Premier League

Zinman 11
Blue B 11
B.B.B. 8
Derby 7
Lady J 2
Minizin 1
Stairs 1
Dingle -1

Clearly with these results it was another tough week of predictions in the PL. Wasn't the worst week we have seen but was certainly one of them!! The Gamball was a complete washout with everyone getting it wrong and the Bonus didn't fair much better. Overall there were only 7 CS predictions out of 80 games predicted and inevitably with 3 0-0 draws there were a couple of players who lost that point on the Scoreball!!

Zinman and Blue top the table this week with 11 points each. Zinman was one of the two to score positive points on the Bonus and BlueBaggie was the only player to get 2 CSs, this at least got them into double figures!! BBB continues his decent form in 3rd place with 8 points, he scored a max on the Bonus, a rarity for him, but wasn't able to build on that with much else. Derby rounds out the top half with 7 points, he is Mr Consistent this season.

Big drop to the rest though with Lady Jane next with 2 points, missed on her balls but did manage a CS with a rare 0-0 prediction. Minizin and Stairs both ended with just one point, Minizin got no CSs and Stairs was one of those with a negative on the Scoreball for predicting it on a goalless draw. Scary stat for him is that over the past 6 weeks he now has just 10 points in total, one less than this weeks leaders!! Dingle keeps riding the proverbial rollercoaster, up one week and down, he must be feeling sick by now but this week he ended on -1!!!

134 Derby
134 Zinman
129 Minizin
126 BBB
116 Blue Baggie
114 Lady Jane
111 Stairs
82 Dingle

6 positional changes this week, I think thats a record within itself!!We now have new leaders in Derby and Zinman, who both overtook Minizin. BBB stays 4th but is now only 8 points off the leaders, Blue moves up a spot at the expense of Lady Jane and Stairs drops another place to 7th, with Dingle so far behind him he might finally be able to catch his breath and find some form!!

Cheers
SCO


Championship
Snooty 9pts
Sanjay 5
SCO 5
AAA 5
Themaclad 5
BaggieOne 5
Twerton 0

Statistically a draw is the least likely result in football matches and most of our predictors seem to know this as they steer clear of predicting too many draws. Unfortunately this week's selections bucked that trend with 6 of the games ending level and as a result the Championship scores were not great - in fact this week produced the 2nd lowest total points so far, nobody achieving double figures and a total blow out on the bonus ball. Three fixtures ended nil nil but surprisingly everybody avoided these games when choosing their scoreball so nobody lost points on it.

So just 3 positions in this week's table - first, last and everyone else! Snooty and Twerton were the extremes and the only players not to score 5 points. Snooty got 4 correct results including the gamball, not a great return but enough to sit comfortably top of the table. Twerton managed just 2 correct results and missed out on all his balls so failed to add to his season's points haul. The rest achieved 5 points via various routes - all got 3 correct results with just BaggieOne failing to turn one of them into a correct score, though he made up for this by being the 2nd player to score on the gamball. SCO became only the 2nd player this season choosing not to playthe gamball, wisely in this case as it saved him a point.

AAA 122
Twerton 118
SCO 117
Snooty 114
BaggieOne 92
Themaclad 88
Sanjay 61

Just the one change again this week, and it's the same one as last week as the top 2 switch positions. It's closing up at the top with just 8 points separating the top 4.

BaggieOne has now gone 6 weeks without a correct score, just 1 more to match Sanjay's run earlier in the season. This was the second time that nobody scored on the bonus ball - a ball that has now cost the Championship 27 points with only Twerton, AAA and Snooty (just) showing a positive return from it.

Zin

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 11TH NOVEMBER KO 3:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



A ten man Wednesday (wrongly as we now know) couldn't hold on for a draw as we went down to Bristol 1-0. Bannan was shown the red card 30 minutes in and it was a backs to the wall effort. We survived the rest of the first half. Onto the second half and Iorfa had a chance but his header was saved. Bristol took the lead when Dickie headed in from a cross. Bristol then hit both posts as they tried to put the game to bed. We had one last chance but unfortunately it fell  to Fletcher and the keeper saved it.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and Millwall make the journey north. The Lions are struggling of late, no wins in there last 5 games which has them currently lying in 18th place. They have a new head coach, Joe Edwards, previously an assistant to Frank Lampard, who took over from Gary Rowett who left by mutual consent in October. I think they will stay clear of the relegation dogfight and probably finish nearer to mid table. There leading scorer is Flemming with 4 goals and 2 assists.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 19
MILL 16
DRAWS 16

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                                             

MILL                -                                                                                  

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

GAVIN WARD
Lee Venamore and Greg Read
Fourth Official : Adam Herczeg

THE TEAM

Dawson
Palmer Bernard Ihekwe James
Musaba Bannan Byers Johnson
Gregory Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Smith

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

30

ATTENDANCE

25112

BML LEAGUE

Washington 6
Maddix 4
Imre 4
Owlkev 1
SCO 1

BMPL

Stateside 3
Wereham 2
Pei -11

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Crystal Palace v Everton
Middlesbrough v Leicester
Derby v Barnsley
Salford v Mansfield
Chesterfield v Barnet

DAAAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Bristol City have appointed Oxford United boss Liam Manning as head coach.

