The 2013/14 'Value for Money' Table

In the last of the 2013/14 round-up pieces, who got most for the wage money*...

	Team	P	Pts	Wage Bill(£m)	Pts per £m
1	YTFIB	30	30	1.84725	16.240
2	Final Fantasy XI	30	39	2.50875	15.546
3	The Fabulous Artisans	30	39	2.658	14.673
4	San Dimas High School	30	47	3.4155	13.761
5	Mega Buck Bandits	30	34	2.50875	13.553
6	Cheese Makers	30	43	4.149	10.364
7	Claymore Athletic FC	30	55	5.6805	9.682
8	Trusted By Millions	30	59	6.2781	9.398
9	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	30	3.4074	8.804
10	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	53	6.373125	8.316
11	FCK2	30	34	4.0995	8.294
12	Athletico Phoenix	30	33	4.12875	7.993
13	Aardvark Abacus	30	49	6.3855	7.674
14	Real Muppets	30	48	6.2835	7.639
15	The Dead Parrots	30	31	4.4505	6.966
16	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	30	42	8.89875	4.720

The team that propped up the league, YTFIB, come out top of this one. Julian will be pleased to win something! Ceri picked up a cup with the joint second-lowest wage bill while the 'terribly unlucky' Artisans are third.

The league winners, Trusted, finish eighth and sit in the mid-table with many of the big hitters.

Bottom of the pile are Fred who spent more on wages last season than three teams spent on transfers and whose 8.89m is bigger than YTFIB's most expensive signing.

*If my sums are right - they'll be close anyway.

Transfer dealings 2013/14

Like before, a little transfer round-up for you.

Income

Total received by our clubs was just over £307m, slightly down on last year but an average return. That total was swelled by the £86m spent by Real Madrid on The CFJs' Gareth Bale. Only three other teams exceeded £20m in transfer income.

Expenditure

Two teams dominated this season as the total of £468m was the lowest spent for four seasons. Those two teams splashed out £160m between them while five managers spent only £12m or less.

Total business

Losses across the league this season were around £160m, £40m less than last year. One team accounted for £63m of that while three more lost in excess of £25m.

Three teams turned a profit with one turning in the second highest figure of the last eight seasons at £26m+.

Over that eight season period half of the teams are in excess of £85m in the red on their transfer dealings.

WSFFL at the 2014 World Cup

Which of our teams is providing most players in Brazil?

Aardvark Abacus (4): Phil Jagielka (ENG), Kenneth Omeruo (NGA), Lukas Podolski (GER), Vincent Kompany (BEL)
Athletico Phoenix (8): Robin van Persie (NED), Santi Cazorla (SPA), The Ox (ENG), Patrice Evra (FRA), Pablo Zabaleta (ARG), Per Mertersacker (GER), Jan Vertonghen, Adnan Januzaj (BEL)
Cheese Makers (6): Tim Krul (NED), Juan Mata (SPA), Brad Guzan (USA), Marouane Fellaini, Kevin Mirallas, Mousa Dembele (BEL)
Claymore Athletic (9): David Luiz (BRA), Leroy Fer (NED), Maya Yoshida (JAP), Wayne Rooney, Ross Barkley (ENG), Olivier Giroud, Morgan Schneiderlin (FRA), Sergio Aguero (ARG), Tim Howard (USA)
FCK2 (6): Glen Johnson, Jack Wilshere, Frank Lampard, Chris Smalling, Ben Foster, Luke Shaw (ENG)
Final Fantasy XI (2): Yaya Toure (CIV), Moussa Sissoko (FRA)
Fred West LG XI (12): Fernandinho, Paulinho (BRA), Cesar Azpilicueta, David Silva, Fernando Torres (SPA), Wilfried Bony (CIV), Hugo Lloris (FRA), Jon Obi Mikel (NGA), Andre Schurrle (GER), Nani (POR), Eden Hazard, Nacer Chadli (BEL)
Megabucks (2):  Gaston Ramirez (URU), Antonio Valencia (ECU)
Nil Satis (3): Oscar (BRA), Nikica Jelavic (CRO), Michel Vorm (NED) 
Real Muppets (8): Shinji Kagawa (JAP), Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling (ENG), Pepe Reina (SPA), Mamadou Sakho, Laurent Koscielny (FRA), Martin Demichelis (ARG), Thomas Vermaelen (BEL)
San Dimas (9): Dejan Lovren (CRO), Cheick Tiote (CIV), Jon de Guzman (NED), Danny Welbeck, James Milner (ENG), Maynor Figueroa (HON), Jozy Altidore (USA), Romelu Lukaku, Simon Mignolet (BEL)
The CFJs (9): Willian (BRA), Samuel Eto'o (CAM), Ron Vlaar (NED), Luis Suarez (URU), Bacary Sagna (FRA), Joseph Yobo, Peter Odemwingie (NGA), Mesut Ozil (GER), Geoff Cameron (USA)
The Dead Parrots (5): Kolo Toure (CIV), Joe Hart, Rickie Lambert (ENG), Mathieu Debuchy (FRA), Shola Ameobi (NGA)
The Fabulous Artisans (3): Leighton Baines (ENG), Loic Remy (FRA), Asmir Begovic (BOS)
Trusted By Millions (12): Ramires (BRA), Javier Hernandez (MEX), David de Gea (SPA), Kostas Mitroglou (GRE), Steven Gerrard, Gary Cahill, Jordan Henderson, Phil Jones, Adam Lallana (ENG), Edin Dzeko (BOS), Ashkan Dejagah (IRA), Victor Moses (NGA)
YTFIB (2): Pablo Armero (COL), Diego Lugano (URU)
'The Pool' (6): Mile Jedinak (AUS), Gary Medel (CHI), Giorgious Karagonis (GRE),Wilson Palacios (HON), Nabil Bentaleb (ALG) Ki Sung-Yeung (SKO)

