Bristolatic

@Stevie_J or @Matt, can you please hit the mergeomatic button. This thread should have gone into "Ex Players and That". My fault: sorry folks.

While I've been going to watch Bath City, it's surprising how many ex-Latics are knocking about the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. Peter Taylor, former Spurs and England winger who played about four games on loan at Latics was manager at Welling United from last September until he was replaced last month by... wait for it... Warren Feeney. Robbie Simpson is player-manager at Chelmsford City. James Dayton is playing for Dulwich Hamlet and has really honed his skills. On how to fall over, landing on his arse with arms outstretched, claiming he was fouled. Sam Mantom is captain at Hemel Hempstead Town. Not a Latic, but Samir Carruthers is there as well. Sido Jombati, Dominic Poleon and Christian N'Guessan are all at Ebbsfleet United. George Elokobi is at Maidstone United There is no truth in the rumour that the lesser-spotted Rob Purdie is plying his trade down here. Oh well, on to do the Prediction League now.

Such sad news. Thoughts are with Danny and his family, praying for that child.

Sido Jombati, Christian N'Guessan and Dominic Poleon all playing for Ebbsfleet United today. Looks like they've found their level.

I've no idea but, if you find out, let's see if it works on AL.

Yes, and scored a very unlucky og on Saturday. Ball hit the post as he dived, rebounded into him and into the net.

And a taxi for Wellens? Donny got pasted 6-0 at Ipswich tonight.

But doesn't give us much Comfort

But none for Blyth. He was on the bench and didn't come on.

Not only that (I never knew Missile could do something like he did), but there was praise for Ben Garrity as well. What's even more surprising is it looked as though he deserved it.

Clint Hill leaves his position as assistant manager at Bristol Rovers for personal family reasons.

Nothing to worry about. Just waiting for Steve to put the finishing touches to the tables. We don't have as many signed up this season, so a bit of legitimate juggling needed.

Under an hour to go. You must be registered, paid up and posted your prediction by 14:50 or it doesn't count. Good luck to one and all.

You need to edit, not enter another prediction. Edit button on far right of your existing prediction.

Get ready for a dollop of HT 0-0, FT 1-1.

I suppose I'd better. Done.

Cheers Steve. It may not make any difference, but when you predict, your username does not have any capital letters.

What is sorted, @BP1960 ?

A few days ago, this one, but ex-loanee Ryan Bertrand gone from Southampton to Leicester.

Just get yer 'and in yer pocket!

You won the cup? You never mentioned it.

