Brighton
Last year: 20th
Ground: Withdean
Capacity: 6,960
Manager: Mark McGhee
(21 months, W30, D20, L34)
THE SEAGULLS have been something of a yo-yo team in
recent years, bouncing between League 1 and the
Championship since winning the League 2 championship
in 2000/01.
However, they went unbeaten in their final five in
the run-in last season and Mark McGhee’s side
finished a point clear of the drop.That’s progress, but a difficult close season has
seen two of their most valued players, Adam Virgo
and Dan Harding join Celtic and Leeds respectively.
There are plans to add nearly 2,000 seats to the
Withdean Stadium, but until planning permission for
their proposed 22,000 capacity stadium at Falmer is
granted, it’s difficult to see how they can hold on
to their best players or attract new ones of the
quality needed to compete in the Championship.
We say: 21st 500-1
Burnley
Last year: 13th
Ground: Turf Moor
Capacity: 22,546
Manager: Steve Cotterill
(14 months, W19, 018, L18)
THE CLARETS finished comfortably in mid-table last
season, a marked improvement on 2004 where they
narrowly avoided relegation. Their biggest problem
was scoring goals. Only the bottom side Rotherham
and 12th-placed Stoke scored fewer than their 38.
However, it is to Stoke that Steve Cotterill has
gone to replace Robbie Blake, who was top-scorer
with ten despite joining Birmingham in January.
Ade Akinbiyi made the switch from the Britannia
Stadium in February to score four in nine starts and
was joined in the summer by Gifton Noel-Williams,
who netted nine times for the Potters in the final
16 games of last season.
The flip-side of an anaemic attack was a solid
defence the best in the Championship bar promoted
Wigan.
We say: 11th 80-1 |
