Wallace v Roberts 2009

[dafuge]

That sounds like a bad dream Paul

[Dava]

Windowlicker - it's been too long since I heard that insult haha.

He posted all the teams CA/PA's?? hope that hasn't tarnished the game for anyone. Glad everything has been deleted and hopefully not many seen it.

What's the name of that left back? haha

[berty1978]

You might want to look for a left back Dava.

I missed the end of that last night, came home this morning and it had all gone, I thought I had dreamt it.

[Cardiovascular]

October

Fulham 1-1 Braintree - We should've won this but we didn't. Ford equalised for us after Fulham went one-nil up and we couldn't extend it.

Champions League

Braintree 4-0 Grasshopper - An easy win, we dominated. Ferreira gave us an early lead, before Fumagalli converted a penalty. Alex Wright made it 3 just before 20 mins were played Funes made it four just after half-time.

League

Plymouth 0-2 Braintree - Plymouth's goalkeeper gave us the lead with an own goal, before Tom Ford made it 2 late on.

League Cup

Braintree 2-0 Reading - Reading put up a good fight, but we left it late and Steve Ford & Wright scored in the last 10 minutes.

League

Braintree 1-0 Huddersfield - A narrow win, which involved Huddersfield going down to 10 men. Fumagalli scored our only goal.

Champions League

Braintree 3-0 Dinamo Kiev - Funes gave us an early lead, and Sorensen extended it just before half time. By this time, the game & group was wrapped up but Munro made it 3 deep into injury time.

League

Hull 1-1 Braintree - We were awful against a lower standard team. They equallized very late on following Munro's halftime opener.

League - Unbeaten \o/

Champions League

[Dava]

Nice work CV.

Just realised I have to download the latest patch, definitely tomorrow now.

[Cardiovascular]

December

Champions League

Lyon 2-1 Braintree - A disappointing loss really but had no problem on our position - first. Fumagalli scored for us in our first loss of the season.

League

Braintree 3-1 Sunderland - An easy match, we dominated as Ford, Ruddick and Steve Ford score for us.

Club World Championship

America (MEX) 1-3 Braintree - Ferreira gives us the lead before they equalise to take it to extra time. Fumagalli and Steve Ford ensure we reach our first ever final in this competition.

Braintree 3-0 Independiente -Sorensen turns out to be the star as his 2 goals help us win the competition. He's also aided by Steve Ford, but Sorensen steals the show. We win \o/

League Cup

Braintree 2-1 Stoke - A well earned win, however we were close to a slip up. Dennis and Tom Ford score our goals.

League

West Ham 1-3 Braintree - An easy win for us. Fumagalli gets a double (including a penalty) and Funes gets in on the action.

Braintree 3-2 Tottenham - A narrow win for us ahainst 3rd place Tottenham - it could've gone either way but in the end we deserved it with goals from Dennis, Steve Ford and Funes.

Leeds 0-0 Braintree - Nothing to say.. disappointing is an understatement.

League

Champions League was first place..

World Team of the Year

Goalkeeper of the Year

Defender of the Year

[Jimbokav1971]

Windowlicker - it's been too long since I heard that insult haha.

He posted all the teams CA/PA's?? hope that hasn't tarnished the game for anyone. Glad everything has been deleted and hopefully not many seen it.

What's the name of that left back? haha

Well luckily it was funny at the start. lol

I was online when he posted the screenshots stuff but luckily the first screenie he posted was of the best players in the game, (so it meant nothing to me). By the time he realised what he was doing I could just not look so it wasn't an issue.

With regards to the left back, although I know which club he is at, (and which Nationality he is), I honestly can't remember his name, (thankfully), but I'm sure that if you posted his name It would refresh my memory and we would guide you away from signing him, (despite his excellent PA).

I have already done the SC's section and will post it now, (and then do the pics). I am also planning a bit of a review on lots of other stuff from the game, (like how some of our youth prospects have done once thye have left the club), and I might try some other stuff too, (like the players that we have allowed to slip through our fingers who have left and gone on to god careers).

Of course feel feel to completely ignore any/all of what I say, but I would say that a 24 man squad is nowhere near big enough for a season when we hope to win the Premiership and Champions League. If you haven't noticed already, some of our better players have very few natural fitness ratings.

[berty1978]

Nice win in the World Club Championship, in front of a small crowd of 119999. Middlesbrough still ahead in the league, they were predicted first last season but finished nowhere, they've improved slightly.

That would be interesting to see Jimbo, when playing for the Softies my scout recommended a defender at Arsenal as better than any of ours, looked back at his career and we let him go for £500k, can't remember his name but he's Romanian, somebody will know who I'm on about.

[Jimbokav1971]

SC Squad List.

SC Assistant Reports.

We have a total of 18 players at the club who can play as a SC. Thst's simply too many even if we were trying to experiment with playing 3 up front, (now there's an idea).

Henriksen has been in the starting line-up at the club for 6 years now and is still only 24. He is arely injured, seems to have good hidden stats and has a fairly professional attitude. Purchased for only £170K back in August 2025, he is now valued at $4.4M. That is surprisingly low as he has scored 113 goals in those 6 seasons. Despite winning 3 MOM award this season, his goal return of 5 league goals was his lowest tally to date. I am guessing that this has had an impact on his valuation. A succession of Monkey managers have taken over and looked at Henriksen and though hey could sign better. Some have, but each year Henriksen keeps fighting his way back into their thoughts by always being available. Only Manuel, Nonato, Latifa Jenning, Snelling and Kvist played more games than him this season, (despute it being the poorest of his career). I think that speaks volumes for his consistency & fitness. I am guessing that the style of play was more measured with Spartan and I'm not sure that this suits his style which is more wham bam, thank you man, goal, I think. Even if he isn't to Dava's liking I would urge him to keep him in the squad as back-up.

Puckett is a better player. No doubt about it. Very good signing, (at £4.8M), and at 22 still has plenty of time to develop. Should probably be the number 1 SC no matter who manages and what formation is preferred.

KdV did amazingly well for me in the past, and was instrumental in us avoiding relegation that first season. Again I think he has his limitations and is more suited to a direct approach where his physical ability seems to make up for his lack of technical ability. When I bought him I thought he was going to turn into a bit of a diva and throw a strop unless he was playing every game. I was pleasanlty surprised though at how he has matured and even more pleasanltly surprised that his potential discilinary problems never materialised. Although he has done well for us, I don't think he is suited to playing in a dominant side as it does not play to his trengths, He is the king of the counter-attack and I think we should look to off-load him unless we are going to play a direct counter-attacking style, (at least away from home). If we are then great, he will more than do a job for us. Playing him at home where we are likely to have lots of posession and need a clinical finisher however is not the way forward. Starting him in away European games is an excellent idea though, & keeps other strikers fresh and plays simply to his strengths, Dava just needs to have a think about how he wants to play first.

