Premier League

Last week I promised Blue Baggie that I would try to get the results our earlier in the week, well in typical Sheffield Wednesday fashion, I once again failed to deliver!!!  Thankfully I got the results up before the next fixtures because we have the hated international break so its not that critical hopefully!!

Blue B 18
Minizin 17
Zinman 10
Dingle 8
Derby 6
B.B.B. 4
Stairs 2
Lady J -1

Another mediocre week in the PL this week, but like previous weeks there is quite a big spread in the scores on the doors!!  At the top end we see Blue Baggie with 18 points, he seems to have found some form but it always boosts the score when you get a maximum on the Gamball as he did!!  He was able to add to this with 2 other CSs but missed on the Bonus.  Right behind him is Minizin on 17 points, another max on the Gamball and a CR on the Bonus certainly helped.  Zinman was another Gamball max recipient but unfortunately wasn't able to add much to this on his way to 10 points.

Its all a bit downhill from here though!! Dingle is next with 8 points, scored a CR on the Gamball but missed on his Bonus, Derby managed 6 points with a CR on his Bonus and BBB ended with his worst week of the season so far with 4 points after missing out on an extra 2 points by not playing his Gamball, the first person in the PL not to play it this season!!

The bottom 2 had a week to forget, Stairs wrethched form continues with just 2 points, missing all your balls will do that to your score and Lady Jane also had her worst week of the season, finishing on -1, courtesy of using the Scoreball on a 0-0 draw!!!

146 Minizin
144 Zinman
140 Derby
134 Blue Baggie
130 BBB
113 Lady Jane
113 Stairs
90 Dingle

Like last week we see 6 positional changes this week!!  Back to the top of the table is Minizin as he leap frogs Zinman, who is now in 2nd place, and last weeks leader Derby who drops to 3rd.  Blue Baggie rose one place to 4th spot by overtaking BBB who drops to 5th.  The top 5 is now separated by just 16 points and with a 19 point spread in this weeks scores alone, its still anyone's title.

There is now a 17 point gap down to LJ and Stairs in joint 6th, they need to string some weeks together to get back to the leading pack.  Dingle is still last and still struggling to get over the 100 mark, just 10 to go for him to get there!!

Cheers
SCO


Championship

Themaclad  18pts
BaggieOne  15
Snooty        13
SCO              9
AAA              6
Sanjay          4
Twerton          1

A mixed week for the Championship. Once again the bonus choices weren't the best (though SCO's selection was probably down to hope rather than expectation!) but we did have a couple of maximums from the Gamball. 2 players chose to avoid the gamball (I know, I hate playing the gamball on the Albion match, I wish the match selector wouldn't do this) and both saved a point by doing so.

Themaclad heads the table this week with his best score of the season so far. He had a complete set of positive balls, including a maximum on the gamball. BaggieOne in second place scored on more balls than Themac but lost out on the gamball - still a good week for players who had been lagging behind the pack. Snooty scored on the week's high of 7 matches but failed to turn any of them into correct scores. One of his 3 incorrect predictions also happened to be his bonus, so what could have been a great week was only enough to secure 3rd place.

SCO also scored a maximum gamball but his over-optimism regarding the Owls cost him 3 points, leaving him adrift of this week's leaders. In contrast to Snooty, AAA turned all of his correct predictions into correct scores. Sadly, also in contrast to Snooty, he only got 2 results correct to leave him with just 6 points. Sanjay's season just keeps getting worse - just 4 points means his last double figure score was back in week 3. Still, he avoided last place which once again goes to Twerton with just a single point. He capped a miserable week by losing the maximum number of points from his balls - including a 0-0 scoreball.

[b]AAA      128
Snooty      127
SCO          126
Twerton  119
BaggieOne 107
Themaclad 106
Sanjay        65/b]

AAA retains his lead - just - but it's suddenly got very interesting at the top of the table. Twerton's 2nd consecutive poor week drops him from 2nd to 4th with Snooty jumping to 2nd just 1 point off the top. A good week for Themaclad and BaggieOne sees them move above the 100 point mark and within striking distance of the top.

And then there's Sanjay, not having the best of seasons.

Zin

https://www.efl.com/

Everton have received an immediate 10-point deduction after being found to have breached the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.

