Official Sky Bet Championship Thread

[Guest JackWWFC]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Jeffers is wasted talent, my uncle is a scout and he saw him and Rooney come up from Everton's reserves, he said Jeffers was a great talent and that he could play for England in a few years.

What a waste, he thought he was a bigshot and wrecked his career.

[Dan Griffin 3,682]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Would love to have Wittingham back. Nuneaton lad' date=' from the Cov academy, plus we have a history of re-signings lately (Colin Hawkins, McSheffrey, O'Donovan, Carsley), but we can all dream. [/quote']

I'd love Whitingham at the Ricoh...

[Sky Blue Lee 5,407]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

from i personal experience about 5-6 years ago i'd like to agree that jeffers is an absolute prat - thinks he's a bigshot like marlon king

So much of a bigshot that when he was just about to literally put pen to paper with us, he got a call from Blackburn and signed for them. Look where it got him.

Although in the long-run, we were better off.

[Mancini's Scarf 708]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Real risk of Portsmouth going out of business. I really hope this doesn't happen, it will be a really sad moment for english football. To see football clubs in this state isn't good for anyone - it really shouldn't be allowed to happen and is sad to see .

[andyowls 11,740]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Well considering Holloway would be preparing for life in the Championship next season' date=' the Blackpool Chairman isn't doing a great job on preparing. It will be much more harder to buy players next season than it is this season, he should be looking at players such as Peter Whittingham and he should have really bought George Boyd, they are very good players in the Championship and they wouldn't be out of place in the Premier League. They get £30M so that they can bring in Players, if he wants to be a Yo-Yo club rather than sign 2-3 players for £2.5M it's his decision but I doubt no Good Championship/Low Premier League players wouldn't join Blackpool next season if they get Relegated. A huge Majority of Championship players earn less than £10,000 a month, Holloway could surely tempt some of them into a move to Blackpool.[/quote']

Please, you don't know what you're talking about. The Blackpool chairman isn't doing a very good job of preparing the club? Are you serious? The chairman is solely responsible for everything which the club is doing right now, and that is increasing the capacity of Bloomfield Road, improving the floodlights, improving media and medical facilities as well as the dugouts. Work on at least three of the stands is being done, including having further hospitality areas fitted out, and old seats are to be replaced by new ones. As well as this, training facilities are undergoing a huge upgrade. This stuff doesn't come cheap - it costs millions and millions of pounds.

And less of this belief that, "Blackpool can't afford so-and-so". Blackpool can certainly afford it with the money they've earnt through promotion, but they're choosing to upgrade their stadium, it's facilities, it's capacity and the training ground. Blackpool is a small club that doesn't have the luxuries that other Premier League clubs have, including a large following. They won't be able to sustain themselves if they spend millions and millions here, there and everywhere. Being prudent and stringent in the transfer market is for the benefit of the club's long-term future, as they certainly don't want to be in a position that Portsmouth are today.

Considering this chairman (Karl Oyston, his name is by the way) has overseen them earn promotion through three divisions, I'd say he knows what he's doing.

Jeffers is wasted talent' date=' my uncle is a scout and he saw him and Rooney come up from Everton's reserves, he said Jeffers was a great talent and that he could play for England in a few years.

What a waste, he thought he was a bigshot and wrecked his career.[/quote']

Jeffers was not a wasted talent, and he didn't ruin his career by being a bigshot. He did actually earn a cap for England and scored in it, against Australia in a 3-1 defeat at Upton Park (interestingly, a certain Wayne Rooney also made his debut in this game). Injuries ruined his career. Full stop.

[Wesley Sneijder 1,163]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Just look at my club, Middlesbrough, and you can see exactly what having a decent chairman who knows what they're doing with money gets. We were a yo-yo club before the 90's, typically staying in the 2nd division and mostly and indeed in 1986 we were about 15 minutes from liquidation before a consortium containing Gibson saved the club. When Gibson gained sole control of the club and became it's chairmn what was the first thing he did? Improve our training facilities, stadium and academy. By doing this it gives us a solid platform to build on and to attract players. Players will not be attracted by a club if they're going to be relegated, have poor facilities, a poor and small stadium and no talent coming through or within the club. We now have one of the best training facilities in Europe in Hurworth, one of the best academies within England and again in Europe and have a 35,000 all seater stadium which is of a high standard.

