On the eve of the 2006/2007 England Championship, which starts on Saturday, SPORT Today detects fluctuations in the level of all 20 clubs - related to top players, pop stars, new stadiums, old problems and everything else that could affect this level. In the first, today's part of the announcement - about ten clubs that will become stronger in the new season than in the previous one.
 | ARSENAL + 40% |  |
Tangible acquisitions: Tomasz Rosicki (Borussia, Germany).
Significant losses: Dennis Bergkamp (retired), Saul Campbell (Portsmouth), Robert Pires (Villarreal, Spain).
Place last season: 4th.
Ambition: Championship.
Words: “The daily revenue from the sale of 9,000 premium seats at Emirates Stadium will exceed the revenue from the sale of all 38,000 tickets for Highberry,” from the business plan of the new Arsenal Stadium.
Summary: The club with the largest debts in the football world (260 million in British pounds, twice as much in dollars) has already survived the most difficult. The 60,000th Emirates sparkles with metal and glass, all 42,000 season tickets were bought out for the new season, and the remaining tickets for the start match with Aston Villa were sold by prior request, even before they hit the box office. The restructuring of Arsenal’s debts promises quite promising prospects (no one will have to sell the stars, as the club management assures), and Thierry Henry is still on the team. Moreover, over the years of tightened belts, a new generation of young geniuses (Fabregas, Touré, Ebouet, van Persie, Diabi, Senderos, Clichy), who understand each other, and the same Henry, was almost telepathically formed. The most striking confirmation of the talents of the Arsenal youth - and therefore a little exaggerated, even comical - was Ericsson’s challenge to the English national team of the leader of the “Gunners” team Theo Walcott, who had not yet played a single minute as a “base” (the club was immediately represented at the 2006 World Cup 16 players). The above-mentioned growth of Arsenal by 40 points on the SPORT Today scale is far from being associated with Rosicky’s purchase, although it is a top-level player in terms of talent, and exemplary Hungarian in style. Rather, the matter is the ongoing formation of the new Arsenal generation, which in the long run may well turn out to be brighter and more gifted than the old one.
 | Chelsea + 35% | |
Tangible acquisitions: Andrey Shevchenko (Milan, Italy), Michael Ballack (Bavaria, Germany), Salomon Kalu (Feyenoord, Holland), John Obi-Mikel (Lun, Norway).
Tangible losses: Hernan Crespo (Inter, Italy), Eidur Gudjohnson (Barcelona, Spain), Damien Duff (Newcastle), Acier del Orno (Valencia, Spain), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth, rent )
Place last season: 1st.
Ambition: Championship.
Words: “Who can stop Londoners from becoming the fifth club in the history of English football to win three championships in a row? The only obvious answer is themselves. Chelsea’s obsession with the Champions League could undermine their position at home, ”Times.
Summary: Jose Mourinho begins his third season at Chelsea with a new haircut, a new tactical design (4-4-2 in the diamond configuration) and with the same goals - to win the Champions League. Funds for these purposes are traditionally not spared: the 60 millionth (in dollars) transfer of Andriy Shevchenko became a record for 29-year-old players, Obi-Mikel ($ 32 million) is one of the most expensive teenagers in the history of football, and Ballack’s personal contract ($ 250 thousand per week) more convincing than the earnings of any Henry. The defeat of Liverpool in the match for the Super Bowl convinced three things. 1) Mourinho's new hairstyle does not look at all. 2) The team has not yet fully mastered in the new composition and with the new scheme, and its game does not look yet either. 3) Both that, and another - temporarily: hair will grow back, the game will be adjusted, both processes are natural and inevitable. At the 38-match championship distance for Chelsea, there was still no one - including Liverpool - to keep up with.
 | PORTSMUT + 30% | |
Tangible acquisitions: Saul Campbell (Arsenal), David James (Manchester City), Glen Johnson (Chelsea, rental), Nwanquo Canu (West Bromwich).
Tangible Losses: Andres D 'Alessandro (Wolfsburg, Germany, End of Rental)
Place last season: 17th.
