Colaship Review - Fires, Hires and 10 Man Try-ers.

Good day, good day to one and all. Especially all of you Colaship followers out there in the grand blogesphere. Good day indeed. Bigus is in a good mood this week, take a guess why, go on? You got it..And with 10 men no less. Get in!

There was plenty of action in the Coca Cola Championship this weekend including lots and lots of goals. One manager was shown the door and a reserve team coach was given his first ever managerial role. Wolves won again and so did Watford. I know!

Join me after the jump for all of the results and news in a bumper edition of the Colaship review.



Lets start at Charlton. Poor Charlton. Alan Pardew was shown the door at 4.45 on Saturday after the Addicks lost 5-2 at home to Sheffield United. The 47 year-old former Hammers manager was relieved of his duties after Charlton slipped into the bottom 3. Charlton have won just one of their last 12 fixtures and look to be in some real trouble. They have shipped 13 goals in their last 4, which led to protests outside the valley after Saturdays defeat. Assistant Phil Parkinson will take temporary charge of the team and his first game is a toughie. Charlton travel to Q.P.R tomorrow and Parkinson will be hoping that he can restore some pride for miserable Charlton fans. As for Parkinson's long term future, I don't see one. Parkinson has managerial experience, he guided Colchester to promotion but had a short and miserable spell at Hull shortly afterwards. I can see Alan Curbishley returning to the Valley. Curbishley spent 15 years managing Charlton and saw them promoted to the Premier League twice. Charlton and Curbishley have both suffered since parting company in 2006. They are made for each other and I am sure both will be talking about a return over the next few days.


Pardew ponders his teams performance before being sacked on Saturday.

Charlton's opponents tomorrow evening, Q.P.R have their own new man in charge. Paulo Sousa was given the reigns last week but his first game at the helm ended in defeat. The Hoops lost 3 nil on Saturday, shockingly enough to Watford. A team with one win in their last 8 before beating Q.P.R. Owners, Ecclestone and Briatore will now be wondering if they have the right guy. Watford climb out of the bottom 3 at Charlton's expense and Q.P.R slip to 12th.

Lets stay with Watford. Today they announced the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as manager. Who? Rodgers was the reserve team coach at Chelsea. What a gamble. Good coaches often make lousy managers and this is a bold move on Watford's behalf. Malky Mackay will stay as assistant to Rodgers and Frank Lampard Senior joins as a consultant. Rodger's first game in charge will be away to Bristol City tomorrow evening.

It was a good weekend for Sheffield United. They put five past Charlton and climbed into 5th spot. They sit 2 points behind Reading who slipped up in a shocker. The Royals lost 2-1 at home to struggling Southampton who enjoyed a two-nil lead at the Madejski stadium courtesy of Bradley Wright-Phillips before Jimmy Kebe pulled one back midway through the second. Reading still occupy third place, 4 points behind Bongo FC and the Royals still have the best goal-difference in the league. Southampton's win was the first defeat at home for Reading this season and Bradley Wright-Phillips double just the 5th and 6th goals to find their way into the Reading net at the Madejski this term. Afterwards manager Steve Coppell accused his side of 'starting slow'. Reading are at Cardiff tomorrow and they will be looking to regain the lost ground at the top of the table.

League leaders Wolves enjoyed a comfortable victory at home to Blackpool. Chris Iwelumo goals either side of the break settled that one. Iwelumo has 13 goals this term and looks to have put the nightmare of that Scotland sitter far behind him. He has 5 goals in his last 6 games. Wolves are still 6 points clear of local rivals Bongo FC, who beat Swansea 3-2 on Friday night, thanks to a 5 minute second-half brace from veteran Kevin Phillips.

Bloody Burnley only managed a point at home to basement boys Donny Rovers on Saturday but Reading's loss could be Burnley's gain. They take on Barnsley at Oakwell tonight and a win would put them joint third with Reading. Of course they would need to win 20 nil if they wanted to take third place, due to the Royals superior goal difference.

Plymouth had a very good win at home to Cardiff this weekend. A result that saw Argyle join Cardiff on 28 points in the battle for 6th spot. Goals from Emile Mpenza and Paul Gallagher gave Plymouth a two nil lead. Sunderland loaner and Cardiff hero Michael Chopra scored what turned out to be a consolation with 30 mins to go.

Other notable winners this weekend include Crystal Palace. Neil Warnock's men won convincingly at home to Bristol City, 4-2. Derby lost at Ip..Ip..Ip..them two-nil and Preston beat Barnsley 2-1 at home to bring themselves within a point of 6th spot.


Richard Chaplow scores the opener for Preston at Deepdale.

Talking of notable winners, lets turn to the reason why Bigus is so happy on a Monday morning. Norwich won away at Nottingham Forest 2-1 after playing for 70 minutes with ten men.

Gary Doherty was sent off for a professional foul on 20 mins, it was harsh to say the least. Nathan Tyson was too fast and slid the ball away from the ginger one as he tried to take it. Doherty is one of the clumsiest players to ever play the game but the straight red was harsh. What smarts here is that the referee removed the red card from his pocket 2 seconds after the incident and didn't even think about conferring with his linesman. Referee Michael Oliver was in charge at the City ground and Oliver is just 23 years old! How can you referee a Championship match at 23? His eagerness to show a red highlighted the importance of having experienced referees at this level. Referees who make sure they are right before changing a game after just 20 mins!

Still, Mr Oliver's lack of experience turned out to be irrelevant. Norwich took the lead shortly after the sending off as David Bell collected a loose ball on the right, inside the box and drifted a cross to the far post where Matty Pattison was arriving to volley home his first goal for Norwich since joining last season. Pattison was excellent on Saturday and should keep his place in the side based on this performance.


Matty Patty celebrates with the travelling fans.

Forest tried to take advantage of the extra man and Norwich needed David Marshall to make some excellent saves. Marshall, however, was responsible for Forest's goal. Not through bad keeping, but a slip, handing Paul Anderson most of the goal to fire at.

The second half needed a heroic effort from Norwich. Omozusi (who replaced Doherty at center half) had to come off injured and (former Forest) midfielder Sammy Clingan became John Kennedy's third center back partner of the afternoon. Norwich looked as if they had 11 men for spells, largely due to the excellent work of wingers David Bell and Lee Croft. The game was decided when Forest couldn't deal with a Croft cross and Chris Cohen, under pressure from Fotheringham, watched in horror as the ball left his head bound for the bottom corner on 73 mins. Norwich shut up shop and held on. I am hoping that this is the start of a much needed run, but then again I thought that was coming after we thumped leaders Wolves 5-2 a few weeks back. I won't hold my breathe. Norwich host Palace tomorrow evening.

Last weekends results in full.

Burnley 0 Donny Rovers 0
Charlton 2 Blades 5
Palace 4 Bristol City 2
Ipshit 2 Derby 0
Forest 1 Super City 2
Plymouth 2 Cardiff 1
Preston 2 Barnsley 1
Royals 1 Saints 2
Wednesday 0 Coventry 1
Watford 3 Q.P.R 0
Wolves 2 Blackpool 0
Swansea 2 Bongo 3

Click HERE for the full table.

I'll round-up tomorrow nights games later in the week.

-Bigus