While the October international break has afforded us time to roll out a few new site features, I’ve been beavering away with a “quick” update on every Scout League we’ve got out there this season from Fantasy Premier League (FPL) to the Championship…
Classic FPL Leagues
Six weeks into the season (we scratched off gameweek 1 after all the drama) and there are two folks neck and neck atop the all-important Fantasy Football Scout league. An average of just under 69 points a gameweek sees Jennifer Rutter and Dag Birkeland as the pace setters- Owen McGongle was top until then and will, at least right now, be kicking himself over that Sergio Aguero injury.
Our stat-engorging, Season Ticker-loving and diligent subscribers in the Members League are a little further behind right now but that’s no means not to congratulate Richard Payne for his first six weeks atop of the pile. Pouring over every fine detail of each shot blocked and key passes made got you where you are, right Richard?
While on the topic of Classic leagues I suppose I should give our very own Contributor’s League something of a mention and begrudging congratulations go to my colleague Akers for his early lead 1/6th of the way through the season. I, Andy, find myself slap bang in the middle with my stateside colleague da Beeeeez equidistant in points from the top to Superior Being at the bottom.
Head to Head Leagues
FFS H2H 1/ FFS H2H 2 / FFS H2H 3 / FFS H2H 4 / FFS H2H 5
We’ve now got so many Head to Head Leagues even I could grow a beard in the time it would take to go over the ramifications. Instead, we’ll split our select leagues into two and leave most of the work to another of my self-drawn tables with a quick high/lowlight to follow…
JimI, Verbal, gaspar, Gunner Legion and Super-Hans all have an early lead in the weekly match-ups, sitting top of their respective Head to Head leagues at this break in the road.
Granville and Mark are doing it for the pods as they put on a respectable face for the Fantasy Football Scout fraternity, while I try and glide past the fact another two of my fellow colleagues are currently sat in dead last and would be heading for the Reserve League as things currently stand.
FFS H2H 6 / FFS H2H 7 / FFS H2H 8 / FFS H2H 9
Those are just the first five of nine 20 man Head to Head leagues we’ve now got in rotation. In future, these articles will give more space and time to managers on the rise and wane between updates but, for now, we soldier on with the final four…
JC, Boss Hogg, Dexter4King and mattiesafer are the other four Head to Head leaders at present, as they make an early attempt at forging a place high enough to move up our league structure. In these leagues, falling down the ladder is much easier to do- that’s what I tell myself anyway as el-fozzie, Big Dunc and myself continue our dispiriting performances from the Contributor’s pot – da Beeeeez at least helps out somewhat with a spot in the top six.
You may not recognise the name WillHowe in Head to Head 8, but you should; he helped design this new chapel of Scout we now house ourselves in. Here’s hoping his fortunes improve, then. A name you probably will be familiar with is Westfield Irons, otherwise known as Jon Reeson and Fantasy Premier League winner 2009/10, who is teetering dangerously on the precipice of success and failure. For now at least, he has “reason” (sorry) to be cheerful.
Reserve League
Just a handful of weeks into the season and we’re already down to a “mere” twenty-four managers with unbeaten records in the free-for-all known as the Reserve League. Alan Barlow sneaks the lead from Neil Winnett by a slimline 8 overall points, with twenty-two Fantasy Managers clawing away at their heels as they look to break into the nine aforementioned leagues next term.
European League
As you’ve probably picked up on in the last month or so, Fantasy Football Scout has gone a bit continental. Why Napoli you ask? This is because we’ve spread our wings to provide parallel coverage of the Champions League this season.
We’ve got a more than healthy contingent of European Fantasy managers in the Scout League. You may have seen Granville skirting around the comments, heard him bend Mark’s arm to mention in the Scoutcasts and even shout from the rooftops about his grand start that had him first in England at one point in time. Now, he’ll have to make do with miserly fifth and just third in the Scout League.
Obay Eid’s wildcard-inspired second Matchday sees him top the Mancunian pod-jockey on number of transfers alone with the greatest credit so far going to Emmanuel Martey who is two points ahead of the pair and has the early lead in our European adventure. 141st in the world (and 1st in Ghana) is a none too shabby start.
The Other Leagues
We didn’t get as much time to review as many other games on the Fantasy park this summer but still managed to stop off at a couple more points of interest before the season began. Sun Dream Team is the other big Fantasy game out there with its giant prizes and equally large readership, so we were more than obliged to set up a Scout League.
Covering every game on each Premier League team’s agenda, from the Europa League to the Premier League via the Carling Cup, there’s an abundance of opportunity to snag some bargains if you play your cards right. Sitting with a Royal Flush as another transfer window opens is Gareth Owens and his Inter Bearded Clan. Notorious member of our commenting community Attilla the Bum also finds himself in a respectable 11th place.
And, finally, we’ve got 126 managers with an eye on the Championship and its Texaco branded Fantasy Game . Us in this here league bear witness to Paul Young at the top of the tree, though David Sudlow in third and Colin Gray in second, with an almighty bounty of assists, are not going to let him run away with things.
I somehow find myself joint third in the assist charts and yet still languishing in 76th place. The miserly 7 goals so far this season probably has something to do with it. I’m not bitter.
Hopefully, schedules permitting, we’ll be back with in the next International Break after another four gameweeks of FPL action.
