Croydonbloke
Palace in Sussex
Brighton
Last Season: 20th
In: Jason Dodd (Southampton), Colin Kazim-Richards (Bury), Chris Breach, Gary Elphick, Frederico Turienzo
Out: Nathan Jones, Paul Watson, Dan Harding (Leeds £850,000), Adam Virgo (Celtic - £1,500,000)
Manager: Mark McGhee
One to watch: Leon Knight
My Prediction: 22nd - Relegated
How will we do? – 6/6
When you win £250,000 on the side of a soft drinks can, which becomes the main part of your transfer budget, times are most certainly hard. Brighton might have been the fortunate winners of this windfall, but it might be the only thing that Brighton win all season.
I am not just saying this as a Palace fan, but Brighton just don’t have what it takes to compete at this level. Their transfers look like those carried out by a League One side and to be honest, they have lost quality in their ranks as well with Adam Virgo and Dan Harding moving on.
Brighton will be looking to get a new stadium before they can seriously progress as a club, playing in any division of the League. The Withdean is a godforsaken place and all Seaweed fans know it. There is a decision to be made in October over their new stadium.
Without this, Brighton can never be considered to be a serious Championship club and they will flirt between League One and the Championship until they do, too good for one league but not for another.
It is testament to Mark McGhee that he has managed to attract some new talent, but it is not proven at this level, except Jason Dodd but he is at the end of this career now.
He might be able to form a good understanding with Guy Butters, while Micheal Kuipers in goal has been around for some time, so he could perform well. He will hope to play better on his next visit to Selhurst than his last, which was the 5-0 hammering in 2002.
Leon Knight will be called upon to score goals again and he may struggle, with the lack of any assistance around him. Frederico Turienzo has been brought in but the Argentine is unproven and may take time to settle.
Gary Hart and Mark McCammon are both going to compete for the striking berth alongside Knight, but neither of them have made great impressions at this level. Failure to score goals at this level is what cost them last season and will do so again.
Especially now that Virgo and Harding have gone,Brighton may find that keeping them out and outscoring teams will also be a problem. If so, then this is a combination which is only going to produce one outcome, relegation back to League One.
I know that it looks like this relegation battle is Palace fans dreams come true, with Millwall and Brighton down there, but again you have to look at the teams that come up and they all have better forward lines. But if you don’t progress, then you start falling back and sadly for Brighton, they will be the final victims of the relegation battle this season.
As far as most people down at Palace are concerned, Brighton may be our closest rivals in terms of historical conflict, but otherwise we are poles apart. As the league table will show come the seasons end.
IMO I think you will stay up and we will only grab 4 points of you again.
Last Season: 20th
In: Jason Dodd (Southampton), Colin Kazim-Richards (Bury), Chris Breach, Gary Elphick, Frederico Turienzo
Out: Nathan Jones, Paul Watson, Dan Harding (Leeds £850,000), Adam Virgo (Celtic - £1,500,000)
Manager: Mark McGhee
One to watch: Leon Knight
My Prediction: 22nd - Relegated
How will we do? – 6/6
When you win £250,000 on the side of a soft drinks can, which becomes the main part of your transfer budget, times are most certainly hard. Brighton might have been the fortunate winners of this windfall, but it might be the only thing that Brighton win all season.
I am not just saying this as a Palace fan, but Brighton just don’t have what it takes to compete at this level. Their transfers look like those carried out by a League One side and to be honest, they have lost quality in their ranks as well with Adam Virgo and Dan Harding moving on.
Brighton will be looking to get a new stadium before they can seriously progress as a club, playing in any division of the League. The Withdean is a godforsaken place and all Seaweed fans know it. There is a decision to be made in October over their new stadium.
Without this, Brighton can never be considered to be a serious Championship club and they will flirt between League One and the Championship until they do, too good for one league but not for another.
It is testament to Mark McGhee that he has managed to attract some new talent, but it is not proven at this level, except Jason Dodd but he is at the end of this career now.
He might be able to form a good understanding with Guy Butters, while Micheal Kuipers in goal has been around for some time, so he could perform well. He will hope to play better on his next visit to Selhurst than his last, which was the 5-0 hammering in 2002.
Leon Knight will be called upon to score goals again and he may struggle, with the lack of any assistance around him. Frederico Turienzo has been brought in but the Argentine is unproven and may take time to settle.
Gary Hart and Mark McCammon are both going to compete for the striking berth alongside Knight, but neither of them have made great impressions at this level. Failure to score goals at this level is what cost them last season and will do so again.
Especially now that Virgo and Harding have gone,Brighton may find that keeping them out and outscoring teams will also be a problem. If so, then this is a combination which is only going to produce one outcome, relegation back to League One.
I know that it looks like this relegation battle is Palace fans dreams come true, with Millwall and Brighton down there, but again you have to look at the teams that come up and they all have better forward lines. But if you don’t progress, then you start falling back and sadly for Brighton, they will be the final victims of the relegation battle this season.
As far as most people down at Palace are concerned, Brighton may be our closest rivals in terms of historical conflict, but otherwise we are poles apart. As the league table will show come the seasons end.
IMO I think you will stay up and we will only grab 4 points of you again.
