The Race to the Big League

watman

Not seen a thread on the race to the premiership as of yet and i know their are many fellow supporters of non premier league clubs back in ireland. 15 games to go who do you reckon are going up. Its looking like the relegated sides will not all go straight back up

OPENROAD

I hope Stoke go up as Champions as I backed them at the start of the season, Bristol City are also looking good at the moment. Watford and West Brom are the favs I suppose.

watman

Well i for one (been a season ticket holder at stoke) hope you win that bet Serioiusly though Wolves in 12th 2 points off playoffs - I agree Watford , West Brom will be two of the six in contention come the end but I think there will be a dowie-esque late runner when he took palace from 19th at chrimbo to the playoffs - maybe this season it could be QPR.

OPENROAD

Im an Arsenal supporter but for some reason have always had a soft spot for QPR, so would love to see them go up, what is great about the championship at the moment is that so many teams still have a chance of getting a play off spot.

eirebhoy

Ipswich are the team we should be cheering for. Garvan, Bruce, Clarke, Supple, Walters, Quinn, Lee and Norris all playing for them. Quinn and Lee are internationals that may not get a chance to play for us again but the rest are all potential Ireland players. Not to mention Nick Colgan.

SantryRed

eirebhoy wrote: »

Ipswich are the team we should be cheering for. Garvan, Bruce, Clarke, Supple, Walters, Quinn, Lee and Norris all playing for them. Quinn and Lee are internationals that may not get a chance to play for us again but the rest are all potential Ireland players. Not to mention Nick Colgan.

We ended there unbeaten home run yesterday:p

I think Watford are going to pull away again to be honest. They were nine points clear at one point in October and I think now that we've ended our hoodoo at home, I think we'll pull away again from the pack.

Jonny Arson

fascinating stuff (again!) this season in Coca League, far more interesting and exciting than the Premiership

all of the current top 5 are good enough to go up but looking at West Brom's and Watford's squads it would take a brave man to bet against both of them going up. Bristol City and Stoke have had sensational seasons, i do think they've punched above their weight but it's February and they are still there and there is no sign of them dropping off, yet. As for Charlton, they got a great win over flying Palace on Friday and you can't rule them out going straight back up but losing Andy Reid is a huge huge blow for them. as for the play-offs, no point in predicting the unpredictable, Southampton as far as 18th are only 7 points of that 6th spot so it's all for grabs, that will be fascinating. for relegation, its 3 from Scunthorpe, Sheff Wed, Colchester and Preston for me but Coventry are looking like they're on a worrying downhill slope

i haven't kept my eye on leagues 1 and 2 much apart from the great goals on goals on sunday but i think the most interesting story to look out for is Leeds' sudden decline from their early season dominance, its a big possibility they wont even make the playoffs and have to spend another season rotting in that league

estebancambias

I would love Ipswich to go up.

SantryRed

estebancambias wrote: »

I would love Ipswich to go up.

It's there away form that's troubling them. They only won their first away game of the season last week.
How they get on in the rest of their away games will make or break their season.

OPENROAD

Anyone think QPR can make the play offs.

mike65

Its looking like an even closer competition last last season. The points spread from 6th to 19th is 10 points which is mad.

Mike.

SantryRed

OPENROAD wrote: »

Anyone think QPR can make the play offs.

They have a chance with the run there on at the moment.

The run has to end some time and I just wonder if that will effect them and see them go off the boil for a few games.

SantryRed

Norwich will go up through the play offs IMO.

Glenn Roeder has worked meracles with the team, when he was appointed they were in the relegation zone, now there 4 points off the play offs.

Green Giant

West Brom and Watford for automatic promotion and possibly Crystal Palace through play-offs


My pre-season tip for Southampton looks more misguided by the week :rolleyes:

chopperbyrne

Unfortunately I think our FA Cup run will hurt us in the long run (unless we win it and are in Europe next season!).

I still think we'll go up, but I'd rather go up as Champions than runners up.

