Championship League News
Bobby Thomas’s header guided Coventry to the promised land and denied a spirited Rovers
The teams take to the field at Ewood Park. It’s all Coventry, the Jolly Boating song ringing out. It’s a bit more sparse in the home end, despite efforts from those in Warwickshire to get hold of tickets. The hill behind the Darwen End may well be full of Sky Blue, too.
Frank Lampard’s advice to his players: “Stay calm in your heads but not in your legs.”
Continue reading...Kieran McKenna’s team face a crunch clash with Middlesbrough but charging Southampton loom large
At the end of July, Ipswich and Middlesbrough reached an agreement. If the Boro midfielder Hayden Hackney agreed personal terms he could join the Suffolk club, freshly relegated and awash with ready funds, for a Championship record fee of around £20m. Kieran McKenna knew he would be getting the best schemer in the division if his target said yes; a player who could make the difference in a 46-game grind. Perhaps with half an eye on Premier League interest, Hackney heard Ipswich out but turned the transfer down. He would end up staying on Teesside and propelling an often exhilarating promotion chase.
There is little chance of a mutually beneficial outcome when the sides meet at Portman Road on Sunday. Hackney has missed the past four games with a calf injury and it is unclear whether he will be ready in time for a game of potentially seismic consequence.
Continue reading...Saints just three points off second after 3-0 home win
Ipswich slip to 2-0 defeat at battling Portsmouth
Southampton have moved just three points off automatic promotion after a 3-0 victory over Blackburn, coupled with Ipswich’s 2-0 defeat at Portsmouth.
The hosts extended their unbeaten run to 18 games in all competitions with a comprehensive victory at St Mary’s, secured by first-half goals from Cyle Larin and Ryan Manning and a late strike from Cameron Archer.
Continue reading...Points penalty would affect this season’s total
West Brom are 20th, two points above relegation zone
West Bromwich Albion insist they have complied with the EFL’s financial rules despite fears of a points deduction for the relegation-threatened Championship side.
The Daily Telegraph reported on Monday that the EFL’s Club Financial Reporting Unit (CFRU) filed a compliance report to West Brom over a breach of the loss limits for the 2024-25 season under profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). Under guidelines, sanctions would be applied in the season after breach. That would mean if a points penalty were imposed, it would affect West Brom in the current campaign, with the club 20th in the Championship, two points above the relegation zone.
Continue reading...Wrexham missed the chance to move within a point of the Championship playoff places after they suffered a 2-0 defeat by Birmingham at St Andrew’s. The visitors’ hopes of an unprecedented fourth straight promotion were dealt a massive blow after they were beaten for a second consecutive match which leaves them four points behind sixth-placed Hull with four games to play.
After their 5-1 defeat by Southampton, Wrexham have now suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since August. Phil Parkinson, the Wrexham manager, said: “We’ve had a tough week this week. But we’re not down and out yet. It’s not over yet.
Continue reading...Controversial penalty sparks 2-0 Ipswich win at Norwich
Bottom-side Wednesday draw 0-0 at leaders Coventry
Ipswich gave their hopes of automatic promotion a massive boost by recording a hard-fought 2-0 win over Norwich at Carrow Road, while Coventry must wait for another day after being held 0-0 at home by Sheffield Wednesday.
Ipswich moved into the top two, with at least a game in hand on their nearest rivals, as first-half goals from Jaden Philogene, with a harsh penalty, and George Hirst completed a long overdue double over their East Anglian rivals.
Continue reading...Sanction for financial breach has led to a relegation fight
Leicester now ‘fully focused’ on final five games of season
Leicester have announced defeat in their appeal against a six-point deduction for breaching English Football League financial rules. An independent commission imposed the sanction on Leicester in February, which dropped the club from 17th to 20th in the Championship.
They appealed against the decision and have subsequently fallen to 22nd, a point adrift of safety with five fixtures remaining. It is very possible the club, currently managed by Gary Rowett, could be relegated to League One a decade after winning the Premier League.
Continue reading...Southampton continued their Championship charge as they thrashed Wrexham 5-1 to replace the Welsh side in the playoff places.
Fuelled by their stunning weekend FA Cup quarter-final triumph over Arsenal, Tonda Eckert’s in-form side flew out of the traps at Stōk Cae Ras with early goals from Kuryu Matsuki and Flynn Downes, having already hit the woodwork twice.
