I miss him..........................

You can have your Messi, your Villa, your Torres, your Drogba.

There's only one Ronaldo.



Scores EVERY kind of goal.

Instead I now have to sit and watch O'Shea, Park, Gibson, Owen etc etc.

End of an era (and an Empire) is nigh

FFL WEEK 1-3

Here we go again. Firstly, I'd like to say welcome back to the first ever FFL winner Johny Boy. Back where you left off, at the top of the table after week 3 with 54 points. It should be an interesting week of transfers with a number of key injuries thanks to those bloody internationals. It appears that the curse of the previous winner has struck again. Sorry Bobby Zamora. Apparently we'll all be a bit queezy when we see this one.

Your Chairman.

FFL Final scores

Sid caned it. He scored the 2nd highest total ever, with 515 points. Donald finished 2nd with a commendable 420, usually enough to win it outright.

Here's how Sid did it: Very strong midfield - Lampard scored 117 points, with Wright-Phillips, Cahill and Valencia getting in the 30s. Bargain buys in defence - Cuellar was the 2nd highest scoring centre back, with 50 points, and Insua scored 34 as a transfer. Tevez was another bargain up front (85 points) and Jagielka and Carew were good late subs. All in all, not a foot wrong.

Top 2:

FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
		Total Points
1st	Sid	515
2nd	Don	420

It was tight in the middle but I've got better things to do that work out the points for the rest of us. If anyone wants to do it I can give them the spreadsheet.

Once again, well done Sid.

Your outgoing Chairman.

FFL Week 33

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	456
67	2nd	Don	389
##	3rd	Stathi	346
##	4th	Nick Ath	343
##	5th	Theo	341
##	6th	James	329
##	7th	Rico	308
##	8th	Mike	299
##	9th	Nick Ach	290

FFL Week 32

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	446
72	2nd	Don	374
##	3rd	Stathi	337
##	4th	Theo	331
##	5th	Nick Ath	325
##	6th	James	317
##	7th	Rico	304
##	8th	Mike	294
##	9th	Nick Ach	286

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Are these guys taking the p*ss or what?

Ferguson complaining that Bayern Munich players surrounded the referee and bullied him into making decisions in their favour? One name - Gary Neville. And we all know there are plenty others.

Benitez complaining that he hasn't had enough money to spend on his squad? If spending over £200m isn't enough then no wonder there's a financial crisis in football.

Have a little shame gents...

FFL Week 32

Firstly, sorry for yet another delay. Actually, fuck it, I'm not sorry at all. It's a pain in the arse.

Secondly, it's been an astonishing, record-breaking week. It's your year when a defender you took a punt on bags heaps of points and doesn't play when his team gets humped. It's your year when you make 2 substitutions and they both chip in with points immediately. It's you year when Frank Lampard scores 21 (twenty-one) points in a single gameweek. It's your year when you score 55 (fifty-five) points in said gameweek. Here's how he did it:

Reina 5
Clichy 2
Insua 3
Jagielka 6
Cuellar 0 (avoiding -6)
Lampard 21
SWP 0
Cahill 3
Valencia 0
Tevez 9
Carew 6

And the table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	426
82	2nd	Don	344
94	3rd	Stathi	332
##	4th	Theo	316
##	5th	Nick Ath	311
##	6th	James	298
##	7th	Mike	296
##	8th	Rico	285
##	9th	Nick Ach	268

Only 2 players within 100 points. The biggest whitewash in our short history.

Transfers:

Sid: Carew, Jagielka IN, Saha, Gallas OUT.
Stathi: Nani IN, Petrov OUT.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 30

For those of you still following this farce of a season, here's the table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	366
41	2nd	Don	325
45	3rd	Stathi	321
69	4th	Theo	297
80	5th	Nick Ath	286
90	6th	Mike	276
96	7th	Rico	270
99	8th	James	267
##	9th	Nick Ach	246

I bought Clint Dempsey for Pikey Hunt and Gary Neville for Wes Brown. Fuck knows why.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 29

As things stand:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	361
56	2nd	Don	305
61	3rd	Stathi	300
79	4th	Theo	282
84	5th	Nick Ath	277
94	6th	Rico	267
99	7th	Mike	262
##	8th	James	255
##	9th	Nick Ach	240

One transfer to report: Mike buys Pavlychenko for Crouch. The battle of the siblings is really hotting up now.

Your Chairman

RE: Chrissy Waddle gives it to you straight...

Former England winger Chris Waddle has launched a savage attack on Theo Walcott.

