60 to One

[super_lampard]

Along as we stay up in the league, im not too bothered if our league form is suffering because of the europa league

[PluckaDuck]

My first manager of the Month Award

Made a brilliant start to the season and if I keep going like this, who knows, one of the big three could be knocked off! Must be the Andorran magic!!

KUTGW Canvey!!

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

  Update Winner, Club                
  Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
  Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
  Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
  Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
  Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
  Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
  Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
  Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
  Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
  May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
  Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
  Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
  Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
  Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
  Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
  Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
  Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese

Top Ten – Age

   Pos +- Username        Manager           Club       Age
   1st  0 Cardiovascular  Cardio Vascular   Genoa       51
     -  0 markcator3006   Mark Cator        Aston Villa 51
   3rd +2 Romanista1994   Lucas Volman      Real Madrid 50
     -  0 IlikeJellybeans Jellybean Man     Numancia    50
   5th +3 Blanco          Cristobal Blanco  Recreativo  49
     -  0 Almondo         Arnold J. Rimmer  Bolton      49
     -  0 AtilasMiserly   Will de Mote      A.C. Milan  49
     - +3 Haowan          Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   49
   9th -1 SCIAG           Leo Dodge         Tottenham   48
     - NE Neji            Neji Hyuuga       Deportivo   48
     - NE BenArsenal      Ben Cee           Inter       48

[Cardiomolester]

Ha, the only thing I'll be first in

[canvey!!]

We are now 27 updates in but there are still people who are posting at an unsatisfactory level. Considering the duration of the sign-up so far, I would request anyone with fewer than 10 posts in this thread (never mind any former 60 to One threads) to start posting. Those with 0 posts will be getting a PM. If you have fewer than 10 posts but your manager has been fired, then obviously I am not expecting you to continue to post (although it would be nice if you did from time to time ).

9 posts: ~Ian~, spartans5, TaylorB
7 posts: Walcott's Wonderkids, bermybhoy, JSalter
6 posts: Cardiovascular, pnefc22
5 posts: Almondo, IlikeJellybeans, Greasy Chip Butty
4 posts: Jack Rudd, AtilasMiserly
3 posts: Martin_, Haowan, mikeytwigge, clrkaitken, Blanco
2 posts: Waghlon
1 post: Romanista1994, ian_1982
0 posts: markcator3006, tadr, m1234566778, Chimpos, JoeLatics

I am very surprised at some of these people and it's very disappointing to see that 45% of those who signed-up are rarely posting. While posting is not a neccessity after every update, it is important to post regularly so that I know who's following!

I want everyone to have posted 5 times by the time we reach the end of the third season.

[m1234566778]

Forgot about this, very sorry canvey as it's an excellent sign up. KUTGW!

[bermybhoy]

Gloriously inconsistent, as always. It's actually just about right for a club like Atalanta, which probably serves me well. Too successful, and another team might come a-calling, too many defeats and I'd face the bullet...so overall, happy at how things look.

Canvey!!: point noted, chief.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Wow I feel young compared to those old boys

[spartans5]

Sorry, I didn't realize how sparingly I had posted. I have been reading this entire thing and will definitely be more involved in posting going forward. Anyway, a good draw against AC Milan and hopefully can defeat them in the second fixture and win the group

[Almondo]

Sorry Canvey. Thought I'd posted more than that. Will post more on upcoming updates.

[coldkohmew]

still reading...

[canvey!!]

My Christmas gift to you all: two updates today.

Update 28
Years: 2, Months: 28, Days: 846

60 to One has just spit out its 21st casualty, and we’ll reach the tragic story of that young man’s demise in good time, but let’s start off in Spain, where the warm sun may get rid of some of that cold wintery Christmas day feeling! Zaragoza still maintain their tight grip on that 1st place position in La Liga, and the holders, Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid, find themselves in the groin-grabbingly low position of 7th. The team from the capital won only once this month, over Almería, and when they welcomed Deportivo to the Bernabéu, Neji Hyuuga’s team beat them 2-1. Volman also drew games against Espanyol and Racing, while Hyuuga also beat Celta and Andy Morton’s Sporting this month, putting them in a stable position of 9th. That’s more than can be said for Cristobal Blanco’s Recreativo who, with 6 points, are in 17th place. They did pick up four points this October, with the highlight being a 2-1 win over Villarreal. The lowlight would be the 0-2 home humbling by Getafe.

The English Carling Cup didn’t see any matches this month, but the Premier League was in full flow, despite an international break. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham still sit top, with three draws but a close 3-2 victory over Arsenal this month. That isn’t the form they can continue, however, if they want to stay up there, and although they are four points clear, they are being hunted down by Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and, surprisingly, Arnold J. Rimmer’s Bolton. The Englishman’s team have had a solid start to their new division, and this month they managed to beat Man United, and faced a North-East hattrick with matches against Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle. The trip to St James’ Park resulted in a loss, but victories in the other two games led to third place in the Manager of the Month for Rimmer. Out of the rest of the chasing pack, Andre da Conceiçao’s Chelsea and Liam Ferguson’s Manchester City have the best form, with the Blues winning all but one of their league games this month, including a 3-0 win over Manchester United, and their slightly lighter coloured counterparts winning twice and drawing twice.

Into Europe now where the Europa League plays out, and due to the international break there was only one set of fixtures this month. Tottenham beat Danes OB 3-0 but their Group B counterparts Roda JC beat that in demolishing Braga 4-0. There was a win for Super Lampard’s Lecce over AZ Alkmaar, putting the Italians into second place, and Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal beat Boavista 4-1 away. Slovaks Zilina fell to bermybhoy’s Atalanta’s 4-0 triumph, and there was a win of the same magnitude for Manchester United. Roma and Udinese both won 1-0. In the Champions League there was also only one set of fixtures, with Tom Smith’s Arsenal losing 2-3 to Sporting CP of Portugal, with the female manager Lisa Jeffries thrashing Young Boys 3-0 to lift Juventus into 2nd place, and with further 3-0 wins for Chelsea and A.C. Milan. Inter, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Real Madrid also won, although by a lesser margin, while Manchester City struggled to a 2-2 draw with Benfica at Eastlands.

Over to Italy right now, and we’ll focus initially on Serie B, because that won’t take long. With Siena sitting in 15th place among the 22 teams in the second division of Italian football, James Ridley was, quite rightly, shown the door. This was one of the Englishman’s better months, collecting two wins and a total of eight points, but two losses aren’t good enough for a team coming straight down from Serie A, and neither is 15th place, so Ridley left after 843 days of service. In Serie A, Tyler Burrows’s Udinese and Mikey Twigge’s Palermo top the table. The Andorran’s team won only two while losing their other three this month, while Palermo went unbeaten, including a 3-1 victory over A.C. Milan at the San Siro. Roma are third and had a decent month with a few too many draws. James Salter’s Reggina are floundering in the relegation zone, in 19th place, and they picked up just the solitary point this month, drawing against the 20th-placed team. Lecce and Theo Stigarakis’s Catania are also in danger in the bottom half of Serie A, although the latter enjoyed a brief respite in the form of a 3-0 victory after a trip to Atalanta.

Back over to England, where Maurice Jobson’s Manchester United are very much in trouble. The side are sitting in 13th place, and not due to any lack of fixtures: they have no games in hand on any team in the league. A rather tepid start to the month included a loss to Bolton and a dull 0-0 draw with Mark Cator’s Aston Villa, but a 4-1 win over Everton following the abysmal Chelsea result gives hope to Red Devils everywhere. At present, they lie just above Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough, who have just lost three successive games after a 1-0 win over Sheffield United. The two teams in real danger in the EPL are Fulham and Brucie Bonus’s West Brom. The Baggies are bottom, and two draws this month took them up to seven points before losses to Portsmouth and West Ham. Tim Aubel’s side actually beat Portsmouth in their last fixture of October, which avoided a month of four losses, and the American might be able to look forward to more funds with a board takeover. Then again, the takeover could see him fired, or could simply have no effect.

Over in Spain, the first leg of the two-legged affair known as the Spanish Cup Fourth Round took place. Lucas Volman’s problems continued as his Real Madrid team could only draw 0-0 away to Girona. Joe Gleeson’s Espanyol look set to go out after losing 0-2 at Getafe, and Phill Ewles’s Valladolid lost 0-2 to Racing. However, there were nice and large wins for the managers of Barcelona and Atlético Madrid. Haowan Madridstas’s side beat Pájara Playas 3-0 while Cool Manager’s Atlético Madrid won 4-0 at Ceuta. His team are 6th in La Liga, but lost to both Valencia and Barcelona this month. Their 19 points keeps them on a par with Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal, who lost to Recreativo at the start of the month but reinforced their position with two wins and a draw.

Serie A holders Juventus are sitting pretty poorly in 10th place, and although they started the month with wins over Lecce and Udinese, their recent form leaves much to be desired, as Canadian Lisa Jeffries’s side picked up just a point from their last three matches. Close to them are bermybhoy’s Atalanta, who recorded that 4-0 European victory, and in the league their form has been yo-yoing. Most recently, however, they travelled to play Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina, the side directly below them, and won 2-1. Other than that, this month Taylor’s side drew two and won two, never recording remarkable victories but never being thrashed either.

Next month brings two sets of Champions League games, one set of Europa League games, the next fixtures in the Spanish and Carling Cups, as well as four matches in the top division of every country. It isn’t the most exciting, but it has plenty of action, and is fundamental to the progression towards the end of the season. The winter months are barren ones, not least because managers tend to get chucked out of their jobs! Stay tuned.

Manager of the Update
This month, the award goes to;

Mikey Twigge, Palermo

for a good month which sees him rise to become one of the top teams in Serie A, despite Palermo’s pre-season prediction of 11th. Andre da Conceiçao and Haowan Madridstas were two managers who had very good months, but it is sometimes difficult to choose a Manager of the Update, and Twigge is the one I have plumped for here.

Job Securities

  Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days
   1st SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Very Secure    846
   2nd Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Secure         846
     - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Secure         846
     - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Secure         846
   5th Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid  Stable         846
     - bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta    Stable         846
     - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable         846
     - spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia    Stable         846
     - IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia    Stable         846
     - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo  Stable         846
     - m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing      Stable         846
     - Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal  Stable         846
     - JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol    Stable         846
     - el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid  Stable         846
     - Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull        Stable         846
     - Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton      Stable         846
     - ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania     Stable         846
     - hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham      Stable         846
     - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable         846
     - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable         846
     - Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus    Stable         846
     - Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio       Stable         846
     - rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro  Stable         846
     - ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton     Stable         846
     - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable         846
     - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa Stable         846
     - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable         846
     - super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce       Stable         846
     - Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting    Stable         846
     - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea     Stable         846
     - BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Stable         846
     - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable         846
     - clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma        Stable         846
     - AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan  Stable         846
     - ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United  Stable         846
     - Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa       Stable         846
     - Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   Stable         846
  38th Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom   Insecure       846
     - pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis       Insecure       846
  40th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena                      843

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

  Update Winner, Club                
  Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
  Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
  Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
  Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
  Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
  Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
  Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
  Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
  Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
  May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
  Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
  Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
  Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
  Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
  Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
  Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
  Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
  Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo

Top Ten – Highest Fee Spent (I’m not including the Reputation chart as there are about 20 managers on Continental!)

