Keech the Bookie has completed his season preview below now all teams are in. It is based on past history (last 8 years performance in brackets with the latest first) and only looks at your original team selected this time around if you are newcomer. If your transfers and picks are imaginative and inspirational, clearly Keech the bookie cannot predict that. Hope you take it as it is, a little bit of fun and the challenge is for you to either prove me right or completely wrong !!!
Only get concerned if I predict you to win !
Latest season first:
1st Craig Frost (2/1 Favourite). (2nd, 11th, 20th, 3rd, 4th, 37th, 30th, 17th)
Best season last season and with more competition from newcomer Rob Nott, the Frost magic can't be far away from his long awaited first solo title. He therefore gets the dubious honour as my pre season favourite. Sorry mate!
2nd Andy Peaden (5/2) (7th, 27th)
I think Andy will be up there after an excellent campaign last time around. 3rd season improvements are a regular occurence now and no reason to think Andy will buck the trend.
3rd Paul Gerrard (11/4). (1st, 3rd, 9th, 24th, 21st, 18th, 26th, 16th)
After years in the wilderness the penny has finally dropped. After a good season 2 years ago followed by a faultless season last year big things expected again. The luck was certainly on his side and you do wonder if this has to end at some point.
4th Rob Bushell (3/1). (10th, 16th, 6th, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 12th, 7th)
The enigma that is Rob Bushell. 3 or 4 years ago he was clearly finally getting the hang of this game. Slightly disappointing since, he did at least halt the slide and no reason to suggest he won't be in their fighting for the minor honours this time around.
5th Owen Griffiths (3/1). (8th, 34th, 31st)
Finally in his third season Owen got the hang of it. I think he may do ok again. The pressure is not as great now as most of his clan have gone. I personally think this will help him and I feel he can really push top 5 now.
6th Ishtiaq Beg (10/3). (6th, 18th, 33rd, 20th, 23rd)
I had a feeling last season Ish would improve on what has gone before but did not quite reach the heights of my expectations. Still an excellent effort and probably won't be far away again now he has the taste for it.
7th Ian Cowburn (7/2). (4th, 20th, 3rd, 5th, 15th, 12th, 31st, 18th)
Top 5 finishes have become a regular feature of Ian's campaigns. Can he break the top 2, possibly, can he win it, may be a step too far.
8th Simon Barrett (4/1). (5th, 30th, 37th)
So much better last season, again season 3 proving to be his best by far. Not sure he will match that but he won't be far off.
9th Royce Frankin (5/1). (14th, 13th, 8th, 10th, 33rd, 8th, 15th, no entry)
Royce has regularly achieved a prize but usually a minor one. Last year spot on so I will try again with top 10 finish.
10th Graham Jeffries (11/2) (31st, 1st, 1st, 14th)
After two incredible seasons last years 31st will have hurt Graham. A treble would have been unprecedented and lets be honest 3 out of 4 years would not be so bad either. Not for me though but I feel an improvement on last year at least on the cards.
11th Colin Rigby (6/1). (3rd, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 1st, 33rd, 11th)
Back to something like his best last season after a number of none descript seasons. He will be boosted by that but will do well to hit the heights of top 3 again.
12th Simon Baldwin (13/2). (26th, 5th, 10th, 27th, 26th, 17th, 13th, 2nd)
Last year things just did not go right for Simon, if it could go wrong it did. He will be looking to be around that top 10 finish again as achieved in the previous 2 seasons and no reason why not.
13th Chris Savage (7/1) (33rd)
One thing about Chris is that he will come out with some absolute gems, players I have never heard of and many of them go on to be barnstorming selections. Tends to be let down by his defences. Get that right and has a hell of a chance.
14th Paul Keech/Tim Owen (8/1) (New)
The most interesting one of the lot. Clough/Taylor springs to mind, yeah right! They will be falling out over transfers by week 5 watch this space.
15th Graham Highton (9/1). (24th, 24th, 14th, 30th, 17th, 16th, 14th, 31st)
Consistently average sums up Graham's performance, think he will break this and head towards the top half for no other reason than it is due.
