LET’S BE HONEST, LET'S BE REALISTIC PLEASE
I’d like to offer a great big “Thanks” to all the managers who attended last Monday’s excellent January Transfer Window Auction meeting. I thought it was one of the best and most constructive meetings we’ve had on WSFFL for some time, and I really appreciate everyone’s honest and frank input, and your collective enthusiasm for the continuation of this funny old game of ours. Salient points are as follows;
1. I’d wanted a “State of the Union” discussion on WSFFL as it currently stands, as I’d recently been giving some consideration to relinquishing my position as co-ordinator. I gave my reasons as follows;
1.1. Rach and I are expecting our first child together in the Summer, a little boy. This will of course significantly impact upon our time and energy, leaving a lot less time to run the co-ordination of WSFFL as I currently do. If I do continue, then we needed to consider options regarding decreasing the impact upon my time, whilst not compromising the structure or integrity of the game.
1.2. At the moment, the Premiership, quite frankly, is rubbish. Full of arrogant wealthy young men with over-inflated views of their own importance, and greedy, panicky, short-term thinking chairmen whose one goal is to hang on in the division and so keep the TV money rolling in. Honestly, I’d much rather watch baseball right now.
1.3. There has recently been a slightly worrying element creeping into our game. Whilst not wishing to call it pettiness, I’ve been disappointed at having to explain and justify a number of my recent decisions as co-ordinator, particularly when said decisions are precedented within the rules that everyone knows. I’ve been spending a lot of time and energy doing so, neither of which I really have right now, let alone when Junior comes along.
2. Having thus vented, I was gratified that a really honest and constructive discussion ensued, regarding how to move the game forward while reducing the time impact on your hard-working co-ordinator. Ideas/ decisions were as follows;
2.1. Agreement that only one recat process to take place per season, in the Summer before the AGM. Peej very kindly offered to take on the full running of this process. Following discussion, it was decided that the appeals process will remain in place.
2.2. Ryan offered to dig out his old disks which may provide an easier method for managing the teams' bank balances. Failing that, Ryan kindly offered to take over the management of this element of the game during the Summer anyway.
2.3. I put forward my plan to work out the scores at the end of each weekend only (I currently do the Saturday games on Saturday night, then the remaining games after they are played). This will reduce the amount of time taken to work out the scores.
2.4. I may publish the Newsletter less frequently, i.e. fortnightly, and just send out the scores after each intervening fixture. Other options include a thinner newsletter with possibly just scores, transfers and table, with a brief round-up if I have time.
2.5. We may knock the newsletter question on the head. Another option is that the winner of the previous week’s question sets the following weeks. More discussion needed in the Summer.
2.6. Dave offered to draft a “WSFFL rule book”, to ensure the rules are crystal clear to everyone, thus hopefully reducing the amount of rule queries currently occurring. This will also be of great benefit to future new managers into the game. I understand he’s already made a start on it – well, he’s done some headings, anyway…!
3. A couple of new rule suggestions were discussed, in advance of them being officially proposed and voted on at the Summer AGM:
3.1. The “Jagielka Rule” from Rachel. It is proposed that if an outfield player goes in goal during a game, that outfield player should be eligible to receive a clean sheet should they keep one for the requisite time (currently 15 minutes). A query against this is that if said outfield player is a defender – might they be eligible to receive a clean sheet for their outfield performance, PLUS another for their goalkeeping exploits? More consideration needed of this point, in advance of discussion/voting at the AGM.
Note; this rule proposal is just regarding clean sheets – should an outfield player go in goal then save a penalty whilst in goal, that player would currently receive a “goal” for his save under the existing penalty save rule, as this is awarded on a per-player basis.
3.2. Clean sheet extension – Beef brought recent evidence that clean sheets are considerably more prevalent in the Premiership than goals, by a ratio of 70%/ 30%. That being the case, it should be made harder for a defender/ goalie to keep a clean, i.e. increase the eligible period from 15 minutes. My concern was that extending it to Beef’s proposed 45 minutes may negate the point of naming a sub defender/goalie, although 30 minutes may be a suitable compromise period. Beef will gather more evidence then re-present at the AGM.
3.3. Revised “Merit Payments” process. We currently use the Premiership Merit Payments structure to reward managers for their league performance. Currently, the Champion receives c. £10 million, with decreasing increments of c. £500K per position. This however has had the effect of increasing the financial gap between perceived “big” and “small” teams in the WSFFL. So two alternative payment structures were proposed;
3.3.1. Rich suggested an “inverted table” for one season only, whereby the bottom club gets the Champions £10m, and the money goes down as you go up the table. Whilst this was considered a laudable idea, it may have the effect of managers “not trying” toward the end of the season. Also, this season’s table is so competitive, with a number of teams challenging near the top who “traditionally” do not do so.
