FFL Blog

So its January and you’re full of the cold, well it must be time to COUGH UP for those FFL SUBS.  A fiver is all we ask and we give you options to pay:

• Cash (in person to Iain, myself or one of my stooges)
• Paypal - see link on the site when you log in
• Account Transfer - sort code: 72-00-00 account 03711889 (alliance & leicester a/c).  Please add your name as a reference if using this
• Cheque - please email me at simon@simonsffl.com for address and payee details

HOW DO I KNOW IF I HAVE PAID OR NOT?
Log in and if you don’t see the paypal sign on the right hand side of the page, then you have paid up already.  Chances are that you haven’t though as there are still 83 of you to pay

Right, now its on to week 21

NO SURPRISES
It was cup replay time in week 21 and as the heading said, no surprises - Spurs took apart a fading Cardiff side 4-0, Fulham squeezed past Leiceser 4-3 with Vincenzo “The Little Aeroplane” Montella bagging 2, Boro also squeezed past Hull 4-3 (Viduka the top man), Man City beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 and the final no surprise was that Newcastle’s defence shipped 5 (yes, five) at home to Birmingham.  Another year goes past without a trophy for the Magpies and we’ll be saying the same in 5, 10 and 15 years time.

THE TOP FOUR
Couldn’t be more contrived if it starred Angela Landsbury, the top 4 by a quirk of the fixture calendar meet on the same weekend. Except that this was the first time this season that they were the top four.  Liverpool’s plan of playing decent strikers against a defence who can’t defend and have only 2 defenders paid off as Chelsea continued to slump 2-0. A resigned Mourinho accepted his fate humanely.  Less straightforward on Sunday as Arsenal staged a terrific comeback to beat the leaders 2-1.

FISTICUFFS….
between Reading and Sheffield United who come to blows in a fierce tempered game.  Gillespie sent off for a witless thump of Steven Hunt (you coudl understand it if Gillespie was Petr Cech), which was followed by Warnock and Reading assistant manager Wally Downs having a wee rumble.  Red cards all round and the 3 points went Reading’s way.

FINALLY A WIN
For Villa who have been simply waiting for Watford to arrive at Villa Park and then 84 minutes before they eventually broke through thanks to an own goal.  And for Charlton (no really) only 26 games since their last away win at Portsmouth, they won again at Portsmouth with ex-Portsmouth player Amdy Faye scoring.

LANCASHIRE DERBIES
These happen every week in the Premiership, but there might be a few less next year if Wigan keep losing - 2-0 at home to Everton, and while Man City are probably safe, they cant afford to lose 3-0 at home to Blackburn too often.

THANK GOODNESS WE WERE PLAYING WEST HAM AND NOT THOSE GIANTS OF THE GAME BIRMINGHAM
So cried Newcastle fans after coming back from 2-0 down to grab a point at home to the Hammers

YOU’D NEVER BELIEVE IT BUT THIS IS ALWAYS A HIGH-SCORING FIXTURE
Middlesbrough v Bolton (no I haven’t gone mad) - 5-1 to Boro with Downing the wing wizard with 1 goal and 3 assists.  Chief scab Viduka bagged another 2

NOT MUCH TO SAY
1-1 at the Cottage between Fulham and Spurs - Montella & Chimbonda.

THE TABLE
Sons of the Rock continue to be the villain of the peace, and comfortably so.  The only shift in the top 10 is Don Juan Donohoe moving into 7th.  Top of the tree in the weekly stakes are FFS Telfer with 62 (6-2 you say?) followed by the Dishonest Men.  Further behind are the freeloading Macca’s Winning XI, Stu’s Super Saints and Rough Draft Testimonial XI.  OH go on  then, honourable mentions for Sydney couple How Can I Support Bellamy?, Reyes is easy on the eye down under, LEE United, Tullibody United, Wayne Loves Coleen’s Nan (Little Britain sketch springs horribly to mind) and Canadian’s Can’t Play Soccer

THE MANAGER OF THE MONTH SO FAR
Just who can stop the Sons of the Rock heading for another MoM and me having to come up with another prize?  Well our erstwhile tipster, Bayern Bru are currently the Stanley Redwine’s (80s athletics joke) of the bunch heading into the final week that will include only the FA Cup 4th round matches and Watford’s game at home to Blackburn

THE CUP
Draw coming this week…qualifying round on weekend of Feb 3 - winners into Cup, losers into plate….

