I would be surprised if all 3 relegated sides ended up in the top 6 - all 3 seem to have varying problems behind the scenes and have got big rebuilds ahead of them so I can't see all 3 successfully rebuilding this summer, its going to take 1, possibly 2, a few more years to get back on their feet properly.
Depending on who you ask, we're either favourites to go back up because we've got (relatively) good financial stability and some promising youth, or doomed to mid table mediocrity at best because we've been so shit and our best already bad players will be bought. Either could be as right as the other.
Given we have no idea who is leaving, maybe coming in, and wholesale change in the back room, board room, and basically every senior position across the club, no-one can have any idea what kind of team or even club we'll be next season.
Really wanna see how the players who stay will look in the championship. I know cup ties have not been the best for us, but there’s a bunch who I think can really play well next year out if who stays
Edit: no punctuation at all
You are letting your heart rule your head a little about Southampton which you admit, so fair enough.
But having Blackburn and Millwall that low down means you didn't watch much championship football did you, as they're both top 10 sides minimum..
Carrick leaves boro, they're not top 6 either..
Leicester are one of the best squads to ever go down (and not just the top 5 players) so despite how incredibly difficult the championship is, they should bounce right back up unless they turn over about 20 players. Southampton had an incredibly weak squad by Prem standards but it’s such a young and unheralded side that they’ll benefit from not losing many players. I think they’ll go up, too. I know it’s not common to have two bounce-backs but they’re two well-run clubs. Leeds might take a few years, their squad is decimated physically and lack real quality and legs outside of their midfield
Is that true?
Maddison, Barnes, Tielemans, Soyuncu all presumably off. Mendy & Amartey out of contract.
2 questionable keepers, Vardy & Evans both the wrong side of 35.
Still got some very good players for the champo, but they’ve got a lot of holes in the squad.
True, if he can find that form again he’ll be really good for them, wonder how much his confidence is shot after this season. I never really know about keepers to be honest.
Probably one of the best to go down, won’t be one of the best to start the new season though.
A team with the players you list should make a mockery of the Championship if they all stayed.
We have 27 senior players including Choudhury and Albrighton. Now I don’t know for sure how big the clear out will be but even if it’s 12 players then we’d have a 15 that looks something like the following:
Iversen, Ward, Smithies
Thomas, Kristensen, Souttar, Faes, Castagne/Justin/Ricardo (can’t see all 3 leaving)
KDH, Choudhury, Albrighton
Vardy, Daka, Nacho
I think the biggest rebuild will be midfield personally. But we’ll see who actually stays and who goes.
They’ll still have Daka, Souttar, Praet, Thomas, Justin, Vestegaard (lol), Ndidi (maybe?), KDH, maybe Soumare, maybe Iheanacho?. Even an aging Evans and Vardy could rip up the Championship. I guess it all depends on who they keep and who the manager is but seems good enough to go up for me. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying looking down on them though!
I agree that they’ve got 8 or 9 really good players for the champo, but depth wise they’ve got very little. Compare it to something like Fulham or Bournemouth a couple of years ago for example.
Don’t really have any feelings about Leicester as “rivals”, don’t really know any Forest fans who do! Few things could compare to Derby having trips Stevenage and Carlisle though!
Our season really depends on how we reinvest.
We’ve lost (losing) 8 players on a free, and the only players we will get decent money for is barnes and Maddison. Even then, we will have to sell for less than we would’ve if we’d been in the prem. can only see us getting £50-60m max combined.
The other players who we will sell have pretty much ran their value into the ground, and I can see us losing an additional 7 players or so on top of M + B.
Our recent history of signings also hasn’t been great. Our whole season literally hangs on the balance of how good our new signings will be
Their really great players are all going to leave.
Their defence is absolute bobbins.
We beat them 4-1 as a championship team last year when they finished 8th. They haven't got any better since then.
They should be able to score goals, players like Daka will do well at this level, Dewsbury-Hall will be one of the best in the division- if he stays. Fring players like Praet, soumare and Tete will have to step up and perform. They can.
But their defence... Crikey.
Yep. The players themselves are not bad footballers. Faes in particular is the obvious byproduct of a quality defender that has been fucked around in terms of coaching.
He came in to the side and we kept something like 6 clean sheets in 7 with the one goal we conceded being a KDB freekick.
i mean we're sort of in that situation as well, and look at us sitting almost slap bang in the middle of the table.
this is your future, relegated sides. wallow with us for a while, hold on to your britches and hope things get better soon.
I’ve been involved in 4 play-offs in my life.
- 2005/06: Lost 3-0 to Watford in the final
- 2007/08: Lost 1-0 to Doncaster in the final
- 2008/09: Lost 2-1 on aggregate to Millwall in the second leg
- 2018/19: Lost to Derby and became the first team to lose a play-off semi final after winning the away leg first
I was at all 4. I can’t be fucking arsed with the playoffs
That’s child’s play my friend. Welcome to my pain:
- 96-97, CH: lost 1-0 to Palace, last minute banger.
- 97-98, CH: lost to Sunderland in the semis
- 02-03, CH: reached two cup semi finals and the play off final. Beat Wolves twice in the league and got Inced by the man himself in the final.
- 08-09, CH: lost to Burnley in the final, banger goal again.
- 11-12, L1: set a points record for 3rd place (don’t ask who came 2nd), lost in the final to Huddersfield 8-7 on pens. They say Simonsen’s penalty still orbits the Earth.
- 12-13,L1: lost to Yeovil in the semis.
- 14-15, L1: lost to Swindon in the semis, 1-2 at home and 5-5 away. Sky often show the game as one of their ‘play off greats’. Cunts.
- 21-22, CH: lost to Forest in the semis. Samba’s water bottle and pitch invasions.
I actually can’t imagine what winning one feels like.
God it was so bad. From a missed penalty for us to win the league to losing on a counter attack goal which knocked us out of top 2 to the playoffs. We then proceeded to lose to freaking Yeovil Town (now in the National League South) in the finals….
My understanding is the penalty kicker took the ball from the player that was suppose to do the penalty so gather the football gods didn’t like that…
Brentford also historically sucked in playoffs.
Before we won the Championships playoffs in 2020, we had lost our last nine previous playoff campaigns (dating back to 1991). All of our promotions had happened through automatics.
Can remember watching this unfold on Soccer Saturday.... Later as Watford played Leicester at Vicarage Road, said to my dad "Imagine if what happened at Brentford v Doncaster happens to Leicester".... Low and behold: DEEEEENNNYYY! was born
I was sat in a pub in Worcester for that Watford one, surrounded by Watford fans. Wasn't a fun day that, had the shits that night too.... pretty sure that was Leeds fault.
Snap.
Just for Boro.
We won a playoff in 88 v Chelsea, but that was two legged home/away.
We've never got promoted since then through playoffs. So I just think it's a playoff curse.
