The monthly curse

No, not that one. Chris Powell has been named League 1 manager of the month for November. Thoroughly deserved, of course, but football lore has it that this is bad luck and the good results will stop.

Actually, it is likely to be true that a team's results get worse after the award, but it's nothing to do with a curse. The award recognises that the team's results have been exceptionally good. By definition, nothing exceptional can go on for ever, so the next month is statistically likely to be more normal. Charlton might even lose a game. It's the law of averages.

But this is Chris Powell we're talking about. He's not bound by anything as puny as the law of averages. Even the laws of physics bend to his will. When he used to "jump" from the tunnel after winning games, that wasn't him jumping, it was the earth taking a step back in awe of his magnificence. With him, the exceptional is normal. Wednesday have a very loseable game tomorrow (at Oldham), though sadly Huddersfield don't, and I expect to travel back from Walsall with an 8-point wide gap of a grin.