Stuart Stratford 
Aston Villa’s hopes of finishing in the automatic promotion places crashed against the rocks with consecutive defeats against Queens Park Rangers and Bolton Wanderers, with no-one else but Steve Bruce to blame. Those were the combative words of Kevin Phillips, an assistant coach at Derby County in his weekly column for the Express & Star. … Read more
When Chris Coleman walked away from the Wales job to join Sunderland in November 2017, he knew he had a huge task on his hands to save the club from a second successive relegation. Four months later, he is no less enamoured with the club but knows his future is in the hands of others. … Read more
Leeds United, one of the Championship’s biggest clubs and serial underachievers, is on the verge of imploding after owner Andrea Radrizzani criticised the players earlier in the week for failing to show “commitment, passion and spirit”. The Italian made no attempt to hide his disappointment at the club’s failure to challenge for the promotion places … Read more
After a run of eight consecutive defeats, words mean nothing to Birmingham City; points are all that matter. The newly-appointed Blues boss tweeted: Seen a lot of things to like in our first week. Everyone committed to making it count. pic.twitter.com/ByP3ZTFkEo — Garry Monk (@GarryMonk) March 13, 2018 Monk took over nine days ago and … Read more
Wolverhampton Wanderers chairman Jeff Shi watched his team suffer a resounding 4 – 1 defeat at Villa Park on Saturday evening, before declaring Aston Villa’s and Leeds United’s complaints to the Football League as “laughable”. Tensions between the Championship leaders and the rest of the division’s clubs rose when in the wake of his club’s … Read more
Nothing will give Nottingham Forest supporters greater pleasure than beating Derby County at the City Ground this weekend, holing the Rams promotion hopes along the way. With little cheer in their own campaign so far, Forest, who languish in the 15th place, revel in the repeated failures of their local rivals in their promotion chases … Read more
Leeds United manager Paul Heckingbottom has warned his squad that they are playing for their futures. One month into the role and the former Barnsley boss is already thinking ahead to his first transfer window at Elland Road. He is determined to ensure the players remain motivated and that they are giving 100% effort every … Read more
2018. To borrow from Star Wars, it’s a new hope. Every new season, every new year, is about hope. The hope that it will be better and never more so than in a World Cup year. But what does the year hold in store for the English game as a whole? VARs The FA Cup … Read more