Newcastle United returned to the top of the Championship table despite being held at the Liberty Stadium by Swansea while Plymouth revived their relegation hopes with a shock win over Barnsley at Oakwell.

With West Brom active in the FA Cup this weekend, the Magpies had the chance to reclaim their top spot and pull clear of he Baggies, who have since had an extra game added to their fixture list following their cup draw with Reading.

Swansea 1 Newcastle 1

Swansea ensured Newcastle’s predicted return to the top flight would not come too easily in a hard fought 1-1 draw in Wales. After a goalless first half, midfielder David Cotterill gave Swansea the lead on 56 minutes with his sweetly struck effort – his fifth of the season. Chris Hughton’s side showed the grit required in a title fight, however, and they were rewarded three minutes from time as beanpole striker Andy Carroll popped up at the back post to nod in the equaliser which moved Newcastle back on top of the table.

Doncaster Rovers 1 Nottingham Forest 0

Nottingham Forests’ faltering automatic promotion hopes took another knock as they suffered their third defeat in four games as they lost 1-0 at Doncaster. Billy Sharpe’s 13th goal of the season was the difference as his goal just after the half-hour marked proved too much for Billy Davies’ side. Nonetheless, Forest remain in 3rd place but now trail leaders Newcastle by five points having played a game more. In contrast, Donny are five points clear of the relegation zone and are steadily edging closer to safety.

Leicester 5 Scunthorpe 1

Elsewhere, Leicester reiterated their play-off aspirations with an emphatic 5-1 win over Scunthorpe at the Walkers Stadium, aided by a Paul Gallagher hat-trick. Michael Morrison had opened the scoring for the foxes, before two from Gallagher and a Martyn Waghorn strike earned the home side a four goal advantage at the break. Paul Hayes salvaged a little pride for the Iron but Gallagher restored the four goal lead with his third strike on 73 minutes.

Sheffield United 2 Bristol City 0

Sheffield United ensured their promotion hopes are far from over with a professional 2-0 win over Bristol City at Bramall Lane. The Blades are just one point outside the play-off positions, albeit having played two more games than Leicester, and have kept the heat on the leading pack. After an abysmal first half, Henri Camara finally broke the deadlock four minutes after the restart, while a Darius Henderson strike just after the hour mark sealed the home side all three points.

Middlesbrough 1 Peterborough 0

Middlesbrough were made to work for the three points at the Riverside but a stern Peterborough performance left them with no points in a 1-0 win for the hosts. Boro looked set for a comfortable stroll towards the win after Barry Robson handed them a 7th minute lead with his first goal for the club. But the expected onslaught never followed and Posh came away with nothing to show for their improved performance and remain rooted to the base of the table. Middlesbrough, meanwhile, hover just two points outside the play-off positions as Gordon Strachan has finally instilled some consistency into his side.

Preston 0 Blackpool 0

Saturday’s early kick-off ended in a stalemate at Deepdale as the West Lancashire derby between Preston and Blackpool ended 0-0. In what was billed a potentially fiery affair, there were just two yellow cards all game, which went to David Vaughan of Blackpool and Sean St Ledger of Preston.

Coventry 1 QPR 0

Coventry inflicted further misery on QPR’s disastrous season with a 1-0 win over the mega-rich club at the Ricoh Arena. Gary Deegan grabbed the only goal of the game with just 10 minutes on the clock and the Londoners had no reply, leaving them just two points above the relegation zone in a season which began with aspirations of promotion.

Barnsley 1 Plymouth Argyle 3

Elsewhere, the biggest shock of the day came at Oakwell were an in-form Barnsley side went down 3-1 at home to relegation-threatened Plymouth. The home side looked set to cruise to three points after Hugo Colace handed them a half-time lead. However, a spirited second half display from the Pilgrims saw them run out 3-1 winners with goals from Carl Fletcher, Jamie Mackie and Rory Fallon respectively.

West Brom moved top of the Championship table on Tuesday night after title favourites Newcastle suffered a shock defeat at Derby.

The Baggies leapfrogged the Magpies as goals from in-form Roman Bednar and Giani Zuiverloon in either half saw Roberto Di Matteo’s men sink lowly Scunthorpe 2-0.

The win at the Hawthorns took West Brom 59 points, the same number as Newcastle who went down 3-0 to Nigel Clough’s Rams at Pride Park.

