fantasy – The Jeff Kenna League

Year Zero

Griffin statue — The Kenna was founded as the Fleet Street Fantasy Football League

LONDON: Wednesday 3 August 2005. Uncertain times.

The Piccadilly line reopened after the London Bombings 26 days previous had rocked the capital like never before (or at least until the pubs opened).
Despite bowling the Australians out by tea on the first day at Lord’s, the England cricket team had gone 1-0 down in the series. On the eve of the second test at Edgbaston the question on everyone’s lips was whether they could win the Ashes back after 17 years.
Edgar Davids joined Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer from Inter Milan.

In the midst of these extraordinary circumstances, a group of eight distinguished gentlemen congregated at a pub near the site of the original Temple Bar, on the westernmost border of the City of London. Onlookers would have regarded these souls as unremarkable, but over the next four hours they went on to found what will be known in years to come as one of the capital’s most enduring institutions.

Under the auspices of the ‘Fleet Street Fantasy Football League’, this group of pioneers shed the tyranny of mass media fantasy competitions, of whose corporate wiles they’d all grown weary and disaffected, and created a pure format of the game, auctioning off top-level footballers over pints of Belgian Lager and branded ashtrays.

Little did they know, that 39 competitive weeks, two league name changes and one transfer window later, the Barry Norgrove Football League has all but come to the end of its first season; an emotional rollercoster of blood, sweat and avant-garde banter that will be remembered more fondly by history than the day Stanley rumbled Dr Livingstone interfering with the natives.

Four of those early tacticians are still managing teams in the Kenna this season. Over the years others have come and gone, left and stayed, but the central tenets of those events eight years ago still remain at the heart of the league: one of the managers can win and they don’t have to spend every Friday lunchtime making transfers and picking a bloody captain.

In the first of series of rose-tinted reviews, the Kenna will look back at it’s roots and those previous seasons. Most expensive summer signings, manager of the month charts, top points scorers and, of course, the final table will be featured.

Most expensive summer signings

	Player	Team	Value	Points scored
1	T Henry	Stockwell Stockwell	£29.5m	274
2	W Rooney	Thieving Magpies	£28m	245
3	F Lampard	Thieving Magpies	£27m	203
4	S Gerrard	Barking Hoxton	£26m	230
5	H Crespo	Park Ji Sung’s Allstars	£20.5m	107
6	J Defoe	Dynamo Stockwell	£20	54
7	C Ronaldo	Bashers FC	£18.5m	101
8	J Terry	Vasco De Beauvoir	£18m	182
9=	R van Nistelrooy	Bashers FC	£17.5m	176
9=	R Ferdinand	Fat Ladies	£17.5m	83

As experimental as the first prototype of a homemade chastity belt, the initial auction rules were not the honed article of today. The customary £100m budget was established, but managers were able to pick two players from each Premier League outfit.

With only eight managers and a wealth of talent, even the most sought after players didn’t reach £30m. At 18, Wayne Rooney was already a prized asset. Stevie Gerrard and Frank Lampard would also go on to dominate shopping lists.

A certain Czech West Ham defender quickly become synonymous with being the type of player no one wanted to buy, but back in those chivalrous days the Titus Bramble ruling wasn’t even a twinkle in Tomas Repka’s eye.

A full list of teams bought that night can be viewed here.

Story of the season

MOTM awards 2005-06 — Green = Manager of the Month, Red = Turkey of the Month

Thanks to a stingy back five of Paul Robinson, Steve Finnan, Kolo Toure, John Terry and Wes Brown, Vasco De Beauvoir dominated the league from September and were hard to catch from there, picking up five MOTM awards and becoming champions.

Stevie G and The Yak spurred on a spring assault for Barking Hoxton, who made second place their own for a large part of the season and finished there.

The Dynamo Stockwell manager did not enjoy the best of debuts. With a midfield built around Stelios Giannakopoulos, Dynamo’s pre-season prediction of a mid-table finish was woefully over ambitious. They came last.

Final league table

Norgrove table 05-06 — Barry Norgrove table – final standings

The top five individual performers have largely remained popular signings throughout the league’s history. As he would continue to do over the next few years, The Yak crept onto the high scoring charts.

The surprises were Vasco’s Steve Finnan and £500k Darius Vassell. They would both go on to discover, much to the detriment of future managers, this was the pinnacle of their careers.

