Jeff: Good evening everyone, I am joined by guest pundits Roy Keane and Harry Redknapp to discuss the upcoming Pundits Playoff draft. Roy how do you feel about the new selection process?
RK: I’ll be honest with you, Jeff, I don’t like it. This isn’t the way we did things back in 1999 when United won the treble.
HR: I have to agree wiv’ Roy on this one, Jeff, all this biddin’ nonsense, I much prefer the pre-draft stuff, reminds me of ‘ow I used to operate through me car window.
Jeff: And we still don’t actually know when the player draft for the Pundits Playoff is…or do we Chris Kamara?
CK: Unbelievable Jeff, I’ve just heard from our tea ladies’, husband’s, best friend’s, daughter’s dog groomer, that the player values will be released this Wednesday night! I couldn’t be happier than a gooner on St Totteringham’s day! And I don’t even support West Ham…
Yes, ladies and gentleman, the time has finally arrived for the Pundits Playoff draft. At 9pm on Monday evening player registration for this awesome tournament will close (or has closed depending on when this article posts).
At the time of writing 229 players have registered to take part, 12 have volunteered to manage a team and 77 have been signed pre-draft. This leaves 91 spaces left to be filled on draft deadline day on Wednesday 9th October at 9pm. Here is a link to the current list of players and teams – List
Exactly one week before Deadline Day at 9pm this Wednesday, the bidding list will be revealed with the final list of players and their finalised draft values.
Draft process
The bidding list will be released in descending order with the highest value players first. Remember all player’s values are based on the cumulative scores so far. All twelve team managers will start with a budget, which will be £1250m minus all costs of their pre-draft signings and transfer fees so far. They will have a week to prepare their bids for the players they want, and all bids will be compiled automatically via google sheet wizardry at the same time, one hour before the draft takes place. At draft deadline the bids will be revealed one or two players at a time, along with their allocated team.
Rules
Team Managers can make as many bids as they like for as much as they like. The bids must be higher or equal to the player’s value otherwise they will be invalid.
The highest bid will prevail in signing that player, unless:
- The team is already full.
- There aren’t enough funds in the team’s pot to cover the bid AND the minimum cost(s) for all other remaining players they need.
In these cases the player will be signed by the next highest and valid bid.
Tie breakers to decide which team wins when there are two or more valid bids of equal value, are:
- Team with most players left to sign wins.
- If point 1 still leaves things tied, the team with most funds left in their budget wins.
- If still tied, the organisers will toss a coin.
Any teams that are not filled by the end of the draft will have players allocated to their team by the organisers, using as much of their available budget left as possible. All signings are final once the draft is complete, players will have to wait until the next transfer window to release themselves from their team, or for teams to release any players.
All players will be sent an email following the draft to confirm their place in their new team and to put them in contact with their team manager.
We will be releasing the link to the bidding list via a hot topic on Wednesday evening at 9pm(ish).
Team Avatar competition
We will also begin revealing the team names, mottos and avatars this Wednesday. The winning team avatar will be voted for via a public poll that will be opened on deadline day, Wednesday 9th October, and closed on the following Friday 11th October.
The tournament proper kicks off in GW9.
Team Manager position
Lastly it’s feared that one of our team managers has gone AWOL. Gwitbrock if you are still up for running a team please get in touch asap or a replacement will have to be made. Contact the organisers at punditsplayoff@gmail.com . If any latecomers fancy taking on a manager role, please get in contact as well.
4 years, 7 months ago
Cheers Boris! I got one pre-draft signing slot open, so shoot me an email at aafutbolfan@gmail.com and give me a good reason to sign you!