I know he's not everyone's cup of tea and like many others I was disappointed to see Bilic go but, surely, if he can be persuaded to stay, we MUST keep Allardyce. I read all this stuff about Wilder. Sure, he's done ok at Sheffield but we have had dozens of managers like him over the years with some success behind them, only to fail with us.
Allardyce has definitely made us a better team both defensively and offensively. We are a much tighter unit now. It's too late in the day now to affect our fate and we may well lose some key players but I believe we have a real chance of coming back if he stays. Irrespective of his football allegiance, he is of this area. He understands what a proud history we have and the contribution we have made to to-flight football over the last 140 years.

Boreham Wood 1-1 Hartlepool United
Dagenham & Redbridge 2-1 Aldershot Town
FC Halifax Town 2-2 Weymouth
King's Lynn Town 1-3 Altrincham
Maidenhead United 1-0 Eastleigh
Solihull Moors 1-2 Sutton United
Wealdstone 0-2 Barnet
Woking 1-1 Notts County
Wrexham 0-0 Torquay United
Stockport County 2-1 Bromley


League Table After Matchday 41
Lord Snoots = 418
Amelia = 362
Spireitematt = 332
Dancing = 312
St Charles = 274
Devon = 274

We all seem to have varying opinions on who`ll-do-what-to-whom-and-in-what-position over the last couple of months of the season; so who`s up for a game of Top 7 Forecast?

Having made the suggestion, I suppose I`m duty-bound to go first. So here`s what I think ( he says, in his best Jeremy Clarkson voice and with absolutely no confidence whatsoever).

1 Sutton United
2 Chesterfield (okay, I`m biased; so sue me.)
3 Stockport County
4 Hartlepool United
5 Notts County
6 Torquay United
7 Wrexham

These forecasts are based on a set of highly sophisticated and complex algorithms of my own creation and following an in-depth consultation with a friend of mine who assures me that she`s clairvoyant; so what could possibly go wrong?

With apologies to Bomber for usurping his position of fixture selector, I thought I'd jump in before the games start!

Sat Apr 3rd

Leicester - Man City
Arsenal - Liverpool
Huddersfield - Brentford

Sun Apr 4th

Southampton - Burnley
Newcastle - Spurs

Mon Apr 5th

Wolves - West Ham
Middlesboro - Watford
Blackburn - Bournemouth
Coventry - Bristol City
***Sheff Wed - Cardiff*** Gamball game

This is definitely a Scottish Cup tie on an artificial pitch that Hibs must treat very seriously as it could be a potential "banana skin" v a team that just beat Hertz last Saturday although the Gorgie side are generally "mince" anyway. However, no complacency allowed for this game and our record on artificial pitches during this season is very good. We must try to maintain interest in this cup tournament as much as poss and see where it takes us. C'mon Hibs!

GGTTH

Huddersfield Town v Brentford
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday April 3rd - 12:30 ko
at the John Smith's Stadium

Quote:“Oumar has played the highest level of English football for over three years, which means he has all the necessary skills to play in the Sky Bet Championship.

“He is a striker with the dynamic to work very hard; to press the opponent and attack the space.

“He has been working on the pitch with us for a little while and has adapted to our training intensity. He needs time to build up his match fitness as he has had a long time without playing a competitive game, but we will work hard with him to get him ready.”

Harry Curtis

Young Toney

Ralph Shields was another member of that great post war team. He was a bombadier during the hostilities, having signed for Town from Newcastle just before the war started in 1914. He was top scorer in that last pre war season and then had limited chances afterwards following the emergence of Sammy Taylor. So he ended up being transferred to Exeter City, which only lasted one season, before moving to London to play for Brentford in 1921. That was another one season stint, scoring just the once in eight appearances. After that he went back to his native North-East and played for Blyth Spartans.
Once his career in football was over, he and his family emigrated to Australia. They built a new life in Concord, New South Wales. But then another World War started and so in June 1940, 9 months after the outbreak, he joined the Australian Army and gave a false birth date, which produced an age just shy of the limit of 40, when he was actually 48. In 1942, while serving with the Australian Army Service Corps in Malaya, Ralph was captured by the Imperial Japanese Army and interred as a POW in Sandakan Prisoner of War Camp, North Borneo. He died of malnutrition and beriberi on 21 November 1944 and was buried at the Labuan War Cemetery in Malaysia.  