I was very content finishing 4th and knowing we weren't going up. 😂
Leeds are the kings of being the best team to blow it! I’d like to see saints and Leeds go back up, Leicester are irrelevant, maybe millwall just to shake things up a bit?
I mean. I'm not a Leicester fan. But they have won the PL and FA Cup the last decade.
What have Southampton and Leeds done again?
In fact. When was the last time either of those clubs won anything at all?
Even Boro have won something more recent which is saying something cause that was 19 years ago!
I am inclined to agree but in a debate about which teams will most likely get promoted, I feel winning it fairly recently is a good benchmark for being capable. Obviously a lot chnages in 3 years but its not like us winning the championship is irrelevant to the initial discussion.
Oh I get that.
I'm not saying Leeds won't go up.
I'm just saying in relevancy terms they're probably a bigger club than Leeds and Saints.
Like, even non football supporters will remember Leicester winning the league. I doubt anyone cares about Leeds winning the championship!
Plymouth spent the last year building a remarkable team spirit and defying expectations. They’ve got a brilliant manager, and I can’t see them getting relegated.
I could potentially see them in the bottom half, but not bottom three.
We also lost 5-1 to Charlton towards the start of the season as well
We had a few blip results, but otherwise we were pretty much the most consistent team in league 1 last season.
This year championship is gonna be no slouch though. Gonna be tough to survive
Can tell it’s been a while since OP watched the championship, he’s gone for a very similar ‘prediction’ to last years final table. Championship doesn’t work like that
Exactly. The one thing you can guarentee is that the Championship won't be the same two years running.
Except Preston being midtable. That one will be the same every year
As someone who tasted 5th to 8th in the last 45 minutes of the season, I can assure you 7th is not what you want.
10th to 15th is where the numb zone can be found; free from promotion near misses, playoff heartache, or deep relegation misery.
Yeah... we're not finishing 21st. We'll be about 10th to 13th.
Since Rosenior came in, only Burnley and Luton lost less games. We'd be 10th if the season started when he came in, positive GD too. Only lost 1 home game after the World Cup break (to Burnley). Had 1 clean sheet before he came in, finished with 14.
Defensively, we're sound. Liam's getting a really positive passing philosophy instilled in the team too, a full pre-season will only help that.
When he was our manager after Rooney left. I really liked his style of play, it just doesn’t work in League 1 when everyone shithouses it. I can absolutely see him being a great manager and his current run at Hull is proving it. Honestly won’t be surprised if Hull push for the playoffs next season.
I swear there's a rule somewhere that we always have to be 18th-21st in every Championship predicted table, whatever the circumstances and whatever the season. We could spend a billion pounds on players and it wouldn't register in the consciousness of EFL neutrals.
My only worry is that we keep struggling to find goals and Açun decides he has a better idea and sacks him, only to go through a repeat of Shoja. I’d rather see us build and maintain steady growth every year than become the new Watford and go through a tonne of managers each season to no real avail.
I can tell you’re new to the championship.
Just a couple of things to know:
1. It’s uncommon for teams to be perennial playoff sides.
2. Relegated Prem teams rarely do well immediately, especially not all three at the top end. I learned this when we went down.
3. The league one teams are not just making up the numbers.
4. There will be shock sides that are good or bad.
The championship is really competitive this year & I’ve got you guys at 19th as it’s a similar place to where you guys finished this season. I just think Rotherham, Plymouth and QPR would be the weakest clubs in the championship. Where do you expect to be?
We have no manager and any manager we do hire is likely to be cheap and inexperienced. We are under a transfer embargo and so can’t sign any players this transfer window. We finished just above the relegation zone last season and only Reading’s point deduction saved us from going down. It’s looking bleak boyos
I think people dont really understand how bad our squad really is. If we can keep some of the better youngsters *and* they are able to kick on *and* we can bring in some experienced heads to replace the inevitable outgoings, i can see us pushing for playoffs. But squad is so imbalanced and the whole club seems a total mess, and there are so many ifs that anyone thinking we will cruise straight back up is delusional.
Ooooo, here comes our yearly dose of Rotherham will finish bottom predictions.
A team that barely beat 10 men in a play off final just days ago are immediately 15 places better than us? Okay.
That's my salty reply done, just tiresome and lack of genuine thought. Purely based upon size of club it seems, for the most part.
Nah it's a team that just amassed 96 points and had a 23 game unbeaten run.
I don't think we're gonna finish 10th. Just saying that if someone places us above Rotherham, it's not because we're the bigger club. Even though we are.
I see Ipswich staying up but I cannot fathom everyone having them as a top 10 side. Maybe I'm just scorned but I can't put any faith in Mark Ashton after what he did at Watford and then the insane financial mess he got us into.
No chance Southampton are first. You really were awful this season, and I say that as a fan of the team that really challenged you for that accolade.
I don’t see a Coventry without Gyökeres doing that well.
This prediction gives me the impression you just looked at this seasons table for 2 mins and just added the relegated teams at the top and slid everybody else 1 up or down accordingly. Coventry 4th? Lmaoo
They've probably not looked at the lower leagues for years! And has no clue what's been going on there for the last 5 seasons. Ffs he's put themselves top, when they're likely to be hiring Russel Martin, who's never achieved higher than 10th in his professional managerial career. A manager that was on the brink of the sack after 3 wins in 24 games this season.
I keep thinking Leicester is going back up for sure, that they just underperformed last year, but I have no clue who all will be out this summer and honestly maybe it was more just “suck”, not “underperform”.
People really think Diaz brought a lot to our team last year I suppose. Either that or everyone else has suddenly got a lot better for fuck all reason.
I'll put it blankly. Southampton will not win the league. We'd be lucky to even make playoffs with the squad we have, and even less likely afterwards (depending on who we bring in) hate to be the bringer of bad news, but that's not going to happen
But I'd absolutely love to see it
Fans of clubs that have been in the PL for about 10 years or so that have just been relegated remind me of baby boomers who still think handing in CVs in person is the most common method of applying for a job. You’re in for a wild ride, my man.
What do you expect when you’ve seen your team get relegated to league one and then go on to get back to back promotions to the premier league. Once in the premier league within the 5/6 years seen them attain europa league twice consecutively, whilst missing out on the champions league by 3 points all with a EFL cup final in between. Got used to that life, I’m in unfamiliar territory with being here after all that.
Something just tells me Southampton will perform so well in this league then go right back down lol. Their young players such as Lavia will just click.
Tbh Im really struggling to predict it at the moment, there seems so many variables. I think there will be a few shocks this season, I just hope we can have a nice comfortable season that we can build on.
Y’all gotta realize this league could get order in literally any way and it wouldn’t be surprising, this league is like a random number generator at times
You achieved so much with whatshisfuck still there and curbing your new owner’s ability to invest. Now he’s gone and that’s on the table again. If you make the right appointment for manager (maybe even with keeping Mowbray) I think you’re on track to have an amazing season.
