At last the final whistle has now been blown on our historic 40th Season of Golden Goals. But it was not the season that we managed to beat our highest ever recorded number of entries of 149 players. The success of this season was all down to you. 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 the last 40 years of Golden Goals.
We did have a couple of records that have been broken this season, but more on this later. I hope that you have had a lot of fun watching your name go up and down the table and as shown above is where your combination of teams have left you standing in the final position of the season. But before we go all into that, lets take a look at what happened to the last few games of the season.
PREMIER LEAGUE
One’s again we had a crazy Sunday we had for our very last Premier League games of the season, just like the last one. Congratulations to MANCHESTER CITY on being this seasons Champions. But after a goal run of 19 games, they lost their last game of the season 1-0 away to Brentford and picked up their 4th blank of the season. Five point behind City came ARSENAL who also won their last game 5-0 at home to Wolves. After they had failed to score in their previous two games, Arsenal finished on a total of 92 goals. They had a total of 12 votes. MANCHESTER UNITED finished in third place after they won 2-1 at home to FULHAM. Fulham finished on a total of 64 goals. NEWCASTLE finished in fourth place with a total of 77 goals as they drew 1-1 away to CHELSEA. Chelsea had a bad season as they finished on a total of 38 goals. LIVERPOOL drew 4-4 away to Southampton and finished on a total of 81 goals and a goal run of 10 games. ASTON VILLA won 2-1 at home to BRIGHTON and they finished on a total of 58 goals while Brighton finished on 91 and a goal run of 9 games. EVERTON won 1-0 at home to BOURNEMOUTH and finished on a total of 37 goals. Bournemouth picked up their 19th blank score sheet and three in a row. They finished on a total of 45 goals. CRYSTAL PALACE drew 1-1 at home to Nottingham Forest and finished on a total of 43 goals. TOTTENHAM beat LEEDS UNITED 4-1 away and they have finished on a total of 74 goals and a goal run of 12 games. Leeds are relegated with a total of 61 goals and a goal run of 13 games. LEICESTER CITY are also relegated after they won 2-1 at home to WEST HAM. Leicester finished on a total of 60 goals while West Ham end their season with a total of 48 goals.
Championship Play-Offs
We had had three of the four teams playing for a place in the Premier League. They were Luton, Middlesbrough and Sunderland.
In the Final, LUTON TOWN played Coventry after they had beaten Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate. Coventry won their tie 1-0 on aggregate against Middlesbrough after they drew 0-0 in their 1st leg game. Luton will be playing in the premier league next season after they won 6-5 on penalties. The score remained 1-1 after extra time. Luton finished the season on a total of 68 goals and they had just 2 votes.
League One Play-Offs
We had two of the four teams here with Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough. Sheffield Wednesday drew 5-5 on aggregate in their two games against Peterborough and they then won 5-3 on penalties.
In the Final, SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY took on Barnsley who had beaten Bolton 2-1 on aggregate. Wednesday won 1-0 scoring in the last minute of extra time to get promoted back into the Championship. Wednesday finished on a total of 100 goals and had a total of 9 votes.
League Two Play-Offs
We had three of our teams that made it through to the play-offs here and they were Bradford City, Salford City and Stockport County. Bradford lost 3-2 on aggregate against Carlisle while Stockport won 3-1 on penalties after they had drawn 2-2 against Salford after extra time.
In the Final STOCKPORT COUNTY played Carlisle and drew 1-1 after extra time. They then lost 5-4 on penalties. Stockport finished on a total of 79 goals.
SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP
The last of the Premiership games had no surprises as Champions CELTIC won their last home game 5-0 against ABERDEEN. Celtic took their goals tally to 140 goals. Aberdeen picked up their 11th blank of the season and finished their season on a total of 77 goals in third place. RANGERS in second place won 3-0 away to St Mirren and they end the season on a total of 107 goals. HEARTS drew 1-1 at home to HIBERNIAN and end their season on a total of 68 goals and in fourth place. Hibs finished on a total of 67 goals and in fifth place.
FA CUP FINAL
The cup became a Manchester final for the very first time in the FA Cup history as CITY took on UNITED. I was really looking forward to this cup final but it turned out to be a disappointing game. City scored first with the quickest goal in the final in just 12 seconds with a cracking shot by their captain Gundogan. More action followed as VAR came into play with a hand ball by Jack Grealish, which I felt was very hard on him. United scored by Bruno Fernandes in the 33 minute. 1-1 at half time. With both teams really not doing much, City scored again in the just after the start of the second half another goal via Gundogan in the 51 minute. United did have the last ten minutes of play but there was no signs of them scoring. So City win 2-1 and get their double. City finished on a score of 118 goals and have won the FA Cup for their 7th time while United picked up their 87th goal and a goal run of 5 games.
SCOTTISH CUP FINAL
CELTIC have won the Scottish Cup as they win 3-1 against Inverness CT. Celtic claimed the Scottish Cup and a fifth domestic treble in seven seasons. Celtic have finished with a record breaking total of 143 goals. They had a total of 25 votes.
