June 2007

3ric · 12-31-2004, 03:08 AM

June 2007

Young striker Mark Kemp is the next player to request being placed on the transfer list. This came right out of the blue.

Costello wants a £40K contract, I try to shave £5K off that.

Blackburn withdraw their offer for Quinn, but we get a new offer from Wolverhampton. Stoke, Norwich and Hull all have made bids for Bates, but I might refuse those considering that'd mean he'll stay in the Championship.

Peter Costello agrees to our terms and signs for Sheff Utd, Nottingham gets £1.5 mil in the transfer.

We agree to the deal with Wolverhampton and wish Derek Quinn good luck in the Premiership. O course, the fans aren't happy.

Bates agree terms with Norwich, but I cancel the deal. Czech midfielder Kolar announces that he'll retire after the season (not sure whether he means the current season or the next one). Maltese defender Mark Grima will also hang up his boots (his contract is about to expire).

The Sheff Utd Player of the Year voted by supporters was David Wildish.

We received £675K for TV rights the coming season.

The board was very pleased with my performance last season, and expects to attain a respectable league position this season.

Mark McLean also announces he'll retire, but that wasn't as unexpected.

We have booked pre-season friendlies with Northampton, Clyde, Livingston and Leigh RMI.

BreizhManu · 12-31-2004, 03:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3ric

Bates agree terms with Norwich, but I cancel the deal. Czech midfielder Kolar announces that he'll retire after the season (not sure whether he means the current season or the next one).

check his profile (can't remember where exactly) you'll find the date of his expected retirement.

3ric · 01-01-2005, 02:46 PM

July 2007

Our first friendly is at Torquay. One new face in the lineup, with Costello at right-back. In midfield we play Peters and Wildish on the wings, with Berry and Holt in the middle. After a scoreless first half we make 11 substitutions, with the team like this: Morris in goal, Colin Quinn, Phillips, Mathisen and Wright in defense, Rogeau, Kavanagh, Singh and Paterson at midfield with newcomers Dickinson and Devine up front. Then Torquay score in the 78th minute, and we make a lame effort to tie the score. Final score: 0-1.

Nottingham Forest make a bid of £1.3 mil for Bates, which I accept. He says he wants to play for "a bigger club", and Forest is playing in League One, let's see how he likes that. On the other hand, I'd probably be better off keeping him.

The second friendly at Livingston, we start with the exact same lineup. Bates score the first goal in bizarre fashion as Lefebvre kicks the ball very long, it flies behind the defensive line and Bates run for it. Their keeper starts to run out to head the ball away, but mis-times it and the ball bounces over him, leaving our striker with an open goal. Bob Dickinson add a second in the 80th minute. Final score: 2-0.

Bates rejects Forest, claiming he's deserving a better salary than they could offer. At the same time, we reject Stoke's offer of £1.5 mil on the grounds that they are playing in the same division.

For the game at Clyde, we move Costello up to the interior midfield to provide some tough tackling and marking ability. Berry mans the left wing and Peters takes a seat for the first half. Sanderson scores first on a beautiful through ball from Holt. Four minutes later we are up by two on Sanderson's second goal, assisted by Wildish. Devine adds a third score in the second half, and Clyde gets a consolation goal in the 89th minute. Final score: 3-1.

We return to Sheffield to welcome Turkish elite team Fenerbahce to Bramall Lane. Peters starts inside along with Costello in place for Holt. We stay even until the 37th minute when Sanderson causes a penalty kick and Fenerbahce takes the lead. We allowed five shots in the first half, four on target, while getting four shots (three on target) ourselves. Not too bad. We play the starters for 70 minutes before calling it a day and putting on the substitutes. Final score: 0-1.

Away once more to play Leigh RMI, and no replacements other than Dickinson who return to the squad after resting from the Fenerbahce game. Leigh offers stubborn resistance but a great run by Peters finally open things up, when his cross from the right is directed into the own goal by a defender. I put in eleven new faces to give them an opportunity to shine in the second half. First Devine scores on a beautiful cross from Rogeau, and Dickinson add another three minutes later, also assisted by Rogeau. Final score: 3-0.

Hull offers £1.8 mil for Bates, but I again reject the bid since it's another Championship team.

For the Northampton game, things stay much the same - we're completely healthy at the moment. Sanderson score in the 35th minute on a nice through pass by Costello. Dickinson add another one in the 73rd minute, but Devine didn't want to be any worse, so he scored twice in the final ten minutes. Final score: 4-0.

We have been given the odds for the new Championship season - Bolton and QPR are joint favorites at 2-1, we are priced at 3-1 which means we're considered a serious contender. Derby, Sunderland and Crystal Palace are also thought to be top teams when all is said and done.

The inevitable media question arises whether the squad is strong enough to achieve promotion? Yes, I do think so and with harmony restored to the team we shouldn't repeat last season's nosedive.

3ric · 01-01-2005, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BreizhManu

check his profile (can't remember where exactly) you'll find the date of his expected retirement.

Ah, thanks - the date is July 10th, 2008. It's under "Personal" in the profile.

3ric · 01-01-2005, 02:49 PM

Roster review

Goalkeepers
Starter Kevin Lefebvre, 29 yrs old from Belgium. Pros: Reflexes, communication and jumping. Cons: Aggression, handling. Valued £1.5 mil.

Backup James Morris, 27 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, agility. Cons: Influence, teamwork. Valued £50K.

Defenders

Left back David Connelly, 19 yrs old from England. Pros: Anticipation, decisions. Cons: Aggression, influence. Valued £100K.

Centre back Mike Watson, 23 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, tackling. Cons: Bravery, teamwork, heading. Valued £950K.

Centre back Björn Mathisen, 21 yrs old from Norway. Pros: Off the ball, positioning. Cons: Teamwork, jumping. Valued £1.1 mil.

Right back Alan O'Connor, 21 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Positioning, heading. Cons: Passing, influence. Valued £1.6 mil.

Backup Matt Wright, 20 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, tackling. Cons: First touch, technique, influence, heading. Valued £85K.

Backup Colin Quinn, 19 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Off the ball, first touch, technique. Cons: Pace, strength, work rate. Valued $60K.

Backup Neil Phillips, 31 yrs old from Wales. Pros: Decisions, anticipation. Cons: Teamwork, jumping, bravery. Valued £110K.

Backup Tony Francis, 21 yrs old from England. Pros: Off the ball, tackling. Cons: Work rate, team work. Valued £35K. Promoted from the reserves.

Midfielders

Left wing Graeme Berry, 31 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, team work, long shots. Cons: First touch, technique, aggression. Valued £1.1 mil.

Inner midfielder Peter Costello, 19 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Technique, dribbling, tackling, passing. Cons: Team work, bravery. Valued £1.5 mil.

Inner midfielder Peter Peters, 30 yrs old from England. Pros: Creativity, crossing, finishing. Cons: First touch, tackling, off the ball. Valued £1.6 mil.

Right midfielder David Wildish, 25 yrs old from England. Pros: Dribbling, long shots. Cons: Marking, positioning. Valued £3.2 mil.

Backup Sam Holt, 20 yrs old from England. Pros: Long shots, passing. Cons: Positioning, strength. Valued £1.9 mil.

Backup Peter Kavanagh, 21 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Crossing, stamina. Cons: Heading, marking. Valued £350K.

Backup David Paterson, 29 yrs old from Scotland. Pros: Passing, teamwork, stamina. Cons: Tackling, finishing. Valued £35K. Promoted from the reserves.

Backup John Singh, 32 yrs old from England. Pros: Passing, marking, tackling. Cons: Strength, dribbling. Valued £85K.

Backup Julien Rogeau, 22 yrs old from Cyprus. Pros: Marking, tackling. Cons: Determination, bravery. Valued £325K.

Forwards

Striker Jamie Sanderson, 24 yrs old from Scotland. Pros: Crossing, ability, balance. Cons: Marking, tackling,s stamina. Valued £1.6 mil.

Striker Mike Bates, 24 yrs old from England. Pros: Dribbling, finishing. Cons: Technique, teamwork. Valued £1.9 mil.

Backup Mark Devine, 30 yrs old from Northern Ireland. Pros: Heading, work rate. Cons: First touch, tackling. Valued £825K.

Backup Bob Dickinson, 25 yrs old from England. Pros: Dribbling, finishing, concentration. Cons: Technique, decisions. Valued £1.1 mil.

3ric · 01-03-2005, 11:55 AM

August 2007

The board's confidence in me is still strong - they remain at "very pleased".

20-yr old Italian defender Cristian Scala arrives on free transfer from Messina, Italy, and is met my a mixed reaction from supporters.

We're drawn at Bristol City in the first round of the League Cup.

We get a difficult game in the first week of league play - recently relegated Crystal Palace. We bring Holt, Rogeau, C.Quinn and Dickinson with us on the bench. Sanderson is out due to injury, which means Devine and Bates up front. Costello makes his debut in the middle with Peters. It's a close game, with a clear shot advantage to our side, but Palace is picking it up towards the end. We make two substitutions, Holt and Rogeau, to get fresher legs on. It pays off in the 81st minute as Holt finds Wildish, who passes across the goalmouth to a onrushing Devine, who pokes it into the goal at the far post. Wildish gets another assist later when he dribbles two opponents and crosses to Bates, who heads it in at the near post. Final score: 2-0.

Leeds in the Premier League makes a £1.5 mil bid for goalkeeper Lefebvre. I reply with a £2.5 mil demand.
Norwich also makes a bid, but for striker Bates. Again I reject it, since I don't want to sell to a Championship club.

For the next game we remain at home when we face Burnley. We carry on with the same squad with no need to make changes. Scoreless at halftime, and still scoreless after 72 minutes, when I make some changes. Berry and Peters go off for Rogeau and Holt once more - it worked last time, didn't it? Burnley still doesn't have a shot at goal after 80 minutes when I go all-out for a goal. Final score: 0-0.

Danish top team FC Kobenhavn makes an enquiry for defender O'Connor. He'll command a price of £1.5 mil.

Our first away game of the season takes us to West Ham, and the lineup remains the same. We take the lead in the 39th minute on a play that begins with Berry on the left through Devine who's assisting scorer Bates. Devine picks up an injury at the beginning of the second half and comes off for Dickinson, who's debuting. Dickinson has only been on for five minutes before he scores on a through pass from Costello. Unfortunately we let on an own goal when Lefebvre and O'Connor misunderstands each other and the ball trickles slowly over the goal line. Then the Hammers draw level in the 82nd minute when Lefebvre is left alone with their right winger Tom Briggs. Final score: 2-2.

Watford offer their backup keeper Andrew Borgula for £750K. If I ever sell Lefebvre, I'll remember to check out this guy - he's quite good.

Graeme Berry has been injured in training and will miss two week's worth of games.

Notts County has made an offer for reserves midfielder Leon Knight worth £24K and a 30% next sale clause, which I accepted.

FC Kobenhavn returned the offer £1.5 mil for O'Connor, and I confirm the transfer.

For the away game at Watford, we get Jamie Sanderson back to the lineup. Julien Rogeau replaces Berry to the left and Paterson takes a seat on the bench. We get a penalty in the 18th minute when Wildish dribbles into the box from the right flank and is held back by the defender he left behind. Peters convert the penalty and we're up by one. Watford ties the score nine minutes later, and scores a second goal shortly after the break. We go to attacking mode and replace an ailing Sanderson with Devine. We get behind even further as a result when Watford extends their lead to two. Paterson and Holt comes on for Peters and Wildish. Final score: 1-3.

Birmingham makes an offer for reserves striker Adam Wilkinson, which I try to negotiate to something more lucrative.

O'Connor accepts the offer from Kobenhavn and packs his bags for Denmark. Have a Carlsberg for me, Alan.

It's time for the first round of the league cup at home vs Bristol City. Matt Wright replaces O'Connor to the right, and Devine replaces Sanderson. Three defenders get their first start of the season - Colin Quinn to the left, Cristian Scala and Neil Phillips in the middle. It's a close, tough game but we finally crack the nut that is the City defense in the 60th minute when Rogeau passes Bates whose first shot is saved by the keeper but luckily, he's able to hit the rebound into the net. I replace Peters and Wildish with Holt and Paterson, and we carry on. In the 71st minute we get a penalty when Bates is pushed in the area, Paterson takes it and makes no mistake. Final score: 2-0.

Back in the league, and up against no. 2 Sunderland at home, with Connelly, Mathisen and Watson again in the defense. We get behind early as Sunderland score after 8 minutes on a great team move. Wildish is causing trouble on the right wing with his dribbling ability, but Sunderland defends with 10 men in the box and always gets a leg up to block shots. With ten minutes left I replace Wright with Dickinson and play all-out with a 3-4-3 formation. A long pass finds Dickinson alone in the center, and his shot is saved, but Rogeau follows up and manage to squeeze in a shot from a bad angle, and we're even! Wildish leaves the game to a standing ovation and we hold on for a tie. Final score: 1-1.

Sanderson is back in the lineup for the last game of the month at Walsall. We play conservative, but still concede a goal in the 30th minute as Harutyun Petrosyants beats Lefebvre to a loose ball and goes around him. We push and push and push and in the 71st minute we draw level when Wildish cuts inside from the right and passes Bates who score from close range. We continue piling on the pressure in the hope of riding the momentum and unbelievably, we get another goal as Holt drifts wide right and finds Dickinson inside with 7 minutes left. But once again we prove we are lousy at protecting a lead as Walsall ties the score late in the game. Final score: 2-2.

Bates suffered a twisted knee in the game and will be out two weeks.

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
MR		David Wildish	AM/F RC	93%	7	-	8.57
S2	Int	Colin Quinn	SW/D RLC	99%	1	-	8.00
DR		Matt Wright	D/DM RC	94%	3	-	7.67
FC	Inj	Mike Bates	S C	64%	7	4	7.43

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Derby	6	5	1	0	17	6	+11	16
2nd		Sunderland	6	4	2	0	12	3	+9	14
3rd		Walsall	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	11
---
14th		Sheff Utd	6	1	4	1	8	8	0	7
---
23rd		Gillingham	6	1	0	5	6	15	-9	3
24th		Reading	6	0	2	4	6	14	-8	2

3ric · 01-04-2005, 03:27 PM

September 2007

Wildish is first runner-up in the Player of the Month award to Wigan's Brazilian attacker Gustavo Gassenferth.

Right back Matt Wright is ruled out for a month after picking up a groin injury during training.

For the home game vs Plymouth Argyle, we use Tony Francis at right back, and Devine plays up front with Sanderson. Apart from one occasion when Connelly had to clear the ball off our goal line, there's not many scoring opportunities. With 10 minutes left to play I put in Dickinson and Holt for Sanderson and Peters and go full throttle forwards. Final score: 0-0.

We face 23rd-placed Reading on the road, and play with three new defenders - Quinn, Phillips and Scala. Berry is back at left wing and Kemp takes a spot on the bench. Reading score in the fifth minute, but we equalize through Devine two minutes later. Reading takes the lead once more in the 43rd minute, and we are starting to get nervous before Costello score on a shot from outside the box, his first goal for the Blades. Final score: 2-2.

It's the second round in the League Cup and we're playing Preston North End, also in the Championship. A lot of players is a little worn down, so we'll take mostly guys who's at 100% fitness which mean an entirely fresh midfield with Rogeau, Kavanagh, Holt and Paterson. Unfortunately we get David Connelly, the left back, sent off after only 27 minutes but carry on with the attacking style anyway. We're still at nil-nil after 68 minutes so I toss in Wildish to see if can stir things around. The midfield display some nice short passing ability at 80 minutes and set up Paterson's nice through pass to Kemp - and the striker fires the ball past the keeper for the opening goal. Final score: 1-0.

We've drawn League One team Oldham in the Third Round of the League Cup.

Next league game is at home vs Bolton and Holt get the start inside, I'm curious how he does. We have some unhappy faces on the team because of our lack of wins so far. As most of them is scond-string players it's not that hard to avoid playing them, the notable exception is midfielder Peter Peters. He's gone far enough to claim he's lost his confidence in me. Bolton takes the lead in the 66th minute through Gary Shultis Jr. We replace Mathisen (who's had a very bad game) with Scala, and with 10 minutes to go, Wildish leaves for Kemp and we play a 4-3-3 to force a tie. No such luck. Final score: 0-1.

We have £3.5 mil in the transfer budget to play with - the wise thing to do might be to invest most of it in an impact striker. Sanderson isn't performing well this season and Bates apparently is thinking about his future for another team.

After the loss, we're all the way down to 19th place, and we apparently have to change some things. Phillips and Singh goes into the starting eleven, and up front we have Kemp and Dickinson. We get off to a flying start as Kemp heads in a cross from Singh after only three minutes. Costello gets injured at 70 minutes, and we put in Kavanagh in his place. They are pressuring hard at the end, but Lefebvre is everywhere. Final score: 1-0.

Costello has been ruled out for a month with a torn groin muscle, that's bad news for us. In the hunt for a striker, we have tested the availability for Nottingham's Ronny Johansen and Wigan's Gassenferth. Johansen is a real possibility, but a tad older than we'd liked at 30. But he's far too good to play in League One.

3ric · 01-04-2005, 03:27 PM

October 2007

The board apparently has soured a bit - their confidence level is only at "satisfied" now.

Our offer for Johansen is accepted and we start negotiating about his salary. He's seeking £35K, I try offering £31K and see if he can live with that. Johansen agrees, and he moves to Sheffield Utd for a £1.9 mil fee.

Right back Matt Wright returns to full training after a month's absence due to injury.

Johansen starts right away next to Bates in the game vs Rotherham. In the 37th minute, we get a quick break led by David Wildish, who jukes two defenders before crossing inside to Johansen, who scores in his debut for the Blades. Rotherham ties the score instantly when their striker Wright ran through the line and hit a low shot outside of Lefebvre. Wright scores a second goal early in the other half when the defense again was too passive. We try to push to gain more possession but all that happens is another goal for Rotherham. Final score: 1-3.

The weak defensive effort in the game worries me, the back unit might have been so depleted in quality with the departure of O'Connor that we need to bring in a replacement ASAP.

When looking at my assistant manager's team report, I'm struck by the presence of an unknown name. It appears that reserves right back Michael Jones has made significant progress lately and could be part of the first team rotation if needed.

In the game at Bristol City we start defensively, but again get behind early and change plans. Wildish tie the score after 30 minutes on a spectacular long shot, but six minutes later he has to be substituted for Paterson due to injury. In the 56th minute we go into the lead when Rogeau surprise their keeper with a well-timed long shot. Rogeau is having a great game at the right flank and creates an assist to Bates who heads in our third goal. Watson is tired and leaves for Scala in the 65th minute. Peters has had a good game but is replaced with Kavanagh with 15 minutes to go. City get one back with two minutes left in regulation but we hang on for a rare win. Final score: 3-2.

We have talking with Verona, an Italian team about one of their transfer listed defenders, Alessandro Birindelli - a left back. He can be signed cheap for £110K and we agree to a transfer that will go into effect on January 1st.

Another option to strengthen the defense is Valladolid's Craig Adams, from the British Virgin Isles. He'll command a price of £325K up front + £1.9 mil over 18 months.

In the meantime, we'll prepare for the home game vs Oldham Athetic in the League Cup. We rest seven players from last game's lineup with only Berry, Lefebvre, Quinn and Connelly still playing. The game is scoreless after the first half, but the second has hardly begun before Sanderson gets a real chance and forces Oldham's keeper to run out and block the shot. The rebound flies out to the left where Berry lurks, and his shot flies over the keeper and into the empty net. We stand the time out with substitutions for Connelly, Berry and Singh - Watson, Rogeau and Kavanagh comes in and fights to keep our lead protected. Final score: 1-0.

We agree to terms with Adams, but since it's an international transfer (same as Birindelli) then it can't be completed until after the international transfer window opens again. That's not good enough for me, and I cancel the transfer. He's a very good player though and I'd love to bring him over some other time.

We'll play Premier League team West Bromwich in the fourth round of the League Cup.

Tough game today at home vs first-place Derby - we restore the first team as well as we can without Wildish and worst of all, goalkeeper Lefebvre, who bruised a shin in training. We play defensively and manage to close down Derby for 90 minutes. Final score: 0-0.

Next time up is at Coventry, 10th in the league. Lefebvre is back in goal even though Morris did well against the division leaders. Peters is out, which means Berry plays to the left and Kavanagh and Singh mans the middle. Right back Matt Wright returns to the starting eleven after a long recuperation period. Singh must have come down with the flu or something as he's exhausted after 35 minutes when Coventry crosses into the box for a headed goal. Holt comes on in his stead and leads a nice attack where Johansen almost scored if not for the Sky Blues' keeper. Luck is with us at the start of the second half as we get a penalty kick awarded. Mathisen takes it, and hits it inside the left post with great force and we're level. We slow down a little to not give Coventry to much room and the game looks headed for a tie when Berry appears to overhit a cross from the left. But right winger Rogeau has sneaked into the box unawares and volleys home the ball at the near post. We put on Jones for the tired Berry and pull back to defend. Final score: 2-1.

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
DR	Unh	Matt Wright	D/DM RC	83%	4	-	8.00
-	Inj	David Wildish	AM/F RC	69%	13 (1)	1	8.00
ML		Graeme Berry	AM LC	89%	11	1	7.64
GK	Unh	Kevin Lefebvre	GK	97%	16	-	7.56

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Derby	14	8	5	1	23	11	+12	29
2nd		Walsall	14	8	4	2	21	9	+12	28
3rd		Wigan	14	6	6	2	20	10	+10	24
---
12th		Sheff Utd	14	4	7	3	17	17	0	19
---
23rd		Gillingham	14	3	1	10	13	28	-15	10
24th		Millwall	14	2	4	8	10	26	-16	10

daedalus · 01-04-2005, 11:45 PM

Man, it seems like unless Wildish does something, the offense sort of sputters.

3ric · 01-05-2005, 03:02 AM

Yes, it seems as the opponents know we are a little predictable - out with the ball to the right to Wildish and let him come up with something. I'll try play him in the middle, or even at forward, for a stretch to force them to adjust. The Coventry game showed that Rogeau plays very well at the right wing.

