2009/10 Final League Table

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	You Know Your Boston Rock FC	30	19	6	5	91	57	34	63
2	Aardvark Abacus	30	19	3	8	72	50	22	60
3	Trusted By Millions	30	17	6	7	67	45	22	57
4	Real Muppets	30	15	10	5	81	46	35	55
5	The Fabulous Artisans	30	17	4	9	71	49	22	55
6	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	30	16	5	9	75	47	28	53
7	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	14	7	9	63	46	17	49
8	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	14	4	12	59	48	11	46
9	Claymore Athletic FC	30	13	5	12	63	47	16	44
10	Athletico Phoenix	30	11	4	15	42	65	-23	37
11	Mega Buck Bandits	30	10	5	15	44	59	-15	35
12	Final Fantasy XI	30	10	1	19	41	65	-24	31
13	San Dimas High School	30	9	3	18	36	78	-42	30
14	The Dead Parrots	30	7	5	18	31	57	-26	26
15	Bassett Allsorts	30	6	6	18	34	62	-28	24
16	York's Returning Glory	30	4	4	22	22	71	-49	16

Team Stats 2009/10

Sometimes I think I need help to deal with my stats addiction. Someone else must be interested...mustn't they?

Highest score

All Comps - Trusted By Millions 9 Claymore Athletic FC 2 (FAC R1)
League - Real Muppets 8 The Cow-Faced Juniors 1 (League Week 4)

Biggest margin of victory

Trusted By Millions 9 Claymore Athletic FC 2 (FAC R1)
Real Muppets 8 The Cow-Faced Juniors 1 (League Week 4)
Fred West LG XI 7 The Dead Parrots 0 (League Week 5)

Highest scoring match

Trusted By Millions 9 Claymore Athletic FC 2 (FAC R1)
Boston Rock 7 The Fabulous Artisans 4 (League Week 10)
Boston Rock 6 Fred West LG XI 5 (League Week 25)

Unbeaten run

All comps - 13 games - Boston Rock (weeks 20-30 plus FAC semi and final)
League - 11 games - Boston Rock (weeks 20-30)

Without a win

All comps - 9 games - Bassett Allsorts (weeks 15-22 plus FAC R1), San Dimas High School (weeks 11-18 plus FAC R1), York's Returning Glory (weeks 18-24 plus FAC SF and FAC SF Replay)
League - 8 games - Bassett Allsorts (weeks 15-22), Final Fantasy (weeks 17-24), Mega Buck Bandits (weeks 23-30), San Dimas High School (weeks 11-18)

Consecutive wins

All comps - 7 games - Boston Rock (weeks 21-26 plus FAC semi-final)
League - 7 games - Real Muppets (weeks 16-22)

Consecutive defeats

All comps - 7 games - Mega Buck Bandits (weeks 2-7 and PCMT R1)
League - 6 games - Bassett Allsorts (weeks 8-13), Final Fantasy (weeks 19-24), Mega Buck Bandits (weeks 2-7),  York's Returning Glory (weeks 19-24)

Consecutive games scoring

All comps - 23 games - Boston Rock (weeks 1-18 plus PCMT 1, QF, SF, F and FAC 1 and QF)
League - 18 games - Boston Rock (weeks 1-18)

Consecutive games without a goal

All comps - 5 games - York's Returning Glory (weeks 19-23)

Consecutive clean sheets

All comps - 3 games - Athletico Phoenix (weeks 21-23), Claymore (weeks 26-28), Fred west LG XI (weeks 27-29), The Cow-Faced Juniors (week 16 plus FAC 1 and QF), Trusted (weeks 11-13 and weeks 27-29)
League - 3 games - Athletico Phoenix (weeks 21-23), Claymore (weeks 26-28), Fred west LG XI (weeks 27-29), Nil Satis (weeks 1-3), Trusted (weeks 11-13 and weeks 27-29)

Consecutive games conceding

All comps -  21 games- Claymore Athletic FC (weeks 6-25 plus FAC 1)
League - 20 games - Claymore Athletic FC (weeks 6-25)

Total games scoring

All comps - 36 games - The Cow-Faced Juniors and You Know Your Boston Rock FC
League - 29 games - You Know Your Boston Rock FC

Total games without a goal

All comps - 18 games - York's Returning Glory
League - 18 games - York's Returning Glory

Total clean sheets

All comps - 13 games - The Cow-Faced Juniors
League - 10 games - The Cow-Faced Juniors

Total games conceding

All comps - 30 games - The Dead Parrots and York's Returning Glory
League - 26 games - York's Returning Glory

WSFFL at the World Cup

Which of our teams is providing most players in South Africa? Which team is your money on?

