Welcome to the Fantasy Football Scout mini-leagues and community competitions end-of-season round-up, where we congratulate the 2020/21 winners as well as the new FPL Champion.
FFSCOUT OPEN-TO-ALL LEAGUE
Pandin Bruyne held on, just, to claim victory in our Fantasy Football Scout mini-league on a tense final day.
Ray Freeman bridged the 11-point gap separating the pair ahead of the final round to finish level on points but it wasn’t quite enough – Pandin won on ‘transfer difference’, having made 38 trades to Ray’s 50.
Pandin finished the campaign with three successive red arrows, slipping from second in Gameweek 35 to 17th in the world. He had been in the overall top ten since Gameweek 26.
This was his eighth season, with two previous finishes just outside the top 50k.
There were a total of 49,409 teams who participated in the mini-league, and there was quality as well as quantity.
Fantasy Football Scout was the Best League in FPL.
The average score of the top five teams is used to rank the mini-leagues, so congratulations (and thanks) to Pandin Bruyne, Ray Freeman, Robert Tuck, Thomas Lumley and Hariharan Subramanian, all of whom finished in the overall top 30.
Pro Pundit Andy Mears’s youtube.com/letstalkfpl took second place.
FFSCOUT COMMUNITY MEMBERS LEAGUE
Robert Tuck (aka COVID-CASUAL) has won our Fantasy Football Scout Community Members mini-league by ten points from Nathan Jobling, finishing 25th overall. This was Robert’s 11th season, his best previous finish being 45,017th in 2007/08. As he remarks in his profile, he has been taking FPL far more seriously since COVID.
The table below, courtesy of Mini-League Mate, shows the top 20 leaderboard.
(click on image above to enlarge)
The top five in our Community Members mini-league are all awarded prizes:
| First place | Robert Tuck | £500 Amazon voucher |
| Second place | Nathan Jobling | £250 Amazon voucher |
| Third place | Matt Carve | £100 Amazon voucher |
| Fourth place | Fraser Harrison | £50 Amazon voucher |
| Fifth place | Arka Das | Premium Membership |
Congratulations!
And the prizes don’t stop there – the Manager of the Month award for May goes to Luke Pasfield, who wins a £50 Amazon voucher.
Luke totalled 369 points in Gameweeks 35 to 38, he started his run with a Bench Boost-assisted 175, followed by scores of 55, 72 and 67.
This was his eighth season playing FPL and he ended up with an excellent 15k rank. He’s twice achieved higher positions, coming 218th in 2016/17 and 2,174th in 2017/18.
For the six winners to claim their prizes, please email geoff@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk.
The previous monthly winners were:
| September | Hamdy Sameeh |
| October | Emmanuel Oloche |
| November | James Frimpong |
| December | Josh Paulin |
| January | Ed Salinger |
| February | Alvin Chiang |
| March | Show Time |
| April | Zac Balsan |
FPL CHAMPION
The 2020/21 FPL Champion is Michael Coone (aka FPL_TeddyBears).
Michael played all his five chips within a twelve-Gameweek period. He used his First Wildcard in Gameweek 15, his Free Hit in Blank Gameweek 18, his Bench Boost in Double Gameweek 19, his Second Wildcard in Double Gameweek 25, and, finally, he Triple Captained Harry Kane in Double Gameweek 26.
He entered the top ten in Gameweek 21, hitting the number one spot in Gameweeks 29 and 30. From then on, he remained in the top three till he returned to number one in Gameweek 38, when he captained Sadio Mané for a score of 88.
Michael has been playing for 13 seasons but had never previously finished higher than 75k. He joined us for a question and answer session ahead of Gameweek 30, when he revealed that he did not actually own any teddy bears but promised to buy one if he won!
Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Ola Hovde, who had led for all but five rounds from Gameweek 10 to Gameweek 37. On the last day he scored only 53(-4) and dropped to tenth.
The top three managers – Michael, Mohamad Abdallah and Viktor Johansson – all beat the previous highest winning total of 2,668, set by Jon Reeson (aka Westfield Irons) in 2009/10.
Jon won at a canter that year, topping the table for the last 11 Gameweeks. But, perhaps more impressively, he achieved his lofty points tally at a time when only one chip was available – a single Wildcard.
Nonetheless, there were twelve Double Gameweeks that season and Jon clearly made the most of them – this season had ‘only’ six doubles and a triple.