Rob Hulse gave the home side the lead on 40 minutes before second half strikes from Kris Commons and Shaun Barker sealed an emphatic win, with Newcastle ultimately surrendering top spot through goal difference.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forests’ automatic promotion hopes took a knock as they went down 1-0 away to Coventry with Freddy Eastwood’s goal settling the contest.

Cardiff took full advantage of 3rd-place Forests’ slip up by closing the gap between them and Billy Davies’ men to seven points with a game in hand, courtesy of a 2-0 win over basement club Peterborough.

Scottish defender Chris Burke broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark while fellow defender Anthony Gerrard doubled their lead on 78 minutes, ensuring the Bluebirds remain well placed for a play-off finish.

Swansea added to financially-struggling Crystal Palace’s woes by defeating the Eagles 1-0 at Selhurst Park with Finnish striker Shefki Kuqi grabbing the only goal of the game.

Elsewhere, Leicester failed to match the winning ways of their play-off rivals after being held 0-0 at the Walkers Stadium to a sturdy Doncaster Rovers.

Manager Nigel Pearson is likelier to be more disappointed with the injury to Matty Fryatt than the result as the 12-goal striker suffered a broken jaw in the first half.

Middlesbrough played themselves back into contention for a play-off spot with a hard fought 2-1 in over Barnsley taking them to within two points of Leicester, who currently hold the final slot in 6th place.

Chris Killen and Gary O’Neill gave Boro a half-time lead and, despite Hugo Colace pulling one back for the Tykes, Gordon Strachan’s men held on for a vital win.

Rejuvenated Sheffield Wednesday continued their fine run of results with a very professional 2-0 win over Blackpool, who are slipping further away from the play-off positions by the week.

James O’Connor got the Owls off to the perfect start with his 3rd minute finish before former Liverpool midfielder Darren Potter sealed a comfortable win with his effort shortly after the break.

Meanwhile, Watford edged a step closer to safety with a 2-0 win over Bristol City at Vicarage Road courtesy of Heidar Helguson and Martin Taylor, who each struck in the first half.

Preston boss Darren Ferguson, son of Manchester United manager Alex, continued his good work in charge at Deepdale with a creditable 2-1 win over Sheffield United.

Mathew James, on loan from Old Trafford, grabbed the opener with just 10 minutes on the clock before Jon Parkin’s 10th goal of the season sealed the win.

Mark Yeates pulled one back for the Blades with nine minutes remaining to ensure a nervy finish for the home side, but North End ultimately pulled though for the three points.

Problems continue at Loftus Road however, where a 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich sees QPR hovering dangerously above the relegation zone.

David Norris gave the Tractor Boys an 8th minute lead before on-loan Sunderland forward Daryl Murphy doubled the lead shortly before the break.

Jay Simpson got the home side back in the game with around 24 minutes remaining but Roy Keane’s men showed the stability which was lacking earlier in the season to see out the win, which lifts them above Scunthorpe into 20th place.

Elsewhere at the bottom, Reading secured their third win on the spin as Shane Long’s last gasp penalty handed the Royals a 2-1 win over relegation rivals Plymouth.

Long had earlier gave the Royals the lead, but that was cancelled out by Carl Fletcher’s 68th minute equaliser. Long went on to steal the show, however, as he coolly completed his brace from the spot after Hal Robson-Kanu was brought down by Chris Clark inside the area.

Sheffield United goalkeeper, Paddy Kenny, has been banned for nine months after he failed a drugs test. The Football Association slapped the huge ban on the player after they called the incident intolerable and the move may have effectively ended the player’s career.

The 31 year old took a test after the Championship semi-final play-off win over Preston North End and tested positive for the banned substance, ephedrine. The player will not be able to play another match until April 2010 and has so far attracted an enormous amount of criticism from his fellow players and fans alike.

A statement read: “its use was not intended to enhance performance,” but the point is that the player should have been fully aware of what was entering his body. There is a whole list of professional sportsman that have been banned over time for taking substances that they have been ignorant to. The most common can sometimes be found in every day medicines but even the smallest quantity can lead to a positive drugs test and a heavy ban.

Rio Ferdinand was banned at the start of his Manchester United career, for a period of eight months after it emerged that he had failed to take a routine drugs test. In that instant the player was not even found guilty of substance abuse but was heavily punished in the same vein.

