Dutch my luck!

I shall not be going into the final Gameweek ahead on points. Spudly now leads by 8 potatoes.
Her Van Aanholt scored 15 points over the two Sunderland matches and made the difference.

I had forgotten all about the Dutch menace. I had a second cousin* dropped at Arnhem for goodness sake. Not from the team; by parachute!

 Freddie Basham, from Leadgate, Co Durham, survived the 2nd World War.

*He would have loved me to say that he should have been dropped at Sunderland! Or even Middlesbrough!

The Boro have several fans amongst our league members and there are others like myself who would be delighted to see them in the EPL. Fingers crossed for them at Wembley.

• 
• V
• 15:00 Mon 25th May 2015
• Wembley Stadium

Nick Hall (See See Songs) first watched a top division team at Ayresome Park. Around 1970. And I saw Wilf Mannion (Middlesbrough) play. And Shackleton at Sunderland. Maybe once each.

Oh! And George Hardwick, now a statue. England captain, right back then ...!



League table after 37 Gameweeks, with one more to be played. 

#	Team	Manager	GW	TOT
	1	Spudly	Leah Pardo	58	2,021
	2	Shelsea	Vernon Hall	54	2,013
	3	Florence Dynamos	Barbara Rogers	43	1,954
	4	Little Wonders	antoinette trainor	60	1,941
	5	Gottadobetter 14/15	Richard Boucher	53	1,933
	6	Si Si Songs	nick hall	61	1,929
	7	Its just not cricket	David Thompson	62	1,916
	8	Boro are back	Tom Riordan	28	1,899
	9	MFC PL dream	Harry Thompson	43	1,876
	10	Elojo	Mike Trainor	47	1,872
	11	Bouwow11	James Boucher	62	1,845
	12	Little Ted United	Steve Trainor	38	1,824
	13	Chi Strollers	Ed Rogers	46	1,731
	14	Foxes	John Vickers	51	1,730
	15	Super Rams	Peter Jones	49	1,720
	16	El-Fandi Allstars	Peter Holland	44	1,702
	17	Kenski Braves	Kenneth Pitt	27	1,685
	18	Jackula United	Jack Trainor	51	1,606
	19	We're going up	Joe Riordan	29	1,586
	20	Up the Rams	david spencer	32	1,567
	21	Hammertime FC	Josh Hammerton	27	1,528
	22	Jezza United	Jeremy Armstrong	47	1,502

Tiger Balm Allotments

+-	#	Team	W	D	L	+	Pts
	1	Gottadobetter 14/15	12	0	6	1,007	36
	2	Si Si Songs	12	0	6	969	36
	3	Shelsea	11	1	6	1,044	34
	4	Spudly	11	0	7	1,022	33
	5	Little Ted United	11	0	7	989	33
	6	MFC PL dream	11	0	7	982	33
	7	Elojo	10	1	7	960	31
	8	Kenski Braves	9	1	8	952	28
	9	Foxes	9	1	8	885	28
	10	Its just not cricket	9	0	9	951	27
	11	Boro are back	9	0	9	887	27
	12	Jackula United	9	0	9	845	27
	13	Little Wonders	8	0	10	1,004	24
	14	Bouwow11	8	0	10	925	24
	15	Chi Strollers	8	0	10	846	24
	16	Average	8	0	10	815	24
	17	El-Fandi Allstars	7	0	11	842	21
	18	Florence Dynamos	6	1	11	970	19
	19	We're going up	5	0	13	770	15
	20	Jezza United	4	1	13	723	13

It is going to be close. If the league points are equal (from total of wins and draws) then the total points won decides the ranking.

This is not a  parallel to the real football leagues where points difference is the criterion. I wonder why it is not the same here in our fantasy game.

Gameweek 37

Shelsea	50 - 44	El-Fandi Allstars
Spudly	58 - 61	Si Si Songs
Jezza United	47 - 51	Jackula United
Foxes	51 - 38	Little Ted United
Gottadobetter 14/15	53 - 27	Kenski Braves
Bouwow11	62 - 43	Florence Dynamos
Its just not cricket	62 - 60	Little Wonders
MFC PL dream	43 - 46	Chi Strollers
Boro are back	28 - 47	Elojo
We're going up	29 - 42	Average

 There is lots of drama to come on the final day, next Sunday. And Monday for Boro!

