The Jam Tarts, or to give the team it's full name, Steven Pressley, are the favourites to finish third. It is difficult to imagine a squad containing Phil Stamp to be so thin. If Elvis leaves this building, they will fall flatter than Ainsley Harriott's souffle.
The Pars have lost Stevie Crawford and with it their only unordinary player. Brewster is so old, (he won a medal for Dundee United for God's sake) that the plastic pitch will have to be upgraded to orthopaedic for him to play well on it.
Aberdeen have done well to get Jimmy Calderwood on board, but they will need to sign Derren Brown to make anyone believe that they will make top six this time.
Kilmarnock and Hibs are in similar situations with good young strikers and wonky defences. Bakari will breeze through the season and Alan Combe will confine his aggression to the ball rather than the officials to make Killie tough opponents. Hibs may have Murdock and Smith in their defence, but they will need the rest of the A-Team to come up with a plan to stop leaking goals.
The Dundee clubs face different problems his season. The Arabs have used the money they saved making Charlie Miller's pre-mach meal to buy James Grady. Between them, Grady and Billy Dodds have gone down more times than a remand prisoner, so they will enjoy a relatively stress-free season in the top six. The Dark Blues will not have such a happy times, with Brechin's goalie and Raith Rovers's striker expected to flourish in the SPL. I mean Bobby Mann is the exciting summer signing, nuff said.
After entering adminstration, Livingston are left with the players no-one else wanted, and could be in line for a few hammerings. But even Livi's meagre crowds will eclipse the attendances poor old Caley Thistle will get. You may have thought that the SPL were desperate to get them in because they are the up-and -coming new kids on the block. NO, they wanted them in because when they play at Pittodrie in front of a couple of hundred home suportersa and face a torturous journey home after, morale will get so low so quickly that they won't muster 15 points this season, and none of the regular SPL teams will get relegated, regardless of how bad they get.
So as a Killie supporter, I can be one of the few supporters genuinely expecting an improved performance, and the UEFA place will be between us, Hearts and Dundee United.