Division One results

[David Votoupal]

Bradford City 0 West Brom 1
Cardiff 2 Preston 2
Sheffield United 2 Walsall 0
West Ham 0 Stoke 1
Crystal Palace 1 Crewe 3

The table after all teams have played 22 games:

1.West Brom- 44
2.Sheffield United- 40
3.Norwich- 40
4.Ipswich- 38
5.Reading- 37
6.Cardiff- 35
7.Sunderland- 35
8.Wigan- 35
9.West Ham- 34
10.Preston- 32
11.Crewe- 31
12.Millwall- 29
13.Nottingham Forest- 28
14.Burnley- 28
15.Walsall- 27
16.Gillingham- 27
17.Coventry- 26
18.Rotherham- 26
19.Watford- 25
20.Stoke- 23
21.Derby- 22
22.Crystal Palace- 22
23.Bradford City- 17
24.Wimbledon- 14

Automatic promotion would seem to be a case of West Brom plus one, the identity of the other team which will gain automatic promotion is by no means certain at this stage. Quite a few teams have fought themselves into play-off contention, and it's heartening to see Crewe more than hold their own too.

At the other end, Bryan Robson definitely has his work cut out at the Valley Parade, let's see how he handles this job! Nothing it seems has gone right for Crystal Palace either, and they're yet to appoint a full-time manager with Kit Symons in charge temporarily.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Gee, the four teams facing the drop were all in the premier league 5 years ago!

If Sunderland can get to the play-offs they will be a tough side to beat.

Don't want the Blades to get up - the thought of having to listen to Neil Warnock on a weekly basis doesn't bare thinking about.

 

[David Votoupal]

The Franchise's confidence musn't have been helped by all that's happened in the last couple of years, and most football fans will be hoping they crash and burn.

Bradford and Derby are paying the price for stuffing their sides with prima donas on wages they really didn't deserve. Not too sure what to say about Palace, though they do have a couple of promising teenagers in Wayne Routledge and Ben Watson- but how long before they're praised away?

 

[GoalsFrom50Out]

Alright, Crewe are looking pretty solid at the moment. Wigan are certainly falling at the moment after their quick start to the season, and I don't like it that Cardiff are now in a playoff spot ... a Welsh team in the Premier League would be interesting. Wimbledon are a a certainty to go down, probably along with Bradford.

Who do I think will be promoted at this rate? West Brom, Sheffield United and Ipswich.
Who do I want to be promoted at this rate? West Brom, Sheffield United and Norwich.

 

[mattyc2422]

Burnley are too high up.

 

[moomba]

Funny how many times a club poaching another clubs manager doesn't pay off. West Ham have 1 win from 10 matches with Pardew in charge.

Still not out of it, but they would want to sort themselves out pretty quick if they want an immediate return.

Moomba

 

[David Votoupal]

Interestingly, while West Ham's defence was shocking in the Premiership last season, this season they've had one of Division One's better defences. Ipswich on the other hand boast the best scoring records as they've had a couple of big wins.

 

[tribey]

Originally posted by David Votoupal
7.Sunderland- 35

Stay. Staaaaaaaaaaaaaay...

 

[Ray Nolan]

Looks like we'll be swapping the Gold Yam Yams for the Blue Yam Yams next season at this rate, the Baggies should hold their course. I hope Norwich can get back up there, my bro supports them and it's been a long while since they've been up there. Nice to see Walsall doing OK as well.

 

[David Votoupal]

One thing which has been seen as the Blades' weakness in the past few years has been the lack of really effective strikers, but that has been more than compensated for by quality midfield players like Michael Brown and Michael Tonge. Brown's tally last season was mightily impressive for a central midfield player. Apparently Warnock tends to deploy a 4-5-1 which means Ndlovu, Montgomery, Brown, McCall and Tonge across midfield.

 

[GoalsFrom50Out]

What would a team like Crewe, for example, do if they were to be promoted to the Premier League but their stadium only holds around the 11,000 mark? Surely there's a required capacity.

 

[David Votoupal]

I don't think the Premier League has any ground requirements, but I might be wrong on that. Some leagues- the Scottish Premier- do, however and the same can be said of the Football League which is why no team was promoted from the Conference for a few years, since their grounds weren't up to scratch.

I know of a case in a much lower league where a club was denied admission because they refused to chop down a tree at the corner of their ground!

 

[tribey]

Originally posted by David Votoupal
...and the same can be said of the Football League which is why no team was promoted from the Conference for a few years, since their grounds weren't up to scratch.

Oh how very lucky Torquay United are.

They were saved from the drop out of the Nationwide in 95/96 after an abysmal season where they finished clear bottom of Division 3 because Stevenage Borough, who IIRC had streaked the Conference, didn't meet the stringent stadia requirements.

Stevenage mounted a High Court challenge to claim its (rightful?) place in Division 3 but after a trial lasting weeks, the judge threw the case out.

Torquay, spearheaded by striker Rodney Jack (who had a trial with us), only narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 2 just two seasons later, losing to Colchester at Wembley after filling the top-2 automatic promotion places for much of the campaign.

 

[Voice of Reason]

I'd say it's still all to play for at both ends, except for Wimbledon MK.

Can't see any of the teams being promoted from Division 1 to the Premiership having anything but a titanic struggle against relegation next season.