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

[Dixie Flatline]

Group 9 saw Switzerland upset group winners Norway in Oslo 3-2 after Norway went down to ten men thanks to the dismissal of Alf Inge Haaland of Ipswich for an outrageous punch on his opponent that is sure to land the defender into some serious hot water with FIFA and UEFA. This came just a minute after Switzerland had cancelled out John Carew’s opener through Savovic. Then David Sesa gave the Swiss the lead on 35 minutes. West Ham’s Thorstein Helstad equalised just after the break, but Sesa again scored for Switzerland with 20 minutes to play, knocking the fight out of the Norwegians. In the meantime, Sweden were held to a 3-3 draw by a courageous Israel who never gave up the fight despite having nothing to play for. Sheffield United’s Eyal Berkovic put Israel in front on 21 minutes and it was extended by Auxerre striker Eli Biton. But Sweden equalised the scores in the space of four minutes with Borussia Dortmund’s Henrik Larsson and Juventus’ Hector Cures the men responsible. Juventus’ midfielder Daniel Andersson put Sweden in the lead on 71 minutes, but an injury time equaliser from Eyal Berkovic snuffed out Sweden’s dim chances of finishing second. Cartagonova’s Kenneth Gustavsson played the last twelve minutes of the match.

So the qualifiers at the moment include Argentina (winners), Germany (hosts), Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Zambia, Republic of Congo, the Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Norway, Ireland, Portugal, England, Colombia, France and Italy. In South American qualifying, Colombia is assured of finishing in the automatic qualification places after it romped to an easy 3-0 victory over Peru. Cartagonova’s Andrés Mendoza missed a vital penalty for Peru on 18 minutes after Colombia’s keeper Oscar Córdoba was shown the red card for a foul on Israel Zuniga but his replacement, the evergreen Faryd Mondragón, guessed correctly and was able to parry the shot away. Then the Peruvian defence collapsed, conceding two goals to Juan Pablo Angel in the space of two minutes, and a third - an own goal - in the second half. Paraguay and Uruguay are at least assured of finishing fourth and thereby playing off with Australia for a spot in the World Cup, but they are likely to finish second and third, leaving that spot to either Chile or Brazil. Peru still have a mathematical chance of reaching fourth position, being five points behind Chile with two games to play, but their chances have faded considerably.

[Dixie Flatline]

The European play-offs pair Hungary with Bulgaria, the Ukraine at home to Switzerland in the first leg, the Czech Republic against Belgium, and Croatia host Estonia in the first leg.

16th of October 2005

Primera Liga - Game 5: Cartagonova v Sporting Gijón

We have a lot of history with this club already and I would like nothing more than to defeat them on our own backyard while I’m sure my counterpart would love to see the Cartagonova fans leave the stadium disappointed as their team loses a home fixture. My squad is slowly returning to full fitness - Kokmeijer and Sabino are both back in light training but aren’t fit enough to be considered for today’s fixture, while Michel’s timely arrival back at full training allows him to slot straight into Mendoza’s place on the left with the midfielder still on international duty (Peru played a friendly yesterday against Venezuela).

Rivera gets us started on the right foot when he scores his first league goal of the season on 19 minutes after Redondo’s header is spilled by Bizzarri at the striker’s feet. He doesn’t miss those. He almost adds a second two minutes later when Bizzarri desperately palms away his viciously swirling free kick. The former Real Madrid forward then tees up Michel, but the winger only heads the cross into the waiting arms of Bizzarri on 23 minutes. Sporting finally emerge from their shells to begin testing Vidal with Nicolás Pavlovich firing two shots at Vidal that the keeper comfortably deals with. But he has no chance to stop Haruna Babangida’s fierce drive four minutes from the break and suddenly we’re back to square one again.

After comfortably roasting the defenders for their ineptitude for fifteen minutes, I send them out into the second half looking for another goal to restore the lead we had earned with some fine work early in the first. But it is Sporting who almost grab the lead when Danish international Peter Madsen rocks the woodwork with a thundering drive 20 minutes into the second half. I finally lose patience with Ãlvarez, who has had a pathetic game today, substituting him for Gershon, who is also back to full fitness. Lua-Lua replaces Michel, also. A long clearance from Vidal is picked up by Gavião and the Brazilian spots Rivera’s angled run into the Sporting box. He chips a pass into his path and Rivera controls it wonderfully before guiding it past Bizzarri for his and our second goal of the game. Hopefully it will be enough, but Sporting don’t know when to give up and Farinós forces a fine save from Vidal just three minutes later. From the corner, Spanish international Sergio tests Vidal with a vicious header which the keeper only just keeps out. The Cartagonova captain quickly regains his footing and just in time too, as Idan Tal tries his luck but can’t break Vidal’s quiet resolve.

Then disaster strikes. Gershon signals to the physios sitting on the bench that he needs immediate attention. The referee holds up play to allow them to attend to the Israeli, but they quickly signal to me that I need to make a substitution. The two defenders I have on the bench are Gustavsson and Jaliens, whom I don’t trust that much (I’m coming to think Gustavsson was a waste of money). I reluctantly decide to throw on Gustavsson and hope for the best. Needless to say, I don’t get it. Redondo has the opportunity to kill off the match when he breaks free of his marker on 83 minutes, but Bizzarri’s spectacular save denies him the opportunity to score a goal. Then with three minutes to play, Idan Tal lofts a ball over the defence looking for the run of Ettien. The defender runs onto the pass and fires a shot at Vidal. The keeper somehow gets a hand to it, but it squirms free and Ettien is quickest to react. Just like that, our lead evaporates. So does my good humour.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ãlvarez (Gershon 70 (Gustavsson 81)), Ballesteros, Lacruz, Michel (Lua-Lua 70), Gavião, Vucko; Clegg; Redondo, Rivera.

Sporting Gijón (4-5-1): Bizzarri; Rivarola, Sergio, Damiani (Otero 56), Ettien; Tal, Farinós, Madsen, Barselleta ©, Babangida; Pavlovich (Kamatcho 91).

Final score: Cartagonova 2:2 Sporting Gijón

MoM - Idan Tal

[Dixie Flatline]

Immediately after the match I have my coaches march Óscar Ãlvarez into my office. I’m not a happy man and I practically accuse the defender of costing us three points with his poor defending and the series of coincidences that occurred - his substitution led to Gershon’s injury which meant that Gustavsson was in the back line and that weakened our defence considerably. Looking at his statistics compiled for the time he was on the pitch, Ãlvarez was certainly not his authoritative self, barely successfully completing a third of his tackles and winning nothing in the air. That isn’t good enough by my reckoning and I officially warn the player. He blows some steam at me, telling me that he thinks it is completely unfair and that I’m just being vindictive. He storms out of my office before I’m done with him. That doesn’t go down well with me and I turn to my assistant, Luis Sosa, and tell him quietly that Ãlvarez is dropped for the match with Newcastle.

[Dixie Flatline]

17th of October 2005

I’ve been reviewing my squad over the past couple of days, and I decide that what I really need to strengthen it with is another quality striker. But who is available, and fairly cheaply? I gasp when I read off the Internet that Napoli has offered Leeds £9 million for Australian international Harry Kewell. He just isn’t that good any more, so I quickly cross his name of the list. Claudio Pizzarro is potentially available from Werder Bremen but would cost more than £5 million, which is my absolute upper limit. Nicolás Pavlovich impressed the scouts who watched him occupy my defenders in Sporting Gijón’s match against us, but Sporting isn’t likely to sell him right now. But Alex Notman looked a likely type. The Scottish international is eager to leave Stuttgart after not really liking the city and he is available cheaply - just £3.1 million for a player of his quality and class. Five international goals in ten caps for the ex-Manchester United man, and he is certainly capable of knocking them in at club level. He is a quick player with dazzling feet and packs a tremendous shot on his right foot. But he can also pass the ball around nicely and will surely drop off defenders, collect the ball and run at them before either shooting or finding a team mate. My decision is made, and I make a call to my college at VfB Stuttgart, a geezer named Herr Ralf Rangnick. I offer £3.1 million on him, and it is immediately accepted. Lovely doing business with you, mate!

I get in touch with Alex and his agent and we make our positions clear. He wants a ridiculously low min. release clause amount of £3.1 million, but if I have to sell him, I want it to be at a big profit, so I slap a £10 million min. release clause price on the Scot and increase his bonuses and signing on fee a little bit. Negotiations end around 11pm, but I have a good feeling about this one as I fall in bed to catch some sleep before supervising training tomorrow morning.

[Dixie Flatline]

18th of October 2005

After a solid training session with the defenders and midfielders ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Newcastle at home, my phone rings in the office, and the secretary tells me that it is Alex Notman’s agent on the phone. We exchange pleasantries for a while before we get around to business. Alex seems to think that a move to Cartagonova is in his best interest, so come December 15th, he’ll be on our doorstep, raring to go. Lovely!

19th of October 2005

European Champions’ League - Phase 1, Group E, Game 4: Cartagonova v Newcastle United

I hope to do the double over the Toon Army and ensure that we will finish into the top two of the group. On 6 minutes, Gavião feeds George Clegg and the former Manchester United midfielder forces Kostwinder into a smart save. But Newcastle seem to take the initiative after that early scare and once again Carl Cort is their most dangerous striker, yet we weather the early storm and Redondo again tests Kostwinder with a viciously dipping shot on 26 minutes. He is closely followed by Lacruz who breaks effectively down the right flank and he drives a shot towards the far corner, but Kostwinder manages to time his jump well enough to hold his shot. We are now queuing up to shoot at Newcastle’s keeper and Clegg again is denied by a wonderful save on 33 minutes. But Clegg is almost the villain when the free kick he concedes needs to be saved smartly by Vidal, who tips away Benayoun’s free kick on 42 minutes. Bang on half-time, though, Rivera has our final opportunity of the half, but can’t make it count and we enter the break still deadlocked.

It doesn’t stay that way for long in the second half as Rivera finds himself unmarked in the Newcastle box and picks up Livermore’s clever pass. The former Real Madrid striker launches a stinging shot at Kostwinder, only to see the young Dutchman partially smother it. But the ball rolls free and Gavião is on hand to tuck in the rebound! But four minutes later, we’re reduced to ten men when Livermore is sent off for a too ruthless tackle on Andy Owen. That means that Jaliens has the rare opportunity to impress me as he comes on for Rivera and slots into right-back with Lacruz switching to left-back. Vidal does well to save the resulting free kick while we defend the corner stoutly. It’s real backs to the wall stuff as we defend heartily against Newcastle and look to hit them on the break. On 76 minutes, Redondo embarks on one of his mazy runs that takes him through the heart of the Newcastle defence, but he can’t finish the move off as Kostwinder somehow gets across to tip his searing drive away. But 4 minutes later, he plays a clever pass into the feet of Michel and the former Rayo Vallecano midfielder doesn’t let us down, extending our lead to 2-0 from 30 yards and effectively sealing both clubs’ fates. We qualify from our group with four straight victories. Newcastle remain bottom with four straight losses.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Filipescu, Ballesteros, Lacruz; Michel, Gavião, Vucko; Clegg; Redondo, Rivera (Jaliens 56).

Newcastle United (4-4-2): Kostwinder; Griffin, Hyypiä ©, Hessey, Maybury; Petkov, Diamond (Tobin 60), Hansson, Benayoun; Law (Owen 55), Cort.

Final score: Cartagonova 2:0 Newcastle United

MoM - José Manuel Redondo

In the evening warm-down session, Kenneth Gustavsson contrives to injure his foot meaning he will miss the next three weeks.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Dixie Flatline]

Returning with more from down the south of Spain!

22nd of October 2005

Primera Liga - Game 6: Cartagonova v Extremadura

We’ve had the wood over our next opponent in previous encounters and they are slow to pick up points this season, taking just one from six previous games. It is therefore a good opportunity for us to put some league points on the board, which I would prefer. We’re given a hand when Robles clips Gavião in the area. The referee points to the spot and shows a yellow card, while Filipescu comfortably converts the penalty. As usual with many struggling sides, Extremadura has plenty of problems in front of goal and not even Gustavo Bartelt wastes an opportunity to equalise on 17 minutes. Rivera makes sure I have a headache when Kokmeijer and Sabino are both fit, as he cleverly tees up Morán, but the midfielder can’t make the chance count with Robles pushing aside his shot. We begin to dominate everywhere on the pitch and it’s only a matter of time before we extend our lead, and on 45 minutes, Lua-Lua times his run to perfection to meet Redondo’s cross and his header easily beats Robles. To their credit, Extremadura try hard in the second half to get back into the match, but their lack of quality keeps them back and we run out winners 2-0.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Filipescu, Ballesteros, Lacruz; Michel (Mendoza 65), Gavião (Sanz 65), Lua-Lua; Morán (Esposito 87); Redondo, Rivera.

Extremadura (3-5-2): Robles; Koldo Arce, Luis López ©, Abelardo; Rodríguez, Ibagaza, Dardai, Benja (Geni 65), Kaladze; Sívori, Bartelt (Nacho Sierra 57).

Final score: Cartagonova 2:0 Extremadura

MoM - Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua

23rd of October 2005

Leeds accepts Napoli’s offer for Harry Kewell. In the meantime, Ourense youngster Antonio Quesada signs a new six year contract with his club.

[Dixie Flatline]

25th of October 2005

Harry Kewell decides that life in Naples is preferable to slogging along in the first division with Leeds - must be the pasta, I think.

