What next for Paul the octopus?

One of the best things about this World Cup has been the creation of a celebrity. Forget your prima-donna footballers. Forget your wannabe celebrity pundits. The real star of this tournament has something different to all of these mere mortals.

Paul the psychic Octopus has brought his mental prowess to the big stage. He was an emerging star during Euro 2008, where he predicted the result correctly for around 80% of Germanys games. This time he has a 100% record so far, and for tonight’s match he has predicted a Spain win, something which is going against the grain of many pundits own thoughts.

I don’t think Paul should be confined to simply being brought out for tournaments. Paul needs to be enjoyed on a longer term scale. So I give to you: What is next for Paul the Octopus

Weekly predictions

It’s a lesser known fact but Paul is actually English by birth, despite being housed at a German aquarium. Paul could rediscover his roots, and consider some gigs which tie up with the Premier League.

BBC weekly predictions are done by Mark Lawrenson, but I think he needs a bit of competition. His prediction rate is good, but how would he compare to a psychic octopus?

It could also add a further edge to the BBC website, with weekly videos showing Paul making his predictions and some footage of banter between Paul and Mark.

Match of the Day slot?

Football is often described as unpredictable, but imagine having a football pundit programme with a psychic influence.

Maybe Match of the Day needs a bit of a shake up in terms of pundits, and the newly raised profile of Paul could only be a good thing for the show. Perhaps he could supply predictions at the end of the show for the following days games on MOTD2.

Choosing the Lottery numbers

Paul might want to move away from football, perhaps working throughout this World Cup might make him want to turn his hand to other pursuits. The National Lottery needs someone to freshen up their show, and Dale Winton definately doesn’t appeal to me.

It could be a complete shake up to the system. 49 boxes with numbers on the front, all filled with food for Paul to choose. It may be slower than the current system, but imagine the tension as Paul floated over to his chosen box.

So there we have it. A few ideas to encourage Paul’s blossoming media career. Long live the predicting cephalopod.