THE MATCH

SUNDAY 19TH JANUARY KO 12PM

v

LAST MATCH



Our cup run ended at the first attempt as we lost out on penalties to Coventry. We never looked like scoring in the first half and Coventry took the lead midway through the half as we failed to clear a corner and Kitching hammered home from close range. Onto the 2nd half and Coventry still looked the most likely to score as we struggled to create anything. We finally forced a save from there keeper in the 84th minute, from Bannan. Then in injury time Musaba found himself some space and fired home the equaliser. No goals in ET so we went to penalties. We took an early advantage only for us to miss a couple of spot kicks and lose out 4-3 on pens.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Back to the league and we travel to league leaders Leeds. Needless to say Leeds are having a very good season and it looks like a 3/4 team shootout to see who gets automatic promotion to the Premier League. They are managed by Daniel Farke, who took Norwich into the Premier League several years ago. Leeds lost out on promotion when losing to Southampton in the play off final in Farke's first season, so will hope to avoid the lottery of the playoffs this season. There leading scorer is Joel Piroe with 10 goals and 5 assists.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 34
LEEDS 41
DRAW 27

CURRENT FORM

OWLS  L D W L D W                                                                      

LEEDS D D W W W D                         

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

DAVID WEBB
Rob Smith and Nigel Lugg
Fourth Official: Tom Nield

THE TEAM

Beadle
Palmer Bernard Iorfa Johnson
Bannan Charles
Musaba Ingelsson Gasama
Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

3-1 Windass

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Imre 20
SCO 18
Washington 17
Maddix 15
Wereham 10

BMPL

Stateside 15
Owlkev 12
Southey 12
Pei 7

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Everton v Tottenham
Manchester United v Brighton
Nottingham Forest v Southampton
Ipswich Town v Manchester City
Chelsea v Wolves

AAHAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Group A

Minizin 12
Themaclad 11
Twerton 11
Zinman 10
A.A.A. 10
Amelia 10

Consistency is certainly the theme this week in Group A. Everyone was consistent in getting the Gamball wrong, getting a CR on the Bonus and picking up the Scoreball point!! Everyone consistently failed to turn correct results into correct scores with a season low of only one correct score. This meant that the scoring was consistent in terms of only two points separating top from bottom and everyone was consistent with all scoring in double figures!!

Minizin is 1st with 12 points, closely followed one point behind by Themaclad and Twerton and they were followed by Zinman, AAA and Amelia with 10 points. The top three were the same last week and are the same in the table, the bottom three are in the same order as the bottom three in the table, more consistency!! Not much else to be said really as everyone was simply consistent with each other!!

205 Themaclad
178 Minzin
167 Twerton
163 Zinman
153 A.A.A.
138 Amelia

Themaclad cracks the double century but absolutely nothing else changes in reality!! Group A did pass the 1000 points mark as a group, Group B with one extra player passed this mark last week.


Group B

SCO 14
Derby 12
BBB 12
Stairs 11
Snooty 10
Lady Jane 8
BaggieOne 6

Not too many shocks from our cup selections so it was a fairly close run week for Group B. We did see the highest number of correct result predictions so far this season but none of them were on the Gamball, so overall scores were kept down. With fairly predictable results, the bonus ball produced a good score. Only 3 of the 9 eligible games failed to produce a potential scoreball point but those 3 seemed very popular so just 1 point from that ball this week.

SCO leads the way for a 2nd week - 2 correct scores from his 5 correct predictions. derby equalled those 2 correct scores but only managed one other correct result to share second place with BBB - 1 correct score, 5 correct results for him.

Stairs is just a point further back, failing to turn any of his 5 correst results into a maximum, but as the only player with the scoreball point he edges above Snooty. Lady Jane was another with no correct scores while BaggieOne wasn't helped by forgetting to play his balls (other than the gamball).

196 Lady Jane
173 Derby
165 SCO
162 Stairs
142 Snooty
139 BBB
112 BaggieOne

No changes this week though SCO's recent surge sees him edging closer to 2nd spot.