HEAD-TO-HEAD LEAGUES
Finnish manager Ville Tuominen (aka Santigold) became the 2020/21 Head-to-Head Champion following a dramatic conclusion to his season-long tussle with Aleksander Våge Nilsen (aka AleksanderVN).
Norwegian manager Aleksander led by three points entering the final round but all outcomes remained on the table – including a tie for first place. Aleksander was 13 points adrift in the overall standings and the leading pair had made the same number of transfers.
But the win, draw or high-scoring defeat Aleksander needed failed to materialize, as he lost 56-73 to Peter Murphy. Ville completed the turnaround with a 66-52 win over David Meechan.
So Ville, who finished fifth in League 2 Division 1 last season, claimed the title thanks to his superior rank (42,650th compared to Aleksander’s 68,621st). The two elite managers are 172nd and 92nd respectively in our Live Hall of Fame.
Below is a screenshot of the final standings in League 1. An interactive version of the table can be found on the main Head-to-Head page.
In the tenth versus eleventh relegation six pointer, Richard Clarke beat David Arblaster 71-55 to ensure his survival in the showcase division.
Both managers brought in Sadio Mané, although David did so for a hit, and both captained Mohamed Salah. The tie ultimately became a five-a-side match as the two managers shared six players.
But ten points from Vladimir Coufal together with assists from Raphinha and Son Heung-min helped Richard to a relatively comfortable win.
And down in League 8 Division 39, a final day victory helped Rafsan Swapnil end the campaign as the highest-scoring manager in our Head-to-Head leagues.
He accumulated an impressive 96 points out of a possible 114 and easily won his division by 21 points. Rafsan finished 59k overall, his first top 200k finish in his eighth season.
FFS CUPS
The qualifying round for the Open tournament took place in Gameweek 25, with the Members-only competition starting seven days later.
Out of the 1,536 who qualified for the knockout rounds, the two managers adding silverware to their trophy cabinets were:
FFS Members Cup: Mohd Rodzi
FFS Open Cup: Genovoze
The winners each received a £150 Amazon voucher with the two runners-up, EUG in the Members Cup and Mince n Tatties in the Open Cup, picking up £100 Amazon vouchers.
The two third-place play-off winners claimed £50 Amazon vouchers, well done to Rossaldinho and Jambo17.
Neale covered the action in each of the finals here.
LAST MAN STANDING
The eighth edition of TorresMagic’s Last Man Standing competition saw 4,557 people take part. Joining the seven previous winners was The Hsuper One, who secured himself a free Premium Membership for the 2021/22 season.
The incredible consistency required to win the LMS helped The Hsuper One to a career best rank of 17,452.
Four managers took part in the Grand Final, the three runners-up were Amit Sharma, Community Members league winner, Robert Tuck, and Steven Schelk.
TOP 10,000 ANY SEASON
Vegard Knutsen is the winner of my Top 10k Any Season mini-league, open to all those with a top 10,000 finish in their career history.
Vegard won by nine points from Jan Kępski, finishing 58th overall.
Vegard has played FPL on and off for four seasons, starting back in 2014/15. He’s now achieved a top 10,000 rank in two of those four years.
TOP 1,000 ANY SEASON
Ray Freeman has won PDM’s Top 1k ANY season mini-league by 28 points with Jan Kępski once again coming second.
Ray, who was second in the FFScout Open-to-all mini-league, finished 19th overall.
His FPL career dates back to at least 2006/07 and in that time he’s finished in the top 1,000 four times.
TOP 1,000 HALL OF FAME
Ray also won Chaballer’s Hall of Fame >Top 1k< mini-league, a comfortable 54 points ahead of Paul Strange. Ray is 113th in our Live Hall of Fame and Paul 74th.
A special mention to Tom Stephenson (aka Badgers9) who once again achieved a top five finish after claiming the runners-up spot in last year’s mini-league.
MULTIPLE TOP 10,000 ANY SEASON
Congratulations to John Forshaw who claimed first place in my Multiple Top 10k Finishes mini-league by 22 points. Jack Penn (aka ZoumasBloomers) picked up the silver medal.
After twice finishing inside the top 10,000 before, John achieved a career-best 396th overall following a last round Bench Boost score of 81 points.
