This from the EFL statement on the Wigan 12 points deduction:-
“If in the event the Club is relegated by virtue of their final position following the conclusion of the Championship season, then the deduction will apply in League One in 2020/21. However, if the Club is not in the relegation places following the final game of season, the sanction will be then be applied to their season 2019/20 total and final league standings amended as appropriate.
Hope that’s clear to all.
The way the points deduction works is if Wigan finish in the bottom three they are not deducted 12 points until next season.
If they finish above the bottom three then they have the 12 points deducted this season, which will almost certainly relegate them.
If they were deducted 12 points today, they'd be five points from safety. It seems unlikely to me they can gain five points on the third bottom team with just four to play. They've been in good form, but to maintain that form under such pressure and having had the body blow of unexpectedly going into administration seems unlikely to me.
All that said if we only stay up because of Wigan's predicament that would be very unsatisfactory.
RR
Thanks for the match report grateful as ever for your efforts
OFB
OFB, I would be interested in your view on the penalty been given but only a yellow card, when clearly Fletcher was denied a goal scoring opportunity. Also there appeared to be two assaults (Spence and McNair) which were “missed” by the officials (and I use that word loosely) is there any chance of retrospective action by the league.
Come on BORO.
I have posted the fixtures for the last part of the challenge as entries have to be posted by 1800 hrs tomorrow (Friday) night, even though there is the last fixture of Part 2 playing tonight (Leeds v Stoke) this is to give everyone a few more hours to deliberate.
werdermouth I know this post is about the challenge but can you please leave it on the current forum as there is very little time between Part 2 and Part 3 for people to post their entry and some may not visit the Challenge site until after the Stoke match tonight. Thanks.
Come on BORO.
Pep Clotet has been relieved of his duties as Head Coach by Birmingham City, I have already emailed their Chairman making him aware of Woodgate’s availability.
Come on BORO.
For those who may not have seen it here is Warnock's interesting after game press conference from the Team Bus:
Birmingham City boss Pep Clotet has left the club after Wednesday's 3-1 defeat by Swansea City.
The Spaniard was set to leave the Championship side at the end of the season but said it was "mutually agreed" he would step down immediately.
Blues have picked up just two points out of a possible 15 since the Championship restarted after lockdown and are now just four points above the relegation zone.
I think they need just two points to survive as they are two points above us.
Up the Boro!
@stircrazy, Who would go to Burnley from Boro now? You'd have to be mad. They might have a good business model, but why would you?
UTB,
John
Many thanks to Redcar Red for easily the best match report on yesteday's game and I'd have to agree about the standard of the officials and in particular the referee who appeared incapable of making a correct decision.
Interstingly, I read the match report in the Northern Echo this morning, which oddly seemed heavily biased against Boro - I noticed it had no author attributed so I googled one of the sentences as clearly the ref was the day's controversial figure and not Fletcher...
Cooper felled Fletcher in the box, and the day’s controversial figure stepped up and buried the resulting spot-kick.
Anyway, the google result showed that the same article was reproduced by many local newspapers from the London Evening Standard to the Yorkshire Post and online sports sites such as Sporting Life - so it was in fact an anonymous pooled piece, which if I was guessing would imagine was written by a local Millwall-supporting jounalist 🙂
Don't worry Exmil, while I'm keen on organising I've no objection to flagging up something in any thread. I only previously moved your Part I final standings table to the Exmil thread to encourage people to visit it, which I setup to avoid entries being spread over several different threads or misplaced.
For those who may not have seen it here is Warnock's interesting after game press conference from the Team Bus:
That was a good interview (despite the dodgy editing of the video) and Warnock is certainly comfortable with the media and doesn't look like he's on a hostage video like some managers appeared. Interesting that he said at the end that Tavernier has easily been the best player in training this week - I wonder what he needs to do to get a start!
Have you read the report of the game on the Sky Sports app?
"Fletcher fouled Jake Cooper in the build-up to Assombalonga's goal"
"The 24-year-old clearly clipped the Millwall defender's heels"
"Millwall players all stopped expecting a free-kick"
"Woods was the best player on the field" ...Who?
Not a mention of the penalty not given against Spence or the 3 sendings-off bottled by the referee.
A staggeringly biased report.
If you watch their video synopsis it is somewhat 'light' in it's reflection of the game.
UTB,
John
You couldn’t make it up. Or.....errm, maybe you could?
@nigelreeve I think the fairest outcome for Wigan (that is the club, players and fans not the current owners) would be that they get docked the 12 points but still survive. I suspect deep down the EFL may prefer that scenario as well plus if its true that someone overseas has put a huge bet on them going down then they hopefully get their fingers well and truly burnt.
Wigan Athletic have proved to be a far better team than Barnsley, Charlton or Hull, and after beating QPR today I’d be surprised if they don’t make up the unfair 12 point deduction before their final match at home to Fulham where a point should be good enough to avoid relegation. I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually beat Fulham as the Cottagers will have already secured a playoff place, and I can’t see either Leeds or West Brom now failing to gain automatic promotion even if the former slip up today against Stoke. In the ExMil challenge I had Boro beating QPR, drawing at Hull and losing at Millwall, but like many others been completely wrong on my first two predictions. If I had known how wrong I’d been on those two predictions I sensed that Boro would win 1-0 at Millwall who are almost as shotshy as Boro, and along with Jarkko, Malcolm and Len did forecast a Boro win, although 2-0 was a bonus. I did also forecast that Boro would win only one more match, next Saturday’s encounter with Bristol City where 3 points might well save Boro. But Boro mustn’t assume anything yet and although 50 points should be enough, I’d still be happier with 51. I agree with Jarkko that Barnsley and Luton will be relegated probably with Hull, but certainly not Wigan.
