Since nobody else has started such a thread, then I will. Last season's post mortem/preview is here http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=11664762&sort=w...

Season 40 was the 7th season for Rockingham Arms FC. I was auto-promoted in season 39 into a tough looking V.207 - Alltid reckons it was the 14th toughest V league...

League
I could finish anywhere between 2nd and 7th. I'm going to predict 5th, because that way I'll get the extra income/training from the play-off game (and I'm a tight-fisted git)

I actaully finished top by 7 points, so it's IV.41 next season following back-to-back promotions. I'll be mightily dischuffed if I get relegated, and reckon I'll finish 4th.

Cup
I wouldn't be surprised to make round 5 or even 6 this season

Not happy to go out in round 2 on penalties. That will teach me not to be over complacent (until the next time it happens of course). At least my early exit from the cup allowed me to concentrate on the league, and for once this wasn't managerial speak for "Oh bollocks!". I'm aiming for round 6 this season.

Wages
Reckon I'll be in the 70-75K range by the end of next season

Current wage bill is 78K, after purchasing a 5th Defender (on 5.8K per week). To put this into some sort of perspective, the wages bills for the teams in my V league this season (when I finished top by 7 points) were as follows

P 	Salary 	Team
1 	146 127 The Red Flag flies at dawn...
2 	135 433 raul202
3 	99 900 	Goldfinch Town
4 	99 412 	panajbi sher
5 	81 124 	Krishna Park Rangers
6 	72 485 	Rockingham Arms FC
7 	33 069 	CSKA Clayton
8 	27 456 	nikabokaglorycity

Next season, I will up against even bigger spenders, since the wages bills for IV.41 currently look like this

1 	299 109 asteris united
2 	279 124 Hemel Harriers (this is the other team to auto-promote into IV.41)
3 	246 000 Aeling United
4 	222 007 Igel Gnigl
5 	214 149 Chelsea67
6 	176 443 Thunders FC 
7 	102 501 Son Of Ploppy
8 	 78 665 Rockingham Arms FC

I'm aiming for 4th place in the league, ranking myself alongside teams with three times the wage bill. I certainly get most "bang per buck", and with some of the other teams spending so much on wages then they can't have much spare cash left to strengthen their squads (unlike yours truly). I reckon I'll be in the 90-100K range at the end of season 41.

Ratings
I reckon I can hit 220 average and 245 max next season

Continuing the trend of under promising and over delivering, I averaged 236 Hatstats and hit a peak of 289 in the last game of the season - my only MOTS last season, with the main purpose of announcing to my new league that "I'm no pushover" and hope they will use their MOTS against other teams. It's these ratings that make me think I will finish 4th next season (not the wage bill). For season 41 I reckon average of 250 and max of 300 is easily achievable.

Best Player Skill
the same 2 midfielders still have World Class rating, but they are joined by 2 purchased WC Wingers. The same 2 Magnificent midfielders are joined by a Mag defender, and I also have a Brilliant defender, 2 aging Brilliant forwards, the same Outstanding 'keeper plus 2 Outstanding Def WBs and 2 Formidable scoring trainee TDFs (to replace the old duffers in due course)

Sold one of my aging Brilliant forwards, and the other dropped to Outstanding - but he will be my next coach so he's staying. I trained Playmaking and Short Passes for most of last season, so there are no improvements in the "headline ratings", but everyone's improved a bit.

Ground
I wouldn't be surprised to be at 50,000 by the end of next season.

Over delivering meant I increased my capacity to 59,900 with a record gate of 58,512. Having now looked at next season's opponents, the builders are currently in to increase this to 65,000. I might be up to 70,000 at the end of season 41.

Coach
Still the same solid/solid coach - 32yo who's still good enough to play in goal in friendlies, but is no longer a match for my first team 'keeper.

He's now 33yo and no change.

Youth Academy
My other "hot prospects" have turned out to be lukewarm, but should be sellable when they are promoted.

Just sold a 17/12 Solid passing, Passable midfielder for 670K!!! How much!!! Either the transfer market has gone loopy, or the bidding war was fuelled by the spirit of Christmas on Sunday evening. Either way, I'm not complaining. Other sales brought in just under 40K, but you only need 1 decent sale every 2-3 seasons to cover the costs.

