How to make your way in the Primera Liga (or not as the case may be)

[Dixie Flatline]

4th of March 2007

Barcelona won’t give up on Jukka Hakala, as they offer me £4.8 million for him. But I’m still not willing to sell him for that type of price just yet.

After the latest round of fixtures is played, Redondo is named in the team of the week.

Ismael Méndez apparently agrees terms with Racing Santander, and arrangements are made for him to join his new club in the summer.

5th of March 2007

Barcelona still won’t leave me alone in relation to Hakala. This morning they offer me the tidy sum of £5.75 million for the Finnish international defender. But I still reject their bid, because I don’t want to sell an important defender to a rival club, especially Barcelona. Hakala’s agent then releases a press release in the afternoon, linking his client with a £2.1 million move to Espanyol. I angrily deny to the press that he will be moving anywhere in the near future.

I’m also troubled by bids for Gavião. Real Madrid offers me £3.6 million for the Brazilian midfielder, and Real Betis, catching wind of the possible deal, also offers me £3.6 million for him. Both bids are rejected outright.

For an unknown reason, I’m informed that Méndez’s deal falls through.

6th of March 2007

I’m supposed to be preparing my side in Glasgow ahead of tonight’s match against Celtic, which should confirm our place in the knock-out stage, if everything goes right. But I’m still bothered by Celta Vigo, who this time target Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua for £4.7 million. I tell them, however, that they have no chance of signing him, so long as I can help it. Barcelona also try to tempt me with a bid of £6.75 million for Hakala. Despite the nice offer, I still reject it, for the reasons mentioned above.

European Champions’ League - Phase 2, Group D, Game 5: Glasgow Celtic v Cartagonova

I put out our strongest first eleven onto the pitch, but we’re beaten by two pieces of magic from Peter Madsen. We begin the match quite strongly as Gareth Barry clatters Alex Notman on 17 minutes, and Ballesteros comes within a whisker of scoring from the free kick, but Robbie Stockdale deflects his shot away for a corner. On 26 minutes, Paul Scholes spots Iván Vidal off his line and he tries to chip our captain from distance. It beats him, but fortunately for us, it clears the bar as well. Then on 33 minutes, Beckham seeks out Marcelo Salas, who beats Hakala to the ball and finds Scholes with the header. Scholes spots Madsen moving into the penalty area and lobs in the cross. The Danish international beats Vidal to the cross and puts Celtic into the lead.

Gavião is stripped of the ball on 35 minutes by Woodhouse, and Beckham takes possession of the ball. The former England international reminds us of his exquisite skill when his perfectly weighted ball finds Madsen, whose first touch is good enough to take him past Hakala and the Dane scores a terrific goal. Just before half-time, Madsen turns from hero to villain when he pushes over Gershon and is sent packing from the field for an early bath. I’m still very disappointed by our first half performance and the boys emerge in the second half with their ears ringing from the tongue-lashing I’ve given them. But it does no good as Gershon is sent from the field for picking up his second yellow card. Notman’s barren spell continues as his drive goes wide and high on 49 minutes. I take him off for Carreño, but even though Michel tries his luck unsuccessfully on 72 minutes, and then Robbie Stockdale is the third player to see red in this game, we can’t fight back today and we succumb to our second defeat in this group stage so far. It’s becoming tight at the top here.

Glasgow Celtic (3-5-2): Given; McMillan ©, Barry, De Vos; Silvinho (Semak 76), Woodhouse, Beckham (Lampard 89), Scholes (Butt 50), Stockdale; Salas, Madsen.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Ballesteros; Gavião; Michel, Lua-Lua (Garrido 46); Clegg; Redondo, Notman (Carreño 66).

Final score: Glasgow Celtic 2:0 Cartagonova

MoM - Jukka Hakala

I dish out warnings to Vidal, Lacruz and Notman for their poor performances, while Gershon receives one for his red card. He is also suspended for two games because he picked up three yellow cards, which means that he will miss the first leg of the quarter final, if we reach that stage in this competition. It was certainly not a good night at all in Glasgow, and we now need to obtain something from our game with Spartak Moskva tomorrow week.

[Dixie Flatline]

7th of March 2007

Celta Vigo makes me an offer of £4.4 million for Gavião. It still isn’t enough for me to sell my best midfielder, especially to a rival club like Celta.

8th of March 2007

Sevilla offers me £775,000 for Javier Alejandro Villarreal. It’s an interesting offer for the Argentine midfielder, and he hasn’t really featured in my plans so far this season, so I’m not adverse to the idea of selling him to the Segunda Liga club. But something more like £1.2 million will do for him.

9th of March 2007

Celta Vigo offers me £5 million for Lua-Lua. Although his minimum release clause is that amount, Celta Vigo want to pay me over six months, which gives me the escape route that I want to take. I dive through it gratefully, and reject the offer. It doesn’t make Lua-Lua happy, so I’m doubtful that I can remove that clause from his contract at the moment, and I hope that Celta Vigo don’t decide they want to pay it all up front.

In the meantime, Real Madrid want to pay me £5.25 million for Gavião. This is about double his official value, but even so, I don’t want him to leave the club, especially for a rival club like Real Madrid.

Real Zaragoza offers Jurica Vucko a contract to join them in the summer.

10th of March 2007

Apparently I’m charging Sevilla too much for Villarreal, since they withdraw their offer for him.

International call-ups are all the rage this evening, as the resumption of the qualifying phase for Euro 2008 is in two weeks. Jukka Hakala is called up by Finland for games against France and Armenia. Daniel Jensen may represent Denmark against San Marino and Spain. Shimon Gershon is called up by Israel to play against Spain and Malta. Alex Notman will be required by Scotland for its friendly against Wales.

[Dixie Flatline]

This also means that I need to confirm Spain’s squad for games against Israel and Denmark. Out of the squad go Espanyol’s Esteban, Francisco José Mantilla of Deportivo La Coruña and Iván Javier Cuadrado of Elche. They are replaced by Cartagonova’s Iván Vidal, Real Zaragoza’s Jordi Ferrón, and Real Betis’ David Rivas. So, the full Spanish squad is:

Goalkeepers

Iván Vidal (28 y/o, ESP 0 caps, GK): Cartagonova

César Laínez (29 y/o, ESP 3 caps, GK): Barcelona

Javier López Vallejo (31 y/o, ESP 40 caps, GK): Villarreal

Defenders

Ballesteros (31 y/o, ESP 6 caps, D/DM RC): Cartagonova

César (27 y/o, ESP 4 caps, D RL): Osasuna

Jordi Ferrón (28 y/o, ESP 4 caps, 1 goal, D RL): Real Zaragoza

Borja (28 y/o, ESP 10 caps, D LC): Valencia

David Rivas (28 y/o, ESP 2 caps, D LC): Real Betis

Iván Amaya (28 y/o, ESP 33 caps, 1 goal, D C): Deportivo La Coruña

César (28 y/o, ESP 43 caps, 1 goal, D C): PSV Eindhoven

Carlos Marchena (27 y/o, ESP 5 caps, D C): Celta Vigo

Midfielders

Artur (25 y/o, ESP 1 cap, DM RC): Villarreal

Xavi (27 y/o, ESP 14 caps, 1 goal, DM C): Celta Vigo

Diego (28 y/o, ESP 9 caps, M/S C): Racing Santander

Miguel Ãngel Angulo (29 y/o, ESP 38 caps, 5 goals, AM/F RC): Valencia

Joseba Etxeberría (29 y/o, ESP 65 caps, 18 goals, AM/F RC): Athletic Bilbao

Jaime Garrido (23 y/o, ESP 1 cap, AM/F RLC): Cartagonova

Francisco Javier Zubizarreta (21 y/o, ESP 2 caps, AM/F RC): Espanyol

Jorge Pérez (31 y/o, ESP 30 caps, 4 goals, AM LC): Athletic Bilbao

Vicente (25 y/o, ESP 50 caps, 14 goals, AM/F LC): Valencia

Gerard (27 y/o, ESP 36 caps, 5 goals, AM C): Barcelona

Forwards

Raúl (29 y/o, ESP 94 caps, 47 goals, AM/F LC): Paris-Saint-Germain

Diego Ribera (30 y/o, ESP 6 caps, 5 goals, S C): Celta Vigo

Joseba Llorente (27 y/o, ESP 2 caps, 2 goals, S C): Real Sociedad

Fernando Morientes (30 y/o, ESP 38 caps, 25 goals, S C): Fiorentina

Rubén Navarro (28 y/o, ESP 14 caps, 6 goals, S C): Bari

This means that three Cartagonova players are called up to the main squad. Iván Vidal has the opportunity to make his debut in the next two games, although he will have to fight his way past the two established keepers to have a shot at it. Ballesteros retains his place despite his patchy form, while Jaime Garrido perhaps has the best chance of playing a full game against either Israel or Denmark.

The Spanish U-21 side is also announced for two games. Ismael Méndez, David Oliva and Juan Hernández will represent Cartagonova in the squad.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[ghostwriter]

4 points from matches against Barcelona and Real Madrid and still unbeaten in the League. It is looking better every week.

Get yourself thru to the q-f of the CL and it is could be a great end of season....

[Dixie Flatline]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ghostwriter:

4 points from matches against Barcelona and Real Madrid and still unbeaten in the League. It is looking better every week.

Get yourself thru to the q-f of the CL and it is could be a great end of season....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was very happy indeed to come away with our unbeaten streak intact when facing our two rivals for this season's crown. With games beginning to run out, I feel more confident every week of snaring a league title, but you never know in the crazy world of Spanish football!

Hopefully we'll do the business in the Champions' League and make it into the knock-out stage. Interestingly, we've played poorly in Europe and very well domestically, but Spain is quite well represented in Europe too, so we can only hope that better success comes our way in this competition.

Dixie

[Dixie Flatline]

The Cartagonova story continues with a mid-week update!

10th of March 2007 (cont.)

In the meantime, my assistant manager Luis Sosa tells me that David Livermore failed to show up to training and did not offer a reasonable excuse for his absence. I call the Englishman into my office and demand an explanation for his actions. When he can’t offer one, I issue an official warning and tell him that he is skating very thin ice with me at the moment. He tells me in no uncertain terms that he thinks the warning is unfair, but I deny such a charge. He needs to know that he is still a member of the team, and if I need him to perform on a certain day, he must be at the peak of his physical powers.

11th of March 2007

I wake up this morning to find that Celta Vigo has offered me £7 million for Gavião. But the catch is how the deal is structured. They want to pay me £5 million over six months, and the remaining money if he plays ten international games for Brazil. Since he still cannot break into the Brazilian national squad, for mystifying reasons in my opinion, I don’t think I could count on gathering that extra £2 million, so I would really only be selling him for just £5 million. And that is not enough money to part with the best midfielder in Spain.

[Dixie Flatline]

Primera Liga - Game 27: Deportivo La Coruña v Cartagonova

This would at one time have been a dangerous game, and I suppose that it is never an easy task to come to La Riazor and score the victory. However, three points are imperative if we are to hold off Barcelona’s determined charge towards the top of the ladder. Jaime Garrido is disappointed to learn that he only sits on the bench, as I prefer Michel on the left wing at this stage. At least Jaime has a chance to play - George Clegg’s excellent form means that Fernando Morán has no place even in the playing squad.

This isn’t a game to really get the football purists excited about. A mistake by Mullor in allowing Hakala to intercept Turu Flores’ pass allows Clegg to seek out and find Notman, and in a twinkle of an eye, the Scotsman has us in the lead with his 18th league goal of the season. Route one football almost brings us our second goal as Clegg whistles a shot just over the bar after taking Vidal’s long goal kick. But excellent interplay between Redondo, Ballesteros and Lua-Lua gives Notman the chance to score from a bicycle kick, but unfortunately, the ball clears the bar on 36 minutes. Lua-Lua takes Molina’s errant goal kick and feeds Notman, but the Scot hits his shot wide of the mark. Bang on half-time, Mullor nutmegs Gavião and tests Vidal with a stinging drive, but the keeper, desperate to justify his inclusion in the Spanish squad, pulls off a magnificent save to not only stop the ball from going in the net, but to hold onto it, too.

Just after half-time, Turu Flores stupidly squares up to Shimon Gershon, and before anybody can react, Ballesteros whips the free kick into the path of Clegg. The Englishman, looking to cement his place in the English squad, puts the ball in the net, but unfortunately, Redondo was caught napping and is flagged for off-side, thereby ruling out the goal. It seems to wake up Deportivo and Kim Källström finds Turu Flores in sufficient space to allow him to escape the attentions of Gershon and fire a drive towards our goal. Fortunately, it skims the top of the bar and ends up in the crowd. Clegg is unlucky to see Molina save a powerful drive on 51 minutes, and we miss out on a penalty when Amaya gets away with tripping Gavião in the area a moment later. But on 67 minutes, Michel finds Notman and the Scotsman puts the ball at the feet of Redondo. The Spaniard doesn’t hesitate in firing a long range effort towards goal, and it swerves just enough to defeat Molina and end in the back of Deportivo’s net! But Deportivo won’t lie down, and Vidal needs to save Valerón’s header on 73 minutes. From the corner, Källström almost scores with a header, but again Vidal saves the day. However, we fail to efficiently clear the ball and the Swede hits a volley that is saved once more by Vidal. But, in the end, we withstand the barrage and leave Coruña with an impressive 2-0 victory to maintain a gap of 12 points at the top of the ladder.

Deportivo La Coruña (3-3-2-2): Molina; Boris, Melchiot, Amaya ©; Arruabarrena (Mantilla 68), Makelele, Wisio; Mullor (Valerón 46), Källström; Mista, Turu Flores.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Ballesteros; Gavião; Michel, Lua-Lua (Garrido 75); Clegg; Redondo, Notman.

Final score: Deportivo La Coruña 0:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Alex Notman

Lacruz, Gavião and Notman make the starting eleven of the Team of the Week. Vidal, Gershon and Hakala sit on the bench of the same team. So I guess you can say that it was a good weekend for us!

[Dixie Flatline]

13th of March 2007

Real Madrid offers me £5 million for Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua. And this time, I can’t reject the offer because it is £5 million right now (well, at the end of the season), and that meets his minimum fee release clause. So I am forced into accepting the offer, but ring the lawyers immediately after speaking to Real Madrid’s manager and demand that they draft a new contract for Lua-Lua to sign. I want him to stay at Cartagonova!

However, I need to be realistic in this matter. We’re likely to lose him to the attractions of the capital. So I begin looking at potential replacements. One person that strikes my fancy is the Brazilian Tiago, who currently plays for Golás. He is 26 years old, has some pace about him, can pass and cross the ball with the best of them, and doesn’t mind having a crack at goal. Better yet, he would only cost me about £500,000 to purchase, I think.

Jurica Vucko’s agent announces in the afternoon to the general indifference of the population at large that the Croatian will move to Segunda Liga club (although they are hopeful of promotion) Real Zaragoza in the summer.

This means now that many players will leave the club in the summer. They include Kew Jaliens, Alberto Rivera, Jurica Vucko, Juan Carlos Castro, and Mauro Esposito. Not to mention Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua!

After a long, tiring day negotiating with Lua-Lua’s uncooperative agent, and sifting through videos and reports on possible replacements, I retire to my home, eat my dinner, play with the children then settle down to read the newspapers. While the partner reads the ‘serious’ sections, like the news, I go straight to the source - the sports pages, and more particularly, coverage of my club. I’m gladdened to see that José Manuel Redondo, who narrowly missed out on a recall to the Spanish squad through dint of the fact that we already have five talented strikers in the squad already, is praised by the paper’s expert pundit as being on top of his form. He was no doubt impressed by Redondo’s special goal on the weekend that helped to sink Deportivo. Well, I was impressed too, so I give the journalist a call to confirm that I think that Redondo is playing some special football!

