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A warm welcome to all members old and new, as the Happy League is about to start its 23rd season. Recently there have been a number of new members to the site, who are posting on a regular basis. If any of you are reading this, I would like to take this opportunity to say you are all very welcome to join. It is a free to enter competition with prizes. Details of the four competions are below.
There is no need to register for the coming season, as any member who took part last season, will automatically be registered for this season. Just post your predictions to confirm your registration. For any new members thinking about joining, you can join just by posting you predictions for Week 1 on this thread.
The four competitions are:-
Happy League This is a 38 Week season. Fixtures will be 25 weeks of 6 games, and 13 of guest pick 10 games, making 280 fixtures in total. There are two divisions, with 12 members in the Premier, and all other members (including newcomers) in Division One. Three to be relegated from the Premier, and three promoted from Division One (the top two automatically, and one from the play-offs). A personalised Colchester United clock for the Premier Champion. The season will start on Saturday 2nd August. For any newcomers it is 3 points for a correct score, and one point for a correct outcome. Fixtures can be found below.
After last seasons promotion and relegation the two leagues as they stand at the moment are (In alphabetical order):-
Happy Cup This is a knockout competition, with all the fixtures coming from the FA Cup. There will be replays for drawn games. The 1st Round would ideally have 32 members. If we fail to get this, then to have 16 members for the 2nd Round, there will be three member games where required, with the two top scorers going through. The competition will start with FA Cup 1st Round fixtures on Saturday 1st November. The winner will get a personalised Colchester United mug. All details will be in the Happy Cup thread sometime in October.
Charity Shield This is an end of season competition, where the Premier Champion will play the Happy Cup winner in one semi-final, and the Premier runner-up will play the Division One Champion in the other semi-final. The winners to play in the final, where the winner will get a personalised shield.
U'sual Champions League The qualification for this competition will be decided on 29th December (Week 22). Last seasons winner Sector4 will qualify automatically, the other eleven qualifiers will be the highest point scorers over the two divisions on the aforementioned date. The competition will start on Tuesday 10th March, when the Champions League Round Of 16 begins. The winner will get a personalised replica Champions League trophy.
A reminder of a rule, mainly for any newcomers. That is anybody failing to post their predictions four weeks in a row, will be dismissed from all Happy League competitions. There is no need for this to happen. If you are not going to be around to post your predictions any week, just let me know in advance what default score you require, e.g. all 1-0's, 2-1's etc. Anybody failing to post anything at all will receive no points for that week.
Week 1 Fixtures A strange start to the season, with the first week only having fixtures from League's 1 & 2. Some tricky ones to kick-off with, as they all contain teams that were either promoted or relegated last season.
BRADFORD CITY v WYCOMBE WANDERERS DONCASTER ROVERS v EXETER CITY PLYMOUTH ARGYLE v BARNSLEY BARNET v FLEETWOOD TOWN GRIMSBY TOWN v CRAWLEY TOWN SHREWSBURY TOWN v BROMLEY
As you say why hasn't Joe MacGregor got a county contract. I see he played for Kent Second XI in 2022, and Glamorgan Second XI the last two seasons. As he has been playing well for Colchester and East Essex since 2017, it is about time Essex took notice.
PARIS SAINT GERMAIN 5 Hakimi (12) Doue (20, 63) Kvaratskhelia (73) Mayulu (86) INTER MILAN 0
(A) Result - 5pts spot-on, 2pts for the outcome. Result - See above (B) Goal scorer - pick one. Get 1pt for each goal they score (including own goals). Result - See above (C) Attempts on target - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. Result 10 (D) Attempts off target - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. Result 21 (E) Corners - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. Result 10 (F) Fouls - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. Result 20 (G) Yellow cards - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. Result 5 (H) Red cards - 1pt for spot-on only. Result 0 (TB) The tie-break is the minute for the first substitution, closest (either side) wins. In the unlikely event that there are no substitutions, this will be counted as 0 (zero) minutes. Substitutions in injury-time will be counted as 45' or 90 Result 54th minute
Final result
noah4x4 5 A. 2-1 2pts B. Dembele C. 9 D. 19 1pt E. 9 F. 22 1pt G. 3 H. 0 1pt TB. 46 min (at start of second half)
Sector4 6 A ) 1 2 B) Martinez C) 10 2pts D) 18 E) 10 2pts F) 23 G) 4 1pt H) 0 1pt TB) 47
Congratulations to Sector4 on winning, what I think, is his first Happy competition, thanks to getting the attempts on target and corners spot-on.
3rd place play-off score
Daniel 11 A) PSG 2-1 Inter Milan 2pts (B) Marcus Thuram (C) 10 2pts (D) 14 1pt (E) 10 2pts (F) 24 1pt (G) 5 2pts (H) 0 1pt (TB) 65
bwildered 1 A - 2-2 B - Dembele C - 11 D - 12 E - 13 F - 14 G - 6 H - 0 1pt TB - 57
Brilliant from Daniel. Deserved more than just the honour of finishing 3rd instead of 4th.
Talking of Colchester & East Essex, congratulations to Charlie Allison on getting his maiden first class century for Essex today against champions Surrey. Out for 140 in the end.
Division One Champion Lewis_1. Runner-up bwildered. Promoted through the play-offs Jorash63. All three playing in the Premier for the first time.
