Premier League

Stairs        8pts 1CS 4CR 0GB -3BB 1SB
Derby        7pts 1CS 5CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Blue Baggie 5pts 0CS 2CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
SCO            3pts 2CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Sanjay        2pts 1CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
Minizin        2pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 2SB
Snooty        1pt 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Zinman      -1pt 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Well, it was better than last week....just. For the 2nd week in a row everybody got their bonus ball wrong (hint; you're supposed to pick the game that you're most confident of getting right!) and with just 1 positive gamball score it was never going to be pretty. Nobody reached double figures though in a change from last week we only had one minusman.

Stairs crawled his way to top spot thanks to his avoidance of the gamball paying off. Derby grasps second with the week's high of 5 correct result predictions though his balls held him back. Blue was the only player to predict a Wolves victory but didn't get a lot else right - still good enough for 3rd place!

SCO at least had the satisfaction of getting all of his correct result predictions spot on (I suppose grammatically I should have written "both" rather than "all" but all sounds better and he needs all the help he can get). Sanjay and Minizin scrambled to a mighty 2 points, 1 more than Snooty, leaving Zinman trailing in last place unable to even reach zero.

Minizin 283
Zinman 274
Derby 265
Stairs 249
Blue 238
Sanjay 215
Snooty 204
SCO 202

Unsurprisingly, no change in the overall table this week though SCO does at least get the satisfaction of breaking the 200 barrier.....again! 

Zin


Championship

Amelia 21pts 2CS 4CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
AAA 11pts 2CS 0CR NPGB 6BB 1SB
Dingle 9pts 1CS 2CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Themaclad 7pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 5pts 0CS 2CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Twerton 5pts 2CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Lady Jane 3pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
BBB 1pts 1CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Not the best week of the season but equally not the worst either!!  Amelia though was definitely not mediocre this week and scored her season's best with 21 points!!  She scored on 6 games, got 2 CSs and 4 CRs including both the Gamball and Bonus!!  Second place is AAA with 11 points, he went the opposite way to Amelia by scoring on just two games, with them both being CSs, one on the Bonus!!

No one else got into double figures through.  Dingle on 9, Themaclad on 7 and BaggieOne & Twerton on 5 were distinctly all mediocre this week.  Lady Jane ended with a poor 3 points and BBB had one of his worst weeks of the season and if it hadn't been for the Scoreball it would have been his worst!!

In fact the Scoreball was won by every player this week, if only more could get that consistency with the other balls we would see some better scoring across the board.

297 Dingle
276 BaggieOne
272 Lady Jane
271 AAA
259 BBB
189 Themaclad
184 Twerton
175 Amelia

No positional changes and the only real moves of note were AAA now right on the heels of LJ and BaggieOne, and Amelia closing right up on Twerton for the wooden spoon!!

Cheers
SCO

Bolton Wanderers footballer Kyle Dempsey and his father have been spared prison following a "merciless" drink-fuelled attack on a bouncer.

The pair had admitted assault over the incident at Maryport Labour Club, in Cumbria, in July.

It happened hours after Bolton played a friendly against Dempsey's former side Carlisle United.

At Carlisle Crown Court they were sentenced to 12 and 13 months in jail respectively, suspended for 18 months.

The midfielder, of Blackpool, and his 50-year-old father Michael Dempsey, from Maryport, were both ordered to pay social club doorman Darryl Jarvis £1,500 compensation.

They must also complete 200 hours' unpaid work as well as serve night-time curfews, which can be varied in Kyle Dempsey's case in the light of any "employment issues".

'Wildly excessive'
Judge Ian Unsworth KC rejected the pair's claim of having acted in self-defence and described it as an "ugly" attack that was "wildly excessive, ruthless and merciless".

"This was, as each of you have acknowledged, shameful conduct," he said.

"You have each let yourself down, your family down and, in your case Kyle Dempsey, you know that you have let down the people who employ you and those who look up to you.

"But it is important you are not treated any differently from anybody else appearing before these courts."

