[bigmacx]

removed. :thup:

[retired_FatThighs]

Kjellebassen "asking" to get sacked and move from Reading to Notts County

After a string of bad results because lots of good players constantly underperformed I finally lost patience and decided to ask my board for more transfer-founds (Something I didn't expect to get) and as expected my board said NO and I issued an ultimatum and got sacked

I was now tired of managing a club I didn't support so I denied to take on Rotherham (Rival of the Blades) and instead took on Notts County wich was 23rd. in div. 2 at the time and have a crap squad left when I took over....but what the heck?! I love them so I want to manage them

The first match in charge of my new club was at home against Brighton and despite losing 4-2 I felt the match was a step in the right direction on the road to avoiding relegation. My team consisted almost only youngsters from own youth-team so I wasn't dissapointed with a such result against one of the strongets sides in the division.

Hope we can build futher on this and have many fruitful years to come. :thup:

[retired_footballyears]

SPL reaches half-way mark - January 2004

Early season saw Anthony Donnachie's Celtic set off on a blistering run of form, which saw them set a hefty gap between themselves and the rest of the chasing pack, it was a different story for city rivals, Rangers. Indeed Celtic have only lost one SPL game all season, 2-1 away to Livingston at the end of October. Caleyjag's Rangers on the other hand have had far from a smooth ride, right from the kick off. Involved in some remarkable games earler on Including the astonishing 6-5 away win at Killmarnock. Another noteable result would be the opening day defeat against Hibs away, 3-1 the score line there.

Everyone knows the importance of the Old Firm derby's both for cross city pride, but more importantly for success in the SPL. So far Celtic hold the upperhand from the two games played. The first meeting between the two was at the end of September. Celtic ran out winners there infront of a packed Ibrox crowd. The 'gers loosing valuable ground on Celtic early in the season. Fast forward to Boxing day and Celtic Park, Glasgow. What a treat football fans in Glasgow were in for. Rangers had to repeatably battle from behind against a free scoring Celtic side. But battle they did and a final score of 4-4 prevented Rangers falling even further behind Celtic in the race for the SPL title.

As things stand Celtic have a 5pt lead on Rangers at the top on 50 points. Rangers are already 12pts clear of 3rd place Hibs, so it is certainly shaping up to be typical two horse race, a two horse race that this season Rangers are going to fight long and hard to stay part of.

Its a long way to go yet and as usual we will be watching all the way.

[retired_footballyears]

Nationwide Division One 17th Jan 2004
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Portsmouth| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Wimbledon* | | 27 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 55 | 19 | +36 | 64 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Nottm Forest*] | | 26 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 41 | 16 | +25 | 54 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Millwall* | | 27 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 41 | 20 | +21 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Norwich* | | 26 | 15 | 3 | 8 | 60 | 34 | +26 | 48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | West Ham* | | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 33 | 20 | +13 | 46 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | W.B.A.* | | 26 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 35 | 25 | +10 | 46 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Sunderland | | 27 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 41 | 29 | +12 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Coventry | | 27 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Cardiff* | | 26 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 31 | 21 | +10 | 43 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Wigan | | 27 | 12 | 5 | 10 | 48 | 42 | +6 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Bradford City | | 27 | 11 | 4 | 12 | 33 | 37 | -4 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Derby | | 27 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 39 | 41 | -2 | 35 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Preston* | | 27 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 33 | 34 | -1 | 34 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Walsall | | 27 | 10 | 4 | 13 | 25 | 39 | -14 | 34 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Stoke | | 26 | 10 | 2 | 14 | 30 | 32 | -2 | 32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Sheff Utd | | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 29 | 38 | -9 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Ipswich* | | 27 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 29 | 45 | -16 | 30 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Gillingham | | 27 | 8 | 5 | 14 | 24 | 32 | -8 | 29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Reading | | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 31 | 41 | -10 | 29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Crewe | | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 33 | 46 | -13 | 27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Watford | | 27 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 32 | 58 | -26 | 27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | | Crystal Palace | | 27 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 28 | 35 | -7 | 26 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | | Burnley* | | 27 | 6 | 5 | 16 | 22 | 43 | -21 | 23 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | | Rotherham | | 26 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 17 | 44 | -27 | 19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

{B]Nationwide top goalscorers[/B]
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos | Player | Team | Goals1. | Abbey | Norwich* | 192. | McDonald | Wimbledon* | 173. | Johnson | Forest* | 154. | Kabba | SeffUtd | 155. | Hulse | WBA* | 13</pre>

NB. * represents Clan member's team

[retired_zamzam]

Burnley continue to struggle as they drop into bottom three

Burnley manager Joe Finnigan has admitted that it will take a lot for him to turn his club's fortunes around by the end of the season, and avoid relegation to Division 2.

Burnley have always been languishing in the lower reaches of the table since the season began in early August, but it was only last month when the Clarets dropped into the relegation zone for the first time after a shocking run of defeats. They have only won one of their previous nine league games, and have failed to hit the target in five of their last six matches. They are also out of both the League Cup and FA Cup; they had a fairly good run in the League Cup before being outpowered by Premiership outfit Chelsea in the fourth round, after previous cup wins over Grimsby and Cardiff. They were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round after suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat away to Second Division leaders Bristol City.

