The new-look Cash Plus Premier League kicked off on September 30 with 12 teams dreaming of success, but only one team will wake up to the reality of being champion.

The Cash Plus Premier League, sponsored to the tune of $150m over three years, will see a new format of four rounds and an increase from 33 to 38 games for the season.

The league format that is mirrored off the 12-team Scottish League can be a bit controversial especially going into the fourth and final round.

At the end of the third round, the teams are split into two groups. The top six teams will play among themselves with the eventual champion emerging from this group.

The bottom six teams will also be placed into a separate group to play among themselves without the chance of winning the title.

If a team starts the fourth round in seventh position and in striking distance of the leaders, that team will not have a chance to win the league. A point, which the vice-chairman, of the newly-formed Premier League Clubs Association (PLCA), Carvel Stewart and the Company Secretary, Howard McIntosh, said is numerically impossible.

They argued that at the end of the third round the seventh-placed team is normally nowhere in striking distance of the leader. This they based on empirical study of the Scottish and Costa Rican Leagues that use the same format.

But football is football and we know that any thing is possible. What do you say to a team in seventh position only six points behind the leader at the end of the third round? You can’t win the league! It might not happen now or the next couple of years but it is possible.

Back to the business at hand, the premier league in its third year of league format should provide the necessary entertainment with the hope operating like a professional unit while pulling out the crowds at the various venues.

Defending champion Harbour View will again be the team to beat. The have retained most of their players and the Lenworth Hyde-coached team should go all the way.

Harbour View still possesses the most lethal strike force in Kavin Bryan and Fabian Taylor, with Gregg Taylor as backup. In midfield, the maestro Jermaine Hue, veteran Donald Stewart, Keith Kelly, Loxley Thomas, Lovell Palmer, Richard Edwards and Kameel Wolfe provide a very creative unit.

The Stars of the East backline is as solid as you can get with Christopher Harvey, Jermaine Taylor, Clifton Waugh, Robert Scarlett, Oneil Smith and the returning Ronnie Amaguana. The competent and highly-thought-of Dwayne Miller should be the main man between the sticks.

Harbour View will prove extremely hard to deny from winning back-to-back titles but it won’t be that easy, because teams will be coming all out to dethrone them.

Last season runners-up Portmore United seem to spend the best in the transfer market, bringing in national player Fabian Davis who comes with a wealth of experience. He was twice MVP of the league while winning with Arnett Gardens and Tivoli Gardens.

The towering Newton Sterling could form a formidable twin tower partnership with Onandi Lowe and proved a nightmare for opposing defenders. The young Steven Morrissey looked sharp last season and this could be the year he showcased his vast potential.

The likes of Woolry Wolfe, Marion Swaby, Kevin Deerr, Eric Veron, Shawn Sawyers, Tyrone Sawyers, Anthony Bennett, Adrian Reid, Ryan Powell, Ricardo Cousins and Anthony Modeste could go one better than last season.

Reno FC of Westmoreland might not be as successful as last season. They have not strengthened enough while losing key midfielder Mario Harrison to Waterhouse and goalkeeper Dwayne Kerr to Portmore United and might slip down the ladder this season.

Fabian Blake, Dwayne Williams, Omar Dallas, Nyron Davis, Kendrie Quarrie and Kirk Wright should give a decent account of themselves.

The Aaron Lawrence-coached boys from Westmoreland, who were champion in 1995, might have to wait another year to bring back the glory days.

Waterhouse, the 2006 champion, will want to improve on the fourth place finish and have made some astute acquisitions in national player Mario Harrison, the highly-touted Ramon Bailey, live-wire Jonathan Williams and youngster Kenardo Forbes to link up with the talented Vincent Earle, Kevin Lamey, Garfied Reid, Marco McDonald, Jomo Gordon, Damion Williams, Desmond Breakenridge, Sean Coleman, Brain Wollaston, Oneil Robinson and Andre Hickling.

