Pro Managers Musings
Highlights, lowlights and downright rants about the joy (and agony) of playing Pro
Let us know your stories...
"This will be the eighteenth consecutive season for the Grosvenor Fantasy League.
I've had the open top bus on standby every year since 1996 only for that forlorn
phonecall to be made every April saying they are not needed again - but not to worry
next year for sure."
"Great fun meeting up with the boys for an auction over beers
but paying 9 million for Huth was ridiculous!"
"Our league has been playing for 18 seasons and our auction nights are held in a pub in London.
In 2003 I moved to New Zealand and have continued to take part in auction night, albeit having
to get up at 4:30am for the start of the auction in London ... Every year the guys arrange
for someone to take my phone calls and my auction bids .. some four hours later the
auction concludes - me having enjoyed my breakfast & a coffee and the guys having
enjoyed a pie & chips and plenty of beer. The auction night is the highlight of
the year and a great way to start the football season."
"Why did I buy Shearer the day he broke his leg?"
"I always enjoy desperate managers trying to swap players for free pints of beer."
"We always go away for a lads week for the auction. Catch up with friends dotted about
the UK and beyond, great food, lots of golf and drinking with the Saturday night auction
being the highlight."
"The Phifa League (est. 1992) currently have FOUR 2nd generation managers playing in
the same league as their dads."
"Aquilani, Arshavin ... catastrophic. Must be a pattern with players with a
surname that starts with an 'A'."
"We usually do the auction online as many of the guys are away on holiday - I remember
once as chairman having to get a taxi to a local Internet cafe to process the all
important round one. Great fun each season!"
"One we all laugh about was when one manager was determined to obtain PL Casiraghi,
not knowing his career had ended in injury the night before the auction."
"The manager that bought Jaap Stam before Fergie binned him still gets some stick."
"I moved to the US in 1999 and every year since (except two) I have travelled to London for
our in person auction night."
"One of our funniest moments was when a husband and wife team went in big with a £10m
bid for Keane. They got him as no-one could understand why they had bid £10m for Roy
Keane. Turns out they thought they were bidding for Robbie Keane!"
"One manager paid £26m for Michael Owen on the Sunday and he went
to Real Madrid on the Monday!"
"Will Ali Deia be in the pot this year?"
"From my league many many years ago – a player loan deal return between two managers in return
for setting up a date with a girl he was interested in."
"From a story I once heard from one of our leagues - A newlywed on honeymoon sloping off to
make a call from the US to make his team changes and his wife becoming very suspicious."
"We at Series Wasters have completed 19 seasons and incredibly, and possibly sadly, every season
just seems to have become more important notwithstanding (perhaps because of) the
accumulation of responsibilities that come with moving from 22 to 41."
"We have a special trophy for the team that finishes just below half way down the table called
the "Natgoodnough" trophy."
"For me, the auction element of Fantasy League is the the highlight of taking part - the
meticulous planning and adrenaline rush waiting for the successful bids to come in is brilliant.
Every year that I've taken part, there's always a quality player landed on a free in the first
round - this year it was Wayne Rooney. Then there's the gem that someone takes a punt on, the regrets
of dropping a player early on to be picked up by a rival manger - the excitement is spread throughout
the whole season."
"Adam "Frank the Tank" Tillman purchased 3 Brazil players in the World cup auction-after wild celebrations
including a few shirts swinging over head moments. Frank the Tank made a heartfelt plea - claiming
that friendship is stronger than rivalry and that his summer would be ruined. Needless
to say he has never recovered fully and is still the one to watch at auctions!"
"£10.5m for Steve Morrison for the last 3 months of the 2011/12 season, Nuff said!"
"There was a time when a manager went on holiday on auction day and put his trust
in his twin brother to buy his targets for him. He spent £21.5m on Ian Harte and
needless to say finished bottom. The jokes are already going round speculating how
much he'll spend on Harte this summer!"
"Auction is what it is all about and everyone who takes part loves it but nobody in the
outside world really knows about it."
"Buying Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing as my 2 big money buys!! They combined
to hit the post/bar about 5-6 times."
"Everyone psyched each other out about Rooney and nobody bid on him in the first round, which means he
could have been picked up for nothing! He went for £340m in the next round ...."
"The real beauty is that the essence of the game itself has not changed. The thrill, the sense of
achievement, the satisfaction you get when you see or hear YOUR striker not Man U's or Chelsea's
has scored earning YOU 3 valuable points - has not diminished or tarnished one little
bit in all those years - and I hope never will."
If you have any stories you'd like to share, please get in touch at
prosupport@fantasyleague.com.