After Saturdays abject performance where Huddersfield couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery, let alone their own defence, they play host to well erm, the Brewers of Burton Albion. They sit 22nd in the table on just 4 points having lost 4 of their last 6 games, whilst Town hold onto the last play off place, but there is still a long, long way to go, as we found out last season. Speaking of brewers, whats everyones favourite drink? the widely produced pisswater? Dirty Bitter puddle water from a man called John? A urine sample from the county of Somerset? or maybe you're more a fan of a glass of sludge taken from the peat bogs of Dublin? Exotic you say then look no further than the trampled grape juice from Italy (other countries are available, if you have seen a walk in the clouds you might get where I'm going there) perhaps you like the hand sanitiser from Vladistan, maybe a Caribbean Pirate juice, Wild West Punch or an odd drink using botanicals and anything else you can find to throw in? Am I missing anything?

Anyway, onto our visitors, Burton as said are currently in the relegation places but it is still relatively early days yet, and like Town were rather busy during the summer with 12 players joining. Some notable names being experienced midfielder George Evans who joined from Wrexham, former Barnsley defender Toby Sibbick joined from Wigan and once highly thought of Coventry winger Fabio Tavares, all on free transfers. They delved into non league to sign Tyrese Shade from Eastleigh, he has yet to click at the higher level, but the former Leicester player scored 14 times in the National League last season so there is obviously something that might work out. They also resigned young full back Dylan Williams from Chelsea, he spent last season at the club and is back for more, it hasn't gone how he'd have hoped at Chelsea after he left Derby for the capital, maybe it was more to help the club out financially during their turmoil a few seasons back. Also joining the club were defender Alex Hartridge from Wycombe, midfielder JJ McKiernan from Lincoln, striker Jake Beesley from Blackpool and Kyran Lofthouse from Barnsley. They also signed Seb Revan from Wrexham and Brad Collins from Coventry on loan.



There was quite an upheaval at the club over the summer, with a lot of their more experienced players being moved out to pasture, Icelandic international Jon Dadi Bodvarsson moved back to his homeland, Billy Bodin moved to Swindon, former Derby player Mason Bennett came north to Harrogate and former Bradford midfielder Elliot Watt moved to Scotland to play for Motherwell. The biggest departure came in the form of Rumarn Burrell who moved to QPR for over £1million, the pacy forward scored 11 times last season for the Brewers to help them achieve league survival.

Still managed by former Blackburn boss Gary Bowyer, the Brewers finished 20th last season, surviving by a point at the expense or Crawley Town. They begun last season with former Wimbledon manager Mark Robinson at the helm, having poached him from Chelsea's development set up, they gave him some 23 new players, however, just one win in his 14 games (even that wasn't in the league) saw him relieved of his duties and Tom Hounsell placed in interim charge. He did a month and a bit as interim and was being considered for the job full time, only for the board to go to Bowyer not long after. Hounsell eventually left the club and joined the staff at Wycombe. Bowyer was appointed on the 17th of December with Burton sitting in 23rd, 9 points from survival, initially signing on a deal to the end of the season, he signed a new two year deal this summer. He has had a rather interesting coaching career, starting it at aged 25 after an injury whilst playing for Rotherham curtailed his playing days. He initially started as a youth coach at Ilkeston before moving to Derby. After 6 years there he moved to Blackburn originally as under 18 coach, before being promoted to reserves coach. He had a spell as interim manager at Blackburn when Henning Berg was sacked, he would return to that role when Bergs replacement Michael Appleton was sacked. He was appointed full time and had two years at Blackburn before being sacked. He moved on to Blackpool and got them promoted from League Two at his first attempt before resigning a year later. He would have a few months out before being appointed at Bradford in March 2019, but by February the year after he had been sacked and would return to Derby as Under 23 coach. He wasn't there long as an agreement between Gary Neville and Wayne Rooney saw him become interim coach at Salford, ultimately getting the full time job, he was sacked a season later after missing out on the playoffs. His next move saw him move abroad to Dundee. he led the club on a promotion push and would win the Scottish Championship with Dundee at the end of the season. Bowyer was named as the SPFL Scottish Championship Manager of the Year but departed Dundee as manager, alongside assistant Billy Barr, arriving at Burton over a year later. Last season also marked a change in ownership at the club with long time owner Ben Robinson selling the club to the Nordic Football Group, who remain in charge and surprisingly haven't used the Nordic market to their advantage yet.