Lafforgue looks very similar in style to Henriksen, (which is a good thing), in fact the comparison graphic shows just how similar in style they are. I wonder if he might be tempted to try and stop trying to beat the off-side trap, (a PPM which I particularly dislike).

Why doesn't Richard Cummings score? He looks good he just doesn't seem to hit the back of the net. Sometimes all it takes is a change of tactic and other times it might be just for a goal to go in off the back of his head or his bum. Whatever it is, he needs to start finding the net soon because that sort of scoring record is simply not good enough.

Jason Elam is a 19 year old Englishman signed for £4M from Newcastle. He was loaned out to the Championship last season, and did well, but only 1(3) appearances this season is simply not enough to aid development. Not sure that I see him making it if I'm honest.

We have another English teenage striking prospect in Mick Upson. I prefer him to Elam and I think he looks decent. We bought him in January from Villa and then let him stagnate in the Reserves for the rest of the season only giving him 118 minutes of match time

Mattias Lewicki was just bought as an investment and I am surprised to see that he featured in the senior team, (but not surprised that he didn't score). He couldn't even cut it when loaned out to the Championship so lets just make some money on him and be done with it.

Although only 21, Kev is now in his 5th season at the club. Although he showed some early promise by scoring a couple of Premiership goals early in his career, he has been left to stagnate in the Reserves and will never meet his potential. He's valued at £3.5M so we should just flog him and learn from our mistake.

Stuart Harrison is a useless 17 year old academy product.

Luke Beattie is another product of the academy and actually looks decen(ish), (well at least compared ro the others), but he's not good enough so let's move on.

Colin Boateng is another academy product ad a finishing attribute of 5 speaks volumes. He has the PPM, "likes to play his way out of trouble". With 8 different attributes at 1.... if only he could.

Now here is a pleasant surprise. Just as I was steeling myself for another academy product and a rake of 1's and 2's, I get Antonio Esquerro. He's not going to set the World alight but at least he's decent(ish). Unfortunately we signed him at the beginning of the season and he too has been left to rott in the Reserves so who is to say what might have been.

Bo Nohr is another £100k investment that has turned into £3.1M

I had high hopes for Schreuder after I signed him on a free before sending him to West Ham in the Championship. Unfortunately he too has been left to rott in the Reserves for the last 2 season.

Summary.

It seems we have a succession of Monkey managers who have been keen to buy new young prospects, (and that's great), but who are not so keen to either give these players game-time or simply send them out to other clubs...... (which is obviously not so great). I would urge any future monkey manager to look hard at the squad as soon as they take over. Take the time to go through the playing staff section by section and then take action on EVERY player on a pro contract who is not going to feature on a regular basis. Sell them or loan them out. It doesn't matter which but we can't just let them sit in the Reserves.

I don't think we are strong in this area at all and I think it is the reason that we dodn't get closer to winning the Premiership last season. Our strikers scored only 13, 10, 5, 2 & 1 Premierhip goals this season. That's simply not good enough. I would say that part of the problem is that our 3 main SC's are all of a similar ilk. I have already shown you the graphic comparing Henriksen and Lafforgue, and here is the one showing the graphical comparison between Lafforgue and Puckett. As we have already established, KdV is more suited to a team hitting on the break, it means that we did not have the clinical finisher that our dominant play deserved.

What we have to realise is that we have developed immensely as a team/squad/club in the last few seasons. I was fighting against relegation when I had Henriksen and KdV in the team and since then we have won the FA Cup, the Champions League and finished Runners Up in the Premiership. We simply need to be fielding a better class of striker to convert our chances. Forget spending £100M on a full back, (oh how I laughed), I would happily go out and spend £30M-£40M on an absolute top of the range SC in his prime. Forget about asking the Ass Man to filter out unrealistic targets, Nobody should be unealistic and if they are then screw em.I am guessing that what is happening is that he have had a number of managers in a row who are not used to managing at the top level, (I know I'm not). We need to start buying quality players in their prime, (like Marrow). Who cares if we only get 1 season out of them.

[dafuge]

That would be interesting to see Jimbo, when playing for the Softies my scout recommended a defender at Arsenal as better than any of ours, looked back at his career and we let him go for £500k, can't remember his name but he's Romanian, somebody will know who I'm on about.

Radu Ciuca?

[Jimbokav1971]

Blyth/Northern Monkeys Academy products.

So recently I have been reading that although the Softies have produced some decent youth prospects, none of them have been developed sufficiently to impact to any great degree on the senior team.

I thought I would go through some of the Monkey Academy prospects and see how we have done by comparison.

2009. 4 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2010. 7 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2011. 6 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2012. 7 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2013. 7 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2014. 8 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2015. 4 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2016. 4 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2017. 5 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2018. 4 players promoted. 3 of them have since retired.

Joe Stephenson (2018) was the brightest of these prospects and is still in the game.

He has had a decent career in the lower leagues for Northwich, Lincoln & Ashford.

2019. 6 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2020. 5 players promoted. 4 of them have since retired.

Daniel Butler is still playing.

All his time has been spent playing non-league football.

2021. 6 players promoted. 4 of them have since retired.

Mitchell Moloney is still in the game.

He stayed at Blyth for 5 seasons, (we obviously couldn't be bothered to loan him out), before finding his level in non league football.

Mark Corbett is also still in the game.

He stayed at Blyth for 4 seasons, (again no loans during this time), before he moved to play non-league football.

2022. 5 players promoted. 4 of them have since retired.

Terry Lumsden (2022) was the brightest prospect and is still playing.

Capped by England at U19 level, he stayed at Blyth for 7 seasons, (I offered him a new contract), before sending him out on loan to League 1 side Bury in 2026/27. The following season he featured twice from the bench for me in the League and the season after he started 1 Cup game. After I left the club he was sold to Championship side Blackburn for £875K where he won promotion to the Premiership at the first attempt. He soon caught the eye of Benfica and then joined them for £2.9M in Jan 2031. He has featured for them in Europe 3 times this season. If he was still at the club he would have get games at the moment. Only once did we send him out on loan and he only featured 3 times for the club, (despite him actually being in the match squad on a far larger number of occasions. When we get a player like this that has potential we really need to pay him more attention. We treated this guy VERY poorly and he has still gone on to be a decent player. He is currently valued at £2.5M and is attracting interest from Galatasaray. To say I am annoyed at the way we treated this guy, (even with his ability being highlighted with England U19 Caps) would be an understatement. The fact that he is a left winger, the very position that we have struggled in since www2 got us promoted, makes it even more galling.

