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24/25 EFL Championship: A goal apiece from each of their own right backs saw Middlesbrough deny Burnley the chance to go up the table 1-1 this weekend at Turf Moor

by Sports Benches

It’s been a draw between the two sides earlier this morning and the bottom line is that Middlesbrough denied Burnley the chance to top the EFL Championship table by a single point the other way round ahead of Sheffield United (38 points) after 19 games in out of 46 at Turf Moor. 

Middlesbrough currently sitting 5th off the back of their excellent summer recruitment drive like Tommy Conway up front to suit Michael Carrick’s coaching tactics from Bristol City that led to some valiant progress as of late. 

They’re just inside the Top 6 Play-Off spots with still a long way go if Middlesbrough wish to at least lock up the automatic Top 2 promotion in order to get back to the EPL ahead of Watford by a single point at 31 and three ahead of both West Brom (7th) & Blackburn Rovers (8th).

Good start by the way thanks to right-back Anfernee Dijksteel earlier on, although the opposite team’s right-back Connor Roberts snatched one back for Burnley later in the first half. But then things were quiet since then, especially when it’s now winter over in the UK. 

It could’ve been any better for Burnley other than the solid defensive structure/line-up they’ve got when their attack hasn’t been that good at times. But with more attacking firepower, particularly when they need a No.9 Centre-Forward up front to help out the ageing & experienced Jay Rodriguez, would help them set the benchmark ahead of the likes of Leeds, Sheffield United and Sunderland between the January transfer window and May.

The good news is though that they can go into next week still 2nd depending on this weekend’s results before there’s mid-week soccer coming up in a few days’ time. 

So Burnley take on Derby County (14th) still at Turf Moor while Middlesbrough still away but not far within Yorkshire when they will take on fellow Top 2 contenders Leeds at Elland Roar – both matches taking place just before 7am Wednesday.

Elsewhere, there has been a ring of head coaching changes lately beginning with Frank Lampard’s appointment at Coventry City in place of long-term former manager Mark Robins after nearly eight years – slow start but we’ll come back in a few months’ time.

Plus, Cardiff City decided to install another first-time manager yet again until the end of this season in none other than Omer Riza following another top job uncertainty since they’ve sacked Erol Bulut earlier this season. 

And having seen Hull City sack Tim Walter, they’ve now prized Spaniard Ruben Selles away from Reading after he did a fantastic job there whilst the club is still currently in crisis currently 6th in League 1. 

Wondering who that may be? Considering they are still no closer towards accepting new ownership at the Majeski Stadium ahead of the January buy/sell window next month. Just found out now that it will be Noel Hunt who will be taking over full-time effective immediately on a two and a half year deal. Now that was quick so fans can move on fast in the hope of going back to the second tier (Championship) at season’s end either way.

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2024/25 EFL Championship Soccer: Burnley off to a red-hot start under new head coach Scott Parker with the 4-1 win v Luton Town

by Sports Benches

Looks like Burnley is off to a terrific start under new coach Scott Parker with the huge 4-1 win v fellow Premier League relegation team Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. The first half was easy to say Burnley with two goals out in front ahead of half-time. Yes, Luton may have found one back a few minutes at the restart thanks to Tanith Chong in the 55th minute.

But Burnley went all the way though to extend their lead with another two goals that put themselves right up within the Top 2 promotion spots alongside Sheffield Wednesday after Round 1 of 46 in the new 2024/25 EFL Championship season.

Yeah, it’s not the same for Burnley when they returned straight to the 2nd tier after their poor Premier League term campaign last season under previous head coach Vincent Kompany (now managing Bayern Munich). But at least retaining most of the crop would help Scott Parker get up and running for the huge task that proved to be the real real where goals were shared amongst the whole team, while playing possession-based attacking football was a huge plus too in the way Burnley wanted to play their soccer from here where they last topped the Championship table under Kompany two seasons ago (2022/23 term).

There’s still a long way to go so Scott can achieve yet another promotion back in the PL but this time it would have to be the 1st place, having achieved 2nd place before with Bournemouth & Play-Offs for Fulham in the past. Other than that, it was good seeing Burnley function as a whole unit with more to come going into this weekend v Cardiff City as it progresses.

Looking at Luton, they simply just couldn’t handle the dominant Burnley side on their first game back in the 2nd tier. They went with five defenders and a narrow front attacking three; Although they had a good moment or two after half-time, it’s been disappointing to hear that the Luton are not up to the task needed to fight off a side that already has Premier League experience. There’s still 45 odd matches left with League 1 champions Portsmouth next up, but time will tell if Luton can at least be challenging Top 6 between now and season’s end come May. A play-offs isn’t bad having been won that path before last season in the 2022/23 term but a straight promotion would mean a lot to this small team under coach Rob Edwards.

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What now for ex-Wales forward Craig Bellamy following Scott Parker’s appointment at Burnley either as one of his assistants or finally take over the Wales Head Coach role

by Sports Benches

With Scott Parker now in charge at Burnley for however long that might be depending on his performances this season in the EFL Championship, what does it mean for ex-Wales forward and seasoned first-team coach Craig Bellamy? He’s been at the club long enough having rejected the chance to follow Vincent Kompany following his move to Bayern Munich in Germany’s Bundesliga league last month after being around his corner for a couple of years in Belgium on top of coaching the Anderlecht youth U-21 team. Although he did take a year off back home for some time back in 2021-22 due to a toll on his mental health before he came back once Kompany moved to England a year later with Burnley following its straight relegation from the Premier League last time around at Championship level. According to some reports earlier this week, he is expected to stick around rather than being let go as one of Parker’s assistant coaches alongside Henrik Jensen – even though he is still on the radar when it comes to Wales’s head coaching position. It’s still up for grabs until at least September for their next set of matches after Rob Page was gone a few months back having failed to help them qualify for the Euros via Play-Offs v Poland.