Current prodigees are a (to be) 17/0 Solid 'keeper, and a 17/0 Solid Defender with Inadequate Midfield and Inadequate Winger and I suspect decent passing as well - Leon Kelly could be a monster (and very bankable).

Transfer Market
My old maths teacher (who also ran the 2nd XI football team) used to say you never change a winning team, so you won't be surprised to hear I didn't buy once last season had kicked off. In preparation for next season, Santa Claus bought me an intelligent (i.e. he can use his head) 24yo Magnificent defender (with Excellent Passing) for 1.56 million. My next purchase might be an upgrade to my 'keeper.

Money and Supporters
2052 supporters (post 10% increase for promotion) and 1.3 million in the bank.

Now 2444 supporters (post 10% increase) and 1.25 million in the bank (post purchase of Mag defender and 3 ground increases).

Ego Trip (aka Peer Review)
Up from 3rd to 2nd http://alltid.org/country/england/startdate,11_2007/

Next season
IV.41 looks interesting. In leagues VI and V my midfield has always been strong enough to compete (and win), but now that I'm playing with bigger boys then I will struggle to achieve midfield dominance. There are 4 teams in IV.41 with BIG midfields (and big wage bills) and not much up front. Fortunately, the changes to the match engine (More balanced results and two fixed tactics) will work in my favour, so I expect 5-4-1 CA will see me avoid relegation. I'm looking forward to this Sunday's encounter against my fellow promotee with relish.

Cheers,
OB

League
In season 40 I'm going for 3rd place, this is do-able, but not easy. My league does have a bot and the demoted team has sold up and not logged in for over two weeks, so it looks like a play-off place is the worst I can do.

Well, I rode my luck and played my TS well and auto-promoted to IV.24. I'm going to get slaughtered, my opponents can all take me in Midfield and I have no worthwhile rating in CA, I'll be lucky to get to 8th. Like Opening Bat I'm bottom of the league standings when it comes to wages, but mine are only £36k.

I trawled through my series looking for weak links, not much joy, and I just read a post in the forums that seemed apposite, when you're playing poker and look round the table but can't work out who the mark is ...it's you. I'm going to set my target at 9 points.

Cup
In season 40 I'm going for round 5 again, and this time I'm leaving with a PIC.

I had some great draws and made round 6, leaving on a PIC.

No plans for this season, I'm so very out-gunned in the league that I may decide to play the reserves in the league and go on a cup run.

Wage
Wages are £34k, pretty low for V, I think. Wages will increase this season as I upgrade players.

Wages are now £36k and will fall slightly as I sell my best trainees early in the season. I suspect they may be back up to around £40k by the end of the season.

Ratings
I'm going to aim for a high of 225 and an average of 175 for season 40.

I achieved a high of 242 and average of 193, very happy with that considering my wages stayed pretty low.

I'm aiming for 255 and 205 for season 41.

Best Player skill
By the end of season 40 it's likely that 'Magnificent' will still be my best rating.

I have one Midfielder who popped to World Class in the last match of last season, he will be sold within two weeks, and Magnificent will again be my highest skill.

I'm unlikely to exceed World Class anywhere at the season end,.

Street of Crocodiles
I'll be expanding to 30,000 if I sell out in three consecutive games.

I did sell out and I did expand to 30,000, the cranes are back in as the capacity is going up to 33,000.

I don't know what to expect when my team gets beaten every virtually every match for a season, so no prediction for season 41.

Coach
...my current Coach fell to Inadequate Leadership during the season (exactly 16 weeks after I promoted him, the git). I'll be converting my new guy when my current one reaches Weak. The new guy is no longer an automatic starter, but will play in the early cup rounds and should get four games against bots in the league.

Current coach is hanging on to his Inadequate leadership, if he falls to weak this season, I shall make my passable leadership striker my next coach and save my solid leadership guy for a season when I really need him.

Training
[Appie Herder used to get played as a winger, he will finally be World Class in week 2 of season 41 (he'll be 23) he was bought as a triple Inadequate, PM/Wing/Passing for £6667. I've (over)spent my money on secondaries for my second batch of trainees!

Appie will be sold in week 2, to be replaced by an 18/10 YA boy with good secondaries. I'll also be selling both my wingers to cash in on their boosted midfield, I've already replaced one and the other will be replaced with a higher winger skill player with some PM and young enough to benefit from half slot training.

