The Coca-Cola League Championship 2006/07

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:Norwich 2-0 Preston

Just returned from the game. Another great passing performance for the most part. Dickson Etuhu, what a player, he is unreckonisable from the unhappy midefielder last season. Crofty was also pure clas, hell can that boy cross a ball, Earnie finally got his goal, the first of many I'm hoping. Brilliant game, just three downsides....

We were calling out for a big man all game! As if it wasn't already clear, it was even more so than from Elland road today. When we have a player whos crosses are as good as Croft's it is such a shame when a ball goes in, that it is 5'6 Earnshaw standing in the middle. I don't think that Etuhu/Robinson get forward enough for his crosses, they were all towards Earnie. 9 times out of 10 he will do NOTHING! Sign someone Worthy!

Before Earnshaw got his goal Preston really came at us, it was looking as though we would throw another promising performance away. We need to make sure that around the 60 minute mark, we stop going down a gear. I still have yet to see the side perform for 90 minutes. I am sure it will come though.

The defence looked a little bit shakey all game. Doherty will not have a season like he did last, and I am still not convinced that Shackell can consistantly perform without any mistakes....

Still came home in a good mood though.

As for Preston, they were shite, a bottom half finish is possible unless they improve alot.

Hey mate glad to see your boys get a good win. Im glad Croft had a good performance, well a bit relieved actually after saying he would be a good signing i didnt want him to start poorly. How did Hucks play ?

Yeah you need a target man, Sutton, McLeod or someone who will benefit from Crofts crosses, i read a few days ago Worthington said he still has some money left so hopefully you could get someone in.


Were there many PNE fans there ? i bet your happy to see Ipswich having a poor start ?

I agree with you about PNE, and if they lose Nugent they are really in trouble.

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:

italian_hammer(DEANO!) wrote:i could, but i dont fancy wandering around south london late at night lol.

and cheers. hope norwich win too as i have them in my bet.

, completely understand, Croydon isn't exactly the most welcoming of places, sorry about the result mate. When the score came through in the bar at half time it got a big cheer.

when eastwood scored i was jumping for joy, and honestly thought we were going to get a result. Ah well a loss from palace was expected, as long as we keep winning games at roots hall. well done on your result mate.

Sgoater1 wrote:
Hey mate glad to see your boys get a good win. Im glad Croft had a good performance, well a bit relieved actually after saying he would be a good signing i didnt want him to start poorly. How did Hucks play ?

Yeah you need a target man, Sutton, McLeod or someone who will benefit from Crofts crosses, i read a few days ago Worthington said he still has some money left so hopefully you could get someone in.


Were there many PNE fans there ? i bet your happy to see Ipswich having a poor start ?

I agree with you about PNE, and if they lose Nugent they are really in trouble.

Huckerby to be fair, was outclassed by Croft on the other wing. He kept giving it away and his crosses were shit if you compare them with other members of the team, mainly Croft. One thing you can say, is that he is always involved, and can get at people, but all to often last season, and continuing into this season, he has given it away when trying to get past. He is still a big threat however, and I would not even consider leaving him out.

PNE had a very poor away turn out, I would say around 200/300. It is a long trip I suppose but I couldn't help thinking to myself that we would have taken near to 1000 to their place on a weekday.

To be honest I am pleased, but not suprosed at all by Ipswich's start. From the Lazio game that I attended you could see that they have serious defensive problems whilst further forward, there is no experience. They do try and play some nice football through the wings, I'll give them that, but all to often they are one dimensional, in that Darren Currie seems to be the only option. I don't think they are relegation material, their attack is perhaps too strong, but they will be nowhere near the top 10 IMO.

