S6M4: Leaderboard's up

International breaks are strange times. International breaks immediately post-transfer window are frustrating times. I had an exam a few days after the England game, so also forgot that was on. Watched the 2nd half - what a load of tosh that was. Well worth the Hodgson payoff for more of the same.

My exam was in Stratford, so at lunch I went for a wander around the Queen Elizabeth Park, or the park formerly known as the Olympic Park if I were to pay homage to Minnesota's finest. Peaceful place, if you ignore all the tourists and building sites, and trains and stuff. The riverboats are nice though. It's cool that you can go for a paddle at the same place I went to watch the diving back in the day (over 4 years now....wowsers). I've been back about once a year since for various reasons - last time was probably for the Rugby World Cup which was the first time I'd been inside the Olympic Stadium - really nice I thought.

Well that's been ruined.

Who on earth thought that the Olympic legacy involved a giant Andy Carroll? We're trying to regenerate East London, not scare off children. Urgh.

On a more serious note, it's pretty wrong. You don't blame West Ham for grabbing the opportunity, but it's pretty unfair on every other club who've had to organise their finances accordingly and spend years planning and building etc. Arsenal was a £400m, 10 year project. Spurs even more. Look at the difficulty Chelsea, Liverpool & Everton are having. 

I think my revulsion stems from 2 places - and I think this is where it differs from Man City in 2002.

• The cost - it's a bloody steal. Why are we not charging West Ham say £100m upfront and £20m a year for 50 years or whatever? Why has the taxpayer funded not only the construction of the stadium (fair enough) but also it's conversion and much of the ongoing maintenance?
• The local effect - I've spent much of the last 2 years working in this area, a good goal kick away from Leyton Orient & Brisbane Rd. A Premier League club decamping to their patch could potentially kill the Os in year to come, especially if West Ham keep discounting tickets to try and fill the place. Why weren't Leyton Orient given at least shared tenancy of the Olympic Stadium? At least that way, arguably the legacy is befitting the locals a little more.

Anyway, I've always quite liked West Ham. I liked Julian Dicks, and that Di Canio doing Barthez thing. I was obviously happy they thwarted Spurs's attempt to move to Stratford. But now I really find myself hoping that they suffer a little, as I just think it's pretty unfair. Petty? Mean spirited? Would you expect any less.

Enough of that. No recap of 2 week old football here.

Let's get statty:

This week, 26 people played

Most popular predicted result: Chelsea WIN (26/26)

Most disputed result: WBA vs Middlesborough (6-13-7 split)

Highest odds: Me, 1599/1

Lowest odds: Steven Daniels 362/1

Average odds: 1213/1

Best predictors: Millions of you (8/10)

Worst predictors: Me, AFM & Aron Kleiman (4/10)

Average score: 6.58/10

Best predicted result: Chelsea WIN (26/26)

Worst predicted result: Southampton vs Sunderland DRAW (2/26)

Everyone's results:

For the first time this season, the leaderboard. For our new amigos, to qualify for the leaderboard, you have to play in >2/3 of available weeks. Obviously, only having played 3 weeks, that means for this leaderboard, you have to be an ever present.

Early days yet though, and loads of movement at this time of year.

To this week's predos:

Man Utd vs Man City - MAN UTD

Arsenal vs Southampton - ARSENAL

Bournemouth vs WBA - BOURNEMOUTH

Burnley vs Hull - HULL

Middlesborough vs Crystal Palace - BORO

Stoke vs Tottenham - DRAW

West Ham vs Watford - WEST HAM

Liverpool vs Leicester - LIVERPOOL

Swansea vs Chelsea - CHELSEA

Sunderland vs Everton - EVERTON

Total odds: 1989/1

Good luck guys!