Not in the wider interests of ILX: The Football League, Conference and beyond, 2011-12

Fuck it, I've been sat on this thread title for months, it's less than two weeks away...

http://i.thelocalpeople.co.uk/275790/Article/images/12831992/2976688.png

THEY'RE READY

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/53295000/jpg/_53295098_sheffield_rust.jpg

THEY'RE READY

http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss165/roselandlace/Wombles-4.jpg

THEY'RE READY

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/liverpoolecho/jul2011/9/4/didi-hamann-with-tony-evans-961268322.jpg

THEY'RE READY

http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00033/Raj_Persaud_33222t.jpg

HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49875000/jpg/_49875646_cko3clean.jpg

"Obviously, the question you've got to ask is, well, are you ready - you know, prepared, definitely - are you ready - and you have to be sure about this at this level - for some football? And I'd say the answer to that has to be, y'know, wait and see."

So, where do we stand?

CHAMPOHHHHHH: Leicester have signed everyone, unless they play for Watford, in which case Cardiff have signed them. Blackpool are tantalising everyone with the prospect of a Brett Ormerod-Kevin Phillips strike pairing. Using all his imaginative powers, Big Sam has signed Kevin Nolan and Bolton's Portsmouth's Matty Taylor (West Ham are going up, aren't they?). Glenn Murray made himself the most popular man in Sussex, Brighton responded by emerging as the surprise victors in the race for Craig Mackail-Smith, Palace responded by signing a gorgeous pouting Norwegian. Birmingham have shed a bunch of players, but Chris Hughton and Paul Trollope make for an intriguing management team; bit of a shame about y'know, all that other stuff. Derby didn't go anywhere for their holidays, Leeds didn't see the point with all that Twitter rubbish, Andy Thorn is evidently creating some kind of bald mafia. Peterborough got promoted, too, in case you'd forgotten.

And there's no comment required here.

As for us - signed Jack Cork and Belgian Winger, new shirt makes us look remarkably like Sunderland (like, even more than usual), and Lee Barnard isn't in prison. I think we've got every chance of going up. I also think that's true of at least, ooh, three-quarters of the division. Best league in the world? Abso-fuckin'-lutely.

Hull City are gonna ave a go imo, assuming they can offload that feckless cnut Bullard anywhere, really

LEAGUE THE FIRST: Way before Alex McLeish was getting death threats, Danny Wilson was rocking that whole 'making an entire city hate you' thing by becoming the feller in charge of dragging Sheffield United back to the not-quite-promised land. He gets to lock horns with Gary Megson, who's in charge at Wednesday, in what's set to be one of the most depressing cross-city sporting rivalries ever. Elsewhere in Yorkshire, Huddersfield have lost some players but picked up some others, and will be a very solid bet for going up. Jason Euell's been training with Charlton (haven't discovered LJ's views on Therry Racon moving to Millwall yet, have we?). Ryan Lowe has been making friends on Twitter.

Basically, though, this one looks to be a right pain to call, again, so let's just remind ourselves once more that Dale Jennings really has signed for Bayern Munich. No, we didn't dream it.

wait, what did i miss about dr raj?

bloody hard to predict the old champo this year. i know that's said every year but really though. southampton, blackpool (barry ferg, great signing) and brighton look perky but perhaps chrissy keeping the ship steady at birmingham will grind out the consistency over the season. how quickly big sam and malky can overhaul old malaises is maybe open to question, cardiff look like they could be dangerous. still don't fancy leicester but wake me up if they sign nicky maynard or someone.

peterborough look like locks for the drop. coventry too you'd have thought, but my sky blue in-law is adamant that andy thorn had them playing the best football he's seen there for a decade. then again that doesnt usually get doncaster far above the relegation zone either.

¯\(º_o)/¯

need Donny to stay competitive until we sack McCarthy in November, then we can poach O'Driscoll.

"in what's set to be one of the most depressing cross-city sporting rivalries ever"

otm

a Wednesday-ite mate of mine gets chronic depression every time he hears the word Megson.

I had completely missed Barry Ferguson signing for Blackpool, but agree he's a good signing for them.

Dunno how much of a first team squad Cardiff had out against Celtic on Wednesday night, but they looked manky. Kenny Miller might be the answer though, stranger things have happened.

no way

Yeah, I didn't think a Wolves fan would agree (and he's not known as Kenny Misser for nothing to most Celtic fans) :) He did have a stellar half-season at Rangers last year before running off to Turkey in search of a natural alternative to sunbeds more money though, but I expect that was a bit of a fluke.

i was thinking he wasn't good enough at that level before so why wd he be any better now?

LEAGUE THE SECOND: This summer, the basement division leapt straight out of the shadows to mark itself out as being at least as mental as its bigger brothers, except more so, because this summer League Two brought two of the biggest characters in the game out of retirement.

First off - Peter Ridsdale owns Plymouth! Or possibly not. Either way, Plymouth's players have had to defer wages for the eighth month in a row, and Liam Dickinson left the club one week after signing - though Anthony Elding managed to top that by agreeing to sign, then less than a day later deciding to join Grimsby instead. It's not the greatest start...

