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FISO - Fantasy & Interactive Sports Online

Fantasy Sports Newsletter - FSN 79 - 2 August 2004

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In This Issue:

- Welcome!

- The Herald & Evening Times Fantasy British Football

- Original Fantasy League (OFL) - Classic

- David Tonkin's August 2004 Premiership Review

- LeaguePad: track and analyse any league!

- Telegraph Fantasy Football Online- TFFO

- Telegraph Fantasy Football - TFF

- Soccer4-2-4

Welcome!

Welcome to FISO's Fantasy Sports Newsletter. You are one of many

thousands of worldwide fantasy sports fans who have subscribed to

this newsletter. To update your profile please use the link at the

end of this email.

The countdown to the 2004/05 Fantasy Premiership Football season is

well and truly underway. Most Fantasy Football Games have now

launched and we've even seen an early major rule change with The Sun

DreamTeam increasing their prize money from £250,000 to £300,000 as

soon as they saw The Mirror/Racing Post's 'You The Manager' game

announced with a £275,000 prize pool - one rule change we're not

going to complain about!

Below you'll find a brief summary on 5 major Fantasy Football games.

We'll cover more games in the next 2 weeks.

Check out the latest news on our Fantasy Sports forums!

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/philboard_latest.asp

The Herald & Evening Times Fantasy British Football

The Herald is a FREE to enter game which kicks off on Saturday 7

August (due to the involvement of Scottish Premiership players).

This is the second year that The Herald have run a fantasy football

game and they again promise super fast score updates. There are a

maximum 5 teams per person and you get up to 4 transfers per month

for your 11 man team. The £5,000 1st prize is only available if you

live in The Herald's catchment area (Scotland). There is a £1,000

1st prize if you're an 'exile' (non-Scotland based). There are

generous Manager of the Month (MOTM) prizes even if an exile.

FISO's Herald mini-league has been created:

The mini-league is called: FISOcouk Fantasy Footy Forum

and the password is: JRYZ5

The Herald's sister paper, The Evening Times also runs a FREE to

enter game based on very similar rules. Again a maximum of 5 teams

per person with a £5,000 1st prize if you're within the catchment

area for the paper. There is a £500 1st prize if you're an 'exile

and MOTM prizes if you have tokens from the paper.

FISO's Evening Times mini-league has been set up.

The mini-league is called: FISOcouk Fantasy Footy Forum

and the password is: ECW3N

Click here The Herald & Evening Times' own FISO forum

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/philboard_forum.asp?forumid=46

Original Fantasy League (OFL) - Classic

Fantasy League Ltd was formed in 1991, and launched the UK’s

original fantasy football game, Fantasy League, for the start of the

1991/92 season and the Original Fantasy League (OFL) Classic game

has proven to be a popular online game. Cost of entry for 2004/05 is

£10 which includes all transfers & substitutions. There are £60,000

of prizes. The game is a squad based one so designing a flexible

team to take advantage of as many fixtures as possible is important.

There is a season and knock-out competition. You can find out more

about OFL's Classic game on it's own FISO forum -

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/philboard_forum.asp?forumid=44

To join FISO's mini-league please use this League PIN: 1021 in the

Friends & Enemies League page.

Click here to access OFL's Classic game

http://classic.fantasyleague.com/index.asp?friend=fiso0405

David Tonkin's August 2004 Premiership Review

August’s fixtures are below, odds shown are for the title and

relegation taken from Ladbrokes site 30/7/04. Will the players that

featured in Portugal be slow starters? And with many clubs bringing

in new players there is of course the question of just how much time

will be needed for teams to gel.

Arsenal (5/4 - 1000/1) Everton (a) Middlesbrough (h) Blackburn (h)

Norwich (a) a number of experienced squad players have left to be

replaced by a few youngsters. Possibly lacking strength in depth,

possibly not in ability but certainly in experience, again there are

rumblings that Vieira will move to Spain. On paper Middlesbrough

look the only side capable of causing an upset but following an

unbeaten season surely every opposing team will make the extra

effort to beat the Champions?

Chelsea (7/4 - 500/1) Man U (h) Birmingham (a) Palace (a)

Southampton (h) just £90M spent on 7 new players . . . . . . . so

far! Will the 3 Portuguese signings be favoured by the new manager

over the more established squad members regardless? With a new

forward line too can last season’s success (CL semi and 2nd in the

Prem was a successful season) be improved upon or will this season

be a step backwards? Bridge and Lampard appear to be the only 2 of

last season’s regulars to be likely first choices as one of Terry

and Gallas will surely be dropped for a £20M signing? The owner and

chief exec will be expecting 4 wins here, reality could be oh so

different, will they be patient or will they again use the media to

undermine their manager?

