Premier Predictions (Weeks 18 + 19 + 20)

Here we go with a festive bumper edition of the prediction competition.
Lots of good games to come while we all eat and drink ourselves stupid :)

Usual rules - post before the scheduled kick offs (Paulo if you still can't get it working just e-mail me), if any game is postponed due to heavy snow!! it's forgotten about not carried over.

---------------------------
Week 18 -
Monday 26th (8 Games), Tuesday 27th (1), Wednesday 28th (1)

Watford v C Palace
Arsenal v West Brom
Burnley v Middlesbrough
Chelsea v Bournemouth
Leicester v Everton
Man Utd v Sunderland
Swansea v West Ham
Hull v Man City
Liverpool v Stoke
Southampton v Tottenham
---------------------------
Week 19 -
Friday 30th (1), Saturday 31st (7), Sunday 1st January (2)

Hull v Everton
Burnley v Sunderland
Chelsea v Stoke
Leicester v West Ham
Man Utd v Middlesbrough
Southampton v West Brom
Swansea v Bournemouth
Liverpool v Man City
Watford v Tottenham
Arsenal v C Palace
---------------------------
Week 20 -
Monday 2nd (6), Tuesday 3rd (3), Wednesday 4th (1)

Middlesbrough v Leicester
Everton v Southampton
Man City v Burnley
Sunderland v Liverpool
West Brom v Hull
West Ham v Man Utd
Bournemouth v Arsenal
C Palace v Swansea
Stoke v Watford
Tottenham v Chelsea
---------------------------

Good Luck All and a Very Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this :)

Special FA Cup edition coming up early January, and the regular competition will be back before the 14th January.

Leagues Update

First we have the all singing, all dancing version of the current Predictions table :)

Next up it's the FPL Fantasy game, the NBTF league has just 4 players but it has been tight for most of the season.

Next the TFF Fantasy game, I have 111 teams in the NBTF but nearly half of them are mine so should be doing better. The league itself is in a sorry 149th so hopefully everyone can kick on in the 2nd half of the season.

Premier Predictions (Week 17)

Straight on with this weekends fixtures, the last set before the Christmas program.
6 Games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday and the Merseyside derby on Monday night.
Can Chelsea make it 11 on the trot at Palace? City v Arsenal should have been the big game apart from a couple of bad defeats for both in the last week.
Can West Ham build on the thrashing of Burnley :) and pull away from the bottom 3?

C Palace v Chelsea
Middlesbrough v Swansea
Stoke v Leicester
Sunderland v Watford
West Ham v Hull
West Brom v Man Utd

Bournemouth v Southampton
Man City v Arsenal
Tottenham v Burnley

Everton v Liverpool

Good Luck All and a Very Merry Christmas :)

I will try and sort out the Christmas / New Year games this week, which will probably cover weeks 18, 19 and 20 played over a 10 day period.

Peter Brabrook R.I.P

Sad to hear that former West Ham, Chelsea and England winger Peter Brabrook died over the weekend aged 79 :(
According to John (last years prediction winner) who said he knew him as Peter used to live in Barking, he was a really nice fella.

He probably didn't get as much credit as he deserved as he played a small part in Chelsea's first title win (in pre-Roman days) and then was a member of West Ham's team during our glory period in the mid 60's.
He also won 3 caps for England.

Premier Predictions (Week 15 + 16)

One of those double weeks this time, competitions kept seperate.

Week  15 - Sat 10th + Sun 11th
First off week 15 with 6 games on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.

Watford v Everton
Arsenal v Stoke
Burnley v Bournemouth
Hull v C Palace
Swansea v Sunderland
Leicester v Man City

Chelsea v West Brom
Man Utd v Tottenham
Southampton v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v West Ham

-------------------------

Week 16 - Tues 13th + Wed 14th
2 Games on Tuesday and 8 on Wednesday.

Bournemouth v Leicester
Everton v Arsenal

Middlesbrough v Liverpool
Sunderland v Chelsea
West Ham v Burnley
C Palace v Man Utd
Man City v Watford
Stoke v Southampton
Tottenham v Hull
West Brom v Swansea

Good Luck All :)
Hopefully the new comments procedure will work ok?

Premier Predictions (Week 14)

The games are spread over 3 days this week with 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and one on Monday.
The biggie is the first match on Saturday lunchtime with Chelsea off to face Man City.
Hoping that the Hammers can raise their game against the Gooners but sadly we are looking really average this season :(

Man City v Chelsea
C Palace v Southampton
Stoke v Burnley
Sunderland v Leicester
Tottenham v Swansea
West Brom v Watford
West Ham v Arsenal

Bournemouth v Liverpool
Everton v Man Utd

Middlesbrough v Hull

Good Luck All :)
Can we stop Mystic Paulo? :)

Chapocoence

I knew of them but had never seen them play, but I am incredibly sad at the news of the terrible plane accident that happened early this morning.

I know there are people dying somewhere every minute of the day, but as a football fan this seems more personal :(
Virtually the whole team gone, it has just saddened me as if I knew them.
Best wishes for the survivors, the families of those who are gone and the fans and residents of Chapeco.

Premier Predictions (Week 13)

Another week has flown past and here we go with another selection of games.
A third of the season gone already :(

6 Games on Saturday and 4 on Sunday.
Game of the week probably at Stamford Bridge where new leaders Chelsea take on Tottenham.
I'm guessing Sunderland's winning streak might end away to Liverpool, and I'm hoping for a decent Hammers performance away to Man U?

Burnley v Man City
Hull v West Brom
Leicester v Middlesbrough
Liverpool v Sunderland
Swansea v C Palace
Chelsea v Tottenham 

Watford v Stoke
Arsenal v Bournemouth
Man Utd v West Ham
Southampton v Everton

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 12)

Back to weekly games for a while after the third International break (yawn!!) of the season.
Big games of the week, Wenger meets Mourinho and West Ham go to Tottenham.
3 days of games with 8 on Saturday and one each on Sunday and Monday.
.... and yep I nearly forgot again :)

Man Utd v Arsenal
C Palace v Man City
Everton v Swansea
Southampton v Liverpool
Stoke v Bournemouth
Sunderland v Hull
Watford v Leicester
Tottenham v West Ham

Middlesbrough v Chelsea

West Brom v Burnley

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 11)

Here we go with another selection before yet another International break.
5 Games on Saturday and 5 more on Sunday (not Friday?). Big game is the North London derby.

Bournemouth v Sunderland
Burnley v C Palace
Man City v Middlesbrough
West Ham v Stoke
Chelsea v Everton

Arsenal v Tottenham
Hull v Southampton
Liverpool v Watford
Swansea v Man Utd
Leicester v West Brom

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 10)

Woo Hoo that's the battle won on the pitch :) I'm guessing the headlines will be what happens in the next hour or so around the Olympic park?

But on with the weekend and the next exciting installment of Premier League predictions :)
7 Games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and one on Monday this week.
Only Tottenham of the top 5 have a home games so it should shake things up again :)

Sunderland v Arsenal
Man Utd v Burnley
Middlesbrough v Bournemouth
Tottenham v Leicester
Watford v Hull
West Brom v Man City
C Palace v Liverpool

Everton v West Ham
Southampton v Chelsea

Stoke v Swansea

Premier Predictions (Week 09)

8 Games on Saturday and 2 on Sunday this week.
Sunday's games look the best of the bunch, although Mourinho might bring his new red bus to Stamford bridge?
Mike Phelan must be glad he got his contract signed as a defeat to Stoke will put the pressure on already.