Aardvark Abacus (6) - Gallas, Diaby (FRA) Kyrgiakos (GRE) Upson (ENG) Kuyt (NED) Carvalho (POR)
Athletico Phoenix (4) - Dos Santos (MEX) Carrick (ENG) van Persie (NED) Bendtner (DEN)
Bassett Allsorts (5) - Guzan (USA) Assou-Ekotto, Bassong (CAM) Kalou (CIV) Palacios (HON)
Claymore Athletic (8) - Pienaar (SAF) Sagna, Clichy (FRA) Rooney (ENG) Howard (USA) Ivanovic (SER) Mensah (GHA) Deco (POR)
Final Fantasy XI (1) - Mokoena* (SAF)
Fred West LG XI (7) - Evra (FRA) Etuhu (NGR) Vidic (SER) Babel (NED) Drogba, Eboue (CIV) Ferreira (POR)
Megabuck Bandits (3) - Heskey (ENG) Nelsen (NZL) Fabregas (SPA)
Nil Satis (8) - Vela (MEX) Yobo (NGR) Green (ENG) Donovan** (USA) Cahill (AUS) Heitinga (NED) Jacobsen (DEN) Gomes (BRA)
Real Muppets (8) - Malouda (FRA) Tevez, Mascherano (ARG) A.Cole, J.Cole (ENG) Agger (DEN) Da Silva (PAR) Reina (SPA)
San Dimas (4) - Yakubu (NGR) Milijas (SER) Santa Cruz (PAR) Figueroa (HON)
The CFJ's (7) - Anelka (FRA) Utaka (NGR) Lennon (ENG) Dempsey, Hahnemann (USA) Pantsil (GHA) Song (CAM)
The Dead Parrots (9) - James, Warnock, Barry, Hart (ENG) Spector (USA) De Jong (NED) Weiss (SVK) Toure (CIV) Behrami (SWI)
The Fabulous Artisans (6) - Franco (MEX) Rodriguez (ARG) CY Lee (SKO) Sorensen (DEN) Skrtel (SVK) Robinho (BRA)
Trusted By Millions (8) - JS Park (SKO) Gerrard, Dawson, Carragher (ENG) Belhadj (ALG) Schwarzer (AUS) Boateng (GHA) Torres (SPA)
York's Returning Glory (2) - Crouch (ENG) Senderos (SWI)
You Know Your Boston Rock FC (7)- Johnson, Terry, Lampard, Milner, Wright-Phillips, Defoe, King (ENG)
'The Pool' (10) - Dikgacoi (SAF) Shittu (NGR) Holden (USA) Guedioura (ALG) Emerton, Grella (AUS) Stojkovic (SER) Kingson (GHA) Gohouri (CIV) Thomas (HON)

So, leaving the pool out of it, a surprise win for the Parrots. Good on you cobber!

* released under 'first refusal' rule
** retained player not in Premier League

You Know Your Boston Rock FC, Treble-Winning Season Review 2009/2010

The view on WSFFL's first treble season from the man who plotted it and pulled it off...

I really didn't think I could improve on last season's second place and double cup win, although going into this season retooled with both the addition of John Terry for the Da Silva twins, and Darren Bent's move from Spurs reserves to the Sunderland first team, I expected to have a good season. Didn't expect this though...

I went into this season with concerns about the status quo at the top of the WSFFL, the amount of cash pumped into one team in particular this close season, and the increasing foreign influence in the Premiership. These led me to fully adopt a policy I'd been moving towards for a good few years anyway, which was to go with a squad of 100% English players, and also keep my squad at my preferred shape of 3 goalies, 9 defenders, 9 midfielders and 6 forwards throughout the season (I'm not particularly a fan of any Premiership team; if anything I'm a fan of the English national team, so my 100% English policy was a logical follow-on from that).

