Preamble

The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 1

I’m not sure it has sunk in yet.

Two weeks ago I left a secure, well paid job producing videogames to dedicate my day-to-day existence to Fantasy Football. Now it matters more than ever.

Of course I’m incredibly blessed to be in that position. To be handed opportunities to write, speak and gesticulate on matters Fantasy Football for a living is something I’d wistfully dreamt about, but never quite believed would materialise.

But Fantasy Football just seems to be on a relentless and quickening path into the mainstream.

The big daily game providers from the US have arrived.

The Premier League are determined to keep the growth of their game accelerating across the world. Other games will react to keep pace. Radio and TV are catching on.

While it would be nice to hunker down and keep our little secret on the dark web, we have to accept that Fantasy Football is being brought to the masses.

I’m now utterly convinced it’s acceptable to open a conversation at family function with an enquiry on who got the assist for Callum Wilson’s goal. I think that’s now permitted and even appreciated by at least another three other people in the room.

However, soon we may not need those incredibly enlightening conversations.

Soon those assists, and perhaps even bonus points, will be fed to us along with the classifieds by an Alexander Gordon. Later today you’ll see that Fantasy Football has become part of the Saturday results service – another step I never thought I’d witness.

My role in spreading Fantasy Football to a wider audience has already been questioned and that’s understandable.

But I don’t think I can fight it. The growth of Fantasy Football either happens with or without us and it seemed I committed my involvement the moment I wrote that first blog post.

Since then, you’ve all played a huge part in getting me to this point. I’m really not sure how to thank you for that – for the support and loyalty you’ve shown (except perhaps by introducing a full desktop view for mobile users).

When things do finally settle and sink in, I’ll have more time to reflect.

For now all I know is that those 15 names on my screen are important to me. More important than ever before.

There’s new responsibility, new pressure and with it an even bigger sense of anticipation and excitement.

Enjoy the kick-off.

Mark Mark created the beast. He's now looking to tame it.

2,824 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Ziro
    • 9 Years
    7 years, 10 months ago

    UPDATED??? Its crawling slow to open here.. updated for others?

    1. Slartibartfast
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Nope

  2. Merlin the Wraith
    • 8 Years
    7 years, 10 months ago

    'Crash-gate' lol.. Thought we'd at least kick-off before we 'kicked off' with the 1st scandal!

    1. pompeyfan
      • 14 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Such a scandal that the free game that everyone has been able tinker with without issue for 1 month was unavailable for 10 mins.

      That's how the apology shouldve been worded

    2. dcarlito
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      As long as a defender doesn't get subbed at 59.58 today as well, I think we will survive 🙂

  3. Weasel Boy
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    7 years, 10 months ago

    U think UFPL will return next season?

    Hope so.

    1. Mull
      • 12 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      I doubt it unfortunately. I enjoyed it so much more than normal FPL.

      1. Weasel Boy
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        Same here.
        It's a pity.

  4. Ayew Serious
    • 8 Years
    7 years, 10 months ago

    Mark Rogers @MarkRogers1 23s23 seconds ago

    Good luck to all this season and enjoy your free bench boost #itk

    1. Tommytour
      • 13 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Haha 🙂

    2. Nice1Cyrille
      • 12 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      lol

    3. mad_beer ✅
      • 9 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Lies!

    4. ★Kuntheman★
      • 8 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Good ol Mark

  5. Tommytour
    • 13 Years
    7 years, 10 months ago

    Did people have time to put Gray or Musa in?

    1. Epic Fail
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Which people?

      1. Whazza
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 12 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        I think he means people on here

      2. Tommytour
        • 13 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        Those that saw an early line up

    2. Tatty Bojangles
      • 14 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      No, but lots of people almost did or were thinking about it.

    3. Bungle Machine
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Yeah, weeks.

    4. Woy of the Wovers
      • 13 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      My time machine crashed.

    5. Ninja Škrtel
      • 10 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      i got both

    6. GinjaWhinja
      • 14 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Made the decision yesterday to put Musa in. Even if he was benched, it would have been the right decision.

    7. devils advocate
      • 10 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      I think I ended on Musa and Mahrez or M&M's to us close friends.

