Congratulations FFUKers, that is another season under our belts. How did you fare? Are you happy with where you ended up or is there work to do over the summer?
Either way it was eventful. Andy Williams’ Impossible Dream seems an apt song choice for this week. For a real life impossible dream check out the story of the man who won everything all the way from Tanzania. The impossible became possible, which certainly is an inspirational story. I have updated this season’s FFUK GW REVIEWS 2017/18 PLAYLIST with all the songs from this season and am listening while I write this.
Before we get to the nitty gritty of the FFUK league we need to review GW38. And before we do that I need to say a few things. Don’t worry I am not going all gushy like last season with my Gwyneth bit. I’ll keep it simple but there are a few FFUKers I would like to thank for their help this season. In the interest of fairness I will include their final FFUK league position, just so you can see exactly how good (or not) these FFUKers are. For anyone who cares I finished in 24th position.
First of all thank you to Pete Cronin (42nd), for his usual assistance and admin but also for keeping me motivated until the final day. I ended up with my best rank of the season and if I think back to November and December I thought my season was over and I had very little to play for. Maybe that improved my chances, the pressure was off. But anyway Thanks Pete, you are a FFUKing legend!
Next up it’s everyone who has helped with articles this season on the site, the FFUK team, keeping a steady flow of quality content throughout the year. This is absolutely vital, and we are both immensely grateful, especially as Pete has had to take a slight step back this season with work commitments coming to the fore. But in Daron Russell (65th), Duncan Hannigan (143rd), Jamie Stewart (1st), Lester Deeble (7th), Paul Baker (17th), Matt Reid (84th), Steve Cronin (68th) and Stu Allen (27th) we have an incredible team of posters. Steve deserves an extra mention for his weekly captain stats image which have been a fantastic addition to our enjoyment of the game.
All of the above are also FFUK agents so they get double pats on the back for that, and I hope they will be again next season. Big THANKS must also go to the rest of the team… Ian Galloway (101st), James Page- Chatton (117th), Neil Gordon (116th), Rob Harding (210th) and Matt Cox (3rd) for their skills in getting people into this league. Not forgetting Tim McEwan (13th) who is also an agent in addition to his role as “Mr Side Games” organising the H2H league this season along with his (semi) regular reviews, plus Tim is also responsible for the FFUK LMS competition of which I am the current champion! (Please let me have my moment I didn’t win anything else!)
Would you like to be an agent or a site poster next season? We want to grow the FFUK league even more next season and for that we need your help. The perks of being on the FFUK team are too many to list 😉 Your role as an agent simply involves you inviting your mates/colleagues/family to join and sending us their tenners, we will do the rest. Simples. What’s more you will gain a place in next season’s Contributors league which means you can live the FFUK dream.
Pete and I look forward to meeting many of you at the End Of Season Do on Saturday 26th May 2018 at Greenwood Sports Bar in London. If anyone else is free and fancies joining us for a beer please come down and say hello!
Enough of that. Let’s move on to GW38 and see how it all unfolded…
As you can see from Steve’s stats above it was almost a straight shoot out between Salah (11) and Kane (12) in terms of captaincy and if one came out way on top it was likely to prove pivotal. In the end they each scored similar so perhaps the jeopardy wasn’t there. But that didn’t mean that the FFUK community weren’t on the edge of their seats throughout the games. For one day only all the games unfolded at the same time. There was an adrenaline rush as the team news came in, then a realisation that all may not be well as big names missed out. As the Official FPL twitter put it:
“No Jesus. No Son. No. Alli. No D.Silva. No Alonso. No Smalling. No Davies. No Pogba. No Lingard. No Otamendi. No Willian. It’s an #FPL nightmare”
There were plenty of FFUKers nervously checking their benches, before checking to see the state of play with their rivals. For those with something to play for the nervousness went up a level and the games hadn’t even kicked off. Fast forward an hour or so and it got worse for those who had ditched the Leicester pair of Vardy (13) and Mahrez (13) who were both looking like world beaters once again at Wembley in Spurs’ last game. Fortunately for some of us Kane (12) turned up too and his owners were rewarded with a brace in a crazy 5-4 win. Over at Anfield Salah (11) responded with his own goal and assist in a 4-0 demolition of Brighton. With that the Egyptian claimed the golden boot and is officially the highest scoring FPL player ever!