Not forgetting Sheffield Wednesday also....
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/sheffield-wednesday-efl-case-punishment-18553208
”Interesting that he said at the end that Tavernier has easily been the best player in training this week - I wonder what he needs to do to get a start!”
Should have been the very next question after he said it.
A very good performance. I thought it was a bit odd NW seemed to be claiming the credit for introducing a new system 24 hours before the game when surely anyone could have told him we seem better suited to 3-5-2.
Some save from Stojanovic. I've been impressed with him so far. Excellent penalty from Fletcher (why hasn't he been taking them if he can score like that though??).
Re: Djed Spence injury
Can anyone remember why George Friend wore a face mask a couple of season ago? Why are players using these masks during a match?
I hope Djed can play on Saturday. He must be busy having his nose "plastered" today and possibly training a bit tomorrow.
I like Djed. He is my favourite player in the current team, me thinks. Up the Boro!
@borophil. Because Britt thinks he is top dog (not in my opinion) and JW told him he was despite his misses. 😎
@deleriad I thought the 12 points would only be carried forward to next season if Wigan ended up in the relegation zone at the end of this season otherwise if they are above the three relegation spots they get the 12 points deducted this season?
Yes, you are right. I got it wrong. I had thought that the 12 points is carried over to next year if they are relegated without the deduction or if they would not be relegated even if the 12 points is deducted.
Got to say it is really impressive of them to win against QPR when the players aren't being paid. I hope they survive because they have been royally shafted.
I do fear for English football. I dread that we're going to end up with something like US model where there are only around 30 professional teams and relegation no longer really exists. (E.g. I could imagine two 16 team leagues where the top 4 of each at the end of the season go into something like world cup format.)
Just as well they didn't use the penalty claim line from the Millwall Echo (Sorry Northern Echo) as it described it as thus...
Shaun Hutchinson pulled off a fine block to deny Assombalonga a close-range opening for the visitors, before Djed Spence's flimsy penalty shout was rightly dismissed.
Nice to read a Redcar Red's realistic report of the match rather than the biased versions on the national media. That was a win I had given up on for the rest of the season. It was great to actually enjoy watching a Boro match with the team showing composure and all players knowing and doing their jobs in spite of Millwall's attempts to bully them and the usual strange refereeing. I hope we have now found the best way to utilise the squad we have and can get out of the present difficulties and look for a more successful rebuilt team next season.
Thanks RR for another fair and unbiased report which puts others to shame. Your report like the performance was one of chalk as to cheese when compared to much of what has gone on before.
Let's hope that NW and the team have found the formula and the right amount of fighting spirit to ensure similar performances in the remaining four games.
As far as the ref is concerned enough said, other than I hope his assessor is OFB a better and fairer standard. I dread to think what would have been the outcome had there been the usual baying crowd at the Den. Spence sent off either for diving or head butting his opponent! 😎
Belated thanks RR for an excellent report. What a change for you to be able to wax lyrical on the joys of the performance and three points. Well done.
Lets hope we can get a repeat. Have to say, as most on here and BoroPhil post, just how did NW discover this new line up. Was it, he had tried everything else or one of his team shouted.......Boss I have you seen this video of the Boro playing five at the back? Looks as though it could work. Only joking!!
I would imagine there are only a select few who are privy to the goings on behind the scenes at MFC. NW was bemoaning a lack of defenders, who’s to say that some kind of “ Gentlemen’s Agreement” hasn’t been made with the out of contract players.
Shotton’s display yesterday didn’t look like a player nursing himself to the end of the season waiting for a deal to materialise elsewhere. I might well be doing him a disservice and he’s a consummate professional ( probably is) and gives 100% every performance. The way Clayton launched himself into the fray didn’t look like a player holding back either.
Hopefully if we avoid relegation wholehearted players like this can be persuaded to stay. There certainly seemed to be a lot more bounce in the team yesterday. Let’s see if the same attitude and effort can be made on Saturday.
It's strange to read our fans praising the selection of Tav. And Spence and Fletcher.
Any one who has suffered the disgraceful selection policies of Woodgate (and the continuation of same up to now) knew that Tav. Spence, and Fletcher, and Wing, should have been fixtures in this team, plus other blunders, just one off the top of my head, Fry should now have completed about twenty undisturbed appearances at centre back. None of this is rocket science, just ignorant blundering by one who has rightly been disappeared.
@plato. I do not ascribe to your view that certain individuals should be fixtures in the side. Each and every player needs to fight for the shirt and should be chosen on merit and provided they are producing what is expected of them.
I think all of those you have mentioned bring differing attributes and qualities which can enhance the side. Unfortunately they have not always been consistent nor always produced what is expected of them and in my view have at times deserved (not always) to be left out of the side. 😎