Goonerholics Forever

Predictathon 2024-25

Editor’s note: this is the historical record of the 2024-25 Predictathon. The commencement of the 2025-26 edition is now available at the GHF Contests tab above. Get your entry in and let’s make another big donation to the Willow Foundation!

GHF Predictathon 2024-25: Season review in seven easy charts, or Who needs Opta when we’ve got Potsticker?
By North Bank Ned & TTG

For a 38-match week season that ran from August to May, the 2024-25 GHF Predictathon was damned close-run. Four players – bt8, Dr F. Jnr, GSD and Potsticker – entered the final round of matches with a shot at glory. All four hit the front at some point on the final day. The lead had changed six times when, with barely 15 minutes of the season left, Potsticker made the decisive move. He held on to cross the line just eight points clear of the level-pegging GSD and Dr F Jnr. Dino shaded silver on the tiebreakers. 

Congratulations to all three who made the podium. A special mention in dispatches to bt8 and Boff for rounding out the fabulous five that beat the Crowd. The rest of us were below average. Collectively, though, we weren’t too shabby. More than half of the consensus predictions were within a place of the actual outcome. Impressive.

I’ve been keeping track of the preseason predictions of a handful of press pundits who offered a full 1-20 (most do just a top and/or bottom three. Wimps!). The best of the set, The Athletic’s John Mackenzie, would have come in fourth in the Predictathon. Most of the rest would have been midtable. The worst, Goal magazine, would have barely escaped the relegation zone. 

Opta’s computers running thousands of Monte Carlo simulations would have beaten all the human pundits. But not Potsticker. He and Opta would have been tied in a dead heat on 380 points. Really impressive.

Kudos, too, to the joint winners of the TinTack Award: Bath, BtM and Steveyhyperdee. 

No one correctly predicted the FA or League Cup winners. A Close-But-No-Cigar commendation goes to 21st Century Gooner, Boff, CER, Dr F., Dr F. Jnr, GSD, Pangloss, Sancho Panza, Scruz, Trev and Uply, who had all picked one, other or both of the losing finalists. Fine margins, and all that.

The difference squared scoring system of the Predictathon, by design, piles on the points the more wayward the prediction.  Pangloss’s runaway success last season was built on not getting anything terribly wrong. This season, that wasn’t an option for most players. As the second of our charts shows, three clubs wildly defied their predictions: Nottingham Forest, the Red Mancs and the neighbours. 

The three bad boys increased the median overall score by 254 points from last year and made players’ predictions for those three teams critical to their final ranking. Our third chart shows a count of each player’s predictions by the number of places they were off the actual final position in the PL table. 

Remember, 13 places off, which was what the worst predictions were, amounts to 169 points. Last season, Pangloss, Steveyhyderdee and BtM’s total scores were lower than that. This season, unsurprisingly, those players whose counts show the fewest bars to the right side of their individual charts tended to end up ranking higher overall.

The top three’s aggregate points from the bad boys – 264 for Potsticker, 281 for GSD and 321 for Dr F. Jnr —was better than the average 330 points. Yet beyond that, it isn’t easy to pick out a winning pattern from the trio’s other predictions. 

A large number of almost correct predictions served Potsticker well. GSD benefited by being this year’s Prince of Precision with a competition-high six spot-on predictions. Dr F. Jnr was nearly carried over the line by his uncommonly prescient prediction of a lowly finish for West Ham. Only Lonestar was as bearish. 

Had Ipswich managed even a point off the Hammers in the final game, our young, long-time frontrunner would have won the whole kielbasa. Fine margins, yet again.

This next chart shows how our champion stacked up against the consensus predictions. His places-off are the numbers in the white circles and those of the corresponding consensus prediction are the underlying bars. Perhaps you can see a cunning tactical plan in there. Or perhaps Potsticker just channelled his inner Carlo Ancelotti: his tactics were to have no tactics.

The monks will send you a copy of your version of that chart as soon as they can find a passing pilgrim going your way. 

The middle of the pack ended as tightly as it had been for most of the season—a measly 28 points separating your correspondent in seventh and Trev in 15th, with C100, Scruz, Bath, Uply, Lonestar, BtM and CER the distinguished filling in the sandwich. 

That is not to say the final day was not as frantic in the middle as it was at the top. Even the only two players to end the day in the same position they started it, Boff and OM, swung up and down the rankings during the frenzied, final dash for the line.

At the bottom of the table, the weight of the Bad Boys hung heavy. Several escapes from the relegation zone were threatened, but none materialised after Dr F in matchweek 23 and Pangloss in matchweek 27. In the end, Ollie was left holding the wooden spoon, with Sancho Panza and TTG looking sheepish.

Here is how the rankings ebbed and flowed across the season. Thirty-eight match weeks are a lot to cram into one chart and still be legible, so it’s split into two this year. It also makes it easier to see some of the dramatic swings that took place on the final day.

The final chart shows how your score this season (the red dot) changed from last (the grey one). The gold dot is your average score over the two years. The Predicta-ultra is on!

Thank you all so much for participating in the 2024-25 GHF Predictathon. If you didn’t, TTG & I encourage you to join the third edition next season, once again supporting the Willow Foundation. Entry details will be posted on the blog approximately two weeks before the new season kicks off on August 16. 

Let us know in the drinks or via email at ghfpredict@yahoo.com if you have suggestions for improvements or any new tiebreaker predictions that could lead to more winners throughout the season. 

Finally, thanks to Scruz and Bath for their tireless production support, and to all players for raising more than £500 for the Willow Foundation. Congratulations, again, to our champion, Potsticker, the Opta equal, and whose win gives him the coveted bragging rights to being the bar’s biggest know-it-all for the next year.

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We have a winner
By North Bank Ned & TTG

What a day of drama to bring the 2024-25 GHF Predictathon to its conclusion, with Potsticker reeling in Dr F. Jnr and holding off GSD to grab gold at the death.

The narrow margin of victory sent the monks to their abacuses to confirm the result. GSD and Dr F. Jnr were tied eight points in arrears of Potsticker. GSD shaded silver on the tiebreakers.

Three deserved occupiers of the podium places: Gold: Potsticker; Silver: GSD; and Bronze: Dr F. Jnr.

The West Ham, Brentford and Bournemouth results did for our long-time young front-runner, the first two helping Potsticker and GSD more and the Bournemouth result hurting them less.

bt8 and Boff round out the elite quintet that beat the Crowd.

All but two players improved their scores in the frantic, final dash for the line, largely thanks to the Red Mancs unexpectedly winning a game. 21st Century Gooner and Uply improved their scores the most, followed by our new champion, Steveyhyperdee, Sancho Panza and your correspondent, who, like Uply, got a week’s best five-place bump in the rankings out of it.

The middle of the field ended as tightly packed as it had been for most of the season. Just 28 points separating seventh and Trev in 15th, and there were two pairs of tiebreakers within that, Scruz and Bath, and Lonestar and BtM.

