choirbairn

Just checked - a mainstay of my team every year from 2017 onwards, and less than four days after I dropped her she's a point-scorer. Life/death doesn't seem fair, sometimes ...

Team sent. Almost a cut and paste from last year, minus the three oldies and a substitute who now don't qualify, with some fresh but tainted blood thrown in. Just looked back on previous years and there was someone I had in my team in 2008 who is still going strong. Do I feel lucky? Do I? No.

Team entered, after missing out last year. Checked some of my previous entries and two people I had in 2008 (I think it was just a team of ten in those days) are still going strong. I was going to put Eastwood in again but, 15 years on, I think the value has gone. So I'm chasing more points with a younger selection, which means old Clint is probably doomed ...

The caveat is that Saturday is October 1, and Falkirk still have 29 games to play. If they can continue to perform as they did last Friday, they will most likely win the majority of them. The title will not be won - or lost - on Saturday.

Agreed. As I said in previous post, Falkirk were a treat to watch

Great shout. Hope it continues. I gave up my season ticket, after 35 years of having one, when they gave Pressley a new contract because I couldn't stand watching his team. Went to most home games for about six months after that, and quite a few away from home as well, but gave up after a 2-0 Scottish Cup win over East Fife (both goals scored early, the rest of it utter dross to watch, on a baltic winter day was the final straw for me). I had also gone to almost every away game for 20-odd years but have picked and chosen my games since that day. Went on Friday, and delighted that I did. I was also at the Kilmarnock pre-season game and was encouraged by that, but Friday was something else. Brilliant from start to finish, apart from maybe ten minutes either side of half-time when Thistle still offered nothing. It was great to see a Falkirk team full of players intent on attacking, the way football should be played. No repeatedly passing the ball right and left along the defence and then claiming 'we had 60 per cent possession' when you've lost 3-0, or any of that crap. Only downside was a couple of clowns sitting behind me who slated Morrison at every opportunity. Dunno what game they were watching. He got MOTM - cases could have been made for five or six of them, and he was definitely in the mix. If McGlynn can keep them playing like that - win, lose or draw - I'll be back on a more regular basis. They were a treat to watch.

I dunno. Somebody else pointed out that her stable had two winners the day she died. I didn't know that either. Then again, you're probably right - probably only degenerate gamblers, especially when Chapman is on ...

I knew she was ill but heard Matt Chapman on Sky Sports Racing between Christmas and New Year saying she did not have long left at all. After listening to him, I was surprised that (a) she made it to New Year and (b) that nobody else had her

Indeed. I only found while watching The Opening Show this morning that she had died. Thoughts with the family, etc ...

Team sent. Only remembered about it a couple of hours ago when I heard Tommy Doc had died. Hoping my captain lasts a few hours longer than he did ...

I thought he was 'low-hanging fruit' last year. Still, better late than never. Keeps up my proud record of at least one right every year I've been in dead pool. Also the first points I've ever had in January. That's probably me for the year now ...

Halle Berry. For a few years, when she first became famous, I thought we were exactly the same age, then it came out that she had been lying about her age and is actually a couple of years older than me. Darren Clarke. He is exactly the same age as me (unless it turns out he's been lying about his age as well). Won a few quid on him when he won The Open a few years ago. Magic Johnson. Steve Martin. Gillian Taylforth. There are a few others but I thought I'd go for the (ish) part of the question.

Good wee night for me for a change. Two separate lines of four (one of teams to win, one of draws), split into small-stakes trebles and fourfolds, just to give me an interest while I was at work. First three selections came up on both lines, so I was waiting on Famalicao to win away in Portuguese Cup tie and Cadiz (leaders, but a few poor results recently) to draw at home in Spanish Segunda. Both games kicked off at 8pm and when I left work at 9.30, Cadiz were winning 2-1 and Famalicao were 0-0. Fast-forward to when I was on train home and I saw Familicao were 1-0 up after 82nd minute goal so took cashout for £10 less than I would have got had I let bets run. Then I started following Cadiz game on Livescore, just in time to see Cadiz make it 3-1 with goal time of 90+2. Graphic said there would be five minutes of injury time but I just switched off my notifications and forgot about it. Profit on other line and the three draws still made it a good night. But I just checked my account - and the result - and Mirandes scored twice after I gave up on them to make final score 3-3. Total outlay £5.47 (I'm one of those sad feckers who adjust stakes to leave a round number in my account), total return £109.43. Happy days. PS If you're reading this and Cadiz burst your line, I feel your pain. In the space of one week last season, I had four teams who were three goals ahead burst me, starting with the Friday night game where Sheffield United were 3-0 up at Villa with seven minutes to go and drew 3-3. Still gives me nightmares, that one, so it's good to be on the other side of that particular cookie crumbling ...

Team sent. I feel kind of bad about my captain, but I'll no doubt need the points ...

Team sent. Hard to believe I'll do as badly as this year, with three of that team already aged over 100 at the start of the year and yet still eligible for 2019. The secret to life? Get me to put you in my Dead Pool team. On recent evidence, you're between 87 and 93 per cent certain to make it through another year.

