Gamball:
Watford - Norwich

Others:
Leicester - Crystal Palace
Luton - QPR
Rotherham - Huddersfield
Middlesbrough - Blackburn
Preston - Stoke
Cambridge - Sheff Wed
Accrington - Derby
Liverpool - Man City
Man Utd - Newcastle

LAST TIME OUT



FORM GUIDE

BRISTOL C 1 PNE 11

MANAGER

NIGEL PEARSON

Managerial career
Early career
As manager of Carlisle United, Pearson helped to keep the club in the Football League at the end of the 1998–99 season.[3] He signed goalkeeper Jimmy Glass on loan, who scored an injury-time goal against Plymouth Argyle, saving the club from relegation to the Football Conference at the expense of Scarborough.[8] The match was Pearson's last in charge of the Brunton Park outfit.

In 1999, he was recruited as Stoke City's first team coach by Gary Megson.[3] Although Megson was sacked later that year by the club's Icelandic consortium, Pearson was kept on for a further two years under Guðjón Þórðarson, before being sacked in 2001.[9]

Pearson moved to West Bromwich Albion in November 2004 as assistant manager to Bryan Robson,[10] and took over as caretaker manager when Robson left the club in September 2006.[11] Albion won three and drew one of his matches in charge, before stepping down from the role in preparation for the arrival of new manager Tony Mowbray.[12]


Pearson as assistant manager of Newcastle United in 2006
On 19 October 2006, he was linked with the Sheffield Wednesday manager's position but instead took over as assistant manager of Newcastle United, replacing Kevin Bond, who was dismissed following allegations he was prepared to take bungs for players whilst at Portsmouth.[13]

On 1 February 2007, Pearson was confirmed as assistant coach to Stuart Pearce, the England U21 team manager, until after the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[14] As Pearce's contract limited him to involvement in only one friendly before the Championship, Pearson led the under-21s in their 3–3 draw against Italy on 24 March 2007, the first game at the new Wembley Stadium.[15][16]

When Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder resigned on 6 May 2007, Pearson took charge of the remaining game of the season, away to Watford.[17] Pearson stayed on at Newcastle as a coach following the arrival of Sam Allardyce as manager at the club.[18] On 9 January, following the departure of Allardyce, he was re-appointed as caretaker manager for Newcastle's trip to Manchester United.[19] Newcastle lost 6–0, after a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick, a brace from Carlos Tevez and a Rio Ferdinand goal.[20] On 16 January 2008, after Kevin Keegan had been announced as the next permanent manager of the club, Pearson took charge of the team for the 3rd round FA Cup replay against Stoke City, which Newcastle won 4–1.[21] On 8 February, Pearson left the club.[22]

Southampton
On 18 February 2008, Pearson was appointed as manager of Southampton on a rolling contract.[23] On 19 February 2008, his career at Southampton got off to a poor start, losing 2–0 at home to Plymouth Argyle in front of 17,806, the lowest recorded crowd at St Mary's Stadium.[24] On 22 February 2008, Southampton gained their first point under his managership, drawing 1–1 away to Scunthorpe United.[25]

On 4 May 2008, with only one game to go, at home to Sheffield United, the Saints were in 22nd place and facing relegation to League One.[26] After going 1–0 down, Pearson's side pulled-off a comeback to win the game 3–2, their goals scored by Marek Saganowski and two from Stern John, who was also sent-off.[27] Southampton secured Championship status for another season, at the expense of Leicester City, who could only manage a 0–0 draw with Premier League-bound Stoke City, and were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in their 124-year history .[28] On 30 May 2008, Pearson was replaced by Dutch coach Jan Poortvliet after only three months in charge.[29]

Leicester City

Pearson (right) and Milan Mandarić after winning the League One title in 2009
On 20 June 2008, Pearson was appointed as manager of Leicester City.[30] Craig Shakespeare became the club's first team coach and co-assistant manager alongside Steve Walsh (a former Chelsea chief scout, and not the former Leicester City player of the same name).[31] As well as having worked together on the West Bromwich Albion coaching staff, the two had also played together at Sheffield Wednesday. Shakespeare once said that Pearson was the best captain he had ever played under.[32] Pearson was named League One Manager of the Month for August 2008 after Leicester won three of their first four games, scoring nine goals and conceding only once.[citation needed] After the disappointing defeat of losing 3–2 away to Brighton & Hove Albion despite being 2–0 up at half-time, Leicester bounced back with a club-record 23-match unbeaten run in the league between 1 November 2008 and 7 March 2009, before finally being beaten 2–0 by Tranmere Rovers.[33] He was again named the League One Manager of the Month during that run in December 2008.[citation needed] On 18 April 2009, Leicester won 2–0 at Southend United, confirming their promotion back to the Championship as League One champions. The season finished with the club racking up their highest ever points tally of 96 points, as they lost just four of their 46 league games.[3]

