gfogfr 2014/15 season in review

27 LOSERS

1 CHAMPION

28 MANAGERS

38 GAMEWEEKS

CHAMPION RUNNER-UP 2nd RUNNER UP

2,291 points 2,206 points 2,183 points1,044th in the world 8,274th in the world 13,037th in the world

7th in Thailand 116th in Malaysia 189th in Singapore

It was a season that promised plenty – and did not disappoint!On the back of such a one-sided victory by Chin Siong last season, all managers were hoping for a closely contended battle this time around.

However, yet again, another remarkable individual performance saw Wayniq claim this season’s crown rather comfortably. With a final score of 2,291 points, Wayniq finished 1,044th out of 3.5 million players in the world and 7th in his native Thailand. His victory was made all the more impressive having taken the lead early in GW9 from Arfiz, and going on to spend 29 of the next 30 GWs at the summit.

Defending champion Chin Siong, though, was set to ensure that if anyone wanted the GFoGFR crown, they’d have to take it from him. Despite a slow start to the season, Chin Siong’s class shone through as a rampant 2nd half surge saw him finish on 2,206 points, amongst the top 9,000 in the world and 116th in Malaysia. While this was not enough to retain the crown, it secured 2nd place, cemented his status as ‘best of the rest’.

Rebecca fulfilled her potential shown over the past 2 seasons with a fantastic run to claim 3rd spot. A consistent contender from start to finish, Rebecca barely dropped out of the top 5 all season. Going toe to toe with the boys, she fought her way to a 2,183 point finish, amongst the top 13,000 in the world, 189th in Singapore and earned top spot in the GFoGFR Weekly Wins table.

Kudos to the rest of GFoGFR for pushing the top 3 right til the end. This Season Review seeks to take a closer look at the season on a whole. So buckle up, spare us 10min and enjoy the ride!

The 2014/15 FPL had all the makings to be a classic.

The 16 returning managers from 2013/14 were joined by 12 new faces, boasting a roster of 28 managers set to battle it out for FPL supremacy.

And what a battle it turned out to be.

GFoGFRCHAMPIONSHIP

1 Khun WHOOP Wayniq Urairat 2,2912 Wise Roman Army Chin Siong 2,2063 PANDAS ON THE LOOSE Rebecca Teo 2,1834 F J Underwood Winston C 2,154

5 Len Eleven Ron Len 2,129

6 AAAAArsenal Alex Fong 2,118

7 EmCeeEfCee Jeremy Chee 2,095

8 Gerrard2015BPLChamp Azril Ghaus 2,094

9 Top Form! Arfiz Ghaus 2,070

10 sjturbo Shahnaz Jammal 2,036

11 Dream 15 Wai Mun Foong 2,021

12 SiewMaiBao Carl Siew 2,014

13 Raf's Studs Rafique Mat Tahir 2,006

14 imD1whoKnocks Jin Lim 2,005

15 ur bnny hs a gd nse Nicholas Ang 1,983

16 Koppite.com Kit Weng Yip 1,938

17 Go to Gaal jason ban 1,921

18 Harimau Malaya fadley rohani 1,900

19 Tr@ilbl@zers Teh Liang Seng 1,871

20 Last Laugh Kelvin Kee 1,854

21 Ruff Ryders Zilhazmir Hamzah 1,842

22 Team Sheriff Fairuz Shariff 1,831

23 Back at it again! Johnathan Ti 1,793

24 Lompat Tikam FC Anis Azmani Azman 1,748

25 Pattern United Daren Lu Wah Tiow 1,726

26 Pants on Fire FC Azrieff Mohamad 1,724

27 47 balls Rui Jian Ng 1,660

28 Jotun Jills mazlin ismail 1,654

There’s more to a season than just the final points tally.

How did everyone get to this stage? Time to find out. GFoGFRSEASON REVIEW

MONEY LEAGUEpage 5

SEASON BY QUARTERS

page 7

CAPTAIN HINDSIGHT

page 12

EXTRA TIME

page 13

SEASON AWARDSpage 17

14/15 was a record season on many accounts – but none more significant than the raised stakes, giving managers more than just pride to fight for.

This season featured a fresh new money league structure. A key part of the structure involved a new Weekly Winners pool designed to keep managers competitive throughout the season.

