WSFFL at the Euros

A bit late but I couldn't help myself. Which of our teams is most represented at Euro 2020(/1)?

Aardvark Abacus (10) - Batshuayi (BEL), Vydra (CZE), J. Henderson, Pickford, Rice, White (ENG), Emerson (ITA), Jota (POR), Cooper, Tierney (SCO)

Cheese Makers (6) - Mings (ENG), Fraser, Robertson (SCO), Traore (SPA), Krafth (SWE), Williams (WAL)

Claymore Athletic FC (7) - Tielemans (BEL), Schmeichel (DEN), Stones (ENG), Giroud (FRA), Veltman (NED), Dubravka (SVK), Ward (WAL)

Fred West LG XI (7) - Castagne (BEL), Lloris (FRA), Fernandes (POR), Azpilicueta, Garcia, Torres (SPA), Ampadu (WAL)

Markian United (7) - Vestergaard (DEN), Johnstone, Kane, Phillips, Shaw (ENG), Rodri (SPA), Schar (SUI)

Mega Buck Bandits (4) - Ake (NED), Moutinho, Neves (POR), Soyuncu (TUR)

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (4) - Calvert-Lewin (ENG), Pogba (FRA), Patricio (POR), Yarmolenko (UKR)

Real Muppets (9) - Aldeweireld, De Bruyne, Praet (BEL), Christensen (DEN), Foden, James, Sterling (ENG), McTominay (SCO), Alcantara (SPA)

San Dimas High School (7) - Dendoncker (BEL), Kovacic (CRO), Hojbjerg (DEN), Kante (FRA), Rudiger (GER), Moder (POL), Roberts (WAL)

Stanley Athletic FC (10) - Andersen (DEN), Chilwell, Maguire (ENG), Havertz, Werner (GER), Klich (POL), Armstrong (SCO), Lindelof (SWE), Kabak (TUR), Rodon (WAL)

The Cow-Faced Juniors (7) - Coufal, Soucek (CZE), Bednarek (POL), Laporte (SPA), Olsen (SWE), Bale, Davies (WAL)

The Fabulous Artisans (10) - Mount, Ramsdale, Walker (ENG), Digne (FRA), Alioski (MKD), van Aanholt, Wijnaldum (NED), Fabianski (POL), Gilmour (SCO), James (WAL)

The Wateringhole Society (6) - Benteke (BEL), Rashford, Saka (ENG), Dalot, Dias, Semedo (POR)

Trusted By Millions (7) - Trossard (BEL), Coady (ENG), Koch (GER), Silva (POR), Adams (SCO), de Gea, Llorente (SPA)

Wheel Madrid (4) - Grealish (ENG), Jorginho (ITA), McGinn (SCO), Zinchenko (UKR)

YTFIB (1) - Gundogan (GER)

The pool (5) - Sissoko (FRA), Shaqiri, Xhaka (SUI), Under (TUR), Hennessey (WAL)

So the Aardvarks, Stanley and the Artisans all have 10 players in the tournament. Aaron gets an extra point for his ten being spread across more teams, eight if you're wondering.

Right - now to start work on next season!

NB - The Aardvarks' Dean Henderson was named in England's squad but withdrew through injury and was replaced by the Artisans' Aaron Ramsdale.

2020/21 Co-Ord Round-up Part Eight - 1st-4th

1st: Fred West Landscape Gardening XI (up eleven)

On top of winning the title the Gardeners also broke the league record for fewest defeats in a season. The last seven finishes now read 2nd, 4th, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 12th, 1st. That 12th looking like a massive blip now! Made a poor start but was in the top two from week 12 onwards. Success is built on a strong defence, Bruno Fernandes has repaid his fee already and there's a host of talented young players ready to step in. Will continue to be a formidable opponent.

What happened to last year's star player? Mohamed Salah made it four in a row.

Star Player? Mohamed Salah (19 goals)

2nd: The Fabulous Artisans (Up three places)

Getting closer! Led the league with five games to go but couldn't finish it off. A run of one win in eight between March and May finished Ben's hopes for another year. Patrick Bamford denied the naysayers and proved an excellent acquisition as did Jonny Evans who moved from Claymore. Roberto Firmino and Gini Wijnaldum weren't as potent though and the manager will look at who to bring in to go one better next time.

What happened to last year's star player? Kyle Walker made it four in a row too.

