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Wednesday, 06 August 2008 13:30

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all characters featured in this website are purely fictitious and any similarities to any persons currently living or not is purely co-incidental.....honest!
 

AUCTION DATE HISTORY
1998 World Cup - no date on record
1998 Premiership - no date on record
Sunday 11th July 1999
Tuesday 6th June 2000 (Euro 2000)
Wednesday 26th July 2000
Sunday 12th August 2001
Saturday 25th May 2002 (on-line, World Cup 2002)
Friday 8th August 2003
Saturday 5th June 2004 (Euro 2004)
Friday 6th August 2004
Friday 5th August 2005
Sunday 6th August 2006
Sunday 22nd July 2007
Sunday 4th August 2008

THE HISTORY OF GALA PREMIER - updated 2007
1996 - and Ian Lord ?
It all began in the summer of 1996. Just a couple of weeks after England had lost on penalties to Germany again, Gala Harpurhey embarked on its Fantasy League pastime.
For the first season, we used the Sun Newspaper's "Dream Team" competition, but played the system where everyone could theoretically chose the same team. Everyone had Merson, for instance. The cost to play was 50p per week. The league was won by Ian Lord (not Steve's brother). His side called "Mickey Mousers XI" overcame a massive deficit to Mike Red's Aardvark United on the final day of the season to clinch the title. Ian then left the North West and despite inviting him to play again every year since, he has never ever defended his title. Ian, hailing from Liverpool, went on to become General Manager of Gala's Leamington Spa club (known as 'eamington 'pa), but left in the spring of 2001 to travel the world in a caravan . . . (eh?). He has since re-emerged and is now assistant manager of Gala's club in Burnley where he lives with his wife and two girls (I think that's right!)
The Sun is Shit
The 1997-98 season saw the same scoring system, but a mini-auction was introduced. Mike the Red had seen Neil Redfearn playing for Oldham a couple of seasons before he moved to Barnsley and knew that he was going to be the star of the show and promptly bought him for £0.1 million. Bracken stormed the championship by some 200 points due to the Sun's incredibly stupid scoring system. The cost to play that year went up to £1 per week. In the summer of '98, our first international contest was introduced, France 98. This was where Thom made his debut in Fantasy League and won it convincingly at the tender age of 17. 
"I want Shearer . . . I go home"
Rafik Kallel (Raf) produced a classic FL moment at the 98 World Cup auction for which his native Tunisia qualified. He completely misunderstood what it was all about. He came to the auction and said "I want Shearer". Several people then explained the rules in pigeon English, to which he said "I go home". 
Mike the Blue - the start of a legend
But the France 98 auction was also the debut of the undoubted star of FL, Mr. Michael "Blue" Ryan. This was the auction where he outbid himself for a player. We only wish we knew which player it was. The enigma was born. The 98-99 season saw the introduction of night-time piss up auctions and the current www.fantasyleague.com scoring system. Glenn's Deadly Dynamos put in an Arsenal or Man United style run from January to win the league at a canter in the end. Mike Red's early presentation of the trophy and champagne in March did not go down well, but in the end proved correct. Glenn and Mrs Glenn were the only ones who weren't pissed at the auction, incidentally. The last auction of the millennium was another night-time gig, with our first foreign players joining the fray - Steve Helsdown and Rob Norman. Rob put up a great show including the best ever month by a FL manager, 8th in the country during October 1999. But the star of the show was Richard Sammons, who we think remained sober at the auction and won the league by 80 points.
Blue is about to win Euro 2000 - until up popped Wiltord!
We moved on to Euro 2000, a scaled down auction which still ran in the early hours of the morning. Blue put in another sensational auction performance, this time bidding lower than a bid in the room at the time. "Thom's got Seaman" was another great Blue accidental quote. The league became a three horse race on the final day, with Blue coming within moments of winning the whole thing. But unfortunately (and fortunately for the other managers) an injury time goal for France in the final dashed his hopes and the title went to Rich.
The 2000-01 season proved to be the closest in history, with as many as 6 (six) teams still in contention at Easter. History was also made as we saw the first ever team to win the league for the second time. Richard and John's Scum TV just held off perennial bridesmaids, Aardvark United and Aardvark City to win back-to-back championships. Mike the Blue had promised a "top three" finish to the rest of the league at the auction. He finished 10th and last.
Dave Mc wins one.
