Honestly, it’s been a week since it happened and very few people care but I just keep saying to myself – how did we win the league with THIS team?

You’ve all played the game and you know when you have a team that can win the league. I didn’t have that feeling here, I mean there’s a couple of wonderkids in there but they are very young. Emmers is a born winner but at Premier League level? Rarely. Richard Wright is class of course, and the wily Vialli scored 23 goals but is now 35. Ledezma’s 21 in 38 games at the age of 20 gives hope for the future. Bloody hell lads, how did we do it?

Anyway, onto season 3. The dream of course is to get two of these Eagle outfits to meet in the Champions League final. Palace will play in the Champions League, the other two aren’t even in Europe. There’s a long way to go.

Last week you will have seen the prep for season 3 and how well, or not, it is going. Palace are in great shape. With some regens added to the title winning squad and £17m in the bank, life is very good. My wishlist is probably to find a long term replacement for Emmers.

Nice have recruited well, if I may say so myself. The forward line has been refreshed, the Icelandic regen has been seduced and all that remains is for some improvements at the back. The only, rather large downsize, is that I can only name three non-EU players in the matchday squad. I have 5 I want to play, so I’m not that much of a genius. £4.5m in the bank should anybody fancy the South of France.

Meanwhile in Holland, the situation is dire. Nobody wants to sign, we’ve had to loan some randoms to make up the numbers. £200k to spend but it’s really not good.

The Charity Shield arrives and Man Utd send us a timely reminder that they are mad and want their title back. At least we injured Doctor Hibburt.

Meanwhile the Misfits put in a good performance in the Pints Cup.

The season begins and wouldn’t you just know it…the Champions are defeated at Elland Road. Leeds finished 3rd to be fair so it’s not a drastic shock.

Nice haven’t learned a thing. Still a shambles at the back, but decent going forwards.

That’s better from the mighty Palace. Newly promoted WBA have nothing to worry us.

Over in Holland, the first league game of the season ends in defeat at Twente. The squad is still a work in progress.

As it is at Nice. My earlier discussed boobery with the whole “let’s sign more FGN players than we can play” thing has left me a little short. This Spanish lad should help. I hope he’s the regen of somebody good.

Meanwhile to add some EU depth to the Nice squad, here’s a nice inter-Beef transfer. Neil Emblen is sent to go and protect a defence across the channel.

Still same old. We score, we concede. Wheeler is the Rush regen, who is usually a good bet for goals.

Speaking of a good bet for goals, the Pints Cup never disappoints. Obviously it would be nice to get the odd clean sheet but I think throughout my time here, there’s been less than 10 clean sheets and that’s not even an exaggeration.

This is a mixed bag of a Champions League group. Normally I’d be quite happy to draw Feyenoord but with the Dutch league loaded they are a different proposition. PSG speak for themselves. Ironic that we’ve drawn clubs from fellow BEEFCO leagues.

An idea is forming in my mind. It’s not a brilliant one but you see, we won 3-0 here and had 21 shots at goal. Vialli is getting on. Nice have a non-EU problem. Bakayoko has a big-club release clause (plus I could just accept the bid anyway). I could move Bakayoko to the big time for a hideous amount of money and Nice could strengthen elsewhere. Food for thought.

Robert Dunn is one of the weirdest players I’ve ever managed. He scores fairly frequently but has terrible stats and never rates higher than a 7. He very nearly helps us defeat the mighty PSG but a point is a great result. We clearly had a game plan to deal with their defenders…

There’s that clean sheet! The Pints Cup has been a doddle against mediocre at best opposition.

Vialli of course reminds me he’s nowhere near finished. Padovano the same. Maybe I’ll pause the trade deals for a while.

This is where the Eagles are. Misfits is about the right word for it. Van der Weerdt has been out of contract for 15 months but he won’t leave and I’m happy for him to play for free. He’s done a reasonable job on the wing with Glaucio cup tied and Nijhuis as yet untried. The two loan signings getting injured was very predictable. We have a lot of forwards but I am unsure if any of them are any good, and whilst they have scored loads against non-league teams, we’ve also conceded in nearly every game too. That’s a big concern.

Here’s the signings…a high net spend.

The dilemma is with Tammer. His contract is up in 8 months, he won’t sign a new one. The obvious move is to buy him for Nice but with the GAE unable to attract anybody, how would we replace his goals?

He has missed three of the Pints Cup games this season otherwise he’d be well into the 100s now. What a record.

He will remain in Holland for now. Bakayoko to Palace and Tammer to Nice remains an option if I can find somebody to score his goals.

46 in 6 games though, woof.

Nice still have £3m in the bank but despite my wish to mess about at the top end of the pitch, the defence remains the biggest problem. Icelandic regen will be slotted in shortly. Gouck is the Ian Wright regen who I would love to send to Holland but he won’t go (from Palace) so here he is.

Finally here are your Champions of England, Crystal Palace. Emmers is wanted by Club Brugge which is a testament to his seemingly timeless ability. The squad remains very young but with Vialli, Lombardo, Emmers and Padovano still regulars, replacements will be needed. Jensen has shown a lot of promise and can play a few positions, whilst hopefully Gouck lives up to his Ian Wright abilities. Owers is John Barnes.

That’s it then for another week of multi-club madness. It’s hard to place where the GAE are as they have only played one league game (and lost) but at least the squad has filled out a little bit. Nice are probably a really good centre back away from competing. Alas, the search continues.

See you next week!