Relegation Predictions Revisited

In June, I posted some completely groundless relegation predictions for the 2007-2008 Premiership football season.

I knew I was going to have to revisit these fairly early in the new Premiership season, as some clubs strengthen and others - inexplicably - weaken themselves.

One club determined to do the latter seems to be Bolton Wanderers. With rumours of Anelka's departure gathering momentum and manager Sammy Lee's determination to sideline their other true talent - El Hadj Diouf - I'm beginning to think that Bolton for relegation is a good bet.

On the other hand, Fulham - who had struggled to bring in the players they wanted in the early part of the transfer window - are now looking a fairly solid outfit. The additions of Chris Baird, Steve Davis and David Healy to Lawrie Sanchez' squad seems to have already made a difference. So, despite my earlier prediction, no relegation for Fulham.

I still think Wigan are vulnerable and Derby are doomed, so my bottom three are:

Bolton
Wigan
Derby

I'm going to stick with that until the Premiership football season finishes, if that's OK with you lot.

The Annual 'Who's For The Sack' Post

Inspired by this thread on SkySports, I thought I'd start my own Annual 'Who's For The Sack' post.

The SkySports punters are throwing out predictable names like Lawrie Sanchez (doubtful - I think he's bought fairly well this summer), Billy Davies (unlikely - Derby aren't expecting to stay up) and Roy Keane (more likely to resign than be sacked).

However, two names do stand out as likely candidates for the boot.

As we are so frequently reminded, the Premiership is about quality. And, if you don't have that, you are doomed.

So, step forth Chris Hutchings of Wigan Athletic and 'Little' Sammy Lee of Bolton Wanderers and explain yourselves.

Your signings this summer are scarily poor. Here are Bolton's (stop me when you recognise any of these names) :

Mikel Alonso,
Daniel Braaten,
Gerald Cid,
Blerim Dzemaili,
Danny Guthrie,
Zoltan Harsanyi,
Heidar Helguson,
Gavin McCann
Jlloyd Samuel

If I was Bolton chairman Phil Gartside, I would be worried. These are not the players to get Bolton back into Europe.

I can see Sammy Lee being shown the door just after Christmas.

As for Chris Hutchings, well, I've blogged about his signings fairly recently, so I'm going to have a go at Wigan's Chairman Dave Whelan instead.

Maybe if you had taken more than about 12 minutes to choose your new manager, you wouldn't end up with a squad that includes Titus Bramble. Then you wouldn't need to sack the manager 8 games into the new season.

How Many Mediocre Players Can One Team Buy?

How Many Mediocre Players Can One Team Buy?

Well, after the signing of Michael Brown, it appears that the answer currently stands at seven.

That, not in the least bit coincidentally, also happens to be the number of players Wigan have bought this summer:

Brown joins a role call of mediocrity that includes Titus Bramble, Antoine Sibierski, Mario Melchiot, Andreas Granqvist, Carlo Nash and Jason Koumas.

Fans of the Latics must be pulling their hair out each time a new signing is announced. They have my deepest sympathy. Last season was bad enough.

I'm tempted to predict relegation this time around.

Hadn't We Moved On From Crazy Transfer Fees?

2 for 1 deal: For the price of one Berbatov, you can get a Chopra and a Koumas.

Yes, that's right. For approximately the price Spurs paid for Dimitar Berbatov, you could buy Michael Chopra (struggled at Newcastle, wasn't even much good on loan to Barnsley). And you get a Jason Koumas thrown in (shown up as mediocre in the Premiership last time around).

Don't get me wrong: both players have some talent. But my question is this: is Chopra a five million quid player when Cardiff bought him for £500,000 only 12 months ago ?

And is Jason Koumas, a 27 year old who has failed to deliver at the top level, really worth the 5.3million that Wigan have just paid for him.

Despite the claims of Wigan boss Chris Hutchings, Koumas will never be anyone's Paul Scholes.

Which begs the question: why are Premiership clubs spending such outrageous sums on this calibre of player. I thought we had all moved on from the crazy transfer fees of a few years back.

The obvious answer is that the new Sky deal combined with new investment in Premiership football has made the clubs - yet again - feel flush.

Knowing the club interested in a player has lots of cash to spend invariably pushes up the asking price. That's just good business from the point of view of the selling club.

But clubs who wish to take a chance on the likes of Chopra or Koumas should be holding firm for the £1.5 - 2million that these players are really worth.

Surely Premiership football clubs have learnt the lessons of the past by now? But the inflated transfer fees of this summer suggest that, no, they haven't.

It's a ridiculous and unsustainable state of affairs and will, ultimately, only cause financial problems for Premiership clubs that really can't afford it.

Wanna take bets on who the next Leeds United will be ?