Highest scorers

	Player	Team	Value	Points scored
1	T Henry	Stockwell Stockwell	£29.5m	274
2	W Rooney	Thieving Magpies	£28m	245
3	S Gerrard	Barking Hoxton	£26m	230
4	F Lampard	Thieving Magpies	£27m	203
5	J Terry	Vasco De Beauvoir	£18m	182
6	The Yak	Barking Hoxton	£7m	180
7	R van Nistlerooy	Bashers FC	£17.5m	176
8	J Riise	Fat Ladies	£10.5m	164
9	S Finnan	Vasco De Beauvoir	£8.5m	155
10	D Vassell	Vasco De Beauvoir	£0.5m	150

How the league administration summed up the season:

“So there you have it. Vasco are champions of the inaugural Barry Norgrove Football League. They’ve led since Week 3, and apart from a period when Mr Robben was at his most theatrical, haven’t looked like slipping. “I think I’ll have a tumbler of pink gin tonight to celebrate,” exclaimed the ever-inebriated Vasco manager. “The boys have done good, and now I can spend the next couple of months immersed in blackjack and hookers.

“Barking Hoxton put up a spirited final stand, with the redoubtable Stevie G saving the final yet again. The much-jostled for third spot finally falls to those winged kleptomaniacs, so it’s Europe for them and Dio-calm for the Allstars. Despite a late spurt from the Fat Ladies (what an image) they remain in fifth spot. Stockwell Stockwell (Henry top scored the entire league) and Bashers (who posted the lowest weekly score of the season of -6) will recharge to fight again next season.

“And finally Dynamo Stockwell. What can one say? Hapless? They aimed for mid-table and failed to fulfill their mediocre ambitions. Only time will tell if they’ve historically posted the worst score ever in the Norgrove, but with more transfer windows promised for next season one would conjecture that only the Black Cats could do worse. One would also think that the manager has taken a long hard look in the mirror, contemplating leaving the gas on for a split second, and is now preparing himself for the muckiest of pints at the awards evening.”

The Dyanmo manager never did drink that mucky pint.

Olisadebe review: the best, the worst, the mediocre

UTOYA ISLAND XI’s back five rocked the record books by failing to register a single point between them for the whole Olisadebe Euro 2012 tournament.

It is the first time in Kenna history that a team’s goalkeeper and four defenders scored nil points in a competition.

The defensive shower of Shay Given, Per Mertesacker, Andrea Ranocchia, Marcus Antonsson and Dejan Lovren either put in an awful shift or didn’t even go to Poland or Ukraine due to form or injury.

“Obviously some of my targets didn’t come off,” said the Utoya manager, whose strike force of Ronaldo and Lovenkrands were named the most mediocre of the contest.

Don’t Know Yet, whose manager was making his debut, had the surprise top strike force of Fernando Torres and Titus Bramble player Georgios Samaras.

Team

Best – The Euroscpetics: 157 points
Worst – Make Party: 76 points

Player

Best – Jordi Alba (The Eurosceptics): 39 points
Worst – Wojciech Szczesny (Testiculadewland), John O’Shea (Just FEMEN): -1 point each

Strike force

Best – Samaras and Torres (Don’t Know Yet): 39 points
Worst – Ben Arfa and Kuyt (Bwing on the Euwos): 5 points
Most mediocre – Ronaldo and Lovenkrands (Utoya Island XI): 24 points (average: 24.21)

Midfield

Best – Xavi, Pirlo, Gerrard and Veloso (Every Pole’s a Goal): 72 points
Worst – Lampard, Robben, Malouda and Pranjic (Don’t Know Yet): 17 points
Most mediocre – Tziolis, The Ox, Ozil and Konoplyanka (Testiculadewland): 45 points (average: 43.28)

Defence

Best – Cech, Alba, Terry, Alves and K Papadopoulos (The Eurosceptics): 85 points
Worst – Given, Mertesacker, Ranocchia, Antonsson and Lovren (Utoya Island XI): 0 (zero) points
Most mediocre – dead heat between Kranjar, Silva, Rosicky and Husyev (Hoodyanika Bolokov), and, de Jong, Khedira, Busquets and Erikson (The Horn of Africa): 45 poins each (average 42.71)

Olisadebe showdown – live on Twitter

TONIGHT’S FINAL showdown between The Eurosceptics and Testiculadewlandwill be tweeted live @jeffkennaleague.

Just three points separate the teams, who are vying for honours in the Emmanual Olisadebe European Cup, not to mention winning the coveted unofficial, replica, imitation Poland shirt (with superficial damage).

Neutrals will be hoping leaders The Eurosceptics, represented by Jordi Alba and Antonio Cassano in Kiev, will take the prize.

