Championship: 08/09 Ante Post

[kompressaur]

Q P R 6/1
Birmingham 15/2
Reading 8/1
Sheff Utd 10/1
C Palace 11/1
Ipswich 12/1
Wolves 14/1
Derby 14/1
Charlton 14/1
Watford 16/1
Cardiff 20/1
Nottm Forest 25/1
Coventry 25/1
Bristol City 25/1
Swansea 33/1
Southampton 33/1
Preston 33/1
Norwich 33/1
Plymouth 40/1
Doncaster 40/1
Burnley 40/1
Sheff Wed 66/1
Blackpool 80/1
Barnsley 80/1
1/4 Odds Place 1, 2, 3

Odds from William Hill

[keemanan]

'kinell , 6/1 on QPR!
Ah well I think I may just hold fire on them and hope they have a bad start and lump on later

[kompressaur]

Whats happened at QPR to make them so short Keem? they got a man with loads of money in? QPR best priced 7/1 with Sportingbet

[keemanan]

Worlds richest man is bankrolling them komp.
I like Preston e/w there , Irvine rescued a disaster and they stayed up with a bit to spare. They have good players still there too
yeah 33/1 is good

[Kop66]

I'll be on Sheffield Utd here but i'll be hoping to get a better price than 10/1

Manager Kevin Blackwell had done a great job with Leeds and Luton but had his hands severley tied at both clubs. He also turned around what looked set to be a very bad season for the Blades.
I believe he was already quite well respected as his time as an assistant there too. United will be on the up just knowing Robson has gone.

The fans are back in numbers too aren't they Trick?

[Cinny]

Originally Posted by Kop66

I'll be on Sheffield Utd here but i'll be hoping to get a better price than 10/1

Manager Kevin Blackwell had done a great job with Leeds and Luton but had his hands severley tied at both clubs. He also turned around what looked set to be a very bad season for the Blades.
I believe he was already quite well respected as his time as an assistant there too. United will be on the up just knowing Robson has gone.

The fans are back in numbers too aren't they Trick?

100% agree with this. They had a super end to the season once that prat Robson left. Blackwell will hopefully get his just rewards for all the hardship he's endured at Leeds and Luton. They were on a great run at the end of the season and they have one of the best squads in the league, hopefully Beattie stays. On the issue of fans i noticed on sky sports news they had the highest average attendance in the league last season

[Winrew]

Surprised that Birmingham are 2nd faves.
Seemed to be a lot of trouble in the camp , along with the uncertainty of who will own the club , they seem a shambles off the pitch..

[kompressaur]

QPR 13/2
Birmingham 15/2
Reading 9
Wolves 14
Crystal Palace 14


Fcuking great. It''s gonna be a London affair. Palace look a great bet to me. How many years in the wings?

[trickrick]

Originally Posted by Kop66

I'll be on Sheffield Utd here but i'll be hoping to get a better price than 10/1

Manager Kevin Blackwell had done a great job with Leeds and Luton but had his hands severley tied at both clubs. He also turned around what looked set to be a very bad season for the Blades.
I believe he was already quite well respected as his time as an assistant there too. United will be on the up just knowing Robson has gone.

The fans are back in numbers too aren't they Trick?

Sorry mate - just spotted this..

As we all know, Blackwell definately changed the fortunes of the Blades when he arrived, although that wasnt difficult as any halfwit (Bryan Robson not included) could do well with the squad that is there. To be fair, Blackwell did a great job in lifting the team from the dark days of Robson, and they are playing now with a vigour, energy and desire to win. Blackwell is definately using the Warnock style motivational techniques - which he is well used to being Warnocks understudy for so long). However he also has the backing of the board, a sizeable transfer kitty he hasnt really touched yet, and a large support (biggest in the Championship last season). It'll be just as packed this year, under 12 tickets are free and the season ticket prices are reasonable (unlike the saddo piggy bastards at the other side of the city ) I'll be amazed if they don't make the top 6 and very disappointed if they don't make the top 3. 14/1 with Bet365 is definately worth playing

[GETT1NLOTS]

Why is nobody mentioning Nottingham Forest? (my team).

I think we've done some good business this summer. We have strengthened enormously in attack with the signings of Garner (top scorer and highly rated from Carlisle & ex-Blackburn). We have Andrew Cole in his swansong season (he can still pop them in at this level). We have Robert Earnshaw who always scores a shed load at this level too. Add these three to Nathan Tyson who has pace to burn and I think we have one of the best attacks in the division.

In midfield we have signed Guy Moussi - a future French International player according to many and Paul Anderson is on a season long loan from Liverpool who are suitably impressed enough with him to have given him a new 3 year deal. Anderson was on loan to Swansea last year and was their player of the year in a season when they won League One.