European Champions’ League - Phase 1, Group E, Game 5: Cartagonova v Ajax Amsterdam

I hope that we can keep our extraordinary run in the Champions’ League going as we have not yet conceded a goal in the group stage and indeed haven’t conceded a goal since the 75th minute mark of the first leg of the qualifying round against Anderlecht in Brussels. Former Juventus striker David Trezeguet has the opportunity to break Vidal’s resistance on 7 minutes, but hits his shot high over the bar and Vidal remains untroubled. We sweep the ball from the captain’s goal-kick towards Redondo but Brazilian midfielder Vampeta quickly closes him down. However, Rivera picks up the loose ball and feeds Lua-Lua who races onto the pass and fires low and hard beneath Joe Didulica after 8 minutes! Redondo almost adds to our lead on 19 minutes when he takes Morán’s pass in his stride but Didulica manages to push his shot away. As the half wears on, Ajax finally gets into the match, thanks mainly to Jari Litmanen’s promptings. Theo Janssen tries a half volley on 30 minutes, but Vidal flings himself across the goal to hold the shot in both hands in a superb save. Vidal does just as well on 39 minutes to deny Litmanen while Curro Torres completes the clearance by hoofing the ball up field.

Ajax continue to dominate after the half-time break with Janssen shooting over the bar on 47 minutes. I want my defence to tighten up and Gavião to start asserting himself in the middle of the park to deny them the space they seem to be finding. But it doesn’t do much good and I find that my full-backs are being cut to pieces. So Curro Torres is replaced by Kew Jaliens and I switch Lacruz to left back. The effects aren’t immediate as Trezeguet wastes two excellent opportunities on 61 minutes to equalise. Vidal manages to get some finger-tips to his first shot, but Trezeguet should have done a lot better with the rebound than put it wide, but I’m not complaining. Then on 67 minutes, against the run of play, Alberto Rivera extends our lead, picking up the loose ball from Stefanovic’s tackle on Redondo and driving it low into the bottom of Ajax’s net! That relieves the pressure on the defence and as the match enters injury time, Rivera adds his second goal to the scoresheet, volleying home Redondo’s perfect pass past Didulica!

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Curro Torres (Jaliens 58), Filipescu, Ballesteros, Lacruz; Michel, Gavião, Lua-Lua; Morán; Redondo, Rivera.

Ajax Amsterdam (4-3-2-1): Didulica; Stefanovic, Chivu ©, Heitinga, Hoekstra; Serginho, Van Bronckhorst (Yakubu 73), Vampeta; Janssen (Zonga 56), Litmanen; Trezeguet (Luis Figo 62).

Final score: Cartagonova 3:0 Ajax Amsterdam

MoM - Albero Rivera

Ajax’s loss is tempered by the fact that Newcastle United defeated Liteks Lovach in the other group match, which means that with one more Match Day to come, Ajax’s nine points cannot be overcome by either Liteks or Newcastle. On the other hand, Ajax is six points behind us, so we’re now assured of finishing top of Group E. Only Vitória Guimarães has not conceded any goals like we have so far, but they have only scored five goals, whereas we’ve scored ten in the group phase to date.

After the match I decide that it is time to list Rufete. He doesn’t even look like reclaiming a spot in the match squad, and I feel that it is better to cash in on him now than allow his contract to expire at the end of the season. So I instruct the club to put out the word that Rufete is available for purchase.

[Dixie Flatline]

26th of October 2005

The decision to list Rufete seems to be paying dividends as Yugoslavian club FK Zeleznic Belgrade offers me £600,000 for him. I demand £750,000 for the winger and see how it goes.

28th of October 2005

FK Zeleznic returns to the negotiating table with a final offer of £750,000 for Rufete and I agree.

29th of October 2005

It takes Rufete about a day to decide that life in Belgrade would be preferable than trying to win a place back in my heart at Cartagonova, so he releases a press statement to the uncaring media that he will move to Zeleznic as soon as possible in a move partially motivated by a clash with me. I laugh when I read that, but I’d rather see the player go and bank the £750,000 for him: Rufete (28 y/o, ESP 1 cap, AM R): 55(2) apps, 13 goals, 12 assists, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 7.10

30th of October 2005

Primera Liga - Game 7: Real Zaragoza v Cartagonova

A highly disappointing match. We spend the entire first half camped inside Real Zaragoza’s defending third but we can’t find that killer touch to get the goal our good work deserves. Redondo, Michel and Rivera all miss opportunities that on other days they would have buried. Then with their first move into our defensive third, Marcos Vales and Peralta combine to give Iván Kaviedes the opportunity to score and he does so acrobatically with a wonderful overhead volley. It’s more of the same in the second half as we do everything but score. Rivera and Redondo both hit the cross-bar in the first ten minutes of the second half. A couple of substitutions sees us adapt a 3-1-2-1-3 formation and it eventually pays dividends as the fit again Niels Kokmeijer scores his sixth goal of the season right at the death to rescue us a point. But we really should have won this game and as a result of dropping two points, we go backwards to eleventh.

Real Zaragoza (4-4-2): Juanmi ©; Placente, Jusue, Toni, Ferrón; Peralta (Ognjenovic 88), Martinovic, Ergic, Marcos Vales (García 79); Kaviedes, Iván Rosado (Manel 68).

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Filipescu (Kokmeijer 67), Ballesteros, Lacruz; Gavião; Michel, Lua-Lua (Vucko 67); Morán; Redondo, Rivera.

Final score: Real Zaragoza 1:1 Cartagonova

MoM - Diego Placente

2nd of November 2005

Primera Liga - Game 8: Cartagonova v Valencia

We make up a league match on a wet, wild Wednesday evening in Cartagena. These are conditions that don’t suit our style of play at all, but I’m still furious to see Hugo Leal waltz through our defence on 6 minutes before hitting a low drive into the bottom corner of Vidal’s net. Rivera could have equalised on 18 minutes when Clegg’s neat pass finds him unmarked, but the ex-Real Madrid player hits the post. Hugo Leal then causes havoc again in our defence, his long lofted pass falling nicely for Palermo and the Argentine veteran hits his shot accurately and successfully. I’m forced into a change on 28 minutes when Vucko and Vicente clash heads and both need to be treated by the physios. Lua-Lua replaces the Croatian international. On 32 minutes, the comeback begins when Livermore shows tremendous close control and determination to shoot spectacularly from the edge of the area to halve Valencia’s lead and give the shivering crowd something to cheer about. Hugo Leal has the ball in our net again on 45 minutes, but the referee comes to our rescue, pointing to the linesman’s flag.

I’m unhappy with the boys at the break. We can’t carry through our tremendous defence from the Champions’ League to the domestic competition and there’s no way we can gift our opponent a two goal start and expect to win. But at least we have a chance to salvage a point and sure enough, Sergio spills Rivera’s free kick and it falls at the feet of George Clegg. The Englishman gleefully tucks it away. The wet conditions aren’t conducive to top skills, but both sides have chances to win it. However, we all miss them and we need to settle for the point.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Gershon, Ballesteros, Lacruz; Michel, Gavião, Vucko (Lua-Lua 28); Clegg; Kokmeijer (Sabino 78), Rivera.

Valencia (3-5-2): Sergio; Espín, Borja, Mellberg ©; Stankovic (Jaime 91), Verón, Hugo Leal, Harold Lozano, Angulo; Palermo, Vicente (Karanka 28).

Final score: Cartagonova 2:2 Valencia

MoM - Martín Palermo

[Dixie Flatline]

5th of November 2005

There is an amazing match held in San Sebastián this afternoon between Real Sociedad and Barcelona. Lithuanian international Edgaras Jankuaskas gave Real Sociedad the lead on 11 minutes and then Brazilian Rodrigo converted a penalty five minutes later earned by Llorente after he was recklessly and poorly tackled by Pablo Paz, who received his marching orders. But Barcelona is still the defending champion and it commenced the comeback on 19 minutes when Rivaldo scored his third league goal of the campaign. Spanish international midfielder Gerard equalised on 29 minutes while Argentina’s captain, Juan Sebastián Verón, put Barcelona in front on 37 minutes. This was after Real Sociedad was reduced to ten men with the dismissal of Gurrutxaga for two yellow cards - the second for dissent. In the second half, Real Sociedad went down to 9 men as Schürrer received a straight red card for a blatant shove on Patrick Kluivert. Then disaster for Joseba Llorente. More accustomed for sticking the ball in the opponent’s net, he scored the first of two own goals when he deflected Gerard’s free kick past his keeper on 59 minutes. On 68 minutes, Llorente deflected De la Peña’s free kick into his own net. Alfonso added Barcelona’s sixth on 86 minutes, while Alejandro Da Silva scored a consolation goal for Real Sociedad on 88 minutes. The scoresheet read Real Sociedad 3:6 Barcelona with three players dismissed.

6th of November 2005

Primera Liga - Game 9: Cartagonova v Racing Santander

It’s time, I tell the boys, to get back on the winning list, and I’m gratified to see Andrés Mendoza respond with his first goal for the club after just four minutes, picking up Gavião’s useful pass and blasting it home from the edge of the area. The wet weather again curtails the standard of play, but we lift ourselves above the general malaise to extend the lead on 26 minutes. Rivera feeds Mendoza and the Peruvian international crosses the ball towards the far post where Lua-Lua has motored towards and the ex-Novocastrian heads the ball across goal to score our second of the game! Niels Kokmeijer could have extended the lead a few moments later but his superb run and shot is denied a classic goal by a finger-tip save by Nuno. In the second half, the Dutchman is again denied when his lob is somehow clawed away by Nuno on 58 minutes. Gavião’s pinpoint pass is volleyed against the post by Clegg on 70 minutes but with 10 minutes to play, Shimon Gershon scores his first goal for Cartagonova when he rises highest at the Ramón Salas-orchestrated corner to make it 3-0 and a satisfying afternoon.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore (WingÃ¥rd 72), Gershon, Ballesteros, Lacruz; Mendoza, Gavião, Lua-Lua (Salas 72); Clegg; Kokmeijer, Rivera.

Racing Santander (4-4-2): Nuno; Neru ©, Reynoso, Jorge, Julián Ronda; Alberto, Leko, Diego, Javi Prats; Butra, Rushfeldt.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:0 Racing Santander

MoM - Andrés Mendoza

Our fourth victory of the season pushes us into the top ten - seventh, in fact - three points behind Espanyol, Barcelona and Villarreal, while we’re level on points with Numancia. Lua-Lua is named at right-wing for the Team of the Week.

7th of November 2005

There is big news from Gijón as the Sporting Gijón manager, Señor Vicente Cantatore, allows Danish international striker Peter Madsen to be transfer-listed. The Dane has played a big role in Gijón’s emergence as a force in Spanish football since he moved from Danish club Brøndby back in 2002/03. He is officially valued at £8 million.

8th of November 2005

An amazing story from the European Champions’ League is completed this evening by West Ham. The English champion looked out of its depth in the first group phase having not claimed a victory in any of its first four matches. But they pulled three points out of the fire against Vitória Guimarães in Match Day 5, and then this evening in front of their parochial fans at Upton Park, they triumphed over Bayern München 2-0 to sneak ahead of the German club and finish second behind the Portuguese club.

[Dixie Flatline]

9th of November 2005

European Champions’ League - Phase 1, Group E, Game 6: Liteks Lovach v Cartagonova

To finish Group 1 with no goals conceded is the major achievement I would like to leave Bulgaria with, but this will be a difficult match in a strange environment. Liteks has some useful forwards and I’m sure my defence and Vidal will be rather busy this evening. It turns out that way with Vidal called into action early in the game, but we should have put Liteks onto the back foot when Rivera breaks free of his marker yet drives his shot well wide of the goal. On 11 minutes, the striker hits the post with a curling header. We exchange territorial dominance over the remainder of the first half, but there is nothing to separate us at the break. Five minutes into the second half, we take the lead when Rivera feeds Clegg and the Englishman drives a fierce strike into the top corner of the net. A minute later, we make it 2-0 thanks to Rivera’s accurate drive from Kokmeijer’s knockdown. Ever since coming into the side thanks to the injuries of other players, I haven’t been able to leave out Rivera and it looks like I won’t be able to again! But a sustained period of pressure from Liteks results in Vidal finally conceding a goal on 59 minutes, with Zafirov the beneficiary of a well-constructed move. We are unlucky not to make it 3-1 late in the match, but at least we keep our winning streak intact, if not our defence.

Liteks Lovach (5-3-2): Kerényi ©; Ivailo Todorov, Popov (Nikolov 60), Angelov, Georgi Zafirov (Kirilov 68), Penev; Kushev, Rakovic (Petkov 74), Ivanov; Ivan Zafirov, Todorov.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Ãlvarez (Jaliens 60), Ballesteros; Gustavsson; Michel, Lua-Lua (Morán 60); Clegg; Kokmeijer, Rivera.

Final score: Liteks Lovach 1:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Norbert Kerényi

So, the final standings of Group E in Phase 1 look like:

We are drawn in Group C in Phase 2, along with Paris-Saint-Germain, Rosenborg and Vitória Guimarães. It looks a good group to be drawn in at this stage.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[pooscalery]

Great story and a great chance to qualify from your 2nd Phase CL group

[Dixie Flatline]

Thanks, pooscalery! I'm glad you enjoy the story, and I certainly hope that we'll qualify from the second group phase!

[Dixie Flatline]

12th of November 2005

Celta Vigo launch an astonishing £3.9 million bid for Ballesteros. This is already dangerously close to his £5 million min. release clause, but I still turn down the offer anyway because he is still our best defender. But Ballesteros is not happy when I reject the offer.

Anyway, I sit in my comfortable chair in front of the television and watch Eurosport’s coverage of the European World Cup Qualifying playoffs. Their feature match is the Czech Republic’s home fixture against Belgium. In the meantime, Estonia takes a crucial 2-1 lead back to Tallinn after Joel Lindpere scored a first-half brace to pull Estonia into the tie. Dario Simic opened the scoring for Croatia on 12 minutes but within 60 seconds, Lindpere had Estonia level and thirteen minutes later, his second goal put Estonia in the lead. Croatia earned a penalty late in the match when Mart Poom clipped the feet of Ivan Juric, but Igor Biscan missed the spot kick to give Croatia an uphill battle. In the feature match, Belgium took an early lead against the Czech Republic when Vitesse Arnhem’s Kristof Aelbrecht struck after just 7 minutes. But the second half belonged to the host with Manchester City’s Vladimir Smicer, Tottenham’s Patrik Berger and Treviso’s Vaclav Kolousek scored four goals to overwhelm Belgian resistance.

