Before I get started, an important message – as you know The Evie Dove Foundation now has charity status and we sent out an email last week (around 22nd September) inviting you to convert your pledge into a donation. If you have not received this email please could you check your spam, and whitelist the email (and obviously make your donation!). Also if you have donated your £10 anonymously please let me know so we can ensure you are in the pot for the prizes. Many thanks.
So welcome back from the interminable international break! We now enter the second half, of the first half of the season – 8 gameweeks gone, 8 gameweeks to go until the World Cup break and all those lovely free transfers!
Those of you that have activated your wildcards since GW8 have had the pleasure / joy / frustration / angst of constantly changing your team before a ball is kicked; whilst those of us who pressed the panic button earlier in the season have had to have a long hard think about what else we have in our lives other than fantasy football……….although I’m sure many of you couldn’t help but absent mindedly log onto the app and look wistfully at your team last Saturday afternoon………..ok Redmen – not you…….. the last time you looked at your team Boris was Prime Minister, Charles was a Prince, diesel was almost £2 a litre, and we were all complaining about the heat!
On the subject of Redmen, a number of you have asked me recently how they are getting on. Firstly I’m pleased to confirm that they are still with us – if you scroll through the league (keep scrolling) they are generally quite easy to find! The team however continues to become ever more fragmented, with Schmeichel continuing to make the squad as he enjoys his new life on the French Riviera, and star striker Jay Stansfield opting for a season long loan to the mighty Exeter City! Regardless I expect both players to be given an extended run in the team – I have heard a rumour that ‘Redmen’ are going all out for the ‘fewest transfers’ prize! We’ll keep an eye on this and see if they get anywhere near the magic 1950 point mark!
You’ll be pleased to hear that I spent my international break passing the time by doing an in depth review of each of the 143 teams in our league from gameweek 1 to gameweek 8. It took a while to trawl through 1,144 gameweeks, but you will be pleased to hear it was time well spent, as I did discover the UNLUCKIEST team I have ever seen………..Step forward Fjirepit FC……….
Every GW so far, this team has loyally captained Roberto Firmino, not everyone’s natural choice as captain, many would say a player past his best, nonetheless that kind of loyalty is to be admired.
Results so far GW1 – 2 points, GW2 – 0, GW3 – 4, GW5 – 18, GW6 – 2, GW7 – 0, GW8 – 0 points. Fair to say that ‘Bobby’ is not pulling up many trees. However, there was one week when the Liverpool forward, best known for his quite remarkable teeth, and catalogue of ‘no look’ goals, was not given the armband, in fact he was not even in the team – GW4……..you know what happened next……..unburdened by the responsibility of carrying the Fjirepit FC attack, he went ABSOLUTELY NUTS!!!! – 68 minutes on the pitch, 2 goals, 3 assists, 3 bonus points – a massive 44 points for captain Firmino!! Sadly it appears the only thing more painful than having a Brazilian, is not having a Brazilian (I’m here all week). Seriously, if you’ve got a FF story unluckier than that you have my sympathy! If you can compete with that, send me the detail so I can share your tale of woe!
Moving on, let’s do a quick round up of GW8 – remember that?! Big news at the top, longtime leader ‘Schnizzle’ was finally toppled, and replaced by ‘The Golden Mile’. However this team is one of our JFF’s (just for fun), and therefore it gives me great pleasure to announce the very special arrival of ‘Douglas Luiz dynamos’ in pole position for the £300 prize!!! An amazing week yielding 74 points, one of 17 wildcards played, powering them to the top of the pile. Great work Howard, we could not have a more fitting leader of the Evie Dove Foundation League xx go smash it again this week!!
In other news, the mighty ‘puppyfc’ were finally overtaken in the Free Hit running, having been top of the leaderboard since GW4. This week eight teams threw their hat in the ring – special mention to ‘Canary Muff’ with 81 points, however raising the bar even further was ‘Tinchy Sneijder’ with a massive 85 points, thats the new target to aim for! Talking of Free Hits – watch out for GW12 – Arsenal v Man City has been postponed – maybe the ideal time to use your Free Hit chip? Or you may want to save it for later in the season? If so, start planning your transfers carefully now, or be prepared to take a few 4 point hits in a few weeks time!
So bring on gameweek 9 – it’s good to be back!
Good luck everyone, and thanks again from all of us at The Evie Dove Foundation.