GFoGFRMONEY LEAGUE

GFoGFRRM5,040

GFoGFR CHAMPIONSHIPSRM 1,680

WEEKLY WINNERSRM 3,192

ADMIN RM168 (RM6/manager)

§  Top 3 overall at season end §  Winnings: •  1st RM1,008.00 (60%) •  2nd RM420.00 (25%) •  3rd RM252.00 (15%)

RM60/manager

§  RM84 up for grabs each GW §  Top 3 GW performers §  Winnings per GW: •  1st RM50.40 (60%) •  2nd RM21.00 (25%) •  3rd RM12.60 (15%)

RM3/GW/manager

Some managers were skeptical at the start of the season about how this new money league format would play out.

For managers who did well last season, concerns were raised about whether success will continue to be rewarded financially with the new format. Well…let’s see how the season turned out!

GFoGFRMONEY LEAGUE

Manager 1st 2nd 3rd (RM) Wayniq Urairat 3 0 4 201.60 1st 1,008.00 1,209.60 Chin Siong 2 2 2 168.00 2nd 420.00 588.00 Rebecca Teo 5 1 1 285.60 3rd 252.00 537.60 Arfiz Ghaus 4 2 0 243.60 243.60 Azril Ghaus 3 3 0 214.20 214.20 Alex Fong 2 2 4 193.20 193.20 Jeremy Chee 2 3 2 189.00 189.00 Fairuz Shariff 2 1 3 159.60 159.60 Johnathan Ti 2 1 1 134.40 134.40 Ron Len 1 3 1 126.00 126.00 Carl Siew 1 3 1 126.00 126.00 Winston C 1 3 1 126.00 126.00 Zilhazmir Hamzah 2 0 1 113.40 113.40 Azrieff Mohamad 2 0 1 113.40 113.40 Rafique Mat Tahir 1 1 3 109.20 109.20 jason ban 0 3 3 100.80 100.80 fadley rohani 1 1 2 96.60 96.60 Wai Mun Foong 1 0 2 75.60 75.60 Daren Lu 1 1 0 71.40 71.40 Kit Weng Yip 0 3 0 63.00 63.00 Kelvin Kee 1 0 1 63.00 63.00 Nicholas Ang 1 0 1 63.00 63.00 Jin Lim 0 1 2 46.20 46.20 Teh Liang Seng 0 2 0 42.00 42.00 Shahnaz Jammal 0 0 2 25.20 25.20 mazlin ismail 0 1 0 21.00 21.00 Rui Jian Ng 0 1 0 21.00 21.00 Anis 0 0 0 0.00 0.00

WW Championship Total WinningsSo there we have it.

The top 3 spots in the Money League was filled by the top 3 overall – showing that a strong season ensures success in both money pools.

However, unlike last season, the money league was not heavily dominated by 1 player.

Aside form the top 3, four other managers had a profitable season – Arfiz, Azril, Kahho and Jeremy – courtesy of the revamped Weekly Wins system. While they faltered in the overall campaign, these managers were able to post strong individual game week results as they fought til the very end.

For the rest – better luck next year mates!

Having said that, the money league structure can always be improved and any feedback is appreciated. There will be some polls on the blog following this review, so please vote and drop your comments there!

Q1GW1-9

Q2GW10-19

Q3GW20-29

Q4GW30-38

The GFoGFR blog was a new addition this season, featuring commentary reviews and musings every gameweek.

However, reviewing each week in isolation overlooks one key thing…that a season is not built over a good GW or two – it is built over a season-long process of transfers, risks, punts and strategizing.

The rest of this review will cover the season by quarters, take a closer look at some highly anticipated statistics and last, but not least, the traditional GFoGFR End-of-Season Awards! Enjoy.

GFoGFRPERFORMANCE

GW1 GW2 GW3 GW4 GW5 GW6 GW7 GW8 GW9

1st Jeremy Arfiz Daren Jeremy Arfiz John Ti Kah Ho Wayniq Azril2nd Carl Winston Chin Siong Arfiz Mazlin Ron Carl Azril Jeremy 3rd Wayniq Fairuz jason Jin Lim jason Kah Ho Rebecca Rafique Shahnaz

Season kick-offs are usually a mixed bag of emotions – excitement, panic, trepidation, furious refreshing of the FPL page etc. 2014/15 was no different.

