Now that Paul the Octopus has sadly shuffled (do octopuses shuffle?) off this mortal coil, the stage is set for another critter to cast their football predictions.
Enter Felix the cat.
Felix lives at Huddersfield Train Station and works as a ‘senior pest controller’ for TransPennine Express trains. The mouser encounters footy fans from all over the country, and with Huddersfield recent promotion to the Premier League, she’ll be welcoming a whole bunch more.
Felix isn’t just any cat, she’s a local celebrity with over 120,000 followers on Facebook. She’s even got a book out: Felix: the Railway Cat.
To add to her skills, it seems that Felix is something of a psychic, having correctly predicted that Huddersfield would beat Crystal Palace in their opening game in the Premier League. Presented with three bowls of food, marked ‘Huddersfield’, ‘Crystal Palace’ and ‘Draw’, Felix went straight for her home side, who went on to win 3-0.
Next in her sights are Newcastle, who Felix are predicting will lose to Huddersfield, followed by Southhampton, who – can you guess? – Felix reckons will succumb to the might of her home town Huddersfield.
Is Felix biased? Who can say. You couldn’t blame her, she is a Huddersfield girl after all, but the real test will come in the following weekends: can she get the next two weeks right?
Only time will tell.
“Felix is part of the TPE family and has become famous in Huddersfield and all over the world,” said Andrew Croughan, Huddersfield Station Manager for TransPennine Express. “She regularly greets the fans making their way to the John Smith’s Stadium and so we thought we would get her to predict Huddersfield’s first three games.
“The first prediction was tense as we could see her debating whether to eat from the draw bowl. Luckily for the fans of the Terriers she ate from the Huddersfield bowl for all three scenarios so David Wagner’s men look as though their getting off to a flying start!”
