Wow! What a week! With the revelations about England boss Sam Allardyce in the last few days, there have been further developments down at Sky Bet Championship level with Tommy Wright, the assistant manager of Barnsley being suspended over alleged corruption.
The weekly review will also be focussing on events on the pitch. The Sky Bet Championship had a double header again this week with Matchday’s 9 and 10. These featured some epic battles, a new club at the bottom and two UEFA Champions League winning managers facing off together for the first time in the league’s history. First up, we’ll start with events off the pitch.
#1 Barnsley are plunging into chaos
Sky Bet Championship side Barnsley have suspended their assistant-manager, Tommy Wright after allegations of corruption came to light when he was named in the Daily Telegraph. The revelations by the British newspaper have been part of a larger sting that involved Sam Allardyce who was removed from his post as England Manager earlier this week.
The alleged offence took place in August and the newspaper suggests he accepted £5,000 at a meeting with 2 undercover reporters posing as members of a Far East firm. They suggest that Wright, in exchange for the cash, would help them persuade Barnsley to sign players from this firm.
There is no suggestion that Barnsley football club were aware of this at any stage. Wright is filmed during one of the meetings and suggests: "I can just recommend players to you that I've gone and seen, and you will have to do your spicy dealing, whatever you do."
More to come:
The paper suggests that there are more corruption stories that they will announce later on in the week.
“Over the coming days, the Telegraph will detail a series of allegations of financial impropriety in British football which raise serious questions about the governance and influence of money within the game.”
They go on to state that they will release information based on,
“Ten managers that were named by player’s agents as taking bribes to fix player transfers.”
If true, the information they will release will be shocking and would shake English football to it’s very core.
#2 Stat attack: Villa vs Newcastle – a battle of the Champions League winners
For the first time ever in the second tier of the English domestic leagues, 2 Champions League winning managers faced each other. Both Roberto Di Matteo and Rafa Benitez managed to conquer Europe (Di Matteo with Chelsea in 2012 and Benitez withLiverpool in 2005). This weekend they were looking to collect 3 points from each other in the Sky Bet Championship.
Perhaps it was destined therefore that neither manager could get the upper hand over the other and the ended as a 1-1 draw. Both teams were Premier League sides last season and as such provided an entertaining enough match, both equally sharing the possession stats at 50%.
Newcastle will be more disappointed with the draw as they had twice as many shots as the home side, (18 to Villa’s 9) but couldn’t actually score themselves. The breakthrough for Newcastle coming on 18 minutes from a Tommy Elphick own goal after good work and a cross from the wing by DeAndre Yedlin.
During match-day 10, Newcastle and Villa had mixed fortunes. Villa managed a 1-1 draw with Barnsley after yet another late goal denied the Midlands side the 3 points. Newcastle were home to Norwich and produced a quite superb come back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 with 2 goals in added time to send the Canaries home totally deflated.
#3 Rotherham hit rock bottom
Rotherham United’s season went from bad to worse this week with both Matchdays 9 and 10 ending in 2-1 defeats. 2 goals in just 8 second half minutes denied the Millers only their second win of the campaign against fellow strugglers Cardiff City.
The second game, away at Huddersfield was just as disappointing for the visitors, as they only managed 1 shot on target for the entire game. Terriers top scorer Ellias Kachunga and Nahki Wells getting on the scoresheet in what was a one-sided affair.
Rotherham United haven’t won in their last six league games and have conceded more goals than any other team in the division, 24. Boss Alan Stubbs, however, remained upbeat: "This is a tough one to take because we deserved more from the game than what we got.
"I can't fault the player’s effort and desire because they are not getting the rewards that they deserve. We cannot afford to feel sorry for ourselves, the second goal sums up the bad luck we are having.
"Realistically we should be sitting on 12 to 13 points. We have to keep working hard and doing the work on the training ground."
#4 Huddersfield stay top, just!
Thanks to Newcastle United’s Heroics late on Wednesday evening – the 4-3 victory against Norwich City with two goals coming after 90 minutes - Huddersfield Town remain 2 points clear at the top of the Championship table.
The Terriers condemned Rotherham United to the bottom of the league and cemented their position at the top with a commanding 2-1 victory at the John Smith’s stadium. They now sit on 22 points from 10 games, having won 7, drawn 1 and lost 2.
During match-day 9 however, it was a different story, with Town going down to a solitary goal at Reading and having Rajiv van La Parra sent off for two bookable offences. Boss, David Wagner was understandably frustrated: "We don't have to use too many words about this situation. Rajiv knows that this was a mistake. He knows that this was not correct.
"The referee was right in this decision. Rajiv has to react in a different way in this moment.
"I was disappointed about the result but proud about the performance. We were the better team in the second half.
"Even with one man less, we were still able to try for the equaliser or even win the game."
They now travel to Mid-table Ipswich, before a home Yorkshire Derby in Matchday 12 against Sheffield Wednesday. The fans will hope that they will be able to keep their position at number 1 for as long as possible.
#5 Leeds consistently inconsistent
Just as Leeds United fans thought their season was coming together, the wheels have fallen off again. After 3 promising wins and 3 good performances, an away trip to Bristol City was all it took to leave their boss Gary Monk scratching his head.
"I thought our performance deserved a lot more than we got tonight - I thought it warranted at least a point.
“We are disappointed with the result but we are not going to get too down about the performance."
Leeds United’s 10 games so far have yielded 4 wins, 1 draw, and 5 losses and this last loss leaves them in 14th and with negative goal difference. Their next few games give them some opportunity to get back to winning ways, however. They have mid-table Barnsley at home, followed by an away match against the Rams of Derby County (who currently lie 20th). After this, they are back home to struggling Wigan Athletic.
Gary Monk will hope for more consistent results from these next few games.
"We're growing. The players are growing. We have to bounce back now but we win and lose together.”