According to Waddle, a pundit for BBC Radio Five Live for England's win over Egypt on Wednesday night, the Arsenal forward does not possess a football brain and hasn't developed his game since his 2006 transfer from Southampton to the Emirates.

"People keep saying he's young but Wayne Rooney understood the game at 16, 17," Waddle told The Times. "I've never seen any difference in Walcott since he was at Southampton and broke into the team at a very young age.

"I've never seen him develop. He just doesn't understand the game for me - where to be running, when to run inside a full back, when to just play a one-two. It's all off the cuff.

"I just don't think he's got a football brain and he's going to have problems. Let's be honest, good defenders would catch him offside every time. I just don't know whether he studies the game, learns the game, or what. He's at a great club where they play fantastic football week-in, week-out, and I'm just surprised he's never developed his game.

"I'm surprised Walcott was in the squad. He doesn't play a lot of football, he hasn't done anything. he hasn't done anything for a long time and I think Croatia was a one-off."


Here here Mr W, totally agree!!

FFL Week 28

If anyone's still interested - and, judging by the transfers this week, some of us still are - here is the table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	341
58	2nd	Don	283
61	3rd	Stathi	280
81	4th	Theo	260
81	5th	Nick Ath	260
88	6th	Mike	253
89	7th	Rico	252
##	8th	James	241
##	9th	Nick Ach	227

Transfers:

Stathi: Bosingwa out, Bale in.
Nick: Keane out, Bendtner in.

Donald tried to buy Hunt and Arteta. Both are gone. Try again pal.

Your Chairman

Italian Sports Presenter Laura Esposto

And we get Clare Balding!

FFL Week 27

The fight for 2nd place looks like this (midweeek points included):

			FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
		Diff			Total Points
			1st	Sid	327
		49	2nd	Don	278
		54	3rd	Stathi	273
		81	4th	Theo	246
		87	5th	Nick Ath	240
		89	6th	Rico	238
		92	7th	Mike	235
		94	8th	James	233
		##	9th	Nick Ach	212

Rico finally woke up and made four substitutions. He bought Zamora (beating off my bid with Keane in the process), Diamanti, Ferreira and Adam Johnson for van Persie, Eduardo, Ashley Cole and Geovanni respectively.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 26

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	297
34	2nd	Stathi	263
56	3rd	Don	241
67	4th	Theo	230
69	5th	Nick Ath	228
75	6th	Rico	222
76	7th	James	221
83	8th	Mike	214
##	9th	Nick Ach	193

FFL Week 25

It's all over. Well done Sid. Here are the points after the midweek games:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	283
28	2nd	Stathi	255
53	3rd	Don	230
56	4th	Theo	227
63	5th	Rico	220
69	6th	James	214
72	7th	Nick Ath	211
80	8th	Mike	203
96	9th	Nick Ach	187

All jokes aside, a monumental week for Sid - 26 points, with all five defenders keeping a clean sheet (a very rare defensive Grand Slam), a Lampard brace and 5 from Cahill. And all this without Tevez.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 24

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Sid	257
11	2nd	Stathi	246
33	3rd	Theo	224
37	4th	Don	220
43	5th	Rico	214
46	6th	James	211
51	7th	Nick Ath	206
68	8th	Mike	189
78	9th	Nick Ach	179

1 Transfer to report: Stathi gets rid of Reid and buys Martin Petrov.

FFL Week 23

Right, the formatting on my spreadsheet has gone. I'd appreciate some help if anyone has any idea what is going on. Theo?

	1st	Sid	257
13	2nd	Stathi	244
40	3rd	Don	217
41	4th	Theo	216
43	5th	Rico	214
55	6th	James	202
60	7th	Nick Ath	197
85	8th	Nick Ach	172
87	9th	Mike	170

There was one transfer: I bought Pienaar for Dempsey, beating Stathi's offer of Reid by just £0.1k. Note that the points above include the midweek games.

Your Chairman.

FFL Week 22

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	237
1	2nd	Sid	236
31	3rd	Don	206
34	4th	Rico	203
41	5th	Theo	196
48	6th	James	189
50	7th	Nick Ath	187
86	8th	Mike	151
90	9th	Nick Ach	147

Interview with Emanuel Adebayor

This interview with MANCHESTER CITY striker Adebayor was recorded 12 January 2010 following the shooting incident on the Togo team bus. Special prize for the first person to spot the obvious mistake.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnBCfeySXN8

Slut.................

Cheryl Cole proud to lose virginity at 15

If football isn't up shit creak then Portsmouth definitely are....

John Utaka on £80,000 per week????

