He arrives with them now in 18th place in the table after losing to Derby yesterday, and his first game in charge will come on Tuesday evening when they face Rotherham at Craven Cottage.
Derby are the new leaders of the Championship, replacing Middlesbrough who could do nothing about it when the rain came down in East Lancashire and forced their game at Ewood Park to be postponed.
Two years ago we were the Christmas Number One but lost our place on Boxing Day, beaten by Middlesbrough. The Teesside club might beware that we never reached top spot again all season, but I'm sure they'd settle for that if they were able to get to 93 points and finish second.
Having lost there, we went to Wigan and drew 0-0. That took us to 44 points and that total right now is what Hull and Brighton have in 3rd and 4th places with Derby sitting on top with 47.
Down at the bottom, what a mess Bolton are in now. They didn't just lose at Rotherham yesterday, they lost 4-0 and that means they are now seven points behind the Millers and Bristol City who conceded a stoppage time goal against Charlton which has dropped them back into the bottom three with Charlton and Bolton.
We're in crisis apparently, according to some. "Time to go," was the title of one thread on the message board, but a look at the table, whilst not as good as we would have liked, sees us still in 5th place despite the poor return from the last eight games.
No matter what happens tomorrow, we can't move up and we know we could drop down a couple of places and out of the play-off positions for the first time since the end of August.
It's a brief look at the Championship. It has to be with more games tomorrow. All the Boxing Day results and stats are below along with the leading goalscorers, each club's red and yellow card count, the highest and lowest attendances, the next fixtures and the current league table.
| The Results | |
| Saturday 26th December | |
| BRENTFORD 0 BRIGHTON 0 | IPSWICH 2 QPR 1 |
| BLACKBURN v MIDDLESBROUGH - postponed | MK 2 CARDIFF 1 |
| BRISTOL CITY 1 CHARLTON 1 | ROTHERHAM 4 BOLTON 0 |
| DERBY 2 FULHAM 0 | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 3 BIRMINGHAM 0 |
| HUDDERSFIELD 3 PRESTON 1 | WOLVES 1 READING 0 |
| HULL 3 BURNLEY 0 | |
| Sunday 27th December | |
| NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 LEEDS 1 | |
| The Stats | |
| Biggest Win | ROTHERHAM 4-0 v BOLTON (home) |
| Total Goals Scored | 22 (22 home - 5 away) |
| Player Scoring Most Goals | 2 - FERNANDO FORESTIERI, SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (v BIRMINGHAM) NAHKI WELLS, HUDDERSFIELD (v PRESTON) |
| Highest Attendance | 32,134 - DERBY v FULHAM |
| Lowest Attendance | 11,315 - ROTHERHAM v BOLTON |
| Total Yellow Cards | 36 |
| Total Red Cards | 0 |
| Most Cards in a Game | HUDDERSFIELD v PRESTON (7Y) Ref: CHRIS KAVANAGH |
| Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
| 12 | ANDRE GRAY (BURNLEY) - includes 2 penalties, 2 goals for BRENTFORD ROSS McCORMACK (FULHAM) - includes 1 penalty |
| 10 | NICK BLACKMAN (READING) - includes 1 penalties FERNANDO FORESTIERI (SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY) - includes 1 penalty ALAN JUDGE (BRENTFORD) - includes 2 penalties |
| 9 | BENIK AFOBE (WOLVES) - includes 2 penalties CHARLIE AUSTIN (QPR) - includes 1 penalty MOUSSA DEMBELE (FULHAM) ABEL HERNANDEZ (HULL) JONATHAN KODJIA (BRISTOL CITY) CHRIS MARTIN (DERBY) - includes 1 penalty JORDAN RHODES (BLACKBURN) - includes 3 penalties |
| 7 | TOM INCE (DERBY) LASSE VIBE (BRENTFORD) NAHKI WELLS (HUDDERSFIELD) CHRIS WOOD (LEEDS) - includes 2 penalties |
| 6 | JONSON CLARKE-HARRIS (ROTHERHAM) TOMER HEMED (BRIGHTON) - includes 1 penalty DANIEL JOHNSON (PRESTON) DARYL MURPHY (IPSWICH) NELSON OLIVEIRA (NOTTINGHAM FOREST) BRETT PITMAN (IPSWICH) - includes 1 penalty FREDDIE SEARS (IPSWICH) |
| Hat Tricks | |
| Date | Player & Game |
| 11/09/15 | 3: ORLANDO SA - READING v IPSWICH (home) |
| 12/09/15 | 3: CLAYTON DONALDSON - BIRMINGHAM v BRISTOL CITY (home) |
| 07/11/15 | 3: DARYL MURPHY - IPSWICH v ROTHERHAM (away) |
| Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
| Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
| League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
