Sadly, shortly after taking the league table screenshots for the last update, a tragedy occured.

My laptop battery was very low, so I saved the game and went to plug in the power. Mid-save, the laptop ran out of battery and switched off. I immediately feared the worst, re-loaded the laptop and went to restore game

I knew this wasn’t good, and upon loading the game, it closed straight away. The other saves, such as my Altrincham save, have survived, but the blog game is corrupted. I did a system restore but to no avail – the game is over.

So unless anybody knows of a fix for this, and I suspect there isn’t one, that brings an end to the series.

Having thought about it, I’ve taken the decision to start a new game very shortly. I hope you’ll stick with us through the new game, it’d be no fun without you lot.

So keep a look out over the summer for the community XI articles, and a new game will commence shortly. I had always planned to break for the summer anyway, the only question is whether I start the new game before or after the break.

Until then, thanks for reading and we’ll be back very soon

We’re approaching the business end of the 2011/12 season and my time in Spain has gone better than I could have imagined. How you ask? Well, let’s find out

First off though, Louis van Gaal has passed his first test as England manager and qualified for Euro 2012…Norway 2012 if you will

It’s a tough draw, as it always is at the Euro’s, but Van Gaal is usually a winner. On another European front, Deportivo are still going strong in the UEFA Cup

Plenty English representatives, unlike the Champions League.

Brian Little is not endearing himself to the Anfield crowd failing to get out of that group. This also won’t help his cause:

The FA Cup is shaping up for an odd semi final line up

Blackburn have had a bit of a recovery since sacking their manager

His replacement is this chap:

Look who came crawling back to take over Ipswich

The League Cup has a more familiar look to it, despite plucky runs from Hull and Gateshead

Gateshead’s run to the semi final included this:

One for the North East fans there. Anyway, at Depor everything is going well and we’re into the top 6. The January window arrives and I’ve had a good look at the squad, Boye is the first to go. At 31, £5m is good money for a striker who can’t score

Pardeza is attracting some interest

I’ve decided to keep him until the end of the season, even though he’s only worth £7m and has 18 months on his contract, I’d like to re-establish Depor as a top club and then we can attract better replacements. But then…

My eyes pop out of my head at £11.5m and he’s sold. I feel like Kevin Keegan standing on the steps explaining it to the fans, except I don’t speak Spanish and they don’t understand Geordie. It doesn’t deter us particularly

The Champions League sees a huge shock as Malmo knock out Real Madrid. Kaiserslautern also thrash Juventus, casually.

The semi final draw keeps Barca & PSG apart, which is for the best.

And in La Liga, we’re actually starting to reel in the top teams

Nobody cares about the bottom but here it is anyway

Back home and Roy Evans is top of the pile, though Keegan’s Birmingham have a game in hand.

Leicester’s cause is not helped by this result

A bad day to not bring a sub keeper. Meanwhile WBA might have knocked Inter out of the UEFA Cup but they are struggling badly in the league.

Interesting to see McManaman’s Chelsea struggling again, and Beckham’s arrival at Everton has done very little for them. It’s crazy how amongst all the changes in this game, Everton have led a yo-yo existence throughout.

So, with just 2 months of the season to go it’s all to play for. Can anybody stop me taking Deportivo to the top*

*For those who follow the twitter account, you know the answer…

After the 2010/11 season ended with a trophy laden season for Liverpool, you could probably tell I was ready for a change. However, until a job comes up, I have to go through the motions at Liverpool. Fortunately, a job does become available…

As I have mentally checked out of Liverpool, there’s very little transfer activity to report on, and we are brushed aside in the Charity Shield

Benny Lenie was my only free transfer signing, from Juventus. Roy Evans’ Leicester brush us aside and it’s a reminder that a fresh challenge is needed.The Champions League draw looks quite straightforward too

Luckily for me, Albert Ferrer is dismissed from Deportivo, and an opportunity arrives.

Depor are 17th in La Liga, in the UEFA Cup but only have £7m in the bank. It’ll be a long term challenge but it’s exactly what I am looking for. We’re off to Spain!

I joined Liverpool with them having been relegated from the Premier League, I leave them with three consecutive Premier League titles and numerous other trophies. Irreplaceable? There’s only one man for the job

Having failed to get Villa promoted, Brian jumps at the chance to be at the top level again and takes over one of the best squads in Europe. Obviously.

Deportivo have a very average squad, I’ve got my work cutout with so few recognised names

The best known player in there is Leonidas, who actually captains Brazil, partnering Ronaldo up front. The transfer window in Spain shuts at the end of September, so I only have a couple of days to bring in fresh blood. It’s unlikely I’ll be able to call on many of my usual favourites, but I can’t resist this:

I’ve set myself a simple target of staying up, the advantage of the window being shut is that I have no choice but to look at the players I have and work out which ones are any good. The Spanish season starts after the Premier League, so we’ve only played 10 games. In addition to that, I’ve taken Depor to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup

WBA knocked out Inter Milan, incidentally.

Villa need a new manager, so a legend of the game takes his first steps into management

His predecessor at Man Utd has moved back to England too following Wenger’s retirement

And where’s there’s one, the other usually follows

Everton are really struggling, and indeed my last game as Liverpool manager saw Blades score twice in a 2-0 win in the Merseyside Derby.

One of my first signings as a manager has moved into management

Whilst nobody is shocked that this didn’t work out

All of that leaves the Premier League looking like this:

Man Utd looking dangerous again in what must be approaching Fergie’s final seasons. Liverpool are some way off the pace, which is mostly my fault.

Beckham has already taken Everton off the bottom, and Steve McManaman is doing his usual terrible job at Chelsea.

Meanwhile, in my new home…

Surprising to see Valladolid up there, but Barca will no doubt muscle their way in. Sevilla were the first team to break the big two last year and they are well placed to continue.

Up in 13th now, it’s a small recovery but our goals scored column is frightening. 5 goals in 10 games is just inexplicable. Having said that, they had 1 goal in 6 league games before I arrived…

Join us next time as we continue to strive for mediocrity in Spain whilst Brian Little tries to work his magic at Liverpool