Calling all players for 2016/17

2015/16 was the tightest competition so far with the overall result going down to the 90th minute of the final game where Ian D picked up the victory he needed to pip Tom W to the post. An exciting end to a long season! Congrats to Ian and to the other prize winners; Ian M, Mem, and Tom.

We had a small gathering to present the trophy to Ian at The Crown in Hazlemere, and here you can see Ian proudly clutching the trophy with his name freshly engraved. He even managed to find his own crown...

If you'd like to get involved again then HERE are the rules/instructions once more. If you know someone else you think would be keen to get involved just let me know.

Season 2015/16 is nearly upon us

After a painful summer of slow conversation and minimal excitement, the Footy Naps will shortly be back again to prompt new debates on form and tactics. Ryan will be returning to defend his proudly won trophy, and hopefully plenty of past stalwarts and a few new faces will join this season to take him on

If you'd like to take part again please send your cash to the account quoted in the rules document below, and i'll also follow up with an email reminder.

Footy Naps Rules

Good luck!

The Blackwell Legacy

That's a wrap for another season.

As early as week 3 there was much grumbling in the camp when Ryan binked a 20/1 Stoke away win to surge into an unlikely lead. Most thought the competition was over before it had started, especially when he followed up with additional picks to sit at +£31 after week 7.

However fellow Footy Naps newbie Andy soon gave chase with a couple of big wins of his own, including a massive 28/1 shot to start the 2nd half of the season and shoot into the lead after a dry patch from Ryan.

But the early leader stuck to his guns and plugged away with the longshots, managing to find a couple more in the final weeks to win by a neck after a tense final week shootout. I'll arrange for the prize money and trophy to be delivered in due course.

A shout out is also due to Tom who after debuting last season had a very solid year and managed to pick up no less than £90 in prize money for the lesser spots in the 2nd half and overall table.

Phil should also get a mention for what must be a record losing streak for someone who actually kept picking each week. 24 weeks had been and gone (including the entire 1st half) before he finally picked up a winner. Fair play for persistence though as he actually came good in the 2nd half with a respectable profit.

Formerly reliable high finishers Chris (& Jo) and Ashley both had surprisingly unsuccessful seasons, but stalwart Spanish Dave was unlucky to miss out on some prize money for once after being squeezed out on the final week of the 1st half and ending up 4th overall.

Now it's time to have a breather and work on your tactics for next season. I'll be in touch.

Here we go again

I was very lazy last season and failed to do a wrap up post, although it would have been a bit self congratulatory.

Having picked up the trophy for the 3rd time in 5 years with a record winning total, you'll be glad to know I won't be posting a photo of me holding it aloft. Mainly because I haven't got round to sorting the engraving yet.

It was an odd year where the Top 3 positions were all filled by players who had one barnstorming half. In fact not a single one of the 22 participants managed to turn a profit both before and after the New Year for the first time ever. Even perpetual solid performers such as Spanish Dave, Ashley, and the Chris/Jo double act found themselves languishing much lower than usual in the final table.

Anyway, it's time to leave all that in the past and look forward to the 2014/15 season. We kick off in just over 2 weeks so time to start firing money my way and reserving your spot. Same details as always but it's in the rules if you've changed accounts, and i'll send it to anyone who needs it by email.

Good luck!

Footy Naps Christmas Schedule

A couple of reasons for the update here.

Firstly, several people have mentioned that they are sick and tired of seeing Ashley's smug face every time they load this page.  Well he should now be bumped down out of the way so consider that one solved.

Secondly, it is the busiest time of the year in the naps schedule with a couple of double weeks back to back around Christmas and New Year. Therefore I just wanted to reiterate how it all works so no one misses out getting their selections in on time.

So, the 1st Half of the competition ends with Week 21 and the fixtures on the weekend of December 28th/29th.  Then the 2nd Half kicks off with a double week including New Years Day and FA Cup 3rd Round weekend.  Details below:

Week 20 - December 26th
Week 21 - December 28th/29th
Week 22 - January 1st
Week 23 - January 4th/5th

For the two "special" weeks on Boxing Day and New Years Day I'll extend the entry deadline to give the late night revellers a chance to get involved on the morning of the matches. Therefore 10am will be the submission cut off on those days.

Obviously if you want to submit a couple of tips in advance then just switch the Week # when filling in the form and that will be fine as odds should be there ahead of time.

Good luck!

Record Field

So here we go again.

