Ginger takes the title and the biscuit

Breaking News 8888 Week 41 - The Premiership

It was lucky 13 for Peter Doyle in the final week of this season’s N&R FL because that was how many points the Ginger Rabbit got in week 41, which was more than enough for him to maintain his lead and become the Nobby & Ready’s Fantasy League Champion.

Ginger (not so) Athletic will become the 9th name on the trophy and it was a deserved win for the ginger fantasy stalwart.

2nd place Wenners Wannabe’s gave it their best shot in the final week, hitting 21 points but it was runner up again xxxx for Wenners. Ben Graves can be proud of his 3rd place, he led the table for 7 weeks in the winter but West Ham 4 West Germany 2 ran out of steam.

Sneaking into 4th place was the final weeks form manager, Mark Simmons. Just missing out on their 3rd consecutive Manager of the Week prize, Lets all beat the Gooners pipped Back home by 6 points, and earning himself an extra £25 in the process. Amazingly Mark waited until the final week to reach his highest position in the table.

Therefore Barry was 5th after finishing 4th last season, even though he scored 147 points more this time out.

Week 41’s MoW was Carl Dillaway. Galacticos FC powering to 36 points, quite an achievement from one game. Carl was still 10 points short of 5th but he will be pleased with his success after dropping away from the prizes badly last season.

In the final prized place was Rob Munden. Jonny on my shoulder added a further 11 points to his total in week 41.

The pink zone remained unaltered after the FA Cup Final points with previous Champion 2Infinity & beyond finishing 8th, Lee Day’s You got more toes in 9th and new boy Nigel Tatlock hanging onto 10th after Tatters top tips scored an excellent 22 points in the last week.

Feet smell of success

Breaking News 8888 - Week 41 - The Championship

What a fantastic first ever N&R season for Catherine Barwick and Karen DuToit. The girls were a welcome addition in this testerone fuelled competition and they did the female race proud by storming to the Championship title after N&R pulled a surprise by splitting the league after week 30.

Flighty Feet will win £60 and even finished off the season with a flourish to score 22 points and end up 63 points ahead of 2nd placed Can I get a waistcoat. Jenks was nowhere to be seen a fortnight ago but 119 points in the last month assured him of another money winning season.

Another bloke who came from the back of the pack was Rob Beere. After making 9th last season in his first campaign, Beer Monster also relied on a power packed last few weeks to push themselves into contention. 124 points for the Beere man in the last 4 weeks earned 3rd place in the Championship.

And to round it off, what can I say, but Nobby was re-election fodder a month or so back, but Make it a supersize had transfers in the bank and chucked all their cards in during the last couple of weeks to claim 4th place by 3 points from the very unfortunate Danny’s Geeza’s and the even more unlucky Rose to be ruined by a ladyboy, who occupied a prized place for each of the last 5 weeks. Just 1 point for Sweaty in week 41.

Rutter escapes but Murray coked

Breaking News 8888 - Week 41 - The Re-election battle
A hapless –5 point score from Tony Murray assured him of a re-election place after the final week of the season. Hammers like coke who 41 weeks ago were 6th eventually succumbed to the drop zone last week and 7 days later they were even more entrenched after a terrible final week.

So Defoe’s golden XI and Goonersmoan survive, this despite Mark’s 0 final weekly score but Rutts hit 12 to also climb above The elephant man(ager) too.

Happy Hammers boss Muddy will not mind buying me and Keith lunch, that’s if he’s in the country long enough, and Al, lets make it a Premiership one eh?

Super Eagles (sic) made it a double relegation. Oh dear, oh dear! Idiots guide to soccer will be disappointed that they missed out by 28 points on the Penultimate place prize but will be more than happy that he finished above a couple of Brits.

Birdy also suffered a double relegation as Only one “f” in Forest join the Nottingham lads, but Gary Megson didn’t win x25 though! Incredibly this is the 2nd consecutive year that James Bird finished 2nd from bottom in the N&R League.

Rock bottom, rather disappointingly were the shy and retiring Dominic Barrett and Alex Baxter. A miracle was needed from Woody’s Warriors but they got 6 points instead.

Cracking score Carl but no cigar

Breaking News 8888 Week 41 scores 8888 Breaking News
Galactico’s final weeks score of 36 points deserved a prize because it was an incredible achievement. Despite only one game being played it was higher than 4 other MoW winners where there was a full compliment of Premiership matches.

The bad news of course, is I have to draw Carl’s attention to rule 45, section C, clause IV which states more than xx teams need to play in 7 days for there to be a £5 prize. Life’s shit at times ain’t it?