Bournemouth v Tottenham
Arsenal v Middlesbrough
Burnley v Everton
Hull v Stoke
Leicester v C Palace
Swansea v Watford
West Ham v Sunderland
Liverpool v West Brom

Man City v Southampton
Chelsea v Man Utd

Good Luck All :)

Current standings in the Predictions league

Premier Predictions (Week 08)

4 Weeks of games before yet another International break, here goes with the first.
Seven games on Saturday, two on Sunday and Klopp vs Mourinho on Monday.

Chelsea v Leicester
Arsenal v Swansea
Bournemouth v Hull
Man City v Everton
Stoke v Sunderland
West Brom v Tottenham
C Palace v West Ham
Middlesbrough v Watford
Southampton v Burnley
Liverpool v Man Utd

Good Luck All :)

Just for the record, here's a snap of my spreadsheet for this week, replace John with Paul's model program.

Fantasy Leagues Update

About time I posted the state of the NBTF leagues.

First off here's the current Fantasy Premier League table, once again just 4 of us with 3 regulars and my son who lives in the US of A.
Fairly even so far as I was leading 2 weeks ago, now I'm last :(




Next the Telegraph Fantasy League, the NBTF has 111 teams this season although I've put all mine in which accounts for about 40% of them. Currently having a very slow start to the season but have heaps of transfers left to improve things (hopefully). Here's the current Top 10.

Premier Predictions (Week 07)

Another early start this week with a game on Friday night, followed by 5 Games on Saturday and 4 more on Sunday.
The following week is yet another International break where the England team for the games with Malta and Slovenia might be decided on a lucky dip??

Everton v C Palace

Swansea v Liverpool
Hull v Chelsea
Sunderland v West Brom
Watford v Bournemouth
West Ham v Middlesbrough

Man Utd v Stoke
Leicester v Southampton
Tottenham v Man City
Burnley v Arsenal

Good Luck All :)

The Wright Choice?

Now that Pratt Sam has shot himself in the foot and we don't have an England manager again maybe it's time for a complete change of direction?
They have coaching staff for all the practical stuff, but an international manager just needs to select a team and inspire the players picked to do what they do for their teams every week.
I vote for Ian Wright :) could he be any worse?

New England Manager?

If what I've just read is true? Sam Allardyce's reign as England boss could be over after one game.
Looks like he's fell for a press sting and totally stitched himself up

Premier Predictions (Week 06)

Now that West Ham have thrashed Accrington Stanley 1-0 I can safely post this weeks predictions :)

8 Games on Saturday, 1 on Sunday and the big Sky game on Monday.
This weeks star games are Chelsea going to Arsenal and the champs trying to inflict a 4th straight defeat on Mourinho's lot :)

Man Utd v Leicester
Bournemouth v Everton
Liverpool v Hull
Middlesbrough v Tottenham
Stoke v West Brom
Sunderland v C Palace
Swansea v Man City
Arsenal v Chelsea

West Ham v Southampton
Burnley v Watford

Good Luck All :)

Cheslea?

I guess the BBC's spellchecker had gone home? :)

The Money Go Round

At the end of the transfer window the Premier league clubs have spent £1.2 billion of the new TV money.
I've trawled around the internet to get all the fees paid and with the exception of the Traore/Adomah deals at Middlesbrough and Jones from Burnley one, the figures are all available.
The Manchester clubs have been the big spenders with City shelling out £180m (that includes the Gabriel Jesus deal which won't be official till January), and United blowing £157m although their best deal for Ibrahimovic was a free transfer.
Chelsea spent £120m on a small handful of players, recouping £35m on the 35 players that have left.
The two Merseyside clubs have had a good window with Klopp bringing in £68m of players but getting rid of the chaff for £70m, Koeman likewise has made a profit while improving his team.
Southampton once again have made a large profit on transfer deals this season but just maybe they have left themselves short.
Watford's spinning door policy has seen 21 players leaving and 13 coming in, it worked last season so who knows.
West Ham have added 12 players but I'm not sure if they will improve us much?

Most spent - Man City £180.93m, Man Utd £157.25m, Chelsea £120.11m
Most sold - Liverpool £70.37m, Southampton £64.48m, Everton £47.26m
Largest profit - Southampton £20.35m, Swansea £6.91m, Liverpool £2.45m
Biggest outlay - Man City £168.3m, Man Utd £149.09m, Chelsea £85.26m
Most players in - Watford 13, Middlesbrough 12, West Ham 12
Most players out - Chelsea 35, Liverpool 25, C Palace, Man City, Watford 21

Top 20 Transfers
Paul Pogba (Juventus - Man Utd) £89.25m
John Stones (Everton - Man City) £47.26m
Leroy Sane (Schalke - Man City) £42.5m
Granit Xhaka (B Monch'bach - Arsenal) £38.25m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (B Dortmund - Man Utd) £35.7m
Sadio Mané (Southampton - Liverpool) £35.02m
Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia - Arsenal) £34.85m
Michy Batshuayi (Marseille - Chelsea) £33.15m
David Luiz (Paris St Germain - Chelsea) £32.73m
Eric Bailly (Villarreal - Man Utd) £32.3m
N'Golo Kante (Leicester - Chelsea) £30.43m
Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle - Tottenham) £29.75m
Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras - Man City) £27m **
Christian Benteke {Liverpool - C Palace) £26.52m
Islam Slimani (S Lisbon - Leicester City)  £25.5m
Yannick Bolasie (C Palace - Everton) £24.57m
Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle - Liverpool) £23.38m
Ilkay Gündogan (B Dortmund - Man City) £22.95m
Andre Ayew (Swansea - West Ham) £20.49m
Vincent Janssen (AZ Alkmaar - Tottenham) £18.79m

The final table in outlay order.

Premier Predictions (Week 05)

A quick turnaround this week as the football season goes 7 days a week.
Games spread over 3 days again this week starting on Friday night at Stamford bridge. 5 games on Saturday and 4 more on Sunday.

Chelsea v Liverpool

Hull v Arsenal
Leicester v Burnley
Man City v Bournemouth
West Brom v West Ham
Everton v Middlesbrough

Watford v Man Utd
C Palace v Stoke
Southampton v Swansea
Tottenham v Sunderland

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 04)

A bit late but here is week 4 after the break. 8 games on Saturday, 1 on Sunday and 1 on Monday.
The big game is obviously the Manc derby with the 2 highest spending teams and 2 most high profile managers, no Aguerro after his 3 match ban will level the field.
Hoping West Ham get their season going finally with a few players back?

Man Utd v Man City
Arsenal v Southampton
Bournemouth v West Brom
Burnley v Hull
Middlesbrough v C Palace
Stoke v Tottenham
West Ham v Watford
Liverpool v Leicester
Swansea v Chelsea
Sunderland v Everton

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 03)

8 Games on Saturday and 2 on Sunday this week, then it's International injury week :)
Can West Ham repeat last seasons amazing win at City or will the injury hit Hammers still have 11 fit players after a Thursday Euro game?
Several hard to call games and I suppose the top game is Hull v Man Utd?

Tottenham v Liverpool
Chelsea v Burnley
C Palace v Bournemouth
Everton v Stoke
Leicester v Swansea
Southampton v Sunderland
Watford v Arsenal
Hull v Man Utd

West Brom v Middlesbrough
Man City v West Ham

Premier Predictions (Week 02)

Week 2 and the games are over 3 days again, but this week it's Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Man U game starts the week on Friday night for some reason?
Last years top 2 play on Saturday night both needing points after losing their opening game.

