The Sky Bet Football League Thread 2013/14

[Colly]

Just get on with it!

[Lineker]

Fucking good, the all seater rule is stupid as hell and completely unnecessary.

We can say this now that safe standing does exist but when you look at the time it was introduced after Hillsborough, then not so much.

[Matt]

True, though simply reducing the number of tickets available in any given stand would achieve the same thing

[Dan]

Great stuff. I miss standing at the orient

Hartlepool still have standing and we where in your division until last season.

[MDK]

No game at the orient today, which might be a blessing in disguise since we've been hit with injuries recently.

[9 to 5]

Time for me, RW and NBT vs Matt, Ellis, and probably someone else I am forgotting!

[9 to 5]

Team Rovers Shield won. >_>

[lanky316]

Well the good news is Stevenage are still unbeaten for this calendar year...

[Lineker]

Torquay have sacked Alan Knill.

[9 to 5]

My mother will be pleased!

[Lineker]

Reading are poised to receive a bid from an American consortium to take over the Championship club.

The club have been looking for new investors for several months and have held talks with more than one party.

Takeover talks have gathered pace in recent weeks with the Championship club also thought to be in discussions with potential backers from the Middle East.

Majority owner Anton Zingarevich has not been at a league game since August and is thought to be ready to sell up.

Current chairman Sir John Madejski owns 49% of the Championship side and said last month talks were ongoing with investors.

Russian businessman Zingarevich bought 51% of the club in May 2012 and was set to purchase the remaining 49% of shares from Madejski in September 2013 but failed to complete the deal.

In December Madejski admitted he did not know when Zingarevich would return to Reading but said he was not concerned about his future involvement.

Since the Russian became involved with the club in January 2012, Reading have been promoted to the Premier League, relegated back to the Championship and have also changed their manager.

Promotion to the top flight in 2012 earned the Royals an estimated £90m, with half that money coming from television-related revenue.

However, the club were relatively frugal when strengthening the squad for the Premier League.

In total, they spent less than £10m in attempting to cement their status, with the £2.4m purchase of Adrian Mariappa from Watford their biggest outlay.

Relegation last season meant the club missed out on the new £5bn global television deal, which would have earned them upwards of £100m, but Reading will still receive in excess of £60m over a four-year period in parachute payments.

[Lineker]

Belgian businessman Roland Duchatelet has completed his takeover of Championship club Charlton Athletic.

[Lineker]

Ian Holloway is the new Millwall manager.

Someone fetch my popcorn gif...

[Adam]

Good appointment considering their status and league position. If he can keep them up this season I think they'll do well in the coming seasons.

[Lineker]

Leicester vs. Derby on Sky tonight. Big game in the Championship!

[Plubby]

Trying to track down some web coverage of the Wimbledown/Torquay game. Anyone able to point me to a link? My google-fu is failing me.

EDIT: I figure a stream is too optimistic, but maybe web radio?

[King Ellis]

Bloody Leeds.

Brings back memories of the mid nineties, at least we got 2 that day!

[Matt]

Fml

[Adam]

Even when you want them to win, they still let you down. Great going, Leeds.

[MDK]

So disappointed in the commentating in The Football League Show, he could easily have said 'Gerken is in a bit of a pickle' during the Ipswich-QPR game, but he bottled it.