Last nights results in full -



Cardiff 1 - 1 West Brom

Z Gera 3
R Scimeca 32


Colchester 0 - 1 Plymouth

L Summerfield 29


Crystal Palace 3 - 1 Southend

F Eastwood 41
L Cort 51
D Freedman 54
M Hudson 60


Hull 2 - 3 Barnsley

J Parkin 5
J Parkin 8
M McIndoe 45
M Richards 48
P Hayes 72


Leicester 0 - 1 Burnley

A Gray 45


Norwich 2 - 0 Preston

S St. Ledger o.g. 55
R Earnshaw 81



QPR 2 - 2 Leeds

E Lewis 64
M Rowlands (pen) 80
G Horsfield 81
S Baidoo 90


Sheff Wed 0 - 1 Luton

L Emanuel 44


Stoke 2 - 0 Derby

V Pericard 17
D Russell 57


Wolverhampton 1 - 0 Ipswich

J Bothroyd 26

I suppose the big shock of the night was the result at the Brittania Stadium. Derby, who looked very promising in their opener against Southampton losing to bottom half side Stoke. Also a shock in Hull, the home side losing to Barnsley. Luton's win at Hillsbrough is a big result. 6/6 points for the Hatters, but of course it will all end at Carrow road on Saturday Also a small shock as Burley maintain a 100% recod against Leicester.

So after two rounds I thought I would see the differences for the teams that have played both games within my predicted table...

1. Birmingham
2. Southampton
3. WBA >
4. Sunderland
5. Leeds v
6. Cardiff >
7. Derby >
8. Coventry
9. Preston v
10. Norwich ^
11. Palace ^
12. Leicester v
13. Southend >
14. Wolves >
15. Sheffield Wed >
16. Hull v
17. Burnley ^
18. Luton ^
19. Ipswich >
20. Stoke ^
21. Barnsley >
22. Plymouth >
23. QPR >
24. Colchester >

Remember their is two MASSIVE games tonight. Southampton take on Coventry at St Maries, whilst Birmingham travel up to the SOL for the first game between two relegated sides. As Sgoater has pointed out, shame sky hasn't seen the importance of these ties. [/b]

disappointed with only a point, although before the game would have taken it, but seems we played well, Davey really is a legend. hopefully he can get Koumas now the match is out of the way and we´ll be even stronger

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:disappointed with only a point, although before the game would have taken it, but seems we played well, Davey really is a legend. hopefully he can get Koumas now the match is out of the way and we´ll be even stronger

You really should have won yesterday, some great chances in the second half. I think play-offs for Cardiff should be achievable, its a great team DJ has put together. What sort of crowd was in Ninian Park last night? It seemed a great atmosphere, the roar when you scored was huge.

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:

The-Frank-Tavern wrote:disappointed with only a point, although before the game would have taken it, but seems we played well, Davey really is a legend. hopefully he can get Koumas now the match is out of the way and we´ll be even stronger

You really should have won yesterday, some great chances in the second half. I think play-offs for Cardiff should be achievable, its a great team DJ has put together. What sort of crowd was in Ninian Park last night? It seemed a great atmosphere, the roar when you scored was huge.

attendance 18,506 i´m sure helped by an away win on sat., our lot are v fickle

Thats very good for you lot. I bet you enjoyed the stick Hartsen got!? I thought it was slightly harsh of sky to feature the chanting on him being fat...

Hey Frank, you were right abut a a player doing the dirty, but instead of Hatson it was Scimeca doing it on WBA.

A good crowd at Ninian 18,000 - also some good turn outs at Leicester -19,000, Hull 18,000, Obviously Norwich 25,000 and Sheff Wed 22,000 - but whats happend to Wolves only 18,000 when they used to get around 25,000 for every game a few years back, they look like they are a club on the slide and its a massive job fro big Mick.

Also a what a brilliant come back by Barnsley, they said they would attack, attack, attack and i think they might just be one of the most entertaining teams this season...whether they stay up is another thing.

i think barnsley will do ok, i think our win there was better than many thought

hey NCFC- are you coming to roots hall on september 12th?

Sunderland have four £1m+ bids for 4 Prem players and have enquired about another one. They have also bid for 2 European players.

Andy Reid is tipped as the player enquired about. He would be a brilliant signing for them, i wouldnt mind if City brought him in. I think he's a decent winger, once fit.

italian_hammer(DEANO!) wrote:hey NCFC- are you coming to roots hall on september 12th?

