The Verdict
By: Tim | August 4th, 2008Did anyone catch the Championship preview in the Observer’s sport section yesterday? ‘The Verdict’ was essentially a forum for Championship fans to give their predictions for next season, the players to watch, who’s going up, who’ll go down etc etc. It made for interesting reading.
Of the twenty-three opposition fans only two predicted that Forest would go down. Guess what? One of those two was a Derby fan, a Steven Pyefinch, who also cleverly predicted that the other two teams to go down would be Swansea and Doncaster i.e. the other two teams to get promoted last season. One word for that … naïve.
Most Forest fans could tell you that Scunthorpe, Bristol City and Blackpool went up in 06/07 (sadly), and okay, Scunthorpe came straight back down, and Blackpool were in the relegation mire, but Bristol City managed the play-offs and played some neat football. That, to me, is the beauty of the Championship over the Premiership, it’s not at all predictable. I mean, who expected Stoke and Hull to get promoted, really? It was around this time last year that some writers were predicting Stoke would struggle.
The odds cited in the Verdict reflect this unpredictability. Take Norwich for example, they’re given 7-1 for promotion, and 7-1 for relegation. Does this mean they’re destined for a mid-table position? Probably. But equally it seems to suggest that the bookies think they could go either way. Roughly seven or eight teams are given good odds for promotion, too, with QPR heading the list at 7-4. The truth is, in this league, you just don’t know which way it’s going to go. Three or four results, either way, could make the difference between a relegation battle or a play-off spot.
In terms of Forest, a top-ten finish would be brilliant. I’ve still got reservations about the defence (even with Kelvin Wilson’s ‘adaptability’ we’re not gonna set any records in this league), and Calderwood’s managerial acumen, but with the attacking options we’ve now got it’s not an unrealistic proposition. Relegation? My arse.
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Comments
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I’ve just done a search on Google to view my latest Observer report and came across this article. Yes I am the Derby fan Steven Pyefinch, who ‘at this moment’ is predicting correctly that Forest and Doncaster (bottom 2 teams) will be one of my 3 predicted teams to go down. Only Swansea has surpassed my expectation.
Forest are 6 points adrift with 12 games played, nobody got relegated in October but to call me naïve. The majority of promoted teams struggle in there first season, no matter what division.
I have one word for Tim… naïve.Posted from
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I still believe your original assertion to be naive, Steven. You said that Forest, Doncaster and Swansea would go down, which clearly isn’t going to happen. I expected one or two of those might go down, and the remaining sides may struggle (including Forest), but to say all three would go down is quite clearly naive.
And yes, the majority of promoted teams do struggle in their first season, but there are always exceptions to the rule – look how well Hull are doing so far.
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