As my response appears on the paper’s web site, I’m contacted by the fans association’s president to convey on the behalf of the supporters their pleasure in the fact that I’ve praised Redondo again. I also take a call from the player himself, and he thanks me for my words of praise. I’m almost beginning to wish that a current Spanish squad member would drop out so I could put him in!

[Dixie Flatline]

14th of March 2007

European Champions’ League - Phase 2, Group D, Game 6: Cartagonova v Spartak Moskva

While our form in the league is beyond approach, with an unbeaten streak lasting 26 games, our form in the Champions’ League has been patchy, to say the least. Losing two away games on the trot mean that we are in danger of missing out on qualification for the knock-out phase of this lucrative and prestigious tournament. In my estimation, not repeating last year’s feat of reaching the semi-final would be a disaster, let alone failing to better that achievement. Possibly a point would be enough for us this evening, but I would like to end the group phase on a high and score a win over our Russian opponent. But I have to rely upon a weakened defensive unit as Gershon begins his ban for picking up too many yellow cards. That means that Óscar Ãlvarez, the player effectively replaced by Jukka Hakala this season, has the opportunity to partner the Finn in a big game. Otherwise, there is no change to the team that defeated Deportivo La Coruña on the weekend, though I do have a few words to say to Lua-Lua to make sure he concentrates on tonight’s game rather than the future direction of his career.

Spartak start the match very cautiously, happy to have ten or even eleven players behind the ball. But we’re patient and eventually we draw Spartak out of their half. That’s when we strike - Redondo tries his luck from just inside the box, only to see Filimonov push the shot away. However, Clegg is the first to arrive on the scene, and he fires it back past the Russian keeper to open the scoring on 29 minutes! But we need the skills of Vidal to save our necks when Kalinichenko finds himself free and unattended in our box. Thankfully, the Spanish international does indeed save the shot. Clegg misses an opportunity to extend our lead on 40 minutes when his swerving, dipping shot swerves just wide of the goal. We’re lucky to escape on the half-time break when Mike Reed turns down Spartak’s perfectly valid appeal for a penalty when Vidal appears to drag down Alexandr Shirko inside the box. But we pay for our good fortune as Clegg is forced from the field with a damaged foot. His replacement, Jaime Garrido, is startled to find the ball at his feet with the goal beckoning, and he tries instead to find Michel, only to see the ball hoofed away from danger.

On 53 minutes, he is a little more composed, and he successfully finds Notman with a precise pass, but the Scotsman can’t make it count as his shot whistles clean over the bar. Somehow, Shirko manages to miss a sitter of an equaliser two minutes later and then Notman is left shaking his head after he misses his own sitter on 57 minutes. It’s time to get the dancing in the streets over with, so Notman takes on and beats the entire Spartak defence before lobbing a pass into the six yard box for Redondo to score an easy header for his 15th goal of the season and our second of the game. Apart from a shot hitting the woodwork with Vidal beaten on 81 minutes, we comfortably ride out the rest of the match, and we move into the quarter-final stage, where we’ll meet Villarreal in an all-Spanish tie.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Ãlvarez, Hakala, Ballesteros; Michel (Hernández 55), Gavião, Lua-Lua; Clegg (Garrido 45); Redondo, Notman (Carreño 84).

Spartak Moskva (4-4-2): Filimonov ©; Vlasov, Bokov, Lee, Bukievsky; Bezrodny, Khokhlov, Kalinichenko (Kechinov 61), Simão; Shirko, Boateg.

Final score: Cartagonova 2:0 Spartak Moskva

MoM - Alex Notman

With Celtic defeating Inter Milan 1-0 at the San Siro, we qualify along with the Scottish team. As mentioned above, we will play Villarreal in the quarter-finals. The other ties pit Porto against Celtic, with the first leg to be played in Portugal. Barcelona and Celta Vigo must be the pick of the ties, with the first leg to be played at the Nou Camp. Fiorentina will host the defending champion Paris-Saint-Germain in the first leg of their quarter-final.

Our group table looks like this at the end of Phase 2:

George Clegg is diagnosed as suffering a damaged foot from the game we just played. This means he will miss about three weeks of football, which rules him out of England’s next international game.

I’m notified by the Croatian Football Association that Jurica Vucko is required for their game against Moldova, while Ruud Gullit rings me to ask for Kew Jaliens for the Netherlands’ match against Lithuania.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Dixie Flatline]

Let's kick off the weekend with another dose of the Cartagonova story!

15th of March 2007

I’m surprised to receive from Celta Vigo a bid for Michel to the tune of £5.5 million, even if it is over six months. He is now well into his thirties, and I think that I will negotiate this offer. In order to do that, I fire back a proposal asking for £6.5 million from Celta Vigo.

It looks indeed like I will have to seek a replacement for Lua-Lua as he rejects my offer of a new, much improved contract in favour of moving to Real Madrid at the end of the season. At least we will bank a profit of £5 million less wages, goal and assist bonuses since we signed him for free from Newcastle two seasons ago.

16th of March 2007

I’m interested to see in the papers that Javier Alejandro Villarreal is linked to a move to Valencia for £2.1 million. I decline to make a comment on this story.

Training has an unfortunate side effect for José María Lacruz, as he strains a groin muscle and will miss three weeks of football.

Celta Vigo give up on Michel.

[Dixie Flatline]

17th of March 2007

Real Valladolid do me a great favour by defeating Real Madrid 1-0 on television.

18th of March 2007

Primera Liga - Game 28: Cartagonova v Real Betis

We seem to be making a speciality out of grinding out a result now, and we only need José Manuel Redondo’s second minute goal to claim our 23rd victory of the league season. It capped a brilliant move involving most of my midfielders, and it is the only illuminating moment of the game. We seem to go through the motions with Notman missing a few chances that on another day he could have buried without a second thought. Redondo is our most dangerous player, but we can’t find a second goal to make certain of the victory and I endure a nervous game sweating each time Betis approach Vidal’s goal with purpose. On 89 minutes, former Cartagonova player, Kenneth Gustavsson has an opportunity to suggest that I shouldn’t have sold him but Vidal manages to get his finger-tips to the Swede’s header and saves the three points. But a victory is a victory, and we maintain our twelve point lead and in the process set a new record for the unbeaten streak, which is now 28 games this season.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Oliva (Livermore 91), Gershon, Hakala, Ballesteros; Michel, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Garrido; Redondo, Notman.

Real Betis (3-5-2): Sala; Mora, Maínz, Gustavsson; Aranzábal, Chippo, Morantes (Gilmar 54), Ballack (La Paglia 59), Arellano (Sun 42); Casas ©, Quinteros.

Final score: Cartagonova 1:0 Real Betis

MoM - José Manuel Redondo

I’m forced to warn David Oliva about another poor performance, and I’m beginning to think that the price tag that continues to hang around his neck is affecting his performance. Although he is young, I still expect a certain measure of consistency which is not something that Oliva is delivering. Unfortunately, his attitude is that he represses this experience, rather than talking about it with me. That is not something I want to see, and I shall have to reconsider his position in the team for the forthcoming games. It underlines to me that I really don’t have an adequate back-up to Lacruz just yet, with Oliva too young, Laurie not yet adjusted to the culture, and Livermore just frustrated and looking to move on.

Six days before Spain takes to the field against Israel, I’m informed by Osasuna officials that full-back César won’t be fit for the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers. That means I need to select a replacement, so I turn to Espanyol’s 30 year old defender Juanma, who is capable of playing on the left or in the centre. While he is 30 years old, he is a debutant at international level, and not really likely to feature in Spain’s games.

[Dixie Flatline]

20th of March 2007

My offer of £7.25 million for Valencia defender Olof Mellberg is accepted by the club, but the player’s agent communicates to me while I conduct my training camp for the Spanish squad that the Swedish international does not want to leave Valencia for a rival club. I do not even have a chance of negotiating a deal with him, and I fear that he may leave for Real Betis instead.

Talking of the Spanish squad, Fernando Morientes, back in Spain after his successful move to Fiorentina, rules himself out of contention for both games when damages a rotator cuff in his shoulder in training. This does have a silver lining, though, as it allows me to quickly call José Manuel Redondo and invite him to join the squad as Morientes’ replacement.

23rd of March 2007

The main Spanish squad watch their U-21 counterparts take apart Israel’s best and brightest 6-2 at the Olímpico de Montjuïc in Barcelona. Deportivo’s Ignacio Morán and Numancia’s Rafael Rúa both scored braces, while Numancia’s Peralta and Cartagonova’s very own Ismael Méndez also scored goals. In addition to Méndez making an appearance as a first half substitute, David Oliva and Juan Hernández both played full games.

Euro 2008 Qualifier - Game 5: Spain v Israel

Today, we play in Espanyol’s stadium in front of a packed crowd, as we look to maintain our winning streak in the qualifiers for this prestigious competition to be held in Scotland and Wales next year. But an act of sheer stupidity from the normally reliable López Vallejo by clipping the feet of veteran midfielder Eyal Berkovic and getting himself sent off puts that streak under threat. Gerard is replaced by club teammate César Laínez in goal and his first act is to pick out the ball from the back of the net as Halflon converts the penalty. Diego almost pulls equal on 21 minutes as Nir Davidovic clears the ball off the line with a fine finger-tip save from the Racing Santander midfielder. Raúl tries to lead by example but unfortunately his fierce drive clears the bar by some distance. On 33 minutes, his header is cleared off the line by Ghrayib. However, Laínez needs to pull off two saves in quick succession from Biton as the Spanish defence creaks alarmingly. On 39 minutes, Raúl is unlucky to see his header well-saved by Davidovic, and then Etxeberría’s header is pushed away by Davidovic from the resulting corner.

Despite the Athletic Bilbao captain’s shot on goal, he was very disappointing in the first half, so I decide to bring on Jaime Garrido in the second half on the right wing. However, I wish I had reconsidered my defence when Israel score twice in quick succession to burst the game wide open. I sit back in horror as Katan and Biton score twice in five minutes. That makes it 3-0 to the Israelis and I give up hope on salvaging anything out of this one. But substitute Rubén Navarro has different ideas as he capitalises on great work from Diego Ribera to score from a low drive off his right foot. Laínez keeps us in the hunt by saving wonderfully well from Biton’s shot and then Navarro seeks out and finds Diego on 79 minutes. The midfielder advances from deep, weaves his way through the Israeli defence and then plants a rocket into the top corner of the Israeli net to drag us back to 3-2.

Two minutes later, Garrido’s corner is poorly cleared by Berkovic and Raúl puts the ball back into the danger area. Diego takes the pass from Ribera and fires it beneath Davidovic to make it 3-3! In the last five minutes of the game, you would have thought that Israel had ten men rather than us, as we rain shots in from any and every angle, but Davidovic decides now to start saving our shots. Still, I think that coming back from 3-0 down with one man less on the field to draw 3-3 is a fairly good achievement!

Spain (4-3-1-2): López Vallejo; Ferrón, César, Iván Amaya, Ballesteros (Rubén Navarro 67); Vicente, Diego, Etxeberría (Garrido 46); Gerard (Laínez 9); Raúl ©, Diego Ribera.

Israel (5-3-2): Davidovic ©; Tal, Ghrayib, Shimon Gershon (Shum 57), Halfon (Atar 91), Ofir (Yossi Gershon 51); Abarjil, Berkovic, Benayoun; Biton, Katan.

Final score: Spain 3:3 Israel

MoM - Eyal Berkovic

[Dixie Flatline]

In other Euro 2008 qualifiers, looking first at Group 1, we see that Estonia consolidated second place behind Germany with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland. Portugal could only draw 2-2 with Bosnia to pick up its first point of the qualifying campaign. In Group 2, Finland moved into first place on goal difference after it thrashed France 4-1 in Helsinki. Norway only defeated Faraoe Islands 3-1 in Oslo to cede first place to their Scandinavian brethren. In the other game from Group 2, Turkey defeated Armenia 2-0 on the road. In Group 3, Bulgaria joined Croatia on 10 points after 4 games when they defeated Hungary 2-1 in Sofia. Slovakia won against Moldova 3-2 on the road in an exciting game.

Group 4 saw Russia overtake Italy into first place as the Russians defeated Andorra 2-0 in Moskva, while the Italians crashed 2-0 away to Georgia. Goals to Borgard and Arveladze in the first half condemned the Italians to their first defeat of the campaign, while goals inside the first half hour from Bestchastnykh and Alenichev allowed Russia to withstand the loss of Yevseev to a red card on 33 minutes. Group 5 sees the Netherlands and Poland locked together on 9 points, 5 points clear of Belgium and Lithuania, while Latvia is a further point back. Poland’s Radoslaw Kaluzny scored the vital goal against Belgium on 33 minutes in Brussels, while Lithuania defeated Baltic cousins Latvia 3-0. Group 6 saw perhaps the most surprising upset as plucky Luxembourg defeated Belarus 3-2 in Minsk, with Fladmark scoring the winner early in the second half. But it doesn’t disturb the leaders as Ireland takes back the lead of the group from England after defeating Romania 3-1 in Dublin. Ireland has four wins from four games to have 12 points, while England is three points behind.

Despite being thrashed 4-1 by Greece, Albania still remains on top in Group 7, although the Greeks moved to within three points of their vanquished opponent. The Czech Republic defeated Iceland 1-0 in Prague with Tomas Jun scoring the winner. Sweden thrashed Liechtenstein 5-0 on the road. Only one goal was scored in two games in Group 8, as Austria and Switzerland played out a 0-0 draw, while Azerbaijan defeated FYROM 1-0. In Group 9, apart from Spain’s 3-3 draw with Israel, Denmark won comfortably on the road 2-0 against San Marino, while the Ukraine had the better of the game against Malta, scoring four times and conceding nil. In Group 9, the Ukraine has closed to within 3 points of Spain at the top of the ladder.

In a friendly game, co-hosts Wales and Scotland drew 1-1 in Cardiff. Alex Notman played for the Scots, while Jukka Hakala participated in Finland’s win over France. I selected Jaime Garrido and Ballesteros in Spain’s 3-3 draw with Israel, while Shimon Gershon took the field for the Israelis.

I hear from Seville that Olof Mellberg has signed for Real Betis. I’m sorry to see him go to such a mediocre team like Real Betis.

[Dixie Flatline]

25th of March 2007

Real Madrid, not content with poaching Lua-Lua from me, try to snatch Iván Vidal away from me with a paltry £1.8 million. The captain of the club is worth much more than that, but I’m not even going to enter into negotiations on this one.

I learn that Rayo Vallecano has approached Andrés Mendoza with a contract to join the Madrid-based team from next season on a Bosman. Good luck to him.

26th of March 2007

Cartagonova receives £1.5 million from the Niels Kokmeijer deal as the Dutch international striker plays his 20th league game for his new club, FC Schalke 04.

27th of March 2007

Ismael Méndez, David Oliva and Juan Hernández all participate in the Spanish U-21’s side’s 1-1 draw with Denmark. Michael Hansen of AB put the Danes ahead on 15 minutes at La Mestalla, but equality was restored 11 minutes later through Barcelona defender José De la Rosa.

I’m stunned when my club phones me with the news that Celta Vigo has offered £7.75 million for Michel, our left-sided winger. Then I look more carefully at the terms of the deal as relayed to me by Luis Sosa and the club’s lawyers. Celta Vigo want to pay £5.5 million over 18 months and make the remainder conditional on Michel playing 10 times for Spain. I think that where Celta Vigo are and where I am on this deal are so far apart that there is no point trying to negotiate a deal here, so I decide to reject the deal outright.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Guest]

Glad to see you're still going strong dixie, and finally looking to get that mayor throphy.

Now just get the Champions Cup to add to the title and you've got a nice looking throphy cabinet there

[Raptor]

Did I miss you winning the League?

