I announced over Christmas that the National boss will be returning in a new form, and at present the first version will be starting in March 2009.

 

Game 2's season is coming to an end, so Game 2 would be the ideal game to test out the new version that will run within the game, using that games players etc. So i will start work on it for that game and if sucessful will bring it to the other games asap.

 

 

Obviously Game 2 managers will get priority for teams in the Game 2 version. HOWEVER managers not in game 2 will be able to take on sides if they wish, ut this will onl be available via email for the trail. Managers with teams in game 2 will get the option or Email or Snail Mail.

 

The plan is the whole tournament will run in under half a season, so the other games versions will be able to run from either the start of next season or from week 11, whichever is the sooner after this trial version is tested and hopefully been proved sucessful.

 

More Details to come in each games FTB as/when i have something concrete to say. Had good feedback so far from managers about the idea in general. but had very little in thw way of ideas and suggestions on how it should work (See my previous post).

 

So let us know what you think.

 

Trev

From Jan 2009 . ALL scout reports will be charged at half price if sent via email. This obviously is quicker and cuts down on postage costs and therefore charging the full rate is no longer needed. So feel free to ask for your extra printouts via email, even if you get your full turns via the post. Alist of available scout reports are listed in the rulebook, along with the charges. But feel free to ask and if not possible i will let you know without charge.

 

WHAT TO DO.

 

Simply email me your request to info@olympiapbm.co.uk (or any of the stated email addresses, NOTE: teams@olympiapbm.co.uk may take longer as that is only checked on deadline days).

 

MAKE SURE you state your Account number/Name and most important the GAME NUMBER you want the reports to be from.

 

Your reports will be attached to a reply of the email you sent. I normally get them back to you that day, but state 48hours just in case i am away. Turn results are normaly sent back in Adbe PDF format and all others in a basic text file. Other formats are available on request, but these are the default setting as the vast majority of PCS can read them without having to pay for extra software.

 

If you ask via text message then it make take a little longer than asking via email. If you request scout reports on your turncard then they will be sent as normal via your full turn results via post/email (whatever way you normally get yours turns).

 

All the best for 2009!

 

TRev

 

I have recently started work on a new improved version of the international manager, which should be ready in early 2009.

 

Instead of the old version in a separate game, the new game will be WITHIN EVERY CURRENT GAME.

 

This means the England manager in Game 1 will have every ENGLISH player in game to choose from and select for matches. The Game 2 England managers will have every game 2 English player etc etc.

 

HOW WILL THIS WORK?

 

To start with each manager will get a list of every player in the game of that nationality. The manager in pre season will then pick his 22 man squad along with another 20 odd extra players. He will be able to swap players between the main squad and the rest as much a he wants and they will be available for selection that game, not like in deals when you have to wait a turn. Matches will be played in a much smaller format, probably like the Super Cup, this allowing for possibly two competitions within a season (one in weeks 1-11, and another between weeks 12-22).

 

COST?

At present the plan is to charge a one off fee, (like the Super Cup). This will stop the problem of people dropping out if they lose a match! Plans are for betwen £8-10 with the winner getting a prize of £20, runner up £15 and possibly other prizes (need to do the match!). The charge will cover ALL matches and a number of scout reports that turn. You will be able to scout any team, player(s) or match report in that game.

 

YOUR VIEWS:

Still plenty of things to ponder and decide upon. So your thoughts are always welcome.

 

For instance:

You wont be able to play injured players, but can suspended players. But should players get injured in international games? If so, how much compensation should their clubs get?

 

The big nations are obvious, but there is the possibility of doing a 'combined' squads also. Like Africa etc instead, would that work or be of interest.

 

Plenty of more things to sort out in the coming weeks, will post more in the coming weeks.

 

Get back to me.

 

Trev

During my hard earned break over Christmas (dont laugh!), i plan to start the prep work on game 6. I already have a good idea on how the league/division format will run. With only completing the Game 5 prep work in the last couple of months, the majority of stuff has been done. Therefore it should be a very quick process and i would be in a position to start Game 6 at any time in 2009.

 

I am toying with the idea of having 9-10 leagues with only one division of each nationality. ENG, SCO, FRA, SPA, GER, BRA, ARG etc etc. But still a way from finalising such details.

 

HOWEVER, a lot will depend on the status of game 5. I wont start all the new work on a new game until i am confident Game 5 is settled in. I dont want to have to divert any new managers from one new game at the expense of another new game. Also here is no extra advertising ordered in the magazines etc until the Spring, that will be needed to get enough new managers in the game for the very start as turnover of managers is always quite high in any new game.

 

This is just to keep you up to date, PLEASE PLEASE dont start asking for any sides in a Game 6, there is no waiting list etc created so it will be a waste of your time. I was pleased with how the allocation of initial sides went in Game 5, so expect a similar process with a couple of small changes. As always i will let you know when there is something concrete to announce in these pages and eventually in your game(s) FTB. I also plan to announce something about an a new format of international manager in the new year. So keep an eye out.

 

Trev

 

Game five has been up and running for a month now, and so far so good. There has been plenty of interest from both managers old and new, and as i have said before i did not need to place any extra advertising in magazines etc to get the game started. This should help in the start up of game 6 next year (more news of that in this blog in next couple of weeks), and mean that a steady flow of new managers into game 5 should mean that the liklihood of decent sides becoming available in the near future is unlikely. Keep an eye on the spare sides listing on the website, or the 'top 5' un managed sides on the Game 5 homepage and let us know if you are interested.

 

As i have said before, there is little chance of any 'top' sides becoming available till next year at the earlieest. Quite simply as the free turns that new managers receive wont run out until the end of the year, however i have started sending out an email of the best available sides from across the games (see later), which managers have found useful. THe positive side of new managers mainly going into the new games, is that they are better sides than normal available to curent managers in games 1 to 4. In fact there are better sides available than i can remember in a few years due to the new games, league title winning sides have been, and will be available to all so it is worth an eye out.

 

 

I have started to send out a email of the best available sides from across the games, along with their squad listings to portential managers. The feedback has been good so far, with around half the sides being filled within a few days of the email being sent. I therefore plan to send these emails out more regulary (Monthly/bi-monthly depending on popularity and sides available), so if interested in being sent this email then let me know. The squads will be sent as a PDF attachment, just like emailed turns. A separate mailing list maybe be created for this to be sent to auomatically, there is obviously no obligation to take on a side, but will be a useful way of keeping uptodate of what is available to manage at no extra charge.

