Usually its pretty easy to predict(with the odd result) to say who will get promoted to the premiership. But this year all the teams you'd expect to get promoted Derby, Leicster etc... Are in real finicial difficulty compared to other teams in div1. So I'm goin for the teams to get promoted to be the ones who have steady div1 records. Who will be able to afford thier way to the premiership. Of coarse I don't know what they'll do when they get there.
Porstmouth will go up with the team they have. They also have the money to survive (through Milan Mandaric) and the potential fan-base. Redknapp is a good manager and he seems to be able to atract good players as well.
Norwich...time for the Canaries to fly again. Next to Pompey no one comes close to the fire power that the yellows have.
Still early days though. Norwich and Portsmouth have started off well but promotion talk can wait. I still have Ipswich for automatic promotion even though our squad have downsized just a little. (Bramble,Sereni,Le Pen and Stewart) Even with those losses we'll still be strong with youngsters Darren Bent and Darren Ambrose lighting it up in every game so far. Don't overlook the Blues because obviously they haven't hit their peak yet. If only our defense can stop leaking goals! We'll be singin' the blues in early May!!!
Portsmouth are looking good at the moment, but they always seem to implode at some point (albeit not with their present team). I also think there's some question about whether Merson will stand up over the course of a long, physical season and as he is extremely influential for them right now, they wouldn't bear his loss easily. Lastly, I think Redknapp is as over-rated a manager as there is. For all that, though, they should be up there. Norwich also look good. When a team suffers the disappointment of losing a playoff final, it usually goes to one extreme or the other the following year (they fall away entirely or come back all guns blazing) and the Canaries really seem to be on the right track again. Expect them in the top six at any rate. Ipswich should be thereabouts. I think the pundits have a tendency to over-rate their chances a little, but they should be good enough in this division. Top six definitely, anyway. Leicester and Derby are good enough for the top six, and a lot depends on how well they apply themselves. Derby certainly have the players, and if the mooted new financial package calms things down and gives the club a bit of stability, there's no reason why they can't go on a run and lead the pack. I think the couple of early defeats might have been a blessing in disguise for them. As for Leicester, I suspect they'll plod their way into the top eight or so, if nothing else. Wolves will also be in or around the playoffs, for all the obvious reasons. Quite frankly, the first division is a stunningly mediocre league this year. It was mediocre last year, but with a couple of good teams in it at the same time. This time around, there really isn't a "Premiership" side on what's obviously a one year visit. Gun to my head, and with the above proviso's, I'd go with Derby, Wolves, and Ipswich going up, one of them through the playoffs.
Everyone that has posted on this thread has listed mostly frontrunners for promotion. Do any of the lesser clubs in the first division have a chance? Maybe Coventry? Or probably any quality side that has gotten off to a poor start? Even a side like Rotherham?
Rotherham are certainly a spirited side and there's a lot to respect about the way Ronnie Moore runs his team. However, in terms of sheer quality over the course of a long season, I don't think there's really enough there for them to finish above mid-table, though they would probably consider that, in itself, to be an achievement. A good dark horse, or at least a side nobody has mentioned in this thread, are Nottingham Forest. They have a good blend of highly talented youth and one or two old heads, everyone there seems to be pulling together, and whilst they are not (yet) an obvious promotion candidate, they have a shot at the playoffs if they can play at their best consistently. Coventry would not be a dark horse, in my opinion. They are a top ten side, in or just outside the playoffs. To be honest, the division is so, so mediocre. The teams that go up, or end up in the playoffs, will be the ones who play consistently well. Any side could put together a run of ten games and move into contending positions, and most teams are capable of beating anyone else in the division on their day. With a few games gone, I tend to like Leicester's chances more and more (always fancy a side that is picking up points when not playing particularly well, because when they do start playing well...) and I think Portsmouth on the other hand are totally flattered by their position. Credit where credit's due, they've done the job so far, but I will be surprised if they are in the top two places at the end of the season. Wolves, to my mind, are increasingly proving what should be the well-known adage that buying big names well past their glory days is rarely a good move for a lower division club.
Although, in defence of Wolves, Denis Irwin has been great so far this season. Paul Ince has gone missing in too many games and I think if he dosen't pick up his game soon, he'll be out of the side when Colin Cameron comes back from injury. The formation this season has got me and apparently the players confused. For much of this season we've been playing with an unusual 4:3:3 formation, with Shawn Newton playing as a winger-cum-forward, and it's just not working. It's lop-sided because we have a winger on the one side and not on the other. I don't understand why we don't go back to the 4.4.2 formation which was so successful last year. We have two wingers in Kevin Cooper and Shawn Newton who can both do well down the flanks and I find it difficult to believe that Wolves won't revert to 4.4.2 when Mark Kennedy comes back from injury anyway. It's not as though Wolves aren't scoring goals, because they are, but they're leaking them at the back like there is no tomorrow. It needs to be sorted out soon because the current formation is flawed. But getting back on topic.. I can see Portsmouth going up automatically, and Norwich will challenge too if they don't run into an injury crisis. Ipswich and Wolves can get promotion but they need to buck their ideas up quickly. Man City started last season dreadfully, and I'm sure I speak for Wolves and Ipswich fans when I say I hope we can match what they did!!