Barrow have appointed Solihull Moors boss Andy Whing as their new head coach on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

The 40-year-old replaces Stephen Clemence after the former Tottenham Hotspur and Birmingham City midfielder was sacked on Saturday.

The Bluebirds, who have paid undisclosed compensation to National League Solihull, are winless in their past five League Two matches and are eight points above the relegation zone.

Whing's first game in charge will be Saturday's home match against Grimsby Town.

The former Coventry City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Oxford United defender said it was a "fantastic opportunity" to manage in the EFL for the first time.

"As soon as I heard about the interest, I was really excited about it, and after meeting everyone today and having a real warm welcome, it just feels like I've got a bunch of really good people, which is brilliant," he told the club website, external.

Whing started his career in management with Banbury United and guided them to a first-ever promotion to the sixth tier in the 2021-22 season.

He took over at Solihull in June 2023 and saw his side beaten on penalties in the 2024 National League promotion final by Bromley as they looked to secure a place in the Football League for the first time.

There was more Wembley disappointment a week later in the form of a penalty shootout defeat by Gateshead in the FA Trophy final.

He leaves the Moors, who have placed Richard Stearman, Kevin Poole and Stephen Ward in temporary charge of the first team, in seventh place, although they have played four games more than eighth-placed Rochdale.

Clemence replaced Pete Wild at Holker Street last May after a brief spell in charge of fellow League Two side Gillingham last season.

He made a bright start with the Cumbrian side, leading them into the third round of the EFL Cup, where they lost to Chelsea, and they were third in the table after a 2-1 home win over Cheltenham on 5 October.

However, a run of just one win from their following 15 games has seen them fall to 17th and the 2-0 defeat at Swindon on Saturday proved to be Clemence's final match.

Manager Ian Evatt has left Bolton Wanderers following Tuesday's 2-1 defeat by Charlton Athletic.

The latest defeat has left them ninth in the League One table, three points away from the play-off positions and continued a poor first half of the season.

BBC Radio Manchester reported the decision was taken at an emergency board meeting following the loss at home on Tuesday night.

"There comes a point in football when a change needs to happen and the last thing I want is to damage what we have all built together," Evatt said in a statement.

"I believe the club is still well placed to achieve its goals this season, and I want to give the board and players the best chance of doing that."

The 43-year-old arrived at the club in 2020 and won automatic promotion from League Two in his first season.

He led Wanderers to the EFL Trophy at Wembley in 2023 as well as last season's League One play-off final, where they were defeated by Oxford United.

Bolton chairman Sharon Brittan said that Evatt's dedication to rebuilding the club had been "commendable".

"He instilled a renewed sense of professionalism and purpose, and we are grateful for his significant contributions during his four and a half years at the helm," she said.

The club said they were committed to finding the "right" candidate to replace Evatt with an announcement regarding the interim management to be made in due course.

Ian Evatt on the touchline
Image source,Getty Images
Image caption,
Evatt guided Bolton to promotion during his first season and also won the EFL Trophy

A season to forget leads to Evatt exit
Having challenged for automatic promotion from the third tier last term, Bolton were beaten to the final spot by Derby County on the final day of the 2023-24 campaign.

They eventually beat Barnsley across two legs in the play-off semi-final to reach the final at Wembley, but they were uncharacteristically off the pace as Oxford dominated them over 90 minutes and won 2-0.

Evatt blamed fear on their defeat, which prevented them from returning to the Championship for the first time since 2019.

Bolton carried on that form into this season, with Tuesday's defeat at the hands of Charlton their 10th in the league in 2024-25, a result which left them ninth and three points off the play-off places after 24 games.

It has been a tough campaign for Evatt, who claimed in September he had the backing of the club's board after a wayward start to the campaign, while his son also experienced abuse from fans.

Having blamed his side's inconsistent form on psychology, his side then registered 10 victories from 17 games in all competitions to claw their way into the play-off places, but Evatt was critical of fan judgement on his side's performances.

That criticism came after Brittan pledged her support despite the fact they were well off the pace of League One's automatic promotion chasers following a dispiriting defeat by near neighbours Wigan Athletic, who themselves had been struggling.


There seems to have been an air of inevitability about Evatt's departure for some time.

Two wins in his last nine league games clearly hasn't helped, but his style of play has often been criticised by the fan base with his obsession for possession- based football.