Hungary and Bulgaria played out a boring 0-0 draw in Budapest to leave the tie still up for grabs in the second leg in Sofia. In the meantime, the Ukraine took a big stride towards qualifying for its first ever World Cup after defeating Switzerland 3-0 in Kyiv. Andriy Shevchenko scored twice and De Graafschap’s Ruslan Valeev the third goal to all but book its place in next year’s World Cup in Germany.

13th of November 2005

Spain faces a difficult trip to hostile Tehran to meet Iran for a play-off to decide who will go to the World Cup after Iran secured the play-off place by defeating Lebanon 2-0 in Beirut. I’m sure that the Azadi stadium in Tehran will be packed to the rafters with 100,000 Iranians cheering on their comrades. Señor Javier Clemente contacts me immediately after the result filters through from the Middle East that he requires Ballesteros for the Spanish squad. I wish him luck, but he sounds a little suspicious - he must have heard the rumours that I’m interested in taking over the job of Spain’s manager if he fails to deliver qualification.

[Dixie Flatline]

16th of November 2005

The return legs are played in the European World Cup qualifiers. The Czech Republic completes the job over Belgium, defeating their opponent 1-0 in Brussels thanks to Parma’s Tomas Jun scoring just before half-time. The Czech Republic triumphed 5-1 on aggregate. Gonzo struck late in the second half to book Bulgaria’s passage to the World Cup 1-0 on the night and 1-0 on aggregate over Hungary. Croatia overturned the 2-1 deficit to win 3-0 in Tallinn and 4-2 on aggregate. Igor Biscan atoned for his first leg penalty miss by equalising the scores on aggregate on 58 minutes. Alen Peternac put Croatia into the lead on aggregate three minutes later and Cvitanovic made the tie safe on 69 minutes. Finally, the Ukraine withstood the loss of Dmytrulin to a red card on 40 minutes to draw 1-1 with Switzerland to advance 4-1 on aggregate to the World Cup.

In South America, Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay qualified automatically from the league, joining Argentina as COMNEBOL’s representatives so far. Brazil earned a two-legged playoff against Oceania’s representative, Australia, with the first leg to be played in Rio de Janeiro at the start of December 2005.

Andrés Mendoza helped Peru draw 1-1 with Bolivia, but Peru finished its 16 match qualifying run in sixth position, nine points behind Brazil. Jurica Vucko played a part in Croatia’s 3-0 victory over Belgium. Kevin Keegan’s build-up to next year’s World Cup continued apace as his England tore Iulian Filipescu’s Romania apart 3-1 at Wembley despite Adrian Mihalcea giving the away side the lead on 20 minutes. Manchester United’s Sol Campbell equalised six minutes later, while in the second half strikes to Manchester United’s Keith Lyons and Ipswich’s Matt Taylor guaranteed the bragging rights for the Three Lions. Despite stacking the defence, Israel with Shimon Gershon prominent at the heart of the defence, still lost 2-1 to Iceland in Rejkjavik.

[Dixie Flatline]

In other European friendlies, Germany and Italy played out a 0-0 stalemate in Berlin. The same scoresheet was repeated in Amsterdam as the Netherlands was held by France. Northern Ireland won 1-0 over Albania at Windsor Park in Belfast with the goal scored by Andy Morrow on 79 minutes. Norway tore Scandinavian rival Sweden apart 5-2 in Oslo. Torino’s John Carew, West Ham’s Thorstein Helstad, Bayern München’s Christer George and Manchester United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjær were all on the scoresheet for the home country. Scotland went down to Poland 1-0 in the 90th minute of play to Legia’s Pawel Kozlowski.

So, to keep you up to speed with the qualifiers for the World Cup of 2006 in Germany, here are the countries assured of taking part next year: Argentina (winner), Germany (host), Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Zambia, Republic of Congo, the Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Norway, Ireland, Portugal, England, Colombia, France, Italy, Mexico, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, United States of America, Jamaica, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Ukraine, and Paraguay. That leaves two spots still up for grabs and the countries vying for those places are Spain versus Iran and Brazil versus Australia.

17th of November 2005

Nottingham Forest offers me £1 million for Kevin Gibbens. The boy hasn’t settled in properly at the club and never shown the talent I think is still there, waiting to be harnessed. But the cruel fact of the matter is that he is so low on the pecking order for the one central midfield position I use that there is no point keeping him around. So I accept the offer.

18th of November 2005

Kevin Gibbens agrees terms with Forest and is set to return to England after a disappointing spell in Spain. The accountants are happy as Nottingham Forest prepares to deposit £1 million in our account: Kevin Gibbens (26 y/o, ENG, DM C): 5(4) apps, 1 assist, av. rating: 6.78

19th of November 2005

I pick up the newspapers in the morning and take it to the breakfast table while my partner prepares a delicious Spanish breakfast to prepare me for the day. Turning to the back page and the sport section, I chew on the Spanish eggs while reading that Novelda is apparently on the verge of signing Pablo Box for £1.1 million. If I could get that amount of money for the midfielder, I would be very pleased. But breakfast must come first and I polish it off before placing a few phone calls to keep the rumour circulating. Hopefully it will generate some action on the Pablo Box front.

[Dixie Flatline]

20th of November 2005

Primera Liga - Game 10: Athletic Bilbao v Cartagonova

It’s always a difficult trip to Bilbao to try to take three points and today, unfortunately, we are completely outplayed by a superior Athletic Bilbao. It’s hard to believe that our hosts are struggling in 13th place before this match, but it is true. Athletic Bilbao dominate the early exchanges and they are well-rewarded by a superb Jon Lambea free kick on 28 minutes that defeats Vidal from 30 yards. To make matters worse, we’re completely ineffective beyond the half-way line and I have some strong words with my midfielders and forwards about their standard of play in the first half. Lua-Lua is replaced by Vucko at the break. But it makes little difference as we fall 2-0 behind on 50 minutes. Lambea is the architect, finding the pass to unlock the defence for Jorge Pérez to neatly control then crash a drive beyond the reach of Vidal. Michel and Clegg combine to set up Rivera for our first real opportunity of the match, but the striker wastes the golden chance. Clegg halves Athletic Bilbao’s lead on 68 minutes with a well-taken strike, but we never look like scoring that second goal and we leave Bilbao with our tails between our legs.

Athletic Bilbao (4-3-2-1): Imanol Etxeberría; Lambea, Karanka, Roberto Ríos, Edu Alonso (Chema 72); Óskar Vales (Orbaiz 53), Punal, Felipe; Jorge Pérez, Idiákez (Solaun 53); Joseba Etxeberría ©.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Ãlvarez, Ballesteros; Gustavsson; Michel, Lua-Lua (Vucko 46); Clegg; Kokmeijer, Rivera (Redondo 67).

Final score: Athletic Bilbao 2:1 Cartagonova

MoM - Jorge Pérez

It has taken us until mid-way through November to play ten league matches, but we finally reach that point:

Our second loss of the season brings to an end a record-breaking (for the club anyway) 14 game streak without loss. As you can see, our strength is our home record with four victories and two draws from six home matches, but playing away has been our downfall with just two draws and two losses from four away games. We’re already slipping behind the pace setters and to be only six points clear of the drop zone is not something I want to dwell on too much. It’s time to string together some victories, I think.

[Dixie Flatline]

23rd of November 2005

The second group phase of the European Champions’ League has already kicked off, with four matches played last night. The other matches, in Groups C and D, are played tonight. We host Paris-Saint-Germain, but before we get to that, let’s take a brief look at the four clubs involved in Group C. Cartagonova cruised through the first group phase, winning all six matches and conceding just one goal. Alberto Rivera was an impressive player for the club, scoring three times and creating four more goals, but Cartagonova also can call upon Spanish strikers José Manuel Redondo and Sabino, and Dutch striker Niels Kokmeijer to provide the firepower. The midfield is particularly strong with George Clegg, Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua, Michel, Fernando Morán and Jurica Vucko all particularly prominent in creating Cartagonova’s attacking options. In the meantime, Gavião has done a superb job in the holding role, screening a solid back four which includes Spanish international squad member Ballesteros and Israeli international Shimon Gershon. In a group where no clubs are really a stand-out, Cartagonova’s impressive European Champions’ League form should see the Spanish club qualify for the knock-out stages.

Paris-Saint-Germain are always an impressive club, particularly at home in the intimidating Parc de Princes in Paris. A strong forward line sees French internationals Nicolas Anelka and Sylvain Wiltord sharing the load while recent addition Sergei Rebrov, purchased from Bayern München for £8.25 million, will surely be added to the European squad when UEFA opens the window for squad changes. The defence is also impressive, with veteran French centre-half Frédéric Déhu and Ghanaian international Eric Addo forming a strong pair at the back, with support from Aliou Cissé and Bernard Mendy, who wants to impress in Europe to consolidate his position in France’s national squad.

It is the first time for four seasons that Rosenborg has reached the second group phase and the Norwegian club will rely on a quartet of Jan Tore Ophaug in defence, Kenneth Giske in midfield and Spanish Olympian Óscar Del Pino in attack to lead the way. But the bookies expect Rosenborg to struggle, particularly on the road, and it would be a fight against the odds to see Rosenborg qualify for the knock-out stage. But they are certainly capable of causing the upset, with a 3-1 victory over Fiorentina in Florence a big scalp. But losing 4-0 to Dortmund in Germany and then 3-0 in Norway raises question marks about the pedigree of the defence, and the other clubs in Group C will look to expose the defence even further.

Vitória Guimarães was almost as impressive as Cartagonova in group phase 1, winning five matches and conceding just two goals. With the impressive Portuguese defender Jorge anchoring the back four, and Fernando Meira in midfield, the Portuguese club should be capable of defending just as stoutly in the second phase as the first. But finding regular goalscorers, particularly up-front, have been somewhat of a problem for the club, with winger Ribeiro topping the goalscorer’s charts at the club with three goals in eight appearances in the Champions’ League.

[Dixie Flatline]

European Champions’ League - Phase 2, Group C, Game 1: Cartagonova v Paris-Saint-Germain

So, to work. Nicolas Anelka emerges with the rest of his teammates into the cool, wet air of the Cartagena evening to soak up the atmosphere of the 18,000 parochial home supporters and I nod to Shimon Gershon, who I’ve detailed to pay special attention to the French international striker. Sylvain Wiltword’s bare scalp already glistens as the rain continues to fall. We have the better of the opening exchanges, remaining camped on the edge of PSG’s area, but trouble strikes on 12 minutes as Vucko again limps off, forcing a change - Lua-Lua emerges onto the pitch to take the Croatian’s place while two physios walk him gingerly into the dressing rooms. But it makes no difference to the magnitude of our dominance of possession and territory and after PSG survive some close shaves, José Redondo finally makes a chance count on 32 minutes, slaloming his way past Bernard Henry before skimming a shot off the wet surface and into the far corner of the net. Three minutes later, excellent work from Lua-Lua is capped off by Niels Kokmeijer adding his name to the scoresheet with a fine left-footed volley. But slack marking at the back sees Vidal exposed. Thankfully, the captain responds with an excellent save to deny the clean-through Wiltord and he then proceeds to lead the inquest into how such an event could occur.

In the second half, I hope for more of the same but instead, PSG halve the lead through Peter Luccin who leads by example, dodging and weaving his way through our defence before landing a shot into the top left corner. Three minutes later, he holds his head in anguish as his swerving shot beats Vidal but slams into the post and out for a goalkick. It’s to prove costly as on 56 minutes we restore the two goal cushion through George Clegg, capitalising on good team build-up. But our defence falls asleep once too often and the ever-dangerous Nicolas Anelka pounces on 68 minutes to give us some heart-stopping moments in the last 20 minutes. Somewhat fortunately, we survive some further scares to open up our second phase campaign with a victory.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Ãlvarez (Livermore 65), Ballesteros; Michel, Gavião, Vucko (Lua-Lua 12); Clegg; Redondo, Kokmeijer.

Paris-Saint-Germain (5-3-1-1): Chiotis; Mendy, Addo, Cissé (Didier Robert 84), Déhu, Henry (Laurent Robert 52); Luccin ©, Ducrocq, Dalmat; Wiltord; Anelka.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:2 Paris-Saint-Germain

MoM - Niels Kokmeijer

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Guest]

Dixie sorry that Aussies did not qualify for the World Cup

[Dixie Flatline]

Yes, it's very disappointing to miss out again, but that seems to be Australia's lot in football at the moment. But I have to admit that we were comprehensively beaten by a better side. I think it will make a lot of Australian football administrators re-think their approach to the qualification to the World Cup, regardless of FIFA's path for Oceania.

[Dixie Flatline]

27th of November 2005

Spain looks almost certain to join thirty other nations at next year’s World Cup after taming the Iranian crowd by defeating Iran 2-0 in Tehran. Goals to Real Madrid’s Raúl and Athletic Bilbao’s Joseba Etxeberría sealed victory for Spain, with the return leg to be played at La Mestalla in three days’ time.

30th of November 2005

I’m dismayed to see Gavião twist an ankle in training this evening before the players settle down to watch Spain host Iran in the evening. The physios tell me that I will have to rule a line through the Brazilian player for the next month. Wonderful.

Simultaneously, I receive a report from Luis Sosa, my assistant manager who still works for free (must enjoy the fine array of restaurants and bars in Cartagena, I expect!), that Pablo Box has excelled at training and should be rewarded with an opportunity to shine in the first team. As far as I’m concerned, he is on the transfer list and he’ll never play for me again.

