Snow, sackings and Mrs Desai

Last updated : 20 January 2013 By Tony Scholes

The previous week had ended with the sacking of Derek McInnes at Bristol City, and this week got underway with his replacement quickly installed. Sean O'Driscoll, sacked by Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day, was his replacement.

It was a shock when O'Driscoll got the boot on the banks of the Trent but it's not stopped there at Forest. This week three more followed him and, it is reported, new manager Alex McLeish had nothing to do with it.

Welcome to Mrs Desai

Out went long serving chief executive Mark Arthur. He'd been there for fourteen years since walking across the road from the county cricket ground. He's apparently on gardening leave along with head of recruitment Keith Burt.

Burt was in the middle of a scouts' meeting when his wife phoned him to tell him of a recorded delivery from the club. She read the contents to him and he was given the news in front of his colleagues.

Last season Frank Clark was the chairman. He'd played in their European Cup winning teams and managed the club and was given an ambassadorial role when the Kuwaiti Al Hasawi family took control last summer. That didn't last long and he's been sacked too.

Meanwhile they are no longer playing their Camp goalkeeper. He's now surplus to requirements and young 'keeper Karl Darlow is currently in the first team. Other than that, it's been a quiet week at the City Ground.

It's not the only place that's had fun and games. On a weekend when many games were threatened by the snow, the Indian owners of Blackburn turned up at Ewood. For matriarch Mrs Desai it is only a second visit and I'm not sure she'll be coming again in the near future.

This wonderful family, and their incredibly talented global advisor Shebby Singh, were treated shebbily by the supporters as they arrived. There were uncalled for chants of protest and one badly behaved home supporter threw a snowball at shabby Shebby and hit him in the face.

Meanwhile bumbling Derek Shaw was full of praise for the owners and believes they are going to bring them success.

If we weren't happy with our coverage on the Football League Show last night then the feature from Ewood certainly helped.

It was their first game with new manager Michael Appleton. He thinks they are a massive club because they once bought the Premier League title. He didn't come over very well although well done to him for losing his first game in charge.

He's just arrived from Blackpool after a long term relationship there of around eight weeks. Their chairman Karl Oyston was hardly happy about things and said: "It's unfortunate we've become embroiled in the disaster shipwreck Blackburn have become and embroiled in their antics. It's a shame the way they are being run has destabilised us."

Not bad for a man whose dad used to fall backwards into swimming pools to try and sell houses and had a three year relationship with mail bags.

Blackpool are still without a manager which means former Claret Steve Thompson, who wants the job and seems to be the only person who does, remains in caretaker charge.

All the Championship games were played in the end, starting with Leicester's 1-0 home win against Middlesbrough. Whoever won would go second on Friday night and it was Leicester although there must have been some real concern at the number of empty seats at the King Power.

They have an average attendance of over 22,000 this season but the weather and the television coverage reduced that to just 8,585.

They are second though, but sit a staggering ten points behind leaders Cardiff. I'm not very good when it comes to predicting outcomes of leagues but I do reckon the team from the Welsh capital must have a decent chance of going up.

We've gone to seventh but will drop to eighth on Tuesday if Brighton get anything at Ewood. Do we really want to see something other than a home defeat for the Venky's?

The weekend results and stats are below along with the week's fixtures.

The Results
Friday 18th January
Leicester City 1 Middlesbrough 0  
Saturday 19th January
Birmingham City 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Leeds United 1 Bristol City 0
Blackburn Rovers 1 Charlton Athletic 2 Millwall 0 Burnley 2
Blackpool 1 Cardiff City 2 Peterborough United 1 Hull City 1
Crystal Palace 0 Bolton Wanderers 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
Derby County 1 Nottingham Forest 1 Watford 4 Huddersfield Town 0
Ipswich Town 1 Barnsley 1  

 

The Stats
Biggest Win Watford 4-0 v Huddersfieldt Town (home)
Total Goals Scored 24 (13 home - 11 away)
Player Scoring Most Goals 2 - Matej Vydra (Watford)
Highest Attendance 33,010 - Derby County v Nottingham Forest
Lowest Attendance 6,214 - Peterborough United v Hull City
Total Yellow Cards 30
Total Red Cards 0
Most Cards in a Game Birmingham City v Brighton & Hove Albion (5Y) Ref: Phil Dowd

 

Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
22 Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace) - includes 7 penalties
20 Charlie Austin (Burnley) - includes 3 penalties
17 Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers) - includes 2 penalties, 2 with Huddersfield Town
16 Matej Vydra (Watford) - includes 2 penalties
Chris Wood (Leicester City) - 11 with Millwall
15 Luciano Becchio (Leeds United) - includes 4 penalties
13 Tom Ince (Blackpool) - includes 3 penalties
David Nugent (Leicester City) - includes 1 penalty
12 Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 3 penalties
11 Troy Deeney (Watford) - includes 2 penalties
Craig Mackail-Smith (Brighton & Hove Albion) - includes 2 penalties
10 DJ Campbell (Ipswich Town)
Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough)
9 Sam Baldock (Bristol City) - includes 4 penalties
Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - includes 2 penalties
Billy Sharp (Nottingham Forest) - includes 2 penalties
8 Sone Aluko (Hull City)
Craig Davies (Bolton Wanderers) - includes 1 penalty, 8 with Barnsley
Steven Davies (Bristol City) - includes 2 penalties
Lukas Jutkiewicz (Middlesbrough)
Theo Robinson (Derby County)

 

Hat Tricks
 Date Player & Game
01/09/12 3: Pete Whittingham - CARDIFF CITY v Wolverhampton Wanderers
15/09/12 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Peterborough United
22/09/12 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Cardiff City
22/09/12 4: Craig Davies - Birmingham City v BARNSLEY
23/09/12 3: David Nugent - LEICESTER CITY v Hull City
29/09/12 3: Emile Sinclair - Hull City v PETERBOROUGH UNITED
02/10/12 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Sheffield Wednesday
23/10/12 3: Marlon King - Millwall v BIRMINGHAM CITY
06/11/12 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Ipswich Town
17/11/12 3: Jordan Rhodes - Peterborough United v BLACKBURN ROVERS
12/01/13 3: Chris Wood - Bristol City v LEICESTER CITY

 

Disciplinary Record (League and Cup)
Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R
  League   Total   League  Total 
Barnsley 38 1 43 2 Huddersfield Town 51 4 56 4
Birmingham City 42 3 46 3 Hull City 32 1 34 2
Blackburn Rovers 36 0 38 0 Ipswich Town 35 0 37 0
Blackpool 36 0 38 0 Leeds United 46 2 54 2
Bolton Wanderers 52 1 55 1 Leicester City 31 1 31 1
Brighton & Hove Albion 38 1 42 1 Middlesbrough 36 0 42 0
Bristol City 37 0 40 0 Millwall 49 2 52 2
Burnley 51 1 59 2 Nottingham Forest 46 4 46 5
Cardiff City 48 2 51 2 Peterborough United 43 1 46 1
Charlton Athletic 42 1 43 2 Sheffield Wednesday 47 1 53 1
Crystal Palace 39 2 50 2 Watford 48 4 51 4
Derby County 35 1 36 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 32 1 36 1

 

Highest and Lowest Attendances
Highest Lowest
Att Fixture Att Fixture
33,010 Derby County v Nottingham Forest (19/01) 5,435 Peterborough United v Bristol City (18/09)
28,707 Nottingham Forest v Derby County (30/09) 5,633 Peterborough United v Blackpool (01/12)
28,595 Wolverhampton W v Ipswich Town (29/12) 5,997 Peterborough Utd v Blackburn Rovers (17/11)
28,582 Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United (19/10) 6,188 Peterborough United v Millwall (21/08)
28,229 Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday (09/11) 6,214 Peterborough United v Hull City (19/01)
27,437 Derby County v Sheffield Wednesday (18/08) 6,348 Peterborough Utd v Huddersfield Town(23/10)
26,727 Brighton & Hove Albion v Watford (29/12) 6,600 Peterborough Utd v Bolton Wand (23/12)
26,684 Brighton & HA v Nottingham Forest (15/12) 6,612 Peterborough Utd v Middlesbrough (08/12)
26,670 Nottingham Forest v Leeds United (26/12) 7,339 Peterborough Utd v Barnsley (01/01)
26,598 Sheffield Wed v Bolton Wanderers (22/09) 8,088 Barnsley v Bristol City (01/09)

 

The Next Fixtures
Tuesday 22nd January
Blackburn Rovers v Brighton & Hove Albion  
Saturday 26th January
Bristol City v Ipswich Town Huddersfield Town v Crystal Palace
Burnley v Birmingham City Nottingham Forest v Watford
Charlton Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday Wolverhampton Wanderers v Blackpool