2012/13 Predictions thread

[Panda]

The footy season is upon us again so it's time to make those predictions for the coming season...

PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Everton
Fulham
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Norwich City
Queen's Park Rangers
Reading
Southampton
Stoke City
Sunderland
Swansea City
Tottenham Hotspur
West Bromwich Albion
West Ham United
Wigan Athletic

CHAMPIONSHIP
Barnsley
Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers
Blackpool
Bolton Wanderers
Brighton & Hove Albion
Bristol City
Burnley
Cardiff City
Charlton Athletic
Crystal Palace
Derby County
Huddersfield Town
Hull City
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Leicester City
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Nottingham Forest
Peterborough United
Sheffield Wednesday
Watford
Wolverhampton Wanderers

LEAGUE ONE
AFC Bournemouth
Bury
Brentford
Carlisle United
Colchester United
Coventry City
Crawley Town
Crewe Alexandra
Doncaster Rovers
Hartlepool United
Leyton Orient
Milton Keynes Dons
Notts County
Oldham Athletic
Portsmouth
Preston North End
Scunthorpe United
Sheffield United
Shrewsbury Town
Stevenage
Swindon Town
Tranmere Rovers
Walsall
Yeovil Town

LEAGUE TWO
Accrington Stanley
Aldershot Town
Barnet
Bradford City
Bristol Rovers
Burton Albion
Cheltenham Town
Chesterfield
Dagenham & Redbridge
Exeter City
Fleetwood Town
Gillingham
Morecambe
Northampton Town
Oxford United
Plymouth Argyle
Port Vale
Rochdale
Rotherham United
Southend United
Torquay United
Wimbledon
Wycombe Wanderers
York City

CONFERENCE
Alfreton Town
Barrow
Braintree Town
Cambridge United
Dartford
Ebbsfleet United
Forest Green Rovers
Gateshead
Grimsby Town
Hereford United
Hyde
Kidderminster Harriers
Lincoln City
Luton Town
Macclesfield Town
Mansfield Town
Newport County
Nuneaton Town
Southport
Stockport County
Tamworth
Telford United
Woking
Wrexham

SPL
Aberdeen
Celtic
Dundee
Dundee United
Heart of Midlothian
Hibernian
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Kilmarnock
Motherwell
Ross County
St. Johnstone
St. Mirren

[Razzle Dazzle]

for me the premiership is wide open this year, especially at the bottom


PREMIER LEAGUE

Manchester City (tevez is loking back to his best, best squad in the league)
Manchester United (rvp and kagawa will help them finish top 2)
Chelsea (lots of signings, but will they gell?)
Arsenal (lost rvp but signed some good players for a change)
Tottenham Hotspur (avb could flop or shine, likely to loose modric and still havent signed adebayor)
Liverpool (more average players to add to an already average team, should have enough to finish top 6)
Everton (jelavic will score the goals, pienaar will set them up)
Newcastle United (cisse, ba, ben arfa between them will be a handful for anyone, keeping cabaye and tiote again essential, top 8 would be a good season)
Fulham (best of the rest, however with dempsey going they could drop 3 or 4 places)
Queen's Park Rangers (amazing signings green, boswinga, nelson, fabio, park ji sung, hoilett, andrew johnson, to add to onouha, taarabt, swp, cisse, zamora etc)
Stoke City (crouch, jones, walters, etherington, pennant and kightly are good enough going forward to secure safety, shawcross, huth good defensive pair aswel)
Aston Villa (lambert alone is why i put villa this high)
Southampton (good signings mixed with good form coming into the league and already premiership made players like lallana and lambert)
West Ham United (big sam never been relegated from premiership, a few decent signings diarra, diame, collins, maiga and a few more to come added to cole, noble, nolan, tomkins, matty taylor, vaz te, cant see them going down)
West Bromwich Albion (no roy, odemwingie is due to go awol, should be ok but will be a lot closer)
Reading (i have them just staying up, they showed last season its not about which big names you have its about how you play and if they stick to their way of playing and hold their own, they can stay up, however guthrie apart not a lot of quality has been added)
Swansea City (new manager, sinclair wants out, disaster is looming)
Sunderland (no gordon, turner, ferdinand, cana, henderson, jones, bent, gyan, bendtner among others, they might finish their usual lower mid table but i put them here as a warning, they are far from safe rather than i think they are the 3rd worst team, they always collapse after xmas and o'neill has a habbit of walking away and it looks like promises have not been kept)
Norwich City (no lambert, no chance, they will battle and get points, just not enough to survive)
Wigan Athletic (if martinez keeps them up again he is up there as one of the greatest managers ever)