Remember your balls!

Zin & SCO

After meeting the North End massive at Norton Canes services, he can only go from strength to strength except n his first game

Luton Town have appointed Wycombe Wanderers head coach Matt Bloomfield as their new manager on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

The 40-year-old leaves the promotion-chasing League One side to replace Rob Edwards at Kenilworth Road just a week after the former Welsh international, who famously guided the Hatters to Premier League promotion in 2023, left the club by mutual consent as they struggle near the bottom of the Championship.

Luton are 20th in the second tier, just two places and two points clear of the bottom three, as they look to avoid back-to-back relegations after losing their Premier League status after just one season in the top flight last May.

Bloomfield said it was a "genuine honour and a privilege" to take the helm at The Hatters. "I'm incredibly proud and very, very happy to be here," he told the club's website, external.

Wycombe, who are second in League One, said they they remain focused on a "long-term vision" for the club and "building on this season's foundations of success".

"The club is naturally disappointed with Matt's decision to leave in the middle of the season," said a statement on Wycombe's website, external.

"However, we respect his decision to pursue this new chapter in his career. He leaves with the gratitude and best wishes of everyone at Wycombe Wanderers."

Bloomfield's assistant coach Richard Thomas, first-team coach Lee Harrison and senior analyst Ben Cirne will join him in making the switch to Luton.

His first game in charge will be at home to Preston North End on Saturday.

The former midfielder retired as a long-serving player at Wycombe in 2022 and moved into coaching with the Chairboys before being appointed as Colchester boss later that same year.

Within months he was back in League One as Gareth Ainsworth's successor at Wycombe, a club he first signed for in 2003 as a player after being released by Ipswich Town as a teenager.

Luton chief executive Gary Sweet said Luton had "gone above and beyond to compensate Wycombe" to secure Bloomfield and his support staff.

He thanked the third-tier club for their "co-operation in ensuring a swift and smooth transition".

"Since returning to Wycombe as manager we have been hugely impressed with his work in leading them back towards the top of League One, and especially in how they have done it in such an entertaining way, forging a reputation for front-footed attacking football," Sweet added.

"We identified Matt's personal and team-building qualities as the outstanding candidate to fit in with the culture we have long established here at Luton Town."

Bloomfield said the depth of research Luton did on him and the sides he has managed gave him the "feeling of being wanted" and convince him "that this was the right move at the right time".

While he was Wycombe boss for less than two years, his 19 seasons as a player there earned him the nickname of 'Mr Wycombe'.

He made 558 appearances for the club, and in the last of those seasons, 2021-22, he was named as a first-team coach alongside his playing duties.

He helped Wanderers to three promotions from League Two and was also part of the squad which took them into the Championship for the only time in their history, in 2019-20.

His first managerial appointment was at Colchester United in September 2022, and after guiding them away from the League Two relegation zone with nine wins from his 27 games in charge, he was appointed as Wycombe manager in February 2023 after Gareth Ainsworth left to join Queens Park Rangers.

He took Wycombe to the EFL Trophy final for the first time in their history last season and this year has led them into League One promotion contention with a 19-match unbeaten run that ended against Charlton Athletic on 29 December.

As Wycombe now search for a replacement, a caretaker coaching team made up of development coaches - including Sam Grace, Harry Hudson, Matty Dye and Jerome John - will oversee traning and their upcoming fixtures.

Pepple on loan from Luton bags the 27 shirt. Recently bagged a few for Saafend.

Donacien grabs 44 which, unusually for us, is less than his age. A relative youth product for a Spireite at a mere 31, he's been a free agent since leaving Ipswich. Naturally he'll be plotting his first injury and has already reserved a spot on the Physio's couch.

Aribusitamunoipirim Emmanuel "Bim" Pepple is worth an immediate place for his wonderful name. When they sing "There's only one ........... no-one will disagree.

Anderson signs one year deal

The women’s team lost 7-0 to Man U on Saturday. Up until the 77th minute they were only losing 1-0 but fitness clearly set in as they were overrun by a team made up of internationals.

