Derby County’s quickfire turnover symptomatic of the alarming hire-and-fire culture in the division that has seen 14 managers leave their posts this seasonGary Rowett must know he does not have long. Around 18 weeks, if the Derby chairman’s form is anything to go by. Just ask Paul Clement. Or Nigel Pearson.Derby are in their ninth consecutive season in the Championship and their appointment of Rowett to replace Steve McClaren this week means that when they face their bitter rivals Nottingham Forest on Saturday the fixture will feature two new faces in the dugouts for a fifth time in succession – a run that stretches back to January 2015. On that occasion, McClaren – in his first spell at Pride Park...
Will Daniel Sturridge get a chance to regain his verve? Will Ranieri fine-tune for a relegation battle? Will Ravel Morrison return to Old Trafford?A clutch of (fool)hardy Lincoln City fans queued through Wednesday night in sub-zero temperatures in order to get their gloved hands on the last tickets for their club’s biggest and indeed only fourth-round FA Cup tie since 1976. Those fans were evidently not discouraged by the fact that the National League leaders had suffered their heaviest defeat of the season the previous night, when they were beaten 3-0 by Barrow, whose rugged approach on a treacherous pitch fairly knocked Danny Cowley’s men out of their impish stride. The Championship leaders, Brighton, will probably not resort to such...
Plymouth’s defence was classy and defiant, Ndidi excelled on Leicester debut, Batshuayi proved little and Stourbridge showed romance is alive, even in defeatThe triumphant celebrations after Plymouth Argyle’s 0-0 draw at Anfield were further confirmation that giant-equalling is the new giantkilling. In the modern world of the FA Cup, it is enough for David to draw with Goliath – especially as it means a second payday for clubs often in need of such a financial boost. For Plymouth’s players, it was about more than that. It’s easy to be sniffy about their ultra-defensive approach against the youngest team in Liverpool’s history, but most League Two teams would not have been good enough to pull it off. Plymouth defended with such...