In the relegation zone, Sancho Panza’s strong final week let him return the wooden spoon to Ollie, but only four points separated the bottom three.

As well as honouring our three medalists, we should commend Bath, BtM and Steveyhyperdee for winning the Tin Tack award, having correctly predicted EtH’s head would be the first to roll. 

No one correctly predicted the winner of the FA or League Cups. A Close-But-No-Cigar commendation goes to 21st Century Gooner, Dr F, Dr F Jnr, GSD and Uply, who had all forecast that Man City would lift the FA Cup, not end up being beaten finalists, and to 21st Century Gooner, Boff, CER, Pangloss, Sancho Panza, Scruz and Trev, who had all forecast the League Cup would be Liverpool’s.

A special award goes to GSD for making more exactly correct predictions –six — than any other player. No one correctly predicted the league champions.

Four players share the prize for the most spectacularly wrong prediction — 13 places awry. The prize is awarded anonymously, but you probably know who you are.

Thanks to all who participated this year. I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for your generosity to the Willow Foundation, for which we raised well over £500. 

With the editors’ indulgence, there will be a full competition review in the close season, but for now, for the final time this season, your Leaderboard and five-week form guide:

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Heading for the line, and it’s going to be down to fine margins
By North Bank Ned & TTG

One week left, and the GHF Predictathon is building to a nail-biting climax. 

Every player’s score improved in Match Week 37, thanks mainly to Brentford’s defeat. Yet, at the end of it, Dr F Jnr, with an additional, if unlikely, boost from Leicester, had managed to eke out his lead to 14 points.

Will it be enough to get him over the line next week?

Not only is Potsticker breathing down his neck, but also bt8 and GSD. Those three are level on points with only the tiebreakers separating them.  

Any of them could snatch victory at the death, depending on the results of the final matchweek. 

Behind the front four, Boff and C100 flipped places and completed a select sextet beating the Crowd.

In the middle of the pack, there was upward movement in the rankings for Lonestar, who had the most improved score of the week, Scruz and your correspondent. The senior members of the Scottish contingent slipped in the opposite direction.

Dr F put some daylight between himself and the relegation zone, flipping places with 21st Century Gooner. 

And could Ollie be poised to pull off the Great Escape?

The Red Mancs are the baddest of the bad boys for a second successive week. Forest and the neighbours share the naughty step with them.

Your penultimate leaderboard and five-week form guide of the season: 

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Two weeks to go, and it’s tight at the top and tight at the bottom
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Potsticker reined in three-quarters of Dr F. Jnr’s lead in Match Week 36, and GSD more than kept pace. West Ham’s win suited the pursuing pair more than the front runner: only six points separate first and second now, and another six second and third.

The leading trio eased away slightly from bt8, who still has a comfortable lead over C100 and Boff. Lonestar took a tumble this week —an unusually high eight results went against him — so it is now just a sextet beating the Crowd.

The middle of the pack is congested with just 22 points separating the ascendant Bath in eighth place from your correspondent in 15th. That cluster now includes defending champion Pangloss, who had the most improved score of the week thanks mainly to the West Ham, Bournemouth and Forest results.

It is as tense at the bottom as it is at the top. With Ollie and TTG showing the week’s second and third-largest score improvements, respectively, just 12 points separate the bottom three in the fight to avoid the wooden spoon. 

Yet, Dr F’s improved score this week stretched the gap between him and the bottom three to 44 points. Too large to be closed in the final two match weeks?

For the first time in a long time, Forest isn’t the baddest of the bad boys. That dishonour goes to the Red Mancs, while Brentford joins those two and the neighbours on the naughty step.

Your Match Week 36 leaderboard, the latest five-week form guide, and, because there was more impact than usual from this weekend’s results, a bonus Game Changers chart, showing that:

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Three weeks to go, the pace takes a toll
By North Bank Ned & TTG

The Bournemouth, Brentford and Man U results wreaked havoc on scores in Match Week 35. All three added an average of at least 18 points. All players’ scores deteriorated.

Nonetheless, Potsticker cut Dr F. Jnr’s lead by two-thirds, eking out some fine margins of advantage from the Fulham and Barcodes results.

GSD and bt8 again flipped places in third and fourth, with Lonestar closing in fifth. C100 and Boff completed the septet beating the Crowd.

Bath bounced back from last week’s reverse, better served by the Fulham result than most. His recovery was not quite enough to displace BtM in ninth, but it did push CER, Scruz, your correspondent and Trev down a place.

OM’s recent ascendency plateaued. Behind him, Uply and Steveyhyperdee were level on points, with Uply ahead on the tiebreakers.

Pangloss continued his climb away from the relegation zone, and 21st Century Gooner, who had the least deterioration in his score of any this week, broke his recent decline. Dr F slipped two places as a result.

In the relegation zone, the wooden spoon returned to Ollie.

The bad boys — Forest, United, neighbours and West Ham — remain on autodial.

Your latest Leaderboard and five-week form guide update:

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Felled Forest confers divergent largess
By North Bank Ned and TTG

Brentford did GHF Predictathon players a whole lot of good by beating Forest, which knocked the season’s Bad Boys nonpareil down to sixth and reduced scores by an average of 51 points. 

Bournemouth took off another 19. Yet, half a dozen other teams added small numbers of points. Hence, the overall impact of Match Week 34 was highly divergent, with several players plunging down the leaderboard regardless of their improved scores.

At the front, Dr F Jnr extended his lead over Potsticker. Behind them, bt8 and GSD are level on points but swapped places on the tiebreakers.

Lonestar and C100, who had the second-most and the most improved scores of the week, respectively, moved up to join the pursuit group at the expense of Boff.

That septet are beating the Crowd.

BtM and CER moved up two places in lockstep and are level on points, pushing Scruz down. All the aforementioned are now breaking under 500.
Your correspondent and Trev are also level on points and moved ahead of Bath by two points. OM continued his revival, and Steveyhyperdee started one, which cost Uply three places.

21st Century Gooner benefited less than those around him from Bournemouth’s result and slipped four places, moving Dr F and Pangloss further away from the relegation zone, where Ollie handed off the wooden spoon he has been carrying since Match Week 13 to TTG.

Forest’s slide has made more room on the naughty step for the neighbours and the Red Mancs, as well as creating space for Wet Spam.

Your Match Week 34 leaderboard and five-week form update.

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Heading for the final five
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Mixed fortunes attended players in Match Week 33. Newcastle, Man City and Wolves were all modest bestowers of lower scores. The neighbours, true to form, were the ill wind.

With only five match weeks left, Dr F. Jnr. is still out front, but Potsticker has cut the lead by almost half to 26 points, with a hefty assist from West Ham. Potsticker also widened the gap with GSD in third. Meanwhile, fourth-placed bt8 closed in on Dino.

Only that quartet is beating the crowd.

