Sandor kovacs

[t.gridley]

I see everybody's favourite fantasy manager is top of the Telegraph and 16th in the sun.


He has obviously entered shed loads of team in TFF but I wonder if he has stuck to thr ten team limit in the sun.

Other people such as Zoran Furlan have mult entered over the years and have earnt a grudging respect from some.

I am not feeling any love for Kovacs.

[murf]

He has at least 40 Leicester blocks in TFF for example (from the Wooden Spoon league - 40 is how many he had with no outfield players getting points).

Not sure he merits any 'love'.....

[Latic]

The guy is boil on the face of fantasy football. I wish he would just stop ruining it for everyone else.

If he wins, no one will be happy for him. Can't see how any real pleasure could be gained as it's hardly an achievement if he wins anything.
Given the vast amounts of time and money spent, his hourly earning rate (if any some seasons) must be small. Would be better off working overtime in a real job. Having said that, dunno what his personal circumstances are.

[t.gridley]

I was being somewhat sarcastic, no problem with mega entering in the Telegraph even though it is rather pathetic.

What does concern me though is if he has mult entered in the sun when there is a ten team limit.

Imagine if he beat you into second place when he has cheated?

[Striker]

I was being somewhat sarcastic, no problem with mega entering in the Telegraph even though it is rather pathetic.

What does concern me though is if he has mult entered in the sun when there is a ten team limit.

Imagine if he beat you into second place when he has cheated?

Totally agree! The problem isn't multi entering, but flaunting the rules. If I, or I guess many other Fiso-ites, were to finish second to him in Dreamteam we'd go into Sherlock Holmes mode and look for conclusive evidence, hopefully with the assistance of someone with the right skills such as jpk. We'd then present a strong case to the Sun. So Sandor finishing top at the end of the season wouldn't be the end of it.

Although I agree with much of Latic's second paragraph, I strongly disagree with his initial generalisation that Sandor is a boil on the face of fantasy football and is ruining it for everyone else. He's welcome to boost the coffers of games which allow large multis to compete, thereby boosting the probability that they will continue to run their games. He's in no way spoiling TFF for me. I don't care if I'm competing against 250,000 other managers or against 250,000 Sandor teams.

Furthermore although I'd despise him if he's entered bucket loads of teams in the Sun, I'd also regard anyone else who has entered more than 10 teams as a "fantasy criminal". Rules are rules! Admittedly the latter would be more akin to a pickpocket whereas a large multi is more of a ramraider. But anyone who only picks my pocket still p*sses me off.

[t.gridley]

100 per cent accurate David, I agree with your statement about less being more sometimes, far better to cherish and nurture a handful of teams with love and care rather that enter hundreds of teams with a thousand darts thrown at the bullseye approach.

Hard to understand the guys aims as he is hardly going to end up much in profit unless he wins the whole thing.

I enjoy football far more due to FF but were I to enter that amount of teams with a block defence of every team, the handling and management would take away any enjoyment.

The possible or probable cheating in the sun is another matter altogether though.

[Darbyand]

Said it before, still not sure how he manages to react across so many teams to late team news/staggered fixtures etc which is now a big part of TFF. Could you devise automatic software to make the changes for you?? If that kind of thing stopped him winning it last year that would be heartening news.

[murf]

TFF put their prices up this year but that hasn't put him off.

He must enjoy the challenge of it because it it just isn't financially viable as an investment/job.

I am assuming he is British based (to be TFF eligible) and can earn minimum wage somewhere!

[t.gridley]

Hard to think that he is just entering the 10 teams in the sun though his team in the top 20 is down in his name.

Maybe he has entered under his own name but used different email,accounts and the sun has not realised it yet.

What he is doing in the Telegraph though is managing by numbers. He enters numerous block defence teams knowing full well that some will hit.

Hard to fathom his motivation though as it can hardly be worth it cash wise.

[t.gridley]

100 per cent accurate David, I agree with your statement about less being more sometimes, far better to cherish and nurture a handful of teams with love and care rather than enter hundreds of teams with a thousand darts thrown at the bullseye approach.

Hard to understand the guys aims as he is hardly going to end up much in profit unless he wins the whole thing.

I enjoy football far more due to FF but were I to enter that amount of teams with a block defence of every team, the handling and management would take away any enjoyment.

The possible or probable cheating in the sun is another matter altogether though.

[t.gridley]

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[Yorkshire Exile]

I agree that it is frustrating in tff.... But as a moderate entrant with ca 25 (although around 10 of these are playing side games with differing rules) teams year I am still confident I can provide a periodic run for his money and return a bigger ROI than him..... But more importantly enjoy the craic and banter of doing it. One year I entered about 60 teams and it just became a chore. I guess to some my 25 teams is spoiling it though and I can accept that viewpoint.

In the sun and sky however there are team limits and I agree with striker re pickpockets and ram raiders. The hypocrisy here is staggering given some on here have or are playing wives / girlfriends/ gerbils teams.

[t.gridley]

I can state hand on heart that I for one am playing by the rules, 2 in sky, 10 in the sun and 17 in TFF.

As I stated, I have no problem with people who are playing by the rules even if they have entered 1000s of teams though i agree that it is frustrating.

I just hope that the sun and sky are robust in checking that people are playing by the rules before any winning payouts, something that they have not always done.

