Ben: Welcome to FPL Rivals. We are back after the World Cup summer. So we have taken a break, even though it didn't really feel like it for these lads, although I did disappear during most of that time. But we got a brand new season, brand new managers, brand new league, and brand new opportunity for heartbreak, frustration, and disillusionment if you're a Newcastle fan. But what I thought I'd do this week before we get into the into the main action of the pod, let's just do a quick recap of who you're listening to and what we're all about. So this is FPL Rivals. We've got loads of new joiners for the league this season. My name is Ben. I am a longtime suffering Newcastle fan. I had my best year of fantasy last year, I would say. probably because of this pod. It kept me engaged all the way. And that's me. Over to you, CJ. Why don't you introduce yourself for our new lads? CJ: Yeah, I'm CJ. I got drafted in last year by the two boys to be the third commissioner. I actually probably had my worst year of fantasy last year, which was a shame, but been been a good ride. Really looking forward to this year. like we said, we'll delve into it in a sec. We've got loads of new stuff, loads of new lads involved. So yeah, really looking forward to it. Ben: Last but not least, Alex, how are you doing? Alex: Yeah, I'm good. So I'm Alex. I am the original founder of this league. I was the one that started it all back in what, five years ago? Six years CJ: Yeah, probably. Ben: Mm-hmm. Alex: ago? Five, six years ago. so yeah, and I dragged Ben into it and then I've dragged CJ into it. my son has been great. I'm a I'm a Wimbledon fan. What else you need to know about me, Ben? CJ: Ha ha ha. Ben: Give us give us a I think you're gonna give us a paddle update, aren't you? 'Cause Alex is in a paddle league with a few lads and you wanted to talk about that? Alex: Not so much a league, but a bit of a paddle update. Me and Rafaro broke did a breakaway league. So it was so hard to organise getting everyone organized that me and Rafaro decided we'd go and play with professionals each week now. So Ben: Nice. Alex: we've na we've now signed up to playing with professionals every Monday night. So that's me tomorrow night. And that's why we're now recording on a Sunday night and not a Monday night, because I can't tomorrow night 'cause I'm playing paddle and that takes priority because I'm gonna be pro next year. CJ: Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. Ben: You need to sort your priorities, mate. Paddle would come second to the pod and you need to realise that ASAP, otherwise CJ: Ha ha ha Ben: we're gonna have some issues. just being aware, if anyone asks me how my summer is, I will give you an honest answer, but it will be me lamenting about Newcastle for a long while. So I don't know if we wanna do that now or later. Alex: Yeah, who's your manager? CJ: Yeah, I think we have to we gotta do it now. We gotta do it now, mate. Just thoughts, initial thoughts, just do it in two minutes. Just some Newcastle's summer up in a couple of minutes there. Ben: Yeah, I mean you might want to put a timer on and just remind me when I've got ten seconds left, but I'm a bit I'm a bit numb to it all, to be honest, mate. Like CJ: Yeah. Ben: if you'd have you if you'd have sho like y you look at the photo of us winning the League Cup and you would have told me that Isak, Bruno, Tanali, Howe, and Gordon all left before we won another trophy, I would have assumed that the Saudis would have been forced to sell by the government in the same way that Chelsea was with Abramovich, right? I would have thought something had gone seriously, seriously wrong. But yeah, CJ: Ha ha ha. Ben: I don't know what's going on. I'm all bit numb to it. Obviously losing Bruno G is the biggest, the biggest blow of the summer. CJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Huge, huge. Alex: Especially since he won a trophy today. Ben: He's already equaled his trophy hall from Newcastle in one day as an Arsenal player versus five years as a Newcastle player. there is a part of me that's quite excited because we're going in as a completely unknown team now, you know. We've signed we haven't signed anybody under twenty one. All the players we've signed have never heard of. we've got a new manager. If th things were getting really sort of like bland and stale with Howe over the last eighteen months, like style of play and everything like that. So this new bloke CJ: Yeah. He's exciting. He's exciting, isn't he? I've seen it I've seen some snips of him, Ben: Yeah this new bloke's CJ: yeah. Ben: H how are we gonna pronounce his name, do you guys know? Yeisler is how I've Yeisler. CJ: The ice lesk. That's a good no, Alex: Just that CJ: I think that's p that's pretty spot on. Yeah, I think that's spot on. Alex: German guy who won't last longer than three months. Ben: you not think three months? No. I yeah, I genuinely Alex: Fuck knows. Ben: don't know. We c we could it it could be it could be pretty toxic. You know, we think about the fact that we've got Liverpool at home on the first day. If Isak bags a couple Alex: Yeah, but they're not great. Ben: against Botman and and Chow or Byrne, it's gonna it's gonna get ugly pretty quickly. But I hope he's given time. I hope we just see ex some exciting football and I hope we survive relegation, to be honest. I've got Alex: Yeah, i i it could be worse. You could be a Wimbledon fan right now who signed no one and we've got pretty much the same team as last season and we got battered by Huddersfield yesterday on our opening. CJ: Yeah, I saw that. You got hammered. Ben: Yeah. CJ: I saw the goals, to be fair, a couple of good goals from Matey with his mask on. See the guy who scored with his mask? Alex: To be fair, we're we're we're we're in a bit of we're in a bit of worry, we're in a bit of a bother that we Ben: Mm. Alex: we could so we're about to be half the club's about to be bought out, which means potentially we're getting significant investment, which is what the club needs, right? To compete in Ben: That's good, no? Alex: League One. Yeah, but it's it's not gonna come until for another couple of months. So the window's gonna be closed. Ben: Does that mean they're putting the they're putting the brakes on any spending until until this takeover comes through, which means that no Alex: Kind of, yeah. mean and w we're we're amount we're about to sell one of our best youngsters to QPR for just short of our of a million. So that should give us something. Ben: Okay. Alex: but it it's it's gonna be a battle until January, I'm not gonna lie. It's gonna be it's gonna I'm going quite a few times in the next month and I I'm Ben: Nice. CJ: Ha ha. Alex: not really looking forward to it. But hey ho CJ: That's it. Ben: one other change on this pod this season is that we're all officially wearing football gear now. I'm gonna be wearing my Newcastle away kit all season for anybody that's listening and not watching, but you boys have signed up to something, haven't you? Something where they send you random shirts, isn't it? Like what are you talking but you've already got like CJ: No, that's Butler, not me. Not me, that's Butler. That's Butler, gone. Alex: No, s see that's me. Ben: a collection already though, Siege, no? Like CJ: I got some to be fair, I've been I was the last sort of two or three months I was raiding vintage. Just got absolutely Ben: Yeah. CJ: obsessed with vintage. Got some got some good sh I'm actually I'm out in Fueta Ventura at the moment and I was I wore this down to the beach today and my god Real Batisse, yeah, my Ben: What's that rail batise? Yeah. CJ: god. Some of the some of the people absolutely love Batisse out here. Everyone was like I w I was sat in the restaurant and the guy came up to me and started speaking Spanish to me. I was like, What I'm English. He goes, Batisse, what Betisse? I was like, yeah. Ben: Yeah. CJ: So they're they're worshipped out there. Joaquin, yeah, yeah. So they're they're worshipped Alex: Yeah, Wakeem, Wakeem. CJ: out here. But now I I get quite a few of my shirts and vintage. Absolutely yes, you've got to do a bit of scrawling, but it is is a quality website. But you get yours. Where'd you get yours from? Alex: From mystery shirt. CJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've seen that. I've seen that. Ben: Yeah. What you what what are you wearing today? Is that Wimbledon? No, that doesn't Alex: It's no, it's in it's on in honor of Mohammed Salah's move. So what team's he gone to? Yeah, so Tribunsport, yeah. Yeah. So it's just random, like you don't choose what shirt you get. So y I'll have a different Ben: yes, the Turkish team. Trabzonsfor that that Turkish household name. Yeah. CJ: Trabaz on score, isn't it? Yeah. No, nice. Alex: one on Thursday, Ben, and we could talk about that one then. But yeah, Ben: Nice. Alex: it's j just a chance that I got this one. It is a bit small. I don't know if you can see it. It's it's a bit tight. CJ: Ha ha. Alex: but yeah, it's a decent shirt though, it's a decent kit. CJ: Yeah, it's lovely. Ben: Nice. And do you do you pay a monthly subscription or do you just pay whenever you Yeah. Alex: Yeah. So I pay thirty pound a month and they send you a shirt every month. So it's it's a little bit pricey, Ben: Lovely. Lovely. CJ: Okay, not too bad. Alex: but it's a brand new shirt. So can't comp and and it's shirts that I would never have picked out. Like the ones I've received are shirts that I Ben: Yeah. Transport. Yeah. CJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the cool thing. Alex: would never ever have thought, yeah, I'll buy that one. So when you when you see Thursday's one, Ben, you'll be like, what's that? 