Sometimes a newspaper’s readers can benefit from having a forgiving arm laid upon their sunken shoulders but, in some extreme cases, when readers have truly embarrassed themselves, they have to be confronted with the brutal truth. This time last year, when we looked back at your predictions for the 2013-14 Premier League season and saw our awful they were, we realised that no amount of mollycoddling would help you improve: you needed to hear it straight.
You had become complacent and needed to be shaken from your malaise, so you were admonished accordingly. We asked for expressions of guilt, regret, embarrassment and remorse in the comments section and, while very few of you saw fit to admit the error of your ways, you clearly digested the criticism and vowed to respond in the best way possible: by answering more questions right this year.
Sure, when the polls were published, you predicted that Daniel Sturridge would win the Golden Boot and that West Brom and Leicester City would be relegated, but your answers were much-improved and generally sound. You foresaw that Chelsea would be champions, you knew Burnley would struggle and you were right to anticipate great seasons for Alexis Sánchez, Cesc Fábregas and Diego Costa at their new clubs. Congratulations readers; you have redeemed yourselves.
Guardian readers’ predictions for the 2014-15 season
Who will win the Premier League?
Chelsea 30%
Arsenal 20%
Liverpool 13%
Manchester City 13%
Manchester United 9%
Which clubs will be relegated?
Burnley 77%
West Brom 48%
Leicester 37%
Aston Villa 33%
QPR 23%
Who will be the first manager sacked?
Paul Lambert 25%
Sam Allardyce 19%
Alan Irvine 17%
Alan Pardew 9%
Garry Monk 8%
Who will be the top goalscorer?
Daniel Sturridge 25%
Diego Costa 21%
Sergio Agüero 14%
Wayne Rooney 11%
Robin van Persie 10%
Who will be the best signing of the summer?
Alexis Sánchez 28%
Cesc Fábregas 16%
Diego Costa 15%
Dejan Lovren 9%
Romelu Lukaku 6%
Guardian writers’ predictions for the season
As ever, the writers’ predictions were a bit hit and miss. The top four were predicted in the right order, Burnley’s struggles were largely foreseen and Dominic Fifield anticipated that Eden Hazard would win the player of the season award. However, not all of our predictions came to pass – Aaron Ramsey and Robin van Persie were nowhere near the player of the season award, Willy Caballero did not become the signing of the summer and few of us could argue that Rolando Aarons developed into the young player of the season – so we can’t be too smug. Here is a full naming and shaming:
Premier League winners
Paul Doyle: Manchester City
Dominic Fifield: Chelsea
Andy Hunter: Manchester City
Jamie Jackson: Chelsea
Stuart James: Manchester City
Barney Ronay: Chelsea
Jacob Steinberg: Manchester City
Daniel Taylor: Manchester City
Louise Taylor: Liverpool
Paul Wilson: Chelsea
Relegated clubs
Paul Doyle: Aston Villa, Burnley, Leicester
Dominic Fifield: Burnley, Leicester, Southampton
Andy Hunter: Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, Burnley
Jamie Jackson: Southampton, Leicester City, Burnley
Stuart James: Leicester, Burnley, Southampton
Barney Ronay: QPR, Leicester, West Brom
Jacob Steinberg: West Brom, Aston Villa, Burnley
Daniel Taylor: Crystal Palace, West Brom, Burnley
Louise Taylor: QPR, Leicester, West Brom
Paul Wilson: Crystal Palace, QPR, Burnley
Player of the season
Paul Doyle: Aaron Ramsey
Dominic Fifield: Eden Hazard
Andy Hunter: Nemanja Matic
Jamie Jackson: Cesc Fábregas
Stuart James: Aaron Ramsey
Barney Ronay: Raheem Sterling
Jacob Steinberg: Aaron Ramsey
Daniel Taylor: Robin van Persie
Louise Taylor: Robin van Persie
Paul Wilson: Cesc Fábregas
Signing of the summer
Paul Doyle: Muhamed Besic
Dominic Fifield: Gylfi Sigurdsson
Andy Hunter: Enner Valencia
Jamie Jackson: Willy Caballero
Stuart James: Ander Herrera
Barney Ronay: Emre Can
Jacob Steinberg: Bojan Krkic
Daniel Taylor: Diego Costa
Louise Taylor: Jack Rodwell
Paul Wilson: Jordi Gómez
Young player of the season
Paul Doyle: Bojan Krkic
Dominic Fifield: John Stones
Andy Hunter: Raheem Sterling
Jamie Jackson: Luke Shaw
Stuart James: Bojan Krkic
Barney Ronay: James Wilson
Jacob Steinberg: James Wilson
Daniel Taylor: John Stones
Louise Taylor: Rolando Aarons
Paul Wilson: John Stones
Guardian writers’ predicted table
1) Chelsea
2) Manchester City
3) Arsenal
4) Manchester United
5) Liverpool
6) Tottenham Hotspur
7) Everton
8) Stoke City
9) Newcastle United
10) Swansea City
11) West Ham United
12) Sunderland
13) Crystal Palace
14) Hull City
15) Southampton
16) Aston Villa
17) Leicester City
18) QPR
19) West Brom
20) Burnley
