Championship Promoted teams 2011/2012 Season

DenMan

I know it's early days but I've enjoyed following the Championship this season. It's been very exciting and open. Looking at the table it looks like it will be both Southampton and Reading for automatic promotion for next season (and between them for the title) and one from four of either West Ham, Birmingham, Blackpool, Cardiff, Brighton or Middlesbrough via the play-off's.

I think it will be Southampton, Reading and West Ham who will be in the Premier League next season. They have been there before and that can only help them in getting out of what is a very competitive division. How does everyone think they will get on in the top flight of English football as promoted sides?

SEPT 23 1989

Hopefully the hammers are promoted

cgpg5

Can't see West ham coming up they've been awful recently and the fans have started to lose faith in Allardyce and the brand of football that he plays. Reading and So'ton seem certainties. Tbh I didn't see Reading doing much this season without Long but fair play to them. I tipped So'ton before the season began to go up and they look set to achieve back to back promotions.

With play-off's anything can happen. I personally hope Blackpool can but I have a feeling about cardiff

With regards to how they'll get on if promoted? Well that depends on who they sign of course. But with teams like Swansea, possibly WIgan/Blackburn, Bolton (who are certs to go down if they survive this season), and Villa in the PL there is every chance that the 3 promoted can survive.

PhlegmyMoses

If West Ham are promoted they'll sack Allardyce either in the summer or after Christmas 2012. The fans ****ing hate him.

paddy kerins

I would've expected West Ham to get back up fairly easy. Surprised at Southampton as well, to be honest. Fair play to them

DenMan

If Cardiff make it via the play-off's it will be nice to have two Welsh teams in the Premier League with Swansea having a brilliant first season.

Fr Tod Umptious

The play-off winner often comes from the team that have the best form in the last few months of the season, sometimes sneaking into the 6th spot after a good run.

They then continue that momentum through the play-offs

Teams that are in the top 2 or 3 for the whole season (like WH) often fail in the play-offs, possibly due the the let down of failing to gain that automatic spot and then not having the fight for the play-offs.

At the moment Birmingham are the only ones in spots 3 to 7 with any decent form
http://www.footballformguide.net/standings/npower-championship

cgpg5

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

The play-off winner often comes from the team that have the best form in the last few months of the season, sometimes sneaking into the 6th spot after a good run.

They then continue that momentum through the play-offs

Teams that are in the top 2 or 3 for the whole season (like WH) often fail in the play-offs, possibly due the the let down of failing to gain that automatic sport and then not having the fight for the play-offs.

At the moment Birmingham are the only ones in spots 3 to 7 with any decent form
http://www.footballformguide.net/standings/npower-championship

Did B'ham not have a poor run of games only recently? Apologies if I'm mistaken couldn't be bothered looking it up

LuckyLloyd

The Reverend is correct, teams that fall down into the playoffs during the final stretch have a poor record.

That being said, I think that trying to predict the outcome of the playoffs at any stage is dicey at best.

StephenHendry

southampton, reading and birmingham. would have gone for west ham
only that they are not in good form atm

StephenHendry

cgpg5 wrote: »

Did B'ham not have a poor run of games only recently? Apologies if I'm mistaken couldn't be bothered looking it up

i'd actually say birmingham are more likely , they went on a really good run. west ham have slipped up really badly given that they were in the top 2 places for so long. reading like birmingham have got where they are with a good run of wins and after winning last nights game, barring a disaster they will go up.

Kiwi_knock

Reading and Southampton are definitely going up, probably with Southampton as Champions. Hard to know how they will get on next year, not sure how much money each club has to make themselves competitive. I have a feeling that Southampton will be the most successful of the three sides. They play nice football and if Rickie Lambert continues his goal scoring exploits then Southampton should be safe.

I think it will be West Ham, Birmingham, Blackpool, and Cardiff in the playoffs, but am not ruling out Leicester getting 6th spot. I think Blackpool will win the Playoffs, but can see them once again struggling in the PL because Holloway refuses to change his tactics.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Southampton, Reading and West Ham would be fair boring. I love when different teams come up like Blackpool, Swansea, Burnley etc. Something new!

DB10

Cardiff I think, there time now and Mackay is a brilliant young manager.
Blackpool either would be good they play the proper football.

DenMan

To be honest I don't like the play-off system at all. The team that finishes 6th in the league realistically could be 10-20 points behind the third best team and may have lost twice to them during the season and still get promoted. I don't think that's very fair. You spend the whole season trying to make it to the highest level with millions of pounds at stake only have to go through the play-off's once the season ends. In my opinion 1, 2 and 3 should go up as 18, 19 and 20 go down from the Premier League.

bohsfan

DenMan wrote: »

I don't think that's very fair. In my opinion 1, 2 and 3 should go up as 18, 19 and 20 go down from the Premier League.

You're right DenMan- the system isn't very fair, but damn, it's exciting! Having the play-off spaces means that more often than not teams as low as 12/14 in the table still have something to play for as they head into March. It's what makes the Championship so competitive. And I say this as a Reading follower who saw them lose in the final last year.

