Has the Times got it wrong again?

[paul_3gs]

you will jsut have to wince every time you see essien sissoko or chris morgan running at one of your players

who?

[The whole year inn]

he is actually quite a good defender when you get past the fact he is as likly to chin the opposition as tackle them. (i have great memories of him trying to take on half of the millwall team last year and succeding till the inevitable red card)

shouldn't play that much when davies is back, but it will be fun to see henry et al being too fightened to approach our penalty area

Yes, Thierry Henry is going to be too scared to play his normal game when he sees Chris Morgans name on the opposition teamsheet

[royaldownunder]

Who know's what's gonna happen this season?!!
Last season, nobody would have predicted where we ended up. People were even calling for Coppell's head after the first game with Plymouth and predicting our demise in the championship!

We've up against quality opposition now, but look how our team fared in the FA cup, effectively playing a "B" team against premiership opposition. (unlike Boro) we had a good result against Feyenoord and have a good start in the prem against a few of the "lesser" sides. A few wins under our belt and we should be sweet!

We've no Premiership pedigree, which means we're an easy target for fat, lazy armchair hugging journos, who never heard of any of the players in our squad. It also means we're a risk to any potential signing at the moment. Hopefully, come Jan, we'll be in a position to prove them wrong, and we'll be swatting away new signings like flies on a turd. COME ON URZ!!

[royalsteve]

According to today's Times, Reading, Sheffield United and Watford will finish in 18th, 19th and 20th places this season and will all go straight back down.

Let's prove them wrong! Come on URZ!!!

crap paper......written by an airhead cauliflower eared egg-chaser i guess...i mean when have the 3 sides that have come up gone down.....er, never....sure it can happen but i think not.....thank you!

I think Watford will struggle but will be hard to beat like last season......we will struggle but we have enough quality to stay up
and sheff utd will huff and puff and go down but knowing warnock his side will probably beat the top 4 at home in the process!!

[royalsteve]

you will need to avoid injuries to key players, because you dont have the same number of bodies in the squad and to see how the players adapt to loosing a few games in a row.

Mmmmm, didn't we have injuries last season, namely Kitson being out a couple of times and Leroy Lita broke his leg towards the end of the season. And we still managed fine. Although the defence is worrying light in numbers, if a major injury should happen to one of our centre backs, then we're fooked. That's why Coppell has been trying to bring in at least one quality centre back rather than bring in any forwards.

Little, Shorey, Doyle and Sidwell were also injured at some stage...other fans think RFC won the league because we didnt have any injuries....er i dont think so

[royalsteve]

blade 1 is right.

Injuries in key positions will leave us very exposed at this level so we must pray for the sort of injury luck we enjoyed last season.

agree with that which is why we need a very good central defender as backup.....Sodje may be the one perhaps in the future who knows but we someone now. We also need more cover in midfield.

[East Stand Royal 500]

Although The Times said yesterday that they think we will go down, their Fink Tank's predictions are the ones to watch out for. These guys calculate the outcome of domestic and international football matches based on the data from thousands of previous matches and are surprisingly accurate. Their predictions have consistently returned a profit at the bookmakers.

In January, they published a predicted Premiership table which turned out to be almost exactly as things finished. During the World Cup their predictions were again good. They said Brazil would win the trophy. However, tournament football is very different to league football - a single mistake by a single player can result in one of the favourites going out and the whole thing being messed up. For the England matches their predictions were mightily impressive.

Anyhow, if you click to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,7973,00.html and click on the 'Cick here to launch the predictor' link there are this season's predictions.

Reading NINTH they reckon.

In my opinion, these tables are worth much more than the ramblings of some crackpot journalist who knows very little about the Royals so simply predicts they are on their way down because they are new to the league.

Now why hadn't I spotted that before? The only reason why anyone should make any particular effort is to influence the statistics for next year.

This season's already sewn up. JM can put the stadium extension contract out to tender immediately because we're going to finish ninth.

[blade 1]

Little, Shorey, Doyle and Sidwell were also injured at some stage...other fans think RFC won the league because we didnt have any injuries....er i dont think so

I dodn't say that you were lucky i said you need to avoid injuries to key players. If you loose a couple of defenders and a couple of strikers then you would be in trouble

[Rhys The Royal]

Little, Shorey, Doyle and Sidwell were also injured at some stage...other fans think RFC won the league because we didnt have any injuries....er i dont think so

I dodn't say that you were lucky i said you need to avoid injuries to key players. If you loose a couple of defenders and a couple of strikers then you would be in trouble

Nah..... If you lose Rob Hulse however, then your in trouble?

[papereyes]

According to today's Times, Reading, Sheffield United and Watford will finish in 18th, 19th and 20th places this season and will all go straight back down.

Let's prove them wrong! Come on URZ!!!

2 out of 3 ain't bad.

[Coppelled Streets]

Little, Shorey, Doyle and Sidwell were also injured at some stage...other fans think RFC won the league because we didnt have any injuries....er i dont think so

I dodn't say that you were lucky i said you need to avoid injuries to key players. If you loose a couple of defenders and a couple of strikers then you would be in trouble

We did, and we finished 8th!

ChROFLis MoROFLgan.