It’s an interesting match from Valencia’s La Mestalla. Holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg, Spain was in no real danger of suffering an upset in front of its home fans, although Olcese tried to lift the Iranian spirits on 19 minutes when he fired home the first goal of the game. But Raúl steadied any Spanish nerves on 28 minutes when he scored the 39th international goal of his career, then Iván De la Peña made it 2-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate on 57 minutes. Raúl scored again on 72 minutes to end the tie as the contest, although Iran did score a consolation goal to take back with them to Tehran on 90 minutes through Carty. Still, Señor Javier Clemente’s job remains safe, at least until the summer, as he guides Spain to the World Cup.

Interestingly, despite guiding China to qualification for World Cup 2006, the Chinese Football Federation decide that Jianping Hu is not the man for the job, so they dump him and begin searching for a replacement! I wouldn’t like to see the price of failure!

After watching the Spanish match, I switch on the club’s link to the Internet and peruse the Spanish football sites. One web-site claims that Ballesteros’ agent has linked his client to Real Madrid for an estimated price of £2 million. Knowing I have the full support of the board in these types of situations, I immediately fire off an angry e-mail to the proprietors of the web-site, claiming that no such deal is on the table, nor that it ever will be, as Ballesteros is still a highly valued member of the squad.

Spain’s admittance into the World Cup leaves only one place up for grabs, between Brazil and Australia. The first leg is to be played at the historic Maracanã stadium in Rio De Janiero with 175,000 Brazilians expected to attend the game. The return leg is to be played at Stadium Australia in Sydney, with close to 100,000 Australians in full cry. The last time Australia reached this far, they were knocked out by Paraguay 2-0 on aggregate.

[Dixie Flatline]

1st of December 2005

I’m not the only one to notice that Niels Kokmeijer has been the form striker at the club. Several Dutch newspapers cross my desk today, and all of them call upon the Dutch manager, Louis van Gaal, to call up Kokmeijer to the national squad. I, of course, support their call wholeheartedly. But I can’t see him doing it with the likes of Kluivert, van Nistelrooy, Esseboom and Bruggink at his disposal.

3rd of December 2005

Primera Liga - Game 11: Mallorca v Cartagonova

Our stop-start season needs a victory away from home to give it the tonic it requires. Mallorca is a prime candidate for this away victory. They are solid at home, but don’t pose too many problems for the defence to handle, although Roberto Losada is quite a spectacular forward on his day. The injury to Gavião sees Gustavsson into the anchor role in front of the back four, while Vucko fails a morning fitness test, allowing Lua-Lua to further consolidate his reputation in Spain.

It’s certainly a tight first half as both sides exchange opening fire. Mallorca’s Michel and Castillo waste good opportunities inside the first 15 minutes, while César holds his head in his hands after Vidal does brilliantly to turn aside his drive. Castillo skips past Lua-Lua on 26 minutes, but just enough pressure from the Cartagonova defence allows Vidal precious time to get across and push aside his fiercesome right shot. Our first shot on goal comes a minute later when Redondo flings himself towards Michel’s long cross, but his spectacular overhead volley is easily saved by Felip. While Losada is well-marshalled by my defenders, Castillo is posing them all sorts of problems and on 37 minutes, Vidal again needs to tip aside his volley. Two chances within a minute to Clegg and Redondo give Mallorca’s manager something to think about, although I would have been happier if either Clegg or Redondo could have done just a little better.

Kokmeijer opens up the second half with a fierce drive, looking to impress Louis van Gaal, but Felip gets behind his shot and manages to turn it aside. Gershon leaps highest at Gustavsson’s resulting corner, but the Israeli can only head over the bar. Yet, I sense there is a goal coming and sure enough, on 58 minutes, the partnership of Kokmeijer and Redondo pays dividends. Ãlvarez’s long clearance is picked up by the Dutchman and he instinctively launches a cross into the Mallorca box where Redondo is perfectly positioned to head the ball home! Losada almost instantly equalises but his accuracy lets him down at the crucial time and then, quite surprisingly, Mallorca surrender rather meekly.

Mallorca (3-5-2): Felip; Hurtado, Hibic, César ©; Ramirez (Pablo 46), Castillo, Garitano (Camps 56), Jensen, Lauren; Losada, Michel.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz, Gershon, Ãlvarez, Ballesteros; Gustavsson; Michel, Lua-Lua (Rivera 65); Clegg; Redondo, Kokmeijer.

Final score: Mallorca 0:1 Cartagonova

MoM - Felip

You may have noticed the name ‘Hibic’ in the starting eleven for Mallorca. That’s right, ex Cartagonova player, Misrad Hibic, is back in Spain and trying to hold together the back three for Mallorca. As the result above demonstrates, he is not successful most of the time!

Unfortunately, the win comes at a cost, with Gustavsson ruled out by the physios for three weeks after he suffered strained knee ligaments. He must not have felt anything during the match because he never signalled to the bench that he needed any urgent treatment, but it could not have come at a worse time as I no longer have any specialist defensive midfielders available to me at the moment.

[Dixie Flatline]

Elsewhere, Brazilian fans might as well buy tickets now for World Cup 2006 after Brazil defeated Australia 4-1 in Rio de Janiero. Australia’s defence held out for 33 minutes, but Real Madrid’s Ronaldinho finally cracked it on 33 minutes, climbing above Australia’s keeper Chris Culina to knock in Robson Ponté’s cross. Australia managed to hold out until half-time, but on 55 minutes, Brazil extended its lead when Robson Ponté drove home Alex’s slide-rule pass. John Maisano pulled a goal back for Australia on 70 minutes, but Ronaldinho made it 3-1 on 74 minutes, finishing off a fine Brazilian move. Veteran Cafú crossed into the box on 86 minutes for Mozart to head home. Australia has it all to do in the second leg in Sydney.

6th of December 2005

We remain in sixth position after the weekend’s round of fixtures, trailing leader Sporting Gijón by five points. Villarreal, Barcelona and Valencia are locked together on 23 points, four more than us. We lead Numancia and Espanyol on goal difference. In England, West Ham United leads Liverpool and Newcastle by two points with a game in hand. The defending champion has collected 32 points from 15 games, while Liverpool and Newcastle both have 30 points from 16 games. Manchester United lies menacingly in fourth place, two points behind Liverpool and Newcastle, while Watford is also in range, having collected 26 points from 15 games. At the other end of the table, things are tight, but at the moment, Chelsea, Brentford and Bradford lie in the relegation zone.

In Italy, AC Milan lead the chase for the Scudetto by three points from cross-town rival Inter Milan, although AC Milan has played one game more. Runners-up last season, Fiorentina, is within range, lying third after collecting 21 points from 11 games. Defending champion, Parma, needs to get a wriggle on, having just 19 points from 10 games and trailing AC Milan by 8 points (although AC Milan has played two games more). At the other end of the table, the acquisition of Harry Kewell still has not pushed Napoli out of the relegation zone. Torino’s superior goal difference allows the Turin-based club to sit just outside the zone, while Napoli, Treviso, Cesena and Foggia need to collect points quickly to avoid the end of season dogfight.

The Portuguese championship is tight affair at the moment. Salgueiros and Porto are locked together at the top of the table with 28 points from 13 games, with Salgueiros’ superior goal difference allowing them to claim the bragging rights at the moment. Both are closely followed by Vitória Guimarães and Vitória Setúbal. At the other end of the ladder, Aves, Chaves and Farense are the early contenders for relegation.

[Dixie Flatline]

5th of December 2005

I’m pleased to announce to the assembled media this afternoon after the training session has concluded that Cartagonova will sign Ipswich defender Carl Laurie from the English club for £1.6 million, including a cash payment of £425,000 if he plays ten internationals for England. I’m pleased to acquire him, as he is maturing into a fine player, capable of playing anywhere in defence or midfield. George Burley has not seen fit to give him an opportunity since signing him from Northwich for £230,000 back in 2001/02, but I think the ex-Crewe player is quite capable of pulling on the white shirt for England in the next few years. He joins the club in ten days’ time.

6th of December 2005

European Champions’ League - Phase 2, Group C, Game 2: Vitória Guimarães v Cartagonova

This is going to be an interesting match. With Gavião and Gustavsson unavailable through injury, Ballesteros makes a rare appearance for the club in midfield, while Kew Jaliens has the opportunity to impress me at right back. We almost begin disastrously as André Luiz out-jumps Jaliens at Ribeiro’s corner, but fortunately the header goes over Vidal’s bar for a goal-kick. On 13 minutes, our first attack draws immediate dividends as Kokmeijer’s cross is headed towards goal by Michel. Ivica Kralj manages to get one hand onto the ball but it squirms loose and Michel recovers quick enough to turn in the rebound! Our celebrations are doubled just forty seconds later as Kokmeijer and Lua-Lua combine to set free Redondo and the striker jubilantly strokes home a superb volley. But it wouldn’t be a match with Cartagonova involved unless we concede a goal and Vitória Guimarães halve our lead on 22 minutes when Hugo Henrique sets up Fernandes who is left all alone by my defence and he gleefully punishes them. Not to worry - my midfielders and strikers are really buzzing today and on 31 minutes, Kokmeijer and Michel combine to tee up Clegg and the Englishman doesn’t let them down with a bullet header into the top corner of Kralj’s net.

The match officially enters ‘romp’ status on 33 minutes when we score our fourth goal of the game and arguably the greatest of the competition. Kokmeijer, Jaliens and Lua-Lua play neat passes with each other before Lua-Lua finds Michel unmarked with the Portuguese defensive formation pulled to ribbons. Michel looks up to find Kralj not guarding his near post well enough and rockets an unstoppable drive from 35 yards to cap off a great move! The whole bench is dancing jubilantly but it gets better as Redondo and Clegg put together a great move to allow Kokmeijer to spring the off-side trap and neatly beat Kralj with a beautifully executed low drive across the Yugoslav keeper who probably wishes he hadn’t got out of bed this morning. The only drawback is the injury to Lacruz, which necessitates Livermore’s introduction to the game on 41 minutes.

As you might expect, the second half is a quieter affair, but the travelling band of Cartagonova supporters are still in seventh heaven, although they gasp as Redondo’s diving header is well-saved by the shell-shocked Kralj on 62 minutes. But Vitória Guimarães have no answers to the first half onslaught and the match peters out. The Cartagonova supporters cheer the eleven off the pitch, while I seek out the hand of a former player - Biri has carved out a career for himself here in Portugal. You may not remember him, but he was with us in my very first season in charge of Cartagonova and played 1(3) times for the club in 2000/01, averaging 6.25 before I sold him to Salgueiros for £250,000.

Vitória Guimarães (4-4-2): Kralj; Parnela © (Biri 74), Jorge, André Luiz, Marco Filipe; Ribeiro, Fernando, Bonet, Fernandes; Degrande (Nandinho 91), Hugo Henrique.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Lacruz (Livermore 41), Gershon, Ãlvarez, Jaliens; Ballesteros; Michel, Lua-Lua; Clegg; Redondo, Kokmeijer.

Final score: Vitória Guimarães 1:5 Cartagonova

MoM - George Clegg

We have now won nine European Champions’ League matches in succession, equalling Ajax Amsterdam’s record from 2003/04, while we have gone ten games without defeat (in fact, we haven’t been defeated in this competition since the 16th of March 2005 when Parma defeated us 4-2 at the Estádio Municipál de Cartagena).

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[ghostwriter]

Cracking result, you really do seem to be taking Europe by storm this season. Keep it up and it could be yours.

Good luck...

[Dixie Flatline]

Thanks, ghostwriter! Yes, I am extremely delighted with the last result. I thought that we'd ship a couple of more goals after we were pegged back to 1-1, but to the boys' credit, they fought back and overwhelmed the opposition! Even if it happens only once per season, it helps with my own reputation abroad!

[Dixie Flatline]

The show must go on!

7th of December 2005

Seeing that I’ve already hooked Carl Laurie, the English press believes that still having a presence around Ipswich looking particularly at Matt Holland means that I will make a solid bid for him in the region of £2.1 million. I must admit, he would have been a good purchase two or three seasons ago, but he is now on the wrong side of 30 and I don’t think I would get value for money out of him. Still, it’s nice to be noticed!

8th of December 2005

Leeds United offers Ipswich Town £1.7 million for Matt Holland. I will watch these developments with interest.

10th of December 2005

Leading 4-1 on the first leg meant that Brazil would never really be challenged by a demoralised Australia, and when Borussia Dortmund and ex-Celta Vigo striker Edú put Brazil 1-0 ahead on 6 minutes, Brazil’s place was definitely guaranteed. Barcelona’s Zé Roberto extended the lead with his tenth international goal on 69 minutes. Australia pulled a consolation goal back on 83 minutes through Perth Glory’s Peter Petkovic, but it was far too little, far too late, as Brazil booked the 32nd and final spot in next year’s World Cup 6-2 on aggregate.

13th of December 2005

My spies in Great Britain catch wind of a rumour swirling around the green and white half of Glasgow that Cartagonova is in the frame to sign ex-Scottish international Robert Douglas from Celtic for £375,000. However, they tell me that Leeds could be my main rival for signing him. Well, I actually want to wait until his contract enters the last six months before I have a go at coaxing him to the south of Spain, but I’m given heart when Martin O’Neill says publicly he may leave the club soon (Robert Douglas, that is, not Martin!).

Speaking of Leeds, Matt Holland agrees terms with the First Division Yorkshire club.

15th of December 2005

My two new signings arrive at Cartagena this morning and I welcome them to the club. They are a little taken aback by the shabbiness of the training facilities but a warm Spanish welcome soon puts that right, at least for a few minutes. I hope that spending £4.3 million on Alex Notman and Carl Laurie will prove fruitful, but I have a good feeling about both signings. Notman could slot straight into the starting eleven, while Laurie’s developmental curve will have to continue before he cracks it.

