We are now in the bottom 3

Morecambe have reappointed Jim Bentley as manager until the end of the season, only days after parting company with former boss Ashvir Singh Johal.

Johal departed the club on Friday having steered the club to just five wins from 28 National League games.

Bentley managed the club between 2011 and 2019 and returns to the Mazuma Stadium with the Shrimps in 23rd, and in danger of being relegated from the National League.

Having resigned as Morecambe boss in October 2019, Bentley went on to manage AFC Fylde and Rochdale but had not managed since March 2025 after being sacked by Southport.

Speaking after his appointment, Bentley said:, external "When I was asked to come back as manager, I was excited. They've asked me to come back here and I'm more than happy to do that."

"I've had a couple of calls about other roles, and I didn't feel it," he added.

The club paid tribute to Bentley's "extensive managerial experience" and said his "familiarity with the club, its people, and the local area allows him to step into the role with immediate focus as the squad prepares for the remainder of the season."

Bentley's first job will be to reinvigorate a Shrimps side which has only won twice, in all competitions, since the beginning of December.

Blackburn Rovers have sacked boss Valerien Ismael after a run of eight league games without a win left the club in the relegation places in the Championship.

The 50-year-old was appointed as head coach in February 2025 and replaced John Eustace, who left Ewood Park to take over at Derby County.

Ismael steered Blackburn to a seventh-placed finish last term, narrowly missing out on a play-off place by two points. However, they have struggled this term.

Rovers have managed just seven wins in the league all season and have won just once in their past 15 games in all competitions.

The club issued a statement confirming Ismael would leave by "mutual consent" with immediate effect, with assistant coach Dean Whitehead also departing.

Former player and long-time Rovers coach Damien Johnson will take charge of the first team on a temporary basis, starting with Tuesday's visit of Sheffield Wednesday.

Johnson previously had a spell in caretaker charge in February 2024, overseeing a 3-1 win over Stoke City.

"Blackburn Rovers would like to thank Valérien and Dean for their efforts during their time at the club and wish them both the very best for the future," said the statement.

"The club will now begin the process of appointing a new head coach and will make no further comment until an appointment is confirmed."

A 1-0 defeat at home to Hull City on Saturday left Ismael's side three points from safety in the final relegation spot in 22nd and proved the final straw.

The Lancashire club have maintained Championship status ever since winning automatic promotion from League One at the first attempt in 2017-18.

Since that return, however, the club have twice registered a seventh-placed finish but have yet to make a realistic push towards promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since their relegation from the top flight in 2012.


To announce the departure of a head coach five hours before the transfer window closes is a little different, but the executives at Blackburn Rovers probably felt that they had no choice following an eighth home defeat of the season on Saturday.

When I spoke to Valerien Ismael after the defeat by Hull City, he couldn't defend that record, and he didn't particularly back himself to turn things around either, after a run of one win in 15 games in all competitions.

In a little under a year in charge, he won 11 of his 43 games. A win percentage like that is always going to be scrutinised, and rightly so.

The playing roster has undergone enormous change under his tenure. Experienced Championship stalwarts have been replaced by those with little or no experience of the level. Some have settled, while others have found it tough. This was a decision made above Ismael and one that they admitted in September was a risk.

Only Adam Forshaw and Todd Cantwell started both Ismael's first and final game in charge.

He inherited a team sixth in the Championship but ultimately failed to make the play-offs after five straight defeats in the run-in. Four wins and a draw from the final five saw them come close, but not close enough, and it never really felt that the fanbase was entirely won over.

This season, a run of four wins in five during October and November was a positive sign that things were moving in the right direction, but Ismael only tasted victory once more from that point on.

He had horrendous luck with injuries. For weeks on end it was double figures in terms of absentees; for the recent visit to Swansea, that number rose to 14.

But he remained convinced that once those injuries cleared up, the results would come. Time was against him to make that happen.

He did admit to me before Christmas that managing Rovers was the most challenging experience of his career, completely different from what he had experienced before.

Whoever comes next is a huge call. Staying in the second tier is absolutely imperative.

