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 Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

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. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

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.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

1. Lord Snooty = 261 pts
   
2. St Charles Owl = 258 pts
   
3. jjamez = 244 pts
   
4. Baggiebob(BBB) = 242 pts
   
5. themaclad = 230 pts
   
6. ritchiebaby = 213 pts
   

Friday 29th March:
Town v Coventry
Town scorers:
Coventry scorers:

Monday 1st April:
Stoke v Town
Town scorers:
Stoke scorers:

Leicester City v Norwich City (12:30)
Birmingham City v Preston North End
Coventry City v Cardiff City
Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday
Plymouth Argyle v Bristol City
Rotherham United v Millwall
Sunderland v Blackburn Rovers
Swansea City v Queens Park Rangers
West Bromwich Albion v Watford
Ipswich Town v Southampton (17:30)
Leeds United v Hull City (20:00)

Bonus matches:
Premier League:
Saturday:
Newcastle United v West Ham United (12:30)
Nottingham Forest v Crystal Palace

Scottish Premiership:
Saturday:
Rangers v Hibernian


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

1. theo_luddite = 239 pts
   
2. neonfoxinthebox = 234 pts
   
3. Devongone = 229 pts
   
4. SHEP_HTAFC = 217 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 170 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 169 pts
   

Friday 29th March:
Town v Coventry
Town scorers:
Coventry scorers:

Bristol City v Leicester City (12:30)
Millwall v West Bromwich Albion (13:00)
Cardiff City v Sunderland
Hull City v Stoke City
Norwich City v Plymouth Argyle
Preston North End v Rotherham United
Queens Park Rangers v Birmingham City
Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City
Southampton v Middlesbrough
Blackburn Rovers v Ipswich Town (17:30)
Watford v Leeds United (20:00)

Monday 1st April:
Stoke v Town
Town scorers:
Stoke scorers:

Bonus matches:
National League:
Friday:
York City v Chesterfield

Premier League:
Saturday:
Aston Villa v Wolverhampton Wanderers (17:30)

Sunday:
Manchester City v Arsenal (16:30)


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

Fresh from a much needed break, we're back! Most of the matches are on Monday so the scores won't be up on Sunday because that would cause too much suspicion.

Gamball:
Ipswich - Southampton

Others:
Bournemouth - Everton
Nottingham Forest - Crystal Palace
Sheff U - Fulham
Man City - Arsenal
Leicester - Norwich
Birmingham - Preston
Plymouth - Bristol City
Stoke - Huddersfield
WBA - Watford

Less than 2 weeks to go

AFC Fylde 3-0 Oxford City
Aldershot Town 2-2 Solihull Moors
Altrincham 2-3 Gateshead
Barnet 2-1 Dorking Wanderers
Bromley 3-1 York City
Chesterfield 2-1 Boreham Wood
Dagenham & Redbridge 2-2 Oldham Athletic
Eastleigh 2-1 Hartlepool United
FC Halifax Town 4-0 Ebbsfleet United
Rochdale 1-1 Maidenhead United
Southend United 0-1 Woking
Wealdstone 3-2 Kidderminster Harriers





League Table After Matchday 47

SaltergateBorn - 817
Spireitematt - 795
Amelia - 710
Lord Snoots - 697
Dancing - 657
St Charles - 632
Devon - 603

Premier League

Minizin 9
Lady J 8
Stairs 3
B.B.B. 2
Zinman 2
Derby -4
Blue B -5

Lowest Premier League total of the season this week and even if we were not missing a couple of players I don't thing we would have done much better!! Two players set their lowest scores of the season, including one who got the first minimum possible score of the season, the Gamball was a whitewash, only one player scored positive points on the Bonus and no one reached double figures!!

Minizin leads the way for the second week on the trot with 9 points. He managed to get 2 of the 3 CSs we saw this week but missed on his balls. Lady Jane was second with 8 points, she was the only one to get anything on the Bonus and got the other CS.

Stairs is third with 3 points with Zinman and BBB a point behind him. Stairs managed to get his Scoreball point but for these three its was a blowout on every other ball and no CSs between them!!