Meanwhile, Paolo di Canio's managerial career is kicking off at Swindon Town, with a clutch of signings that are intriguing to say the least - Charlton's Alan McCormack, former Sheffield Wednesday winger Etienne Esajas and Grimsby goal machine Alan Connell are all pretty big fish at this level. They're joined by a veritable fleet of obscure European players, plucked from lower divisions across the continent - including Namibian international Oliver Risser, who's been made captain. They also had Leon Knight on trial. But they didn't sign him.

Elsewhere, Cheltenham Town are bamboozled by the riches of Crawley, no-one's quite sure what's going on at Port Vale, the BBC aren't exactly raising Wimbledon fans' expectations about their new centre-back, business as usual at Crewe, and Bayo Akinfenwa's back at Northampton.

I reckon Crawley will probably bounce straight up, I'm too terrified of Andy Hessenthaler to predict anything other than success for Gillingham, and beyond that we're talking about a division that has seen Morecambe, Accy Stanley, Aldershot and Dagenham & Redbridge make the play-offs in recent years, so... fuck knows.

£8m FOR SHANE LONG?!??????!!

i was thinking he wasn't good enough at that level before so why wd he be any better now?

Dunno, wee bit more experience? I seem to remember Barry Ferguson being a flop last time he went to England, and he seems to have got good in the intervening period before his return. I do wonder though if people thinking Kenny Miller's massively improved good-on-paper scoring record of last season is pretty impressive have actually seen these goals from last season, several of which occurred in the midst of masses of fouling and jersey-pulling (and also several goals were from the penalty spot)?

Ach, good luck to him. Am glad his stupid permatanned gub won't be back up here any time soon.

Any news of David Barry "Dave" Kitson after his mammouth eight goal haul last season?

I am looking forward to a Brentford season for the first time in years. Uwe Rosler seems like he could be in the fine tradition of 'madcap foreign manager' and we've made proper signings not the usual cheap options. Shaleum Logan from City and Niall McGinn on loan from Celtic especially promising. I actually think we could go up.

is jason puncheon just one of these bizarre amdy faye dudes that the managers' union seem to get hung up on or can he actually play? i'm not sure if gorkssy (kaspars gorkss) is good enough for the prem but i wouldnt be swapping him for this guy either.

Reports suggest not just swapping Gorkss for Punch, swapping Gorkss +£500k for Punch. He looked OK for Blackpool end of last season, but he's a Championship-level player at best.

Also, Sven's decided he's the man to get Michael Johnson's career back on track.

Harry Forrester chooses Brentford over Ajax; BBC Sport factfile compiler not impressed.

While it stays up, yr opening goal of the season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjJyNVCtP-s

good game, great goal

Birmingham start as the mean to go on (hopefully)

lovely. nice Saints win now wd round the Saturday off nicely.

yeah, that looks a good game. Think I'll take in the LFC friendly vs Valencia though being as it will be the last time I can watch them this season without seething with misplaced rage as they lose.

Thought Brighton had drawn but now I see they got a last minute winner! Hurrah! Seagulls!

No Oxencart-Chamberpot for Saints?

Just seen Adam Lallana's goal, v nice indeed.

RIP Leeds.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/29599iA8CF5E91717F65AC/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1

Surprisingly, Billy Paynter has a shit finish.

Should really have gone to the pub to watch that. Bugger.

But yes, pretty much as good a start as we could ask for.

went to check the blades score on the bbc, clicked "championship", and suddenly it hit home. so sad.

anyway, lol leeds though.

Just a quick break in my life of lurking here to put in a word on the Wimbledon match today.

Shame we lost, but the atmosphere was pretty great, everyone walking from the station to the ground had a bit more jollility in their stride than usual, and that hadn't been dimmed by the time of the walk back from ground to station. No smoking in the ground was a bit of a blow, but prices at the burger vans remained the same, which was nice. Worst point was going to pick up a commemorative enamel badge from Terry's Badges, only to find out that a load of roving Bristolians had been there and bought the lot about 2 hours before kick off.

Good game, nice that we didn't just give up after going 2 down, and some of our players looked happy at this level. There are big problems in a few areas though, and these will really need to be addressed if we want to be comfortable this season. Our right back (Sam Hatton) is not really a right back and will struggle badly in League 2, but the main issue is that 2 of our midfield 3 are shite. Ricky Wellard is genuinely awful at most things footballers should be good at, and Rashid Yussuf is good going forward but provides no cover at all and his positioning is useless. Still think we'll do fine this season though, and hopefully this result will stop some fans going on about automatic promotion.

Anyway, that's enough semi-pissed rambling from me, enjoy the season!

Possibly alcohol-related prediction: our keeper, Seb Brown, will be in the Premier League within 5 years.

Oh gosh, our goals are just so nice...

Manish saying Peterborough "got rid of" Craig Mackail-Smith. Not quite the right verb, there...

some great goals today

i mean that adam chambers strike

By the sounds of things, Sean Dyche's voice is taking some time to adjust to management.

Ipswich "have gone down the route of paying decent wages", according to Claridge. Scumbags.