I thought that this would keep me competitive, but the boys really did me proud. Fat Frank, Defoe and Bent all had goal-tastic seasons, but I was really pleased and proud of 2 other players in my team, namely Milner and Dunn. Young James really came on in leaps and bounds this season, proving himself the nearest young player we've got to Lampard, and an undoubted fixture in the England team for years to come. Future England captain? As for Dunny, he had a splendid rebound season and scored the probably the most crucial goal of the season for me, namely his tap-in against Arsenal which turned the tide both in that game and in my game that weekend against The Phoenix.

Can I sustain this? Who cares? All I know is that my team's performance has reignited my interest in the league this season (at one point I was seriously considering following the Big Man's lead) and with a clutch of promising young players (Wilshere, Smalling, Rose to name 3) you can bet that a full English Boston Rock team will be competing for some time to come.

Now, if only Fabio can follow my lead and win stuff with a 100% English team...!

Co-ordinator Awards - £500k Team of the Season

Last one! More of the same but the players on this list were all bought for the knockdown price of 500,000 Fantasy Pounds. They're out there if you buy early enough, look hard enough or just get lucky.

GK: Thomas Sorensen (Artisans)

DEF: Jamie Carragher (Trusted), Ashley Cole, (Muppets), Richard Dunne (Artisans), Gael Givet (Artisans)

MID: Matt Etherington (CFJs), Cesc Fabregas (Mega Bucks), Steven Gerrard (Trusted), Antonio Valencia (Mega Bucks)

ATT: Jermain Defoe (Boston Rock), Wayne Rooney (Claymore)

Subs: Paul Robinson (Boston Rock), Leighton Baines (Artisans), Darren Fletcher (Muppets)/Abou Diaby (Phoenix)/Clint Dempsey (CFJs) , Gabriel Agbonlahor (Muppets)

2008/09
Sorensen (Given)
Terry, Carragher, Corluka, O'Shea (P.Neville)

Gerrard, Osman, Ireland, Brunt (D.Murphy)
Agbonlahor, K.Davies (Defoe)

2007/08
Howard (Keller, Robinson)
A.Cole, Carragher, Barry, Johnson (Terry)
Gerrard, Downing, Bentley, Hunt (J.Cole)
Rooney, Defoe (Kitson, Owen)

Co-ordinator Awards - English Team of the Season

Same rules as before but for the England-qualified WSFFL stars. Before you read on did you want to guess how many Boston Rockers appear...?

GK: Paul Robinson (Boston Rock)

DEF: Leighton Baines (Artisans), Jamie Carragher (Trusted), Ashley Cole (Muppets). John Terry (Boston Rock)

MID: David Dunn (Boston Rock), Steven Gerrard (Trusted), Frank Lampard (Boston Rock), James Milner (Boston Rock)

ATT: Darren Bent (Boston Rock), Wayne Rooney (Claymore)

Subs: Joe Hart (Dead Parrots), Glen Johnson (Boston Rock), Matt Etherington (CFJs), Jermain Defoe (Boston Rock)

2008/09
Robinson (James)
Lescott, Terry, Carragher, P.Neville (R.Ferdinand)
Gerrard, Lampard, Osman, M.Taylor (A.Young)
Bent, Agbonlahor (K.Davies)

2007/08
James (Green)
R.Ferdinand, Lescott, Brown, A.Cole (Carragher)
Lampard, Gerrard, Downing, Bentley (J.Cole)
Rooney, Defoe (Kitson and Owen)

Co-ordinator 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 and separate them by goals scored. Then perhaps alphabetical order or most interesting Wikipedia entry. Where you see two or more names as subs I still couldn't split them.)
 