Derby at least set a record for the season, not sure its a record he wanted though!! He got every single prediction wrong and didn't even pick up the scoreball, therefore he finished on -4, the lowest possible score!!!

353 Zinman
346 Blue Baggie
327 BBB
327 Minizin
312 Derby
290 Stairs
239 Lady Jane
204 Dingle

Zinman moves a few points clear at the top and assuming BlueBaggie has sadly left for good it looks like the title is his unless one of the chasing pack can string together some very good weeks. Come on Blue, don't give up the title race!!!

BBB and Minizin are now tied and due to Derby's complete washout have opened up a 15 point gap on him. Stairs might have a chance of catching Derby if he can string some good scores together. LJ is in a league of her own currently and still playing for pride!!

Championship

Twerton 12
Themaclad 6
AAA 5
SCO 4
Snooty 3
Sanjay 1
BaggieOne -2

Well it wasn't pretty but at least 1 player made it to double figures. Week 30 turned out to be the 2nd lowest scoring week of the season so far with all the balls and correct scores proving hard to find. 3 fixtures provided negative points and the only point scored on the Man U/Liverpool game was a scoreball.

Twerton was th elone player in double figures - that's now 7 weeks in a row achieving 10 or more points and he's top for th e3rd week out of the last 4 - a good time to run into form. Twerton got one of only 2 correct scores this week, and it happened to be the gamball. He also scored on 4 games, the only player to hit that mark this week. Some way behind in 2nd place is Themaclad with the other correct score and a rare correct bonus prediction, with AAA a point further back. AAA chose to play the gamball and for once scored from it!

Not much to say about the rest - well, anything good. SCO scored on just 2 games but included his bonus as one of them. Snooty scored on 3 but missed out on the major balls while Sanjay kept above zero thatnks to the scoreball. BaggieOne had a miserable week with just 1 correct prediction and nothing, well, less than nothing, from his balls. Not a great way to head into the international break.

324 SCO
324 Twerton
289 Snooty
286 AAA
272 Themaclad
255 BaggieOne
220 Sanjay

It's getting interesting at the top as Twerton catches SCO to share top spot. These 2 look to have the automatic promotion places secured but the play-off place is up for grabs with Snooty and AAA separated by just 3 points and Themaclad hoping for a late surge.

With Sanjay still trailing by some distance, I can at least offer him some consolation in that he currently sits on top of the scoreball chart!

Birmingham City are poised to bring back popular former manager Gary Rowett as interim boss until the end of the season in a bid to end their alarming run of Championship results.

The 50-year-old, who has been doing media work since leaving Millwall in October, is in line to take charge in the continued absence of Tony Mowbray.

Assistant Mark Venus has stood in since Mowbray stepped away on 19 February.

But Blues have picked up just one point in the six Championship matches since.

That has left the US-owned club on the edge of the relegation zone with eight games left this season, kept out of the bottom three only on goal difference.

Mowbray is undergoing medical treatment for an unnamed illness, with the club saying he would be absent for "approximately six to eight weeks".

Former Blues player and manager Rowett is set to return to the club for a third time and could therefore become the sixth different man to pick a team this season, following John Eustace, Wayne Rooney, caretaker Steve Spooner, Mowbray and Venus.

He was sacked by Blues' previous owners in December 2016 when Blues were seventh in the Championship, kept out of the play-off zone only on goal difference.

Birmingham's next game is after the international break against QPR on Friday, 29 March.

Blues are the longest surviving club in the Championship, in their 13th straight season in the second tier following relegation from the Premier League in 2011.

They were most recently in the third tier in 1995, before being promoted under Barry Fry.

Mark Venus and Tony Mowbray on the training pitch
Mark Venus (left) has been Tony Mowbray's right-hand man in all his time in management
Rowett's managerial CV
Former Cambridge United, Everton, Blackpool, Derby, Birmingham, Leicester City, Charlton Athletic and Burton Albion right-back Rowett made 444 appearances in his 19-year professional career.

After taking his first job as a manager at Burton in 2012, he left to return to Birmingham as manager in October 2014, taking over with Blues 23rd in the second tier.

Rowett led them to 10th place that season, which is where they also finished the following campaign, 11 points off the play-offs.