The punishment is the biggest sporting sanction in the competition's history and leaves Everton 19th in the table on a new total of four points.

The club said it was "both shocked and disappointed" by the "wholly disproportionate and unjust" ruling.

Everton have said they intend to appeal against the decision.

The Premier League referred Everton to an independent commission in March but did not reveal the specifics of the club's alleged breach.

Everton posted financial losses for the fifth successive year in March after reporting a £44.7m deficit in 2021-22.

Premier League clubs are permitted to lose £105m over a three-year period and Everton admitted to being in breach of the profit and sustainability rules (PSR) for the period ending 2021-22.

Following a five-day hearing in October, the commission found in favour of the Premier League that Everton's losses during that period amounted to £124.5m.

In a statement, Everton said: "The club does not recognise the finding that it failed to act with the utmost good faith and it does not understand this to have been an allegation made by the Premier League during the course of proceedings.

"Both the harshness and severity of the sanction imposed by the commission are neither a fair nor a reasonable reflection of the evidence submitted.

"The club will also monitor with great interest the decisions made in any other cases concerning the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules."

The points deduction comes at a time of significant uncertainty at Everton. In September, owner Farhad Moshiri agreed to sell his 94% stake in the club to American investment fund 777 Partners. The takeover is going through the regulatory processes and, before this ruling, sources said it was on course to be completed by next month.

Premier League table
'Irresponsible - a position entirely of Everton's own making'
Explaining why Everton's points deduction was so high, the commission said in its written reasons that the cause of the club's issues was because of overspending - largely on new players - along with an inability to sell players, and a lower than projected league finish.

The club's 16th-place finish in 2021-22 caused a loss of expected income of around £21m, the reasons state.

The commission added: "Everton's understandable desire to improve its on-pitch performance (to replace the non-existent midfield, as Mr Moshiri put it in evidence) led it to take chances with its PSR position.

"Those chances resulted in it exceeding the £105m threshold by £19.5m.

"The position that Everton finds itself in is of its own making. The excess over the threshold is significant. The consequence is that Everton's culpability is great.

"We take into account the fact that Everton's PSR trend over the relevant four years is positive, but cannot ignore the fact that the failure to comply with the PSR regime was the result of Everton irresponsibly taking a chance that things would turn out positively."

Biggest sanction in Premier League history - but can Everton survive?
In Premier League history only two other clubs have received a points deduction.

Middlesbrough were deducted three points for failing to fulfil a fixture against Blackburn during the 1996-97 season, while in 2010 Portsmouth were deducted nine points after going into administration.

Neither club was able to avoid relegation following those sanctions.

The deduction leaves the Toffees level with bottom club Burnley on four points after 12 matches - and two points adrift of safety.

Sean Dyche's side, who ended last season two points above the relegation places, had been 14th in the standings - and eight points clear of the bottom three.

On the three previous occasions when a Premier League club has had as few as four points after 12 games, Everton in 1994-95 were the only side to stay up.

Manchester City are the only other club to have been charged by the Premier League for financial breaches, when they were referred to an independent commission over more than 100 alleged rule breaches between 2009 and 2018.

Treble winners City were charged in February - before Everton - and that case is still ongoing.

Meanwhile, Chelsea could face further scrutiny from football's authorities over reports of payments connected to the club's former owner Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea were fined £8.6m by European football governing body Uefa in July for "submitting incomplete financial information" between 2012 and 2019 as part of a settlement for breaking Financial Fair Play rules.

Oxford United have appointed Des Buckingham as their head coach.

The 38-year-old was born in Oxford and played for the U's youth sides before joining the coaching staff aged 18.

He progressed to first-team coach under Chris Wilder a decade ago before coaching overseas and leaves his role as boss of Indian side Mumbai City.

Buckingham has signed what the club describe as a "long-term contract" and replaces Liam Manning, who left to join Bristol City last week.

"There was a huge amount of interest in the role but, from the moment we met Des, he became our number one choice," chief executive Tim Williams told the club website.

"We had a very clearly defined set of criteria to ensure we found the right cultural fit for Oxford United.

"Des knows the club and city already, understands what we are trying to achieve, and we feel is the right person to build on the club's progress to date."

Saturday's 3-2 win at Leyton Orient left Oxford second in League One, one point behind leaders Portsmouth after 16 matches.

