Wasps, beer, Bank Holiday and...football!

IT does make you wonder why football fans in the Football League can’t be trusted to have a beer in view of the pitch during a game.
The latest stop on a sport fan career that’s included beers in Holland and Belgium while watching football, sipping a Stella on Centre Court at Wimbledon and best of all, getting stuck into the lager while watching Sydney FC back in 2007 came today watching Bury Town in the Ryman League.
I don’t want to harp on about getting wasted while watching live sport, simply the pleasure that comes from watching a non-league match on a hot Bank Holiday afternoon with a pint at your nearest club.
For the last three years Bury Town have been less than a five minute walk from my home. Norwich City home games involve a two-hour round trip, an hour walk to the ground and back and normally an obligatory stop over at my parents’ house. When you’ve tasted my mum’s toasted sandwiches, you’ll understand why I’m still at their house an hour before Carrow Road kick-offs!
Back to Bury Town.
Promoted to the Ryman League Premier Division before the summer, this was the first time I have seen them this term, and after watching a cracking game against Essex side Aveley, it was pleasing to see Bury get stuck in and come away with another three points which sees them unbeaten after four games and now sitting proudly in third place in the table.
Striker Chris Henderson’s 78th minute winner came just after the Essex side had equalised Craig Nurse’s first-half opener.
A scrappy first half was brought to life in the 33rd minute when Nurse headed home from a free-kick to give Bury a 1-0 lead.
I was busy snapping pictures – I’ve a new part-time gig covering events in the Bury area for a website funded by the same company behind the Daily Mail – and busy trying to avoid wasps who always seem to take a shine to me.
After the break it was all Aveley who had a dominant 20-minute spell midway through the second half culminating in their equaliser.
First Danny Slatter went close on 65 minutes before Piers Wikon should have scored with a header at the far post.
Home keeper Marcus Garnham kept out a well-worked free-kick from Aveley’s David Knight shortly before full back Scott Pethers drew the scores level.
That man Henderson responded immediately with a left foot drive from inside the box which beat Aveley keeper Matt Bennett to trickle in the net.
As the game got increasingly competitive – ie, both sides decided to crank up the heavy challenges and meaty tackles, Aveley centre half Tony Rusell clipped the bar with the header before Henderson went one-on-one with the visiting keeper before shooting wide.
Two days ago I watched Norwich at Nottingham Forest and was back at home five hours after the game finished, having driven from Nottingham via Norwich and then back to Bury.
Today I was back home in five minutes.

Excellent City really can mix it with the big boys

After the day one disaster at home to Watford, I’ve missed the last two City games.
But am pleased to report that back to back wins at Scunthorpe and at home to Swansea meant today seventh placed City travelled to Nottingham Forest, second favourites for the title just three weeks ago.
I’ve just got back from the Forest game and am thrilled that City not only matched one of the supposed best teams outside the Premier League but could and possibly (putting yellow-tinted specs on) should have taken all three points.
And it was just great after 18 months in the wilderness to finally be playing at a big stadium – one of the proposed venues for the 2018 World Cup.
Had a good journey up with Gordo – notable for the fact we trailed Cabbage (aka the Club Canary coaches) for most of Norfolk. I managed to overtake one coach just as we arrived at the Farm House at Gedney, the traditional first stop for the City buses.
We were in and out in one minute – there were about ten coaches in there so instead I floored it towards a garage where one of the funniest things we have ever seen took place. A woman went into to use the toilets only to find them out of order. She turned round and pissed herself and started crying!
I know I shouldn’t laugh, but it was one of the funniest moments I have ever shared with Gordo. On to the football, we parked up just behind the City Ground, swerving the £10 and £5 car parks for a side road – some people are so lazy and just spend money on any old crap.
There was plenty of any old crap in the Club Shop, but pride of place apart from the replica European Cup was none other than former England and Forest midfielder Steve Hodge, seated at the back of the shop signing copies of his book.
We turned out backs on the key man of the England Mexico ’86 squad and took our seats behind the goal in the lower tier of the Bridgford Road stand.
City started excellently, and Chris Martin could have put City 2-0 up in the opening 20 minutes, clipping the woodwork twice.
Forest had three ex-City players in their starting side, Ryan Bertrand, Lee Camp and Robert Earnshaw - all three looked decidedly off key, however Bertrand was getting the better of Russell Martin down the left hand side on his forays forward.
After Dexter Blackstock fell over in the box, Forest had a penalty appeal turned down, but minutes later Radoslaw Majewski tried the same thing again, this time the ref bought it and Blackstock tucked home the penalty.
City deserved far more and soon equalised through Andrew Crofts and pushed on in the rest of the first half looking to take the lead.
The back five weren’t really tested for the rest of the game, save for an Earnshaw shot that hit the post. Ruddy, Martin, Ward and Barnett, did nothing spectacular, yet didn’t let themselves down, while Adam Drury was excellent on the left.
Across the middle, Crofts and Wes Hoolahan were busy, Korey Smith and Andrew Surman involved in patches, while Grant Holt put himself about as you would expect on his return to Nottinghamshire.
Man of the match was undoubtedly Super Chrissy Martin – he could have had a hat-trick, but went home without hitting the net. He’s so strong up front and crucial to our hopes of sneaking a play-off place.
In the end a 1-1 draw was probably a fair result. Forest have just three points from four games, we’ve taken seven.
If I were a Forest fan I’d have been impressed with Norwich for today was a day when the City side showed us fans for the first time this season that our team really does have the quality to mix it with the best in the division.