Championship: Bolton Wanderers

League 1: Sheffield United

League 2: Fleetwood Town

[Panda]

I'll do Premier League later in the week.

CHAMPIONSHIP
Promoted: Bolton, Birmingham
Playoffs: Leicester, Cardiff, Wolves, Middlesbrough
Relegated: Peterborough, Crystal Palace, Millwall

LEAGUE ONE
Promoted: Sheffield Utd, Swindon
Playoffs: Coventry, MK Dons, Preston, Crawley
Relegated: Portsmouth, Shrewsbury, Oldham, Leyton Orient

LEAGUE TWO
Promoted: Rotherham, Bristol Rovers, Oxford
Playoffs: Chesterfield, Gillingham, Wycombe, Fleetwood
Relegated: Port Vale, Accrington

CONFERENCE
Promoted: Luton
Playoffs: Wrexham, Grimsby, Cambridge, Gateshead
Relegated: Dartford, Nuneaton, Braintree, Tamworth

NORTHERN LEAGUE
Top 3: Spennymoor, Dunston, Darlington
Relegated: Durham, Norton, Penrith

SPL
2nd: Hearts
Relegated: Dundee

[Earl Purple]

I think that the Premier League will definitely be headed by Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, with Arsenal stumbling into 4th. Tottenham will be further behind this year, will serve them right for sacking 'arry. Not sure if Newcastle can keep the momentum they had last season but maybe they can be 5th again, with Tottenham only 6th this season if that and Liverpool are not as big as they'd like to think they are.

At the bottom, I think Wigan will go down together with Southampton and think Swansea might suffer second season syndrome again. Norwich may well too. Reading were favourites to go down, and I think will surprise a few finishing a bit above the drop zone, with West Ham. West Brom, Sunderland and Stoke will remain uninspring but safe enough to not go down, and Fulham and Everton mid-table again. Aston Villa are the team I don't know where they are heading at all. I think just above the drop zone again, with QPR not leaving it quite as late as they did last year but no higher than 12th at best.

In the Championship, it would be nice if Charton can do what Norwich and Southampton have in the last couple of seasons but it's a tall order. I would say the 3 B's are the favourites, Bolton, Birmingham and Blackburn. Blackpool will get playoffs again. Not Burnley or Barnsley, the latter of whom could well drop, and I predict will. Bristol City are another B who will have a fight and I will predict them to drop too. I'll go for Peterborough as the other drop team.

League One: Sheffield United will overcome the woes of last season to win it, I'd quite like to see MK Dons take the 2nd spot. The 3rd spot will obviously be a playoff and could go to one of many teams but I'll go for Notts County. They had a good revival towards the end of last season but just missed out on the playoffs. For relegation, Portsmouth seem an obvious bet, Shrewsbury seem to be runaway favourites and I really don't like how long Walsall can keep surviving. Yeovil for the 4th spot?

League Two: We lost Macclesfield so there is no Fleetword - Mac game.. Teams promoted into the league generally do well and I think Fleetwood are a good bet for promotion. Everyone thinks it will be Rotherham's season again although they always fall. away. Southend, who just missed out last season and possibly Oxford in the playoffs. Barnet are going to havie their usual struggle and I think Dagenham might go with them.

[Maximo Mark]

Premier League

1 Man City
2 Man Utd
3 Arsenal
4 Chelsea
5 Liverpool
6 Everton
7 Spurs
8 Newcastle
9 Swansea
10 Fulham
11 Sunderland
12 Aston Villa
13 West Ham
14 Stoke
15 West Brom
16 QPR
17 Southampton
18 Norwich
19 Wigan
20 Reading

The bottom 12 in the PL could be in any order though really, I can make a very good case for every single one of them staying up.