2023. 5 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2024. 4 players promoted. None of them still in the game.

2025. 4 Players promoted. 3 of them still in the game.

Ray Barlow was with us for 4 seasons, (without being loaned out).

He then joined League 2 Luton where he was relegated to the Conference and was released as they slashed their wage bill. He is currently looking for a new club.

Andy Graham was with us for 4 seasons, (without being loaned out).

He then spent 1 season each at Conference sides Dag & Red, Sutton and Braintree (grrrr). Unfortunately his hope of extending his contract at Braintree was dealt a blow when he suffered a serious hip injury and it looks like he will again be looking for a club come the start of next season.

Ben Oates was with us for 4 seasons, (without being loaned out).

He then spent 1 season at Conference Chester before moving to Droylsdon in the same league. There is some interest at the moment from Scottish team Queens park, so with any luck he will stay in the game when Droyldon release him at the end of this season.

2026. 6 Players promoted. 4 of them still in the game.

The brightest prospect was James Brackstone (2026) who was never even offered a permanent contract and was released at the end of his first youth season.

He then spent a couple of seasons at Worksop in Conference North, before Stevenage splashed out £1K on him to take him to Conference South.

Danny Cleaver was another who was released at the end of his initial amateur contract.

He then joined League 2 Swindon where he stayed for 2 seasons before moving to League 1 Stockport on a free. His contract is about to expire and it doesnt look like it is being renewed. Conference side Lincoln are interested though so at least he has some options.

Hakeem Atkinson, (doesn't look much like a Hakeem to me), stayed with us for 3 seasons.

He then spent 1 season at Conference side Darlington before dropping down to play for Alfreton in Conference North. His contract is also about to expire and again Scottish side Queens Park are showing interest, (that's a bit strange).

Ameobi was the American white guy, (anyone remember him? He got got 33 USA youth caps), who stayed with us for 2 seasons before being released.

He then spent 3 seasons at Non League Clevedon where his contracts is about to expire.

2027. 5 players promoted. 4 of them still in the game.

Richie Rule spent 2 seasons with us before being released.

He then spent a season at Worksop in Conference North and is then moved to Marine, (also in Conference North), at the beginning of this last season. His contract is about to expire and doesn;t look like being renewed despite the fact that he is classed as "indespensible to the club". He kept 8 clean sheets as Marine finished 9th in the league. Interestingly, Scottish side Queens Park are interested in signing him too.......?????

Michael Newman spent a couple of seasons at Blyth before being released.

He then joined Hendon in Conference South, (where he stayed for 18 months), before Conference National side Billericay signed him on a free. His contract is also due to expire and although nobody is currently interested, from the look of his stats I am hopeful that he might be snapped up by someone else.

Paul Weaver spent 2 seasons at Blyth.

He then spent 1 season at Kendal in Conference North before joining Conference National side Hinckley at the beginning of this season. His contract is is due to expire but by the looks of him he should be able to get another club.

Jonathan Carson spent 2 seasons at Blyth before being released.

He is currently in his 2nd season at non leage Mangotsfield, (ooh that's not very common for a non league side to offer a 3 year contract), so he still has at least 1 more year left there, (does anyone else like the Mangotsfield colours? I thought they used to be a nasty brown colour.)

2028. 6 players promoted. All 6 still in the game.

Rich (2028) is coming to the end of his 2nd season with us.

He was loaned out to Championship side Peterborough this season, (where he started 2 league games). He looks decent(ish) and at least has all the right stats in all the right areas for a centre-half. Coach Milos thinks that he is good enough for the Championship now but could play in the Premiership in the future. While I'm not convinced that he will ever be good enough for us, maybe we should experiment with him a little and see what we can get out of him. It also might be worth pointing out that he already has 12 N.Irish U21 Caps. The only other time an academy product gained U21 Caps was Terry Lumsden (2022). Champonship side Swansea are interested in buying him at the moment.

Les Miller was at Blyth for 2 seasons before being released.

He is now about to be released after spending 1 year at Conference North Ilkeston.

Robert Randall was at Blyth for 2 seasons before being released.

He is currently coming to then end of a 1 year contract with Conference North side Stafford.

Chris Oakes is a GK who spent 3 seasons at the club.

He has been without a club ever since.

Kieran Smith is a MR who spent 3 seasons at the club.

He has been without a club ever since.

2029. 6 players promoted. All 6 still at the club.

Aaron (2029) is the brightest prospect. We haven't bothered to send him out on loan and coach Milos thinks that while he is only good enough to play League 2 football at the moment, he does have the potential to play in the Premiership. While he doesn't look as good as Rich (2028), I would still like to see what we can get out of him.

It is thought that Andy Brown will never play higher than the Championship.

Abdul Rahman Fallutah may look useless but he has been capped 4 times by his Country, (Iraq). He got sent to our Leage 2 feeder club which is great, but they haven't played him a single time, (which is not so a great). We need to try and match up player ability with playing levels when we are sending them out on loan, or at least recall those that are not featuring regularly. He gained 4 senior Iraqi caps as a youth player with us but none this season while on loan in league 2. Obviously I can't get a coach report becase he is on loan but I will post one when he returns.

It is thought that Luke Beattie will never play higher than the Championship.

It is thought that Ryland Rawlinson, (now there is a name and a half), will never play higher than the Championship.

2030. 5 players promoted. All 5 still at the club.

Dom (2030) is the brightest prospect. Despite that, the general concensus amongst the coaches is that he will not be good enough to play in the Premiership.

Adam Ball will never play higher than the Championship.

Stuart Harrison will never even make the Championship.

Danny McCabe will never play higher than the Championship.

Ciaran Phillips will never play higher than the Championship.

Summary.

So in all the seasons that the game has been running, we have only produced 1 player that has gone on to have what we would call a top class career, and really only a couple of others who might, (and it is a very big might), have the potential to emulate him.

N.Irish U21 DC Rich (2028) seems like our best bet at the moment, although Aaron (2029) also looks like he might be decent. Can I ask everyone to nickname the best player to be promoted from the academy each season. As a group we seem particularly crap at developing youngsters, but if we at least know who we should concentrate on developing it might make things easier.

