The Small Print……Season 25/26....
- Steve Prestidge
- Jul 29
- 8 min read
Updated: Aug 17
This won't give any flowery explanation of how I think the various competitions work, or give the 'in's & out's' of each one, but it does have the details around the points and rules.....
The Scoring & The Rules (The SmallPrint).
I'd recommend everyone has a read through, although it's not compulsory, and I mainly write it up to remind me of how it all works, but you might find it worth the effort.....
The Competition will be made up of 2 parts, The GuessWork & The Picks.
For The Picks, you will need to make League Team, Cup Team & Player Picks before a ball is kicked.
In The GuessWork, there will then be 12 games every round that you will need to submit your predictions/guesses (delete as appropriate) on.
In the Premier League Rounds, there will also be a Player of The Round Pick.
Deadlines will be set for the guesswork to be submitted, and once all guesses have been received then ALL guesswork will appear on the website, before the Round Kicks Off.
In addition there will be Cup Competitions that your Guesswork will automatically enter you into, there's no need to do anything additional
Notification of receipt of your GuessWork will be shown on the GW Page on the website and on the League Table on the website for every round
You can request an emailed copy of your own guesswork when you submit it, which will be sent to you by return
I will chase a few times before the Deadline for outstanding predictions arrives. ALL the GuessWork will then be posted as a downloadable pdf once the Deadline has passed.
If GuessWork is received after the Deadline, no bankers will be allowed in the Round, and there will be a 5 point penalty deducted from your scores for the round
If GuessWork is received after Game 1 has kicked off, no bankers will be allowed,, AND, in addition to 5 point penalty, the results for the games that have kicked off will be treated as Wrong Guesses, with the penalty points applied
The more correct scores and the more correct results you 'guess', the more points you win.
A correct score is worth 10 points, plus an additional point per the margin of the win.
If you don't get the score right, but the margin of victory is correct, you guessed 2-0 instead of the 3-1 final score, you'll get 4 points plus the margin.
If you got the result right, but not the margin (you said 1-0 in the example above), you'll get 2 points,.
A correct draw earns you 4 points for each team plus the goals they score.
All points scored are then adjusted by the teams coefficients and enhanced again by 10% if the points won are in an away game.
I think we’d all agree, for example, that predicting a Tottenham 2-1 win at Chelsea, should carry more points than predicting a Chelsea 2-1 win at home to Spurs. The coefficients and the away win enhancement reflect this.
If the game ends in a draw, and you predicted a win, then you lose no points, you only got your guess wrong.
BUT if you get the outcome totally wrong, you guess a home win, and it's an away win, then you’ll lose points, equivalent to the ‘correct result points’ for this game. (Circa 2 point penalty)
This will be recorded in the table as 'Wrong Result' ('WX')
Every round you can use points to buy 'Bankers' that will increase the points you win if you're correct.
New for 25/26, there's a 6 point limit on Banker spends per round. If you overspend on your bankers, then every banker picked 'in' the overspend will have the banker deleted. Pick two Immune bankers in the first two games, then the second one has taken you over the 6 points allowed, and that, and any other bankers picked, WILL BE DELETED. (This might be a blessing in disguise)
An Enhanced Banker costs you 1 point. It will double any points you win. But get the prediction wrong, and as well as the point you spent, you’ll lose the ‘correct’ margin points for that game.
A Guaranteed Banker costs you 2 points, and it will triple the points you win. Get this wrong and you lose points equivalent to the correct score for that game.
New for 25/26, An Immune Banker costs you 4 points, and it will triple the points you win, But get this wrong, then you only lose the banker points you spent it.
The winner of The GuessWork Competition will have the most points at the end of the season (52 rounds).
Before the Season begins, The Picks must be submitted.
Deadline for the Picks will be Friday Midday (UK Time) 1st August 2025
Teams you select in the Leagues will earn points in every league game they play, calculated in the same way as the Points described above.
Defeats will result in a points deduction
Wins for your Cup Teams will be worth the same as league games, in the first round played, and then increase as the rounds progress, x2 round 2, x3 round 3, and so on.
The round played is relevant to the team, not the cup round, so in the FA Cup 3rd round, if Wolves were drawn to play Bromley it’s the first round for Wolves but the third round for Bromley (Bromley's points will be multiplied by 3)
The result used, will be the score at the end of Normal Time, therefore extra-time and penalties will be ignored
Replays WILL NOT count as additional games
Teams will be awarded additional points for away wins, as per the League games, and coefficients will count, making 'Giant Killers' extremely valuable (In the Wolves Bromley game above Wolves have a coefficient of 1.55, Bromley 4.14 in the Cups)
Champions League and Europa League/Conference Group games will count as Round 1 Cup Games.
