Welcome back to another season of competition in the Fantasy Football Scout Head-to-Head Leagues. With 9,903 FPL managers competing in 596 Divisions across nine League tiers, this is the largest pyramid scheme in the FPL multiverse.
I have to start by providing some background on a technical issue and the steps taken to fix it. As you might expect, managing a league structure on this scale is a significant challenge, not least because it is necessary to identify each participating manager, even though their FPL ID numbers change every year.
Unfortunately, there was a bug in the software developed to achieve this, which affected first-time FPL managers who joined the H2H Leagues in 2022/23. As a consequence, some 50 managers that should have been promoted into Divisions in League 8, were incorrectly left in League 9.
The bug has now been fixed; however, in order to ensure that all managers are competing at the right level, it was necessary to rework the allocation of managers to Divisions across the nine League tiers. This means that the results for Gameweeks 1-4 have had to be recalculated based on the revised league structure.
Some managers will have gained from this, others will be worse off, and some will find that they are in a different Division within the same League tier. Apologies for the disruption, but this was necessary to get everything on the right track going forward.
With that important clarification completed, the way is now clear for me to shine a light on the FPL managers that are making a name for themselves. Just like last season, my aim is to add a little depth with periodic reports to supplement Red Lightning’s excellent weekly updates on the H2H Leagues and other FFS Community Tournaments. It’s still early days, but let’s take a look at who’s been fast out of the blocks.
League One
Cak Juris (12 pts) is the early leader with reigning champion Ignazio La Rose among the five managers trailing on nine points. It’s been a slow start for Sameer Sohail who led for 31 Gameweeks last season before being pipped by Ignazio at the death, but there’s plenty of time to catch up.
League Two
There are no perfect records in League Two. Geoff Dance and Tim Hill are the early Division 1 leaders on 10 points; and in Division 2, Ben Wiser, Jon Keates, Stig Hermansen, Dave Dolman, and Simon McNair are all tied on nine points.
League Three
Ainish Kumar (12 pts) is making the early running in Division 1, with six managers three points adrift; and The Magician and Oli O’Mahony have the same margin over the chasing pack in Division 2 and 3 respectively. Jack Clark and Michael Cahill (both 12) are the joint leaders in Division 4.
League Four
Terje Balteskard and Filip Suchta are the only managers with flawless records in Division 1; whereas in Division 2, five managers are sharing the lead on nine points. Priyansh (12 pts) has a three-point margin over six managers in Division 3; and Mohid Hazwan’s unbeaten start is good for a one-point lead in Division 4. Lars Valdresbråten is the only manager to start with four wins in Division 5. Seven managers are sharing the lead on nine points in Division 6; and it’s a six-way tie for the lead in Division 7. Christian Larisch’s fast start is good for a three-point lead in Division 8.
League Five
Adam Mack, Matt Chang, and Roland Kendall have all started with four wins in Division 1; as have Alex Leggate and Zheng Huan Hoe in Division 2. Faizan Tariq (10 pts) has a one-point lead in Division 3; and James Cresswell’s perfect start is good for a two-point lead in Division 4. Six managers are tied on nine points in Division 5; but Daniel Wilcher (Division 6) and Eugene Heng (Division 7) have daylight following their fast starts. John Lloyd and Johan Wester (both 12) are the joint leaders in Division 8; however, it’s a five-way tie in Division 9. Rima Gudka and Sirakhun Kawatkul are the early role models in Division 10; but it’s crowded at the top in Division 11, with nine managers tied on nine points. Tom McDonald is farming a one-point lead in Division 12; and Stuart Blakely (12) has a three-point margin in Division 13. Division 14 sees Abdullah Tamim and Anubhav Parasuraman keeping it perfect; it’s a five-way tie in Division 15; and finally, FPL Ted is the only manager to make an immaculate start in Division 16.
League Six
Of the 640 managers in League Six, 39 have started the season with four victories. The roll of honour is as follows: James Sarson (Division 1); Ally Lee (Division 2); Phil Wantling (Division 4); Mohit Gang (Division 7); Robert Massie (Division 8); Toby Asabi (Division 9); Giannis Katogiannakis (Division 10); Jervis Shell (Division 11); Pete Bell (Division 13); Sebastian Cornejo and Jeffery O’Neill (Division 14); Josef Rusiecki, Rob Crabwalk, and Žygimantas Boguševičius (Division 15); Tom Worboys and Fredrik Drӕgeba (Division 16); Johnathan Hancock (Division 18); Vladan Mandic (Division 20); Beem Kanhakhun and Ade Harris (Division 21); Darren Ruxton (Division 23); Craig Tippins (Division 24); Jon Xanthos and Adam Almeida (Division 25); Petar Jovic and Adishree Basnet (Division 26); Stefán Jóhannsson, Pete Killeen, and Keiran Morris (Division 27); Miguel Lemos and V Y (Division 28); Lowen Stanley and Josh Bembridge (Division 29); Ian Lamerton and Abeselom Habtemariam (Division 30); Bob Wooster and Siddhant Bhardwaj (Division 31); and Janne Turtainen and John Gadd (Division 32).
Leagues Seven, Eight and Nine
54 FPL managers in League Seven have achieved perfect scores; 155 in League Eight; and 315 in League Nine. That’s too many to mention by name, but Division 207 in League Nine does stand out as the only Division containing four managers with 100 per cent scores, so take a bow Moses X; Chris Kasawala; Pep Guardiola, and Yee Sian .89. I guess it doesn’t hurt having the 2022/23 Premier League manager of the season to set the standard.
I’ll be back with another update after Gameweek 8. In the meantime, FPL managers can keep track of their progress, and stalk the competition, via MIR’s Head-to-Head Leagues page, which can also be accessed via the menu at the top of each page, under “FPL Community”.
I’m off to play with my Mini League Mate. Good luck, and stay safe.