Death of a Chairman

Post by **wabu** » 14 Jul 2006, 15:50

Bad news dudes, I emailed the fantasy league people to see if it is on next year and they said they wouldn't be running fantasy chairman next year and that they wouldn't run any game with the guardian.

Gutted. All the other fantasy games are rubbish compared to fantasy chairman which gives you more control of your own destiny.

I don't know what to do with myself now, I was well addicted. I guess it was too much hassle updating the scores every day. Its a shame and will be missed.

Post by **C.Sativa** » 14 Jul 2006, 15:55

Damn.That's a bad news.I was expecting this tou.They never promote and it's only 1 month left to Premier.
Very dissappointing

Post by **quizking** » 14 Jul 2006, 16:39

my favourite game. will be sorely missed.

Post by **Doogal** » 14 Jul 2006, 20:57

Me too. And I was the convenor of the Guardian forum on here, so I'm out of a job.

Damn shame, I thought this was the future of fantasy games. Ten years ahead of its time? Guess I'll have to do something static like TFF.
Where's Mr Green? Would be interested to hear the reason.

Post by **Steph** » 14 Jul 2006, 21:28

What a shame

Post by **mongoose** » 14 Jul 2006, 21:44

Most disappointed

Post by **gynchie** » 14 Jul 2006, 22:34

Another one totally gutted here. I think the Guardian owes us an explanation for abandonment after coming up with an original and radically exciting game ... or is it that the game might be taken up by someone else? Red Pepper, perhaps.

Post by **wabu** » 14 Jul 2006, 23:17

gynchie wrote:Another one totally gutted here. I think the Guardian owes us an explanation for abandonment after coming up with an original and radically exciting game ... or is it that the game might be taken up by someone else? Red Pepper, perhaps.

No, they said it wouldn't be running FULL STOP and sorry for the dissapointment, no explanation why though. They gave me a link to the other 'exciting' games at www.fantasyleague.com they all suck compared to fantasy chairman, it was perfection!

Post by **gynchie** » 14 Jul 2006, 23:26

I was looking at the fantasy premierleague but it isn't a patch on the Grauniad game: the player values change but they don't even try to explain how. At least it is free.

Any other ideas about where addicts can get their fix?

Post by **bspittles** » 15 Jul 2006, 07:44

The yahoo game used to have variable pricing, not sure if that's still the case.

Post by **Steph** » 15 Jul 2006, 15:14

I was speechless for the last day. Anyway, I think we should try to change the guardian's mind!

I have emailed fantasy chairman a letter asking why this game has been discontinued, and whether they would reconsider, or if it is too late for 06/07, then at least use the next year to think about how to make the game attractive enough to relaunch the following season.

My main suggestion was that people should be able to specify transfers in advance to take effect at a certain time in the future. This would mean that those without free time/computer spare on a monday morning would not be at a disadvantage, avoid log-in hell at 10.30 monday morning, and I expect more people would be interested and remain interested in the game.

I would suggest we try to get as many people to email the guardian with our views and suggestions. Perhaps if there is enough interest, they will have a change of heart.

Good luck all.

Post by **C.Sativa** » 15 Jul 2006, 15:44

It's only 1 month to go.Too late for any changes I guess.

Post by **Steph** » 15 Jul 2006, 16:32

I just think that we should try to be as encouraging about the game as possible in order to get them to change their minds - with or without changes!

Post by **C.Sativa** » 15 Jul 2006, 16:45

spjwsmc wrote:I just think that we should try to be as encouraging about the game as possible in order to get them to change their minds - with or without changes!

Yes,I guess we can at least e-mail them to show our disappointments.

Post by **Demo** » 15 Jul 2006, 22:34

Gutted. It was also the only game I had any reasonable success with

Post by **bionika** » 17 Jul 2006, 15:19

Woah! Terrible news!!

I only played this for the first time last year and got completely hooked on it.

I thought it was loads better then TTF.

Monday mornings will never be the same again!

Shame...

Post by **The Bear** » 17 Jul 2006, 15:25

Good ridance !

Post by **Mr Green** » 18 Jul 2006, 11:38

Unfortunately, it was purely the decision of The Guardian to pull the plug on Fantasy Chairman after two action-packed seasons, and following the more traditional World Cup game, have opted out of running a game for the coming Premiership season.

It's fair to say that the reaction to the game was a bit like Marmite - you either love it (the vast majority of posts on this forum) or hate it (Bruce Baer) - but despite a number of hardcore fans, the amount of game management required to succeed in the game probably put a fair number of people off playing.

In Games Management terms, this was the most exciting, but also the most difficult game to manage due to the continuous nature of the game and the fact that every minute played and every trade counted for something.

Obviously, we (Fantasy League) now have the trading mechanism set up, so it is not out of the question that we will return to run such a game off our own back or with another client, to run alongside our more traditional games in future seasons....

Would people be interested in still paying, say, a fiver for the Fantasy Chairman format, but for a slightly smaller prize pool than The Guardian had to offer?

