The Premiership - Wide Open for UEFA Qualifiers? [Football]

[Rumad]

Blues ave been spendig big as have borough?

Who else thinks 4-8 will be close this year?

As a blues fan reckon we wl be here or theres abouts as will middlesborough, newcastle, liverpool plus yur usual couple of suprise packages. Will be tight next season I think

[JC]

I think at the end of last season i posted something along the lines of 'we will be top 7 next year'. I might as well stick with that even though it will be tough.

[Rids]

We'll have to see.

I thought City would be challenging for Europe last season and look where they ended up.

[1-X]

it's a bit sad that most of the league are aiming for 4th at best before a ball has even been kicked...

Premier Champions betting...

Arsenal		2.2			
Chelsea		3			
Man Utd		3.75			
Liverpool	13			
Newcastle	51			
Middlesboro	126			
Tottenham	151			
Birmingham	151			
Aston Villa	201			
Man City	401			
Fulham		501			
Everton		501			
Charlton	501			
Bolton		501			
Blackburn	501			
Southampton	751			
Portsmouth	1001			
West Brom	2001			
Norwich		2001			
C Palace	2001

1/5 Odds for a place 1,2,3)

[Evergreen]

I reckon it'll be the following

Man Utd
Arsenal
Chelsea

Liverpool
Newcastle
Middlesborough
Aston Villa
Tottenham

I reckon Birmingham will be the biggest disappointment of the season and will bum around 13th-16th.

I also reckon it'll be a rather dull season match wise with only man utd arsenal and chelsea managing matches of note.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Evergreen

I also reckon it'll be a rather dull season match wise with only man utd arsenal and chelsea managing matches of note.

Every other team gets ignored, doesnt mean our matches arent exciting.

I'll put a fiver on us finishing above Spurs .

[Dark-Strider]

My team: Liverpool will finish 3rd I predict.

The top 5 will be:

1. Chelsea ( yes money can buy you the Premiership :/
2. Arsenal ( Wont have a brilliant season I feel)
3. LIverpool ( With out new striker and other signings to follow we will improve by 1 place on our previous position.) Yes I am Biased
4. Man Utd ( They havent brought in any notable players and with a aging squad theyre going to struggle.)
5. Aston Villa ( In David O'Leary they have a good manager, i predict them to do well next season. As long as Angel stays.

My bottom 5:

16:. Evertone ( They will have a poor season, like last. Maybe even relegation fodder if they loose Rooney.
17. Man City ( Kevin Keegan hasnt made any good signings imo. And with David James in Goal theyre pretty much screwed. Also they should play Kasper Smeichel in goal I reckon.)
18. C. Palace ( They are just not good enought to stay with the big boys.
19. Blackburn ( Underachieved last season and will do worse this season. Bye Bye.
20. Norwich ( Again not a Premiership Team.)

Those bottom 5 can be pretty much swapped around but those are the 5 in danger I feel.

WBA will finish about 14th/15th as they have some good cheap signings.

[Belgarath The Sorcerer]

Liverpool will win the league.

I'm going to have a bet.

Dark Strider's sig makes my eyes BLEED

[Dark-Strider]

yes another victim

mwuhahahahaha

Anyway I would love Liverpool to win the league but I doubt they will :/

[JC]

Originally Posted by Dark-Strider

4. Man Utd ( They havent brought in any notable players and with a aging squad theyre going to struggle.)

They've bought Heinze and Smith, both of whom will challenge for a first team place. Upfront they are pretty strong now with RvN, Saha, Smith and a fully fit Solskjaer fighting for position. Thats assuming they dont sign Rooney.

Rio will be back in September, so their defence which was very strong before Rio was banned (Man U were top then) should be just as strong again. Midfield wise i imagine they will be stronger than last year simply because of Ronaldo. He gradually improved last season, and after the Eurp Champs he is really beginning to look like a top player.

19. Blackburn ( Underachieved last season and will do worse this season. Bye Bye.

We did underachieve last season. What reason do you have for thinking we will again? I'm generally interested to know people's views on my team, though i may disagree with you .

