The Final League Table Vs My Pre-Season Predictions

By: Rob | May 25th, 2009

Predictions are a fool’s game. The beauty of this game we watch is that its like a soap without a script – you never know what’s going to happen. Take Newcastle for instance, after a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford how many would have predicted the disastrous season they’ve endured? Not I, and neither would I have wanted to, because that would have made it so much less exciting.

Still, that didn’t stop me making my pre-season predictions, and neither will it stop me next year either. To show I’m a good sport, instead of leaving it pages back, I thought it’d be fun to see how disasterously wrong I was about everything (and, I was. I predicted West Brom would be the only one of the promoted teams to stay up!)

So after the jump, each of the teams, how they did, and how I predicted them at the start of the season.

Arsenal
My prediction:3rd
The Finished: 4th
So not too far out to start with. Admittedly they had a patch where we weren’t sure they’d make the Champions League, but I think next season they might well come of age at last.

Aston Villa
My Prediction: 7th
They Finished 6th
Again, I didn’t finish too far out, even though I obviously underestimated them, as they looked good for the Champions League at one point. They seemed to lose it after the Champions League place looked beyond them, which is something Martin O’Neill will want to sort out next season.

Blackburn Rovers
My Prediction: 10th
They Finished: 15th
Looks like I overestimated the Paul Ince “era” somewhat. They looked good last season, and I thought Ince would just drop off a little from the Mark Hughes era, but it fell apart quite badly, and took Big Sam to make sure they stayed up. I’ll be interested in them next year.

Bolton
My Prediction 15th
They Finished 13th
Again, not too far away, I’m happy with that. Like Boro previously, Bolton seem to have carved out a niche for themselves. It can go sour though….

Chelsea
My Prediction: 2nd, if United sign Berbatov
They Finished 3rd.
I had Chelsea pegged to win the title, if United didn’t sign the final piece of the jigsaw. It didn’t really work that way, United got Berba and won the league, but after an initial bright start, Chelsea went into freefall for seeimgly no reason. Any new coach has alot to do next year.

Everton
My Prediction 6th
They Finished 5th
Again, pretty close, I did better at this that I thought. A really great season for Everton, 5th place with an FA Cup final to look forward to. Is next year the season they break the big four?

Fulham
My Prediction 17th, just.
They Finished er...7th
Yeah, I didn’t see that coming. I rate Roy Hodgeson as a manager and have for ages, but what he’s done this year might well be his finest achievement.

Hull City
My Prediction 20th
They Finished 17th, just.
If you asked me over Christmas about my predictions, I’d have looked as stupid as everyone else but for some reason Hull lost it over the holiday period and suddenly went into spectacular freefall. They’ll struggle next year if Phil Brown can’t sort it out.

Liverpool
My Prediction 4th
They Finished 2nd
I didn’t see anything in Liverpool pre-season to suggest they’d be any better than last season (when don’t forget fans were calling for Rafa’s head), or that they’d concentrate on the league ahead of Europe. But they absolutely proved me wrong, and put up a genuine fight for the title. Next year they have to push on further.

Manchester City
My Prediction 9th
They Finished 10th
My prediction came Pre-Robinho and mega-money, but that was never going to have a real impact untill next season, when it’ll be really interesting.

Manchester United
My Prediction 1st, if they sign Berbatov
They Finished 1st
No matter that Berba didn’t have the magic impact I expected, United won the league and I just about got it right.

Boro
My Prediction I actually said “12th, pretty reliable, Boro”.
They finished 19th
After three consecutive 12th’s who would have thought Boro would crash and burn this season? Not me. It has all gone wrong for Southgate though, and they just didn’t look good enough this season at any point.

Newcastle
My Prediction “One place up from Boro”
They Finished well one place up from Boro. But 18th, not 11th.
Newcastle’s story has been the one of the season, its been crazy of course. As I said yesterday, maybe going down can give them some time to sort themselves out.

Portsmouth
My Prediction: 8th
They finished: 14th
I didn’t forsee Harry jumping ship and the Tony Adams-era which basically left me making sad faces every time he was on Match of the Day. They’re going to need a big manager to make sure they don’t carry on falling, I fear.

Stoke
My Prediction 19th
They finished 12th
They did it with ugly football, but there is no doubt they did it, and what a brilliant achievement. And while Hull were supping champagne for finishing just one place above the drop, Stoke looked comfortable in the mid-table.

Sunderland
My Prediction 15th
They finished 16th
Another season in the same area of the table for Sunderland, who are now on the lookout for a “big name” to take over and give them a jolt up the league. I’m half expecting Gordon Strachan myself.

Spurs
My Prediction: If they can keep Berba, 5th
They Finished 8th, without him
My prediction looks like a terrible overshout now, nevermind if Harry hadn’t done the job he had. Is next year going to finally be the year that Spurs at last live up to expectations?

West Brom
My Prediction 16th
They finished 20th
So, I said they’d be the only team of the promoted bunch to stay up, and they were the only ones who went down, what can you say about that?

West Ham
My Prediction Somewhere mid-table
They finished 9th
Great season for Franco Zola who stepped into the breach after Curbs walked away over a transfer dispute. It’ll be really interesting to see if he can build on it next season.

Wigan
My Prediction 18th
They finished 11th
Another team I badly underestimated this year. Steve Bruce really is a miracle worker.