Our champions Trusted and the upwardly mobile Fred West joint top with 12 representatives each spread between eight nations. The CFJs supplying eight teams too.

When we did this last time the pool came out on top with 10 followed by the Dead Parrots with nine. None of the players Fred supplied in 2010 are still at his club.

I'm not sure what any of this means but does it have to mean anything?

2013/14 Awards - £500k Team of the Season

(More of the same but this time with the players from the bargain basement.)

GK: Joe Hart (Dead Parrots)

DEF: Jose Fonte (Cheese Makers), Gary Cahill (Trusted), Guy Demel (Mega Bucks), Dejan Lovren (San Dimas)

MID: Steven Gerrard (Trusted), Adam Johnson (Artisans), Stephane Sessegnon (Trusted), Ross Barkley (Claymore)

ATT: Daniel Sturridge (Muppets), Loic Remy (Artisans)

Subs: Wojciech Szczesny (Aardvarks); Nathaniel Clyne (Nil Satis); Raheem Sterling* (Muppets); Wayne Rooney (Claymore)

* Yohan Cabaye (formerly of Cheese Makers) scored the same number of goals as Sterling but is excluded after leaving the league in January.

Previous selections

2013/14 Awards - English Team of the Season

(Same rules as before but for the England-qualified players)

GK: Joe Hart (Dead Parrots)

DEF: John Terry (FCK2), Gary Cahill (Trusted), Nathaniel Clyne (Nil Satis), Curtis Davies (Mega Bucks)

MID: Steven Gerrard (Trusted), Kevin Nolan (FCK2), Adam Lallana (Trusted), Adam Johnson (Artisans)

ATT: Daniel Sturridge (Muppets), Rickie Lambert (Parrots)

Subs: Ben Foster (FCK2); Leighton Baines (Artisans); Ross Barkley (Claymore); Jay Rodriguez (Trusted)

And as it's a World Cup year let's get a squad of 23 together with these...

Michael Dawson (Trusted), Steven Caulker (FCK2), Kyle Walker (San Dimas), Glen Johnson (FCK2), Luke Shaw (FCK2), Phil Jagielka (Aardvarks), Kieran Gibbs (Artisans), Danny Rose (Aardvarks)

OK, it's seriously defence heavy, they're not all fit, there are only two goalkeepers, there's no Wayne Rooney and Terry's retired from the international scene but it's only a game.

Previous selections

2013/14 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 nicest hair. If you see two or more names as subs in a position I still couldn't split them.)

GK: Hugo Lloris (Fred West LG XI)

DEF: Seamus Coleman (Nil Satis), Laurent Koscielny (Real Muppets), Per Mertersacker (Athletico Phoenix), John Terry (FCK2)

MID: Yaya Toure (Final Fantasy), Steven Gerrard (Trusted), Eden Hazard (Fred West), Oscar (Nil Satis)

ATT: Luis Suarez (The CFJs), Daniel Sturridge (Muppets)

Subs: Tim Howard (Claymore); Pablo Zabaleta (Phoenix); Juan Mata (Cheese Makers); Olivier Giroud (Claymore)

Steven Gerrard the only player from the League champions to get into the team. It's his first appearance since 2010/11. After six years on the list there's no place for Frank Lampard. Despite finishing 15th Nil Satis have two representatives in the eleven.

Previous selections

2013/14 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 and Golden Boot:
Luis Suarez (The Cow-Faced Juniors) - 26 goals

After completing his ban at the start of the campaign it was a great season for the bitey Uruguayan who bagged 19 in the league and seven in the PCMT.

Golden Gloves:
Hugo Lloris (Fred West LG XI) - 15 cleans
Fred's renaissance had a few standout performers but was built on the foundations of his French 'keeper who wrests this award from Joe Hart after three years.

Defender of the Season:
Seamus Coleman (Nil Satis Nisi Optimum) - five goals, 14 cleans

After a couple of quiet seasons Coleman stepped up and contributed at both ends of the pitch. Paul's season would have looked a lot worse without him.

Midfielder of the season:
Yaya Toure (Final Fantasy XI) - 16 goals

Toure in full flight was one of the sights of this, or any other season. When in the mood he is absolutely unstoppable, just make sure you've got him a nice birthday present.

£500k Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year
Daniel Sturridge (Real Muppets) - 18 goals

Sturridge had never previously hit double figures in a season but very much looked the part this year and kept Ryan in the title mix for much of the season.

