StarkMallard

Stoke City 1-2 Preston North End West Bromwich Albion 0-2 Bristol City Burton Albion 1-1 Northampton Town Luton Town 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers Accrington Stanley 2-0 Barrow (joker) Gillingham 0-0 Cambridge United Eastleigh 1-2 Woking Solihull Moors 2-0 Tamworth

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Did you know, Boxing Day Is a day on which they football play; I don't know, if we'll win But I'll give the prediction league a spin. Now that regrettable outburst of poetry is over, here are the fixtures for round 22 of the prediction league. As always, all of our matches kick off at 3:00 p.m. and you get one joker each. Good luck! Stoke City v Preston North End West Bromwich Albion v Bristol City Burton Albion v Northampton Town Luton Town v Wycombe Wanderers Accrington Stanley v Barrow Gillingham v Cambridge United Eastleigh v Woking Solihull Moors v Tamworth

The results: QPR 4-1 Leicester City Sheffield United 3-0 Birmingham City Doncaster Rovers 1-5 Plymouth Argyle Lincoln City 2-1 Cardiff City Rotherham United 1-3 Huddersfield Town Barnet 1-3 Salford City Fleetwood Town 2-1 Gillingham Oldham Athletic 3-1 Tranmere Rovers This round's winners are @Dan, @gtownjohnno, @magpiejue and ME! ME! ME! with seven points. @Michael D Pie. wins the prize for best poetry, but unfortunately there are no points for that. @magpiejue has swapped places with @4everapie and will spend Christmas in first place. It should come as a surprise that there is football on Boxing Day (apart from that Premier League nonsense, but who cares about that?). I'll post the fixtures in the next few minutes. Thanks for playing and have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

I haven't heard the interview yet but have read some of the summaries. It's long been the club's mantra that every player has his price. It's the reality of football and it's good that the club is honest with us. If someone is sold, it's crucial that we sign a good replacement or otherwise tweak the squad such that we don't miss him - selling a player for 500k but then missing out on promotion is a false economy. I'd normally agree with @Robbie that we don't need a like-for-like replacement, the NL years taught us we can be just as potent with one striker if we have a good number 10 behind him. But we're currently extremely stretched in the strikers department with only two viable options (sorry, I don't rate Traore at all), and we've been able to gloss over it so far as both Dennis and Jatta have been scoring and have remained injury-free. But if we go into the second half of the season with Dennis and Traore as our only options up front, we're not serious about promotion. I think we need another option up top, but can't really expect a "marquee signing" if Jatta and Dennis both remain. Also think we need a new keeper. As good as Roos is as a shotstopper, his habit of staying glued to his line as crosses come in or punching balls that could easily be caught makes me nervous. Also, Griffiths evidently isn't seen as a candidate for the number one shirt, so he could do with some match practice on loan elsewhere.

QPR 0-2 Leicester City Sheffield United 1-1 Birmingham City Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Plymouth Argyle (joker) Lincoln City 1-3 Cardiff City Rotherham United 0-2 Huddersfield Town Barnet 0-2 Salford City Fleetwood Town 2-1 Gillingham Oldham Athletic 1-1 Tranmere Rovers

What's Father Christmas bringing you? If it's prediction league points you're after, I'm afraid you'll have to get them yourself. Get your predictions in by 3pm on Saturday and remember your joker - good luck! QPR v Leicester City Sheffield United v Birmingham City Doncaster Rovers v Plymouth Argyle Lincoln City v Cardiff City Rotherham United v Huddersfield Town Barnet v Salford City Fleetwood Town v Gillingham Oldham Athletic v Tranmere Rovers

I see how it can give validation, and that's probably quite the drug for people who feel friendless in life. But even for well-adjusted people like me, it's nice to have a little acknowledgement, even if it's just to confirm that what I posted has been seen rather than getting lost amidst all the clickbair and nonsense AI pots.

Rovers have slammed the panic button and appointed Steve Evans. To be fair, he is good at instilling team spirit and getting results. I honestly wouldn't have recognised him without the eyeliner though! He's half the man he used to be. Literally. BBC SportSteve Evans: New Bristol Rovers boss is fighting fit for...Bristol Rovers' new head coach Steve Evans on losing eight-and-a-half stones in weight and his battle to keep the Gas in the EFL. Assuming we don't make it this year, Rovers going down would take a potential promotion rival out of the picture, so they can have a year or two playing Braintree as far as I'm concerned. It's moot though, I doubt they'll go down.

We need to revive this to finally get our hands on that cup. No need to invite the tinpot Spanish team though, they weren't competitive at all last time.

It's a big league, so the play-offs stretch all the way to 14th! 😎 Right, time for the next round. Let's go!

Aaaand the results: Portsmouth 2-1 Blackburn Rovers Wrexham 2-2 Watford Burton Albion 0-0 Wycombe Wanderers Peterborough United 2-1 Northampton Town Stockport County 1-3 Stevenage Cheltenham Town 1-1 Harrogate Town Chesterfield 3-1 Barnet Crawley Town 2-2 Oldham Athletic Congrats to @liampie, who wins this round! @Fan of Big Tone also did well once again. At the other end, @Chris, @Joshua, @super_ram and @william1984 face the walk of shame... Our top two @4everapie and @magpiejue are now tied in top spot, with @Dan joining the top three. On Wednesday I'll post Saturday's round, which will kick off a busy festive season with rounds on the 20th, 26th and 29th of December and the 1st and 4th of January. Five rounds in just over two weeks - my crystal ball will be worn out. Thanks for playing everyone!