I never fancy our chances in the playoffs, we always seem to choke.

Edit: By we I mean West Brom.

watman

Big signing today with West Brom getting Luke Moore on loan til the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal . Should do very well at championship level .Watford . Bristol City and West Brom should all come through their games unscathed so Tomorrow - Big day for us (stoke city) as we take on 6th place Ipswich Town and bid to keep our top spot for another while.

OPENROAD

watman wrote: »

- Big day for us (stoke city) as we take on 6th place Ipswich Town and bid to keep our top spot for another while.

Hopefully for the rest of the season, 10 Euro on at 28/1

SantryRed

Pos Team P F A GD Pts
1 Bristol City 37 45 42 3 66
2 Stoke City 37 60 49 11 63
3 Watford 36 57 43 14 62
4 West Brom 35 71 42 29 61
5 Charlton Athletic 37 53 44 9 56
6 Hull City 36 46 39 7 56
7 Plymouth Argyle 37 49 38 11 55
8 Ipswich Town 36 53 44 9 53
9 Crystal Palace 37 41 36 5 53
10 Burnley 37 50 49 1 52

That's the way the top 10 looks at the minute.
This race is really hotting up now as your guaranteed that at least one of the top 4 will drop points each week.
No doubt this is going down to the wire.

Stoke are on a bit of a bad run at the minute drawing today and losing the other two before that.

My team Watford just wont put teams away and keep letting in late goals:mad:

Still think ourselves and West Brom will go up just because we've both done it before.

Mr. Presentable

SantryRed wrote: »

Pos Team P F A GD Pts
1 Bristol City 37 45 42 3 66
2 Stoke City 37 60 49 11 63
3 Watford 36 57 43 14 62
4 West Brom 35 71 42 29 61
5 Charlton Athletic 37 53 44 9 56
6 Hull City 36 46 39 7 56
7 Plymouth Argyle 37 49 38 11 55
8 Ipswich Town 36 53 44 9 53
9 Crystal Palace 37 41 36 5 53
10 Burnley 37 50 49 1 52

Now that's a proper competition.

Melion

I think it would be a disaster if Bristol City go up, they would be embarassed next year. Nothing against the team or place(my mother was born there so i do check their scores every weekend) but i think they'd be just as bad as Derby in the premier league

Jonny Arson

Melion wrote: »

I think it would be a disaster if Bristol City go up, they would be embarassed next year. Nothing against the team or place(my mother was born there so i do check their scores every weekend) but i think they'd be just as bad as Derby in the premier league

i agree with that, i think Stoke would struggle badly in the PL too, neither have anything close to serious cash behind them to improve their squads but they could be prime targets for a relatively cheap takeover by millionaires if either goes up. Watford and West Brom for me are best placed both on and off the field to survive in the PL next season.

SantryRed

Melion wrote: »

I think it would be a disaster if Bristol City go up, they would be embarassed next year. Nothing against the team or place(my mother was born there so i do check their scores every weekend) but i think they'd be just as bad as Derby in the premier league

To be honest, I don't think they will go up. They've been on a fantastic run since around Christmas but I think they'll be like Stoke have been in there past 3 games.

Once they lose a game or two in quick succession, I think they will struggle to get back to winning ways.
Watford had that in their home form when we didn't win a home game in about 10, but the away form kept us up there.

Watford,West Brom and Charlton to go up for me.

watman

A vital win last night at carrow road to get our campaign back on track after what can only be described as a major wobble. Only plus side was we got some suspensions out of the way. Saturday against Watford is probably our biggest six pointer in about twenty years.
Also i reckon both stoke and bristol city would be better in the premiership than derby have been this season. In Fact derby were not even a great championship team last season if you look at their record against the top 8 sides last season it wasnt exactly wonderful but they won the games against the bottom sides to get promoted

Pigman II

eirebhoy wrote: »

Ipswich are the team we should be cheering for. Garvan, Bruce, Clarke, Supple, Walters, Quinn, Lee and Norris all playing for them. Quinn and Lee are internationals that may not get a chance to play for us again but the rest are all potential Ireland players. Not to mention Nick Colgan.