On the evening of 16 Aug 2014, all eyes were likely on Chin Siong’s 15 picks to start the season. Unfortunately for him, he was not able to burst out of the blocks like last season. Instead, it was a GFoGFR rookie, Jeremy, who stole the plaudits in GW1 – and little did we know this win would be a precursor of things to come.

As GFoGFR’s only female representative, Rebecca was out to prove that girls can hang with the boys when it comes to football and showcased her intentions by claiming top spot after 2 GWs. However, the topsy turvy nature of this season’s early stages continued as GFoGFR saw more lead changes in the next few GWs.

One manager who always tends to start the season well is Arfiz, and 2014/15 was no different. 2 GW wins and a 2nd place finish in the next 4 GWs put GFoGFR on alert as Arfiz hit Top Form! early, taking the lead from Carl in GW4.

While the start of the football season was dominated by Costa’s prolific form (and dodgy hamstrings), a standout performer was undoubtedly Swansea’s Sigurdsson – returning for a second stint at the club. Only a few managers had started the season with the Icelander, but his form made him the go-to FPL midfielder option.

With all attention focused on Sigurdsson and Costa, few managers paid heed to the imminent return of an FPL giant – and a tectonic shift that was just around the corner.

Enter Aguero and GW8, where the Argentine delivered a sublime 4 goals. Back then, Aguero was selected by 6 managers, and more importantly, captained by only 2 – one of whom was Wayniq, as he battled his way to finish Q1 at the GFoGFR summit.

Q1GW1-9

Q1 STANDINGS

1 Wayniq Urairat 517 2 Arfiz Ghaus 513 3 Ron Len 505 4 Alex Fong 496 5 Jeremy Chee 488 6 Carl Siew 487 7 Rebecca Teo 485 8 Shahnaz Jammal 479 9 Winston C 476

10 Rafique Mat Tahir 473 11 Nicholas Ang 467 12 jason ban 446 13 Chin Siong 442 14 Azril Ghaus 441 15 Jin Lim 440 16 mazlin ismail 438 17 Azrieff Mohamad 435 18 Wai Mun Foong 433 19 Teh Liang Seng 433 20 Fairuz Shariff 423 21 Daren Lu Wah Tiow 417 22 Anis Azmani Azman 385 23 Johnathan Ti 380 24 fadley rohani 374 25 Rui Jian Ng 374 26 Zilhazmir Hamzah 371 27 Kelvin Kee 367 28 Kit Weng Yip 363

Q2GW10-19

GW10 GW11 GW12 GW13 GW14 GW15 GW16 GW17 GW18 GW19

1st Rebecca Wayniq Zil fadley Ron Arfiz Arfiz Wai Mun Zil Kelvin2nd Kit Kah Ho jason John Ti Jeremy Winston Kah Ho fadley TLS Jason 3rd Kah Ho Jeremy Wai Mun Ron Kah Ho fadley Winston Carl Nicholas JT

Q2 was defined by both the good and the bad of Kun Aguero.

Kun continued Q2 from where he left off with a level of consistency that showed just why he was one of the more expensive players in the game. With returns in 4 of the first 5 GWs of Q2, he threatened to be the Suarez of this season. Part of the Aguero deal, though, is his fragility. And this came to the fore via an early GW15 injury.

Wayniq was the major benefactor of Kun’s rich vein of form, building a 20 point lead by GW15. Kun’s subsequent 5 game injury layoff, however, threw the league wide open as managers scrambled to replace the level of consistency that Kun delivered. The core template of FPL picks was breaking and this was evident as the subsequent 4 podiums were filled with 12 different managers!

Kahho quickly took advantage of the situation to launch himself up the table. Hopping on early to a Southampton defensive double up, Downing and Kane, Kahho proved to have a keen eye for player potential. He went on to finish top of Q2 with 586 points.

Arfiz seized this opportunity to become the first (and only) manager to win back-to-back GWs, asserting his dominance at the top of the money standings. However, he was unable to replicate his Q1 form as he ‘Fizzled’ down to 7th in GW19, from 1st in GW8. His topsy turvy form would prove to be a double edged sword all season.

As Q2 drew to a close, normal FPL service had seemed to resume with the premium names delivering consistent returns, supported by consistent of budget mids and forwards.

However, FPL on a whole was just about to be turned on its head.

