Euros 2016 Fantasy Football

The Telegraph (Torygraph?) have launched their Euro 2016 Fantasy game.
£25k in prizes, with £10k for the winner.

If anyone wants to join the Nothing Better Than Football league? the details are -
League Name: NBTF EUROS - League Pin: 8111097
Sadly no prizes/medals for winning this league unless you finish top 10 overall, but you will get my gratitude :) Hopefully we can get a high placed finish to challenge some of the big groups?

Personal stuff - probably did well in the regular fantasy football league last season as I was out of work for a lot of it after being made redundant/laid off twice in 2015 :( 
Just a handful of part time jobs to interfere with this serious stuff :)

But sod's law I've got a nice new full time job starting tomorrow which will totally interfere with all the early kick off's in the Euros, meaning not only will I miss all the 2pm kick off's and maybe some of the 5pm ones if the traffic is bad? also I won't be able to tinker with my teams in this competition between matches, meaning I will probably do rubbish ... excuses made :)

Honours 2015-16

It's finally finished, so here are the winners and losers.

Premier League
Champions - Leicester City
Champions League Place - Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City
Europa League Place  - Man Utd, Southampton, West Ham
Relegated - Aston Villa, Norwich, Newcastle

Championship
Champions - Burnley
Promoted - Middlesbrough, Hull City
Relegated - Charlton, MK Dons, Bolton

League One
Champions - Wigan Athletic
Promoted - Burton Albion, Barnsley
Relegated - Doncaster, Blackpool, Colchester, Crewe

League Two
Champions - Northampton
Promoted - Oxford Utd, Bristol Rovers, Wimbledon
Relegated - York, Dagenham And Redbridge

National League
Champions - Cheltenham
Promoted - Grimsby
Relegated - Halifax, Altrincham, Kidderminster, Welling

FA Cup - Man Utd
League Cup - Man City
Charity Shield - Arsenal
Paint Trophy - Barnsley
FA Trophy - Halifax

Champions League - Real Madrid
Europa League - Sevilla
Super Cup - Barcelona
World Club Cup - Barcelona

Fantasy Champions League

One more table for the season.

Congratulations to Ray for winning this, he also won £250 for finishing 2nd overall with a different team.
But he was only a point behind the winner so he must be gutted :(

The League finished 13th overall, but had reached 8th a few weeks back so could have been better.
27 teams overall which was reasonable. Personally had a bit of a 'mare never troubling the leaders.

Champion - Ray (RCL 2) 490 Points
Starting XI - Ray (RCL 7) 9th
Goals - Richard (Ricks Raiders) 23

NBTF League

The Winner of this lovely medal was Ryan.
Now I'm not sure if Ryan ever reads this blog? but if you do please leave a comment with some contact details (don't worry comments are moderated by me, and I won't post your details on here) so I can send it to you :)

Alternatively Rich from Rick's footy challenge has offered to send you the one that I won in his league, and I keep this one.
Sounds confusing but makes sense :)

Fantasy Football End Of Season 2015-16

Slightly overdue but here are the final tables from the 2 NBTF Fantasy league

FPL - Just 4 of us this year, Gary has led most of the way but I caught him right at the death.
Although the Premier league have decided I was 2nd, I'm calling it a draw :)
On a personal note I managed to win the Fan Footy league (which is supposed to be where all the good fantasy players hang out?) didn't get a mention on their site so obviously not impressed :)

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TFF - 32 Teams, we finished 58th overall which is down on last year but better than expected as it's the first time we've hit the top 100 all season.
Ryan is the winner, deserved as he has led since week 6. I tried to catch him but as it turned out my best 3 teams were in other leagues, but you can never tell at the start :(
At least I beat John at something this year :)

Full Table (with surnames removed to protect the innocent) :)

Champion - Ryan (Morris Dancers) 2035
Starting XI - Simon (Izzy's Bees) 1534
Goals - Lee (Riders On The Storm, Kypton Supermen) 120
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Self congratulation bit, My blog my rules etc :)

TFF - As far as I remember the best I've mangaged before this season was in the 300's a couple of times, and just a handful of top 1000 finishes in 16 years of playing.
This season (41 Teams) - 3 in the top 40, 12 in the top 1000, 36 in the top 10,000, and just one bad team which finished 20,670th but was the one I selected for the supporters league :(
(one to remember for next season, go with top team not one that sounds right for the West Ham league).

Should get £50 for 17th, and hopefully some more cash from being top 5 in the top 2 leagues?
Missed out on the Twitter top 3 at the death by 2 points, 3rd paid £50, 4th Nothing :(

FA Cup Predictions 2016

That's the end of the first FA Cup predictions competition.
The final game played today, game no. 63
Paulo grabbed the only points with his 1-1 prediction thanks to my 90 minute rule.

But with a brilliant performance Biopunk is the first winner with an impressive 61 points, including 13 perfect scores.