Points for the Knock-out games will increase each round as per cup games and both legs will count as 'Individual' games..
The Qualification Rounds will not be included, either pre-group stage, or the 9th - 24th place play-offs.
Player points will be scored in league games ONLY, and can be selected from any team in The Premier League, The Championship, The Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, LaLiga, Belgium's Pro-League, the Dutch Eredivisie, the Liga Portugal Betclic and the Super Lig Turkiye.
Every Player will win points awarded on SofaScore.
All players will receive 7 points for the first goal scored in a game, 4 for any additional goals scored in the same game. Assists will be worth 1 point.
The XG (Expected Goals) for the player during the game will be deducted from points won before coefficients are applied.
Player Points will then be enhanced if the game was won, reduced if the game was lost. (Minus points will be INCREASED if games are lost)
The XG factor will reward the spectacular, and adjust points won for penalties being scored and missed. (A penalty has an XG of 0.79, a shot from 30 yards typically carries an XG of 0.02)
Goalkeepers will get 4 points for a clean sheet.
In addition they get a point for every save made in the game. A penalty save is worth 2 points.
Each goal conceded carries a 1 point penalty, and obviously the clean sheet points have been forfeited as well
Keeper scores will also be adjusted by their Goals Prevented score.
Defenders will score 2.5 points for a clean sheet, midfielders will score a point. (Positions will be determined by the position shown on SofaScore/Me)
Team coefficients will be taken into account, and the amount of time spent on the pitch will also adjust the the final points amount won each games, as well as the outcome of the game (win, draw or loss)
Wild Cards can be a player from any position, including Forwards or Keepers if they ARE NOT shortlisted in the Forward or Goalkeeper groups on the Entry form.
All Wild Card players 'MUST" play for different teams, but can play for same teams as any Forwards or Keepers that have been chosen.
IF, at any time, players change clubs, which brings you in breach of the same club rule above (say you Pick Maddison and Bellingham as Wild Cards and then in January Bellingham joins Spurs as well), you DO NOT HAVE TO CHANGE any of the players.
The Player & Their club for your Picks will be determined at the time they have been received by me
There will be transfer windows opened during the season, where transfers can be made, roughly every fifth round
Four transfers per window will be allowed (none of this PSR/FFP stuff here)
The only restriction will be the pool you can transfer in from. If you're getting rid of a Forward from Group C, you can only sub in a forward in the current Forward Group C set or below. You can't sub in a player from a 'Higher' set. The players will move up and down the groups based on their performance across the season. Tables will be on the website
The first window is expected to before Round 2, the second at the end of Round 6, they are show on the schedule.
If your Picks are on the bench for the game and do not get on the field, they will be awarded 2 points, adjusted by coefficients and result, Getting on for the final minutes in a game might be more harmful than staying on the bench.
If they are suspended, they will not be awarded any points.
The Bonus/Tie-Breaks are worth 50 Points for each if you're spot on, a higher percentage of the points the closer you get to the correct answer. Guess there will be 1500 goals, and there are 1500 goals, it's worth a fifty points. Guess 1000, you'll get 33.33 of the points.
The Six this season will be
The Number of Goals scored in the 624
The Total XG of the teams from the 624 (If XG is not readily available it will be calculated as 0.05 for shot off target, 0.2 shot on target, 0.8 for a penalty)
The Number of Own Goals scored in the 624
The Number of Penalties scored in the 624
The Number of times a team scores 4 or more in the 624
The Number of times a team fails to score in the 624
Any Cash Prizes Won during the season, will be paid out after The Champions League Final and the final places have been settled
Any monies won by Sutton Who ??? or Who Are We... will result in half the winnings (subject to a maximum of £50.00) going to charity, with the 'next' team in the the competition being promoted to the prize winner slots and the balance of the money from the charity win being spread across the winning places, proportionately.
You can claim 25 points in The Picks to start the season off with a bonus if you've read the rules, to claim them just message RULE 66 in the WhatsApp Group with no explanation, or message me back, and as long as I've got it before 15th August, I will add your 25 points to your Picks total.
Most important rule last. It is all just for a bit of fun really, and ultimately, whatever I say, goes.
There should be a Rule 69..... shouldn't there
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