Yes, yes, whatever. But, you know. Prizes and infamy for the winners. 1. Leicester 2. Birmingham 3. Ipswich (P) 4. Middlesbrough 5. Sheff Utd 6. Coventry 7. Swansea 8. Norwich 9. West Brom 10. Southampton 11. Wrexham 12. Millwall 13. Bristol City 14. Blackburn 15. Preston 16. Derby 17. Watford 18. Portsmouth 19. QPR 20. Charlton 21. Oxford 22. Stoke 23. Sheff Weds 24. Hull
1 - Norwich 2 - Leicester 3 - Ipswich 4 - Coventry (P) 5 - Southampton 6 - Sheffield United 7 - Swansea 8 - Millwall 9 - Birmingham 10 - Middlesbrough 11 - Bristol City 12 - Blackburn 13 - Watford 14 - West Brom 15 - Preston 16 - QPR 17 - Derby 18 - Wrexham 19 - Portsmouth 20 - Charlton 21 - Stoke 22 - Hull 23 - Sheffield Wednesday 24 - Oxford Have you considered the fact that we might even be given bonus points for being so good and general good deeds. 138 would be fine of course but I think Manning can elevate us.
Promoted Teams Wrexham: relegation battle, finish safe. Charlton: relegation battle, finish safe. Godden will play a big part in keeping them up. Birmingham: mid-table, top half Relegated Teams Leicester: deducted 40 points, back to back relegations, record lowest points total Southampton: autos Ipswich: autos
Too early to predict the league, but yeah, I'm expecting us to be back in the 11th-15th bracket. A much needed squad overhaul after almost going down.
1. Ipswich 2. Birmingham 3. Southampton 4. Norwich (P) 5. Sheffield United 6. Middlesbrough 7. West Brom 8. Coventry 9. Bristol City 10. Wrexham 11. Millwall 12. Stoke 13. QPE 14. Watford 15. Swansea 16. Oxford 17. Portsmouth 18. Derby 19. Leicester 20. Blackburn 21. Charlton 22. Preston 23. Sheffield Wednesday 24. Hull Source: vibes
So out of three that have bothered to post a table, two have us bottom and one has us 21st. Looking forward to proving you all wrong. Again.
Rowett’s a safe pair of hands ain’t he, if nothing else. Would be surprised if you weren’t pretty comfortable again under him.
Yes, I agree. When you consider Rowett's first game was Boxing Day, his points tally with us was very impressive. There was a table doing the rounds that showed us in something like 8th if you started it on Boxing Day. Given that he will be able to get his own players in, to play his own style, then I'd expect an improvement on last season. That's not to say I expect us to finish above 8th, but I expect to finish comfortably mid table, and above last season's 17th. I think it's going to be a more even league next season, with nobody running away with it, and (probably) nobody getting cut adrift at the bottom. Too early to make precise predictions yet though.
Only really early prediction I want to make is we will finally go a full season without sacking a manager.
My reasoning for having you bottom is pretty much the cliche, second season syndrome. I think teams will be wiser to you, I think you stayed up through tactical style as opposed to squad strength and I don't think there will be as many bad teams.
We were in the bottom three for five days, immediately before Christmas. We were never really in the relegation battle, although we hovered above it for a few weeks near the end of the season, but by saying "we stayed up" you are implying that we were down there all season, when we weren't. For much of the season we were comfortable. Your point about squad strength is a fair one, however we will have a much stronger squad this season, one built from a stronger base, rather than from a League One squad. We have a lot more financial strength than people realise, and a manager that knows this division inside out and has a good solid record in it. Also, you've forecast yourself to come top, so I can't really take you that seriously. I genuinely would rather have Gary Rowett as manager of Oxford United than Liam Manning.
I think it's going to be a lot tougher at the bottom of the league this season. You finished 4 points above the drop and there were a couple of real stinkers down there with Cardiff and Plymouth, Unless it's Wednesday with their chaotic leadership I don't think we'll have that this year. It's certainly possible I am underestimating the financial pull you have. Early predictions like this are always going to have funny errors, maybe you'll look great at the end of the window.
1. Ipswich 2. Southampton 3. Norwich 4. Leicester 5. Sheffield United 6. Middlesbrough (P) 7. West Brom 8. Coventry 9. Birmingham 10. West Brom 11. Oxford 12. Bristol City 13. Stoke 14. West Brom 15. Charlton 16. Swansea 17. Hull 18. Wrexham 19. QPR 20. Blackburn 21. West Brom 22. Sheffield Wednesday 23. Derby 24. Preston
