Week 24: Exclusive - Kevin welcomes Dennis to St James' Park

Not an easy week - No-one managed over 200 pts, but closest was Alex Williams with 186, who pips Peter Scriviner by 3 pts to win this week's £50. At the top Laura has proved she can carry the fight to the men chasing her, and has now extended her lead over Matt to 33 pts. Best moves see Richie Cullinan up from 10th to 6th, James Lilley from 14th to 9th and Mark Noble's penalty nestle in that corner!

Bonus team: Manchester Utd, 10 mins v Portsmouth. Well, Utd finally delivered and surprisingly only 24 of you picked up the extra 20 pts on offer. Most of you were hoping for their City rivals - 65 of you had them to score first v Derby. How many times do I have to tell you that Derby don't always concede that early! (I bet they do next week now!)

Minileagues: Thought it was time we had a look at how our 24 minileagues are shaping up. A few look done and dusted: Paul Barnard is looking heavy odds-on for the Devonshires league, overall leader Laura Holmes seems to have had the HMV league in the bag for a while, Matt Foote's 656 lead in the Links Plus league is the equivalent of Red Rum leading by a circuit at the Grand Natrional. A few are still very close though, and 5 see leads of only 25 pts or less. Here's a full run down

POS	MINILEAGUE	CURRENT LEADER	PTS	2ND	PTS	GAP
1	HMV	LAURA HOLMES	2846	MIKE GRANT	2259	587
2	LINKS PLUS	MATT FOOTE	2813	STUART GREEN	2157	656
3	BODGERS TODGERS	IAN EVANS	2736	CHRIS JONES	2420	316
4	WH SMITH	NICK SCRAGGS	2719	NEIL KEARNEY	2586	133
5	DEVONSHIRES	PAUL BARNARD	2713	NEIL BRAND	2224	489
6	PR & MARKETING	RICHIE CULLINAN	2681	YAD LUTHRA	2568	113
7	BROOKLANDS	MATTHEW JENNS	2675	MARK GARDNER	2543	132
8	BANKERS	DANIEL KENTON	2672	STUART COX	2524	148
9	BT	JAMES LILLEY	2663	WYN ROBERTS	2320	343
10	GREENO'S LEAGUE	MARIE STONE	2640	ALAN GREENWOOD	2388	252
11	READING COUNCIL	NICK ROMERO	2619	STEVE JONES	2439	180
12	SCOTTISH	ANDY LECK	2578	GORDON DICKSON	2508	70
13	SOCCER SIX	GARY MABBUTT	2537	ANT McPARTLIN	2502	35
14	JON CUFF ALL STARS	MARK ALBOROUGH	2521	IAN SHAW	2473	48
15	BROADCASTERS	IAN DENNIS	2516	IAN BEST	2331	185
16	DANIEL GALVIN	GIDON KATZ	2503	JOEL SILVERMAN	2484	19
17	FLEET SUPPORT	DANIEL SKIPP	2503	DAVID ROMAIN	2360	143
18	MAX'S FRIENDS	DAVID McINTOSH	2497	DAVE COLOSIMO	2481	16
19	POLY	DAN COLLINGTON	2488	MICK DELANEY	2463	25
20	CURRY CUP	STEVE RICHARDS	2480	MARK SWAINSON	2375	105
21	MUSIC INDUSTRY	CHRIS HAWKES	2451	MATT PHILLIPS	2429	22
22	FUJITSU	NEIL JEFFREY	2415	NEIL DOWLING	2394	21
23	ASCOT	KEVIN PHILLPOTT	2411	COLIN QUINN	2366	45
24	BLUE ARROW	JAMES TRICE	2281	PAUL McMAHON	2202	79

And Finally.... In case you're interested, the ex pro in the with me is the great Alan Devonshire! Here's how he looked when he used to skin full backs for fun - perhaps now you can see why I didn't recognise him! ATB, Ciro

Week 23: The Cup begins with big scores

I expect a few of you who scored over 200 are quietly confident that you could be this week's winner? Well, I'm afraid not. This was a massive scoring week and 85 of you managed the double ton this week. But one of you went one better and recorded the 2nd highest total of the season: 303! So well done to Enzo Quaradeghini (surely named after a Ferrari?) who achieved that rare feat of a full house..10 out of 10 correct predictions! Hard luck to Ivan Ghouse, Neil Sloan and a few others, who would have comfortably won most weeks. Meanwhile, Laura Holmes has finally achieved top spot, but how long can her 7 pts lead last? Can she cecome the first ever woman to win this competition in 8 years?

