After some contemplation, I decided to start again. There was a good response on twitter with new game suggestions and that was enough for me to re-install and go again. But where?
That’s right, we’re going right down to Division 3 and Darlington FC. Why Darlo? Well, strictly speaking they don’t exist anymore (See Darlington 1883) and they’re fairly local to me. They’re a middle of the road Division 3 club, not like a Hull or Cambridge who always run away with it, so it should be a challenge. Here’s the squad we start with:
Not too much to shout about in there, but I’ll soon see to that with the usual freebies who are must haves in the lower leagues. Tomlinson, Mainwaring, Betterton, Duncan – 4 names who regular lower league players will know, but they also feature on the game’s Wiki page. Sadly Marc Emmers was busy, but This Morning’s Jeff Brazier joins in.
Of course you can always play the loan market, sadly you take your life into your own hands with this as they can be recalled any time. It’s a cause for celebration when blog favourite Steve Haslam arrives
He’s around for 2 glorious months before Sheff Wed want him back. Boo! This guy though arrives for real money
Heidenstrom got all sorts of nominations for the Community XI so I’m surprised to be able to prise him away from our divisional rivals. He will captain my side.
The season starts with the familiar scene
It’s a sign of things to come for Man Utd…
Things start pretty well for Darlo, we’re in and around the top 7. This is a highlight:
Whilst Everton are an early contender for entertainers
Why is this happening to Everton? Well…
Howard Kendall took the Wales job after Bobby Gould’s inevitable sacking, which is a bit more normal than the last game.
Another issue with Division 3 is that the better your players they more likely they are to be poached.
I’ll take my chance with the tribunal
If this was Deal or No Deal, I’d be high fiving Noel right now
Obvious solution is to loan Paul Brayson from Newcastle.
FFS. I’ll just sign Mick Quinn on a free. Nobody will want him.
All of that leaves my squad looking like this:
I sold midfielder Michael Oliver (not the ref) to Wolves for £900k, so the bank balance is good espeically since Tomlinson went too. It’s on a knife edge though, your better players can be taken at any time. Look what we’re missing from GT though 🙁
In the real, rich world, there’s hundreds of transfers. here are the highlights:
Bringing the Italian league in seems to have made Juventus hungry for success. Barce mean business in the SuperCopa
All of that leaves the tables looking like this:
Not too bad, we’ve got a platform to build. But fundamentally I have Mick Quinn up front, so it’s not all brilliant.
Meanwhile, look at Man Utd
Utterly dominant. Everton up in 2nd in a surprise!
The bottom 6 or 7 are all fairly close, some very heavy goals against in there.
So that’s it for update 1, join us next time where hopefully Darlo keep themselves together and nobody poaches my best players. Don’t hold your breath.