'Cause that it is it is rogue. CJ: Ha ha. Ben: I'm looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to some weird and wonderful shirts this season. Right, let's let's get into the thick of it. What we're gonna talk about for the official preview of the new season? I think we wanna kick off with some new season new rules. So Alex, why don't you take us away on some of that? Alex: Well I I'll let Siege do it 'cause he wrote the rules. He wrote the f he wrote the prizes. Ben: yeah. Alex: so I'll let Siege do the format and then I can do the the growth bit. Go on Siege. CJ: Okay, yes, no, we've got like we said, we've we spoke about it last year. We wanted to get two divisions going. We want to expand this podcast, and to be fair, we've reached out to quite a few people, but everyone has been absolutely buzzing to get involved. But so we've now got two leagues. We've got FPL Rivals Division One and FPL Rivals Division Two. So Division One, the format is it's a 35-game season, and then the top eight after thirty-five games go into playoffs. So we were debating about getting rid of the players because playoffs because it is a little bit towards the end, if you're not in the playoffs, you do lose a little bit of interest. But everyone in our league last year wanted to keep that and it is it is a good bit of crack to be fair. And it actually It's a tough Ben: I d I did vote against it. I was quite disappointed to see that that we're keeping it this season. Yeah, bloody Mike is built for the playoffs, isn't he? Alex: Mike did not. CJ: one and it'll be interesting this year because then we've got our division two which is just a thirty eight game head to head season. Everyone plays each other like a normal season, which will really the cream will really rise to the top of that, which will be really interesting. So if that goes really well, we may have to sort of think about our playoff thing for next year. But that's pretty much it. We've got four the top four in div two will be coming up. The bottom Ben: Mm-hmm. CJ: four in div one will be relegated. Alex: Brutal that's brutal as well, by the way, 'cause there's only eighteen in div one. So for four to come down. Yeah. CJ: It's tough compared to 24 last year, yeah. Four Ben: Geez. CJ: to go down. and then prizes wise, I'll just go quickly. So we've sort of we've upped the the money to come in this year just to 30 pounds, but that's going to be spread across so many prizes. So we've got manager of the month's awards in both leagues. we've got the playoff winner in div one, the overall points winner after 35 games in div one. We've got sorry, that's like the the league points. We've got winner of div two, we've got second place in div two and third place in div two. We have an overall cup competition which will run sort of the back end of the season, and we've also got an overall points winner across both leagues, which will be really, really interesting. So that's what's amazing about this league. We tried to sort of get people in saying that that £30 can be split and There's multiple cho type sort of things to win every throughout the season. But it's just gonna be engagement, engagement, engagement, I think throughout the year. But that's pretty much it. I don't know if you boys wanna add anything if I've summed everything up. Alex: J just on Ben: Well I yeah. Alex: the I was think I was thinking about the cup competition actually more more today. And actually it's gonna be really tricky because when the cup kicks off, technically you're gonna be playing two people a week. So you'll be playing Ben: At the same time, yeah. CJ: Two. Alex: someone, someone in the cup and then someone so it would be really interesting how people focus their their energy. Do you think, I can have a cup run here and I'll just give Ben: Yeah. Alex: up depends where I am in the league, I suppose, when the cup starts. but that could be interesting. Ben: That's true. Well, I was just gonna say as well, like I know, I know we got a couple of questions from the lads in the WhatsApp group about the prize pot. specifically Farney, I think it was, who was basically like, Why such a small reward pot when there's so many of us? And ironically, Farney is one of the only ones not to pay his entry fee yet. So you sh you can pipe down he has paid it now. Okay. Well Alex: No, he's paid it now, he has paid it, he has, he has, yeah. He was one of the last ones though. Ben: But but but to CJ's point, CJ: I need to see. Ben: we've got lots of different ways to win money. Rather than just having one huge prize, we've CJ: Yeah. Ben: got loads and loads of ways to get to make your money back. So, you know, manager of the month, everyone's up for that each each month and you can win that twice and you've you've made your money back. And then you've got all the other competitions as well. So it's just a nicer way of spreading it out more evenly and not just giving not just handing someone in first place a grand at the end of the at the end of the year. I think it's better this way. Alex: Can you imagine? Can you imagine that would be the prize? Fucking hell. Just walk Ben: Yeah. Yeah. Alex: away with a grand playing fantasy football. CJ: It will be class. It would be horrendous. It would be so intense. That'd be get that would get that would get really rough, wouldn't it, to be fair, towards the end. Ben: I We'll get there one day, boys. We'll get there one day. And a and like you say, massive interest this year in the leagues, to the point where we had to make a wait list of people, but we just simply did not have space for them, so we had did have to disappoint some people. Alex: We had to we had to disappoint some people 'cause I'd I'd we had some people I'm not going to mention names of a mini tantrum when I couldn't put their friends in. Ben: Yeah. Alex: so so you know, we we've we've had to just say no a few times, which has been hard I suppose, but going from twenty eight to thirty eight. Ben: But if this season goes really well CJ: We've gone from Ben: and and interest stays, then we c there's always the opportunity for division three, you know, or an expanded CJ: That's it. Ben: division one and two. So Alex: I hope I don't near finish near the bottom of div two. That'd be that'd be brutal, wouldn't it? Back to back relegation. CJ: It's mad though, isn't it? It's ma Ben: Back to back relegations for Butler. CJ: it's mad going from we've gone from twenty-four managers to thirty-eight, sort of effortlessly as well. That's sort of lads who have been engaged from our pod last year and or our Ben: Mm. Mm. CJ: socials wanted to get involved. Like the majority are as we'll go through them later on, are are our mates and I and some of our close friends. But we are getting a lot of people reach out to us sort of from outside our friendship group now, which I think is the aim of this pod. in the foresee foreseeable future. So though that is what we're going to try and do a lot this year is really sort of try and get this out to a wider audience and to see if they like our format because it is quite a niche. It's quite a unique thing, FPL head to head. And we'll get into it Ben: Mm. CJ: a bit more later on. But it really is, no one is doing it apart from us, is what I've seen. I haven't seen many people going down the head to head. It's very much overall points. So really I think it probably leads on to like please follow us on the socials, share our Insta share our TikTok, share our Spotify Alex: Yeah, chip. CJ: to your friends and our YouTube because our World Cup specials did really well. People are really starting to listen. So it really is an exciting time to get involved if and please reach out for us. We will share our email and things at the end of this pod and on our socials, but we really want pi as many people involved and interested as we can, I think. Ben: And of course, just to round that off as well, we have a dedicated head head to head app which you should all be using, downloading and visiting. And that's of course, you know, from our from our man Greg, who has joined us this year, who we're in partnership with. He's got an amazing website, which will really help with your head to head strategy this season. So yeah. Absolutely. And just to just a final reminder for anyone that doesn't know, CJ and I are gonna be in division one this year and then Alex two Alex is gonna be our division two correspondent and I just wanted to remind all of you and him of that. Yeah. Exactly. Alex: Correspondent. I'll be I'll be reporting from the sidelines to back to you then. Ben: The lower leagues mate. The lower league correspondent. That's it. I mean it's it suits you mate because you're so into Wimbledon these days and there you go. CJ: That's it. Ben: So you're our representation. But okay, so Alex: do like the lower leagues, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I did it on purpose. Ben: let's