2016/17 Awards - English Team of the Season

(Same rules as before but English players only)

GK: Tom Heaton (Wateringhole Society)

DEF: Gary Cahill (Trusted), Michael Keane (Wateringhole Society), Alfie Mawson (Fred West LG XI), Danny Rose (Aardvark Abacus)

MID: Dele Alli (Fred West LG XI), Theo Walcott (San Dimas), James Milner (YTFIB), Nathan Redmond (Athletico Phoenix)

ATT: Harry Kane (FCK2), Jermain Defoe (Fred West LG XI)

Subs: Fraser Forster (Mega Bucks); Nathaniel Clyne (Cheese Makers); Michail Antonio (Mega Bucks); Jamie Vardy (Wheel Madrid)

A completely new back five this year and only Alli, Walcott and Kane from the attacking options. (Although Raheem Sterling's re-cat as a striker didn't help his cause.) And who'd have thought Jermain Defoe would have been back in the line-up?

Last year's selection

2016/17 Awards - Team of the Season

(All awards are made on basis of contributions in all WSFFL competitions. Where there is a tie, contributions in league matches take precedence. Then I'll try to separate them by goals scored. Then perhaps by which minute they'd walk off with a guard of honour when they retire if they were big-headed enough. If you see two or more names in a position I still couldn't split them.)

GK: Thibaut Courtois (Fred West LG XI)

DEF: Gary Cahill (Trusted), Marcos Alonso (Nil Satis), Cesar Azpilicueta (Fred West LG XI), David Luiz (Wheel Madrid)

MID: Eden Hazard, Dele Alli (both Fred West LG XI), Sadio Mane (Real Muppets), Phillippe Coutinho (Mega Bucks)

ATT: Romelu Lukaku (San Dimas), Harry Kane (FCK2)

Subs: David de Gea (Trusted); Seamus Coleman (Nil Satis); Willian (The CFJs); Alexis Sanchez (The CFJs)

Only Mane and Kane were in last year's starting team. Alli steps up from the bench into the first XI.

Last year's line-up

2016/17 Awards - Players of the Season

(Awards are made on basis of contributions in all WSFFL competitions. Where there is a tie, contributions in league matches take precedence.)

Player of the season, Attacker of the season, Young Player of the season and Golden Boot:
Romelu Lukaku (San Dimas) - 24 goals

Lukaku topped the charts this year ahead of the likes of Harry Kane, Alexis Sanchez and Sergio Aguero, rarefied company indeed. Can he sustain this sort of form? (The co-ordinator hopes so.) Will he fancy moving on and challenging for bigger prizes (The co-ordinator hopes not.)

Golden Gloves:
Thibaut Courtois (Fred West LG XI) - 13 cleans

Fred's title was built on a solid defence and he had the luxury of choosing from two great goalkeepers. Hugo Lloris won this award in 2013/14 but had to play second fiddle to his team mate this time.

Defender of the season:
Gary Cahill (Trusted By Millions) - four goals, 16 cleans

Trusted's title challenge faded over the last couple of months but that was mainly down to a lack of goals. Cahill's 20 counter return is the best by a defender for five seasons. He's a former winner of 500k player of the season too.

Midfielder of the season:
2016/17 - Eden Hazard (Fred West LG XI) - 18 goals

If Fred's win was built on the defence it was mostly decorated by the midfield. Hazard won this for the second time in three years and with six more goals than last time. Hazard just edged out team mate Dele Alli by virtue of more goals scored in the league.

£500k Player of the season:
2016/17 - Harry Kane (FCK2) - 22 goals

A second successive win for Kane in this category. And when you think he was injured for more than two months it's probably the least he could have won. Clean sweep next year?

List of previous winners

2016/17 Co-Ord Round-up Part one - Transfer dealings

Let's get this one out of the way...

All sorts of fake money records were broken in 2016/17.

Income

A new record for the total income in a season came in at just over  £660m. That was boosted by a new team record of £142,500,000.

Four other teams saw receipts of £50m+.

Expenditure

Another record here as total spending was bang on £700m. That was driven by two clubs shelling out more than £100m (one broke the league record). Three other teams spent more than £60m.

At the other end of the scale three teams spent less than £100m.

Business

After all that, and if you're good at maths, you'll see that there was only a deficit of just less than £40m. Five teams turned in a profit on transfers and seven were down by less than £10m.

Were there not that many good players coming into the league? Or should we expect a splurge at the August auction?

Overall losses on transfers since 2006/07 are over £1.6bn in case you're interested. A few teams are closing in on half a billion in expenditure.

Combined League Table - 2001 - 2017

For what it's worth.


