With the conclusion of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game now over a week ago, it’s about time we drew a line under proceedings by dishing out the awards across our various Scout Leagues and Cups.
Here’s a breakdown of the winners and near-misses across all our tournaments, including the FPL head-to-head leagues which, sadly, may well force us into a rethink for next season.
The Paddy Power Cup VI
Mch claimed his place in the Fantasy Football Scout Hall of Fame with a 58-51 Cup Final victory over Dr D. Mch had previously missed out on Members Cup glory earlier this season, finishing third in that tournament, but was not to be denied this time around. Despite skippering Robin Van Persie against Dr D’s Sergio Aguero, the likes of John Terry, Emmanuel Adebayor and Wayne Rooney all picked up the points and carried him to victory.
While Dr D can take comfort in his runner-up spot, it was Optimus who took third place, defeating Ajay Lal by 57-44 in our third place play-off.
Congratulations to all our winners – the prizes – Amazon Vouchers and Paddy Power bets, are on their way today.
The Classic League
Huge congratulations have to go to Gary McLean who, despite missing out on the FPL crown by the narrowest of margins, enjoyed a superb Fantasy season and claimed the crown in the official Scout League. Gary totaled 2341 in our league starting from Gameweek 2, with 2404 points overall. That earned him a third place finish in the FPL, just ten points behind the eventual winner.
Scout runner-up Jonathan Pickard and third place Tom Redman also earned superb top ten finishes, ending up seventh and sixth respectively. Once again, then, the standard in the Scout league was incredibly high, with the top five all featuring in the top 24 ranks of the FPL.
The Last Chance Saloon League
The FPL’s final fling league saw Bayuze79’s “Bizzle United” come out on top with a last day score of 81 points. He edged out Andy Mayhew’s “Inverailort Thistle” by just two points, with Sean Baker’s “Start the Car” claiming third spot.
The Champions League
After a season of added coverage courtesy of yours truly, the Fantasy Champions League 2011/12 crusade came to a close. The winner of our number one placed Scout League was a slight foregone conclusion as Sam Atkinson maintained the top spot he held going into the final round of action. Our second and third places did switch around though as ‘The Special One leapfrogged above Dominik Rasl with his heavy selection of Chelsea players.
Our own Granville was to be found pestering the top ten places in the Scout league only to forget to make transfers for the final and fall down to 48th in our league as a result. It hasn’t been the smoothest of finishes for our Mancunian friend.
The FPL Head-to-Heads
FFS H2H 1 – The very top of our pyramid ended up being the most contentious. With a deleted player ending on the summit (and relegated to last) we saw Impressive Tackle take the title with 69 points this season. His three draws kept him on top ahead of IMWORTHIT and former Scout I’m Not Marshal Foch, who could only be separated by their final ranking.
FFS H2H 2 – Coming in first place by a single point in our second level is Wolves fan Pop Ooh Yeah. His slender victory over Deppy35 gives him a ray of sunshine in Fantasy against the backdrop of a football season that was less pleasing for the fan in him. Past Fantasy Football Scout Cup winner Gooner Dave tallied in at a distant third place.
FFS H2H 3 – With just two points separating those at the top of the third league, a cakewalk was not exactly on the cards for this season’s victor Crabwalk. Long-time member of the community, Just One More Thing, backed up his top 1000 worldwide position with a second place here, as the artist formally known as The Hunt chased him down in third.
FFS H2H 4 – The fourth of our leagues saw America plant their flag on the annals of Scout history with Jms taking a comfortable lead in a season littered with success stories. His countryman Rediffusion was the closest challenger to be found in this batch of twenty, with the Cypriot flair of Dragonfly a fair step back further again, despite totting up a big total in the overall rankings.
FFS H2H 5 – If coming to our shores for many years is a true sign of success then Bouncebackability, first in this league, is the poster boy for that campaign. His one draw this season was enough to squeak ahead of Super Hans in the silver medal stakes. Rounding out the podium spots in third we find Bora who, despite having the least overall points in the top nine, was more than safe above those clawing at his heels.
