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.

Same, especially this:

Changelist 23.2 (including, but not limited to): Stability and Technical: - Stability and crash fixes - Optimisation improvements - Fixed a rare issue where the Pre-Game Editor crashes when verifying basic rules - Fixed an issue where the game cannot progress when the user manages both a club and the U23 international team - Added native Apple Silicon support Match Engine 23.1.0.0: - Fixed defenders incorrectly stepping up at times when defending in a back three with no fullbacks/wingbacks - Adjusted the directness in some teams - Reduced the number of unrealistic lofted passes - Reduced players losing the ball too cheaply when playing with back to goal - Reduced the frequency of defenders giving the ball away in and around the box - Tweaks to defender anticipation when running towards the ball to attempt an interception - Tweaks to defender decision-making for aerial balls - Tweaks to defender reaction times in situations where they've switched off and made a mistake - Improved centre defender decision-making when covering for fellow CB outside the area - Improved corner defending, particularly defending at the near post Gameplay: - Improved CA progression rates for players in inactive leagues - Improved Attribute distribution – NewGen generation + progression (eg. Crossing for fullbacks) - Improved AI club individual training logic - Tweaks to NewGen reputation - Fixed an issue where players’ individual position/role/duty training being incorrectly removed - Fixed an issue where the squad are unhappy with the lack of depth in a position not used in user’s regular tactic - Fixed an issue where players and the board incorrectly think that a club vision has failed - Fixed an issue where the number of scouts will reduce to zero when the scouting budget has been used up - Fixed average basic wages displays within Finances - Fixed an issue where there is not enough recommendations returned when user starts a recruitment focus with a role selected - Fixed an issue where the user was unable to cancel a scouting assignment on a player - Tweaks to U18 players’ interest for a pre-agreed transfer - Tweaks to AI transfer targets when using certain formations - Tweaks to recruitment focus the initial pool of players when creating a new focus - Improved AI loan negotiations when making counter offers Art & Animation: - Fixed an issue where kits changed colour at the start of the second half - Improved various GK animations Competitions and Rulegroups*: - Fixed an issue where the FA Cup second Round matches are being played on an unrealistic date - Fixed an issue where some players don’t have settled status in the UK - Fixed an issue where the group stage draw is triggered after the end of the group stage in the Copa Libertadores - Fixed an issue where some nations apply the maximum loan rules incorrectly - Fixed an issue where teams playing European matches on Thursday were playing league matches the following Saturday - Fixed an issue where the Italian Cup semi-final takes place during international window - Fixes to the Portuguese Championship including allocating the correct teams to the correct group - Updated a number of substitution rules - Improvements to scheduling in English top flight and less fixture congestion - Improvement to fixture scheduling in Italian Serie A for future Decembers - Added a January registration window to the new format of the Champions League to address player changes during the January transfer window - The Carabao Cup semi-finals are no longer being played at Wembley - Free transfers can now be signed outside transfer windows prior to March 23rd in England - All eligible match squads for EFL matches can now be submitted - Indonesian registration window dates now match the transfer window - Africa Cup of Nations to take place in January 2024 - Added VAR to Scottish leagues - Finnish clubs are now updated in the correct divisions when the game starts in 2023 season - Updated foreign player rules for various Asian competitions UI/UX: - Fixed an issue where the touchline tablet auto changes during a match - Fixed an issue where the previous meeting panel displayed the incorrect number of games - Fixed an issue where the sort function in the squad registration screen - Fixed an issue where some scatter graphs aren’t displaying in the All Visuals dropdown - Fixed an issue where transfer appears twice in the transfer stat panel within Club Vision - Fixed an issue where the team form is being shown backwards within Dynamics - Fixed an issue where the users can’t access the Earring panel after using Photofit when creating a manager profile - Fixed an issue where visualisations from the analyst panel appeared in the wrong colour during a match - Added information on how many stoppages are left to make substitutions during matches *For competition specific changes to take effect a new game may be required.

I'm clearly being dumb but can't get a logo (or kit) to show for FC St. Helens for love nor money. Does it work in your game?

Lovely! You should post your skin in the Skins forum too. Complements these packs brilliantly.

Websites such as https://gettyimages-downloader.beatsnoop.com/ and https://alamy-downloader.beatsnoop.com/ can be used to remove the watermarks from images on Getty and Alamy, which would be a help with something like this.

Good to see you on here, Steve. Big fan on the sigames forum and looking forward to using your backgrounds again in FM23. (and your skin!)

Does the logo for FC St. Helens (not St. Helens Town) work for anyone? I've reloaded the skin a few times, and messed about with cache, but its the default blue flower badge.

Defending seems non-existent in most tactics I create.

20000180964 FC St. Helens Sorry it's small. The only bigger version I can find has the bottom missing: EDIT: Found a bigger version

Wowzers!!! They're all amazing. Thanks you so much. Really appreciate it.