This solid basis THEN allowed us to start spending money on players and it gave us assets that could attract the quality players that you need to stay up to the club. Would Juninho, Ravanelli, Emmerson, Barmby and so on who in the 90's were some of the best players in the country come to our club without the infrastructure we had? Of course they wouldn't. The improved stadium gives a larger income from the fans and the rest of the infrastructure meant we could go after the right players to keep us up, and then because of the players we enjoyed 12 consecutive seasons in the Premier League and within these 12 seasons we also reached 5 cup finals, 1 of which was European and also 1 cup win. This success would never have happened without the infrastructure we had behind us. So, what the Blackpool chairman is doing is exactly the right thing. They will probably go down next season, just like we did in the 94/95 season, BUT, they then have the basis behind them to build on and then go up again, this time staying for a longer stint.

[Mancini's Scarf 708]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Please' date=' you don't know what you're talking about. The Blackpool chairman isn't doing a very good job of preparing the club? Are you serious? The chairman is solely responsible for everything which the club is doing right now, and that is increasing the capacity of Bloomfield Road, improving the floodlights, improving media and medical facilities as well as the dugouts. Work on at least three of the stands is being done, including having further hospitality areas fitted out, and old seats are to be replaced by new ones. As well as this, training facilities are undergoing a huge upgrade. This stuff doesn't come cheap - it costs millions and millions of pounds.

And less of this belief that, "Blackpool can't afford so-and-so". Blackpool can certainly afford it with the money they've earnt through promotion, but they're choosing to upgrade their stadium, it's facilities, it's capacity and the training ground. Blackpool is a small club that doesn't have the luxuries that other Premier League clubs have, including a large following. They won't be able to sustain themselves if they spend millions and millions here, there and everywhere. Being prudent and stringent in the transfer market is for the benefit of the club's long-term future, as they certainly don't want to be in a position that Portsmouth are today. .[/quote']

I understand and accept the approach Blackpool are taking, securing the long term future of the club with the money they have, it's a very intelligent idea. However, I just hope for their sake they aren't too foucsed on doing this and they are not being too prudent. Because, it's all very well having lovely hospitality facilities (which, I understand their reasons for building for their fans and to attract more in), however, those things won't keep you in the Premiership. They need to make sure they do invest in a competent enough squad to stay up, not spend £20, 30m, but maybe just a few million in order to stay up. Because , the current squad simply isn't good enough to stay up.

Doing this, along with the money they've spent on securing their long term future, would serve them very well, as if they stay up, then they can start to spend more money and build a better squad, with the long term future of the club already secured, and become a team that can push for higher places in the table. Even if they went down, by spending a bit of money on players now, they would be more likely to spring a challenge to come back up again. Being too prudent could lead to them going down, and then just falling into a mid table Championship side with average players.

Jeffers was not a wasted talent, and he didn't ruin his career by being a bigshot. He did actually earn a cap for England and scored in it, against Australia in a 3-1 defeat at Upton Park (interestingly, a certain Wayne Rooney also made his debut in this game). Injuries ruined his career. Full stop

But, he doesn't help himself by stupid things like headbutts (or whatever it was) during games, decreasing his reputation even more and getting himself sent off. Injuries didn't help, I agree, but some may say he hasn't helped himself.

Jeffers should really join an L1 club where he could make a very good impact and steadily rebuild his career from there (as he would probably play most weeks which would help his fitness, and if he did well in L1, which he has got the potential to do, he could maybe then move up the leagues if he impresses), rather than joining Blackpool where I couldn't see him doing too well in the Premiership or getting a decent amount of games. He'd be a squad player at Bpool I imagine, nothing more.

