25/26 - It’s Happened Again - Bring On 26/27.............

For the second time we’ve had a player lead from Round 1, and stay there all the way to the end to claim the Title. Back in the 20/21 Season it was done by RonalDeanio, and now, that feat has been repeated by No Trophy Wife.

I asked No Trophy Wife for their thoughts on the win, and how they went about assessing the predictions each match, and she confided in me that she "actually hadn’t a clue, and just went with instinct and didn’t think about it when deciding if it would be 1-0 or 0-1" 😳

And there’s the rest of us “applying science” to our predictions!!!

Backing up that feedback, second place Eddie Howe’s B&W Army admit to also relying completely on luck 😂😂😂

Restoring hope though was Addicks Fan in third place. Not only did they finish 3rd, but also won the Cup Competition in 2026.

Chips & Gravy had a great final round, sneaked into fourth, and won The Last Playing Standing Competition. Boleyn Exiles finished the top five this season.

The fast start to the Season saw No Trophy Wife take the Grand Prix Trophy ahead of Cockerels & Saddles in second place.

The Picks went to the wire. Usually these are settled a good few weeks, months even, before the season ends but this time, the top six were at it all the way to the end. Lard Lovers XI had hit the front at the beginning of 2026, and established a 350 point lead at one point, but that was eaten into by the chasing pack, but not eaten enough, as they held on to take the title.

The WolfPack grabbed second place by fractions from Canada Knows Best in third.

And so we move onwards.

We've voted for changes this coming season, as I took feedback from you all over the closing weeks of the last one.

Actually some quite substantial changes.

We're moving to Premier League rounds only, and instead of the 52 rounds last time, we're going to a more focused 38 rounds, with the season ending on Sunday 30th May when all 10 Premier League games kick off at the same time to end the Premier League season.

As well as the change to Premier League rounds only, we're also going to increase the number of games to 14 instead of 12 this each round. The average increase voted for from the feedback was 4.056

It means we will still dip into the big games across Europe, and have room for a couple of games from the EFL divisions each round, which means West Ham could still get the occasional look in. 😀

All the updates from the Rounds and Chases for your predictions will move to the WhatsApp Footy Competition Channel I've set up.

Make sure you are FOLLOWING the Channel and the Updates icon at the bottom of the WhatsApp page will be highlighted when there are updates to read.

If you wish, you can turn on Notifications on the Channel, when on the Channel Page, in the top right hand corner you will see the Bell Icon, just make sure that is clear, and not crossed through.

You will then get a notifications every time a new item has been posted.

And keep tuning in. Points and bonuses will be offered every now and then.

If you've got that all sorted, then it's time to read up on Season 26/27

Season 26/27

Let’s start with the important stuff. We will be raising funds for Prostate Cancer UK

We last supported them through the Meeting in Birmingham last August when we got together for the football and darts, and also through the inaugural NFL Competition.

We raised £800 as a donation across both events.

Every returning player will result in at least £16 going towards the donation, FIRST TIME players will have £35 of their joining fee donated.

The Season will again feature the GuessWork Competition, or ‘The 14’ as it will be referred to, & The Picks as the main 'battles'.

The input into both of these competitions will also include you in The Grand Prix Trophy, The Last Player Standing and The Fantasy Manager.

Let's have a quick reminder of what's what.

THE ‘14’

This is the Rolls Royce of the Competition. And It's Simple. Really. Vraiment . Ask last season’s winner.

Every round, there are now 14 games, which will be made up of at least 10 Premier League games plus four others from across Europe.

Sometimes the result of the Como versus Inter Milan on a Sunday night could become a key part of your weekend 🤔

The first Premier League weekend is 22nd August, and this will be the first of the 38 Rounds. As mentioned earlier, it will end on Sunday 30th May 2027.

Therefore, your Mission, should you choose to accept it, is, well it’s simple really. Get as many scores, and if not scores, results, correct as you can from the 14 games you need to predict each round.

Scores are obviously worth more points than just getting the result right, and if you can pick some ‘special ones’ then the points haul can be lucrative. And, If you bank on these scores then you can double or treble the amount won. There's more on Banking a bit later.

Avoid really wrong guesses (you say it's a home win, but it ends up an away one), as these will result in a points deduction, and if you're going to Bank, get it right, the penalties for getting wrong hurt. Guess correctly, and do it consistently, and you might just be crowned Champion when the final round is played out.

And, each round, your predictions/guesses (delete as you feel appropriate) also automatically enter you into a few other competitions

GRAND PRIX & LAST TEAM STANDING

Your ‘predictions’ will decide how you fair in the two cup competitions held during the season.

In the first half of the season, The Grand Prix Trophy awards the same points each round to the players finishing in the top 10 of the round, that the first ten drivers get in the F1 races

So 25 points for first, 18 for second, 15 for third down to 1 point for 10th

Come Boxing Day, the final round of this competition starts and then the eventual winner is declared before we get into 2027.

These Points per Round differ from ‘The 14’ points slightly though, as there are based on Pure Points only. Effectively it ignores Bankers (right or wrong) and Wrong Predictions and just focuses on games you got right, and the points you won on them.

So the best points scorer in ‘The. 14’ each round might not be, and usually isn’t, the winner of the Grand Prix each round

The Last Team Standing competition then begins in the New Year and runs through to the final round. The worst players fall by the wayside each round, and we end up with 6/7 survivors in the Final round, with the player then performing best, being declared the winner.

The points, like the Grand Prix Trophy, are calculated on Pure Points only

There's always plenty going on......