Roll up, roll up, it's Prediction League time again... …or it will be on 7th August For anyone who's played before, it's pretty much the same format as last season - the number of players will dictate how many divisions there are; we managed four divisions last season. Entry is £5 for the season, to be paid via PayPal to stevie_j@owtb.co.uk (note the underscore - may be best to copy and paste the address and please leave your OWTB username in the PayPal message box) or @Stevie_J for account details for BACS transfer. If you want to enter a division based on your final position last season, entry fees must be paid by 14:50 on the first game of the season - otherwise, you'll enter the bottom tier. Entry fees will be split between OWTB’s running costs and opinions4u’s chosen charity, the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, in his memory. There will be no other prizes. No one will be entered until they have paid – Stevie will not chase people for the money as he had to in previous seasons. The winners of each division from last season win free entry for this season. The divisional winners and cup winners win free entry next season. The league will be split into divisions (based on last season's league positions and relegations/promotions), and the exact set up will depend on the number of players who sign up, with places determined based on the following (in order of priority): position in last season's leagues new players, on a first come, first served basis At the end of the season there will be promotions, relegations and playoffs, as per previous seasons (the exact set up of which will be confirmed when we know the number of entrants) - likely three go down, two go up automatically and one through the playoffs. A list of signed-up players will be posted in this forum. All of Latics' league games (but not cup games) will count in the Prediction League competition. The League @Stevie_J or I will confirm the exact format as soon as possible after we know how many players we have. The Play-offs The play-offs will work as follows: Players will be matched with the teams finishing in the same position as them in League Two. For example, if Tranmere finish fourth in League Two and Crawley finish seventh, then the players finishing third and sixth in the Prediction League, Championship, League One and League Two (if we have four divisions again) will play off against each other over two legs by predicting the outcome of the Tranmere v Crawley playoff semi-final fixtures. The same will apply to fifth and sixth League Two teams, which will correspond to the fourth and fifth Prediction League players. The winning players will then play off in a final, by predicting the outcome of the League Two play-off final, the winner of which will be promoted. Predictions for all play-off fixtures are for the 90 mins, not extra time or penalties. In the event that Latics make the play-offs (you can stop laughing now!), ALL players in the play-off positions will predict Latics' play-off semi-final games and not the other semi-final. The final will be based on predictions for the play-off final, regardless of whether Latics make the final. For all play-off games involving Latics, first scorer prediction will be Latics first scorer (same as regular predictions). Where predicting on games not involving Latics, first scorer predictions will be for the first scorer of the game, regardless of the team. In the event of a draw in the final, the winner will be determined by the closest attendance prediction, then by total points scored in the playoffs, then by previous attendance predictions if still level. The Cup The Prediction League will include a cup competition, starting around the turn of the year. The exact format of the cup will be confirmed, once we have established the number of players, but the competition will start with a group stage, followed by a knockout stage, through to a final. Players will be drawn against each other and their scores for a particular fixture will dictate which player wins. In the event of a draw in the knockout games, there will be a replay. In the event of another draw, the predictor with the closest attendance prediction in the replay will progress. In the very unlikely event that they remain tied, we will draw lots. Predictions Players must predict the half-time score; the full-time score; first Latics goal scorer and the match attendance; it appears that crowds will be allowed back in for the coming season but, should the rules change and crowds are no longer permitted, no further attendance points will be awarded and those scored at the time Boris does a U-turn will stand. The system is set up so that Latics scores are always shown first, irrespective of whether they are t home or away. Players cannot predict Latics to score in their result prediction and 'no scorer' in their scorer prediction for the same fixture. Similarly, players cannot predict that Latics will not score and name a first scorer. Nor can players predict a half-time score which does not align with the full time score (e.g. Latics to be 1-0 up at half-time and Latics to lose 1-0). Should a player incorrectly predict as above, the system will illustrate this. Scoring Scoring works as follows: Correct result (i.e. W,L or D) +2pts Correct no. of goals for Latics +1pt; Correct no. of goals for opposition +1pt; Correct full-time score +2pts; Correct half-time score +2pts; First scorer +3pts; Within 100 of attendance +3pts; Within 10 of attendance +5pts; Exact attendance +20pts; No 'first goal scorer' points will be awarded if Latics fail to score (even if you predict no goal scorer). If the first Latics goal is awarded as an own goal, the first Latics goal scorer prediction will rollover to the next Latics goal in the game (if Latics score another goal). If you believe that there has been an error in scoring up predictions, please PM (not post in here) @Bristolatic, @oafcmetty or @Stevie_J, rather than posting on the forums where it may be missed, and we will look into it. Please sign up if you have a spare fiver. The more players we have, the better the competition is and it helps OWTB’s running costs and opinions4u's chosen charity. Any problems/questions, give us a shout here, by PM or email (stevie_j@owtb.co.uk). How do you join and post a prediction? Your OWTB username will be added to the system once @Stevie_J confirms that you’ve paid to enter. Then sign up as follows: 1. Open the page: https://owtbpredictionleague.azurewebsites.net/ 2. Click 'Register' in the top right 3. Enter your email address and choose a password (you'll need to confirm your registration, so please use a valid email address) – If you played last season, you can use the same email address and password 4. You'll soon receive a confirmation email - this may go to your spam/junk folder, please check these before contacting us! 5. Click the link in the email to confirm your registration 6. Click login, and enter your credentials - you'll now be logged in to the site 7. Click the 'Hello...' message in the top right - this will take you to the account section 8. Select your OWTB username from the dropdown (these will be added when we know you have paid, but be patient if it doesn’t appear instantly) and click Save - this will associate your OWTB account to your prediction account (see section 5 below). There are a number of areas on the new site, which you will see by the opening this link to the image https://i.ibb.co/HgCbMjf/image.png - these will be expanded on further below: 1. Prediction Entry page This is where you enter your predictions. Enter your username in the relevant field (this will be pre-populated if you've linked your account here to your OWTB username - see section 5 below). This can be overtyped if needed, e.g. BP1960/Lawman. Then select the match you want to predict for. The site will only let you predict for each match once, so if you get an error, you've probably already predicted and you'll need to edit rather than predicting again! As the badges show, it's *always* Oldham on the left, opposition on the right, regardless of whether we're at home or away. First scorer dropdown is only enabled if you pick us to score a goal. Attendance can be left at 0 - no points scored if no fans allowed in again! Click submit, and you should see your prediction at the top of the list! https://i.ibb.co/zf9435Z/image.png 2. Prediction List Here you can see all the entries to date. Pretty self explanatory! Last edit date is used to determine if entries are too late or not - @Bristolatic's decision is final (‘cos I’m a nasty bugger and have to apply the “10 minutes before kick-off rule” to be fair to everyone)! Once you've made a prediction, you'll see a link to edit it if you need to - this is effectively the same view as the prediction entry page. This will obviously update the last edit date, so be wary of not editing past the deadline. Void indicates predictions @Bristolatic has flagged as not to be scored - this will be used for those submitted past the cut-off. You can use the filters at the top of the page to only view entries made by a specific user, or for a specific match (or both together for a user/match prediction). Once the scores have been processed for a match, the entries will be locked and no longer available to edit, to preserve an audit trail. https://i.ibb.co/LgQsTtj/image.png 3. Weekly Score List This is where the scores for each match are captured. Again, pretty self explanatory. Nothing to do on this page, just look at the scores! There are filters so you can pull back scores per user, per week, per division (1=Prem...4=L2), or any combo you like. https://i.ibb.co/gjLZsg3/image.png 4. League Tables Does what it says on the tin - one page per table. League tables can be viewed without needing to login. https://i.ibb.co/17Y1qM2/image.png 5. User Admin Area By clicking the 'Hello...' message up the top, you enter the user admin area. The 'Profile' section lets you allocate your account to your OWTB username. PLEASE DO THIS! It makes your, and our, lives easier. Eliminates typos, etc etc. Until you do, your email will be your username. The 'Email' section lets you update your email address. 'Password' lets you change your password. https://i.ibb.co/Vj5kDgz/image.png 6. Email Reminders The site is configured to give the mods the ability to send out reminder emails to those who haven't predicted for an upcoming match. Users who have already predicted for the match *will not* receive this reminder, so it's only for the forgetful! However, we appreciate not everyone will want to receive reminder mails, so you can opt out here. Click the 'add additional opt out' link and tick the checkbox in the subsequent screen and save - this will opt you out of reminder mails. You can opt back in at any time by editing the entry in the list. https://i.ibb.co/F4sXtYj/image.png And that's it! Happy predicting. Any issues, ping @oafcmetty or @Bristolatic on here. Mods, can you please pin this so that it's always there for players to refer to? Thanks. Another shout out to @oafcmetty for setting up the whole system again for the new season.

Zak Mills signs for Walsall

Thank God for that. I was scared he was going to come back to BP. I wonder what Mickey Mellon sees in him.