[Jimbokav Jr]

Midfeild Left.

Jan Vyskoc. Looks, decent backup. But low pace, 14, low flair, 13, low creativity, 14, puts me of him a little.

Marcial Looks alright, but still I think we could get better?

Vaughan Dosen't look good enough, and not vauled at much, not sure what to do about him, although I dont think he should play.

Shaun Brunskill Looks useless. For a winger I look at Crossing, Dribbling, Technique, Flair, Pace, Accerlation. Pace is on 16 and Technique is on 15 other than them none are on 15. And if we're looking to win Champions League , and The League he is no where near standerds.

Summary -

(Gulp) Is that it? Think we need a few more there.

Midfeild Right.

Snelling Looks, great, Flair is a bit low on 13 but everything else makes up for that.

Joe Marrow Is good, VERY good. BUT I feel he is more of a Defensive Midfeilder, and should play in front of the back 4.

Lewis Singh Looks good but "sick-note" Flair of 11 and Pace of 14 all put me of him. If sicknote wasn't there I would think he is great.

Summary -

All 3 very good, but i fell 1 should play DMc ( depending on what i see there when I look at that bit ) and 1 might be injured alot. Leave us with just 1 :s

Midfeild Centre.

DM- Marcos Henriquez Looks good, but I prefer Joe Marrow at DMc then this guy.

Stamekovic Also looks good, and at £2,000 a week, a bargain.

Frank Jansen Looks alright, but I dont think he will ever make the grade, because of his low Teamwork, Work rate, Pace and Detemination.

Ciaran Phillips is another 17 year old academy product. He will necer (You mean Never not necer) play higher than the Championship.

MC - Andriy Is VERY good, and only 20 years old, should be one of the first names on the team sheet everyweek.

Jose Antonio looks preety poor to me. With a PPM of "likes to play his way out of trouble" and pace and Decisions both in single figures, disaster waiting to happen. He is vauled at £2,100,000 so might be worth just cashing in on him?

AMC Im going to leave this position because im not sure what to look for.

Summary - Alot of good players in each position and after reading Dads Summary it seems that we are strong AMC aswell.

Strikers. - Henriksen at a glance, looks preety poor, but once you look closer, he dose everything you need a striker to do.

Puckett. Oh WOW. I like him alot. 21 starts last season, and 13 goals, thats a top preformance, and he is vauled at £14,250,000. Top Top player there.

KdV Looks good, only problem being his age. His goal's last season was very poor. But I dont agree with Dad in saying he should go unless we're playing a Direct Counter.

Lafforgue Looks alot like henriksen to the graph but i fell that lafforgue is a consideribly better player , and 2 years younger. But they are both good players. Lafforgue looks very good in the air, we could be a bounes when players 3 strikers, mabey a big man in the middle and 2 little speedy strikers eaither side of him?

Richard Cummings Looks good but didn;t score in the leauge last season? Was he possibly playing on the wing? he has a few assists. If he was playing up front and just didn;t score. Whoever managed last season could they say if he played well and just didn't manage to score, or played poor and didn't give he self the chance to score? If he played poor, it might be worth offloading for the £13,750,000 he is vauled at?

Jason Elam Looks good, but dosen't look good enough to play our team, mabey in the premiership but just not for us.

Mick Upson Looks good, and again I think he will get into the premiership , but just not for us.

Mattias Lewicki Dosn't look good enough physicly to play for us.

Kev Looks poor, and should go.

Antonio Esquerro Looks Decent , but a lack of games my have haulted his progress, so now he will probaly never play for us now.

Bo Nohr Wont do it for us, but will do it for someone else and will get us a bit of money.

Schreuder Again dosn't look good enough but will get us £3,500,000 .

Summary - I dont think we have enough

[PaulHartman71]

is Lewis Singh injury prone then? I don't remember him getting injured that much during my season in charge.

[Jimbokav Jr]

Jimbokav Posted this.

Singh looks good but the simple fact remains is that he just doesn't seem to perform. Whenever I wanted/needed to call upon him he always seemed to be either injured or just getting over an injury and since then from what I have read from the upddates nothing seems to have changed.

Looking at his injury history........

2 torn calf muscles.

2 damaged heels.

1 strained wrist.

2 stubbed toes (what a girl!)

2 groin strains.

2 twisted knees,

2 bruised shins.

1 damaged knee-cap.

1 bruised thigh.

1 gashed arm.

and 1 bruised rib.

He's only 22 and has played less than 90 league games in his career. It really doesn;t take a brain-surgeon, (or even a physiotherapist), to realise that this guy will always have long term injury issues. Enough said I think. No doubt that he is a hell of a player. If I was managing I would throw money at him in an attempt to get him to sign a new contract, and then flog him.

[Dava]

Great summary there Jimbo, hopefully will get some form of up-date up tonight, once I've installed the patch.

Looking at the up-dates I think we have alot of areas to strengthen, alot of players to sell (for good money too) and a really healthy transfer budget to it all with, considering the last guy spent 100m on one player!

[Lomedae]

Just finished reading through all of this the past week or so. Amazing journey the teams have made since the start, and a lot of memorable moments for both sides.

If there's a spot for a new guy in the future (3IAR) I'd love to take a crack at the Monkeys some time.

[Cardiovascular]

Any Softies?

Jacob - Scout Report

Worth £10-12M?

[dafuge]

Is that much better than Ruddick that he is worth the money?

[Cardiovascular]

He's got potential to be better..

[dafuge]

Is Ruddick at his potential?

[Cardiovascular]

Ruddick isn't - he's rated decent with potential to be 'as good as Sorensen' and a good PL player. Jacob is leading, decent right now.

[dafuge]

In that case go for it. I don't think he looks amazing, but if he's got a lot of room for improvement and could be a number one choice he's worth it.

[berty1978]

How is Romildo looking CV? I think he should have made his transfer by now.

[Cardiovascular]

Romildo looks very good, giving him a few games but the run up to the end is crucial..

[Dava]

Couldn't apply the patch for some reason, seems to be crashing... tried a reinstall and all that, so now I'm reinstalling through steam, hopefully this will do the trick.

[Dava]

So football manager is finally up to date and working again, however I have downloaded the bloody softies game, took me about 5 minutes to realise haha.

Can't catch a break here lads, sorry for the delay.