We have off loaded Agogo and Holt who were massively overated and seen Kris Commons leave to join Derby. Kris Commons is a good player and can create a lot - however like Andy Reid who left us a few seasons ago he is constantly over weight and always getting injured. Whilst I would have liked him to stay (as he is useful when he plays) he is a bit of a luxury player.

Calderwood always produces sides that don't concede many and this factor in conjunction with an improved attack and midfield leads me to believe that Nottingham Forest can get a play off place.

Another interesting tit-bit is that Calderwood has never managed a club that hasn't finished in at least the play offs in every season he has been a manager. Five seasons in charge of Northampton and Nottingham Forest - 3 play off places and 2 automatic promotions.

Current best price for the Reds is 33/1. I think that's a bit of value.

[EasternFox]

What about the action at the other end of the table? It would ages to analyse why Leicester, average attendance 23,508, multimillionaire owner, etc etc, were relegated. However, I would say the analysis for Colchester and Scunthorpe is much easier; they had the lowest average attendances / smallest grounds and were always going to be up against it considering their budget limitations. In 2008/09 Blackpool's stadium capacity is the lowest in the league by 6,000 seats. The three promoted teams seem to be pretty well off in financial terms. I really hope Blackpool do well - their manager is a top bloke and an ex-Leicester City hero - but purely in terms of financial muscle they're starting from the back of the field.

[Kop66]

under 12 tickets are free

That is a superb way to run a football club
I watched Hereford Utd every home game from the age of 10 to the age of 13 for free, it filled the ground and ensured i came back for many years as a paying adult.
I still fancy you're team for an excellent season Rick, maybe even a little stronger now.

[ONEDUNME]

Derby are a shite price. I would lay that all day. I'll just copy and paste my post from "The sack race" thread...

If they are offering odds on the Championship, get your money on Paul Jewell.

Done nothing but stagnate since the day he took over Derby. Had Eight months to build a team fit to challenge for promotion and ...... well...basically, he hasn't.

Starts off with a sitter of a game on Saturday but if Derby aren't in the top ten at the end of September he'll be on his way.

Fuckin Scouse twat

They'll probably win on Saturday but a play off place would be an achievement this season in my view.

My money is on Wolves for promotion.

[martini]

YES, 1´st Round Championship:....however,please they hit me I belive C Palace wins ....

[kompressaur]

sorry martini don't mind me i aint following you

The Championship appears to be getting more competitive every year, but try telling that to the bookmakers. They have given up more than 35 per cent of the outright book to just three teams in this season's ante-post market.

Last season, the second tier of the English game was generally acknowledged to be the most fascinating league in modern football history.

Indeed, a statistical formula put forward by a trio of American sports economists proves that the 2007/2008 Championship campaign displayed the finest competitive balance witnessed anywhere in the professional game in Western Europe over the last 20 years.

It should come as no surprise. Exactly half of the division was still in with a shout of promotion on the penultimate weekend. The season before, 10 teams were still dreaming of the Premiership with two games to go.

Mind you, this is a fairly new development.

At the turn of the century, the bar was raised by a string of runaway champions - sometimes accompanied by runaway runners-up - and it's a toss-up as to whether the best teams at this level are getting worse or the rest have just caught up.

The answer is probably a little bit of both, but there is one team who should provide us with a definitive answer this season.

Birmingham don't belong be here. They are a Premier League set-up in all but name. They have Premier League players and a Premier League manager. And perhaps most worryingly for everyone else, they appear to have taken relegation in their stride with no hint of any fall-out behind the scenes regarding contracts and want-away players.

Blues are simply too strong for this division and the worry for those of us who idolise the Championship as the antithesis of the Premier League is that Birmingham's presence will destroy the ambience and shatter the illusion of a cut-throat environment where anyone can beat anyone.

They won promotion at this level two years ago and have retained most of the key performers from that campaign. That in itself is no guarantee of success and there will be enormous pressure on the players to deliver but, in that respect, they couldn't possibly be directed by anybody better than Alex McLeish.

The former Rangers manager knows all about handling the weight of expectation during his time at Ibrox and we know from his stint as Scotland boss that Blues can be dogged as well as dogmatic. They will have no problem with doing the dirty work.

The case for backing Birmingham to win the title at 13/2 only gets more attractive when you weigh up the sides keeping them company at the head of the market.

The fascination with QPR is mind boggling. Everybody knows that the Londoners are being driven by some seriously rich backers but question marks remain over virtually every other aspect.