Other wonderful scoring in week 41 was from Lets all beat the Gooners - Mark’s 199th point in 5 weeks. Tatters top tips, Flighty Feet and Californication all scored 22, a point more than Can I get a waistcoat.

Likewise for Tony Murray, Hammers like coke's horrendous score of –5 will not win him the season’s worst weekly score. Top 10 challenger Ping Pong Yo-Yo hit a dismal –1 while Blessed are the cheesemakers slumped to –2.

Defoe’s golden XI, Roffey Rejects and Better than 2nd all scored a fat round zero.

Hall of fame

Doyley has been taking part in the N&R FL for a long time and for years never won a thing but for this season not only did he win the League title he also became the first manager to achieve the domestic fantasy double by winning the Team Challenge Trophy alongside Mark Simmons.

Congratulations Doyley. Here is the history lesson:

League Champions
2004 /05 Ginger (not so) Athletic - Peter Doyle
2003 / 04 Chang Noi's Ham Yai - Keith Read
2002 / 03 2Infinity & Beyond - Barry Plummer
2001 / 02 Read 'em & weep - Keith Read
2000 / 01 Brighton Revenge - Jonathan Poole
1999 /00 Cowboys Ride Again - Brett Davey
1998 / 99 Millennium Buggers - Richard Taylor
1997 /98 Flo's Champs - Godfrey, Rose
1996 / 97 Flo's Army - Godfrey, Rose

Team Challenge Winners
2004 / 05 Marsh - Simmons, Doyle
2003 / 04 Marsh - Simmons, Doyle
2002 / 03 Allianz - Jenkins, Day
2001 / 02 Avon - Godfrey, Rose
2000 / 01 HSBC - Waters, Murrell, Ready

Best weekly score – Rob wins with monster score

Way back in week 3 Rob Beere scored a remarkable 99 points and although a few got within spitting distance it stayed the course and means that Rob is this years winner of the 25 prize.

That score, which is only 1 short of the record (Ready last season) propelled Beer Monsters into 2nd place but sadly he was able to keep up his early title challenge.

Barry Paull who was runner up in the Benfleet Bet and finished 5th in the league also came 2nd in this competition after smacking 95 points in week 21. He also netted 84 in week 26.

Peter Doyle and Ben Graves shared 3rd place with 94 points.

Here are the season’s top weekly scores:
1. Rob Beere, week 3, 99 points
2. Barry Paull, week 21, 95 points
3. Peter Doyle, week 3, 94 points
3. Ben Graves, week 26, 94 points
5. Ian Kennett, week 26, 93 points
6. Lee Day, week 26, 91 points
7. Brian Rutter, week 3, 89 points
7. Barry Plummer, week 26, 89 points
7. Mark Simmons, week 26, 89 points
10. Alan Oakley, week 26, 88 points
11. Glenn Francis, week 3, 86 points
11. Nigel Tatlock, week 3, 86 points
13. Barry Paull, week 26, 84 points
14. Carl Dillaway, week 26, 83 points
14. Carl Dillaway, week 3, 83 points
14. Mark Dewberry, week 26, 83 points
17. Liz Keiller, week 3, 82 points
17. Ian Kennett, week 3, 82 points
17. Danny Rose, week 3, 82 points
17. Rob Munden, week 21, 82 points
17. Neil Cryer, week 21, 82 points
17. Ian France, week 26, 82 points

Worst weekly score – 3 hit ground zero

3 managers will split the 25 notes for the season’s worst week. Nobby, Giles Crowley and Godders all managed to get nil points in week 28. It wasn’t a particularly low-scoring round of scoring so it was an unusual feat.

In 4th place came Rob Beere with 1 point, which probably explains his inconsistent season. I don’t remember the winner of the best weekly score appearing so low in the worst weekly department. In 5th was Lee Baughan with 2 points

Here is a list of the season’s worst 7 day scores:
1. Peter Godfrey, 0 points, week 28
1. Giles Crowley, 0 points, week 28
1. Simon Newport, 0 points, week 28
4. Rob Beere, 1 point, week 28
5. Lee Baughan, 2 points, week 28
6. Barrett / Baxter, 3 points, week 28
6. Brian Dougal, 3 points, week 12
6. Chris Waterman, 3 points, week 12
9. Mark Dewberry, 4 points, week 10
10. Neil Cryer, 5 points, week 28

Managers of the week - Day dreaming

It was a magnificent start for Lee Day to the season. For 9 out of the first 10 weeks he led the pile and collected 3 MoW’s in the process. He went onto share a further weekly prize to head to longt list of winners.

