Covid Vaccine on the way:

When will the spectators be allowed back? (if Johnson's as confident as he seems, and everyone gets it. Will Covid then be treated just like the flu, say?)

Next question:

Will 'Football' have lost a number of fans who formerly attended out of habit, and have now lost a little bit of interest, or found other hobbies, or are not as well off as a year ago, or stopped to consider that the attraction has gone and they don't like cheering on and worshipping multi-millionaires? (A combination of all factors?)
Or will fans be even more keen than a year ago to get back to normality, and meet up with their old mates behind the goal?

The same question - for Albion - will be even more complex if early season form continues (except for the last match).

We play Brighton in February. What d'you reckon? 18,000?
We play ManU in February. 22,000?
Liverpool v ManU? Full House or not?

Altrincham 2-0 Aldershot Town
Barnet 1-0 Bromley
Chesterfield 2-1 Maidenhead United
Solihull Moors 3-0 FC Halifax Town
Sutton United 1-2 King's Lynn Town
Torquay United 3-0 Boreham Wood
Wealdstone 2-0 Dover Athletic
Woking 2-1 Yeovil Town
Eastleigh 0-2 Hartlepool United

League Table After Matchday 8
Lord Snoots = 80
Spireitematt = 72
Amelia = 70
Devon = 64
Dancing = 56
St Charles = 28

seeing as we have no proper football for the rest of the week

what are everyones favourite Album Cover

Player Pts CS CR GB BB SB
Bomber 15 0 5 5 3 1
St Charles 13 1 2 5 3 1
Snooty 11 0 3 5 3 1
B.B.B. 11 0 3 5 3 1
A.A.A. 10 1 4 NP -3 1
Amelia 9 0 4 5 -3 1
Themaclad 8 1 2 5 -3 0
Derby 7 0 3 5 -3 1
Twerton 3 0 4 -3 -3 1
Sanjay -3 0 1 -3 -3 1


The Gamball turned up trumps for most this week and in the end I think this plastered over a pretty poor week on the whole!!

Our reigning PL champion Bomber comes out top this week with 15 points, scoring on a weeks high 5 games, including scoring points on all three of his balls!! If he cold have converted a couple of the 5 CRs he had into CSs then he might have gone big!! In 2nd spot is St Charles on 13 points keeping his good start to the season ticking along. Like Bomber he scored on all his balls and was one of only 3 players to get a CS as well. Lord Snooty and BBB are joint in 3rd spot on 11 points. Like the top 2 they scored on all their balls but neither could manage a CS.

AAA is in 5th on 10 points, he got a CS and 4 CRs but reverted to type and didn't play the Gamball, this cost him 3 extra points this week!! 6th spot goes to Amelia with 9 points, like most others she got the Gamball but missed on the bonus. Themaclad is in 7th on 8 points closely followed by Derby in 8th on 7 points, both got the Gamball but missed on their Bonus and Themaclad was the only player not to pick up the extra point on the scoreball.

After a decent couple of weeks Twerton drops back down to 9th with just 3 points, he got 4 CRs but missed on both the Gamball and Bonus to wipe most of those points out. 10th and last this week is Sanjay on -3, it seems one player has a shocker each week and this week it was his turn. He only scored on one game and missed both the Bonus and Gamball!!

In the table BBB retains his lead but its down to just an 8 point gap to St Charles who reclaims 2nd spot. There is a bit of a gap between the top 2 and the chasing pack with Sanjay in 3rd, 15 points behind SCO!! Also the group behind Sanjay are right on his heels with Amelia, AAA and Bomber only separated by 5 points. At the bottom we see Derby climbing off the bottom and once again swapping places with Twerton.

International weeks coming up, see you all on the other side!!

Cheers
SCO


BBB 91pts
SCO 83
Sanjay 68
Amelia 66
AAA 63
Bomber 61
Snooty 56
Themaclad 43
Derby 36
Twerton 35


Minizin 17pts 2CS 4CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Joker 15pts 1CS 4CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Zinman 15pts 1CS 4CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Somerset 11pts 1CS 4CR 0GB 3BB 0SB
Stairs 11pts 0CS 5CR 0GB 3BB 0SB
BaggieOne 11pts 0CS 3CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Silver 10pts 1CS 3CR 0GB 3BB 1SB
Beefy 9pts 0CS 4CR 0GB 3BB 0SB
DD 9pts 0CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Lady Jane 7pts 2CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

A high scoring week, in fact the best of the season so far with only 1 negative gamball score and 8 positive bonus balls. Only the final game failed to deliver a single correct prediction (you can never trust those Witton pond dwellers) while not surprisingly, the Albion game collected a clean sweep of correct result predictions. A missed opportunity for some, with 4 players shying away from the gamball and all 4 getting the result right.