3ric · 01-06-2005, 03:06 AM

November 2007

The board remain just satisfied with me, another month as the last one will be necessary to make them happier again I think.

Graeme Berry finished second in the voting for Player of the Month, and Wildish' goal vs Bristol City won him the Goal of the Month award.

Lefebvre suffers another slight injury in training, this'll keep him out a week.

Mark Kemp has been transfer listed a while and now, when we have accepted an £80K bid for him from Brighton, he requests to be taken off the transfer list and to stay at Bramall Lane.

Away at Norwich, we start Morris in goal but other than that, it's the same lineup as last week as Wildish and Peters are still out. We dominate this game from the start against the 20th-placed team but we don't actually score until the 41st minute when a freekick from Berry first hits the wall, and then pops loose in the scramble between Watson, their keeper and a defender. Neither of the three succeeds in controlling the ball and Bates pounce on the opportunity and hits the ball into the empty net. With 20 minutes left and still leading by one, I replace the tired Singh with Michael Jones. But again we suffer from slack defending at the end and Norwich manage to tie the game with 6 minutes to go. Final score: 1-1.

Peter Costello returns to full training, although he'll need another week or so before he's match fit again.

We enter the fourth round of the League Cup, and play West Bromwich at home. Wildish is back in the starting eleven and play inside along with Kavanagh, with Berry and Rogeau on the wings. Morris remains in goal as Lefebvre is still unfit. Bates hurts himself after 13 minutes and Sanderson comes on in relief. Sanderson manages to get carded for taking a dive in the penalty box. Wildish relishes being in the center of the action, but occasionally he's drifting out to his familiar right-wing position. He's so unpredictable it's a hoot watching him in action. Berry receives the ball to the left and slides the ball inside to Johansen, who does a cheeky chip shot over their keeper and into the far side of the net. 1-0, Sheffield Utd! We replace Wildish and Connelly in the 75th for Holt and Quinn. 10 minutes later West Brom get a player sent off and we're still up by one. Final score: 1-0.

Mathisen has picked up an automatic suspension following his fifth booking. Bates wasn't badly hurt, he'll be away only five days.

We'll play Walsall in the League Cup quarterfinal, they are currently 2nd in the Championship.

Costello is called up to the Ireland squad to play a friendly vs Belarus. He came on in the second half and did well in the 2-2 draw.

For our next game in the Championship, we play Hull at home. Lefebvre is back in goal, but I'm thrilled with the level of play James Morris showed in the last two games. Mathisen is suspended, but that's solved with the return of Costello, who plays right back with Wright moving inside. Johansen open the scoring account today with a skillful display on the left side of the box, beating his man and coolly waiting out the keeper before hitting a low shot past him. We continue to build up plays on their right back's expense, mainly through Johansen and Berry. After the latter found the former with a clever pass, the defender accidentally tripped Johansen coming into the area, and the referee awarded the penalty. Rogeau took it, and confidently scored. Hull reduce our lead to one on a corner early in the second half. Three minutes later, they draw level on a spectacular long shot. Final score: 2-2.

Watson reaches the yellow cards limit and will be suspended in the next game.

On only two days of rest, we play hosts to Stoke, currently 18th in the Championship. Mathisen replaces Watson, but otherwise it's the same team as last time - a little more tired though. We are still at 0-0 after 68 minutes when I replace Peters - who's on the verge of collapse - with Holt. Suddenly Stoke takes the lead on a delicious long pass - their striker gets wide open with Lefebvre, who saves the first shot but can't stop the rebound from being collected by a Stoke player and shot into the net. We replace Wildish with Sanderson and go for a 4-3-3 with Wright at midfield. Final score: 0-1.

Away at Deepdale to play Preston North End, we has had some rest and replace only Mathisen with Watson, who's back from his suspension. Preston's xxx score early, in the 7th minute, on a great solo run right through my defense. Then they clam down an defend their lead and it's not until the 89th minute when Peters squeeze through and fire in a shot inside the near post. We're level, and when Preston push on to win in extra time, the obvious thing to happen - with my luck - is a conceded penalty after 93 minutes, by Connelly. Goal for Preston, and game over. Final score: 1-2.

I am offered the job as manager of West Ham, currently in 21st place in the Championship. I don't have to consider the offer to refuse it - there was no way I was going to make that switch.

The League Cup quarter final is at home, and the opposition is Walsall, one of the top teams in my division. The only change we have to make is to put in Sanderson for Johansen. We get behind by one after only five minutes when Petrosyants score on a rebound off Lefebvre's save. Petrosyants add a second goal 13 minutes later. In the 55th minute, he receives a pass and before the defense can intervene, he shoots past our keeper for his hattrick. We get some hope in the 79th minute when Rogeau score on a penalty, but our all-out attacking mentality nets us little more than another goal for Walsall. Final score: 1-4.

Left back Connelly will be suspended in the next game after receiving a booking, his fifth of the season, in the game.

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
S1	Unh	James Morris	GK	100%	3	-	8.00
MC	Unh	David Wildish	AM/F RC	91%	18 (1)	1	7.79
DC	Yel	Matt Wright	D/DM RC	93%	10	-	7.60
MC		Graeme Berry	AM LC	91%	17	1	7.59

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Derby	18	10	6	2	27	13	+14	36
2nd		Walsall	18	9	7	2	27	12	+15	34
3rd		Bolton	18	9	7	2	30	18	+12	34
---
15th		Sheff Utd	18	4	9	5	21	23	-2	21
---
23rd		Millwall	18	4	4	10	17	33	-16	16
24th		Gillingham	18	4	3	11	17	32	-15	15

3ric · 01-07-2005, 04:08 PM

December 2007

No improvement in the board's confidence, and it wasn't to be expected after losing three straight.

We play 23rd-placed Millwall at home, with Matt Wright replacing Connelly and Watson playing left back. Johansen is back up front with Bates. Stockbridge score first for Millwall, and Wildish gets a light injury and is replaced with Holt at halftime. We draw level after 54 minutes when Mathisen follows through an attacking wave and meets a cross from the left. Final score: 1-1.

In the third round of the FA Cup, we're drawn against Liverpool.

For the game at Portsmouth I start with the same starting eleven but bring John Singh with us to sit on the bench. Bates has been nicked somewhat late in the first half and I substitute him for Singh and put Wildish up front with Johansen. It pays off early in the second half as Singh wins a challenge, passes Wildish who beats his man and feeds Johansen, who scores. In the 61st minute, Johansen scores again - but the goal is all Wildish, as he ran right through the defense and passed sideways as the keeper forced him outside. Final score: 2-0.

When we travel to London to play QPR, we leave Johansen at home and start with the pairing of Bates and Wildish. Kavanagh and Connelly returns to the starting eleven, and Mathisen is left outside. We almost go ahead in the 21st minute when Kavanagh finds Wildish with a long ball and he turns the keeper outside in, but the shot is saved by a lunging defender. However, QPR takes the lead in the 51st minute despite having been outshot 2 to 1. We replace Rogeau with Singh and start pushing up. Final score: 0-1.

Sheffield derby as United plays Sheff Wed at Bramall Lane. Wildish continue up front as the playmaker, but together with Johansen this time. Wednesday take the lead in the 47th minute through McCarthy. Despite outshooting them 12 to 2, that's the only goal of the game. Final score: 0-1.

The chairman is disappointed about losing in the derby and says he expected more of me and the players. I'd better start taking a look at the job pages in the paper. Just for kicks, I apply for the manager position at Fulham and Bologna, Italy.

Another away game, this one is at Burnley at Turf Moor. Wildish return to his usual spot at right wing, and Sanderson pairs in the attack with Johansen. We finally have a bit of luck when we score in the 13th minute on a corner, Johansen meets the ball at the far post. We are about evenly matched in this game, but we create better scoring opportunities than Burnley, who only threaten Lefebvre once. Final score: 1-0.

Sanderson suffered a groin strain in the game and will be away two weeks.

Wildish, Peters and Rogeau all were selected in the Team of the Week.

David Connelly signs a new contract that'll pay him £9250 as opposed to his earlier salary of £1800.

A home game vs West Ham, and Bates replace Johansen in the lineup. Wildish set up Bates, who cuts inside before shooting into the far corner of the goal, only five minutes into the game. We go up by two five minutes later on a penalty kick that Rogeau convert with no problems. Right before the halftime signal we score our third goal, again through Wildish on the right side - he cuts inside and feeds Bates who only has to stick out his foot to score. Johansen add a fourth and a fifth goal in the 54th and the 65th minute. We pull Watson, Wildish and Peters to rest them a bit and go defensive for the rest of the game. Final score: 5-0.

The last game of the year is on the road at Wigan, which always is a difficult game. Colin Quinn replaces Watson and reserves striker Watkins is on the bench. We look headed for a nil-nil game when Wigan scores in the 78th minute on a 25 yd strike. Final score: 0-1.

Wildish and Bates were picked for the Team of the Week. Johansen is tired, says the physio, and we have to rest him for a couple of games.

Contracts are expiring in six months for Wildish, Peters, Rogeau, Mathisen, Quinn, Kemp, Holt, Kavanagh, Wright, Bates, Singh, Berry and Lefebvre. This could be bloody if all of them wants a raise.

We are £50K over the current wage budget, so I'll offload Bates at once. Wildish wants £60K a month, Peters £80K, Rogeau £46K, Berry £48K and Lefebvre isn't interested in renewing at all. We offer new contracts to Singh, Kavanagh, Wright, Holt, Kemp and Quinn.

daedalus · 01-08-2005, 12:08 AM

Ouch. Those are some key players up for a new contract.

3ric · 01-08-2005, 02:48 AM

January 2008

Wildish wins the Championship Player of the Month award.

A little unexpectedly, an Italian defender arrives at our doorstep. I'd almost forgotten about Alessandro Birindelli coming. The six players we offered new contracts to all agree to the terms. We've also offered a contract to keeper Borgula of Watford.

The first game of 2008 is away at Crystal Palace, 10th in the division. Wildish score our first goal when he nutmegs the keeper and watches the ball slowly trickle over the goal line. Fran ties the score for Palace 20 minutes later, and in the 57th minute we are behind by one as Palace score again. They score a third goal in extra time and that's that. Final score: 1-3.

We accept bids from Fulham and Norwich for Bates. Several players have voiced opinions that team morale would improve if he'd leave the club.

We have agreed terms with Borgula, and he'll join the team on July 1st, replacing Lefebvre. Fulham let me know that they've rejected my application for their manager vacancy.

In the FA Cup, we play hosts to Premier League power Liverpool. We play Watkins up front, Kavanagh and Rogeau in the middle and Colin Quinn at centre back. It's two minutes, then we're behind by one. Watson is injured after 15 minutes and Jones comes on. We tie the game in the 54th minute when Watkins run on a long ball and centres the ball to Bates, who makes no mistake from short range. But four minutes later, the Reds' striker Simon Simpson bags his second one of the game and we're behind again. We try to attack, but Pool are able to counter easily and Simpson completes his hattrick in the 70th minute. Final score: 1-3.

We lose important defender Mike Watson for four weeks due to the injury he suffered in the game. The gate receipts of £650K from the Liverpool game is a new record high.

We confirm the deal that will take Mike Bates to Norwich, unfortunately he rejected the offer from the Premiership club Fulham. With that done, I offer Wildish a new contract with a $43.5K salary - well below his current demands of £55K, but hopefully he'll compromise.

Wildish re-signs!

Against Watford at home, we start Birindelli at left back, but otherwise there are few changes. Sanderson heads home a cross from Peters and we're leading after 11 minutes. Watford tie through Rob O'Connor in the 25th minute. Sanderson show true goal-poaching ability when he correctly reads their keeper's intentions and intercepts a short throw to a defender, leaving him alone to score a really cheeky goal. Kemp and Holt comes on for Watkins and Peters after 68 minutes. Unfortunately Watford tie the score in the 73rd minute and despite our best efforts, that decides the outcome. Final score: 2-2.

Johansen will miss three weeks after suffering an injury during training.

Playing Sunderland on the road with Wright at right back (Costello is injured) and Phillips as centre back along with Mathisen. We hold tight until the 64th minute when Sunderland takes the lead. Sanderson equalize about ten minutes later, but that's only temporarily as Sunderland regain their lead four minutes later. Final score: 1-2.

At home vs the division's no.1 team Walsall, the only change we make is to start Devine up front with Sanderson. Wildish and Sanderson team up for our first goal in the 10th minute, which also was Sanderson's 50th goal for the Blades. In the 27th minute, Wildish feeds Sanderson again, but this time the striker misses horrendously, but Berry snatches up the ball and fires it into the net from the opposite side of the goal. Walsall claw one back when defender Neil Phillips is whistled for a foul at the edge of the penalty area, causing a penalty kick. Sanderson and Rogeau leaves the pitch for Kemp and Singh. Walsall push hard for a tie, but we turn the tables when Berry makes a steal and starts a string of passes that ends with an open Kemp who scores our third goal. Final score: 3-1.

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
MR		David Wildish	AM/F RC	99%	30 (1)	2	8.03
S1	Unh	James Morris	GK	100%	3	-	8.00
ML		Graeme Berry	AM LC	97%	28	2	7.50
GK	Unh	Kevin Lefebvre	GK	100%	32	-	7.44

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Walsall	29	16	9	4	47	22	+25	57
2nd		Derby	29	15	9	5	41	23	+18	54
3rd		Reading	29	13	11	5	44	33	+11	50
---
14th		Sheff Utd	29	8	11	10	37	35	+2	35
---
23rd		Norwich	29	4	14	11	21	32	-11	26
24th		Millwall	29	4	7	18	25	54	-29	19

3ric · 01-08-2005, 03:44 PM

February 2008

Wildish wins the Championship Player of the Month award for the second consecutive time.

Away at Plymouth, we welcome back Mike Watson in the middle together with Mathisen. Kemp and Devine are the two strikers today with Sanderson lightly injured. Plymouth score as early as in the 11th minute, and we have to play catch-up from now. Devine gets hurt in the 35th minute and we play with young guns Watkins and Kemp up front. With some luck, Kemp gets a goal following a pass from Berry in the 42nd minute. Richard Dunachie bags his second goal of the day in the 56th minute with Argyle again taking the lead. Final score: 1-2.

We're playing no.3 Reading next, and have a bit of a crisis regarding injured forwards - only Watkins and Johansen are healthy enough to play, and we have to pull Jenkins from the reserves to get a full bench. Wildish scores in the 40th minute on a magnificent individual effort where he exchanged passes with Johansen to skip by no less than three defenders and beat the keeper with a low shot near the post. In the 68th minute, we extend our lead on a cross from Peters in to Johansen who heads the ball in the net. A tired scorer is substituted for Jenkins immediately following the referee's signal. Final score: 2-0.

For the game at Gillingham, currently in 22nd place, we're still with little options at striker, with Johansen tired and only Watkins and Jenkins to help out. Berry is injured since last game and Holt plays instead. Gillingham takes the lead after 35 minutes, and we are having difficulties in creating anything at their end of the pitch. For the entire game, we create only four shots, with one of them being inside the goal frame - pathetic. Final score: 0-1.

Watson is suspended again - this time for receiving his 10th booking this season.

At home vs Rotherham, we score as early as in the fifth minute when Wildish crossed in to Jenkins, who made no mistake alone with the keeper. In the 13th minute, we're up by two when Rogeau finds Kavanagh in the middle, outside the box. The midfielder isn't a huge threat shooting from downtown, but this shot is hard to find fault with, as it finds itself into the far bottom corner of the goal. Rotherham get on the scoresheet with a long shot in the 31st minute. We again set our lead to two when Peter Peters fire in a shot off the post right before the halftime interval. We close things down efficiently in the second half. Final score: 3-1.

Despite the win, on February 17th the manager's ultimate consequence happens - I'm sacked.

I immediately apply for two vacancies - Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough.

We are turned down by Boro, but get an invitation from League One team Oldham Athletic to become their new manager. I'll pass on the chance until Wednesday makes a decision - I'd like to stay in the Championship.

When Sheff Utd play their first game in the post-3Ric era, I'm curious how they'll line up the team at Bolton. They start Johansen and Wildish at forwards, Berry, Holt and Kavanagh at midfield with Birindelli and Wright as attacking fullbacks. The defensive line consist of Costello, Mathisen and Watson in front of Lefebvre. They lose 0-3 after Lefebvre was sent off for bringing down an attacker as the last man.

I apply for the vacated manager position of the Blackburn Rovers.

Carl Murphy, recently fired from Stoke, is hired as the new Sheff Utd manager.

condors · 01-08-2005, 04:39 PM

good luck finding a new job!

daedalus · 01-08-2005, 09:38 PM

Sucks! Hopefully, we'll get you back on board another job soon. Are you only looking in England or are other leagues possibilities as well?

3ric · 01-09-2005, 02:25 AM

March 2008

Sheff Wed turned me down. I'm linked with the Norwich City job, which became available on March 10th.

Blackburn turn me down, and hire the coach of League One team Cardiff instead.

In the last three games, Sheff Utd has won once, at home vs Bristol City, and lost twice, at Derby and vs Coventry.

I apply for both the Real Betis and the Espanyol jobs in Spain.

Later, the Juventus job become available. Fat chance I'm going to get it, but hey, one can dream.

To be more realistic, I apply for the Cardiff job as well. They are currently in 1st place in the League One.

3ric · 01-09-2005, 11:21 AM

April 2008

Norwich hire the Nottingham Forest manager, leaving that position open. Cardiff approach me about filling their vacancy, and I accept.

The Cardiff proposition was very attractive, considering they allow £2.1 mil in transfers, and a wage bill that can exceed £300K/month if necessary.

The chairman urges me to deploy a cautious approach to management and sensible tactics in the transfer market. As I'm listed as "adventurous" in my manager profile, I'm wondering if he's got the right man for the job!

I'll stay with my preferred style of 4-4-2 with the wingers crossing the ball, since this team has two solid wingers. The best player is striker Lee Wyatt, who has 22 goals in 45 games. They are a little short at quality in the interior midfield though, I'm going for some shopping right away, but it appears I'm too late in making additions to the squad.

My first game as manager for Cardiff is an away game at Huddersfield, and I let my assistant manager suggest a lineup. In goal we have Federico Garcia Rodriguez from Spain, called "Fede". In defense, from left, are Lee Rees, Michael O'Connor, Peter Reynolds and Stephen Jackson. Of these four, I'm concerned about Reynolds - he'll have to be replaced later. For now, he'll do. In midfield we have Eric Rodriguez, Paul Walsh, David Clarke and Keveral McDonald on the right wing. Up front, Lee Wyatt and Mike Wheeler. Hudds takes the lead in the 25th minute after Fede couldn't get up to save a second attempt after saving the first shot. At the end, we push hard for that tying goal and have several scoring chances which either are blasted over the bar or right at the keeper. Final score: 0-1.

We fall down to 3rd place with the loss, one point from one of the promotion spots.

We have agreed with Manchester City player Ben Hughes about his transfer to Cardiff. He's a central defensive midfielder with all-around qualities. The transfer sum is £425K and he'll join the team on June 3rd.

Our second straight away game is at Peterborough, currently in 21st place. We continue with the same lineup, but adopt a more attacking mindset this time. We test their keeper as soon as after 15 seconds, and keep up the pressure. In the 34th minute we get the first goal through Wyatt. In the 52nd minute a quick break sends the ball down the right sideline for McDonald, who crosses into centre, where Wyatt meets the ball for an unstoppable shot into the top of the net. We replace Rodriguez with Paul Kubit, and he gets an assist when he feeds Wheeler, who scores our third goal. Final score: 3-0.

We have clinched a playoff spot with the win, but is still one point removed from the top two spots.

We have agreed terms with another midfielder, Brian Ryan of Leicester. He'll join Cardiff on free transfer on July 8th.

David Clarke, Eric Rodriguez and Lee Wyatt were all selected in the League One team of the Week.

Our last home game for the season is vs no. 5 Grimsby, whose manager told media the day before that he was "very confident" that his team would beat my team. Scoreless after the first half, we began the second half with heavy pressure on Grimsby's goal with Wheeler hitting shots off both the post and the bar. Unfortunately, in the middle of all that pressure Grimsby counter attack and finishes off the game with a low shot inside the left post. Final score: 0-1.

We've agreed with Cristian Scala of Sheffield Utd on a transfer that will take the Italian defender to Cardiff on June 3 for £35K.

3ric · 01-09-2005, 11:22 AM

May 2008

Midfielder Eric Rodriguez came second in the Player of the Month awards.

The last game of the season is away at Port Vale, placed 22nd in the division. We go ahead in the 2nd minute through a shot by Wyatt which is saved, but the rebound goes to Wheeler who scores easily. Defender O'Connor gets a second yellow card and is sent off in the 34th minute. I replace striker Wheeler with defender Craig Parry and start play more defensively. When Vale also gets a player sent off I substitute a defender for attacker Price and go forward again, chasing a second goal. Of course, what happens next is that Vale draw level on a late goal. Final score: 1-1.

In hindsight, that might have seemed like a questionable decision to go for the second goal, but there still was a slight chance that we'd taken 2nd place on goal difference had that been successful.

As things stands now, we're 4th in the final standings and will play in the playoffs for the final promotion spot.

In the first playoff semifinal, we play Swansea on the road. O'Connor is suspended, which means Parry plays along with Reynolds in the central defense. Wyatt injures himself in the first half, and Price comes on. Swansea takes the lead in the 75th minute on a long shot from the left wing. Final score: 0-1.

For the second leg at home vs Swansea, we get O'Connor back but Wyatt and midfielder Paul Walsh misses the game. In the 72nd minute we score when Price head in the ball after it rebounded off the bar from Wheeler's shot. Six minutes later, Wheeler scores on a free kick by Clarke, and we've got the aggregate lead by one. Final score: 2-0.

We have three players given international call-ups: Keveral McDonald for Jamaica, and Craig Parry and Mike Wheeler for Wales.

