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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
Tributes paid to loyal Curzon Ashton FC fan and beloved volunteer Barry Thickett
Danny Jones
Tributes are being paid to a much-loved local football fan and loyal volunteer at Curzon Ashton Football Club, Barry Thickett, who sadly died last week at the age of 82.
Known to the majority around the Tameside Stadium and more throughout Greater Manchester’s non-league pyramid, Thickett was a long-serving supporter and assisted the club for many years.
Unfortunately, following a short period of illness which remains undisclosed, the die-hard fan passed away while most were wrapped up in the action from the FA Cup third-round ties this weekend.
Confirming the heartbreaking news with their fan base on Monday, 13 January, Curzon Ashton shared a single black-and-white image of Barry, which was met with an outpouring of heartfelt condolences.
As you can see, countless followers of ‘The Nash’ hopped on social media to pay their respects to a fan favourite figure who has been remembered, above all else, “a wonderful man” – overwhelmingly so.
Fellow fan Dr Andy Hershon commented, “I knew him via the Friday walking football. He always came to watch. Lovely bloke who loved to chat about the game. Will be sadly missed. RIP Barry”.
Multiple fans mentioned loving their “chats” with the local legend, who used to work as an area manager at the old Wilson’s Brewery in Newton Heath.
Perhaps most notably, Barry’s loved ones expressed their thanks to the club and all those posting touching tributes; his daughter Sara replied, “Thank you for such a lovely tribute. Dad would have been touched”, and son Gaz added: “Thank you for the lovely message, means a lot to the family.”
Player-manager Craig Mahon went on to write “Barry was a true gentleman and respected by all the team. Always there with his words of wisdom at half-time and full-time.
He will be sorely missed by everyone at Curzon Ashton FC. RIP Baz thanks for all you [have] done.”
Curzon Ashton are yet to announce any official plans for a Barry Thickett memorial service via the club, but he will no doubt receive an emotional observance when the National League North outfit travels to nearby Stalybridge on Tuesday, 14 Jan.
Their next home game takes place this weekend (Saturday) and we’re sure he’ll be given a proper send-off by all those who knew and loved him up on the terraces. Our thoughts go out to Barry’s family, friends and everyone at the club. Rest in peace.
Tyson Fury has announced his ‘retirement’ from boxing (again) along with a cryptic message
Danny Jones
Manchester boxer Tyson Fury has seemingly confirmed he is retiring from boxing once again for the third time?… We’re not even sure at this point.
The Wythenshawe-born juggernaut of the heavyweight division lost consecutive fights for the first time in his career following the defeat in a rematch against Oleksandr Usyk back in December 2024 and, for all intents and purposes, it looks like they may have been his final professional fight.
Having first argued that the judges favoured Usyk in the first fight due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine; Fury once again believed the decision was unfair in the second bout but, either way, he claims that the Riyadh Season showdown was his last appearance in the ring.
Taking to social media on Monday, 13 January, the 36-year-old said he wanted to keep the announcement “short and sweet”, proceeding to announce his retirement from boxing to nearly seven million followers on Instagram along with a somewhat cryptic message for them to take away with them.
If all is to be believed at this point, he seemed pretty positive and nonchalant about the whole thing. He proceeded to state that he’s “loved every single minute” of his career, adding “God bless, everybody and I’ll see you on the other side.”
There wasn’t too much to read into with his caption either, which simply read: “Thanks, it’s been a blast. Thanks to everyone who helped out along the way! Happy New Year. Jesus is king now and forever”.
However, it was the penultimate line with which he signed off that has raised an eyebrow among a lot of those reacting to the news online, as he referenced infamous highwayman and thief, Dick Turpin, who famously wore a mask to conceal his crimes during the 18th century. Interesting indeed.
People online have been speculating plenty around exactly what he might have meant with this mysterious remark but many that it could just be another nod towards the belief that he was ‘robbed’ of a victory in Fury vs Usyk 2, having claimed the latter was given an “early Christmas gift.”
Regardless, plenty are expecting it won’t be long before Fury comes back out of retirement to lace his gloves back the very second the right offer comes in for him to finally fight Anthony Joshua, even if both of them aren’t quite the dominant name they once were when the face-off was first floated.
Most crucially, the general consensus is that Tyson Fury isn’t really retiring because this, of course, isn’t the first time he’s claimed he was calling it a day.
‘The Gypsy King’ famously ‘retired’ for the first first time over a decade ago after the plans for his fight against David Haye fell apart for the second time back in 2013, making the announcement with nothing more than a few dismissive words on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Then, in 2017, we did the dance all over again after a string of teases and ‘pranks’ towards the end of 2016 which culminated in him writing in a since-deleted post: “Been very blessed in my life & career achieve the utmost in boxing, was a epic journey along the way.
“Thanks to all the fans that supported & believed in me along the way. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. THE END.” But it obviously wasn’t the end…
He was back in the ring by 2018 and Fury went on to declare that his 2022 win over Dillian Whyte was his farewell fight before going on to fight Derek Chisora just six months later.
You can see how people have trouble believing that it’s for real, right?
Whether or not he is being serious this time, only time will tell but one thing is for sure is that fans would still love to see him and AJ come up against each other if a fight contract were to materialise after all this time – especially as they both have a point to prove given their recent respective records.
As for Fury, one clip that came back to haunt him in the wake of the rematch against Usyk will remain a lasting memory for many of those who have followed his career from the start to now:
Danny Jones -
10th August 2023 
