The new preview

Previews are so passe, aren't they? Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker and end up reading them for nearly every sport – it's always interesting to see who's moved during the offseason; how simply by grouping together a bunch of names allows you to make sweeping judgements about a club and its fortunes. But every single site/blog/podcast/TV show runs these things always, always they say the same things: This club needs to score more; this club needs to close things down more often and readily; this manager is in trouble if the results don't come.

On reading a few profiles, it seems to me thatfor each club there's one little issue in the background, small burrs under everyone's saddle that the world has awareness of, yet doesn't want to talk about. I'm not really talking about transfers or debts, I'm talking about the little birdy that someone mentions once and it's not followed up, unstated by club, media and (maybe) fan.

So here we go, the Balanced Sports topics for discussion are below. As you can see there's no timeline, they'll get done a piece at a time and hopefully all done before kickoff in a little over a week. Nor is there any particular order, just what we feel is interesting on any given day.

Arsenal TBA
Aston Villa Can you fight off interest from clubs long-term?
Birmingham Second season syndrome.
Blackburn Newcastle v2.0 - the small club with delusions of grandeur.
Blackpool The Fate of Holloway.
Bolton TBA
Chelsea Did Chelsea change football?
Everton When will a big club poach David Moyes?
Fulham Managerial ego, the goods & bads.
Liverpool Is reputation enough to maintain quality?
Man City The Amount City Suck.
Man Utd The promise of youth?
Newcastle Which season was the fluke – 09 or 10?
Stoke How long will they get away with it?
Sunderland The spawn of Ferguson.
Tottenham 'Arry's missus and the Redknapp legal issues.
West Bromwich Albion Why do so few teams Yo-Yo?
West Ham Patriot missiles on alert.
Wigan Rugby country.
Wolves Fourth place doesn't get the bronze.