Dan

You have time away from England and your hopes start to build. Then occasionally the reality takes over the hypothetical and you remember why it's just probably never going to happen under this manager.

Stan has been officially early kick offed.

You know when you said it's never boring

This weekends fixtures are repulsive. I'll take this without loads of thought being put into it:

This is where my sympathy with us dies. I've never quite understood the way we've voted on these sorts of things. I really do suspect foul play. Why would we vote to hurt ourselves? Just as a side note, are Leeds potentially in any bother? I look at some of your signings and the fact you've got so many big money players out on loan and think there's a possibility you get done, but then you did make a couple of significant sales. I find so many of these debates people just want to point to one particular issue when there are numerous. When I call the Premier League corrupt and a shambles, I don't do that from the position of thinking Leicester have been a well oiled machine, and likewise when I criticise Leicester's poor dealings I don't say that from the position of wanting to defend what is clearly a rigged system against clubs like ours - but then it's one that we have voted for ourselves. I really do miss the days we used to argue about footballers and teams. I've actually quite enjoyed some of the bile to and from Coventry and Leeds fans in a really backwards way. They're football arguments how I remember them!

I think a lot was revealed about who really holds the cards in April 2021 when the super league happened and then fell to bits. The speed which that got brushed under the carpet was quite revealing - tells me that people aren't 'really' bothered about the integrity of the sport as long as they have the illusion of a competitive league system playing out. The clubs weren't punished one bit and nobody is truly bothered by it. That tells you who really holds the power. Football doesn't really embrace radical change like that, but the fans in this country collectively don't really make any fuss about the gradual creep towards everything they would lose their shit about if it did happen overnight. I think things are in a far worse place than 10 years ago for example and it all comes via the subtleties. I think the super league does eventually happen, but by the time it happens, the majority will either be so worn down that it isn't even viewed as a bad option, or even what we have now will just become the super league by stealth. I've had my emotion totally stolen from football to be honest. I don't know if it's just a side effect of getting older and wiser, whether it's because I've witnessed genuine highs and lows or if the sport is just getting worse. It's a combination of all three but I don't think I'll ever truly get that back now. I have so little good to say about it these days.

Pretty much entirely this. I'm bored of it already and we've only been charged officially a few hours ago. It's a dreary experience. Luton fans will tell their grandkids about the day the courts sent Forest down at their expense. The pitch invasions of their garden were to die for.

It's apparent to me that ineptitude is rife in all parties. We've got too much previous to be off the hook for me with the Silva fiasco and god knows what else (I could try and list the errors in the last five years and probably miss half of them) but it's also apparent those implementing the rules are no better. The Everton deduction being reduced because they essentially admitted they had plucked a figure out of thin air sums up what you're dealing with.

Miserable times. The best case scenario is something that was unthinkable less than two years ago.

Just been through and worked out what my score would be if I'd backed each pick made as a single rather than a double. 9.86 points down. So £5 stakes I'd be £49.30 down, and £10 stakes I'd be £98.60 down. Still pretty shit but slightly better than this May do this with everyone at the end of the season.

It's what I've been doing. I've landed some singles at genuinely decent odds in recent weeks but keep ruining it with a shitter. I reckon I'll pull one good win in but nothing to stop me finishing bottom from here.

