I think half way, this is partly affected by a feeling that Woodsy will go, and IMO there is no one currently at the club who could replace what Woodsy gives us, he is the
water carrier/metronome of the way we play.
I think, when you look at many of the favourites, most are favoured purely because of the money they have available. When you look a bit deeper, a significant number of those are in some sort of rebuilding, with new managers/coaches, the loss of key players and expensive additions to bring in. We all know that costly, well-paid players don't necessarily make for instant success and the Championship is littered with the obituaries of managers and owners who have thought that. It's clubs like Middlesbrough, who started last season, that will be the most consistent in challenging.
This season (and as we stand now, so that may change) we have the vast majority of our very young squad with not only another year's Championship experience but a year of playing a very specific style of play. I believe that part of this approach is to give us resilience and we've recruited specifically to this.
Back to your point, this means we're not reliant on any specific player and that players and those around them in a team know exactly what their role is. Our relative performances with Woods specifically in the team or out were unchanged (and some may debate, improved).
Of course, this is based on my underlying pre-season optimism and may all fall apart in the first few games!
