Gameweek 30 and March Manager of the Month results

1	Farkes At The Wheel Michael Williams	62	1851
2	Leddersford Town Tim Dodd	60	1845
3	FC Caligula Ajay Supeda	65	1844
4	Early Aswad Neil Strong	59	1817
5	Atlético Chappers Richard Chapman	69	1800
6	Peptilian Brain Tom Hostler	68	1791
7	Netflix and Chilwell Edward Long	64	1790
8	Moves like Agger Ben Jacklin	70	1787
9	El Pop Ste Popple	65	1784
10	Egg Fried Reus Ryan Garoghan	62	1784

11	HHB All Stars Simon Barker	62	1778
12	The Ka of Kaark Kathryn Swift	55	1772
13	Chorlton Athletic Adam Burnett	53	1772
14	That’s NumberHwang Richard Clarke	56	1769
15	Octo Alert! Robert Frost	66	1767
16	MurderOnZidaneFloor Shamil gillani	72	1767
17	The Ark of Kaark Mark Swift	61	1766
18	Howie Dewitt Paul Hawkins	72	1764
19	Holding a Saka Rice Paul Cafferty	60	1763
20	Nashton Vanilla Jaime Nash	70	1759

The 2024 Buckets Cup champions are Holding A Saka Rice. They have beaten The Singing Butchers by 60 points to 57 to claim the trophy* in their rookie season. The Butchers remarkable run to the final, ghosting through the first few rounds by the skin of their teeth, has come to an end. We had a wildcard versus free hit final – with wildcard prevailing. HASR relied on the established elite big hitters and the three-way captain conundrum of the week – Palmer, Salah or Son. The Butchers stuck with Sasa Lukic, although Ezri Konsa’s 15 points gave them a fighting chance.

Tumbling out of Last Man Standing are Pain In Dias (48 pts) and Finn Harps FPL (50pts). Finn Harps equalled Shoelace Untied’s total for the week but took a transfer hit to condemn them to the dumper. Potentially a lack of Palmer did for the Harps, whereas a lack of one of the other two sent Pain In Dias in the same direction.

Winning the week are SakaHaalandaiseSpuds, who afforded to leave another 16 potential points on the bench. They still have their bench boost, triple captain and free hit and start as early favourites for the April manager of the month. Winning the March prize are Comme Ci, Konsa. They were the top scoring weekly manager in GW28, making more than anyone else of the Luton/Bournemouth double. They fully deserve their prize for daring to captain Antoine Semenyo.

We’re into the final stretch of the season and it looks like one from three for the title. The lead exchanged hands over the course of GW30, before being reclaimed from Leddersford Town by Farke’s At The Wheel following Sunday’s games. All three of our leaders have their bench boost and wildcard remaining – FC Caligula also have their free hit. Could that be the move that makes the difference? We’ve already got one double gameweek scheduled – there’s likely to be two more. When will they play it?

*there is no trophy

March manager of the month	James Whitfield	Comme ci, Konsa	250 pts
Manager of the week	Paul Callaghan	SakaHaalandaiseSpuds	81 pts
Player of the week	Ben Brereton-Diaz	Sheffield United	18 pts
Bargain of the week	Ezri Konsa	Aston Villa	15 pts
Loser of the week	Lorenz Assignon	Burnley	-3 pts

Goal of the week

Stupid game. Harvey Barnes at 11m51s.

Gameweek 29 results

1	Farkes At The Wheel Michael Williams	19	1793
2	Leddersford Town Tim Dodd	22	1785
3	FC Caligula Ajay Supeda	10	1783
4	Early Aswad Neil Strong	20	1758
5	Atlético Chappers Richard Chapman	18	1735
6	Netflix and Chilwell Edward Long	16	1730
7	Peptilian Brain Tom Hostler	18	1723
8	Chorlton Athletic Adam Burnett	33	1723
9	Egg Fried Reus Ryan Garoghan	15	1722
10	El Pop Ste Popple	20	1719

11	The Ka of Kaark Kathryn Swift	36	1717
12	That’s NumberHwang Richard Clarke	16	1717
13	Moves like Agger Ben Jacklin	15	1717
14	HHB All Stars Simon Barker	15	1716
15	The Ark of Kaark Mark Swift	20	1709
16	Shoelace Untied Caroline Strong	20	1704
17	Holding a Saka Rice Paul Cafferty	19	1703
18	Octo Alert! Robert Frost	21	1701
19	MurderOnZidaneFloor Shamil gillani	19	1699
20	Finn Harps FPL Trevor Gordon	15	1693

Was this the worst week in FPL history? It’ll certainly be remembered. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a lower worldwide average than 12 points.