I'd absolutely love either Stoke or QPR to go down.

[Shireblogger]

PREMIER

1. Man C
2. Man Utd
3. Arsenal
4. Chelsea
============
5. Liverpool
6. Newcastle
7. Aston Villa
8. Everton
9. Sunderland
10. Tottenham
11. Fulham
12. QPR
13. Stoke
14. WBA
15. West Ham
16. Norwich
17. Southampton
=============
18. Reading
19. Wigan
20. Swansea

[Panda]

My Premier League predictions:
1. Man Utd
2. Man City
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham
6. Liverpool
7. Everton
8. Newcastle
9. Aston Villa
10. Fulham
11. Sunderland
12. Stoke
13. West Ham
14. Wigan
15. Southampton
16. Reading
17. QPR
18. Norwich
19. West Brom
20. Swansea


Like Maximo Mark said, the bottom dozen or so could be in a completely different order on a different day, there's so little to choose between them.

I fancy all three promoted clubs to stay up without really doing anything special. Not sure Swansea and Norwich can keep the momentum going after losing their managers.

Signing RVP swings the advantage back in Man U's favour for me. City might have a real go at the Champions League this season, which could prove a distraction.

If Arsenal fans can stop whining about RVP (and referees) long enough to get behind the players who are there, they could be in the top 4.

Brendan Rodgers should stop Liverpool's decline but it might take another year to see any actual progress.

[Panda]

Four Four Two's predictions for the season:

PREMIER LEAGUE
1. Man City
2. Man Utd
3. Tottenham
4. Arsenal
5. Chelsea
6. Liverpool
7. Newcastle
8. Everton
9. Sunderland
10. Aston Villa
11. Stoke
12. Fulham
13. QPR
14. Norwich
15. West Ham
16. Wigan
17. Southampton
18. Reading
19. West Brom
20. Swansea

CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Bolton
2. Leeds
3. Leicester
4. Wolves
5. Brighton
6. Blackburn
7. Birmingham
8. Cardiff
9. Blackpool
10. Middlesbrough
11. Nottm Forest
12. Sheff Wed
13. Charlton
14. Ipswich
15. Watford
16. Hull
17. Derby
18. Huddersfield
19. Burnley
20. Crystal Palace
21. Peterborough
22. Millwall
23. Bristol City
24. Barnsley

LEAGUE ONE
1. MK Dons
2. Swindon
3. Sheff Utd
4. Notts County
5. Carlisle
6. Coventry
7. Bournemouth
8. Stevenage
9. Crewe
10. Preston
11. Brentford
12. Doncaster
13. Scunthorpe
14. Crawley
15. Colchester
16. Yeovil
17. Tranmere
18. Portsmouth
19. Shrewsbury
20. Hartlepool
21. Oldham
22. Leyton Orient
23. Walsall
24. Bury

LEAGUE TWO
1. Rotherham
2. Southend
3. Chesterfield
4. Fleetwood
5. Bristol Rovers
6. Gillingham
7. Oxford
8. Wycombe
9. Cheltenham
10. Torquay
11. Port Vale
12. Northampton
13. Bradford
14. Exeter
15. Plymouth
16. Aldershot
17. York
18. Rochdale
19. Accrington
20. Morecambe
21. Burton
22. Wimbledon
23. Dag & Red
24. Barnet

CONFERENCE
1. Luton
2. Mansfield
3. Grimsby
4. Cambridge
5. Wrexham
6. Forest Green
7. Kidderminster
8. Newport
9. Gateshead
10. Macclesfield
11. Southport
12. Woking
13. Stockport
14. Tamworth
15. Alfreton
16. Hereford
17. Telford
18. Barrow
19. Lincoln
20. Dartford
21. Braintree
22. Nuneaton
23. Ebbsfleet
24. Hyde

SPL
1. Celtic
2. Dundee Utd
3. Hearts
4. Motherwell
5. Kilmarnock
6. Aberdeen
7. St. Johnstone
8. St. Mirren
9. Ross County
10. Hibernian
11. Dundee
12. Inverness