Shame to see Samp exit so early

Poor old Sampdoria. After a brilliant second leg of their Champions League qualifier against Werder Bremen, the famous Italian club are today licking their wounds from another failure in Europe’s premier cup competition.
Samp overturned a 3-1 first leg defecit to lead the tie 4-3 last night before a couple of late strikes sent them out.
More’s the pity as I was really excited about back over to Genoa and catching Samp in action, possibly in a Champions League tie.
It’s four years since I last saw an Italian game with Gordo, when we managed to get in the Inter end for the match at Parma.
Between 2000 and 2006 we probably caught at least a dozen games, and saw Samp on a couple of occasions.
The last of which was during a crazy couple of months when we flew over to Italy and back in a day no less than four times just to watch a football match.
Those where the glory days of 2003-2004 before Ryan Air and Easy Jet started adding on surcharges for almost anything. One morning flight to Genoa in January 2004 memorably cost £12 return including taxes and if I recall correctly we counted half a dozen passengers on board.
This was my account of that last Sampdoria game on the road – their trip to Atalanta on November 7, 2004 which I originally wrote for now defunct Italy magazine.

Such is the availability and cheapness of flights to Italy that it is now feasible to pop over to Italy for the most frivolous reasons. Whether it’s saving money on Christmas shopping or designer clothes there is a genuine chance that the cost of the flight aside, savings will still be made.
But it’s not all about savings – it’s just as cheap to go to Italy for me and watch a top flight football match as it would be in this country. If I could get a ticket for a run of the mill Premeirship game in England for say Charlton v Aston Villa it would cost around £50 for train and ticket. With a flight to Bergamo costing just £32 and a ticket at just £8 it’s easy to see that it is just as cheap to watch a game in Italy as it is in England.
Money aside there’s far more glamour in heading out to watch foreign football. Like those wine counissuers who harp on about new world wines, Italian football has always been admired as a game for true afficiandos.
Football is like chess in Italy – a masterclass of tactics and tricks and rituals. English football just doesn’t have the drama and total absorbance that Italian football fans bring to games. It’s very much a young mens sport – the kind of family friendly football that has come to England over the last 15 years is still a world away in Italy.
For that reason and the fact that more can happen in a goalless draw in Italy than a game littered with goals in England, Italian football still has a certain decadence about it.
That decadence is now available for a bottle of pretty decent Italian wine and if you’ve ever wondered what a day trip to Italy involves, here is my timetable for the Atalanta v Sampdoria game on November 7.

TIMETABLE:

3.45am Wake up

4am
Leave home for the 50 mile drive to Stansted. Traffic is non-existent so by 5.20am I have parked the car and I’m in the terminal at Stansted.