   Pos +- Username      Manager            Club        Player                 Fee
   1st  0 Haowan        Haowan Madridstas  Barcelona   Nani               £28.5 M
   2nd  0 fergysafc     Liam Ferguson      Man City    Mikel Arteta       £25.5 M
   3rd  0 BenArsenal    Ben Cee            Inter       Antonio Cassano    £22   M
     - +1 tomsmith1989  Tom Smith          Arsenal     Andrés Guardado    £22   M
   5th +1 Romanista1994 Lucas Volman       Real Madrid Hernanes           £20   M
   6th +4 clrkaitken    Clark Aitken       Roma        Fabio Quagliarella £19.5 M
   7th -2 tadr          Andre da Conceiçao Chelsea     Amauri             £16   M
   8th -1 AtilasMiserly Will de Mote       A.C. Milan  Roberto Soldado    £15   M
   9th NE SCIAG         Leo Dodge          Tottenham   Darren Fletcher    £14.75M
  10th  0 Jack Rudd     Lisa Jeffries      Juventus    Hulk               £13.75M

[canvey!!]

Update 29
Years: 2, Months: 29, Days: 876

It is the 1st December, and right now our 36 managers are opening the first windows of their Advent Calendars. And we have only 36 managers, as this month three of the worst-performing ones were sacked, with a manager of a very high-profile club in the mix. Of course, it is my job to keep you waiting, so we will naturally start in the country that was kind enough to keep all 14 of its managers this month, Italy.

When we last took a look at Italian football, Udinese were top of the league, with a plucky Palermo saddling alongside. During November, however, Clark Aitken’s Roma found a return to form, taking that top spot with Udinese in second, joint on points and goal difference. This month, the Canadian’s team did not lose, and dropped points only twice. The first was a rather unfortunate trip to Croatia in the Europa League, where Rijeka fought for a 1-1 draw, and the second was when A.C. Milan came to visit, leaving with two goals for Roma’s own two. Cagliari were beaten 4-1 in the most convincing result of the month. Tyler Burrows’s team also had an extremely strong month, also drawing in the Europa League but beating Inter, Parma and Chievo. However, a 0-1 loss at Brescia handed Aitken the advantage. bermybhoy’s Atalanta, who also went the whole month without a league loss despite losing to Lille, take up 3rd place, their best result being a 3-0 victory over James Salter’s Reggina. Mikey Twigge’s Palermo are still up there, in 4th, but losses to Atalanta and Fiorentina cost them.

Leo Dodge’s Tottenham finally lost their grip on the Premier League pole position, but remain competitive with as many points as leaders Liverpool. Rafa Benítez’s team won three and drew one this month, with Tottenham’s two wins and two losses not matching up. Despite a slightly embarrassing loss to Sunderland, Andre da Conceiçao’s Chelsea are in third place after clean sheet wins over Tottenham and at Blackburn, an the top four is completed by Tom Smith’s Arsenal, who started the month off abysmally with a 0-4 home implosion to Harry Redknapp’s Blackburn. You may be thinking, ‘There’s one Big Four side missing from there’ and you’d be right. Manchester United, who won the title in 2009, sit in a lowly 15th place, and just seven days into the month, with the Red Devils one place lower in 16th, David Gill decided he had had enough of everybody’s favourite Rwandan manager, Maurice Jobson, and sacked the 41-year-old, opting instead for José Mourinho. A 4-1 win in the Europa League meant little to United fans who yearned for some improvement in the league, and when that failed to manifest itself with high-fliers Martin Bojangles’s Hull winning 2-1 at Old Trafford, it was the end of the line for the Rwandan. Although Mourinho guided the team to a good 4-0 win over lowly Stoke in the Carling Cup the next game, the three following Premier League matches have all ended deadlocked. Another Premier League manager who should be worrying is Brucie Bonus, who is understandably Very Insecure with his Baggies in 20th place. They are 3 points below 19th place and 5 points from safety, and this month picked up a solitary point with a draw at Sheffield Wednesday.

Over to Spain where there has been a marked improvement in Betis’ fortunes in the Liga adelante. Wobill Luman’s side dropped points away to lowly Granada 74 and lowly Albacete, but won all three other games, including a 3-0 win over Córdoba. This puts Béticos del Universo Verdiblancos in 6th place, and while it isn’t championship-winning form, it is certainly well on the way to improvement. With this, the position of their manager is now Stable. In the top division, Zaragoza still lead the way but the wolves are right behind now. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona went unbeaten this month with some great scorelines. Sevilla lost 0-4 and Pájara Playas lost 0-5 to Barça this month, the latter in the Second Leg of the Spanish Cup Fourth Round. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid also went unbeaten, in the league and cup at least, thrashing Athletic 3-0 and Jellybean Man’s Numancia 4-1. Lawrence Lazewski’s Valencia and Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal share 29 points with Real Madrid, with the nearest opposition lying 5 points further back.

Into the grand auditorium of Europe now, and the Champions League moved a lot closer to the completion of its group stages with two sets of games this month. 11 teams have now qualified which means just five spots are available to claim with the next game. Andre da Conceiçao’s Chelsea are through despite a loss this month to their fellow Group B qualifiers PSV Eindhoven, and another English team in the form of Tom Smith’s Arsenal have already made it through. The Gunners squeaked past Sporting CP before thrashing Dinamo Bucharest, and are through to the next round along with the former. In one of two groups involved two teams of interest, Group C, both Lawrence Lazewski’s Valencia and Will de Mote’s A.C. Milan are through with 100% winning records this month, and will face off in December to see which one qualifies as group winner. Juventus, Inter and Barcelona have also qualified, while Liam Ferguson’s Manchester City, Real Madrid and Benfica will face off for two qualifying spots from Group D, with the other guaranteed a Europa League spot. This month, Benfica beat both of our teams while Madrid beat Rangers 3-0 and Man City drew 1-1 with the Scottish side.

Let us now go back to England, where the League Cup Fourth Round took place. The last Championship sides exited the competition, Stoke losing to a newly invigorated Mourinho’s Man United, Sheffield United crumbling 0-5 at the hands of Mark Cator’s Aston Villa, Crystal Palace losing to Chelse and Swansea losing to near neighbours Bristol City. Tim Aubel’s Fulham also went out, to Portsmouth, and the board takeover was completed without incident in a month where the American won thrice and lost once in the league. The only other Fourth Round match with a side of interest was Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. One Quarter Final match has already been played, with Chelsea triumphing 3-0 over Villa, who won twice and lost twice in the Premier League this month, but the remaining three are to be played. Arsenal will meet Manchester United while the other two matches hold no interest and will be cunningly kept secret. As for the league, overachievers Bolton continue their pleasant form, with Arnold J. Rimmer’s side in 7th place after an even split of wins and losses this month.

Back over to Italy now with a focus on the bottom of the table. James Salter’s Reggina look to continue their decline in recent years and sit bottom, but sneaked a 2-1 win away to Fiorentina in their last game of the month. Cagliari and Rimini are above Reggina but also have eight points, and both have won fewer games. In general, our surviving Italian managers are doing fairly decently, and packed into the top half are Jonte Rhodes and Lisa Jeffries, with their teams in 9th and 10th respectively. Lazio took all month to get a win, but got one over Parma, while Juventus had a contented month, with one of each result. However, with the team being 9 places below last season’s finishing position, the female manager is Very Insecure and the board may sack her sooner rather than later. Perhaps a turn of fortunes is on the cards? Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina lie just above those two teams and beat Chievo and Palermo convincingly this month, but picked up only one point from their other two games. In 7th, Will de Mote’s A.C. Milan are underperforming and had a poor month, particularly from a defensive point of view. Above that, Lord Weeman’s Napoli are solid, and they won every single game this month, although their calendar wasn’t the toughest.

The Europa league concludes next month, and we’ll not discuss any of the events from this month’s set of fixtures and focus on the competition in December. Instead, we move back to Spain to finally find out the identities of the other two manager who got sacked this month with a look at the bottom of the La Liga table. Andy Morton holds his Sporting side precariously close to the drop zone in 17th place, but he picked up two points this month and is still Stable. Jellybean Man’s Numancia are next moving upwards, and the comically-named manager lost all of his league games this month. Still, he was not the one sacked. Instead, Espanyol boss Joe Gleeson saw his luck run out with his team in 15th place. He followed up four consecutive draws with a win over Sporting, but losing the next game to Mallorca was too much. 18th-placed Recreativo parted company with their Peruvian manager Cristobal Blanco on the same date. It was a similar situation: the team had just won, this time 4-0 over Mallorca, but following this up with a loss resulted in a P45. Almería were the undoers of Blanco’s Recreativo reign. Finally, in the Spanish Cup, it was pretty standard stuff, with the only upsets being Real Sociedad’s win over Neji Hyuuga’s Deportivo and Alavés’ over Athletic. Valladolid, Espanyol and Recreativo were the other relevant teams who lost.

So, 39 becomes 36, and with three more managers sitting in Insecure or Very Insecure positions, it could be even lower by the close of 2010. Some time next month the managers will reach their 900th day of management, and that is the target for all. But I’m predicting that two, possibly more, will not make that.

Manager of the Update
This month’s award goes to;

Lord Weeman, Napoli

for winning all of their games, a feat not equalled throughout the three countries. Other strong contenders were Clark Aitken and bermybhoy, whose good months take them to the pinnacle of Italian football, as well as Haowan Madridstas who performed well with his Barcelona team. He had many games to play and fared well, but Weeman shouldn’t be penalised for not winning games he wasn’t able to play, and so Napoli take this trophy, ahead of Wobill Luman too, who oversaw an improvement in Betis’ performances.

Job Securities

  Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days
   1st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing      Very Secure    876
     - Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull        Very Secure    876
     - Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton      Very Secure    876
   4th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Secure         876
     - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Secure         876
     - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Secure         876
     - Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid  Secure         876
     - spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia    Secure         876
     - IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia    Secure         876
     - hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham      Secure         876
     - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Secure         876
     - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Secure         876
  13th bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta    Stable         876
     - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable         876
     - Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal  Stable         876
     - el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid  Stable         876
     - ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania     Stable         876
     - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable         876
     - Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio       Stable         876
     - rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro  Stable         876
     - ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton     Stable         876
     - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable         876
     - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa Stable         876
     - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable         876
     - super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce       Stable         876
     - Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting    Stable         876
     - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea     Stable         876
     - BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Stable         876
     - clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma        Stable         876
     - AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan  Stable         876
     - Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa       Stable         876
     - Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   Stable         876
     - pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis       Stable         876
  34th fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Insecure       876
  35th Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus    Very Insecure  876
     - Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom   Very Insecure  876
  37th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol                   873
     - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo                 873
  39th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United                 852
  40th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena                      843

[Almondo]

Very secure and 7th in the Premier League, that's very good there

[BenArsenal]

No mention and still stable.

