With one week to go the second Yellow Cat Cup has lived up to the illustrious inaugural event. There have been shocks, draws and once again it has proved that this competition really is one of the most unpredictable on the planet. Neither division has a guaranteed winner and so it will be squeaky bum time all the way through the boxing day festivities. Starting with the North let’s review how each team has faired.
Deeney’s Donkeys [44/1]
“The silver lining for manager Jonny Wild is the performance of Jonny Breeze in last years YCC and the hope that the fans get excited about a cup run and cease their baying for the manager’s head.” Once again the form book has been turned on its head. Manager Jonny Wild went in to the start of the YCC routed to the bottom of the table, a fan base that had given up on life and a chairman who continued to mysteriously back the flailing manager. However, from their first game in the competition it was clear that the bad smell had been lifted and hope is returning to the Donkeys. Jonny‘s head to head before the competition had one win against his sibling and two against the much lauded Gurj. After doing the double over Wild the Younger, beating Col and, crucially, drawing against Gurj in their most recent outing he has surged to the top of the North. Importantly Jonny has had timed his run well and his cumulative score is 31 points higher than Gurj.
His final game is against a Vardy-less Barker’s Bertrands and is red hot favourite to progress to the final. This is the first time manager Wild senior has gone into anything favourite and there is a big question over his ability to perform with the eyes of the world watching on.
Baines on Toast [4/1]
Losing your best player on the eve of a major tournament is never easy, however Manager Singh acted fast to snap up the services of Ross Barkley. This has proved to be an inspired choice as Barkley has accrued 45 points in the weeks to date and kept Gurj in with his dream of completing the set of trophies. Gurj went into the competition 3rd in the league, with a decent head to head; dominant over Ben (4 victories in 4) and a victory over Col. There was some nervousness in the camp that he had not beaten Jonny Wild in either of the previous meetings, but the form books suggested that this should change and change it did. With one game to go Gurj now stands at 1.5 wins against Jonny Wild, 2 victories against Col and Ben Wild must be sick of the sight of Gurj as his domination continues.
His game this week against Jonny was crucial as he knew he would likely have to beat him as his cumulative points were so inferior. A hard fought draw, whilst rewarding for the neutral, was devastating for his dreams of holding the little Cat aloft. His final game is against Ben and even the most pessimistic fan must have that down for three points. He therefore has to hope for either a shock result from Col against Jonny, or go all out attack and try to make up the 31 point deficit.
Barker’s Bertrands [3/1]
A topsy-turvy tournament for manager Barker. The competition started with a flourish, easily beating Baines on Toast but this was followed with a string of defeats finally broken with a victory against AFC Hold the Front Page in the most recent game. Manager Barker went into the competition with the best head to head across the north, 2 wins against Ben, Jonny and Gurj and leaves with 3 against Ben and Gurj and no change on Jonny. A team riddled with injuries or non-starters is no doubt to blame and with further injuries announced this week, combined with the loss of Vardy back to the loan pool, it’s clear why Deeney’s Donkeys are red hot favourite for the final match.
AFC Hold the Front Page [2/1]
In a strange quirk of fortune (or perhaps an error in the algorithm), the bookies predictions for the north currently stand in reverse. AFC went in to the tournament with a lot of fanfare and excitement. The decision of the club to produce an array of half-half scarves to cash in on the expected glorious run was perhaps overly bullish (who can forget the infamous scarf with Wild – Wild one side and a well endowed Donkey spread-eagled on the front of a newspaper on the other). A solitary victory against Barker’s Bertrands is all the fans have had to celebrate and so can be forgiven for a lack of Christmas cheer. This is of course down to their depleted squad. AFC HtFP have played the least amount of minutes during the YCC, a full 870 minutes less than Deeney’s Donkeys at the top of the Northern chart.
Going in to the final game, manager Ben has hopes that two of his players, Kompany and Milner, will return. Wild junior is expected to go all out to help Wild senior achieve the unthinkable, but with a raging Cesc hell bent on bringing his manager’s downfall, few fans harbour any hope of stopping the Baines on Toast juggernaut.