Check out the Dream Team above for the best scoring players in the final gameweek. The two best scorers were in defence. Left backs Robertson (18) and PVA (18) have both enjoyed a fantastic second half of the season and will surely see their prices increased next time round especially the Liverpool man. Another man who has had a fantastic time since Xmas is Arnie (12). It will certainly be interesting to see if he is still down as a mid next time round.
It was a good day to own Newcastle players. Personally I was rather happy to get Lejeune (11) off my bench to replace Vertonghen (0) who was injured in the warm up but if you owned his Spanish colleague Perez (13) you would have been ecstatic.
David Horton (33rd) finished the top scorer in GW38 with 106 points scored. Captain Kane (12 x 2) was a decent start but there were plenty of other attacking assets like Aubameyang (8), Iheanacho (6), Arnie (12), Salah (11) and Zaha (10) plus defensive returns from VVD (6) and TAA (6). Not forgetting the top scoring player of the week PVA (18). What a finish David! This is one man who doesn’t want the season to end!
At the other end of the scale the lowest scorer was in fact bottom of the league Brian Barr (225th) with just 19 scored and Herrera (1 x 2) captain this has all the hallmarks of a team on the beach. Better luck next time round Brian! Upon closer inspection this man hasn’t made a transfer all season so he may be lost at sea. BRIAN!!!!! COME BACK BRIAN!!!!!
See below for the final standings in the FFUK mini league. This is what we have all been aiming for.
2017/18 FFUK TOP 20
One man’s impossible dream is another’s reality. How must our worthy winner, Jamie Stewart (1st) be feeling right now? Massive Congratulations! I think he must have come back down to earth and realised his achievements but for everyone else this man is the Man City of FFUK. Our very own Pep Guardiola has been head and shoulders above us all for so long this season. Despite a couple of challengers keeping him honest in the last few weeks, perhaps only one man ever really worried him and even took his top spot back in GW35. But that just served to spur Jamie on further and he came back with a vengeance the following week to reclaim what was rightfully his – the FFUK crown and with it £400 prize money. Incredibly, his overall rank of 812 was not his personal best. That came back in 2009/10 when Jamie reached the dizzy heights of 127th in the world. Jamie also wins the FFUK MOTM for his staggering December performance and JDS’ prizes didn’t stop there. He also scooped the FFUK H2H League win for a ffuking incredible treble, but Pete will cover more of this in the prizes round up, and will probably work out exactly how much prize money our Jamie is owed too.
Dan McBrearty (2nd) had the unenviable task of trying to overthrow our leader and it was a valiant effort. It looked like he had a seriously good chance after GW35 but even if he couldn’t push the leader aside, this has been a fantastic season for Dan and a personal best finish that most of us can only dream of which earns himself £300. Another Salah goal and it would have got really interesting. Danny Mac will certainly be one to watch next year. Who wouldn’t bet on him going one better next time round?
Matt Cox (3rd) was another FFUKer who ended the season well with his best finish of just over 6k. Matt wins £200 for his efforts. The man who only momentarily appears in the WhatsApp group might want to pop his head in and say hi, just to rub in the fact that he has beaten everyone else in there (except for JDS of course). Well played Coxey!
John Harper (4th) had by far his best season to date finishing just under 7k. John was always in the mix and is another from the WhatsApp group. It pays to be in there you could say. £150 is a decent return on a very strong season for the Arsenal fan. If we had champions league places he would have qualified. Keep an eye on John next time round.
James Amar (5th) is another Arsenal fan at the top of the league, must be a strange feeling. Once again it was a personal best finish of just over 7k for James. It wasnt the strongest finish in GW38 but he kept his 5th place and takes home £100 for his efforts. Well played!
