The end of season 9 already. Where does the time go? Even if our league form is…patchy at best, we are still in the FA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup. In a season where we lost little Dunc (Ferguson) and Gilberto Landonio (Mancini) we’ve somehow cobbled together results. There are some options in the squad – not many, but some. We have £88m in the bank which will never be spent. In many ways, we are blazing a trail for the modern game. In many other ways, we are 16th and wasting our lives.
Anybody reason for Season 3? Rob Tait has been steadily building a team of Brazilians to compete in Portugal. Will this be the start of something big? Catch up with part 6 here.
Welcome back to season 3. Last year we finished 8th in our first season in the Primeira Divisao. A good start, even the board said so, however things were not all rosy at Brazil Base 2.0. Inexplicably Wood Utd do not have a high reputation in world football so we can’t attract any real talent and we are lacking funds, all this can be summed up in the following negotiations.
Julio Cesar’s love child Wlad follows suit, even the young ones don’t think much of us.
1999 was the year of the Wlad in Brazil, Wlad Reg is on £10,000 a week. He is a regen of some DMC, he must be good as evidenced by his unwillingness to join our merry band. All this negativity has pushed me over the edge and in a fit of rage I sign.
I’ve bought him before and been unimpressed but a) I’m desperate b) He might thrive as the alpha fish in the little Brazilian pond and c) I’m really really desperate. So desperate in fact that I have to sign Walter Zenga’s regen as keeper cover (Free transfer) and this lad also free as DMC cover. I know they don’t hail from the land of Samba but quite frankly I don’t care right now, this idea is floundering.
A mini bonus occurs just before the season begins when a couple of young guys take a holiday to Madeira at the beginning of August only to lose their passports so they agree to stay to help our for the season.
It’s Rai and Branco reborn. This is the squad that will take on the top flight of Portuguese football in the third year of our adventure.
The season opener is against Academica we are the hosts and I’ll be lining up like this, our starting 11 contains 9 Brazilians and two Portuguese players, Carlos – GK and Vieira Frederico – DR.
Well oh my, I don’t know what I was getting all upset about, excluding the first four minutes this was the perfect game and the perfect start. da Costa introduces himself with a brace and Laelson doesn’t need any introductions.
That’s it then, blog over, it won’t get any better than this.
Obviously I didn’t stop there, after the first match of the season I’m thinking we can win the league, maybe we can.
Game 2 is away to Estrela Amadora and check this out. Even Savio gets on the score sheet, big fish small pond I knew he would be alright.
I’m happy, the team are happy, what a start to the season, we are flying, all they needed was a little time to bed in and get accustomed to their new home.
Seriously dude, are you joking, what is your problem…….. NO. Unfortunately Mega Da Stupid Head spreads his dissatisfaction around the dressing room and sweet innocent Laelson gets caught up in all this mess.
I really don’t understand why they have picked now, after an excellent start to the season to decide that they want to leave, get signed by a “Bigger” club and never play a game ever again! To remedy this potential disaster I go out and panic sign Robson. At least his stats look good.
It doesn’t help though our home match against Alverca is a dull affair that ends 0-0. We had a fair few chances but are woefully inaccurate.
The next game is worse, this time our poor shooting accuracy means we concede a soft goal and end up on the end of a 0-1 defeat to Belenenses.
Coming up next is Braga, they are a fairly decent side and so I’m a little worried. The result and the game tell two different stories, it looks like a solid 3-1 victory for us however of the 15 shots we have only four are on target, plus they scored an own goal. I’ll take the win, hopefully it will boost moral but we seem to have gone back to our inconsistent best. It’s gonna be a long season.
Let’s put all this negativity behind us, up next is the first round of the Taca. A good cup run will boost our reputation and then these lads will change their mind. We travel to second division opponents Penafiel. After 69 minutes we are cruising to 3-0 victory, the wonderful Nene has scored a hat trick. We make hard work of the last 20 minutes though and sneak through 3-2.