 

 

Just a quick note to confirm that turns fee WILL NOT BE GOING UP in the new year. I have no plans to put up the turns fees of any side in any game for the time being, as well as all current special offers will continue for the forseeable future. So what you are paying now will be what you will be paying in 2009. The next time i plan to review the price structure of the games will be early summer 2009, which i do every year but rarely make any changes! Only slight change is that there wont be a the Special XMas payment offer i did last year,  as it wasnt a spopular as i would have hoped. I might try it later in the year.

 

That will do for now, keep an eye on these pages as i plan to do a lot more, smaller notes in the coming months. The longer 'newsletter' style entires were too far apart for people to check consistency. Form now i will add stuff when i think of it, and not wait till i have plenty to add.

 

Trev

Just to let managers know that game 5 should be underway in the next couple of weeks. Most of the main sides have been sorted, just a case of last minute updates and quick skill revision to do befoe i start.

Deadlines will be alternate Thursdays, there are still plenty of good sides available across the leagues. A list is available on the spare sides section of the website. You might be surprised at some of the quality sides that have slipped through the net, as most new managers obviously obsess over the top four sides in this country and similar 'mega' teams across Europe.

Outside the new game there are also some really good sides available. This is simply because all new managers are going into the new game at the moment. This is a greta chance for existing managers to pick up bigger sides in the older games.

So if you are on the look out for an extra side with decent league title aspirations then let me know. Once the new game is up and running then i will start placing people in the older games and then the quality of available sides in these games will reduce.

Trev

                Thought i would list a few players around the leagues to keep an eye out on, not just for this season but in the coming seasons. I have tried to avoid the obvious candidates as judging by the turns i receive many managers are after the same players, probably getting interested a bit too late to make much impact as the problem with good young players in the game is they are for the future with a prime age of 27-29 for outfield players. Fabregas would be wanted in any teams side, but league title winners won’t be basing their side purely on him, but in conjunction with the prime age players of similar skill around him.

                Let’s start with keepers, a tricky proposition as they can improve and play for so much longer than outfield players. David James is the perfect example as when he was a young players at Watford and the game was in it infant stages he was the best young keeper around, and now he is far and away the best keeper in the Premiership now. As for the prone to mistakes tag he always, gets it is mainly due to him taking responsibility for pretty much anything ball in the box, more than any other keeper who relies on his defenders much more, so of course there will be more errors if you stick your had n the block that much more often, but don’t get me started on that one!

                So if keepers can go on to an older age i am going to skip past the next bunch of Gordon, Green, Kirkland etc. Nothing against them, they are good keepers but i will look to the next batch. In particular, Joe Hart and Ben Foster. Hart is about to make the Senior squad and is going places, but a fit Ben Foster is the class act and with luck will prove this at Man United next season and onwards.  Outside that look at Wayne Hennessey at Wolves, the Welsh international keeper made his full international as a teenager and looks to have a long bright future in the game.

                Best young defenders are already big names. Micah Richards etc don’t need mentions here so time to look elsewhere. David Wheater looks a good outside bet, the central defender had obviously impressed former CD Gareth Southgate, and by all accounts Capello is also watching him carefully, on top of that Woodgate was sold to Spurs, suggests the confidence they have in him. Outside the Premiership Joe Mattock has broke onto the scene recently. The Leicester defender was the only Non-Premiership player in the first U21 team under Capellos reign and although early days could be one to keep an eye on at the very least. I have been a big advocate of Curtis Davies for a couple of seasons now, and although his international call up was a shock to all after a shaky start at Villa he could well still be someone to watch. However with so many good CD’s in the country some are going to miss out in the coming years, at no fault of their own.

                Midfielders are becoming more and more athletic specimens these days. Big strong guys in the midfield seems to be the future and we don’t have many obvious candidates, certainly not in that mould. Michael Johnson at Man City started the season very well and when he returns from injury we shall see if he can continue that progression.  

                Similar story up font with no-real young stars looking poised to break into the frame, especially at international level. Matt Derbyshire seems to be an out and out goalscorer, but being left out of the U21 squad does not bode well. Dean Ashton isn’t young but is like a new player if he can get fully fit and a threat for West Ham. The fact that Dave Kitson was an outside bet for the full squad shows that you will have to look alot harder to find some future gems. So to avoid the obvious, how about Andy Carroll a Newcastle product as one to watch. Although he hasn’t come on in the last year as your would hope, in fact has probably gone backwards but i don’t want to be too obvious.

                Overseas is always more fun to find the good young stars. If i published this 6 months ago it would have been new AC Milan signing Pato. Many managers had been waiting for his Milan debut after he signed a pre-contract and they were not disappointed. He won’t be a flop, but it is hard to see him surpassing Kaka’s meteoric rise. Therefore he will probably be a world class players somewhere in between the two, alot will depend on the continued form of Robinho, It is well known i am a big fan of Sergio Aguero and he will come on again this year. He has a problem in the shape of Messi etc to break onto the international stage, but i still think he is someone with a bright future. Corinthians have a teenager called Lulinha who could be someone to keep an eye on, but their relegation could stall this improvement or quicken it up if he is sold!.I will hold off on anymore, especially as i want to mention a few in my African Nations cup review to follow.

                As for teams to watch, a side with a good history of  producing players is a very useful guide to a players potential. Ajax are the masters with Man United always producing a good crop. Man City seem to have the best lot around  at present, But Middlesbrough have an excellent academy system and as for a couple of outsiders Ipswich have some good players and how about Carlisle United, their youth side knocked out Man United. Expect a couple of future Premiership players from them, but good look knowing who they will be.

 

Who do you think are the ones to watch, who did i miss out? Feel free to add a comment to this blog and we should get a more comprehensive look around the future stars of the game.

 

Trev

                The Copa America has just finished and here are a few thoughts of the tournament after a 3 year break. I enjoyed the tournament as I whole more than the last few, mainly due to the squads being nearer to full strength than in recent tournaments. On the flip side this meant there were a lot fewer young up and coming players to notice, as it has been a goldmine in past years.

                The matches I watched were pretty good, plenty of goals, some world class players and surprise no standout keepers to mention. Here is some brief thoughts on the semi-finalists and then some final notes.