[LHC]

At least you don't have Yorke/Cole, so you might win the league.

[Dark-Strider]

Originally Posted by JC

We did underachieve last season. What reason do you have for thinking we will again? I'm generally interested to know people's views on my team, though i may disagree with you .

I just feel that your team have no ambition. And also I notice a lack of players you've brought in who r going to help u. Im guessing you dont have that much money but you could always do what Bolton do. Ofc Blackburn may do well this season, but tbh I just don't see it happening. Which is my opinion which i'm entitled to.

[JC]

We dont have that much money these days. A lot of people (both fans and non-fans) seem to think we have a lot more than we actually do because of the days when we had Jack Walker's money. Unfortunately he only left is a small amount, it should have been enough to see us through more seasons that it has but it was badly spent at times and Jack Walker didnt see the sudden rise in wages, which has effected us. Most of his money went to his son in law, who is on our board but doesnt give a shit about the club unfortunately. We also struggle to attract enough fans to home games. Bolton have solve +20,000 season tickets, we've sold about 11,000 so far .

Anyways, enough about our finances. We have signed Matteo, who i think will be solid for us, Dickov, who i dont like, and De Pedro, who might go part way to filling Duff's boots. Ferguson, Thompson, Reid and Amoruso missed most of last season with injury. So thats like having another four new signings.

In Friedel we have one of the best keepers in the league. Amo started to look good in his last few games injury free so i think he could make a good partnership with Matteo/Short. McEverly may also break through into out first team this season, as either a CB or LB. Ferguson will be awesome next season, of that i have no doubt. No idea who will be playing with him in the centre though, could be anyone from Thomo, Flircfot or Tugay. Emerton was shit last season, he will have to improve to get in the team.

Up front we have possibly the best young strike partnership in the league, in my non biased opinion . Thats assuming Souness doesnt decide to pick Dicko instead of Gallagher .

Our weakest link could be Souness. He has fallen out with Cole, Yorke, Dunn and Flitcroft over the last year or so .

[Dark-Strider]

I would agree that Friedel is one of the best keepers in the Premiership. Even if he is a Liverpool reject .
Surely u have some money from Duffs transfer or is that all gone? But I still geel it will be a long season for you.

[JC]

Hope its a long season, i'll get my moneys worth that way .

Most of the £22 million we got for Duff and Dunn went on our debts and buying Ferguson.

[Dark-Strider]

well at least ure not in debt now

Well I wish you luck in the league as its always bad to see teams get relegated.
(Unless they're Leeds/Tottenham) Personal bias their!

[JC]

I think pretty much every team excluding the top 5 is in some sort of debt, its just how they are managed that differs. We've bucked up our ideas since Uncle Jack left and dont spend when we cant afford it now. We werent in any kind of trouble with debt, its just nice to keep the bank happy .

Btw have Liverpool signed anyone other than Cisse yet? I cant think of anyone off the top of my head.

[Dark-Strider]

Liverpool have only signed Cisse at the moment. But i'm confident more will come.
Also we have lost Heskey so that must mean we'll do better. Right????

[Dark-Strider]

btw forgot to emntion we are also in debt, but not by to much. think a few million.
Thats why I would welcome a bid by Steve Morgan to inject some more cash into the club

[MrL_JaKiri]

Originally Posted by JC

They've bought Heinze and Smith, both of whom will challenge for a first team place. Upfront they are pretty strong now with RvN, Saha, Smith and a fully fit Solskjaer fighting for position. Thats assuming they dont sign Rooney.

Rio will be back in September, so their defence which was very strong before Rio was banned (Man U were top then) should be just as strong again. Midfield wise i imagine they will be stronger than last year simply because of Ronaldo. He gradually improved last season, and after the Eurp Champs he is really beginning to look like a top player.

Don't forget Darren Fletcher, he's starting to look the business.

[Rumad]

Originally Posted by Evergreen

I reckon it'll be the following
I reckon Birmingham will be the biggest disappointment of the season and will bum around 13th-16th.

I also reckon it'll be a rather dull season match wise with only man utd arsenal and chelsea managing matches of note.