However, it has not been all doom and gloom for Finnigan's side. They have gained points against teams high above them in the league, with a surprise 2-0 win away to Nottingham Forest in early September, and they have also held promotion-chasers West Ham and Millwall to draws in the last few months. However, it is the defeats to teams close to them in the bottom half of the table that has cost them valuable points, and put them in danger of getting relegated.

In early January, Burnley completed the signing of their old striker Gareth Taylor, from Nottingham Forest on a free transfer. With Burnley's financial status believed to be in a fairly bad state, meaning Finnigan is unable to spend any money on new players, that Burnley will probably have to settle for free transfer signings or loans before they can have any chance of recovering from their poor form in the first half of the 2003/04 season.

With Luke Chadwick's loan set to end at the end of the season, and Glen Little unwilling to sign a new contract for the Clarets, it looks like Burnley's season could collapse, and possibly even their distant future after the 2003/04 season has ended. Only time will tell if Burnley can make a recovery in the second half of the season and escape from the danger of relegation.

[retired_footballyears]

Scottish Premier League 17th Jan 2004
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Holders - Rangers| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Celtic* | | 21 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 44 | 15 | +29 | 50 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Rangers* | | 21 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 63 | 27 | +36 | 45 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Hibs | | 21 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 33 | 31 | +2 | 33 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Livingston | | 21 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 32 | 30 | +2 | 33 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Kilmarnock* | | 21 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 35 | 32 | +3 | 31 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Dundee | | 21 | 9 | 1 | 11 | 35 | 36 | -1 | 28 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Dunfermline | | 21 | 8 | 3 | 10 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 27 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Dundee Utd | | 21 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 27 | 36 | -9 | 26 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Hearts | | 21 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 35 | -10 | 25 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Aberdeen | | 21 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 20 | 31 | -11 | 24 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Motherwell | | 21 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 25 | 44 | -19 | 21 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Partick Thistle | | 21 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 15 | 40 | -25 | 15 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

SPL top goal scorers
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos | Player | Team | Goals1. | Thompson | Rangers* | 212. | Wood | Kilmarnock*| 173. | Arveladze | Rangers* | 144. | Samuel | Dundee Utd | 115. | Milne | Dundee | 10</pre>

NB. * represent Clan member controlled club

[retired_lgrimz]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> his desire to concentrate on other things in his life, away from football. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Couldn't have put it better, hope to see you guys again good luck

[retired_jasonkt]

Cardiff keep up the pressure

With the Board expecting a sorry season for Cardiff, manager Mike Carnie boldly announced his own personal expectations to his players. Leaks from within the club reveal that Carnie has told his players that he will expect nothing less than "reaching the playoffs" with "hopes of playing Premiership Football next season."

Carnie's dreams quickly came to see reality when they dynamically reached 4th place, level on points with those above his club following a 6 match winning streak. Losing two games in a row soon put a hamper on Carnie's ambition, but winning their 27th game woudl easily put them 7th, and if other matches go their way, potentially 5th.

Carnie has also been quick to speak out in the media over his £1.3M signing of former Man United Reserves striker Daniel Nardeillo. Carnie has critisised his signings performances, saying that "he plays the same way I do, which is utter sh1t."

Carnie is however, pleased with his on Loan player David Bellion's performances, following his partnership with Robert Earnshaw upfront. Bellion was a key player in the 2-0 defeat of struggling side, Burnely.

We hope to bring you more news on the Cardiff shockwave, including allogations of Carnie being seen playing "52-card pickup" with fellow manager, Jedi Monkey.

[retired_dalilatrb]

Manager Rob Stone In showdown meeting with administrators.

Wimbledon manager Rob Stone has demanded a showdown meeting with the clubs administrators in an attempt to ensure no more of the clubs stars are sold off on the cheap this season. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror Manager Rob Stone gave the following frank interview.

“When I came to this club I was fully aware of the problems that we had, and the struggle that the job would bring, and I can accept that with a debt of 14m administration was a certainty. I was also fully willing to accept some player departures as cost cutting was a necessity. What I am not prepared to accept now, however, is the selling of star players in January when we have a ten point gap at the top of the league. Leighterwoods 170k sale was a deal that I had no knowledge of until the day it went through. I was appalled as with the debts we have that fee doesn’t make any difference to our situation whatsoever, wheras losing our star defender could cost us our chance at getting into the premiership and the 20m pound bounty that it brings.

It’s true I’ve demanded a meeting with them and will say the same thing to them then, and that is simply this. I will not accept any further sales, not one. They are risking the future of this club as if promotion is not achieved this season, then this club is basically over. I’ll tell them straight, and make sure they understand how serious I am about this.”

What does the future hold for the Dons? No-one can be sure, but if Wimbledon can get promotion to the premiership this season then a much more rosy future is viable.

[retired_footballyears]

Let the Pillage of Wimbledon continue. I say :p