Rival Watch

[NathStPaul]

I just don't see how we get out of this mess without a visit to League 1 and so I have put £100 on at 11/4 for relegation. Those seem generous odds to me - about the same as Bristol and Birmingham, but unless I am missing something both those sides will start with much stronger and more settled squads than us.

I hope you lose every penny.

Betting against your own side is ridiculous behaviour.

[andrew1957]

I just don't see how we get out of this mess without a visit to League 1 and so I have put £100 on at 11/4 for relegation. Those seem generous odds to me - about the same as Bristol and Birmingham, but unless I am missing something both those sides will start with much stronger and more settled squads than us.

I hope you lose every penny.

Betting against your own side is ridiculous behaviour.

In the unlikely event we stay up I will be glad to lose.

[Hound]

I just don't see how we get out of this mess without a visit to League 1 and so I have put £100 on at 11/4 for relegation. Those seem generous odds to me - about the same as Bristol and Birmingham, but unless I am missing something both those sides will start with much stronger and more settled squads than us.

Not sure about the much stronger squad than us because we don't know what our squad will look like come game one and that could still change as the transfer window closes some 5 weeks after that as well, so we will be a fair way into the season before we know what our squad will be like until January.

I don't see us being much worse off than most/every team that finished from Bristol City downwards next season. I don't think any of Cardiff, Hull, Birmingham, Bristol City, Rotherham and Wigan are any great shakes and there may even be others such as Stoke and Middlesbrough that may end up hauled in if FFP takes hold there and Preston have been tipped to struggle as well. Huddersfield and Blackpool may end up towards the bottom as well. That's potentially 12 teams there (including ourselves) that could end up looking over their shoulders for one reason or another.

Division looks very weak to me this year tbh

Wba/Norwich/Watford in the mix for the top spots I’d say but everyone else look nothing special at all. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of

[6ft Kerplunk]

Division looks very weak to me this year tbh

Wba/Norwich/Watford in the mix for the top spots I’d say but everyone else look nothing special at all. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of

Other than of course last season we nearly went down having lost against most of those teams who didn't look anything special and this season our squad looks likely to be worse.

[Mr Angry]

There is a Preston supporter on Youtube who does a lot of stuff on the Championship and he has done a predicted table based on bookies odds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMWUjY_0KYU&t=258s

Spoiler alert; he has us, Birmingham and Rotherham to go down even though we are the same odds as Bristol City (he doesn't rate Paul Ince as the Manager apparently.........)

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Division looks very weak to me this year tbh

Wba/Norwich/Watford in the mix for the top spots I’d say but everyone else look nothing special at all. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of

Other than of course last season we nearly went down having lost against most of those teams who didn't look anything special and this season our squad looks likely to be worse.

But some of those teams are now looking worse e.g. Blackpool without Critchley and Huddersfield should they lose O'Brien and co. Bristol City, Birmingham etc may be looking worse as well and, as someone pointed out, we could have a "better" team by sacrificing individual quality for players that may be more cohesive as a team.

[NathStPaul]

It's not really a debate that can be had until the day of the season starting is it? So much can change between now and the end of July in terms of recruitment.

Think we also need to take into consideration that Luton and Huddersfield came out of nowhere last season to get playoff places. That's the beauty of the Championship, anything can happen. Think its fair enough to predict success but predicting failure is far harder, think half the division have the potential to go down next season.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Plus some teams potentially looking at points deductions.

[Snowflake Royal]

Nah fuck 'em. They wouldn't feel one iota of sympathy if the shoe was on the other foot.

Other clubs would probably make some comment like "Well Reading have no history, are massively tin pot, no one would miss them".

The oxf*rd kept pretending Fulham had scored to send us down at their place, cheered when it actually happened and then tried to give out to us as we clapped our players.

oxf*rd em.

That's one idiot. There would be plenty in 1871 doing the same if we were playing a side relying on another result.

It wasn't one idiot, it was thousands.