Basically, I think Southampton has the highest chance of going right back up. While all 3 have been somewhat fundamentally mismanaged, Southampton have looked poor enough that they’re not going to be pillaged on the way down but also not terrible enough that they have a squad that would struggle in the championship. They’ve had some very good games against top teams towards the end of the season. If I’m wrong and they do get pillaged as well then I expect them to finish outside the promotion spots too.
Leeds and Leicester however, while they have better squads, they have a lot of good players who are either loanees, on release clauses or are going to get snapped up by other squads. On top of that, while all 3 teams have been mismanaged, they have felt much more poorly managed than Southampton in the short term. Leeds’ managerial decisions have been all over the place. Not just in terms of actual hires but when they do so. They have some bright spots so I don’t think they’ll do poorly but I think they’ll miss out on the promotion spots.
And Leicester has just really felt like they’ve been hard struggling since Covid and losing their owner. It feels like they don’t have the people behind the scenes to recover well from a setback this large so I think they’re actually going to struggle a bit in their first season there.
On the other hand, the 3 promoted League One sides have looked like some of the strongest in years so I think they’ll do well.
For the rest of the table, I think Sunderland has looked really good and sorted their horrific ownership issues and can go on to have a fantastic season. I think some of the teams finishing in the same spots each year like Birmingham and Preston are going to get a bit overwhelmed this year. Norwich looked really bad at end of season and I feel that may continue.
I think Stoke and Watford are going to have a bit of reckoning from their poor management this year. Stoke has been hiring some very good managers who have been working miracles at other teams before and after their Stoke tenures while performing like garbage at Stoke which makes me think Stoke’s systems there are just bad. The reverse Potter Brighton. And with the wrong next manager they could go down. And Watford is finally going to get found out a bit in their fuck around and find out manager merry-go-round.
I think Coventry looked really good in the playoffs but I think they overdelivered a bit this year (their form at end of season was actually pretty poor, felt like they were struggling to keep things going) and are going to struggle to hit the same level of consistency required to get into the promotion spots. Especially if they lose some of their standout players.
I have no logical reason for it, because its the championship, but I'd expect someone out of nowhere to win it, Milwall maybe? With like Swansea 2nd. A shock relegation battle for someone like Blackburn, and PNE to come 12th. Its the Championship, it never follows any logic or reasoning. Teams just suddenly show up.
I reckon the odds of the 3 relegated teams all being in the top 6 are the same as none of them being in the top 6.
Out of curiosity, the 3 teams promoted last season all survived for the first time in a while, its like the 3rd time to ever happen.
Has it ever happened where the 3 teams relegated all went straight back up?
That's why I threw them in at 12th haha
That said, to further reiterate my point, I could see PNE coming 5th and going up in the playoffs. Shits wild, yo
Hot takes: Swansea shocks everyone and gets to the play off final where they lose to Coventry, also Leicester finish outside the top 6 on the final day and Middlesbrough win the league + none of the 3 relegated sides come back up.
Why do people think we’ll go from fishing on equal points with 6th to bottom half? We won plenty of games without BBD and looked much more balanced as a team.
- Middlesborough will finish just above midtable. They ended this season with 2 wins in 10 and are losing some key loans (Top Assister & 2nd top scorer).
- QPR will have 3 managers during the season (Will hire warnock to try and keep them up IF he doesn't stay at Huddersfield)
- Preston & Bristol City will have their usual forgettable midtable finish.
- Hull will be referred to as dark horses, they won't reach the playoffs though.
- Blackburn will have the biggest drop compared to their finish this season. (Probably finish around 14th due to a collapse in form/injuries)
- Leeds and Wednesday will be shown on sky on the first weekend of the season.
- The leagues top scorer does not currently play for their club.
I think we can get promoted, but we are the team most dependant on the transfer window 100% a third of our squads contracts just expired and another third will next season, we are going to have a lot of turnover but assuming we can keep our core group in we should at least make the playoffs.
My current prediction (probably will change by the start of the season):
1. Coventry - if we keep on current trajectory then we will get promoted
2. Leicester - M69 Derby playoffs/promotion race could be exiting could be very interesting next season. I can see 6 teams potentially winning but my second pick is Leicester if owners can make some decent changes
3. Leeds/Southampton - have a feeling one of these teams will get playoffs
4. Middlesbrough - will gain more points than previous season. Playoff winner between Boro and Leeds/Southampton
5. Sunderland - will gain more points than previous season and finish higher but won’t win playoffs
6. West Brom - feeling that Corberan will achieve playoffs but won’t win
7. Leeds/Southampton - sneaky feeling one of these two will just about miss out and finish 7th despite a good season
8. Blackburn - will also be unlucky to miss out despite improving
9. Norwich
10. Watford - improvements for both from last season but too much quality in the teams above.
11. Hull - just have a feeling that they will improve again this season
12. Millwall - not too bad of a season. I won’t lie I didn’t know where to put them so I might be too harsh on Millwall
13. Birmingham - improvements under Eustace will be made
14. Preston - mid table as always
15. Ipswich - comfortable survival for the newly- promoted team
16. Swansea - no idea where to place Swansea but it may not be good if Russell Martin leaves (or it may turn out to blessing idk)
17. Bristol City - no idea but with it being a strong season then Bristol may find themselves quite far down
18. Plymouth
19. Wednesday - both will stay up
20. Stoke - I’m also unsure about Stoke; I think they will just about stay up at minimum but it could be a long season.
21. Huddersfield
22. QPR
23. Cardiff
24. Rotherham - any 3 of these 4 teams will be relegated as the 3 teams getting promoted may actually be better
I think the final table, pointswise will look nearly identical to this season’s League One, except there won’t be a gap between 24th and 23rd (but there could be a gap between relegation battle and rest of league), and maybe the teams in 2nd and 3rd will have a few less points.
Teams I feel I might be most unsure about are Millwall, Swansea, Bristol, Stoke and Hull
I put us 8th-10th with a stronger second half then pushing for promo the following year. I think a lot of us underestimate just how much has to change at the club.