The T-land manager became the contest’s pantomime villain after unsavoury deception was exposed in the pre-tournament auction.

Italy’s Bonucci and Spain’s Piqué are likely starters for controversial T-land.

In the third-place battle Bwing on the Euwos (Buffon and Ramos) have a four-point advantage over Everybody Gdansk Now‘s Iker Casillas.

Make Party (Maggio) and Utoya Island XI (Ranocchia and Alonso), who share last place going into the game, will both be looking to avoid the wooden spoon.

Scoring

Players are awarded two points for starting the match, five for scoring a goal, three for an assist and one point for coming on as a sub.

One point is docked for a yellow card, three for a red and three for missing a penalty.

Defenders and goalkeepers get four points for a clean sheet. A point is deducted for two goals scored against their team, two points taken off for three goals and three points for four goals etc.

Goalies collect five points for saving a penalty.

Cassano holds final key

DESPITE an injury-time penalty from Mesut Özil, The Eurosceptics hold onto a slender lead going into Sunday’s final.

An Antonio Cassano assist was enough to keep a sliver of daylight between the leaders and Testiculadewland.

The boffins at Kenna HQ reckon that a 0-0 or 1-0 win to Italy in Kiev, without Cassano assisting or scoring would hand T-land the title.

Bwing on the Euwos will be hoping for the goalless draw so Buffon and Ramos can secure third place.

Fourth-placed Everybody Gdansk Now’s Casillas will have to save a couple of penalties to challenge.

At the other end Make Party and Utoya Island XI are in a dead heat for last place.

Manager Points Goals
1 The Eurosceptics Alex Bass 144 4
2 Testiculadewland James Norris 141 3
3 Bwing on the Euwos Denney 119 4
4 Everybody Gdansk Now Ben Dudley 115 3
5 Every Pole’s a Goal Seimon Lewis 105 2
6 Just Femen Claire Forysth 100 5
7 The Horn of Africa Abdi Ali 99 4
8 Bunga Bunga Euro Tour John Norris 99 2
9 Hoodunika Bolokov Jack 98 3
10 Just Put Warsaw Carles Duz 97 1
11 Chernobyl Forlov Aiden Brisland 87 4
12 Don’t know yet Pete Ball 84 3
13 Utoya Island 11 Sholto 76 9
14 Make Party Six 76 2

Sagres back in the fridge

ONE SEMI final down and The Eurosceptics hold the lead by a narrow four-point margin.

Bruno Alves’ penalty miss, so ably assisted by Make Party’s Luis Nani, left the door ajar for Testiculadewland’s Piqué and Contraõ.

Tonight The Eurosceptics’ Cassano and Podolski take on T-lands’ Özil and Bonucci.

The Chalkstripes in Kenna HQ’s speculations dept reckon the thyroid-assisted German/Turkish string puller holds the key.

Manager Points Goals

1 The Eurosceptics Alex Bass 137 4

2 Testiculadewland James Norris 133 2

3 Bwing on the Euwos Denney 117 4

4 Everybody Gdansk Now Ben Dudley 115 3

5 Every Pole’s a Goal Seimon Lewis 102 2

6 Bunga Bunga Euro Tour John Norris 97 2

7 The Horn of Africa Abdi Ali 96 4

8 Just Put Warsaw Carles Duz 96 1

9 Hoodunika Bolokov Jack 95 3

10 Just Femen Claire Forysth 87 3

11 Chernobyl Forlov Aiden Brisland 83 4

12 Don’t know yet Pete Ball 83 3

13 Utoya Island 11 Sholto 76 9

14 Make Party Six 75 2

Özil takes individual lead

THREE CLEAN sheets and some majestic, quarter final string pulling from Mesut Özil have put Testiculadewland well in contention for the Olisadebe.

The team’s controversial manager, who was found to be deliberately breaking the rules – or ‘tactical Brambling’ – in the pre-tournament auction, now finds himself in second place.

“Piqué, Contraõ and Bonucci put in some fine defensive displays, and to be in this position now even with a gap in the original team is a big plus,” said the Testiculadewland manager, possibly hinting at Karim Benzema’s selection.

Leaders The Eurosceptics head into this week’s semi finals as favourites for the title with Lukas Podolski, Antonio Cassano, Jordi Alba and Bruno Alves all due to start.

At the other end there’s a downright pathetic party being made by the current world champion manager.

With most of the team already thrown out and just Jerome Boateng, Nani, the suspended Maggio and the guys from the chess club playing Xbox in the living room left, the Make Party boss has admitted his festivity planning had been seriously miscalculated.

