Fantasy Football 2020-2021

The Nothing Better Than Football fantasy leagues are up and running again  😇  Both are free to play again

Fantasy Premier League (FPL)

This one is pretty straightforward, hardly any changes apart from a lot of strikers are now classed as midfielders, and vice versa. Here's the info:

Hello, For the 2020/21 Fantasy Premier League why don't you join my mini-league "Nothing Better Than Football"?

Joining the league couldn't be easier. Simply use the link below and you'll be added automatically after you've entered the game.

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/f4f3ik

League Code: f4f3ik - Looking forward to playing against you this season!

 

Telegraph Football Fantasy Premier League (TFF)

They have made wholesale changes to this one with multiple gliches and also making it impossible to invite all previous players to my league, unless I actually know your e-mail addresses or hopefully you are reading this?

Anyway, if you do fancy joining the league here's the info:

Great, now that you have created a league, invite others to join. 

Your unique league code for Nothing Better Than Football is: US4D6ZR2

Hopefully we'll get a decent amount of players in the end as I only finished 7th last season and need some revenge  😄

Season Over

 Well the 2019/20 season is finally over after the Champions league final last night.

Bayern Munich deservedly won beating PSG 1-0 in a pretty dull final (aren't they always).

The 2020/21 season has already kicked off in a variety of leagues, with Scotland and many European leagues on the go and this seasons Euro competition qualifiers into the early rounds.

The English leagues all start on September 12th, the Charity shield is being played next Saturday.

The Nations league begins in early September along with the first round of the League (EFL) Cup.

One last table to complete the Fantasy Football.

TFF Euro Super League

Not sure how many people played this, started out with about 30,000 teams.

Had a good year winning the League of Leagues, the Off to Europe we go league, the Rick's Footy Challenge league and the big one the Nothing Better Than Football League.

Did only come 2nd in the Family league, 6th in the Twitter League, and only 35th in the Facebook league.

Typically there were no cash prizes this season :(

Premier League Predictions will be back in early September, hopefully with enough players to keep it going? see you then.

Europe 2020

I have to say I'm enjoying the current format for the conclusion of the 2 European competitions in this pandemic hit season.

Obviously the lack of crowds is a big downer, but the football has been good and having the games every day has given it the feel of the World cup or Euro championships, without the agony of praying England do well.

 

Obvious highlight was the Bayern v Barcelona game, I like the way Bayern play and dislike Barcelona because of their diving etc so picked the right team to cheer on. The 8-2 result didn't really flatter Bayern who should have got double figures.

Most annoying game was the Man City v Lyon one, I like watching City in full flow and they were excellent against Real Madrid, but you feared what was going to happen when you saw the line up to face Lyon. No Silva's, Mahrez or Foden who was brilliant against Madrid as he chose a defensive line up against on paper the worst team left in the competition?

Yes they could have scraped through if Lyon's 2nd goal had been disallowed and Sterling hadn't have missed the sitter, but because of Guardiola's tactics they deserved to get beaten.

Man Utd have looked good in the last couple of months and I fancied them to get to the Europa league final, but Seville had the knowledge  to blunt their attacks with packed defence and you knew they would grab a breakaway goal at some point. It has happened so many times to English teams who over commit looking for a winner.

Honourable mentions to Wolves who were unlucky to go out to a very late goal, but looked jaded after a very long season. 

Inter Milan are looking good with Chelsea reject Conte and his wig playing some really good stuff, whether Lukaku and co will be able to break down Seville is anyone's guess but I hope so.

Assuming Bayern beat Lyon? I would expect them to beat PSG although it will be a lot closer than most of Bayern's games.

Tables 2019 - 2020 (Part 2)

 A few more tables for the records this season.

TFF - Nothing Better Than Footy League

Not a great season for myself or the League, usually get a Top 100 place but highest position this season was 90th and ended up in 180th.

Congratulations to Sue who hit top spot with 2 weeks to go, and unlucky on Colin who had led most of the season.

 

NBTF - FA Cup Predictions Table

Arsenal got me over the line in the final game.

All Time Predictions Records (All Competitions)

10 Years of predictions on this site, here are the records of everything.

Won, Drawn, Lost only applies to the Premier league predictions,the Played, 3 Point, 1 Point, Total and Points per game include Premier League, FA Cup, World Cup and Euro's that have been played since 2010.

All Time Premier Predictions 

Just the Premier League predictions in 10 seasons.

That's nearly all one competition still going on, the TFF Euro competition.

Having a much better season in that one, just outside the Top 50 individually and the leagues are doing very well, NBTF League is 12th and family league is currently 2nd with just 3 games left to play.