Then we have to think about next year. I would welcome any ideas about the shape of our league. Or do we continue as before?


The End

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April showered us with talent

Gameweek 34 was certainly made memorable by Spudly setting up boldly to hold the lead and carry it through with Leicester and Chelsea players. She leads by 23 points with 4 Gameweeks left.

She showed that talent at a fantasy game is not fantasy talent.

ELSEWHERE - what about a defence of Terry, Ivanovich and Baines? Costly, but in the last Gameweek they accounted for 46 of the 77 points scored by this sly manager? I wonder how long he has been playing with them in his squad and whether it has proved worthwhile over a longish period.

Tiger Balm GARDENS league

Tiger Balm ALLOTMENTS League

Showing up well are three teams enjoying the extra fun of the Allotments by challenging from a better position than they hold in the other league. They are a founder member and former winner of the Gardens (trumpets here, please..) LITTLE (UniTED)...... Steve takes a bow from up in Newcastle, a  prisoner of Sports Direct!

In turn followed by Gottadobetter,  Richard (LYW) - read more about Richard in MikeT's fine piece about him elsewhere in this website. Look for a piece about Last Year's Winner.  I hope his nearest team, Middlesbrough, will provide fodder for our FL next season.

Followed by a beginner this season, water skier, builder of his own house years ago, and resident in (more trumpets and a trombone) Norwich: Mr Ken Pitt of Kenski Braves. ......Don't bow too low, Ken, at your age!

THE END

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Finesse

SPUDLY HAS SOME FINESSE TO TEACH US


Tonight's match between Chelsea and Leicester is the last of the 12 matches in Gameweek 34. Leah's SPUDLY team tonight has 6 players who can earn points!     SIX.

It is a bold ploy and deserves respect. At a cost of 12 penalty points could she widen the gap at the top? And with the Leicester players on form, could she draw further ahead over the last four weeks?

The second team in our TBG league (Shelsea) has only 3 players tonight, and is a much less bold play costing 4 points aimed more at getting closer to Spudly than overtaking. (Yet!)

Meanwhile, there is a respectable gap to Dynamos (Barbara) and See See Songs (Nick). But remember last season? In the last Gameweek Gottadobetter overtook Little Wonders in the last Gameweek. And that was just at the top.

Gameweek 34 LEAGUE TABLE before the final game Leicester v Chelsea tonight (below)
(Notice that only the totals on the right have the penalty points deducted. The Gameweek total always shows the total without penalty points)

There must be similar battles going on elsewhere in the TBGardens league.  If you haven't done it already it is worth checking just how likely you are to catch up on the team above you in the remaining 4 GameWEEKs. It looks like for example that Little Wonders and Gottadobetter have a re-run of last season but lower down the league with Boro coming Back a bit at them.

Don't treat the last 4 GameWEEKS as GameWEEDS.

Do something about it? Buy Leicester players! Or whoever ....!

Dig out some potatoes!

Be inspired by Spudly!

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March Wind ....

Did the March wind disturb much?

There are still the same teams first and second but third is a horse from a good stable (Grand National is in Gameweek 32) who was once in 2nd place. If you want to bet on the Halls it had better be each way as Spudly is too darned goodly.

 With so many teams to follow I am afraid you will have to tell me about your own team if you wish. I know Kenski Braves has moved on from a learner's start and is doing well at 3rd in the Allotments. It's perhaps a bit early to think about Cricket; and Dynamos are sparking. 

Agüero has not filled himself in yet. At the moment he is where his name is - in a hole! (Agüero = Hole).

Boro are not 'back' yet, and 7th place did better this week by one point.

Little Ted has gone from a jack to a king with a rise from 14th last month to 11th. Could he win the Allotments?

With only 8 Gameweeks left what more can be achieved? For any of us?

Just a word about the Chelsea hate, and the dislike of Costa expressed everywhere. My feelings are that it is overdone because they are a rich, successful club. Personally, I'd rather it was in its present hands than in the grip of an owner of a company who has to sell players when he needs money. (Man Utd )

Abramovich could just sell one of his yachts.