A nice 2nd round tie on the 8th November, can’t say the same about our next league match, away to Sporting Lisbon.
It was a shock, we were 0-1 down only to come back and snatch a late win Nene and Rai “reborn” with the vital goals. It was a close game and could have gone either way, a draw would have been fair but I’m not complaining.
I feel like the best way to describe this team that I’ve assembled is flamboyant but temperamental and this couldn’t be more evident than in our next result. A home tie against Salgueiros should present little problem for a side that has just gone toe to toe with the second best team in the league and won, and for 65 minutes it didn’t. 3-0 up at half time and cruising, we concede three goals in nine minutes and only to score a late winner and then hold on for the final nine minutes to avoid an embarrassing draw.
Seriously guys, why do you want to leave? We are building something special here.
All this unrest is affecting our focus and for a team that is already unpredictable at best I need less drama not more. Farense take advantage winning an even contest, they only had 5 shots on target. I’m starting to worry about Carlos.
In typical style we come back strong against Leiria, da Costa (Rai) has been an excellent loan acquisition, I hope they don’t recall him.
We must be doing something right as I am awarded a little trophy at the end of the month.
Unfortunately receiving this award, being 3rd in the league and having the same colours as Brazil are not enough to convince young Guto (Romario) that he should sign for us. This struggle to sign any of the young regens is getting me a little down.
Round two of the Taca takes my mind off the growing challenge of signing good players. This is the first time that Laelson and Nene have scored in the same match, I’ve dropped Savio, once again he seems wildly inconsistent, even more so than the rest of these jokers and I’m left wondering why I thought it would be any different this time.
Another nice tie for the 3rd round, little bit of a run developing here, I feel like we are an excellent cup team we just have to be peaking at the right times and we can beat anyone on our day.
In the league though these guys are going to send me to an early grave, we are 3-0 up again at half time and again we try really hard to throw it away. Da Silva will be out for a month which is a shame as he is probably our best player.
Our inability to play 90 minutes of football finally catches up with us against Vit. Setubal, we couldn’t get away with it forever but it is still annoying especially when we were 2-0 up at half time and we scored in the 85th minute to make it 4-3 only to concede a minute later.
I decide that this must be Carlos’ fault, he is out and young Walter Zenger Mk2 is in, he’s not Brazilian but neither was Carlos, hopefully he will be good, he does look it and at some point I’ll sell him for millions.
Well that is 11 games in the league and time to call it a day for this update. Come back next week to see how young Ange Bug does in goal, he’s a developing talent so I’m a little worried but he is also the future and maybe even a way to make some money.
League wise I couldn’t really ask for much more and if we can keep this up european qualification is on the cards and that might even attract some players. I’ll leave you with the league table.
Matthew is back with his cobbled together Altrincham team. Wins were hard to come by in part 2 but what lies ahead? Catch up with part 2 here.
Hello again, and welcome back. We ended part 2, like part 1, with a scrappy victory that suggested things might be heading in the right direction. It didn’t really work out that way last time, but I really feel like we’ve turned a corner with bearded lunatic Gattuso pulling the strings in midfield and I’m confident that this update won’t be quite so disheartening.
First up and yay, it’s a windscreen shield game…said no-one, ever. We’re at home to Scunthorpe, and although I couldn’t care less about the competition itself, it would be nice to get a positive result and try to build some momentum. I decide to bring Zerrouki back into the team as he hasn’t done a lot wrong, and Bradley Cooper might be famous but he’s also a little bit crap, averaging around 6.5 from 7 games. Well, we make a blistering start as Zerrouki celebrates his recall with a goal and Jermaine Wright adds another, giving us a 2-0 half-time lead. We take our foot off the pedal in the second half but Hammond repels everything Scunthorpe throw at him to keep a clean sheet. It’s a great result but I wish it was in the league.
