Well better late than never but into the 2nd half of the season and there only looks one winner. Ryan Saveall has led for 8 weeks and has opened up a worthy lead with transfers in the bank, which of course could come to back fire if and when he decides to become tinkerman.
In the last two seasons Steve Black has come 3rd and 2nd and the eggs will be truly scrambled if he missed out again. Alastair Bigg started slowly but like a good pot roast has cooked nicely as the season has progressed and I expect him to have a big say in where the title goes. Neil Reynolds, a previous winner sits nicely in 4th and has spent the entire season in the top 8.
Likewise has Geoff McCormick, who got promoted last season and has led the table for 6 weeks. Our most consistent performer for more than a decade now is John McGowan, who sits in 5th and only recently propelled himself into the title race after a sluggish start. John had his worst season last time out but he is the most experienced player in the title mix.
Soozie is on a nice purple patch of form but has no doubt had to endure her old man giving it large. Into 7th now though and plenty of transfers in the kitty.
Chris Wright dabbled with relegation last season and only survived on goal difference or some such that we made up. Broxy has been going well this season and will expect to be involved in the prize monies.
Two old (bar) stalwarts Barry Paull and Rob Munden are knocking on the door. Barry has never won the N&R Championship but Rob has, and both are nicely placed to crack on in the title race.
Greg Foulger is always hard on himself and starts like a steam train but then runs out of transfers. Slightly different tactics this season and Greg actually was top in December but has been going backwards since.
Another ex-Champ Barry Plummer is currently 11th. A poor start for Bazza but he has shown some good form since the turn of the year. Over a 100 points off the leader but I feel Plums can have a say in the prize money. Ken Cobbett is not doing himself justice by his own standards and needs to find an extra gear to move himself into contention.
Last year's Champ Woody has found fame and fortune hard to deal with and rests in midtable. He has almost spent all of his transfers and one would think he just enjoy now his last few months as residing N&R Champion. Neil Bixby's back in the big time but only featured in the top 8 three times in 26 weeks. He looks safe and should be good enough to avoid getting sucked into the relegation rat race.
Another ex-Champ Brett Davey was top in week 2 but never reached those giddy heights again. Mind you in November he dallied with relegation but now is happily ensconsed in midtable.
Likewise Hilary Flynn is 50-odd points above the drop zone and will be hoping for a couple of good weeks to see her safe after coming up last year.
Godders was once our own Fergie and now he has become Arsene not winning bugger all for donkey's years. He is 18th a place above Ready. Both should be too good to go down (a bit like West Ham were a couple of years ago....).
The Ward brothers I think are indentical twins as they seem to mirror each other's N&R exploits (they both made a transfer today for example). Simon & Graham are both looking over their shoulder and will not want to be swept into the relegation rut.
Tim Harris was for a long period but since the new year has moved away from the bottom 12 and has opened up a little gap between him and Mark Gregory.
Mark looks in a bit of trouble to me and will need all of his players on tip top form to help him survive. Paul and his son Christian Long have had a revival of late which even saw them jointly top the Best Weekly Score. Paul was promoted last season and needs to find some consistency.
Rich Richards, so good they named him twice, also has my favourite N&R FL name this season. Rich I think has the ability to make it out of the drop zone but has let me down on that theory for the last 26 weeks!!
Lee Horne had a really good spell over Christmas fuelled by pud and pigs in blankets (I saw the Christmas party photos) but has slumped back into the bottom 12. We need another revival Lee - Easter is coming....
Kirsty my little Scottish sporran has also dipped into the mire. She needs to get herself out to Romford more often and make some transfers otherwise little petal is a gonner.
Dewbs was 5th last season and alongside Rosie represents the biggest flop of the season, at least according to Mrs Dewbs. Plenty of transfer requests remain but Mark is over 100 points from safety.
Rosie made such an effort last year and rightly walked away with the Div 2 title. One year later.... what happened? Has the boyfriend who helped you been dumped? Are you taking advice from Dewberry and not Bigg? Or maybe her Blog has taken up too much of her time? Anyway we are disappointed and all that hard work looks like being undone.
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