    8. Hyperion
      • 12 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Got Gray

    9. joinho
      • 14 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Musa was one of the first names in my team I took the armband off him at the last minute

    10. *sigh*
      • 12 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Yip

  6. JÆKS ⭐
    • 9 Years
    7 years, 10 months ago

    Hazard + Alli --> Oscar + Sanchez didn't go through because of problems with the site, hoping this won't affect me in a negative way, good luck everyone!

    1. Sánchez
      • 11 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      Lucky you

    2. Sánchez
      • 11 Years
      7 years, 10 months ago

      People will be asking FPL to let them choose their gw1 squad after the 3pm games finish at this rate.

  7. Geri-hatricks
    • 7 Years
    7 years, 10 months ago

    Just realised I put Andy Townsend into my team instead of Andros Townsend just before the game crashed 🙁

    1. Jay_
        7 years, 10 months ago

        😀

      • Woy of the Wovers
        • 13 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        You won't be happy with that 😉

      • fitzy
        • 12 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        Bargain for 5m

      • WoofWoofGrrrr
        • 13 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        If anything you've told that joke too well.

    2. MTPockets
        7 years, 10 months ago

        Anyone else find ffs site really slows browser (firefox on a laptop) - in general, not just last few days?

      • joinho
        • 14 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        Update already!

      • Total Foot 5 - romario 11
        • 10 Years
        7 years, 10 months ago

        good morning,anyone else not set their team in time?

        travelling abroad and missed the time difference...did not set my team..

      • Worzel Gummidge
          7 years, 10 months ago

          unprecedented levels of traffic??!! 3M players last season as well. They are just seriously incompetent. Probably didn't even do any load balancing or traffic estimates prior to implementation. Standard pre-reqs. Absolute muppets. My team was sorted anyway but really irritates me when they say unprecedented when the traffic will be similar every bloody year.

          1. MDK
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 14 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Couldn't agree more - plus with cloud computing they should have had things configured to scale out with demand.

          2. Weasel Boy
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 11 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            They also don't have UFPL to worry about.
            No excuse.

        • Burger
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 9 Years
          7 years, 10 months ago

          Bookies offering almost evens of Leicester win seems insane odds for what should be a bloodbath. Have I missed something, why they so generous?

          1. Now I'm Panicking
            • 9 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Get yer mortgage on it

          2. TheSteel
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 11 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Hull defence is in absoulte shambles. But i agree. Leicester showed nothing besides a gifted goal and maybe 1 clear cut chance in the Comm Shield.

          3. fitzy
            • 12 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Season opener so be nice to the new kids.

          4. Woy of the Wovers
            • 13 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Opening game. Newly promoted side playing at home. 1-2

          5. Podge
            • 13 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Cos bookmakers are stupid and rely on hype for their prices 😉

        • Bubz
          • 10 Years
          7 years, 10 months ago

          Not sure what giving a free anything does. Surely the damage is already done. Those affected by the crash were affected and those who weren't, weren't. Giving both of those camps something for free doesnt really change anything.

          1. @ocprodigy
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 10 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            There's no free anything it was trolling

            1. @ocprodigy
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 10 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              (By people on here, not FPL. They never said anything about give aways)

            2. Bubz
              • 10 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              No it wasn't, a free wildcard was given in 11/12

              1. @ocprodigy
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 10 Years
                7 years, 10 months ago

                But nothing's been mentioned yet and I doubt they'll give anything. They know it's people's faults, not theirs.

                1. Bubz
                  • 10 Years
                  7 years, 10 months ago

                  Just saying, it's possible.

          2. Burger
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 9 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            They should dock everyone who emails in 20pts too, imo

        • TheSteel
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 11 Years
          7 years, 10 months ago

          @officialfpl: sorry for the crash. We're gonna let you have one more forward alot and 11.5m. Good luck!

          1. ★Kuntheman★
            • 8 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            I'm going to get Musa

        • Slam
          • 8 Years
          7 years, 10 months ago

          Has it launched?

