In hindsight the sacking of Neil Warnock seems the correct decision (although I’s love him to manage my club – Nottingham Forest), now they have Mark Hughes, someone who is able to take them from a potential ‘yo-yo’ team to a mid table and cup challenger team. With the old Manchester United pair of Fabio (on loan) and Park Ji-Sung joining the club, I see no reason as to why they are unable to challenge for the newly named Capital One Cup or The Budweiser FA Cup as well as cementing themselves as a Premier League team.
/>1) So my number one tip for the surprise package of the season goes to… Sunderland. The Black Cats should feel inspired by the fantastic season that their bitter north east rivals Newcastle had last season. Only a few predicted that Newcastle would finish in the top half, let alone be challenging for a Champions League spot on the last day of the season. Sunderland have several players of immense quality and have somehow kept them all so far this season.
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After seeing the miracles that Martin O’Neill worked last season, including winning the manager of the month award for December, winning 13 points from a possible 18 in his first six games at the club and guiding them to a respectable 13th considering where they were when he took over, it isn’t just the Nottingham Forest in me when I strongly agree with Niall Quinn when he said “everything is in place for Sunderland to really make a statement”. It’s easy to forget that O’Neill took Aston Villa to 6th in the league on 3 successive occasions, now look at the Villans. I predict a top seven position from Sunderland an a cup run.
This could spell a fabulous season of high quality entertainment, something all of us football fans desire. I’d love to see a different winner of the Premier League to the Manchester teams, no one would expect that. Liverpool too could deliver some unexpected results under new manager Brendan Rodgers. All this remains speculation but soon enough we’ll have a good idea of who the 2012-13 season will be kind to. But for now we can only prepare to be surprised.
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