Kyle Dempsey scores Bolton's first goal against Plymouth Argyle in the Papa Johns Trophy final at Wembley in April 2023
IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA
Image caption,
Dempsey scored at Wembley in Bolton's win in the Papa Johns Trophy final last week
The Dempseys had tried to enter the club at about 22:30 BST on 16 July as they followed a man who had briefly knocked the footballer unconscious in the street.

The pair then set on Mr Jarvis after he "pulled" Kyle Dempsey outside with the doorman suffering a broken nose, chipped teeth, bruised ribs, heavy bleeding and a cut to his head.

'Mindless thugs'
In a victim impact statement Mr Jarvis said a scar on the left side of his head was "a constant reminder of the attack" which fell on his wedding anniversary.

He added: "Now it will always be overshadowed as a reminder of the violence I suffered by two people who I can only describe as mindless thugs who had the sole intention of causing me serious harm."

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said the footballer punched and kneed the doorman before his father, an ex-rugby league professional, "joined in, raining punches towards Mr Jarvis".

Kyle Dempsey, who admitted he had "lost it", said he had drunk three or four pints of alcohol.

In mitigation, Lisa Judge said the footballer had been a man of previous good character and warned a prison sentence would "wreck" his career.

"He has faced (online) trolling. He has faced shouts from the stands since July 2022. This one night has lived with him ever since.

"Kyle Dempsey's trade is kicking a ball. It is something that he has lived for ever since the age of six.

"It is something he has fought for, it is something that his family have supported him throughout in achieving and all that may be thrown away for these 14 minutes or so in the Labour Club."

She described his father, who also admitted damaging a door, as a "loving, kind family man".

Peterborough United have been given a suspended three-point deduction and fined £50,000 by the EFL for failing to comply with league regulations.

The club failed to declare chief executive officer David Paton as a relevant person in January 2022 and allowed him to act in that role without the written authority of the EFL.

Posh were charged in September and Paton had been suspended since then.

He has now left the League One club with immediate effect.

The three-point deduction is suspended until 31 December.

Posh said in a statement that they "regret the oversight" and apologised.

"We have implemented a rigorous set of procedures to ensure that such breaches do not occur in the future," they said.

"We thank the EFL for completing its investigation in a thoroughly transparent and professional manner."

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 15TH APRIL KO 3:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



We got back to winning ways as we brushed aside Accrington. We go off to quick start and were rewarded when the ball fell to Adeniran 12 yards out and he finished well. We had few other chances while Stanley clipped the bar from a free kick. Onto the 2nd half and we quickly doubles our lead with Adeniran firing home from close range. We made the game safe when Bannan fed the ball through to Palmer, who steadied himself and fired it into the bottom corner. We saw the rest of the game out and went back top of the league but the others do have a game in hand. 

THE MATCH



Next up and a short trip to Burton. Burton, not too surprisingly, have been in the bottom half of the league for the season and currently lie in 18th place. They do look like they might avoid the drop, they have a 7 point gap to Accrington in 21st place and have a game in hand. There leading scorer is Victor Adeboyejo, who has 11 goals and a couple of assists. They are currently managed by Dino Maamria, who has been in charge since September.

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 3
BURT 3
DRAWS 2

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                                

BURT               -                                                      

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

WILL FINNIE
Steven Rushton and Richard Woodward
Fourth Official : Alan Clayton

THE TEAM

Dawson
Palmer Famewo Flint
Adeniran Bannan James Vaulks Johnson
Gregory Wilkes

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Gregory

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

BML LEAGUE

Owlskev 25
Stateside 23
SCO 22
Imre 21
Wash 20
Maddix 17
Peiowl 14

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Chelsea v Brighton
QPR v Coventry
Forest Green v Barnsley
Rochdale v Bradford
Notts Co v Woking

AAAAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Gamball:
Aston Villa - Newcastle

Others:
Wolves - Brentford
Chelsea - Brighton
Everton - Fulham
Southampton - Crystal Palace
Blackpool - Wigan
Stoke - WBA
Swansea - Huddersfield
QPR - Coventry
Exeter - Plymouth

outh Shields' promotion to National League North was made all the more special by the "expectation and pressure" they have played under this season, says boss Kevin Phillips.

