Those long, boring and dreary summer afternoons spent pushing a trolley round Tesco's car-park or being stood behind a smoky barbecue, can now be replaced with the more favorable pint and pie whilst down watching the footie! Marvelous.
Championship Review - August 2005
Those long, boring and dreary summer afternoons spent pushing a trolley round Tesco's car-park or being stood behind a smoky barbecue, can now be replaced with the more favorable pint and pie whilst down watching the footie! Marvelous.
And what a start to the new season it's been. We've seen Sheffield United emerge as the early pace setters, Crewe taking up second spot, Reading and Luton looking impressive, Coventry making a good start to life at their new Ricoh Arena and Ipswich being their usual unpredictable selves. All this whilst our dear friends Norwich linger in 23rd without an away win since May 2004. Oh what a wonderful thing life can be...
It's a well documented fact this might be Neil Warnock's last chance to lead the Blades to the top-flight for the first time in 11 years. He's bought well in securing Danny Webber for £500,000 from Watford and has also brought in five new players on free transfers, including David Unsworth from Portsmouth. The omens for promotion this season are looking good for the Blades, who have already notched up an impressive 15 points out of 18.
Reading, Luton and Watford have also made promising starts but are likely to fade away, leaving the path clear for the likes of Leeds, Southampton, Wolves, Palace, Ipswich, Preston, Derby and – okay, possibly Norwich - to fight out the other two promotion slots should Sheffield United go up. Fun, drama, tension, suspense, glory and heartache – I have a feeling this season could be quite good fun!
If the three relegated sides can adapt quicker to life back in the Championship (in particular, Norwich...) then this could turn out to be the most exciting league in the whole of Europe.
Meanwhile at the bottom end of the table, the three relegated teams looks like they could come from a small group of – well let's see…. there's Coventry, Brighton, Crewe, Leicester, Burnley, Cardiff, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall, QPR, Norwich (wouldn't that be nice) and possibly even newly promoted Hull. I make that about twelve.
Yep, it's going to be fun, so let the season continue to unfold!