Boff moved up a place, and Lonestar rose three as he recovered some of the ground lost last week. Lonestar had the biggest score improvement of the week, for which he can largely thank the Barcodes and West Ham.

C100 and Bath both slipped a couple of places and now sandwich Scruz. BtM and CER were Steady Eddies. Your correspondent and Uply each moved up one place at the expense of Trev.

21st Century Gooner separates Trev from OM, who flipped places with Dr F to advance above Steveyhyperdee. Things are unchanged from there on down.

There is no change either to the bad boys — Forest, the Red Mancs, the neighbours and Wet Spam.

Your Match Week 33 leaderboard and five-week form update:

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That was unexpected!
By North Bank Ned & TTG

With Forest finally knocked down a place in the PL table, I expected to see an across-the-board improvement in Predictathon scores.

Yet, no! While Forest’s fall to fourth took an average of 29 points off players’ scores, that was offset — and then some — by results elsewhere.

 There were more changes in the PL table than usual this week. There is a bonus ‘Game Changers’ chart this week illustrating the impact that had on scores.

With the dust settled, no one had improved their scores. TTG and Bath were the least scathed. Only they, CER, Dr F Jnr and Pangloss kept the damage to single figures. As the latest leaderboard shows, Steveyhyperdee and Lonestar took a paddlin’.

Dr F. Jnr made it an eighth successive week at the front, but Potsticker reclaimed second place from GSD. That trio and bt8 are the only ones ahead of the Crowd.

C100, up three places, skipped ahead of Boff, with Bath rising four spots to close in on both. Scruz moved up one as Lonestar and BtM both fell back three.

 CER was another four-spot riser, crossing paths with Uply going in the opposite direction. CER is level on points with Trev but edged ahead on the tiebreakers.

 Dr F. extended his recovery for a second week, passing the descending Steveyhyperdee.

In the relegation zone, TTG and SP flipped places.

Forest is taking up a bit less room on the naughty step, so there is room for West Ham to join the Red Mancs and the neighbours.

Your Match Week 32 leaderboard, five-week form guide, but first the bonus chart: 

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Seven up for Dr F. Jnr
by North Bank Ned & TTG

Match Week 31 has come around lickety-split. The Brentford and Brighton results, dropping both clubs down the table, improved nearly all scores by more than Fulham moving up the table and Man City moving down weighed on them. 

The Newcastle result was a mixed bag, hurting two players for each one it helped.

One of those who benefited was Dr F. Jnr, who remains at the head of the pack for a seventh successive week.  He is the only player with a score under 400.

GSD eased ahead of Potsticker to claim second place, with bt8 holding behind them in fourth. Boff moved up into fifth, to complete the quintet beating the Crowd.

The Newcastle, Man City and Palace results did Lonestar no favours. They helped push him down two places to seventh, four points ahead of BtM, who leapfrogged C100. 

Behind him, Scruz, Uply and Bath comprised a tight-knit group that is starting to ease away from Trev and your correspondent, who had nearly as deficient a week as Lonestar, allowing Steveyhyperdee, CER and TFCG to close in.

Benefiting from the Newcastle and Palace results, and even more from those of Brentford and Brighton, Dr F had the best points improvement of the week.

Thus, he moved up two at the expense of OM and Pangloss. Within that, OM put more daylight between himself and the bottom four, but Pangloss slipped to within two points of the unchanged relegation zone.

Forest, the Red Mancs and the neighbours are now on cut-and-paste as the bad boys. 

Your Match Week 31 leader board and five-week form guide:

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We’re back!
By North Bank Ned & TTG

It has been a while. These interlulls do drag. But the Predictathon is back for Match Week 30—just eight rounds to go.

Everyone save for Lonestar picked up the pace. The Villa and Brighton results were generally favourable for players.

Dr F Jnr held his lead, but it is now slightly narrower and over Potsticker, who moved back into second place, level on points with GSD but ahead on the tiebreakers. bt8 moved up one spot as Lonestar slipped back whence he came two weeks ago.

Boff advanced two places to join the sextet beating the crowd. 

C100 slipped a place. BtM held steady while Uply snuck up two places behind him to round out the top ten.

With Scruz also holding steady, your correspondent was unceremoniously pushed down two places. Bath and Trev flipped spots immediately below.

Nothing changed after that until Pangloss’s spectacular leap out of the relegation zone to go 19th with the joint biggest score improvement of the week, pushing OM to match it to stay ahead.

Sancho Panza joined TTG and Ollie in biding their time for the final sprint.
Forest and the Red Mancs are still the bad boys. Ho-hum!

Your Match Week 30 leaderboard and five-week form guide:

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We have no winner but seven runners-up
By North Bank Ned & TTG

A consolation GHF Predictathon Close-But-No-Cigar commendation goes to 21st Century Gooner, Boff, CER, Pangloss, Sancho Panza, Scruz and Trev, who had all forecast a Liverpool triumph in the League Cup. Howe very unfortunate.

In the main competition, despite the Red Mancs knocking an average of 17 points off every player’s score and Bournemouth another eight, only four players improved their overall tally in Match Week 29: Dr F Jnr, Lonestar, Trev and Ollie. Blame the hapless neighbours (adding an average of 14 points), with Brentford (seven), Fulham (six) and Villa (five) accessories after the fact.

Lonestar’s improvement had the most impact, with the Fulham and Palace results propelling him past GSD, Potsticker and bt8 into second place. Nonetheless, once the dust had settled, Dr F Jr. had eked out his lead by a couple more points.

Those mentioned above are the quintet beating the Crowd.

C100, deploying the cunning ruse of standing still, saw Boff and BtM fall behind him. Your correspondent, deploying a close-to-similar approach, moved up three places. Scruz was up one to go level on points with Uply and ahead on the tiebreakers. 

Trev was up three, at the expense of Bath, for whom Fulham did even fewer favours than the neighbours. 

The relegation zone did not change for a second successive week, but only ten points now separate OM and Dr F, who are level on points, from Pangloss at the top of the bottom three.

Forest, the Red Mancs and the neighbours remain the savagers of soothsaying, but you already knew that.

Your Match Week 29 leaderboard and latest five-week form guide:

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Onwards
By North Bank Ned & TTG

There was improvement nearly all around in Match Week 28. The Bournemouth, Villa and Brentford results more than offset the damage done by West Ham and Brighton.

With ten weeks to go, Dr F. Jnr remains out front, but GSD is bearing down, cutting the lead to 18 points. 

The leaders are pulling away from Potsticker in third. bt8, a big Bournemouth beneficiary, is now breathing down his neck, having racked up the most improved points score of the week, and leapfrogged Lonestar, who completes the quintet beating the Crowd.

Boff and BtM break under 500. C100 and Bath complete the top 10.
Just eight points separate the distinguished group of Uply, Scruz and your correspondent. 21st Century Gooner arrested his recent slide. Steveyhyperdee drew level with him on points at the expense of Trev.

