Whenever I've had to pick a fantasy football team, my selections tend to be based on unusual names, haircuts and general physique. It’s a formula which serves me well; my teams have always performed quite admirably, particularly annoying the boys in the office who have used much more scientific methods to choose theirs.

However, when it came to creating my own fantasy licensor, I did adjust my criteria (although some of them have got pretty good haircuts). Candidates were chosen on the strength of their professionalism, performance and general likeability, with contributions taken from a number of high profile industry notables. Asking licensees and retailers who they rated was also an important part of the process – and I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to send in their suggestions.

For some of the categories there were clear winners, but most positions were the subject of intense deliberations in the Licensing.biz team, illustrating just how many talented people we have currently working in our industry.

Particularly high praise was given to the entire E1 team by both licensees and retailers – resulting in the inclusion of two members in the dream team – while the CV from Chapman’s Andrew Haydon was frankly so impressive that there was simply no other choice for the finance director role.

Even though they didn’t make the final selection, special mention should also go to the following: CPLG – in particular the apparel and publishing category managers who seem to have a number of fans at retail level and have built up strong relationships over the years, resulting in some successful DTRs; Lisa Shapiro and Warwick Brenner from The Licensing Company were also names which came up in several conversations; the teams at Carte Blanche and Classic Media, plus Turner’s Graham Saltmarsh who, unbeknown to him, fought a very close battle with Andrew Carley for head of licensing.

All I need now is a name for our new licensor – but I just hope they don’t all start demanding the same kind of wages as the players in my fantasy football team...