16th Andrew Highton (10/1) (11th, 19th, 17th)
Slightly better in his 3rd season but always tends to be just off the pace. A safe mid table guess again.
17th Paul Keech (10/1) (19th, 21st, 19th, 9th, 11th, 22nd, 1st, 12th)
I have a feeling I will be just like Latics, entertaining but leaky. That tends to lend itself to a mid table finish.
18th Jeff Miller (11/1). (16th, 38th, 22nd, 36th, 27th, 23rd, 17th, 21st)
At least last season he reached his best placing but 16th still is nothing to shout home about. He does play the game more these days hence the improvement. Mid table would be the best placing he could hope for.
19th Margaret Highton (12/1) (22nd, 4th)
After a promising first campaign, mid to lower half last season was a step backwards. I fear a similar season in store.
20th Adrian Franklin (12/1) (12th, 25th)
Good improvement in his 2nd season could be matched again, he will need to step up his game though as the competition is fierce this time around.
21st Rob Nott (14/1) (New)
Very interesting and so difficult to predict. He will work hard if only to not embarrass himself with the Frost looking on. Saying that his knowledge I know for a fact is solely Premier League. He will need to get up to speed pretty quickly. Side bet will be his undoing.
22nd Paul Leech (16/1). (15th, 37th, 25th, 38th, 10th, 11th, 5th, 6th)
After 3 poor efforts his 15th last season was a positive and he will be looking to build on that. I reckon he would take a top 10 finish and a cup win as a successful season. My outside bet for one of the cup competitions, there you are I have said it!
23rd Young Gerrards (16/1), (17th, 14th, 30th, 25th, 37th, 36th, 10th, 9th)
So difficult to expect much again from the not so young Gerrards. Dad thinks their team is something special so that probably boosts their position by a few places but nothing more than that.
24th Wayne Moody (18/1). (23rd, 7th, 7th, 7th, 32nd, 5th, no entry, no entry)
A slight worry the Moody clan down to one team and so with a dip in performance last season and the competition not so fierce I predict another difficult campaign this time around.
25th Matt Hall (20/1) (9th, 39th, 13th, 31st, 35th, 15th, 27th, 10th)
Matt has two ways of playing, badly and ok. He is due a badly which I don't think will be entirely right as I think there are worse players.
26th Barry Tomlinson (22/1) (29th)
Now 2nd seaon players we expect a significant improvement, maybe some but not much I fear.
27th Alan Keech (25/1). (18th, 12th, 35th, 34th, 29th, 35th, 28th, 23rd)
At least there has been some improvement in the last seasons after a dreadful run of form. Some early season selection issues could hinder any further progress. A 20 some thing finish expected.
28th Ben Watson (25/1). (21st, 42nd, 15th)
If Ben received points for enthusiasm he would run away with this league. His mentor is a constant disappointment to him and should take a backseat and let the real boss run the show. Unfortunately he can't resist tweaking at the wrong time.
29th Russ Farnham (33/1) (20th, 36th, 12th, 17th, 9th, 14th, 6th, 3rd)
Last two efforts have been disappointing for Stato. So difficult to gauge his enthusism, if he starts well he could do well but not sure he will.
30th Chris Lyons (33/1) (27th, 45th, 4th, 35th)
Other than the 4th place in his 2nd season Chris has endured difficult campaigns other than that. No sense that even top half is likely so I will play safe.
31st Danny Inman (40/1) (NEW)
I know nothin of Danny so as it is his first season I will go low.
32nd Mark Davies (50/1) (Returner)
Mark's record (and he will admit himself) is far from sparkling. After a few years break he will come back with renewed vigour, not sure it will be enough.
33rd Richard Smith (100/1). (38th, 44th, 34th, 37th, 34th)
Incredible sequence to achieve 34th at his peak but there was some justifiable optimism last season as he finally secured a monthly and a 2nd place. As such 33rd is not out of the question (still not good considering we are down to 33!)
34th Gavin/Matt/Alison/Andrea/John (200/1) (New)
How on earth is a 5 man (sorry person) management going to work? None of the individual elements have ever broke any pots. They will need to be so organised, I know them they won't be!
Paul