                Brazil was disappointing in general but still did well, and then it all came together for the final. Robinho showed he is a world class talent, after coming out of the shadows of the missing Kaka, Ronaldinho and Juninho. However he did not show anything different from what those three stars would bring to the side. Brazil miss a Romario, Ronaldo like goal scorer and from what was on offer in Venezuala I don’t know where that is coming from in the near future. Maicon was excellent a right back, keeping out the world best right Back in many peoples eyes, Daniel Alves. Gilberto Silva was skipper and rock in the midfield, although they did look very short in this department and need to find some players in the coming years. They were very un-Brazil like and solid at the back with Juan and Alax forming a solid partnership at the back. This is a very un -Brazil like side at present, but very effective as winning the tournament at the expense of the ‘best’ side proves.

                Argentina were the class side of the competition and at virtually full strength and look excellent challengers for the next World Cup if they continue to progess like this. Obviously Messi and Tevez are fantastic talents and stars for years to come. But Juan Roman Riquelme was the heartbeat of the side, everything good went through, and it was nice to see him playing so well after a poor World Cup and a couple of mediocre seasons in Spain. Hopefully this is a turning point for one the best players in the world.  With Ayala, Zanetti, Veron etc all playing there wasn’t much to see of the next generation. Maschareno worked very hard and played well in midfield, as did Cambiasso. Crespo looked good but limped out in the group stages and give them useful variation from the attacking talents of Messi and Tevez. It fell apart in the final however, as Riquelme was cancelled out and then they looked in affective after going down very early in the final.

                Mexico in many ways was the second best side of the tournament, behind the Argentineans and missed out on the final due to a 3-0 loss in the semi-finals to them. A few regulars missing, but as I mentioned in my U21 blog Nery Castillo looks a player. Expected to sign for a devent Spanish club next season he could be one to watch. I have seen his name around for a while at Olympaikos etc but never seen him play till now. He is quick and clever and if he continues this form will be one to watch, although many fail to impress after a good couple of weeks in a tournament. So time will tell. Rafa Marquez at the back was the spine of the side. Fernando Arce in midfield also put in a few credible performances. Despite leaving their best players out in the 3^rd place match, they still saw off Uruguay after going a godl down, although the sending off of skipper Lugano did help!

                Uruguay missed out on the final after going out to Brazil via Penalties. A good unit but no new names. Following my theme on keepers in this tournament Fabian Carini was 4^th choice at Inter last season, and he started as first choice!, he even skippered the side in their final game after the sending off. Diego Forlan scored good goals and played well, although as ever he did have plenty of chances. He is a quality player and he may help his cause even more with a good season at his new side Atletcio Madrid.

                Elsewhere, the Colombians put in probably the worst performance I have seen in years in their opening game, but improved and by the end of the tournament were mediocre! An under strength and tired USA travelled to the tournament as ‘guests’ which seemed pretty much a waste of time, especially as they won a tournament the week before and seemed their main focus. Possible changes to future tournaments is inviting Spain and Portugal also, they would make the tournament more watchable.

 

That will do for now, will probably do more of these shorter blogs on the game and real-life issues and change the full newsletter to quarterly. Will do similar articles on Game 5, the transfer window and new season previews in the coming weeks.

 

I get plenty of feedback about these blogs but very few actually comment on the site, please feel free to add your views for us all to see and comment on.

 

Trev

                As I have mentioned recently I will soon be starting to reserve sides for the new game 5. I will be sending forms out to all managers in the next few weeks (End of Jul or Early Aug). This WILL NOT include the ‘top 20’ side i have listed, but will include effectively any other side not mentioned. Although ideally any side in the top divisions of any major league, but it will be fairly open, doing this now gives me time to research and create the squads well in time for the game to start.

                I will be asking for a £5 deposit from managers to reserve a side however, this money will be taken when you are allocated a side of your choice, and will be re-credited to your account on Week 2 of season 1. This is simply to make sure I get managers who are serious about managing in the game first. A problem at the start of Game 3 was the number of last minute drop outs, days before the start of the game from current managers who simply did not fancy the side they had any more, or were glory hunters only interested in getting a top side with little effort.

                The top sides will be allocated at the very last minute, with a 60-40ish split in favour of new managers to current managers. This will leave alot of current managers disappointed as demand will far outweigh supply, apologies for this. Please remember the main point of a new game is for me to make more money! Therefore current managers taking on the big sides and probably dropping smaller sides in other games, which will be difficult to re-fill is not in my interest. I would be doing more work but not much extra money!

                I provisionally plan to start around October for a few reason. I cant start to finalise squads until the Transfer window closes at the end of August, many people are away on holiday. September is a transition month with people returning to Univ and Schools, and also I have extra magazine advertising reserved for then. I do have a few other things planned around that time however. If any delays I will then postpone till the New Year as there is no point starting a game and then stopping a couple of turns in for Christmas etc. Although that is very unlikely as it has been delayed enough.

                Planned structure is 3xEnglish divisions, 1xScottish division, 3xEuro league divisions and 1xSouth American division and a reserve league if enough interest at the start for reserves, if not postponed to season 2. I will extend the Scottish and South American leagues when demand dictates it.

 

QUICK NOTE: I am looking into making the reserve league free of charge in ALL games. More info later, as at present the charge is negligible anyway and should encourage squad depth and hopefully create a bigger market for lower skilled players.

 

That’s all for now. My Cop America review should be added in the next few days.

 

PLEASE PLEASE add your comments and thoughts to this blog, or start your own blog and  I will add links direct to it from these pages, to aid a dialogue from managers.

 

Trev

            On these pages I will write a separate article from my normal game newsletters about real-life football. Hopefully this can be a useful guide in finding new players etc for the game itself. Please feel free to add your comment and thoughts to this blog and managers can get a better all round view of the game, and not just from my perspective.

 

UNDER 21 CHAMPIONSHIPS:

 

            Watched quiet abit of the U21 championships in which we were knocked out in the semi-finals by the eventual champions Holland in a marathon penalty shoot out. I thought it was a good championship all in all for our guys, and several stood out and looked the part in a championship format. No real negative’s player wise, apart from David Bentley deciding he was too tired, which would have been fair enough if could have said it a week earlier, giving Stuart Pearce the chance to take a full squad. Especially as with injuries and suspensions an appearance in the final could have had us running on empty player wise.