Although they have lost Demar Phillips to Stoke City in England and Roberto Fletcher to Tivoli Gardens, while last season’s leading scorer Irvino English is not back in training, Waterhouse have enough firepower to reclaim the title from Harbour View and will be right there at the death.

West Kingston outfit Tivoli Gardens, last season fifth-placed team, are bubbling with confidence especially under new coach Glendon “Admiral” Bailey, who led them to their last title, is back at the helm.

Tivoli, champions in 1999 and 2004, have not strengthened significantly and will once again be found wanting when it matters most.

Veteran Steve Green is back in training early and along with Kasai Hinds, Roland Dean, Sheldon Palmer, national under-23 striker Horace Howell, Christopher Jackson, the hard-working Denroy Gordon, Oraine Simpson, Jermaine Taylor, Victor Thompson and Edsel Scott should be very competitive.

Last season’s sixth-placed team, August Town, will find the goings a lot tougher this year as the surprised element won’t work this time round.

The Calvert Fitzgerald-coached outfit finished 30 points behind the winners and could get closer. The rejuvenated Daniel Shaw, new signings Nicholas McCrea, Rollins Francis joins Devon Haughton, Nicholas Smith, Ziecko  Herrera, Richard Hoo, Tafari O’Connor, Jermaine Richards and Tremaine Stewart, will have to be consistent or they could be in trouble.

The inconsistent Arnett Gardens, barring community violence, could surprise with a top-three finish. Last season they finished in eighth position on 38 points, a whopping 36 behind Harbour View, but the gap should be closer this time around.

In fact, the Max Straw-coached team from South St Andrew is tipped to challenge for the title and show more consistency. The mercurial Walter Boyd returns to the team and can either lift the morale or dampen team spirit.

Arnett have acquired the hard-tackling Craig White from Waterhouse and along with new signee Fabian Smith is expected to solidify the backline. Walter Boyd is back while the likes of Kevin Wilson, Everton Bunsie, Cornel ChinSue, Marlon Benbow, Kwame Richardson, Marcelino Blackburn, Leon Strickland, Kouri Pickersgill, Gerald Neil, Keirald McCleod, Mario Simpson and Julian Mcleish should give a good account of themselves. But that depends so much on the volatile community.

The Andrew Price-coached Boys’ Town say they are coming to win the league, this in his third year of his three-year plan. The Red Brigade will upset a couple of the top team but the 1989 champions will find it difficult to break into the top five.

Boys’ Town, also champions in 1984 and 1986, have shore up their back line with the acquisition of Wayne Ellis from neighbours Arnett Gardens and the towering Omar Parker from Rivoli United. Veteran striker Oneil Mcdonald and the hard-working Derrick Planter join Michael Campbell, Denzil Watson, last season MVP George Vernal, Xavean Virgo, Garfield Gillespie, Kirk Porter, Peter Keyes, the talented and young Shaw McCoy, Fabian Watkins, Andre Wheeler and Troy Dawes will have their work cut out.

Seba United, Village, Sporting Central and St Georges FC show the lack of strength in the rural confederations but should provide added excitement with a few upsets here and there.

There is a feeling that most of these teams will be in the bottom group at the end of the third round without a chance of winning the league.

Seba, under new coach Theodore Whitmore, brought in Daniel Ricketts and Anthowe Dawkins might not be the biggest of signings but will add depth to a squad that includes Delroy Ellis, veteran Norman Foster, Keneil Moodie, and top marksman Wilfred Smith.

Seba, the only team from St James this season, will have to make sure a team from MoBay remains in the league and their management is insisting that this is the best crop of players they have assembled for quite a while and will be right there challenging for the title.

Village, last year’s seventh-placed team, should struggle this year as they seemed not to have strengthened their unit while most teams have and could be in for a real battle to stay alive in the league.

Newsboys' Sporting Central and St Georges FC could go straight back down unless they step up big time. Both teams have recruited players mainly from their Confederations but that might not be enough.