Previous winners

Co-Ord Round-up Part Five - The 'counters' table

At some point this season 'contributions' were re-named counters. Here's the table if that was all that mattered in the game. Don't worry it won't be. (Well, not on my watch!)

1. Claymore Athletic FC - 109 (one place higher than real table, one more counter than last season)
1. The Fabulous Artisans - 109 (eight places higher, 33 more)
3. Trusted By Millions - 104 (two places lower, seven more)
3. The Cow-Faced Juniors - 104 (one place lower, 11 fewer)
5. Fred West LG XI - 97 (three places higher, 43 more)
6 Aardvark Abacus - 89 (two places lower, five fewer)
6. San Dimas High School - 89 (one place higher, one fewer)
8. Real Muppets - 88 (three places lower, four more)
9. Cheese Makers - 85 (two places lower, 19 more)
10. FCK2 - 75 (one place higher, 18 fewer)
10. Athletico Phoenix - 75 (three places higher, 32 fewer)
12. Final Fantasy XI - 70 (two places lower, four fewer)
12. Nil Satis Nisi Optimum - 70 (three places higher, 15 more)
14. Mega Buck Bandits - 69 (two places lower, three more)
15. The Dead Parrots - 66 (one place lower, one more)
16. YTFIB - 52 (same place, same total!)


What can we learn from the above? Ben was terribly unlucky, Fred is on the way back and Paul and Matthew's teams stepped up.

Chris, Kevin and all underperformed on the previous season.

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

1st Trusted By Millions (up six places on last season)
When all around were losing their heads Beef kept his and was consistent at the right time to take his first title for 13 seasons. He only topped the table for five weeks but they were the last five. Trusted had lifted the Charity Shield in the first part of the season but were seven points behind with eight games to go. Seven of those games were won and the title was taken with a little to spare. With no outstanding player the load was shared and that might have been the difference between Beef and his rivals.
Star Players: Gary Cahill (one goal, 13 cleans) and Steven Gerrard (14 goals)
What if: They'd turned up in the Cup Final?

2nd Claymore Athletic FC (same)
A second title in three seasons seemed to be within Clive's reach with eight games left but with injuries to Wayne Rooney and Sergio Aguero playing a part those matches only yielded 11 points and Claymore let in Trusted. Defeat in the Charity Shield final to Beef's team means there will be some runners-up silverware in the groaning Claymore trophy cabinet but this will go down as a season of missed opportunities for Clive.
Star Player: Olivier Giroud (16 goals)
What if: Aguero and Rooney had stayed fit?

3rd The Cow-Faced Juniors (down two)
Chris's title defence got off to a sluggish start with Luis Suarez suspended but he was top at the midway point and had successfully retained the PCMT. That was followed by a run of just two wins in ten games and left too the CFJs far adrift for their late rally to have any impact. New £20m+ signings Mesut Ozil and Willian didn't really fire while Michu, who'd helped Chris to the top last year, spent most of the season on the treatment table.
Star Player: Luis Suarez (26 goals)
What if: Gareth Bale had stayed? ((c) Tim Sherwood)

4th Aardvark Abacus (same)
The Aardvarks were another team who topped the league in its early weeks only to fall away. Ady's dreadful run of four points out of 24 between October and December did for his challenge and a possible recovery was halted by six without a win in February and March. The restored Emmanuel Adebayor was the only real firepower in the team with Steven Jovetic hardly seeing action. The solid defensive base led by Vincent Kompany needs supporting with a cutting edge if Ady is to get back among the trophies next season.
Star Player: Wojcech Szczesny (11 cleans)
What if: Ady had a strike force to match his defence?

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

5th Real Muppets (up one place on last season)
Fifth place doesn't really do justice to Ryan's team as it was the lowest place they occupied all season. Indeed it might be one that got away for the Muppets as they collapsed with only eight points of the last 27 on offer. Danny Sturridge's injury didn't help but maybe the manager could alter his team a little more often.
Star Players: Laurent Koscielny (two goals, 16 cleans) and Danny Sturridge (18 goals)
What if: Sturridge had stayed healthy?

6th San Dimas High School (up three)
For a while my team seemed possible dark horses in the title race before falling away in the new year. Romelu Lukaku and Dejan Lovren had been scoring and stopping and I didn't have the squad depth to make up for their absences. Still, this was another season of progress and my highest points total for six seasons.
Star Players: Romelu Lukaku (14 goals), Dejan Lovren (two goals, 12 cleans)
What if: I'd splashed some of the San Dimas cash?

7th Cheese Makers (up seven)
A big improvement, a points record and a first top half finish for Matthew. All in all a decent season. The Cheesers big players Juan Mata and Shane Long took a while to get going and relied on a tough defence for much of their early success. It's possible this team needs another striker before they can kick on but don't rule it out.
Star Player: Jose Fonte (two goals, 13 cleans)
What if: Matthew had taken the £27m on offer for Marouane Fellaini?

8th Fred West Landscape Gardening XI (up seven)
This team are now on the way back. Bottom of the table after six weeks the 2010/11 champions had fallen as far as they could go. And then they bounced. The manager has done well offloading unwanted players (Welbeck, Vidic, Evra) for good money and his £71m spending spree is beginning to pay dividends. The league has been warned.
Star Players: Wilfried Bony (15 goals) and Hugo Lloris (15 cleans)
What if: Fernando Torres remembered how to be a footballer?

