11th: Leighbo
Points: 554
Preseason Predictions: 20
This guy never gave up. So many setbacks, you thought he was gone, but he just kept coming back. Joined forces with Ronniemac to pull Liverpool to the brink of glory in the team comp (not giving that result away yet though).
Sticking at it when all seemed gone paid off in his table position, taking out a number of post-lockdown absentees in the late rounds.
10th: Downey26
Total Points: 567
Preseason Predictions: 30
The 2018/19 champion was unable to repeat. Started pretty well, in and around the top 4, then dropped to the halfway point in the table. Showed remarkable consistency there, literally spending months in either 9th or 10th, but his inability to make inroads on the top performers eventually took its tool. Unable to muster the energy post-lockdown.
A decent effort in the preseason predictions.
9th: Kwlap
Total Points: 629
Preaseason Predictions: 25
Another with plenty of experience, but went through a horror first half of the season. Mostly in the bottom three, and absolute rock bottom for a decent stretch.
Didn't let his chin drop, worked hard and improved, culminating in a a series of good performances which saw him claw his way out of the depths of the table before lockdown hit. Afterwards he revelled in the freedom, rocketing up the table to respectable 9th.
Ok that'll do, top 8 tomorrow night!
I'm already celebrating - top 8 baby!!!!!
8th: Liberty_nz
Total Points: 670
Preseason Predictions: 40
Favourite for a long time, spent a long stretch at number one, led the league for a total of 16 rounds.
Was still in touch with the leaders when lockdown hit, but unfortunately had other commitments afterward and couldn't return (cheers for the courtesy message btw liberty!). This meant a final placing of 8th, not truly representative of the form seen during large swathes of the season.
A huge 40 points in the preseason predictions showed he would've had a real shot at walking away with the title, will always wonder what could've been.
7th: TheProf
Total Points: 688
Preseason Predictions: 15
Having started poorly and been mired in the bottom four for virtually half the season, TheProf cleaned up his act and had a quite stunning second half, hauling himself up the table into the top half before lockdown, and then taking full advantage of the absentees.
Unfortunately his run was slightly too late to seriously challenge for top honours, and any sniff at the top 6 was lost with a fumbling preseason prediction effort.
6th: Pukki Party
Total Points: 754
Preseason Predictions: 30
A season to be proud of from the newcomer.
Unlucky to drop to 6th when 5th looked nailed on for so long, he showed the heart and consistency his beloved Norwich sadly lacked.
He was a late addition to the competition and was much needed in order to make the format work, and yet he never missed a round. Spent the season in and around the top 6, picking with a brutal consistency not matched by many.
5th: Paulm
Total Points: 756
Preseason Predictions: 40
Surely the deserved champion. Picked every single game and player perfectly. Only ridiculous refereeing bungles and VAR decisions unfairly tore this title from his grasp.
Will be raging inside, and deservedly so, but at least he's shown the grace and good sportsmanship we've come to expect from the great man.
4th: Detoxin
Total Points: 773
Preseason Predictions: 35
A strong season from the Blue, never once dropping out of the top 6.
He never once cracked the top 3 either though, frustratingly kept at arm's length by the heavyweights.
An excellent preseason predictions effort rounded off an impressive 2019/20.
3rd: ajc28
Total Points: 796
Preseason Predictions: 25
The former champion showed his pedigree with a gargantuan season.
Warmed his way into things after a solid but unspectacular start, settling into the top four through mid-season.
Over the back end he cranked things up a notch, spending periods in 2nd and threatening a run at the title, but was not to be.
Will be disappointed with his preseason prediction score, could've nabbed 2nd had a couple more fallen his way.
2nd: Leggy
Total Points: 814
Preseason Predictions: 25
The bugger knows a thing or two eh. He should be leaning back in the lazy boy, slippered feet up, with a big fat cigar, toasting a season of showing the (sort of) youngsters how its done.
He formed part of an early "big three" with liberty_nz and ronniemac, swapping the lead with both of them in the first quarter of the season, but was forced to watch on as liberty and then ronniemac led for long stretches.
Still had the slightest of sniffs of a title at the end, and finished strongly to give himself the maximum chance, but it wasn't to be.
1st: Ronniemac
Total Points: 860
Preseason Predictions: 25
Never in any doubt. From the moment he regained the lead in round 21 he never relinquished it, swatting aside all comers to waltz to the title.
Strong pushes from ajc28, leggy and liberty_nz were all repelled with astonishing consistency in his picks. So often the highest score of the round, he never gave an inch all season.
Anxiety about the lottery that preseason predictions can present was minimised by the sheer size of the gap he created between himself and the rest of the field.
Even paulm hilariously advising him to leave aubameyang out of his final round, because "he'll surely be rested", couldn't derail him.
A new name to be added to the trophy, and a worthy champion.
CONGRATULATIONS RONNIEMAC
Remember we talked about stumping up a tenner each to the winner at the beginning of the season. Tomorrow night I'll send out Ronniemac's bank deets to everyone via DM. It's totally optional, everyone has their own situation, particularly in "these unprecedented times", so no one's keeping track and no one's judging, just pass on $10 to him if you like.
Will also post the team result tomorrow night. It was a cracking end to that!
Thanks for all of your efforts Paul. It has been a hell of a lot of fun and this tipping league has been a key part of my EPL experience this year. I cant even imagine how much time you have spent in excel for this, so yea big thanks.
And congrats Ronniemac. great efforts on a mad season.
It is a short turn around until next season so make sure everyone takes a break :)
Cheers Kwlap.
Want to give my own kudos to Ronniemac too. Yes I spent a lot of time in excel, but specifically in a very clever spreadsheet that ronniemac built for me. I had issues occasionally, and made requests to have it tweaked here and there, and he always helped out immediately. Legendary.