[Dixie Flatline]

16th of December 2005

I announce to the indifferent local press that Swedish keeper Christoffer Källkvist will follow compatriot Kenneth Gustavsson from Venezia to Cartagonova in the summer on a Bosman free transfer. I believe he will replace Joaquín Moso, who refuses to sign a new contract and appears to be leaving the club in the summer.

In the evening, I’m informed by the Spanish FA that our cup defence will begin with a nice little trip to Zamora to play the Segunda Liga B club in the second round of the Copa del Rey. Zamora has the interesting Brazilian striker Jurandir, who looks too good for the division he is currently playing in, so there is that joker in the deck. I decide to be professional about this, remembering the chairman’s words about success both at home and abroad, so I call a scout and tell him to keep an eye on all Zamora matches between now and the cup tie.

18th of December 2005

Primera Liga - Game 12: Real Betis v Cartagonova

Once again, we’ve fallen behind many of the other clubs in terms of the games played this season as the Spanish FA swaps our fixtures around to accommodate us and other clubs. As a consequence, we’re back in ninth position heading into this game. Nine minutes into the match and we’ve silenced the boisterous home crowd when Kokmeijer picks up Clegg’s flick-on and buries a drive beneath Pinel! But a defensive lapse allows Betis to equalise on 29 minutes. Jihai Sun’s header is partially saved by Vidal, but Gaston Casas reacts quickest to turn in the rebound. Michel almost gives us the lead on 38 minutes, but his crashing drive is pushed away by Pinel. Redondo should have given us the lead five minutes into the second half, but his fierce drive clears the bar by scant inches. Ten minutes later, he should have done better but his shot under pressure goes inches wide. With seven minutes to play, it looks like we’ll have to settle for a share of the points, but Ballesteros has other ideas. He skips past a few Betis tackles before laying off a pass to substitute Fernando Morán and the midfielder thunders a drive into the top corner to give us the three points!

Real Betis (3-5-2): Pinel; Rivas ©, Iván Campo, Maínz; Sun, Chippo, Di Lorenzo, Nagore (Ballack 65), Rodriguez; Casas, Quinteros.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Gershon, Ãlvarez, Jaliens (Laurie 70); Ballesteros; Michel, Lua-Lua (Morán 70); Clegg; Redondo, Kokmeijer.

Final score: Real Betis 1:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Óscar Ãlvarez

[Dixie Flatline]

21st of December 2005

Primera Liga - Game 13: Cartagonova v Getafe

Only three days after our most recent game against Real Betis, there are a few players who would like a rest and against Getafe, now struggling to stay out of the relegation zone, I think I can accede to their wishes. Further, Jurica Vucko has returned to full fitness again, so I can swap him with Lua-Lua and Morán takes over from Clegg. We start the match very well when Getafe’s captain, Guillermo Varela, recklessly tackles Kokmeijer inside the box and the referee does not hesitate to point to the spot. I think Varela is lucky to escape with a yellow card, but Redondo makes no mistake, so 120 seconds into the game we already have one goal. Three minutes later, we have two goals and a man advantage as Getafe’s keeper, Juan José Valencia trips Redondo deliberately according to the referee and is sent off. Redondo slots the penalty and we begin to truly dominate the match. But we don’t build upon our lead as Getafe throw up the barriers and manage to hold out to half-time at 2-0 down. Bringing on Sabino in the second half for Kokmeijer does the trick, however, as the striker calmly takes Redondo’s wonderful pass in his stride before sliding it beneath Lundin’s legs for the third, decisive goal. Our only setback is the injury to Jaliens, which necessitates Carl Laurie coming on for the Dutch international, but I was quite impressed with our efficient method of disposing of Getafe.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Gershon, Ãlvarez, Jaliens (Laurie 78); Michel, Ballesteros, Vucko (Lua-Lua 69); Morán; Redondo, Kokmeijer (Sabino 69).

Getafe (4-4-2): Valencia; Moya, Tellez, Rodríguez, Leo; Otfors-Palmqvist, Varela ©, Rivera (Enguix 51), Solana; Silvani (Lundin 5), Alm.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:0 Getafe

MoM - José Manuel Redondo

Our seventh victory of the season pushes us into sixth place on the Primera Liga ladder, two points behind three clubs all on 27 points, including Villarreal, Valencia and Elche. Barcelona have already jumped to a four point lead with a game in hand over second placed Celta Vigo.

The physios tell me that I’ll be without Jaliens for three weeks as he needs some time to rehabilitate from his strained knee ligaments.

[Dixie Flatline]

23rd of December 2005

It is still officially the last working day before Christmas, but I decide to send home the staff at lunch-time, while I stay on to think over some tactics for our visit to Osasuna next Wednesday. The phone rings, and I amble over to answer it: “Señor Flatline, please hold for Señor Serra Ferrer,†says a business-like personal assistant. I wait, listening to the ‘muzak’ that Barcelona likes to play. Eventually, Señor Serra Ferrer, the exulted manager of Barcelona, deigns to complete the call he commenced. We exchange pleasantries and the typical Christmas greetings before we get down to business. He wants Ballesteros, and he is willing to pay £3.6 million for him. I’m very polite and charming, but I tell my Barcelona counterpart that I cannot in good conscious accept the bid. He understands my position and we wish each other well.

28th of December 2005

Primera Liga - Game 14: Osasuna v Cartagonova

So, after celebrating another Christmas in Cartagena, the team is back on the road, travelling to Pamplona, more famous for the bull running than the exploits of the local team, Osasuna. Our match begins poorly when Vucko is forced from the field after just 13 minutes with yet another injury - this time, it’s a broken toe Lua-Lua has another opportunity to impress me as he comes on as substitute. Redondo should have opened the scoring on 25 minutes when Livermore does well down the left flank before crossing in nicely for the striker to head at the foot of the post. Morán tries a long-range effort on 37 minutes, but it just clears the bar and goes out of play. Oktay tests Vidal with a fine shot on the break, but the captain knocks it down. Oktay pounces on the rebound but Vidal is back on his feet and for the third time, Livermore gets his foot in and dispossesses the Turk.

So with it all to play for in the second half, I motivate my players to go out and seek the three points. Kokmeijer responds with a great goal on 54 minutes. Morán sets him up with a good pass, but the Dutchman still had a lot to do. He cuts inside his marker and bursts into the box where he shoots hard and low past Palop! Osasuna waste a couple of good chances to equalise as the minutes tick by, and to make matters worse, Gershon is forced to limp off the field on 77 minutes. He is replaced by Gustavsson with Ballesteros shifting into defence. We get a lucky break just a minute later when Vidal clumsily brings down Zegarra in the box, but the referee resists the urge to blow for a penalty. Two minutes from time, Morán makes the points safe with a long-range goal that bends in off the post!

Osasuna (4-4-2): Palop; Ibán Pérez, Josetxo, Mateo, Ferrer (Guillermo 55); Ãngel Luis (Zegarra 31), Rousel, Doriva (Jubera 55), Finidi George; Pandolfi, Oktay.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Gershon (Gustavsson 77), Ãlvarez, Lacruz; Ballesteros; Michel, Vucko (Lua-Lua 13); Morán; Redondo (Sabino 74), Kokmeijer.

Final score: Osasuna 0:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Iván Vidal

If I was Palop, I would be very disappointed. We only had three shots on target for the entire 90 minutes, and Palop let in two goals.

[Dixie Flatline]

31st of December 2005

With just hours remaining in the year, I’m at home happily beginning to celebrate the turn of the new year when I’m contacted by the agent representing Córdoba’s Javier Alejandro Villarreal to confirm that the Bosman free transfer of the Argentine defensive midfielder will proceed on the 27th of June 2006. I see the Argentine, who holds a Spanish passport, as good back-up for Gavião, since I haven’t been overly impressed by Gustavsson’s performances in that position when the Brazilian hasn’t been in the squad.

4th of January 2006

Copa del Rey - 2nd round: Zamora v Cartagonova

After the festive season is completed, it’s time to get back to business and we have to attend to the task of defending our Copa del Rey crown. The first team we face is the Segunda Liga B club, Zamora, who boast the dangerous Brazilian striker Jurandir and ex-Manchester City midfielder Gary Mason, who is looking forward to a transfer to Segunda Liga Real Vallodolid in the summer. As I suspected, the scouting doesn’t yield much beyond the threat posed by Jurandir, who has pace, poise and a good finishing technique, while I’m sure many of Zamora’s attacks will flow through the attacking and pacy left back David Bermudo, who couldn’t cut it at Barcelona but will move to Compostela in the summer.

Nevertheless, I name a severely altered first eleven for this game, giving many of the first team regulars the night off, though they come down to support the club in any case. Vidal, Ballesteros, the fit-again Gavião, Clegg, Michel, Redondo and Kokmeijer all sit out this match, while they all get the chance to take a look at Alex Notman, who makes his debut in this fixture.

As it turns out, we need to wait 29 minutes for the opening goal, but it is a cracker as Andrés Mendoza crashes a thunderbolt from 25 yards past Lampón, the Zamora keeper. Notman had a hand in creating the opportunity. Sabino wastes a chance to extend our lead just before the break, but Morán, captain for the day in recognition of his outstanding service to the club, ensures that I will have a difficult task when it comes to naming the next team to face Numancia, scoring our second goal with a brilliant drive from Notman’s pass. For the first half, Ãlvarez has well marshalled Jurandir, while WingÃ¥rd has played well and confidently to keep Zamora quiet, but 5 minutes into the second half, the Brazilian finally has his first opportunity, but the header goes well wide. Notman shows him how to do it when he caps a brilliant debut with a fine header from WingÃ¥rd’s cross on 62 minutes. Substitutions on 70 minutes - Laurie and Salas for Gustavsson and Mendoza - diminishes our dominance on the game and allow Zamora a few opportunities to get back into the game, but our veteran keeper José Belman shows that he’ll keep Vidal honest with a string of good saves to preserve his clean sheet. I’m happy with the way the team performed today and I think that everybody will agree that Notman’s debut performance was quite spectacular.

Zamora (4-4-2): Lampón; Bermudo, Arias, Xurxo, Juan Carlos; Romero (Aguado 57), Bravo, Mason, Abel; Jurandir, Felix ©.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Belman; Livermore, WingÃ¥rd, Ãlvarez, Sanz; Gustavsson (Laurie 70); Mendoza (Salas 70), Lua-Lua; Morán ©; Sabino, Notman.

Final score: Zamora 0:3 Cartagonova

MoM - Alex Notman

[Dixie Flatline]

The victory over Zamora sets a new record for the club - seven consecutive victories between the 23rd of November and today beats the old mark of six set between 24th of August 2003 and 19th of October 2003 when we had just started out in the Primera Liga.

Our result was expected by the bookies and it went true to form. What did not go true to form was the amazing game between Segunda Liga club Sabadell and the capital heavyweight Real Madrid. In the first minute, striker Carlos Ãlvarez García scored to cap a fine move involving former Celtic and Sheffield Wednesday player Simon Donnelly. But Morientes equalised fantastically with a bicycle kick on 9 minutes, and the neutral observer would have thought that would signal the end of Sabadell’s Copa del Rey campaign. But they took the lead again through Ãlvarez García just three minutes later and he finished his hat-trick on 41 minutes after Ronaldinho gave the ball away. But he wasn’t done just yet. Moments before the referee blew for half-time, he had his fourth goal of the game after Diego Simeone lost possession in midfield. Real Madrid trailed 4-1 at half-time. Morientes pulled a goal back on 65 minutes, beating Sabadell’s keeper, Manolo, to Makelele’s cross. Real Madrid should have had a penalty on 78 minutes when Manolo fouled Ronaldinho, but the referee turned down the appeal. Sabadell conceded a third goal to Morientes on 81 minutes to make the score 4-3, but three minutes later Ãlvarez García scored the sealer, his fifth and Sabadell’s fifth goal of the game to send Real Madrid crashing famously out of the Copa del Rey!

Real Madrid have struggled in the last six years, reaching only the semi-final in 2002/03, but never progressing past the second round despite playing the big guns, which this season include Raúl, Morientes, Totti, Ronaldinho and Olivera (but Raúl and Totti were left out for this game).

Avilés of the Segunda Liga B upset Segunda Liga Tenerife 2-1 at home, while Segunda Liga Real Vallodolid defeated Primera Liga club Villarreal also 2-1. Gimnástica prevailed on penalties over Real Sociedad to chalk another scalp up for the Segunda Liga B.

[Dixie Flatline]

6th of January 2006

I’m phoned by a representative of the Spanish FA to tell me that our next opponent in the Copa del Rey will be none other than Mallorca. On the whole, not a bad opponent, though I would have preferred one of the giant-killing lower division teams than a sturdy Primera Liga club. But at least we avoided the winner of the Celta Vigo-Barcelona match, which has been postponed due to Barcelona’s commitment to the FIFA World Club Championship being conducted in Portugal.

8th of January 2006

Primera Liga - Game 15: Cartagonova v Numancia

Numancia attempt to strangle us by stringing five across midfield and hoping that the lone striker Óscar can grab an opportunistic goal or two. Of course, it doesn’t work and Lua-Lua gives them fair warning when he hits the bar with a header on 10 minutes from Gavião’s centre. Six minutes later, we have the ball in the net thanks to Kokmeijer, converting Michel’s excellent cross with ease. We dominate play from then on, but we are unable to add a second goal thanks to poor finishing and good keeping from Núñez, the Numancia keeper. But two minutes into the second half, Morán slides home our second goal after Kokmeijer’s shot was too hot to handle for Núñez, and I begin to breathe a little easier. But debutant Javier Rivas makes his first appearance one to remember when he out-jumps Vidal at a Numancia corner to halve our lead on 69 minutes. Yet, the pendulum immediately swings back into our favour when the referee sends off Marini for a shocking tackle on Redondo which on another day could have broken the striker’s leg. It was late, high and two-footed, and there is no question he deserved to walk for that one. Three minutes from time, Livermore makes the man advantage count when he waltzes through the Numancia defence before planting an unstoppable drive past Núñez.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, WingÃ¥rd, Ãlvarez (Sanz 74), Lacruz; Michel, Gavião, Lua-Lua (Clegg 62); Morán; Redondo, Kokmeijer.