This week in the FFL, its the turn of the FA Cup to influence matters.  A funny one this, as many sides leave out their top stars, those who do play may profit heavily and it may even suit you for your players to go to a replay, for this counts also.  First though the league action of 2 January.

THE BREAD AND BUTTER
Arsenal wiped the floor with Charlton who seem to improve for a match or two each time they appoint a new manager and then decay back to their very worst.  In the days other match, Villa stopped the rot with a home 0-0 draw with a faltering Chelsea side - plenty of clean sheets.

THEY MIGHT NOT BE GIANTS
Speaking of Charlton, it wasn’t a massive surprise that Nottingham Forest also wiped the floor with them, albeit less abrasively winning only 2-0.  A giant kill, it would not have been 10 years ago and 20 years ago you might have expected Swansea to win at Sheffield United, but perhaps not so convincingly, 3-0.

BUSINESS AS USUAL
Chelsea scraped through 6-1 against Macclesfield as Jose falls out with his board - is his a clever Le Guen style get out clause - is that why John Terry isn’t playing??   Bolton survived the pitfalls at cup specialists Doncaster with a 4-0 win, West Ham saw off Brighton 3-0 with Tevez starring, Watford surprised us all by scoring 4 against Stockport

ALL PREMIERSHIP CLASHES
Arsenal turned Liverpool over at Anfield although not quite as dramatically as they would do later in the week; Henrik Larsson took the spring out of Martin O’Neill’s step with a virtuoso debut for Man Utd; Portsmouth took care of business against a disappointing Wigan side and Blackburn’s second string gave Everton what for - 4-1 at Goodison.

LETS TRY AGAIN
Man City, Fulham, Tottenham, Newcastle and Middlesbrough picked up away draws at lower level opposition, so some extra points could be coming your way in the next week.

THE TABLE
The Sons of the Rock hold on to the top spot with some clear daylight to the first half winner, Jane’s Buddies.  Brahms & Lizst, Jack Bauer’s Back and Dude Where’s My Shoes make up the top 5.  Moving up into contention are also Bad Boy Family, Don Juan Donohoe, Why Tommy Smyth with a Y and the freeloading What Entry Fee.  None of these teams however were the main breadwinners of the week.  Top were Goalz Goalz Goalz Goalz Goalz (is that enough goalz) with loadza goalz in their 75 points, Real Larkhall, Athletico Pathetico, Bainnie Boys Battlers II (more of them later) and Bayern Bru.  Otherwise upwardly mobile teams included A Team Less Ordinary, Help Ma Boab, Fatmacsafftaeoz and FC Spacecows.

Spare a though also for Pretend Its Random Utd who having pointed out how well they were doing, yet receiving no publicity, finally get a mention yet slip a couple of places.

AN UNUSUAL REQUEST
Clearly wishing to erase the very memory of PLG’s time down Govan way, FFL manager David Paton has petitioned for a rename of his side, Dukla Guen My Son to something a bit more traditional - Dukla Guen Walter & Ally. Obviously keen to keep all our managers happy we were more than happy to oblige, but couldnt help wondering whether the team could be called something else like Dukla Guen Turn Yer Back on Yer Country or Dukla Guen Turn the Clock Back XI.  Anyway, permission officially granted - David’s team is doing far too well to be linked with Monsieur Le Guen.

A NEW CONTRIBUTOR- COMING SOON
In recognition of the biggest mini-league in FFL, those cheeky lads and ladies at KPMG, we felt some extra exposure was needed.   Colin Bain, best known as manager of Bainnie Boy’s Battlers II has been providing his own analysis on the KPMG minileague as the season has progressed and we felt it only fair that the rest of the league got the chance to read some of Colins’ insights.  Should be with us within a couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled and you might read some better chat than I can muster.  It might even inspire a few others to comment on the other minileagues

Before we get into the mire that is Week 18 - the biggest week of the FFL year, an important announcment about our HALFWAY LEADER and FIRST HALF PRIZE WINNER

It is with pleasure that, with 19 Premiership games completed as at 23 December, we can announce the first prize winner of the season…..and it is of course Jane’s Buddies - congratulations to Jane Ross who picks up the £25 prize (to be confirmed - paid at end of season). Jane, of course is clearly a manager in form also being the current FFL Cup holder - so are the Buddies the team to beat? We’ll find out as the season unfolds.

