Football League Preview

Yes!!! Football League action returns THIS weekend! As a result I have attempted to cram as much information and ongoing's from the three leagues into this blog to whet your appetite.

It all kicks off tonight with Ian Holloway's Blackpool visiting Hull City. The Tangerines finally succumbed to losing their prized asset Charlie Adam, along with consistent performer David Vaughan and only yesterday the prolific DJ Campbell to QPR. Despite these departures I expect 'Ollie' to motivate his squad sufficiently to produce a decent season. High mid-table for me. 

Of the three teams relegated from the Premier League, West Ham on paper look the best equipped to bounce back. Bouncebackability for want of a better term. Recruiting Sam Allardyce is a masterstroke and if they retain the squad that they start the season with, which still includes Scott Parker, they look strong. Rob Green, Matthew Upson, James Tomkins and Carlton Cole should all fare well along with summer signings Kevin Nolan and Matty Taylor. I must remind you however that only 2 relegated teams in the last 10 seasons have won The Championship the following year, Sunderland in 06/07 and Newcastle United in 09/10. Much of NUFC's success in that promotion was incidentally owed to Kevin Nolan, who bagged 17 league goals.

**NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP**

The bookies cannot separate The Hammer's and Leicester City who are back-able at 4/1 across the board. The Foxes are another club benefiting (this term is used loosely) from foreign investment and Sven has been gifted a war chest to spend. And boy has he spanked it. The squad now comprises an army of has-beens that includes Paul Konchesky and John Paintsil, could've-beens (Sean St Ledger and Neil Danns) and may-beens (David Nugent, Matt Mills and Michael Johnson, on loan from Citeh). Much depends on how they gel and potentially how long until Sven gets bored, sacked or embroiled in scandal. For me West Ham are significantly more appealing than Leicester, and sticking my neck on the line I can see LCFC falling short of the play-offs.

The dangers of foreign ownership have been highlighted with Birmingham City and there is genuine fear of a potential plight. Carson Yeung, the owner of BCFC, is currently fighting money-laundering charges in his homeland Hong Kong. As a result all of his assets have been frozen, the knock-on effect being BCFC are skint. Subsequently they have been forced to sell Roger Johnson, Sebastian Larsson, Craig Gardner, Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson, Kevin Phillips, and James McFadden and have allowed Ben Foster to join WBA on loan. Not the ideal start for new manager Chris Hughton.

A new era beckons for perennial under-achievers Cardiff City with Malky Mackay recently employed as gaffer. Players out the door include young right-back Adam Matthews to Celtic, and free agents Jay Bothroyd and Chris Burke joining QPR and Birmingham City respectively. Kenny Miller has been brought in and will link up with popular old boy Robert Earnshaw. Potentially lethal. The same goes for Nottingham Forest who have appointed Steve 'Schtevie' McClaren as manager with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink the new first team coach. The arrival of George Boateng further stokes the crazy Dutch theme going on there yah.

Ipswich Town have bought shrewdly, using much of the £8.1 million Sunderland paid for starlet Conor Wickham. Lee Bowyer in particular should flourish, along with proven Championship performers Michael Chopra and Ivar Ingimarsson. Paul Jewell is a top manager and I expect the Tractor Boys to be challenging for a Top 6 finish. There is a bunch consisting of Leeds, Middlesborough, Cardiff, Forest, Reading and newly promoted Brighton and Southampton who can all challenge at the top. Brighton in particular have been fancied to go well, with a new 24,000 seater stadium, money to spend (paid £2.5 million for Craig Mackail-Smith) and an attractive brand of football instilled by manager Gus Poyet.

Expect tough campaigns for Doncaster, Barnsley, newly-promoted Craig Mackail-Smith-less Peterborough and cash-strapped Coventry City.

Annual nearly-men Huddersfield Town begin the season as favourites in League 1 and judging by their impressive form from January onwards, the retention of key players and a talented young manager in Lee Clark, their favourtism appears justified in what looks like a weak division. The blow of losing much-vaunted Anthony Pilkington, who jumps 2 leagues to the Premiership in joining Norwich, has been softened with the permanent arrival of the pacy Danny Ward from Bolton. Preston, with the annoying Phil Brown in charge, suffered relegation due to a catastrophic first 3/4 of last season. Once Brown was appointed things took a turn for the better. Ian Hume is expected to score a few and for me they look as attractive as anyone for promotion. 

League 1 see's the return of the Sheffield derby, with relegated Sheffield United joining their neighbours Wednesday in the division. Charlton legend Chris Powell looks to guide The Addicks back towards the big-time, Man City cult hero Uwe Rosler is the new manager at Brentford (they must be buzzing) and Martin Allen will try to squeeze some more goals out of last season lowest-scoring team Notts County.

League 2 looks one to follow. For a lower league club Crawley Town have been gaining some serious column inches, predominantly down to their big-spending and widespread unpopularity. There is still much mystery as to the source of the extensive funds spent on the team that famously ruffled feathers in last season’s F.A. Cup. They are heavily favoured to achieve a second promotion in two years. AFC Wimbledon, less than 10 years after forming, also take their place in the Football League; a wonderful story all the more impressive with no Vinny Jones, Efan Ekoku or Fash in sight. Oxford United are expected to improve on their mediochre mid-table finish from last season, shoring up their suspect defence with the signing of the evergreen Michael Duberry. Dubbed as the 'best footballing side in the division' last season, will The Dube add some much needed steel to the team? And finally, League 2 witnesses the return of the exuberant, enigmatic, occasionally fascist scorer of the Premier Leagues greatest goal.......it's Paolo Di Canio of course! As a manager. That's right. And where has he decided to begin this new chapter in his career? Swindon Town. G'luck to you. 

