Lets be honest its bloomin’ cold in Blighty at the moment. Whilst the majority can sit tight at home wrapped in blankets with a hot drink, many hardy souls still brave their local grounds to watch and support their teams whatever the weather. For them the inconvience of a cold nose is overidden by the passion for their team. However sometimes the weather becomes so bad that games simply cannot take place no matter how much the fans want them to.
In the past the problem was the fact that pitches would freeze over meaning they became unplayable. Advances in undersoil heating has meant that this is less of an issue for the majority of Premier League clubs these days. Indeed Fulham, who were notorious for not having undersoil heating, had it installed over the summer. One team who still live in the dark ages with in this area is unsurprisingly Blackpool who, if you will remember, had issues getting their ground up to spec for the start of the season. Unfortunately this could have a serious impact on our Fantasy Football teams.
Blackpool’s next three fixtures include games against Manchester United and Tottenham, games which would likely provide potential captain choices. In the past the concern for a captain would be if he didn’t play you would just get zero points multiplied to zero. Thankfully now, like it or loath it, with the Emergency captain strategy function this is no longer an issue. It does, however, mean that with the cold weather playing havoc with the fixture list, players should keep a careful eye on who their potential substitute captain is.
Blackpool’s fixtures are by no means the only one players should keep an eye out on. Last season for example Wigan Athletic, who had worked furiously all week to ensure access to the DW Stadium was safe for supporters, had to call off their match against Aston Villa after their undersoil heating broke down. Elsewhere clubs, worried about the safety of fans around the ground, have been known to call games off. A point Gary Lineker picked up on last season
‘It is not the fault of the clubs. Because of the icy roads and car parks, they are probably terrified of getting sued if someone slips over on the way to the game. It’s a sign of the times we live in. The irony is that undersoil heating has helped the pitches but because there is less common sense these days in allowing fans to decide for themselves if they want to go to the game, we still have a large number of postponements.’
Situations like this are uncontrollable and there is little more we can do as FPL manager’s than keep a careful eye on updates on Fantasy Football Scout and the local clubs websites. Caution over transfers, which is usually advised, is therefore even more important at this time of year.
I remember last season I was affected by the snow and it cost me my place in the FPL cup. I was one point behind my opponent in the league with Lee of Bolton to play away at Wigan. Surely he’s get more than one point and i’d cruise into the next round? what happened? yep, the game was called off. Its ok i thought, i’ve got subs to come in. Guess who my sub was – one Michael Turner who’d been sent off that weekend. I ended up losing the cup game by 3 points all because of health and safety concerns around the ground. The pitch was fine but apparently the roads weren’t. Thanks a lot Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
There were concerns around todays game between Newcastle and Chelsea and thankfully Sky Sports News provided ample updates on the status of the game. That was not before a number of people on the Fantasy Football Scout forums discussed and worried over the likelihood of the game being called off. There is genuinely no better place to keep up to date with potential games being called off than the Scout boards and the Scout Twitter though, so make sure you keep visiting to find out potential postponements.
All in all the advice is to keep careful attention to potential games which could be affected, Newcastle, Sunderland and Wigan have been notorious in the past for game cancellation as well as ensuring that you keep up to date with your Emergency captain. Fingers crossed no games will be called off, but at least we have the consolation of potential double game week in the future. Every Cloud etc.