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

9th The Fabulous Artisans (down one place on last season)
Two words: Terribly unlucky. How could a team get well over 100 counters yet finish in the bottom half? Ben managed it. His strikers Loic Remy and Alvaro Negredo got goals and his defenders kept plenty of cleans. Despite all that only managed to win four of his last 24 in all competitions. Quite extraordinary.
Star Player: Martin Skrtel (seven goals, seven cleans)
What if: The fixture list had been kinder.

10th Final Fantasy XI (down five)
After a fantastic fifth place finish last season Ceri's team were unable to make further league progress. However, the FA Cup will sit proudly in the 'Robins' trophy cabinet after an excellent 3-0 win over Champions Trusted in the Final. Yaya Toure was the star while Damien Delaney was an excellent new signing in defence.
Star Player: Yaya Toure (16 goals)
What if: Dani Osvaldo and Ricky van Wolfswinkel had been any good?

11th FCK2 (down one)
A bright start for new manager Kevin saw him top the league early on but that proved a false dawn and he slipped back into the mid-table battle and never recovered. Unable to bring in new players he relied on old stagers for his 'counters'. Luke Shaw a notable exception but Steven Caulker was unable to fill the star player's boots this term.
Star Player: John Terry (three goals, 12 cleans)
What if: The manager could have got along to the auctions?

12th Mega Buck Bandits (same)
Same place as last season for Dave and two first round cup exits.  A year of treading water for the Bandits. Money was spent on Aly Cissokho and Grant Holt with little return. Curtis Davies proved a good addition but Wilfrid Zaha made no impression. Lots of work ahead if this team is to fight its way back into the top half any time soon.
Star Player: Guy Demel (one goal, 13 cleans)
What if: Dave could find a striker of any note?

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

13th Athletico Phoenix (down ten places on last season)
Brian's defence performed well enough but when Robin van Persie was sidelined his team were short of a goal threat. A run to the PCMT Final was a highlight but they failed to make an impression in defeat to the CFJs. The second half of the season saw just one win in ten games but you'd back them to improve next time.
Star Player: Per Mertersacker (two goals, 15 cleans)
What if: Van Persie had stayed fit?

14th The Dead Parrots (down three)
A season of struggle spent entirely in the bottom three had Dean reviewing his position but a late revival saw him avoid bottom spot and sign up for another year. Rickie Lambert and Joe Hart are the key men in this team and Dean needs to cast the net wide if he's to find players to support those two of the calibre they deserve.
Star Player: Rickie Lambert (12 goals)
What if: Australian time was the same as the UK?

15th Nil Satis Nisi Optimum (up one)
One place higher and ten points more sounds like an improvement but Paul avoided last place for the third time in four seasons only on goal difference. Aaron Ramsey lit things up in the early part of the season and Seamus Coleman was a key man throughout the campaign but few signings and fewer team changes ultimately found them floundering.
Star Player: Seamus Coleman (six goals, 13 cleans)
What if: The manager was more hands on?

16th YTFIB (down three)
Julian's team seemingly taking it turns with Nil Satis to prop up the league and lost out on goal difference this time. Lat season's star player Joey O'Brien couldn't back that performance up, Peter Crouch isn't the threat he was and Johan Elmander flopped. Dwight Gayle's late goal surge gives some hope for next season and there's always Samir Nasri.
Star Player: Samir Nasri (seven goals)
What if: An oligarch could fly into York with an open chequebook?

Week 30 Results and final table

Congratulations to Trusted By Millions who are the 2013/14 WSFFL Champions.

Athletico Phoenix 0 v 1 San Dimas High School
Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 3 YTFIB
FCK2 1 v 6 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Final Fantasy XI 0 v 8 Aardvark Abacus
Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 1 Trusted By Millions 
The Cow-Faced Juniors 0 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 
The Dead Parrots 1 v 1 Cheese Makers
The Fabulous Artisans 2 v 3 Real Muppets

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	30	18	5	7	66	41	25	59
2	Claymore Athletic FC	30	17	4	9	75	57	18	55
3	The Cow-Faced Juniors	30	16	5	9	74	48	26	53
4	Aardvark Abacus	30	14	7	9	52	48	3	49
5	Real Muppets	30	14	6	10	59	51	8	48
6	San Dimas High School	30	13	8	9	58	51	7	47
7	Cheese Makers	30	12	7	11	62	52	10	43
8	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	30	12	6	12	70	64	6	42
9	The Fabulous Artisans	30	10	9	11	73	64	9	39
10	Final Fantasy XI	30	10	9	11	45	52	-6	39
11	FCK2	30	8	10	12	49	59	-10	34
12	Mega Buck Bandits	30	9	7	14	43	56	-13	34
13	Athletico Phoenix	30	9	6	15	40	65	-25	33
14	The Dead Parrots	30	8	7	15	37	50	-13	31
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	30	8	6	16	43	59	-16	30
16	YTFIB	30	8	6	16	35	64	-29	30

In the end we didn't need an Aguerooooooh! moment to decide the title this time. By the time Stephane Sessegnon fired Trusted in front at Mega Bucks Clive was already two behind and we were just about done and dusted.

