Category: Championship League

Both sides were circumspect, Leeds strong favourites to progress after taking a goalless draw back to Elland Road having finished the regular season 17 points clear of Norwich

Question that has nothing to do with anything: is it possible to run a sub-20 minute 5k without proper athletic ability? Asking for my only friend.

So how is this going to go? My sense is that Norwich try to make this a physical tussle, looking to get about Leeds early and put them under pressure before they can settle. Leeds, meanwhile – especially with Rutter up front – will look to play through midfield, keeping the ball to give their extra class the scope it needs to tell.

Continue reading...

Brazilian midfielder on settling at Carrow Road, the joy of taking his dogs to East Anglian beaches and preparing for the playoffs

One way or another, the chances are Norwich supporters have been taken aback by Gabriel Sara since he swapped São Paulo for Norfolk two years ago. Most likely because of the Brazilian’s tigerish performances in midfield, a major driver behind Norwich’s push to return to the Premier League with a double-header against Leeds the hurdle between them and the Championship playoff final. Maybe by his infectious smile or his near-flawless English.

Perhaps they have spotted him paddle boarding in Great Yarmouth or preventing his Alaskan malamute, Baloo, named after the Jungle Book bear, from haring after the seals on Horsey beach. “It was kind of dangerous because he was trying to swim to catch them,” Sara says. “I was like: ‘I’m not going to be doing this again! He is almost 10 months old and 36kg, growing all the time.” Sometimes Sara takes his three dogs to the park for a kickaround of sorts. “They have their own formation: 3 v 1,” the 24-year-old says, laughing. “On days off I like to walk, I like the sea. I’m still learning how to surf but I have to wait for the season to finish before I can do that.”

Continue reading...

• Striker will miss both legs of semi-final with knee problem
• Daniel Farke welcomes Will Ferrell but ‘he can’t score for us’

Daniel Farke is hoping the “minor trauma in a patella tendon” that will sideline Patrick Bamford from both legs of Leeds’ Championship playoff semi-final against Norwich does not prove a major problem for his team.

It is the worst possible moment for Farke’s key centre-forward to suffer knee trouble and the Leeds manager turned rueful as he welcomed the news that Hollywood’s Will Ferrell had become the latest celebrity to invest in the West Yorkshire club.

Continue reading...

US stars have flooded English soccer on the backs of the Wrexham phenomenon. But the shimmer of fame cannot overcome ineffective ownership

Tom Brady was nowhere to be seen as Birmingham City dropped to the third tier of English football. He was, however, in Los Angeles the following day for Netflix’s The Roast of Tom Brady, a live TV special in which Bill Belichick, Kevin Hart and many others ripped into the seven-time Super Bowl winner.

“I see your soccer team got knocked down another tier in the English Football League,” Belichick, Brady’s former coach, said from the dais. “For those not familiar with English football, thanks to the intricacies of their obscure regulations system, I’ll put it in English for you: they suck! Not so easy to run a team, is it Tom?”

Continue reading...

• Owner Acun Ilicali says ‘visions for the future are not aligned’
• Rosenior’s playing style and results at Hull widely admired

Liam Rosenior has been sacked by Hull City after his team narrowly missed out on a Championship playoff place.

Hull finished seventh, three points behind sixth-placed Norwich, who are preparing to face Leeds in a playoff semi-final. Despite that disappointment Rosenior had impressed many onlookers during an 18-month stint.

Continue reading...

• Manager says leap to top flight has created ‘so much joy’
• ‘It’s an incredible turnout … everyone deserves it’

The Ipswich manager, Kieran McKenna, hailed his side’s “amazing achievement” as they celebrated promotion with a bus parade around the town. Premier League football awaits the club for the first time in 22 years after confirming promotion with a 2-0 win over Huddersfield thanks to goals from Wes Burns and Omari Hutchinson.

The Tractor Boys completed stunning back-to-back promotions on Saturday as they became the first team since Southampton in 2011 and 2012 to win successive promotions to the top flight from League One.

Continue reading...

Striker’s potential return from injury for semi-final against Norwich may provide short in arm for team’s promotion push

News that the Hollywood actor Will Ferrell has become the latest in a series of celebrities to purchase a minority stake in Leeds United made headlines on Sunday but most Leeds fans are much more interested in a very different type of leading man.

Their team’s hopes of winning promotion via the playoffs could well hinge on whether the injections Patrick Bamford is currently receiving in a damaged knee enable Daniel Farke’s centre-forward to return to action in the semi-final first leg at Norwich next Sunday.

Continue reading...

Our photographer Tom Jenkins was at Portman Road to witness the scenes as the Tractor Boys’ victory meant a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002

Continue reading...

On this evidence the best thing Daniel Farke could do is book his Leeds squad seats on a plane heading somewhere hot and let them lounge by a pool until the first leg of their playoff semi-final at Norwich next Sunday.

Five or six days of vitamin D look the best hope for a side mentally and physically shattered by the most exhausting of seasons. Despite collecting 90 points Leeds have missed out on automatic promotion and must now face the club their manager twice led into the top tier.

Continue reading...

Ipswich secured automatic promotion while Birmingham and Huddersfield had their relegations confirmed

Birmingham 0-0 Norwich. The home side have started in lively fashion. Miyoshi has a dig from distance. Gunn behind it all the way.

Leeds 0-0 Southampton. “I’m not sure a season where Leeds missed out on the title on the final day is the best memory to cheer Leeds fans up!” writes Adam Becker. Yes, good point, though you get the general gist, and in any case, this is Don Revie’s Leeds we’re talking about, last-gasp misery is baked in and taken for granted.

Continue reading...

Kieran McKenna has transformed Tractor Boys from a third-tier team into one that has upset clubs with far greater resources

In Ipswich the businesses are decking their premises in blue and white while passers-by wish the hours away. Banners, flags, good-luck messages and the nervous thrill of an underlying hubbub: there is only one topic of conversation in the shops and cafes of the modest, compact town centre. Football has always sat at the heart of this proud, often understated community: it comes alive beyond recognition when things are going well. There has been little to sustain it in the past two decades but now its pulse is beating faster than at any point in memory.

If Ipswich Town secure a point or more against Huddersfield on Saturday lunchtime, their return to the Premier League will be confirmed. It is a prize that many in these parts, during darker moments, had given up hope of grasping again. They can earn it in front of a packed house at Portman Road, which remains one of English football’s most distinctive venues and has hit fever pitch over the past year. The continuation of a stunning season’s form would mean it is hosting some of the best players in the world a few months from now.

Continue reading...

• Ipswich still in third after conceding late equaliser in 3-3 draw
• Huddersfield all but relegated after draw with Birmingham

Omari Hutchinson scored twice but Hull came from behind three times to stop Ipswich moving into the Championship promotion places with a 3-3 draw at the MKM Stadium.

Ipswich started the day a solitary point behind Leeds having played two games less, knowing a victory would put them in healthy position to return to the Premier League, and George Hirst fired the visitors in front in the 19th minute to give them a perfect start.

Continue reading...