The winter of discontent has passed in West Yorkshire and has given way to a spring of resentment, towards Huddersfield Town and those at the forefront of the club. The main three in Nagle, Edwards and Cartwright have taken the brunt, and rightly so, they are the faces of the club, however the mire has started to encompass Kev's sidekick Dave, with Jon Worthington having gone from the second coming of the messiah, to a very naughty boy who has fallen into the Michael Duff trap of dour and insipid football. The players, having gotten used to a chorus of boos on many occasion this season, have now seen chants aimed towards them of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt'. Ironic really given the amount of injuries the side has had, meaning a lot of them actually haven't been fit to wear the shirt, and most of them when they have been fit to wear the shirt, actually haven't been fit to wear the shirt... its very much a penrose stairs sort of thing. Anyone into paradoxes, and I don't mean how America keep voting Trump and how to fix Town.



Does hope spring eternal? maybe according to those who chirp in the ear of Kev, but that is probably so they can keep each other in a job, it would be interesting to see what they get up to over the course of a week, however, it does feel like we could be a spin off series of Sunderland till I die, just without players on over 60k a week, we have had club staff getting into fights with supporters though, so we are well on the way in that sense!

How do you solve a puzzle like Town? well other than a bit of axe wielding, actually there is probably a lot of culling needed in the playing squad and a few other positions. The answer is probably increase revenue any which way you can and try and throw money at it, although we just seem intent on throwing good money after bad. But simplistically, it is remove people from positions they don't deserve, cut a lot of the players who are seeing their deals expire, try to move on those that are weighing the team down, get as good a deal as we can for stadium sponsorship and use whatever money we have to undergo yet another full rebuild. Simples.



Tuesdays defeat leaves Town in 8th, with a huge fight on their hands to finish in the top 6, sitting on 61 points, Bolton, the current incumbents meanwhile, are on 63 points with Stockport on 71 points in 5th. Town have registered just the sole win in their last 5 games, and taking that into account, could face dropping down to 10th fairly soon, with Leyton Orient having 59 points. Looking at the games we have left, Wycombe, Stockport, Leyton Orient will be fighting for their spots up the top of the league, whilst Mansfield and Exeter are probably just about safe, but will want to make sure of it, with Cambridge and Burton both fighting for their places in this league. Town meanwhile don't seem to have an ounce of fight left in them by and large, and it will remain that way whilst gutless players like Ben Wiles remain immune to being dropped. A stat from last nights TV coverage was that one trick pony Josh Koroma has scored 1 goal in his last 14 games or something like that. Either way, not acceptable if he is desiring a Championship contract, yet other team commentators seem to think he is a key player for us, they obviously haven't seen how many attacks end because of his reluctance to take a man on, instead slowing down and allowing defenders to get back. I find myself having a lot of other peeves with this side, goalkeepers reluctant to start a counter attack when catching the ball, every man back defending corners when some are close to being certified as midgets, Callum Marshall needlessly shoving players in the back when trying to apply pressure giving stupid fouls away, Evans not being able to control a ball half the time, and when he does firing a pass at the opposition, Wiles just being there is often enough for me too, I don't know, there's just something about him, he openly admitted he stopped trying last season and seems to have done the same again now and he did at Rotherham. Any more peeves? Sorensen not being able to beat a man with a cross or take his man on, throw ins being useless for the 10th season in a row, maybe longer. The list goes on and its becoming a rant rather than a match thread.

Moving onto Mansfield, still managed by Nigel Clough, sit 17th on 47 points, 8 points clear of the drop zone. They were founded in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans, it would be nearly 40 years before they were able to join the football league and initially struggled to adapt to the increase in standard. They started to progress after World War II, avoiding the need to reapply for League status as the war finished, they started to climb the table and reached the 5th round of the FA Cup in 1950, but by the end of the 50's they had been relegated to the newly created fourth division. They got promoted a few seasons later, but this was tarnished by accusations and the eventual suspensions of two players for bribing opponents. Two seasons later, the club again narrowly missed out on promotion to the Second Division. The season after avoiding relegation due to a points deduction for Peterborough United, Mansfield made another headline-grabbing cup run. Mansfield beat First Division West Ham United 3–0 in the fifth round of the 1968–69 FA Cup, before narrowly losing to Leicester City in the quarter-finals. In 1971–72 Mansfield were relegated, again, to the Fourth Division. By 1976–77, the club was back in the Third Division, and despite the distraction of a 5–2 FA Cup defeat to Matlock Town, beat Wrexham to the Third Division title. The club went straight back down, and only a good run of form at the end of the 1978–79 season saved Mansfield from a double relegation. Mansfield won the Football League Trophy in front of 58,000 fans in May 1987, beating Bristol City on penalties after a 1–1 draw, with former Town manager Ian Greaves at the helm. However, the years that followed were inconsistent, with Mansfield becoming a "yo-yo" team between the Third and Fourth Divisions. In 2001–02, Mansfield were again promoted to the third tier of English football, beating Carlisle United to take third place from Cheltenham Town, who lost at Plymouth Argyle. A poor season in Division Two did not pick up even with the arrival of Keith Curle as manager, as the club was relegated straight back to the fourth tier of English football. In 2003–04, Mansfield beat Northampton Town in a penalty shoot-out in the Division Three play-off semi-finals, but lost to Town on penalties in the final.