Champion Doyley and Martin Singleton both won 3 each, whilst Mark Simmons, Paul Kelleher, Simon Jenkins, James Bird, Barry Plummer, Ben Graves and Barry Paull all did it twice.

The fact that 45th placed James Bird can win the MoW in two different weeks just shows how open the weekly prize is and that anyone can have a good week and grab a fiver for their efforts. This is the price of a pint of beer to our Scottish contestants, who may not have been up at the bar for a while!

Neil Cryer managed it 1.5 half times, not sure what Stephanie would say to that and in all a total of 24 different managers finished up with a 7-day best score. Congratulations to all.

Ready's Benfleet Bet - Suzie simply the breast

You probably expect me to use this segment to talk about Suzie's breasts but that would be incredibly rude so we are going to talk about her lesser known talent of gambling.

Suzie nustled all aside to claim the £25 prize and I will personally slip the crispy notes inside her brasserie when we next meet, not that this is about her boobs or anything. No we are congratulating Suzie on a magnificent set of perky predictions.

Back in very nippy January our Suzie guessed the most correct FA Cup scores to stick her chest out beyond the rest of the team managers to win first prize.

She scored a wonderous and vivacious 40(d cup) points to earn her top rack and the first prized assets of the season.

Oh, I think I've been watching too much Benny Hill on BBC America.

For the record Barry Paull came 2nd and Nigel Tatlock 3rd. I need a nice lie down on something soft!

Team challenge - Spitzer, Spitzer, who the fcuk is Spitzer?

There was quite a lot of movement in the Team Challenge table in the final weeks of the season but not where it mattered up at the very top.

Marsh's Doyley & Simmons win their 2nd consecutive trophy. Last year they just pipped AIG, but this time they stormed to the title with a record points tally. XLRe came in 2nd, their score being helped by me not including Dom Barrett's partnership with RSA's Alex Baxter, so their paltry score counted towards neither company.

Into 3rd in the final weeks was Aon's Fac R/I team. They were woefully let down by the boss Rutter though. Ben Graves, Glenn Francis, John McGowan, Kirstie Baillie and Danny Matthews all had campaigns to be proud off.

Last season's runners up AIG had to settle for 4th. Aon's property team stormed to 5th at the finish and in 6th were RSA who only joined the league in January.

Liz and Robbo made up Aon's casualty team and they came 7th, ahead of a disappointing NIG in 8th.

Nobby & Tim Feldbruegge's improved form during the final stages meant Aon Chicago avoided the wooden spoon and finished a credible 9th. So, it was left between JLT and Zurich to see who 'won' the wooden spoon and only 10 points seperated the two teams. But despite a gutsy final week from James Bird, it was JLT who finished bottom of the pile.

The final table will appear alongside the final table email.

How the prize money was won

£1,170 of prize money and 35 winners, our biggest competition yet and a new name on the much sought after trophy.

This is how the prizes and the trophies will be dished out:

Premiership Champion – £200 and the prestigious winners trophy
Peter Doyle
Runner Up - £140
Mark Wenman
3rd place - £120
Ben Graves
4th place - £100
Mark Simmons
5th place - £75
Barry Paull
6th place - £50
Carl Dillaway
7th place - £25
Rob Munden
8th place - £10
Barry Plummer
9th place - £10
Lee Day
10th place - £10
Nigel Tatlock
Championship winner - £60
Catherine Barwick / Karen DuToit
2nd place - £30
Simon Jenkins
3rd place - £20
Rob Beere
4th place - £10
Simon Newport
Penultimate place - £25
James Bird
Bottom 6 – Lunch with Nobby & Ready and you’re paying:
Dom Barrett / Alex Baxter
James Bird
Brian Dougal
John Tiernan
Alan Waters
Tony Murray
Best weekly score - £25
Rob Beere
Worst weekly score - £25
Newport / Crowley / Godfrey shared
Ready’s Benfleet Bet – £25
Suzie Syrett
Team Challenge – N&R Team trophy
Marsh
Managers of the Week – £5 each
3.5 - Day
3 - Doyle, Singleton
2 – Simmons, Kelleher, Jenkins, Bird, Plummer, Graves, Paull,
1.5 – Cryer
1 – Dillaway, Matthews, Tatlock, Baughan, Kennett, Wenman, Newport, Beere, McGowan
0.5 – Francis, Rutter, Barwick / DuToit, Read

Note:
0.5 means a shared week.All prizes to be paid in UK Sterling but I would really like to clear debts first as this is the N&R FL not the HSBC! Emails to follow shortly.