In the playoff final against Tranmere on Wembley, we get back Walsh in the starting lineup but Wyatt begins on the bench. A long kick from Fede reaches McDonald, who turns a defender before passing Tommy Price in the middle, and the striker rifles a hard shot past the keeper at an odd angle. The combo of Rodriguez and Price combine for a second goal by the striker, who really has seized the moment and made it his own. A blunder by keeper Fede gifts the Rovers a goal and lets them back in the game as the ball slipped through his hands like a slippery bar of soap. Not long afterwards, however, we score again when Rodriguez dribbles past two defenders and crosses into the box, where Tommy Price dives at the ball close to the near post - it's a goal! But the whistle had already gone - it won't stand! Dubious decision, according to the commentators. With 10 minutes left, we go all defensive, and substitute Rodriguez and Price, who both has had a fantastic game. Final score: 2-1.

We have won promotion to the English Championhip!

The board announces that the transfer budget for next season will be in the region of £1.9 mil.

For my work with the team during four regular season games, and three post-season games, I finish second in the voting for League One Manager of the Year. Striker Mike Wheeler was third in the League One Goalscorer awards, with 21 goals in 44 league games.

Wheeler is the ambitious sort, however, and wants to use his recognition to move for a bigger club soon. Oldham Athletic apparently is targeting him, but he's only available for the right price.

I offer Wheeler a new contract with a £16K salary, as his contract is expiring within a month from now.

3ric · 01-09-2005, 01:36 PM

June 2008

Defender Cristian Scala and midfielder Ben Hughes arrives to the club. Wheeler signs the new contract to stay with the club. I also try to renew defender Lee Rees' contract, as he's the only left-sided defender on the team. The next day, however, we agree on terms with another left defender, Jamie Thompson of Oxford.

We strengthen the team further by signing D/AM R Craig Adams from Valladolid (he was targeted by me earlier when I was with Sheff Utd) and forward Giuseppe Alberti from Empoli. Both of them will join the team on August 1st.

We also bring over James Morris from Sheffield, he's a good reserve goalkeeper.

Lee Wyatt is the Cardiff Fan's Player of the Year.

We've been given £625K for Championship TV rights the coming season.

3ric · 01-09-2005, 01:36 PM

July 2008

Our first friendly is away at Notts County, Lee Wyatt scores in the 24th minute and we made ten substitutions at halftime. The best players were keeper Fede and left midfielders Kubit and Rodriguez. Final score: 1-0.

Kubit injured knee ligaments in the game and will be out a month.

The second friendly is at home vs Man Utd. We score the first goal through Paul Walsh in the 19th minute. After 40 minutes we're up by two when Wheeler scores. United get on the scoresheet late, in the 78th minute. ManU apparently aren't giving a damn as the game goes towards the end, and Wyatt gets a goal as well in the closing minutes. Final score: 3-1.

Against Scottish lower league team Gretna, we get goals through Wyatt, Wheeler and Price, with one in the bag for each. Best player in the game was Rodriguez (again). Final score: 3-0.

Macclesfield is our next friendly opponent, we score twice in the first half through Wyatt and Wheeler. Macc get a goal through a direct free kick before Price add the final goal of the day. Rodriguez man of the match once more. Final score: 3-1.

At Shrewsbury, we get goals in the first half by Wheeler and reserves midfielder Richard Lewis before the home team scores in the 79th minute. We go back to a two-goal lead through Wyatt but Shrewsbury scores again four minutes later. Wyatt gets a second goal in the final seconds, however, and is Man of the Match with a vintage performance. Final score: 4-2.

Keveral McDonald fractured his ribs in the game and will be out for three weeks. The local media asks whether his absence will be missed. I replied that we've got adequate cover at his position.

Ipswich is priced as 7-4 favorites of winning the Championship this season, with the rest of the contenders being Fulham, Wigan, Reading and Leeds. We are priced at 40-1, which actually isn't that bad.

The last friendly is at Stevenage, and we score quickly through Wheeler, but get Wyatt injured with no healthy strikers on the bench. We solve the problem with going to a 4-5-1 formation, but the rash of injuries is bad news considering the season opener is only three days away. Midfielder Brian Ryan add a second goal in the 45th minute, and Wheeler gets a penalty that he converts himself in the 73rd minute. Final score: 3-1.

Wyatt will be out a week with a neck injury and is going to miss the opener.

daedalus · 01-09-2005, 03:00 PM

Injury issue aside, not a bad start to this Cardiff career.

3ric · 01-10-2005, 01:52 PM

Roster review

Goalkeepers

GK - Fede, 25 yrs old from Spain. Valued £925K. Very good skillset, less good mentally but with solid composure and concentration.

Backup - James Morris, 28 yrs old from England. Valued £95K. Great composure and concentration but bad handling.

Defenders

DL - Lee Rees, 27 yrs old from Wales. Valued £375K. Good marker, hard worker but little technique and can't head.

DC - Michael O'Connor, 21 yrs old from Ireland. Valued £240K. Strong, fast, hard tackler. Can be lazy and isn't very good at heading.

DC - Cristian Scala, 21 yrs old from Italy. Valued £75K. Very good positioning, marking and tackling. Little strength and not-so-good teamwork.

DR - Stephen Jackson, 27 yrs old from Scotland. Valued £130K. Superb tackling and determination. Not super technique and composure.

Backup Craig Parry, 30 yrs old from Wales. Valued £1 mil. Great marking, heading, strength and decision-making. Bad positioning and composure.

Backup Jamie Thompson, 27 yrs old from England. Valued £60K. Good teamwork, stamina and work rate. Little strength and bad positioning.

Midfielders

ML - Eric Rodrigues, 34 yrs old from France. Valued £28K. Awesome dribbling skills, great flair and determination. Little teamwork, no marking or tackling. He's a bit like Wildish actually.

MC - Ben Hughes, 25 yrs old from England. Valued £875K. Great tackler, good passer, great work rate. Bad technique.

MC - Brian Ryan, 25 yrs old from England. Valued £400K. Superb tackling, marking, positioning, first touch. Little aggression and determination.

MR - Craig Adams, 27 yrs old from British Virgin Islands. Valued £1.9 mil. Very good work rate, teamwork, determination, bravery. Marking and positioning could be better.

Backup - David Clarke, 32 yrs old from Ireland. Valued £100K. Great tackling, good teamwork and work rate. Bad off the ball, no flair.

Backup - Paul Walsh, 20 yrs old from Ireland. Valued £220K. Good stamina, acceleration. Low determination, bravery, aggression.

Backup - Keveral McDonald, 25 yrs old from Jamaica. Valued £550K. Good crossing, stamina, bravery. Bad tackling, positioning.

Backup - Paul Kubit, 22 yrs old from Wales. Valued £475K. Great dribbling, concentration. Little pace, low aggression.

Forwards

SC - Lee Wyatt, 27 yrs old from England. Valued £3.1 mil. Superb heading, great concentration and long shots. Little creativity and bad passing skill.

SC - Tommy Price, 28 yrs old from England. Valued £1 mil. Great anticipation, good pace and finishing. Bad heading, no tackling ability.

Backup - Giuseppe Alberti, 23 yrs old from Italy. Valued £275K. Great passing, stamina, anticipation. Little teamwork, low concentration.

Backup - Mike Wheeler, 29 yrs old from Wales. Valued £800K. Great heading, work rate, off the ball skill. Low first touch, little creativity.

3ric · 01-13-2005, 12:51 PM

August 2008

We've landed forward Giuseppe Alberti and defender/midfielder Craig Adams on free transfer.

The first game of the new season is at Sunderland, and we're missing keeper Fede, defender Rees, midfielder Hughes and striker Wyatt. With Kubit and McDonald out as well, we have to pull midfielder Lewis from the reserves to complete the bench. In the 20th minute, Adams start a fast break and find Wheeler with a long ball. The striker advances on the keeper and before the defense intervenes, he fires a thunderous shot past the keeper. 1-0! Ross Wild equalize for Sunderland nine minutes later. We go ahead again in the 39th minute, when Rodrigues spin a free kick past the wall and into the upper corner of the net. 2-1! We're still in the lead at 72 minutes when I have to pull Rodrigues for Alberti, who takes the left midfield spot. Sunderland push like crazy to equalize, and get a goal in the 88th minute, again by Ross Wild. Final score: 2-2.

Next game is at home vs Leeds, and we get back Fede in goal but otherwise there's no changes. We take the lead in the 18th minute when Thompson hit a long ball ahead of Wheeler, and the Leeds keeper hesitate a little too long in going out to meet him. That was Wheeler's 50th league goal for Cardiff. In the 72nd minute, we go up by two as Jackson passed the ball to Price out on the right wing. The striker took a few steps towards the centre before hitting a shot from 25 yds that took the keeper by surprise. Adams leaves the game and Alberti replaces him. Leeds put 4 men up front and we go for a defensive 4-4-2, which only stops them for five minutes. Leeds gets a goal in the 78th minute and continue to push for a tie. But we manage to hold on for the win. Final score: 2-1.

Stephen Jackson has sprained an ankle and will be out for a week.

We're up against Coventry on the road and we are without right back Jackson and play Parry instead. Wyatt makes his first start since preseason and Price sits today. Coventry gets the first goal in the 35th minute through Pedersen. Clarke uses great vision to free Wheeler in the 66th minute, and the striker holds a defender at bay and avoids the outrushing keeper before hitting the open goal. In the 85th minute, I put on Walsh, Alberti and Price for Clarke, Rodrigues and Wyatt. Tommy Price show in the few minutes he's on what a great counter attack player he is with that pace of his. Final score: 1-1.

We sign Sheffield Utd defender Michael Jones off their reserve squad. Midfielder Kubit return to full fitness. Craig Adams suffers a neck injury in training. Eric Rodrigues was selected to the Championship Team of the Week.

For our second home game we face no.1 Nottingham Forest, with Lee Rees back in the starting eleven. David Clarke takes the right midfield spot with Paul Walsh getting his first start. Rodrigues is a little tired, but we can put in Alberti when necessary. We take the lead in the 15th minute when Rodrigues creates space and delivers a perfect cross right at Wheeler, who scores with a powerful header. Forest tie the score on a beautiful long shot in the 35th minute. We're still tied after 75 minutes, and I put in Alberti and Price. Final score: 1-1.

Midfielder Ben Hughes return to full training.

We keep alternating between home and away, and visit London and Queens Park Rangers. Stephen Jackson is back at right back, and Paul Kubit suits up for the first time in the regular season. QPR takes the lead in the 34th minute when O'Connor makes an ill-advised lunge for Jamie Edge, the ball carrier, who skips by him easily and drills a hard shot past Fede. Later Gary Davis heads in a cross and it's a two-goal lead for Rangers. We start to attack in hopes of getting one or two goals (with luck) but instead we get Walsh sent off in the 63rd minute. QPR's Lewandowski scores their third goal six minutes later. Final score: 0-3.

We're drawn against Norwich in the first round of the League Cup. Walsh is suspended and is replaced by Hughes, who's debuting. Rodrigues is taking this game off and Kubit gets the start, along with forwards Alberti and Price. After 20 minutes we get the first goal when Price receives the ball in the middle and takes off. Despite defensive pressure he fires home an excellent shot from 20 yds. Defender O'Connor gets injured in the second half and I put in new signee Michael Jones. Final score: 1-0.

Michael O'Connor, the injured defender, is ruled out a month. Ouch.

We get Aston Villa in the second round of the League Cup.

At home vs Stoke we get Craig Adams back, and start Jones in the middle. Clarke replaces an unfit Hughes in the middle and up front we have Wyatt and Wheeler again. The visitors shock us with an early goal on a very long shot and it looks like an uphill battle today. In the 20th minute, Stoke hit a free kick that takes a deflection off the wall and into the net on the opposite side where Fede was standing. In the 54th minute we can reduce the deficit to one through a shot from Wheeler, assisted by Rodrigues. Wyatt has been invisible today and he's off for Price, who always seems to make things happen. Ryan gets hurt and we replace him with Alberti, who joins Wheeler and Price at forward. Sadly, it didn't work this time. Final score: 1-2.

Ben Hughes, Tommy Price and Jamie Thompson starts this game, which is on the road at Preston. Rodrigues is tired, but he has to play since Kubit is out with a recent injury. Hughes goes down with an injury in the 25th minute - this guy's got to be one of the most injury prone players I've had on my team. Rodrigues leaves the game after 63 minutes and Alberti comes on. Final score: 0-0.

To shore up the defense (which is a little short of players), we turn to another former Sheff Utd player, Björn Audun Mathisen, whose contract ran out this summer and wasn't picked up. He's offered a place in the rotation for £17,500 a month.

Wigan's Brazilian striker Gustavo Gassenferth has refused to re-sign with the club and looks to be headed to the Premier League and Southampton.

Sheffield United player Mike Watson has been fined a week's wages for being absent without excuse from training.

3ric · 01-13-2005, 12:55 PM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat	Morale	Form
ML		Eric Rodrigues	M L	98%	7	1	8.29	Superb	9-9-7-8-7
GK		Fede	GK	100%	7	-	7.71	Good	10-6-9-7-8
FC		Mike Wheeler	S C	100%	7	5	7.43	Very Good	8-8-7-7-7
MR		Craig Adams	D/AM R	100%	5	-	7.40	Superb	7-7-8-7-8

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Ipswich	7	7	0	0	10	3	+7	21
2nd		Nottm Forest	7	4	2	1	15	5	+10	14
---
18th		Cardiff	7	1	4	2	7	10	-3	7
---
23rd		Watford	7	1	2	4	2	9	-7	5
24th		Grimsby	7	1	2	4	6	19	-13	5

3ric · 01-15-2005, 09:34 AM

September 2008

Some familiar names in the Championship PLayer of the Month awards - Cardiff's Eric Rodrigues wins it, and Sheff Utd's David Wildish finishes third.

At home vs Crystal Palace, we have Mathisen and McDonald on the bench, with Brian Ryan back in the middle. Price gets the start and Wyatt sits. Palace score twice in the first half, and add a third on a penalty in the 68th minute. We get a consolation goal late through Wheeler, who successfully blocked a clearance from the opposing keeper - the deflection bounced backwards and into the goal. Final score: 1-3.

Alberti suffers a slipped disc in training and is going to be out for two months. Bad news. We have to get another forward to compensate for his absence. Next blow to our already depleted squad is the loss of star midfielder Rodrigues for three weeks.

Facing no. 13 Burnley on the road, and we're shuffling the roster. Thompson takes the left midfield spot, Parry returns to the central defense and Hughes makes another attempt to stay in the lineup. Thompson is substituted for Keveral McDonald in the second half, we'll see how that works out when he's playing out of position. Final score: 0-0.

We bring in a couple of players suitable for the left midfield position on a week's trial. Most of them aren't any better than our current options, but 18-yr old Darren Young catches our collective eye and we offer him a £300 contract to play in the reserves.

It's the second round of the League Cup, and we're playing hosts to Premier League team Aston Villa. Kubit still isn't fit enough to play, which leaves us no choice but to play McDonald on the left flank, and use Clarke on the right wing. Wyatt and Price starts at forward, with Wheeler on the bench. We're still scoreless after 85 minutes, and I put in Walsh for Hughes and Wheeler for Wyatt. In the 91st minute, there's a situation in our penalty area, and Villa receives a penalty kick after defender Scala supposedly handled the ball (I didn't see it from my end). Very dubious decision. And as often happens with unjust penalties, it goes to waste as Fede easily saves a weak shot. But our joy was shortlived, as the rebound was collected by a Villa player, whose cross back inside the box found its target and gives Villa an inexplicable score. Final score: 0-1 with Fede our best player.

Even more injury problems when defender Stephen Jackson goes down in training with an injury that will sideline him for four months. Our new signee, Darren Young, also suffers an injury during the same training session - out three weeks with a fractured jaw. This isn't funny.

Two days later, a Scottish striker, named Rory McGregor, who's visiting the training complex during his week of trial impresses the coaching staff enough that he's given a contract offer. It's a little more than half of what his agent is asking for, though, and I don't know if he'll accept. He's 21 years old, and scored 14 times for Rotherham in the Championship last season.

For the home game vs Fulham, we rest Scala and give Mathisen his first start for Cardiff. Craig Adams takes the right fullback slot and Paul Kubit the left midfield. We hold the tie until the 48th minute, when Fulham's Shanks creates some space for himself and shoots past Fede for the opening goal. David Clarke has to be taken off in the 65th minute due to injury, and we put on McDonald and Walsh for Hughes. For the final ten minutes we go to a 3-4-3 with Wyatt in for Ryan. In the 90th minute, a cross from Kubit is struck at goal by Wyatt, and the keeper saves. Wheeler chases down the rebound and passes the ball back in the centre of the box, and this time Wyatt beats the keeper and ties the score. Woot! Fulham's goalie was man of the match as he stopped six shots. Final score: 1-1.

David Clarke suffered a back strain in the game and will be out three weeks.

McGregor rejects our offer and signs with Nottingham instead. Instead, our choice is 23-yr old Englishman Stephen Gilbert, who signs for £3800 a month.

It's time for me to face my former club, Sheffield Utd as the new Cardiff manager. Sheff is at 12th place, 10 spots ahead of us in the division. We have to give Kubit a rest, and left defensive midfielder Jamie Thompson replaces him. McDonald plays right winger in relief of Clarke. For United, there's a lot of familiar faces in the starting eleven. Sanderson up front, Peters, Holt and Wildish at midfield and Connelly, Watson, Costello and Wright in the back four. Peter Peters score in the 7th minute on a long range shot where Fede didn't see the ball until too late. Wildish displays some of his jawdropping skills on a solo raid across the field, but luckily Adams can disarm him. I'm so used to being the manager of the Blades I actually click the wrong team's tactic screen twice in the first half. We change the tactics a bit coming in the second half, and draw level in the 54th minute, when Rees hit a great cross that Wheeler steer past Borgula in the Sheffield goal. In the 82nd minute, a free kick by Sheffield's Sanderson takes a deflection off the wall and goes into the opposite corner of the goal from where Fede was standing. We bring on Wyatt for Thompson and play three forwards to the end. Final score: 1-2.

Still reeling from the loss, we're preparing for the home game vs no.1 Ipswich. The only change from last game is the inclusion of Kubit on the left side. We're not starting well as Mathisen scores an own goal in the second minute. We draw level in the 17th minute through Wheeler but concede another goal before halftime. Price has a few good shots at goal before getting substituted for Wyatt in the 76th minute. Final score: 1-2.

3ric · 01-15-2005, 09:36 AM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat	Morale	Form
-	Unf	Eric Rodrigues	M L	63%	8	1	8.13	Superb	9-7-8-7-7
ML		Paul Kubit	AM L	90%	3	-	7.67	Superb	6-8-8-7-8
GK		Fede	GK	100%	13	-	7.46	Poor	8-9-7-9-5
FC		Mike Wheeler	S C	94%	12 (1)	8	7.38	Poor	7-7-7-8-8

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Ipswich	12	11	0	1	21	5	+16	33
2nd		Crystal Palace	12	8	3	1	20	6	+14	27
3rd		Q.P.R.	12	6	2	4	15	10	+5	20
---
23rd		Cardiff	12	1	6	5	11	18	-7	9
24th		Grimsby	12	2	2	8	10	28	-18	8

daedalus · 01-15-2005, 04:12 PM

Damn. I really wanted the win against Sheffield. The injuries situation is majorly sucking.

3ric · 01-22-2005, 01:13 AM

October 2008

The board is still pleased with my performance - their expectations are that we'll battle bravely against relegation, and that's exactly what we're doing right now. With more healthy starters around, we should climb the table.

We're playing away from home at Hull and welcome Michael O'Connor and Eric Rodrigues back in the lineup. We see at one point was a player like Rodrigues means to us - he's able to hold on to the ball and transport it while letting the rest of the team push upfield, giving support to the strikers. Craig Adams played at right midfielder for the first time in a month and was Man of the Match. Final score: 0-0.

Next game is at home vs Plymouth, 4th in the division. We're playing David Clarke inside and Lee Wyatt up front today. Overall a disappointing game with only one shot on target, and Fede has to shoulder part of the blame for the goals. However, Craig Adams was the Man of the Match from his right midfield position. Final score: 0-2.

Kubit is out 4 weeks with a training injury. In his place, 18-yr old Darren Young is set to make his debut in the next game.

Cardiff travels to Bristol to play 16th-placed City with the same starting lineup which lost to Plymouth last week. Jody Jamieson scores the opener for Bristol in the 22nd minute, and Paul Hall makes it 2-0 in the 41st minute. We change to a direct passing style and get a goal through Wyatt in the 62nd minute, assisted by Rodrigues. Young enters the game with 10 minutes left, and so does Price, who relieves Wheeler. Final score: 1-2.

Playing at home vs Rotherham, I make some changes due to the low morale of some players - not surprisingly given our place in the standings. Morris in goal and McDonald to the right, but that's as far as I can go, there's no happier options left. We get behind in the 41st minute, but tie the game shortly after the halftime break. McDonald struck a corner which Hughes headed into the net, his first goal for the club. Bad marking on another corner is causing another easy goal for Rotherham, and a tired Rodrigues has to go off. Tommy Price has a huge chance to equalize, but hits the post alone with the keeper. In the 83rd minute we draw level when McDonald crosses over the entire width of the field to find Price, who centres the ball right at the head of the onrushing Adams! Goal, and we hold on for a shared point. Final score: 2-2.

We have to start looking for a striker, or anyone who can score some goals for us.

3ric · 01-22-2005, 01:16 AM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat	Morale	Form
S1		James Morris	GK	100%	1	-	9.00	Superb	8-7-9
-	Unf	Eric Rodrigues	M L	63%	8	1	8.13	Superb	9-7-8-7-7
ML		Paul Kubit	AM L	90%	3	-	7.67	Superb	6-8-8-7-8
GK		Fede	GK	100%	13	-	7.46	Poor	8-9-7-9-5
FC		Mike Wheeler	S C	94%	12 (1)	8	7.38	Poor	7-7-7-8-8

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Ipswich	16	14	0	2	27	9	+18	42
2nd		Crystal Palace	16	11	3	2	28	11	+17	36
---
22nd		Wigan	16	2	7	7	16	22	-6	13
23rd		Cardiff	16	1	8	7	14	24	-10	11
24th		Grimsby	16	2	2	12	10	38	-28	8

3ric · 01-22-2005, 11:49 AM

November 2008

The board is still pleased with me, good to hear, but I'm not pleased with my performance. It's one thing with the injuries but that I make bad tactical decisions that's costing us.