GK: Peter Cech (Aardvark)

DEF: John Terry (Boston Rock), Chris Samba (CFJs), Richard Dunne (Artisans), Thomas Vermaelen (Muppets)

MID: Frank Lampard (Boston Rock), Cesc Fabregas (Mega Bucks), Florent Malouda (Muppets), Steven Gerrard (Trusted)

ATT: Carlos Tevez (Muppets), Didier Drogba (Fred West)

Subs: Thomas Sorensen (Artisans), Carlos Cuellar (Aardvark), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Trusted), Darren Bent (Boston Rock)

2008/09
Van der Sar (Reina)
Vidic, Lescott, Terry, Arbeloa (Carragher)
Gerrard, Lampard, Ronaldo, Fellaini (Geovanni)
Anelka, Bent (Agbonlahor)

2007/08
Reina (van der Sar)
R.Ferdinand, Lescott, Evra, Vidic (Brown)
Ronaldo, Lampard, Gerrard, Downing (Bentley)
Torres, Yakubu (Berbatov)

Co-ordinator 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: Frank Lampard - You Know Your Boston Rock FC (21 goals)
2008/9: Nemanja Vidic
2007/8: Cristiano Ronaldo

Golden Boot: Frank Lampard - You Know Your Boston Rock FC (21 goals)
2008/9: Nicolas Anelka
2007/8: Cristiano Ronaldo

Golden Gloves: Petr Cech - Aardvark Abacus (15 cleans)
2008/9: Edwin van der Sar
2007/8: Jose Reina

Golden Shinpads: John Terry - You Know Your Boston Rock FC (two goals, 19 cleans)
2008/9: Nemanja Vidic
2007/8: Rio Ferdinand

Golden Box to Box: Frank Lampard - You Know Your Boston Rock FC (21 goals)
2008/9: Steven Gerrard
2007/8: Cristiano Ronaldo

Young Player of the Season: Thomas Vermaelen - Real Muppets (six goals, ten cleans)
2008/9: Gael Clichy and Vedran Corluka
2007/8: Cristiano Ronaldo

The WSFFL England Squad

My end of season Player Awards will be along over the next week or so but I thought I'd give Fabio Capello a hand and pick an England squad based on WSFFL performances. If he's stuck for a selection he could do worse than to check this list out...

Goalkeepers: Rob Green (Nil Satis), Joe Hart (Dead Parrots), Paul Robinson (Boston Rock)

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Fabulous Artisans), Jamie Carragher (Trusted), Ashley Cole (Real Muppets), Jody Craddock (Mega Bucks), Michael Dawson (Trusted), Danny Higginbotham (Fred West), Ryan Shawcross (Trusted), John Terry (Boston Rock), Stephen Warnock (Dead Parrots)

Midfielders: Matthew Etherington (CFJs), Steven Gerrard (Trusted), Frank Lampard (Boston Rock), James Milner (Boston Rock), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Boston Rock), Ashley Young (Fabulous Artisans)

Attackers: Darren Bent (Boston Rock), Carlton Cole (Final Fantasy), Peter Crouch (York's), Jermain Defoe (Boston Rock), Wayne Rooney (Claymore Ath)

One more defender and one fewer midfielder than I might have liked but that's the way the numbers have shaken out.

No place for David James who played second fiddle to Joe Hart at the Parrots this season and who did Paul Robinson offend to get overlooked? The much-injured Rio Ferdinand and Glen Johnson are passed over for surprise selections Higginbotham and Craddock.

The nature of our game means no defensive midfielders make the cut so a forward-looking midfield group with an emphasis on getting the ball wide. Up front, there's no place for Emile Heskey who had a ropey season at Mega Bucks. Okus rivals Final Fantasy get Carlton Cole in as a sole selection from that club.

Co-Ord Round-up Part Five - If we did things differently...

Calm down! I'm not suggesting we do! The way we compare scores against one other is what makes this the king of Fantasy Football games. But what if we did? The table below shows the finishing positions by number of 'contributions' (goals, cleans, saved penalties and own goals)*.

1. You Know Your Boston Rock FC - 123 (same place as real table)
2. Real Muppets - 112 (up two)
3. Aardvark Abacus - 107 (down one)
=4. The Fabulous Artisans - 103 (up one)
=4. Fred West Landscape Gardening XI - 103 (up one)
6. The Cow-Faced Juniors - 100 (up one)
7. Trusted By Millions - 98 (down four)
8. Claymore Athletic FC - 93 (up one)
9. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum - 79 (down one)
10. Athletic Phoenix -73 (same position)
11. Final Fantasy XI - 72 (up one)
12. Mega Buck Bandits - 66 (down one)
13. The Dead Parrots - 61 (up one)
14. San Dimas High School - 58 (down one)
15. Bassett Allsorts - 53 (same position)
16. York's Returning Glory - 40 (same position)

What can we glean from the above? Boston Rock should have been comfortable winners as opposed to scraping home. The Muppets should be our runners-up so were clearly unfortunate to get so many draws in the league. There was hardly anything between third and seventh with Trusted the losers on this scale.

