Strength of the Championship next season

[Harrowram]

It is difficult to say at present. West Brom don't have a permanent manager ,Dwight Gayle among others was on loan and it is likely the likes of Rodriguez will seek Premier League football.

Fulham have a rookie manager and are likeley to lose Sessgnon and Mitrovic and possibly some of the Carlos kickaballs they signed 12 months ago.

Birmingham have financial problems and have already sold Jota to Villa.

Bristol City had 3 Chelsea players on loan who have all returned.

Forest seem likeley to lose Joe Lolley for a lot of lolley-and probably need to.

Hull had loads of players on loan who have all returned.

Boro don't have a manager and by the sounds of it they don't have any money either.

QPR are subject to financial restrictions and had loan players who have returned.

Swansea have no managerand have let go a lot of players.

Blackburn looked a decent side when the defeated us and could be a dark horse.

Sheff Wed have just gotten rid of a lot of dead wood and have a decent manager.

Leeds must be in the mix again though they could lose one or two players.

Cardiff have a good chance of promotion if Colin stays.

Huddersfield are in transition.

 

[Guest]

weakest its been in sometime for me. 

[GenBr]

Is Forest sticking with the dinosaur for another season then? I hear they are losing some of last seasons big signings to Olympiakos, so not sure how much of a threat they will be.

For the teams being relegated there are no stand out teams for me. Two came straight back down and the other was very close to our record. Although i expect Colin to do well again with Cardiff.

As for the rest Leeds didnt end the season particularly well and they were devastatingly crushed by the rampant Rams in the only game that mattered for them. If Bielsa is staying i do expect them to be top 6 again though.

I also expect Shef Wed, Bristol, West Brom, Boro and Swansea to be fighting for top 6.

[GB SPORTS]

4 minutes ago, GenBr said:

Is Forest sticking with the dinosaur for another season then? I hear they are losing some of last seasons big signings to Olympiakos, so not sure how much of a threat they will be.

For the teams being relegated there are no stand out teams for me. Two came straight back down and the other was very close to our record. Although i expect Colin to do well again with Cardiff.

As for the rest Leeds didnt end the season particularly well and they were devastatingly crushed by the rampant Rams in the only game that mattered for them. If Bielsa is staying i do expect them to be top 6 again though.

I also expect Shef Wed, Bristol, West Brom, Boro and Swansea to be fighting for top 6.

The question maybe Is the Dinosaur sticking with Forest?

[GenBr]

5 minutes ago, WHAT DO I GET said:

The question maybe Is the Dinosaur sticking with Forest?

Fingers crossed that he is. Although i hear Rowett, Clement, Pearson and McClaren are allavailable if they want to pick from our pool of failed managers.

[europia]

On 02/06/2019 at 21:15, Harrowram said:

It is difficult to say at present. West Brom don't have a permanent manager ,Dwight Gayle among others was on loan and it is likely the likes of Rodriguez will seek Premier League football.

Fulham have a rookie manager and are likeley to lose Sessgnon and Mitrovic and possibly some of the Carlos kickaballs they signed 12 months ago.

Birmingham have financial problems and have already sold Jota to Villa.

Bristol City had 3 Chelsea players on loan who have all returned.

Forest seem likeley to lose Joe Lolley for a lot of lolley-and probably need to.

Hull had loads of players on loan who have all returned.

Boro don't have a manager and by the sounds of it they don't have any money either.

QPR are subject to financial restrictions and had loan players who have returned.

Swansea have no managerand have let go a lot of players.

Blackburn looked a decent side when the defeated us and could be a dark horse.

Sheff Wed have just gotten rid of a lot of dead wood and have a decent manager.

Leeds must be in the mix again though they could lose one or two players.

Cardiff have a good chance of promotion if Colin stays.

Huddersfield are in transition.

 

When you put it like that, we could be top 2 candidates ?

[ram1964]

On 02/06/2019 at 20:15, Harrowram said:

It is difficult to say at present. West Brom don't have a permanent manager ,Dwight Gayle among others was on loan and it is likely the likes of Rodriguez will seek Premier League football.

Fulham have a rookie manager and are likeley to lose Sessgnon and Mitrovic and possibly some of the Carlos kickaballs they signed 12 months ago.

Birmingham have financial problems and have already sold Jota to Villa.

Bristol City had 3 Chelsea players on loan who have all returned.

