Thank You! – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League
Over the last few days there have been plenty of posts on our message boards from fantasy managers that have enjoyed fantastic seasons. We won’t take all the credit of course (!) but the feeling is that many of those successes are down to having spent time on the site and having absorbed the wealth of knowledge and advice that is available here, be that articles or conversations on the message boards.
The FF247 Team
In fact, this site would be nothing without those two exact things. The first being the immense efforts and contributions from our editorial team. We would therefore like to extend a huge thank you to the team of experienced fantasy managers that have all made time this year to provide invaluable articles for the site. Special thanks go to Bench, Cookie, Eddy, Init, Kop Warrior, Migs, Mito21 and Potty who have all published numerous regular articles during the course of the season. We would also like to thank those who have published some ad-hoc or guest articles which have been none the less valuable, this year – Mutley, James101, elleffcee, B-Bash, Milk and Busquets, Flingy and NZ Alex. We hope we haven’t missed anyone!
In addition to our great team that give up so much of their time to write for the site, a number of other fantasy managers have also kindly given up their time for interviews with us this year. We have interviewed some great fantasy managers, so special thanks to everyone who has taken part.
We need to take a second to make a special thank you to Floydeth as well. He may be the lesser spotted of the team on the boards but the reality is that without him you would not all be reading this post today as he is the IT brains of the operation and does a fantastic job behind the scenes to make it all possible. Thank you Sir Richard!
Thank you to the Twitter team. Well we say team, we mean Mito really! Cookie covers day-times occasionally and Init did it once so we are told! We have gone from zero to over 3000 followers this season and it’s pretty much all down to one man. Mito, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for a hilarious and sometimes informative twitter feed that supports the site brilliantly.
The FF247 Community
We would like to finish off by thanking everyone who comes on to our message boards and makes this place such a special community. FF247 has become a hot bed of activity as fantasy managers from all over the world exchange thoughts, ideas and suggestions 24 hours a day. This is largely due to a great group of amazing regulars, and for that we are exceptionally grateful. Thank you.
What makes it absolutely fantastic is that 99% of the time it is done in such a fun and friendly manner. We shall be perfectly honest now though… It’s that other 1% that really makes us laugh! We should step in sometimes but the reality is we just kick back, break out the popcorn and watch the fun unfold!
What Next?
Whilst the FPL season may be at an end there is no rest for the wicked at FF247. This week alone we hope to bring you Kop’s FPL team of the season which will no doubt spark many a debate, Cookie has a rather lengthy interview for you with some of the site community, Elleffcee will wrap up the FF247 leagues and then we move on to the next big fantasy game…
THE WORLD CUP!
We will kick off next week with a series of articles brought to you by… well, some of you. We will have detailed analysis and expert opinions on each team and each group and hope to run a group a day to provide you with all you need to know ahead of the fantasy World Cup game. We will have an official FF247 league in the FIFA version of the game (assuming they do it, if not then somewhere else!) and we will bring you details of the league codes in due course and we hope to have articles along the way to help you out.
What else?
Well aside from the World Cup we imagine that MLS will start to take some prominence once more and we have a very strong and competitive league in this game already. As we speak Mito21 is leading the way and is sitting pretty in 29th place in the world. Surely we can’t allow him to walk away with this one? Thought not.
If MLS isn’t your thing then maybe cricket is and as such Potty has a T20 comp starting this week which we are sure he will fill you all in on in due course.
We imagine there will be something else that pops up over the course of the summer as well, there always is but from an FPL point of view we will be back and as strong as ever next season. We thank you all for making this site what it is and hope to see you all over the summer in some capacity or other!
Thank you from the FF247 team.
Well the FIFA Fantasy site is up and running. You can register now.
Just registered. Too bad we can’t pick our squads until June 8th though.
Seems very late that doesn’t it Josh. 4 days before it begins to pick a load of players you don’t know?
Yep I agree, but that’s what it says! 32 teams x 23 players per team = 736 players! Over 64 games! This is going to be one crazy fantasy game haha. And also the players’ values don’t change throughout the tournament, which could be nice.
And all you MLS players, there’s a midweek deadline once again. Wednesday at 8:30pm EST.
I’m really getting in to MLS now! What do you think of your WC squad Josh?
jamesimmo – FPL could learn a lot from the MLS bps system, i think it’s brilliant.