Claymore must have been desperately unlucky not to have finished in the top half as there is clear separation if we look at the table in this way.

*That's if they're correct of course. I'm not checking!

Co-Ord Round-up Part Four - 1st-4th

1st You Know Your Boston Rock FC (up one place on 2008/09)
Our first ever treble winners. Five trophies out of the last six. Back-to-back Cup doubles. Six consecutive Cup finals. Equalling the league record of goals scored in a season - shall I stop there. It didn't appear to be the best of starts for Sheriff's men, just two wins out of the first eight matches, but boy did he get into a groove. The 'Sky Heroes' supremacy may be better judged by their 6-1 tonking of the Aardvarks in Week 28 rather than a three-point margin. We won't see a season like this again. Will we?
Star Player: Frank Lampard (19 goals)

2nd Aardvark Abacus (down one)
In the nine seasons of the 16-team league Ady's team have only once finished outside the top two. There was also a second consecutive PCMT runner-up plaque but that's little consolation to a team after back-to-back titles. £30.5m of Aardvark hard-earned went on Alberto Aquilani and Nikola Kalinic in the summer window for the princely return of one goal. There seems little wrong defensively with the 'Earth-Pigs' (taking Phil Jagielka from the Artisans looks a good purchase) but expect wallet-busting action if a proven goalscorer becomes available.
Star Players: Carlos Cuellar (one goal, 12 cleans) and Emmanuel Adebayor (13 goals)

3rd Trusted By Millions (same as last year)
Since winning the last 18-team title in 2000/1 Trusted have not finished higher than second or lower than 6th. Every year you feel like they will be major contenders but they manage to come up short. It was a ropey start to the season that did for Beef this time, managing only three victories and lying 12th a third of the way into the season. If Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres had managed more games than maybe TBM could have been top dogs again but is it that the back-up players are not up to the task?
Star Player: Fernando Torres (13 goals)

4th Real Muppets (up two)
The Muppets lost the same number of games as our champions but ten draws scuppered any chance of a second title in four seasons. Ryan's team didn't pick up a win in December and drew four of their last eight matches after briefly leading the league. Ryan couldn't seem to get the team all firing at the same time. Gaby Agbonlahor started hot and faded, Carlos Tevez came with a roar towards the end of the season, Ashley Cole came back from injury when Thomas Vermaelen was missing. Another team who needs to, and won't be afraid to, spend big on the right player at auction time.
Star Player: Carlos Tevez (20 goals)

Co-Ord Round-up Part Three - 5th-8th

5th The Fabulous Artisans (up two places)
Despite improving on last year's finishing position and setting 'franchise' records for wins and points Artisans manager Ben may feel a little disappointed with fifth place. The Goddard Stadium club spent the vast majority of the season in the top four and looked genuine title contenders. The manager has not been afraid to chop and change his squad or his team on matchdays and it doesn't take a great leap of faith to see them in the shake-up next season.
Star Player: Richard Dunne (two goals, 13 clean sheets)

6th Fred West Landscape Gardening XI (up four)
After last year's blip the Gardeners are heading towards where we might expect to find them. Fred's team notched their second-highest points return and were the league's third-highest scorers. They did lead the league for three weeks in the early part of the season but a winless January, when Didier Drogba was at the African Cup of Nations, started the slide. It's nearly ten years since the Cromwell Street club won some silverware and the trophy cabinet is now referred to as 'The Cabinet'!
Star Player: Didier Drogba (19 goals)