Q2 STANDINGS

1 Alex Fong 586 2 Wayniq Urairat 569 3 Carl Siew 569 4 Nicholas Ang 564 5 Ron Len 563 6 Jeremy Chee 561 7 Rebecca Teo 560 8 Chin Siong 546 9 Azril Ghaus 545

10 Shahnaz Jammal 542 11 Winston C 541 12 jason ban 528 13 Arfiz Ghaus 520 14 Wai Mun Foong 512 15 Zilhazmir Hamzah 511 16 Jin Lim 506 17 Rafique Mat Tahir 504 18 Anis Azmani Azman 503 19 fadley rohani 500 20 Kit Weng Yip 496 21 Johnathan Ti 481 22 Teh Liang Seng 480 23 Rui Jian Ng 478 24 Daren Lu Wah Tiow 477 25 Kelvin Kee 474 26 Azrieff Mohamad 469 27 mazlin ismail 419 28 Fairuz Shariff 404

GW20 GW21 GW22 GW23 GW24 GW25 GW26 GW27 GW28 GW29

1st Azril Fairuz Azrieff Rebecca Fairuz Alex Rebecca Chin Siong Rebecca John Ti2nd jason Kit Rebecca Jeremy Kit Azril Rafique Carl Ron RJ 3rd Kah Ho Wai Mun fadley Wayniq Rafique Fairuz Jin Kelvin Rafique Azrieff

Q3GW20-29

GW20 was perhaps THE defining gameweek of the season, with a certain player altering the dynamics of the game for the rest of the season.

Enter Harry Kane.

An unprecedented 2 goals and 2 assists against Chelsea cemented his legend in the 14/15 season as Kane put his foot down as a genuine FPL prospect. His extremely budget friendly price and points potential opened the game up to something we had not seen in previous season – a cheap 3rd striker capable of being played week in, week out that allowed an extra premium midfielder.

Together with a slew of managerial changes in the league, the start of Q3 set the tone for the rest of the season.

Rebecca was fastest to react to this new dynamic, racing to her most explosive and rewarding quarter. A Q3 haul of 626 points was 20 points more than 2nd place for the quarter, propelling her towards the top of GFoGFR. Along the way, she racked up a cool 3 GW wins + a 2nd place finish.

After a lackluster first 2 quarters, defending champion Chin Siong finally found his feet. Starting off Q3 quietly, Chin Siong announced his return to form in style with a big win in GW27, gaining 30 odd points on the top 2 in onefell swoop.

While the chasing pack showed strong form in Q3, it was also a strong quarter for Wayniq as the league leader kept up his consistent season with a 3rd place finish. Significantly, his strong form allowed him to enter the final stretch with a 20 point lead over 2nd and 85 points clear of 4th, setting him up for at least a top 3 finish.

Q3 STANDINGS

1 Rebecca Teo 626 2 Chin Siong 605 3 Wayniq Urairat 600 4 Alex Fong 570 5 Wai Mun Foong 569 6 fadley rohani 567 7 Jin Lim 561 8 Azril Ghaus 554 9 Arfiz Ghaus 549

10 Rafique Mat Tahir 549 11 Jeremy Chee 539 12 Ron Len 538 13 Kelvin Kee 538 14 Kit Weng Yip 538 15 Winston C 535 16 Shahnaz Jammal 521 17 Carl Siew 509 18 Fairuz Shariff 503 19 Zilhazmir Hamzah 485 20 Teh Liang Seng 485 21 jason ban 484 22 Johnathan Ti 481 23 Nicholas Ang 473 24 Azrieff Mohamad 446 25 Anis Azmani Azman 436 26 mazlin ismail 413 27 Daren Lu Wah Tiow 410 28 Rui Jian Ng 409

GW30 GW31 GW32 GW33 GW34 GW35 GW36 GW37 GW38

1st Rafique Chin Siong Azrieff Wayniq Carl Azril Rebecca Winston Nicholas2nd Jin Arfiz Azril Ron Winston Fairuz Chin Siong TLS Daren 3rd Zil Fairuz Chin Siong Jeremy Wayniq Jason Wayniq Chin Siong Shahnaz

Q4GW30-38

Q4 STANDINGS

1 Chin Siong 613 2 Wayniq Urairat 605 3 Winston C 602 4 Azril Ghaus 554 5 Kit Weng Yip 541 6 Ron Len 527 7 Rebecca Teo 516 8 Jeremy Chee 515 9 Wai Mun Foong 507