WEEK 18

As noted above this is the big week, with 3 sets of matches played by all bar, Arsenal, Villa, Chelsea & Charlton (their “3rd” game falls into next week) and Watford & Wigan who had their “2nd” match abandoned amidst monsoon like conditions.

The January transfer window causes a wee unforeseen problem for our snazzy new front page. Where a player who is not yet in FFL - Derbyshire of Blackburn or Edgar of Newcastle scores (how dare they!) it throws out the nice scores at the side of the page and actually shows incorrect scores, i.e. Newcastle 1 Man U 2 instead of 2-2 and Wigan 0 Blackburn 2 instead of 0-3. Dont crucify us for that please…

Also the top players points are only for the latest matchday. For info therefore the big earners on Boxing Day included - Drogba (15), Primus (14), Defoe (12), Berbatov (11), D Bent & Gilberto (10) and Ronaldo, Trabelsi, Friedel and Dunne (9).

Top dogs on 30 December were Ronaldo (18), Anichebe (13), D Bent, Andy Cole & Solksjaer (10), Carragher & Distin (9) and Savage, K Davies, Lampard & Volz (8)

THE BEST BITS
With 27 games played there are a lot to choose from including Chelsea dropping points like a man with hot buttery fingers - at home as well against Reading & Fulham - thanks to Ashley Cole and Essien for their pantomime horse performance at the own goal. Reading themselves pulled off the performance of the week thumping 6 past a supposedly revived West Ham or was it Sheffield United in putting the travel-sick Arsenal to the sword despite having midfielder Jagielka in goal for 30 minutes. Arsenal managed just one shot on target in that time.

Charlton gave themselves some hope with some points against Fulham and Villa, while Watford stay in the bottom spot. Bolton were on a nice run of form but their small squad told on them a little against the ever-changing Liverpool wjere they lost 3-0 to a Dirk Kuyt masterclass, lest thee not forget Peter Crouch’s “daddylonglegs crawling up the wall” overhead kick. Many of the other teams continued their inconsistent runs including Tottenham but points came about for Man City, Blackburn and Everton, Middlesbrough occasionally but none for Villa as they slide from their early season peak.

THE STANDINGS
What to make of it all? After a turbo charged week its all change at the top as the Sons of the Rock prepare for their big day on saturday (lets hope they dont crumble or get washed away) with a storming 133 points in a week to take top spot. And by some margin from Jane’s Buddies and Brahms & Lizst (who were actually top after boxing day). Big big points too for Last years Champs (no you weren’t!) on 132 propelling them to the heady heights of 11th and for teams further down who have got the finger out - namely Bimbibbly Bongo and Wardrobe Gruber Returns.

Thats all the mentions then - oh okay then everyone over 100 gets a mention - How can I Support Bellamy, The Dishonest Men, Tullibody Utd, Rye’n'Apa FC, Samurai Warriors, Vicar in a Tutu, Leyton Orient Express, Tractor Toms Tips, Brahms & Lizst and There’s No Place for Sexism in Football now impressively into 5th - but presumably not managed by Mike Newell.

AND FINALLY
Come on folks, always read to the end, for we have another manager of the month award to give away - the hardest to win and this year the December MoM goes to Sons of the Rock (Another Season in the Doledrums) - its hearty congratulations to Graeme Porter who picks up his first ever MoM award at only the 35th time of asking. Yes not only Graeme is the first ‘oldie’ of the season to pick up the award (dont take that the wrong way Graeme), but he always has his entry in absolutely first showing the ruthless efficiency that I can only dream of. Except this year of course, when more time was taken and it has clearly paid off.
Incidentally it wasnt particularly close for MoM, but the rest of the top 5 were the aforementioned Sexism has no Place in Football, Ginger Wizards, last months winners Bracknell Town and Same Rubbish, Different Dobbers - next time perhaps