Here is the virtual FA Cup trophy :)

Congratulations Biopunk :)

FA Cup Final 2

Interesting afternoon for Louis Van Gaal, wins the Cup then gets the sack?

The game itself was a bit of a non event until Puncheon scored for Palace late in the game, which finally woke United up. Mata scored 3 minutes later after a great run by Rooney which left it at 1-1 at 90 Mins.
Extra time seemed pretty even until Smalling rugby tackled Bolassie to get sent off, that should have seen Palace get on top but they had run out of ideas.
Nice goal by Lingaard to win it, and it finished 2-1.

Then the news comes through that Mourinho is taking over and Van Gaal is gone.
I sort of expected this in January, but I can't believe it happened today after LVG finally won something.
Considering the serial whinger was a disaster this season for Chelsea, it seems an odd move considering virtually every top manager in the world would jump at the chance of managing Man Utd?
I've always had a soft spot for the Mancs but they're going to be hard to like next season.

FA Cup Final

Just watching the pre match build up and for the first time in years I haven't a clue who to support?
A Man Utd win means West Ham get into the early stages of the Europa League again, also most of my fantasy football teams have a selection of Man Utd players so I need them to score a few points.
Palace are the under dogs, but I still really like Alan Pardew and would be great if Palace could grab their first major Trophy,
So probably hoping for a high scoring match going to penalties? :)

Predictions 2015-16

Congratulations to John for winning this year's competition.

7 players this year, although Gobby seems to have left us after a couple of weeks :(

It looked like Paulo would be running away with it after a 3 week winning run earlier in the season, but John came back with a 4 week winning run in weeks 19-22 meaning we were all playing catch up.
John grabbed another double in weeks 33-34 and sadly for Paulo the last 3 weeks were all drawn with me being the main culprit.

Anyway it's time to award the NBTF virtual trophy :)

Hopefully one day I will get my name on it?

John's record this season was 8 outright wins, and 1 shared win. With a total of 228 points from 371 games predicted.
Although only the 3rd best total overall he put together 8 really good weeks.




The Minor Trophies

Outright Wins - John 8
Most 3 Pointers - Paulo 43
Most 1 Pointers - Lee 136
Highest Week Score - Lee 15
Most Points - Lee 256
Best Points Per Game - Lee 0.661
Most Games Predicted - Lee and Paulo 387

The Final Table

Thanks Everyone for playing, and hopefully you will all be back to do it again next season :)

Farewell Films

Lots of videos around from the last game, think this is my favourite one.

England Squad

Woy has named 26 for his Euro squad, and surprise surprise no West Ham players?

Goalies - Joe Hart, Fraser Forster, Tom Heaton.
Defenders - Nathaniel Clyne, Kyle Walker, Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling, John Stones, Ryan Bertrand, Danny Rose.
Midfield - Dele Alli, Ross Barkley, Fabian Delph, Eric Dier, Danny Drinkwater, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, James Milner, Raheem Sterling, Andros Townsend, Jack Wilshere.
Forwards - Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Jamie Vardy.

Even the most biased fan surely is wondering how players like Delph, Henderson, Milner and the always injured Wilshere are considered better than Mark Noble, and Antonio has had a far bigger impact this season than Sterling and Townsend. Plus Bertrand and Rose in front of Cresswell??
Rashford is promising but can't believe he gets an England shout so soon.

Theo Walcott is finally dropped despite being fit for the first time in years, maybe the rumoured transfer to West Ham affected Hodgson's thinking?

Nice tweet from David Gold :)

Premier Predictions (Week 38)

Here we go the final Premier League predictions competition of the 2015/16 season ... sad isn't it :)
The relegation battle is done and dusted before the final week meaning Villa, Norwich and Newcastle are only playing for pride, and this will be a last game for a handful of managers .
The only thing left to play for is the European positions. Leicester, Tottenham and Arsenal have all qualified for the Champions League and it's between Man City, Man Utd and West Ham (if they score 15) for the final spot. Basically the top 8 still have something to play for and West Ham, Southampton and possibly Liverpool might need a Man Utd Cup win to make Europe next season?

Arsenal v Aston Villa
Chelsea v Leicester
Everton v Norwich
Man Utd v Bournemouth
Newcastle v Tottenham
Southampton v C Palace
Stoke v West Ham
Swansea v Man City
Watford v Sunderland
West Brom v Liverpool

** Just for the sake of completion here is the Cup final (not part of this weeks predictions)**
Post a prediction if you want as Biopunk cannot be caught :)
C Palace v Man Utd - (90 Minute score)

Good Luck All :)
Do it all again next season if anyone is up for it, and will probably do a Euro special by the first week in June.