[windermereROYAL]

[On Strings]

Yet more extensions afforded to Derby and this dipstick with his crypto missing missions. The EFL really do lack balls and consistency when handing out punishments with Admin and FFP.

[Stranded]

It does feel as if Derby have been given multiple chances due to the stature of the club going a founder member.

Bury were expelled when a takeover collapsed. By 5pm today Derby will essentially be in the same position. Consistency would also see them expelled.

It won't happen and expect them to finally exit admin toward the end if the month under Mike Ashley and a 15 point deduction.

[NathStPaul]

It does feel as if Derby have been given multiple chances due to the stature of the club going a founder member.

Bury were expelled when a takeover collapsed. By 5pm today Derby will essentially be in the same position. Consistency would also see them expelled.

It won't happen and expect them to finally exit admin toward the end if the month under Mike Ashley and a 15 point deduction.

Seeing you mention Bury reminds me of how little they were helped by the EFL. For some reason the EFL seem to be falling over themselves to assist Derby and buy them time. I guess it is so that there isn't a repeat of the Bury situation but it really irriates me just how little was done to save Bury at the time.

[Pepe the Horseman]

It does feel as if Derby have been given multiple chances due to the stature of the club going a founder member.

Bury were expelled when a takeover collapsed. By 5pm today Derby will essentially be in the same position. Consistency would also see them expelled.

It won't happen and expect them to finally exit admin toward the end if the month under Mike Ashley and a 15 point deduction.

Seeing you mention Bury reminds me of how little they were helped by the EFL. For some reason the EFL seem to be falling over themselves to assist Derby and buy them time. I guess it is so that there isn't a repeat of the Bury situation but it really irriates me just how little was done to save Bury at the time.

I seem to remember SSN having a countdown clock too. Almost willing them to go bust for "entertainment".

[NathStPaul]

It does feel as if Derby have been given multiple chances due to the stature of the club going a founder member.

Bury were expelled when a takeover collapsed. By 5pm today Derby will essentially be in the same position. Consistency would also see them expelled.

It won't happen and expect them to finally exit admin toward the end if the month under Mike Ashley and a 15 point deduction.

Seeing you mention Bury reminds me of how little they were helped by the EFL. For some reason the EFL seem to be falling over themselves to assist Derby and buy them time. I guess it is so that there isn't a repeat of the Bury situation but it really irriates me just how little was done to save Bury at the time.

I seem to remember SSN having a countdown clock too. Almost willing them to go bust for "entertainment".

Yep. Here is the smiling prick Jim White milking the misfortune of others.

[Zip]

Agree with the views on Bury. They always struck me as a decent club who never seemed to be badly run.
As soon as they hit trouble nothing was done to help them

[URZZZZ]

I just don't see how we get out of this mess without a visit to League 1 and so I have put £100 on at 11/4 for relegation. Those seem generous odds to me - about the same as Bristol and Birmingham, but unless I am missing something both those sides will start with much stronger and more settled squads than us.

Not sure about the much stronger squad than us because we don't know what our squad will look like come game one and that could still change as the transfer window closes some 5 weeks after that as well, so we will be a fair way into the season before we know what our squad will be like until January.

I don't see us being much worse off than most/every team that finished from Bristol City downwards next season. I don't think any of Cardiff, Hull, Birmingham, Bristol City, Rotherham and Wigan are any great shakes and there may even be others such as Stoke and Middlesbrough that may end up hauled in if FFP takes hold there and Preston have been tipped to struggle as well. Huddersfield and Blackpool may end up towards the bottom as well. That's potentially 12 teams there (including ourselves) that could end up looking over their shoulders for one reason or another.

Division looks very weak to me this year tbh

Wba/Norwich/Watford in the mix for the top spots I’d say but everyone else look nothing special at all. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of

Don’t think it’s been particularly strong for a while, last season as an example, thought Forest were particularly average aside from a couple of key players and they weren’t far off autos

Unless you have the distinct quality to play your way out of the league (effectively Fulham and Norwich alternating each other season) or stand out players (Sarr for Watford as an example), it’s a very workmanlike division. Hence Luton and Huddersfield finishing 6th and 3rd respectively last season with us 21st. It’s hard to argue any of those sides has better teams on paper but as we all know, that amounts to nothing!