Top place is the overall table leader Minizin with 2 correct scores and a full set of positive balls to extend his lead. Although he's new to the league his pedigree clearly can't be questioned. Sharing 2nd place are Joker and Zinman with identical scores and new motivation following Beefy's premature (as ever) gloating. Joker equalled his best week of the season so far and, after 4 weeks without a double figure score, Zinman returned to form - a rare use of the gamball providing an unexpected bonus.

Somerset, Stairs and Baggieone are locked together on 11 points for the week though all achieved this score in very different ways. Somerset equalled Zin's 1 correct score and 4 correct results but chose not to play the gamball, missing out on 3 additional points, and also missing out on the scoreball. Stairs topped the week for correct result predictions - 5 - but failed to nail a correct score and like Somerset, missed out on the extra gamball points. BaggieOne had the worst week in terms of correct predictions with just 3 right and no correct scores, but was lifted by a full set of positive balls. Silver was a point further back, only 3 correct predictions but with 1 correct score. One of his correct results was the gamball but like Somerset and Stairs, he chose not to play it.

Only 3 players failed to reach double figures. Beefy was the final gamball chicken - could his cowardice cost him in the overall table? DD scored on the gamball but missed out on his bonus (bloody Villa) to equal Beefy's score. Lady Jane actually equalled this week's leaders in terms of correct scores and results but her wayward balls cost her to leave her bottom of the table.

In the overall table, Minizin's good week will see an increase in his lead at the top of the table. Beneath him there are a number of changes though it remains very tight. Joker jumps up to 2nd place with Somerset. Zinman climbs up to 4th while Stairs drops back to 5th. Beefy brief stint above Joker and Zinman comes to a very quick end (he'll deny it, claim fraudulent scoring and threaten legal action .... or is that Trump? Thinking about it, they could actually be the same person, after all has anyone ever seen Beefy and Trump in the same room?)as he falls back into midtable though not quite out of touch......yet.

A big gap then to the 4 strugglers (I'm assuming OneTrueBaggie has dropped out). BaggieOne climbs a point above Lady Jane while Silver scored 1 more point than DD this week to leave the latter alone t the foot of the table.

See you all after the international break.




Minizin 81pts
Somerset 71
Joker 71
Zinman 70
Stairs 68
Beefy 66
BaggieOne 47
Lady Jane 46
Silver 43
DD 42
Onetrue 39

Another League Cup group match for Hibs and a welcome one v lesser opponents who the guys should overcome without trying too hard. I think Hibs and Jack Ross need to start winning games again and just gradually build a level of confidence that is important before participating in future Scot Prem matches. Otherwise they are gonna be in deep trouble leading in to Xmas. I'd personally drop Boyle as I've come to the conclusion he is just doing enough and no more, avoiding picking up any bad injuries and therefore one comes to the conclusion that he wants to leave HFC on the back end of a nice tidy transfer fee. However, that won't happen if he does not return to the good form that he experienced before his contract was extended. I'm sure Ross may well give a start to some fringe players anyway and why not. I'm not greatly interested in this particular cup tourney but it could be a source of media revenue that Hibs could do with. Times are tough, no fans attending any more and a good number of Scot footie clubs are struggling, even Some Scot Prem ones, but not advertising the fact.

