After a fun but not simple little process, I've determined the final form of this season's Prediction League. Owing to all sorts of real life complications such as exam revision, legal issues, moving house and so forth, the intended start date has been pushed back a week to the weekend of August 29th-31st.
Provisional list of entrants:
Blaarev
Blue Maniac
camberwell fox
Dorset Fox
fox58
foxybru
give_us_a_wave
jas123
jb5000
Jeff
LCFC'sGodWears9
Motown Fox
OldGit
Orifice
pork pie fox
RotherhamFox93
spionfox
Xowie
If you're not on this list and should or want to be, see below.
A CONDITION OF ENTRY TO THIS SEASON'S PREDICTION LEAGUE WILL BE THE SUBMISSION BY EACH PLAYER OF A LIST OF TWENTY DEFAULT PICKS, IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE, BEFORE THE END OF MONDAY, AUGUST 25TH. PMs will be sent out shortly to those named above; those who fail to reply will unfortunately have to be removed. A fixture list will be determined at random and published on August 26th.
ANYBODY NOT ON THE ABOVE LIST MAY ENTER BY SIMPLY SENDING ME THEIR DEFAULT LIST BEFORE THE DEADLINE.
DEFAULT PICKS CANNOT BE REPLACED ON ANY MATCH DAY AFTER THEY KICK OFF. For example, if you have Leicester in your default picks and they kick off at 7:45 Friday evening of a given match day, you cannot replace them after 7:45 Friday evening. You may replace any of your picks at any time before they kick off. Yes, Motown, that means 2:59:59 on a Saturday if you like.
Based on responses to the PMs I sent out a little while ago, the tiny tweaks are as follows:
NEW SCORING SYSTEMS REWARDS WINNING MARGINS: For each pick that wins, you will be awarded ten points per goal, plus any relevant ranking points, which will be calculated the exact same way as last season.
BONUS POINTS INTRODUCED TO ENCOURAGE THOUGHTFUL SELECTIONS: As was the case last season, you will be awarded three points per win. However, this season you will also receive:
ONE BONUS POINT for seven winning picks
TWO BONUS POINTS for nine winning picks
THREE BONUS POINTS for ten winning picks
NEW RESTRICTIONS ON PICKS TO DISCOURAGE RANDOM NONSENSE: In the PMs I sent out, I presented three options. Option 1 (England and Scotland only), or Option 2 (UEFA leagues only) received decent response. The third option (leave it as is) was entirely ignored, so I'll assume nobody wants that. Ultimately, Option 2 wins. This means you will be able to pick from any UEFA league provided I have confirmed standings from last season for the relevant league, as well as the leagues above and below if applicable.
Other than that, boys and girl, it'll be exactly the same as before. Good luck, and most of all have fun.