Hang on a minute - straight into League One? Where are the texts? WHERE IS CLEM?

CLEMMMMMMMM!!! CONGRATULATIONS WIMBLEDON, YOU HAVE MADE IT NOW!!!

(I do quite like Clem)

clem is a south donegal word for fool iirc

This just doesn't quite feel the same anymore. That Oliver Risser goal's rather good, though.

Like this. The league tables. But Manish isn't standing in front of them. I have no idea what Manish's trousers look like. It ain't right.

And Operation Allardyce gets underway... with a 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff.

Meanwhile, nice bit of context about yesterday's Brighton game.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3438/walruscuntg.jpg

Big Sam dancing to Altern-8 there.

modul8ting his module

Not really Football League, but I've just got back from Brighton/Gillingham in the Carling Cup. My first trip to the brand spanking new AMEX, and v nice it is too! Even had nice cushioned seats, good sightlines (tho I had managed to forget how bad the perspective is when you're watching from behind one of the goals). P good atmosphere, excellent acoustics, helpful stewards. Shame it was such a rotten game really. Starting to think that I'm past the stage of live football cos I prefer watching on telly tbh. Still Brighton won and a decent time was had by all. They did play Kings of Leon at h-time however which seemed a bit cruel.

For some reason, it really tickles me that Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (now assistant gaffer at Forest) has three initials on his tracksuit top.

Good god, this Forest-County tie appears to have been a minor classic.

It also involves Lee Hughes fucking up the penalty that would have put County through. Which is nice.

We got through to the second round of the League Cup for the first time in 18 years! Admittedly we weren't eligible for five of those, but nevertheless.

Meanwhile, apparently in a bid to prevent us enjoying our current Devonian pre-eminence, rumours sloshing around that Argyle are perilously close to liquidation. You have to feel for the greenies. Hopefully something will turn up.

In the away end at Barnsleh. The programme notes mentioned Steve De Ridder's surname translates as "the knight". Think this may be a recurring theme in our away trips this season.

Half time. We are grand. Barnsley are a horrible combination of being OK at retaining possession but incapable of getting it back. Really don't know how this is only 1-0.

rooting for you man

AFCW on their way to victory

Birmingham :(
AFCW :D
Hull City :D :D
Leeds :D :D :D :D :D

Brighton played 2 won 2. :D Blackpool up next I think.

Barnsley 0-1 SouthamptonFT
Birmingham 1-0 CoventryFT
Crystal Palace 2-0 BurnleyFT
Doncaster 0-1 West HamFT
Ipswich 0-1 HullFT
Leeds 0-1 MiddlesbroughFT
Leicester 0-2 ReadingFT
Millwall 2-0 Nott'm ForestFT
Portsmouth 0-1 BrightonFT
Watford 0-1 DerbyFT

This is weird

it seems like it would be particularly exciting for obsessive compulsives?

Oh man. We are so nice, but only scoring once makes things a bit hairy when you go down to 10 men. Still - Cork is a Boss, Fonte's delightful, Seaborne's rudimentary in a good way, Connolly's a hero, Guly's Guly, and Adam Lallana is the king of kings.

Uwe Rosler carried on our managers' habit of making bizarre tactical substitutions. Drawing at Bramhall Lane at half time, and he replaces our two best attacking players with a couple of weak inadequates. Then when we're 2 goals down he replaces our best remaining striker with a defensive midfielder. ;_;

If they'd done it properly, they'd have stolen an ox

The Mighty O's have banned their players from Twitter. @elliot_nuts clearly getting off dis ting no hype lol.

Elliot Omozusi
@elliot_nuts

What's he on about? Elliot's Twitter stream of consciousness reveals that the right back's thought processes revolve primarily around deciding whether or not to get out of bed and whether or not to leave the house: "I swear I'm goin bk 2 sleep"; "Up bt aint gettin outa bed 4 now"; "Y on earth am I awake"; "Any1 fancy making me breakfast dnt really wanna go cafe"; "I'm gonna stay in my house 4 as long as possible". Fans of watching paint dry will be enthralled.

Who's he following? Various women who claim to have once been in failed X Factor girl bands. Well, you've got to aim high, Elliot.

Key moment: The moment Elliot temporarily forgot his obsession with his own sleep patterns to call out an audacious challenge to the US President himself, no less, after the death of Osama Bin Laden: "Obama best show me sum pics of him wiv a hole in he's head now."

saints 3-0 up at ipswich at halftime. this league is a piece of piss innit?

Oh my.

They should just amalgamate the Championship and League 1 cos there's no discernible difference in standard. Southampton and Brighton gonna finish top 6 no probs. Hopefully.

Went with my Boro fan housemate to see them beat Barnsley tonight. Barnsley were dire and already getting heaps of abuse from the stands. They did at least score for the first time this season, and even that was an own goal. And Marvin Emnes is good now.

Nice 3-1 away win at Cardiff for the Seagulls. This Championship lark is nice.

It's all a bit interesting - while us new lot have been tearing shit up, no-one's noticed Derby have now taken 3 on the bounce as well. While Leicester have had two straight losses, including one tonight at home to Unfancied Bristol City.

