Proper Fantasy Football

They were halcyon days, the early nineties. You could settle down to watch Football Focus with your banana and crisp sandwich, safe in the knowledge that there was no chance of Garth Crooks looking into the lens and offering one of his life-sapping ‘insights’ into the game. When it came to Match of the Day, the likes of Lee Dixon, Alan Shearer and Gavin Peacock were exactly where they belonged - on the pitch.

You knew exactly where you stood with the footballers of the day - Rafatation was unheard of. Premiership teams were full of strikers who would play 42 games and get goalscoring chances in every one, backed up by proper defenders, who loved nothing more then to clout the ball out of play. Mark Stein, Efan Ekoku, Graham Stuart, Jon Newsome, Tony Gale - little spoken of these days, but these names are the foundations upon which the early Fantasy Football teams were built.

Of course, in those days, even the likes of Uri Geller and Basil Brush had a Fantasy Football team, thanks to the inspired work of Frank Skinner and David Baddiel. Lest we forget, here is a clip from the greatest football show of all time, Fantasy Football League, this clip featuring England’s finest footballer of the era singing a power ballad. They don’t make ‘em like this any more. Peter Beardsley, we salute you.

Andy @ YTM