Baz

I've booked Montenegro next summer with my family. Becici, to be exact. Can't wait! I've been advised to try and take a trip to Dubrovnik but I fear it might be a bit too far with two young kids in tow.

Some of you may have been in the Euro 2024 competition I ran on WhatsApp? Well for the new Premier League season I'm running a variation on those "last man standing" games you may be familiar with, except in Last Man Balling there are no lives and no eliminations. Here's the rules: Pay £5 to join. Predict a Premier League team to win each week. You can only choose each team once. You get 3 points if your team wins, 1 if they draw and 0 if they lose. The player with the most points at the end of Gameweek 20 wins the Prizepot. Then we do it all over again for the remaining 18 Gameweeks. (£5 entry again to play the second half) The idea being, after 20 weeks of fixtures you will have used each team once. Currently on 45 entries with a Prizepot of £248. Would be nice to get a few more names on my spreadsheet before the 8pm deadline tomorrow, Friday 16th August, when United-Fulham kicks off. Website here: https://LastManBalling.com Payment page here: https://buy.stripe.com/5kA03v8ba7VT16E147 WhatsApp group here: https://akr.st/lmbwa

Spain deserve to reach the final, but France could frustrate a draw out of them and get through on penalties. England surely can't keep grinding out lucky wins. Netherlands to paste them.

I won’t spam my post count about my silly Euro 2024 competition but here is the list of all 225 entries: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MLvrLyymtj515Pjj0UYaKLB85ZkEFSqx/view?usp=sharing And the chosen nations, ordered by group: You will see there are a number of duplicate picks, where multiple people have selected the same three nations. However, only two people who chose the same three nations also chose the exact same tiebreaker. So as long as Nicolas Gomez and Matthew Swift don't get the highest score, there will be an overall winner. If you do want updates (and can tolerate the Euros chat) you’re welcome to join the dedicated WhatsApp group where I’ll post the daily leaderboard: https://akr.st/lmbwa

24 hours to the deadline. 204 entries so far.

I've created a 15 minute video showing you how to set up Football Manager 2024 to play a realistic version of Euro 2024 with all the correct groups. You will need to download the UEFA Euro 2024 Real Groups: https://www.fmscout.com/a-uefa-euro-2024-real-groups.html Put uefa_euro_2024_real_group_227215.fmf in your '\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2024\editor data' folder. Start a new game with the editor file activated, and include either Finland, Norway or Sweden. Set the game to start on 01/04/2024. This is only possible if you have Finland, Norway or Sweden selected. When you progress to the Euro 2024 group stage draw, the groups drawn should mirror the real life groups. If you have any problems, let me know and I'll try to help. I've also posted this on Reddit here.

I'm hosting a Euro 2024 competition online. It's completely free to enter and you're welcome to invite your friends and family. The deadline to enter is 14th June. I'll write out some info below, but I've also made a nice colour-coordinated website with all the details here: Last Man Balling. Fill in this Microsoft Form to submit your three selections: https://akr.st/euro2024 Prices: Rules Pick three teams without exceeding the £50 total budget. Earn 3 points for each win and 1 point for each draw, based on your teams' performance throughout the entirety of Euro 2024. Draws only count in the group stage as the three points will be allocated to the team that progresses through the knockout rounds, regardless of the score at full-time. If you go over the £50 budget, you will not be included in the game so please double check your total cost before submitting your selections. The player whose chosen teams have the most points at the end, wins a prize. Prize TBC The deadline to join is 5pm BST on Friday 14th June and it is completely free to play. The first game kicks off at 8pm on this date. Tiebreaker: In the event of a tie at the end of the tournament, the winner will be decided by a tiebreaker. When submitting teams, everyone must predict the total number of goals scored throughout the tournament. Euro 2012: 76 goals Euro 2016: 108 goals Euro 2020: 142 goals Euro 2024: ??? Groups: Group A Germany, Hungary, Scotland, Switzerland Group B Albania, Croatia, Italy, Spain Group C Denmark, England, Serbia, Slovenia Group D Austria, France, Netherlands, Poland Group E Belgium, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine Group F Czech Republic, Georgia, Portugal, Turkey Play: Fill in this Microsoft Form to submit your three selections: https://akr.st/euro2024 There's an option to include your mobile number if you want to be added to a WhatsApp group for updates, but I'll post them in here as well so feel free to ignore it.

Please go here to vote: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_vFlV5R_-02ncOb04rPEH2aDH8B7iyVEhA7MtoqFTdhURVJBTVNFU1FQSlczOFBFN1U1NDVDVkpYMC4u You can vote for up to 10 players. I've created a shortlist of 18 players who can play as a striker and have decent fitness so can play as much as possible, and have low wages at the start of the game. I've not checked their current or potential ability. I will buy whoever wins the vote for a very good team (likely Man City or Real Madrid) and play through the seasons with them playing as much as possible, with the hope of the player winning the most prestigious individual award in World Football. You're welcome to check the player on your FM games, or on websites such as sortitoutsi or FMinside to make an informed decision. Actually, here is each of them on FM Inside: Lewis Darlington (Peterborough) Assane Diao (Real Betis) Jeronimo Domina (Unión Santa Fe) Ferreira (Arouca) Magnus Fjortoft Lovik (Modle) Mustafa Hekimoglu (Besiktas) Dusan Jovanovic (Partizan) Maksim Kalimullin (Flora Tallinn) Alexandr Khubulov (Dynamo Moscow) Hugo McNicol (Blythe Spartans) Harrison Murray-Freeman (Gibraltar Lions) Justin Oguntolu (Derby County) Moussa Seck (Rotonda Calcio) Atli Þór Sindrason (Þór) Nikolaj Sønderby (Vejle Boldklub) Harrison Thompson (Norwich) Stipe Ukich (Auckland City) Salim Yenpariye (Deportivo Aragon) Thanks to everyone who votes. I'll likely start the save tomorrow so please get voting. Again, please go here to vote: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=_vFlV5R_-02ncOb04rPEH2aDH8B7iyVEhA7MtoqFTdhURVJBTVNFU1FQSlczOFBFN1U1NDVDVkpYMC4u

Thanks for your continue service Derek. Much appreciated, as ever.

Outstanding, @Derek Thanks a lot mate!

Hello. Please could you create a circular/round logo for a fictional project using this colour scheme that looks similar to perhaps the Starbucks logo but replace the lady with the premier league lion logo and have the text say LAST MAN BALLING I'd really appreciate it. 800x800 sized png file if its possible. Thank you.

I'm praying he comes to Liverpool. Sounds crazy to say it about a 19 year old but he'd really help Liverpool step up a gear.