They come in on the back of a 2-1 defeat at home to Charlton, better than what we did, they have won 13 games this season, including wins against Stockport and Bolton back in January, as well as drawing against Birmingham and the other fixture against Stockport. Survival was the aim of the game for the season in reality for the Stags after getting promoted from League Two last season, finishing third, having missed out in the play offs the season prior. In 2018–19, the Stags narrowly missed out on promotion on the final day of the season after a defeat to promotion rivals MK Dons. They lost in the play-off semi-finals to Newport County on penalties. In 2021–22, Mansfield reached the play-offs again but lost 3–0 to Port Vale in the final. This season marks the first time the Stags have played in the third tier of English Football since the 2002-2003 season, with the Stags spending time in non league along the way, having seen their 77 year stay in come to an end in 2008. That hiatus would last until they won the title in 2013, their time in the non league was bumpy to say the least, with the original owner attacked by fans upon relegation Following the club's relegation in 2008, Colin Hancock, then the chairman of Glapwell, emerged as the leading bidder as he agreed to purchase a controlling share of the Stags, Field Mill, and some land surrounding the stadium from Haslam. However, three businessmen who were also Mansfield Town fans, Andrew Perry, Andrew Saunders and Steve Middleton, bought the club from Keith Haslam for an undisclosed fee, but they were still renting the stadium from him. At the start of the 2010–11 season Mansfield were bought by John Radford. He and his wife brought Paul Cox to the club, with Cox leading Mansfield to the FA Cup 3rd round where a Luis Suarez goal knocked the stags out of the cup. He achieved promotion back to the football league and finished mid table in their first season back, he departed in 2014 by mutual consent and the club have had five permanent managers since then, including former Barnsley caretaker Adam Murray and ex Rotherham manager Steve Evans, until finding solidity and success under Clough who has been at the helm for over 200 games now.

Clough, obviously needs no real introduction, a famous father and a footballing career that saw him play over 300 games for Forest and represent clubs like Liverpool and Man City (before they were good), he also received 13 England caps, but didn't register a goal for the National side. He has forged his own managerial path, starting with a decade at the helm of Burton Albion between 1998 and 2009, he was in charge for over 700 games, the highlights of his first spell there being guiding them to the Conference Premier and holding a star studded Manchester United to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup at Old Trafford, although they lost the replay 5-0. In January 2009, Derby County came calling and the lure of returning to his fathers old stomping ground was too much to ignore. He spent nearly 4 years at Derby, becoming their longest serving manager in over a decade when he departed. He was unable to match his fathers success, only managing to keep Derby as a solid midtable club in the Championship, although at the time, the club wasn't as well funded, although his replacement Steve McLaren guided them further up the league. Less than a month later, Clough would be appointed manager of Sheffield United, the Blades were sat near the foot of League one, having failed to overcome the disappointment of losing the play off final a few seasons prior to Town. Clough guided them to an 11th place finish and the following season took the Blades to the FA Cup semi finals, but was unable to get promotion and was sacked at the end of the season.

He would return to Burton, now in League One in December after Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink left to join QPR, his tenure this time was far shorter than his first but he guided Burton to the Championship for the first time in their history in his first season back, he kept them in the second tier for two seasons before they were relegated at the end of the 2018 season., he was unable to achieve a return to the second division and eventually departed the club in 2020 due to the financial pressure on the club from COVID. Later that year he would join Mansfield who were sitting near the foot of League Two, After a poor start to the 2021–22 season which had seen his side in the relegation zone in October, Mansfield would win a club record eleven consecutive home matches to finish the season strongly. They ultimately finished 7th, missing out on automatic promotion on the final game of the season. In the play-offs, Mansfield would beat Northampton Town before losing 3–0 in the play-off final against Port Vale. In the 2022–23 season, Mansfield missed out on a play-off finish on goal difference despite a win against Colchester United in the final game. At the beginning of the 2023–24 season, Mansfield went 19 games unbeaten and would end the season with promotion to League One.



