Dear All,

 

Yes, believe it or not another DITB season has come to an end and it’s time to announce the winners and losers of another hard fought campaign.

 

Let’s begin where it matters... the DITB Premier League.

 

DITB PREMIER LEAGUE

 

Believe it or not, The Professor’s Golden Generation has lifted a record FOURTH Premier League title – making him the undisputed FF king (or should be that the undisputed f**king FF king!!!).

 

Yes Brother Molloy ran him close for most of the season put couldn’t stop another powerhouse performance from Brother Festraerts who finished almost 100 points clear of Harpic in second place.

 

I’m sure I speak on behalf of all FF managers when I extend my congratulations to Kurt who will lift the famous DITB trophy and £200 at the AGP in the Errigle Inn this Saturday. 

 

Brother Molloy will lift £150 for steering Harpic Amsterdam to second place – while another good season for Diaby Does Dallas will see Brother Brogan receive £75 for claiming the third Champions League spot.

Probably the Best and Vuvuzola FC qualify for the Europa League and receive £25 each.

 

Well done to our top five managers.

 

 

Believe it or not, defending champion The Grapes missed out on Europe by a single point, with not one but TWO red cards on the final day of the season. 

 

The less said about that the better.  Completing our top ten this year are Maclacticos, Minus Three FC, Gazza’s Piping Hots and Prince of Darkness.

 

 

Believe it or not, Brother Shields and Brother Walls, two DITB stalwarts, have been relegated.  No-one could have predicted the demise of the Blue Monkeys and Wallsy’s Warriors in such dramatic fashion but it goes to show that no-one is safe in this league.  They are joined by The Busted Sofas which is less surprising (sorry Brother Donnelly!).

 

For finishing bottom of the pile, Shieldsy will pay a relegation forfeit of £20, while Wallsy in 19^th will pay £15 and Conor D a nice round tenner.

 

Who knows if we’ll ever see any of these managers in the Premiership again.  Such is the price of failure.

 

 

The Johnny Hanna Conference League

The Conference League title was a close-run affair with The Rio Chargers leading the way for most of the season, only to caught and overtaken by Kirbs Crawlers in the home straight.  Both managers will participate in the Premiership next season.

 

Brother Kirby lifts the Dalkon Shield and the top prize of £125 while Brother Jenkins picks up £100 as runner-up.

 

Clinching the third promotion spot this season is Gunning for Glory.  Brother Jones lifts £50 as he joins his brother in the top flight.

Congratulations to all three managers on reaching the promised land and we look forward to seeing how you fare amongst the big boys next season.

 

No surprise that Brother McAvoy finished last with an atrocious score of 979 points and a forfeit of £20 to pay.

 

The Dirty Dubs XI will pay a £15 forfeit for finishing 19^th while another stalwart in Brother Bradley will pay £10 for seeing his Hoof Hearted UTD relegated after a very disappointing season.

  

Shame on you all... the worst teams in the entire DITB League!!!

The DITB FFA Cup

This year's FFA Cup Final was an all-Premiership affair featuring two teams from the top five.

Lifting the trophy, and rounding off a good Season for Brother Molloy, was Harpic Amsterdam with a victory over Probably the Best.

So congratulations again to Brother Molloy who picks up another cash prize of £50.

Unfortunately for Brother Stevenson, winner takes all in this competition.

 

The Honours That No-one Wants

The worst accolades to receive in DITB are the ones that don't carry a prize, whether that be silverware or cash.

However, we will show some respect to the following teams:

Premier League Best Starting XI:  Prince of Darkness (1267) (* last year’s winner scored 1549)

Premier League Golden Boot:  Golden Generation (104 goals)  (* last year's winner scored 131 goals)

Conference League Best Starting XI:  Stickshifter Utd (1356) (* last year’s winner scored 1430)

Conference League Golden Boot:  Kirbs Crawlers (94) (* last year’s winner scored 116 goals) 

As you can see starting line-ups had NO bearing on final position this year – unlike last season.  Golden Boot winners though won their respective leagues also... in other words GOALS MEAN PRIZES!!!!

 

Transfer Excellence

Best use of transfers this season goes to the Brother Brogan whose Diaby Does Dallas improved their starting line-up by a massive 581 points during the season.

Worst use of transfers was Brother McAvoy whose score remained the same throughout. 

 

So he really didn’t use any transfers at all, therefore the worst use of transfers award really goes to Brother Andy McCabe with Joeys Monsters improving their starting line-up by just 45 points.

 

The League of Super Leagues

And finally, the true test of each league's strength in depth is shown by their position in the Telegraph's League of Super Leagues, which is 10,000+ strong.

The DITB Premier League finished in  321^st position overall (261st last year). 

The Conference League finished in 2848^th position overall (2506^th last year). 

As you can see, the gulf between the two leagues is still enormous and the quality speaks for itself.

The Last Word...

