N&R Weekly Bet

A blank weekend for us both.

Nobby:
QPR v Man U AWAY - CORRECT
Man C v Arsenal DRAW - WRONG
Wigan v Chelsea AWAY - WRONG

£2 stake. Winning potential £15.24. Winnings £0

Ready:
QPR v Man U AWAY - CORRECT
Spurs v Sunderland HOME - CORRECT
Wigan v Chelsea AWAY - WRONG

£2 stake. Winning potential £5.46 Winnings £0

Running total:
Ready £33.50 (positive)
Nobby £12.24 (negative)

Happy Christmas

Ready will be in Thailand on Christmas Day. I will be in the Oxfordshire countryside. Wherever you are, Keith and I would like to wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous and safe New Year.

Nobby & Ready

Photograph of the week

Hello. Anyone there?

Transfer reminder

Remember there is a very busy Premier League programme over Christmas and New Year starting with the crucial Blackburn v Bolton game tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

The deadline for transfers is Tuesday at 8pm Paris, 7pm GMT, 3pm Bermuda time, 2pm EST, 1pm Central.

Henry, Huw that is probably about now in Australia and a bit later for Tokyo Giles :-)

Ted Striker hit rock bottom

N&R Division 1 - week 18 update
Tanus Terriers into 2nd trail Harry Houdini by 28 points. Boys on tour slip to 3rd with Bagpuss 4th.

Ex-champ Gooner win league march into 5th and Woody's Round Up 6th and Room with a view 7th.

To Elland Back are upto 8th with Good on paper XI, The Magnificent Eleven, MoW A Whitened Smut, ThE DrEaM FacTorY and Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel who sit in waiting below the top 8.

At the bottom we have a new name. Ted Striker dropped to last place with Still not a chance moving above them. CHAMP19NS - 20 in May are in 33rd, We are all Keith Lemon 32nd and Nobby Junior 31st.

Chicken delight

N&R Division 2 - week 18 update
Dynamo Chicken Kiev joins Pure Irish sat proudly on the top of N&R Div 2. Both managers have 609 points as we approach the busy Christmas period.

In 3rd just 2 points away is Pimp my side, 4th is Dalton Worblers who are 9 short of the top.

Alchees Lubes are up to 5th with Standard Ginger 6th. In joint 7 are three teams - 2 Infinity & Beyond, The No-Hopers and on a right old role Glasgow Kiss.

Barceloner, King Of Leon Osman and Kiwi Fantastic make up the promotion group.

Planet Kilpo was a big Div 2 climber after an excellent week - he's best of the season so far.

Stocky Starlets remain stuck to the bottom 50 points behind Californication.

Bixby Best

Manager of the Week - week 18
Neil Bixby won his 2nd MoW award in week 18. After winning in early November Neil has since moved our of dire relegation trouble into a challenging position at the top of Div 1. Neil hit 62 points, 6 more than Tim Harris and 8 more than Henry Williams and back again Ian Kennett.

Kirsty scored a 53, and there were bullseyes for Chris Wright and Kilpo. Three managers scored 49 - Neville White, Sarah Sheron and Brett Davey with Graham Ward scoring 48 and Mark Gregory, Lee Horne and Ready all slotting home 47.

Other notable if not noticeable scores were Mutley 45, Muddy 43, Muzza 41, Doyley 41, Godders 38, Razor 34, Francey 29, Sweaty 27 and Chillers 14.

Week 18 review

Wigan won at West Brom as their form starts to pick up. Swansea beat Fulham at home 2-0, in an exciting game at Carrow Road Norwich beat Newcastle 4-2.

Rooney and Nani both scored twice as Man U hammered Wolves 4-1, Suarez's goal was enough for Liverpool to beat QPR 1-0, Villa won away at sorry Bolton and van Persie scored again as he beat Everton 1-0.

On Sunday a last minute Larsson winner gave MON a first Sunderland win over Blackburn, Stoke beat Spurs and on Monday Chelsea handed Man City their first defeat of the season.

Photograph of the week

"Thursday night, Channel 5"

What's in a team name

No.3 Ted Striker XI - Alan Oakley
Oakers has had some great team names over the years and this year's ditty comes from Al's favourite film, Airplane.

