The summer once again flies past and again we're only two weeks away from the start of the season. After two pretty miserable seasons for City, can Messrs Slade and Trollope finally conjure up success for us to enjoy? Or will this be another slug through tedious and mindless football. Lets hope not but despite a strong squad little has been done to bring in players that may spark a movement away from the dire football we endured for long periods last season. Most of you are probably aware of the drill now. This is the 5th season of the Prediction League on this board and a previous incarnation existed on the old BBC 606 board. The competition involves predicting (guessing) the results and a scorer of Cardiff's league games over the coming season. It can be a good bit of competitive fun to see which one of us is the best predictor. So comment and follow the instructions below! More information will follow in the Fulham (H) thread! As per usual at this stage of the season, the rules and format of the league are up for discussion - so please fire away any thoughts! Existing Members - If you were part of the league last year and took an active part, comment on this thread and you will reclaim your place in the Division you were in last year, including relegation and promotions. You will see this confirmed as your name will appear in one of the lists below. New Members - If you are hoping to join the league and I hope there's some of you... Comment and your name will be placed in the Non - League list. It is likely that you will join Division II Thanks Blue Sheep
Division I BluefromBridgend Blue Sheep Blueturk the Cat ccfcremotesupport GLAMorgan Hampshire Blue Irishbluebird Isawronnymoorescore Jonahbluebird Masky Ninian Opinion Whiffletree
Division II Barry Tiger Bluebird Nat Blue in Belfast Bluescull Danablu FrankfurterBlue Mustyfrog Oldsparkey Rumney Bluebird Steveoldinho William5551
Hi Blue Sheep - can I join please? I promise not to give BfB any help with his predictions this season - now we'll see how good he is !!
Oldsparkey (Div II: 8th) UP 1 Sparkey’s wonder in the wilderness of the 2nd tier continues and so too does his exile from the Playoff competition. An improvement on last season mind you, as Sparks only just misses out on the final Playoff spot this time around. A very familiar feel to Sparkey’s campaign with a large number of CR’s but very few CS’s. The chance to compete in that illusive third Playoff campaign will once again be the objective this season, where he will hope to go better than the semi –final (11/12) and final (12/13) stages. BluefromBridgend (Div I: Champion) EQUAL Who can stop BluefromBridgend? His second all conquering campaign was more successful than the previous as Bfb became the first to defend the First Division crown in the history of the BPPL and added the inaugural knock out trophy to the cabinet as well. Surely somebody will rise to prevent the man from Bridgend extending his domination into a third year? Last year I doubted whether Bfb could hold onto his title and was proved very wrong so that’s as much doubt I’m going to cast for now… Were you in a similar role to Sean Dyche under Malky then BT? By expressing some interest and commenting you register. So your in, check the list above
Danablu (Div II: 3rd) UP 8 A return the Playoffs for Danablu after the disappointing finish in 11th but as with two years ago a stumble at the semi-final stage of the post season event. After a strong finish that saw him take a large bite out of Ninian’s lead in 2nd, Dana rightly entered the Playoffs as favourite with 5 CS and 6 more points than his competition. So it was with great surprise when the upstart Frankfurter battered him across four legs. If Danablu is able to recover from such a dismantling you would expect him to push on for promotion again next season. However, history tells us it took a year for him to recover after his first Playoff semi-final defeat. Bluescull (Div II: 7th) DWN 2 Unfortunately, a step back for Bluescull after his debut season ended in a semi-final appearance. It did look like Scull was going to achieve at least a similar feat this season, in the Playoff mix right until the last day, when he lost out to Frankfurter. Expect a similar result in the coming season as Bluescull has hit the same region of the league for two years now, regaining a Playoff berth would be a realistic expectation. Steveoldinho (Div I: R) DWN 4 Steve comes out the wrong side of the three way relegation roulette, bowing out of the First Division on CS’s. In fact his inability to score the crucial three pointers was the main flaw in Steve’s 2nd top tier campaign – the solitary CS coming in a 1-1 draw with Brighton early on in the season. So he heads back to a very evenly matched division that he conquered before, except this time with the pressure of a swift return to Division I on his mind. Will Steve’s ride be smoother and quicker than Sayer’s time in exile was?
Whiffletree (Div II: Champion) Where to begin with a stellar season from hot prospect Whiffletree? He didn’t as such break open the door; a more apt comparison would be that he blew it clean of its hinges. Leading Division II from day one, Whiffle managed to rack up a phenomenal 12 CS’s – a number that far exceeds Irish’s record tally of 8 from a couple of years ago. So do we finally have a challenger to BluefromBridgend’s dominance of the BPPL? The important question to ask is whether Whiffle can repeat such an astounding feat of predicting. It is still possible that this season has been a freak occurrence and he will flop into mid table…. Or blow the rest of Division I away. FrankfurterBlue (Div II: 6th) UP 4 Frankfurter nearly rode a late wave of momentum to promotion - firstly skipping past Bluescull and Sparkey to claim the last Playoff berth on the final day of the season and then blasting 10 points in the semi-final to brush aside Danablu. Unfortunately, the momentum finally subsided when he faced Hampshire in the final but this can still be considered an overachievement for Frankfurter considering he spent the majority of the season lurking in mid table. Will he be able to re-harness this strong finish to gain promotion next year? Or will Frankfurter slip back into the nether of the 2nd tier’s mid table.
Blueturk the Cat (Div I: 6th) UP Division II’s 13/14 Champion Blurturk has only a minor flirt with coming close to the relegation zone and similarly the Top Four spots as he yo-yoed mid table for the majority of the season. With safety the aim for the season Blueturk managed to secure himself a strong place finish in his debut top flight season, after many years scrapping for the last playoff spot. Steveoldinho and Welshman’s return to the 2nd tier provide a perect example of what Blueturk doesn’t not want to achieve this season.