Dave McCarrick had travelled hundreds of miles to attend the auction for 2001-02. He had moved down to Lee Valley Ice Rink somewhere in London (Lee Valley, probably) but the piss was taken out of him once again. However he made 4.2 million transfers and spend £5,000 on phone calls to ensure success, just pipping Steve Helsdown to the title.
The 2002 World Cup was a disastrous event for the Fantasy League as only 3 (three) people turned up on-line to participate in the auction. The league still went ahead and Steve Helsdown added his name to the list of winners with a comfortable if boring victory.
They think it's all over.
Lack of interest, lack of time on the chairman's part and lack of players contributed to what seemed to be the end of the league in 2002-03 when there was no competition held. Strangely enough, had there been a contest it would have been held without anyone working at Harpurhey club playing. Everyone had left for one reason or another. 
Return of the league
As the protagonists endured a leagueless 02-03, realising that watching Aston Villa v Charlton without having interest whatsoever inspired a few of them to get the ball re-rolling for the 03-04 season. The prospect of a Thom having Seaman again returned in August 2003.
Although Blue wasn't able to attend the auction, he sent his assistant manager, Jimmy "Sid Little" Hibbert. Blue conspired to finish in the bottom three after temporarily leading at the end of August. A couple of new players - Bernard McGuinness and Ian "Ian" Hall joined the fray and Bernard began to make the early running for the title. At the end of October he held an 18 point lead at the top. Where did he finish? Bottom!
New Name on the Trophy
Rob Norman became the new champion in the 2003-04 season, by putting in a storming run during April after an otherwise close race with Mssrs Helsdown, Davies and Hall all being in contention towards the end. It was a comfortable margin in the end, with Sir Stephen Helsdown, the World Cup holder, becoming the Premiership bridesmaid again finishing runner-up for the second successive time.
Euro 2004
The Euro 2004 fantasy league produced a result even less likely than the real tournament. Greece may have shocked the footballing world by beating everyone and winning the championship, but a team that cost absolutely nothing picked from the dregs of society managed to beat off the teams with all the big names, big players and big money deals to clinch an even more remarkable title.
Glenn Davies was unable to attend the actual auction and decided to pick a team from the left-over players (77 players had already been picked by the other managers). OFFANT set a rule before the tournament that this "Horse Swank" team couldn't be entitled to any financial reward for winning the league. It has however ruled that the manager of Horse Swank FC should be entitled to receive the medal for this magnificent achievement.
Dave returns home and takes the title with him
The 04-05 season saw Dave McCarrick move back to Manchester and a strategy of doing hundreds of transfers in a season saw him join Richard in the elite list (of two) managers to have won the title for the 2nd time.
Closest-ever title race ends with the 7th name on the trophy
After the closest ever title race, the name "Norman" was engraved on the title for the 2nd time in 3 years - but this time it was Rob's brother Phil who claimed the title which went right down to the wire. Although overall the season was dull in that it was a two-horse race from Christmas onwards. However, at 4.35pm on the final day of the season the gap was just 1 point between Phil and "Mad" Mike Bracken - who set another record for being the most bridesmaid manager ever on his 3rd runner-up medal.
The End of Summer Auctions?
The 2006 World Cup auction was scrapped at the last minute due to lack of interest. There was potentially just 6 (six) managers prepared to turn up for the summer event and therefore we changed to a newspaper style competition using the fantasy league rules. This proved so popular (with £65 prize fund) that it appears this will be the way all future international competitions are run. Its a shame as a piss-up is missed!
Stop The Piss-taking, Blue wins something
After years of derision, piss-taking and general all-round banter, Mike "the Blue" Ryan finally got on the scoreboard by winning the World Cup. Perhaps the lack of pressure at an auction helped him concentrate on picking a decent team for once as he went top after the semi-finals and held on by 3 points for his first taste of Gala glory.
Auction leaves its spiritual home
On the league's 10th anniversary, the auction finally moved out of its spiritual home in Manchester as the protagonists went to Southport but it became one of the most one-sided processions in the history of the league as Dave McCarrick became the first manager to win the title three times.
Davies ends 9 year wait
In 2008, Glenn Davies - now 42, won his second league championship having led for virtually the entire season. His 9 (nine) year wait for the title was ended despite many mind games from the press. Glenn was once again 12/1 to win the league at the start of the season. He also added the Euro 2008 title to his collection.