The Football League Thread

Cott's has just been given his marching orders

Curbishley would be a great replacement.

Heard a fair few rumours about Mick McCarthy coming in.

Very good appointment if true, he knows how to get you out of the division. Would like to see Forest back in the top flight.

In League one, I tip Sheffield United to put the disappointment of last season behind and go up this time, behind them it is any bodies game, wouldn't be surprised if someone in the play offs last season battles relegation this time, however I suspect MK Dons will be strong again along with the likes of Stevenage and Notts County, i;d bet on as well seeing Coventry being there as well. Wouldn't be surprised Crawley are battling up there again as well, very ambitious club
Have to worry about Portsmouth though, assuming they even make it to the start they will struggle with a 10 point deduction, and other smaller clubs like Walsall, Yeovil, Bury and Bournemouth.

Who will you be following in the football league? who do you think will go up or down?

Well the new season is barely 4 days away for the football league and the beauty of it all is that it is more unpredictable each year especially in the Championship.

I suspect though the usual suspects will be up there, I suspect Bolton and Blackburn will be eyeing an immediate return although we seen in the past this will not be easy with the league littered with several ex Premier League clubs trying to get back up, I would however guess at least one both will be up there by the end of the season, out of the newly promoted teams I wouldn't be surprised to see both Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday mount a challange as well, Huddersfield I suspect will be happy to be around the mid-table and to consolidate their position for a season before pushing on.

Also think we'll see Birmingham, Brighton, Middlesbrough and the East Midlands clubs looking to get up there as well, Birmingham have a good manager who likes to play attacking football, if they can hang on to their best players then they should challange, looking at Nottingham Forest and Leicester both with new owners and money to spend. However I can't see Blackpool making the play offs again.
I would say the likes of Millwall, Bristol City and Barnsley will be the one's who struggle, but as I said it will be virtually impossible to predict.

In League one, I tip Sheffield United to put the disappointment of last season behind and go up this time, behind them it is any bodies game, wouldn't be surprised if someone in the play offs last season battles relegation this time, however I suspect MK Dons will be strong again along with the likes of Stevenage and Notts County, i;d bet on as well seeing Coventry being there as well. Wouldn't be surprised Crawley are battling up there again as well, very ambitious club
Have to worry about Portsmouth though, assuming they even make it to the start they will struggle with a 10 point deduction, and other smaller clubs like Walsall, Yeovil, Bury and Bournemouth.

In league two, I will go with Fleetwood to go up along with Rotherham and Oxford, suspect Wycombe and Plymouth will be strong this season, nothing against Barnet but I think they will struggle again.

Who will you be following in the football league? who do you think will go up or down?

I think Leicester will have a much better season under Pearson. If Bolton hang on to Holden and Lee they'll be up there too, they would have stayed up comfortably last season if those two were fit. Leeds will be a tough nut to crack under Colin and Brighton to win the play offs has to be worth a punt.

Everyone expects Sheffield United to win League One but i don't think it'll be that simple. Yes they'll be up there but Notts County, Swindon, Milton Keynes and Preston have very strong squads and would all be fancying their chances. Outside punt on someone like Carlisle, Colchester or Bournemouth for the play offs.

Will be suprised if Portsmouth even exist at the end of this season.

Well if I am right Portsmouth have 4 days left to get rid of two players, the fans are trying to mount some sort of a takeover as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see Leeds in the play offs under Warnock.

TBH finally gone. They're going to survive now Hopefully whoever takes over will learn, but i doubt it. Remember this quote?

But Andronikou said: "We have had to push out the boat for Kitson and Lawrence.

"Their wages are £19,000 and £20,000 but it was something we are comfortable with.

"Gone are the days when extraordinary pay packets put the club in financial trouble.''

Give it 6 months and Pompey's ''impending liquidation'' will be all over the news again.

Created a league for the championship fantasy football league if anyone is intrested. Website is http://fantasy.football-league.co.uk/index.aspx and the league code is 10801.

This is it they owe so much money, whether they just write off the debts I don't know but with the stricter rules, I can see them still being in real trouble financially. Trouble is there will be another few clubs getting into trouble like this.

Without a doubt. Its quite silly that its been allowed to go on for this long. Surely the FA have to postpone Saturdays game to maintain the integrity of the competition? Fielding a team of boys in every game as they did on Tuesday is benefitting noone.

I'd happily donate but they've had chances to recover before and have only gone on to take the piss once more. They were days away from doing it yet again, a limit of £5k per week is excessive for League One, yet their manager has the cheek to moan about it. I feel for the genuine supporters but i wish they'd just liquidate the club and be done with it.

Well the football is back!

Indeed!

Just back from the MK Dons game - we looked a bit rusty but Oldham look like they might be involved in a regulation battle. Comfortable 2-0 win only marred by a red card after the final whistle (where the player involved on theirs ran away down the tunnel before the ref could talk to him!).

Our goal shouldn't have been ruled out for offside though. How can you be offside when the assist was a square pass?! That lino had an absolutely bloody awful game.

Not sure what happened at the end, didn't see that. Will have to look at that on the Football League Show or something. Can't say I was hugely impressed with either side though.

Genuine question though - how can you stand to go to that ground week in, week out? It's a lovely day, your team was winning, why did nobody have a sing song until you had a shot saved towards the end of the game? There was absolutely no atmosphere for most of that!