Iain Dowie might have been viewed as a progressive manager with innovative methods three or four years ago but nowadays he finds himself in esteemed company at a time when his own career has gone backwards somewhat. His eagerness to jump from one failed relationship into the next, without any time for reflection, has diluted the fresh outlook that originally made him different.

As for the players, they hardly live up to the billing of a billionaire's weekend project.

Confusion still reigns over the immediate intentions of Bernie Ecclestone, Flavio Briatore and Lakshmi Mittal but we can only presume they want to take Rangers into the Premier League. But, with all due respect, you don't do that with Patrick Agyemang, Dexter Blackstock and Roman Vine in attack.

Rest assured, when the Loftus Road hierarchy really means business, we will know about it.

Reading can also bestruck off the list for entirely different reasons. Indeed, they are the antithesis of Birmingham in terms of dressing room stability. When the Royals turned the title race into a procession three seasons ago, it was another time and the mindset of the Madejski dressing room was in another place.

Steve Coppell was allowed to assemble a hungry team of unknowns relatively unhindered by external pressures, the environment in which he works best. But now those hungry unknowns are household names with Premier League egos and most of them are desperate to return to the top flight via the easier route of the transfer market.

The collective spirit that was the driving force behind Reading three years ago has all but evaporated. So while the Berkshire club will probably nestle somewhere in the middle of the table, the 40/1 on them being relegated appeals much more than the 11/4 on them being promoted, especially with Coppell's future far from clear cut.

Derby complete the relegated trio and while it must be accepted that Paul Jewell is a manager of immense standing, he will struggle to rid the club of its laughable losing mentality overnight and the plethora of new faces he has brought in will take time to settle.

So the best advice on the Rams is to keep a watching brief for the time being, they might come into our thinking as the season progresses.

Sheffield United and Crystal Palace were the big finishers last time around and will no doubt be optimistic about their chances of stretching that good form over nine months, but they are perfectly visible on the bookies' radar and represent no value.

So that's the top six teams in the market dealt with and it's only once you look beyond them that the undercooked prices of QPR and Reading begin to wash up something a little more tasty.

In terms of project development, no other team is coming to the boil quite like Ipswich right now and they ought to be supported at 6/1 for promotion.

Jim Magilton has made steady progress ever since taking the job back in June 2006 and if the Tractor Boys continue to progress at the rate they have done over the past two seasons, then a promotion challenge can be taken for granted this time around.

They were formidable at Portman Road last season, playing a brand of football that left most visiting sides gasping for breath, but they never really found a way to impose the same style outside of Suffolk.

However, Magilton has invested well over the summer and it will be interesting to see just how early they register their first away win because they might take some stopping if they get a couple on the board early doors.

In that respect, the return of prodigal son Richard Wright between the sticks could rank as one the most important transfers of the summer and the club's recent interest in David Nugent suggests they now mean business off the field as well as on it, which hasn't been the case for quite a while

Meanwhile, Chris Coleman appears to be getting to grips with the task in hand at Coventry and they might also be worth an interest at 14/1 for a return to the top flight.

We certainly shouldn't shy away from this bet on the grounds that the Sky Blues were embroiled in a relegation battle last term because Derby and Hull have both landed big double-figure quotes from a similar position in the past couple of seasons.

In a division that is often so tight, enormous advantage can be gained by coming into a new campaign free from the shackles of any emotional baggage that carries over from the season before and sometimes it even helps to be dismissed purely by association with a relegation battle.

The Rams and the Tigers were bothis serious trouble 12 months before catapulting themselves into the top flight and Coventry now appear to fit a similar psychological profile.

In Freddy Eastwood, they have a genuine 20-goal marksman and someone who is more than capable of winning matches at this level single-handedly with sublime moments of magic.

That, in itself, should ensure Coventry are nowhere near the bottom this time around and with Coleman injecting a greater sense of tactical discipline, a good start could soon bring the feel-good factor flooding back to the Ricoh.

Finally, it would be rude not to have a little nibble at the 40/1 on offer for Barnsley to win promotion.

Forget the scramble for safety at the end of last season, the Tykes were comfortably holding their own at this level until their attention was captured by the romance of the FA Cup.

Victories over Liverpool and Chelsea served only to highlight the tactical ability of manager Simon Davey and it's amazing how quickly people have forgotten those achievements.

For some reason, the layers are operating under the misapprehension that some exterior force must have been at work on both occasions because they wouldn't be nearly so dismissive of the Welshman's managerial ability otherwise.

Nobody is suggesting that Barnsley are serious contenders for automatic promotion but if the division becomes anything like as congested as it was last season, then a top six finish is certainly not beyond them.

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