Veteran full-back Chris Powell also joined Pearson's coaching staff as a player/coach in the summer of 2009,[34] as Leicester continued their upsurge in form under Pearson the following season in the Championship. Leicester completed a full calendar year of being undefeated at home, before a 2–1 defeat against Preston North End on 26 September 2009 ended the longest unbeaten home run in the country.[35] Leicester spent almost the entire season in the play-off positions and an impressive month of February saw Pearson pick up the Championship Manager of the Month award.[citation needed] Leicester finished in 5th place in their first season back in the Championship, earning a place in the Championship play-offs and a chance of back-to-back promotions.[36] They were defeated by Cardiff City following a penalty shoot-out in the play-off semifinal, despite fighting back from a 2-goal aggregate deficit in the second leg to briefly lead 3–2.[3]

At the end of the season, Pearson took a hard line on Leicester defender Wayne Brown, who had publicly said in front of his teammates – including some of ethnic minority backgrounds – that he had voted for the far-right British National Party in the general election on 6 May. He dropped Brown from the side for the play-offs.[37] During the close season, Brown left the club to sign for Preston North End.[38]

Despite his relative success in his two years at Leicester, he often had a very strained relationship with chairman Milan Mandaric and chief executive Lee Hoos. In the summer of 2010, Mandaric showed a consortium of potential club buyers round the club without Pearson's knowledge and invited Paulo Sousa to the second leg of the play-off semifinal. The club then allowed Hull City to speak to him. Pearson said: "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what's happening" – suggesting the club did not want to keep him. He then left Leicester to take the job at Hull City and Paulo Sousa was later appointed as his successor.[39][40]

Hull City
On 29 June 2010, he was appointed Hull City manager.[41] Despite financial difficulties following relegation from the Premier League, Pearson was still able to enter the transfer market, bringing in players such as Nolberto Solano, James Harper, Liam Rosenior, Robert Koren and Jay Simpson.[42][43][44][45] The club won their first away game in over a year at Norwich City in September. Following that victory, Pearson's club broke a 66-year-old record with 14 consecutive away games without defeat.[46] The season ended with an 11th-place finish.[3]

Hull started the 2011–12 season with the club sitting one point outside the play-offs, having a game in hand in the middle of November;[47] however, on 7 November 2011 Pearson requested permission to talk to his former club Leicester.[48]

Return to Leicester City
After Mandaric and Hoos had departed the club, Pearson was persuaded to rejoin Leicester City under their new ownership by chairman Vichai Raksriaksorn, and after days of negotiations he was finally re-appointed as manager on 15 November 2011 with Leicester sitting 12th in the Championship.[49][50] Pearson started well, taking seven points from his first three games, which took Leicester into the top six for the first time since he had last been at the club, over 18 months previously,[51] before Leicester faced the Hull City side Pearson had left just 18 days earlier. Leicester lost the game 2–1 thanks to a late Robert Koren strike, as Pearson was greeted with chants of "Judas" from the Hull fans.[52] That result also signalled a downturn in form, beginning a run which saw Leicester fail to win for 5 consecutive games.[53] However, after the new year, Pearson rang the changes for the trip to Crystal Palace in an attempt to get back to winning ways, recalling Aleksander Tunchev to play his first match of the season and bringing in reserve team player Tom Kennedy and 18-year-old youth academy graduate Liam Moore to make his first team debut for the club. His inexperienced team selection paid off as Leicester earnt a 2–1 victory to end their winless run.[54]

Pearson was sent to the stands in a 2–2 draw against his former club Middlesbrough, after the referee had allegedly "barged" into Leicester's dressing room unannounced, to which Pearson reacted angrily. The referee then left it to the fourth official to tell him he had been sent off. Pearson then appealed his sending off, saying, "I was giving my players instructions and there is no chance I will tolerate anyone coming in there who has nothing to do with my team. I'm within my rights to tell him to get out – he was telling me to hurry up. I can't wait to see the fall-out and I can't wait to appeal."[55][56] Pearson's appeal was successful, and he faced no disciplinary action from the Football Association (FA).[57] After an inconsistent season, Leicester ended the season ninth in the Championship.[58]

