Fulham did to Brentford what we’d done to QPR the previous Friday (although at least our B-team garnered some respect against Manchester United) whilst Newcastle United and Brighton are now starting to stride clear in the automatic places. The gap now five points between second and third after Huddersfield Town were held at home by Birmingham City. Aston Villa won (that’s won rather than one-one, their usual scoreline) and now sit just one point behind our twelfth placed Bees. At the bottom its a case of deja vu – Wigan , Blackburn Rovers and Rotherham continue to make up the bottom three
That’s the latest Championship action in nutshell. Yet there has been so much more going on in the division and beyond. In the latest of our regular, weekly feature we look back at those things you might have missed from the world of social media.
Normally at this juncture, we start with Brentford but there’s little left to say at this point. Lewis Macleod will be out for 9 months following the injury suffered last week at QPR whilst, on pitch, we capitulated against Fulham. Dean Smith was, at least, honest as to some of his and our shortcomings.
That said, at least the B-team had some success. In one of those headlines you never thought you’d see, Manchester United were beaten 3-2 at Griffin Park on Saturday as the U-23 sides clashed in front of a four figure crowd. Well done lads – next step the first team?
Elsewhere, QPR dominated the news. Currently the worst team in West London, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was relieved of his duties after another dismal result for the Loftus Road mob. Last week’s Friday night humping by Brentford being followed by a draw with Nottingham Forest.
Sadly, the ongoing plight at Loftus Road was an accident waiting to happen. Jimmy’s tactical naivety was plain for all to see last week as the Bees took full advantage and in retrospect, might be a tad disappointed in only winning 2-0.
Whilst probably not high on his list of priorities, he may wish to update his Twitter profile which, at the time of writing (Monday,6am) seemed as out of date as his former team’s top flight status.
As for his eventual replacement… Well, I can only hope this is true?
Elsewhere, Wigan continued to struggle. Proving that relieving a manager of his duties isn’t, necessarily, a good thing.
Brendan Rodgers continues to live in a strange fantasy land up at Celtic.
Whilst in the FA Cup, it is a return for fan favourite Clem. Regular readers may recall the season long Clem watch undertaken a few years ago (and if you’d like to read more….). The correlation between the team he was covering and their subsequent failure to win a game seeming clear.
Yet this time around it was in the FA Cup where he made his name. Of sorts. His attempt at a touchline interview being well documented and, rightly, treated with everything it deserves. One can only imagine the producer screaming “get an interview” in his ear as our favourite roving reporter was sent into battle
Clem wasn’t the only one coming in for criticism in the FA Cup. The game between Sheffield United and Leyton Orient (which came close to a bracketing at 6-0) saw the return of an old favourite. Please note: your definition of favourite may vary.
It wouldn’t be the weekly round up without mention of Manchester United and their latest catastrophe. This time it came in Europe where more defeat followed on Thursday night. Take your pick as to which of these two sums up their plight best.
And finally, a story that saw the light of day on Twitter this week but the source of which is past the usual 7(seven) day threshold. However, when something is this good it needs to be shared. Moreso, given the ongoing frustration with footballers looking to ‘go again’ after their team loses.
Step up Victor Anichebe who took the advice of Sunderland’s media team a bit too literally…
Nick Bruzon
The stuff of dreams or nightmares?
13 FebAs Brentford prepare for the trip to Charlton Athletic, the future of manager Mark Warburton (whether short or long term) remains no clearer. The only thing we can say is that he won’t be going to QPR, at least this season. Loftus Road chairman Tony Fernandes has now followed up the announcement that he had got his ‘dream manager’ by revealing the appointment of caretaker Chris Ramsey until the end of the season. Truly, the stuff of dreams.
To read the rest of this article, season 2014/15 is now available to download onto Kindle (and other electronic reading device) in full. Containing additional material and even some (poor) editing, you can get it here for less than the cost of a Griffin Park matchday programme or Balti Pie.
Thanks for reading and all your comments over the course of the season. For now, I need to make more space on the site for any follow up. However, ‘close season’ will continue in full, further on.
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