After last leaving the Kassam Stadium in 2014, Buckingham joined A-League side Wellington Phoenix as assistant manager before taking over as manager in 2017 aged 31.

A short spell coaching Stoke City's under-23 side followed in 2017 but he returned to New Zealand the following year to coach the national side's under-20s and under-23s, and act as assistant manager for the senior team.

In 2020 he was appointed assistant manager of Melbourne City, helping them land the double in his first season, before moving to another City Group club, Mumbai, in October 2021, winning the Indian Super League for the first time in February and leading the side in the Asian Champions League.

"I couldn't be happier that Des has agreed to become our new head coach," chairman Grant Ferguson added.

"His approach to coaching and developing players is a perfect match for the vision we have for the club."

A prodigal son returns home after leaving to make a name for himself in the world.

Since realising he wasn't making the grade as a player at his hometown club, he's been a teacher, an academy coach at Oxford United - who worked his way up to first team coach under Chris Wilder. He coached in New Zealand - guiding the nation's under-23 side to the Olympic Games - in Australia and then India, where he won the Super League. He's got himself a Master's degree and even a pilot's licence.

Once Liam Manning departed as head coach, Buckingham was the continuity candidate from the off. Part of the City Football Group, where Manning cut his teeth, Buckingham's work in Melbourne and Mumbai may not have provided him EFL experience, but did showcase his style of play and proved him a winner. He is also the same age as Manning.

Buckingham has never stopped caring about his hometown club. Oxford fans will have one of their own as manager. That, of course, is not a guarantee of success. It does mean they will be desperate for it to work - for him, as much as for the club in general.

Scunthorpe United have exchanged contracts with former owner Peter Swann to buy back their Glanford Park home.

Former board member Michelle Harness took over the National League North side last month after David Hilton, who bought the club from Swann in January, withdrew all funding.

There was some uncertainty over where the Iron would play their home matches before a deal was agreed with Swann.

They hope to have the deal for the ground complete by the end of November.

"As a board of directors, we are ecstatic to announce that we have exchanged contracts for the purchase of Glanford Park," the club said in a statement.

"The monumental effort from all involved, both in this process, and to keep the club running on a day-to-day basis, has not gone unnoticed, and we express our unwavering gratitude for the support which has been a driving force behind these positive outcomes."

Scunthorpe, who have suffered successive relegations in the past two seasons, are third in the sixth tier, one point off league leaders Tamworth.

Aberdeen, Scotland is the venue for these championships for both Men and Women from 18 to 25 November. Teams in the A-Division can qualify for the World Curling Championships and two teams are relegated from the A-Division each season.

The Women's teams are Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Türkiye. The Scots gained a merited Bronze Medal last year  probably exceeding expectations, due to their relative inexperience. This year they will be challenging for a medal once again, more than likely  against their main rivals Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden.

The Men's teams are Czechia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye. Defending Champions Scotland, again skipped by Bruce Mouat, will be seriously challenged by Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Scotland are represented by
WOMEN Rebecca Morrison (Skip), Jennifer Dodds (Third), Gina Aitken (Second), Sophie Jackson (Lead) and Sophie Sinclair (Alternate).
MEN Bruce Mouat (Skip), Grant Hardie (Third), Bobby Lammie (Second), Hammy McMillan (Lead) and Kyle Waddell (Alternate).

The Dewars Centre, Perth, Scotland is hosting the B Division Championships for both Men and Women from 18 to 25 November. Two teams are promoted to the A Division and two are relegated to the C Division.

The 10 Women's teams are Austria, Belgium, England, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. England should be good enough to comfortably stay in the B Division and might, just might, win a medal.
England are represented by regulars Anna Fowler (Skip), Hetty Garnier (Third), Angharad Ward (Second), Naomi Robinson (Lead) and Lisa Farnell (Alternate).

The 16 Men's teams are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and Wales. The three Home Nations should be able to stay in this Division and I'd say that Ireland would be more likely to reach the later stages.
England's team are Rob Retchless (Skip), Jotham Sugden (Third), Scott Gibson (Second), Jonathan Havercroft (Lead) and Felix Price (Alternate).
Ireland have their usual team of John Wilson (Skip), Kyle Paradis (Third), James Russell (Second), Craig Whyte (Lead) and Eoin McCrossan (Alternate).
Wales' team is James Pougher (Skip), Rhys Phillips (Third), Garry Coombs (Second), Simon Pougher and Martin Lloyd (Alternate).