3.3.2. Peej suggested a “Points Make Prizes” option, with £100,000 per point earned throughout the season. This gives everyone something to play for right until the season’s end, and rewards overall league performance irrespective of position. I’d done some prep work so was able to demonstrate that, if this were applied to last season’s table, everyone except 14th placed Final Fantasy XI would have received less cash, however the top team’s deficit was proportionately much greater than the bottom team’s deficit. This therefore would have closed the financial gap between top and bottom.
This was considered a better option, however a show of hands did not produce the required unanimous vote from the 9 managers present to introduce it at the end of this season. The current payment process will therefore apply for this season, and the “Points Make Prizes” option will be voted on at the AGM for future seasons.
4. The draw was then made for the WSFFL FA Cup Semi Finals. Pete made the draw, which came out as follows;
Real Muppets/ Trusted By Millions v You Know Your Boston Rock FC
York’s Returning Glory v Mega Buck Bandits
Great stuff – so a relatively “unfamiliar” team will be in the final. Just the draw I wanted to see!
5. The Auction itself was a quiet affair, unsurprising given the really poor quality of players “under the hammer”. Top spend was on David Dunn and Vincenzo Montella, with You Know Your Boston Rock FC shelling out £5 million to return Dunn to his spiritual home, and Nil Satis matching that to recruit Fulham’s goalscorer. Beyond that, the proxy bidders were the main big spenders.
6. The usual quiz ensued, with Peej top scoring with 19 and getting £1.57 million for his efforts. Rach was second and Beef third.
7. Oh yeah, Ryan brought chocolates! Thanks chap – so what are you going to bring to the next WSFFL meeting?
SHE WEARS A TWO-WAY, BUT I’M NOT QUITE SURE WHAT THAT MEANS
This amazing WSFFL league season continues to provide unbelievable twists and turns, and after this weekend’s results we now see a 2-way points tie for the top of the table, and a reduced gap of 7 points between top and 10th place! Emphasising the fact that this season is so close, this weekend’s results featured 5 (count ‘em, 5) draws!
So, Aardvark Abacus stay top after a late team change allowed Ady’s sub Martins’ goal to count, which ensured a 2-2 draw in the top of the table clash with Nil Satis. Real Muppets leap to second, level on points with Ady, after Mendes and Fletcher goals gave Ryan a 2-0 win over San Dimas, who stay 8th. Nil Satis drop to 3rd, one point off the pace but level with 2 other teams; Fred West LGXI, who rise to 4th after a 4-1 romp over Thommo’s Titans, Didier Drogba bagging a brace for Fred, and Prettier Than You, who were held 2-2 by York’s Returning Glory and slip to 5th.
Slipping to 6th but still only 2 points off top are Trusted By Millions; a Denny Landzaat screamer robbed Beef of all 3 points and gave Claymore Athletic a 2-2 draw, after Steve Sidwell had put Trusted 2 up in that game. 7th, a point further back are the Groovers, for whom Kanu got the equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Mega Bucks, who remain 9th but are still only 7 points off top. Joining them on 28 points are Champions You Know Your Boston Rock, who finally end their horrible losing league streak with a 3-2 win over Final Fantasy, Tomas Rosicky grabbing a dramatic winner for “the Sky Heroes”.
Finally, Eleven Imaginary Boys and the Dead Parrots also fought out a draw, Prov rather shooting himself in the foot as a Xavier own goal gave Dean a 1-1 draw in their bottom of the table clash.
And we finally got a resolution to the long-running FA Cup Quarter Final saga; goals from Gary Neville, Fletcher and Mendes put paid to Trusted By Millions’ dogged resistance, and put Real Muppets through at the third time of asking, by a 3-2 scoreline. They now face the holders Boston Rock in the semis in 2 weeks.
So POTW? Well, I was half-tempted to give it to myself, for bagging my first league win in 9 games (my last, incidentally, also coming against FFXI, and I’ve knocked them out of the FA Cup in the intervening time – sorry Ceri!). However, I decided to give it to York’s for a good fight-back and late Gary Speed equaliser in their game against title challengers Prettier Than You. Well done Julian.
TRANSFER NEWS
Not too much transfer activity following the January Auction – and I’ve already told you all about what happened there…
Player From To Fee
Seol Ki-Hyeon (M) Pool Trusted By Millions £500K
Isaiah Osbourne (M) Trusted By Millions Pool £250K
Don’t forget that the players highlighted are now subject to the pool “cooling off” period, Any managers interested in buying them can bid until close of play Saturday 17 February 2007, after which time they go into the pool proper and are readily available. All bids to me please.
