PHP - Ctype_alpha Returns Unwanted False

<?php
$db_host = "localhost";
$db_user ="root";
$db_pass ="";
$db_database ="allscores";

//////////////// CHECKING VARIABLE FILEDS IN A UPDATE QUERY //////////////////////////////////
//////////////// QUERY 1 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

/*
$db_database ="test";
$db_table ="users";
$RecNo = 1;			
		
$field1 = 'name';
$field2 = 'password';
$field3 = 'email'; 
$field4 = 'id';
$val1 = "Ajay";
$val2 = "howzatt";
$val3 = "me@mymail.com";


					$con = mysqli_connect($db_host,$db_user,$db_pass,$db_database) or die('Unable to establish a DB connection');
					$query = "UPDATE $db_table SET $field1 = ?,
							$field2 = ?, $field3 = ?
							WHERE $field4 = ? ";   // session terminated by setting the sessionstatus as 1 
					$stmt = $con->prepare($query);
					var_dump($stmt); 
					$stmt->bind_param('sssi',$val1,$val2,$val3,$RecNo);
					if($stmt->execute())
					{
						$count = $stmt->affected_rows;
						echo $count;
					}		
//////////////// QUERY 1  END /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
*/



//////////////// QUERY 2 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

$con = mysqli_connect($db_host,$db_user,$db_pass,$db_database) or die('Unable to establish a DB connection');
$table = 'scores';
$date = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');


/*
$prestr 	= "Mrt_M_";		
$STATUS		= $prestr."Status";
$S_R1 		= $prestr."Scr_1";
$S_R2 		= $prestr."Scr_2";
$PCT 		= $prestr."PPT";
$DPM 		= $prestr."DSP";
$TIMETAKEN 	= $prestr."TimeTaken";
*/


$STATUS		= "Mrt_M_Status";
$S_R1 		= "Mrt_M_Scr_1";
$S_R2 		= "Mrt_M_Scr_2";
$PPT 		= "Mrt_M_PPT";
$DSP 		= "Mrt_M_DSP";
$TIMETAKEN 	= "Mrt_M_TimeTaken";

$TimeOfLogin	=	$date;	
$no_of_logins	=	10;
$time_of_nLogin	=	$date;
$m_scr_row1		=	5;
$m_scr_row2		=	5;
$m_ppt			=	20;
$m_dsp			=	60;
$m_time			=	120;
$date			=	$date;
$RecNo			=	24;

		$query = "UPDATE $table SET 
				TimeOfLogin = ?,
				no_of_logins = ?,
				time_of_nLogin = ?,
				$S_R1 = ?,					
				$S_R2 = ?,					
				$PPT = ?,						
				$DSP = ?,						
				$TIMETAKEN = ?,				
				$STATUS = '1',				
				TimeOfLogout = ?,
				WHERE RecNo = ?";			
		$stmt = $con->prepare($query);

		var_dump($stmt);

		$stmt->bind_param('sisiiddssi',$TimeOfLogin,$no_of_logins,$time_of_nLogin,$m_scr_row1
					$m_scr_row2,$m_ppt,$m_dsp,$m_time,$date,$RecNo);
		if($stmt->execute()) echo " DONE !";


?>	

I tried parsing through first

https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/28167/The-Empire-of-Sexuality-An-Interview-with-Joseph-Massad

then even tried

www.google.com

and on both I get the following returned

post_url equals:
www.google.compost_title equals:
testpost_Threadybody equals:
Enter your posts...

URL equals: www.google.com

www.google.com is not a valid URL

Web page redirects after 2 seconds.

And here is the if statement that handles my filter for URLs

if(isset($_POST["submit"]) && !empty($_POST["url"]) && !empty($_POST["Title"])){
$URL = $conn -> real_escape_string($_POST["url"]) ;
$BodyText = $conn -> real_escape_string(nl2br($_POST["ThreadBody"])) ;
echo "<P>URL equals: " ; 
echo $URL ; 
echo "<P>" ; 
//Change to embed for youtube.


if (filter_var($URL, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
    echo("$URL is a valid URL");
	//Check if url is a youtube url 
	if (strpos($URL,'youtube') !== false) {
	    echo 'Youtube exists.';
	  $URL = preg_replace("/\s*[a-zA-Z\/\/:\.]*youtube.com\/watch\?v=([a-zA-Z0-9\-_]+)([a-zA-Z0-9\/\*\-\_\?\&\;\%\=\.]*)/i","<iframe width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/$1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>",$URL);

	} else {
	    echo 'Youtube is not included .';
	   $URL = "<ahref ='" . $URL . "</a>" ;  
	}


	$Title = $conn -> real_escape_string($_POST["Title"]) ;
	$User = $_SESSION['username'];
	 
	 
	 $sql = "INSERT INTO Threads (Title, Users, ThreadBody, url)
     VALUES ('$Title', '$User','$BodyText','$URL')";
     if (mysqli_query($conn, $sql)) {
        echo "New record has been added successfully !";
     } else {
        echo "Error: " . $sql . ":-" . mysqli_error($conn);
     }

		} 
else {
    echo("$URL is not a valid URL");
		}

<?php

include('config/functions.php');

$mysqli = connectionToDb();

$mysqli->autocommit(FALSE);

$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("INSERT INTO users (first_name,last_name) VALUES ('stelios','stelios2')");
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->close();

$stmt = $mysqli->prepare("INSERT INTO users (first_name,last_name) VALUES ('stelios3','stelios4')");
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->close();

var_dump($mysqli->commit());

$mysqli->close();