Premiership new boys go bargain hunting

With the new season just weeks away a genuine sense of panic must overwhelm the managers of newly promoted clubs.

Tony Pulis, Phil Brown and Tony Mowbray must look on with green-eyed envy as bosses like Sir Alex Ferguson talk of one or two ‘tweaks’ to their squad as the new boys seek a radical overhaul of their playing staff.

The sad reality of football remains that if you perform well as part of a successful second tier side that wins promotion your place in the team will automatically come under threat the next season.

The gap between England’s lower leagues and the top division is so great that the majority of those who earn the club a place among the elite aren’t actually tasked with the challenge of playing at a higher level.

Reading are on of the few sides in recent years to have a successful season with largely the same squad that won promotion with a mid-table finish in 2006/7.

Steve Coppell’s charges came unstuck last year though as they failed to replace their best footballer, Steve Sidwell, and a number of players – particularly forwards Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita – suffered from a bout of ‘second season syndrome’.

And the Royals were very much the exception rather than the rule as clubs generally acknowledge that cash needs to be splashed to convert a Championship dominating side into Premier League survivors.

Roy Keane spent over £40 million last summer to create a squad capable of steering the Black Cats and this season’s newcomers will be further spurred on to fork out as they are driven by the fear of ‘doing a Derby’.

It is generally accepted that West Brom have the best chance of survival of the three promoted sides, not only did they top the Championship last year but under Mowbray they have earned a reputation for playing attractive, attacking football.

Recently though Mowbray has been focusing on his defence by recruiting young Dutch defender Gianni Zuiverloon and left back Marek Cech from Porto for a combined fee of just under £5 million.

Despite the Baggies’ free-scoring exploits of last season and the permanent captures of last season’s loan players Roman Bednar and Luke Moore, Kevin Philips’ imminent departure will be a blow and his experience up top may be missed.

Mowbray may also find his players who were dubbed ‘skilful’ in the Championship last year will find a whole new meaning to technical ability in the top flight.

Stoke and Hull fans may have been concerned by a lack of activity in the early months of the summer but there can be little doubt that Pulis and Brown were working harder than any other manager behind the scenes to line up new recruits.

The problem facing these clubs is getting big name players to sign for a club that is doomed to struggle for nine months unless it attracts these top quality top quality players.

Stoke are apparently vying with West Brom to sign Scott Carson for £4 million and, while I’m not sure the Potters have the kind of resources to be able to spend that amount of money on a keeper, it would make a great statement signing – a truly Premisership class player with international ambitions.

Pulis is very much an ‘old school’ type of manager with vast experience in the lower leagues and I’m sure he would love nothing more to prove that there is enough talent outside the Premiership to produce a side capable of staying up.

But he is also a realist and knows that clubs who defy the odds to survive have often been heavily reliant on snapping up undiscovered gems from foreign shores.

Brown has the advantage of having coached at the top level and it was his experience at Bolton under Sam Allardyce that led to the capture of French international Bernard Mendy.

The acquisition of the experienced George Boateng also looks like an astute signing but it remains to be seen whether former Barcelona star Geovanni, signed on a free from Manchester City, will prove to be a talisman or a luxury player the Tigers can ill afford.

Where Hull need new additions is up front, unless Brown is going to rely solely on 39-year-old Dean Windass for goals.

He would dearly love to resign Manchester United starlet Frazier Campbell for a year and it may prove a shrewd move for both parties.

As the opening day of August 16 approaches fans of these clubs must be getting excited about the prospect of Premier League football, but even the most confident must be feeling a little bit of fear that promotion might not be all it’s cracked up to be.