BBC reported it in their usual style of glorifying Man U and hardly mentioning West Brom they didn’t even get a ‘plucky’ which is the usual go to phrase. What really annoyed me however was the report couldn’t even be bothered to put the Albion crest up adjacent to the scoreline substituting it with a grey shield as though we weren’t important enough to bother with.

See for yourself https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cx26rqer55nt

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Badger gives you 2 points

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. However, if you do predict a draw and it's a match that won't be going to a replay, you can get a possible extra point by stating which of the two teams you think will eventually win.

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.  


At the end of the season, the winner of group 2 and the bottom of group 1 will swap places in what is commonly known as "promotion" and "relegation". It's something that most football fans will be familiar with, unless you're a fan of Liverpool or Arsenal or one of those other fashionable clubs.

The second placed player in group 2 will then have a play off with the player who finishes second from the bottom in group 1 to decide whether they will be going up, down or staying where they are.

We're going to have two seasons in one though, just to try and make it a bit more interesting and not so long drawn out. The first season will end on the Boxing Day fixtures, with the play offs being on the dates of the Twixtmas fixtures and the NYD fixtures.

The second season will start the following week, which is usually the FA Cup 3rd round, finishing on the last game of the League One season. Then another period of relegation/promotion play off games, taking in such fixtures as the EFL play offs, FA Cup Final, UEFA finals and such like.

Each group will have it's own set of fixtures. Both groups will have the Town games, with scorers to predict as before. Then it will be a split of League One fixtures and bonus matches, hopefully around ten, eleven or twelve games per Matchday.

The random badger is restricted to three goal scorers in any of the fixtures in your group.

Here's how that will appear at the end of the fixture list. All you have to do is fill in the blanks.......


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Any of those will score two points if correct. No minus points for getting it wrong.

Postponed matches will only count if the match is re-played before the next Matchday is under way. Abandoned matches will be awarded half the points for the score at the time of abandonment, so 1 point if you have the correct result, 2 points if you have the correct score.

Substitute or scorer in one of the Town games:- These will be only be allowed if you change them before the match involved has kicked off.

Prediction League Archive: https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=12830



Division One table after Matchday 1:

1. jjamez = 13 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 12 pts
   
3. Lord Snooty = 10 pts
   
4. neonfoxinthebox = 10 pts
   
5. St Charles Owl = 10 pts
   
6. themaclad = 9 pts
   

Thursday 16th January:
Shrewsbury Town v Wrexham (20:00)

Saturday 18th January:
Blackpool v Town (12:30)
Town scorers:
Blackpool scorers:

Northampton Town v Lincoln City (14:00)
Crawley Town v Burton Albion
Reading v Stockport County
Stevenage v Wigan Athletic

Tuesday 21st January:
Bolton Wanderers v Charlton Athletic
Peterborough United v Exeter City

Bonus matches:
Premier League:
Saturday:
Arsenal v Aston Villa (17:30)

Championship:
Sunday:
Leeds United v Sheffield Wednesday (12:00)

Tuesday:
Middlesbrough v West Bromwich Albion
Watford v Preston North End

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

1. ritchiebaby = 19 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 18 pts
   
3. SHEP_HTAFC = 15 pts
   
4. Devongone = 12 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 10 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 10 pts
   

Thursday 16th January:
Shrewsbury Town v Wrexham (20:00)

Saturday 18th January:
Blackpool v Town (12:30)
Town scorers:
Blackpool scorers:

Peterborough United v Leyton Orient (12:30)
Birmingham City v Exeter City
Bolton Wanderers v Cambridge United
Bristol Rovers v Barnsley
Mansfield Town v Wycombe Wanderers
Rotherham United v Charlton Athletic

Tuesday 21st January:
Wigan Athletic v Burton Albion

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Premier League:
Newcastle United v AFC Bournemouth (12:30)

Scottish Cup 4th round:
Hibernian v Clydebank

League Two:
Grimsby Town v Chesterfield


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Gamball:
Cardiff - Swansea

Others:
Leicester - Fulham
Plymouth - QPR
Coventry - Bristol City
Derby - Watford
Oxford - Blackburn
Portsmouth - Middlesbrough
Blackpool - Huddersfield
Everton - Spurs
Man Utd - Brighton

Plymouth Argyle have appointed Miron Muslic as their new head coach.