Beef turned down a £6m bid for Sessegnon in the summer and though the midfielder hasn't had his best campaign he'll be remembered for steering in the winner on the last day. Clive needed a win to stand a chance of pipping Trusted but slipped to a surprise defeat at home to YTFIB. Dwight Gayle got a brace for Julian (if Gayle keeps coring at this rate - four in 115 minutes - then he'll get 118 next season and would most likely give Julian the title) and Samir Nasri struck home a long ranger before Clive replied with a Tim Howard clean.

Despite that win Julian's team prop the league up this season. Nil Satis and the CFJs played out a lame goalless draw which sees Paul grab 15th on goal difference. At the other end of the scoring scale the Aardvarks stay fourth after walloping Final Fantasy 7-0. Ceri's team didn't help their cause by going two down to own goals through Nathan Baker and Gareth McAuley. Emanuel Adebayor added a spot-kick before the break and Vincent Kompany slammed home from close range before the cleans racked up for Ady.

The Muppets have had a poor run-in but finished with a win. There was an own goal here too, from the Artisans' Martin Skrtel, to set Ryan on his way before Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge scored almost identical set-piece goals in the space of three second-half minutes to put the game beyond Ben and consign him to the bottom half. My team finish sixth after a last day win at the Phoenix. The only goal came from Romelu Lukaku straight after the re-start. Brian's season petered out through lack of goals. That's his third 1-0 reverse in four games.

Cheese Makers held on to seventh with a point against the Parrots. Rickie Lambert eased Nemanja Vidic off the ball and rifled in on 28 minutes for Dean but a brilliant pitching wedge of a free-kick from Juan Mata drew Matthew level. FCK2 took the lead against Fred on seven minutes through Nathan Dyer's clever control and dinked finish but then folded like a cheap deckchair and conceded six. Paulinho levelled soon after the opener then Wilfried Bony, Andre Schurrle and even Fernando Torres added goals after the break. Fred rounds out the top half and must fancy his chances of having a run next season.

Week 29 Results

Wins for the top two mean the title race will go to the last week.

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Cheese Makers 1 v 4 Trusted By Millions

Claymore Athletic FC 5 v 1 Athletico Phoenix
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 0 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors

Real Muppets 1 v 3 Mega Buck Bandits

San Dimas High School 2 v 2 Final Fantasy XI

The Dead Parrots 2 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans

YTFIB 2 v 2 FCK2


	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	29	17	5	7	65	41	24	56
2	Claymore Athletic FC	29	17	4	8	74	54	20	55
3	The Cow-Faced Juniors	29	16	4	9	74	48	26	52
4	Aardvark Abacus	29	13	7	9	44	48	-4	46
5	Real Muppets	29	13	6	10	56	49	7	45
6	San Dimas High School	29	12	8	9	57	51	6	44
7	Cheese Makers	29	12	6	11	61	51	10	42
8	The Fabulous Artisans	29	10	9	10	71	61	10	39
9	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	29	11	6	12	64	63	1	39
10	Final Fantasy XI	29	10	9	10	45	44	1	39
11	FCK2	29	8	10	11	48	53	-5	34
12	Mega Buck Bandits	29	9	7	13	43	55	-12	34
13	Athletico Phoenix	29	9	6	14	40	64	-24	33
14	The Dead Parrots	29	8	6	15	36	49	-13	30
15	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	29	8	5	16	43	59	-16	29
16	YTFIB	29	7	6	16	32	63	-31	27

The top two win but it's Beef that's singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight as he's a win away, a win away. (Sorry!)

A spectacular four goal burst either side of the break saw Trusted hold on to their advantage by beating Cheese Makers. Andi Weimann opened his account for the season with two headers before the break and Edin Dzeko got one either side of the interval to put his side four up. Matthew replied through Oussama Assaidi but couldn't dent Beef's title hopes. Claymore are in position to capitalise if Beef slips up after beating Athletico 5-1. A stunning strike from Ross Barkley opened the scoring for Clive on 11 minutes and Olivier Giroud doubled the advantage three minutes later. Sergio Aguero added another before Brian replied through Stewart Downing's free-kick before the break. Marko Arnautovic extinguished any hopes of a Phoenix revival and a David Luiz clean completed the win.

The CFJs had a comprehensive win over Fred but are now out of the race. Peter Odemwingie scored from very close in six minutes before the break and Luis Suarez added a second ten minutes into the second period. Two cleans landed Fred with one of his biggest defeats of the season. The Aardvarks are up to fourth thanks to Joe Allen's header which was the only goal in the game against struggling Nil Satis. 

Ryan's meek end to the season continued with defeat to Mega Bucks. Daniel Sturridge's deflected shot gave the Muppets the lead but Russel Martin, Guy Demel and Dwight Tiendalli got the cleans that handed the points to the Bandits. San Dimas and Final Fantasy shared the points with a 2-2 draw. Man of the moment Connor Wickham teed up Seb Larsson to open the scoring for Ceri, Romelu Lukaku replied for me. Damien Delaney's long-ranger looked to have won the game for the Fantasy but Dejan Lovren's clean earned me a point and assures me of a top half finish. Which is nice. 