Absolutely NIN. It really is much better than the shambles we have!
Definitely. I like that it rewards players for playing well, despite the result. Yaya Toure would probably have 8000 points going by their system! Haha. Suarez probably 8001 hahah.
Gonna disagree with ye lads…no subs makes the MLS game a farce!
Yeah Kop, no auto subs is a pain in the arse!! I think the bps system is far superior though. Even if it means losing points on Wednesday, ha.
I’ll be honest NIN, I check my team once a week so I don’t know if I lose points or not!
Kop it doesn’t make it a farce it just makes it difficult. I would prefer the auto subs because I can’t be checking every single game for team sheets. All these fantasy games have their pros and cons. I could just as easily say that having your 2nd or 3rd sub in fpl come in (when a manager is trying to hide him at the end of bench) is a farce. In particular when they come in for 7-12 points and the manager was hoping to high hell they would not be needed. A game where you can change your team based on team sheets but lose the auto sub availability if you do so would be better. That way you have an option to manually change them or let it happen automatically.
Mito – “A game where you can change your team based on team sheets but lose the auto sub availability if you do so would be better. That way you have an option to manually change them or let it happen automatically.”
That’s how UCL FF works, it’s a very good system, no doubt.
Mito, any fantasy game where you can change your team after the official teams have been announced is seriously flawed. I’m not just saying that because the MLS games are played in the middle of the night as I probably wouldn’t get to change my FPL team either.
I see nothing wrong with having a 2nd or 3rd sub come in and score points, after all it’s a squad game.
So making a change to your starters when you see team sheets is flawed even though the people you are bringing in are…well in your squad. But bringing in a auto sub that a manager didn’t really want in the 11 because he is in the squad is somehow better. Both systems are wrong in my opinion and to be frank, I would prefer a game where you only pick 11 guys and if someone doesn’t play tough luck, no manual subs & no auto subs.. That to me would be the most fair way. But seeing that they won’t do that I prefer the option of either or. Like apparently UCL works.
Very much so imo…but that’s probably due to my dislike of the fantasy MLS…in all honesty I don’t know why I’m still playing it!!
Nin, +1 with kop there mate, last week only had 9 players with no auto subs, as for bonus points in the premier, they should just scrap them, theres to many discrepancies, pool v newcastle is a great example, johnson + sturridge didn’t want to know ‘ooh we want to go to the world cup, not get injured’ gerrard + suarez played brilliantly for 90 mins, so just because sturridge stood at the back stick + tapped the ball in he got a bonus + goofy never, happened v palace at home earlier in the season aswell. :cuss:
Hi elle. I agree, the lack of auto subs is shite, really shite, but the bps system is what i was talking about, i think it’s perfect. None of the madness that happens with the FPL bps system happens in MLS and when they make a mistake or miss something or whatever, they fix it on a Wednesday, top drawer. It’s a shame about the subs though. Having said that, the FMLS site posts videos every week which have information about who is likely/unlikely to see game time, good picks, players who they reckon need to be sold etc. FMLS Boss has very good info too so there’s ways around it most of the time.
There seems to be some consensus that FMLS has great and not so great elements. I think the BPS system is wonderful and I was very disappointed it was only half implemented into the FPL realm.
The micro management element of FMLS would be bearable if all the games kicked off at the same time, but as we know they’re staggered (which I don’t mind actually!) I also detest the lack of autosubs this year, because it’s clear that if you live in an unforgiving timezone then there’s no way in hell you can be competitive at the sharp end (I wouldn’t have been anyway, but that’s another matter….) . Having said that, it’s surely also a pain in the ass even for those in the USA. After all, who wants to be checking their phone all day on Sunday, and for those who are working, how can they play it without getting sacked? 😉 It appears the only people these new rules suit are those that work in soccerball for a living. i.e. The analysts, ‘experts’, opta guys et al.
For next year, these fellas need to figure out who the game is for, because this year’s version feels like it’s made no consideration for their (considerable) international contingent.
OK I need to lie down now.
Bryan, that’s a great point. As someone who does live in the US, I like how I can change players after finding out the lineups, but that doesn’t help me when all of the game times are staggered to kick off every half hour or hour, which means I have to constantly check twitter for all of the lineups. Ain’t nobody got time for that!!