Numancia (4-5-1): Núñez; Gustavo, Babangida, Curro Montoya, Rivas; Giannoutsko, Rúa, Gorka (Agustín 13 (Michel 43)), Marini, Cañas (Carlos Martins 47); Óscar.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:1 Numancia

MoM - Niels Kokmeijer

The victory pushes us into third position on the Primera Liga ladder, four points behind league leader Barcelona and two points behind Villarreal. We’re level on points with Celta Vigo, and a point clear of four teams stretching down to Elche in eighth position.

But I’m not happy with the performance of two key defenders and I ask Ãlvarez and Lacruz to visit me in my office after the match has completed. I tell them that they’re walking on thin ice with me at the moment, and their performances today did not help them cement their positions. I issue official warnings to both of them, telling them that if they slip up again, I’ll replace them with other players at the club. Both apologise to me and tell me they’ll motivate themselves more in the future.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Raptor]

Jeez... I look away for a few days and we're half a season further down the line. And you're STILL going strong

Do you think you can actually win the CL, perhaps with a bit of luck? Any side who can hit five in the competition must do something right....

[Guest]

That is brilliant Dixie

Just to let you know that Cartagonova are now in the Third Division IRL so they will not be on cm01/02.

How did you pick them in the first place?

[Dixie Flatline]

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

Jeez... I look away for a few days and we're half a season further down the line. And you're STILL going strong

Do you think you can actually win the CL, perhaps with a bit of luck? Any side who can hit five in the competition must do something right....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, Raptor! I'm not sure whether we have what it takes to win the big one, but I'd be happy to get into the knock-out stage of the competition. I still feel that the defence isn't consistent enough to be trusted in the crunch games - there always seems to be one of the back four + Vidal who has a night off at a crucial stage, and until I can find the right formula, I don't think we can take European glory to the south of Spain. In fact, the match you referred to illustrates the point quite well - we'd taken the lead then lost it to a soft goal, but fortunately we were able to punish our Portuguese opponent.

[Dixie Flatline]

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

That is brilliant Dixie

Just to let you know that Cartagonova are now in the Third Division IRL so they will not be on cm01/02.

How did you pick them in the first place?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Jordaowba! I'm glad you enjoy it.

It's odd that you say that about Cartagonova IRL, because there is a site I check out that appears to be the unofficial fan club web-site which lists the results from the current season and it suggests that Cartagonova is in seventh place in the Segunda Liga B, just a point outside the promotion playoff group (although with a poor goal difference).

I'm pretty sure I've explained how I picked them earlier in this thread, but basically I was looking for a club in the Segunda Liga B that had a reasonably sized stadium (Cartagonova's stadium sits 18,000), but did not have a big base of talented players (that rules out Hercules), after I'd managed Linense in a previous game and had taken them into Europe but couldn't go anywhere really because the ground was too small.

[Dixie Flatline]

Here we go again!

11th of January 2006

Copa del Rey - 3rd round, 1st leg: Cartagonova v Mallorca

I make a few more changes to the side in order to keep them fresh. We’ve a busy month ahead of us, thanks to the Spanish FA’s predilection for fixture congestion, and I don’t want my important players to burn out by the end of it. Frankly, despite winning the Copa del Rey last season, I’m not overly fussed if we don’t do a good job of defending it. Notman is back in the side for his home debut, and he marks it with a great goal on 4 minutes, volleying home Livermore’s inch-perfect pass. But Lacruz allows Mallorca’s Michel to get past him and try his luck against Vidal - thankfully, though, our captain is up to the task of saving the attempt. On the 15 minute mark, Notman tees up Kokmeijer but the Dutchman’s accurate effort is well-saved by Felip. Stubbs slings over the corner and Lua-Lua thunders home a brilliant header, climbing all over Hurtado! It should have been three goals on 21 minutes, but Kokmeijer is again denied by a good save by Felip, who proceeds to save from Morán’s free kick just a few minutes later. We are all over Mallorca in this period, but we are reminded that we do need to defend when Michel gets through our defence but puts his drive wide of the mark, fortunately. On 41 minutes, though, we resume normal service when Kokmeijer finally converts a chance, slamming home Gavião’s pass on 41 minutes! Notman misses a sitter of a header on 45 minutes to end the half, but I’m well-pleased with our display in the first half of the Copa del Rey tie. The second half is a much quieter affair, with Mallorca trying to fight back by strangling us up front. On 84 minutes, the ever-dangerous Michel reminds us that there is a second leg to come when he gives Mallorca some hope for the return fixture when he picks up Felip’s long clearance, dribbles past Lacruz and smashes a drive into the bottom corner of the net.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Stubbs, Ãlvarez, Lacruz, Mendoza, Gavião, Lua-Lua (Clegg 65); Morán; Notman, Kokmeijer.

Mallorca (3-5-2): Felip; Hurtado, Carreras, Djorovic; Pineda (Matito 53), Garitano ©, Castillo (Camps 66), Jensen, Pablo; Michel, Iván Alonso.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:1 Mallorca

MoM - Óscar Ãlvarez

[Dixie Flatline]

12th of January 2006

There is big news from Paris and Rome with former Sampdoria and Roma striker Vincenzo Montella moves to Paris-Saint-Germain for £14.25 million. The striker, capped 47 times by Italy for 15 international goals, has had to compete with Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi to ease into one of the two strikers’ roles that Roma manager, Signor Fabio Capello, uses. In his 6½ seasons at the Stadio Olimpico, Vincenzo Montella has scored 136 goals in all competitions from 228(4) appearances. Beginning his career with Empoli back in 1990/91, he has amassed 237 goals from 400 appearances, but first came to prominence with his lone hand role for the relegation-stricken Sampdoria back in 1998/99, whereupon he made his transfer to Roma. But he has always had to contend with other top quality strikers - first Gabriel Batistuta, and now Christian Vieri. He joins former Spurs striker, Sergei Rebrov, who moved to Paris from Bayern München back in October for £8.25 million, and surely both strikers will be included in PSG’s squad for the second phase of the Champions’ League. You can be sure that I’ll keep a close eye on both these strikers and comrade Nicolas Anelka, when we come to play them at the start of March.

From Lisbon’s Estádio Nacional, in front of 45,400 supporters, Barcelona gains sweet revenge for Bayer Leverkusen’s defeat of the Catalan club in the semi-finals of last season’s Champions’ League by thrashing the German club 4-1. Dani opened the scoring on 3 minutes, while Alfonso scored a hat-trick. Julen Guerrero’s 78th minute goal was not enough for Bayer.

13th of January 2006

With the transfer window about to close for the final time this season, a bid from Celta Vigo for Ballesteros lands on my desk on this Friday morning - £4.7 million for the utility defender. I can’t sneeze at this type of money for the 30 year old, but I still would like to keep his services for as long as possible. Another £300,000 would reach his minimum release clause amount, so I do have some leeway to play with here, plus the money would be paid over 18 months, which is not a contractual term I’m happy with. But now I’m willing to negotiate, and I ask for £1.3 million to be paid if he plays 20 league games for Celta Vigo in addition to the £4.7 million to be paid right now. Let’s see how desperate Celta is for him.

14th of January 2006

Just a season after leaving Lazio for Feyenoord, Argentine international forward Claudio López returns to the Serie A competition, joining Juventus for £13.75 million. The 31 year old played 40 times for Feyenoord since joining the club in the winter of the 2004/05 season, scoring 22 goals. This came after he played 145 times for Lazio, scoring 49 goals in all competitions for the Rome-based club. Beginning his career in his native Argentina with Estudiantes, he first came to notice after helping to propel Valencia towards European glory in his four seasons with the Spanish club. His glamour move to Lazio resulted in little domestic glory, but in 2002, was part of the Argentine squad that won the World Cup with a goal that sealed the victory over the Netherlands in Tokyo’s National Stadium. Capped 71 times by his country, he has 13 international goals to his name and will look to add more to his collection when Argentine shapes up to defend her crown in six months’ time.

Regardless of whether Brentford will survive its first season in the English Premier League (the club currently lies 18th with 24 points from 23 gams), it will boast an experienced, talented line-up including Celtic keeper Robert Douglas and former Newcastle United, Manchester United and Arsenal striker Andy Cole, who both announced in the last couple of days that they will join the club on Bosman free transfers from next season.

There is news from the Segunda Liga with a new board of directors taking over cash-strapped Alavés, clearing the club’s debts and making £2.3 million available to Señor Frank Rikjaard. Unfortunately for the manager, the transfer window expires tomorrow, making it almost impossible for the club to purchase any new players to strengthen its weakening bid for promotion. The club lies in sixth place, three points behind Atlético Madrid.

[Dixie Flatline]

15th of January 2006

Today is the last day for any transfers to go ahead to Spanish clubs, but Celta Vigo decides that my terms for Ballesteros are too much for them to proceed with the deal, which hopefully means that I get to keep the defender for another six months at least.

Primera Liga - Game 16: Cartagonova v Osasuna

We’re back at home for the last time in three matches to take on Osasuna, always a crowd-puller for some reason and today they don’t disappoint me, packing in through the turnstiles to cheer on my boys. Veiga is restored to the first team for Osasuna with first choice keeper Andrés Palop still serving a league ban for being sent off against Espanyol. Observant followers of Cartagonova might recall we only just visited Pamplona between Christmas and New Year’s, thanks to the shenanigans at the headquarters of the Spanish FA and their truly special fixture re-scheduling computer. For our opponent, today’s match is only their second since their game, but for us, we’ve played games in the league and the Copa del Rey.

Anyway, the match goes according to the form book with Lacruz scoring his first ever goal for the club after 7 minutes to get us on our way to victory. Morán, still keeping out Clegg, makes sure he’ll continue to give me a headache in that position by scoring our second goal on 19 minutes. Both goals culminated from excellent team moves, so I can at least boast that our midfielders and forwards get on very well with each other. Osasuna brings on Jurandir, the former Zamora striker, for Luis Gil who is forced from the field with injury on 22 minutes, and the slippery Brazilian again begins to cause us problems. He in fact halves our lead 10 minutes into the second half, but despite losing Lacruz to injury at half-time (Sanz comes on to replace him just before the break), we control the game quite comfortably and use the result to move into fourth place. We’ve now won ten league games for the season, and with only two losses, and in fourth place despite having games in hand on those around us, I think we’re truly beginning to hit our straps. However, the next few games will demonstrate whether we’re up to the task, with matches - both away - against always-dangerous Valencia and second placed Villarreal.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ballesteros, Ãlvarez, Lacruz (Sanz 45); Michel (Mendoza 71), Gavião, Lua-Lua; Morán; Notman, Kokmeijer.

Osasuna (4-4-2): Veiga; Ibán Pérez, Josetxo, José Manuel Mateo ©, Ferrer; Pandolfi (Trobbiani 46), Saavedra, Doriva (Jubera 56), Benjamín; Gil (Jurandir 22), Oktay.

Final score: Cartagonova 2:1 Osasuna

MoM - Gavião

It only took José Lacruz 100 starts to get his first goal, but I’m sure that we’re both happy he chose to score it today! Unfortunately, his injury just before half-time will see him miss about a month of football - pulled hamstring does that to you.

18th of January 2006

Copa del Rey - 3rd round, 2nd leg: Mallorca v Cartagonova

I’m sure that in summer, Mallorca is a very busy island in the sea, catering to the hordes of tourists eager to experience the Spanish sun, but in the middle of winter - although today is dry - there are very few bothered to come see their local team try to overturn a 3-1 deficit on the first leg: only 10,000 show up for this fixture. But those that do come are treated to a powerhouse display of striker football by Alex Notman, who has currently displaced José Redondo as Kokmeijer’s partner. The Scottish international striker scores a hat-trick to guarantee our passage through to the quarter-finals. He opens the scoring on 11 minutes with a terrific header from Kokmeijer’s cross. He adds his second goal on 27 minutes when he takes Ballesteros’ challenging pass in his stride, turns Misrad Hibic inside out then plants a 25-yard thunderbolt in the top corner of the net. Eleven minutes later, he tees up Kokmeijer and the Dutchman doesn’t let him down to make it 3-0 to the good guys. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Notman wraps up his hat-trick with a brilliant, jinking run that takes him past Djorovic and Hurtado before blasting another howitzer into the back of Mallorca’s goal! We slow down once we reach 4-0, and we allow Mallorca to claw back a consolation goal in injury time, thanks to Iván Alonso, but winning the third round 7-2 on aggregate against a competitive Primera Liga team has me quite happy.

Mallorca (3-5-2): Felip; Hurtado, Carreras, Hibic (Djorovic 54); Pineda, Garitano ©, Celades, Jensen (Camps 54), Pablo; Carlos, Iván Alonso.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ballesteros, Ãlvarez, Jaliens; Gavião (Gustavsson 64); Michel, Lua-Lua; Morán (Clegg 64); Notman, Kokmeijer.

Final score: Mallorca 1:4 Cartagonova

Aggregate: Cartagonova 7:2 Mallorca

MoM - Alex Notman

20th of January 2006

We aren’t favoured by the draw for the quarter-finals in the Copa del Rey. We’re paired with Deportivo La Coruña with the first leg to be played at the Estádio Municipál de Cartagena on the 1st of February 2006. The Seville derby is revived for two matches as Sevilla and Real Betis are drawn together. Real Vallodolid has the opportunity to upset Sporting Gijón, while it is likely that Barcelona will host Real Zaragoza, although it still must negotiate the second leg against Gimnástica holding a 2-0 lead on the first leg.