BONUS TEAM: Spurs, 2 mins v Sunderland. A popular choice here as 65 of us had them, and got an extra 28 pts each. King Kev's Newcastle were actually the most popular choice this week! Looks like a few of you went for the hype!

PREDICTIONS CUP: Did you make it through? All the results, and the 2nd round draw are in the blog - see the link on the right of the page. Well, half of you are out now and many despite posting very good scores - that's the luck of the draw I'm afraid! A couple of games were drawn, and were decided on countback (ie most spot on wins) so even tougher luck for the losers of those games, Danny Collington and Michael Gordon.

SURELY NOT?: I met an ex pro on Sunday and didn't recognize him despite the fact that he is a childhood hero - and one of the most exciting players I ever saw play! Though I look crap in this photo, I'm prepared to post it to see if any of you (over 30's) can spot him! Answer next week or email me if you really sad and think you know! :)

ATB, Ciro

Week 22: Don't play it again Sam

Not a great week (unless you're Man Utd or Harry Redknapp's bookmaker!), and but for the bonus pts, no-one would have scored 200+. As it turns out, one person did, so the £50 is deservedly won by Mark Adams. Anything over 100 has to be considered a good total. Though both Laura and Nick have closed on leader Matt, the top ten has barely changed, except for it's inclusion of Andy Leck. No-one really made massive in-roads this week and, with 16 weeks to go, anyone in the top 100 who fancies some prize money needs to start upping their game!

BONUS TEAM: Fulham, 8 minutes v West Ham. 2nd week running the Hammers have conceded earliest and perhaps the 19 astute people who went for Fulham did so knowing they were now worth the maximum 60 pts (after I amended the bonus pts this week to reflect the current table) Most popular choice was actually Wigan at Derby (I did say it was time to stop picking on Derby!)..but 91 of you went for them anyway..that's almost 1 in 5 of you.

PREDICTIONS CUP 2008: Click on the link on the right to see the first round draw. I wonder how many of you have drawn a colleague or friend? Or maybe you've drawn a famous name? if you want the easiest way to find out how well your opponent is faring in the league, check the "A-Z SCORES" link. (Please note that the bottom 8 in the Overall table did not qualify - but then again, I doubt they know or care!)

The rules are simple - You don't have to do anything extra! Whoever gets the highest score in Week 23 wins their match and goes through. If matches are drawn, they will be decided on count back (for e.g., most spot on results etc...). The way the draw works, you can already see who you might play if you go through. So, for example, looking at the first few ties, should Bob Scriviner beat Steve Smith, and Andrew Scriviner see off the in-form Sam Knowles, father would be playing son in Round 2! Good Luck to you all, Ciro

Week 21; Are you smarter than a 13 year old?

I haven't sent any links out since before Xmas, so this is probably the first time some of you will have seen the updated tables since then. Week 21 was pretty high scoring, especially as there was only 1 draw (and 7 of you bravely predicted that would be between Liverpool and Wigan). Well done to 13 year old James Marlow, who becomes our youngest weekly winner this season (Yeah I know, makes your score look even worse doesn't it?!). Up front, Matt Foote went ahead in Week 18 and has held onto top spot since, with Laura Holmes and Ian Evans consolidating their 2nd and 3rd places too.

BONUS TEAM: Arsenal, 2 mins v West Ham. 31 of you scored an extra 20 pts for Eduardo's goal. 60 of you were hoping Man Utd would score first (with the same pts on offer).

