Bom Dia! and welcome along to season two. Nick and his men ended season one with playoff final heartbreak last week, but have dusted themselves off and are ready to go again. can they go one better this season?…

The clear-out begins, as Atkins leaves for Palace, Segers’ and Gilkes’ contracts expire, and I release Simpson, Daley and Paatelainen.

Jorgey Boy’s been hard at work, and lands me my first international for £325k from Porto…

I wasn’t taking much notice of the World Cup until I saw that a spirited Irish side made it to the final, only to be beaten by Denmark…

It’s Burnley in the League Cup…

Arrival two is Boa Morte, look at those stats…

This boy looks decent enough for free, but it’s not as if a teenage Portuguese right winger has ever done anything in the game…

This was head vs heart. He saved us so many times last season, but deserves to play regularly. Thanks, Dougie Boy!

Here’s his replacement, scorer of 17 goals last season…

After a few comings and goings, this is how the squad is looking on the eve of our first match…

With Segers gone, Carlos is now number one, Capucho starts and fellow new boy Boa Morte is on the bench. Kubicki and Bully are the only two non-Portuguese in the side. Let’s go!

For the second season running, we start with East Anglian opposition. They go ahead with their first attack, but we turn it around in style as Torrão heads us level, and the front duo make it 3-1. They give us some Flack in the second half, but we hold on to start with a win.

The first leg with Burnley is a game for debut goals, as Capucho gives us the lead and Boa Morte doubles it before the visitors fight back via the English Rasmus Højlund. We reassert our dominance, but defensive cracks reappear and it ends way closer than it should’ve been.

Forest batter us for the first 20 minutes but things settle down, and Coelho puts us ahead. Pinto doubles our lead, but a Forest goal soon comes through an ageing Geoff Thomas. We see it through, and get revenge for the 3-1 beating they gave us last time we met…

I’ve never heard of them either…

Burnley’s Paul Weller gets himself into a Jam after we do something to him, and he then goes to the dressing room to be a changing man. Coelho settles the nerves early in the second half, and his goal is enough to see us through, where we’ll face Carlisle next…

Bully and Vu put us 2-0 up against newly-promoted Walsall. But we love making things difficult for ourselves and it’s 2-1 at half time and almost 2-2 just after, but we’re saved by the red offside flag, which really fires the Bull up, and he charges through to seal the win…

Bids come in for Coelho, but no big club release clause means no deal…

Ipswich next, and just like last season, we go 2-0 down, but this time there’s no comeback and we’re taught a footballing lesson. We were top of the table before this match, but this Sorbering result sees us fall 4 places…

It’s a typical feisty opening to the derby against The Albion. We take the lead, but the visitors refuse to Pouton the brakes, and we’re lucky to be on the right side of five first half goals. Bully and Pinto get a second each near the hour, which nullify a late Albion consolation.

We have plenty of chances in the first half at QPR, but can only manage one shot on target. Boa Morte and Manarte come on, and the latter makes an instant impact, assisting both Bully, who gives us a one-minute lead, and then Capucho’s winner 11 minutes from time…

Our best defender, brilliant…

We spend most of the first half camped in our own half against Port Vale, who score either side of half time. But for the second game in a row, Manarte makes an impact off the bench, assisting one goal and scoring the other to snatch a draw. Could he be the new Dougie?!

We’re dead and Bury-ed at Gigg Lane, after who else but Adie f*cking Mike puts them ahead, and we’re two down on half an hour. The second half is better, as Manarte gets goal two in as many games, but that’s all we can manage. We just can’t beat these b*stards…

Reading are on the receiving of our first win in three games. Coelho gets a hat trick, Manarte assisting all three of them, and Boa Morte gets one somewhere in the middle after the visitors give themselves the briefest of hopes, with Coelho getting his fourth to round things off…

I’ve never seen this dude amount to anything, but I figure he’s worth a punt for £525k…

It’s a five-star display against Carlisle in the League Cup, with Manarte hitting a hat trick and Coelho and Capucho getting one each. Obviously a clean sheet is out of the question, and we concede three away goals to give the visitors more than a sniff in the second leg…

And that’s our keeper pretty much done for the season. Just f*cking shoot me!

The impact of that injury is immediate and severe. If I thought the 5-1 defeat at Norwich last season was bad, then I was in for a shock against newly-relegated Coventry, who give us a reminder that getting out of this division is going to be tougher than it was last season…

I’d all but forgotten about Curley, but I’m happy he’s found a new home…

Our next man with a cap is Barroso for £525k, again from Porto…

Meanwhile, Picão heads to Spain…

After the Coventry demolition, we start to bounce back at Oldham through Bully, but the hosts Rush back into it with their only shot on target in the match, which is annoying. A point is better than nothing, I guess, but we’re starting to slide, and are down to 6th now…

Jorgey Boy raids Porto yet again, getting me Folha for £425k, and I release Steve Corica…

The offers are getting serious for Coelho, but he’s going nowhere…

Last up this week are Fulham, who we kindly help get off and running with an own goal, and then the floodgates well and truly open half an hour later, and it’s another trouncing. The silver lining is a brace for Sá Pinto, but this result has definitely made me Moody…

So after more thrills and spills, here’s the table. The goals conceded column is a concern as per, but considering that we’ve conceded 13 of those 29 goals in our last 3 games, I think we might need a better sub keeper…

So there we have it for another week. Tune in next week for the second leg with Carlisle and some daunting league games against Bradford, Birmingham, Everton, City, Norwich, Ipswich and Forest. Adeus!