10 Fairuz Shariff 501 11 Jin Lim 498 12 Shahnaz Jammal 494 13 Arfiz Ghaus 488 14 Kelvin Kee 487 15 Rafique Mat Tahir 480 16 Nicholas Ang 479 17 Teh Liang Seng 477 18 Zilhazmir Hamzah 475 19 Alex Fong 466 20 jason ban 463 21 fadley rohani 459 22 Carl Siew 453 23 Johnathan Ti 451 24 Anis Azmani Azman 424 25 Daren Lu Wah Tiow 422 26 Rui Jian Ng 399 27 mazlin ismail 384 28 Azrieff Mohamad 374

The first GW of Q4 cut down Wayniq’s lead at the top to just 6 points following a big haul for Rebecca. Rebecca, in turn, built a 42 point lead over 3rd place. But GFoGFR was set to experience one of the best turnarounds of the past 3 seasons.

Hampered by a slow start to the campaign, Chin Siong found himself as low as 14th in the table halfway through the season. However, after his Q3 heroics, Chin Siong began Q4 in 5th place, 78 points behind 2nd spot.

Over in the EPL, Chelsea’s title run in was all about stubborn resilience as John Terry led by example to secure the 2014/15 title for the London club. Over at the other end of the table, Leicester’s remarkable resurgence saw them emerge as the unlikeliest source of FPL points.

With 3 double gameweeks in the final quarter, Q4 had all the ingredients to cause some upsets and massive swings in the table – and it proved so.

Chin Siong’s astute performance over the quarter ensured he finished top for the quarter, with 4 podium finishes under his belt. More importantly, it gave him the needed boost to finish second, scoring a cool 97 points more than Rebecca. Rebecca, in turn, did a Gerrard and slipped up right at the end, as she lost 2nd place in GW37.

Wayniq showcased his consistency throughout the season by placing 2nd for the quarter – the only manager to feature in the top 3 of every quarter.

Another strong performer for the quarter was Winston, as last season’s 2nd runner up proved his mettle by hauling his way to 3rd place for the quarter. His fantastic Q4 confirmed a 4th place finish – beating rival Ron along the way.

CAPTAINHINDSIGHT

The Captaincy – perhaps the single most important decision of FPL.In the 2013/14 season, Suarez effectively eliminated the captaincy conundrum as his consistent hauls made him a perma-captain. This season has been a different animal altogether with regards to captaincy. Every GW, managers are faced with 2-3 valid options for the captaincy. Did Winston retain the mantle of #1 Captain Picker in 14/15? How big a factor was captaincy in your success/failure?

Manager Captaincy

Score% of

overall ptsMax possible

captaincy score

% of max possible

captain score

Overall rank

Overall vs Captaincy

1 Winston C 518 24% 950 55% 4 -3 2 Chin Siong 508 23% 968 52% 2 - 3 Rebecca Teo 498 23% 974 51% 3 - 4 Wayniq Urairat 492 21% 984 50% 1 +3 5 Azril Ghaus 490 23% 922 53% 8 -3 6 Ron Len 466 22% 964 48% 5 +1 7 Rafique 466 23% 912 51% 12 -6 8 Carl Siew 462 23% 964 48% 14 -4 9 Fairuz Shariff 454 25% 864 53% 22 -13 10 Nicholas Ang 446 22% 946 47% 13 -5 11 Jin Lim 444 22% 914 49% 9 -3 12 Arfiz Ghaus 442 21% 964 46% 15 +3 13 Shahnaz 440 22% 944 47% 11 +3 14 Jeremy Chee 434 21% 970 45% 18 +7 15 fadley rohani 434 23% 886 49% 7 -3 16 Alex Fong 424 20% 952 45% 6 +10 17 Kelvin Kee 418 23% 940 44% 20 -3 18 Kit Weng Yip 408 21% 902 45% 17 +2 19 Wai Mun 406 20% 926 44% 10 +8 20 Anis 384 22% 870 44% 24 -4 21 Azrieff 380 22% 768 49% 25 -5 22 Daren 372 22% 794 47% 16 -3 23 jason ban 364 19% 852 43% 26 +6 24 Teh Liang Seng 356 19% 862 41% 28 +5 25 Rui Jian Ng 356 21% 814 44% 19 -2 26 Johnathan Ti 320 18% 854 37% 23 +3 27 Zilhazmir 316 17% 862 37% 21 +6 28 mazlin ismail 252 15% 830 30% 27 -

A ‘title’ has been defended.Boom! Winston has defended his crown of top captain picker.