At age 44/45 now, he would’ve at least liked to have one senior head coaching job under his belt when he was unsuccessful 1-2 times several years ago all within 2018 – such as the previous Wales Head Coach position to Ryan Giggs while he thought he was going to take over the Oxford United job in League 1 (now a Championship side via Play-Offs) but then that club had a change of owners at the time and he didn’t agree with the way the owner wanted to go in the end. Not even being the acting head coach for a while would count when Burnley needed to move on uninterrupted like taking charge of pre-season training.

If he was to take over the Wales head coach job at last, then good for him. He will bring a lot of Welshness alongside some excellent coaching experience that he studied and taught across Belgium and England’s top 2 leagues into the squad where he’s been there & done that so many times as a player – which will translate well for these players who have plenty of International caps between them while some will benefit from his coaching methods for those who are new into the setup.

Not only that, he will always be at home for the most part with his family in the heart of Wales while getting the chance to lead them Internationally on a few occasions throughout the year including training sessions to cover as well. They have some unfinished business such as qualifying for the World Cup again in 2026 before he might get the chance to lead them for the home next Euros tournament in 2028 across the UK and Ireland depending on the next Euros qualification process as they will either have to go through it manually or win the automatic berth since it’s been hosted by several different UK & Irish nations.

But having been out and about for so long where the shipped has sailed when it comes to being the No.1 in a coaching side while currently living around the North of England in Manchester, continuing to be second in charge would be best for him since Parker needs him whom they know each other well from his playing days at West Ham back in 2007-2009. Now he might not be with Kompany anymore when the Belgian is now in Germany but at least he will be working with someone – who shares the same attacking football philosophies including some Belgium Pro League combined experiences too – which they’ve done it many times before on their own, although Parker’s one was short-lived with Club Brugge though for 67 days.

If he was to move again, then it will have to be somewhere within the UK unless Parker gets sacked again at Turf Moor unexpectedly and he will finally be No.1 there. Other than that, the choice is his to take whichever way it might be. But having experienced some mental toll after being away from the UK, it seems he will rather stay at Turf Moor as No.2 to Parker to help support for himself and his family – see Mark Hudson for reference when he was sacked at clubs every now and then when his family was really worried about him not being able to continue to work when Football moves so fast with coaching nowadays.

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Thoughts on Scott Parker returning to management now with Burnley after 2 x Championship promotions but also underwhelming spells in the EPL & Belgium

by Sports Benches

And just before the weekend, Burnley FC have finally got a replacement onboard to replace the now Bayern Munich head coach Vincent Kompany in none other than ex-England midfielder Scott Parker. He’s the man who guided both Fulham via the Play-Offs in 2019-20 and Bournemouth as runner-up in 2021-22 to also Fulham to Premier League promotions over the last couple of years in the EFL Championship but has yet to cut it in the top flight, having experienced one full season relegation in West London while being sacked only a few matches into the new season with Bournemouth.

Then things went from bad to worse when he took the chance to cut his teeth abroad at Club Brugge in Belgium’s Pro League but he only won just 2 games out of 12 that only lasted 67 days en route towards yet another sacking as he’s been out of management a little over a year until he’s now back at Turf Moor to try and get this club straight back into the Premier League. The new season will start in early August on Tuesday 13th at 5am AEST against fellow Premier League relegation side Luton Town in the hope of topping this table once again throughout the 2024/25 season, would look pretty nice for him to guide a 3rd Championship promotion to the PL but this time with the finish for 1st.

Burnley has been there before back in 2022/23 with Kompany before they struggled to keep up with the Premier League table following another relegation finish in 19th and sure they’ll do it again this time under Parker.

Yes, there will be some people who will criticise him for not being good in the Premier League when he complained of Bournemouth not being backed to succeed there upon his 2nd head coach firing after Bournemouth lost too much v Liverpool 9-0 nearly two years ago and yet they did well in 13th under Gary O’Neil – who is very good with the coaching side of things rather than him feeling like he has the responsibility of what a traditional old-fashioned manager does in English soccer- which is now predominantly redundant nowadays. Although O’Neil wasn’t kept on when Bournemouth wanted to do things differently with really good football under Androni Irola, he didn’t do bad though at Wolves last season in 14th.

Don’t forget Scott witnessed the same thing when Fulham spent 100 million pounds of players upon their return into the Premier League at the first attempt back in 2020-21 & unfortunately, that didn’t go well for him despite winning a couple of games on what has been a mostly underwhelming season where they returned straight to the 2nd tier in 18th place.

However, he has some qualities that is relevant to the modern game such as playing possession-based/attacking football, knows how to get the best out of young players and can be expansive on how he coaches them too with a back four for the majority and sometimes back three/five on occasions if required. Not only that, he will be sorely be responsible of the coaching since he will take over the head coach title while Burnley will continue to buy players soon enough to help Scott dominate this Championship table that suits his tactics. The club have already began their transfer activity with right-back Shurandy Sambo from PSV for free the other day when they were still managerless at the time not long before Parker’s arrival.

Now he will soon get back to work to coach the players starting next week under a three-year deal as time will tell if he can finally do better in the Premier League at some point should Burnley be promoted once again, so clubs like West Ham (his old playing club) can give him a chance to try and compete in the Top 6-7 every season alongside some deep domestic cup runs.

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