We go to bottom club Doncaster next, and for the first time in a while I go into this expecting a win. We are on the front foot right from the first minute, and deservedly lead when defensive kingpin Duncan powers home a header from a corner on 38 minutes. Jermaine gets his second in two games just before half-time, and we’re cruising. Right after the kick-off of the second half, Hammond displays a touching show of sportsmanship by needlessly fouling their winger in the box and then letting in a 30-yard effort a few minutes later. Zerrouki puts us back in front, only for Tomlinson (yes, Graeme bloody Tomlinson, bane of many a lower league manager) to level things up. I’m about to blow a gasket but then, Doncaster’s Gooding decides to return Hammond’s act of kindness by chipping the ball past his own keeper. Who says that good deeds aren’t rewarded? It’s a messy game but a win’s a win!
This had evidently pleased the powers that be, as I’ve been upgraded from less than satisfied to….satisfied. Cheers for the support lads. The financial situation is a little worrying but I’ve made all my purchases for now and no doubt some bigger teams will come in for my best-performing players before long to balance the books.
I’m eager to keep our good form going, and the fixture list is happy to oblige with a home game against 22nd-placed Macclesfield. The game is fairly even for most of the first half, but we start to get on top and chance after chance seems to hit the post or get deflected wide. We apply even more pressure in the second half, and finally make the breakthrough on 75 mins as Allardyce stabs home in a goalmouth scramble. We see the game out and amazingly, that’s 3 league victories in a row!
Our recent results have propelled us up to 13th place, and things are starting to look a little brighter, thankfully
The FA Cup 1st round draw pairs us with Leyton Orient away. Unlike the other competitions we’re in, I actually like the FA cup and I want to do well in it. It’s not an ideal tie but it could have been worse, they are in our division at least.
A few days later we find ourselves at Shrewsbury, who are a few places below us in the table so present a chance to keep our run going. Unfortunately, it’s another frustrating draw despite our obvious superiority. It could have been even worse but they have a goal chalked off on 80 minutes for offside, to my relief.
Next up are future cup opponents Leyton Orient at home. Blog favourite Bjorn Heidenstrom is still with them, and getting ridiculous average ratings as usual. Things start off poorly as we concede against the run of play, but Tokely is beginning to find his feet with us and scores a quickfire double to put us 2-1 up by half-time. West limps off on 58 minutes, which poses a bit of a problem – in that we don’t actually have a replacement for him. Wright is converted to an emergency wing back for the rest of the game, and Orient predictably equalise a few minutes later. Another game, another draw…
After the game West is ruled out for a couple of weeks, so I move quickly to secure a replacement, making a loan approach for this lad
From my experience of 5-3-2, the best wingbacks are those listed as both defenders and midfielders (i.e. Defender/Midfielder Right), but defensive midfielders can still do an able job if they have decent values in the kind of skills you’d expect them to need (dribbling, passing, pace, tackling, positioning etc). I also move to sign another wingback on a free, he was being watched by Bournemouth which is virtually a guarantee of quality. Whilst I’m at it, I make an approach for a left-sided wing back also as I’ve been pretty underwhelmed with my current choices.
Tragedy then strikes the world of celebrity as Bradley Cooper slips on a piece of red carpet and knackers his leg. Hollywood’s loss isn’t necessarily mine too though, as he’s been consistently crap for me so far. Get well soon Brad.
The replacements for West don’t have time to join us before the next game, and the timing couldn’t be better to be missing a wingback as we’re away to top of the table Peterborough. They boast not only serial fouler and general pain in the arse Jack Lester up front, but also the fox in the box, on loan from Everton:
To contain them, I do what any sane manager would do: I put old man Wilkins, the 36 year old midfielder in a poor run of form, in at wing back and tell him to give it his best. It somehow goes better than expected and we escape with a point. Tokely gets yet another goal to make it 4 from his last 3 games, however Wilkins repays my faith in him by giving away a penalty and they draw level. They batter us for the rest of the game but the defence holds firm and we finish with a gratifying draw.
