I’d put Forest in the top 8 and Luton in the middle 8
+ Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
24 teams
Top 8 (no particular order)
Cardiff City
Derby
Fulham
Leeds
Middlesbrough
Sheff Weds
Stoke
West Brom
Middle 8 (no particular order)
Brentford
Bristol City
Charlton
Forest
Huddersfield
Hull
Preston
QPR
Bottom 8 (no particular order)
Barnsley
Birmingham
Blackburn
Luton
Millwall
Reading
Swansea
Wigan
I’d put Forest in the top 8 and Luton in the middle 8
I can't see the division being split as easily as that.
I think you are looking like at least 12/14 teams being in contention for the top 6 places
As long as we finish 1st, 2nd or 7th, I couldn’t give a Monkeys !!!!!
You lot have got your bottom 8’s confused with your top 8’s. Just saying.
Ok I had been sworn to secrecy , however I just cant keep a secret , this is what will happen :
Champions: Cardiff City
Runners Up :Weeds.
Play Off Winners : Sheff Wed
Relegation :
Swansea.
Derby .
Bristol
A lot will depend on who has lost who over the summer and how they've been able to replace them. West Brom, you'd think, would be near the top but their side is ageing and will at some point slip away from the play-offs if they don't replace players well while Stoke are surely too good to have as disappointing a season as they did last year so will move up - the two big clubs that I can see make moves in opposite directions. I've been impressed with what I've seen, a limited selection, of all the three promoted sides and expect Fulham especially to do well back at their natural level. Plenty of the others were able to put together good results or good runs of form in the Championship last year and if they can make that more consistent they will be top 8 candidates too.
A huge summer ahead for all sides. It could be the difference between being a Derby, the right loan players coming in, and making it into the play-offs or Ipswich, changes simply didn't work out, and going down.
Top 8 (no particular order)
Forest
Preston
Fulham
Leeds
Middlesbrough
Sheff Weds
Stoke
West Brom
Middle 8 (no particular order)
Brentford
Bristol City
Swansea
Cardiff
Huddersfield
Blackburn
Derby
QPR
Bottom 8 (no particular order)
Charlton
Barnsley
Birmingham
Hull
Luton
Millwall
Reading
Swansea
Wigan
This . Maybe Swap Derby/Preston.
I don’t see why everyone has us nailed on for a top end finish. As far as I can remember this rarely happens to relegated prem sides. History has taught me that when people start expecting success, things tend to turn out much more floppy, damp and unspectacular.
I don’t think that our squad is as shit hot as everyone thinks it is.
As things stand we will be one of the favourites to go down and rightly so. We have owners who ploughed in a huge amount into the club in 2017 and ended up with a bloated squad. We made a £21 million loss in 17/18 so are at real risk from FFP.
We have got rid of a lot of deadwood since January but need to get more off the books before we can bring in the players we need.
We know exactly the players we want to bring in but need to sell first. Our owners want to invest but FFP prevents them from doing so. If we can get our targets we will be fine and we have some terrific young players coming up from our Academy. Lower mid table will be fine for us next season with a view to challenging the season after.
As for the top 8 I fully expect Cardiff to be up there and would go with the following.
Cardiff
West Brom
Leeds
Fulham
Luton as the surprise package
Middlesbrough
Stoke
Sheffield Weds
Using the top/middle/bottom 8 as the model, in 5 last seasons, 47% of relegated sides finish top 8, 33% middle 8 and 20% bottom 8.
Each season at least 1, normally 2 of the relegated sides finish in the top 6.
The last 2 seasons have been very rare when none of the 6 relegated sides have been promoted back to the PL.
Personally, my expectation is a minimum of a top 6 finish. We are 3rd / 4th favourites with the bookies for a good reason.
Last 10 years or so I think Burnley, Newcastle, Norwich and QPR (Hull maybe) have managed to go straight back up I think. The majority of those 30 clubs HAVEN’T managed to bounce straight back. A lot of them haven’t ever managed to go back up.
Blackpool, Wigan, Sunderland and Wolves have all gone the other way after relegation from the Prem.
I don’t think we’ll tailspin but I think there will be a lot of sides who’ll be equal to us in terms competitiveness and quality.
I think we could finish anywhere from first to mid-table. Maybe finishing around about the playoffs would be the most realistic/conservative estimate.
I think we'll be up there, we have a better squad than when we got promoted
I think it'll be Cardiff, Stoke, West Brom, Wednesday, Leeds, Bristol City and Brentford being the main challengers