Cast your mind back to the UK in March 2020, the great lockdown debate, the Media vast number of celebs were clamouring for a lockdown, eventually Johnson agrees although many say he was a week to late, the same with the Autumn one he was reluctant to lock down again critised for doing so late by the usual suspects.
Now we all did as we were told and dutifully followed orders until we all got bored.
Moving forward there are people saying we should noot be opening up fully next week even though everybody has been out for weeks.
Boris was often compared to how the woman with many teeth in New Zealand and how she had saved them from a massive death toll but being permanently locked down since the crisis began, the same to a lesser scale with Australia. (Though I note that Sydney has extended the quarentine because Delta cases are rising)
However an article that really should be highlighted popped in of all places the Guardian, the link below

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/j...unity-debt

To my way of thinking although you may disagree we are now in a Catch 22 situation, you lockdown against Covid but destroy people's immune system or we let people and take the risk of them getting Covid.
In another article Sir Patrick Vallance states up to 60,000 could die from flu this winter from having immune systems which cannot cope. Hospitals in Britain are already on alert for high flu incomings this winter.

One final point if you have had a complete lockdown as NZ and Australia have had how can you actually open up again.

Suggest you all make sure you get a flu jab

It has been 32 years today since the horrific passing of Laurie Cunningham, one of the best players it has ever been my fortune to watch live. It is difficult to describe, for those who never saw him just how good he was, as big Ron said "he could run on snow and not leave a footprint. imagine the skill of Pereira, with the speed of Diangana and the strength and will of Livermore and you would have a bit of what Cunningham was, such a sad and premature loss.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here for the start of the new Prediction League season. We had 11 players last season, but everybody is welcome to join in. Sign on now if you fancy a go. As always, the massive prize for winning this game will be a whole rep point. So it's really worth joining in, as you can cash in your rep points at any time for such hypothetical prizes as....... a cuddly toy, a fondu set, a blankety blank cheque book & pen, a speed boat, a fanny magnet, an air guitar, a year's subscription to Ceefax, or a signed copy of Bradford City; the Glory Years.

The rules are quite simple, with just a few complications along the way.......

2 points for a correct result
4 points for a correct score
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.


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.

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.  

NEW FOR THIS SEASON: 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.
So last season's matches would've been Baggiebob(BBB) v theo_luddite and jjamez v St Charles Owl and would've given a bit more to play for towards the back end of the season.
The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

We now have an Appeals Committee set up, consisting of me, myself and I. All appeals must be made before the next Matchday kicks off.

A nice little one to start with:-


EFL Cup rd 1:
Saturday 31st July:
AFC Bournemouth v Milton Keynes Dons (15:00)

Sunday 1st August:
Sheff Weds v Town
Town scorers:
Wendy scorers:

Scottish Premiership:
Motherwell v Hibernian (16:30)


Final Table for 2020/21:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 916 pts
   
2. jjamez = 899 pts
   
3. St Charles Owl = 862 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 858 pts
   
5. themaclad = 847 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 840 pts
   
7. SHEP_HTAFC = 794 pts
   
8. neonfoxinthebox = 791 pts
   
9. ritchiebaby = 786 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 686 pts
    
11. Beefy 1965 = 356 pts

The Albion powerchair team have again reached the final of the FA Disability Cup, having previously won the competition in 2019 and the Premier League in 2018. They'll be playing Aspire PFC on Saturday morning at 10.30, with the match broadcast live on BT Sport. Just a quick one to congratulate them on their success so far and to wish them all the best in the weekend's encounter. Hopefully if anyone's got an hour to spare, tune in to give the Baggie boys some moral support, or feel free to just give them a shout out on here if you prefer.

Welcome to the Chesterfield Predication League 2021/22


Past winners of the Chesterfield Predication League include:
2020/2021 Lord Snoots
2019/2020 Amelia
2018/2019 Devongone
2017/2018 St Charles
2016/2017 Lord Snoots
2015/2016 Spireitematt
2014/2015 Amelia

Rules:
1. Anybody can enter
2. I will update the table after each matchday

That's it those are the rules.

Scoring:

4pts = Correct score line
2pts = Correct goalscorer
2pt = Correct outcome
Joker doubles your score but get it wrong and you will LOSE 2 pts (Can only use the joker once)

So if you predict 2-0 and it finishes 4-0 you get 4pts but if you predict 4-0 you will get 8pts but get it wrong and its minus 2pts. The Joker is optional you don't have to play one if you don't want.

League One

1st
2nd

3rd
4th
5th
6th

Playoff Winner

Wednesdays final position

21st
22nd
23rd
24th

PL Champs
CH Champs
L2 Champs

FA Cup winners
League Cup winners

A    for each correct answer.
4 Bonus     if you get all the League Winners correct.

Closing date Midday Saturday 7th August

We've sold Joel Taylor to Notts County for an undisclosed fee.

Strongly disagree with Dancing that we are playing 0-10-0 next season.

A 1-7-2 looks on to me.

One of our greats. Not had a good retirement but well be remembered for his good days by all Spireites. RIP.

In recent years the FA Cup has suffered declining interest, yet it is an inherently magical competition. For the coming season over 700 clubs have entered and the first draws have been made without any big-time TV coverage. The first matches will be in the EXTRA PRELIMINARY ROUND due to be played Saturday August 7th. Winners will receive £1,125 and losers get £375. This sort of finance really matters to clubs at this level. 174 games will be played from Ashington v Newcastle Benfield to Ilfracombe Town v Wellington AFC as 348 teams embark on the road to Wembley.

I'm going to do my best to report on every round, if not every match of the competition.

The draw has also been made for the Preliminary Round itself, due to be played Saturday August 21st. Winners get £1,444 and losers collect £481. There will be 155 ties in all from Marske v Pickering Town to Mousehole v Plymouth Parkway or Helston Athletic, so 136 teams will come in at this stage.

You could even do what TheMaclad often does, select a local team and follow it until it is knocked out and then follow the conquerors. This is much closer to the real game than the Euros.

Its all getting boring now. Saidou Khan joins the squad. If its who I think it is he looked a bit useful against us last season. Looks like next season we might be going for
0-10-0 formation.