Neil Warnock is likely to take on a role at National League South side Torquay United following the club's takeover.

The Bryn Consortium - made up of local businessmen - have bought the club, subject to creditor approval.

Warnock, 75, managed Torquay in 1993 and has been advising the consortium as they bid to buy the club, which had been in administration.

Warnock's last role in football was a short-lived spell in charge of Aberdeen.

He has managed 15 more clubs in the EFL and Scotland, leading the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield United and Cardiff City to promotion to the Premier League.

He also saved Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town from relegation to League One in recent years.

"Neil's knowledge of football is second to none," Torquay's new co-chairman Michael Westcott told BBC Sport.

"He knows our club very well, he knows our region very well.

"He and I have spent an awful lot of time together over the last six weeks or so and I think that relationship will continue."

'Neil's reputation precedes him'
Neil Warnock (left) and Michael Westcott (right) watch a Torquay game
IMAGE SOURCE,REX FEATURES
Image caption,
Warnock (left) and Westcott have attended recent Torquay United matches together

Westcott and fellow Torquay businessmen Mark Bowes-Cavanagh, Tom Allen, Rob Hawes and Simon Robinson make up the Bryn Consortium, which is named after the police dog that bit Gulls player Jim McNichol during the final match of the 1986-87 season.

The Gulls staved off relegation thanks to a goal scored by Paul Dobson, in the stoppage time caused by the incident.

"I think that Neil's reputation precedes him," Westcott added.

"I think he's a very reassuring presence both to young players and experienced players, and also to a football team manager.

"He's been around the football world for more than 40 years and the fact that Torquay United can benefit from his experience, his contacts, his presence, his personality, I think will be of tremendous support for the club as we start thinking about how we can be as competitive on the pitch as we possibly can."

Westcott is keen to emphasise that his consortium will be "responsible owners", and will not put the future of the club at risk.

He says the consortium want it to be a sustainable club that can stand on its own, without the need for owner support in the long term.

And he says everyone who is owed money by the club will be repaid in full, not just football creditors.

"It's really important to the club, and to us as members of the consortium, that the creditors get looked after," he said.

"Key and fundamental to our proposal is that we believe that Torquay United should pay all of its bills.

"We're required to do so by the football authorities, which we think is the right thing and the good thing and a good rule, and we will honour those commitments.

"100% of all the money owed by the club to them will be settled over the next six months."

The Ogden family have completed their £2m takeover of National League side Rochdale.

They submitted their bid last month after American firm World Soccer Holdings' period of exclusivity ended.

Cameron Ogden, who has bought an equal stake with his brother Edward and sister Tiffany, will join the board of directors as co-chairman, alongside current chairman Simon Gauge.

“Our family has a deep connection to Rochdale, and we envisage the club becoming an integral part of the local community," Cameron Ogden told the club website., external

“We do not underestimate the challenges that lie ahead, and we will work tirelessly towards achieving our ambitions.”

The new board has set out three key aspirations: to return to the EFL within three years, for the club to be self-sustainable within five years and to "significantly increase the social value we bring to the local community".

The board has also given its support to head coach Jimmy McNulty after the club's 11th-placed finish in the National League this season.

Stevenage have reappointed Alex Revell as their manager.

The 40-year-old former striker, who made 57 appearances for the club as a player, had been in interim charge since 17 April.

Revell previously took charge of the club in February 2020, before parting company with Boro in November the following year.

He replaces Steve Evans as permanent boss, after the Scot left Lamex Stadium to return to former club Rotherham United.

Evans guided Stevenage to promotion from League Two in 2022-23 and they finished ninth in League One this season, five points off the play-off places.

Revell's first spell in charge initially saw the club relegated from the fourth tier in the pandemic-hit 2019-20 season, but they were reprieved following a points deduction for Macclesfield Town.

Chairman Phil Wallace told the club website:, external “We believe the dynamics of our squad dictated that Alex was the natural successor to Steve.

"Alex knows the players, he’s been part of the original recruitment metric and, importantly, he’s held in high esteem by the dressing room."

Former Arsenal first-team coach Neil Banfield, 62, will be Revell's assistant manager.

John Swinney had already been confirmed as the SNP Party Leader and today was elected First Minister of Scotland. There were the usual other candidates to become FM, but they had no chance and surely knew that.