Brentford in popular culture: Celebrity supporters include Greg Dyke and Phil Collins. I think we'll gloss over those two. Sarah Cracknell, the singer with Saint Etienne, is supposedly a Bees fan. Here she is on Top Of The Pops in 1993.



Mr Light Entertainment himself and star of Dr Who, Bradley Walsh, was a professional footballer with Brentford. He signed for them as an 18 year old in 1978, but never got past the reserves side. He had loan spells at Barnet, Tring Town, Boreham Wood and Chalfont St Peter, but then injury forced his retirement at the age of just 22. He still takes part in Soccer Aid and he's an all round good geezer really.  



In 1953, Griffin Park was host to The Great Game, a film starring James Hayter, Diana Dors and Thora Hird. This footage features the scenes recorded at Griffin Park.









Other Championship matches this weekend:

Good Friday:
AFC Bournemouth v Middlesbrough
Bristol City v Stoke City
Cardiff City v Nottingham Forest
Derby County v Luton Town
Millwall v Rotherham United
Preston North End v Norwich City
Queens Park Rangers v Coventry City
Watford v Sheffield Wednesday
Wycombe Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers
Barnsley v Reading (17:30)
Birmingham City v Swansea City (20:00)


Recent form - last 6 matches:

Sheff Weds 1-1 Town
QPR 0-1 Town
Town 0-0 Cardiff
Town 1-1 Birmingham
PNE 3-0 Town
Derby 2-0 Town

Brentford 1-1 Forest
Derby 2-2 Brentford
Blackburn 0-1 Brentford
Norwich 1-0 Brentford
Brentford 2-1 Stoke
Brentford 3-0 Sheff Weds

Town are 18th with 42 points, Brentford are in 4th with 68.

Leading scorers:
Terriers:
Frazier Campbell (7)
Josh Koroma (6)
Isaac Mbenza (5)

Bees:
Ivan Toney (28)
Sergi Canós (7)
Josh Dasilva (7)
Marcus Forss (7)


April the 3rd down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

1915: Derby County (h) Div 2, drew 0-0
1920: Barnsley (a) Div 2, drew 3-3 (Frank Mann, Sammy Taylor 2)
1923: West Bromwich Albion (h) Div 1, WON 4-1 (Ernie Islip, Billy Smith, Charlie Wilson, George Brown)
1926: Leicester City (a) Div 1, lost 0-2
1931: Newcastle Utd (a) Div 1, drew 1-1 (Ernie Whittam)
1934: Liverpool (h) Div 1, lost 0-2
1937: Stoke City (h) Div 1, WON 2-1 (Pat Beasley, Willie MacFadyen)
1943: Halifax Town (h) Wartime League North, WON 1-0 (Bobby Barclay)
1948: Preston North End (a) Div 1, WON 2-0 (Jimmy Glazzard 2)
1954: Sheffield Wednesday (a) Div 1, WON 4-1 (Jimmy Glazzard, Bryan Frear 2 (1 pen), Tommy Cavanagh)
1956: Arsenal (h) Div 1, lost 0-1
1961: Charlton Athletic (h) Div 2, drew 2-2 (Chris Balderstone, Les Massie)
1965: Norwich City (a) Div 2, WON 2-0 (Johnny Quigley, Les Massie)
1971: Derby County (a) Div 1, lost 2-3 (Dennis Clarke, Roy Ellam)
1976: Northampton Town (a) Div 4, drew 1-1 (Rod Belfitt)
1982: Swindon Town (a) Div 3, WON 5-1 (Keith Hanvey, Tim Hotte 2, David Cowling, Mick Kennedy)
1987: Brighton & Hove Albion (a) Div 2, drew 1-1 (Duncan Shearer)
1990: Preston North End (h) Div 3, lost 0-2
1999: Queens Park Rangers (a) Div One (2nd tier), drew 1-1 (Ian Lawson)
2001: Crystal Palace (a) Div One (2nd tier), drew 0-0
2004: Leyton Orient (a) Div Three (4th tier), drew 1-1 (Andy Booth)
2010: Wycombe Wanderers (a) League One (3rd tier), WON 2-1 (Jordan Rhodes, Theo Robinson)
2012: Leyton Orient (a) League One (3rd tier), WON 3-1 (Jordan Rhodes 3)

Not bad at all. Won more than we've lost and unbeaten since 1990.

Played 23, Won 9, Drawn 9, Lost 5.