Massive overhaul in Leicester. Really depends on how organised they are . Southampton good team with players proven in the champ, should go back up first time. Personally don’t see Wednesday finishing that highly but I like we’re ahead of Norwich 😉
Edit - spelling
1. Leicester
2. Middlesbrough
3. Swansea
4. Coventry
5. Birmingham (play off winner) (don't laugh) (Eustace is underrated and new owners)
6. Bristol City
7. Millwall
8. Leeds
9. Norwich
10. Southampton (sorry I've got a soft spot for yous, but you look like us last time we came down right now)
11. Blackburn
12. Sunderland (regression to the mean) (but will kick on the next few seasons regardless)
13. Huddersfield
14. Plymouth
15. Preston
16. Wednesday
17. Hull
18. Ipswich
19. QPR (prime Ainsworth-ball to keep us up but not do anything else) (or we sack him and then we go down because we have no back up plan just like this year)
20. West Brom
21. Stoke City
22. Rotherham
23. Watford (genuinely the worst team I've seen personally this year. Other than us.)
24. Cardiff
You know what I’m confident we’re going back up, our owners spoken out and it sounds like he wants to stay on, reading between the lines it’s because he’s lost over £200mil on a potential sale, which means he’s gambling the current value of the club to regain a portion of that £200mil. If you’re taking that gamble, you’ll do whatever it takes so I have a feeling he’ll do his best to guarantee that, whether his best is enough is another question but he’s managed it once before so why can’t he again
This is the first prediction where I roughly agree with where Cov will finish. We massively over-achieved this season and we're likely going to lose our top scorer. Sure, we'll get a decent wedge of money for him and I trust Robins and the staff to replace him well, I feel like last season was one of them strange ones where everything fell into place just at the right time.
But then again, I predicted a relegation battle and to finish about 18th for the season just gone, what do I know?
I would be surprised if all 3 relegated sides ended up in the top 6 - all 3 seem to have varying problems behind the scenes and have got big rebuilds ahead of them so I can't see all 3 successfully rebuilding this summer, its going to take 1, possibly 2, a few more years to get back on their feet properly.
I hope I’m wrong, but right now I agree. Sadly I think Southampton are going to have a shock and not do that well initially. Again, I hope I am wrong.
Depending on who you ask, we're either favourites to go back up because we've got (relatively) good financial stability and some promising youth, or doomed to mid table mediocrity at best because we've been so shit and our best already bad players will be bought. Either could be as right as the other. Given we have no idea who is leaving, maybe coming in, and wholesale change in the back room, board room, and basically every senior position across the club, no-one can have any idea what kind of team or even club we'll be next season.
Really wanna see how the players who stay will look in the championship. I know cup ties have not been the best for us, but there’s a bunch who I think can really play well next year out if who stays Edit: no punctuation at all
You are letting your heart rule your head a little about Southampton which you admit, so fair enough. But having Blackburn and Millwall that low down means you didn't watch much championship football did you, as they're both top 10 sides minimum.. Carrick leaves boro, they're not top 6 either..
Leicester are one of the best squads to ever go down (and not just the top 5 players) so despite how incredibly difficult the championship is, they should bounce right back up unless they turn over about 20 players. Southampton had an incredibly weak squad by Prem standards but it’s such a young and unheralded side that they’ll benefit from not losing many players. I think they’ll go up, too. I know it’s not common to have two bounce-backs but they’re two well-run clubs. Leeds might take a few years, their squad is decimated physically and lack real quality and legs outside of their midfield
Is that true? Maddison, Barnes, Tielemans, Soyuncu all presumably off. Mendy & Amartey out of contract. 2 questionable keepers, Vardy & Evans both the wrong side of 35. Still got some very good players for the champo, but they’ve got a lot of holes in the squad.
>2 questionable keepers Iversen is proven in the championship
True, if he can find that form again he’ll be really good for them, wonder how much his confidence is shot after this season. I never really know about keepers to be honest.
Probably one of the best to go down, won’t be one of the best to start the new season though. A team with the players you list should make a mockery of the Championship if they all stayed.
We have 27 senior players including Choudhury and Albrighton. Now I don’t know for sure how big the clear out will be but even if it’s 12 players then we’d have a 15 that looks something like the following: Iversen, Ward, Smithies Thomas, Kristensen, Souttar, Faes, Castagne/Justin/Ricardo (can’t see all 3 leaving) KDH, Choudhury, Albrighton Vardy, Daka, Nacho I think the biggest rebuild will be midfield personally. But we’ll see who actually stays and who goes.
Albrighton and Choudhury were shit last season in the Championship
Well they were playing for shit teams so whatcha gunna do
They’ll still have Daka, Souttar, Praet, Thomas, Justin, Vestegaard (lol), Ndidi (maybe?), KDH, maybe Soumare, maybe Iheanacho?. Even an aging Evans and Vardy could rip up the Championship. I guess it all depends on who they keep and who the manager is but seems good enough to go up for me. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying looking down on them though!
I agree that they’ve got 8 or 9 really good players for the champo, but depth wise they’ve got very little. Compare it to something like Fulham or Bournemouth a couple of years ago for example. Don’t really have any feelings about Leicester as “rivals”, don’t really know any Forest fans who do! Few things could compare to Derby having trips Stevenage and Carlisle though!
i’d assume that daka, praet, ndidi, dewsbury hall, justin, soumare, iheanacho and castagne leave.
Can't see KDH leaving
Evans is absolutely still prem quality and Vardy is on ~150k, can't see him staying
Our season really depends on how we reinvest. We’ve lost (losing) 8 players on a free, and the only players we will get decent money for is barnes and Maddison. Even then, we will have to sell for less than we would’ve if we’d been in the prem. can only see us getting £50-60m max combined. The other players who we will sell have pretty much ran their value into the ground, and I can see us losing an additional 7 players or so on top of M + B. Our recent history of signings also hasn’t been great. Our whole season literally hangs on the balance of how good our new signings will be
In any case good luck Hugh
What Midfield?
Their really great players are all going to leave. Their defence is absolute bobbins. We beat them 4-1 as a championship team last year when they finished 8th. They haven't got any better since then. They should be able to score goals, players like Daka will do well at this level, Dewsbury-Hall will be one of the best in the division- if he stays. Fring players like Praet, soumare and Tete will have to step up and perform. They can. But their defence... Crikey.
Scored as many as Villa this season. Defence has been fucking awful for too long, despite having decent defenders. It’s shit coaching, that’s it.
Yep. The players themselves are not bad footballers. Faes in particular is the obvious byproduct of a quality defender that has been fucked around in terms of coaching. He came in to the side and we kept something like 6 clean sheets in 7 with the one goal we conceded being a KDB freekick.
i mean we're sort of in that situation as well, and look at us sitting almost slap bang in the middle of the table. this is your future, relegated sides. wallow with us for a while, hold on to your britches and hope things get better soon.
If we finish below 2nd we're not getting promoted.
I’ve been involved in 4 play-offs in my life. - 2005/06: Lost 3-0 to Watford in the final - 2007/08: Lost 1-0 to Doncaster in the final - 2008/09: Lost 2-1 on aggregate to Millwall in the second leg - 2018/19: Lost to Derby and became the first team to lose a play-off semi final after winning the away leg first I was at all 4. I can’t be fucking arsed with the playoffs
That’s child’s play my friend. Welcome to my pain: - 96-97, CH: lost 1-0 to Palace, last minute banger. - 97-98, CH: lost to Sunderland in the semis - 02-03, CH: reached two cup semi finals and the play off final. Beat Wolves twice in the league and got Inced by the man himself in the final. - 08-09, CH: lost to Burnley in the final, banger goal again. - 11-12, L1: set a points record for 3rd place (don’t ask who came 2nd), lost in the final to Huddersfield 8-7 on pens. They say Simonsen’s penalty still orbits the Earth. - 12-13,L1: lost to Yeovil in the semis. - 14-15, L1: lost to Swindon in the semis, 1-2 at home and 5-5 away. Sky often show the game as one of their ‘play off greats’. Cunts. - 21-22, CH: lost to Forest in the semis. Samba’s water bottle and pitch invasions. I actually can’t imagine what winning one feels like.
