Fantasy Football 2012/13 - The npower Championship

The opening game of 'The Championship' football season kicks-off tonight, when Cardiff City host newly promoted Huddersfield Town, and I have decided to take part in the forthcoming Phones 4u sponsored Championship Fantasy Football league game for the 2012/13 season.

In doing so I shall be pitting my wits against friends and football fans around the country in an attempt to gain some bragging rights, and similarly dent a few egos of those fans who 'believe' they know everything about the second tier of English football. I shall attempt to keep you updated throughout the season on my progress, good or bad as I suffer like any football manager does by trying to select an initial starting eleven of the best players available, without exceeding my 'fictitious' set budget.

Then as every week passes I will have to cope with injuries, suspensions, players moving clubs, along with 'jettisoning my flops' - those players that promised so much but failed to deliver! Then as the manager of my team I will be responsible for any wheeling and dealing in the transfer market, whilst keeping within my financial means.

Click on this link for the rules on how to pick your team, score points and make transfers.

The 'Team of the Season' for 2011/12 in terms of top points scorers in their respective positions was as follows:

Goalkeeper - Adam Federici (Reading).
Closely followed by: Rob Green (West Ham) and Julian Speroni (Crystal Palace).

Defenders - James Chester (Hull, pictured right)), Alex Pearce (Reading), Danny Fox (Southampton), Kasper Gorkss (Reading).
Closely followed by: Mark Hudson (Cardiff), Ian Harte (Reading) and Liam Rosenior (Hull).

Midfielders - Peter Whittingham (Cardiff), Chris Burke (Birmingham), Robert Snodgrass (Leeds).
Closely followed by: Adam Lallana (Southampton), Grant McCann (Peterborough), Kevin Nolan (West Ham) and George Boyd (Peterborough).

Strikers - Rickie Lambert (Southampton), Ross McCormack (Leeds), Marlon King (Birmingham).
Closely followed by: Billy Sharp (Southampton), David Nugent (Leicester), Michael Chopra (Cardiff), Jermaine Beckford (Leicester), Darius Henderson (Millwall) and Kevin Phillips (Blackpool).


Here is my team to start the 2012/13 campaign:

Goalkeeper - Paddy Kenny (Leeds).

Defenders - Wes Morgan (Leicester), Anthony Gardner (Sheff Wed), Aaron Cresswell (Ipswich), Curtis Davies (Birmingham).

Midfielders - Chris Burke (Birmingham), Tom Ince (Blackpool, pictured right), Wilf Zaha (Crystal Palace, pictured below right).

Strikers - Jordan Rhodes (Huddersfield and Captain), Simon Cox (Forest), Marlon Harewood (Barnsley)


If you fancy playing and you want to prove you know the most about the beautiful game then go head-to-head with your friends, work colleagues or family by logging onto the Phones 4u Fantasy Football game and sign up right away.

It's free to play and there's plenty up for grabs including: a whopping £10,000 in cash for the person who accumulates the most points during the season. Also top priced tickets to the npower Championship Play-Off Final 2013, including VIP hospitality at Wembley stadium, a signed shirt from the npower Championship club of their choice, plus every 'Manager of the Month' wins the chance for a unique behind the scenes tour of an npower Championship club, including match tickets, a manager of the month trophy presentation at the game and £500 in cash.

If you miss the opening match deadline (the new season gets underway at 19:45 this evening, the17th August), don't worry just join the league as soon as you can. Remember the competition is not won in the first week of the season, but in May of next year.

Finally, Good Luck!

A History of Idiosyncratic Events in Football – Part Four

--------------Kings Of The Drop--------------

There is nothing worse for a professional footballer (injury excluded) than relegation, unless of course, it's more relegation.

Carlton Palmer, perhaps surprisingly for a player who otherwise had a relatively distinguished playing career, which included eighteen full England caps - is right up there with the 'Kings Of The Drop,' having gone down five times with West Brom (1985/86), Sheffield Wednesday (1989/90), Nottingham Forest (1998/99), Coventry (2001/02) and Stockport County (2002/03).

Neil Redfearn can also write the names of five relegated employers on his 'Curriculum Vitae.'
Bolton (1982/83), Lincoln (1985/86), Barnsley (1997/98), Charlton (1998/99) and Halifax (2001/02).
Redfearn's playing career spanned over twenty years and he played for 13 different league clubs. Redfearn is currently fifth in the all-time list of most Football League appearances. His last league appearance for Rochdale in 2004 took his total to 790.

Perhaps the biggest 'Jonah' of them all is poor Simeon Hodson, (below right) who managed to taste relegation three times before his 21st birthday!

In all Hodson has been involved in teams relegated from the top five levels of the English football league system.

Notts County (1983/84) relegated from the old First Division, Lincoln (1985/86) relegated from the Third Divsion, Lincoln again (1986/87) relegated from the Fourth Division.
In 1990/91 he was part of the West Bromwich Albion team relegated from the Second Division.

In 1992/93 he was a member of the Mansfield Town team relegated from the Second Division also, which following the inception of the FA Premier League, was now the third level of the league system.

It is worth noting that, though he left before the season's end, he played for Notts County in the 1984/85 season when they went on to be relegated from the Second Division. Consequently, his first four seasons saw him involved with clubs relegated from the top four levels in order. Incredibly, his fifth season (1987/88) saw him initially at Newport County (but he left two months before their demise to join West Brom), as they went on to be relegated from the Fourth Division.
That makes five relegations and one near miss in a League career of just ten seasons.

To cap it all off, in 1999/2000 he was relegated from the Football Conference with Altrincham.......to complete the set!

Thus, he can claim to have been relegated from the top five levels of the English football league system with five different clubs.

In 2001, aged 35, a knee injury forced Hodson to retire. He is now a PCSO for the Warwickshire Police.