The 38-year-old succeeds Nigel Pearson, who was sacked last month with the club 15th in the Championship after a run of five losses in his last seven games.

Manning leaves Oxford second in League One and three points behind leaders Portsmouth after 15 matches, having spent just eight months in charge of the club.

He has previously managed Milton Keynes Dons and Belgian side Lommel.

"This is a terrific opportunity and one that I'm really looking forward to," Manning, who has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract at Ashton Gate, told the Bristol City website.

"If you look at the vision of the club and where they want to get to and how they want to get there I think there is really good fit and alignment with my journey and where I want to get to."

Listen to BBC Radio Bristol's One for the Bristol City podcast
Manning 'a great fit' for Robins
Manning, who will be assisted at the Robins by his number two at Oxford, Chris Hogg, has impressed since succeeding Karl Robinson as U's boss - the club were 18th in League One and three points off the relegation places when he took over in March.

He kept Oxford up last season thanks to two wins in their final three matches, before masterminding an excellent start of this season which has seen the U's lose just two league games since the opening day of the season.

"Liam is a great fit for the club and the style of play we want", Bristol City Chairman Jon Lansdown said.

"He has a very detailed approach to coaching, improving players and getting the best out of them as his record at MK Dons and Oxford United shows.

"As soon as we made the change Liam was our first choice and we are grateful to Oxford United for the extremely professional way they have approached the departure of someone who was doing a fantastic job for them."

U's begin managerial search
Oxford chairman Grant Ferguson said the U's had "reluctantly" given Manning permission to speak to Bristol City, adding that the club did "everything it could to keep him".

Chief executive Tim Williams added: "I am hugely disappointed. However, we have already begun the process of securing the best possible candidate to replace Liam.

"This is a fantastic club with great training facilities and an exciting future - I have no doubt we will have huge interest in the role."

First-team coach Craig Short will take on the role of interim head coach for Oxford, and will be assisted by academy coach Chris Hackett.

After taking over from Russell Martin at MK Dons in August 2021, Manning led the club to a third-placed finish in League One, before being knocked out of the play-offs at the semi-final stage by Wycombe Wanderers.

He lost his job in December last year after a run of one win in his final 11 league games left the club second-from-bottom.

Manning a 'summertime fling' - analysis
BBC Radio Oxford's Oxford United commentator, Jerome Sale

A week ago, Oxford United had won at Lincoln and were back to within three points of the League One lead and all seemed well on and off the field.

Seven days later and the league position hasn't changed, but there is turmoil. The fact that Liam Manning has jumped ship just 241 days into his tenure as head coach leaves supporters sore - and judging by Oxford's statement - plenty inside the club too.

But Manning's short time was transformative. He's taken them from a struggling relegation-threatened team to one that look serious promotion contenders.

United are absolutely correct that the field of potential replacements will be deeper for a top two side than a bottom six one.

Though the needs and immediate ambitions are different this time, they would do well to stick to the same processes that so successfully led to Manning's appointment. I say that even though it turned out to be little more than an intense summertime fling rather than a long-term relationship.

Millwall have appointed former Chelsea and Everton assistant coach Joe Edwards as their head coach.

He was in Frank Lampard's backroom staff at both Premier League clubs and has been in interim charge of England Under-20s since August.

Edwards, 37, takes over at the Championship club from Gary Rowett, who left by mutual consent on 18 October.

Millwall are 18th in the table, having picked up just two points from four games since his departure.

Rowett held the position at The Den for four years, guiding them to top-half finishes in each season, but was unable to secure a play-off berth.

The south-east London side had been considering former Southampton and Luton boss Nathan Jones for the role, but Edwards will now take charge of the team for the first time at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Edwards has brought in Andy Myers as his assistant while Adam Barrett - who had been caretaker manager after Rowett's departure - and fellow coach Andy Marshall will stay on as part of the backroom team.

"Although I have been coaching for a long time, a lot of people will be aware that this is my first job managing as head coach," Edwards told the Millwall website.

"Throughout the years, at various levels, you think you would like to have the opportunity to make the step up.

"To do it at a club like this, to be head coach of Millwall Football Club - I don't take that lightly at all. I'm really excited."

'Innovative' coach with 'positive ideas'
Joe Edwards in his time with England Under-20s
Edwards has not managed a senior men's side before
Edwards spent 27 years at Chelsea at all, turning to coaching aged 16 after not being kept on by the club as a youth player.

He worked his way up to become Chelsea Under-18 boss for a two-year spell form 2014, where the Blues twice won the FA Youth Cup.

