With Schumacher the first managerial casualty this month – and fourth in the EFL this season – there might be a few other bosses shifting nervously in the dugouts this weekend.

Erol Bulut’s Cardiff City sit bottom of the Championship, without a win, and just one point. To make matters worse, they have only managed to score once in their first five league matches.

It’s the worst start to a season for the Bluebirds in more than three decades and the fans want answers – which, sadly for Bulut, could mean losing his job.

A win at the Cardiff City Stadium against Championship big boys Leeds United on Saturday, though, would certainly help ease the pressure.

Then there’s Ian Evatt at Bolton Wanderers.

After finishing third in League One last season, and only missed out on promotion after losing the play-off final against Oxford, Bolton are languishing down in 21st place.

The Trotters won their opening game but it’s been a struggle since.

They drew their second match and then lost three in a row, culminating in last weekend’s 4-0 demolishing by Huddersfield Town.

Evatt could do with turning things around quickly as Bolton host Reading this weekend.

Mike Perry is nearing his return to bare-knuckle fighting.

Following a brief crossover to boxing for a showdown against Jake Paul back in July, Perry is being targeted for his next fight in BKFC at the promotion’s first event in Philadelphia in December. Pennsylvania just recently sanctioned bare-knuckle fighting and BKFC president David Feldman is wasting no time bring an event to his home state.

“It was like a kid in a candy store,” Feldman told MMA Fighting after getting word that Pennsylvania was sanctioning bare-knuckle fighting. “It was like I get to do this in my home state. We’re targeting a mid-December date for our first show. Huge show in a huge arena.

“It’s going to be great. Mike [Perry] and we’re talking to Eddie [Alvarez] about coming back for another fight. It’ll be a super, super stacked card. We actually have some current really good professional boxers that have been hitting us up. It’s going to be stacked. There’s no doubt in my mind we’ll sell every single seat in the biggest arena in Philly. No doubt in my mind.”

Perry last appeared in BKFC back in April when he dispatched UFC veteran Thiago Alves in just 60 seconds to move his bare-knuckle record to 5-0. He didn’t have as much luck going against Paul in the boxing ring with Perry suffering a sixth-round TKO loss but now he’s returning to BKFC where he’s arguably become the face of the entire promotion.

Feldman says he couldn’t imagine a better fit than bringing Perry to Philadelphia while teasing another big-named opponent for the upcoming fight.

“I’m working on Mike’s opponent right now,” Feldman said. “If I tie that up, I think everybody’s going to be like ‘oh shit, really? How did you do that?’ It’s going to be amazing. I’m targeting to be the biggest card we’ve ever done as the homecoming. Everybody’s excited about it.”

“Philly is a working-class city. Mike Perry is a working-class guy. He’ll fit in very well with the fans there. He’s that kind of guy. We’ll get Conor McGregor to come to the event and just take it over the top. It’s literally going to be unbelievable.”

Of course, McGregor became a part-owner in BKFC back in April and he’s made several appearances at recent events while drawing interest to the bare-knuckle fights.

The date for the Philadelphia card is currently targeted for either Dec. 13 or Dec. 14, and Feldman has another surprise in mind with a big football game taking place that same weekend.

“We’re targeting the weekend where the Eagles are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Feldman said. “So we’re going to do some Pittsburgh versus Philly guys on the card, too, so that’s going to be great.

“That show’s going to be sick. It’s going to be unbelievable. It’s going to be the biggest moment of my professional career absolutely, that will be unbelievable.”

Team members are also expected to wear their black away kit, which pays tribute to the disaster.

Parkinson added: “Today we showed the lads, and it’s more for the new players, a short video to make sure everyone’s got a clear understanding of the poignancy of the weekend.”

The club remains determined to show their respects to those involved in the tragedy on September 22, 1934.

Co-owner Rob McElhenney has visited the mining wheel in Gresford and the Miners Rescue Station.

Both of Wrexham’s kits for the 2024-25 campaign include a pit wheel graphic and “266” on the nape in tribute to those who died in the disaster.

The game with Crawley comes just five days after Wrexham suffered their first loss of the League One campaign.

Parkinson’s side were beaten 3-1 by Birmingham City on Monday night, but remain at the summit of the third tier table after their opening six league fixtures.

“We’re not going to get too downbeat about the defeat, we’re going to learn from it and look forward to the weekend’s game,” added Parkinson.

“Crawley have had quite a lot of change in personnel, but they’ve recruited well and they look outside the box.

“It’s going to be one of those games like we’ve played before, we’ve got to make sure we give them the utmost respect, but be ready to impose ourselves on them as a team.”

Defending champion Judd Trump suffered a surprising defeat at the English Open as he lost his quarter-final 5-3 to Wu Yize.

China’s world number 40 Wu started off with a break of 108 but fell behind 2-1 to England’s Trump, who tops the rankings.

