It's Zamora

The Championship play off Final.

I have to admit I wasn't that bothered who won as I'm not really a fan of either.
I suppose I was slightly on the side of QPR just down to them having a few ex-Hammers like Bobby Zamora and Rob Green who I think did a great job for us, plus Morrison and O'Neil.
On the other hand I don't have much sympathy for Joey Barton and Harry Redknapp who seemed to be taking another team into financial meltdown like he did with Pompey.

Derby probably deserved to win after dominating the match especially after O'Neil's last ditch foul earned him a red card, but it was the fairytale end with Bobby Z's last minute goal sending QPR back for a season in the Prem.

Request

2012-3 Predictions winner Biopunk requested a picture of DiMatteo and Lampard playing together as his prize, I failed miserably to find one. So a year on and we reached this compromise of Jose kicking Rafa out of Stamford bridge ... hope you like it :)

Thought you might also like this video I found recently :)

Upton Park Hotseat

If the rumours are to be believed one of these people will be West Ham manager next season.

Ronald Koeman looks like the interesting one, it's rumoured he wants to try his hand in the Premier league and West Ham might be a good fit.
The rest in my opinion are no great improvement on Fat Sam, Benitez and Moyes would want big wages and lots of available money which we don't have.
Poyet and McClaren are decent managers but neither would inspire a big improvement.

My prediction (don't put your money on it) is that there won't be a change, although the Koeman one does interest me :)

Fantasy Football

The season is over so here are the final standings.
Thanks to the few who joined in the NBTF leagues, hopefully get a few more next season?

Fantasy Premier League 2013/14
Thanks to Paul for getting me into this competition this year, hadn't really given this one a go before.
The work league ended up pretty interesting with me scraping a one point victory courtesy of my nearest challenger using an extra transfer in the last week (costing him 4 points).
The NBTF league was sadly just me and Longy.

FPL (NBTF - 2 Teams)
1 Lee - Cockney Rejects 2350 (Overall 31,697, Transfers 38)
2 Longy - Longy's Longshots 2097 (Overall 654,535, Transfers 30)

FPL (Works League - 17 Teams)
1 Lee 2350 (Overall 31,697, Transfers 38)
2 Steve 2349 (Overall 32,270, Transfers 34)
3 Paul 2329 (Overall 48,595, Transfers 47)
4 Richard 2230 (Overall 212,909, Transfers 59)
5 Hamish 2168 (Overall 392,677, Transfers 36)

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Ultimate FPL (NBTF League - 1 Team)
Nobody else joined up so just me :(
A good new game which was free this year, but might be a pay game next season.

1 Lee's Team 954
(Overall 677th, England 302nd, West Ham 12th, FISO 20th)

 --------------------------------------------------
Telegraph Fantasy Football 2013/14
A competition I've been playing since the 2000/01 season.
Usually do well in Works leagues (9 wins in 11 goes) but nationally not so good I've managed to win about £200 but have never been near the bigger prizes.
This season has been a bad one, briefly hit 2nd spot early in the season but ended up with all my teams outside the top 2000 which is the worst ever.

Congratulations to John for winning the first NBTF league :)

TFF (NBTF - 8 Teams)
1 John - Runcorn Reds 1875
2 Neil - Part Vole 1759
3 Lee - Mad Eyed Screamers 1697
4 Lee - Nutty Boys 1686
5 John - Hard Luck Story 1567
(League 3,028th)

TFF (Works League - 27 Teams, 5 Team Max)
1 Lee - Two Tone Town 1779
2 Lee - Life On Mars Bars 1768
3 Lee - Krypton Supermen 1763
4 Lee - Headless Chickens 1716
5 Shane - Laurens Loafers 1678
(League 2,085th)

TFF (Lee League - 20 Teams)
1 Village Idiots 1841
2 UK Subs 1835
3 Zero Tolerance 1820
4 Two Tone Town 1779
5 Life On Mars Bars 1768
(League - 387th)

World Cup Squad

The England squad for the World cup has been announced today.