Man Utd v Southampton
Stoke v Man City
Burnley v Liverpool
Swansea v Hull
Tottenham v C Palace
Watford v Chelsea   
West Brom v Everton    
Leicester v Arsenal
Sunderland v Middlesbrough
West Ham v Bournemouth

Good Luck All :)

Someone Needs Glasses

So Costa says he was going for the ball and Anthony Taylor says it was a genuine attempt for the ball so no need for a yellow card?
I think the pair of them need a trip to Specsavers. :(

Premier Predictions (Week 01)

It's Back !!!!
The all new prediction competition for the 2016-2017 season.
Usual rules apply - 3 Points for a correct score, 1 Point for a correct result.
Predictions League will be decided on weekly wins first, if 2 or more people share a weekly win that will be classed as a draw, if at the end things are still level the toal points for the season come into play.
Anyway enough of that :) hopefully the regular players will be back and anyone reading this blog is welcome to join in at any point, just let me know a name and club supported. Obviously predictions will only count if they are made before the kick offs.
Predictions in the comments please :) as always the comments are moderated to weed out spam and abuse so won't appear instantly, but I will get them done before kick offs.

Here is the first week of the new season, games spread over 3 days with 7 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and a big game on Monday night.
Champions Leicester open against relegation favourites Hull which might show us what sort of season it will be :)
Big spending City start with Sam-less Sunderland, and mega spenders United go to Bournemouth.
Obviously fans of this blog will be looking forward to Monday night :)

Hull v Leicester
Burnley v Swansea
C Palace v West Brom
Everton v Tottenham
Middlesbrough v Stoke
Southampton v Watford
Man City v Sunderland

Bournemouth v Man Utd
Arsenal v Liverpool

Chelsea v West Ham

Good Luck All :)

Fantasy Football Season 2016-17

I have set up leagues for Nothing Better Than Football "NBTF" in the Premier league game and the Telegraph game.If you would like to join either, here are the details -

Fantasy Premier League 2016/17
https://www.premierleague.com/
League name: Nothing Better Than Football
Code to join this league: 312343-96257

The Premier league runs it's own game "Fantasy Premier League" and it is free to play.
You choose a squad of 15 players in your budget, then pick a starting XI for each game, transfers are available during the season - 1 is free, anymore cost you points, wildcards are available twice a season to let you ship out several players at once if half your squad get sold to Real Madrid in January.
You can only have one team each, but you can put it in multiple leagues.
(Hopefully get more than the 4 who joined last season)
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Telegraph Fantasy Football 2016/17
http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/
League name: NBTF
Pin: 8072532 - Passcode 2323

The Telegraph game tends to be the most popular amongst Fantasy football managers as you can tinker away all season with 40 transfers allowed and make changes to your team right up till the first kick-off of the day. You can have as many teams as you like, the first team is free but if you want more you can upgrade by paying a fee, the more teams you have the cheaper it is.
Many different cash prizes if your good enough.

This League has finished Top 100 for the last 2 seasons so the more players I get the better the chance of finishing in the cash positions? If we are lucky enough to

The Premier league game is open to everyone worldwide (as there are no cash prizes),
sadly the Telegraph game is UK residents only :(

Silly Season (Part 2)

Silly season has really took off today with Paul Pogba re-joining Man Utd for £89 million and John Stones going to City for £47 million, even West Ham have blown some money.

Top Transfers so far (up to 9th August)

Paul Pogba (Juventus - Man Utd) £89.25m
John Stones (Everton - Man City) £47.26m
Leroy Sane (Schalke - Manchester City) £42.5m
Granit Xhaka (B Monch'bach - Arsenal) 38.25m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (B Dortmund - Man Utd) 35.7m
Sadio Mané (Southampton - Liverpool) 35.02m
Michy Batshuayi (Marseille - Chelsea) 33.15m
Eric Bailly (Villarreal - Man Utd) 32.3m
N'Golo Kante (Leicester - Chelsea) £30.43m
Gabriel Jesus (Palmeiras - Man City) £27m
Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle - Liverpool) £23.38m
Ilkay Gündogan (B Dortmund - Man City) 22.95m

Premier League 2016-17

Premier League season only 4 days away, so here's my take on the season ahead.
Hopefully better than last season? where I didn't get any of the teams going down and predicted Leicester would just about survive!! also managed just 2 of the top 4.
Anyway kiss of death this year to ... ?

Arsenal - Need a top quality striker but still have one of the best midfields in the world. Really can't see them winning the league but will be one of several teams in with a chance.
Bournemouth - I think they will improve this season and could finish mid table or higher injuries permitting.
Burnley - Probably will be a favourite for relegation but I fancy them to survive this time .. but not by much.
Chelsea - I think Conte is a very good manager and with the likes of Hazard and Costa they should do better than last season, and will probably be in the mix at the end. But Roman's billions don't set them apart anymore.
Crystal Palace - Faded badly last season and I think they could be in for a struggle this season.
Everton - New manager who should improve things but mid table is about the best I can see from the current squad.
Hull - Now Bruce has cleared off I can start to like Hull again, but can only see a season of struggle for them.
Leicester - They were brilliant last season but unlikely to happen again, but if they can hold on to the players they still have should finish top half and maybe in the Euro spots.
Liverpool - Hate to say it but they will be in with a shout this term, with no Europe getting in the way could go close.
Man City - Probably my favourites for the title, as long as Aguerro stays fit.
Man United - Not sure if they can improve much from last seasons position, should be more entertaining but still lacking something.
Middlesbrough - Should be solid and hard to beat, but staying up will be the main challenge.
Southampton - Koeman, Mane, Pelle gone and a new manager? think their bubble will burst this season and will finish in the bottom half.
Stoke - Keep surprising me every season, should be good enough to stay clear of relegation but expect mid table.
Sunderland - No fat Sam to inspire them and Defoe can't keep doing it, could be a long season.
Swansea - Another team who surprised me last season, thought they would struggle but ended up looking alright.
Tottenham - I think they will be top 6 but don't think they have enough to challenge for the title.
Watford - No idea why they changed manager and don't think it will help, bottom half.
West Brom - Pulis is a really good manager but West Brom have been over performing for a few years.
West Ham - Hoping for better this term and some good signings will help, not sure if we have enough to challenge yet but would be great if can build on last season.

The predictions????
1 Man City 2 Liverpool 3 Arsenal 4 Chelsea
17 Burnley 18 Watford 19 Sunderland 20 Hull

So get your money on Burnley for the title :)

Every Little Helps

There is a rumour that Tesco might be the new sponsor for the Olympic stadium?

So I've come up with a possible new cheap and cheerful 3rd kit for when we play in the new EFL Cup competition.

50 Years Ago

30th July 1966, 50 years ago today.

50 years of hurt? didn't know at the time that would be the last time England would win anything :(
I've watched virtually every competitive game since in the hope it would happen again but excluding 1990 and 96 we've never even gone close .... one day?

Here's a video I put up about 10 years ago :)



308 views in 10 years? not exactly gone viral :)

Silly Season

Four weeks to go before it all kicks off again :)
About six weeks until the first round of the big spend up is done and dusted, Premier league teams now have so much money they will all be struggling to spend it.
Here's my first round up of who is doing the spending.

Man Utd have been spending early as they did last season, and Southampton have once again been selling off the family silver.
Liverpool although spending heavily again have been balancing the books with some big sales.
West Ham have brought in some decent players on the cheap with the only major outlay on making Lanzini's transfer permanent.
Arsenal have actually spent some money on Xhaka who hit one of the worst penalties in the Euros?

Top Transfers so far (up to 15th July)
Granit Xhaka (B Monch'bach - Arsenal) 38.25m
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (B Dortmund - Man Utd) 35.7m
Sadio Mané (Southampton - Liverpool) 35.02m
Michy Batshuayi (Marseille - Chelsea) 33.15m
Eric Bailly (Villarreal - Man Utd) 32.3m
Ilkay Gündogan (B Dortmund - Man City) 22.95m
Vincent Janssen (AZ Alkmaar - Tottenham) 18.79m
Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow    - Leicester) 16.58m
Nolito (Celta Vigo - Man City) 15.3m
Jordon Ibe (Liverpool - Bournemouth) 15m
Andros Townsend (Newcastle - C Palace) 13.26m
Nampalys Mendy (Nice - Leicester) 13.18m

Wales

Good luck Wales in their Semi Final against Portugal :)
James Collins looks likely to play so a Hammer to cheer on.