[andyowls 11,740]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Just look at my club' date=' Middlesbrough, and you can see exactly what having a decent chairman who knows what they're doing with money gets. We were a yo-yo club before the 90's, typically staying in the 2nd division and mostly and indeed in 1986 we were about 15 minutes from liquidation before a consortium containing Gibson saved the club. When Gibson gained sole control of the club and became it's chairmn what was the first thing he did? Improve our training facilities, stadium and academy. By doing this it gives us a solid platform to build on and to attract players. Players will not be attracted by a club if they're going to be relegated, have poor facilities, a poor and small stadium and no talent coming through or within the club. We now have one of the best training facilities in Europe in Hurworth, one of the best academies within England and again in Europe and have a 35,000 all seater stadium which is of a high standard.

This solid basis THEN allowed us to start spending money on players and it gave us assets that could attract the quality players that you need to stay up to the club. Would Juninho, Ravanelli, Emmerson, Barmby and so on who in the 90's were some of the best players in the country come to our club without the infrastructure we had? Of course they wouldn't. The improved stadium gives a larger income from the fans and the rest of the infrastructure meant we could go after the right players to keep us up, and then because of the players we enjoyed 12 consecutive seasons in the Premier League and within these 12 seasons we also reached 5 cup finals, 1 of which was European and also 1 cup win. This success would never have happened without the infrastructure we had behind us. So, what the Blackpool chairman is doing is exactly the right thing. They will probably go down next season, just like we did in the 94/95 season, BUT, they then have the basis behind them to build on and then go up again, this time staying for a longer stint.[/quote']

This. ^^^

Thanks for backing up my point and, in fact, Middlesbrough are indeed a fantastic example of this strategy paying off.

But' date=' he doesn't help himself by stupid things like headbutts (or whatever it was) during games, decreasing his reputation even more and getting himself sent off. Injuries didn't help, I agree, but some may say he hasn't helped himself.

Jeffers should really join an L1 club where he could make a very good impact and steadily rebuild his career from there (as he would probably play most weeks which would help his fitness, and if he did well in L1, which he has got the potential to do, he could maybe then move up the leagues if he impresses), rather than joining Blackpool where I couldn't see him doing too well in the Premiership or getting a decent amount of games. He'd be a squad player at Bpool I imagine, nothing more.[/quote']

I won't go into the Blackpool debate any further. I can't think of anything to add on to Wesley's superb case study (as such).

As for Jeffers, his career was already wasted by the time his attitude got in the way to be honest. Ever since he was binned by Arsenal, he's been moving from club to club and unable to settle due to injuries, and then his attitude as well. To be fair to him, it must be frustrating having to constantly deal with his injuries and his critics, so a large portion of his attitude may be due to this (as well as the ego-boost of a multi-million pound move to Arsenal). Not saying I excuse it, but I can understand it.

And as for where he should go, I honestly can't see anywhere that would be good for him. He clearly wouldn't get enough gametime to be productive at Blackpool, yet the style of play in the lower leagues is far too physical for him. He is extremely lightweight and is bullied off the ball with ease.

In my opinion, as cruel as it may be, his career is over. He'd be better off going to Qatar or the MLS where he can enjoy a bumper pay packet and retire in the sun.

[RoKo7 3,252]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

I'd take Blackpool's approach every single day of the week in their position, it's just bad management to run the club any other way. It's simply pointless them stretching themselves to try and compete. For a start they've come up with a side bankrolled by 4 previous Premiership campaigns and the subsequent rewards it brings, who have a bigger following and a better squad. Add to that Newcastle, a club with a huge fanbase, massive stadium with a vastly superior side in place, both them and Albion could blow Blackpool out of the water in terms of wages or transfer fees.

Then you've got the likes of Stoke, Wolves and Wigan all shopping in similar markets who are all blessed with comparatively wealthy chairman who can invest money on top of the obscene rivers of television money they already have stocked up from previous Premiership campaigns, not to mention they all have a massive head start on Blackpool in terms of squads and resources like stadia and fanbase. Even if they chucked a few million around they'd be 20th out of 20 in the queue for prospective players and the manager would have to be an absolute stone cold genius to keep them up, in which case he'll probably do it without a couple of half hearted shows of ambition anyway.

