Hello guest readers (members will/should already know).

If you've come on here looking for this weeks match thread, well, we've done a moonlight flit.

We're now over here ... https://sportsbabble.proboards.com/board...field-town ... and the Port Vale thread will appear on those new boards in due course. I'm starting the draft this evening.

Thanks for taking the time to read our musings/drivel/opinions over the years and we hope you'll follow us on the new boards. We'd love a few more of you to join in too, please. There seems to be lots of you out there. We don't bite each other (much) but we don't always agree with each other either. Isn't that how it should be?

These boards won't last long so bookmark the new one while we shuffle some of the old stuff over and we get to waste a bit more of our live's entertaining/annoying each other (and some of you).

Follow the link and register on the new board if you haven't already:

https://sportsbabble.proboards.com/threa...tch-thread

Matheus Pereira was an unused sub in a Brazilian cup final, his side won one nil. Twenty three players were sent off following a mass brawl after a player collided with the losing goalkeeper.
Article on news now West Brom, apparently not a record, a fifth league match in Argentina saw all thirty six players sent off, more details in the article.
I thought the battle of Bramall Lane was bad …… lol

THE MATCH

TUESDAY 10TH MARCH KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



Another defeat as we made it 13 straight defeats and no wins in 30 games as we went down to Derby. I thought we started ok but it was Derby who took the lead when Diaz was put through the middle and he fired past the returning Charles. We responded well as Lowe crossed from the right and Yates made it 2 in 2 as he headed past the keeper. Just as though we might make it to the break level Derby re-took the lead, Clarke heading in from a cross after a corner was cleared. Onto the 2nd half and although we got into some situations we didn't really create much and Derby looked more likely to add to there tally as they spurned several chances.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and back to Hillsborough as Watford make the journey north. Despite being in 9th place, Watford seem to be a bit hit or miss when it comes to form as seen in there last 6 games, W2 D2 L2, so you aren't quite sure what Watford team turns up. They are only 6 points off the playoffs so they do have a chance but there inconsistency might stop them from joining the end of season party. They are managed by Ed Still, who took over on the 9th February after Javi Gracia left the club. There leading scorer this season is Kjerrumgaard with 9 goals and 1 assist. Watford did win the corresponding fixture last season 6-2.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 16
WATF 25
DRAW 13

CURRENT FORM

OWLS     L L L L L L                                                                

WATF W L W D L D

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

Elliot Bell
George Byrne and Shaun Hudson
Fourth Official : Andrew Kitchen

THE TEAM

Charles
Palmer Otegbayo Iorfa
Fusire Thornton Ingelsson Adaramola
McNeill J Lowe
Yates

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Yates

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

20211

BML LEAGUE

Owlkev 19
Washington 19
Imre 17
SCO 12
Maddix 9

BMPL

Stateside 18
Pei 1
Wereham -11
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Millwall v Derby
Wrexham v Hull
Wigan v Plymouth
Barrow v Bristol Rovers
Eastleigh v Brackley

HHADH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

As one defeat drifts into the past the door opens on another one on Wednesday night, somehow suspect that they will get promoted and therefore this will be our last visit to the exceedingly blue stadium near the M6.
Given the kick off is 8pm due to Sky wanting to show us again, it is good to know for a journey which is probably about 2 hrs 30 minutes thew coaches are setting off 5 and a quarter hours before kick off, many steps will be completed before kick off.

www.ccfc.co.uk/

MANAGER





Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English football manager and former midfielder who is the manager of EFL Championship club Coventry City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Chelsea's and the Premier League’s greatest ever players, Lampard holds the record of the most Premier League goals (177) by a midfielder in its history.[4][5][6][7]

A box-to-box midfielder, Lampard began his career in 1995 at West Ham United, the club where his father Frank Sr. also played. In 2001, he was signed by London rivals Chelsea for £11 million. In his thirteen years with the club, Lampard established himself as a prolific scorer from midfield, becoming the club's all-time leading goalscorer, with 211 goals in all competitions.[8][9]

At Chelsea, Lampard won three Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, four FA Cups, and two League Cups. In 2005, he was named FWA Footballer of the Year, and finished runner-up for both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year. After leaving Chelsea, Lampard played for league rivals Manchester City,[10][11] and Major League Soccer club New York City FC before retiring in 2017. He ranked highly on a number of statistics for Premier League players for ten years from 1 December 2000, including most games and most wins.[12][13][9][14]

Lampard played 106 matches and scored 29 goals for the England national team, after making his debut in 1999. He represented his country at three FIFA World Cups – in 2006, 2010 and 2014 – and in UEFA Euro 2004, where he was named in the Team of the Tournament. Lampard was voted England Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005.