Group A

Zimnan 16
Minizin 14
A.A.A. 12
BaggieOne 11
BaggieVicar 9
B.B.B. 9
Stairs 8
Twerton 2

A decent week in Group A, one that didn't set any records, high or low but did see some consistent performances. None of the games produced a negative score and as its bad ball playing that causes negative scores, the balls this week performed ok. The Man Utd v Fulham game though was a heart attack for most players if they were watching it!! At half time that game was providing 19 points across the group but when Fulham equalized in injury time that total dropped to a devastating -2 points!!! But then up popped the MU winner and the points total going back up to a very health 16 points!!

Of course with this being a Baggies dominated Group, the Wolves home defeat produced the most points, no way Baggies fans are predicting a Dingles win but with their season so far it was certainly the head making that decision anyway!! But the typical Baggies heart seemed to take over the decision making for the Gamball, which only produced 2 points with six out of the 8 players predicting a Baggies win!! Just a shame Zinman doesn't chose any Wednesday games as they are far to easy to predict even for me at the moment, no heart required for those games!!!

For the second time this season our consistent wooden spoon holder put it down and grabbed a sharp knife instead and this saw Zinman finish top with 16 points!! He scored on all his balls and added a CS to the list as well, one of only 6 this week. His smaller version, Minizin came in second with 14 points, he and Zin were the only ones to score points on the Gamball so no surprise they top the table this week. The inform AAA is 3rd with 12 points, he scored on 5 games and like 5 others managed a CR on the Bonus.

BaggieOne, BaggieVicar and BBB were only separated by 2 points. They all scored on 5 games, all got the Gamball wrong but all picked up a CR on the Bonus. The 2 extra points for B1 came from him having the only CS amongst them. Stairs patchy form see him just a point back in 7th place, he was one of the 2 players to miss on the Bonus.

The other player to miss on his Bonus was Twerton, a man whose form has really deserted him and sees him with a grand total of zero points over the past 3 weeks!!!

247 Minizin
229 Stairs
226 A.A.A.
211 BaggieOne
209 BaggieVicar
195 B.B.B.
194 Zinman
173 Twerton

Only one positional change this week, BaggieVicar drops to 5th having been joint 4th last week. Minizin stretched his lead a little and Stairs stays in 2nd spot but for how long?? AAA is now just 3 points behind him and over the last 10 weeks that gap has shrunk by 34 points between them!! Bit of a gap down to One and Vicar with BBB and Zinman now locked in a battle for 6th place. Twerton is now rock bottom and like above, Zinman has outscored him by 30 points over the last 10 weeks to firmly shove that wooden spoon in his hand!!

Cheers
SCO


Group B

Amelia 14
Themaclad 13
4eva 13
Snooty 12
Derby 11
Lady Jane 10
Salop 9
SCO 4

Another good week for Group B (with 1 exception!). Just 5 points separate the top 7 players and all the balls produed positive points. There was an above average number of correct result predictions but just 5 correct scores with nobody getting more than 1. Coventry's loss hurt a number of players, blowing 3 bonus balls and scoring minus 7 points.

Amelia heads the table with 14 points, her best total since week 14. She made up for a missed gamball by scoring a maximum on her bonus - her first of the season. Themalad and 4eva share second place with identical results. They had the week's high of 6 correct predictions but both played their bonus on the Coventry fixture. A point back is Snooty, failing to nail any correct scores but scoring on all his balls, the only player to do so this week.

Derby and Lady Jane both reached double figures, Derby edging a point ahead thanks to his score ball, and Salop is just a point back, matching Derby's balls and correct predictions but missing out on a correct score.

And then we have SCO, demonstrating the impact of failing to get his balls right. SCO had an identical score/results breakdown as Snooty and Salop but got his balls all wrong to leave him stranded at the foot of the table (and yes, I am milking this!)

242 4eva
218 SCO
196 Lady Jane
181 Themaclad
180 Snooty
169 Derby
168 Amelia
163 Salop

The only changes in the overall table see the separation of those who were tied last week - Themaclad edges above Snooty and Amelia leaves Salop back at the foot of the table on his own. Still a healthy gap separating the top positions with 4eva now a strong favourite to secure a place in the play-offs. SCO and Lady Jane will need to keep one eye on Group A as they try to join him.