I must be the most boring manager here....

[hasdgfas]

Secure and survived a takeover
Thanks for the updates canvey!

[Walcott\'s Wonderkids]

Rearrange the following words and I think you'll probably get the envitable message about to be told to Brucie Bonus in the next month or so:

numbered
days
my
are

My own fault for doing relatively well last season... false expectations!!

[el sid]

Dropped down to 6th in league and not done anything great to get a mention in the second update
Still Stable though
KUTGW canvey

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Still Stable and sitting in 9th in the league, gotta be happy with that and it seems the club are too. Keeping up appearances is what it is all about.

[PluckaDuck]

The Italian League is really competetive this season, with a number of teams capable of winning. But we have remained really consistent throughout the season and have a brilliant chance of making history.

[Neji]

Two updates on Christmas day, that's commitment

Got to be quite pleased with a win at the Bernabéu, looks like I'm going the same way as previous seasons though. Nothing spectacular, but hopefully I can remain in my job :\

[super_lampard]

Still stable and going well in the europa league

[Cardiomolester]

Steady 'progress' with Genoa (progress being not sacked)

[ssestig]

Still in a job \o/
KUTGW canvey!!

[tomsmith1989]

Fantastic. Two updates!! Sort of a mixed bag. I'm not completely happy with 4th in the league, and a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Blackburn certainly wasn't expected. Although, continental progression softens that blow. Up to secure in my job status gives me at least a little more time.

Kutgw!!! This has been great so far.

[canvey!!]

Thanks for all the compliments, and for posting more. Hope everyone had a good Christmas.

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

  Update Winner, Club                
  Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
  Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
  Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
  Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
  Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
  Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
  Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
  Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
  Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
  May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
  Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
  Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
  Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
  Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
  Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
  Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
  Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
  Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
  Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli

Top Ten – Highest Fee Received

   Pos +- Username     Manager           Club            Player                 Fee
   1st +1 ~Ian~        Bryan McGuinness  Everton         Mikel Arteta       £25.5 M
   2nd +8 spartans5    Lawrence Lazewski Valencia        Juan Manuel Mata   £25   M
   3rd  0 Neji         Neji Hyuuga       Deportivo       Andrés Guardado    £22   M
   4th +2 PluckaDuck   Tyler Burrows     Udinese         Fabio Quagliarella £19.5 M
     - +4 fergysafc    Liam Ferguson     Man City        Nigel de Jong      £19.5 M
   6th -1 BenArsenal   Ben Cee           Inter           Nicolás Burdisso   £17.75M
   7th NE el sid       Cool Manager      Atlético Madrid Simão              £16.25M
   8th -1 Jack Rudd    Lisa Jeffries     Juventus        Amauri             £16   M
   9th NE Haowan       Haowan Madridstas Barcelona       Samuel Eto’o       £14.25M
  10th NE weeeman27bob Lord Weeman       Napoli          Leandro Rinaudo    £13.25M

[canvey!!]

Update 30
Years: 2, Months: 30, Days: 907

Well I was right in saying that two of our managers would not make the 900 day mark, but I was absolutely stunned about the circumstances in which that happened. We’ll start in England, where London clubs are dominating the league, making up its top three teams. In first place is Andre da Conceiçao’s Chelsea, who had a strong month despite an away loss to Man City. As December is one of the most fixture-packed months, they still managed to pick up 11 points during the festive season. Tom Smith’s Arsenal are 2nd, which does of course mean that Leo Dodge’s Tottenham have slipped down to 3rd place. This month, the Gunners did not lose, and only conceded one goal, in a tricky away trip to Lokomotiv Moscow in a near-meaningless Champions League tie. The two teams drew 1-1. Their only home game of the month saw them trounce Man City 3-0, and they then went on to do the same away to Bristol City. What followed was a 2-0 win at the Boleyn Ground which forced West Ham to sack manager Roland Nilsson and hire former Sunderland boss Scott Tysoe. Smith’s men wrapped up the month in style, thrashing high-fliers Hull 3-0 at the KC. Tottenham continue to drop points, drawing all but one of their games this month. In doing so, they continued José Mourinho’s string of draws at Manchester United, but the Portuguese manager finally won over Blackburn, finishing the year with two more wins under his belt. Smith did beat Newcastle in the one game that wasn’t a draw, and thrashed his two Europa League opponents. If only he could transfer that European form to the domestic scene.

Last month I touched on how A.C. Milan were underperforming. What I didn’t say was that I expected them to attain their standard annual 3rd-placed position, and for everything to be nicey-nicey. Which was a good thing, in a way, because everything will not be nicey-nicey, and Will de Mote did not have a nicey-nicey Christmas after finding himself without a job. It was the Champions League what done it, as they say, in a rather weird way. With both A.C. Milan and our fellow team of interest Lawrence Lazewski’s Valencia certain to progress from their European group, the match between the two saw the Spaniards triumph 2-0 at home. That was no big deal, especially not with Milan having beaten Parma 3-0 away in the last game, and having sealed Italian Cup progression just before that. Perhaps last month’s derby loss, 2-4 to rivals Inter, was what the board were really unhappy about and de Mote’s sacking notice got delayed in the very early Christmas mail. But anyhow, de Mote was sacked, although he will actually have a nicey-nicey Christmas because of the many millions of compensation A.C. surely gave him. The board opted for another Dutch manager, hiring Ajax’s Marco van Basten, and the Dutch club found their replacement in Athletic’s Louis van Gaal. This is where our second manager finds themselves unable to make that 900-day mark. Athletic would now need a manager, and with the sudden ability of our former managers to get new jobs, who better than a manager struggling away in the second division but who had had first division experience. On Tuesday 14th December, Athletic pulled Wobill Luman from Betis to coach their team. Thus far, Luman had not had a good month with Betis, drawing and losing once each. He managed a 2-2 draw against Recreativo in his first Athletic game. As nice as it is for Wobill to have a shiny new desk and to be back managing in La Liga, this is an endurance competition and it doesn’t do to leave your club halfway through for another. I never thought that this would actually happen, but it has, and as per the terms at the start of the sign-up, Luman finishes in 35th place.

When we last took a look at the Champions League, there were only three clubs whose positions were dubious. Firstly, Cool Manager’s Atlético Madrid qualified for the next stage despite only drawing with Inter and despite Shakhtar’s 3-1 win. In Group D, Benfica stormed to a definitive victory by thrashing Rangers 5-0, while Liam Ferguson’s Man City and Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid fought for the other place in the Round of 16. Vagner Love’s 14th-minute strike settled the tie at the City of Manchester Stadium to send the Englishmen through, causing the biggest upset of the competition so far. Volman’s team will enter the Europa League. The draw for the Round of 16 has already been made, and the two most important ties from our point of view are Lisa Jeffries’s Juventus against Barcelona, and Arsenal against Ben Cee’s Inter. Other ties see Chelsea face Marco van Basten’s A.C. Milan and Atlético Madrid face all-conquering Benfica. Valencia will meet Lyon and Man City will meet Sporting Lisbon. In the Europa League, all of our teams qualified for the next round which is good news. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham failed to lose, closing out their campaign with 2-0, 4-0 and 3-0 wins. Super Lampard’s Lecce got through their group in 2nd place, which was to be expected as their opponents were Sivasspor and Steaua Bucharest, and AZ Alkmaar. The Italians qualified after a 3-0 win over the Romanians, so didn’t worry too much about a 0-5 loss to the Dutch in their next game. Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal qualified top of their group, winning by a combined 7-0 this month, and Roma did exactly the same. Udinese and Atalanta also qualified. In the next round, Tottenham will face Spanish high-fliers Zaragoza, but none of our teams will play each other. Following that, Udinese may play Villarreal if they can overcome Shakhtar and Sampdoria respectively, but all other clubs don’t face such a draw in the Round of 16 either.

Lucas Volman getting knocked out of the Champions League is not his only worry, too. While his rival Haowan Madridstas has caught up and even overtaken Zaragoza to claim top spot for Barcelona, Madrid have falled to fifth, six points behind the Catalan side. This month, Volman had a mixed bag: one of each result, but the 0-2 loss to Valencia was the most damaging. Barcelona, on the other hand, won all three games, as well as beating Anderlecht 2-1 in the Champions League and travelling to Abu Dhabi for the Club World Championships. First, they beat UAE side Al-Ain 6-0, then they beat Argentines San Lorenzo 3-0 to capture the crown. Towards the bottom of La Liga, Andy Morton’s Sporting have found themselves dragged into the bottom three, but the manager is still Stable despite this and picking up a single point in December. Threatened side Numancia are only four points above Sporting, with Jellybean Man’s team getting a mixed bag himself this month. Even Phill Ewles’s Valladolid could be deemed to be in trouble: their cushion of 8 points could easily be worn away given some poor form. At the moment, however, they are doing decently, having beaten leaders Zargoza 1-0 but lost their other two games this month, including one to Barcelona.

In Italy, Lisa Jeffries still finds herself very much in danger as her Juventus side linger in 9th place. They won once and drew twice this month, which is fine form, but not if you are way behind in a title chase and looking to catch up. Ben Cee’s Inter have now claimed the top spot, winning all their league games this month including a 4-0 hammering of Reggina. Back in the swing of things too are Clark Aitken’s Roma, who sit second, and who got two important wins this month, masking the pain of a defeat to fourth-placed Atalanta. Tyler Burrows’s Udinese have dropped to third after a humiliating 0-3 defeat to Lecce and further dropped points in the home game against Napoli. Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina had a fairly good month, winning all three league games but going out of the cup. They are in 5th place.

Back over to England now, with some focus on the Carling Cup, but more focus on the league and on the FA Cup. Arsenal beat Manchester United 3-0 in the Quarter Final, to qualify for the Semis alongside Chelsea, who did that last month, and Liverpool and Portsmouth. Our two managers can both make the final, with Arsenal playing Liverpool and Chelsea Portsmouth. The FA Cup Third Round draw has been made and the undoubted highlight is Liam Ferguson’s Manchester City playing host to Chelsea. Also watch out for Martin Bojangles’s Hull travelling to Craven Cottage to face Fulham as well as Aston Villa versus Blackburn and Bolton away to Southampton. Tottenham will also face a Premier League side in the form of Sheffield United at White Hart Lane. At the bottom of the Premier League, Brucie Bonus has rustled up some form to pull his West Brom side off the bottom of the table. He secured a sneaky 1-0 win as Everton came to visit, and then exploded into fine form with a 4-0 victory over Newcastle. The following two away games ended in losses, but the team suddenly have a whole new packet of morale. Securely in 9th place are Bryan McGuiness’s Everton, whose poor month was improved at the end with wins over Man City and Bristol City. They face Swansea in the FA Cup. Many of the surviving Premier League managers are packed in the top half, and Middlesbrough and Fulham still seem safe. Bonus is the only Premier League manager in trouble, and it is very likely that he won’t be a Premier League manager for very long.

