Next Years.................The Championship

[CDMullins 436]

Early days, with lots of players to come and go but who do you fancy?

And how will the 3 relegated teams do?

West Ham and Birmingham with always attracted bigger names players and perosnally I dont think we''ll see Blackpool back in the Premier League for a long time.

Forest, Cardiff, Leeds, The loser of Swansea/Reading should be there or there abouts, throw in Burnley, Leicester, Hull and Southampton and it could be a really cracking season.

My Top 6.

1. West Ham,  2. Forest, 3. Birmingham, 4. Leicester, 5. Cardiff, 6 Play-Off final loser. 

 

Must admit, I do love Championship Football

[JDeNL 0]

I would say,1.Birmingham2.Leicester3.Burnley4.Leeds5.West Ham6.CardiffHate to say it (since my boss supports them) but I think Forest will lose a lot of their ''stars'' this summer & struggle to get promoted next season. Perhaps 6th place for them at a push. I think that even then it depends on how much money the likes of Cardiff, Leicester & Leeds etc are likely to spend with a couple of their bigger names leaving in the summer.

[Skittles16 0]

I hope West Ham, Southampton and Watford go up, purely because of family who support them (Sadly i think Watford are going to be in for another mediocre/poor season with the vultures coming in to take their star players away).

I would like Forrest to go up - big club but more importantly not Leeds

Swansea will be strong if Reading win at Wembley, but...

1) Birmingham

2) Middlesborough

3) West Ham

[City man 0]

I agree i think Birmingham, west ham and middlesborough... What I do know is I''m glad we are not there as it looks very tough on paper next year...

[crabbycanary 2]

One of my reps is a West Ham season ticket holder of many years, and he is predicting doom and gloom. They won''t have any players of any note, and he will be more than happy to see a competitive team take the pitch next season.

Behind the scenes, he reckons they need a BIG shake up, oh and he would love to see Chris Hughton in charge, because he is a sound football man with no ''fancy bits'' attached!

[pete_norw 0]

[quote user="crabbycanary"]One of my reps is a West Ham season ticket holder of many years, and he is predicting doom and gloom. They won''t have any players of any note, and he will be more than happy to see a competitive team take the pitch next season. Behind the scenes, he reckons they need a BIG shake up, oh and he would love to see Chris Hughton in charge, because he is a sound football man with no ''fancy bits'' attached![/quote]

Very much the same at Birmingham, I would be very surprise''d if they manage to escape lg 1. 

[T 190]

Birmingham need to find another 17m of finance to operate within their bank facilities and relegation could be "catastrophic" according to the Guardian. Looks like they could be the next club with West Ham to implode by entering into player contracts they can not afford if they get relegated. Fortunately, I believe the NCFC board will ignore the calls not to be prudent and operate sensibly within their financial means like WBA and Wolves.

[mrs miggins 0]

so glad we''re not there next season;

birmingham have good players

west ham have the olympic stadium to entice players

blackpool will be up there

scum will be better (just a little)

boro will be better as will leicester

plus all the teams that were in the play-offs

1 Birmingham

2 Leicester

3?

[paul moy 235]

1.Birmingham

2. Burnley

3. Southampton

4. Leicester

5. Blackpool

6. West Ham

 

 

[Mahogany 0]

In a way I think the Championship at least in terms of the teams coming up/down is fairly similar.

From the Premier you have 2 teams in deep financial trouble: This year Brum & West Ham, Last year Pompy & Hull. And you have 1 team that didn''t really strengthen much on promotion and weren''t a great team when they went up (Blackpool/Burnley)

From the league below you have a team that won the league easily playing attractive football with an exciting young manager (Brighton/Us); a big team which has been down longer than they expected (Southampton/Leed).

I reckon the teams moving divisions will do similarly to this year, the broke Prem teams will struggle, Blackpool will look ok, but finish 9th-10th. Brighton will be the surprise package make sneak into the playoffs. Oh and Leicester will pull a QPR.

I reckon it''ll be something like:

1.Leicester

2.Forest

3. Reading/Swansea

4.Burnley

5. Leeds

6. Brighton

[birchfest 397]

I think next years Championship looks very strong and im glad to be out of there!Birmingham and West Ham will put up more of a fight then pompey, burnley and hull did coming down.Southampton and Brighton are also probably nailed on to push the play offs,

and all the while I would fancy Cardiff, Forrest, Leeds, Burnley, Leiescter, readind/swansea, blackpool, millwall to all have a shot of making a promotion run.

[AJ 1,218]

A lot of you might not have seen, but a LOT of Birmingham players are out of contract in the summer, I think they might struggle next year

[Chunky Norwich 0]

West Ham will do nothing next season; they''re going to lose the vast majority of their squad and have crippling debts. They''ll mostly be playing kids I think. They''ll do all right but won''t push heavily for promotion. Cardiff will drop away as well; Jones will leave and Bellamy and Bothroyd definitely won''t be there. Prem clubs will also come in and pick out players from Cardiff and Forest and the beaten play-off finalists.

