Birmingham City FC
Manager: Alex McLeish
Ground: St. Andrews (Capacity: 30,009)
Last season: 2nd in Championship
Key Player: Christian Benitez
Star-in-waiting: Joe Hart
MAJOR TRANSFERS:
INs: Christian Benitez (Santos Laguna, up to £9 million), Joe Hart (Manchester City, loan), Giovanny Espinoza (Barcelona Sporting Club, undisclosed), Roger Johnson (Cardiff City, £5 million), Lee Bowyer (West Ham United, free), Barry Ferguson (Glasgow Rangers, £1.25 million), Gregory Vignal (Lens, undisclosed)
OUTs: Mehdi Nafti (Aris, free), Stephen Kelly (Fulham, undisclosed), Radhi Jaidi (released)
Birmingham are like Bolton in way of functioning, having played effective football to achieve success in the Championship. But to achieve success in the Premier League, there needs to be infusion of new players, capable of mixing it at the biggest stage.
How Christian Benitez fares is going to be the key to survival for the Blues, with up to 9 million pounds on the line to bring him to St. Andrews. Barry Ferguson will be looking to restart his career after a bad phase in the past year.
Final Verdict: Expect The Blues to survive, but not before their share of hiccups. 17th spot.
Burnley FC
Manager: Owen Coyle
Ground: Turf Moor (Capacity: 22,619)
Last season: 5th in Championship
Key Player: Wade Elliot
Star-in-waiting: Steven Fletcher
MAJOR TRANSFERS:
INs: Steven Fletcher (Hibernian, £3 million), David Edgar (Newcastle United, free), Tyrone Mears (Derby County, £500,000), Richard Eckersley (Manchester United, to be decided), Brian Easton (Hamilton Academical, £350,000), Fernando Guerrero (Independiente del Valle, loan), Andre Bikey (Reading, undisclosed)
OUTs: Chris Mahon (Tranmere Rovers, free)
Burnley are the success story in English Football right now, and Owen Coyle is the mastermind behind it. Having taken a team with such humble financial backing to the Premier League; Coyle was offered the Celtic job, which he turned down to focus on the Burnley challenge.
Coyle believes in the power of youth, and that has been reinforced by the signings he has made. Steven Fletcher, Andre Bikey, Tyrone Mears are all part of this Burnley experiment.
Final Verdict: Burnley are a hard-working team. They should be able to survive the Premier League rigours. The path will be hard, but they should be able to handle it. 16th spot for Coyle’s men.
Hull City AFC
Manager: Phil Brown
Ground: KC Stadium (Capacity: 25,404)
Last season: 17th
Key Player: Michael Turner
Star-in-waiting: Jozy Altidore
MAJOR TRANSFERS:
INs: Steven Mouyokolo (Boulogne, undisclosed), Seyi Olofinjana (Stoke City, £3m), Jozy Altidore (Villarreal, loan), Stephen Hunt (Reading, undisclosed), Kamel Ghilas (Celta Vigo, undisclosed)
OUTs: Dean Windass (released), Ryan France (released), Michael Bridges (released), John Welsh (released), Sam Ricketts (Bolton Wanderers, undisclosed)
Hull barely made it past the post of survival last season, with a frightening lack of form marking the second half for the team. Phil Brown has failed to capture players who he feels would help in the survival bid this season.
This creates a problematic scenario for Hull. With most of the players at the club the same as last year, better fortunes than last year will be tough to find. A lot will depend if Brown can keep hold of Michael Turner, and how Jozy Altidore adapts to the English League.
Final Verdict: A long, hard season lies ahead at the KC Stadium. A season that will unfortunately see their downfall from the top flight. 20th place and relegation.
Portsmouth FC
Manager: Paul Hart
Ground: Fratton Park (Capacity: 20,688)
Last season: 14th
Key Player: Niko Kranjcar
Star-in-waiting: Anthony Van Den Borre
MAJOR TRANSFERS:
INs: Aaron Mokoena (Blackburn Rovers, free), Steve Finnan (Espanyol, free), Frederic Piquionne (Lyon, loan), Anthony Vanden Borre (Genoa, loan), Antti Niemi (free agent)
OUTs: Djimi Traore (Monaco, undisclosed), Glen Johnson (Liverpool, undisclosed), Sean Davis (Bolton, free), Noe Pamarot (released), Lauren (released), Jerome Thomas (released), Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo (Standard Liege, free), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur, undisclosed), Arnold Mvuemba (released)
Portsmouth have become the symbol for recession in the top-flight of football. Problems off the pitch have contributed to trouble on the pitch with the club having to sell many of its important players to stay afloat.
Suleiman Al Fahim’s long-protracted takeover of the club will be a boost for the club’s finances, and may allow them to keep their players. On current paper strength, getting out a squad for every match is turning out to be tough for the Pompey manager.
Final Verdict: Al Fahim’s takeover comes too late for Portsmouth, and I believe that this season shall see Pompey go down. And that too not entirely due to their fault. 19th spot.
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC
Manager: Mick McCarthy
Ground: Molineux Stadium (Capacity: 29,303)
Last season: 1st in the Championship
Key Player: Kevin Doyle
Star-in-waiting: Michael Mancienne
MAJOR TRANSFERS:
INs: Nenad Milijas (Red Star Belgrade, undisclosed), Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, free), Kevin Doyle (Reading, £6.5 million), Andrew Surman (Southampton, undisclosed), Ronald Zubar (Marseille, undisclosed), Greg Halford (Sunderland, undisclosed), Michael Mancienne (Chelsea, loan)
OUTs:
Wolves make a return to the big stage after having conquered the Championship. Mick McCarthy will be looking to all his Championship stars, along with the major signings he’s made, including Doyle, Mancienne, Zubar, Surman among others to step up and make their mark.
The squad looks excellent: but for the Championship. In the Premier League, there needs to be some more. And McCarthy will be looking to bolster his squad, I am sure.
Final Verdict: Wolves will fight hard, and only after a vicious fight, will they go down. 18th spot to the Wolves.
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