Sam Breen (6th) finished in style with 82 points in GW38. The 39th best Watford fan in the world is very impressive and once again this was a best finish for Sam pipping his previous best back in 2009/10. Sam scoops £75 for his efforts this season.
Lester Deeble (7th) once again finishes in the prizes and takes home £60 but this was in fact his worst finish in his 3 seasons playing and he cant even claim to be the best Watford fan in the league either as Mr Breen has that one sewn up too! His final Sterling captain pick meant that ended up with the lowest score in the top 10. He will be back… Look out for Lester next season, if he doesn’t miss the deadline!
Mark Leathem (8th) was another with a personal best finish. You need to really be at the peak of your powers to triumph in this league. In saying that Leafy only fielded 9 men in GW38 but it was enough to move him up to 8th in the standings which earns him £50.
Last season’s runner up, Sean Colohan (9th) couldn’t improve on that finish this season but shows us all it was no fluke. Despite plenty of problems on the final day he survived and held on to a place in the top 10 earning himself £40. Next season remember to “Always listen to Coolers!”
Completing the top 10 is my nemesis Neil Stewart (10th). The other half of Right Said Fred is an FPL stalwart with some seriously impressive finishes in his locker like 139th in 2014/15 so we know he knows. Neil didn’t climb those heights this time round but I am confident his side bet wins will make up for that plus he takes £30 for his efforts this season. As always he is one to watch and you can bet that he will be up where it matters again next time round.
That completes the TOP 10. Congratulations to all of you for coming out on top in what we know is a seriously competitive mini league. Pete and I thank you all for playing this season and Pete will be going through this in more details and rounding up all the prizes for this season in a separate post coming soon but if any prize winners would like to send me their bank details I can arrange payment of their winnings in the mean time.
Who’s dreams became that bit more possible this week? These are our final 3 heroes of the season. Congratulations to:
- David Horton (33rd) rose 21 places with the top score in the league of 106 points
- Stuart Newton (78th) rose 19 places with 105 points
- Neil Gordon (116th) rose 15 places with 85 points
Who’s reality seems that bit more impossible this week? These are our final 3 Zeroes of the season. Commiserations to:
- Matthew Silley (149th) fell 15 places with 46
- Tom Shepherd (49th) fell 14 places with 42 points scored – Not good timing for Tom as he was in the final of the FFUK Cup
- John Gordon (186th) fell 14 places with 24
There is no eviction this week so it just remains for me to congratulate the inaugural winner of FFUK – the Conts mini-league, Daron Russell. Fair play to you, you survived where no other FFUKer could and you never sunk as low as any of us. Congratulations there will be plenty of FFUKers out for your title next time round. Daz is the Cont to beat and wins himself £100 for his efforts!
Back to my own season and my usual side bet with Pete was closely fought. In the end we were reminded that form is temporary, class is permanent. I won that one. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for my other side bet with nemesis Neil Stewart (10th) who I couldn’t quite catch, actually I wasn’t really anywhere near. Pete your £30 will be going straight to NDS, I wont even have time to spend it. Elsewhere I also won £10 from Alun Edwards (80th). I think that is all, most of my money went on entry fees into other mini leagues that I didn’t get anywhere near winning. Also in my unbiased opinion no other mini league is as good as FFUK – tell your friends!
Pete is currently packing to head to Italy on holiday and has promised to round up all the prizes very soon. However if you aren’t sure and want to know now then we have updated all the relevant pages with the end of season results. We will email all in the league next week with both a link to both this review and the prizes roundup. All prize winners can get in touch with bank details to receive their prize money whenever they want to.
What is next? We have a bit of a gap until next season. For some that is the perfect opportunity to sit back, relax and recharge the fantasy batteries after a long hard season. For the hardcore amongst us we will also be offering a FFUK WORLD CUP FANTASY mini league. More news on this one as it becomes available.
For now though all it remains for me to say is a FFUKing BIG THANKYOU to everyone who has taken part and we look forward to doing it all again next season!
Big Love
Chris
FFUK 
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