As we leave Euro 2000 behind, the 2000/01 season looks like a time of change. There’s a huge amount of free transfers on offer, with this the pick of the bunch:

Elsehwere the big two in La Liga continue to strengthen, although Oscar has gone from Barca to Real to Valencia…back to Barca. He will never learn

To keep up the status quo, Karanka continues the squad swap

Meanwhile Real Madrid do me a favour by taking Barthez out of Ligue 1

They also take their own striker back from Villa, he’s done his damage over in England with 58 goals in 72 games.

So that’s all well and good. I’ve decided to stay at Auxerre and see what happens, we’ve got UEFA Cup football again and although I want to head back to the Premier League, I need the right job to come up. This isn’t it:

This, however, could have some mileage. Poor Roy.

However, I forget that it wouldn’t nearly be controversial enough to appoint me, instead they pillage Tottenham’s manager

I don’t want the Tottenham job but they decide I’m the man for the job. It’s a route back to England but they’ve got no money and a fairly average squad.

I give them the old thanks but no thanks and continue living it up in France. Obviously any manager they choose is a downgrade from me (stop laughing) but this was unexpected

Well, I suppose he used to play for them. so Joe goes from Divison 2 Bristol City to Premier League Tottenham. How and why, I’m not too sure. Anyway, speaking of Spurs, look who is QPR manager

Lovely Teddy. On the plus side, the managerial change is working out well at Chelsea

Normally when you see a scoreline like that, you assume a keeper has been sent off or there has been some sort of shenanigans. Nope…

Meanwhile, Roy Hodgson sits back and laughs and is unveiled as the manager of Lille. Just take a second to let Noel Whelan’s hat trick sink in, and for how many saves Ed De Goey must have made to let in 8 goals and still get a rating of 9.

All of this madness leaves the Premier League looking like this in November 2000

That bottom 6…falls from grace all round. Over in France, things have been going pretty well and I’m in the upper echelons of the league after 11 games.

I had no money to spend and had to sell Agboh to PSG to balance the books, my list of transfers in is pretty depressing

The problem is, all the teams I’ve played so far are bottom half teams, and in the next few I have PSG, Marseille, Monaco and Bordeaux among others. So the table might have a more realistic look about it in the next update!

Until then, thanks for reading and remember to keep an eye on twitter for various other happenings @cm9798