Final whistle for the 2019/2020 Tanglewood Football Predictions

Before I declare who the winner is, let’s take a look back at a quite amazing and extraordinary 2019/20 football season:- It started badly (back in August 2019) when Bury F.C. folded and were automatically given 8pts for leaving the football league. So, for the first time we had two 8pts given in the same category.
Things calmed down for a while, by December Kuda Strudwick was in first place. She was still in 1st place in March but then everything changed (as we all know). We knew it would be a difficult season but nobody could have predicted how it would eventually end:-
MARCH 13TH – All leagues are suspended due to the Coronavirus. League’s One & Two would never play again and their final positions would be calculated on a points-per-game system. So far, so good.
At this points Kuda Strudwick in in 1st place, James Hale is 2nd and Stuart Shaw is back in 8th place.
APRIL & MAY – nothing happened, no matches, so no change
JUNE 17th – The Premier league and Championship resume.
JULY 1st – Kuda is still in first place, James is 3rd and Stuart has dropped to 9th. Wigan are deducted 12 points for entering administration but they appeal so the deduction is not applied.
JULY 26th – The championship games are all over (bar the play-off final). It’s the final day of the Premier League. Kuda is still 1st James is 2nd and Stuart moves up to 3rd
AUG 1st – Arsenal win the cup final but it doesn’t change any of the top 3 positions.
AUG 4Th – Fulham win the Championship play-off final, but again it doesn’t change anything. It looks like Kuda has won the £216 prize money for coming first. However, on the very same day Wigan lose their appeal against a 12 pt deduction and are relegated (Just as James predicted they would be). James jumps to 1st place and Kuda drops to 2nd whilst Stuart remains 3rd. It looks like James will get the £216. I even posted the final points tally on our website proclaiming James had pipped Kuda at the post to claim first prize – but there is another “However” – a final sting in the tale.
AUG 11th – Macclesfield, after a series of incidents which break EFL rules such as not paying staff and not fulfilling fixtures, suffer a whole series of points deductions during the season, some were suspended, then re-instated (believe me it’s complicated) the end result is they are relegated into the National League and Stevenage, who only won three games throughout the whole season, are saved. The reason all this matters is because, by pure coincidence, Stuart had predicted Macclesfield would be relegated, and James predicted Stevenage – Stuart gains three points and James loses three. Making STUART SHAW THIS YEARS WINNER Kuda gets second prize and James has to settle for 3rd.

Actually this fiasco involving Macclesfield and Stevenage affected the scores of of no fewer than 32 of the entries and the final positions of many more. One more footnote – Stuart is the father of last year’s runner-up Harley.
So, after more than 12 months the final positions are decided on August 11th The top three places changed three times AFTER the final match had taken place – not by 22 men kicking a ball about but by the bigwigs at the Independent Arbitration Panel. Let’s hope next season runs more smoothly but I have my doubts as it doesn’t start till mid-September and has to finish before the end of May because of next years “Euro’s” Anyway, despite all this I do hope you will all take part again , even if it’s just for a laugh!!

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to you all for taking part in this fun competition which raised £162 for the Tanglewood funds. A special mention to Steve Watkins who was in 86th place at the lock-down, 69th place in July and managed to finish in 13th place. The selection of the teams that were actually top and bottom of each league on the closing date for entries, and so started with 64 pts ended up in 80th pace with just 23 pts !
In the sub competition which involved 25 representatives from harrow Boro, Hendon FC & Tanglewood ended up like this = Harrow Boro = 728 pts (an average of 29.1), Hendon = 686 pts (27.4) and Tanglewood = 598 (24). Thanks again for taking part. The September issue will have the entry forms for the 2020/21 season