The Money Go Round

Premier teams are starting to splash their TV cash, some more than others.
Arsene Wenger is still struggling to open his wallet, while Brendan Rodgers is well on the way to blowing another £100m to try and get 4th place.
Chelsea are currently looking like a selling club, although with their overblown squad they need to offload a few bodies before they can find room for anyone new in the dressing room :)
The 3 promoted teams seem to be having different thoughts about how to compete, Bournemouth and Norwich are being careful while Watford are splashing the cash.

Here's the current state of play in the money-go-round

Summer Movers

I've just been trawling through all the footie websites and putting together my summer transfers list, still a long way to go but some big spending already.
All the Premier league teams have spent some money, but so far only a few World stars have arrived here.
Biggest single transfer - Raheem Sterling from Liverpool to Man City for £43.7m although that could rise to £49m with the add ons.
Biggest spenders so far - Man Utd £68.9m. Man City £58.4m, Liverpool £51m, West Ham?? £23.3m, Sunderland £22.2m.
Holding out for a bargain? - West Brom £1.5m, Norwich £3m, Everton £4.3m

Shocked that West Ham are splashing the cash, but the stakes are big this year.
Payet, Ogbonna and Obiang have good reputations but are hardly household names, if they all adapt quickly to the English game they could be inspired moves but only time will tell? shocked that Downing left to drop a division after his best season in years? maybe things aren't as rosy as they seem?

I suppose one of the better looking deals was James Milner's free to Liverpool, I'm not sure I rate him as an England player but did a very good job for City and could be a great signing for Liverpool where I'm sure he will be a regular. The thing that annoyed me over this was that it appears Milner was already on a £100k contract and turned down a considerable rise from City to go to Liverpool whereas Sterling was on about £30k and turned down a £100k offer, but only one of them was branded a money grabbing Judas?

The Closed Season

Summer, hot days, a few months break from Football ... Well not anymore :)

1st July and the Champions league and Europa cup have already kicked off for the season.
Congrats to Sweden for winning the European Under 21's (we won't mention England)

Even I have been watching the womens World cup and at least for one more day I can cheer England on :)
Obviously hoping for a win in tonight's semi final but I think we will struggle,England have a couple of really good players but the rest are average at best, and the defence need to realise they don't have time to take 3 touches to get the ball under control before playing it ... but fingers crossed.

The Copa America final is on Saturday Chile v Argentina, Chile are the home nation and the refs have been a bit too leniant with them so they have a chance, Argentina have a dream team so should take the title?

Those teams that bought players from Central America are going to get some knackered players back as the CONCACAF Gold cup kicks off in about a week.

West Ham kick off in the Europa league tomorrow against Lusitanos of Andorra the game has been switched due to the 2 biggest teams in Andorra being drawn at home, so I assume they only have room for one stadium? West Ham only returned for pre-season training on Monday so this might be harder than it should be?

The Transfer market is hotting up, Man United are being linked with every player you've ever heard of, Liverpool are being linked with every player you've never heard of :)

Arsenal have bought a new keeper despite Ospina being the star keeper in the Copa America, Chelsea fans have been wishing Cech well in his new venture with death threats?
A few big transfers done already with Depay to Man Utd, Firmino? to Liverpool, West Ham picking up a couple of foreigners I've never heard of, and Bournemouth have been shopping in Poundland for extra staff :)

The Premier league kicks off in 39 days so not longto wait :)

Summer Break

Roll on the new season, I could say I'm missing football but there are still games on every night with the Women's world cup, Copa America and the under 21's.
Not forgetting West Ham's European tour kicks off in just over a week with a trip to Andorra :)

Sorry spammers I've just been deleting all those messages you're sending me, so probably not worth keeping it up :)

Bilic

So we've ended up with Slaven Bilic as the new manager trying to keep us up for at least another year.
I really hope I am wrong about him and he turns out to be a great manager.
It seems we have given him a 3 year contract which I doubt he will fulfill, if he's a success he will probably bugger off somewhere "where he will win things", if he's a failure he has to go before we get relegated.

He has just 3 weeks to get the team sorted before our first Europa league match, and we will be a few players short after the loan deals for Jenkinson and Song have ended, Valencia is still playing for Ecuador in the Copa America, and Carlton Cole, Jaaskelainen, Demel, Nene, Maguire, McCallum and Dan Potts have been let go.
Also Carroll, Sakho, Noble and Collins are all still injured.

Fingers tightly crossed for next season :)

Champions League

Congratulations to Barcelona for their latest Trophy win.
Must admit I was cheering for Juventus and did get hopeful in the second half, but overall Barca deserved it.
Thought the ref was being biased towards Barcelona for most of the game, but was shocked when he disallowed Neymar's handball goal. Yes it was technically handball but wasn't intentional, and after he'd fell for every dive by Suarez and Neymar I expected it to be given.
Messi was a class above everyone else, Ronaldo is good but Messi controls everything for Barcelona.

