Interview – Jon Sumner (Jinswick) – Fantasy Premier League Runner-Up

Against the odds, Jon Sumner (aka “Jinswick”) put together a trio of Gameweek scores that not only pushed him into the top ten of the Fantasy Premier League, it almost saw him topple long-time leader, Simon March.

A veteran of the Fantasy Football Scout community, we catch up with Jinswick in this latest post-season interview to quiz him on the catalyst for his late title push, and the emotions involved in what was an extraordinary climax to the campaign.

Congratulations on your superb season and for making the final day so tense. How did you spend that day and how did you feel as the day unfolded?

Thanks Mark, and the same to you. Sunday’s a working day here in Dubai so I spent most of it in the office. That being said, I was still regularly checking for team news and to see if Simon March, aka “Dufflinks”, had made his transfer. It was a fairly uneventful morning, but with about an hour to go until the deadline, Simon had made his move. I’d decided a few weeks back to “go for it” in the run-in, so I wanted as many differentials as possible in the final week to have any chance of making up ground. Despite my best Columbo impersonation, I couldn’t figure out what move he had made, although I could determine a few players that he definitely hadn’t got, including Theo Walcott and Diego Costa. With 30 minutes to go I made my transfers, only to find out minutes later that Hazard had trained the day before. Then, when I saw that my captain Costa was on the bench, I was close to giving up all hope. I actually said to my mates “now watch Walcott go and score a hat trick”.

I’ve never experienced such a crazy 45 minutes in all my days in Fantasy Football. A first half hat-trick, my captain coming off the bench on 29 minutes to score a penalty he should not be taking, and then for Jeffrey Schlupp to assist a Marc Albrighton goal. All my differentials were coming in. I did a quick score check at half-time and realised that if everything stayed the same I was neck and neck with Simon. Just ridiculous. I remember being perched up at the bar at half-time and thinking for the first time that I could actually win this.

The second half was actually pretty stressful, trying to watch all six screens in the pub and not being able to check for updates elsewhere due to my phone being dead. It was also a pretty disappointing half in the end with no clean sheets remaining and no further goals or assists. Truth be told, Simon ran out a deserved winner in the end, so a big congratulations to him for getting to and staying at the top for so long. I’m also quite glad that not captaining Walcott didn’t cost me the title in the end – that would have really niggled me for a long time.

What were the factors behind acquiring Diego Costa and Theo Walcott for the final day? What were your other options and how did you decide on the captaincy? Did Jose Mourinho’s press conference really sway you to put the armband on Costa?

There were a few factors really. Theo looked a huge threat when he came on against Sunderland midweek and with Arsene Wenger saying he’d be resting a few players for the FA Cup final, I fancied Walcott to start and put on a performance. As for Costa, I had him down as a lock to start given Jose’s comments midweek, and with Sunderland having nothing to play for and probably still being on a comedown from their midweek celebrations, I could see Chelsea putting on a show for the fans with Diego being heavily involved. Both players are also very explosive options and after I’d figured out Simon definitely hadn’t brought in either, that was probably the clincher. The other option I was looking at was Olivier Giroud to Christian Benteke. I was pretty torn between who to captain – I really fancied Walcott to do well, but there was still a fair bit of doubt over his starting role and so, ironically, I went for Costa, because he was definitely going to start, wasn’t he? Jose had got me. Not for the first time.

Going into the final day, did you really believe that you had a change of clawing back the gap between yourself and Simon March?

Normally I would have said definitely not – 43 points is a big lead and Simon clearly knows his stuff. But I’d had such a great run over the past few weeks, so a little part of me still believed. Realistically I knew it was still very unlikely, but that if I managed to get a 25-30 point captain and Aguero blanked then I could be in with a chance. I figured I may never be in this position again and I’d regret not giving it a shot far more than slipping from 4th to say 20th if it all went horribly wrong. Clawing back his lead in just 45 minutes goes to show that anything is possible.

Including the final day, you had three extraordinary Gameweeks, finishing in the top 6k each time. Indeed, you only entered the top 100 in Gameweek 31. What was the main factor behind your late charge up the ranks? Was it purely the Gameweek 34 Wildcard?