Sheff Utd's Wildish finishes third in the Player of the Month awards.

Away at no. 3 Reading, we start defensively with as a high-morale squad I can manage. Luck is with us initially as we get a penalty awarded in the 16th minute, which Mathisen easily scores on. Rodrigues leaves for Young with 10 minutes to go and we're still holding on to the lead. We win! We win! It's only our second league win this season... \o/ Final score: 1-0.

We're in talks with Polish striker Maciej Hyps and Argentine forward Diego Romero, neither of them costing a fortune, but both has qualities we seek. Hyps agrees to the terms, and joins us on a £900K transfer from Man City. Good to see that went well, considering that Romero likely will be denied a work permit.

Fede, our goalkeeper who's now been benched for Morris, twisted an ankle in training and will be out two weeks.

Morale was lifted by the win, and several more players are now listed as "Superb" when I choose the squad for the game at home vs no. 19 Watford. Hyps is dressed for the game, but starts on the bench. Rodrigues hits a cross over to an open McDonald on the other side, and he cuts inside and beats the keeper with a low shot near the post. Watford ties the score in the second half with a tricky shot from outside the box. Jones and Wheeler comes off for Walsh and Hyps with 20 minutes to go. Final score: 1-1.

Rodrigues was selected to the Team of the Week.

Playing away at Portsmouth, we welcome back Craig Adams at the right wing, and give Hyps his first start up front. Rodrigues isn't playing as he's still tired after the last game. We are playing defensively again, as it worked well for us in the last away game. The game is scoreless until the 57th minute when Mathisen finds Price with a long ball. The striker is pressured by two defenders, but still manages to get off a shot that blows past their keeper. Oh no, it's called back for offside! Instead it's Portsmouth that gets the first goal in the 78th minute when Collins runs through our defense and leaves Morris with no chance. We go for the attack, but get behind by two as Portsmouth get a lucky strike on a free kick in the 83rd minute. Final score: 0-2.

The bottom-feeders are playing each other when Cardiff are hosts to last-place Grimsby in what could be an ugly game. Rodrigues is back and so is Fede who remains on the bench as Morris plays very well. I try to field a high-morale squad but Price, who's at poor morale, has to play to form a functional starting eleven, even with Alberti playing right wing. We start cautiously but have to push forward when Grimsby get a lucky goal in the 26th minute. We draw level only three minutes later when Rodrigues shoots at close range following a corner kick. We take the lead in the 55th minute when Alberti feeds Wheeler in the middle. The goalkeeper comes out and cuts off the angles well, saving the shot but the rebound goes out to the right where Alberti can steer the ball into the net from a narrow angle. Rodrigues leaves the pitch for McDonald and he and Alberti are switching sides. Towards the end we're piling on the pressure without really trying - the opponents are looking tired. No sooner had I had that thought before they got a goal - but it was disallowed, the scorer was fractionally offside! Final score: 2-1.

With the win, we distance ourselves from last place by 10 points and is only 1 point behind Burnley in 22nd place. Wheeler pick up an automatic suspension with his fifth yellow card this season.

New game with two bad teams - Wigan in 20th place are coming for a visit. Price isn't fully fit and is replaced by Alberti up front along with Wyatt, with Clarke taking the right wing. Wigan get off to a great start by scoring a goal in the third minute. We tie the score in the 11th minute thanks to Rodrigues, who heads in a corner from near the first post. In the 67th minute, I put in Ryan for Jones in the middle and replace Clarke with Hyps, and pull down Alberti to the right flank. Final score: 1-1.

We're up to 22nd place as Burnley lost to Fulham.

3ric · 01-22-2005, 11:51 AM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
ML		Eric Rodrigues	M L	82%	16	3	8.38
S1		Fede	GK	100%	16	-	7.44
GK		James Morris	GK	100%	7	-	7.43
S4		Paul Kubit	AM L	98%	3 (2)	-	7.40

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Ipswich	21	17	1	3	35	13	+22	52
2nd		Crystal Palace	21	14	3	4	35	16	+19	45
3rd		Fulham	21	10	5	6	28	19	+9	35
---
22nd		Cardiff	21	3	10	8	19	29	-10	19
23rd		Burnley	21	4	7	10	15	30	-15	19
24th		Grimsby	21	2	3	16	14	49	-35	9

3ric · 01-25-2005, 11:18 AM

December 2008

Rodrigues wins the Player of the Month award, and gets selected to the Team of the Week along with left back Jamie Thompson.

Away at 4th-placed Sheffield Wednesday, and we go for a defensive setup. Kubit replaces Rodrigues, and Michael O'Connor returns to the middle defense. Wednesday takes the lead right before the halftime interval, but gets a player sent off early in the second half. We are attacking but they clinch the win with a second goal five minutes before full time. Final score: 0-2.

Fede is back in goal for our home game vs Norwich in the 11th place, and Craig Adams return to the right side of the midfield. We go up by one in the 30th minute when Hughes find Wheeler in the box, and Wheeler shoots hard from close to the right-side post. The Canaries draw level in the 41st minute through Fletcher. I replace Young with Alberti and Jones with Clarke after 66 minutes. Wheeler fails to score on a diving header with two minutes left in regulation. Final score: 1-1.

Striker Lee Wyatt has been injured in training and will be out a month, and defender Cristian Scala will also miss some time with a groin strain.

At home vs Sunderland, currently in 17th place, with Rodrigues back and Lee Rees as well with Thompson nursing a slight injury. A bad clearance by the keeper quickly lands at the feet of Wheeler, who passes Hyps, and the Polish striker scores his first goal for Cardiff in the 49th minute. Clarke and Kubit is brought on in the 75th minute to relieve Ryan and Rodrigues, and to protect the lead. We hold on for yet another win! Final score: 1-0.

Next game is on the road versus Nottingham Forest, 18th in the league. Forest take the lead through Bailey in the 18th minute, on a long shot from the right side. Despite 12 shots on goal we fail to score in this game. Final score: 0-1.

Now Wheeler will be out for two weeks. I'm running out of forwards.

On the road again at Leeds, we get behind almost immediately as Leeds score in the second minute of the game. They extend their lead to three with goals in the 78th and 81st minute, and there's not much we can do. We get a consolation game in the 92nd minute whn Adams fire home a free kick, curling the shot over the wall. Final score: 1-3.

We make a quick signing - Sheffield Utd's young reserves striker David Jenkins, whose contract was unprotected, comes over for a low price and a modest salary. As a bonus, he's Welch.

Next injury blow to us: star left midfielder Rodrigues will be sidelined two months with a torn hamstring.

3ric · 01-25-2005, 11:20 AM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat	Morale	Form
GK		Fede	GK	100%	20	-	7.40	Okay	9-7-7-9-6
DR	Wnt	Craig Parry	D RC	85%	21	-	7.38	Good	8-7-7-8-7
MR		Craig Adams	D/AM R	96%	18 (1)	2	7.37	Very Good	6-8-8-8-8
MC		Ben Hughes	DM C	95%	21	1	7.33	Poor	8-7-7-7-7

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Ipswich	26	20	3	3	42	14	+28	63
2nd		Crystal Palace	26	15	6	5	42	23	+19	51
3rd		Fulham	26	13	6	7	38	21	+17	45
---
22nd		Cardiff	26	4	11	11	22	36	-14	23
23rd		Burnley	26	5	8	13	18	37	-19	23
24th		Grimsby	26	3	4	19	20	59	-39	13

3ric · 01-25-2005, 11:20 AM

January 2009

Craig Adams finishes third in the voting for Championship Player of the Month.

We have agreed with Ipswich midfielder Joe Wear on a deal that will take him to Cardiff after this season on free transfer. A day later, we also sign Crystal Palace's right back James Walsh.

In the third round of the FA Cup we'll play Premier League team Wolverhampton. Both newcomers James Walsh and Jenkins make the squad, Jenkins on the bench and Walsh at right back. Wolves take the lead in the 25th minute and we're not able to create much - four shots, none directly at goal. Final score: 0-1.

Lee Wyatt's contract is expiring, and with the lacklustre effort he's been putting in this season, I'm not giving in to his insistence of getting a £40K salary. When he has rejected our proposal twice I start shopping him around to cash in on a transfer fee.

We're up against the Sky Blues, Coventry, who's in 6th place. With Hyps and Jenkins lightly injured and Wheeler unfit, we have to play Price and Alberti up front, with their low morale and all. The second half start with a bang as Price escape his marking and get off a shot that beats the keeper. With having more confidence from the goal, we begin to create lots of chances and extend our lead through Mathisen, who steers a header into the goal from a lob pass by Jones. Craig Adams is the man of the match, but the entire midfield played very well this game. Final score: 2-0.

At home vs QPR, we go into the lead after 22 minutes when Tommy Price snatches the ball and runs at the goal. Pressured by two defenders, he still manages to get off an excellent shot that goes into the top right corner of the goal. QPR ties the score in the 61st minute, but we almost get right back when Wheeler hits the post with a volley shot. Alberti comes on for the tired Wheeler, who's just returned from injury. Final score: 1-1.

For the game at Stoke, we start Jenkins up front and has to do without right midfielder Adams, who's away on international duty. Stoke easily gives the roundaround in the first half and scores three goals with little effort. Bah. Final score: 0-3.

A journalist from the local paper asks the question what's the cause of the team's poor form. I reply that we've been unlucky and things are bound to improve soon.

Parry, Wheeler and Kubit all are picked for the Welch national team.

Our next game is at home vs Preston, and we can start our strongest pairing up front, Price and Wheeler. Newcomer James Walsh has been solid from the very beginning at right back. Left back Thompson hits a great cross to the far end of the box, where McDonald volleys the ball into the net. 1-0, Bluebirds! In the 71st minute we get a goal through a long shot from Wheeler, a lovely curved shot from outside the area. Paul Kubit was man of the match with an almost flawless performance. Final score: 2-0.

James Walsh suffers a training injury and will miss three weeks of play.

The last game of the month is at home vs Burnley, in 23rd place. Parry takes the vacated right back position and Scala plays in the middle. When we take the lead in the 21st minute, it's almost an exact replica of the first goal in the Preston game - Kubit crosses over to McDonald who shoots. Unfortunately we get the Italian defender sent off after 27 minutes, and go for an 4-4-1 with a defensive mindset. Paul Walsh replaces Wheeler, and Jones goes down in the central defense. Kubit goes off after 73 minutes for Darren Young. Both teams are reduced to ten men as Burnley gets a man red-carded in the 81st minute. Final score: 1-0.

Scala will be suspended for at least one game, probably two, as he has been sent off and on top of that, has gotten his fifth booking of the season.

3ric · 01-25-2005, 11:22 AM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat	Morale	Form
ML		Paul Kubit	AM L	77%	10 (4)	-	7.57	Superb	8-8-7-10-9
S1		Fede	GK	97%	21	-	7.33	Very Poor	7-7-9-6-6
DR	Wnt	Craig Parry	D RC	88%	26	-	7.31	Superb	7-7-7-7-7
MC	Yel	Ben Hughes	DM C	84%	27	1	7.30	Superb	8-7-7-7-7

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Ipswich	31	22	5	4	47	15	+32	71
2nd		Crystal Palace	31	17	8	6	46	25	+21	59
3rd		Reading	31	15	6	10	39	34	+5	51
---
22nd		Cardiff	31	7	12	12	28	40	-12	33
23rd		Burnley	31	6	9	16	20	44	-24	27
24th		Grimsby	31	5	6	20	27	65	-38	21

3ric · 01-27-2005, 02:37 PM

February 2009

The board are still pleased with my performance, and I'm glad to say that things appear to be improving! We've started to crank out some W's lately.

A pleasant surprise for the Player of the Month award - Rodrigues' backup, Paul Kubit, won it for the month of January with outstanding performances in the two latest games. Wildish of the Blades finished third.

Additionally, I finally won a Manager of the Month award! Apparently three wins in five games was enough.

We get some rest from league play during the break for international play. We have a sizable contingent representing the Welch colours - seven players in the U21 squad, and three in the senior team. Fitting for the Cardiff team, I guess.

Giuseppe Alberti has requested to be placed on the transfer list.

Back in the normal run of league play, we visit London's Craven Cottage and Fulham. Michael Jones replace Scala in the defense with Paul Walsh getting the start at the interior midfield alongside Ben Hughes. We hit the Cottagers with some tough defense in the 41st minute which frees the ball to Wheeler, who hits a beautiful long ball to Price. The speedy striker find himself in space and can put a move on the keeper before easing the ball into an empty net. We're still in the lead when a tired Wheeler goes off for Jenkins in the 79th minute. GK James Morris is man of the match with five saves and a clean sheet. Final score: 1-0.

I'm happy to say that we've climbed to 21st place, two points clear of the relegation spots!

Another tough game ahead, with us staying in London to play Crystal Palace, currently in 2nd place in the division. I rotate the lineup to give the starters a well needed rest, with a return from injury by Craig Adams. Palace take the lead in the fifth minute through an incredible 30-yd strike by Campbell. We get behind by two in the 59th minute when Mathisen accidentally heads home a cross pass into our own net. Young goes off for Kubit and we scratch the defensive tactics for a more gung-ho approach. The home team are down to only ten men in the 80th minute and we put on Wheeler for Ryan to play a 3-4-3, but no dice. Final score: 0-2.

Our return meeting vs Sheffield Utd, this time at home. The Blades have climbed to the 7th spot, just outside the playoff. We'll see if we can dent those promotion hopes. The high-morale starting squad is back, with only Morris and Adams back from last week's loss. Sheffield has Wildish and Rogeau on the flanks, with Johansen and Sanderson up front. Holt is in the middle with Connelly, Watson and Wright in defense. A scoreless first half, with some good saves from Morris towards the end. We get depleted in the 68th minute when Ben Hughes picks up his second booking in the game after a hard tackle on Wildish. We substitute Price for Mathisen and move Jones up to the interior midfield for a 4-4-1 formation. Final score: 0-0.

Ben Hughes will be suspended for a game following his ejection.

Difficult game up next with no. 1 team Ipswich on the road. We have trouble filling the interior midfield with Hughes and injured Walsh absent from duty. We end up with Clarke alongside Jones in the middle, with Parry in central defense and James Walsh at right back. We hold off our opponents well for 53 minutes, but then Ipswich gets a penalty, and Smith scores. Jackson apparently tripped a player in the box. Our attempts to attack more aren't creating any pressure and instead we get down by two in the 77th minute when Peck heads a cross pass past Morris. Final score: 0-2.

Now Clarke adds his name to the list of inside midfielders who's going to miss games - he's suspended one game.

Leeds make a £100K offer for defender Stephen Jackson, which I refuse on the grounds that I don't want to sell to a rival team. Besides, he's currently a starter on the team. The next day Preston comes in with an offer too, for £70K. No, I said - I don't want to sell!

It's a big game ahead with no. 21 Hull coming over to visit, with us being in 22nd place. A win would earn us several spots in the table. The task will be harder since Kubit is unable to play, and Hughes is still suspended. That means Young plays on the left and Ryan returns from injury to join Jones in the middle. After some hard work we finally get the goal we wanted - a nice pass by Ryan frees Price on the right side in the area, but rather than shoot, he lobs the ball inside to Wheeler who heads it into goal. That was his 100th league goal in his career. We substitute a tired Jones for Rees, who plays left defender while Thompson goes up in midfield. When Hull pressures, we surprise them with a clever counter attack - Price backtracks with a pass down to right defender Walsh before going deep. Walsh draw two opponents before hitting a long ball to Price, who cuts inside and beats the keeper with a quick shot. Final score: 2-0.

We're up to 20th place, passing both Hull and Wigan on the way.

3ric · 01-27-2005, 02:40 PM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
-	Inj	Eric Rodrigues	M L	60%	19	3	8.26
-		Paul Kubit	AM L	92%	13 (5)	-	7.56
MR		Craig Adams	D/AM R	93%	25 (1)	2	7.38
S1		Fede	GK	100%	21	-	7.33

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Ipswich	36	26	6	4	58	16	+42	84
2nd		Crystal Palace	36	20	9	7	55	30	+25	69
3rd		Sheff Wed	36	15	13	8	54	38	+16	58
---
20th		Cardiff	36	9	13	14	31	44	-13	40
---
22nd		Hull	36	10	7	19	29	41	-12	37
23rd		Burnley	36	8	11	17	25	48	-23	35
24th		Grimsby	36	5	6	25	32	80	-48	21

3ric · 01-29-2005, 07:52 AM

March 2009

David Wildish of Sheffield United wins the Player of the Month award, but the Blades also get the bad news that striker Jamie Sanderson will be out for 8 whole months with a broken leg.

Away at Plymouth, we are without striker Tommy Price but get midfielders Paul Kubit and Ben Hughes back in service. Argyle takes the lead in the 17th minute on a direct free kick and we abandon the defensive mindset. With ten minutes left, we take off Jones for another striker and go for the tie, but it's really no point doing it when we're behind. Final score: 0-1.

We have fallen a spot to 21st place and face no. 15 Bristol City at home. Star winger Rodrigues is finally back after a long absence, and Brian Ryan replaces Jones in the middle. Jenkins plays with Wheeler up front as Price is still unfit. The game is scoreless until the 67th minute when Hughes score for Cardiff on a lovely free kick. Kubit comes on for Rodrigues and we pull back to protect the lead. With ten minutes left we bring on Wyatt for Jenkins and manage to hold on to the end. Final score: 1-0.

Now in 19th place, we play Rotherham on the road. They are at 12th place in the division, and we give Rodrigues a rest and start Kubit instead. The home team opens the scoring in the 32nd minute. In the 45th minute Walsh concede a penalty, and Rotherham goes two up. We claw one back in the 61st minute when Adams score on a long shot from outside the box. Unfortunately Rotherham score a third goal in the 75th minute and that's the whole story right there. Final score: 1-3.

A home game today, versus no. 3 Reading - right back James Walsh has a slight injury and is sitting this one out. Mathisen takes a spot inside and Parry moves to right fullback. Tommy Price returns as forward, and we make a change in goal, with Spanish keeper Fede replacing Morris. Wyatt comes on with 20 minutes to go and still nil-nil. Rodrigues is man of the match but there will be no goals today. Final score: 0-0.

Sheffield United, currently in 3rd place in the division after winning four out of the last five, gets to face the effects of success - they get their manager hired away to Premier League club Derby.

3ric · 01-29-2005, 07:54 AM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
ML		Eric Rodrigues	M L	91%	21	3	8.29
S4		Paul Kubit	AM L	100%	15 (6)	-	7.57
GK		Fede	GK	100%	22	-	7.36
MR		Craig Adams	D/AM R	95%	29 (1)	3	7.33

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	P	Ipswich	40	29	7	4	66	19	+47	94
2nd		Crystal Palace	40	22	11	7	59	32	+27	77
3rd		Sheff Utd	40	18	10	12	51	34	+17	64
---
19th		Cardiff	40	10	14	16	33	48	-15	44
---
22nd		Wigan	40	7	19	14	41	50	-9	40
23rd		Burnley	40	9	12	19	28	53	-25	39
24th	R	Grimsby	40	5	7	28	34	87	-53	22

3ric · 01-30-2005, 01:36 AM

April 2009

We're up against Grimsby, who's last in the division. They take the lead in the 18th minute on a free kick, but Tommy Price equalizes after 29 minutes, and then Hughes score for us only three minutes later. Grimsby gets in even further trouble as right midfielder Doherty gets sent off following his second booking in the 41st minute. They aren't giving up, however, and gets a tying goal through Pallesen after 60 minutes. We re-gain the lead in the 64th minute when a shot from Wheeler rebounds to Price to the right, who can steer the ball into an empty net. I bring on Jones for Steven Jackson as three of our four defenders have received bookings today. We pull people back and defend the lead. That invites Grimsby to attack, and we take advantage of that by counter-attacking through Price, who scores his third goal. Shortly afterwards, we bring on Kubit for the injured Rodrigues - I hope it isn't serious. Final score: 4-2.

Rodrigues will miss a week with a twisted knee.

Brian Ryan, Tommy Price and Rodrigues all were selected to the Team of the Week.

Michael Jones has told us that he wants a new contract. I agree he's underpaid and offer him a significant raise - more than 150% more in salary, but £10K less than he (or his agent) was asking for. He rejects the first offer, and we counter with another offer with a little more.

On April 11th, we are off to play Watford on Vicarage Road. Kubit starts at left winger, otherwise we have exactly the same lineup as last game. The game is still open when Fede is a little rough when going out in the box to punch a high ball away. Inexplicably, the referee awards a penalty to the home team. But as always with unjust penalties, justice is served when the kick taker blast the ball outside the right post. But we still concede a goal to Watford at the start of the second half. In the 63rd minute, some great play by Kubit on the left side leads to a pass inside to midfielder Brian Ryan, who drills a shot past the keeper from the edge of the area. In the 83rd minute, we get a corner that Hughes take - the ball goes wide directly to Ryan outside the area, and the midfielder shoots directly from 25 yds - and it's goal, again, by Ryan! In the 89th minute, when Watford pressures like crazy for a tie, who wins a challenge at midfield and frees Wheeler with a superb pass if not Brian Ryan? Wheeler scores, and we're up by two against the no. 10 team in the division. Final score: 3-1.

Michael Jones agrees to terms, and signs the extension to his contract, locking him up until 2012.

We're up to 18th in the standings, and play hosts to visiting Portsmouth, currently 8th in the division. Kubit remains in the starting eleven as Rodrigues isn't yet fit enough to play. We score first, in the 19th minute on a play that's close to identical to our second goal last week - Hughes hit a corner kick out to Ryan who shoots from a distance, and their keeper has no chance at all to stop it. 1-0, Bluebirds. Ryan is playing at such a high level now it's unbelievable. Next time we have a corner kick, Hughes tries the same thing but now Portsmouth is ready for it and heads the ball away. Portsmouth chase a goal and finally succeeds in the 78th minute when striker Ekner heads home a cross past Fede. Final score: 1-1.

