I would love to hear mangers views on each of the two semi-finals ??

First up is France versus Spain......I have to go with a win for France, probably inside 90 mins.

Next up is England versus Argentina.....really tough one which i think will go all the way to penalties.....and i would not be able to call the winner. Heart says England, pocket says Argentina and brain says....NO idea, too close to call. 

But possibly a game to watch and hopefully remember ?

EDI sends Connor Young (5/16 FW) to STE for 25k, 2 TP

I am sure that i have mentioned this before but i certainly cant recall the resonse....if any.

So here is my question again.....

We can all ADD stuff, whether players, resources or wanted but i would dearly like the option for managers to be able to REMOVE any posts that they have made from the transaction pages when they no longer want to offer those trades. This would clean up those pages which can get cluttered up with stuff that is no longer available or indeed, no longer wanted to be traded, whether that is due to other teades affecting a particular post or simply a change of heart.

Surely if we can ADD...then surely we can DELETE.

William, I was gutted when you said you were quitting, I'm so glad you've change your mind.

I've appreciated you reaching out in the past and have struggled to find my way into being competitive in this often complex and nuanced game, that (as with real footie) relies on luck, subjectivity and sacrifice. I'm hoping to address that, but I know it'll be a long and frustrating road. Luckily for me I've been a long time Swindon Town fan, so bitter disappointment a sheer dispondancy come naturally to me :-D

Bring it on.

Take care buddy, great to see you back to share the pain.

Lee

Glad you have comeback, I too have been frustrated with the game at times and did take a small break from the game.

Mark said Icould rejoin when I was ready and have to say Idid miss the game. I have to say that I am enjoying the game as much as ever. It is hard to figure out sometimes why results are not going your way, but you just have to go with it and hope that your luck will change.

I am  sorry to disappoint some folks but it seems i have been forgiven my bad manners and my pathetic display of personal frustration with SESL.

Bless him but Mark has given one last chance ....go figure, i'm not sure that i deserve it but will take it with BOTH hands.

The only thing i would like to add is that even at my age.....i have a dream....to make the current MOT set-up look like a bunch of amateurs in the coming seasons.

Easier said than done but thats the target.....

Again my sincere apologies if i offended.....I'm a jerk sometimes.

HIB sends 197k to STE for LIttle (4/8 DF), Connor Beasley (6/7 DF), Davie Wavey (6/5 MF)

Great comparison James Tucker makes.  He really ought blog more often as his posts are often thought provoking.

There has to be some element of rolling the dice in Sesl, just like the board game Risk.  

But has any team won a cup or division with a huge anomoly of dice roll randomness continually in their favour ?   Hardly a coincidence the best teams fill the top half of every division

Swings and roundabouts.  Best not to cloud judgement by conveniently ignoring all the matches you won "with a bit of luck" or having a run of strict refs, and so on.  Whoever Blogs to say how lucky they are to have a handful of Homer refs for their opening few weeks of season.  Careful to see the positives rather than always the perceived "unfair luck" situations.  

All updated - sorry for the tardiness, but an early holiday delayed things.  I declined the frustration of doing them on my mobile phone.

I agree with Colin, luck and surprises seem to happen a lot in the first session of the season.  Everyone has the T11's out and there are very few weak teams these days.  I expected to win one lose one, at the start of the season.  Which we did, but not the way round I expected.  This is not the first time it has happened.  Luck does play a part, there are 4 elements of luck per goal.  The shot getting allocated (or offside), who it gets allocated to, is it on target, and finally does it beat the keeper.  It is no wonder sometimes the results are odd.  

When I think of hurling whichever device I am looking at through the window in frustration, I think of those games of Risk where my massed army is gradually whittled down by the 2 or 3 armies defending.  As Steve said, you try and weight those odds in your favour with top SL FW's and GKs,  But sometimes the luck is just not there.

No idea how gremlins deleted the Div 2 league records.

Manually re-done now.

Can each Div 2 team check for errors in the Div 2 standings table before next league matches kick off Saturday 18th July

.

HAM back in the division table where they rightly belong.

Restoring Div 2 table shall be a trickier manual process, but bear with me guys.