No mate I am not. I need to save up a bit of money for my trip to Spain in October. Also I will be going to the first four Saturday away games of the season which will mean I am skint. Shame because I would have liked to go. I very rarely go to away games on a week day, I am tired as fuck the next day... last one I went to was MK Dons in the Carling Cup this time last season. Hows about you coming to Carrow road on boxing day? Or will you be watching the Hammers by then?

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:


Stoke 2 - 0 Derby

V Pericard 17
D Russell 57

Its amazing how quickly pre-season hope can crash and burn. Apparently we played really poorly yesterday: Howard can't seem to find his shooting boots, we can't decide who to play in goal, Oakley the new signing was poor (and he replaced Inigo ). We desperately need more firepower and having seen Eastwood score again last night i can't help but think he would be perfect.

PLEASE JOIN US FREDDY!! WE'RE DESPERATE!!

COME ON BIRMINGHAM! We should beat Sunderland tonight... Hopefully DJ will be on form

So after last nights draw with Cardiff, we can take some postives from the draw. I did not see the game but understand, from sky sports panel last night, that once again we played brilliantly for the first 30 minutes and they fizzled out again with Cardiff dominating later on. Even though we lost 2 valubale points (all points are valuable at this level) we still held Cardiff, playing at the hostile ninian park, to a draw so what i say is bring on Southampton- A game we must go and get 3 points if were to win the Championship.

BallackTheBlue wrote:COME ON BIRMINGHAM! We should beat Sunderland tonight... Hopefully DJ will be on form

I thought you were going through a striker crisis, aren't DJ and Forssell injured + Jeromes suspended?

Do you know if you are finally going to get McSheffrey? I think hes a good player but £3.5 mil seems a bit steep. At least it keeps you form bidding for Eastwood

Bend It Like Idiakez wrote:

BallackTheBlue wrote:COME ON BIRMINGHAM! We should beat Sunderland tonight... Hopefully DJ will be on form

I thought you were going through a striker crisis, aren't DJ and Forssell injured + Jeromes suspended?

Do you know if you are finally going to get McSheffrey? I think hes a good player but £3.5 mil seems a bit steep. At least it keeps you form bidding for Eastwood

I swear if buy eastwood i will go into St. Andrews and bitch slap Steve Clarke.

DJ's fine i think. We'll probly go 1 up front and have "our talent" dropping off... Forssells back this week though i think.

BallackTheBlue wrote:COME ON BIRMINGHAM! We should beat Sunderland tonight... Hopefully DJ will be on form

DJ is out injured and Jerome is suspended Still got Forrsell and Bendtner though.

Bend It Like Idiakez wrote:

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:


Stoke 2 - 0 Derby

V Pericard 17
D Russell 57

Its amazing how quickly pre-season hope can crash and burn. Apparently we played really poorly yesterday: Howard can't seem to find his shooting boots, we can't decide who to play in goal, Oakley the new signing was poor (and he replaced Inigo ). We desperately need more firepower and having seen Eastwood score again last night i can't help but think he would be perfect.

PLEASE JOIN US FREDDY!! WE'RE DESPERATE!!

What sort of game did Barnes have?

sam wrote:So after last nights draw with Cardiff, we can take some postives from the draw. I did not see the game but understand, from sky sports panel last night, that once again we played brilliantly for the first 30 minutes and they fizzled out again with Cardiff dominating later on. Even though we lost 2 valubale points (all points are valuable at this level) we still held Cardiff, playing at the hostile ninian park, to a draw so what i say is bring on Southampton- A game we must go and get 3 points if were to win the Championship.

Cardiff had some great chances late on, this is a point gained for you. I am not convinced by Southampton yet, a win over Cov' at St Meries tonight may give them the confidence for Saturday. My money would be on another draw.

Sgoater1 wrote:

BallackTheBlue wrote:COME ON BIRMINGHAM! We should beat Sunderland tonight... Hopefully DJ will be on form

DJ is out injured and Jerome is suspended Still got Forrsell and Bendtner though.

Bendtner is amaaazzzingggg.

BallackTheBlue wrote:

Sgoater1 wrote:

BallackTheBlue wrote:COME ON BIRMINGHAM! We should beat Sunderland tonight... Hopefully DJ will be on form

DJ is out injured and Jerome is suspended Still got Forrsell and Bendtner though.

