Stephen Goldsmith writes: As I was wandering back across the Wearmouth Bridge, and away from the dark side of town, I realised I would be lying if I said the thought of finally getting a prediction correct in the Salut! Predictions League didn’t pop into my head. It did.
That said, all my fantasy league players always have a lot to answer for this early in the season. I should have grown out of this by now. The injustice of Everton somehow not managing a win against Newcastle meant every single person was pointless from that particular fixture. Mid-table obscurity has been welcomed by my own self as Jake, Jeremy and the gaffer were the only three people not to score points this weekend.
Luke has informed me he has trouble checking his e-mails regularly, so he has withdrawn from the league.
The rest of you are sticking with it, whether you like it or not! John Mac and Malcolm lead the table with alphabetical order being the deciding factor. This probably explains why Malcolm was keen to e-mail this week with the league table, I’m surprised he didn’t find a loophole that made him leap above John (D before M? – ed) at the very top.
It’s a similar scenario that saw me bottom of the league last week; punished by the old alphabetical order on a technicality. No such excuse for Monsieur Salut this time around; he’s a full point adrift at the foot of the league.
The table is as follows:
| Correct Results | Correct Scores | Points | |
| John McCormick | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| Malcolm Dawson | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| Robert Simmons | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Sixer | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| Bill Taylor | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Goldy | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| Jake | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Jeremy Robson | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Colin | 2 | 0 | 2 |