*makes mental note NOT to skim parts of a story when behind*

Too many damned good stories on the forum these days

[Guest]

He didn't win the league yet, but they way it's going right now the only way he'll lose is if half his team gets injured as he is in top form and has a huge lead in the championship race

[Raptor]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Maasfreak:

He didn't win the league yet, but they way it's going right now the only way he'll lose is if half his team gets injured as he is in top form and has a huge lead in the championship race<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That sounds familiar

Go Dixie!

[Roman105]

One hell of a story! In fat one of the best I have read! It has taken me several days to catch up (in between pretending to do some work!) SO keep it up, this might be your most successfull season yet!

MORE! MORE! MORE!

[Dixie Flatline]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Maasfreak:

Glad to see you're still going strong dixie, and finally looking to get that mayor throphy.

Now just get the Champions Cup to add to the title and you've got a nice looking throphy cabinet there<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks very much Maasfreak! I'm trying my very best to satisfy the fans!

Cheers,

Dixie

[Dixie Flatline]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Raptor:

Did I miss you winning the League?

*makes mental note NOT to skim parts of a story when behind*

Too many damned good stories on the forum these days <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I haven't won it just yet, Raptor, but I'm still very hopeful!

I agree with you wholeheartedly - it's very hard to keep up with all the good stories on the board at the moment, and I just don't have the time for it any more!

Cheers,

Dixie

[Dixie Flatline]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Maasfreak:

He didn't win the league yet, but they way it's going right now the only way he'll lose is if half his team gets injured as he is in top form and has a huge lead in the championship race<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Don't jinx it, please! My players are unhappy enough as it is, so don't give them any ideas!

Cheers

D

[Dixie Flatline]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Raptor:

Quote: "Originally posted by Maasfreak:

He didn't win the league yet, but they way it's going right now the only way he'll lose is if half his team gets injured as he is in top form and has a huge lead in the championship race"

That sounds familiar

Go Dixie!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks mate!

We should also say, "Go Jacques!" It was a pity to see him go through all that work last Sunday at Imola, only to come seventh. If only one more person had retired from the top six...

[Dixie Flatline]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Roman105:

One hell of a story! In fat one of the best I have read! It has taken me several days to catch up (in between pretending to do some work!) SO keep it up, this might be your most successfull season yet!

MORE! MORE! MORE!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, mate! Always happy to help out with your productivity at work!

Cheers,

Dixie

[Dixie Flatline]

A very quick update for the midweek blues!

28th of March 2007

Euro 2008 Qualifier - Game 6: Spain v Denmark

We have crossed the half-way point of the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, and we hold a three point lead over second-placed, the Ukraine. We host Denmark at Valencia’s La Mestalla stadium, and over 50,000 are crammed into the historic stadium to watch us play Denmark. With Diego and López Vallejo suspended, I make three changes to the eleven that drew 3-3 with Israel. Barcelona keeper César Laínez takes over between the posts, and Cartagonova’s Iván Vidal sits on the bench, while Xavi takes over in the centre of midfield. Cartagonova’s Jaime Garrido replaces the disappointing Joseba Etxeberría on the right of midfield.

It takes us just four minutes to go into the lead as Xavi picks off Gravesen’s poor pass and sends the ball forward to Gerard. The Barcelona midfielder seeks out Diego Ribera with a good pass, and the Celta Vigo striker does the rest to cap off a good team move with a fine strike. But our lead lasts only four minutes as Gravesen makes up for his earlier mistake by picking out Mads Timm and the Fiorentina striker makes no mistake once he is past César. Diego Ribera misses a golden opportunity to put us back in the lead on 12 minutes when he sends a header wide of the mark, while Gerard’s shot on 16 minutes is well-saved by Hyldgaard. But Thomansen commits a foul on Gerard from the resulting corner, and Jaime Garrido easily converts the penalty for his first international goal. Garrido sets up Vicente to have a shot, but the Valencia forward’s header is tipped away by Hyldgaard on 22 minutes. Gerard then misses a sitter from Xavi’s corner, but he makes up for it on 26 minutes when he meets Xavi’s corner perfectly to arrow a header into the corner out of reach of the diving Hyldgaard.

The quiet Raúl eventually gets into the game on 33 minutes when he tries to head home César’s long ball, but Hyldgaard somehow manages to push the shot away for a corner. Gerard again holds his head in disgust at himself as he misses a simple header from Xavi’s corner, and seriously we could be 5-1 in front by half-time, especially when Raúl misses another opportunity after good work by Ribera. I lose Ballesteros to injury just before half-time, but it allows David Rivas a chance to show his pedigree on the international stage as he replaces the injured Cartagonova defender.

3-1 at half-time quickly becomes 4-1 as Raúl finally scores the goal he threatened during the first half. Rivas played a central role in the goal as he supplied the cross for the PSG striker to head home. Garrido almost grabs his second goal of the game on 60 minutes as he weaves his way through the Danish defence, but is foiled by Hyldgaard who does well to save the winger’s shot. Laínez finally gets something to do on 66 minutes when Thomansen takes Timm’s square ball in his stride, evades the defender opposing him and tries a low drive skimming off the immaculate surface from distance. Right at the death, Timm tries to make the score look respectable with a curling drive from the edge of the area, but it just fails to come back enough to hit the back of the net, and we run out 4-1 winners - a very satisfactory result.

Spain (4-3-1-2): César Laínez; Ferrón, César, Iván Amaya, Ballesteros (Rivas 42); Vicente, Xavi, Garrido; Gerard; Raúl © (Navarro 83), Ribera.

Denmark (4-4-2): Hyldgaard; Smith, Johansen, Thomansen, Tobiasen; Grønkjær (HÃ¥kansson 89), Gravesen, Claus Jensen ©, KærgÃ¥rd (Hansen 83); Madsen (Daniel Jensen 83), Timm.

Final score: Spain 4:1 Denmark

MoM - Gerard

[Dixie Flatline]

We take a look at the other matches in Euro 2008 qualifying action. Starting with group 1, Northern Ireland compounded Portugal’s chronic problems by winning a high-scoring game 5-3 in Lisbon. Spurs’ Andy Morrow put the Irish ahead on 11 minutes, but Lazio’s Nuno Gomes equalised a couple of minutes later. Portugal took the lead on 21 minutes through a penalty earned by Ricardo Jorge and converted by Ricardo Gomes. But Morrow equalised for the Irish on 32 minutes, and then Everton forward Warren Feeney shot Northern Ireland into the lead on the stroke of half-time. Morrow completed his hat-trick on 57 minutes to make it 4-2. Ricardo Gomes gave the Portuguese some hope when he scored his second goal on 75 minutes, but Feeney made the game safe on 88 minutes with his second of the game. In the other Group 1 game, Estonia and Germany played out a tense 0-0 draw in Tallinn, which leaves the Germans one point clear of the Baltic nation.

Moving to Group 2 now, and Finland remains clear of Norway on goal difference at the top of the ladder after the Finns casually defeated Armenia 3-1 on the road. Henri Scheweleff and Daniel Sjölund had the Finns 2-0 up by the quarter-hour mark, and while Armenia pulled a goal back just after half-time, the Finns quickly restored the two goal cushion through Spurs’ Janne Salli on 48 minutes. Cartagonova’s Jukka Hakala started for Finland but will miss about a week of football after he needed to leave the field with a deeply gashed leg. But Norway kept up the pressure by thrashing a hapless France 5-2 in Oslo. Cartagonova-bound Kristian Tanem put the Norwegians ahead on 11 minutes, while Trond Andersen doubled their lead on 30 minutes. Bayern München forward Christer George scored just before half-time to make it 3-0 at the break. Patrick Viera scored five minutes into the second half, and Sporting Lisbon’s Elhadji Diouf scored his first goal of his international career to pull the score back to 3-2. But goals to Tanem and Ole Gunnar Solskjær gave Norway the bragging rights out of this game. In the third game from Group 2, Turkey defeated the Faeroe Islands 4-0 in Istanbul.

In Group 3, Croatia moved two points clear of Bulgaria after the Croats defeated Moldova 2-1 on the road thanks to goals to Bari’s Igor Tudor and Cartagonova’s Jurica Vucko. Bulgaria dropped two crucial points after they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Slovakia. In Group 4, Italy moved back to the top of the ladder after they defeated Russia 1-0 in Moskva. AC Milan’s Vincenzo Iaquinta scored the crucial winner on 40 minutes to swap the Azzurri with the Russians. Georgia moved onto 11 points, equal with Russia, after they defeated Cyprus 2-1 in Nicosia. In the other game from Group 4, Slovenia defeated Andorra 2-1 at home. In Group 5, the Netherlands defeated Lithuania 2-1 in Vilnius, coming back from 1-0 down to take the three points with goals to Kevin Hofland and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Cartagonova’s Kew Jaliens played for the Netherlands. Belgium moved to within 2 points of second-placed Poland after they defeated Latvia 1-0 in Brussels, but the Belgians have played one more game than the Poles.

[Dixie Flatline]

Moving to Group 6, Belarus’ campaign is all but over already as they crashed 2-1 to Romania in Minsk. Belarus started well with Ogorodnik putting them in the lead after just 7 minutes, but goals late in the second half to Mihalcea and Rosu sealed the victory for the Romanians. In the meantime, England joined Ireland on 12 points after they thrashed Luxembourg 5-1 at Wembley Stadium. Jamie McMaster, a Matt Taylor hat-trick and Izzy Iriekpen scored the goals for England, while Fladmark scored a late consolation for Luxembourg. Ireland weren’t required to play this evening, so they have a game in hand on England. Moving to Group 7 now, and the Czech Republic took the points in an exciting game over Sweden. Parma’s Tomas Jun put the Czechs in the lead on 14 minutes, HSV’s Marek Heinz extended it on 18 minutes, and Hertha Berlin’s Milan Fukal made it 3-0 on 23 minutes. But Hector Cures started the Sweden fight-back, as the Juventus forward struck on 25 minutes. Two goals in the space of two minutes on 74 and 76 minutes made the game equal for the Swedes, as Hertha Berlin’s Kennedy Bakircioglü and Pär Karlsson brought them level with the Czechs, but Tomas Votava scored the winner for the Czechs a minute after Karlsson’s equaliser. However, Albania maintains a three point lead over Greece as they defeated a poor Iceland 4-1 in Reykjavik. Greece comfortably defeated minnow Liechtenstein in Vaduz.

In Group 8, Yugoslavia overtook Austria into the lead by defeating Azerbaijan 3-1 in Belgrade, while FYROM and Switzerland shared the points in an unsatisfying 1-1 draw. Austria had the night off. In Group 9, Spain maintained their 3 point lead over the Ukraine by thrashing Denmark 4-1 in Valencia. The Ukraine defeated San Marino 2-0 in San Marino, while Israel defeated Malta 3-1 in Tel Aviv. Ballesteros and Jaime Garrido played for Spain, while Daniel Jensen was a substitute for Denmark. Shimon Gershon played for Israel against Malta. Cartagonova will lose Ballesteros for a month after he twisted an ankle against Denmark.

30th of March 2007

Andrés Mendoza is reportedly delighted to agree terms with Rayo Vallecano. He will leave Cartagonova when his contract expires on 14 June 2007.

31st of March 2007

Plucky Numancia try their hardest at the intimidating Nou Camp, but they go down 5-3 to a rampant Barcelona, as they cut our lead to 9 points, although we play tomorrow on the road against Villarreal. Cristian Bardaro was the main destroyer of Numancia, scoring a hat-trick, and he had plenty of support from Patrick Kluivert and Dani. Acuña, Carlos Martins and Ribeiro scored the goals for Numancia.

[Dixie Flatline]

1st of April 2007

Primera Liga - Game 29: Villarreal v Cartagonova

“… This game is important for so many reasons. First, Barcelona closed to within nine points of Cartagonova after defeating Numancia yesterday. Secondly, these two clubs will meet in the quarter-final of the European Champions’ League next Wednesday. Thirdly, Cartagonova will want to keep their unbeaten streak going. And things seemed to be going so well when on 11 minutes, Spanish international, José Manuel Redondo, powered home Lua-Lua’s cross. But Kristian Tanem jinked and weaved his way through the entire Cartagonova defence to score an inspirational equaliser just three minutes later. Notman almost put Cartagonova back in the lead, but López Vallejo saved superbly to deny the big Scotsman, and he did well to deny his international teammate, Redondo, two minutes later. Notman missed another opportunity on 26 minutes, and they were made to pay when two minutes later, Tanem scored his second goal of the game to put Villarreal into the lead. On 37 minutes, Argentine Walter Gaitán exposed big holes in the Cartagonova defence to extend Villarreal’s lead to 3-1. Michel missed a chance to pull it back to 3-2 for the league leader when López Vallejo saved his header, who then pulled off a brilliant double save to stop Garrido from scoring right on the stroke of half-time.â€

“Cartagonova boss, Señor Dixie Flatline, must have had some harsh words to say to his players, and with Fernando Morán making a rare appearance, replacing the very disappointing Michel, they gave themselves a chance of dragging themselves back into the game when Gavião scored a 35 yard scorcher past López Vallejo on 54 minutes. Garrido missed a free kick on 62 minutes when Artur clattered Gavião within range of the Spanish international. Morán clutched his head when López Vallejo did terrifically well to save his shot from Notman’s cross, and that effectively ended Cartagonova’s chances of snatching an ill-deserved draw from this game. The home crowd was delighted to see Villarreal take the psychological advantage ahead of Wednesday’s Champions’ League game…â€

I’m absolutely furious with my defenders, and especially Vidál, who gets an official warning for his poor game. Tanem exposed big holes in my defence when he danced his way through the heart of my defence to score the equaliser, and that goal just lifted the rest of his team. We would have committed daylight robbery if we had snatched a point, and that is just disappointing. I’m sure that all Barcelona supporters are now beginning to salivate since we lost our first game of the season, because Barcelona does look strong to finish the season. And then there is the Champions’ League to think about, too. Sure, I do have some first choice defenders, like Hakala, Ballesteros and Lacruz missing, but we should have done much better than we did today. Villarreal had four shots on target, and Vidal let in three. That’s not good enough.

But on the other hand, it looks like that Tanem set out to impress his future boss, scoring twice from midfield, and showing that he will be an excellent acquisition next season.

Villarreal (3-5-2): López Vallejo ©; Jonay, Alonso (Gámiz 81), Paco; Agostinho, Artur (Jesuli 75), Venetis, Tanem, Callejas; Gaitán, Víctor (Adolfo 13).

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Oliva, Gershon, Diawara, Puyol; Gavião; Michel (Morán 46), Lua-Lua; Garrido; Redondo, Notman.

Final score: Villarreal 3:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Kristian Tanem

2nd of April 2007

“… Cartagonova manager, Señor Dixie Flatline, announced this morning that Cartagonova will sign Cameroonian international defensive utility Salomon Olembé from Lens for £1.8 million in the summer. Capped 45 times by his country, and with seven international goals to his name, Olembé will bring pace and passing ability, coupled with strength and tackling, to the squad. Señor Flatline said that he was delighted to sign a player with Olembé’s ability to bolster the squad…â€

3rd of April 2007

After spending a quiet night on the town celebrating my partner’s birthday, I am awoken this morning by a call from my Real Madrid counterpart, who wants to offer me the ridiculous amount of £2.1 million for Finnish defender Jukka Hakala. I reject the offer and return to sleep.

[Dixie Flatline]

4th of April 2007

Real Madrid’s management think that £2.5 million will be enough to purchase Hakala from Cartagonova. Boy are they surprised when I tell them that this deal will not fly!

