Coventry City have been issued with an eviction notice by the new owners of the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley's Frasers Group took over the stadium last month after buying its three former operating companies.

They say the Championship club has no continuing right to use the ground unless a new licence is agreed.

The club's existing licence runs until 2031, but they say the proposed new one would expire in May 2023.

Frasers do not believe they are bound by the previous agreement with the stadium's former owners, Wasps rugby club, who went into administration on 18 October.

However, Coventry said that discussions with Frasers Group prior to their purchase of the ground led them "to understand the existing terms would continue unchanged".

A club statement said: "Frasers Group have now presented to Coventry City a new agreement with new commercial terms, which have been presented to us without any dialogue or negotiations, and are less favourable to the football club.

"Frasers Group have said they would negotiate for beyond May 2023, but this leaves us without the security and certainty that our current deal provides to us and our fans."

Club officials were informed on Friday they must return keys and access cards and an FA Youth Cup game on Saturday was switched to Leamington Town FC.

Listen to BBC CWR's Sky Blues Fancast
Coventry are away to Reading when their Championship campaign resumes on Saturday and their next scheduled home fixture is against Swansea on 17 December.

But they hope Frasers will change tack and agree to let the existing licence remain.

"Following Frasers Group's purchase of the Arena, one of the great assets of the city of Coventry, they stated they were 'looking forward to working with Coventry City Football Club'," the club statement added.

"Coventry City hope that they will act on those words for the good of the Arena, the football club, our fans and the city and community that they are now part of."

Kasey Palmer and Mark Robins
Mark Robins' Coventry side are 12th in the Championship after winning all four games in November
Frasers 'supportive' of Coventry playing at CBS Arena
In a statement, Frasers Group said they wanted to work with the club to make sure the stadium could host their upcoming matches.

"Frasers has, throughout all its involvement with the stadium, been supportive of securing the long-term future of CCFC playing its games at the stadium. This position remains unchanged," the statement said.

"Prior to acquiring the stadium, Frasers issued a new licence mirroring the terms CCFC had agreed with the previous owners. However, CCFC chose not to sign it at that time.

"A revised proposal, together with a new licence, has been issued to CCFC and will secure the immediate future of CCFC at the stadium.

"Signing the licence would allow for more detailed discussions to take place about CCFC's long-term arrangements at the stadium, including to accommodate a number of requests which were raised by CCFC.

"Frasers looks forward to working with the club to host the upcoming games."

Coventry City Council, meanwhile, say they are hopeful that the issues between the club and Frasers Group could be "successfully resolved through dialogue" as soon as possible.

"The city council has always been clear that one of its strategic objectives is for the football club to continue to play at the CBS Arena and that position has not changed," said a spokesperson.

Coventry's ongoing ground saga
The Sky Blues moved to the then Ricoh Arena from their former Highfield Road home in 2005.

But a dispute with their landlords saw them decamp to Northampton Town's Sixfields ground for home games in 2013-14.

Wasps bought Coventry City Council's 50% stake in the stadium in October 2014 and the following month acquired the remaining shareholding from the Alan Edward Higgs Charity, with the Sky Blues returning as tenants.

But rent issues saw Coventry move to Birmingham City's St Andrew's stadium in 2019, spending two seasons there and winning promotion from League One in the process.

They finally returned home for the start of the 2021-22 season but there were further problems at the start of the current campaign because of the state of the pitch after it was used for rugby sevens matches during the Commonwealth Games.

Following the demise of Wasps, the CBS Arena's operating companies, Arena Coventry Ltd (ACL), Arena Coventry (2006) Ltd and IEC Experience Ltd, also went into administration, enabling Frasers Group to buy them for £17m.

A judge rejected a £25m bid for the stadium from businessman Doug King, saying it had come too late, but he is going ahead with a plan to buy an 85% controlling stake in the club from current owners Sisu, subject to approval by the English Football League.

But even that is not straightforward, with the sale being challenged by rival bidder William Storey, who says the deal breaches an exclusivity agreement he had with Sisu, although they insist his claim is "untrue and unhelpful".

'Nightmare before Christmas'
Analysis - BBC CWR political editor Simon Gilbert

This is truly turning into the nightmare before Christmas for Coventry City fans.

When new owners of the football club and the stadium were confirmed last month, many hoped this would be the end of nearly two decades of off field drama.

Those hopes appear to have been dashed in just a matter of weeks.

The reasons for the notice of eviction are not yet clear. But what we do know is that hope of the Sky Blues returning to the venue is not yet entirely lost.

Coventry City's next scheduled home game isn't for another 12 days - and that's a long time in a saga where we saw new owners of the club and stadium named in just 24 hours.