Millwall at home for us this weekend. Nervous - arguably the best side we've faced so far this season, and still unbeaten.

Yeah, from merely watching the Football Lge show last season I was kinda amazed that Nigel Clough started this season still in charge at Derby tbh. Their start definitely a surprise to me.

Millwall are a good side but Saints at home will be formidable this season,
Brighton got Blackpool(who lost tonight) at home on Sat.,will be a good test of where we're at.

i'm going to the millwall game on sat, can't wait. and they let a two goal lead slip against p'boro tonight, i think we should be more than a match for them. i'm also moving to brighton soon and looking fwd to going to some games at the amex...

top of my head but how much do these early Championship results reflect the degree of change in clubs over the summer? Leicester is almost a new team and that must take time to gel, how different is this season's Southampton or Brighton or Derby first team to last season's?

saints & gulls are more or less the same iirc, derby signed about 10 in the summer with half of them playing last night. i'm not sure that clough's splashed out on super quality or anything, more that he's bemoaned for ages the mentality of squads he's had before and just switched it up wholesale for honest young lads now as the deadwood's cleared.

hmmm, leicester may be starting to click

meanwhile, ffs Megson out

C'mon Brighton, don't blow this.

Kevin Philips you past it (or apparently not) FUCK!

lol what is going on at peterborough

paul jewell's postmatch is gonna be a corker

I'm sure I've said this before, but, much as Nigel Adkins is the best manager we've had in ages - certainly since Strachan left, if not before - I can't imagine having to work with him every day.

We won 5-0 in a quite unconvincing way. Three great set pieces from lightweight showboating passenger twat Saunders, and L'orient collapsed. Not complaining. We could have the best defence in league one. Ref was useless, as ever.

Noone scores for Brighton! Hurrah! Southampton 1-0 down to Leicester. How old is Darius Vassell? Only 31 apparently, so says wikipedia.

Both Brighton's goals scored by former Exeter players (albeit one only on loan). Well done them.

We notched our first win of the season with our worst performance so far, but that's cool by me, particularly since our winner was scored by a youth team product who's 18 today! Some excitement on one of the internets when it was suggested that this was our youngest scorer since Cliff Bastin, but that's not true (sadly and happily).

schteve's hair

West Ham sign dude with awesome name

11am yesterday:

Nottingham Forest boss Steve McClaren urges board to spend

McClaren has expressed frustration at the lack of new faces at Forest
Nottingham Forest boss Steve McClaren fears promotion will be out of reach unless the club can bring in new faces before the transfer window closes.

McClaren told East Midlands Today: "We'll know the ambitions of the club in the next few days. "The club now has a choice, because nobody gets a promotion unless we keep clean sheets."

The Reds were beaten 4-1 at home by West Ham on Sunday, prompting McClaren to challenge the board to sign players before Wednesday's transfer deadline at 2300 BST.

"For two years a lot of people have been frustrated and now I understand why. To not have a long season and be challenging we need to change a few things".

McClaren's call for more signings echoes the sentiments regularly expressed by Billy Davies, his predecessor as Forest boss.

"I've more or less said this is what we need," McClaren added. "I've been patient so far - frustrated behind the scenes but patient. For two years a lot of people have been frustrated and now I understand why. To not have a long season and be challenging we need to change a few things."

11pm yesterday:

http://i.imgur.com/FHtDJ.gif

The Mighty O's go out of the Johnstone's Paints Trophy 14-13 on penalties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5UGbqs2qIE

Here's a good trick:
1. make all your season tickets £100, such that your home ends sell out for all league games.
2. nominally price your home end tickets at £25, rather than the £16-£18 you'd usually charge - doesn't matter, no-one is buying the tickets, right?
3. WRONG! Away fans are buying the tickets, and you get to sting them the £25. Usually a cap is placed on ripping off away supporters by there being a rule about equivalent pricing for equivalent seating, but well done Hartlepool in finding a way around it.

£100 a season ticket? Think you can forgive them for squeezing a few quid from away supporters at that price.

Not if you're an away supporter you can't.

well yeah but

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14871949.stm

ffwd to the end

Derby keeper sent off inside a minute for preventing a clear goalscoring opportunity. Resulting penalty scored anyway. If there's one rule-change I'd like to see implemented immediately, it's one that gives the defending side the option of putting nobody in goal for the penalty and thus ensuring that any card shown reflects the violence of the tackle rather than the spurious denial of a scoring chance. This would also ensure that the player fouled in such a case would get the goal, rather than the team's designated penalty-taker.

Crawley appear to have their own Cunt With A Bell. A cowbell, by the sounds of things.

Top of the league. Hee hee hee.

Course, still got to play most of the early pacesetters yet, but this is all going swimmingly so far.

Leyton Orient currently setting a club record for the worst start to a season in its history.

quick, call john sitton.

good times eh WBS? i liked this tidbit from the guardian too: Adkins' average of 2.2 points per game since he took over a year ago is matched only by.....Alex Ferguson.

He's got something about him, no doubt. And he'd spend several hours telling you exactly what that is. With a PowerPoint presentation. In a seminar. At a Travelodge. In Nantwich.