Leicester made a slow start to the 2012–13 season, losing three of their first five league games and suffering a surprising defeat in the second round of the League Cup at the hands of League Two side Burton Albion; however, a run of five straight victories saw Leicester sitting top of the table after 12 games and also earnt Pearson a nomination for Championship Manager of the Month in September.[59][60] However, a drop in form in mid-season saw Leicester fall to fifth. The signing of Chris Wood, though, saw a rejuvenated Leicester go on another run of five consecutive wins, with Leicester reprising 2nd place in the Championship table, behind leaders Cardiff City, and Pearson this time won the Championship Manager of the Month award for January 2013.[61] Again, a drop in form followed Leicester City's rise to second spot, and they only made the Championship play-offs on goal difference following their last gasp 3–2 win against neighbours Nottingham Forest on the last day of the season.[62] After winning the first leg against third-placed Watford 1–0, Pearson's Leicester City narrowly lost the second leg of the play-offs 3–1, after Anthony Knockaert missed a last-minute penalty which would have sent them to Wembley.[63]

The 2013–14 season saw Leicester recover from their play-off defeat of the previous season, starting well and sitting in first place at Christmas. It was during this time that the club started a club-record run of consecutive league victories, winning nine games from 21 December 2013 – 1 February 2014, which saw the club pull 10 points clear at the top of the Championship and earnt Pearson the Championship Manager of the Month award for January 2014.[64] Continuing good results, which saw Leicester play 20 league games unbeaten until the end of March, also earned Pearson the award again in March 2014.[65] Leicester ended the season as champions, winning promotion to the Premier League.[66]

In February 2015, following a home defeat by Crystal Palace in a game in which, at one point, Pearson put his hands around Palace's James McArthur's neck, while on the ground, the press reported that Pearson had been sacked. In a "night of confusion," it was reported by The Guardian that club staff, and even Pearson himself, had been told that he was sacked.[67] However, the same evening, the club issued a statement stating that such claims were "inaccurate and without foundation."[68] Following victories against West Ham United, West Brom, Swansea City and Burnley, with just one defeat, against Chelsea, during the month of April 2015, Pearson won the Premier League Manager of the Month for the first time.[69] On 29 April 2015, following a 3–1 defeat to Chelsea, Pearson was again embroiled in controversy, when he called a journalist an "ostrich", "stupid" and "daft" during a post-match news conference. He apologised for his comments the following day.[70][71]

On 16 May 2015, Leicester City confirmed their Premier League status following a goalless draw with Sunderland, becoming only the third team to escape relegation having been bottom at Christmas.[72] Leicester finished the season in 14th place.[73]

On 30 June 2015, however, Pearson was sacked, with the club stating that "the working relationship between Nigel and the Board was no longer viable." The sacking was linked to his son James's role in an alleged racist sex tape made by three Leicester City reserve players in Thailand during a post-season tour.[74][75][76] He was replaced at Leicester City by Claudio Ranieri, who took Leicester to the Premier League title the following year as 5000–1 outsiders. Sports journalists gave Pearson credit for building the team that won the title, as did player Riyad Mahrez.[77]

Derby County
After a year out of football, Pearson was appointed manager of Championship team Derby County on a three-year contract on 27 May 2016.[78] On 27 September 2016, Pearson was suspended by the club pending an internal investigation[79] following a row with owner Mel Morris.[80] It was later claimed that the row began with Pearson's objection to Morris's use of drones to observe training sessions.[81] Pearson left the club by mutual consent on 8 October 2016, with Derby 20th in the Championship.[82]

OH Leuven
After losing out on the managerial role at his former club Middlesbrough to Garry Monk,[83] Pearson was appointed as the manager of Belgian First Division B side Oud-Heverlee Leuven on 22 September 2017.[84] He was sacked on 3 February 2019.[85]

Watford
Pearson was appointed Watford manager on 6 December 2019 on a contract until the end of the season. He was their third manager of the season after Javi Gracia and Quique Sánchez Flores.[86] On 29 February 2020, with Pearson as manager, Watford defeated league leaders Liverpool 3–0. This was the first time in 45 games that Liverpool had lost in the Premier League.[87]

On 19 July 2020, Pearson was sacked with two games remaining in the 2019–20 season. Watford were seven points adrift at the bottom of the league when Pearson took charge, and three points above the relegation zone when he was sacked.[88][89] Following Pearson's sacking, Watford went on to lose their remaining two games and were relegated.[90]

Bristol City
On 22 February 2021, Pearson was appointed manager of Bristol City on a contract until the end of the season.[91] On 29 April 2021, Pearson signed a three year contract.[92]

BRISTOL CULTURE

John M. Perry is an English musician, songwriter, and author. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s as the guitarist for the English rock band the Only Ones.