TO BANK OR NOT TO BANK

There can be some huge rewards when you 'Bank' on correct scores, but as we all found out so often last season, huge pain when you get it wrong. Points won can be doubled or trebled when using Bankers, but penalties are higher the more daring you get.

There's 3 options, well 4 if you include not picking one.

An Enhanced Banker, costs you a point, and will double any points won. If you get it wrong, then typically you'll lose around 5/6 points on one of these.

A Guaranteed Banker, costs you two points, and will treble any points won. Get this wrong, it's likely to cost you around 10/12 points.

An Immune Banker will cost you four points, and treble any points won. But, it's Immune from penalties if you get it wrong.

NEW FOR 26/27 you will be able to spend up to 7 points each round on Bankers, up from 6 last season. It's up to you.

THE PICKS

However, before a ball is kicked, you'll need to make 'Your Picks'.

I say you’ll need to. You can leave it all to chance if you prefer, or make some Picks, but then go Random for certain groups

The trick is to pick teams that will 'excel' beyond expectations Every team has a coefficient set and these ‘handicaps’ influence the points the teams (and players of those teams) get every game

These rankings are set to reward the unexpected, but worthy, predictions and results, and level the playing field a little.

I think we’d all agree that Arsenal beating Coventry 2-0 at Woolwich is much more likely than Coventry beating Arsenal 2-0, so the coefficients will reflect that. (Well certainly at the beginning of the season 🤔😉)

So you're looking to spot teams that will perform above and beyond what they did in 25/26, and not necessarily to win the Leagues or Cups outright.

Coefficients will also evolve differently this season. They will start as the coefficient set for the team across the last 8 league games of last season, and gradually change so they move to current form coefficients across the last 8 league games if this season, once we’ve reached 8. (In between they will be calculated as a percentage of each).

Promoted teams get the same coefficient as the worst coefficient in the league from the previous season, relegated teams get the same as the top coefficient in the division they are relegated to. So Wolves start on the coefficient Southampton had, whilst Lincoln start on the same coefficient as Watford.

We need to choose League Teams, Cup Teams, and Players, from across Europe to make up our Picks. All then win (or lose) us points whenever they play in their League or the Cups. Player Picks will only score points in League games.

Teams will come from the top four tiers of the English League, and from the Scottish Premiership, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A and La Liga, with one from the top half of last seasons table, and one from the bottom.

Picks for the FA Cup and the domestic equivalents in Scotland, France, Germany, Spain & Italy are all included, as is the Carabao Cup.

The Champions League and the Europa Competitions are also included, with Picks from home and abroad needed, across both competitions, as well as the Europa League thing. These Picks however will be made once the qualification rounds have been completed and the teams taking part have been confirmed.

In all the cup competitions, the points increase for wins and draws as the rounds progress, so teams going deeper into competitions will score more and bigger points.

FANTASY LEAGUE

The Fantasy League Manager started a couple of seasons back, and for many has become more involved as transfer windows have opened more regularly and changes and tweaks have become part of the competition.

We voted at the end of last season to reduce the number of players picked, so will move to 7-a-side with one player named captain.

The option to pick players FROM OUTSIDE THE PREMIER LEAGUE is still included, as players from any of the Leagues (except League 1 & 2) are available for selection 🤔😳, making this still more flexible than the standard fantasy leagues

Players will again earn points every league game that have been awarded by SofaScore (the app I use to collate most of the match data)

The player scores will be adjusted to reflect the time spent on the pitch, and also be further influenced by the opponent, and outcome. (This is where the coefficients kick in)

A 10 from SofaScore for a Manchester City player in a win against Ipswich would not, once the coefficients have taken affect, be worth as much as a 10 in a win for an Ipswich player against City, in my scores. (well not at the beginning of the season anyway)

Goals will be worth an additional 7 points, for the first goal in a game, and then 4 points for every other goal in the same game. Assists will be worth 1 point. These points will also be adjusted by coefficients.

So your forward choices may be influenced by who they play for, and whether they have a habit of scoring regularly, or not so regular but when they do score it’s hat tricks all the way.

Keepers will get additional points for Clean Sheets and Saves made and defenders will get a bonus for clean sheets also.

The points will be adjusted to reflect the time on the pitch for each player, and adjusted by team coefficients

For 26/27 your players can be drawn from from the Premier League, The Championship, La Liga, Ligue 1, Serie A and German Bundesliga where all available for selection.

Transfer Windows will be open before every 4th or 5th Round, and made online with your predictions for ‘The 14’.

Four transfers per window will be allowed, and the only restriction will be the one player per team rule.

The Best Manager will be confirmed at the end of the season as a result of 'just' the player points won and lost, and there is a FFM prize pot which will be split between the top three managers.

There’s none of this FFP Rules rubbish to worry about (yet) 😉, you can have as many stars as you want as long as you read and adhere to the rules (listed at the end of this document for anyone that wants to read them)

So after the World Cup we are BACK 😎

And, if you’ve read up on this, and got this far, then you can grab a bonus, and you can choose between one of two

You can have 10 bonus points to start you off in ‘The 14’ or 50 bonus points to start you off in The Picks.

Just WhatsApp me ‘BOUNS10 ‘The 14’ or ‘BONUS 50 ‘The Picks’ to claim your choice

Time to get moving.

Almost forgot, it’s £45.00 again for the season gets you into everything above. That's the same as last season. And, if it’s easier, you can send it in instalments. I will send out payment details at the beginning of August.

For Now, I just need to know if you're up for it, and if so complete the form below so I can get you set up.

Now for those of you really bothered, the rules and full on detail on points and stuff is below the joining form.