Welcome back to the Retirement Home. The mood is sombre in the home having suffered relegation from Division 1. Maybe that is the threshold for this team of old timers? With money still a huge issue, is there any real chance of taking this lot any further? Maybe I should walk away now…

This is not your standard update post. You might have noticed it is December so this will be my last post of the year. Let me explain…

Just to let you “behind the curtain” for a moment, as much as I’d love to write these updates week to week the reality is I like to get several episodes ahead. In the early days of the Academy I ran it to the wire, pulling some late nights to not only get the games done but also get something relatively entertaining written up. This time was always going to be different. My son was born in October, and such is the way pregnancy works I had the best part of 9 months to prepare for this eventuality. During that 9 months, I wrote the Mulhouse save, the CM9798 Cup and the first 12 parts of the Retirement Home. Not to brag but I actually had a week to spare, though he was overdue.

I knew I needed 12 episodes to get to the end of the year as I don’t like to publish posts far into December. That only took me to 8th December though which left one extra week that I’d hate to leave blank. How to fill that week?

I usually do a separate post reflecting on the year so let’s tie it all in together. We’ll start with the Retirement Home.

I’ve decided to carry on. Let’s see if we can get promoted eh? I mean, we have a World Cup winning captain on board so that can only help, right?

That adaptability will be put to the test in the most extreme circumstances.

Sadly, we’ve lost another one. Voro has gone back to his homeland to manage Sporting Gijon.

But we have two other new men. He has a silly name but he can head and shoot. We’ll find a place for him.

Meanwhile Alexey “Susan” Sharando has also arrived. He’s very average but, as is the motto on the club crest, beggars can’t be choosers.

It gets worse.

The squad is looking a little thin ahead of our opening game, though there’s a couple of signings due to be tied up. The debt stands at £1.7m…

Perhaps naively, I’m reverting to the formation. It got us out of this league once.

Early indications are that it won’t manage a second time…

An excuse I never thought I’d have to give is that Alan Knill is injured. That’s what I’m blaming. They scored with alarming ease and it’s apparent that two terrible centre backs are not adequate protection for an ageing stopper.

Burnley are a Division 1 side now, player-managed still by Chris Waddle. He still picks himself too and make no mistake, if he gets sacked he’ll be my best player. In a bid to avoid shipping five, we’ve gone for this:

In a way, it worked. Cascarino gave us the lead and Burnley only scored one of their 23 shots.

Look who just got sacked and therefore can’t wait to add some pace to our backline!

We’ll stick with the same formation for Fulham away. Bruce debuts in place of the injured Snodin. Fulham are player-managed by 42 year old Neville Southall and he still picks himself in goal. Littlejohn is sent off for telling the truth and even though we go behind, a late stirring sees Pani equalise. Loves a goal from midfield that old fruit. Bruce gets a 9 and the man of the match champagne mysteriously disappears.

I don’t have particularly high hopes for the return meeting with Burnley and those expectations are lowered even further when Waddle’s lads take the lead. Cascarino has really got the taste for it (goals, before you ask) and a late double sees us pull off the upset. Carlisle over two legs in the next round.

Top Cat is at it again a few days later against Rushy’s Norwich. Sadly Rush himself has retired and it’s probably a better point for him than us.

Oh maaaaaan. Bruce is averaging 8 from his 3 games and he has undoubtedly improved us. But now he’s off to improve Tranmere, showing that famous loyalty.

Look on the bright side though – Alan Knill is back. We’re soon 2-0 down at York but that man Cascarino scores twice in the second half to earn us a point.

Here’s the table at the end of August:

On the plus side, we’ve found goals again. However we haven’t won yet and are leaking goals at an alarming rate. I have another striker lined up who turns 35 soon but can we really adopt the “score one more than you” philosophy with this team? Hopefully this has whetted your appetite for the new year when we’ll be back.

It’s been a crazy year for me personally, as I alluded too earlier. Naturally this blog will take a bit of a back seat but I must thank Andrew (KingOfTheRooks) for his commitment and work ethic these last few months in particular where he has produced great content and has much more lined up. I’m also pleased to announce a Championship Manager podcast will begin in the new year. It’s something I’ve been asked about many times and I’m working on getting a great guest list together to make it worthwhile.

We’ve had a host of guest bloggers this year so to new and returning faces, thank you all for your contributions. The door is always open. There’s already two new bloggers with content lined up for 2020 and I think you’ll love it.

Lastly, thank you to all of you who read this blog each and every new post. Without readership this would have fallen by the wayside a long time ago. Hopefully we can continue to deliver blogs that make you want to come back for more in 2020.

Happy Christmas everybody!

Dave