Once again displaying an uncanny ability to pick captains, Winston was the only manager to breach 500 points from his captains. We can no longer use the excuse of “Ah it’s all because of Suarez la!”. Well done Winston.

As it turned out, there was nothing separating the overall top 10 in terms of actual captaincy score. A better reflection of captain performance would be the % of max possible captain score.

The last column, Overall vs Captaincy Rank, shows your relative performance.

A smaller number could imply some underperforming, as the rest of your team failed to do your captaincy skills proud.

A larger number could indicate a strong overall team performance supported comparatively weaker captain picks.

106.

1

105.

7

105.

3

104.

8

104.

4

104.

1

103.

9

103.

8

103.

3

103

102.

7

101.

7

101.

7

101.

6

101.

6

101.

4

100.

9

100.

6

100.

5

99.8

99.3

99.2

98.7

98.5

98.2

97.8

96.4

96

Chin Si

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Jin

Kahho

Way

niq

Nicholas

Ron

Kelvin

Azril

Wai

Mun

Rebec

ca

TLS

Arfiz

Jaso

n

Wins

ton

Jere

my Carl

Shah

naz

Rafique

Zil

JT

Azrieff

Anis

RJ Kit

Fadley

Maz

lin

Daren Fa

i

FPL seems like such a simple game – pick 11 players, 3 clicks to make a transfer, pick a captain, done.

By now, you should know that this would be over-simplifying FPL a wee bit. FPL is a multi-dimensional game with ripple effects that could make or ruin a weekend! Form, fixtures, injuries, player positions, rotation are some of these dimensions that feed into our decision making process but alas, are out of our control. There are some factors, on the other hand, that we can somewhat control – and Extra Time will lay out it for you. First up, TEAM VALUE.

Jin showed the importance of team value last season by amassing a huge war chest midway through the season which allowed him the ability to purchase more expensive players and surge up the standings. By the end of the season, he had $7 million more than the GFoGFR average! In FPL terms, that’s a Hazard + Sanchez over Bolasie + Sterling!

This season was a little different, as Kane ensured plenty of budget to go around and prices seemed to not change as rapidly as before. Nonetheless, we do continue to see a positive correlation between good scores and high team values. Chin Siong led the league here @ 106.1m. Jin continued his strategy this season, hoping on popular picks at the start of the season but was unable to replicate last season’s 2nd half performance. Wayniq fell behind the duo for a second season running in terms of team value but proved a good score can be managed with less money. Majority of the top 10 had a team value above the league average of 101.5, which was way behind last season’s average of 106.0.

EXTRA

TEAM VALUE

TIME

Avg - £101.5m

68

28 61

46

50

37

40

29

32

53

63

84

38

48

171

98

21 11

1

44 73

98

91

62 11

2

137 17

6

185

65

243 272

295

311

286

267 32

6

126

126

223

197

122

91

258

263

93

287

173 24

2

181 21

9

160

129 18

8

173 23

0

203

158

Way

niq

Chin Si

ong

Rebec

ca

Wins

ton

Ron

Kahho

Jere

my Azri

l Arfiz

Shah

naz

Wai

Mun

Carl

Rafique

Jin

Nicholas

Kit

Jaso

n

Fadley

TL

S

Kelvin Zil

Fa

i JT

Anis

Daren

Azrieff

RJ

Maz

lin

Points received off the bench Points left on bench

EXTRA

BENCH POINTS

TIMEA constant thorn in FPL managers sides is the possibility of leaving points on the bench. There’s probably no worse feeling than benching points – but is that indicative of poor management or just the inevitability of a strong squad?

We put GFoGFR through the ringer and took a look at each manager’s bench. The chart below lays out GFoGFR according to the position each manager finished, with regards to ‘Points received off the bench’ and ‘points left on the bench’.

Right off the bat, points left on the bench seem to be an inevitability – especially so for managers in the top 10. Winston and Jeremy have most cause for grief here, with both managers leaving more than 300 points each on the bench, while only able to call upon 46 and 40 points off the bench respectively!

