Let Me Be Your Fantasy
Like most football fans, for the last few weeks I have been revelling in the glories of a new season beginning. The nerves on the morning of game day, the sheer joy in the WhatsApp group of making plans for meeting, the wonderful taste of that first pre-match pint, the excitement in the faces of supporters on the way to the stadium who are all dreaming of bigger and better things, and the noise inside as the crowd cheer on their heroes of old and new.
For me it started three weeks ago on Sunday with the Dundee derby marking the opening of another crack at the Scottish Premier League for Dundee United. A 2-2 draw was an acceptable result in a game that we probably should have put away and I saw through the first weekend happy enough. The Championship came next, alongside the Community Shield, and then last week the English Premier League began.
Obviously I was incredibly excited to see Liverpool in action again and really pleased with the second half performance in the 2-0 victory over Ipswich that probably could have been a lot more. Again, I was satisfied with a solid start to the season and the prospect of more to come under the new manager, Arne Slot.
However, like a growing horde of people, in reality, the season never ended, because as soon as the final whistle had blown in May, I was already planning ahead. Already glued to form during the Euros. Already fervently searching for any rumours of an injury or a potential signing. My mood at the start of each week is no longer determined only by the performances and results of my chosen teams. Rather, I now find myself absolutely fixated on checking the goings on in every English Premier League game, looking at every little minutiae from goalscorers and assists to ridiculous things like number of fouls committed to number of saves made and even big chances that may have been missed.
Why, you may ask? Well, for the uninitiated, all of these things matter an awful lot in the rapidly growing phenomenon that is fantasy football (FPL).
I have been playing the game for many years (it’s certainly not new) but it seems that in the last few years particularly, it has exploded into the greater consciousness with even the major broadcasters now posting fantasy stats onto the screens in the build up to, and even during, matches. Footballers have their own teams and are often quizzed about their choices. There are shows, apps and podcasts dedicated to the game featuring well renowned and respected journalists and pundits, and celebrities have even been made out of those providing guidance and updates (lots of FPL players will know names like Ben Crellin, Big Man Bakar, Holly Shand and the sorely missed Chris Hindle).
Waking up on a Saturday morning, during the course of the season, I now find myself with an endless list of jobs to do before breakfast even crosses my mind in order to ensure that my team is in the best possible shape for that weekend’s round of games - checking press conference minutes for potential injuries, looking at predicted lineups, reading about players that may be having a golden patch of form that I have missed, looking at upcoming fixtures to determine who should score highly, and checking the teams of competitors to see if there is an advantage that can be gained from finding a differential player that they don’t have - and that is before I even turn my attentions to the other things that I partake in such as score forecasts, last man standing competitions and writing this very blog. It must also be taken into account that, of course, I don’t just have one fantasy team, but a number on a variety of different platforms. At some point I even have to find time to say good morning to my family and help out with the odd parenting duty.
It’s not just the weekend either. Over the course of the week I consistently find myself spending hours wondering whether Chris Wood or Rodrigo Muniz are more likely to score a goal at the weekend or whether Pedro Porto’s attacking potential is enough to outweigh Tottenham’s inability to keep a clean sheet to justify his price tag. Many a time I have awoken from my FPL- induced daydream to find people at work looking at me, waiting for an answer to a question that they have asked.
Of course, I say all of this in a very tongue in cheek manner, and I (generally) very much have my priorities in the right order in reality, but it is definitely a truth that people out there will become consumed by this pastime at the expense of other things in their life in their pursuit to try and win their mini-league against their friends. It is very easily done due to the sheer volume of content out there and the different variations of the game that are available.
Like myself, the vast majority play just for the sheer fun of it, for the chance to be able to wind friends up in the pub about the ridiculous captain choice that they made or the points that were lost because they forgot to make changes before a deadline passed. However, I can almost guarantee that the vast majority of mini-leagues have some sort of personal wager involved and, although it is mostly just a little bit of money to increase the fun, it is still a real competition that people want to win. This is especially true as, with the number of pretty professional players aiming to win the main competition, it is very unlikely that an everyday player will actually win.
What FPL also seems to be doing though, is increasing the knowledge of a lot of people about aspects of the game that may not normally have become as widely discussed. People are now more acutely aware of tactics employed by managers in terms of the likelihood of certain players to be afforded attacking opportunities and which players are more likely to be asked to hold position. There is also more discussion over the number of goals that teams are likely to score (xG) or concede (xGA). This has wider permutations in other forms of gambling as punters have more information at their disposal when creating bets on score lines or goalscorers.
There is also the thoroughly confusing Bonus Points System to try to get your head around, but that would probably warrant an entire article or two on its own so I won’t go into the details here!
One of my favourite aspects of the game though is the rise of cult players who wouldn’t normally get noticed at all by the wider public due to their performances within the scoring parameters that are set out. Ask any FPL player about the likes of John Lundstram or Stuart Dallas and they will likely be able to wax lyrical for hours, telling you about what a joy it was to have them as part of their team during their glory seasons. The same can be said of those who got in early on the Leicester duo of Mahrez and Vardy during their title campaign. Last season, Cole Palmer was the breakout star in the Premier League but also a much vaunted FPL asset due to his low cost that enabled other funds to be spread more widely. Finding that value gem is an incredibly fun part of playing.
There are probably comparisons to be made with Championship Manager, the PC based game that took hold of so many in the early 2000s. There, regular people were given the opportunity to take control of the fortunes of their teams and pore endlessly over tactics and signings. In this game also, cult figures rose up in the form of certain players who seemed to do incredibly well when signed for any team. There were never crossovers with the real world though, whereas here, in FPL, the performance of actual players have an impact on success. In a world where reality programming is still in full force, there couldn’t really be any more reality based game than fantasy football.
I am fortunate that I have managed to do pretty well at the game. I have won my mini league, won my head-to-head league three years in a row and have achieved a top 10,000 overall finish (not bad in a game with around 11 million players). I have also won leagues in other formats run by Sky Sports and the Telegraph, and last year finished in the top 500 out of around 170,000 in the Bet365 version of the game.
I don’t proclaim to be a genius or guru in any shape or form but have built my knowledge over the years of the type of players that will score well and am organised enough to plan ahead.
Spreadsheet created by Ben Crellin
Organisation is key to success. There are now a variety of apps that enable you to plan ahead to maximise your points scoring opportunities but people also spend hours creating spreadsheets of plans and players to keep an eye on. Each week there are mass debates on which players may increase or decrease in value with players desperate to stay ahead of the game. If you really want a chance to win, you have to be willing to put in the effort because I can guarantee that other players will be.
FPL is already in the wider social conscience and is fast becoming a big part of life for millions. Many football fans will be willing their own teams on this weekend, but will also be torn by wanting a player that they ‘own’ from a team that they despise in real life to do well in order to further their own ambitions of FPL glory (I know that I’ve wished many times for Haaland to score a hat-trick but Man City still to lose 4-3)!
It is an extra part of the game to debate and discuss, something else to wind your friends up about and a further escape from the sometimes mundane nature of everyday life, things that we all love about football in the first place. FPL is here to stay and I for one and very glad about that.
If you like my writing here, please also feel free to have a look at my work on the Football4Cast where I provide weekly previews and tips for Premier League matches based on statistics: