The previous week had ended with the sacking of Derek McInnes at Bristol City, and this week got underway with his replacement quickly installed. Sean O'Driscoll, sacked by Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day, was his replacement.
It was a shock when O'Driscoll got the boot on the banks of the Trent but it's not stopped there at Forest. This week three more followed him and, it is reported, new manager Alex McLeish had nothing to do with it.
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| Welcome to Mrs Desai |
Out went long serving chief executive Mark Arthur. He'd been there for fourteen years since walking across the road from the county cricket ground. He's apparently on gardening leave along with head of recruitment Keith Burt.
Burt was in the middle of a scouts' meeting when his wife phoned him to tell him of a recorded delivery from the club. She read the contents to him and he was given the news in front of his colleagues.
Last season Frank Clark was the chairman. He'd played in their European Cup winning teams and managed the club and was given an ambassadorial role when the Kuwaiti Al Hasawi family took control last summer. That didn't last long and he's been sacked too.
Meanwhile they are no longer playing their Camp goalkeeper. He's now surplus to requirements and young 'keeper Karl Darlow is currently in the first team. Other than that, it's been a quiet week at the City Ground.
It's not the only place that's had fun and games. On a weekend when many games were threatened by the snow, the Indian owners of Blackburn turned up at Ewood. For matriarch Mrs Desai it is only a second visit and I'm not sure she'll be coming again in the near future.
This wonderful family, and their incredibly talented global advisor Shebby Singh, were treated shebbily by the supporters as they arrived. There were uncalled for chants of protest and one badly behaved home supporter threw a snowball at shabby Shebby and hit him in the face.
Meanwhile bumbling Derek Shaw was full of praise for the owners and believes they are going to bring them success.
If we weren't happy with our coverage on the Football League Show last night then the feature from Ewood certainly helped.
It was their first game with new manager Michael Appleton. He thinks they are a massive club because they once bought the Premier League title. He didn't come over very well although well done to him for losing his first game in charge.
He's just arrived from Blackpool after a long term relationship there of around eight weeks. Their chairman Karl Oyston was hardly happy about things and said: "It's unfortunate we've become embroiled in the disaster shipwreck Blackburn have become and embroiled in their antics. It's a shame the way they are being run has destabilised us."
Not bad for a man whose dad used to fall backwards into swimming pools to try and sell houses and had a three year relationship with mail bags.
Blackpool are still without a manager which means former Claret Steve Thompson, who wants the job and seems to be the only person who does, remains in caretaker charge.
All the Championship games were played in the end, starting with Leicester's 1-0 home win against Middlesbrough. Whoever won would go second on Friday night and it was Leicester although there must have been some real concern at the number of empty seats at the King Power.
They have an average attendance of over 22,000 this season but the weather and the television coverage reduced that to just 8,585.
They are second though, but sit a staggering ten points behind leaders Cardiff. I'm not very good when it comes to predicting outcomes of leagues but I do reckon the team from the Welsh capital must have a decent chance of going up.
We've gone to seventh but will drop to eighth on Tuesday if Brighton get anything at Ewood. Do we really want to see something other than a home defeat for the Venky's?
The weekend results and stats are below along with the week's fixtures.
| The Results | |
| Friday 18th January | |
| Leicester City 1 Middlesbrough 0 | |
| Saturday 19th January | |
| Birmingham City 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 2 | Leeds United 1 Bristol City 0 |
| Blackburn Rovers 1 Charlton Athletic 2 | Millwall 0 Burnley 2 |
| Blackpool 1 Cardiff City 2 | Peterborough United 1 Hull City 1 |
| Crystal Palace 0 Bolton Wanderers 0 | Sheffield Wednesday 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 |
| Derby County 1 Nottingham Forest 1 | Watford 4 Huddersfield Town 0 |
| Ipswich Town 1 Barnsley 1 | |
| The Stats | |
| Biggest Win | Watford 4-0 v Huddersfieldt Town (home) |
| Total Goals Scored | 24 (13 home - 11 away) |
| Player Scoring Most Goals | 2 - Matej Vydra (Watford) |
| Highest Attendance | 33,010 - Derby County v Nottingham Forest |
| Lowest Attendance | 6,214 - Peterborough United v Hull City |
| Total Yellow Cards | 30 |
| Total Red Cards | 0 |