Next opponent is no. 22 Wigan, which we play on their grounds. Rodrigues returns to the lineup and Kubit sits on the bench. We take the lead in the 6th minute on some nice link-up play between Price and Wheeler, where the latter freed the former to beat the keeper with a low shot inside the post. Right winger Craig Adams get tired and has to go off in the 67th minute. A couple of minutes later, we get a break down the left side when Rodrigues goes off on a dizzying run before he feeds Wheeler inside the area, and the striker only has to tap the ball in to score. We aren't finished, though - in the 80th minute Wheeler gets down to the left corner of the pitch before crossing into the box where Wyatt wins the aerial duel and scores our third goal. Final score: 3-0.

Just like that, we're up to 15th place !!!

We agree with Italian team Siena about their signing of our unhappy forward, Giuseppe Alberti, for £180K. He'll join them on July 1st.

At home again, and this time we'll play no. 6 Sheffield Wednesday. The visitors are unpolite enough to score first, as early as in the 9th minute. We're still behind with 10 minutes left when we pull Rodrigues and Thompson to go 3-4-3 with Wyatt as the third attacker. We get off a total of 16 shots but still fail to get a tie. Final score: 0-1.

3ric · 01-30-2005, 01:41 AM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
ML	Yel	Eric Rodrigues	M L	100%	24	3	8.33
S4	Wnt	Paul Kubit	AM L	100%	17 (9)	-	7.62
MC		Ben Hughes	DM C	100%	38	3	7.37
DC	Inj	Craig Parry	D RC	73%	39	-	7.36

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	C	Ipswich	45	31	8	6	69	22	+47	101
2nd	P	Crystal Palace	45	23	13	9	61	36	+25	82
3rd	Pl	Sheff Utd	45	22	11	12	58	34	+24	77
4th	Pl	Reading	45	21	10	14	62	53	+9	73
5th	Pl	Plymouth	45	18	18	9	59	43	+16	72
6th		Sheff Wed	45	17	17	11	65	54	+11	68
---
17th		Cardiff	45	13	15	17	44	53	-9	54
---
22nd		Hull	45	12	9	24	37	52	-15	45
23rd		Sunderland	45	9	16	20	36	59	-23	43
24th	R	Grimsby	45	6	8	31	41	98	-57	26

daedalus · 01-30-2005, 03:00 AM

Ryan has been crazy. Nice to have somebody step up like that when you need 'em.

3ric · 01-31-2005, 02:57 PM

May 2009

The board's opinion has finally changed for the better - they are very pleased with me!

Brian Ryan of Cardiff wins the Player of the Month award - the third Bluebird to win the honor this season. To round it off, Eric Rodrigues is second in the voting!

We begin the month and finish this season by traveling to Norwich and the 14th-place Canaries. Wyatt and Parry are both going to miss the game, which lets Michael Jones start in defense and puts O'Connor and Hyps on the bench. Mike Wheeler isn't starting the game well, with two bookings in the first 18 minutes. Price remains alone on the top in a 4-4-1 formation. Norwich takes the lead in the 31st minute on a header from close range by Mike Bates, the former Sheff Utd man. We manage to equalize through Tommy Price in the 37th when Adams finds him in the box. Three minutes later Price has the ball on the edge of the area and passes the ball sideways to Brian Ryan, who shoots immediately in the top corner of the goal, and we're in the lead! Price scores his second in the 63rd minute when latches on to a long pass from Rodrigues, fends off a defender and makes no mistake alone with the keeper. Final score: 3-1.

It must be some record of sorts when we get 10 (!) of our players called up to the Wales U19 squad.

We end up at 15th place, Sheff Utd finish third and will play Sheff Wed in the first round of the playoffs. Wednesday wins the leg at home with 1-0, and also takes the second leg, winning 3-1 on aggregate score.

Cardiff announce a new sponsorship deal worth £170K a year, and at the same time, next season's transfer budget is set at £600K.

Ipswich, Crystal Palace and Reading are promoted to the Premier League, and will be replaced by demoted Bolton, Walsall and Derby.

Our final league position of 15th in the Championship is a new record high.

Defender Craig Parry and midfielder Ben Hughes was both selected in the Player's Championship Team of the Year. David Wildish also made the team.

3ric · 01-31-2005, 02:57 PM

June 2009

The board is still very pleased with me.

Mike Wheeler is the Fan's Player of the Year.

The board's expectations for the next season is that we should achieve a safe mid-table position.

Our average attendance of 23388 the past season was a new record high.

Eric Rodrigues' average rating of 8.00 from 25 appearances is a new record.

3ric · 01-31-2005, 02:57 PM

July 2009

We have signed attacking midfielder Joe Wear from Ipswich on free transfer. Giuseppe Alberti leaves for Italy and Siena, freeing us from the highest salary on the team.

The first friendly of the season is at League Two team Carlisle. We win 2-1 after goal from Jamie Thompson and Lee Wyatt.

Next time we're playing Farnborough on the road. Goalkeeper Fede gets injured in the first half, and Morris comes on. Final score: 0-0, with few scoring opportunities for us and none for the home team. MR Craig Adams was the only one whose play stood out from the crowd.

Fede suffered a groin strain and will be out two weeks.

We sell midfielder Paul Kubit to Everton for £1.9 mil, freeing room for newcomer Wear. We also send defender Stephen Jackson to Watford for £90K.

The third friendly this pre-season is against lower league team Grays. We lose 1-2, with Adams scoring our lone goal.

Northampton is up next, and we hope for a better performance than last time. We need not to worry as Ryan opens the scoring with a goal in the 5th minute. Tommy Price score a breakaway goal in the 14th, and we're set. Final score: 2-0.

Facing Port Vale, we take the lead through Wheeler in the 9th minute. Vale equalize eight minutes later, and Maciej Hyps score twice in the second half. Final score: 3-1.

The last friendly before the season starts is at Gretna, a small Scottish team. Price score a goal in the 44th minute, and Hyps add a second goal after 81 minutes.

Eric Rodrigues announce that he'll retire after this season, in June 2010.

We are drawn against Carlisle in the first round of the League Cup.

3ric · 02-07-2005, 04:04 PM

August 2009

We start the new season by visiting Watford, and our starting eleven looks like this - Fede in goal, Walsh, Parry, O'Connor and Thompson in defense, Adams, Hughes, Ryan and Rodrigues at midfield with Price and Wyatt up front. We are not getting the start we planned as Watford goes into the lead after only 26 seconds! Ten minutes later they are up by two and we are trying with a different tactic. Final score: 0-2.

Cardiff tries to right the ship when we play the first home game vs Derby, with Morris in goal and with Wear on the bench, fresh from his unfortunate injury. In the extra time added to the first half, we start a fine string of passes where Wyatt supports Rodrigues wide left and passes into a space in the middle where Ryan makes a run and blasts the ball into the net. We go up by two when Hughes fires a tremendous shot right at the keeper, who can't hold the ball. Price is first on the rebound and taps it into the goal. Derby reduces the lead in the 51st minute when they successfully converts a penalty kick. Then they equalize only minutes later through a 30-yd shot that took an unexpected bend midway in the air. We bring on Wear and Hyps and hope to withstand the onslaught. Final score: 2-2.

We are talking with Argentinian striker Diego Suarez, but even if he has a Turkish second nationality, that's not enough to get him a work permit.

Next game is away at Norwich with Wheeler back in the team in Price's place and with Wear starting on the left. Cardiff score first through a great play by Wear, who makes a steal in midfield and frees Wheeler with a through pass, The striker barely avoids the outrushing keeper, but manages to control the ball and tap it into the empty net. The Canaries draw level through Bates in the 33rd minute, but we regain the lead when Wheeler cheekily intercepts a throw by their goalie and find himself alone in front of the goal. Still, Norwich aren't giving up and get a tying goal in the 53rd minute, and a third goal to take the lead after 75 minutes. Wheeler gets off a shot in the 80th minute, which is saved but the rebound lands at the feet of substitute Jenkins, who somehow manages to fire the ball into the top corner of the goal. That was the youngster's first ever goal for the Bluebirds. Final score: 3-3.

Out of fear that we're not able to sign Suarez, I invite another free agent Argentine over for a trial. It appears we wouldn't have any trouble signing Gabriel Ledesma to a contract, as he has Spanish nationality as well.

Our second home game, this time vs no. 5 Rotherham. Fede is back in goal, and Price forms the old strike partnership with Wheeler. We get off to a torrid start with 11 shots launched at their goal in the first half alone, but no goals in the first 45 minutes. A tired Wear has to go off after 69 minutes, and Rodrigues comes on. The game ends scoreless, which feels like a loss since we had a 15-1 shot advantage. Final score: 0-0.

Remember when we had 10 Wales U19 players? Now those kids have grown up, we have nine players selected for the Wales U21 team now.

We finalize a deal with Ledesma. I'm excited, since Hyps and Jenkins aren't good enough to replace one of the starters if that would be necessary. This guy is now valued £1.6 mil - right off the street.

Time for the League Cup, and we are playing Cardiff away, with several players making their first start, giving some starters a little rest. Ledesma begins up front in a pairing with Wyatt. Some lax defending give Carlisle a great scoring opportunity, which they don't waste. We equalize in the 35th minute through Wyatt after good preparations by Rodrigues. With 10 minutes left we replace three players and hope we can wear (no pun intended) them down at the end. With seconds remaining, Wear gets in a cross to Hyps, who shoots right at the keeper. Wyatt fires in the rebound, but somehow their goalie saves that one too! The game goes to extra time, and then to penalties. After three PK's each there finally is a miss - a Carlisle player hit the ball wide left. A very tired Wyatt stepped up and nailed the kick right down the middle. 4-3, Cardiff! The last Carlisle player takes his kick - and hits the post! We win! Final score: 1-1 (4-3 PP).

We get an injury blow when starting right back James Walsh go down with a hip injury, he'll miss about three months of play.

We get Porstmouth in the draw for the second round of the League Cup.

There are some tired players on the team now after that overtime thriller, but no rest for the wicked, we play Sheff Wed away. The defense is adjusted a bit with Parry at right back and Scala going in the middle. As usual, we spot them a goal to start with - Kramer scores for Wednesday in the 2nd minute. In the 40th minute, Wheeler tries to shake the defense but is stopped just inside the area. The ball pops out to Price, who puts the ball right back inside and Wheeler scores on the second chance. Sheffield, not to be outdone, start pushing us around and bags a second goal only three minutes later. Fede made a great save at first, but was out of position to make a second save. Price had a great chance when the ball rolled slowly along the goal line, but was a second too late. Final score: 1-2.

The string of difficult games continue when we play hosts to no. 1 team Coventry. The Sky Blues has four wins in six games, we have four ties and no wins. At 36 mins, Coventry hits a cross into the box which Fede fails to punch clear, and the rebound is struck directly into goal. We draw level when Adams hit a cross into the box which the defense clears, but Hughes meets the ball with a well-timed volley! Rodrigues leaves the pitch after 68 minutes and is replaced by Wear. Final score: 1-1.

3ric · 02-07-2005, 04:09 PM

September 2009

The board's confidence is back to just "pleased" but we always seem to start slowly in a new season.

Rodrigues finished third in the voting for Player of the Month.

Striker Tommy Price has been injured in a training session (sprained ankle) and will be out 4 weeks. I'm glad I invested in that fourth quality striker, although Ledesma hasn't quite hit off yet.

Still looking for our first win, we welcome no. 20 Leeds to St.David Stadium. We are starting Wyatt and Wheeler together at forward, and put Jones at right back for his first start of the season. The visitors are quick to score twice before 17 minutes has passed, but Wyatt hit them on a counter attack and cut their lead by one. Adams has to go off as he doesn't look fit at all, Clarke replaces. Six minutes later we draw level when Joe Wear hit an absolutely magical cross pass into space for Wheeler to run on - the keeper hesitates before running out and can't make the save. But our joy is shortlived as Leed's Allen scores his second goal of the game four minutes later. Wheeler joins substitute Clarke wide on the right wing and exchange passes before crossing into the box where Wyatt wins the header - and it's a goal! Again we are level, 3-3. This crazy game becomes even wilder when Leeds open the second half by scoring their fourth goal - and Allen's hattrick. We pull Wyatt for Ledesma at the end and go all-out for the tying goal - but Leeds has clamped down on their lead. Final score: 3-4.

We evoked an incentive payment with Wyatt's first goal in the game, that was his 40th league goal for Cardiff and we are due to pay Fulham £5K.

Now midfielder Brian Ryan has gotten injured in training - he'll be away for 2 weeks.

It's still a mystery why we can't bring it together - especially defensively. We played really solid towards the end of last season but now we are struggling again, and are preparing to play West Ham at home. It's a scoreless first half with a shot advantage to the Hammers, but 10 minutes into the second half, we start a counter attack where Rodrigues finds Wyatt, who outwits the goalie for our opening goal. But we get careless with 15 minutes to go and lose possession while going forwards and West Ham equalize when we only have three defenders in the back. Final score: 1-1.

Despite the bad results, we get three players selected for the Team of the Week: Parry, Rodrigues and Hughes.

We sell reserves midfielder Andy Sullivan to Norwich for £160K.

It's the second round of the League Cup, and we play fellow Championship team Portsmouth on the road. We give a few players some rest, and play Hyps and Ledesma up front. The Seasiders take the lead in the 65th minute and that was like the air went out of the team, as Portsmouth easily extends their lead to two just four minutes later. Final score: 0-2.

Two players are starting to get unhappy because they believe we should be much higher in the standings.

Ledesma apparently has difficulties settling in the area.

Playing away at Oldham, we start defensively but the home team go up by one after 20 minutes on a tremendous cross pass where the striker only had to put his head up to score. We draw level later in the first half when Wyatt finds Wheeler inside the area. Then we take the lead on a corner kick where defender O'Connor is positioned right and puts the ball out of reach for the keeper. Our good run continues when Wyatt again is assisting Wheeler on a play that was built up on the left wing. Final score: 3-1.

Fulham offers me a player I bought when I was at Sheff Utd, Peter Costello. He's priced at £2.8 mil, I negotiate for £2.1.

A second straight away game, this time at Nottingham Forest, Parry is unfit and Jones replace him at right back. Forest are reduced to 10 men early on in the game when a booked player went off on a screaming rant at the referee. Final score: 0-0.

We continue talks with Fulham about Costello, but when discussing salary with the player, it appears that his demands are a little high - he wants £60K and we can only afford £39K. Ultimately, I withdraw from contract negotiations.

3ric · 02-07-2005, 04:12 PM

Top performers:

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
-	Ret	Eric Rodrigues	M L	93%	6 (2)	-	8.00
-	Wnt	Craig Parry	D RC	93%	10	-	7.50
ML		Joe Wear	AM LC	98%	6 (5)	-	7.45
FC	Unh	Mike Wheeler	S C	98%	7	5	7.43

Championship standings:

Pos	Inf	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st		Coventry	10	6	2	2	19	11	+8	20
2nd		Portsmouth	10	5	4	1	13	6	+7	19
3rd		Sheff Wed	10	5	2	3	21	13	+8	17
---
19th		Cardiff	10	1	6	3	14	16	-2	9
---
22nd		Bristol C	10	2	3	5	7	12	-5	9
23rd		Norwich	10	1	5	4	10	15	-5	8
24th		Preston	10	1	4	5	5	14	-9	7

01-01-2005, 02:46 PM	#53
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	July 2007 Our first friendly is at Torquay. One new face in the lineup, with Costello at right-back. In midfield we play Peters and Wildish on the wings, with Berry and Holt in the middle. After a scoreless first half we make 11 substitutions, with the team like this: Morris in goal, Colin Quinn, Phillips, Mathisen and Wright in defense, Rogeau, Kavanagh, Singh and Paterson at midfield with newcomers Dickinson and Devine up front. Then Torquay score in the 78th minute, and we make a lame effort to tie the score. Final score: 0-1. Nottingham Forest make a bid of £1.3 mil for Bates, which I accept. He says he wants to play for "a bigger club", and Forest is playing in League One, let's see how he likes that. On the other hand, I'd probably be better off keeping him. The second friendly at Livingston, we start with the exact same lineup. Bates score the first goal in bizarre fashion as Lefebvre kicks the ball very long, it flies behind the defensive line and Bates run for it. Their keeper starts to run out to head the ball away, but mis-times it and the ball bounces over him, leaving our striker with an open goal. Bob Dickinson add a second in the 80th minute. Final score: 2-0. Bates rejects Forest, claiming he's deserving a better salary than they could offer. At the same time, we reject Stoke's offer of £1.5 mil on the grounds that they are playing in the same division. For the game at Clyde, we move Costello up to the interior midfield to provide some tough tackling and marking ability. Berry mans the left wing and Peters takes a seat for the first half. Sanderson scores first on a beautiful through ball from Holt. Four minutes later we are up by two on Sanderson's second goal, assisted by Wildish. Devine adds a third score in the second half, and Clyde gets a consolation goal in the 89th minute. Final score: 3-1. We return to Sheffield to welcome Turkish elite team Fenerbahce to Bramall Lane. Peters starts inside along with Costello in place for Holt. We stay even until the 37th minute when Sanderson causes a penalty kick and Fenerbahce takes the lead. We allowed five shots in the first half, four on target, while getting four shots (three on target) ourselves. Not too bad. We play the starters for 70 minutes before calling it a day and putting on the substitutes. Final score: 0-1. Away once more to play Leigh RMI, and no replacements other than Dickinson who return to the squad after resting from the Fenerbahce game. Leigh offers stubborn resistance but a great run by Peters finally open things up, when his cross from the right is directed into the own goal by a defender. I put in eleven new faces to give them an opportunity to shine in the second half. First Devine scores on a beautiful cross from Rogeau, and Dickinson add another three minutes later, also assisted by Rogeau. Final score: 3-0. Hull offers £1.8 mil for Bates, but I again reject the bid since it's another Championship team. For the Northampton game, things stay much the same - we're completely healthy at the moment. Sanderson score in the 35th minute on a nice through pass by Costello. Dickinson add another one in the 73rd minute, but Devine didn't want to be any worse, so he scored twice in the final ten minutes. Final score: 4-0. We have been given the odds for the new Championship season - Bolton and QPR are joint favorites at 2-1, we are priced at 3-1 which means we're considered a serious contender. Derby, Sunderland and Crystal Palace are also thought to be top teams when all is said and done. The inevitable media question arises whether the squad is strong enough to achieve promotion? Yes, I do think so and with harmony restored to the team we shouldn't repeat last season's nosedive. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-01-2005, 02:49 PM	#55
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	Roster review Goalkeepers Starter Kevin Lefebvre, 29 yrs old from Belgium. Pros: Reflexes, communication and jumping. Cons: Aggression, handling. Valued £1.5 mil. Backup James Morris, 27 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, agility. Cons: Influence, teamwork. Valued £50K. Defenders Left back David Connelly, 19 yrs old from England. Pros: Anticipation, decisions. Cons: Aggression, influence. Valued £100K. Centre back Mike Watson, 23 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, tackling. Cons: Bravery, teamwork, heading. Valued £950K. Centre back Björn Mathisen, 21 yrs old from Norway. Pros: Off the ball, positioning. Cons: Teamwork, jumping. Valued £1.1 mil. Right back Alan O'Connor, 21 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Positioning, heading. Cons: Passing, influence. Valued £1.6 mil. Backup Matt Wright, 20 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, tackling. Cons: First touch, technique, influence, heading. Valued £85K. Backup Colin Quinn, 19 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Off the ball, first touch, technique. Cons: Pace, strength, work rate. Valued $60K. Backup Neil Phillips, 31 yrs old from Wales. Pros: Decisions, anticipation. Cons: Teamwork, jumping, bravery. Valued £110K. Backup Tony Francis, 21 yrs old from England. Pros: Off the ball, tackling. Cons: Work rate, team work. Valued £35K. Promoted from the reserves. Midfielders Left wing Graeme Berry, 31 yrs old from England. Pros: Concentration, team work, long shots. Cons: First touch, technique, aggression. Valued £1.1 mil. Inner midfielder Peter Costello, 19 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Technique, dribbling, tackling, passing. Cons: Team work, bravery. Valued £1.5 mil. Inner midfielder Peter Peters, 30 yrs old from England. Pros: Creativity, crossing, finishing. Cons: First touch, tackling, off the ball. Valued £1.6 mil. Right midfielder David Wildish, 25 yrs old from England. Pros: Dribbling, long shots. Cons: Marking, positioning. Valued £3.2 mil. Backup Sam Holt, 20 yrs old from England. Pros: Long shots, passing. Cons: Positioning, strength. Valued £1.9 mil. Backup Peter Kavanagh, 21 yrs old from Ireland. Pros: Crossing, stamina. Cons: Heading, marking. Valued £350K. Backup David Paterson, 29 yrs old from Scotland. Pros: Passing, teamwork, stamina. Cons: Tackling, finishing. Valued £35K. Promoted from the reserves. Backup John Singh, 32 yrs old from England. Pros: Passing, marking, tackling. Cons: Strength, dribbling. Valued £85K. Backup Julien Rogeau, 22 yrs old from Cyprus. Pros: Marking, tackling. Cons: Determination, bravery. Valued £325K. Forwards Striker Jamie Sanderson, 24 yrs old from Scotland. Pros: Crossing, ability, balance. Cons: Marking, tackling,s stamina. Valued £1.6 mil. Striker Mike Bates, 24 yrs old from England. Pros: Dribbling, finishing. Cons: Technique, teamwork. Valued £1.9 mil. Backup Mark Devine, 30 yrs old from Northern Ireland. Pros: Heading, work rate. Cons: First touch, tackling. Valued £825K. Backup Bob Dickinson, 25 yrs old from England. Pros: Dribbling, finishing, concentration. Cons: Technique, decisions. Valued £1.1 mil. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-04-2005, 03:27 PM	#57
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	September 2007 Wildish is first runner-up in the Player of the Month award to Wigan's Brazilian attacker Gustavo Gassenferth. Right back Matt Wright is ruled out for a month after picking up a groin injury during training. For the home game vs Plymouth Argyle, we use Tony Francis at right back, and Devine plays up front with Sanderson. Apart from one occasion when Connelly had to clear the ball off our goal line, there's not many scoring opportunities. With 10 minutes left to play I put in Dickinson and Holt for Sanderson and Peters and go full throttle forwards. Final score: 0-0. We face 23rd-placed Reading on the road, and play with three new defenders - Quinn, Phillips and Scala. Berry is back at left wing and Kemp takes a spot on the bench. Reading score in the fifth minute, but we equalize through Devine two minutes later. Reading takes the lead once more in the 43rd minute, and we are starting to get nervous before Costello score on a shot from outside the box, his first goal for the Blades. Final score: 2-2. It's the second round in the League Cup and we're playing Preston North End, also in the Championship. A lot of players is a little worn down, so we'll take mostly guys who's at 100% fitness which mean an entirely fresh midfield with Rogeau, Kavanagh, Holt and Paterson. Unfortunately we get David Connelly, the left back, sent off after only 27 minutes but carry on with the attacking style anyway. We're still at nil-nil after 68 minutes so I toss in Wildish to see if can stir things around. The midfield display some nice short passing ability at 80 minutes and set up Paterson's nice through pass to Kemp - and the striker fires the ball past the keeper for the opening goal. Final score: 1-0. We've drawn League One team Oldham in the Third Round of the League Cup. Next league game is at home vs Bolton and Holt get the start inside, I'm curious how he does. We have some unhappy faces on the team because of our lack of wins so far. As most of them is scond-string players it's not that hard to avoid playing them, the notable exception is midfielder Peter Peters. He's gone far enough to claim he's lost his confidence in me. Bolton takes the lead in the 66th minute through Gary Shultis Jr. We replace Mathisen (who's had a very bad game) with Scala, and with 10 minutes to go, Wildish leaves for Kemp and we play a 4-3-3 to force a tie. No such luck. Final score: 0-1. We have £3.5 mil in the transfer budget to play with - the wise thing to do might be to invest most of it in an impact striker. Sanderson isn't performing well this season and Bates apparently is thinking about his future for another team. After the loss, we're all the way down to 19th place, and we apparently have to change some things. Phillips and Singh goes into the starting eleven, and up front we have Kemp and Dickinson. We get off to a flying start as Kemp heads in a cross from Singh after only three minutes. Costello gets injured at 70 minutes, and we put in Kavanagh in his place. They are pressuring hard at the end, but Lefebvre is everywhere. Final score: 1-0. Costello has been ruled out for a month with a torn groin muscle, that's bad news for us. In the hunt for a striker, we have tested the availability for Nottingham's Ronny Johansen and Wigan's Gassenferth. Johansen is a real possibility, but a tad older than we'd liked at 30. But he's far too good to play in League One. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-05-2005, 03:02 AM	#60
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	Yes, it seems as the opponents know we are a little predictable - out with the ball to the right to Wildish and let him come up with something. I'll try play him in the middle, or even at forward, for a stretch to force them to adjust. The Coventry game showed that Rogeau plays very well at the right wing. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-07-2005, 04:08 PM	#62
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	December 2007 No improvement in the board's confidence, and it wasn't to be expected after losing three straight. We play 23rd-placed Millwall at home, with Matt Wright replacing Connelly and Watson playing left back. Johansen is back up front with Bates. Stockbridge score first for Millwall, and Wildish gets a light injury and is replaced with Holt at halftime. We draw level after 54 minutes when Mathisen follows through an attacking wave and meets a cross from the left. Final score: 1-1. In the third round of the FA Cup, we're drawn against Liverpool. For the game at Portsmouth I start with the same starting eleven but bring John Singh with us to sit on the bench. Bates has been nicked somewhat late in the first half and I substitute him for Singh and put Wildish up front with Johansen. It pays off early in the second half as Singh wins a challenge, passes Wildish who beats his man and feeds Johansen, who scores. In the 61st minute, Johansen scores again - but the goal is all Wildish, as he ran right through the defense and passed sideways as the keeper forced him outside. Final score: 2-0. When we travel to London to play QPR, we leave Johansen at home and start with the pairing of Bates and Wildish. Kavanagh and Connelly returns to the starting eleven, and Mathisen is left outside. We almost go ahead in the 21st minute when Kavanagh finds Wildish with a long ball and he turns the keeper outside in, but the shot is saved by a lunging defender. However, QPR takes the lead in the 51st minute despite having been outshot 2 to 1. We replace Rogeau with Singh and start pushing up. Final score: 0-1. Sheffield derby as United plays Sheff Wed at Bramall Lane. Wildish continue up front as the playmaker, but together with Johansen this time. Wednesday take the lead in the 47th minute through McCarthy. Despite outshooting them 12 to 2, that's the only goal of the game. Final score: 0-1. The chairman is disappointed about losing in the derby and says he expected more of me and the players. I'd better start taking a look at the job pages in the paper. Just for kicks, I apply for the manager position at Fulham and Bologna, Italy. Another away game, this one is at Burnley at Turf Moor. Wildish return to his usual spot at right wing, and Sanderson pairs in the attack with Johansen. We finally have a bit of luck when we score in the 13th minute on a corner, Johansen meets the ball at the far post. We are about evenly matched in this game, but we create better scoring opportunities than Burnley, who only threaten Lefebvre once. Final score: 1-0. Sanderson suffered a groin strain in the game and will be away two weeks. Wildish, Peters and Rogeau all were selected in the Team of the Week. David Connelly signs a new contract that'll pay him £9250 as opposed to his earlier salary of £1800. A home game vs West Ham, and Bates replace Johansen in the lineup. Wildish set up Bates, who cuts inside before shooting into the far corner of the goal, only five minutes into the game. We go up by two five minutes later on a penalty kick that Rogeau convert with no problems. Right before the halftime signal we score our third goal, again through Wildish on the right side - he cuts inside and feeds Bates who only has to stick out his foot to score. Johansen add a fourth and a fifth goal in the 54th and the 65th minute. We pull Watson, Wildish and Peters to rest them a bit and go defensive for the rest of the game. Final score: 5-0. The last game of the year is on the road at Wigan, which always is a difficult game. Colin Quinn replaces Watson and reserves striker Watkins is on the bench. We look headed for a nil-nil game when Wigan scores in the 78th minute on a 25 yd strike. Final score: 0-1. Wildish and Bates were picked for the Team of the Week. Johansen is tired, says the physio, and we have to rest him for a couple of games. Contracts are expiring in six months for Wildish, Peters, Rogeau, Mathisen, Quinn, Kemp, Holt, Kavanagh, Wright, Bates, Singh, Berry and Lefebvre. This could be bloody if all of them wants a raise. We are £50K over the current wage budget, so I'll offload Bates at once. Wildish wants £60K a month, Peters £80K, Rogeau £46K, Berry £48K and Lefebvre isn't interested in renewing at all. We offer new contracts to Singh, Kavanagh, Wright, Holt, Kemp and Quinn. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-04-2005, 11:45 PM	#59
daedalus Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000	Man, it seems like unless Wildish does something, the offense sort of sputters.