Just in time for the auction. Thanks for the patience as I've been very busy the past couple weeks

The following teams receive Participation Bonus through Participation Thru July 5th:
AI(10) ALB(5) AYR(5) CLY(5) COV(5) EF(20) EDI(45) FAL(20) FRA(5) HAM(5) HIB(15) MOT(5) NAI(5) PT(15) PET(5) RAN(5) ROS(20) STJ(20) SM(10) STE(20) STI(15) SRA(10)

The following teams receive Participation Bonus through Participation Thru June 28th:
ALO(10) ARB(10) EF(10) EDI(50) FOR(45) HEA(15) HIB(50) MOT(45) RR(25) STJ(10) SM(10) STE(30) STI(10) SRA(50)

Great start after last seasons dismal relegation to Division 3. Decent win in the Cup to progress to the next round followed by back to back wins in the league which should leave the fans happy with the club at the top of the Division after the opening weekend... or are they lol?

The first published tables only show 15 teams in Division 3 with Accies nowhere to be seen! Fairly sure results will falter in the coming week and the fans will see the tables corrected in due course... but we know where we are (for now!)

The first few games of a new season can throw up a few 'unusual' results as everyone has max EL and everyone wants a good start. If your team is midtable in T11 then that, for me, means you can beat any other team but can also be beaten by any other team. It can take a few games until 'normality' sets in and we will see some more results that might be considered strange. Actually, it will happen all season long but not as much as the first few games.

League tables should be posted from match 1. Check SFLSL for comparison.

Do results and tables not usually only show after a few matches maybe 6 or 7 or so

Division 2 is blank for me as well not a bad thing after the start Cove have made.

As for Roy saying we are a lucky team tha must have run out as in the game with Celtic they had 6 shots and 6 goals so no luck there.

While Div 1 and 3 tables are displayed the match reports appear off. I would expect to see the tables displayed before and then after in the report along with other info such as results from the other matches.

The Div 2 table is all zeros for me - anyone else?

It's an old game, it's a free game, it has a large random element and probably has a number of flaws.

If anyone can’t handle that then it probably isn’t the game for them. 

To suggest other managers are Wan**** just because they don’t engage every time a manager loses the plot over something we all experience at one time or another is a bit off.

As for Edinburgh’s games today, well in the 1st one they might have got unlucky but with 2 wingers would EC not be a better option than LB, in the 2nd one they always had a lower shot chance so might consider they got lucky to get a draw

QOS had 8 shots in match 1.  Scored zero.

EDI had 5 shots and scored 4.

QOS had better area stats.  QOS were also home team.

Randomness is fair if massively in your favour, but then not ok when you lose?

Swings and roundabouts.  Evens itself out over a season statistically speaking.

I sympathise with William.  And I don't really trust the match engine either.  It's all very well to say that there's luck involved - and I agree that there should be some luck involved - but my gut feel is that results are too random and I believe that there are probably some bugs in the match engine.  I know that Steve has found bugs in other parts of the coding, so it would be surprising if there weren't bugs in the match engine, which is probably the most complex part of the game code.

For my part, I like the game enough to accept that there are probably bugs, knowing that the randomness will even itself over time.  I've just had an amazingly lucky season in SFLSL so have to shrug off the bad luck I experience elsewhere.  Of course, it would be nice if the coding were all bug free....but this is a fun, free-to-play game and we can't expect perfection.  We need to be grateful to those who put in the effort to make the game tick along nicely.

William, I echo Steves thoughts.

Odds are a strange phenomenon and sometimes the bad luck can follow one manager for what seems an inordinate amount of time.

The game needs to have the element of luck attached to it. If the better statistical team always automatically won the game would be boring

You have done nothing wrong and have just been unlucky.I cant see how the programme can be intentionally targeting you.

Your bad run is just one of those inexplicable statistical oddities..

I remember you complaining about couple of seasons ago about your bad luck, William. Unfortunately it's the nature of the game and there's nothing you are doing wrong. If you have the higher shot chance you are doing things right, but like my first game today sometimes shit happens.

Really the only thing you can do is have high SL GK and FWs to maximise scoring chances in your favour.

The most important thing is that you enjoy playing and you're obviously not.

Edinburgh are a decent team. I wasn't following them last season but I know they were struggling in division 3 for a while before William turned them round. They were then up and down from 1st to 3rd and back again.

If you're looking for advice on longevity in division 1 I'm not your man.

Edinburgh look good this season for William if he stays or anyone who takes over. T11 looks good enough to compete for top 4. 