So it’s Congratulations to TONY GUY as he now becomes our 40th Champion with Golden Goals in the very last week of the football. Tony with his second selection, stayed at the top for a total of 27 weeks of the season. He now becomes our fifth player to become Champion twice. So we can now add his name in our history book and in the Champions League where he finished in 6th place on 335 goals. Tony’s winning combination was ARSENAL (92) CELTIC (143) and SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (100) Tony picked up four blank score sheets throughout the season. In the end he finished just 4 goals clear of James Blyth who finally finished in second place with a total of 331 goals.
ROAD TO CHAMPION
Our Champion’s name, TONY GUY 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 just 6 players that made it there is season.
We already know that Tony Guy was at the top for the most number of weeks with a total of 27 from weeks 14 to 39 and then the last week 44. LUCIFER (John Wood) was there in the first four weeks of football. SIMON DICKINSON came next in week 5. Then we had MARK GREGORY for six weeks from weeks 6 to 8 and then again in weeks 10, 12 and 13. GRANT PHILLIPS was there in week 9 followed by JAMES BLYTH in week 11 and then again in weeks 40 to 43.
Below is the list of our top six 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. J. WOOD 92 252 344 2016/17
4. M. PEPPERRELL 91 247 338 2002/03
5. J. WOOD 94 241 335 2021/22
6. T GUY 95 240 335 2022/23
So what happened to our past Champions. Well we had 15 that played this season and only five finished in the top twenty-five. They were TONY GUY 2010/11 Champion in 1st, 7th and 23rd place and our 2014/15 Champion TOBY BICKNELL in 14th place. CHRIS BOLBERY our 2017/18 Champion came next in 16th place with RICHARD WILLIAMS our 2015/16 Champion in 19th place. GEOFF DOCKERILL our 1994/95 Champion finished in 20th place.
We then had five more that finished in the top 50 and they were in 31st place MIKE HARRINGTON our 1997/98 Champion and followed by RICKY WOOD our 2007/08 Champion in 34th place. KEAMUS SETNA followed in 35th place our 2005/06 Champion. In 39th place was our two time Champion STEVE REEVE (ME) from 2008/09 and 2020/21. ALICE STUBBS our 2012/13 Champion made it to 50th place.
Our lowest Champion finished in 95th place who was our two times winner PHIL REEVE, winning in the 1987/88 and 2011/12 Seasons.
At the other end of the table, we had just four players that landed on number 108. The player who finished rock bottom this season was JOHN NICHOLLS. John was there for the last 3 weeks of the season and a total of six over the season.
John stayed there in weeks 38 to 40 and the from weeks 42 to 44. Over the season John picked up eight blank score sheets. He had the combination of BRISTOL ROVERS (59) EVERTON (37) and LEEDS UNITED (61) total of 157 goals. John’s combination finished in 33rd place in our losers league and we can now add his name in the history book.
John has now finished bottom in four seasons which is now a Golden Goals record beating Freda Hillier with her three seasons. John’s other seasons were the 2008/09, 2014/15, 2020/21 and now 2022/23. John also holds the lowest score on record with just 131 goals from the 2020/21 Season.
With the other players, we had Terrence Warwick stayed there in our first week, we then had Sandra Nicholls there for a total of 22 weeks which is the longest stay there this season. Next Came Mandy Wright with 15 weeks.
GRAEME BRITTON holds the record for the highest score of our losers league with 214 goals from our 2004/05 season.
100 MIDWEEK GOALS JACKPOT
The Prize Money for the 100 Midweek Goals Jackpot was worth £40 this season and it went to JAMES BLYTH in Week 40 by reaching 100 midweek goals first. James finally reached a total of 114 midweek goals. TONY BICKNELL and CHRIS BOLBERY came next with a total of 106 goals. We had a total of 14 players to hit 100 this season. The Golden Goals record for the number of players reaching 100 midweek goals came from the 2020/21 season with a total of 63. Daryl Nicholls holds the highest midweek record with 136 goals from our 2016/17 Season.
BEAT THE SCORE
The fantastic sum of £65 cash prize money for BEAT THE SCORE of 19 goals or more has finally been won. The prize money was won by SIMON DICKINSON in Week Five with a record breaking total of 23 goals. The goals came from his combination of Celtic 9, Liverpool 9 and Sheffield Wednesday 5. The holder of this record was Mark Rymer with 18 goals scored way back in our 1998/99 season. This is going to be some record to beat now
THE TOP THREE TEAMS FINISHED AS
CELTIC (143) MANCHESTER CITY (118) IPSWICH TOWN (113) Total of 374 goals.