There is good news from the treatment tables as George Clegg is cleared to rejoin full training. I probably won’t risk him starting against Villarreal this evening, but he will probably sit on the bench and come on if needed. But I have real problems finding four fit defenders. Gershon is suspended for today’s game, Lacruz and Hakala are recovering from injury and can’t be considered. I’m left to rely upon Oliva, Ãlvarez, Diawara and Jaliens to try to hold the defence together long enough for us to come out of this leg with a respectable scoresheet.

European Champions’ League - Quarter-Final, 1st leg: Villarreal v Cartagonova

Both clubs’ players are fairly tired from their exertions on the weekend, but I’m sure my counterpart is thumping the table and hammering home the point that we are beatable. For my part, I have to consider who I put in the back four, with suspension to Gershon, and injuries to Ballesteros, Lacruz and Hakala robbing me of my entire first choice defence. In the end, I turn to Oliva, Ãlvarez, Diawara and Jaliens to do the job for me. But they start shakily as Walter Gaitán finds himself with momentum going into our box and he hammers a vicious drive towards Vidal, only to have the Spanish international dive across to push it away with the tips of his fingers. On 15 minutes, Oliva’s throw-in half-way into the Villarreal half sees Garrido try his luck opportunistically but the midfielder’s volley goes wide of the mark. Former Linense forward Adolfo has replaced the injured striker Víctor, and he gives Vidal something to do when he outjumps Ãlvarez to head Venetis’ cross towards goal. But fortunately for us, Vidal manages to knock the ball away and Diawara completes the clearance with a considered ball out to the left for Michel to take away. Michel gallops away down the left and finds Notman. The big Scot finds his partner Redondo, who plays the quick one-two. Unfortunately, the move peters out as Gavião’s cross drifts over the goal-line and out for a goal kick.

Garrido almost does the trick on 31 minutes when he times his run to pick up Notman’s low cross well, but his shot clears the bar from 15 yards. However, Notman breaks the ice himself when he collects Garrido’s pass, evades the desperate tackles of Villarreal’s defenders and puts a fierce drive into the top corner of López Vallejo’s net! Then, right on half time, Ãlvarez plays the unlikely part of creator for Lua-Lua to double our lead with a good goal to mean we head into the break with a two goal advantage.

Well into the second half and Agostinho tests Vidal with a fierce drive that my captain does well to save. Gaitán orchestrates the corner, and substitute Jesuli’s first touch is a bullet header going towards the bottom corner, but Vidal’s excellent reflexes allows him enough time to get across and save the shot. But our defence finally cracks on 73 minutes when Tanem picks off Diawara’s poor free kick and finds Callejas. The winger seeks out Jesuli and the former Celta Vigo forward weaves his way into the box before blasting a drive into the top corner. Jesuli then wastes an opportunity to go level on 77 minutes when his shot clears the bar comfortably, but I’m anxious to see my defence hang together for just another 13 minutes. Tanem sets Gámiz with ten minutes to go, but Vidal saves our bacon yet again with another good save. On the counter-attack, Michel goes close to extending our lead to 3-1, but López Vallejo does well to save the winger’s shot, while at the death, Redondo wastes a glorious chance to add his name to the scoresheet when Lua-Lua finds him free in the area, but the striker hurries his shot over the bar.

Villarreal (3-5-2): López Vallejo ©; Unai, Alonso (Gámiz), Medina; Agostinho (Moha 67), Artur (Jesuli 67), Venetis, Tanem, Callejas; Gaitán, Adolfo.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Oliva, Ãlvarez, Diawara, Jaliens; Gavião; Michel, Lua-Lua; Garrido; Redondo, Notman.

Final score: Villarreal 1:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Unai

In the other games, Porto takes a clear advantage to Celtic Park after they defeated Celtic 3-0 in Oporto. Fabrício scores from a penalty on 22 minutes, while Beto and Postiga also scored the goals. Barcelona gave Celta Vigo a mountain to climb after the last season’s losing finalist crashed 3-1 at the Nou Camp. Matteo Brighi opened the scoring on 20 minutes, only for Diego Ribera to equalise on 28 minutes. However, Edgar Davids and Javier Zanetti scored for Barcelona to give them the advantage heading into the return leg. Defending champion, Paris-Saint-Germain, held Fiorentina to a 3-3 draw in Florence. Francesco Totti put Fiorentina ahead on 40 minutes, but Nicolas Anelka equalised just before half-time. Bernard Mendy put the ball into his own net on 52 minutes, but Laurent Robert again equalised for the European champion on 56 minutes. Nicolas Anelka put PSG ahead on 81 minutes, only for Joe Cole to score a last-minute equaliser to salvage something for Fiorentina. However, PSG should be considered the favourite for this tie.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Dixie Flatline]

The weekend is about to start, so what better way to celebrate it with another dose of the Cartagonova epic?

5th of April 2007

Just as Jukka Hakala returns to full training today ahead of our visit to Sporting Gijón, I receive a bid from Barcelona worth £3 million for the Finn. I don’t want to sell him for that amount.

I lose Gershon for a week after he damages a heel in the evening training session. I’m also informed by Tiago’s agent that he will not move to Spain because he feels concerned about the change in lifestyle. That indicates to me that the Goiás midfielder is not mentally prepared to take the challenge, and he would not be a good investment if we could change his mind. So I look elsewhere for options to replace the departing Lua-Lua.

6th of April 2007

Las Palmas is the latest club to try to sign Ismael Méndez on a free transfer.

7th of April 2007

I’m insulted by a £4.5 million bid from Lyon for Alex Notman. I treat the offer with the contempt it deserves.

I’m asked to comment in the evening about the performances of Notman. I confirm that I think that the Scot has been playing very well recently.

8th of April 2007

It looks like that my words have sparked huge interest from rival clubs in Notman. Celta Vigo is the first to knock on my door, offering me £5.5 million. Lyon match that offer, while Schalke tries a bid of £5 million. All these offers are rejected flat.

In the meantime, Real Madrid tries to tempt me with a bid of £2.7 million for Gavião. This falls woefully short of my personal valuation of the Brazilian midfield general, and I’m not prepared to test the limits of Real Madrid’s financial powers at this stage. Therefore, the offer is rejected.

Primera Liga - Game 30: Sporting Gijón v Cartagonova

This is our third away game in a row in all competitions, and I’m desperate to reunite my first choice defence. But it isn’t to be today. Gershon is ruled out with his injury, Hakala requires a week off to recover from the lingering effects of his injury, and Ballesteros is missing for another fortnight at least. Lacruz is named on the bench, as I trust to the back four that (almost) did the job against Villarreal last week. But Oliva commits a cardinal sin by handling the ball inside the area on 4 minutes, and despite some initial hesitation, the referee awards the penalty. Ronald González easily converts the penalty to put us under pressure. Notman almost draws us level, but his fierce shot is well saved by Sergio on 11 minutes and then Ico scores his first-ever goal for Sporting on 17 minutes, capitalising on Vidal’s spillage from his earlier shot. Notman is again foiled by Sergio on 19 minutes, as we look to fight back into this game. On 23 minutes, Notman sets up Clegg, but the Englishman’s header hits the bar, and Notman, who is terrorising the Sporting defence, is once again foiled by Sergio on 28 minutes. Ãlvarez is disappointed to see his header parried by Sergio from the resulting corner, while just before half-time, Redondo misses the target with a header.

At the break, I introduce José María Lacruz for the disappointing Oliva and hope that the defence can hold together long enough to allow us to fight our way back into the game. On 52 minutes, we take hold of the life line when Clegg’s flick-on is volleyed home excellently by Notman for his 30th goal of the season - the first time a Cartagonova player has reached the mark under my stewardship. Then four minutes later, Ãlvarez adventurously takes the loose ball from González’s tackle on Redondo and thumps a solid drive into the back of the net for his first goal of the season. With 28 minutes to play, we take the lead for the first time when Lua-Lua volleys Notman’s excellent pass past Sergio!

But our lead lasts only six minutes as Edgar capitalises on Vidal’s inability to hold onto Rubén’s free kick, and we’re level again with Sporting. On 78 minutes, we give away another penalty when Vidal is adjudged to have fouled Barselleta. However, Vidal redeems himself and gives me hope of escaping with a point at least when he guesses correctly and saves González’s penalty attempt. But we don’t learn our lesson and Vidal is again penalised for a foul inside the area - and receives a yellow card for his troubles - against González, and this time, he can’t prevent us going down in the end. I’m furious with everybody in earshot, not excepting the referee, who seemed weak and open to being bullied by the home side and their crowd.

Sporting Gijón (1-2-5-2): Sergio; Loeschbor; Sergio, Nakazawa; Tal, Edgar, Barselleta ©, González, Babangida; Rubén, Ico.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Oliva (Lacruz 46), Ãlvarez, Diawara, Jaliens; Gavião; Michel (Morán 80), Lua-Lua; Clegg; Redondo, Notman.

Final score: Sporting Gijón 4:3 Cartagonova

MoM - Alex Notman

[Dixie Flatline]

I immediately complain to the Spanish FA about the quality of the refereeing, but as I expect, the FA backs the referee to the hilt and disappoints me. I also let Oliva know that his first half of football was unacceptable, and even though youth may excuse his inconsistency, he needs to work upon it very quickly if he wants to command a regular place in my side. He acknowledges my words and promises to work upon it immediately.

Fortunately, Real Sociedad holds Barcelona to a 1-1 draw in Basque country, so we still enjoy an 8 point lead. I immediately check the fixture list when I return to Cartagena. We are indeed playing at home, so we can re-establish some confidence in our play next weekend.

Since we have played 30 games in the league for the season, it’s time to take a look at the league ladder:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st Cartagonova 30 14 1 0 35 10 9 4 2 34 20 74

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Barcelona 30 10 2 3 35 18 10 4 1 39 17 66

3rd Celta 30 9 2 3 28 15 8 3 5 29 19 56

4th Real Madrid 30 11 1 3 35 22 7 0 8 19 20 55

5th Valencia 30 8 4 3 24 16 6 6 3 22 13 52

6th Deportivo 30 11 2 2 33 15 3 3 9 10 21 47

7th Real Sociedad 30 9 3 3 32 23 4 4 7 32 40 46

8th Villarreal 30 8 3 3 21 17 4 4 8 19 26 43

9th Elche 30 9 1 4 28 13 4 3 9 20 26 43

10th Espanyol 30 10 2 3 27 16 3 2 10 20 29 43

11th Sporting Gijón 30 5 7 4 29 24 6 2 6 17 19 42

12th Alavés 30 8 4 2 22 14 3 3 10 14 25 40

13th Athletic Bilbao 30 6 3 6 21 21 5 3 7 12 18 39

14th Betis 30 7 3 5 19 19 4 3 8 19 26 39

15th Numancia 30 6 6 4 30 27 2 4 8 15 28 34

16th Osasuna 30 5 3 7 13 17 2 3 10 15 27 27

17th Valladolid 30 4 5 7 15 20 2 2 10 13 29 25

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

18th Racing Santander 30 3 4 8 12 23 2 6 7 9 23 25

19th Mallorca 30 3 5 8 11 22 2 2 10 8 29 22

20th Atlético Madrid 30 2 4 9 13 24 1 4 10 10 28 17

</pre>

Around the leagues, and starting first in England, Arsenal hold a one point lead over Charlton with a game in hand over their London rival. Spurs makes it three London-based clubs in the top three, but they are five points behind Arsenal, having played a game more. Defending champion Manchester United will almost certainly miss out on any type of European football next season as they struggle in 13th position with just 41 points to their name. Luton Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Everton are likely to drop back to the Nationwide League at the end of the season. In Italy, Roma are firming fast as the favourite to take the Scudetto this season, as they lead Inter Milan by seven points. Fiorentina is a further point behind, although they do have a game in hand on the leading two clubs. Verona is already confirmed as going back to Serie B, with just 12 points from 29 games. Napoli, Cagliari and Ternana are the likely clubs at the moment to join Verona. In Portugal, Benfica enjoys a five point lead over Espinho after 29 games, while Porto is a further point back but with a game in hand. Estoril, Sporting Pombal, and Beira-Mar are likely to drop back into the second division in Portugal.

9th of April 2007

HSV offers me £6.5 million for Alex Notman this morning. I don’t think that returning to Germany would be at the top of Notman’s priorities, but in any case I don’t let him have a choice in the matter, as I reject the offer at first instance.

[Dixie Flatline]

10th of April 2007

Levante are back to try to entice Ismael Méndez to move to Valencia.

I’m told this evening by forward coach Romário that Alex Notman turned up late for training and showed a distinct lack of match fitness. I’m worried that this may be symptomatic of an undiagnosed injury and ask the physios to take a look at him. However, the physios tell me that there is nothing wrong with him, so I tell the Scotsman to come to my office after training is complete. When I’m in my office, making plans for the weekend’s match against Real Valladolid, he comes to me and asks me what is going on. I tell him that unless he has a good excuse for why he was late and seemed to be unfit this evening at training, I’ll have no choice but to enforce some discipline against him. He tries to bluff his way through the interview, but I can tell that he really has no excuse, so I am forced to issue a warning.

11th of April 2007

Celta Vigo makes an offer of £3.3 million for Gavião. It still isn’t anywhere near enough for me to even consider the bid.

Notman takes the night to consider his response to the warning, and this morning apologises for his unprofessional behaviour and indicates that he will improve it in the future. He is called up by Scotland’s manager, David Moyes, for a friendly against Poland in a fortnight.

12th of April 2007

Celta Vigo won’t leave me alone, and they pester me with a £3.9 million bid for Gavião. Keep going higher, mate, and perhaps you’ll have a chance. Yeah, right! I also find out that he is now naturalised as a Spaniard.

13th of April 2007

Barcelona weighs in with a bid of £3.6 million for Jukka Hakala, while Gavião is valued by Celta Vigo at £4.7 million. Both offers are refused outright. Real Betis joined the race to sign both players, valuing Gavião at £3.3 million and Hakala at £3 million. Their offers are refused, too.

Numancia want Ismael Méndez to sign for them in the summer.

14th of April 2007

Real Betis make an offer of £4.9 million for Gavião. It still isn’t enough for me.

[Dixie Flatline]

15th of April 2007

Barcelona still won’t leave me alone about Hakala. This morning, Señor Lorenzo Serra Ferrer offers me £4.3 million for the Finnish international. Go away. I’m not selling him!

Primera Liga - Game 31: Cartagonova v Real Valladolid

In order to stop Barcelona gaining momentum, it’s imperative that we rejoin the winners’ list as quickly as possible in the Primera Liga. Against Real Valladolid, we have a real chance, as our opponent is struggling to escape relegation and are looking behind rather than forward. But you wouldn’t know it as Quintana and Guerrero both go close inside the first six minutes of the game. However, we earn a corner on 12 minutes and Gershon advances from deep to head home Michel’s pinpoint cross! Notman doubles our lead five minutes later when he takes Redondo’s chipped pass on his chest then puts a thumping drive in the back of the net! Vidal does well to stop Guerrero scoring on the volley on 21 minutes, but after a quiet period of 20 minutes, Notman picks up the rebound from Clegg’s fierce drive and sticks it in the net on 41 minutes! Clegg almost scores himself just after the restart, but César manages to stop the Englishman adding to our lead. As the minutes tick by, my players concentrate on keeping possession and tend to take the foot off the accelerator. To their credit, Real Valladolid’s players fight it out to the end, but class prevails in this game and we take the three points.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Ãlvarez, Gershon, Jaliens; Michel, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Clegg; Redondo (Carreño 75), Notman.

Real Valladolid (4-5-1): César ©; Marcos, Stewart, WingÃ¥rd, Dani Ruiz; Quintana, Camacho, Godvalt, Fernando Sales, Amieva (Varela 70); Guerrero.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:0 Real Valladolid

MoM - Alex Notman

Two late goals to Espanyol in the Barcelona derby at the Nou Camp allows us to pull out to an 11 point lead over our closest rival. This is a good thing, since we have only seven games to play in the league. Gerard is injured in the game, which means that I have to replace him in the Spanish squad - the perfect excuse to call up Gavião before Brazil realise their mistake and decide to cap him.

