FANTASY football has taken on a whole new meaning for Wanderers' fans this season.

Far from being the whipping boys the critics had suggested they would be in the Premiership, they have already knocked Liverpool, Leeds, Arsenal and Manchester United out of their title stride and built a reputation as one of the most formidable sides in the division.

The pundits and the bookies have been made to eat their words while the so-called fantasy football "experts" wish they had been brave enough to include more of them in their line-ups.

It is just as well that the popular feature carried by most of our national newspapers was only ever intended as a fun thing since it's laughable that Michael Ricketts was priced so cheaply when the lists were compiled at the start of the season.

The Daily Telegraph's Fantasy Football list, which puts a ceiling price on strikers of £8m valued the Reebok Rocket at £3.9 million - way down the list. Yet, according to their convoluted calculations, he is currently ranked third with only Thierry Henry and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who would have cost Fantasy team managers £7.7m and £7.8m respectively.

What price Ricketts now?

Never mind the fantasy but if Wanderers were to put the word out that they were prepared to cash in on their top scorer, it not be unreasonable if they slapped a £10m price on his head.

Similarly, if they were to invite bids for Jussi Jaaskelainen, they could almost name their own price. A valuation of £5m would not be out of order, considering his status as one of the best young keepers in the country and the fact that Liverpool paid a combined £11m for Jerzi Dudek and Chris Kirkland.

Yet in Fantasy land the Finland international was priced at just £2.4m - the lowest of the low in the Premiership ranks!

Per Frandsen will always be a popular choice of wise fantasty team "managers" since he scores goals from midfield and takes most of the set-pieces.

Having been modestly priced at £2.6m, he has proved good value for money, accruing 42 fantasy points, which is bettered only by Harry Kewell and Robert Pires and equal to David Beckham.

Gudni Bergsson, modestly priced at £2.6m and taking up only a small slice of the £50m budget allowed by the Telegraph, has racked up 30 points and is one of the best value-for-money defenders around.

In fact, if a "fantasy" manager had picked an all-Wanderers "fantasy" team, he would have been sitting pretty in the "fantasy" league table.

On a par, in fact, with arch-rivals Manchester United!

The highest scoring all-United line-up under the compulsory 4-3-3 formation of Fabien Barthez, Gary Neville, Mikael Silvestre, Laurent Blanc, Ronnie Johnsen, David Beckham, Juan Veron, Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ole Solskjaer has so far earned 300 fantasy points compared to 295 of the highest scoring all-Wanderers team of Jaaskelainen, Anthony Barness, Simon Charlton, Ian Marshall (Mike Whitlow was not in the original lists), Per Frandsen, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan, Michael Ricketts, Dean Holdsworth and Bo Hansen.

Then again, the all-Wanderers fantasy team only cost £29.6m compared with the all-United version which cost £56.5m - £6.5m over the fantasy football budget!

Now isn't that just typical United!