should we should we go into sort of like a couple of reminders before we start previewing Alex: Just some just some Yeah. Ben: people? Alex: Ex exactly that. Just a few reminders. So the the leagues have been set up. we've sent out all to everyone the the league invites for div one and div two. we're still waiting for a few people to join. Div one, we're just waiting for Jordan and Dave. Jordan is notorious, he always leaves it to the like CJ: Yeah. Alex: the last bloody minute. Jordan, it'd be great if you didn't leave it to the last minute this time and you joined early. Dave, I know you're waiting for us to do a pod for some reason before you join the league, which I don't really get, but okay. Judge Ush. And and then Ben: He's gonna judge us, mate. He's we're on we're on trial. Yeah. Alex: for Div two, we're still waiting for Jennings, Farney, and then Tom Alabone as well. Tom's new, but Jennings and Farney, Jordan and Dave, you should know the drill by now and just get in the league. Can you just get on with it? Ben: If you need the link, just ping us, we'll give it to you again, 'cause I know there's loads of messages on the WhatsApp, but we Alex: again even though I've sent it to Jennings and Farney twice already but that's fine. I'll send it to them twice again for a third time. and then we have been asking everyone for their headshot photos so we can make some hilarious stickers. For those of you that aren't in our league you'll be seeing those a lot on Instagram CJ: Stick those of you that want it on A but we said no. Alex: over the next few months. Diff One Jordan again you're on the list. Can I have a headshot please? Peeks, CJ: Thanks. Alex: Rafaro and Harry Your cousin Siege, he needs to send me a headshot. And then for then for div two, it's just Greg and Jamie, I believe. I think there was one more. and Tom as well. Tom Tom's double up on the list, but I've already found out that Tom Alibone, my mate from work, is the worst WhatsApper ever. So that's gonna be hilarious. Ben: Brilliant. That should bode well for us then this season. Alex: Yeah, it should bode well. and then just before what we'll do later on this week is I'll be sending out a podcast calendar. So every a calendar for when we're doing an episode each week. What we'd love for people to do is just to sign up, even if it's like three months down the road, if you just put your name in it and say, Yeah, I'm gonna come on the pod at this point of the season, that'd be great. It saves us having to constantly chase people each week. We just appreciate if people just wanted to sign up and just told us when they wanted to come on. You can also see which one of us is available as well, because we've put mine, Ben and CJ's availability on there. So if there's one of us you don't particularly like and you want to avoid then then you can come on that episode. Ben: Ha Plenty CJ: Yeah, I like that. I like that. Ben: Ha ha. Alex: so yeah, and as Siege says, just follow us on socials if you haven't already. Just share the love. Like we just really appreciate all the support. And you know, we're here to support everyone else as well. So if you've got a podcast you want us to share, we we can do the same. CJ: That's it. Alex: We're happy to do both, but that's it. That's it from reminders, Ben. Ben: Okay, let's go straight into the season preview. We've got loads of newcomers to get through. A lot of unknowns, isn't there? I'm I'm I'm completely like I'm just I'm just completely CJ: Yeah. Ben: like intimidated to be honest, seeing some of these boys' ranks and stuff like that over the last few years. I had such a good season last season and I just feel like this season I might be one of the favourites to get relegated. But Alex: I dunno, I th I'd rather be in Div one given how many CJ: Yeah. Alex: people that have come new into the league are fucking good at fantasy. I'm like I'm looking in Ben: I'm gonna I was gonna say like yeah, I mean th the CJ: Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Alex: div two like, my fucking god, a lot of these guys finished in the top two hundred thousand and I'm like, I'm fuck CJ: You're not getting out. You're not getting out. Ben: Summon these boys. Yeah. CJ: Yeah. Ben: So so so first up we've got a new manager profile, by the way of Harry Bignall. CJ, take us away 'cause he's your he's your link, isn't he? Your cousin. CJ: He is my cousin, to be fair. He's been an OG listening to this pod for probably since it started. I sent it him early doors and he constantly I actually saw him at Christmas last year and he gave me some really honest criticism about how he thinks the pod can move forward and things like that. But he's decent to be fair. He's he is funny, his overall rank he put under one million. I'm not sure what that even means. He just wanted me to d wanted me to say he was under one mil, which is class, but He's a decent player. I said here, like he was obviously my cousin, relentless listener. Ben: Mm. CJ: loves, loves chat, loves to ruffle feathers. Like he said he really wants to come on the pod and start to have a little ding-dong with either me or you, Butler or Ben. Yeah, him and Valf. Alex: let's get him and Balfon at the same time. CJ: Him and Valf will be absolutely hilarious. But he actually texts with it. I was texting him about just about it, and he put he to he texted me there, said Hey mate, sorry I've been working all this day. Just seeing this. Glad you managed to sort it as I can't wait to batter you this year, is what he said to me. Ben: Ha ha. Alex: Well you're texting him back, CJ: so it Alex: can you tell him to send me a headshot? That'd be great. CJ: Yeah, Ben: Yeah. CJ: that so that's that's sort of what he that's sort of what he says. That's that's his sort of vibe. Like just he he knows what he's talking about fantasy wise. His dark horse pick for the year was that Manzambi, the new Swiss lad for Villa. So I'm sure in each in each Ben: Yeah. Yeah. Who famously rejected Newcastle. So yeah, I'm sure he's gonna do amazing. CJ: in each in each of these profiles, like we we'd done a we've done a dark horse pick so we'll sort of go through that. but yeah, that's Harry, so he will be a controversial character, but he's actually been moved straight into div one. So we'll be interested to see how he gets on due to a few lads dropping out. Alex: Talk about controversial. But yeah. I'll take the next one then. So we've got Stephen Winchest Winch Winchester, I think his name is. It's one of Dasy's mates. Dassey notoriously famous in our league for building the trophy two years in a row. and somehow then staved off relegation to to survive in the league. So he's now he's still in div one. So Stephen will join him in div one. last season's overall rank was just over half a f over half a million, which is pretty respectable, I'd say, six hundred and twelve thousand. CJ: A serious. Ben: Very, very good. Very good. Alex: we're looking forward to him. He's already given us some good chat in the group, which is great. he's already chirping up, loving the pod, etcetera, etcetera. We appreciate that. And his dark horse pick for this season is Ryan from Bournemouth. And I think that's a great shout, 'cause I think he's gonna be class for them. Ben: Yeah, good shout. CJ: Yeah, he's solid and he's solid. Alex: yeah. Right, Ben, your turn. Ben: W welcome Stephen, welcome Harry. Good to have you on board. Next up we've got Finn, who is he is my sister-in-law's boyfriend. He's a very, very, very, very nice guy. And he is half British, so he sounds American, but he just loves England, loves football. Manchester CJ: Love that. Ben: United supporter, unfortunately, another one of those to add to the ranks. So yeah, he joins us from the League from the US to boost our American numbers, but he's a Brit at heart. And he went to more World Cup games than any of us combined. Every couple of days I was getting photos of him in the stadiums and stuff. I was like, How the fuck are you managing to do this, mate? But he says that he Alex: He must be a millionaire. CJ: Ha ha. Ben: he says that he normally he normally loses steam by about like game week twenty five to thirty. That's when he starts losing Alex: Not anymore. Ben: losing interest. So yeah, that my my my message to you, mate Finn, is not anymore, because we're gonna be pissing you off every week and I'm sure you'll be Sure, you'll be tuning in and changing a team. So he his his team is called Maiden Heaven. Nice little pun on the Manchester Defender. CJ: La la. Nice. Ben: Overall rank last year was in three million, so not too bad. You know, not amazing, but not disastrous by any stretch of the imagination. Let's see if he can improve that this year. also going into Divon. Alex: He's gonna need to improve that this year if he does wanna get relegated. CJ: Ha ha. Ben: And Dark Horse pick, although I think he picked this before. The injury, Junior Krupi, who of is of course the young Bournemouth forward, possibly linked with a move to PSG for a hundred plus million, but then he got injured for three months. So I think that's died down a little bit. But yeah, if he can if he can get fit and get back in form, he's also a very good pick. He's one of my favourites as well. He did, yeah, he's got a very good sticker. I like that, Alex: And he sent us a