[Jimbokav Jr]

So football manager is finally up to date and working again, however I have downloaded the bloody softies game, took me about 5 minutes to realise haha.

Can't catch a break here lads, sorry for the delay.

From the list on the front page, your next up for the monkeys, so there is no need to download the softies?

Or am i mistaken? :o

[Jimbokav Jr]

Northern Monkeys: <<<<<<<<<

Year Manager Division/Position Achievements

2008/9. PaulHartman71 BSN - 7th

2009/10. Canvey!! BSN - 8th

2010/11. ssestig BSN - 12th

2011/12. Jimbokav1971 BSN - 8th

2012/13. bermybhoy BSN - 1st Promoted

2013/14. rlipscombe BSP - 1st Promoted

2014/15. fatski League 2 - 7th Play off finalists

2015/16. Dava League 2 - 1st Promoted

2016/17. conners League 1 - 9th Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners

2017/18. ssestig League 1 - 6th Promoted via play-offs

2018/19. hasdgfas Championship - 24th Relegated

2019/20. canvey!! League 1 - 20th

2020/21. bermybhoy League 1 - 1st Promoted

2021/22. Dava Championship - 2nd Promoted

2022/23. TaylorB Premier League - 17th

2023/24. funbags Premier League - 20th Relegated

2024/25. www2 Championship - 2nd Promoted

2025/26. conners Premier League - 16th

2026/27. Jimbokav Premier League - 9th

2027/28. brambleten/Jimbokav Premier League - 12th FA Cup Winners

2028/29. PaulHartman71 Premier League - season under way Community Shield Winners

2029/30. bermybhoy

2030/31. spartans5

2031/32. dava <<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Am I aloud to borrow that?

[Jimbokav1971]

Am I aloud to borrow that?

What do you mean mate?

Do you mean are you allowed to download and play the most recent Monkey save?

If you do, then of course you are. (We cold even have a mini competition between the 2 of us as I am playing a season on that save too.). If you do though, remember that you are not allowed to mention anything about it in this thread.

[canvey!!]

Isn't Jimbokav Jr. your son? Why was he born two years before you?

[Jimbokav Jr]

What do you mean mate?

Do you mean are you allowed to download and play the most recent Monkey save?

If you do, then of course you are. (We cold even have a mini competition between the 2 of us as I am playing a season on that save too.). If you do though, remember that you are not allowed to mention anything about it in this thread.

I mean am I aloud to quote all of that code stuff, the list of who played when. I had to write something because I had the list in quote, so i got the message, " The message your have entered is to short... "

Isn't Jimbokav Jr. your son? Why was he born two years before you?

To get past the sega-pass account thing.

[dafuge]

From the list on the front page, your next up for the monkeys, so there is no need to download the softies?

Or am i mistaken? :o

He was joking, he downloaded it by accident and it took him a while to realise what was going on.

[Jimbokav Jr]

He was joking, he downloaded it by accident and it took him a while to realise what was going on.

Oh I get it now.

:o

[Dava]

OK, I didn’t have a great deal of time last night but the first impressions, thoughts and actions are:

GK

Joshua Moogan – I am going to keep this guy as back up, no real profit can be made and he looks decent.

Josh – Sell for £2m, had offers in already.

Rodrigo – Sell £1m, had no offers as yet, may well loan him out.

Ilpo Salonen – going to keep this guy I quite like him.

Bobby – I will loan this guy out, looks decent and his value could go higher with a decent loan move.

DL

Kvist – Looks very good and fairly consistent will definitely feature.

Raimundo – I don’t really like this guy, not convinced…. yet. I will only look to sell should I get a better LB in for a decent price.

Gareth Abbott – Sell for £4m, had offers already.

Nick Anisi – not worth selling and Jimbo expressed a interest in his international career, I shall keep him rotting in the reserves.

DR

Manuel – Looks ace, I am hopeful he will do very well.

Ivan Suarez Alvarez – Looks OK, definitely a good talent although I don’t really want him anywhere near the first team. I will loan him out.

Rothwell – Looks good, will try to loan out or keep as back-up should I fail in bringing in some decent cover.

Andy Senior – I signed him way back…when terms like windowlicker were acceptable socially and often a term of endearment.

de Vries – To loan out, will make decent cover in the future… reminds me a of Senior a little bit.

Andy Brown – Sell

Bjorkman – Get rid, he is rot.

Jepsen - Sell

Darren Finch – Sell

DC

Nonato – Superb looking player.

Diego – Looks good, great back up.

Melvin – Again looks great and I have been enquiring as to the availability of his French international defensive partner.

Kieran Smith- Looks good, liked him when he was first bought. Time to cash in though, he has clubs interested and hasn’t played particularly well. Sell £7.5m.

Fernando – Sell £5m, and had offers.

Aaron (2029) – To loan

Rich (2028) – To loan

Ismael – Sell £3.3m, had offers

Stefan Viitala Sell for £2.9m.

Maybe Miguel Chavez – Loan to raise value.

17 year old Abdul Rahman Fallatah – Sell.

ML

Tommy Jennings – He is a natural in 5 positions and I will be playing him as first choice left winger. Excellent looking player.

Jan Vyskoc. – Like him a lot, should be a very good back up.

Marcial – Sell for 2.4m

Vaughan – Has left on a free transfer to Rangers.

Shaun Brunskill - Sell £2m.

MR

Snelling- Looks pretty good, I’ve noticed in FM it is very difficult to get decent wingers as the game goes on, so pretty good going here.

Lewis Singh – Won’t sign a contract but I will keep him on the books until he accepts another offer or eventually we come to terms.

Definitely need another RW in my opinion and I have one lined up who is ok.

Jon Inge Haugen – Get rid.

Daniel Elder – Sell £2m, and had offers.

MC

Joe Marrow – Great rotation player

Marcos Henriquez – Looks OK, but doesn’t get many games. I have currently got a deal in place to sell for £10m.

Stamekovic – Looks pretty good back up and is HG for Europe.

Frank Jansen – Loan him out.

Bjarnason – get rid

Andriy – Brilliant player

Jose Antonio – In the reserves at the minute, don’t think much of him to be honest. I may sell or loan him out depending on transfer activity.

Abdul Tetteh – Is a natural MC and AMC, so I think he will partner Andriy.

Connor Kendall – Sell £1m.

Claudio Buananno – Sell £3.5m

I may well look to get another CM in but it isn’t priority really.

SC

Henriksen – He looks pretty poor and has a pretty poor scoring record, I see no reason to keep at the club when we can get decent value for him and already have Kdv at the club who is pretty much on par and worth less. Sell £7.5m.

