We (we) (that's us) are in a Final at Wembley and everyone's on MUTE. Despite Drones of Evil Intent flying overhead, Cookie going occasionally apoplectic and playing all the right notes ..... but not necessarily in the right order, we are back on the verge of the EFL, ready or not.

We played quite well against Bromley. It was the right decision not to put a big guy up front against Sowunmi. It was the right decision to trust Dobra to find some form. And even though it was a home game it definitely was the right decision to select Jones. Grimes may be captain but it was Jones who kept King under control when he was about to boil over and do something we'd all regret, and without King we simply would not be good enough to beat one the top sides.

Oh Lord I wish we'd send Mandeville to the gym, put a half a stone at least on him and feed him some steaks. He brought a ball down out on the wing, killed it dead, that would have had them cheering in the San Siro. At times he is magic, then a few minutes later he's on the other wing, thinks the contest is all over, brain is on pause, and suddenly Bromley have the ball and they are laying it forward for Sowunmi to put it in for Cheek to make his sole contribution to the afternoon. And then in extra time, when most engines are sputtering, Mandy's is still roaring, he charges onto a loose ball like a man possessed and bangs it home with power and certainty. Some players you don't know what they will do from match to match. With Mandeville it is almost minute to minute. He has it in him to get us back into the League.

Noticeably Cookie opted for Covolan on the bench. I don't know what to make of Fitzsimmons. I don't know what to make of the commentators' inability to spot an obvious goalkeeping error. Bromley's first goal was 100% his fault. The ball was crossed inside the six yard box. He should have called, dived and made an easy catch. Second choice was to knock it away, there weren't many Bromley players up. Instead he did nowt. Ash Palmer hesitated over whether he should intervene, decided rightly that would be dangerous. That confused Fitzsimmons who froze, the ball hit him and rolled to a Bromley player in front of an open goal. If I had made that mistake I really wouldn't have been allowed to forget about it, and I was playing amateur football. It should have been easy for a pro' keeper. But just to confuse us Fitz later comes out full of confidence plucking crosses when we needed him. Maybe he is suffering from multiple-personality syndrome. Sitting in front of the telly he's slowly giving me Tourettes.

Our hope against Notts is that the speed of Colclough and Dallas will do for their high line defence if our passing could just be on song. Armando just keep calm keep beating people and slip in those through balls. We need Langstaff to forget his hymn sheet as he did against the Wood, and if Rodrigues could just keep looking excellent, but never scoring that would help. I'd like to see Uchegbulam on the bench too for his pace. We need to keep taking the game back to County. We can't sit back and let them play. Course I think County will win. Of course they deserve promotion, but it isn't up to us to correct history. Everton couldn't possibly score five at Brighton but ......,..,

Promotion heroes Jamie Proctor and Tom Pett are among six players to be released by League One side Port Vale.

Striker Proctor, 31, scored 12 goals in 2021-22 as Vale went up via the play-offs while midfielder Pett, also 31, has played 83 games across two seasons.

Goalkeeper Lucas Covolan, 31, forward Rory Holden, 25, and 21-year-olds Derek Agyakwa and Sam Robinson have left too.

Dan Jones, David Worrall, Ben Garrity, James Wilson and Mal Benning are in talks to extend their Valiants' stays.


All five are out of contract this summer at Vale, who finished 18th in League One but sacked boss Darrell Clarke late in the season after a run of 11 defeats in 18 matches threatened to plunge them into danger.

The departure of Covolan, who spent last season on loan at National League side Chesterfield, was not unexpected while Holden made just three league starts and Agyakwa one substitute appearance.

Pett, however, played 30 league games in Vale's first campaign back in the third tier and Proctor featured in 20, although he was used mostly off the bench, while midfielder Robinson appeared 22 times.

"This part of the year is always a difficult time in football where we say goodbye to players that have played a huge part in our history," Vale's director of football David Flitcroft told the club's website.

"They leave with gratitude and best wishes of everybody at the club for the way they have committed themselves to grow and progress Port Vale over the past two years."

Aidan Stone, Lewis Cass, Nathan Smith, Tom Conlon, Funso Ojo, Will Forrester, Gavin Massey, Ellis Harrison, Tommy McDermott and James Plant all remain under contract with Vale.

Swindon Town have appointed former Newport County and Walsall boss Michael Flynn as their new manager.

The 42-year-old will take over after their final game of the League Two season against Crawley on Monday.

He replaces former Chelsea coach Jody Morris, who was sacked last week after just 18 games in charge.

Flynn was sacked by the Saddlers at the end of April after a run of one win in 20 matches saw them fall away from play-off contention.

He twice led Newport to the League Two play-off final during his four years in charge at Rodney Parade but the Exiles were beaten by Tranmere in 2019 and Morecambe in 2021.

The Welshman left in September of that year before joining Walsall in February 2022.

Swindon owner Clem Morfuni told the club website: "This was a thorough and fast-moving process as we had very specific requirements for this role, and Michael quickly became the leading candidate.

"We wanted to appoint a manager who is experienced at League Two level, and Michael's knowledge of the current squad, the division itself and potential new recruits is very comprehensive and impressive."

