Karren Brady: Newcastle, Huddersfield and Brighton have started so well half of the Premier League are now fearing relegation
Benitez, Wagner and Hughton are working miracles with all promoted sides outside the Prem's bottom three
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THE form of the Premier League’s promoted clubs is putting the fear of God into at least half of the other teams.
Never have all three new boys started so impressively.
The season is a quarter of the way through and Newcastle have 14 points, Huddersfield 12 and Brighton 11.
And while these are indeed early days, the signs are that these spoils are not from quick flashes, brought about by the heightened adrenalin of joining the most competitive league in the world, but the result of well thought out tactical plans, as well as decent collective skills.
Success for them this season would have been simply avoiding relegation. The record shows that just twice in the 25-year history of the Premier League have a promoted trio all stayed up.
Usually, one goes down, although a pair have been the briefest of visitors seven times and once, in 1997, the three who did the quickest U-turn were Bolton, Barnsley and Crystal Palace.
So fighting spirit is seldom the problem: consistency is. To have that rather than the occasional thrilling win is vital.
Huddersfield’s amazing 2-1 victory against Manchester United last Saturday may yet be a perfect example.
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David — Wagner, that is — needs to beat the rest of us far more frequently than stunning Goliaths.
Wagner, Rafa Benitez and Chris Hughton must have been dreading the start of a season that could consign them to an endless battle among the maimed and dying of the division.
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So there will be smiles of satisfaction that the job is a quarter done and confidence is high after a trio of victories last weekend.
Benitez went to St James’ understanding far more clearly than his employer that the Toon are a tiger waiting to be unleashed.
Mike Ashley the gambler was initially tempted by the huge potential of the club.
But Ashley the businessman admits he has not been able to work out how to operate the intricate internal machinery that makes one up.
Rafa’s management skills are responsible for Ashley’s windfall and he now has a fair chance of transforming Newcastle into one of the few clubs with the support and profile to challenge the very best.
A guaranteed 52,000 home crowd will be a warming prospect to potential buyers with sound ideas and an even sounder wallet — only billionaires need apply.
Sugar daddies don't, not yet anyway, come into the reckoning among the Seagulls or Terriers.
Expectations must be limited to survival and one of them at least will, records suggest, slide dangerously as shakier clubs identify them as among the sides they should be capable of beating.
Little more need be said about West Ham’s deeply disappointing defeat by Brighton eight days ago.
Like all of Hughton’s teams, Brighton have a meticulously- organised defence. But this team also has a touch of ambition about it, the product of a multi-million-pound summer spending spree on a team-and-a-half of transfers and loans.
Hughton’s attitude and demeanour remind me of Gareth Southgate. Is it possible he could be the next England manager?
Terriers owner Dean Hoyle dipped his fingers into the German football pie and plucked out 46-year-old former US international Wagner from Borussia Dortmund II.
It looks to be an act of genius. Eighteen months later and anyone who thought they would be softer than Yorkshire pudding can forget gravy and think about eating their own words.
