Premier League Fantasy Football 2018-19

[Neil Graham]

First Quarter Report Weeks 1-10

Usual methodology - 5 pts for a 1st place down to 1 pt for a 5th place - number of weeks in brackets.

They say that cream rises to the top - well for Premier Chess Fantasy Football that's certainly the case. 2014 winner Richard Beach got off to a flier and was the only player to feature in the top five for all ten weeks, including seven at number one. However a host of high scorers - notably 2016 winner Gareth Yeo and runner-up Mark Leonard were hot on Richard's heels scoring in nine of the ten weeks. The other featured names include plenty of fantasy experts with three times winner Andrew Harley, who was champion in both 2017 & 2018 ominously in the top five for seven of the ten weeks.

1. Richard Beach 46 pts (10)
2. Mark Leonard 33 pts (9)
3. Gareth Yeo 28 pts (9)
4. Adam Bremner 13 pts (5)
5. Andrew Harley 9 pts (7)
6= Sam Herring 6 pts (4)
Richard Pert 6 pts (2)
8, Robert Ashworth 5 pts (2)
9. Eldar Alizada 4 pts (2)

Meanwhile Richard Beach was top scorer on two separate weeks with Grant Bucher the only other captain to equal this.

[Neil Graham]

Week 11

Well better late than never............... just the top five places. Paul Spiller and Robert Ashworth move into positions 4 & 5.

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 89 779
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 66 746
3 The Beach Boys Richard Beach 63 739
4 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 88 706
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 80 703

[Neil Graham]

Week 12

November 9th Slavisa Jokanovic."Right now, where we are in bottom of the Premier League, this speculation is normal. But I don't have time to gossip." November 14th Fulham manager Jokanovic sacked.

Paul Spiller's Happy Days with a flag waving top score of 70 points whilst Tom Thorpe's Chess Army hoist up the white flag with a low score of 30. The top five teams retain their positions from last week.

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 56 835
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 54 800
3 The Beach Boys Richard Beach 51 790
4 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 70 776
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 68 771

For West Ham supporters - Lock, Stock and Carroll or a quick response to their ex-keeper DropItLikeitsHart

[Neil Graham]

Week 13

The pressure will build until we get positive results in Premier League games.” Mark Hughes

We've managed to get through November with just one managerial casualty. Surely Sparky Hughes must be next? Alan Pardew is waiting in the wings and Harry Redknapp in the Jungle. Meanwhile the Premier League slip a Friday night game in again!! Nearly missed it. Dave Ledger is the top scorer of the week with 93 points whilst David Lambert's "Hibbert for England" is backmarker on 26 points. Tony Hibbert played for Everton for 25 years, signing schoolboy forms in 1991 and eventually retiring in 2016 - he now runs a carp fishery in France. No change in the top five from last week.

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 62 897
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 41 841
3 The Beach Boys Richard Beach 35 821
4 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 47 819
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 47 818

And for Everton fans - a few team names Hi Ho Silva lining plenty of times; similarly Kings of Leon Osman.

[Neil Graham]

Week 14

Rather later than planned (Week 15 has already taken place and will be reviewed before Week 16 I hope) here is a brief summary in the week when Mark Hughes was dismissed as predicted in Week 13. Whilst Sparky was an obvious choice for the golden boot "out of the door" , the next candidate is rather harder to anticipate. Top scorer of the week was John Garnett with a mind-blowing 88 points whilst Tom Thorpe with a mind-numbing 11 points was low scorer of the week. As last season, the early cut and thrust has been replaced by the very orderly sight of the five leaders maintaining their positions at the top of the League - the top four teams scored 64, 60, 58 & 59 so unsurprisingly "no change"

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 64 961
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 60 901
3 The Beach Boys Richard Beach 58 879
4 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 59 878
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 41 859

[Neil Graham]

Week 15

"It is my goal to get my name known here in the Premier League." Ralph Hasenhuttl.