But yeah, love the feller to bits. If we can somehow hang on to the end of the season (which I'm terrified is the only way we hang on to Lallana)... that would just be fucking insane.

o'driscoll gets the chop

don't know what to make of that. guess even all good managers hit a wall eventually, especially one with resources as limited as so'd

http://i.imgur.com/x0wqO.png

wd love O'Driscoll at the Wolves, he's a fan apparently

i dunno what the board at Donny thinks their level is but fuck it i'd watch them in the Conference playing the way they do

well yeah i guess it's a bit like going out with a inexplicably loyal supermodel and watching the relationship go totally stale, do you cling on grimly and sink to new depths or do you go lead a happy life with a more realistic munter

(analogyLAD)

if villa had a shred of sense remaining they'd get sean in once big eck is inevitably shown the door in a month's time. won't happen of course.

forest seems a good bet.

yeah i don't think he'll struggle to find a new job. the areas of doubt are that he's knocking on a bit, and can he play the beautiful game and get results with a bigger club?

had a look at what donny boards i could find and opinion seems pretty split... couple of mentions of o'driscoll being an extremely difficult man (arrogant even) and having alienated one player too many. also some rejoicing at the end of "boring keep-ball"!

yeah well yr fan on the terrace is mostly a philistine innit? doesn't surprise me that the guy might be a bit control-freaky tho.

Second outing of the season for me today, to Proper Football Ground Turf Moor (wooden seats! Stand named after a minibus hire kingpin! One mascot for the team, one for the pie company!). Bit of a reality check for us, I think - Burnley well on top in the first half, arguably for the first hour, but we managed to hold it together and by the end we looked much more likely winners. Enough to suggest Eddie's boys are in a false position at the moment, and a reminder that promotion is a long, long way off for us.

Also, I gather Celtic dudes have opinions on Jos Hooiveld? I rather like him - very obviously a bit limited, but gets stuck in and did pretty much everything we asked of him.

Blimey, Mackail-Smith's first goal against Leeds was a bit tasty!

LEE HOLMES!!!

yeah!! truly heartwarming. i was at the game, we took the piss in the 2nd half. having quality like schneiderlin, chaplow and LEE HOLMES!!! on the bench doesn't hurt obv.

Schteve out. As is Forest's chairman. Yikes.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/55621000/jpg/_55621399_mcclaren.jpg

Also, I gather Celtic dudes have opinions on Jos Hooiveld? I rather like him - very obviously a bit limited, but gets stuck in and did pretty much everything we asked of him.

I'm beginning to develop this syndrome where you think more fondly of guys who aren't in the team any more...but nah, he's not very good, but then again neither are any of our 8000 other centre halfs really.

Jos seems a nice chap and I could probably remain quite fond of him for that alone, but his major problem was that he talked a great game then failed to deliver on it - lasting impression is that he's as slow as a week in a caravan in Ardrossan. He gives good interview though, and <3 him for tweeting a picture of himself sitting alone in William Hills in Southampton watching the football as that was the only place he could find that was showing the Atletico Madrid v Celtic game.

What did he do wrong last week, he was tweeting about being gutted about costing the game?

accrington game abandoned due to 'very serious injury' to an 18 yr old?

sounds like he might be okay hopefully

I think it's the same kid who picked the world XI of the year and got a trip to the ballon d'or last year

Broken neck according to some updates on Twitter. Horrible thing to happen, hope he's OK.

Tweet from Tranmere player Robbie Weir:

Tom bender has had the all clear but there keeping him in hospital over night... Thank god he's ok!!!

5 minutes ago

Just been told that all the rumours about tom bender breaking his neck r not true. He is fine in hospital and going for a scan now.

16 minutes ago

good

can't believe ILX was offline on the day saints went 5 points clear at the top of the champ

Thanks to a Jos Hooiveld goal!

Brentford at Notts County today. We were shit, they were shit, the ref was total shit. Rosler sent to the stands for obstructing a player trying to take a free kick. They scored a dodgy pen. Clayton Donaldson scored the goal of the fucking season despite being the worst player on the pitch. Martin Allen is a prize twat. Everybody hates Lee Hughes. All in all a great game and I look forward to seeing what Manish and Steve made of it.

How many times a day do you reckon Tony Mowbray says "I've left those days behind me" before looking off into the distance?

You ever had that thing at school when one of the older, non-sports teachers takes football and dishes out bollockings anytime someone touches the ball more than twice? That's what it feels like when Jonathan Legard does commentary.

BBC ticker is saying Sven Out at Leicester? Huh?

I mean, it's not as though they're doing amazingly, but they're still a win away from the play-offs, and the Championship is always a stupidly tight division. I'm starting to think KING POWER may not have realised this. And I'm starting to think that means things might get a bit ugly.

crazy. even more reason to hope leicester fail this season.

Jos Hooiveld has acquired the nickname Sloth, it would appear from Twitter.

I love us. We could use some better full-backs, but I've never, ever felt this good about a Saints side.