And it was a week in which the majority of us felt the pressure to free hit. Was there any point? Probably not. Most who decided to ride it out with depleted numbers will be thinking they made the right choice. The supporting cast shone as the leading stars flopped. Any Fulham picks probably ended up on your bench. The eight or nine locked-in players returned absolutely nothing. And then there was Sergio Reguilon.

Hands up if your bench outscored your first XI.

How did Pork Pie Goalies get to 42 points? With Bernd Leno, Antonee Robinson and Chris Wood, of course – a trio that outscored most full teams.

The Buckets Cup final will be contested by Holding a Saka Rice and The Singing Butchers. The Butchers could become the lowest ranked winners in our history. They’re currently sat in 63rd place overall. They awoke from their winter break to play the wildcard into this week and score 28 points, lucking out on Sasa Lukic’s unexpected goal in the victory over Spurs. Even without that, they’d have probably had enough to progress. Egg Fried Reus were their opponents. Their team was made up of all of those players that were meant to show up this week…but didn’t.

In the other game, Saka Rice returned nothing of note – but reached their 19 point total with eleven players all playing. Farke The Bus saved the chip and played nine to score 15, a decision which may benefit in later weeks, but denies them a pop at a trophy.

Big news at Last Man Standing. FC Caligula are out. They scored 10 points, as did Gooooooal and Red Five. None of them took any hits or provided any returns, so it’s going to countback. Last week’s totals determine who survives – and that team is Gooooooal with a GW28 score of 61 points – to Caligula’s 58 and Red Five’s 59. A close run thing but our once run-away leaders decline continues. They did save their free hit, so will no doubt be looking to use that to re-establish their authority. Fifteen of our top 21 played their free hit. The other six are yet to play it. They’ll be hoping for a better outcome than this week.

Manager of the week	Ian Williams	Pork Pie Goalies	42 pts
Player of the week	Rodrigo Muniz	Fulham	13 pts
Bargain of the week	Antonee Robinson	Fulham	11 pts
Loser of the week	Sergio Reguilon	Brentford	-3 pts

Goal of the week

Not much to pick from, in keeping with the gameweek. Rodrigo Muniz from 20s.

Gameweek 28 results

1	Farkes At The Wheel Michael Williams	67	1774
2	FC Caligula Ajay Supeda	58	1773
3	Leddersford Town Tim Dodd	64	1763
4	Early Aswad Neil Strong	54	1738
5	Atlético Chappers Richard Chapman	70	1725
6	Netflix and Chilwell Edward Long	68	1722
7	Moves like Agger Ben Jacklin	68	1710
8	Egg Fried Reus Ryan Garoghan	67	1707
9	Peptilian Brain Tom Hostler	69	1705
10	HHB All Stars Simon Barker	68	1701

11	That’s NumberHwang Richard Clarke	56	1701
12	El Pop Ste Popple	68	1699
13	Chorlton Athletic Adam Burnett	50	1690
14	The Ark of Kaark Mark Swift	65	1689
15	MurderOnZidaneFloor Shamil gillani	49	1688
16	Holding a Saka Rice Paul Cafferty	57	1684
17	Shoelace Untied Caroline Strong	57	1684
18	Finn Harps FPL Trevor Gordon	62	1682
19	The Ka of Kaark Kathryn Swift	49	1681
20	Octo Alert! Robert Frost	51	1680

We have new leaders. This truly weird double gameweek has also given us our cup semi finalists. I’m pretty sure three of them are aware of their progression. The Singing Butchers (probably aren’t aware) scraped through by a single point. Both them and their opponents, Extinction D Bellion, would have exited Last Man Standing this week had they still been in it. They made the last four with no double gameweekers, which makes you wonder what all the fuss is about (more of that later), and thanks largely to Ben White, who hates football so much, he’s now the highest scoring defender in the game.

So, the semi final draw sees the Butchers (66th place) up against Egg Fried Reus (8th place). Farke The Bus (25th place) will play Holding A Saka Rice (16th place). The law of averages suggested we would have at least one Saka and one Farke pun in the final four. We’ve also got two (sort of) rice puns, just for good measure. The current English league equivalent would be Fleetwood Town (The Singing Butchers) v Brighton (Egg Fried Reus) and West Brom (Farke The Bus) v Everton (Holding A Saka Rice). The true magic of the cup.