Lincoln City have appointed Leeds United Under-21 boss Michael Skubala as their head coach.

Skubala led Leeds' first team for three games last season after Jesse Marsch was sacked, but this is his first managerial role in senior football.

The 41-year-old, who has worked in various coaching jobs spanning over 20 years, replaces Mark Kennedy, who left the club last month.

The Imps are ninth in League One, four points adrift of the play-offs.

Skubala's first game in charge will be away to Stevenage on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Imps chief executive Liam Scully said that results were not the reason for Kennedy leaving the club and under interim head coach Tom Shaw, Lincoln collected eight points from five games.

Before joining Leeds in the summer of 2022 Skubala had worked in a variety of roles, including as England Under-18 coach and head coach of the England futsal team.

Lincoln chairman Clive Nates described Skubala as a "progressive appointment" who matches the Imps' ethos on developing players and a style of play.

"We are confident Michael will develop our talented squad and evolve our identity in the direction set by the club, while delivering winning football," he told the club's website.

"Together our ambition is to challenge at the top of League One."

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 Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

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. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

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.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

1. St Charles Owl = 314 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 294 pts
   
3. jjamez = 273 pts
   
4. themaclad = 263 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 259 pts
   
6. theo_luddite = 252 pts
   

Saturday 25th November:
Town v Southampton
Town scorers:
Southampton scorers:
(have to insist if putting Armstrong to score, you have to say whether it's Adam or Stuart)

Tuesday 28th November:
Cardiff City v West Bromwich Albion
Coventry City v Plymouth Argyle
Hull City v Rotherham United
Middlesbrough v Preston North End
Queens Park Rangers v Stoke City
Watford v Norwich City

Wednesday 29th November:
Sunderland v Town
Town scorers:
Sunderland scorers:

Blackburn Rovers v Birmingham City
Leeds United v Swansea City
Sheffield Wednesday v Leicester City
Southampton v Bristol City
Ipswich Town v Millwall

Bonus matches:
Premier League:
Saturday:
Manchester City v Liverpool (12:30)

Monday:
Fulham v Wolverhampton Wanderers

Champions League:
Tuesday:
Paris Saint Germain v Newcastle United

Wednesday:
Galatasaray v Manchester United (17:45)



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

1. Lord Snooty = 285 pts
   
2. ritchiebaby = 261 pts
   
3. WakeyTerrier = 251 pts
   
4. Devongone = 242 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 220 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 200 pts
   

Friday 24th November:
Rotherham United v Leeds United

Saturday 25th November:
Town v Southampton
Town scorers:
Southampton scorers:
(have to insist if putting Armstrong to score, you have to say whether it's Adam or Stuart)

Birmingham City v Sheffield Wednesday
Bristol City v Middlesbrough
Leicester City v Watford
Millwall v Coventry City
Norwich City v Queens Park Rangers
Plymouth Argyle v Sunderland
Preston North End v Cardiff City
Stoke City v Blackburn Rovers
Swansea City v Hull City
West Bromwich Albion v Ipswich Town (17:30)

Wednesday 29th November:
Sunderland v Town
Town scorers:
Sunderland scorers:

Bonus matches:
Premier League:
Saturday:
Newcastle United v Chelsea

Sunday:
Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa (14:00)

Champions League:
Tuesday:
Lazio v Celtic (17:45)

Wednesday:
Arsenal v Lens


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

Woking have sacked manager Darren Sarll following eight defeats in their last 10 games.

The National League side are 14th in the table after Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Oxford City.

Sarll, 40, was appointed in March 2022 and guided Woking to fourth last year.

"The club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Darren for one of the club's most successful seasons in recent history," Woking said in a statement.

"We wish him well in his future endeavours both on and off the pitch."

Sarll, who spent his entire playing days in non-league football, previously managed in the English Football League with Stevenage and was in charge of fellow non-league side Yeovil before moving to Woking.

The Cardinals' poor run comes after they only lost twice in their opening 10 games this season.

Assistant manager Ian Dyer, who also had temporary charge following the departure of Alan Dowson in 2022, will lead the side for the next two fixtures which are both at home to Oldham and Chesterfield.