It’s July. There’s four weeks to go to the Draft. Time to put our thinking caps on.
Some of us are still on the beach, in the mountains, in foreign lands, in familiar lands, spending some quality time with the family, spending quality time away from the real world, blissfully unaware that the new season has quietly begun. Well okay, not really begun, but it’s definitely there, resting on the shelf like an old favourite novel, silently waiting for us to open it again and see what story plays out this time.
Some of us are excitedly getting ready for kickoff, planning match days, away days, work leave (or gonna-call-in-sick days), and reading the transfer news as it hits the back pages. It’s no secret that I am one of the many who log-in to FPL as soon as the site becomes live and looks at the features. Yes, I’ve set a team, I will change my team many times, I read the warm-up articles and I’ve emailed colleagues and told them to do the same.
This one is for you. Consider it a cocktail to whet the appetite, a summertime taste of what’s to come. Now, I honestly don’t like writing articles and I don’t like people thinking that I consider myself an expert or anything remotely similar. But I do enjoy getting people excited about fantasy football, even to just a fraction of the level that I enjoy it. And this is doubly-true for anything related to the BFFA. I think it’s phenomenal that you lot keep coming back year-after-year, season-after-relegation, win-after-loss-after-win-after-loss. And I love the game, I love the format, I love the perpetuality of it all.
Possibly one of the most important factors of the season is the starting point. Where it all begins. This is the place that we will look back to this time next year and shower ourselves in glory reminiscent, or wonder where it all went wrong.
The new league structure is now available here – Teams.
Also the Rules & Competitions pages have been updated (and will continue to be as and when it’s needed). Have a good look at the teams in your league, see if there are any familiar rivals, any particularly challenging opponents. The League invites will go out very soon and we will be greeting new arrivals in the coming weeks!
The Premier League is, as always, a Battle Royale of some of the greatest and most successful managers in the Association. The reigning Champions – Mighty Fine Feeling – will be looking to defend not one, but two titles against extremely dangerous opponents. Opponents such as Housewives Favourite who are not only joining the top tier as Championship Champions, but also the Best-ish Winners of 2023. Also Barons who missed out on the title in the final gameweek, finishing the season with the same record as MFF, but came second by a matter of matchpoints. Smash & Grab will also be considered amongst the favourites after also coming in close last season. The 2021 PL winners were just a win shy of the mark and shared their league points with MFF – each won 2, lost 2 in their matchups last season.
The 2023/24 Championship features no less than six former League Champions plus the current Champions League Champions – Gloopy Yarbles. The Yarbles were narrowly seen off in the Playoffs last season and will be favourites for the title this time round. But in order to claim their first league title here they will have to stand up to the might of AFC Chester – last season’s runaway League One winners, the dominance of the All Star Gunners – twice former champions who beat Gloopy the last three times they met, and also the persistance of Webuiltthis City – an average team with surprisingly above-average results.
Next week, the World Rankings will be republished and set ready for the season ahead. Same format; we will be gaining/losing points for every match according to the result and the strength of our opponents. We will also be able to once again see the potential changes at the next game and (hopefully) demonstrate the power that the Champions League and the BFFA Cup have to affect the World Rankings.
But for now, have a look around the Fantasy Premier League, play around with different line-ups, read about the new signings and definitely make the time to try the mock draft.
Enjoy.
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