English Premier League Preview : Part One
Checkout is at noon sharp, enjoy your stay.
We start with the teams who are predicted to resume life in the Championship come this time next year.
20th Hull City (Last Year’s Finish – Promoted from Championship)
The biggest city in England that until this season have never played in the top flight makes it’s long awaited debut in the English Premier League. A debut mind you that will be short and not so sweet. Hull City earned the right to play in the top division after beating Bristol City 1-0 in the Championship playoff final on a fine strike from 39 year old striker Dean Windass. Much like Derby last year winning the Championship final usually spells doom for a teams chances right from the start.
Changes in the off season saw Hull break it’s transfer record spending two million pounds on Plymouth midfielder Peter Halmosi. Other than they Hull has looked to improve the squad with free transfers such as Tony Warner, Bernard Mendy, and Geovanni whose game cooled off as the weather did last season for Manchester City to go along with the loan signing of defender Anthony Gardner from Tottenham. Hull manager Phil Brown does have some experience with keeping a team up as he was the Bolton assistant manager under Sam Allardyce when Bolton got promoted many moons ago.
It will be hard to match the level of losing that Derby displayed last year but Hull should still finish bottom of the table this coming season regardless.
Key Player
Bernard Mendy – Signing Mendy as a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain is a good piece of business for Hull. Anyone with even a taste of playing for France at the International level has some quality to them.
In: Peter Halmosi (Plymouth, £2m), George Boateng (Middlesbrough, £1m), Tony Warner (Fulham, free), Bernard Mendy (Paris St Germain, free), Geovanni (Manchester City, free), Craig Fagan (Derby, £750,000), Anthony Gardner (Tottenham, loan).
Out: Michael Bridges (Carlisle, loan), Henrik Pedersen (Silkeborg IF, free), David Livermore (Brighton, free).
19th Stoke City (Last Year’s Finish – Promoted From Championship.)
The main issue facing promoted clubs from the Championship to the Premier League is the vast gulf is revenues between the two leagues. Do clubs such as Stoke spend big hoping to field a team that can stick in the EPL but on the flip side if they do go down now they have players that they must sell at a loss or deal with a huge wage bill at the Championship revenue level. One thing that every team needs is a goal scorer and Stoke has found a decent one in former Reading striker Dave Kitson who knows all about with is to come at the top level of English Football.
Manager Tony Pulis has worked the transfer market with great effect signing EPL ready players such as Glenn Whelan, Liam Lawrence and Ryan Shawcross the latter formerly in the Manchester United youth system. Despite Pulis making the most out of limited resources Stoke City lack depth which could make a long season even longer and one that should see them return to life in the Championship.
Key Player
Glenn Whelan – With a back line that has to be considered a question mark Whelan will have to step up and be the midfield general out there. He’ll need to command play with his box to box presence. The Irish International fit like hand in glove after transfering from Sheffield Wednesday in the previous winter transfer window. He’ll need to step his game up and be the connection between the defense and Dave Kitson up front.
Ins: Seyi George Olofinjana (Wolves, £3m), Dave Kitson (Reading, £5.5m) Thomas Sørensen (Aston Villa, Free).
Outs: Marlon Broomes (Blackpool, free).
18th Fulham (Last Year’s Finish 17th)
Fulham made a great story last year by somehow beating the drop but by all accounts this was a team that was fully deserving of the drop and it wasn’t until a furious rally during the last three weeks of the season that saved them.
Sinnacle is of two minds concerning Roy Hodgson. Yes, he is the manager that kept this team together and avoided regulation but he was also the manager that for the first four months of his reign looked out of his element as Fulham put on one poor showing after another.
Looking at Fulham’s off season moves they have been busy which is always going to happen when a new coach is finally able to bring in his own players but much like last year under Lawrie Sanchez quantity does not equal quality.
Letting Carlos Bocanegra go along with losing fellow American Brian McBride who wanted to play back home in the United States will cause a void in the locker with both being respected and popular players. Add the likes of John Pantsil and Bobby Zamora who were fringe players at West Ham to go along with Everton striker Andrew Johnson, he with injury concerns and a drop of form last year does not sound like a much improved club. Fulham may have been lucky last season avoiding the drop, they may not be so lucky this year.
Key Player
Jimmy Bullard – I’ve said this before and I’m sure I’ll say it again but Bullard is the type of player any team can use. Hard worker, with a touch of quality and a flare for the dramatic as his late free kick goals against Aston Villa and Blackburn earned Fulham an important four points late last season. Why Fulham don’t keep Bullard and give him a new contact is beyond me.
Ins: John Pantsil and Bobby Zamora (West Ham, £6.3m), Andrew Johnson (Everton, £10.5m) Tony Kallio (Young Boys Bern, undisclosed), Andranik Teymourian (Bolton, free), Zoltan Gera (West Brom, free), David Stockdale (Darlington, undisclosed), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough, free), Fredrik Stoor (Rosenborg, undisclosed).
Outs: Dejan Stefanovic (Norwich, undisclosed), Nathan Ashton (Wycombe, nominal fee), Elliot Omozusi (Norwich, loan), Ricardo Batista (Sporting, undisclosed), Tony Warner (Hull City, free), Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennais, free), Brian McBride (Toronto, free), Philippe Christanval, Jari Litmanen, Simon Elliott, Kasey Keller (all released).