Fantasy Football League reboot an antidote to the fury and death threats of modern football
Who gets to make jokes about football now? Increasingly the answer is ex-pros and ex-pros only. The Premier League has never been bigger but its coverage is narrowing in tone, becoming ever-more respectful. As such there are few significant YouTube channels or TV and radio programmes dedicated to taking the mickey.
Of course poking fun has not gone away, it has just become more personalised. The sort of levity we used to find on terrestrial TV now happens in WhatsApp groups, on podcasts or social media meme accounts. What this leads to is supposed fan-focused programming that is just as credulous and cagey as official club websites. Say something snide to a modest audience about a specific club, player or manager and actual death threats are rarely far away.
This is the climate for the second series of the rebooted Fantasy Football League (FFL) on Sky Max, with Frank Skinner and David Baddiel’s old sofa now occupied by Elis James and Matt Lucas. Like its fellow 1990s revival Gladiators, the set looks geometrically identical to its predecessor. Yet being broadcast by a company which relies so heavily on Premier League football does not suggest optimal conditions for biting satire.
A Traitors skit began the show with impersonations of fluctuating quality. Mikel Arteta, Gareth Southgate, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson, Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish and Jürgen Klopp, so no pulled punches with who is being targeted. But the biggest send-up was Lucas Tango’d up to look like Claudia Winkleman, whose online fanbase is surely large but hopefully not deranged enough to send bullets in the post.
Some reticence is understandable after James’ series one impression of Steve Cooper led to Sky Sports apologising to Nottingham Forest. But in an era of minimising offence, why has a show like FFL been re-awakened? A recognisable brand should help to engage an online audience but even with it some special sauce is still required. One extract from this week’s show, a lighthearted ribbing of a muted crowd reaction for Gary Neville, is billed on YouTube as “Gary Neville SLAMMED By Matt Lucas & Elis James” and a fire emoji. Clickety click.
But there is so much to like here which does not require sexed-up video titles. James is not one of the many charismatic stand-ups who falters as a TV host, bringing genuine warmth. Lucas delivers several unexpected zingers and Andrew Mensah is a significant upgrade in the Statto role. Angus Loughran was used mostly as a punchline in the 90s, Mensah is far more involved and spiky, comparing an overblown video for Ivan Toney’s return to “how we greet someone when they come out of prison in the ends”.
The generational charisma of Skinner and Baddiel is absent, but there is still life in humorous analysis of the week’s stories and well-researched clips that even the most completist football viewer will have missed. Guest Michael Sheen reading a Crystal Palace protest banner as a rousing speech is a great bit. Phoenix From The Flames with Jermain Defoe is, ironically, a faithful recreation of the original segment and as fun as ever.
One way the new incarnation differs is in its persistence with the actual Fantasy Football element, largely abandoned after the early years of the original. Sheen and Mo Gilligan talked through their teams which felt like a needless diversion. This may be the incursion of a personal view, that Fantasy Football is a tool of the devil.
The mind can play tricks about old telly. A 30-year-old episode from the second series of the show’s original run is on YouTube. Its tone is almost identical to the new era, but by modern standards the pace is glacial. Within five minutes Skinner had made a regrettable joke about Justin Fashanu.
The world has moved on, which means the revived FFL can never fill the void of its predecessor. But look around, or up and down your electronic programme guide. The landscape of football on TV is seriously lacking in wit. Be thankful there is still a place for one cheeky tonic.
