Best Football Tipster for 2013 is...............

The Football Analyst.

I said in one of my recent comments on the blog that the service would be judged by TFA subscribers rather than other tipsters and other anonymous posters who seem to be giving me a fair bit of stick at the moment regarding the results this season.

As many of you will be aware, the Secret Betting Club (@sbcinfo) have their annual tipster awards where their members vote for their best performing tipsters over the past 12 months. The voting takes place in December and January each year and as you will see down the right hand side of the blog, there are a number of awards the service has won over the last couple of years.

In the inaugural awards in 2011, TFA finished 3^rd in the best overall sports tipster category and in 2012, TFA was runner up in the best football tipster category and the best overall tipster category. The service also collected a 3^rd place in the best overall sports tipster category in 2012.

Well, the results are in for 2013 and.........

TFA won the best football tipster category. Yes, I’ve no idea either how I won it but I did. Woohoo!

To be fair, I think the award is great testament to the fact that subscribers to TFA can look at the results over a 12 month period and not get too bogged down by the fact this season so far has been a nightmare. I’m fed up saying it but this season has been horrible so far and therefore, I honestly thought I would be lucky if I finished in the top 3 for this award.

If the betting market for this award opened up at the start of this season, I reckon TFA would have been around 1.01 to win the award for best football tipster. Not sure any service has matched my returns over the last 3 years or particularly in the first half of 2013 as the second half of last season was a stunning time for the service. At the start of September, it would have taken a disaster for me to not win this award I suspect. 

Well, guess what. A disaster happened in September and the service is still trying to clawback the losses suffered in that month. I think that’s the thing that irritates me the most this season. Take away September and the service is having an OK season and would have had a stunning 2013. Yes, it would not have been as impressive this season as other seasons but even so, it would be in line with most others in the market. Unfortunately, you can’t ignore the losses in September and therefore, September haunts the returns for the service this season and for 2013.

Like anyone collecting an award, I feel the need to give out some notes of thanks I think.

Firstly, a massive thanks to the SBC for having these awards and for doing the job they do in the tipster market. I may not agree with everything the SBC does but I agree 100% with the way they operate and they represent the closest thing to a regulator in the market at the moment. FWIW, I think Peter has done a fantastic job and has built on the work done before by the other SBC guys before him.

A massive thanks to everyone who supports TFA and particularly those that have been with the service since the first or second season and have remained with the service through the ups and downs as the service has grown. I think the fact that a small number of subscribers come and go each season when they can’t make the service work for them but the core subscriber base remains in-tact each season makes my job easier as it means I don’t need to keep going back to basics each Summer for newbies.

Thanks to everyone this season (and last season) who have been so understanding about the fact I can’t always release the bets at a set time every week or for the times when I need to move the days of the bets. Trying to manage the service around a full-time job isn’t easy but as I’ve done since day one, I try my best all the time.

Thanks to those who take the time to write to me during bad spells to try to keep my chin up at times. This game is a lonely game at times and being a punter is hard enough when you’re losing money but when others are following your bets and losing money too, it’s tough to take. Thankfully, the service always bounces back as I do and I hope this remains the case forever!

Overall, really chuffed with the award and it has given me a major shot of enthusiasm at a time when I am probably feeling the lowest I’ve ever felt about my betting and the service.  Many of you know I’ve been here before (moaned about it on the blog all last season!) and I’ll no doubt bounce back to my bubbly self when we’re on the next upward trend but I do feel like this season will leave a mark on me.

I was probably contemplating quitting (or having a break) at the end of the season over the last few weeks as I wasn’t sure I could go through another season like this one. I suspect the reason I survived the first 3 seasons as easily as I did was because when you are winning and making money easily, staying up late to do ratings and answer emails and write blog posts etc. isn’t difficult. Winning is easy at gambling and we’re all good winners I suspect. Unfortunately, I don’t tend to take losing too well and therefore, this season has been tough for me mentally.

The crazy thing is that if you were new to reading the blog, you would think the service is on its knees and that I’m blowing my betting bank at the moment. I don’t think the service is on its knees and my own TFA bets are marginally down at the moment having reached a season high on 7^th January and my overall footie portfolio is up for the season. I’ve been in much worse places than this over the last few seasons but maybe didn’t have the expectations I have now and didn’t have to read so much about people losing following the same bets as me!

Anyway, at the moment, I’m about 1,000/1 to win an award for 2014 given the start I’ve had this year and the results over the past few months, so let’s hope these odds start to reduce as the year goes on!

Below are the results for 2013 as a whole if people are interested. Not my best year by far for the service but not too bad I think. 36 of the 39 UK systems made a profit whereas 8 of the 11 Euro Systems were loss making. Overall, a 6.7% ROI for the UK bets and a mighty big loss of 10% for the Euro bets.

Good luck this weekend.