I find myself in Las Vegas as I embark on this 2^nd half of the Manager challenge. This episode is brought to you from the Golden Nugget Hotel.

You can’t get more Vegas than playing Manager in your Hotel room. I mean I could be out at this bar…. But NO! Manager comes first!!!

Anyway, we start the second half of the challenge with a tough away game to a strong Milan. We lose 3-2, and from the goal scorers you can see the quality we were up against.

A good response sees us get the points against Roma, with Fowler making it 2 in 2, is he finally coming into form?

Next two games go like this:

Home to Bologna 2-2 (Wright and P Neville)

Away win to Napoli (Wright and Scholes)

Wright making it 3 in 3.

Quarter Final time in the Coppa Italia and make that 4 in 4 for Team GB’s star man. A good away win to give us the advantage with a home leg left.

The positive cup result was followed by a disappointing home bore draw to Empoli 0-0.

But then…

Booosh, we destroy Juve in their own backyard, with Scholes an inspired substitute to bag a hattrick. How Phil Neville got MOM is beyond me. 

This was also the first game back for McManaman after a spell out injured. He looks good in the support role behind the strikers.

2^nd leg of Semi Final and it’s a breeze at home to Ravenna. McManaman backing up what I was saying.

So a Final it is for Team GB, vs……………Lazio. Could be a tough one.

Good home result against Vicenza keeps the momentum going, even got Roy Carroll on haha. 10/10 MOM performance from Stevie too and Wrighty keeps his tally going.

Followed by a stunning away win at Atalanta. Wright again proving he has the beating of Italian defenders. Good to see Big John chip in for the Welsh too.

Champions League Quarter Finals now. It’s a heated affair with 2 Reds and an injury. We edge it, away goal for them though it could be hard.

A 0-0 at home to Fiorentina is followed by a solid away win at San Nicola.  Gave Derek Liley a start and he repays alongside a Welshman and of course Wright. Still can’t complete a full GB tick of scorers tho, to be fair I am relying on Gillespie to try and score, I won’t hold my breath.

CL 2^nd leg, Fowler gets the decisive goal that earns us a 2-3 aggregate win and a place in the Semi’s.

Back to the League and a nice 4-2 win, helped by an early Red for Lorieri. Another Pen miss by Wright, gonna keep him on the duty though, as he will undoubtedly be my top scorer, and goals means points!

Champions League Semi-Final. It’s a home leg loss to an immense Barcelona side. Vitor Baia the difference, could not get past him. I bring on Becks for Gillespie to try and rescue a point, and Fitzgerald comes on to balance the Northern Irish contingent. Not enough, and the away leg is looking a tall ask now.

Beckham comes on in CM for the injured Butt, then gets his marching orders soon after. Cheers Becks, although it is a decent away draw to the current league leaders and keeps us in contention.

COPPA ITALIA FINAL….but wait, why the fuck is it over 2 legs? Was that a thing in Italy?

Anyway Team GB have obviously have pent up frustration at the lack of an International Trophy and they run fukin’ riot. 4 nil away win, and a great hattrick performance by Fowler who has now earned himself a regular place up top next to Wright, who bags the other.

Champagne on ice, as for some reason there is a 2^nd leg to this. Pretty damn confident after that though.

Wright does score a Pen when it matters to keep us in hunt mode in the league.

CL Semi 2^nd leg away to Barca.  Now if I had said to you we had scored 3 away to them, youd maybe think that would have been a remarkable turn around to book a place in the Final. You would be wrong however, as we concede 5….I mean look at those goal scorers, too strong for us I’m afraid and our CL journey end in the Semi’s. The Final is Barca against Real Madrid, fair enough.

Now this away win to bottom side Brescia is important for the 3 points, but also significant ….

As with that win we go top for first time this season.

Here’s how it looks with just 2 league games left, pretty tight.

Udinese is next up in the League.

Even know I can’t sell him, Gascoigne listed out of principle, he is truly awful on this game.

Now the pointless 2^nd leg of the Coppa Italia Final. It’s a closer match than the first but we gt the job done and it’s a 5-1 overall victory and Silverware for Team GB. Get in lads…Booosh!!!!

We join the pantheon of past winners…….

Now to wrap up the season and finish the last 2 league games.

A really good 2-0 home win sees us stay top with one game left. Ex Utd team mates doing the business. 

And wouldn’t you know it, our last game is against 2^nd in the table Inter Milan. They would need a convincing win to overhaul me, with a draw enough to secure the league, they do have the OG Ronaldo on their side however, so I’m not 100% confident.

Ronaldo does indeed score, but Ian Wright shows up the Brazilian, and I think it’s fitting he gets the final say on matters, he’s been unreal for Team GB.  It’s a 2-1 win and it’s the Double!!!! Kevin James is delighted as he’s on the pitch at the end to claim full adoration from the fans like he’s had any part at all in the achievement, he puts John Terry to shame.

TEAM GB WIN SERIE A

So that is the season over, lets tally up some points and see who has to do the press ups, me or my Brother.

McManaman top Disciplinarian with 21. 

Ian Wright claims top assists with 17.

That to go along with with 33 goals to claim Team GB’s Golden Boot. He’s been outstanding.

As promised, every player made at least 1 appearance. If you take out Jarmen and McGibbon who only played once each, then it’s easy to see how Well McManaman did. I think he was the key to Team GBs success playing behind the strikers. Never had him before, will not hesitate to get him again in future games. Well done our lad, if Wright was Player of the year, then Steve was Players Player for sure.

Top of League with 71 points and 64 goals scored.

4 Manager of the Month awards.

Actually no, I let the game run until the end of May….

So it’s 5 Manager of the Month awards.

Sorry Dean, but every point counts haha.

FINAL SCORES

	Dean	Darren
League Position	2nd – 300	Winners – 500
League Points	71	71
League Goals	66	64
Coppa Italia	QF – 100	Winners – 300
Champions League	SF – 200	SF – 200
Top Scorer (x10)	Scholes 26 – 260	Wright 33 – 330
Top Assiter (x10)	Sheringham 26 – 260	Wright 17 – 170
Top Disciplinary Points (x10)	Sheringham 24 – 240	McManaman 21 – 210
Manager of the Month Awards (x10)	2 – 20	5 – 50
TOTALS	1,517	1,895

And with those points, the Challenge win goes to………why Me 😊 and the forfeit goes to Deano, now get down and give me 10!!!

I very rarely get the better of Deano in a challenge, so his press ups will be even sweeter.

Cheers to all for reading, and cheers to Dean for setting up this blog and a great challenge.

THE FORFEIT

Congratulations to Darren and thanks for doing it while you are working away. Kept you away for slot machines anyway so probably saved you losing your wages!

A bet is a bet. We never bet money, we deal in press ups. So ten for me for losing.

Right at the end of the blog, I just found out that Northern Ireland did not take part in Team GB football. Oops. I would do another 10 for that mistake but my arms are hurting. 

Thanks again for reading. Dave, top man again for hosting, And cheers again to Zak for the Team GB top which lead to the challenge.