Chasing The Big Leagues West Ham United (English Championship) is a post from: Just Football

Tales from Tier Two is a series on Just Football in partnership with @tiertwofooty, in which we assess the promotion chances of the clubs in tier two of Europe's major leagues at the midway point of 2011/12.

Cardiff City, the team from the Welsh capital, are heading to the Carling Cup final. The team defeated Crystal Palace in the first completed Carling Cup semi final. They will now play the winner of the Liverpool vs Manchester City tie which will be completed on Wednesday evening at Anfield.

Two points separate the top four sides in the Championship going into this weekend's action, with leaders Southampton in danger of falling out of the automatic promotion spots for the first time this season.
Nigel Adkins' men wasted no time in acclimatising to life back in the second tier, surprising those who bet on the Championship to quickly build up a healthy lead over the rest.

Chasing the Big Leagues Fortuna Dusseldorf (Bundesliga II) is a post from: Just Football

Tales from Tier Two is a new series on Just Football in partnership with @tiertwofooty, in which we assess the promotion chances of the clubs in tier two of Europe's major leagues at the halfway point of 2011/12.

The Serie B seesaw has tipped and the slow descent to the end of the 2011/12 season has begun. Most onlookers had Torino pegged as certain for automatic promotion if not the title after ten wins, two draws and a solitary defeat cemented their position at the summit of the table. The superstitious amongst us might gape at the beginning of their demise, after the thirteenth game, and puzzle over.

West Ham are the latest club to be linked with a move for Crystal Palace's in-demand forward Wilfried Zaha, who has also been linked with a move to Liverpool in recent weeks.
The teenage forward caught the attention last season when he burst into the Palace first team and this season has once again proved his quality with a string of impressive performances.

The last week or so in the Championship have acted as a sudden reminder to anyone who may have thought that the two automatic promotion places might already have been sewn up. Southampton's stunning start to the season has seen them ascend to the top of the table with West Ham United, relegated from the Premier League at the end of last season, clinging onto their coat-tails in second place.

It may only be the 3rd round, but the FA Cup's draw has produced some real crackers.

Sixty-four sides still have the potential to reach Wembley on cup final day, and 32 matches will be played to see who progresses into the fourth round.

Here are five of the best ties to look out for:

Birmingham v Wolves

This Black Country derby isn't possible in the top flight this year following City's relegation last season, but the Blues have done well both domestically and on the continent under Chris Hughton.

Just over ten years after their formation, Enfield Town return to a ground of their own at The QE2 Stadium on Wednesday. The first match is a Middlesex Senior Cup tie against Harefield United on Wednesday 9th November followed by a Ryman League Cup tie against AFC Sudbury on Monday 14th November.

It cannot be denied that Leicester's current position of 13th is not really good enough for a club that spent in excess of £15million over the summer and has the highest wage bill in the Championship.
But in what remains an immensely truncated division, the Foxes are just three points off fifth place and only a further four off the automatic promotion places.

Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) was in the middle of some incredible drama Saturday.

His Ängelholms FF side played host to Hammarby on the final day of the season in the Superettan, Sweden's second division.

Ängelholms went into the day knowing that a win and a loss by GIF Sundsvall would give them automatic promotion to the Allsvenskan next year.

Matt Pyzdrowski and Angelholms FF need a win against Hammarby for a shot at automatic promotion while Brian Edwards and Degerfors IF look to finish their season on a high note.

Well, I've been absent from twohundredpercent for a while due to work commitments, but having finally got some time off, and with half the family off enjoying themselves in New Zealand, my dad and I decided to do what any self-respcting twohundredpercenter would we decided to head south and take in some non-league football.

Matt Pyzdrowski and Angelholms FF look to sneak back into an automatic promotion spot while Brian Edwards and Degerfors IF hope to continue their good form and slip into a promotion spot as well.

Jonathan Borrajo and Ham-Kam took a huge step towards promotion to the Norwegian top flight, moving into one of the Adeccoligaen's two automatic promotion spots with a crucial win over Alta IF.

Jonathan Borrajo and Ham-Kam will look to move into one of the Adeccoligaen's two automatic promotion spots on Wednesday when they host struggling Alta IF.

Disappointed Lincoln City fans.
This article was written by Adam Barlow.
Anybody who regularly watches the Premier League will be well aware of the pressure to stay there, the money, revenues and the prestige that go with being a Premiership club. Chairmen of clubs that are threatened with relegation are often quoted as saying how much it will cost their respective clubs should they drop down to the Championship.

An important and unique event will take place in Glaslough, Co Monaghan, Ireland at 6pm on August 20th 2011.
Its a commemoration event to honor one of the most important football men of his generation.
John McKenna was born to Patrick McKenna and Jane McCrudden in the parish of Donagh on January 3rd 1855.

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club is an English club club based in the coastal city of Brighton & Hove, Sussex. The club will play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, for the 2011/12 season after securing automatic promotion via a League One championship at the end [.

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club is an English club club based in the coastal city of Brighton & Hove, Sussex. The club will play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, for the 2011/12 season after securing automatic promotion via a League One championship at the end [.

With the future of Supporters Direct still under threat, it is worth taking a moment to reflect upon an anniversary that will most likely go unremarked upon elsewhere, but is still an anniversary that has changed our perception of how football clubs can be run. Long before Chester FC or FC United of Manchester, before even AFC Wimbledon were formed, the first club set up in protest at the ownership of one individual took their first steps.