5.45am
Check in takes no longer than five minutes and its straight through to the departure lounge where it’s time for a coffee and a doze. Food on board the Ryanair flight is limited so I grab a sandwich and a bottle of water. For some reason sipping water on the flight seems to keep me entertained!

6.30am
Call for boarding which again is so smoothe and easy. This morning flight to Bergamo is only half full so there’s no major rush, everyone else seems to be half asleep as well, but I get chatting to a couple who are also heading out to Italy for the day to do some Christmas shopping.

6.50am
Right on time, we’re off to Bergamo and that early start is rewarded with a pretty good sleep for most of the journey.

9.10am (Italian time)
Wake up just as we cross the Alps – as usual with these morning RyanAir flights, there is a cracking view as the plane effortlessly glides over the mountain range and touches down at 9.30am local time, a full 20 minutes early.

9.45am
Less than five hours after leaving my house, I’m standing outside Bergamo’s Orio airport waiting for the bus to take me into the town centre. The bus costs just two euros and takes 15 minutes.

10.30am
Central Bergamo is pretty small and easy to wander around on foot – this is my first trip to central Bergamo and I quickly found my bearings. Viale Roma, the road that crosses the town from the central station up towards the mountains is the key - five minutes walk up from the station and I come to the central square.
Most of the Italians seem to have come out for a Sunday morning walk after going to church and in the square there are Sunday morning strollers gazing at pictures from a local artist for sale

10.50am
A stroll up Viale Roma reveals just how small the town is – Sampdoria, the opponents for Atalanta today have their team bus parked outside one of the towns four star hotels. A few Sampdoria fans who have arrived early are hovering outside looking for players to sign their autograph books. It’s the first confirmation that the game is taking place today. These Sampdoria fans probably think they’ve had a long three hour journey from Genoa – little do they realise that I woke up in East Anglia six hours ago.

11.15am
Back down Viale Roma and the square is filling up. It wouldn’t be a Sunday morning without the brightly coloured cyclists from the local cycling club bombing down the high street. A market stall selling sweets is open and I buy a couple of packets of almonds coated in sugar. They make a great snack as I head to a café and stop for a coke and a panini before returning to the bus station to ask about buses to the ground.

1pm
The bus journey to the ground from the bus station takes only ten minutes and there are already a couple of hundred home fans at the ground. I’ve been up for eight hours by this point and to be fair I’m starting to feel it. Normally I’d probably have a couple of pre-match pints in England, but, it’s going to be a full 13 hours before I get back to my house. So, being sensible, it’s far better to have a soft drink and a calzone.
Walking around the outside ground before a game always seems to bring some extra atmosphere – the fans in their late teens are trying to stuff their smoke bombs into their socks, and flag waving fans on their mopeds are already circulating in their small groups.
For an Italian game there are surprisingly few ticket touts and I get a ticket on the curva sud for 13 euros. A real bargain!

2.30pm
Into the ground and the Sampdoria fans are already in. Atalanta’s ground is a primitive affair – concrete terracing doesn’t make the best cushion for a travel weary backside but I plonk myself down and watch the Sampdoria fans make themselves heard. It’s a marvellous spectacle with one brave fan scaling the perimeter fence at the front to turn and face his fellow Genoans and orchestrate them in a frenzy of chanting. The smoke bombs continue until kick-off

3pm
Kick-off. Around 20,000 fans are packed into the stadium, smoke descends all around and the game begins. Ten hours since I woke up, I am certain that I’ve had the longest and most interesting journey of all the fans inside the ground.

4.10pm
Into the second half and the sun finally comes out, stretching out long shadows across the pitch. With the sun shining I take a look around and think what a beautiful setting this is for a game of football. At this point it all seems worth it. I know I’m feeling tired now but this is what its all about – I feel really lucky to be able to do this kind of thing for the day at such little cost.

6pm
The game ends in a 0-0 draw, but its been great entertainment, not least watching the fans wind each other up with their taunts. Rather than get a bus back into central Bergamo I decide to walk the 15 minutes or so to get back.

