Can Fergie Complete The Challenge?

If you don’t know already, Darren Ferguson has took the vacant managerial position at Preston North End after Alan Irvine was sacked after a poor run of results. Ferguson will take over a Preston team who currently sit 16th in the Championship and eight points of a play-off position. The former Peterborough manager signed a three and a half years deal and faces the challenge of taking Preston to the next level after many of his predocesors failed at getting Preston Promoted. Fergusons challenge is far from easy and he will need to do the following if he wants to face his father in the league next year.

Gain Confidence

In Preston’s last eight games, they have only won one, as well as drawing two and lost five. This is no where near good enough for a team with Preston’s potential. If they keep this run of form going, it will only make Ferguson’s task harder. The players should be a little bit up beat after the 7-0 thrashing of Colchester on Saturday and Saturday’s fixture at home to Doncaster is winnable and I’m sure Ferguson would like nothing more than to get off to a winning start. If Preston are capable of beating Doncaster on Saturday it will see them rise to the same points tally as Doncaster and move them to just five points off the play-off’s.

Make Deepdale a fortress again

Last season Deepdale was a fortress and one of the main reasons why Preston made the play-off’s, If Preston are going to repeat that feat then they need to regain their great home form. This season Preston have only won four home games out of a possible eleven. If Ferguson can get the team playing and winning games at home again then the play off’s are a possibility.

Transfer Policy

Ideally, Preston would love to spend money on a few new players this transfer window, however that is unlikely to happen. Ferguson will be looking to sell some dead wood which is not good enough for a team aiming for the big time and replacing them with young enthusiastic players. I think its quite likely he’ll be giving his Dad a ring and will want to take a few of Manchester United’s youngster out on loan for the rest of the season to bolster his squad.

So after back to back promotions with Peterborough, Ferguson is about to take on a challenge that could make him a household name in the world of football management due to the failed attempts by many before him. If Ferguson can get Preston playing again and stop the amount of goals being coincided the play-off’s are a huge possibility for Ferguson and Preston who both have great potential.

Another weekend gone and if you are a Swansea fan another great result which sees you to continue to inch up the Championship towards a play-offs spot. The win for the side from Wales moves them to within two points of a play-0ff spot as we get into the business end of the season. However it was not so long ago that Swansea were close to going out of the football league and going out of business full stop. So can the club once sold for a £1 better Hull City by going from League Two relegation candidates in 2003 to a Premier League side six years later.

If you had been a Swansea fan you won’t have had too much to cheer about since the Swans glory days back in the early 1980′s when the side beat the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal and even played in the Uefa Cup Winners Cup. However since then it has been a slippery slide down the football league, culminating in the 2002-03 season when survival as a football league side was not guaranteed until the final day of the season. Ironically it was a 4-2 victory over Hull on the last day at Vetch Field which kept the side in the division and saved the club as a whole.

Since then though the only way has been up for the Swans and now as one of the form sides in the Championship are they about to return to the top flight of English? Well they certainly have one of the best young managers in British football, perhaps even in Europe, at the helm with Roberto Martinez currently in charge. Martinez took over in 2007 and in his first full season in charge managed to get his side promoted as champions from League One.

Swansea have gone from strength to strength since then and have flown up the Championship table to join rivals Cardiff in the football betting as both sides  hunt for promotion. Martinez has assembled a useful little side since arriving with Jason Scotland one of the stand out performers with his goals whilst on loan Jordi Gomez has become a firm favourite with the fans this season along with the likes of Leon Britton, Darren Pratley and Mark Gower.

The Welsh club have lost just one game at the Liberty Stadium all season and are beginning to hit a good run of form at about the right time, which has been coupled with a good run in the FA Cup. Swansea will receive a good test on Saturday when they face Fulham at home in the FA Cup and it could go along way to measuring whether they could cut it in the Premier League.

It was certainly an impressive showing when they beat the cup holders Portsmouth in the last round and they would certainly love to repeat Cardiff’s achievement last year, perhaps going one better, by reaching Wembley. However I imagine that they would rather be there in the play-off final later on in May.

Swansea’s football odds have been slashed greatly since they embarked on their recent run of good form and their would certainly be a few eyebrows raised if Martinez’s side were able to achieve promotion, especially given the short period of time since their near demise. Whilst it may not be as remarkable as Hull achieving promotion to the top flight for their first time in history it would be a fairy tale in itself to see Swansea back in the top flight.

It has been 40 years since a side from outside the top flight of English football has won the League Cup, when Swindon beat Arsenal 3-1 way back in 1969. However the lose of Liverpool and Chelsea last night has opened the way for the clubs from the Championship to claim some major silverware.

Lower league clubs have been in the final in recent history with Birmingham the last one, pushing Liverpool all the way only to lose on penalties. The year before that Tranmere narrowly lost to Leicester. So this year could be the year that someone goes that step further and perhaps shows that despite being less prestigious than the FA Cup this competition can provide just as big an upset.

