Mark Albrighton

Pedant alert “Someone’s knockin’ on the door. Somebody’s ringin’ the bell.” I’d hadn’t heard that song before those adverts. In fact I still don’t think I’ve heard it all the way through. Dreadful though.

I would have quite liked Puma. No idea if they make good kits, but I find the brand pleasingly retro for some reason. Maybe it’s because my first pair of proper boots were puma kings, a bit of nostalgia creeping in. But if Kappa make good kits then fair enough. I haven’t bought a new one since 1998/99 anyway. As long as they’re not hideous I don’t really mind.

I’m not as bothered as I was a week or two ago. Regardless of the expected punishment, they won’t be in the play off hunt, they won’t be relegated. Their season essentially ended when we beat them on their turf. As we may face our own questions regarding FFP, if their punishment is minor, at the very least we’ll have some reassurance that we won’t have anything to worry about - if indeed we do at all. I know the Pederson thing is something else, a factor that we don’t have to worry about. If that’s the main talking point for the panel then that’s fine with me. And I’d like to see some sort of action regarding the pitch invader etc, what action I don’t know, but something. I doubt a point deduction is likely or even the correct action. Restrictions on attendances make more sense to me.

On balance I think we’d probably fair better against Sheffield United, but it’s too close to call (if it’s an eventuality we find ourselves facing). Since they beat us, Leeds have lost 6 times. (Pl 15 W 9 D 1 L 6). That’s 3 defeats more than us over the same period. Sheff United appear to be a bit more consistent currently. They have lost once in the same period (Pl 15 W 11 D 3 L 1). Regardless IF we do end up facing either of them, I believe we’ll give a much better account of ourselves. I reckon there will be a few fans of the team finishing third that are hoping we finish fifth rather than sixth (or miss out completely).

Millwall - Brighton game

Has left the club according to his Instagram account. All the best Jordan.

As we now have a little break and we’ve just picked up our third clean sheet in the past two weeks, here’s a little look at some defensive stats pre Smith and since he took over. I believe these are correct. Before Smith (12 games) No. of goals conceded = 20 Compared to the rest of the league - Joint 22nd out 24. No. of clean sheets = 1 Only 1 team had fewer clean sheets - Sheff Wednesday. There were 5 other teams that also had 1 clean sheet in that period. Since Smith (26 games) No. of goals conceded = 34 Compared to the rest of the league - 12th out of 24. No. of clean sheets = 9 Since Smith took over, only 3 teams have recorded more clean sheets - Sheff Utd (13) Stoke (11) and strangely Sheff Wednesday (11- 5 of those are since Bruce took over for those wondering). There are 2 other teams that have also recorded 9 clean sheets since Smith took over.

I think if we need something against Norwich, we’ll at least get a point, especially if they’ve already won the league by then. Edit - looking at their remaining fixtures, I’ll be surprised if they haven’t got the title sewn up by the time we play them.

Amazing what a difference a fortnight can make. I believe this was the table before the Derby game - Norwich Pl 34 Pts 66 Sheffield Utd Pl 34 Pts 64 Leeds Pl 34 Pts 64 West Brom Pl 34 Pts 60 Boro Pl 33 Pts 57 Derby Pl 34 Pts 54 Bristol City Pl 33 Pts 53 Small heath Pl 34 Pts 50 Nott. Forest Pl 34 Pts 50 Preston Pl 34 Pts 47 Hull Pl 34 Pts 47 Sheff Wed Pl 34 Pts 47 Aston Villa Pl 34 Pts 45 Long way to go yet, but it’s looking so much more positive now.

Their next seven games will be harder than their last seven I think - Stoke, us, Forest, Leeds, Norwich, Bristol and Preston. Final game is against QPR. It’s Preston that I’m wondering about. They have Reading next, then admittedly three hard games against Sheff Utd, Leeds, Baggies but end it by playing Ipswich, Wigan, Wednesday and Brentford. Maybe Preston and Wednesday will cancel each other out.

Happy birthday NV.

“...a few other pint drinks.” Daft sod. Green Monkey is nice though, Joules who brew it make a big deal of it being “laagered” for longer than other beers. Not my area of expertise so I couldn’t comment on that, but if you’re in a Joules pub and you want to try a lager that isn’t one of the boring standards, it’s a good one to have.

Only found out yesterday that there’s a statue of Peter Falk as Columbo in Budapest. And Columbo’s dog.

For watching football in a Brum pub, you can’t go too wrong with the Lord Clifden in the Jewellery Quarter in my opinion. The Old Contemptibles on Edmund Street might show it, likewise the The Red Lion (also situated in the Jewellery Quarter). Lord Clifden is my runaway winner.

Don’t think this has been posted yet, I remember really liking this in my teens. Your typical upbeat classic turned into a more plaintive, reflective acoustic number -

Well they’re playing Boro away on 2nd April (midweek game) and we’re only playing at the weekends that week, so I guess it’s that one. A draw would be great there, but either way someone will be losing points that day.

I believe it’s currently this - With Jack W 8 D 2 L 2 Without Jack W 2 D 8 L 3 Contrasting, to say the least. Edit - although the all important win percentage drops significantly, we haven’t lost loads when missing him. Clearly that quality Jack can offer goes a long way from turning one point into three. There are other factors in the poor run of course, we had injuries to the back line and the new defenders took a little while to settle (well Hause did), Nyland in goal....

Millwall had lost their previous four games before tonight. Going back further, they had won one of their previous ten league games.

Happy Birthday Tyrone!

Bolton, Derby, Small heath.

Doing well. Similar(ish) to the start of his time here, first 12 games were 7 wins, 3 draws, 2 defeats. A lot of games against lower half teams though. Draws against a Derby side who are a bit out of sorts and another against Sheff United are the exceptions I think? Maybe the win against Brentford too (he managed it then, didn’t he?). Let’s see how they get on in April. Still, can only play who’s in front of you, so fair’s fair. Not exactly losing sleep at the thought we should have kept him though. He could win every game for the rest of the season and it wouldn’t change his poor start to this season.

Wednesday’s fixtures in April will be tricky for them - (us, Forest, Leeds, Norwich, Bristol, Preston). Can’t see many wins from that run. Forest may well make it, but they are incredibly inconsistent. This year they’ve beaten Leeds, Derby, both in form Brentford and Hull...but lost to Blues, Stoke, Reading. We’ll know more this time tomorrow. I think we’ll fall short by a few points. But we have a chance. I reckon Sheff United will probably win the play offs anyway.