Introduction

1st January 2020, approximately 5 months after I considered starting a Fantasy Premier League blog.  I like writing but have struggled for a topic that would a) be interesting, b) have potential for humour and c) provide some level of routine or regularity to mean I could gather enough momentum to keep going once I couldn’t really be bothered anymore.  FPL provides all of those things.

Traditionally, I am committed to, but ultimately fairly mediocre at FPL. I win a few of my leagues among friends each year purely because I am the only one who looks at his team each week. I am by default above average, because the average player doesn’t pay attention, picks their team at the start of the season and then forgets about it.  Among people who have fpl as a relatively important part of their life, I am distinctly second-rate.  I rarely threaten the top 250k and there are generally a few humorous moments throughout the season where my transfers have huge net point deficits and I confidently predict “the next big thing” only to watch them do absolutely nothing week-in-week-out. (This year’s misprediction: this will be Phil Foden’s breakthrough season. Last year’s: Wilfried Zaha will be the PFA Player of the Year)

To back up my claim of commitment in the face of mediocrity, here are my results for the last 13 years:

I often tell people about the famous 2009/10 season where everything clicked and I finished 17,519th out of approx 2.8 million players, but since then I have become AFC Bournemouth – not rubbish, occasional high GW points and not to be written off completely, but ultimately not worrying anyone who’s done their homework.  There was also the year I got through about 9 rounds of the cup and started dreaming of the Premier League water bottle or whatever the prize is, but alas I lost due to my opponent receiving a few, what my friends and I call, Jammy B’stard Bench Points (JBBPs).

So, I thought a blog might be quite interesting, funny and most importantly give me something to focus my writing efforts into.  Didn’t happen in the end did it, because I forgot and also couldn’t really be bothered. 

But wait a minute, this year I am actually doing quite well.  As I write this, just before the start of GW21, I am 2,363rd out of 7,282,544 players.  By my calculations that puts me in the top 0.03% overall.  Fans of percentiles will be able to convert that to the 99.97th percentile.  If FPL was a country, its population would make it 104th biggest in the world, ever so slightly ahead of Laos.  Imagine being the 2,363rd best person in Laos? Pretty awesome isn’t it?  I bet you would read that person’s blog wouldn’t you?

Anyway, a combination of a New Year’s Resolution and wanting to document the 2nd half of the season means I am starting the blog 21 weeks later than I should have done.  Better Late Than Never might not apply when bringing Danny Ings into your team, but I think it does apply with other things in life.

I’ll follow up this introduction with a brief recap of the season so far and let’s see what happens.  Maybe I’ll end up as President of Laos.