Its so frustrating that the telegraph have wasted all our time by asking for our suggestions, which so many have contributed to with top ideas that would SAVE THE TELEGRAPH TIME AND MONEY as they wouldnt have to use any of their narrow minded corporate brains, just to string us along and announce that the game isn't running due to a decline in numbers.....

Have you not considered why there has been a decline in entrants? Have you heard or marketing/advertising/promotion? Heres a quick rundown of how it works..... You have a product/service that you wish people to use. You tell someone about via advertising (in something like a newspaper for example) 1 person signs up, they then tell their friends who tell their friends and before you know it you receive money. Basic version I know but the key elements are there.

Telegraph could have kept this game running very easily with most of the improvements grabbed from this forum. The vast majority of comments on here represent not just 1 entrant but multiple entrants in mini leagues. I bring between 10-20 people a season in a mini-league, adding money to the telegraph. So thats £100-£200 that wont be making its way to telegraph HQ. A very big own goal and such a shame we dont have someone running TFFO with some common sense.

Very disappointing, but not surprising.

All of a sudden this is going to be a very boring season FF-wise. TFF is alright, but it's dull in comparison to TFFO. I'll play this season as I have a load of free credits from the World Cup game, but after that I'll probably sack it off.

More than happy to join the group in giving OFL a go (cheers for the pointer by the way, Vid), hopefully most of us will migrate to there

Ironically I was about to say welcome to our "soon to be obsolete" forum MikkyT and then I read his previous post


Kind of sums it all up for me really.

Needless to say I am absolutely gutted by the loss of TFFO - and not just for the obvious reasons - an absolute travisty

After nearly 2 decades of running fantasy sport games you would think that the telegraph would have their fingers on the pulse - sadly the complete opposite is true - they are absolutely clueless

Four of the options that were considered… I mean 'reconsidered'… strike me as PR fluff after the fact…
Gutted

Time to take my custom elsewhere as I will not be playing TFF due to the pathetic prize pool on offer and I hope other folk do likewise as quite clearly the Telegraph are simply attempting to make as much money for as little outlay as possible hence the decision not to run TFFO

GUTTED.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=136470296375425

I remain extremely perplexed as to why on the 24th May Tele posted an invitation to Fiso users to express their views on areas where TFFO could be changed/improved for the 2010/2011 season and yet just 6 to 7 weeks further on are telling us that due to declining numbers in recent seasons it is no longer viable to continue running the game. Surely by 24th May they would have known all the figures from the 2009-2010 season and if there were any concerns at that point then why even persue the possibility/probability of running it for 2010/2011 and involve FIso posters in wasting their time contributing ideas ( ultimately worthless and completely lgnored) towards areas that could be improved???

What has happened to change matters so drastically in those intervening 6 to 7 weeks? Did Tele not make the money they hoped for out of their World Cup competition? Has there been a recent change at the helm with a change of attitude towards the TFFO game? Do they hope and indeed anticipate that just running the one game (TFF) will greatly increase the entrants to that game?

As I said, if it was a case of the game no longer being viable for Tele to run then that case should surely have been known to them by May 24th so why have they taking us through 6 - 7 weeks of expectancy before finally swinging the axe on what is obviously considered by many to be absolutely the best fantasy football game around?. I really do hope that their somewhat belated and I believe short-sighted decision to get rid of TFFO comes back to haunt them.

I think the BBC axed 6 Music (or whatever it's called), then brought it back because people clearly wanted it. Not expecting the same here though.

I too am migrating to OFL. I had a 10 min look round the site yesterday. I don't pretend to have it all worked out, but basically you have a squad of 16 and 25 transfers for the season. You select a team for a "game block" (aka flange). No more than 5 transfers in any one month, and no more than 2 players from any one team. £10k prize, running down to £250 for 4-10th. Plenty of MOTM and MOTW interest, and also appears that, depending on where you stand at the relevant point of the season, you get automatically entered into a European competition which is in divisions. The usual scope for superleagues etc. I can live with all that. What I haven't done is look at player prices yet to see how tight the budget is.

Things that don't look so good are: no star man / captain, which will bunch the scores up I imagine. Also, 3 points for a goal, 2 for an assist - ie insufficient differentiation in my book. It also appears, bizarrely, that only defenders get a point for an appearance. And no major penalties for red and yellow cards. All in all I think this will mean less movement up and down the league and tightly bunched scoring, though I may be wrong.

Moving over to the OFL forum now, which I hope will be reasonably active (at least while those of us who are migrating work out how to play the game!) THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE MADE THIS FORUM SO FRIENDLY AND INTERESTING. WE'LL MEET AGAIN, DON'T KNOW WHERE, DON'T KNOW WHEN...

Never will buy the Telegraph again when in England


Any chance we could play the ISO game on OFL
Or another platform

Properly gutted about this, and makes no sense at all. Why have the best ff game out there and then run it into the ground? It won't ever get the same playing numbers as TFF as its more time consuming to play, but that's what I like about it! It seems like its considered hassle to run, which I also don't understand as surely they use the same database as tff? I just don't get it, and am most disappointed! Please bring it back next year, early and with advertising!

Oh yeah, TFFootball - if you do develop and bring it back better than before, don't forget to tell us, because we might not know otherwise. May mean an advert, in a newspaper or whatever...

