Right, just got back from watching the Spurs v Man City game in a pub followed by a visit to Villa Park to watch West Ham get hammered by Kevin Macdonald's claret and blue army. I meant to post my predictions for 9th down in this season's EPL before I left didn't have time.......I've posted them below, and despite Blackpool's cracking start to the season I'm afraid I'm not changing my prediction!
Sunderlamd: Steve Bruce needs a decent season this year. The Board backed him last year and, despite most of the his signings showing well – none more so than Darren Bent – the bottom-half EPL finish would have been much less than Niall Quinn and company had hoped for.
This summer Bruce has enjoyed more backing in the transfer window, which he’s used to freshen the squad up somewhat. He’s shipped a few out, and replaced them with a combination of ‘safe’ signings such as Titus Bramble, and a couple of unknown players including another from what seems to be an excellent South American scouting network, in Marcos Angeleri from Estudiantes. I use the word ‘safe’ to describe Titus Bramble to acknowledge that Bruce knows the player well already having signed him for Wigan previously, and so he knows what he’s getting – including the concentration lapses. As we all know, sarcasm is a low form of wit, and I for one would never use it!
Prediction: 9th
Fulham: Coming off the back of their best ever season and subsequently losing the manager that guided them there would seem to suggest that they only way now is backwards for the Cottagers. But Mark Hughes has other ideas, and he may well prove to be an inspired managerial choice by Mohammed Al Fayed.
Hughes always puts together hard working teams, who’ll battle for everything, and at Fulham he’ll find a squad that already fits in to that mould. I don’t see Hughes needing to make drastic changes, but if he can add players of the calibre of Eider Gudjonsson, Stephen Ireland or Steve Sidwell, all of which he’s been linked with already, he may well be able to improve on last season’s EPL finish, and have a decent domestic Cup run with no European distractions this time around.
Prediction: 10th
Bolton: At the time I wasn’t sure whether Owen Coyle had simply jumped from one drowning ship to another when he switched from Burnley for Bolton. But I suppose that’s why Coyle’s had a successful start to his management career and why I’m a frustrated sports journo! Coyle steered Bolton to mid-table safety with relative ease last year, and his retention of Jussi Jaskelainen, Gary Cahill, Matty Taylor and Kevin Davies means the core is still intact.
The addition of Martin Petrov may be one of the best signings of the year, and I’m expecting Bolton to be challenging for a top ten year this time around. I suspect Bolton fans can look forward to a return to the relative success of the Sam Allerdyce era, with the added bonus of entertaining football thrown in to ice the cake.
Prediction 11th
Stoke: Tony Pulis is up there with the best performing managers in the EPL during the past couple of years, and once again Stoke are looking as they seek to establish themselves similarly to the likes of Bolton and Wigan before them have. They’ve not pulled off the bonanza signing that Pulis seems to be seeking, but with £10m-£15m apparently available I’m expecting the Potters to get a big name – most likely a striker – in before the end of the month.
With Thomas Sorenson, Robert Huth and Ryan Shawcross providing a strong defensive core, you suspect that if Stock can snare a 15-goal front man to compliment the excellent Matty Etherington and Tuncay then a top half finish wouldn’t be beyond them.
Prediction: 12th
Newcastle: If you manage a bar close to any other EPL club make sure you mark the date that Newcastle are in town and order an additional truck-load of Brown Ale! The Geordie Army are back in the big time, and the fans will not be expecting another season of pain like that which they experienced a couple of years ago. To be fair, the Barcodes squad last year was as good as a number of EPL clubs, and as such I fall in to the camp that would argue that any manager worth his salt could’ve steered the Magpies back where they belong. I hope I’m wrong about Chris Houghton, but unfortunately for him I wouldn’t be surprised to hear rumours about the Newcastle Board contacting Martin O’Neill if there is any kind of early season wobble at St James’.
The players acquired by Houghton this pre-season should add greater depth to their already impressive squad, and James Perch particularly should be looking to prove himself in a team which I expect to finish in the comfort of mid-table, even if their fanatic supporters may be hoping for something slightly better.
Prediction: 13th
Blackburn Rovers: Big Sam, for all his scientific training techniques and denials of his teams’ ‘they don’t like it up ‘em’ approach, has managed to successfully create a team of battlers in the style of Bolton Wanderers of the early Naughties. Coincidence? I think not.
To be fair to Allardyce, the system works. He’d have done the same at Newcastle if the fans had let him, and I bet they’d have not gone down. Apparently the fans at Ewood are not so concerned with ‘we’ll score more than them’ style football, and so Allardyce’s brand is welcomed. With Ryan Nelson and Chris Samba promising to be as uncompromising as ever at the back again, and England’s desired number 3 behind them, it’s unlikely that Rovers will ship enough goals to be seriously threatened by the drop, but I don’t see them setting the world alight this year either.
