Championship

FANS are totally loving Manchester United’s young loan star – and branded him the “biggest s***house in English football”.Hannibal Mejbri is spending this season with Birmingham City to build first-team football experience.
Hannibal Mejbri got the Birmingham fans going with his wind-up anticsCredit: PA
The on-loan Man Utd man waved his arms to get the away supporters goingCredit: Sky Sports
And he is certainly not shying away from taking on his Championship rivals.
None more so than at the New Den, home of the notoriously-hostile Millwall.
But the 20-year-old seemed to relish the occasion and the atmosphere with his sensational wind-up techniques.
With his side leading 1-0 in the fifth minute of injury time, Mejbri won a free-kick.
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It presented the Blues with the perfect chance to let the clock tick down – and for Mejbri to absolutely milk it.
The 22-cap Tunisia international knocked the ball to the side, gave a massive cheer and wielded his arms in celebration towards the away end.
And he just kept going and going, getting more and more excited.
Just as he looked to be done and Millwall right-back Danny McNamara trotted back to mark him, Mejbri went off again, fist pumping towards the home fans – sending the travelling support crazy.
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And viewers back home could not get enough of the brilliant antics.
One said: “Hannibal Mejbri might be the biggest s***house in English football. What a player.”
Another wrote: “Hannibal Mejbri you are different gravy my son.”
A third added: “Hannibal Mejbri fears absolutely nothing 😂😂😂 Top housery from the boy.”
A fourth commented: “Hannibal Mejbri you are my favourite football player of all time.”
And a final user simply typed: “Hannibal 🤣🤣 I love him.”
Mejbri joined Manchester United from Monaco in 2019 and made his first-team debut on the final day of the 2020-21 Premier League season in a 2-1 win over Wolves.
Despite representing the country of his birth France at youth level, he switched allegiance to Tunisia, representing the Eagles of Carthage at the 2022 World Cup. More

STOKE boss Alex Neil confirmed Ben Wilmot broke his back after a sickening fall against West Brom and will not play again this season.However, he is hopeful the Potters centre-back can return for pre-season training — as experts decided he did not require surgery.
Ben Wilmot has been ruled out for the rest of the seasonCredit: PA
It comes after he broke his back in his sickening back fall against West BromCredit: Getty
Wilmot was stretchered off following the incidentCredit: Getty
The 23-year-old former England Under-21 star spent the weekend in a London hospital after his horror injury, which left him requiring oxygen on the pitch during Stoke’s 2-1 defeat.
Wilmot toppled following a mid-air collision with Brandon Thomas-Asante.
He then left the field on a stretcher and the medics were forced to stabilise his neck.
Some team-mates struggled to hold back tears as they feared the extent of the damage.
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However, Neil was able to give a more positive update on Wilmot ahead of Stoke’s Championship home game against Wigan on Tuesday.
He said: “At the moment he’s not going to require surgery — but it’s significant enough to cause him to miss this season.
“He’s in a lot of pain and he’s being treated to make sure he’s comfortable.
 “We need to get him back fit for pre-season, that is the main focus now.”
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Wilmot came through the youth ranks at hometown club Stevenage and was picked up by Watford in 2018 despite interest from Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham.
After two Premier League appearances, he had loans at Udinese and Swansea before returning to Vicarage Road in 2020.
But with 33 Hornets matches under his belt, he joined Stoke in 2021 after signing a four-year deal.
He has appeared 39 times in the Championship this season. More

