The ref's guide to the 2007/08 Season

Ok, so all of the media pundits have been flooding my inbox asking me for insight on the upcoming season. So I'm going to set the story straight right now. And if you know that I just made that up, then you know me too well.

I follow the Premiership more than I follow directions on mapquest, therefore I decided I would write a season preview.

First things first.
There are 20 teams in the Barclay's Premiership. The coach is known as a manager. You play each team twice, one home and one away. You get 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. Team with the most points wins the title. In the event that there is a tie for points, it goes to head-to-head record, then to aggregate goals (the difference between the amount of goals scored during the season and the amount of goals conceded). The bottom three teams at the end of every season are relegated to the Championship, the league directly below the Premiership. The top two teams from the Championship, plus the winner of a playoff between the teams that finish 3rd-6th get promoted to the Premiership.

Teams relegated to Championship: Watford, Sheffield United, and Charlton.

(yes it was extremely hard to find pictures of them celebrating as each team had very little to celebrate last year.)

Teams promoted to Premiership: Sunderland, Birmingham City, and Derby County (won the playoff).

Its worth mentioning that Sheffield United feels aggrieved that they were sent down due to some questionable moves made by relegation rivals West Ham United. WHU purchased a player illegally and were eventually fined, but Sheffield United claimed that they should have been docked points (which would have seen WHU relegated). It even went to the high courts and the court ruled in favor of West Ham.

The top two teams automatically qualify for the UEFA Champions League, which is a European competition to decide the best club team in all of Europe (with a format similar to the World Cup). Teams 3 and 4 enter a preliminary round before the Champions League and must win that in order to qualify. Teams 5, 6, and 7 qualify for the UEFA Cup, a lesser European competition. By 'lesser' I mean that every team dreams of winning the Champions League. Thats where all the big boys of Europe play (not to mention thats where all the money is). The 8th placed team can qualify for the UEFA Cup, but they must first enter and win the Intertoto Cup, an even smaller tournament. These competitions are played throughout the regular season, usually during the week. So a team could have a premiership match on saturday, then a champions league match tues or wed and then back to the premiership on sunday.

So due to last seasons results:

+Manchester United and Chelsea qualified automatically for the Champions League.

+Liverpool and Arsenal must go through prelims to make the Champions League.

+Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Bolton Wanderers qualified for the UEFA Cup

+Blackburn Rovers qualified for the UEFA Cup by winning the Intertoto Cup.

Manchester United won the league last season, stopping the ref's favorite, Chelsea from winning the title for a remarkable third consecutive season.

Alright now that we got that all squared away lets dig in.

Cloud 9:
There is a bit of a monopoly at the top of the Premiership. Footballing giants Manchester United (thats cute, huh?), Chelsea (of course I was gonna use Drogba), Liverpool, and Arsenal (that guy on the right is a thing of the past) have dominated the top four spots of the Premiership in some fashion and have become regular fixtures in the Champions League. Its no coincidence that these are four of the richest teams in Europe. These teams spend big and as a result their fans expect a trophy every year.

I really dont see any reason why Man U. cant repeat as league champs last year. They went out and purchased big name players to add to an already stacked roster. The only real weakness I can see is aging keeper Edwin Van Der Sar. With a defense like his, he shouldnt have to worry too much.

The injury bug has already hit Chelsea, with 13 players already struggling with some sort of injury. It has been an interesting offseason for a club known to splash the cash (Chelsea is owned by a Russian billionare) as they have only purchased one player this summer (they have added others, but they did not have to pay for their rights). They have been very quiet but have bolstered areas that let them down last season, particularly the defense. I see them pushing Man U to the end but I dont see them winning it all. Especially when their African stars, Drogba, Essien, and Mikel will miss a month due to the African Nations Cup (African World Cup). I do however see them making a strong run in the Champions League and I think they have the depth to win it all this year. I really hope I can look back on that statement and say 'look I told you they could do it!' Its the only trophy this core group hasnt won.

Liverpool has spent a lot of money on proven and unproven goalscorers so it should be interesting to see how that translates for the Champions League Runners-up. Manager Rafa Benitez is widely hailed as a tactical genius in football circles, so if anyone can make it work its him. Despite being tactically gifted, he isnt nearly as tactful. When asked about Liverpool's plans for its new stadium , Benitez is quoted as saying, 'There are a lot of windows and it really is ground-breaking in terms of stadium design.' Ummmm...thanks for the insight. That quote has become a running joke around the office. Its also worth noting that Liverpool were recently purchased by two americans that also own NHL teams.

Ok now heres where things start to get interesting. Tottenham Hotspur has been touted as the best team outside the 'big four' and have been picked by many to finally break through this year. They have spent a great deal of money this offseason while Arsenal have endured the biggest loss of the summer (Thierry Henry going to Barcelona). While Arsenal have purchased a few players, it will be a miracle if any one of them could reproduce half of what Henry brought to the table. I think that Spurs can finally make it to the big time this season partly due to the fact that Arsenal wont be able to completely cope with the loss of Henry, and partly because I just dont like Arsenal.