            Goalkeeper Scott Carson was quality throughout the championships and kept us in several of the matches. Skipper Nigel Reo Coker has had a bad press over the last few months and his West Ham appearance seemed to have suffered much like the sides form around the turn of the year. However he was probably the hardest working in most games and covered every blade of grass, showed his undoubted leadership potential. Hopefully the correct move away from Upton Park this summer can get him back on track, as he looks like a leader and possible full international.

            Nedum Onouha was the surprise package of the tournament for me. With Anton Ferdinand missing early games etc he started as a stop gap selection and ended up as first choice. He along with Steven Taylor were excellent at the back, Taylor more than proved the quality, tough for him we have so many decent centre backs.

            Leroy Lita and David Nugent up front had good tournaments. Lita especially looked a threat throughout and a lethal finisher. Nugent worked his socks off. Matt Derbyshire scored a vital goal against the Serbs coming off the bench also.

            Elsewhere, the Dutch as always have some good potential. Ryan Babel looks to be the new star of the side, replacing Huntelaar as the U21’s main threat. However Royston Drenthe was the star of the show for me. This lad looks like the real deal. Started as a left back but can play further forward on the left hand side, was arguably the man of the tournament. Funny, like Gareth Bale, two left backs with exceptional potential. I haven’t seen many players dominate games from LB and then I see two in a few months of each other!

            The Portuguese failed to live up to expectation. New Man United signing Nani got injured so didn’t get to see the best of him. Although plenty of interest in him well before his move, especially since his full international debut means he will be popular in all games.

            The Belgians were a decent outfit, but no real stand out players to mention. Although ex-Spurs player Johnaton Blondel played more than I ever saw him at White Hart Lane. The Serbs were an excellent outfit and have a decent midfielder in Krasic, although he didn’t shine here. They were however outclassed come the final with the superior technique and class of the Dutch in front of their home fans.

 

Hope this is of interest and as I said before, feel free to add your remarks to his on the blog. I will try and do something similar over the Summer Transfer Window and the Copa America. Just watched the Mexican beat Brazil 2-0 and this guy Nery Castillo looks very useful. Heard some good stuff over the last 2 years but never seen him play.

 

Trev

            Well here is my latest offering on news etc from around the game, better late than never. Been a busy couple of months, hopefully know the football season is winding down things may settle a bit and I can come up with some more regular articles etc for you. Especially as for a Rugby nutcase like me with all the 6 nation, Super 14 and European cup stuff to keep me occupied!

            Season 11 of Game 4 got underway in March and with a big change around of managers it looks like a very interesting and open season. Game 3 continues to go from strength to strength, especially on the deals front and trying to get a division 1 side is now harder than even in game 1.

            Speaking of Game 1 we are about to approach the final weeks of the season, so all the sides in the hunt for titles are doing slight changes to get them ready for the final critical weeks of the season. Game 2 is approaching are in the few weeks of the season, the new season will start next month and hopefully a similar shake up like in game 4 will set it up well for the new season, so all the current games are looking good considering the time of the season in each respective game.

            As for Game 5! I get regular enquiries from managers; there is a more detailed explanation of my thinking later on. It is good to see so many are interested in another game, just wish it wasn’t because of wanting a top side, always prefer people wanting to build up a side, much better for business!

 

MONDAY DEADLINES FOR G1 and G2.

 

            Not a big change, just simply a slight change to coincide with my current schedule. As many will know I haven’t actually been starting the Saturday deadline games until Mondays at the earliest of late, so I have simply put back the deadline to Mondays. Website results and turns posted will be done at the normal times, so the only change is that managers get an extra 48hrs to get their stuff back to me.

            HOWEVER, it does mean there is no ‘spare’ time, so a late turn will be a late turn and ignored as there is little to chance to push things through and get turns out on time.

            I have NO PLANS to change the Friday deadline games (G3 G4), although it may mean they actually get in last post Monday, instead of first post Tuesday as I normally miss the last post by only a an hour or so. Any new games will have a deadline that fits between the current schedules so I don’t anticipate any more changes this year at least.

 

PROPOSED POSITION CHANGES.

 

            I have very little response to the ideas of changing player positions slightly I mentioned last time. Especially the change to wingers allowed LRW or RLW, although some managers have actually tried to play it. See my last newsletter for an explanation (Jan07), everything is in place so if popular it can come in quite quickly.

 

WRITING YOUR ARTICLES ABOUT THE GAME.

 

            A few managers asked about writing articles for the website about the game(s) before Christmas. If people are interested then let me know, although probably the best way is to set up a blog similar to the ones I have done, it would give you the freedom to do what you want, when you want. I will put links on the website to these pages. Although I could do a columnists section on the website if enough people are going to send in regular stuff. No point in starting something, only to stop is soon after!

            Thanks to Jy Taylor for his comments on the newsletter blog, shame more people are not joining in and sending in their stuff. The more the merrier, I know plenty read it, I get several follow ups via email etc.

 

MESSENGER CHATS:

 

            GMTrev being online via Messenger has proved to be very popular with managers. I have had several good long chats about football etc, and it is also proving very useful to ask a quick question about the game or to check if something is correct last only a couple of minutes. Have also been able to give out some info on player numbers also very quickly, saving us all time.

            It does seem however to be a very much Game 1 dominated thing, so managers from other games who have a hotmail account or use MSN messenger please get in touch.

 

My Messenger account is gmtrev1972@hotmail.co.uk

 

Ask for me to be added to your contacts and I will do it as quickly as possible. Also feel free to register as friends on my Live Spaces page. Several managers I know look at it, and I will be using it more and more in the coming months.

 

            Most popular times I seem to be on line and Monday to Wednesday evenings from 8pm onwards, I try and also log on in the afternoons when I can, or simply when I remember to log in on that account and not just my own personal account.

 

GAME FIVE.

 

            As I said last time I have had to stop the start of Game 5 due to work elsewhere etc and running out of time. Therefore I had to put the new managers into other games. This means I will have to start from scratch with advertising etc. I will re-start the prep work in the next few weeks and get the squads etc up-to-date. Then I will have a much better idea of whether to get in before the summer or wait till the more popular start of the season in real –life.

            Many current managers are interested, but most only seem to want the obvious mega clubs, which isn’t much use to me. Priority will be given to new managers, as the point of a new game is to get more sides managed. Otherwise people will just take top sides in G5 and leave mediocre sides in other games and I am no better off!

            However, not all top sides will go to new managers. It will be around a 60-40 split. So for example if you take the top 10 clubs, 6 of them will go to new managers and 4 to current managers ( I did a 70-30 split at the start of G3). Which of those sides will depend on what managers put on their choices. So I wont know which four sides will go to current managers until most of the applications are in.

