Launch Date For Season 33

Yes at last I can say that we are going to launch our 33^rd Season of Golden Goals on Monday the 6^th July 2015. If I already have your email address then the entry form will be automatically sent to you on the 6^th July.

We are making the entry date a little longer than normal so we can get as many people in as we can.

We would love to beat our record number of entries of 111 set back in our 1999/00 Season, so it’s about time that we made another record.

If you have been following Golden Goals over last season and we know there are a few of you out there in the world, then now is the time to start thinking of three English or Scottish teams or you can have a combination of both.

Your teams need to score a total of 300 goals by the end of the season to have a chance of being our next champion and perhaps to pick up £100 in cash.

To have the entry form and rules sent to you on the 6^th July, send your email address to goldengoals1983@gmail.com

Getting Ready For the New Season

The count down to the new season is well under way, but we still have a bit of time to think about your teams before our counted to Season 33 with Golden Goals.

We now know that the Scottish Premiership is to start on Saturday 1^st August where Celtic will be taking on Ross County at home in their first game of the season. Newly promoted Hearts will be home against St Johnstone. The rest of the Scottish Leagues will start on Saturday the 8^th August and this will be our start date. Rangers will be home to St Mirren in the Championship on that date.

I have been getting the season ready this week so keep an eye on here for the New Season.

If you would like to take part in our next season’s competition then drop me a email and I will send you the new entry forms when available. We have had a lot of hits from the USA, France and Germany, so come on you lot join in to win some cash.

Email to goldengoals1983@gmail.com

Next Seasons Fixtures Are Now Available

Today the FA have published the English football fixtures for 2015/16 Season which will start on Saturday 8th August. This coming season which will be our 33^rd has changed with all the English Leagues all starting off on the same day. Our three top voted teams from last season have a very good start to the season fixtures with MANCHESTER CITY playing away to West Brom and CHELSEA home to Swansea. MANCHESTER UNITED are home to TOTTENHAM.

In the Championship, newly promoted MK DONS are away to Rotherham while BRISTOL CITY are away to Sheffield Wednesday.

The First Round of the League Cup will start on Tuesday 11^th August.

The Up's And Down In Football

It was sad to see at the end of last season that Tranmere Rovers have been relegated from the English League Two down to the Conference after being in the English Football League for a run of 94 years. We here at Golden Goals have had them for 17 Seasons out of our thirty-two years of competition. They are our 49^th voted English team and they first appeared in our 1985/86 season where they finished on a score of 80 goals. Their highest score came in our 1993/94 Season with 90 goals. We last saw Tranmere back in our 2009/10 Season with 53 goals. Over the seventeen seasons they have scored 1,236 goals which gave them an average score of 72 goals per season.

On the other side of football, Barnet are promoted back in to the English Football League Two after they won automatic promotion from the Conference. Barnet are back after a two year absence. Barnet have been with us for just five seasons and they are our 82^nd voted English team. They first started back in our 1992/93 Season with their highest score of 69 goals. We last saw them back in our 2005/06 Season with their lowest score of just 51 goals. Over the five seasons they scored a total of 306 goals which gives them an average score of 61 goals per season.

Bristol Rovers are also back into the Football League after they won promotion from the Conference after being relegated from the Football League in 2013/14 Season.

Bristol Rovers won the Conference Play-Off final against Grimsby. They drew 1-1 after extra time and then went on to win 5-3 on penalties.

Rovers became our 45^th voted English team and they also joined us back in our 1985/86 Season finishing with a total of 65 goals. Since then they have been with us for fourteen seasons and their highest score in that time came in our 20011/12 with a total of 73 goals. We had Rovers in their relegated season and they finished on a total of just 52 goals. Over the fourteen seasons they have netted a total of 844 goals which gives them an average score of just 60 goals.

Our Last Post Of The Season

The final whistle has been blown on our historic 32^nd  Season of Golden Goals and what a season we had. Although we did not have the success that we were hoping for with the number of entries,  some of our teams also failed to get them goals. The good news is that we do not have to wait long for the next season to start. Although we once again lost a few friends this season, we have also gained some new ones. Lets hope that we can continue with this nice run as we have had a lot of success over our full 32 year history of Golden Goals.

This season we have had a few records that have been broken this season, but more on this later. So here is our top twenty-five winning players in this season's competition.