Ambition: UEFA Zone.
Words: “Alexander Gaydamak makes his money on real estate and tries to lower it to Nicolas Anelka,” - Guardian.
Summary: Following the shocking winter (8 newcomers) transfer campaign, Portsmouth had an extremely busy summer. Chelsea for the Poor, as the British newspapers certified Portsmouth, was replenished with three English national football players and was very close to acquiring the new PSV geek Jefferson Farfan. The deal fell through at the last moment, but the money remained: soon there were attempts to spend it on Nicolas Anelka or someone else like that. The only embarrassing thing is that this increasingly attractive team is still run by Harry Redknapp - a veteran coach with assertive cockney, flat jokes and a hand (for solidity) that has grown to the chin. The struggle for survival of the new Portsmouth is no longer clearly threatened. But Europe, too (until the arrival of a more adequate coach) is not shining.
 | "MANCHESTER CITY" + 30% | |
Tangible acquisitions: Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax, Holland), Andreas Isaksson (Rennes, France), Bernardo Corradi (Valencia, Spain), Osman Dabo (Lazio, Italy), Dietmar Hamann (Liverpool, in transit through Bolton), Paul Dickov (Blackburn).
Tangible losses: David James (Portsmouth), Bradley Wright-Philips (Southampton), David Sommel (Sheffield United).
Place last season: 15th.
Ambition: To get into the UEFA zone. Finally, fill the stands of the new City of Manchester Stadium.
Words: “Throughout England, it’s hard to find a more unstable team than City,” Times.
Summary: Manchester City continues to spend on strengthening the squad money that some Port could have won in the Champions League: only Chelsea and Portsmouth conducted a more convincing subscription campaign in the summer of 2006 in England. But for some reason the composition is not getting stronger: the last trophy of the “townspeople”, the League Cup, was won 30 years ago.
 | ASTON VILLA + 20% | |
Tangible acquisitions: None.
Tangible Losses: None.
Place last season: 16th.
Ambition: Unclear.
Words: “With the arrival of Martin O'Neill at Aston Villa, the intensity of seasonal season ticket sales has increased dramatically,” from a club press release.
Summary: The only club in England, without some noticeable changes in the composition, replaced everything else. The place of the retired David O'Leary was taken by the Northern Irishman Martin O'Neill, his work in the “Celtic” made him consider himself perhaps the most powerful coach in the United Kingdom. And the owner Dag Ellis, who was inhumanly tired of football and ran Villa, was more by inertia, and finally managed to sell the club to American millionaire Randy Lerner. Because something, in spite of staffing stability, in Villa will certainly change, and without fail - for the better. Because worse than last season (then the team of Baros, Berger, Mellberg and Angel barely stayed in the Premier League), there can be no.
 | WEST HEM + 20% | |
Tangible acquisitions: Carlton Cole (Chelsea), Jonathan Spectrum (Manchester United), Robert Green (Norwich), Tyrone Mirs (Preston), John Pentseel (Hapoel, Tel Aviv, Israel), Lee Boyer (Newcastle).
Tangible Losses: None.
Place last season: 9th.
Ambition: UEFA Zone.
Words: “Few predicted that West Ham would return so successfully to the Premier League, but, together with Wigan, he proved that even modest teams could succeed here with attacking football,” - Soccernet.com.
Summary: West Ham is one of the cutest projects for the new season. Alain Perdue, having revived hopes for the appearance of at least one decent personal trainer in England, rejected the City reinsurance personnel methodology with Bolton, relying on youth. In addition to the recruits Carlton Cole, Spectrum and Mirs, in the new season it is worth following the progress of Benayoun, Ashton, Harwood, Reo-Cocker and Ferdinad Jr. - otherwise you can miss a lot of interesting things.
 | LIVERPOUL + 15% | |
Tangible acquisitions: Dirk Kate (Feyenord, Holland), Craig Bellamy (Blackburn), Jairmen Pennat (Birmingham), Gabriel Paletta (Atletico Banfield, Argentina), Fabio Aurelio (Valencia, Spain), Marc Gosales (Albacete, Spain).
