Aston Villa

The biggest underachieving team this year. They have a good squad and for them to narrowly escape the drop, the chairman and the owner needed to act quickly and getting rid of Alex McLeish was the best move for the club. Walking into the role as manager, McLeish had to do wonders at the club or face the wrath of the fans and obviously he chose to the opposite. 37 goals in 38 games, and only winning seven games this season, well, their stats reflects the poor season that they have had. Losing captain and playmaker Petrov has not helped their cause. Major eyes on Villa this summer and who they bring in next to replace Alex McLeish and new players as well.

Player Of The Season: Stiliyan Petrov – Performed well up until he was diagnosed with acute Leukaemia, and all at BornOffside hope we see him back on the field sooner rather than later. Get well soon mate.

Petrov in action. Courtesy of Nick

QPR

Last day of the season and as we know, the Hoops stayed up. Neil Warnock is not very good at keeping teams in the league and bringing in Mark Hughes has been a good signing by Tony Fernandes. Spending a fair bit in the winter transfer window has helped the club keep its top flight status and now that the spine of the team is there, QPR and Mark Hughes need to improve and make sure they secure a mid table finish next year and avoid another season near the wrong end of the table.

Player Of The Season: Shaun Derry – Heart of the midfield and brought experience to the team.

Bolton

Relegated after 11 years in the top division, and there is no surprise there. Having lost their talisman Johan Elmander at the start of the season Coyle need to replace those goals, but they didn’t. 15 players have left the club following relegation and it looks like their wage bill will be halved. Next season is going to be an important one for Bolton in the Championship.

Player Of The Season: Chris Eagles – Direct and always a threat for the team. Shame the rest of the team could not help out up front.

Blackburn

The club has been in the news for many things this season, mainly for the mismanagement of the club and the squad as a whole from both Steve Kean and Venkys. Fans of the club and of football are scratching their heads at how Kean is still in charge. With a small run that saw them out of the drop zone, it was only a short amount of time till they returned to the relegations spots. A couple of shock wins, but tactically Blackburn have been inferior to some of the teams in the league. Important days lay ahead for the former Premier League champions.

Player Of The Season: Junior Hoillett – Young. quick, and with an eye for goal. Money they would receive for him could go a long way to either bringing the club back up or lining the pockets of the owners.

Wolves

Worst team in the league, and they have no arguement really. Even though they have scored more goals than Stoke and Aston Villa, it is their defensive record which relegated them. The signing of Roger Johnson from Birmingham didn’t fix the issue that and a return to the Championship awaits. New manager Stale Solbakken has a lot of work to do at the club to help them return back to the Premiership at the first attempt.

Player Of The Season: Steven Ward – Played every game for the club and came up with a few goals, not enough to keep the club in the league though.

Articles like this:

The Week: End of Season Review – Part One The Week: End of Season Review – Part Three The Week: End of Season Review – Part Two