Forest seem likeley to lose Joe Lolley for a lot of lolley-and probably need to.

Hull had loads of players on loan who have all returned.

Boro don't have a manager and by the sounds of it they don't have any money either.

QPR are subject to financial restrictions and had loan players who have returned.

Swansea have no managerand have let go a lot of players.

Blackburn looked a decent side when the defeated us and could be a dark horse.

Sheff Wed have just gotten rid of a lot of dead wood and have a decent manager.

Leeds must be in the mix again though they could lose one or two players.

Cardiff have a good chance of promotion if Colin stays.

Huddersfield are in transition.

 

Looks like automatic promotion for us then ?

[Sparkle]

17 hours ago, GenBr said:

Fingers crossed that he is. Although i hear Rowett, Clement, Pearson and McClaren are allavailable if they want to pick from our pool of failed managers.

Can’t say Rowett was a failure- boring football and ran away but not a Derby failure ( Stoke definitely) 

Mc Claren - not a failure because of the great football we played under him but when when it nosedived which it does everywhere he goes it’s a bit like a Max8 with no instruction manual 

[TigerTedd]

10 hours ago, europia said:

When you put it like that, we could be top 2 candidates ?

I reckon we are (if Lampard stays). The league is the weakest it’s been for a while. I reckon it’s between us, Leeds and Cardiff for the top 2 spots. 

[G STAR RAM]

11 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

I reckon we are (if Lampard stays). The league is the weakest it’s been for a while. I reckon it’s between us, Leeds and Cardiff for the top 2 spots. 

Not sure how anyone could currently predict us to finish top two.

We finished 6th by a distance this season and have subsequently lost 26 goals and our player of the season. 

On that basis surely you'd say making the top 6 again will be a big ask.

[TigerTedd]

22 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Not sure how anyone could currently predict us to finish top two.

We finished 6th by a distance this season and have subsequently lost 26 goals and our player of the season. 

On that basis surely you'd say making the top 6 again will be a big ask.

If the 5 teams that finished ahead of us, 3 are gone, one is leeds (who I’ve said will be there or thereabouts, having kept bielsa), and one is West Brom, who I’m not expecting to do great things this season. 

You’ve got the relegate teams. But I don’t expect Huddersfield or Fulham to do much. 

So take those teams out, and it leaves us, Cardiff and Leeds. 

Unless you expect any teams from below us to leap frog us. But why would we do anything but improve from lampards first season. So you’re expecting teams from below us to not only improve, to close the gap on us, but also improve beyond that level to counter the effects of our own improvement. 

I see teams like Sheffield Wednesday improving, but not that much.

[G STAR RAM]

50 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

If the 5 teams that finished ahead of us, 3 are gone, one is leeds (who I’ve said will be there or thereabouts, having kept bielsa), and one is West Brom, who I’m not expecting to do great things this season. 

You’ve got the relegate teams. But I don’t expect Huddersfield or Fulham to do much. 

So take those teams out, and it leaves us, Cardiff and Leeds. 

Unless you expect any teams from below us to leap frog us. But why would we do anything but improve from lampards first season. So you’re expecting teams from below us to not only improve, to close the gap on us, but also improve beyond that level to counter the effects of our own improvement. 

I see teams like Sheffield Wednesday improving, but not that much.

Hope you're right but not sure how you conclude that West Brom won't do much but expect us to perform to the same level despite losing 3 of our most influential players.

[Sparkle]

4 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Hope you're right but not sure how you conclude that West Brom won't do much but expect us to perform to the same level despite losing 3 of our most influential players.

Excellent moment to stick our money on our season bets - the odds must be great 

[cheron85]

1 hour ago, G STAR RAM said:

Not sure how anyone could currently predict us to finish top two.

We finished 6th by a distance this season and have subsequently lost 26 goals and our player of the season. 

On that basis surely you'd say making the top 6 again will be a big ask.

I was just about to make pretty much the same point!

BUT

Lampard's recruitment last summer was impressive - I have faith that he'll be able to do the same/similar this time around - The core of the squad will all be more 'Lampard' type players brought in to play the way he wants to play - If he can add a couple of loans close to the quality of the guys we've had this season we might do okay

[TigerTedd]

44 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Hope you're right but not sure how you conclude that West Brom won't do much but expect us to perform to the same level despite losing 3 of our most influential players.