[RobRoyal]

What these writers lack is the ability to look at the existing premiership teams and see who has been weakened enough to get into a relegation dogfight. Last year Brum and West Brom spent money badly and ending up going down.

My candidates for this year are Wigan, who have lost two key players in Bullard and Roberts, and bought the same rubbish that took Brum down.

Also Charlton. I don't rate Dowie greatly at the top level, and I think they could get blindsided in a relegation fight.

I predict one of the above, plus two from three of the promoted teams will go down.

Pretty damn accurate!

[JimmytheJim]

According to today's Times, Reading, Sheffield United and Watford will finish in 18th, 19th and 20th places this season and will all go straight back down.

Let's prove them wrong! Come on URZ!!!

crap paper......written by an airhead cauliflower eared egg-chaser i guess...i mean when have the 3 sides that have come up gone down.....er, never....sure it can happen but i think not.....thank you!

I think Watford will struggle but will be hard to beat like last season......we will struggle but we have enough quality to stay up
and sheff utd will huff and puff and go down but knowing warnock his side will probably beat the top 4 at home in the process!!

You can pick my lottery numbers from now on.

[BLUES & ROYAL]

Although it can go badly wrong on rare occasions, the bookies are mostly correct in their odds.
We can only hope to prove them wrong again next season.

I think we can virtually guarantee that two maybe three of the below will get relegated. (Odds to get relegated on Betfred)

Lets just hope/make sure it`s not us.

I personally think we will have a mid table season ( However I thought we would struggle last so what do I know?)


To get relegated:-

Reading 7/2
Fulham 2/1
Sunderland 3/1
Wigan 11/8
Birmingham 5/6
Derby 1/2

[Ian Royal]

Two weeks or so left. Still can't see us staying up though.

Watford have a better chance than us. I sincerely hope and pray I am wrong, but I just don't see it.

Of course I wouldn't want to 'deny' any of the promotion winners a place in a Premiership side, but we could be as good as relegated by January.

LMFAO

Fink Tank remarkable accurate once more. Look forward with trepidation to their prediction for us in the coming season.

Personally I'd say Fulham, Wigan, Derby whichever of Brum and Sunderland get the worst start from their first 5 games (probably Brum) and maybe West Ham will be in the thick of relegation fights next season

[Behindu]

West Ham ?
The return of Dean Ashton alone is worth half a dozen places, the £70m kitty another half dozen...

Losing Tevez will be a blow but I see them as top half certs next season....

Last season they were good players playing appallingly, next season they will be back on track.

[strap]

West Ham ?
The return of Dean Ashton alone is worth half a dozen places, the £70m kitty another half dozen...

Losing Tevez will be a blow but I see them as top half certs next season....

Last season they were good players playing appallingly, next season they will be back on track.

Unfortunately I have to agree with you. The sad thing is they only stayed up by breaking the rules, and because the Premier League didn't want to lose a "big" club.

[weybridgewanderer]

Although it can go badly wrong on rare occasions, the bookies are mostly correct in their odds.
We can only hope to prove them wrong again next season.

I think we can virtually guarantee that two maybe three of the below will get relegated. (Odds to get relegated on Betfred)

Lets just hope/make sure it`s not us.

I personally think we will have a mid table season ( However I thought we would struggle last so what do I know?)


To get relegated:-

Reading 7/2
Fulham 2/1
Sunderland 3/1
Wigan 11/8
Birmingham 5/6
Derby 1/2

what about
west ham,
man city,
boro ( viduka will be a big loss)
bolton (change of a long term manager - I see as this seasons charlton)

[strap]

Although it can go badly wrong on rare occasions, the bookies are mostly correct in their odds.
We can only hope to prove them wrong again next season.

I think we can virtually guarantee that two maybe three of the below will get relegated. (Odds to get relegated on Betfred)

Lets just hope/make sure it`s not us.

I personally think we will have a mid table season ( However I thought we would struggle last so what do I know?)


To get relegated:-

Reading 7/2
Fulham 2/1
Sunderland 3/1
Wigan 11/8
Birmingham 5/6
Derby 1/2

what about
west ham,
man city,
boro ( viduka will be a big loss)
bolton (change of a long term manager - I see as this seasons charlton)

Agree with the last 3 totally.

From what I see, based on the transfers to date, (so it's totally ridiculous to make these assessments now, but what the hell, I'm bored),

the bottom half of next year's Prem will probaly contain the following, (in reverse order:

20 Derby
19 Wigan
18 Fulham
17 Birmingham
16 Sunderland
15 Man C
14 Middlesbro
13 Bolton
12 Villa
11 Reading

I'm not exactly sure Portsmouth and Newcastle will escape the bottom half of the table, so we may yet have another top half finish for Sir Steve's men.

As I say, totally pointless post given the time of year, but what the hell!

[Royal Fleet]

What these writers lack is the ability to look at the existing premiership teams and see who has been weakened enough to get into a relegation dogfight. Last year Brum and West Brom spent money badly and ending up going down.

My candidates for this year are Wigan, who have lost two key players in Bullard and Roberts, and bought the same rubbish that took Brum down.

Also Charlton. I don't rate Dowie greatly at the top level, and I think they could get blindsided in a relegation fight.

I predict one of the above, plus two from three of the promoted teams will go down.

Pretty damn accurate!

Wow, it was rather. Makes a change from my usual drivel.