GUARDIAN ARTICLE

Death of football comes ever closer......................

I know, I know I'm a doomlord but I can't help but feel that football is coming to the end when you hear that a has-been Premier League footballer who was past it four years ago and has looked utter dogshit when playing against another Prem side in Europe is going to be paid £10million for 18 months.

Step forward Patrick Vieira.














"Hey Samuel, guess what? city are going to pay me 130k a week...........ha, ha, ha"

Surely the luckiest footballer in the world at this moment in time? (until Mansour opens his cheque book again)

Mourinho doesn't rate him at Inter - he can't get a game - so manchester wannabe sign him.

However, this signing says two things to me:

1) Mancini knows him better - is this an astute bit of business by the new boss - city to be the next force in English, European and World football

or

2) It just shows Mancini's naivety. Clueless twat.................

Time will tell

FFL Week 21 (post FA-Cup)

And here's the table after the FA Cup points have been added. Donald and Theo did well, while Sid managed to narrow the gap to the top even further. The game is back on.

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	237
10	2nd	Sid	227
31	3rd	Don	206
37	4th	Rico	200
41	5th	Theo	196
47	6th	James	190
55	7th	Nick Ath	182
91	8th	Nick Ach	146
92	9th	Mike	145

Your Chairman

FFL Week 21

Sorry for the dearth of updates but it's been a hectic period. There's no time for commentary but the table below is audited and pre-FA Cup. Not also that the week (21) now corresponds to the official Fantasy League site.

The table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	234
18	2nd	Sid	216
39	3rd	Rico	195
43	4th	Don	191
48	5th	James	186
52	6th	Theo	182
63	7th	Nick Ath	171
89	8th	Nick Ach	145
94	9th	Mike	140

As you can see, it's far from over. By the way, Donald bought Joe Hart. I can't remember if I mentioned it in a previous post. I'll put up the post-FA Cup table in the next day or so.

Your Chairman.

Wow............

15 days that will defnine the season?

Arsenal's fixtures:

27/01 Villa (A)
31/01 United (H)
07/02 Chelsea (A)
10/02 Liverpool (H)

If Wenger buys a striker and he beds in immediately, could finally be the season where aspiration and potential turn into silverware.

Thoughts?

Ha ha ha ha.................he so funny!

Too funny.............

Things they wished they never said part #23o8734686

"We are preparing a special weightlifting plan for Gerrard's shoulders because we want him to lift a lot of trophies for Liverpool in the next few years! I am not in favour of selling him and we are building a great team around him because we want him to be the skipper who wins... the most titles in Liverpool's history."

Rafael Benitez 2005

More like his back is fucked as he has had to carry the whole team for the past decade.......................

FFL Week 16

Bloody hell. Looks like one of those Midas touch seasons for Stathi again. No sooner had the Welsh whingebag found his way onto my spreadsheet than he went out and bagged as many points in a single game as he as since October 5th. And Bellamy's burst just epitomizes the rest of Stathi's team: Ivanovic has as many assists as Steven Gerrard; Milner has as many points now as he did all of last season; ditto Lennon; Aston Villa have the tightest defence in the Premier League, with 7 clean sheets and just 14 goals conceded.

No surprise, then, that Stathi topped the scoring charts once again this week - a double week - with 35 points. He's now scored 63 points in December alone, stretching his lead at the top to 35 points. And, again, it's Sid who seems to be offering the only serious challenge, with 21 points this week and 59 in December.

The table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	216
35	2nd	Sid	181
51	3rd	Don	165
54	4th	Rico	162
57	5th	James	159
61	6th	Theo	155
62	7th	Nick Ath	154
94	8th	Nick Ach	122
99	9th	Mike	117

There was one transfer this week: Theo took a punt on KP Boateng, getting rid of Leon Osman, whose name is an anagram of Noel's moan. Now transfers don't get more festive than that, do they?

Your Chairman

FFL Week 15

That Aston Villa defence is at it again, this time at Old Trafford. Every time they keep a clean sheet, Stathi takes another giant step toward his third FFL title. In a tough week for the traditional top Premier League defences, this clean sheet proved even more valuable. Add to that a few assists from unlikely sources (two from Ivanovic and one from Nasri, the latter's first points of the season), and Stathi emerges as the manager of the week with 13 points, pulling away from the rest.

Of those suffering defences Rico came out worst, with a calamitous -5. But another decent score by Sid, with 12, sees him move into second place.