01-08-2005, 12:08 AM	#63
daedalus Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000	Ouch. Those are some key players up for a new contract.

01-08-2005, 03:44 PM	#65
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	February 2008 Wildish wins the Championship Player of the Month award for the second consecutive time. Away at Plymouth, we welcome back Mike Watson in the middle together with Mathisen. Kemp and Devine are the two strikers today with Sanderson lightly injured. Plymouth score as early as in the 11th minute, and we have to play catch-up from now. Devine gets hurt in the 35th minute and we play with young guns Watkins and Kemp up front. With some luck, Kemp gets a goal following a pass from Berry in the 42nd minute. Richard Dunachie bags his second goal of the day in the 56th minute with Argyle again taking the lead. Final score: 1-2. We're playing no.3 Reading next, and have a bit of a crisis regarding injured forwards - only Watkins and Johansen are healthy enough to play, and we have to pull Jenkins from the reserves to get a full bench. Wildish scores in the 40th minute on a magnificent individual effort where he exchanged passes with Johansen to skip by no less than three defenders and beat the keeper with a low shot near the post. In the 68th minute, we extend our lead on a cross from Peters in to Johansen who heads the ball in the net. A tired scorer is substituted for Jenkins immediately following the referee's signal. Final score: 2-0. For the game at Gillingham, currently in 22nd place, we're still with little options at striker, with Johansen tired and only Watkins and Jenkins to help out. Berry is injured since last game and Holt plays instead. Gillingham takes the lead after 35 minutes, and we are having difficulties in creating anything at their end of the pitch. For the entire game, we create only four shots, with one of them being inside the goal frame - pathetic. Final score: 0-1. Watson is suspended again - this time for receiving his 10th booking this season. At home vs Rotherham, we score as early as in the fifth minute when Wildish crossed in to Jenkins, who made no mistake alone with the keeper. In the 13th minute, we're up by two when Rogeau finds Kavanagh in the middle, outside the box. The midfielder isn't a huge threat shooting from downtown, but this shot is hard to find fault with, as it finds itself into the far bottom corner of the goal. Rotherham get on the scoresheet with a long shot in the 31st minute. We again set our lead to two when Peter Peters fire in a shot off the post right before the halftime interval. We close things down efficiently in the second half. Final score: 3-1. Despite the win, on February 17th the manager's ultimate consequence happens - I'm sacked. I immediately apply for two vacancies - Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough. We are turned down by Boro, but get an invitation from League One team Oldham Athletic to become their new manager. I'll pass on the chance until Wednesday makes a decision - I'd like to stay in the Championship. When Sheff Utd play their first game in the post-3Ric era, I'm curious how they'll line up the team at Bolton. They start Johansen and Wildish at forwards, Berry, Holt and Kavanagh at midfield with Birindelli and Wright as attacking fullbacks. The defensive line consist of Costello, Mathisen and Watson in front of Lefebvre. They lose 0-3 after Lefebvre was sent off for bringing down an attacker as the last man. I apply for the vacated manager position of the Blackburn Rovers. Carl Murphy, recently fired from Stoke, is hired as the new Sheff Utd manager. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-08-2005, 04:39 PM	#66
condors College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	good luck finding a new job!

01-08-2005, 09:38 PM	#67
daedalus Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000	Sucks! Hopefully, we'll get you back on board another job soon. Are you only looking in England or are other leagues possibilities as well?

01-09-2005, 02:25 AM	#68
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	March 2008 Sheff Wed turned me down. I'm linked with the Norwich City job, which became available on March 10th. Blackburn turn me down, and hire the coach of League One team Cardiff instead. In the last three games, Sheff Utd has won once, at home vs Bristol City, and lost twice, at Derby and vs Coventry. I apply for both the Real Betis and the Espanyol jobs in Spain. Later, the Juventus job become available. Fat chance I'm going to get it, but hey, one can dream. To be more realistic, I apply for the Cardiff job as well. They are currently in 1st place in the League One. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-09-2005, 11:21 AM	#69
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	April 2008 Norwich hire the Nottingham Forest manager, leaving that position open. Cardiff approach me about filling their vacancy, and I accept. The Cardiff proposition was very attractive, considering they allow £2.1 mil in transfers, and a wage bill that can exceed £300K/month if necessary. The chairman urges me to deploy a cautious approach to management and sensible tactics in the transfer market. As I'm listed as "adventurous" in my manager profile, I'm wondering if he's got the right man for the job! I'll stay with my preferred style of 4-4-2 with the wingers crossing the ball, since this team has two solid wingers. The best player is striker Lee Wyatt, who has 22 goals in 45 games. They are a little short at quality in the interior midfield though, I'm going for some shopping right away, but it appears I'm too late in making additions to the squad. My first game as manager for Cardiff is an away game at Huddersfield, and I let my assistant manager suggest a lineup. In goal we have Federico Garcia Rodriguez from Spain, called "Fede". In defense, from left, are Lee Rees, Michael O'Connor, Peter Reynolds and Stephen Jackson. Of these four, I'm concerned about Reynolds - he'll have to be replaced later. For now, he'll do. In midfield we have Eric Rodriguez, Paul Walsh, David Clarke and Keveral McDonald on the right wing. Up front, Lee Wyatt and Mike Wheeler. Hudds takes the lead in the 25th minute after Fede couldn't get up to save a second attempt after saving the first shot. At the end, we push hard for that tying goal and have several scoring chances which either are blasted over the bar or right at the keeper. Final score: 0-1. We fall down to 3rd place with the loss, one point from one of the promotion spots. We have agreed with Manchester City player Ben Hughes about his transfer to Cardiff. He's a central defensive midfielder with all-around qualities. The transfer sum is £425K and he'll join the team on June 3rd. Our second straight away game is at Peterborough, currently in 21st place. We continue with the same lineup, but adopt a more attacking mindset this time. We test their keeper as soon as after 15 seconds, and keep up the pressure. In the 34th minute we get the first goal through Wyatt. In the 52nd minute a quick break sends the ball down the right sideline for McDonald, who crosses into centre, where Wyatt meets the ball for an unstoppable shot into the top of the net. We replace Rodriguez with Paul Kubit, and he gets an assist when he feeds Wheeler, who scores our third goal. Final score: 3-0. We have clinched a playoff spot with the win, but is still one point removed from the top two spots. We have agreed terms with another midfielder, Brian Ryan of Leicester. He'll join Cardiff on free transfer on July 8th. David Clarke, Eric Rodriguez and Lee Wyatt were all selected in the League One team of the Week. Our last home game for the season is vs no. 5 Grimsby, whose manager told media the day before that he was "very confident" that his team would beat my team. Scoreless after the first half, we began the second half with heavy pressure on Grimsby's goal with Wheeler hitting shots off both the post and the bar. Unfortunately, in the middle of all that pressure Grimsby counter attack and finishes off the game with a low shot inside the left post. Final score: 0-1. We've agreed with Cristian Scala of Sheffield Utd on a transfer that will take the Italian defender to Cardiff on June 3 for £35K. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-09-2005, 11:22 AM	#70
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	May 2008 Midfielder Eric Rodriguez came second in the Player of the Month awards. The last game of the season is away at Port Vale, placed 22nd in the division. We go ahead in the 2nd minute through a shot by Wyatt which is saved, but the rebound goes to Wheeler who scores easily. Defender O'Connor gets a second yellow card and is sent off in the 34th minute. I replace striker Wheeler with defender Craig Parry and start play more defensively. When Vale also gets a player sent off I substitute a defender for attacker Price and go forward again, chasing a second goal. Of course, what happens next is that Vale draw level on a late goal. Final score: 1-1. In hindsight, that might have seemed like a questionable decision to go for the second goal, but there still was a slight chance that we'd taken 2nd place on goal difference had that been successful. As things stands now, we're 4th in the final standings and will play in the playoffs for the final promotion spot. In the first playoff semifinal, we play Swansea on the road. O'Connor is suspended, which means Parry plays along with Reynolds in the central defense. Wyatt injures himself in the first half, and Price comes on. Swansea takes the lead in the 75th minute on a long shot from the left wing. Final score: 0-1. For the second leg at home vs Swansea, we get O'Connor back but Wyatt and midfielder Paul Walsh misses the game. In the 72nd minute we score when Price head in the ball after it rebounded off the bar from Wheeler's shot. Six minutes later, Wheeler scores on a free kick by Clarke, and we've got the aggregate lead by one. Final score: 2-0. We have three players given international call-ups: Keveral McDonald for Jamaica, and Craig Parry and Mike Wheeler for Wales. In the playoff final against Tranmere on Wembley, we get back Walsh in the starting lineup but Wyatt begins on the bench. A long kick from Fede reaches McDonald, who turns a defender before passing Tommy Price in the middle, and the striker rifles a hard shot past the keeper at an odd angle. The combo of Rodriguez and Price combine for a second goal by the striker, who really has seized the moment and made it his own. A blunder by keeper Fede gifts the Rovers a goal and lets them back in the game as the ball slipped through his hands like a slippery bar of soap. Not long afterwards, however, we score again when Rodriguez dribbles past two defenders and crosses into the box, where Tommy Price dives at the ball close to the near post - it's a goal! But the whistle had already gone - it won't stand! Dubious decision, according to the commentators. With 10 minutes left, we go all defensive, and substitute Rodriguez and Price, who both has had a fantastic game. Final score: 2-1. We have won promotion to the English Championhip! The board announces that the transfer budget for next season will be in the region of £1.9 mil. For my work with the team during four regular season games, and three post-season games, I finish second in the voting for League One Manager of the Year. Striker Mike Wheeler was third in the League One Goalscorer awards, with 21 goals in 44 league games. Wheeler is the ambitious sort, however, and wants to use his recognition to move for a bigger club soon. Oldham Athletic apparently is targeting him, but he's only available for the right price. I offer Wheeler a new contract with a £16K salary, as his contract is expiring within a month from now. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-09-2005, 01:36 PM	#71
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	June 2008 Defender Cristian Scala and midfielder Ben Hughes arrives to the club. Wheeler signs the new contract to stay with the club. I also try to renew defender Lee Rees' contract, as he's the only left-sided defender on the team. The next day, however, we agree on terms with another left defender, Jamie Thompson of Oxford. We strengthen the team further by signing D/AM R Craig Adams from Valladolid (he was targeted by me earlier when I was with Sheff Utd) and forward Giuseppe Alberti from Empoli. Both of them will join the team on August 1st. We also bring over James Morris from Sheffield, he's a good reserve goalkeeper. Lee Wyatt is the Cardiff Fan's Player of the Year. We've been given £625K for Championship TV rights the coming season. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC! Last edited by 3ric : 01-09-2005 at 01:38 PM.

01-09-2005, 01:36 PM	#72
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	July 2008 Our first friendly is away at Notts County, Lee Wyatt scores in the 24th minute and we made ten substitutions at halftime. The best players were keeper Fede and left midfielders Kubit and Rodriguez. Final score: 1-0. Kubit injured knee ligaments in the game and will be out a month. The second friendly is at home vs Man Utd. We score the first goal through Paul Walsh in the 19th minute. After 40 minutes we're up by two when Wheeler scores. United get on the scoresheet late, in the 78th minute. ManU apparently aren't giving a damn as the game goes towards the end, and Wyatt gets a goal as well in the closing minutes. Final score: 3-1. Against Scottish lower league team Gretna, we get goals through Wyatt, Wheeler and Price, with one in the bag for each. Best player in the game was Rodriguez (again). Final score: 3-0. Macclesfield is our next friendly opponent, we score twice in the first half through Wyatt and Wheeler. Macc get a goal through a direct free kick before Price add the final goal of the day. Rodriguez man of the match once more. Final score: 3-1. At Shrewsbury, we get goals in the first half by Wheeler and reserves midfielder Richard Lewis before the home team scores in the 79th minute. We go back to a two-goal lead through Wyatt but Shrewsbury scores again four minutes later. Wyatt gets a second goal in the final seconds, however, and is Man of the Match with a vintage performance. Final score: 4-2. Keveral McDonald fractured his ribs in the game and will be out for three weeks. The local media asks whether his absence will be missed. I replied that we've got adequate cover at his position. Ipswich is priced as 7-4 favorites of winning the Championship this season, with the rest of the contenders being Fulham, Wigan, Reading and Leeds. We are priced at 40-1, which actually isn't that bad. The last friendly is at Stevenage, and we score quickly through Wheeler, but get Wyatt injured with no healthy strikers on the bench. We solve the problem with going to a 4-5-1 formation, but the rash of injuries is bad news considering the season opener is only three days away. Midfielder Brian Ryan add a second goal in the 45th minute, and Wheeler gets a penalty that he converts himself in the 73rd minute. Final score: 3-1. Wyatt will be out a week with a neck injury and is going to miss the opener. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-09-2005, 03:00 PM	#73
daedalus Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000	Injury issue aside, not a bad start to this Cardiff career.

