West Brom keep promotion dream alive

West Brom managed to keep the pressure on Watford, Stoke and Bristol City in the Coca-Cola League Championship race for promotion with a 1-1 draw with Charlton at The Valley in south London, tonight.

Greg Halford scored the opening goal for Charlton when he headed in Darren Ambrose’s free-kick past former Charlton goalkeepr, Dean Kiely.

West Brom drew level minutes before half-time when leading scoring Kevin Phillips smashed home his 21st goal of the season from close range.  And they came close to taking all three points when Zoltan Gera struck the bar with a volley in the closing moments.

West Brom and Watford both have a game in hand over Bristol City and Stoke.  If both teams win the game in hand, the top of the Coca-Cola Champioship will be tighter than ever before, with Stoke, Bristol City and Watford all on 67 points and West Brom on 66 points. Championship promotion betting is starting to get really interesting!

Bring it on.

Luis Figo denies QPR talks

Inter Milan’s Luis Figo has denied he is in talks with QPR owner Flavio Briatore, attempting to quash rumours suggesting the 35-year-old former Portugal international is set to join Queens Park Rangers in the summer, in what would be a massive signing for the west London club.

Loftus Road has seen its fair share of football genuises in the past. If I were the owner I would not only be talking to Luis Figo but already paving the way for him to wear the no. 10 shirt to follow in the footsteps of QPR legends from the past Stan Bowles and Rodney Marsh

But the former Barcelona and Real Madrid star insisted:

“It is a surprise for me, so I don’t know what to say about it.”

But then went on to say, “It’s nothing real at the moment!”

QPR are possibly the richest club in the UK, let alone west London. Next year I expect there to be some big name signings, and even though it may be a curtain call for Figo, wouldn’t it be great to see him involved in some championship football uk.

Promotion to the Premiership

The battle for automatic promotion to the Premiership is still wide open after another weekend of missed chances and surprise results. Promotion betting is set to be harder to judge than ever before.

West Brom lost 4-1 to Leicester and with it missed a chance to leap frog Watford into third place, after Watford and Stoke drew 0-0. Even so, Stoke go to the top of the table after Bristol City surprisingly lost 2-1 in a south west derby match with Plymouth.

There is now only 10 points between the top seven teams, after wins for Plymouth and Hull. Hull thrashed Southampton 5-0, who are now surprisingly staring down the barrel of a relegation gun!

Stoke and Bristol City are now joint top with 67 points, though Bristol City have a much inferior goal difference to all the other teams battling for promtion.

In fact, Bristol City, in second place, and Leicester City in 20th position have the same goal difference of two.

It’s amazing to consider that if Watford and West Brom were to lose three games while teams below them were to win three, they could drop out of the play-off places altogether and miss out on any chance of promotion to the Premiership; when only weeks ago it was considered to be Watford and West Brom for automatic promotion and the rest fighting it out for the play-offs.

Sorry to keep going over the same points, but I really am enjoying the topsy turvy unpredictable world of this season’s Coca-Cola Championship race for Premiership promotion.

I only hope which ever three teams eventually gain promotion to the Premiership they are going to fair better than Watford last season, and Derby County this season!

Leicester thrash West Brom

Each week the Coca-cola Championship throws up at least one surprising result, and on Saturday there was no signs or predictions that Ian Holloway’s relegation zoned Leicester City would get thrashed by West Brom as they began to put pressure on the other promotion seeking clubs.

But it wasn’t to be. West Brom took the lead after 22 minutes but Leicester drew level before half time. But no-one could have predicted a second half hat-trick from ex Derby striker, Steve Howard to give Leicester a much needed 4-1 win which took them out of the relegation zone; at the same time as denting West Brom’s automatic promotion chances.

Leicester’s win moves them up to 20th position, two above the relegation zone and with a better goal difference than all the teams around them. This result will keep Milan Mandaric and any fans of The Foxes off Ian Holloway’s back for a few days. Though next Saturday they entertain Hull City, who are currenly in the play-off places and will feel buoyant themselves after a 5-0 thrashing of Southampton.

Because I like Ian Holloway I hope that Leicester manage to avoid relegation. But if I were Holloway I would consider how safe his job will ever be withMilan Mandaric as chairman.

Will Former Chairman Force Cardiff City Into Administration

FA Cup semi finalists and Championship play off hopefuls Cardiff City, have been in court for the last two days fighting legal action against Swiss based financiers The Langston Corporation.

Former Cardiff chairman Sam Hammam has been named as the man behind the banks demand for immediate repayment of loans totalling £31million.

The Langston Corporation claims the club has failed to make a repayment on the loan since 2004.  Cardiff City say that a variation to the agreement means that no payment is due until 2016.

The High court is considering Langston’s application for summary judgement, meaning that a judge will decide whether to rule in Langston’s favour, without the need for a full trial.

Should the court rule in Langston’s favour, the financiers will demand immediate payment in full from Cardiff City. If the judge decides that a full trial is required it would take up to two years to reach the court, giving Cardiff some breathing space.

Judgement in favour of Langston’s at this stage will mean that the club would have no alternative than to go into administration. Then, championship betting would expect them to be relegated.

Confusingly, the original loan was taken out by former chairman Sam Hammam , the man behind the Langston’s claim. The court is expected to make a decision by the end of the week.

Current chairman Peter Risdale, insists that the loan notes were re negotiated in 2006, two years after the original loan was agreed, and he says;

“The club does not have any cause to believe that this signed document is invalid, and consequently it does not consider that it has any debts repayable to Langston prior to 2016.”