There have been calls from some corners of football that Kenny should not be allowed to play ever again. However, the FA say that are convinced enough that the player may not have taken the substance intentionally, but it does not excuse the fact it was there and hence the ban will not be lifted.

Sheffield United boss, Kevin Blackwell, said: “Paddy is devastated and has gone home. He has a lot to think about because he’s banned completely from playing and training. I find it hard to believe the severity of the ban considering that it was accepted that the substance wasn’t taken for performance enhancement. There’s an appeals procedure and we will sit down and talk over the next few days and discuss the situation fully with all concerned.”

“Let this be a warning to all players. They will be under the strictest scrutiny. And if they feel ill and reach for the medicine cabinet, they must be very sure that what they take doesn’t contain any of the substances on the banned list, however innocently it might be taken.”

Sheffield United goalkeeper, Paddy Kenny, has let a lot of people down including himself with the news that he has recently failed a drugs test. The keeper apparently bought some cough mixture that contained a substance that was banned by the Football Association.

It is no surprise that he has subsequently been suspended by his club and now faces the prospect of a massive two-year ban from the game that is likely to dent the immediate future of any career ambitions he may have had.

The point is that Kenny is not a young player, he is one of the more experienced in the Sheffield United side and he should have known better. He obviously knew what he was taking and the risks it involved and he should have gotten every thing checked out before he made any decisions. Fair enough this was only a medicine but the point is that in the modern game you have to be so careful about what is going into your body.

It will not look good to a number of the younger professionals at Sheffield United that would have looked up to him. Kenny has been a corner stone of the Sheffield United team for longer than many would care to remember and he would probably be the last person that a number would name to be involved in such an incident. He had a good club and a bright future and he has thrown all of this away in a moment of madness.

Kenny would be lucky if United kept him on because they would be well within their rights to just sack him completely and let him go to another club. For a side that is trying to break into the Premier League they do not need this type of publicity being attached with the club.

Had Sheffield United won the play-off final and been promoted to the Premier League then you can predict that the club that lost out would have been calling for the FA to intervene as United’s goalkeeper quite obviously cheated. It is irrelevant whether he knew what he was doing, the point is that there are strict codes and conventions and it could well have ended up in some sort of court case, let’s just be grateful that United didn’t actually get promoted.

This is not the first time that a high calibre player has been involved in a drugs scandal. It must not be forgotten that not too long ago Rio Ferdinand was banned for 18 months after he failed to carry out a drugs test. On that occasion it was not actually proven that Ferdinand had taken any thing and yet he was still banned for an enormous length of time.

So the risks for any player who are toying with the idea of taking a medical substance or something similar are massive and now they will quite clearly know that it is probably too much of a risk to do. It’s quite simple to get around, if you have a cough and you are unsure over whether you can take something then just go and see the physio who will tell you yes or no. It is not rocket science.

There have also been cases where players have been pulled up over taking a number of recreational drugs in their own time. In these instances the players in question have all been sacked from their sides and it is doubtful that they will ever be able to get a contract playing football again.

Sheffield United now face the long and hard task of trying to find a high profile replacement to come in and take Kenny’s place. This will be difficult because every week he probably would have been the first name to go down on the team sheet. When you get into such a routine of being able to pick a player without thinking about the decision, this makes the task to bring someone in to replace him even more difficult.

United will just want the matter dealt with. They have been in the news a lot over the last one or two seasons for all of the wrong reasons. Firstly, there was the saga involving Carlos Tevez who was playing for West Ham United and scored the goal that relegated the club. A court case followed over Tevez’s ownership and that resulted in West Ham paying United a large sum earlier this year.

The point is that although the club got a bit of money out of this they probably just want to focus on the football as opposed to having to deal with such negative press all of the time. They have done well to deal with the Kenny incident so quickly as it will allow them to move forward with a new keeper who can help them progress.

For Kenny the options are quite simple. He now has a very long time out of the game to think about what he has done and whether he wants to continue his career in football. Once the two years are up he will probably find a slightly lower profile team that will give him a contract but he needs to decide whether he loves the game enough in order to make this sacrifice.

He only has himself to blame and should be ashamed the next time he goes out onto the streets of Sheffield and quite likely the fans will heckle him. As a top level professional you have a responsibility to your club, your fans but more importantly yourself. You cannot toy with medical issues and in this case it has grossly come back to slap the player square in the face.