There was no change in the relegation zone, although Pangloss was only six points short of escaping it. Ollie found some spring in his new heel, with the second most improved score of the week. He broke under 700, thanks mainly to the Cherries and the Toffees. Must be better food in the French health service.

Yet again, it was Forest and the Red Mancs that left a bad taste in the mouth. Swilling out the neighbours wouldn’t go amiss, either.

Your Match Week 28 leaderboard and five-week form update:

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Advances, retreats and yo-yos
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Match Week 27 brought mixed fortunes, but the head of the field pulled away from the rest of the pack.

Dr F. Jnr is still front-running, ahead of Potsticker, who trimmed the lead but found GSD level with him on points. Lonestar bounced back big time. A Texas-sized surge took him to within two points of the joint seconds. 

BtM did a passable impression of a yo-yo, going from 5th to 11th to 5th in successive weeks. He completed the quintet beating the Crowd.

Bath did an inverted yo-yo, returning to where he was four weeks ago. Yet, it is desperately tight in that part of the table—a mere 12 points separate Boff in ninth from 21st Century Gooner in 14th.

Dr F. escaped the relegation zone at the expense of TTG.

The Man U and Bournemouth results had the most impact on lowering scores, whereas the Villa and Sp*rz results moved scores in the opposite direction. An unusually high number of results impacted players’ scores this week, which is why fortunes were so mixed. 

No prizes for guessing that Forest, still costing players 230 points each on average, remain the big-time bad boys, but the neighbours (38 points) and Bournemouth (50 points) have joined them and the Red Mancs (83 points) on the naughty step.

Your Match Week 27 leaderboard and five-match form guide:

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Getting going again
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Match Week 26 brought modest improvements in scores for nearly all players after two weeks of reverses.

Bournemouth and Fulham’s defeats and Villa’s last-minute win were helpful overall, improving scores by an average of 28 points.

Dr F. Jnr retained the lead over Potsticker for a second successive week, widening his lead to 30 points. GSD, in third, closed in on both of them. That trio alone were beating the Crowd.

Bath advanced four places to move into fifth, with Lonestar level on points but behind on the tiebreakers. Lonestar is one place ahead of C100, who leapfrogged Scruz.

bt8 and 21st Century Gooner both advanced into the top ten.

BtM came a bit of a cropper, falling six places. Like Lonestar, he was done no favours by the Barcodes or West London’s bluest.

In the bottom half of the table, CER and Superhyperdee traded places, as did OM and TTG. There was no change in the relegation zone despite Pangloss having the most improved points score of the week.

Forest and the Red Mancs remain the bad boys.

Your Match Week 26 leaderboard and latest form guide:

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EEK!
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Match Week 25 makes ugly reading. TTG alone improved his score. Everyone else went backwards, with seven players adding more than 50 points to their Match Week 24 score. The new leaderboard turned on who did the least worse.

Man U’s defeat by the neighbours netted out to adding an average of nine points to scores. Some gains resulting from Chelsea’s loss and Citeh and Everton’s wins were broadly cancelled out by losses from the Palace, Fulham and Villa results. There was no such mitigation of the Bournemouth win that lifted the Cherries into fifth. It added an average of 30 points to scores.

Dr F. Jnr held his 24-point lead over Potsticker, but Lonestar slipped into third ahead of GSD. BtM remained in fifth to complete the quintet beating The Crowd.

Scruz was on the up, again, drawing level with C100 on points and ahead on the tiebreakers. Bath and Boff round out the top ten.

21st Century Gooner jumped the most places for the week, five, leapfrogging bt8, Uply and your correspondent, who are level on points and tiebroken in that order. Breathing down our necks is Trev followed by Steveyhyperdee, CER and Sancho Panza.

TTG’s contrarian performance got him out of the relegation zone, to which Dr. F returned, and OM barely escaped.

Forest and the Red Mancs remain the bad boys par excellence. No surprise there.

Your Matchweek 25 leaderboard and latest five-week form guide:

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Worth the wait for Dr F Jnr
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Dr F Jnr finally broke Potsticker’s seven-week grip on the lead. Thanks to the Tottenham, Everton and Brighton results in the elongated Match Week 24, he returned to the head of the pack for the first time since Match Week 5.

The defeats of West Ham and the Red Mancs did damage to almost everyone else. Only Lonestar (top points improver of the week), BtM and Steveyhyperdee bucked the trend of deteriorating scores. GSD held third, but Lonestar and BtM closed in and got ahead of The Crowd.

bt8 and Both dropped two places to accommodate them. C100 was down one, but Bath moved up four spots and into the top 10.

Scruz continued his upwards trajectory, as, lower down the table, did Dr F. The relegation zone remained unchanged.

Forest, now costing players an average of 220 points, still takes up the most room on the naughty seat. Amorin’s ‘apless army (65 points), Ange’s blameless boys (63 points) and Iraola’s cherry pops (50 points) are crammed into what little space is left.

Your Match Week 24 leaderboard and the latest five-week form guide:

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Neck and neck
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Nearly all GHF Predictathon players improved their scores in Match Week 23, thanks to Martinez’s late deflected winner for the Red Mancs and Citeh beating the mob from the Bus Stop on Saturday.

The most significant changes came at the top and bottom of the table. Dr F Jnr had the third-best improvement of the week. That took him neck and neck with Potsticker at the front, with just the tiebreakers keeping Potsticker in the lead.

GSD remained third and the only other one ahead of the Crowd.

bt8 again moved up — by one place this week. Boff and Lonestar now trail him by 20 points; Boff is ahead of Lonestar on the tiebreakers.

At the other end of the table, Dr F improved his score by more than anybody, skipping ahead of Pangloss, who slipped back into the relegation zone for the first time since Match Week 19. There are only two points between them, and then another two to Sancho Panza immediately above.

Ollie had the second biggest points improvement of the week and is now almost within touching distance of TTG. 

For a second week, there was churn in mid-table, with Trev and Scruz notching the biggest places gains of the week, both up four. They are level on points, with Trev ahead on the tiebreakers.

It is still mighty tight in there. Only 20 points separate C100 in eighth and 21st Century Gooner in sixteenth. 21CG is level on points with CER but is filially respectful in the tiebreakers.

Forest still takes up by far the most room on the naughty seat. However, Ange’s Vegemite vagrants have interjected themselves between Nuno’s ne’er-do-wells and Amorin’s forlorn flock, with Bournemouth now hanging off the end.

Your Match Week 23 leaderboard and form guide:

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Turn and Turn About
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Many results broke against GHF Predictathon players in Match Week 22, notably those involving Tottnumb, the Red Mancs, Bournemouth and West Ham, which overwhelmed the points reduction from Palace’s win. 

Everyone’s scores swelled. Pangloss added the most points, Steveyhyperdee the least. Potsticker remains at the front, but his lead is cut by a third. Yet again, Dr F. Jnr and GSD flip places immediately behind him.

