Ladies and gentlemen, grab your favourite waistcoat, tracksuit, or oversized coat and join us for the inaugural FFS Manager Melee!
The community organising committee, consisting of some wise experienced heads and some fresh assistants on the touchline, are delighted to announce this new tournament where teams representing managers past and present will compete for the coveted crown of being last manager standing!
So, will Fergie claim another title? Will it finally be Klopp’s year? Or will Allardyce prove that you can win ugly?
How does it work?
The tournament is essentially what you get if you put the Champions League and the Ryder Cup alone together and ask them to make magic.
The tournament consists of 16 teams, each with 11 members. There will initially be four groups of four teams each, with the top two in each group progressing to the knockout stages.
Every team will be led by a manager-cum-player who will pick eight players from their team to start each Gameweek, including a weekly captain. The remaining three players will be sent to the substitute’s bench.
The players must be picked in a certain order (with the captain leading his troops by going up first) as this will determine the H2H fixtures for that week. The eight players will then compete against their opposite number (by virtue of their respective scores in a given Gameweek). If victorious, they will earn a point for their manager, if tied then each side will earn a half point, and losers will take home nothing except a sense of shame.
The clash of captains, however, is worth two points, so it will be down to the managers on each side to carefully choose which bicep they wish to strap the armband around.
After all eight matches have been played in a given fixture, the team with the most points overall wins.
As an aside, the Bench Boost and Triple Captain chips and their effects will not be calculated, but hits will be taken into account.
Who is it for?
Anybody who is part of the FFS community with a FPL team can enter. There are no restrictions based on your FFS join date or your FPL overall rank history; we want to embrace the ‘community’ aspect and welcome those of various experience and skill levels.
When will the tournament run?
The tournament will consist of an initial seeding round, then a six-week group stage where each team in a group will play each other twice, before the three-week knockouts consisting of the quarters, semis, and final.
There will be some scheduled blanks in-between, particularly around the hectic festive period.
The seeding round is currently pencilled in for Gameweek 13 (November 24 – after the next international break).
How are the teams picked?
The draft of yesteryear is gone. Instead, this year we want to give free rein to managers to assemble their own squads. Whether that be sticking with your teammates from previous tournaments, joining up with your online friends, or recruiting in the comment sections of FFS articles.
This process will be detailed much more closely in a future article, so hold off for now! We will not permit players to be recruited until we have released the next article.
How do I apply to be a manager?
If you are interested in being a manager, then email ffscommunityorganisers@gmail.com with your FFS name, FPL ID, and details of any previous community tournament experience or relevant factors.
The deadline for applying to be a manager will be November 7.
If you would prefer to just be a player, then sit tight and wait for the next article!
Anything Else?
Aside from weekly and monthly accolades, there will also be season-long awards such as Team of the Season and Most Valuable Player.
If you have any further queries or comments you can email us at ffscommunityorganisers@gmail.com or place a comment below. We hope you enjoy our tournament!
The FFS Manager Melee Committee is: Darth_Krid, Lawro, Speedyboyzzzz, Toblerone52, Mr. Hindsight, Rhinos, Boris Bodega, FC Lackless, and Professor B.