There will be a number of keepers who will be chomping at the bit to get a game for United and the list of candidates to replace Kenny is probably already being worked on. However, the point is that it is an issue that need not have come up and has only come up due to the stupidity of one person. I’m sure a lot of people now feel sorry for United and their fans.

Now Steve Bruce may have been a pretty good footballer and could be a great bloke, but why oh why would Sunderland consider hiring him as their next manager? It’s not a wise idea. Especially considering it would cost them three million pounds in compensation to Bruce’s current club, Wigan. And to make matters even more puzzling, it’s believed that former Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini would gladly take the job and it wouldn’t cost Sunderland a penny.

To me, this is a no brainer. I don’t see anything on Bruce’s resume that would make me consider him for a moment as a Premier League manager. He’s mediocre at very best and that’s exaggerating it. To me, hiring a mediocre manager will do nothing more for your club than….. let’s see… make them mediocre. And that’s exactly what Sunderland is now, so I don’t see how Bruce is going to improve them.

But, let’s not slag him off until we back it up with some numbers and facts. Well, this season it was probably regarded that Wigan were quite a bit better squad than Sunderland, but Bruce only managed to get an extra nine points out of them by leading them to a 12-9-17 record, which tied them for 11th place. And three of those extra nine points came against Sunderland. Yes, that’s correct, 12 wins out of 38 league games for a winning percentage of 34.4%.

How does that compare to the rest of Bruce’s managerial career? Well, it’s about par for course as his career winning percentage is 38.3. In fact, the only time he’s managed to hit 50 or higher was an 18-game stint with Crystal Palace, where he went a fine 61.1%. But 18 games is just a blip on the radar screen when we are looking at his career total of 478 games. When studying Bruce’s performance, without the Crystal Palace job, we see a trend forming and it’s not a good one.

Bruce’s first year as a full-time manager was back in 1998 with Sheffield United and he did reasonably well by winning 40% of his matches. But every year after that his winning percentage has gone down, not up. This tells me he’s not really improving as a manager with more experience, actually the opposite is true. Bruce hasn’t shown a lot of loyalty either as far as I’m concerned by taking on six different managers jobs in just over a decade. Sunderland would make seven.

On the other hand, let’s look at the 44-year-old Mancini. This fellow has been managing three years less than Bruce, but has won three consecutive Serie A titles (2006 to 2008), two Italian Cups (2001 and 2004) and two Super Cups (2005 and 2006) for Inter, making him the most successful Inter manager in the past 30 years. His league winning percentage was 61.7 in 227 games and his success rate in the Champions League was 52.9%. Granted, his first league title was handed to him after Inter ended up in second place and league winners Juventus were stripped of the title because of match fixing.

Mancini’s career got off to a rocky start with Fiorentina in 2001 as his winning percentage was only 22.2 in 27 games, but he at least compensated for that by winning the Italian Cup that year. He also won the cup during his stay at Lazio from 2002 to 2004.

The numbers just don’t add up for Bruce, not positively anyway, and I honestly can’t see why he’d be chosen to manage Sunderland if they’re trying to climb their way up the standings. But I’m afraid that’s the way football seems to work these days, especially in England. As soon as a manager is fired because of poor results, there are about five teams ready to hand him a long-term contract. In this case, Bruce would be leaving of his own accord. But it’s still the same scenario of a weak manager being hired by even an even weaker club.
If the guy wasn’t any good at any of his other clubs, why would you want him?

Perhaps Sunderland will come to their senses before getting Bruce to sign on the dotted line.

According to a report by media giants CNN, the richest match in all of football took place at Wembley Stadium in England, yesterday (May 25th). The game featured Championship League teams Burnley and Sheffield United squaring off in a playoff match to see who would go up to the Premier League next season. Burnley won the game 1-0 on a fantastic goal by Wade Elliot in the 13th minute. Sheffield tried to mount a comeback even after controversial referee Mike Dean had reduced them to 10 men in the 80th minute when Jamie Ward was sent off for his second handball. The game wasn’t bad, but I guess the big story here is how much this match can mean financially to the winner. It’s estimated that the windfall from being promoted to the Premiership can mean as much as 100 million American dollars. This is a lot more than any American Superbowl and World Cup final can bring in. Actually, international accountancy company Deloitte list the English Championship play off final as the richest single match in any sport.

