Week One

Well here we are with our 41^st Season of Golden Goals and a very big welcome to you all and what a season we are going to have once again. We have ended up with a total of 109 entries in this seasons competition and I would like to thank everyone who has helped us to get to that magic figure which just managed to get in to the top ten best season’s of  Golden Goals once again. It is with great regret that we did not reach our record total of 149 from the 2017/18 Season. Although we have seen some names missing from last season, we have gained another nine new ones. So who is going to be our 41^st Champion and win that £100 prize money? We will find out in the next forty-two weeks time but I wish you all the very best of luck. 

We have a total of fifteen past Champions playing this season. Our last season Champion is also back and that was Tony Guy. Tony has changed his winning combination from last season to Arsenal, Celtic and Liverpool. We also have a total of 21 ladies playing this season competition. 

So how did the voting of teams for this season finally end up. It was MANCHESTER CITY that picked up the biggest number of votes once again with a total of 44. Last season they had a total of 56 and scored a total of 118 goals so this was no surprise that they would be the most voted teams this season. With our Scottish teams, CELTIC after picking up 25 votes last season, they picked up more this season but with just 39.

Staying with the Scottish teams the second highest voted team comes from the Scottish Premiership again and they are RANGERS with just 15 votes which is down from last seasons total of 17. The Scottish teams had a good turn out this season with a total of  12 teams being picked. We have six teams from the Scottish Premiership, and  3 each from League One and Two. 

With the English teams things have changed as they always do in this competition. We have a total of  just 13  Premiership teams in this years competition with MANCHESTER CITY our top team again this season.  Next comes ARSENAL with 37 votes. They were our sixth most voted team last season with 12 votes. In third place with 28 votes we have LIVERPOOL. They were our second most voted team last season with 51 votes. In fourth place up from seventeen last season is LEICESTER CITY. They have 18 votes compared to 3 last season. Our fifth voted teams are MANCHESTER UNITED and MIDDLESBROUGH with 12 votes each.

In the Championship we have picked up 12 teams compared to 10 last season,  while in League One we have 7, with 6 teams taken from League Two. 

We have the two teams that are back into the football league this season. They are  NOTTS COUNTY and WREXHAM.

So on with the competition and this weeks sheet shows you all the games that have been played up to and including the 6^th August. Any games that have been played before and up to up to Friday the 4^th August, have all been counted as midweek goals, so some of you have a bit of a lead already for the Midweek Cash Jackpot of £25.

Week One we had our very first winner of the new season who won on a total  of 13 goals to win the first £5 weekend prize money. Our winner is PETER PORTER. Peter started with Golden Goals in our 7^th Season of 1989/90. In that season he finished in 40^th place with 182 goals and picked up a shared weekend win. Last season Peter finished in 56^th place with a total of 261 goals and one weekend win. So it’s a good start for Peter and his teams for this season are 

BARNSLEY 7, CELTIC 4, LEICESTER CITY 2 

WEEKEND RESULTS

The lower English leagues were all in action in our first weekend of the new season as the Scottish played their first full league fixture. We had a good start to the season with plenty of goals but we had one of our team picking up the highest score over  the weekend with 7 goals. They were from League One  BARNSLEY. Barnsley won their first league game 7-0 at home to Port Vale. This is Barnsley’s 9^th Season with Golden Goals and they became our 91^st voted English team when they started with us in the 1998/99 Season where they finished on a total of 79 goals.  Their highest score was in the 20108/19 Season with a total of 89 goals. Last time out was in the 2021/22 Season where they finished on a total of 38 goals. Over the years they have now netted a total of 518 goals which gives them an average score of 57 goals per season. They have a total of 8 votes this season. So lets see how the rest of our teams that were in action, got on over the weekend. 

CHAMPIONSHIP

In no particular order, BRISTOL CITY drew 1-1 at home to Preston. MIDDLESBROUGH lost 1-0 at home to Millwall. NORWICH won 2-0 at home to Hull. PLYMOUTH won 3-1 at home to Huddersfield. STOKE won 4-0 at home against Rotherham while SWANSEA drew 1-1 at home to Birmingham. LEICESTER CITY won 2-1 at home to Coventry. LEEDS UTD drew 2-2 at home to Cardiff City. SUNDERLAND lost 2-1 at home to IPSWICH. 