I was perilously close to thinking Chris Hughton was making Birmingham likeable and then I remembered Marlon King plays for them now.

yup, not only is this season about as much fun as i've ever had a saints fan, it's also pretty much the first time i've been optimistic about the future! my friend texted me and said the 3rd goal on sat was a carbon copy of cambiasso's against serbia in the 06 WC! haven't seen it yet.

I enjoy the football league show more than motd.wtf is wrong with me.

hoping that Hughton keeps up the Birmingham evil by signing Terry when Chelsea sack him.

Obviously boards are rarely loyal to managers and football's a dog eat dog business but Nigel Pearson, this is a dick move imo.

After 4 goals in 7 home games, Brentford score 6 against B'mouth in The Prestigious Johnstone's Paint Trophy. Sets us up nicely for a grim 1-0 Wembley defeat to Bradford I reckon.

RIP Dario G.

First Joe Paterno

[his agent while at Ajax] said that Southampton was interested in me, and I was like: "WTF! SOUTHAMPTON?!"

Andy Dorman has admitted he did not realise he was dropping two divisions after completing his loan move from Crystal Palace to Bristol Rovers.

Dorman, who becomes Paul Buckle's 19th Rovers signing, will stay with the League Two side until 2 January.

"If I'm being honest I thought they were still in League One," the midfielder, 29, told BBC Radio Bristol.

Nigel gets to the bottom of our wobbly recent form: "We're being challenged from a results point of view."

6 Birmingham 25 13 40
---
7 Derby 26 -2 40
8 Blackpool 26 8 39
9 Reading 25 7 39
10 Burnley 26 6 39
11 Leeds 26 3 39
12 Brighton 26 0 38
13 Crystal Palace 26 0 37
14 Barnsley 26 -2 36

The Championship, ladies and gentlemen.

The end is nigh for Darlo, doesn't look like they'll survive past Wednesday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/16584216.stm

http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2012/01/16/a-year-in-non-league-football-photos/

Those are so amazing.

http://i.imgur.com/HDoe0.png

Congrats to Michael Duberry scoring 2 own goals, then a legit last minute equaliser in Oxford v Hereford.

Come join me in watching Brentford get hammered live on sky in half an hour.

Great comeback by AFC Wimbledon, btw

I've now taken to following FC United and Harlow Town via twitter as that's as close to a match I get these days.

Great match this but there's no fucking way they should have pulled it back to 2-2.

WTF, news is reporting that Nottingham Forest owner Nigel Doughty has died http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2096458/Nottingham-Forest-owner-Nigel-Doughty-dies.html

That's not good

so huddersfield have sacked lee clark. they've arguably underachieved over the last couple of seasons but still, a bit of a shock. maybe he was after the leeds job?

really? thought he was doing well?

oh they've lost 3 out of last 55 league games, clearly he had to go.

Wasn't it Huddersfield who were breaking a record for the longest unbeaten run earlier in the season? Or am I getting muddled?

yeah 40 games or something i think

tbf even when they were on that crazy run there were plenty of huddersfield fans who thought he was too negative. they drew a lot of those games. this does look v strange though.

1 West Ham 30 16 57
2 Southampton 31 22 56
3 Reading 31 12 54
4 Cardiff 31 14 53
5 Blackpool 31 14 52
6 Birmingham 30 20 51
7 Hull 30 6 50
8 Middlesbrough 30 4 50

^stressful

bit less stressed after a 4-0 win including a first goal from TADANARI LEE!!

I sometimes wonder what it'd be like to spend an hour inside Nigel Adkins' head. Last night on the Football League Show, he came out with this:

"It's the consistency you aim for, and I think that if you remain consistent, and if you've been successful with being consistent, then that consistency will get you through to remain being successful."

He's still the best manager we've had in donkey's years, but if me and him are meant to be speaking the same language then one of us is doing something wrong.

he is a sage

I know footballers have a certain stereotype to live down to but still I really really wonder what his players make of Adkins.

Reading eh? 12 wins in 15 now..

haha i love this:

The Bournemouth chairman, Eddie Mitchell, has defended his club's credibility after confirming that the wife of the Russian co-owner Maxim Demin gave part of the half-time team talk during their 1-0 home defeat to MK Dons.

Mitchell – whose subsequent call to BBC's Five Live's 606 programme to explain the incident was cut off when he swore at the host, Mark Chapman, three times – said that the Demin family, who bought 50% of the club in November, had a right to intervene.

Mitchell, who told Five Live that Mrs Demin is "not very football intelligent… she can't speak a lot of English, she just wished them well", gave more details to Bournemouth's Daily Echo, insisting it did not imply any lack of confidence in their manager, Lee Bradbury.

Ha! More of this please.

it's a friday night and i'm streaming blackpool v hull. no robbie fowler in the squad for blackpool sadly.

still in negotiations apparently

He's not exactly in a position to play hardball, is he? It's not like he can threaten to go and play in the IPL after all, or go and solve Inter's current blip.

blackpool should make the playoffs without him anyway. hull otoh are toothless.

big derby today in league 2. oxford vs. swindon. swindon have won 10 in a row but losing 2-0 to oxford so far. stand up if you hate swindon, stand up if you hate swindon.

