Starting without Haaland, wasted Boosters & Newcastle gems: How last season’s Dream Team winner banked £60,000 jackpot

ALL Dream Team managers fantasise about winning the jackpot but only a select few know what it’s actually like to finish top of the leaderboard. Paul Taylor joined this elite group at the end of the 2025/26 campaign when he racked up his 4,199th point to bank the £60,000 top prize. PLAY DREAM TEAM VIA WEB NOW — COMING TO THE APP SOON! Last season’s winner didn’t pick Haaland in his initial XI Credit: PA Ahead of the new season, we caught up with our most recent winner to find out the secrets to his success and hear the story of his crowning moment. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! “My heart was pounding,” Paul explained when asked about his experience of watching the Champions League final between Arsenal and PSG. “When that final whistle went, I was just absolutely drained. “Usually, I imagine people would be jumping up and down for joy. But I was just so…it was such an emotional rollercoaster watching the game and just huge, huge relief when I won.” “I don’t want to make it a sob story but it’s been a pretty crazy 12 months. I became a father in August last year for the first time. And then we’ve had a bit of a rough year in terms of the family. “We’ve had a couple of family members that have passed away this year. And so to win this money…I had people messaging me saying, ‘After the year that you’ve had you really, really deserve this.’” The Champions League final may have been the emotional crescendo but a series of smart decisions throughout the season earned Paul victory. When quizzed on his process, he explained: “The way I play the game is very much further down the line. I don’t look at what’s happening this weekend, necessarily. I look at what’s happening in a couple of weeks’ time, three or four weeks’ time. Most read in Football “It’s just a lot of forward planning. It’s not looking in the short term.” Many Dream Team bosses get disheartened if they start slowly but Paul’s triumph is a reminder that our fantasy game is a marathon, not a sprint. The Liverpool fan started without Erling Haaland in his XI and didn’t switch tactics until the striker had raced to five goals from his first four outings. “The reason why I didn’t go with him [Haaland] is that I often think, at the start of the game, it’s important to build your budget. And I think if you go for players that are really, really expensive then they are expected to do well every week and if they don’t, their price is going to drop.” Prioritising budget is a smart strategy for the first few months of the season but it’s important to recognise when top-tier performers such as Haaland become must-have assets. Paul balanced long-term planning with reactive adjustments to lay a solid foundation during the first half of the campaign. Paul essentially wasted his Boosters on his way to the £60,000 jackpot Credit: Getty One would assume that to amass a jackpot-winning points total you must deploy your Boosters at the optimum moments but that wasn’t the case last season. “I wasted them,” Paul admitted. “None of them worked out for me.” Haaland ended up as Paul’s Max Captain in a Gameweek when the Norwegian poacher was comfortably the most popular skipper — Paul would almost certainly have followed suit had he not played a Booster. Just two players scored the Gameweek he activated Goal Bonus (for a minimal gain of six points) and his 12th Man, Mohamed Salah, delivered a measly seven points from what appeared to be a juicy double header on paper. “The 12th Man on Salah… I was swayed by people on that one. I think at the time Salah was out of form. But there was that fear that it’s Mo Salah. He could go off and get you a lot of points. It just didn’t work out at all. “All season, I thought if I’d have used those Boosters a lot better I probably wouldn’t have knocked off ten years of my life watching the Champions League final!” Paul’s triumph is evidence that smart, consistent decisions over the the course of several months can lead to a life-changing sum of money, even if the Boosters fail to deliver. Gordon cashed in against Qarabag Credit: AP One such smart move involved bringing in Lewis Hall amid a flurry of bonus points. And captaining Anthony Gordon for his four-goal rout against Qarabag in the Champions League was the moment Paul realised he had a legitimate chance of winning Dream Team. “That was another turning point. Liverpool had played Qarabag and beaten them 5-0 at Anfield. I watched the game and thought Qarabag were awful. I thought they looked like a League One side. “And when I saw that Newcastle had got them, I thought, I’m targeting them. And I think Gordon had just started playing up front as the No9. I just thought, I really fancy him this way, I’m going to captain him. And he shot me up from 30th to second.” Paul also jumped on Nottingham Forest midfielders Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White at the back end of the campaign, benefiting from the latter’s excellent form throughout April and May. Needless to say, Paul is a Dream Team fanatic who lives and breathes the game. He started plotting his route to 2026/27 glory just a few days after his 2025/26 victory was confirmed. “I was thinking about the new season a couple of days after this one. I was already thinking about some of the teams that have qualified for Europe, like Brighton and Bournemouth, for example. “I think there’s going to be some gems there for Brighton, who I think had a good defence last season.” Play Dream Team this season! Over £100,000 in prize money up for grabs in 2026/27 Free to enter Play in Mini Leagues against your mates £60,000 jackpot for the overall winner £1,000 prize for winning Gameweek 1 Play Dream Team now! Paul has put a chunk of his winnings aside for a future trip to Florida to visit Disney World when his son is old enough to enjoy the experience. He’s also planning to buy a bigger car and fund some home improvements that would have otherwise taken years to tick off. Dream Team are putting up over £100,000 in total prize money again this season with another £60,000 jackpot for the overall winner of our fantasy game. Have you got what it takes to go the distance? Register to play via web now — coming to the app soon! Open to residents of UK and Rep of Ireland, 18+ only. T&Cs apply. Comment now