   FINAL     LAST                                               M/WEEK     W/END   TOTAL        PRIZE

   WEEK    SHEET          NAME                          GOALS      GOALS   GOALS      MONEY

           

          1              -             T. BICKNELL                126             185            311         £100.00

          2             4             D. DAVIDSON                108             195            303            £50.00

          3             2             J. SOMERVILLE             113             189            302            £40.00  

          4             3             G. GOODEY                      78             222            300            £35.00

         5              7             D. GOODSON                    99             198            297            £30.00

          6              -             A. STUBBS (2012/13)      100             196            296            £26.00

          7             5             C. BOLBERY                      97             197            294            £22.00

          8              -             S. DICKINSON                 112             181            293            £19.00

          9              -             R. NETTING                       95             196            291            £16.00

       10           12              T. JENKINS                         81             208            289             £14.00

       11           15              T. GUY (2010/11)                81             205            286            £13.00

       12           10              C. EVANS                            99             182            281            £11.50p

       13           11              J. WEARDEN                     113            168            281            £11.50p

       14              -              B. BARNES (2)                    94             186            280            £10.00

       15           16              N. HORTON                         85             194            279            £  8.75p

       16           13              S. THOMSON (1)                 99             180            279            £  8.75p

       17           25              D. WOOD                              85            189            274            £  7.75p

       18           20              P. DAVEY (2013/14)           104            170            274            £  7.75p

       19           17              M. STUBBS                            83            190            273            £  6.75p

       20           22              C. DICKER                             89            184            273            £  6.75p

       21           34              MANGO                                 82             190            272            £  5.50p

       22           19              G. PHILLIPS                          98             174            272            £  5.50p

       23           21              M. GREGORY                      106            166            272            £  5.50p

       24           18              B. WAKEFIELD                    83             188            271            £  4.25p

       25           33              S. STUBBS                           104             167            271            £  4.25p

So it’s Congratulations to TOBY BICKNELL as he now becomes our 32^nd  Champion with Golden Goals and takes the prize money of a grand total of £100 in winnings. He also had two shared weekend win to his name. We can now add  Toby’s name in our history book and in the Champions League where he finished in 12^th place on 311 goals. Toby had the combination of  CELTIC (110) DERBY (100) and PRESTON (101). Just one of his teams finished in our top best three teams and they were Celtic. Paul picked up  just five blank score sheet throughout the season and his highest score was 10 goals in weeks 2 & 11. Paul had a total of 15 week’s at number one Twelve of them all in one stretch to end his season. In the end he finished eight goals clear of  Darren Davidson who finally finished in second place. 

ROAD TO CHAMPION  

So our new Champion, TOBY BICKNELL is now in our history book, but what about the other people who managed to get to that magic number one spot. We had a total of nine people that made it to that number one slot. We already know about Toby’s 15 week’s at the top who stayed there the longest. After our Champion, we then had CRAIG EVANS with 8 weeks. With 5 week’s each we had KEITH THOMSON and his son SCOTT THOMSON (1). We then had TONY KING with 4 week’s and with 2 weeks NICK GATES who was there in the first and fourth week and with a week each we had our 2001/02 Champion LAURIE KING with BARBARA BARNES (2) and JAMES SOMERVILLE. 

So what happened to our past Champions. Well we only had a total of twelve that played in this season competition and only three of them finished in the top twenty and they were ALICE STUBBS our 2012/13 Champion in 6^th place. Our 2010/11 Champion TONY GUY in 11^th place while last season’s champion PAUL DAVEY finished  in 18^th place.
We had another two Champions in the top fifty. In 29^th Place was one of our double winners PHIL REEVE (1987/88 & 2011/12) and MIKE PEPPERRELL our 2002/03 Champion finished in 35^th place. Below is the list of our top five champions of  Golden Goals.

                                      CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

                          NAME                           M/W    W/E   TOTAL

                      1. L. KING                          116      239      355      2001/02

                      2. P. DAVEY                       132      216      348      2013/14

                      3. M. PEPPERRELL               91      247      338      2002/03

                      4. D. SOMERVILLE              95      237       332      2009/10

                      5. P. CHRISTOPHER           123      204       327      1983/84

At the other end of the table, we had a total of nine people that landed on that rotten number of 106. GRAEME BRITTON holds the record for the best of our losers league with 214 goals from our 2004/05 season. The person who finished there this season was JOHN NICHOLLS with a total of 16 weeks throughout the season. He picked up a total of four blank score sheets over the season. John had the combination of BRISTOL CITY (103) EVERTON (51) and WIGAN (40) total of 194 goals. John’s combination finished in 5^th place in our losers league and he now adds his name in the history book. Although John finished rock bottom, We also had SANDRA NICHOLLS landing there for 15 week’s. The next to hit 106 with 2 weeks each was PHIL COLLINS, STALKY (1) (Bob Burgin) MIKE LIDDLE and ZIGGY(John Wood) while ALICE STUBBS and DEAN MIDDLETON both had a total of one weekend each.

100 MIDWEEK GOALS JACKPOT

The Prize Money for the 100 Midweek Goals Jackpot of £30 was picked up by our Champion TOBY BICKNELL.  Toby picked up the cash in week 36 when his combination picked him up the cash on 103 goals.  He had the combination of  Celtic, Derby and Preston. PAUL DAVEY holds the record by picking up the highest midweek score in our 32 year history with 132 goals from last season.

BEAT THE SCORE

The fantastic sum of  £50 cash prize money for BEAT THE SCORE has not been picked up once again this season. The prize money will go to the first person who scores 19 goals or more at the weekend. So I hope that next season we can add again to that. The holder of this record is Mark Rymer with 18 goals scored way back in our 1998/99 season, so it’s about time that some-one beat that score?