One thing that crossed my mind before the Tournament kicked off was "does having a really good song help you?" thinking of New Order's brilliant tune in 1990 which helped us get to the Semi's.
I love the Manic Street Preachers so the official Wales tune was a big favourite of mine, considering once again most of the England songs are crap.

Seems to have worked :)

Euro 2016 Predictions (Part 4)

The Semi Finals ... Nearly forgot to post these .. oops!

Portugal v Wales
Germany v France

The Final
Portugal v France

90 Minute rule again, and please post your final results when we know who it will be :)
Looking like Longy did enough in the group stages to win, but still open with a possible 9 points to play for.
Good Luck All :)

England Disgrace

I've seen some ropey England performances but this has to be the worst ever. Iceland are a decent team but can never have expected such an easy passage to the next round.
The first half was poor but everyone expected us to take control in the second half, but we actually got worse? Rooney had been reasonable in the first half but seemed to forget how to play the game in the 2nd half, Harry Kane was an embarrassment and should have been hauled off at half time to allow Sturridge to play in the centre.
At least Vardy looked like he was trying when he came on unlike the rest of the team and Marcus Rashford did more in 5 minutes than the rest had managed all game.
Here are my over generous ratings - Hart 2, Walker 2, Rose 3, Smalling 3, Cahill 3, Dier 3, Alli 4, Rooney 4, Sterling 1, Kane 0, Sturridge 3, Subs - Wilshere 2, Vardy 5, Rashford 6

Hodgson has gone and I think the majority of this team should be banished from the national side as punishment.
Now really glad he didn't pick any West Ham players who would have got tainted by this shower of shit.

Euro 2016 Predictions (Part 3)

Well that's England out of the way :(
On with the rest of it.
Germany v Italy looks like the pick of the games and the Italians looked really good against Spain today.
3 of the 4 West Ham players still involved :)

Poland v Portugal
Wales v Belgium
Germany v Italy
France v Iceland

Current scores with 7 games left.
Longy 39, Lee 32, Biopunk 30, Paulo 28, John 21, Paul 0, (Lawro 36)

Once again the Rules - 3 points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result (comment before kick off's)
Scores after 90 minutes only (not including extra time and penalties)

Euro 2016 Predictions (Part 2)

Last 16 games start on Saturday through till Monday.
All the big names in England's half of the draw so if they beat Iceland it could be France followed by Germany, Spain or Italy in the Semi's?

Switzerland v Poland
Wales v Northern Ireland
Croatia v Portugal
France v Rep of Ireland
Germany v Slovakia
Hungary v Belgium
Italy v Spain
England v Iceland

Current Scores - Longy 39, Lee 28, Biopunk 26, Paulo 26, John 15, Paul 0, (Lawro 29)
Longy with at least a 4 game lead and only 15 games to go?

Good Luck All :)

Rules - 3 points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result (comment before kick off's)
Scores after 90 minutes only (not including extra time and penalties) to avoid complaints.
** Extra time and penalties do not count **

Euro 2016 Progress

All the teams have played twice and France, Spain and Italy are the only ones with 2 wins each.

Spain have probably been the only team to look good in both games, Italy struggled against Sweden after the terrific win over Belgium. France have had to rely on Dimi Payet's late brilliance to win both games after struggling against Rumania and Albania.

Of the rest Germany have played well but struggle up front, England have not hit top gear, Portugal have played well but Ronaldo is having a nightmare.

Favourite game was Northern Ireland's win over the Ukraine.

Teams that have disappointed so far - Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Poland.

Teams doing better than expected - Hungary, Iceland, Northern Ireland.

Euro 2016 Predictions (Part 1)

The Euro 2016 Prediction competition.
Anyone welcome to join in on this (just leave a name, no anonymous).

Rules - 3 points for a correct score, 1 point for a correct result (comment before kick off's)
Scores after 90 minutes only (not including extra time and penalties) to avoid complaints.

Group Stages - Here
Round of 16 - Will post 23rd June
Quarter Finals - Will post 28th June
Semi- Finals - Will post 4th July
Final - Will post 8th July
A total of 51 games, Winner will be whoever scores the most at the end .. simple :)

First Set - Group Stages - (Copy and Paste)

France v Romania
Albania v Switzerland
Wales v Slovakia
England v Russia
Turkey v Croatia
Poland v Northern Ireland
Germany v Ukraine
Spain v Czech Republic
Rep of Ireland v Sweden
Belgium v Italy
Austria v Hungary
Portugal v Iceland

Russia v Slovakia
Romania v Switzerland
France v Albania
England v Wales
Ukraine v Northern Ireland
Germany v Poland
Italy v Sweden
Czech Republic v Croatia
Spain v Turkey
Belgium v Rep of Ireland
Iceland v Hungary
Portugal v Austria

Romania v Albania
Switzerland v France
Russia v Wales
Slovakia v England
Northern Ireland v Germany
Ukraine v Poland
Croatia v Spain
Czech Republic v Turkey
Hungary v Portugal
Iceland v Austria
Italy v Rep of Ireland
Sweden v Belgium

Good Luck All :)

Euro 2016 World Rankings

If it goes to World rankings, these would be the Quarter finals

France v Spain
England v Portugal
Germany v Belgium
Switzerland v Austria

With the Semi's ...

Spain v Portugal
Belgium v Austria

With Belgium beating Spain in the final.

But I've got a feeling it won't work out this way :)

Euros 2016 Fantasy Football

The Telegraph (Torygraph?) have launched their Euro 2016 Fantasy game.
£25k in prizes, with £10k for the winner.

If anyone wants to join the Nothing Better Than Football league? the details are -
League Name: NBTF EUROS - League Pin: 8111097
Sadly no prizes/medals for winning this league unless you finish top 10 overall, but you will get my gratitude :) Hopefully we can get a high placed finish to challenge some of the big groups?

Personal stuff - probably did well in the regular fantasy football league last season as I was out of work for a lot of it after being made redundant/laid off twice in 2015 :( 
Just a handful of part time jobs to interfere with this serious stuff :)

But sod's law I've got a nice new full time job starting tomorrow which will totally interfere with all the early kick off's in the Euros, meaning not only will I miss all the 2pm kick off's and maybe some of the 5pm ones if the traffic is bad? also I won't be able to tinker with my teams in this competition between matches, meaning I will probably do rubbish ... excuses made :)

Honours 2015-16

It's finally finished, so here are the winners and losers.

Premier League
Champions - Leicester City
Champions League Place - Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City
Europa League Place  - Man Utd, Southampton, West Ham
Relegated - Aston Villa, Norwich, Newcastle

Championship
Champions - Burnley
Promoted - Middlesbrough, Hull City
Relegated - Charlton, MK Dons, Bolton

League One
Champions - Wigan Athletic
Promoted - Burton Albion, Barnsley
Relegated - Doncaster, Blackpool, Colchester, Crewe

League Two
Champions - Northampton
Promoted - Oxford Utd, Bristol Rovers, Wimbledon
Relegated - York, Dagenham And Redbridge

National League
Champions - Cheltenham
Promoted - Grimsby
Relegated - Halifax, Altrincham, Kidderminster, Welling

FA Cup - Man Utd
League Cup - Man City
Charity Shield - Arsenal
Paint Trophy - Barnsley
FA Trophy - Halifax

Champions League - Real Madrid
Europa League - Sevilla
Super Cup - Barcelona
World Club Cup - Barcelona

Fantasy Champions League

One more table for the season.

