Pre-Season Predictions: League Two

So a little later than planned but here is my guide to whose is going to be hot and whose not in the 2011/2012 League Two Season.

As always I will start with the challengers and there is one that stands out for me this season. Gillingham have added seven new players to their ranks including that of Adam Birchall who signed from Kent rivals Dover Athletic last week.

Birchall scored an incredible 45 goals last season for Dover, including a screamer at the Priestfield in Dover's shock 2-0 win against the Gills in the FA Cup.

Other challengers I think we can expect to see in League Two are last season's relegated sides from League One, especially Bristol Rovers and Plymouth Argyle, meanwhile 'Moneybags' Crawley will also be pushing for back to back promotions.

The bottom of this division will be as tight as ever with your usual candidates, Barnet, Cheltenham and Macclesfield all likely to feature again in the battle to survive the drop. I think these sides will be joined by the likes Hereford and Port Vale in what will be a very close race.

My predictions for the League Two season 2011/2012:

Champions: Gillingham

Promoted: Bristol Rovers, Shrewsbury

Play-Offs: Bradford, Crewe, Crawley, Plymouth

Relegated: Barnet, Burton

Do you agree? Will Adam Birchall be as good for Gillingham as he was Dover? Who has been your sides best signing so far?

As always let me know.

Modric running out of Luka over move to Chelsea, but should he be allowed to go?

In all honesty I surprised myself when I sat and thought about this earlier today. Usually in these cases when I hear of a player demanding a move away from one club to another it makes me angry and I say that the player should 'stop moaning' and 'get on with there X amount thousands of pounds a week job', today was different though.

After seeing further coverage of the saga of Luka Modric's desire to leave Tottenham for Chelsea, I sat and thought why he would want to leave his contract at Spurs where he is a certain starter in the team, he has been offered a contract that will double his wages to £90,000 a week and before stating his desire to leave a few weeks back he was a fans favorite at White Hart Lane.

Then it became obvious to me for once why a player would want to leave, he will get more money at Chelsea, reported to be around £120,000 pounds a week, he will be playing at a club in the Champions league year after year, and playing at a team that will push Manchester United for the title in years to come....Is that really selfish of him?

My old answer would have been yes, I would have argued that Spurs had made him what he was and he should respect them and their decision. But today I saw it in a new angle, here is a player that has a chance to earn more money and more personal trophies, realistically something we all aspire to do in our lifetime.

A long way off from football wages I know, but if I was working at my local newspaper and a national paper wanted me to work for them and doubled my wages, I would not expect my employers to say no and not congratulate me on the move.

The point I am getting at is that a footballers career is 20 years maximum and as fans I don't think we should dislike a player simply because he wants to better himself and his earnings.

I fully hope Modric gets his move to Chelsea in the future and that players in the future that want to better themselves given the opportunity are not held back by clubs....after all we all want to be the best we can be.

Do you agree? Do you think Modric should het his 'dream' move to Chelsea? How would you feel if your star player said he wants a move?

As always let me know.

Pre-Season Predictions: League One

Last season saw some big clubs promoted from League One as Brighton, Southampton and Peterborough all secured promotion from England's third tier. The League One campaign was also successful for surprise packages Leyton Orient, Exeter and Bournemouth who all exceeded pre-season expectations by finishing in the top half. So what can we expect this time around?

There is no doubt that this season's League One will include some of the biggest names in English football, the most notable being both Sheffield sides, Wednesday and United who will play in England's third tier together for the first time. Other sides such as Huddersfield, Charlton (below) and Tranmere all have previous Premier League history and will no doubt believe they should be playing a higher level.

For me the promotion favorites will be last season beaten Play-Off finalists Huddersfield Town. The Terriers have a superb manager in place in the shape of Lee Clarke (former Newcastle midfielder) and with the likes of Danny Cadermateri and Anthony Kay already in their squad and the signings of Liam Cooper from Hull and Oscar Gobern from Southampton, you would expect Clarke's men to be in the running again.

I would also expect to see both the Sheffield clubs fighting out at the top, the fact that Danny Wilson (former Wednesday manager) was appointed manager of Sheffield United after the end of last season just adds to an already intriguing battle at the heart of Yorkshire.