This weekend's session I can give an opinion on. Edinburgh's first game was competitive and could have gone either way. If it eases prediction league choice I would have gone with the home team.

But having played Cove twice already this season I'd suggest Matt has a punt on the lottery. They say it's better to be a lucky manager than a good one.

So my message to William if he's still around would be to stick it out. It was a bad weekend.

Hamilton Accies have been promoted into division 2 but with no games played.

Can I vote we keep them up and demote Falkirk?...

Falkirk are doing that badly we currently sit seventeen out of sixteen. 
 

Not just because of of todays two comical results but this goes back to the second half of last season...and beyond...results simply dont add up. I have tried to raise this subject before but most managers simply all go quiet.

I have been playing a variety of online games for the last 20 years and have always been considered very competitive....but not any more, at least not in SESL. I consistantly put out better teams with better shot %ages and suddenly find myself 0-3 down at half time....seriously.

This is not sour grapes...it happens way too often.

SESL is to put it plainly totally UNFAIR in my humble opinion and i am no longer prepared to waste my time on it.

I have regularly asked for help or advice as to what i am doing wrong and been more or less TOTALLY blanked. I can only assume that other managers in this game are complete selfish ??????'s  I will let you decide lol.

I have always tried to participate in SESL...until that became against the rules but i truly feel like my team are now being victimised. or maybe i'm simply a total wanker.............

But i never have been in other games...strange huh ?

The following teams receive an MVP bonus after match 4:
Elgin City - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwD)
Rangers - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (wWW)

The following teams receive an MVP bonus after match 3:
Airdrieonians FC - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwW)
Celtic - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwW)
Partick Thistle - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwW)
Saint Mirren - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwW)
Annan Athletic - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (dwW)
Brechin City - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (WwW)
Hamilton Accies - MVP #1: 1 TP + 25k (wwW)

Done and done

Done and done.

EF sends 837k to STE for 9 TP

Can I request a player name change for my defend Rubes didn't realise I had a forward with the same name.   Can I change to Mia .

cheers 

Finally found a couple of minutes! Done! 

Updates done ✔️ 

After more than 40 seasons at DUM, I find that I still look for the DUM badge when opening SESL. It takes me a second to remember that is not my team now.

Perhaps I am not the only one who still thinks I am still Son of the Rock ;-)

Done - better get some orders in.

The Prediction League for Season 62 kicks off a week tomorrow, Saturday 18th July

The entry form is now on the Notebook

Season 62, here we go!

...for the man himself – or rather the intergalactic helmet-wearing enigma – it's all come as something of a surprise. The prospect of Count Binface becoming the next manager of Stranraer FC in the SESL, ahead of the much-fancied Andrew McCumiskey, is one he struggles to comprehend.

"It's very early days and there's a long transfer window ahead," Binface told the Galloway Gazette. "But if, in the unlikely event, the SESL football faithful decide they prefer me to Andrew McCumiskey, then I'll do my utmost to lead Stranraer to glorious mid-table mediocrity."

The Count revealed he has been overwhelmed over the past 48 hours by messages from loyal Binface supporters, all volunteering to analyse xG statistics, scout obscure Icelandic left-backs and hand out campaign leaflets outside imaginary football grounds.

"I've had offers from people willing to spend all night searching for hidden gems in the Slovak second division," he laughed. "One chap even claimed he'd found the next Lionel Messi playing for the Dog & Duck reserves."

Should Binface pull off victory, it would rank among the greatest upsets in SESL history, eclipsing Andrew McCumiskey accidentally captaining an injured goalkeeper for three consecutive gameweeks.

"I don't want everyone marching around Stair Park chanting my name," Binface insisted. "I genuinely don't know if I'll get any votes. For all I know, this is just another strange fever dream brought on by staring at the fixture list for too long and trying to convince myself that Sam Alladice and MOT Andrew might still throw their hats into the ring."

With Sam Alladice and MOT Andrew both having emphatically ruled themselves out of the contest, Binface currently remains the only credible challenger to Andrew McCumiskey. Whether the SESL members choose proven experience or an extraterrestrial wearing a bin on his head remains to be seen—but bookmakers have already suspended betting after an unusually large wager was placed by someone identifying themselves only as "Son of Rock.". The SESL Poll will be open shortly........VOTE FOR RUBBISH or Binface.......

