Game Reviews – Texaco Fantasy Championship

As the Fantasy Football games begin to jostle for our affections, some have been trying to get a jump on their rivals by being the first out of the gates. One of the early starters generally has its corner of the market sealed – with the Texaco sponsored Fantasy game the only officially recognised Championship version available.

Such a distraction can often be overlooked, but there are many supporters of football league sides out there -half of the Scouts alone steer clear of Premier League clubs with affiliations ranging from the likes of Nottingham Forest (Mark) to Leeds (Johnfinlay). With that in mind, we took time out to scan through what’s on offer…

The Ruleset

This is a free to enter game with a different (but somewhat simplified) scoring and managerial system on offer. Fantasy Managers don’t need to build bulky squads and rotate their players to fit, they’ll get to select a starting XI with a choice of only two (4-4-2 or 5-3-2) formations to tinker with.

Scoring is as simple as it gets. A goal is 3 points, an assist is 2 points – across all positions. Goalkeepers and defenders will score 1 point for playing at least 45 minutes and net a further 2 points if they make it to 75 minutes and the team don’t concede all game. Every goal conceded knocks 1 point off the defence tally. Those more familiar with fantasyleague.com will recognise this as the same basic scoring system as the original fantasy game.

Managing your team on a weekly basis is also a light affair. You can choose a captain each week who will score you double points and have a quota of just 30 transfers to use throughout the whole season – with a maximum cap of five used a month- so some weeks management duties will be kept to a bare minimum. This will require more patient and long-term transfer strategies.

There is a whole raft of prizes in store including £500 in fuel vouchers, a signed shirt and 4 play-off final tickets for the overall winner as well as £1000 each in vouchers for the for the club with the 10 best Fantasy Managers and many more in-between. It’s light years from the Sun Dream Team bounty but welcome nonetheless.

The Player List

Being the Championship, prices are scaled down to just a mere £10m budget with player prices relative to this new tighter budget.

In the goalkeeping department the pricing seems to have been placed on the overcautious with even the reserve goalkeepers of the [predicted] top sides given hefty price tags above those below. David Forde of Millwall (£0.725m) looks the best value if he can get near the 20 clean sheets picked up last season again.

Birmingham and West Ham have been given heavy prices in defence with the goalscoring antics of Ian Harte (£1.000m) the only to infiltrate the top echelons – he’ll still likely to attract plenty of interest. Burnley have two defenders in Tyrone Mears (£0.775m) and Danny Fox (£0.800m) who pick up a hefty load of assists making them worth considering. Dean Moxey (£0.725m) and Nathan Clyne (£0.700m) of Crystal Palace and Andrew Taylor (£0.800m) also look to offer reasonable value if one can foresee a slight upturn in shut-outs this term.

In midfield Jon Oster (£0.625m) of Doncaster should continue to provide some very cheap assist potential for those looking to invest in the premium wares around him. Brighton poached young Watford upstart Will Buckley (£0.725m) and wherever Jason Puncheon lands come the kick-off, he will surely be worth consideration. At least one of last season’s heavy hitters Andy King (£1.075m), Lewis McGugan (£1.150m) and Max Gradel (£1.025m) should expect to fit in most teams while new West Ham signing Kevin Nolan comes at a large premium (£1.250m).

With Danny Graham having joined Swansea the burden may now fall on Marvin Sordell (£0.875m) to keep Watford alive after their recent dismantling. Lukas Jutkiewicz (£0.875m) may face a similar task at Coventry following Marlon King (£1.075m) moving to Birmingham. Nicky Maynard (£1.000m) and Brett Pitman (£0.925m) of Bristol City look rather well priced to attract attention given their talents. Billy Sharp (£0.950m) will also know how to stick the ball in the net and James McFadden (£1.000m) isn’t badly priced for a forward who may dominate set-pieces for a team hopeful on a straight return to the Premier League. No-one should buy Yann Kermogant (£0.800m).

The Verdict

We’ll have plenty of Premier League games to peruse over the coming month, but if you’re looking for something to justify your Saturday night viewings of the Football League show with Manish then you need look no further than this option.

Your weekly management requirements will be fairly minimal while the prizes on offer are more than substantial enough to warrant interest. A nice and simple game for those interested in the goings on in England’s second league.

The Scout League

I’m going to have a whirl playing this one properly this year as I back my own side (Leicester) to the hilt so we’ve set up a Fantasy Football Scout league for anyone interested in getting involved. I’m sure there’s at least a couple Southampton and Burnley fans out there wanting a crack. Who knows, maybe we could win the prize for best Private League. Our Pin code is: 643 and we will post this up on the homepage as normal.