Final Fantasy, Fred, Cheese Makers and the Artisans are scrapping for the last two places in the top half. Matthew is almost assured of one but Ben missed a chance to claim a place when losing to the Parrots. A first goal in I don't know how long from Shola Ameobi gave Dean the lead until three minutes from time when Loic Remy equalised. A freak Rickie Lambert goal right at the end means the Parrots are unlucky to finish the bottom. YTFIB prop things up and will have to win at Claymore to have a chance of shaking off that distinction. Julian was two up this week through a late brace from Dwight Gayle but cleans from Luke Shaw and John Terry gave Kevin a point.

Week 28 Results

A small step nearer to the title for Trusted.

Aardvark Abacus 1 v 0 Athletico Phoenix

Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 4 v 1 Claymore Athletic FC

Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 5 Cheese Makers

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 1 FCK2

Real Muppets 1 v 2 The Dead Parrots

San Dimas High School 2 v 0 YTFIB
The Cow-Faced Juniors 4 v 3 Final Fantasy XI

Trusted By Millions 1 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans


	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	28	16	5	7	61	40	21	53
2	Claymore Athletic FC	28	16	4	8	69	53	16	52
3	The Cow-Faced Juniors	28	15	4	9	70	48	22	49
4	Real Muppets	28	13	6	9	55	46	9	45
5	San Dimas High School	28	12	7	9	55	49	6	43
6	Aardvark Abacus	28	12	7	9	43	48	-5	43
7	Cheese Makers	28	12	6	10	60	47	13	42
8	The Fabulous Artisans	28	10	9	9	70	59	11	39
9	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	28	11	6	11	64	59	5	39
10	Final Fantasy XI	28	10	8	10	43	42	1	38
11	FCK2	28	8	9	11	46	51	-5	33
12	Athletico Phoenix	28	9	6	13	39	59	-20	33
13	Mega Buck Bandits	28	8	7	13	40	54	-14	31
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	28	8	5	15	43	58	-15	29
15	The Dead Parrots	28	7	6	15	34	48	-14	27
16	YTFIB	28	7	5	16	30	61	-31	26

The top two have a tough week but Trusted know that two wins will give them the title.

Beef's team played out a tough draw against the Artisans. Edin Dzeko ghosted in to head Trusted in front on four minutes but Jonjo Shelvey's stunning volley from the centre circle midway through the first half was Ben's equaliser and there were no further goals despite Ryan Shawcross seeing red for Trusted. Claymore slipped up though crashing 4-1 at Fred West. Wilfried Bony has had an excellent season and put Fred in front on 10 minutes. Olivier Giroud got clive back on terms after three quarters of the game but Bony's injury time penalty, quickly followed by cleans from Younes Kaboul and Cesar Azpilicueta damaged Claymore's title hopes.

Mathematically the CFJs are still in the race after coming from behind to beat the Cup winners. Connor Wickham seems a different player after his Cup Final goal and opened the scoring with a looping header. Mesut Ozil had Chris level three minutes before the break but a barnstorming run and shot from Yaya Toure had Ceri back in front almost immediately. Wickham's second four minutes from time seemed to have delivered the points to Final Fantasy but Willian walked the ball in in the last minute to cut the deficit and cleans from Vergini and Sagna (did Clive ship him out too soon?) gave Chris the win. The Muppets season is ending with a whimper and it was another defeat for Ryan this week. The Dead Parrots were the victors and turned the game round after Laurent Koscielny had poked Ryan's team ahead on 26 minutes. Fernando Amorebieta's first WSFFL got Dean level and Erik Pieters got the winning clean that sees the Parrots off the bottom.

YTFIB now prop the table up. Julian's team failed to bounce back from their big loss at Cheese Makers and went down 2-0 to San Dimas. Saido Berahino scoring an early close range goal for me and Dejan Lovren finished things with a clean. There was only one goal between the Aardvarks and Phoenix. Danny Rose's thumping header after 33 minutes gave Ady the points.

Matthew's team followed up their 6-0 with a five goal win at Mega Bucks. Two more for Juan Mata in this one. What a coincidence! Nil Satis and FCK2 finished level. Seamus Coleman has been one of the defenders of the season but his headed own goal put Kevin in front on half an hour. Paul got a share of the points with a quarter of an hour left with Nikica Jelavic first to react and following up from a rebound.

Week 27 Re-arranged game

Cheese Makers enjoy the break far more than their opponents. Juan Mata gets a brace to set the Stade De Fromage team on their way.

Cheese Makers 6 v 0 YTFIB

FA Cup Final Result

Congratulations to Final Fantasy XI who claim their first winner's trophy with a comprehensive win over Trusted.

