Hakan Hayrettin has been sacked as manager of Maidstone United following a run of seven consecutive defeats in all competitions.

Maidstone have won just five National League matches all season and are second bottom of the table in 23rd place.

Hayrettin took over as manager in March 2020 having previously joined the club as head coach in January 2019.

Assistant manager Terry Harris has also left the club.

"We have made the difficult decision to part company with Hakan and his assistant Terry Harris, following the recent run of results," said Maidstone chief executive Bill Williams.

"These decisions are never easy, and the board felt the time was right to make this change now - with just under half the season remaining - to give us an opportunity to retain our National League status."

Hayrettin guided Maidstone back to the National League for this season, after winning the National League South title and promotion at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

However, the Stones have won just two of their last 23 fixtures in all competitions.

George Elokobi, the club's former captain, has been placed in caretaker charge of the team, and will oversee their next match in the FA Trophy away to Notts County on Sunday.

"On behalf of the owners, directors and all staff involved with Maidstone United, we would like to express our thanks to Hak and Terry for all their time, effort and guidance while they've been at the club," Williams added.

I`m 14 and too good for West Brom. I`m off to liverpool. Now 26 and running a fried chicken shop.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football...ver-player

The grass is not always greener.

DD#No1

Wrexham 4-0 Bromley
Aldershot 1-3 Dag & Red
Notts County 1-1 Boreham Wood
Wealdstone 1-3 Chesterfield

League Table After Matchday 30
Devon - 636
Lord Snoots - 547
St Charles Owl - 523
SaltergateBorn - 515
Amelia - 497
Spireitematt - 496
Dancing - 473

Stevenage manager Steve Evans has extended his contract with the automatic promotion-chasing League Two club until June 2025.

When the 60-year-old Scot was appointed in mid-March, Stevenage had not won in nine games and sat 22nd in League Two, three points above the relegation zone.

But they lost just two of their last seven games of the 2021-22 season.

Having stayed up, this season they have lost just three times in 24 games to sit in second place in League Two.

They are just two points behind leaders Leyton Orient - with a 12-point cushion to fourth-placed Carlisle United, who currently head the play-off contenders.

Latest League Two table
"Our results since Steve arrived speak for themselves." said chairman Phil Wallace.

"We have increased our budget this season, but it is the selection of players that has made the difference.

"Steve and Leon Hunter, working together with players and agents respectively, have brought not only good players, but great characters.

"We are still determined to run a tight ship financially and conduct smart business, but the spirit and camaraderie that Steve has built amongst the group is admirable.

"We have had too many seasons in dark places, and we are enjoying where we are now."

The news of Evans' extended deal came on the day his side head to the Midlands to face Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup.

Stevenage is Evans' eighth club, after starting with the first of two spells at Boston United in 1998.

He has since also managed Crawley Town, Rotherham United, who he guided to the Championship in 2014, Leeds United, Mansfield Town, Peterborough United and Gillingham, who he left in January 2022.

Evans has taken charge of more than 1,000 games as a manager, almost 600 of them in the EFL.

Had a feeling of deja Vu after 90 secs, it had Stamford Bridge vibes. We took about 5 mins to settle down but when we did we really took the game to them. We were outstanding and we'll deserved to go go in 3-2 up at halftime. With a bit more luck it could have been a much bigger lead.
Every player ran themselves into the ground. The support was superb and I think last week we must have been saving ourselves.
Any neutral watching would have thought that the team in blue were the championship club. WBA knew they had a game on their hands and threw all the big boy's on early in the second half. It made little difference we still have them a lesson.
For once we had a good ref even though she missed a blatant pen and their 3rd goalscorer should have been sent off for elbowing King in the face.
It was just one of those days. I left the ground proud to be a Spireite. The last few years have been dire with little or nothing to cheer about but boy did yesterday make up for it.
The only negative is that on yesterdays performance we will probably lose a few players this transfer window.

So what position would you put England in out of the six this year.? Who is your favourite to win?

Norwich City have appointed former Huddersfield Town boss David Wagner as their new head coach on a 12-month rolling contract.

The 51-year-old succeeds Dean Smith, who was sacked the day after his side's defeat at Luton Town on 26 December.

Wagner guided the Terriers to Premier League promotion in 2017 and kept them in the top flight for a season before leaving by mutual consent in 2019.

"This is a very special and proud moment," he told the club website.

"To be here, back in England, as the head coach of Norwich City is a huge honour.