Wayniq’s 68 points off the bench vs Chin Siong’s 28 also played its part in handing him the victory, as highlighting the double-edged nature of a strong squad. Arfiz and Azril, on the other hand, had very small benches and it might have prevented them from finishing higher. Remember, every point counts!

EXTRA

POINT PENS

TIME

Team Manager Net points Penalties Gross points Adj. 1 Khun WHOOP Wayniq Urairat 2291 -24 2,315 u 2 Wise Roman Army Chin Siong 2206 -44 2,250 u 3 PANDAS ON THE LOOSE Rebecca Teo 2183 -40 2,223 u 4 F J Underwood Winston C 2154 -40 2,194 u 5 Len Eleven Ron Len 2129 -52 2,181 u 6 AAAAArsenal Alex Fong 2118 -24 2,142 u 7 EmCeeEfCee Jeremy Chee 2095 -44 2,139 u 8 Gerrard2015BPLChamp Azril Ghaus 2094 -24 2,118 ▼ 1 9 Top Form! Arfiz Ghaus 2070 -64 2,134 ▲ 1 10 sjturbo Shahnaz Jammal 2036 0 2,036 ▼ 4 11 Dream 15 Wai Mun Foong 2021 -28 2,049 ▼ 1 12 SiewMaiBao Carl Siew 2014 -44 2,058 ▲ 2 13 Raf's Studs Rafique Mat Tahir 2006 -40 2,046 u 14 imD1whoKnocks Jin Lim 2005 -48 2,053 ▲ 3 15 ur bnny hs a gd nse Nicholas Ang 1983 -24 2,007 u 16 Koppite.com Kit Weng Yip 1938 -12 1,950 ▼ 2 17 Go to Gaal jason ban 1921 -36 1,957 u 18 Harimau Malaya fadley rohani 1900 -8 1,908 ▼ 2 19 Tr@ilbl@zers Teh Liang Seng 1871 -44 1,915 u 20 Last Laugh Kelvin Kee 1854 -112 1,966 ▲ 4 21 Ruff Ryders Zilhazmir Hamzah 1842 -12 1,854 ▼ 1 22 Team Sheriff Fairuz Shariff 1831 -28 1,859 ▲ 1 23 Back at it again! Johnathan Ti 1793 -32 1,825 u

24 Lompat Tikam FC Anis Azmani Azman 1748 -4 1,752 u

25 Pattern United Daren Lu Wah Tiow 1726 0 1,726 ▼ 1 26 Pants on Fire FC Azrieff Mohamad 1724 -4 1,728 ▲ 1 27 47 balls Rui Jian Ng 1660 -8 1,668 u 28 Jotun Jills mazlin ismail 1654 -4 1,658 u

Penalties are a coin toss.In the table, we’ve made a quick and dirty adjustment of ranks if all point penalties were added back to total points.

Of course, this doesn’t take into account if a penalty paid off (ie the player you brought in for -4 scored at least 4 points more than the outgoing player), that’s too difficult to take into account!

Interestingly, the re-addition of penalty points back to the overall score made no difference to the top 7 managers.

For the rest, however, there were some significant changes. A green arrow here indicates that a manager would have finished higher up in the ranks had he not taken a penalty. A red arrow indicates a manager would be overtaken after penalties are re-added.

No rocket science here but interesting to see the effect of pens, especially for Jin, Kelvin and Shahnaz!

How many times have we wanted so badly to make 4-5 changes to our teams due to a circumstances like mass injuries, mass rotation, or just mass lumps of shite?

I know I have – many times. However, the risks associated with a -4 often put people off making the transfer. Some managers have specific transfer policies when it comes to penalties. For a few, there might be a strict “No Penalty” policy, for others a penalty is only taken amidst injuries, while for a special few, penalties are an aphrodisiac (Kelvin and Arfiz…judging you).

Our weekly updates highlight point penalty tallies but let’s see how they might have affected the final league standings.

END OF THE SEASON AWARDS It has been a long season and everyone deserves on the pat on the back (if you’ve kept at it til the end that is). However, some perhaps deserve a bigger pat than others. And they are…


GFoGFR welcomed 12 new faces this season. For some, this was their first season while others brought a few seasons of experience to the league. Jeremy was the only new manager in the top 10, a respectable feat given the quality competition this season. Congratulations!