Goalies - Hart, Foster, Forster
Defenders - Baines, Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Shaw, Jones, Smalling
Midfielders - Gerrard, Lampard, Lallana, Sterling, Barkley, Wilshere, Henderson, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Forwards - Rooney , Sturridge, Welbeck, Lambert

On Standby - Ruddy, Flanagan, Stones, Carrick, Cleverley, Carroll, Defoe

Mostly predictable with Ashley Cole being the best known to miss out, Michael Carrick is slightly unlucky as Roy is going with the injury prone Arsenal pair of Wilshere and Chamberlain. Both are great players if they can stay fit but there must be a worry.
Defence is a bit of a concern with Jones and Smalling not showing any form and Johnson having been taken apart by the Germans 4 years ago and now worse. Flanagan and Stones were surely better options to have in the squad?
Good to see Barkley, Sterling and Lambert in but did think Frank Lampard might have got the call last night telling him to book a summer holiday instead.

Premier Predictions Facts

The complete final table

Congratulations Paulo :)

Facts and figures
Most weekly wins - Paulo 6
Most correct scores (3 points) - Paulo 33
Most correct results (3+1 pointers) - Gobshyte 190
Most games predicted - Lee 389
Best Average (points per game predicted) - Paul 0.715
Highest weekly score - Paulo 15

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Here we go the final week, All games due to kick off at 3pm on Sunday.
A few things still to settle all of them unlikely, Man City need a point for the title so all the scouses will be hoping for a Hammers win :) Liverpool obviously need to win to hang on to 2nd place (or better!!).
Norwich just need an 18-0 win over Arsenal and hope West Brom lose to Stoke ...
Man U could grab a Europa league spot if Tottenham lose to Villa, and they win at Southampton.
.... as I said all unlikely :)

Good luck all for the final time this season :)

Cardiff v Chelsea
Fulham v C Palace
Hull v Everton
Liverpool v Newcastle
Man City v West Ham
Norwich v Arsenal
Southampton v Man Utd
Sunderland v Swansea
Tottenham v Aston Villa
West Brom v Stoke

Site Login

For some reason Google have decided that anyone who logs into Google services (Blogger, YouTube, Picasa etc) will not be able to use their Virgin e-mail addresses soon?
From Monday anyone using a Virgin.net e-mail address will have to set up a new mail account to access their blogs and videos, they are trying to persuade you to use Gmail,
Virgin.com, NTLWorld and Blueyonder addresses will be phased out over the next few weeks :(
I guess Google continue their quest for total control over the internet wanting to ram their adverts down your throat every time you turn your computer on.
I use one of these to login so hopefully I won't suddenly disappear.

Championship

Congratulations to Leicester (102 points) and Burnley who are promoted to the Premier league.
Play-offs will be QPR v Wigan and Derby v Brighton.
Brighton grabbing the last spot with a 92nd minute winner at Forest after Reading failed to beat Burnley.
At the bottom Birmingham got a 93rd minute equaliser at Bolton to send Doncaster down with Barnsley and Yeovil, nail biting stuff for the Brummies :)

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Just 2 weeks to go and like the Premiership title the prediction competition is still open.
Bumper week with 13 games over 5 days.
3rd place Man City have 2 games including a tough away trip to Everton and a home tie to relegation threatened Villa, 2nd place Chelsea who are now 'concentrating on the league' have what looks like an easy home game to Norwich, but they will be desperate for the points. Leaders Liverpool have an awkward game away to in form Palace and can't afford to slip up.
At the bottom the big game is on Wednesday with Sunderland facing West Brom.

West Ham v Tottenham
Aston Villa v Hull
Man Utd v Sunderland
Newcastle v Cardiff
Stoke v Fulham
Swansea v Southampton
Everton v Man City

Arsenal v West Brom
Chelsea v Norwich
C Palace v Liverpool

Man Utd v Hull
Man City v Aston Villa
Sunderland v West Brom

Good luck all :)

Ups And Downs

The state of play with less than 2 weeks to go.

