nPower Football League Thread 2011/12

[Guest jocky]

Watched the millwall-Bristol city game today and it was really entertaining. City were playing really good attacking

Football. I would credit that to their new manager. He had St Johnstone playing extremely well and it's nice to see he's carrying that on.

[MDK]

Woo! Unbeaten in 11! Or something. Awesome.

[Adam]

Is the season over yet? I'm beyond sick of this now. Bring back whimsical away trips to Yeovil and Carlisle please.

[IAceI]

There's nothing whimsical about coming to the lions den that is Brunton Park, son.

[Lineker]

Remember this story from the beginning of last season? Well here's a positive update:

When Blackpool head of youth development Gary Parkinson suffered a severe stroke in September 2010 that left him paralysed, it appeared his involvement in football was over.

But, despite the huge setback, Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray has found a way of tapping into the former Boro defender's football knowledge.

The 43-year-old, a former Ayresome Park team-mate of Mowbray's, suffers from locked-in syndrome.

It is an illness which leaves the sufferer fully cognitively aware but totally paralysed apart from being able to use their eyes.

Parkinson views DVDs of potential signings for Mowbray and subsequently rates the players by blinking to his wife Deborah.

"Tony and his coaching staff, like Mark Proctor and Stephen Pears, have been fantastic for Gary," Deborah told the Northern Echo.

"When Tony first came to see Gary, he could see Gary was still aware of everything that was going on around him. So he asked Gary if he wanted to do some scouting for him.

"A DVD comes down to us, with a sheet of paper. There is a description of the player, his name, his age, his position and the clubs he has played for."

As a player, Parkinson made more than 450 league appearances, the bulk of which came with Middlesbrough, Burnley and Preston.

"Gary still loves his football, knows all about youth football from his time as the youth team coach at Blackpool, and you can see he picks up when he is doing it," Deborah continued.

"I have done it with him and so has my son, Luke."

Pretty remarkable. Poor guy must be in a living hell though. Hopefully this will give him some purpose back.

[Lineker]

A Europe-wide arrest warrant has been issued for the owner of Portsmouth Football Club Vladimir Antonov.

Lithuanian prosecutors want to question him as part of an investigation into alleged asset stripping at Snoras Bank.

They are also seeking his business partner Raimondas Baranauskas. Both are former managers and shareholders of the bank and deny any wrongdoing.

Portsmouth FC said its business operations were unaffected and its day-to-day operations "carry on as normal".

Snoras Bank went into temporary administration last week and, on Tuesday, Latvian authorities suspended the operations of another of Antonov's banks, Krajbanka, for similar reasons.

A court in Lithuania granted the request by the Prosecutor General's Office on Tuesday and a pre-trial investigation into alleged fraud and money laundering has begun.

Portsmouth said on Friday it was unaffected by the situation at Snoras Bank.

In a statement, the prosecutors said: "Both former managers of the bank Snoras have been recognised as suspects with regard to misappropriation of property on a large scale and forgery of documents.

"R. Baranauskas is also suspected of fraudulent accounting and abuse of authority.

"Prosecutor General Mr D Valys signed European arrest warrants issued against these persons."

Mr Baranauskas also held the posts of the chairman of the bank board and president.

Mr Antonov owns 68% of Bankas Snoras and an administrator has been appointed to assess its financial position.

The Russian businessman is the backer of Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) which owns Portsmouth FC.

Last week CSI released a statement saying: "In the light of the recent events at Snoras Bank, Convers Sports Initiatives (CSI) would like to reassure its companies, staff, and the fans of its teams and events, that it remains very much business as usual.

"We are operationally unaffected by Snoras Bank entering temporary administration.

"CSI has been solely financed through the private wealth of its owners.

"Snoras Bank has never provided funding for the purchase of a CSI organisation, nor has it lent any money to these businesses after they have been acquired."

In February 2010, Portsmouth became the first Premier League club to be placed into administration and CSI completed its takeover of the Championship side in June 2011.

It never ends on the South Coast!

[Adam]

Hilarious! I cannot stand Portsmouth at the best of times.

[Lineker]

Skysports.com understands Leeds have signed Northern Ireland goalkeeper Maik Taylor on a short-term two month deal.

[MDK]

Oh, bollocks, we've sold Charlie Daniels

[Lineker]

Great ex-Spurs player for Bournemouth. £200k, the Russians are already flashing the cash!!

[MDK]

Only 200k? For fucks sake.

[Lineker]

Bournemouth have also stuck a bid in for Swindon's Matt Ritchie. Terrific lower-league player.

[hugobomb]

Northampton really can't keep them out recently can they?

Lost 7-2 at home to Shrewsbury and already 2-0 down to Plymouth

[hugobomb]

Also, I can see Super Kev scoring against us to remind us why releasing him was a big mistake.

Northampton now 3-0 down, let in 13 goals in two and a bit games now.

Brum lead!

Scored by Marlon King

Well that lead lasted long

[Dingle]

Oh Burnley, I think I need a new home team .

[hugobomb]

Brum level! 2-2

[hugobomb]

Oh Burnley, I think I need a new home team .

They've made a nice little comeback though

[hugobomb]

Burnley finish off the comeback 3-2 win!

[Dingle]

Ayee, very happy with that comeback. Only saw the goals so I'm not sure if we deserved it or not, but a win is a win.

[jack95]

My beloved Charlton are well on the way to ending Goldberg's Huddersfield's streak! 2-0 at half time, as long as we hold on then this season just gets better and better.