Tokely’s recent hot streak has somehow skyrocketed his value to nearly £1m, when the vultures swoop for him (as they inevitably will) we’ll be rolling in it
We qualify for the next stage of the Windscreen shield without even playing the second game, to my annoyance. I can only hope we make a swift exit soon, my squad are knackered enough as it is.
The right wingback on a free chooses Bournemouth over us, the git, but we get the loanee and the left wingback in at least. Thank you for your service Mr Wilkins, you can go back to sleep now.
Funnily enough the very next game is at home to windscreen losers Scunthorpe. I hadn’t noticed from being focused on the bottom half of the table up to now, but Scunthorpe are actually 3rd in the table and on a good run. We are nothing if not consistent, and play out yet another draw in a 0-0 snooze fest. Duncan is crocked just after half time, but central defence is the one area we actually have ample cover for so I’m not too concerned.
Jermaine Wright joins Duncan on the treatment table soon after, being ruled out for at least a month. He’s been fantastic for us so it’s a real blow. To make matters worse, I notice that Sheff Utd have their eye on him so he’ll probably be snapped up in the near future. Bradley and old man Wilkins aren’t exactly what I call viable replacements, so I move for yet another free midfielder to provide cover
5th-placed Swansea are the latest visitors to Moss Lane, and we get a thoroughly undeserved 3 points. We go ahead with barely 9 minutes played from an Alladyce wonder goal (“It came out of nothing!”) and the next 80 mins was Swansea huffing and puffing but ultimately failing to blow our house down. After all the late equalisers we suffered through earlier in the season, we are due a little bit of luck so I accept the points gleefully
We’re now up to the dizzy heights of 11th, and I start to wonder if we can maybe break into the playoffs before long
Regardless, we leave this update in a much, much better position than when we started and things are going pretty well. Come back next week to see things inevitably go to the
Well hello there. You would think after winning the Cup Winners Cup that the Academy would be, you know, better. But last week we found out we were the same terrible outfit we’ve always been and once again find ourselves in the bottom 3. Getting ourselves out of that is the priority this week, but first, we need to ensure we’re playing European football after Christmas…
The first leg in Norway was 2-2. We’re heavy favourites to go through and despite an early goal, we’re immediately pegged back and spend the next 72 minutes spraying shots high, wide and straight at the keeper. Away goals are our friend.
What did he say about a big gnome? Rob Tait is here with the end of season 2 of his Portugese adventure with Uniao Madeira. His all Brazilian squad have been a mix of Brazil and Norwich so far, but how will season two end? Catch up with part 5 here.
Welcome back to the final third of the season, 12 games to see how high we can go after this crazy first season in the top flight. At the end of the last update we had just won three in a row against top five opposition and I was high as a CM kite. The first game of the update and Leca come to the Barreiros, a close games but we take the three points.
Our winning run has not gone unnoticed and want away Brazilian international Antonio Carlos is interested in joining little old Uniao. I still haven’t spent that money the board gave me at the beginning of the season and this guy is a “jogador de grande nome” (big name player) so I just have to do it, also I wronged him on my Roma save and promised I would make it up to him.
Antonio’s arrival immediately unsettles the whole team including centre back partner Peu and just like that our little resurgence is over.
Or is it? We have developed some bounce back ability, this Nene might be a bit of a find. Every unknown Brazilian I sign is a bit of a shot in the dark but he seems to be doing it at the moment.
We then beat Varzim away in another game where I can’t believe they scored two goals.
Before dispatching Academica, competition for his starting place brings the best out of Marquinhos who bags a hat-trick.
That’s 7 wins from the last eight games and everyone is starting to believe we belong in the top flight. Which is why away to Vit. Setubal we lose 0-1 after conceding a 77th minute penalty, that was one of the two shots they had on target the whole game!!!!
After that game hosting Sporting Lisbon was always going to be tough and it was, they are still a way ahead of us.
Confidence is gone, we are about as resilient as cheese cracker so when derby day rolls around the following week we do nothing but wallow in our own self pity against Maritimo.