I do like the bonus point system though since it rewards players even if they don’t get goals or assists. It also pushes the scores up a lot. The minimum that the players usually get is 3 or 4 points instead of 1 or 2 in the FPL game.
And yes, please bring back auto subs. Nothing like finding a couple of zeros in your squad and then having a player with a goal or two on your bench!
Also, that reminds me, I should check my MLS score to see how many points they took away this time!!
Eh I think it’s ok haha you can take a look if you want.
Kronberg, Hall
Farrell, Michel, Myers, Gargan, Miller, Griffiths
Morales, Kitchen, Neagle, Feilhaber, Ishizaki, Fochive
Torres, Dwyer, Plata, Fondy
How’s your team looking?
Have yous been making transfers throughout the week guys? Manager who haven’t could be in trouble, major value lost.
NIN – I made a few at the beginning of the week to get in the guys who I thought were going to rise and took out all my major guys (Dempsey, Bruin) who were going to fall.
Good stuff Josh, a lot have probably lost out. dgw players for gwk11-14 have all risen considerably. My current team was well over 2m cheaper at the start of this deadline!
Josh, thanks, but I meant America’s World Cup squad haha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_men's_national_soccer_team There you go mate. Look how many caps Donovan has!!
Man, I love it when I’m typing a long comment on here and my computer/internet decides to be weird and freeze up, therefore losing my words. So annoying.
So James, I had a big comment all typed up explaining the USA’s situation, but I don’t think I want to type it up again haha. Unless people are interested in reading that. So I’ll give you the short-ish version.
It’s a good mix of players. One thing that’s interesting is the amount of players Klinsmann brought in who can play right back. Geoff Cameron will most likely be one of our CBs. Omar Gonzalez makes way too many errors to play that position at the World Cup and Brad Evans plays RM for Seattle! Not sure why he’s still being called up as a defender. Beasley will most likely start at LB, although I would prefer Fabian Johnson.
The RB spot is totally wide open though. I would pick Cameron to play it, but he can’t obviously if he’s in the middle. It could be either Michael Parkhurst or Timmy Chandler. So here’s how Klinsmann will mostly line up in the first game against Ghana.
Howard
Cameron, Gonzalez, Besler, Beasley
Jones, Bradley
Zusi, Dempsey, Donovan
Altidore
I don’t like the idea of Gonzalez or Beasley being in there. Beasley is going to get bullied and pushed around by bigger players. If I had it my way, I would probably line up like this:
Howard
Parkhurst/Chandler, Cameron, Besler, F Johnson
Zusi, Beckerman, Bradley, Donovan
Dempsey, Altidore
This formation allows Bradley get forward at will with Beckerman staying home in front of the defense. This is how he played in the game against Mexico and it worked really well for the first 45 minutes where we just dominated them. These are just a few possibilities though. Cameron could be moved to RB, where he plays for Stoke, and Clarence Goodson can be called into the middle. Also, Beasley can keep his spot at LB, and Fabian Johnson can be pushed up into midfield, leaving Donovan on the bench.
Josh if they play your line up they will get maimed. :hippo:
Their defense is too weak to play with anything other than 2 holding mids. If they were in a different group or at the very least had one opponent who they definitely were better than I say go for it. But one could easily make an argument that they are the weakest team in the group and they can’t afford to offer advantages. Park the bus and hope they can score on the counter might be their only chance. I am afraid that this team feels more like the 98 team than the 02 team.
Mito, I would agree with the 2 holding mids, but Jones isn’t really a defensive mid. Neither is Bradley. Jones goes forward too much and we get caught out too often because we can’t have both he and Bradley forward. That’s why I wouldn’t mind Beckerman playing because he’ll be happy to sit back more often than not. And Dempsey will most likely be playing as a 5th mid anyway, so he’ll have to track back a little bit. You could bring Beasley into LB and push Johnson up to left mid, which can make them a little stronger defensively. I’m still unsure of what kind of role Donovan will be playing though. Starter or sub?
I prefer Becks over Jones also, so we have no quarrel there. I also prefer Fabian Johnson starting if possible he is creative and he can track back and help defensively specially if they play Damarcus at LB, he is going to need help. I would play Landon off the bench.