ROOKIE OF THE SEASON

JEREMY CHEE

Well let’s not beat around the bush – this season’s champ deserves the Manager of the Season award.

Taking over the GFoGFR reins in GW9, Wayniq led the league for the rest of the season save for a 1-week drop to 2nd in GW20. As the other 5 managers who spent time as #1 can attest, it’s easier to get to the top than stay there.

MANAGER OF THE SEASON

WAYNIQ URAIRAT


Chin Siong topped the Team Value charts this season with a solid 106.1m valued team. In doing so, he toppled Jin from the summit after the latter’s dominating performance on the value table last season. Only Chin Siong will know if a high team value was an objective…will anyone adopt this strategy next season?

MOST VALUABLE TEAM

The duo dominated the league for big scores (more than 80 points) over the season, with both managers notching SEVEN 80+ point hauls over the season.

Both managers are again tied for scores above 90 (2 each) but Wayniq edges it when it comes to Century hauls, with 1 to Winston’s 0.

BIG HITTER

CHIN SIONG

WAYNIQ & WINSTON


The James Milner of GFoGFR, Ron proved himself to be the most consistent manager in the league, amassing the most number of 50+ points hauls.

With 25 50+ point hauls in the season, Ron was a Coke bottle that was constantly shaken but not allowed to explode. Sometimes you need that extra oompf mate!

The attention seeker that he is, Kahho loved being on the podium…and the podium loved him too.

8 podium finishes for Kahho was the most in GFoGFR – a nice accolade to have in such a competitive field.

2 Golds, 2 Silvers and 4 Bronzes. Sweep.

MR. CONSISTENT

PODIUM HUGGER

RON LEN

ALEX FONG KAHHO


The Rafa Benitez of GFoGFR, Carl utilized a total of 74 players this season – an average of almost 2 new faces every gameweek! Some obscure players picks include Burke, Cisse, Walters, N’Doye, McShane, Janmaat, Roberston, Adam.

ROTATION KING

CARL SIEW

TOP SCORERS

1st Wayniq GW8: 110 points

2nd Arfiz GW31: 104 points Chin Siong GW31: 104 points

3rd Rebecca GW36: 102 points

4th Rafique GW30: 102 points

5th Jeremy GW4: 100 points


These 2 managers led the league by far in terms of the number of team name changes. Was it FPL superstition? Or just a case of finding their true calling? Well one thing’s for sure…Kelvin and JT will probably be changing next throughout next season as well.

“WHO AM I?”

KELVIN KEE & JOHN TI

Carl waltzes away with the crown, with a series of fantastic punts executed with aplomb. Notable punts include Walters hattrick, N’Doye brace, Adam 1G1A, Sakho(c) & Silva(c) before it was cool.

Arfiz gets an honorable mention here for daring to be different at times. Walcott (not for the last GW hattrick), Sturridge and Balotelli ring a bell?

EL PUNT-TASTICO

CARL SIEWARFIZ GHAUS

FINAL MUSINGS

First off, thank you if you’ve stuck around until this far in the review!

Having wrapped up every GW commentary with a few thoughts, I thought I’d do the same for the season review.

What a season it’s been, a personal best by far. I’d be lying if I said winning GFoGFR wasn’t an objective – everyone must have fancied their chances…but it wasn’t easy for sure.

Having led for half the season in 2012/13 and completely imploded, I understood the pressure and anguish of defeat. I tried to redeem myself in 2013/14 but was blown out of the water by some fantastic new additions to the league in Chin Siong, Ron and Winston, who have gone on to prove their FPL talent this season. Having been so resoundingly defeated the previous 2 seasons, I was determined to at least be in the mix til the very end this season. Thankfully, all went well J

The level of competition this season has been the highest I have ever seen. I knew that any slip up could and would be pounced upon by others – proven by 20 different managers winning at least 1 GW each. Hats off to everyone for bringing the league to another level!

GFoGFR was started as a league for friends and colleagues to have fun and we’ve continued that vision in 2014/15. While not the most lucrative of leagues, I hope this has been a season of good fun and banter for you. While busy work and personal schedules might mean some managers lose interest halfway, I do hope you return next season to compete. Til then, have a good break and THANKS!!

GFoGFR will return.

gfogfr 2014/15 season in review

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