Fantasy Football Scout community writer Greyhead is back with his 2025/26 series of The Great and the Good articles, analysing the transfers and strategies of some well-known Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
This season’s elite are the FPL Godfather Mark Sutherns, BlackBox pair Az and Andy North, Scouts FPL General, Joe Lepper and Tom Freeman, FPL Wire’s Pras, Lateriser and Zophar, FPL ‘celebrities’ FPL Harry, Martin Baker, Pingreen, FPL Frasier and Luke Williams, Hall of Famers Ben Crellin, Fabio Borges and Tom Dollimore, plus last year’s mini-league winner Huss E.
“We are going to DefCon one!”
Here we go! Did you do anything nice this summer? The last couple of months will have seen many an FPL manager retreat to some unnatural habitats – spending quality time with their friends and family, without absent-mindedly muttering about £4.5m defender rotation.
Others may have spent an inordinate amount of time in garden centres, having to give opinions on bedding plants, whilst the most committed players will have been busy tracking defensive contribution (DC) points in pre-season friendlies or even playing Club World Cup Fantasy – the fools!
In our absence, FPL Towers have also been busy introducing an AI manager. It appears that ‘The Terminator’ films were a documentary series after all, and Arnie will soon be to blame for your misjudged transfers.
They then went a step further by doubling the chip allowance, before seemingly scoring an own goal with the AFCON extra transfers.
Still, it’s FPL and it’s back!
WHAT IS THE GREAT AND THE GOOD?
Before going any further, I appreciate that some lucky few may be stumbling across these articles for the first time. Allow me to let you know what you’re in for, so you can brace for impact.
(For those who’ve read along for the last eight years, feel free to skip – your long service badge is in the post!)
The too-long, can’t be bothered to read version is that I’m tracking the progress of a group of hand-picked, leading FPL managers to see what we can learn from their moves, strategies and occasional errors.
It also allows you, as the reader, to feel good about yourself if you beat any of them – or blame bad luck, content creators or algorithmic models if you don’t. Alongside the stats, I poke a little fun at them and add a few subtle and not-so-subtle puns.
The Great and The Good combines prominent FPL managers with quieter types, boasting track records that appear to defy data models. Just don’t call them elite or experts!
Over time, a small rivalry has developed between them, as they try to win this fictitious Fantasy league and lay claim to being the greatest of The Great and The Good. Previous winners include Fabio Borges, Mark Sutherns, FPL Harry, Ville Ronka (bonus points for remembering him) and Ben Crellin.
In other news, the more dedicated types can receive the Great and the Good Deadline Day email and dossier directly to their inbox courtesy of Mini League Mate. Special thanks here to Top Marx for making this happen.
Click here and under ‘Join an existing league’, enter your name and email together with league code MLM0001. It’s all free!
Anyway, let’s introduce the stars of our show.
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD: CLASS OF 25/26
Mark Sutherns
Let’s start at the top, and I mean the top, as Mark has taken the moniker of FPL Godfather seriously by moving into a position of power at FPL Towers. His exact role is shrouded in mystery. However, I fully expect a ‘magic bean’ chip to be introduced. He’s a legendary FPL manager with 10 – yes, 10 – top 10k finishes.
Ben Crellin
Has won this ‘competition’ for the last two campaigns, as he proudly shares on that evil social media platform, whilst also showing his love for bird ornaments. Ben is, to put it mildly, rather good at FPL and spreadsheets.
FPL Harry
We don’t really need the AI Assistant, as a large number of people have been copying YouTuber Harry’s team for years, such has been his success. Each of the last five years has brought top 10k finishes. Can he topple Ben this season, though?
Fabio Borges
I fully admit to being a Fabio fan boy, irresistibly combining superb rank history with an enigmatic absence from the FPL mainstream. At his peak, he had seven successive top 5k finishes, with six of those inside the top 2k, which is why he’s considered by many as the FPL GOAT.
FPL General
Not a real member of the military, but a legend of the FPL world who once had a stunning run of three top 500 finishes in four seasons. He provides sage wisdom in this world of clickbait. However, General appears to have thrown all that out the window with his decision to go without either Mohamed Salah (£14.5m) or Erling Haaland (£14.0m) all season. Thoughts and prayers go out to him.
Az, Andy North and Luke Williams
The three musketeers of FPL BlackBox who give a weekly combination of insight and wit, along with Andy, who is there to look pretty and press the buttons… occasionally at the right time.
Az has finished four times in the top 10k, Luke has three of them, while Andy still has none. However, Mr North won last season’s personal three-way battle, so he who laughs last and all that.
Pras, Lateriser and Zophar
The FPL Wire boys return with a combined 19 top 10k finishes and some of the best high-brow content out there, talking lots about macro strategy. Luckily, Zophar is always on hand with his customary smutty Chris Wood (£7.6m) joke to provide the balance.
Joe Lepper and Tom Freeman
Next up is Joe, one of the OGs of The Great and The Good. He is the Mr Consistent of FPL, with a reputation for cautious approaches. His inclusion is like picking Elliot Anderson (£5.5m) for his DC points.
Often alongside him on Scout videos is Tom Freeman, who has a knack for picking the right differential, boasts a phenomenal FPL track record and is one of the best writers around. Scout’s Deputy Editor often edits these articles, so if you think I am sucking up, then you are absolutely right.
