Aston
Villa:
What a difference a play-off
victory would have made for Aston Villa but fast forward from that match and
the club has severely suffered financially with the club battling the demands
of Financial Fair Play and just about managing to avoid going into administration.
However, as the season begins, Aston Villa have new owners and new optimism.
Billionaires Naseef Sawiris and Wes Edens hold a majority stake in the club and
are determined to get Villa back in the top flight. They have backed determined
boss Steve Bruce who to his credit hasn’t said at any stage he wanted to leave
the club despite the uncertainty for much of the summer. Now the fans will want
success this season. With Villa being under a soft transfer embargo when the club was on its knees financially, the club
will have to act quickly in the month of August to replace what they lost from
the previous season. Aston Villa will have a new look squad, but they will find
it difficult to replace what they lost but their ambition remains the same.
Promotion is high on the agenda for the club and Steve Bruce must deliver this
time around with a motivation to avoid last season’s heartache. There is enough
quality in that squad at Championship level including Albert Adomah, James Chester,
Jonathan Kodjia and of course prized asset Jack Grealish. Keeping Grealish will
be vital for the club and the closer to the deadline they get, the more likely
he stays. The fans will be full of renewed optimism despite a difficult summer
for the whole club and teams will struggle against them this season should Bruce create the team he wants and a play
off place will be the minimum expectation for the whole club and they will hope
this time around, they will be celebrating promotion in May.
I think Aston Villa will secure a play off spot
at least but they will have to fight for it. I do think last season’s heartache
will be motivation this season and I think they could well be celebrating at
the end of the season.
My Predicted Finish: 5th (Promoted as Play-Off Winners)
Birmingham:
The blue half of
Birmingham will be hoping for an improved campaign this time around after the
club narrowly escaped relegation once again. Firefighter Garry Monk to the rescue
for Birmingham as he got Birmingham going and they escaped from the clutches
off League 1. However, like their bitter city rivals Aston Villa, Birmingham have
also battled Financial Fair Play and unfortunately for them, they have failed
to comply with FFP rules and now the club face a battle to get players Garry
Monk desperately desires because he can sign up to 5 players, but they must be deemed
as a required player after the club failed FFP. The Blues must follow a strict
plan from EFL and they will face a potentially difficult season once again.
Despite this, Garry Monk will have confidence in the players he has, and a mid-table
finish would represent an improvement for the club. Furthermore, the Birmingham
fans will hope for stability this season after seasons of changing managers and
vast amounts of changes in the squad and the fans will hope Garry Monk survives
the season. Birmingham’s ambition would be to push for a play-off place but
they face a battle with a number of Championship teams with the same ambition
and based on their current squad, the Blues will struggle to compete for a
play-off place and Monk will be fully aware his squad needs a few extra bodies
to give them a competitive edge but he will have to be box clever with approach
due to the club’s constraints. They do have talent their squad with the likes
of Che Adams and Jota would they haven’t seen the best out of since his big
move from Brentford and Monk will be desperate to unlock the Spaniard’s true abilities.
He is a quality Championship player and must do more for the club to achieve
something this season. The Blues fans will certainly just want a season of
stability and improvement from the previous campaigns.
I think they will be
much improved this season if they stick by Garry Monk and give him the
opportunity to improve the whole football club
My Predicted Finish:
17th
Blackburn:
What a fantastic response
to relegation from Blackburn Rovers, they were magnificent last season in the
third tier and Tony Mowbray masterminded a promotion campaign which every
Blackburn fan expected. The pressure now changes to survival with any promoted
team and Blackburn are no exception. They have had a quiet summer and have done
much of their work out of the media spotlight as they gear up for the new
season. Tony Mowbray has done a wonderful job at the club and rightly gets the
chance to lead Blackburn’s survival charge. Blackburn scored plenty of goals
and were solid defensively last season and again they will need these attributes
to compete in the Championship. They will need their star players to flourish
including the midfield maestro Bradley Dack. He is certainly the best £750,000
ever spent by the club and he will be vital to any success Blackburn have this
season. The League 1 player of year dazzled in the third tier with an abundance
of goals and assists in Blackburn’s promotion and he will relish his
opportunity to showcase his skills in a higher league as well a lot of this
Blackburn team. The fans will want survival at a minimum and anything above survival
would represent an excellent season for Blackburn.
I do think Blackburn
have enough to survive and will cause their opponents some problems this season
and they will relish beating arguably better teams.
My Predicted Finish:
19th
Bolton:
The Bolton fans were
full of different emotions on the final day of last season and they finished
that particular day with scenes of shear joy and delight as the club survived
relegation and now they will be hoping the club can have a much more comfortable
season. Phil Parkinson has done a wonderful job in his 2 years in charge and he
like the Bolton fans will want a season of comfort and not battling the drop. However,
the club still clearly has some financial difficulties with reports about
players not being paid for certain things. However, Phil Parkinson will battle
on from the off-field issues and want to build a team better than the previous
season’s team. The wholesale changes of team have been evident with large amounts
of last seasons team leaving and total so far of 11 new signings. Parkinson
will quickly have to get that team to gel and play to the style he wants to
incorporate. However, Parkinson has kept the spine of their squad from last
season and these include David Wheater, Mark Beevers, Josh Vela and Sammy Ameobi.
Wheater and Beevers have formed a brilliant partnership at the back for Bolton
and they will be vital for Bolton’s chances of survival. Likewise will Sammy
Ameobi who was largely Bolton’s creative player last season and his shear pace
and power will cause problems for teams and Parkinson will be wanting to see
more from him in the new season. Bolton’s expectations will be to secure a
third consecutive season in the Championship and anything above survival would
represent a brilliant season for the football club and those Bolton fans will
back their side whatever direction their season heads in. I think it will be a
difficult season for the club but if they manage to survive it would represent
a successful season.
My Predicted Finish:
23rd
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