The bookies had us to get relegated at the start of Dyche's first full season....finished 2nd behind Leicester with 93 points and only 5 defeats. Sean likes making the bookies look foolish like this season. Don't think Europe will affect us much as, under Dyche, Burnley have been a cr*p cup team (Lincoln, Accrington, Port Vale). I''d be surprised to get through 3 qualifying rounds to reach group stage. In PL, I expect a 10th-15th finish. Cardiff, Huddersfield and one other for drop (hopefully an upstart like Brighton or Bournemouth). Losing to Howe in the last game spoiled my season.
Would be a bit of a shame if you did get knocked out early. As much as I'd love us to go on a European tour, it would be a bit of an anti-climax if it did end before the group stages, I'm not sure if I'd be satisfied with that. Glad to hear you hate that smarmy git too! With that and the poor cup record, you're beginning to sound a lot like us!
Mark Hughes just signed a three year deal with Southampton, plus Cardiff and Villa/Fulham coming up. We're safe without even kicking a ball.
I tend to agree, but I read somewhere, though I can't remember where, that other clubs are interested in trying to prise Joka away from Fulham, so it could get interesting?
Don't forget Wolves who like Fulham have the nucleous of an EPL side before recruitment. I would not have said that about Huddersfield plus Brighton and Newcastle had weaker squads last year. Only Cardiff look weak although the sum is clearly greater than the parts. Next season I think they will go down but Wolves will be mid-table and Fulham might survive a relegation dogfight. Just to stay in lower mid-table will therefore require Watford to recruit smart.
I see Sky Sports predict we'll finish bottom next season!! http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ue-table-predict-how-the-20-teams-will-finish
Really? Huddersfield bottom when I look at it. We're 8th. It's a public voting thing though, so not a Sky Sports prediction
It's changing all the time to be honest. We were 20th when I checked 5 minutes ago, now we're 17th. No doubt we'll be 1st at 7pm.
Now that we know all 20 teams in the prem next season, I've updated the table I put together a couple of months back based on a teams current length of time spent in the top division (it includes the forthcoming season, hence our total is 4): Points of interest: Outside of the "top 7" - the grand total of current premier league experience equals 45 seasons. Divided by the 13 teams that make that up, it averages out to just over 3. Therefore, we are now past that figure, so you could argue that any seasons from this point on are "bonus" years. By losing Swansea, Stoke and West Brom, 25 years of top flight experience went with them. It remains to be seen if losing 3 established sides makes staying up easier - or whether they'd gone sterile and stale after reasonably long spells in the top flight, meaning a tougher year lies ahead with the 3 new teams coming up with something to prove? The talk from our close pals at Goodison regarding them being a top/big side and part of a "big 7" surely must have something to do with their lengthy stay in the top flight that is second only to Arsenal. We regularly moan about how we've never won a major honour - but when looking at the "top 7" - they're not all as successful as they'd have you believe (recent success over trophies won when colour TV wasn't yet available). I'm not one to pretend that football only started when the Premier League was formed - but it is certainly the starting point of when serious money began pouring in to the game at the top level and a clubs main source of income gradually shifted from gate receipts to TV money and hospitality/sponsors. Therefore - looking at the success of the "top 7" since the Premier League era began (26 years), it looks like this: (Charity/Community Shields not included) Team + Number of major honours Man Utd 25 Chelsea 20 Arsenal 13 Liverpool 10 Man City 7 Spurs 2 Everton 1 Man City are fast catching Liverpool, considering their success has come over the past few seasons. Despite a shiny new stadium, I'd have serious reservations about joining Spurs if I was a top player that really wanted to win something. Two trophies in that time period is pathetic for a team that wants to be classed as "one of the big boys". And as we all knew already - Everton are living firmly in the past with this "big club" moniker they believe they have. They are an also-ran along with the rest of the teams in the division. The other 13 teams in this table have three major honours (during the Premier League era) between them - and they all belong to Leicester (1 Premier League and two League Cups).
So your saying Lesta are bigger than Everton Interesting Once the scousers find out they will invent a top 8