He moved into the senior setup and became an assistant to Lampard and Thomas Tuchel, helping the Blues win the Champions League in 2021, before moving to Everton in January 2022 to link back up with Lampard.

Edwards went on to became England Under-20 boss on an interim basis this year.

"With Joe, I'm excited. He is somebody who I think is very innovative and has some positive ideas about the progression we can make as a club," Millwall chairman James Berylson told the club website.

"It was a thorough process, with no stone left unturned, and Joe was engaging, attentive, and impressive throughout, and I felt that we could have a productive working relationship together.

"We welcome both Joe and Andy to The Den with open arms and look forward to seeing the impact they can make on and off the pitch throughout what we hope to be a long relationship with Millwall."

May the Lord have mercy on their souls

League Two side Bradford City have appointed former MK Dons head coach Graham Alexander as their manager on a contract until the summer of 2026.

The 52-year-old had been out of work for only three weeks after being sacked by the Dons on 16 October.

He replaces ex-Wales boss Mark Hughes, who left Bradford early last month.

Alexander previously managed Fleetwood, Scunthorpe, Salford and Scottish club Motherwell, who he guided to a Europa Conference League place in 2021-22.

"It is really good to be here. I am excited about the role, the potential of the team and club," he told the club website.

"Joining a club, you have to look at the short-term improvements you can make, but also look at the potential of what you can do. Here, for me, that scope is endless."

Hughes had led Bradford to the League Two play-offs last season but was dismissed having won just three out of 11 games this term with the club in 18th position in the table.

Kevin McDonald took over on a temporary player-caretaker basis and won his first three games before losing the next two.

Former Lincoln City and Huddersfield Town boss Danny Cowley had been in the frame to replace Hughes but ruled himself out of taking the job because of family reasons.

Having been appointed by MK Dons in May following their relegation last season, Alexander's tenure at the club lasted just 16 games into the 2023-24 campaign.

MK Dons made 11 signings during the summer transfer window and Alexander steered them to four wins from their first five league games as they topped the League Two table.

A sharp drop off followed, culminating in his short stay with the club coming to an end last month.

He moves to the University of Bradford Stadium with former Bury boss Chris Lucketti as his assistant and the Bantams in 16th in division.

Gamball:
Southampton - WBA

Others:
Wolves - Spurs
Crystal Palace - Everton
Sunderland - Birmingham City
Cardiff - Norwich
Coventry - Stoke
Middlesbrough - Leicester
QPR - Bristol City
Sheff W - Millwall
Derby - Barnsley

Well what a game yesterday was. When I found out several weeks ago they were going to televise our game against Pompey, I kept thinking I hope we give a good account ourselves otherwise I would never hear the last of it from people and friends who support Premier League clubs. But yesterday we didn't just give a good account of ourselves we played Pompey off the park and matched them man for man. We looked and played like a Football League team.

The chances we created we could have had 3 or 4. I was really impressed by Banks, Grigg, Naylor, Grimes and Palmer at the back. I did worry a bit when Frecklton came on and gave the ball away rather cheaply once or twice but we managed to grind out a 1-0 victory against a team who haven't lost a league game since March.

As much as I enjoy the FA Cup and love a cup run, promotion back to the football league is more important. I do believe if we get promoted and I think we will then if we keep this team together in L2 then we could be looking at a back to back promotion.

Lately I've noticed a surge in 3G and 4G pitches especially in non-league. Now I can see the pros and cons to 3G and 4G pitches but I think football is played better on turf than artificial turf.

I've never played on a 3G or 4G pitch but have played on a 2G pitch which is astroturf and there is sand on there to stop it becoming waterlogged but also to keep it clean, which is a pain if you go up for a header and get a load of gritty sand in your eyes. I've noticed on the 3G and 4G pitches that they use rubber pellets apparently they are old, cut up car tyres, not sure how true that is.

Artificial pitches can be a moneyspinner and bring in extra revenue for non-league and grassroot clubs because they can be hired out for 6 a side leagues or even just hired out for private parties to play on. The downsides to them are the knee and ankle injuries that can occur to players especially if they aren't wearing the right boots or if they get there studs caught in the artificial turf. The other downside is the ball travels and bounces a lot quicker on the pitches where as on real turf it would take the bounce out of the ball.

And the games keep rolling in for the Hibees with a trip to Paisley for a 7.45pm kick-off.

Sometimes we are playing well and losing, sometimes we are playing well in patches and drawing/losing and sometimes we are playing poorly and losing/drawing. The word that is missing is WINNING. That word has been missing for 6 weeks now and we must see a definite improvement in the next couple of games or we will begin to hear the rumbles of discontent from the fans.

Nick Montgomery has my full backing and so has his style of play, but we do not have the players who are totally comfortable in playing out from the back and our opposition know that and try to benefit from that.

St Mirren on the other hand have been grinding out good results and have only lost twice this league season - to Rangers and Celtic - with determined displays. Only Celtic have lost fewer games and this will be a tough ask for Hibs to come away with anything at all.