After a tense and exciting final day in the Premier League, the 2020/21 Holmesdaleship FPL season also drew to a close on Sunday in equally dramatic style.

With just four points separating the top six teams in the league heading into the final quarter of the season, the title was anyone’s. Pingu picks, WhereuplayWilf’ollow, FFS Roy!, Glad All Over, Hodge Sparra and Fodder led the charge, with KinOurSouls FC – who had occupied second spot early in the new year – in close attendance.

By Sunday’s final round of fixtures though, just two contenders remained in the hunt for the title, with Pingu picks leading the way on 77 points from FFS Roy! In second with 75. FFS Roy! faced what looked on paper like a straightforward home fixture against last-placed Mykonos PD, but were looking for VinceHilaire’sLads to do them a favour with the mid-table outfit entertaining table-topping Pingu picks.

At the end of an eventful season, it fell to Liverpool defender Nathaniel Phillips to deliver the final knockout blow. Selected for both FFS Roy! and VinceHilaire’sLads, the six FPL points he earned against Crystal Palace proved crucial as the former scraped by Mykonos PD by a score of 58-56 while the latter ended Pingu picks’ title ambitions with a 58-53 victory. The results saw FFS Roy! leapfrog Pingu picks at the death to claim the title by a single point, finishing the season with a very commendable 78 points.

Not only that, but the exceptional Gameweek points total of 2410 won by FFS Roy! is a new Holmesdaleship record, eclipsing the old mark set by the outstanding EppingForest Rangers last season by, you guessed it, six points! A superb effort from FFS Roy! to win the league with the highest GW points total we have ever seen. Kudos to you, FFS Roy!!

Commiserations to Pingu picks, who was there or thereabouts for much of the season and desperately unfortunate to miss out on top spot at the end. An outstanding FPL performance from you nonetheless, with a superb 2311 GW points. Glad All Over (75), Fodder (73), WhereuplayWilf’ollow (72) and Hodge Sparra (70) rounded out the top six places with excellent 70+ point seasons.

A special mention goes to Fodder, whose score of 131 in GW 35 was the highest of the season. You certainly picked a good week to triple captain Man Utd’s Bruno Fernandes and net yourself 57 points! A superb display from both Bruno and you.

There were strong performances throughout from many teams this year, with 13 reaching the 2000 point plateau. Of those, eight scored over 2100 while two others, Pingu picks (2311) and Hodge Sparra (2330) scored over 2300, in addition to FFS Roy! who topped the 2400 mark with 2410.

The 20 teams in the league combined for a total of 40897 GW points this season, which is an average of 2043 each and a weekly average of 53.77 per FPL team. For the league to average more than 2000 GW points per team over the course of the season and over 50 per week shows a good level of effort and consistency that you can all be proud of, so well done everybody.

As always, half the fun of FPL is seeing the array of team names people have come up with, and there was a good variety once again in this year’s Holmesdaleship with a number making their debut. My own favourites included Armitage Shanks, Crystal Phallus FC, FFS Roy!, Pierrick Victory, Sherlock Holmesdale, Werner Bros and the classic WhereuplayWilf’ollow, but I think the best one for me was Mykonos PD. Original, topical and a bit of a slow burner (for me, anyway!). A name that brings a smile to the face is always appreciated.

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all those who took part in the league this year. However well you performed, I hope you enjoyed playing along, especially if this was your first time. You will all be welcome to join again next season, so please keep an eye out for details when they become available over the summer. Once again, places will be limited, so be sure not to miss out!

Finally, congratulations to the Holmesdaleship 2020/21 champion, FFS Roy!! Your outstanding performance with a new GW points record of 2410 makes you a most worthy winner. Very well played indeed!

Cheers, everyone.