The Easter break can’t come soon enough for us. A couple of weeks off to think about resurrection and all that. It works though as we win the next three games, scoring 13 and conceding only 2.
Those three wins leave us in 8th. Our final game is at home to Benfica, we have 53 points and a long shot at 6th if we win but we could drop to 9th if we lose.
The season is finished off in style with a 2-0 win against Benfica, Laelson nets his 20th of the season and Nene adds another. Results go against us though and it is 8th place after all with Porto crowned champions.
We have been infuriating and also a little unlucky this year but in the end 8th is pretty good going I think. I’m not really sure where to go from here though. I need a little bit more quality for those close games but I also need to make some money as our finances are consistently precarious. I will worry about all this another day. For now here are some season stats to round off the year.
Helcinho still getting it done, he has been good.
Da Silva and Leonidas are both good left wingers, it is a shame they can’t both play, maybe Leonidas can play wingback.
Laelson got better as the year went on and 20 goals is a good return, hopefully he will kick on.
Nene was a good signing towards the end and some of those 7 goals were vital.
Marquinhos was a bit hot and cold, he might have reached his peak.
Peu and and Antonio Carlos will hopefully gel next year, Antonio needs a full season before judgment as he has made a slow-ish start.
Centre mid and the full backs are my areas of concern.
The annual awards see a Radek Bejbl get the European Footballer award, no team or individual awards for Madeira United. DMC Sergio Duarte retires and I won’t be going after his regen he peaked in Division 2 and Jefferson isn’t too bad. Dunga might even retire soon as well.
I’m going to do some serious cost analysis and marketing in the close season we need to expand the Uniao Madeira brand in order to afford and attract the better Brazilian players. Until next week…
Matthew Cooper is back with the second part of his Altrincham save. Starting with no players is a difficult task but Matthew made a reasonable start, which you can catch up with in part 1 here.
Hi and thanks for tuning in again. We left the previous update with the unmistakable scent of optimism in the air, as our hastily assembled band of footballing misfits got their first win of the season at only the second time of asking. Can we carry on in this vein? We’re about to find out. Matthew Bound was crocked in the last game, and he’s not expected back for a month. It’s a blow as he had played a blinder in the first 3 games, but it could be worse and I have 2 loanees to cover the gap for now.
The loan players are unfortunately unavailable for the second leg of the league cup though, so Bradley gets another game at right back. Other than that it’s an unchanged side, and as long as we don’t get any further injuries I couldn’t care less about the scoreline, as long as we don’t go through to the second round!
We go in at half time 2-1 down, my wingback Innes heading in from a corner to level things up before they get another goal at the end of the half. Disaster then strikes as
Palmer brings their striker down as the last man and the ref directs him off the pitch. So not an injury but he’ll be unavailable for a game in the near future all the same, the great big tit.
It ends 2-1, not much happening after Palmer is sent off. I note with irritation that the attendance is a shade under 10,000, making the stadium expansion as completely pointless as it first appeared. Still, at least that cup’s over with for another season. Just the windscreen shield left in the “waste of time” competition bracket now.
Next up is a trip to Gillingham. Big man Ade Akinbiyi leads the line for them, and has grabbed 2 goals in the last 3 appearances so we’ll have to keep him quiet if we’re to get anything from this game.
What did I just bloody say? We are coasting our way to a creditable draw when the lads switch off in the last minute and let their danger man pounce on a rebound from a header. I’m furious with them but also a bit pleased that we were at least competing with Gillingham throughout the game, though they were the better side. The loss leaves us 19th, but with 3 league games played so far the table is a bit meaningless at this stage. We need to get some more points on the board soon though, as losing soon becomes a habit with a newly-assembled team like this.