The Italian Cup 1st Round passed with much jubilation. Juventus had little problem overcoming Padova 2-1, and Udinese also progressed against a lower-quality opposition, Reggina, by the same scoreline. Atalanta knocked out Parma, A.C. Milan Brescia and Inter Ascoli, while Super Lampard’s Lecce achieved a nice extra-time win over Roma. There is no doubt about the highlight of the next round: Inter and A.C. Milan will face off for a semifinal place. Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio will play Udinese, Lecce will play Atalanta and Sampdoria will play Juventus. Concluding the report with some mid-table news from Spain: Neji Hyuuga’s Deportivo are in 10th place and loving it. They won their easy two games this month but lost to Atlético Madrid. Maz Armley’s Racing are in 8th after having won all three games by one-goal margins. In Italy, Genoa will get a mention very soon.

The transfer window awaits: who will strengthen their squad in the mad dash for the 1000 days mark? That’s in about three months time, and making it there unscathed will probably ensure the rest of the season will be safe too.

Manager of the Update
Finally, a pick up in form universally. This month,

Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

wins the Manager of the Update award for very successfully negotiating an ascent to the top of La Liga while travelling to Abu Dhabi to tear apart the competition in the Club World Championship. All without losing or drawing! Maz Armley and Ben Taylor also won all their games, and Tom Smith and Ben Cee had very fine months indeed, but there isn’t much equivalent to picking up a piece of silverware, giving Madridstas even more reason to collect the award.

Job Securities

  Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days
   1st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing      Very Secure    907
     - Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull        Very Secure    907
     - Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton      Very Secure    907
     - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure    907
     - IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia    Very Secure    907
     - super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce       Very Secure    907
   7th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Secure         907
     - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Secure         907
     - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Secure         907
     - bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta    Secure         907
     - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea     Secure         907
     - BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Secure         907
     - clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma        Secure         907
  14th Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Stable         907
     - Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid  Stable         907
     - spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia    Stable         907
     - hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham      Stable         907
     - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable         907
     - Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal  Stable         907
     - el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid  Stable         907
     - ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania     Stable         907
     - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable         907
     - Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio       Stable         907
     - rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro  Stable         907
     - ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton     Stable         907
     - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable         907
     - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa Stable         907
     - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable         907
     - Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting    Stable         907
     - Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa       Stable         907
     - Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   Stable         907
  32nd fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Insecure       907
     - Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom   Insecure       907
  34th Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus    Very Insecure  907
  35th pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis                      889
  36th AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan                 882
  37th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol                   873
     - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo                 873
  39th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United                 852
  40th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena                      843

[BenArsenal]

Secure!

First change in months!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Sweet still Stable, and into the Quaterfinals of the Italian Cup perfect!

[super_lampard]

Next round of europa league and italian cup and very secure

[tomsmith1989]

A great month there for me. A really good run of results. Six sackings sees the competition lose a 15% of the runners in a month. That's also good news.

[Almondo]

not mentioned but very secure

[ssestig]

Not mentioned but stable still.

[canvey!!]

Happy New Year - no two updates for you today but you might see one tomorrow.

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

  Update Winner, Club                
  Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
  Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
  Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
  Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
  Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
  Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
  Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
  Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
  Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
  May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
  Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
  Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
  Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
  Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
  Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
  Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
  Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
  Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
  Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

Top Ten – Players Bought (Number)

   Pos +- Username        Manager          Club       No
   1st  0 Almondo         Arnold J. Rimmer Bolton     20
   2nd +1 Martin_         Martin Bojangles Hull       18
   3rd NE IlikeJellybeans Jellybean Man    Numancia   17
   4th +4 PluckaDuck      Tyler Burrows    Udinese    16
   5th NE TaylorB         Ben Taylor       Fiorentina 15
     - NE clrkaitken      Clark Aitken     Roma       15
   7th -1 el sid          Cool Manager     At. Madrid 14
     - NE Waghlon         Lars Tommersen   Villarreal 14
     - -2 ~Ian~           Bryan McGuiness  Everton    14
     - NE weeeman27bob    Lord Weeman      Napoli     14
     - NE ssestig         Theo Stigarakis  Catania    14
     - +1 BenArsenal      Ben Cee          Inter      14

[el sid]

I like stable

[PluckaDuck]

A 3-0 defeat to Leece.........

That'll eally hurt the title aspirations....

[canvey!!]

I wrote this last decade, hence the bit about my lovely Cottagers. I guess that'll be 'I wish had mirrored...' then.

Update 31
Years: 2, Months: 31, Days: 938

We are one month into 2011 and one manager has been fired this month. It shouldn’t be difficult to work out which one, given that they have been clinging on to their position for the last few months. With no European action this month, we have five league games from each division as well as plenty of cup action for you to feast on.

We’ll start in Albion, that great fortress in the sea, and the London contingent that had clogged up the top of the table have been dispersed somewhat. Tom Smith’s Arsenal sit top, but Chelsea and Tottenham lie down in 5th and 6th. This month, the Portuguese manager guided his Gunners to four league wins and a home draw with Chelsea. Beating his countryman’s Manchester United 3-0 may have been a highlight, or it could have been the victory of the same magnitude at Goodison Park. The Gunners also progressed past Liverpool in the League Cup Semifinal and will face Chelsea at Wembley next month. The current top two reflects last year’s finishing positions, with Liam Ferguson’s Manchester City in second place. They played six games this month and dropped points only once, in a home match against Blackburn, but have yet to confirm their Big Four calibre as they lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup 3rd Round. Brucie Bonus’s West Brom have fallen back to the bottom of the Premier League, after failing to collect a league win this month. A 1-1 draw at Old Trafford highlights United’s poor form rather than being close to a West Brom upset. After progressing through two FA Cup Rounds with ease, they face Wigan, 2nd placed in the Championship, and I’d see them going out at that hurdle. However, Bonus still survives with his job, which is more than can be said for his fellow struggler, Lisa Jeffries. The Canadian’s time at Juventus came to an end after an Italian Cup Quarter Final loss to Samdporia. She started the month with a win, but only over Rimini, and could not win at Fiorentina. With the side 10th and out of the cup, the board decided they’d had enough. If it’s any consolation, Goalkeeping Coach Enzo Biato quit in disgust, ready to follow Jeffries around the world.

In Spain, Jellybean Man and his team Numancia skirt closer and closer to the relegation zone. The Englishman’s team failed to win this month, going out of the Spanish Cup in the process, and picked up just a brace of points in the league. Hovering just above his team is Andy Morton’s, a Sporting side desperately in need of some points. They did have a brighter month this month, winning both away at Valladolid and at home to Zaragoza, the early leaders who are now 5th. Neji Hyuuga’s Deportivo are in a solid 9th place, winning thrice, drawing once, and bizarrely losing at home to 18th-placed Tenerife. Above Deportivo are Racing, and Maz Armley won two, drew one and lost two in the league, facing Atlético Madrid three times and achieving one of each result. Sadly for Racing fans, this put them out of the Spanish Cup as the draw and the defeat came in the two-legged 5th Round tie between the teams.

Of course, it was January, and so of course, there were transfers. Jonte Rhodes benefitted from the fresh tenure of Marco van Basten at A.C. Milan as the Dutchman sought to bring in players, including Lazio’s own Paolo Sammarco for £19.5M. Lord Weeman was another one who will be grateful for the £16.25M of trade generated by the appointment when A.C. Milan struck a co-ownership deal for Mathias Jørgensen. The Italians also brought in Jonny Evans for £14.75M from José Mourinho’s Manchester United, and now co-own James Salter’s Reggina’s Dalton after a £13.25M payment. The biggest transfer that did not involve A.C. Milan was Carlos Cuéllar moving from Villa Park to Arsenal for £500k shy of Sammarco’s pricetag. American Jozy Altidore moved from Sporting Lisbon to Lawrence Lazewski’s Valencia for £17.25M and David Wheater found himself as Cuéllar’s replacement as he went from Middlesbrough to Mark Cator’s Birmingham-based club for £13.75M. Ben Cee made a £9.5M loss on his biggest ever buy: Antonio Cassano went from Inter to Arsenal for £12.5M. In what is perhaps the most appropriate transfer ever, Antonio Valencia joined Valencia from Man City, giving Liam Ferguson £9.25M, and Ferguson replaced the attacking midfielder with two options in that position: Belgian Axel Witsel from Clark Aitken’s Roma for £12M and Jorge Valdivia from Everton for £14.25M. It was a heaving transfer window and that was only the most important transfers!

Over to Italy now, and it would be an injustice if we did not mention Cardio Vascular’s Genoa, who are sitting happily in 10th, but have been overlooked in recent months. They won three of their January games, gaining one each of the other outcomes, and their two best results were the 4-0 away victory over Rimini and the no less exhilarating 1-0 home one over Roma. James Salter’s Reggina are the closest to the drop zone but are four points clear after picking up six points this month. Super Lampard’s Lecce are keeping their feet dry and it isn’t because of a month without European football: they failed to win this month. Above them, in 13th place, are Theo Stigarakis’s Catania. They went unbeaten this month but only won two of their five games, and the Anglo-Greek manager spent almost £12M strengthening the squad, as opposed to a £4.2M income from player sales. Didier Zokora joined for £2.4M from Tottenham, as did Sébastian Puygrenier for £6.25M from Zenit St. Petersburg, and Bruno Fornaroli for £3.2M from Livorno. Stigarakis himself is currently Secure. The other one of our teams in the bottom half of Serie A, Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio, had a decent month, winning twice, losing twice, drawing once, and of course making that transfer profit, spending £4M on FC København’s winger/striker Barreto as Sammarco’s replacement.