*stands up*

*cheers*

*mutters about idiots blocking view, leaves early to beat traffic*

there was a great interview with di canio on the football league show last week, with him looking miserable despite breaking the club's record for consecutive wins. they hadn't won 'in the right way' apparently.

nigel adkins: "i'll say it every single game: sun tzu, the art of war, never ever underestimate the opposition."

can't wait to get this guy on motd, he deserves the widest audience

Getting srs collywobbles about Reading - I'd reckon they'll be level by Tuesday night, their game in hand is Donny away. Then again, this is the same Donny side that's just given us a three-point cushion over West Ham, so...

reading are terrifying

(We're playing them next month... on Friday 13th. Brr)

Anyway, this week's slice of Adkins-fu:

"There's a lot of literature out there that suggests people who get beyond themselves and think in the future forget what they're supposed to be doing now"

<3

i was at the game today, we were pretty unconvincing to begin with but looked a different side after the first goal. danny fox is a class act imo. next 6 weeks are gonna be unbearable.

omg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SETjsivV3Z0

<3 Adkins so much

Six goals in fifteen minutes in Leeds-Forest tonight. Currently 3-5.

ohdeargodfivepointsclearohdeargodbreathewillbreathe

i know right? this is actually a thing now, isn't it?

(btw millwall game on sat was unbelievable. i was hugging strangers when the 2nd penalty went in.)

also that leeds forest game sounds bonkers, looking fwd to the highlights!

what about kuqi's goal at the weekend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ePVHRvlNs

yeah that were good, that

right good

I was at the game tonight - think the win was deserved. Hull are a tough nut to crack - small, young, skilful and hungry - but they couldn't quite find a way through Jose and Big Jos, who are basically titans. Jos's goal... I dunno how often it is that one centre back sets up another from what I think was open play, but Jose surged into the box, slipped it across and Jos basically toed it in from a yard out. There looked to be a blatant handball in the build-up, but Jos's celebration - standing in the net, grinning at us with his arms aloft - was plenty worth it.

Also a horrendous miss for each side - Lallana somehow screwed his shot high and wide after rounding the keeper, but that got topped by Robbie Brady somehow hoiking over an open net from maybe six yards out. The highlights will be worth a watch, put it that way.

off to the pompey game in a bit
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Nervous.gif

v. disappointed with that Hammers win last night

i hate football

oh shit i heard you go in front in the last minute and assumed it was game over :(

yeah it was fun for about 3 mins at the end there, spent most of the rest of the game sick with anxiety. its funny how similar promotion-chasing stress feels to relegation battle stress. in a way this is worse.

anyway, to cap a rubbish day i'm on the way home now and the bus driver looks like brian mcdermott

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59629000/jpg/_59629901_adkins_mcdermott_624x351_ge.jpg

stoked for the madness

high time heston's fake hoops got a stuffing

saints haven't put in a good performance on tv since the first day of the season iirc. good times!

bloody hell how long's gorkssy had that beard for?!

oof close

saints cranking it up

oh

lol, i rate danny fox but he will spray pointless hollywood passes around inside his own half. it doesn't normally end as badly as that tho..

tell him to put it in the next next time, rickie

*net

I've seen other blue & white-hooped defenders sent off for less than that. Well, one anyway.

who are these chaps "goolie" and "font" that peter beagrie speaks of

Bang

there it is

aw fuck my streams miles behind!

ok there it is

davis fluked that imo

i think 'font' really is his name btw, it just doesn't scan as well for the 'jose fonte baby' song. and everyone calls guly goolie tbh.

That was good

is that 2 shots on target now for reading? ffs.

oh ur joking

poor defending for both really

yep, and for that one too

ah well, bollocks to it. the title is theirs. surely saints can't fuck up promotion from here though, right? right guys? i think i might just hibernate till the end of the season.

jesus christ, ruthless

they've now been battered by us, brighton and west ham away from home in the last fortnight and won all 3 games. can't argue with that :(

dunno, i could still see a title win on goal difference. chances slim but not out of the question. brum and forest are capable of shock results altho most likely draws rather than the loss you need

you lot have the easiest remaining fixtures tho and no way west ham will win all theirs so promo is assured, chin up :)

plus it's not usually the trophy winners that end up doing better in the big league :/

ha, point taken. and i suppose it's hard to see us bottling it worse than big sam's mob already have. see y'all next year hopefully (in the big league, obv).

Dunno about easiest - Peterborough are the division's lord high priests of making no damn sense, especially at home (W10 D2 L9). Boro still have lots to play for, and Cov could conceivably still have a shout at staying up by the time the last day rolls round. On paper, no reason why we can't win all three, but in reality... hmm.

jfc, bye bye goal difference

Yeah, that... has not gone well for us. Apart from meaning two sides West Ham have left don't have anything to play for (Leicester and Hull, though both were basically ghost ships anyway), it means Middlesbrough are the only side left with a proper shout at breaking into the play-offs. So we now need to stuff Peterborough and hope for a big favour from... Bristol City. Oh boy.

hibernation looking more and more like the safest option

Draw and two wins. All we need. Draw and two wins. We can do it.