Premier League
Champions - * Liverpool or Chelsea or Man City
Relegated - * (any 3 from) Cardiff, Fulham, Norwich, Sunderland, Aston Villa, West Brom, West Ham or Hull
--------------------------------------
Championship
Promoted - Leicester, Burnley
Play-offs - * Derby, QPR (+ 2 from) Reading, Wigan, Brighton or Blackburn
Relegated - * Yeovil, Barnsley (+ 1 from) Birmingham, Doncaster, Millwall, Charlton or Blackpool
--------------------------------------
League 1
Promoted - Wolves, Brentford
Play-offs - Preston, L Orient, Rotherham, Peterborough
Relegated - * Shrewsbury, Stevenage, Carlisle (+ 1 from)  Tranmere, Crewe, Notts Co or Colchester
--------------------------------------
League 2
Promoted - Chesterfield, Rochdale, Scunthorpe
Play-offs - Fleetwood, Burton, York, Southend
Relegated - * Torquay (+ 1 from) Wycombe, Northampton or Bristol Rovers
--------------------------------------
Conference
Promoted - Luton
Play-offs - Cambridge, Gateshead, Grimsby, Halifax
Relegated - Hyde, Tamworth, Dartford, Chester

Premier Predictions (Week 36)

3 Weeks to go, 10 games over 3 days again.
Title is still just about open and relegation could still go anyway.

Big game is Sunday's Liverpool v Chelsea clash, things seem to be going for Liverpool at the moment with Silva joining Toure in the treatment room last night and injuries for Terry and Cech in Chelsea's 19th century defensive display at Athletico tonight.

Southampton v Everton
Fulham v Hull
Stoke v Tottenham
Swansea v Aston Villa
West Brom v West Ham
Man Utd v Norwich

Sunderland v Cardiff
Liverpool v Chelsea
C Palace v Man City
Arsenal v Newcastle

Good luck all :)

Moyes Out

Probably about six months too late to save Man U's season, but I still feel a bit sorry for David Moyes.
He probably had a job for life at Everton as they hadn't realised until Martinez arrived that you could borrow all those players to complement your promising youth and established stars.
The real top clubs need a big personality to handle all the crap thrown at them by the media and it looks like Moyes just wasn't up to the task, I've no doubt that if he gets back into management with a championship team or smaller premier team he will be a success again at a club with lower ambitions.
But I guess he won't be too upset for too long with his big payoff cheque in the bank.

Best of the jokes :)

  David Moyes shouldn't worry about getting another job.
After receiving £4 million for being a complete failure, he should be running a bank in no time.

David Moyes has been offered another job already, The Great Britain bobsleigh Team have said they have been looking for years for someone who can push a team downhill at that sort of speed

Following the sacking of Moyes, the police have been called to quell the protests outside Old Trafford. Liverpool, Man City, and Chelsea fans have been all told to go home.

Jurgen Klopp has ruled himself out of the Man Utd job but said his brother Klipity might be interested

David Moyes is going to be leaving Old Trafford with a multi million pound pay off.
Plus the bonuses from Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea.

In a time of crisis it's great to see the Manchester United board, and supporters, get behind their manager.
And all push together. 

Dylan Tombides

So sad to hear the news of the tragic death of Dylan Tombides from cancer today.

Premier Predictions (Week 35)

Back to 10 games this week with games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Going on some of the recent results it looks like wins for Norwich, Sunderland, West Brom, Hull, Man U, Fulham and maybe even West Ham :)

Tottenham v Fulham
Aston Villa v Southampton
Cardiff v Stoke
Newcastle v Swansea
West Ham v C Palace
Chelsea v Sunderland
Norwich v Liverpool
Hull v Arsenal
Everton v Man Utd
Man City v West Brom

4 weeks to go, good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 34)

Another super bonus week with 11 league games and 2 Cup semi's thrown in over 5 days.

Some important matches with a possible title decider at Anfield, a relegation six pointer at Fulham, and will Wigan and West Ham leave Arsenal's season in ruins?

