Bonjola once more and welcome back to Gijon for a new season. Season 5 promises much as we take our first steps into Europe’s Elite with those famous Champions League nights, provided we can see off hopefully a minnow in the qualifiers. More on that later. A reminder though of how we got here…

I suppose it’s also worth touching on the B lads finishing in the promotion places again but of course they can’t come up. I’d like them to have a cup run, I would step aside if I played them in the final as the concept of them being in the Cup Winners Cup amuses me.

Laurent Blanc’s regen will help one day.

The reality of the situation is that I don’t know how to strengthen this team. Chris Casper the friendly ghost might help.

Thankfully we do get minnows in the qualifier. We will win that, I am confident.

Luis Boa Morte is having quite the career.

The Charity Shield of Spain is also new territory for us and apparently nobody relishes the occasion more than Alex Martin, with a 24 minute hat-trick against the mighty Barcelona. It’s two legs though, so they’ll get the chance to peg us back in a week.

It’s a chance they only partially take, as a 2-1 win on the night is not enough to ruin our debut. Martin again with the goal, an absolute gift of a player.

Two days later we get our Champions League campaign underway in Slovenia. Martin gets his 5th of the season before Mr Chad and the Rushy regen seal a satisfactory evening.

This is all too much like real life.

Bakayoko finally shows up with a hat-trick to help defeat Bilbao. Quite the end to the first half.

We taste defeat for the first time this season in a tough game at Atletico. We fight hard to get back to 2-2 from 2-0 down but a late sucker punch is a shame for us.

The job is completed with a largely rotated side. Group stage, here we come.

This…is a mixed bag. Man Utd are not a fun opponent in a group where only one is guaranteed to advance.

Bakayoko has very much found his mojo…his Bakamojo or something I don’t know but it’s another hat-trick as the tricky Espanyol are downed.

The front two see off Deportivo four days later. Momentum is everything.

Nearly £4m for Duncan is a good price. He’s fourth choice now and has always just filled in when we are short.

Betis are a strange side, they seem to go through spells of being very up and then very down. This is clearly a very down time and we ease to three points.

Get your hardest game out of the way first and so we board a plane to Manchester. This is the squad they have built. They brought Nevland back for £14m from Middlesbrough, 10 times more than they sold him for two years earlier. Unsurprisingly, they are in debt.

A draw is a superb result as far as I’m concerned. Falling behind I’m fearing the worst but it’s a 7 minute worry before Baka continues his streak by scoring in a 6th consecutive game.

Make that 7. Elche don’t lie down but eventually they are our latest victims. We are playing like champions, in my opinion.

Zaragoza are always a pain in the backside, their keeper Juanmi seems to save his best for us. They equalise twice before they are eventually killed off.

I was about to say Bakayoko is proving unstoppable but this…this is awful. His partner in crime, cut down in his prime. For 3 months! That’s a lot of games.

Life without our glue gets off to a strange start. Bakayoko has already netted a pen before Chris Casper is sent off. We go 3-0 up before Mr Chad sees red and Vladimir Smicer scores the pen. At least we won, the next game will be a laugh with at least 2 banned.

We win at Valladolid, Bakayoko doesn’t score, clearly missing his pal. Sibi partners him up front and at least he scored. Let’s hope that continues.

Time for a break. A point off the top with our defeat to Atletico the only blot on our copy book. They themselves top the pile.

The B Team is strong. Look at those options and regens.

They sit fourth. I have hopes for them.

Right, that rounds us off for another week. Things are set up well for the season ahead, I just hope we don’t feel the loss of Martin too harshly. Have a great week.