From data analysis to personal stories, the Community Articles section of Fantasy Football Scout is home to some thought-provoking, user-penned pieces.
In the article below, nine-year member Nigel The Crab discusses mental health and the approaches he’s using to ensure he has an enjoyable season.
In December 2022 I wrote about playing FPL with ASD/ADHD, how challenging it can be and how I was experimenting with a very specific (well odd) approach.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I completely failed and effectively nuked a good start to the season by finishing in the lower depths of 3m+. It turned out to be a blessing as I learned a lot about myself through playing the game and what to do this season to manage the game through the lens of my neurodiverse eyes.
I want to start by expressing how much I love this game. And I really do. I recently lost my father to cancer and having this game to look forward to has been most welcome, whilst recognising that the addictive nature of this game hits hard on mental health when we place too much meaning on it.
What I’m going to share here isn’t going to be ground-breaking, it’s going to comprise of some likely very well-trodden aphorisms and long-known strategies. The hope is that some of this will be helpful and will make a difference to someone reading it.
Why do we obsess sometimes over things like FPL?
A lot of the time it’s to give us a sense that we have control over our lives. When I was unhappy in an old job, I focused on specific things in my home, organising things in particular ways and having routines that gave a semblance of control. FPL gives us that sense of control because it engages our frontal lobe, the logic centre of our brain that we use for planning, organising and logical thinking – as well as controlling our emotions. The more engrossed we are in FPL the more we stimulate that part of our brain and more control we feel we have. The greater the illusion of control, the bigger the crash when the game doesn’t go the way you wanted, and then you re-enter the cycle of trying to gain control. As an autistic adult, I can tell you that this isn’t just mentally exhausting, it’s physically exhausting too. It ruins the game at times for me.
My takeaways from last season of the FPL season, and indeed life that encompassed it was to consider the things in life right now that I perceived outside of my control that I was using FPL as a crutch for. Some people procrastinate, some people run around busying themselves, whereas some of us will engage FPL for hours and hours instead of dealing with an issue.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Here are my personal ASD/ADHD FPL approaches to 23/24 season:
1. One team that you treat as if it’s someone else’s and another you treat as transfer city!
Yes, this is another way of saying “have more than one team” but there’s more to it than that. Having a team you give yourself carte blanche to spam transfers with gives you freedom to make changes without pressure. You know it’s not really going to be competitive if you take a -28 for the 3rd week running (I should know, I’ve done it) so give yourself permission to create that knee-jerk team that indulges that need. You may find it diminishes the need to do so. I’ll be running a team in honour of my Father as well as my own that I’ll knee jerk transfers with. My father wasn’t one for frivolous transfers or last minute changes and whilst this might seem odd, it’s about creating enabling constraints, a workable structure and set of boundaries within to operate in. It asks “how can I be more responsible with this team?”.
2. Avoid FPL content on a Saturday morning
This might seem extreme but I must have taken at least 60 points in hits alone responding to content on a Saturday morning. It just isn’t worth it. If you’re like me, my autism can often manifest in a complete mistrust of my own judgement. So watching live streams 10:30am on a Saturday morning can be fun but it’s going to put second doubts in your mind. Yes you are going to miss those random Pep benchings but I still lost my mini league to someone who only logged in once a week on a Thursday! Avoiding content on a Saturday morning is as much managing the overload on a matchday and reducing pressure to make likely pointless decisions.
3. Hedge your bets
You’ve just transferred out Phil Foden for Kai Havertz, in your mind it’s the right thing to do this Gameweek. But lo and behold it doesn’t work out and you kick yourself for the absurdity of the move. You entered into that transfer with too much hope and no alternative reward system, and for neurodivergents we desperately crave the dopamine. You need a win-win scenario. When I was a QPR season ticket holder I used to bet against my own team! Small amounts, so if QPR won, hurrah, massive dopamine hit. But if QPR lost, hurrah that was dinner paid for! I’m certainly not advocating gambling, instead I’m talking about limiting the impact of a decision upon your mental health. Let’s say Kai Havertz has had a stinker of a game, but you agreed with your wife you’d have a curry if he did and you just love a Garlic Chilli King Prawn. From that point onwards its Garlic Chilli Kai Prawn Curry everytime he blanks! It sounds silly but sometimes the silly things bring the levity we need.
4. Player Play-offs
My autistic brain simply cannot cope with too much choice. So much so that we had a ‘World Cup of Names’ when it came to determining my second daughters name. It’s something I apply with FPL too when I have to make a choice between, for example from a pool of players from a price point, or two price points. I’ve got 8 players to pick from and my brain will melt if I start going through endless stats, and I LOVE the stats of this website, they’re fantastic. However at the start of a season that’s tricky when there’s no data! Instead I pair off players and play them off against each other before narrowing them down to a singular pick. It might look a little bit like this
Section A winner plays Section B winner
Phil Foden vs Kai “Garlic Chilli” Havertz
Section B winner plays Section A winner
Bryan Mbeumo vs Pascal Gross
And then simply I’ll go with either who I fancy more or whatever data I’ve got. If I didn’t take this approach I’d likely crowbar them all in, end up with a terrible defence and forward line and wonder why I couldn’t have simply made the choice of going just with Pascal Gross because he was on penalties! This isn’t really about process, it’s about narrowing choices through a filter that works for you. As the season progresses the player comparison section of this very website makes this filtering process even easier and synergises well with the ‘player play-off’ approach.
5. Match Of The Day Challenge
When I’ve really felt the pinch of addiction I’ve gone mobile phone cold turkey on a Saturday. My family deserve my time and attention not my being glued to various audio commentaries and live score apps. Towards the end of the season I’d leave my phone at home and avoid all football until MoTD. It isn’t easy. It requires a lot of will power but I found I enjoyed football and FPL so much more when it wasn’t taking up the entiriety of a Saturday!
With these five approaches I know I’m not just going to have a better season, I’m actually going to enjoy the season and be more present around my loved ones. You likely have your own suggestions, likely much better than mine and some I’m certain I’d benefit from and if you do, please drop them in the comments section. Thank you for reading and here’s to a new season of kind mental health as well as great football.