Tom Smith’s Arsenal enjoyed their away trip to Macclesfield for the FA Cup 3rd Round, but not as much as Bryan McGuiness’s Everton enjoyed their home adventure against Swansea. Arsenal put four unanswered goals past the Silkmen, but McGuiness’s team put five past their Welsh opponents. Neither side could progress further, for the time being at least, as Arsenal face Aston Villa and Everton face Watford in replays. Other 3rd Round results include Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough thrashing Stoke 4-0 (which wouldn’t have happened had Fréderico Canvey still been in charge) and Fulham beating Martin Bojangles’s Hull 2-1 in a replay at the KC. Middlesbrough, who are doing well in the league, in 9th place picking up 9 points this month, will have to beat Cardiff in a replay at the Riverside if they want to proceed, while Tim Aubel’s Fulham beat Swindon 4-1, in a result I hope mirrors real life (or if you’re reading this after January 2nd, either: I wish had mirrored, I’m glad didn’t mirror or I’m glad mirrored). There are a lot of replays to do, but sides thus far into the Fifth Round are: Liverpool, who will play Burnley; Fulham; Wigan, who will play West Brom; Portsmouth; Southend; Tottenham and Andre da Conceiçao’s Chelsea, who will play Coventry.

Two rounds of the Spanish Cup also took place this month. Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal defeated Getafe 3-0 in the Fifth Round, and Andy Morton’s Sporting crashed out to Tenerife. Racing and Numancia were our other two defeated sides. Tommersen’s side have made the Semifinal with a Quarter Final win over Atlético Madrid and, predictably, Tenerife, Celta and Zaragoza went out in the Last Eight, to Valencia, Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Villarreal face Valencia in the Semis meaning that it won’t be a Clash of the Titans in the Final. However, these two sides are 2nd and 3rd in La Liga, with Lawrence Lazewski’s side 1 point behind Villarreal. The American gained his team 8 points this month, and Tommersen gained his 9. However, both are some way off the leaders, Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona, who were angling for a month full of wins until they lost 0-2 at home at the hands of 4th-placed Real Madrid.

And of course Italy had its own cup adventure too. Atalanta lost out on penalties at the hands of Super Lampard’s Lecce, as did Tyler Burrows’s Udinese against Lazio and Inter against rivals A.C. Milan. Lecce have a good chance of making the final with a tie against Sampdoria while Lazio will play Marco van Basten’s side. In the league, Burrows’s pre-season squad tinkering is working well, as he tops Serie A, and he also spent £2.1M this month, but more than covering for it in almost £14M of income. Udinese drew on two occasions but won all of their other games. Just a point behind them are Ben Cee’s Inter, who won twice, lost twice and drew once this month. bermybhoy's Atalanta are a little surprise in 3rd place, and they had a good month save for a 0-4 demolition by Inter at the very start.

Next month brings the resumption of European football, and with two managers in Insecure positions, it could see the number of our managers in England drop by almost 20%.

Manager of the Update
The award this month has been one of the easiest in recent months to give. It goes to;

Tom Smith, Arsenal

who leads the Premier League and has guided his team into the League Cup final. However, two of the other contenders were very close indeed: Liam Ferguson and his team are in fine form despite losing in the FA Cup 3rd Round, and Tyler Burrows tops Serie A while spinning considerable profit. Lawrence Lazewski was also under consideration for his progress to the Spanish Cup Semifinal, but Smith takes home the award for a solid month.

Job Securities

  Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days
   1st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing      Very Secure    938
     - Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull        Very Secure    938
     - Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton      Very Secure    938
     - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure    938
     - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Very Secure    938
     - bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta    Very Secure    938
   7th IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia    Secure         938
     - super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce       Secure         938
     - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Secure         938
     - hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham      Secure         938
     - Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal  Secure         938
     - ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania     Secure         938
     - Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting    Secure         938
  14th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable         938
     - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea     Stable         938
     - BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Stable         938
     - clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma        Stable         938
     - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Stable         938
     - Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid  Stable         938
     - spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia    Stable         938
     - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable         938
     - el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid  Stable         938
     - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable         938
     - Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio       Stable         938
     - rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro  Stable         938
     - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable         938
     - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa Stable         938
     - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable         938
     - Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa       Stable         938
     - Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   Stable         938
     - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable         938
  32nd ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton     Insecure       938
     - Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom   Insecure       938
  34th Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus                   925
  35th pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis                      889
  36th AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan                 882
  37th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol                   873
     - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo                 873
  39th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United                 852
  40th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena                      843

[Greasy Chip Butty]

My man might have Sporting needing points desperately but they're still getting enough results to keep me secure!

I think I'm going to make the halfway point now! Woop!

Great updates as usual canvey!!

[hasdgfas]

Still doing pretty well at Fulham. Wish the result over Swindon had been mirrored by real life as well, but a win's a win, eh canvey!?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Only three more need to drop before we make it to halfway this is getting interesting now. A very nice Sale for Lazio there, but they could've used the money to bring in a replacement, good to see we are still stable though. C'mon Jonte you can bring it home now.

[Cardiomolester]

Mentioned

Seem to be doing well, stable as always

[canvey!!]

Still doing pretty well at Fulham. Wish the result over Swindon had been mirrored by real life as well, but a win's a win, eh canvey!?

They say a win's a win but a 1-0 win over Swindon isn't a win!!

I'm marginally irritated by that.

I already have that one covered .

[BenArsenal]

Back to stable...

Bye Cassano!

[Almondo]

Ah well not mentioned again bur at least Rimmer is still very secure

[tomsmith1989]

Manager of the Update!!

It's looking good so far for me and my Arsenal side. Shame about having to take the FA Cup tie against Villa to a replay, but hopefully we can overcome that.

Great updates as usual canvey!! Keep it up!

[Haowan]

Just saw the posting thing..
sorry but I've been reading but not posting =D
hope this clears it up

[Walcott\'s Wonderkids]

Brucie Bonus hanging in their by the skin of his teeth at West Brom!

Here's to the continuing successful cup run blinding the chairman from realising I'm taking the club down to the Championship for next season.

[el sid]

Not mentioned, but stable

[ssestig]

Up to secure with an unbeaten month. KUTGW canvey.

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

  Update Winner, Club                
  Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
  Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
  Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
  Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
  Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
  Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
  Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
  Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
  Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
  May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
  Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
  Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
  Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
  Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
  Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
  Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
  Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
  Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
  Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
  Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal

Top Ten – Players Bought (Value)

   Pos +- Username      Manager            Club        Value
   1st  0 fergysafc     Liam Ferguson      Man City    £217M
   2nd  0 BenArsenal    Ben Cee            Inter       £177M
   3rd +3 Haowan        Haowan Madridstas  Barcelona   £157M
   4th NE clrkaitken    Clark Aitken       Roma        £153M
   5th NE Romanista1994 Lucas Volman       Real Madrid £104M
   6th +1 spartans5     Lawrence Lazewski  Valencia    £102M
   7th -2 tomsmith1989  Tom Smith          Arsenal     £ 98M
   8th NE TaylorB       Ben Taylor         Fiorentina  £ 83M
   9th -5 tadr          Andre da Conceiçao Chelsea     £ 80M
  10th  0 el sid        Cool Manager       At. Madrid  £ 75M

Lifespan – 1 to 2 Years

   Pos Username             Manager             Club      Days
  41st conners              Sirus Lannock       Málaga     628
  42nd MikaelS              Mikael Schøler      Bologna    613
  43rd Swafe                Saul Goode          Osasuna    551
  44th hamilton162          Tom Hamilton        Mallorca   509
  45th kashmirshazad        Shazad Ali          Newcastle  508
  46th DiscoStu94           Da Hoover Man       Sampdoria  501
     - ScottT!              Scott Tysoe         Sunderland 501
  48th canvey!!             Fréderico Canvey    Stoke      476

Lifespan – Less than 1 Year

   Pos Username             Manager             Club      Days
  49th corinthiano          Mathias Brunckhorst Chievo     327
     - Neilio               Neilio              Almería    327
  51st Robert_296           Robert Boyle        Blackburn  326
  52nd brettney1980         Brettney Joven      Wigan      320
  53rd TigerJoe             Joe Seddon          Getafe     271
  54th jack.browne          Jack Browne         Sevilla    250
  55th NepentheZ            Neppo Monster       Cagliari   236
     - dafuge               dafuge              Torino     236
  57th KiddingChoc          Zach Machios        Portsmouth 235
     - Whoopy D             Whoopy D            West Ham   235
  59th d-machine            David Machine       Athletic   229
  60th PaulHartman71        Jeremy English      Liverpool  204

[BenArsenal]

I spend a lot!

Much like I do when I play FM.

[canvey!!]

Update 32
Years: 2, Months: 32, Days: 966

February has passed and it has been a quiet month in terms of sackings, in that there have been no sackings, at least not at the level we will discuss. However, many competitions did move themselves forward, and the managers are approaching that magical 1000 days mark, with just over a month of managing required for those who are going to attain it.

We’ll start in Italy this time, where Ben Cee’s Inter top the table. This is a little surprising, as they dropped points on many occasions this month, winning only once, at home to Parma, but the five points they did pick up beat the mere three points picked up by Tyler Burrows’s Udinese, who contrived to lose three of their four games this month, defeating Rimini 1-0 at home to salvage some if little dignity. A.C. Milan have also overtaken Zebrette. bermybhoy's Atlanta are in 4th place with Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina 5th, with the former having a troublesome month, winning only over Udinese, and the latter achieving an impressive nine points, dropping points only once in a loss to Marco van Basten’s A.C. Milan. Down the bottom of Serie A, James Salter’s Reggina are flirting with relegation, but it looks as if they’re likely to be safe save for some massive deterioration in performances. They currently lie four points clear of the bottom three and picked up that many this month, and are six points behind closest rivals Lecce.

Over to England now, where we shall start with the FA Cup. Mark Cator’s Aston Villa lost their Fourth Round Replay on penalties after a 3-3 draw at the Emirates, and Arnold J. Rimmer’s Bolton lost theirs away to Barnsley. Middlesbrough mirrored Arsenal and progressed with spot kicks after a 3-3 draw, theirs at home to Cardiff, while Everton knocked out Watford. In the Fifth Round, three of the Big Four clubs still in it, although the notion of Big Four is certainly much more subjective now, progressed with ease, Arsenal thrashing Portsmouth 4-1, Chelsea Coventry 5-1 and Liverpool Burnley 4-0. Bryan McGuiness’s Everton won at Southend while there were a number of draws involving our teams. Fulham and Middlesbrough drew at the Cottage, as did West Brom at the DW Stadium and Man United and Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Boro progressed 2-1 in the replay, as did West Brom 1-0 and Manchester United 2-1 with an Alexis Sánchez goal in the 92nd minute (of extra time). Their tie against Arsenal is the match of the next round. In the league, Brucie Bonus’s West Brom are still struggling to avoid the iron grip of the relegation zone, but Bonus himself seems perfectly happy to be stuck in the iron grip of his employers. Despite being Insecure or worse for many months now, the Kyrgyzstani holds on to his job. This month, a win over Fulham and draws against Portsmouth and West Ham picked the team up five points, and they currently lead the struggle between themselves and Bristol City, sitting in 19th place.

