1. When the Website Crashed Before Deadline
For seasoned players, the deadline panic is part of the ritual. You tinker, you second-guess, you scroll Twitter until the final second. Then there was that infamous gameweek when millions tried to make last-minute changes only to be greeted with a blank screen. The FPL servers buckled under pressure, locking out managers who were mid-transfer. Imagine having your wildcard strategy implode not because of bad planning, but because you couldn’t log in. Cue outrage, petitions and the kind of meltdown usually reserved for missed penalties.
2. The Mane Triple Captain Disaster
One of the most infamous chip fails in recent memory: Sadio Mané, heavily backed with the triple captain chip during a juicy double gameweek in 2020, limped off injured after just 33 minutes of the first fixture. Managers who had invested weeks of strategy into that move watched in horror as their gamble turned into a two-pointer. Social media erupted. It wasn’t just bad luck; it was a collective tragedy. If you weren’t part of it, you probably remember laughing at those who were.
3. Lundstram: The £4.0m “Defender” Turned Cult Hero
Not all controversies are disasters. Sometimes they’re blessings in disguise. John Lundstram, listed as a defender in the 2019-20 season, actually played a marauding midfield role for Sheffield United. At just £4.0m, he was essentially free money, scoring goals, bagging assists and racking up clean sheets. His ownership skyrocketed and mini-leagues turned into battles of “who captained Lundstram.” Purists called it unfair, but for most managers, it was fantasy football utopia.
4. VAR Meltdowns and Ghost Points
No FPL controversy would be complete without VAR. Goals awarded, then overturned. Assists stripped away because of the faintest deflection. Managers left wondering how a player could score, celebrate and still end up with only two points. One particularly notorious incident saw a Bruno Fernandes penalty retaken, costing millions of managers the assist they’d been awarded seconds earlier. VAR’s arrival was meant to bring clarity, but for FPL it brought chaos.
5. Bench Boosts Gone Wrong
The bench boost chip is supposed to be the secret weapon: play it during a double gameweek and watch the points pile up. Except, as many discovered, that’s not always how it works. Tales abound of managers carefully planning for weeks, only to see their bench of “double fixtures” players return a combined total of four points. Injuries, rotation and plain old bad luck conspired to make the bench boost one of the most divisive chips in the game. It’s not so much a boost as a cruel joke.
6. The Haaland Captaincy Conundrum
Erling Haaland’s arrival in the Premier League brought goals in industrial quantities. By mid-season, his effective ownership as captain was often above 150 percent in the top ranks. This created a paradox: not captaining him was a massive risk, but captaining him meant you weren’t gaining ground when he inevitably scored a brace. FPL Twitter turned into a battlefield of frustrated managers crying about “template boredom,” while others claimed it broke the game entirely. When the best move every week is the same one, controversy is inevitable.
7. When Price Rises Sparked Rage
Price changes have long been a sore point in the FPL community. A single hat-trick could send a player’s value rocketing overnight, punishing anyone who couldn’t make an early transfer. For those without a wildcard, it felt like financial chaos, with managers priced out of their carefully planned moves. More recently, algorithm-driven price changes sparked debate about fairness and transparency. It’s part economics, part luck and part rage-fuelled guessing game.
8. Fantasy Leaks and Insider Info
In recent seasons, another controversy hit headlines when fans noticed that official club accounts and even players’ families were giving away team news before kick-off. Transfers made in official “player leagues” were scrutinized, leading to accusations of unfair advantage. The Premier League eventually clamped down, but the saga showed how razor-thin the margins are in a game where millions chase every single point.
More Than Just A Game
For all the uproar, FPL thrives on its controversies. They fuel debates in pubs, WhatsApp groups and across Twitter. They make the highs euphoric and the lows unforgettable. Whether it’s a triple captain disaster, a VAR nightmare, or the next John Lundstram, the chaos is part of the allure. After all, fantasy football is not just about stats and spreadsheets... It’s about the unpredictable drama that mirrors the sport itself.
In that sense, it’s not unlike taking a chance on the turn of a card. Sometimes you draw aces, sometimes you bust, but it’s the thrill of the gamble that keeps millions coming back each season. The controversies, far from ruining the game, make it the endlessly addictive spectacle it has become.