Sad for a Hammers fan to see Tevez and Mascherano playing in a Champions league final after the way we treated those two, yes Tevez became a hero but even he was left out when Curbishley first took over and Mascherano was never really given a chance :(

One final thing to tie up, here's the NBTF Champions league Fantasy Table.

Congratulations to Richard :) the rest of us need to try harder next year :)

Fantasy Football TFF

Exciting end to the TFF blog league with only one point in it the end :)

The medal arrived this morning and luckily I get to keep it :)
Thanks to all those that played this season, a record 41 teams.
We finished 39th overall which is pretty good going, we briefly got into the top 30 in February, but managed to hang in the top 100 for the whole second half of the season.

Golden Boot - Andrew (Tiki Taka Tree) 111
Starting XI - Shane (Lewies Lions) 1300
MOTW - Lee 12, Andrew 8, Ryan 7
MOTM - Ryan 3, Lee 2

Hopefully we can do this again next season, although I might lose some of the ex work colleagues as we've all gone our separate ways :(

Other league of interest (to me mainly) yeah I know :)

I guess it was the last year of the "Smoke Generators" works league, unless any of them contact me? which is a shame as works league always have the best banter and motivation to do well.
I suppose the others will be glad to see the back of me as I think I've won 11 of the 13 years I've entered, and only missed a clean sweep of the top 5 by 2 points this season. But it's been fun.
Rick's Challenge - Obviously more serious players in this one and I managed to pick 5 of my worst performing teams to enter this one, so Ryan gets his medal here :)
Lee League - Just me so every chance of winning this :)
TDAOCS - Me, family and a few friends with freebie teams.

Overall - my best team ended up 277th which is one of my better final positions, did feature in the top 100 for a few weeks but dropped away.
Main claim to fame this season was finishing 7th in the golden boot competition, and the same team coming 24th in the Twitter league which included the overall 35k winner (beat him in the golden boot) :)
Hoping to have learnt a bit more this season but still think it's a lottery at the start.

One table still not decided is the NBTF Champions league, which will be finalised after Saturday's final.
Richard will win barring a miracle :)

Shady Characters

So football is just a tiny bit less corrupt today?

Seven arrests at FIFA today but you know at least one man will remain squeaky clean.
A very rich well connected man will always be innocent, its the way the world works.
Although common decency would suggest he might retire gracefully ......

Managing West Ham

So it finally happened Fat Sam has gone, personally I think it's a mistake unless we can attract a better coach? and I don't think there are that many to choose from.
Some of the names being linked with us just remind me of the bad old days of Grant, Zola, Roeder and Curbishley.

Current Favourites with the Bookies -
Slaven Bilic, Roberto Di Matteo, David Moyes, Unai Emery, Steve McClaren, Jorge Jesus, Michael Laudrup, Brendan Rodgers, Harry Redknapp, Marcelo Bielsa, Frank de Boer, Jurgen Klopp, Tony Pulis, Rafa Benitez, Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas Boas, Mark Warburton, Aitor Karanka, Garry Monk, Leonardo Jardim, Gus Poyet, Eddie Howe, Dieter Hecking, Neil Lennon, Juande Ramos
The rest are the usual bunch of tired old has-beens that get mentioned every time.

Bilic - Read a lot of praise from "so called" West Ham fans who seem to have short memories, this cheating Judas scum bag dropped us like a stone when "big club" Everton came in for him.
Di Matteo - Chelsea couldn't wait to get rid of him despite winning the Champions league? also dumped by West Brom and Schalke
Moyes - Did a steady job at Everton, dropped in the deep end at Man U who even Van Gaal has struggled with despite spending fortunes. Might still be a decent manager
Emery - Seville coach, will be aiming bigger than West Ham
McClaren - You have to be joking??
Jesus - Need some divine intervention, but not sure the Benfica coach fits the bill.
Laudrup - Possibly, started well at Swansea but went stale after a year.
Rodgers - Probably still a good coach as long as you don't give him money to waste. Would be better off coaching a small team.
Redknapp - You really must be joking, you wouldn't trust him with a piggy bank.
Bielsa - Current Marseille manager nicknamed "El Loco" would be interesting but he hasn't won much over the years.
De Boer - Like the sound of him.
Klopp - Another one I like, but don't think we have a chance.
Pulis - Another Sam Allardyce, sideways move.
Benitez - Not sure about him, think he's a good manager but he's ahrd to like.
Ancelotti - He joked once about managing West Ham, think it was just a joke but I would love it if it happened, the only Chelsea reject I could accept.
Villas Boas - Doing alright in Russia, don't think he would want to come back here.
Warburton - Screwed over by Brentford, but should be setting his sights lower.
Karanka - Boro manager should stay there after losing to Norwich.
Monk - Appears to hate West Ham so he can stay where he is as well.
Jardim - Monaco coach, no idea?
Poyet - Nice guy but failed at Sunderland, so no point.
Howe - Too early, hope he does well next season with Bournemouth
Hecking - Wolfsburg manager, won't want to go anywhere
Lennon - Should stay at Bolton
Ramos - Has a good record in Europe, but he's ex-Tottenham so jog on :)