Of course February marks the resumption of European football, and we’ll start with the Europa League, which has completed the First Knockout Round stage. Clark Aitken’s Roma lost 2-3 on aggregate to Celtic, and Super Lampard’s Lecce saw the end of their European adventure at the hands of Spartak Moscow. Atalanta were another of our sides to go out, this time to Besiktas. In fact, Udinese were the sole Italian side to progress, with Sampdoria also losing, as they beat Shakhtar 2-1 on aggregate thanks to a 1-0 home victory. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham overcame a humiliating 0-3 defeat at Zaragoza to flip the scoreline at White Hart Lane and win on penalties. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid knocked out Zenit St. Petersburg 3-2 on aggregate, winning only 2-1 at home. Man United, Portsmouth and Villarreal also went through. In the Champions League, Schalke hold a 2-0 lead over Liverpool, while Ben Cee’s Inter will be happy with a 3-2 victory at the Emirates, anticipating a consolidation of the victory in the return leg. Those ties will conclude in March.

In Spain, Real Madrid’s troubles continue and it is Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal who take the second place behind Barcelona. They did not lose in the league this month, and dropped points only once, away to Wobill Luman’s Athletic. As well as this came their Europa League progress, but they lost 2-3 at home to Valencia in the first leg of their cup Semi Final tie. Lawrence Lazewski’s team lie only 1 points behind them, mirroring their results with three wins but a draw at Athletic. They trail 0-1 to Lyon after their trip to France in the Champions League. Of course Barcelona also had a good month, Haowan Madridstas’s team beating both Mallorca and Deportivo 5-0. However, they had a few too many 0-0 draws, with one at home to Real in the cup, one away to Almería in the league and one away to Juventus in the Champions League. Real Madrid mirrored Valencia’s and Villarreal’s results, picking up 10 points this month, which is not bad, but Lucas Volman must still fret a little considering his side’s position, nine points off the top spot. Early leaders Zaragoza have fallen off the pace a bit, and are 6 points behind Madrid in 5th place, and they share 46 points with Cool Manager’s Atlético Madrid, who won both home games but lost both away games this month.

In true logical fashion it’s back over to Italy, where Theo Stigarakis’s Catania are in 14th place. It must be boring being Stigarakis, who had two cup games at the start of the season but has since only played league games. They won once, drew twice and lost once this month for another indifferent performance, although their win came at home to A.C. Milan. Stigarakis is as Stable as can be, not daring to either over- or underperform. Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio, who went unbeaten this month with two wins and two draws, are in 11th place, with Genoa in 10th. Mikey Twigge’s Palermo are ninth, and they had a poor month with three losses, but their one win did bizarrely come away to Udinese.

Now we focus on the top of the Premier League table, where Tom Smith’s Arsenal reign supreme. The Gunners have done well to be up there, and they are currently 4 points clear of Rafa Benítez’s Reds. Their league form was fantastic this month, winning all three games, and of course they now have at least two games in hand on most others, after playing the League Cup Final. Andre da Conceiçao’s Chelsea won, 4-1 on penalties after Arsenal missed their first three, and Smith’s team also lost the home league of their Champions League tie with Inter. Although they are doing well in the league and the FA Cup, are there signs of the team ship beginning to break apart? Martin Bojangles’s Hull are in the nice position of 4th, although they lost 1-3 to both Merseyside teams this month before winning 1-0 at Eastlands against the team one place above them. Chelsea and Tottenham both lie one point behind, with Leo Dodge’s side playing only two league games this month, a win and a loss.

Over to Spain now, where Jellybean Man’s Numancia and Andy Morton’s Sporting look pretty safe, in 15th and 14th respectively, but both are only one point clear of the bottom three. Morton won once and lost thrice this month, and Man did slightly better, winning once, drawing once and only losing twice. That form won’t set the world alight but a win a month keeps the relegation doctor away. Away doesn’t rhyme with a month, but ‘awonth’ isn’t a word. Phill Ewles’s Valladolid are in 13th but are 8 points above these two, and they had a pretty good month, with two wins, a draw and a loss.

Brucie Bonus still clings on at West Brom. Zaragoza, Udinese and Tottenham lament their current positions after their early leads. Arsenal seek to avoid dropping out of the Champions League. I predict that the Gunners will have exited the competition next month, and Bonus will have entered the job market too. Still, there’s only one way to find out…

Manager of the Update
I found it rather difficult to give the award this month because no one was very good. In the end, it was a toss up between two managers and;

Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia

wins it over Haowan Madridstas. Despite a 0-1 defeat in France, which can easily be overcome in the home leg of the Champions League tie, Lazewski beat rival Villarreal in the first leg of the Spanish Cup Semi Final, and secured some nice league form. Lars Tommersen himself was not too far away from the award, and neither was Tom Smith, who would have won it despite the Champions League loss if he had clinched the Carling Cup. Still, Lazewski had a good month and deserves the award.

Job Securities

  Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days
   1st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing      Very Secure    966
     - Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull        Very Secure    966
     - Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton      Very Secure    966
     - bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta    Very Secure    966
     - hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham      Very Secure    966
   6th Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Secure         966
     - IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia    Secure         966
     - super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce       Secure         966
     - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Secure         966
     - Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal  Secure         966
     - Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting    Secure         966
     - BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Secure         966
     - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Secure         966
  14th PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable         966
     - ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania     Stable         966
     - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable         966
     - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea     Stable         966
     - clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma        Stable         966
     - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Stable         966
     - Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid  Stable         966
     - spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia    Stable         966
     - el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid  Stable         966
     - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable         966
     - Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio       Stable         966
     - rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro  Stable         966
     - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable         966
     - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa Stable         966
     - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable         966
     - Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa       Stable         966
     - Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   Stable         966
     - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable         966
     - ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton     Stable         966
  33rd Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom   Insecure       966
  34th Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus                   925
  35th pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis                      889
  36th AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan                 882
  37th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol                   873
     - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo                 873
  39th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United                 852
  40th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena                      843

[ssestig]

How did my only win of the month be against Milan? Good to see that i'm on target to both stay up and keep my job.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Wooohooo a great unbeaten month, still stable in my job and meeting expectations in 11th. Would like to crack the top half, but here is somewhere I can live.

[super_lampard]

Out of the europa league did better than i thought we would though

[hasdgfas]

Very Secure
How did that possibly happen?

[Almondo]

Still very secure.

[BenArsenal]

Top of the table. Come on Inter!

[el sid]

Stable and not mentioned again for the 2nd month running

[PluckaDuck]

Can't believe it, just 3 points this month and throwing away our title chances

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

  Update Winner, Club                
  Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
  Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
  Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
  Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
  Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
  Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
  Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
  Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
  Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
  May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
  Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
  Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
  Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
  Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
  Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
  Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
  Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
  Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
  Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
  Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia

Top Ten – Players Sold (Number)

   Pos +- Username       Manager           Club       No
   1st +6 BenArsenal     Ben Cee           Inter      29
   2nd +1 PluckaDuck     Tyler Burrows     Udinese    27
   3rd -1 el sid         Cool Manager      At. Madrid 22
     -  0 Haowan         Haowan Madridstas Barcelona  22
   5th NE ssestig        Theo Stigarakis   Catania    21
   6th NE Cardiovascular Cardio Vascular   Genoa      20
   7th NE Waghlon        Lars Tommersen    Villarreal 18
     - -6 Almondo        Arnold J. Rimmer  Bolton     18
     - -4 fergysafc      Liam Ferguson     Man City   18
  10th -3 JSalter        James Salter      Reggina    17
     - NE mikeytwigge    Mikey Twigge      Palermo    17

[bermybhoy]

This looking great at Atalanta. In this for the long haul.

Brilliant stuff, canvey.

[spartans5]

I apologize for not having posted over the last 3 updates, but I have been without a computer since I left school for winter break because I left my desktop there and my laptop decided it wanted to die for the 4th time since I have had it. But stable for the last 3 updates is nice, although I would like that to be at least secure and a Manager of the Month win is always nice.

[BenArsenal]

Top of another table.

[Walcott\'s Wonderkids]

Brucie Bonus hanging in their by the skin of his teeth at West Brom!

Here's to the continuing successful cup run blinding the chairman from realising I'm taking the club down to the Championship for next season.

See comments above on last month and repeat.


See West Brom got through to the next round of the cup after a replay win.... Europe still in West Brom's capabilities this season!!!


KUTGW, great updates as usual.

[canvey!!]

Update 33
Years: 2, Months: 33, Days: 997

With reckless abandon we have stumbled through March and find ourselves on the threshold of April. However, there will be no April Fool’s Jokes here, and we shall instead reflect on what I feel has been a milestone month for our managers, despite the real milestone coming in just three days time when each one of them tallies up their 1000th day of managing their club. Every season, the first couple of months, possibly stretching even to October, present no sackings. November, December, January and February tend to be littered with sackings. After that the chairman calm down somewhat, release their fingers slightly from those triggers and the managers can be fairly confident of completing the season and having another attempt in the next season. This, if it turns out to be true this year, will come as good news to Brucie Bonus, who finds his team in turmoil, almost certain to go down, and the Baggies were dropped back to 20th place this month after Bristol City’s sensational victory at Man City.

However, it is not England where we start, it is Spain, and considering that the author writes this on a rather chilly 3rd January 2010, hopefully the Spanish weather will act as a hot water bottle. It was only March 20th but Sevilla’s game against Valladolid, as an example, saw temperatures of 28°C. Earlier on in the month, however, was played the Spanish Cup Semi Final second leg, where Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal beat Valencia 1-0 away, only to get eliminated 3-3 on away goals, and where Real Madrid followed up their 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp to win 2-0 at home and progress. For Tommersen, the Spanish Cup pain was not the only pain he and his team had to endure this month, as they also found themselves brutally ejected from the Europa League by a strong Udinese showing that defeated them 3-2 on aggregate. But in general, Tommersen should count his blessings, and it should be Jellybean Man and Andy Morton who will be wanting alms if they do not improve their performances. Both are on 22 points and Man’s Numancia hang just inside the relegation zone. Bottom-placed Celta won twice this month to finally reach double figures, meaning that they are now a threat, alongside Espanyol, to Numancia and Sporting, who both accrued one point this month. It is of constant fascination which will go down, if either, as they form is inconsistent tending towards bad. Almería, Recreativo and Tenerife are all floating above these two, and Neji Hyuuga’s Deportivo are a good distance above Almería points-wise, but the English manager finds himself Insecure. He picked up just one point this month, and it was from exactly the same game as Andy Morton picked his up from.