And at the top – Caligula are deposed. Farkes At The Wheel take over by a point. Leddersford Town also close the gap to 10. There wasn’t a huge difference in their double gameweek fortunes. All had high scoring single gameweek contributions. The hit and Milos Kerkez probably cost Caligula. It’s looking like all three will have to free hit in GW29. Whose brave enough to take a punt to make some gains?

All The Boys (47 pts) and Unstoppable Toon (39 pts) have dropped from Last Man Standing. Both tried to navigate the double. All The Boys were particularly unlucky, employing the bench boost and fielding three double gameweek players, but were let down by their single gamweek contingent. Unstoppable Toon had Rayan Ait-Nouri’s 10 point haul on the bench, which still might not have been enough. Their two double gameweekers collected 9 points between them – again not terrible – but the single gameweekers didn’t help out. Picking the most popular pick – Dominic Solanke – probably would have got them over the line.

Not that the Solanke pick was all that straightforward. Especially after the Saturday fixture, where he collected a big fat duck after depositing his penalty somewhere in Poole harbour – and then having a goal disallowed. The 4-3 against Luton redeemed those that went all in on the double – a little. Antoine Semenyo and Enes Unal outscored their more illustrious strike partner. The same happened with Luton – Carlton Morris returned appearance points only. It might have been more beneficial not to bother with either team – but you had to have Son and Cole Palmer – otherwise you were toast.

Comme Ci, Konsa took Son’s 17 point haul, ignored Solanke, captained Semenyo, who they brought in last week – and finished on 87 points. Well done to them.

Manager of the week	James Whitfield	Comme ci, Konsa	87 pts
Player of the week	Son Heung-Min	Tottenham Hotspur	17 pts
Bargain of the week	Antoine Semenyo	Bournemouth	15 pts
Loser of the week	John McGinn	Aston Villa	-1 pts

Goal of the week

Jacob Murphy takes the net out. 1m45s

Gameweek 27 results

1	FC Caligula Ajay Supeda	68	1719
2	Farkes At The Wheel Michael Williams	80	1707
3	Leddersford Town Tim Dodd	82	1703
4	Early Aswad Neil Strong	88	1688
5	Atlético Chappers Richard Chapman	57	1671
6	Netflix and Chilwell Edward Long	61	1658
7	That’s NumberHwang Richard Clarke	63	1653
8	Moves like Agger Ben Jacklin	78	1650
9	Egg Fried Reus Ryan Garoghan	78	1644
10	MurderOnZidaneFloor Shamil gillani	70	1643

11	Peptilian Brain Tom Hostler	68	1640
12	Chorlton Athletic Adam Burnett	58	1640
13	HHB All Stars Simon Barker	86	1637
14	The Ka of Kaark Kathryn Swift	70	1632
15	CurlyWurlyWanderers gemma henson	85	1632
16	El Pop Ste Popple	88	1631
17	Extinction D Bellion James Miller	83	1631
18	Nashton Vanilla Jaime Nash	77	1631
19	Shoelace Untied Caroline Strong	79	1631
20	Octo Alert! Robert Frost	74	1629

Lets start with the gap at the top. Now down to 12 points, the tightest it’s been since GW3, when it was at just a single point. It was the week FC Caligula won the August Manager of the Month and the week they took over at the top of the table. They’ve been there ever since. How much longer will it last?

As we’re paying down to 8th place this season, anyone of the top 25 stands a realistic chance of a finishing prize – maybe even further down than that, depending on how managers play their chips. Just inside that group, currently in 22nd place, are The Ark Of Kaark, who scored more points than anyone else this week with 95. It earned them their 7th green arrow in nine gameweeks, a momentum which could carry them into the top 20 and towards those prize places very soon.

Of our eight cup quarter finalists, only three occupy top 20 league positions. Leddersford Town will play Egg Fried Reus to eliminate another before the semi final stage. Extinction D Bellion will play our lowest ranked side, The Singing Butchers, who, as long as Arsenal keep winning 6-0, will probably win the trophy. Haaland Of God, Farke The Bus, Holding A Saka Rice and previous winners, The Craggy Islanders make up the other four teams. Early Aswad are the unlucky losers this week, being knocked out on a score of 88. It was the Islanders who scraped it – drawing 66 all with MountTenHag, but progressing having not taken a hit.