This. Three of us were looking to go to a couple of midweek European games in England just over a year ago, realised it was going to be difficult to get tickets (Man City v Real Madrid, Liverpool v Young Boys) and started looking abroad. Ended up going to Dusseldorf and going to Schalke v Olympiacos and Borussia Moenchengladbach v Limassol. Ordered tickets direct from club websites, cost 36 euros each for Champions League game and 28 euros each for Europa League and, as been pointed out, rail travel from Dusseldorf and then tram/bus to ground included in ticket price. We had a great time. Cost us about £300 each, including return flights from Edinburgh to Weeze, bus from Weeze to Dusseldorf, two nights in a hotel, match tickets and all our food and drink. Doubt we could have done Etihad and Anfield for that, or had as good a time. I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone.

I don't recall that. But suggesting, as he did last season, that Kallum Higginbotham was the best player in the First Division, shows him up as someone whose judgement is seriously flawed. As does his questioning fans, including myself, who suggested Falkirk should gone for Jefferies as soon as he was binned by Hearts last year. The folly of not doing so will become even more evident over the coming weeks and months, regardless of the result today.

More fool you. It's that kind of dimwitted approach from too many Falkirk fans that has put the club in the mess it is in today.

Apologies for cutting up your post, but I've left the bits that are relevant to me and no doubt fans of other diddy clubs.Your Mr Hutton now has hero status among most of us, for saying what most of us are thinking. For that reason, if you get this off the ground, I'll happily chip in one of those tenners you're after. If fans of other teams chip in too, it would also be a visible demonstration of support for their stance from the (slightly) wider world.

Steven Pressley's your man. Fifer, a couple of years' experience, won the glorious double of Ramsdens Cup and Stirlingshire Cup last year. What more do you want?

I've been doing quite well on European league matches of late (making up for my uselessness on UK matches). Just a double tonight - Palermo and Benfica - and a 6/1 treble last Sunday, but a belter two weeks ago. I picked 12 teams, put them into four trebles, then two groups of six (each perming any five and all six) and any 10/11/12. To cut a long story short, I got 11 out of 12. Roma, third-top of Serie A, missed a penalty just before half-time when they were winning 3-2 away to third-bottom Livorno. Livorno equalised in the second half and it finished 3-3. My total stake was £15 and the combined winning lines returned £535. It was my second-biggest win in more than 25 years of fixed odds , but at the time I was gutted because I reckon a Roma win would have taken it up to £4500 or more.

Colchester and Stranraer on one line and just Colchester on another. Both winning by one goal after 90mins, Stranraer concede equaliser after 90+2, Colchester after 90+3. Colchester also burst one of the boys at work. He was watching Sky and Norwich and Bristol Rovers, both of whom I also had, scored last-minute winners. He told me he'd just started celebrating when the Wycombe goal at Colchester came in. Just seen it on the Beeb and it was the most blatant, cheating, handball b*****d of a goal I've seen for a wee while. Gareth Ainsworth, you're a c**t

Feckin Rochdale ... for the third home game in a row. Feb 23 - backed them to beat Bradford, they lost 3-1 Mar 2 - backed Rochdale to beat them, they won 4-0 Mar 6 - backed them to beat Lincoln, they drew 1-1. So pissed off that they are still miles clear at the top of League Two. Won't be touching their games for a while now. Hope they f**k up promotion and stay down forever. Tried to get a little something back tonight, so put a treble on the French League matches. Went for my dinner and Rennes, Auxerre and Lens were all winning 1-0 with 15 minutes to go. Came back, checked Livescore to find PSG had scored a 90th-minute equaliser at Lens. BBC website times it at 90+4. c***s

After a mini purple patch of wins in December and January, I'd gone back to some crappy results letting me down. Swindon mentioned above was one - the week after they fecked a 20/1 treble of aways despite being 2-0 up with five minutes to go (drew 2-2 at Southend) and Notts County at home to Grimsby in midweek being the latest. So I thought I would have a go at a few 'certainties' today. Picked nine and seven won, with these two hopeless showers of feckers (2/9 and 1/9 respectively) letting me down. The nine would have given a decent return of almost 7/1, but I did get a line of four Italian teams up, so will go back to my rule of never backing any team at less than 1/2.

I was working in Glasgow on Saturday night. Left the city centre, where it was rain pissing down rather than snow, at about 10.40pm. It turned to snow on the Stepps by-pass and the further east I travelled, the worse it got. Don't know what time you made the trip, but a petrol/oil tanker had jack-knifed at Haggs and it was murder trying to get up the hill past it. First time I've ever really been worried that I might not make it home. I was stuck behind another lorry (Fraserburgh-based, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was later caught up in the A9 mayhem) until I decided I didn't want to chance getting stuck behind him on the hill up to the Larbert turn-off and overtook him on the downhill stretch. Absolutely fucking delighted to get home just after midnight and haven't ventured out at all today.