I did think that. Thank you 

I have no idea why this fails sometimes. There is nothing obvious in the match report. I might be able to spit something in the database when I get the chance.

For sure there should be a poll for next SRA manager.

No penalties on the viewer. You need to go to the match report and then scroll - very slowly - so as to kept the entertainment going ;-)

Penalties- I assume on viewer there is no way to watch? I knew my one nil defeat would lead to a penalty shoot out, sat for awhile after full time but nothng happened. 

Same with me Colin-nothing

I was looking to see the GM v PT game on the viewer but it does not appear to be working for me. I have tried a couple of other games and they work fine. Anyone else with this issue or just me.

QP all set.

Arbroath confirm they shall be making no further comment on the Donald Trump and FIFA red card fiasco.

QP sends 50k, 3 CP, 1 TP, Kris Faulkner (4/25 MF) to ARB for Licktie Licktie (2/23 FW)

BBC will be avoiding the Norway game on Saturday but it can be viewed on the ITV network - if you are into such a thing. Personally, I will be tuning into BBC Scotland for SinceYesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands. I have seen it before but well worth another viewing.

Bio & Team updates final payout of the season will be morning of Monday 13th July

The following teams receive Bio & Team Updates through payout 1 of 2:
ALB(200) ARB(200) AYR(200) CLY(200) COV(200) COW(200) EF(200) EDI(200) ELG(200) FAL(200) FRA(200) HAM(200) HEA(200) HIB(200) MOT(200) PET(200) RAN(200) ROS(200) STJ(200) STE(200) SRA(200)

......we have just recieved the revised timings for next Saturday. BBC will now show the full coverage of the England vs Norway World Cup Quarter Finals on Saturday at 22:00. This is of course except for BBC Scotland viewers where the entire "Vicky The Viking" series will be shown instead. 

No Escocia no hay fiesta

Just a reminder that BBC will show full coverage of the England / Mexico match on BBC1 starting 1am tonight, except for BBC Scotland where there will be repeats of "Wish You Were Here".

Falkirk have updated their Bios.

Under the Features tab (top right of screen) you can search by Player Value/Guide

If you set All to each menu you can get a list of players sold at auction and what they went for

You can't sort by price so you'll just have to scroll 

I did a mini search and they're are very few players going for under £200

I did find a batch of three 1k listed in seasons 54 56 and 58ish

There haven't been any bargains in recent seasons 

Anyone keep stats that would show auction players recruiting for 1k as only bidder, or players auctioned for under 100k?   That may give an insight if too many players are offered at auction, or not. 

Does supply outstrip demand, in a nutshell?

Good to have kicked off the new sesl season today.

Best wishes to all.

All done!

HAM updated and raring to go for new season challenges!

QP sends 3 CP, Romain Bardet (3/26 DF) to AI for Luke Badley-Morgan (2/23 DF)

Below is the full schedule for the PL this season.

There were a couple of changes suggested to the rules during last season but I confess I haven't had a chance to give them the consideration they probably deserve, so we'll run with the same rules as last season.  I'll post here when the entry form for round 1 is up.

STI sends 6 TP to PET for 5 CP

STJ sends Andy Joiner (1/12 DF) to COV for 2 CP

QOS sends 4 TP to PET for 4 CP

RAN sends Duncan Ferguson (2/23 FW) to PET for 1 TP, Paris Versiry (3/25 MF)

Motherwell all set, as well

all done

For season ahead.

RAN hoping for an extended cup run.

All 3 usual sponsor admins are now in Div 1, so Ricky sitting team sponsor out on 19th July, but he'll be back next season.

season 62: Send up to 5 bids via team inbox please by Sun 19th July, 15:00
to the manager who is doing your division.  10 lots are available to bid on.

AI  Peter   Div 1
HIB  David    Div 2
DUU Mark Boland  Div 3

Could we have clarification on who is doing the bids for Division 2 please ?

HIB or Ricky ?

EDI sends Quinn Mitchell (1/12 DF) to COV for 2 CP

That was quick!

As per the update on the PT home page, an update will probably be made in the near future regarding a new* boss.

*not so new

All done too.

All done..👍👍

All updated.

Bio and update done

All updated

Updated completed

Ditto

All the AYR Team updates completed for this season. 

Completed 

Moving well - 32 of 48 teams have completed their pre season.

and remember there is up to 200k fir updating your team and personal bios..