So that's it my friends.  It's been another long, tough DITB season. 

 

Congratulations to all our prizewinners and commiserations to our poor relegated friends.

Thanks to everyone for taking part and I look forward to seeing you all at this year's AGP on Saturday – should be a great day with the Champions League final as an added bonus.

You know the drill, if you want your prize money, you'd better make sure that you turn up on the day!!!

There will also be plenty of FF stats from this and previous DITB seasons to peruse.

Until then, and for the last time this season....

READ 'EM AND WEEP!!!!!!!!!!

Michael R.

Diving in the Box FF League Chairman

http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/ 

 

DITB PREMIER LEAGUE:  Final League Table

POS	Manager	Team name	Total points	Week pts	Starting XI pts	Starting XI pos	Goals	Goal Pos	Overall Position
1	Kurt Festraerts	Golden Generation	1738	42	1216	39738	104	737	246
2	Mark Molloy	Harpic Amsterdam	1642	48	1160	70232	77	66064	3882
3	Paul Brogan	Diaby Does Dallas	1631	57	1050	142551	95	5788	5001
4	Mark Stevenson	Probably the Best	1588	51	1208	43585	70	109727	11764
5	Philip Risley	VUVUZOLA FC	1579	26	1255	24267	86	24823	13727
6	Michael Rafferty	The Grapes of Raff	1578	38	1162	69028	90	13761	13962
7	Owen McNally	Maclacticos	1517	51	1053	140728	80	49898	33544
8	Geoff Johnston	Minus Three FC	1506	39	1035	151569	78	60468	38181
9	Gary McDonald	Gazza's Piping Hots	1504	34	1099	110563	71	103407	39069
10	Gavin Sheehy	prince of darkness	1477	26	1267	20422	78	60468	51958
11	Brendan Kelly	FlexysMidniteRunners	1457	34	1128	90997	67	128630	62751
12	Jules Eilledge	True Blue Strikers	1456	89	1174	61864	72	97028	63279
13	John McDermott	Sofa King Watt	1438	50	1044	146264	68	122465	73588
14	Francis Jones	Yer Ma's Athletic	1393	44	1192	51810	72	97028	100390
15	Declan Crudden	Bleedin Red	1385	47	1051	141949	74	84201	105040
16	Brendan Henry	Gulladuff FF	1364	46	1076	125853	67	128630	117185
17	Kevin McCauley	KFC Academical	1359	37	1079	123813	65	140591	119984
18	Conor Donnelly	The Busted Sofas	1344	40	1039	149241	68	122465	128159
19	Conor Walls	Wallsy's Warriors	1342	39	1137	84913	67	128630	129193
20	Brian Shields	The Blue Monkeys	1274	22	1147	78426	69	115992	161703

DITB CONFERENCE LEAGUE:  Final League Table

POS	Manager	Team name	Total points	Week pts	Starting XI pts	Starting XI pos	Goals	Goal Pos	Overall Position
1	Andy Kirby	Kirbs Crawlers	1632	74	1152	75260	94	6995	4894
2	Andrew Jenkins	The Rio Chargers	1606	35	1205	45037	89	16112	8363
3	Barry Jones	Gunning for Glory	1537	43	1056	138772	84	31994	25886
4	Arnold Thom	Inshallah	1500	44	1073	127832	85	28283	40807
5	William Cherry	Cherry United	1452	30	1155	73339	77	66064	65490
6	Gavin Curran	Mattrua	1443	34	872	210608	86	24823	70681
7	Austin McGinley	Boys of Summer	1433	48	964	186341	72	97028	76504
8	Simon Jenkins	Stickshifter United	1422	23	1356	4126	66	134680	83028
9	Conor Nugent	the well hungarians	1414	37	1034	152174	76	71953	87819
10	Christopher Cherry	Jittery Dynamos	1409	50	1090	116572	87	21597	90829
11	Claire McCabe	MiniBabyBelleFC	1394	38	1261	22259	54	194482	99758
12	Andrew McCabe	Joeys Monsters	1377	36	1332	6740	79	55021	109644
13	Simon O'sullivan	HaHa Barca wankasFAF	1375	62	1031	153876	70	109727	110814
13	Barry Corr	bazkinginglory	1375	43	1243	28491	69	115992	110814
15	Brendan Henry	Fullofthepipe	1348	26	1130	89652	67	128630	125955
16	Joseph O'Sullivan	TORRES and co	1346	38	1024	157919	69	115992	127055
17	Joseph O'Sullivan	COOL DUDE ZOO	1333	24	898	205768	67	128630	134021
18	Gareth Bradley	Hoof Hearted UTD	1276	42	985	177614	55	190688	160871
19	Alan McCabe	Dirty Dubs XI	1252	20	957	188899	52	201506	170246
20	Conor Mcavoy	Real Goldfish	979	12	979	180133	57	182371	224507