Can Martin answer Championship prayers?

The fragility of belief in the Championship was perhaps best summed up this week by Andy Reid, who has known hope and despair in both Nottingham and Sunderland, and witnessed a sort of ‘Beatlemania’ form around Martin O’Neill’s return to Forest, writes Larry Ryan.

Father Marc Lyden-Smith, Catholic priest for the parish of St Mary, in Sunderland, has emerged as a low-key sporting hero of early 2019.

He can be found on Twitter, @frlydensmith, preaching to a slowly growing flock of followers, railing against poverty and inequality and xenophobia and Brexit and neglect of places like Sunderland.