Star Player? Kyle Walker (one goal, 13 cleans)

3rd: Trusted By Millions (down two)

Beef’s team made a slow start to their title defence (bottom after week six in fact) before having a great run in the second half of the season that culminated in a fourth FA Cup success. If the strikers had fired (Jesus, Richarlison and Che Adams only managed five apiece) it may have been back-to-back titles. Raphinha and Joe Willock look great additions to the midfield and the defence is strong enough to keep the team in trophy contention.

What happened to last year's star player? Just the five goals from Gabriel Jesus this time round.

Star Player? Trent Alexander-Arnold (one goal, twelve cleans)

4th: Aardvark Abacus (same place)

Faded to fourth after briefly looking like possible champions with a month or so ago. Indeed there were only five league wins in the second half of the season. Ollie Watkins looked expensive at £26m but has done well for Ady which was necessary as Alexandre Lacazette could only manage five goals. Another team with a solid back line, Diogo Jota's injury mid-season robbed the midfield of its creativity and perhaps halted the title push.

What happened to last year's star player? Son Heung-Min did it again and appears to be getting better.

Star Player? Son Heung-Min (Sixteen goals)

2020/21 Co-Ord Round-up Part Seven - 5th-8th

5th: The Cow-Faced Juniors (Up eight places on last season)

After two seasons outside the top ten the Cows were back towards the sharp end, even looking title favourites at one point in the last month or so. Took a chance on veterans Edinson Cavani and Gareth Bale and those moves largely paid off. Even got Joelinton Scoring! May have to replace Bale and will have to cover for Eberechi Eze's injury to sustain a challenge next term.

What Happened to last year's Star Player? Tammy Abraham wasn't always in favour and finished with just five goals.

Star Player: Edouard Mendy (11 cleans, one saved penalty)

6th: The Wateringhole Society (up five places)

The league's highest scorers this season, by 12 counters, and most of that achieved without Raul Jimenez. Despite that scoring power there were still 12 defeats for Kiran's team. Also made their first final although that ended in Charity Shield defeat. There are some fantastic young players in this squad and they will be a team to watch next season.

What Happened to last year's Star Player? Raul Jimenez picked up a nasty head injury in November and was ruled out for the rest of the campaign.

Star Player: Ruben Dias (one goal, 16 cleans)

7th: Real Muppets (down one place)

The PCMT is back on Ryan's mantelpiece but the week on week consistency still isn't there. The team picked up the second-most counters but that wasn't enough to avoid 12 defeats in the league. Sadio Mane, Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson, Phil Foden, Reece James, Raheem Sterling, surely this Muppets side is too good to keep falling short of the big prize.

What Happened to last year's Star Player? Raheem Sterling wasn't quite on top of his form but still bagged 11 goals. 

Star Player: Ederson (18 cleans, one saved penalty)

8th: Stanley Athletic FC (down six places)

A bit of difficult second season syndrome for Aaron whose huge investment in Kai Havertz and Timo Werner hasn’t paid off. Yet. The boss may also regret offloading Chris Wood before the season finished. Virgil van Dijk was a big miss in the Stanley defence and a playing goalkeeper eluded the team for large chunks of the season. Will be looking to bounce back quickly in 2021/22.

What Happened to last year's Star Player? Virgil van Dijk was ruled out of action in October and needed knee surgery that finished his season.

Star Player: Ben Chilwell (three goals, nine cleans)

2020/21 Co-Ord Round-up Part Six - 9th-12th

9th: Cheese Makers (up one place on last year)

Ninth is an improvement from Matthew on last year but he’d have loved a third top half finish under his tenure. Bottom after week 10 and still 15th with 12 games to go the manager could have been forgiven for planning for next season. Instead the Cheesers lost just three of the last 13 and were 90 minutes from eighth place. There is a decent squad developing at Le Stade de Fromage.

What happened to last year's Star Player? Danny Ings missed too much of the campaign with injury to win the award again.

Star Players? Tyrone Mings (two goals, 11 clean sheets) and Andrew Robertson (one goal, 12 clean sheets)

10th: Mega Buck Bandits (down three)

A first major cup final (ending in PCMT defeat) and Dave's second-best finish in the last 13 seasons. However, it was a drop from last year's top-half finish. Big names Antonio, Zaha and Aubameyang were ably backed up by new signings Jack Harrison and Luke Ayling but big-money Nathan Ake's injury robbed the Bandits of clean sheet possibilities.

What happened to last year's Star Player? Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a stop-start season and finished with ten goals.

Star Player? Wilfried Zaha (12 goals)

11th: Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (up four)

Eleventh place for Nil Satis represents Paul’s second best in 11 years. It was mostly driven by an excellent season for Dominic Calvert-Lewin and an even better one from Stuart Dallas who was one of the surprises of the season. There wasn't enough from the rest of the squad. Massive investments in Donny van De Beek and Josh King have yet to pay off.

