They talk a good game but can they kick it?

In the 'prediction league stakes' a solid performance by Tom Rich, an IFA at Christows, in Bournemouth, saw him more than hold his own among the motley crew of Man United supporter Michael Warren, DWS Investments' managing director, DWS's Arsenal supporting head of distribution Andy Clark, and Chelsea fan Lawrence Gosling, now editor of Football First newspaper, who clearly knows less about football than he did about investments during his time on Investment Week.

We asked all four to predict which three teams will be relegated, and after Norwich threw away a two goal lead against Manchester City last week, the Canaries are no longer warbling - even if their chairperson Delia Smith is trying to get them going with her eccentric half time rallying call.

Incidently, in response to Delia's call to arms, Man City fans responded with a rousing chorus of 'One Jamie Oliver'.

Notably good predictions for last weekend were Andy Clark's away win for Everton at Villa, while Tom's allegiances to Villa saw him go with his heart rather than his head in forecasting a home win.

Andy and Michael's both went for a draw in the Southampton-Arsenal game, which looked highly unlikely at half-time after Saints' David Prutton got himself sent off in extraordinary circumstances.

Probably the best prediction of the week went to Tom for correctly calling Man City's away win at Norwich on the Monday night, which defied the recent form book.

The Carling Cup final split the four down the middle, with the class of Chelsea showing through in the end, and as we had all predicted the influence of Steven Gerrard turned out to be the key factor - but for all the wrong reasons for Liverpool... Is that his first of many goals for the Londoners, I wonder?

We will ask all four for their next set of predictions in two weeks' time. But let us have a detailed look at how they got on last time.

Predictions for 'Going down, going down'

AC: West Brom, Crystal Palace and Norwich

MW: West Brom, Norwich and Southampton

LG: West Brom, Southampton and Norwich

TR: West Brom, Norwich and Southampton.

The bottom three as at 4 March were West Brom, Southampton and Norwich, so everyone looks to be on target apart from Andy, who thinks Southampton will manage to overhaul their four point deficit to Crystal Palace.

Last week's predictions

Aston Villa v Everton

Result: 1-3

AC: AWAY

MW: DRAW

LG: HOME

TR: HOME

Palace v Birmingham

Result: 2-0.

AC: DRAW

MW: HOME

LG: HOME

TR: DRAW

Man Utd v Portsmouth

Result: 2-1

AC: HOME

MW: HOME

LG: HOME

TR: HOME

Southampton v Arsenal

Result: 1-1

AC: DRAW

MW: DRAW

LG: HOME

TR: AWAY

Tottenham v Fulham

Result: 2-0

AC: HOME

MW: HOME

LG: DRAW

TR: HOME

Middlesbrough v Charlton

Result: 2-2

AC: HOME

MW: DRAW

LG: AWAY

TR: HOME

Newcastle v Bolton

Result: 2-0

AC: HOME

MW: HOME

LG: HOME

TR: DRAW

Norwich v Man City

Result: 2-3

AC: DRAW

MW: HOME

LG: HOME

TR: AWAY

Carling Cup Final:

Chelsea v Liverpool

Result: 3-2 (AET)

AC: Liverpool - on penalties

MW: Liverpool

LG: Chelsea

TR: Chelsea

So in a tightly run contest Michael triumphed with six correct predictions, followed by Andy on five and Lawrence and Tom just behind with four.

Advisers' Football Agent Survey

We also have the results of our adviser survey on football agents, which we published two weeks ago. The questions are set out below and the thoughts of advisers make very interesting reading.

It must be comforting for many intermediaries, who are the victims of a continuous stream of negative comment by the consumer press, to realise there is an industry that is truly reviled by one and all - namely agents.

The questions:

1. Do you think the transfer window system is good or bad?

2. Would you like clubs to be able to buy players all season long?

3. Do you think agents earn too much money?

4. Should they be paid on a commission or a fee basis for arranging a transfer?

5. Should all players be represented by the Professional Footballers' Association and not independent agents?

6. Should there be a salary cap for clubs in the Premier League?

7. Should arranging a £10m transfer of a player be worth the same amount of money as advising on a corporate pension scheme of the same value?

8. Should football clubs be forced to reveal how munch money they spend on agents each season?

9. Should agents be forced to reveal how much commission they earn?

10. Should the salaries of first team squad players be made public?

11. Should clubs be banned from sacking their managers during the season?

12. Is there too much football on television?

13. Should football agents be forced to take examinations similar to the FPC?

14. Should agents be regulated by financial authorities, such as the FSA, instead of the football authorities, to regulate their behaviour?

15. What should Brian Barwick, the new chief executive of the Football Association, be doing about agents?

The results:

Overview: Agents earn too much and no-one likes them.

Not surprisingly there was overwhelming condemnation of the transfer window systems, with 95% of the respondents saying it was bad for football, and a number of advisers pointing out that it was technically a restriction of trade. It will be interesting to see if one of the Premiership or other leading European clubs challenges the current system in the European courts.

Again, not surprisingly, there was total agreement on the fact that agents earn too much money. Although regarding the remuneration system, there was more of a disparity in replies, which may reflect the ongoing debate in financial services between fees and commission.

Approximately half of the replies (55%) thought agents should be on the same fixed percentage commission for all transfers, no matter what the size of the transfer deal. The rest thought it was up to the clubs and the agents to agree the level of remuneration.

There was an even split in opinion of whether or not the Professional Footballers' Association should represent all players, with about 40% saying they should, 50% saying they should not, and 10% not expressing the opinion.

There was a very high proportion of advisers (80%) who felt there should be a salary cap for clubs in the Premier League, but with no rules on bonuses to reflect success.

When we got to the issue of transparency of agents' commissions, again a very high percentage (94%) thought clubs should reveal all agents commissions and independently the agents themselves should reveal the commissions.

Currently, Football League clubs reveal the commissions they pay to agents but only a handful of Premiership clubs, including Manchester United, are publishing their payments to agents.

We asked two really controversial questions on whether clubs should reveal the salaries of all first team players and whether or not clubs should be banned from sacking their managers.

Obviously many of you must support teams that have either sacked their manager or would like to, because hardly anyone thought the sacking of managers during the season should be banned. As one respondent said: "It's an accepted two way street." Equally on players' salaries most advisers thought it unrealistic to expect clubs to reveal players salaries.

When asked if players should be forced to take examinations there was an overwhelmingly response in favour. Many advisers thought agents should be tested on an annual basis and they should be made to provide accounts, which are examined and audited independently by a set of regulators.

On the regulators issue, many thought the current system of football regulating agents, via the FA or Fifa was out-dated and that an independent financial regulator, along the lines of the FSA or SEC would be more appropriate.

Lawrence Gosling is publishing director of Football First, the national Sunday football paper