Evening, so we’ve ruled out the US, who’s going to win it then? My top 4 are
1.Argentina
2. Spain
3. Brazil
4. Germany
Whoa, whoa, whoa there Init, we haven’t ruled out anyone yet 😉
I think the top 4 are probably gonna be Brazil, Spain, Argentina, and Germany. And then Brazil to meet either Argentina or Germany in the final. Not sure who would win that though.
You’ve just done it again 😉
I don’t trust Argentina. Their defence is shaky and they are very vulnerable on set pieces. They are certainly helped by the path they have to take though. They might see the easiest fixture list all the way to the semis. Germany is not using a striker, unless you want to count Klose as one, not sure how that is going to work out.
I’ll be my boring predictable self and say Brazil
Boring works.
Haha I wasn’t sure if I was going to write my optimistic or my realistic choices. Went with the latter 😉 But actually, if we can somehow get out of the group, there is a real chance that we can advance to the quarterfinals since Group H is fairly weak. Belgium is inexperienced and if we somehow keep out Ronaldo, then surely we can keep out Hazard and Belgium, right? And what do you think of England’s chances are of getting out of the group?
Better chances than the U.S.
:finger:
Never used this one before, but I felt it was appropriate haha
can i j have a link for fifa game please
http://m.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2014/m=5/news=mcdonald-s-world-cup-fantasy-is-back-2336126.html
Cheers init
McDonalds, that’s a shocker altogether. I’d forgotten about that.
have you guys been on FFC recently?
there’s some news going on there and i think we all owe that place a little of our time…
just wanted everyone to know as i know that place was a spacial place for me, and an important part of the majority of the people’s lives here…
really hope he’ll join us sometimes at least here…
oh, it’s probably too late for anyone to see this…
well if you do spread the word to the people who don’t i think…
Cheers bob.
no probs nin – thought it a rarther important thing to share
Yeah mate, it was. I’m glad i got the chance to post a little something, thanks 2bob.
yeah me too…
i’ll miss that place…
Yeah me too. Luckily we were blessed with this new, fantastic site eh? Time for me to hit the hay now 2bob, catch ya later mate.
too right nin, too right!
im off to bed too now
Thanks billis, just saw that. Hoping he joins us over here.
Afternoon Lads,Lasses and you Oldies.
Firstly,everyone in The Perfect 32 and The Willy and Wally Leagues that have e-mailed me last night,in the wee hours and today, well tonight i will be answering everyone of them so check your in-boxes at some point later.
Secondly here are some of my Summer Plans for you all to know about that will be on this site over the next 2 months.
1=This Weekend looming…Pottys Fa Cup Prediction Special which should go LIVE tomorrow.
2=Pottys Fantasy World Cup.
3=Pottys “Goals Create Gold” World Cup Predictions Competition.
4=”Weekly”….finance and sexual advice available at no extra cost, covers all areas from the size of ones wallet to the size of ones Body Parts.
Yes…Pottys summer is going to be fun for us all.
Potty
Looking forward o that Potty! To the FF247 community: I am new at this site for posting comments, however I have enjoying reading the articles and comments of you guys this season. This is my second FPL season and luckily (thanks to this site ..?) I managed an overall ranking of 578 this season, which I am happy about. Since I am one of the Perfect 32 (group H) I thought it was time to introduce myself. I am one of the few Dutch FF247 fans who happens to like watching PL on rainy afternoons. For now: goodluck to Holland (we will need that; especially the Dutch defense) and England in the WC and thank you for all the articles and comments !
Evening wolf, that’s a fine ranking indeed! Looking forward to the WCFF now.
Welcome to the site Wolfie, great tanking mate
If that’s tanking imagine if he tried. 😉
Hey Kop, did you get my email?
That sounds a bit private . 😉
Just spotted it now Josh. About to have dinner so I’ll fire you a response later.
Kop do you mean you rank mating 😉
I’ve turned into Bench
Nah, I don’t think Bench would mate with ranking. #marriedtobeer
Will FF247 be doing a world cup league if that’s possible in the game?
Never played it.
Shadow read the article above this 😉 Here is the link
http://en.mcdonalds.fantasy.fifa.com/rules_help/index
That goes to the rules bit but you can navigate from there to register. Articles around this will begin this weekend I hope. We will announce the league code ASAP.
Ok, thanks! Registered so will just wait now