It's been an astonishingly poor start to the 2014/15 Fantasy Football season for the Balls team, with rumours of mutiny spreading like wildfire throughout the office and Donny incessantly threatening to roundhouse kick the transfer window.
Only our resident Photoshop wizard and all-round technical expert Ricky Mooney has broken 150 points after three Gameweeks- his summer spent camped outside Standard Liege's academy ominously paying dividends during an otherwise tumultuous start to the new campaign.
Balls.ie Fantasy Football Podcast trio Mark, Mikey and Gavan are propping up the table with Donny for company, with Mikey citing "crisis mode" for his decision to take arguably the most outrageous risk in the history of Fantasy sports this weekend.
You can check out Mikey's passionate outburst on the podcast below, but first, here's a look at our office table:
Christ almighty, just look at Mark Farrelly.
As for the official Balls.ie League - formerly ranked no.1 in the world in terms of the league's points average (genuinely) - well, we're freefalling down the UEFA coefficient rankings and could be about to lose a Champions League sport.
Nonetheless, the cream is rising to the top and that's why none of the Balls team have broken the coveted Top 250 out of roughly 6,500 participants. Anthony Coffey's 'Silent Assasins' have stolen top spot from Patrick McCauley's bafflingly named 'F off Ali,' with just 14 points separating 1st from 20th.
Despite ropey beginnings, we here at Balls HQ swear that we will buck up our ideas and begin our ascent towards the top. Wildcards have been played. Tears have been shed. Votes of confidence have become the new muted celebrations. We've even had to stage an intervention for Alexandar Mitrovic.
The transitional period is finished, and now we mean business. We're coming after you all. Especially you, Anthony Coffey.
Here's how the Balls team line up this weekend:
You Stay Clasie
Manager: Ricky Mooney
Manager's Thoughts:
Top of the league... but only because of my defence and in particular Vincent Kompany. Decided not to ditch Rooney after his hat-trick midweek. Keeping the faith with Hazard too, and I have brought in Yaya Toure for the injured Eriksen. Still waiting for club captain Jordy Clasie to return from injury and make his debut! Pleasant surprises thus far: Russell Martin and Joe Gomez.
ImmaculateDeflaction
Manager: Brian Reynolds*
Manager's Thoughts:
My team has been badly affected by a training room bust up caused by an administrative error that led to Sergio Aguero starting in the last bench position for the first few games of the season. This has led to a walk out by 6 players who have refused to play under a system that starts a keeper that is banned for two weeks in a row.Adrian, the keeper in question, was first to make a transfer request and was quickly followed by the Spurs duo and three others. On the same day we (myself and Stewart Houston) made phonecall after phonecall and managed to bring in some decent talent at a late hour. I have no idea who most of these guys are, but what I like is the green arrows beside their name. That, to me, shows passion.Second place in the Balls internal league is nothing to be sneezed at, but for me, victory is a happy squad and potentially an enjoyable break with the lads to Marbella over Christmas.