For those of you who don't recognize the above name, Ralph is the new manager of Southampton replacing Sparky Hughes who, no doubt, will be reappearing elsewhere shortly (Reading for example). League Leader Mark Leonard reaches 1,000 points and has now moved up to 47th place overall but still trailing the leader Toni Haapanen of Finland who has 1112 points by over 70. Of more significance, Mark is now well clear of the field with long time leader Richard Beach now 100 points plus in arrears. It took till Week 18 last year for a Premier Chess team to reach 1,000 points. Stormin' performance of the week by It's Raining Mendy, Gareth Yeo's 2nd placed team with 84 points whilst Sabrina Chevannes team The Gay Boys occupy the bottom slot with a miserable 23 points.

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 79 1040
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 84 985
3 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 61 939
4 The Beach Boys Richard Beach 56 935
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 63 922

Wolves fans might like the following team names S Club Neves or NevesSayNevesAgain

[John Garnett]

League Leader Mark Leonard reaches 1,000 points and has now moved up to 47th place overall but still trailing the leader Toni Haapanen of Finland who has 1112 points by over 70.

Is 47th the highest anyone in our league has ever been?

[Neil Graham]

League Leader Mark Leonard reaches 1,000 points and has now moved up to 47th place overall but still trailing the leader Toni Haapanen of Finland who has 1112 points by over 70.

Is 47th the highest anyone in our league has ever been?

I can't ever recall anyone reaching these dizzy heights before (bearing in mind there are nearly 6,000,000 entrants). However it's the end of season positions that really reflect how a team has performed - already plenty of teams have dropped by the wayside and we are still not at the halfway stage.
Andrew Harley's 589th in 2007/8 is the best performance I'm aware of by a Premier Chess regular - though someone in one of the other leagues I play in once finished 38th overall.

[Neil Graham]

Week 16

“I thought it was going to be difficult, but I’ve felt so at home and loved every minute for being around you all, Harry Redknapp - clearly not talking about his time as Southampton Manager.

After 15 weeks - most of them in first position - we've lost Richard Beach from the top five in the first change since Week 11. The purple Quality Street to Lawrence Cooper who scored 99 points whilst the sticky Toffee Penny goes to Kevin Williamson who could only manage 28 points. We start our "Up for the Cup" feature in Week 17. 45 pts and above (League Leader Mark Leonard just making the cut) guaranteed a place in the 1st Round whilst a few those players with 44 points managed to get in on a random draw. How many Premier Chess players will still be in the draw by Week 25?

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 45 1085
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 76 1053
3 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 80 1019
4 Harley Whites Andrew Harley 82 998
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 71 993

Cup opponents Always fascinating to see who we might be playing - first round opponents include Salt & Pepe & FC All In

[Neil Graham]

Week 17

“Everyone starts with a clean slate and we want players to perform, and we’ll give them the chance. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

After the sacking of the not-so-special one Jose Mourinho, the new temporary manager gives his views above. Another newcomer is Alex Sheerin who moves straight into Position Three on the leaderboard - Alex already leads the Suffolk and Anglian Chess Fantasy League - can he do the double here? As we reach the half-way point of the season I will be closing new entries to the League. As usual in an attempt to annoy me a Friday night fixture has been thrown in for Week 18. Week 17 saw a very compacted scoregroup. Tom Thorpe was low scorer on 26 whilst I have yet to determine who was top of the shop - it seems a number of players scored in the high '60s.

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 54 1139
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 63 1116
3 Dreamtreamfc Alex Sheerin 58 1112
4 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 57 1056
5 The Beach Boys Richard Beach 61 1049

Up for the Cup I'll do a complete rundown in future weeks but I'm still seething over my k.o. after drawing 45-45 in the Opening Round. On Saturday I was leading by 36-12 and with Robertson, Alonso, van Dijk, Torreira and Salah to play on Sunday I was confident of victory. Anyway that miserable bunch scored nine points between them whilst my opponent had nominated Hazard as his captain who then scored just the 26 points! A draw resulted and my opponent qualified as Hazard was the only player in either team to score a goal.

[NickFaulks]

Up for the Cup I'll do a complete rundown in future weeks but I'm still seething over my k.o. after drawing 45-45 in the Opening Round. On Saturday I was leading by 36-12 and with Robertson, Alonso, van Dijk, Torreira and Salah to play on Sunday I was confident of victory. Anyway that miserable bunch scored nine points between them whilst my opponent had nominated Hazard as his captain who then scored just the 26 points! A draw resulted and my opponent qualified as Hazard was the only player in either team to score a goal.