I''d say:

1.Birmingham

2.Middlesbrough

3.Leicester

4. Brighton

5. Reading

6. Leeds

There''s still loads of business to be done, but I do like the thread

[blahblahblah 2]

Way too early to comment on this really.  But the best performers tend to be the ones who hold onto the spine of their team, who build gradually (like Swansea have over 3 good years at the top).  Boro have had their hangover year, and started to come good at the end of last season, having struggled to score goals / win matches early on.  Leeds I think will be strong with Bates giving Blackwell more money to spend to try to push them over the line.  Blackpool will more than likely be in a better position to use parachute payments than Birmingham / West Ham, who will likely struggle as others have said - holding onto Holloway will be key for Blackpool.  I think Southampton could be the surprise package next season.My top 6 :MiddlesboroughSwansea (will choke at this years play-offs)LeedsSouthamptonBlackpoolBurnley

[ZLF 271]

holloway has said he will need to dismantle his side, despite bham & wet shams money I am not convinced they wil make much of a challenge - its an attitude thing about going to places like brighton etc - if the prem players could not motivate themselves to stay up can they at a cold vicarage road?

Like this year I can see it being open but tough with mainly this years teams in teh fray - burnley, cardiff, forest, leeds will be the main protaganists for me

[CRAZY LEGS 0]

burnley

southampton

middlesbourgh

westham

leicester

swansea

[Beetley Yellow 57]

[quote user="blahblahblah"]......Southampton could be the surprise package next season.[/quote]Agreed- I can see them emulating us and doing ''back to back'' promotions- they still have the core of the team that they went down with and that played us off the park at FCR in D1. A very impressive fan base too (again much like us).    Agree with others that we have to see who keeps squads together in the close season. Leicester must be hot favourites though- if Sven is given any money to spend in the Summer, you can see them being a very strong squad. As others have said, looking at the list of teams in there next year, I''m mighty glad we managed to get promotion when we did [:D].

[NCFCmonkey 0]

we said that this season with pompey, burnely and boro from the previoius season and we still wooped the league....leicester will do well, along with forest. west ham will struggle with blackpool going up via the play offs again!!!

[Gingerpele 0]

I think Brum will get 1st or 2nd.

Swansea or Reading will take the other place. (Both are very strong, and i don''t think will lose more than 1/2 big players.)

Leicester, Boro, Pompey (if they have some money), West Ham, Blackpool, Cardiff and Ipswich will be fighting for the play-offs.

[Gingerpele 0]

Actually, i agree with the Southampton comments.

relegation will be tough to call. I can see Huddersfield if they win the play-off final doing well and staying up, i think teams like Palace, Doncaster, Derby, Barnsley could be facing a bit of a scrap down there....

[canaryfan68 0]

I am so glad we managed to get up to the premier league this season . I said at the time that this was our best chance due to the teams relegated from the Prem last season who were suffering financially.

Portsmouth - Enough said on them

Hull -  Have to drastically reduce the wage bills

Burnley - Prudence without ambition

When we look at the teams relegated yesterday we can see a different theme from the 3 above

Birmingham - I have a feeling the knives are out for Mcleish even though he has been told his job is safe but has to get them back into the Prem

WHU - Financially they are similar to Hull but their fans will not rest until back into the Prem. Gold and Sullivan (and Brady) have really made them a laughing stock

Blackpool - Depends on whether ''Olly'' can keep together the squad. No financial worries regarding debt, rumoured that all the players were on £10k approx

When you look at Forest, Southampton, Cardiff (not sure due to squad unloading), Reading/Swansea, Boro, Burnley, Leeds and others it does promise to be a strong league as well as an interesting one.

Thank goodness we did it when we did ;)

OTBC

[Row D Seat 7 0]

I think it will be:

1. West Ham

2. Leicester

3. Birmingham

4. Reading

5. Forest

6. Ipswich

[Bill 1,788]

Other than the obviousPompey will be interesting. They should have shed most of the big earners that were bleeding them dry.Southampton look to be on a roll. Good manager, support so should do well.Time will tell which is this seasons ''silly little club'' who have over spent and are heading where that silliness deserves as in Preston/Bristol City - Plymouth before them.Also there is a difference between team and club. Millwall had  areasonable team last season but they don''t have a club that will be able to sustain a promotion push. Unless you can conjure up money in the final push you will inevitably fade. I don''t see that being available at Millwall.likewise that is why the paupers will do well to keep out of the relegation battle. Evans took over in Dec and by Feb/March they were 6th/7th. a bit of money could have guaranteed them a playoff place. None was forthcoming. And despite numerous ill informed squeaks about spending their accounts don''t show that money. If I buy you a pint, then charge you a £1 a day interest without receiving interest until the next home game only a fool would claim that I was ''investing £14'' in you. The club is in terminal decline and has still a fair way to fall before it begins to climb back.Agree with the person who said how interesting the Championship is. Pretty much what the old First division used to be.  Although there were the big clubs, there didn''t seem to be that yawning gap as there is now in the Premier League. Despite the denials I''m sure a fair old number of City fans will still be watching the football league show after MOTD (assuming it''s still on) and missing the regular Saturday fix. Still, they''ll always be Wigan away sunday lunchtime

[Mister Chops 7]

Blackpool and Birmingham in Europe too via the Europa League - can see Blackpool''s attacking style tanking as they get picked off on the counter but good to see Champs clubs getting a go at Europe.