Here’s our 3rd FPL manager interviews articles with new FFGeek contributor Rick Porter. Rick’s last 3 seasons have seen him finish with incredible overall ranks of 1k, 30k and 2k. Here he talks about his strategy for playing FPL as well as showing his latest draft team.
FPL manager interviews – Rick Porter who finished the last 3 seasons 1k, 30k and 2k OR.
Get additional content in the form of Podcasts, an interactive transfer and points prediction tool, 4 £50 prize leagues for the first 160 joiners and a Slack channel for discussion with members and contributors in our Patreon site. The first $3 monthly payment gets you in the prize leagues and Slack channel for the season.
See also interviews with Kev from Canada and Andrew Whitfield
There’s also contributor draft teams part 1 and part 2
Hi Rick, thanks for taking the time to do an interview, firstly tell us a bit about yourself?
Firstly, it’s great to be involved with the site. The articles and stats offered here have helped me out no end over the years, and I’m pleased to have the opportunity to give something back – even if it’s just some strung-together wordage that might prod someone in the right direction when a 50/50 choice presents itself.
There’s not much to know about me, really. I live in York, I work in publishing, and I have a young son who my wife and I have somehow kept alive long enough for him to soon be hitting his first birthday.
How long have you been playing FPL, how did you get into it and what is your motivation?
This will be my 8th year competing in FPL, though the first couple of years were all about finding my feet. If I’m honest, the word ‘competing’ suggests a level of competency that I simply didn’t possess in the early years.
Every office I’ve worked in has had a mini-league that dominated after-work drinks chatter for the majority of the year so, after listening to the banter for too long without being involved, I decided to give it a go. My football knowledge was limited and what I did know didn’t help with FPL, so it didn’t go great.
My main motivation has always been about placing well in work and friend mini-leagues. Money is nice, bragging rights are better, and I see an FPL rank as something that should directly correlate with the amount of trash talk you’re allowed to dispense.
Let’s see your rank history.
Incredible last 3 seasons
What is your FPL playing strategy?
I have a fairly organic strategy that shifts depending on what I’m trying to achieve at any given point. There are times to be aggressive and times to shield yourself, and the trick is to be able to spot when it’s the best time for each.
With transfers, I’m as patient as I can afford to be. Where possible, I’ll always wait until the press conferences – that’s just common sense. If a player’s due to rise in price and I’m already sold on him then I’ll make the transfer early. While team value isn’t everything, it’s definitely something. At some point, you’re going to want an in-form player and your ability to afford him with a single free transfer will come down to the value you have or haven’t let slip.
I take point hits reluctantly, though sometimes they just make sense. 4 points is, ultimately, a small price to pay to protect yourself against a highly owned player with a plum fixture who is likely to be a popular captain choice – especially if you have an injured or banned player to offload as well.
My chip strategy is fairly standard. I usually use the first Wildcard early to ensure I have the clear bargain players, any possible rising stars and the key heavy hitters before prices rise too much. The other chips are then on hold until the double and blank weeks reveal themselves. That’s not to say I won’t use them before if required – they are there to help you out of tough situations, after all – but each one you burn before the blanks means more planning is required to manoeuvre your way through them. Eventually, if you use them all, then the doubles and blanks become less about opportunity and more about survival.
Ultimately, I think the best strategy is to watch as much football as you can. You need to spot the players who are likely to start scoring points and get them into your team. Gut instinct certainly plays a role, and your belly becomes more accurate with extended exposure to the game. Once a player’s already pulling in the big points, a hasty transfer in is nothing more than damage limitation. It’s an important move, but it won’t win you any prizes.
Do you have a latest draft FPL team?
Here’s my latest draft. It hasn’t changed since my last article. I do keep switching Ederson to Ryan/Pickford to free up a little cash for overall enhancements, but I always end up with him back in goal.
This is probably because I’m keen to have the most expensive option in each area of the pitch at the start of the season. Not only will they be highly owned and have the potential to score big early on, but it means you have a direct way of transferring in absolutely any player you want to. If you opt for Kane and he limps off with an injury while Aguero is scoring for fun, you’ll need to find £1m from somewhere to fund the upgrade. Unless you plan on keeping cash in the bank, that’s not the easiest thing to do.
Do you play any other formats of the game or other fantasy sports?
Unfortunately no, I have to scratch around to find the time for FPL nowadays.
Your best and worst FPL moment?
In 2015 I was visiting a friend in London. We were in Leicester Square and it was predictably horrible so we chose to jump on the tube and headed to an area that had fewer people/pigeons/human statues. There was no signal on the tube so we entered into a mystery period of the Man City match that was currently being played. On arrival at our destination I checked the score to find that Aguero – my captain – had put 5 goals away.
My worst is selecting Kane as TC for a double gameweek right after he got back-to-back hat tricks in December 2017. He missed one match completely then barely showed up for the other. I had nobody to blame but myself. He was flagged as injured but I took a punt as there were conflicting reports about his return.
Your favourite and nightmare FPL player?
Aguero has been a hero for me on many occasions and I’ve owned him for a numerous hat tricks over the years. He’ll almost always be in my team if fit.
The player that’s probably let me down most is Lukaku. He has a habit of doing great when he isn’t in my team then stalling when he is. Fortunately, it’s quite easy not to own him nowadays.
Get additional content in the form of Podcasts, an interactive transfer and points prediction tool, 4 £50 prize leagues for the first 160 joiners and a Slack channel for discussion with members and contributors in our Patreon site. The first $3 monthly payment gets you in the prize leagues and Slack channel for the season.
Other articles
See also interviews with Kev from Canada and Andrew Whitfield
There’s also FFGeek contributor draft teams part 1 and part 2
FFGeek FPL league code
Here’s our FPL league code:
fnqq66
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