Robbie Savage's mega Championship preview plus Sarah's saying and this week's compo

By Robbie Savage

Published 23:09 04/08/11

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Losing your best two players is a nightmare for anyone.

Imagine United missing Rooney and Rio. Imagine Barca shorn of Messi and Xavi. Now imagine the Championship without me and Craig Bellamy. Horrible thought, isn’t it?

Still, I’m sure the league will gradually learn to cope with my absence. In fact, this looks like the hardest and most competitive promotion race in years, with good managers and parachute money helping the relegated sides, Leicester spending like a Midlands Man City and the perennial candidates – Forest, Cardiff, Reading – still chasing the promised land.

Here are a few thoughts I’ve had about the new season...

1) West Ham MUST go up... or else
Sam Allardyce’s summer signings prove his long-ball reputation is a lie. You don’t buy clever ball players like Kevin Nolan and Matty Taylor if you’re going to launch the ball every time.

I think the Hammers deserve to be favourites alongside my old club Leicester. But they have to succeed.

If they don’t, Kevin will regret moving to Upton Park for the rest of his life. I went to Derby blithely, knowing we’d be relegated from the Premier League but expecting to come straight back up. I didn’t realise how hard it is to get out of the Championship.

Kevin has done it once, I hope for his sake he can do it again, not just for himself but also for Big Sam, who was stiffed at Newcastle and ­Blackburn.

He needs to do it this season or his job will be under threat.

2) Michael Johnson could be a superstar or a belly flop
My old club Leicester have one of the best players in the league in Richie Wellens and a talented, methodical manager in Sven Goran Eriksson. Sven has made some great signings – Matt Mills, Kasper Schmeichel, David Nugent, Paul Konchesky – but the one that intrigues me is Manchester City’s Michael Johnson on loan.

He’s an exceptional talent and is finally free of injury but the last time I saw him it looked like he’d been on the Benni McCarthy diet. That’s bad news in a league where fitness is everything.

3) Sshteve isn’t out of the woods at Forest
The biggest threat to Steve McClaren succeeding at the City Ground is the club’s acquisitions committee. I wouldn’t fear playing against George Boateng, even at my age. When fit, Andy Reid is an undoubted talent but the demands of the Championship are so tough he must be seen as an expensive luxury.

4) Birmingham will be OK
They’ve lost 15 players and owner Carson Yeung has turned out to be an Alaskan nudist – he’s had his assets frozen. But my old club still have some class left and, most importantly, they’ve got the ­brilliant Chris Hughton as boss.

Remember what happened two seasons ago, when everyone was tipping him to take Newcastle down into League One at the start of the season?

5) You’ll be amazed who I’m tipping as the division’s surprise package
Paul Jewell and I didn’t get on at Derby but, fair play to the guy, he has totally transformed Ipswich.

He did the right thing cashing in on Connor Wickham for a ­ridiculous £9million (don’t get me started on Jordan Henderson for £20m... well, not until next week) and his signings are shrewd. David Stockdale is a fantastic keeper, Lee Bowyer will get goals from midfield and Michael Chopra will always score in this league.

6) This lot are also in with a shout...
Blackpool and Reading, because they have brilliant managers and a good base to work from. Cardiff, because Kenny Miller and Robert Earnshaw aren’t bad replacements for Bellamy, Bothroyd and Chopra.

Brighton, because of Gus Poyet and because their new stadium and rich owner will help them attract players like Craig Mackail-Smith.

And maybe even Middlesbrough, though if they start badly, they could as easily be dragged into it at the bottom as rise to the top.

7) Sorry, but Derby will find it a challenge
Not because they’ve lost me but because they’ve not really improved. Yes, there’s a bit of pace in Nathan Tyson, one of the best keepers in the league in Frankie Fielding and Nigel Clough’s an excellent boss­­.

He will make the most of what he’s got, and that includes a dressing room full of talented boys.

But he needs men for when the going gets tough and I can see them fitting with Coventry, Palace, Peterborough, Watford and a few others near the bottom.

***

My column is back and so, of course are Sarah’s sayings – the thoughts of my lovely wife.

On the way to the airport for our holidays, she surprised me and the kids by saying: “That car next to us doesn’t look like anyone is driving it. But I suppose someone must be.”

Her dad joined us in Spain and when my little lad asked, “how many days have you got left with us?”, he replied “three”.

“That’s not right,” said Sarah. “You’ve got another two and you leave the night after that.”

***

I told you at the end of last season you’d be seeing even more of me when I retired.

I set a world record last week – we’re just waiting for confirmation from Guinness - by wearing the shirts of all 72 football league clubs simultaneously to publicise new website npowerclub72.com. It’s the first time in my life I’ve known what it feels like to be as big as my mate John Hartson!

This will be a busy season for me. I’ll be writing here every week and appearing regularly on ESPN and the BBC, starting with Football Focus tomorrow. It’s about time they had some eye candy on that show.

I’ll be doing some Final Score shows too and those packed Saturdays mean my Radio Five Live 606 shows will be on Sundays this season. I’ve got another big announcement too, but it’ll have to wait for now.

Finally, the paperback version of my autobiography Savage! hits the shops this week. If you’d like to win of five signed copies, email competitions@mirrorfootball.co.uk with your name, address and your funniest title that my book SHOULD have been given...

Fancy winning £3,000 for FREE this month? Play Mirror Football Streak for your chance to win cash prizes! Start predicting now!