The 42-year-old Austrian succeeds Wayne Rooney at the Championship's bottom club and has signed a three-and-a-half year deal.

Muslic was most recently the manager of Belgian side Cercle Brugge from September 2022 until his sacking last month.

The Bosnian-born former forward - who played much of his career in Austria - is the first-ever foreign manager or head coach to be employed by Argyle.

"Miron had a clear vision of how he wanted to take Argyle forward and showed a depth of tactical awareness that made it clear exactly how he wanted the team to set up and play," chairman Simon Hallett told the club website

"He comes with glowing reviews from his time at Cercle Brugge where he took a team from a lowly league position to European football which is no mean feat.

"I want to welcome him to the club and look forward to seeing him have an immediate impact on the team."

Argyle's interim manager Kevin Nancekivell will be part of Muslic's backroom team, with other coaching roles to be announced at a later date.

He will be in the stands for Saturday's FA Cup third round tie at Brentford before taking charge of his first game on Tuesday night when the Pilgrims host Oxford United in the Championship.

Miron Muslic
Image source,Getty Images
Image caption,
Miron Muslic takes over a Plymouth Argyle side on a run of one win in 16 games and three points adrift at the bottom of the Championship

Muslic led Cercle Brugge to an eighth-placed finish in Belgium's top flight in his first season in charge.

Last season he improved on that as they finished fifth in the regular season before guiding them to fourth place in the end-of-season play-offs.

That saw them reach this season's Uefa Europa League qualifying rounds in which they beat Kilmarnock over two legs before being knocked out by Norwegian side Molde and dropping into the Conference League.

He was sacked at the start of last month with Cercle in the relegation play-off places following a loss at bottom-of-the-table Beerschot.

Muslic is the fourth permanent manager of Argyle in 13 months.

Steven Schumacher, who led the Pilgrims to the League One title in 2023, left the club in December of that year to take over as Stoke City boss.

He was replaced by former England youth coach Ian Foster, but his three-month tenure saw the Pilgrims drop into the relegation zone, and it was director of football Neil Dewsnip and Nancekivell who guided the side to safety on the final day of the season.

Former England skipper Rooney took over in the summer, but he could only manage four league wins in his half-season in charge which ended on New Year's Eve with the club bottom of the Championship and with the worst defensive record in the English Football League.

Muslic chosen ahead of former favourite - analysis
Brent Pilnick, BBC Sport, Plymouth.

This is a historic move from Plymouth Argyle. A club who have never appointed a non-British manager - and for the past five years have only appointed bosses from Liverpool - opt for a relatively unknown Austrian who has been managing in the Belgian top flight.

They had three final candidates, one of which was former manager Steven Schumacher.

The ex-Stoke City boss is still immensely popular in the city after leading the Pilgrims to a club-record 101-point tally when they won League One in 2023.

But owner Simon Hallett and his team are very data-driven and will have crunched the numbers - both sporting and financial - before coming to this decision.

They clearly feel Muslic is the right man for the job - and what a job he has on his hands - no wins in two months, a lack of goals and the most porous defence in the entire English Football League.

Argyle have brought in club-record signing forward Michael Baidoo and Poland left-back Tymoteusz Puchacz this month with the aim of boosting both ends of the field, but more signings will be needed.

The Championship's history is littered with relatively unknown foreign coaches coming in - some doing excellent jobs such as Daniel Farke and Slavisa Jokanovic, while others like Andre Breitenreiter and fellow Austrian Markus Schopp - who had one win in 16 games in a spell at Barnsley in 2021 - prove that it is not an exact science.