WEEK 22: NB - It's the FA Cup 3rd Round this weekend, and we don't predict Cup games here! So expect the Week 22 fixtures early next week (but ask nicely and you can have them earlier if needed).

XMAS SUMMARY: So to recap, Well done to our £50 weekly winners over this period:

Week 18 - Sam Knowles - 261 pts

Week 19 - Peter Scriviner - 206

Week 20 - Mark Phillips - 196

Week 21 - James Marlow - 232

Below, is a (very colourful!) summary of the top 40 over Xmas. The table of all the Xmas scores can be found on the link to the right called "Xmas scores". It's based on the highest combined totals for the 4 weeks. As you can see, 7 players managed the exceptional feat of scoring 600+, especially James Donaldson who scored 640 and goes flying up to 466th in the overall table! If you forgot to do one or more week and scored some 0's....don't say I didn't warn you to get all your weeks done asap! Hope it comes out ok on your browser.

ATB & Happy NY, Ciro

	NAME	WK 18	POS	WK 19	POS	WK 20	POS	WK 21	POS	XMAS TOTAL
1	JAMES DONALDSON	171	512	118	501	190	479	161	466	640
2	STEVE JOHNSTON	154	81	79	79	163	48	230	31	626
3	RICHARD TAGGART	157	94	98	93	157	58	214	36	626
4	ANDREW HOSIE	174	438	107	429	141	386	193	337	615
5	TONY PAGE-SMITH	144	245	144	198	134	162	187	114	609
6	BRIAN ADAMS	144	248	122	213	154	163	187	121	607
7	PETER SCRIVINER	192	255	206	168	24	193	178	160	600
8	NICK YEUNG	217	466	108	452	55	452	210	419	590
9	NICK ROMERO	147	58	132	40	150	26	157	20	586
10	GRAHAM DEAN	135	129	138	101	87	89	221	57	581
11	MARK GARDNER	216	49	111	41	142	27	108	33	577
12	DARREN COX	197	76	57	82	192	45	125	45	571
13	DAVID ROMAIN	178	135	60	157	112	127	217	85	567
14	IAN ADOTEY	135	140	54	166	180	91	196	69	565
15	ALAN SCOTT	145	398	118	364	91	357	210	293	564
16	STEVE BROWN	85	406	143	359	115	338	220	272	563
17	PAUL BRYANT	147	131	99	121	130	88	187	72	563
18	ROBERT BRADLEY	112	211	149	164	88	159	210	99	559
19	JOHN BROWN	112	203	180	126	62	147	198	98	552
20	TIM BOYLE	183	74	77	73	110	61	181	46	551
21	ROB CRUTCHLEY	218	251	57	266	95	251	181	203	551
22	ALEX WHITEHALL	200	297	34	327	111	297	203	246	548
23	BOB WALMSLEY	242	280	85	276	52	283	168	253	547
24	NIC CROSSICK	154	287	101	271	104	249	178	204	537
25	NICK ROSE	190	171	112	151	141	105	92	135	535
26	SAM KNOWLES	261	112	23	161	72	165	178	132	534
27	GORDON DICKSON	147	35	105	26	176	14	105	18	533
28	ROB MOOREHOUSE	194	359	138	321	45	331	151	303	528
29	CLAIRE SMART	138	301	94	291	160	228	132	220	524
30	PHIL WALSH	158	312	118	277	173	204	75	240	524
31	PETER BARRETT	152	117	132	99	39	114	201	81	524
32	MARK EVANS	195	250	65	260	102	241	158	207	520
33	LAURA HOLMES	97	9	138	4	117	2	167	2	519
34	ROBIN SELLARS	80	417	164	356	114	335	161	297	519
35	PAUL JENNS	181	356	194	282	28	304	116	296	519
36	TIM MORGAN	168	383	67	391	131	349	152	327	518
37	ALEX NEALL	237	326	76	330	76	315	128	307	517
38	DAVID RAKISON	164	229	78	230	137	178	138	178	517
39	ALAN STEVENS	92	344	107	322	164	263	154	239	517
40	PETER HATT	141	313	156	255	121	213	98	236	516