The Big Kick-off (Racing Post)

Any hints at a publication date, yet?

Monday August 10th

Does anyone still buy this? A lot of punters used to buy the World Cup one, but nobody even mentioned it this year. No real need for it these days, especially if they charge about 6 quid. I sincerely hope they're not still putting up "Didi's Diamonds" That shyte used to be good for a laugh, but enough's enough.

Didi's Diamonds
Brazil to win the World Cup
Igor Thiago to win the Golden Boot
Austria to win Group J
Bosnia to win Group B
Ivory Coast to reach the quarter-finals

Brazil ace Thiago looks a golden bet
We finally (presumably) get to say farewell to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but it doesn’t look as though they will be bowing out on a high. I cannot for the life of me work out why Messi believes he can emulate what he did four years ago at the age of 38.

Cheers MM for the update on Publication date.

I usually back half a dozen tips from it and make an overall profit.

Print copies of anything nowadays are expensive.

No reason why the digital copy needs to be £6.

Thank you MM but I will be in last man standing comp so it will be worthwhile read

Usually bite the bullet abd buy it, bouhght the rp for WC pull out, quite informative.
Use the pull out for early season ( new signings etc )

Do not miss out — it’s available free with the Racing Post newspaper on Monday, August 10.

Have they closed down the early-image post workaround???

There's a longish thread on Horse Racing about this.

PP paying out on Celtic.

Publicity stunt,probably stand to lose a
bar of soap.

Celtic are rotten and might get worse.

Bizarrely and with no idea how, the pictures are now working

Is hamman still there , I remember 1 year he didnt get a single prediction right , and I think he predicted leicester would go down and they won the league and aston villa would do well and they were relegated .

Aug 7, 2026 -- 4:09PM, MrStrawMan wrote:

Is hamman still there , I remember 1 year he didnt get a single prediction right , and I think he predicted leicester would go down and they won the league and aston villa would do well and they were relegated .

his world cup predictions were beyond abysmal I seem to remember

Didi's Diamonds from last season.

Liverpool Win P/L - @ 2/1...(5TH)
Chelsea Top 4 - @ 5/6...(10TH)
M Cunha Top P/L Goalscorer - @ 50/1 E/W...(20TH,10 Goals)
RB Leipzig Win Bundesliga without Bayern M - 9/2... (3RD)

So I’ll  have to enter the players’ nationality manually into my supplement
Any soccer website out there that includes players international team besides team websites and Wiki and that doesn’t require endless clicking?

One copy each in my two local shops. Do they want people to order online then!

Amazing how scarce the availability in provincial towns is.

You don't really get newsagents anymore.

Found one and paid the £5:70 purchase price. Feel for those who fork out for this paper regularly.

OUT TODAY

i also bought it this morning- have had a quick read through - nothing in there that was very enlightening tbh- most if not all predictions were pretty obvious.ill have a more thorough read later but dont think ill be buying at again.

better info i can get myself and sometimes off the forum

wow, Sunderland starting 11 doesn't even have their best player imo.

Aug 10, 2026 -- 3:58PM, morpteh mackem wrote:

wow, Sunderland starting 11 doesn't even have their best player imo.

Have they omitted Luke 09?

Aug 10, 2026 -- 7:46PM, TheGoddess wrote:

Aug 10, 2026 --  3:58PM, morpteh mackem wrote:wow, Sunderland starting 11 doesn't even have their best player imo.Have they omitted Luke 09?

Sadiki

Gone from 80 pages last year to 64.

Aug 10, 2026 -- 8:53PM, penzance wrote:

Gone from 80 pages last year to 64.

no non-league featured

or Scottish

Dumped Didi as well.

No wonder that Clown Done his Brains in Blew fortunes 6 Figures to a Spread Betting Company a Few Years Back

^^^^^Regarding the non league picks not being in the paper, because, I presume, those leagues kicked off last Saturday, they were in the regular paper last week, didn't even fill up one page as I recall...same for Scottish leagues

Picks were
NL North....Macclesfield 7s, Spennymoor 33s
NL South....Chelmsford 7s, Maidenhead 33s

Bit of symetry there

Aug 11, 2026 -- 8:11AM, Regbutler wrote:

^^^^^Regarding the non league picks not being in the paper, because, I presume, those leagues kicked off last Saturday, they were in the regular paper last week, didn't even fill up one page as I recall...same for Scottish leagues Picks wereNL North....Macclesfield 7s, Spennymoor 33sNL South....Chelmsford 7s, Maidenhead 33sBit of symetry there

did see the non league picks but wouldnt have harmed them to add them into pullout, only played one game and even then the articles for publication would have been done before Saturdays games.

Agree, MM

Hamann tipped Augsburg to win the Bundesliga @ 1000/1 based on an alphabetical order hunch, but they refused to print it.

Aug 11, 2026 -- 3:05PM, DIE LINKE wrote:

Hamann tipped Augsburg to win the Bundesliga @ 1000/1 based on an alphabetical order hunch, but they refused to print it.

rather than going for a wordlie this yr,one already a lot shorter than they were,but seems a long time since we had 4 strong favs ,
celtic were 5 to 6ish
arsenal 11 to 8
wet ham 6 to 5 ,

and lec around 5 to 2/11 to 4,
dont mins someone doing arsenalobviously as i want boro to go up dont mind west ham blowing out,but ive done treble and a 4 fold the 4 favs

Used to avidly look forward to the release of this every year...had to visit half a dozen shops to get one on Monday and have finally got round to my first viewing this morning.....my opinion - abysmal

Not a patch on what it was with less and less bets in every year....no season match bets ( yes i know they favour punters and not bookies ) but at least print some for the ones that do bother....no prices for any specials

Think i'll save my time and effort getting one next year and stick to trawling the internet for prices

West Ham bit short at 6/5 x 7/4 available on most Books

Aug 12, 2026 -- 2:39PM, grayhawk wrote:

Used to avidly look forward to the release of this every year...had to visit half a dozen shops to get one on Monday and have finally got round to my first viewing this morning.....my opinion - abysmalNot a patch on what it was with less and less bets in every year....no season match bets ( yes i know they favour punters and not bookies ) but at least print some for the ones that do bother....no prices for any specialsThink i'll save my time and effort getting one next year and stick to trawling the internet for prices

same here, went to about 5 shops in Morpeth, then garages, and ended up in Bedlington post office and got it there. Wish I hadnt bothered. Even rfo is poor.

Aye can't get outta the habit of buying it M2...only two columns i read  habitually are Andrew Mounts ( just about all Irish this week where i don't bet ) for information and opinion and Birchys  for a " laugh " ...must be the only person in the country who stops betting for six weeks cos he can't open a laptop with his other hand ( smh )

Still worth it for me - I got 7 bets out of it - saved me a few hours of research

T Jones shops had it. Old WH Smith.

Bet Fred shops tend to have RPs every day - free to read.

what were the seven bets analyst - i got nowt that i didnt know already or was not interested in - apart from the area based bets which i didnt know existed