The official CHAMPIONSHIP Thread

Jewell did very well with wigan

took them from league 2 to the premiership and kept them there for a season...

re managers - i'll be interested to se how PB does at Preston - they are in a worse state than we were when he took over

if he does anything in management again, I expect he'll have learnt something from his time with us and cope better with success and the later reality than he did with us

Yes, but was well resourced and spent a lot of Dave Whelan's money. Did a decent job nonetheless. Likewise with Bradford a few seasons prior. However, not so flash under more difficult circumstances at Wednesday and Derby. In fact, took him 10 months to register a league win with the latter.

News is right to sit on the fence on this one!

PB and reality took wildly divergent paths towards the end of his Hull days.

I suspect he has learned from his past excesses. I don't expect stadium karaoke or suicide rescues in the next wee while. Much as I would like to see PNE relegated (it's a local rivalry thing), a last day salvation might just be worth it to see if he can resist the mike!

Interestingly, like Paul Jewell, he failed miserably at Derby.

Still reserving judgement on Jewell?

Wow! (Noting that I too was a fence sitter on Jewell)

Happy with our Eddie as well.

The bronzed one not faring so well at Preston. Shame.

First ever win at Doncaster and a hat trick to the kid.

It's an okay start...

Just a notch up from utterly mediocre then.

Fair enough.

I'm still reserving judgement aswell. Happy he has started well.

GO LEEDS!!!!

WE LOVE U LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS

QPR V Leicester City - This Saturday.

LG - you beat Leicester, we beat Forest - that's my idea of "win-win"

Yes please!

Job done AND bonus - Cardiff, Forest & Swansea all lost!

Portsmouth now have 6 wins in a row which I am very pleased with. It would be a long shot to get into the play offs, which would be interesting.

From Soccernet.com

Sven-Goran Eriksson's side caused more than a few problems for Rangers, who pulled eight points clear of Swansea. The second-placed Swans slipped to a shock home 1-0 defeat relegation-threatened Sc**thorpe, Joe Garner scoring from the spot after being fouled by Alan Tate.

Nottingham Forest also fell to a surprise defeat, Matt Fryatt scoring the only goal for Hull after 64 minutes' play at the City Ground to end Forest's 36-game unbeaten home record.

And in a bad day for the chasing pack, Norwich were held to a 1-1 draw by rock-bottom Preston at Carrow Road. The Canaries fell behind thanks to Chris Brown's strike on the hour mark, but levelled through Grant Holt two minutes later. Wes Hoolahan missed a penalty for the hosts as Iain Turner stood up to save his dinked effort after 72 minutes.

That made it a good day for Leeds, who came from behind to claim an emphatic 5-2 win over Yorkshire rivals Doncaster at Elland Road. Leeds grabbed an early lead through Max Gradel but were pegged back on the stroke of half-time thanks to Billy Sharp's 16th goal of the season.

Franck Moussa put the visitors ahead four minutes into the second half but the lead lasted barely a minute before Jonny Howson levelled for Leeds. Luciano Becchio made put the hosts back in the lead 15 minutes from time before further strikes from Gradel and Howson in the 83rd and 90th minutes put some daylight between the sides.

Play-off chasing Burnley kept the gap between them and Leeds at four points with a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace thanks to a superb long-range strike from Jay Rodriguez inside the third minute.

Reading, in confident mood following their FA Cup victory at Everton in midweek, continued their excellent form by hammering Middlesbrough 5-2. Goals from Hal Robson-Kanu and Ian Harte sandwiched an equaliser from Royals old-boy Leroy Lita to put them 2-1 ahead at the break.

Harte's second made it 3-1 three minutes after the break, then five minutes later he set up the hosts' fourth for Shane Long, who grabbed his own second of the match after 68 minutes. Lita pulled a second goal back for Boro from the spot four minutes later.

In-form Bristol City continued their charge away from the relegation zone by beating 10-man Coventry 4-1 at the Ricoh Arena. Nicky Maynard, Lewin Nyatanga and David Clarkson, from the penalty spot, were on target for the Robins in the first half.

Lukas Jutkiewicz pulled one back for Coventry eight minutes after the restart, but Marlon King was dismissed on the hour and Marvin Elliott scored a fourth for the visitors eight minutes from time.

Sheffield United slipped to a 1-0 loss at Portsmouth, who recorded their sixth consecutive game without conceding a goal, with Hermann Hreidarsson scoring the winner in the 24th minute.

Danny Graham's strike six minutes into the second half gave Watford a 1-0 win over Millwall at Vicarage Road, while Derby's game against Barnsley at Pride Park finished goalless.

In the day's late game, Ipswich beat Cardiff 2-0 as Jimmy Bullard's fine brace dented the Welsh side's promotion ambitions and Marton Fulop produced an oustanding display to repeatedly keep City at bay.

The Town goalkeeper single-handedly denied the hosts with a series of great saves, thwarting Arsenal loanee Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on three occasions as well as Peter Whittingham and Michael Chopra.

burnley mid-week - so Turfmoore this is a significant encounter

Indeed.

We are lurking with intent (and with games in hand).

Could be interesting. From complete away dunces we are now managing a few results on our travels.

Maybe a beer at Bar Ed on the line for this one.

You guys ever watch matches on bet 365?

high stakes - but yeh, I'm in

Yes, have done. As good as any (if you don't mind the small screen experience). Can't remember which matches I watched though.

Edit: I should add that my broadband experience not the best though. Probably something to do with how far my house is from the fibre nodal thing-a-me-jig. Means that streaming is usually problematic (jumpy, or only works with low quality feeds)Turfmoore2011-03-07 23:22:05

What full pints? Sheesh.

Tuatara A.P.A. will do the trick.

A bit lucky to hang on, but we'll take it.

So crucial. Hull not out of it but what a difference a result reversal would have made.

We remain nicely poised just under the radar.

Bristol downed Pompey 2-1 this morning, bit sad, but hey, winning streak had to end somewhere.

damn, a huge blow to promotion chances, ego, and wallet (in that order)

dm me for a weekend (prob not this one) or late weekday evening settling of the accounts

Bugger me.  You turn your back for a second and Keiron Dyer sneaks in.

Welcome back.

This could be the weekend that Norwich secure back to back promotions - flaming unbelievable!
Good article by Swiss Ramble on Norwich City http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2011/04/norwich-citys-remarkable-transformation.html

Pompey haven't been doing well last few games so really ours to lose. Hoping also that Boro can do the job against Cardiff.

Ole Ole Ole Ole
Ole Ole Ole Ole
Going up up up!

Sky showing Championship promotion semis LIVE on SS3.

Superb.

Pity it was such a meh season for our lot.

Hopefully this could indicate a move to a bit more championship coverage next year.

And in terms of who I'd like to see go up, based on performances against Burnley, I would like to see Swansea & Reading make it through to the play-off final. They were probably the most impressive 'footballing' teams against the Clarets this season (and I include QPR and Norwich when making that assessment). So I will be backing them in the semis. Not Cardiff. Forest ambivalent.

Mysky set.

Come on Forest!! 

Hopefully Reading v Swansea in the final - chance to rub Brendan Rodgers' face in it!!!

this looks like a fun thread to join for a year or two

You might be hanging around a bit longer than that.

Cracking play-off semi second leg between Swansea and Forest just then. An all Wales play-off final at Wembley would be interesting...

Would absolutely love this.

C'mon URZ!!!!!

Into the final, fantastic team display, now make the most hated man in Reading suffer further!!