Tables 2019 - 2020

Time for some tables to show what happened in the Predictions competition, and some other stuff (for anyone that is interested) 😏

Still one week to go in the F.A Cup Competition and TFF Fantasy League, so more of this next week.

Final Complete Predictions Table - All The Facts and Figures

Most Wins: Lee 10
Most Predictions: Lee 387
Most Correct Scores (3 Pointers): Lee 49
Most Correct Results (3+1 Pointers): Lawro 190, Lee 185
Most Points: Lee 283
Highest Week Score: Lee & Paulo 15
Lowest Score In A Full Week: Gibbo 1
Best Points Per Game: Lee 0.731
Highest Scoring Correct Prediction: Biopunk & Gibbo (5-0)

Final Table If All The Guests Were Included In The Competition

The FPL (Fantasy premier League) Final Table For The NBTF League

Congratulations to Mike 😀 who held the top spot from week 11, and held me off  😒

Thanks to Mike, Michele, Tommy and DJ for joining in this season.

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Finally we get to the last week of season 2019/2020 😀
Still a few things to sort out, relegation and Euro spots still up for grabs.
2 from Villa, Watford and Bournemouth will go down, all are away at teams with nothing to fight for, Bournemouth need a win and the other 2 to lose.
Goal difference might be the deciding factor?

The Champions league spots are down to 2 games, Man Utd need a draw to stay above Leicester, Chelsea need a point or a Man Utd win to guarantee top 4.
Awkward for Chelsea as Wolves need a win to make sure of a Europa league spot.
Other factors might change all this as Wolves and Man Utd are still in the Europa league this season, and if either win they will get the 4th Champions league spot even if they finish outside the top 4, and Arsenal can take the 3rd Europa league spot by winning the F.A Cup.

It's all very confusing!!

Thanks to everyone who has played along this season
Happy to say after 10 years of this I've finally won it 🏆  Second place still up for grabs though.


Week 38 - 10 games - All Kick off at 4pm

Arsenal v Watford
Burnley v Brighton
Chelsea v Wolves
Crystal Palace v Tottenham
Everton v Bournemouth
Leicester v Man Utd
Man City v Norwich
Newcastle v Liverpool
Southampton v Sheff Utd
West Ham v Aston Villa

🏆
Just to complete everything for this season, the F.A Cup final is on the 1st August.
Title is still up for grabs all very close - Myself and Biopunk have 45 points each and I'm just ahead by virtue of having 1 more correct score, so all to play for (90 minute score only).

Arsenal v Chelsea

Good Luck All  😁

Hopefully back for next season whenever that is starting, might not be long?
This seasons European competitions start again on the 5th August through to 23rd August, so our remaining teams will be hoping for a break.
That was a long post  😀

Premier Predictions (Week 36 + 37)

No breaks between games, so here we go with another double bill Week 36 and week 37 fixtures (even though week 35 is still running).
These games were announced after I had posted the previous selection.

Week 36 has 10 league games spread over 4 days.
Week 37 has 10 League games plus 2 F.A Cup semi-finals spread over 5 days (all games count - cup ties 90 minute score)  🏆

Will post the final week around the 23rd July.

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

Week 36 - 14th to 17th July
1 game on Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday, 4 on Thursday and the big relegation 6 pointer on Friday.

Chelsea v Norwich
Burnley v Wolves
Man City v Bournemouth
Newcastle v Tottenham
Arsenal v Liverpool
Everton v Aston Villa
Leicester v Sheff Utd
Crystal Palace v Man Utd
Southampton v Brighton
West Ham v Watford

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

Week 37 - 18th to 22nd July
2 games on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 3 on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday.
(F.A Cup games 90 minute score only, so a draw is possible)

Norwich v Burnley
Arsenal v Man City (FAC)
Bournemouth v Southampton
Tottenham v Leicester
Chelsea v Man Utd (FAC)
Brighton v Newcastle
Sheff Utd v Everton
Wolves v Crystal Palace
Watford v Man City
Aston Villa v Arsenal
Man Utd v West Ham
Liverpool v Chelsea

Good Luck All  😃

On a sad note - R.I.P Jackie Charlton who died on Saturday, another of the 1966 England team who has sadly gone  😢
Jack played his entire career for Leeds and managed Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and his favourite team Newcastle. Although he was an early football pundit he will be best remembered as the manager of the Republic of Ireland.
Thanks to his policy of picking up players with Irish ancestory he turned the Republic team into a real force and qualified for 2 World cups and the Euro's once.

Premier Predictions (Week 33+34+35)

A Triple bill as all the games are so close together.
30 games in the space of 10 days.

