Source: FOOTYMAD
The Fratton Faithful Championship Preview: Part II
Hull City - Nottingham Forest Welcome to Fratton Faithful's big Championship season preview 2010/2011! Here is a brief lowdown on all 24 teams in the division, with fans of each club (a few currently missing) giving their thoughts on the upcoming season and their thoughts on Pompey.Hull CityLast Season: 19th (Premier League - Relegated)Ground: Kingston Communications Stadium (Capacity: 25,404)Manager: Nigel Pearson - Had stints as caretaker boss at West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle before making a name for himself by keeping Southampton in the Championship in 2008. He joined Hull after two years at Leicester where he saw the Foxes romp League One and lose in the play-offs after finishing 5th last season.Ipswich TownLast Season: 15thGround: Portman Road (Capacity: 30,311)Manager: Roy Keane - One of Manchester United's most famous players, Keane took to management fast by taking Sunderland from the bottom of the Championship to winners in 2007 but resigned in 2009 due to strained relations with the owners. The controversial character has since returned to management with Ipswich but has yet to make a massive impact.Leeds UnitedLast Season: 2nd (League One - Promoted)Ground: Elland Road (Capacity: 39,460)Manager: Simon Grayson - Took the manager's job at Blackpool after playing for the Tangerines for three years. Grayson took them to the Championship before replacing Gary McAllister at Leeds in 2008.Leeds fan Ben Rowe on the upcoming season: The summer has been a mixed one for LUFC. Following the ecstasy of promotion, we lost our pivotal goalscorer in Jermaine Beckford, and remain without influential defender Patrick Kisnorbo. We have, however, strengthened, and look strong in goal with the arrival of Kasper Schmeichel as well as the defence where we have brought in two new full backs and two new centre backs.The 4-5-1 that has been adopted in pre-season seems to suit us, although our success could well depend on whether we do bring in a prolific goalscorer at this level. Fortunately Robert Snodgrass' injury isn't as bad as first feared and keeping key players injury-free will be crucial if we are to have a good season. If the Leeds from the first half of last season turns up, we can challenge for the play-offs. Anything under-par and we could be right at the other end of the table all of a sudden.Ben's Key Player: Luciano Becchio - The only striker currently at the club who there are little doubts over making the step up.Ben's Leeds Prediction: 13thBen's Pompey Prediction: 18thLeicester CityLast Season: 5thGround: Walkers Stadium (Capacity: 32,500)Manager: Paulo Sousa - Milan Mandaric poached Sousa from Swansea after he guided them to 7th place last season. The Portuguese had also managed QPR in 2008 before being sacked for "divulging sensitive information" from the club hierarchy.Leicester fan Joe Brewin on the upcoming season: After the season we had last year, expectations are reasonably high once again. The impact of Nigel Pearson's departure is yet to be revealed, but so far Sousa seems to be making the right noises ahead of the campaign. Personally I think we can hope for a top ten finish once again, with play-offs very much a realistic aim with a few more faces at the club. We've so far managed to keep hold of all our prized assets (the likes of Jack Hobbs, Andy King & Matty Fryatt), and with a takeover imminent (details still very much unknown though I should add), the future is looking positive. Quite where we will go from here remains to be seen, but right now I am looking forward to what will hopefully be another enjoyable season in the Championship.Joe's Key Player: Jack Hobbs - Jack Hobbs. Whilst we may often rely heavily on the goals of Fryatt up front, Hobbs has proved to be an incredible capture for the club. Arguably one of the best English centre backs outside of the top division, he has recently been courted by Stuart Pearce for his forthcoming Under-21 squad. Young, rarely puts a foot wrong and is extremely dependable - a real asset.Joe's Leicester Prediction: 9thJoe's Pompey Prediction: 13th - But I should stress, I have not got the faintest idea of where you will end up. Losing all those players will undoubtedly have a huge impact on things, and with Boateng and Nugent are also likely to make way, a thread-bare squad does not make great reading the big kick-off on Saturday. Obviously there will be new arrivals at some stage, but at what level of quality is yet to be seen.MiddlesbroughLast