U'sual Champions League Winner Sector4. Runner-up noah4x4. 3rd place Daniel
This is how the leagues will look for the 2025/26 season (In alphabetical order)
How did the 2024/25 games finish? Remarkably it was almost a replica of the 2021/22 season, with just 2 less aways and 2 more draws.
2014/15 Home wins 131 (43.67%) Away wins 94 (31.33%) Draws 75 (25.00%) 2015/16 Home wins 107 (35.66%) Away wins 119 (39.67%) Draws 74 (24.67%) 2016/17 Home wins 129 (43.00%) Away wins 91 (30.33%) Draws 80 (26.67%) 2017/18 Home wins 138 (46.00%) Away wins 88 (29.33%) Draws 74 (24.67%) 2018/19 Home wins 123 (41.00%) Away wins 94 (31.33%) Draws 83 (27.67%) 2019/20 Home wins 126 (42.00%) Away wins 97 (32.33%) Draws 77 (25.67%) 2020/21 Home wins 124 (41.33%) Away wins 105 (35.00%) Draws 71 (23.67%) 2021/22 Home wins 118 (39.33%) Away wins 100 (33.33%) Draws 82 (27.33%) 2022/23 Home wins 123 (41.00%) Away wins 104 (34.67%) Draws 73 (24.33%) 2023/24 Home wins 128 (42.67%) Away wins 102 (34.00%) Draws 70 (23.33%) 2024/25 Home wins 118 (39.33%) Away wins 98 (32.67%) Draws 84 (28.00%)
In the 11 seasons of my administration the 3300 games have ended with:- Home wins 1365 (41.36%) Away wins 1092 (33.09%) Draws 843 (25.55%).
What was the total number of goals scored? At the end of the 2023/24 season I was commenting on what difference the extended added time had on games that season, and not surprisingly there were more goals scored compared to previous seasons, but not a lot. It was a trend expected to continue, so it was a shock to find the 2024/25 figure was the lower than any of the previous 10 seasons, especially as there was a number of times in the season with goals in added time. After looking at the number of goals scored in the four English divisions, I found they were also down overall on last season. Premier - 1115 (1246 last season), Championship - 1353 (1480), League 1 - 1427 (1427), League 2 - 1377 (1645). Could this be down to better game management, more teams relying on defence, or as seem in the table below, not so many high scoring games.
2024/25 748 goals (2.49 average goals per game) 2023/24 823 goals (2.74 average goals per game) 2022/23 794 goals (2.65 average goals per game) 2021/22 780 goals (2.60 average goals per game) 2020/21 768 goals (2.56 average goals per game) 2019/20 780 goals (2.60 average goals per game) 2018/19 790 goals (2.63 average goals per game) 2017/18 778 goals (2 59 average goals per game) 2016/17 826 goals (2.75 average goals per game) 2015/16 778 goals (2.59 average goals per game) 2014/15 781 goals (2.60 average goals per game)
The results The 1-1 comes out on top again, with the 1-0 back as best for a home, and the 0-1 back as best for an away win again. As I mentioned above, less goals in games overall could be down to scores like 2-2, 1-3 and 3-2 well down on the previous season.
(Only including the main results for the last 10 seasons)
The 2025/26 EFL fixtures are due out on the 26th June, and details for the new Happy League season will follow soon afterwards. New and former members are most welcolme to join next season. It is a free to enter competitions with prizes.
BARCELONA 3 Yamal (24) Torres (38) Sommer (65 og) INTER MILAN 3 Thuram (1) Dumfries (21, 63)
Semi-final 2nd leg results
INTER MILAN 3 Martinez (21) Calhanoglu (45+1 pen) Acerbi (90+3) Frattesi (99 ET)
BARCELONA 3 Garcia (54) Olmo (60) Raphinha (87)
Inter Milan won 4-3 AET and won 7-6 on Agg.
PARIS SAINT GERMAIN 2 Ruiz(27) Hakimi (72)
ARSENAL 1 Saka (76)
PSG won 3-1 on Agg
Final scores
Daniel 5 (1) noah4x4 6 (1)
bwildered 4 Sector4 1 5 (1)
U'sual Champions League 2025 Final
noah4x4 v Sector4
3rd place play-off
Daniel v bwildered
The Champions League Final 31/05/2025 PARIS SAINT GERMAIN v INTER MILAN (Kick-off 20.00)
Predictions There are nine categories to predict. For categories C-G, as usual there will be 2pts if spot-on, and one point for whoever is closest (or 1pt each if equidistant). Note that for the final alone, a spot-on result will not count towards the tie-break, it's just the total points scored. All predictions will be for the normal time match, extra-time or penalties will not count. The only questions you can't match exactly on are (A), (B) and (TB), so whilst there is no tie-break advantage to predicting first, predicting last may mean not having the options preferred available. Deadline for all predictions is Saturday 31st May 20.00.
(A) Result - 5pts spot-on, 2pts for the outcome. (B) Goal scorer - pick one. Get 1pt for each goal they score (including own goals). (C) Attempts on target - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. (D) Attempts off target - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. (E) Corners - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. (F) Fouls - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. (G) Yellow cards - 2pts for spot-on, 1pt if closest. (H) Red cards - 1pt for spot-on only. (TB) The tie-break is the minute for the first substitution, closest (either side) wins. In the unlikely event that there are no substitutions, this will be counted as 0 (zero) minutes. Substitutions in injury-time will be counted as 45' or 90
All stats will be taken from the BBC Sport website, just in case there are discrepancies elsewhere.