The full-time Mariners won 1-0 at Whitby thanks to Tom Broadbent's goal, to win promotion with two games left.

It will be their first time at that level since reforming in 1974.

"I'm not normally emotional, but I am now as it's a massive achievement," Phillips told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"In my first full season in charge and being able to build my own squad, it's an incredible feeling to get over the finishing line with the pressures and expectation.

"There's huge relief but also monumental proudness of my players, the squad, the staff and everyone connected with the football club."

Ex-Football League players such as Broadbent, Blair Adams, Gary Liddle, Lewis Alessandra and Michael Woods have been key figures in the side this season, helping South Shields to 24 wins from 40 games and an unassailable eight-point lead at the top.

Such depth will make former Sunderland and England striker Phillips' life much easier when it comes to preparing for the next step.

"We've already been planning for next year," Phillips added. "We put a squad together last summer that if we did go up, could cope with the league above and we need to add maybe two or three additions, so we haven't got a busy summer going up.

"At the minute I'm not focusing on that, we just need to enjoy this occasion because it's an immense achievement."

Tom Broadbent
Tom Broadbent scored South Shields' winner at Whitby to earn promotion as champions
The ambition shown by chairman Geoff Thompson has already been a galvanising factor for Shields, attracting crowds of 3,000 to their 1st Cloud Arena home in nearby Jarrow.

About 1,500 away supporters made the trip down to the north Yorkshire coast to see promotion achieved, and double that is expected for their final home game against closest rivals Warrington next weekend.

He hopes the promotion will "bring some upturn" given the potential for sponsorship, gate income and other spin-offs.

Success this season also helps fans, players, coaches and the hierarchy to make peace, given their hopes of achieving this feat were dashed just three years ago.

"It's been long awaited," Thompson told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"We had the challenges over Covid when the season was null and voided, when we were 12 points clear with nine games to go.

"So this really feels like something that I'm not saying we deserved, but something that we've been waiting for, for a long time."

2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

Friday 14th April:
Middlesbrough v Norwich City

Saturday 15th April:
Swansea v Town
Town scorers:
Swansea scorers:

Sheffield United v Cardiff City (12:30)
Blackpool v Wigan Athletic
Millwall v Preston North End
Queens Park Rangers v Coventry City
Reading v Burnley
Rotherham United v Luton Town
Stoke City v West Bromwich Albion
Sunderland v Birmingham City
Watford v Bristol City
Blackburn Rovers v Hull City (19:45)

Tuesday 18th April:
Sunderland v Town
Town scorers:
Sunderland scorers:

Blackpool v West Bromwich Albion
Rotherham United v Burnley
Sheffield United v Bristol City
Stoke City v Wigan Athletic
Millwall v Birmingham City

Wednesday 19th April:
Blackburn Rovers v Coventry City
Queens Park Rangers v Norwich City
Swansea City v Preston North End
Watford v Cardiff City
Middlesbrough v Hull City
Reading v Luton Town

Bonus match:
Saturday:
Scottish Premiership:
Hibernian v Heart of Midlothian (12:30)

Table after Matchday 34:

1. jjamez = 804 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 765 pts
   
3. themaclad = 764 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 748 pts
   
5. St Charles Owl = 734 pts
   
6. neonfoxinthebox = 724 pts
   
7. Lord Snooty = 689 pts
   
8. ritchiebaby = 667 pts
   
9. Amelia Chaffinch = 642 pts
   
10. SHEP_HTAFC = 638 pts
    
11. Devongone = 606 pts
    
12. WakeyTerrier = 171 pts

https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/234...statement/

So Robbie Neilson's inevitable dismissal finally materialised and HMFC officials trying to appease themselves with lots of disenchanted Hearts fans who finally had enough after their latest capitulation, 0-2 at home v the Buddies.

I want to see Hibs board "grow a pair" and take similar action to finally get rid of a worse manager than Neilson - a Hibs manager who similarly failed miserably today v a very poor Dundee United side that had never won a game in their last 11 fixtures - TOO MUCH! INEPT AGAIN, SLOW AND LABOURED - TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!!!