Season: 11thGround: Riverside Stadium (Capacity: 34,988)Manager: Gordon Strachan - Managed Coventry for five years before joining Southampton, leading our arch rivals to an FA Cup Final before resigning in 2004. The Scot was linked with Pompey but re-emerged at Celtic, guiding them to three consecutive SPL titles but stepped down after failing to win a fourth.Middlesbrough fan Calum Dalton on the upcoming season: I am hopeful and confident of a big season for Middlesbrough. Strachan has made what look like very good signings over the summer, replacing many of the average players who filled our team last season. In Boyd and McDonald I believe we have the best strikeforce in the Championship, if they can compliment each others' games, I can see them terrorising defences. We've added a bit of creativity in midfield in the form of Nicky Bailey and some bite in Kevin Thompson, alongside last season's player of the season Barry Robson.The defence is slightly worrying as David Wheater was generally poor for much of last season and Justin Hoyte has yet to prove his worth to the team. The left back situation also remains unsolved so it is down to Stephen McManus to add some solidity. Add to this the goalkeeping situation with many of the fans not confident about Brad Jones and Danny Coyne so there is cause for concern there.I am looking forward to seeing consistent performances week in week out and hopefully if we are playing well and scoring goals, the fans and atmosphere will return to what has become a slightly sedate Riverside Stadium in the last few seasons.Calum's Key Player: Kris Boyd - He has a lot to prove after leaving Rangers for the Championship and has to prove to the doubters he can cut it in a slightly more competitive league. His partnership with McDonald will be key if we are to gain promotion this season. We are not blessed with great backup strikers so a poor season from Boyd and we may struggle to achieve promotion.All things considered I think the quality of our midfield and strikeforce will be too much for most teams this season and under a good manager I think we can achieve automatic promotion.Calum's Middlesbrough Prediction: 2ndCalum's Pompey Prediction: 19th - I am concerned for Portsmouth this season. The financial crisis has led to many players leaving and a very small squad with a lack of quality remains. I hope that things calm down a bit and the squad finds a fighting spirit with the support of loyal, loud fans at Fratton Park. I predict Portsmouth will finish in the bottom third of the league, but just staving off relegation.MillwallLast Season: 3rd (League One - Play-Off Winners)Ground: The New Den (Capacity: 20,146)Manager: Kenny Jackett - A serious knee injury meant Jackett's playing career was cut short at just 28, having spent 10 years at Watford. He spent time as manager and assistant at Vicarage Road before managing Swansea for three years, when he left and joined the Lions in 2007.Millwall fan Lawrence Binnie on the upcoming season: The main target for this season has to be survival. We were a very solid, defensively strong and industrious outfit last year, but I feel that some of our fans are underestimating the quality of the Championship a little bit. Our strengths undoubtedly lie in our defence; we had the joint best defensive record in League One last season and with Darren Ward now signed on permanently, and Leyton Orient's highly-rated Tamika Mkandawire also on board, our goals against column should look pretty healthy come May. Our obvious problems lie in attack. James Henry, Danny Schofield and Steve Morison were quality for us last season, but none of them are proven at this level. If even one of them fails to make the step up we will struggle to score goals.Lawrence's Key Player: Steve Morison - He has the build, stature and ability to score a lot of goals at this level. His form next season could be the difference between a comfortable lower midtable finish and relegation.Lawrence's Millwall Prediction: 16th - It's hard to predict at this stage, but I am fairly confident we have enough about us to stay up. Having seen a fair few games at this level last season I was shocked, but pleasantly surprised, at many sides' completely inability to defend. Even Cardiff, a supposed promotion challenger, were leaking goals left, right and centre. If Jackett can sort out the problems up-top then we should hopefully be fine.Lawrence's Pompey Prediction: 10th - I have to admit I haven't been following Portsmouth's transfer dealings too closely, but from what I have seen the club