Our opportunity comes quickly, as a midweek fixture at home to Cambridge is next on the cards. Ostensibly in a show of unity, though in truth due to a lack of options, I name an unchanged team to go out against a side that made it into the play-offs last season. We get off to the best possible start, young McGarrigle sliding it past the keeper with barely 2 minutes on the clock. The scoreline stays at 1-0 up to half time, but familiar lower-league forward Tom Youngs equalises soon after the restart. The game shifts in their favour after this and there’s a familiar sinking feeling as they take the lead with 20 minutes to go. To the lads’ credit though they don’t give up and Palmer makes up for his sending off in the cup by prodding home at the death to nick a point, get in you beauty! A bumper crowd of 883 spectators turn up to witness the spectacle, thank god for those 5,000 extra seats, eh board? You bunch of arses.
We receive a big boost 2 days later, as midfielder Jermaine Wright finally comes to his senses and stops asking for wages on par with Alan Shearer, lowering his demands from £50k per week to a slightly more manageable £700. I’m hoping a couple of others follow suit, and I can bring in some quality players to strengthen the team. In case you’re wondering, Mr Shearer made a £13.75m move to Man Utd (who else?) last season and currently has 6 goals in 5 games. The traditional Man Utd dominance of the first few seasons looks likely to continue for a while yet.
The next game is a trip to Exeter, where we grind out a 0-0 draw. Not much of any note happened during the game, though we were comfortably the better side which pleases me. If only we can get hold of a dangerous forward we can put teams like this to the sword.
The end of the month rolls round and I get my usual board review. They’re less than satisfied apparently, though I don’t know what they expected when they spent a potential promotion warchest on 5,000 unused seats. Besides which the results have been pretty good, considering the circumstances. Ungrateful swines.
Things get even better on the personnel front during the week as lower-league legend and ex-Man Utd trainee Andrew Duncan reduces his wages demands like Jermaine, accepting £300 per week to join my motley crew. The big club release clause virtually guarantees he won’t still be here come the end of the season, but hopefully he’ll bring in a decent fee and allow us to buy some proven quality.
Our next game sees us host Colchester, who are yet to win a game this season. Things are pretty cagey in the first half, which remains goalless. Predictably we fall behind on 63 minutes, but midfield maestro Zerrouki comes to the fore 2 minutes later with an equaliser that writes him into my good books – an entry which is hastily scribbled out again another 2 minutes later as he heads into his own net from a corner. Things look to be petering out towards a disappointing defeat, and the misery is compounded when striker McGarrigle picks up a knock. I take him off as a precaution, only for his replacement Williamson to pop up with the last kick of the game to rescue a precious point.
An away game against long ball specialists Lincoln seems like a daunting prospect, as they are 6th in the table and are yet to lose yet this season. But this team are full of surprises so I’m not ready to write them off just yet. Things initially look bright as their left back is shown red for a professional foul, but Lincoln are still superior even with 10 men, rather embarrassingly. They edge in front 5 minutes before half time and I can’t see a way back for us. But we are a different prospect in the second half, Allardyce levels things up soon after the restart and we push for a winner. Captain fantastic (well, he’s the captain at least) Wilkins limps off in the 80th minute, but we play it out for yet another draw. After the game it’s confirmed that he’ll miss the next two weeks, so we’ll need to shuffle things around in the short term.
Besides, a development then occurs which makes Wilkins’ injury even less problematic. Who’s that putting pen to paper?
It’s only current Milan manager and certified crazy man Gattuso! He’s 19 and untested in the game so far, but I’ve seen him develop into a solid player in previous saves and besides, it’s bloody Gattuso! I couldn’t turn this opportunity down. Ross Tokely, who may be a familiar name to those who habitually manage in the lower leagues, also joins the payroll to give me some more firepower up front.
Cardiff are next up to visit our vast sea of empty seats (sorry I keep banging on about it, but it’s wound me right up!) and I’m praying that we find a way to break this run of 4 straight draws.
Nope. It’s now 5 from 5 as we dominate the game but fail to make it count. We’re not losing at least but we have to start putting more points on the board to pull away from the solitary relegation place. Gattuso and Tokely both get a run-out in the last 25 minutes and have decent debuts, once they’re up to speed I think they will make a real difference.