If they were good enough they'd be in the premiership anyway. Also I don't agree with supporting a club just cos it's full of Irish. It's half the reason ManU and Liverpool have captured the public imagination in this country at the expense of the domestic game.

Besides whats to say if Ipswich get promoted they don't offload some/most of these players anyway?

SantryRed

watman wrote: »

A vital win last night at carrow road to get our campaign back on track after what can only be described as a major wobble. Only plus side was we got some suspensions out of the way. Saturday against Watford is probably our biggest six pointer in about twenty years.
Also i reckon both stoke and bristol city would be better in the premiership than derby have been this season. In Fact derby were not even a great championship team last season if you look at their record against the top 8 sides last season it wasnt exactly wonderful but they won the games against the bottom sides to get promoted

We were very unlucky last night I was told.

On top of Henderson's peno miss, O'toole missed a good chance at the very end.

Your right about Saturday, it's a massive game. Sky aren't showing a Saturday evening game.

Tht would of been a dead cert.:mad:

eirebhoy

Pigman II wrote: »

If they were good enough they'd be in the premiership anyway.

I don't know. I'd say there's a few players of say Reading who might never have been given a chance in the premiership if they didn't get promoted.

Jonny Arson

seriously, what a bloody incredible season the Championship has been so far, still five teams who go up for the automatic spots, its certainly going all the way down to last day. Bristol City, West Brom and Wolves all won with last minutes goal yesterday, Hull beat Watford 3-0 to continue their incredible form of late to give them are real shot of going up. its too tight to call between the top 5 especially with games in hand for West Brom and Watford.
all teams as far down as 12th to Cardiff can still finish in the play-off spots too!


League Table
Pos Name P W D L F A GD PTS
1 Bristol City 41 19 13 9 49 47 2 70
2 Stoke City 41 18 15 8 63 51 12 69
3 Hull City 41 19 11 11 59 41 18 68
4 WBA 39 19 9 11 78 51 27 66
5 Watford 40 17 14 9 58 47 11 65
6 Wolves 40 16 13 11 47 45 2 61
7 Ipswich Town 40 16 12 12 58 49 9 60
8 Plymouth 41 16 11 14 53 44 9 59
9 Crystal Palace 41 14 17 10 46 39 7 59
10 Burnley 41 15 13 13 55 55 0 58
11 Charlton 41 15 12 14 56 51 5 57
12 Cardiff City 39 14 13 12 47 44 3 55

Peyton Manning

Sylvain Ebanks-Blake's second goal for Wolves yesterday was incredible. You can tell he was a United lad

Jonny Arson

aye, what a brilliant goal that was from him, utter class no matter what level its at.

SantryRed

Absolutely terrible day for us yesterday.
Them two mised penos by Henderson in the nil all draws against Stoke and Bristol last week look like there going to prove vital.

We have four home games and two away games left. The big one being away to WBA on the 12th. The way we're going I think the play offs look the most likely, and if we do go up we will need to spend most of our budget on a striker who will score goals, not like Ellington.

Green Giant

Anyone see the Charlton-Wolves game on Saturday evening? One of the best matches I've watched in a long time

KnifeWRENCH

The race is utterly unpredictable, so I'll just go with the teams I'd like to get promoted rather than who I think will get promoted (which could be any!)

CHAMPIONS - BRISTOL CITY
Remarkable season, having just come up from League 1. They've been fairly consistent throughout the season, and 2 promotions in a row would be a fantastic achievement.

2ND - HULL CITY
They're on a fantastic run and have been outperforming the other teams in the top 6 of late. Stoke had an excellent chance of finishing in the top 2 but I think they've lost their momentum and will have to settle for a playoff place.