Congratulations to Ray for winning this, he also won £250 for finishing 2nd overall with a different team.
But he was only a point behind the winner so he must be gutted :(

The League finished 13th overall, but had reached 8th a few weeks back so could have been better.
27 teams overall which was reasonable. Personally had a bit of a 'mare never troubling the leaders.

Champion - Ray (RCL 2) 490 Points
Starting XI - Ray (RCL 7) 9th
Goals - Richard (Ricks Raiders) 23

NBTF League

The Winner of this lovely medal was Ryan.
Now I'm not sure if Ryan ever reads this blog? but if you do please leave a comment with some contact details (don't worry comments are moderated by me, and I won't post your details on here) so I can send it to you :)

Alternatively Rich from Rick's footy challenge has offered to send you the one that I won in his league, and I keep this one.
Sounds confusing but makes sense :)

Fantasy Football End Of Season 2015-16

Slightly overdue but here are the final tables from the 2 NBTF Fantasy league

FPL - Just 4 of us this year, Gary has led most of the way but I caught him right at the death.
Although the Premier league have decided I was 2nd, I'm calling it a draw :)
On a personal note I managed to win the Fan Footy league (which is supposed to be where all the good fantasy players hang out?) didn't get a mention on their site so obviously not impressed :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TFF - 32 Teams, we finished 58th overall which is down on last year but better than expected as it's the first time we've hit the top 100 all season.
Ryan is the winner, deserved as he has led since week 6. I tried to catch him but as it turned out my best 3 teams were in other leagues, but you can never tell at the start :(
At least I beat John at something this year :)

Full Table (with surnames removed to protect the innocent) :)

Champion - Ryan (Morris Dancers) 2035
Starting XI - Simon (Izzy's Bees) 1534
Goals - Lee (Riders On The Storm, Kypton Supermen) 120
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Self congratulation bit, My blog my rules etc :)

TFF - As far as I remember the best I've mangaged before this season was in the 300's a couple of times, and just a handful of top 1000 finishes in 16 years of playing.
This season (41 Teams) - 3 in the top 40, 12 in the top 1000, 36 in the top 10,000, and just one bad team which finished 20,670th but was the one I selected for the supporters league :(
(one to remember for next season, go with top team not one that sounds right for the West Ham league).

Should get £50 for 17th, and hopefully some more cash from being top 5 in the top 2 leagues?
Missed out on the Twitter top 3 at the death by 2 points, 3rd paid £50, 4th Nothing :(

FA Cup Predictions 2016

That's the end of the first FA Cup predictions competition.
The final game played today, game no. 63
Paulo grabbed the only points with his 1-1 prediction thanks to my 90 minute rule.

But with a brilliant performance Biopunk is the first winner with an impressive 61 points, including 13 perfect scores.

Here is the virtual FA Cup trophy :)

Congratulations Biopunk :)

FA Cup Final 2

Interesting afternoon for Louis Van Gaal, wins the Cup then gets the sack?

The game itself was a bit of a non event until Puncheon scored for Palace late in the game, which finally woke United up. Mata scored 3 minutes later after a great run by Rooney which left it at 1-1 at 90 Mins.
Extra time seemed pretty even until Smalling rugby tackled Bolassie to get sent off, that should have seen Palace get on top but they had run out of ideas.
Nice goal by Lingaard to win it, and it finished 2-1.

Then the news comes through that Mourinho is taking over and Van Gaal is gone.
I sort of expected this in January, but I can't believe it happened today after LVG finally won something.
Considering the serial whinger was a disaster this season for Chelsea, it seems an odd move considering virtually every top manager in the world would jump at the chance of managing Man Utd?
I've always had a soft spot for the Mancs but they're going to be hard to like next season.

FA Cup Final

Just watching the pre match build up and for the first time in years I haven't a clue who to support?
A Man Utd win means West Ham get into the early stages of the Europa League again, also most of my fantasy football teams have a selection of Man Utd players so I need them to score a few points.
Palace are the under dogs, but I still really like Alan Pardew and would be great if Palace could grab their first major Trophy,
So probably hoping for a high scoring match going to penalties? :)

Predictions 2015-16

Congratulations to John for winning this year's competition.

7 players this year, although Gobby seems to have left us after a couple of weeks :(

It looked like Paulo would be running away with it after a 3 week winning run earlier in the season, but John came back with a 4 week winning run in weeks 19-22 meaning we were all playing catch up.
John grabbed another double in weeks 33-34 and sadly for Paulo the last 3 weeks were all drawn with me being the main culprit.

Anyway it's time to award the NBTF virtual trophy :)

Hopefully one day I will get my name on it?

John's record this season was 8 outright wins, and 1 shared win. With a total of 228 points from 371 games predicted.
Although only the 3rd best total overall he put together 8 really good weeks.




The Minor Trophies

Outright Wins - John 8
Most 3 Pointers - Paulo 43
Most 1 Pointers - Lee 136
Highest Week Score - Lee 15
Most Points - Lee 256
Best Points Per Game - Lee 0.661
Most Games Predicted - Lee and Paulo 387

The Final Table

Thanks Everyone for playing, and hopefully you will all be back to do it again next season :)

Farewell Films

Lots of videos around from the last game, think this is my favourite one.

England Squad

Woy has named 26 for his Euro squad, and surprise surprise no West Ham players?

Goalies - Joe Hart, Fraser Forster, Tom Heaton.
Defenders - Nathaniel Clyne, Kyle Walker, Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling, John Stones, Ryan Bertrand, Danny Rose.
Midfield - Dele Alli, Ross Barkley, Fabian Delph, Eric Dier, Danny Drinkwater, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, James Milner, Raheem Sterling, Andros Townsend, Jack Wilshere.
Forwards - Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Jamie Vardy.

Even the most biased fan surely is wondering how players like Delph, Henderson, Milner and the always injured Wilshere are considered better than Mark Noble, and Antonio has had a far bigger impact this season than Sterling and Townsend. Plus Bertrand and Rose in front of Cresswell??
Rashford is promising but can't believe he gets an England shout so soon.

Theo Walcott is finally dropped despite being fit for the first time in years, maybe the rumoured transfer to West Ham affected Hodgson's thinking?

Nice tweet from David Gold :)

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Here we go the final Premier League predictions competition of the 2015/16 season ... sad isn't it :)
The relegation battle is done and dusted before the final week meaning Villa, Norwich and Newcastle are only playing for pride, and this will be a last game for a handful of managers .
The only thing left to play for is the European positions. Leicester, Tottenham and Arsenal have all qualified for the Champions League and it's between Man City, Man Utd and West Ham (if they score 15) for the final spot. Basically the top 8 still have something to play for and West Ham, Southampton and possibly Liverpool might need a Man Utd Cup win to make Europe next season?

Arsenal v Aston Villa
Chelsea v Leicester
Everton v Norwich
Man Utd v Bournemouth
Newcastle v Tottenham
Southampton v C Palace
Stoke v West Ham
Swansea v Man City
Watford v Sunderland
West Brom v Liverpool

** Just for the sake of completion here is the Cup final (not part of this weeks predictions)**
Post a prediction if you want as Biopunk cannot be caught :)
C Palace v Man Utd - (90 Minute score)

Good Luck All :)
Do it all again next season if anyone is up for it, and will probably do a Euro special by the first week in June.

