How did the Sky Fantasy Football top 10 managers make it to the summit of the leaderboard?
That was the question I asked myself as I looked back on the 2021/22 Sky season and how I could improve my game.
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On my way to finishing 53rd last season, I made it into the top 100 with days to spare, thanks to a 54 point haul from Ferran Torres. 
This season, Bruno Guimaraes and his 47 points in Gameweek 36 fired me to the brink of the top 100 and I finished 60th overall. 
Despite good ranks, the top prize of £50,000 was never truly in sight. 
Like fingerprints, no two Sky ranking journeys are the same. There are many variables, such as transfer use and captain choices.
FFStuff &#8211; partner of the Hub &#8211; has a searchable leaderboard, which shows how everyone’s rank changed week to week. 
Ahead of the launch of the Sky game for 2022/23, I’ve looked at the top 10’s graphs to see what stood out. 
See <a href="http://www.ffstuff.co.uk/Sky2122Leaderboard.php">FFStuff</a> to review your own progress. 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/the-transfer-hub">Read more: Sky and fantasy prospects of the key Premier League summer transfers</a></li>
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<div id="attachment_46937" style="width: 1131px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46937" class="wp-image-46937 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Sky-FF-leaderboard.jpg" alt="" width="1121" height="643" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Sky-FF-leaderboard.jpg 1121w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Sky-FF-leaderboard-300x172.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Sky-FF-leaderboard-1024x587.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Sky-FF-leaderboard-768x441.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Sky-FF-leaderboard-610x350.jpg 610w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Sky-FF-leaderboard-1080x619.jpg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 1121px) 100vw, 1121px" />The Sky Fantasy Football leaderboard for 2021/22</div>
<h2>How the Sky Fantasy Football top 10 fared in Gameweek 1</h2>
This year&#8217;s top 10 kicked off with an average starting position of 9,279th. 
This figure &#8211; the mean average &#8211; was affected by starts at either end of the scale. 
While Andrew Wraight (9th) got off to a flyer, ranking 93rd after the first set of fixtures, <a href="https://twitter.com/SimpleGull">Dave Perrins</a> (2nd) started some 40,000 places lower than any of the top 10, beginning his season in 51,993rd. 
By Dave’s own admission, his rank was, well, just that. 
He said: “Gameweek 1 was rank. My team was actually my B team and I’d gone with some alternative picks &#8211; like Mane over Salah &#8211; and my start was so bad I felt I needed to attack to recover. I made two transfers pre-overhaul.
“When you&#8217;re losing, it’s easy to overestimate the need to be different early.”
Using the top 10’s median average as a better indicator, given the wide range of initial ranks, we get a starting rank of 3,354th. 
Opening my campaign in 5,845th, it felt like I had made a solid start. 
<div id="attachment_46693" style="width: 883px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46693" class="wp-image-46693" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Dave-Perrins.jpg" alt="" width="873" height="643" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Dave-Perrins.jpg 751w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Dave-Perrins-300x221.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Dave-Perrins-610x449.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 873px) 100vw, 873px" />Dave Perrins got off to a slow start but soon flew up the ranks</div>
<h2>When did the Sky Fantasy Football top 10 first break into the top 100?</h2>
The top 10 timed their run into the top 100 at vastly varied times. Andrew made it in the very first week, while Cian McKenna (8th) left it until Gameweek 31. 
<a href="https://twitter.com/Calmdown78">Mark Wisdish</a> (1st) first entered the top 100 in Gameweek 13, a week after Dave. <a href="https://twitter.com/fplkernow">Neil Currah</a> (3rd) made it a little later, in Gameweek 22. 
The median entry point was Gameweek 13 and six of the top 10 reached the top 100 well before the halfway stage. 
Even in the worst case, Cian still had 10 gameweeks to climb further up the ranks, while I had half the time. In the end this showed, with my final day centred around whether I could make the top 50, not the top prizes.
<div id="attachment_46697" style="width: 915px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46697" class="wp-image-46697 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Mark-Wisdish-1.jpg" alt="" width="905" height="563" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Mark-Wisdish-1.jpg 905w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Mark-Wisdish-1-300x187.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Mark-Wisdish-1-768x478.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Mark-Wisdish-1-610x379.jpg 610w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Mark-Wisdish-1-400x250.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 905px) 100vw, 905px" />Sky winner Mark Wisdish&#8217;s journey to the top of the leaderboard</div>
<h2>When did the Sky Fantasy Football top 10 first break into the top 10?</h2>
The top 10 again reached that milestone at different stages of the season &#8211; between Gameweek 20 and 41. 
It was Dave who made the first move, arriving in the top 10 in Gameweek 20. He never left.
“I knew I was doing well but I fully expected to fall away as time went on, either through poor decisions or others having more transfers,” he said. 
“I decided to keep trying to be aggressive where I could to press home my advantage as I felt if I went too safe I was just waiting for others to pick me off with their extra moves.
“I started to believe I really had a good chance in the last six weeks or so. I knew I was light on transfers but once I got past that Chelsea run of extra games and there was about three weeks left it started to become even more real. 
“Son over Kane for Spurs’ kind run was easily my best choice of the season for rank rising. Other than that I think I was quite aggressive with transfers around Covid postponements. 
&#8220;I also never skipped a game until very late in the season. That mostly didn’t pay off but did mean I kept the points ticking.”
Eventual winner Mark did not enter the top 10 until Gameweek 34, while <a href="https://twitter.com/fplkernow">Neil</a> made it slightly later, in Gameweek 36. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-46694 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Son-v-Kane.jpg" alt="" width="997" height="805" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Son-v-Kane.jpg 997w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Son-v-Kane-300x242.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Son-v-Kane-768x620.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Son-v-Kane-610x493.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 997px) 100vw, 997px" />
<h4>Early successes</h4>
With the exception of Andrew, none of the top 10 bettered the top three’s performance in this regard. 