            Any dates etc will be listed here when I know then, and application emails along with forms in your games FTB will be sent out when the time is right. It will all sort itself out and I have learned a few short cuts and avoided some mistakes made during the set up of Game 3.

            Managers will get the sides they want, I just am not that interested in sorting out the glory hunters out straight away. Managers with good records and don’t constantly swap and change sides will get something close to what they want, if not exactly what they want.

 

POSTAGE RISE AND ENVELOPE SIZES:

 

            As always postage prices went up on the 1^st April. Your current turn fees cover the rise, so there will be no price rise in the coming months. Although I will review all prices in the second half of the year as there has not been a rise for a while, will look at the maths to see as it is not obvious that prices need to go up at the moment, so I wont unless I have to.

            Also the Royal Mail have been lenient with the correct postage due to the changes to the calculation which started in August last year. They are however starting to clamp down abit harder, I have been getting more turns with insufficient postage fines lately. So please be careful and make sure if you use a larger envelope ( you only have to fold a sheet A4 in half), you use a large letter stamp which is now 48p.

            I haven’t had too many managers saying I have not put enough postage on their results. Although no doubt I will do the odd occasion, especially as the thickness issue can be a problem if you manage one side and get extra printouts!

            As always if I do not put enough postage on your turns, pay the fine and send back the envelope with the fine sticker on it and I will credit you account with the money. It is my mistake and therefore I will pay for it. I do the same thing with your turns, I pay the fine and then I charge you from your account. This seems the best way around and annoying problem.

            A few managers have been getting their turns very late however, even though I posted on time and with the correct postage. Please let me know if you get your turn very late (over 48hours later than normal). I will monitor any problems, more often than not the problem is a small local dispute, but it helps if I have an idea of any problems.

 

GAME FOUR: SEASON 11 PREVIEW:

 

            As I said in the intro, a new season of a much changed Game 4 got underway this month. With two of the defending league champions having new managers and several new managers at top jobs, on top of that a few longer serving managers getting a change of scene with new sides it should be a wide open and very interesting season 11.

            Liverpool will be the favourites for the BFL again, but keeping their title will not be certain expect good challenges from Arsenal, Aston Villa and Fulham. Plenty of changes at Anfield have made them start slowly which the rest may well take advantage of and make sure of a title race going to week 22.

            Celta Vigo have dominated the Euro league in past seasons, despite not having the best squad but superior tactics and good PS players. Their manager Pete Nicholls has dominated Game 4 for the last 3 or 4 seasons and has taken a break from Game 4 and is looking at the other games. So the best ‘free agent’ is looking at possible top jobs in other games in the coming months, proving that good managers get their chances.

            Vigo will have a tricky time keeping their title after the changes. Juventus will no doubt push for the title after being runners up the last two seasons. However expect good bids from Barcelona, Lazio and AC Milan.

            Cruzeiro and River Plate have won the last three titles to end the dominance of Velez Sarsfield. This should be the season we see Sarsfield back in the title picture and challenge River Plate and the defending world champions Cruzeiro. A three –way battle could make the World league the title picture to watch this season.

 

MY PREDICTIONS:

 

BFL 1  :           1) Liverpool,                2) Arsenal,                   3) Aston Villa

BFL 2:             1) Blackburn                2) Tottenham H            3) Chelsea

EURO 1:          1) Lazio                        2) Barcelona                 3) Celta Vigo

EURO 2:          1) Lyon                        2) Benfica                     3) AS Roma

EURO 3:          1) Fiorentina                 2) W.Bremen               3) B.Dortmund

WORLD 1:      1) V.Sarsfield               2) Cruzeiro                   3) River Plate

WORLD 2:      1) Danubio                   2) Colo Colo                3) Guadalajara

 

C LEAGUE:     1) Cruzeiro                   2) Celta Vigo               

 

            All the best for Season 11 for Game 4 managers, if interested in joinging game 4, or any other game then get in touch or check out the best spare sides on the website. I will try and help find the best side for you. Get in touch.

 

That will do for now. Will put some more things together in the next month or so. PLEASE, PLEASE send in stuff or send me your ideas for things to include as I want to give an insight into what is going on across the games, so let me know what you would like to know.

 

Trev

            Well I hope you all had a good Christmas, and I wish you all the best for 2007. Thanks for the cards etc I received, now with the holidays out of the way things will no doubt start to pick up again. This time of year is always quiet, with everyone being so busy, I have started to notice that the deals etc are picking up.

            With the real life Transfer window open that will no doubt cause plenty of interest between managers and the usual increase on player requests etc (see later). I have a few new ideas in this months thoughts, as well as some clarification on older ideas. Let us know if you want anything in particular include next time.

 

BLOGS, YOUR ARTICLES AND VIEWS:

 

            As you know you can read this newsletter either by the GM’spage on the website, or have it emailed to you by the Yahoo group or can read it on My Blogs either at My Space or now via Windows Live. Confusing I know, but basically it is the same version at all places, I’m too lazy to do extra stuff!

 

Your Thoughts on My Blogs.

            You can give your thoughts about what I have to say each month by replying to either of the blogs. Also I can post any thoughts on the Managers Views section of the website. Simply email me your articles and I will post them ASAP.

            The Yahoo group hasn’t really taken off as much as I would have liked so I may review that in the coming months as the Blogs especially are useful and can partly take the place of the old forums.

 

Your Articles.

            If you want to write anything about the game, then please feel free to do so. Send me your articles and I will include them on the website. OR if you want to write a blog then please tell me about it and I will post links on the website so managers can go straight to them from the site, and get involved that way. I am planning a Blog section on the website, especially if there is enough info out there to warrant a page.

 

Forums.

            As I have said in the past, I have not totally given up on starting up a forum on the website. It would mean an upgrade on the current website package I have with my providers. This is may do in the future, it is not a priority as the old forums were only used by a handful of managers regularly, but if demand was to increase form people I will look into it later on in 2007.

 

Useful addresses to My Newsletter:

 

Website: http://www.olympiapbm.co.uk/GM.htm

 

My Space: http://blog.myspace.com/trevdexter

 

Windows Live Spaces: http://prosoccerpbm.spaces.live.com/

 

Yahoo Group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/ProSoccerPBM/

 

 

REALISTIC PLAYER VALUATIONS:

 

            Throughout the year the number of deals goes up and down, this depends on the time of year and more importantly the time of the season the game is at. Managers are less likely to deal when they are still in with a chance of success, and are more likely to do deals when they need to make changes to improve form, or build for next season.

            Another big reason for deals slowing down or picking up if the valuation managers put on their players, especially the younger players. If the valuations are realistic then deals go up, if they are over priced then deals go down, as managers have a pretty good sense of the real value of players they want to buy.

            You have to remember a couple of things if you are going to value a younger player at above the ‘going rate’ for a player of that skill and age. The transfer market works on basic economic principles, mainly supply and demands. A Player is only worth what managers are prepared to pay for a player. A higher valuation can only be effective

-         if there are either more than one team interested in the same player

-         if just one side is interested there are no other similar players

-         the managers is only interested in that specific player

 

            If more than 1 side is interested then a team can easily play the interested players off against each other and get the highest price possible. This is how the transfer list system works. If you have only one side interested and he is looking for a player of a certain position, age etc then if you price to high he simply goes to another club with a similar player available. Unless he is interested in that specific player and not other players of a similar position, skill age etc.

            Otherwise the player correct valuation is probably lower then what is being asked for. I hear from managers of valuations other managers have and I simply cannot see them ever selling a player for that price, based on what is being done in that specific game.

            Every game is very different, especially due to the overseas groupings in some games. In Game 2 for instance Italians are the most expensive players as they are alone in that group, whereas the Euro league and SPL players are easily the cheapest as there are so many top nations classed EG: if looking for a young midfielder in the SPL then if you cant get and Argentinean, then there is no doubt a comparable Brazilian, Spaniard, Portuguese player etc etc. You don’t get that option in the Italian league.

            Games that do not have an overseas rule, do not necessarily have these problems, although more and more successful sides try to keep to the overseas rule on an unofficial basis and get good results from this.

            Basically if you seriously want to sell one of your better younger players you have to balance what you want for the player with what is realistic within the game you are in. Otherwise you are simply going to get stuck and do no deals whatsoever. Ultimately you don’t have to sell if you don’t want to, just like you don’t to have to pay so much if you don’t want to. But to do deals in any game you do have to take into consideration the market forces in that game, and not just purely on potential and what is going on in real life, which has very little to do with the game you play until the next skill revision.

 

LAST TURNS MATCH REPORTS.

 

            I have extended the facility of scouting any other teams match report, as well scouting their current squad list. Previously you could get any match report of a team for that turns league games. You can now get the previous turns match reports on any side. This should make it easier to get the reports you want. By looking through the results of a turn, you should be able to get a better idea of what reports to request. If you see a top side lose a match, then maybe getting a copy of that match may help you to formulate a way to beat them yourselves. Also it maybe able to find a way of adapting your current tactics to that of a similar side being much more successful.

            If this proves successful I may well extend the amount of time you can go back and get match reports. Your feedback on this change will be useful. A full explanation of the codes etc will be in your games FTB in the next issue, if not already.

 

EXTENTION OF PLAYER POSITIONS:

 

            The extension of the central midfield positions to RCM, LCM, CM and central defenders RCD, LCD and CD have proved to be very successful with managers. Although I don’t think it has had much difference to actual match results etc. I am considering extending the positions further.

            The next obvious alteration would be that of strikers. To be able to select a right striker, left striker or just a plain striker. Possible codes would be RS, LS or ST (abit FIFA06 I know!). It would not be much work, and most of the testing was done with the CD and CM changes. Your thoughts, good or bad. Just change for change’s sake?

            Another possible alteration is more versatile wingers. If you watch Man United currently and many other sides you will see the wingers regulary swap sides. Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs often swap sides a few times during the 90 minutes. This could be introduced, my original thoughts would be the have RLW and LRW. The first letter being the main flank for the player to swap to. Therefore RLW would be a right winger who can move to the left and LRW being the opposite.

            Not fully tested so not sure how well it would work, obviously a side MUST play two wingers for this to occur. No point really in giving this flexibility to fullbacks, wingbacks but I think it could be a useful addition to the game.

 

TRANSFER WINDOW AND PLAYER REQUESTS:

 

            As always this time of year the real life transfer window being open generates no end of interest in players and an increase in player requests. Here are a few things to bear in mind. With so much gossip and rumour, MAKE SURE a player has actually signed. Also make sure he has joined on a permanent basis and NOT on loan. Loan players, even if it is with a view to a permanent move cannot be created.

            You also cannot request players that have signed to join at the end of the season on a Bosman. A player can only be requested if he is registered with that side at the time of asking. I have to be quite strict on this issue as things can change. If I hadn’t, god knows what would have happened with Jon Obi Mikel!

            If you request a player and it isn’t done that turn, don’t panic. Most January signings don’t fully appear of the databases and websites I check until February. That combined with a massive increase of requests does mean there can be delays while I research and double check them all.

            However once the window closes things settle down and the majority of time requests are done that same turn. The beauty of the transfer window for the game means that once closed there is no rush for a manager to create a player unless there is a skill revision looming. A game near end of season will take priority in getting my time to research etc. Game 4 finishes this month and I will try and get them all done asap before the revision is done.

            Also remember, the more you request during a season, the less likely they are to be created as the maximum skills, so request the best first. If unsure then ask and I will get back to you as quickly as I can.

 

CONTACT VIA MESSENGER.

 

            The alternate hotmail address I set up for messenger has proved to be very popular with managers. Although mainly Game 1 managers so far. I try and sign in as much a possible as different times each day to try and get as many people as possible.

            So far it has been mainly used to answer quick questions about the game or turn results, and a few questions about where players are. Which I have been able to do most of the time, providing I am on the correct PC! Also had a couple of fun evenings watching matches to TV with managers on messenger, although I think I should keep my mouth shut on some issues. Was just ranting about how bad Jerzy Dudek was in the league cup v Arsenal when he promptly saved a penalty as I pressed send!

            I know some managers use messenger form work, so I will make it a policy NOT to start a conversation with a manager, just in case it is a bad time. But feel free to say hello to me at any time, my boss is a great guy! I will only sign in if I am available to answer questions or chat. If I’m too busy I simply wont sign in or will be set my status to busy.

            The address is GmTrev1972@hotmail.co.uk

 

Look forward to hearing from more of you.