Every year each divisions seems to have a surprise package and this years I think will be Chesterfield. After gaining promotion from League Two last season, momentum will be strong and morale still high in the camp, they also have an excellent record still at their new home 'B2 Net stadium'.

The relegation race from League One will be tight and I think my predictions for the drop will cause a bit of a shock. The first club I see falling through the trapdoor is Scunthorpe United. After being relegated from the Championship last season I think boss Alan Knill will have a job to keep his side from suffering a double relegation in two seasons.

Other clubs I can see struggling this season include last seasons surprise package Leyton Orient as well as others such as Yeovil, Stevanage, Notts County and Rochdale.

Predictions for League One 2011/2012 season:

Champions: Huddersfield Town

Promoted: Charlton Athletic

Play-offs: Sheff Wed, Sheff Utd, Carlisle, Colchester

Relegated: Scunthorpe, Rochdale, Stevenage, Yeovil

What do you think? Do you agree? How would you feel if your club appointed a former boss of a fierce rival as Sheffield United have done?

As always let me know.

Pre-Season Predictions: Championship

It is often said that the Championship is one of the hardest divisions to get promoted from. One thing that cannot be argued with though is that it is the most lucrative division to escape, with the riches of Premier league football awaiting the three sides lucky enough to do so.

So who will be the front runners in the 2011-2012 season?

This years Championship line up could in fact be the strongest ever as England's second tier will boast the likes of West Ham, Birmingham, Cardiff, Southampton, B

righton and Leicester.

Realistically it would be difficult to predict who will finish top, second or even in the top half for that matter, but here I am going to take a look at the front runners who should be challenging at the summit come next May.

Firstly I will start with last seasons beaten Play-Off finalists Reading. After a late surge towards the end of last season, Brian McDermott's men forces their way into the play-offs where they lost to Swansea at Wembley 4-2 in an enthralling game believed to be worth £90 Million to the winners. Despite missing out on promotion, the Royals will know th

at if they can keep hold of hotshot Shane Long then another crack at promotion should be on the cards.

West Ham, Birmingham and Blackpool will all have access to their parachute payments after being relegated from the top flight in May. West Ham and Birmingham both have new managers in place for the new term in Sam Allardyce and Chris Hughton, the latter of course guided Newcastle straight back up to the Premier League the season before last after their relegation 3 years ago and Brum supporters will be hoping for the same.

Another club with new management in charge are Nottingham Forest after they appointed former England flop Steve McLaren who will be looking for a successful return to management in England with a club that has potential to return to the big time, boosted by the return of legend midfielder Andy Reid from Sunderland.

Many will argue that the favorites to make a return to the Premier League are big spending Leicester City, managed by another former England boss, Sven Goran-Eriksson. The foxes this week secured a £5 Million pound deal to bring Reading defender Matt Mills to the club.

We can also expect sides such as Southampton, Brighton who have recently acquired the services of free scoring striker Craig Mackail-Smith from Peterborough, Middlesborough and Ipswich to mount challenges for one of the four available play-off places.

The relegation battle looks as tough as the promotion one with no side looking incapable of steering clear of the dreaded drop. Last season saw Preston, Sheffield United and Scunthorpe slip into League One, an example that no one is safe in this division.

The obvious concerns will be there for Watford after they lost the services of manager Malky Mackay (Cardiff), Don Cowie (Cardiff) and top goal scorer last season Danny Graham (Swansea). The Hornets have little money to spend despite the sales and after appointing Sean Dyche as their new manager despite no experience, the future seems bleak.

Other sides we can expect to see at the lower end of the division include Barnsley, Derby and Doncaster, again mainly based on the money these sides have to strengthen their squads.

It's going to be another epic season of Championship football and one that will be a roller coaster journey for fans of the Championship sides.

Do you agree? As always let me know what you think? What would your realistic ambitions be for your club?

Pre-Season Predictions: Premier League

This week has seen the majority of all 92 football league clubs return to pre-season training in preparation of what is set to be another pulsating 9 months of football starting in just over four weeks time.

Where better than to start my pre-season predictions than the Premier League. Don't panic though if your side are not in the glamorous Premiership, as in the next few days I will be sharing my predictions with you all on the Championship and Leagues One and Two.