Prediction: 14th
Birmingham: Alex McLeish’s Blues’ enjoyed an excellent season last year, helped in no small part by the rejuvenated Lee Bowyer. A number of other players also reproduced form which most pundits thought had become a distant memory, and for almost a third of the season McLeish was able to field the same starting XI in consecutive games.
As you might expect then, despite the promise last year of significant funds being available, McLeish has decided against trying to fix something that clearly isn’t broken. Ben Foster has been shrewdly acquired to replace Joe Hart, and lanky Nikola Zigic has been brought in to add an additional dimension upfront. All in all I’m expecting a reasonable season for the Blues, perhaps not quite as good as last year, but respectable enough all the same.
Prediction: 15th
West Ham: Everybody other than Scott Parker is available, according to the Hammers’ new charismatic Chairmen. The very same Chairmen who chose to make public an offer from Spurs for their prized asset, before accusing David Levy of unsettling him. Now I’m not one for reading between the lines when there’s no story to be told, but I don’t think I’d be out of order suggesting Messrs Gold and Sullivan have been desperately trying to maximise Parker’s value, and I can only imagine 15million reasons why they’d do that!
To be fair, for all of their questionable PR stunts, the Hammers’ new owners have installed a very reliable manager at the helm in Avram Grant. A couple of struggling frontmen have left the club, and Grant has strengthened the squad with five very decent footballers in Tal Ben Haim, Tomas Hitzlspurger, Frederic Piquionne, and World Cup impressers Winston Reid and Pable Barrera. I’m not expecting the Hammers to be challenging for European spots just yet, but a comfortable season should be in store – something Grant no doubt yearns for just as much as the Irons faithful.
Prediction: 16th
Wigan Athletic: Judging by Roberto Martinez’s happiness at securing his services we can only assume that Mauro Boselli will prove to be yet another successful South American import whose first port of call in the EPL is Wigan. Boselli is the leading name in a gaggle of new faces at the DW Stadium this summer, replacing a full team’s worth of men going through the exit door.
Matinez has taken the team he inherited, dispensed with the dead wood, and is in the process of replacing them with a mixture of British youth – most recently James MaCurther – and South American flair. I expect Martinez will have learnt much from the drubbings his team endured at White Hart Lane and Stamford Bridge last season, and this season we’ll see occasional compromises on the attractive football Martinez believes in, less thrashings, and another mid-table finish, but this time with a more balanced goal difference.
Prediction: 17th
West Brom: They’ve boinged back up at the first time of asking, and it will be interesting to see Roberto DiMatteo managing the top-flight. All reports suggest they played some attractive football gaining promotion last year, and no doubt all footy fans in Birmingham and the Black Country will be chuffed at the anticipation of an additional local derby this year.
Acquisitions of Bo Myhill, Stephen Reid and Nicky Shorey will increase competition for places, and all three have proven Premier League quality. The addition of Pablo Ibanez may prove to be very shrewd too, with the ex-Spain centre half likely to plug a few of the holes which have previously been a major reason why West Brom have never really cemented a place at the top table of English football. Unfortunately though, I’m not sure whether DiMatteo has acquired enough fire-power to ensure West Brom don’t bounce back down again, and I’m expecting yet another glorious failure this year I’m afraid.
Prediction: 18th
Wolves: During a summer of relatively low spending, Mick McCarthey has bucked the trend. Wolves have splashed over £16million on new signings including three Stev/phens - Fletcher, Hunt and Mouyokolo – as well as a number of relative unknowns from France and Belgium. Last season Wolves survived much more easily than many had expected, and although he’s kept that team together and added to it, I’m concerned that MaCarthy’s got his work cut out this year. I expect we’ll once again see Wolves fielding their League Cup team against the big boys this year, but unfortunately for Mick I’m expecting we’ll see less of his brand of dry humour this time, as second-season-syndrome may see Wolves joining the likes of Hull City, Reading and Watford in suffering relegation a year after a successful first year in the EPL.
Prediction: 19th
Blackpool: I love Ian Holloway – the man is Blackpool illuminations personified - but I really don’t believe even he can pull this one off. On paper Blackpool should never even have been close to the play-offs last year, but somehow Holloway pulled a miracle out of his bag of analogies. This year though, with Brett Omerod and Jason Euell toiling up front, and notwithstanding the excellent Gary Taylor-Fletcher, I can only see the Tangerines challenging Derby’s record of the lowest points in a top-flight season. It’ll be fun whilst it lasts, but I’d strongly advise that fans of other top-flight clubs make sure they don’t miss out on this rare opportunity of an away trip to Blackpool.
Prediction: 20th
Let me know what you reckon, have I called it right?
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