Tom Dollimore
Now, the newcomers. We’ve gone big by securing arguably the best current FPL manager in the world, someone with four top 4k finishes in the last six seasons, including two in the best 500. That means Fabio, Harry and Ben should be worried. Very worried.
Martin Baker
Next up is the above-average Martin Baker, who knows a thing or two about bonus points and finished 24k last year. He hosts the essential post-weekend review show with Adam and supports Spurs, although clearly that didn’t influence his inclusion.
Pingreen
The self-proclaimed greatest content creator of all time is a massive fan of the mighty algorithm that so many review. Aside from this bluster, his track record over the last three campaigns is impeccable, all ending inside the top 10k, including a finish of 700th, which he barely mentions.
Huss E and Frasier Crane
Finally, we have the two winners of the feeder leagues. Huss E, who won the open to all competition while finishing an astonishing 41st worldwide.
Our invitational champion was Frasier Crane, not to be confused with the Cheers character. This one focuses more on the love of Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) and Manchester United, ending 6,407th and 4,281st in the last couple of seasons. Is he the new Magnus Carlsen?
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
As always, we all start the season with that sense of giddy optimism, although the wiser ones amongst us have at least logged the thought of a minor disaster to lessen its impact, should it come to pass.
The Great and The Good rankings coming out of the opening Gameweek should at least give you cause for comfort if you had a slow start. None of these are currently inside the top 2.8 million.
BlackBox boys Az and Andy North are leading the way on 60 points, guided by Manchester City pair Tijjani Reijnders (£5.6m), aka the FPL second coming, and Rayan Ait-Nouri (£6.0m). DC points proved to be key for the latter.
While Man City’s performance may encourage more to invest, their immediate fixtures are probably in the meh category for now. It’s Gameweek 6 where we’ll probably see a lot of tripling-up, by fair or Free Hit means.
Luke Williams was not far behind, as a trio of Tottenham Hotspur defensive assets proved key. Clearly, he has a lot of faith in the Thomas Frank revolution. If it works, he’ll have a big rank boost, and upcoming fixtures suggest there may be more feast than famine.
After all that initial talk of Gameweek 1 Bench Boosts, the arrival of cheap picks Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) and Marc Guiu (£4.5m) meant that all of The Great and The Good gang have delayed that decision until such names are fully fit and starting. It means they can use the chip without any unnecessary investment in substitutes.
All eyes might be on the Gameweek 2 team news, though. Some may flick the switch then, depending on whether Guiu looks likely to make it off the Sunderland bench.
Unsurprisingly, the default position was to captain Salah – unless you didn’t own him, General. Hopefully, next week will provide a bit more armband spice, although the favoured options of Cole Palmer (£10.5m) and Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) did very little to spark confidence.
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD TEMPLATE
Now it’s time to reveal this season’s original template. The number of these in your squad will say something about your appetite for adventure. Percentage ownership is in brackets
Dubravka (66.7%), Sels (55.6%)
Porro (94.4%), Murillo (61.1%), Esteve (50.0%), Rodon (33.3%), Romero/Richards (22.2%)
Palmer (100%), Salah (94.4%), Wirtz (72.2%), Reijnders (61.1%), Fernandes (50%)
Watkins (77.7%), Guiu (66.7%), Joao Pedro/Strand Larsen (38.9%)
The spine of the template is solid, with Palmer unanimous and Salah, Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) and Pedro Porro (£5.5m) close behind.
In fact, the midfield seems settled, with the general consensus being to have the two heavyweights plus either Fernandes or Florian Wirtz (£8.5m) – pronounced Veer-tz for those podcasters out there. Plus a couple of cheap rotating accompaniments.
The real differentiation comes from the second forward spot and in defence, where everyone seems to disagree on which £4.5m defenders are best.
Fabio, Tom, Joe and Mark found space for Saka at the expense of Fernandes, therefore going cheap at the back. In fact, Mr Borges doubled up on £4.0m defenders.
FPL General also has Saka, made possible by being the only one without Salah and Haaland. Taking a more maverick stance allows him to spend more on defence, with the aforementioned Ait-Nouri catching the eye and being his highlight throughout a difficult opening weekend.
As mentioned, when it comes to the choice of strikers, it’s a mixed bag. It’s worthy of note that the current Hall of Fame top two, Ben Crellin and Tom Dollimore, chose Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.5m) because of upcoming fixtures and his strong end-of-season form.
MAVERICK OR SAFE?
Like any good long-distance race, the opinion at this stage usually involves staying with the pack. But let’s see how many of these managers have followed that advice.
Ratings below come via that wonderful site Live.FPL, worth a visit for those who enjoy watching their Gameweek crumble in real time.
Hi honey, we’re boring! Yes, 16 of these 18 are considered ‘moderately template’ with their picks, so thank goodness for FPL General and Fabio.
The former is seen as a daredevil, whereas the latter is doubling up on Brighton and Hove Albion’s defence. If only the final whistle had been blown slightly earlier for the Portuguese maestro.
CONCLUSION
Now that the first week is out of the way, we can all breathe.
Remember, FPL is like a nine-month Fantasy pregnancy in that there is still a lot of sweating, screaming, pain and tears before we find out what rank will be delivered. With that ill-judged metaphor, I bid you adieu and pray that Mrs Greyhead doesn’t read this paragraph.
Anyway, that’s all from me for now, and remember: don’t have FPL nightmares.
Those affected by any of the topics raised in the above article can find me here on Twitter or BlueSky.