01-10-2005, 01:52 PM	#74
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	Roster review Goalkeepers GK - Fede, 25 yrs old from Spain. Valued £925K. Very good skillset, less good mentally but with solid composure and concentration. Backup - James Morris, 28 yrs old from England. Valued £95K. Great composure and concentration but bad handling. Defenders DL - Lee Rees, 27 yrs old from Wales. Valued £375K. Good marker, hard worker but little technique and can't head. DC - Michael O'Connor, 21 yrs old from Ireland. Valued £240K. Strong, fast, hard tackler. Can be lazy and isn't very good at heading. DC - Cristian Scala, 21 yrs old from Italy. Valued £75K. Very good positioning, marking and tackling. Little strength and not-so-good teamwork. DR - Stephen Jackson, 27 yrs old from Scotland. Valued £130K. Superb tackling and determination. Not super technique and composure. Backup Craig Parry, 30 yrs old from Wales. Valued £1 mil. Great marking, heading, strength and decision-making. Bad positioning and composure. Backup Jamie Thompson, 27 yrs old from England. Valued £60K. Good teamwork, stamina and work rate. Little strength and bad positioning. Midfielders ML - Eric Rodrigues, 34 yrs old from France. Valued £28K. Awesome dribbling skills, great flair and determination. Little teamwork, no marking or tackling. He's a bit like Wildish actually. MC - Ben Hughes, 25 yrs old from England. Valued £875K. Great tackler, good passer, great work rate. Bad technique. MC - Brian Ryan, 25 yrs old from England. Valued £400K. Superb tackling, marking, positioning, first touch. Little aggression and determination. MR - Craig Adams, 27 yrs old from British Virgin Islands. Valued £1.9 mil. Very good work rate, teamwork, determination, bravery. Marking and positioning could be better. Backup - David Clarke, 32 yrs old from Ireland. Valued £100K. Great tackling, good teamwork and work rate. Bad off the ball, no flair. Backup - Paul Walsh, 20 yrs old from Ireland. Valued £220K. Good stamina, acceleration. Low determination, bravery, aggression. Backup - Keveral McDonald, 25 yrs old from Jamaica. Valued £550K. Good crossing, stamina, bravery. Bad tackling, positioning. Backup - Paul Kubit, 22 yrs old from Wales. Valued £475K. Great dribbling, concentration. Little pace, low aggression. Forwards SC - Lee Wyatt, 27 yrs old from England. Valued £3.1 mil. Superb heading, great concentration and long shots. Little creativity and bad passing skill. SC - Tommy Price, 28 yrs old from England. Valued £1 mil. Great anticipation, good pace and finishing. Bad heading, no tackling ability. Backup - Giuseppe Alberti, 23 yrs old from Italy. Valued £275K. Great passing, stamina, anticipation. Little teamwork, low concentration. Backup - Mike Wheeler, 29 yrs old from Wales. Valued £800K. Great heading, work rate, off the ball skill. Low first touch, little creativity. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-13-2005, 12:51 PM	#75
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	August 2008 We've landed forward Giuseppe Alberti and defender/midfielder Craig Adams on free transfer. The first game of the new season is at Sunderland, and we're missing keeper Fede, defender Rees, midfielder Hughes and striker Wyatt. With Kubit and McDonald out as well, we have to pull midfielder Lewis from the reserves to complete the bench. In the 20th minute, Adams start a fast break and find Wheeler with a long ball. The striker advances on the keeper and before the defense intervenes, he fires a thunderous shot past the keeper. 1-0! Ross Wild equalize for Sunderland nine minutes later. We go ahead again in the 39th minute, when Rodrigues spin a free kick past the wall and into the upper corner of the net. 2-1! We're still in the lead at 72 minutes when I have to pull Rodrigues for Alberti, who takes the left midfield spot. Sunderland push like crazy to equalize, and get a goal in the 88th minute, again by Ross Wild. Final score: 2-2. Next game is at home vs Leeds, and we get back Fede in goal but otherwise there's no changes. We take the lead in the 18th minute when Thompson hit a long ball ahead of Wheeler, and the Leeds keeper hesitate a little too long in going out to meet him. That was Wheeler's 50th league goal for Cardiff. In the 72nd minute, we go up by two as Jackson passed the ball to Price out on the right wing. The striker took a few steps towards the centre before hitting a shot from 25 yds that took the keeper by surprise. Adams leaves the game and Alberti replaces him. Leeds put 4 men up front and we go for a defensive 4-4-2, which only stops them for five minutes. Leeds gets a goal in the 78th minute and continue to push for a tie. But we manage to hold on for the win. Final score: 2-1. Stephen Jackson has sprained an ankle and will be out for a week. We're up against Coventry on the road and we are without right back Jackson and play Parry instead. Wyatt makes his first start since preseason and Price sits today. Coventry gets the first goal in the 35th minute through Pedersen. Clarke uses great vision to free Wheeler in the 66th minute, and the striker holds a defender at bay and avoids the outrushing keeper before hitting the open goal. In the 85th minute, I put on Walsh, Alberti and Price for Clarke, Rodrigues and Wyatt. Tommy Price show in the few minutes he's on what a great counter attack player he is with that pace of his. Final score: 1-1. We sign Sheffield Utd defender Michael Jones off their reserve squad. Midfielder Kubit return to full fitness. Craig Adams suffers a neck injury in training. Eric Rodrigues was selected to the Championship Team of the Week. For our second home game we face no.1 Nottingham Forest, with Lee Rees back in the starting eleven. David Clarke takes the right midfield spot with Paul Walsh getting his first start. Rodrigues is a little tired, but we can put in Alberti when necessary. We take the lead in the 15th minute when Rodrigues creates space and delivers a perfect cross right at Wheeler, who scores with a powerful header. Forest tie the score on a beautiful long shot in the 35th minute. We're still tied after 75 minutes, and I put in Alberti and Price. Final score: 1-1. Midfielder Ben Hughes return to full training. We keep alternating between home and away, and visit London and Queens Park Rangers. Stephen Jackson is back at right back, and Paul Kubit suits up for the first time in the regular season. QPR takes the lead in the 34th minute when O'Connor makes an ill-advised lunge for Jamie Edge, the ball carrier, who skips by him easily and drills a hard shot past Fede. Later Gary Davis heads in a cross and it's a two-goal lead for Rangers. We start to attack in hopes of getting one or two goals (with luck) but instead we get Walsh sent off in the 63rd minute. QPR's Lewandowski scores their third goal six minutes later. Final score: 0-3. We're drawn against Norwich in the first round of the League Cup. Walsh is suspended and is replaced by Hughes, who's debuting. Rodrigues is taking this game off and Kubit gets the start, along with forwards Alberti and Price. After 20 minutes we get the first goal when Price receives the ball in the middle and takes off. Despite defensive pressure he fires home an excellent shot from 20 yds. Defender O'Connor gets injured in the second half and I put in new signee Michael Jones. Final score: 1-0. Michael O'Connor, the injured defender, is ruled out a month. Ouch. We get Aston Villa in the second round of the League Cup. At home vs Stoke we get Craig Adams back, and start Jones in the middle. Clarke replaces an unfit Hughes in the middle and up front we have Wyatt and Wheeler again. The visitors shock us with an early goal on a very long shot and it looks like an uphill battle today. In the 20th minute, Stoke hit a free kick that takes a deflection off the wall and into the net on the opposite side where Fede was standing. In the 54th minute we can reduce the deficit to one through a shot from Wheeler, assisted by Rodrigues. Wyatt has been invisible today and he's off for Price, who always seems to make things happen. Ryan gets hurt and we replace him with Alberti, who joins Wheeler and Price at forward. Sadly, it didn't work this time. Final score: 1-2. Ben Hughes, Tommy Price and Jamie Thompson starts this game, which is on the road at Preston. Rodrigues is tired, but he has to play since Kubit is out with a recent injury. Hughes goes down with an injury in the 25th minute - this guy's got to be one of the most injury prone players I've had on my team. Rodrigues leaves the game after 63 minutes and Alberti comes on. Final score: 0-0. To shore up the defense (which is a little short of players), we turn to another former Sheff Utd player, Björn Audun Mathisen, whose contract ran out this summer and wasn't picked up. He's offered a place in the rotation for £17,500 a month. Wigan's Brazilian striker Gustavo Gassenferth has refused to re-sign with the club and looks to be headed to the Premier League and Southampton. Sheffield United player Mike Watson has been fined a week's wages for being absent without excuse from training. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-15-2005, 09:34 AM	#77
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	September 2008 Some familiar names in the Championship PLayer of the Month awards - Cardiff's Eric Rodrigues wins it, and Sheff Utd's David Wildish finishes third. At home vs Crystal Palace, we have Mathisen and McDonald on the bench, with Brian Ryan back in the middle. Price gets the start and Wyatt sits. Palace score twice in the first half, and add a third on a penalty in the 68th minute. We get a consolation goal late through Wheeler, who successfully blocked a clearance from the opposing keeper - the deflection bounced backwards and into the goal. Final score: 1-3. Alberti suffers a slipped disc in training and is going to be out for two months. Bad news. We have to get another forward to compensate for his absence. Next blow to our already depleted squad is the loss of star midfielder Rodrigues for three weeks. Facing no. 13 Burnley on the road, and we're shuffling the roster. Thompson takes the left midfield spot, Parry returns to the central defense and Hughes makes another attempt to stay in the lineup. Thompson is substituted for Keveral McDonald in the second half, we'll see how that works out when he's playing out of position. Final score: 0-0. We bring in a couple of players suitable for the left midfield position on a week's trial. Most of them aren't any better than our current options, but 18-yr old Darren Young catches our collective eye and we offer him a £300 contract to play in the reserves. It's the second round of the League Cup, and we're playing hosts to Premier League team Aston Villa. Kubit still isn't fit enough to play, which leaves us no choice but to play McDonald on the left flank, and use Clarke on the right wing. Wyatt and Price starts at forward, with Wheeler on the bench. We're still scoreless after 85 minutes, and I put in Walsh for Hughes and Wheeler for Wyatt. In the 91st minute, there's a situation in our penalty area, and Villa receives a penalty kick after defender Scala supposedly handled the ball (I didn't see it from my end). Very dubious decision. And as often happens with unjust penalties, it goes to waste as Fede easily saves a weak shot. But our joy was shortlived, as the rebound was collected by a Villa player, whose cross back inside the box found its target and gives Villa an inexplicable score. Final score: 0-1 with Fede our best player. Even more injury problems when defender Stephen Jackson goes down in training with an injury that will sideline him for four months. Our new signee, Darren Young, also suffers an injury during the same training session - out three weeks with a fractured jaw. This isn't funny. Two days later, a Scottish striker, named Rory McGregor, who's visiting the training complex during his week of trial impresses the coaching staff enough that he's given a contract offer. It's a little more than half of what his agent is asking for, though, and I don't know if he'll accept. He's 21 years old, and scored 14 times for Rotherham in the Championship last season. For the home game vs Fulham, we rest Scala and give Mathisen his first start for Cardiff. Craig Adams takes the right fullback slot and Paul Kubit the left midfield. We hold the tie until the 48th minute, when Fulham's Shanks creates some space for himself and shoots past Fede for the opening goal. David Clarke has to be taken off in the 65th minute due to injury, and we put on McDonald and Walsh for Hughes. For the final ten minutes we go to a 3-4-3 with Wyatt in for Ryan. In the 90th minute, a cross from Kubit is struck at goal by Wyatt, and the keeper saves. Wheeler chases down the rebound and passes the ball back in the centre of the box, and this time Wyatt beats the keeper and ties the score. Woot! Fulham's goalie was man of the match as he stopped six shots. Final score: 1-1. David Clarke suffered a back strain in the game and will be out three weeks. McGregor rejects our offer and signs with Nottingham instead. Instead, our choice is 23-yr old Englishman Stephen Gilbert, who signs for £3800 a month. It's time for me to face my former club, Sheffield Utd as the new Cardiff manager. Sheff is at 12th place, 10 spots ahead of us in the division. We have to give Kubit a rest, and left defensive midfielder Jamie Thompson replaces him. McDonald plays right winger in relief of Clarke. For United, there's a lot of familiar faces in the starting eleven. Sanderson up front, Peters, Holt and Wildish at midfield and Connelly, Watson, Costello and Wright in the back four. Peter Peters score in the 7th minute on a long range shot where Fede didn't see the ball until too late. Wildish displays some of his jawdropping skills on a solo raid across the field, but luckily Adams can disarm him. I'm so used to being the manager of the Blades I actually click the wrong team's tactic screen twice in the first half. We change the tactics a bit coming in the second half, and draw level in the 54th minute, when Rees hit a great cross that Wheeler steer past Borgula in the Sheffield goal. In the 82nd minute, a free kick by Sheffield's Sanderson takes a deflection off the wall and goes into the opposite corner of the goal from where Fede was standing. We bring on Wyatt for Thompson and play three forwards to the end. Final score: 1-2. Still reeling from the loss, we're preparing for the home game vs no.1 Ipswich. The only change from last game is the inclusion of Kubit on the left side. We're not starting well as Mathisen scores an own goal in the second minute. We draw level in the 17th minute through Wheeler but concede another goal before halftime. Price has a few good shots at goal before getting substituted for Wyatt in the 76th minute. Final score: 1-2. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-15-2005, 04:12 PM	#79
daedalus Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000	Damn. I really wanted the win against Sheffield. The injuries situation is majorly sucking.

01-22-2005, 01:13 AM	#80
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	October 2008 The board is still pleased with my performance - their expectations are that we'll battle bravely against relegation, and that's exactly what we're doing right now. With more healthy starters around, we should climb the table. We're playing away from home at Hull and welcome Michael O'Connor and Eric Rodrigues back in the lineup. We see at one point was a player like Rodrigues means to us - he's able to hold on to the ball and transport it while letting the rest of the team push upfield, giving support to the strikers. Craig Adams played at right midfielder for the first time in a month and was Man of the Match. Final score: 0-0. Next game is at home vs Plymouth, 4th in the division. We're playing David Clarke inside and Lee Wyatt up front today. Overall a disappointing game with only one shot on target, and Fede has to shoulder part of the blame for the goals. However, Craig Adams was the Man of the Match from his right midfield position. Final score: 0-2. Kubit is out 4 weeks with a training injury. In his place, 18-yr old Darren Young is set to make his debut in the next game. Cardiff travels to Bristol to play 16th-placed City with the same starting lineup which lost to Plymouth last week. Jody Jamieson scores the opener for Bristol in the 22nd minute, and Paul Hall makes it 2-0 in the 41st minute. We change to a direct passing style and get a goal through Wyatt in the 62nd minute, assisted by Rodrigues. Young enters the game with 10 minutes left, and so does Price, who relieves Wheeler. Final score: 1-2. Playing at home vs Rotherham, I make some changes due to the low morale of some players - not surprisingly given our place in the standings. Morris in goal and McDonald to the right, but that's as far as I can go, there's no happier options left. We get behind in the 41st minute, but tie the game shortly after the halftime break. McDonald struck a corner which Hughes headed into the net, his first goal for the club. Bad marking on another corner is causing another easy goal for Rotherham, and a tired Rodrigues has to go off. Tommy Price has a huge chance to equalize, but hits the post alone with the keeper. In the 83rd minute we draw level when McDonald crosses over the entire width of the field to find Price, who centres the ball right at the head of the onrushing Adams! Goal, and we hold on for a shared point. Final score: 2-2. We have to start looking for a striker, or anyone who can score some goals for us. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-22-2005, 11:49 AM	#82
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	November 2008 The board is still pleased with me, good to hear, but I'm not pleased with my performance. It's one thing with the injuries but that I make bad tactical decisions that's costing us. Sheff Utd's Wildish finishes third in the Player of the Month awards. Away at no. 3 Reading, we start defensively with as a high-morale squad I can manage. Luck is with us initially as we get a penalty awarded in the 16th minute, which Mathisen easily scores on. Rodrigues leaves for Young with 10 minutes to go and we're still holding on to the lead. We win! We win! It's only our second league win this season... \o/ Final score: 1-0. We're in talks with Polish striker Maciej Hyps and Argentine forward Diego Romero, neither of them costing a fortune, but both has qualities we seek. Hyps agrees to the terms, and joins us on a £900K transfer from Man City. Good to see that went well, considering that Romero likely will be denied a work permit. Fede, our goalkeeper who's now been benched for Morris, twisted an ankle in training and will be out two weeks. Morale was lifted by the win, and several more players are now listed as "Superb" when I choose the squad for the game at home vs no. 19 Watford. Hyps is dressed for the game, but starts on the bench. Rodrigues hits a cross over to an open McDonald on the other side, and he cuts inside and beats the keeper with a low shot near the post. Watford ties the score in the second half with a tricky shot from outside the box. Jones and Wheeler comes off for Walsh and Hyps with 20 minutes to go. Final score: 1-1. Rodrigues was selected to the Team of the Week. Playing away at Portsmouth, we welcome back Craig Adams at the right wing, and give Hyps his first start up front. Rodrigues isn't playing as he's still tired after the last game. We are playing defensively again, as it worked well for us in the last away game. The game is scoreless until the 57th minute when Mathisen finds Price with a long ball. The striker is pressured by two defenders, but still manages to get off a shot that blows past their keeper. Oh no, it's called back for offside! Instead it's Portsmouth that gets the first goal in the 78th minute when Collins runs through our defense and leaves Morris with no chance. We go for the attack, but get behind by two as Portsmouth get a lucky strike on a free kick in the 83rd minute. Final score: 0-2. The bottom-feeders are playing each other when Cardiff are hosts to last-place Grimsby in what could be an ugly game. Rodrigues is back and so is Fede who remains on the bench as Morris plays very well. I try to field a high-morale squad but Price, who's at poor morale, has to play to form a functional starting eleven, even with Alberti playing right wing. We start cautiously but have to push forward when Grimsby get a lucky goal in the 26th minute. We draw level only three minutes later when Rodrigues shoots at close range following a corner kick. We take the lead in the 55th minute when Alberti feeds Wheeler in the middle. The goalkeeper comes out and cuts off the angles well, saving the shot but the rebound goes out to the right where Alberti can steer the ball into the net from a narrow angle. Rodrigues leaves the pitch for McDonald and he and Alberti are switching sides. Towards the end we're piling on the pressure without really trying - the opponents are looking tired. No sooner had I had that thought before they got a goal - but it was disallowed, the scorer was fractionally offside! Final score: 2-1. With the win, we distance ourselves from last place by 10 points and is only 1 point behind Burnley in 22nd place. Wheeler pick up an automatic suspension with his fifth yellow card this season. New game with two bad teams - Wigan in 20th place are coming for a visit. Price isn't fully fit and is replaced by Alberti up front along with Wyatt, with Clarke taking the right wing. Wigan get off to a great start by scoring a goal in the third minute. We tie the score in the 11th minute thanks to Rodrigues, who heads in a corner from near the first post. In the 67th minute, I put in Ryan for Jones in the middle and replace Clarke with Hyps, and pull down Alberti to the right flank. Final score: 1-1. We're up to 22nd place as Burnley lost to Fulham. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-25-2005, 11:18 AM	#84
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	December 2008 Rodrigues wins the Player of the Month award, and gets selected to the Team of the Week along with left back Jamie Thompson. Away at 4th-placed Sheffield Wednesday, and we go for a defensive setup. Kubit replaces Rodrigues, and Michael O'Connor returns to the middle defense. Wednesday takes the lead right before the halftime interval, but gets a player sent off early in the second half. We are attacking but they clinch the win with a second goal five minutes before full time. Final score: 0-2. Fede is back in goal for our home game vs Norwich in the 11th place, and Craig Adams return to the right side of the midfield. We go up by one in the 30th minute when Hughes find Wheeler in the box, and Wheeler shoots hard from close to the right-side post. The Canaries draw level in the 41st minute through Fletcher. I replace Young with Alberti and Jones with Clarke after 66 minutes. Wheeler fails to score on a diving header with two minutes left in regulation. Final score: 1-1. Striker Lee Wyatt has been injured in training and will be out a month, and defender Cristian Scala will also miss some time with a groin strain. At home vs Sunderland, currently in 17th place, with Rodrigues back and Lee Rees as well with Thompson nursing a slight injury. A bad clearance by the keeper quickly lands at the feet of Wheeler, who passes Hyps, and the Polish striker scores his first goal for Cardiff in the 49th minute. Clarke and Kubit is brought on in the 75th minute to relieve Ryan and Rodrigues, and to protect the lead. We hold on for yet another win! Final score: 1-0. Next game is on the road versus Nottingham Forest, 18th in the league. Forest take the lead through Bailey in the 18th minute, on a long shot from the right side. Despite 12 shots on goal we fail to score in this game. Final score: 0-1. Now Wheeler will be out for two weeks. I'm running out of forwards. On the road again at Leeds, we get behind almost immediately as Leeds score in the second minute of the game. They extend their lead to three with goals in the 78th and 81st minute, and there's not much we can do. We get a consolation game in the 92nd minute whn Adams fire home a free kick, curling the shot over the wall. Final score: 1-3. We make a quick signing - Sheffield Utd's young reserves striker David Jenkins, whose contract was unprotected, comes over for a low price and a modest salary. As a bonus, he's Welch. Next injury blow to us: star left midfielder Rodrigues will be sidelined two months with a torn hamstring. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-25-2005, 11:20 AM	#86
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	January 2009 Craig Adams finishes third in the voting for Championship Player of the Month. We have agreed with Ipswich midfielder Joe Wear on a deal that will take him to Cardiff after this season on free transfer. A day later, we also sign Crystal Palace's right back James Walsh. In the third round of the FA Cup we'll play Premier League team Wolverhampton. Both newcomers James Walsh and Jenkins make the squad, Jenkins on the bench and Walsh at right back. Wolves take the lead in the 25th minute and we're not able to create much - four shots, none directly at goal. Final score: 0-1. Lee Wyatt's contract is expiring, and with the lacklustre effort he's been putting in this season, I'm not giving in to his insistence of getting a £40K salary. When he has rejected our proposal twice I start shopping him around to cash in on a transfer fee. We're up against the Sky Blues, Coventry, who's in 6th place. With Hyps and Jenkins lightly injured and Wheeler unfit, we have to play Price and Alberti up front, with their low morale and all. The second half start with a bang as Price escape his marking and get off a shot that beats the keeper. With having more confidence from the goal, we begin to create lots of chances and extend our lead through Mathisen, who steers a header into the goal from a lob pass by Jones. Craig Adams is the man of the match, but the entire midfield played very well this game. Final score: 2-0. At home vs QPR, we go into the lead after 22 minutes when Tommy Price snatches the ball and runs at the goal. Pressured by two defenders, he still manages to get off an excellent shot that goes into the top right corner of the goal. QPR ties the score in the 61st minute, but we almost get right back when Wheeler hits the post with a volley shot. Alberti comes on for the tired Wheeler, who's just returned from injury. Final score: 1-1. For the game at Stoke, we start Jenkins up front and has to do without right midfielder Adams, who's away on international duty. Stoke easily gives the roundaround in the first half and scores three goals with little effort. Bah. Final score: 0-3. A journalist from the local paper asks the question what's the cause of the team's poor form. I reply that we've been unlucky and things are bound to improve soon. Parry, Wheeler and Kubit all are picked for the Welch national team. Our next game is at home vs Preston, and we can start our strongest pairing up front, Price and Wheeler. Newcomer James Walsh has been solid from the very beginning at right back. Left back Thompson hits a great cross to the far end of the box, where McDonald volleys the ball into the net. 1-0, Bluebirds! In the 71st minute we get a goal through a long shot from Wheeler, a lovely curved shot from outside the area. Paul Kubit was man of the match with an almost flawless performance. Final score: 2-0. James Walsh suffers a training injury and will miss three weeks of play. The last game of the month is at home vs Burnley, in 23rd place. Parry takes the vacated right back position and Scala plays in the middle. When we take the lead in the 21st minute, it's almost an exact replica of the first goal in the Preston game - Kubit crosses over to McDonald who shoots. Unfortunately we get the Italian defender sent off after 27 minutes, and go for an 4-4-1 with a defensive mindset. Paul Walsh replaces Wheeler, and Jones goes down in the central defense. Kubit goes off after 73 minutes for Darren Young. Both teams are reduced to ten men as Burnley gets a man red-carded in the 81st minute. Final score: 1-0. Scala will be suspended for at least one game, probably two, as he has been sent off and on top of that, has gotten his fifth booking of the season. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-27-2005, 02:37 PM	#88
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	February 2009 The board are still pleased with my performance, and I'm glad to say that things appear to be improving! We've started to crank out some W's lately. A pleasant surprise for the Player of the Month award - Rodrigues' backup, Paul Kubit, won it for the month of January with outstanding performances in the two latest games. Wildish of the Blades finished third. Additionally, I finally won a Manager of the Month award! Apparently three wins in five games was enough. We get some rest from league play during the break for international play. We have a sizable contingent representing the Welch colours - seven players in the U21 squad, and three in the senior team. Fitting for the Cardiff team, I guess. Giuseppe Alberti has requested to be placed on the transfer list. Back in the normal run of league play, we visit London's Craven Cottage and Fulham. Michael Jones replace Scala in the defense with Paul Walsh getting the start at the interior midfield alongside Ben Hughes. We hit the Cottagers with some tough defense in the 41st minute which frees the ball to Wheeler, who hits a beautiful long ball to Price. The speedy striker find himself in space and can put a move on the keeper before easing the ball into an empty net. We're still in the lead when a tired Wheeler goes off for Jenkins in the 79th minute. GK James Morris is man of the match with five saves and a clean sheet. Final score: 1-0. I'm happy to say that we've climbed to 21st place, two points clear of the relegation spots! Another tough game ahead, with us staying in London to play Crystal Palace, currently in 2nd place in the division. I rotate the lineup to give the starters a well needed rest, with a return from injury by Craig Adams. Palace take the lead in the fifth minute through an incredible 30-yd strike by Campbell. We get behind by two in the 59th minute when Mathisen accidentally heads home a cross pass into our own net. Young goes off for Kubit and we scratch the defensive tactics for a more gung-ho approach. The home team are down to only ten men in the 80th minute and we put on Wheeler for Ryan to play a 3-4-3, but no dice. Final score: 0-2. Our return meeting vs Sheffield Utd, this time at home. The Blades have climbed to the 7th spot, just outside the playoff. We'll see if we can dent those promotion hopes. The high-morale starting squad is back, with only Morris and Adams back from last week's loss. Sheffield has Wildish and Rogeau on the flanks, with Johansen and Sanderson up front. Holt is in the middle with Connelly, Watson and Wright in defense. A scoreless first half, with some good saves from Morris towards the end. We get depleted in the 68th minute when Ben Hughes picks up his second booking in the game after a hard tackle on Wildish. We substitute Price for Mathisen and move Jones up to the interior midfield for a 4-4-1 formation. Final score: 0-0. Ben Hughes will be suspended for a game following his ejection. Difficult game up next with no. 1 team Ipswich on the road. We have trouble filling the interior midfield with Hughes and injured Walsh absent from duty. We end up with Clarke alongside Jones in the middle, with Parry in central defense and James Walsh at right back. We hold off our opponents well for 53 minutes, but then Ipswich gets a penalty, and Smith scores. Jackson apparently tripped a player in the box. Our attempts to attack more aren't creating any pressure and instead we get down by two in the 77th minute when Peck heads a cross pass past Morris. Final score: 0-2. Now Clarke adds his name to the list of inside midfielders who's going to miss games - he's suspended one game. Leeds make a £100K offer for defender Stephen Jackson, which I refuse on the grounds that I don't want to sell to a rival team. Besides, he's currently a starter on the team. The next day Preston comes in with an offer too, for £70K. No, I said - I don't want to sell! It's a big game ahead with no. 21 Hull coming over to visit, with us being in 22nd place. A win would earn us several spots in the table. The task will be harder since Kubit is unable to play, and Hughes is still suspended. That means Young plays on the left and Ryan returns from injury to join Jones in the middle. After some hard work we finally get the goal we wanted - a nice pass by Ryan frees Price on the right side in the area, but rather than shoot, he lobs the ball inside to Wheeler who heads it into goal. That was his 100th league goal in his career. We substitute a tired Jones for Rees, who plays left defender while Thompson goes up in midfield. When Hull pressures, we surprise them with a clever counter attack - Price backtracks with a pass down to right defender Walsh before going deep. Walsh draw two opponents before hitting a long ball to Price, who cuts inside and beats the keeper with a quick shot. Final score: 2-0. We're up to 20th place, passing both Hull and Wigan on the way. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-29-2005, 07:52 AM	#90
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	March 2009 David Wildish of Sheffield United wins the Player of the Month award, but the Blades also get the bad news that striker Jamie Sanderson will be out for 8 whole months with a broken leg. Away at Plymouth, we are without striker Tommy Price but get midfielders Paul Kubit and Ben Hughes back in service. Argyle takes the lead in the 17th minute on a direct free kick and we abandon the defensive mindset. With ten minutes left, we take off Jones for another striker and go for the tie, but it's really no point doing it when we're behind. Final score: 0-1. We have fallen a spot to 21st place and face no. 15 Bristol City at home. Star winger Rodrigues is finally back after a long absence, and Brian Ryan replaces Jones in the middle. Jenkins plays with Wheeler up front as Price is still unfit. The game is scoreless until the 67th minute when Hughes score for Cardiff on a lovely free kick. Kubit comes on for Rodrigues and we pull back to protect the lead. With ten minutes left we bring on Wyatt for Jenkins and manage to hold on to the end. Final score: 1-0. Now in 19th place, we play Rotherham on the road. They are at 12th place in the division, and we give Rodrigues a rest and start Kubit instead. The home team opens the scoring in the 32nd minute. In the 45th minute Walsh concede a penalty, and Rotherham goes two up. We claw one back in the 61st minute when Adams score on a long shot from outside the box. Unfortunately Rotherham score a third goal in the 75th minute and that's the whole story right there. Final score: 1-3. A home game today, versus no. 3 Reading - right back James Walsh has a slight injury and is sitting this one out. Mathisen takes a spot inside and Parry moves to right fullback. Tommy Price returns as forward, and we make a change in goal, with Spanish keeper Fede replacing Morris. Wyatt comes on with 20 minutes to go and still nil-nil. Rodrigues is man of the match but there will be no goals today. Final score: 0-0. Sheffield United, currently in 3rd place in the division after winning four out of the last five, gets to face the effects of success - they get their manager hired away to Premier League club Derby. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-30-2005, 01:36 AM	#92
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	April 2009 We're up against Grimsby, who's last in the division. They take the lead in the 18th minute on a free kick, but Tommy Price equalizes after 29 minutes, and then Hughes score for us only three minutes later. Grimsby gets in even further trouble as right midfielder Doherty gets sent off following his second booking in the 41st minute. They aren't giving up, however, and gets a tying goal through Pallesen after 60 minutes. We re-gain the lead in the 64th minute when a shot from Wheeler rebounds to Price to the right, who can steer the ball into an empty net. I bring on Jones for Steven Jackson as three of our four defenders have received bookings today. We pull people back and defend the lead. That invites Grimsby to attack, and we take advantage of that by counter-attacking through Price, who scores his third goal. Shortly afterwards, we bring on Kubit for the injured Rodrigues - I hope it isn't serious. Final score: 4-2. Rodrigues will miss a week with a twisted knee. Brian Ryan, Tommy Price and Rodrigues all were selected to the Team of the Week. Michael Jones has told us that he wants a new contract. I agree he's underpaid and offer him a significant raise - more than 150% more in salary, but £10K less than he (or his agent) was asking for. He rejects the first offer, and we counter with another offer with a little more. On April 11th, we are off to play Watford on Vicarage Road. Kubit starts at left winger, otherwise we have exactly the same lineup as last game. The game is still open when Fede is a little rough when going out in the box to punch a high ball away. Inexplicably, the referee awards a penalty to the home team. But as always with unjust penalties, justice is served when the kick taker blast the ball outside the right post. But we still concede a goal to Watford at the start of the second half. In the 63rd minute, some great play by Kubit on the left side leads to a pass inside to midfielder Brian Ryan, who drills a shot past the keeper from the edge of the area. In the 83rd minute, we get a corner that Hughes take - the ball goes wide directly to Ryan outside the area, and the midfielder shoots directly from 25 yds - and it's goal, again, by Ryan! In the 89th minute, when Watford pressures like crazy for a tie, who wins a challenge at midfield and frees Wheeler with a superb pass if not Brian Ryan? Wheeler scores, and we're up by two against the no. 10 team in the division. Final score: 3-1. Michael Jones agrees to terms, and signs the extension to his contract, locking him up until 2012. We're up to 18th in the standings, and play hosts to visiting Portsmouth, currently 8th in the division. Kubit remains in the starting eleven as Rodrigues isn't yet fit enough to play. We score first, in the 19th minute on a play that's close to identical to our second goal last week - Hughes hit a corner kick out to Ryan who shoots from a distance, and their keeper has no chance at all to stop it. 1-0, Bluebirds. Ryan is playing at such a high level now it's unbelievable. Next time we have a corner kick, Hughes tries the same thing but now Portsmouth is ready for it and heads the ball away. Portsmouth chase a goal and finally succeeds in the 78th minute when striker Ekner heads home a cross past Fede. Final score: 1-1. Next opponent is no. 22 Wigan, which we play on their grounds. Rodrigues returns to the lineup and Kubit sits on the bench. We take the lead in the 6th minute on some nice link-up play between Price and Wheeler, where the latter freed the former to beat the keeper with a low shot inside the post. Right winger Craig Adams get tired and has to go off in the 67th minute. A couple of minutes later, we get a break down the left side when Rodrigues goes off on a dizzying run before he feeds Wheeler inside the area, and the striker only has to tap the ball in to score. We aren't finished, though - in the 80th minute Wheeler gets down to the left corner of the pitch before crossing into the box where Wyatt wins the aerial duel and scores our third goal. Final score: 3-0. Just like that, we're up to 15th place !!! We agree with Italian team Siena about their signing of our unhappy forward, Giuseppe Alberti, for £180K. He'll join them on July 1st. At home again, and this time we'll play no. 6 Sheffield Wednesday. The visitors are unpolite enough to score first, as early as in the 9th minute. We're still behind with 10 minutes left when we pull Rodrigues and Thompson to go 3-4-3 with Wyatt as the third attacker. We get off a total of 16 shots but still fail to get a tie. Final score: 0-1. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-30-2005, 03:00 AM	#94
daedalus Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000	Ryan has been crazy. Nice to have somebody step up like that when you need 'em.