WEEK 33 - VERY SOLID WEEK 33 STATS Winning bets: 4 / 7 Winning selections: 8 / 12 Weekly forum position: +78.51 (Ranked 3/33) --- OVERALL STATS Winning bets: 56 / 216 Winning selections: 181 / 397 Total forum position: -£341.13 This was a much better showing, in both how quickly I got the table out and the general performance on show, with it being just the second time all season that four people posted a winner. It was actually a really quite impressive showing in general. Shown in the overall balance of course, but even those who lost this week all either landed a good pick or came very close to doing so. @Lucas returns to the top of the table following a 3/1 success on the Sky Bet boosts. Always nice to see Sky taking a hit. I'm very bitter about them stealing acca freeze away from me. It's looking like a two way title battle at the minute between him and @Pyfish who loses top spot for the first time since January. A fantastic pick on the Luton Forest game where he essentially needed the game to end 1-1 or 2-1 either way, a quite niche pick but a winner, but let down by Man City only getting the 2 goals against Newcastle despite having them both by the half hour mark. @Stan becomes the third player to enter profit in this weeks table - the first time that has happened since October. I'm spotting a trend in cynicism in his picks which seems to be paying dividends as we approach the business end of the season. Funny that. Ipswich and over 2.5 seems to be a pretty nailed on pick just about every time they play at home, and it was always pretty likely to happen in Chelsea v Leicester too. Good odds considering. @...Dan makes a return after a few weeks out and despite this run stretching back to November, this makes it 4 wins in 6 for him following two away wins. Rijeka winning 0-1 in a game they appeared to completely dominate, and Leipzig producing similar but in far more clinical fashion, winning 1-5 at Koln. @CaaC (John) picks up a good win having backed a score draw successfully. I have to say when I saw that I considered backing it myself, it felt extremely 1-1 to me, although it appears Stockley Park saved him somewhat. We seem to have a bit of a knack in this game of picking postponed matches, but in this case John took the void and the £33.33 win. @RandoEFC is the only player in the game to not claim any win on a selection this weekend with both corner picks falling two short of what was required, which is pretty unlucky. I now hold the very unwanted title of landing 20 straight losses which, as I keep stressing just seems implausible. I think when I started this, I quietly fancied myself to do really well at it so this has been a bit of a humiliation considering. But my god I don't get any luck do I. Successfully landing Chelsea beating us and BTTS (again at very decent odds), bloody hell, I even said 4-2 on the day. But Huddersfield get a red card at Rotherham and draw the game, so once again I think bad variance has stuffed me because Rotherham are genuine no-hopers and 11 v 11 I think Huddersfield to win the game. There's no point in me trying to pick anything under evens now either to be honest, there are only 11 more attempts to claw this back. The worst case scenario for me is I finish on around -£380 given there's still a £25 to use, so I've got to somehow try and make that much out of it. I'm due a bloody win anyway.

I actually really rate their statement to be fair to them. Actually called out the Premier League and the essentially rigged sport. For once good on them.

you think?! I find it truly incredible how we've likely managed to pull off both breaking the rules and getting relegated.

It's all so messy and so draining. Numbers plucked from thin air. Luton fans will tell their grandkids about the time they survived on the last day of... the court hearing as Everton were deemed to not have complied with the investigation. This isn't sport. It's a joke. Why are they doing this? That's what I want to really know.

There's a world where they throw all of these points deductions out IMO. Whoever signed all of this off needs the sack. They have made a right mess.

Sterling was so bad yesterday it was honestly funny. Genuinely added to the game as a spectacle. By the time of the free kick I almost felt bad for him.

Not including the specific details due to the hilarious nature of some of it but the game went not far off how I expected. We're both flawed in a few ways. Chelsea should've won it far more comfortably but gave us a chance in comical circumstances. I thought we did well to equalise from that part but there are some red flags on the performance for sure ahead of potential promotion. Defensively we have gone to bits in 2024 and yet despite Sterling putting in one of the most astoundingly bad individual displays you'll witness we still shipped 4 goals.

I'm assuming Everton got 6 points based on being in the league three years while Forest were in it two, but could be talking complete rubbish. Ours is imminent as well and make no mistake we are the biggest losers in this if it pans out how I expect. I don't know what our penalty will be exactly but we'd likely be the only club to get one, we went down anyway, and we wouldn't have the luxury of being in the league with Burnley and Sheffield United - meaning there's no way both Forest and Everton could go down anyway. I've said it elsewhere but I really wonder at what level they're deliberately sabotaging the game. It's like an attack on the fans.

How've I yet again landed my longer shot and blown it on the easier. How am I this fucking unlucky at this game? Genuinely never seen anything like it in my life.

That is correct. @CaaC (John) you have two options here - you can either settle your bet as a winner (£33.33 returns I think) or you can replace your void Rangers pick with another game from tomorrow if you wish, but of course risk blowing it. Totally up to you.

I'm surprised as well given they lost. Thankfully Huddersfield were there to save me, by drawing with a team who haven't picked up a point in 10 games.

WEEK 32 - ANOTHER HORROR SHOW WEEK 32 STATS Winning bets: 0 / 6 Winning selections: 4 / 11 Weekly forum position: -£60.00 (29/32) --- OVERALL STATS Winning bets: 52 / 210 Winning selections: 181 / 397 Total forum position: -£419.64 Late table and it wasn't really worth the wait was it. Christ. Six losers, four of us coming fairly close though - me and @RandoEFC were only a goal out on the same game although admittedly that's despite a last gasp goal coming in anyway so it wasn't 'that' close (though mine would've been a fucking belting win that would've nearly taken me off the bottom!). Better luck this week.