In three days time, English footballs second tier gets underway and once again the league is as competitive as always.
The relegation of West Ham and Birmingham back to the second tier of English football has definitely added to the competition this time around, and the losses of ‘big’ teams such as Sheffield United & Preston has been softened with the promotions of Southampton and the ultra-ambitious Brighton & Hove Albion with both hoping to ‘do a Norwich’ this season and reach the riches of the Premier League.
With teams such as Birmingham and West Ham being relegated to the Championship, we will see this season an influx of experienced Premier League and Championship players. Players such as Carlton Cole, Lee Bowyer, Kevin Nolan and Paul Konchesky among others bring a wealth of Premier League experience into the League. Alongside these, a number of players that excelled at this level last season, Matt Mills, Max Gradel & Shane Long amongst others, have also been retained by clubs within the Championship with all looking at firing their respective clubs to promotion or putting themselves in the shop window for a potential Premier League move. It will also be interesting to see how both Craig Davies and Craig Mackail-Smith take the step up with both of them being prolific for Chesterfield and Peterborough respectively before moving on to Barnsley and Brighton this summer.
We will also see two ex-England managers coming up against each other this season with both Steve McClaren and Sven-Göran Eriksson out to try and rescue their withering reputation with English football fans. McClaren and Sven will collectively be under great pressure to deliver this season but their job will be made even harder by another manager who was once widely-tipped as a future England boss, Sam Allardyce. The 54 year old is back in management only 6 months after his shock sacking from Blackburn after the Venky’s Group takeover and will be looking to lead his West Ham team back to the Premiership at the first attempt.
Now to the exciting part and my views and predictions for the upcoming Championship season! Having spent over £10m already and still being linked with numerous other players on a daily basis, it is difficult not to see Sven’s Leicester City as being the team that will be preparing to play in the Premiership this time next year. Despite this spending it is hard to rule out West Ham who have made two fantastic acquisitions in Kevin Nolan and Matty Taylor as well as other teams I expect to be in the reckoning, Ipswich Town and Reading (As long as they keep hold of Shane Long). My surprise package for this season is Brighton & Hove Albion. I saw them twice last season against Peterborough and they were the best team I have seen at League One level since being a Posh fan. They made us look like schoolboys and we were chasing shadows all over the pitch. The long awaited move to the 22,000 capacity AMEX stadium was completed this summer leading to 18,000 season tickets being sold and this along with a number of high profile signings including Craig Mackail-Smith, Will Buckley and Kazenga Lua-Lua and the fact that they will still be on a high from last seasons achievements, it looks as though it could be a great season for Gus Poyet’s men and their supporters.
Alongside the five aforementioned clubs I expect to see another group of 3 or 4 vying for the final playoff positions. I expect to see Nottingham Forest, Burnley, Leeds and perennial play-off failures Cardiff in the upper reaches of the table come May.
In terms of relegation contenders, I believe there is a small group of 5 or 6 teams that will be battling for their place in the league. These teams are Watford, Crystal Palace, Peterborough, Doncaster, Barnsley and Coventry. Being a Peterborough fan myself, the loss of Aaron McLean and Mackail-Smith in the last 6 months without really replacing either sufficiently could prove to be our downfall and if we are to lose George Boyd before deadline day, the season could well be wrote off before it even starts. Both Watford and Coventry have lost key players from last season, Watford losing the league’s top scorer last season, Danny Graham and replacing him with Scottish veteran Chris Iwelumo, as well as losing their manager Malky Mackay to Cardiff and replacing him with the inexperienced, yet Watford legend, Sean Dyche. Coventry have seen their key trio of Kieren Westwood, Marlon King & Aron Gunnarsson depart this summer for a combined fee of £0, something the club in a difficult financial state really couldn’t afford to happen. Palace, Donny and Barnsley are always disregarded year after year and this year is no different with all three set for uninspiring seasons.
This leaves a set of around 10 teams to battle it out for the remaining positions in the league. Clubs such as Southampton and Middlesbrough will believe they have a chance of potentially pushing for a playoff spot come May whereas other teams such as Bristol City, Derby and Millwall look set for another year of mid-table security.
As always, I am sure some fans will disagree with some of the views I have presented in my blog, and I hope I haven’t offended any fans with my views.
Roll on Saturday and good luck to all 72 teams in this seasons nPower Football League!
@Jake__Baxter
No comments:
Post a Comment