After a short, but quiet summer by footballing standards (unless you're a Manchester City fan) the preparations for the 2009/10 Premier League season are well and truly under way. The top teams from England are traveling the globe to build their match fitness, the transfer kitty is being spent and the optimism of every fan has been fully re-invigorated as we move towards the opening Premier League fixtures on August 15th 2009.
For the third season running, The Times brings you most realistic fantasy game available, allowing you to get as close as possible to standing in the shoes of Ferguson, Redknapp, Moyes or McCarthy.
PlayTheGame is not the same as other games out there. We give you the opportunity to manage a unique squad in a competitive league, and utilise a scoring system that reflects the contribution of players across the park in all that they do.
It's simple to register and set up or join a league. Then once the admin is out of the way, you can get onto the important task of ranking your players for the all important player allocation.
For more details take a look at the 'FAQs' or 'Rules' links, available under the 'Home' tab.
Good Luck for the new season
Comments (13)
Hi. Can we have somewhere to advertise the availablility of our leagues. Thanks.
PTG - We will set up a post shortly. Please let us know your league details by replying to this post initially.
Posted by Graham | July 27, 2009 7:00 PM
Posted on July 27, 2009 19:00
will you be running the other fantasy football league this season?
PTG - PlayTheGame is the only fantasy football game available on The Times this season.
Posted by Matthew jackson | July 27, 2009 9:24 PM
Posted on July 27, 2009 21:24
Any updates from last year?
PTG - you should find the game pretty familiar, but there is some exciting stuff on it's way...
Posted by Phil | July 27, 2009 10:15 PM
Posted on July 27, 2009 22:15
I am organising a league for my friends but cannot find the rules of your scoring system online. Can you please let me know where i can find this?
PTG - You can find details of the scoring system in the Rules (section 15) or take a look in the FAQs. Both are available if you hover over the 'Home' tab.
Posted by Richard Bookless | July 27, 2009 10:22 PM
Posted on July 27, 2009 22:22
Hi, just wondered if throw-ins will count as assists this season, (i.e. Delap) or not like last season. Keep up the good work.
PTG - There have been no changes to the scoring from last season
Posted by Chris Mennell | July 27, 2009 11:23 PM
Posted on July 27, 2009 23:23
Loved it last season, can't wait for this season.
Only bad thing was when people stopped playing early/mid-season and their players (alot of quality ones) were stuck in these teams and no-one who was left playing could get their hands on them.
Could we have a cut-off system, say if someone doesn't log in for 6 weeks(tonnes of time), then all their players go back into the unsigned pool. Would be very exciting when all these players get put back into the game for us serious players.
PTG - Unfortunately this is not possible with the set-up of the game. You could always join a league set-up by someone looking for committed players - we'll be advertising these on the blog shortly.
Posted by hugo | July 28, 2009 11:57 AM
Posted on July 28, 2009 11:57
is there any chance of getting a data dump of the previous seasons stats to help us make our rankings for this year?
PTG - Last seasons stats are available by going to the player statistics page and then changing the 'timeframe' dropdown to show data from the 2008-09 season. Hit search and you'll get pages of data....
Posted by zumba | July 28, 2009 1:57 PM
Posted on July 28, 2009 13:57
hi will there be a player list in the times newspaper
PTG - The player list is available online by going to the 'offline allocation kit' under the 'home' tab and clicking the 'downloadable player list'
Posted by gary ford | July 28, 2009 3:43 PM
Posted on July 28, 2009 15:43
Will there be superleagues as there were last year for the winners of the previous year's leagues?
(and perhaps super-super leagues for the winner of last year's super leagues?!)
PTG - There are super-leagues in place by invitation only. If you have been selected for a super league entry you will find the option to join a super league on the 'join league' page after you have chosen your team name.
Posted by Adam | July 28, 2009 6:20 PM
Posted on July 28, 2009 18:20
What are the requirements for the Super League invites, I'd like to know what kind of elite company I'm in.
PTG - basically you should find yourself in the company of the more active players from last season
Posted by Phil | July 28, 2009 9:40 PM
Posted on July 28, 2009 21:40
Will you make it possible to copy a wish list from one managed team to another instead of having to make multiple wish lists?
PTG - This is possible if you use a little tip sent in by one of our managers last year, Jamacian Red Devil, so as we publish this again, we pass on our thanks once again
NOTICE FOR MANAGERS WITH MULTIPLE TEAMS
For those with multiple teams.. i found a little workaround to "copy" your wishlist from 1 team to another.
i don't know if this works in internet explorer but i've done it with firefox and i have been able to have identical wishlists with my 4 teams fairly easily.
STEPS
1. make your wishlist and save it, keep the list open (list 1)
2. open your second team in a new tab and go to your player rankings screen (list 2)
3. go back to the list 1 tab and save your list KEEP IT OPEN
4. go to list 2 and refresh the list... you "should" see the content from list 1 in list 2
5. save list 2
6. rinse and repeat for other teams where applicable
Posted by The M.D. | July 29, 2009 4:53 AM
Posted on July 29, 2009 04:53
if i want to rank my top 200 players is there no way to do it short of selecting the players one at a time.
if i am in a couple of leagues how do i copy a wish list from one team to another
thanks
PTG - If you want to reorder the list then each player needs to be moved individually.
We are going to add a post about copying wish lists, but for now the info is available in the comments on the 'playthegame is live' post
Posted by Anonymous | July 29, 2009 2:11 PM
Posted on July 29, 2009 14:11
I am trying to set up a league and am continually getting a 'You must provide a valid league name. ' comment which does not allow me to progress further.
What is the criteria for league names? Are some characters and/or symbols not allowed? (I don't remember having this problem last year)
PTG - the major criteria for league names (and team names) is that they haven't been used by anyone else as we don't allow replication. They also have to be less than 25 characters.
If you continue to have problems please use the 'contact us' form under the 'Home' tab and alert customer services of your issue.
Posted by Iain Steele | July 29, 2009 8:00 PM
Posted on July 29, 2009 20:00