Without the play-offs you would end up with a league like the Prem, with a few teams battling it out at the top and bottom and a wealth of them stuck in the middle with nothing to play for.

As for promotion- Reading, Southampton and Blackpool.

Samich

baz2009 wrote: »

Southampton, Reading and West Ham would be fair boring. I love when different teams come up like Blackpool, Swansea, Burnley etc. Something new!

Same with me Like reading a few years back and Blackpool last year.

Sanity_Saviour

baz2009 wrote: »

Southampton, Reading and West Ham would be fair boring. I love when different teams come up like Blackpool, Swansea, Burnley etc. Something new!

yeah same i would LOVE IT if Brighton got promoted!

Hammer Archer

DenMan wrote: »

To be honest I don't like the play-off system at all. The team that finishes 6th in the league realistically could be 10-20 points behind the third best team and may have lost twice to them during the season and still get promoted. I don't think that's very fair. You spend the whole season trying to make it to the highest level with millions of pounds at stake only have to go through the play-off's once the season ends. In my opinion 1, 2 and 3 should go up as 18, 19 and 20 go down from the Premier League.

To be fair, every team knows this at the beginning of the season and it's their own fault if they don't have enough to remain in the auto promotion spots. And I agree that it's very exciting and leads to much fewer dead rubber games if the playoff system wasn't in place.
As for us, we've actually lost less games than Reading and the same amount as Southampton. It's the draws recently (5 in a row a few weeks back) that have pretty much ruined our auto promotion chances.
As for the playoffs this season, I'm hoping we get a team that dropped to 6th in the run in (like Cardiff) rather than a team who just sneaked in on the last day.
Also, we'd have a much better chance if both our semi final legs were played away

CSF

Brum to win the playoffs

dreamers75

Southampton vs Reading fridaynight.


I think Southampton Reading and Brum will go up.

3greenrizla's

dreamers75 wrote: »

Southampton vs Reading fridaynight.

Massive game, the winner will probably go on to win the league. I predict a draw, probably an acceptable result for both teams = 1 point closer to the promised land & leaves W.Ham needing to gain 4 points more than Saints/Reading over their final 3 games (assuming they win their game in hand)

as a Saints fan, I can (quietly) say i'm confident only 6 points needed from the last 4 games & were back in the prem - less if W.Ham drop more points. After being in the top 2 all year I would be gutted if we lost out at this stage.

Promotion is the main prize, the title would just be gravy.

Reading are in the same boat & are finishing the season very well, might need 7 points due to their goal difference.

West Ham, probably need to win their remaining 4 games to have a realistic chance of auto promotion & I can't see this happening, I also think they will miss out on promotion via the playoffs.

Blackpool & maybe Leicester have hit form at the right time and would be my tip for playoff winners.

DenMan

Southampton vs Reading this Friday. Didn't know that. It will be a huge game.

G.K.

So'ton, Reading and not West Ham

dreamers75

Their form is pretty much idential, Reading slightly shade it.

But reading are on some run of form, think will shade it in the end.

grenache

I'm in a quandry over West Ham. Given the squad and quality they have, i fully expected them to run away with this division. Allardyce chose to abandon the traditional Hammers style of keeping the ball on the deck, and instead used the Sam Allardyce approach to football, otherwise known as 'hoofball'. And look where it's got him!!!!!

The players he has are totally unsuited to playing that style, the likes of Nolan, Noble, Vaz Te all like to play football on the ground. If Big Sam had any brain in that head of his, he would note that the two teams ahead of his boys - Southampton and Reading - both play good football and have succeeded with an inferior squad of players. In fact Reading passed West Ham off the Upton Park pitch two weeks ago, scoring four goals in the process.

I want West Ham out of this division as they always beat my crowd Forest, but playing that ****e, i don't think they deserve promotion.

Hammer Archer

grenache wrote: »

I'm in a quandry over West Ham. Given the squad and quality they have, i fully expected them to run away with this division. Allardyce chose to abandon the traditional Hammers style of keeping the ball on the deck, and instead used the Sam Allardyce approach to football, otherwise known as 'hoofball'. And look where it's got him!!!!!

The players he has are totally unsuited to playing that style, the likes of Nolan, Noble, Vaz Te all like to play football on the ground. If Big Sam had any brain in that head of his, he would note that the two teams ahead of his boys - Southampton and Reading - both play good football and have succeeded with an inferior squad of players. In fact Reading passed West Ham off the Upton Park pitch two weeks ago, scoring four goals in the process.

I want West Ham out of this division as they always beat my crowd Forest, but playing that ****e, i don't think they deserve promotion.

To be fair, we almost completely dominated the game against Reading but a combination of us switching off just before half time, stupid individual errors and inept officials cost us dearly.
I agree that we haven't played at all well at times but I've found (like the last time we were in this position) that a lot of teams seem to really up their game when they play us. Prime example was the Leeds game where they drew 1-1 with us only to get beaten 7-3 at home 3 days later by yourselves.
No excuses if we don't go up though. Anything other than a Southampton win tonight (as I feel Reading have the tougher run in) will mean it's the playoffs for us.

