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UFPL – Don’t Quit, Go For The Grand

Jonty posted over the weekend that he had given up on Ultimate Fantasy Premier League. With injuries mounting up for him and many others the season long prize is obviously out of reach. But why quit? I have a cunning plan to help those in the UFPL doldrums to still enjoy the game. 

The Cunning Plan

What many forget is that there are also £1,000  prizes up for grabs for the manager who has the highest score each month. I’ve been fortunate enough to win one of these and I would urge Jonty and others to have a go at these prizes.

So what is the best strategy? The rules entitle you to loan as many players as you want and if you do it for three weeks the hit is all taken in the first week and the second and third weeks are free. Make as many loans as you want with one week to go in the current month, get rid of the dross and the players with bad form and/or fixtures and buy the players likely to go big in the first and second week of the next month. The hits don’t matter as you have given up on the overall game anyway right? It’s like a free wildcard to set you up for the next monthly prize.

The long month of December with extra festive fixtures (Gameweeks 15 – 19) is tricky, however, as this cunning plan would only cover Gameweeks 15 and 16 within that month. In Gameweek 17 your dross is back and you have to use them  for the next three weeks of the month. But hopefully you will be in a strong position two weeks into the month and can make a loan or two more if required. But why give up? There’s nothing to lose.

By January you can then revamp your team thanks to the transfer window and then look ahead to going for the next five month’s worth of prizes through such strategic use of loans.

*If you can’t remember to find a minute or two to make your subs then this won’t work, but you only have to remember for a few weeks, not the whole season.

57 Comments Post a Comment
  1. J0E
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    A very cunning plan indeed (in best Baldrick voice).

    Consider me in on this. So which players should I consider getting in if I made a stab at the December prize?

    1. Wild Rover
      • 13 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Look at the ticker 😉 Actually I'm at work atm but will call in later tonight.

      1. Spike ⚽️
        • 12 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        Good article WR 🙂

        1. J0E
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • Has Moderation Rights
          • 14 Years
          8 years, 4 months ago

          Yep, very timely. The above picture is just half of my red flag brigage. Complete dogs dinner season wise. You've certainly got me interested in terms of the monthly prize though.

        2. Wild Rover
          • 13 Years
          8 years, 4 months ago

          Thanks. I should add that it's not too late to join if anyone fancies a go. There are still 6 months to play for, so less than £1 a month to enter.

      2. Gizzachance
        • 9 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        i have just joined ufpl for the reason you said,to have stab at monthly prize,got to be innit to winnit. joined to late for nov period, last gw was my first getting over 80 pts,but forgot to change some players !lanzini still on bench etc,but lesson learnt, the loans you were on about are gr8 idea if youve not had best month, but use them to set team up for the next month,,,,cheeers

    2. The Fantastic Mr Fox
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Loved the Baldrick bit.

      Blackjonty Rides Forth

  2. jambo17
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Looking at my monthly score for November, I don't think it's taken off my loan points before the first week of November (GW 12). Does this mean we could make loans before the first week of the month and not lose points and get the loan for 3 weeks?

    1. Wild Rover
      • 13 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      They are deducted at the start of the first gw they come into play, so to ensure no loan fees for Dec you would make the loans before the deadline for gw14. This would give you gw 15 and 16 with loans still in place but with no cost during Dec.

      1. jambo17
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        On their website it says

        "Any emergency loan point deductions in the Gameweek before a phase starts won't be deducted from the phase score. For example, any emergency loans made in Gameweek 7 (preparing for Gameweek 8) won't be deducted from your October score."

        I'm pretty sure this means you can make the loans for the first week of the month and therefore get 3 weeks of benefit from it.

        1. J0E
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • Has Moderation Rights
          • 14 Years
          8 years, 4 months ago

          Looks like WR is right

          The website says

          The number of points per player that will be deducted depends on how many Gameweeks you wish to loan the player(s) for:

          1 Gameweek – 3 points per player
          2 Gameweeks – 5 points per player
          3 Gameweeks – 6 points per player

          These points will be deducted in full from your overall total at the next Gameweek deadline.

          I take that to mean that ahead of Gameweek 14 the points come off as soon as Gameweek 14 starts.

          1. jambo17
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 10 Years
            8 years, 4 months ago

            They come off for the overall score at that point, but the quote I took from their website above says otherwise for the phase score, i.e. monthly score. This is supported by checking the scores in the monthly league table, where the loans made before the first week aren't subtracted.

          2. Wild Rover
            • 13 Years
            8 years, 4 months ago

            That's how I read it too. When I made my 30pt loan the points came off my score for the week they first played

        2. Wild Rover
          • 13 Years
          8 years, 4 months ago

          I can't find this but if so I stand corrected. 🙂

          1. jambo17
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 10 Years
            8 years, 4 months ago

            It's in the league section of the rules, below the table about the monthly phases. And congratulations on the prize last month! And thanks for the article.

