The Manc’s Fantasy Premier League is up and running for the 2023/24 season — and there are prizes to be won
Ah yes, it's once again time to fall out with your friends, waste hours at work rejigging your team and restart the most toxic relationship of your life. Oh, how we've missed you, FPL.
The Premier League is finally back (it always feels like an eternity, doesn’t it?) and you know what that means: it’s time to get your Fantasy teams sorted, pick a clever name to prove you’re funnier than your mates, and pull your hair out every week — and you can do it all with us at The Manc.
All you need to do to take part is join The Manc‘s Fantasy Premier Leaguefor the 23/24 season by joining with the code: lwgqvq. It’s as simple as that. We’re getting excited already. With the new season getting underway on Friday 11 August, you have 6:30pm to get your team all sorted if you don’t already.
Now, while we’re sure plenty of you are already painfully-familiar with the addictive highs and lows of doing the FPL year in, year out, we thought we’d give a quick explanation for those who might’ve never played before.
Don’t worry, it’s dead easy, and you already have the comfort of knowing that The Manc‘s so-called ‘dream team’ is probably going to finish right down at the bottom of the table.
Had to be black and yellowUs doing our team every weekCredit: The Manc Group/Fantasy Premier League app
First and foremost, this is a completely free-to-enter league — we’re sure we’ve all got enough paid little invitationals on the go already — and all you have to do to get started is download the official Fantasy Premier League app, or log in online via a browser.
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The Manc FPL league works just like any other: participants are given £100m to build their best title-winning squad from this year’s 20 Premier League clubs, with one player able to be transferred in or out each week — provided you’ve got enough money, of course.
Oh, and be warned, the best players are obviously the most expensive, so you might struggle to fit Haaland, Kane, Rashford, Salah, and so on all into one team but, hey, you can try.
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You have a total of 15 players to pick but you can only choose a maximum of three players from any one club, so no, you can’t just the entire Man City or Man United squad.
To make things interesting, we’re only using people who play for City or United, were previously at either of the clubs or are born Mancs.
Again, for anyone new to this, as well as having your chosen captain that can score double points each gameweek, as well as a vice-captain to fill in for them if they don’t play for whatever reason, you also have special chips that can be played once throughout the season.
Your free hit allows you to change your team for one round of fixtures only before it reverts back to your previous squad, your wildcard lets you transfer in and out as many players as you like, your bench boost allows you to play your subs as well as your starting lineup (they play when one of your 11 doesn’t), and you’re triple captain does exactly that: triples the amount of points your chosen player will earn.
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Changing your team before each round of games will become a regular obsession/stress for you every week, believe us, but it’s also really fun once you start getting the hang of tactics and outmanoeuvring your mates — just make sure you get your squad sorted before the deadline.
And that’s pretty much everything you need to know about how to play, but if there’s anything else you’re curious about, you can see the full list of Fantasy Premier League rules explained HERE. There you’ll find information about things like double gameweeks and how points are calculated.
Obviously, the person with the most points come the end of the season is the winner and whoever that lucky sod/fantasy football genius is will win a truly mint prize — and no, we have no intention of telling you what that it is at this time. Just trust us, you want to win this…
But fear not, there’ll also be runners-up prizes for people who finish in the Champions League places (2nd-4th), Europa League spots (5th and 6th), as well as the Conference League (7th). There’s even a cup tournament that runs alongside the league which you can win too. Not bad for a free league, right?
Whether you’re a massive footy fan or not, the love/hate relationship of playing FPL every week, getting one over on a work colleague, or picking the wrong captain one week and changing up your team every couple of days, is genuinely addictive (in the best way) – and we wish you all the best for the season.
Scott McTominay jokes he’s ‘fuming’ he didn’t score a hat-trick against Chelsea as he reflects on Man United’s mentality
Danny Jones
Scott McTominay has joked he’s “fuming” with himself after failing to score a hat-trick in Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Wednesday nightand shed some light on the mentality around Old Trafford.
McTominay starred in the Red Devils’ win over Mauricio Pochettino’s side on a cold night at home, managing to bag a brace with a goal in the first and second half to get his squad over the line, but he himself said he could have had more.
Speaking to MUTV after the game, the 26-year-old said he and the squad knew they needed to drum up a reaction after the Newcastle disappointment, adding that contributing more goals is something he wants to keep working on and insisting that plenty of people back him to do so.
