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Sky Bet EFL 2019/20


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Sunderland have responded to their increasingly disgruntled fan base by confirming that the owner, Stewart Donald, is actively attempting to sell the League One club.

A concerted alliance of assorted supporter groups bolstered by a social media campaign has urged Donald to quit Wearside and, in a statement on Tuesday, Sunderland outlined his plans to grant their wish.

In reality the owner has been attempting to find a buyer for several months, coming close to selling Sunderland on more than one occasion. Moreover matters are complicated by the £9m loan from FPP, a group of American investors with close links to Michael Dell, of Dell computers. Should Donald default on repayment, the terms of that loan would lead to the club falling automatically into FPP’s hands next season.

Supporter groups underwhelmed by the owner’s choice of Phil Parkinson as manager after sacking Jack Ross in October would prefer much swifter action but, first, a realistic purchaser must be identified and the FPP relationship potentially untangled.

Matters came to a head after a Boxing Day draw with Bolton at the Stadium of Light and, despite results subsequently improving, Donald is clearly attempting to smoke out possible buyers.

“Given Stewart Donald’s sincere commitment on his arrival at Sunderland AFC that ‘I won’t outstay my welcome’, the board feels that it has no option but to sell the club,” Sunderland said. “That process has now commenced.”

Donald bought Sunderland from Ellis Short, a billionaire American businessman, in May 2018 after successive relegations had plunged the club from the Premier League into the third tier for only the second season in their history. When Ross narrowly failed to secure promotion supporters became increasingly critical of the former Eastleigh owner and his board.

Short’s successor evidently hopes this latest move will serve as an appeasement tactic and has called for harmony until new owners are installed and he can return to his former life in Oxfordshire.

Significantly Donald, who is understood to feel wounded by the supporter campaign, signalled there would be money to spend in January – almost certainly thanks to the FPP loan – and has pleaded with fans to support Parkinson who, after the slowest of starts, has lifted Sunderland into ninth place, only a point short of a play-off position.

Accordingly Sunderland’s statement attempted to challenge the gloom-laden narrative. “Whilst progress on the pitch has been slower than all associated with Sunderland AFC would have liked, the club has become one of the very few in the EFL to be debt free and break even on an operational basis. With that stable base, the significant investment by FPP, and the team now back in contention for promotion, the board believes that Sunderland continues to head in the right direction.

“Given the scale of the task on arriving at the club and the amount of hard work put in over the last 18 months, the current owners would have preferred more time to complete the job and fully implement the vision originally laid out. However, recent events indicate that is not what some fans wish for – and, as football supporters themselves, the board understands that long-term success cannot be achieved by a disunited club.”

Donald then signed off with that plea for unity. “We would like to reassure loyal fans we are placing sufficient funds in the club to support the manager as he seeks to improve the first team in the next few weeks,” he said. “Finally, I just ask that fans now unite to support the players and the coaching staff.”

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There was an interesting call about this on Radio Newcastle last night, with a member of one of the fan groups noting that there hadn't been any kind of ballot ahead of starting the Donald out campaign. All very odd.

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Neil Warnock says he is looking to manage one more club and would like to take on another role this season.

The 71-year-old left Cardiff City in November having been in football for over 50 years as a player, coach and manager and having managed 1,488 games.

Warnock says he is motivated for one last challenge and wants to reach the milestone of 1,500 competitive matches.

"Apparently I have 12 league games to go to get 1,500 and that is really tempting to me," Warnock said.

Cardiff were the 15th team to be managed by Warnock, who has achieved a record eight promotions, including taking the Bluebirds into the Premier League.

Warnock says he is motivated for one last challenge, but has an open mind as to what level his next club is at.

"I might have to go to League Two or something like that, but why not? It doesn't bother me what division I am managing in," he added in an interview with BBC Radio Wales breakfast.

"I just think I will go to the end of this season. We are doing quite a bit of renovation at the house in Cornwall and it will be finished at the end of the season.

"So I think Sharon [his wife] will be happy for me to be out of the house for a few weeks!

"People have mentioned things, but I have had no offers yet.

"I would like to do the 12 games if I am honest, I would like to be able to contribute to a club, either saving it or getting it up.

"Arsenal didn't come in for me, but I was understanding!"

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12 hours ago, Baddar said:

More shite goalkeeping tonight, this time from Casilla of Leeds. 

The inevitable Leeds meltdown in their quest for the title or automatic promotion is happening a bit earlier than expected this season

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Bury AFC, the phoenix club launched after Bury’s expulsion from the Football League, will begin life next season in the 10th tier of the English pyramid.