Bendtner is amaaazzzingggg.

Quote by Worthington in our Match day programme yesterday...

"Like a number of clubs we were very keen on taking Arsenal's young Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner on loan. Our hat was certainly in the ring but on this occasion he ended up and Birmingham City."

Lucky Wankers

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:

Bend It Like Idiakez wrote:

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:


Stoke 2 - 0 Derby

V Pericard 17
D Russell 57

Its amazing how quickly pre-season hope can crash and burn. Apparently we played really poorly yesterday: Howard can't seem to find his shooting boots, we can't decide who to play in goal, Oakley the new signing was poor (and he replaced Inigo ). We desperately need more firepower and having seen Eastwood score again last night i can't help but think he would be perfect.

PLEASE JOIN US FREDDY!! WE'RE DESPERATE!!

What sort of game did Barnes have?

I think he was the best of a bad bunch to be honest. He is still playing up front with Howard and i don't think he is getting much support up there, but still looks very promising. Should have been in the under-21 squad, deserved it more than Camp anyway.

Congrats on your win v Preston, did you guys dominate or were Preston just rubbish? I don't think they will be hitting the heights that they did while Davies was there

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote:

italian_hammer(DEANO!) wrote:hey NCFC- are you coming to roots hall on september 12th?

No mate I am not. I need to save up a bit of money for my trip to Spain in October. Also I will be going to the first four Saturday away games of the season which will mean I am skint. Shame because I would have liked to go. I very rarely go to away games on a week day, I am tired as fuck the next day... last one I went to was MK Dons in the Carling Cup this time last season. Hows about you coming to Carrow road on boxing day? Or will you be watching the Hammers by then?

yeah mate im a season ticket holder and we have portsmouth at home then

Are half the people at Roots Hall Hammers? Its unbelievable to fan base that West Ham have. I am often in Thurrock and around that area, they are all Hammers. I struggled to work out how they rarely filled Upton Park when in the Championship, Think the average attendance was 6,000 down on capacity...

Results from todays Championship games:

Southampton 2-0 Coventry City

Bale 61, Rasiak 86 (pen)

Sunderland 0-1 Birmingham

Forssell 40 (pen)

Bend It Like Idiakez wrote: I think he was the best of a bad bunch to be honest. He is still playing up front with Howard and i don't think he is getting much support up there, but still looks very promising. Should have been in the under-21 squad, deserved it more than Camp anyway.

Congrats on your win v Preston, did you guys dominate or were Preston just rubbish? I don't think they will be hitting the heights that they did while Davies was there

Yeh, I am dissapointed Barnes is left out as I will probably be at the U21 game at Portman road.

As you will see from my previous posts, it was a bit of both. I, and most Norwich supporters are quietly confident about the season. We have a confident Luton coming up on Saturday, so that will be a good challenge. Also, I should be getting my tickets for the game at Pride Park on the 19th tomorrow, looking forward to it already, massive game

Sheffield gunner wrote:Results from todays Championship games:

Southampton 2-0 Coventry City

Bale 61, Rasiak 86 (pen)

Sunderland 0-1 Birmingham

Forssell 40 (pen)

Suprised about the game at St Maries. It seems that Burley has "rallied his troops" after the poor showing on Sunday. Great win for Birmingham. Sunderland starting to lose confidence I would think, 26,000 at the SOL tonight, might go down in the coming weeks.

nCfC-CaDiZ-RiQuElMe wrote: Suprised about the game at St Maries. It seems that Burley has "rallied his troops" after the poor showing on Sunday. Great win for Birmingham. Sunderland starting to lose confidence I would think, 26,000 at the SOL tonight, might go down in the coming weeks.

I thought the Southampton game was one that could go either way, it's so difficult to predict games like this in the Championship. Good win for Southampton though.

Sunderland have had an absolute nightmare of a start to the season. To get off to such a poor start considering all the upheaval over the summer must be so demoralising. Birmingham will be delighted though. For relegated teams it is always vital to get into winning ways from the start. So many teams go down and then take a couple of months getting into their stride in the Championship, and then struggle to reach the playoffs.