Lampard is one of 11 players, and the only midfielder, to have scored 150 or more goals in the Premier League. He is fourth in the Premier League's all-time assists ranking, with 102 assists.[15][16] Lampard holds a number of additional Chelsea and Premier League records, and has won PFA Fans' Player of the Year and the FWA Tribute Award. During his career, he was named in the PFA Team of the Year three times, Premier League Player of the Month four times, Premier League Player of the Season once and finished as the Premier League's top assist provider three times, and was named in the FIFPro World XI and a MLS All-Star. After departing, Lampard was named in the Chelsea Team of the Decade as voted for by Chelsea fans,[17][18] and into the Premier League Hall of Fame.[19]

After retiring from international football, Lampard was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2015 for services to football.[20] Lampard served as a team captain on the ITV sport panel show Play to the Whistle from 2015 until 2017. He has also written a number of children's books.[21]

Lampard began his managerial career with Derby County in 2018, leading the club to the final of that season's Championship play-offs. He returned to Chelsea as head coach a year later, guiding them to fourth place and the FA Cup Final in his first season, before being dismissed in 2021. Following a one-year spell with Everton, and a brief return to Chelsea as caretaker, Lampard joined Coventry City as manager in 2024.

FORM GUIDE





POINTS RATING

COVENTRY 21 PNE 3

Can only be one result or maybe just maybe we will pull our finger out, strangely think we are better away from home although this one may disprove that

Apparently they are marking International Women's Day at this fixture!!!!

HISTORY





The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England.

The city has had three cathedrals. The first was St Mary's, a monastic building, from 1102 to 1539, of which only a few ruins remain. The second was St Michael's, a 14th-century Gothic church designated as a cathedral in 1918, which remains a ruined shell after its bombing during the Second World War, apart from its tower and spire, which rise to 284 feet (87 metres). The third, consecrated in 1962, is the new St Michael's Cathedral, built immediately adjacent to the ruins and tower of the former cathedral – together forming both a symbol of war-time destruction and barbarity, and also of peace and reconciliation[/align]

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Badger gives you 2 points

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. However, if you do predict a draw and it's a match that won't be going to a replay, you can get a possible extra point by stating which of the two teams you think will eventually win.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  


At the end of the season, the winner of group 2 and the bottom of group 1 will swap places in what is commonly known as "promotion" and "relegation". It's something that most football fans will be familiar with, unless you're a fan of Liverpool or Arsenal or one of those other fashionable clubs.

The second placed player in group 2 will then have a play off with the player who finishes second from the bottom in group 1 to decide whether they will be going up, down or staying where they are.

We're going to have two seasons in one though, just to try and make it a bit more interesting and not so long drawn out. The first season will end on the Boxing Day fixtures, with the play offs being on the dates of the Twixtmas fixtures and the NYD fixtures.

The second season will start the following week, which is usually the FA Cup 3rd round, finishing on the last game of the League One season. Then another period of relegation/promotion play off games, taking in such fixtures as the EFL play offs, FA Cup Final, UEFA finals and such like.

Each group will have it's own set of fixtures. Both groups will have the Town games, with scorers to predict as before. Then it will be a split of League One fixtures and bonus matches, hopefully around ten, eleven or twelve games per Matchday.

The random badger is restricted to three goal scorers in any of the fixtures in your group.

Here's how that will appear at the end of the fixture list. All you have to do is fill in the blanks.......


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Any of those will score two points if correct. No minus points for getting it wrong.

Postponed matches will only count if the match is re-played before the next Matchday is under way. Abandoned matches will be awarded half the points for the score at the time of abandonment, so 1 point if you have the correct result, 2 points if you have the correct score.

