wooster

OK, to avoid that let''s make Morty pragmatist of the year and LDC diplomat of the year.

It is appalling that over 1,200 lives have been lost in building facilities in Qatar for what everyone knows is a ridiculous project that was only realised through inappropriate behaviour. UEFA should withdraw from FIFA (with UK participating countries support) and run a European competition with USA & Australian involvement. That would concentrate the minds of sponsors and hopefully detach them from FIFA.

I agree that Parma has to be best poster of the year, merely for services to football education (on my part at least). Also think Nutty deserves something, perhaps philanthropist of the year ... I wonder whether LDC should be pragmatist of the year and Morty diplomat of the year?

As objective as I can be, I think Wooster on the PuPs thread has nailed it with: 0-0 at half-time; 1-1 at full-time; and 3-1 after extra-time.

Life''s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

As PC said "Thanks to the Anonymous Benefactor for their generosity, and to the other posters whose side bets and contributions have been boosting the coffers to make this such a successful season for the PUPs. Thanks also to nutty for his work in finding such a worthwhile cause to help". I have no idea what the odds are but I think it will 0-0 at half-time, 1-1 at full-time and 3-1 to us after extra-time. Personally I hope it will all be over by half time and we can relax and enjoy a triumphant second half but it doesn''t seem to work like that. Nutty - thanks again for all the fun this season.

Great read and funnily enough, despite living in Kilburn at the time I didn''t get to the ''85 League Cup Final. I did get to Live Aid in July ''85 with my wife-to-be and that event was, arguably, a better use of the old stadium. Like you, this year I am taking my son to the Wembley though he doesn''t realise what a rare event it is. I went last year in the posh seats as a guest of Fleetwood Town for the Div 2 play-off final. This year we''re in the gods (LV5) which looks a bit like Tottenham seats for away fans, ie good vision albeit from above. Here''s looking down at you!

Wembley officials have apologised to Middlesbrough fans for misspelling their team''s name on tickets for the Championship play-off final. Tickets for Monday''s game with Norwich called the club ''Middlesborough''. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32797912

There is official parking at the stadium at £30 - availability is "good".

Nigel, I have enjoyed participating in the PUPs match picks this season though I have indulged myself by seeking to identify potential draws, rather unsuccessfully as only 10 in 28 picks were correct. As the Everton-WBA was the subject of a Monday night special the residual “strike rate” is 1/3. You reminded me early in the season that the match picks should be complementary to an accumulator bet and therefore my draw tips, whilst offering favourable odds, were not reliable enough to be helpful picks. I accept the point and I have calculated when my picks were successful a £1 bet would have yielded £32.65. Yankee Canary pointed out that the Saturday bet was £10 on six bets so I have multiplied the total by 10/6, or £54.42 in total. This doesn’t quite pick up the multiplicative effect of an accumulator bet so I have rounded this up to £75 to reflect the mouth-watering odds that Tilly et al regularly attain! I’ve transferred this to your account and thank you, once again, for allowing me to be part of such a marvellous project.

Nigel, I''m heartened by GP''s wish to back the Villa/West Ham draw, so I''ve sent £10 as a special. Hopefully it''ll come off.

Good luck GP & CK and everyone else. This week''s draw will be Villa-West Ham, at 12/5. I think (hope) Norwich will win 2-0, at 12/1.

It might have something to do with the time difference ..... it''s 2.30am (BST + 11 hours) over there.

Good luck DDD, Josh and everyone else. The odds for a Charlton win vs a hungover Bournemouth side look very attractive at 5/1 but, as usual, I''m going for a draw at 3/1. For the Norwich bet my heart has overruled my head and I''m plumping for a 3-1 win at 11/1.

I understand these figures were published in the Express, so not sure how reliable they are.

well that table is clear isn''t it?