PLAYOFFS - CRYSTAL PALACE
Unlikely to finish in the top 6, but I hope they get through for two reasons:
1. I felt very sorry for them when they were relegated from the 04-05 season. I felt that, out of the 4 teams batttling relegation (them along with Norwich, Southampton and eventual survivors West Brom) they were the most deserving of survival.
2. Neil Warnock - ok he can be a bit of a gobsh**e at times, but he's one of the most passionate coaches out there. He did a great job with Sheffield Utd. and has turned Palace around since he arrived.

SantryRed

This is the way I think it will end.

Automatic Promotion - Watford and West Brom

Play offs - Palace

I reckon the experience of having done this before will put West Brom and Watford up.

Have a really good thought that Palace will go up through the play offs.
They've hit form at the best time possible and i reckon they could go up just like Dowie brought them up a few seasons ago.

Think Hull will be the other team with a great chance of going up in automatic spots or play-offs.

I reckon Bristol City and Stoke will bottle it to be honest.

KnifeWRENCH

West Brom back on top, with a game in hand over Bristol City and Stoke.
Here's how I think the last games of the title contenders will pan out:

West Brom:
Watford (Home) - Draw
Wolves (Away) - Draw
Norwich (Away) - Win
Southampton (Home) - Win
QPR (Away) - Draw
FINAL POINTS - 79

Bristol City:
Wolves (H) - Win
Stoke (A) - Draw
Sheff Utd (A) - Win
Preston (H) - Win
FINAL POINTS - 80

Hull City
QPR (H) - Win
Barnsley (A) - Win
Sheff Utd (A) - Win
Crystal Palace (H) - Draw
Ipswich (A) - Draw
FINAL POINTS - 79

Stoke City
Coventry (A) - Lose
Bristol City (H) - Draw
Colchester (A) - Draw
Leicester (H) - Win
FINAL POINTS - 74

Watford
Barnsley (H) - Win
West Brom (A) - Draw
Crystal Palace (H) - Draw
Scunthorpe (H) - BIG Win
Blackpool (A) - Win
FINAL POINTS - 79

So I'm still taking Bristol City to win it!! West Brom 2nd on Goal Difference (though I'd prefer to see Hull get 2nd)
Hull, Watford, Stoke and Palace for the playoffs.
Ipswich's away form will kill them.
Wolves would be worse than Derby in the Premiership.

SantryRed

square_igloo wrote: »

West Brom:
Watford (Home) - Draw
Wolves (Away) - Draw
Norwich (Away) - Win
Southampton (Home) - Win
QPR (Away) - Draw
FINAL POINTS - 79

Bristol City:
Wolves (H) - Win
Stoke (A) - Draw
Sheff Utd (A) - Win
Preston (H) - Win
FINAL POINTS - 80

Hull City
QPR (H) - Win
Barnsley (A) - Win
Sheff Utd (A) - Win
Crystal Palace (H) - Draw
Ipswich (A) - Draw
FINAL POINTS - 79

Stoke City
Coventry (A) - Lose
Bristol City (H) - Draw
Colchester (A) - Draw
Leicester (H) - Win
FINAL POINTS - 74

Watford
Barnsley (H) - Win
West Brom (A) - Draw
Crystal Palace (H) - Draw
Scunthorpe (H) - BIG Win
Blackpool (A) - Win
FINAL POINTS - 79

:eek: Didn't realise we(Watford) had such a good run in compared to everyone elses.
Knew ours was good but I didn't realise how tough Hulls and West Broms were.
Looks like it'll be coming down to the last day.

Bounty Hunter

Watford and Ipswich both losing 1-0 at half time

SantryRed

Lost three nil to Barnsley:(
Odejayi got two.

Huge game on Saturday. Would have taken the draw if we have won tonight. Now we definitely need the win.

Going over for this and I can't wait!:D

KnifeWRENCH

SantryRed wrote: »

Lost three nil to Barnsley:(

Yikes! That's pretty shocking:eek:
Looks like the Hornets will have to settle for playoffs now...it's a shame, they started the season so well.