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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Aardvark Abacus	480	269	81	130	1109	722	387	888
2	Trusted By Millions	480	247	82	151	1027	783	244	823
3	Claymore Athletic FC	480	247	81	152	1150	869	281	822
4	FCK2 (8)	480	229	93	158	1045	808	237	780
5	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	480	226	92	162	1044	816	228	770
6	The Cow-Faced Juniors (1)	480	226	91	163	1008	830	178	769
7	Real Muppets	480	216	95	169	915	809	106	743
8	The Fabulous Artisans (2)	480	211	74	195	867	871	-4	707
9	San Dimas High School	480	203	87	190	888	897	-9	696
10	Cheese Makers (6)	480	178	94	208	751	859	-108	628
11	Athletico Phoenix (3)	480	167	91	222	740	916	-176	592
12	The Wateringhole Society (5)	480	159	85	236	688	894	-206	562
13	Mega Buck Bandits	480	157	90	233	673	856	-183	561
14	Wheel Madrid (4)	480	152	94	234	679	921	-242	550
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	480	137	92	251	667	929	-262	503
16	YTFIB (7)	480	114	82	284	535	1006	-471	424

(1) includes results from Kylie Bumcheeks and Eleven Imaginary Boys
(2) includes results from Prettier Than You and SCP Marmosets
(3) includes results from Viola's Pier, Thommo's Titans, Melwood FC and Dynamo Kev
(4) includes results from Short Straw Rovers and Final Fantasy XI
(5) includes results from Elland Road Big Boys and The Dead Parrots
(6) includes results from 22-Legged Groove Machine and Bassett Allsorts
(7) formerly York's Returning Glory
(8) formerly You Know Your Boston Rock FC

Week 30 Results and final table

That’s that then. A record-breaking season for Fred.

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 7 The Cow-Faced Juniors
FCK2 3 v 2 Cheese Makers
Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 4 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Real Muppets 4 v 5 Claymore Athletic FC
The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
The Wateringhole Society 1 v 1 YTFIB
Trusted By Millions 4 v 1 Athletico Phoenix
Wheel Madrid 2 v 5 San Dimas High School


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	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	30	22	0	8	89	57	32	66
2	The Fabulous Artisans	30	16	5	9	62	45	17	53
3	Real Muppets	30	15	7	8	51	44	7	52
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	16	2	12	90	63	27	50
5	Trusted By Millions	30	14	6	10	61	47	14	48
6	Claymore Athletic FC	30	15	3	12	75	68	7	48
7	Wheel Madrid	30	14	5	11	56	60	-4	47
8	San Dimas High School	30	13	6	11	71	64	7	45
9	Athletico Phoenix	30	11	10	9	61	57	4	43
10	Aardvark Abacus	30	12	6	12	50	53	-3	42
11	Mega Buck Bandits	30	12	4	14	57	55	2	40
12	Cheese Makers	30	11	6	13	48	58	-10	39
13	FCK2	30	8	4	18	40	60	-20	28
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	7	5	18	39	60	-21	26
15	The Wateringhole Society	30	4	13	13	32	59	-27	25
16	YTFIB	30	6	6	18	46	78	-32	24

With the title won attention was focused on the fight for the runners-up spot. An Artisans win over Fred would have guaranteed that (and probably POTW and MOTM) for Ben, but he lost. Gio Wijnaldum had fired the Artisans ahead a minute into first half injury time but Dele Alli equalised two minutes into first half injury time. Fred’s other star midfielder, Eden Hazard, got the winner just after the hour. That gave Fred a record-equalling 22 wins this season and had Ben waiting for the Muppets result.

A win for Ryan would have given him second place and Hector Bellerin gave him an early lead over Claymore. Clive’s team have been pretty darn good in the second half of the season and were 5-1 up by the break, Sergio Aguero bagging another brace. Ryan fought back late on but could only narrow the gap to 5-4. The Muppets stay third (their best for six years), the Artisans get second, Fred has a record 13-point winning margin and after losing ten in a row earlier in the campaign Claymore finish an unlikely sixth. The first season in six that he’s been outside the top two.

The CFJs will be wondering how they turned 116 ‘counters’ into only fourth place, 16 points adrift of the top. They were a goal down to the Aardvarks after only five minutes but Willian equalised three minutes later and it was one-way traffic from there with the team spreading the goals and counters around. Ady finishes in the bottom half for the first time since records began.

Wheel Madrid have slipped in the second half of the campaign but end their first season in seventh place after defeat to San Dimas who finish eighth. Jamie Vardy scored against his old club (Bah!) and Adam Lallana made it 2-0 to Wheels. Romelu Lukaku and Victor Wanyama dragged back into it and then clean sheets took me to victory.

Another team who’s second half of the season hasn’t lived up to the first is Athletico. After finishing second and third in the past two seasons Brian’s team find themselves in ninth after defeat to Trusted, despite (or maybe because of the shock of) Jordan Ayew scoring. Clean sheets took Beef’s team to victory after Gabriel Jesus equalised Ayew’s goal but Trusted finish a distant fifth.

Eleventh place is the best finish for Mega Bucks since 2009/10 but Dave’s season ended with defeat to Nil Satis. It was a first win for Paul since week 16 with goals from Pogba, Pedro and Ramsey doing the damage. The win kept Nil Satis from finishing bottom.

That spot going instead to YTFIB for the fourth season running. Julian and Kiran’s game finished as a 1-1 draw, Peter Crouch’s goal for YTFIB cancelled by Andre Ayew’s follow-up. A new record of 13 draws in a season for Kiran will be tough to beat.

Where would FCK2 be without Harry Kane? (Bottom - Ed.) With his team trailing Cheese Makers to a first minute Junior Stanislas goal, Kane set about scoring a hat-trick to secure 13th place. It’s the lowest place this ‘franchise’ has finished. Matthew’s team finish one place above this week’s opponents. They’ve yo-yoed in and out of the top half over the last five seasons so expect them above the line next season.