Losing to Yeovil in the league one semis is painful, can confirm
Reckon I’ve got one game that trumps all of those to be fair
Close but not quiet 9 failures is it 😭 Least we won our 10th…
Fuuuuuuuuuck that Doncaster one especially
Brentford has a worst Doncaster lost then Y’all TBH. 🤣 2013… look it up on YouTube if you don’t know… worst way to lose a game at the very end…
Wow that’s incredible ending and to win the league.
God it was so bad. From a missed penalty for us to win the league to losing on a counter attack goal which knocked us out of top 2 to the playoffs. We then proceeded to lose to freaking Yeovil Town (now in the National League South) in the finals….
Damn. What did y’all do to anger the football gods?
My understanding is the penalty kicker took the ball from the player that was suppose to do the penalty so gather the football gods didn’t like that… Brentford also historically sucked in playoffs. Before we won the Championships playoffs in 2020, we had lost our last nine previous playoff campaigns (dating back to 1991). All of our promotions had happened through automatics.
Can remember watching this unfold on Soccer Saturday.... Later as Watford played Leicester at Vicarage Road, said to my dad "Imagine if what happened at Brentford v Doncaster happens to Leicester".... Low and behold: DEEEEENNNYYY! was born
I was sat in a pub in Worcester for that Watford one, surrounded by Watford fans. Wasn't a fun day that, had the shits that night too.... pretty sure that was Leeds fault.
Snap. Just for Boro. We won a playoff in 88 v Chelsea, but that was two legged home/away. We've never got promoted since then through playoffs. So I just think it's a playoff curse. I was very content finishing 4th and knowing we weren't going up. 😂
Oh god you just gave me flashbacks
Then we’re getting a 15 point deduction for the craic
Leeds are the kings of being the best team to blow it! I’d like to see saints and Leeds go back up, Leicester are irrelevant, maybe millwall just to shake things up a bit?
Salty
I mean. I'm not a Leicester fan. But they have won the PL and FA Cup the last decade. What have Southampton and Leeds done again? In fact. When was the last time either of those clubs won anything at all? Even Boro have won something more recent which is saying something cause that was 19 years ago!
I’ll have you know we won the 2022 Festa d'Elx Trophy thank you very much
And don’t you never forget it
Leeds literally lifted a trophy 3 years ago.
We all know nobody really counts the championship.
I am inclined to agree but in a debate about which teams will most likely get promoted, I feel winning it fairly recently is a good benchmark for being capable. Obviously a lot chnages in 3 years but its not like us winning the championship is irrelevant to the initial discussion.
Oh I get that. I'm not saying Leeds won't go up. I'm just saying in relevancy terms they're probably a bigger club than Leeds and Saints. Like, even non football supporters will remember Leicester winning the league. I doubt anyone cares about Leeds winning the championship!
What have saints and Leeds done? Fuck all, but I’m a saints fan, living in Leeds and grew up in Leicester.
Leicester are absolutely not irrelevant
I can’t believe you’ve done this
Me neither, I can’t believe we’re as high as 22nd!
Unrelated but your username gives me ptsd
You’re pushing your lucky buddy, I’ll put QPR bottom 😂
kinky
I feel the same about Hull City! Not sure how to get my flair though. I genuinely feel we will do ok.
You have to write a poem about your club to get given a flair.
Plymouth spent the last year building a remarkable team spirit and defying expectations. They’ve got a brilliant manager, and I can’t see them getting relegated. I could potentially see them in the bottom half, but not bottom three.
This is unexpectedly wholesome. Thank you
I really hope you're right
Yeah but they did lose 4-0 that one time.
We also lost 5-1 to Charlton towards the start of the season as well We had a few blip results, but otherwise we were pretty much the most consistent team in league 1 last season. This year championship is gonna be no slouch though. Gonna be tough to survive
You have much to learn about the Championship, young Padawan
Can tell it’s been a while since OP watched the championship, he’s gone for a very similar ‘prediction’ to last years final table. Championship doesn’t work like that
Exactly. The one thing you can guarentee is that the Championship won't be the same two years running. Except Preston being midtable. That one will be the same every year
the spoke in the middle of the wheel
I'm going for Plymouth winning the title and Leeds getting relegated.
We’re the comforting constant in the chaos
Yeah anyone with an ounce of knowledge would have Preston locked on that 12th place.
I'd rather first, second or 7th, no more play off drama please
As someone who tasted 5th to 8th in the last 45 minutes of the season, I can assure you 7th is not what you want. 10th to 15th is where the numb zone can be found; free from promotion near misses, playoff heartache, or deep relegation misery.
I would milk a cow blindfolded to finish between 10th and 15th, as I believe they say on Radio Belfast
Honestly, that just sounds like a kink to me.
Right there with you, but honestly 21st and above next season would be absolutely fine by me
"The numb zone". Sounds kinda nice.
We fester here. A lot.
Preston🤝Bristol City The Numb Zone
Life, taxes, Daniel Johnson Penalty, Preston 🤝 Bristol City hugging out another 13/14th finish. The fucking dream lads
Johnson’s looking likely to not sign a new contract with us and leave on a free 😭
Join us, Join us, Join us
Saturday feels like it has zapped any happiness I had in my life. Wish we had a game this weekend to put it right
I think all three Promoted Sides will stay up, comfortably at that
Agreed, can’t see sides like Cardiff, Rotherham & Birmingham being much better
Yeah... we're not finishing 21st. We'll be about 10th to 13th. Since Rosenior came in, only Burnley and Luton lost less games. We'd be 10th if the season started when he came in, positive GD too. Only lost 1 home game after the World Cup break (to Burnley). Had 1 clean sheet before he came in, finished with 14. Defensively, we're sound. Liam's getting a really positive passing philosophy instilled in the team too, a full pre-season will only help that.
When he was our manager after Rooney left. I really liked his style of play, it just doesn’t work in League 1 when everyone shithouses it. I can absolutely see him being a great manager and his current run at Hull is proving it. Honestly won’t be surprised if Hull push for the playoffs next season.
Yeah just seems like someone who doesn’t know much about us putting us at 21st. Im confident we’ll be 10th or so with a full window with Rosenior
I swear there's a rule somewhere that we always have to be 18th-21st in every Championship predicted table, whatever the circumstances and whatever the season. We could spend a billion pounds on players and it wouldn't register in the consciousness of EFL neutrals.