Final Fantasy XI 3

Wickham 18

Baker [c]

Delaney [c]

v

Trusted By Millions 0

(no cancelled cleans)

At Wembley, Attendance 90,000

Final Fantasy XI

Schwarzer; Baker, Rangel, Wilson, Delaney; Larsson, Nocerino, Toure, Taylor; Jerome, Wickham

Subs: McGregor; McAuley; Ince; Ba

Trusted By Millions

Adrian; Shawcross, Jones, Cahill, Tomkins; Sessegnon, Ramires, Lallana, Gerrard; Cisse, Dzeko

Subs: De Gea, Ridgewell, Moses, Hernandez

When the teams were announced a few eyebrows would have been raised with the surprise selections of Connor Wickham up front and Mark Schwarzer, a former Trusted player, between the sticks for Final Fantasy. Beef also had a tough decision between his 'keepers with Adrian getting the nod over David de Gea, the league's most expensive goalkeeper. The Spanish custodian was at the centre of the action on 18 minutes and his failure to hang on to a long shot set up Wickham to poke in from four yards and score his first Final Fantasy goal.

Ceri invested £13.5m in Wickham in August 2011 but injuries and loss of form had left him looking like an expensive flop. His goal will now mean he goes down in Final Fantasy folklore. He limped off seven minutes later but his goal gave his side confidence and had the opposite effect on Trusted.

Beef's midfield should have had the beating of Ceri's patched up selection but Steven Gerrard and Adam Lallana had off-days and created little. Frustration built and Ramires lashed out and caught Seb Larsson with a backhander in an off the ball incident. There was no way through for Trusted and Nathan Baker and Damien Delaney added clean sheets to complete the win and become only the seventh team to win the Cup in the last 18 seasons, delighting at least one set of the Okus Stadium fans in the process.

The winning manager was delighted, saying: "I feel very happy of course and a little surprised to win 3-0. It's quite an emphatic win for my budget team. After we lost Toure to injury last week, we feared for the worst, and with only one starting midfielder and our regular goalie out it seemed like a big ask. But our strikers seem to have woken up late in the season and added to our good solid defense and we had just enough to win through."

Beef was magnanimous in defeat and was left wondering what happened: "Well done, Ceri, you deserved the trophy!  Must be the worst ever WSFFL Cup Final performance with not one contribution from any of my 15 players who all played for their respective teams at the weekend. I'm in the dressing room ticking them off at the moment as the league could slip away now that Clive has Aguero and Rooney back in action."

---

How they got there:

Semi-finals

Final Fantasy XI 1 Aardvark Abacus 0
YTFIB 1 Trusted By Millions 5

Quarter-finals

Aardvark Abacus 2 v 0 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 1 v 2 YTFIB
The Dead Parrots 0 v 1 Final Fantasy XI
Trusted By Millions 5 v 2 Claymore Athletic FC

1st Round

Aardvark Abacus 0 v 0 San Dimas High School (Aardvark win replay 2-1)

Cheese Makers 0 v 1 YTFIB

FCK2 1 v 2 Final Fantasy XI

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC

Real Muppets 3 v 5 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

The Cow-Faced Juniors 0 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

The Dead Parrots 3 v 2 Athletico Phoenix

Trusted By Millions 2 v 1 The Fabulous Artisans

Week 27 Results

Claymore end the Muppets' title hopes and cut the goal difference difference to Trusted in the process.

Athletico Phoenix 0 v 1 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

Cheese Makers P v P YTFIB

Claymore Athletic FC 5 v 2 Real Muppets

FCK2 1 v 2 Trusted By Millions

Final Fantasy XI 1 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Mega Buck Bandits 1 v 2 The Cow-Faced Juniors 
The Dead Parrots 1 v 1 San Dimas High School

The Fabulous Artisans 4 v 1 Aardvark Abacus


	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	27	16	4	7	60	39	21	52
2	Claymore Athletic FC	27	16	4	7	68	49	19	52
3	The Cow-Faced Juniors	27	14	4	9	66	45	21	46
4	Real Muppets	27	13	6	8	54	44	10	45
5	San Dimas High School	27	11	7	9	53	49	4	40
6	Aardvark Abacus	27	11	7	9	42	48	-6	40
7	The Fabulous Artisans	27	10	8	9	69	58	11	38
8	Final Fantasy XI	27	10	8	9	40	38	2	38
9	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	27	10	6	11	60	58	2	36
10	Cheese Makers	26	10	6	10	49	47	2	36
11	Athletico Phoenix	27	9	6	12	39	58	-19	33
12	FCK2	27	8	8	11	44	49	-5	32
13	Mega Buck Bandits	27	8	7	12	40	49	-9	31
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	27	8	4	15	42	57	-15	28
15	YTFIB	26	7	5	14	30	53	-23	26
16	The Dead Parrots	27	6	6	15	32	47	-15	24

The top two keep on winning but do it the hard way.

Trusted fell behind at FCK2 when Ben Foster saved a penalty on 16 minutes but Stephane Sessegnon outpaced the home defence to level on 31 minutes and the winning goal came from an unfortunate deflection off of Glen Johnson. Claymore came back from two down to end the Muppets' chances of the title. Raheem Sterling bamboozled the Claymore defence to open the scoring and a still discombobulated Jonas Olsson turned into his own net to see Ryan two up at the break. A super piece of control and smart finish from Olivier Giroud got Clive back in th egame and four cleans made for a comfortable win and cut the goal difference cap to Beef's side.

The CFJs came from behind as well beating Mega Bucks 2-1. An excellent Phillipe Coutinho snapshot had Dave ahead with 12 minutes left and Chris needed cleans from Geoff Cameron and Sascha Riether to get all the points. San Dimas are fifth this week after a draw at the bottom-placed Parrots. Erik Pieters' misplaced cross drifted in just before the break to give Dean the lead but Adrian Mariappa got my equalising clean on debut.

