Premiership Betting Preview for 2007/08 Season - Derby
4th Jul 2007, 10:14
Forbes magazine’s annual rich list of football clubs published in March of this year showed that ten of the top twenty-five most valuable football clubs in the world play in the Premiership. Their relative positions in that elite group correlate closely with success on the field, underlining the close relationship between spending power and success, the prevailing philosophy of ‘speculate to accumulate’ seems to hold true. The frenetic horse-trading of the summer months is the most important phase in the process of Premiership clubs reorganising and strengthening their squads, providing ante-post players with vital clues to next season’s competition. Keep checking the Premiership market at PinnacleSports.com to see where the smart money is going.
Rams Facing Uphill Struggle Back in Premiership
After five turbulent seasons out of the Premiership, Derby County have secured a place back in the big time, via last season’s play-offs. The Rams finished third in the Championship but battled through the end-of-season knockout competition earnng the one place in the Premiership on offer to those teams finishing in the four positions below the top-two. Having gained promotion to the Premiership last season by the same route, Watford went on to finish rock bottom, thereby dropping straight back down. On that basis PinnacleSports.com have priced Derby as rank Premiership outsiders at 401.00.
Next season won’t be County’s first experience of the Premiership, the club enjoyed a six year spell in the English first tier from 1997. They achieved a best placed 8th position before gradually sliding down the table in successive seasons, staving off relegation for a number of years before finally going down in 2002.
The consequences of demotion were far reaching, initially forcing a fire-sale of the club’s home-grown talent, but that wasn’t enough to stop the club slipping into liquidation (albeit briefly) in 2003. Five different managers have taken charge since demotion but current coach Billy Davies finally found the right formula last season. In a strange twist it seemed Davies might quit despite leading the Rams into the promised land, but he ending the speculation by signing a contract extension in June.
It was no coincidence that his decision followed the resignation of the club’s Managing Director with whom it appears there was conflict over the appointment of the selection of Davies’ assistants. He now has former Scotland coach, Craig Brown, as a football consultant opening up scouting contacts throughout European.
Derby fans would have breathed a sigh of relief once Davies’ contract issues were settled, and must hope that the latest backroom reshuffle will bring the stability the club needs to enable it to become the pre-eminent club in the East Midlands. Davies has an excellent reputation have coming close to performing a similar miracle with Preston who he took to consecutive play-offs without success from 2004-2006, before moving to Derby.
Welsh international, Robert Earnshaw, has become Derby’s biggest summer signing moving from Norwich in a £3.5million deal. Earnshaw scored 20 times last season for Norwich despite missing three months through injury. The striker has 32 international caps and 12 goals but failed to impress during a previous stint in the Premiership with West Brom.