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• 2006/07 Season Highlights

2006/07 Season Highlights

Manager of the Year

Congratulations are in order for Stuart Fleet, who is the overall winner of this season’s Pilkington Fantasy Football League.

The Norwich City fan is the manager of There’s Only One F in Fleming, who are named after the Canaries’ former club captain and stalwart Craig Fleming. Stuart works in the design and technical department of Anglian Windows in Norwich and returned from a holiday to find out his team had won the top prize.

Despite conquering the league this season, Stuart is rather modest about his achievements. He says: “It’s all down to pot luck as there isn’t much difference between the teams in the top ten of the Pilkington Fantasy League. I didn’t really have a masterplan, but if I did I wouldn’t tell anyone!”

Despite citing luck as the deciding factor, Stuart admits he carefully planned his team selection and formation throughout the season. He explains: “I would look at the fixtures for each month to see which teams were playing more and therefore which players could get me more points. I had a 5-3-2 formation because defenders are cheaper and can gain lots of points, if there’s a 0-0 draw then it’s the defenders earning the most points for you. I had a nucleus of players throughout the season, Dirk Kuyt was very cheap for a striker, Steve Finnan wasn’t too pricey as a defender, nor was Ricardo Carvalho. Saving money on those players meant I could fit in the more expensive top point scorers Ronaldo and Lampard for much of the season.”

Stuart, who is a season ticket holder at Norwich, was also very careful about the five transfers managers are allowed to make each month. He continues: “I wouldn’t use up all my transfers at the start of the month, because if a player were to be injured later on I wouldn’t be able to replace him, I always kept one or two transfers back as a plan B, so I could make a change if someone got injured.”

Stuart is already planning for next season, and he was even able to do some scouting at a recent England U21 game at Carrow Road, he explains: “Spurs’ Tom Huddlestone looked very impressive, he picked out some excellent passes and looked comfortable on the ball, and I thought Ashley Young of Villa did well”. As for his beloved Norwich, Stuart was most impressed with veterans Darren Huckerby and Dion Dublin last season, although the Canaries only finished 16th.

For all those football fans who are already having withdrawal symptoms from the beautiful game, respite comes with the knowledge that the Pilkington Fantasy Football League 2007/08 season launches on July 9th. So it’s more important than ever to keep an eye on the summer transfer dealings in the Premiership, will any new foreign imports be an instant success or is it safer to stick with tried and tested Premiership players?

Stuart wins tickets to the value of £2000 to a sporting event of his choosing in the UK or Ireland, and hopes to go to see England in action at Wembley in a qualifying game for the 2008 European Championships.

Manager of the Month Winners

The manager who scores the most points in each month of the season deservedly earns themselves a luxury break for two to a UK Marriott Hotel of their choice, up to a total value of £300.

There are eight of these monthly prizes on offer throughout the course of this season and the lucky winners so far are listed below.

If you would like to access a more detailed story regarding each of the monthly winners just click on the links below.

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