The North West Counties Football League has approved an application from Bury AFC for them to join the league next season.

Bury were expelled from the Football League last August after failing to secure new ownership when a last-minute takeover bid collapsed.

The original club appear to be heading for liquidation after the owner, Steve Dale, defaulted on the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) he agreed last summer to settle Bury’s £5m debts, having failed to provide the money required to fund them.

On Friday, the NWCFL confirmed that 11 clubs had applied for promotion to Step 6 (the ninth and 10th tiers) providing they meet the ground grade H criteria by 31 March.

Nine of those clubs must finish in the top five of their respective Step 7 competitions. However the new clubs Bury AFC and FC Isle of Man have been listed for inclusion to join the league.

A message posted on Bury AFC’s Twitter account read: “Bury AFC are listed below for inclusion (to the) North West Counties Football League for 2020/21. This confirms our belief that we are the only team currently with an application in to play football in Bury next season. BRING. IT. ON.”

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Genuinely one of the worst performances I have ever seen from a referee.

Should have had three penalties, Fulham get awarded a penalty after they clatter our defender and their winner comes from a counter after a foul isn't called on the edge of the box.

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8 hours ago, Gorka said:

Genuinely one of the worst performances I have ever seen from a referee.

Should have had three penalties, Fulham get awarded a penalty after they clatter our defender and their winner comes from a counter after a foul isn't called on the edge of the box.

Bryan (iirc) won the ball on the tackle that led to the goal. Foot came in from the side and you could see where the ball went. 

The handball by Bryan, I missed, though there was a second shout for a handball in which he'd been tripped into the ball by a Swansea player. Sky commentator thought the first one would be harsh though, so I can only really judge on that.

The tackle on Ayew was hard to see on Sky, (and seemed the one that the commentator most thought looked like a pen) but having not got it, he probably should have ended up getting sent off for three times getting in the ref's face about it and having to be pulled away by his own team two of those times.

Just because your team appealed loudly for things(and they loved an appeal) doesn't mean they deserved a foul/penalty for them. You can feel hard done by for some of this, but not all of it. 

 

Edited by Liam
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So you missed one handball, didn't mention the keeper bring down Ayew and couldn't make a judgement on the defender bringing down Ayew and Gallagher at the same time so therefore we didn't deserve anything being called?

I think Ayew was perfectly entitled in his actions when he was fouled twice and then a late penalty is awarded for Kebano running into the heels of Roberts. 

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4 hours ago, Gorka said:

So you missed one handball, didn't mention the keeper bring down Ayew and couldn't make a judgement on the defender bringing down Ayew and Gallagher at the same time so therefore we didn't deserve anything being called?

I think Ayew was perfectly entitled in his actions when he was fouled twice and then a late penalty is awarded for Kebano running into the heels of Roberts. 

I didn't catalogue every perceived slight your team suffered.

The one handball you had legit grounds for was Bryan, which I covered and was a judgement call.

Ayew wasn't fouled by the keeper (we'd have heard about it if he had, based on his later actions - the ball was nipped away by Odoi iirc).

The Kebano foul was six of one, but your player had his leg stuck out and Kebano went over it - it was soft, but not hard to see why it was given.

The one legit claim you had I feel was Ayew getting fouled in the box, though it looked like he was tackled by two players, one who played him, one who played the ball, with the ref believing the ball was won it would seem.

Again, the red button games and the way they show them makes it hard to call certain things. Even the Ayew one was in the worst position to see, so without a replay, it was hard to work out who actually caught him and whether it was a foul or not.

These aren't the Milwall offside goal type refereeing decisions were patently wrong decisions are given. A lot were judgment calls and they came down on our side. It's galling, but it happens.

We won't agree on any of this more than likely due to our different points of view, I just feel that some of the claims made had no real basis.

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An independent commission "did not accept" Leeds United goalkeeper Kiko Casilla's claim that he was "unaware of the existence" of the racist word he was found guilty of using.

Basically, Casilla tried to claim at his hearing that he knows very little English, so wasn't aware of how offensive the 'n' word is. Ridiculous. So he wanted them to believe he knows barely any English words, but knows that one. And apparently tried to claim straight after the game to a team mate that he had said "what's your f****** name" rather than what he did say, which contradicts that.

They also gave him the extra two games on top of the minimum ban because they feel he and his Leeds Utd representative basically didn't try to help get to the truth of the matter, and he used Rafa Benitez as a character witness as a "shameless ploy".

Disgusting all round really.

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