LEAGUE ONE

We already know about Barnsley’s big win, but BLACKPOOL won 2-0 at home to Burton. CHARLTON won 1-0 at home to Leyton Orient while DERBY lost 2-1 at home to Wigan. BRISTOL ROVERS drew 1-1 away to Portsmouth and READING lost 1-0 at home to PETERBOROUGH. 

LEAGUE TWO

SALFORD CITY won 2-0 away to Forest Green and AFC WIMBLEDON drew 0-0 away to Grimsby. SUTTON UTD won 5-1 at home to NOTTS COUNTY. WREXHAM lost 5-3 against MK DONS on their opening game. 

SCOTTISH RESULTS

Now you might already know that the Scottish have already played their first round of their League Cup, if you have been following our blog and with their group format once again, so most of our teams have already played more than four games this weekend. But here is the results of their first league games. 

In the Premiership last season Champions CELTIC won their opening game 4-2 at home against ROSS COUNTY. County have now scored in all of their five games played which includes the league cup games. They are now on a total of 15 goals.

RANGERS lost their first game 1-0 away to KILMARNOCK. Kilmarnock have now extended their goal run to five games and are on a total of 10 goals. ABERDEEN drew 0-0 away to Livingston. HIBERNIAN lost 3-2 at home to St Mirren.

In League One FALKIRK won 3-0 at home to Annan and that has taken their goals total to 11. COVE RANGERS lost 1-0 away to Hamilton  and that is now their 2^nd blank of the season. KELTY HEARTS won 2-0 away to Montrose and have a goal run of five games. They are on a total of 13 goals.

In League Two EAST FIFE lost their first league game 3-0 at home to Peterhead and that id their 4^th blank score sheet. STENHOUSEMUIR drew 0-0 at home to Forfar. Stenhousemuir picked up their 2^nd blank score sheet. CLYDE drew 1-1 away to The Spartans and they are on a total of 5 goals. 

Here is our top ten in the first week. This will all change next week as the Premier League starts.

        FIRST                                           M/WEEK      W/END       TOTAL

       WEEK NAME                                GOALS       GOALS      GOALS

             1         CHARIE FARLEY                 25               3        28

             2         R. WILLIAMS (2015/16) 21               5        26

     3         D. BARRETT                         10               7       17

     4         P. PORTER                                     13       13

     5         R. WOOD (2007/08)*           2             11       13

     6         M. LIDDLE                          11               2       13

     7         M. GREGORY                             11       11

     8         J. WOOD (2016/17)                             11       11

     9         J. WISE                                             10       10

    10 A. EYLES                                       9         9

First League Game of Season 41

The very first English league game was played last night in the Championship, where we had both teams in action. SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY lost their first game 2-1 at home against SOUTHAMPTON.

Scottish League Cup First Round

In the Scottish League Cup the first round games in group stage have now all been played. We had 8 of our teams in the first round but only two have made it through to the next round. 

In Group A, Ayr finished top with Stirling in second place. We had STENHOUSEMUIR in this group and they finished in fourth place. In their first game they won 1-0 at home to St Johnston. Next they lost 1-0 away to Ayr Utd. In their third game they lost 2-1 away to Stirling. In their last game they lost again 3-1 at home to Allo. Stenhousemuir are on a total of 3 goals.

In Group B, Partick finished top with FALKIRK in second place. Falkirk first won 2-1 away to the Spartans and then they drew 2-2 away to Partick. In their third game they lost 1-0 at home to Dundee utd. In their last game they won 4-1 at home to Peterhead. Falkirk are on a total of 8 goals.

In Group C, Livingston finished top with Hamilton in second place. We had two teams in this group with COVE RANGERS finishing in third place. They first won 5-2 at home to Clyde and then they won 3-2 away to Brechin City. In their third game they lost 5-0 at home to Livingston. In their last game they drew 2-2 away to Hamilton after full time and then won 4-2 on penalties. Cove Rangers are on a total of 10 goals. CLYDE Finished bottom of the group after they lost all four games. They lost 3-1 at home to Hamilton and then lost again 5-2 away to Cove rangers. In their third game they lost 2-1 at home to Brechin City and finally they lost 1-0 away to Livingston. Clyde are on a total of 4 goals.

In Group D, we again had two teams here. ROSS COUNTY finished top as they won 5-1 away to Stranraer and then they won 2-1 at home to Morton. In their third game they won 3-1 away to Edinburgh City. In their final game they drew 3-3 at home to Kelty Hearts after full time. In the penalty shoot-out they lost 4-3. Morton finished in second place with KELTY HEARTS in third place. They first lost 3-1 at home to Morton and then they won 5-3 away to Edinburgh City. In their third game they won 2-0 at home against Stranraer and finally they drew 3-3 away to Ross County and then won on penalties. Kelty Hearts are on a total of 11 goals.