Officials will be working round the clock to try to find a resolution and bring Sky Blues fans some much needed festive cheer.

i

League One side Charlton Athletic have sacked manager Ben Garner after less than six months in charge.

The 42-year-old only joined the club from Swindon in June, signing a three-year-deal at The Valley.

However Charlton have taken only two points from their past five League One matches to slip to 17th, just seven points above the relegation zone.

Addicks owner Thomas Sandgaard said the search for Garner's successor was under way, with a caretaker to be appointed.

"In his time at Charlton, the club have achieved some standout results, including big wins against some of the better teams in this league," Sandgaard said of Garner.

"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to sustain a consistency of results and our league position and recent form have left us in a situation where we had to act to give ourselves the best opportunity to get the most from this season as well as building a positive and winning environment for future years."

Garner's final game was Friday's 1-0 defeat at home to struggling Cheltenham, which saw the Addicks booed off by their supporters.

After the game the former Bristol Rovers boss told the South London Press that sacking managers would not solve the club's "cultural" problems.

He said: "You can keep changing manager every three or four months if you want. It's deeper than that. It's a cultural issue. It's a mentality issue. That's harder to change but that's what we've got to do.

"I want to do that. I'm very willing to do that. I know I'll be successful if I'm given the opportunity to do that."

Despite guiding Charlton to a Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Premier League Brighton, Garner won only three of his last 16 league games in charge - dating back to August. They all came in succession in an 11-day spell in mid-October.

The Addicks are due to visit League Two Stockport on Wednesday (19:45 GMT) in an FA Cup second-round replay.

I'll get this one started with news that Carlos wants Jon Russell to go join him at West Brom.

LAST TIME OUT



MANAGER

Jon Dahl Tomasson (Danish pronunciation: [ˈtsʰomæsʌn]; born 29 August 1976) is a Danish football manager and former player who is the current head coach of EFL Championship club Blackburn Rovers.
Malmö FF
On 5 January 2020, Tomasson was appointed as the new manager of Swedish Allsvenskan side Malmö FF.[35] He led the team to the 2020 Allsvenskan title in his first season with the club, winning Malmö FF its 21st Swedish Championship.[36][35]

In his second season for Malmö FF he took the club to the group stage of Champions League after succeeding in four qualification rounds, including beating Rangers in the third round and Ludogorets Razgrad in the fourth. In December 2021, Tomasson and Malmō FF won their second consecutive Allsvenskan league title.[37] On 30 December, he left by his own request.[38]

Blackburn Rovers
On 14 June 2022, Tomasson was appointed as the new head coach of Blackburn Rovers.[39] He signed a three-year deal at the club, stating: "I'm really proud and excited to be taking over as head coach of Blackburn Rovers – a club with a lot of tradition and also great ambition."[40] On his debut on 30 July, the team won 1–0 at home to Queens Park Rangers with a long-range goal from Lewis Travis.[41]

ONE FROM THE PAST

Ronald Clayton[2] (5 August 1934 – 29 October 2010) was an English footballer who made nearly 600 appearances in the Football League playing for Blackburn Rovers. He was capped 35 times for England between 1955 and 1960.[3]

Clayton, a right half, began his career with Blackburn Rovers (where his elder brother Ken was also a squad member).[4][5] He made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old in the 1950–51 season, and between then and 1969 made 581 appearances for his only Football League club.[3][6][7] He then became player-manager of Morecambe, and also appeared for Great Harwood before retiring.[8][9]

At international level, Clayton was capped six times for England under-23,[10] once for England B,[11] and 35 times at full international level, including five as captain.[12] He made his international debut against Northern Ireland in November 1955, and won his last cap against Yugoslavia in May 1960.[2] He was part of England's team at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.[13] Clayton died in October 2010.[14]

On 13 August 2011, as a sign of respect to Clayton, it was announced at half-time during the first game of the 2011–12 Barclays Premier League season, that The Blackburn End was to be renamed The Ronnie Clayton End at Ewood Park. In February 2019 he was one of the first seven players to be inducted into the club's Hall of Fame.[15]

Actually met Ronnie when working at ROF Chorley

FAMOUS LANDMARK

Queens Park Hospital

The original hospital on the site was established as an infirmary for the local workhouse in February 1864.[1] Additions included a medical wing in 1903, a children's wing in 1925 and a 74-bed annexe in 1926.[1] In 1929 it became known as the Queen's Park Institution, a name which evolved to become the Queen's Park Hospital.[1]

A new hospital, to be known as the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, was procured under a Private Finance Initiative contract in 2003 to replace the Queen's Park Hospital and the Blackburn Royal Infirmary.[2] It was built by Balfour Beatty at a cost of £133 million and opened in July 2006.[3]

Born there

Newbies

http://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=11552

They can communicate with each other forum

https://www.brfcs.com/forums/topic/36399...2-12pm-ko/

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.

