Hello all,
The domestic season has finally come to an end with some dramatic play-off games.
As an Aston Villa fan it’s with a heavy heart I say congratulations to Fulham for their Championship success, and a well done to Rotherham and Coventry for League One and League Two play-off promotion respectively.
I started this betting coverage all off last summer with some ante-post previews – and we’ve had some tasty success from them in the shape of 14/1, 6/1, and 9/2 winners, among others, to boost our coffers for the summer.
In the Premier League, I called West Brom to be relegated at 6/1, and Swansea at 9/4, and was mightily unlucky with my 20/1 punt on Kevin De Bruyne to be Player of the Year.
That looked like a brilliant bet for months but Mo Salah just kept getting better and deserved to win the award.
My best ante-post success came in the Championship where I put up Sunderland to go down at a massive 14/1, and I also fancied Wolves for promotion at 9/2.
League One proved a bit trickier to call and I hit the bar by saying Blackburn would win the League at 9/2 – they finished two points off Wigan at the summit.
I tipped up Brett Pitman as League One top scorer at 14/1, but he fell just three short in the runners up spot.
It was an even tighter story in League Two, where I went for 20/1 bet Marc McNulty as the top scorer and he finished level with Billy Kee on 25 goals, but he lost out by one assist.
Also, Luton spent most of the season looking as though they would win my 8/1 shout on them for the League Two title, but they messed it up in the final few months.
The main highlight of the season was without a doubt the incredible 431/1 Lucas Joao 4fold coming in.
Apart from the obvious financial boost, my favourite part about it was the thankful tweets people sent in afterwards – particularly the guy who said he could now take his kids on holiday after the windfall. That’s what it’s all about.
It also came just a few weeks after some Twitter abuse – although points for originality for the guy who called me the Tim Sherwood of betting!
Sherwood was responsible for masterminding my best day out as a Villa fan in the last few years – the 2-1 success over Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final – so I’ll take that.
There were plenty of highs and lows over the season but, crucially, I managed to make us a 103.6pts profit – which is a huge £1,036 in the back pocket if you’d followed every bet by putting £10 on for each point advised.
I would’ve taken that at the start of the season!
It looks as though the doors are closing on The 4-4-2 Betting System now but it was fun while it lasted.
Personally, I’ll still be doing the Lucacs Joao tips and a few others next season – as well as throughout the World Cup – so drop me a DM on @JamesJourn if you want to know where you can find them.
Talking of the World Cup, as you probably know, I’m on the favourites Brazil.
I tipped up the Samba stars at a whopping 13/2 back in Post-Weekend Review 10, and they are now best-priced 9/2 with some bookies, but as short as 4/1 with others.
I will be writing a couple of World Cup features for The Set Pieces soon, so keep an eye out for them.
Good luck and enjoy your summer!