8.30pm
After wandering around a few shops and grabbing a few bits from the supermarket I’m back at the airport and checked in for the return flight. There’s time for a relaxing beer and a glance at the football on the television being shown in the airport bar. I’m now pretty tired, but pleased that I’m back safely at the airport for the trip back

9.50pm
The flight leaves for Stansted. It’s pretty full as many of the other passengers would have been over to Milan for the weekend. I bet few of them had travelled such a short distance in Italy as I had – I had been no further than 10 miles from the airport all day long!

10.45pm (English time)
Back at Stansted safely and off to the car for the journey home. This is by far the worst part. It’s only an hours drive but the buzz and the adrenilin of the day trip starts to wear off pretty fast as I begin the journey.

12.05am
Back home shortly after midnight and the end of a 20 hour trip. I’m shattered!

Deflated, tired and irritable - and it's only day one!

First match of the new season and what an anti-climax!

After a week of hassles with getting the night off work involving bribes, shift changes and threatening to involve HR I finally got Friday off to go to Carrow Road and watch Norwich take on Watford.

Part of the deal was not only to work until the wee small hours of Friday morning but then to be back in at 10am and work until 5.30pm, which meant speeding up to Norwich, gobbling a quick sandwich and legging it down to Carrow Road, arriving at my new season ticket seat with two minutes to spare.

To be blunt, I was knackered, but pleased with the seat and eagerly awaiting kick off. Half an hour later City were 2-0 down and the texts started flooding in taking the piss.

Of the new City players Andrew Crofts looks a great buy and his goal early in the second half gave us a sniff, but that ridiculous refereeing error to allow Watford to go 3-1 up kind of summed up the whole City performance - disjointed, wrong and needing to be put right.

As if it couldn't get much worse it started to chuck it down on the way home and I walked past a man being sick in some bushes.

Then my dad laughed after the revelation that Norwich were bottom of the league. Gee thanks Dad - as nobody else has played yet, and we'd just lost I think that was inevitable.
Still, its a sunny Saturday lunchtime as I write this and the good thing is that in a few hours there will be other clubs at the foot of the table with us.

And given our two goals last night, there's a reason to be positive - we could climb the table quite considerably without even playing!

The big Belgian kick off!

Less than three weeks since the World Cup final and the first competitive game of the season – in Belgium!
Yep me and Gordo were back on the road early on Saturday morning, fleeing the rain and gloom in the south east of England on the final day of July.
Cruising down to Folkestone, the weather got better and by lunchtime I was stocking up on French goodies at the massive Carrefour in Calais.
From Calais it’s only two hours to Brussels, a city that’s really starting to grow on me, really pretty, very understated and everyone’s very friendly.
We booked a great hotel, St Martin’s in the Park, but didn’t have a clue where it was and had to ask five or six people – but they were all over helpful, checking maps, finding the hotel on phones, drawing directions.
We dumped the car at a tube stop and hot-footed in to the buzzing Constant Vanden Stock stadion, and, after being refused entry to the Europa League game against Hamburg back in March, it was great to finally get tickets in our hands for this first game of the Jupiler League season.
I’d booked them online, for just 11 Euros each – that works out at under a tenner to stand on the terrace behind the goal and wave by purple and white bam bam at the Belgian champions.
Bizarrely, Anderlecht faced KAS Eupen, a team we saw back in March at Oostende in our last continental trip. So two Eupen away games in a row – I’ve now seen more of The Pandas on the road than Norwich this season!
The Eupen side held their own and just before the break took a surprise lead when Alex tapped home from inside the box after Anderlecht failed to clear a free-kick. It was just was just what the game needed.
To be fair it changed everything, Anderlecht came out after the break and equalised through Argentine Matias Suarez who volleyed home a corner from the edge of the penalty box.
Soon afterwards Anderlecht took the lead when Jonathan Legear headed home from precisely the same spot after a long cross from the right.
Suarez put the game beyond doubt when the gold-shirted Eupen keeper Olivier Werner palmed a corner straight at the feet of the home side’s number 9.
Late on a clever finish from Mbark Boussoufa after more poor Eupen defending made the final score 4-1.
So Anderlecht at top of the league after day one, and most of the 22,000 crowd went home delighted. Outside we left the packed bars behind, I swigged a quick Jupiler and we legged it back to the car, found the hotel and settled down in where else but the Hairy Canary pub for a couple of pints.
Having seen Eupen away twice, the Pandas are now on a list of home grounds to visit and with the whole trip costing around £75, I feel there’ll be many more trips to brilliant Brussels!