Youth Academy
I'm really going to struggle to break even this season, things are so bad I'm training a keeper.

I didn't break even, however the new scouting reports alerted me to a solid/solid scorer/winger and he brought in £380k on the second day of season 41.

I'm training a player who will shortly join the seniors as a trainee, and I then have nothing much, a possible keeper, but starting pretty low and without a known cap.

Finances
I still have 5 players who'll be over 34 this time next season, so I'll be spending to replace and upgrade.

I have churned over my old defence and currently have just £309k in the bank. However, I've got three players to sell and only one replacement to buy, unfortunately my keeper is getting old and I need to save for a new one, keepers seem ridiculously priced at the moment.

Fans
I'm up to 1899 now. I can tell I'm nearer the cap for V, as I had "No supporters joined or left the fan club." a couple of times.

Promotion has boosted me to 2318 fans.

Benchmarking

Ratings: 3rd
Loddar: 3rd
Stars: 5th
Salaries: 21st
Crowds: 74th

Ratings: 4th
Loddar: 4th
Stars: 5th
Salaries: 28th
Crowds: 50th

League

Currently ranked 2680.

I did win the championship, and auto-qualified for V (as I may have mentioned before [ed: only about 8 times so FAR])

Aiming for 6th place this year, to get a play-off place, which looking at the opposition is a hopeful target.

Amazingly, finished 4th in my first season in V, on 25 points and +22 GD.

I'm aiming for 27 points this season and a 4th place again.


Cup

Did reach R3. No target this season as I'm going to concentrate on the league.

As expected, I didn't do so well this season, getting knocked out in R2. I'll aim for R3 this season.


Wages

Squad hit as low as 22. Now 27 after some recent older/experience player purchases, but that means I can look at selling some of the younger 2nd team players.

Wages rose to £17.5k pre the recent purchases. Will start the season at £27.8k, so quite a rise.

Staff costs of £19,200. 10 Assistants, 4 Spokespersons, 2 Physios.

Wages of £30,664 between 23 players. I still need a 1st team GK, so this will increase.

Same staff as last year, although I've had Doctors for most of the season.



Ratings

Hatstats, Stars and Lodar averages of 148.5 (Def:65.1 Mid:37.5 Att:45.9), 39.5 (Def:14.0 Mid:16.9 Att:8.6) and 7.95 means I beat all bar Lodars in my targets.

Highs of 170 (Def:80 Mid:57 Att:60), 43.5 (Def:17.0 Mid:20.5 Att:12.0) and 11.13 means I beat the stars and come close in the other two of these targets.

With the new players, I will optimistically aim for averages the same as my last season highs of 170, 43.5 & 11.13 and highs of 200, 47 & 14

Not sure where I got that 21st position from, so I'll ignore for now !

Hatstats best of 203 (Def:98 Mid:69 Att:55), and average of 176.0 (Def:78.8 Mid:53.1 Att:44.1), so I beat my expectations.

Stars best of 49.5 (Def:20.5 Mid:23.5 Att:8.5), and average of 46.0 (Def:18.1 Mid:22.0 Att:5.9), again beating expectations.

I'm 28th in the Alltid TMF group of 29 teams.

I'm 18th for teams in 8/2007 from alltid, so up three places.

I'll aim for hatstats best and average of 220 and 190, and Stars of 54 best and 50 average.


Best player skill

Still have the youngsters.

Now have Brilliant Playmaker (31 yrs). World Class (32 yrs) and Magnificent (30 yrs) Defenders. Formidable (23 yrs) Winger. Outstanding (19 yrs) Scorer. Formidable (18 yrs) Keeper. Extra-Terrestrial (22 yrs) Set piece Scorer.

Still have a Magnificent (33 yr) Defender. Have two Brilliant Defenders, one with Brilliant Passing.

Have three Brilliant Playmakers, aged 19, 22 and 25 years.

Have an Outstanding Defender with Divine Set Pieces.

Apart from a new Keeper, I'll also be looking to improve a Forward or two.

Average TSI, wage and Age of 4,575, £1,394 and 24 yrs.

Top TSI of 13,700 with three other players over 10k.


Ground

Four >40k gates.

I'll see how this season starts before deciding to increase or not, although ideal capacity is supposedly 52,300.

Arena now 45,700. Had 3 matches over 42k, with the final match of the season being a sell-out.