            1. Wild Rover
              • 13 Years
              8 years, 4 months ago

              Thanks. Either way my point remains, why quit with large monthly prize's up for grabs?I

              1. Dr Dream
                • 11 Years
                8 years, 4 months ago

                Just a matter of working it out....Only one real way to test which way to do it...and that's to do it.

            2. J0E
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • Has Moderation Rights
              • 14 Years
              8 years, 4 months ago

              I've re read it and I think WR is right on this. As the article says December is tricky anyway as it has 5 not the usual 4 fixtures so worth using it as a test case.

              I'll make these moves ahead of gwk 14 so they will still be valid 15 and 16.

      2. Gizzachance
        • 9 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        so for no pts loss in dec ,you would have to make loans this week ? cheers

    • 10 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Great plan, this is harder this year than last, which had 4 week loans, but the cheaper loans still make this viable as they give you more room to manoeuvre later in the month.

    Also I suggest people out of the OR contention use their January transfers to aim for the month of February too.

    Right, off to make a ticker 🙂

    1. Wild Rover
      • 13 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Indeed, after the first 2 weeks when your loans expire you can see the Month out with new loans at a cost of only 2pts per player per week.

  3. Dr Dream
    • 11 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Already on it.

    40th for the month so far...

    One major howler....I had such an armada of riches that I benched Barkley....Had I not done that I would be in 4th spot for the month.

    Nonetheless what it proves is that by carefully picking the right squad with Sunday and MNF fixtures the monthly prize is easily doable.

    Don't forget when you raise a new team you are playing against squads full of Shaw's,, Jagielka's, lens, Silva, Aguero etc...Or whoever else is crocked that month.

  4. Van Klinkert Delarosa
    • 9 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Shame that this game is only limited for England resident only. Would certainly give it a crack if it is open for all.

    The plan you laid out is the same one with everyone that playing in the ML with monthly prizes, as the scores reset in beginning of the month you can treat your last week of the previous month as the wildcard week or in ML aspect (period between the month).

    Won me couple of prizes last season with this approach as most of people set their eyes on overall prizes instead of the monthly one.

    1. Van Klinkert Delarosa
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Interesting read, mate. 🙂

    2. Dr Dream
      • 11 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Do the same with H2H's mini leagues....

      Every now and again if you know you are likely to lose that week through injuries just go mad with hits....

      I love this side of the game and it why I never....and never will....have OR as a consideration for me.
      It takes a lot of the tactical part of the game away.

      1. J0E
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 14 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        This has completely revolutionised my outlook on UFPL.

        1. Dr Dream
          • 11 Years
          8 years, 4 months ago

          Same goes for FPL Jonty...well for me anyway...

          I have a hit record second to none because I never bother with OR...just my family mini league and H2H's...

          Every week I look at four rivals teams and decide who they have that maybe they shouldn't have and pick to beat them...Or just decide I can't win and pick for the week after with some hits.

          The mindset is totally different for any game where you ditch the notion of a season long OR being the most important part of the game.

          Just try to imagine how very different FPL and UFPL would be of OR didn't exist...scarily different....It would be all tactical picks.

      2. Van Klinkert Delarosa
        • 9 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        I've never been involved in H2H ML with prizes, but I'll keep it that in mind. 🙂

        Personally, I enjoyed this FPL game much more when I played / break it down to these small ML challenge (GW by GW challenge, monthly challenge). OR is overrated. 😛

    3. djenzio
      • 9 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      limited to England residents?

      1. Wild Rover
        • 13 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        No, although there are some exclusions

      2. Van Klinkert Delarosa
        • 9 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        I think in the first year they make it playable (after the Beta version) it was limited to people with UK passport or something like that, iirc.

      3. Jøssy ⭐
        • 9 Years
        8 years, 3 months ago

        There are certain countries where online gambling is illegal certainly

        VPN 😉

  5. Sjaugen
    • 8 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    I love how niche this article is.
    Basically advise to rig a sister game, from one player to an other.
    Still love it 🙂

    1. Wild Rover
      • 13 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Eh? You lost me. Nobody is rigging anything.

      1. Sjaugen
        • 8 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        Rigging is the wrong word, and way more negative than I intended.
        Optimizing for a specific goal, neutralizing the negative effects, fits better.
        No harm meant.

        1. Wild Rover
          • 13 Years
          8 years, 4 months ago

          No problem 🙂

  6. VS10_
    • 8 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    I loved the beta version of UFPL, but unfortunately I can't play anymore because of the country restrictions. 🙁

  7. Dr Dream
    • 11 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Just to clarify the other (more expensive way) of doing this....See above...

    UFPL rules aren't the same as FPL for entries and read as follows...

