Who are you predicting to finish top 3 in the Championship this coming season?

[Shirty]

Fulham
Norwich
Wigan

 

[SAC]

Norwich
Derby
Forest

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

Blackburn
Fulham
Cardiff
Given that I also think Norwich, Derby, Reading, Forest, Bolton and Boro will all have good seasons, and there is always a team out of the blue (Bournemouth for example) then I think top 10 for us this year will be realistic, play-offs would be optimistic, bottom half pessimistic. Feel free to add in any other words ending "..stic".

 

[banjo]

Cardiff
Fulham
Derby

this and us 10th

 

[Rookie]

Fulham and Norwich to battle it out at the top with the rest no where near.

 

[Eagle Slayer]

Norwich
Wigan
Fulham

Surprised not more mentions for Norwich , at 11-1 and the team they got surely worth a bet

 

[Paris]

Giving it further thought, I'll change Blackburn in 3rd position for Wolves.

 

[OzMike]

Norwich
Fulham
Derby
Bournemouth
Wigan
Cardiff

That's the promotion and play off places sorted.

 

[fataddick]

I think Charlton are worth a punt to finish Top Six. I'm realistic enough to normally bet against, rather than on, them but 10-1 (almost every bookie) for a Top Six finish is very good value. We'll have spent close to £10m by the time the season starts, and this will be a very different team to last season. Things away from the playing side fill me with hope, for example going from having the worst pitch in the FL to having one of the best - 1m spent on it, undersoil gubbins, astroturf edges with club badge inlaid, etc. Things like that contradict the conventional "Standard Liege feeder club" belief (Liege probably earn only a quarter of what a team in the PL would). Anyway, that's my betting tip for the season - Charlton Top Six at 10-1. I don't think it will actually happen, but the odds should be 4s or 5s imho. *nods*

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Blackburn
Fulham
Cardiff
Given that I also think Norwich, Derby, Reading, Forest, Bolton and Boro will all have good seasons, and there is always a team out of the blue (Bournemouth for example) .

It is statistically impossible for Blackburn, Fulham, Cardiff, Norwich, Derby, Reading, Forest and Boro, to ALL have '(what they would define as) 'good seasons'.

There are 24 teams in the league. 21 of them (18 if you count a losing play-off campaign as a success) are destined to fail.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

I've gone for Norwich and Cardiff to be the top two, with Derby going up through the playoffs (but possibly not from 3rd place).

 

[fat old seagull]

Blackburn
Fulham
Sami's Boys

But I think it's going to be tight and I'm looking forward to a really competitive Championship this year. Bring it on...

 

[Bean]

Fulham
Norwich
Middlesborough

 

[SAC]

I think Charlton are worth a punt to finish Top Six. I'm realistic enough to normally bet against, rather than on, them but 10-1 (almost every bookie) for a Top Six finish is very good value. We'll have spent close to £10m by the time the season starts, and this will be a very different team to last season. Things away from the playing side fill me with hope, for example going from having the worst pitch in the FL to having one of the best - 1m spent on it, undersoil gubbins, astroturf edges with club badge inlaid, etc. Things like that contradict the conventional "Standard Liege feeder club" belief (Liege probably earn only a quarter of what a team in the PL would). Anyway, that's my betting tip for the season - Charlton Top Six at 10-1. I don't think it will actually happen, but the odds should be 4s or 5s imho. *nods*

I thought Charlton were going to be pushing for promotion last season which shows that I'm crap at predictions.

This season if you really have spend £10 million it will be interesting to see how you comply with FFP.

 

[bWize]

I think Charlton are worth a punt to finish Top Six. I'm realistic enough to normally bet against, rather than on, them but 10-1 (almost every bookie) for a Top Six finish is very good value. We'll have spent close to £10m by the time the season starts, and this will be a very different team to last season. Things away from the playing side fill me with hope, for example going from having the worst pitch in the FL to having one of the best - 1m spent on it, undersoil gubbins, astroturf edges with club badge inlaid, etc. Things like that contradict the conventional "Standard Liege feeder club" belief (Liege probably earn only a quarter of what a team in the PL would). Anyway, that's my betting tip for the season - Charlton Top Six at 10-1. I don't think it will actually happen, but the odds should be 4s or 5s imho. *nods*

Which players have you spent nearly 10 million on? (genuine question)

 

[Hillian1]

1) Not us
2) Somebody else
3) Meh, third schmird.

 

[fataddick]

I thought Charlton were going to be pushing for promotion last season which shows that I'm crap at predictions.

This season if you really have spend £10 million it will be interesting to see how you comply with FFP.

FFP isn't the demon people think it is, as acquisitions are amortized over the course of the contract. So £10m on players on four year contracts is just £2.5m against the balance sheet (we'll get about half of that back from selling Reza). I also think it's one of the advantages of being in a network of clubs across six countries, that players/money can be moved between them, and most clubs in the network are not subject to any FFP regulations. I think FFP will end up creating a lot of these sort of networks/feeder club arrangements.

 

[algie]

Cardiff
Forest
Middlessboro

 

[fataddick]

Which players have you spent nearly 10 million on? (genuine question)

I didn't specify the money was all on players (I'm including the 1m spent on the ground, and yes you can by extension include the money spent on your training ground), and also said by the time the season starts, as there are two spendy (2m-ish) players coming in this week by all accounts.

So far it's 4-5m on players:
Vetokele 2.5m
Tucudean c 750k
Signing fees for six free transfers (most of them current full internationals) est 1-2m total

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

1. Norwich
2. Watford
3. Cardiff