Steve Evans, who has managed big clubs in the Football League such as Boston, Crawley and Rotherham, is the latest to go through the revolving door into the manager's office at Elland Road. But wait! How long is he going to last? He's been in the job for two weeks now and still hasn't won a game.
Having said that, he and owner Massimo Cellino might just be a match made in heaven, or certain in Leeds. Cellino is currently fighting another Football League ban and Evans, of course, received a one year ban from football and a suspended jail sentence for his part in the Boston tax fraud. Yes, maybe a match made in heaven.
Heaven might have been seeing them go 2-0 down in the first six minutes last Thursday and their fans signing: "What the **** is going on?" It might have been had the opposition not been Blackburn. I can't report much else from that game; I switched off once the second goal went in, I couldn't take any more.
On the subject of managers, if Evans can loosely be described in that way, poor Sean Dyche got a came for his 3rd anniversary when he was hoping for a Rolex. I think there might be a few fake ones in Burnley Sean but I'm not so sure you'll find a real one too easily.
I reported last week that he's was the 13th longest serving in the top four English leagues and I think that sort of sums things up and how some clubs change managers far too frequently, Leeds more often than they win home games apparently.
This afternoon that's changed. He's now 12th with Richard Money having left Cambridge having been there since 4th October 2010 which had seen him reach 10th place
Those 11 long serving managers who have now been in their current roles longer than Dyche has been at Burnley are as follows, preceded by the dates they took on the jobs.
30/09/96: Arsène Wenger (ARSENAL)
26/06/06: Paul Tisdale (EXETER)
10/05/10: Karl Robinson (MK FRANCHISE)
04/01/11: Dean Smith (WALSALL)
13/05/11: Jim Bentley (MORECAMBE)
29/08/11: Phil Parkinson (BRADFORD CITY)
10/11/11: Steve Davis (CREWE)
08/06/12: Steve Bruce (HULL)
24/09/12: Gareth Ainsworth (WYCOMBE)
10/10/12: Neal Ardley (WIMBLEDON)
13/10/12: Eddie Howe (BOURNEMOUTH)
Going back to the Championship and it's Bolton and Charlton in the bottom three now with Rotherham. Bristol City and MK are just ahead of that with Preston and Leeds next. At the other end, the top five all won and there's a three point gap now between Derby in fifth place and Birmingham who are one place lower.
I know different seasons are just that and they shouldn't be compared but for some reason I can't resist looking at the 2013/14 season. Interestingly, after 14 games in that season, QPR were third with more points than current leaders Brighton now have and we were already eleven points clear of Watford who were in seventh place. Down at the bottom is was just about the same.
It means nothing; Blackpool were fifth two years ago and ended the season escaping relegation on the last day.
All the weekend results and stats are below with the goalscorers, red and yellow card counts highest and lowest attendances and tomorrow's fixtures when all 24 clubs play.
The Results | |
Thursday 29th October | |
LEEDS 0 BLACKBURN 2 | |
Friday 30th October | |
BRENTFORD 1 QPR 0 | |
Saturday 31st October | |
BIRMINGHAM 0 WOLVES 2 | MIDDLESBROUGH 3 CHARLTON 0 |
BRISTOL CITY 1 FULHAM 4 | MK 0 HULL 2 |
BURNLEY 2 HUDDERSFIELD 1 | PRESTON 0 BOLTON 0 |
DERBY 3 ROTHERHAM 0 | READING 1 BRIGHTON 1 |
IPSWICH 0 CARDIFF 0 | SHEFF WED 1 NOTT'M FOREST 0 |
The Stats | |
Biggest Win | DERBY 3-0 v ROTHERHAM (home) FULHAM 4-1 v BRISTOL CITY (away) MIDDLESBROUGH 3-0 v CHARLTON (home) |
Total Goals Scored | 24 (12 home - 12 away) |
Player Scoring Most Goals | 2 - MOUSSA DEMBELE, FULHAM (v BRISTOL CITY) ANDRE GRAY, BURNLEY (v HUDDERSFIELD) |
Highest Attendance | 30,172 - DERBY v ROTHERHAM |
Lowest Attendance | 12,037 - BRENTFORD v QPR |
Total Yellow Cards | 45 |
Total Red Cards | 0 |
Most Cards in a Game | IPSWICH v CARDIFF (8Y) Ref: DAVID COOTE |
Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
9 | NICK BLACKMAN (READING) - includes 2 penalties |
8 | ANDRE GRAY (BURNLEY) - includes 1 penalty, 2 goals for BRENTFORD CHRIS MARTIN (DERBY) JORDAN RHODES (BLACKBURN) - includes 2 penalties |
7 | MOUSSA DEMBELE (FULHAM) ABEL HERNANDEZ (HULL) JONATHAN KODJIA (BRISTOL CITY) ROSS McCORMACK (FULHAM) - includes 1 penalty |
6 | BENIK AFOBE (WOLVES) - includes 1 penalty CHARLIE AUSTIN (QPR) - includes 1 penalty ALAN JUDGE (BRENTFORD) |
5 | TOMER HEMED (BRIGHTON) - includes 1 penalty DANIEL JOHNSON (PRESTON) JOE MASON (CARDIFF) ORLANDO SA (READING) CHRIS WOOD (LEEDS) - includes 2 penalties |