In terms of team news that has still to be properly announced, from Towns perspective, my reckoning is that Owen Goodman will still be out suspended following the red card at Barnsley, with the Man City game his final one. Lee Grant has said that Lynden Gooch would be missing the Bradford game and that the Burton game was a possibility but may be coming too soon, Mikel Miller is back training but it feels likely that he may be a few weeks away from making an appearance. Jack Whatmough came off the other week and Grant said he was going to be out for a few weeks so I would hazard a guess that he will be back around October time. Dion Charles got his first goal for the club, albeit for the under 21's, it appears he has fallen behind Bojan in the pecking order for the time being. Having watched little of the Bradford game and bits and pieces of the other games this season, it feels like Castledine would be better suited to having Kasumu playing behind him, sacrificing Kane's potential creativity for Kasumu's energy creates more pockets for Castledine to use, something he does a lot better than Ben Wiles, hopefully we start seeing more of Will Alves from the left as it feels like Roosken is almost the scapegoat at the moment, he seems to be hooked very early when things aren't going to plan, so it might be time to see someone else there from the off, the right side is equally ineffective at times and whilst Harness has ability and quality he seems to be almost trying too hard to influence the game and finally make his mark on the side.

In regards to starting line up, I fully expect to see Nicholls in goal, with Sorensen, Low, a returning Feeney and Roughan in front of him. I'd like Kas to partner Ledson but it will probably be Kane again, wide men as said above, it will be interesting to see if Wiles comes back in having been excluded altogether last weekend, and personally I'd want Alfie May starting up front every week, although looking at how Birmingham used him, they played him all across the the front line so there is that option. I expect Redmond will once again be making an appearance from the bench with the aim of his full debut coming in the cup next week. As for Burton, I'm not really sure what their team news is at this time, if I see anything I will add it in.

It may come as no surprise, but the head to head between the two sides is rather short, we have played each other 4 times, with Burton holding the upper hand as of this moment. Our first meeting came under David Wagner in the promotion season where a late Nahki Wells goal sealed a 1-0 down at the Pirelli Stadium. The return fixture had the same scoreline in favour of the visitors, with Town being schooled in gamesmanship by Nigel Cloughs side. Wagner had rotated some of the players and they failed to get through resolute defending, Dean Whitehead saw red late on with Jackson Irvine scoring in the 90th minute much to the displeasure of the Town fans. Last season it seemed like it was going to be the same story, with Burton defending stoutly and Town lacking the cutting edge, they took the lead fairly early on through Charlie Webster and Town struggled to make any impact, despite having 30 shots on goal and a plethora of corners, finally one paid off and Helik scored what could have been his last goal for the side, the visitors were reduced to 10 men shortly before full time but Town weren't able to make it count. The return fixture came at the back end of the season when John Worthington oversaw the capitulation of a playoff push. Town once again dominated possession, going nowhere with it, but didn't have one shot on target, whilst the hosts made the most of the ball when they had it, Burrell scored twice and Julian Larsson also got on the scoresheet to give the Brewers their biggest win of last season.





In terms of played for both, there doesn't seem to be many, Lucas Akins is one to have played for both, he had 8 years at the Pirelli, making over 300 appearances for the club, he's still contracted to Mansfield but repping the HMS prison team. Kyle Hudlin had a loan spell there but didn't find the back of the net, he now plays over in Vietnam, not sure how that is going for him, Jamal Blackman and Muzzy Carayol were there at the same time as Hudlin, Blackman made for appearances between the sticks for Burton to go with his one for Town, currently unemployed, Carayol had a loan spell here and had two seasons at Burton, he now plays for Peterborough...Sports. Martin Pearson coached and played here and managed Burton, he struggled in that role and is now seemingly doing the same at Notts County, speaking of managed both hello Neil Warnock, he needs no real introduction nor does Darren Moore who played for Burton briefly and managed here also briefly. Oumar Niasse, remember him? he had a short spell at Burton, slightly more fruitful than when here, he actually got on the pitch, thats about it for him, now tearing it up at Macclesfield, speaking of players that failed to achieve much here you can add Scott Malone to that list, he had a loan spell at Burton. Harness began his professional career at Burton, having originally come through the system at Coventry, he made 68 appearances over a 6 year period for the club, he has since played for the likes of Ipswich and Portsmouth before coming to Town.