THE FF£100,000 QUESTION
Here’s the second quiz question from Clive;
What was the relationship between the Secretary of the FA, who came up with the idea of the FA Cup, in 1871 and the very first winning captain?
Answers to Clive by close of play Saturday 17 February 2007. First correct one out of the metaphorical hat gets the dosh (Clive, again please let me know Sunday 18th who the lucky winner is, and who the other correct and incorrect guesses were from). If no–one gets it right, of course, Clive’s £100,000 richer. So have a go!
Here’s last week’s answer from Clive;
“British Steel pulled out of their sponsorship of Middlesbrough when they learned that only 2,000 tonnes of British Steel was used in the construction of the Riverside. The other 18,000 tonnes was imported in from Germany.
Two correct answers from Ryan and Rich, and Real Muppets won the coin toss. Ceri guessed, with her lateral thinking head on, that “they closed the factory in the town & thought it was bad taste to still be linked with the club”.
Thanks Clive, let’s see if this week’s question beats our experts!
SHORTS
· Does anybody else think that in the new JJB TV advertisement promoting the new England strip, John Terry rather looks like a cardboard cut-out of himself?
· And another thing; was I hallucinating, or did Noe Pamarot have his name spelt “PARAMOT” on his shirt during yesterday’s Portsmouth – Man City game? These are the things I worry about, while the quality of the live games are so poor…
WSFFL RESULTS;
Week 20, W/E 10 February 2007
Aardvark Abacus 2-2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Solano (1) Lescott
Martins Yobo 75,883
Claymore Athletic FC 2-2 Trusted By Millions
Ingimarsson Sidwell 2
Landzaat 35,593
The Dead Parrots 1-1 Eleven Imaginary Boys
Xavier (OG) Shorey 24,919
Final Fantasy XI 2-3 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
Johnson (1) Ferreira
Nolan Rio Ferdinand
Rosicky 34,625
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 4-1 Thommo’s Titans
Drogba 2 (1) Corradi
Vidic
Evra 52,035
Real Muppets 2-0 San Dimas High School
Mendes (1)
Fletcher 60,049
22 Legged Groove Machine 1-1 Mega Buck Bandits
Kanu (1) Phil Neville 41,699
York’s Returning Glory v Prettier Than You
Hulse Bellamy
Speed Jagielka 32,144
FA Cup Quarter Final 2nd Replay, 10 February 2007
Trusted By Millions 2-3 Real Muppets
Sidwell 2 Gary Neville
Mendes
Fletcher 24,122
Performance of the Week: York’s Returning Glory
THE 2006/07 WSFFL LEAGUE TABLE
| ||||||||||
As at Sunday 11 February 2007
| ||||||||||
Team
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
Diff
|
Pts
| ||
1
|
Aardvark Abacus
|
20
|
10
|
5
|
5
|
49
|
30
|
19
|
35
| |
2
|
Real Muppets
|
20
|
10
|
5
|
5
|
44
|
28
|
16
|
35
| |
3
|
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
|
20
|
10
|
4
|
6
|
46
|
34
|
12
|
34
| |
4
|
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
|
20
|
10
|
4
|
6
|
41
|
35
|
6
|
34
| |
5
|
Prettier Than You
|
20
|
10
|
4
|
6
|
31
|
29
|
2
|
34
| |
6
|
Trusted By Millions
|
20
|
9
|
6
|
5
|
41
|
30
|
11
|
33
| |
7
|
22 Legged Groove Machine
|
20
|
9
|
5
|
6
|
28
|
27
|
1
|
32
| |
8
|
San Dimas High School
|
20
|
9
|
3
|
8
|
30
|
37
|
-7
|
30
| |
9
|
Mega Buck Bandits
|
20
|
8
|
4
|
8
|
34
|
30
|
4
|
28
| |
10
|
You Know Your Boston Rock FC
|
20
|
8
|
4
|
8
|
39
|
38
|
1
|
28
| |
11
|
Claymore Athletic FC
|
20
|
7
|
4
|
9
|
42
|
43
|
-1
|
25
| |
12
|
Eleven Imaginary Boys
|
20
|
6
|
6
|
8
|
26
|
31
|
-5
|
24
| |
13
|
Final Fantasy XI
|
20
|
6
|
4
|
10
|
31
|
36
|
-5
|
22
| |
14
|
Thommo's Titans
|
20
|
5
|
5
|
10
|
28
|
37
|
-9
|
20
| |
15
|
The Dead Parrots
|
20
|
4
|
6
|
10
|
25
|
43
|
-18
|
18
| |
16
|
York's Returning Glory
|
20
|
4
|
1
|
15
|
21
|
48
|
-27
|
13
| |
TOTAL
|
320
|
125
|
70
|
125
|
556
|
556
|
0
|
445
| ||
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