Alex Notman and Michel are selected in the starting eleven of the Team of the Week.

16th of April 2007

The ongoing saga of Hakala’s career future takes another twist as the Finnish defender reveals in an exclusive interview that he wants to move to Barcelona at the end of the season, and he reckons that he’s worth £9.75 million! Although I’m becoming increasingly frustrated and irritated by the defender, I will not have my transfer policy dictated to by a player, so I issue a quick, stern circular to the newspapers and web-sites carrying this story that he will not move anywhere without my express agreement.

17th of April 2007

Marseille offers me £5.5 million for George Clegg. The offer is not taken up, however.

In the meantime, Ismael Méndez agrees to a move to Numancia. But again, for some reason, it falls through.

[Dixie Flatline]

18th of April 2007

European Champions’ League - Quarter-Final, 2nd leg: Cartagonova v Villarreal

Carrying into this game a 2-1 lead from the first leg, and just as importantly, two goals scored away from home, I feel fairly confident that we can advance to the semi-final stage of this competition. That confidence becomes more assured when Gavião and Redondo have us 2-0 up on the night inside the first five minutes. With a little more luck, especially to Notman, we would have had more goals by the half-time break, but López Vallejo is not the first choice Spanish keeper for nothing and he puts aside the early setbacks to deny the Scotsman on 21 minutes. Redondo misses with a spectacular scissors kick on 37 minutes, while López Vallejo saves Notman’s powerful header five minutes later. Víctor is Villarreal’s most dangerous striker and he shoots a volley just wide of the mark on the stroke of half-time.

The second half begins slowly, and it isn’t until the 67th minute that the crowd can get excited. Unfortunately, it is Villarreal that makes all the running and Callejas hits a fierce drive that Vidal can’t quite hold onto. Adolfo actually has the ball in our net two minutes later but it is ruled out for off-side. The former Linense forward hits the post with 11 minutes to play, and Villarreal finally score the goal they have threatened in the second half with five minutes left, through Argentine striker Walter Gaitán. Nevertheless, we coast through this tie quite comfortably to set up a semi-final showdown.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Jaliens; Michel, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Clegg (Hernández 66); Redondo (Carreño 76), Notman.

Villarreal (3-5-2): López Vallejo ©; Unai, Jonay, Medina; Agostinho, Artur (Soler 56), Venetis (Jesuli 61), Tanem, Callejas; Gaitán, Víctor (Adolfo 50).

Final score: Cartagonova 2:1 Villarreal

Aggregate score: Cartagonova 4:2 Villarreal

MoM - José Manuel Redondo

Kew Jaliens twists a knee in the warm-down training session following the match and will miss about ten days of football.

19th of April 2007

Celta Vigo makes bids for two of my players. They first offer me £5.25 million for Jukka Hakala. I increase the asking price to £7.5 million as the absolute minimum price that I will sell the Finn for. I then listen to a £4.3 million bid for David Oliva, my young full-back. Since that would crystalise a loss of £2.7 million, I refuse this offer as unacceptable.

Marseille offers me £7.75 million for Alex Notman. There’s no deal there. Lens offers me £3.3 million for Oliva. That is nowhere near enough to even think about tempting me.

[Dixie Flatline]

20th of April 2007

Barcelona bite the bullet this morning and makes an offer of £7.5 million for Hakala. Delighted by this turn of events, the Finn bounds into my office upon hearing the news to catch the end of my conversation with my counterpart. He hears me demand from Señor Lorenzo Serra Ferrer an offer in the region of £9 million for the defender, and he slams my door behind him.

Spartak Moskva believes that David Oliva would be a useful acquisition for the Russian champion, and they are prepared to part with £5 million of hard currency to acquire him. Unfortunately for them, it is not enough for me to change my mind about his future, particularly since he hasn’t even played half a season for us yet.

Schalke 04 would love to have Alex Notman partner former Cartagonova striker Niels Kokmeijer, and they are prepared to pay the club £9.25 million for him. It still doesn’t stop me from rejecting it.

We draw the defending European champion, Paris-Saint-Germain, in the semi-final of the Champions’ League. We play the first leg of the tie in Paris on 2nd of May.

21st of April 2007

I’m offered £10 million for Notman. I’m still not tempted, though.

Celta Vigo give up for the time being on Hakala, but I’m still waiting to hear back from Barcelona about the £9 million valuation I’ve slapped on the recalcitrant Finn.

22nd of April 2007

Real Betis offers me £4.7 million for Gavião. I consider that loose change for the Brazilian - oops, I meant Spanish of course! - midfielder, and treat the offer with the contempt it merits.

Barcelona believes that £9 million is too much to pay for Hakala.

Primera Liga - Game 32: Mallorca v Cartagonova

Things should remain status quo after this weekend’s fixtures as we play 19th-placed Mallorca away from home, while Barcelona pays a visit to the capital of Spain to play last-placed Atlético Madrid. Everybody in Spain expects both clubs to notch up victories, and that would mean that we would hold a 11 point lead with six games to play.

Sure enough, this game goes according to the script. Despite an early shot from Mallorca’s Michel that goes just over Vidal’s cross-bar, Redondo takes Michel’s pinpoint pass in his stride, waltzes through the heart of Mallorca’s defence and sticks the ball in their net on 14 minutes on literally our first foray forward. We’re patient enough to bide our time in the attempt to consolidate our lead, and Redondo hits the post with a left-foot drive on the half-hour mark. A moment later, and Gavião’s interception of the poor goal kick means that Redondo has another chance, but this time he again drives the ball wide of the mark. He really should have extended our lead on 49 minutes, but again his shot clears the cross-bar and I’m becoming a little annoyed with his profligacy and consider removing him from the play. But instead, I decide to persist with the Spaniard a little longer, and he rewards me by earning a penalty on 86 minutes when he draws Tamandi into the foul. He steps up and coolly converts, to give us a comfortable 2-0 victory. In the meantime, Barcelona defeats Atlético Madrid 3-0 on the road, so as everybody expects, we enter the 33rd week of the campaign still separated by 11 points.

Mallorca (4-4-2): De la Fuente; Ãngel (Smith 61), Keita, Fernando Sanz, Tamandi; Ramirez ©, Castillo (Raúl Ivars 61), Javi Sanchíz, Pertot; Metin, Michel.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Laurie; Gavião; Michel, Lua-Lua; Clegg; Redondo, Notman.

Final score: Mallorca 0:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Alex Notman

Despite Notman winning the man of the match award, Redondo scoring twice and Michel creating one of the goals for Redondo, George Clegg is named in the team of the week’s starting eleven, while Shimon Gershon sits on the bench.

[ghostwriter]

The wheels came off the wagon a little bit there but it seems that you are back on track..

An 11 point with 7 games left should be enough....

It seems that the world and his wife want all of your players . Good luck with trying to hold onto most of them, it is what success brings....

[Dixie Flatline]

23rd of April 2007

“... Cartagonova boss, Señor Dixie Flatline, announced this morning before joining Spain’s players in a training camp ahead of Wednesday’s international friendly against the Czech Republic that he has concluded a £250,000 deal that will bring Swedish attacking midfielder Elias Krantz to the club from Portuguese club Farense. Krantz, a right-sided midfielder, has apparently impressed Cartagonova’s scouts over a period of more than a month and is lined up to replace Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua, who will join Real Madrid in the summer. A creative player, Krantz will have to impress his new manager with players such as George Clegg, Jaime Garrido and Fernando Morán all capable of playing on the right of midfield…â€

24th of April 2007

Athletic Bilbao attempt to sign a former player in José María Lacruz for £1.2 million. I don’t want to sell my first choice left back, so I reject the offer.

In the evening, the Spanish U-21 side plays their Czech counterparts, and triumph 3-1. David Oliva, Ismael Méndez and Juan Hernández all represent Cartagonova in tonight’s win, but unfortunately Juan Hernández injures himself a couple of minutes before the end of the game and will miss about a month of football with strained ankle ligaments.

25th of April 2007

Anzac Day dawns bright and clear this morning. While I’m sitting down to a good breakfast to begin the day, the phone rings, and it is Señor Lorenzo Serra Ferrer of the good club Barcelona, wanting to pay Cartagonova £9 million for Jukka Hakala. I know now therefore that he is desperate to sign the defender, so I’m going to push for at least £10.5 million before I will part with the Finn.

International friendly - Czech Republic v Spain

I select Gavião for his first international match just a couple of days after he obtained a Spanish passport. Jaime Garrido also begins the match on the left of midfield, while José Manuel Redondo is on the bench. While Ballesteros is in the squad, he is only just begun training, so he is not in contention. We begin this match extremely well as Garrido and Raúl combine to set up Rubén Navarro and the Bari striker scores past Cerny in just the 4th minute of play. Six minutes later, Navarro himself sets up Vicente and the Valencia midfielder is left with a simple tap-in. Pavel Nedved, despite being the wrong side of 30, is still the Czechs’ most dangerous player and he tests López Vallejo for the first time on 14 minutes, but the Villarreal keeper does well to push the drive away for a corner, which Gavião efficiently clears towards Garrido. On 19 minutes, Tomas Jun begins celebrating his first goal of the game, only to have it cut short by the linesman’s flag for off-side against him. But that is against the run of play, as we completely dominate territory. Navarro and Raúl both waste good opportunities to go 3-0 up against them. However, Heinz pulled a goal back when he converted Nedved’s defence-splitting pass.

At the break, I switch my centre-halves around, bringing on Juanma for his debut and David Rivas for Amaya and Borja respectively. The action continues again at the other end, though, as Gavião intercepts Heinz’s pass for Jun and puts the ball ahead of Vicente. Vicente crosses for Navarro and the burly striker heads home his second goal of the game to put us 3-1 up. On 62 minutes, I take off Raúl and Vicente, replacing them with Cartagonova’s Redondo and Zubizarreta. Seven minutes later, Ferrón finds Redondo with a headed pass and the Cartagonova striker beats Repka, evades the other Czech defenders and slots a beautiful drive beneath the Czech keeper for his first goal at international level! But Heinz unfortunately makes the score look somewhat respectable for the Czechs as he scores his second goal on 71 minutes, converting Lokvenc’s flick-on from Nedved’s long pass. But Nedved turns from hero to villain on 84 minutes when he trips Garrido. The Cartagonova winger steps up and converts the free kick from 30 yards with a dipping, swerving shot!

Czech Republic (5-3-2): Cerny; Velkoborsky (Votava 62), Grygera, Fotis Rosicky (Smicer 62 (Koller 83)), Repka, Fukal; Nedved ©, Berger (Galasek 50), Tomas Rosicky (Baros 50 (Lokvenc 69)); Heinz, Jun (Penicka 69).

Spain (4-1-2-1-2): López Vallejo; Borja (Rivas 46), César, Amaya (Juanma 46), Ferrón; Gavião (Xavi 79); Garrido, Angulo; Vicente (Zubizarreta 62); Raúl © (Redondo 62), Rubén Navarro (Diego 79).

Final score: Czech Republic 2:5 Spain

MoM - Rubén Navarro

[Dixie Flatline]

There are plenty of other international friendly games played this evening, so we’ll only concentrate on those involving Cartagonova players. Daniel Jensen was a 79th minutes substitute in Denmark’s 2-1 loss to Nigeria. Jukka Hakala played an hour for Finland as they defeated Egypt 3-2 in Cairo. Jurica Vucko scored the clinching goal for Croatia that defeated England 2-1 at Wembley Stadium. Shimon Gershon was in Israel’s squad for its 0-0 draw with Latvia in Riga. Alex Notman played an hour for Scotland, but his country was thrashed 5-2 by Poland in Warsaw.

27th of April 2007

Back in Cartagena preparing for the visit of Numancia on the weekend, I’m faced by newspaper reports linking Gavião to a move either to Real Madrid or Real Betis for £2.7 million. There is only one possible course open to me to take - deny it hard, loud and strenuously, and hope that everybody goes away!

In the meantime, Barcelona thinks that £10.5 million is too much to pay for Jukka Hakala, but that is what they thought about shelling out £9 million for him a couple of weeks ago, so we’ll see where this goes.

29th of April 2007

Primera Liga - Game 33: Cartagonova v Numancia

I won’t bore you with the details of this excruciating game. Only one piece of brilliance illuminated an otherwise dull and boring game - George Clegg scored the only goal of the game on 54 minutes when he capitalised on good work from Lua-Lua and Carl Laurie. Apart from a brief flurry at the end of the game from Numancia, there is little else to talk about. We take the points with a 1-0 victory, but I think that the Paris-Saint-Germain scouts that Luis Sosa spots sitting in the crowd won’t be too worried about playing us next Wednesday evening in the first leg of the Champions’ League semi-final.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Laurie; Michel, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Clegg; Redondo, Notman (Carreño 76).

Numancia (4-5-1): Núñez; Gustavo, Babangida, Lasa, Rubio; Giannoutsko (Reyes 70), Rúa (Agustín 51), Carlos Martins ©, Gorka, Acuña; Óscar.

Final score: Cartagonova 1:0 Numancia

MoM - George Clegg

The upshot of the weekend’s fixtures is that we are within one victory of claiming our first ever Primera Liga championship. Barcelona defeated Osasuna to remain within 11 points of us with five games to play. If we win our next league game against Real Sociedad and Barcelona lose against Racing Santander, then we win the championship. This is not particularly likely, so we’ll probably have to wait for our home game against Espanyol in a fortnight today to make sure of success. Real Madrid, currently lying third, doesn’t have a chance any more, being 19 points behind us, although they made up for that disappointment by thumping cross-town rival Atlético Madrid 6-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu. Atlético Madrid looks practically certain of relegation back to the Segunda Liga, being 13 points from safety and indeed six points behind 19th placed Mallorca.

2nd of May 2007

European Champions’ League - Semi-Final, 1st leg: Paris-Saint-Germain v Cartagonova

We have only played PSG twice in our career. In the first game, we defeated our opponent 3-2 at the Estádio Municipál de Cartagena, but at the Parc des Princes, we lost 3-1. So there isn’t much to choose between us and the defending European champion! The Spanish press is salivating at the thought of an all-Spanish final, but before we get there, we have to overcome PSG, while Barcelona needs to defeat Porto.

An extremely efficient move puts us on the board inside the first two minutes of the game. Laurie’s tackle is cleared away by Gershon and Redondo finds Notman with the header. It falls invitingly for Notman, and the big Scot thumps a volley into the PSG net! However, Vincenzo Montella replies practically instantaneously for PSG when he breaks free of Hakala and slots Anelka’s through-ball underneath Iván Vidal. But in a tight game, the next goal could prove very crucial and Redondo scores it! Clegg flicked on Mendy’s pass, meant for Montella, into the path of Notman. The big Scot, looking for a big game tonight, finds Redondo unmarked. The Spanish international hits a dipping volley from 35 yards and it defeats the PSG keeper to end up in the back of their net on 28 minutes! Notman could have extended our lead on the stroke of half-time, but his long-range effort rattles the post and goes out of play.

PSG sees Vidal pull off a superb save five minutes into the second half from Anelka, but we seem to keep a tight lid on their creative players - so much so that Raúl makes way for Wiltord with two-thirds of the game gone. But with ten minutes to play, Notman scores his second goal of the game to guarantee he goes home with the man of the match award as he scores a cracker of a goal from 40 yards! PSG aren’t done trying to score a second goal, and Vidal is certainly busy for the last ten minutes of the game, but we survive the onslaught to take back to Spain a very handy 3-1 lead on the first leg. I’m very happy about that!