Championship betting preview

I hope you’ve well and truly trashed your vuvuzela by now as onFriday night at Carrow Road the new npower Championship kicks off and it looks like being another wide open race at the top of the table.
I actually fancy one of three teams to win the title and they’re in a shortlist of most bookies top five teams with the shortest odds. The other two on that list I wouldn’t touch with a bargepole.
First up, I fancy favourites Middlesbrough.
Cast your mind back 12 months to this very same column and I predicted both Boro and Sheffield United would be going up.
It didn’t happen last season, but you can’t ignore Boro this time out. Last season Gareth Southgate’s poor start and some bad home form pretty much ended their promotion hopes before the clocks went back, but under Gordon Strachan, Boro stabilised themselves well towards the end of the season.
Boro are best priced 7/1 for the title with Stan James and I suggest that’s a good price. The signing of Kris Boyd is an excellent bit of business – I think he could have found a place in any team in the bottom half of the Premier League so to see him pitch up at the Riverside is great news for the Teesiders.
Boyd alone won’t take Boro up, but a proven goalscorer like him is who Boro have been crying out for over the last couple of seasons and with the likes of Leroy Lita and Scott McDonald too, Boro have some decent ammunition.
The second side I fancy to go up are Burnley, who are as short as 8/1 with some bookies, but you can still get on them at 11/1 with Sky Bet.
Burnley have managed to hang on to their entire Premier League squad so far, although rumours suggest Chris Eagles will move on before the end of next month. They played some great football at times last season and once Brian Laws gets them back in the regular winning mentality I think they’ll prove a match for most of the division.
I like Wade Elliot, Martin Paterson and Brian Jensen and I see a team that will be hard to beat, tough across the middle and full of goals. Plus they’ve got a serious slice of parachute payments to keep them going through the tough winter.
If they can keep the late summer vultures away from Turf Moor, this is a squad that could well be in the top flight again come August 2011.
The third side is Reading, a team who impressed towards the end of the season under Brian McDermott, another team who’ve hung on to their players and who nearly made the play-offs last season.
I am a big Reading fan and think they boast real quality, but again, they’ve got the same problem several of the decent sides at this level have – if they start well their players are natural targets for the teams at the foot of the Premier League. I’m thinking in particular Shane Long, a player I really rate – can Reading hang on to him all season?
Surely if they’re in the top two at Christmas Long as well as Jimmy Kebe and Jobi McAnuff will hang around. And why not? Why go and join a Wigan or Birmingham to scrap against the drop when you could be their yourself next season?
I’m making Boro, Burnley and Reading my three for the title and such are the odds you can back all three and still make a decent profit.
There’s always a couple of teams who fail to live up to the pre-season hype – last season I’m afraid it was Ipswich. This season I intend to swerve Nottingham Forest and QPR like a crunching Mark van Bommel tackle.
Forest flattered themselves towards the end of the season with their run to the play-offs and were rightly dumped out by a superb Blackpool side. It’s never easy for a team to be beaten like that to return in August with the strength to do it all over again and I don’t see Forest having such a good season again.
I’ve stated on a regular basis my feelings for Lee Camp – he is a complete clown of a keeper and when I hear talk of him playing for England I wonder if I’m missing something. Every time I watch him he does something wrong and for that one reason alone I could never back Forest to do anything. William Hill have them down at 7/1 to win the title. Forget it.
Same for QPR, who are around 9/1 with most bookies. We’ve been down this road so many times with Rangers in recent years. They’ve got the cash (apparently), they’ve got a decent manager, they’ve got this, they’ve got that. What they never do is seriously damage the top of the table and I don’t see anything changing.
Money doesn’t buy titles in this league, it’s a mixture of a decent midfield, a proven goalscorer and a defense that can take no prisoners. Rangers need a complete overhaul if they are to get out of this league and their squad is simply not even near good enough at the moment.
Avoid them like the plague.