I think a late Wildcard and some extensive planning for the double Gameweeks played a big part. I had actually got to 67th in Gameweek 23, but a run of six red arrows in seven weeks knocked me back out of the top 100 fairly quickly. I seemed to be nailing my captaincy picks towards the end also, and I started to get some luck in the closing weeks that I perhaps hadn’t had earlier in the season, such as Albrighton coming off my bench with his first goal of the campaign.

This is your eighth FPL season, with 724 being your highest rank prior to 2014/15. Did you approach this term differently and apply any new strategies?

I started taking the game seriously about five years ago and I think I’ve only made minor tweaks to how I approach it since then. I watch a lot of football and have probably analysed player and team stats a bit more this year. I’ve also been more patient with making transfers and have put more emphasis than usual on form over fixtures, especially with attacking players. I’ve also tried to keep my team as flexible as possible, often saving transfers and keeping at least one premium priced player in each position (except for in goal). I tend not to worry about having a strong eighth attacker though – instead I usually stick an “uber” in midfield and fatten out the other seven attackers.

You took nine hits this season. What is your attitude to taking hits? Have you been consistent with your transfer hit policy season to season?

I don’t really have a strong view either way on point hits. I tend to look at the risk and reward of each move and if I think it’s likely to pay off over the next few weeks then I will usually go for it. Hits just before a Wildcard or right at the end of the season are obviously more risky as there’s less time for the players involved to repay your faith. I haven’t kept track of the number of hits I take each season, but I would guess it’d be around ten each year.

We noticed that you went through the whole season without bringing in a single player from Burnley, Stoke and Hull and put a lot faith in both City and Arsenal – fetching in eight and nine of their players respectively. Were you aware that you were concentrating your transfer policy on these teams as the season progressed?

I wasn’t aware I’d avoided those teams completely, but I do tend to go with attacking players from teams who score the most goals and try not to use many transfers on cheap defenders. Aguero and Silva were the stand out options from Man City this season, although my defensive picks from their squad were a disaster – Pablo Zabaleta, in particular, scoring me a total of zero points from the three games I played him, and Gael Clichy wasn’t much better. With Arsenal improving in the second half of the season and having a decent double Gameweek, this definitely played a big part in me bringing their players in. Being an Arsenal fan also swings the vote in their favour if I’m struggling between two options.

Like Simon March, you also missed Harry Kane’s 18-points in Gameweek 20, benching him behind the likes of Stewart Downing, Christian Eriksen and David Silva. Do you recall the agony of that particular Gameweek? Was this your season low-point?

That was a shocker, and a classic case of form versus fixtures. Kane had three goals in four but was up against a defensively solid Chelsea side. I don’t think anyone would have predicted Spurs putting five past Chelsea, but it goes to show that form is ultimately king. It probably wasn’t the season low for me as I wasn’t alone in benching Kane that week. A score of 23 points and a rank of 3.4 million in Gameweek 29, knocking me out of the top 100, was probably the low point.

You’ve played four at the back on ten occasions this season, when most favour a three-man defence. In fact, 4-4-2 was your most successful formation in terms of average score. Are you an advocate of investment in defence?

This actually really surprises me. I’m very much a 3-4-3 guy so I’m guessing that injuries or auto subs must have been the reason for most of those. The last few weeks were a little different as I was starting all my differentials to Simon in the run-in, including starting Martin Skrtel over Kane in the last week. The less said about that the better.

I would say I normally always go super cheap with both keepers and start with one medium to high-priced defender that start most weeks, and then have cheap options for the rest. This affords you extra flexibility if other options become must haves in defence and it still leaves you plenty of cash to spend on the higher scoring midfielders and attackers. With the Southampton and West Brom defenders being cheap and coming good this season, I think it very quickly became a case of one from Chelsea, one or two from Southampton/West Brom and two-to-three cheapies from the rest.

What was your best decision this season? Conversely, was there any decision (other than the final day captaincy) that you can look back on now and identify as something that might have cost you the top spot?