Will look to increase a little, as estimated high usage is 54,875. Maybe an increase to 50k.


Coach

Trainer exactly the same as last season.

33 yr old replacement now up to Solid Experience (and Solid leadership), so is ready when needed.

Promoted the 33 yr old solid/solid to the new coach.

No coach replacement in the current squad, so that's something I'll be looking for. How long should a solid/solid coach take before requiring replacement?


Youth academy

Promoted four youths. One still in squad. Three others sold for a total of £52k.

Have 7.5* IM and 7* Winger ready to promote.

Sold two players for £667 and £7,500.

Four promotees in current squad, one 19.8 Playmaker currently valued at £415k.

Have two Wingers and a Defender on 7* at the moment.



Money and Supporters

Have £785k to start the season, after the recent purchases.

Not looking to buy until I've significant funds.

2,092 supporters after the +10% for promotion (Did I mention that I've been promoted ? !!!)

Bank is at £2.3m at present, but will be spending that on Keeper, Forward(s_) and ground improvements.

2,199 Supporters.


Training

Again, I trained a variety, but this season will concentrate on PM.

Trained Playmaking all season, and will continue to do so.


Regards

Dave

<pissed>

League

I guess survival by any means is my objective in season 39. Average Hatstats were 295 with a high of 331. myst promoted and are replaced by borisia bumchumbadback who get a mere average of 365, while the teams promoted into II.2, Gimpelkings and The Lionhood also have much higher averages than me. Next season is going to be really tough to survive, I fear.

I only finished 6th because gimpelkings sold their top players and Yak Pack gave up half way through the season. A play off against our own Ellesmere Elephants was a 3-0 win, so I survived for another season, but I'm not sure I can do any better.

Cup

I'll aim for R8. And that's as far as I got. Same again this season will be my target.

...and again. I had hoped that as I had a doubler header in the middle of the season against Gimpelkings where I could PIC with my second team that I could progress a little further, but it didn't work out. R8 again next time is a realistic target.

TMF Cup Champions again, too!

Wages

Started at £416K, now down to £377K, mostly due to aging.

Ratings

Average 295, high of 331

Average 286, high of 334 (and 33 in my play off on MOTS)

Best Player skill

Magical winger, 2 mythical PMS and 1 mythical forward.

The same.

Ground

No change. 74,916 ground.

Coach

Solid coach with solid leadership.Now passable leadership.

Money and Supporters

I've hemorrhaged supporters this season, down from about 3408 to 3350. Just sold a trainee so now have an unprecedented £3.8 mill in the bank. Not sure what to do with it.

Kevster.

I didn’t do a review last season for the first time in 10, but my comments from Week 1 of season 40 were prophetic enough…

“played PIC away from home, lost midfield about 55/45, lost the game 2-1, not unduly worried - yet!

We managed to score #8 in hatstats and #7 in stars in our league. Not unduly worried.....errr...

Next week at home to league leader, who relegated from III. His hatstats today were 100 above mine. Not unduly worried?.....OK you got me, I'm a little bit worried.

My (only) goalie got bruised today and carries a plaster. He has a cup game to face on Tuesday. More than unduly worried... “

To be worried was the right thing. For the first time ever we experienced relegation.

League

My seven seasons in IV went 6th, 5th, 5th, 2nd, 6th, 6th, 8th. The decline and fall of the Eastheath Empire. Coming second was a 'pinch me' season 37, however this last one showed us up for what we were - a team that is lacking 'the next step' forward. We lost games where we would previously have drawn, and drew where we should have won. We ended with W0 D3 L11. Awful!

So, down in series V, we should be spared a struggle this season. We have sold some oldies, but need to sell a few more mid-season to get some cash while they still have value. Five teams are weaker than we are in our league, two are close contenders. On that basis we should secure 3rd spot, but what we really really want is a quick return to IV. Week 1 is the hardest, I think it decides the league. We will go for it.

Cup

Last six Cup rounds have been R5, R3, R6, R6, R2 and R6. Looking for a repeat of R6, or at least 1 home game, maybe as a series V team R5 is enough ambition, but would like the cash…

Wages

Last season we battled with £180k as IMs aged and improved and got expensive. One (£70k) has now gone, replaced by younger trainee versions, but hopefully still strong enough to give us some oomph.

This season we are at £80k, a bit more manageable.