Blues are having a goo pre season and melchot and izzeet and gray are setting in well.

WE still have the core f the hard working team, with players with more attacking flair coming in now. I think heskey will do a good job providing fors wh will bang them in. Anthing less than 9th would be a dissapointment for the fans and for the club I think, but I think yur prediction is unlikely - a lot more worse teams than brum in the division.

As for good games - I thi there will be a few, quite a few decent teams next year so i don't think Man U or Chelski will have it all there own way, but guaranteed they will have the top spots this year.

[Evergreen]

I reckon it isn't a case of birmingham not producing the goods, I think it's a case of birmingham elevating themselves to a status where the top sides will treat em with full seriousness and go out to tactically annihilate them where as the lower sides will start playing against them as if they were a top side.

A case of piggy in the middle if you see what I mean, I just don't see them picking up the points with that squad given that everyone will have enough video's on birmingham and their style of play and their players and that they'll be living upto expectations.

I think it's a bubble that'll get burst hard.

[Deffeh]

Hold your horses people. Last two years ive made the premiership prediction league table and methinks its too early for a third.

Plenty of signings still to be made

[lokken]

top 5 is so out of Arse/ManU/Chelski/Liverpool/Newc

[wakey]

Originally Posted by MrL_JaKiri

Don't forget Darren Fletcher, he's starting to look the business.

And while Kelberson and Djemba Djemba didnt set the premiership alight last season they are both very talented and young footballers with alot of potential. Alot of players can take time to settle into a new country and both of these had injuries and family issues which made things worse and I would imagine they will both do significantly better this year

[MrL_JaKiri]

Originally Posted by wakey

And while Kelberson and Djemba Djemba didnt set the premiership alight last season they are both very talented and young footballers with alot of potential. Alot of players can take time to settle into a new country and both of these had injuries and family issues which made things worse and I would imagine they will both do significantly better this year

The main thing about Kleberson, in my opinion, is that this was his first season outside Brazil; the european leagues are a lot tougher.

[Deffeh]

that and hes shite. he almost went to leeds. he almost went to us. when did he suddenly become a man utd quality player

[Lupin]

Originally Posted by Deffeh

that and hes shite. he almost went to leeds. he almost went to us. when did he suddenly become a man utd quality player

huh?! what about Allan Smith or Hendrik Larsson (Barcelona ain't bad and i would rate him better than kleberson tbh)

[Bobzeh]

Arsenal for the win.
Spurs for "shocker" top 5 finish with Newcastle missing out.
Everton relegated - over-reliance on Rooney. Rooney gets sold, big cry and stuff.

[Sunday8pm]

Originally Posted by Deffeh

that and hes shite. he almost went to leeds. he almost went to us. when did he suddenly become a man utd quality player

Probably when someone in the ferguson clan was involved in the process somewhere and there was money to be made eh?

[lokken]

Everton are shaping up to be the team that self destructs along with 2 promoted teams to save everyone else's arse.

Nice of them really.

My advice would be to sell rooney now while he's worth ridiculous amounts of money.

[Deffeh]

Originally Posted by Sunday8pm

Probably when someone in the ferguson clan was involved in the process somewhere and there was money to be made eh?

Yeah, thats really my point. I couldnt believe man utd got suckered so badly. Kleberson was the Rivaldo of transfer speculation. Or the Diego Maradona Jr. "Rivaldo set for bolton" "kleberson set for newcastle" etc etc. Total journeyman whore, who wasnt even that good in the end and Sir Alex bought it. "foo"

[KoeN]

"who buys most wins".

[MrL_JaKiri]

Originally Posted by Deffeh

Total journeyman whore

I don't think that's quite the right phrase to use, as he has been at TWO clubs in his entire career.

[Deffeh]

I feel its the right phrase, as hes destined to be no more than a club hopper, plus he journeyed basically to every half decent club in europe going "yo this is the best club ive ever seen, forreal, nigga. Ill just be back in a couple of days to sign, honest"

[I am Idler]

Boro will steal 4th place this year!

[Dark-Strider]

lies Boro will finish 6th at best!