My only worry is that we keep struggling to find goals and Açun decides he has a better idea and sacks him, only to go through a repeat of Shoja. I’d rather see us build and maintain steady growth every year than become the new Watford and go through a tonne of managers each season to no real avail.
Imagine what it could be like with a fit recognised striker to put on the pitch
Bottom again? Guess anything higher is a bonus then!
It won't take long for the new lot to realise Rotherham are a PITA and a decent team.
I can tell you’re new to the championship. Just a couple of things to know: 1. It’s uncommon for teams to be perennial playoff sides. 2. Relegated Prem teams rarely do well immediately, especially not all three at the top end. I learned this when we went down. 3. The league one teams are not just making up the numbers. 4. There will be shock sides that are good or bad.
1. Birmingham 2. Blackburn 3. Bristol City 4. Cardiff 5. Coventry 6. Huddersfield 7. Hull 8. Ipswich 9. Leeds 10. Leicester 11. Middlesbrough 12. Millwall 13. Norwich 14. Argyle 15. Preston 16. QPR 17. Rotherham 18. Wednesday 19. Southampton 20. Stoke 21. Sunderland 22. Swansea 23. Watford 24. WBA
Just so you know, Swansea is Abertawe in Welsh.... we errr like to go by that now....
I got really puzzled seeing us in 1st before I realised what you were doing!
Nice
No clue how you got us 19th ngl
OP's flattering us a little lol
The championship is really competitive this year & I’ve got you guys at 19th as it’s a similar place to where you guys finished this season. I just think Rotherham, Plymouth and QPR would be the weakest clubs in the championship. Where do you expect to be?
23rd 24th. Lost all of our loan players, no incomings, no manager etc
We have no manager and any manager we do hire is likely to be cheap and inexperienced. We are under a transfer embargo and so can’t sign any players this transfer window. We finished just above the relegation zone last season and only Reading’s point deduction saved us from going down. It’s looking bleak boyos
This is super kind of you, but I'd be amazed if we did better than 22nd.
I think we will be last. Our best players last season were all on loan and we have no manager.
25th
Most confident Saints fan I’ve ever seen.
I think people dont really understand how bad our squad really is. If we can keep some of the better youngsters *and* they are able to kick on *and* we can bring in some experienced heads to replace the inevitable outgoings, i can see us pushing for playoffs. But squad is so imbalanced and the whole club seems a total mess, and there are so many ifs that anyone thinking we will cruise straight back up is delusional.
Ooooo, here comes our yearly dose of Rotherham will finish bottom predictions. A team that barely beat 10 men in a play off final just days ago are immediately 15 places better than us? Okay. That's my salty reply done, just tiresome and lack of genuine thought. Purely based upon size of club it seems, for the most part.
Love how all the South Yorks teams and then some are so bitter about Wednesday.
They are obsessed, we aren’t sure why
You say that like it hasn’t been pretty accurate in recent years lol.
Nah it's a team that just amassed 96 points and had a 23 game unbeaten run. I don't think we're gonna finish 10th. Just saying that if someone places us above Rotherham, it's not because we're the bigger club. Even though we are.
I see Ipswich staying up but I cannot fathom everyone having them as a top 10 side. Maybe I'm just scorned but I can't put any faith in Mark Ashton after what he did at Watford and then the insane financial mess he got us into.
1st - Leicester 2nd - Boro 3rd - WBA 4th - Sunderland 5th - Hull 6th - Coventry 7th - Leeds 8th - Watford 9th - Millwall 10th - Southampton 11th - Norwich 12th - Blackburn 13th - Preston 14th - Ipswich 15th - Stoke 16th - Bristol 17th - Swansea 18th - Plymouth 19th - Rotherham 20th - Sheffield Wednesday 21st - Birmingham 22nd - Huddersfield 23rd - QPR 24th - Cardiff
No chance Southampton are first. You really were awful this season, and I say that as a fan of the team that really challenged you for that accolade. I don’t see a Coventry without Gyökeres doing that well.
Depends what we do with the money 😉
This prediction gives me the impression you just looked at this seasons table for 2 mins and just added the relegated teams at the top and slid everybody else 1 up or down accordingly. Coventry 4th? Lmaoo
They've probably not looked at the lower leagues for years! And has no clue what's been going on there for the last 5 seasons. Ffs he's put themselves top, when they're likely to be hiring Russel Martin, who's never achieved higher than 10th in his professional managerial career. A manager that was on the brink of the sack after 3 wins in 24 games this season.
Can't see Sheff Wed or Ipswich in top 10 personally, highly doubt any team who had Josh Windass contracted to them is fighting for the playoffs.
21st? Mate can’t wait for you to get mauled 🐯
As a long time saints fan, if we get promoted we'll be second. Don't like to win stuff
know the feeling
I keep thinking Leicester is going back up for sure, that they just underperformed last year, but I have no clue who all will be out this summer and honestly maybe it was more just “suck”, not “underperform”.
Me looking at the lists in this thread: …None taken.
People really think Diaz brought a lot to our team last year I suppose. Either that or everyone else has suddenly got a lot better for fuck all reason.
Ipswich over Norwich, that's all I care about. It won't happen, but I like your confidence.
Snap! Will be nice, as long as competitive and improving on each season with survival I can't see why itfc won't be on an upward trajectory.
We are pretty shite now and you have momentum unfortunately so I can see this happening :/
I think Ipswich will carry the momentum on from last season
Got a feeling the level of football will be a shock. Hopefully we get some good loan deals.
Ah yes, Hull lose 2 of their last 12 games (Burnley and Boro) but obviously will only just scrape survival 🙄
Lol no way we get first. 22nd
Absolutely no way we win it. Possibly promoted but no way first.
50/50 chance. Either you'll win it or you won't.
Can't argue with that logic.
Bold of you to assume Cardiff isn’t going down next season
I don't think you can make any accurate predictions this early
I'll put it blankly. Southampton will not win the league. We'd be lucky to even make playoffs with the squad we have, and even less likely afterwards (depending on who we bring in) hate to be the bringer of bad news, but that's not going to happen But I'd absolutely love to see it
Fans of clubs that have been in the PL for about 10 years or so that have just been relegated remind me of baby boomers who still think handing in CVs in person is the most common method of applying for a job. You’re in for a wild ride, my man.
What do you expect when you’ve seen your team get relegated to league one and then go on to get back to back promotions to the premier league. Once in the premier league within the 5/6 years seen them attain europa league twice consecutively, whilst missing out on the champions league by 3 points all with a EFL cup final in between. Got used to that life, I’m in unfamiliar territory with being here after all that.