Confessing that his mum, dad and grandad have all been encouraging him to “get in the box” and that he just needs to “believe in [him]self and go for it”, the Scotsman did go on to quip he was “fuming” to not grab a third as he shook his head went on to shake and reveal a wry smile.
Scott McTominay was the match-winner against Chelsea.
Commentator and presenter Stewart Gardner went on to list McTominay’s impressive stats this season, having now scored 14 goals in his last 33 appearances for club and country. A seriously good rate from a midfielder typically entrusted to help link play and break things up in the middle of the park.
Now boasting half a dozen goals and an assist across all competitions so far this campaign, he sits as the club’s leading goalscorer in the Premier League with five finishes to his name — with only Bruno Fernandes having contributed more (five goals and five assists) — he’s genuinely become one of Man United’s main goal threats.
While he recently rubbished talk that he played as a striker regularly coming up through the youth academy, simply having been deployed for the odd game in reality, he has always had a shot on him and it isn’t the first time he’s bagged a winner or a big goal for the Reds. This wasn’t a bad one either:
Chatting with the pundits on Amazon Prime Sport, he reiterated that he could have had “one or two more” on another night and agreed that the performance against Newcastle in the previous fixture was “pretty abysmal”, holding his hands up to admit that it was “no way near good enough”.
Reflecting on the later chance he had to seal the hat-trick towards the end of the game, he said he simply needed to “calm down on the last one”.
As for the mentality to get the result during a difficult period where the club remained under a lot of scrutiny from pundits and fans alike, McTominay went on to say that the manager is responsible for the way they played and some “lighter training sessions to keep energy levels up” definitely helped.
Regardless, he was sure to not get ahead of himself and assured ten Hag‘s team were still taking things a game at a time. You can watch the full highlights from Manchester United vs Chelsea down below:
Featured Images — Scott McTominay (via Instagram)/MUTV
Sport
Kevin Sinfield has entered the final leg of yet another ultra marathon challenge for MND
Danny Jones
Ex-rugby player turned England coach Kevin Sinfield has begun the final day of yet another incredible ultra marathon challenge he is undertaking to raise money and awareness around motor neurone disease (MND), with the sports personality scheduled to finish up this Thursday.
Having set off on 1 December, the Oldham-born athlete is facing what he has called easily his “toughest challenge” yet, taking on the newly-dubbed ‘Ultra 7 in 7 in 7’, which will see him once again run an ultra marathon every day for seven days across seven different cities.
Following on from his first Ultra 7 in 7 back in 2020 and most recent one last year, the Leeds Rhinos legend has now raised well over £8 million pounds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), the cause he got behind following his former teammate and best mate Rob Burrow’s diagnosis in 2019.
Now, having taken on the incredible feat once again — running the equivalent of 27 miles (43km) a day — Sinfield is hoping to not just reach the trademark £777,777 fundraising target, but smash it for a fourth consecutive time. Here he is finishing up his penultimate leg in his second home.
Setting off from Yorkshire’s iconic Headingley Stadium with a team of friends and volunteers, the 43-year-old has passed through the likes of Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin and Brighton, and is now staring down one last push towards the finale from Twickenham Stadium to the Mall in London.
Having already amassed over £557k in donations since the start of his remarkable journey, he is well on course to reach the finish line in every sense of the word.
The best part about this most recent Ultra 7 fundraising challenge, though, is that beyond just putting in the hard yards in Burrow‘s name and raising money for the MNDA, the funds generated from this series of runs will be going to multiple causes.
As well as the Leeds Hospitals Charity and The Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, money will also be going to the Irish MNDA set up by former Scottish rugby player, Doddie Weir, who sadly died from the condition in 2022 but has remained an inspiration to Sinfield and countless others over recent years.
Having echoed his lasting sentiment that “MND isn’t untreatable, it’s just underfunded” throughout his own campaigning for the cause, the local sporting hero will also be representing the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation in his honour. Heartwarming stuff.
As we’re sure is the case for all of you too, we’ve been absolutely blown away by this man over the last few years not only in his ability to keep completing these huge feats of endurance but by the size of his heart in continuing to fundraise on such a massive scale.
From raising awareness around MND and becoming an emblem of friendship with his best mate Rob, Kevin Sinfield has truly set an example for all of us and will no doubt prove a role model to millions for years to come.
Danny Jones -
10th August 2023 
