2014/15: Sky Bet Championship Review – December 2014
This review is fast becoming a very unpleasant experience – each month my own team descends into further turmoil and despair. December consisted of one draw in five, a single goal from open play, two calamitous own goals and the Owner forced to stand down for yachting irregularities.
Can 2015 get any worse? Oh yes it can and probably will to the amusement of the rest of the Country.
Enough about Leeds United, I can barely type through the tears. The half way point has come and gone; no more trite comments from Managers about there being ‘a long way to go’ and ‘plenty of points to play for’. The January transfer window for those without embargo’s is an opportunity to bolster promotion ambitions or recruit for the relegation dog fight.
Each contest will be as closely fought as the other – Bournemouth sit proudly on top of the pile having accumulated points and goals with alacrity. Every team will now be aware of The Cherries strengths, but can anybody stop them? I still back thoroughbreds over course and distance and boldly take Norwich and Derby for the top spots with Middlesbrough, Watford, Blackburn and Bournemouth making up the top six. There you go, it’s done and in ‘Black and White’ with five months of the season to go.
Ipswich, Brentford, Wolves and Cardiff may have other ideas and Messrs McCarthy, Warburton and Jackett have exceeded my expectations and I fancy those of their own supporters. I am envious of all the above, but that’s the lot of a football fan, trade in your car, move home, change jobs, but you are stuck with your Club forever. Even the acquisition of the abhorrent half scarf doesn’t entitle you to follow the fortunes of another…
The monthly accolades must go to Bolton and Birmingham, transformed by shrewd Managerial appointments and unrecognisable from the opening months of the season. Proof that change can and does work – whether long term remains to be seen, but the immediate future looks bright.
The first month of 2015 punctuated by FA Cup fixtures and postponements will see little change to the League positions, but will end with squad additions, departures and Agents filling their grubby, greedy pockets.
My focus is very much on the relegation scrap, three from half a dozen for me despite the proximity of several other clubs. Those that can hit the back of the net usually escape, Fulham Reading and for my money Brighton have the fire power to do that. The rest will be involved in a long slog, eking out points where they can and hoping fortune favours them. The reality of course might be entirely different and the quintessential game of opinions often makes you look very foolish.
Happy New Year to Championship Supporters everywhere, except the twenty three who play away from Elland Road and may all your hopes and dreams be fulfilled!
David Goodwill