Saturday, May 19th, 2012 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
By Walter Broeckx
At the start of the season we have all kind of specialists telling us who will win at the end of the season. One could compare this with the AAA who in August and September predicted we will fight relegation and then say it means nothing when we finish 3rd.
So how did the BBC pundits predict and what is their final score on their predictions? Untold tells you the truth…
| Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Score |
| ALAN HANSEN, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ALAN SHEARER, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | CHE | MC | ALS | 0/4 |
| GARY LINEKER, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | MC | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| LEE DIXON, MATCH OF THE DAY | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| JASON ROBERTS, BLACKBURN STRIKER AND NEW 606 PRESENTER | MU | MC | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| MARK LAWRENSON, FOOTBALL FOCUS | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ROBBIE SAVAGE, FOOTBALL FOCUS | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| DAN WALKER, FOOTBALL FOCUS | MC | MU | CHE | ARS | 2/4 |
| IAN DENNIS, 5 LIVE SENIOR FOOTBALL REPORTER | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| PHIL McNULTY, CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| GUY MOWBRAY, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| STEVE WILSON, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | MC | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| JONATHAN PEARCE, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | CHE | MC | ARS | 0/4 |
| JOHN MOTSON, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | CHE | LIV | MC | 0/4 |
| ALISTAIR MANN, MATCH OF THE DAY COMMENTATOR | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| PAT NEVIN, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| DAN ROAN, SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENT | MC | MU | LIV | CHE | 2/4 |
| GRAEME MURTY, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| SAM LYON, BBC SPORT WEBSITE | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| MARK BRIGHT, BBC LONDON | LIV | MU | MC | ARS | 0/4 |
| STEVE CLARIDGE, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | CHE | MC | ARS | 0/4 |
| PAUL FLETCHER, BBC FOOTBALL BLOGGER | MU | MC | LIV | CHE | 0/4 |
| MATT HOLLAND, 5 LIVE PUNDIT | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ALISTAIR BRUCE-BALL, RADIO 5 LIVE COMMENTATOR | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| STEVE WYETH, BBC RADIO MANCHESTER | MU | CHE | MC | LIV | 0/4 |
| JAMES PEARCE, SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENT | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| NIGEL ADDERLEY, 5 live FOOTBALL REPORTER | MU | LIV | CHE | ARS | 0/4 |
| PETE STEVENS, BBC LONDON | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
| ALISTAIR MAGOWAN, WEBSITE TACTICS EXPERT | MU | MC | LIV | CHE | 0/4 |
| IAN CHEESEMAN, BBC RADIO MANCHESTER | MC | MU | CHE | ARS | 2/4 |
| CHRIS BEVAN, BBC SPORT WEBSITE | MU | MC | LIV | CHE | 0/4 |
| OVERALL PREDICTED RANKING USING ALL BBC FORECASTS | MU | MC | CHE | LIV | 0/4 |
So these were the predictions of the experts.
Shockingly bad. Only 3 predicted the outcome of the first two places correctly. 3 out of 30. Dan Walker, Dan Roam and Ian Cheeseman managed to do this.
And then my dear readers….it ends. Those where the only 3 correct predictions out of 120 expert predictions.
NOBODY predicted Arsenal to finish in 3rd place. It was all Liverpool and Chelsea that would finish in third according to the people who pretend to know. A few predicted we would finish in 4th place so I could give a mention of them. It was Alan Shearer (who named 3 clubs so this is a bit easy from his part), Gary Linneker, Jason Roberts, Dan Walker (again), Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Mark Bright, Steve Claridge, Nigel Adderley and finally Ian Cheeseman (also again)
So only two people predicted the names of the top two correct and also said that Arsenal would be in the top 4 be it in 3rd and not in 4th as they said. In fact no pundit predicted us in 3rd place.
And this is what those guys are getting paid for. They are getting paid for knowing something about football. In fact if you look at their predictions the only thing that seems to influence them is how much money did they spend. And thus we get Liverpool and their darling King Kenny in the top 4 a lot. Or maybe they still love them as it was their childhood favourite team?
Now, those pundits who fail miserably in their predictions are the ones who also tell us how the refs are doing on many occasions. If they cannot even get it right when it comes to see how a team will do in a season. What about saying us something about the rules. I don’t know how many of those pundits actually have ever been ref in a football game but if their ability to say something correct about the rules is at the same level as their predicting skills….
The final conclusion about the pundits is: THEY KNOW NOTHING! Hell, they could be from Mars.
Maybe for next season we could do the same and we could make our own top 4 predictions. And then compare it with the pundit predictions. And then see who has done best. Surely we must be able to find 30 regular readers to give their predictions. Please remind us in August to do this.
Another thing that we could keep in mind as a result of this is that despite some fans saying we underachieve it just might be that the real underachievers are Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. Nobody believed in us for even making it in the top 4. The moaners didn’t believe in us as they never believe in Arsenal. They always say we are doomed and are in trouble. Nobody believed in Arsenal in the top 4. Except us fools from Untold maybe. And the players. And the manager.
And we even did better than anyone ever predicted: we came in third place. Nobody would have believed this in August. But we did it. With, according to the AAA, a rubbish manager, rubbish players, panic buys…. Like one of my friends from the Arsenal Benelux supporters texted me after the final game at WBA: We f*cking did it! Lots of humble pie can be eaten for the moment.
Your predictions for next season below please.