Zin

Playoff Update

1: Minizin - 247 points
2: 4eva - 242

3: Stairs - 229
4: AAA - 226
5: SCO - 218
6: BaggieOne - 211

7: BaggieVicar - 2 points behind Playoff places
8: Lady Jane - 15
9: BBB - 16
10: Zinman - 17
10: Themaclad - 30
12: Lord Snooty - 31
13: Twerton - 38
14: Derby - 42
15: Amelia - 43
16: Salop - 48

With less than 10 weeks remaining the number of players with a possible chance of making the playoffs is shrinking!! Minizin and 4eva seem to be fighting it out for the top seed. The 4 playoff spots are still dominated by Group A but SCO has forced his way back into them. BaggieVicar is a good week on the Gamball away from them and Lady Jane, BBB and Zinman are still within a shout of that coveted and usually momentum filled 6th spot.

Below that while its certainly not impossible, it does appear that barring a serious run of form the bottom 6 players might want to start booking their vacation this summer!!!

THE MATCH

TUESDAY 3RD FEBRUARY KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



We made it 6 straight defeats and no win in 23 games as we went down by a single goal to the Welshman. It was a first half of few chances, Doyle had a shot blocked, Broadbent missed a free header from close range and Sheaf just fired over while new signing Yates fired over for us. Onto the 2nd half and Wrexham's extra quality finally shone through as Kabore was fed the ball down the right and his cross was turned in at the far post by Smith. Smith had a couple more efforts, one saved and one put wide. We then had a couple of chances as Cads had his shot save and from the resulting corner saw Lowe's shot cleared off the line. Wrexham managed to see out the rest of the game without too many worries.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and trip across the Pennines for the re-arranged fixture against Blackburn. We won here last year 1-3 with Windass scoring a wonder goal. Blackburn have made a disappointing start to the season and currently lie in 22nd place, 3 points from safety. I would expect to see Blackburn remain in the bottom half of the table and depending on how other teams fair could be sucked into the end of season relegation dogfight. They are managed by Valerian Ismael, who took over in February, previously manager of our neighbours the Dingles. There leading scorers this season are Ohashi & Gudjohson who have 7 goals each so far this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 62
BLACK 59
DRAW 40

CURRENT FORM

OWLS    L L L L L L                                                             

BLACK L D L L D L

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

DEAN WHITESTONE
Andrew Fox and Nigel Lugg
Fourth Official : Benjamin Speedie

THE TEAM

Cooper
Palmer Otegbayo Cooper
Valery Ingelsson Heskey Adaramola
McNeill Cadamarteri
Yates

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Ohashi

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Owlkev 16
Imre 16
Washington 14
SCO 11
Maddix 8

BMPL

Stateside 15
Pei 0
Wereham -11
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Hull v Watford
Portsmouth v Ipswich
Sheff Utd v Oxford
Burton v Doncaster
Bristol Rovers v Walsall

HDHHA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

Watford head coach Javi Gracia has resigned after just over three months in the job following their 2-0 defeat by Swansea City.

Gracia, who only returned for a second spell at Vicarage Road in October, called for a meeting with club owner Gino Pozzo following Saturday's loss, saying the team were in a "very difficult moment".

"We retain the belief Javi was the right man to lead the club towards its push for promotion, but Javi felt he no longer had the motivation and was not the right man to continue coaching this exciting group of young players," a club statement said., external

"We respect his decision and accept his wish to leave Vicarage Road with immediate effect."

Gracia departs with Watford in 10th place in the Championship, four points adrift of the top six and with an away trip to third placed Hull City on Tuesday.

Charlie Daniels, Dan Gosling and Adrian Mariappa are set to take over the reins for the trip to face the Tigers.

The 55-year-old Spaniard led Watford to 11th in the Premier League and an FA Cup final during his first spell in charge, but oversaw just 21 games in his second stint at the club.

He returned to Vicarage Road following the short reign of Paulo Pezzolano and enjoyed a good start, winning eight and losing just three of his first 16 matches in charge.

But results have taken a turn for the worse since the start of January and Gracia called time on his tenure after the defeat against Swansea left the Hornets without a win in four games.

Folowing that loss, Gracia stated he was unhappy with the state of the team and also hinted he was unhappy with a lack of activity in the January transfer window.

"I want to speak with the owner and to know how they feel because I'm really disappointed with the level of the team, the situation of the team and maybe the future of the team as well," Gracia had said in the aftermath of their defeat.


