Earlier, over on that them there Twitter, somebody asked me for my prediction on West Ham's final league position, and without even a pause I already had us missing out on automatic promotion and coming back up via the play-offs. Looking at the Championship a bit more carefully, it's only decades of constant disappointment that formed that opinion. While I freely admit I was horrified by the prospect of Sam as our manager back in January, as a Championship appointment, I think he's pretty much the best we could have got.
Close season signings, albeit rather Bolton flavoured, have caused me to have even more optimism for the upcoming campaign. I'd have bitten anyone's hand off to land Nolan, and that we got him as a club in the second tier is cause to congratulate Sam and, begrudgingly, the Board. Matty Taylor, Abdoulaye Faye, Joey O'Brien are all good acquisitions and somehow we find ourselves entering the opening weekend with Green between the sticks, and with Parker, Cole, Piquionne, and two...ermmm....'international' full back's names available for the team sheet. Barrera, Collison, Noble and Tomkins all remain in place too. The Championship and hours upon hours of Pro-zone could be the making of Barrera.
None of the above paragraph spells fourth place and the play-offs. Yes, the transfer window remains open for another knuckle-whitening three weeks, and then there's January to fret about, but really, we should go screaming back up shouldn't we? It's only those decades upon decades of heartbreaking failure, dismal failure and abject failure making me think otherwise surely?
The Championship has proven itself to be notoriously unpredictable over the last handful of seasons, with the mighty falling, and the minnows prospering. Whether we instantly adapt to the league or not is a complete unknown. We famously like to struggle against lower opposition, and now we're surrounded by lower opposition, all eyeing us as a scalp. I've heard that we'll be everybody's FA Cup. They'll undoubtedly give 110% against us too. But really, take a look at the table, and pick two teams that could potentially pip us for automatic promotion. Leicester is your first one right?
C'mon then. Who's next?
As I write this, Blackpool have snatched a late winner at Hull. I'd consider Blackpool as a shoe-in for the play-offs. Then there's Forest. Under McCLaren. Or is there? Who knows. Boro with Mowbray. Cardiff, shorn of strikers, managed by the only man on planet Earth slower than Matthew Upson. Leeds? Ipswich? Dare I suggest Millwall? Could Southampton be a surprise package? I just keep on tossing names into the ring because I'm damned if I know who is capable of what in this division. Teams will dominate and then choke, others will languish for months on end at the bottom before late, all-conquering climbs into the play-offs. All I'm sure of when I look at the table is that, aside from Leicester, there is no-one that looks like you'd stick your house on them coming up. Other than us. And for reasons I'm still not sure of, I'm convinced we'll be fourth. It's got to be instinct. Race memory. An unshakeable feeling that we'll always bugger it up somehow.
No comments:
Post a Comment