One manager who did though was <a href="https://twitter.com/TomP_FF">Tom Powell</a>, who cut Dave’s record in half by reaching the top 10 in week 10. 
Tom held onto the top spot for three weeks, between Gameweek 12 and 14. He hovered around the top 20 up until Gameweek 36, when an absence of transfers saw him slide down the leaderboard. 
Despite this, he finished 150th and was able to take plenty of learnings from his season. 
He said: “I got up to the top 10 through a block Chelsea defence and some differential captain picks &#8211; Chilwell vs Norwich and Rudiger vs Tottenham.
“I began to slide down when I started following the template as I had lower than expected transfers, then with about five weeks left I simply ran out of transfers.
“My advice for people who have a promising start is to carry on playing your own game but make sure you hold off on the transfers as you’ll run out sooner than everyone else.”
<h2>How the Sky Fantasy Football top 10 minimised their mistakes</h2>
My Sky season was a little bit of a roller coaster. I had a few setbacks, including a two-week slide from 326th to 1,052nd by the close of Gameweek 17. 
By Gameweek 19 I had climbed back to 524th, only to slip about 300 places the following week. 
With the exception of Billy Fraser (10th), every top-10 manager confined their biggest rank drops to the first 10 Gameweeks. 
This may be as expected, with the leaderboard tightly bunched up in the early fixture rounds. 
But limiting the setbacks appeared critical to the top 10’s success. Once they made the top 100, seven of them spent less than three gameweeks outside it. 
The three who spent longest outside the top 100 after breaking in were third-placed Neil (Gameweek 27-33), Andrew (Gameweek 2-11) and Billy (Gameweek 17-25).
Neil said: “27-33 was annoying but just a case of being patient. My City players got rested against Norwich. My Liverpool players had the blank and I’d decided to avoid Kilman at second overhaul in favour of Norgaard as I wanted to be able to go 5-3-2 once Chelsea’s defenders came back from the Club World Cup and I didn’t feel Kilman would score enough to justify two transfers to move him to a midfield enabler and then get a premium defender in his spot. 
“It meant giving up points when I had the extra fixtures and skipping a captain day but I was hopeful I could make up those points with transfers down the line.”
<div id="attachment_46695" style="width: 775px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46695" class="wp-image-46695 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Oli-Poole.jpg" alt="" width="765" height="557" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Oli-Poole.jpg 765w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Oli-Poole-300x218.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Oli-Poole-610x444.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 765px) 100vw, 765px" />My team&#8217;s fortunes were up and down</div>
<h4>Conserving transfers</h4>
Neil re-entered the top 100 in Gameweek 34 and was into the top 10 by Gameweek 36. 
Conserving transfers for late-season fixture gains was a major part of his strategy. He used 24 of his 40 changes from Gameweek 30 onwards, although he said a number of his three or four-for-ones were unsuccessful. 
“Strategically I’d say I try to set up with a decent spread of teams early in the season so I have most captains covered and I’m not forced into too many early transfers and then try to use my transfers when we have a better idea of the strengths of the teams and players,” he said.
The lofty heights of the Sky leaderboard were familiar territory for Neil, having finished 18th last season. Again, keeping hold of transfers proved pivotal. 
He added: “I was outside the top 9,000 at the halfway stage but still had 36 transfers left in January if I remember correctly. 
“The three/four-for-ones last season paid off much better and I absolutely flew up the ranks.”
<h2>How a late charge at the Sky title was possible</h2>
<a href="https://twitter.com/Mattie_Dickie75">Matthew Dickie</a> (4th), who finished 16 points shy of first place, showed a late charge at the title was possible. 
He made it into the top 10 in Gameweek 39, at the same time as Cian and Luke Geraghty (5th).
With members of his <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/whatsapp">Hub Sky WhatsApp group</a> cheering him on, he had a shot at claiming the £50,000 on the last day.
Reflecting on the latter stages of his season, he said: “I felt I had an outside chance of hitting the top five where there were prizes and I was only part of one cash league with friends which I had locked up. 
“Top 50 would have been nice but I was happy just to go for broke and it nearly came to fruition. 
“For the run-in I didn’t have Salah, Kane or Van Dijk. I targeted players like Maddison and Richarlison as they had four fixtures remaining at that point when others had two. 
“I had KDB and Matip for large chunks of the season and they really boosted the differential count for me. Indeed if I’d captained KDB against Wolves I would have won the whole thing.
“Ultimately I would just say don’t be scared to trust your intuition &#8211; with Salah for instance after AFCON I felt he was tiring and perhaps mentally not at his peak so took the gamble of taking him out and investing elsewhere.”
<div id="attachment_46696" style="width: 737px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46696" class="wp-image-46696 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Matthew-Dickie.jpg" alt="" width="727" height="539" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Matthew-Dickie.jpg 727w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Matthew-Dickie-300x222.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Matthew-Dickie-610x452.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 727px) 100vw, 727px" />Matthew Dickie had a late charge at the title</div>
<h2>In summary</h2>
As stated early on, there is no magic formula to finishing in the top 10 of Sky Fantasy Football. 
While there were similarities with this year’s best players’ seasons, there were outliers which highlighted how a different strategy could reap rewards.
Timing of transfer use, minimising setbacks and leaving plenty of time to make a move once making it into the top 100 were all helpful in achieving a top finish. 
When it comes to the crunch though, position and personal goals may dictate strategy when deciding whether to stick with the crowd or opt for differential players and captain choices.  
But one thing is for sure. Don’t give up in Gameweek one if you get off to a bad start. Keep plugging away!
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