Puckett – Great player.

KdV – Looks pretty good back up and will certainly feature.

Lafforgue – Another very good player.

Richard Cummings – Looks very good, will definitely be playing up top during my season.

Jason Elam – Loan out for the season.

Mick Upson – Another Loan for the season

Mattias Lewicki – Sell £1.4m

Kev – Sell £3.5m

Antonio Esquerro. – Sell £2.1m

Bo Nohr – Sell £3.1m

Schreuder – Sell £3.5m

I will try and bring in another Striker but the quality and value for money out there is pretty poor.

I have a few players already lined up for decent ish fees I will up load screenies and the like tonight along with values. Unfortunately I am finding it pretty tough going trying to find players that will actually improve the starting 11 without costing our entire bank balance. Feel free to comment on the potential purchases when I get them up later on, as none have yet gone through.

All my Sell’s/Loan’s haven’t yet been completed, please feel free to comment if you think a youngster should be given more of a chance or sold for a higher value etc.

[Dava]

I am not used to dealing with such a large squad by the way, so it was a complete shock when I seen the Monkey's. I hate having players in a squad purely to make money or who I don't believe could one day be part of the first team squad, mainly as I hate investing time into them.

[Jimbokav1971]

Raimundo – I don’t really like this guy, not convinced…. yet. I will only look to sell should I get a better LB in for a decent price.

1. I would ask you to look again at Raimundo. I think he is actually better than Kvist, (and I'm a big fan of Kvist.

Henriksen – He looks pretty poor and has a pretty poor scoring record, I see no reason to keep at the club when we can get decent value for him and already have Kdv at the club who is pretty much on par and worth less. Sell £7.5m.

I would like you to reconsider the sale of Henriksen.

1. If you sell him, then you will only be left with 4 senior SC's. If we assume that you will usually have 1 SC injured, andother in poor form and 2 tired from the previous match, I would suggest that you need a total of 6 SC's to compete on both fronts this season. I'm not suggesting that he should start, (Puckett is the man), but I think there is little to choose between Henriksen and Lafforgue, and I think KdV is only worth keeping because he is a little different to the other 3. Rather than selling one of these guys, I would look to keep all and bring in an experienced thirtysomething.

2. He has scored 91 goals in 6 seasons for us, (many of those seasons playing in a team where we were nowhere near as dominant as we are now).

3. He seems to have good hidden stats in that he is rarely injured, never complains and just gets on with it.

4. He has played in all our recent successes, (FA Cup Final, Champions League, Charity Shield and Super Cup victories. That we won them all suggests that he is doing something right.

5. He was named in the 2030 Premiership select team.

6. He was the 2029/30 Premiership top goal scorer.

7. He came 3rd in the Footballer of the Year voting in 2029/30.

8. He won the Premiership Young Player of the Year in 2027/28 & 2028/29.

9. Just about every Monkey manager, (including me), has had the same thought when taking over the team and looking at him for the first time. Look at the games he has played and you will see that we have all changed our minds.

I really think it would be a BIG mistake to let him go. What can you get for £7.5M anyway?

Summary. I don;t think you are leaving yourself a large enough squad. You have a LOT of games coming up and you need a large squad. At the moment I think that while you are right to let go of the youngsters who are never going to make it, you should be looking to keep more of your senior players than you are currently planning to.

Kieran Smith- Looks good, liked him when he was first bought. Time to cash in though, he has clubs interested and hasn’t played particularly well. Sell £7.5m.

If you sell Smith and sell both Fernando and Ismael, then what will you do with just 1 injury and 1 suspension hits you?

You have also not recognised that the 2 young Spaniards arrived early enough to be considered HG at club. I think you need to look at the bigger picture here. We don't need the money so why are we selling good potential 21 year olds who are already banging on the door of the Spanish senior team?

Nick Anisi – not worth selling and Jimbo expressed a interest in his international career, I shall keep him rotting in the reserves.

lol, Thanks, but he is absolute guff. I would just release him if nobody is interested.

[Jimbokav1971]

I am not used to dealing with such a large squad by the way, so it was a complete shock when I seen the Monkey's. I hate having players in a squad purely to make money or who I don't believe could one day be part of the first team squad, mainly as I hate investing time into them.

The problem is that we need to keep doing that in order to generate the income to compete with the clbs who have large stadiums and generate loads of income that way.

If it is too much of a pain then you can simply offer them all out on loan gfor the season and then send what is left to the feeder clubs, (we have 1 in each Football League Division, (I think), and then 1 in Ireland and 1 in Bulgaria.

Home Grown at Club players.

Rodrigo (GK) is 21 and has 2 years left on his contract. Even if you don;t think he is going to make it, (I don't agree but fair enough), then we should keep him and sell him at the season after he has had another year to develop.

Gareth Abbott (DRL) is 21 and has 3 years left on his contract. Why are we selling someone who is HG at club and who the coaches think has the potential to be better than our best DL (Raimundo). Add to the mix that he is both footed so can play on both flanks.

Fernando (DC) is only 21 ans has 2 years left on his contract and ha already started being selected in the Spanish Senior squad. If we sell him it should be when he is nearing 1 year left on his contract.

Ismael (DC) is only 21 and has 3 years left on his contract. Really don't see the point in selling a player who has not yet reached his potential.

Henriksen (SC), for reasons already stated.

[Dava]

Selling Keiran Smith and the spanish CB's as that would leave me with enough money to cover the purchase of a French International that is very comparable to Melvin. I personally didn't think they would ever get any better than they already are and if they did they still wouldn't be good enough for a PL & CL challenging team.

Again the same is certainly true of Henriksen, his average rating last year was so poor as well as his goal return, I honestly would not want to play him. We have 3 great strikers and one OK back up in KDV, I will try to bring in one more great striker and I think that would be enough personally. We can always recall the lads out on loan, worst case scenario.

As for Raimundo, he is OK, but his average ratings stink, which suggests he isn't cut out to be the left back I want. The only reason I mentioned moving him on would be if I found a replacement and would prefer to keep Kvist as back up.

[Jimbokav1971]

Selling Keiran Smith and the spanish CB's as that would leave me with enough money to cover the purchase of a French International that is very comparable to Melvin. I personally didn't think they would ever get any better than they already are and if they did they still wouldn't be good enough for a PL & CL challenging team.