However, Wu won four of the next five frames to become the first player to reach the Brentwood semi-finals.

Trump, with 998 career centuries, will have to wait for the chance to become the third player in history to reach 1,000 – after Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2019 and John Higgins this week.

Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen takes on Englishman Chris Wakelin in the second quarter-final, which got under way after Wu’s win.

At 19:00 BST, England’s Mark Selby plays India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha and Australian Neil Robertson tackles a fellow left-hander in Englishman Barry Hawkins.

Conor McGregor Next Fight Facts

The Conor McGregor next fight predictions will be made in part based on how McGregor and Chandler have fared in the past. Wise sports bettors will dive into some of these details before considering placing a wager, as the stylistic differences, Chandler’s superior record in submissions and McGregor’s edges in height, reach and age could all make a difference in how one wants to bet on this event.

UFC Tale of the Tape

Here is a detailed chart for the next fight of Conor McGregor, as it highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses of McGregor and Chandler (information per tapology.com).

Conor McGregor UFC Betting Performance

McGregor’s next fight, his comeback bout, was scheduled for June 29. Officials are hoping to reschedule it for August or September. He was listed as a slight favorite over Michael Chandler. McGregor has only been an underdog once in his career – in his last fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Here is a look at the odds and results of his last 14 UFC events (results and odds per tapology.com).

The Ultimate Fighter 31

Conor McGregor’s next fight isn’t limited to his physical battle with Michael Chandler, as McGregor and Chandler took on coaching roles for The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 in 2023. This show highlights what happens when aspiring MMA fighters live and train together for their upcoming UFC fights.

In this past season, they did so by getting coaching insights from two of the greatest MMA/UFC fighters of all time. This was McGregor’s second stint as a TUF coach, as he led a squad in season 22 versus a team coached by Urijah Faber.

McGregor vs Chandler: Technical MMA Matchup

A big part of how the Conor McGregor next UFC fight date will play out in the ring will be which weight class this fight ends up in, as McGregor has indicated he wanted the battle to take place at 185 pounds. Chandler, in response to McGregor’s video post, said he was fine with fighting at 185 pounds.

The matchup, though, will take place in the welterweight division, up to 170 pounds, not as heavier middleweights, UFC boss Dana White said.

The heavier weight class might have favored McGregor, who would prefer that this match be a slower-paced brawl, but Chandler has shown that he can go toe-to-toe in brawls and has greatly improved his kicking of late. Chandler’s preference would be to go with a faster, wrestling-centric approach, as he was a NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at the University of Missouri and has posted 30 percent of his career wins via submission because of this skill set.

Early Conor McGregor Next Fight Prediction

Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler have both predicted that they will knock the other person out in Conor McGregor’s next fight. The betting public doesn’t see either as a clear favorite, but McGregor’s advantage in power, age and reach should give him enough of an edge. 

Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham considered signing Ivan Toney before Dominic Solanke and fans should not “rush to judgement” on the £65m striker.

Solanke, 27, has yet to score for Spurs in his three appearances this season since joining from Bournemouth in August.

Fellow England striker Toney eventually moved to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli from Brentford for £40m on deadline day.

Spurs have won just one of their four Premier League games and host Brentford on Saturday.

“We did look at him [Toney] but Dom was the one we wanted that fitted the profile we were looking for at the time,” said Postecoglou.

And the Spurs boss stressed that Solanke’s lack of goals in his first two Premier League games is not an issue.

“Just take a breath, do a little bit of yoga, think about the world for a second and then make an assessment after,” he added.

“We don’t have to rush to make judgement all the time because the alternative is he may have got off to a great start, he is fit, scored in all four games, is flying and then he goes through a patch like all strikers where he doesn’t score.

“I just don’t look at those things. What I look at is he has come in, fitted really well and quite logically has picked up an injury that has disrupted the way he wanted to start his career, but he’s still got plenty of time for that.”

There is significant talk about discontent from Spurs fans ahead of Saturday’s London derby with Brentford.

“Yes, they had a cake for me,” Postecoglou replied when asked about becoming the first manager to last a full season at Spurs since Mauricio Pochettino in the 2018-19 campaign.

“It [the negativity] doesn’t seep into my environment. The fans are free to feel how they want to feel and it doesn’t impact me or what we are trying to achieve.

“For me, you can get overly impacted in both ways, we just have to stay clear-eyed and focused on what we want to achieve and what kind of team we want to be.

He added: “If you’re swimming against the tide, that’s alright, that makes you stronger. I think a big part of it [is change], when there is real change it unsettles people and they want comfort and security, but I came in here to try to do something that hasn’t been done for a while.

“You can’t just think me walking in will change things, you’ve got to change things and it can be unsettling but it is necessary for us to achieve what we want to.”