4 | MIRCO ANTENUCCI (LEEDS) - includes 2 penalties TJARONN CHERY (QPR) MARCO DJURICIN (BRENTFORD) CLAYTON DONALDSON (BIRMINGHAM) - includes 1 penalty DAVE EDWARDS (WOLVES) DIEGO FABBRINI (MIDDLESBROUGH) FERNANDO FORESTIERI (SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY) EMYR HUWS (HUDDERSFIELD) DAVID NUGENT (MIDDLESBROUGH) MATT PHILLIPS (QPR) FREDDIE SEARS (IPSWICH) LASSE VIBE (BRENTFORD) AARON WILBRAHAM (BRISTOL CITY) |
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) |
Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
BIRMINGHAM | 23 | 0 | 26 | 0 | HULL | 23 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
BLACKBURN | 30 | 1 | 31 | 1 | IPSWICH | 27 | 0 | 32 | 0 |
BOLTON | 26 | 4 | 27 | 4 | LEEDS | 24 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
BRENTFORD | 31 | 1 | 31 | 1 | MIDDLESBROUGH | 33 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
BRIGHTON | 30 | 1 | 34 | 1 | MK | 31 | 1 | 35 | 1 |
BRISTOL CITY | 24 | 1 | 24 | 1 | NOTTINGHAM FOREST | 29 | 2 | 31 | 2 |
BURNLEY | 14 | 0 | 17 | 0 | PRESTON | 32 | 3 | 36 | 3 |
CARDIFF | 31 | 1 | 33 | 1 | QPR | 22 | 1 | 24 | 1 |
CHARLTON | 25 | 1 | 30 | 2 | READING | 22 | 1 | 29 | 1 |
DERBY | 19 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ROTHERHAM | 27 | 0 | 29 | 0 |
FULHAM | 23 | 1 | 26 | 1 | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY | 29 | 1 | 38 | 1 |
HUDDERSFIELD | 27 | 1 | 29 | 1 | WOLVES | 20 | 1 | 23 | 1 |
Highest and Lowest Attendances | |||
Highest | Lowest | ||
Att | Fixture | Att | Fixture |
30,855 | DERBY v MIDDLESBROUGH (18/08) | 8,839 | ROTHERHAM v FULHAM (29/08) |
30,172 | DERBY v ROTHERHAM (31/10) | 8,935 | ROTHERHAM v CARDIFF (19/09) |
29,467 | DERBY v BRENTFORD (03/10) | 9,071 | ROTHERHAM v READING (20/10) |
29,386 | DERBY v LEEDS (15/08) | 9,078 | ROTHERHAM v PRESTON (18/08) |
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) |
27,694 | MIDDLESBROUGH v LEEDS (27/09) | 9,752 | ROTHERHAM v BURNLEY (02/10) |
27,672 | LEEDS v BURNLEY (08/08) | 9,756 | BRENTFORD v SHEFFIELD WED (26/09) |
26,834 | DERBY v BURNLEY (21/09) | 9,869 | ROTHERHAM v MK (08/08) |
26,399 | BRIGHTON v CARDIFF (03/10) | 9,963 | PRESTON v BRISTOL CITY (15/09) |
The Next Fixtures | |
Saturday 31st October | |
BIRMINGHAM v BLACKBURN | LEEDS v CARDIFF |
BRENTFORD v HULL | MIDDLESBROUGH v ROTHERHAM |
BRISTOL CITY v WOLVES | MK v CHARLTON |
BURNLEY v FULHAM | PRESTON v NOTTINGHAM FOREST |
DERBY v QPR | READING v HUDDERSFIELD (20:00) |
IPSWICH v BOLTON | SHEFF WED v BRIGHTON |
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
pos | Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | gd | pts |
1 | BRIGHTON | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 30 |
2 | HULL | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 8 | 13 | 28 |
3 | BURNLEY | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 28 |
4 | MIDDLESBROUGH | 14 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 23 | 9 | 14 | 27 |
5 | DERBY | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 27 |
6 | BIRMINGHAM | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 24 |
7 | READING | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 21 | 13 | 8 | 23 |
8 | SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 23 |
9 | CARDIFF | 14 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 22 |
10 | FULHAM | 14 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 26 | 20 | 6 | 20 |
11 | BRENTFORD | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 20 |
12 | QPR | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 23 | -1 | 19 |
13 | WOLVES | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 18 |
14 | IPSWICH | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 21 | -5 | 18 |
15 | BLACKBURN | 14 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 15 |
16 | HUDDERSFIELD | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 18 | -4 | 14 |
17 | NOTTINGHAM FOREST | 14 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 14 |
18 | PRESTON | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 13 |
19 | LEEDS | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 19 | -7 | 13 |
20 | MK FRANCHISE | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 21 | -9 | 11 |
21 | BRISTOL CITY | 14 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 26 | -10 | 11 |
22 | BOLTON | 14 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 20 | -10 | 10 |
23 | CHARLTON | 14 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 24 | -13 | 10 |
24 | ROTHERHAM | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 27 | -12 | 9 |