Here's the current Predictions league full table with one week to go, 3rd place is still up for grabs for Longy, Biopunk and myself :)

A Bit of Nostalgia

The 1974/75 season was when I got the bug, I had seen West Ham a couple of times when I was about 10 going with my Dad and uncle, but by this season I'd finally persauded my Mum that I could be trusted to go with some mates from school. I can't remember the exact cost of the train from Grays to Upton Park and I think the West side admission was about a pound? so the day cost about £3 which I had to save up.
5th October 1974 at home to Derby (who went on to win the league that season) the first time I was allowed to be part of the terrace crowd and it was brilliant :)
We had just had a run of 4 games where we looked like world beaters - Tranmere (LC) 6-0, Leicester 6-2, Birmingham 3-0, Burnley 5-3 so we were all hoping for another big victory, but it ended 2-2 with goals from Billy Bonds and Keith Robson but I enjoyed it anyway.
About a month later went to my next game and we beat Wolves 5-2 to prove I wasn't a jinx.
In May of that season we won the FA Cup so in my mind I had brought them good luck that season.

Obviously a lot of people are saying they will miss Upton Park and I'm one of them, but to be honest I've been missing the Old Upton Park for the last 20 years.
I loved the terraces and being so close to the pitch, for me when they made it all seater it killed most of the atmosphere.
I just couldn't get that same feeling in a row of plastic seats that I used to get when you scored and ended up 10 rows away from where you started, and the singing became patchy instead of the whole stadium singing as one. Also never really got used to buying a ticket beforehand, always preferred paying on the gate especially with away games as it was sometimes only decided we would go on the day.

... and the plastic castles are just tacky:)

Anyway farewell Upton Park :(

Fantasy Football Update

Current standings on the various NBTF leagues.

FPL - I can't seem to catch son Gary, guessing Paul and Longy have given up?
TFF - Ryan has led since week 6, I'm getting closer but need something inspired from my few remaing transfers?
TFF Europe - Ray leading the way, he also has the 1st place overall with a different team. So good to attract a top player into my league.
TFF Lee League - Just me so I will win :) just gutted that the rule change this season means I'm sitting in 9,585th place? under last years rules (and this seasons TFFE rules) I should be in 5th place.

Self promotion time (it's my blog hehe).
Having a really good season in the Telegraph Fantasy Footie, my best ever in 15 seasons before this year was 308th and have only had a handful of Top 1000 finishes. As it was the first time I didn't have a works league to compete in I didn't think I would be winning any medals this year.
As it stands I'm on for 4 medals and very close to 6 more, and if I can stay in the top 5 of either of the top 2 leagues I might actually win some money as well?
So just 2 weeks to go and I've got 11 teams in the top 1000, and 3 in the top 100 so barring a disaster it will be my best ever season :)

Up And Down

Current Standings

Premier League (First Division)
Champions - Leicester City
Relegated - Aston Villa (plus 2 from Norwich, Newcastle or Sunderland)

Championship (Second Division)
Champions - Burnley
Promoted - Middlesbrough
Play Offs - * Brighton, Hull, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday
Relegated - Charlton, MK Dons, Bolton

League One (Third Division)
Champions - Wigan Athletic
Promoted - Burton Albion
Play Offs - * Walsall, Millwall, Bradford, Barnsley
Relegated - Doncaster, Blackpool, Colchester, Crewe

League Two (Fourth Division)
Champions - Northampton
Promoted - Oxford Utd, Bristol Rovers
Play Offs - * Accrington Stanley, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Wimbledon
Relegated - York, Dagenham And Redbridge

National League (Fifth Division, Conference, Whatever??)
Champions - Cheltenham
Play Offs - * Forest Green v Grimsby
Relegated - Halifax, Altrincham, Kidderminster, Welling

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Sorry had a busy week and nearly forgot?
Mega week with 14 games spread over 4 days.
7 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 1 on Tuesday and 3 on Wednesday.

Some really big games this week starting on Saturday lunchtime where both Norwich and Man Utd will be desperate for 3 points.
At the bottom Newcastle look more likely than Sunderland to get a win, but Chelsea's season is probably over so who knows?
West Ham need 3 points to put the pressure on the 2 Manchester clubs.

Sunday's big game is City v Arsenal, whoever wins probably guarantees Top 4 and Arsenal could still overtake Tottenham depending on the earlier result.

Tuesday nights West Ham v Man U game could be really big if results go their way over the weekend.
Wednesday is big for the bottom 3 where both Norwich and Sunderland need to take advantage of the extra home game.

Norwich v Man Utd
Aston Villa v Newcastle
Bournemouth v West Brom
C Palace v Stoke
Sunderland v Chelsea
West Ham v Swansea
Leicester v Everton

Tottenham v Southampton
Liverpool v Watford
Man City v Arsenal

West Ham v Man Utd

Norwich v Watford
Sunderland v Everton
Liverpool v Chelsea

Good Luck All :)

Leicester Champions

Congratulations to Leicester for winning the Premier League :)
Gives hope to all the others after years of just Chelsea, Arsenal and the Manchester clubs dominating.

Also John Terry helped out at the end :)

Premier Predictions (Week 36)

Back to a normal 10 game week this time, played over 3 days.
The top 2 both have tough games, Man Utd still need the points to try to catch Arsenal and City so won't roll over for Leicester. Chelsea owe it to the fans to give Tottenham a good game. At the bottom Norwich need the performance of their season away to Arsenal.
Stoke have gone to pot so Sunderland might get a win, and Newcastle really need to win all of their last 3 to have any chance.

Everton v Bournemouth
Newcastle v C Palace
Stoke v Sunderland
Watford v Aston Villa
West Brom v West Ham
Arsenal v Norwich

Swansea v Liverpool
Man Utd v Leicester
Southampton v Man City

Chelsea v Tottenham

Good Luck All :)

Gossip and 2017 Predictions?

I'm wondering if I can get a job at the school of lazy journalism?
Here goes :)

Mourinho to Man Utd, he claims they will be fighting for the Championship in 2 years (because they will get relegated next season after the Moronic one gets rid of all the promising youngsters and Mata, and replaces them with overrated, overpaid, and over the hill foreign "stars").

Pochettino goes to Real Madrid (this might actually be a world scoop hehe) takes Alli, Kane, Lloris and Alderweird with him :)

Arsenal try to get rid of Wenger but he just buys the club instead and makes himself manager. "I aim to take this club into the top 4" he says in a press conference.

Liverpool bid mega money for Messi, Gotze, Bale, Lewandowski, Neymar, Neuer, Benzema but end up with Newcastle reject Hatem Ben Arfa and Marouane Fellaini on a free transfer.

Antonio Conte gives John Terry a new contract and makes him the key part of his revolutionary 9-1-0 formation. Chelsea set new records after 38 x 0-0 draws.

Pep Guardiola attempts to buy all the leading players of his rivals.

Bournemouth do a "Leicester" and win the league.

Noble, Cresswell, Antonio, Tomkins, Carroll all make it to the PFA's team of the season but none of them gets an England call.
A young Tottenham reserve plays 5 minutes in a Carling Cup tie against Accrington and immediately gets called into the England squad, Hodgson says "he's had a great season and deserves the chance".

Premier Predictions (Week 35)

Week 34 still on for one more night, but here's the next one.
After last weeks mega 15 game competition this week is just 9 games padded out with the 2 Cup semi finals.
So for the cup games the rule is 90 minutes (+ Fergie time?) only.
5 Games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday and Tottenham play on Monday again.

Man City v Stoke
Aston Villa v Southampton
Bournemouth v Chelsea
Liverpool v Newcastle
Everton v Man Utd (FAC)

Sunderland v Arsenal
C Palace v Watford (FAC)
Leicester v Swansea

Tottenham v West Brom

Good Luck All :)

Euro 2016

Got my Panini Euro 2016 sticker album today :)
Free at most supermarkets so don't pay money for one on e-bay.
Comes with 6 stickers which is the amount I usually end up with :)

It makes me laugh that people are selling the stickers on Amazon / e-bay at well over the cost price when nearly every newsagent and supermarket have loads at 50p a pack.
You could buy 25 packs for only £15.95 on the net, or pay £12.50 for the same amount in any shop, suppose someone falls for it.