great headshot for his sticker in his English shirt, so I appreciated that. CJ: Unbelievable headshot. Unbelievable headshot. Ben: like that a lot. So welcome aboard Finn and hope you enjoy this season, mate. CJ: His rank his rank there sort of relates to the drop off after Game Week twenty five, doesn't it? That free meal like like Ben: Yeah, it does. And also, Finn, you should know that the last person I brought into the league last season gave up by about like game week nine. he was called Gareth, and he He had five city players in his team at one Alex: When he lost nine in a row. CJ: He had nine nine he had nine he had nine city players in his team at the end of the season as well, didn't he? Ben: point. He stopped logging in, he stopped making transfers and and he came dead last. Or no, did he come no no, he didn't come dead last. He came second to Alex: No he didn't. Charlie did. Ben: last. He would have been relegated had he Well, he was relegated, but then he he's completely dropped out. So yeah, you've got to be an improvement on Gareth, please, Finn, although that's not too much of a big ask at this moment. So moving on, Greg, CJ: Yeah. Ben: our man Greg, who we've spoken about lots over the last few months with his amazing app. Those of you in the league last year will know him. I think he's recommended a few people to this league this year as well. He's our tech genius and our official sponsorship partner. I don't even know if that's the right way to say it, but CJ: Mm-hmm. Ben: His team name is called FC Matos. His overall rank last week was in the top two last year, sorry, was in the top two hundred and fifty K. So very, CJ: That's very good. Ben: very, very, very good. He's is he going to div one as well? Or is no, he's in div two, isn't he? Ye. Yeah. Alex: No, he's in Div two mate. This is what's gonna be brutal for me. CJ: No, he's in div two. He's in div two, yeah. This elite head to head. This is elite head to head now. Alex: There's some there's some good people in we'll get into it in more detail in a minute on Div two but my god. Ben: So so he's the first manager that we've talked about so far that's in Div two, and his rank last year was two hundred and fifty K in the world. So Alex is already up against it. His dark horse pick this year, which I also like, is Brian Brobby. I don't know if you boys saw a clip CJ: Yeah, I love that. Love that. Love that. Ben: of Brobby scoring yesterday in a friendly just absolutely bullied all the defenders, and he's a really annoying Sunderland player, and I hate him. But yeah, good shout, Greg. Very, very good. I look forward to probably scoring a brace against Newcastle, both home and away this season. So yeah, there you go. Welcome aboard, Greg. Good to have you. Greg was very adamantly against the playoffs, wasn't he? He said it was a stupid Alex: Good job, he's in div two then. Ben: idea and we were idiots. So he might actually not want to get promoted, he might want to stay in div two. Alex: That's fine, I do. I wanna get promoted. Ben: Let's see if he takes the league by storm and then comes and fucks up Divon next week, next year. So, yeah, there you go. Over to you, Alex, 'cause I think I think you know this boy the most, right? Alex: Yeah, yeah, so this is Jamie Nichols, one of the Allianz contingent that join in. Team name Hotel Tiago replaces Luke's team name from last year. His overall rank is three million four hundred from last year. He did give up after about game week twenty though, because he was losing at the Allianz tra our Allianz fantasy league, so he got pissed off and and stopped playing. He's another United fan, so we seem to be growing United fans in this. He does come into div two with me. His dark horse pick is bold, Ellis Sims. which is yeah, that is bold, Ben: Coventry forward, is it? Coventry midfielder? Alex: especially since Coventry just bought a Wony from Knots Forest today. But we'll see from there. CJ: Yeah, some of that. Ben: Interesting. Alex: He he does have a good football knowledge, to be fair, and he probably is one if not with Finn, the one of the youngest people in this league. He's only twenty six. He makes me feel well old. but yeah, Ben: Yeah. Yeah. CJ: You're fuck yeah. You're ancient now, lad. Alex: he he come huh? I'm what? CJ: Your ancient, I said. Alex: Ben's older, but like a week. Ben: By like ten days, mate. Alex: but yeah, so that's Jamie. Jamie joins from Allianz. so welcome Jamie. Looking forward to having you. Ben: It no no I thought I saw Jamie Nichols and I thought it might be a relation of of Dan Nichols. It's no relation to Nixie. Okay, alright. Alex: No no s no such relation. No such unless Nixie's CJ: No, no. No relations here. Alex: got a really young brother. but I know Nixie's only got a sister, so that's fine. CJ: Maybe, we'll find out. Yeah. Alex: Right, Siege, over to you. CJ: Alright, moving on. So Ryan Clement, aka Egg. So his nickname's Egg. So he'll be referred to as Egg quite a lot. Smithy's almost also always refers to him as Egg. Alex: Why egg? Ben: Yeah. I can do. CJ: I'll have to ask I'll have to ask Smithy that. I think it might be Egghead. I ain't got a f I ain't got Scooby-Doo what he's on about there. But his team. Alex: I he sent me a s p picture of him with a lawnmower, so I was like, Yeah, go for it, yeah, we'll use that as your s as your sticker, yeah, fuck it. CJ: But he's he's his team name's Games Gone, very sort of up to date Ben: Yeah. Agreed. CJ: at the moment. overall rank last year, one million two hundred thousand, not not too bad, pretty much Ben: Very decent. CJ: pretty steady with sort of twelve, thirty million players, but he's an ex Shotmall Hazemis Stalwart, fellow Pompey fan Hopefully I said the glory days of 2008 FA Cup win will inspire him this season. Not unfortunately, if you watched Pompey yesterday, they were absolutely dire at home to QPR. Alex: Yeah, I saw that. Yeah. CJ: After Devlin, Devlin scoring an absolute worldie. And then I looked at my phone, I was like, Pompey are winning. Looked back 10 minutes later at a 3-1 down at half-time. I was like, cheers. So he Ben: Mm-hmm. CJ: he loves his loves his Pompey. But his his dark horse is Mason Clark. from Coventry. Also another rogue one after yeah I know I know had you right it Ben: That's two Coventry picks, isn't it? Alex: No one's gone with Jack Rudoni, who I think's probably the better one out of both of those CJ: Yeah. Alex: two players. CJ: Cause Haji Wright's injured as well, isn't he? So like obviously they're gonna be using a few lads up front, but they got Thomas Asante in all sorts as well. So that's gonna be a be a funny one. But yeah, Egg is good crack to be fair. Very good friends with Smithy as well. So hopefully there'll be a bit of back and forth between them two. but that is egg. And I'll move on as well to my mate Ben: Welcome Egg. CJ: welcome Egg. my mate Ash. So Ash Holloway. So I've known Ash probably for about twenty-five years. He went to school together in the beauti Alex: Poor oak. CJ: the beautiful Mid Earth Yeah, Ben: He's a Toon fan, yes, come on. CJ: the the beautiful Mid Earth Grammar School, which was an absolute hellhole, but we got through it, me and Ash. but yeah, he's a fellow fellow Newcastle fan. This always cracks me. His his sporting highlight to date of his life, when we were under fifteen, he got five wickets in a row. And he got an award from it from my dad. So let's hope he's let's he's still got the award. I Alex: That's why it's got on his sticker. CJ: need to actually I need to actually get him to send me the actual award because I'm sure it's in his bedroom still. but he got it at our end of season awards. My dad's still cherished about it. But let's see if his cricketing ability reflects that of his FPL knowledge. But his team's called Don't Stir the Pot. His overall rank Ben: Yeah, nice. CJ: was just over over two mil, which again, not too bad. But again, he's a Toon Alex: Solid in div two. CJ: fan. His dark Ben: Mm. CJ: cause is Lucas Hornichex, the new Newcastle goalkeeper. So what are your thoughts on that, Ben? Is he decent or is he just gonna be another another random or? Ben: I I think you'll be a good keeper. I think you should stay well away from Newcastle's defence for the opening weeks of the season until as until CJ: Yeah. Ben: we get figured out a bit. But yeah, I mean it could be a really rug shout. Alex: To you work out who's playing centre CJ: Agreed. Alex: midfield. CJ: He's very he did yeah, he's very he was texting me a lot last year before he got involved. He's very loyal to his Newcastle players. So let's see if he puts any in this year. I'm not sure he will this year, but we'll see. It'll be interesting to see his team his draft, sorry, his team in game week one, how many Newcastle lads he's got. 