Phew!! after all that I'm hoping for Ancelotti, De Boer or Klopp
More likely to get Laudrup, Bielsa or maybe Rodgers.
Still not sure why the bookies make Bilic odds on? I'm a bit worried :(

Fantasy Football

The Fantasy Premier League competition has now finished.
The overall winner scored 2.470 points

Here is the final NBTF table, just the 5 of us played this season and none of us did particularly well.
Congratulations to Gary for winning at the first attempt (just to show Dad up).
Paul was runner up and I never recovered from a bad start.
I think Longy and Martin gave up early?

The Telegraph (TFF) leagues have one more week to run, with Arsenal and Villa players possibly making the difference.

The NBTF league is pretty tight, with 3 of us still in with a shout of the Medal (which I haven't received yet). Thanks to the Rick's Footy Challenge boys for making this a good competition this season. Always helps when you've managed to put your own best team in as well :)

Predictions 2014-15

Congratulations to Paul for winning this year's competition.
With 8 of us playing this year it was never going to be high scoring, but that makes it more interesting as everyone was still in with a shout up until the last few weeks.

This season I can finally award the NBTF virtual trophy.
It was stolen many years ago, and has just been found in a hedgerow in my overgrown garden by Tiddles the Cat :)

Paul's record this season was 4 outright wins, and 8 shared wins. With a total of 279 points from 381 games predicted.

The Minor Trophies

Outright Wins - Dave, Longy and Paul 4
Most 3 Pointers - Paul 44
Most 1 Pointers - Dave 152
Highest Week Score - John 16
Most Points - Paul 279
Best Points Per Game - Paul 0.732
Most Games Predicted - Dave and Lee 383




The Final Table

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

Seaside Special

Congratulations to Southend :)

The Play Offs might not be the way most teams plan to get promoted, but it surely is the best.
Always feel sorry for teams that get the automatic promotion but miss out on the Trophy celebrations.
If Southend had held on to 3rd spot and not blown it on the last day of the season, they would have missed out on one of the greatest days in their history.

I was offered tickets for the game free of charge because it was my Birthday yesterday by one of my son's, but told him I didn't want to curse Southend as I seem to have done over the last few years.
Been to all 3 of their JPT/LDV finals and they have lost all of them without scoring a goal.
I had to work the last time they made the play off final and they won that one.
Also been to handful of home games in recent years and haven't seen them win for about 6 years, so I'm feeling like a bad luck charm :(

Yesterday's game had all the twists and turns that make it a classic :)
After a fairly average 90 mins Wycombe took the lead early in extra time with a flukey goal, Jacobson's free kick came back off the bar and hit Bentley on the back and went in, Southend really didn't look like getting back into it after that and Wycombe should have sewn the game up near the end but for a brilliant last ditch tackle by Ben Coker.
With just 20 seconds left of injury time, Joe Pigott got an equaliser with Southend's first real chance of extra time.
The penalties, at 1-1 Coker blasted his penalty down the middle but the Wycombe keepers foot got in the way, at 3-3 Dan Bentley made a great save to level things up.
Good penalties followed until at 7-6 Bentley made another great save turning Wood's penalty onto the post :)
As for next season who knows? I don't think the team is strong enough to challenge for promotion again and it could be a real anti climax, but hopefully the feel good factor will continue.

Would be great if that mystery Billionaire decided not to waste his money on Carlisle and brought his fat wallet down to the bright lights of Southend :)

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Here we are the final week of the Premier league 2014/5 and NBTF Predictions league already.

Just one thing left to decide will it be Hull or Newcastle going down?
Hull need to beat Man Utd who mathematically still have a chance of 3rd place if they thrash Hull and Arsenal lose to West Brom.
Newcastle play West Ham, both teams have been on holiday for a few weeks so should be fresh :)
It will be interesting to see if the Hammers really want Europa league football through the fair play table, meaning they will be kicking off in 5 weeks time. Of course a few sending off's on Sunday will give the players a longer Summer break?
I remember Steve Bruce's reaction after his Birmingham team sent West Ham down many years ago, and I've never forgiven him and wished ill on all his teams ever since, so it would be nice if we could contribute to him getting relegated.