Just checked their England line up.
Goalies - Hart
Defenders - Cahill, Smalling, Jones, Stones, Baines, Shaw, Clyne
Midfield - Milner, Henderson, Wilshere, Banana, Barkley, Oxtail, Walcott, Sterling
Forwards - Rooney, Wellbeck, Vardy, Kane
I reckon Hodgson is going to need a full team of doctors and physios if he takes that lot

What Should've Happened?

Whinge time :)
One (slightly) biased fans view of the last few weeks.

5th March - West Ham sit 5th after win at Everton (49 pts)

13th March - West Ham lead Man Utd 1-0 in the FA Cup with minutes left, when Schweinsteiger pushes our goalie into the net allowing Martial to equalise. Ref Atkison doesn't give foul?
Unnecessary replay needed.

19th March - West Ham lead chelsea 2-1 in last minute when Loftus Cheek dives outside the box, Ref Madely falls for it and gives penalty? (should be up to 4th with 52 pts)

2nd April - West Ham lead Palace 2-1 late in the game when Ref Clattenburg gives Kouyate a straight red wrongly (later rescinded) allowing Palace back into the game. (should be up to 4th with 55 pts)

9th April - Draw 3-3 with Arsenal after Ref Pawson disallows Lanzini goal for offside despite being 2 yards onside? Carroll might have been lucky not to get sent off after his 3rd goal, but former ref Webb says Gabriel should also have been sent off. (should be up to 3rd with 58 pts)

13th April - Unnecessary Replay against Man Utd, lose 2-1 and no complaints except the game shouldn't have taken place.

17th April - Lead Leicester 2-1 in the 95th minute when Ref Moss falls for the latest Leicester dive and gives a penalty?
So should be 3rd with 61 pts and in the Cup Semi final, actually 6th with 53 pts and out of the cup.

Conspiracy? well it certainly looks like someone doesn't want us at the top table.

Premier Predictions (Week 34)

Gutted after tonight's cup game where we didn't really turn up for most of it :(
A little bit happier after watching the end of Athletico v Barcelona :)

Anyway on with the show.
This week is a mega week with 15 games spread over 6 days.
6 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 1 on Monday, 1 on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday and 1 on Thursday.

Only 5 weeks left and John has gone back in front, although most of us can still win if we have a good run? :)

Norwich v Sunderland
Everton v Southampton
Man Utd v Aston Villa
Newcastle v Swansea
West Brom v Watford
Chelsea v Man City

Bournemouth v Liverpool
Leicester v West Ham
Arsenal v C Palace

Stoke v Tottenham

Newcastle v Man City

West Ham v Watford
Liverpool v Everton
Man Utd v C Palace

Arsenal v West Brom

Good Luck All :)

(The week after is a 9 game week including Cup ties, will post about Wednesday)

Bobby Moore

Premier Predictions (Week 33)

Extended week this time with 7 games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday and a bonus game on Wednesday.
Saturday's early game is a big one as West Ham really need another win over Arsenal to stay in touch of the top 4, although dodgy refereeing has cost us victory in the last 3 games, so looks like the FA don't want us there?
Villa might be relegated this week if they lose again or Norwich win.
On Sunday Leicester have the chance to go 10 points clear before Tottenham play, although Sunderland are desperate for the points as well.

West Ham v Arsenal
Aston Villa v Bournemouth
C Palace v Norwich
Southampton v Newcastle
Swansea v Chelsea
Watford v Everton
Man City v West Brom

Sunderland v Leicester
Liverpool v Stoke
Tottenham v Man Utd

C Palace v Everton

Good Luck All :)

(Next week will be even more confusing as there are 15 games over 6 days, so will probably post that before this week is over).

Champions League

Champions League Quarter Finals this week.

Barcelona v Athletico Madrid (2-1)
Bayern Munich v Benfica (1-0)
Paris St Germain v Man City
Wolfsburg v Real Madrid

Barcelona beat Athletico Madrid after Fernando Torres did a 10 minute Hero to Villain routine, Barca should be favourites but Simeone's Madrid are horrible to play against. I should dislike them with the miserable moaning Simeone in charge and a team that displays all the dark arts but I like the way they upset the mega-money pair in Spain.
Bayern Munich struggled to beat Benfica 1-0 and will have to perform better at the real Stadium of Light.

Tonight sees City taking on Zlatan and his Paris supporting cast, shame City don't have a defence so they just need to score more goals than Paris? should be good :)
Real Madrid should be able to overcome Wolfsburg  assuming Ronaldo plays.

Premier Predictions (Week 32)

Last of the international weeks out of the way till the end of the season, the only good thing to come out of Hodgson's dislike of West Ham players is that none got injured playing for him. Stoke must be wishing he hated them as much.
Fixtures reasonably normal this week with 8 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday before all the re-arranged games start kicking in the week after.
Big game this week could be Tottenham going to Liverpool as they need something before Leicester play on Sunday, as they could possibly be 11 points behind before they play again?? :)

Aston Villa v Chelsea
Arsenal v Watford
Bournemouth v Man City
Norwich v Newcastle
Stoke v Swansea
Sunderland v West Brom
West Ham v C Palace
Liverpool v Tottenham

Leicester v Southampton
Man Utd v Everton

Good Luck All :)

Predictions And Fantasy Football Update

Here's the full predictions table up to the end of Week 31
John still leading but Longy and Paulo just one win away.

and here are some selected Fantasy Football Top 5's

FPL - Gary back on top after I chose the wrong captain :( Still close with only 7 weeks to go

TFF - Blog League - Ryan still leads the way.
TFF Euro's - Ray and Richard are top dogs, and I keep picking players who don't play.
My League - 6 Teams in the Top 1000 which is a lot better than I usually do :)
Rick's - I'm hanging on to the lead.
Major TFF Leagues - In the Top 5's of all of them, so hopefully some cash to come in May?

Johan Cruyff R.I.P

Sad to hear that Johann Cruyff died of cancer today :(
Knew he was ill, but still a shock that a real legend of football has gone.
A star in that brilliant Holland team I grew up watching in the 74 and 78 World Cups.

One of that small group of players that I will always think of first when someone says who was the greatest footballer of all time.

Premier Predictions (Week 31)

Games on Saturday and Sunday this week before another International break.
Saturday's early game sees Arsenal taking on Lukaku and co, followed by West Ham with a chance to go 3rd when they thrash Chelsea :)
Leicester can go 8 points clear if they beat Palace?

Sunday starts with the big North East relegation battle, Big Fat Sam vs the Spanish waiter.
Plus the Manc derby which might be the battle for 5th place this season?

Everton v Arsenal
Chelsea v West Ham
C Palace v Leicester
Watford v Stoke
West Brom v Norwich
Swansea v Aston Villa

Newcastle v Sunderland
Southampton v Liverpool
Man City v Man Utd
Tottenham v Bournemouth

Good Luck All :)

Hmmm ...

Much as I love West Ham, some of the products they have been selling have been "tacky" to say the least :)
Latest one is a pair of foam hands in the shape of Upton Park???

This rates alongside the Sullivan and Gold garden gnomes and the hammers gravestones available.

F.A Cup Semi Finals

I was having a look for somewhere to put a bet on the semi final draw, as I knew we would get Everton but couldn't find one :(

Saturday 23rd April - Crystal Palace v Watford
Sunday 24th April - Everton v West Ham or Man Utd

6th Round replay to be fixed after Thursday's Europa league game, if Man Utd get knocked out it will be the first week in April, if by some chance they get through it will have to be in the week before the Semi?