I don't really understand a word of this but it sounds like a bummer. Commiserations as appropriate, hope it doesn't ruin your Christmas.

[Neil Graham]

Up for the Cup I'll do a complete rundown in future weeks but I'm still seething over my k.o. after drawing 45-45 in the Opening Round. On Saturday I was leading by 36-12 and with Robertson, Alonso, van Dijk, Torreira and Salah to play on Sunday I was confident of victory. Anyway that miserable bunch scored nine points between them whilst my opponent had nominated Hazard as his captain who then scored just the 26 points! A draw resulted and my opponent qualified as Hazard was the only player in either team to score a goal.

I don't really understand a word of this but it sounds like a bummer. Commiserations as appropriate, hope it doesn't ruin your Christmas.

Several other things have made this a Christmas that has not been the best! As for Fantasy Football it would take much too long to explain here - why don't you join next season - you can then say you beat an IM (don't reveal it's at Fantasy Football though)?

[Neil Graham]

Week 18

The Premier League is one of the most difficult in the world. There's five, six, or seven clubs that can be the champions. Only one can win, and all the others are disappointed and live in the middle of disaster. Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool players scored massively at the start of Week 18; then Manchester City came a cropper but for those who had opted for Tottenham players.........Wow! Consequently top scorer of the week was Alan Walton on 86 pts whose strike force of Aubameyang and Kane scored a massive 43 points; honourable mention for Barry Redburn who rose 700,000 places assisted by his 85 point tally. Backmarker on 28pts was Mark Page, one of many managers who took a minus score for Brighton's Lewis Dunk. Little change at the top.

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 65 1204
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 51 1167
3 Dreamtreamfc Alex Sheerin 58 1166
4 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 68 1124
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 68 1112

Overall - Quick catch up to state that Toni Haapanen of Finland is still overall leader on 1297 points; as usual the top ten reflect the Premier League - very few English managers.

[Neil Graham]

Week 19

In football, the worst things are excuses. Excuses mean you cannot grow or move forward. Pep Guardiola

Manchester City fall seven points behind Liverpool. In fantasy football goal fests for Spurs, Liverpool and Everton mean it was a high scoring week - apart for those of us with Manchester City players . Meanwhile Sean Dyche after six years in charge at Burnley must be teetering on the brink - Sam Allaradyce is always available at this time of year! Sam Herring breaks the 100 point barrier with his four midfield players scoring 70 points whilst Tom Thorpe's Chess Army trips at the first barrier with another low score of 17 points and moves into the bottom 5,000,000. No change elsewhere.

1 Pokémon Trainer Mark Leonard 60 1264
2 It's Raining Mendy Gareth Yeo 65 1232
3 Dreamtreamfc Alex Sheerin 61 1227
4 Sane Mane Happy Days Paul Spiller 79 1203
5 Pizza Hoedt Robert Ashworth 59 1171

Up for the Cup With qualification and three rounds now played how many Premier Chess teams are still competing? Just eight remain. Mark Leonard is still there having disposed of ManChestHair United last round. For our lowest placed contender we surprisingly look no further than Nick London whose three victories give him a place in the Week 20 draw. Normally by Week 23 we've lost interest - but last year Mark made it to Week 26, Can he repeat the feat this season?

[Neil Graham]

2nd Quarter Report - Weeks 11-19

I've amended the report dates slightly. Week 19 is the half way point of the League so it seemed appropriate to move a week backwards. It's been a procession for this quarter as five teams dominated proceedings. Mark Leonard and Gareth Yeo spent the whole of the quarter in 1st and second positions and only the late arrival of Alex Sheerin interrupted the equanimity of our leading five, As we're only midway through the season there's still time for a challenger to emerge.

Usual methodology - 5 pts for a 1st place down to 1 pt for a 5th place - number of weeks in brackets.

1. Mark Leonard 45 pts (9)
2. Gareth Yeo 36 pts (9)
3. Paul Spiller 19 pts (9)
4. Richard Beach 16 pts (6)
5. Alex Sheerin 9 pts (3)
6. Robert Ashworth 8 pts (8)
7. Andrew Harley 2 pts (1)