"I'm very pleased with what I have seen so far. The facilities at the Lotus Training Centre are top class. We now have to look forward and work extremely hard.

"This is a new challenge for us all. Will it be easy? No. We have to leave what has happened in the past behind. If we want success, we have to be together. Together as a group of players, backroom staff and supporters."

Wagner, who will take charge for Sunday's FA Cup third round tie at home to Blackburn, is joined by Christophe Buhler as assistant head coach. Current Canaries loan player manager Andrew Hughes becomes first-team coach.

Wagner last worked as boss of Swiss side Young Boys. His stint in Bern lasted just eight months, and included a Champions League group stage win against Manchester United, but it ended in March 2022 when Young Boys were a distant second in their attempt to defend their Swiss title.

Prior to that he was appointed boss of German giants Schalke, but he lasted just one full season having finished in the bottom half of the Bundesliga.

He was sacked just two games into his second campaign, following an 8-0 defeat by Bayern Munich and 3-1 home loss to Werder Bremen.

Listen to BBC Radio Norfolk's The Scrimmage podcast
Wagner's return to English football with Championship side Norwich will again see him work with Canaries sporting director Stuart Webber, a key figure who brought the Germany-born former United States international to Huddersfield as a relative unknown in 2015.

He takes over a Canaries side that are 11th in the Championship table, having collected just one point from a possible 12 since mid-December.

Despite the poor run, which has seen them win just one of their five games since the resumption following the World Cup break, they are just three points outside the play-off spots.

Norwich were relegated from the Premier League last season under Smith and were again favourites to go straight back up, having won the Championship title in their past two promotion-winning campaigns in 2019 and 2021.

Those were both achieved under German Daniel Farke, who was sacked in November 2021 when they were bottom of the Premier League after 11 games.

They failed to improve, finishing 20th as they were relegated back into the second tier.

Appointment 'ticks a lot of boxes'
Analysis - BBC Radio Norfolk's Norwich City commentator Chris Goreham

When Norwich City sacked Dean Smith last month, sporting director Stuart Webber made it clear the club's ambition for this season remains an immediate return to the Premier League.

It currently looks a long way off.

A run of three wins in 15 Championship games has seen them drop to 11th. They were top at the start of October but now trail Sheffield United, who are second, by 15 points and sit 20 behind leaders Burnley.

To stand a chance of saving their season, the Canaries needed someone who could hit the ground running. David Wagner's CV includes promotion with Huddersfield. It was Webber who appointed him at the Terriers so the duo have a proven working relationship and will want to prove they can pick up where they left off.

If it doesn't work this time the pressure will build on Webber. A miserable run of one win in nine Championship matches at Carrow Road means that one of Wagner's first tasks will be to build bridges towards an increasingly disillusioned fanbase.

The Canaries have recently welcomed American millionaire Mark Attanasio, the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, onto the board. Wagner played international football for the United States, so that's another important relationship that could blossom.

Wagner ticks a lot of boxes. His task now is to get more out of a squad that was expected to do so much better this season..

Premier League

Stairs 18pts 2CS 6CR 0GB 6BB 0SB
Snooty 13pts 1CS 6CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Zinman 11pts 2CS 6CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
SCO 9pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Blue Baggie 9pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Minizin 7pts 1CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Derby 4pts 0CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Sanjay 0pts No predictions

A complete wipeout on the gamball but a better week for the bonus with only one player getting it wrong. No predictions from Sanjay, I believe this is the first time this season that someone's failed to submit - hopefully this is just a case of forgetfulness rather than something long term.

Heading the table this week is Stairs, benefiting from being the only player not to play the gamball, saving himself 3 points. He had a week's high in both the number of correct scores and results and scored a maximum from his bonus (making him the only Albion fan to be happy with Sheff U's last second equaliser) to give him a 5 point advantage over Snooty in 2nd. Snoots also got 6 results correct, including his bonus but like everyone below him lost out on the gamball. Zinman matched Stairs' correct scores and results but had a bad ball week, the only player to lose from his bonus to leave him in 3rd place.

SCO and Blue had identical returns to collect 9 points, something of an improvement for SCO over his last few weeks but it is now 9 weeks since he managed a double figure score. Minizin and Derby, for much of the season the top 2 in the overall league, both had relatively poor weeks and will lose more ground at the top. Berby was the only player not to get a correct score and they both had the week's lowest number of correct results.

