So there we were discussing the English Premier League and the current loss of form by perennial trophy winners Manchester United (being a life long Eastern Province supporter, I’m an expert on trophyless seasons.)
There was a lot of mirth among the group following the loss to Chelsea on the previous Sunday. I happened to mention that in the greater scheme of things, no planner would pencil in 3 points at the beginning of a season for a trip to Stamford Bridge, I further suggested that I doubt if visiting managers pencil in wins for visits to other title rivals, no, when planning a long campaign I assume points collected from these visits are considered a bonus.
I then laid down a challenge, put the managers hat on and predict how many points your team will gather from now ’till the end of the season, there are Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea fans in the circle, we’ve all stuck in R50 (£3) and there could well be 10 of us accepting the challenge by next weekend.
A mate of mine met me on Tuesday and gave me my ‘scoresheet’, to be completed and handed in by end of January (he’s done one for every team! Is he keen or what?)
As you can see, I’ve got Manchester United, only the total after all 15 games matters, it matters not how I get to the total. It’s winner take all, 10 x R50 = a nice dinner out for me, I’ve got a figure of 32pts in my head for my submission (3,3,0,3,0,3,1,3,3,0,3,1,3,3,3,)
We will be getting weekly updates on the progress of all entrants, any suggestions / advice / help would be appreciated.
Boadicea's Chariot 
G’dag, Soutie. I reckon you may be a bit light on draws. Some of the middle-table sides are tough to beat at home. So I’m docking 3 x 2 points for extra draws = total 26 points. 🙂
I can’t make any helpful contribution with regards to scores and total points, but one thing I have always wondered about is how people choose the teams they want to support and why they stay so loyal for their entire lives. This especially applies to people who do not live anywhere near their team, even in a different continent. But seeing as how very seldom do players actually come from the area (or even the country) either, how is loyalty to the club and its players explained? For a long time, Chelsea did not have a single English player in the squad, let alone any West Londoners and yet it is supported by Londoners and foreigners alike.
Sipu, I think it’s a strange phenomenon too. I ‘follow’ Aston Villa, the closest decent side to my home town. But my brother-in-law is a Brummy for whom Aston Villa is anathema. One of my sons-in-law is a Liverpool fan, having been born and bred in Southern England. No rhyme or reason.
Hello Soutie: No advice, but if you fancy your picking skills you should try this one.
http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college-basketball/warrenn-buffett-offers-1-billion-for-perfect-ncaa-/ncwjr/
NCAA basketball playoffs 2014, 16 teams, 63 games, call them all correct (just winners not scores) and the Sage of Omaha will send you $1 BILLION. Best of all it’s free.
Ha ha Jay 🙂
I stuck a couple of losses in there where I really think that a full squad could earn a point or three, I accept that United are hopeless at the moment, I thought my points tally with a fit Van Persie, Rooney and the new signing Mata, conservative!
Hi Sipu, your wrong (sorry)
The 3 England internationals (that I know of) have been at Chelsea as follows:-
Ashley Cole 2006
Frank Lampard 2001
John Terry 1998
I’m sure that there are others, but to suggest that Chelsea have not had a “single English player in their squad” is obviously wrong, perhaps you were thinking of somebody else.
More recently Chelsea had Hazard too. Risky, I guess. 🙂
And now they still have Cahill.
Hi Soutie, I do not think I am wrong though perhaps I over-egged the pudding. I was talking about the period 12-15 years ago when I was living in London and when some of my work colleagues were passionate Chelsea supporters. There was an ironical headline published somewhere that read something along the lines ‘Shock as Chelsea fields English player’. Perhaps ‘squad’ was the wrong term to use; starting line-up would have been better.( I come from a sport and era where substitutes were not allowed.) and it was misleading to say ‘for a long time’. The point being that there were very few English players and even fewer English managers in many of the top Premiership clubs and there were occasions when sides did not and do not field a single English player.
This from Wikipedia, ‘On 26 December 1999, Chelsea became the first Premier League side to field an entirely foreign starting line-up,[131] and on 14 February 2005 Arsenal were the first to name a completely foreign 16-man squad for a match.[132] By 2009 the average Premier League team had an average of 13 foreign players in their side[133] with under 40% of the players in the Premier League being English.[134]’
According to the BBC, less than one third of Premiership players are English.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/24467371
Morning Sipu, apologies for my abruptness earlier. over-egging sums it up quite nicely.
Your point is well made with that wiki extract