Substitute or scorer in one of the Town games:- These will be only be allowed if you change them before the match involved has kicked off.

Prediction League Archive: https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=12830

Division One table after Matchday 8:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 134 pts
   
2. jjamez = 129 pts
   
3. neonfoxinthebox = 122 pts
   
4. ritchiebaby = 116 pts
   
5. theo_luddite = 115 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 109 pts
   

Saturday 14th March:
League One:
Port Vale v Town
Town scorers:
Vale scorers:

Lincoln City v Stockport County (12:30)
Rotherham United v Bolton Wanderers (12:30)
Doncaster Rovers v Blackpool
Exeter City v Cardiff City
Leyton Orient v Peterborough United
Mansfield Town v Barnsley
Northampton Town v Burton Albion
Reading v Plymouth Argyle
Stevenage v AFC Wimbledon
Wigan Athletic v Bradford City
Wycombe Wanderers v Luton Town

Championship:
West Bromwich Albion v Hull City

Scottish Premiership:
Hibernian v Livingston

Sunday 15th March:
Dundee v Dundee United (14:00)

Tuesday 17th March:
League One:
Town v Lincoln
Town scorers:
Lincoln scorers:

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

1. themaclad = 156 pts
   
2. St Charles Owl = 154 pts
   
3. SHEP_HTAFC = 132 pts
   
4. Devongone = 121 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 106 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 86 pts
   

Saturday 14th March:
League Two:
Notts County v Chesterfield (12:30)

Championship:
Norwich City v Preston North End
Sheffield Wednesday v Ipswich Town

League One:
Port Vale v Town
Town scorers:
Vale scorers:

Tuesday 17th March:
Town v Lincoln
Town scorers:
Lincoln scorers:

AFC Wimbledon v Leyton Orient
Blackpool v Port Vale
Bolton Wanderers v Doncaster Rovers
Bradford City v Mansfield Town
Burton Albion v Reading
Cardiff City v Wycombe Wanderers
Luton Town v Exeter City
Peterborough United v Rotherham United
Plymouth Argyle v Stevenage
Stockport County v Northampton Town
Barnsley v Wigan Athletic (20:00)

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

For those of a certain age.

Today would have been the 70th birthday of the late great Laurie Cunningham.

Happy birthday mate, you are a legend and were fantastic to watch and I am proud to say you were a baggie. You brought many hours of pleasure at the shrine. You will never be forgotten, you have been joined by cyrille in a heavens eleven.

So the Play-Offs are to be expanded from 4 teams to 6 from next season, what do others think about it? Personally I don't think they should exist at all, it should go by the position over a season rather than a lucky goal in the Play-Offs. Earning the promotion over a season also shows consistency, so you would think shows that team may have a better chance of survival in the Prem.

However you look at it, league position is simply fairer, how can it be fair that the team who finishes 8th in the league gets promoted, based on results of a couple of games, but the team who finishes 3rd based on the results of 42 games doesn't? Seems to me its all about making, the EFL and the T.V. companies, a few more shillings, rather than fairness in the game.

Gamball:
Oxford - Charlton

Others:
Burnley - Bournemouth
Sunderland - Brighton
Birmingham - Sheff Utd
Leicester - QPR
Norwich - Preston
Stoke - Watford
WBA - Hull
Man Utd - Villa
Forest - Fulham

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league downward,
All in the Stadium of Kassam
The Baggies floundered.
"Forward the Shite Brigade!
Charge for the goal!"
In the Stadium of Kassam,
That woeful shithole.

Was there a man dismayed?
Swiftly they countered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to fracture a thigh.
In the Stadium of Kassam
The Baggies floundered.

Oxen to right of them,
Oxen to left of them,
Oxen in front of them
Volleyed and headed;
Stormed at with shot and pass,
Badly they played, alas
Weapons-grade laughing gas
Couldn't dull what we dreaded.

Now they must charge again,
To thankless Bramall Lane
There to perform like drains,
Damn how it might be played.
Make now an orison
To Cyrille and Laurie, son
For big James Morrison:
And forward the Shite Brigade!