My kinda town

I couldn't let the season's last My kinda town pass without me mentioning a word on every American's lips - food.

In a recent poll, American's were asked to stop eating for a minute and offer to tell their most favourite food. Here is the Top 10 most popular foods consumed in restaurants by men and women last year:

Men
1) Hamburger
2) French fries
3) Pizza
4) Breakfast sandwich
5) Side salad
6) Eggs
7) Doughnuts
8) Hash browns
9) Chinese food
10) Main salad

Women
1) French fries
2) Hamburger
3) Pizza
4) Side salad
5) Chicken sandwich
6) Breakfast sandwich
7) Main salad
8) Chinese food
9) Chicken nuggets or strips
10) Rice

You have to laugh that in between those calorific entries they include side salad. On the side of a pack of Crispy Creme's no doubt?

In the US a third of all adults are clinically obese. Very scary when you are walking around a dark night club drunk let me tell you. Even sadder is the fact that in America 1 in 6 kids are clinically obese. Is Playstation to blame for that? Of course not.

So, what are companies doing here to raise awareness? Are they reducing portion sizes? Have they stopped targeting vulnerable segments, such as kids through advertising? Are they eradicating ingredients that cause health problems? Are they initiating programmes and products to help consumers lose weight and get healthier? They could even make some money out of this? No, they are increasing the size of their portions because "that is what the consumers want?"

Well of course it is, isn't it? If we could manage to break American Football games into eighth's then there would be more time for an extra hot-dog or two and a coke the size of a 2-year old.

This below is the 1,420-calorie burger sold at Hardee's and Carl's Jr. since late last year. Arguably, it's the first fast-food sandwich to publicly flaunt its excess of calories and fat. The two companies are owned by CKE Enterprises and their CEO Andy Pudzer insists that "These products sell better than health-conscious products, we don't tell consumers what they want. They tell us."



Burger King have responded by introducing the Enormous Omelet Sandwich — with two slices of cheese, two eggs, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty — breakfast sales have jumped 20%, says Denny Marie Post, chief concept officer (now, thats a job!). Never mind its 730 calories and 47 grams of fat.


Pizza Hut have the new new triple-cheese 3Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza. Ruby Tuesday sell the Ultimate Colossal Burger to try to keep up with the grandiose name. "That's what people want," says Rick Johnson, senior vice president and Ben & Jerry's have started doing wider cones that's made to hold two scoops of ice cream instead of one. Hang on I like a bit of B&J's (I said B&J!) but I wish they would bring back Cool Brittania ice cream.

It scares me that at the airport yesterday, Starbucks, a salad shop, a sandwich bar and a pizza joint had no one queueing but at Burger King I counted 25 people waiting in line. And, if only I had my camera, they all looked like they could have easily skipped the meal they were going to buy and not die of starvation. The time of day by the way was 3pm.

And all the time you've got twats like CKE's Andy Pudzer running companies, Americans will continue to eat the kind the shit that is out there. Pudzer has become the 'food police' and media's fast-food demon. Late-night talk-show hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno have poked fun at him naming him the Monster Thickburger but jokes are not enough.

In a recent radio interview Pudzer was talking to the interviewer on his cell phone while steering through a Carl's Jr. drive-thru in San Diego. It was 10am and he ordered a Breakfast Burger, hash browns and a Dr Pepper, when he revealed what was really on his mind: "I'm already thinking about lunch." said the fat fucker.

The blog

This season of course N&R went all modern and started the nobbyandready.blogspot.com. 9 years ago we used to hand out the weekly table down the Elephant, then as the newsletter grew we started posting out the weekly updates. In fact I remember once when the postroom in Portsoken Street picked me up on it. "Submissions," I said. "You wouldn't understand," I told the miserable old postie. "They are very boring!"

There was a number of reasons why I started the blog. I already had my own, and the boys that I used to work with will tell you that under my old Aon profile on the intranet I had 'Internet' as one of my expertise! Ok, it was my only expertise! God knows why and who put that down but it used to make everyone laugh.

The blog would also allow me to be a bit more, how can I put it? Blunt, and I hoped it would circumnavigate around any nasty IT police. This didn't work as AIG, Zurich, XLRe and Aon in the UK all blocked it, which is a shame. They all get a word version instead.

One down side was the lack of comments on the blog, which hopefully we can improve on next season as the newsletter is meant as a notepad for conversations not just me ranting and rambling on about stuff.