But first, the 2010/2011 season saw Manchester United secure a record breaking 19th League Title, overtaking Liverpool as the most successful club in England, meanwhile Liverpool saw the return of King Kenny (Dalglish) to their hot-seat, 21 years after vacating it originally, Arsenal's season collapsed quicker than a Jenga tower, while Birmingham, Blackpool and West Ham all slipped through the trapdoor and were relegated to the second tier of English football.

So what can we expect from the 2011-2012 season? Well pretty much the same, pulsating football, a close title race and an even more exciting relegation dog fight.

I will start at the top of the Premier League, and in particular the 'Top Four', or should that be five? Firstly, I feel that could be the most exciting title race ever as Manchester City, fresh from their first trophy (FA Cup) in decades will be looking to hunt down their near neighbors, United.

We will also see the resurgent Liverpool try to KOP their own 19th league title under the resurgent guidance of Kenny Dalglish, assited by their lethal strike force of Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez (below).

Of course we also have another new man in charge at Chelsea who knows that league success will be vital to him keeping his job beyond the current season. At just 33 years of age, Andres Villas-Boas will be the youngest 'Gaffer' on the sidelines this season after Chelsea paid a staggering £13 Million for his services after a clean sweep of trophies while in charge at Porto last season.

As for Arsenal after six long years of no trophies, Arsene Wenger knows that a repeat of last seasons collapse could see the end of his magnificent tenure at the club.

The possibility though of the North London club going another season trophy-less is highly likely, and the imminent departure of talisman Cesc Fabregas, as well as the likely departure of Samir Nasri alongside the already gone Gael Clichy will go no further to offer any hope to the long suffering Gunners supporters.

As for the bottom half of the table and the race to avoid the dreaded abyss of relegation, I think we could just see as an exciting race as the top, though not one that any side will be keen to win.

For me, the three sides that join the Premier League from the Championship, Swansea, Norwich and QPR are the likely contenders for a swift return to the second tier, although this seems foolish to say after only one promoted side from last season fell straight back through the trapdoor (Blackpool, below)

There are going to be a few other contenders for the drop and it certainly will not be a three horse race as we can expect to see the likes of Blackburn, Wolves and West Brom all fight against the drop despite the latter avoiding it last season quite easily, finishing a respectable 10th.

As for the likes of Aston Villa, Newcastle, Bolton and Sunderland it could be a season of either great fortune or misfortune as despite looking like having decent squads on paper, they all flirted with great success and relegation at one point last season and we can expect the same this time around.

My predictions for the Premiership season 2011/2012:

Champions: Manchester United (closely followed by Chelsea and Liverpool with Man City fourth)

Relegated: QPR, Swansea and Norwich

What do you think? Do you agree? Are you happy with your sides transfer targets/buys and moving on's so far this summer?

As always let me know.

Losing Tevez could be a blessing in disguise for City

It finally appears that Super Striker Carlos Tevez will be leaving the shores of England this summer due to personal issues relating to his family.

But could such action actually be a blessing in disguise for his current club, mega-rich Manchester City? The answer is yes.

Despite scoring an amazing 43 goals in 65 appearances for City, Tevez has already once before declared his intent on leaving Eastlands before later retracting that desire. The striker has made it clear that he wishes to be closer to his family and that has been the reason for his desire to leave.

Last month the striker declared in a interview that he 'would never return to the cold and wet City (Manchester)' before yesterday announcing officially that yet again he wishes to depart from the recent FA Cup winners.

So where does this leave Manchester City? In all honesty despite wanting to keep hold of Tevez, they will know that keeping a player against his own wish could be damaging for the club and will be keen to find a suitable replacement before they sell, with two years left on his contract, City will be in no rush to sell.

With the likes of Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli and of course Craig Bellamy still on their books City have no shortage of quality strikers and moving Tevez along will also remove the hype and saga that has followed the striker since his arrival from across the City.

Mancini will expect to receive upwards of £40 million for the striker which could restrict the strikers final destination as well as his reported £200,000 a week wages.

So should City find a suitable replacement soon I think that City management and fans should be more worried about how they can wrestle the Premiership crown from 19 times Champions United rather than worry about Tevez's impending and inevitable departure from England.