I can't imagine the hell it would've been to do this without that spreadsheet.
Also some kudos to leggy for keeping me honest on my excuses for lateness, and calling me out for missed deadlines ;)
Cheers Kwlap.
Want to give my own kudos to Ronniemac too. Yes I spent a lot of time in excel, but specifically in a very clever spreadsheet that ronniemac built for me. I had issues occasionally, and made requests to have it tweaked here and there, and he always helped out immediately. Legendary.
I can't imagine the hell it would've been to do this without that spreadsheet.
Also some kudos to leggy for keeping me honest on my excuses for lateness, and calling me out for missed deadlines ;)
Everything Kwlap said I totally agree. An amazing effort and full marks to you Paul for not flagging it as 50% of the others did. I enjoyed it but was very disappointed that so many pulled out. It used to take me 5 minutes a week ----- there are 10080 minutes in a week, so can hardly use that as an excuse. It would have been easy to flag it when the league was suspended but once I start something I always finish it.Everyone to their own.
this was great fun, was nice having little battles within battles asweell. Me and pukki had a great battle during parts of the season.
Thanks for all the time you put in
Thanks Leggy, appreciate that.
I am a little more understanding of those who pulled out, it's hard to be motivated sometimes when you're down the table and the interest is waning... but mainly I really don't want anyone to decide not to take part if they fear a backlash for pulling out.
Next season if I run the team comp again, we will set it up so that if/when people forget, it does not impact their teammates. A simple formula to exclude non-pickers in the team averages each week will take care of that.
Still have to put in the team results and the updated trophy tonight, and send the bank details to all.
Once that's done, I'll take a few weeks break and then start a thread for next season! Perhaps we might not get 16 players again but by the sounds of it we should at least have a handful of returnees. We've run this comp for as little as 4 players in the past so I aint going nowhere!
Thanks so much for running it Paul and congrats Ronniemac. Happy with my final position.
Strong second half of the season dragged me up the table but ultimately a poor start and pre-season picks left me too far behind to catch 1st.
Final Table:
Pretty cool that the top three had the same preseason scores!
I'm gutted my preseason pics were so bad, nit that I think it would have made a huge difference to my 7th spot. I'll take it for a first season's effort. It was great fun, despite the break and occasional confusion with picks etc. I'll be abck to see if I can crack the top 4 next season!
Great job paul!
Have DM'd the bank details for ronniemac to everyone. Let me know if you didn't get it.
Have DM'd the bank details for ronniemac to everyone. Let me know if you didn't get it.
Have been trying to withdraw $10000 but it won't let me.
Have DM'd the bank details for ronniemac to everyone. Let me know if you didn't get it.
Have been trying to withdraw $10000 but it won't let me.
....won't let me either sadly
5th: ManU
Leggy carried the can here, with 20 Legend and Youngheart dropping out early and leaving him alone holding the baton. Even impressive scores like Leggy's could not cannot sustain the impact of all those 0's, and they slipped below Arsenal with just 4 rounds remaining to take the wooden spoon.
4th: Arsenal
Rooted to the bottom of the table for a full 34 rounds, getting off it seemed inconceivable, until the lockdown purge afforded them a lifeline.
Whilst 4 players had exited and started logging 0's, the sheer weight of numbers in the Arsenal team, that had been the thorn in their side for so long, suddenly became an asset. The remaining players were able to balance the 0's with meaningful scores, and avoid the spoon.
Still, overall, a poor season from the Gooners (Goonies?).
3rd: Chelsea
They challenged early on with both players performing well, but slipped off of Norwich's pace and spent most of the season in a ding dong battle with Liverpool for 2nd.
The lockdown purge afforded them a shot at glory, but sadly Detoxin's good form couldn't quite compensate for the absence of Downey.
A promising season, and a good finish, much like their namesakes.
2nd: Liverpool
After battling in the middle of the table for a long time, mostly scrapping with Chelsea for 2nd, the lockdown changed everything for Liverpool.
Leighbo kept on keeping on, and with Ronniemac's unstoppable form, they were the only team trending upward for the run-in, as the other teams fell around them.
This culminated in them being just 0.01 points behind Norwich going into the final day, having trailed all season, and they were then able to do the unthinkable, and overtake Norwich in the final round.
It was an astonishing turn of events, and one to get even more astonishing when Liberty and Pukki Party's superior preseason predictions saw Norwich snatch the lead back right at the death, delivering a heartbreaking loss to the Liverpudlians.
Whilst individually ronniemac pulled a 19/20 Liverpool, the team effort was far more reminiscent of the 13/14 version - this was as close to a Gerrard slip as you'll ever get.
1st: Norwich
Liberty's stunning early form and Pukki Party's strong support act saw Norwich dominate for 31 rounds.
The final 7 rounds were unbelievably hairy when Liberty was unable to return.
Pukki Party desperately tried to keep the ship afloat, but couldn't quite bucket the water out fast enough, with Liverpool overtaking them in Round 38 in heartbreaking fashion.
Cue Liberty's ghost re-entering the fray. When his preseason predictions were dusted off a stunning 40 points were uncovered. Combined with Pukki's solid 30 it was enough for them to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, Leighbo and Ronniemac having only managed 25 points each.
A remarkable finish, but in the end absolutely deserved. It would've been incredibly sad had they not taken this one out.
CONGRATULATIONS LIBERTYNZ AND PUKKI PARTY
Just to show how ridiculous this finish actually was;
After Round 37:
After Round 38:
Final standings after preseason predictions:
Hey lads,
Just wanted to say thanks for the payments.
I'm looking forward to trying to defend my title next season.
Special thanks to paulm for running the picks and submitting mine as I'm too lazy to do it myself.