He is widely regarded as a safe choice to lead the SNP Government until the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026. There will apparently will be no deal with the Greens, so it will be a minority Government up to then. It's not really a problem as the SNP have done it successfully before.

His new Cabinet will show us where he's heading, with Kate Forbes expected to be offered a top job as a reward for her support. The FM will have to deal with the same problems simmering away in the background as Humza Yousef had, but I'm sure he will handle them with dexterity in his business-like manner.

Just my thoughts after that rollercoaster of a season, and watching Wednesdays seasons goals ..

We need to keep Danny at all costs (obviously), but I do have a sneaking suspicion that there are things going on behind the scenes that will ensure this happens , along with all his backroom staff.

The players , bit tougher this ,I hope ( and believe) we will sign Ugbo and Poveda full time, ugbo for his workrate and Povada for the silky skills (maybe a little injury prone , but worth a place still), Cads will come on well under Danny as will Gassama and Musaba, two players that could make us a LOT of money if they carry on improving, Delgado looks a decent player too.

The usual suspects Bannan (1 year) same with palmer , Windass , not sure about him but big goals in big games and can certainly finish when he's in the mood. Johnson again another year, Bernard 3 years if he will sign, Get Beadle back for a season long loan ..Ikky, Iorfa and Diaby, worth a year ... the rest Thanks but c'ya, bit harsh on Patto and Dawson , but off the wage bill and we need better

Gillingham have appointed former Cambridge United boss Mark Bonner as their manager.

The 38-year-old succeeds Stephen Clemence who was sacked at the end of last month after almost six months in charge.

Bonner guided Cambridge to promotion from League Two in 2021 but was sacked in November with the club four points above the League One relegation zone.

Bonner has agreed a two-year contract at the Priestfield Stadium.

"He has the experience to get us where we want to go," managing director Joe Comper told the club website.

"We were specifically looking for a leader with direct experience playing successfully in League Two.

"We were also looking for someone who had promoted a team out of the league and had the skills to build that sort of ambitious culture.”
One of Bonner's greatest achievements as Cambridge boss was masterminding an FA Cup win at Premier League side Newcastle United

Bonner was Cambridge's academy manager before initially taking temporary charge at the Abbey Stadium after Colin Calderwood's sacking in January 2020.

He led the club to four successive victories and was handed the role permanently, guiding the U's to promotion the following season.

The club finished 14th in his first season in League One and 20th the season after.

Bonner also guided them to the fourth round of the FA Cup in January 2022 after beating Premier League side Newcastle United 1-0 at St James' Park.

“I am delighted to join Gillingham FC and can't wait to get started as manager, as we get to work on preparing for the new season and building a team that supporters enjoy watching and a culture that the players love being part of," Bonner told the club website.

Hull City head coach Liam Rosenior has been sacked after failing to guide his side into the Championship play-offs, BBC Radio Humberside understands.

Rosenior, who had agreed a three-year deal in December, steered the Tigers to seventh place in the Championship this season – their first top-half finish since 2016.

The Humbersiders’ 1-0 defeat by Plymouth on Saturday meant they missed out on the play-offs by just three points.

But Rosenior’s efforts were enough to make him one of three nominees for the Championship manager of the season award, won by Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna.

The 39-year-old, who was in charge for 18 months, spent five years as a Hull player and helped them to gain promotion to the Premier League in 2013.

He returned to the MKM Stadium to succeed Shota Arveladze in December 2022, having previously worked as assistant under both Phillip Cocu and Wayne Rooney at Derby.

Rosenior steered Hull to a 15th-place finish in 2022/23 before overseeing their unsuccessful play-off challenge this season.

Premier League

Zinman 18
Lady J 13
Stairs 12
Minizin 10
B.B.B. 8
Derby 5

And so we end the regular season with thankfully a decent week of scoring. After a few weeks of staring in his rear view mirror, patiently waiting for the rest to catch up, Zinman finally stuck his foot back on the accelerator and sped over the finish line with an excellent 18 points!! It always helps when your only correct score is on the Gamball (and the only one to score on it is a real bonus) and then you back that up with scoring on 8 games in total, but true to form one of the two games he didn’t score on was his Bonus!!