Ratings

Way off my best season, which was four seasons ago. Getting around 200 last season with stars of 55.

Am expecting more PICs this year and maybe 220 is more achievable? Stars of 55 again.

Arena

Sat at 50,500 for some time now. Getting low 40s at best.

Will need a good run and promotion to make me think again about expanding.

Coach
Last season was Inadequate leadership, is now Weak leadership/ Solid trainer. One more drop and will have to get a replacement.

Training

Have PM trained every season liberally scattered with General or Set Pieces.

Have 3 1st team IMs, 3 trainee IMs, 2 wingers, and also rotate wing backs through winger slots. Still looking for inspiration! Youth academy seems on the verge of producing 4 or 5 defenders of passable/solid stature, maybe I should switch as they promote?
Stamina percentage consistent at 14%

Youth Squad
See above.

Finances

The underlying balance is 0, it only rises if I sell and falls if I buy. Currently at -£30k, today will slip further into debt and with only 1 home game in next three weeks will look to the cup to provide some cash – otherwise will have to sell a PM trainee or an older defender.

Fans

Worse than fickle. From a peak of 2,647 who once thought we were "top 4" material (what games in IV were they watching?) we are down to 2,242 and “we have to win this season” mentality. Megson, you had it easy.

Season 41
Week 1 we play the strongest team in league. Will let you know next week how we think the season will go!


good luck all

Background

Shooters Hill Mob is now 21 HT seasons old. 2 seasons in VI were followed by 3 seasons in V.110 and swift promotion to IV.55. By this time a home grown youth pull had become the focus of attention, and an external excellent coach had been hired to optimise his training. Demotion followed, as the finances directed into U20/NT training put the brakes on further team progression, and 3 U20 strikers 2 of which developed to NT status restricted the team to 13 seasons of V.66, which finally culminated into successive promotions, IV.34 and then into III.8, by which time the English scorer trainees had been released, and the worn out excellent coach had made way for a solid leadership solid training, Azerbaijan (NT) coach who had already had several seasons in charge and had dipped into inadequate leadership. Last season resulted in a 5th placed finish and a qualification win to stay up.

League

Having landed in III.8 the plan this season is to ensure survival. With a rebuilding II demoted side in no shape to compete, together with a fellow auto-promotee seemingly unable to compete with respect to wages and TSI, this should be possible, with the potential to upset some of the other more established sides.

Having finished 5th, the object this season is to break into the top 4. The champions (ex U20 manager Si Nichols' 'All Bluebirds Are Blue') lost their qualification game, but we have 3 new sides promoting in. No easy games this season by the look of it, but the new ME changes improving CA and press tactics should work in my favour, as I relied on both tactics last season.

Cup

Best ever R8, knocked out at home by a II side. I'm after another R7 target, as secondary consideration to the league.

I was knocked out in Round 8 again, with a counter attack strategy away from home which failed, which hopefully will be more effective under the new ME.

I'd be quite happy with a consistent R8 this season, but with the changes, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a best ever cup run.

Wages

Wages are currently at £230k, having upgraded my attacking options for this new league. I expect playmaking training influenced wage increases to lift this to over £250k by this time next season.

I've actually managed to reduce wages to £215k mostly due to my GK and best defender turning 33. There's plenty of wiggle room here, and I will be looking to upgrade a winger this season, and if possible replace a PM trainee with a better defender who can train PM on Tuesdays.

Ratings

Averaged 293.7 with a 341 league high. I'm expecting to average over 300 with a high over 350 this season.

Averaged 316.5 with a 357 league high. This was the highest average in III.8 but I also had only the 7th best midfield average. The ongoing playmaking training and coach upgrade should mean that overall ratings will not improve dramatically this season, but I'm expecting to be more competitive in midfield this season.

I'll be happy with a 325 average and a 365 high.

Best Player Skill

A magical GK remained my best. I've now a mythical winger and ET scorer as next best, which is what has pushed my wages up.

No change here, with no plans to either.

Ground

61,600 ground, which was filled to capacity in my last cup game of the season. No plans to increase this at the moment.

No change at The Gallows. 58449 high in the league, which means that no further upgrades are planned either.

Coach

2 seasons ago:- Kaffash now inadequate. Will probably promote the Costa Rican at the end of this season.