Paris-Saint-Germain (5-3-2): Dobrynski; Mendy, Déhu ©, Addo, Cissé, Henry; Dalmat (Titov 60), Raúl (Wiltord 74), Johansen; Montella, Anelka.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Laurie; Gavião; Michel (Garrido 66), Lua-Lua; Clegg; Redondo, Notman.

Final score: Paris-Saint-Germain 1:3 Cartagonova

MoM - Alex Notman

In the other game, Barcelona crash 2-1 at home to Porto, making it difficult for them to move into the final of the Champions’ League. Patrick Kluivert missed a penalty on 39 minutes, which didn’t help, but a brace to França sealed the victory for the Portuguese club.

[Dixie Flatline]

3rd of May 2007

The day starts with transfer activity fresh in my mind as Real Madrid’s manager offers me £9 million for Jukka Hakala. I ask for £10 million now and a further £1.5 million if he plays ten internationals for Finland. In the meantime, Auxerre offers me £6.25 million for David Oliva. But that still represents a loss on the investment I’ve made in the young full-back, and I still believe that he will improve substantially over the course of the next year or so, which means I’m not prepared to give up on him just yet. Therefore, I reject the offer.

I lose José Manuel Redondo in the evening training session for the crucial weekend game against Real Sociedad after the Spanish international bruises a rib jousting with Gershon in a five-a-side practice match.

5th of May 2007

Auxerre returns with a bid of £7.25 million for Oliva. For the reasons above, I still decide to reject it, especially when the money is to be paid over 18 months.

Real Madrid does not like the terms I’ve named for Hakala, so their manager gives up on signing the Finn for the time being.

6th of May 2007

On the dawn of a possibly historic Sunday in Cartagonova’s history, Barcelona tries to tempt me with an offer of £9 million for Jukka Hakala. The big Finn’s eyes light up when he hears the news that Barcelona has again made a concrete bid for him, but he looks disappointed when the rumours spread that I’ve asked for £10 million now and £1.5 million after ten internationals. And the rumours are true, too!

Primera Liga - Game 34: Real Sociedad v Cartagonova

“… Profligate finishing robbed Cartagonova of the chance to wrap up the league title with four games to play in this season as Real Sociedad held La Liga’s leader to a draw at San Sebastián. Cartagonova dominated the game, but only scored two minutes into injury time at the end of the first half when Michel bamboozled and bulldozed his way through the Real Sociedad defence before smashing a drive into the top corner of the Basque club’s net. Real Sociedad players surrounded the referee angrily when he gave the goal as good, but to no avail. Ariel Carreño, in for the recovering Redondo, was especially busy and he caused the Real Sociedad defence plenty of problems. But too much time spent on the bench robbed the Argentine of his finishing skills, and Cartagonova could not find that second goal to extend the buffer. With ten minutes to play, Uruguayan international defender Leonel Pilipauskas scored his first goal ever for Real Sociedad in his five seasons at the club.â€

Real Sociedad (4-1-3-2): César Gálvez; Torres, Antía (Pilipauskas 57), Corino, López Rekarte; Nadj; Rodrigo © (Da Silva 63), Aranburu, Guerrero; Llorente (Felipe 57), Jankauskas.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Laurie; Gavião; Michel, Lua-Lua; Garrido; Carreño, Notman.

Final score: Real Sociedad 1:1 Cartagonova

MoM - Jukka Hakala

We actually could have made history today, since Racing Santander held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw, which bolstered the former club’s chances of surviving this season intact. Speaking of relegation, Atlético Madrid’s long-expected fate is confirmed this afternoon as the club loses 1-0 to Deportivo La Coruña at the Vicente Calderón stadium.

Jukka Hakala makes the Team of the Week’s starting eleven.

We should win the title next weekend at home to Espanyol, since we still hold an eleven point lead over Barcelona with four games to play in the league. We would have to lose every game from here on to give the defending champion the chance of snatching the championship by a point on the last day of the season. Surely that can’t happen! Can it?

[Dixie Flatline]

I’m relaxing at home when the fax machine begins to whir. Thinking that it is yet another offer for Jukka Hakala, I’m surprised to see an official FIFA letterhead on the top of the fax, and below that, a fax containing the names of all the players shortlisted for the FIFA World Player of the Year and inviting me to suggest my best player for this season, as a manager of the country.

And the nominees are…

· Nicolas Anelka, of Paris-Saint-Germain and France;

· Cristian Bardaro, of Barcelona and Argentina;

· Hernan Crespo, of Juventus and Argentina;

· Hector Cures, of Juventus and Sweden;

· Diego Ribera, of Celta Vigo and Spain;

· Patrick Kluivert, of Barcelona and the Netherlands;

· Vincenzo Montella, of Paris-Saint-Germain and Italy;

· Raúl, of Paris-Saint-Germain and Spain;

· Francesco Totti, of Fiorentina and Italy; and

· Christian Vieri, of Roma and Italy.

I’m disappointed and surprised not to see Alex Notman’s name on there, since he has been a shining light for club and country in the past season.

In the end, I decide to give my vote to Patrick Kluivert - he has been the driving force behind Barcelona’s determined chase of us in the title with 30 goals in 32 league appearances, and 14 goals in 14 appearances in the European Champions' League, not to mention five international goals in six games for the Netherlands. That means that from 52 club games this season, he has scored 48 goals!

8th of May 2007

Barcelona decides that my terms for Jukka Hakala are too much for it, despite the Finn playing superbly on the weekend. But Real Madrid is still interested in the defender despite the high price tag I’ve attached to him, so we’ll see how we go in this ongoing transfer saga that is filling plenty of column inches in the local and national sports papers and on the web sites.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Dixie Flatline]

A precious day off from work - let's spend it at Cartagonova!

9th of May 2007

European Champions' League - Semi-Final, 2nd leg: Cartagonova v Paris-Saint-Germain

“… Cartagonova made up for the disappointment of not sewing up La Liga title last weekend by withstanding a determined fightback from European champion Paris-Saint-Germain at the Estádio Municipál de Cartagena this evening. Pierre Ducrocq gave PSG a flickering chance on 28 minutes when he picked up the loose ball from Lacruz’s tackle on Raúl and stuck it in the back of Iván Vidal’s net. But an errant pass from Anelka led to Cartagonova’s equaliser as Gavião’s interception made its way up to Notman, who flicked it out for Clegg to volley home stylishly on 40 minutes. Four minutes later, and Notman provided the chance for Garrido to volley home Cartagonova’s second goal, and everything seemed in order for the Spanish club.â€

“But immediately after the resumption of play, a moment of impetuosity from George Clegg saw him sent off and Cartagonova re-jigging its formation to try to hid the one man disadvantage it needed to cope with for the rest of the game. Montella, Raúl and Anelka were all dangerous for PSG, but the equalising goal just wouldn’t come for the French club and in truth, Cartagonova could have pulled further away but for the lack of finishing from Spanish international José Manuel Redondo, who returned to the starting eleven after missing his club’s 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad last weekend. While PSG kept fighting until the final whistle, they were doomed to bow out of the European Champions' League at the semi-final stage. For Cartagonova, it will be their first appearance in the final after losing to eventual runners-up Celta Vigo last season…â€

Well, we finally did it! Of course, we had to do it the hard way with George Clegg getting himself sent off at the start of the second half. And when PSG scored the first goal of the game, I was a little worried, I have to say. But I can look forward now to planning for a clash against Porto in a fortnight at the hallowed Wembley Stadium in London. It should be a marvellous event for everybody involved in the club, including all the fans! You’d better book the seats early, folks, because tickets will sell very quickly!

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala (Ballesteros 61), Laurie; Michel (Morán 75), Gavião, Garrido; Clegg; Redondo, Notman.

Paris-Saint-Germain (5-3-2): Michel Dobrzynski; Mendy, Déhu (Oliver Dobrzynski 83), Addo, Cissé, Henry; Luccin ©, Raúl (Wiltord 65), Ducrocq; Montella, Anelka.

Final score: Cartagonova 2:1 Paris-Saint-Germain

Aggregate: Cartagonova 5:2 Paris-Saint-Germain

MoM - Alex Notman

We will face Porto because the Portuguese club thrashed a lacklustre Barcelona 5-2 in Oporto. Fabrício scored a hat-trick, while Silvio Maric and Carlos Paredes scored the other goals. Porto took the tie 7-3.

I decide not to impose any disciplinary sanction on Clegg. I have a few quiet words with him after the game, but I’m sure he realises the magnitude of his error of judgment. For a few seconds of ill-discipline he will miss out on a chance of a lifetime - playing in the final of the pinnacle of club football competition in front of a live crowd of over 80,000 and a worldwide audience in excess of a billion people.

Carles Puyol and Djibril Diawara are effectively ruled out until next season as they both suffer month-long injuries in training conducted this evening.

We set another record this evening as the game against PSG earned the club £430,872 in gate receipts. At one time that would have been considered a lot of money, but given the rights from television and sponsorship agreements the President and his brother have put in place, this isn’t so important any more.

[Dixie Flatline]

13th of May 2007

Lens makes an offer of £550,000 for reserve keeper Christoffer Källkvist. It is far too little for a player with his talents. Something more like £1 million might do the trick, though.

Primera Liga - Game 35: Cartagonova v Espanyol

This is our chance today to capture the Primera Liga title. A victory guarantees it, no matter what Barcelona does at home against Valencia. A draw, then we need to depend upon Valencia holding Barcelona also to a draw. If the unthinkable happens, and we lose, then Valencia must beat Barcelona for us to lift the Primera Liga trophy which has been transported to Cartagena in case we do snare the title.

And things look very good for us when Jukka Hakala puts us 1-0 up on 6 minutes from Clegg’s corner. It looks even better when Lacruz’s cross is spectacularly headed home by Lua-Lua, and the Congan winger’s celebrations matches the spectacle of his goal on 15 minutes. Two minutes later, and Clegg puts us 3-0 to the good when he scores with a rasping drive! But complacency sets in and we begin to relax too soon towards the end of the half. When Espanyol has one of Spain’s best youngsters in their eleven, that’s not a good thing to do and when Zubizarreta jinks his way through our defence into the penalty box, Vidal’s half-save isn’t enough to stop the young international from pulling a goal back. Then, a moment later, while the referee is considering putting the whistle to his lips to end the half, Tamudo darts through a growing gap in my defence and puts Espanyol only a goal behind.

My annoyance at the break becomes a full-grown fury just two minutes into the second half when Zubizaretta scores his second goal to pull Espanyol level! Unlike the first fifteen minutes, when we scored just by looking at Espanyol’s goal, the last phase of the game becomes very frustrating as we seem incapable of scoring that decisive goal to salvage the victory we’ve let slip.

All I can think about is that we’ll have to wait another week to make sure of things, but Luis Sosa nudges me and points to the crowd. They’ve stopped watching the game and seem to be totally absorbed in what’s being transmitted to them by their Walkmans. After Martín Palermo gave Valencia an early lead, Cristian Bardaro equalised for Barcelona on the stroke of the half hour mark. Vicente puts Valencia back in the lead four minutes into the second half, which is good for us, but Cannavaro makes things a little more equal on 59 minutes when he equalises for Barcelona. However, Javior Saviola makes us the champion of Spain on 77 minutes when he scores what turns out to be the winner for Valencia! The crowd at the Estádio Municipál de Cartagena goes wild when the news that the Argentine has scored and as each passing moment brings us that little bit closer to the title, the players on the pitch could, for all intents and purposes, be playing on Mars for the attention they’re receiving. Although Notman and Redondo miss good opportunities to score the winner in the last ten minutes of the game, it doesn’t matter in the end, as a point against Espanyol is sufficient to wrest the title away from their cross-town rival!

We are the champion of Spain!

Iván Vidal steps up onto the podium to the rapturous applause of the adoring home crowd and accepts the Primera Liga trophy from the royal designate from the King of Spain! He quickly invites the other members of the playing squad onto the podium to share in the glory, while I watch and applaud with a huge grin on my face on the hallowed turf of the Estádio Municipál de Cartagena. Eventually, they call me up on stage to bask in the glory that I’ve brought to this unfashionable club by Spain’s naval port. The medals are handed out.

They’ll be partying in Cartagena tonight!

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Hakala, Laurie (Ballesteros 64); Michel, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Clegg; Redondo, Notman.

Espanyol (1-2-5-2): Cejas; Rotchen; Juanma, Pochettino ©; Fábio Aurélio, Jaime (Peloca 56), Thiago Motta, Sergio, Cuevas; Tamudo, Zubizarreta.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:3 Espanyol

MoM - Raúl Tamudo

While clinching the Primera Liga title is obviously cause for celebration, in my head it doesn’t mask the fact that we were woeful in defence this afternoon. There is no one person I can blame for the collapse of our defence, and I’m glad in one way that Gavião picked up a yellow card that leads to a one match suspension, as that leaves him fresh for our clash with Porto in the European Champions' League final. But if we don’t improve, I’m sure Porto will think they have a very good chance of knocking us off.

[Dixie Flatline]

15th of May 2007

After a solid twenty-four hours of celebration without a break, the last thing I really want to deal with are more transfer activities. But West Ham decides that it would really like to pay me £7 million for George Clegg. Get outta here!

Lens gives up on Christoffer Källkvist. Too bad.

16th of May 2007

Lens wants to pay me £600,000 for the Swedish keeper. Not right now, thank you.

In the meantime, Real Betis scrounges together enough money to table a bid of £9.75 million, split into £8.25 million to be paid over six months and a further £1.5 million if he plays 20 league games. It’s all too complicated for a simple football manager to follow (disregard, for the moment, the fact that I started out on this path as a former lawyer!), and I tell my counterpart that only £10 million + £1.5 million after ten internationals will satisfy me.

In the Uefa Cup final, Ajax Amsterdam comfortably defeats Turkish club Trabzonspor 3-0 in Brussels. Goals to Ronaldo, Janssen and Igor Valeev seal victory for the Dutch club.

18th of May 2007

Now it’s the turn of Gavião to attract the attentions of rival clubs. Celta Vigo offers me a deal composed of £4.8 million to be paid over six months and £1.8 million paid after 20 league games for the Spanish international midfielder. I reject that bid, then consider what Real Madrid is willing to pay for him. It’s £5.25 million paid right now. I appreciate my counterpart’s straightforwardness, but I can’t accept this bid. I estimate the midfielder’s value at least £7.5 million, and more like £10 million before I’ll sell him, at the moment.

In the meantime, Real Betis doesn’t like my terms for Hakala.

20th of May 2007

Primera Liga - Game 36: Atlético Madrid v Cartagonova

I can summarise this game in one word - boring! Only one thing happens in the entire first half, and it takes until injury time to happen. Ariel Carreño, in for the rested Alex Notman, weaves his way through the Atlético Madrid defence (which isn’t too hard, considering that they are dead last and already relegated) to score a good goal. On 53 minutes, Michel heads home Morán’s cross, and that is about it for the game. Oh, and David Oliva is injured just eleven minutes after coming on as a substitute. He’ll miss two weeks, which effectively ends his season.

Atlético Madrid (5-3-1-1): Pinel; Santis, Samuel, Santi ©, David Charcos, Mora; Albelda, Gaizka Garitano, Camoranesi; Quique; Djaló (Calleja 73).

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz (Oliva 69 (Laurie 80)), Gershon, Hakala (Ãlvarez 69), Ballesteros; Villarreal; Michel, Lua-Lua; Morán; Redondo, Carreño.

Final score: Atlético Madrid 1:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Ariel Carreño

[Dixie Flatline]

21st of May 2007

Those inflexible physios advise me strongly not to play Michel in our forthcoming European Champions' League final against Porto on Wednesday evening after he suffers concussion in training this evening, fighting for the ball against Kew Jaliens. He might recover in time to play, but I don’t think he’ll be anywhere near fully fit, and with such stakes up for grabs, I can’t afford to take the risk of playing him.