    "Only one entry to the game is allowed per email address. Nothing shall prevent a player submitting more than one entry by using different unique registered user accounts."

    Thus...if you are a gambling sort of a person you can raise a new team each month for the princely sum of five English quids with a view to taking a shot at the monthly prize.

    The longer the game goes on for the more GW1 squads can become riddled with long, or short, term injury picks and players that have fallen out of favour.

    Any monthly squad can take advantage of that by a manger choosing only the new set of injury free inform players with fixtures to boot (the usual MD2 and MD3 picks to be carefully observed).

    I have raised my first team for the monthly team for the month of November on this basis...I'll keep you posted....

    1. SomewhatPleasing
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Following our previous chat on this I also entered a Nov team. Currently 3 points behind you in 6th place for the month.

      Not having Barkley hurt last week .

      Am looking forward to the weekend, should be very exciting.

      Best of luck to us both.

  8. Baines on Toast...
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Stupid question but where can I see the monthly scores and tables on UFPL?

    1. Dr Dream
      • 11 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Click the overall league and then change the drop down menu to the month...

      1. Baines on Toast...
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        thanks!

  9. Wild Rover
    • 13 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    I have checked and rechecked my scores and can confirm 100% that the points are deducted from the first week your new loan players feature. If anyone wants an explanation let me know and I'll go into more detail when I am home later. 🙂

  10. J0E
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • Has Moderation Rights
    • 14 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    RMUFPLTFD

    (Rate My UFPL Team For December)

    This is for GWKS 14-16...but only Gwks 15-16 in reality.

    Mignolet Howard Hennessy

    TobyA Kosc Kolarov Smalling Bellerin Dann Moreno Cathcart

    Eriksen Barkley Ozil Coutinho Firmino Mahrez Wij Gosling

    Aguero Kane Lukaku Ighalo Ayoze Jerome

    Heavy on Spurs, Everton and Liverpool. Due to fixtures and MTD2 and 3 considerations.

    Any thoughts appreciated.

    1. GreenWindmill
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Confident Coutinho will be playing? I suspect he will be but Klopp isn't one to risk a semi-fit player.

      Double Arsenal defence with no Coquelin is bold.

      Jerome feels like filler - guessing the budget is exhausted?

      1. J0E
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 14 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        Ah yes...sorry one of those will go. Not sure who for yet. Any thoughts welcome.

        And re Jerome...yes he's filler from the original. Over those two fixtures he will not play.

        And re Coutinho - remember this is for GWK 15 and 16. I have to make them for GWK 14 but don't really care whether they play or not that week.

    2. Wild Rover
      • 13 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      Will have a good look tonight 🙂

      1. J0E
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • Has Moderation Rights
        • 14 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        cheers. I'll take a look tomorrow.

        1. Wild Rover
          • 13 Years
          8 years, 4 months ago

          All decent picks Jonty but imo you have too few fillers. You can't play everyone and I have several that I have never used. It's a bit pointless having a bench full of top players if you can't bring some of them in because the early starters also did well. (Nice problem to have though). Love the forwards, too much in defence Imo. I try to have a few top players and a few punts starting with a good bench. Expect the cheapos to fail and it's a nice feeling when they come good so you can chuck out the fours and fives knowing you have big hitters on the bench.

          Get more cheapos to fund some Chelsea 😉

          1. J0E
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • Has Moderation Rights
            • 14 Years
            8 years, 4 months ago

            Great advice. Will have a rethink and investigate some cheapos from MD1 to surprise me...and then be replaced by Kane if they don't. 🙂

            Not sure which Chelsea to go for. I guess Costa or Hazard?

  11. Hibbo
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Planning on giving this a rattle for the December MOTM with a fresh squad having never played the game before.

    Thinking a month with a lot of gameweeks could give a fresh full squad even more advantage.

    1. J0E
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 14 Years
      8 years, 4 months ago

      I think so too. Do it definitely. Then in January you have lots of free transfers for that month and then you can keep the cycle going.

      1. Hibbo
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        8 years, 4 months ago

        I will definitely.

        Looking at a what kind of squad I can out together at the minute.

  12. powderjunkie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 9 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Thanks for sharing that, it's a really good idea. I've just goty team ready for December by spending 96 points on transfers.

  13. GHB
    • 13 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Only just seen this. Superb article.

  14. Revival
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    8 years, 4 months ago

    Just spotted this Article, Why had I never considered this before now!!
    City, Arsenal, Utd, Spurs, Chelsea and Liverpool all seem to have 2 good looking fixtures for GW's 15 and 16 too and with Liverpool having 2 Sunday games looks worthwhile getting some more of their players in.

  15. BabyB
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    8 years, 3 months ago

    just joined ufpl for the first time to have a go at the monthly prize.

    Anyone got the FFS league code i could use please?

    Thanks