Half of the top eight is still up for grabs and the Artisans staked their claim for a place with a big win over the Aardvarks. Matej Vydra bagged his first for Ady in 20 seconds but Chris Brunt had Ben level three minutes later. Martin Skrtel glanced in a header after 26 minutes and Christian Eriksen clinched it right at the end. Fred gave himself a chance of finishing in the top half with a 1-0 win at Athletico. David Silva with the only goal.

Final Fantasy's Cup Final build up finished with a draw against Nil Satis. Demba Ba scored for Ceri but Seamus Coleman got  Paul's equaliser with a clean. More worryingly for Ceri the talismanic Yaya Toure limped off and will most likely miss the Final against Trusted. Lastly and leastly, the game between Cheese Makers and YTFIB was postponed due to... oooh, let's say a sudden outbreak of lactose intolerance at the Stade de Fromage.

Week 26 Results

Wow! Trusted go top on goal difference.

Athletico Phoenix 1 v 1 Final Fantasy XI

Cheese Makers 3 v 1 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI

Claymore Athletic FC 2 v 2 Mega Buck Bandits

Real Muppets 0 v 2 Aardvark Abacus

San Dimas High School 1 v 5 Trusted By Millions

The Dead Parrots 1 v 3 The Cow-Faced Juniors

The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 1 FCK2
YTFIB 5 v 3 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum


	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts
1	Trusted By Millions	26	15	4	7	58	38	20	49
2	Claymore Athletic FC	26	15	4	7	63	47	16	49
3	Real Muppets	26	13	6	7	52	39	13	45
4	The Cow-Faced Juniors	26	13	4	9	64	44	20	43
5	Aardvark Abacus	26	11	7	8	41	44	-3	40
6	San Dimas High School	26	11	6	9	52	48	4	39
7	Final Fantasy XI	26	10	7	9	39	37	2	37
8	Cheese Makers	26	10	6	10	49	47	2	36
9	The Fabulous Artisans	26	9	8	9	65	57	8	35
10	Fred West Landscape Gardening XI	26	9	6	11	59	58	1	33
11	Athletico Phoenix	26	9	6	11	39	57	-18	33
12	FCK2	26	8	8	10	43	47	-4	32
13	Mega Buck Bandits	26	8	7	11	39	47	-8	31
14	Nil Satis Nisi Optimum	26	8	3	15	41	56	-15	27
15	YTFIB	26	7	5	14	30	53	-23	26
16	The Dead Parrots	26	6	5	15	31	46	-15	23

Four games ago Beef was seven points adrift of Claymore. His team are now five wins away from having three pots on his mantelpiece.

With the Charity Shield already bagged and the FA Cup Final looming Trusted hammered San Dimas and with Claymore drawing it's Beef's side on top on goal difference. My team took the lead against Trusted through Romelu Lukaku's solo effort But I was behind by half-time. Steven Gerrard converting from the spot and Edin Dzeko scoring a minute later. After the break Javier Hernandez scored from close range and Gerrard added another penalty before Gary Cahill's clean rounded things off. Clive had spent nine of the last ten weeks on top but his draw drops him to second. It could have been worse. Mega Bucks were two up with twenty minutes left. Guy Demel poked in a controversial opener on half-time and the lead was doubled thanks to Grant Holt's first of the season. Joe Ledley pulled one back a minute later and Branislav Ivanovic got the equalising clean.

Only one win in five for the Muppets means Ryan's up against it in the title race and his team slipped to defeat against the Aardvarks. Steven Jovetic broke the deadlock on 81 minutes and Petr Cech got the clean to confirm the points. Fourth-placed CFJs are probably too far away to make it back-to-back titles. Chris did win at the Parrots this week despite falling behind to Rickie Lambert's first-half penalty. Willian scored a superb curling equaliser and Gylfi Sigurdsson had Chris ahead on 90 minutes and Julian Speroni followed up with a clean.

The MOTM jinx didn't really catch Ceri out as Final Fantasy drew 1-1 at the Phoenix. Yaya Toure's third minute penalty looked to have secured all the points but Adnan Januzaj got Brian's late, late equaliser. Cheese Makers complete the top half after a good win over Fred. February signing Mohamed Salah opened the scoring just after the half-hour and Juan Mata added a second with a free-kick seven minutes later. Mata added his second five minutes into the second half with a cool finish after a brilliant cut-back and Fred could only reply with an Alex Buttner clean.

The Artisans and FCK2 shared the points at Goddard Stadium. Christian Eriksen took a while to settle but now looks at home and his gaol had Ben ahead 12 minutes from time. The Artisans couldn't close it out though and John Terry's clean got Kevin a point. YTFIB are off the bottom after beating Nil Satis. Steven Naismith's goal had Paul ahead early on but Julian hit back through Jason Puncheon and Samir Nasri to lead at the break. It was Mikel Arteta's unlucky own goal that gave Julian breathing space and Puncheon's second (a beauty) and a Hugo Rodallega flick header in the last five minutes saw YTFIB home.