Burnley will rake in $53 million towards next football coming season as well as a minimum of $18 million in each of the following two seasons. The Sport Business group at Deloitte stated that the difference between the $100 million that the winner gets and what the losing team earns is greater than in any other single event of any sport. But where does all of this money come from and who supplies it you may ask. Well, the biggest amount of cash comes from the unbelievable tv deal that the Premier League has. The TV rights for the 2010-2013 seasons are worth a record $2.70 billion (£1.782b). When you split that up into 20 teams, you’re looking at a sizeable amount of cash.






A study in 2008 showed that the winner of the Champions League could earn as much as $149 million (€110m), but the actual difference between winning the Champions League and losing it was only about $6m. So basically, making it to the final is the trick in the Champions League, once you’re there, you’re guaranteed of a pretty decent payoff either way. But in the Burnley vs Sheffield playoff yesterday, there was so much more riding on the game as you had to win it to get the financial rewards. There’s a hell of a lot more riding on the game and the pressure can probably get to some players. That’s why each play and referee’s decision is so important during the championship playoff. It’s sort of like a boxing match where winner takes all. Burnley should actually see its bank account swell from a lot more than just TV money, as it’s a given that their gates will grow along with season ticket sales and kit sales. Various advertising and sponsorship revenue should also go up as well. This is why it’s so important to remain in the Premier League and why bad mangers are costing owners more than just points in the standings.

However, any teams that do get relegated will still receive the guaranteed payment of $18m for two further seasons. But that’s nothing compared to the money to be made in the top flight. You need to still have a good management plan and development system in place for this money to do you any good though. If you just go out and spend it on players and then sit them on the bench, it’s being wasted. Out of all the play off game winners in the last decade, only West Ham, Bolton, and Hull City are still in the Premiership, and in Hull’s case, just barely. In fact, West Ham and Bolton are no world beaters either. While the money certainly helps, it’s no guarantee that you’re going to stay up in the top division, it has to be  spent wisely, but it appears that 70 per cent of newcomers to the Premier League haven’t figured this out yet.

Burnley will play Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final after turning over Reading on their own ground. Burnley ran out 2-0 winners last night (3-0 on aggregate) to rightfully take their place against Kevin Blackwell’s Blades to compete for the biggest prize in English football.

Reading put on a frustrating display, threatening at times to open Burnley up but never seemed able to quite make it count in the final third. It was a performance that led to the resignation of manager Steve Coppell after the game but Burnley will have little care as they now have a shot at the big time.

Martin Paterson put Burnley ahead with an absolutely stunning strike from around 30 yards out which bent past the seemingly helpless hand of Reading Keeper, Marcus Hahnemann. Steven Thompson added to Paterson’s second half goal with a volley that looped into the Reading net to be met with crazy scenes.

It will really lift the confidence and expectation of the Burnley side who are likely to go into the final as the under dogs. However, the bookies had Reading as favourites to win last night so they have proved they can beat the best.

Burnley manager, Owen Coyle, was obviously delighted but remains focused. He said: “There is no place for celebration yet. We recognise that we have not achieved our goal. The prize is a place in the Premier League and that is what everyone wants. We have earned ourselves a chance.”

Reading will be doubly annoyed that they finished so far ahead of Burnley in the Championship table after the standard 46 games. It is a strange system where the sixth best team in the Championship has a chance to go up but it has been accepted and the Royals will now regroup to appoint a manager and fight again next season.

Reading tried to keep a high tempo through out the two legs but never found the killer pass or touch. However, despite the departure of the manager, the club is still in very good shape and should remain upbeat. The structure of the club and the way it is run mean that all of the wrongs of this season can be righted.

They are a club that will clearly be back in the Premier League sooner rather than later. Burnley on the other hand won’t really care right now. It is important for them to keep their heads, as Sheffield United will want to make up for the fiasco that marked their relegation last time from the top flight.

Burnley have the advantage of being in new waters. This could well spur them on but they will have to play twice as well as they did against Reading to stand any chance of beating United who look in tip top shape. The stakes have never been higher as the money and the standard of playing staff in the Premier League is now better than it has ever been.

Burnley will be going all out to welcome the best in Europe to their ground next year but it is likely to be a very animated and intense final. Reading will go back to the drawing board and start working again.