Nevertheless the fact we had 2,600 individual visits from 46 managers (it doesn't count my views) shows it was a fantastic success. Thanks to everyone that emailed or told me that they enjoyed it. It makes it all worthwhile.

During the summer I might put the odd thing on there but it will be back again proper in time for the new season.

Its simply not cricket

I miss a bit of cricket, baseball is a fair alternative and there are more birds watching but you know, the quintessential english summer, cucumber sandwiches, warm beer, the sound of leather hitting willow, the rain....

I am trying to come to terms with the season being over so am attempting to follow the cricket, but TV doesn't carry it here and watching on the internet can be a tad tedious. However I did read some classic sledging quotes the other day, which made me all sentimental about not being down at Maidstone this year (they were the days). Here they are:

Merv Hughes
Javed Miandad to Merv: "You are a fat bus conductor." Hughes to Javed after dismissing him: "Ding ding! Tickets please."

Rod Marsh
"So hows your wife and my kids?" to Ian Botham as he approaches the crease.

Robin Smith
"You can't fucking bat, mate," chirps Merv Hughes as Smith played and missed one back in 1989. Smith dispatches the next one to the boundary with the words: " Hey, Merv, we make a good pair. I can't fucking bat, and you can't fucking bowl."

Viv Richards
Glamorgan's Greg Thomas beat the great man twice during a county game and offered the advice: "Its red, its round and it weighs about five ounces." Next ball, Richards hit Thomas out of the ground before walking up to him and saying: "You know what it looks like, you find it."

Ian Healy
"You don't get a runner for being an overweight, unfit, fat cnut." Aussie Ian Healy's blunt reaction to Sri Lanka's Arjuna Ranatunga's request for a runner.

Merv Hughes
Australia were playing a South African provincial team on tour and Hanse Cronje was hitting Huges for fours and sixes at will. As another disappeared out of the ground, Hughes walked down the wicket and delivered a tremendous fart in Cronje's direction, along with the instruction: "Try and hit that for six...."

Ian Chappell
Arrving at the crease for his first Test innings, a slightly apprehensive Graham Goosch wished Chappell a polite "Good morning, Ian." The Aussie's response: "What's so fucking good about it?" Gooch got a pair.

Eddo Brandes
Glenn McGrath welcomes Zimbabwean chicken farmer Brandes to the wicket with the inquiry: "Oi, Brandes, why are you so fat?" To which he replies: "Because every time I fuck your wife, she gives me a biscuit."

Managers, blow by blow - Part One

Peter Doyle
By my reckoning Doyley first joined our fantasy league in 1998 and apart from the odd peripheral prize he has never made it to the big time. He showed what was coming last season when he was up amongst the challengers for most of the season only to drop out of the top 10 on the last day.

This time around the Ginger rabbit only spent 5 weeks outside of the top 10 including 20 on top of the table. It was an excellent championship season and Pete becomes a worthy 8th name on the esteemed N&R Champions trophy.

Mark Wenman
Wenners has set himself high fantasy standards and he would have been disappointed with last season’s 18th. This year though he was challenging from the off, finding himself in 6th after week 2 and then 4th in week 5. He never left the top 4 again showing remarkable steadiness. His problem was that he was so consistent that he never really had any scoring peaks, which may have thrust him into top place.

Ben Graves
What a season from the debutant. A fantasy unknown before August, he had a slow start but built his points gradually gaining confidence as he overtook some of the seasoned pro’s to reach the top 10 in November. And then there was no looking back. He even climbed to the summit in February for 7 weeks. However he ran out of gas and transfers but still finished in a superb 3rd.

Mark Simmons
Mark has this knack of winning a prize every year, whether it’s the penultimate, or the mid-table award he won last season or a more important top prized place. During the last 6 weeks Mark was the league best manager. 248 points were gained in those 6 weeks and Mark went from 8th to 4th.

Mark alongside Doyley also regained the Team Challenge Trophy they won last year, smashing last season’s average score by xx points.

Barry Paull
Barry will be kicking himself that he slipped out of 4th place in the final week of the season, especially after he had occupied the position since the turn of the year. He has finished 4th twice before and over the years has probably been one of the top 5 managers but the title still eludes him.

Carl Dillaway
Last year the boy Dillaway blew it by falling away during the past few weeks of the season but it was a different story this time. True he started well again and then faded and then bounced back and then slipped out of the top 10 in week 35 but he reserved his energy and some transfers xx to surge into a 6th place finish.

Carl, I haven’t forgotten about your Memories are made of this! Take your time.