THE BEST THREE TEAMS FINISHED AS

   MK DONS (115) CELTIC (110) BRISTOL CITY (103) Total of  328 goals.

We had five teams this season that picked up 100 or more goals. They are our best team MK DONS with that fantastic score of 115 goals. This is their 6^th season with Golden Goals and they have beaten their previous  score of 105 goals back in our 2011/12 Season. Although they had just one vote this season, they are doing well in this competition. Last Season they scored 76 goals and over the seasons they have scored a total of 531 goals. This now gives them an average score of 88 goals per season. Our second best team was CELTIC with 110 goals and failed to beat their best score of 122 goals scored back in our 2000/01 Season. Celtic have a 100% record with us and the good news is that this is their 5^th consecutive season with 100 or more goals. Over the 32 seasons, they have scored a total of 3061 goals which gives them an average score of 95 goals per season. Last season they also scored 110 goals. They had a total of 41 votes this season. The third best team was a big surprise to us as BRISTOL CITY picked up their highest score of 103 goals. They have beaten their best score from last season of 80 goals. This is their 13^th season with us and they now have a total of 962 goals. This will now give them an average score of 74 goals per season. They had just two votes this season.

So lets see what happened to our other teams and if they broke any records. Our fourth best team was PRESTON who ended the season with a total of 101 goals. With a total of 3 votes, this was Preston’s best end of season score. They have beaten their record score of 90 goals back in our 1999/00 Season. Last season they finished on 86 goals. Next came DERBY. They finished on 100 goals which is their second biggest end of season score. Their best score of 104 was scored in our 1985/86 Season. They had a total of 15 votes. Last time out in our 2008/09 Season they finished on 78 goals. Our top voted English team with 54 was MANCHESTER CITY who finished on 92 goals which is good for them but failed to reach that record grand total of 137 goals from last season. MANCHESTER UNITED finished on just 71 goals which was just sort of last seasons total of 75. CHELSEA finished on a score of 89 goals which was just that little bit better than last seasons 79. FULHAM finished on a total of 72 goals which is their best score since their biggest score of 105 goals back in our 2000/01 Season. STEVENAGE picked up their best score with 65 goals beating their last seasons score of 53.
In Scotland, HEARTS picked up their best score with 98 goals. They have beaten their biggest score of 92 goals back in our 1987/88 Season. RANGERS finished on 87 goals. This is not their lowest score as that was back in our 1984/85 with just 62 goals.

THE WORST THREE TEAMS FINISHED AS

    WIGAN (40) QUEENS PARK RANGERS (42) ROTHERHAM (48) Total of 130 goals.

Well the worst team for this season finished with just 40 goals in their 10^th Season’s with Golden Goals and they were WIGAN. Wigan’s goals were scored in a total of 41 league/cup games. This is not their worst score as they finished on only 38 goals back in the 2006/07 Season. They had just two votes this season. Next we had QUEENS PARK RANGERS finishing on 42 goals which is their lowest score in 21 seasons with us. They had just one vote this season. ROTHERHAM finished in third place with their lowest score of 48 goals. Their lowest score prior to this was 57 goals back in our 1986/87 Season. Our fourth worst team was a joint effort with EVERTON and COVENTRY both with 51 goals. Coventry equaled their lowest score from the 2006/07 Season. 
Meanwhile LIVERPOOL finished on 68 goals which was their worst in their last three seasons with us. PETERBOROUGH finished on 55 goals which was their worst score in their last nine seasons out. CARDIFF picked up their worst score in their last five outings with 66 goals. LEEDS UNITED finished on 53 which was their worst score in their last seven seasons.
In Scotland DUNFERMLINE finished on 59 goals which is their second lowest score to date. Back in our 2007/08 Season they finished on 38 goals which is their lowest. STENHOUSEMUIR just beat their lowest score of 50 goals back in the 1997/98 Season with just 53 goals.

The highest score of the season came from HEARTS with that 10-0 at home against Cowdenbeath in a league game.

WIGAN holds this seasons record for the most number of  blank score sheets with a total of  22 after playing a total of 48 league and cup games.  
      

Well that’s it, another season of GOLDEN GOALS has finished. I still can not believe that I have been doing this competition for 32 year’s and after all that, I will still be looking forward to the next one.

No Promotion For Rangers

RANGERS have failed to get promotion to the Premiership after they lost their Scottish premiership Play-off Final second leg game 3-0 to Motherwell. Motherwell won 6-1 on aggregate and remained in the Premiership.

Rangers for the first time in three seasons have failed to get automatic promotion to the next level and they have found the Championship a little hard to conquer this season. They have finished in third place in the Championship, so this is where they will start next season but hope that they will do a lot better than this season. Rangers in the end picked up their 9^th blank score sheet and finished on a goals total of 87.