This has been brewing since the beginning of January when the transfer window opened. Gracia was hoping for some experienced, senior players to add to his squad. He didn't get them and his frustration has been building.

It's coincided with a run of four league games without a win which came off the back of four wins in a row at the end of December. At the same time injuries have kicked in and there have been some squad players Gracia simply didn't rate.

He's indicated that he has been let down although having been at Vicarage Road before he must have known what he was letting himself in for.

Where does this leave Watford? Where it always does - looking to find a good head coach who can work with the club and the trading model it follows.

It means fielding a lot of young, inexperienced players and hoping they will be good enough to deal with a demanding Championship.

Rumours are starting to spread the Andrew Nester could be on his way out the door after a long list of bad decisions. Though a long way from being reputable sources, there does appear to be a fair few of them, so who knows. Personally would I be super disappointed, I have to say not at all, after Lai he is the only thing which connects all the bad things and poor decisions made at the club for quite a while.

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 4:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 91 pts
   
2. neonfoxinthebox = 79 pts
   
3. ritchiebaby = 73 pts
   
4. jjamez = 72 pts
   
5. theo_luddite = 69 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 64 pts
   

Saturday February 7th:
League One:
Town v Blackpool (15:01)
Town scorers:
Blackpool scorers:

Luton Town v Bradford City (12:31)
AFC Wimbledon v Reading
Mansfield Town v Exeter City
Peterborough United v Wigan Athletic
Plymouth Argyle v Lincoln City
Stockport County v Leyton Orient
Wycombe Wanderers v Doncaster Rovers

Sunday 8th February:
Premier League:
Liverpool v Manchester City (16:30)

Tuesday 10th February:
EFL Trophy quarter finals:
Town v Doncaster (19:00)
Town scorers:
Donny scorers:

League One:
Stevenage v Barnsley

Scottish Premiership:
Hearts v Hibernian (20:00)

Championship:
Birmingham City v West Bromwich Albion (20:00)

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

1. themaclad = 82 pts
   
2. St Charles Owl = 74 pts
   
3. Devongone = 62 pts
   
4. SHEP_HTAFC = 56 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 46 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 46 pts
   

Saturday February 7th:
League One:
Town v Blackpool (15:01)
Town scorers:
Blackpool scorers:

Port Vale v Burton Albion (12:31)
Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley
Northampton Town v Stevenage
Rotherham United v Cardiff City
Wycombe Wanderers v Doncaster Rovers

Championship:
Preston North End v Portsmouth

League Two:
Bristol Rovers v Chesterfield

Sunday 8th February:
Championship:
Swansea City v Sheffield Wednesday (12:01)

Premier League:
Liverpool v Manchester City (16:30)

Tuesday 10th February:
EFL Trophy quarter finals:
Town v Doncaster (19:00)
Town scorers:
Donny scorers:

League One:
Mansfield Town v Peterborough United
Wigan Athletic v Reading

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

Gamball:
Derby - Ipswich

Others:
Bournemouth - Villa
Burnley - West Ham
Fulham - Everton
Newcastle - Brentford
Southampton - Watford
WBA - Stoke
Wrexham - Millwall
Luton - Bradford
Liverpool - Man City

Having done unto Derby last Friday what everyone else has spent the season doing unto us, Albion's last-gasp goal secured a point and (more importantly) an end to the relentless procession of humiliation on the road. But whether that achievement was a mere lucky blip or the first step in turning the corner, we're liable to find out with tomorrow's trip to the south coast to face Portsmouth.

Sadly it's unlikely to be the cakewalk our last visit proved, with Pompey having lost only one in eight, including four games unbeaten at Fratton Park and no more than one goal conceded in each of their last eight at home. That's in spite of at least seven injuries hampering their squad, with question marks over a further two players for Saturday; Albion meanwhile have now lost Karlan Grant to the treatment table, presumably placing great weight on young Iling-Junior to step up.

I don't expect a goal avalanche here, and if one occurs then it's likely to be at our expense. As at Pride Park, keeping it tight and staying in the game increases our chances of coming away with something positive; we may not be in the territory of must-win games just yet, but this certainly qualifies as Must Not Lose, and a lot is riding on Eric Ramsay's ability to deliver that objective.