FFS H2H 6 – The champion of our sixth band of brothers was a runaway winner. Eleven points clear of Team Zophar in second place the journey to the top was taken at a relentless pace by EasyLuckyFree. Even further back -another five points- we welcome our first female Fantasy Manager, Pips, to the upper echelons with a third place position.
FFS H2H 7 – Down in the seventh rung of the Head to Head ladder it was Bucketproof who prevailed: his head-to-head campaign saw him lose just 10 ties all season. With final Gameweek wins and losses respectively, we saw zeppelin484 overtake Boss Hogg to snatch second place at the last.
FFS H2H 8 – Coming top in the eighth iteration of our head-to-head leagues was MaroonSky. He was another to boast an 11 point lead, despite having lost the last fixture of the season, while second placed mch and third placed Dexter4King won their bouts and made slight inroads.
FFS H2H 9 – The ninth and final league with twenty entrants includes a winner hailing from the town of Loughborough. Goaltastic was another Fantasy manager to completely steamroll all those before him. Putting up a spirited but not very close challenge in second place was Hungry4nuns who managed to stay just above Bobbydinho in third.
Reserve League – Being “stuck” in this league with hundreds of competitors to try and best will most definitely separate the wheat from the chaff. Our winner in this one, Ashley Spratt and his outfit The Bird is the Word, got through the season losing just seven fixtures in the process.
Coming in second and third respectively – split by only their overall ranking – were Gustav Venter and Amr El-Labban whose 81 points total would have, more often than not, won them the competition if they were in with fewer entrants. Unfortunately for them they had to settle with silver and bronze placing but also safe in the knowledge that they bettered a fair few many more Fantasy managers as a result.
The Scouts
If you’re interested in how the Scouts fared in the head-to-heads, you’ll no doubt be pleasantly surprised to see how incredibly fallible we all are.
The best manager on the Scout books is Jonty, one of our newest signings, taking fourth spot in H2H League two. Two of our most prolific Scouts, the original man Mark and Deputy Editor Sir Paulos, follow up with fifth placed spots. Referee’s connoisseur Anorak and podcast miffed man Granville follow up next with seventh place positions.
The stat men are next with Pure Olivia and Superior Being in ninth and twelfth place in their leagues respectively. I then stumble in with a miserly fourteenth place, our stateside man Da beeeez grabbing a fifteenth spot and Big Dunc a further place back.
In the Contributor league, Mark ran out a comfortable winner – claiming a seventy point advantage over Anorak in second on his way to a top 400 finish.
Head-to-Head Next Season
In all likelihood, we’ll be abandoning the Fantasy Premier League head-to-head league structure next season.
There are several reasons behind this and it’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly. Nearly a full three years ago I joined the Scout fold primarily to run and cater for the community leagues and tournaments but, with last season’s entrant numbers reaching new heights, it’s clear we need to have a rethink.
As the demand for league places increases, it’s becoming apparent that the current system for creating and administrating the ladders, without assistance from the game itself, has become unwieldy. We can’t carry on adding leagues to the structure and the reserve league has swelled in numbers, making it more difficult to earn a place higher up the pyramid. Demand is only likely to increase next season.
We will look for alternative solutions to create a series of competitive leagues – perhaps using a game which lends us a hand in organising and structuring such a system to meet demands.
We’re sure that the community will go on creating head-to-head leagues if the Fantasy Premier League continue with the feature – there’s no guarantee that will be the case of course.
We’re working on producing a community area for “chairman” to recruit and report on their leagues in time for next season. In the meantime, we’re considering our options and will be hopefully posting alternative leagues in the pre-season.
Thanks to all those who took part in our Scout Leagues and Cups and, of course, congratulations to all our winners over the season.