A new twist on an old favourite.

[2hcb]

Every year, up and down the country thousands of punters place an accumulator on the winners of all the divisions from Premiership to League 2. Invaribly they select moreorless the 4 favourites for those leagues and extremely rarely get any return. Now here's a new ante poste accumulator system which I've placed as a bit of fun but could lead to huge returns! By taking on the handicap leagues where each side generally has odds of 18/1 (or 15/1 in the Premiership) the odds on each side coming in are gigantic. Because of this there is scope to go for a few sides from each league and place the bet in trebles or four folds to increase your chances of winning. For this season i have chosen 4 sides from every division and placed the bet in 12p trebles which comes to about £30 in total. This means that if one of my four sides in every division wins the bet will return several thousand pounds and if one of my four wins in 3 out of the four divisions I should make at least £500. My selections are as follows (Odds are from Skybet): Premiership Chelsea +1 @ 16/1 - I think they'll regain their title this season and the winning total may prove to be enough as they may get over 90pts. Blackburn +33 @ 15/1 - I like what Mark Hughes is doing at Ewood. Nobody likes playing Rovers and with a good team ethic and a top quality strike partnership of Santa Cruz and McCarthy they could push for Europe. Man City +36 @ 12/1 - The much maligned Sven has impressed me in the transfer market recruiting the likes of Elano and Bojinov amongst others. He has a good club record and City could suprise a few this season. Birmingham + 49 @ 15/1 - 40pts would put Birmingham right in with a shout here and although they have been written off as relegation candidates I think they are better equipped to fight the drop this season. There is also the promise of a huge war chest for the manager in January from the new owners. Championship Wolves +1 @ 18/1 - Mick McCarthy knows how to get teams up and Wolves found a good bit of form towards the end of last season, if Eastwood and co fire they could be looking at top spot which could do it in a tight division. Bristol City +22 @ 18/1 - Bristol have waited a long time to get back to this level and the support they can generate makes them the most likely candidate of the promoted sides to 'do a Colchester' this season with new signings Lee Trundle and Ivan Sproule there to score the goals aswell as Jevons and Brooker. Burnley +25 @ 18/1 - Burnley made a great start to last season before fading, Steve Cotterill's side have a strong defence with Kiraly now added in goal and if Gray can stay injury free the could get the goals to put them in the playoffs with Robbie Blake returning aswell as promising Northern irish youngster Lafferty who has been bid for by Celtic and Fulham. QPR +27 @ 18/1 - John Gregory seems to be doing a good job at Loftus Road and has brought on board a couple of Chelsea youngsters. QPR might just be the suprise package this season. League 1 Notts Forest Scr @ 18/1 - All signs say this will finally be Forest's year to escape League 1. They have signed proved League 1 performers in Lockwood and Davies aswell as a coup in obtaining Neil Lennon's sognature. Also, Leeds will now be the side everyone wants to beat. Luton +10 @ 17/1 - Although relegated teams have struggled in recent years Luton have a good chance of making it back up. They look like a side that will cope with the division and Kevin Blackwell will be eager to prove to Leeds they were wrong to let him go. Oldham +10 @ 18/1 - Oldham impressed me last season and have recruited well in the summer. The playoff hangover may be a factor but this might be their season. Tranmere +10 @ 18/1 - Always there of thereabouts Tranmere are a settled outfit who could well go one better this season. Chris Greenacre is the key man infront of goal who needs to fire for the Wirral side. League 2 MK Dons +5 @ 20/1 - Paul Ince resurrected Macclesfield last year and could be the man to get MK back up after a playoff failure last season. Leon Knight is a class finisher at this level and will probably be partnered by veteran Kevin Gallen. they have experience in abundance and Ince should have money to spend following the departure of Izale McLeod. Darlington +10 @ 18/1 - Darlo is always a tough place to go and after coming close last time they will be determined to get promotion. The signing of Pawel Abbott could be inspired as he was never given a fair chance at Swansea despite scoring heavily at Huddersfield in League 1. Wycombe +14 @ 18/1 - Another side who are perenially lurking around the playoffs, Wycombe have the quality to make the step up this year with Jermaine Easter there to bang in the goals with plenty of good signings including Gary Holt from Forest and Tom Williams from Swansea. Shrewsbury +16 @ 18/1 - They move into a new ground this season and will want to celebrate with promotion. They have signed a good keeper in Glyn Garner and Gary Peters' men should challenge at the top this time around aswell. Well done if you read all that! Obviously the handicaps are extremely difficult ot pick and I wouldn't advise anyone to do this for anything other than a bit of fun, but for a £30 bet there are some potentially huge rewards and I think it is much better value than the traditional pre season accy! Here's hoping! :hope

[aliando]

Re: A new twist on an old favourite. good luck mate!

[kevsul]

Re: A new twist on an old favourite. Yeah good luck, nice write up about it as well.

[Bedlam]

Re: A new twist on an old favourite. You've obviously put a lot of time & energy into this, Good luck :hope

[2hcb]

Re: A new twist on an old favourite. Thanks for your replies guys! I'd been mulling this one over for a few days and come friday night and time to pace the bet I had agrand total of...er, 3 selections (Forest, Darlington and Man C)!! So of couurse, I was there for hours on end deciding on my final line up! The Premiership was the hardest to pick as about half the sides you'd look at and say yes they have a chance whereas in the other leagues that's not so, but there's always the threat of the complete outsiders storming it especially in League 1. Not a bad start today, Oldham got what sounded like a very lucky win ;), Darlington, Shrewsbury, Man City and Luton were relatively comfortable whilst Blackburn came from behind against Boro and Burnley got a terrific win over WBA having been a goal down :clap. Forest were held 0-0, Bristol and QPR shared the spoils but both will be encouraged by their performances I suspect. Wycombe were disapointing whilst Tranmere, MK and Wolves all contrived to throw away their leads, Wolves conceding twice in the last 5mins :wall. Chelsea and Birmingham play eachother tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted throughout the rest of the campaign :).

[Cymro]

Re: A new twist on an old favourite. Interesting system 2hcb, a lot of fun will be had I'm sure watching this over the season! Just remember, you have to add on everyone's handicap to their points totals to get a picture of how you are doing. Sometimes this is forgotten, and also it can be difficult to go back and get the details for other teams once the league has started. Good luck with this:hope

[2hcb]

Re: A new twist on an old favourite.

Interesting system 2hcb, a lot of fun will be had I'm sure watching this over the season! Just remember, you have to add on everyone's handicap to their points totals to get a picture of how you are doing. Sometimes this is forgotten, and also it can be difficult to go back and get the details for other teams once the league has started. Good luck with this:hope

got a spreadsheet all stored on my computer :ok Good to see Man City winning again midweek but could really have done with Birmingham hanging on agaisnst Sunderland.