7th The Cow-Faced Juniors (down three)
Like Boston Rock the CFJs have played in the semi-finals of the last four cup competitions. Unlike Boston Rock they only have two runners-up plaques to show for it. Chris's team spent the last two-thirds of the season in 7th, 8th or 9th place and he may be more apprehensive than most about the next campaign. Plenty of the CFJs spent time in the sick bay last season and the manager will need to decide whether to trust them to return to some form or start a clear out.
Star Player: Chris Samba (four goals, 11 cleans)

8th Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (up three)
If Claymore are the mid-table specialists, Nil Satis are the nearest we have to a yo-yo team. The last four seasons have seen Paul's side finish 4th, 14th, 11th and now 8th. This time round they even topped the league for eight weeks and were second with two-thirds of the season completed. Seven defeats in the last ten games had the team looking over their shoulder and clinging on to a top-half finish. I think we can guess Paul's summer transfer policy, what we don't know is which direction they'll head in next.
Star Player: Heurelho Gomes (10 cleans, three saved penalties)

Co-Ord Round-up Part Two - 9th-12th

9th Claymore Athletic FC (down one place)
In the five years since Clive clinched back-to-back league titles his team have finished 6th, 10th, 9th, 8th and now 9th again. Claymore's points tallies in those seasons are 45, 39, 47, 43 and 44. There was little sign of the team breaking out of the mid-table morass this season despite Wayne Rooney's best efforts and also a steady back line including Tim Howard, Branislav Ivanovic and Gael Clichy. Something's missing to kick Clive back into contention. Can he solve that puzzle next season?
Star Player: Wayne Rooney (14 goals)

10th Athletico Phoenix (up three)
Brian came in after an enforced management change and didn't do half-badly, lifting this 'franchise' to its best position in the history of our 16-team league. The Phoenix were hampered by a long-term injury to top striker Robin van Persie and also the former incumbent who spent a packet on poor frontmen Ebanks-Blake, Benitez and Scotland. It will be interesting to see Brian's transfer policy develop and how he plans to build on this good start.
Star Player: Brad Friedel (12 cleans)

11th Mega Buck Bandits (up four)
Dave's got his team going back in the right direction after his worst-ever season last time out. Two dreadful runs stopped his season from being even better; one point from 21 at the start of the season, one point from 24 at the end. May have a windfall coming if he can't persuade talismanic midfielder Cesc Fabregas to stay but will need to invest better than the £11m spent on Alan Hutton or the £10.5m on David Healy to push for the top half next term
Star Player: Cesc Fabregas (12 goals)

12th Final Fantasy XI (up four)
Ceri matched her best finishing position in the last five seasons and picked up October's Manager of the Month award along the way. A run of 12 defeats in fifteen games through the winter stopped further improvement. Perhaps didn't get as much out of Andrei Arshavin as she might have liked and will need some support for Carlton Cole and a goalkeeper to keep the improvement going next season.
Star Player: Carlton Cole (eight goals)

Co-Ord Round-up Part One - 13th-16th

13th San Dimas High School (up one place on 2008/9)
Three words. Roque. Santa. Cruz. I decided to invest a club record £18m in the striker to boost my goals tally after a poor return the previous season. The Paraguayan was an injury-prone failure and could be looking at the exit. Another short term transfer mistake was shipping out John Terry thinking I'd had the best out of him. In came the Da Silva brothers who hardly played. My transfer policy needs to change, and quickly!
Star Player: Paul Scharner (two goals, five cleans)

14th The Dead Parrots (down five)
If Santa Cruz was a poor investment how about £19m for Gareth Barry? After two seasons in the top ten the Kenwyne Jones and Kevin Davies goals dried up and the Parrots headed South. 31 goals in a season is the Parrots' worst return since we went to a 16-team league and an obvious area of focus for the manager. Dean has much to ponder if he's going to get this team to ruffle a few feathers again.
Star Player: Stephen Warnock (nine cleans)

15th Bassett Allsorts (down ten)
A season of upheaval which saw long term manager Rich leave the league and the Groove Machine repackaged as Bassett Allsorts. Ben using the team name with which he took our first ever league title. The manager hasn't been able to be as hands-on as he might have liked since he joined though and will have to work harder and improve the team in all areas if he's going to climb the league any time soon.
Star Players: Brede Hangeland (one goal, eight cleans) and Benoit Assou-Ekotto (nine cleans)

16th York's Returning Glory (down four)
A year after his best finish in a 16-team season Julian occupies bottom-spot for the fourth season out of five. The 2008/9 'success' was based on a strong defence and that melted away this season. Peter Crouch was quiet up front, record signing Fabian Delph hardly featured and it all led to the joint-lowest points title in ten years. There is much to do to get this squad back on track.
Star Player: Manuel Almunia (nine cleans, 2 saved penalties)

The season in numbers

20,000,000 - The biggest expenditure on a single player this season. By the Muppets for Thomas Vermaelen. Looks a very good signing.