Some legends of the Club scoring on this day, who I have written about before, so won't repeat now. Names of goal scoring legend like George Brown, Billy Smith, Jimmy Glazzard, and Jordan Rhodes.

Another one of those legends was Sammy Taylor, who scored on this day in 1920. His two goals against Barnsley were the first in a series of scoring in seven consecutive matches. The second goal was his 30th of the season and he would go on to finish the season with a club record of 42, which still stands today. Another club record began just after this match. After this draw, we went on to win the next eleven league matches (8 in this season and the first three of the next one), another record that still stands to this day.

Pat Beasley, who scored in the 1937 win against Stoke, went on to manage Birmingham City. He took them to (almost) European glory, reaching the Final of the 1960 Inter City Fairs Cup (the equivalent to the modern day Europa League), which they lost over two legs to Barcelona.

Willie MacFadyen, who also scored in 1937, came to us at the back end of his career as a Motherwell legend. He's their all time leading scorer with 235. His goals won them the Scottish League championship in 1931/32, scoring 52 of them, which is a record in the Scottish League for a single season that still stands today. He only got 18 in his two seasons with us, but did help us reach the 1938 FA Cup Final. Despite scoring bucket loads at club level, he only ever played twice for Scotland.

Rod Belfitt, who scored in 1976 against Northampton, played for Leeds Utd in the 60s and 70s. He won two medals with them, both in 1968. The League Cup and the Inter Cities Fairs Cup. Lost his place when Mick Jones and Allan Clarke turned up and so went to Ipswich. It was the end of his career when he landed at Leeds Road, as we were descending the League Ladder. Scored 8 times for us over a couple of lower league seasons.

Now that 5-1 win at Swindon in 1982 was a right game. Me and my mates set off Friday teatime after work, in the van. Got half way, stopped for beer, kipped in the van. The next morning, went for breakfast and bought a newspaper and saw that Argentina had invaded the Falkland Islands and we were about to go to war! Unbelievable! We were discussing the possibilities of being called up, being in our early 20s, and would we go. Luckily, it never got to that. Anyway, that's another story. The match itself was brilliant. Tim Hotte scored twice in the game. He was still 18 at the time and was very small. His Town career never really took off and he only scored another two before ending up at Halifax.

Ian Lawson, who scored in 1999 against QPR, was the son of Jimmy Lawson, who won a 2nd Division Championship medal with Town in 1969/70. Ian wasn't quite as successful, playing only 45 times for us and scoring 5 goals. Shortly after this match, he was released and joined Bury. By the age of 26 he had retired and if I remember correctly, became a golf professional.


Quiz Time: Only Connect (Sequences):

If you've ever watched the ridiculously difficult quiz show Only Connect, you'll know how this works. What is the fourth in each sequence? For example......

[a] Mark Hudson. (b) Danny Cowley. [c] Danny Schofield. [d].......?

The answer of course would be Carlos Corberan, being the last four permanent or temporary managers of Huddersfield Town. So see how you get on with these. And they're all related to either Huddersfield Town or Brentford.


1. [a] Ronnie Jepson. (b) Lee Duxbury. [c] Lee Sinnott. [d].......?

2. [a] Andy Booth 457. (b) Vic Metcalfe 459. [c] Tom Wilson 500. [d]......?

3. [a] Aston Villa. (b) Blackburn Rovers. [c] Arsenal. [d]........?

4. [a] Elias Kachunga 13. (b) Steve Mounié 9. [c] Karlan Grant 4. [d]......?

5. [a] The Brook. (b) The New Inn. [c] The Princess Royal. [d]........?

6. [a] 19/20. (b) 52/53. [c] 69/70. [d]........?

7. [a] Ambrose Langley. (b) Andy Beattie. [c] Ian Greaves. [d]........?

8. [a] Lasse Vibe. (b) Neal Maupay. [c] Neal Maupay. [d]......?

9. [a] David Burke. (b) Tom Cowan. [c] Peter Clarke. [d]........?

10. [a] Rekorderlig. (b) PURE Legal. [c] OPE Sports. [d].......?




