Media Living in a Fantasy World

Last updated : 24 July 2006 By Stuart Gillespie

I'm aware of three competitions: The Daily Record, The Scottish Sun and an online Sun one, at http://www.dreamteamfc.com/fg-dtfc06scot/login.do I'll list the players and their values in their respective sections. The values for the Record will appear as normal, for The Scottish Sun in italics and the online Sun in bold. All values are in millions (yes, really!) Thanks to chico for posting the details of the first two on the web.

GOALKEEPERS

T Bullock - £2m, £0.5m, £0.5m
C Hinchcliffe £0.25m, £0.2m

Understandable, Hinchcliffe is listed as being worth less than Bullock as he hardly played last season. Fair enough. However, he isn't listed at all in the Daily Record one. Mind you, at least The Sun lists him. Spare a thought for Chris Smith, who played for half of last season. For some inexplicable reason, he isn't listed in any of the three.

DEFENDERS

S Balmer £2m
K Broadfoot £2m,
£0.75m, £0.8m
I Maxwell £0.45m, £0.4m
K McGowne £2m, £0.5m, £0.5m
J Potter £2m
A Millen £2m
D van Zanten £2m

So, Maxwell and Balmer only exist in one of them. It may look like van Zanten, Millen and Potter only exist in one too, but that's not the case as I shall demonstrate. And why are all our defenders rated at £2million anyway in the record? van Zanten is a much better value £2million than Balmer, who won't play much.

MIDFIELDERS

I Anderson £2m
G Brady £2m,
£0.4m
R Brittain £2.5m, £
0.75m, £0.8m
S Lappin £2m, £0.75m, £0.8m
A Millen £0.4m, £0.4m
H Murray £2m,
£0.65m, £0.6m
J Potter £0.5m, £0.5m
M Reilly £0.4m
D van Zanten
£0.4m, £0.4m

So, only the Record lists Anderson, whilst one of The Sun ones (but strangely not both) misses out Brady. However, the two stupidest errors are the inclusion of Mark Reilly, who retired, and the idiots at The Sun who have suddenly decided that Potter (or, to give him his full name from the online Sun one, John-Paul Potter) is a midfielder. I can accept van Zanten and Millen being listed as midfielders, but where they got the idea from that Potter is a midfielder is a mystery.

FORWARDS

J Baird £0.3m, £0.3m
A Burke £2m
M Corcoran £2m,
£0.5m, £0.5m
S Kean £2m, £0.65m, £0.6m
B McGinty £0.5m, £0.5m
D McKenna £0.35m, £0.4m
B Mehmet £2m, £0.4m, £0.4m
A Reid £2m, £0.35m, £0.4m
J Sutton £2m, £0.75m, £0.8m

Now, Alan Reid has played in a variety of positions for us since signing, but not once as a striker. Obviously all three games seem to think he is one. And why is McGinty valued more highly than Mehmet?

It's not just ourselves that are the subject of these errors, I happened to notice in the online Sun one that Rangers are missing Nacho Novo (unless he is a defender).

How difficult is it to put together an accurate squad list for an SPL club? They all have websites with fairly extensive squad lists, is it too much to ask that the makers of these fantasy games actually look at them to make sure the lists are accurate?

Some of the omissions and mistakes are simply baffling, and sadly not one mistake can be used to anyone's advantage. Shame.