I play the mandolin too! I also sing *clears throat* When the ball hits your head and you're sat in row z that's ZAMOORRAAAAA Didn't Sinatra sing that one?
I figure it's no use trying to predict individual results this season, so I'll just go with a points total. I reckon 20 is achievable, which would be one more than last season and a respectable mid-table finish. The only result I will predict is Chelsea at home - I think we'll beat them. They're not the team they were and - Man Utd apart - we've done well against the top 6 at the Cottage this season.
I believe he sang the Brighton and Hove Albion version, 'When the ball's in the goal, it's not Shearer or Cole, it's Zamora. When the ball's in the net, once again you can bet it's Zamora.' etc. Mandolin? Sounds cool. I play blues harmonica, by the way. Let's form an acoustic-metal-folk-blues fusion band.
Oh nice one, I didn't know that! Always wanted to have a crack at harmonica. We should definitely form some kind of bluegrass duo and call ourselves "Fiddlin' Bidley and The Slack-Jawed Captain" or something.
I like the sound of 'the Slack-Jawed Captain', but I'm a bit worried about quite what's going on with the fiddlin'! Anyone else want to audition to join us? The money isn't great but you get all the moonshine you can drink without going blind. We've drifted a long way off topic, haven't we?
You're right, maybe we'd attract the wrong kind of crowd if I was called that. How about "Bon Jon Bidley"? "Hideous Bidders"? "Howlin' Ted Bidster"? Yeah, I've forgotten what we were originally talking about. I suppose it makes a change from "we're rubbish" versus "no we're not".
It's not surprising that we are all off topic! We tend not to bring in the spouses, but then you got us all interested when you introduced the subject of Mrs. Captain's biscuits (And then we lost to Bolton).
I can't remember who it was on the old BBC board who likened us to a bunch of blokes talking football down the pub and wandering way off topic into happily irrelevant byways of conversation, but it's always been one of the things that I like most about this site. Apologies to anyone irritated by the gibberish or intrigued by the biscuits.
Captain, I think that the pub analogy was me also. The diversions/ramblings on this site are what sets us apart!
Has anyone also noticed how we are one of the most active Premier League forums. Most of the teams don't have two fans to rub together! The Wigan board in particular is a wasteland.
Getting back on track. It looks like DR is the closest in the prediction purely on goal difference. Would anyone like to adjust their predictions on the back of the last 3 games? Bear in mind we've lost only 3 out of the last 12 games. Or 1 in the last 6! I think we'll get a result at Villa.
Aston Villa - Fulham (15.00) 1 - 0 Fulham - Swansea City (15.00) 3 - 0 Manchester United - Fulham (20.00) 2 - 1 Fulham - Norwich City (15.00) 2 - 2 Bolton Wanderers - Fulham (15.00) 1 - 1 Fulham - Chelsea (15.00) 1 - 0 Liverpool - Fulham (12.45) 1 - 1 Fulham - Wigan Athletic (15.00) 4 - 1 Everton - Fulham (15.00) 2 - 0 Fulham - Sunderland (15.00) 2 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur - Fulham (15.00) 3 â 1 13 points - hopefully next season we develop some consistency and away form - top 6 not unrealistic if so.
I think we can get a result against Villa and can see us winning both games against Norwich and Sunderland. Probably a draw against Chelsky.
I said 20 points from the last 13, and we've picked up 6 already. Looking at those games again: Villa - poor at home (3 wins all season) - draw Swansea - lose more often than not away, so win Man Utd - if Blackburn can win at Old Trafford why can't we? still, probably not this time . . . lose Norwich - decent away form, but win Bolton - terrible at home, but hard one to call as they're scrapping to stay up - win Chelsea - draw, but win not out of the question Liverpool - drawn 8 times at home, so draw Wigan - win Everton - gotta win there one of these years, but not this one - lose Sunderland - two evenly matched teams - draw Spurs - potentially Harry's farewell - lose That's 15 points - could be a few more or a few less. I don't think we'll be too far off 50 points in the end, which should secure a top 10 finish. Four of the teams we've got left are still in the FA cup. depending on how our fixtures correspond with replays and players being rested for cup games we could pick up extra points as a result.
Okay people. Here's where we are so far. We've picked up 13 points in the 8 games so far. My prediction was for 12 at this stage. So we're up by a point. A lot rides on the Wigan game and Sunderland too. Wins here would be 19 points and a finish on 49 points. Hoping for more to be honest as we're playing really well.