| Most Cards in a Game | Birmingham City v Brighton & Hove Albion (5Y) Ref: Phil Dowd |
| Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
| 22 | Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace) - includes 7 penalties |
| 20 | Charlie Austin (Burnley) - includes 3 penalties |
| 17 | Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers) - includes 2 penalties, 2 with Huddersfield Town |
| 16 | Matej Vydra (Watford) - includes 2 penalties Chris Wood (Leicester City) - 11 with Millwall |
| 15 | Luciano Becchio (Leeds United) - includes 4 penalties |
| 13 | Tom Ince (Blackpool) - includes 3 penalties David Nugent (Leicester City) - includes 1 penalty |
| 12 | Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 3 penalties |
| 11 | Troy Deeney (Watford) - includes 2 penalties Craig Mackail-Smith (Brighton & Hove Albion) - includes 2 penalties |
| 10 | DJ Campbell (Ipswich Town) Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough) |
| 9 | Sam Baldock (Bristol City) - includes 4 penalties Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - includes 2 penalties Billy Sharp (Nottingham Forest) - includes 2 penalties |
| 8 | Sone Aluko (Hull City) Craig Davies (Bolton Wanderers) - includes 1 penalty, 8 with Barnsley Steven Davies (Bristol City) - includes 2 penalties Lukas Jutkiewicz (Middlesbrough) Theo Robinson (Derby County) |
| Hat Tricks | |
| Date | Player & Game |
| 01/09/12 | 3: Pete Whittingham - CARDIFF CITY v Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| 15/09/12 | 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Peterborough United |
| 22/09/12 | 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Cardiff City |
| 22/09/12 | 4: Craig Davies - Birmingham City v BARNSLEY |
| 23/09/12 | 3: David Nugent - LEICESTER CITY v Hull City |
| 29/09/12 | 3: Emile Sinclair - Hull City v PETERBOROUGH UNITED |
| 02/10/12 | 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Sheffield Wednesday |
| 23/10/12 | 3: Marlon King - Millwall v BIRMINGHAM CITY |
| 06/11/12 | 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Ipswich Town |
| 17/11/12 | 3: Jordan Rhodes - Peterborough United v BLACKBURN ROVERS |
| 12/01/13 | 3: Chris Wood - Bristol City v LEICESTER CITY |
| Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
| Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
| League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
| Barnsley | 38 | 1 | 43 | 2 | Huddersfield Town | 51 | 4 | 56 | 4 |
| Birmingham City | 42 | 3 | 46 | 3 | Hull City | 32 | 1 | 34 | 2 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 36 | 0 | 38 | 0 | Ipswich Town | 35 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
| Blackpool | 36 | 0 | 38 | 0 | Leeds United | 46 | 2 | 54 | 2 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 52 | 1 | 55 | 1 | Leicester City | 31 | 1 | 31 | 1 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 38 | 1 | 42 | 1 | Middlesbrough | 36 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| Bristol City | 37 | 0 | 40 | 0 | Millwall | 49 | 2 | 52 | 2 |
| Burnley | 51 | 1 | 59 | 2 | Nottingham Forest | 46 | 4 | 46 | 5 |
| Cardiff City | 48 | 2 | 51 | 2 | Peterborough United | 43 | 1 | 46 | 1 |
| Charlton Athletic | 42 | 1 | 43 | 2 | Sheffield Wednesday | 47 | 1 | 53 | 1 |
| Crystal Palace | 39 | 2 | 50 | 2 | Watford | 48 | 4 | 51 | 4 |
| Derby County | 35 | 1 | 36 | 1 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 32 | 1 | 36 | 1 |
| Highest and Lowest Attendances | |||
| Highest | Lowest | ||
| Att | Fixture | Att | Fixture |
| 33,010 | Derby County v Nottingham Forest (19/01) | 5,435 | Peterborough United v Bristol City (18/09) |
| 28,707 | Nottingham Forest v Derby County (30/09) | 5,633 | Peterborough United v Blackpool (01/12) |
| 28,595 | Wolverhampton W v Ipswich Town (29/12) | 5,997 | Peterborough Utd v Blackburn Rovers (17/11) |
| 28,582 | Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United (19/10) | 6,188 | Peterborough United v Millwall (21/08) |
| 28,229 | Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday (09/11) | 6,214 | Peterborough United v Hull City (19/01) |
| 27,437 | Derby County v Sheffield Wednesday (18/08) | 6,348 | Peterborough Utd v Huddersfield Town(23/10) |
| 26,727 | Brighton & Hove Albion v Watford (29/12) | 6,600 | Peterborough Utd v Bolton Wand (23/12) |
| 26,684 | Brighton & HA v Nottingham Forest (15/12) | 6,612 | Peterborough Utd v Middlesbrough (08/12) |
| 26,670 | Nottingham Forest v Leeds United (26/12) | 7,339 | Peterborough Utd v Barnsley (01/01) |
| 26,598 | Sheffield Wed v Bolton Wanderers (22/09) | 8,088 | Barnsley v Bristol City (01/09) |
| The Next Fixtures | |
| Tuesday 22nd January | |
| Blackburn Rovers v Brighton & Hove Albion | |
| Saturday 26th January | |
| Bristol City v Ipswich Town | Huddersfield Town v Crystal Palace |
| Burnley v Birmingham City | Nottingham Forest v Watford |
| Charlton Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday | Wolverhampton Wanderers v Blackpool |