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Not much to be read into pre season friendlies TBH. As a manager you are looking at new players, either acquired or coming up through the ranks and assessing things for the next season. Results are not paramount, injuries are and when I looked into pre-season friendlies a few years ago there seemed to be little correlation to the start of the new season.<\/p>\n
What I do look for though is new transfers, which does give a clue to performances next season and momentum. This can be either in terms of appointments or the general direction of a club.<\/p>\n
Chelsea have good momentum going into next season, Man Utd less so, the jury is out on Man City. But the thing that prompted this post was my invite to Bournemouth AFC on Sunday for their match against Real Madrid.<\/p>\n
The result was entirely predictably but it wasn’t the result that was important, it was the show of confidence that Bournemouth had about them as a club.\u00a0When I went to stadium a couple of years ago it felt very much like a third or four tier club. On Sunday the place was buzzing the ground was neat and tidy, freshly manicured in all aspects, new stand in place, new plush hospitality, an influx of new fans in a nice catchment area and Ronaldo was strutting around the pitch. Bournemouth definitely feel like a club on the up and that will be worth a few goals next year. Confidence is high.<\/p>\n
But, from a results perspective, the championship is a notoriously tricky division. Looking at the odds on promotion it feels like the grand national of football, very hard to pick a clear winner. For that we will have to wait for some impetus at the start of the season. But on the relegation front you often find clubs in funding difficulties or those with a distinct lack of momentum, basically the opposite of what is happening at Bournemouth.<\/p>\n
Should be an interesting season.<\/p>\n