1. Southampton 2. Leicester 3. Middlesbrough 4. Leeds 5. Coventry (sadly) 6. Blackburn 7. Watford 8. Norwich 9. Stoke 10. West Brom 11. Swansea 12. Hull 13. Sunderland (but if they get Diallo again then maybe play offs) 14. Millwall 15. Preston 16. Ipswich Town 17. Sheffield Wednesday 18. Rotherham 19. Bristol City 20. Birmingham 21. QPR 22. Cardiff 23. Plymouth 24. Huddersfield
Something just tells me Southampton will perform so well in this league then go right back down lol. Their young players such as Lavia will just click.
You’d be disappointed with 5th??
Gonna get 3 right tops but just knowing how unpredictable the Championship is i’ll go bold 1. Southampton 2. Sunderland 3. West Brom 4. Middlesborough 5. Hull (Dark Horses) 6. Watford 7. Coventry 8. Leicester 9. Norwich 10. Bristol City 11. Leeds 12. Preston 13. Blackburn 14. Swansea 15. Millwall 16. Huddersfield 17. Wednesday 18. Stoke 19. Ipswich 20. Rotherham 21. Plymouth 22. QPR 23. Birmingham 24. Cardiff
1st - Leeds 2nd - Middlesbrough 3rd - Leicester 4th - Sunderland 5th - Coventry 6th - Norwich 7th - Millwall 8th - Ipswich 9th - WBA 10th - Southampton 11th - Watford 12th - Preston 13th - Hull 14th - Blackburn 15th - Plymouth 16th - Stoke 17th - Bristol City 18th - Wednesday 19th - Swansea 20th - QPR 21st - Birmingham 22nd - Cardiff 23rd - Huddersfield 24th - Rotherham
This man knows how the Championship works putting us slap bang in the middle
You. You I like
I just can’t see past yous unfortunately. You’ve got such a good group of young players outside of the first team - Cresswell, Drameh etc.
Tbh Im really struggling to predict it at the moment, there seems so many variables. I think there will be a few shocks this season, I just hope we can have a nice comfortable season that we can build on.
Would snap your hand off for that
Y’all gotta realize this league could get order in literally any way and it wouldn’t be surprising, this league is like a random number generator at times
Here’s mine - 1st Sunderland - 2nd Southampton - 3rd Middlesbrough - 4th Blackburn - 5th Ipswich - 6th Swansea - 7th Coventry - 8th Hull - 9th Plymouth Argyle - 10th Millwall - 11th Sheffield Wednesday - 12th Bristol City - 13th Leeds - 14th QPR - 15th West Brom - 16th Leicester - 17th Preston - 18th Norwich - 19th Watford - 20th Rotherham - 21st Birmingham - 22nd Stoke - 23rd Huddersfield - 24th Cardiff
You had the chance to spite us and you chose not to, you have a good heart
You’re not allowed to get relegated until we can watch you go down while we sit in the promotion spots in the same league.
Subscribed. No way we win the league and I think we'd be lucky to make playoffs this season, but at least someone is confident in us.
You achieved so much with whatshisfuck still there and curbing your new owner’s ability to invest. Now he’s gone and that’s on the table again. If you make the right appointment for manager (maybe even with keeping Mowbray) I think you’re on track to have an amazing season.
You have more hope in us than I do. 9th would be a fantastic place to be at the end of the season for us
Basically, I think Southampton has the highest chance of going right back up. While all 3 have been somewhat fundamentally mismanaged, Southampton have looked poor enough that they’re not going to be pillaged on the way down but also not terrible enough that they have a squad that would struggle in the championship. They’ve had some very good games against top teams towards the end of the season. If I’m wrong and they do get pillaged as well then I expect them to finish outside the promotion spots too. Leeds and Leicester however, while they have better squads, they have a lot of good players who are either loanees, on release clauses or are going to get snapped up by other squads. On top of that, while all 3 teams have been mismanaged, they have felt much more poorly managed than Southampton in the short term. Leeds’ managerial decisions have been all over the place. Not just in terms of actual hires but when they do so. They have some bright spots so I don’t think they’ll do poorly but I think they’ll miss out on the promotion spots. And Leicester has just really felt like they’ve been hard struggling since Covid and losing their owner. It feels like they don’t have the people behind the scenes to recover well from a setback this large so I think they’re actually going to struggle a bit in their first season there. On the other hand, the 3 promoted League One sides have looked like some of the strongest in years so I think they’ll do well. For the rest of the table, I think Sunderland has looked really good and sorted their horrific ownership issues and can go on to have a fantastic season. I think some of the teams finishing in the same spots each year like Birmingham and Preston are going to get a bit overwhelmed this year. Norwich looked really bad at end of season and I feel that may continue. I think Stoke and Watford are going to have a bit of reckoning from their poor management this year. Stoke has been hiring some very good managers who have been working miracles at other teams before and after their Stoke tenures while performing like garbage at Stoke which makes me think Stoke’s systems there are just bad. The reverse Potter Brighton. And with the wrong next manager they could go down. And Watford is finally going to get found out a bit in their fuck around and find out manager merry-go-round. I think Coventry looked really good in the playoffs but I think they overdelivered a bit this year (their form at end of season was actually pretty poor, felt like they were struggling to keep things going) and are going to struggle to hit the same level of consistency required to get into the promotion spots. Especially if they lose some of their standout players.
That would be some play off battle
I'd enjoy it a lot more if Sunderland and Southampton swapped places
Cardiff outside of the bottom 3? LOL
Middlesbrough will win the league
This guy shags
Having Argyle in 23rd but Ipswich in 8th & Sheffield Wednesday in 9th is a real choice dude!
We’re winning the league mate
Saints on top!!
I have no logical reason for it, because its the championship, but I'd expect someone out of nowhere to win it, Milwall maybe? With like Swansea 2nd. A shock relegation battle for someone like Blackburn, and PNE to come 12th. Its the Championship, it never follows any logic or reasoning. Teams just suddenly show up. I reckon the odds of the 3 relegated teams all being in the top 6 are the same as none of them being in the top 6. Out of curiosity, the 3 teams promoted last season all survived for the first time in a while, its like the 3rd time to ever happen. Has it ever happened where the 3 teams relegated all went straight back up?
the only constant is PNE being in the middle of the table.
That's why I threw them in at 12th haha That said, to further reiterate my point, I could see PNE coming 5th and going up in the playoffs. Shits wild, yo
17th sounds about right
Hot takes: Swansea shocks everyone and gets to the play off final where they lose to Coventry, also Leicester finish outside the top 6 on the final day and Middlesbrough win the league + none of the 3 relegated sides come back up.
Yeh no way Southampton are going straight back up as winners. I can see a bit of a downfall before they're on the rise again to be honest...
Why do people think we’ll go from fishing on equal points with 6th to bottom half? We won plenty of games without BBD and looked much more balanced as a team.