Over in Italy there is still a feverous race for the top, which Ben Cee currently leads, having had a good month with his Inter team. As well as picking up seven points from three games this month, slipping up at Super Lampard’s Lecce, his home draw with Arsenal saw Inter reach the Champions League Quarter Finals by virtue of their victory at the Emirates. Clark Aitken’s Roma find themselves behind second-placed A.C. Milan on goal difference, which is a shame as the Canadian had a perfect conversion rate on points this month, while one of his wins even knocked competitor Tyler Burrows down a peg or two, it being over the Udinese boss and his team. Other than that Burrows won all his games this month, save for the Villarreal result where aggregate was his saviour after a 1-2 loss in Spain. bermybhoy's Atalanta are in 5th place, picking up 5 points this month, and Fiorentina are in 6th.

The FA Cup Sixth Round took place this month. Tom Smith’s Arsenal thrashed José Mourinho’s joke of a Manchester United team 3-1, giving the Gunners hope for extra-curricular silverware despite going out of the Champions League. Chelsea thrashed Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough 5-0 at Stamford Bridge but Liverpool were more conservative in their 1-0 win at the Hawthorns. It took a replay, but Bryan McGuinness’s Everton defeated West Ham to set up a tie with cross-town rivals Liverpool in the Semi Final, meaning that there are two local derbies in preparation for the final. There is little doubt now that Arsenal will win the Premier League, holding an 11-point lead over second-placed Liverpool. No, what has become more interesting to pundits and fans is whether Martin Bojangles’s Hull can usurp Chelsea for the fourth Champions League spot. Considering they were predicted 20th place but have now just guaranteed Premier League football for next season, it will have been a good year regardless. This month the Tigers played two games and won both of them, but Chelsea played four and moved ahead due to the two draws they collected on top of their two wins. At the moment, the Premier League seems to be in three parts: the top six, consisting of our Big Five sans Man United, as well as Hull and Spurs; with 10 points separating them from 7th, where Bolton fall into the next band of seven teams on or around 40 points. Three points below Fulham are Sunderland and the next five have 30 to 36 points. That leaves Bristol City and West Brom, also known as the “for all intents and purposes certainly relegated”, who I suppose could be categorised in their own group.

Into Europe now, and the most interesting of Champions League ties I’ve already covered. Cool Manager will be disheartened as his Atlético Madrid fell to Iberian rivals Benfica. Bayern Munich were the other non-Anglo-Italo-Spanish side to go through, defeating PSV Eindhoven. Haowan Madridstas got his Barcelona a win over Juventus, and Lawrence Lazewski’s Valencia moved on past Lyon in a healthy month where they got two nice league wins and a decent league draw, a Spanish Cup final and a Champions League Quarter Final tie against Bayern Munich. Chelsea and Liverpool both won, over A.C. Milan and Schalke respectively, while Liam Ferguson’s Man City won 3-1 in Portugal to knock out Sporting CP. Inter meet Barcelona in the next round which threatens one of our managers. The Europa League also narrowed its teams from 16 to eight, with Udinese as we know being one of those eight. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham found themselves on the wrong side of a 1-5 thrashing at Fratton Park, making their 3-1 return victory pointless. Celtic earned a nice 0-0 draw at home to Galatasaray, making one think they could go through, only to lose 0-3 in Turkey. Galatasaray’s neighbours Fenerbahçe also make the last eight ahead of Dynamo Kiev. Man United beat Leverkusen and Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid beat Braga. Spartak Moscow and Porto also made the Quarter Finals, whose highlight tie may be the Battle of Turkey. Portsmouth meet Udinese, Man United have easy passage into the Last Four, facing Spartak Moscow, and there is an Iberian battle as Porto face Real Madrid.

Los Galácaticos have a bit to celebrate as they have met up with their Big Two buddies Barcelona at the top, although Lucas Volman and his fans will still resent not having first place. They won all month which is good for the esteem and soul of a Real Madrid fan, as their 7-1 Braga victory reveals a likely Europa League winner. They also thrashed Racing, beat Deportivo, beat Athletic, and of course made that Spanish Cup final. Racing fans, and their manager Maz Armley, should not be too disheartened though, as they got the win over the other half of the Big Two: Barcelona, and they also reversed their 1-4 scoreline to Madrid when playing Sporting. Six points clear at the top, and winning all games save for the Racing and Real Madrid ones, Barcelona look likely to win the title. So we’ll go to a country where the fate of the championship is much less predictable, Italy.

Except we’ve already talked about the top of the table so we’ll talk about the Italian Cup and the bottom of the table instead. Jonte Rhodes’s Lazio held A.C. Milan 0-0 in the first leg of their Semi Final tie, but are likely to get stuffed in the return leg, so the happiness at the moment lies with Super Lampard’s Lecce, who hold a 2-1 lead over Sampdoria. They still see relegation danger peeping just over the hill, but who knows, perhaps Lecce could see European football again next season? League-wise, they drew two and lost one this month, and while 8 points is a decent cushion over 18th-placed Rimini, they’ll want to keep up form to reach the finish line. A home tie against Brescia and an away one against Chievo in April may be the ones to give those essential points. Cardio Vascular’s Genoa are the lowest side that are safe from relegation, and given how boring and lazy they are hogging up mid-table, we’ll take any excuse to talk about them. This month, surprise, surprise, they lost both games against teams higher than them and they won their game against the team lower than them. How exciting! I think it would be wise to place a bet on Genoa winning against lower opposition and losing against higher opposition for every single match. Perhaps predict a draw if their opponents are Juventus, who share their own 43-point haul. Going back down again, and the relegation threat for James Salter’s Reggina is more real, with just four points staving Rimini off. A lovely win over Lazio on my birthday was a real boost for the team, and they followed it up with an understandable loss to A.C. Milan, and a draw against Cagliari. They have a mixed schedule to play, but a home tie to Rimini might be the clincher.

So, if my theory is to be upheld, we will see no more sackings now until October. But then the gods of nature might make an exception to sack Brucie Bonus as he carries West Brom down into the abyss. I wouldn’t be surprised if they picked up no more than about three more points this season: in their seven games they have to face Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton. They also travel to Villa Park and to St. James’s Park. They might scrape a draw against Middlesbrough, but their best bet of a win ironically looks like it will be Manchester United at home!

Manager of the Update
The standard wasn’t extremely high and the month was short but;

Lucas Volman, Real Madrid

scoops the award for the second time after winning every game in order to reach the Spanish Cup final, Europa League Quarter Final and to reach second place in La Liga also. The team have put their bad performances behind them and have hit a seam of nice form. Clark Aitken and Martin Bojangles, who also both went unbeaten, could have threatened Volman here, but did not have a huge amount of games although they deserve credit for their efforts. Tom Smith and Andre da Conceiçao also did well, admittedly with good teams.

Job Securities

  Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days
   1st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing      Very Secure    997
     - Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull        Very Secure    997
     - Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton      Very Secure    997
   4th bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta    Secure         997
     - hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham      Secure         997
     - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Secure         997
     - super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce       Secure         997
     - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Secure         997
     - Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal  Secure         997
     - BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Secure         997
     - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Secure         997
     - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Secure         997
     - ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton     Secure         997
  14th IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia    Stable         997
     - Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting    Stable         997
     - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable         997
     - ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania     Stable         997
     - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable         997
     - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea     Stable         997
     - clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma        Stable         997
     - Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid  Stable         997
     - spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia    Stable         997
     - el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid  Stable         997
     - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable         997
     - Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio       Stable         997
     - rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro  Stable         997
     - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable         997
     - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa Stable         997
     - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable         997
     - Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa       Stable         997
     - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable         997
  32nd Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   Insecure       997
     - Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom   Insecure       997
  34th Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus                   925
  35th pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis                      889
  36th AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan                 882
  37th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol                   873
     - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo                 873
  39th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United                 852
  40th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena                      843

[BenArsenal]

Three more days to 1000....

[Neji]

Oh bugger...

[el sid]

Oh dear, lost to Benfica
Still stable though

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Still sitting stable and in with a shot in the Italian Cup, not much chance, but a little one...

[spartans5]

Still only stable? Where exactly am I in La Liga b/c I am in that Spanish Cup Final and in the CL Quarters, I would think that I would at least be secure

[canvey!!]

Maybe the chairman suspects you are sleeping with his wife.

[spartans5]

Hey, maybe I am, lol, but its getting results

[rancer890]

No news, still stable. Keep it up canvey!!

[bermybhoy]

Couple more looking like their coats are on shaky pegs, bad luck for them but great for the rest of us. Not such a great month but in 5th we're waaay over-achieving.

[super_lampard]

On the verge of the Italian Cup final, would be amazing to win a trophy for Leece

[Almondo]

Not mentioned again but good to see Bolton avoiding relegation. Plus Very Secure

[Walcott\'s Wonderkids]

Three more days to 1000....

Plenty of time for Brucie Bonus to be given his marching orders still then!

Shame we got knocked out in the Q Finals of the FA Cup.

[Greasy Chip Butty]

Come on Sporting, survival is a must for your managers future I think!

[PluckaDuck]

The Serie A title race is as hot as an Australian Summer, hopefully we aren't out of it just yet!!

KUTGW Canvey!!

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

  Update Winner, Club                
  Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
  Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
  Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
  Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
  Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
  Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
  Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
  Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
  Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
  May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
  Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
  Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
  Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
  Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
  Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
  Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
  Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
  Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
  Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
  Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
  Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
  Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
  Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
  Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
  Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
  Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid

Top Ten – Players Sold (Value)

   Pos +- Username       Manager            Club         Value
   1st +2 BenArsenal     Ben Cee            Inter      £103  M
   2nd  0 fergysafc      Liam Ferguson      Man City   £ 94  M
   3rd -2 ~Ian~          Bryan McGuiness    Everton    £ 86  M
   4th +3 PluckaDuck     Tyler Burrows      Udinese    £ 77  M
   5th +4 Haowan         Haowan Madridstas  Barcelona  £ 63  M
   6th -2 tadr           Andre da Conceiçao Chelsea    £ 56  M
   7th NE mikeytwigge    Mikey Twigge       Palermo    £ 52  M
   8th NE clrkaitken     Clark Aitken       Roma       £ 50  M
   9th NE el sid         Cool Manager       At. Madrid £ 45.5M
  10th NE Waghlon        Lars Tommersen     Villarreal £ 44  M

[Cardiomolester]

Mid-table mediocrity. I like it.

[BenArsenal]

Another table where I'm top.

[canvey!!]

I have a bit of an update surplus : here's hoping you can take one off my hands.

Update 34
Years: 2, Months: 34, Days: 1027

What a cruel twist of fate it is that one of our managers was able only to complete 999 days of his tenure! I guess I was wrong about that sacking-free zone after March: this manager was sacked despite not being in anywhere near as much trouble as a certain other manager. Yes, that’s right: Brucie Bonus has become our very own John Sergeant as he survives another month. I was also wrong about the bottom two being virtually relegated: while West Brom have in fact found themselves doomed to that fate this month, Bristol City are flying away and only two points from hauling themselves out of that dreadful mess. Bonus’s job security is now Very Insecure, but like the last crumb stuck in your teeth, he may never go away!

