Oldham Athletic have appointed former Everton, Sheffield United and Preston coach David Unsworth as manager to succeed club favourite John Sheridan.

The 48-year-old was most recently under-23s coach at Everton, where he also had two spells as both a player and caretaker boss of the first team.

He takes over the Latics with the club 14th in the National League table after three wins from nine games.

"This is the perfect job for me," Unsworth told the club website.

"I've had opportunities to become a first-team manager at a number of clubs over the past three or four years but they haven't felt quite right.

"This is the right club, the right fit, with the right owners and board of directors."

Despite Unsworth's lack of first-team manager experience, he has worked alongside bosses such as Rafa Benitez, Ronald Koeman and Roberto Martinez at Everton, and also stepped up as caretaker at Preston North End and Sheffield United.

In his under-23 role at Goodison Park he was responsible for helping to bring through current talent such as Tom Davies, Mason Holgate, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Anthony Gordon.

Oldham, who were in the Premier League at the start of Unsworth's playing career in the early 1990s, were relegated from the EFL into non-league at the end of last season.

However, the club has since been taken over by the Rothwell family and a deal has been agreed to secure ownership of Boundary Park.

And Unsworth said the ongoing support of the fans during the club's decline was a "very important factor" in his decision to join.

"I've seen the support they have given the team this season and I'm sure they'll continue to get right behind the team," Unsworth said.

"I genuinely think this club is a sleeping giant, one that can climb up not just one league, but two or three, in a short space of time.

"I'm very pleased to be here and I can't wait to meet the players and get started in the job."

Well this is a match at Hampden with KO preceded by a min's applause for the late Queen. That'll be interesting! Tierney and Patterson "return to the fold" and might make a difference to Scotland's performance v them this time. Hanley out injured. Therefore the CB position will be changed. Probably McKenna coming in. Ukraine are top of the group by 1 pt. So a win must be the target to leapfrog above them plus the motivation to win after that massively disappointing World Cup elimination on "our own patch"!! Must do better, must perform. Again, our striking options are limited. Hopefully someone will "step up to the plate" to score the requisite goals v a team that looks on paper like they are better than Scotland. We need to prove that perception wrong. C'mon Scotland!

Hartlepool United have appointed Keith Curle as their interim manager after the sacking of Paul Hartley.

Hartley, 45, left on Sunday after the Pools failed to win any of their nine League Two games this season.

Curle, 58, has 20 years of management experience and won promotion from League Two via the play-offs with Northampton in 2020.

His last job was at Oldham Athletic but he left Boundary Park last November after eight months.

Hartlepool are second from bottom of the table after four draws and five defeats.

Antony Sweeney will lead the club into Tuesday's Papa John's Trophy contest with Morecambe, with Curle expected to take the reins on Wednesday.

"We fully recognise the need to act decisively and quickly given our position," said chairman Raj Singh.

"Keith has a lot of experience at this level, including turnarounds and achieving promotion into League One with a side just two years ago.

"He has a profile that we believe is needed at this time to immediately step in, shore things up and start moving the team forward again."

Hartley only took over at Victoria Park in June after the Pools agreed compensation with Scottish Championship side Cove Rangers.

The former Celtic and Hearts midfielder's final game in charge was Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Sutton United.

His only win in all competitions was a 2-0 victory over Harrogate in the Papa Johns Trophy at the end of August.

Curle is the Pools third manager in 10 months after Hartley's predecessor Graeme Lee was sacked in May after only five months in charge.

Lee had taken over following Dave Challinor's departure to Stockport County last November.

League Two strugglers Colchester United have sacked head coach Wayne Brown following Saturday's defeat by Grimsby.

It was their fifth loss in their opening nine games of the season and leaves them fourth from bottom.

Brown, 45, took interim charge of the U's in January after the departure of Hayden Mullins and steered them away from relegation trouble to finish 15th.

He was made permanent boss in May but leaves after a run of only one win at the start of this term.

After taking temporary charge for a third time following a run of five league defeats in a row, former U's defender Brown won his first game in charge at Salford.

He then oversaw a run of seven wins from the final 12 games of the season as Colchester went from just three points above the relegation zone to finish 17 points clear of trouble.

"I accept that many of you will feel I have made a harsh decision, given Wayne's success last season and given that he has been such an exceptional servant to Colchester United over the years as a player, coach and manager," U's chairman Robbie Cowling told the club website.

"However, we have decided to act swiftly and decisively following the team's poor start to this season.

"As the club's chairman I have a duty to make what I believe are the right decisions for the long-term future of Colchester United."

'Appointing from within has yielded little' - analysis
BBC Essex's sports editor Glenn Speller

To the list of Joe Dunne, Tony Humes, John McGreal, Steve Ball and Hayden Mullins, you can add the name of Wayne Brown.

Colchester's insistence on appointing from within has yielded little in return other than one play-off appearance under McGreal.