DenMan

Huge game on tonight. Southampton vs Reading. Really looking forward to it.

tim_holsters

I think WH have blown it. I fancy Birmingham with the odious Marlon King continuing to have a significant effect all the way through to the PO final and beyond.

steelcityblues

tim_holsters wrote: »

I think WH have blown it. I fancy Birmingham with the odious Marlon King continuing to have a significant effect all the way through to the PO final and beyond.

Fancy Blackpool before Birmingham. Holloway knows what the playoffs are like.

cgpg5

Hard to remember the last time the team expected to win the playoffs actually did. Hull, Burnley, Blackpool and Swansea were all surprises of sorts. Even Watford and Derby the two seasons previous were underdogs in their respective play off finals against Leeds and West Brom (I'm hoping that memory is serving me correctly here!)

All_in_Flynn

Looking forward to tonights game. Both are certs to go up anyway.

As for the playoff's I'd like to see Brighton go up, although it may be a season too soon for them. Poyet has them playing some really nice football and they are a well ran club from what I'v seen.

I'v seen them numerous times this season and have been very impressed with the Irish centre mid Gary Dicker. West Brom were heavily linked last summer. Broke his leg before xmas in a game with West Ham but has returned recently and has slotted straight back into the team. Holding midfielder who has a great range of passing. Very assured on the ball. One to keep an eye on for Irish squads going forward imo. Better than one or two of the players that have made recent squads anyway and would work well in the current system.

eagle eye

All_in_Flynn wrote: »

Looking forward to tonights game. Both are certs to go up anyway.

If Reading lose tonight it leaves them under a bit of pressure from West Ham. They are away to Birmingham on the last day of the season which is not going to be an easy tie, they also have to face Forest who are not safe yet and that won't be handy either.

All_in_Flynn

eagle eye wrote: »

If Reading lose tonight it leaves them under a bit of pressure from West Ham. They are away to Birmingham on the last day of the season which is not going to be an easy tie, they also have to face Forest who are not safe yet and that won't be handy either.

True, although I think they are playing well enough at the moment to get over the line, even if they are beaten tonight. West Ham seem mentally fragile and I have my doubts that they will win all their remaining games.

steelcityblues

Reading take the lead.

DenMan

Bullet header from a great cross. Game on! (or should I say Title)

cgpg5

3-1 to Reading, that should be promotion all but secured

steelcityblues

They are barmy in Berkshire.

tim_holsters

steelcityblues wrote: »

Fancy Blackpool before Birmingham. Holloway knows what the playoffs are like.

True, I'd like that to be the final actually Blk v Bir, I'd fancy Birmingham in that but only just, with Blackpool you're always thinking they'll concede even when there playing well.

Hammer Archer

So barring a massive collapse from Southampton (given their better goal difference), both themselves and Reading will be in the Premier League next season.
It will be an absolute disaster for us if we fail to go up in the playoffs seeing as we've been basically paying our players Premier League wages this season. Can definitely see a good few of our players leaving if we're still in the Championship next season.

grenache

Reading's persistence pays off. Every year since McDermott took over they've been get stronger and stronger. First narrowly missing out on the POs, then last years final, and now finally promotion, all despite continually selling their best players - Doyle, Long, Mills, Sigurdsson, etc.

3greenrizla's

Congrats to Reading. The third goal last night hurt the most, I felt Saints deserved at least a point. Still need 6 points from 3 games, or less if WHam drop points.

Today (until 5pm) I am a Brighton fan - C'Mon you mighty Gulls, there is still a chance of the playoffs, we hate p*mpey

seriously, hopefully the Hammers home form continues.

TheSpecialOne

Saints, Reading and Blackpool to go up for me!

DenMan

West Ham won tonight and keep up the pressure on Southampton. It will go down to the final game of the season for automatic promotion into the Premier League.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17724582

Paully D

Surely Southampton won't fail to win against already relegated Coventry at home? What a way that would be to blow automatic promotion.

DenMan

Paully D wrote: »

Surely Southampton won't fail to win against already relegated Coventry at home? What a way that would be to blow automatic promotion.

For them...hopefully not. Only one more win and they are back in the big time. I read that some of the Cov fans tried to get onto the pitch and towards the manager at the weekend. Shocking stuff!

3greenrizla's

for the life of me I cannot understand how saints have faltered, hopefully we will fall over the line with a 1-0 win over Coventry. It's been a long season & I don't think we would do well in the play off's.

Good to see it go down to the final day, in some ways I prefer this league to the prem, it's more competitive & anyone can win. But of course i want Saints back in the big time.

DenMan

Southampton win and they are up. Come on boys!

Live on BBC 1

cgpg5

Play-off's will be interesting, can we assume Cardiff will fall at this hurdle yet again?

Think Blackpool will do it you know, hope they do. Just can't see the hammers doing it tbh

DenMan

Blackpool will be dangerous that's for sure. I think West Ham will do it though.

Kiwi_knock

I think Cardiff could spring a surprise. West Ham's home form has been poor so if Cardiff can win on Thursday and leave WHU having to win at home it would certainly make it interesting.

Blackpool to me are still the favourites, they have the recent experience plus they are in some decent form.