Post by **quizking** » 18 Jul 2006, 12:10

absolutely (not too much of a smaller pot though) - though i'm thinking there might be some mileage in looking at other backers, maybe a bit more highbrow than for other fantasy games. in terms of press, first thoughts would be independent, economist, ft. or maybe when saturday comes, gq. non-printed media - could be anyone. looks like sky might be going with fanball again, and eurosport already run a stock market based game, so there's certainly a demand for something like this. any fans of the game with clout in pr matters - get on to your phones now!

Post by **C.Sativa** » 18 Jul 2006, 12:17

I would play,I even saved some money for this 1.

I was thinking around 20 teams.

Post by **dead parrot** » 18 Jul 2006, 13:08

I didn't play last year (5 teams in year 1) but was planning to do so this year.

One of the deciding factors last year was the absence of the promised advance trading facility to avoid the mad rush monday morning. Without such a feature I would enter far fewer teams. With it, I would likely enter about 10 teams assuming the game was otherwise ok.

Post by **Steph** » 18 Jul 2006, 13:15

Mr Green wrote:Unfortunately, it was purely the decision of The Guardian to pull the plug on Fantasy Chairman after two action-packed seasons, and following the more traditional World Cup game, have opted out of running a game for the coming Premiership season.

It's fair to say that the reaction to the game was a bit like Marmite - you either love it (the vast majority of posts on this forum) or hate it (Bruce Baer) - but despite a number of hardcore fans, the amount of game management required to succeed in the game probably put a fair number of people off playing.

In Games Management terms, this was the most exciting, but also the most difficult game to manage due to the continuous nature of the game and the fact that every minute played and every trade counted for something.

Obviously, we (Fantasy League) now have the trading mechanism set up, so it is not out of the question that we will return to run such a game off our own back or with another client, to run alongside our more traditional games in future seasons....

Would people be interested in still paying, say, a fiver for the Fantasy Chairman format, but for a slightly smaller prize pool than The Guardian had to offer?

Yippee!! A glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel!

As you can guess from my previous posts, I would definitely be playing in a new Fantasy Chairman competition. Like C. Sativa, I was planning to enter a fair few teams (season and monthlies). Last season was my first go, and I had high hopes (no pun intended Sativa!) for doing well this year.

I would be fine with a smaller prize pool, if no new backers could be found. Even a total prize pool of 5-10k for the number of players this game has is still much better value for money than say TFF, where the chances of winning anything seem pretty minute. However, I do think the idea of attracting backers from one of the media that quizking mentioned is a great idea.

How quickly could the game be relaunched? Any hope for this season?!

If you are seriously thinking of doing this, and are planning any tinkering with the game, I am sure there are many of us who would love to give you constructive comments and ideas.

Finally, thanks for responding, and a big thank you Mr. Green for all your hard work last season.

Post by **bionika** » 18 Jul 2006, 17:52

I'd definitely pay a fiver for it.

As long as you had some half decent monthly prizes and maybe 3 or 4 fairly big overall prizes I still think this game would draw quite a few players.

Bring it back!

Post by **C.Sativa** » 18 Jul 2006, 18:16

spjwsmc wrote:
How quickly could the game be relaunched? Any hope for this season?!

Love this optimism

Actually i was thinking,It can't be that bad financially.Ok,Guardian doesn't make a fortune but I don't think they would be a minus if prices slightly reduced.
Worst scenario; 6000 entries X £ 5= £ 30.000
Is that really cost too much to run FF game?
Or I'm just thinking very simple as I haven't got a clue on management and financial side

And spjwsmc(man,difficult to write this name

) had a good point.
Odds of wining this 1 is a lot easier than TFF anyway.

Last thing:
Mr Green,
Why don't you run this as OFL game.(I guess newspaper helps on promoting the game)

Post by **Demo** » 19 Jul 2006, 11:36

Mr Green wrote: Would people be interested in still paying, say, a fiver for the Fantasy Chairman format, but for a slightly smaller prize pool than The Guardian had to offer?

Most definitely

Post by **mongoose** » 19 Jul 2006, 21:39

Definitely!

Post by **gynchie** » 19 Jul 2006, 22:17

Mr Green wrote: Would people be interested in still paying, say, a fiver for the Fantasy Chairman format, but for a slightly smaller prize pool than The Guardian had to offer?

Another definite. The split season worked nicely last year too, I thought.

The more managers in the merrier - the market element thrives on extra managers

Post by **quizking** » 19 Jul 2006, 23:42

...... and, most importantly for this sort of game, the more managers there are, the less one individual with multiple teams can influence values.

Post by **wabu** » 20 Jul 2006, 12:58

Yes I would certainly play fantasy chairman, whatever the prize as I love it! I know dozens of people who are gutted its been cancelled, and would all play if it was on offer from somewhere else.

C'mon, bring it back

Post by **nitcoot** » 20 Jul 2006, 13:01

Put me out of my misery, bring it back! Fantasy Chairman is the best.

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Death of a Chairman

Death of a Chairman