Mistakes Were Made

photo by becca.peterson26	via PhotoRee

In which I own up to the times when my prediction radar was slightly off:

Despite nailing the fact that Wigan would just edge out Brum in the relegation battle all the way back in mid-January, in the very same column I didn't quite manage to see how the bottom of the table would play out.  Witness this gem:

"West Ham will not be relegated.   Maybe they deserve to be, and maybe it’s just my latent sympathy for Avram Grant and our farlieonfootie columnist Ian, but I don’t think the Hammers are going down."

Umm, the worst team in the League usually gets relegated, and Hammers happened to be bottom of the table.  Guess you can't win them all.  Grade: F

Or  how about this terrific piece of football insight, from the very same column:

"...[D]espite my genuine affection for Mick McCarthy, I don’t see Wolves staying up..." 

Wrong again!  Mick's boys managed to get hot at the right time and prove me wrong.  But surely, you note, that's only two things from that fateful column you got wrong.  You didn't miss another, did you?


Oh, yes I did:

"...I can’t see West Bromwich putting up the kind of scratch-out-the-results type of fight needed to avoid [relegation]."

Of course I also couldn't see Roberto DiMatteo gettign the heave-ho, and Roy Hodgson leading West Brom to its most successful season in a very long time (ever?).  Not great vision on my part.  Grade: D-

Okay, okay.  You get the point.  That relegation piece wasn't my best bit of work (maybe I conducted one too many Game Day Beer Reviews that night).  But as wrong as I was about relegation, surely my prognostication efforts must have been better toward the top end of the table, right? 

Not exactly, as it turns out.  Just check out this piece from February, in which I sounded fairly assured as I typed the following sentence:

"Spurs look in good form to me at the moment, and although this may be somewhat of a flyer, I’m picking them to finish third for the season."

Did I write "third?"  I know I was thinking "fifth" at the time.  Must have been a problem with the keyboard.  Thouh at least I had the decency to note that my prediction was somewhat of a flyer.  Grade: C-

But this next one I'm just plain embarassed about:

"So in the end, I guess I’m thinking that Chelsea have an uphill battle to remain in the Champions League, which is saying quite a bit after last season’s results. Of course, I could be entirely wrong on this one, in which case you'll have wasted the last three minutes of your life. Only time will tell."

Yup.  You got it: three minutes of your life down the drain, never to return.  And for that, I'm sorry.  Grade: F

As I said, mistakes were made.  And this is farlieonfootie for May 25.