Looking through the sides left in the draw for the quarter finals the obvious favourites in the football betting will be Arsenal, Manchester United and current holders Tottenham. However if the draw throws two of those three together then we could easily see the likes of Burnley, Watford or Derby reach the semi-finals at least.

Burnley will certainly fancy their chances against anyone after their victory at Chelsea and with the Clarets flying high in the league they are the ones to avoid for the Premier League sides if they don’t want to become their next cup victims.

Despite my head telling me that the winners will come from either Spurs, Arsenal or Man Utd my heart is praying for it to be one of the Championship sides left in the competition. Whilst my head is telling me that one of those three sides will be lifting the trophy at Wembley in February it is far from impossible that we won’t be seeing Paul Connolly or Jay DeMerit taking that long walk up the steps to collect the three handled trophy.

With the big clubs failing to take this competition seriously due to European or relegation concerns then this, as we head for the quarter finals, is a major opportunity to create a piece of history.

Derby and Watford both have recent Premier League experience, albeit unsuccessful, and so will know what to expect if they draw a Premier League side. As for Burnley they have already knocked out Fulham and now Chelsea so whatever the football odds say I believe there is a chance, even if it is a small, for a Championship side to win the tournament.

Chances are that one will reach the semi-finals, Wycombe being the last side to do it although it was a 100-1 shot that they would make all the way, whilst Watford narrowly missed out in 2005 to Liverpool.

So lets hope the upsets continue for the neutral, obviously if your side is still left in the competition and isn’t in the Championship you won’t be hoping for the same thing. Everyone else will be hoping for a repeat of this years FA Cup, albeit a better game to watch than that dull affair!

So the 12^th longest serving manager in the football league is finally given the push after a poor start to the season. However despite the Hornets currently languishing in 20^th position is Aidy Boothroyd being made a scapegoat for the Watford board’s imcompetance?

After finishing rock bottom of the Premier League in 2007 the club found themselves back in the Championship. However the normally cash-strapped club were no longer in a position where they were afraid to check their bank balance. As many people know the Premier League now gives relegated sides a £30million parachute payment to cope with the drop in income. Now whilst some of that will go to cover the drop in television revenues and gate receipts Boothroyd saw precious little of the cash.

He spent just under £5million the season after they were relegated and made it into the play-offs, albeit tasting defeat at the hands of Hull in the semi-final. This season however the club have imposed a number of financial cutbacks on Boothroyd which has meant he had to sell the likes of Darius Henderson and Danny Shittu whilst being unable to bring anyone in permanently apart from Jon Harley on a free transfer which clearly has hampered their Championship odds.

Now whilst the parachute payments do stop at the end of this season and Watford are right to take precautions my question is where all the money has gone? The stadium redevelopment have stopped, combined with the lack of transfers into the club, would point to the fact the club have failed to invest the money there were given and made from selling the likes of Ashley Young and Marlon King very wisely.

Whilst Boothroyd record of 12 win in the last 50 league games is not a good one I would also like to know who the club believe they can get in to do a better job with the board unlikely to invest in the squad anytime soon. Boothroyd is a very good young manager who took Watford into the Premier League when there football odds made them more likely to be relegated.

The Watford chairman Graham Simpson has given the excuse that Boothroyd needs a break from management but I imagine that he only needs a break because of the treatment he has received at Watford. The Hornets board will regret their decision because Boothroyd is a good manager and with the right backing will do very well at which club who take him on.

After another action packed weekend the sides in the Championship look like they are sorting themselves into the areas we can expect to find them in for the remainder of the season. Reading and Birmingham looking like they are going to bounce straight back whilst Doncaster and Notts Forest look destine to be involved in a relegation battle for the next 8 months.

However there are those that prove the rule that the Championship is the most unpredictable league with Plymouth currently occupying fourth whilst Watford and Crystal Palace are currently struggling near the bottom. However I don’t expect that to be the case come the end of the season, although following the relegation of Leicester and the promotion of Hull you can never say never.

Everyone knows that the Championship is unpredictable but it seems unlikely that we will have a season like the last with Hull and Bristol contesting the play-off final and Stoke going up. This season looks like it is going to go by the book though with Birmingham and Reading, who have managed to keep hold of their best players and use their parachute payments to their benefit, certainly looking like two of the best sides in the league.

Even Derby are starting to take steps in the right direction and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they were up there come the end of the season. It seems then that the £30m the Premier League give to relegated clubs is starting to effect the Championship whilst newly promoted clubs, with the exception of Swansea, are struggling to make the step up. It seems then that if the Football League wanted the Championship to be more like the Premier League then they are succeeding.

Whilst it may now be easier to bet on the Championship parachute payments are in danger of taking the unpredictability of the league away, one of the elements which makes this league so watch able.

As for the future well normally I would say who knows what it will hold but this season things look a little more predictable. The only thing that will change the way this season is going is the January transfer window. QPR have plenty to spend whilst others may stick their hands in their pockets if they believe there is a chance for promotion or to save themselves from relegation. At the minute though the odds for the Championship look like they aren’t going to change until we find ourselves at the play-off final again.