Episode 9 – ‘Can I make a living from Football Index?’ – Life in lockdown

“Football will come back. We just don’t know when. So, hang tight and carry on”

Welcome to the ninth instalment of the ‘Can I make a living from Football Index?’ series.

This month the net spend bonus came to an end, FI made an announcement (literally their favourite thing in the world) and 2019/20 football seasons have been cancelled in some big leagues around Europe. So, another quiet one…

The Dutch league was the first decent-sized league to say ‘that’s it’ as they ended the 2019/20 season and they also null and voided the whole thing. So, no title for Ajax who were top and no relegation for Alan Pardew and ADO Den Haag, the lucky bast*rd. Although he still got sacked. 😀

This week France declared that there will be no sporting events until September and the media are reporting this means the French 2019/20 season has been cancelled, although I don’t think that decision has actually been officially made. More details may come out soon.

What is does mean though is that the finest players from everyone’s favourite ‘farmer’s league’ will be out of action for a significant amount of time. Plus it gives the impression other nations could be taking the same route soon despite some leagues allowing players to start training.

Bundesliga even came out with a statement saying football will be back in May played behind closed doors and the Premier League have rumours of football potentially being back soon under the same restrictions.

All we can do is sit and wait and see how this plays out. One of the things that is vastly undersold around the Index chat is how out of control we are regarding the players we invest our money into.

It is something I personally have a very strong recognition for, if that is the right word to use, and do mention it here and there. I am very conscious of the fact we have zero say on the players we bet on and take a leap of faith, on a varied scale of risk, with each buy we make. You barely see anyone mention this when they offer you their words of wisdom.

Whether it be an injury, being dropped, a sudden change in position, tactics or manager. We expose our money to all kinds of situations that may occur for which we can do nothing about. Never mind a pandemic which halts football matches in its tracks indefinitely.

We have absolutely no control over this situation and all we can do is work within the product and act sensibly and make sure it’s as solid as it can be for when football comes back. And Football will come back. We just don’t know when. So, hang tight and carry on 😀

Striking Oil!

“I think next month FI need to try and do something that will genuinely get people talking”

Amazingly, many traders have experienced the best month/time they have ever had profit wise on the Index. You see people posting their returns everywhere and their utter joy. It says a lot about the platform that it can still thrive in times this like this.

Someone said, “Index historically proven to do better with no football on…” and you can’t say that isn’t true. It does depend on your strategy, however, and what kind of players you have money invested in. There will be some traders that have had a stinker.

High profile players have seen some big rises over the past few weeks and those traders with lots of shares in them have really felt like they have struck oil. If that is even worth anything these days… 😀

The Sanchos, Rashfords, Haalands, Mbappes of this world have all had their fair share of investment as people put their money into what they know. Young, famous, quality players. PB ability, or perceived lack of, doesn’t seem to really matter in times like this.

Media is still playing its part on a daily basis but it doesn’t quite have the same bait as those double dividends did. 5 places are nice but given its only a 1p payout for 3rd, 4th and 5th this isn’t something traders will specifically invest heavily for. You would think people already have their money set going forward for media takings.

The announcement was tagged as “huge” but I didn’t expect anything special. They extended the 5 places and late deadline as well as bringing back the lowering of matches needed for Gold and Silver days but no one got excited over it.

I think next month FI need to try and do something that will genuinely get people talking and pressing the deposit and/or buy button, as I foresee a very flat month of May coming up.

Since the net spend bonus ending we have already seen the Index flat line. My all-time profit has took a hit over the past week, although this usually happens immediately after one of these offers to be fair.

So, how did I do?

“These numbers are not what I was expecting when I started out on this thing several months ago.”

I finished off the last episode by looking into what I was going to do going forward. I said the following, “In the short term, my focus will be on those media dividend rankings and seeing which players are looking like dominating at any given moment in time.”

I was true to my word and kept most of the players I had bought for the media rankings and added one or two that I felt could also bring in some media dividends, even if for that day or two.

Last month I went through the players I had money in for the foreseeable which were;

Sancho, Pogba*, Gnabry, Coutinho, Bellingham, Havertz, Foden, Depay, Alphonso & Bruno.

I still have all of these players apart from Pogba. I had him on the sale queue as I wasn’t sure what to do with him as his price was going down and down but he could still pick up media divs to cover it.

To my surprise, he sold quite quickly so the deed was done. Pogba was gone. I thought my place in the queue would have been way down the list but never mind. Decision made.

I topped up my total shares in Sancho and Alphonso to 1000 as well as doubling my shares in Depay. I cud sense a bit of a boom happening near the end of last month and at the start of this so took the opportunity.

Some other players I put my money into were;

Rashford, Mbappe, Ferran Torres, Alan Saint-Maximin, Leroy Sane, Ziyech, Azmoun, Onana, van de Beek, Rooney and Dries Mertens. All of these sit at a profit, some more than others.

Other more short term buys were;

Maguire, Ozil, Wan Bissaka, Fred, Partey. Koulibaly, Saul, Telles and Ajer.

All bought, and now sold, for reasons that they were either doing well in the media rankings early doors, so I jumped on for seemingly guaranteed divs, or they had some decent transfer rumours that looked a goer. None of the above short-termers lost money, some made a nice little profit.

All purchases over this past month have been made with the net spend bonus in mind, as mine was reset on the 25th March. I wasn’t planning on actually doing it but I had a decent amount in my account so, in the end, I spent the lot!

Numbers

Speaking of money, I may as well get into how I did over the past month since the last episode. The below is taken from the period between 27th March and 29th April. We haven’t received our all-time profit emails yet but not to worry.

This month profit is up £6,017 from last time out going up to £65,829 in total from £59,812. This is an increase of just over 10%.

This was aided by the net deposit bonus which I took home £1,150. I didn’t max it out but I shall take it. My ATP was actually £66,500 on the day the bonus ended so it has seen a drop during this time.

Being specific to this blog, my ROI from starting out with £6,700 back in August is now at 810%. I have taken out £8,740 over the course of this period and have £52,389 left in the Index.

These numbers are not what I was expecting when I started out on this thing several months ago. 😀

However, I shall make a very strong prediction that next month’s May episode 10 will easily be my least fruitful. I can not see how I will continue these returns given what this past week has been like.

So, what’s next?

I’ve got to be honest, I think it’s gonna be quiet. The German league said it was going to recommence in May but that may now be scrapped. The PL are whispering that they may look to play games behind closed doors but this may come to nothing.

Who knows what is gonna come in the next four months, never mind four weeks. If there are no games to speak of I can’t see me investing much money from my account into players. All I will be doing is holding the ones I want and waiting to strike at the right time.

Listing players is inevitable on the platform but whether they sell or not is another story. FI love an announcement so they may make one in a few weeks to attempt to get things moving if it becomes a tumbleweed town.

One thing I will say is don’t panic and can we refrain from going a bit mental on FI Twitter. I only pop on now and again, as I have the Newcastle potential takeover at the forefront of my attention (please God let this go through) but I have seen a bit of nonsense.

Let’s not lower the tone because you’re bored with lectures or scaremongering. No need. Play the game. Football will be back before you know it…maybe.

(If you somehow haven’t signed up to Football Index yet, you can do so by clicking this link you won’t regret it!)

Follow me on Twitter @GingerPirlo_FI