Nigel, My idea of multiplying the win rate by the profitability level then combines reliability with "value", for want of a better word. This assumes equal weighting to each measure though I''m sure there''s argument for placing greater weight on reliability, given that we have to get 6 out of 6 to actually add to the PUPs pot. I like Parma''s idea of a parallel competition. PUP Wins Picks Win% Profitability Win x Prof 1 Lappinitup 27 37 73% 8.97 6.55 2 Feedthewolf 32 36 89% 6.68 5.95 3 Herman 31 37 84% 6.65 5.59 4 Yellowfuture 32 36 89% 5.85 5.21 5 Mandie Moo 30 36 83% 6.06 5.03 6 Splutcho 25 32 78% 6.25 4.88 7 Chellecity 33 37 89% 4.51 4.01 8 Purple Canary 34 38 89% 4.43 3.94 9 Mr Angry 32 38 84% 4.64 3.90 10 Kathy 27 33 82% 4.62 3.79 11 Til1010 35 38 92% 3.42 3.15 12 Bor Bor Bor 25 33 76% 3.80 2.89 13 Parma ham''s gone mouldy 29 37 78% 3.29 2.57 14 Jellytot 20 27 74% 3.46 2.56 15 CD Mullins 21 24 88% 2.64 2.32 16 Diesel Doris 27 37 73% 2.98 2.18 17 jb 31 38 82% 2.39 1.96 18 Inchy 27 37 73% 2.65 1.93 19 Twidio 18 22 82% 2.21 1.81 20 Gregt 21 31 68% 2.62 1.78 21 Norfolkchance1 23 36 64% 2.56 1.64 22 Lake District Canary 21 31 68% 2.31 1.57 23 Woostercanary 11 33 33% 4.33 1.43 24 Mandie Moo''s Mear Kat 26 33 79% 1.72 1.36 25 Hissing Sid 28 38 74% 1.11 0.82 26 nutty nigel 27 38 71% 1.08 0.77 27 Hector Brockelbank 28 35 80% 0.93 0.74 28 Cityangel 21 33 64% -0.10 -0.06 29 AJ 26 38 68% -0.24 -0.16 30 Beauseant 20 24 83% -0.22 -0.18 31 Mr Apples 26 37 70% -0.79 -0.55 32 The Great Drinkell 16 37 43% -1.86 -0.80 33 Pauls Ferry 11 21 52% -1.70 -0.88 34 Gingerpele 11 19 58% -1.72 -1.00 35 Cosmic Twin 30 38 79% -1.47 -1.16 36 NWC 19 27 70% -1.71 -1.20 37 Graham Humphrey 25 37 68% -1.86 -1.26 38 Vindo 27 35 77% -1.82 -1.40 39 GMF 24 37 65% -2.22 -1.44 40 Statto28 27 37 73% -3.01 -2.20 41 Trent Canary 26 37 70% -4.00 -2.80 42 Yankee 26 38 68% -4.17 -2.84 43 City-til-I-die 19 32 59% -4.86 -2.87 44 Leedscanary 23 33 70% -4.45 -3.12 45 Swindoncanary 25 36 69% -4.61 -3.18 46 DDD 14 26 54% -6.30 -3.40

The audience may have been picked by an independent organisation (ICM) but it has said that it chose the audience using the following party preference ratio: Conservative 5 Labour 5 Lib Dem 4 Ukip 3 SNP 2 Green 2 Plaid 1. Now I don''t want to be seen as an apologist for UKIP but I make that: Right of centre: 8/22 or 36.4% (Conservative & UKIP) Centre: 4/22 or 18.2% (Lib Dem) Left of centre:10/22 or 45.5% (Labour, SNP, Green & Plaid). Just saying ........

Coincidentally that''s what I predicted on the PUPs thread. I''m sure it''s going to happen but I''ve only got three Norwich match predictions right this season....

Nigel/Wolfie, Just my humble opinion but I think the league table should be the based on the product of correct results and profitability - what do you think? I''ve tended to try to pick draws with my selections this season not that anyone (quite rightly) has been daft enough to include them in their ''final 6''. So that the PUPs don''t miss out on these winning selections (well 1 in 3 ) I will donate the £1 bet on these (excluding the Monday night special) which, to date, equates to £36.28. To add to this largesse this weekend''s obvious draw is Southampton-Spurs (at 12/5). With the Norwich bet I think we''ll win 3-0 (at 10-1). Good luck all.

Yes, one of the best threads on here for a long time. For the tactically illiterate (me) it is a helpful insight into what I miss when watching football. Thank you.

Before : P24 W7 D7 L7 i guess 3 went missing ....

I know you won''t believe me but I really did have Derby-Brentford (at 13/5) as a draw last weekend, I just forgot to submit it. It wasn''t all good as I thought we''d win 4-1 last week as well. Nevertheless, this week I think Stoke will draw with Southampton at 21/10 and we''ll win on Friday 2-1 (at 8/1). Best of luck YC, CanarygalLyn & everyone else.

Good luck & happy Easter everyone. I think Everton will draw with Southampton, at 21/10. As there are scant betting odds available on William Hill for Norwich''s game on Monday, I''ll go for a Norwich win with 4 or more goals, at 10/3.

Fleetwood to draw with Preston, at 12/5. Good luck all.