Last season:- I'm ready to do this within the week now, Kaffash is still inadequate and still carrying his NT flag..

Manuel Beita is, as of yesterday, the new Costa Rican U20 coach, Kaffash is still carrying his NT flag too, but Beita is an EXCELLENT coach with solid leadership, and I'm expecting great things from him, including getting Ronnie Kauser into England's NT, as well as much better team spirit, which will hopefully help to help my team get into the Premiership.

Youth squad

£250K or thereabouts this season, although tonight's pull was a young 17 y/o with solid passing and high passable PM that could pay for both this and last season's investment!

£900k including the pull at the start of last season. Sticking with YP rather than YA.

Money & Supporters

£285k in the black, 3084 fans.

Just over £1m in the black post coach conversion, 3102 fans.

Ego Trip (aka Peer Review)

#1 for 10/03.

No change.

Rob

It's a little while since I have done one of these, and am a bit late with this one, but better late than never.

League

I promoted to III.7 last season, and it looks comfortable enough, with one bot making survival easier. My plans have changed since my best inner mid picked up a +5 at the weekend. I'm fairly certain I can survive, but am a little way from challenging from the title, so will aim for 5th or 6th place and focus on the cup this season.

Cup

An early exit in round 4 last time around, as i was focusing on the league. Prior to that I made round 10, so would love to get that far again.

Wages

Up to £300k at the moment mainly due to two big inner mids costing a combined £150k a week. Hoping to take this down to £270k by the end of the season through age reductions and a little wheeler-dealering.

Ratings

A max of 319 last season, which I would hope to beat later this season.

Arena

Increased to 66k earlier this week which should do me for some time to come.

Coach
Just dropped from solid to passable leadership after one season (I'm sure they used to last a couple of seasons?). Will have to make do for another season.

Training

Have trained passing now for 3 seasons and have a nice little crop of TDFs. The best has now ET passing and excellent PM and scoring. Regularly achieving 9.5 stars. The others are not nearly so well progressed but are young and so will turn into nice players in a couple of seasons.

Passing training has been a bit of a revelation - my wingers, mids and forwards all benefit nicely, and i can see myself training it for some time to come. The amount of training spots mean that I can give all Youth squad promotees a few weeks of passing training, which seems to make them a lot more saleable as multiskillers.

Youth Squad

A few nice youngsters were promoted last season, giving me just short of £2m in sales (albeit some were trained for a few weeks before sale). One player, Walt Churchill accounted for £1.5m of this, as an excellent scorer, solid passing. I've a few youngsters on the books who will raise a few grand when promoted, but no little geniuses yet.

Finances

Running at £800k or so now, but making a fortnightly loss of about £100k, but I'm hoping some youth pulls will keep me above water.

Fans

3,011 right now, but not expecting much from the forthcoming season.

Top players
Magical PM is my highest skill right now, but in terms of stars my best are a Titanic striker with magnificent passing and excellent wing, and my TDF. Both can achieve 9.5 stars in solid form.

League

The goal for this season is to simply stay up. After all my transfer market activity, my club's talent levels are decidedly average, so I doubt I'll finish higher than 4th.

I wrote that on September 9th, at a time when I was decidedly pessimistic about a lot of stuff, including Atlin AFC. Things turned out much better than expected on the virtual pitch, however. Thanks in part to the league's stingiest defence, I finished in second place with a 9-3-2 record.

This season I'm not so pessimistic. I doubt I'm about to relegate, and although first place may be just out of reach, I'd like to finish in the top 3. It's a pretty tight league though, and a few surprising results could drastically change the table. If the new match engine ends up causing more close results and draws, this could be an interesting season.

Cup

This season I wouldn't be surprised to exit the cup in round 5.

I did get that prediction correct. I was focused on the league though, and PICed and sent out a slightly weakened lineup. I'd like to get to round 6 this season, 5 may be more realistic.

Wages

Wages are now at a comfortable £56,325, and with no more purchases planned, will only grow due to training and birthdays.

I did add a handful of veterans last season, so at this time wages are just a shade under £64,000. I'd like to buy a goalkeeper this season, if I can find a talented young domestic one. If not, my wages aren't going to rise much.

Ratings

This season, 210 might be the best we can do.

I was close there, too, averaging 215.1, with an end-of-season-MOTS high of 274. Ratings should improve this season thanks to training, so let's aim for 220.