SantryRed

square_igloo wrote: »

Yikes! That's pretty shocking:eek:
Looks like the Hornets will have to settle for playoffs now...it's a shame, they started the season so well.

I know, it looked as if we were going to run away with it at one stage.
Wouldn't be giving up on automatic promotion just yet, if we could get a win against WBA, who are just as incosistent as us, we'd still be in with a shot of going up.

Our home forms terrible though, shocking stuff.

watman

Yes we are unfancied , yes we dont play like real madrid
3 to go We Are Stoke !!!!!

SantryRed

Cracking game at the Hawthorns last night.
Atmosphere was top notch and the game matched it.
Glad I got a ticket.:D

However, we were lucky to get a draw out of there but with the other results that happened yesterday I take the draw happily.
Play offs look most likely for us now because I can only seeing us getting 6 points at most from our last three games. Wouldn't surprise me if we get only two points though.

dsmythy

Have a go of the bbc's predictor and see who you think will go up.

My top ten came out as:

1-Stoke.............81
2-West Brom......80

3-Watford..........76
4-Hull................75
5-Bristol City......74
6-Cardiff............72

7-Wolves...........71
8-Ipswich...........68
9-Crystal Palace..67
10-Plymouth.......66

I'd go with Watford going up through the playoffs beating Hull in the final. It's probably a good thing for Bristol City to spend another year in the Championship before going up. Can't be good for a League One team two years back to make it to the Premier.

And as a side effect going down were Sheffield Wednesday and obviously Colchester and Scunthorpe.

KnifeWRENCH

^^^ Nice find dsmythy!:cool:
Here's how my table turned out:

1 West Brom.........78
2 Bristol City.........78

---

3 Hull..................77
4 Stoke...............77
5 Watford............76
6 Crystal Palace....70

---

7 Cardiff.............68
8 Plymouth..........67
9 Wolves.............67
10 Ipswich............65
11 Charlton...........62
12 QPR.................62
13 Sheffield Utd......61
14 Burnley..............60
15 Preston .............57
16 Barnsley ............56
17 Norwich..............54
18 Sheffield Wed. ......53
19 Coventry..............53
20 Leicester..............52
21 Southampton........52

---

22 Blackpool.............51
23 Colchester...........42
24 Scunthorpe..........40

I was probably a bit harsh on Blackpool!
As for the playoffs, whoever wins between Hull and Palace would beat Watford in playoff final.
That said, my predictions are usually very wrong!!

SantryRed

Wolverhampton v West Brom,
Norwich v West Brom
Stoke v Bristol City,
Watford v Crystal Palace,
Hull v Crystal Palace,


They are the biggest games left before the final day of games.
West Brom have two massive games coming up in the next week.
If they can get 4 points out of them games I reckon the league will be theirs.

Crystal Palace still have a big say in who goes up with having to play Hull and Watford away.
With the run there on, I wouldn't be surprised if they won both.

Plenty of twists and turns left in this seasons run in, much better than the Premiership's one:D

Bubs101

Wolves seem to have a pretty easy run in after WBA. Would give them a good chance of making the premiership if they did actually reach the playoffs

SantryRed

West Brom and Hull both won their game in hands last night.

Looks as if West Brom will be going up as champions now aslong as they win on Saturday.
It's only right because they have players who can play brilliant football. I'd reckon they'll do well in the Prem.

Stoke and Hull are both on 72, Bristol on 71 and Watford on 69.

Stoke against Bristol's on Sky at 5.20 on Saturday.

Hoping for a draw:D

ditpoker

would love hull to go up! dean windass ftw!!!

once coventry stay up im happy! but its looking dodgy!!!

watman

Nerves are beginning to tingle. 3 Hours to Kick Off , as i listen once more to the Battlecry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmsRwj6Iu04

Come on Pulis - Just Do It !!