 

            That will do for this month, keep an eye out on the new Live Spaces page as I am planning to do a similar newsletter on purely real-life football. My thoughts about who to keep an eye out for etc. I will post it when I have enough written!

 

Trev

           

 

Welcome to the December issue of my ProSoccerPBM newsletter. Firstly, apologies for the lack of anything during the last few months. A combination of close season, bank holidays, my birthday and being lazy I didn’t get round to finding enough to include, with so many away and it being the quiet time of the year it simply doesn’t seem worth doing a monthly newsletter for the moment, Especially as I have been so busy in the last few months!.

            The season is now well under-way and the transfer window is closed for just a few more weeks, this will mean different things to different games (depending on what stage of the season), as to increased interest and transfer activity. No set rules, to these things.

 

CHRISTMAS PAYMENT OFFER.

 

            As a special Christmas /New Year offer we are offering the following special offer for managers sending in payments next turn.

            With one turn of this game remaining any manager taking up the offer can get upto £10 in free turn credits. It is a similar offer to the normal end of season payment offer.

Quite Simply.

 

- If you send £30 payment this turn we will credit your account with £40.

- If you send £15 payment this turn we will credit your account with £20.

 

            It is NOT like the season offer in the fact it does not matter if you account is in credit or not. You just have to send a payment by the deadline, and state Xmas offer on the payments section of your turncard.

            The final deadline of 2006 is for Game 1 on Friday 29^th December. Therefore any payments from any manager, from any game will count towards this offer as along as they are received by the 29^th December. You can only take advantage of this offer once per manager, even if you are in more than 1 game.

NOTE: The free turns will be credited to each manager on the 29^th December, so if you have a turncard printed before that date it will include your actual payment that turn, but NOT the extra money. That will appear on your next turncard’s as I will do them all at one time from all games.

 

IM VIA MESSENGER.

 

            A lot of managers keep in touch via Messenger. I can be contacted via Yahoo messenger, but this isn’t the most popular with managers. So I have created a hotmail address to be used for Instant Messaging ONLY. Please do not send any emails etc to this address as it will be ignored. All work emails get filtered through the website to make sure they are held in the right part of the system and hotmail emails cannot be filtered this way unless you pay almost £60 a year!

            Please feel free to add the address to your Messenger contacts and if you see me on line feel free to ask any questions or chat about the game, football in general using it. I will however try and set up some set times that I will be on line to make it easier for managers to get in touch. I will list them on the website when I know them.

            This is NOT my personal email, I already have a hotmail address but for obvious reasons I do not give that out to work, nothing personal but if you saw the amount of Spam I get from the work accounts you would see why I keep my private emails private!

 

The Address is gmtrev1972@hotmail.co.uk

 

            I have set this as the main account on one of the Work PCS, so whenever on line on that PC I should appear as on line. No doubt as the weeks progress a schedule that works for as many as possible will become clear. I will try and set aside some evenings over the Xmas and New Year break to be available. All will be listed as WEB CHATS on the website.

            As always I hope this will be a useful addition to the game, but if abused then I will have to rethink, although I don’t think that will be an issue in this case. Look forward to chatting to you.

 

PRIVATE DEALS ‘CLAMPDOWN’

 

            As I have said in FTB over the last few turns, I have been looking into the dealing practices across the game, to try and stop the ever increasing number of un-managed sides being left with very little to attract a new manager to take them over. Demand for extra sides is very high at the moment, but I simply do not have enough decent sides to offer to managers, and therefore I lose business. I estimate I lose upto around £30-50 a week in lost revenue judging by the waiting lists across the games, if I want to keep prices down then this trend simply has to stop in the coming months.

            Studying the deals listings of each game after each turn I have learnt quite a lot about what managers get away with and also gave me some useful information about how to limit the problems I have explained.

            The main problem as I see it at present is not so much sides being outright milked dry and then dropped, but more that managers don’t just drop a side anymore. They seem to decide to drop a side, but before they do they list some of their better players and also sell off a few more over 2-3 turns, and then drop the side. If managers when they decide to leave a team just leave the squad pretty much as it is then the problems will lessen.

            I have started work a program to monitor deals, bids etc to try and ‘predict’ which sides are likely to be dropped in the coming turns. This will obviously be inaccurate at the beginning and I will not publish this list in any form. However I will be able to monitor the deals of sides that appear on this list and therefore get a better idea of what is going on. I will also be able to update the program to cut out the inevitable errors that occur at the beginning, and as the PC gets better a predicting such trends I will be able to stop sides being left in a such a bad state, and then have decent sides available for whoever wants one.

            This will have no affect to 95% of sides in all games, but it will hopefully give me better sides to offer to all managers when available to both old and new managers in any games.

            Another problem that has become apparent is that so many deals seem to be on the condition of deals being done with other sides that managers also manage. This makes it impossible for the computer to evaluate deals fairly and causes some deals to be cancelled that are perfectly fair. If all managers treat each of their sides as separate entities then we don’t have a problem. But when team 1 will sell player A to team 2 as long as player B joins them from team 3 it is very difficult to pick up. However the best way to stop this is by simply cancelling one of the two deals. Therefore making it difficult for managers to do this sort of thing as they can no longer guarantee that both deals will be go through, one side gains and one side loses out.

            Must admit looking through the deals that the problem isn’t as bad as I first thought, and certainly no managers are overtly cynical about such practices. However I do think the lines have been blurred in the past months, and some deals now seem to OK, when a while ago many would not accept such things.

            Hopefully over the next few months the lines will become ‘bolder’ and then everyone knows what they can and cannot do. Looking through all deals it is ONLY around 10% of deals that are causing concern, so this is not a major problem, but it could grow if not nipped in the bud! Much stronger enforcement of deals will cause cancelled deals and frustration no doubt in the coming weeks, but will vastly improve the deals in the game in a few months time as many will know where they stand. As this time of year is always the quietest anyway, it seems a good time address this.

 

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR BREAK:

 

            As we enter the Christmas period no doubt post will take abit longer to get to me and your results may be a bit later to get to you, so the Christmas break will be a useful gap. Dates etc are listed on the Calendar on the website. But basically I am officially off work between 22^nd to 28^th December.

            There is a Game 1 deadline on FRIDAY 29^th December, and the other games restart in the New Year. Game 1 is on a FRIDAY for this turn only, to give me an extra day before take a 3 day break over the New Year.