Brentford v Huddersfield Anagrams:

1. Pa Pi

2. Swine Boiler

3. Vienna Toy

4. Clerc Aaron Bros

5. Snoots Jap Nuns

Well this is a fixture Scotland must win and ideally need to score as many goals as possible v The Faroes. But these opponents don't tend to lose a barrowload of goals these days. So it will be a challenge for Scotland to end this part of the World Cup campaign in a positive frame of mind. What team to field? Well it has to be "two up top" and try to field guys who can score goals and overcome this perceived prob, a binary one, where most of our fixtures have one Scotland goal attached to them. Also one suggestion from me is that Marshall should be rested and let another goalie take up the position. I'm sure many Tartan Army fans have realised that Scotland should have more than 2 pts "on the board" had it not been for Marshall's disappointing reactions to two saveable shots on his goal. As that old saying goes, "You're only as good as your next game 'behind the sticks' ".

Notts County 2-2 Wrexham
Hartlepool United 1-2 Dagenham & Redbridge
Aldershot Town 1-2 Stockport County
Altrincham 3-1 Yeovil Town
Barnet 1-0 Solihull Moors
Boreham Wood 1-1 Sutton United
Bromley 1-1 Wealdstone
Eastleigh 0-2 Chesterfield
Torquay United 2-0 Woking
Weymouth 1-0 Maidenhead United

League Table After Matchday 40
Lord Snoots = 394
Amelia = 344
Spireitematt = 316
Dancing = 304
Devon = 272
St Charles = 264

About seven years ago we played City in a cup tie we won easily 2-0 it led to the sacking of the then City manager Neil Adams was then potted after the match to pave the way for Alex Neil to take the Canaries on an end of season ride via the play offs into the top Division.
Neil was eventually following a poor run of form in the Championship. He was eventually replace by Daniel Farke who then took them up, then down and baring a miracle will be taking them up again this season.
In the meanwhile Alex ended up with us for the next four years until a week last Sundau when sadly following some awful performances this seasonw as eventually given the order of the DCM(Don't come Monday|)
So the new era begins with a gimme against City then two easy games against Swansea and Brentford.



FORM GUIDE

PNE 1 NORWICH CITY 17

LAST TIME OUT



The return game at Carrow Road saw us take a point in a 2 all draw only being denied by a late Canaries goal,considering the home form of Norwich that seems to be an impressive point.
City have had a cracking season beating most sides with some outstanding performances, the front four who played against the plastics in the last match Buendia, Cantwell, Dowell and Pukki are more than useful, Gibson ruled out for the rest of the season will be a loss but this will take some winning from us.

What will Frankie Mc do change of formation, tactics we shall see on Friday, but this is a toughie but also a new start for us

Frank says

We've all got different strengths and areas we'd like to improve on. We are a lot different in a lot of ways of course; I've just got to be true to myself - I've got a fantastic opportunity to try and ultimately make sure that we are in the Championship next season. That's it, that's our task and I'm looking forward to it.

Things have moved on and changes. We need to deal with the here and now. At the moment we are in a position where we would hope it would be better but the only people who can make it better are us as a coaching team and the players. We are sitting 16th in the table and we want to improve on that and get higher up. We don't want to put them under any undue pressure.

It's the biggest thing isn't it when you are coming to work? We're all in control of everything we can do. All we can do is help them feel they are the best they can be and when you've got them in that frame of mind, hopefully you get the best out of them.

They're at the top of the league on merit - very fluent when they have got the ball, dangerous players and defensively they do extremely well. They are a formidable unit but generally we've done okay in the past against those teams. We know it's going to be tough but they all are.

We've got a great camararderie and mutual trust - we are going to need that in the last eight games.

We are looking in good shape - the only ones at the moment are the long-term ones in Patrick Bauer and Declan Rudd. Alan Browne misses the next two but we will get Jayson Molumby back. Louis Moult has been training which is great for Louis and the group of lads. We are a wee bit away from him being selected but heading in the right direction.

There is a good structure and foundation here. I have taken a lot that Alex did on board - we all need to work together and win as many games as we can for Preston. It's been really enjoyable so far.

All we can do is put our faith and trust in them to go and deliver what is expected of them. We have to support them as best as we can. There has not a lot changed in the way we want them to go and do things. It will hopefully be done at the right intensity.

We are itching to get to the game really. We just want to get out on the pitch - the mood in the camp is good at the moment. They are desperate to try and win the games, you earn it in the matches. When you have most of the players here it is great - there is no better feeling then the players all training together. We've got an idea of what we want to do on Friday - we want to make it as enjoyable for them so they can be as creative as they can.

The first meeting of the clubs at Deepdale 30/3/1963 North End winning 2-0, we have played a few cup matches over the passing years the last league visit North End won an excellent game 3-1 everything hinged on a penalty which City missed. They last won at Deepdale 17/4/2017 3-1.