23rd of May 2007

European Champions' League - Final: Cartagonova v Porto

“… Welcome to the new Wembley Stadium here in North London. It’s a fine, dry evening of about 18ºC, perfect for football tonight. The game should be a fascinating tussle between two adventurous sides. Cartagonova has scored 36 goals in the competition to date, while Porto has notched up 32 goals, while Cartagonova has conceded 22 goals so far, and Porto has let in 15 goals in the competition. Therefore, we should have a high-scoring game that befits the final to such a prestigious competition.â€

“Looking first at the Portuguese club, Porto, and we find that much of their game is based on a sturdy defence with Marco Moreira in goal, and an experienced back four including French international Michaël Silvestre and Portuguese veteran Jorge Costa. Much of the creative work in Porto’s game plan is shouldered by Portuguese international midfielder Ricardo Jorge, who is capable of playing anywhere across the midfield, but is usually preferred in the centre. He is supported ably by Hélder Postiga, who wants to cement for himself a permanent place in Portugal’s squad, and Silvio Maric, the veteran Croatian international. Paraguayan international Carlos Paredes is used to screen the back four from any attacks launched by Porto’s opponent. Up front, the Brazilian trio of Roni, Fabrício and França fight each other for the two spots allocated to the strikers, but they are normally effective, no matter how they line up for Porto, so Cartagonova’s defenders will have some trouble in handling them.â€

“Cartagonova has played a brand of attacking, exciting football that has brought the southern Spanish club plenty of success this season, with the club securing the Primera Liga crown last weekend. Obviously, the most important player to Cartagonova’s success is their Scottish international striker Alex Notman, who has already scored 34 goals in all competitions this season, including 9 in the European Champions' League. He has formed a terrific partnership with Spanish international striker José Manuel Redondo, with the experienced former Real Zaragoza striker looking to defend his European Player of the Year award. Normally, George Clegg is a dangerous player in the hole behind the strikers, but he misses out on this game due to suspension. Their attack is completed by Jaime Garrido on the left wing, who is expected to fill in for the injured Michel, while Real Madrid-bound Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua is dangerous down the right of midfield. Cartagonova adopts this attacking strategy due to the ability of Spanish international Gavião to protect the back four, not to mention the strength, stamina and ability of Shimon Gershon and Jukka Hakala, Cartagonova’s two central defenders. Iván Vidal provides a sturdy last line of defence in goal, as the club’s captain looks to lift the European Champions' League trophy this evening…â€

[Dixie Flatline]

I name Fernando Morán as George Clegg’s replacement. Jaime Garrido would have gone into that position, but I need him to play on the left to replace the recovering but unfit Michel. However, Michel still snags a place on the bench with no other midfielders available for consideration. But we concede an early goal when Fabrício sidesteps Hakala, bamboozles Ballesteros and then thumps a drive past Vidal in our goal on just 7 minutes. We can’t seem to get hold of the ball to even think about looking for an equaliser, so when on 21 minutes Gavião picks off a promising Porto move and finds Morán, I pray that the experienced midfielder’s instinct for goal hasn’t departed him. Fortunately, it doesn’t and the 30 year old marks his return to the fray with a bending, dipping shot that beats the Porto keeper and puts us level! Gershon rashly fouls Postiga a few moments later, but fortunately Vidal saves Paredes’ free kick. We clear the ball away from our defence and Silvestre concedes a throw quickly taken by Lua-Lua, who finds Morán and the midfielder hits a shot that bends away from the keeper at the last moment and ends up in the back of the Porto net! The visiting Cartagonova fan squad roars its delight at the turnaround of affairs, while my Portuguese counterpart looks furious.

Notman almost puts us 3-1 up on 33 minutes, but the Scotsman’s drive drifts wide of the mark when he should have done better. However, six minutes later, he does indeed have a goal when he expertly heads home Lua-Lua’s measured cross past Moreira! His 50th goal in a Cartagonova shirt could prove vital in the final analysis, especially when Vidal stretches to the limit to keep out França’s curling shot with 3 minutes to play in the first half. However, we end the first half on top of our Iberian opponent, and I feel fairly comfortable with the state of things at the break.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have, as Postiga feeds Maric inside our penalty area and but for a point-blank reaction save from Vidal Porto would be back in the game much more than they already are. The dangerous midfielder Ricardo Jorge tries his luck five minutes into the second half but Vidal casually holds onto the drive. But we can’t keep the ball out of our defensive third and Vidal is lobbed by França, but fortunately it clears the cross-bar too. Porto are all over us in the next 20 minutes or so, and it’s all we can do to keep them out. Vidal is by far the busiest player on the pitch as he strives to keep up with the frantic activity reached by Porto, looking for that important second goal. But our defence is breached one time too often when on 66 minutes, Cândido Costa plays a ball ahead of França. Expecting a shot from the Brazilian, Vidal rushes out to smother it, but the striker cannily squares it for his partner Fabrício and he scores with a simple tap-in, to leave me fuming on the touchline. I immediately make a change, bringing off Lacruz for Laurie, and hoping that we can withstand the last 20 minutes of the game. The Cartagonova portion of the crowd is quiet, biting their finger nails, while the Porto supporters are striving to keep up the intensity on the pitch for their players. Fabrício responds on 73 minutes when he hits a shot with the outside of his foot only to see Vidal punch the shot away and Ballesteros complete the clearance. Fabrício tries his luck again a moment later, but once again he finds Vidal in his way while Ricardo Jorge shoots on 78 minutes for goal, which doesn’t come his way. But that is about it for Porto, and we hold out for the last 10 or so minutes, with Notman having the final say - a powerful header tests Moreira to his limits but the Portuguese keeper is up to the task.

Finally, the referee puts his whistle to his lips for the last time and blows three long blasts on it to signal the end of the game. The Porto players immediately drop to the hallowed grass of Wembley Stadium, while our players rush towards Vidal, Morán and Notman to share in the celebrations. It strikes home - not only are we the champion in Spain, we are the king of Europe! It’s great particularly for Fernando Morán, who missed out on the league title because he didn’t play enough games in the league, but his long service to the club is rewarded with a winners’ medal from the European Champions' League! I’m sure that not even George Clegg could begrudge his colleague this honour.

Iván Vidal clambers to the top of the podium for the second time in three days to accept the European Champions' League trophy from the UEFA President. To the general acclaim of the crowd in Wembley Stadium, he lifts the huge trophy above his head and roars his delight at the crowd. The rest of the players who followed him up onto the podium join in with their captain, while I stand by clapping delightedly at our success! It’s going to be a wonderful couple of weeks in Cartagena while we drink in the glory of our double success in the league and in Europe!

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz (Laurie 66), Gershon, Hakala, Ballesteros; Garrido, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Morán; Redondo (Carreño 51), Notman.

Porto (4-1-3-2): Moreira; Athirson, Silvestre, Jorge Costa ©, Óscar; Paredes; Ricardo Jorge, Maric, Postiga (Cândido Costa 53); França, Fabrício.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:2 Porto

MoM - Fabrício

[Dixie Flatline]

I lose two players in the warm down training routine. Lacruz will be out until the end of the season with strained ankle ligaments, and Garrido rules himself out of consideration for Spain’s next match with a twisted knee.

Speaking of international games, call-ups are announced after the European Champions' League final. Jukka Hakala will play for Finland against Norway, while Jurica Vucko is included in Croatia’s squad against Bulgaria. George Clegg returns to England’s squad for their match against Romania. Daniel Jensen may represent Denmark against Israel, while Gershon will probably take the field for Israel against Denmark. Scotland calls up Alex Notman for its friendly against Algeria. In the meantime, I recall Gerard of Barcelona and give a surprised José Manuel Rubio, a 22 year old right back from Numancia, a call-up for potentially a debut against the Ukraine, as replacements for the injured Jaime Garrido and José Manuel Redondo. So, the squad looks like this:

Goalkeepers

Iván Vidal (28 y/o, ESP 0 caps, GK): Cartagonova

César Laínez (29 y/o, ESP 5 caps, GK): Barcelona

Javier López Vallejo (31 y/o, ESP 42 caps, GK): Villarreal

Defenders

Ballesteros (31 y/o, ESP 8 caps, D/DM RC): Cartagonova

Jordi Ferrón (28 y/o, ESP 7 caps, 1 goal, D RL): Real Zaragoza

José Manuel Rubio (22 y/o, ESP 0 caps, D/DM R): Numancia

Borja (28 y/o, ESP 11 caps, D LC): Valencia

Juanma (30 y/o, ESP 1 cap, D LC): Espanyol

David Rivas (28 y/o, ESP 4 caps, D LC): Real Betis

Iván Amaya (28 y/o, ESP 36 caps, 1 goal, D C): Deportivo La Coruña

César (28 y/o, ESP 46 caps, 1 goal, D C): PSV Eindhoven

Carlos Marchena (27 y/o, ESP 5 caps, D C): Celta Vigo

Midfielders

Artur (25 y/o, ESP 1 cap, DM RC): Villarreal

Gavião (27 y/o, ESP 1 cap, DM C): Cartagonova

Xavi (27 y/o, ESP 16 caps, 1 goal, DM C): Celta Vigo

Diego (28 y/o, ESP 11 caps, 2 goals, M/S C): Racing Santander

Miguel Ãngel Angulo (29 y/o, ESP 39 caps, 5 goals, AM/F RC): Valencia

Joseba Etxeberría (29 y/o, ESP 66 caps, 18 goals, AM/F RC): Athletic Bilbao

Francisco Javier Zubizarreta (21 y/o, ESP 3 caps, AM/F RC): Espanyol

Jorge Pérez (31 y/o, ESP 30 caps, 4 goals, AM LC): Athletic Bilbao

Vicente (25 y/o, ESP 53 caps, 14 goals, AM/F LC): Valencia

Gerard (27 y/o, ESP 38 caps, 6 goals, AM C): Barcelona

Forwards

Raúl (29 y/o, ESP 97 caps, 48 goals, AM/F LC): Paris-Saint-Germain

Diego Ribera (30 y/o, ESP 8 caps, 6 goals, S C): Celta Vigo

Joseba Llorente (27 y/o, ESP 2 caps, 2 goals, S C): Real Sociedad

Rubén Navarro (28 y/o, ESP 17 caps, 9 goals, S C): Bari

[Dixie Flatline]

24th of May 2007

Desperately fighting off the effects of a heavy night of celebrations on our return back to Spain with the European Champions' League trophy firmly in my grasp, I wake up to the phone call from my Real Madrid counterpart. He offers me his perfunctory congratulations on capturing the title and the European Champions' League, and then proceeds to make an offer of £9 million for Jukka Hakala. While I might be tired and emotional after a big four days in the history of the club, I’m still trying to obtain the best deal possible if we are going to sell the big Finnish defender, so I ask for £9.5 million now and a further £1.5 million if he plays ten more international matches.

26th of May 2007

I receive word from officials at Real Madrid that I’m asking too much for Hakala, and that they aren’t prepared to sign him for that amount of money.

At the beginning of the season you could have put your house on Barcelona winning something this season, whether it being domestically or in Europe. But today marks the final chapter in a sorry season for Barcelona as they are monumentally thrashed by Real Sociedad in the final of the Copa del Rey. As only the Barcelona fans support their club, the majority of the crowd in the Santiago Bernabéu prayed fervently for a Real Sociedad victory. Rodrigo scored first for the Basque club on 12 minutes, but it seemed that it would be a tense struggle when recalled Spanish international Gerard netted 13 minutes later. However, Rodrigo put Real Sociedad back into the lead on 31 minutes, and it was extended 7 minutes later by Aranburu. Spanish international striker Joseba Llorente made sure that they would be celebrating in the streets tonight in San Sebastián as he scored twice in the second half to seal victory for the underdog.

27th of May 2007

Deportivo La Coruña makes an audacious and completely unacceptable £5 million bid for Alex Notman. Surely they could not have expected success for such a low amount!

Primera Liga - Game 37: Cartagonova v Osasuna

While we have nothing left to play for, having wrapped up the title last weekend and winning the European Champions' League last Wednesday night, today’s opponent certainly does, since they would like to survive this season in La Liga. But Gavião puts us in the lead after just 2 minutes, pouncing on the rebound from Lua-Lua’s free kick. However, we are completely uninterested in pressing home our advantage and Osasuna gain a deserved equaliser when on 81 minutes, Gershon commits a foul on Pandolfi with 8 minutes to go. Ricardinho converts the penalty and only then do we come out of our torpor and try for the victory - Carreño and Notman both go close, but not close enough to steal the 3 points this afternoon.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Gershon, Hakala, Ballesteros; Salas, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Morán (Jensen 70); Carreño, Notman.

Osasuna (4-4-2): Palop; César, Josetxo ©, Saavedra, Cruchaga; Vítor Lima (Ricardinho 59), Schmidt, Colsa (Pandolfi 59), Pablo Lago; Oktay (Peralta 59), Jurandir.

Final score: Cartagonova 1:1 Osasuna

MoM - Josetxo

You may have noticed two different names in the first eleven for Cartagonova this afternoon. I decide to recall Livermore and Ramón Salas to the starting eleven - after all, they should be able to play for their position, with everything now out of the way.

“… Real Valladolid is confirmed as joining Atlético Madrid in the relegated basket, despite being one place higher than Mallorca, which is not yet mathematically relegated. Mallorca has one game in hand on Real Valladolid, and could conceivably overhaul Osasuna by the last day of the season. Interestingly, Osasuna manager Señor Francisco Herrera resigns despite taking a point from its battle with newly crowned champion Cartagonova.â€

28th of May 2007

Hertha Berlin and Lyon both make offers of £6 million for Alex Notman. Start out by at least doubling the value of that offer and perhaps, just maybe, you might tempt me into thinking about an offer for our talismanic striker.

29th of May 2007

Paris-Saint-Germain bids £7.25 million for Notman. Not even close, mate!

30th of May 2007

Not to be discouraged by the decidedly cool reception I gave him yesterday, PSG manager, Monsieur Jean-Luc Lamarche, the Director of Football at Paris-Saint-Germain, calls me personally to offer Cartagonova £8.5 million for Notman. Still isn’t sufficient to sway my mind about the Scotsman, though.

Real Madrid makes an intriguing offer of £9.5 million for Jukka Hakala. This is beginning to come within the range I’ve set internally for the rebel Finn. But I’m anxious to break the £10 million barrier, so I ask for an extra £500,000 on the transfer price.

We will enter the final weekend of the league season with a 12 point lead after Celta Vigo held Barcelona to a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp. Veteran Brazilian Rivaldo opened the scoring with a bullet header after just 40 seconds of play, and Edgar Davids doubled Barcelona’s lead on 28 minutes. However, Celta Vigo struck back twice in the second half, thanks to former Barcelona midfielder Xavi and South African international Bennedict McCarthy. In the meantime, Mallorca handed itself a lifeline when it defeated Copa del Rey winner Real Sociedad 2-1 at home. Goals to Pulido and Losada appeared to make the points safe, but Mallorca had to endure a nervous end to the game when Aranburu scored on 85 minutes. However, Sven-Gorän’s men stuck it out to the end to set up an intriguing last weekend in the Spanish league. Mallorca trails manager-less Osasuna by three pointst with one round to go. Osasuna hosts Sporting Gijón while Mallorca must win at Espanyol to have any chance of staying up. Should be a good weekend of relegation football!

[Dixie Flatline]

31st of May 2007

Deportivo La Coruña kicks off this morning’s transfer fun when its manager makes a formal bid of £8.5 million for George Clegg. However, being forced to lose Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua to Real Madrid means that I’m even more determined than usual to hang on to my linchpin creative midfielder, so I’m not going to consider this bid.

HSV breaks the £10 million mark with a bid for that amount of money for Alex Notman. However, despite the number of zeros at the end of the ‘1’, I’m still not interested in selling the Scot. Especially when the money is to be paid over 18 months.