In terms of head-to-head, there is obviously one game that stands out way back when in the old days, when the town was a league with two sides full of kids. But really, meetings between the two sides have been few and far between, with only 22 games over the course of time. The first meeting was a 0-0 draw in 1976 in the FA Cup, with Mansfield winning the replay 2-1. The sides would meet twice in the League Cup in 83, with Huddersfield winning both games, 2-1 in Nottinghamshire and 5-1 back in Yorkshire. The first league meeting would come in 88 in Division 3, with Mansfield winning the first game 1-0 before Town wonure 2-0, this would mark the first of a few seas the return fixtons where the sides would meet, Town would register the league double over the Stags the next season before the sides drew both games in the 90/91 season. The sides would have a season off before renewing acquaintances in 1992, in the newly named Division Two, with Town once again doing the league double. It would be another 5 years before the sides would meet again, this time it would be back in the League Cup, with Huddersfield winning the first game 3-2, before drawing the second game 1-1, three years later, Mansfield would knock Town out of the FA Cup with a 4-0 down at Field Mill. The sides would be back in league action in 2002/03 with Town winning away 2-0 and drawing 1-1 at home, but the sides would suffer the same fate as they were relegated into division 3. A 3-3 draw would come first, before Town capitulated in front of a bumper crowd, losing 3-1. Both sides missed out on automatic promotion and would have to go through the playoffs, with Town winning on penalties after a 0-0 draw. Two years later, Mansfield would get a little revenge as they knocked Town out of the league cup 2-0, it would be a further 18 years before the sides would meet again at a blustery One Call Stadium earlier this season, with Town winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Ben Wiles and Josh Koroma.



In terms of played for both, Mansfield have a few in their current squad, Lucas Akins came through the academy at Town and impressed manager Andy Ritchie in training, but once Ritchie left and was replaced by Stan Ternent, his opportunities dwindled, with Stan telling Akins he would be leaving at the end of the season having only made 5 appearances for the first team before heading to Scotland to play for Hamilton. He had two years in Scotland, including having a loan out at Partick Thistle, before moving back down South to join Tranmere. He had two seasons at Tranmere, making over 70 appearances before leaving to join Stevenage, there he would also make over 70 appearances and scoring 13 goals ahead of his first meet up with Nigel Clough at Burton. During his time at Burton, he would reach the Championship, making over 300 appearances in his 8 years at the club. He would leave Burton at the end of 2022 season and rejoin Clough at Mansfield. He has been there ever since and has made over 100 appearances for the club, although this could be his last season in football as he pled guilty to death by dangerous driving earlier this year, some 3 years after the incident. Also in their current squad is one Jordan Rhodes, who joined on loan from Blackpool in January, he has scored one goal for the club, and has been a bit of a part player, although he will likely be in the squad on saturday, we don't need his story, although, I would seriously have signed him in January considering how our current lot have been doing. In previous years they have had the likes of David Mirfin who played two seasons at the club at the end of his career, only making 12 appearances for the Stags, former Town loanee Krystian Pearce has also played for Mansfield, making 191 more appearances for the Stags than he did the Terriers...work that out. Another former Town loanee in Jordan Smith has been on the books of both sides, he failed to make an appearance for Town, but made 12 for Mansfield, he's currently playing up in Scotland at Hibernian. Another academy graduate Jimmy Spencer had a spell at Mansfield as he drifted down the footballing pyramid, he played 18 games for the Stags, Oscar Gobern likewise played in passing for Mansfield on his way down, Town also loaned striker Danny Carr to Mansfield where he only managed 4 games, but really there isn't much to talk about here.



In terms of team news, town may see the return of Spencer from a hamstring complaint, but I don't think there us many more to come back just yet, but will we see a new manager hidden in the stands somewhere? it wouldn't surprise me if someone hasn't planned to make the journey to the ground to see what is happening.

Hibs have extended their unbeaten League run to 15 games, but I feel that their visit to Ibrox will see that end on Saturday against Rangers - Rangers of all teams!!!

Hibs go to Glasgow with a great confidence in their ability to shine in their play and to grind out results when required. Rangers have a notoriously fragile defence when under pressure and Hibs must take advantage of this. And Rangers have lost too regularly at Ibrox to allow them to be installed as favourites, as has happened far too often in the past.

