Sold a few signed a few, cant really get excited about them to be honest,managed to hang onto Huckerby who always gets goals so can see them another mid-table team.
Last season 16th, 57 pts.

Plymouth- Cant see them improving on last seasons 11th place. Nothing in the way of signings, so another team with nothing to really play for, mid-table at best.
Last season 11th, 67 pts.

Preston - These always seem to fail season upon season and with selling there prize assett in Nugent cant really see them improving on last terms 7th place. Signed Nicholls from leeds but thats about it really. Will finish top half but cant see them reaching top 6 again.
Last season 7th, 74pts.

QPR- Started last season like relegation certs but picked up in the 2nd half of the season. Top manager in Gregory, and signed some decent sorts too in the fold of Nardiello and Chris barker. Will deffo improve on last season and suprise a few teams on the way.
Last season 18th, 53pts.

Scunthorpe- Promoted as champions from league one, but have not really strenghthend the squad. One major casualty is the loss of Billy sharp to Sheff utd. Sorry scunny fans, your gonna be the whipping boys I'm affraid.

Sheff Utd- Relegated from Prem but have signed 4 quality players in Sharp, Naismith, Hendrie and James Beattie today, ok SUFC . Can see them up there all season and should be there with all the money robbo's got to strengthen. If in Jan things aint right, the cheque book will come out.

Sheff Wed- Last away game I went to last season and I was suprised by how well they played. Now got Watson on a permanent contract and also signed Grant, can see them up there but will just fall short,maybe 7th or 8th place.
Last season 9th, 71pts.

Southampton- Will be up there for sure, but the loss of Bale,Belmadi,Prutton and Best aint really helped there cause. Saganowski and Rasiak can score for fun so this should keep them alive for another tilt at promotion.
Last season 6th, 75 pts.

Stoke- Only one notable signing in Jon Parkin and another team who have got rid of so many players without bringing any in. Cant understand why clubs do this, surely strength in depth is what you need. Cant see them getting near to the play offs this term and might even struggle to maintain there 8th place last term.
Last season 8th, 73pts.

Watford- Had a tough season in the prem and will feel more comfortable back in the championship for sure. A good hardworking side who have made a few decent signings in McAnuff and Rinaldi also hope to have Marlon King back fit and ready for the new campaign. Top bloke at the helm in Boothroyd, can only see them fighting for promotion.

West Brom- WHO ARE YA, WHO ARE YA, Now then, got the banter out the way. On a serious note, it kills me to say it, but what a team last season, how did they miss out on promotion with them players at there dissposal. Mowbray has bought in the foreign legion,Tiniho, Teixerria, Martis etc, cant really comment cos i've never heard of them. But how can a team afford to lose the likes of Kammara,Koumas,McShane sure to follow Davies and Robinson. These were all class players who I feel will be hugely missed by the baggies faithfull. Still have them for a top 6 finish though and cant wait for the battle to begin.
Last season 4th, 76 pts.

Wolves- Last but not least Super Micks Babi's. Came in with 2 weeks to spare before the start of last season and did a kind of miracle really. Got them punching above there weight and when he signed Keogh and Kightly in jan we never looked back. Kightly 25 Grand got to be the buy of the season, and Keogh who just never stops running amaze me. We have got rid of the deadwood and signed a quality LM in Jarvis, Gillinghams player of the season, Darren Ward, Michael Gray, Stephen Elliott and Freddy Eastwood. Eastwood got 15 goals in a struggling southend team last year and will surely benefit from the service of the special K's. All in all Wolves have strengthend well and can only improve on last season. Also with the new ownership of Steve Morgan and 30 mill to invest, things are looking up at the golden palace.
Last season 5th, 76 pts

So after some pointers I have narrowed down the field to the top 6.

In no particular order,

Leicester, Sheff Utd,Southampton,Watford,West Brom and Wolves.

Purely on improvement alone I will now go for Leicester, Sheff Utd and Wolves. Just cant split these three.

My heart tells me it's gonna be a good season Maybe even a Golden one.

Best of luck in what you bet guy's but my hard earned is on the Wolves at 8/1.
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[bigmac]

Cheers mate, Beattie too aye , quality signing there mate.

Gonna be a good season, going for some beers now then down the molineux for our last friendly against Reading.
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Be Lucky

[thewish]

Top write up Big Mac, got to say for once I am quite positive about my teams chances this year, especially with the positive attitude Martin Allen seems to have brought in, oh and Mr Mandric's sore wrist, so for once I have backed them with my hard earned @ 16/1 EWAY. I've also gone for your boys in My top three plus Charlton over Sheff U. I think Blackpool could do a colchester and spring a few surprises aswell and could be value in the handicap market.

Good Luck
Wish
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[Tax Free]

Very good write up

Im hoping Bristol City are promoted but im not too confident. Its about time the West Country had a Premiership club.
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[brewster39]

I'd definatly join you on saying that Wolves are worth a shout. Freddy Eastwood signing at 1.5 million, I think that's one decent buy there. I reckon he might do a bit of a 'Zamora'
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[man o bong]

[Tax Free]

Portsmouth isnt in the West Country
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[brewster39]

He's right y'know we're not West country. We're southeners! PUP!
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[man o bong]

I know but the Southwest supporters club is.

That's what i was reffering to, and a very good club it is, so i have found since moving from Pompey up to Swindon


Always at heart though

SOUTHERNERS SOUTHERNERS SOUTHERNERS LA LA LA
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[brewster39]

ONE TEAM IN HAMPSHIRE....THERE'S ONLY ONE TEAM IN HAMPSHIRE
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[Ipoh Shark]

i am convinced that there is some kind of correlation between the average attendances of teams and their chances of promotion/survival. If anyone can remember, this was used (by myself) to predict the promotion of Championship teams last season (the thread shld still be somewhere in this forum).

Looking at the average attendance figures for the Cship last season, the bottom 3 were:
Southend 10,024
Luton 8,580
Colchester 5,466

Of these 3, only Colchester survived last season. However, in my books, they should be one of the favourites to go down (this seems to be supported by the bookies who have made them 3rd favs to drop, see below).

The cutoff point for relegation last season appeared to be teams with average attendances <13,000.
The bookies relegation candidates are:
1. Scunthorpe (avg attd: 5,668)
2. Barnsley (avg attd: 12,733)
3. Colchester (avg: 5,466)
4. QPR (avg: 12,936)
5. Blackpool (avg: 6,984)
6. Hull (avg: 18,757) (This seems to be the exception but I am not sure about other factors, e.g. poor management like Leeds last season)
7. Plymouth (avg: 12,577)
8. Bristol City (avg: 12,818)
9. Burnley (avg: 11,956)

It cannot be a mere coincidence that all these teams (other than those promoted from League 1) were at the bottom half, i.e. 18th to 24th positions in the average attendance table last season.

The conclusion is, “If u want ur Championship team to have any chance of being promoted to the EPL, make sure u fill up your stadium regularly now in the Championship, if not, ur team can forget about getting promotion to the EPL plus they will be struggling against relegation.”
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[KanKeano]

Here it is Ipoh:

http://www.online-betting-guide.co.uk/forum/topic3_12802.html
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