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In the Championship – Newell at it again
Not satisfied with that, he decided to have a go at his Chairman Bill Tomlins, comments which brought about an emergency board meeting at Kenilworth Road this afternoon, with Newell's position as manager under review. The board are now to have a meeting with Newell before making a decision.
His problems with assistant Rayner were due to the fact that she's a woman, and he doesn't think women should be involved in the game. I'm certain he's not the only one with the opinion, but he's the only one who is honest or daft enough to say it.
“We have a problem in this country with political correctness,” he said after the game on Saturday. “And bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom. It is absolutely beyond belief. This is Championship football, not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically correct idiots.”
As for his Chairman, he accused him of taking the club backwards rather than forwards and not backing him. One web site today has described Newell as an outspoken fool; I find it difficult to disagree with them.
Newell was obviously frustrated at seeing his side lose for the fifth successive game, the first time Luton have had such a run in over ten years, and this after two goals in first half stoppage time had seen them go in at the interval 2-1 up.
Luton are not the only side wondering where the next win is going to come from. It might well be Operation Premiership at Coventry but a third successive defeat has seen them drop down to fifteenth in the table. The latest defeat came against Derby, and it was no surprise, the East Midlands club have won all their last three and all of them by two goals to one. They even had a Jonathan Stead goal to celebrate.
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One player who learned his lesson the hard way was RK Sunderland's Ross Wallace who was sent off recently for his goal celebrations. He gave them the lead against Southampton at the Stadium of Light but kept his shirt on this time and stayed well away from the crowd.
It looked as though he'd got another winner but Gareth Bale got a somewhat fortuitous stoppage time equaliser with a shot that was deflected. And the visitors almost went on and won the game, only an excellent save from Darren Ward kept out a Bradley Wright-Phillips effort to ensure they got at least a point.
There was a late equaliser at the Crisp Bowl for the away team too, as Barry Hayles scored to earn Plymouth a point from a 2-2 draw. That too came in stoppage time and Hayles, who has now equalled his goal tally from last season, came close to grabbing a winner.
This goal saw Lilian Nalis score against his old club with Plymouth's first equaliser and the same happened at the Hawthorns where Robert Earnshaw scored the only goal of the game to win all three points for Norwich.
It was, according to the two managers, a good and close game, but West Brom must count themselves unlucky after hitting the woodwork four times.
One other piece of bad news for the Baggies was a fifth yellow card of the season for Jonathan Greening which means the in form midfielder will miss this week's game against the Clarets.
One other piece of bad news for the Baggies was a fifth yellow card of the season for Jonathan Greening which means the in form midfielder will miss this week's game against the Clarets.
Leeds won, and that's not been a common occurrence this season, and this win was enough to show just why they hung on to the incompetent Kevin Blackwell for far too long. The clown constantly refused to play their best player, but even the obnoxious Dennis Wise has seen fit to get him into the side and he didn't let him down.
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The chicken sandwiches had been removed from the dressing rooms at Portman Road, no one was forced to strip off in the car park, but new Sheffield Wednesday boss Brian Laws was enjoying himself anyway and talking about getting into the Premiership. His side did well, they won 2-0 against an Ipswich side that according to Jim Magilton defended very badly, whether it was Premiership form remains to be seen.
What do Cardiff, West Brom, Plymouth and Stoke have in common? Answer: They have all won league games at Selhurst Park in the last four weeks, and that something Crystal Palace haven't done. Played four, lost four, has the Legend finally found his touch?
Jordan's tan has faded even more, the fans are getting restless and Dave Clark Five's ‘Glad All Over' is now becoming something of an embarrassing joke. The Legend has withdrawn his services from the England Under-21s, the Palace fans would have preferred things the other way round.
Their performance was described as limp, their pyjama wearing goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly looked more like Charlie Caroli and it was all too easy for Stoke who won it with a goal from Darel Russell who squeezed his shot inside the near post. No worries for the Legend though, Palace haven't dropped in the league, they still remain twentieth.