John’s FPL journey offers hope to all those who struggled this season. His best-ever rank followed his worst-ever rank, as he bounced back from 1,243,545th in 2019/20.
TOP 100 ANY SEASON
Killingholme Clay triumphed in the elite Top 100 Any Season mini-league.
He beat Richard Scoular by 33 points to end the season 1,127th overall. This is his second-best finish after his excellent 53rd in 2008/09.
FPL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Even more exclusive than the ‘top 100 mini-league’ is the ‘top one any season’ mini-league, aka Simon March’s FPL Champions League
Seven former winners took part this year with 2009/10 Champion Jon Reeson (aka Westfield Irons) adding the ‘FPL Super Cup’ to his gleaming trophy cabinet.
He held off the challenge of 2019/20 FPL Champion Joshua Bull to win by 16 points and finish 33k overall, his best rank since 2011/12.
FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT MODS AND CONS
Jack Penn won the FFS Mods & Cons mini-league by five points from Andy Mears, finishing just outside the top thousand at 1,028th.
It was a career-best rank for Jack, who peaked at 849 in the overall standings in Gameweek 32, and his third in the top 10,000.
Andy was the highest ranked of our Pro Pundits, nine points ahead of Fábio Borges and 12 in front of FFS founder Mark Sutherns.
Andy came 1,294th overall and, like Jack, it was his third top 10,000 finish.
In Gameweek 38, Holly Shand was the highest-scoring Pro Pundit for the second week in a row. Her 88 points was thanks to double-figure hauls from Mané, Ederson, Coufal and Kane.
She ended the season with four successive green arrows which pushed her up to 35,354th overall.
FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT NETWORK
FFS Commercial Director Chris James (aka El Fozzie) was crowned winner of the inaugural Fantasy Football Scout Network mini-league.
The Everton fan beat Babis Kokkinis of FPL Greece by nine points to achieve his first ever top 10,000 end-of-season rank, coming 5,048th overall.
THE NEXT GREAT AND THE GOOD
Les Caldwell (aka Shuddahaddum) gained entry into Greyhead’s exclusive ‘The Great and The Good’ community series by winning The Next Great and The Good mini-league.
David Cousins (aka Pumped Up Kicks) came second, 25 points behind Les.
Les managed his first top 1,000 finish, sneaking inside the elite mark at 922nd overall.
THE OPENING DAY LEAGUE
Les has also won my Opening Day League which, as the name suggests, was for managers who joined within the first 24 hours of the FPL launch on 15 August last year.
He beat second-placed David George by 34 points.
FPL VETS 2006 OR BEFORE
In Skooldaze’s FPL Vets 2006 or before mini-league, Anoop K (aka RobinHuth) celebrated victory over Andy Short by 22 points.
Seasoned FPL manager Anoop achieved his fourth top 10,000 rank in 15 years, finishing 3,490th overall.
JANUARY TO MAY LEAGUE
Tristan Lomas (aka Triggy) took first place in my January to May League by 27 points from Ray Freeman.
Tristan rose from 441k overall at the beginning of Gameweek 17, when the league started scoring, to his final rank of 580th.
Having played his First Wildcard in Gameweek 16, he then played his Bench Boost for 136 points in Double Gameweek 19, Triple Captained Harry Kane in Double Gameweek 26, played his Second Wildcard in Gameweek 31 and, finally, his Free Hit for 133 points in Triple Gameweek 35.
THE LAST TEN
And, rounding off the roll call of mini-league winners for 2020/21, Robert Tuck completed a memorable season by adding The Last Ten to his list of accolades.
His 695 points in ten Gameweeks was just one point more than Rahul Deb.
Robert used three of his chips after the league started scoring in Gameweek 29, playing his Second Wildcard in Gameweek 31, Triple Captaining Harry Kane in Double Gameweek 32 and deploying his Free Hit in Blank Gameweek 36.
GET INVOLVED
Any questions relating to community competitions please email geoff@fantasyfootballscout.co.uk or comment below this article.
Many thanks to TopMarx for his contributions and enjoy the Summer break!
2 years, 10 months agoCongratulations to all the winners this year, and many thanks to RedLightning for the dedication he's shown to keep on top of all these mini-leagues every Gameweek - no easy task.
I'm hoping I can emulate John Forshaw in 2021/22 and recover from a disappointing campaign. I'm impressed at the reversal of fortune after he finished outside the top one million last year.