Hull and Portsmouth should be the warning for sides who try to live beyond their means without having a rich backer to do so, eventually the bubble will burst and you'll end up on the brink of administration with some fat Premier League sized contracts on your hands. Jimmy Bullard for example was hailed as a master stroke at the time, yet has come to sum up all that was wrong with how Hull was run as a club, sitting on an apparently 40k a week contract in the Championship.

I would suggest the model to follow for Blackpool is the one Albion have set out and Burnley look to be trying to follow. Invest modestly in the Premiership while making the club Premier League ready in every possible respect off the pitch using the television money, then go right to the top of the Championship's food chain using the ample parachute money and build a side that can contend for promotion. There aren't many sides now who are going to come out of the Championship and compete in the Prem without a Dave Whelan, Peter Coates or Steve Morgan backing them, without that helpful little leg up in terms of spending power the gap is just too big to bridge and you can end up chasing the dream a little too foolhardily.

[mousey1 2,165]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Im hoping for a record breaking season from Blackpool. lol

[Hercule Poirot 7,969]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Pompey are safe now unless the HMRC appeal the decision. Congrats to the Pompey fans!

[Burrow27 7,287]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Pompey are safe now unless the HMRC appeal the decision. Congrats to the Pompey fans!

Glad to see theyre still around, we have them for the second home game.

[LiamSmith 2,088]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

I hope Portsmouth's situation discourages clubs from trying to spend beyond their means. If they had gone out of business today the fans would be the ones to suffer which is not right. People like Peter Storrie should be prevented from working at football clubs in future for his part in this.

[Toro De Líbano 1,951]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

I'm not too sure what to make of Portsmouth surviving as there are two sides to the coin. On the one hand, it's good for fans and employees of the club, at least in the short term. On the other hand, the high court might have missed a good opportunity to really show it's taking a tough stance against poorly run clubs which is kind of linked to the above post. If Portsmouth were punished it would discourage them but I'm not so sure this has done anything.

[andyowls 11,740]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

I'm not too sure what to make of Portsmouth surviving as there are two sides to the coin. On the one hand' date=' it's good for fans and employees of the club, at least in the short term. [b']On the other hand, the high court might have missed a good opportunity to really show it's taking a tough stance against poorly run clubs which is kind of linked to the above post. If Portsmouth were punished it would discourage them but I'm not so sure this has done anything.[/b]

I agree with this. I know it's incredibly cruel to say, but I almost wish Portsmouth had been liquidated to set a precedent and indicate just how severe the risks clubs are taking by going down this road.

[Hercule Poirot 7,969]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

I agree with this. I know it's incredibly cruel to say' date=' but I almost wish Portsmouth had been liquidated to set a precedent and indicate just how severe the risks clubs are taking by going down this road.[/quote']

The people responsible for this should have been punished. And this is another big kick in the teeth for the premier leagues fit and proper owner test:rolleyes: If they had any credibility us and 'Pool wouldn't be in the situation we are now

[Mancini's Scarf 708]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Great news for Portsmouth, very pleased for them. It's not only good for the fans of Portsmouth, but for Portsmouth as a place because the football team will be a crucial part of the community. It would have been terrible for football if they had ended up going bust, no football team should really ever have to go bust. People may say it was a missed chance to punish poorly run clubs, but think about the fans, it would be grossly unfair on them, as that will be one of their big sources of fun in life, and, not only that, but they will have spent a lot of money and dedicated a lot of time to support Portsmouth, it wouldn't be right to take the club away from them.

[Sky Blue Lee 5,407]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

They'll beat us on Saturday now.