What happened to last year's Star Player? Matt Doherty didn't get much of a look in.

Star Player? Stuart Dallas (seven goals, 11 cleans)

12th: YTFIB (down three)

If you'd have told Julian that he'd finish three places above Claymore he'd have taken it! It wasn’t quite such a strong season for Julian as 2019/20 but he finished outside the bottom four for the second season running. For the first time! Another manager that will need striking reinforcements if he doesn't want to be sucked back in to a basement battle.

What happened to last year's Star Player? Nick Pope held on to the award to make it three times in four seasons.

Star Player? Nick Pope (ten cleans)

2020/21 Co-Ord Round-up Part Five - 13th-16th

My annual assessment of the WSFFL teams starts with the bottom four.

13th: San Dimas High School (down five places on last season)

After finishing seventh or eighth for the last five seasons my team turned in their worst showing for 11 years. Beaten in the FA Cup Final but the Charity Shield win was consolation. Like Claymore (see below) there were a lot of good defensive performances but I’ll be in the market for attacking options next year.

What happened to last year's Star Player? John Lundstram was re-categorised to midfield, discarded and relegated.

Star Player? Joao Cancelo (one goal, 15 cleans)

14th: Wheel Madrid (down four)

Probably a bit unlucky with the counters against this season but they’ve finished in the bottom three for the third time under Paul’s stewardship. The hands-off management style ((c) Nil Satis) wouldn't suit everyone and a deeper squad is needed to survive injuries to key players if there's to be push for the top-half next season.

What happened to last year's Star Player?  Jamie Vardy is still doing the business and made it four in a row in this category.

Star Player? Jamie Vardy (13 goals)

15th: Claymore Athletic FC (down 12)

A bit unlucky perhaps but the bare facts are that they collapsed from third last year to a worst ever 15th place. The defence is solid (see Star Player) but with Clive saying farewell to record-signing WSFFL legend Sergio Aguero and replacing the Argentinian will be key to getting this team climbing the table again.

What happened to last year's Star Player? An injury-hit year for Aguero who signed off his stellar career with just a single goal.

Star Player? Aaron Cresswell (14 cleans)

16th: Markian United (same place)

Still bottom but a much-improved effort this season. Five more wins, 14 more points and even a manager of the month award. Has lost several players to relegation so will need to be smart in the market to kick on again. And will there be a decision to make about the Star Player for the last six seasons?

What happened to last year's Star Player? See below.

Star Player? Harry Kane (22 goals)

2020/21 Co-Ord Round-up Part Four - the Value for Money (counters per £m) table

Same as before but 'counters' this time.

	Team	P	Pts	For	Wage Bill (£m)	Ctrs per £m
1	YTFIB	30	35	72	2.76075	26.08
2	Real Muppets	30	44	101	4.6755	21.60
3	Cheese Makers	30	41	85	4.09275	20.77
4	The Fabulous Artisans	30	54	84	4.90875	17.11
5	The Wateringhole Society	30	44	113	6.91275	16.35
6	Trusted By Millions	30	52	90	6.28275	14.32
7	Aardvark Abacus	30	50	96	7.9677	12.05
8	San Dimas High School	30	35	70	5.83725	11.99
9	Claymore Athletic FC	30	30	85	7.29525	11.65
10	Mega Buck Bandits	30	39	75	7.0845	10.59
11	Markian United	30	26	63	6.1065	10.32
12	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	49	99	9.68625	10.22
13	Wheel Madrid	30	33	81	8.2605	9.81
14	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	30	59	100	11.583	8.63
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	38	66	8.15625	8.09
16	Stanley Athletic FC	30	44	69	9.65175	7.15

Julian well clear on this metric with the Muppets and Cheese also getting 20+ counters per million spent on wages.

Down at the bottom, Stanley Athletic's big transfer splurge wasn't rewarded with scoring.

2020/21 Co-Ord Round-up Part Three - the Value for Money (pts per £m) table

Our league wage expenditure rose by over 11% on last season which meant a record spend of over £111m. Who got their money's worth?