19,000,000 - Oh dear. The amount that the Parrots spent on Gareth Barry. One league and one cup goal is all he has to show for it. I can't remember who bid £18m but I bet they're relieved!

18,000,000 - And to show I'm not immune from criticism, that's how much I spent on Roque Santa Cruz.

1024 - The number of emails in my WSFFL mailbox at time of writing.

302 - The number of players who made contributions (goals, cleans and saved penalties) in WSFFL competitions.

123 - The number of contributions for Boston Rock. That's 11 more than their nearest rivals (the Muppets).

29 - The number of own goals in all competitions. Extraordinary.

20 - League goals scored by Carlos Tevez, making him our player of the season. (More end of season awards and reviews at http://blogspot.com over the next few weeks)

13 - The number of times Aardvark Abacus played in the most lucrative match of the week (the most). Claymore and San Dimas were the only teams not to feature in the game of the week.

12 - The number of managers still to tell me whether they're continuing in the game next season. (Perhaps not many people read to the end of the round-up this week!)

6 - The number of teams that led the league at some point this season. Boston Rock, Aardvark and Nil Satis all clocked up eight weeks, Fred three, the Muppets two and the Artisans one.

5 - The number of defeats for Boston Rock in all competitions. 5-4 to Nil Satis (wk 5), 4-1 to Claymore (wk 8), 4-1 to the Parrots (wk 14), 3-2 to the Artisans (wk 18), 1-0 to the Muppets (wk 19)

3 - The number of teams not to pick up a MOTM award. San Dimas, Parrots and York's if you were wondering.

1 - The number of games in which Boston Rock failed to trouble the scorers.

0 - The number of goals scored in WSFFL competitions by James Beattie, David Bentley, Benni McCarthy, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jason Roberts amongst others.

Week 30 Results

Aardvark Abacus 4 v 0 York’s Returning Glory
Bassett Allsorts 0 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 4 v 2 Claymore Athletic FC
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 2 San Dimas High School
Real Muppets 5 v 1 Athletico Phoenix
The Cow-Faced Juniors 5 v 1 Final Fantasy XI
Trusted By Millions 3 v 3 The Fabulous Artisans
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 4 v 2 The Dead Parrots

Congratulations to You Know Your Boston Rock FC on the completion of the unprecedented WSFFL Treble.

Close Season Procedures

Transfers

Relegated Players

After the season finishes you have until 1 June to tell me if you would like to retain any of your relegated players. After this date I will remove them from your squads and credit your bank balances with half their value. If by some miracle they are picked up by a Premier League club over the summer the manager in question will be given first refusal to take that player back for the amount of compensation they received. Their value in the game will be as it was before relegation.

If you think the player concerned may be in for a big money move you may want to retain him. I can't think of many other reasons for doing so.

This system is much easier for me to employ than any sort of piecemeal dumping through the summer. If you are thinking of hanging on in case they come back please think again. There is a reason why they've been relegated.

The Pool

Purchases - The pool will shut for purchases when the last games of the season kick-off. It will not re-open until after the pre-season auction.

Dumps - The pool stays open for you to dump players. Once again I will give you a player dump 'amnesty' and because of the Word Cup I will stretch this until 31 July. This will give you time to work out whether any of your players are retiring, leaving on frees, returning after loan etc. and give you the opportunity to cash in. After this date, if I contact you before you get in touch with me you could lose players in this situation for nothing. Sorry, but them's the rules!

If you dump any players from non-relegated teams (contract expired, loanees, that sort of thing) you won't be offered them under the 'first refusal' rule. They'll go into the 'summer pool' and under the hammer at the August auction.