Adrian Goldberg and Chris Lepkowski have been digging for months.
What has now been revealed may see our club in huge trouble with the FA including demotion,fines or other if the club has illegally changed hands( thanks JP)
Shareholders wanted answers,Ken wouldn't meet them so it looks as though the shareholders have reported this to the FA themselves....
Read below
What a mess


Strong words from Shareholders 4 Albion in letter sent today to #WBA - S4A hold just over 12% of shares held by ordinary fans but were sidelined by Jeremy Peace. They say S4A chairman has been "castigated" in a legal letter sent to S4A by the club...
Their "crime"? Daring to hand deliver letter for new Chief Exec Ke Xu (aka Ken) at Training Ground after initial letter ignored. They were just asking for an informal meeting. They also report that a shareholder whose family own a significant number of shares.
...and annually pays for an executive box at the Hawthorns has not received any response to written requests for a meeting. They also want to know more about a £3.7m loan in 2014 which has still not been repaid. They question the club's Corporate Governance.
They have also referred unresolved questions about the Club's ownership to the Premier League and say "our majority shareholders are invisible, as is our new Chief Executive. The football club appears to lack the leadership needed at this critical time.
Will be very interesting to see how the club responds, but it's clear questions raised in recent episodes of The Liquidator #podcast with me and @chrislepkowski are now surfacing elsewhere. #COYB 5/5 https://t.co/YSQ6CRj3W2

Nice to imagine a packed Wembley singing that thread title in unison when a vaccine gets rolled out, even if next May is probably a bit soon for it.

Either way, it's all a bit quiet on here, which is a shame - the first round has had some fantastic games, including an eleven-goal thriller between Torquay and Crawley. Currently watching Oxford City against Northampton, and the underdogs are unlucky to only be at 1-1; again, even without a proper cup crowd it's brilliant, exciting, passionate football. There's already been success for non-league sides with Chorley, Darlington, Solihull Moors and Boreham Wood beating league opposition. Can we see another?

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.  

Thursday November 12th:
Euro Champs Qualifying:
Northern Ireland v Slovakia
Serbia v Scotland

International friendlies:
Wales v USA
England v Republic of Ireland
England scorers:

Friday 13th November:
League Two:
Bolton Wanderers v Salford City

Saturday 14th November:
League Two:
Bradford City v Exeter City

Sunday 15th November:
Nations League:
Slovakia v Scotland (14:00)
Wales v Republic of Ireland (17:00)
Austria v Northern Ireland (19:45)
Belgium v England (19:45)
England scorers:

Monday 16th November:
League One:
Plymouth Argyle v Portsmouth

Wednesday 18th November:
Nations League:
Northern Ireland v Romania
Israel v Scotland
Republic of Ireland v Bulgaria
Wales v Finland
England v Iceland
England scorers:

Table after Matchday 10:

1. themaclad = 231 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 220 pts
   
3. jjamez = 216 pts
   
4. Baggiebob(BBB) = 199 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 193 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 188 pts
   
7. Beefy 1965 = 174 pts
   
8. St Charles Owl = 167 pts
   
9. SHEP_HTAFC = 165 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 152 pts
    
11. ritchiebaby = 151 pts

A positive response from Elyounoussi after being criticised on Thursday night after being subbed v Slavia Prague and immediately inspecting his mobile phone for any messages - a "hat trick" delivered by the big man! Anyway, Duffy finally dropped by Neil Lennon - no choice and a not fully fit Ajer brought in to the team. A few dodgy moments experienced in the Hoops' defence but generally in control and comfortable v a team that poses a decent physical threat. I must say the poor standard of Scot refereeing arises again with a horrific "over the top" tackle by Cole on Frimpong only meriting a yellow card by the latest ref "in question", Dallas!! IMO so many refs in Scotland are capable of changing a footie result by sheer incompetence and downright poor refereeing and judgement - the issue never goes away!! Anyway, this Hoops' team stabilised a wee bit this afternoon and Lennon will be reasonably happy with that.

You know the one 'a team is at its most vulnerable just after it has scored'

Well for at least the third time in recent weeks that saying has proven correct.

An early goal by Alfie May (11 minutes) saw South Shields equalise just 5 minutes later. Young Osei doing the damage not only to the Robin's aspirations but to himself also. In stretching to reach a cross field ball he unfortunately collided with the post and after several minutes treatment, had to leave the field and was replaced.

I suspect that Manager Mike Duff's half time team talk would have left the Robin's players ears burning and they responded by finally taking control of the game. May firing home his second after 52 minutes and Searcombe adding a third 10 minutes later.

The final half hour saw Cheltenham well on top but despite a total of 24 shots during the match, they were unable to add further to their lead.

So finally the Robin's name will be in the hat for Monday's second round draw and that in itself is a rarity in recent years.