Anyway here are the games, all kick off at 3pm Sunday

Arsenal v West Brom
Aston Villa v Burnley
Chelsea v Sunderland
C Palace v Swansea
Everton v Tottenham
Hull v Man Utd
Leicester v QPR
Man City v Southampton
Newcastle v West Ham
Stoke v Liverpool

The Predictions league is still open to everyone, but sadly only 2 people can now win although the minor places are still up for grabs :)
To avoid any tactical predictions I won't be publishing Dave and Paul's predictions until after kick off (or when they've both posted) but will let you know when I've got them :)

Good Luck All :)

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Here we are the penultimate week of the Premier league season and Predictions league.
Most things are decided in the Premier league, at the top the only question is who will take the possibly unwanted places in the Europa league.
At the bottom it's 1 from 5 for the last relegation spot.
Our competition is still undecided but time is running out to catch Paul.
Bonus game this week on Wednesday so it's an extended week 7 games Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 1 Monday and 1 Wednesday.

Southampton v Aston Villa
Burnley v Stoke
QPR v Newcastle
Sunderland v Leicester
Tottenham v Hull
West Ham v Everton
Liverpool v C Palace
Swansea v Man City
Man Utd v Arsenal
West Brom v Chelsea
Arsenal v Sunderland

Good Luck All :)

Birthday

Happy Birthday to Yaya Toure
We don't want him thinking we've forgotten do we :)

Premier Predictions (Week 36)

Just 3 weeks to go in the Premier league, and the NBTF Prediction competition.
Chelsea have wrapped up the title, and Arsenal and Man City should be playing Champions league next season. Liverpool have a small chance of pipping Man U for the other spot?
At the bottom Burnley and QPR need snookers but several other teams could still fill the last spot?
Here Paul is in prime position, but still anyone could win, although most of us need a miracle :)
This weeks games again over 3 days (7,2,1)

Everton v Sunderland
Aston Villa v West Ham
Hull v Burnley
Leicester v Southampton
Newcastle v West Brom
Stoke v Tottenham
C Palace v Man Utd
Man City v QPR
Chelsea v Liverpool
Arsenal v Swansea

Good luck all :)

Oh and here's the all singing, all dancing full info table for week 35 :)

The Popular Vote

So it appears West Ham fans are the voice of the nation?

Labour with their claret and blue background, and Cameron now claiming to be a Hammers fan?
Of course Cameron used to claim to be a Villa fan (because Prince William is) and the claret and blue just might be Villa colours?

So like all political commentary it's just one person's biased view :)
Enjoy your voting tomorrow.

Promotions And Play Offs Update

Championship
Up - Bournemouth (Champions), Watford
Play Offs - Norwich v Ipswich, Middlesbrough v Brentford
Relegated - Blackpool, Millwall, Wigan

Division 1
Up - Bristol City (Champions), MK Dons
Play Offs - Preston v Chesterfield, Swindon v Sheff Utd
Relegated - Yeovil, Notts County, Crawley, Leyton Orient

Division 2
Up - Burton (Champions), Shrewsbury, Bury
Play Offs - Wycombe v Plymouth, Southend v Stevenage
Relegated - Cheltenham, Tranmere

Conference
Up - Barnet (Champions)
Play Offs - Bristol Rovers v Grimsby

So congrats to Bournemouth nice to see someone new in the Premier league, and well done Watford.
The play off's throw up probably the biggest East Anglian derbies ever (in financial terms), also Brentford are still in with a shout?

In Div 1 Preston were unlucky to miss out, but I'm glad their defeat to Colchester meant that Colchester stayed up, former Hammer George Moncur grabbing the winner.
Congrats to Bristol City and the MK Dons for reaching the 2nd tier for the first time.

Div 2 - congrats to Jimmy Floyd's Burton + Shrewsbury and Bury.
Gutted that Southend blew it against bogey side Morecambe but hopefully they can overcome Stevenage and set up another Wembley game :)

Fantasy Football Update

Here's all the tables of blog interest in Fantasy Footie (as of 05/05/15).

FPL Blog League - Gary still leading from Paul by a smaller margin, looks like I've left my charge a bit too late.
TFF Blog League - Getting very tight between myself and Ryan, with Andrew coming up fast. The league is back up to 40th.
TFF Work league - Still looking good :)
TFF Europe - Rick still doing reasonably well, the rest of us not so good :(

TFF Personal - Back up to 7th in the Golden boot and only 2 goals off the money positions, but 8 behind the leader so doesn't look like a grand will be coming my way.
Still a reasonable 17th in the Twitter league.

Should Have Been Burnley

The Champions of the 6 top Divisions in the English pyramid have one thing in common.
Bournemouth, Bristol City, Burton Albion, Barnet, Bromley and Barrow.
The only one that mucks up the sequence is the Premier league , so where did it all go wrong Burnley :)