How much money do you have? As you only seem to be in the market for 1 SC, 1 DC and 1 DL, don't we already have enough for that with the other players leaving and the initial budget?

I am not sure that you realise quite how many games you might have to play this season.

38 League games.

13 Champions League games if we get to the Final.

No idea about World Club Champs, (but I think it might be just 2).

1 Euro Super Cup.

6 League Cup games if we get to the Final.

6 FA Cup games, (assuming no replays).

That's 64 games that you might have to cram into the season.

When you then consider that senior squad plaers such as Andriy (5), Puckett (7), Manuel (7), KdV (9), & Vyskoc (9), all have natural finess ratings in single figures.

When you then consider that these same players might be expected to play an additional 5-6-International games during the season then I think you are leaving yourself very short of numbers.

Again the same is certainly true of Henriksen, his average rating last year was so poor as well as his goal return, I honestly would not want to play him. We have 3 great strikers and one OK back up in KDV, I will try to bring in one more great striker and I think that would be enough personally. We can always recall the lads out on loan, worst case scenario.

He had 1 poor season, but had previously been the clubs top goal-scorer in 4 ou of the previous 5 seasons. I would suggest that the change in fortunes was due to the introduction of Puckett, (who scored fewer than Henriksen did in each of the previous 2 seasons by the way), and also Spartans preference for playing through an AMC rather than via the flanks. As you seem keen to play Jennings on the left flank rather than in the middle, I would suggest that this might be about to change again.

Up to you though. I will say no more.

[Dava]

I understand you would like to keep Henriksen, so I'll leave it for some of the other previous managers to comment. I will also get a few screenshots up tonight regarding potential replacements.

Jimbo, my squad I want is pretty much this: 3 Gk's, 5 CB's (inc a utility), 4 full backs, 5 MC's, 5 wingers, 5 strikers. I think that would leave us fairly well protected for all the games we may face.

At the moment the team of my thinking is:

GK

Lafita

Joshua Moogan

Ilpo Salonen – going to keep this guy I quite like him.

Fullbacks

Kvist

Raimundo - possible replacement

Manuel

RB need a new signing

de Vries - utility man cover

DC

Nonato

Diego

Melvin

New signing

Wingers

Tommy Jennings

Jan Vyskoc.

Snelling

Lewis Singh

New Signing

MC

Joe Marrow

Stamekovic

Andriy

Abdul Tetteh

New Signing

SC

Puckett

KdV

Lafforgue

Richard Cummings

New Signing

Whtas the opinions on the strength of that squad?

[Jimbokav1971]

Well I suppose it depends what formation you plan on playing.

Assuming you will be playing 442...

We look fine in goal. I am guessing that Lafita will play most of the games with the others just coming in when you want to experiment.

You are fine at DL. Kvist and Raimundo (or the new signing) are fine.

DR looks decent. Manuel and Diego look plenty good enough.

Cover can be provided in both these positions by keeping Abbott, (who seems to have more potential than de Vries, (who I would personally look to offload if you are intent of getting rid of one). More depth can be provided by Rothwell (20) and Alvarez (19) who both have significant scope for development.

DC looks good in terns of ability, but not in depth. The way I look at it is that you almost have to have enough players to field 2 decent teams at this level, (simply because the games will come so thick and fast). That doesn't mean 4 players by the way, that means 6 players. 2 to start each game and 1 on the bench. Although we are including Diego as a DR the depth of youngsters with potential there mean that he should be able to cover DC too. So with Melvin & Nonato as our senior DC's, Diego as back-up with the new signing, (whoever he may be), I honestly do not think that you have enough here as that just leaves us with 4 and little or no back-up. If we lose 1 player to injury, and 1 player to suspension, then already we don't have enough to stick one on the bench. I would keep Smith and 1 of the Spaniards. You also have to remember that Smith will be content even though he is not playing every week, (as will either of the Spanish youngsters). If you buy a 3rd top class DC, will all 3 of them be happy to be rotated? We would be pretty lucky if that were the case.

We look weak on the wing because I think that Singh will leave on a free, (there is just something about him). That would leave us with 4 wingers, (even with the new arrival). If even 1 of these gets injured/suspended/loses form, then it limits our options from the bench.

MC is ok(ish), but is weakened by Jennings being used on the left. It leaves us with just Marrow, Tetteh, Andriy and Stamenkovic who I am not sure about. Obviously you are bringing one in, but as the instructions given to these players might be physically demanding, (Andry can't cope with box to box instructions), how will they cope with 3 games in 7 days?

I don't like Cummings as a SC. We paid £13.75M for a player who has only scored double figures league goals in England once and never in the Premiership, (6 Premiership goals in 42 appearances). At the same time you are talking about selling our most consistant SC in recent years, (who has a far superior scoring ratio in the Premiership), (and was the Premiershops leading scorer 2 seasons ago), for about £7.5M. It just doesn't make sense to me.:confused:

I would say that with the sale of so many fringe players we are short of numbers if we expect to do well in all competitions this season.

We are fine at the back (if we keep our existing depth), we need additions in the middle and on the flanks and I also think we need a minimum of 6 SC's, (whoever you choose).

[Jimbokav1971]

Almost missed this.

Ilpo Salonen – going to keep this guy I quite like him.

Aerial ability, communication and positioning all in single figures.

[brambleten]

nice to see my free Bosnian still around to help cover Andriy, who is superb. i hope you can emulate last season's success

[Dava]

Stadium expansion of 12983 announced due to be completed by the 07/12/2031.

Current transfer targets from last night:

Vito Verdi - Could cost anywhere upwards of £25m.

Luca Ledda - RW currently negotiated at £14.75m

Logan Jacquet - DC looks very good, cost £20m

Carlos Foster - LB, looking to be costing around £20m

Staine Grande - Around £15m for this striker

Mate Kujundzija - Again a striker around the £15m mark

Matteo Carrere - Striker around £30 - £40m..

James Ogden - MC again around £30m mark...

Mike Barton - WBR who I would retrain to RB, for £13.5m.

Let me know your thoughts, they are just some guys I found last night, will be looking around alot now and will post some other targets.

[Jimbokav1971]

Vito Verdi - Could cost anywhere upwards of £25m.

Looks good but can't see him being worth £25M If we are buying his high PA then we need to look to buy them younger. If we are buying him for his current ability then while good, he isn't £25M good.

Luca Ledda - RW currently negotiated at £14.75m

I really like this guy but in paying more than double his current valuation I think we are paying over the odds. I still like him though and would close my eyes and pretend not to notice the price if you bought him.

