S14M1 + PSP: It starts, now

Hello! Welcome back old friends & hopefully hello new friends!

14th Season. Anyone who's been here since Day 1 needs to get a life. Weirdos.

Bit of a Mea Culpa. As is traditional, I take some time away from the football after the season ends. This sort of included the Euros until it didn't. So I'd started my review of the Pre-Season predos from S13, but then never went back to it. It will follow ASAP.

I'd then planned to do this blog whilst I was away but the WiFi was so awful in general, I gave up. Then I managed to delete what I'd already written. So here we go, better late than never.

The Technical Stuff

So - let's start with the formalities. If you've played before, skip this paragraph. If you haven't let me direct you to the Rules tab above. It's pretty simple. Each week, you choose which team you think will win the match, or whether you think it'll be a draw. Think Football Pools style for those of you over 60. Each corrrect prediction = 1 point. Scores are averaged out over the season in a leaderboard - best predictor at the end wins the coveted Impossibilitee trophy. Bylaw - if a matchweek has fewer than 7 games, we ignore it, if it has 7-9 games, it get's pro-rated. 

That's it. That's the game. For those who like a flutter and want to share their 10 match accumulator odds, there's an *optional* field to fill in.

We also have included a bunch of celebrity/tech-led predictors and models - just for fun and to benchmark yourself against. 

The Prizes

The MAIN prize is of course the coveted Impossibilitee trophy. Engraved and shiny, or at least it will be as soon as I find an engraver who havsnt put their prices up 300% since the last time a human won it. This is awarded to the player who tops the leaderboard, for which you need to have played >2/3 of available matchdays to qualify.

There is also a CASH PRIZE for the best human players. The total pot is £100 - to be split as follows

Best Human Player:  £70
2nd Best: £20
3rd Best: £10

The caveat - you have to play 31 weeks to qualify. That's >80% - so it'll be a real test of the best predictors over the course of the season.

There is no cost to enter, but donations to pay for my lunch are gratefully received. Cost of living and all.

The Predictions

Matchday 1:

Pre-Season Predos:

Finally - the more the merrier. So please - everyone, ask a friend to play. Last season we had 21 people in the leaderboard at the end of the season, up from 18. So, let's aim for 30 this season. I send reminders out via the WhatsApp group - so let me know if you want anyone else added - and set alarms and reminders yourself because, let's face it, there'll be at least one week where I forget. 

Good luck all!