Oh, and big ups to Charlton. Genuinely delighted Chris Powell's turned them round.

oopsy

doncaster relegated by two goals in injury time, fucking hell

they were going down anyway but still that must have been suicidal to watch

I LOVE YOU COLE SKUSE

And fuck it, congratulations to Reading. More than deserve it.

cosign all that :)

that was fun. well, the game was about as cagey as i've ever seen but the crowd were in a frenzy and when we* scored was about as loud a roar i've ever heard. shame i couldn't join in the pitch invasion though, as we were on the only tiered part of the stadium.

*i've been seeing reading since i was a kid and my sister lives roughly where the one of the goals stood at elm park, its not like im being a complete dick

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C5M0WeAhbl8/T40eJMfEqSI/AAAAAAAAFgo/SK3vyKeD9Us/s400/13%2BQPR%2BProfit%2BLeague.jpg

champi-onays

Blimey. Who did Watford sell to get that result?

The latest Watford Association Football Club Limited's annual report and financial statements, which were released yesterday, are distorted by the £13m inter-company debt between the club and what was Watford Leisure PLC being waived, which needed to happen in order for the secured bond issue to take place last year.

This resulted in the yearly profit being £9.65m but if you take away the extraordinary £13m being waived, it made a pre-tax loss on ordinary activities of £3.35m.

Ah, thanks r|t|c.

Gah! Southampton throwing it away?

in the spirit of the thread title I'd like to highlight that ^the above sets it up delightfully for Cardiff to bottle the playoffs on the last day

meant to come and cheer for Paulo di Canio yesterday but the kids have hogged the computer all weekend

"Saturday is about what what we do. Sun Tzu - The Art of War - (never underestimate your opposition) and we've got to expect the unexpected from them

Dammit Nigel.

Good Luck to Saints for the weekend!

i'm going to the game tomorrow. keep an eye out for me on tv, i'll be the one watching through my fingers.

They'll be thousands of you!

Get In!!

:D COME ON YOU SAINTS

YESSSSSS!! CRUISING

just need a City goal now to finish this

As a part-time Brighton fan I really shouldn't be supporting Saints, but fuck Allardyce.

ooh cardiff 1-0 down

had a soft spot for Southampton since the 70s but also fuck Allardyce

How much trouble are West Ham in if they don't go up? They've spent pretty heavily.

Are they still moving into the huge Olympic stadium as well?

So looking like all 3 relegated teams will be in the play-offs.

Allardyce claimed there was a 2 year plan to get back into the Prem so it sounds like they're prepared to fail this season. long way to go yet tho.

That should do it - well done Southampton

Danny Fox and Jos Hooiveld in the Prem? Blimey.

Mowbray's useless. Boro legend and nice guy no doubt but missing the play offs is abysmal.

No idea what he's doing there, tbh.

Congrats, WBS.

Hearty congratulations to Swygart and Jabba!

Yes well done chaps. Hopefully it'll've been worth the bother.

NIGEL ADKINS HAS READ A LOT OF LITERATURE SUGGESTING LIVERPOOL WON'T WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE 2012/13

FC United 1-0 up at Chorley in the play-off semi that everyone's talking about

glory hunter

2-0! Evostik Glory beckons!

Final against Bradford Park Avenue next weekend

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/897749-neil-warnock-puts-in-star-performance-in-new-leeds-kit-launch-video#ixzz1tXbsR1LY

Neil Warnock is not Eminem.

so noone watching the playoffs? little tom ince looking a decent player.

ooh, kevin phillips puts in the back of the net 30 seconds after coming on, but he was offside.

https://p.twimg.com/AsH3q0kCQAAhFmU.jpg:large

^ Hartlepool fans on the way to Charlton today (they're the ones on the left escalator)

superb

FC United's play off final has gone into extra-time...

Nooooooooo! Bradford score in the 120th minute :-(

From Ned, Cardiff fan: "Optimistic for today, we have nothing to lose... gutted to miss this through work!"

this semi finals been a bit of a classic. noodle vague must have no nails left and brown trousers

aaaaand that's brum in administration

cheerio you cunts

west ham have already twice sonned blackpool with brutal displays of percentageball but the final still looks tasty

BBC says that's 11 straight play-off wins for Blackpool.

found it harder to hate the Bluenoses under Hughton but he's welcome to come to Molineux if they can't afford to pay him next season

he deserves better than birmingham

though as you say its impossible to hate them as much as when the ginger judas was manager

hey guys i guess i'm wit u lot now

welcome to the lost world

The Saints boss also admitted that he has been inspired not only by teams who have recently established themselves in the top flight after winning promotion from the Championship, but by Roger Bannister's feats in 1954.

Gonna wait til new season before bringing Nigel to the mainstream thread.

one year to go before adkins to liverpool becomes the talk, who's stoked

ha, i think he's already hinted that would be his dream job

west ham are screwed if they don't win on sat right? poor fat sam....doesn't bear thinking about :D

gah matty phillips has already wasted 2 great chances

sigh, 1-0 west ham. i could be out in the sunshine instead of watching this.

module delivered