Sav wins his Spurs

Breaking news 8888 The N&R Premiership - week 40 scores
58 points was like an ocean seperating Ryan's Savchenko Spurs from the competition as the N&R first timer became the league champion following in such fine footsteps as luminaries as Godders, Ready, Doyley, Plumms and Soozie.

Ryan ran a fine race, particularly in the last 5 weeks when he regained the lead from Barwick & Higgs. In the final week Sav scored 18 which was plenty and the young man will be presented to coveted trophy in person by Nobby & Ready at the annual gala prize evening (see elsewhere for details).

In 2nd was indeed Keith, whose Hannoi Utd crept up the table from mid-March. 2nd place is not bad from someone who ended the first half of the season with the 13th best score.

3rd remained the dream team of Barwick & Higgs, who continued their fine form last year and once again Flighty Feet were big cash winners. In 4th came fantasy stalwart Barry Paull, and his story was the most remarkable. NY Eagles were twice in the relegation zone, the last time as recent as March but they put a fantastic run to surge into title contention and eventually with 2 weeks before the end of the 40-week marathon got themselves into the top 7 for the first time and stayed 4th to win big.

Dewberry was another manager who dallied with relegation but also found some crazy form in the Spring to become a surprise package and it will certainly be an East Indian Summer for Dewbs who came 5th.

6th was another surprise - the lovely Kirsty and Glasgow kiss. Kirsty had a great first half of the season and took some great form (oo-er) in the N&R Premiership. She had a spring wobble (oo-er) but came good (oh, this is get ridiculous) to finish the job in 6th just 5 points ahead of a tied 7th.

Now I thought about goal difference or goals scored or best haircut or nickname to separate McGowan and Nathan, but heck they both have bad haircuts so I will give them both a prize.

Johnny Mc has been a constant underachiever so deserves his palace and as for Razor, it is totally beyond me that he managed to finish so high anyway. Therefore 7th place will be split between Roubles FC and Cristiano's Allstars.

The teams that missed out but had excellent seasons nevertheless are Rooney & Ronaldo Rockstars and Christian Dailly Football Genius.

8 egg & spooned into Championship

Breaking news 8888 The N&R Premiership relegation battle - week 40 scores
The relegation race was more of an egg and spoon than a 100m dash. Not much to report in the final weeks, a bit of jockeying for position to stave off some embarrassment in the boozer. You know Godders' I Still *ing Hate Chelsea got off the bottom, ex-champ 2Infinity & beyond moved up a bit but it will be Wizzis Wonders and #1 Strugglers who will kick themselves the most as both had fine first half of the season's and carried that forward initially into the Premiership but both Dave & Davor got sucked into the relegation mire and will drop a division next season.

Thieving Chelsea Gits, Lovejoys Lovies, Epping 'dog walking' club and Living in Sin were the great survivors. Rob, Alex, Paul and Brian both danced with the relegation devil but their Premiership status remains.

The Underwriting cop had the pleasure of finishing bottom 18 points adrift of Godders. The ever miserable Goonersmoan dropped as did the lovely Nut Meg in her first season, although she can be proud of her performance up until Christmas and rather surprisingly last season's 4th London Irish completed the jigsaw.

Missed tackle

Breaking news 8888 The N&R Championship - week 40 scores
As expected Mark Simmons' Sven and Janas strolled across the finissh line and swept the N&R Championship title by 28 points. The next five all kept their places to achieve promotion. Bollocks to Ballack, Jonny Forskins and the Phullbacks, Thank You 4 The Daze and In Tatters all did enough to move up to the world of the N&R Premiership.

Then in 6th previous champion Soozie's Ping Pong held on after a wonderful last few weeks to go up as well, whilst Francey's Vote Seagulls Party also joined the party.

The drama came for the last place available with James Down's Massive Tackle missing out in the last week despite a half-decent week 40 score. James had been a fixture in the top 8 for 19 of the 21 weeks but will play his fantasy football in the Championship again next season.

The final 8th place was tied between Kennett's Incontentia B uttocks and Francis' Lamb to the slaughter, who were out of contention a few weeks back. Both will get promoted.

Behind James in 10th was Crown Jewells, who like Nobby's North of Crystal Palarse and Rose's Rovers all finished the season strongly but it wasn't enough.

Down at the bottom, Sweaty's Le Guen's Revolution picked up the wooden spoon and Boswell's Megan & Hannah's Bears comfortably walked away with the N&R penultimate prize award.

The Hall of Fame

Another season, another champion. Not since 1998 has a team retained this glorious trophy and Ryan will be hoping he can change that next year. His teammate Ready has come closer than most though and frankly puts me to shame!

