Tigers, Dons and Shrimpers are the Football League value

Hull stands out at odds of around 28-1 as the value bet in the English Championship, which kicks off along with the other English Football League divisions this weekend.

If the ante-post betting market is any guide, the Tigers are destined for mid-table mediocrity in their third season back at English Championship level but they look every bit as likely as the favourites to challenge for the title.

Hometown hero Nicky Barmby was considered by many pundits to be unlucky to lose his job as Hull manager but one cannot say that the Tigers have skimped on his replacement, with Steve Bruce handed the task of securing promotion back to the top flight that the Humbersiders graced last in 2010.

Bruce inherited a strong Hull squad and he has taken steps to improve it since replacing Barmby two months ago, quickly identifying that goals are what the Tigers need to succeed.

In have come Sone Aluko from Rangers in Scotland and Nick Proschwitz from Paderborn in Germany, giving Hull supporters cause for optimism that their team will score many more than the 47 goals that it managed in 46 English Championship games last season, a tally that was simply not enough.

It may only take a few additional goals in the for column to catapult the Tigers from last term`s eighth place to the top of the table this season, with Hull`s defence outstanding in 2011-2012 and likely to be just as frugal in 2012-2013.

Hull conceded only 44 English Championship goals last term - champion Reading was the only side to let in fewer - so the foundations of a title challenge are there and both Aluko and Proschwitz scored regularly for their clubs last season.

The English Championship is a wide-open division - there is a reason why bookmakers are betting 8-1 the field - in which any one of a dozen teams could come out on top. Relegated from the English Premier League last term, Blackburn, Bolton and Wolverhampton should be there or thereabouts after 46 rounds, while the likes of Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton, Cardiff, Leicester, Leeds, Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest will have their supporters in the betting also.

Hull, however, is available at longer pre-season odds than any of those aforementioned sides when, objectively, it should be 14-1 or shorter and around the sixth favourite.

Dropping into English League One and English League One, South Yorkshire neighbours Sheffield United and Rotherham are all the rage at around 6-1 and 7-2 respectively.

Better value, though, look Milton Keynes Dons and Southend, who are trading at 8-1 and 16-1 respectively because of the ante-post gambles on the Blades and the Merry Millers.

The Dons have finished fifth in each of the last two English League One campaigns and, once again, their young manager, Karl Robinson, appeared to have improved their roster. They may be one of England`s least loved clubs because of how they came into existence but that means that they are not burdened with the weight of expectation that may prove the undoing of Sheffield United and several other big teams.

The Shrimpers were fourth in English League Two last season and, provided that they retain the services of Ryan Hall for the entire 2012-2013, they ought to go close to the basement title at much more appealing odds than those available about Rotherham, whose relatively large spending may not work out.

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15/08/2012     © Frixo 2024