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Forest, Luton and Huddersfield all finished bottom half the season before last and you've got others outside like Blackburn who narrowly missed out who also finished bottom half as well. Ourselves and Barnsley the season before that as well, were bottom half.

I know it's a bit of a cliche when they say consistency is the key in the Championship and it can drive you a long way in the division, but it seems especially apparent now with a lot of teams just being bang average.

In terms of quality, I thought the team that should have gone up through the play offs should have been Sheff United given they've dropped out of the PL recently.

[Mr Angry]

It does feel as if Derby have been given multiple chances due to the stature of the club going a founder member.

Bury were expelled when a takeover collapsed. By 5pm today Derby will essentially be in the same position. Consistency would also see them expelled.

It won't happen and expect them to finally exit admin toward the end if the month under Mike Ashley and a 15 point deduction.

If he sticks by the £28M he is quoted as offering (including £20M to Mel Morris for the purchase of the stadium which I suspect is all that Ashley really wants) that would mean HMRC getting something like 15p in the £ for what Derby owe us tax payers; that is a disgrace, and frankly they should be allowed to go out of business.

This was on the BBC website:

"American businessman Chris Kirchner has been given until 17:00 BST on Friday to provide evidence that he can complete the purchase of Derby County.

In the meantime, the club's administrators "have taken the decision to engage with other interested parties as a contingency measure".

The sale and purchase agreement with Kirchner remains in place but will be off if Friday's deadline is not met."

Details of what debts there are include:

"Figures from Quantuma last month showed that HM Revenue and Customs' total claim for unpaid taxes has risen to £36m from £28m.

The club also owes finance company MSD £24m, while Quantuma themselves accumulated costs of £2.1m in the first six months of administration."

(I am pretty sure they still owe Arsenal £8M for a player, and another £2M for other players.......)

This is truly scandalous; Derby announced a profit in 2019 only after selling Pride Park stadium to owner Mel Morris for £80m. Where has that money gone? Of course, it never existed........thats why they got their 9 point deduction for effectively cooking the books, which is why Wycombe are suing them, and why Morris is asking "only" £20M for the stadium..........

[Hound]

Not sure about the much stronger squad than us because we don't know what our squad will look like come game one and that could still change as the transfer window closes some 5 weeks after that as well, so we will be a fair way into the season before we know what our squad will be like until January.

I don't see us being much worse off than most/every team that finished from Bristol City downwards next season. I don't think any of Cardiff, Hull, Birmingham, Bristol City, Rotherham and Wigan are any great shakes and there may even be others such as Stoke and Middlesbrough that may end up hauled in if FFP takes hold there and Preston have been tipped to struggle as well. Huddersfield and Blackpool may end up towards the bottom as well. That's potentially 12 teams there (including ourselves) that could end up looking over their shoulders for one reason or another.

Division looks very weak to me this year tbh

Wba/Norwich/Watford in the mix for the top spots I’d say but everyone else look nothing special at all. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of

Don’t think it’s been particularly strong for a while, last season as an example, thought Forest were particularly average aside from a couple of key players and they weren’t far off autos

Unless you have the distinct quality to play your way out of the league (effectively Fulham and Norwich alternating each other season) or stand out players (Sarr for Watford as an example), it’s a very workmanlike division. Hence Luton and Huddersfield finishing 6th and 3rd respectively last season with us 21st. It’s hard to argue any of those sides has better teams on paper but as we all know, that amounts to nothing!

Forest used the loan market very well. That Garner chap will be in demand and Spence obviously as well

Think that’s often a key part as well. We can loan in 5 - we need to make sure they all add quality. We seem to get the odd gem (Miazga, Martinez) but too often they just seem to add bulk to the squad - ie Drinkwater, TDB, Esteves, Semedo, Baba, Hein etc. All useful but not players who raise the overall standard