And the manager might be thought a professional smarty-pants but he is a knowledgable and successful manager.

And as for comments by pundits such as the ex-professional wrestler Jamie Carragher to disparage anybody for playing tough - he just needs to look at himself on replays. He preferred the more furtive method of fastening both arms around the trunk of an opposing player and holding on tightly. Maybe occasionally throwing him to the ground. Mind you everyone around him in the Liverpool defence was doing the same - probably with another opponent. Yes, I know probably John Terry too.

But if you had a face like Costa you would be a toughie. He looks great doing it.

For another view try this:

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/des-kelly-chelseas-diego-costa-is-branded-a-monster-but-where-was-the-outrage-when-steven-gerrard-lost-the-plot-10127373.html


from the Evening Standard. And read the related articles at the end.

Elojo and Who had a 64 each draw?

Who walloped his son?  95 - 58 was it?

What's the sign in the basement?


The End

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February ending; and March begins Tuesday 3/3/15 for Fantasy League players.

Think carefully about the dates in the heading above ....

We still cannot dig up those spuds unfortunately.
Spudly has a lead of 54 points over Shelsea and Not Just Cricket.

Gameweek 27
How to deal with the problem of having 6 players in your squad whose teams had no fixture in Gameweek 27 just ended? (3 Chelsea players, 2 Spurs, and 1 QPR)

Of course, you can leave things as they are or transfer one or two players out temporarily.  If you choose to do nothing the swings will come around....but no risky points are aimed at.

This feature of the game happens every season to some extent as PL teams qualify in other tournaments and matches are re-arranged. Although a player has the same 38 possibilities of playing you can get more than 38 matches from a position in your squad if you plan well for these features of the season where a team misses a gameweek and plays twice in another gameweek.

 For example, a Chelsea player in a squad will play 38 matches but two of them will be in the same gameweek. Therefore you can have an extra set of points for each player moved out in the gameweek when there is no match for them, and back in for the next gameweek.

Example: Costa out and Rooney in for Gameweek 27 and then Rooney out for Costa for Gameweek 28 and remaining there till Chelsea play twice in Gameweek 35.....

You have at least to take the risk to make ground. And it is more fun than staying put.

And the usual fun and games in the Allotments!

Little Ted (Steve T) wins with 26 points

and teams with 57 and 52 points lose!!

Not quite the end .....

The end

Aftermath of January 2015

When is potato picking time? 
SPUDLY might get caught!

What has Boro backed into? 
Not backed far enough for me!

Congratulations to new team manager, Ken Pitt. He's broken the ice!

A letter to all

There was a letter to everyone here originally but I decided I didn't like it. It was about not keeping teams up to date. No one has protested but there can be many reasons for this. 

Next: OUR HALF SEASON EVENT: The Tiger Balm Allotments League

It's a head to head. Where strange things happen to us all. 

'Grrrr' time, in fact.

Why not tell us all what happened to you? In an email to go here. 

Or I will tell you what happened to me.

Last week, Gameweek 22, I had 70+ (as you do) and only one team in our league had a bigger score than mine of 70 ++. I was drawn against this team. I lost to Foxes. 

This week, Gameweek 23, Foxes had less than half of the previous week's score, only 35 points - and won again by beating a team with the lowest score in the league, 17 points.

Yes, ex-JITC captain and jolly-good-fellow, John V.................Grrrr! (as The Beano used to put it.) 

I suggest you keep an eye on John if he buys lottery tickets.

The End

December, 2014 - the half-season places

After the latest Gameweek we are halfway through the season. Only one team has more than one thousand points.

Little Wonders at 7th position is coming up fast from 15th in November - just to prove that it can be done!

Who else is a dark horse at this point?

As to changes in form among the Premier League teams: Man U is now showing more success and the two top teams Chelsea and Man City can be flaky as their draws in Week 19 showed. Perhaps Stoke will do better than usual.

THE ALLOTMENTS LEAGUE TABLE WILL BE SHOWN HERE NEXT MONTH - matches begin in the very next Gameweek

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