[Toro De Líbano 1,951]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

The people responsible for this should have been punished. And this is another big kick in the teeth for the premier leagues fit and proper owner test:rolleyes: If they had any credibility us and 'Pool wouldn't be in the situation we are now

But if you punish the owners that won't improve the club's situation, they'll still be in a lot of debt. And really, the only thing that the owner can get in the form of a punishment is a big fine (which would be equivalent to pocket money to them) or ban them from football which is hardly a punishment if they have interests elsewhere, which mosts owners do.

If Portsmouth got demoted to the Conference South at best, they'd be able to rebuild in a lower league and then climb back up again. You might argue they'll never get back to the heights of the Premier League which wouldn't bode well financially or with the fans, but how do we know they will ever fully recover?

[Guest JackWWFC]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Sam Vokes gone to Bristol City on loan. Great for both parties, Vokesy will get first team experience and will notch Bristol 10-20 goals. Has had a great Pre-Seaosn.

[studge 1,894]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

Sam Vokes gone to Bristol City on loan. Great for both parties' date=' Vokesy will get first team experience and will notch Bristol 10-20 goals. Has had a great Pre-Seaosn.[/quote']

He couldn't even hack it in league 1, I don't he'll make an impact in the championship.

[swanseajack 11,427]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

He couldn't even hack it in league 1' date=' I don't he'll make an impact in the championship.[/quote']

Agreed, not enough pace for the Championship in my opinion.

Less then 24 hours away from the Championship kick-off Delighted, the worst thing about July.

[Seftinho 4,344]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

What does everyone think there club's line up will be for there first games of the new season?

I think Coventry's will be:

Eastwood/McSheffrey - Jutkiewicz

McIndoe -Carsley - Gunnarsson - Baker

O'Halloran - Keogh/McPake - Wood - Cranie

- Westwood -

We'll almost certainly line-up:

Schmeichel

Connolly - Bruce - Collins - Bessone

Kilkenny

Howson - Johnson

Watt - - - - - - - - - Sam

Becchio

I say almost - Naylor is still captain though so he might start ahead of Bruce who only joined a week ago' date=' and Higgs might start in goal (has looked more assured in pre-season).

Personally I think Sheehan is underrated and would offer something to Leeds at left back. He's got a great left foot and is all right when it comes to defending too. Michalik's gone a bit downhill hasn't he, he was playing for Bolton in the Premiership two/three years ago and now he isn't even wanted by a Championship side .

He's a terrible, terrible player with a terrible, terrible attitude. He has a cracking left-foot, but his positional sense, his decisions, his concentration, his tackling, etc, are all poor. He's a good player at League 1, but he'd never cut it above that. He's far too aggressive, he makes all the wrong decisions, etc. Tbf to him, he did very well at Swindon, but the fact that Wilson didn't want him back and instead went for Stockport's Rose even though Sheehan was free speaks wonders. His attitude lets him down big-time.

I agree' date=' I don't think there is any chance at all Boateng will stay. But, as for others, like Smith, Hughes and Mokoena - surely they won't be able to find a better club who wants them? Although if I was a Portsmouth fan I would probably be saying I would be happy just to survive for this season. Also, like I said, even when their best players do leave, they can replace them with loans from Premiership sides. They've also got some decent youngsters haven't they? (Joel Ward, Gael Nlundulu etc)[/quote']

I expect most of them will stay. On paper, they have one of the strongest first 11's in the division. But everyone knows that having the best team on paper doesn't automatically transfer over to performances. Motivation is big question, and their squad is wafer-thin. When they start getting injuries and suspensions (and they will) they will be forced into playing their youngsters. If Ashdown gets injured they'll be left with an 18 year old with no previous experience.

Maybe' date=' once he realised nobody could afford his wages, he would drop them down a bit? To be fair to Bates, he seems like a very sensibile chairman who is just doing what he thinks is best for the club.[/quote']

I expect he would. Although I expect he will have offers abroad as well, possibly Germany, which might be more tempting than more Championship football.

As for Bates, I don't think sensible is the worst. Incredibly tight and a lieing thief might be better. This club has generated millions in the past few years and it's all disappeared into his pocket. Very, very little spent on players, couldn't even buy Thorp Arch back, etc. A child season ticket costs over £200. That's more expensive than a child season ticket at Man United.

Smith' date=' Utaka and Nugent all don't look out of place in the Premier League and if I was Iain Holloway I'd be chasing them instead of Francis Jeffers and Rob Hulse.

Nugent should take a look at this thread on the Crystal Palace forums, 351 Pages about him and he hasn't ever joined us

[url']http://www.cpfc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=134764&highlight=macken[/url]

Christ, I didn't think anything could beat our "obsession" with Hooper. Various wind-up merchants starting threads on him and it ended up with a 70 pager before he joined Celtic.

Preston have signed Darel Russell on a free.

Great signing imo' date=' we've been tracking him for a while now and then when he finally came free, [b']Leeds stuck their noses in and attempted to steal him[/b], but we got him. Now we have some back-up for Matt James and Paul Coutts, and may not have to rely on the exiled Chaplow (no 35) and Carter (no 41)

No, we didn't. We were heavily linked with him but we never made any contact.

Pompey have signed Jamie Ashdown and Stephen Jordan under special dispensation from the Football League. They've used up their three transfers issued to them by the Football League (Sonko' date=' Jordan and Ashdown) They now arent allowed anymore players, and I was reading somewhere that under the terms of their administration they can only have a maximum of 20 players.I make that 15 (?)

Ashdown, O'Brien

Mokoena, Wilson, Sonko, Jordan

Ritchie, Mullins, Brown, Hughes, Boateng

Utaka, Nugent, Smith, Webber

I dont think they can re-sign Kanu now.[/quote']

Matt Ritchie as well, did very well in League 1 last year on a short-term loan spell at Swindon.

In terms of news of Swansea' date=' if any championship side thought they might get Scott Sinclair on loan they can forget it. Chelsea want to sell him, rather then loan him out and apparanty Swansea have bid 1.1 million, pretty much half of the clubs finances.

[/quote']

We were linked with a £1m bid for him as well. Definitely not worth that amount. He's another of those players with pace and nothing else. Too lightweight as well. I don't think he'll ever make it above Championship level.

Sam Vokes gone to Bristol City on loan. Great for both parties' date=' Vokesy will get first team experience and will notch Bristol 10-20 goals. Has had a great Pre-Seaosn.[/quote']

1 goal in 10 apps in League 1 for a team scoring left, right and centre. He might reach double figures, far, far from guaranteed though.

He couldn't even hack it in league 1' date=' I don't he'll make an impact in the championship.[/quote']

He hacked it, he hacked it fine. He's very under-rated from his time with us I feel. He's a very good player, but just not clinical enough. We didn't lose a single game he played in, which says it all. However 1 in 10 also says it all. Not clinical enough. Great link-up player though, I think he'll do well alongside Maynard.

Agreed' date=' [b']not enough pace for the Championship in my opinion.[/b]

Less then 24 hours away from the Championship kick-off Delighted, the worst thing about July.

What a ridiculous comment. In that case, would Michael Owen not cut it in the Championship?

[swanseajack 11,427]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

What a ridiculous comment. In that case' date=' would Michael Owen not cut it in the Championship?[/quote']

Well Vokes is not Michael Owen. He just doesn't have the pace, Owen's a completely different player. He is probably faster then Vokes anyway, it's just he's not fast in comparison to the rest of the Premier League.

Vokes shouldn't make it above League 1 level in the future, all could change though - he's only young.

[studge 1,894]

Re: The Npower Championship 2010/11 Season

He hacked it' date=' he hacked it fine. He's very under-rated from his time with us I feel. He's a very good player, but just not clinical enough. We didn't lose a single game he played in, which says it all. However 1 in 10 also says it all. Not clinical enough. Great link-up player though, I think he'll do well alongside Maynard.

[/quote']

"That says it all"? So a striker has an impact on how many goals Leeds concede? Maybe the Defence and keeper had decent games? Not underrated at all, got a few headers in, hoofed a few balls into row Z. Was worse than Capaldi.