A bumper field of 22 players have ponied up the cash this season for a tilt at the title and coveted Footy Naps Shield.  On the right you can see 2012/13 winner Ashley proudly showing off the fruits of his top tippage last season.

For those new to the game (and I spy 7 of them) you will find a new link in the left-hand column now which takes you to a sheet showing the selections for the week and info on league table and prizes.

Let me know if you have any queries.

Good luck!

Mr Consistency

So another year has come and gone in the world of Footy Naps, and a familiar name finally gets his deserved place on the trophy.

After two podium finishes Ashley only narrowly failed to complete the clean sweep and win both 1st and 2nd half competitions along with the overall title.  He actually finished with a lower final profit than his 3rd spot in 2011/12, but this year +£14.56 was over £6 clear of 2nd place in what was a weak showing from the group as a whole.

Spanish Dave also proved himself yet again as an expert in the format with a repeat runners up performance, and Nigel was solid as a rock in the 2nd half to secure the cash for that contest and eke his way into 3rd place overall.

Special mention goes to Jon Raab who managed a mere 2% of winning tips this season for a total score of -£34.50.  Don't give up the day job mate.

I hope everyone enjoyed the format again and is already looking forward to starting afresh next season to try and overhaul the Foulkes & Orrock show!

(P.S Does anyone have the final results of our inaugural 2009/10 season?  I seem to have mislaid the file on my computer)

Winner Winner, Turkey Dinner

1st Half over and some drama to end 2012! Having been pretty confident of nabbing a few quid out of the pot myself, the spoils ended up being shared between Ashley and Dave.

Ashley maintained his solid form with a tidy Spurs away victory, while Dave shot up the table when rock bottom Hartlepool ran out 10/1 winners against the league leaders to claim £25 for 2nd place.

January 1st sees a full fixture list and the 2nd Half of the competition starts there with Week 22, followed swiftly by Week 23 on the weekend.  Plenty of chance for those lagging behind to make a fresh start of it and compete for the 2nd Half prize money even if the overall prizes look a bit distant with a £20 deficit to make up.

Good luck!

To The Wire

So after the traditional Christmas double header there has been a bit of a scuffle at the top of the table with both Ashley and I sharing big priced winners for hat-tricks of wins worth £12.03 and £15.50 respectively, catapulting us up top with less than a quid between us going to the final batch of matches.

It looks like a two horse race to decide how the first £65 of 2012/13 prize money is going to be shared, but I'm sure there are one or two in behind us thinking about trying to pull off a double figure odds miracle to cause an upset.

Good luck!

P.S If anyone I haven't contacted yet fancies joining the 2013 Death Pool then give me a shout.

Waiting for Christmas

Has anyone missed me?

As I'm sure you have noticed the Footy Naps results have continued ticking over this season, but without the accompanying rambling from me. Since switching to Google Docs it hardly seemed worth it as it's now so easy to check the table, and no bugger seemed to read this anyway!

Typically one week wonder Ian Dell was straight in touch this week looking to find out when the 1st Half competition ends. You're not going to win Ian, but for reference it is Week 21.  The final weeks of this part of the competition are as follows:

• Week 17 - Dec 8th/9th/10th
• Week 18 - Dec 15th/16th/17th
• Week 19 - Dec 22nd/23rd
• Week 20 - Dec 26th
• Week 21 - Dec 29th/30th

Best of luck getting that win % into double figures Jon, and best of luck to the Grants in trying to overcome the early Reeve lead.

Losers

I was pretty confident that the trimmed down group of participants was going to produce a quality season of top notch tipping action.  However with 2 weeks gone, half the players have managed a double blank!

To be fair we're only -£2.85 overall from 24 selections, but will need to be upping our game if we can call ourselves pro footy punters by the end of the season :)

At this early stage Chris (& Jo) are topping the table comfortably having already bagged a couple of nice results, with Nigel in behind as the only other with a 100% record still in tact.  Technically Ryan is also still in the same spot as he ended up with a void selection this week, but I can't be arsed to work out how to amend the formula!

New Process

The Footy Naps admin has been a bit of a mission the past couple of years, but I think I've finally cracked it with the help of the awesome Google Docs software.

You may have noticed that the Jotform link doesn't have a week specific URL any more, which is because we will be using the same one every week and the selections should be fed automatically into a fancy new document I have created.  This will be the link every week:

http://www.jotformeu.com/reevio/footynaps

It will still need a bit of manual intervention in order to prevent revealing all the tips until Saturday - and to plug in the results - but generally will all be quite neat and more automated.  Typical that we have a lower turnout this year then!  You can access the latest tips list and table via the top "sticky info link" on the left of this page.