It is now seven head coaches in eight years for the U's and the pattern of dismissals is stark. The only difference is how early it has happened this time.

Brown steered the club to safety last season, so well in fact they finished the season in the top eight of the form table.

Late recruitment and having so many players under contract from last season did not help Brown but the performances have, for the most part, been flat and uninspiring.

The hierarchy at the club need to look at why this pattern has become so familiar and realise there has to be accountability.

For the majority of supporters, doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results has proved to be Colchester's undoing for too long.

Cardiff City have sacked manager Steve Morison with the Bluebirds 18th in the Championship after 10 games.

The former Wales international took charge of the first team after Cardiff sacked Mick McCarthy in October 2021.

Morison brought in 17 new players during the summer, but Cardiff have won just three league matches, losing 1-0 to Huddersfield most recently.

Mark Hudson will take interim charge of the first team assisted by Tom Ramasut while the club consider their options.

"We'd like to thank Steve for his efforts during his time at Cardiff City, stabilising the first team last season and helping to evolve our squad in line with the club's philosophy this summer," said a club statement.

"We wish him the best for the future."

Having steered the Bluebirds away from a relegation battle last season Morison was handed a new contract until the end of this season.

After being among the league's most active clubs in the transfer market, the season got off to the perfect start with a 1-0 win against promotion favourites Norwich.

However, Cardiff have won just two games since - a 1-0 win at home to Birmingham and a 3-2 win away at Middlesbrough.

Saturday's defeat away at Huddersfield was the fifth time in 10 league games that the Bluebirds failed to score in.

That loss saw the club drop to 18th, just one point outside the relegation places.

That makes 9 unbeaten. According to the archives, our best ever unbeaten run at the start of a season was in 1935/36, when I believe we went on to win the old Division 3 North title; also 9 games. That means we`ve now equalled our best start, which eventually led to promotion. Good omen? Hope so.

It also means, of course, that avoiding defeat at Maidstone will make it a record; so expect us to crash and burn.

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.

UEFA Nations League:
Wednesday September 21st:
Scotland v Ukraine

Thursday September 22nd:
Belgium v Wales

Friday September 23rd:
Italy v England
England scorers:

Saturday September 24th:
Northern Ireland v Kosovo (17:00)
Scotland v Republic of Ireland (19:45)

Sunday September 25th:
Wales v Poland (19:45)

Monday September 26th:
England v Germany
England scorers:

Tuesday September 27th:
Ukraine v Scotland
Greece v Northern Ireland

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
League One:
Sheffield Wednesday v Wycombe Wanderers

National League:
Maidstone United v Chesterfield

Table after Matchday 8:

1. jjamez = 159 pts
   
2. themaclad = 159 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 156 pts
   
4. Lord Snooty = 145 pts
   
5. ritchiebaby = 144 pts
   
6. neonfoxinthebox = 131 pts
   
7. Devongone = 126 pts
   
8. Baggiebob(BBB) = 125 pts
   
9. St Charles Owl = 123 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 121 pts
    
11. SHEP_HTAFC = 115 pts
    
12. WakeyTerrier = 77 pts

Sky media issuing a formal statement that they will mute their live broadcast of the pre-match tribute of condolence to the late Queen and promises to suppress all the nasty anti-monarchy stuff they are expecting to come from the fans - not having that! Therefore "we will erase this alternative viewpoint that has already been observed at other Scot footie grounds with a mixed bag of reactions from many fans: from extreme to moderate to mere silence". The past week of "mourning", paralleled with Charles ascension to the throne, have been curious as well as educational/enlightening if one is just witnessing it discreetly as a quiet observer, with many people also "taking note" and there is a lot to note down IMO!!

Are we utterly mental?

Okay Banks isn't suspended now, but with Oyeleke out and Dobra having missed games, relying on Clarke's fitness seems a bit foolhardy in view of his record, good player that he is. How many midfielders do we have that we think are better than Whelan?

Yes, he'll get games he wouldn't have had, but we might lose points we would have won ........ and if we don't think he's decent how come we signed him twice?

Lee Johnson returns "to the fold" after surgery and recuperation at the NRI. I wish him well for the future. The Dons are currently 3rd in the Scot Prem, but only 2 pts from Hibs position. So this is a big fixture tomorrow where Hibs need to "show up" and win this home match - it is that important in order to lay down a marker re where we wanna be in the months ahead. They'll be dangerous with a physically imposing CF up front who can score goals. I hope Porto has been briefed re what is expected of him as a Hibs defender - focus and perform effectively for the full match period! Their defence is not as good as it should be IMO. Hence we have a chance to win this match! Our regular prob centres on scoring goals and doing it consistently. More hope of this issue being resolved comes with the arrival of Mykola Kukharevych who certain looks the part with a height of 6'4", but can he deliver in this league? McKirdy is also available to deliver goals. The same question arises re his ability to "do the biz". We live in hope!! C'mon Hibs!

GGTTH