When Fantasy Premier League (FPL) opened its doors a couple of weeks ago, we weren’t far behind. Fantasy Football Scout got the ball rolling on our Head to Head leagues for the 2011/12 season by creating another two more and asked you all to stick your names in the hat for entry.
You kindly responded in your droves and after many man hours of wading through the entries, and a glamorous draw which took place on Saturday morning, we have had over 60 new leagues places to hand out to the lucky few recipients of our draw. The results (click to enlarge) and final figures on the nine Head to Head leagues (new entries highlighted) are as follows…
As you can see from the graphic above, there was at least one extra place in all of our leagues – be it from people dropping out or not claiming their spot in time. Firstly, if you see your name highlighted in that peach melba colour then you should have already received an email response to that which you entered with your respective league codes – if not, then whizz me over an email and I’ll sort things out for you.
Impressive Tackle and Back on the horse are the healthiest recipients who have jumped all the way up to FFS H2H 1 thanks to having the superior ranking of all our draw winners – Impressive Tackle finished a mind-bending 14th in the world last year.
Gooner Dave wasn’t far behind so takes up the single space left in FFS H2H 2. Four new managers get to take on Fantasy Football Scout head honcho Mark in FFS H2H 3 – Have they got what it takes to beat “The Scout”? I’m sure they’ll relish the challenge.
LawnDart jumps right into FFS H2H 4 on his own while FFS H2H 5 sees three new managers get to compete with Fantasy Football Scout super scribe Sir Paulos, podcast jockey Granville and differential destroyer (and my main rival) Big Dunc – without doubt the most Scout heavy Head to Head league.
Our Stateside Scout Da Beeeez is joined by three new faces in FFS H2H 6 with guiness416, Heisenberg and pompeyfan getting a jump up into our league structure.
FFS H2H 7 was our bottom league last season so sees a fair few new faces join its ranks thanks to a whole load of relegations – our comment-board regulars will perhaps recognise the likes of Johnny Unitas, Horizontal and RaspingDrive in amongst the qualifiers.
Scout business brain El Fozzie is heading up FFS H2H 8 (the first of two new leagues which has nineteen new faces) – Greeny was the best ranked manager of this bunch at a very respectable 17,284th place last season.
Certainly, 17,284th is more than I could have ever hoped for, which perhaps explains why I am heading up FFS H2H 9 – or what I am now dubbing “The Underachievers”. You will notice plenty of recognisable faces from long time caller Pasqualinho to King Nil Miss with a certain Westfield Irons inbetween. The Irons are the team managed by none other than Jon Reeson, winner of the whole 2009/10 FPL campaign and Marks’ Radio companion. Last season saw Jon struggle to keep up appearances following his banner year but is back ahead of the 2011/12 season and will undoubtedly have 19 Head to Head rivals eager for the victory scalp of an ex-FPL champion.
For those of you needing a reminder of how our promotion/relegation works then have a gander at the following graphic and work out just where you need to finish to survive and/or prosper.
This, of course, indicates that we know we need to cater for many more than just the 180 managers in our Head to Head leagues above. So without further ado we also christen the opening of the Fantasy Football Scout Reserve League (code: 759-148560).
If you were unfortunate enough to not have your name pulled out of the hat in the draw/got relegated/left it too late to claim your place then the Reserve League is open to anyone wanting to enter. Your league code (759-148560) should allow you the chance for 38 Fantasy Football Scout endorsed Head to Head fixtures and the shot at promotion into the aforementioned structure – just make sure your team finishes in the top 45 places and then keep your eyes peeled the following summer if you do.
Stick around for sporadic League updates through the season whenever we can squeeze them in, I’ll hopefully have a short graphic based one up in the early September international break and our first comprehensive movers and shakers report in the following October break.
Congratulations to our 60+ draw winners. Get joining our Reserve League if you’re not in on the action. I’m going for a stiff Ribena, am glad all that work is almost over until next summer. Good luck. Except to those in League Nine- I need all the help I can get in that one.