| BIRMINGHAM | 40 | 0 | 43 | 0 | HULL | 34 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| BLACKBURN | 44 | 1 | 45 | 1 | IPSWICH | 37 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| BOLTON | 38 | 5 | 39 | 5 | LEEDS | 45 | 1 | 45 | 2 |
| BRENTFORD | 44 | 2 | 44 | 2 | MIDDLESBROUGH | 41 | 1 | 45 | 1 |
| BRIGHTON | 47 | 2 | 51 | 2 | MK | 45 | 1 | 49 | 1 |
| BRISTOL CITY | 38 | 2 | 38 | 2 | NOTTINGHAM FOREST | 47 | 3 | 49 | 3 |
| BURNLEY | 21 | 0 | 24 | 0 | PRESTON | 49 | 5 | 53 | 5 |
| CARDIFF | 47 | 1 | 49 | 1 | QPR | 37 | 3 | 39 | 3 |
| CHARLTON | 44 | 2 | 50 | 3 | READING | 36 | 1 | 44 | 1 |
| DERBY | 32 | 0 | 33 | 0 | ROTHERHAM | 39 | 1 | 41 | 1 |
| FULHAM | 33 | 2 | 36 | 2 | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY | 42 | 1 | 52 | 1 |
| HUDDERSFIELD | 47 | 1 | 49 | 1 | WOLVES | 31 | 1 | 36 | 1 |
| Highest and Lowest Attendances | |||
| Highest | Lowest | ||
| Att | Fixture | Att | Fixture |
| 32,134 | DERBY v FULHAM (26/12) | 8,839 | ROTHERHAM v FULHAM (29/08) |
| 30,855 | DERBY v MIDDLESBROUGH (18/08) | 8,935 | ROTHERHAM v CARDIFF (19/09) |
| 30,537 | DERBY v BRIGHTON (12/12) | 8,949 | ROTHERHAM v BRISTOL CITY (28/11) |
| 30,172 | DERBY v ROTHERHAM (31/10) | 9,071 | ROTHERHAM v READING (20/10) |
| 29,526 | DERBY v CARDIFF (21/11) | 9,078 | ROTHERHAM v PRESTON (18/08) |
| 29,467 | DERBY v BRENTFORD (03/10) | 9,162 | ROTHERHAM v IPSWICH (07/11) |
| 29,386 | DERBY v LEEDS (29/08) | 9,221 | BRENTFORD v HULL (03/11) |
| 29,063 | DERBY v WOLVES (18/10) | 9,463 | BRENTFORD v PRESTON (19/09) |
| 29,045 | DERBY v CHARLTON (15/08) | 9,528 | BRENTFORD v BIRMINGHAM (29/09) |
| 28,523 | SHEFF WED v BIRMINGHAM (26/12) | 9,575 | MK v CHARLTON (03/11) |
| The Next Fixtures | |
| Monday 28th December | |
| BIRMINGHAM v MK | PRESTON v HULL |
| BOLTON v BLACKBURN (12:45) | QPR v HUDDERSFIELD |
| BURNLEY v BRISTOL CITY | MIDDLESBROUGH v SHEFFIELD WED (17:15) |
| CHARLTON v WOLVES | READING v BRENTFORD |
| Tuesday 29th December | |
| BRIGHTON v IPSWICH | FULHAM v ROTHERHAM |
| CARDIFF v NOTTINGHAM FOREST | LEEDS v DERBY |
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
| pos | Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | gd | pts |
| 1 | DERBY | 23 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 35 | 13 | 22 | 47 |
| 2 | MIDDLESBROUGH | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 12 | 21 | 46 |
| 3 | HULL | 23 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 16 | 18 | 44 |
| 4 | BRIGHTON | 23 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 31 | 23 | 8 | 44 |
| 5 | BURNLEY | 23 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 7 | 38 |
| 6 | IPSWICH | 23 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 33 | 30 | 3 | 37 |
| 7 | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY | 23 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 35 | 27 | 8 | 36 |
| 8 | CARDIFF | 23 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 28 | 25 | 3 | 33 |
| 9 | BRENTFORD | 23 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 34 | 32 | 2 | 33 |
| 10 | BIRMINGHAM | 23 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 27 | 26 | 1 | 33 |
| 11 | READING | 23 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 28 | 26 | 2 | 30 |
| 12 | LEEDS | 23 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 23 | 25 | -2 | 30 |
| 13 | NOTTINGHAM FOREST | 23 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 23 | 22 | 1 | 29 |
| 14 | QPR | 23 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 28 | 30 | -2 | 29 |
| 15 | BLACKBURN | 22 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 22 | 19 | 3 | 28 |
| 16 | WOLVES | 23 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 29 | 32 | -3 | 28 |
| 17 | PRESTON | 23 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 21 | -3 | 25 |
| 18 | FULHAM | 23 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 36 | 41 | -5 | 24 |
| 19 | HUDDERSFIELD | 23 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 27 | 35 | -8 | 24 |
| 20 | MK FRANCHISE | 23 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 20 | 31 | -11 | 22 |
| 21 | ROTHERHAM | 23 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 28 | 38 | -10 | 21 |
| 22 | BRISTOL CITY | 23 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 22 | 39 | -17 | 21 |
| 23 | CHARLTON | 23 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 20 | 39 | -19 | 19 |
| 24 | BOLTON | 23 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 18 | 37 | -19 | 14 |