01-31-2005, 02:57 PM	#95
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	May 2009 The board's opinion has finally changed for the better - they are very pleased with me! Brian Ryan of Cardiff wins the Player of the Month award - the third Bluebird to win the honor this season. To round it off, Eric Rodrigues is second in the voting! We begin the month and finish this season by traveling to Norwich and the 14th-place Canaries. Wyatt and Parry are both going to miss the game, which lets Michael Jones start in defense and puts O'Connor and Hyps on the bench. Mike Wheeler isn't starting the game well, with two bookings in the first 18 minutes. Price remains alone on the top in a 4-4-1 formation. Norwich takes the lead in the 31st minute on a header from close range by Mike Bates, the former Sheff Utd man. We manage to equalize through Tommy Price in the 37th when Adams finds him in the box. Three minutes later Price has the ball on the edge of the area and passes the ball sideways to Brian Ryan, who shoots immediately in the top corner of the goal, and we're in the lead! Price scores his second in the 63rd minute when latches on to a long pass from Rodrigues, fends off a defender and makes no mistake alone with the keeper. Final score: 3-1. It must be some record of sorts when we get 10 (!) of our players called up to the Wales U19 squad. We end up at 15th place, Sheff Utd finish third and will play Sheff Wed in the first round of the playoffs. Wednesday wins the leg at home with 1-0, and also takes the second leg, winning 3-1 on aggregate score. Cardiff announce a new sponsorship deal worth £170K a year, and at the same time, next season's transfer budget is set at £600K. Ipswich, Crystal Palace and Reading are promoted to the Premier League, and will be replaced by demoted Bolton, Walsall and Derby. Our final league position of 15th in the Championship is a new record high. Defender Craig Parry and midfielder Ben Hughes was both selected in the Player's Championship Team of the Year. David Wildish also made the team. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-31-2005, 02:57 PM	#96
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	June 2009 The board is still very pleased with me. Mike Wheeler is the Fan's Player of the Year. The board's expectations for the next season is that we should achieve a safe mid-table position. Our average attendance of 23388 the past season was a new record high. Eric Rodrigues' average rating of 8.00 from 25 appearances is a new record. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

01-31-2005, 02:57 PM	#97
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	July 2009 We have signed attacking midfielder Joe Wear from Ipswich on free transfer. Giuseppe Alberti leaves for Italy and Siena, freeing us from the highest salary on the team. The first friendly of the season is at League Two team Carlisle. We win 2-1 after goal from Jamie Thompson and Lee Wyatt. Next time we're playing Farnborough on the road. Goalkeeper Fede gets injured in the first half, and Morris comes on. Final score: 0-0, with few scoring opportunities for us and none for the home team. MR Craig Adams was the only one whose play stood out from the crowd. Fede suffered a groin strain and will be out two weeks. We sell midfielder Paul Kubit to Everton for £1.9 mil, freeing room for newcomer Wear. We also send defender Stephen Jackson to Watford for £90K. The third friendly this pre-season is against lower league team Grays. We lose 1-2, with Adams scoring our lone goal. Northampton is up next, and we hope for a better performance than last time. We need not to worry as Ryan opens the scoring with a goal in the 5th minute. Tommy Price score a breakaway goal in the 14th, and we're set. Final score: 2-0. Facing Port Vale, we take the lead through Wheeler in the 9th minute. Vale equalize eight minutes later, and Maciej Hyps score twice in the second half. Final score: 3-1. The last friendly before the season starts is at Gretna, a small Scottish team. Price score a goal in the 44th minute, and Hyps add a second goal after 81 minutes. Eric Rodrigues announce that he'll retire after this season, in June 2010. We are drawn against Carlisle in the first round of the League Cup. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

02-07-2005, 04:04 PM	#98
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	August 2009 We start the new season by visiting Watford, and our starting eleven looks like this - Fede in goal, Walsh, Parry, O'Connor and Thompson in defense, Adams, Hughes, Ryan and Rodrigues at midfield with Price and Wyatt up front. We are not getting the start we planned as Watford goes into the lead after only 26 seconds! Ten minutes later they are up by two and we are trying with a different tactic. Final score: 0-2. Cardiff tries to right the ship when we play the first home game vs Derby, with Morris in goal and with Wear on the bench, fresh from his unfortunate injury. In the extra time added to the first half, we start a fine string of passes where Wyatt supports Rodrigues wide left and passes into a space in the middle where Ryan makes a run and blasts the ball into the net. We go up by two when Hughes fires a tremendous shot right at the keeper, who can't hold the ball. Price is first on the rebound and taps it into the goal. Derby reduces the lead in the 51st minute when they successfully converts a penalty kick. Then they equalize only minutes later through a 30-yd shot that took an unexpected bend midway in the air. We bring on Wear and Hyps and hope to withstand the onslaught. Final score: 2-2. We are talking with Argentinian striker Diego Suarez, but even if he has a Turkish second nationality, that's not enough to get him a work permit. Next game is away at Norwich with Wheeler back in the team in Price's place and with Wear starting on the left. Cardiff score first through a great play by Wear, who makes a steal in midfield and frees Wheeler with a through pass, The striker barely avoids the outrushing keeper, but manages to control the ball and tap it into the empty net. The Canaries draw level through Bates in the 33rd minute, but we regain the lead when Wheeler cheekily intercepts a throw by their goalie and find himself alone in front of the goal. Still, Norwich aren't giving up and get a tying goal in the 53rd minute, and a third goal to take the lead after 75 minutes. Wheeler gets off a shot in the 80th minute, which is saved but the rebound lands at the feet of substitute Jenkins, who somehow manages to fire the ball into the top corner of the goal. That was the youngster's first ever goal for the Bluebirds. Final score: 3-3. Out of fear that we're not able to sign Suarez, I invite another free agent Argentine over for a trial. It appears we wouldn't have any trouble signing Gabriel Ledesma to a contract, as he has Spanish nationality as well. Our second home game, this time vs no. 5 Rotherham. Fede is back in goal, and Price forms the old strike partnership with Wheeler. We get off to a torrid start with 11 shots launched at their goal in the first half alone, but no goals in the first 45 minutes. A tired Wear has to go off after 69 minutes, and Rodrigues comes on. The game ends scoreless, which feels like a loss since we had a 15-1 shot advantage. Final score: 0-0. Remember when we had 10 Wales U19 players? Now those kids have grown up, we have nine players selected for the Wales U21 team now. We finalize a deal with Ledesma. I'm excited, since Hyps and Jenkins aren't good enough to replace one of the starters if that would be necessary. This guy is now valued £1.6 mil - right off the street. Time for the League Cup, and we are playing Cardiff away, with several players making their first start, giving some starters a little rest. Ledesma begins up front in a pairing with Wyatt. Some lax defending give Carlisle a great scoring opportunity, which they don't waste. We equalize in the 35th minute through Wyatt after good preparations by Rodrigues. With 10 minutes left we replace three players and hope we can wear (no pun intended) them down at the end. With seconds remaining, Wear gets in a cross to Hyps, who shoots right at the keeper. Wyatt fires in the rebound, but somehow their goalie saves that one too! The game goes to extra time, and then to penalties. After three PK's each there finally is a miss - a Carlisle player hit the ball wide left. A very tired Wyatt stepped up and nailed the kick right down the middle. 4-3, Cardiff! The last Carlisle player takes his kick - and hits the post! We win! Final score: 1-1 (4-3 PP). We get an injury blow when starting right back James Walsh go down with a hip injury, he'll miss about three months of play. We get Porstmouth in the draw for the second round of the League Cup. There are some tired players on the team now after that overtime thriller, but no rest for the wicked, we play Sheff Wed away. The defense is adjusted a bit with Parry at right back and Scala going in the middle. As usual, we spot them a goal to start with - Kramer scores for Wednesday in the 2nd minute. In the 40th minute, Wheeler tries to shake the defense but is stopped just inside the area. The ball pops out to Price, who puts the ball right back inside and Wheeler scores on the second chance. Sheffield, not to be outdone, start pushing us around and bags a second goal only three minutes later. Fede made a great save at first, but was out of position to make a second save. Price had a great chance when the ball rolled slowly along the goal line, but was a second too late. Final score: 1-2. The string of difficult games continue when we play hosts to no. 1 team Coventry. The Sky Blues has four wins in six games, we have four ties and no wins. At 36 mins, Coventry hits a cross into the box which Fede fails to punch clear, and the rebound is struck directly into goal. We draw level when Adams hit a cross into the box which the defense clears, but Hughes meets the ball with a well-timed volley! Rodrigues leaves the pitch after 68 minutes and is replaced by Wear. Final score: 1-1. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

02-07-2005, 04:09 PM	#99
3ric College Starter Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Sweden	September 2009 The board's confidence is back to just "pleased" but we always seem to start slowly in a new season. Rodrigues finished third in the voting for Player of the Month. Striker Tommy Price has been injured in a training session (sprained ankle) and will be out 4 weeks. I'm glad I invested in that fourth quality striker, although Ledesma hasn't quite hit off yet. Still looking for our first win, we welcome no. 20 Leeds to St.David Stadium. We are starting Wyatt and Wheeler together at forward, and put Jones at right back for his first start of the season. The visitors are quick to score twice before 17 minutes has passed, but Wyatt hit them on a counter attack and cut their lead by one. Adams has to go off as he doesn't look fit at all, Clarke replaces. Six minutes later we draw level when Joe Wear hit an absolutely magical cross pass into space for Wheeler to run on - the keeper hesitates before running out and can't make the save. But our joy is shortlived as Leed's Allen scores his second goal of the game four minutes later. Wheeler joins substitute Clarke wide on the right wing and exchange passes before crossing into the box where Wyatt wins the header - and it's a goal! Again we are level, 3-3. This crazy game becomes even wilder when Leeds open the second half by scoring their fourth goal - and Allen's hattrick. We pull Wyatt for Ledesma at the end and go all-out for the tying goal - but Leeds has clamped down on their lead. Final score: 3-4. We evoked an incentive payment with Wyatt's first goal in the game, that was his 40th league goal for Cardiff and we are due to pay Fulham £5K. Now midfielder Brian Ryan has gotten injured in training - he'll be away for 2 weeks. It's still a mystery why we can't bring it together - especially defensively. We played really solid towards the end of last season but now we are struggling again, and are preparing to play West Ham at home. It's a scoreless first half with a shot advantage to the Hammers, but 10 minutes into the second half, we start a counter attack where Rodrigues finds Wyatt, who outwits the goalie for our opening goal. But we get careless with 15 minutes to go and lose possession while going forwards and West Ham equalize when we only have three defenders in the back. Final score: 1-1. Despite the bad results, we get three players selected for the Team of the Week: Parry, Rodrigues and Hughes. We sell reserves midfielder Andy Sullivan to Norwich for £160K. It's the second round of the League Cup, and we play fellow Championship team Portsmouth on the road. We give a few players some rest, and play Hyps and Ledesma up front. The Seasiders take the lead in the 65th minute and that was like the air went out of the team, as Portsmouth easily extends their lead to two just four minutes later. Final score: 0-2. Two players are starting to get unhappy because they believe we should be much higher in the standings. Ledesma apparently has difficulties settling in the area. Playing away at Oldham, we start defensively but the home team go up by one after 20 minutes on a tremendous cross pass where the striker only had to put his head up to score. We draw level later in the first half when Wyatt finds Wheeler inside the area. Then we take the lead on a corner kick where defender O'Connor is positioned right and puts the ball out of reach for the keeper. Our good run continues when Wyatt again is assisting Wheeler on a play that was built up on the left wing. Final score: 3-1. Fulham offers me a player I bought when I was at Sheff Utd, Peter Costello. He's priced at £2.8 mil, I negotiate for £2.1. A second straight away game, this time at Nottingham Forest, Parry is unfit and Jones replace him at right back. Forest are reduced to 10 men early on in the game when a booked player went off on a screaming rant at the referee. Final score: 0-0. We continue talks with Fulham about Costello, but when discussing salary with the player, it appears that his demands are a little high - he wants £60K and we can only afford £39K. Ultimately, I withdraw from contract negotiations. __________________ San Diego Chargers (HFL) - Lappland Reindeers (WOOF) - Gothenburg Giants (IHOF) Indiana: A TCY VC - year 2044 - the longest running dynasty ever on FOFC!

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