We once again had five teams that picked up 100 or more goals this season. Our top three are CELTIC who ended the season with a total of 143 goals which is a Golden Goals record as they have beaten Manchester’s City top score of 137 back in the 2013/14 and again in the 2018/19 Seasons. Celtic have beaten their best score of 134 goals from the 2016/17 Season. This is their 21st season of scoring 100 or more goals. Celtic have played a total of 47 league/cup games and had a total of two blank score sheets. Over that time they have netted a total of 3951 goals and that now gives them an average score of 98.7 goals per season. Our second best team was MANCHESTER CITY with a total of 118 goals. They have played in 47 league/cup games this season which gave them an average score of 2.5 goals per game. They were our top English team with 56 votes and they picked up just four blank score sheets throughout the season. Last season they finished on 121 goals and they have now scored over 100 goals in their last six consecutive seasons.
Over the 29 seasons that City have been with us, they have now scored a total of 2562 goals which now gives them an average score of 88 goals per season. In third place was IPSWICH TOWN with 113 goals which is their best end of season score as they have beaten their own record score of 94 goals from the 1997/98 Season and then again in the 2006/07 Season and they have joined the 100 goals club. Ipswich have now scored a total of 1793 goals which now gives them an average score of 71 goals per season.
So lets see what has happen to our other teams that did well this season. Scottish team ALLO finished on a total of 68 goals which beats their top score of 52 from the 2018/19 Season. BRIGHTON have made another Golden Goals record by beating their top score of 86 goals in the 2016/17 Season with a total of 91 goals. They had just one vote this season. BURNLEY finished on a total of 98 goals which is their best since the 2002/03 Season on where they finished on a total of 84 goals. PLYMOUTH finished on their biggest score of 83 goals beating their previous best score of 80 goals in the 2021/22 Season. SALFORD CITY picked up their highest score with 75 goals beating last seasons score of 66 goals.
New Boys Bonnyrigg Rose finished 8th place in league two and finished on a grand total of 43 goals. They had two votes.
THE WORST THREE TEAMS FINISHED AS
EVERTON (37) FOREST GREEN ROVERS (38) CHELSEA (38) Total of 113 goals
Our worst teams finished as EVERTON in their 23rd appearance with Golden Goals and it will go down as their worst season as they finished on their lowest score of 37 goals. They have beaten their previous lowest score of 48 goals from the 1997/98 Season. They had just 1 vote. Next came FOREST GREEN ROVERS with their 3rd appearance’s and finished on a total of 38 goals which is their lowest recorded score. They also had just one vote. Our third worst team was CHELSEA finishing on 38 goals which is their lowest score in their 40th appearance’s with us. Last season they finished on 97 goals. They had a total of 20 vote this season.
Other teams that picked up their lowest score on record are AFC WIMBLEDON with 52 goals. CRAWLEY TOWN with 53 goals. HUDDERSFIELD TOWN with 49 goals. GILLINGHAM with 45 goals. READING with 50 goals which equals their 1987/88 Season’s score. BOURNEMOUTH with 45 goals and KELTY HEARTS with 42 goals.
Our biggest results in our 40th Season came from CELTIC who won 9-0 away to Dundee Utd in the league and LIVERPOOL winning 9-0 at home to Bournemouth also in the league both from Week Five.
GILLINGHAM have picked up the most number of blank score sheets this season with 24 out of their 54 league/cup games played.
Well that’s it, another season of GOLDEN GOALS has finally finished. I still can not believe that I have been doing this competition for 40 year’s and after a hell of a lot of work this season which included the World Cup, I will still be looking forward to the next one and hoping that we can beat our record of 149 players from the 2017/18 Season.
Well here is how our top 25 winners ended up. Congratulations to Tony Guy who wins the full £240 prize money.
FINAL LAST M/WEEK W/END TOTAL
WEEK SHEET NAME GOALS GOALS GOALS
1 2 T. GUY (2) 95 240 335
2 1 J. BLYTH 114 217 331
3 4 S. DICKINSON 102 222 324
4 3 M. GREGORY 91 231 322
5 6 MANGO 77 241 318
6 7 GRANT PHILLIPS 85 232 317
7 10 T. GUY (1) (2010/11) 83 233 316
8 5 S. STEPHENS 102 210 312
9 13 C. WEBB 101 210 311
10 12 B. BURROUGHS (1) 66 243 309
11 9 M. LAVER 85 221 306
12 18 B. SELF 84 220 304
13 14 S. GRIMWOOD 88 213 301
14 8 T. BICKNELL (2014/15) 106 195 301
!5 - J. WEARDEN 86 213 299
16 11 C. BOLBERY (2017/18) 106 193 299
17 21 M. LIPMAN 73 225 298
18 17 J. WISE 71 226 297
19 - R. WILLIAMS (2015/16) 98 199 297
20 - G. DOCKERILL (1994/95) 70 226 296
21 16 T. CROWTHER 89 203 292
22 30 D. HARRINGTON 87 204 291
23 22 T. GUY (3) 84 205 289
24 28 G. DOWSETT (2) 70 218 288
25 23 C. SETFORD 91 196 287