C Palace v Aston Villa
Fulham v Norwich
Southampton v Cardiff
Stoke v Newcastle
Sunderland v Everton
West Brom v Tottenham
Arsenal v Wigan (FAC)
Liverpool v Man City
Hull v Sheff Utd (FAC)
Swansea v Chelsea
Arsenal v West Ham
Everton v C Palace
Man City v Sunderland

Weeks are running short in this comp so an outright win for anyone could make all the difference.

Good luck all :)

Was It Worth It?

Chris Hughton became the 9th Premier league manager to be dumped this season + 5 were replaced before the season started.
Here's what difference it has made so far.

+5 C Palace - Ian Holloway replaced by Tony Pulis, Then 19th, Now 14th
+3 Stoke - Tony Pulis replaced by Mark Hughes, Then 13th, Now 10th
+2 Fulham - Rene Meulensteen replaced by Felix Magath, Then 20th, Now 18th
+1 Chelsea - Rafa Benitez replaced by Jose Mourinho, Then 3rd, Now 2nd
+1 Everton - David Moyes replaced by Roberto Martinez, Then 6th, Now 5th
+1 Tottenham - Andre Villas Boas replaced by Tim Sherwood, Then 7th, Now 6th
0 Norwich - Chris Hughton, Then 17th, Now 17th
0 Sunderland - Paolo Di Canio replaced by Gus Poyet, Then 20th, Now 20th
0 WBA - Steve Clarke replaced by Pepe Mel, Then 16th, Now 16th
-1 Man City - Roberto Mancini replaced by Manuel Pellegrini, Then 2nd, Now 3rd
-2 Cardiff - Malky Mackay replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Then 17th, Now 19th
-2 Fulham - Martin Jol replaced by Rene Meulensteen. Then 18th, *Then 20th
-3 Swansea - Michael Laudrup replaced by Garry Monk, Then 12th, Now 15th
-6 Man Utd - Sir Alex Ferguson replaced by David Moyes, Then 1st, Now 7th

No change - Liverpool, Arsenal, Southampton, Newcastle, West Ham, Hull, Aston Villa.

Best decision so far is Palace appointing Tony Pulis after Ian Holloway quit early in the season, strangely the next best is Pulis's replacement Mark Hughes.
The rest have been less successful with David Moyes finding it really hard to follow Fergie down in 7th.
Fulham's 2 changes have left them in the same position, as have Sunderland and West Brom's changes.
The 2 Welsh teams haven't gained anything from their sackings.

Premier Predictions (Week 33)

First off an apology, this blog was supposed to have lots of footie related stuff but the only thing I seem to have time for is the predictions at the moment.
Luckily that is the one thing that keeps me coming back every week stopping this blog going the same way as most of my other blogs.
I will try harder :)

On with the matter in hand, here's this weeks selection 7 games on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and the Monday game features Sunderland again.

Man City v Southampton
Aston Villa v Fulham
Cardiff v C Palace
Hull v Swansea
Newcastle v Man Utd
Norwich v West Brom
Chelsea v Stoke
Everton v Arsenal
West Ham v Liverpool
Tottenham v Sunderland

Only 6 weeks left so mathematically anyone can still win, Gobby is in form and could take the lead this week, or will last years champ come flying through from the back of the field?

Good luck all :)

Premier Predictions (Week 32)

Sorry for the delay, midweek games made me forget to post early :)
Saturday, Sunday and Monday games this week.
Big games this week the stuttering Gooners v City, and Monday's relegation scrap (hopefully 3 points for us to climb to near safety).

Man Utd v Aston Villa
C Palace v Chelsea
Southampton v Newcastle
Stoke v Hull
Swansea v Norwich
West Brom v Cardiff
Arsenal v Man City
Fulham v Everton
Liverpool v Tottenham
Sunderland v West Ham

Longy's already posted elsewhere so I'll stick his in the comments, cheers mate :)
Good luck all :)

Moyes