Best of the Rest:

If Arsenal get the boot out of the top four there is no doubt that they will finish 5th. They are still a cut above the rest.

Looking to add to the Passport stamp collection:
These clubs will be looking to join Arsenal in the UEFA Cup.

Evertonqualified last season and I think they have a strong group of players who know how to win. Their coach David Moyes is one of the best (and most underrated) in England.

West Ham, Newcastle, and Blackburn have all been busy on the transfer market this summer and feel that they have the strength to join in on the European fun next season. I think that although West Ham have certainly gotten better, they are still a year or so away. New Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce is famous for helping clubs overachieve, thats what I think he can get Newcastle back to Europe. Blackburn will most likely have to settle for the Intertoto Cup again.

Staying Afloat:
These clubs are staying up, but they arent making much noise.

Manchester City and Portsmouth are probably the strongest of this bunch. Like the previous group, Man City has been busy this summer. They have bought many new players, they have a new owner, and a new manager. Its in the new manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, that they have their problem. He was the former England national team coach and he left a legacy of grossly underacheiving. Not good news if you are a Man City fan. Portsmouth has a very strong defense but questions of who is going to put the biscuit in the basket leave them in mid-table mediocrity.

Aston Villa and Middlesbrough round out this group. They never do anything worth noting.

Sleeping with the Fish?
These clubs might go down.

Its a generic rule of thumb that 2 out of the 3 teams that get promoted are immediately relegated. Reading managed to be that one team that stayed up last season, but they lost their best player (Steve Sidwell) and will have to find the magic of last season if they want to make it consecutive seasons in the Premiership.

Many have picked Sunderland as the promoted team most likely to stay up, but I think that it will be Birmingham City that are still standing after game 38. They have spent wisely this offseason and have retained many of their players that were around during City's last stint at the top league.

Despite being in Europe this year, Bolton lost their charismatic coach and a number of key players. Thats a lot to deal with. I wouldnt be surprised to see them needing a win on the last day to stay up.

Fulham, which boasts a whopping 3 americans on its roster might also find itself needing a few last-gasp points to keep the London outfit in the Premiership.

Thanks for stopping by:
Going down.

Wigan have overachieved in recent seasons and needed a win against Sheffield United on the last day of the season last year to stay up. I dont see them escaping again this season.

As aforementioned, many think Sunderlandwill survive the season. I just dont see it. They have made some questionable signings this summer and manager Roy Keane is only in his second year of coaching. Looks like trouble to me.

Derby County have to be a surefire bet for the bottom of the barrel. They overachieved to make it here in the first place and simply dont have the talent to compete in this league.

So there you have it, a reliable source to the final standings for the 2007/08 season...take it with a grain of salt the size of Rhode Island.

Play On:

+One of the most interesting aspects of football (to me at least) is the constant changing of kits (read: jerseys). This has a lot to do with the changing of club sponsors, something extremely rare in American sports. The other reason kits get changed is just to switch things up I think. So I’d like to give out some awards for my favorite kits for the upcoming season. Who knows, you might even follow a team based on my awards.

Best Logo: Tottenham Hotspur. I absolutely love that logo. Cant get much simpler than the cock and ball.

Runner up: Derby County. I dunno what it is, but I really like that ram.

Worst Logo: Fulham. The logo is supposed to send a message of fear or intimidation, this one just shows how bland the club acutually is.


Best Home Kit: Portsmouth. Im not sure what it is but I just really like that jersey.

Runners Up: Newcastle. Amidst a bevy of blues and reds, this jersey always stands out.

Worst Home Kit: Birmingham City. Its been dubbed the penguin kit and I just dont like it.

Best Away Kit: Chelsea. Hands down the best kit I have ever seen. I knew I was going to buy one as soon as I saw it.

Runners Up: Liverpool. This one is really sharp.

Worst Away Kit: Arsenal. Stupid.

Best Sponsor: Liverpool. This one is easy.

Worst Sponsor: Reading. They make shit phones.

+We all know that football is a passionate game. But some games are taken to a higher level of rivalry. These games are known as a derby (pronounced 'darby') and usually involve two local clubs. I just wanted to take a second and highlight a few of the bigger ones.

Manchester Derby: Manchester United v. Manchester City

Liverpool Derby: Liverpool v. Everton

North London Derby: Arsenal v, Tottenham Hotspur

Second City (Birmingham) Derby: Aston Villa v. Birmingham City

Tyne-Wear Derby: Newcastle v. Sunderland


Alright, thats that. Heres to another great season and a chance to see Chelsea do the quadruple (win the FA Cup, Carling Cup, Premiership, and the Champions League). Hope this helped and I cant guarantee that any of my predictions will come true. So for betting purposes its best to look elsewhere!