Down to the wire in the fizzy pop league?

It’s certainly looking like it’s going to be, that’s for sure. What a totally unpredictable season it has been and definately one of the most exciting for as long as I can remember.  It’s an old cliche but anyone has beaten anyone this year and probably will do over the remained of the season. The all important question that everyone is asking though - and looks a long way from being answered though - is who will be going up automatically and who will be making the playoffs? I’d like to offer my little deconstruction of the situation - well, try to as best as I can at least.

Obviously - being a Wolves fan - I am going to mainly focus on the old gold and black. Now, we start with a pretty tricky trip to Ashton Gate on Saturday, but i’d like to think we’ll be leaving there with the points. It is a tricky place to go as Albion amongst others have found out, but Brizzle have been having a bit of a wobble recently, and with us bang in goal scoring form, I think we will have too much for them (providing we don’t self destruct as we quite often can and gift the opposition a lifeline back into games that should have been killed off)

I don’t even want to attempt to predict the outcome of the Albion game, the way both teams have been scoring (and in particular - defending) recently, I can see the game being about 7 all. I’d be “happy” with a draw.

The final 4 games fall like this - home ties against Ipswich, Cardiff and Plymouth plus a trip down the M6 to Coventry. This is realistically what we have to play with if you take into account our games in hand.

There has been much talk about us getting into the automatic promotion places, so I decided to do a bit of number crunching just to show how tight it is and how, to be honest, it’s a bit far fetched all this automatic promotion talk.

Say we do win all our remaining games, the highest points tally we can get is 79. Which would put us top of the league right now. For teams to catch us this is what they would need to happen:

• Bristol City would need to win their remaining 3 games
• Stoke would need 10 points from 4 games
• Hull and Watford would need 11 points from 5 games
• Albion would need 12 points from 5 games

I really can not see us winning all of our remaining games, so I am being very generous by saying I’ll only take off 4 points for 2 draws in the last 6 games. That would leave us with with 75 points. See how that changes what is required from other teams to push us out of the top 2.

• Bristol City would need 5 points from 3 games
• Stoke would need 6 points from 4 games
• Hull and Watford would need 7 points from 5 games
• Albion would need 8 points from 5 games

See how little room for error there is? For me, playoffs is fine, anything more then even better. Just amazes me how quickly a couple of good results gets to some Wolves fans. Not long ago, McCarthy’s head was being called for. 2 wins later and we’re going up automatically aparantly. One step at a time chaps, starting with Brizzle on Saturday. Once that is over then look to the next game.

In other goings on this week, I vagueley remember hearing somewhere the some pundit chumps who think Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are the be all and end all, had been making a lot of noise that the FA Cup this year had been undervalued because none of “The Big Four” made it to the semi-finals. What absolute twaddle. Now personally I can’t stand West Browmich Albion or Cardiff City but credit where credit is due and all that. You don’t fluke your way to a final. Nobody has a divine right to play in the FA Cup final because they are in “The Big Four” or whatever. Liverpool couldn’t beat Barnsley so they didn’t deserve to play in the next round. Likewise with all the other teams that got beat at whatever stage of the cup.

I’m not going to get all soppy and start gushing about the “romance of the FA Cup” and “this is what the FA Cup is all about” because it’s not. The FA Cup is a cup competition in which teams compete for the right to play in the Final. Portsmouth and Cardiff have beaten everyone put in front of them and that is exactly what is required to get to a cup final.

If people are going to moan about “The Big Four” not being involved in the latter stages of competitions then why not exlude them from everything and let them play out their boring, cagey one all draws in front of everyone who is so ignorant they can’t see past their own team.

Credit to Cardiff, credit to Portsmouth and credit to every single player and supporter of every single club who stuck one up the fat cats this year in the FA Cup. Long may it continue!

Same shit, different year

So then. 2008. Anyone got one of those hoverboards for Christmas that we thought we would be all zipping about on in the 21st Century after watching Back To The Future? No, me neither. What I was shocked at was that this is the first year ever that I have received neither; boxers, socks, slippers or a deoderant set for Christmas. It just didn’t feel right, I was genuinely disappointed. Naomi did get tea towells though so that kind of made up for it.

We ended up at a house party on New Years Eve. Going out is so over rated. Even one of our locals - a grubby old boozer - was relieving people of £5 for the “privilege” of celebrating seeing another year disappear down the swanney in their mighty fine establishment. The nightclubs are even worse. Inflated door tax and further inflation of the already stupidly inflated drinks prices plus the oportunity to experience what life would be like inside a sardine tin - except without the smell - actually, judging by what some of the less respectable ladies wear whilst out on the town round here, you may get that as well. Anyway, I digress.

2008 has started pretty damn crap if I’m being perfectly honest. We’re skint, and to top it all off, Naomi lost her job yesterday. I think we have a very stong case for unfair dismissal though so hopefully I will get that nice new Nintendo Wii I was going to buy at her former employers expense. Fortunately she has managed to arrange 2 interviews already plus another application in the pipeline - for a job she has wanted for ages may I add - so hopefully she won’t be out of work for too long, and ideally she gets the job she really wants.

My car has also broken. Although to be fair to it, it did start first time after 3 weeks of being sat on the drive over Christmas and New Year. I think it’s something to do with the exhaust or catalytic converter. Which is grim and is more than likely going to be expensive to repair - especially as it’s going to cost me £30 just to find out what’s the matter with it. Going to just have to bite the bullet and cough up to get it fixed, then get it sold ASAP while there is maximum MOT left on it. Going to replace it with a nice BMW 3 Series coupe i think. German quality and now i’m over 25 insurance won’t sting me too bad.

Plan for this weekend is pretty low key I think. Quiet few beers and possibly a venture to the pub. I am also going to attempt to cook a meal more advanced than stir fry or curry tomorrow - after the FA Cup games, mind - so it will probably go hopelessly wrong due to beer goggles. It’s all about trying though.