Championship League News
Sheffield Wednesday have failed to pay their players their salaries for March on time due to “cashflow” problems.
The Owls say the delay in payment is only temporary and chairman Dejphon Chansiri is attempting to resolve the issue.
Continue reading...Manchester City’s fire still burns bright, Marcus Rashford reminds critics of his ability and Eberechi Eze’s great week
A seventh semi-final in succession showed that Manchester City, at least, see magic in the FA Cup. The quarter-finals saw them cast as unwelcome outsiders, lacking the romance of their fellow hopefuls. None of the other seven had won a major trophy this century, four never in their history. Pep Guardiola’s frenzied reaction after Omar Marmoush scored his team’s second at Bournemouth showed his fire still burns brightly. Surely nearing the end at City, Kevin De Bruyne played the 90 minutes, remaining influential and mobile throughout. He and his teammates have played better this season but this display at the Vitality saw real gutsiness, a key part of the makeup during the glory years. If the hosts, shorn of Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez, were incapable of holding City’s hand to the fire as they had in November, a new City is emerging. Nico O’Reilly added impetus from the bench. So did Marmoush, both offering the pace, strength and vigour their manager now desires. John Brewin
Match report: Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester City
Match report: Preston 0-3 Aston Villa
Match report: Brighton 0-0 Nottm Forest (3-4 on pens)
Match report: Fulham 0-3 Crystal Palace
Continue reading...Leeds missed the chance to return to the top of the Championship as they conceded in the sixth minute of added time to draw 2-2 at home to Swansea.
The hosts made the ideal start as they looked to respond to Sheffield United’s Friday night win over Coventry, with Brenden Aaronson bundling the ball home inside a minute. Swansea were handed a chance to level from the spot in the 14th minute, only for Illan Meslier to turn Josh Tymon’s penalty behind.
Continue reading...Sheffield United made light work of playoff hopefuls Coventry at Bramall Lane as a 3-1 win swept them back to the top of the Championship.
Gus Hamer opened the scoring against his former club with a brilliant free-kick and after Tyrese Campbell had put the Blades 2-0 up at half-time, Rhian Brewster slammed home a game-clinching third.
Continue reading...The Preston forward Milutin Osmajic has been charged by the Football Association after an allegation of racist abuse.
The incident took place during Preston’s Championship match against Burnley on 15 February, where Osmajic was alleged to have made a racist comment towards the Clarets midfielder Hannibal Mejbri.
Continue reading...Daniel Farke blamed himself after his Leeds side were forced to battle back from two down to salvage a 2-2 draw against QPR. Farke considered starting with the defensive midfielder Ilia Gruev but instead opted for a more attacking approach, which backfired as goals from Koki Saito and Steve Cook put Rangers, who had lost their previous four matches, into a surprise lead.
Morgan Fox’s own goal gave the visitors a much-needed boost before the interval and Jayden Bogle equalised soon after the restart. QPR ended the match with 10 men after Saito was sent off in stoppage time for a studs-up challenge on Dan James.
Continue reading...Manager opens up on losing his baby son, how close he came to quitting and the Premier League promotion push
After victory at Middlesbrough in October, Bristol City’s players headed towards the pocket of the Riverside Stadium housing their supporters. As the away fans sang on loop the name of their head coach, Liam Manning, the squad unravelled a giant red and white banner displaying the words “Fly High Theo” in block capitals. Manning, on leave after the death of his baby son eight days earlier, was watching from a rural cottage 300 miles south, on a much-needed getaway. “I sent a long message to the lads about it afterwards … yeah, lump in the throat,” he says. “The celebrations epitomised everything. It was above football.”
It is not the only heavy moment in a raw and moving conversation but the one thing Manning stresses, as he discusses the hardest episode of his life in an interview for the first time, is that this is not a sob story. He takes huge pride in sharing Theo’s name.
Continue reading...Leeds moved back to the Sky Bet Championship summit after defeating Millwall 2-0. Jake Cooper’s own goal gave Leeds the advantage only three minutes into the game before Ao Tanaka wrapped up three points with a thumping finish in the 85th minute.
Victory means Leeds sit two points clear of automatic promotion rivals Sheffield United and four points clear of third-placed Burnley after both teams drew their respective games on Tuesday night.
Continue reading...Mark Sykes struck a last-minute equaliser to snatch Bristol City a 1-1 draw at Championship promotion-chasers Sheffield United.
The point was enough to lift the Blades back to the top of the table, but they were denied a seventh win in eight matches by Sykes’ last-gasp effort after Tyrese Campbell had given them a second-half lead.
Continue reading...Colby Bishop fired a second-half winner as Portsmouth beat the Championship leaders, Leeds, 1-0 at Fratton Park.
After their promotion rivals Sheffield United, Burnley and Sunderland won on Saturday, Leeds’s 17-match unbeaten league run stretching back to November ended through a combination of poor finishing and impressive goalkeeping from Nicolas Schmid.
Continue reading...Burnley and Sheffield United had a contrasting day but both came up with victories to put pressure on the Championship leaders, Leeds, who visit Portsmouth at lunchtime on Sunday.
Sheffield United were made to work for their victory over Preston at Bramall Lane, with Tyrese Campbell scoring the only goal 11 minutes after half-time. Campbell had a huge chance within the first 90 seconds when Harrison Burrows’ low cross fell to Campbell at the far post but he somehow missed the target, albeit from a tight angle. Moments later, Ryan Porteous nearly turned Ben Brereton Díaz’s cross into his own net before Gustavo Hamer had a go from distance but his curling shot sailed harmlessly over the bar.
Continue reading...Burnley’s run of Championship clean sheets finally came to an end on Tuesday night, but they kept the heat on in the promotion race with a 2-1 win at Cardiff.
Yousef Salech’s firm header in the 42nd minute was the first goal the Clarets had conceded in 1,132 minutes of league action, a run of 12 consecutive clean sheets broken. But by the time Salech scored it, early goals from Josh Brownhill and Maxime Estève had already put Scott Parker’s side in charge, and the win puts them two points behind second-placed Sheffield United.
Continue reading...Norfolk Holdings has completed its majority takeover of Norwich City, with Delia Smith and her husband, Michael Wynn Jones, no longer part of the club’s board.
It was announced in August that Norfolk Holdings, led by the Milwaukee Brewers owner, Mark Attanasio, was set to increase its shareholding to around 85%, which would result in Smith and Wynn Jones stepping down as directors and becoming honorary life presidents.
Continue reading...Leeds’ title charge was checked as they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by West Brom. Junior Firpo headed the home side into an early lead but Darnell Furlong equalised with a looping header before the break.
The point still extended Leeds’ unbeaten league run to 17 matches as they head towards a Premier League return. Though the West Brom’s manager, Tony Mowbray, later questioned their ability to stay there.
Continue reading...Eliezer Mayenda tormented Sheffield Wednesday once again as his controversial double helped Sunderland boost their Championship automatic promotion hopes with a 2-1 victory at Hillsborough.
The Spaniard scored two goals during the Black Cats’ 4-0 win over Wednesday in August and he grabbed both, including a highly contentious opener after what appeared to be a handball, on Friday night to help his side move within five points of second-placed Sheffield United with a return to winning ways after successive league defeats.
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