However, although this is a really tight game in prospect, I feel that Rangers will be more ruthless in attack than Hibs and that might prove to be the difference.

Group A

Themaclad 13
Zinman 6
Minizin 3
Amelia 1
A.A.A. 1
Twerton -3

I must apologize for the delay in getting the results out this week but as you will all have seen in the news the President has imposed a 10% tariff on the UK and as both Zinman and I are based in the USA this has caused us to be rather busy!! So after the announcement we convened a PL Board Meeting and we determined that we are unable to avoid these tariffs, so by a unanimous decision it has been decided to deduct 10% of all the UK based points and allocate them to the US based players going forward. We are sorry to have to do this but rules are rules!!

Tariff points certainly won't amount to much this week in Group A though. This was the second worst week this season with just 21 points scored in total and had it not been for Man City's comeback win on Sunday it would have been the worst and would only have scored a total of 9 points!!! Themaclad though certainly took advantage of everyone else's woes scoring 13 points, a score that gives him more points than the rest put together!!! He managed to get 2 CSs, one more than the rest combined and scored on his Bonus whereas everyone else missed on it.

Zinman was the only one to score a CR on the Gamball due to his lack of faith in WBA but was able to do little else and ended with 6 points. Minizin ended with 3 and was one of 4 players to score -1 on the Scoreball by putting it on the 0-0 draw between Brighton and Forest!! AAA and Amelia both ended with 1 point, Amelia at least got a CS, but like Minizin they missed on every ball and got the dreaded -1 one on the scoreball.

Twerton has a complete mare!!! He was top last week with the best score this season and now has backed that up with the lowest score we have seen this season with -3!!! He basically missed on everything - the Gamball, Bonus, -1 on the Scoreball and only 1 CR on that Man City win to prevent him scoring the lowest possible score!!

293 Themaclad
266 Zinman
261 Twerton
255 Minizin
196 A.A.A.
194 Amelia

Has this weeks result seen Themaclad finally secure the title?? It will take a pretty spectacular fall from grace for him to lose it now!! His lead over 2nd place is now up to a health 27 points, that place is now held by Zinman with Twerton dropping to 3rd. Minizin is 4th and this top 4 look pretty secure for the Play offs with only a few weeks left.

Cheers
SCO

Group B

Lady Jane 19
Derby 9
BaggieOne 5
SCO 5
Snooty 4
Stairs 3
BBB -1

A difficult week for most players with one very clear exception. For the 6th time this year, nobody got the gamball right (strange, as I thought it was very predictable) and the bonus ball negatives exactly matched the positives.

The exception was this season's stand out player, Lady Jane. She headed just about every statistic - most correct scores, most correct results, only spot-on bonus etc - to give her a 10 point lead over 2nd place, the biggest winning margin of the season. Derby is clear in 2nd place - 5 correct results but he was let down by his balls, only scoring from the scoreball.

After that it was all a bit meh. BaggieOne and SCO are tied on 5 points, B1 scoring on 3 games with 1 correct score while SCO only got 2 correct results but was helped by one of them being his bonus. Snooty sits a point further back with a similar breakdown to SCO, just his failure on the scoreball dropping him down. Stairs is a further point back - an identical return to BaggieOne except for the scoreball which he played on the 0-0 game (even after an additional 30 minutes!). And then we have BBB - just 1 correct result and the consolation of a scoreball point means he went backwards this week.

269 Lady Jane
246 SCO
237 Derby
231 Stairs
210 BBB
200 Snooty
175 BaggieOne

For what seems to be about the 15th week, the only change in the table is Derby and Stairs with Derby pulling clear in 3rd place. Lady Jane had been coming under some pressure from SCO in the last few weeks but her outstanding performance opens up a more healthy 23 points gap as we head into the final few weeks. One other point to mention is that Snooty reached the 200 point landmark.

