After the disappointment of finishing second to Wiki rivals Leeds we are back for one final season (unless it all goes wrong) to see if we can win the league and maybe some other stuff.

I make two signings over the summer, Martin finally agrees to a bit of Bene and Brazilian Glaucio has been tearing up the Dutch league with Feyenoord.

Since we finished second, we need to qualify for the Champions League group stage, Dinamo Tirana are our opponents.  They are soundly beaten 7-0 across the two legs and we are placed in Group E with Ajax, Milan and Celtic.

Our first League match is at Anfield, where last season we managed to beat Liverpool but lost to Newcastle in the FA Cup semi-final. Unfortunately, Neil Alexander is in outstanding form, and we are somehow 0-3 at half time.  I make some changes and it looks like a comeback is on the cards before Fowler seals the win for Liverpool.

Our first home match is against Wolves we go one down, thanks to the only shot they have on target all game.  Thankfully we are able to score three, with a little help, in the second half for our first win of the season.

We make hard work of Huddersfield, we need another own goal to help us secure a second win of the season.

We finally find our shooting boots, although we are helped by our current top scorer, Mr Own Goal.

We are at that stage in the game where away teams play ultra defensive and their keeper plays like a man possessed.  Edwin Turkington only lets in one, fortunately, one is enough.

Away at Birmingham, and despite our dominance it looks like it might end 1-1 until Pistol bangs in a brace in the final 20 minutes.

Our first Champions League game is at home to Ajax, they have two of my original attacking targets up front, the Brothers Mpenza.  Ajax don’t show much cutting edge however we can only manage a draw thanks to some clumsy defending and poor finishing.

Wiki rivals and current Premier League Champions Leeds come to the Moor.  Last season they only conceded 19 goals and things don’t seem to have changed much this season either.

We have a third home game on the bounce, this time FA Cup runners up Newcastle visit the Moor.  They were something of a bogey side for us last season and it’s a similar story this year.

We travel to the south coast to face Portsmouth, Luke Weaver puts in a MOM display, luckily Terry’s single goal is enough to earn all three points.

We head to the San Siro for our second Champions League match, we go a goal down in the 12th minute but then Djetou gets injured and the enforced change brings us to life.

Annoying but not unexpected when you are rocking an injury proneness of 18.  

Back in the Premier League it’s the familiar story of battering your opponent and their keeper getting MOM, this time it’s Forest’s Ken Whittle.  Fortunately, we are managing to win these games 1-0 rather than the more common loss or draw.

Our next match is away to Man Utd, their keeper Matteo Guardalben has been a thorn in our side for a number of years now.  It looks like another 0-0 is on the cards until Savio gets sent off after being booked twice, playing with 10 men galvanised us and Terry scores an 84th minute winner.

Our third Champions League match is against Celtic.  They have one of our old players Declan ‘Dorothy’ Perkins.  Celtic have also made the bold choice to sell their keepers and play with Greys, they might want to rethink that.

After three games in Group E we are top of the pile, but level on points with Ajax.

The final match of this episode is at home to Coventry.  They appear to have been stocking up on 30+ Argentinians, Bati goal and Diego Simeone are in their starting 11.  However, it is our left footed Pistolero who finds the net twice as we win comfortably. 

12 games into the Premier League season and we are top of the pile having climbed up from 17th place after our opening day loss.

Join next week to see how the middle part of the season progresses, can we make it out of Group E and maintain our strong league form?