24 May 2013

Gameweek 38 - Auf Wiedersehen

Few would hardly have predicted, without batting an eyelid, the sheer temerity with which the final gameweek of the season would ultimately pan out. A gameweek that ultimately served to remind gaffers that no amount of overt scheming could stand in the way of the inherent unpredictability of the final day. The mass hysteria was all evident pre-gameweek as managers stocked up on the likely lads – Sturridge, fresh off a hat-trick was overwhelmingly mooted to single-handedly piece apart QPR, Michu vs. Fulham, City’s defence fancied for a points bonanza against Norwich’s impotent attack. Such was the grandeur. What transpired on the material gameweek was a cacophony of blanks, benched points and swear words as managers struggled to cope with the incredulity and the oh-so-familiar pang of missed opportunity.

Fast forward Tuesday and mini-leagues are all but settled. The overall picture as pertains to the League of Failures remains largely the same save for a little movement. Joel Drake, who set a league high score of 74 for the gameweek, marauded past Ezy Jones into 18th place. By the same token, Ezy went a place up, eclipsing Elly Konsheezy to 19th overall. TeamNdiezy’s Dan Rogony overtook Cindy Oronga, as had been predicted last week, to 23rd place, thereby consigning Cindy to last place. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things considering she entered the fray rather late. Further afield, in amongst the rarefied air of the top 4, Andrew Orina held down the gauntlet to nail the Championship. A modest 59 point return was enough to see off Benchwarmers FC’s challenge and in the process set a league yardstick with 1543 points garnered for the season. A hearty doff of our collective cap from all of us here at LoF towers to the Champion, Mr Andrew Orina.

Elsewhere, Onesmus Nderitu did well to pip Alex Baraka into 2nd place. An 11-point difference was all that separated the perennial ever-presents in the end, both recording 52 points on the final gameweek. Not so far off was Benson Musa and his Al Shabaabian unit whose fine fettle had been the talk of the town the week before. Seemingly well poised to gazump Baraka into 3rd, Ben’s fortunes wilted at the crucial moment as a poor captaincy decision saw him resigned to a 44 point haul – not good enough on the day. He will be left to rue a missed opportunity, as will USB Eindhoven manager, Dennis Kigen. Kigen who bookmakers had, in the most hushed of tones, mooted as having an outside chance at 4th place saw his dreams vanish into thin air as a poor points return (46) saw him resigned to 5th – a rather Spursy ending to what had been a tumultuous term for the seasoned campaigner. Eric Njagi came in at sixth place to round off a very decent campaign which had seen the lawman come as high as fourth at a point. At 7th was Sheila Minayo whose 1319 point haul for the season will do well to mask the disappointment that this season had been for the one time number 4. The latter part of the season had seen Sheila’s Django FC gradually slide down the standings until quite recently when she took steps to arrest the decline. Eric Muiruri guided his The Baddest United team to a strong 8th place finish, followed closely by ex-doyen Allan Kisanya on 9th place with 1202 points. Dennis Korir nailed 11th, him and Allan Anyona rounding off the 1000 points club. Felicitations to Allan Anyona in particular (yes, he may have put me up to this). Deutschland correspondent Herr Fabian Ntabo came 13th, Amos Sitati 14th and Peter Bahati 15th. Douglas Odipo’s Daggymyama nabbed 16th, followed from afar by Hillary Egesa at 17th.

The future is certainly bright for the LoF. Manager numbers have seen an exponential boost over the season, maxing at 21 from the initial 6. With that, the league has seen an increase in its competitiveness as well, evidenced by the tight photo-finishes at the tail-end of the season. Newfangled initiatives set up this season stand to grow from strength to strength – the Money League in particular received a fantastic reception in its debut season.

That’s about the size of it then,

Echte Liebe dear LoFers, keep calm and support Borussia Dortmund,

- denniskig at 20:32