Key Lower League Transfers- Part 2.

This is Part 2 of CLDSport’s look at the important lower league transfers this summer.

It has been a relatively quiet week, with some deals yet to be completed and lots of competition amongst teams meaning certain transfers are being delayed. The Championship clubs also seem to be biding their time until after Euro 2008 to see if they can purchase some of the players that catch the eye. Share your views on these and other deals and rumours by leaving a comment! Read more

Key Lower League Transfers - Part 1

Despite Euro 2008 being the major event this summer, England’s failure to qualify means a lot of focus will be on the domestic game and its clubs. A lot of the teams in the leagues below the Premier League have already carried out a number of transfer deals, so in this first edition of a regular weekly segment, CLD Sport will examine the major transfer exchanges and how they might have a bearing on the forthcoming campaign. Read more

Stockport Look Forward to Leeds and Leicester Next Season

Stockport County completed the weekend’s play off festivities by securing a place in League 1 next season after their 3-2 win over local rivals Rochdale.

The two sides from Lancashire played out easily the highest scoring encounter of the 3 Wembley play-off fixture, despite using the pitch last, which became a slippery and tricky surface to cope with thanks to the recent poor weather. Read more

A Successful Weekend For Yorkshire Football

My friend texted me on Friday evening asking for an unbiased prediction on Saturday’s Championship play off final, with the end of his message saying “as long as you think we will win!” Sadly, he is a Bristol City fan. My thoughts were that it would be tight, that Hull would definetly score with the plethora of decent strikers they have and that one of the old boys, probably Windass, would get a goal as I could envisage the usual age-related Sunday headlines. Now I’m not saying you should take my word as gospel in the future and stake all your betting plans on my ramblings, but I feel I got this one spot on. Hull are in the Premier League, and Dean Windass became a journalist’s dream by scoring for his hometown club at the age of 39.  Read more

The £60 Million Match….and Mandaric Finally Loses Patience

Today Bristol City will meet Hull City in a game said to be worth in the region of £60 million pounds to the victor (not to mention a season of thrashings next season if you waste a decent chunk of that money on Rob Earnshaw). It’s a 3 o’clock kick off at Wembley, an 80,000 sell out- just what the FA envisaged when planning the new stadium and a beautiful thing for the fans. One thing that isn’t so pretty Read more

Stoke Promoted to Premiership, Leicester Relegated

Stoke City have confirmed their promotion to the English Premier League following their 0-0 draw with Leicester - who were relegated following Southampton’s dramatic 3-2 win at home to Sheffield United. Read more

Weekend Football Roundup

With the season coming to a swift end, and relegations, promotions and European qualification being hotly contested throughout the English League it’s getting exciting to say the least.

Here is a summary of the important results and league standings as of Sunday 27th May 2008;

In League 1 Nottingham Forest beat Read more

This season’s climax- the most exciting one in recent history?

As the weather seems to be getting better (don’t say this to Chester fans!), it is clear we are edging towards the season’s climax and the most exciting part of the campaign. If you look across all four divisions, there are a lot of intriguing stories that are yet to be concluded.

In a rare occurrence, the race for the Premier League title and the coveted 4^th place is still being hotly contested, with many of the teams involved yet to play each other. The Championship promotion chase is even more alluring, with teams often surrendering top spot within days of claiming it- the estimated £30 million prize money being tossed around with reckless abandon. In League One, it would seem the Swans will be Read more

Life begins at 40? Not if you’re an English football manager…

Paul Simpson’s appointment as Shrewsbury Town’s new manager got me thinking about young English managers this afternoon. No disrespect to Shrewsbury, but despite the broad grin on the face of Simpson as he held up a replica shirt at his unveiling, I would imagine he would rather be managing at a higher level. Simpson guided Carlisle to successive promotions despite numerous off the field problems and was building a burgeoning reputation. The Carlisle-born man was only recently named manager of the year, achieving a better points average over the season than Sir Alex Ferguson.

He then made a jump to a bigger club in the form of Preston, where after an initial honeymoon period in which his side topped the Championship, they finished one place off the play-offs. The club were forced to sell David Nugent and didn’t spend much in rebuilding the squad. Only 3 early season wins meant he was sacked in November.

So, after one poor start to a season, a 41 year old English manager is sacked and forced to rebuild his career at the bottom Read more