This is the list of champions, with Ryan proudly the newest edition etched onto a famous list:

League Champions
2006/07 Savchenko Spurs - Ryan Saveall
2005/06 Ping Pong Yo-Yo - Suzie Syrett
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

In the Team event, Marsh had started to form a bit of a monopoly up until last year when the mighty AIG took their trophy to Fenchurch Street. However it was the turn of the brokers to reclaim the award in 2007 with Ryan, Ready and Huw leading Layton Blackham to the coveted title.

Team Challenge Winners
2006/07 Layton Blackham - Read, Saveall, Thomas
2005/06 AIG - Waterman, France, Dewberry, Barwick, Higgs, Ryan.
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

Thank you

This is the emotional bit. I have always tried to put a lot of effort and fun into the things I do in my life. I've not always been successful but no one could ever knock me for not trying.

The N&R Fantasy league started in my head, probably with a beer in my hand, 11 years ago and effort and fun is what this has always been. It is time consuming and life and work takes up a lot of my time, but fortunately I have always tried to balance this with doing things for me, and particularly things that make me smile and which I enjoy.

The N&R FL is one of these and with help from various people and in particular Mark Simmons & my old partner Ready, the N&R FL has been a constant in my life and it has been a great way of keeping in touch with old mates, meeting new people and introducing stoopid Americans to the beautiful game.

Thanks for reading, calling and emailing - it makes it all worthwhile.

Have a great summer,
Nobby

Summer end of season / pre-season drinks

You are all cordially invited to a night of the stars on Tuesday 24th July when Messrs Nobster and Ready will hand out prizes, cash and one-liners. We will also be collecting next years entry money and will have no hesitation in deducting it from any prize money won this year.

The venue will be a change from previous years and will be outside The Lamb in Leadenhall Market.

Please put the date in your diaries and dress to impress. Reminders will be sent out nearer the scheduled time.

I will also plan to do drinks with the American participants and will soon send an email out seeking some dates for an afternoon of iced teas and dougnuts.

Team Challenge - Ready, Sav & Huw claim glory

Sav & Ready led Layton Blackham to victory in the N&R Team Challenge trophy and will get a delightful (?!) gleaming trophy for their broking team. Huw struggled in his first season, but the Welshman would be proud of his team mates who dominated the N&R Premiership finishing 1st & 2nd. Ryan Saveall doing the double for the first time in the history of the N&R.

In the runners up spot was the dream team of Willis' Kirsty Baillie & Ian Kennett, who probably don't even know each other - but believe me you could be twins! 3rd were last years winners, AIG. The team of 7 had a sterling season, with even Francey winning promotion. Who knows if Waterman wasn't out galivanting so much they may have made up those points to reclaim their title. Enjoy the curry team.

4th was Aon Re, who slipped back in recent weeks despite Johnny Mac's fine season. As did Aon USA, as Littig couldn't continue his super early season form. Nevertheless John was their star and Dougal too did his brethren proud.

In 6th were Wenners and Reddy, both having great ends to their seasons completing a double promotion. Congratulations to the BMS boys. Behind them in 7th stood Aspen, a disappointing season for Plummer saw him get relegated alongside Wizzo.

8th were the mighty Ex-Pats, who were apart from Bazza, all talk and no pants, sorry trousers. Longey did fantastic in his first season, helped admirably by his son Christian, but Nobby and Stouty let Queen and country down. In 9th were the eclectic Lloyds boys led by old Razor himself, Richard Nathan. 10th came twice winners Marsh. Ex-champ Ginger Rabbit was disappointing but Simmo swept to the N&R Champiosnhip title.

One off the bottom was the drunken RSA, used to be the drunken Allianz of course, where they actually won this title once and last and very least was JLT, where both Beere & Bird were shocking, although to be honest Birdy had his best season in all the time he has taken part in the N&R FL!

Thanks to everyone for taking part. Remember if you feel a bit lonely, ask a colleague to take part next season, and I promise I won't abuse them too much.

How the money & prizes were won

This is a list of how the 2006/7 prizes were won. Prizes will be paid by cheque in either GBP or USD, whatever exchange rate suits me and my accountant. Congratulations to all the winners and please note if you want me to keep the £25 or $50 to put against next season's entry money, then please advise.

