The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 26

Sam Allardyce’s recent claims of being the most sophisticated manager in town got me thinking. In more ways than one.

Could I declare something similar when it comes to my own Fantasy Football exploits? Were my transfers and Wildcard decisions cutting-edge stuff?

Outside factors certainly hinted at sophistication in football manager terms. I often sport a gilet (see Tim Sherwood). I’m currently eating a continental breakfast and, when I disembark my hotel room, I’ll probably have eggs benedict. Also, if it’s raining, I’d definitely opt for a brolly. Actually scrap that one.

When he made his unlikely claim, Big Sam was presumably citing the new expansive formations and systems used by the 2015 edition of West Ham. I’m poking fun but I genuinely think he had a point.

The man has taken plenty of jibes for favouring route one football – when he saw Louis van Gaal’s heralded tactical playbook turn to the page that involved Marouane Fellaini leading the attack, I think Sam had a valid opportunity to make his tongue-in-cheek claim. Certainly, given the reaction from the United manager that followed, it’s become one of my highlights of the season. I thank Sam for that.

Getting back to Fantasy Football, we also know that Allardyce loves numbers: he can often be found contemplating Andy Carroll’s “minutes per debilitating injury” statistic. Believe it or not, Sam is a master of the Opta-driven football world.

I love statistics. I’m always mining our members area before making my team selection. I also use our Rate My Team tool and that uses an algorithm in its calculation. I challenge Sam to even pronounce “algorithm”.

In all seriousness, perhaps the concept of measuring the sophistication of a Fantasy Football manager comes back to the age-old “Dullard vs Maverick” argument that we love to keep simmering. Perhaps it’s a measure of whether you adopt alternative angles with your strategies – whether you’re open to new ideas rather than constrained by the obvious template choices that are presented. Whether you’ve ever picked Edin Dzeko.

To be honest, I can’t really claim or measure a level of sophistication any more than Big Sam can.

Somewhere this morning there’s probably a Fantasy manager delved in pivot tables that plot his transfers, sipping Earl Grey and listening to Cole Porter. It might even be Granville.

I can’t compete with that. I’m not even making a transfer this week. Is that sophisticated?

I’ll ponder that as I leave my hotel room to hunt out my eggs benedict. I just need to locate my brolly first.