still looks like it hasn't quite recovered from last year's shambles. Plenty of sides have gone through summer turmoil and has fantastic seasons in the past, though, so there's no reason why Pompey can't have a decent season of consolidation.Norwich CityLast Season: 1st (League One - Promoted)Ground: Carrow Road (Capacity: 27,000)Manager: Paul Lambert - Ironically orchestrated Norwich's heaviest home defeat ever on the opening day of last season as Colchester won 7-1, Lambert soon replaced Bryan Gunn as the Canaries' manager and led them to the title. The Scot has also previously managed Wycombe Wanderers and Livingston.Norwich fan Darrell Allen on the upcoming season: It is going to be a very exciting season of football at Carrow Road, The club is still very much on a high after a fantastic season last year which ended with us being crowned League One Champions. We managed to keep hold of manager Paul Lambert, and bring in a fair few players, the most notable ones being, Andrew Surman, Elliot Ward and Simeon Jackson.The season certainly has the potential to be a very positive one for us, and If we can avoid any major injuries, keep fitness levels high, and make a good start, then a lot of people are tipping us to challenge for the play-offs, and certainly be in the top half.What we have to remember is though, we are newly promoted, and it's perhaps not the best idea to set our expectations to high. I don't think we will have any problem staying up, and I will be more than happy with comfortable safety, and finishing around mid-table. At least one win against Ipswich would be nice as well.Darrell's Key Player: Grant Holt - Holt was the club's player of the season, top scorer and fans favourite. He has been injured all summer though, and has only had 20 minutes of pre-season match time. He might take a few games to get up to scratch, but he will soon scare the life out of championship defenders, and be back to his scoring ways.Darrell's Norwich Prediction: 14thDarrell's Pompey Prediction: 16th - I'd love to say I think Portsmouth will finish higher, but I believe finance is still a major factor in the goings on at Fratton Park, I can't see them challenging for Play offs, but I don't think they will have a problem staying up. A season of consolidation I think is on the cards. I really hope they get back up though, they have some of the best fans in the world, and they did not deserve what happened to their club last season.Nottingham ForestLast Season: 3rdGround: The City Ground (Capacity: 30,576)Manager: Billy Davies - Initially began his managerial career at Motherwell but made a name for himself after taking over from Craig Brown at Preston, leading them to the 2005 play-off final before going one better with Derby in 2007. He left the Rams by mutual consent a year later and eventually went on to manage arch rivals Forest.Nottingham Forest fan David Graham on the upcoming season: Last season was quite special. We signed a number of high quality players, we challenged club records, our home form was remarkable and we played some wonderful football. After spending 3 year long years in League One it seemed like we were finally on the up. Forest however, as Blackpool found out, don't do play-offs. Still, at the start of the summer you would be hard pressed to find a Forest fan without some form of optimism. 2 months however of no new signings, the departure of several squad players and rumours in the press of player strikes and official warnings to the manager has changed the mood for the worse around the City Ground. We are essentially starting the new season with the same squad as last year, just minus a few players. If injury were not an issue I would want automatic promotion, however as this is not the case, and a number of our paper thin squad are already injured, I can see us struggling to make the play-offs. The quality is there, it's just the depth we're crucially missing.David's Key Player: Radaslow Majewski - Sealed a move to Forest last season from Polonia Warsaw, he became a fans favourite almost immediately after scoring an absolute thunderbolt against our wooly friends in Derby. Creative, quick feet and an eye for goal, he can be quite brilliant.David's Nottingham Forest Prediction: With a few signings, comfortable play-offs. Without, loitering just outside.David's Pompey Prediction: 16th - With players like Nugent, Wilson, Brown etc you should avoid relegation at the very least. I imagine though keeping yourselves as a football club is however more important than where you finish this season.