Rob Munden
Rob is very hard to predict, bit like what he’s going to say when he’s drunk, he has had finishes all over the board. He started down in the wrong end of the table, quickly changed it around and then appeared without much of a fanfare in the top 10 come Christmas. And he stayed, unusual according to his missus but he did. He even made 5th in January but he will be happy with his xx best ever finish.

Barry Plummer
8th? Pretty crap eh, Bazza? You know last year runner up, the year before Champion. 8th? What’s going on? Truth is it was still a good season for Barry. He also was in the bottom half of the table until the Christmas carols started to play in the shops and hit the top 10 around about the same time as Rob.

Barry’s best place was 5th but he was in 7th two weeks ago and will disappointed to slip out of the serious prize money so late in the game. Nevertheless, still a fantasy force to be reckoned with.

Lee Day
He was out of the blocks like a chicken with no head (probably one he ate earlier!). Top for 9 of the first 10 weeks, he was heading towards mid-table in January but he arrested the slide and was back in 7th just a couple of weeks later. His best finish since 2001 / 02.

Nigel Tatlock
I understand that old Tatters has fully enjoyed his debut N&R FL season, and we are glad because that is what it is all about. Nothing else. But if you can pick up some cash too, well that is a nice bonus and Nige did. It was a pleasure to have you Tatters, come back soon.

Glenn Francis
For the 2nd consecutive season Glenn quite frankly flunked. Last year he should have walked away with some prize money and this time he was there or thereabouts for the majority of the season but once again he was the bridesmaid and not the bride as he finished in 11th place. Last year he won the weeks worst score award, this year x2.50. Don’t spend it all at once Glenn.

John McGowan
Another manager who set the league on fire in the first half of the season. Not out of the prize money up until Christmas, including being joint top after week 1 and 2nd in week 5, he lost his way after the New Year and despite a sudden spurt in the last couple of weeks ended the season with just a fiver to his name.

Suzie Syrett
The season’s first winner picking up the cash after Ready’s Benfleet Bet, Suzie had a good season by most standards but after 3 top 10 finishes in 4 years, last years 14th and this season’s 13th will disappoint the lovely Suzie Syrup.

Ian France
The man with the spreadsheet, the man who chases me for the weekly player points, the man who questions his scores, the man who studies the fantasy form, the man with no prize money. Meet Ian France.

Ian Kennett
I always have high hopes for Ian, even though he only stands 5ft 2” in his broking shoes. Last year he was 6th and I had money on him doing even better this time around but he didn’t. Now he’s got a real job, he probably struggles for quality FL time but he will be saddened that apart from week 26 when he hit a phenomenal 93 points he didn’t make any impact at all on the table.

Danny Rose
Dan started the season where he left off the last one (5th). He spent a fair number of weeks in the top 10 before the year-end but then faded, and although he was always in touching distance I think a change of jobs and a loss of focus meant he missed out on making transfers at crucial times. 2nd year on the trot though he has finished above Godders.

Paul Kelleher
A poor season from Lupo really. He had a slow start, mounted a bit of a run in the new year but unlike last season he never managed to get himself in there, which for PK isn't normally a problem. Trouble is, in this league his boyhood charm, wit, and outright damn cheek doesn't get the job done, unlike some welsh lassses we could name (that's if she had a name?).

Neil Cryer
Our favourite Rochdale Cowboy, Neil had a classic mid-table season. He was never in any re-election danger, and apart from touching 11th place a couple of times, he never threatened the prize kitty either. Maybe he should have made better use of his transfers, but it was a tougher league than last season when he finished 10th.

Kirstie Baillie
I am very upset that the late night booty calls have dried up from our Glasgow loverly. I know I used to take the piss but those calls used to keep me occupied on cold nights, if you know what I mean? Kirstie improved on last season by 6 places but unfortunately didn't win a bean. Been to Romford lately Kirstie?

Mike Robertson
Robbo was a welcome addition back into the N&R fold. The first couple of weeks were like he had never been away but then he drifted to midtable. In fact a few decent weeks just before the league split left him in the Premiership, whereas a drop into the Championship may have given him some prize winning opportunities.

Keith Read
Ready's homecoming year was one of fantasy disappointment for my partner. After last season's title winning season, this one was the first in 6 years that he has not finished in the top 10. There were of course glimpes of magic from the Thai king pin but it ended like so many other managers before him with pressures of work taking over as he settled into his new job back in the city.

Ready was one of only 6 managers who led the table. He was on top in week 6 and was a feature in the top 6 until the end of November but then it was a gradual slip back to midtable. A bit like Robbo, Ready may have ended up in the Championship come week 30 but pride made him make some changes as he insisted on looking up and not down.

