You may have been wondering why
there has been nothing from The Grambler over the past few weeks. The reason for this is that the originator of
The Grambler, and lifelong Motherwell supporter, Stewart Smith, died on 29th
August. Two years after being diagnosed
as having bowel cancer and having come back from the brink on numerous
occasions he could fight no more. He was
28 years old. No age at all really. And still 27 years younger than the point the
government see as being the age at which screening for bowel cancer is considered
important. Stewart always wanted to
raise awareness about bowel cancer in younger people. Even teenagers can develop bowel cancer (see www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/never-too-young
for further information).
Five game accumulator from all leagues
Game – Result – Odds
What can I say about this
fixture? Erm… both these teams are lucky
to still be in the Premiership. At the
end of last season both were struggling away in the lower reaches of the table. They met three times last season – twice in
the league and once in the League Cup quarter final. Surprisingly, Aston Villa were the better
team overall with two wins and a draw. Since
Aston Villa had such a crap season against just about every other team, these
performances against Norwich might just have been Aston Villa's manager (and ex
Norwich manager) Paul Lambert trying to show the Norwich faithful that he had
moved to a better side (yeah, right). Given that they are both struggling again
this year (Norwich sitting in 15th place and Aston Villa in
17th) a draw here might be a reasonable bet.
Incidentally, it seems that
Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor obviously doesn’t think much of One
Direction (swoon swoon), having put in a seriously nasty challenge on Louis
Tomlinson (apparently a member of One Direction who isn’t Harry Stiles) in a
recent charity match. He obviously
doesn’t think much of people who make pots of money for doing so little and
Agbonlahor thinks the same.
Oh, another thing… Norwich have signed a Dutch striker called Ricky van
Wolfswinkel. Yeah. I know.
Cracking name. Fnarr fnarr.
Motherwell link – Norwich keeper John Ruddy and Aston Villa manager Paul
Lambert are both ex Motherwell players.
Our second fixture takes us
to the Seagulls’ Falmer Stadium – named after a small village between Lewes and
Brighton and definitely not named after the maker of
unfashionable men’s trousers – where they meet the Trotters. Four out of six points from last season’s
meetings between these two clubs went to Bolton . So that would suggest that the Grambler had
the prediction spot on. But wait, Bolton
can’t buy a win so far this season managing only three points from three draws
and after seven games are propping up the table. Brighton have at
least got a couple wins to boast of. So,
for the Grambler’s sake – Come on the Seagulls!
Not very convincing is it?
Our third fixture takes us to
Fratton Park , home of the Pompey faithful – and if there are any
fans left they must be incredibly faithful.
Since 2010 Portsmouth have plummeted from the Premiership down to Division
2 (or Division 4 in reality). Currently
they sit in the bottom half at number 13; surely the Conference League
beckons. Visitors today are Fleetwood Town no doubt with the Cod Army in tow. Fleetwood have started the season off well
and currently sit at number 3. All of
which suggests that the Grambler has cocked it up again – but hey, this is all
about random gambling so, who knows?
Our number four game takes us
over the border – way, way over the border to the Dons’ Pittodrie in the north
east of Scotland . Until Ross County joined Caley in the top flight last season this was
as close to a local derby match that the Invernusians managed, even though the
two places are 83 miles apart. Ex
Motherwell management team of Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas have got Caley
riding high at the top of the league – ahead of even Motherwell and some other
outfit. Oh yes, Celtic. They remain unbeaten, only dropping two
points with a draw at Celtic Park . Aberdeen are doing okay as well, sitting at number 4. The last two meetings between the teams went
the way of the home team on both occasions; perhaps the Grambler is not so far
wrong with the prediction of a draw.
Motherwell link – As well as Tel and Mo, ex Motherwell players are in both squads. Inverness have
playmaker and goal-machine Richie Foran and Aberdeen have defender Mark Reynolds.
Queen’s Park vs Elgin – Away –
6/4
The final game of our quintet
takes us to the home of Scottish football – Hampden. Well, Lesser Hampden which is where the
Spiders play out of. Visitors today are Elgin City who have the rather dull nickname of the Black and
Whites. I wonder what gave them the idea
for that one. Both teams have got off to
a shaky (crap) start. Elgin sit in second bottom place with 5 points and the poor
old Spiders are in bottom spot with (whisper it) no points. The Grambler reckons
they will still be on ‘null points’ after this encounter. I don’t think I disagree.
Betting odds
If the Grambler has got
everything spot on and the 5 game accumulator pays out the odds are – fanfare –
386/1. Woo hoo!
Okay, I don’t think it will
happen so I have done a cowardly thing and also put 10 doubles on the same
games. Yeah, what a copout. Still it might bring some pennies for the
Bobby Moore Fund. And isn’t that what it’s
all about.
Happy Grambling.
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