England is where we shall start, and the Kyrgyzstani manager made it to the 20th April before his side got relegated following a 0-2 loss to Chelsea. They went on to lose to Everton. They have Manchester United at home but once again, I fear I was wrong, as José Mourinho appears to have become ept again and has guided the Red Devils to the top half. Ricky Nakano’s Middlesbrough were hence displaced to 11th place, despite a decent month with two wins, two draws and a loss. With Bristol City on 35 points in 18th place, Tim Aubel’s Fulham are the lowest-placed safe team, in 14th. They only won once this month, against equally-underperforming Aston Villa. Hull’s dream of making the top four is over: not only would they have to get eight points from two games, but 4th-placed Liverpool have games in hand. However, a Europa League place is definitely Martin Bojangles’s.

Tom Smith’s Arsenal, on the same day as West Brom’s relegation, romped to the title, beating Big-Four-team-but-not-really-a-Big-Four-team Man City 2-1 at Eastlands. They had previously beaten West Brom 2-1 and league rivals Liverpool 4-1 with an Eduardo hattrick. But in between the West Brom and Man City games came an altogether more magical moment as Smith guided his team to slam Andre da Conceiçao’s Chelsea 3-0 in the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley. They will meet Liverpool at Wembley, and personally I believe they shall win that in style.

Over to Italy now, where Serie A never fails to fascinate. Tyler Burrows has seemed to send out the message that his Udinese team should not be ruled out from the title, and they ascended to 2nd place. But, seeing as their month was rubbish, it was more down to the ineptitude of A.C. Milan and Roma to rule out Udinese. Ben Cee’s Inter are still top, by 5 points, after having a good month that maintains faith in Italian teams; they both won and drew twice. Even lowly Cardio Vascular’s Genoa can still win the league, not that they will, and there is a great string of teams dangling for those top spots. Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina are 5th, with two wins and two losses this month, but bermybhoy’s Atalanta hound them, with a win, a draw and two losses but only one point fewer, and they themselves are hounded by Mikey Twigge’s Palermo, who won twice and lost twice. Palermo are hounded by Lord Weeman’s Napoli, who won twice, drew once and lost once, who are hounded by Lazio, who are hounded by Juventus and Genoa. I would say the list goes on but it doesn’t. It stops there.

Over in Spain, the relegation zone is just about to start closing its mouth and it looks like Jellybean Man’s Numancia will get gobbled up. Due to Espanyol sacking their manager and appointing a new one, they have flown out of the bottom three and Man’s team, along with Tenerife, have fallen in. They did win this month, but that was only after four losses, and they have five games to right their situation, with a minimum of four points needed. Andy Morton’s Sporting are that side with four points more than them, and they did better than Numancia this month, hence them being safe as it stands and Numancia not. With two wins and a draw among their five games, if Morton can pull of those results again next month, safety is very likely to be his. His first is against Numancia, and that’s a real six-pointer. The nearest side of ours in danger, Phill Ewles’s Valladolid, are actually in no danger at all, and are well past the number of points they need to avoid relegation. Amazingly, they won at Barcelona after five losses, including a home one to lowly Tenerife. But it is the side above them that will prove of more interest to us. After a 0-1 away loss to Almería, Neji Hyuuga found he was no longer welcome at Deportivo, and was shown the door. The team took four games to gel under their new manager and finally scraped a win at home to Cool Manager’s Atlético Madrid.

Into the European playground now, starting with the European sand pit: the Europa League. Tyler Burrows’s Udinese overcame a 0-1 away defeat to see off Portsmouth 2-1, while Fenerbahçe beat Galatasary in the Battle of Turkey. Real Madrid’s 3-0 home victory saw them progress despite struggling to a 2-2 draw in Porto. Finally, as predicted, Manchester United saw no problems in overcoming Spartak Moscow. As it stands, Real Madrid hold a 2-0 lead over Fenerbahçe, after the game in Turkey, while Udinese lost the home leg of their tie 0-1 to the Red Devils. In the Champions League, Man City proved once again that they are not quite Big Four material, going out to Liverpool in the Quarter Final. Lawrence Lazewski’s Valencia had a shock when Bayern Munich won 2-1 in both legs to knock the Spaniards out. It took away goals for Chelsea to beat Benfica, and Ben Cee’s Inter’s 1-1 draw at home to Barcelona cost them when the 0-1 return leg defeat sent the Spaniards through. In the Semi Final, Frank Lampard scored the winner at Anfield in a sloppy game, and Bayern Munich were just a little bit worse than Barcelona in their game and earned a 0-0 draw in Germany that will surely see them go out once they travel to Spain.

Let’s go back to Italy now! James Salter’s Reggina are still succeeding in putting points between them and the bottom three. This month, they did not lose, and only an away trip to Juventus stopped them from winning. Even high-flying Atalanta were stuffed 3-0, not bad for a team so close to the drop. On 36 points, they are tied with both Super Lampard’s Lecce and Theo Stigarakis’s Catania. Lecce won two and lost two, but found themselves out of the cup as Sampdoria won 1-0 in the return leg of the Semi Final, heading through on away goals. The other team to make the final are A.C. Milan, who beat Lazio just 1-0 at home to do so, and this year’s Italian Cup will not see any of our managers claiming it. This month, Catania won just one of their games, losing the other three, but with all three of these sides five points clear of relegation at the moment, such form would not be too costly.

In Spain, the three teams in 2nd to 4th are still fighting for those places. Lawrence Lazewski’s Valencia are the Zeitgest of the month, enjoying some decent if not remarkable form, including a 4-1 away win over Getafe. Lars Tommersen’s Villarreal are 3rd, doing slightly better than Valencia this month. They won three times and drew twice, not a bad performance. Going elsewhere in La Liga, we see Maz Armley’s Racing in 8th place, and they enjoyed the same form as Villarreal, picking up the same 11 points from their five games.

Next month is, of course, the finale month, where we see cup finals and league showdowns. While it is likely that there will be no sackings, it is still not to be missed!

Manager of the Update
Generally, nobody was that good this month, and there are two clear choices for the award. I eventually decided that;

Tom Smith, Arsenal

deserves this award as much as I’d like James Salter to have it for his unbeaten month at Reggina, a month that might just save them from relegation. In the end, Smith had to win it as, not only did his Arsenal team secure the Premier League title, but a thrashing of Chelsea saw them reach the FA Cup Final in style. In true FM style, I think we’ll see a dominant Arsenal for years to come.

Job Securities

  Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days
   1st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing      Very Secure   1027
     - Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull        Very Secure   1027
     - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   1027
   4th Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton      Secure        1027
     - bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta    Secure        1027
     - hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham      Secure        1027
     - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Secure        1027
     - super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce       Secure        1027
     - Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal  Secure        1027
     - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Secure        1027
     - Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting    Secure        1027
     - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Secure        1027
     - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea     Secure        1027
  14th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Stable        1027
     - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Stable        1027
     - ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton     Stable        1027
     - IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia    Stable        1027
     - ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania     Stable        1027
     - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        1027
     - clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma        Stable        1027
     - Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid  Stable        1027
     - spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia    Stable        1027
     - el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid  Stable        1027
     - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        1027
     - Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio       Stable        1027
     - rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro  Stable        1027
     - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        1027
     - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa Stable        1027
     - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable        1027
     - Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa       Stable        1027
  31st fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Insecure      1027
  32nd Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom   Very Insecure 1027
  33rd Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo                  999
  34th Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus                   925
  35th pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis                      889
  36th AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan                 882
  37th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol                   873
     - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo                 873
  39th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United                 852
  40th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena                      843

[Neji]

999 days!

I was half expecting the sack, but they couldn't just wait one more day could they

[tomsmith1989]

Claimed the title!!

Good stuff. Some really great results in there for me and Arsenal. 4-1 win over Liverpool and 3-0 win over Chelsea. Looking forward to the FA Cup final. Hopefully we can recreate what happened when we played Liverpool this month. Upto very secure job status, and manager of the update. Fantastic.

Also, unlucky Neji. Getting sacked on the 999th day is pretty darn unlucky.

[Almondo]

No news is good news with Rimmer secure.

Neji that's so unlucky. Also how is Brucie Bonus still in charge at west brom??

[Walcott\'s Wonderkids]

No news is good news with Rimmer secure.

Neji that's so unlucky. Also how is Brucie Bonus still in charge at west brom??

Going down, going down... gone down!

Surely a matter of time now before Brucie Bonus gets the sack, my guess is that it will probably be just after the end of the season, or when it is no longer mathematically possible for us to finish anything other than 20th.


Unlucky Neji.

[spartans5]

Doing pretty well in Spain, gutted to be knocked out by the Bavarians though

[hasdgfas]

Not too disappointed with 14th, tbh, if I'm safe. Would like to start jumping up the table in later seasons, or I might outstay my welcome

[BenArsenal]

Unlucky Neji.

Out of Europe. Meh.

Squeaky bum time at the top of Serie A. Come on Inter!

[el sid]

That's very unlucky Neji
Still stable though

[super_lampard]

Out of the cup, i suppose we wouldn't have been expecting to beat Sampdoria

Unlucky Neji

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Wow, 999 days thats harsh, good to see Jonte Rhodes still in charge at Lazio, hopefully he can build up the table next season, or try to get a better job status than Stable. Things can be so quick in this fickle world of management.

[rancer890]

Unlucky Neji.

I wouldn't mind bringing Boro to another mid table finish. I'll be happy with 11th. Still stable.

[PluckaDuck]

Poor Neji

The Serie A title race just keeps hotting up, brilliant to be back up to 2nd!!!

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

   Update Winner, Club                
   Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
   Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
   Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
   Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
   Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
   Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
   Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
   Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
   Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
   Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
   May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
   Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
   Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
   Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
   Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
   Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
   Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
   Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
   Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
   Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
   Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
   Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
   May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
   Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
   Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
   Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
   Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
   Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
   Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
   Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
   Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
   Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
   Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
   Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal

Top Nine – Trophies

   Pos +- Username      Manager            Club        T
   1st +1 Haowan        Haowan Madridstas  Barcelona   6
   2nd  0 Romanista1994 Lucas Volman       Real Madrid 5
   3rd +4 tomsmith1989  Tom Smith          Arsenal     4
   4th  0 spartans5     Lawrence Lazewski  Valencia    3
   5th NE tadr          Andre da Conceiçao Chelsea     2
     - -1 BenArsenal    Ben Cee            Inter       2
     - -1 clrkaitken    Clark Aitken       Roma        2
   8th NE el sid        Cool Manager       At. Madrid  1
     - NE Almondo       Arnold J. Rimmer   Bolton      1

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Haha no trophies for Jonte & Lazio, oh well haha

[spartans5]

3 trophies isn't too bad at all for Valencia