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So thank God or who ever arranges the fixtures that I have less than a month to wait before the real pros lace their boots and get back to the business of kicking the crap out of each other and giving us what we really want, goals, beefy tackles, passionate fans (Crystal palace not included) and managers who are prepared to slag their players off when they play shit. Here’s my thoughts on the coming season for the top tier. Of the football league.

With the parachute payments now scrapped (can someone confirm this) you might expect the three teams relegated from the preiership to be weaker this year than on previous ocassions. I don’t subsribe to this theory and think Brum and WB will be there or there abouts at the end of the season . 6/1 on both looks like a good solid E/W bet. Sunderland however might have a few teething problems with Nial Quinn at the helm and I expect them to be slow out of the blocks this year, perhaps making a good run for the play offs later in the season and would therefore leave them well alone at 12/1. As for the best of the rest it really is an open house this year. Leeds should be strong at home again this year but their inability to kill teams off will again impede their progress and I wouldn’t touch then with a barge pole at 10/1. CP ,PNE (soon to be re-named boring scrouges) and Wolves will all be up there taking points off each other all season long but priced between 10 and 14/1 none of these represent value as none will win the title with a new manager. George Burley nearly always gets it right and Southampton with Nathan Dyer and Bradley Wright Phillips scaring the shit out of static defence look tasty at 12/1. As for a couple of outsiders, Cov looked strong towards the end of the last campaign and I might take a punt on them at 22/1 E/W. Shef Wed will not be fighting off relegation this year and if they get things together early they might be the surprise package this season. At 66/1 they represent a good bet for the brave.

So of course this is all well and good on a long term basis but what we all really want to do is take all this ‘which game were you watchin’ info and turn it into hard euros, to be exchanged in any whorehouse accross the channel by the end of August. So here are my main tips for this season. Take note, but don’t moan if it all goes tits-up as we all know football gambling’s a mugs game.

1. Home advantage. In the championship this doesn’t have the reasonance that it has in the Premiership. Play off teams regually get turned over at home by weaker teams and mid table teams often drop points to complete rubbish. There’s lots of value to be had in the championship and I often take teams playing away at 3’s with a second bet on the draw, most usually 11/5. Avoid the front runners (Reading last year). Simply no value out there.

2. Coventry at home to win early season. Didn’t check at the end of the season but Cov appeared to win 8 or 9 on the trot at home. My visit there last season ended in a 1-0 defeat and they looked strong in their new home.

3. Colchester, Southend and Barnsley to start strong. Play off teams always get points in the first 4/5 games of the season. Don’t know why (as promoted teams are often long ball merchants) but it happens every year.

So there you have it. A recipe for disaster. Hope you get something out of it. Finally you ask who’s your tip for the premiership title and champions league places this season?. Well us lower league followers can only say what we say every year, we don’t give a f**k. I am off to fing out what piety is. Enjoy the season.