A big name fell in Last Man too. Atletico Chappers fell off the pace at the top of the table and through the LMS exit door with a lowly 57 points. An early move for Marcos Senesi ahead of Bournemouth’s double didn’t pay off and they’d have been cursing Saka’s removal at half time during the Sheffield United mauling (as would anyone who’d opted to captain him over Haaland). That includes Dick Van Dijk. The extra points and choosing Areola over Dubravka (again) would have helped them survive.

Manager of the week	Mark Swift	The Ark Of Kaark	95 pts
Player of the week	Phil Foden	Manchester City	15 pts
Bargain of the week	Alphonse Areola	West Ham United	13 pts
Loser of the week	Jayden Bogle	Sheffield United	-4 pts

Goal of the week

To save me the bother of choosing between Rashford and Foden, I opted for Soucek. 7m30s.

Gameweek 26 results and February Manager of the Month

1	FC Caligula Ajay Supeda	43	1651
2	Farkes At The Wheel Michael Williams	60	1627
3	Leddersford Town Tim Dodd	60	1621
4	Atlético Chappers Richard Chapman	59	1618
5	Early Aswad Neil Strong	71	1604
6	Netflix and Chilwell Edward Long	66	1597
7	That’s NumberHwang Richard Clarke	47	1590
8	Chorlton Athletic Adam Burnett	48	1582
9	MurderOnZidaneFloor Shamil gillani	73	1573
10	Peptilian Brain Tom Hostler	46	1572

11	Moves like Agger Ben Jacklin	54	1572
12	Egg Fried Reus Ryan Garoghan	69	1566
13	The Ka of Kaark Kathryn Swift	104	1562
14	Octo Alert! Robert Frost	62	1555
15	Nashton Vanilla Jaime Nash	41	1554
16	Shoelace Untied Caroline Strong	82	1552
17	HHB All Stars Simon Barker	64	1551
18	Extinction D Bellion James Miller	63	1548
19	CurlyWurlyWanderers gemma henson	73	1547
20	Mission Impossible Roy Staines	57	1546

Topping 100 points in a blank gameweek is some feat. The Ka Of Kaark scored 20 points more than anyone else and jump 16 places in the league into the top 20. At this point in the season that’s quite a difficult thing to do. Their 104 points was the 518th best score in the universe for Gameweek 26. I’m going to guess that’s the second highest ever weekly rank for any Buckets manager. The Kolarov Mane reached 296th back in 2015/16. They racked up seven double figure scores, which of course, included the 20 point hat trick delivered up by weekly high scorer, Jarrod Bowen. There’s been a sharp drop in Bowen’s ownership and value over the last few weeks which may explain the massive gain for The Ka. He’ll be a useful reinvestment for those regretting selling with an even blanker GW29 on the horizon.

All The Boys win February. They have accumulated 342 points over the last three gameweeks. Their GW26 tally of 84 points pipped El Pop and The Ark Of Kaark who stalled around the 60 point mark. Jarrod Bowen, again the deliverer of the 20 point cushion that secured the prize.

Not only have FC Caligula been knocked out of the cup this week, they’ve also relinquished quite a few points at the top of the league. The gap is down to 24, with everyone as far as 15th outscoring them. Their worst week of the season? Probably. Not helped by only a 9 player turn-out and one of those on a minus score.

The top two in the league will play no further part in the Cup. Farkes At The Wheel were also eliminated. Nkunkucumber were the unlucky losers of the week, exiting with a 73 point haul, while The Singing Butchers, who are our lowest ranked remaining team, scraped through with 45.

Out of Last Man Standing go Craques (38 pts) and It’s A Penal-D! (36 pts). Craques only had eight players available. Penal-D had a full XI – two of them posted big, fat, hairy ducks.

February Manager of the Month	Ian Driver	All The Boys	342 pts
Manager of the week	Kathryn Swift	The Ka Of Kaark	104 pts
Player of the week	Jarrod Bowen	West Ham United	20 pts
Bargain of the week	Chris Richards	Crystal Palace	14 pts
Loser of the week	Josh Brownhill	Burnley	-2 pts

Goal of the week

Gameweek of the Jarro/ads…Branthwaite’s goal against Brighton.

@everton

Jarrad Branthwaite 😮‍💨 #premierleague #everton #brighton #branthwaite #epl #goal

♬ original sound – Everton