Loony Toon on a slippery slope
Posted on 1st August 2009 at 18:13
It's still a few weeks before we welcome the thrills and spills of the Premier League back into our lives, but the race to reach England's top tier begins on August 8 and the two leading contenders for promotion lock horns at The Hawthorns on Saturday.
West Brom move up and down the top two divisions like a yo-yo, but that's no bad thing as it means £50million worth of Sky money comes into the club's coffers every other season.
Albion are a well-run club with no debts to speak of, so can always ensure they are in charge of who is sold and hold out for a good price - as shown by the fact they rejected a £4million Fulham bid for Jonathan Greening.
Tony Mowbray has moved on to Celtic, and Roberto Di Matteo has stepped into the Hawthorns hot-seat having caught the eye in his first full season as a manager at MK Dons, who only just missed out on promotion through the play-offs.
The Italian has already added prolific strikers Simon Cox and Reuben Reid to a very strong playing pool, so Albion are quite rightly seen as favourites for title glory.
I can understand the bookies' thinking on this, and Di Matteo has now had a full pre-season to put his players through their paces and get them playing his way.
I must admit, however, that the bookmakers are way off the mark in placing beleaguered Newcastle as rivals to Albion for the Championship crown and an immediate return to the PL.
Mike Ashley's arrival at St James' Park was greeted with a wave of euphoria by Magpies fans - but they've since been drowned in misery as he oversaw the sacking of Sam Allardyce, arrival of Dennis Wise, return and departure of Kevin Keegan, plus the bizarre appointment of Joe Kinnear.
Kinnear's health detoriated almost as quickly as the reputation of Newcastle FC in the footballing world, and despite the temporary appointment of Toon icon Alan Shearer the worst-case scenario of unthinkable relegation became reality at Villa Park on the last day of the 2008-09 season.
The Toon Army, who had once supported their team in Champions League clashes with the likes of Barcelona, now face battles with the likes of Blackpool, Plymouth, Doncaster and Scunthorpe - and to make things worse I think they'll lose to such teams.
Newcastle have an owner who wants to sell up - for £100million if any of you are interested - a squad full of overpaid, overrated, disgruntled players and a caretaker manager in Chris Hughton who really hasn't got a scooby what he's doing when it comes to motivating a team.
Such uncertainty surrounding the club is bound to have an impact on the pitch, and the warning signs were there in a 6-1 pre-season drubbing by Leyton Orient.
Owen has gone, Martins has been sold for £9million and Viduka is likely to be on his way, while the likes of Taylor, Cacapa and Beye could well be cashed in before the end of August's transfer window.
Add all this together and I think it's more likely that Newcastle become embroiled in a fight for survival, not promotion. Controversial, perhaps, but look at Leeds who were playing Real Madrid at Elland Road not that long ago - and now face yet another season in League One.
The Magpies will win most of their home games, courtesy of their fantastic fans, but visiting teams will be inspired - and will fancy taking a Toon scalp in the return fixture.
The North-East club are on a slippery slope in my opinion, and I can't believe they are still managerless just a week before the new season kicks off.
I fear they could suffer a hammering at The Hawthorns - and think they could be scrapping at the wrong end of the table unless they appoint an experienced manager who knows what he's doing in this division.
West Brom move up and down the top two divisions like a yo-yo, but that's no bad thing as it means £50million worth of Sky money comes into the club's coffers every other season.
Albion are a well-run club with no debts to speak of, so can always ensure they are in charge of who is sold and hold out for a good price - as shown by the fact they rejected a £4million Fulham bid for Jonathan Greening.
Tony Mowbray has moved on to Celtic, and Roberto Di Matteo has stepped into the Hawthorns hot-seat having caught the eye in his first full season as a manager at MK Dons, who only just missed out on promotion through the play-offs.
The Italian has already added prolific strikers Simon Cox and Reuben Reid to a very strong playing pool, so Albion are quite rightly seen as favourites for title glory.
I can understand the bookies' thinking on this, and Di Matteo has now had a full pre-season to put his players through their paces and get them playing his way.
I must admit, however, that the bookmakers are way off the mark in placing beleaguered Newcastle as rivals to Albion for the Championship crown and an immediate return to the PL.
Mike Ashley's arrival at St James' Park was greeted with a wave of euphoria by Magpies fans - but they've since been drowned in misery as he oversaw the sacking of Sam Allardyce, arrival of Dennis Wise, return and departure of Kevin Keegan, plus the bizarre appointment of Joe Kinnear.
Kinnear's health detoriated almost as quickly as the reputation of Newcastle FC in the footballing world, and despite the temporary appointment of Toon icon Alan Shearer the worst-case scenario of unthinkable relegation became reality at Villa Park on the last day of the 2008-09 season.
The Toon Army, who had once supported their team in Champions League clashes with the likes of Barcelona, now face battles with the likes of Blackpool, Plymouth, Doncaster and Scunthorpe - and to make things worse I think they'll lose to such teams.
Newcastle have an owner who wants to sell up - for £100million if any of you are interested - a squad full of overpaid, overrated, disgruntled players and a caretaker manager in Chris Hughton who really hasn't got a scooby what he's doing when it comes to motivating a team.
Such uncertainty surrounding the club is bound to have an impact on the pitch, and the warning signs were there in a 6-1 pre-season drubbing by Leyton Orient.
Owen has gone, Martins has been sold for £9million and Viduka is likely to be on his way, while the likes of Taylor, Cacapa and Beye could well be cashed in before the end of August's transfer window.
Add all this together and I think it's more likely that Newcastle become embroiled in a fight for survival, not promotion. Controversial, perhaps, but look at Leeds who were playing Real Madrid at Elland Road not that long ago - and now face yet another season in League One.
The Magpies will win most of their home games, courtesy of their fantastic fans, but visiting teams will be inspired - and will fancy taking a Toon scalp in the return fixture.
The North-East club are on a slippery slope in my opinion, and I can't believe they are still managerless just a week before the new season kicks off.
I fear they could suffer a hammering at The Hawthorns - and think they could be scrapping at the wrong end of the table unless they appoint an experienced manager who knows what he's doing in this division.
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