Storm Babet claimed two EFL games this weekend — the matches at Rotherham United and Mansfield Town both postponed due to the wet and wild weather.
There was turbulence in the managerial ranks, too, with four EFL managers having left their roles in the past week. Graham Alexander (MK Dons), Gary Rowett (Millwall), Mark Kennedy (Lincoln City) and Ben Garner (Colchester United) were all relieved of their duties in the last seven days as the 2023-24 season starts to take shape and club directors start to make decisions.
There also appears to be a storm brewing at Accrington Stanley, as owner Andy Holt, after his side’s 1-0 win against MK Dons, revealed in a tumultuous series of posts on X (formerly known as Twitter), that he would be selling the club.
We also witnessed Leyton Orient being forced to wear their away kit at home as opponents Barnsley are still waiting to get a new set of their change strip — the original having been destroyed in a coach fire as they drove home from a win at Exeter City on October 7.
Stay tuned, though, for various reunions, an ‘Olimpico’, a famous grandson… and a nice intervention from former Germany and Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick.
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Carrick vs Rooney: Managerial edition
May 21, 2017, was the last time Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney were on a pitch together, in a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.
The pair had 11 successful seasons together at Manchester United, with Carrick controlling the tempo and Rooney making things happen in the final third. As Rooney dropped deeper in his latter years as a player, the pair were occasionally partners in midfield.
In total, they lined up with each other 345 times for Manchester United — 366 times if you add internationals — and won 35 trophies together including the FA Cup as captain and vice-captain in 2016.
Rooney and Carrick lifted the FA Cup in 2016 (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
But this weekend the pair were in opposing dugouts as Carrick’s Middlesbrough hosted Rooney’s Birmingham City, Rooney’s first game in charge of the club after joining on October 11.
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It is Rooney’s third managerial job already, while Carrick is still on his first — notwithstanding a very short stint as caretaker at Manchester United after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked in November 2021.
After coming close to promotion last season in losing the play-off semi-final to Coventry City, Middlesbrough had endured a poor start to this campaign. But an upturn in results has seen them rise up the table — and on Saturday they continued that form with a 1-0 win against Birmingham, courtesy of an 89th-minute goal from substitute Morgan Rogers.
Carrick was underrated during his career, playing in the shadows of the bigger names of his generation — Rooney included. But football management is a different beast and after getting one over on Rooney on Saturday, Carrick now has his sights on overtaking Birmingham, in seventh, who are now only one point ahead of 13th-placed Middlesbrough in a congested Championship table, with the aim of making the play-offs again.
Rooney meanwhile, has to work out a way of installing the “no-fear football” he was brought to Birmingham to deliver.
Wigan’s class of 2013 reunited in Devon
Ten years ago in May, Wigan Athletic beat Manchester City… to sensationally win the FA Cup. Three days later, they were relegated from the Premier League, and although the club have faced tough times in the following decade, memories of that triumph will always prevail.
Shaun Maloney started for Wigan that day; it was his corner that led to Ben Watson’s historic winner. Defender Gary Caldwell, 31 at the time, was an unused sub.
Almost 4,000 days later (3,815 days to be precise), the pair faced off as managers, as Caldwell’s Exeter City hosted Maloney’s Wigan. While the old friends enjoyed a warm embrace pre-match, they were leading sides in dreadful form, both having lost four in a row before Saturday.
It was Maloney’s Wigan who were the victors at St James Park, with Martial Godo’s strike and Will Aimson’s own goal bookending proceedings.
Caldwell will have a chance to put things right in two weeks when the sides meet again in the FA Cup first round.
🤩 Sealing the win in front of the away end…
A special moment for JJ and those travelling Tics 💙#wafc pic.twitter.com/0ecYQKsGEo
— Wigan Athletic (@LaticsOfficial) October 21, 2023
Danny Rohl’s good luck message from Hansi Flick
At 34, Danny Rohl became the youngest manager in the EFL when he took over at Sheffield Wednesday on October 13.
The German, who is a week younger than the original Nintendo Game Boy, took over from Xisco Munoz, who was sacked after a poor start to the campaign which left them rooted to the bottom of the table.
Before his first game at the helm against Watford, Rohl received a good-luck message from Hansi Flick, with whom he worked for the German national team until they were sacked in September.
“Yes, I got a message from Hansi, who wrote to me and said, ‘All the best for the match and enjoy your first match as manager’,” said Rohl after his side fell to a 1-0 defeat at Vicarage Road. “It was a good feeling (being) on the pitch. But in the end, you are a little bit disappointed about the result.”
Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri wasn’t in the directors’ box to watch his new manager on Saturday, so would not have seen his side fall to a ninth defeat of the season, but Rohl, who has coached at RB Leipzig and Southampton, is clear with how he wants his side to play and what Wednesday fans can expect moving forward.
“Intensity against the ball is a key point,” he said. “To be very compact, to be aggressive. You have a high pressing line to make pressure. It’s also important to have some spaces we want to attack and then it’s also about the guy with the ball. We need ball possession in the future and we have to create something and it means to overload some spaces.
“We have deep runs in behind the back to find the red zone. It means being between the lines to turn off, create the two-against-one situation and then it’s always about being active with the ball and also calm on the ball.”
Rohl can certainly talk a good game. Now he has to put it into practice in one of the most competitive divisions in world football.
Guten Tag, Danny 👋#WATSHW pic.twitter.com/55PPEruOPO
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) October 21, 2023
Randall’s Posh olimpico
What do Thierry Henry, Megan Rapinoe and Joel Randall have in common?
They have all scored an ‘Olimpico’, which is a goal directly from a corner. Some are deliberate — the scorer will always claim they meant it — while others are just whipped into an area and end up looping over a hapless goalkeeper who ends up looking very silly. Either way, it’s a lovely aesthetic and one that happens relatively rarely.
Randall added himself to the illustrious list on Saturday, scoring directly from a corner for Peterborough against Wycombe Wanders — his right-footed inswinger curling over goalkeeper Max Stryjek in the goal.
⛳️🎯
JR straight from a corner! 👊
(Although the steward tried to ruin our shot 🤣)#pufc pic.twitter.com/pRIdk3mVle
— Peterborough United (@theposh) October 22, 2023
That it came against Wycombe was apt too; Wanderers’ long-serving left-back Joe Jacobson, who missed the game through injury, is no stranger to an Olimpico himself. Back in 2019, he scored directly from a corner twice in the same game, as part of a hat-trick (all from set pieces) against Lincoln.
Ahead of his @wwfcofficial testimonial this weekend, throwback to this memorable @joe_jacobson hat-trick! 🎩 #EFL | #SkyBetLeagueOne pic.twitter.com/N4BIWpP79L
— Sky Bet League One (@SkyBetLeagueOne) July 25, 2023
But Saturday was Randall’s day, despite his play-off chasing side being held to a 2-2 draw.
Rock ’n’ roll Cheltenham finally get their first win
For a side rooted to the bottom of League One, Cheltenham Town seem to have found confidence of some sort. Perhaps it’s due to them scoring their first league goal of the season last time out, 12 games in.
They went into game 13 — unlucky for some — with a swagger and a verve and took the lead five minutes in with a goal of sublime quality.
Enter, Liam Sercombe. After receiving the ball on the edge of his box, he took one touch to set himself before dinking the ball over Jack Stevens in the Cambridge United goal — a delightful moment of impudent skill.
His goal celebration was nice too; his ‘sign-of-the-horns’ gesture was dedicated to his nine-year-old son who, after recently learning how to play the electric guitar, did the sign after spotting his family in the crowd during a recent concert.
Cheltenham Town grabbed their first win of the season this afternoon…
Courtesy of this absolute peach of a 𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒌 from Liam Sercombe! 😚👌@EFL | @CTFCofficial pic.twitter.com/yCVPxLgmE5
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) October 21, 2023
It proved to be the winner for Darrell Clarke’s side, their first of the campaign.
“We score goals together and we keep clean sheets together, so I am pleased for everyone at the club,” Clarke said after the game. “Particularly our supporters who have been suffering over a period of time, and hopefully this gives a little bit of hope with plenty of games to go.”
Cheltenham remain bottom but are only six points away from safety.
A famous grandson pops up at Notts County
Saturday was a momentous day for Notts County, the world’s oldest professional football club (formed in 1862), with their fixture against Gillingham being their 5,000th league game.
The match lived up to the billing, too.
Starting with the constants: Macaulay Langstaff struck — he always does — to open the scoring (his ninth goal of the season) before the hosts pegged them back through experienced full-back Scott Malone.
But Notts County weren’t to be denied on their special day. Up stepped 21-year-old Lewis Macari, on his league debut, to score a late winner — a screamer which arrowed into the top corner.
Recognise the surname? Lewis is the grandson of Manchester United favourite Lou, who played for the club in the 1970s and ’80s.
Lou made his United debut alongside the late, great Bobby Charlton in 1973, so it’s somewhat fitting that his grandson, 50 years later, scored a goal akin to a Charlton special, on the day that Charlton died.
🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/W8uHBqtNBF
— Notts County FC (@Official_NCFC) October 21, 2023
Additional reporting: Adam Leventhal
(Top photo: Michael Driver/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