The Only Ones came out of London during the first wave of punk (1976–77) and, rather like the New York bands the Heartbreakers and Television with whom they later toured, suffered from being too musical for lumpen-punk but too "new" for conservative record business sensibilities. Though they were lumped in with the new wave vanguard, the band were too musically literate—not to mention long in the tooth—to be punks. Rather they were sophisticated guitar rockers whose sound embraced all flavors of 1950s and 1960s rock.[1] Although never a huge commercial success, the band are highly influential.[2]

Perry's guitar style is noted for a combination of attack and melody, a mixture that the UK music magazine Sounds described as being "very superb".[3]

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/

https://www.not606.com/forums/bristol-city.34/

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 15th October:
Rotherham v Town (12:30)
Town scorers:
Rotherham scorers:

Luton Town v Queens Park Rangers (12:30)
Bristol City v Millwall
Burnley v Swansea City
Cardiff City v Coventry City
Middlesbrough v Blackburn Rovers
Preston North End v Stoke City
Reading v West Bromwich Albion
Sheffield United v Blackpool
Sunderland v Wigan Athletic
Watford v Norwich City (19:45)

Sunday 16th October:
Hull City v Birmingham City (15:00)

Tuesday 18th October:
Town v Preston
Town scorers:
Preston scorers:

Norwich City v Luton Town
Swansea City v Reading
Blackburn Rovers v Sunderland
Stoke City v Rotherham United
West Bromwich Albion v Bristol City

Wednesday 19th October:
Birmingham City v Burnley
Blackpool v Hull City
Coventry City v Sheffield United
Queens Park Rangers v Cardiff City
Wigan Athletic v Middlesbrough
Millwall v Watford

Table after Matchday 11:

1. jjamez = 227 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 208 pts
   
3. themaclad = 207 pts
   
4. ritchiebaby = 206 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 187 pts
   
6. neonfoxinthebox = 187 pts
   
7. St Charles Owl = 175 pts
   
8. Baggiebob(BBB) = 173 pts
   
9. SHEP_HTAFC = 171 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 167 pts
    
11. Devongone = 167 pts
    
12. WakeyTerrier = 117 pts

Crawley Town have sacked manager Kevin Betsy after four months in charge, with the club bottom of League Two.

The former Arsenal Under-23s boss won only one of his 12 league games in charge, and his assistant Dan Micciche has also left the club.

Betsy, 44, was appointed in June after John Yems left following racism and discriminatory conduct allegations.

The highpoint of his spell in charge was a 2-0 win over former club Fulham in the Carabao Cup.

The departure of Betsy and Micciche was announced in a brief statement by the club, who confirmed that Yems' former assistant Lewis Young will take interim charge of the team.

Crawley, who were taken over by US cryptocurrency investors WAGMI United in April, were beaten 3-0 at Grimsby Town on Saturday after having a goal disallowed for offside when the score was only 1-0.

Betsy afterwards described it as a "pivotal moment".

He said: "We were celebrating the goal and, for whatever reason, the referee has decided to speak with his linesman and chalked off the goal.

"It deflated the players. We still had 45 minutes to come back into the match, but we have not handled the ball well enough in the second half and conceded two poor goals.

"All the planning we had done in leading up to the game was fine, but we conceded a goal as soon as the game kicked off and that wasn't good enough."

Betsy began and ended his playing career at Woking, and in between had spells at clubs including Fulham, Barnsley, Bristol City, Southend and Wycombe Wanderers.

His coaching career began at Fulham and he then took charge of England age-group sides up to the under-18s before joining Arsenal in the summer of 2021.

So it comes to pass that Scotland will face Spain, Norway, Georgia and Cyprus next year in their quest to get to the Euro finals. Spain will be a "tough ask" even though Scotland still look like a "project in progress" and gradually improving. Who would've guessed we'd be facing Erling Haaland eh!! The two matches v Norway will certainly be interesting and likely to be pivotal in deciding where we end up in this group.

