Our first season of all-out, balls to the wall attacking play saw us sneak into second and gain promotion. There’s no denying we were lucky at times, but we ended on a good run and signed off the last part by signing a youthful Rino Gattuso to clobber anyone who dares come near our defenders. Anything that exists without Rino’s knowledge exists without his consent. That’s as true of Brechin City’s hopeful through-balls as it is of the spiritual side of life, and he’s here to prove it.

Our main challenge this season may well be to keep hold of our better players. To that end, we’ll bulk up the squad a little more in advance.

Let’s see what the board have to say based on Season One.

Pretty pleased with that, I was worried about the tin tack at one stage mid-season.

Now that we have a little money, it’s time to revisit the shortlist – we need some steel at the back, and this could be the man to add it.

Opening day in the big time, and we’re off to Ayr.

First day of the season, and it’s a W – though we’re still missing that steel. Guichir with a pleasing goal en debut.

Lower league opposition for the first time, and we always score five against Queen’s Park. Captain Mainwaring spoils his copybook with a late red.

Uh oh, despite the red the vultures are circling the accursed big-club release clause.

Sneaked through in the cup – and T. Brown had an eventful day.

Clyde get the Tomlinson treatment in the lower-league cup.

Piss off Falkirk – Twissy’s my favourite. Over my dead body.

We’re a division higher, but still crushing it. Maybe this formation is actually good?

Thank God – he does have a big club release clause, but neither Falkirk or Raith Rovers cut the mustard.

Another dreaded ‘Wnt’ appears – this time over a new signing, and to be fair as he came in on a free, I could happily take some good money for him.

Have some of that Clyde, G-Tom’s not messing around in this league.

3 from 3 in the league, with 12 goals scored, and again we’re dreaming of an Invincibles season.

Some start for the big man.

Stranraer up next, and we’re noticeably better at the back with Neil Young in nets. He’s been a great acquisition, considering he was on a free from Berwick Rangers.

‘Who got man of the match by the way?!’ I implore for the second season in a row. We’re starting to look like a good team, if we can hold the core together and replace some weak links like Forrester and two of the subs bench.

Bit of a squeaky one away at Almondvale, but the streak continues.

Another round of the Cup, another 5-2 win. These lads could set some records if we can keep the band together.

Hmmm – are Genk bigger than Montrose? Probably.

Well that seals it – even our most passionate fan would have a hard time building a case that we’re bigger than Leverkusen. The clause means I have no choice in the matter and it goes to tribunal, but hand on heart I’d probably bank the money anyway this time, and reinvest in some longstanding targets.

We went 8-0-0 last season, and have started 6-0-0 this – we absolutely love August.

See you then John, we hardly knew ye. He was blocking Gattuso’s path to the first team, so it may be a good thing all in all.

Time to hit the transfer market.

Mark’s inexperiened but looks the business – I’ll sign him to add some competition for Rino.

This could go either way and feels like a risk, but it gets dark about 3pm in Montrose so we need to seek out some sort of thrillseeking.

Stirling next to the sword. This all-out-attack formation is genuinely producing better results than I’m used to with traditional formations, and it’s drawn out 1,139 goal-addicts to bear first-hand witness to what’s unfolding.

Stenny get the treatment. 3-1 again, TnT in explosive form.

Aw shit, this one hurts. Dundee Utd are in and the big-club release cause is again my undoing. He was player of the season last year, but I’ll take this on the chin if it means I can hang onto Twiss and Tomlinson for a little longer.

Heartbreak in the stands, and tears streaming down the faces of the children of Montrose. Don’t worry though lads, it’s only season two, we’re unbeaten and you truly don’t know what pain is yet.

That’s two of the starting XI gone already, and our biggest threat is definitely losing the spine of the team to bigger outfits.

We’ll pause this part here and mull one of cm9798’s big questions – why does the game state that the big club release clause doesn’t apply in Year One of a player’s contract, but not enforce that rule and allow smaller teams to get done over? It’s a question that has haunted me for two decades, and I’m not sure all things on this earth truly have a good answer.

Other huge questions will follow – does the order of clubs on the ‘Shortlisting’ screens reflect their current status in the game? Does your captain’s nationality matter when assessing his suitability? Does subbing your captain damage team morale? Why can some players with a 20 rating for set pieces never beat the first man with a corner?

Join us next week to see if we have crowdsourced any answers, and if we can hang onto our perfect record and our marquee players. Whatever happens, we’re on one hell of a ride.