Here's the current Predictions league full table with one week to go, 3rd place is still up for grabs for Longy, Biopunk and myself :)

A Bit of Nostalgia

The 1974/75 season was when I got the bug, I had seen West Ham a couple of times when I was about 10 going with my Dad and uncle, but by this season I'd finally persauded my Mum that I could be trusted to go with some mates from school. I can't remember the exact cost of the train from Grays to Upton Park and I think the West side admission was about a pound? so the day cost about £3 which I had to save up.
5th October 1974 at home to Derby (who went on to win the league that season) the first time I was allowed to be part of the terrace crowd and it was brilliant :)
We had just had a run of 4 games where we looked like world beaters - Tranmere (LC) 6-0, Leicester 6-2, Birmingham 3-0, Burnley 5-3 so we were all hoping for another big victory, but it ended 2-2 with goals from Billy Bonds and Keith Robson but I enjoyed it anyway.
About a month later went to my next game and we beat Wolves 5-2 to prove I wasn't a jinx.
In May of that season we won the FA Cup so in my mind I had brought them good luck that season.

Obviously a lot of people are saying they will miss Upton Park and I'm one of them, but to be honest I've been missing the Old Upton Park for the last 20 years.
I loved the terraces and being so close to the pitch, for me when they made it all seater it killed most of the atmosphere.
I just couldn't get that same feeling in a row of plastic seats that I used to get when you scored and ended up 10 rows away from where you started, and the singing became patchy instead of the whole stadium singing as one. Also never really got used to buying a ticket beforehand, always preferred paying on the gate especially with away games as it was sometimes only decided we would go on the day.

... and the plastic castles are just tacky:)

Anyway farewell Upton Park :(

Fantasy Football Update

Current standings on the various NBTF leagues.

FPL - I can't seem to catch son Gary, guessing Paul and Longy have given up?
TFF - Ryan has led since week 6, I'm getting closer but need something inspired from my few remaing transfers?
TFF Europe - Ray leading the way, he also has the 1st place overall with a different team. So good to attract a top player into my league.
TFF Lee League - Just me so I will win :) just gutted that the rule change this season means I'm sitting in 9,585th place? under last years rules (and this seasons TFFE rules) I should be in 5th place.

Self promotion time (it's my blog hehe).
Having a really good season in the Telegraph Fantasy Footie, my best ever in 15 seasons before this year was 308th and have only had a handful of Top 1000 finishes. As it was the first time I didn't have a works league to compete in I didn't think I would be winning any medals this year.
As it stands I'm on for 4 medals and very close to 6 more, and if I can stay in the top 5 of either of the top 2 leagues I might actually win some money as well?
So just 2 weeks to go and I've got 11 teams in the top 1000, and 3 in the top 100 so barring a disaster it will be my best ever season :)

Up And Down

Current Standings

Premier League (First Division)
Champions - Leicester City
Relegated - Aston Villa (plus 2 from Norwich, Newcastle or Sunderland)

Championship (Second Division)
Champions - Burnley
Promoted - Middlesbrough
Play Offs - * Brighton, Hull, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday
Relegated - Charlton, MK Dons, Bolton

League One (Third Division)
Champions - Wigan Athletic
Promoted - Burton Albion
Play Offs - * Walsall, Millwall, Bradford, Barnsley
Relegated - Doncaster, Blackpool, Colchester, Crewe

League Two (Fourth Division)
Champions - Northampton
Promoted - Oxford Utd, Bristol Rovers
Play Offs - * Accrington Stanley, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Wimbledon
Relegated - York, Dagenham And Redbridge

National League (Fifth Division, Conference, Whatever??)
Champions - Cheltenham
Play Offs - * Forest Green v Grimsby
Relegated - Halifax, Altrincham, Kidderminster, Welling

Premier Predictions (Week 37)

Sorry had a busy week and nearly forgot?
Mega week with 14 games spread over 4 days.
7 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday, 1 on Tuesday and 3 on Wednesday.

Some really big games this week starting on Saturday lunchtime where both Norwich and Man Utd will be desperate for 3 points.
At the bottom Newcastle look more likely than Sunderland to get a win, but Chelsea's season is probably over so who knows?
West Ham need 3 points to put the pressure on the 2 Manchester clubs.

Sunday's big game is City v Arsenal, whoever wins probably guarantees Top 4 and Arsenal could still overtake Tottenham depending on the earlier result.

Tuesday nights West Ham v Man U game could be really big if results go their way over the weekend.
Wednesday is big for the bottom 3 where both Norwich and Sunderland need to take advantage of the extra home game.

Norwich v Man Utd
Aston Villa v Newcastle
Bournemouth v West Brom
C Palace v Stoke
Sunderland v Chelsea
West Ham v Swansea
Leicester v Everton

Tottenham v Southampton
Liverpool v Watford
Man City v Arsenal

West Ham v Man Utd

Norwich v Watford
Sunderland v Everton
Liverpool v Chelsea

Good Luck All :)

Leicester Champions

Congratulations to Leicester for winning the Premier League :)
Gives hope to all the others after years of just Chelsea, Arsenal and the Manchester clubs dominating.

Also John Terry helped out at the end :)