There is an obvious footie connection too, Al reminded me when I asked him of loads of gratuitous visual and verbal jokes with blow up dolls, sh*t hitting the fan, smoking tickets, the Hanging Lady etc etc. I can see him laughing now as he is reading this.

Ted Striker: My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar.

Elaine Dickinson: When will you be back?

Ted Striker: I can't tell you that. It's classified.

The top 10 Best Weekly Scores

A little update on the Best Weekly Scores. Daniel Weeks enters the top 10 at 7 and Steve Merchant at 9th. Daniel has two scores in the top 10 but the list is still led by Ready.

Top 10 best weekly score
1. Keith Read, week 3, 76 points
2= Brett Davey, week 3, 70 points
2= Daniel Weeks, week 15, 70 points
4= Ian Kennett, week 3, 69 points
4= Alex Boswell, week 3, 69 points
6. Huw Thomas, week 3, 68 points
7. Daniel Weeks, week 17, 67 points
8. Andrew Shepherd, week 3, 65 points
9. Steve Merchant, week 17, 64 points
10= Ian Kennett, week 5, 63 points
10= Steve Black, week 3, 63 points
Up to week 17

Magnifique

N&R Division 1 - week 17 update
2nd week at the peak for Harry Houdini but just one point is the difference between Tim and Greg's Boys on tour.

A little daylight exists between 2nd and Bagpuss in 3rd with Room with a view 4th. Tanus Terriers are nicely placed as are Gooner win the league. 14 points is the difference between 3rd and 7th.

The Magnificent Eleven are in the top 7 for the first time this season, this after Ken spent the first 13 weeks in the relegation zone. Great work from Ken. Rob Munden, who pipped Ken for the title last season has seen his To Elland Back slip to 9th.

FFC 4Ever are also part of a new broom sweeping through Div 1. Hannoi Utd are another and so is Whitened Smut.

Meanwhile Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel continue their fall down the table as do Paris Eagles.

Still not a chance are bottom and Nobby Junior move up a couple of places.

Top 4 break away

N&R Division 2 - week 17 update
Pure Irish lead Dalton's Worblers by 3 points and Dynamo Chicken Kiev by 4 points - ooh it's bloody exciting.

Pimp my side are 4th and then a huge gap has appeared between 4th and 5th. 2Infinity & beyond are 61 points behind 4th.

However 2Infinity & beyond, Standard Ginger, No Hopers, Alchees Lubes, Barceloner, Kiwi Fantastic, Kings of Leon, Glasgow kiss and Gooner Go Up are all only separated by 18 points.

Full Metal Jacket slipped out of the promotion places, Planet Kilpo dropped further back, Luis & Carroll was a big climber.

Stocky's Starlets are 40 points adrift at the bottom.

Week 17 review

Arsenal continued their fine return to form, sorry I meant Robin van Persie continued his fine return to form, as Arsenal beat Wigan away 4-0. Spurs stuffed a poor Bolton 3-0, Chelsea went to Newcastle and came away with a 3-0 win and QPR and WBA drew 1-1.

Man C scored another 5 at home to Norwich and bloody Blackburn and their chicken owners finally got a result beating Swansea 4-2. Man U won 1-0 at Villa and Woves beat Sunderland 2-1. Stoke beat Everton and Fulham beat Liverpool 1-0

3 Weeks

Manager of the Week - week 17
Blow me down with a feather. Daniel Weeks has won his 3rd MoW in 4 weeks. Daniel blew away the opposition with 67 points, his 2nd best of the season. Steve Merchant was next best with 64.

Ken Cobbett came good and rolled in his best score of the season, 62. Greg Foulger and Davor both rounded up a 60, Rosie kept up her excellent form with a fiery 57, Ricky Wood also landed a 57 and Chris Wright slipped in a 56.

Other notables in week 17 were Tim Harris 52, Huw Thomas 46, Neil Addington 45, Alex Boswell 41, Soozie 38, Mark Simmons 33, Ian Kennett 28 and the week's lowest, and you won't be surprised by this, Danny Stock with 17 - his best score for 6 weeks.