Martin Singleton
Disappointed but proud Preston fan Martin had a bloody awful start to the campaign and the fact that he made the Premiership after the cut was an achievement in itself. Bottom 6 going into December last season's 7th place was a long way off. A complete overhaul was carried out and then we saw an incredible 3 MoW's in 6 weeks as Martin put together a terrific run to clear re-election and head up the table. He too was also only points away from contesting the Championship and may have provided a bit more competition for Barwick & DuToit.

Simon Bond
We used to call Bondy the Southampton of the N&R FL. Every season he scraped away from re-election but after 3 consecutive top-half finishes, we can only think that either Bondy has got better or other managers have got worse. One thing is for certain Bondy is still here, but where are the Saints, eh?

Managers, blow by blow - Part Two

Karen duToit / Catherine Barwick
A tremendous first N&R FL season for the ladies. They settled into the swing of things quite quickly and spent the first few months in the top half, winning a MoW in week 5. They slipped into the bottom half and at the split found themselves 2nd in the Championship. They seized their moment, carefully transferring players and moving to the summit of the ‘plate’ competition and stayed there for the next 9 weeks. The girls were very deserving winners of the £60 finishing 58 points clear of their nearest rival and ended with a points total better than 8 of the teams in the Premiership.

Simon Jenkins
Not a season goes by without Jenks winning some cash. And this one was no different wining two MoW’s and finishing 2nd in the Championship, this after only appearing in 4th two weeks before.
For most of the season Simon was struggling in and around the re-election area and was back in 9th just 5 weeks before the end of the season.


Robert Beere
Another manager who appeared in the top 4 of the Championship from nowhere. Rob was in 7th in week 39 but had a big week to haul himself into prize contention and that is where he stayed.

In the early part of the season Rob looked like he would match his performance last season (9th). He was 2nd in week's 2 and 3, and this was the week when Rob hammered the season's best weekly total. He did reappear in 7th in week 12 but then went backwards but like others the league split was the saviour of his season.

Simon Newport
Crap season for me. I was in the re-election zone after week one and it only slightly got better. Last year I used the excuse of distance and although I did better this season and amazingly grabbed a bit of prize money in the last week, the fact is I’m probably more up to speed with the football news courtesy of the internet than I ever was when I was at home. As I was told at school - must do better.

Danny Matthews
I hope Dan had better luck in Vegas because he missed out on some winnings by just 3 points. He did win a MoW award and it was a huge improvement on last season’s bottom place. His highest place was 6th in week 1 but he was never in any re-election doubt this time.

Lee Baughan
Birds, jobs, money…. Sweaty never has a lot of luck and another 10 quid went away from him after Nobby sneaked into the top 4 of the Championship in the last week. It was in fact an excellent effort and much- improved performance from Lee bearing in mind he didn't make a transfer.

His best spell was during week's 20 and 21 when he culminated a good run by being in 11th winning a MoW in the progress but he couldn’t improve on that. So no cigar for Lee but hey, there is always the decorating!

Alex Boswell
9 out of 10 weeks Alex lived in the top 4 with Barwick and duToit. Then disaster stuck scoring just 21 points in 2 weeks and he ended up in 7th place. But after 2 continuous re-elections it was a vast improvement for the man around at JLT.

Alex never got out of the bottom half but he looked destined to snatch some prize money in the secondary competition but fell at the last hurdle.

Liz Keiller
Liz always asks me, rather stupidly, to name her team. After her visit to see me in Chicago last summer, I couldn’t resist this one. A lot of wine and a wobbly chair (I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt) and a FL name is born, easy!

Like Alex, Liz has faced two consecutive re-elections, finishing bottom 2 years ago so this too was a massive improvement and similar to Alex, she also could have won some prize money with a bit more luck – some transfers may have helped too mind.

Liz reached the dizzy heights of 4th during three weeks in September and she bounced back into the top 7 again in November and the future Mrs Ready can proud of her campaign and the bruise she got that summer’s evening in Chicago!


Shaun Moulster
Another manager who improved on last season’s finish, it must be catching. Shaun also lived in the poor half of the table all season and flirted a little with re-election without actually dropping into it.

There was no prize’s for the Molester and we will never know what could have happened if he made a few more transfers.

Peter Godfrey
What has happened to the once invincible Godders? Only the mention of the two letters F and L would once stir Pete into action. Last season’s 15th was followed by a 33rd this season, a shocking performance from the two-time N&R FL champion. And who the fuck is Molly? And does he play for Charlton?