'Cause I know we had Bruno Gimarage. Ben: Maybe a little bit of whissa, because I'm tempted as two, I'm tempted as well, Ash, for a little bit of whissa, maybe, maybe. Welcome, Ash. Good to have you, mate. CJ: Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, that's Ben: Ash, if anyone, particularly when I'm when I say anyone, I mean Balf. If Balf tries to get a rise out of you on the WhatsApp group by posting some bullshit of Bruno G scoring a penalty, just just ignore him, 'cause he's trying to bait you, okay? Just don't take the bait. Alex: Is there is is CJ: There'll be a lot of baiting. Alex: isn't that just Valve's life is pure baiting. Ben: That's just Balf's life. Balf is gonna try and wind you up and and yeah, Arsenal have just bought Bruno J so yeah. Good good luck. Welcome. Alex: Have they? Did he did he win a trophy today? I think he did. Ben: He did, yeah. I thought he went off injured, didn't he? I hope I hope he's out for a while. Alex: No, he was very CJ: He went off at half time for Rice, didn't He was off at half Alex: happy when he'd won the trophy. CJ: time for Rice, yeah, yeah. Alex: It was the happiest they've seen him in about two years, to be fair. CJ: Ha ha. Ben: Yeah. Alex: Right. Moving on. my turn. So Paul, he's another contingent from the Allianz crew. comes in after a final day miracle in our Allianz fantasy league. He was bottom pretty much all season and then was about a hundred and fifty points behind the person above him. And he somehow managed to close the gap and not finish last. So there was dedication there, right Ben: Great escape. Alex: yeah, the greatest gap. Dedication right from the right until the end. Unfortunately not like the his West Ham who went down, who didn't put up any fight. so he is a West Ham fan. Yeah, they did, yeah, they bottled it today. CJ: Shut himself shot himself today as well, didn't they? Did you see that? Tunnel up Drew to all for Burnley, yeah. Alex: this is gonna be very different, I'd say, to what probably not what Paul's used to, but to what ev most people with newcomers are used to here in terms of fantasy. Head to head is so different from your CJ: Yeah. Alex: total points league. There is so much more to think about. But his team is the Beach Boarders. After his surname Paul Beach. his overall rank last year, I don't even know, but it was fucking high. I can't CJ: Ha ha. Ben: Was it? Alex: I couldn't tell you. He he couldn't find it, and I was like, mate, you finished second bottom in the Allianz League. Let's be honest. I was twelfth and I was like one point eight million or something. So there was twenty-eight people in our league, so whatever CJ: Strong. Alex: you were, it yeah, he Ben: So he's pretending he can't find it, but we we know it's bad. Alex: And his dark horse pick is James Tarkovsky. I don't know if that's dark horse, supposedly he'd be in and out of people's teams, I think, a lot anyway this season, but we shall see. Welcome, Paul. Ben: Welcome, Paul. On to the next one. Please welcome Mr. Rob Dilworth. Many of you know him already, Dilly Dilly. Rob, of course, we've known for many, many years. I didn't I didn't know he was a big fantasy player, but his overall rank last year was in the top three million, so not too bad. and here he's saying for his dark horse pick, Brian. Sproby looks like a bargain, but minutes may be hampered due to Europa League. So I'm going for Dominic Schloberschleigh, seven mil, arguably Liverpool's best player and a bargain. Thank you for that, Rob. That's CJ: Yeah. Agreed. Ben: really good good insight there. So Rob comes in with questionable taste in his football team, but a wealth of sports who does he support? Who did he support? Blackburn Rovers. Alex: Blackburn Rovers. Ben: Forgot about that. But he does CJ: That's tough. Ben: have a wealth of sporting knowledge. Alex: More more fans in the football league. More fans in CJ: Huh. Alex: the football league. Ben: Asia, there you go to join the lower leagues with Alex. Wealth of Sport Acknowledge, more importantly, has a wide range of banter. Yes, we know that Dilly's good crack always. So welcome Dilly, really good to have you on board. Hope you enjoy the pod and the fantasy season. CJ: Is that is his Alex: And until CJ: rank is his rank there three hundred thousand or three mil? I think it's free I think it's three hundred are we d are we doing him a disservice there, are we? Ben: yeah you might be right there. Alex: three hundred thousand. Yeah I think you are Ben There's only six Ben: I've done you a d I've done you dirty there, Dilly. I I Alex: digits there Ben CJ: Ha ha ha. Ben: Jeez, boy no one put the commas Alex: Still seven. Ben: in for this one, so I just glanced at it and looked Alex: Yeah, that's my bad. Ben: like two mil. That is amazing, okay. Top three hundred K. I've done you bad there. Well done, Dilly. Top three hundred K, bloody hell. And where's he going? Div one or div two? Div two. Butler, you are fucked me. Alex: I he's in div two, so another another serious competitor in div two. CJ: Div two, serious, serious, yeah. Alex: I'm so fucked. I'm so fucked. dear. Ben: top three hundred K. Well done, Dilly. I didn't know CJ: I cannot wait. I cannot wait to get the what was that from Butler crying at the start. Ben: Yeah. Foctiv two, why did we do this? This is the worst idea ever. Alex: well yeah. We should have just stuck with one div one and had thirty eight teams, that would have made more sense. Right, anyway, for carry on, but carry on. Ben: Right, next we've got this is one of one of Greg's friends, Hadri. Welcome Hadri. ha I'm I'm gonna I'm not gonna try and pronounce your last name actually, but I'm just gonna say your team name, which is Alex: I think you should I think you should, Ben, 'cause you're so good at pronunciations. Come CJ: Have a go, mate. Come on, have a go. Alex: on, Ben. Ben: Adrian van Duseller. not bad, not bad, not bad. Thank you. Yeah, Aj, give me a rating on that pronunciation and you can CJ: I think you're right. I think you're spot on. I think it's spot on, I'll say. Alex: I'd say that was pretty good, Ben. I'd say that was pretty good. Hadri, let us know w how he said that. I wanna know. I wanna know. That's better than what you normally say, 'cause we've had all sorts. Liam what was CJ: Mm-hmm. Alex: Liam Ro what was his name? Liam Rosanier. Ben: Rosanier. CJ: Right. Ben: sorry. welcome Hadri mate. Yeah, just send me a voice note of how to pronounce your name and then I won't butcher it every week. But overall rank last year. Okay, this one you are in the two million. So this is if I am reading this correctly, two million, six hundred thousand, thirty-seven, and three hundred and fifty-five. So two and a half mil. Let's just round that up. So CJ: Yeah. Ben: Dark Horse picked this year. Alex: Zo lis Ben: Zolis, thank you, Butler, because I was trying to pronounce him as well. Yes, he is he did. CJ: Love him. Love him. Love him. Yeah. Two Alex: He got an assist today as well, by the way. He's gonna CJ: assists. Two assists. He's gonna yeah. Alex: be good for them. Yeah, he's gonna be good. Ben: I think I read a stat that he's got fourteen games in a row with a goal and assist. So I think he's he's gonna be on a lot of people's a lot of people's teams. CJ: Yeah, I like him. Ben: So for for Hadri's description it says True Belgian hooligan, our very own fucking twat. He supports Union St Gillison, Belgium and also is a gunner when it comes to the Premier League, so he'll fit right in. Welcome Hadry, another fucking gunner, another Arsenal supporter. Got so many Arsenal Manchester United fans. God. But welcome Hadrian. Good to have you, mate. Alex: Way too many of those. Literally it's painful, isn't it? Right, over to yeah, welcome Hadri. CJ: Ha ha. Alex: we're looking forward to to having you. over to me. So Mitch is another of the Allianz cohort. There's one more after this, so don't panic. Mitch used to be my line manager, so I used to I'm glad he's not anymore 'cause now I can give him loads of shit about how how he's getting on in the league. but he does come in with a wealth of FBI experience. I think he said he's up there with Andy Jackson. He's been playing it for a very, very long time. He is a Chelsea fan, as some of you may have noticed by a sticker that he posted in the in the group with huge muscles. So yeah, what up, Mitch. I don't think I've seen those mysteries. Yeah, Ben: he was the Jack Dude, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. Alex: yeah. So CJ: Right. Alex: his team name is Mitch Fester Rangers. and his overall rank last year was one point six million, right up there. So another good Competitor to come into div two, perfect for me. and then his dark horse pick is Igar Jesus from Knotts Ben: Nice. Alex: Forest, who I think will be in a lot of people's teams. I think you'll see next week. Yeah. Ben: Mm. CJ: He's done had a good pre-season, isn't he? To be fair to me. He's had a good pre-season. Right then, boys. Alex: Right, we come on then, Sage. CJ: We're gonna we're gonna go across the water actually to my to where I'm living now. So this is my mate John, John Ryan, who I work with. So his team name is Choose in Mexus, named after his love for Ella Langley, the country singer. Her song Choose in Texas, he's in love with that. Absolutely loves his country music, this boy, which cracked me up. great Ben: Nice. That's funny. Alex: Great team name. CJ: team name. I love that. But yeah, he's he's a very, very steady fantasy player. It's a classic. When you start a new job, the lads who you work with, like you soon get talking, and then next thing you know, everyone plays fantasy and blah, blah, blah. But yeah, so John, I I messaged him about that's it. Alex: But not everyone runs a fantasy league, Siege. That's your little trump card there in Ireland. CJ: That's it. So he they