Best player skill

I've got a supernatural forward, world class winger, and magnificent IM at the moment. Most of the rest of the starting XI is outstanding or brilliant. I'm switching to secondary training -- a combination of passing and playmaking -- and I plan to keep this up for the next three seasons. As a result, I don't anticipate bringing in much new talent.

I did purchase three low-cost grizzled veterans to anchor my defence -- average age 36, one world class and two magnificent. Around mid-season I'll probably sell these guys and bring in similar replacements, so I don't lose too much money on players in decline. I'd like to find a titanic or ET keeper, but young Canadians in that skill range are pretty uncommon.

Ground

Definitely no change this season. 73,400 may be a bit large, but the stands are much more balanced now thanks to last season's renovations.

I haven't filled my stadium yet (current record is 69,622), but crowd revenues were definitely up last season, especially in the second half after I won back my sceptical fans. No expansion this season.

Coach

It's about time for Mr Kuehl to go, TS management was a bit of a struggle at times last season. I'd like to PIC as much as possible early in the season, and ideally get up to paradise on Earth before switching to Ridler, but we'll see how it goes.

And that's exactly what happened, so I'll be set for a few seasons. I've got a future coach gaining experience as we speak, but he's still only 25 so his coaching career may not start until after Jan Ridler's replacement gets sacked. Now I've just got to find Ridler's replacement...

Youth academy

I did hire two additional scouts, and one of them discovered a young forward with excellent scoring potential. As a result, my 'winger farm' was put on hold as I focused all my training on this youngster. He'll turn 17 in a few weeks, and I should be able to get him to excellent by then, and hopefully work on his passing too.

Well, I couldn't quite get this forward up to excellent, but I still made decent money on him. I then did a bunch of playmaking training as I was (belatedly) informed that I had someone with excellent potential. Again, I didn't quite get him there, but as I'm training PM in the senior squad I'll hang onto him for now.

Otherwise, the 'winger farm' concept has returned, unless I stumble across some other hot prospect who messes up my plans...

Money and supporters

I've only got about half a million right now, but I've got a wingback trainee ready to sell and another wingback will be ready in a couple weeks. As long as I keep the sponsors and fans relatively satisfied, the club should turn a significant weekly profit this season.

The bank balance has improved, and is close to £4 million right now. If attendance resembles last season, I'm projecting a weekly average profit of over £100,000 (excluding transfer market cash).

I think the sponsors will be easy to please, but my fans are clearly insane -- they're of the opinion that "we have to win this season", so obviously they haven't noticed the club's decline in talent. There are only 2644 of them right now, and that number is certain to drop.

The fans still think we have to win this season. After some early attrition, fans began returning to the club and now number 2684. Hopefully that number will grow modestly this season.

Cody

League

The coming season is probably one of the most difficult to predict. LKA look to be the complete package, as the reigning champions, would be my tip to retain the title. Hackers is running a team on old mono-skilled monsters, and has a wage bill that warrants another runner-up spot, but Bud is perfectly capable of giving up and selling the squad to start a new rebuild at any time, without warning, and for the rest of us, much may depend upon how well the old mono-skilled approach fares against the sort of multi-skilled sides that they'll be facing this season. NT manager Gove's Rah's Raiders finished 3rd last season, and are the team I'd regard as the 'toughest opposition' in terms of battling it out on a level playing field, but I'd expect them to push on and to best Hackers this season. My target is to be the next best behind these, but Myst, Merry Millers, Camlann and Thor's Brigade are all quality opposition, and I think that 4th-8th could well be very tightly contested.

In the end Rah's ran away with it, LKA picked up 1 serious injury per week, Hackers were runners up, and Antlions and myst completed the top 4. LKA and Thor's won their qualification games, and borisia bumchumbadback repromoted up, with Monkey Mania.

LKA continues to have the highest wages in the Prem, but with over £18m in the bank this is no problem for them. Monkey Mania and Rah's should be in the mix for the title too, and I'm keen to claim the other top 4 spot. I really don't see how Thor's Brigade can survive another season, having skanked it for the last two. Their wage bill is £209k p/w which is roughly half that of the @£400k bill run by the other 6 teams.

Cup

I'll stick with the last 32 target, although having made the final twice in the last 4 seasons, if the premiership doesn't go to plan, I may well be sorely tempted to have another push.

