Carrick to Calgary

It's that time again, as the Premiership kicks off again at the weekend and the deadline for Big Roy's Fantasy Football League 2005/2006 is fast approaching. So I've been going over the stats, juggling my 40 million pound allowance, checking who's injured or about to transfer abroad or up on a charge and deciding who's going to make the cut and who's yesterday's news. Regular readers will remember that last year's team, the Rocky Mountain Rovers, didn't do too well in their debut year, finishing 24th out of 28 teams largely due to injury and bench-warming. From the ashes of the Rovers will now rise a new team, Athletica Athabasca! And here's the line up:


Stuart Taylor (Aston Villa)
Goalkeeper
1.0 million, 0 points last year


Liam Ridgewell (Aston Villa)
Defender
1.0 million, 0 points last year


Jamie Clapham (Birmingham)
Defender
1.0 million, 37 points last year


Danny Mills (Manchester City)
Defender
1.5 million, 55 points last year


John Terry (Chelsea)
Defender
8 million, 368 points last year


Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Midfielder
8 million, 342 points last year


Kevin Kilbane (Everton)
Midfielder
2 million, 67 points last year


Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Midfielder
6 million, 212 points last year


Thierry Henry (Arsenal)
Striker
8 million, 279 points last year


Henrik Pederson (Bolton)
Striker
2 million, 77 points last year


Daryl Murphy (Sunderland)
Striker
1 million, 0 points last year

As you can tell, the strategy this year is to cough up for some big hitters (Terry, Lampard, Gerrard, Henry) and then fill out the rest of the team with promising newcomers. There's also a bit of an Irish theme, with Ridgewell, Murphy and Kilbane all playing for the Republic.

So here is the formal 4-3-3 line-up:



Up the Athabasca!