got hold of the b the lads at work somehow found the podcast. I didn't tell him about it. They were giving me a bit of bit of chat about it. But yeah, he's he's Ben: Nice. CJ: keen to he's keen to get involved. But he his overall rank last year was seven hundred and fifty thousand. So he's he is a serious player. He is a serious Ben: Oof Top Mill player. Alex: Fuck's sake. CJ: player. And yeah, he also picked Christos Zolis as his dark horse pick. But I just put here GA maybe is in his heart. But he's looking forward to letting his Premier League knowledge do the talking, which will be class. Alex: Who does he support in GAA? Ben: Nice. Alex: 'Cause I saw that there was some miracle that happened in over the summer, wasn't there, with CJ: So yeah, so you don't so GA you don't really support, obviously. Like he plays for his club and obviously they all support Wexford because we're in Wexford sort of thing. But yeah. Alex: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay, fine. Yeah. CJ: He's a keen GA he's a goalkeeper in GA to be fair to him, which Ben: Can someone tell me what GAA is? Alex: Ben's looking at Yeah. CJ: So GA, mate. Just just to clear Alex: Ben doesn't even know what baseball lives, by the way, everyone, and he lives in America. Let's just put that out there. CJ: up for you, Ben. GEA is Gaelic football and hurling. So both the Ben: cool. CJ: sports are under the GAA umbrella, Ben: Gotcha. CJ: as it said. So I'm still learning the trade. But yeah, he he's a soccer man as well, to be fair at heart. which is which is good. But yeah, John, John's great crack as well. He's already put a bit advance in the group, which I like. But Moving on as well to Savs. So James Savondra. So James, me and Savs have been so Sav's Alex: If you don't know who he is, you don't watch Sky Sports News. CJ: Savs Savs is is is doing really well. So he he's a he's a Sky Sports presenter by day. FPL bandit by night. But yeah, he's a he's a presenter on Sky Sports, fantastic presenter actually on Sky Sports News and does walked his worked his way up through Talks but onto Sky Sports. If you haven't seen him, he's absolutely fantastic on there. But yeah, we've known each other since college, been really good mates. We've sort of reconnected. He's he's actually married to Trav's sister. Trav's Trav's in this group, and they've actually just bought Ben: wow. CJ: a house in Hazelmere. So there he's he's just started playing for our cricket team as well. So he's he's back in the circuit. And I saw him recently. We played when I went back to England and we were just chatting after because he does the Sky Sports Fantasy podcast as well. He he hosts that and we were talking about it, and I sort of said to him. Would you fancy getting involved? Because he was asking if we were doing it this year and and he seems seems really keen. But yeah, his his team is Basball two point zero. A nice little reference to cricket there. But his overall rank was three hundred and twenty K last year. So he is if you actually listen to the the Sky Sports pod, he's a he's a really, really good player, to be fair. Him and Mark Briggs on there are really good. So also if you're listening to this pod, give them a follow and listen as well, because it's excellent. and his dark horse pick. Alex: Plus if you ever need someone to step into the Sky Sports fantasy podcast, there's three people right here who would happily happily come on and chat about fantasy. I mean, I I'm probably not the best 'cause I don't CJ: That's it. Ben: Exactly. If you fancy a day off, James, just let us know. We'll fill in for you, mate. Alex: understand. I'm shit at fantasy, but I'd still give some good banter. So yeah, if there's ever a space just get CJ: That's it. That's it. On on live on don't forget Butler, you'll be going on live TV then as well. But but Alex: Yeah, that's fine. CJ: yeah, his his dark horse pick is Nico Alex: Just have to reel my tongue in. CJ: is Nico Williams for Forest. I think it's gonna be a real Ben: Nice. CJ: tasty asset this year. But yeah, welcome Savs. really happy to have Savs and John on board as well. Ben: Welcome, James. Nice to have you, mate. Alex: Cool. So I I think we've got what? Four four left to go. So we'll quickly try and breeze through the rest of these. So CJ: Yeah, we'll get through, yeah. Alex: welcome Tom, Tom Alibone, and the last one of the of the Allianz contingent, very good fantasy player, won the Allianz fantasy league last year. I I reckon he was in the top he Ben: What's his overall rank though? It's blank there, mate. Alex: yeah, is blank. I think it was about three hundred thousand, two hundred thousand. So he was right up right Ben: Right. Oof. CJ: Strong. Alex: up in there. Good fantasy player, another Arsenal Arsenal fan. Ben: for God's sake. Alex: some of you might have played paddle with him already, like he's been part of the paddle group. So Jennings has met him and I think Rafaro's met him. So a few people and Andy Jackson's met him a couple of times. So he knows a few people in this league. he did pick Vinnie Jr. as his dark horse pick. That I think I think that was very bold in the anticipation that he was hoping Arsenal would sign Vinnie Jr., which has not happened. Ben: Arsenal fans getting a bit carried away there this summer, Alex: but a very bold, very bold. But yeah, welcome Tom. Ben: Machine Gun Skelly as well, that's a good good team name. Alex: Yeah, very much so. CJ: Yeah, I like that. Ben: Next up we got Taito! I hope I'm saying that right. Team name the document Alex: I thought it was T one. Ben: documentary. I like that. Documentary. Best rank? 1404. Alex: That's best ever though. That's not last year then. CJ: Not last year. Best ever rank, yeah. Alex: It it then says worst worst since playing seriously. Ben: Okay, but s worse since playing seriously. Last year was three hundred and fifty eight K. only top half male, don't worry about it. Dark horse pick again, it's the new Belgian winger, Zolis. second Belgian joining the ranks. Be careful, as last season was his worst rank. With his so his worst rank was 358k. Jesus. Alex: Ever. Ben: Ever. Bloody CJ: Sounds like it eases. Ben: hell. Very bad rank. He could, but he's not here to play darts. He's joining for a back to back victory, cruising through div two with some spankings and then head first to win div one. Be careful, he's ready. Bloody hell. Okay. So Taito. CJ: Love that. Love that. Ben: Taito's one to watch. Just like chilling. And just just doing really well, even though he's doing really bad. I don't get that. But okay, welcome Taito. Yeah. Looking forward to seeing you there. Looking forward to you CJ: I'm looking forward to seeing I'm looking forward to seeing Titan. I'm looking forward to seeing Titan. Ben: smashing Alex on the way to Div One. Alex: Perfect, thanks, Ben. right. CJ: Mm. Alex: Next next we're free to go is Pete, one of Balf's mates. Balf went very off topic here. We all sent a nice profile, but Balf decided to write a story. which is which is fine. He just wanted the limelight as per when we gave him when CJ: Yeah. Alex: we gave him admin rights in the WhatsApp group, which we'll never be doing again, by the way. Because he tried to change everything. Yeah, CJ: That was rogue from you, yeah, that's rogue. Alex: that was it was but it was I was being very trusting, Siege. I was being very trusting. But anyway, CJ: Mm-hmm. Alex: Pete. Manich United, the league just got serious upgrade in class and IQ, introducing Pete, longtime friend and colleague of Rafaro and Balf. Taking the reins after Rafaro's stellar run last year means Pete has a huge shoes to fill, but his tactical pedigree is second to none. A die harder United fan with old school FIFA roots. Pete combines classic instincts with calculating precision. He instantly raises the collective brain power of the league. And Manich CJ: Ha ha. Alex: United promises to run circles around the competition with pure class. Welcome to the league, Pete. We don't know what your fantasy history is like because Balf didn't give us any of that, but we are glad that you are in the league. Balf has reassured me that you're a top punk. Yeah. Ben: He's talking a big, big game, yeah. CJ: Talking Ben: div one or div two for CJ: a massive game, I loved that. Ben: Pete? CJ: Div two, I think, isn't he? Div two for Pete, is it? Yeah, yeah, div two. Alex: Sorry? Div two, he's in div two, yeah. Another another another Ben: Fifty. Alex: person in div two who clearly everyone in div two is better than everyone in div one, but hey, you know, that's just that's gonna be s yeah. Ben: Yeah. We might have done this the wrong way round, boys, but well. CJ: Nossa é Alex: Right, two to go, Siege. Your brother, the better of the hookers. CJ: Alright, moving on. My brother, yeah. So well, yeah. Ben: Yeah, let's go. Your brother's joining Rank Siege, that's awesome. CJ: My brother's joining. So welcome to my brother, my brother Alex. So Balf will definitely say this, but sometimes referred to as the more talented hooker, but this is yet to be officially decided in football and cricket. he did get back to back hundreds this year actually in cricket, which is something I've never done. So my dad was reminding me about that when I went back. Centre back centre back and captain for the mighty shot one