“We excited for bit because gram-stripper come, but some joker make this roll-poll ebony,” said the Make Party manager, before reading a gift card marked only ‘Chernobyl Forlov‘.

Sceptical knockout

THE EUROSCEPTICS have emerged from the Euro 2012 group stages as serious contenders for the Olisadebe.

A full 19 points ahead of the pack with seven games to go, the international debutants will be hard to catch, especially with a key player from each of the quarter finalists in their ranks.

“It’s been going well so far, but I’m not taking any risks. These knockout stages can be a bit of a lottery, like signing up to a single currency with a country whose national economy is based on smashing plates,” said the Sceptics manager.

The chalkstripes in Kenna HQ’s speculations department agree on the uncertainty of knockout stages, but assert that the groups have been largely predictable.

In Group A, Czech Republic have European tournament pedigree and Greek phalanx has fought with its customary blunt effectiveness.

Germany dominated Group B and Portugal picked up the rewards of Holland’s customary morale breakdown.

Despite creative midfield flair, Croatia were unable to overcome Spanish dominance and that familiar Italian pragmatism in Group C. Ireland are good at singing.

And in Group D, the two favourites went through with a shouting match in the French dressing room.

So all in all the competition’s been exciting, but pretty much where the chalkstripes said we’d be.

Meanwhile, Chernobyl Forlov’s Mario Gomez leads the individual points scoring total with 24.

Hoodyanika Bolokov’s David Silva is a close second with 20.

In bureaucratic news, the Chairman’s looking forward to watching tonight’s match at a dusty, white-patio-chaired, Portuguese bar later.

“I ate a chicken piri piri for lunch that knocks Nando’s into a cocked hat,” he said.

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The Friday Poll: Tevez or Fabregas?

The word ‘wantaway’ crops up every summer to the chagrin of the Kenna manager.

With the auction taking place three weeks before the end of the transfer window, there’s always a risk of blowing the budget on a ‘top, top, top, top‘ player for him to do one before the season has even begun.

In no time has the risk been higher than now, with captains Cesc Fabregas and Carlos Tevez both heavily tipped to either leave, be frozen out by their manager or fly to Luxembourg at half time

So with the potential for either player to stay in England and rack up a Kenna-winning points total, which player is more likely to go for the most money at auction?

[polldaddy poll=5255561]

Latin heat

PSV Mornington manager — Iberians: a compact style of play

The Iberian peninsular produces some of the most technically-gifted football players in the world.

But in one of the few lands where no one can agree lyrics for the national anthem, which language claims supremacy on the pitch?

Ever responsive to the feedback of managers, the number crunchers at HQ have conducted another study of similar depth and learning to last week’s look at the Kenna slavic contingent.

Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Valencian, Aragonese and, for good measure, Portuguese players have been pitched against each other to determine precisely which brand of tiki-taka managers should adopt next season.

The outcome

From the small data set available, it’s concluded that Valencian players offer the best return. Basque players are also a good investment, provided they’re not extorted for revolutionary tax by their fellow countrymen. The Portuguese are an excellent choice and Castilians are a safe bet.

Players from Aragon and Catalonia are overrated and should be left well alone.

Castilian

Player	Club	10/11 points	Value (£m)	Points/£m
F Torres	FC Gun Show	127	33	3.85
J Reina	Thieving Magpies	107	1.5	71.33
D Silva	Deportivo Kensington	140	19	7.37
C Cuellar	Athelico Temple	29	7	4.14
	Total	403	60.5	6.67

Basque

Player	Club	10/11 points	Value (£m)	Points/£m
M Arteta	Athletico Temple	89	9.5	9.37

Valencian

Player	Club	10/11 points	Value (£m)	Points/£m
J Enrique	Bashers FC	93	1	93

Catalan

Player	Club	10/11 points	Value (£m)	Points/£m
C Fabregas	Athletico Temple	118	43	2.74

Aragonese

Player	Club	10/11 points	Value (£m)	Points/£m
M Almunia	PSV Mornington	36	9	4

Portuguese

Player	Club	10/11 points	Value (£m)	Points/£m
Nani	Dynamo Temple	171	8	21.38

Fabianski, L	ARS	£0.5m
Vidic, N	MUN	£27m
Coloccini, F	NEW	£5m
Dunne, R	AVL	£5m
Corluka, V	TOT	£2m
Essien, M	CHE	£0.5m
Arteta, M	ARS	£12m
Petrov, M	BOL	£6m
Delap, R	STO	£10m
Balotelli, M	MCY	£25m
Rodallega, H	WIG	£5m
		£98m