Scores (unaudited):

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	181
21	2nd	Sid	160
24	3rd	Rico	157
27	4th	James	154
29	5th	Nick Ath	152
30	6th	Don	151
48	7th	Theo	133
60	8th	Nick Ach	121
80	9th	Mike	101

There was one transfer to report, and it's a significant one. Stathi finally got rid of the misfiring Kenwyne Jones and took a punt on the in-form Craig Bellamy. I wonder if there'll be a 'D'oh!' moment in the Sunderland-Villa game tonight. And we all know how Bellamy loves the treatment table.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 14

I got excited for a moment this week, when I realised that Stathi had three Aston Villa players - Brad Friedel, Richard Dunne and James Milner. They've contributed 58 of his league-leading 168 points thus far this season, so the anticipation of another scandal, perhaps even a tribunal, got my balls twitching. The repercussions would be serious.

Well, as most of you probably already know, or at least realise by now, Dunne was bought at auction as a Man City player. Bollocks to that then. And bollocks to the chasing pack, with Dunne scoring 6 points and the Villa triumvirate accounting for 14 of Stathi's 15 points this week. With Fernando Torres back this week and Aaron Lennon at the top of his game, things are looking ominous for the rest of us. Sami Nasri's fecklessness and Kenwyne Jones's crapness offer us our only hope.

Or maybe it's a new challenger: Sid. With 14 points last week and a remarkable 26 this week, his mid-season charge up the table has brought him to within just 20 points of the lead. Only 3 members of his team (the normally prolific Wright-Phillips and Lampard included) failed to score at least 3 points. And with James managing double figures for the first time in three weeks, there are now six managers within 23 points of the lead; not bad for December.

The table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	168
6	2nd	Rico	162
15	3rd	Nick Ath	153
18	4th	Don	150
20	5th	Sid	148
23	6th	James	145
44	7th	Theo	124
52	8th	Nick Ach	116
63	9th	Mike	105

Theo tried to buy Stuart Downing this week, a few days after Mike had already bought him (as revealed in week 12's post). Get with the programme, Theo. You don't want to be the FFL's John Barnes, do you?

Your Chairman

FFL Week 13

With plenty of goals this weekend, it was one of those weeks in which managers either prospered greatly or suffered badly. Of those that prospered, Rico was pre-eminent, stealing the top spot from Stathi in the process of bagging 18 points. The reasons for his recent emergence are obvious: two Chelsea defenders (Chelsea have kept five clean sheets in a row), Robin van Persie and Ryan Giggs. However, the loss of van Persie is a huge one and Eduardo, Rico's other striker, looks about as useful as a trap door in a canoe.

Of those that suffered, Donald came off the worst. 28 points last week, 1 point this week. As if any further evidence of whimsical sadism on the part of the fantasy league gods were needed.

The scores:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Rico	158
5	2nd	Stathi	153
9	3rd	Nick Ath	149
20	4th	Don	138
23	5th	James	135
36	6th	Sid	122
39	7th	Theo	119
51	8th	Nick Ach	107
57	9th	Mike	101

No transfers to report this week.

Roll on December.

Your Chairman.

FFL Week 12

I've had my disappointments in life - failed exams, unrequited love, living in Scotland - but nothing compares to being out for the day, coming home to discover that Spurs have put nine goals past Wigan, then logging on to BBC Sport with an enormous bulge in your pants only to find that Robbie Keane spent the entire match on the bench. Bloody international weeks.

But enough about me. Because my loss was Donald's gain, with Defoe scoring five of Tottenham's goals and contributing more than half of Donald's monumental score of 28 points this week. Malouda's 7 points are also worth a mention.

And let's not forget Stathi, who was looking like surrendering the top spot until Aaron Lennon chipped in with a goal and three assists. But for Lennon's 9 points he would've been the week's lowest scorer; that honour now passes to Theo, who only managed 4 points.

It's tight between the top five, with a gap opening between 5th and 6th. The scores:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	147
7	2nd	Rico	140
10	3rd	Don	137
13	4th	Nick Ath	134
14	5th	James	133
36	6th	Theo	111
39	7th	Sid	108
45	8th	Nick Ach	102
56	9th	Mike	91

Two transfers to report this week. Mike bought the fit-again Stuart Downing for the injured Steven Pienaar, and Donald outbid Sid for Chelsea's Alex, getting rid of Jonny Evans.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 11

The FFL table is beginning to look rather like the Premier League table, with four teams beginning to pull away a little and a couple more hovering in the Europa League places. As for Mike, it's already looking like a long, hard slog.