Those three remain the elite trio beating the Crowd. Lonestar moves up to fourth, with bt8, still on an upward trajectory, now in fifth and BtM, up two places, in sixth. Boff and C100 fell back.

Uply moves into the top ten, displacing Scruz, who recorded the steepest places drop of the week, sliding to 16th, with Bath and Steveyhyperdee moving up four. There was much jostling for position in that tightly packed part of the table.

Serenity persists in the relegation zone, however, for a second successive week. 

No surprise, Forest and the neighbours remain the pre-eminent bad boys with the Red Mancs and Bournemouth close at hand.

Your Match Week 22 leaderboard and the latest five-week form guide:

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Better Late than Never
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Match Week 21 witnessed an improvement in scores for most Predictathon players, largely due to the Red Mancs’s dramatic last-minute acts of self-salvation against Southampton and Chelsea’s equally late equaliser denying Bournemouth a win.

As a result, Potsticker extends his lead to 34 points over GSD, who flips places with Dr F. Jnr for a second successive week.

That trio now constitutes a very elite group beating the Crowd.

C100 and Boff moved up one place, and bt8, who had the second-best points improvement of the week, was up three. As the form guide shows, bt8 has snaked his way up nine places since Match Week 18.

Lonestar and BtM’s scores deteriorated the most, so they slipped four places in lockstep. Both can blame the neighbours.

Scruz leads a group of distinguished elders/old codgers separated by just 2 points, comprising your correspondent, Uply, Trev and CER, the last skipping ahead of 21st Century Goomer and a tumbling Bath, another one spurzd.

Rumbling around the nether regions (Matron!), Pangloss notched the most improved score of the week, but it lifted him only one place at the expense of OM. They both put more daylight between themselves and the relegation zone.

All scores improved there, with Dr F. and TTG breaking under 600, but no change in the order.

The neighbours kick Bournemouth off the naughty step, but Forest still takes up by far the most room.

Your Match Week 21 leaderboard and form guide:

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Tiptoeing into the Twenties
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Baby steps in Match Week 20, both forward and back. Just under half the players improved their scores, and just over half worsened them, but by barely a smidgen either way.

Potsticker held his lead for a third consecutive week and lengthened it a tad, with Dr F Jnr moving into second and GSD retreating one. Lonestar and BtM were unchanged. However, the elite group beating the Crowd is now down to those five.

C100 returns to the below-average pack, where Boff and Scruz flip places and bt8, with the biggest places gain of the week and hitting a bit of form, leaps above your correspondent, whose declining form may require Amorin-like measures if the slide towards the relegation zone is to be halted.

Uply and Trev are level on points — Uply ahead on the tiebreakers. They both move up a place in lockstep at the expense of bath and 21st Century Gooner. 

It’s as you were for Sancho Panza, CER, Steveyhyperdee and OM, while Pangloss (the biggest points gainer of the week) and TTG dance their relegation zone pas-de-deux for a second successive week.

Man U were the big help in this week’s round of results, improving scores by an average of 17 points, with assists from Villa (5) and Fulham (4). Brentford (7 points), West Ham (7) and the neighbours (10) were the spoilers — although what would you expect from that lot?

There is barely any need to add that Forest remain the bad boys sans pareils, accounting for 230 points of each player’s score on average. 

Your Match Week 20 leaderboard and the latest form guide:

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At the turn
By North Bank Ned & TTG

We have reached the turn of the year and the halfway point in the GHF Predictathon. 

Match Week 19 improved every player’s score, including Ollie’s. It did not change the top five, but it did the bottom three.

Potsticker held his lead for a second successive week. GSD remained second but narrowed the gap by another four points to twelve. Dr F. Jnr, level on points with Dino last week, slipped ten points behind, only two ahead of Lonestar, who is twelve clear of BtM. C100 joins them to make it a sextet beating the Crowd.

Below them, Scruz, Boff and your correspondent (just) are as they were. Bath advanced one to ease into the top half of the table for the first time.

Below them, it gets a bit topsy-turvy. 21st Century Gooner and bt8, who had the most improved points score of the week, make the biggest places jump, both up three. Despite improving his score by 22 points, Trev gave up two-thirds of last week’s advance up the table, slipping behind Uply but staying ahead of Sancho Panza. A mere six points separates 10th and 16th.

CER, Steveyhyperdee and OM remained unmoved. TTG leapfrogged Dr F. to escape the relegation zone at the expense of Pangloss.

By moving up to third in the PL table, Nottingham Forest added an average of nearly 30 points to players’ scores this week, requiring multiple results to go players’ way to offset that. There is a bonus chart showing that and another illustrating the carnage Forest is wreaking on players’ scores overall. It works out to an average of 230 points a player.

Your Match Week 19 leaderboard plus the bonus charts on the Bad Boys:

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Potsticker holds off ascendent Dino
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Potsticker remains out front after Match Week 18, but his lead has been halved by GSD’s two-place advance into second on the back of Bournemouth’s draw. Dr F Jnr. is level on points but is pushed into third on the tiebreakers.

Lonestar recovers a place to go fourth, ahead of BtM, who eased off the gas. Those five comprise the elite group beating the Crowd.

C100, another beneficiary of the Bournemouth result, had the most improved score of the week, propelling him up four places into seventh. Scruz, Boff and your correspondent, no longer able to hold off Boff, complete the top 10.

Trev soars into the top half of the table, with the biggest places gain of the week — up six — and second biggest points gain. CER had the third biggest points gain, but that only elevated him one place.

The relegation zone remains unchanged, as indeed do the bottom five.
Overall, only eight players improved their scores this week, with the Man U, Spurs, Villa, Brentford and Fulham results adding more points than those of Bournemouth, Chelsea, West Ham, Wolves, ourselves, Newcastle and Leicester took away.

The out-and-out bad boys have a familiar if rudy look: Forest, the Red Mancs and the Cherries.

Your Match Week 18 leaderboard and five-week form guide:

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Seventeen and swirl
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Potsticker’s relentless pressure on Lonestar pays off in Match Week 17. He takes the lead, with Dr F. Jnr moving into second, leapfrogging BtM. 
GSD moves up one to fourth, and Lonestar drops to fifth after six weeks at the top. Scruz completes what has now been reduced to a sextet beating the Crowd.

Your correspondent, one of only five players whose scores worsened this week, reverts to being below average and barely keeps Boff at bay. Uply and C100 round out the top half of the table.

Down below, Bath has the biggest places gain of the week and Pangloss moves smartly out of the relegation zone, to which TTG returns. With improved scores for most players this week, Ollie breaks back under 700, CER and OM, who had the most improved score of the week, are back under 600 and Scruz under 500.

At this point, the defending champion has more spot-on predictions than any other player but is disproportionately weighed down by Bournemouth and the Red Mancs.

Forest continues to hold everyone’s head underwater. Santo’s surprises are costing players an average of 200 points. That compares to an average of 82 points for Bournemouth and 65 points for Man U, the other two bad boys.