Road to Wembley - welcome to the Lambs

Gateshead were beaten in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup by Tamworth.

Gateshead keeper Jak Alnwick was at fault for both goals as Tamworth beat their Blue Square Bet Premier rivals 2-1.

FRANCINO FRANCIS put the Lambs ahead from two yards after Alnwick, on loan from Newcastle, dropped a corner. Fixxxx!

The Heed had Chris Carruthers sent off for a foul on Danny Mills but Alnwick saved Kieron St Aimie's penalty.

Nathan Fisher swivelled and finished to make it 1-1 but Alnwick dropped another corner in the last minute and KYLE PATTERSON was the Lambs' hero.

Jak Alnwick is so rubbish by the way that he even dropped the 'c' from his first name!

Gateshead: Alnwick, Curtis, Clark, Baxter (Anaclet 54), Carruthers, Gate, Brittain (Rents 46), Turnbull, Shaw, Fisher, Moore.
Substitutes: Deasy, Anaclet, Rents, Henderson, Marwood, Nix, Mulligan

Attendance: 1,163

So, Tamworth, the Lambs are our new N&R Road to Wembley and my did they pull a plum draw out of the hat.

The Lambs will go to Everton on Saturday, January 7th. More of Tamworth soon.

Light & Lager 2nd Round Replay

There was one replay in week 17 in the Light & Lager Cup 2nd Round and the Scott Morgan squeaked past Jason in another tight encounter.

Light & Lager 2nd Round Replay Result
Morgan's Machines 38-35 Conan's Destroyers

Movers and shakers

A bit of pre-Christmas job movement amongst our managers.

Please welcome home back to the UK Greg Foulger and his new bride Sandra. Greg has moved from RSA Mexico to RSA London based in Plantation House. Greg has been appointed Insurance Risk Manager.

Richard 'Razor' Nathan has joined Aviva to develop an International/European book of business.

Geoff McCormack left Miles Smith for Aon Benfield a little while back and more recently Lee Horne has moved from Aon Benfield to Guy Carpenter.

Good luck to all.

Ready's Benfleet Bet

Here we go then the 2012 FA Cup Predictions Competition ONLY open to N&R FL team managers.

Simply predict a score, write it on the email that I sent you and send it back to me (simon.newport@aon.com). Then Keith will mark them and we will issue a table for the Blog. Then look out before each following round as we will ask you for further predictions all the way to the final. The winner will have the most points and will win a cash prize.

The very best of luck and make sure you read the rules:

Scoring Points
• 1 point home win
• 2 points away win
• 3 points draw
• 3 points correct score
• 1 additional point per goal in a game where the score has been correctly predicted and there are 5 goals or more during the game.

The rules
• No more than 11 draws allowed
• No more than 6 identical scores, i.e. 2-1, 1-1 etc. Please note that 1-2 counts as a different score to 2-1
• 10 points deducted for each breach of rule

The prize
• £25 or $40.

Ready's decision is final.

FA Cup 3rd Round
Middlesbrough v Shrewsbury
Nottingham Forest v Leicester City
Man City v Man United
Dagenham & Redbridge v Millwall
Crawley v Bristol City
Doncaster v Notts County
Bristol Rovers v Aston Villa
Tottenham v Cheltenham Town
Sheffield Wednesday v West Ham
Milton Keynes Dons v QPR
Hull v Ipswich
Coventry v Southampton
Brighton v Wrexham
Fulham v Charlton
Birmingham v Wolves
Norwich v Burnley
Arsenal v Leeds
Derby v Crystal Palace
Fleetwood v Blackpool
Swindon v Wigan
Barnsley v Swansea
Macclesfield v Bolton
Newcastle v Blackburn
Everton v Tamworth
Sheffield United v Salisbury
Liverpool v Oldham
Gillingham v Stoke
Chelsea v Portsmouth
Watford v Bradford
Peterborough v Sunderland
West Bromwich v Cardiff
Reading v Stevenage

Photograph of the week

As expected Martin O'Neil or MON as he is known to his friends became Sunderland's new manager last week and in his first game in charge watched The Black Cats beat Blackburn 2-1

Week 16 review

Adebayor scored twice as Sours beat WBA 3-1, Steve Bruce was sacked after Sunderland lost at home to Wigan, their first win for ages. Stoke beat the hapless Blackburn 3-1 and Norwich overcame the battle of promoted clubs beating QPR 2-1. Russell Holt with the winner.