PLAY-OFFS: Having dismissed Forest and QPR for the title, they are possible for the top ten and therefore they could still get promotion. But I don’t want to back either of them at 11/4 (Forest) or 4/1 (Rangers). I’ve given you the three teams I think will get promoted – Burnley and Reading are 4/1 to get promotion (be it automatically or via the play-offs) and Boro are 9/4.
But for a bit of variety I think it does no harm to stick a couple of longer shots in the mix. All we’re really looking for are teams that can make the top six. Last season Blackpool were a huge 25/1 to get promoted so sniffing down the lower reaches, Doncaster at 20/1 could be worth a punt, but more realistically, I would like to be on both Hull and Portsmouth.
I know they’ve both come down from the top flight and I know they’ve both got money troubles, but they’ve still got decent squads and, yes that may change before the transfer window changes, but I would rather back proven talent than hyped-up wannabes.
Pompey – with David Nugent likely to lead the line - are a juicy 9/1 with Sky Bet to go up, while Hull are 13/2 with Bet 365. Take it from me, if they’re in the top six come May those prices won’t be anything like that.
If you don’t fancy QPR for the title and you’ve got the bottle, you can lay Rangers on Betfair at around 4/1 to go up – I’m doing exactly that so if you want to get on it, well, you’ll be in good company!

RELEGATION: Do yourself a favour and get on Watford for the drop right now. Money troubles mean they’ve been forced to lose some of their better players like Jay DeMerit and Jon Harley, they probably won’t get the likes of Henri Lansbury and Tom Cleverly back on loan from Arsenal and Manchester United, and have Danny Graham as their only real striker. A thin squad who’ve had a poor pre-season – it doesn’t look good for Malky Mackay’s Hornets at all. William Hill make them 11/4 for the drop, which is like buying money. Get on them before Friday as I think they may get an opening day tonking at the hands of Norwich.
Crystal Palace are the same 11/4 odds with William Hill and Scunthorpe, now minus Gary Hooper, are the shortest price side to go down at 15/8.
Portsmouth are 2/1 with Hills, but I would lay that all day long. A club like Pompey is a magnet for investment and if things really are looking that bad I say it’s far more likely they would get rescued than a Scunthorpe or Barnsley.
Take Watford and Palace as potential sides to go down but for slightly longer odds, something tells me the 10/1 on Leeds going down isn’t that bad a shout.
Leeds should have walked League One last season but really struggled to get out of that division and, despite their FA Cup heroics, I don’t really feel that Simon Grayson’s side are going to hit the ground running in the Championship.
I predict a slow start at Elland Road and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see Leeds in the bottom six all season. For that reason, the 10/ 1 on them going down needs to be taken.

TOP SCORER: It’s never easy picking the top goalscorer in The Championship and this year doesn’t look any earlier. But given my choice of teams to win the league I have to say I fancy Scottish striker Kris Boyd at Ladbrokes’ 8/1 to run amok in the scoring charts this term.
Behind Boyd in the pecking order are the familiar names like Town target Michael Chopra (12/1) Nicky Maynard (14/1), Rob Earnshaw (25/1) and David Nugent (25/1).
As I’ve topped Burnley for the title, I think I’d be partial to a flutter on another Scot, Steven Thompson who is a huge 66/1 with Ladbrokes to be top scorer. They pay a quarter the price each way – and that’s ending up in the top four.
Bookmakers don’t see any East Anglian striker troubling the scoring stakes – Norwich’s Grant Holt, who may miss the start of the season, is 25/1 while Connor Wickham, who also may have to wait for first team action, is the highest priced Town player at 50/1.