Your Match Week 17 leaderboard and, as there was so much churn this week, a bonus updated form guide:

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No escape from the Forest
by North Bank Ned & TTG

Another week of mixed fortunes saw Potsticker chip away more of Lonestar’s lead, which is now down to eight points. BtM surged into third with the best points improvement of the week.

That pushed Dr F. Jnr into fourth. Dino held fifth, but your correspondent slid back to sixth. Uply and Scruz completed the octet ahead of the Crowd.

However, the shock move of the week was Pangloss’s slide into the relegation zone, hammered by the Forest, Bournemouth and ManU results. That trio of bad boys accounts for 396 — or almost two-thirds — of his total score. That has torpedoed his achievement of having, at this point, more spot-on predictions than any other player.

TTG was finally able to move out of the relegation zone, leapfrogging OM in advancing two. Steveyhyperdee and 21st Century Gooner both advanced three.

Forest’s performance is so far out of kilter with expectations that it is costing players 200 points on average. Brutal.

Your Match Week 16 leaderboard: 

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Blood on the Tracks
by North Bank Ned & TTG

Another quickfire match week has come and gone. It was hell in there, as Major Denis Bloodnok used to say (Google him, younger ‘holics). Forest’s win at the Old Toilet caused carnage.

Five players are over 600. Even our frontrunner, still Lonestar for a fifth consecutive week, is above 400. But his lead is down to 20 points after cranking up the biggest points gain of the week.

Potsticker, who was eighth two weeks ago, is now second, followed by Dr F. Jnr and your correspondent, who each drop one place to accommodate him. GSD and BtM advance one, pushing Scruz down two to seventh despite tying with Boff for the most correct predictions at this point.

Uply holds fast in eighth to complete the octet beating the Crowd.

Below the fold, Pangloss gets the accolade for best performance of the week, keeping his score unchanged while everyone else did worse. He advances two places to 16th and is breathing down Trev’s neck.

OM escapes the relegation zone, swapping places with Dr F., on whom Geordie Arabia weighs heavily.

Forest and the Mancs are irredeemably bad boys. Forest adds an average of 172 points to players’ scores, and the Red Mancs 66 points. Those two teams account for 46% of players’ points on average. No shelter from the storm.

Your Match Week 15 leaderboard and the latest Form Guide as a bonus:

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Now the match weeks come thick and fast
by North Bank Ned & TTG

A quickfire match week brought mixed fortune. But it smiled on Potsticker, Scruz and Steveyhyperdee, who all moved up four places.

Lonestar is still front-running, but Dr F. Jnr pegged his lead back to 78 points. Your correspondent edged up a place into third, with the ascendent Potsticker and Scruz in close pursuit.

That pushed GSD down to sixth, BtM to seventh and Uply to eighth. Sancho Panza advanced two places to complete the novenary beating the Crowd. 
Below the fold, as well as the aforementioned Steveyhyperdee, Boff was on the rise, as was CER, who escaped the relegation zone.

TTG stirred. The long-awaited revival, perhaps? Ollie and OM would be sharing the wooden spoon, but Forest treated OM the more kindly, which gave him the tiebreaker advantage.

The Red Mancs join Forest and Brighton in the Dishonorable Company of Bad Boys.

Your Match Week 14 leaderboard: 

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Unlucky 13
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Matchweek 13 brought reverses to all. Palace’s draw and Man U’s win knocked off points for most, but that was more than offset by Brentford and Forest’s wins, Brighton’s draw and Villa’s defeat piling them back on.

Lonestar backpedalled the least and thus extended his lead to more than 100 points. Dr. F Jnr retook second, followed by GSD, who moved up three places, elbowing your correspondent into fourth.

Then came a tight chasing group comprising Uply (up an impressive five places), BtM (up three), C100, Potsticker, Scruz, bt8, Sancho Panza and Trev (also, up three). That makes for a round dozen beating the Crowd. Yet, a mere 20 points separates Uply from Trev.

Ollie escaped the relegation zone as CER slipped into it for the first time. The Winchmore Hill Wanderer is level on points with OM but ahead on the tiebreakers. TTG continues to keep his powder dry.

Forest remain the uber bad boys, but Brighton and Brentford are right Bs, too.

Your Match Week 13 leaderboard:

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Lonestar still rides herd
By North Bank Ned and TTG

Nottingham Forest getting put in their place on Saturday lifted the spirits of ‘holics and helped substantially to improve the scores of all Predictathon players.

Bath, Lonestar, Pangloss and 21st Century Gooner each lowered their scores by more than 100 points. Only those in the relegation zone are still above 500.

Lonestar held his lead for a second week, widening it from 12 points to 84, thanks to contributions from Forest, the neighbours and Wolves.

Your correspondent moved into second, no doubt foolishly upping his pace with more than two-thirds of the season still to go. Scruz also advances two places to move into the podium places. Dr F. Jnr slips two to fourth.

C100, who has advanced eight places over the past two weeks, takes over in fifth. GSD drops to sixth while bt8 advances to seventh, ahead of Potsticker, BtM, Uply and Sancho Panza, all tightly packed (matron!) with just six points separating them.

They complete the hendecad beating the Crowd, although Boff was only a couple of points shy of making it a dozen — and saving everyone from having to get their dictionaries down from the shelf.

Pangloss had the biggest score improvement of the week. Fellow centurions Bath and 21st Century Gooner were also on the rise. So was OM, who handed the wooden spoon to TTG, although just a handful of points separated the bottom three.

Despite losing two on the trot, Forest remain the bad boys by a distance, from Palace, Brighton and Man U.

Finally, Steve Cooper’s sacking from Leicester gives us six joint runners-up for the TinTack Award: 21st Century Gooner, C100, Dr F., GSD, OM and Uply. Congratulations, but no cigar.

Your Match Week 12 leaderboard:

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Chopped-down Forest props up players
By North Bank Ned and TTG

Lonestar returns to the top of the leaderboard after Match Week 11, and Dr F. Jnr moves back into second as Forest’s defeat modestly reverses several weeks of deteriorating scores for most players.

Last week’s leader, Potsticker, slips to sixth behind GSD, your correspondent and Scruz. A surging C100, up five places, and bt8 complete an octet that is beating the Crowd.

Uply slides below the salt — and BtM, Sancho Panza and Boff — to find himself just a place ahead of Trev. PredictaVAR is again on shirt-pull watch.

Pangloss hauled himself another three places clear of the relegation zone to which TTG returns, but Dr F escapes. Ollie returns the wooden spoon to OM.

The Red Mancs and now Palace occupy the small part of the naughty step left open by Nuno’s numpties. 

Your Match Week 11 leaderboard: 

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Potsticker the least bruised
By North Bank Ned and TTG

Yet another week of worsening scores all around as Forest continues to defy logic, gravity and expectations.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s team of overperformers is costing Predictathon players an average of more than 200 points each. This week, it added anywhere between 88 (Lonestar) and 120 (Ollie and Sancho Panza) points to scores. Brutal.