[Aardvark]

I had 30 teams in TFF last season and trying to keep on top of them just became a chore so I gave up on them all in January although some teams still had 25+ transfers left. Got a more modest 12 this season and it's much more enjoyable playing the game.

[Yorkshire Exile]

I can state hand on heart that I for one am playing by the rules, 2 in sky, 10 in the sun and 17 in TFF.

As I stated, I have no problem with people who are playing by the rules even if they have entered 1000s of teams though i agree that it is frustrating.

I just hope that the sun and sky are robust in checking that people are playing by the rules before any winning payouts, something that they have not always done.

my comment was not directed your way... It would be easy for me to get away with I suspect as me and our lass not married - but trying to coach her to be a convincing fantasy football manager if ever challenged would be impossible . low level cheating I liken to diving for a penalty - you might well win the game - but half the people think you are a cheating tw@

[bloggie]

It doesn't look like he's multiteaming sdt looking at that one team and not much with his signature surrounding it.

[Beerfuelledman]

Bemoaning Multi teamers is one thing, but what happens when the competition specifiying the rules that only one team is allowed (FPL - "In the interest of fair play each person may only enter one team. You may enter this team in multiple leagues and compete against different groups of friends.") and you can clearly prove that a person is not only running 3 teams, but posting the transfers for each of these teams on Twitter for all to see and when you bring it to the organisers attention you are flat out resoundingly ignored and no action taken whatsoever?

[bloggie]

Bemoaning Multi teamers is one thing, but what happens when the competition specifiying the rules that only one team is allowed (FPL - "In the interest of fair play each person may only enter one team. You may enter this team in multiple leagues and compete against different groups of friends.") and you can clearly prove that a person is not only running 3 teams, but posting the transfers for each of these teams on Twitter for all to see and when you bring it to the organisers attention you are flat out resoundingly ignored and no action taken whatsoever?

Probably too much admin for them but you're right and there must be thousands of duplicate teams worldwide as has been shown in examples albeit a limited prize on offer.

[primitive man]

If the leaderboards have beem updated I think my first ever weekly attempt won and looks like Sandor Kovas finished second.
Can anyone say that the weekly leaderboard has been updated?

[murf]

If your talking about TFF and have 110 points then, yes. Well played.

[Latic]

Well done to notSandor

[primitive man]

Woo -hoo!

Had no one playing today so wasnyt sure that leaderboards were updated. Am used to checking the cricket scores and they can be updated anytime!

[t.gridley]

Well done primative man, anybody but Sandor.

[primitive man]

Cheers murf, latic and t.gridley thanks for good wishes!

[gutshot]

Cheers murf, latic and t.gridley thanks for good wishes!

Well done buddy

[The Dragon]

http://youthemanager.blogspot.co.uk/200 ... ovacs.html

An old interview with him

[Ayns]

I would love someone with a background in Statistics to chip in here, (Andy Luckhurst for example), but it seems to me that entering a massively large number of teams disproportionately increases your chances of winning.

For example if "someone" was to enter, say, 2,000 teams or circa 1% of total entries, they appear to me to have a significantly higher probability of winning the overall prize, maybe 50% or higher? I'm not statistically knowledgeable enough to be able to substantiate this, but could it be related to the likelihood that a lot of the other 99% of entrants will have entered identical or extremely similar teams, whereas the mega multi entrant can cover almost all options?

[murf]

Any statistical advantage he may have (your theory is similar to that for buying lots of lottery tickets in that you cover unloved number sequences) but is surely outweighed by a) needing to avoid decent player bias and b) the sheer focus on an individual team by a single or minor-multi entrant.

[Zimmerman]

It's not the same is it?
Lottery needs you to hit the exact combination (at however million to one).

Whereas in this, you just need to outscore all your opponents. We've got players (as we can see from this tread) fancy their chances of competing entering just 5, 10 or however many teams. Imagine if they had the means (time, resources and whatever tools they wanted at their disposal) to enter 500 teams. They'd fancy their chances even more wouldn't they? Obviously it doesn't guarantee a win and managing that many teams is a skill in itself.

We had the Automator exploiting the Sun game about 5 years ago. Someone entered thousands of teams (managed to wall off with the 120k prize or whatever it was). One our groups ran it very close but ultimately didn't do enough (the legitamacy of his entry methods is a whole other discussion).

[robot]

My impression of Sandor is that he seems to play the game primarily to win the monthly.
Looking at his team names he has at least 23 brom blocks, as well as 40 leicester blocks that we know off and probably similar of many of the other teams.
If he starts with 23 brom it may sound like he's covering every option but once he decides what to do with them on the first weekend prob half are gone, he also needs to have a decent outfield as well.
He then keeps losing teams as the month progresses but ulimately a couple survive but he wins less than his origional stake.
He then has hundreds of teams with different blocks to try again next month.
So monthly wise yes I tbink he does increase his probabilitys of winning but hes only up against a handfull of other people actually trying for the monthly.
Seasonally the probabilitys i think get lower as hes not managing the teams efficiently/correctly and all tbose near the top would have used 15 transfers.

I dont beleive he "manages" hundreds of teams in the correct management style he just primarily manages blocks and this wont win overall, as has been shown in previous seasons.