Salford v Stockport
Bradford v Carlisle

Anybody but Salford will do, Bradford and Carlisle not in great form therefore Stockport's will continue their rise during the last few seasons

Peterbrough v Sheff Wed
Bolton v Barnsley

This is an interesting group of teams Ferguson's lot sneaked in on the last day, Barnsley peaked? Wednesday inconsistent in recent weeks my tip is Bolton, in good form

Coventry v Middlesbrough
Sunderland Luton

It would be remarkable if Coventry did it given the amount of hassle they have had over the last ten years, personal view Boro not in great form, think the winner wil come fom the other tie and for me that will be Sunderland,excellent away fro home on a bit of a roll having seen them yesterday although against opponents who gave up in the second half have a side good enough to go up

Watch this space for who needs to enter this but the 1st leg games are:

Gamball:
Coventry - Middlesbrough

Others:
Leeds - Newcastle
Villa - Spurs
Southampton - Fulham
Sunderland - Luton
Bolton - Barnsley
Salford - Stockport
Chesterfield - Notts County
Brentford - West Ham
Bradford - Carlisle

If the National League play-off goes to penalties, the usual cup rules will apply, i.e. the score is taken after extra time.

2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
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.

There are two different sets of fixtures, so don't copy the wrong ones:-


Game A: jjamez v theo_luddite


Championship PO 1st legs:
Saturday 13th May:
Sunderland v Luton Town (17:30)
Sunderland scorers:
Luton scorers:

Sunday 14th May:
Coventry City v Middlesbrough (12:00)
Coventry scorers:
Boro scorers:

2nd legs:
Tuesday 16th May:
Luton Town v Sunderland
Luton scorers:
Sunderland scorers:

Wednesday 17th May:
Middlesbrough v Coventry City
Boro scorers:
Coventry scorers:

League One Play Offs:
Friday 12th May:
Peterborough United v Sheffield Wednesday

Thursday 18th May:
Sheffield Wednesday v Peterborough United

League Two Play Offs:
Saturday 13th May:
Salford City v Stockport County (19:45)

Saturday 20th May:
Stockport County v Salford City (12:30)

Premier League:
Saturday 13th May:
Leeds United v Newcastle United (12:30)
Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur

Sunday 14th May:
Brentford v West Ham United (14:00)

Thursday 18th May:
Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion










Game B: Baggiebob(BBB) v themaclad

Championship PO 1st legs:
Saturday 13th May:
Sunderland v Luton Town (17:30)
Sunderland scorers:
Luton scorers:

Sunday 14th May:
Coventry City v Middlesbrough (12:00)
Coventry scorers:
Boro scorers:

2nd legs:
Tuesday 16th May:
Luton Town v Sunderland
Luton scorers:
Sunderland scorers:

Wednesday 17th May:
Middlesbrough v Coventry City
Boro scorers:
Coventry scorers:

League One Play Offs:
Saturday 13th May:
Bolton Wanderers v Barnsley (15:00)

Friday 19th May:
Barnsley v Bolton Wanderers

League Two Play Offs:
Sunday 14th May:
Bradford City v Carlisle United (19:00)

Saturday 20th May:
Carlisle United v Bradford City (15:00)

Premier League:
Saturday 13th May:
Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
Crystal Palace v AFC Bournemouth

Monday 15th May:
Leicester City v Liverpool

Saturday 20th May:
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Everton

Striker Cole Stockton is among the large-scale departures from Morecambe after their relegation to League Two.

The Shrimps have confirmed 14 players are leaving following the expiry of their contracts, with no players offered new deals and six players under contract for next season.

Goalkeeper Connor Ripley, defender Liam Gibson and playmaker Dan Crowley are among the others to be let go.

Morecambe's relegation was confirmed with a 3-2 defeat at Exeter on Sunday.

The club have been struggling financially, with players paid late, and have relied on "significant" investment from Sarbjot Johal, whose perspective takeover of the club is yet to go through.

"To the departing players, it is very difficult as some of them have been with me here for a significant period of time," said manager Derek Adams.

"Ryan Cooney, Liam Gibson and Cole Stockton were all part of our play-off winning side and depart with nothing but my best wishes for everything they have given both me and the football club."

Morecambe won three of their final four games to give themselves hope of staying up, but were relegated on the final day of the season.

Donald Love, Max Melbourne, Farrend Rawson, Jake Taylor, Jacob Bedeau and Adam Mayor are the players who remain at the club.

ormer Southampton, Charlton Athletic, Hull City and Sheffield United manager Nigel Adkins has been appointed as technical director at Tranmere Rovers.

Adkins, who also twice led Scunthorpe to promotion to the Championship, is the first person to have the role.

He will act as a mentor and adviser to recently-appointed manager Ian Dawes.

"Appointing Nigel to this important role is the final piece in the jigsaw we have been assembling," chairman Mark Palios told the Tranmere website.

"As a former Tranmere player, a physiotherapist and a hugely experienced manager, Nigel is uniquely well placed to sit across the club's critical football processes.

"His wise counsel will doubtless be invaluable to Ian Dawes as he seeks to make his mark as an up-and-coming manager.

"With Nigel, Ian Dawes, Neil Danns, Andy Parkinson and the returning Andy Hodgen all playing integral roles within the team-behind-the-team, I think we have assembled an exciting group of professionals to give us a platform for success."

Adkins has been out of football since being sacked as Charlton Athletic manager in October 2021.

Born in Birkenhead, he spent three years at the club, making 86 appearances as a player before moving on to Wigan Athletic.

"The opportunity to come back to Tranmere Rovers, my hometown club where it all started as an apprentice professional footballer, and to work with my former teammate Mark Palios, was too big to turn down," Adkins said.

"There is a vision to improve and develop and I'm excited to be part of the process."