Zin

Cheltenham 2-1 Doncaster
Walsall 2-2 Port Vale
Tranmere 1-3 Chesterfield
Wimbledon 4-1 Harrogate
Bradford 1-1 Crewe
Bromley 2-0 Accrington
Carlisle 1-0 Newport
Colchester 2-1 Notts C
Fleetwood 0-2 Swindon
Grimsby 3-0 Morecambe
MKDons 2-2 Barrow
Salford 1-2 Gillingham


Tuesday 8th

Chesterfield 3-1 Gillingham

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 5TH APRIL KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



First match back after the break and we managed to eek out a point at Cardiff. Cardiff were the better team in the first half and after several chances they deservedly took the lead when the ball was fed out to Davies who cut inside and fired past Charles. Cardiff continued to be the better team and Charles made a good save to keep us from being 2 down at the break. The team was booed off and DR made several changes and looked a better team. We equalised when Ihiekwe headed in a Bannan corner. Cardiff did respond and had a couple of chances but we held on for another point.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and we are back at Hillsborough as Hull make the short journey to Sheffield. Hull have been having a poor season and have been hovering around the relegation zone for most of the season and currently lie in 21st place just 1 point above the relegation zone. They do play Portsmouth and Derby in there run in so those games will be pivotal if they stand a chance of staying in the league. They are managed by Rubben Selles, who took over in December and has won 7 of the 21 games he has been in charge of. There leading scorer is Joao Pedro with 6 goals so far this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 24
HULL 16
DRAW 20

CURRENT FORM

OWLS  D L W W L L                                                                      

HULL L D W D W L    

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

OLIVER LANGFORD
Mark Stevens and Hristo Karaivanov
Fourth Official: David Webb

THE TEAM

Beadle
Iorfa Ihiekwe M Lowe Hatsuse
Bannan Charles
Gasama Windass Ingelsson
Pato

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Gassama

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

27988

BML LEAGUE

Imre 27
Maddix 23
SCO 22
Washington 20
Wereham 14

BMPL

Stateside 17
Owlkev 14
Southey 12
Pei 8

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Villa v Forest
Swansea v Derby
Rotherham v Blackpool
Carlisle v Newport
Sutton v Southend

HHAAA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

On the Sky sofa on Thursday, gets on well with his manager translate into potted on Sunday

Rotherham United have sacked manager Steve Evans following their run of seven defeats in 11 League One games.

The 62-year-old Scot, who was in his second spell as Millers boss, had come under fire from fans after Saturday's 4-0 hammering at home by relegation-threatened Crawley Town, which pushed Rotherham down to 16th place in the table.

The club confirmed in a statement, external on Sunday they had parted company with Evans, along with his backroom staff Paul Raynor, Gary Mills and Ian Pledger.

Former Rotherham coach Matt Hamshaw, who served as caretaker boss of Derby County last month, has been appointed to take temporary charge until the end of the season, assisted by Andy Warrington.

Saturday's defeat by Crawley, a club Evans guided into the Football League earlier in his managerial career, was the Millers' heaviest of the season and prompted some supporters at New York Stadium to call for his dismissal.

Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield after the game, Evans said: "There's no hiding place when you have a performance like that. The performance was limp, way off the minimum standards we expect.

"Everything that my teams have been famous for was not deployed. I think this is as low as it's been in 31 years as a manager.

"Maybe my credit's run out. I've had fantastic times at this club and, if the decision is made to remove me, I'll be back in the future as a fan."

During his initial three-and-a-half-year stint as Rotherham boss from 2012 to 2015, the Glaswegian oversaw successive promotions and kept the club in the Championship.

After leaving in September 2015, he took over at Leeds United a month later but departed Elland Road at the end of that season after eight months at the helm.

He subsequently took charge at Mansfield Town, Peterborough United and Gillingham, as well as leading Stevenage to promotion from League Two in 2023.

Evans rejoined the Millers in April 2024, when their relegation back to the third tier had been confirmed – but they have failed to mount a promotion challenge this term and he leaves with the club nine points above the bottom four.


The boos started in the 15th minute against Crawley. When Rotherham conceded their second goal just after half-time, many of the crowd, already feeling lower than usual, headed for the exits.

At one point an angry fan came up to me in the press box demanding I get answers from Steve Evans and [owner] Tony Stewart as to why things were so bad.

"We want Evans out" and "You're not fit to wear the shirt" were the calls at the end of the game. This was how toxic things had become on Saturday.

Stewart wanted to recapture the magic of the past when Evans led the Millers to back-to-back promotions.

For a number of reasons it didn't work out. The manner of the performance against Crawley meant the writing was on the wall, and I think the manager knew that when he spoke to us after the game.

The problem is Rotherham are now going through managers and there doesn't seem to be any stability. The identity, culture and DNA of the Paul Warne era suddenly feels like a long time ago.

Thus, Matt Hamshaw is an inspired appointment until the end of the season. He knows the club inside out and was a big part of Warne's staff. We're talking about a coach who is highly rated within English football circles.

This is an ideal opportunity for the club and the new boss to see, over the remaining eight games, whether this is a fit for the long term.