Saturday 10th December:
Sheffield Utd v Town
Town scorers:
Sheff U scorers:

Blackburn Rovers v Preston North End (12:00)
Rotherham United v Bristol City (12:30)
Blackpool v Birmingham City
Middlesbrough v Luton Town
Millwall v Wigan Athletic
Reading v Coventry City
Stoke City v Cardiff City
Swansea City v Norwich City

Sunday 11th December:
Queens Park Rangers v Burnley (13:00)
Watford v Hull City (15:00)

Monday 12th December:
Sunderland v West Bromwich Albion

Bonus match:
Saturday:
World Cup quarter finals:
England v France (19:00)
England scorers:
France scorers:

Table after Matchday 16:

1. jjamez = 372 pts
   
2. themaclad = 328 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 317 pts
   
4. Lord Snooty = 315 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 310 pts
   
6. Baggiebob(BBB) = 298 pts
   
7. ritchiebaby = 294 pts
   
8. Amelia Chaffinch = 292 pts
   
9. St Charles Owl = 276 pts
   
10. SHEP_HTAFC = 270 pts
    
11. Devongone = 268 pts
    
12. WakeyTerrier = 171 pts

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63833469

Lawwell experienced huge criticism after Celtic's failed 10-in-a-row history breaker and then that was followed by a despicable arson attack on his home, I think he was always gonna disappear from CFC's admin activities, but only for an interim period. His return as a non-exec Chairman no surprise to lotsa fans although many Celtic fans would still rather not see him at the club any more.

Yes we're back as proper football returns (yes, SCO, I know for some of you it never went away) and attention moves back to places where you can get proper beer rather than some chemical creation called Bud Zero.

Gamball:
France - England

Others:
Rotherham - Bristol City
Blackpool - Birmingham
Reading - Coventry
Swansea - Norwich
Exeter - Sheff Wed
Forest Green - Cheltenham
Oxford - Barnsley
Salford - Walsall
QPR - Burnley


Edited with a new gamball game as nobody had posted by Sunday! The England score will be taken after extra time (before penalties) if applicable.

The prospective new owners of Birmingham City, Paul Richardson and Maxi Lopez, have withdrawn their offer to buy the club, reports BBC Radio WM.

In a statement they said that, after due diligence work, they had failed to renegotiate the terms of their original agreement with Blues' current owners.

Businessman Richardson and ex-Barcelona striker Lopez began talks in July.

They said they were "bitterly disappointed" and have been left with "no alternative".

The Championship club have been owned by China-based Birmingham Sports Holdings Limited since 2016.

They bought the club as Trillion Trophy Asia to become their second successive ownership from Asia, following Carson Yeung's ownership.

The consortium involving Lopez and local clothing brand owner Richardson had been negotiating for four months to try and buy the club.

Lopez claimed in July that his consortium had paid a deposit and exchanged contracts to buy a 21% stake. The indication was that they were already at the club, making decisions.

But the proposed takeover remained under investigation by the English Football League (EFL).

"Following several months of due diligence at Birmingham City Football Club, Maxco has decided not to proceed with the purchase of the shareholding and stadium of BCFC at this time," the statement said.

"In light of the due diligence we attempted to renegotiate the terms of the original agreements to reflect our understanding of the current business status, but we could not agree revised terms with the current owners.

"We have been left with no alternative and are bitterly disappointed as we know what this club means to the community and the very loyal fanbase.

"We really hope that BCFC finds a owner who is as passionate about the club as we are."

The timeline on Blues' takeover
3 November: Birmingham still under EFL investigation

4 August: No further news on potential takeover - Eustace

19 July: Lopez & Richardson aim to buy stake in Birmingham City

9 July: EFL await information on Birmingham City takeover

15 June: MP calls on government to block sale to Bassini

13 June: Bassini reportedly interested in Blues

18 Feb: Ian Dutton takes over as Blues MD

21 Jan: Blues owners 'have no intention to sell'

20 Jan: Blues fans plan protest march against owners

York City have appointed former Huddersfield Town head of football operations David Webb as their new manager.

The Minstermen parted company with John Askey last month, with the ex-Macclesfield boss saying he had to wait by a printer to be handed a letter saying he was sacked.

Webb has also held roles at Southampton, Bournemouth and Tottenham.

He will take charge of the National League side on Monday.

"The key to this appointment was finding someone who aligns with our long-term vision for the club, and David was the standout candidate from the start," chairman Glen Henderson told the club website.

"He is talented and experienced across all aspects of managing a football club, from first-team management, player development, scouting, coaching, motivation, and with an excellent understanding of how the football business works."

Webb will be assisted by former Leeds United academy coach Michael Morton.