Well, now that Keegan has got Distin, and is rumoured to be going for Anelka, I think he should be taken seriously for next year. Money to spend, and he is good at getting top players to play for him. He did it with us, he can do it again. I think now seems a good time to have a little competition to find out just where we think Man city will finish next season.

Will they be a Newcastle or will they be a Fulham - take the 1st division by storm, promise much but finish in the bottom half?

Well, I'll go first. I reckon they will finish just outside the top 6, so I'll say SEVENTH, no lower.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

Answers

AP

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

There is some rubbish in the Premiership and they play nice football. They will spend money on players this summer and should do alright. And thus were Fulham described a year ago.

I worry for MAn City. They are going to be taking on a huge wage bill witht he likes of Schmeicel, Distin and even more so if they are seriously interested in Anelka. The possible pay back won't happen until the second year and European football. We showed last year that you need to be very good to even finish fourth. City just won't have the squad depth to do well. I'll go for 13th

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

I think they'll do OK - say 11th.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

I see the doing a Bolton, with form disappearing after a bright start. 16th - just avoiding the drop.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

If they sign a decent striker 11th if they don't then 14th. The aim of the game in the PL is getting goals and they have strikers who have failed before in the PL- Goater, Huckerby. They will struggle without further investment in a striker

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

Man U, Arsenal, NUFC, Leeds, Liverpool, Chelsea will all finish above them (no order implied). They will be in the next group of teams vying for 7th-12th... Spurs, Villa etc.

8th

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

who make up the bottom group this year then, or is it the one which starts at 7th ??

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

I think he's have them whipped right up....they lose a few badly but they'll win more, I see them finishing inside the top 10 comfortably.....

It's a bit harsh to say Goater failed in the premiership isn't it? I thought he was injured for most of the season and only came back for the last 4-5 games when they were already down?

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

Right, then, I'll rock the boat and say third.

ML³

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

Behind Mags and Smogs???

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

I would venture a very early (and therefore highly unpredictable) top six of Man Utd, Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Blackburn and a bottom six of Middlesbrough, Everton, Sunderland, WBA, Southampton, Bolton.

ML³

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

No Birmingham in the bottom six ML3. Surely they must be relegation fodder?

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

10th. Ish. Thing is, there`s every chance that this season will be the same as last in that there will be virtually nothing separating 7th and 14th. City will be in that group I reckon.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

Man City in the top six? No - 8th is more realistic although they could have a storming start and I fully expect them to.

As stated last week on this forum, by me and someone else (who?) KK is rapidly running out of brownie points with me, using up all the goodwill I had for him by nicking our players, telling us City is a better place to be than NUFC and basically doing his usual, spend, spend, spend. I don't want them to do well - if you think Man U supporters are arrogant, live among the City faithful for a while.

The EPL today is a lot tougher than when we were first promoted. I think City will start well but ultimately fall behind. KK will demand more and more cash from his board and then.............well lets see shall we.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

Yeah swap Birmingham in for Soton and that's your bottom six.

Sunderland won the First division by more than City did, Philips had a great season, and still they only finished 7th. Why will City do better ?

Everyone has the same oportunity to improve their side. So Man U could go and buy another RVN or Veron for £30m to give them a good centre half. Arsenal could do the same. Liverpool could buy a winger or two. We could eventually find a centre half, and cover for Shearer. We can also hope that Robert settles in, that the youthful exhuberance of Bellamy, Dyer, Hughes, Jenas becomes mature consistency.

City on the other hand could probably do with buying 7 or 8 players. WBA and Birmingham are on a hiding to nothing. Sunderland/Boro/Bolton need to be "lucky" in the transfer market inthe way we were last year. Everton will do better as the manager seems to be well organised.

Fulham could do better as their fleet of foriegners settle in.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

What odds can I get for 8th? I'll happily put a tenner on them for 8th.

Inconsistency, some great wins and some ridiculous losses. typically Keeganesque.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

I'd reckon anywhere between 7th and 11th. If pushed, I'll guess at ninth.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

I reckon City will finish in the bottom 7. What keegan did for Newcastle was an abberation. I don't think the premiership will be so forgiving as some of the first division teams were. City got pushed to the end by a wolves team that looked very pedestrian. Fulham were better than city when they came up. I think the key to our success was the fact that we had Watson, clark, beardsley, elliott who were all local lads. Can city say the same, they are purchasing some high profile prima donnas that won't take kindly to being second fiddle. Football is a team game, Anelka is anything but a team player.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

15th

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2002

City got 1 point out of 6 against the worst team in Div One last year - Stockport. They ain't that good. Bottom half. The opening half a dozen games on their fixutre list will be vital - if it's WBA, Birmingham, Bolton, etc they might build a bit of confidence. If it's proper teams - they won't!

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2002

14th

The league is too good for them to finish top 6, even teams like Villa, Spurs, West Ham, Charlton etc are a class above them to be honest.

Their defence is very poor and even with Distin it won't really help.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2002

7th. Based on the possibility that they could finish 7th.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2002