A couple of things that will help me out when completing the form each week:

1. Remember to put the correct week number on the form (although i'll try and autopopulate it with the right number each week)
2. Enter the odds in the correct format - so [number] / [number].  Evens is 1/1

Once I've checked out my account for the monies and chased up any stragglers (Brookes brothers?) I'll let you know what the payouts will be.  If you know anyone else who wants to get involved then they can still join on -£1 which I don't think is much of a handicap (as half the field are in that spot already anyway!)

Good luck!

Roll Up for Week 1

So tomorrow it all starts again.  I've seen some cash come trickling into the Footy Naps account this week so will confirm who's involved over the weekend.  You can join in late if you like, you'll just get a losing first week.  But seeing as most of us will do that anyway it shouldn't be too big a handicap!

For those that are in and paid up, here is the submission link:

http://www.jotformeu.com/reevio/footynaps

Good luck!

Who's Excited?

If you didn't pull this face at the first mention of Footy Naps 2012/13 then you don't deserve to be part of it.

Updated rules and entry instructions are available via the sticky link on the left of this page.  You know what to do.

Let's all turn a profit this year and bash up the bookies at the same time as making this the closest competition yet.

So this is it

The final weekend of action is here and there could well be a few more twists before the prizes get awarded.

Long shots are definitely the order of the day with both Jon and Chris going for QPR against Man City at 20/1+ while plenty of others are on prices of 5/1 or bigger to try and sneak into cash positions either overall or on the 2nd half table.

The sheet on the left is updated with all the selections for the week so you can work out your fate as Jeff updates you on the latest scores from around the country.  Make sure you celebrate as enthusiastically as him if you get the winner you want.

Good luck!

Final Week

So the final week is now upon us.  Time to get swotting up on all the weekend action, or hunting for that elusive outsider to storm to the top of the table.

Spanish Dave is now in clear 2nd place in the overall table, as well as having taken the lead for the 2nd half - so looking like a pretty decent payday for him if he can hang on for one more week.  It would be just reward for consistency having only just missed out on a money finish in the 1st half of the season.

Dan, Ashley, and Phil are all within reasonable distance for a last gasp overtaking manoeuvre in the main table though - with potentially half a dozen in with a chance for the 2nd half title with a healthy winner.

Below is the current table with just one more set of result to add.  Good luck!

Snooker Loopy

A bit slow off the mark again this weekend having spent countless hours watching those men in Sheffield trying to ruin my spread bets.

Below you'll find the table as it was before this weekend, although I've also updated the sheet on the left with all the matches that have been played so far this weekend.  It's getting very interesting with both Spanish Dave and Ashley picking up wins while Dan dropped his £1.

I make it 2 weeks left to go now so going to quite a tight finish I think - especially in the 2nd Half table where a bunch of us are still in with a good shout for some cash.

Good luck!

The End is Near

Below is the up-to-date table.  Hadn't noticed how close it was getting up the top!

Half the gang seem to have given up entirely but there is still a total of £340 up for grabs between the overall table and the separate 2nd half prizes.  Not too shabby...

The 2nd half competition is wide open with a good 7 people still in with a shout.  I believe there are still 5 weeks to go so plenty of time to win or lose the cash.

Good luck!

The Masters Weekend

I'll briefly pretend to be interested in the football, before getting back to the real sporting action of the weekend in Augusta.

Dan, Ian, and Phil are all still miles clear of everyone else for the 2nd Half contest, with Dan picking up another nice score last week with Newcastle.  That's 4 in a row for combined profit of over £9!

Jon is almost matching that performance in the form stakes though with a 4 win streak worth £7 that has got him back into the black for the first time in a while.

Best of luck with the naps and enjoy the golfing action.

Who's the Fool?

The weekend of the Fool, so probably not a good time to be backing up your selections with any real cash wagers.  Especially if you were born on April 1st like one of our esteemed members!

Last week stood out for another big priced winner for Ian who has shot into profit and also to the top of the 2nd Half table at the same time.  Additionally three shrewd players spotted the value in taking on ropey QPR with Sunderland and scored a solid 11/10 shot.

This week i'm surprised Ryan is the only one taking on flaky Man City with 14/1 shots Sunderland, and would expect that one to be a lot closer than the odds suggest.

Good luck!