Let's try this again!! Here are the week 5 results, just so everyone has a record of them!!

Group A

Week 5 results
Minizin 17
BaggieOne 15
Stairs 12
BaggieVicar 10
B.B.B. 10
Zinman 7
Twerton 5
A.A.A. 0

League Table
76 BaggieOne
64 Stairs
59 Minizin
46 B.B.B.
42 Twerton
40 BaggieVicar
36 A.A.A.
20 Zinman


Group B

Week 5 results
18 Snooty
15 SCO
11 Salop
7 Amelia
5 Themaclad
5 4eva
4 Derby
0 Lady Jane

League Table
49 Themaclad
49 SCO
40 4eva
31 Snooty
29 Derby
26 Lady Jane
21 Salop
12 Amelia

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



Another home game, another home defeat as Bristol won without really getting out of first gear. It didn't take long for Bristol to take the lead, as we failed to clear and Rob Dickies shot was deflected in off debutant Amass. It was soon 0-2 when Riis fired through Horvaths legs after being set up by Mehmeti. It was 0-3 just after the half hour when Twine's cross fell to the feet of Mehmeti who fired through Horvath's legs again. Ugbo had a chance to score but failed as he bundled it wide. 0-3 at the break and despite a bit of an improvement we never really looked like scoring while Bristol did hit the post as they cantered to a straightforward win.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Our next defeat, erm sorry opponent, sees us travel down to the south coast to take on Portsmouth. Pompey have had a decent start to the season losing just one of there first five matches and currently lie in 9th place. It will be interesting to see if Portsmouth can put a challenge to the playoff picture, it might come down to there home form which is usually pretty good so we shall have to wait and see. They are managed by John Mousinho, who has been in charge since 2023, this is his first managerial job and he got them promoted in his second season in charge. There leading scorer id Segecic who has 2 goals so far this season, though they do have the likes of Chaplin & Bishop as other threats.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 29
PORT 27
DRAW 17

CURRENT FORM

OWLS    L L D L L                                                            

PORT D W D L W

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  



THE TEAM

Horvath
Valery Iorfa Otegbayo Amass
Fusire Ingelsson Bannan
J Lowe Cadamarteri Ugbo

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

3-1 Cadamarteri

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

SCO 3
Maddix 1
Owlkev 1
Imre
Washington

BMPL

Stateside 4
Pei -8
Wereham -12
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Man Utd v Chelsea
Blackburn v Ipswich
Cardiff v Bradford
Cheltenham v Oldham
Altrincham v Carlisle

AAHAA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Gamball:
Bournemouth - Newcastle

Others:
Brighton - Spurs
West Ham - Crystal Palace
Wolves - Leeds
Man Utd - Chelsea
Birmingham - Swansea
Leicester - Coventry
QPR - Stoke
Blackburn - Ipswich
Arsenal - Man City

About 18 months ago got a new computer, works a treat except for one thing, could never get the camera to work, tried everything, one day last week, had another go, instructions were followed and then noted on the sticker with the instruction that it said, please peel off

Camera works!!!!!

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 the abandoned Matchday 7:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 127 pts
   
2. neonfoxinthebox = 114 pts
   
3. jjamez = 113 pts
   
4. SHEP_HTAFC = 101 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 90 pts
   
6. ritchiebaby = 89 pts
   

Friday 19th September:
Championship:
Middlesbrough v West Bromwich Albion (20:00)

Saturday 20th September:
League One:
Town v Burton Albion
Town scorers:
Burton scorers:

Lincoln City v Luton Town (12:30)
Cardiff City v Bradford City
Doncaster Rovers v AFC Wimbledon
Plymouth Argyle v Peterborough United
Port Vale v Mansfield Town
Rotherham United v Stockport County

Scottish League Cup quarter finals:
Rangers v Hibernian (17:45)

Sunday 21st September:
Premier League:
Sunderland v Aston Villa (14:00)

Tuesday 23rd September:
EFL Cup 3rd round:
Barnsley v Brighton & Hove Albion
Wrexham v Reading
Wigan Athletic v Wycombe Wanderers

Wednesday 24th September:
Town v Man City
Town scorers:
City scorers:

