nPower Football League Thread 2010/2011

[MGW]

I was hoping for an all Welsh playoff final, but now I'll have to hope for Swansea to do the job against Reading. Dave Jones is never going to take Cardiff up, they'd be best cutting their losses, bringing in someone like Chris Hughton and rebuilding.

Edited May 18, 2011 by MGW

[Lineker]

Come on you Cherries. Fletch to score twice, 2-0.

[Sir Alan LCSugar]

Huddersfield were very unlucky to not go up automatically, considering they have gone this calender year unbeaten. I hope they win tonight and go on to win the playoffs.

[Matt]

Come on Huddersfield, we've lost one Yorkshire derby, we could do with another to replace it, even if we never beat Huddersfield >_<

[jack95]

Been juggling Huddersfield-Bournemouth with the Europa League and the Apprentice, and I think it's been the best entertainment out of all of them from what I've seen. I'd like to see the winner of this go up, as I've inexplicably never liked Peterborough, and very explicably hated MK Dons. Good match.

[Matt]

I agree with wanting the winner of this to go up. Cracking match, come on Huddersfield!

[Starvinho]

Excellent finish to the game and I only turned it on 8 minutes into ET.

[Lineker]

Fantastic effort, great game - hope Huddersfield go on to win at OT now. We'll be back next season!

[Starvinho]

I was hoping MK were gonna force extra time in that game just then, but what can you do? Peterborough through 2-0 on the night, 4-3 on agg.

[Hobo]

Damnit! MK Dons will you ever get out of League One!?

[Emperor DC]

The Faithless Adam Cole

Randy Orton

The Game Triple H

Edited June 29, 2011 by Emperor DC

[Matt]

Damnit! MK Dons will you ever get out of League One!?

Hopefully not, unless they go down, anyway.

[Starvinho]

Watford have rejected OPR's £2.5million offer for Championship top scorer Danny Graham. Watford shouldn't let him go for atleast double that offer IMO, maybe even more.

[IAceI]

Agreed. Sell-on clause for Carlisle so fingers crossed it's like £10m.

[Lineker]

Hopefully if Graham goes we can replace him with Craig Mackail-Smith. He's class, plus born in Watford and a fan.

Hopefully when he does eventually leave it won't be to QPR though.

Paolo di Canio has been named as the new manager of Swindon Town.

The controversial former West Ham striker has agreed terms on a two-year deal and is expected to arrive at the County Ground on Monday.

Di Canio, 42, was one of eight candidates interviewed for the position by Swindon chairman Jeremy Wray.

"We were very lucky we had a strong shortlist and the board were unanimous that this was the way to go," Wray told BBC Wiltshire.

It is the Italian's first coaching job in England since he retired from playing in 2008 and but Wray does not view it as a gamble.

"From my point of view you go with the best in whatever you can find," he said.

"I'm far happier to go with someone who has shown those talents as a player and believe he has the capability to carry it through as a manager.

"For me that is a much stronger thing than maybe people who we may have tried and not succeeded."

Di Canio follows Paul Hart as the club's permanent manager, after the former Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth boss left last month following Swindon's relegation from League One.

Former player Paul Bodin was in charge for Swindon's final two games of the season.

Other contenders for the Swindon role were former Germany and Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann, ex-Scotland boss George Burley and former Bristol Rovers boss Paul Trollope, among others.

Di Canio scored 48 goals in 118 appearances for West Ham after joining the London club for £1.7m from Sheffield Wednesday in 1999. He began his career at Lazio, and also played for Juventus, Napoli, AC Milan, Celtic and Charlton.

As a player he regularly attracted headlines. Playing for Sheffield Wednesday in 1998, he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being sent off and was banned for 11 matches.

His volleyed goal against Wimbledon for West Ham in March 2000 was named BBC Goal of the Season, and in 2001 he won the Fifa Fair Play Award for catching the ball to ensure the injured Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard could receive prompt treatment.

After returning to Lazio, he was pictured making a raised-arm fascist salute to a group of the club's supporters, and claimed to be "a fascist, not a racist".

Di Canio was linked with the vacant manager's role at West Ham following Avram Grant's dismissal after the club's relegation to the Championship but co-owner David Sullivan ruled out an approach because of the Italian's lack of managerial experience.

"The problem with Paolo is, although the fans would love it, I am being realistic and he has no experience whatsoever being a manager," said Sullivan.

"If you look at first-season managers the failure rate is enormous."

[Starvinho]

Shrewsbury 0-0 Torquay (0-2)

Accrington 0-1 Stevenage (0-3)

Accrington had two men sent off within a minute in the second half and that spoiled any chance of a comeback. Had a sneaky double at half-time for Torquay & Stevenage winning, Torquay let me down for £350

[britneyspearsisgod]

A lot of rumours suggest that Bristol Rovers are going to poach Paul Buckle from Torquay and make him the new manager.

Part of me wants Stevenage to go up now

[Adam]

I can't believe Shrewsbury managed to bottle it, they were unlucky not to go up automatically. Shame. So, Torquay or Stevenage will be in League 1 next season? Gives us something to chuckle at the Sheffield teams for when the fixtures come out then.

Wimbledon vs Luton is today for a place in the football league...really pulling for Wimbledon to do it myself.

[lanky316]

Final exorcism then. Back in '96 we'd have gone into the league at the expense of Torquay and then the year before last we should've been in a playoff final against them to get into the league bar a really "strange" game so will be a good one. Dreading the Sky coverage, it was one sided enough with Accrington without Helen Fucking Chamberlain being wheeled out to talk bollocks.

Was looking forward to the Luton/Wimbledon game but it's tucked away on Premier so not sure if we'll see it. Do they do one day offers?

[Lineker]

Come on the Dons