McClaren Gone

Maybe if Steve McClaren had got himself one of those dead animal wigs like Trump maybe he would have been more popular?
(Managed to crowbar in a political point there) :)

He seems like a nice guy (McClaren) but he's not a good manager, I was having nightmares at the end of last season when his name was being mentioned as a possible West Ham manager.
Despite bringing in players for £75 million this season they look worse this season than last? Shelvey and Townsend seem reasonable buys but the rest of the team look like they can't wait to get out of the door.

Not sure bringing in Benitez is going to help much as most of his successes have been achieved at clubs that were doing alright before his arrival, don't think Ashley will be too happy spending multi millions replacing all the Frenchmen with Spaniards, especially if they get relegated.

If it comes down to a relegation battle of Allardyce v Benitez I know who I would fancy to stay up.

Premier Predictions (Week 30)

Here we go with the most confusing prediction competition I've ever done :)
Total of 9 games over 4 days. 5 Premier league and 4 FA Cup games.
All games count towards the weekly Premier league competition, and the 4 Cup games will also count in the Cup competition (does that make sense). So simply please all do the 9 games.

First game is on Friday night? plus 4 on Saturday.
Arsenal have to play Sunday afternoon before travelling to Spain to play Barcelona on Tuesday (if it wasn't already hard enough?).
The big game is Sunday at 4pm with West Ham trying to reach the Semi's for the first time in 10 years.
The other big game is Monday night with Leicester trying to get one game closer to the title against Newcastle who might not have a manager?
Phew ... Good Luck All :)
----------------------------------------------------
Reading v C Palace (FAC)

Norwich v Man City
Bournemouth v Swansea
Stoke v Southampton
Everton v Chelsea (FAC)

Arsenal v Watford (FAC)
Aston Villa v Tottenham
Man Utd v West Ham (FAC)

Leicester v Newcastle

Sad

Something that annoys me, don't know why?

I've always known that West Ham's ground was actually called the Boleyn ground and is located in the London borough of Upton Park.
But throughout my life which includes many hundreds of visits I've always called it Upton Park, as does every person I've ever talked football with.
Suddenly it seems trendy in the media to call it the Boleyn? the Boleyn is the pub at the end of the road.

It was nice to hear David Gold correct the BT guy at the weekend when asked about leaving the Boleyn, he replied "we've always called it Upton Park".

Premier Predictions (Week 29)

The games coming thick and fast now, this weeks are 8 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.
The big game is the early kick off with 3rd place Arsenal against 2nd place Tottenham, Leicester will be hoping Arsenal win although that doesn't look likely after another non performance this week.
Man City should get 3 points, Leicester have a tricky away game, and West Ham go to their bogey team and Lukaku always scores against us :(

Tottenham v Arsenal
Chelsea v Stoke
Everton v West Ham
Man City v Aston Villa
Newcastle v Bournemouth
Southampton v Sunderland
Swansea v Norwich
Watford v Leicester

C Palace v Liverpool
West Brom v Man Utd

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 27 + 28)

Decided to to a double bill this time.

Week 27
6 games on Saturday and 2 (+1) on Sunday, due to the League Cup Final we only have 8 Premier league games.
So I've included the Cup Final in this weeks predictions.
For this game I'm using the 90 minute (+ injury time) score only, so if it goes to extra time it's a draw .. all clear :)

Big game this week should have been Man U v Arsenal but that's looking more like a shoot out for the top 4. Big fat Sam's return to Upton Park might be interesting, hopefully we will turn it on against one of the lower teams for a change?

West Ham v Sunderland
Leicester v Norwich
Southampton v Chelsea
Stoke v Aston Villa
Watford v Bournemouth
West Brom v C Palace

 Man Utd v Arsenal
Tottenham v Swansea
(League Cup - 90 Minute Score)
Liverpool v Man City
---------------------------------------------------

Week 28
Midweek Premier league games this week, 5 on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday.
Liverpool play Man City again and West Ham take on Tottenham owing them one.

Aston Villa v Everton
Bournemouth v Southampton
Leicester v West Brom
Norwich v Chelsea
Sunderland v C Palace

Arsenal v Swansea
Stoke v Newcastle
West Ham v Tottenham
Liverpool v Man City
Man Utd v Watford

Post before kick off's and Good Luck All :)

 p.s. Anyone heard anything of Gobshyte? hasn't posted here since last August, and hasn't updated his blog since last June. Hope he's OK??

F.A Cup 6th Round

The draw for the 6th Round of the F.A Cup (Quarter Finals).

Reading v Crystal Palace
Everton v Chelsea
Hull or Arsenal v Watford
Shrewsbury or Man Utd v West Ham

As a Hammers fan I'm glad that Chelsea play Everton, as I expected us to get drawn away to one of those :)
Shrewsbury away not so bad, unless the under performing ones suddenly start turning it on and a trip to Old Trafford might be harder?

Used to rely on the BBC for football news, but their site has gone to pot recently?
This is their version of the draw??

According to them Chelsea and Palace have 2 chances to get through and Arsenal, Hull ,Shrewsbury, Man Utd don't need to bother playing anymore as they are already out.

F.A Cup Predictions (Part 3)

Cup week again with the 5th Round, 4 games Saturday, 3 on Sunday and one Monday.
3 all Premier ties and a possibility of all Premier Quarter finals (or not).

Arsenal v Hull
Reading v West Brom
Watford v Leeds
Bournemouth v Everton
Blackburn v West Ham
Tottenham v C Palace
Chelsea v Man City
Shrewsbury v Man Utd

Looking like a straight fight between Biopunk and John, the rest of us need near perfect weeks to catch up :(

The Masked Men

Good to see Diego Costa has joined the masked men of Chelsea.
Although with the early season form maybe it was a group of imposters just pretending? :)

R.I.P Ivanov

Sad to hear that my favourite Bulgarian footballer Trifon Ivanov has died of a heart attack at just 50 years old :(
The hairiest, scariest looking player of the last 30 years.
Actually a pretty decent player despite looking like he'd escaped from the set of a werewolf movie.

:(

Scum

Premier Predictions (Week 26)

7 Games on Saturday and 3 on Sunday this week.
The big games are on Sunday this week with the top 4 playing each other.
Leicester will stay top whatever happens, but have the chance to increase the lead?
Vardy vs Mertesacker just isn't a fair contest :)

Sunderland v Man Utd
Bournemouth v Stoke
C Palace v Watford
Everton v West Brom
Norwich v West Ham
Swansea v Southampton
Chelsea v Newcastle

Arsenal v Leicester
Aston Villa v Liverpool
Man City v Tottenham

Good Luck All :)

Rip Off

Not sure why anyone would want to pay money to watch Liverpool :), 
but I must give some rare praise to Liverpool fans after last weeks protest which seems to be raising the right questions about the money grabbing owners of football teams.



Don't think much will change unless everyone says "enough is enough" and boycott complete matches or fans refuse to buy season tickets.
With the amount of money being given to Premier league clubs by the new TV deal the least they could do would be to freeze the prices, or preferably drop them?

I've been to a few lower league games watching Southend where the home teams have large stadiums way too big for the couple of thousand fans who turn up and it's a weird experience.
Much as you try to improve the mood by singing and making noise, it still feels wrong.

If the owners feel that they don't need the real supporters anymore and are only catering for "the prawn sandwich brigade" (as Roy Keane once put it so well), they will be in for a nasty shock down the line.
Good TV entertainment requires a great atmosphere to be generated by the crowd as in "real" fans who will keep cheering even when their team is in the relegation spots and are 2-0 down at home.
I feel TV companies will think twice about coughing up billions to show "soulless" matches played in near silence in half empty stadiums.

Would be nice if British clubs took a leaf out of
Uli Hoeness's book :)
Here (right) he explains why the season ticket price is so low at Bayern Munich.
The likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund get full houses of 80,000 every game and yet a season ticket costs less than going to 2 games in this country, but you still get to see some of the best players in the world.