Chris Waterman
For the first time in many years Chris will not be buying the curries around at the AIG this summer. A certain Mr Dewberry has that honour this year. It was a pretty insignificant season for Chris who dallied around the lower half of the table, and for most of the first half of the season hovered precariously above the re-election zone. But after the turn of the year Chris climbed away from any trouble.

Tony Hepburn
Probably the best-looking bloke in Lloyds with probably the longest name in the N&R FL (Herecomethewildebeests not Tony!). Another man who spent a lot of time looking over his shoulder at the bottom 6 but moved away comfortably in the last third of the season.

This was Tony’s best ever N&R season in 8 years as a manager and he never even made a transfer!

Alan Oakley
Better than 2nd indeed Chelsea were but Al has struggled to rediscover his form 2 seasons ago when he finished 3rd. Last years 17th was followed by this season’s 36th. Another manager who didn’t move out of the bottom half of the table.

Tim Feldbruegge
Bottom after the first two weeks, then 2nd from bottom for the next 22. He was then in the bottom 6 for the next 8 weeks but during this time he was one of the best managers around, consistently scoring well and Tim moved well away from the drop-zone to finish in 37th place.

A fantastic achievement for the soccer fan from Wisconsin and I know Tim will have a wry smile on his face knowing that he finished ahead of 9 Brits.

Greg Harris
Still no leads on who the secret bird was on his arm the other month. Greg was one of a host of managers who made no real impact in this season’s league table. He flirted with re-election but was never in any danger but maybe love was to blame as Greg had his worst ever finish in his time in the N&R FL.

Brian Rutter
Rutts who last year finished 3rd would have joined an exclusive club of finishing in prize winning places one year and re-election the following year. So exclusive that the club would have been just Brian!

However, a sterling last 2 weeks meant that Rutts escaped the drop after being in the grey matter for 16 weeks. He will be hoping to do a tad better next year like his beloved Gunners.

Giles Crowley
Up until the middle of November Giles was a regular in the bottom 6 but he sped away, looking like he had enough pace to move into the top half but safety was enough for Giles as he settled in the bottom half of the league, which was true to form as he has finished in the lower half of the table every season since 1998 / 99.

Mark Dewberry
Another first timer who will be satisfied that he missed out on re-election even though if he reads the small print in his AIG contract he will read about the curry that he owes his colleagues.
Mark's Judas boys also spent many weeks in the bottom 6 but escaped by a lucky for them 13 points.

Tony Murray
If you check the league table, you will see two colours against Tony’s name. One a light grey in week one (6th place), and two darker grey squares in the last 2 weeks (re-election). It was tough on Muzza but the tide was against him in the closing weeks. Whilst other managers gained momentum (Rutter, Dewberry, Feldbrugge), Tony could not get it going and was treading water and clearly misunderstand the transfer rule, i.e. you can make 12 at any time, before he dropped into the bottom 6 on the penultimate week.

Alan Waters
A second consecutive re-election for Muddy - Paul Kelleher saved him the year before that. I am probably in the UK more than Al to be honest and it showed. No transfers were forthcoming and we all know what that means don’t we kids?

John Tiernan
For years we have been hoping that John would join the N&R party and this season he did but apart from one email after Charlton’s well-deserved victory over Palarse at Selhurst last year, that was it. No transfers, no letters, no words of abuse after the Addicks relegated his beloved Palarse, nothing. So chances of him flying to Chicago and buying me lunch? Nada.

Brian Dougal
Doug’s was unlucky not to grab the penultimate place. £25 goes a long way here and lets face it, it could have bought a rather large cubic zirconia! But a month ago serial penultimate placer Birdy snatched the mantle and Brian had to settle for 45th place – but like Tim, he is happy that he finished above 2, in fact 3 Brits.

James Bird
Two MoW’s and the penultimate prize – not a bad season for Birdy. In fact it is very rare to see Birdy walk away without some cash and he succeeded again clearing 35 notes. James, like Dougal spent every single week in the bottom 6, and that ain’t easy.

I have a feeling that James actually plays for this prize, it is his 2nd on the trot and we wonder if next season will see a return to the 5th and 6th’s we once witnessed or will he aim for something else?

Dom Barrett / Alex Baxter
The Hinge and Bracket of the N&R FL. The story goes that they went out for lunch around Christmas time to discuss transfers. Dom and Alex ended up getting pissed and they forgot to make the transfers. They were 5th from bottom then, but at least the thought was there.

Up until November they were doing alright but the lethargy crept in and frankly teams around them had a bit more oomph in the closing months of the season and they ended up 59 points adrift at rock bottom.