Indeed you are.
The league table is just as volatile. The principal difference in the scoring is that there is far more emphasis on rewarding performance rather than appearance. So weekly scores are much lower (typically 0-20 rather than TFFO 40?-80?) but relative scores make it just as volatile.
Once you have got used to it all it is just as rewarding as TFFO and the website is better designed and the game better organised with more variation.
The budget is tighter so don't expect too many star players in your squad but the challenge of finding gems from the lesser clubs makes it rewarding when you succeed.
The game certainly isnt perfect but if you want a squad game it does the job very well.

Posted on the ISO thread that (if run) the Metro game might also be of interest to TFFOers. Has it's own strengths and weaknesses of course, but some aspects are closer to TFFO than others. Free game with a decent prize pot with a max 5 entries/ manager. Probably both worth a look for homeless TFFOers for this season.

Oddsman, like you say it sums it all up from my comment in July 09 through to my comment in July 10. The same problems that were eveident in 2009 are the same now and we are left without our game. Despite all the good ideas & contributions and shear disappoinment with the way the telegraph has dealt with the whole TFFO game over the past couple of years they clearly dont care or listen to the people who matter most about the game.

I very much doubt we will hear from them again on this matter. Are there any other alternatives that play at least half as well as the TFFO game did?

what a nightmare.

I couldn't post yesterday as my post would have been deleted due to carrying too many expletives
To come on this site, pretend to be a friend and then shaft us is despicable, judas You knew about this all along and don't think that we can't smell a rat. I've joined OFL as well, so stuff you, your game and your paper- and I've been with you for nearly 50 years

Anyone got the link to ofl squad game ? Cheers

Thanks I have just had a look and looks good so buy buy TFFO and Hello OFL

No TFFO AND NO CHAMPIONSHIP

Have to say I am really disappointed that they pulled the game due to low numbers which were a direct result of them not marketing the game properly. Does anyone know of any other ff games that have the multi kick-off style squad selections? It seems most other games involve setting a side for the entire week with one star player which isn't that appealing.

First I'd like to thank everyone on here for making this the best forum on FISO for many years. Second I strongly encourage you to play OFL and get together on FISO"s OFL site. Yes, TFFO is the best FF game on the market, but life must go on.

Gutted.

It really was the best game out there but the suicidal mismanagement by 'the Telegraph' over the years is the only thing to blame. The punters were there, you just pushed them away.

Last season's website was adequately functional in the end and the points etc were all just sucked in from TFF (we could even have lived with only 1 defender category if that helped) so why couldn't it just have started up again with a reduced prize fund? Seems dumb with the amount of unwanted, unasked for games we continually keep getting shoved at us on the website.

Not happy.

So, after 5 seasons of 'will they, won't they' debate, the inevitable has now happened. What a shame that the best FF game out there has been systematically dismantled by a series of incompetent & pretty brainless decisions by the Telegraph.

I'm convinced that someone with half a clue would be able to turn a healthy profit on this one if they put their mind (and the backing of the highest circulation daily broadsheet) to it. It ain't rocket science.

But alas, if there is no will, there is no way. RIP TFFO . Some great times and great debates with the TFFO alumni on FISO over the last 5 or 6 years, which will be sadly missed. I'll look back fondly on a few good seasons in finishing in the top 10 or 20, just memories now though!

Anyway, not to get too maudlin, I will be playing FPL & the Times Squad game this year.

What can I say? What can you expect from the Telegraph?
Clever lawyers and other very strange people have run this game..........
and ruined it themselves, it wasn't us

Unfortunately I already bought a few TFF teams, should have known better really

Always liked TFFO. Even if you we're far down the league, a few good stars and you coul pop right back up re: defoes 4 goals last year.
Reasons for downfall.

1) It was too expensive compared to tff, and so put people off for the amount they could win.
2) It was not advertised enough, indeed i did not know about it for first season until i joined fiso.

Not impressed, have played TFFO for years, probably ten?!

The best game out there, once thriving with numbers. Ruined when they started playing with the format (remember the year when European games counted as well??!! ) and insisted on keeping the entry fee at a level that put many off.

See you all on the other side, wherever that may be - along with my mini-league of 10+ hardy ex-TFFOers.

A FISO lurker!

Just come back from a week's holiday & read the inevitable posting from the Telegraph - Can only say that this is a total disgrace - It's the main game that I have played for many seasons & am gutted at their lack of maturity & honesty on this one - As many have said, why bother to ask us about it the end of may if the telegrapgh had no intention of putting this live this season? You have let a lot of people down - Not that it probably bothers you though!
I can't say I have ever played a more enjoyable game & this is a real let down.

I have to say, on a lighter note, I loved your post Art Vandelay - Genius & very honest.

Not likely to play the TFF game now out of principle, when I have more time I will look into the other games that the fellow TFFO 'ers have mentioned.

I think a big problem for the Telegraph games last year was not allowing players who lived outside of the UK to play, this lost alot of previous motivated and die hard players. So let anyone have a go this year...

What can I say. I've only just seen this. What a way to piss off your most loyal website users/customers.

I've never played TFFO, but as an OFL loyalist I was always jealous at how busy and popular these forums are.

Come and join us instead.

I don't play for prize money (just beating my mates in our Friends & Enemies) league and if that is what you're after then it's a really good game.

The only bad thing is website problems, but I'm assured they are fixed, and the dead forums over here.

Hope that changes!