Players with with the three relegated clubs will be immediately removed from the pool.

Undisclosed Fees

As usual SoccerNet will be the source for transfer fees throughout the close season. In the situation of an 'Undisclosed' fee being recorded you will be offered what was paid for the player. If you would like to query an undisclosed fee please send me links to reputable websites' transfer centres or news stories which agree on a fee. I will not accept newspaper cuttings, fan sites or collaboration sites such as Wikipedia that can be easily altered.

Private Deals

In the rare event that you want to transfer between clubs please get on with it and let me know.

Re-categorisations

At some point in the summer we will run our annual re-categorisation exercise. Every player in the game will have their position in WSFFL compared with the position stated on the squad section of their official club website.
If a player's categorisation differs the manager of that player will be notified by the co-ordinator and can take one of the following courses of action*.

1)    Accept the decision
2)    Appeal the decision providing evidence why the decision should be overturned
3)    Accept the fee they paid for the player in reimbursement and release the player from their squad into the 'summer pool'

If a manager chooses to appeal a decision and that appeal is unsuccessful they will be deemed to have retained the player and will not subsequently be offered the chance to accept the fee paid in reimbursement.
*The time period for making a decision will be set by the co-ordinator.

Week 29 Results

Athletico Phoenix 1 v 4 You Know Your Boston Rock FC
Bassett Allsorts 0 v 2 Trusted By Millions
Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 1 Real Muppets
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 3 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 2 Final Fantasy XI
San Dimas High School 0 v 4 Aardvark Abacus
The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors
York’s Returning Glory 0 v 0 The Dead Parrots

Boston Rock just about there, it would take a couple of strange results to deny them now.

Week 28 Results

Athletico Phoenix 0 v 4 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Final Fantasy XI 0 v 3 Trusted By Millions
San Dimas High School 0 v 2 Claymore Athletic FC (revised from 0-1)
The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits
The Dead Parrots 2 v 2 Real Muppets
The Fabulous Artisans 6 v 3 Bassett Allsorts
York’s Returning Glory 0 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 5 v 2 Aardvark Abacus (revised from 6-1)

A big stride towards the treble for Boston Rock.

WSFFL FA Cup Final Result

The Cow-Faced Juniors 1
Bale 44

v (1)

You Know Your Boston Rock FC 5
Defoe 15p, Bent 41, Lampard 90, Smalling [c], Dann [c]

At Wembley, Att: 90,000

Teams

CFJs: Stech; Pantsil, Onuoha, Bale, Song; Lennon, Gomez, Utaka, Etherington; Piquionne, Anelka    Subs - Van der Sar; Bridge; M.Petrov; McFadden

Boston Rock: Robinson; Turner, Johnson, Smalling, Dann;  Dunn, Lampard, Milner, Wilshere; Bent, Defoe     Sub - Fielding; Terry; Wright-Phillips; Jerome     

The CFJs had been on the back-foot from early in the game but it took a controversial penalty award to break the deadlock. The referee spotted a handball in the CFJs area but TV replays proved inconclusive. Jermain Defoe hasn't had the greatest record from the spot in recent times but slammed home emphatically on this occasion. There was little reaction from Chris's team to going behind and when Boston Rock doubled their lead before half time few could have been surprised. Darren Bent has been the man for the big occasion recently and he struck his 3rd successive Cup Final goal from close range four minutes before the break. Finally the CFJs were spurred into action and Gareth Bale, in a man of the match performance on the losing side, beat Paul Robinson at his near post with a firm shot from just outside the area to almost immediately reduce the deficit.

The heavy Wembley pitch seemed to take its toll more on Chris's team than Sheriff's treble-chasers in the second half. With the exception of Bale the CFJs never really looked like troubling the league leaders with some of their players appearing not to 'turn up' (that's such a lazy sporting cliché but I use it in the literal sense here). A third goal for the Sky Heroes always seemed likely and Sheriff's Mr Reliable Frank Lampard slid home from six yards in injury time to settle matters. The CFJs were left so despondent they hardly noticed Chris Smalling and Scott Dann adding clean sheets. Chris will be hoping for third time lucky but it's another trophy in the Whitby Grove Enormodome cabinet.