Zinman 164
Minizin 149
Derby 147
Snooty 138
Stairs 127
Sanjay 110
Blue 103
SCO 102

Zinman's 7th consecutive double figure score sees him open up a 15 point gap at the top of the table. Behind him Minizin and Derby again switch places as do Stairs and Sanjay. Everyone has now climbed above 100 points - at least until this week - and Sanjay's no show means that Blue Baggie and SCO have closed the gap at the foot of the table.

Zin


Championship

Themaclad 12pts 2CS 2CR -3GB 6BB 1SB
Dingle 10pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
BaggieOne 5pts 0CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
BBB 5pts 0CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
AAA 3pts 0CS 3CR NPGB -3BB 0SB
Twerton 1pts 1CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Lady Jane 1pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Amelia -3pts 0CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Low scoring week in the Championship, not the lowest but not far off!! This is what happens when everyone who plays the Gamball gets it wrong! Zinman has certainly stepped up the difficulty of that game, the rest of the crap scoring though is down to the individuals, particularly of those like myself who were late predicting and had to skip certain games!!

Top of the pile this week is Themaclad who got 12 points, he was one of only 3 players to get a CS and one of the two he got was his bonus! Dingle keep up his solid performances with 10 points in 2nd spot, he does seem to have found a way to avoid the run of bad weeks and this will see him to the title in my opinion. BaggieOne and BBB share 3rd spot with 5 points, as BBB said on the thread he really needs to stay away from those weeks where he gets Both Big Balls wrong but maybe that's what BBB stands for!

AAA is next on 3 points, he benefitted by not playing the Gamball this week. Twerton and Lady Jane ended with a solitary point from their endeavours, got there in different ways except both missied out on their BBBs as well. Amelia brings up the rear, missed on her balls and scored on just one game.

189 Dingle
156 Lady Jane
147 BaggieOne
129 BBB
126 AAA
119 Themaclad
101 Amelia
83 Twerton

No positional changes again this week. Dingle extended his lead for the second week and now leads by 33 points, just a couple of weeks ago he was coming under some pressure but has pulled away again. The second auto spot is still filled by Lady Jane but her lead over BaggieOne has shrunk again. BBB, AAA and Themaclad are now separated by just 10 points, so all to play for when chasing the "nothing to win" 4th place!! Amelia and Twerton are still rooted to the bottom. Amelia almost dropped back into double figures and Twerton is still someway off the century, even I am doing better than that!!

Cheers
SCO

Heart-warming article on the BBC website about Jesurun Uchegbulam.

Nigeria to Venice as a baby. Spotted as a boy by AC Milan. Scored shed loads of goals for their Academy teams from Centre Back! Came to England with his parents. Was settling in at Everton when a heart problem was detected and he underwent heart surgery. He's played his way back as far as us and he seems delighted, not in the least resentful about what he left behind.

The Chesterfield canal doesn't bear much comparison with Venice. The Technique looks nice, but the San Siro it ain't. But I'd love to see the smile on this lad's face if he could pop one in against the Baggies.

The question it poses to me is why wasn't this story in full told on our website? What other stories lie behind our players? Surely supporters want to identify with them and share in their successes, and even their failures. We can do better than anodyne interviews and brief pen portraits can't we? Even now our site doesn't direct visitors to the BBC article.

Go to BBC Football.

Heart-warming article about the struggles of Jesurun Uchegbulam to make a career in football on the BBC website. Moved from Nigeria to Venice at the age of one, picked up by AC Milan as a little boy. Brilliantly successful through the age-groups scoring shed loads of goals from centre back for their Academy side. Moved with his parents to England, settling in with Everton when he got the devastating news about heart surgery being necessary. Now, he seems genuinely thrilled to be getting a chance with us.

So here's my question, why wasn't his full fascinating story on our website months ago? What other fascinating stories are there behind our players? Danny Rowe has more than a tale to tell I'm sure, even if he now seems to have more health issues than Emma Raducanu. Our players are people. Some may only have had lives suitable for a brief pen portrait, but others are bound to have fascinating tales to tell. Surely supporters want to relate to the team? The website can't just be the cold impersonal news of about ticketing at Woking. Shouldn't it draw us in? And wouldn't you think it might now be carrying some mention of the Uchegbulam article?

There's not much of Venice about the Chesterfield canal, and the Technique is a long way from the San Siro, but I'd love to see the lad's face if he could pop up with a goal against the Baggies.