Logan Jacquet - DC looks very good, cost £20m

I don't like him at all and he wouldn't ever get a game if I was managing.

Marking 14.

Concentration 13

They are key attributes for a DC in my book. His CA is poorer than what we already have and we are considering paying £20M for him? We have youngsters better than that in such key DC areas.

Carlos Foster - LB, looking to be costing around £20m

Looks a poorer player than Raimundo, (who you don;t think is good enough), and we have to pay £20M for him? He's also 4 years older. We must look for VERY different things in a full-back.

Staine Grande - Around £15m for this striker

He's good, but compare him to what we have already got and I don't think he will make much of an impact for a cost of £15M for a player approaching 30.

Mate Kujundzija - Again a striker around the £15m mark

Finishing of 13 would leave him as the weakest finisher at the club.

Matteo Carrere - Striker around £30 - £40m..

He used to be a Monkey. I signed him on a free and then SOMEONE sold him for a paltry amount the following year. It would kill me to see us shell out that much on him when we had him at the club already.

James Ogden - MC again around £30m mark...

He is quality, no doubt about it. I remember looking at him before. It's a lot of money though. If you are playing a flat 2 in the middle of the pitch then I suppose it would be worth it. If you are planning on a DM or an AMC, (as the squad is geared to at the moment), then it's probably not worth it.

Mike Barton - WBR who I would retrain to RB, for £13.5m.

I really like this bloke, but I wonder why on Earth you are thinking of making a DR out of him. Everything about him cries our MR to me.

Crossing, dribbling, creativity, passing, pace & acceleration all 15+

From a defending point of view, determination, positioning, marking, tackling, & heading all -15.

Doesn't mean that you shouldn't buy him. Just don't think he will make a very good full-back.

[Dava]

Good point on Barton, I've found alot of decent RB's so I may retrain him elsewhere.

Ledda looks the best of a bad bunch tbh, wingers are very hard to buy on this save, it appears.

Had a agreement in place to sign Carrere £25m + Singh, but I've cancelled that in light of the previous mistake we made selling him.

Withdrew almost all of those bids... and now have these guys as my main targets:

Adrian Sanehbhbfhedbfh - LB £1.4m

Mendez - DM/MC for £13m

Haman - Striker with a great goals ratio in the German leagues, £17m

Fedele - appears to be in a co-ownership, I can't make a offer so it's a wait and see.

[conners]

keep henriksen, am proud to have signed him

[TaylorB]

Haman - Striker with a great goals ratio in the German leagues, £17m

Looks very good for a reasonable price. Seems to me to be similar yet better than Lafforgue. Has very good off the ball and teamwork stats which I believe are important, should be able to play the target man role and the support striker role well, although I'd have him as the target man if I were you although his strength is a bit low.

[Jimbokav1971]

Mendez - DM/MC for £13m

He was another one of my previous cheap signings that someone saw fit to flog:(.

I wonder how many of these guys are going to come back and bite us on the arse.

Just so everyone knows, I only sign young players based on detailed scout reports from JPP20 scouts.

If they say they are gonna be class, then generally they are gonna be class. Selling them for £5M after a couple of seasons might bring in some cash but it's really not the answer in the long run.

[Cardiovascular]

January, February and a wee bit of March

FA Cup

Man Utd 2-2 Braintree - We should've won, however Man U equalised with a controversial (read: offside) goal deep into added time. Wright had given us the lead before they equalised, however Fumagalli looked to have won the match for us before the dreaded goal came.

League Cup - First Leg

Everton 2-0 Braintree - an awful performance from us. We deserved to lose as Everton dominated, however there is one more leg. Tom Ford was sent off to my disgust late on for a needless second yellow.

League

Chelsea 0-1 Braintree - We continue the good form versus Chelsea in a boring one-goal game. Sorensen scores just before half time and we hold on for the win.

FA Cup - Replay

Braintree 2-1 Man Utd - This time we dominated and took a fully deserved win, and again Sorensen is the only scorer for us with a brace. They scored late on again to make us sweat but we held on to advance to the next round.

League

Braintree 1-2 Wigan - Wow, what can I say? We're all over them for 80 minutes then all of a sudden (out of nowhere I may add, no subs) we're down 2-1. And I can't say we were awful because we weren't. Griffin scores our goal.

League Cup - 2nd Leg

Braintree 2-1 Everton (2-3 agg.) - Very disappointed to go out, however we bowed out with a win. Sorensen and Fumagalli score for us, but the sextuple chances are long gone:(

FA Cup - Fourth Round

Braintree 3-1 QPR - Munro opens the scoring for us, but Hewitt equalises. However, our wonderkid Wright and Dennis make sure we advance.

League

Aston Villa 1-1 Braintree - Another disappointing draw, however it could've been much worse. Wilson was the hero as he saved a penalty and Dennis was the villain as he was given 2 yellows. Tom Ford had scored for us.

Braintree 0-0 Man City - Another poor performance, we were solid defensively but weak on the attack.

February

League

Braintree 2-0 Aston Villa - For the second time in 3 games, we play Villa. This time, a comfortable win as Alexander and Steve Ford ensure the win.

FA Cup - 5th Round

Norwich 1-2 Braintree - A game we deserved to win, but not so narrowly. I rested a few faces, and Steve Ford gave us the lead before they equalised. Munro came off the bench to ensure the win with just under 15 minutes remaining.

League

Liverpool 0-0 Braintree - Another game we should've won but Liverpool were strong at the back.

Middlesbrough 0-0 Braintree - Our chance to put one up on the leaders but we failed.

Champions League

PSV 2-3 Braintree - A game we should've taken a comfortable advantage into the second leg from, however I will settle for 3 away goals. The three F's get our goals - Fumagalli, Fonseca and Ford.

League

Reading 1-2 Braintree - A vital win against 3rd place - this ultimately makes the title a two horse race. Dennis and Ford give us the win.

Braintree 3-1 QPR - Jacob gets his first goal for us, however a careless foul by Tom Ford levels it out. Lee Dennis makes it 2-1 and Munro confirms the win just into stoppage time.

League

Transfers

Romildo was a pre-arranged transfer by berty, and he looks very promising indeed. Definitely one for the future.

Akin Sodje is a 17 year old English/Nigerian who looks very promising again, however his mental attributes are a bit of a let down.

Jacob is 21 years old and cost £11.5M from Werder Bremen. Will hopefully star for years to come.

Sadly, Gaston Guzman will leave on a free at the end of the season.