I could be wrong, but I reckon West Brom are in for a season of transition. Still trying to sort out a new manager, and will likely lose quite a few of the players they’ll be coming down with. Definitely losing Gayle. They might worry the bottom play off places if the new manager can find his feet quickly, but I can’t see them doing much else. 

I have faith that Lampard will find some more loans, Wilson is not the only wonderkid in the block, and we have got to be THE championship team to look at sending your best and brightest now, we should have our pick of the bunch. I also have faith that, with a full season now behind them, Marriott and Waghorn will both kick on and improve on their goal tallies from last season. 

All dependant on keeping frank of course, so I’m anxiously waiting for that news. 

[Edtheram]

Not many signings done but these sides will make the top 10 IMO. (in any order)

. Derby

. Leeds

. Sheff W

. Stoke

. Cardiff

. Fulham

. West Brom

. Boro

. Bristol City

. Forest

 

[Alph]

The Championship will be like it is every season. 

It's a tight league where one or two tweaks here and there can make a team a real force. 

You don't know what a couple of good players will do for Preston. You don't know if they might lose key players and drop down. 

Sheffield Wednesday were pooh, then they were up there and then they were pooh. Brentford another team that came from nowhere to be a good Champ team. Then they're not. Then they are, then they're not again. 

Even us. We nearly went down, then slowly built our way up to mid table. Steady, boring Derby. Then we bring in Steve McClaren. The Wally with the brolly. Dutch Schteve. Then surprise everyone by storming up the league and we're the most enjoyable team to watch. 

I mean right now Derby look a bit poor. With PotY gone, top scorer gone and best footballer gone. Teams have sunk back to mid table thanks to summers like that. But if 4 or 5 players come in that replace those and two more that hit the ground running.... if Forsyth comes back and finds the levels he played at 2013 - 2015.... that's exciting. If we get Jake Livermore, Daniel Johnson and spend our entire summer budget on the next Andi Weimann then we will miss Tomori, Mount and Wilson like they're world class. 

 

[jono]

2 minutes ago, Alpha said:

The Championship will be like it is every season. 

It's a tight league where one or two tweaks here and there can make a team a real force. 

You don't know what a couple of good players will do for Preston. You don't know if they might lose key players and drop down. 

Sheffield Wednesday were pooh, then they were up there and then they were pooh. Brentford another team that came from nowhere to be a good Champ team. Then they're not. Then they are, then they're not again. 

Even us. We nearly went down, then slowly built our way up to mid table. Steady, boring Derby. Then we bring in Steve McClaren. The Wally with the brolly. Dutch Schteve. Then surprise everyone by storming up the league and we're the most enjoyable team to watch. 

I mean right now Derby look a bit poor. With PotY gone, top scorer gone and best footballer gone. Teams have sunk back to mid table thanks to summers like that. But if 4 or 5 players come in that replace those and two more that hit the ground running.... if Forsyth comes back and finds the levels he played at 2013 - 2015.... that's exciting. If we get Jake Livermore, Daniel Johnson and spend our entire summer budget on the next Andi Weimann then we will miss Tomori, Mount and Wilson like they're world class. 

 

So so true, and then Tomori stays, Shinnie turns out to be the engine room we need, Holmes pushes on - Jack and Waggy strike fear in the hearts of the enemy and we get another Bogle class academy graduate .. Suddenly we go from bridesmaids to Henry V111 promotion winners.

As they used to say at the start of Stingray ... “anything can happen in the next half hour”

[BathRam72]

I think the key here is our current management team.

If they stay then there is no reason why we can't improve on this season.

Lets face it, when Frank came in we had an ageing squad.

He added a few permanent players which needed to gel and play in his style (takes time). - We still have those players.

We still have most of the players in the retained list that Frank kept faith with (and in most cases, improved their play).

What we have lost in terms of the 3 loanees can be replaced with similar players. After the way Wilson, Mount and Tomori have been treated and improved I am positive that teams will be vying for Frank and the staff to take their potential stars. (Who knows we might even get Tomori back)

The staff have bought through players from the reserves and improved them, one to the point of a potential £10m sale. (I personally would prefer him to saty). But there are more in the sidelines who can be bought forward.

My overall point is that we are in a better position than we were last year, Frank has had a year to work on his tactics and style of play. He has a potential core OF HIS TYPE OF PLAYERS.

He just needs to tweek a little.

 

Bring it on I say