	Team	P	Pts	Wage Bill (£m)	Pts per £m
1	YTFIB	30	35	2.76075	12.68
2	The Fabulous Artisans	30	54	4.90875	11.00
3	Cheese Makers	30	41	4.09275	10.02
4	Real Muppets	30	44	4.6755	9.41
5	Trusted By Millions	30	52	6.28275	8.28
6	The Wateringhole Society	30	44	6.91275	6.37
7	Aardvark Abacus	30	50	7.9677	6.28
8	San Dimas High School	30	35	5.83725	6.00
9	Mega Buck Bandits	30	39	7.0845	5.50
10	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	30	59	11.583	5.09
11	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	49	9.68625	5.06
12	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	38	8.15625	4.66
13	Stanley Athletic FC	30	44	9.65175	4.56
14	Markian United	30	26	6.1065	4.26
15	Claymore Athletic FC	30	30	7.29525	4.11
16	Wheel Madrid	30	33	8.2605	3.99

Last year's top two in tis category are this year's top two too. In the same order.

The bottom five (with the possible exception of Markian) will be wondering about cutting costs in th 2021/22 campaign.

2020/21 Co-Ord Round-up Part Two - The 'counters' tables

Here's the table if that was all that mattered in the game was positive 'counters'. Don't worry it won't be. (Well, not on my watch!)

1. The Wateringhole Society - 113 (five places higher than real table, 34 more counters than last year)

2. Real Muppets - 101 (five places higher, same)

3. Fred West LG XI - 100 (two places lower, 25 more)

4. The Cow-Faced Juniors - 99 (one place higher, 32 more)

5. Aardvark Abacus - 96 (one place lower, 16 more)

6. Trusted By Millions - 90 (three places lower, 15 fewer)

=7. Cheese Makers - 85 (two places higher, 10 more)

=7. Claymore Athletic - 85 (eight places higher, 24 fewer)

9. The Fabulous Artisans - 84 (seven places lower, five fewer)

10. Wheel Madrid - 81 (four places higher, 11 more)

11. Mega Buck Bandits - 75 (one place lower, nine fewer)

12. YTFIB - 72 (same place, six fewer)

13. San Dimas High School - 70 (same place, nine fewer)

14. Stanley Athletic FC - 69 (six lower, 32 fewer)

15. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum - 66 (four lower, one more)

16. Markian United - 63 (same place, 23 more)

Kiran's team have to consider themselves a bit unlucky as runaway leaders in this metric but not picking up a pot this year. Also big improvements from Fred, the CFJs and bottom-placed Markian.

Claymore and Stanley Athletics didn't come close to last season's performance.

Counters against is possibly a decent indicator of luck in the game. Here's this year's list...

1. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum - 69

=2. The Fabulous Artisans - 73

=2. Mega Buck Bandits - 73

4. Fred West LG XI - 74

5. Trusted By Millions - 78

=6. The Cow-Faced Juniors - 79

=6. YTFIB - 79

8. Stanley Athletic FC - 81

=9. Aardvark Abacus - 86

=9. Real Muppets - 86

=11. The Wateringhole Society - 92

=11. San Dimas High School - 92

13. Wheel Madrid - 93

14. Cheese Makers - 94

15. Markian United - 98

16. Claymore Athletic - 102

The average is around 84 so if you got less than that well done, if you got more then unlucky.

Combined League Table 2001-2021

Twenty years. Good grief.

Here's the table made up of all the tables since we went to a 16-team league. For what it's worth.

	The Combined WSFFL League Table
	Seasons 2001-2021
	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Aardvark Abacus	600	333	104	163	1367	912	455	1103
2	Trusted By Millions	600	303	102	195	1281	999	282	1011
3	Claymore Athletic FC	600	295	109	196	1393	1094	299	994
4	FW LG XI	600	290	115	195	1346	1037	309	985
5	The Cow-Faced Juniors (1)	600	282	109	209	1240	1033	207	955
6	Real Muppets	600	272	120	208	1206	1022	184	936
7	The Fabulous Artisans (2)	600	269	100	231	1110	1081	29	907
8	Markian United (8)	600	260	111	229	1205	1088	117	891
9	San Dimas High School	600	253	107	240	1097	1116	-19	866
10	Cheese Makers (6)	600	223	114	263	952	1093	-141	783
11	Stanley Athletic FC (3)	600	222	111	267	974	1141	-167	777
12	Mega Buck Bandits	600	203	111	286	893	1078	-185	720
13	The Wateringhole Society (5)	600	202	106	292	909	1143	-234	712
14	Wheel Madrid (4)	600	191	113	296	901	1186	-285	686
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	600	181	104	315	850	1147	-297	647
16	YTFIB (7)	600	150	106	344	694	1248	-554	556
	TOTAL	9600	3929	1742	3929	17418	17418	0	13529
	(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
	Dynamo Kev and Athletico Phoenix
	(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) includes results from You Know Your Boston Rock FC and FCK2