Bom Dia! and welcome back for another week with Nick and his Portu-Wolves, who after a mini blip at the start of the season are now flying high at the halfway point. Can they keep it up for a run of games that will make or break their season?…
Here’s how the table’s looking. The important thing is the 6-point gap to 3rd place because I couldn’t give a sh*t whether we finish 1st or 2nd really, I just want to get out of this god-forsaken division once and for all! Let’s go…
Hello, we’re now into Season 3 of my African Leeds challenge where I hope to win some sliverware and lead the Elland Road faithful into glorious european nights.
At the moment I’m more Dennis Wise than David O’Leary int he management stakes, no cup wins, no european football and two 9th place finishes to show for my troubles. We can score goals, but we can’t seem to defend them.
Gavin Nebbeling has had enough and retires from duty in the close season
Here’s how we’re lining up for the new season. Quinzinho,or The Quicker, knows where the goal is. I’ve brought in Adel Sellimi to play in the AM/FR role and Peter Oforiquaye has joined on line from South America of all places.
Good day to you and welcome back to part 3 of this short challenge. Can you turn Blackburn Rovers into Premier League challengers in the first season? Well, yes. Whether they will be challengers or the real deal remains to be seen, but here we are with 15 games remaining and a 4 goal lead. 15 cup finals await.
Bom Dia! and welcome to another Friday in the midlands with Nick and his band of merry Portuguese men. They’ve started season three well, but are without a win in their last three games, so can they get back to winning ways this week? Over to Nick…
We’re currently third behind City and Forest. The goals conceded column is looking about par for the course, but we’ve not scored as many as usual, which is a slight concern. Let’s get cracking to see if we can sort it out…
Hello and welcome back after a week off where I took in the delights of Edinburgh and a cheeky game of FIFA 94 at the Edinburgh Museum Game On exhibition, but lets fast forward to 1999 and we’re into the final stretch of my second season with our all African Leeds squad.
As you’ll recall, we can score a lot, but also concede many too. We’re here in the league, but 2nd place is almost possible, isn’t it?
Well hello there! Welcome back to my latest short story challenge, inventively named “Win the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers” which is exactly what we’re trying to do. Nobody can get near Man Utd in season 1, usually, and if anybody does it certainly isn’t Blackburn Rovers. Here we are though, top of the pile after 8 games. 30 to go…
You can catch up with part 1 here.
Also, CM9798 turned 27 on Thursday. You can take our anniversary quiz here if you so desire.
Good day! Halloween was the release date of our beloved game, so whilst many kids were out “trick or treating” many more of us were waiting for the first ever 3 nation save to create in a swift 45 minutes. I wouldn’t change anything.
Life has changed a lot for me since I started this blog (10 years ago in January!!) so whilst I’m not a prolific poster anymore, I still like to think we’re the best site out there for catching the memories of this great game.
Anyway, I’ve developed a quiz for this year for you. Share your results on X/Twitter please, I like to know somebody is reading this still
Continue readingGood day to you. Firstly, how good are Nick and Matt’s blogs at the moment? Top reads, check them out if you haven’t already.
I was devastated by Doncaster’s 5th round defeat at Old Trafford. A fun challenge though and I got more into it than most saves in recent memory. So, let’s have another short term challenge.
In 1995, Blackburn Rovers won the Premier League. If you are lucky enough to be too young to recall that, they basically bought Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton, Stuart Ripley, Tim Sherwood and Tim Flowers in the years preceding their glory, put Kenny Dalglish in charge and let the good times roll. Those players were some of the best young players in the country, at a time where not that many players were imported.
It was a short lived success. Dalglish left following their last day title win and moved “upstairs” and assistant Ray Harford took over. The 95/96 season wasn’t the best – the Champions League campaign fell at the group stage and several key players missed time through injury. Harford resigned after a poor start to 96/97, Dalglish also left his role and this resulted in Roy Hodgson being appointed. Alan Shearer had departed in the summer of 96 but no real replacement had been identified, with Sutton still around to lead the line.
In game, Blackburn start with £20m in the bank but a very average reputation and the need to find a striker to try and come close to filling Big Al’s boots. I’ve given myself two seasons to win the Premier League. Get me Mick Quinn’s number.