Manager of the week, with 17 points for the second week in a row, goes to me, despite Man City's defence developing more leaks than muslin nappy. That's 44 points in 3 weeks, after managing only 22 in the previous 5. There's hope for you yet, Mike. John Terry was the main contributor, with 6 points against Man United on Sunday.

Last week's joint top scorer, Nick PC, was this week's lowest, with zero. O Fortuna, thou art wicked and capricious...

The table looks like this:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	136
9	2nd	James	127
11	3rd	Rico	125
14	4th	Nick Ath	122
27	5th	Don	109
29	6th	Theo	107
33	7th	Sid	103
42	8th	Nick Ach	94
56	9th	Mike	80

No transfers to report. A boring week of friendlies coming up so back in a fortnight.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 10

Fortunes can hardly get more mixed than they did this week, with two managers sharing the top score of 17 and one propping up the rest with a single point. And even then, one of the top-scoring managers - Nick PC, who managed 17 points - would've scored 20 if he hadn't sold Deco and bought Joe Cole the previous weekend.

Two assists and a clean sheet from Sagna had much to do with Nick's score, and he is joined by me and my Man City-dependant team, also with 17 points. Don was the big loser this week, with the 1 point.

The scores are:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	126
9	2nd	James	117
11	3rd	Rico	115
21	4th	Nick Ath	105
26	5th	Theo	100
27	6th	Don	99
32	7th	Nick Ach	94
36	8th	Sid	90
50	9th	Mike	76

No transfers to report this week.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 9

A dramatic, if not high scoring, week this week, with plenty of goals. Shame that most of them were scored by 'free agents' as far as we managers are concerned.

The main beneficiary of Blackburn's charity this week was Sid, with Lampard in his midfield. He was also a beneficiary of Ferdninand's apparent inability to defend any more, with Reina picking up a rare clean sheet. His total of 13 makes him manager of the week.

Alas for Mike, his catastrophic start to the season got even worse this week, with Evra and Howard conspiring to give him -1.

The scores:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	117
9	2nd	James	108
11	3rd	Rico	106
19	4th	Don	98
26	5th	Theo	91
28	6th	Nick Ath	89
37	7th	Sid	80
42	8th	Nick Ach	75
54	9th	Mike	63

Predictable, there was a minor scramble for Joe Cole, with Nick PC the winner. Deco goes pack into the pool. Elsewhere, Mike bought Lucas Neill for Belletti, and Theo finally got rid of Robinho (just as he's about to come back) for Hugo Rodallega. Brave.

Your Chairman

Correction: Mike didn't buy Lucas Neill. It depended on his acquisition of Joe Cole, whom he missed out on, so both transfers are void.

FFL Week 8

Sorry chaps, busy week. It's a good job it was a crap week then, with only Theo scoring double figures, just: his score of 10 makes him manager of the week. My score of -1 makes me the loser of the week for the 4th week in 5: I've now scored 21 points since the auction.

The table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	108
8	2nd	James	100
13	3rd	Rico	95
16	4th	Don	92
23	5th	Theo	85
30	6th	Nick Ath	78
37	7th	Nick Ach	71
41	8th	Sid	67
44	9th	Mike	64

During international week, James bought Walcott for Malbranque. Nice timing. This week, Stathi outbid me for Andy Reid, getting rid of Nani. So, I end up with my 2nd choice midfielder, David Dunn, getting rid of Huddlestone.

Your Chairman

FFL Week 6

That's Theo, climbing three places up the table after scoring a gargantuan 25 points this week, 11 of them from Fabregas alone. It's even more astonishing when you consider that the next highest score of the week was 8.

As well as Theo's team performed, Sid's collapsed. His forwards did nothing to mollify his leaky defence and he ended up with -3. The rest hovered on single figures.

So, Stathi's still at the top going into the international week. Here's the table:

	FFL 2009/10 LEAGUE TABLE
Diff			Total Points
	1st	Stathi	106
12	2nd	Rico	94
15	3rd	James	91
23	4th	Don	83
27	5th	Nick Ath	79
31	6th	Theo	75
35	7th	Nick Ach	71
46	8th	Sid	60
49	9th	Mike	57

Just as a reminder, Mike bought Tim Howard for Robert Green last week. This week, Theo got rid of Rafael and bought Hibbert; I can't remember a defender being acquired on -4 before, so that must surely be a first. He also got rid of Osman for Fletcher, but changed his mind on Sunday night and cancelled.

Just to clarify the ruling on transfers: anything up to 8.01pm is acceptable unless a goal is scored in the 1st minute of an 8pm game. If you've got any sense though, you'll make sure it's in by 7.59pm.

Your (predictably restored) Chairman