We have to travel to third-placed York for our next game, and playmaker Zirrouki is knackered from our relentless fixture list. I’ve decided to shake it up a bit and give him a rest, trying the Italian nutcase in the centre of the field instead. Zirrouki makes the bench so I can throw him on if the experiment is a disaster. We lose in the most infuriating way possible, leading from the 20th minute only to let the lead, and then the game, slip in the last 10 mins. On the plus side Gattuso played a blinder so I’m sticking with him for the next game.
We turn up at lowly 17th-placed Rotherham absolutely desperate for points to break this malaise. I keep faith with Gattuso and name an unchanged side, except for the left wing back Innes dropping for Kidd, on account of him being shockingly bad. My two wing backs are averaging less than 6.5 each, so it’s clear which area I need to improve next. Anyway, we get off to a bright start and take the lead when Rotherham’s captain Knill helpfully puts the ball in his own net after half an hour. Allardyce puts us further in front midway through the second half – the first time we’ve been more than 1 goal to the good all season! They pull one back right at the end but it’s too late, and we pick up our first win in 8 games. The palpable sense of relief is overwhelming. Amusingly we won 2-1 despite only having 1 shot on target all match, which makes it somehow even more satisfying.
The win moves us up to a still decidedly unimpressive 18th place, but it keeps our heads above the waterline and increases the gap to Donny at the foot of the table to 7 points.
All in all a pretty dreary update results-wise, but a long-awaited win and some much-needed reinforcements to the squad at least provide some grounds for optimism going into the next set of fixtures. Join me next time as I try to better my record of 1 win per update.
Greetings and welcome to season 9. Season 8 went alright didn’t it? Our highest ever finish of 13th was coupled with victory in the Cup Winners Cup. How do you improve on that?
My Portugese is coming on well thanks to Rob Tait. One phrase a week is all I need. This week, Rob sets about trying to get Uniao back on track with their team full of Brazilians. Is second season syndrome still biting hard? Catch up with part 4 here.
Hi all, part one all ended a little bit negatively last week, we lost three in a row and the board couldn’t make up their mind if they were delighted or expected better. I think I was expecting too much from the lads so I’m going to calm down a bit and not let the pressure get to me. I’ve told the boys of an ancient proverb “a vida e uma montanha russa (life is a roller coaster) and we’ve just gotta ride it. With the wise words of Ronan Keating ringing in their ears we travel to Lisbon.
This is something I’ve wanted to get round to writing for a long time. There was the obvious handicap of not knowing how it worked but thanks to our newest writer Mr Cooper, we’re up and running.
Matt wrote the majority of this guide, I’ve just tweaked it and made my own examples. I managed to do this relatively easily and I am a simpleton. Those of you who have me on Twitter will see I got carried away but that’s not the point. It’s never the point.
Firstly you are going to need an image editor. I chose Paintshop Pro 2019 (https://www.paintshoppro.com/en/free-trials/), which has a 30-day no obligation free trial. I imagine other editors are available, but like I said in the intro this one was really easy as long as you don’t want it more than 30 days.
A new guest blogger! Matthew Cooper doesn’t have Twitter but he tracked us down to tell his story. He’s taken on the always tricky challenge of being the first club to get promoted to the football league. With no players, can a club be built from scratch?
Hello, and welcome to my very first blog series for Championship Manager. For this save, I am going to be taking control of the first non-league team to be promoted to division 3 at the conclusion of the initial season and (hopefully) transforming them, over time, into a team capable of challenging for honours in the premier league. I’ve always been fascinated by these teams – given just a few weeks to cobble together an entire squad and usually (when AI-controlled, anyway) scrapping it out at the foot of the table in a desperate fight to stay up. Things won’t be that dire in this save I hope, but it will definitely take time to turn my ragtag bunch of lower division misfits into one of England’s top sides.
