Promotion to the English Premier League next season will be harder than ever before for all championship sides. Following the relegation of two Premier League regulars, West Ham United and Birmingham City.
New West Ham boss Sam Allardyce
The promotion race is set to really fire up as the two clubs are both pushing for automatic promotion straight back into the Premier League. West Ham have already started bolstering their squad with Newcastle United midfielder Kevin Nolan joining the hammers last week and have announced their new manager as Sam Allordyce.Birmingham City’s manager of last season Alex Mcleish left the club and made the controversial switch across town to Aston Villa F.C despite having 2 years left on his contract at Birmingham, Aston Villa were forced to pay a compensation fee to Birmingham in order for the release of the manager.
Also suffering from relegation from relegation from the Premier League is Blackpool who had a great run in the league and didn’t fail to score goals as their relegation was the result of poor defending. Blackpool will be hoping to keep hold of key players such as Charlie Adam and Dj Campell who were outstanding last season. If Blackpool can keep a hold of these players they will be hoping for promotion straight back to the premier league however, this seems unlikely as Charlie Adam has drawn attention from the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool F.C and is tipped to leave Bloomfield Road this summer.
As for the teams that narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League last season, Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, Reading and Leeds United, all have started rebuilding their squad to remain competing for promotion along with the Premier League Relegates.
Nottingham Forest have started the summer by confirming their new manager Steve McClaren. The former England boss wants to end the former giant’s spell in the championship and gain promotion to the premier league. Forest will be looking for a new striker this summer following the departure of Nathan Tyson.
Cardiff City are going to struggle to remain at the top as key players such as Craig Bellamy unsure about his future at the club. The club has been in the promotion zone for the last couple of years but have failed each time leaving the squad unhappy and many willing to move.
Reading just missed out in promotion this year when they lost to Swansea in the play off final at Wembley 4-2.Brian McDermott has said he will not give up promotion and will push harder than ever next season.
Finally, Leeds United will be upgrading their defense this summer as they conceeded 79 goals last season which put them outside the top 6 despite them scoring the second most goals in the league. They have already started upgrading with the sale of goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel to Leicester City for 1.5m pounds. The Whites wish to keep a hold of key players such as Max Gradel and Robert Snodgrass.
timdoring