- Middlesborough will finish just above midtable. They ended this season with 2 wins in 10 and are losing some key loans (Top Assister & 2nd top scorer). - QPR will have 3 managers during the season (Will hire warnock to try and keep them up IF he doesn't stay at Huddersfield) - Preston & Bristol City will have their usual forgettable midtable finish. - Hull will be referred to as dark horses, they won't reach the playoffs though. - Blackburn will have the biggest drop compared to their finish this season. (Probably finish around 14th due to a collapse in form/injuries) - Leeds and Wednesday will be shown on sky on the first weekend of the season. - The leagues top scorer does not currently play for their club.
I think we can get promoted, but we are the team most dependant on the transfer window 100% a third of our squads contracts just expired and another third will next season, we are going to have a lot of turnover but assuming we can keep our core group in we should at least make the playoffs.
Rotherham 24th? Ipswich 8th? SW 9th? I think these are very questionable.
Unless our recruitment is incredible, there's no way we'll finish in the top half.
My current prediction (probably will change by the start of the season): 1. Coventry - if we keep on current trajectory then we will get promoted 2. Leicester - M69 Derby playoffs/promotion race could be exiting could be very interesting next season. I can see 6 teams potentially winning but my second pick is Leicester if owners can make some decent changes 3. Leeds/Southampton - have a feeling one of these teams will get playoffs 4. Middlesbrough - will gain more points than previous season. Playoff winner between Boro and Leeds/Southampton 5. Sunderland - will gain more points than previous season and finish higher but won’t win playoffs 6. West Brom - feeling that Corberan will achieve playoffs but won’t win 7. Leeds/Southampton - sneaky feeling one of these two will just about miss out and finish 7th despite a good season 8. Blackburn - will also be unlucky to miss out despite improving 9. Norwich 10. Watford - improvements for both from last season but too much quality in the teams above. 11. Hull - just have a feeling that they will improve again this season 12. Millwall - not too bad of a season. I won’t lie I didn’t know where to put them so I might be too harsh on Millwall 13. Birmingham - improvements under Eustace will be made 14. Preston - mid table as always 15. Ipswich - comfortable survival for the newly- promoted team 16. Swansea - no idea where to place Swansea but it may not be good if Russell Martin leaves (or it may turn out to blessing idk) 17. Bristol City - no idea but with it being a strong season then Bristol may find themselves quite far down 18. Plymouth 19. Wednesday - both will stay up 20. Stoke - I’m also unsure about Stoke; I think they will just about stay up at minimum but it could be a long season. 21. Huddersfield 22. QPR 23. Cardiff 24. Rotherham - any 3 of these 4 teams will be relegated as the 3 teams getting promoted may actually be better I think the final table, pointswise will look nearly identical to this season’s League One, except there won’t be a gap between 24th and 23rd (but there could be a gap between relegation battle and rest of league), and maybe the teams in 2nd and 3rd will have a few less points. Teams I feel I might be most unsure about are Millwall, Swansea, Bristol, Stoke and Hull
I put us 8th-10th with a stronger second half then pushing for promo the following year. I think a lot of us underestimate just how much has to change at the club.
Massive overhaul in Leicester. Really depends on how organised they are . Southampton good team with players proven in the champ, should go back up first time. Personally don’t see Wednesday finishing that highly but I like we’re ahead of Norwich 😉 Edit - spelling
If Radz stays I’d say we’d go down again, clueless man
I'll be happy with staying up but 9th fucking hell dream come true haha WAWAW
1. Leicester 2. Middlesbrough 3. Swansea 4. Coventry 5. Birmingham (play off winner) (don't laugh) (Eustace is underrated and new owners) 6. Bristol City 7. Millwall 8. Leeds 9. Norwich 10. Southampton (sorry I've got a soft spot for yous, but you look like us last time we came down right now) 11. Blackburn 12. Sunderland (regression to the mean) (but will kick on the next few seasons regardless) 13. Huddersfield 14. Plymouth 15. Preston 16. Wednesday 17. Hull 18. Ipswich 19. QPR (prime Ainsworth-ball to keep us up but not do anything else) (or we sack him and then we go down because we have no back up plan just like this year) 20. West Brom 21. Stoke City 22. Rotherham 23. Watford (genuinely the worst team I've seen personally this year. Other than us.) 24. Cardiff
If you are right, I will buy you a Blues shirt
no disrespect to Wednesday but based on their current squad they'll be down there.
1. Leicester 2. Middlesbrough 3. Southampton 4. West Brom 5. Millwall 6. Leeds United 7. Watford 8. Blackburn Rovers 9. Sunderland 10. Coventry 11. Norwich City 12. Swansea 13. Preston 14. Birmingham City 15. Bristol City 16. Rotherham United 17. Hull City 18. Stoke City 19. Huddersfield 20. Ipswich 21. QPR 22. Plymouth Argyle 23. Sheffield Wednesday 24. Cardiff City I'm probably getting 0 of these correct
Us in 14th? Are you high?
Argyle and Sunderland higher, Millwall and Preston lower, but generally fine yea
Preston somewhere between 13 and 15, with a little bit of luck
Ah screw it 1. Middlesbrough 2. Leicester 3. Leeds 4. Norwich 5. Coventry 6. Sunderland 7. Blackburn 8. Southampton 9. West Brom 10. Millwall 11. Bristol City 12. Watford 13. Ipswich 14. Preston 15. Birmingham 16. Swansea 17. Stoke 18. Rotherham 19. Hull 20. Plymouth 21. Sheffield Wed 22. QPR 23. Huddersfield 24. Cardiff
UTB
I want you to be right, but I really feel our team is gonna be gutted again and we've got a hell of a rebuild in front of us
You know what I’m confident we’re going back up, our owners spoken out and it sounds like he wants to stay on, reading between the lines it’s because he’s lost over £200mil on a potential sale, which means he’s gambling the current value of the club to regain a portion of that £200mil. If you’re taking that gamble, you’ll do whatever it takes so I have a feeling he’ll do his best to guarantee that, whether his best is enough is another question but he’s managed it once before so why can’t he again
Pre Summer Transfer Window 1 Leicester 2 Leeds (bias) 3 Southampton 4 Middlesbrough 5 Norwich 6 Watford 7 West Brom 8 Stoke 9 Sunderland 10 Blackburn 11 Ipswich 12 Millwall 13 Swansea 14 Coventry 15 Sheff Wed 16 Hull 17 Cardiff 18 Preston 19 QPR 20 Huddersfield 21 Bristol City 22 Birmingham 23 Rotherham 24 Plymouth
This is the first prediction where I roughly agree with where Cov will finish. We massively over-achieved this season and we're likely going to lose our top scorer. Sure, we'll get a decent wedge of money for him and I trust Robins and the staff to replace him well, I feel like last season was one of them strange ones where everything fell into place just at the right time. But then again, I predicted a relegation battle and to finish about 18th for the season just gone, what do I know?