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Newcastle did win something this season - the Eurosport-Yahoo! Fantasy Football crown.

After a long and hard season, freezefox2005 topped the charts with an incredible haul of 3807.5 points.

The self-confessed Newcastle fan's disappointment at the Magpies' final-day heartbreak on the pitch was tempered by what proved to be a comfortable victory from behind the keyboard.

The team finished a sizeable 116.5 points ahead of nearest rivals EGYPT to better last season's top 14 finish and claim the ultimate prize in fantasy football management.

"I have played this game for more than seven years," freezefox2005 said on the fantasy message board.

"Throughout the years, my target has been to be ranked among the top 50. Fortunately, I achieved that target last year.

"I thought that was to be my limit. I never thought of becoming world champion. So, be at the top, to me, is like having a dream."

A quick look at some of the managerial decisions made over the course of the season highlights the kind of tactics needed to win the game - aspiring managers would do well to take note.

Clearly, the key to success is to avoid missing the transfer deadline and regularly change the team line-up - you don't get points for leaving Owen Hargreaves in your side throughout the course of the season.

Freezefox2005 realised that early on, jettisoning the crocked Hargreaves after the first game week, before going on to base his side around two big name players - Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

That pair featured regularly throughout the season, although freezefox2005 was not afraid to drop either when the moment was right, even if it meant taking a financial hit.

That gutsiness, indeed, confidence was also borne out in the refusal to sign Cristiano Ronaldo until week seven, shattering the myth that the Manchester United winger is an essential ever-present member of a successful team.

Instead it was the likes of Robinho and Jermain Defoe who won much-needed points, along with some astute decisions at the back which saw less obvious names like Ryan Shawcross and John Paintsil rake in the points at various stages of the season.

Ultimately the margin of victory for freezefox2005 was comfortable, but the modest manager refused to take all the credit, instead recognising the need for the odd stroke of fortune and heaping praise on other players of the game.

"Luck is a factor for this success," the champion added. "But perseverance is equally important as I have spent a lot of time on it.

"Of course, the support that I have been tapping into on the forum that I belong to has been very encouraging and fruitful.

"Not only did they provide technical and professional assessment for handling all sorts of adversities, but also their support meant a lot to me when I was confronted with great frustration.

"They were great. It is such a wonderful experience to play with them. It is very important for me to share the joy and happiness with them."

Here is a full rundown of who won the 'fans of' titles for each club:

Newcastle - YOYO@FREEZEFOX 3807.5

Liverpool - EGYPT 3691

Hull - Don2~CUHK 3674.5

Tottenham - F. 3663.5

West Ham - S 3642.5

Chelsea - jc1226_fantasy futbal club 3632.5

Manchester United - FatFox 3629.5

Arsenal - antony 3608.5

Aston Villa - Chairboys 3607

Everton - BFF 3597.5

Wigan - chichi 3555

Stoke - DIXON FC 3554

Manchester City - DOMINIC IS FULOP CRAP 3522.5

Blackburn - E's Team 3521.5

West Brom - Oh So Kewell 3459

Portsmouth - LaughingU 3374

Sunderland - Browners Rehabilitated Downers 3373.5

Fulham - Fantastic Day 3364.5

Bolton - eRiC 3314

Middlesbrough - Italia 2006 3255

Eurosport