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

1. themaclad = 132 pts
   
2. Devongone = 103 pts
   
3. Amelia Chaffinch = 98 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 98 pts
   
5. St Charles Owl = 77 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 77 pts
   

Saturday 20th September:
Premier League:
Liverpool v Everton (12:30)

Championship:
Derby County v Preston North End
Portsmouth v Sheffield Wednesday

League One:
Town v Burton Albion
Town scorers:
Burton scorers:

Blackpool v Barnsley (12:30)
Bolton Wanderers v Wigan Athletic (12:30)
Reading v Leyton Orient
Stevenage v Exeter City
Wycombe Wanderers v Northampton Town

League Two:
Bromley v Chesterfield

Tuesday 23rd September:
EFL Cup 3rd round:
Lincoln City v Chelsea

Wednesday 24th September:
Town v Man City
Town scorers:
City scorers:

Newcastle United v Bradford City
Port Vale v Arsenal

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

Just a quick note that the site took a dump last night and posts from the past few days have been lost. The recovery back up that was used took us back a few days, to last Friday I think, so some threads will be missing posts made over the weekend. Nothing sinister on this and its site wide.

OwlKev, did you record the full predictions and results from the Brizzle game, as some of them are gone?

Chris Wilder is back at Sheffield United for a third time as manager, three months after he was sacked to make way for Ruben Selles.

Wilder replaces Selles who was dismissed on Sunday following the Blades' 5-0 thrashing at Ipswich, which left them bottom of the Championship with no points.

Wilder, who turns 58 next week, was sacked by United's American owners, COH Sports, after they lost to Sunderland in the Championship play-off at Wembley.

COH Sports have reappointed Wilder on a contract until 2027 after Selles' calamitous spell as the former Southampton, Reading and Hull boss lost all six of his matches in charge.

"Chris Wilder returns with proven leadership and an unparalleled understanding of Sheffield United," a statement read on the club's website.

"We are confident he is the right person to restore momentum, unite the squad and supporters, and deliver the results necessary to achieve our objectives this season."

After supporting the Blades as a child, Wilder's professional relationship with the club began almost 40 years ago as a player in 1986.

The former defender spent six years at Bramall Lane before leaving to join Rotherham and then returned for a brief spell in 1998.

After winning promotion as a manager at Oxford and Northampton, Wilder began his first spell as United boss in 2016 and steered them to the League One title in his first season.

The Blades finished runners-up in the Championship in 2019, sealing a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2007 under Neil Warnock.

They excelled in their first season back in the top tier, beating Everton, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea on the way to finishing ninth, their best placing since 1975.

United nosedived the following season and Wilder left with the club bottom of the top flight in March 2021.

Wilder had spells at Middlesbrough and Watford before returning to Bramall Lane in December 2023 to succeed Paul Heckingbottom with the club again bottom of the Premier League.

He could not save the side from relegation, but he amassed 90 points to finish third last season before enduring the heartbreak of a play-off defeat to a Sunderland side whose winner came in stoppage time.


It's a sensational return for Wilder, having only left the club in June. His initial departure came after recording 92 points last season - two of those were deducted before the start of the season - and reaching the Championship play-off final.

It was a controversial decision to part ways and the new plan simply hasn't worked. Any complaints anyone might've had about last year were quickly put into perspective when United started this season with six straight defeats.

Key players who flourished under Wilder - Harrison Burrows, Michael Cooper, Sydie Pieck - have all looked a shadow of their former selves.

Gus Hamer, last year's top player in the Championship, was reduced to sitting on the bench as Ipswich hit United for five on Friday. So was Tyrese Campbell. They are another pair who were instrumental to the club's success last season.

The owners appear to be admitting defeat, holding their hands up and making amends. It's rare you see that level of humility in football.

Wilder loves Sheffield United and will be jumping at the chance to get back in and get things going again. He knows the club better than anyone, will be able to walk back in and crack on quickly.

It's an incredible set of events that will be all the more remarkable if he turns United's season around. There's still plenty of time left to get them up the table.

You might notice that loads of posts have gone missing this morning. By my reckoning is everything since Friday afternoon.

I've messaged Stairs and he's messaged Mark and this is the reply.

Sadly you are right.

Mark was forced last night to perform a recovery and as a result data has been lost and can’t be recovered.

Please spread the word and ask people to re enter posts accordingly.

I am very sorry. Nothing can be done to get material back and I know some very high quality contributions will have vanished.