Continue readingBom Dia! and welcome to season three with Nick and his now almost entirely-Portuguese Wolves squad, who have just about recovered from losing a second consecutive playoff final. Will it be a case of third season lucky? Over to Nick to get things underway…
Here’s the squad, and Bully is now the only remaining non-Portuguese player. Rui Miguel Mickey and four regens came in over the summer, and with a healthy bank balance of around £11m, we can pounce if any more good players who are interested become available throughout the season…
And this is how we line up for our first match. I’m sticking with Nikolai’s formation that turned our fortunes around last season and saw us go unbeaten for our last 7 games…
First up are Port Vale. Manarte gets us started, and despite 7 more shots on target, it stays 1-0 and their keeper is on a rating of 9 at half time. Our second goal comes via an unlikely source in Nuno Afonso, who goes on to get man of the match as we make a business-like start.
The new formation makes full backs and defensive midfielders somewhat redundant, so Vu and Fernandes find temporary new homes for the season…
We start our League Cup campaign midweek, and find life relatively easy in the first leg against Rotherham, who seem to have a club rule that says you can only score a goal if your last name ends with son…
Continuing with the loan theme, Eduardo joins Vu at União Madeira…
Next up are a Lincoln side containing our former man, José Vidigal. The game looks to be heading for a stalemate until sweeper Ricardo pings a 40-yard through ball for Coelho to run onto and slot home the winner. Come on!
Everything comes in twos in the second leg with Rotherham. Two goals for us, two goals for them via Champ legend John Ritchie, and two red cards. The final score suits us though, and we’re safely through to the next round…
Next to depart is Nuno Valente, another victim of the new formation. He has a choice of three clubs, and unfortunately opts for The Albion…
We’re behind to Bobby Gould’s Forest in less than a minute, and have to wait over an hour to pull one back. Forest then score again at both ends, and I’m about to settle for a point, when sub Jorge Vicente smashes in the winner with seconds remaining. Get the f*ck in there!
We huff and puff at Maine Road, but can’t find the net against City’s resolute defence. They’re in the ascendancy towards the end of the match, and hit two late goals to earn a victory which slightly flatters them if I’m honest…
And so the injuries begin…
After a goalless hour against Birmingham, we have a penalty shout denied shortly before Manarte fires us ahead, and we hold on to deservedly take the Midlands derby spoils…
After going behind at Highfield Road to a Moldovan Penalty, we finally wake up in the second half, as a Coelho brace turns things around despite the best efforts of that b*stard Hedman. We started the day in 6th, but results go our way and we somehow end up top!
Rock-bottom Luton catch us off guard after just 5 minutes, and The Hatters are proving to be a rather tough nut to crack until Nuno Afonso levels, and then Pinto eventually gets the winner to spare our blushes…
For a centre back, Nuno Afonso really does have a taste for goals, and he gets his 3rd of the season to put us ahead at Reading. The second half is a bit more plain sailing, as Boa Morte and Sa Pinto make sure before a late Reading consolation ruins another clean sheet.
Blackpool give Man o’ Glass Pinto his first knock of the season. Boa Morte gives us the lead from the spot though, and Manarte adds another for good measure as we notch up another win and a clean sheet…
The news on Pinto isn’t as bad as expected…
We play most of the first hour of our League Cup second round first leg with Bristol City with an extra man, but can’t make it count until Manarte finally heads in to give us a slender advantage to take into the second leg…
I can see it’s going to be one of those days at 22nd-placed Huddersfield when their keeper is saving everything that comes his way and they go ahead from the spot and score again at the end in a good old Champing at the McAlpine…
Manuel Amaral, the regen of our former man, Luis Fernando, joins Recreativo on loan…
We pile on pressure at Oxford, but it’s another man of the match display from an opposing keeper, and more dropped points. This formation might stop you conceding as many goals, but boy does it stop you scoring them…
The next Nuno to leave is Claro to Rochdale. He had his chance last season when Carlos was injured, but didn’t fill me with confidence, and was never going to be number one. I wish him well though, apart from when he plays us.
We end this week with a trip to 11th-placed Bolton, where we’re 2-0 down inside 20 minutes and never manage to recover, meaning that we’ve now not won or even scored a goal in our last three games…
We were going along quite nicely considering the opening set of fixtures we had, and were actually 4 points clear at the top before the Huddersfield game, but inexplicably deciding to play shite for the last three games has seen us slip to 3rd. Yes we’re in the playoff spots, but I’d sooner get automatic promotion this time, and save myself yet more heartache…
So that’s probably a good place to leave it for now. Join us next week for the second leg with Bristol City, and to see if we can get back to winning ways after what’s hopefully just a mini slump, with big games against Walsall, QPR, Southampton, Middlesbrough and Derby coming up. Adeus!
Hello blog readers! I’m back at Elland Road for another entry into my African adventure in Yorkshire. We found our new cult hero in Quinzinho, or The Quicker, last time out, only for this to be offset by our ever porous defensive line. Can we make improvements in the middle part of Season 2?
A reminder of where we’re at,