IPSWICH/NORWICH: I don’t think we’re going to see anything dramatic happening at Portman Road and Carrow Road this season with the return of the local derby the only real highlight.
It’s impossible to predict Ipswich to do anything at the moment as they go into this season with an ever-growing injury list, seven or eight players who don’t have a future at the club, transfer targets who don’t seem to want to come and a manager who chops and changes his team on a regular basis.
It’s far more likely will see the same kind of form of last season which means Ipswich will be hard to beat but won’t cause teams major problems at the other end. Roy Keane’s contracted to stay at Portman Road until the end of this new season, but you know as well as I do that a poor start could see him out by November which suggest that any money on Ipswich to have a successful season is far too risky.
Up the A140 Norwich (7/1 for promotion) come into the division after a superb first half of 2010 and they’ve been one of the busiest teams in the Championship over the summer with half a dozen new signings.
Star front trio Wes Hoolahan, Chris Martin and Grant Holt have all played in the Championship before, but have spent more of their careers below it, which must be remembered.
Norwich are the opposite of Ipswich for me – good going forward, but leaky at the back and I don’t see either East Anglian side ending up in the top half. Both sides have too much about them to go down, but I don’t see any point in backing either for promotion.
Some bookies have split the 24 teams in the Championship into smaller groups and you can punt on certain teams to win each group. The groups are made of teams with similar prospects – so, for example, Coral have placed Ipswich and Norwich in a group with Cardiff, Leeds, Hull and Bristol City. Think Town can finish higher than those other five? Coral will give you 7/2 they do.

Nick's League One and League Two betting preview

The countdown to the new season is on - here are my picks for League One and League Two.

Cast your mind back 12 months and Leeds were sitting pretty as runaway 4/1 favourites to take the League One crown, and after a sublime autumn they were as short as 1/5 for the title at Christmas. That was when Norwich clicked into gear and the Canaries – who were as large as 12/1 after their opening day hammering from Colchester took over and took the honours.
Cast in the Leeds role this year are Southampton, one of a number of clubs who wear striped shirts that are destined to have a good season - and it’s not hard to see why with the south coast club.
Like Leeds they had their first season in the third tier for many years compromised by a points penalty but the Saints did well last season to make it to the top half and in the end the play-off places were just touch out of reach.
They’re an even shorter price than Leeds, starting the season at just 5/2 to make a return to the second tier after two seasons away from it.
Like last season, Southampton boast the favourite to be top scorer in Rickie Lambert and it’s not difficult to see him making mincemeat out of the opposing defenders, particularly considering the quality of opposition at the bottom of the League One table.
Lambert is just 9/2 with Sky Bet to be top scorer, but I fancy his strike partner Lee Barnard to get in on the goals and the 10/1 on the former Southend man looks a good price.
It could turn out to be a straight shoot out between these two for the top scorer prize and with Lambert longer odds to be top scorer than the Saints are to win the division, you’ve got to feel the value is in taking him at 9/2 rather than the team at 5/2.
Put it this way, I can’t see one happening without the other and Southampton’s rich attacking talent is certainly going to put them in the top three next season.
Sheffield Wednesday are available at 6/1 at Victor Chandler and although they play in stripes, I don’t see them putting in much of a challenge and fellow relegated sides Peterborough (12/1) and Plymouth (18/1) can forget it too.
A side I do like again are a team I backed last season and that’s, stripe-wearing Huddersfield. The Terriers are a nice 8/1 shot and they were one of the most impressive teams I saw play last time out.
Manager Lee Clark hasn’t got a bad team on his hands and a player I like is Lee Novak. Geordie Novak netted 12 goals last season for the free-scoring club – and when you factor in the goal threat of Theo Robinson and Jordan Rhodes you start to see a team that can do damage.
Norwich won the league last season with an impressive three-pronged attack of Wes Hoolahan, Grant Holt and Chris Martin and Huddersfield boast similar strike power.
Novak incidentally is a 25/1 shot to be top scorer making him a decent each way bet with Sky Bet who pay out on four places. Rhodes, a man familiar to Ipswich fans, isn’t a bad shout at 14/1.
I’ll be backing Huddersfield for the title as my main bet and having a sensible punt on Southampton to get the stake back on the Terriers. Southampton are going to be incredibly strong at home and are rightly favourites – but as we saw last season that favourites tag is a heavy burden for some.
There has been a history of longer odds teams winning this league in recent seasons – over the last six years the Champions have been an average of 18/1 for the title before a ball is kicked so for an outsider I’m plumping for the resurgent stripe-wearing Brighton.
Under the guidance of Gus Poyet, the Seagulls were a stable side last season and they’re sure to push on this time round. Bookies have wised up to the Poyet factor and made them as short as 10/1 for the title in some cases, although a more realistic 14/1 is generally available.
This is Brighton’s last season at the ghastly Withdean Stadium and the thinking is that when they take to the field at the new Falmer Stadium in August 2011, they could very well be in the Championship.
Stan James make the Seagulls 11/2 for promotion which I suggest backing. If they’re in the top half at Easter they’ve still got a chance at going up and compared to the likes of big-spending Notts County who are a similar price, they’ve got a lot more going for them.
County may have the cash, but Brighton have made good singings across the back four in solid Scottish defender Gordon Greer, Marcos Painter and Spaniard Inigo Calderon.
At the other end there are a whole host of teams who could drop down to the basement division – William Hill go around 9/4 on the likes of Dagenham, Exeter, Walsall, Hartlepool, Rochdale and Yeovil suggesting a real battle to stay up is on the cards.
One side I fancy to go down are Tranmere, who at 11/4 represent better odds. This whole thing with ex-physio Les Parry in charge doesn’t wash with me and a slow start for them could see Parry out and his successor left with a big task.
There’s usually a bigger team that struggles and, for a bit of fun I will be having a bit of the 8/1 on Charlton going down.
Having missed out on promotion last year they’ve paid the price by having their better players picked off by better teams, leaving Phil Parkinson’s men with a lot to do with a limited side. Nicky Bailey and Jonjo Shelvy have gone, they’ve got a tiny squad and they’ve boosted their defence by signing Norwich reject Gary Doherty!
Tough times for Parkinson indeed and a team to certainly consider backing to struggle. Believe it – they could very well go down.