Man U had a refereeing decision go against them for the first time since 1976. Ba convering the penalty for Newcastle to earn the Geordies a 1-1 draw at the OT (sponsored by Aon).

Chelsea beat Wolves 3-0, Everton won at struggling Bolton 2-0 and Arsenal were held at home by Fulham. Vermaelen scoring in both ends.

On Sunday Liverpool and City shared the spoils as did Swansea and Villa.

Light & Bitter and Light & Lager 2nd Round Results

These ties were played in week 16 and the results were as follows:

Light & Bitter (Div 1) 2nd Round
Loads of Roubles 41-39 Woody's Round Up
Still good on paper 26-37 Whitened Smut
Super Savlyuncheko 36-44 Hannoi United
Nobby Junior 39-47 The Magnificent Eleven
Bagpuss 27-34 To Elland Back
Travelodge Kettles 34-25 FFC 4 Ever
Gooner win League 49-33 ThE DrEaM FacTorY
Two points, two flats, and a packet of gravel 19-26 Brox banditos

So Ready wins the big clash of the round against Sav, Chris Wright upset Ian Kennett on the road and Nobby bows out of the competition, but at least he can now concentrate on the league.

Light & Lager (Div 2) 2nd Round
Pimp my side 48-39 Kings of Leon Osman
Muddy's Mavericks 33-45 Dynamo Chicken Kiev
The No Hopers 26-25 Lazarus United
Dalton Worblers 39-15 Californication
Red Ken relives the 80's 33-32 Kiwi Fantastic
Alchees Lubes 33-29 Brighton Blues
Luis & Carroll's Adventures in Wonderland 31-37 Glasgow kiss
Morgan's Machines 30-30 Conan's Destroyers

Some really close games in the Light & Lager. Brett just pipped Paul Long 33-29, Razor Nathan beat John Hardiman by a point as did Michael Stout who beat Mark Wenman. Rosie embarrassed Chris Waterman and Scott and Jason couldn't be split so they will replay in week 17.

Houdini Houdunnit

N&R Division 1 - week 16 update
Harry Houdini hit the top of the table for the first time in week 16. That is 3 leaders in month following Bagpuss, Tanus Terriers and Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel.

Bagpuss is 2nd and Tanus Terriers are 4th but Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel are now back in 10th! Come Kennett for gawd's sake!!

Gooner win league are into 6th and Financial Bale Out are 9th. Paris Eagles is another big faller, now in 13th but both Good on paper and Hannoi Utd are climbing the ladder. Watch out..

Irish charm

N&R Division 2 - week 16 update
Just one week Pure Irish was off the top of her perch and then boom, she jumps back on it again. This after her MoW performance, Hils is 7 points ahead of Dalton's Worblers in 2nd with Pimp my side in 3rd.

Dynamo Chicken Kiev remain 4th with No Hopers 5th and 2Infinity & beyond up to 6th.

Standard Ginger, Alchees Lubes and Barcelona all share 7th place and are being chased by Barceloner, Full Metal Jacket, Kiwi Fanatastic and Gooner Go Up.

Dan's Dribblers and Planet Kilpo are going backwards. Goonersmoan was a faller too.

Big news at the bottom as Californication takes over the Penultimate Position title, as Lazarus United move up to 33rd. Chillers Champions is letting the girls down in 32nd.

Benary

Manager of the Week - week 16
Two Chartis winners in week 16. Ben Guarino and Hilary Flynn will fight over a fiver after both scoring 54 points. Steve Black was next up with 50 followed by Neil Reynolds 49, Graham Ward 48, Ken Cobbett 47 and Geoff McCormack 46.

Winner for the last two weeks Daniel Weeks scored 45 as did Alastair Bigg and Lee Horne.
The week's worst score was tied between Danny Stock and Chris Waterman. Both managed 15.

N&R Weekly Bet

Ready was back in winning ways last weekend. Nobs, ahem, wasn't.