In Group E, Airdrie finished top with Dundee in second place.

In Group F, KILMARNOCK finished top after they first won 3-0 at home against Anna and then they won 2-0 away to Dunfermline. In their third game they drew 2-2 at home to Raith Rovers and then lost 5-4 on penalties. In their last game they won 2-1 away to Albion Rovers. Kilmarnock are on a total of 9 goals. Raith Rovers finished in second place.

In Group G, Motherwell finished top with Queen of the South in second place. EAST FIFE finished in third place after they drew their first game 0-0 at home to Queen’s Park and then lost 4-2 on penalties. Next they won 3-1 at home to Elgin City. Next they drew 0-0 away to Queen of the South and then won 5-3 on penalties. In their last game they lost 3-0 away to Motherwell.

In Group H, St Mirren finished top with Forfar in second place.

 

So we have just two teams that have made it through to the second round where the Premiership will take part in. The teams through are Ross County who will be playing away to Airdrieonians. Kilmarnock will be playing Celtic at home. The second round games will be played on 19/20 August.

 

Book Now Closed

The book is now closed on our 41^st Season of Golden Goals. We have ended up with a total of 106 players which is the fourth time that we have reached that number. Last being in 2014/15 Season. The good news is that it’s our 11^th consecutive season of 100 or more players. A BIG thank you to all who have entered. 

How the team selection have finished 

We have ended up with just 38 English teams this time round with Manchester City picking up the most number of votes with 43. Last season they had a total of 56. In second place with 37 votes is Arsenal. Liverpool are third with 28 votes. In fourth place with 16 is Leicester City. Fifth place we have Manchester United with 12 votes.

This season we have a total of 12 teams with Celtic leading the votes with 37. last season they had 25. Rangers are second again with just 15 votes. Ross County are third with just two votes. All the others have one vote each. 

We welcome back into the football league Wrexham with 9 votes and Notts County with 2 votes both starting in league two.

The first News Sheet should be here on the 7^th August with all this seasons facts and figures.

Another update

It’s been nearly a week since the New Entry Forms for the Golden Goals Season 41 were sent out.

The sad news is that we have only had 65 entries back to date and we have had a total of seven new players included. We have a week to go before we close the books on midnight 28 July so I hope that we will hit 100 this season. The first News Sheet will be out on the 7 August, so there will be no late entries after the 28 July deadline this season.

 

So how is the team selection looking so far?

 

We have just 35 English teams and once again Manchester City are picking up the most votes with 29. In second place we have Arsenal with 27 votes. Third place is Liverpool with 17 while in fourth place we have Leicester City and Manchester United with 7 votes each. We then have a total of four teams with 5 votes each.

 

We have 12 teams at the moment from our Scottish leagues with Celtic leading the votes this season with a total of 25. Rangers are currently in second place with just 7 votes.

 

We have had two very popular combinations which are Arsenal, Celtic and Leicester City and Arsenal, Leicester City and Manchester City.

 

One week to go then but we need a hell of a lot more players to beat our biggest season’s total of 149 players which we now have no way of beating now.

  

Season 41 Update

We did not have another great start for our first day for the New Entry Forms for the Golden Goals Season 41.

We have had a total of 32 entries back to date. Last season we had 48 and the previous season 49 entries back on the first day. So could we be looking at a reduced season once again? we still have a long way to go before we close the books on midnight 28th July so you still have time to join in.

 

So how is how the team selection are looking so far

 

We have just 25 English teams with Manchester City picking up the most votes again with 16 already. In second place we have Arsenal with 14 votes. Third place is Liverpool with 8 while in fourth place we have Manchester United with 5 votes.

 

We have just 6 teams at the moment from our Scottish leagues with Celtic leading the votes this season with a total of 11. Rangers are currently in second place with just 4 votes.

Entry Form For Season 41 Out Today

Today we launch Season 41 which means that the New Entry Forms are now available as from today. Last season we managed to have a total of 108 players but we hope to beat that total this season.

So what about you who are looking at this blog today, for just £8 (English pounds) you could be part of our history and become our 41^st Champion of Golden Goals. To receive your free copy of the rules and entry form send email to goldengoals1983@gmail.com