As a child, I had my own pretend football team called Charlton Rangers. I played inside left and scored freely against other teams such as Manchester Rovers and Leeds Albion. You can probably guess some of the other teams, but Tottenham Celtic were always a tough opposition. The games were enacted using my Newfooty (the forerunner of Subbuteo) players. My brother played at right half and my Dad played centre half except when he annoyed me in which case he was mercilessly dropped to the reserves. We won nearly every game convincingly and, surprise, surprise, won the League. There was also a Cup competition where teams from my League were joined by teams from the Football League. In one game Charlton Rangers drew Manchester United. My brother, who is over five years older than me, cynically predicted that Charlton Rangers would win 5-0. He was a bad predictor. At least, I decided to react to this accusation of match-fixing and Charlton Rangers drew 1-1 with Manchester United - needless to say, I popped up with a late equaliser. For the replay, my brother's interest had disappeared and we won 10-0 as we played Manchester United off the park.
Anyhow, it's Week 23 and although
@redlanered is in remarkable form, there's still a lot to play for. It's the Quarter Finals of the Prediction Knock Out Cup which features five Premier League sides, four of which face each other. The outsider from League One,
@croydonaddick, faces
@Miserableoldgit. The Johnstones Paint Prediction Cup gets a step nearer Wembley with three competitors from the National League still going strong, including the Cup holder,
@BertieB.
@Carl Leaburn is the lowest competitor left in the Cup but has a tough game away to
@dajavouslagan from the Premier League.
The full draw is on the next post.
If you missed last week's scores or League tables, you can find them
here.
Anyhow, this week when predicting the games maybe you should predict the Charlton Rangers game rather than Charlton Athletic's as I do realise things usually go to plan more often with Charlton Rangers. Anyway, enough of this as I need to get my Newfooty players ready for tonight's showdown with Burton Argyle.
As usual, pick any three of this lot. Look out for postponements. And, remember the score at 90 minutes counts for the Scottish League Cup Final game. Good luck.
Premier League
West Bromwich Albion v Brighton & Hove Albion (Saturday 1500)
Leeds United v Aston Villa (Saturday 1730)
Newcastle United v Wolverhampton Wanderers (Saturday 2000)
Crystal Palace v Fulham (Sunday 1200)
Chelsea v Manchester United (Sunday 1630)
Championship
Derby County v Nottingham Forest (Friday 1945)
AFC Bournemouth v Watford (Saturday 1230)
Barnsley v Millwall (Saturday 1500)
Birmingham City v Queens Park Rangers (Saturday 1500)
Middlesbrough v Cardiff City (Saturday 1500)
Preston North End v Huddersfield Town (Saturday 1500)
League One
Bristol Rovers v Shrewsbury Town (Saturday 1500)
Charlton Athletic v Blackpool (Saturday 1500)
Crewe Alexandra v Sunderland (Saturday 1500)
Fleetwood Town v Accrington Stanley (Saturday 1500)
Ipswich Town v Doncaster Rovers (Saturday 1500)
Milton Keynes Dons v Oxford United (Saturday 1500)
Rochdale v Burton Albion (Saturday 1500)
Guest fixture
Livingston v St Johnstone (Scottish League Cup Final Sunday 1400)
Comments
StrikerFirmani (3) [Prem] v. theeenorth (23) [Champ]
tommo (19) [Prem] v. GoOnYouHaddocks (8) [Prem]
croydonaddick (62) [Lg1] v. Miserableoldgit (37) [Champ]
redlanered (1) [Prem] v. ThreadKiller (20) [Prem]
Johnstones Paint Prediction Cup 4th Round Draw
Charlton_Stu (102) [Nat] v. IdleHans (74) [Lg2]
dajavouslagan (14) [Prem] v. Carl Leaburn (114) [Nat]
SheffieldRed (31) [Champ] v. PaddyP17 (11) [Prem]
BertieB (98) [Nat] v. flyingkiwiDK (51) [Lg1]
Fleetwood Town v Accrington Stanley 1-1
Ipswich Town v Doncaster Rovers 2-1
CAFC v Blackpool 1-2
MK v Oxford 2-2
Bristol Rover v Shrewsbury 1-2
MK Dons v Oxford 1-2
Charlton Athletic v Blackpool 1-2 (I reserve the right to change this if Bowyer gets the bullet)
Crewe Alexandra v Sunderland 1-2
Ipswich Town v Doncaster Rovers 1-1
Milton Keynes Dons v Oxford United 1-2
Crewe Alexandra v Sunderland 0-2
Milton Keynes Dons v Oxford United 1-2
Ipswich Town v Doncaster Rovers 1 - 2
Rochdale v Burton Albion 1 - 1
Crewe Alexandra 1-2 Sunderland (Saturday 1500)
Palace 2-1 Fulham (ugh ugh ugh oh no ugh)
Bristol Rovers 2-1 Shrewsbury
Rochdale v Burton 0-1
Crewe v Sunderland 0-2
Crewe Alexandra v Sunderland 0-2
Fleetwood Town v Accrington Stanley 0-1
Birmingham City v Queens Park Rangers 2-0
Middlesbrough v Cardiff City 2-1
Bristol Rovers v Shrewsbury Town 1-2
Rochdale v Burton Albion 0-2
leeds v villa 2-1
Bristol rovers v Shrewsbury 1-0
Charlton v Blackpool 0-3
Crewe v Sunderland 0-2
Charlton Athletic v Blackpool 1-0
Crewe Alexandra v Sunderland 0-1
Barnsley v millwall 1-0
Palace v fulham 0-1
Crystal Palace 2-0 Fulham
Fleetwood Town 1-2 Accrington Stanley
Middlesbrough v Cardiff City 1-2
Ipswich Town v Doncaster Rovers 0-1
Leeds United v Aston Villa 1-1
Crystal Palace v Fulham 1-1
Barnsley v Millwall 2-1
Crewe Alexandra v Sunderland 0-1
Barnsley v Millwall 1-0
Fleetwood Town v Accrington Stanley 1-1
Middlesbrough 1 Cardiff City 3
Bristol Rovers 1 Shrewsbury Town 2
Leeds United v Aston Villa 1-0
Bristol Rovers v Shrewsbury Town 1-0
Barnsley 2 millwall 1
Palace 1 Fulham 1
Derby County v Nottingham Forest 1-0
Milton Keynes Dons v Oxford United 0-1
Leeds United v Aston Villa 2-1
Barnsley v Millwall 1-1