In North American sports, the worst possible place to be as a franchise is stuck in mediocrity. You are not quite good enough to contend, but yet not quite bad enough to secure a top draft pick to get the best incoming talent, you are simply stuck in the middle. However in European football, being stuck in the middle isn't necessarily bad. You get to avoid the headache of being in a relegation battle while avoiding the pressures of trying to qualify for Europe. Your fans understand that you are a mediocre squad and if you do overachieve and qualify for the Europa League, hell you are declared a savior. So let's meet this year's teams who are stuck in the middle for the upcoming season.
15. West Bromwich Albion (Last Season - 10th in the Premiership)
West Bromwich Albion -2.200.000 £
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| Total: 4.400.000 £ | Total: 2.200.000 £ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many pundits have argued that West Brom were able to have a successful season in the Premiership last year because they were eliminated from all cup competitions by early January, thus allowing for Roy Hodgson, England's current manager, to solely focus on the Premiership. Led by the goal scoring strike force of Peter Odemwingie and James Morrison, West Brom coasted to a secure mid-table finish.
For the upcoming season, West Brom hired former Liverpool and Chelsea assistant Steve Clarke. This is his first full-time managerial position and certainly the pressure will be on him to perform. Buoyed by the signing of Markus Rosenberg and Romelu Lukaku, the Baggies will definitely the offensive firepower to cause a couple clubs some trouble in the upcoming season. My one concern with WBA is the fact that they have yet to address some of their defensive deficiencies that plagued the squad last season. Regardless, West Brom will certainly be closer to the relegation zone than the European qualification places, but they should be comfortably secure in the Premiership.
14. Queens' Park Rangers (Last Season - 17th in the Premiership)
Queens Park Rangers -5.808.000 £
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| Total: 6.248.000 £ | Total: 440.000 £ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
QPR certainly lived a charmed life last season, barely surviving the drop on the final day of the season. Mark Hughes joined the club midway through the season and with the help of Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora revitalized the club and secured their participation in the Premiership for the upcoming season.
This season QPR will not need to wait till the final day of the season to ensure that they survive the drop. With the acquisition of Junior Hoillett and a full season of Cisse and Zamora, QPR clearly has enough firepower to settle into a mid-table position. As always with any squad that is going through transition, there will be some growing pains as all the new players get acclimated to Hughes' system and tactics. Furthermore, the veteran presence of Ji-Sung Park, formerly of Manchester United, will be a stabilizing figure in the locker room.
13. Aston Villa (Last Season - 16th in the Premiership)
Aston Villa -6.292.000 £
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| Total: 9.108.000 £ | Total: 2.816.000 £ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wow, did things go poorly for Alex McLeish and Aston Villa last season. From a statistical standpoint Villa only secured 38 points from 38 games, won 7 games and only recorded 19 points from home. That is absolutely horrendous for what has been a relatively successful team over the course of the past decade.
With the dismissal of McLeish, Norwich City's Paul Lambert has been hired as the new manager and has immediately begun buying Dutch, securing El Ahmadi and Vlaar from Feyenoord for almost 6 million Euros. Both players will be significant pieces to accelerate the new revolution at Villa Park. The key for Villa moving forward will be the health of Darren Bent and he will be counted upon to score the majority of the goals for the team. At the end of the day, Aston Villa have enough talent to avoid a relegation battle but they will not have enough to grab a spot in the upper half of the table.
12. Stoke City (Last Season - 14th in the Premiership)
Stoke City -4.408.800 £
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| Total: 4.972.000 £ | Total: 563.200 £ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stoke City are the ultimate hard-working team that is built with a strong back four supported by a very defensive midfield. Tony Pulis will never apologize for the quality of his squad's football, he will merely look at the talent at his disposal and point to the results he has been able to generate. Stoke will always have their critics because of their anti-football but they will continue to play in the Premiership because of Pulis' tactics.
For the upcoming season, Stoke will need to improve on their offense. Last year they scored a league low 36 goals and while I do not rate Peter Crouch, he still did score 10 goals. The key for Stoke would be the return of form for Mr. Kenwyne Jones who only scored one goal in 21 appearances. If Jones starts scoring there is a chance that Stoke can jump up a couple spots in the league.
11. Fulham (Last Season - 9th in the Premiership)
Fulham FC +2.358.400 £
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| Total: 0 | Total: 2.358.400 £ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
While doing my research for this preview, I was disappointed at the lack of respect Clint Dempsey seems to get from the European press, it really doesn't make sense. Think about it for a second, Clint scored 17 Premiership goals. With a year left on his contract, one would imagine that teams would make a concrete effort to secure his services. I am a big believer in Dempsey's worth and think he would be a great piece for a team like Arsenal and Liverpool moving forward.
Fast forward to a day before the season starts and Dempsey is still a Fulham player, albeit he won't play this weekend. A couple things jump out when I look at Fulham and their performance last season. The first and probably most worrying is regarding their away form and losing to crap teams like Blackburn and Wolverhampton last year. Also who is going to score goals for Fulham, if and when Dempsey leaves the club? Martin Jol clearly has his work cut out for him, but I can imagine that somehow, some way Fulham are mid-table by the end of the season.
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