Real Betis offers me £9.75 million, split into £7 million to be paid over six months, and £2.6 million after 20 league games, for Jukka Hakala. No deal here.

1st of June 2007

I’m very disappointed to see in the press this morning a story quoting Gavião’s agent that his client will make a £2.9 million move to Celta Vigo at the end of the season. It is a completely ridiculous story to print, and I castigate the journalists who put their name to it. It is completely untrue, and I call in Gavião to tell the club’s vice-captain of that in no uncertain terms. He promises to have a word to his agent after training and he apologises for his behaviour. Better yet, he reassures me that he is completely happy at Cartagonova and has no motivation to move anywhere else. That all goes into the press release I circulate later in the morning.

Real Madrid believes that it can’t find an extra £500,000 to sign Jukka Hakala. Too bad.

Without me remembering, Kew Jaliens clears out his locker and moves to Turkish club Gençlerbirligi for £5.5 million. He will be missed, since he was a competent member of the squad and certainly kept those in the first team on their toes: Kew Jaliens (28 y/o, NED 13 caps, D RC): 60(13) apps, 1 goal, 7 assists, av. rating: 6.78

3rd of June 2007

Primera Liga - Game 38: Racing Santander v Cartagonova

The last league game of the season takes us to Santander to play Racing. It’s lucky they don’t need a result to avoid relegation (they are 17th going into the game and safe from the drop), since we effortlessly brush them aside in the end. I make several changes to the first eleven with the aim of wrapping the Spanish internationals and other important players in cotton wool until next season, and one of the replacement players, Javier Alejandro Villarreal scores his first goal for Cartagonova on 25 minutes when he drives home Morán’s nice pass on 25 minutes. Eight minutes later, our task becomes easier when Jonathan is sent off for a terrible tackle on Morán that left the midfielder writhing on the side of the pitch for several minutes afterwards. Hernández begins to celebrate the successful conversion of the free kick until he is pulled up by the referee who wants him to re-take it. The second time he isn’t quite so successful. Preciado almost scores the equaliser against the run of play when his half-volley clears the bar by scant inches with Vidal well beaten. But Carreño reminds Racing Santander who is in charge when he meets Lua-Lua’s cross with a solid header, only to see Nuno scramble across his goal to tip it away. So Lua-Lua treats the visiting Cartagonova support squad to one last somersault combination when he jinks his way past Javi Prats before lashing an unstoppable record past Nuno. We’ll certainly miss his flamboyance and his creativity next season.

Morán almost ends his season on a personal high when he dribbles his way through the Racing Santander defence, but his shot goes over the bar on 65 minutes. However, Daniel Jensen puts the points beyond doubt on 78 minutes when he converts Carreño’s pass nicely. Sigurd Rushfeldt spoils Vidal’s day by scoring a consolation goal with a moment or so of the season remaining, but we fully deserve the victory.

Racing Santander (4-4-2): Nuno; Moreno, Urbano, Jorge ©, Javi Prats; Irazoki, Jonathan, Diego, Baraja; Butra (Roberto 33), Preciado (Rushfeldt 60).

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Gershon, Hakala, Puyol; Villarreal; Salas, Lua-Lua; Morán; Carreño, Hernández (Jensen 66).

Final score: Racing Santander 1:3 Cartagonova

MoM - Jorge

So, I feel a little tinge of sadness that the successful season has finally come to an end. It certainly has been busy, what with my commitments to the national squad, and it isn’t quite at an end since Spain takes on the Ukraine in Kyiv next Wednesday. But there is always something special about winning that first league title, and I’m glad that I’ve managed to guide Cartagonova to this exalted achievement!

We all begin to let our hair down in the dressing room after the conclusion of the game, and even though players like Notman, Redondo, Gavião, Ballesteros, Lacruz, Michel and Clegg didn’t participate in today’s match, they were all invited into the inner sanctum to celebrate our success - after all, they were all major cogs of the wheel!

[Dixie Flatline]

Just to complete the formalities, the final ladder looks like this:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1st C Cartagonova 38 16 3 0 43 14 12 5 2 42 22 92

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2nd Barcelona 38 11 3 5 42 25 13 5 1 47 19 80

3rd Real Madrid 38 15 1 3 52 25 10 0 9 27 24 76

4th Celta 38 10 3 6 34 25 10 4 5 36 23 67

5th Valencia 38 9 5 5 27 21 9 7 3 33 19 66

6th Villarreal 38 10 5 4 27 18 6 4 9 22 28 57

7th Deportivo 38 12 4 3 40 20 4 4 11 13 27 56

8th Real Sociedad 38 11 5 3 39 27 4 5 10 35 49 55

9th Espanyol 38 11 3 5 30 22 5 3 11 26 35 54

10th Betis 38 9 4 6 26 22 6 4 9 23 27 53

11th Numancia 38 9 6 4 36 27 5 4 10 21 33 52

12th Athletic Bilbao 38 8 4 7 26 24 6 5 8 16 21 51

13th Elche 38 10 1 8 32 24 5 4 10 24 30 50

14th Alavés 38 10 4 5 28 22 4 3 12 17 32 49

15th Sporting Gijón 38 6 8 5 33 28 6 4 9 20 30 48

16th Racing Santander 38 4 6 9 18 28 4 7 8 18 31 37

17th Osasuna 38 6 4 9 16 22 2 5 12 17 33 33

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

18th R Mallorca 38 5 5 9 16 27 2 4 13 11 37 30

19th R Valladolid 38 4 6 9 18 25 2 4 13 17 39 28

20th R Atlético Madrid 38 2 5 12 15 32 2 4 13 13 39 21

</pre>

As you can see, Mallorca failed to save itself when it could only draw 1-1 with Espanyol. Further, a win wouldn’t have helped, since Osasuna managed to draw at home with Sporting Gijón 1-1.

So now that the club season is over and done with, let’s take a look at the squad review for the season 2006/07, especially before many of them leave the club for good!

Goalkeepers

Iván Vidal (28 y/o, ESP, GK - 232(1) apps, 272 conceded, 20 MoMs, av. rating: 7.34): 47 apps, 51 conceded, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 7.28: Well, Iván Vidal certainly did reach 200 appearances for Cartagonova and further cements his place as the captain of the club. He also made it into the Spanish squad for the first time in his career earlier this season, but is still a long way from playing for the country. Conceding 27 goals in the league from 31 appearances helped us a long way towards winning the league title, but he undid his good work with some expensive games in terms of goals conceded particularly in the cup competitions. However, I’m still very happy with his overall contribution to the club and I don’t foresee any other keeper taking his place next season, not even Gillet, who thinks he can walk into the starting position when he joins in the summer. He certainly is a very good captain and is becoming ever more comfortable talking to the media after each game.

José Francisco Belman (35 y/o, ESP, GK - 4(1) apps, 6 conceded, 1 MoM, av. rating: 7.20): 3(1) apps, 6 conceded, 1 MoM, av. rating: 7.00: While José may have the experience of a veteran, he no longer has particularly the pace or the skills to keep up with the rigorous demands of top flight football. He drops back from second choice to third choice when he played a particularly poor game while Vidal was injured in the European Champions' League, and he is not likely to ever pull on the jersey for the club in a competitive fixture. When Jean-François Gillet joins the club in the summer, I will have four keepers, and since I like to have only three, that means that one of the current crop needs to go. José is the most likely of the three to go.

Christoffer Källkvist (24 y/o, SWE, GK - 10(1) apps, 12 conceded, av. rating: 7.55): 10(1) apps, 12 conceded, av. rating: 7.55: I’m very impressed by his first season as understudy to Iván Vidal. However, he is not particularly impressed with my managerial skills as he took umbrage with an official warning I dished out to him for a poor game that cost us some ground. He hasn’t managed to get over it through the season and he would probably jump ship the moment an opportunity presents itself. I don’t want him to go, because I think he has plenty of talent about him and I want to harness it. We’ll see whether this situation resolves itself next season.

Defenders

Juan Carlos Castro (20 y/o, ESP, SW/D C - 0 apps): 0 apps: Never made an appearance for the club and will leave for pastures new on a free transfer to Hércules in the summer.

Shimon Gershon (29 y/o, ISR 40 caps, 4 goals, SW/D/S C - 98(4) apps, 5 goals, 4 assists, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 7.30): 53 apps, 4 goals, 1 MoM, av. rating: 7.30: Shimon was a defensive pillar at the heart of our defence for the entire season. Always an automatic choice on the team sheet each weekend, he only rarely let me down and was the paragon of defensive strength whenever I needed him. At the peak of his powers, I look forward to another good season from him next season. He picked up a league championship and a European Champions' League winners’ medal this season, and I hope that spurs him to better things next season. I certainly believe that I picked up the better of the deal with Osasuna a couple of seasons ago when Fernando Couto moved in the other direction. He is also a good leader and could be in line for promotion next season. I don’t envisage him moving anywhere in the summer and I have him definitely in my plans for the next couple of years at the very least. He will definitely break the 100 start mark and will probably push the 150 mark by the end of next season.

Ballesteros (31 y/o, ESP 8 caps, D/DM RC - 190(4) apps, 7 goals, 13 assists, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 6.99): 39(3) apps, 1 goal, 5 assists, 1 MoM, av. rating: 6.67: Unfortunately, not a stellar season for my first-choice right back. Injury robbed him of any real consistency and as a result, his performances suffered. Still, he did manage to add to his international caps collection for Spain, and I look to him to fill that position for the national team. He really did have an average season, especially when considering the season he had before last, and I hope that he will improve next season. However, I don’t see anybody replacing him in his position for the next couple of seasons, so I think he is fairly safe for the time being.

Djibril Diawara (32 y/o SEN 17 caps, 2 goals, D/DM RC - 7(4) apps, 1 goal, 1 assist, av. rating: 7.18): 7(4) apps, 1 goal, 1 assist, av. rating: 7.18: Signed for nothing more than to add some short-term depth to the squad and some experience from the Italian leagues, he certainly filled the bill to a tee. I don’t envisage him playing much of a role next season, but to provide a spur to the more regular players to keep up their standards, but I can feel confident that if I will play him again, he will do a competent job. His defensive skills are certainly solid, but perhaps his ability to spray the ball around with any accuracy is lacking slightly. Yet to start picking up the language, that handicap will hold him back in the future at this club.

José María Lacruz (29 y/o, ESP, D RL - 159(5) apps, 2 goals, 8 assists, 1 MoM, av. rating: 6.63): 34(1) apps, 2 assists, av. rating: 6.46: Unfortunately for José, injuries and a loss of confidence in his own abilities means that this season was by far his worse for many a long year. He was particularly bad in the league where from 20(1) appearances, he averaged a very poor 6.38/game. But I persisted with him because frankly I didn’t have anybody I could trust to make the left back position their own and force José María Lacruz out of the first eleven. Things are likely to stay that way until David Oliva finds some maturity and consistency at the very least.

[Dixie Flatline]

Carl Laurie (24 y/o, ENG, D/DM RLC - 19(23) apps, 2 assists, av. rating: 6.50): 18(12) appearances, 1 assist, av. rating: 6.53: In my mind, I believe that Carl is still finding his feet in the sometimes bewildering world that is Spanish league football. But towards the end of the season, I feel that he has taken some big strides towards improving his overall game and making some solid contributions towards the success of the club. However, the board have precisely the opposite view - they consistently tell me that he should not be wearing the club colours. Fortunately for the player, though, he only has to impress me, not the board, because with the many trophies I’ve delivered to them and the associated wealth, I now have sufficient power to argue my case to the board and prevail. That said, however, Carl needs to show that as he begins to reach the prime of his football career that he can continue to meet my expectations as a Cartagonova player.

Ismael Méndez (17 y/o, ESP, D R - 0 apps): 0 apps: Fresh from the academy overseen by Luis Sosa, Ismael has not made any impact on the first team here at Cartagonova and I have not yet signed him to a professional contract. Other clubs have come snooping about him but have failed to take him away from Cartagena because of the transfer window being shut. Unless I do sign him to a professional contract, he will go when it lifts, though. He certainly does show signs of promise, and has regularly appeared, albeit mostly as a substitute, for the Spanish U-21 team. I’m seriously going to consider his future at this club as a long term investment.

David Oliva (20 y/o, ESP, D RL - 12(5) apps, 1 assist, av. rating: 6.71): 12(5) apps, 1 assist, av. rating: 6.71: Signed for a large amount seems to have burdened David’s ability to perform consistently for Cartagonova, although he is not helped by his young age and comparative inexperience. However, he seems unhappy here at Cartagonova and particularly with Jukka Hakala and myself. Until these issues are sorted out in his own head, we cannot expect him to perform to the standard I set for the first team regulars. Be that as it may, however, if we can turn him around mentally, I foresee very good things for this player, since he is gifted with pace, passing and tackling abilities, three areas I look for in a full back such as David. He is also strong in the air and appears to have the makings of a solid central defender, which would greatly enhance his value to the club if he could become capable of playing in that position.

Carles Puyol (29 y/o, ESP, D R - 6(1) apps, av. rating: 6.43): 6(1) apps, av. rating: 6.43: Unfortunately for Carles he left Barcelona hoping to find success at Cartagonova, but found himself that he did not quite fit into my plans when he did when he signed the contract agreeing to the move. Very rarely did I consider it wise to play the right back, and one of the appearances he made came at the end of the season when everything was already all over as far as Cartagonova was concerned. His situation at the club will be considered very seriously and if I judge it appropriate I think we will allow him to move on.

David Livermore (27 y/o, ENG, D/DM LC - 60(10) apps, 5 goals, 2 assists, av. rating: 6.87): 7(3) apps, av. rating: 6.50: Like Carles Puyol before him, David Livermore’s importance to Cartagonova diminished greatly in the season just finished. It is a pity, as I truly saw him as a worthy successor to the left back position, but unfortunately he has gone completely backwards here in the last season and I’m wondering whether a move away from Cartagonova wouldn’t be more appropriate. He certainly seems to think so, having spent most of the season being very hostile towards me after his transfer request was repeatedly declined. But I wouldn’t mind giving the tough-tackling, hard running, goal scoring defender another chance at this club.

Jukka Hakala (29 y/o, FIN 38 caps, 2 goals, D C - 53 apps, 2 goals, 2 assists, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 7.06): 53 apps, 2 goals, 2 assists, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 7.06: Making more than 50 appearances in your first season and all of them right from the start of each game, lifting the domestic title and the European Champions' League in your first season at the club and being a tower of strength both for club and country no doubt has attracted to Hakala plenty of attention. I need not go through the long-running transfer saga that has surrounded the Finn. Also needless to say is the fact that I want him to stay at the club and continue to build the club’s pedigree as a viable third force to the powerhouses of Barcelona and Real Madrid. But Jukka seems fascinated by the bright lights of Barcelona or Spain’s capital and appears determined to make a move there over the summer, never minding that in the process he has managed to alienate just about everybody else at the club. It is unfortunate that it has come to this, but I fear that I am only negotiating the right price to sell him at, and that his tenure at Cartagonova will only last this season. It is a pity, since he has been an excellent defender averaging 4.0 tackles/game in all competitions.

Óscar Ãlvarez (29 y/o, ESP, D C - 130(7) apps, 5 goals, 4 assists, 4 MoMs, av. rating: 6.92): 9(3) apps, 1 goal, 2 assists, av. rating: 6.75: Perhaps the leading person at the club who would like to see the back of Hakala, regardless of what he has done for the club’s profile around Europe, is this player, who was simply replaced by the big Finn as Gershon’s partner. However, I’m not likely to trust the defence of our titles to Óscar because he is simply not consistent enough. I’m sure he will continue to play a role in the squad until I decide otherwise, but I don’t see him taking back the regular spot next to Gershon in our defence.