Week 33 - 4th to 6th July
5 games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday and one on Monday

Norwich v Brighton
Leicester v Crystal Palace
Man Utd v Bournemouth
Wolves v Arsenal
Chelsea v Watford
Burnley v Sheff Utd
Newcastle v West Ham
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Southampton v Man City
Tottenham v Everton

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

Week 34 - 7th to 9th July
3 games on Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday

Crystal Palace v Chelsea
Watford v Norwich
Arsenal v Leicester
Man City v Newcastle
Sheff Utd v Wolves
West Ham v Burnley
Brighton v Liverpool
Bournemouth v Tottenham
Everton v Southampton
Aston Villa v Man Utd

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

Week 35 - 11th to 13th July
5 games on Saturday, 4 on Sunday and one on Monday

Norwich v West Ham
Watford v Newcastle
Liverpool v Burnley
Sheff Utd v Chelsea
Brighton v Man City
Wolves v Everton
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Tottenham v Arsenal
Bournemouth v Leicester
Man Utd v Southampton

Good Luck All  😃

Premier Predictions (Week 32)

Week 32 - 10 Premier League Games + 4 F.A Cup Games
(all 14 games count, Cup ties 90 minute score only) 

Games spread between Saturday 27th and Thursday 2nd July.

Aston Villa v Wolves
Norwich v Man Utd (FAC)

Sheff Utd v Arsenal (FAC)
Leicester v Chelsea (FAC)
Watford v Southampton
Newcastle v Man City (FAC)

Crystal Palace v Burnley

Brighton v Man Utd

Arsenal v Norwich
Bournemouth v Newcastle
Everton v Leicester
West Ham v Chelsea

Sheff Utd v Tottenham
Man City v Liverpool

Good Luck All  😃

Premier Predictions (Week 30 + 31)

Football is back, and so is the predictions competition.
Hopefully everyone is still healthy and haven't lost any loved ones 💟

It's going to be a bit weird with no crowds, even with the TV companies offering artificial crowd noise to give the impression it's not just a training match kickabout. Watched a few of the German games and it's just going through the motions to placate the money men 😕

The teams are a bit of a mystery with some players not coming back yet due to fears about the virus, a lot of players who were loaned to leagues that have called it a day back with their teams.
Also rule changes like 5 substitutes each, and I don't think the home fixtures are guaranteed to take place where they should be?

Week 30 - 12 Games (From Wednesday 17th June to Monday 22nd June) 

Aston Villa v Sheff Utd
Man City v Arsenal
Norwich v Southampton
Tottenham v Man Utd
Watford v Leicester
Brighton v Arsenal
West Ham v Wolves
Bournemouth v Crystal Palace
Newcastle v Sheff Utd
Aston Villa v Chelsea
Everton v Liverpool
Man City v Burnley

Week 31 - 10 Games (From Tuesday 23rd June to Thursday 25th June)

Leicester v Brighton
Tottenham v West Ham
Man Utd v Sheff Utd
Newcastle v Aston Villa
Norwich v Everton
Wolves v Bournemouth
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Burnley v Watford
Southampton v Arsenal
Chelsea v Man City

Week 32 games are due to start on Saturday 27th June, but will include 4 F.A Cup Quarter Finals.
All in all it's going to be a hectic end with the season not finishing till the end of July, or later if Cup Finals still take place? and the new season originally scheduled to start the week after?

Good Luck All  😍

Sexy Football

I remember seeing a blow up doll being bounced around by the crowd a few times in the English leagues, but the South Koreans have taken it to a whole new level.

Football On TV

Two months without any live football on TV, and to be honest it's flown by.
Last decent game I saw was the Liverpool v Athletico Champs league game, although I did watch the Wolves Europa game the day after but that was behind closed doors so it was boring.
All the channels have been putting on various old games in highlight packages, which have all been spoiled by having to listen to current pundits waffling.
Gary Lineker is dull as ditchwater most of the time, and Jermaine Jenas is mind numbing.
But it was good to see BBC's World Cup rewind today, just showing highlights of classic matches without the need to listen to pundit's thoughts.

Great to see one of my all time favourite goals, Dennis Bergkamp's late winner against Argentina in the 1998 Quarter final. One of those games where you pick a side even though neither are "your" teams. Always loved watching Holland because of a history of talented players and their passionate colourful fans, and hate Argentina because of all the cheating b'stards who have played for them.
Very late in the game with both teams down to 10 men a stunning long pass to Bergkamp who controls it brilliantly, steps inside the defender and flashes it past the keeper with the outside of his foot. I went mad at the time and it still brings back the memory of that moment.

