About FPL Blackbox
How It Started...
Back in the 2018/19 season, Az was stuck in a rut. With two thirds of the Fantasy Premier League season gone, he was languishing at around the 500k mark and any dreams of replicating the top 1k finish of the 17/18 campaign were over.
However, after reading the Matthew Syed book "Black Box Thinking", he found new inspiration and decided to start a new podcast called FPL BlackBox, focusing on the mistakes he had made during that season in a bid to learn, improve and help others.
The idea had the desired effect over the final Gameweeksd, as Az managed to climb to a respectable finish of 62k. The podcast was then parked until late in the 2018/19 season and after announcing he was to bring it back for the start of the 2019/20 campaign, it attracted the attention of Mark Sutherns, who had shared the podcast airwaves with Az on Fantasy Football Scout's ScoutCast for several years.
A partnership was proposed and the new, improved version of FPL BlackBox was born.
The aim of FPL BlackBox remains the same, now with two veteran Fantasy Fooball managers seeking to improve their ranks and personal best campaigns, learning from their mistakes and analysing data to make the most informed decisions possible.
Each episode features a plethora of learnings, stats, eye test opinions and discussion around Fantasy Premier League and all things related to it.
Meet FPL Blackbox...
Az discovered Fantasy Football while working at Currys and searching for a way to get into football before University started later that year. His competitiveness drove him to search for "FPL tips" on Google, leading him to find, Fantasy Football Scout, a website created by his now co-host Mark Sutherns. Az's new addiction was born.
Years later, after attending a Fantasy Football Scout meet up, Az struck up a friendship another of the team - Joe (formerly called Jonty) - and was invited onto the Scoutcast – the Fantasy Football Scout Podcast - and he hasn't looked back.
Az loves creating content, having a few beers on stream and challenging Mark on some of his FPL biases. But whatever you do, don't mention Effective Ownership or Analytics.
In a long FPL career, spanning 13 seasons, Az has only finished outside the top 100k on three occasions. He has three top 5k finishes and one top 1k finish on his record.
Mark created the Fantasy Football Scout website in 2008, as his new obsession spilled over into articles and analysis. What followed was an explosion that mirrored the incredible growth of Fantasy Football from that point.
The website grew to become a full-time job and links with the Premier League flourished to the point that Mark became a member of their editorial team, churning out articles on the official site, while maintaining his Fantasy Football Scout business. He also starred along with James Richardson and Jules Breach as the Official Fantasy Premier League TV show was aired.
Inevitably, burnout followed, and in 2018 Mark took the decision to restore a work life balance. He sold up his stake in the business, left his Premier League duties and reverted to playing Fantasy Football for fun, just as it was meant to be back in those early years.
Then, driven by a continuing need to create content, Mark reached out to Az and sent that fateful 2am email.
Mark has ten top 10k FPL finishes on a record that spans back to the 2006/07 season.
Also starring...
Az and Mark have hosted an array of guests over the two seasons so far...
Luke started his love affair with Fantasy Football sometime in the early 2000's, trying his hand at multiple games such as Sun Dream Team, Daily Mail and eventually Fantasy Premier League. The latter, along with Sky Sports Fantasy, is now his main focus.
A regular in the top 100 of the Sky Sports game, he was snapped up by Mark to provide Fantasy Football Scout with content and continues to provide weekly content for the website to this day.
With rank history absent from the Sky Sports game, Luke's style is geared to its ‘winner takes all’ approach, helping him to a 4th placed finish. His record also boasts a 17th spot in Sun and a personal best of 580 in FPL. Luks also won the community led Championship Manager fantasy game in it's first season.
Luke has always shown a love of statistics but is now trying to incorporate a more analytical approach, as he moves with the times. But he's still not afraid of an ‘upside’ maverick pick once in a while, adding a new dimension to FPL Blackbox for the season two run-in.
The 2019/20 FPL Champion, Joshua Bull appears on episode 66.
Suj & James from the tirelessly brilliant Planet FPL appeared on episode 63.
Pras & Sonaldo rank amongst the best newcomers to the FPL content scene and appeared in episode 62.
Fantasy Football Scout's Deputy Editor, Tom Freeman, starred in episode 61.
Andy's "Let's Talk FPL" YouTube channel was given a leg-up by his appearance in episode 60.
Oscar aka FPL Focal was ranked 24th when he made his appearance in episode 59.
A legend of the Fantasy Football Scout Hall of Fame, Jay Eggersdorf appeared in episode 13.
Co-Founder of the Fantasy Football Scout podcast, the ScoutCast, Granville appeared on episode 7.