Nobby:
Bolton v Villa HOME - WRONG
Norwich v Newcastle HOME - CORRECT
Swansea v Fulham DRAW - WRONG

£2 stake. Winning potential £8.58. Winnings £0

Ready:
Man U v Wolves HOME - CORRECT
Arsenal v Everton HOME - CORRECT
Liverpool v QPR DRAW - CORRECT

£2 stake. Winning potential £4.50 Winnings £4.50

Running total:
Ready £35.50 (positive)
Nobby £10.24 (negative)

Road to Wembley - The Heed

Good luck to our Road to Wembley side Gateshead tomorrow in their FA Cup 2nd Round tie at home to Tamworth.

Tamworth are just 4 points behind The Heed in the Blue Square Premier League. The winners of course get potential chance to play one of the league's big boys.

Gateshead boss Ian Bogie said: "The FA Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The incentive is to get one of the big boys and get the exposure and the national spotlight on themselves and the club, the area. That's the dream, but we can't look too far ahead because we've got to get through first."

Ian Bogie played for Newcastle, Millwall, Leyton Orient and Preston.

Harry's game

N&R Division 1 - week 15 update
Bagpuss still top 9 points ahead of new into 2nd Harry Houdini. Boys on tour slip to 3rd. Tanus Terriers, Two points, two flats and a packet of gravel, Room with a view, To Elland back and Paris Eagles all remain in close contact.

Woody's Round Up drop out of the top 8 and Financial Bale out and Good on Paper were good climbers in week 15.

Lower down Hannoi Utd, The Magnificent Eleven and A Whitened Smut all move away from the drop zone.

Still not a chance remain bottom.

Everything's Rosie

N&R Division 2 - week 15 update
A new leader! Dalton's Worblers moved ahead of Pure Irish in week 15. Hils had lead the table for 14 solid weeks. Pimp my side is 7 points behind in 3rd with Dynamo Chicken Kiev 4 a further 4 adrift in 4th.

Then there is a gap to No Hopers in 5th with Standard Ginger in 6th and 2infinity & beyond and Alchees Lubes sharing 7th.

Barceloner is a new entrant at 10th after a week out of the promotion race and Gooner go up clings onto a promotion spot alongside Full Metal Jacket in 12th.

Goonersmoan was a big climber, now 19th.

Lazarus United remain in the penultimate place with Stocky still last.

2nd Weeks in a row

Manager of the Week - week 15
For the 2nd consecutive week Daniel Weeks swept to the N&R MoW award, this time winning it in his own after sharing last week's fiver with Neil Bixby.

Daniel smacked a superb 70 points, a full 12 pts more than the next best, which was 58 by Tim Harris - another manager in fine form.

Ken Cobbett scored 55, which was his best score of a inconsistent season, Mark Gregory hit 54 and Ready weighed in with a 51.

Rutts also hit his peak for the season with a half century, Rosie collected another 49 in her surge up the table and Dewbs also landed on 49.

Steve Merchant scored 46, last week's joint winner Neil Bixby 45, current champ Rob Munden 44 and both Neil Reynolds and Sarah Sheron scored 43.

Other notable scores were Brett Davey 40, Simon Ward 39, Paul & Christian Long 36, fellow Chicagoans Tim & Dennis scored 35, their best score for a few months, Tony Murray 32, Scott Morgan 28, Andrew Wheeler 22, Katie Chillman 18 and Danny Stock 6, the worst of the lot.

Best weekly scores

Daniel Weeks hit the joint 2nd best weekly score so far this season, but it is Ready who sits on top of the leaderboard.

Top 10 best weekly score
1. Keith Read, week 3, 76 points
2= Brett Davey, week 3, 70 points
2= Daniel Weeks, week 15, 70 points
4= Ian Kennett, week 3, 69 points
4= Alex Boswell, week 3, 69 points
6. Huw Thomas, week 3, 68 points
7. Andrew Shepherd, week 3, 65 points
8= Ian Kennett, week 5, 63 points
8= Steve Black, week 3, 63 points
10= John McGowan, week 3, 62 points
10= Michael Stout, week 3, 62 points
10= Mark Gregory, week 3, 62 points