it's a three horse race....

oohaahmortimer

according to the bookies now (betfair) to win the championship....
after watford's impressive away win at cardif now they're 4 to 1
charlton 7 to 1
west brom 7 to1
sheff utd 12 to 1
wolves 14 to 1
palace 85 to 1
long way to go yet but i'd take 2nd or 3rd now!!

northstandsteve

Watford look very strong

Oggy Red

[cite]Posted By: northstandsteve[/cite]Watford look very strong

Non Addicks people at work think it's only a matter of time before Charlton leave the rest trailing in their wake.
Let's hope they know their football.

Medders

There was a piece about this in the paper today, stating that Watford have an advantage as they've managed to keep most of the squad from last season, where the rest of us, relegated during the past couple of seasons, have had to sell to balance the books...

Steve Dowman

that is because watford get promoted and dont even attempt to stay up, just rolling over and keeping their hands in their pockets, not sure as a fan that is what I would want my club to do, including selling your only prem laeague player (Young) halfway through the season.

letthegoodtimesroll

[cite]Posted By: Medders[/cite]There was a piece about this in the paper today, stating that Watford have an advantage as they've managed to keep most of the squad from last season, where the rest of us, relegated during the past couple of seasons, have had to sell to balance the books...

yes, but they lost their best player to us...

AFKABartram

top win for Watford last night, tough place to go midweek.

Medders

[cite]Posted By: Steve Dowman[/cite]that is because watford get promoted and dont even attempt to stay up, just rolling over and keeping their hands in their pockets, not sure as a fan that is what I would want my club to do, including selling your only prem laeague player (Young) halfway through the season.

Couldnt agree more. They were lame last season, but that does now give them a good squad for this season...

Steve Dowman

they did the same about 4 years ago when they were up, didnt help them then and it took a few more years to get back up.

Someone at the club must be making a few bob from not spending the PL cash.

Rothko

Us or Watford for the title, but if we both go up, we'll stay up longer then them

WSS

[cite]Posted By: Rothko[/cite]Us or Watford for the title, but if we both go up, we'll stay up longer then them

yeah, they'll get relegated in the first week of april and we will in the second.

oohaahmortimer

i'm with you on that wss lol

Oggy Red

It's pretty sound economics. For most clubs about their size, it's important they don't financially over reach themselves -
survival of the club is of first essence despite whatever ambitions they may have.

It's no different at The Valley. All the financial restructuring at the club during the summer - staff redundancies, disposal of many players on £20k weekly salaries and culminating in the then termination of the Women's Academy & high profile first team - was to ensure financial viability and prevent the club overspending and going into administration should promotion to the Prem not be achieved before the parachute money runs out.

In fact, back to the Watford scenario: when Charlton were first promoted to the Prem for 98/99 season, very little comparitively was spent that year to ensure safety from relegation. The result was, after relegation, Charlton didn't need to sell to survive and the team essentially could be retained.

Watford are doing just that.

Steve Dowman

again, didnt work for them last time.

Jipped

If Sheffield Utd sort out their away form, they could still be in the mix at the end of the season. At the moment it doesn't look like anyone else for the top four.

RedArmySE7

[cite]Posted By: Oggy Red[/cite]It's pretty sound economics. For most clubs about their size, it's important they don't financially over reach themselves -
survival of the club is of first essence despite whatever ambitions they may have.

It's no different at The Valley. All the financial restructuring at the club during the summer - staff redundancies, disposal of many players on £20k weekly salaries and culminating in the then termination of the Women's Academy & high profile first team - was to ensure financial viability and prevent the club overspending and going into administration should promotion to the Prem not be achieved before the parachute money runs out.

In fact, back to the Watford scenario: when Charlton were first promoted to the Prem for 98/99 season, very little comparitively was spent that year to ensure safety from relegation. The result was, after relegation, Charlton didn't need to sell to survive and the team essentially could be retained.

Watford are doing just that.

Thats exactly what i've been saying to people Oggy, the similarities are quite close with the way we went about things back then and the way they are going about them now. Only difference is the money in the Premiership now and its a lot harder to stay up I believe.