There are quite a few that stand out. Captaining Sergio Aguero for all his big hauls, Alexis Sanchez in Gameweek 21 (38 points) when most went with Eden Hazard, Santi Cazorla in Gameweek 23 earned me 34 points and Christian Benteke (46 points) in Gameweek 31. I also managed to dovetail John Terry and Leighton Baines perfectly throughout the season, with Baines averaging me almost nine points per game. Other than the final day captaincy, my most costly errors were probably avoiding Charlie Austin for his hat-trick, benching Kane in Gameweek 20 and not captaining him for his hat-trick against Leicester in Gameweek 30. It’s mainly Tottenham’s fault.

Paul McShane proved a vital asset for Simon March towards the end of the season, do you have any similar unlikely heroes to talk of?

I think it has to be Marc Albrighton. He was rotting on my bench for half the season, scoring next to nothing, but when he was called upon he averaged me almost nine points per game, which is pretty ridiculous for a 4.2 midfielder: he was my George Boyd. Coastal Pantilimon and Patrick van Aanholt getting an unlikely pair of clean sheets each in the double Gameweek should probably also get a mention.

As a Fantasy Football manager, how much credence to you put on statistics in comparison to scouting players via live matches? Did you get to watch a lot of football over the season?

They show every match live over here, so I watch a lot of football. But I also delve pretty deep into the statistics, so I think both are important to scoring well. Understanding exactly how the scoring works, applying that to the relevant stats, and watching the games for changes in form (to catch players before the masses get on board) are probably the key aspects for me. The wealth of information and tools in the Fantasy Football Scout member’s section are also particularly useful.

You’ve been a member of the Fantasy Football Scout community for many years. How did your progress this season change the way you approached you contribution in the community?

I don’t think it’s changed too much. I’ve been posting for a few years now, primarily in the “Deadzone” (from 12am to 6am), but perhaps I did post a bit more than usual in the run-in. There were quite a few people rooting for me on the site during the final day which was really nice. I’ve never seen my name appear so often. It’s a great community on Fantasy Football Scout and the advice I received definitely played a big part in where I finished up this season. Thanks everyone.

Can you describe how your season has affected your relationship with friends and family? Were they aware that you had the opportunity to claim the crown on the final day?

The wife is pretty good about it really, although with three young kids it is definitely a balancing act at times. Sprinting to the lounge at the sound of a goal (any goal) during dinner time has become the norm. We had our mini-league prize giving on the final day, so I watched the games in the pub with my mates. They were all aware of the situation and were very supportive, especially at half time when I was in beside myself. Despite just missing out on the top prize, I did manage to win their Quarter Four prize and also scoop three of our five mini league awards, including “The Wolf” award for most aggressive play: a great trophy to behold.

Will you play again next year and compete for a top rank again? Do you have extra motivation knowing how close you came this time around?

Absolutely. I thoroughly enjoy the game and don’t expect to ever stop playing. The chances of finishing this high again are pretty small, but the motivation is still there to win FPL and to get to number one in the Fantasy Football Scout Hall of Fame. Plus I’ll always look to win all my mini leagues. I’ve had a quite a few people get in touch the past week or so to congratulate me and ask for tips for next season, so the pressure is definitely on to back it up in 2015/16.

Finally, do you have any shout-outs to any of the FFS or Fantasy Football Community?

I’d like to give a big shout out to all my mates across the various mini leagues I play in – especially my long standing Fantasy football rivals, Joe Charters and Andy Bourne and all the Dubai lads in League Nars (Jason Tranter, Mark Hiess, Tariq Imam, Scott Tranter, Tony Fargher, Eddie Fitzgibbon, Adam Shaw, Andrew Dentice, Jay Carlsen, JP Etheridge, Mark Brown & Jonty Vavasour). There are too many FFS posters to name, so I’d just like to thank you all for being such a great bunch and for helping me along the way. Finally a special mention to Simon Humber, aka “Absinthe”, who sadly passed away this year. A great guy who loved his football and played the game right to the end.