Some good points have been made above. We might be happier to put our foot through the ball when under pressure, but we're not surrendering possession by design. A bit of solid possession would have been handy while Grimsby were chasing their equalisier. However, what happens in the boxes ultimately decides where the points go, and that's the department we've been lacking in since promotion. It's so nice to be winning these games for a change! You can't beat a good, gritty away win at a proper old-school ground like Blundell Park. But that's easy for me to say from my armchair ;)

Portsmouth 0-2 Blackburn Rovers Wrexham 1-1 Watford Burton Albion 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers Peterborough United 1-2 Northampton Town Stockport County 2-1 Stevenage Cheltenham Town 2-0 Harrogate Town (joker) Chesterfield 1-1 Barnet Crawley Town 1-1 Oldham Athletic

@theAnticlough I can understand his frustration as they probably deserved a point at least (or at least they would if they weren't the franchise, all they deserve is expulsion from the league, but I digress). However, I think neither side dominated that game. The visitors were wasteful with their chances, and they had plenty. They cut through us too easily to my taste. With Palmer and Robertson in midfield, we would have had a lot more control over the game, but then being able to replace key players is a sign of a genuine promotion candidate. It was tight, but we found a way to win, and that's my key takeaway. There so many big games last season that were on a knife edge and could have gone either way, but we rarely ended up collecting the points.

And now time for Saturday's round. Kick-off is 3pm and don't forget those jokers! Portsmouth v Blackburn Rovers Wrexham v Watford Burton Albion v Wycombe Wanderers Peterborough United v Northampton Town Stockport County v Stevenage Cheltenham Town v Harrogate Town Chesterfield v Barnet Crawley Town v Oldham Athletic

The results: Leyton Orient 1-1 Luton Town Lincoln City 3-1 Barnsley Northampton Town 1-1 Huddersfield Town Stevenage 0-1 Cardiff City Barrow 0-3 Tranmere Rovers Cambridge United 1-1 Chesterfield Fleetwood Town 1-1 Salford City Harrogate Town 0-2 Accrington Stanley Some impressive scores this week - not least this round's winner @Fan of Big Tone, who claimed the biggest score of the season so far! @4everapie stays top by a single point from @magpiejue, with @super_ram joining the fray. @Fan of Big Tone jumps 11 points in the table, but stays below me, which is the main thing. Saturday's fixtures are coming up in the next few minutes, so keep your eyes peeled. Thank for playing!

It's a real statement of intent this one. Missing our regular midfield pairing, we came from behind twice and beat twelve men to defeat a promotion rival. It could really have gone either way and at times there didn't seem to be much of a midfield at all, but we had the sheer guts and will to win that gave us that extra 5% we needed.

I recall us signing him on a three-year contract @theAnticlough. That's not cover for injuries, that's a player we rated and wanted to build around. He didn't get a long run in the team, but he didn't make himself undroppable either. Unfortunately it seems to have been the story of his career. Hope he gets games and goals with his new club.

They're flying now, just a couple of points off the top. And it's all the more impressive considering their slow start. The NL looks like it's going to be fascinating this season, plenty of twists and turns yet to come.

Leyton Orient 1-2 Luton Town Lincoln City 1-1Barnsley Northampton Town 0-1 Huddersfield Town Stevenage 1-0 Cardiff City Barrow 0-2 Tranmere Rovers Cambridge United 2-0 Chesterfield Fleetwood Town 0-2 Salford City Harrogate Town 0-2 Accrington Stanley (joker)

He'll be hoping for one @Robbie, but Bayern's problem is that they face much stiffer competition in the CL than domestically. Also, the CL final is only a couple of weeks before the World Cup starts, so maybe Bayern falling flat on their faces again wouldn't be such a bad thing!

In terms of managers, Martin Allen and Paul Ince managed the franchise before coming to Notts. And more recently, Aden Baldwin played for the Buckinghamshire property deal before he signed for us.

Actually @menzinho I would be in favour of a FIFA Food Award. Infantino and cronies could descend on every greasy van parked outside a football ground in the UK to help decide who gets the prestigious gong. Watching the FIFA powers that be crawl and scrape to the rich and powerful is nauseating, but that's hardly new. It's probably an accurate reflection of the top levels of our game actually - not only will clubs accept money from any old despot to get an advantage, the fans will also worship said despot. Can we be surprised that FIFA acts the same way? (Steps off soapbox) Anyway, we've at least lucked out a bit with kick-off times, with the possible exception of the round of 16 if we win our group and make it that far (I think that's 1am my time).

"Saturday night's alright for fighting," as Elton John once sang. However, he got the day wrong - it is in fact Tuesday that is named after Tiw or Tyr, the Proto-Germanic god of single combat. This is a long-winded way of saying that our next prediction league round is on Tuesday (and I'd like to stress that I don't condone fighting). Send in your predictions by 7.45pm on Tuesday night, remember your joker and good luck! Leyton Orient v Luton Town Lincoln City v Barnsley Northampton Town v Huddersfield Town Stevenage v Cardiff City Barrow v Tranmere Rovers Cambridge United v Chesterfield Fleetwood Town v Salford City Harrogate Town v Accrington Stanley