With his team well placed in the promotion hunt in December 2016, he was sacked by Blues' then newly appointed owners after being linked to vacancies at QPR and Fulham, and replaced by Gianfranco Zola.

Three months later he was named manager of Derby County, who he took to the Championship play-offs in 2018 before resigning to join Stoke City.

He was sacked by Stoke after fewer than eight months in charge in January 2019 when they were 14th in the Championship, eight points off a play-off place.

But he then returned to Championship management nine months later when he took over at Millwall, with whom he finished eighth, ninth, 11th and eighth over the past four completed seasons.

'Unique problems often need unique solutions'
Analysis - BBC Radio WM's Richard Wilford

It is hard to see any downside in adding Gary Rowett's knowledge to the Birmingham City coaching staff.

This has now become a crisis management situation. And Gary knows both the league and the club so well.

Unique problems often need unique solutions.

The best-case scenario was that Tony Mowbray would be returning to work around Easter weekend.

But Rowett's expected arrival will now take the pressure off the Blues manager until he has fully recovered.

Blues' eight remaining games
Friday 29 March: QPR (a)

Monday 1 April: Preston (h)

Saturday 6 April: Leicester (a)

Wednesday 10 April: Cardiff City (h)

Saturday 13 April: Coventry City (h)

Saturday 20 April: Rotherham United (a)

Saturday 27 April: Huddersfield Town (a)

Saturday 4 May: Norwich City (h)

Tuesday Night

Barnet 0-1 Eastleigh

Wednesday Night

Halifax 0-1 Chesterfield
Wealdstone 2-1 Bromley


League Table After Matchday 46

SaltergateBorn - 814
Spireitematt - 795
Amelia - 710
Lord Snoots - 688
Dancing - 657
St Charles - 632
Devon - 603

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 Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

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. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

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.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

1. Lord Snooty = 247 pts
   
2. St Charles Owl = 244 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 232 pts
   
4. jjamez = 232 pts
   
5. themaclad = 216 pts
   
6. ritchiebaby = 201 pts
   

European Championship qualifying:
Thursday March 21st:
Wales v Finland

International friendlies:
Friday 22nd March:
Netherlands v Scotland
Romania v Northern Ireland

Saturday 23rd March:
Republic of Ireland v Belgium (17:00)
England v Brazil (19:00)
France v Germany (20:00)

Tuesday 26th March:
England v Belgium
Germany v Netherlands
Republic of Ireland v Switzerland
Scotland v Northern Ireland
Spain v Brazil (20:30)

Proper football:
Saturday:
League Two:
Harrogate Town v Bradford City (13:00)
Stockport County v Milton Keynes Dons (17:15)

National League:
FC Halifax Town v Ebbsfleet United


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

1. theo_luddite = 229 pts
   
2. neonfoxinthebox = 228 pts
   
3. Devongone = 223 pts
   
4. SHEP_HTAFC = 209 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 164 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 163 pts
   

European Championship qualifying:
Thursday March 21st:
Wales v Finland

International friendlies:
Friday 22nd March:
Netherlands v Scotland
Romania v Northern Ireland

Saturday 23rd March:
Republic of Ireland v Belgium (17:00)
England v Brazil (19:00)
France v Germany (20:00)

Tuesday 26th March:
England v Belgium
Germany v Netherlands
Republic of Ireland v Switzerland
Scotland v Northern Ireland
Spain v Brazil (20:30)

Proper football:
Saturday:
League One:
Burton Albion v Port Vale

League Two:
Mansfield Town v Colchester United (12:30)

National League:
Chesterfield v Boreham Wood


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

Barnet 1-3 Eastleigh

Having been carefully run through the current League table, with Eastleigh only three points clear of the drop zone, Paul McCallum misses a penalty and still scores a hat trick to make Chesterfield Champions on an anticlimactic Tuesday night, with an away game at The Shay looming the following evening.

"McCallum is far too hot to handle," according to a rueful Dean Brennan. McCallum for his part is wondering why, if he's that hot, is he always in the National League.

Chesterfield celebrate with a Trebor Mint and a Haliborange overdose before bed-time. Manager Paul Cook remains unavailable for comment.