by Paul Charlton A couple of weeks ago, the editor of the Outlook came into the office after seeing QPR demolish Reading and announced that the Royals were the worst team he’d seen in ages and that they were definitely going down. As a regular at Loftus Road, “the worst team I’ve seen in...
RFO Index columns
These are columns that have featured as my weekly columns in the Racing and Football Outlook each week
BUSINESS AS USUAL AT THE TOP OF THE PREM
CHELSEA’S recent history has been dominated by their relationship with their managers. From Jose Mourinho, through Avram Grant, Phil Scolari and Guus Hiddink, the Blues have ended up with Carlo Ancelotti in charge of their immediate destiny. While the jury must still be out on the Italian’s effect on the club, his side have...
NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT SAINTS GOING DOWN AGAIN
PERHAPS the most important result outside the top two divisions so far was at Elland Road, when Charlton took just a point from Leeds. Perhaps it’s too soon to be billing that game as a title decider but, to my way of thinking, that’s exactly what it was. Leeds are by far and away...
RUSSIA LOOK A BACK TO LAY SIDE
SO, what’s changed since I last looked at the World Cup standings and the international Outlook Index? Even with a few months having passed, the truth is virtually nothing. Going into the final rounds of this cycle’s qualifying campaign, most of the groups look decided, even if only Spain, England and Holland are mathmatically...
A LACK OF TRUE GRIT MAY SCUPPER RAFA’S TITLE BID
OVER the past few seasons, Liverpool have received more than their fair share of criticism on these pages. For me, the red half of Merseyside are one of those clubs whose bark is far worse than their bite. By all accounts, Rafa Benitez has strengthened his position at the club, particularly after the removal...
FORECASTS POINT TO SOME EARLY VALUE
OUR league points forecasts generally provide two types of scenario. Sometimes, they point to a bet in a competition where everything is still up for grabs, either at the top or the bottom of the table. However, while the forecasts and the Outlook Index will often provide a tiny bit of clarification in these...
AT CURRENT PRICES, THE MAGPIES ARE NO VALUE TO PIP CHERRIES TO TITLE
OLDER readers might remember the quasi-humour of Jimmy Greaves who, in his days on ITV’s Saint And Greavsie, acquired for himself the catchphrase “it’s a funny old game” – which indeed it was. But I’m convinced that, since the good old days of the 1980s, when an interest in the sport was about as...
BLUES HAVE SQUAD TO COPE WITH BAN
I’VE never understood the scheduling of the traditional round of international fixtures so soon into the start of a new season, given the way they stall the momentum of the new domestic season. In many ways, the story of the season is at one of its most interesting points as, even with comparatively few...
NO DECLINE AT VILLA, JUST STEADY, LONG-TERM IMPROVEMENT
TAKE an early exit from the Europa League, a poor start in the Premier League and a desperate need for football pundits to speak when silence might suffice and we could have a recipe for the end of Martin O’Neill’s three-year reign at Aston Villa. After moving to the Midlands following a period out...
FORECAST BRIGHT AFTER MAGPIES’ MAGIC START
THE Racing & Football Outlook celebrates it’s hundredth birthday this year and for ten of those years I’ve been putting my tips up here. In that time, despite flu, two children, one divorce and an energetic new girlfriend, I’ve never skipped a week of writing my Outlook Index column. It’s been nothing but a...