Man U (5/2 - 350/1) Chelsea (a) Norwich (h) Blackburn (a) Everton

(h) cover for the still suspended Ferdinand has finally been bought

but can one new player plug the leaky defence? Still looking thin at

the back with the probability of players being moved around several

positions again in the search for consistency, perhaps the addition

of Smith upfront (surely a regular sub?) will see the focus being on

scoring more than the opposition rather than worrying about clean

sheets? The first match looks to be the only really difficult one if

they perform and if they do then 4 wins are very possible.

Liverpool (14/1 - 100/1) Spurs (a) Man C (h) Bolton (a) with just 2

new signings during the summer the new manager’s first 11 looks

reasonably straightforward to predict, barring the usual suspects

being injured of course. No signs of any great depth in the squad so

fitness and avoiding suspension will clearly be a key factor in

trying to compete against stronger, less injury prone squads. All 3

matches could be tricky and the scrape into the CL qualifier could

also prove to have been a waste of effort.

Newcastle (66/1 - 50/1) Middlesbrough (a) Spurs (h) Norwich (h)

Villa (a) the signings of Kluivert and Butt look very interesting

and potentially very good, making them look even stronger in

midfield and upfront but the defence is still weak and will probably

be their downfall again this season. They haven’t travelled well

under Robson and it doesn’t look likely to get any better in the

coming month and probably in the season as a whole. 7/1 for him to

go first, Shearer to be installed as player/coach by the end of the

season?

Middlesbrough (150/1 - 25/1) Newcastle (h) Arsenal (a) Fulham (a)

Palace (h) the summer signings leaves them looking quite strong in

all areas, assuming the central defenders can remain fit. After

several seasons trying to find a decent striker they’ve bought 2

that are proven in the Premiership in Hasselbaink and Viduka,

perhaps they won’t need a defence this season? Could well be the

first side in over a year to beat Arsenal and maybe by the end of

the month many will be wishing that they took the 10/1 without the

“big 3”.

Aston Villa (200/1 - 25/1) Southampton (h) West Brom (a) Charlton

(a) Newcastle (h) one of the smallest Premiership squads but O’Leary

clearly knows what he’s about and again the first 11 won’t be too

difficult to predict. Probably not enough depth to trouble the

richer clubs but then again, all 4 of these look winnable for them,

14/1 without the “big 3”.

Spurs (200/1 - 8/1) Liverpool (h) Newcastle (a) West Brom (a)

Birmingham (h) new manager, keeper, centre back and a couple of

midfielders to go with their useful looking forward line, maybe not

enough squad depth to do anything outstanding but they should be

battling in the top half of the table throughout the season.

Anything better than 6 points this month and they’ll probably be

talking about the title! 

Birmingham (250/1 - 18/1) Portsmouth (a) Chelsea (h) Man C (h) Spurs

(a) summer signings in defence, midfield and upfront certainly look

to have strengthened the squad considerably. Again maybe no great

depth but the first 11 could certainly take 8 points or more here.

Blackburn (500/1 - 6/1) West Brom (h) Southampton (a) Arsenal (a)

Man U (h) did just enough to avoid the drop last season, will this

be any better? Signing the frequently injured Matteo says probably

not. Souness at 10/1 to be the first managerial casualty looks a

decent bet especially if West Brom can take a point or 3.

Fulham (500/1 - 8/1) Man C (a) Bolton (h) Middlesbrough (h)

Portsmouth (a) another club where the first team won’t be too

difficult to predict, whether it’ worth predicting is another

matter. Another couple of strikers have been signed but they’re both

in their 30s and together still not looking to be adequate

replacements for Saha.

Bolton (750/1 - 7/1) Charlton (h) Fulham (a) Southampton (a)

Liverpool (h) again some very interesting summer signings by

Allardyce including 3 new international defenders and a couple of

forwards. A bit more depth and quality added to the squad but maybe

not enough to get them into the top half of the table. From my point

of view they could as easily win all four of these as lose them with

four draws being equally possible.

Charlton (750/1 - 9/1) Bolton (a) Portsmouth (h) Villa (h) Man C (a)

did well for much of last season but seem to have an even weaker

squad this time with no really outstanding players anywhere. Without

money to spend will Curbishley see out the season? Team spirit and

organization could again gain good results but I’ll go for at least

3 losses from these though.

Man City (750/1 - 5/1) Fulham (h) Liverpool (a) Birmingham (a)

Charlton (h) Keegan is the 7/2 joint favourite (with Moyes) to be

the first manager to leave. Two new full backs and a keeper signed

so far, can they make the difference and allow a potentially strong

midfield and front line to win games? 50/1 without the “big 3” might

be a tempting outside bet, good opportunities to start the season

well again.