They are only just above his old club Hull City now, they picked up all three points against a Wolves side that according to manager Mick McCarthy didn't play at all. Hull's win came at a cost though, striker Jon Parkin damaged ankle ligaments after falling awkwardly and could be out for up to three months.
That leaves us with Birmingham and Barnsley and the home win meant Birmingham climbed above us in the table whilst Barnsley slipped to next to bottom. The result though hardly tells the story of the game with Barnsley boss Andy Ritchie convinced his side were the better on the day but just lacked the cutting edge needed to go on and win the game.
Goals form Gary McSheffrey and a late second from Neil Danns was enough to move Birmingham up to third and give them their fifth successive league win and without a solitary goal conceded. They should be due to concede some goals a week on Saturday at a guess.
No midweek games again this week, but the weekend fixtures are shown below with the Sky cameras at the delightful Ninian Park kicking it all off on Friday.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 11th November | |
Birmingham 2 Barnsley 0 | Leeds 3 Colchester 0 |
Cardiff 1 Burnley 0 | Leicester 2 Plymouth 2 |
Coventry 1 Derby 2 | Luton 2 QPR 3 |
Crystal Palace 0 Stoke 1 | Southend 0 Preston 0 |
Hull 2 Wolves 0 | Sunderland 1 Southampton 1 |
Ipswich 0 Sheffield Wed 2 | West Brom 0 Norwich 1 |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Leeds 3-0 v Colchester (home) |
Total goals scored | 26 |
Player scoring most goals | 2 - Robbie Blake (Leeds) |
Highest Attendance | 25,667 - Sunderland v Southampton |
Lowest Attendance | 9,007 - Luton v QPR |
Total Yellow Cards | 46 |
Total Red Cards | 0 |
Most cards in a game | Cardiff v Burnley (6Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
11 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
9 | Andy Gray (Burnley) |
8 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) Alan Lee (Ipswich) Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
7 | Iain Hume (Leicester) |
6 | Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) Steve Howard (Derby) Jon Parkin (Hull) Marcus Tudgay (Sheffield Wed) |
5 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Leon Clarke (Wolves) Carlos Edwards (Luton) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Stern John (Coventry) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) Mark Richards (Barnsley) Martin Rowlands (QPR) Riccardo Scimeca (Cardiff) Jimmy Smith (QPR) Simon Whaley (Preston) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
26th Aug | Jamie Cureton - COLCHESTER v Derby |
12th Sep | Gifton Noel-Williams - BURNLEY v Barnsley |
14th Oct | Kevin Phillips - Ipswich v WEST BROM |
29th Oct | Alan Lee - IPSWICH v Luton |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 26 | 3 | Luton | 17 | 3 |
| Birmingham | 35 | 4 | Norwich | 30 | 3 |
| Burnley | 26 | 5 | Plymouth | 30 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 25 | 4 | Preston | 31 | 2 |
| Colchester | 21 | 0 | QPR | 34 | 0 |
| Coventry | 31 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 27 | 2 |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 0 | Southampton | 27 | 0 |
| Derby | 41 | 2 | Southend | 30 | 0 |
| Hull | 37 | 2 | Stoke | 31 | 2 |
| Ipswich | 54 | 2 | RK Sunderland | 29 | 3 |
| Leeds | 42 | 1 | West Brom | 43 | 2 |
| Leicester | 33 | 2 | Wolves | 26 | 2 |
This Week's Fixtures | |
Friday 17th November | |
Cardiff v QPR | . |
Saturday 18th November | |
Birmingham v Wolves | Leicester v Preston |
Coventry v Sheffield Wed | Luton v Derby |
Crystal Palace v Barnsley | Southend v Plymouth |
Hull v Stoke | Sunderland v Colchester |
Leeds v Southampton | West Brom v Burnley |
Sunday 19th November | |
Ipswich v Norwich | . |