Such are the odds in League Two this season that you can confidently back four or five teams and still make a profit. Last term I backed Rotherham, Bury, Rochdale and Notts County for the title so had plenty of interest throughout the season as that quartet spent most of the season inside the top six.
So who do you want as your big four this season?
Well with big-spending Notts County no longer a factor and free-scoring Rochdale gone, it’s Bradford again who are favourites for the title.
Peter Taylor’s team have been stuck in this basement division for the last four seasons but having recruited some decent players and finishing well last season, they’re worthy favourites at around 10/1. I’d suggest putting a quarter of your betting budget for this league on The Bantams – they’re the big fish in this league.
Relegated sides from League One struggled last time out, but this time I fancy both Gillingham and Wycombe, both formerly managed by Taylor, from the pack of sides at around 12/1 to bounce back.
Wycombe, now under the tutelage of QPR old boys Gary Waddock and Gareth Ainsworth, leaked goals in League One last season, but they play attractive football that should make them one of the best sides in this division to watch.
Plus they’ve been very busy in the transfer market, picking up new strikers Scott Rendell and Ben Strevens who are both highly valued in the lower leagues to add to the scoring power of main marksman Jon-Paul Pittman
Same goes for Gillingham, who are always strong at home. I’m putting another 25 per cent of my budget on these two teams. Gillingham’s main strike threat Simeon Jackson all but sealed a move to Norwich this week, but Canaries striker Cody McDonald is likely to go the other way in a one-year loan deal and, again, this really is a level he should shine at.
With Bradford, Gillingham and Wycombe backed, you’ll be looking at a decent payout if either takes the title, but split that last 25 per cent of your budget in half and have a punt on slightly longer shots Oxford (17/1) and Stevenage (18/1).
Oxford have the momentum coming into this league after their successful Blue Square Premier promotion last time out and Stevenage can continue the recent impact made by teams coming into League Two for the first time.
With those five teams backed, I think you’ll have plenty of interest all season long – and if favourites Bradford were to win for example, you’d still make a profit of seven times your stake.
Good luck!