Southampton (750/1 - 7/1) Villa (a) Blackburn (h) Bolton (h) Chelsea

(a) Beattie and Phillips should score frequently enough to keep them

out of real trouble, the defence looks vulnerable though due to

likely injuries to probable first choice players. Points look more

likely to come at home than away.

Everton (1250/1 – 5/2) Arsenal (h) Palace (a) West Brom (h) Man U

(a) this season’s Leeds where off-field events make more headlines

than on-field? No great quality in the squad and most of what does

exist seems to spend more time on the physio’s table than the pitch.

The fixtures against the 2 promoted sides should show which

direction Everton are headed, a season long struggle I believe.

Portsmouth (1250/1 - 7/4) Birmingham (h) Charlton (a) Fulham (h) a

couple of new defenders have been recruited which gives them a bit

more depth at the back. The midfield has quality but age and

condition isn’t great, potential for a few goals up front that

should keep them safely in the division. I don’t think that they’ll

start this season as well as they did last.

Crystal Palace (2000/1 – 4/11) Norwich (a) Everton (h) Chelsea (h)

Middlesbrough (a) favourites for the drop with a squad of

Premiership unknowns, they have a tough season in front of them. A

couple of early wins could give them some hope but the lack of

experience at the top will show.

Norwich (2000/1 - 2/5) Palace (h) Man U (a) Newcastle (a) Arsenal

(h) the few players who’ve had top flight experience had it in

relegation and these fixtures certainly look the sort that will nail

them to the bottom early on.

West Brom (2000/1 – 4/9) Blackburn (a) Villa (h) Spurs (h) Everton

(a) a lot of players released and some experienced, quality players

brought in. They know what’s needed and could do reasonably well

this season, I think that they’ll stay up fairly comfortably.

Click here to comment on David's review on the FISO forum

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/philboard_read.asp?id=12650

LeaguePad: track and analyse any league!

LeaguePad.com is a football (soccer) and other sports league

management software that you can use to track and publish all kinds

of reports on professional leagues, amateur leagues and fantasy

leagues of various types.

You can create your own leagues and/or download league files from

within the program. LeaguePad generates hundreds of customizable

statistics tables at the league level and on each team, each player

and each referee.

Statistics and league types can be customised, to allow support for

various types of league/sports combinations (round-robin with or

without knock-out stages, Conferences, etc.).

The program allows to define and save custom queries, custom events

and custom statistics. LeaguePad also includes a configurable result

predictions module, allowing to select a forecast method and analyse

the efficiency of each method against past match results.

It also features a one-click Web site creation feature, that

instantly creates a complete Web site with navigation menu

featuring the league statistics that you select to display.

LeaguePad is highly configurable and very easy to use. It's skinable

user-interface allow you to activate any of the included skins or

create your own skins. LeaguePad is available in English, French and

Spanish.

Click here to download the free demo version

Telegraph Fantasy Football Online- TFFO

Telegraph Fantasy Football Online (TFFO) is probably the most

interactive Fantasy Football game around. It is an 18 man squad

based game based on TFF (the Telegraph's newspaper game). There is a

£7.50 entry fee for the EPL game or £5 for a Football League

Championship (Old Div 1) team with discounts available for different

game packages. Your 15 transfers are included in the entry fee. The

top prize is £10,000 and there are generous MOTM prizes. To ease the

management of your squad on Thursdays and Fridays you can pre-set

your team substitutions and line-ups for the weekend.

Click here for TFFO's own FISO forum

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/philboard_forum.asp?forumid=45

Telegraph Fantasy Football - TFF

TFF is run in the Telegraph newspaper and generally attracts between

200,000 and 250,000 entries each year. The competition is only open

to residents of the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and the

Republic of Ireland.

With transfers allowed on a daily basis to your 11 man team this is

one of the more interactive newspaper Fantasy Football games around

and consequently is extremely popular with Fantasy Football

enthusiasts. Entry cost is £5 per team (includes 24 online transfers

for the season at £2) with £1 extra to join a Super League. There

are £100,000 of prizes including a £50,000 first prize.

To join FISO's Super League please use the following details:

League Name FISO FORUM

League PIN 8000066

Click here for TFF's own FISO forum

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/philboard_forum.asp?forumid=41

Soccer4-2-4

Soccer4-2-4.net is a newly launched online game based on stars from

La Liga, Seria A, Bundesliga as well as the Premiership and SPL.

Teams must be in a 4-2-4 formation, capped to £64million, and

maximum one player per team. It is £5 per entry (3 teams for £10)

and there are £10,000 of prizes. First prize for 2004/05 is £5000

and there are runners up prizes available.

The game begins with the fixtures of the weekend starting 14 August

04.

Click here to see more about Soccer4-2-4.net

http://www.fiso.co.uk/forum/philboard_forum.asp?forumid=53