21st Century Gooner and Bath came out of Match Week 10 the least bruised and Pangloss the most. 

When the dust settled, a new name graced the top of the leaderboard, with Potsticker edging to the font.

It is tight: four points separate the new leader from last week’s leader, Lonestar, and Match Week 5’s leader, Dr F. Jnr. They are level on points, with the ascendant GSD just ten behind.

Your correspondent, Scruz and Uply complete the septet beating the Crowd.

OM’s Italian sojourn lifted him close to the escape hatch from the relegation zone, only to find TTG standing on it. They are level on points, but TTG has the tiebreakers in his favour. There is growing daylight between those four and CER.

Congratulations again to our tartan trio of Tin Tack award winners, Bath, BtM and Steveyhyperdee, for correctly predicting EtH’s demise.

Your latest leader board and a bonus form guide:

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All hat, no cattle
By North Bank Ned and TTG

Match Week 9 saw no player improve their score as Brentford, of all teams, wreaked the most havoc this week, although Forest, the Red Mancs and the Barcodes won’t be getting any thank-you notes from our prognosticators. It was all a question of who did the least worse. 

That was Lonestar, who ended the week at the front of the pack, just ahead of Potsticker, as Scruz, your correspondent and Dr. F Jnr slid back somewhat unceremoniously, recording three of the five biggest points gains of the week.

Uply found himself elevated four places to move into sixth, a smidgen ahead of a tight pack of GSD, bt8 and C100, with Boff advancing two places to round out the set ahead of the Crowd.

Pangloss resumed his escape from his Match Week 6 sojourn in the relegation zone, moving up two places to 14th by limiting his points increase to 32, the same as BtM and Uply. Only Lonestar (+10) and Potsticker (+22) did better.

At the other end of the table, TTG moved out of the relegation zone to be replaced by Dr. F, largely thanks to West Ham’s win, which also kept CER a place ahead of them both.

Your Match Week 9 leaderboard:

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A week to forget
By North Bank Ned and TTG

It was a bad week at the office for GHF Predictathon players, too. Only 21st Century Gooner managed to improve his score. For everyone else, the interlull rust hung heavy.

Nonetheless, Scruz managed to extend his lead a tad at the top and Dr F. Jnr moved into second place, nudging your correspondent into third and Potsticker into fourth.

Lonestar, who is now level on points with Potsticker, advanced to fifth at the expense of C100, who dropped to sixth, displacing GSD. Dino tumbled to ninth, level on points with Uply, as bt8 nipped ahead of them both.

Bath moved up four places to go level on points with BtM, and 21CG was up three, level on points with SteveyHyperDee, leaving Trev and Pangloss separating the two pairs.

All six have put some daylight between themselves and the relegation zone, where Osaka Matt handed off the wooden spoon to Ollie.

Forest is causing the most havoc to predictions by far; it is adding at least 100 points to the scores of 13 players. Brighton, Man U and Palace aren’t being very helpful, either.

Your Match Week 8 leaderboard:

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Seven-up Scruz
By North Bank Ned and TTG

One-fifth of the season is almost gone. Match Week 7 brought a reversal in fortunes for most players, some worse than others. Brighton’s win and the Red Mancs draw generally pumped up scores more than the defeats of Fulham and Ipswich brought them down.

Scruz held his lead, despite an unexpected and doubtless premature surge from your correspondent, who is as surprised as anyone to find himself rising four places to second.

A formidable trio of Potsticker, C100 and Dr F Jnr are in hot pursuit. They are neck and neck, just four points in arrears, with Dino a further four behind them. Lonestar and Sancho Panza round out the elite octet beating the Crowd. 

Pangloss showed a glimpse of his title-winning form of old. He and bt8 were the only players to improve their scores this week, with Fulham and Bournemouth’s defeats and West Ham’s win rallying to their cause. As a result, Pangloss advanced five places to 16th, level on points with Steveyhyperdee, and bt8 four places to 13th, drawing level with Boff. 

No players’ scores suffered more damage from Brighton’s win than BtM and TTG, with the latter slipping back into the relegation zone, joining the O Dears, Ollie and OM.

The Red Mancs and Forest continue to be the under- and over-performers piling the points on predictions. Your Match Week 7 leaderboard:

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Scruz and the power of six
By North Bank Ned and TTG

Quite a shake-up to the leaderboard in Match Week 6, with a few players making some big moves and causing chaos in the rankings.

Scruz shot to the front of the pack ahead of Dr F. Jnr. Then came Potsticker, the ascendant Sancho Panza, and C100, all level on points but ranked in that order once the tiebreakers were calculated.

GSD did enough to hold off Lonestar’s surge of five places, with BtM rising six in his wake. Lonestar was the more impressive for his Wolves prediction currently being the most off-base single prediction made by any player.

Crystal Palace did bt8 few favours, costing him 12 places. TTG soared from the cellar, leaving the wooden spoon for OM, but Pangloss was dragged down into the relegation zone by the Red Mancs, who, along with Forest, were the week’s red rags.

Your Match Week 6 leaderboard:

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Two at the Top
By North Bank Ned & TTG

We have two frontrunners level on points for the first time after Match Week 5. Potsticker closed in on Dr F Jnr, who remains ahead only by dint of the tiebreakers.

BtM is the mover of the week, shaving 114 points off his score, two more than Steveyhyperdee, keeping it all in the family. Good weeks, too, for Scruz, who advances seven places to fourth, and TTG, who now look less adrift of everyone else than he did a week ago.

bt8, in third, leads the first chasing pack comprising Scruz, C100, The Crowd, GSD, your correspondent and Boff. Sancho Panza, Uply, Trev, Lonestar and Steveyhyperdee are chasing the chasing group.

A curiously static Pangloss lets ten others go past him this week, no doubt a cunning plan, but OM slips into the relegation zone as BtM soars six places.

Forest remains the seagull pecking at the discarded crisp packet of prognostication.

Your Match Week 5 leaderboard and the first form guide of the season:

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Four-ward we go
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Big improvements all around in Match Week 4, none more so than by Ollie, who cut 170 points off his score to advance off the bottom of the table. bt8 and Boff also had uplifting weeks, both shedding 150+ points.

Everyone bar Ollie and TTG are now below the 500 mark. Four weeks in, and the pack is starting to evolve a shape. Yet, with Nottingham Forest still on for an Invincibles season, you know there is still a lot of change to come.

At the top, Dr F. Jnr held his lead, making for a week of double celebration in Boston with Faustus senior moving out of the relegation zone.

Potsticker slipped into second, shading the frontrunner’s lead to 10 points and pushing C100 down to fourth, level on points with bt8, but a place lower by dint of the tiebreakers.

Only that elite quartet is beating the Crowd. 

