Season 2023/24 preview

In which, Guru Jelltex predicts the footballs.

Football.

Each morning, dear readers, as part of my routine, when drinking the first coffee of the day, I look at the BBC Sport's football gossip page to find out the latest stories.

None of it sinks in, and maybe 10% is based on facts.

So in order to predict the season's end, you must have an overview of what each team squad will be.

Even if you can do that, you have to judge how good the new players might be, how well they will fit in with the current squad and what difference those players who have left would also make.

Only a fool would make predictions.

And yet, here I am.

Draw your own conclusions.

In the Premier League, there seems to be just one club that has kept hold of the majority of their squad from last year, and has built upon that with players who are actually better than what they had.

Arsenal, for it is they, have made three major purchaes, including Declan Rice for £105,000,000 and nearly £40,000,000 for Timber. It is a brave and stupid man to make predictions when the Prem doesn't start for two weeks and the transfer window doesn't close until the end of the month, but still I think they will win the league, as the rest have lost players and experience. At the bottom, it could be the three promoted clubs: Burnley, Sheffield Utd and Luton, but those who came close last season: Everton, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, West Ham, and Wolves who will be looking over their shoulders to a greater or lesser extent.

Anyone who makes predictions in the Prem is mad, but to do so for the Championship is really for the insane. In some season, the difference between fighting for a play-off place or struggling against relegation can be a little as 20 points, or six wins out of 46 games. Anyone can beat anyone else, and will do. It is possible to play your way out of the league, but good teams can and will go down. A pundit I respect has suggested that Leicester are favourites to go up, which is brave as they have appointed a rookie manager and are losing between three and six of their first choice players from last season.

In the EFL, sorry, Football League, last season's performance means nothing, so being close to a play-off spot or even losing in the semi-final or final means nothing, doubly so when the effect of that crushing disappointment has to be overcome. Same with relegated teams, changing that losing mentality to a winning one, takes time. Even if you keep 100% of the squad together.

Which brings us to the question: Ian, where will Norwich finish this year? TTo which I would reply, anywhere between 24th and 1st. Probably somewhere in the top ten, but that isn't a gven. Doubly so as the Old Farm Derby is back on this year, so in Demcember when the Canaries play the Dirty Horses, it will be 5,354 days since the Horses last beat City. Ipswich came second in League 1 last year, unbeaten in the last 20 games of the season, almost chasing down chamopions, Plymouth, in the process. They have kept their squad and manager, most on new and improved contracts. Their fans just want one thing this year: to beat us. Twice if possible.

And I think they just might.

We have a manager who is OK, in David Wagner, who has got Huddersfield promoted, but after taking over last year, apart from two early away wins, oversaw a team that could have made the play-offs, but apparently wanted to find the beach instead. A good start is essential.

I have no idea.

What I can say is that the season won't end until the end of May, and then comes the 2024 European Championships, and then comes next season, so will begin 23 months of almost non-stop football. And who isn't excited by that prospect?