Continue reading...Results elsewhere favour Frank Lampard’s side
Norwich deal blow to Millwall’s promotion push
Coventry crept closer to promotion to the Premier League despite an off-colour display in a goalless draw at Hull.
Setbacks for promotion rivals Millwall and Middlesbrough meant a win for Coventry would have moved them to within two points of guaranteeing a return to the top flight for the first time in 25 years. While the Sky Blues were second best for large spells at the MKM Stadium and fortunate to avoid defeat, they retained their 12-point lead at the top of the table.
Continue reading...Jack Rudoni came on to score twice and edge Coventry a little closer to a Premier League return
2 min: Van Ewijk looks long for Simms. Clarke intercepts. Then Esse hassles Ward down the left and forces the first corner of the match. Coventry have scored 24 goals from set pieces this season, the division’s best … but this one comes to nothing.
Derby get the ball rolling. The CBS Arena roaring.
Continue reading...Wrexham rally against West Brom to boost playoff push
Leicester earn precious point against Preston
Jack Rudoni came off the bench to score twice as Championship leaders Coventry moved 11 points clear of second-placed Millwall with a 3-2 victory against Derby.
The midfielder had been out of action since 28 February but returned to devastating effect as Coventry made it eight wins in nine league outings.
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The Championship – a league so chaotic it makes a piano falling down some stairs resemble a Zen garden – resumes with an old-fashioned Easter weekend double header. Automatic promotion, playoff places and the drop into the abyss all remain up for grabs, with only beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday’s relegation rubber-stamped as the contenders jockey for position on entering the home straight. Not a Stone Island jacket will go unworn as fans of all 24 clubs proudly get the badge in before heading off to support their teams over a hectic bank holiday schedule. At the top, Frank Lampard’s Coventry City are in the box seat for automatic promotion, with an 11-point cushion between them and Ipswich Town in third. They will fancy their chances of at least maintaining the gap in tomorrow night’s televised Geographically Quite Near Each Other But Not Really A Derby derby against, er, Derby County. With no Good Friday game due to Southampton’s weekend FA Cup appointment with Arsenal, Ipswich will have additional time to de-Farage Portman Road for Monday’s visit of Birmingham.
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Continue reading...Veteran returns to club 44 years after being sacked
‘It boils down to two words: energy and enthusiasm’
Roy Hodgson insisted he does not require “a crutch” after making a shock return to Bristol City at 78 years old and believes he is healthier than when last coaching two years ago, when he was taken ill at Crystal Palace. The former England manager, who took training at the Championship club for the first time on Monday, has taken interim charge for the final seven games of the season.
Hodgson left Palace in February 2024, four days after collapsing at training, but he was tempted out of retirement by Richard Scudamore, the former Premier League chief executive who joined City’s board last October. Hodgson was at home in Richmond, west London, when he received a message out of the blue from Scudamore, a lifelong City fan, asking if he could pick his brains.
Continue reading...Hodgson replaces Gerhard Struber for rest of season
He last managed second-tier club back in 1982
Roy Hodgson has made a sensational return to management at the age of 78 with Bristol City after Gerhard Struber was sacked by the Championship club.
Hodgson, who has been out of work since leaving Crystal Palace in February 2024, will take charge of City for the remaining seven games of the season. They are currently 16th in the Championship.
Continue reading...Reform’s use of the football club has shocked fans and left the ownership red faced but how did it happen?
When photographs of Nigel Farage’s visit to Portman Road went viral on Tuesday morning, a wave of shock quickly spread among Ipswich Town’s staff. Some were furious, others genuinely devastated by the carelessness that saw the club allow itself to be leveraged for Reform UK’s political gain. The anger was palpable and hardly assuaged by an email sent to employees by the chief executive, Mark Ashton, who sought to douse the fire by stating there had been no intention to endorse Farage nor his policies.
The problem for Ipswich is that the horse has bolted. At best, they were grievously naive in letting Farage and his social media team run amok after arriving for a pre-booked stadium tour; a less generous reading would be that they simply stood by and let it happen, fully aware of Reform’s propensity to create sensation from the smallest gulp of oxygen. A photo of Farage holding an Ipswich shirt aloft, seemingly in their press conference room, was swiftly emblazoned as the banner on his party’s X account. Before long Farage, ever the opportunist, was launching a video from the scene and cockily linking himself with the Ipswich manager’s job.
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