[Razzle Dazzle]

im surprised everyone has sunderland so high, they never finish above 13th, always collapse at the end of the season, have sold all their best players and are incredibly light in defense and upfront

[Razzle Dazzle]

oh and o'neill hasn't been given a penny to spend, he will throw his toys out the pram and walk away by xmas

[Panda]

Aug 17, 2012 13:40:33 GMT 1 Razzle Dazzle said:

im surprised everyone has sunderland so high, they never finish above 13th, always collapse at the end of the season, have sold all their best players and are incredibly light in defense and upfront

It's almost by default. After the top 8, there's no-one there that makes you think: "they look like a top half team" but at least two of them are going to be up that high.

[Maximo Mark]

Indeed. You could pick 9-12 out of a hat and it'd be as good a guess as any. None look like top 10 teams, it's incredibly easy to make a strong case for any staying up,

[Maximo Mark]

The Championship is as tough to predict as ever, fairly easy to make a decent promotion case for at least 14-16 teams and the rest could easily finish well outside of relegation.

Going to go for:

Promoted: Bolton, Leicester, Middlesborough
Play-offs: Blackpool, Wolves, Cardiff
Top 10: Forest, Birmingham, Sheffield Weds, Leeds
Mid-table: Derby, Hull, Blackburn, Brighton, Burnley, Bristol City, Huddersfield
Dogfight: Peterborough, Palace, Ipswich, Charlton
Relegated: Watford, Millwall, Barnsley

[Tom]

Aug 17, 2012 13:55:01 GMT 1 Panda said:

Aug 17, 2012 13:40:33 GMT 1 Razzle Dazzle said:

im surprised everyone has sunderland so high, they never finish above 13th, always collapse at the end of the season, have sold all their best players and are incredibly light in defense and upfront

It's almost by default. After the top 8, there's no-one there that makes you think: "they look like a top half team" but at least two of them are going to be up that high.

You'll be even more surprised at where i've predicted Sunderland then, once i've typed up my PL predictions in a bit with thoughts for each, or most anyway! Won't have time to do any other predictions for FL, Blue Sq, or SPL now (can't be bothered to do it in September) but as Mark says the Championship looks tough to predict as usual!

Also Gillingham look tough to predict in League 2. Hess did a pretty good job in the last 2 seasons for me, but I think Martin Allen may do slightly better. But in the short term, they seem to have had a big turnover of players in and out so it it will take time for the team to bed in.

[Razzle Dazzle]

ive edited my post with explinations

[Tom]

Some of these points totals may be too high but they don't take into account injuries and suspensions. They're the absolute maximum for each club. I've also only taken into account transfers that have been officially completed by 6pm last night (from the BBC site). May be some surprises but i'm fairly happy with my positions, although the bottom end was harder to predict than ever.