This will be another big challenge for Hibs after Motherwell registering an impressive midweek 0-5 win v the Staggies in Dingwall. I'd like to see Johnson deploy an early hi-press strategy in order to "test out their legs" after a few days rest. Hibs must try to keep the positive momentum going - a big initiative to keep interest alive. C'mon Hibs!!

GGTTH

Dag & Red 3-1 Southend
Altrincham 0-2 Dorking
Bromley 2-0 Gateshead
Eastleigh 1-2 Chesterfield
Maidenhead United 3-2 Oldham
Maidstone United 2-1 Halifax
Scunthorpe 2-2 Aldershot
Wealdstone 2-1 Boreham Wood
Woking 1-1 Notts County
Wrexham 2-3 Barnet
Yeovil 1-2 Solihull Moors
York 2-0 Torquay

League Table After Matchday 12
Devon - 262
Lord Snoots - 231
Amelia - 228
SaltergateBorn - 222
Dancing - 192
Spireitematt - 183
St Charles Owl - 157

Premier League

Zinman        21pts 2CS 6CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Minizin        18pts 1CS 5CR 5GB 6BB 1SB
Stairs          13pts 2CS 6CR 0GB -3BB 0SB
Blue Baggie  10pts 1CS 5CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Snooty          9pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Sanjay          6pts 2CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Derby            5pts 1CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
SCO              5pts 0CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 1SB


A good week for the Zins! Big Zin finally got his season going with a good week including scoring with all his balls for the first time in living memory. Minizin did his best to match me but fell short, only (!) getting 18 points, again scoring on all his balls. Stairs matched Zin's record of 2 correct scores and 4 other correct results but missed out on his balls, though he would have done better had he played the gamball.

Blue achieved a double figure score, matching his season's best of 10 points though like all the other players he lost points on the gamball. He was 1 point ahead of Snooty leaving 3 players trailing somewhat. Sanjay just can't get his season going and remains the only participant yet to achieve a double figure score. Derby followed his great score last week with a damp squib of a week, scoring just 5 points while SCO sits bottom of the table for the 3rd week in a row - such a shame that!

Minizin 62
Snooty 61
Derby 52
Stairs 49
Zinman 46
Blue 33
SCO 32
Sanjay 25

A new leader as Minizin jumps from 3rd to 1st. Derby drops a place to 3rd with Zinman climbing 1 place to sit more comfortably in mid-table. Blue climbs above SCO with Sanjay still a bit adrift of the rest.

Zin


Championship

Dingle      17pts 2CS 5CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Amelia      16pts 3CS 2CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Lady Jane  15pts 1CS 3CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 14pts 2CS 2CR NPGB 3BB 1SB
BBB          11pts 0CS 5CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
AAA          3pts 1CS 1CR NPGB -3BB 0SB
Themaclad 2pts 0CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Twerton    1pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

A seasons high scoring in the Championship this week.  Dingle leads the way with 17 points, he scored on 7 of the games including 2 CSs and a CR on the Bonus.  Close behind on a seasons best 16 points is Amelia, this score is better than the accumulation of her first 6 weeks!!  She got a weeks high 3CSs and a CR on the Gamball.  Lady Jane is 3rd with 15 points, she scored on all her balls, a rare feat this season for any player. 

League leader BaggieOne is 4th with 14 points, he wisely didn't play the Gamball and saved points as a consequence.  BBB is next with 11 points, he got a CR on the Gamball as well as scoring on 4 other games but his inability to convert any into CSs kept his score down.

Big drop to the bottom three this week, AAA on 3 points, Themaclad with 2 and Twerton with a single point all had poor weeks.  AAA has been on a good run so he can be forgiven a poor week.  Themaclad has been on a downward slide for a bit and Twerton can't buy a good week (maybe if he actually sent me the money that might change!! ).

80 BaggieOne
78 Dingle
65 Lady Jane
57 Themaclad
57 BBB
48 AAA
28 Amelia
26 Twerton

Just a few changes in the table.  Dingle has closed the gap to BaggieOne, now just two points.  Lady Jane has jumped over Themaclad into third and BBB is now level with him.  AAA stays stuck in 6th but for the first time this season Amelia finds herself off the bottom after her good week, leaving Twerton in bottom place.

Cheers
SCO[/b][/b]