Future Football

Crowds

Games

Matches

My Thoughts

I know it's a really old fashioned view, but football used to be the people's game.
If we go ahead with the season playing all the remaining games behind closed doors at neutral venues, it is only for the benefit of all the businesses that have got fingers in the pie like advertisers, betting companies and TV etc.

Football without fans is really boring, like all your favourite rock bands playing without any music alright as a novelty one-off acapella, but you don't want to sit through that every time.

The more sensible predictions around are that things are unlikely to go back to anywhere normal this year, with a possible second wave when the first one eventually ends.
So why not just put the season on hold for the rest of the year, and continue if and when it is safe to do so next year.

There are still 9 or 10 games to go for Premier League teams, the F.A Cup has only reached the Quarter Final stage, and Europe is only at the last 16 stage.
So Man City for example could still have 19 games to fit in.
So even if we started in June and they played twice a week, they still wouldn't finish until mid August just in time for the start of next season.

If they have to play at neutral venues I suggest the Ottmar Hitzfeld Stadium in Switzerland, no fans in or around the ground as you have to take 2 cable cars to get there 😁

Peter Bonetti R.I.P

Another player who died recently was former Chelsea and England goalkeeper Peter Bonetti, he was 78 and had suffered a long illness.
I hadn't realised until today he had died as it didn't get as much coverage as Norman Hunter?

Probably missed the best of him as I didn't watch much football when I was little, the first game I remember watching all the way through was the 1970 F.A Cup Final with Chelsea against Leeds.
Sadly the only real memory of him I have is the 1970 World Cup when he was called in as a late replacement for Gordon Banks in the Quarter Finals against West Germany, and my Dad saying we would have beaten them if we'd had a proper goalkeeper 😔

He obviously had a fine career apart from that game and will be a sad loss for Chelsea fans 😢

Norman Hunter R.I.P

Sadly Norman Hunter became the first high profile ex-footballer to die of the Coronavirus today at the age of 76.
In interviews he seemed like a nice fella, but obviously during his playing days he was one of the most disliked players (outside of Leeds) in the infamous "dirty" Leeds team of the late 60's and early 70's.
Known as Norman "bite yer legs" Hunter by most after a famous banner in the crowd at Wembley at the Leeds v Sunderland F.A Cup Final in 1973 as far as I remember.
I'm pretty sure I did actually see him play in the flesh a couple of times in the early 70's remember us beating Leeds 2-1 but not sure if Hunter was playing?
In my memory 2 incidents stand out but neither were good for Norman, one was when he let the ball go under his foot leading to Poland scoring against England which knocked us out of World Cup 74.
The other was his famous fight with Franny Lee as they were both being  sent off (look it up on You Tube).

Here's the title winning Leeds team from 68/69 season and that banner.

Alan Shearer

If you've got 2 hours to spare? this is a really good interview.

Time Wasting

At least another month (probably longer) before we get any more football 😕
Hope everyone is well, my corona symptoms came and went (or it might have just been flu?) although I did get through 2 bottles of Cavonia cough medicine for that really annoying persistant dry cough when I usually never touch medicines, and that appears to be classic Corona symptoms?
Wife out of hospital with her non Corona problems, but now on a cocktail of drugs every day.

Anyway lots of time on my hands to catch up on music, films and other less important stuff 😆
I've now got over 1,300 football songs in the collection (95% pretty awful), when I started this blog there was an intention to post footy related music here, but music sharing was always a problem when I used to do it back in the day because hosting companies were always shutting down or demanding payments, and the ever present threat of having the blog shutdown because somebody didn't want me to share a song that hardly anyone bought when it was in the shops?
Also there are a few blogs/websites that do a nice collection already, see 45 Football and Football and Music .

Actually sat and watched the 1966 World Cup Final again, hadn't seen it in a lot of years 😁
One thought at the end was considering the fuss over our third goal which was probably justified as I reckon current goal line technology would have ruled it out, nobody seems to mention that West Germany's last minute equaliser in normal time was offside? considering the offside rule was a lot simpler back then with no first phase, second phase, was the player interfering etc.
The linesman was clearly flagging but nothing was made of it?

Everybody stay well, will most likely be back with something to fill my day and keep this blog ticking over in the next week 😃

Stir Crazy

At least another 6 weeks without football to take our minds of all the doom and gloom.
Might have to start all that decorating I've been putting off for years.

Virus

Well I guess we're on hold for the forseeable future?
Officialy games will restart on the 4th April but I guess that is unlikely.
The 2020 Euros and Copa America have been put back to next year, so possibly the season could be extended into June or July if and when it restarts.
Although as I'm leading the predictions table I would be happy if they cancelled the rest of the season 😆
Stay safe everyone.