Two managers played thirty-eight weeks of fantasy football, won thirty-one games each, scored ninety-three head-to-head points each — and were separated, in the end, by 66.75 fantasy points out of more than nine thousand they scored between them. This is the long version of how that happened, and what happened to everyone else along the way.
The draft, on August 10th, produced a map of the season that turned out to be almost entirely wrong. Alon took Salah first overall; Salah finished below his own round's average. Thato drafted what Jeff's scouting report called a no-doubt top-three squad on paper — Bruno Fernandes fifth, Doku later — and by week four had traded the eventual MVP to Gabe for Matheus Cunha. That deal, barely noticed at the time, decided the championship.
Gabe led at week three and again at week eight, but the early table kept strange company: Besim — who would make zero trades all season — co-led as late as week ten on pure draft strength. By week thirteen the noise had burned off and the two real protagonists, Tony and Gabe, sat level at 30 points. They would barely be separated again.
The middle of the season belonged to Tony. A fourteen-game win streak — the longest of the season by eight — carried him to a six-point lead by week twenty-four, and the race looked close to settled. He was the form team of the league for fifteen different weeks; nobody else managed more than eleven. What the table didn't show was the engine underneath: Tony had traded Haaland away in week six and rebuilt through the waiver wire, the league's best decision-making (+494 DVA) compounding quietly.
Then January opened, and the real Premier League reshuffled the fantasy one: Semenyo and Guehi left for Manchester City, Pascal Gross arrived back in England to become the window signing of the season — claimed by Alon within a week — and the run-in began with Tony six clear and Gabe out of excuses.
Gabe won the run-in. Level by week twenty-eight, ahead — alone — from week thirty for the first time since early October, and he held it for three weeks, then locked with Tony at seventy-eight points after thirty-three, the week Tony put up the season's biggest score (198.75) and its biggest blowout in the same afternoon. From week thirty-three to thirty-eight the two of them were never apart: equal on points every single week, the cumulative chart on the front page collapsing into a single line.
The last gameweek changed nothing and decided everything. Both won. 93–93. The title went to total points scored across thirty-eight weeks — Gabe 4,605.0, Tony 4,538.25 — and the championship was decided by less than two good gameweeks of margin, banked anywhere across ten months. Bruno Fernandes, acquired in week four from the manager who finished eleventh, scored 631.75 of Gabe's points. The trade was the title.
The full season head-to-head ledger — read across a row for that manager's record against each opponent. Green = winning record, red = losing. Sorted by final table position.
| GAB | TON | JEF | ERW | BES | WIL | JOE | AVE | ALO | TAY | THA | OUM | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Gabe | 2-1 | 1-2 | 4-0 | 2-1 | 4-0 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 2-2 | 3-0 | 4-0 | 4-0 | 31-7 | |
| #2 Tony | 1-2 | 3-1 | 2-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 4-0 | 3-0 | 3-1 | 3-1 | 4-0 | 31-7 | |
| #3 Jeff | 2-1 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 3-1 | 1-2 | 3-1 | 2-1 | 2-1 | 3-0 | 21-17 | |
| #4 Erwin | 0-4 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 2-1 | 1-2 | 2-1 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 4-0 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 21-17 | |
| #5 Besim | 1-2 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 3-0 | 2-2 | 3-0 | 3-0 | 21-17 | |
| #6 William | 0-4 | 0-3 | 3-0 | 2-1 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 3-1 | 2-1 | 4-0 | 1-2 | 20-18 | |
| #7 Joe | 0-3 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 2-1 | 2-2 | 3-0 | 2-2 | 2-1 | 2-2 | 18-20 | |
| #8 Avery | 1-2 | 0-4 | 2-1 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 4-0 | 1-2 | 2-1 | 17-21 | |
| #9 Alon | 2-2 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 0-3 | 2-1 | 2-1 | 3-1 | 2-2 | 13-25 | |
| #10 Taylor | 0-3 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 0-4 | 1-2 | 2-1 | 2-1 | 12-26 | |
| #11 Thato | 0-4 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 3-1 | 0-3 | 0-4 | 1-2 | 2-1 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 2-1 | 12-26 | |
| #12 Oumar | 0-4 | 0-4 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 2-1 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 11-27 |
The all-play record scores each manager against all eleven opponents every gameweek (418 games each) — the schedule-proof version of the season. Solid dot = all-play win rate; hollow dot = actual win rate. The gap between them is the schedule's opinion of you, summarised in the luck number (actual wins minus expected wins).
Won the draft's aftermath, not the draft: traded for Bruno in week four and spent the next thirty-four proving it was the move of the season. Champion by 66.75.
A 14-game win streak, the best drafted squad in the league, 31 wins — and the only manager in history to do all that and finish second.
Drafted worst, finished third. Seventy-two waiver bids of pure stubbornness, documented in his own scouting reports.
The draft flopped; the manager didn't. Traded his way to a spine and tinkered his way to fourth.
Co-led the league in week ten with the roster he drafted in August. Made zero trades and started injured players while it slipped to fifth.
One hundred percent sub-setup, league-high lineup changes, the league's best process — and a sixth-place finish to show that process isn't destiny.
Drafted beautifully, then went fishing. Set-and-forget carried him to seventh on autopilot.
The rookie rode the league's luckiest schedule (+4.09 wins above expectation) to eighth and will absolutely tell you it was skill.
Took Salah first overall, reacted faster to team news than anyone — and proved that being the most online manager only gets you ninth.
Faced more points than anyone in the league, lost the heartbreak game of the season, and somehow kept setting good lineups. Tenth, undeservedly.
Drafted a top-three squad on paper — Bruno, Doku — then sold the paper and stopped answering the phone. Eleventh.
An elite draft handed to a manager who never touched it: 81% of his points came from August. The league's great unplayed hand. Twelfth.