We begin season two/end season one of our five season challenge by making a couple of key signings.  Croatian legend Slaven Bilic joins on a free, I think because Everton were relegated and Azerbaijani international Demis Ohandjanian signs from Macclesfield, the club I replaced in Division three.  I make another couple of signings, Andy Tennant for £190k, I think he is Maurice Malpas’s regen and aging Belarussian AMC Sergei Gerasimets for free.  I try to sign the Icelandic regen but he’s not interested.

We begin the season how we finished the last in the 2-3-1-2-2.

By early September it’s becoming clear that The Micker might not be up to a second season despite is 52 goals last year.  Rangers reject Seb Rozental is interested so we spend a little under £900k bringing him to The International Stadium.

After starting life in Division 2 with a draw and a loss we win the following nine league games.  That’s 28 points from a possible 33.  We also progress in the League Cup beating fellow Div 2-ers Watford 8-3 over two legs.  Our Auto Windscreen defence gets off to a poor start, losing 1-3 to Blackpool.  Some games of note in the first 15 include:

The away leg in the League Cup against Watford

A rare goal for The Micker against Millwall

The nine goal thriller at home to fellow promotes Hull.

As mentioned earlier, The Micker conspicuous by is absence in the goals scored column.

I’ll be straight with you here, my documenting of League progress this season was shocking and as I look back at the screenshots to piece together the story, I discover that the only picture I took of the League was this one after 11 games. Sorry.

Moving onto results page two and the midway point in the season our strong league form continues, winning eight, drawing two and losing only one, another strong points haul, 26 out of 33. 

We demolish Burnley to ensure our defence of the Auto Windscreen continues, you will notice I managed to sign Man Utd cast-off Phil Mulryne, he cost £600k.

An unfortunate League Cup draw see us fall Fowl of Robbie at Anfield.

We put another five past Millwall, this time in the FA Cup to book our place in round two.

Here is the full overview of fixtures 16 to 30.

Despite my inability to successfully document league progress I have collected the squad stats at the halfway point. The three foreign attacking players all hitting double digits for assists

But it is old boy Tony leading the way on the goal scoring front, what the Micker has lost he has gained, he already has nine more goals than last season.  It seems silly to say but I’m disappointed in Seb, 17 goals seems low, I was expecting more.  The Micker’s drop off can only be described as extreme at the half way point he has only achieved 6% of his total goal involvements from the previous season, sad times.

Andy May and Richie Walker continue to be top performers, but 10 of the main outfield 11 are all posting 7+ averages.

Captain May is relishing his CM role as can be seen from his excellent stats, 34 and still going strong.

Pushing on into the next 15 games we go on a solid FA Cup run, after beating Millwall in round one we face Chesterfield at home in round two.  We score another five goals, winning 5-1.  The third round draw is kind, another home tie, this time it’s Port Vale.  We score three to their one and it is on to round four.  This tie is tougher as we face Premier League opponents in Arsenal, we ultimately lose a close game one to nil. 

While disappointing to lose, the FA Cup isn’t really our competition, it’s defending the Windscreen Shield that is most important to us.  This start well as we move past York in round two.

The Area Quarter final is against Mansfield, we score another four goals as we move onto the Area Semi final.

The Area Semi is against local rivals and last seasons quarter final opponents Hartlepool.  We score 100% more goals than in the previous match against them and they fail to score for the second year in a row so it’s back to the Area Final again.

League form remain strong with six wins, two draws and a single loss.

The 4-1 win against Bristol Rovers was a crazy game and despite playing one half of football with 9 men and a rush keeper.  Skinner clearly had some money on penalty misses in a match.

Mid-February and early March are unkind to the team.  Big Slav tears his hamstring and is out for three months and then Rangers sweep in and activate Phil’s release clause, £4,000,000 going a small way to alleviating the loss of such a big player.

With Phil’s money burning a hole in my pocket and an attacking midfield gap to plug I persuade another Man Utd youngster in Alex Notman to move to Gateshead for £925k.  With plenty of cash in the bank I also bring in striker Gifton Noel-Williams for £700k.

With all going well, by the end of March we have secured a playoff place.

By early April that turns into automatic promotion.

By mid-April we are League Champions for a second season running.

With the League done and dusted, we turn our attention to the Auto Windscreen shield.  The Area final is against Notts County, despite going a goal down at home we take a two goal lead into leg two.

We fail to score in the second leg and its all looking a bit worrying as we are 0-2 after 30 minutes.  Luckily County score an own goal on the stroke of half time, the second half if fortunately, eventless which is good enough for us to make it through 4-3 over the two games.

The Final is against Brentford, it ends up being a very one-sided affair and thanks to a brace from Seb we lift the trophy for the second time in two years, not bad for a team who started 1997 with a team full of greys.

Here is a round up of the other games in the final part of the season.

Some games of note including the 6-3 win against York that was 2-2 at halftime and the 5-1 at Southend where Sebby scored all five goals.

The season stats show our continued ill-discipline.

Three players with over 20 assists and 35-year-old Andy May keeping pace with the younger lads registering 17 from the CM position.

Seb scoring 44 and Rees rolling back the years with 29.  Again May has been sensational, 14 goals is a fantastic effort.

The average ratings were rock solid from all the main players.

The older lads, Andy, Serg and Reesy keeping pace with the younger lads.

The cheques and balances sheet for the past two seasons indicating that there is nearly £9,000,000 to play with strengthening the team for Division one football.

End of season awards showing that Figo wins European Footballer for the second year running, I’ve played this game for years and I still have no idea how these awards are decided, especially European Footballer.

Join us next week for season 3!