Where will we finish and why?

I think we'll finish in the top 3 again, hopefully one of the top two. But I find it difficult to assess Norwich and the others who descended from above.

I certainly think we improved drastically over the season since SMcL came. As I mentioned elsewhere, we were really quite poor when we thrashed Forest 5-0 compared with how we finished our season. The improvement was phenomenal. A lot will depend on how our new full back performs and of course injuries.

We need O'Brien to be a good cover for CB and maybe another and we need John Eustace to stay sharp to keep our midfield up to the mark.

But, on the whole I can't see how we could be better prepared for a new season.

VC - I think he'd get away with 2nd place or a Wembley win (not that I'll be going again if we get there) but anything less than promotion will be a failure.

The last time I was certain we would be promoted we didn't win for 11 games and ended up finishing 7th.

I'm as sure of this impending promotion as I was of our impending relegation at Christmas 2007.

Think we'll get automatic. There will be a surprise team in the division, there always is.

Our weak link is Richard Keogh. I think the Wembley incident has seriously dented what confidence he had. He must be terified of making further grave errors and I fear that if he does, fans will be on his back. I think that scenario is inevitable, maybe not straight away, but before the end of the year.
Whitbread must fancy his chances. (when fit of course)

I would say automatic, all things being equal, but equal they often ain't. We need no worse than average luck with injuries as things stand. Were Keogh or Martin to be out for a significant period it would severely dent the rhythm of the team. If we strengthen in those two areas, as we should, we could withstand setbacks.

It generally takes a good squad and not just a good team to get promoted. Burnley were maybe an exception last season but they were very fortunate not to get injuries until promotion was virtually certain. If you look at Leicester's striking options last season they were far stronger than ours are now, and because of that they could play form strikers and keep them all fresh. We can't expect Martin to be our only genuine centre-forward of quality in the club and be serious about leading the division.

What im very confident about is that if we MATCH what we did last season then I think we will be autos. Leicester and Burnley's points tally was way above average for Top 2. So in simple terms I don't believe Derby have to be better...but be as good. Very capable of that with the players we have already. We haven't finished buying yet either

Anything less than the play offs is unacceptable now. But we should be aiming for the top of the tree, and there is no reason why we shouldn't be promoted next season.

Bump