The premiership was my main focus last season, and was knocked out at R8. This was a little early really, and put the team under more financial pressure than I'd have liked. I need to make the last 32 really.

Wages

With Allan Johnson (and shortly after joined by Ben Harrison) being used extensively in a superb WC tournament for England, my actual wage bill has been £326k in the busiest weeks, and £380k or so more typically, although the overall squad wages remain at just over £400k when my coaches wages are added back in.

I'm currently running a little over £400k wages. I'd like to up it and to sign another player, but only if I can make the sums work.

Ratings

Average 364.7.

High 415.

Average 348.4, high of 381.

With no general training this season, and none needed this season to help the NT with England out, I'd expect much the same this time.

Best Player skill

1xUtopian, 1xMagical, 1xET, 5xTitanic, 4xSupernatural.

Looking ahead, I've no plans to change this for at least one season, or until I can beg, borrow or steal a bit of unforseen income from somewhere...

There's beena little reshuffle.

1xUtopian, 2xMagical, 1xMythical, 1xET, 2xTitanic, 4xSupernatural.

Likely to be a few more reshuffles as a few players will reach divine SP this season.

Ground

85000. No change.

83,304 turned up for the title decider against 2nd placed Monochrome. So, the demolition job was cancelled.

No changes planned. 79687 was my biggest attendance.

Coach

The back ups are now both with formidable xp. Banderas remains with solid leadership, although this may not last for long...

I sold one of the back-ups in order to upgrade m/f. Banderas has dropped to passable as of a few days ago. Bonini has outstanding xp and solid leadership as the back-up.

Training & Stamina share

Next season, I need to get concentrate on the passing training. which is now well behind schedule. The new NT manager should be able to get our squad through Q1 with the great seeding we'll have, without having to ask anyone to train general, so hopefully I can get 15 weeks of passing done.

The passing training was scrapped. I'm now committed to set pieces, at least until my new £6m GK, Woodward, is fully trained in that. Stamina share was 25% last season, and is currently 32% which I'm happy enough to hold, but the main concern is to keep all key play-makers at excellent stamina.

Youth Squad

This season, I should be able to promote two solid defenders and a solid GK with little in the way of secondaries, and a solid winger with some useful PM and defending skills. I may keep the latter to train in his passing for a bit, but I cannot really do worse with YA sales than the season just gone.

I've finally managed to get my scouts to land a couple of half-decent looking 15y/o players, and the plan is to train up their PM and defending skills.

I'm still locked into PM for 3 players, with defending as the back up. I'd expect to need another full season like this, with no-one worth promoting until then. Those that I do promote I'd like to integrate into my senior squad set piece training, so it may be a while before I see any YS players making me any money!

Money and Supporters

I've now 3544 members as a result of promoting, so a net 200 increase!

£1.3m in the bank. This should feed the wage bill through to my 1st home game in week 3.

3578 members which is more due to recovering the lost ones after relocating two seasons ago to the Channel Islands than because of glory hunters!

£1.6m in the bank which I want to utilise to bolster my defence with another player before this weekend's away game at Monkey Mania.

League

A play off against our own Ellesmere Elephants was a 3-0 win, so I survived for another season, but I'm not sure I can do any better.

2 points after 8 games, then 4 wins out of 6 saw me climb to 6th place on the last day of the season. I won my playoff against Kimberley Town 3-2, just. It's going to be even tougher this season, with three strong teams joining the league.

Cup

R8 again next time is a realistic target.

Tick. Same again, I hope.

TMF Cup Champions again, too!

...and again.

Wages

Started at £377K, now down to £349K, mostly due to aging.

Ratings

Average 286, high of 334 (and 335 in my play off on MOTS)

Average 288. High of 332 in playoff on MOTS.

Best Player skill

Magical winger, 2 mythical PMS and 1 mythical forward.

Due to aging, 1 Magical winger, 4 ET PMS and 2 ET forwards

Ground

No change. 74,916 ground.

Coach

Solid coach with passable leadership.

Money and Supporters

I've hemorrhaged supporters this season, down from about 3408 to 3350. Just sold a trainee so now have an unprecedented £3.8 mill in the bank. Not sure what to do with it.

That money just subsidised wages and has waned to £100K. Fans down to 3303.


Pretty depressing overall with no obvious strategy to improve things.

Kevster.