Pangloss made a big move from 12th to sixth. He is two points ahead of GSD, who rose from tenth to seventh. Boff and Trev lead the next cluster in pursuit.

Forest and the neighbours are on the naughty step this week, the former for overperforming, the latter for underperforming. I wonder why that would be. 

To celebrate North London being both red and black, as any good anarcho-syndicalist will tell you, here is your Match Week 4 leaderboard:

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Youth to the fore in a swirl of change
By North Bank Ned & TTG

Every player’s score worsened in Match Week 3. By dint of the smallest reverse, Dr F. Jnr regains the lead, followed by C100, who shrugs off any suggestion of altitude sickness to hold second.

Potsticker pops back up to regain the third spot he held in Match Week 1, nudging Sancho Panza down a place from last week. Lonestar drops from frontrunning to fifth, ahead of Steady Eddies Scruz and Trev.

Your correspondent and Dino ease off the pace — tactical moves, we assure you — to round out the top ten. Meanwhile, the defending champion moved up seven places to the middle of the pack.

OM moves out of the relegation zone as Dr F. joins TTG and Ollie.

Brentford’s bright start is the most pernicious for players’ prognostications. Brighton, Forest and the Red Mancs are the other really bad boys.

Your Match Week 3 leaderboard:

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Two Down, But Not Yet Settled Down
By North Bank Ned and TTG

With Match Week 2 done and dusted, the Predictathon pack is still sorting itself out after last week’s start. Everyone lowered their scores significantly, and everyone has broken under 600.

Lonestar, who reduced his total points by more than anyone else — a spectacular 312 — has now taken up the frontrunning, pursued by Countryman and Sancho Panza. All three are now sub-400. Dino is hard on their heels in fourth on 402.

There is a smidgin of daylight between the top four and a second group, comprising your correspondent, Scruz, Trev, last week’s leader, Dr F. Jnr, and bt8, all within a narrow band of six points.

Below are a lot of wise old heads who know the race is not won or lost in the first two weeks, including BtM, who racked up the second-best improvement in points this week, 274, to move clear of the relegation places.

The sharp-eyed among you may notice the appearance of a new player, Boff, who we welcome to our ranks. His entry and Willow donation were submitted in time but slipped through the administrative cracks. Our fault, not his.

Your leaderboard for Match Week 2 is below, and Match Week 1’s has been updated to include Boff.

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And We Are Off! 
By North Bank Ned and TTG

The entries are in. The lists are closed. The starting gun has fired.

We have a record number of players this season. We welcome Lonestar Gooner and welcome back everyone who played last year. The artist formerly known as Poosker has morphed into Steveyhyperdee.

The consensus among ‘holics is that it will be a battle between ourselves and the Blue Mancs for the top spot. Only two players forecast lower than second for City, suggesting few see a substantive points deduction in prospect.

The Scousers are considered a shoo-in for third, with the Red Mancs, Villa, the Barcodes, the Neighbours and the squander-bugs at the Bus Stop scrapping it out for the various remaining European slots.

At the other end of the table, it is expected to be a dog-fight between Notts Forest and the newly promoted trio of Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton to avoid the drop. What goes up must come down and all that!

West Ham and Wolves have the broadest range of predictions, seventh to seventeenth and ninth to seventeenth, respectively. There is also much disagreement over where Everton and Chelsea will end up — although probably less over where they should end up.

Steve Cooper is the favourite for the tin-tack, ourselves for the FA Cup and City or Liverpool to win the League Cup. 

Best of all, it looks like we have raised more money for Willow than last season—many thanks to everyone for their generosity.

The first leaderboard of the season is below — not that it means much at this point. We would have run only the first 1,100 metres if this were an actual marathon.

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Predictathon 2024-25

Enjoy the new season playing the Goonerholicsforever Prediction Contest, in aid of the Willow Foundation!

Can you harness your inner Mystic Meg and out-predict defending champion Pangloss in foreseeing the final Premier League table for the 2024-25 season? 

Will you be more clairvoyant than CER and GSD were last season in predicting the FA Cup winner? Or TTG and Uply when it comes to the League Cup? 

What’s your bet on the first manager to get the tin tack this season? Have you got a better inside track or insight than Dr F. Jnr?

You can only find out by entering the 2024-25 edition of the GHF Predictathon.

Again, the contest’s purpose is twofold. First, to enhance the enjoyment of the upcoming season by providing a degree of light-hearted competitive rivalry as the season progresses. Second, to support Bob Wilson’s Willow Foundation with another generous collective donation. 

The rules of the game are straightforward:

1. The object of the contest is to predict the final 2024-25 Premier League table.

2. The winner will be the player whose predictions are closest to the table at the end of Matchweek 38.

3. This will be determined by a points score using the Difference Squared system. The lowest total score wins (see below for how the scoring works). The reward for winning is a full year’s bragging rights as the bar’s top know-it-all.

4. We shall post weekly updates and a leaderboard here in the Contests tab throughout the season so players can follow their progress. However, the final table at the end of the season determines the contest’s winner, just like the PL itself.

5. If more than one player gets the same score, the tiebreaker will be the most correct predictions. The second tiebreaker will be the most predictions out by one place, then two, and so on.

predictathon24-25_entry_blank

6. Download the entry blank above. Email your completed entry form to ghfpredict@yahoo.com. We must receive your completed entry no later than one hour before the new season kicks off, i.e., by 1900 UK time on Friday, August 16.  No changes to entries or new players are permitted after that deadline.

7. To participate in the contest, contestants are honour-bound to donate to the Willow Foundation (link here) at least £25. This covers entry into the League Positions contest and the three bonus predictions (first manager to get the tin tack, and the winners of the two domestic cups). You can donate more to Willow — we encourage you to do so — but it will not guarantee a higher placing!

8. TTG will confirm with Willow that players are in good standing by the end of Match Week 1. Players who have not donated by then will have 100 points added to Match Week 2, with a further 100 points added for every week of delinquency. If players have not donated their entry fee to Willow by the end of Match Week 4, they will be removed from the competition.

9. In the event of any disputes, TTG’s decision will be final (right or wrong!).

Scoring System

This game will use Difference Squared scoring. This is how it works:

Players’ predictions for each club are awarded points equal to the square of the difference between the club’s predicted and actual place. For example, if a team were predicted to be in sixth place and ended up fourth, the points scored would be 4, i.e., the difference between sixth and fourth is two places, and two times two is four; if a team was predicted to be in fifth place and ended up 15th, the points scored would be 100, i.e., the difference between fifth and 15th is ten places, and ten squared is 100. The worse a prediction, the more the system, by design, penalises it.

Each week, each player’s 20 club scores are then summed. The “winner” of the week is the player with the lowest total that week, but the player with the lowest total relative to the final league table is the winner of the whole contest.

It was a lot of fun to play throughout last season, even though Pangloss strode through to the win nearly post to finish line…that can’t happen again…can it?

Good luck!

TTG & North Bank Ned

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