Tangible losses: Fernando Morientes (Valencia, Spain), Djibril Cisse (Marseille, France, rent), Jimi Traore (Charlton), Chris Kirkland (Wigan), Bruno Cheyrou (Rennes, France) .
Place last season: 3rd.
Ambition: Championship.
Words: “Hardly ever in the 16 years that have passed since the last victory of Liverpool in the championship of England, this team looked as well-equipped as it is now,” Times.
Summary: Benitez's English is already quite good, his defense (to which Paletta and Aurelio were added in the summer) is second only to Chelsea in terms of fortress, and the Spanish-made restructuring of the attack obliges us to follow Liverpool in the new season with all eyes. Whether such a massive and expensive (a total of $ 52 million has been paid for Gonzalez, Pennat, Bellammy and Keita) will allow the addition of goals to be added is not yet clear. But to add to the speed of attacks, Liverpool should now for sure.
 | TOTTENHAM + 10% | |
Tangible acquisitions: Didier Zokora (Saint-Etienne, France), Dimitar Berbatov (Bayer, Germany), Benoit Assou-Ecotto (Lance, France).
Tangible Losses: Michael Carrick (Manchester United).
Place last season: 5th.
Ambition: A place in the first four. Anything else will do - if Arsenal is lower.
Words: “We will miss Carrick. But it seems to me that he will miss me in the matches for Manchester United, ”Tottenham midfielder Edgar Davids.
Summary: In the matches of the championship of England Tottenham could not defeat Manchester United for 5 years, Arsenal - 7, Chelsea - 16, but for a long time Spurs did not have as many prerequisites for interrupting these series as this season . The Dutchman Martin Yol has built an extremely thorough, and at the same time quite spectacular team, which, moreover, will become the base club of the English team (Robinson, Jenas, Lennon, King, Routledge, Defoe). And the loss of Carrick is easily compensated by the two-core Zokora - for nothing, which costs half as much.
 | NEWcastle + 5% | |
Tangible acquisitions: Damien Duff (Chelsea).
Tangible losses: Lee Boyer (West Ham), Amdy Fay (Charlton), Alan Shearer (ended his career).
Place last season: 7th.
Ambition: “Return to the number of the best clubs in England”, - Glen Raeder, head coach.
Words: “Glen Raeder was already seventh with Watford and West Ham, and the next season he flew out of the Premier League with these clubs. Last season, he was seventh again - with Newcastle ... ”- Guardian.
Summary: Shearer's departure and Owen's non-healing injuries make the attack the most acute of Newcastle's many problems. The glee of the Newcastle fans after Damien Duff’s purchase was restrained: “Was it worth spending 5.5 million pounds on the winger, under the shelters of which Shola Ameobi opens?” It is possible, however, that Obafemy Martins will also open: negotiations on its acquisition from Inter continue.
 | SHEFFIELD UNITED + 5% | |
Tangible acquisitions: David Sommel (Manchester United), Claude Davis (Preston), Lee Tee (Everton), Rob Halsey (Leeds).
Tangible Losses: None.
Place last season: Winner of the Championship - the second English division.
Ambition: Stay in the Premier League. The supertask: to repeat last year’s exploits of the Wigan.
Words: "Expect fireworks - if not from the team, then from its over-emotional emotional trainer Neil Warnock," Times.
Summary: The triumphant return of the “blades” to the Premier League was held under the English banner. Sheffield United plays British-style, old-fashioned, untouched by continental influence - tough, assertive, fast-paced, bold and slightly dumb. Even considering the presence of several bright characters (midfielder Phil Jagielka and forward Rob Halsey), the “blades” are an amateur team. But fans of this football, of course, also have.
About 10 clubs whose shares over the summer of 2006, according to sports.ru estimates, did not grow (Manchester United, Everton, Blackburn, Bolton, Charlton, Fulham, Middlesbrough, Reading ”,“ Watford ”,“ Wigan ”), - tomorrow.