NEIL CRITCHLEY is on the managerial shortlist for a return to Blackpool.Critchley, 44, left for more money and prestige at Aston Villa.
Neil Critchley is on the managerial shortlist to take over at BlackpoolCredit: PA
He previously managed Blackpool between 2020 and 2022Credit: Getty
But he lost his job there and had a bad time as boss at QPR.
He still has allies at Bloomfield Road.
Critchley joined Blackpool in March 2020 having been a Liverpool youth team manager since 2013.
However, he would leave The Seasiders in 2022 to join Steven Gerrard’s coaching staff at Aston Villa.
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Gerrard and his staff were replaced at Villa Park after an underwhelming start to the season, with Unai Emery coming in as his replacement.
Critchley then joined QPR in December but was sacked after just 12 games in charge.
He won just one game during this spell, leaving the club languishing in 17th in the Championship.
Things have not improved much for them since, and they now sit just one point above the relegation zone with four games to go.
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Blackpool have not fared any better.
They sit four points off of safety after Mick McCarthy left the club last week.
The final straw came with a 3-1 loss to Cardiff, with them having failed to win seven of their last eight games. More

BURNLEY supporters no doubt love Vincent Kompany.The very best of company this season, with all the promise of the Premier League to come in 2023-24.
Vincent Kompany chose Burnley ‘for the people’ but might eventually return to Man City for arguably the biggest challengeCredit: PA
Pep Guardiola is almost irreplaceable at the Etihad but if Kompany maintains his progress he will be a serious contender to step in at some stageCredit: Rex
Promotion from the Championship was achieved with scarcely a single hiccup. Done  and dusted with a record seven matches to go.
There was always something  special about the defensive midfield player who was to become a great centre-back with Manchester City and also a mightily accomplished one with Belgium.
The defender stands at 6ft 4in  with a head that looks as if it  were constructed for a Roman bear-fighter or heavyweight boxer.
Anyone attempting to outmuscle him in the penalty area was always likely to end up on their backside accepting, I think, the inevitable.
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For all that he was heck of player and now, not particularly surprising for anyone who knows him well, a heck of a manager too.
One, I suspect, who could one day replace the near-irreplaceable Pep Guardiola at the Etihad.
Even Pep thinks so. He declared that Kompany is ‘destined’ to return and manage the club, saying: “His destiny to be Manchester City boss is written in the stars.”
You never know, of course. His thrilling tenure at Burnley may be  a chimera.
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Experience tells us that  managers can hit hard times.
Many successful bosses find the pressure in the Premium League overbearing, more than half of the  clubs have sacked their manager this season.
The 12 fallen so far in the PL in one season is a record — a mix of expectation and pressure.
Kompany served his management apprenticeship with Anderlecht, joining Burnley in June.
Sean Dyche worked manfully but failed to keep Burnley in the Prem, sacked possibly as much because  he was reaching the end of his  contract and wouldn’t cost the club much in compensation. And yet Burnley were still relegated.
Dyche’s legacy, however, was a  competitive team and so Kompany, intelligent and approachable, must have been pleased with his dressing room inheritance.
Even so, to take them up in less than a season could be considered high even on the Lewis Hamilton graph of speed and technique.
The true test will be whether Kompany will avoid relegation as Dyche did season after season.
My guess is he’ll already have had offers from bigger clubs but will be wary of a hasty move
As the Belgian knows only too well, Burnley will find life difficult back in the best league in the world. There was a time when the cotton towns were the red roses of Lancashire.
No longer. Burnley’s accession comes with the collapse of the once-famous football towns of Bolton and Nat Lofthouse, the Preston of Sir Tom Finney, the Blackburn of Alan Shearer and, beside the seaside, the Sir Stanley Matthews of Blackpool.
Turf Moor has a capacity of around 21,000, so buying a season ticket next time around will now be like trying to secure a place at the  Coronation.
I fancy Kompany is loving it there. His team waltzed it to win the league and although they may well never add the Prem title — although that was said of Leicester City a few years back — under Kompany they have a manager whose organised and well-coached side will surely scare the elite.
My guess is that he will already have had offers from bigger clubs but will be wary of a hasty move.
When quizzed about reported interest in him from Spurs, he said: “I chose Burnley for people and I feel I made the right decision.
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“It’s an enviable place to work, trust me, especially when we keep talking about managers getting sacked left, right and centre.”
I’d like to toast his success and that of the club, although definitely not with a Bene ’n’ Hot, the local Benedictine tipple in Burnley. More