For all you fans who are so warped with the circus that the Premier League provides, this is your opportunity to show a little interest in what happens downtown. For one week only. Bring it.

Bigmouth Strikes Again

Apparently Joey Barton is a George Orwell fan. Further inspirations include George Washington and Morrissey. I know, pretty wacky, and on the face of it it appears as convincing as Rupert Murdoch claiming he is humbled. His Twitter account description reads something like this:

''I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving. England is mine and owes me a living''.

The Smiths - Still Ill



Do we care about Joey Barton as much as he thinks we do? Since his foray into Twitterland, in a blatant attempt to enhance a reputation that was (is) lower than an Arsene Wenger transfer bid, he has not been discreet in sharing his thoughts. This recent episode of Barton's incident-laden career appears to have begun following the departure of 'close-friend' Kevin Nolan last month, feelings compounded further by the January exit of Andy Carroll.

He may be quite rightly disillusioned by Newcastle's insistence of selling their prize assets, signifying a lack of ambition to progress as a club. Unfortunately he has utilised the unprofessional tactic of airing his forthright opinions via the modern medium of social media, specifically Twitter. If you follow @Joey7Barton you may have noted that his persona and character is a far cry from the troublesome, notorious one that he has developed throughout his career. In Twittersphere he comes across as highly literate, recently Tweeting ''Training done today, off to buy some books and have a coffee'', a lover of soulful lyrics of which the majority  are penned by The Smiths, politically motivated and aware and dare I say it, intelligent. It is somewhat surreal. So this is real Joey Barton, one that prefers tea to a Bacardi Breezer, and the poetry of Dylan Thomas to that of Ludacris?

People's memories are notoriously short. It appears that in modern society the ability to play football well is sufficient to make-up for any past indiscretion’s, no matter how serious. With Barton generally incident-free for the best part of a year and the re-brand process in overdrive, he is judged not on his numerous past misdemeanour's but on his stellar efforts on the pitch. After years of consigning him to the gutter, the media has now embraced Joey. He is news-worthy either way. When I think of Joey Barton I can't shake the visions of him savagely decking some lad in the street. Further villainy includes stubbing a cigar in the eye of a youth team colleague when at Citeh, an attack on team-mate Ousmane Dabo during a training session (in which he admitted causing 'Actual Bodily Harm') and the mid-match abdominal jab administered to Morten Gamst Pedersen. And there's more.

Another Newcastle fan revolt against the board is overdue, it's been at least 5 months after all, so maybe he has been rather shrewd in taking them on. He has included in various Tweets phrases underlying his passion for the club and the 'pride and honour in wearing the shirt' which will no doubt endear him further to the Newcastle faithful. Whilst the board are no saints, unfortunately it appears the NUFC fans are siding with Barton. In Geordie-land this means one thing: a 60,000 strong army of fans (who should surely be at work?) outside the stadium calling for Mike Ashley's head. 


In my opinion he deserves little sympathy for the situation he has created or any respect despite the grandest of efforts. He's hardly saved a kitten from a tree. Some may see this as harsh. I was impressed when following the MGP incident he admitted publicly to having serious anger management issues that he was striving to address.  Consequently discretion should be the order of the day. Most professionals would air such views behind close doors.

What cannot be argued is his contribution to NUFC on the pitch: no player assisted more goals from set-pieces in the league than him and Newcastle's win % without him was a big fat zero. In the space of 6 months the club has sold arguably their 3 most influential players in Andy Carroll, Kevin Nolan and Joey himself, assuming he leaves. It doesn't stop there, with talented left-back Jose Enrique expected to exit also, voicing his dissatisfaction in recent weeks in a similar Twitter tirade. He was fined a cool £100,000. With the season expected to begin with a negative mood surrounding St James' Park and a sizeable void of goals that is yet to be filled, this could well end up being a tough campaign for the Geordies. Maybe some value in backing them at 6/1 (across the board) to be relegated.

One team you can near-on guarantee he will not be joining is Wolves. An incident last season, involving utility donkey Greg Halford, resulted in Mick McCarthy bringing in a media law firm to educate the squad into use and potentials dangers of Twitter. Halford was on loan at Pompey but had returned to Molineux to view Wolves’ league match against Chelsea. He proceeded to Tweet ''With Steven Sidwell in the stands, read what you like into that''. The following day Sidwell signed for Fulham and not Wolves. I can only begin to imagine the hellish wrath incurred by Halford as a result. I imagine a telling off from Big Mick is at the Christian Bale end of the spectrum.

Although not banning it outright, you can tell that Big Mick is not a fan, labelling potential mis-users as 'numpty's' and 'twits'. ''Say it to my face, not Twitter'' is McCarthy's stance. Consequently, I can't see Joey heading to the West Midlands. Although imagine the graft in a midfield quarter of Stephen Hunt, Jamie O'Hara, Karl Henry and Joey Barton. Gritty.

In other news......

- Manchester United lose 8-2 to Marseille. People of Surrey, do not fret, as the composition of the 2nd half team included Fabien Barthez, David Ginola and numerous French celebrities. And Phil Jones.

- Stubborn Arsene Wenger decides to punish petulant booing fans by not signing Phil Jagielka and vowing to improve Sebastian Squillaci.

- Tottenham Hotspur attempting to sign numerous stars by generally keeping hush, hoping that they do not realise they failed to qualify for the Champions League.

- Fernando Torres has scored a goal.

- El Hadji Diouf still AWOL, lets hope he stays there.

- Liverpool threaten to lose 3 friendlies in a row 3-0. Recover from 2-0 down against Valerenga to win 3-2. One for Candy and a brace for Agger. Agger two two two.....

- In other news Liverpool's 19 midfielders to fight for their place. Good news for Charlie Adam.  Not so good for Stewart Downing.

Ok, see you then.