If you are an active manager who wants to play until the last kick of the season in a larger Public League or Super League than our standard 10-team ones, then this is the place to find other fully-committed people.

So let the PlayTheGame community know who you’d like to join your League, post its name and password, and enjoy a season playing with like-minded managers.

Continue reading "Post Your Invites Here" »

League Chairmen are now able to upload the results of offline allocations.

In the HOME menu, select "Your teams", and then click on "Change League Settings" next to the name of the League. On the next screen, click on "Set Allocation Picks" and follow the instructions.

Continue reading "Entering Your Offline Allocation" »

Whether you are preparing for an offline player allocation or ranking your players for an automated allocation, the first question is the same: Who is the top player in PlayTheGame? And the next question is similar: Who are the next 20? Or 50?

When we re-ran last season’s stats to take account of changes to this season’s scoring categories – Minutes Played replacing Average Goals For and Against, and the removal of successful passes from the Defence category – the name of Gareth Barry popped out of our computer first, and why not? He missed only one match last season and he was an integral part of an Aston Villa side was capable of some excellent attacking play on its day, which enabled him to provide ten assists. And it did not hurt that he took a good penalty, which helped his total of nine goals.

Continue reading "So Who Do I Rank First?" »

“Andriy Shevchenko - or Dean Windass?” Probably not a question that has ever been asked by a real football manager - but it was posed in the Times Sports Editor’s office on a Tuesday in mid-July, and it brought the house down.

Ten Times employees were in the final round of the player allocation for an In-house PlayTheGame league, taking advantage of a new feature that allows leagues to hold their player allocations in real time and input the results themselves, rather than trust our computer to give them the players they want.

Continue reading "Beer, Banter and Nicklas Bendtner" »

Tony Cascarino, Times columnist and former Aston Villa, Chelsea, Millwall and Republic of Ireland forward, had seventh pick in the Times In-house League's offline allocation. Here he explains the thinking behind his choices.

What people always seem to do with fantasy teams is pick last season’s best players, and I think in the PlayTheGame system you have to have a bigger picture, a more objective idea of who might come in – for example, who has been injured and has a chance of being in the team far more regularly than they were in the previous season. And maybe some bright young talents who haven’t been out there, but will get a chance this time.

Continue reading "Tony's Team - the Safe and the Speculative" »

The 2008-09 Premier League campaign is within sight, which means that the second season of PlayTheGame, The Times’ advanced fantasy football game, is also about to get under way.

We want to tell you about some of the improvements that we think will make PlayTheGame even more addictive than it was last season – although that represents a challenge, judging by the number of you who were still making team changes and signing players on the final Sunday of 2007-08.

Continue reading "Welcome Back!" »

"It's not the winning that counts, it's the taking part."

Whilst most of us will agree that playing the most realistic Fantasy Football game was reward enough during the 2007/08 Premier League season, for 10 of the most astute managers in PlayTheGame their hard work paid dividends as the winners of our regular prize draws.

Chris Riley of South Shields found himself in Vienna for the Euro 2008 final as the winner of the end of season prize, but there were plenty of happy PTG managers the length of the breadth of the country as winners of our monthly prizes and we've listed them in all their glory below.

September - Neil Matthews, Southampton
October - Adrian King, Yorkshire
November - Mark Cameron, Plymouth
December - Donny McWhinnie, Lanarkshire
January - Steve Quillin, Reading
February - Steven McCrory, Bolton
March - Mark Kent, Yorkshire
April - Justin Whitfield, Taunton
May - Helen Stevenson, Cambridge

Whilst those above can reminisce about their past successes, for the rest of us it's time to look to the future. There's a whole new seaosn of PTG just around the corner and this year there's going to be even more opportunity to win.

Watch out for more prize news soon.

With Dean Leacock and Alan Stubbs out of the Derby side with injuries it gave one 19 year old the opportunity to pass a major milestone in his young career as Miles Addison made his Premier League debut against Blackburn.

With one game of the season to go, Miles is also the last player to be added to the ranks of PTG in the 2007/08 season.

The player was added at around 17.00 BST on May 5th and is subject to the usual 48hr notice period

This season Ross Turnball has turned out for Middlesbrough when Mark Schwarzer isn't between the sticks, but on Saturday, against Sunderland, Gareth Southgate chose to give his other Australian goalkeeper his league debut. Now Bradley Jones joins the ranks of PTG.

Brad Jones – GK (Middlesbrough)

The player was added around 3pm BST on the 28th April and is subject to the usual 48hr notice period.

One players injury is another players opportunity and whilst Richard Dunne had to leave the field injured against Portsmouth, his misfortune gave 21 year old Sam Williamson his Premier Legaue debut.

Sam Williamson – Centre Back (MCY)

The player was added to PTG around 15.30 GMT on the 21st April and is subject to the usual 48hr notice period.