Lady Jane was second as her good end of season form continues with 13 points, she managed one CS and like 3 others got a positive result on a Bonus ball played on the Baggies. Stairs is 3rd with 12 points, he got there is the same manner as LJ, likewise putting his Bonus faith in The Albion. Minizin is 4th with 10 points, he would have been up with the previous two but he was unable to get a CS to hold his score back.

The bottom two this week is made up of BBB (8 pts) and Derby (5 pts), the pair closest to Zinman at the top of the table. There wasn’t a single CS between them although both scored on the Bonus but not much else. Derby managed to lose a point by using his score all on the only 0-0 draw this week!!

388 Zinman
361 Derby
357 BBB
357 Minizin
323 Stairs
296 Lady Jane

So congratulations Zinman, despite his stuttering in recent week he grabs the title with a superb 388 points and a 27 point lead in the end!! Our reigning champion Derby put up a season long fight but was outclassed in the end by Zin. BBB and Minizin ended tied for 3rd spot after battling for the runners-up spot for weeks with Derby. Stairs has been in the same spot since his fine table topping start faded. Lady Jane finishes bottom of the table but because of Blue and Dingle pulling out part way through the season she is spared automatic relegation and goes into the PO against 3rd place in the Championship.

A few season stats to finish off with:

Average weekly total score - 73 points
Highest Weekly Score - 162 points, Week 20
Lowest Weekly score - 11 points, Week 33
Highest Individual Score - Minizin, 29 points in week 26
Lowest Individual Score - Derby, -4 points in week 30

Ball scoring winner - Zinman 86 points
Gamball Scoring winner - Zinman 71 points
Bonus Scoring winner - Derby & Stairs 18 points
Scoreball Scoring Winner - Zinman 21 points
Most Correct Scores - Derby 37

Thanks to all who participated this season!!
Cheers
SCO


Championship

SCO 11
Themaclad 10
Sanjay 8
BaggieOne 7
Twerton 7
AAA 5
Snooty 2

And finally it's over - except for the cup finalists and play-off contenders. The season didn't exactly end in a blaze of glory, with a total points score for the week slightly below average, but at tleast the final league positions weren't sorted until the final game had concluded.

It's somewhat appropriate that the leader of the last week of the season is the man who's been sitting on top of the overall table for ages - congrats to SCO for yet another good week, the 9th time he's led the weekly table. His 11 point haul included one of only 2 correct scores in the week - that it happened to be his bonus was....well, a bonus. Themaclad was just a point back with a week's high of 5 correct predictions but no correct scores.

Sanjay takes 3rd place with the only other correct score with BaggieOne and Twerton ion epoint behind. B1 was the only player to score on the gamball, while Twerton lost a point through his nil nil scoreball choice. AAA avoided bottom spot, leaving it to Snooty who was the only player to miss out on all his balls.

So the the final table ( cue drum roll, fireworks and dancing girls)......

378 SCO
341 Twerton
337 Snooty
336 AAA
320 Themaclad
287 BaggieOne
258 Sanjay

So congratulations to SCO for what turned out to be a comfortable stroll to the championship. In the exciting race for the 2nd automatic promotion place, Twerton did just enough though he was indebted to Snooty crumbling under pressure. Twerton's form mirrored the real championship race with 6 consecutive scores in single figures. Snooty lost 2nd place but was just able to hold off AAA by a single place to claim the play-off position.

Some end of season awards:
Top Ball Player: Twerton - 84 points
Gamball King: Snooty and Twerton - 62 points
Bonus Champ: SCO -18 points
Scoreball Wonder: Sanjay, BaggieOne and AAA with 22 points.
Most Correct Predictions: SCO 158
Most Correct Scores: SCO 36

I won't embarrass everyone by posting the worst in each category!

Thanks for everyone for taking part. Enjoy the summer!

Zin

The play off final is between Lady Jane and Lord Snooty

The Cup Final is between Themaclad and Zinman

As in previous seasons you can either post your scores on here or send them directly to SCO in a PM, he will then post them on here once the games start.

Gamball:
Norwich - Leeds

Others:
Bournemouth - Brentford
Wolves - Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest - Chelsea
Man Utd - Arsenal
WBA - Southampton
Aston Villa - Liverpool
Man Utd - Newcastle
Leeds - Norwich
Southampton - WBA

Normal extra time rules apply and if we have a tie I'll have to do some thinking!