            Check your turncards carefully or check on the home page of each game on the website to make sure you don’t miss the deadline. I may be in the office during the times I am officially off, to do general update work etc. I wouldn’t advise ringing the office line though as I probably wont answer it, but will be available via my mobile and on-line. If I am busy I simply will not answer, don’t take offence

            Everything gets back to normal from January 5^th, and Games 3 and 4 will return back to the normal alternate weekends. Game 3 will be back the same weekend as Game 2, with Game 4 back with Game 1.

 

GAME 5 NEWS.      

 

            I basically have not done enough to get a Game 5 up and running before November as I had planned. There is simply no point in starting a new game in December, only then to take 2-3 weeks off for Christmas and New year after only 1 or 2 turns. To I have had to reluctantly put back a start date to the spring.

            Why so long?, simply all the applications I had received from new managers have to be placed into existing games, as no-one is going to wait several months to join a game they have never played. So I will have to re-start the application process from zero, which means new adverts etc, so the Spring looks the best bet so everything is done properly.

 

GAME 3, SEASON 3 REVIEW:

 

            Season 3 of the newest of games got underway last month. The first couple of seasons were at times very slow on the deals front, but now the games is starting to do really well. Deals are up and Game 3 is no longer the worst game for number of deals. Game 2 currently holds that honour! Am looking for managers to go into Game 2 to get the deals etc up in the game, as very difficult to attract managers to Game 2 at present. On my 3^rd PSG manager in a few months, previous two left for other games as they couldn’t understand why they had no deals or bids, when they had Ronaldinho and Etoo! Thankfully there has been improvemens recently, but still plenty of room for improvement.

            Both leagues look to be very tight affair, with possible 5-6 teams competing credibly for the title in both leagues. In the BFL Chelsea and Manchester United have the best startings XI’ in the game by fair. Chelsea have won both BFL titles, whilst Man United just missed out on Champions league glory last season. However they have tiny squads and if they suffer from injuries and suspensions then many sides will catch them up and compete for titles in both the leagues and Champions league. If the dominant duo do struggle with lack of players then Liverpool looked best placed to take advantage. They have a good deep squad and successful reserve side to make the most of any errors from the leaders.

            Bayern Munich won the Euro league title and look well placed to keep the title. They will expect harder competition from the traditional Italian and Spanish giants against this season. Barca and Real Madrid look well placed for a title shot, whilst the two Milans also look good. Only Real Madrid DON’T have a reserve side in the Euro league contenders, to prove the interesting contrast between the top sides across the game.

            Unlike in other games they are some very good second division sides, as most un-managed sides in Game 3 are pretty much still uptodate squad wise, which gives a manager a better start than you are likely to get in other games. Expect that all divisions will not be decided until the final weeks and most will be decided by who has the best players available at critical times.

 

GM’s PREDICTIONS:

BFL LEAGUE:            1) Chelsea        2) Liverpool     3) Man United

 

EURO LEAGUE:         1) Barcelona     2) AC Milan     3) Inter Milan

 

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE:        1) Bayern Munich         2) Man United

 

 

SQUAD DEPTH VERSUS QUALITY:

 

            Following up recent discussions about the balance between good squad depth and a smaller quality squad I thought I would give and overview of what goes on from the computers point of view. Although is does vary between each game and division. A major part of the program is mathematics, some basic and some more complicated equations to determine a match results. These equations are based on dozens of factors including EVERYTHING you fill in on the team selection of the turncard including captain, penalty taker, Ticket Price, Style Of Play, Aggression etc as well as the players and the positions they play in. These in combination with players and teams recent form, plus others makes it impossible to give a definitive explanation as you can imagine.

            To try and simplify assume in this article that a side at FULL STRENGTH has a starting XI of all 80’s and a subs bench of 3x80’s also.

            One thing that makes squad depth vital is being able to replace injured or suspended players with players of the same position in the team and being able to have ANY player available to cover the subs bench. This is simply because the drop in skill from a player in comparison to a Youth Player or a player playing out of position is too big due to virtually all divisions being so tight.

            A youth outfield player has a skill of 65, if one youth player comes into a side due to injuries it drops the average skill of the team of alls 80’s from 80 to 78.9. Remember most top divisions average over 79. That skill drop could drop your sides down 5-6 places in your division for that turns team selection. The drop is even greater if you play an outfield player out of position, remember and 80 skill out of position will play at 60 skill, making the sides average skill 78.57.

            The drop is even bigger if you cannot field a goalkeeper in either the starting XI or even on the bench as youth player keepers and outfield players playing out of position are even lower than stated above! Which is always why i say have 3 keepers in your squad.

            The majority of divisions across ALL games have as little as 1-1.5 skill points on average between the top sides and the relegation positions, you begin to see how vital having enough players to cover all positions can be if you are serious of ending the season near the top of the table. Even if 40yo 73’s are coming onto the bench, you are better off then not having anybody. Sides with reserve sides have a better chance as they not only have the extra players, but they play regularly and therefore have a good chance of having better recent form than a youth player etc.

            It is important to note, just because you select a player out of position or a youth player you are not going to lose the match automatically. Many matches are won by the side with slightly lower average skill levels, due to form, tactics etc. Although if you are more than 1 skill average below your opponents, especially away from home it is going to be a big task to get even a point!

            However, even though you may get a result, your are statistically more likely NOT to get a result, especially nowadays with so many managers having very similar quality of squads and similar tactics. Matches can literally be decided by such a small thing as Youth Players and Out of position players, many divisions are that tight!

            The top sides in any game can expect to have anything upto 6-7 players out due to injuries or suspension at one time, due to the extra champions league games and cup success. Mid table first division sides and lower division sides should be able to cover upto 4-5 players out at one time.

            A guide I have said in the past is to select your best possible sides, and then compare it to a side missing your best player from each position GK, DF, MD, ATT, SUBS. The bigger the drop in skill between the two selections the more likely your are to suffer if injuries etc come. The smaller the drop between the two selections shows better squad depth and a sign the side is ready to make the next step up the ladder and improve the Starting XI with higher skills as the foundation of the squad is sound.

 

FINALLY:

 

            That will do for this edition. Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2007. Hopefully you should get the next edition of my Newsletter in January, although I am only publishing this when I have enough to say, this means that people who get this emailed to them automatically are not constantly getting pointless emails constantly.

            I am planning a prediction contest for both the Premiership and the Champions league, that runs along the lines of the World Cup competition I ran last summer.

 

Trev