Fantasy Premier League managers across the United Kingdom began a coordinated public rehearsal of retirement from the game on Tuesday, marching on supermarkets in eleven cities to demand that defensive contribution points be accepted as legal tender for groceries.
The action, organised by a newly formed group calling itself the Managers' Defence League, follows a season in which defenders have earned points for tackles, interceptions, clearances and blocks at a rate that has left participants feeling personally owed something by the physical world.
«We were told ten defensive actions would be rewarded,» said league spokesman Trevor Baines, reading from a laminated card at a Tesco in Bolton. «Nobody told us the reward would be a number on a screen. We want the number to buy bread.»
At a Sainsbury's in Brighton, managers queued for four hours to present their phones at the deli counter, insisting that Kobbie Mainoo's eight defensive contribution points entitled them to eight slices of ham. Staff declined. The managers then rehearsed their retirements again, more loudly.
By Wednesday the movement had spread to set-piece specialists, who argue that since open-play goals now account for a smaller share of Premier League scoring, corners should be redeemable for petrol. A spokesman for the group said the next phase would involve a sit-in at a petrol station in Brentford, where participants intend to refuse to leave until a Pascal Groß is named after them.