Here is how the money was won:

The N&R Premiership
N&R FL Champion £200 + the much sought after N&R winners trophy
Ryan Saveall

Runner Up £140
Keith Read

3rd £100
Catherine Barwick & Karen Higgs

4th £80
Barry Paull

5th £60
Mark Dewberry

6th £50
Kirsty Baillie

Joint 7th £12.50 each
John McGowan & Richard Nathan

Relegation to The Championship
Davor Duvancic
Hilary Ryan
David Wisdom
Barry Plummer
Megan McLeod
Brian Rutter
Neil Cryer
Peter Godfrey

The N&R Championship*
Winner £100
Mark Simmons

Runner Up £70
Mark Wenman

3rd £50
Akshay Reddy

4th £30
Alan Oakley

5th £20
Nigel Tatlock

6th £10
Soozie Syrett

7th £10
Ian France

Joint 8th £5 each
Glenn Francis & Ian Kennett
*The top 8 clubs will be promoted to The Premiership

26th Penultimate Place Prize £10
Alex Boswell

N&R Team Challenge Trophy

Best weekly score $50
John Littig

Worst weekly score £8 each
Brian Rutter, Rob Beere & Huw Thomas

Serie A Champion £30
Catherine Barwick & Karen Higgs

Serie B Champion £30
Ryan Saveall

Manager of the week 40 weeks x £5 = £200
John Littig 3 wins, 1 shared $25
Kirsty Baillie 3 wins £15
David Wisdom 2 wins, 1 shared £12.50
Alex Byatt 1 win, 2 shared £10
Barry Paull 2 wins £10
Brian Rutter 2 wins £10
Richard Nathan 2 wins £10
Keith Read 2 wins £10
Rob Beere 2 wins £10
Soozie Syrett 2 wins £10
Ben Graves 1 win, 1 shared £7.50
Chris Waterman 1 win £5
Ian Kennett 1 win £5
Brian Dougal 1 win $10
Catherine Barwick & Karen Higgs £5
Aaron Bardon 1 win £5
Simon Jenkins 1 win £5
James Down 1 win £5
Alan Oakley 1 win £5
John Knouse & Nick Davies 1 win $10
Glenn Francis 1 win £5
Megan McLeod 1 shared $5
Barry Plummer 1 shared £2.50
Ryan Saveall 1 shared £2.50
Simon Newport 1 shared £1.60

Steve Jewell 1 shared £1.60

Mark Dewberry 1 shared £1.60

An amazing 37 cash winners. Congratulations again.

Best weekly score - Littig collects with 11-year high

I am pleased that John Littig won the Best weekly score prize. He's a nice boy, the sort that Mum's would approve. He knows bugger all about the beautiful game mind and somehow led the N&R title race for 6 weeks (yikes). However back in December he did something no one else has ever done and hit over 130 points in a week. There was eventually no prize money for John in the battle for the title but he did win $50 for the best weekly N&R FL score in its 11-year history.

2nd place James Down and 3rd Ben Graves also coincidently missed out on the big prize money with James finishing 10th in the Championship and Ben 10th in the Premiership. Just shows consistency is more important than being Billy Big Bollocks for just one week. Champion Ryan Saveall's best score was 95 points.

The top 10 best weekly scores:

1. John Littig, week 20, 132 points
2. James Down, week 25, 114 points
3. Ben Graves, week 20, 113 points
4. Mark Simmons, week 25, 109 points
5. Mark Dewberry, week 25, 107 points
6. Richard Nathan, week 25, 105 points
7. Barwick/Higgs, week 25, 103 points
8= Dave Wisdom, week 25, 102 points
8= Barry Paul, week 31, 102 points
10= Aaron Barden, week 25, 101 points
10= Brian Dougal, week 20, 101 points

Worst weekly score - embarrassing 3 way tie

It's embarrassing enough when 1 manager picks up the prize for the Worst weekly score, let alone 3. Rob, Rutts and Huw - hang your head in shame. You will share the £25 prize. Scant consolation for being rubbish, however even the champion had an off week.

And how many times did Michael Stout get himself on this list? It's not cool and it's not clever.

The top 20 season's worst weekly scores:

1= Rob Beere, week 7, 0 points
1= Brian Rutter, week 30, 0 points
1= Huw Thomas, week 30, 0 points
4= Danny Rose, week 30, 1 point
4= Michael Stout, week 30, 1 point
6= Rob Beere, week 28, 2 points
6= Soozie Syrett, week 30, 2 points
8. James Bird, week 24, 3 points
9= Brian Rutter, week 28, 4 points
9= Peter Godfrey, week 27, 4 points
9= Alex Boswell, week 30, 4 points
9= Michael Stout, week 39, 4 points
13= Ian France, week 27, 5 points
13= Ryan Saveall, week 24, 5 points
13= Shay Reddy, week 26, 5 points
13= James Down, week 37, 5 points
13= Paul Long, week 37, 5 points
18= Peter Doyle, week 28, 6 points
18= Danny Rose, week 28, 6 points
18= Michael Stout, week 38, 6 points