Interestingly, despite playing only three matches (and winning them all), we have scored the third highest amount of goals so far, bagging ten goals, while Sporting Gijón and Real Vallodolid have scored eleven. In the previous two seasons, we have scored the most goals (18 in 2004/05, the season we won it, and 21 in 2003/04 - unfortunately, we conceded the most in 2003/04: 13 goals).

[Guest]

Sorry Dixie i must have got it wrong i am sorry. Dixie what is the website is there a website will all of spains league on it?

I hope that you do win the Treble, Always take the Copa Del Rey seriously becasue that is your first Major trophy

[Dixie Flatline]

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

Sorry Dixie i must have got it wrong i am sorry. Dixie what is the website is there a website will all of spains league on it?

I hope that you do win the Treble, Always take the Copa Del Rey seriously becasue that is your first Major trophy <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'll send the site's address to you when my e-mail starts working again.

I would like to entertain the ambition of claiming the treble, but to be truthful with you, Barcelona have La Primera sewed up already and there's little anybody can do about it. But we'll see how we go in the Copa del Rey, and in the Champions' League when it gets back under way in Feb 2006!

[Dixie Flatline]

Plunging back into the story!

22nd of January 2006

Barcelona joins the hunt for Ballesteros, offering me £3.6 million for the defender payable right now. This is some way short of the minimum release clause amount that I’ve set upon his head, and I’m not willing to entertain anything that falls so short of the amount. Four fringe players are interested in coming to Cartegena to ply their trade with my club, but I’m not interested in signing any of them. Instead, I raise the price to £4.5 million now plus £1.5 million after twenty league appearances.

Primera Liga - Game 17: Valencia v Cartagonova

It’s always a difficult trip to try to take points off Valencia at home, and I need all my players to play to their peak performance in order to achieve that aim. But Valencia is all over us in the opening stages of the game and they are rewarded when Palermo out-jumps Livermore to head home Stankovic’s corner on 16 minutes. We escape by the skin of our teeth eleven minutes later when Saviola hits the post with the empty goal gaping at his mercy. Hugo Leal is causing us plenty of problems in the centre of the park, giving Gavião the slip far too often for my liking, and his promptings are consistently tearing my defence to shreds. But somehow we make it to half-time with no further damage done, and I take the opportunity to sharply remind the midfielders and the defenders the true meaning of their job descriptions.

Within seven minutes between 61 and 68 minutes, two goals to Cartagonova turn the game around. Kokmeijer volleys home Notman’s flick-on on 62 minutes, while Notman claims a goal for himself on 68 minutes when he coolly controls Jaliens long ball before slotting it beneath Sergio. But our lead evaporates when Hugo Leal gives Gavião the slip one more time on 76 minutes and heads home Palermo’s flick-on. Hugo Leal becomes the provider on 80 minutes, feeding the Argentine and he doesn’t let his side down. Our defence has collapsed and frankly we wouldn’t have deserved the victory if we managed to sneak out of La Mestalla with it.

Valencia (3-5-2): Sergio; Mendieta ©, Léniz (Espín 52), Mellberg; Stankovic, Vicente, Hugo Leal, R. Verón (Donati 52), Angulo; Palermo, Saviola.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ballesteros, Ãlvarez (Gershon 83), Jaliens; Gavião (Laurie 83); Michel, Lua-Lua; Morán; Notman, Kokmeijer.

Final score: Valencia 3:2 Cartagonova

MoM - Martín Palermo

I partially blame myself for this result. I saw the defence struggling for long periods of the game, but I decided to leave them on until it was too late, although Gershon and Laurie provided me with some stability when they did. But Livermore, Ãlvarez and Gavião are all professional players, and established players in my side, so they should know what I expect. Hence, I deal with each of them individually, and I observe with interest their reaction to the official warnings I dish out to them.

[Dixie Flatline]

David admits to me that he realises his performance was poor, but tries to justify it by telling me that I can’t expect players to be at their peak form all the time. To be truthful, he has performed quite well this season, but I don’t need a young whipper-snapper of a defender telling me things like that. I tell him that I expect him to give 100% to the side at all times, and that anything less will be rewarded with his instant removal from the team. Hopefully that snaps him back into reality about how I run things around here.

Gavião meekly accepts his official warning and promises to me that he will attempt to motivate himself better for our upcoming matches. On that score, I have no doubt since I have come to see Gavião as the established central midfielder, despite the presence of Gustavsson in the squad and the looming arrival of Villarreal.

Ãlvarez begins to sulk again, claiming to me that he feels that the official warning I dished out to him was totally unfair and unwarranted. It looks like I need to leave him out for a few matches just so he can cool off.

25th of January 2006

Just hours after Barcelona drops out of the race for Ballesteros, Celta Vigo re-enters, offering me £3 million over 18 months for the versatile defender. But I don’t like deals when I have to wait 18 months to get all my money. I therefore try to persuade my counterpart that if he promises to pay me £4.5 million now and £2.5 million after 20 league matches, I will allow him to talk to the 30 year old player. I don’t seriously expect Celta Vigo to accept these terms, but at least it looks like I’m dealing with these offers instead of flatly rejecting them.

Primera Liga - Game 18: Villarreal v Cartagonova

We travel to Villarreal’s El Madrigal stadium with only one thought on our minds - upset the second placed club and take three points back to Cartagena with us. But it will be tough. They have the Argentine playmaker Walter Gaitán in full flight, and the ever-dangerous Víctor could pose serious problems to my defence. Kristian Tanem is maturing into a good defender, while Javier López Vallejo has always been difficult to score past.

After just 8 minutes, my fears about Víctor are justified as he breaks away from his marker and turns Callejas’ pass into our net. Not a great start, but almost immediately we silence the home crowd’s cheers when Fernando Morán embarks on a mazy, jinking run that takes him past the Villarreal defence before slotting the ball beneath López Vallejo. It is his fiftieth goal in a Cartagonova shirt and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Ten minutes later, a quick clearance from Gershon finds Michel, who nodds it onto Notman. The big Scot controls it sweetly before laying it off for Morán to run onto and the midfielder swerves a 30 yard rocket into the top corner! Vidal does well to save from Artur on the half-hour mark, and we hold out desperately to the break. At the break, I again emphasise to the defenders that they have a job to do, and it would be nice if they could start turning on the pressure. We’ve kept Gaitán well-quiet, but our obsession with him has allowed too many other Villarreal players too much time and space. We need to remedy that.

So, of course, we immediately concede the equaliser after the resumption of play. Medina turns in the rebound from Víctor’s shot and all our hard work seems to have evaporated away. Gaitán finally gets a look at goal on 52 minutes, but sufficient pressure from Ballesteros puts off the Argentine. I switch Lua-Lua for Clegg on 60 minutes, and seven minutes later we have the lead back when Morán completes his hat-trick. Notman made a bruising run at the Villarreal defence which is brought to an end by Unai, but Morán has the foresight to be in the right position and he curls another shot into the corner!

But for the Villarreal inaccuracy we should have been pegged back again - Gaitán misses a sitter from Víctor’s cross and then when Clegg gives away a free kick, the Argentine hits the bar with a stinging free kick. A couple of minutes from time, Vidal miraculously saves Tanem’s almost-certain goal. As we approach injury time at the end of the match, up bobs Morán who ghosts past Medina before letting fly with a 45 yard piledriver that ripples the back of the net! It is the first time anybody, anybody under my reign at Cartagonova has scored four goals, and it gives us a famous, much-treasured victory that pushes us into fourth place on the ladder, with two games in hand on Villarreal (2nd) and Celta Vigo (3rd) and three games on Elche (5th).

Villarreal (3-5-2): López Vallejo ©; Unai, Tanem, Medina; Moha, Drasim, Bosun, Artur (Jesuli 91), Callejas; Gaitán, Víctor.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore (Laurie 72), Ballesteros, Gershon, Jaliens; Gavião; Michel, Lua-Lua (Clegg 60); Morán; Notman, Kokmeijer.

Final score: Villarreal 2:4 Cartagonova

MoM - Fernando Morán

We are now the second most prolific club in the Primera Liga, having scored 41 goals from our 18 games, just behind Barcelona, who have celebrated 43 times in their 18 matches. We have the third tightest defence, conceding 21 goals. Barcelona leads the way by conceding 15 goals, and Celta Vigo has conceded 18 goals.

[Dixie Flatline]

26th of January 2006

I pick up the morning newspapers to read in growing anger that Real Madrid will shortly agree to a £3.6 million deal for Ballesteros. Sure, there might be some tabled bids for him, but I’m not likely to sell him for less than £5 million, which is his minimum release clause. I circulate a press release amongst the publishing houses of Spain to deny that Ballesteros is available for transfer, but it is made somewhat hollow by the fact that I’ve made a counter-offer to Celta Vigo.

27th of January 2006

Just as I’m notified that Celta Vigo has pulled out of the race to sign Ballesteros, I’m contacted by Señor Vicente del Bosque who wants to pay me £4.5 million for the defender. I slap on a condition onto the transfer bid that if he plays 20 league matches for Real Madrid, the club has to pay us £2 million more.

Better news for the club as a web-site devoted to the Primera Liga praises Alex Notman, gushing that the big Scot is playing the best football of his career with Cartagonova. I have to admit that he seems to have settled very quickly into life at Cartagena and is showing the type of talent that has earned him ten international caps for Scotland. I have to agree that his performances have reached the highest standard recently, and I want him to continue playing as well because after we play Real Sociedad and Deportivo at home, we embark on a four away game odyssey in the league, Copa del Rey and the Champions’ League.

28th of January 2006

Primera Liga - Game 19: Cartagonova v Real Sociedad

We play a day earlier to accommodate the national coverage on television of the Primera Liga, something I will gladly embrace given the exposure we gain from playing live in front of the television cameras - but only if we play to the potential in our squad. Lua-Lua’s poor form last time out allows me to introduce Vucko back into the fray after he has fully recovered from his latest injury, but otherwise it’s the same eleven I put out on the field. That means there is no space for Redondo in the first eleven.

A dozy start is finally awakened by the first goal of the season to Ballesteros, who drives in the rebound off Felix Guerrero after 19 minutes. Morán is our most dangerous player in the first half, and Sociedad’s predilection for a physical confrontation and the subsequent giving away of many free kicks (and yellow cards) gives him plenty of practice at set pieces. But he can also pick out a devastating pass and his inch-perfect pass is picked up by Kokmeijer, but the Dutchman can’t beat César Gálvez in the Real Sociedad goal close to half-time.

Three minutes into the second half, Alex Notman shaves a further amount off his transfer fee when he times his run perfectly to pick up Morán’s pass and slot a shot past the Sociedad keeper! Then Real Sociedad is reduced to ten men when López Rekarte is booked for the second time. With 24 minutes to play, Morán marks a fine performance with a goal to make it 3-0 on the evening. Real Sociedad pull a goal back on 75 minutes to disappoint Vidal who was looking forward to a clean sheet bonus, but we’re not in any serious threat of dropping points today and I’m happy to come away with the convincing 3-1 victory.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ballesteros, Gershon, Jaliens; Michel, Gavião, Vucko; Morán; Notman, Kokmeijer.

Real Sociedad (4-5-1): César Gálvez; López Rekarte, Antía, Pikabea ©, Pilipauskas; Rodrigo, Cachorro, Da Silva (Mild 86), Guerrero (Nadj 59), Aranburu; Llorente.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:1 Real Sociedad

MoM - Fernando Morán

[Dixie Flatline]

30th of January 2006

The chase for Ballesteros won’t die down. As Real Madrid pulls out of it, Celta Vigo reenters the fray, offering me £4.7 million after 18 months for the defender. Of course, I refuse to entertain such a ludicrous bid for him, and I make that normal counter-offer of £4.7 million now plus £1.8 million after 10 league appearances. I seriously doubt Celta Vigo’s management will plump for that deal, but it shows that I’m deadly serious about this guy.

As I pick up the evening papers from the local newsagents, I turn to the back page to catch up on the latest developments in this fine game in Spain, and I read with pleasure that Niels Kokmeijer has been singled out for praise by the paper’s leading columnist. I quickly dash off a note for my personal assistant to fax through to the newspaper to be printed in tomorrow’s edition, and then I retire to my office to read the rest of the paper.