1) Man Utd 96 - Having Vidic back will be a boost, his absence for half of last season was crucial in determining went last season IMO. They also have a knack of responding well when they've not won the title (won it 4 out of 5 times the season after) and the young players, the defenders/keeper in particular, will have learnt from the experience of last season. Although that last point is countered by the fact that Man City now have title winning experience.
2) Man City 88 - In addition to what i've said above losing Micah Richards for the first 2-3 months of the season could be a blow and i'm not convinced Rodwell is ready for a title challenge.
3) Chelsea 74 - Really about gut feeling here, think they'll carry on the momentum from winning the CL and FA Cup last season. On the evidence of the Belgium game at Wembley in June Hazard looks a great signing, although Drogba despite being in and out last season will be a big miss.
4) Newcastle 65 - Didn't consider them to challenging for the Top 4 at first but they've had continuity which hasn't been the case for all the clubs in the Top 6. It does require a replication of last year though which won't be an easy task.
5) Arsenal 62 - Losing RVP is a huge blow. Rumours of Song to Barcelona and whether Wilshere can return to his best form whenever he comes back leaves a big question mark over whether they can finish Top 6.
6) Sunderland 61 - Yes really. O'Neill made a massive difference last season (thanks to Shireblogger's points per game stats last season here) and Saha looks a good signing. Whether they qualify for Europe is dependant on Saha staying fit though.
7/8) Liverpool/Spurs 58 - Can't split these two, which is quite fitting as AVB's time at Chelsea reminded me of Rodgers' at Reading, ie trying to change things too quickly and falling out with players. Not totally convinced that Rodgers will do well at Liverpool but they must improve on last season's points tally, i've got them down as doing so. Spurs striking options look weak atm with just Defoe + Harry Kane.
9) QPR 57 - Mark Hughes made a difference last season. They've had an astonishing summer with the players they've brought in.
10) Everton 55 - Not much change here
11) Stoke 53 - Not being in the Europa League will make a massive difference. Bit surprised they let Woodgate go though.
12) Fulham 50 - They've prob had the worst summer of anyone, (which could get even worse if Dempsey leaves), but not having the Europa League as a distraction almost makes up for that.
13) Aston Villa 48 - Not convinced of their transfer business this summer but Lambert will make a massive difference.
14) West Ham 45 - Good transfer business and Big Sam's experience of keeping teams up will be a boost too.
15) Norwich 45 - Below West Ham as Big Sam isn't new to West Ham. Hughton is a good appointment IMO and they've had a good summer but replicating Lambert's superb success last season will be tough.
16) Reading 43 - Must admit before going to Reading's last pre-season game I wasn't sure about our transfer business. But now think we've had a really good summer and that may just be enough.
17) Wigan 43 - Below Reading as for the remainder of this transfer window and Jan it may be better for us. If Moses goes then i'd put them in the bottom 3.
18) West Brom 42 - My surprise pick to go down. Steve Clarke unproven and they've not done enough in the window, except release Keith Andrews which i found a bit surprising.
19) Southampton 41 - Rodriguez is a good signing, but not sure whether that will be enough.
20) Swansea 32 - Rodgers did really well last season, even if I did think i'd just keep them up at the start of the season. Laudrup unproven in the PL and losing key players like Allen and Sigurdsson is not a good recipe for survival.

Could be a team going down with over 40 points this season...

[Tom]

Aug 18, 2012 10:39:02 GMT 1 Razzle Dazzle said:

ive edited my post with explinations

I did see your later post, but wanted to include both yours and mrh's posts when quoting.

[raliverpool]

PREMIER LEAGUE

1. Man City
2. Man Utd
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal
5. Tottenham
6. Liverpool
7. Newcastle
8. Everton
9. Sunderland
10. QPR
11. Fulham
12. Aston Villa
13. Stoke
14. West Ham
15. Norwich
16. Wigan
17. West Brom
18. Reading
19. Southampton
20. Swansea

For the 2nd season running I can't see past the top 2 for the title and unless either internally capitulates I expect them to both finish 10 points clear of the 3rd placed side.

With regards to the relegation battle, realistically I think it is between the bottom six I've listed, but any club up to Sunderland is not safe (i.e. if O'Neill quits mid season, as he is capable of doing).

CHAMPIONSHIP:
Promoted: Bolton, Cardiff, Leicester
Relegated: Barnsley, Bristol City, Crystal Palace

LEAGUE ONE:
Promoted: MK Dons, Sheffield Utd, Swindon
Relegated: Walsall, Yeovil, Portsmouth, Hartlepool

LEAGUE TWO:
Promoted: Fleetwood Town, Rotherham, Chesterfield, Southend
Relegated: Barnet, Dagenham & Redbridge

[Panda]

O'Neill made a big difference to Sunderland at first but there was a worrying (well, not worrying for me) decline towards the end of the season, with no win in their last nine games.

I think O'Neill is a good manager but I've never been convinced he's a great manager.

[Razzle Dazzle]

sunderland 6th, they failed to win in their last 9 games, they have no decent strikers, play a winger at lb and sold their main cb in turner. they have only brought in two free transfers, saha is made from porcelin, no doubting he is decent but at 34 he is past it, not to mention the strikers they have lost (jones, bent, gyan etc) pfft, if they finish top 6 i will eat my own junk.

swansea are 3-0 up and wba are beating liverpool 2-0 hehe