Hard to see further than the 3 who have come down, although not sure how Cardiff will invest or what they're squad is like. Expect Reading/Huddersfield/Peterborough and Wycombe to have decent seasons. Our chances lie entirely on investment as we do not have the squad to mount a promotion challenge currently. Realistically we need 7 players better than what we have. 1 Gk, 1 LB, 1 RB, 1 CB, 2 ST and a winger
Same as my prediction for last year - 10th to 12th, but higher if we recruit well. More risk this time of finishing lower than that if we have another poor transfer window, but there's still more than enough dross in the league to make sure it won't be much lower.
No doubt Mladen will confidently predict we'll be good for at least a play-off place after his recruitment.
Depends on recruitment. The last clean sheet bonus paid out to our defenders was using a Midland Bank cheque book.
Well we've finished lower every season for 5 years in a row (which includes every season so far under the current board structure) so you'd have to be bonkers to say anything higher than twelfth; on top of that we've appointed a manager who's looked hopeless so far and every reason to expect we'll lose our best players. 19th.
Depends entirely on two things: 1. organisation of our defensive line which to be frank is utterly shambolic. Conor is talking a lot about fast attacking football with wingers but this will be of no use unless we are built on a solid foundation. The focus must be on the defence. It is a major concern. take a look at Charlton. They were very sound defensively which takes you a long way in this league. 2. recruitment which, DKD aside , has been equally shambolic. we will have to sell DKD and then reinvest the lot. The squad as far too big and wage bill needs to refocus on fewer, better players. Given how they are harping on about the losses and are unprepared to cover these themselves, it would seem unlikely that they will reinvest and if so we will finish between 12th and 16th. However, it’s hard to give any kind of realistic prediction just yet. I hope the team next season looks nothing like the current one. I would happily see an entirely new 11.
Way too early to even contemplate it given we don't know who's staying at our club, let alone who we might bring in, and the same with 23 other clubs.
Agree about the defence. Arsenal used to pride themselves on winning 1-0 in the George Graham days. If you don't concede you don't lose.
At this level, I would normally expect us to be competitive, but it’s more hope than expectation now, at least until we do some transfer business. Will we find the striker that Cosgrove was meant to be? will we thin out our existing midfield and trust Bland and Yoganathan to step up? Do we sign more centre backs, or gamble that the returning loanees will improve us? I’m just not sure what our plans are in terms of quality or quantity.