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club is an English club club based in the coastal city of Brighton & Hove, Sussex. The club will play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, for the 2011/12 season after securing automatic promotion via a League One championship at the end [.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish is set to enter the race for Southampton striker Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has been in impressive form for the Saints over the past couple of seasons and has been on the radar of a number of top Premier League clubs with Arsenal believed to be leading the chase.

Off to Old Trafford - but will Huddersfield gain promotion?

Now it's not that I have anything against Peterborough – in fact I always enjoy going to their cosy little London Road ground and standing on one of the few remaining terraces in English football – but, along with many of the neutrals, I will be firmly backing Huddersfield Town in the League One play-off final this Sunday.

It is back to the drawing board for Cardiff City following their second successive failure in the Championship playoffs.

The Bluebirds' 3-0 aggregate defeat to Reading in last week's semi-final was a bitter pill to swallow for the supporters, particularly with their side still well in with a shout of automatic promotion just days before the season finale.

Sir Alex Ferguson was named 2011 LMA manager of the year after guiding Manchester United to their 19th League title, their 12th under Fergie, the Scot was also given a special merit award having broken the 2,000 game barrier in charge at Old Trafford.

Another Scot, Paul Lambert picked up the Championship accolade after guiding Norwich to second place
behind Q.

In League One, the sense that this was to be the year of the south coast started to grow as winter turn to spring. Brighton & Hove Albion soared away at the top of the table, and as the home straight of the season came into view, the pre-season favourites Southampton also began to pull away into the distance, themselves securing an automatic promotion place with a couple of games of the season still to spare.

Reading's comprehensive 3-0 victory at the Cardiff City Stadium last night left the home side's supporters with a distinct feeling of deja vu. Even if last season's play-off defeat in a spanking brand new stadium came in the final at Wembley, the pain of missing out on a promotion decider with arch rivals Swansea City in a fortnight's time will be felt just as intensely in the Welsh capital.

For so much of this season, Cardiff City's promotion to the Premier League has had a feeling of the inevitable about it. Perhaps it was the arrival of Craig Bellamy on loan from Manchester City at the start of the season. Bellamy has matured with age, and had the feel of being a player around which Dave Jones could build a team capable of getting back into the top division of English football for the first time in half a century.

Dani Pacheco would be willing to return to Norwich City if he fails to get games at parent club Liverpool.
The Spanish forward linked up with the Canaries in March after on loan and enjoyed a productive spell with the Championship club, netting twice in six appearances.
His efforts helped Paul Lambert's side to secure automatic promotion, and Pacheco would welcome a return to Carrow Road to play Premier League football next season.

The final day of the Football League season inevitably brings shredded nerves, and yesterday brought an unfolding drama with a hint of familiarity to it at the bottom of League Two, with Lincoln City and Barnet playing to avoid relegation into the Football Conference. Lincoln started the day two points ahead of Barnet, but with an inferior goal difference.

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- FA/QPR Hearing: Stories, Rumours, Views, etc: Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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QPR Official Site/FA Official Site - FA Statement.

QPR: Serious cause for concern? is a post from: Just Football

by Theo Fan

As Queens Park Rangers look destined to enjoy the glory of Premier League football next season a serious case of rule breaking, dodgy dealing and high profile characters rumbles on in the background that threatens to rain on the Super Hoops' parade.

Your team is busy fluffing its chance of automatic promotion to football's top table in spectacular fashion, 3-0 down at home to a side who've struggled all season and who have nothing to play for. So how do you react? Redouble your efforts, clinging to the hope that you might somehow defy the odds? Or take out your frustrations with a cowardly assault on an assistant referee and then trot off

Norwich City achieved the unthinkable as they completed back to back promotions to make a return to the promise land of the Premier League after winning 1-0 to Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
After sitting at the foot of League 1 just 20 months ago after an opening day 7-1 drubbing defeat to local rivals Colchester, the appointment of Paul Lambert, who was the opposition's manager that day, has proved to be the shrewdest piece of business in the club's history.

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- On This Day, Thirty-Nine Years Ago: Stan Bowles Graced Loftus Road playing for Carlisle! A few months later, he was a QPR Man!
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- Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard.

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- Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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- A New Zealand QPR-Supporting Fan Reflects
- A Very Interesting Cardiff Fan Perspective of Cardiff
- QPR and Sunderland FC after Turkish trickster
- Global Sports Salaries Survey: 2011
- WASPS' Player, Andy Powell, Allegedly Attacked by QPR Fans: Not Playing Saturday
- If QPR Win Championship, Medal for Walker?

As the Football League season comes to a close fans up and down the country are studying fixtures, league tables and injury lists in order to work out whether their side will earn promotion, or avoid relegation from their current division. However far these fans go with analysis it's unlikely they'll ever get as far as an obscure Football League Regulation, 9.

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- - QPR's Last Promotion Party - Photos and Video...Also: Flashback: QPR Win Promotion
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- Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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- Assertion re Briatore role in Southampton Purchase
- Next: Scunthorpe
- Manager and Player of Month Nominees
- Sunderland Fan Sues Sunderland after Getting Knocked out by Ball at Training Ground
- Leeds Ownership Issue
- Two Years Ago: Paulo Sousa on The Brink - Fan on Messageboard reports of private conversation he supposedly had with Sousa.

Ireland striker Shane Long is refusing to rule out a move to the Premier League - but he insists his burning ambition is to get there with Reading.
Long was again instrumental in Reading's 2-1 win over Preston this evening, providing the pass for Jimmy Kebe to put the Royals in front and being a constant menace in front of goal.