Losing to local rivals Stockport (5-0), Wigan (2-0) and a 4-0 home defeat to Huddersfield brought further examination of his playing style.

Off the field, his behaviour has at times also been questioned and only last month he was given the curse of the "vote of confidence" by the club hierarchy.

Evatt can however reflect on a promotion, an EFL Trophy win and guiding Wanderers to consecutive play-off campaigns.

He leaves as their fifth longest serving manager across the Premier League and the EFL.

Well what can you do when these giant clubs come in and steal local players from UNDER YOUR SLEEPY NOSE?

Group A

Twerton 9
Zinman 8
Themaclad 7
Minizin 7
Amelia 7
A.A.A. 6

Well after last weeks levels of consistency, we have seen the same again this week but with a bit more mediocracy built in for good measure. Last week saw players separated by just 2 points but all in double figures, this week the difference is 3 points between first and last but this time no one reached double figures!! The Bonus was the culprit this week with every player getting it wrong!!

Twerton leads the way with 9 points, he missed on the Gamball and the Bonus but did manage to get 2 CSs to boost his score. Zinman is a point behind, he got a CR on the Gamball but not much else.

A further point behind sees 3 players with 7 points - Themaclad, Minizin and Amelia. Mac and Minizin managed a CS each but Amelia was the only one to score a CR on the Gamball to even out the scores. AAA ended bottom with 6 points, ironically he managed a week's high 2 correct scores but was only able to muster one CR while missing out on all his balls!!

212 Themaclad
185 Minzin
176 Twerton
171 Zinman
159 A.A.A.
145 Amelia

No changes in position and with it being so close for the past two weeks no real changes in the gaps between positions either. The post-season places are there for the taking for any player than can put some positive consistency together!!!

Cheers
SCO

Group B
BaggieOne 10
Snooty 10
Lady Jane 5
BBB 5
Stairs 2
Derby 2
SCO -2

Not a good week for Group B. Just 1 correct bonus and 3 correct scores leading to the second worst week of the season with the group scoring just 32 points. An unfamiliar name at the top of the pile as BaggieOne secured his first double figure score since week 9 and just his 4th of the season. He scored on 5 games including the gamball and the scoreball but failed to predict a correct score. He's joined at the top by Snooty, scoring his 10 points in exactly the same way as B1.

Not a great week for the rest. Lady Jane and BBB scored 5 points each, Lady Jane scoring on 3 games with 1 correct score and was also the 3rd player to secure the scoreball point. BBB only scored on just 2 games (1 correct score) but was helped by one of them being the gamball. Stairs was the other player to get a correct score but didn't do much else, blowing all his balls to secure just 2 points. Derby only scored on 1 game but this happened to be his bonus (this week;'s only positive bonus ball) so he was saved from the ignominy of a negative score.

And then we come to SCO who saw his recent good form come to a crashing halt. Just 1 correct result for him and a wipeout from his balls to leave him languishing in last place with minus 2 points (and yes, I did enjoy typing that!)

201 Lady Jane
175 Derby
164 Stairs
163 SCO
152 Snooty
144 BBB
122 BaggieOne

Congrats to Lady J for being the first Group B player to reach 200 points. She still enjoys a healthy lead over Derby in 2nd place. The one positional change this week sees Stairs edge above SCO into 3rd.

Zin


With Zinman's fighting talk towards his fellow scorer I thought it would be interesting to do a little comparison between the two of us!!

Points - SCO 163 v 171 Zin
Position - SCO 4th v 4th Zin
Correct Scores - SCO 22 v 20 Zin
Correct Results - SCO 46 v 51 Zin
Gamball Points - SCO 11 v 25 Zinman
Bonus Points - SCO -3 v -21 Zinman

So very little difference between us, just both mediocre really!!! The Gamball is Zin's biggest lead, but is offset by the lead I have on the Bonus Ball.

I'll just slot this draw info in here and briefly comment it's not a welcome home draw although it's a reasonable one compared with who we could've been paired with. A potentially tricky match all the same where Hibs need to show up and prove they are the better team with better players. Ultimately, just win it Hibs and get to the quarter-finals. Also Kieron Bowie should be fully fit when we play this game. So he'll be another decent striker to "enter the fray".

