Barnsley are 1 of the Teams to watch this Season - Mike Holden

<span class="normal"><span class="normal"> Davey's Barnsley look massively overpriced.
<span class="heading"><font size="2">BLUES LOOK A CLASS APART</font></span>

<span class="normal">By Mike Holden</span></p><span class="normal">

The Championship appears to be getting more competitive every year, but try telling that to the bookmakers. They have given up more than 35 per cent of the outright book to just three teams in this season's ante-post market.</p>

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Last season, the second tier of the English game was generally acknowledged to be the most fascinating league in modern football history. </p>

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Indeed, a statistical formula put forward by a trio of American sports economists proves that the 2007/2008 Championship campaign displayed the finest competitive balance witnessed anywhere in the professional game in Western Europe over the last 20 years.</p>

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It should come as no surprise. Exactly half of the division was still in with a shout of promotion on the penultimate weekend. The season before, 10 teams were still dreaming of the Premiership with two games to go.</p>

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Mind you, this is a fairly new development.</p>

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At the turn of the century, the bar was raised by a string of runaway champions - sometimes accompanied by runaway runners-up - and it's a toss-up as to whether the best teams at this level are getting worse or the rest have just caught up.</p>

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The answer is probably a little bit of both, but there is one team who should provide us with a definitive answer this season.</p>

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Birmingham don't belong be here. They are a Premier League set-up in all but name. They have Premier League players and a Premier League manager. And perhaps most worryingly for everyone else, they appear to have taken relegation in their stride with no hint of any fall-out behind the scenes regarding contracts and want-away players. </p>

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Blues are simply too strong for this division and the worry for those of us who idolise the Championship as the antithesis of the Premier League is that Birmingham's presence will destroy the ambience and shatter the illusion of a cut-throat environment where anyone can beat anyone. </p>

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They won promotion at this level two years ago and have retained most of the key performers from that campaign. That in itself is no guarantee of success and there will be enormous pressure on the players to deliver but, in that respect, they couldn't possibly be directed by anybody better than Alex McLeish. </p>

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The former Rangers manager knows all about handling the weight of expectation during his time at Ibrox and we know from his stint as Scotland boss that Blues can be dogged as well as dogmatic. They will have no problem with doing the dirty work.</p>

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The case for backing Birmingham to win the title at 13/2 only gets more attractive when you weigh up the sides keeping them company at the head of the market.</p>

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The fascination with QPR is mind boggling. Everybody knows that the Londoners are being driven by some seriously rich backers but question marks remain over virtually every other aspect. </p>

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Iain Dowie might have been viewed as a progressive manager with innovative methods three or four years ago but nowadays he finds himself in esteemed company at a time when his own career has gone backwards somewhat. His eagerness to jump from one failed relationship into the next, without any time for reflection, has diluted the fresh outlook that originally made him different.</p>

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As for the players, they hardly live up to the billing of a billionaire's weekend project.</p>

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Confusion still reigns over the immediate intentions of Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal but we can only presume they want to take Rangers into the Premier League. But, with all due respect, you don't do that with Patrick Agyemang, Dexter Blackstock and Roman Vine in attack.</p>

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Rest assured, when the Loftus Road hierarchy really means business, we will know about it.</p>

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Reading can also bestruck off the list for entirely different reasons. Indeed, they are the antithesis of Birmingham in terms of dressing room stability. When the Royals turned the title race into a procession three seasons ago, it was another time and the mindset of the Madejski dressing room was in another place.</p>

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Steve Coppell was allowed to assemble a hungry team of unknowns relatively unhindered by external pressures, the environment in which he works best. But now those hungry unknowns are household names with Premier League egos and most of them are desperate to return to the top flight via the easier route of the transfer market.</p>

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The collective spirit that was the driving force behind Reading three years ago has all but evaporated. So while the Berkshire club will probably nestle somewhere in the middle of the table, the 40/1 on them being relegated appeals much more than the 11/4 on them being promoted, especially with Coppell's future far from clear cut.</p>

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Derby complete the relegated trio and while it must be accepted that Paul Jewell is a manager of immense standing, he will struggle to rid the club of its laughable losing mentality overnight and the plethora of new faces he has brought in will take time to settle. </p>

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So the best advice on the Rams is to keep a watching brief for the time being, they might come into our thinking as the season progresses.</p>

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Sheffield United and Crystal Palace were the big finishers last time around and will no doubt be optimistic about their chances of stretching that good form over nine months, but they are perfectly visible on the bookies' radar and represent no value.</p>

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So that's the top six teams in the market dealt with and it's only once you look beyond them that the undercooked prices of QPR and Reading begin to wash up something a little more tasty.</p>

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In terms of project development, no other team is coming to the boil quite like Ipswich right now and they ought to be supported at 6/1 for promotion.</p>

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Jim Magilton has made steady progress ever since taking the job back in June 2006 and if the Tractor Boys continue to progress at the rate they have done over the past two seasons, then a promotion challenge can be taken for granted this time around.</p>

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They were formidable at Portman Road last season, playing a brand of football that left most visiting sides gasping for breath, but they never really found a way to impose the same style outside of Suffolk.</p>

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However, Magilton has invested well over the summer and it will be interesting to see just how early they register their first away win because they might take some stopping if they get a couple on the board early doors.</p>

