Welcome back Derby, but who’s next?

 

A year is a long time in football, just ask Derby County. Just under 12 months ago they were celebrating an unlikely, but all-the-same impressive victory over West Brom in the play-off final at Wembley.

Now, with a new manager at the helm and having won just one league match since that date, they are back in the Championship.

Some will say that they are in a much better state financially, but is a few quid really worth seeing your team thrashed week in, week out? I’m not so sure!

So with Derby having secured the bottom of the league spot, two more spaces remain.

I would like to see both Reading and Fulham make the drop down – not because I don’t like them, but because I feel that they are both clubs who could compete at a decent level in this division.

Roy Hodgson has gone some way to sorting out the mess that Lawrie Sanchez created in his short spell as Fulham boss, while Steve Coppell has more than enough Championship experience in order to master-mind a Reading promotion charge.

We was robbed!

As if Southampton don’t have enough problems!

Unfortunately it has emerged that several members of the playing staff from both Southampton and Burnley football club were the victims of theft during Saturday’s clash at the St. Mary’s Stadium.

Rumours are circulating that up to £2,500 was taken as well as other personal belongings.

One question must surely be asked… Where were Bradley Wright-Phillips and Nathan Dyer during the robbery? Do they have solid alibi’s? Because let’s face it, their track record isn’t exactly wonderful!

“Police were called to St Mary’s Stadium shortly after the end of the match against Burnley on Saturday.

Five home and nine away players had cash stolen from their belongings in the changing rooms during the second half of the Championship match.

Hampshire Constabulary said it was investigating whether the doors were unlocked and was studying CCTV footage.”

Let’s hope that the culripts are caught, but in the mean time, Southampton will be hoping that that they aren’t robbed on the pitch during their vital next match against table toppers West Brom.

Tough at the top, tight at the bottom

Well, what a superb weekend of Championship football. Things are getting uncomfortably close for teams both vying for promotion and dreading the drop.

West Brom moved one step closer to finishing within the top two while Leicester climbed out of the bottom three with Sheffield Wednesday taking their place.

Stoke moved in to the second automatic promotion spot with a 2-1 win over fellow promotion hopefuls Bristol City at the Britannia Stadium.

Mamady Sidibe grabbed both the goals for Stoke and in doing so doubling his season’s goals tally! One wonders if ‘Big Mama’ will make the grade in the Premiership, should Stoke get there.

Elsewhere Coventry boosted their survival hopes with a thumping 5-1 win at relegated Colchester while Southampton remain in big trouble after a 1-0 home defeat to Burnley. Coventry’s win took them from 21st in the league to 17th. What a difference an hour and a half makes, hey.

Hull missed the chance to cement their place in second spot after a 2-0 defeat at 10-man Sheffield United and Crystal Palace boosted their play-off hopes with a 2-0 success at Watford. Any of the teams down to 9th placed Wolves still stand a chance of promotion.

Down at the bottom, things are equally, if not more tense:

Pos	Team	Played	GD	Pts
15	Preston	44	-3	55
16	Blackpool	44	-2	53
17	Coventry	44	-9	52
18	Norwich	44	-10	52
19	Barnsley	44	-13	52
20	Leicester	44	-1	51
21	Southampton	44	-17	50
22	Sheff Wed	44	-6	49
23	R Scunthorpe	44	-24	42
24	R Colchester	44	-23	37

With six points still left to scrap for eight teams still face the prospect of relegation. Looking at the table now, I feel that Southampton will have to work very hard to secure their Championship status and with games against West Brom away and Sheffield United at home, they will do very well to grab a win against either.

FA Cup joy for the underdogs

 

The FA Cup has reached the semi final stage and there are some notable absentees. Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have all been slayed, leaving the cup very much up for grabs.

So who does occupy the four coveted semi final spots? Well that would be Championship strugglers Barnsley, Championship high flyers West Bromich Albion, Championship play off hopefuls Cardiff City and Premiership mid table experts Portsmouth. Now i’m not sure if you noticed, but I actually said the word ‘Championship’ three times there, and the word ‘Premiership’ just the once. Weird, hey?

So has the gap between the top flight and the second tier closed? possibly even overlapped? Hard to say. Cup matches are invariably tough to call, as Barnsley have superbly proved. Reputations count for nothing as both Liverpool and Chelsea have found out.

Apart from anything else, it’s just refreshing to see Championship teams doing so well in the Cup. In the history of the competition, only eight teams who were playing outside of the top level of English football have lifted the trophy. The most recent of which being West Ham, who beat Arsenal in 1980.

Portsmouth are favourites to win, as you would expect, but that is not to say you should write the other three teams off. Both Cardiff and Barnsley have shown a great knack of getting the better of their Premiership cousins this season, while West Brom have amassed an impressive ten goals in their last two cup games. Baggies fans will also be keen to learn that the only team to have ever won the FA Cup and promotion to the top flight in the same season was, yep, West Brom way back in 1931. Perhaps it is fate?

I would like to think that the Championship has gained a lot of respect out of this seasons cup, and rightly so. For too long now this league has been seen as a place for Premiership has beens to pick up one last pay packet. That opinion is wrong and nothing would please me more than to see a Championship team lift the cup in May.