          1. ★Kuntheman★
            • 8 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            😮 🙂

          2. Jazz!
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 9 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            😆

          3. Epic Fail
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 13 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            😀

          4. Jay_
              7 years, 10 months ago

              Classic 😀

            • Francescoli
              • 9 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              must be that FPL: Error 503 backend read error

          5. Saul Gillman
            • 7 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            That poor guy who runs the FPL twitter account..so much anger

          6. Venom Snake
            • 10 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            All jokes aside, I have no idea which team I've got entered and who my captain is.
            I was in the middle of confirming team changes

            I am very nervous.

            1. Slam
              • 8 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              Sounds like the jokes aren't aside to me 😉

          7. jackluhg
            • 9 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Anyone elses app not recognizing their team?

          8. Syd.
            • 15 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Is Setanta Sports not showing live games at 3pm anymore?

            1. Hammers Select
              • 13 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              No Sky got them in Ireland

              1. Syd.
                • 15 Years
                7 years, 10 months ago

                Are they showing 3pm kick offs in Ireland?

                1. Hammers Select
                  • 13 Years
                  7 years, 10 months ago

                  "Our coverage keeps on getting better. This season we have new shows including Friday Night Football, live matches at 3pm for viewers in Ireland, and from 5.15pm our customers can watch all the goals from Saturday's matches on their mobile devices."

              2. Mr. Blonde
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 9 Years
                7 years, 10 months ago

                Eir did actually

            2. @ocprodigy
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 10 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              #CampaignAgainstSetanta

          9. Bøwstring The Carp
            • 12 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Totally missed the deadline this morning.

            Can't remember if I went with Lafferty and banked 0.5m or went with Pieters.....

            This'll be fun...

            1. Epic Fail
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 13 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              1st world problems 😀

              1. Bøwstring The Carp
                • 12 Years
                7 years, 10 months ago

                Was there really a crash? 😆

                I've been AWOL the last 12 hours or so

                1. Epic Fail
                  • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                  • 13 Years
                  7 years, 10 months ago

                  Aye, went down around 30 mins before the proper deadline.

                  1. FCRuthless
                    • 9 Years
                    7 years, 10 months ago

                    was down for me for 2 hours before the deadline.

          10. FPL Emu
            • 13 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Yes, we should have expected it.

            But that does not mean it is not an FPL responsibility. Especially with no explicit warning about it.

            Which means players should be compensated with an extra FT or chip or whatever. The best solution would be deadline extension, however.

            1. Epic Fail
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 13 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              How are those who sorted out their teams going to be compensated for the non sorters getting an advantage?

            2. @ocprodigy
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 10 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              You want FPL to spend enormous amounts of money on permanent servers (incl network configuration changes) just for one gameweek, because people can't use their brains?

            3. DeadStarComing
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 13 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              This. The trouble is i'm going to be nervous every week now.

            4. Now I'm Panicking
              • 9 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              The game is free, so they don't have to give anyone anything

            5. Ohhhhh Gary Macca!
              • 9 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              Zzz have a day off, this is like the 4th post you've posted about the deadline. Move on.

          11. cravencottage
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 12 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Love this time of year- still in first and no hits taken yet!

          12. RᴀᴄɪɴɢTᴏᴀᴅ
            • 8 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            £45 on a Leicester win... free money 😀

          13. FISSH
            • 11 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            update man! come on!

          14. Revival
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 11 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Used the scout picks to pick a Sky team, was easily affordable and I can transfer out Vardy for Ibra tomorrow morning to have a Sunday Captain

          15. Total Foot 5 - romario 11
            • 10 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            too late now to enroll team ? my flight got seayed hurs on end and was going to do this last nite

          16. ★Kuntheman★
            • 8 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Would be semi-hilarious if Hull win today.

            1. Bubz
              • 10 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              Not for my fpl team

              1. ★Kuntheman★
                • 8 Years
                7 years, 10 months ago

                Not for mine either

          17. Syd.
            • 15 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Did the FPL site crash?

            1. Grounderz
              • 12 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              Yes. For a good 10 to 15 minutes.

          18. Now I'm Panicking
            • 9 Years
            7 years, 10 months ago

            Shows how crap MOTD is when the only way they can get people to watch it is to make the host strip off - pathetic.

            1. kijsberg
              • 8 Years
              7 years, 10 months ago

              It was a bet, wasn't it?