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In that respect, the return of prodigal son Richard Wright between the sticks could rank as one the most important transfers of the summer and the club's recent interest in David Nugent suggests they now mean business off the field as well as on it, which hasn't been the case for quite a while.</p>

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Meanwhile, Chris Coleman appears to be getting to grips with the task in hand at Coventry and they might also be worth an interest at 14/1 for a return to the top flight.</p>

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We certainly shouldn't shy away from this bet on the grounds that the Sky Blues were embroiled in a relegation battle last term because Derby and Hull have both landed big double-figure quotes from a similar position in the past couple of seasons. </p>

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In a division that is often so tight, enormous advantage can be gained by coming into a new campaign free from the shackles of any emotional baggage that carries over from the season before and sometimes it even helps to be dismissed purely by association with a relegation battle.</p>

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The Rams and the Tigers were bothis serious trouble 12 months before catapulting themselves into the top flight and Coventry now appear to fit a similar psychological profile.</p>

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In Freddy Eastwood, they have a genuine 20-goal marksman and someone who is more than capable of winning matches at this level single-handedly with sublime moments of magic. </p>

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That, in itself, should ensure Coventry are nowhere near the bottom this time around and with Coleman injecting a greater sense of tactical discipline, a good start could soon bring the feel-good factor flooding back to the Ricoh.</p>

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Finally, it would be rude not to have a little nibble at the 40/1 on offer for Barnsley to win promotion.</p>

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Forget the scramble for safety at the end of last season, the Tykes were comfortably holding their own at this level until their attention was captured by the romance of the FA Cup.</p>

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Victories over Liverpool and Chelsea served only to highlight the tactical ability of manager Simon Davey and it's amazing how quickly people have forgotten those achievements.</p>

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For some reason, the layers are operating under the misapprehension that some exterior force must have been at work on both occasions because they wouldn't be nearly so dismissive of the Welshman's managerial ability otherwise.</p>

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Nobody is suggesting that Barnsley are serious contenders for automatic promotion but if the division becomes anything like as congested as it was last season, then a top six finish is certainly not beyond them.</p></span></span></span>

 

who is Holden..and does his therapist know he's at large nt

 

About time someone gave us some recognition.

 

Good article....... who's to say we won't be this season's dark horses.

Every season their is always a suprise contender for promotion places and who's to say that this season it won't be us. I mean who would have predicted at the start of last season that Hull City would have won promotion to the Premiership, especially considering the start they had and the fact that they were involved in a relegation dog fight the previous season.
And don't forget the wonder season newly promoted Bristol City had last year, finishing runnners up in the play-off finals at Wembley. I bet many of you had predicted that they would be one for the favourites for relegation.

There seems to be alot of negativity around the our club at the moment. There is no denying that this squad of players have the potential to beat any championship team on our day (and premiership big boys given the chance as proven in our FA cup run last season). Providing our key players can stay fit and find some form I see no reason why we can't push on this year. And if lady luck goes our way who's to say we won't make the play-offs?

Please remember that several (mostly key) players were unavailable for FA Cup run last season including; Muller, Nyatanga, De Silva, Macken & Mostto. Unfortunately it does not look like we will have Nyatanga back this season, but if you consider how well the squad performed in the cup last season and you add to it the experience / presence of Darren Moore, the work rate / goals of Macken & Hume, and the undoubted quality / inflluence of De Silva & Muller.
So it aint all bad is it?

 

I still think we are two players short of being in the playoffs

If Odejayi and Mostto come good thats an added bonus
But we need two strikers to add to the strike force of Macken and Hume.
One or both of the strikers needs a bit of guile in the Kev Phillips mold.
Get these two and I think we have a good season ahead, probably playoffs or there abouts
If we don't get these two we will be near the bottom again

And.............reading between the lines, I think SD and PC are on the verge of getting one of them if not both

 

Agreed, but think it will take us a while to warm up this season. Especially with fitness concerns over some of the key players - and I don't mean Muller and De Silva...

 

I think, whilst it is a well thought out article, this guy is wrong about us on the following point:-

"Forget the scramble for safety at the end of last season, the Tykes were comfortably holding their own at this level until their attention was captured by the romance of the FA Cup"

It would be more accurate to say

"The tykes were comfortably holding their own at this level until they lost one or two key players after Christmas, for whom they did not have replacements of comparable quality, suggesting a squad that is too thin on quality. This happened to coincide with their 2 very good performances in the FA Cup, which may also have also distracted them to a certain extent. Unfortunately, at least one of these players will also be missing for a decent chunk of this coming season. So, if the club can add a little more quality to their squad with a couple of key signings then they may be able to maintain their good start to last season for long enough to knock on the door of the top half, if not higher, but failure to do so will knock those aspirations for six."

In reality, it is a nonsense to suggest that 2 performances last season in the cup suggest we can push for promotion this season. A good tactician can mastermind 2 good victories in the cup. League 2 players can win a cup game against a premier league outfit. To do it consistently enough to push for promotion needs not only good tactics every game, but the quality of players to put those tactics into action successfully. That is the bit he has not addressed fully....yet.

Only my opinion. I wait in hope.

 

You've got to have a good squad

We don't have that. We've got some very good players, but if those good players get injured, we've got Bobby Hassell to replace them. If you're aiming for big things, you can't have that.

 

Simon says.

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The weakest link.</p>