and haze me. He's still one of the only stalwarts still playing in that team. But can he translate his dominant displays on the pitch to FPL head to head? We'll have to wait and see. He's very much a notorious sackeroffer. So Ben: Z CJ: I I did ask him as I was leaving this year. We needed a sort of we were looking to get one more player in, and he sort of was like, I don't know. And my mum was the one, like, go on, it'll be nice. It'll be nice for you and CJ to be in the Alex: Linda. Go on, Linda. CJ: It'd be nice for you. It'd be nice for you and CJ to be in the same league. I was yeah, cheers, mum. But but his yeah, his overall rank. So shout outs my mum for sorting that out. But his his Alex: We got a shout out to Siege's mum. L Linda Linda hook everyone. Ben: That's brilliant. Thank you, Clark. CJ: overall rank last year was three and a half mil, nearly three thousand just over three mil. But his team's match sells seashells. And his dark Ben: Nice. CJ: horse pick was again was Rayan. But he's gonna go into Dib Two. He's a very unknown entity, but hopefully he can stay engaged because when he is engaged, he's again Another one of the worst WhatsAppers in the history of the world. So we'll if Alex: He's been pretty good to me. CJ: he has been pretty engaged. So he's been pretty good to you. He he whatsapps me once every when I reply, he replies in like five days. So we'll see if he keeps we'll see if he keeps engaged. But looking forward to having him involved and we'll see he's get he does normally have some rogue picks. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does. Alex: What what I would say is there will be people we've mentioned a few people who struggle to stay engaged. That's something that this league we're very good at is keeping people engaged. CJ: Yeah. Alex: The only person we didn't keep engaged last year was Gazzy T because he lost interest after like seven weeks. But ever CJ: Yeah. Alex: ev even Jennings we keep engaged, right? And Jennings lives on the moon somewhere. So, you know, CJ: That's it. Alex: he's he's notorious for getting difficult to get hold of. right, one more to go, and I'm so glad this person is joining our league with no fantasy knowledge. Will Will joins us. I if you haven't met Will, he is the loveliest CJ: Legends. Alex: and funniest bloke you will ever meet. No offense to all the other newbies, but Will is definitely my favourite newbie. So Will's team name is Blatter Luck next time. Ben: Nice. Alex: his Dark Force pick CJ: Mm. Alex: was Mudric from Chelsea. Love it, go on, throw Ben: my god. Alex: it out there. He's back his knees, back from his suspension. Will now Will's FPL history may be lacking, but what he lacks in experience, he definitely makes up more for commitment and a slight arrogance. He did say he was gonna walk this league and be in div one in no time at all. CJ: Love it. Alex: and he's told me he wants you all to know that what is coming, that he has a two year plan to win the whole thing. So he is very much CJ: Love that. Ben: A two year plan. I like that. A project. Alex: fully committed. So I can't wait to have Will on the pod. Like that will be that will be a hilarious event, but CJ: So good. Great value. Alex: And we're also well looking for sponsorship. So if your cinema wants to sponsor us, you know where we are, Will. We know where we are. Right, shall we take a quick break before we come back and do div one? 'cause I feel like we've gone on for hours and haven't even had a break. I'm thirsty. Ben: Sounds good. Welcome chaps. Great to have you in the league. We'll be right back. Welcome back to FPL Rivals. We're just gonna round off this episode by taking a quick look at the divisions. So it's really difficult to say, isn't it, with all the newcomers, but who who have we got favourites for titles and playoffs for Div One and who have we got favourites for promotion in Div Two? Should we talk about that real Alex: So Ben: quick? Alex: yeah, so just just quickly remind everyone, so in div one we've got Mike who's a two time back to back champion, Jordan, who is a is a champion, and Lewis, who's also a champion. Ben, you're in there along with your fellow Geordie Matt. Nixie's also Ben: Mm-hmm. Alex: in there, loves a good playoff. Smithy's in there, Balf's in there, Trav, Rafaro, Connor, Dave, Harry Bicknall, Siege, Dassey, Steven, Andy Jackson and Finn rounds off div one. So looking at div one. Knowing the fact that Mike is back to back champion, I'm gonna jump straight back in this and say Mike is going for a three peat. And that even his name says that. His nickname his name of his team is three peat offender. So he's going. If Mike three peats, it will be that's history, boys. I I cannot cannot deny that. To Ben: Ha ha. Unbelievable. CJ: I love that. So good. Alex: go into this competition and win it three times in a row. He to me, he is definitely one of the favourites Ben: yeah. Alex: for for Div One. But if I had to pick someone else, I'm afraid. I can't look past it's gonna have to be Nixie. Surely this is Nixie's year. Surely he's CJ: Yeah. Nixie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alex: been so good the last two years and then falling at the first hurdle both times in the playoffs. surely he's gotta break break the playoff duck this year. But those would be my probably faves. What about you boys? Ben: Yeah, you can't look past Mike, so for any newbies in Div One, Mike Clements is the one to watch as he's won the playoffs two years in a row. He's something of a playoff expert, 'cause I don't think he didn't he finish in the league like around eighth it was only like sixth or sixth, yeah. Alex: I think he finished sixth in the end, yeah, fifth or sixth. No. CJ: Today. Ben: Where we were kind of like, is he gonna make the playoffs? Is he gonna make then he made them and absolutely smashed them. He left all his chips for the playoffs. Alex: But he went on a run, didn't he, at the end? Where he just we I think he won managed a month, two months in a row at the end, didn't he? Ben: Tactical master stroke, yeah. CJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He went on a mad one. Ben: So yeah, I think I think Mike is the clear, clear favourite. And then you've got the other boys who, you know, are very experienced for the playoffs now, like Peaks and Nixie and CJ, I think you'll have a good year this year. I really do. I think luck luck deserted you a little bit last year. Alex: Well it can't be as bad as last year. CJ: Cheers, mate. to be fair, just I j that's the only that's last year is the first year I didn't make the playoffs. So it was Ben: Yeah. CJ: a toxie turvy one last year, but we'll see. But yeah, f for me I think, yeah, Mike Mike was just an absolute the way he won that last year was unbelievable, to be fair to him. His point score at the end of the season was actually disgusting. Actually disgusting. But yeah, Nixie for me Yeah, Ben: I was still bitter about that, by the way, one point. CJ: horrendous. Nixie for me, like I think Thing with Nixie, he knows what he's doing head-to-head wise. I think that's what some lads, especially new lads in Div One, will find when they play Nixie and pi and people like Peaks. I'm still very much I'm looking at my overall points in the in the background, which I need to get rid of. Whereas those two are really sort of head-to-head sort of mindset, which is great. So I think Peaks is a dark horse. Trav is one of those sort of up and down. Alex: Yeah, and didn't didn't Nixie take the record of like a minus twenty eight or minus thirty eight or something last year. Yeah. CJ: To set himself up, exactly, yeah. Ben: Yeah. Nixie did take a minus thirty CJ: So I think Ben: two one week, yeah. CJ: so it's gonna be like I said, we're all saying the same sort of name. So it'll be interesting, I think. At the start you don't really know what's going on, but once you sort of get to sort of eighteen, nineteen, twenty games, the table really starts to sort of take its shape. We'll then start to know who's going. Alex: Wha what what about relegation candidate Siege? Who who's who are you looking at and going, they could go they could go down. Remember, four go down, Ben: good question Good question. CJ: Pfft. Good question. Good question. Alex: Siege. So I w I want four names of people that are going down. I want four. CJ: Four four names. Stuart Balfour. Stuart Balfour. Ben: Darcy. Alex: Go on, throwing it straight out there. Bold bold predictions. CJ: Stuart Balfour would absolutely love that. Would shut him up. Dassey Dassey I'm not sure. Dasy's one of those. I think he got a bit more sort of engagement last year, started to enjoy it. it's a tough one this. I think Trav could be in trouble this year. Trav got very lucky last year with his games, I think, where he was in the table. He he did not reflect where he should have been in terms of his point scoring. So I think he may be down there and maybe one of the newbies. I love to say Harry, my cousin. I cannot wait to see how he gets on. I cannot wait. So those four would be my thought. It will be Alex: Baptism of fire for the three newbies in Div One, isn't it? CJ: a baptism of fire. So I'm looking forward to that. But Trav, I think, is going to be found out this year for the first time. I actually met out with him