GGTTH

THE MATCH

WEDNESDAY 22ND JANUARY KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



We slumped to defeat at Leeds but held our own for the majority of the match, there extra quality and a couple of errors proving the difference. We got off to a bad start, Beadle spilling the ball and Solomon fired into the net. We responded ok with a few chances, while Beadle made a couple of saves as went in 1-0 down. Onto the second half and Leeds bossed the game a bit more but we were keeping them at arms length, while Gasama had a shot saved and had 1 or 2 near things. Leeds wrapped up the game late with 2 goals, first Ramazani firing in from the edge of box then Tanaka flicking one in from the edge of the 6 yard box, making the score-line a little flattering.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Back to Hillsborough and we entertain Bristol City. City are having a decent season and currently lie in 9th place in the Championship. They are just 4 points off the playoffs and imo have a better chance of making the playoffs than ourselves, as they aren't run by a lunatic like ourselves and will probably try to sign some players and give it a go. They are managed by Liam Manning , who took charge late in 2023, his record W21 D21 L22. There leading score is Mehmeti with 9 goals and 1 assist.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 31
BRIS 19
DRAW 17

CURRENT FORM

OWLS  L L D W L D                                                                      

BRIS  L W D W W L                        

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

JAMES LININGTON
Sam Lewis and Hugh Gilroy
Fourth official: Jeremy Simpson

THE TEAM

Beadle
Palmer Bernard Iorfa Johnson
Bannan Charles
Musaba Ingelsson Gasama
Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Smith

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

23576

BML LEAGUE

Imre 20
SCO 18
Washington 17
Maddix 15
Wereham 11

BMPL

Stateside 15
Owlkev 13
Southey 12
Pei 7

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

PSG V Manchester City
Leeds v Norwich
Portsmouth v Stoke
Plymouth v Burnley
Wrexham v Birmingham

AHDAD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

According to Football Insider James Berry is on his way to Wycombe Wanderers who outbid Blackpool. I suppose you can't fault the player for getting his career back on track, having started out with high hopes in Liverpool's Academy he ended up having to impress in non-league football to make his way to Chesterfield and gain promotion to the EFL.

Wycombe are ambitious, although lacking much of a crowd, it is doubtful that they will able to make a success of Championship football should they achieve it.

Best of luck to Berry. I liked him a lot and think we can ill-afford to lose him. Hope he makes Wycombe his next shop window.

Experienced left back signed on loan from Peterborough ......... Age 24. Peterborough well-known for being unable to defend. Darren Ferguson lets you go, that has to be a positive.

Apparently we are chasing promotion. Obviously we are using a whole new stealth approach.

Just a personal view but I wish they had loaned us young Nevett who they bought from Rochdale ...... with maybe an option to buy should they decide to discard (which is after all one of their major policies - they do gamble in the market in the young-player market and are not quite as patient as they might be.)

Richard Sneekes, manager of sixth-tier non-league club Rushall Olympic, has made a "sincere" apology for a comment made in a post-match interview.

The 56-year-old former Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Stockport County and Hull City player at one point described Saturday's 7-0 National League North defeat at Spennymoor Town as "like a holocaust".

Having been 1-0 down at half-time, from the 50th minute onwards, Rushall then let in six goals in 27 minutes.

The team had not previously let in more than four goals in a game in the season and a half since they got promoted to sixth-tier level.

"I can only apologise for my choice of words. No offence or harm was intended whatsoever," Dutch-born Sneekes said in a club statement., external

"World War II is ingrained in the history of my country. My grandad was in a concentration camp and both of my parents were born at the height of the war, so I know what it means.

"It was a bad choice of phrase linking to a time in history which was beyond terror and I would like to reiterate my sincerest of apologies. I will consider my choice of words more carefully in the future."

Sneekes' club Rushall said his post-match interview had been "an otherwise very measured and honest assessment", adding: "As a club we received no direct complaints to the after-match comment.

"The only feedback we received, and not just from Rushall supporters, was how well and constructively the manager spoke so soon after a heavy defeat.

"Someone has deemed it necessary to raise this complaint to the local press and hence our statement on this matter.

"The club will be making no further comment."

After winning their three previous games before Saturday's defeat, their first victories since Sneekes took charge before Christmas, Rushall currently sit three points adrift of safety in 23rd place in National League North.