31st of January 2006

I’m contacted by UEFA to finalise my squad for the remainder of the Champions’ League. I make two changes - out go Paulo Miranda and Juan Eduardo Esnáider and in come Carl Laurie and Alex Notman. So the squad for the European adventure looks like:

Iván Vidal (27 y/o, ESP, GK): 153(1) apps, 177 conceded, 13 MoMs, av. rating: 7.30

José Francisco Belman (34 y/o, ESP, GK): 1 app, 0 conceded, av. rating: 8.00

Joaquín Moso (27 y/o, ESP, GK): 1(3) apps, 1 conceded, av. rating: 7.50

Iulian Filipescu (31 y/o, ROM 44 caps, 1 goal, SW/D/DM C): 66(12) apps, 10 goals, 5 assists, 1 MoM, av. rating: 6.76

Shimon Gershon (28 y/o, ISR 31 caps, 4 goals, SW/D/S C): 18(2) apps, 1 goal, 1 MoM, av. rating: 7.25

Ballesteros (30 y/o, ESP, D/DM RC): 119(1) apps, 4 goals, 5 assists, 1 MoM, av. rating: 7.00

Kew Jaliens (27 y/o, NED 5 caps, D RC): 32(6) apps, 5 assists, av. rating: 6.81

José María Lacruz (27 y/o, ESP, D RL): 100(4) apps, 1 goal, 6 assists, 1 MoM, av. rating: 6.68

Carl Laurie (23 y/o, ENG, D/DM RLC): 0(5) apps, av. rating: 6.40

Curro Torres (29 y/o, ESP, D/M L): 15(2) apps, 1 MoM, av. rating: 6.71

David Livermore (25 y/o, ENG, D/DM LC): 43(3) apps, 4 goals, 2 assists, 1 MoM, av. rating: 7.02

Óscar Ãlvarez (28 y/o, ESP, D C): 106(3) apps, 3 goals, 2 assists, 4 MoMs, av. rating: 6.94

Kenneth Gustavsson (23 y/o, SWE 12 caps, 1 goal, D/DM C): 7(5) apps, av. rating: 6.42

Gavião (25 y/o, BRA, DM C): 45 apps, 8 goals, 7 assists, 2 MoMs, av. rating: 7.20

George Clegg (25 y/o, ENG, AM/F RC): 42(9) apps, 13 goals, 8 assists, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 7.14

Lomano-Tresor Lua-Lua (25 y/o, DCO 6 caps, 2 goals, AM/F RLC): 20(7) apps, 4 goals, 2 assists, 1 MoM, av. rating: 6.85

Fernando Morán (29 y/o, ESP, AM RLC): 152(13) apps, 54 goals, 29 assists, 10 MoMs, av. rating: 7.32

Jurica Vucko (29 y/o, HSV 17 caps, AM/F RC): 54(11) apps, 5 goals, 11 assists, 2 MoMs, av. rating: 6.86

Andrés Mendoza (27 y/o, PER 53 caps, 8 goals, AM/F LC): 8(3) apps, 2 goals, 2 assists, 2 MoMs, av. rating: 7.00

Michel (30 y/o, ESP, AM L): 157(7) apps, 24 goals, 37 assists, 4 MoMs, av. rating: 7.18

Alex Notman (26 y/o, SCO 10 caps, 5 goals, AM/F C): 7 apps, 7 goals, 6 assists, 2 MoMs, av. rating: 9.00

Alberto Rivera (27 y/o, ESP, AM/F C): 50(3) apps, 15 goals, 12 assists, 3 MoMs, av. rating: 7.33

Niels Kokmeijer (26 y/o, NED, S C): 79(2) apps, 30 goals, 25 assists, 7 MoMs, av. rating: 7.55

José Manuel Redondo (29 y/o, ESP, S C): 151(4) apps, 86 goals, 42 assists, 25 MoMs, av. rating: 7.84

Sabino (27 y/o, ESP, S C): 6(4) apps, 3 goals, 1 assist, av. rating: 7.30

1st of February 2006

Copa del Rey - Quarter-Final, 1st leg: Cartagonova v Deportivo La Coruña

Deportivo has a mean defence, conceding just 21 goals in 21 league games, so I know that it will be a tough game today, and I hope that my defence can hold together long enough to give us a good chance of coming away with a defendable result when we travel to La Riazor. But Gavião is unavailable due to his non-fitness, which means I have to trust to Kenneth Gustavsson to hold the midfield together. I also decide to rest Niels Kokmeijer and give Redondo a second chance as Notman’s partner. And it is Redondo who opens the scoring on 7 minutes when Morán crosses in a beautiful cross. Morán is our most dangerous midfielder and his cross is headed over by Notman just a moment later. On 20 minutes, Morán feeds Redondo, and the striker’s shot is too hot to handle. Morán, like any good midfielder, follows up and pushes the ball into Deportivo’s net for the 2-0 lead! Three minutes later, Notman and Redondo combine and our most successful striker makes it 3-0 with his tenth goal of the season. But then we stop playing and Mario Melchiot is denied a fantastic goal by an equally fantastic save from Vidal just before half-time. Right on the whistle, Deportivo manages to pull one back when Juan Carlos Valerón frees himself of Gustavsson’s attentions long enough to swerve a rocket into the top corner of our net.

If my reminder to the defence and the midfield about the jobs I want them to do would have any effect, then we would have been able to hold Deportivo to that single goal, but to my distress, they grab another one nine minutes from time. Turu Flores caps a great half’s work by picking up the loose ball from Filipescu’s tackle on his teammate and curls it into the net from long range. Just before full-time, he again finds himself in enough space to entertain a shot, but fortunately it goes well over the bar. But I’m not happy, despite the victory, as we have it all to do to maintain our cup run in a week.

Cartagonova (4-3-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ballesteros, Gershon (Filipescu 66), Jaliens (Sanz 66); Michel, Gustavsson, Vucko; Morán; Notman, Redondo.

Deportivo La Coruña (5-2-1-2): Molina; André Luiz (Capdevila 6 (Aranzábal 87)), Amaya, Naybet ©, Melchiot, Wisio; Emerson, Valerón; Godino (Canabal 26); Ãvila, Turu Flores.

Final score: Cartagonova 3:2 Deportivo La Coruña

MoM - Fernando Morán

After the match, kicking back in my office with a nicely chilled beer, I trawl through the maze of Internet web-sites about Spanish football. Again, the transfer of Alex Notman to Cartagonova has set the tongues wagging, with SoccerAge.com claiming that he has made an exciting start to his career with my club. I, of course, can’t help but agree with that assessment. Seven goals in eight starts, backed up by seven assists, means that he has gone a long way to paying off his transfer fee.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Dixie Flatline]

5th of February 2006

There is huge news from the Netherlands and Italy as Ajax Amsterdam unveils the feared, famous Ronaldo, signed from Inter Milan, his club of the last seven seasons. Paying £24 million for the Brazilian superstar, Co Adriaanse believes he has signed a player to take Ajax to the next level. Bursting onto the scene with 12 goals in just 14 appearances with Cruzeiro back in 1993/94, he moved to PSV Eindhoven where his exceptional talent drew the attention of the all the big clubs through Europe. But Ronaldo decided his future lay in Spain, and he spent the 1996/97 season with Barcelona, scoring 34 goals in 37 matches. But at the end of this season, he was back on the move joining Inter Milan. His first season in the colours of Internazionale was quite successful as he scored 25 times in 32 appearances against some of the toughest defences in the world.

But everybody knows what came next. One moment he was selected in Brazil’s team to play France in the final of World Cup 98, but then he was removed. Then the next moment, he was back in. But he was the shadow of the striker who strikes fear into all defences around the world and the French breezed to a 3-0 victory. In 1999/2000, his career was threatened by a serious knee injury, and the road back was often painful in its twists and turns. But in 2004/05, he seemed set to recapture the form that made him the household name across Brazil, scoring 19 goals in 39 appearances. His goal tally in the national colours of Brazil is nothing to sneeze at, either - 41 goals in 85 international appearances - and everybody will be keen to see how he performs in the Dutch national league.

Closer to home, Gimnástica offers a contract to Pablo Box. I don’t care what happens to the midfielder now, although I do regret that I will lose £800,000 on him.

Primera Liga - Game 20: Espanyol v Cartagonova

After disposing of Villarreal and Real Sociedad in the last couple of matches, it is important that we keep up the pace in our twentieth league match against Espanyol. It is always a tough ask to come to the Catalan capital, Barcelona, and take points off Espanyol, let alone Barcelona, and today we’re not up to the task. To put it simply, we couldn’t keep possession long enough to trouble the Espanyol midfield and defence, while they seemed to keep the ball in our defending third for long periods of time. Inaccurate finishing, particularly from Redondo, didn’t help our cause. Óscar put Espanyol ahead on 17 minutes after some good lead-up work, while Soldevilla kills off the match on 49 minutes with the second goal of the game. I take a big breath, shake my fist at some of the players for their inept performances this evening, particularly the midfielders, and try to put it behind us as we travel to La Coruña’s La Riazor for the return leg of the Copa del Rey.

Espanyol (4-1-2-1-2): Esteban; Tasevski, Pochettino ©, Rotchen, Soria; Soldevilla; Quiñónez, Martín Posse; Zubizarreta; Abreu, Óscar.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ballesteros, Gershon, Jaliens; Gustavsson; Michel (Mendoza 76), Vucko (Clegg 61); Morán (Kokmeijer 76); Notman, Redondo.

Final score: Espanyol 2:0 Cartagonova

MoM - Esteban

I’m not sure why the Espanyol keeper got the MoM award, since we only had three quite easy shots on target for him to deal with.

[Dixie Flatline]

8th of February 2006

Copa del Rey - Quarter-Final, 2nd leg: Deportivo La Coruña v Cartagonova

Holding a 3-2 lead on the first leg doesn’t thrill me with confidence, particularly with the woefully poor defensive performance we put in against Espanyol on the weekend. But the boys do well during the first half, and cap their performance with a goal to Fernando Morán, who is in irrepressible form and seems likely to keep George Clegg out of the starting eleven for the foreseeable future. Redondo’s shot was too hot for Molina to handle, and Morán pounces on the rebound like a cat. Quite frankly we could have had a couple of goals by the time half-time rolls around, but Molina is in good form and denies Redondo, Gustavsson and Morán (earlier in the half). Deportivo come out fighting in the second half, knowing that if they can win the game 2-1 they will go through on the away goals rule. We’re given a lifeline on 72 minutes when Ãvila has the ball in our net, only to have his celebrations cut short by the linesman’s flag. But Deportivo has the goal their good work deserves 12 minutes from time when Ãvila heads home Melchiot’s cross. Fortunately, though, they don’t have the ability to strike a second time and we sneak through 4-3 on aggregate.

Deportivo La Coruña (3-3-2-2): Molina; Boris, Melchiot, Amaya ©; Capdevila (Arruabarrena 58), Emerson, Wisio; David Cano (Canabal 58), Källström; Turu Flores (Ãvila 58), Diego Tristán.

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore, Ballesteros, Gershon, Jaliens; Gustavsson; Michel (Mendoza 79), Vucko; Morán; Notman, Redondo.

Final score: Deportivo La Coruña 1:1 Cartagonova

Aggregate: Cartagonova 4:3 Deportivo La Coruña

MoM - Iván Amaya

9th of February 2006

Pablo Box helps me celebrate my birthday by agreeing terms with Gimnástica and he will move to his new club when his current contract expires on the 23rd of June.

11th of February 2006

After a day or so of feverish negotiations, I’m proud to announce to the local press that Cartagonova will sign Barcelona right back Carles Puyol for the knockdown price of £925,000. We beat off interest from Sporting Gijón for the quick, aggressive right back who has been unable to dislodge Javier Zanetti from his favoured position. He will have the opportunity to challenge Jaliens and Lacruz for the starting role in my first eleven from next season.

Keep smiling!

Dixie Flatline

[Dixie Flatline]

Primera Liga - Game 21: Elche v Cartagonova

The third consecutive away match and I would like to take three points away from Elche, although that will be a difficult task considering that Elche lies in fifth prior to kick-off. Michel isn’t fit enough to take part from the beginning, so he is replaced by Mendoza, while George Clegg is given a rare start in place of the unfit Vucko. But it is Ballesteros who puts us on our way when he gathers up Mantilla’s rushed clearance and pings it back past Dorronsoro in Elche’s goal. The match see-saws between both sides from then on, but we exhibit our sudden predilection once more for conceding shortly after half-time when Nano converts Guede’s excellent pass on 49 minutes. The goal gives Elche extra confidence and they dominate the next 20-25 minutes, but fortunately Vidal manages to save time and again to preserve the draw.

Elche (4-2-4): Dorronsoro; Mantilla, Mascorro, Cuadrado ©, Zé Maria (Juanjo 55); Roy González, Ivic; Pablo (Arroyo 55), Nano, Guede, Luis Enrique (Grønkjær 55).

Cartagonova (4-1-2-1-2): Vidal ©; Livermore (Laurie 83), Ballesteros, Gershon, Jaliens; Gustavsson (Gavião 51); Mendoza, Clegg; Morán; Notman, Kokmeijer.

Final score: Elche 1:1 Cartagonova

MoM - Iván Vidal

So, here is the ladder:

As the table demonstrates, Barcelona’s lead is only a point, but they have four games in hand, so if they take maximum points from those matches, then they really do have a very comfortable lead on the rest of the pack. Despite being only 10th, it appears that Real Madrid’s chairman is still happy to allow Señor Vicente del Bosque to sit in the hot seat for a while longer.

[Dixie Flatline]

12th of February 2006

Barcelona still wants to purchase Ballesteros at the end of the season and this morning Señor Lorenzo Serra Ferrer offers me £3.6 million for the defender. I make the counter offer of £4.5 million now and £2 million after 20 league matches.

There is a big upset in the Primera Liga today as Real Betis travels to the Nou Camp and comes away with a convincing 3-1 victory. They were the better side over the ninety minutes, but all four goals came in the second half. Mexican international Omar Rodriguez put Real Betis ahead on 52 minutes. Two minutes later, Verón had the ball in the back of Real Betis’ net, but it was ruled out for off-side. But the Argentine captain wouldn’t be denied and on 72 minutes, he had the scores level again. Yet, Real Betis wouldn’t lie down, and they had the lead back again just 3 minutes later when Spanish Olympian Jaime Garrido scored a cracker from 30 yards. Real Betis kept the pressure up and they were rewarded in injury time when veteran Bosnian striker Elvir Bolic capped a man of the match performance with Real Betis’ third goal of the game.

But Villarreal threw away the chance to go top when a goal to Javier Saviola on 76 minutes gave Valencia all three points at El Madrigal. So Barcelona’s lead is still just a point at the top of the ladder, but the Catalan club has four games in hand on Villarreal, three on Celta Vigo, who trails by two points, and one on Cartagonova, who lies six points behind the top of the ladder.

The Team of the Week sees Iván Vidal installed as the goalkeeper, while Morán sits in central midfield. Shimon Gershon has the honour of warming the bench.