for a beer just before I left England and he was crying about how hard it was to pick a team this year. With all these all these price rises and stuff like that. So it'll be interesting. Yeah, he was crying. Alex: He's already crying with his little mini hose. CJ: Yeah, I see it. so yeah. Alex: Ben, Ben, who's who's your four that's gonna go down? Ben: Dasy, Trav maybe me. I don't know why. I've just got an awful feeling about this season. I don't feel confident at all. And then fourth maybe Finn. Maybe Finn, if we can't keep him engaged he might go down like a sack of shit as well. Alex: Yeah, for me, I think Finn's just based on overall ranking, I think Finn Finn's gonna potentially find it tricky and div one, but hopefully he surprises Ben: Use Alex: us. I think at Andy Jackson is also in danger. How he survived last year to me is a miracle, because I thought he was shocking last year. Ben: He finished pretty strong, didn't he? Alex: yeah, tra Traver's CJ: He did finish strong. Alex: also another name. So all three of us have said Trav's going down. and I also actually think, right, I was gonna say it. But Ben's already said it for me. I actually think Ben might go down as well. I think he had CJ: Yeah. Alex: his thunder last year, he didn't make the most of it, he didn't win the title, and it's and looking at Newcastle, I think that's just gonna get in his head and it's gonna affect his team. And I I could see Ben: Yeah. Newcastle have gotten dismantled after, you know, a nice little cup run. Maybe the same thing's gonna happen to me. Alex: Come and join us in Div two then. Come down, come down to the party. Ben: Well, looking at some of the players in Div two, I'm not feeling great about that either. Although maybe they'll get promoted, I'll get relegated, I'll miss having to play so that's good. Alex: Yeah. So so the guys in div2 is myself after getting relegated last year, along with Trotty, Jennings, Farney, and Charlie. All of us got relegated last year. more than four because of how big the league was last year. So it's gone down. And then our newbies, we've got Greg, Jamie, Paul, Dilly, Mitch, Ryan, Ash, John, Tom, Will, Hadri, Pete, Savs, Al, and Taito or Tito, please let us know how you say that. We don't want to offend anyone. who we've got pick four to get promoted. Who wants to go first? CJ: Jeepus. Ben: That's so bloody hard 'cause a lot of you are all so unknown. CJ: Let's pick let's pick should we pick should we pick four together here? I'm gonna pick should we pick one each and then we'll have a rogue one. I'm gonna pick Ben: Okay. CJ: I'm gonna pick I think we're all gonna say it, but I'm gonna pick Greg. I think I really think Greg. I really think Greg Greg's Alex: What? You're gonna pick me. Ben: Greg straight up. CJ: my shout. What about you boys? Ben: this Taito bloke. Alex: Yeah, and Hadri, CJ: Yeah. Alex: I think all three Belgians are going up to T one. Ben: Yeah. We do have a strong Belgian contingent and I think they're gonna absolutely smash us this year. Alex: I also I also but I think it's so tight because we've got other people in there like I think Savs is gonna be obviously decent. it CJ: Yeah, Saves is decent. Saves is decent. Alex: is his job so he should be good at it. CJ: Yeah. Alex: I think I think Tom Alabone will be good at it. I think the difference is I think for some of these guys it's the difference of coming into head to head where I know our Belgian contingent have played head to head before, so they Ben: Mm. Alex: know they know how works, where CJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alex: we've got some of the our other newbies who will struggle. I if I'm honest, I think it's more funny looking at the people who could finish bottom after getting relegated. Cause I think people like Tom Jennings, Andy CJ: Yeah. Alex: Farmfield, and Ben: Charlie. Alex: and Charlie. to be fair, I think Charlie was CJ: Back to back relegations. Alex: slightly unlucky last year because he did okay points wise. He just CJ: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alex: he went on a terrible run in head to and then played some absolute mare decisions, didn't he? Didn't he captain some goalie? Yeah, that's it, yeah. But I actually Ben: Captain for Brog and Charlie Wilson. I'll never forget that. CJ: No, he was doing rogue stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Alex: think like It those were probably the four I think it's gonna be really tight to see that I think it's gonna be a fight to see who comes up. yeah, Dilly. I you could name a fair few in there. I think Ben: Yeah, I think Dilly's gonna do well. I mean, if he's top three hundred K. Yeah. CJ: Yeah. I'm really looking forward to see how that comes out. Yeah. Alex: if we're looking at who's gonna finish bottom, I if I'm totally honest, I think it's gonna be Tom Jennings. Ben: And f t Jennings, Farney or Charlie to finish bottom. You Yeah. You'll be alright, Alex, Alex: You think Charlie will finish bottom again? Two years in a row? CJ: Yeah. Ben: you'll be mid table. I think Charlie'll Charlie will struggle. Alex: No mate, I'm gonna win the league, boy. You don't even know. CJ: Ha ha. Ben: dear, dear. Alex: But yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be tight, I think, in div div two. There's as we said, there's a lot of good ranked players in there, so I think it's gonna be favour. But Ben Ben's called it here first. He thinks Charlie's gonna be building back to back trophies for the for the winner. and no, I think it's gonna be Ch surely Jennings cannot be so close to building the trophy two years in a row Ben: Yeah. Alex: and not have yet built the trophy. So I think it's CJ: The thing with Jennings, the thing with Jennings, the thing with Jennings, he actually went against his tinkering and did really well towards the end of the season. Don't think he made a transfer for like two months and he was just winning games so far. Which is hilarious. Alex: That's because he forgot. Ben: Yeah. Think he'd given up, mate. The reason he did well is 'cause he stopped tinkering, yeah. CJ: That's it, that's it. But Alex: Well what a treat. Well that is the end of that episode I would say. Now for those of you don't normally listen, that's not really normally how the episode goes. We've got we do a lot more like football chat in there, we'll do some fantasy chat, we'll talk about the league, but obviously because it's the first one we do a bit of a preview and then because Siege's on holiday, he can't be bothered to do the Thursday episode that we're gonna do that comes out on Friday. So me and Ben will be in charge of doing the fantasy episode on Thursday evening, which comes to you on Friday. I think in that episode, Ben, we're going to be looking right at our drafts, our week one drafts, our teams, Ben: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Alex: without giving too much away before we play head to head. CJ: That's it. Alex: and then we'll also be looking at some of the our dark horses for fantasy players of the year and actually how how challenging it has been really to pick a team in fantasy this year, given everything that's gone on CJ: Absolutely. Alex: with the World Cup. And the transfer window and lots of managerial changes. So there'll be there's a lot to come. we've got so much more to share with you all as the season goes on. There's some way more exciting things to come. This is just the start of what we're going to bring you. Ben is going to be testing his writing skills. I won't give too much away there, but Ben is going to be Ben is Ben is now going to be the FPL Rivals CJ: But it's not gonna be the FDO. Alex: head correspondent. as we Ben: Yes. Head journalist. Alex: a journalist as we head head into the season. Siege will be our fantasy expert and then that just leaves me as the as Ben: Non league correspondent. Alex: the non correspondent CJ: Ha ha. Ben: I do have one question actually that some of the guys might have, and I don't actually know the answer, maybe you boys do. When are the fixtures released? When do we know who we're playing? CJ: Ooh, Alex: Deadline. Soon as the deadline CJ: good question. Alex: goes. Ben: Soon as the deadline goes on fr Thursday. Yeah. Alex: So the first game's Friday night, so I think the the d actual deadline is six o'clock on Friday. so I'd CJ: think six o'clock or six thirty, yeah, I think it is, yeah. Alex: expect that probably an hour after that we'll have all our fixtures for the season. Yeah. CJ: Yeah, six thirty. Six thirty Friday, yeah. Alex: So I expect yeah, about about roughly about an hour after that. unless unless we know that Greg's got some inside loop on if he can dig out the fixes. Greg, let's know. Ben: Yeah, he might know through his API d URL geodomain CJ: Mm-hmm. Ben: whatever. CJ: That's it. Alex: Yeah. Brilliant. Well, Siege, enjoy the rest of your holiday. get learn some Spanish Ben: Yes, mate, thanks for joining us. CJ: Thanks, Jeffs. Pleasure. Alex: so you can speak to the speak about Real Betis. Ben: Hola Batisse. CJ: That's it. That's it. Alex: Don't just walk around going, Ha Joachim! Hector Bellardine, yeah. Ben: Great to be back boys we will see you very soon and enjoy the season. Alex: Cheers. Ben: may the fancy CJ: See ya. Ben: gods be with you all Baba Alex: you did it. Well done.