The Wycombe XI riddle
Gareth Ainsworth and Matt Bloomfield are approached for a Wycombe XI v Wycombe XI match, with the following rules:
- All players selected will be in the best shape they were in while playing for Wycombe.
- GA and MB must captain their respective teams and play.
- GA and MB can only select players they personally managed.
- Each will be assigned one random defender that they played with during their career.
- Each will be assigned one attacking loanee they managed who did not quite fulfill their potential.
- For the other 8 players, each will take turns choosing first, and the other gets to choose a counterpart right afterwards for their team.
- All selections besides the assigned loanees must have been permanently signed for Wycombe at one point under the manager. This means Eze is unavailable.
They find out that the defenders they have been assigned from their playing days are Gary Doherty for GA and Darius Charles for MB. They then find out that the slightly disappointing loanees they have been assigned are Chem Campbell for GA and Dale Taylor for MB.
They then take turns choosing the remaining players, and end up with the teams below. When GA realizes he is going to have Chem Campbell assigned, he decided to choose McCleary as a midfielder for a 10 role and hide Chem out wide (the order below is not the order they chose in - GA chooses McCleary after they have chosen the left backs). When MB realizes he is going to have Dale Taylor, he decided to play him on the right with Lewis Wing in the 10 role.
Which team do you think would win? And for the riddle, what is the hidden significance?
Comments
Honestly, I'd go with a Blooms victory.
Couple of JJ specials feeding into Kone.
Surprised you don't have O'Nein for gaz though.
Are GA and MB also in the best shape they ever were whilst playing for Wycombe, or current shape? (obviously neither have played pro football for a while so perhaps it's moot, but still)
I think on paper an MB win also, but it's hard to factor in the added dark arts piece of GA.
Every player is in the best shape they were in as a Wycombe player, including GA and MB.
Therein lies the riddle!
Haha - I just realized I messed up the riddle anyway. Jordon Obita does not belong in GA's team. Sigh. As you were!
Took me ages to put this together and still messed it up! 😂
The riddle would work if Fred was moved back to a wingback to make up for Obita leaving and Steve Guppy was brought in on the left - except for the fact GA did not coach Guppy.
Okay, seeing as I ballsed it up, I will give what the riddle would have been.
GA's side all played for Wycombe after making at least one Premier League appearance. Mawson and Fred played for us either side, but the rule still holds.
MB's side have not made a single PL appearance between them (yet).
It would have been a great riddle if I had not assumed Obita and McCleary were both in the PL with Reading and glanced at the Wiki saying PL (but no appearances) to confirm, rather than realize Obita started playing regularly the season they dropped to the Champo.
Feel free to fix it and tell your friends. 😂
You type too fast @Shev, I was about to say it had something to do with the clubs the players played for before Wycombe but hadn't quite made the link.
Sorry! Once I had the Obita bit wrong it was all thrown off!
That is a very cool piece of work, well done @Shev. Really enjoyed the construct.
I wondered why Gaz chose Jason McCarthy (not Grimmer or Harriman perhaps?) and Sam Vokes (not Bayo?) and those maybe clues as well?
Yeah, gutted I messed it up! I thought the fact some of these lads only played a game or two in the PL (Allsop, Gape, McCarthy) would put people off the scent.
Interesting fact I never knew till researching this:
Dom Gape made his only PL appearance on 20 December 2014, as an 89th-minute substitute for Southampton.
Jason McCarthy made his only PL appearance 26 December 2014 as an 87th-minute substitute for Southampton.
6 days apart for the same club - what are the odds? They had plenty of time at Wycombe together to reminisce about their few minutes of fame!
I'd gone down a rabbit hole when trying to determine if Luton/Millwall had played in Division 1 (as it was) or the Premier League. By the time I came up for air you'd posted the answer.
As it was I wasn't quite on the right track anyway as I was thinking about the clubs (the players played for) rather than the players themselves (and forgot that McCarthy came from Southampton).
Good game though, good game.
If it was players playing at their career peak Team Ainsworth wins by a country mile, around 4-0. Sam Vokes from the Euro's, Mawson when he was called up for England (Kone wouldn't get a sniff), Ainsworth himself was quality footballer. MB would have to target Campbell as the massive weak link.