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CFuller

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Everything posted by CFuller

  1. No. As far as I know, foreign players without settled status can't play any matches in England without a work permit. You'd have to loan him out to another club - maybe one of your affiliate clubs - and hope he plays enough games to qualify for a work permit later. If you can't, then you should probably look for someone else. At any rate, if you're trying to sign a young foreign player for an English club, they cannot join your team until their 18th birthday (or the next transfer window after they turn 18).
  2. My 2022/2023 Premier League predictions: 1. Liverpool - So close to an unbelievable quadruple last season, and I reckon they'll deny City a Premier League hat-trick this year. The naysayers may think otherwise, but I think Nunez is a magnificent addition to this Reds attack. 2. Manchester City - Haaland is a frightening signing, but I don't think he'll be quite the unstoppable force many people reckon he'll be. And if this is Pep's final season, he may well go all-out on Ol' Big Ears and pay less attention to the league. 3. Chelsea - New owner, no Lukaku, and Tuchel has free rein to build exactly the squad he wants. Sterling is a magnificent signing who should pull the Blues much closer to his old clubs, if not quite overtake them. 4. Arsenal - I'm just as hopeful as you are, Ben! The youngest squad in the league has HUGE potential, and with a bit more creativity coming from Vieira II, I'm looking forward to some swashbuckling football. 5. Manchester United - Rome wasn't built in a day, and the Old Trafford empire won't be rebuilt in a season. Eric 10 Hague still needs to fix a defence that currently consists of De Gea, a Rafa Varane impersonator, and a load of garbage. 6. Tottenham Hotspur - In spite of Son and Kane, Spuds hit a rough patch just before Qatar. Conte gets into a row with Levy over transfer budgets and storms back to Italy, leaving new manager Marco Silva to pick up the pieces. 7. Brighton & Hove Albion - The kings of xG, led by a man who looks like he should be fronting The National. With consistently solid recruitment and an exciting brand of football, they could well be the 'best of the rest'. 8. Newcastle United - aka Al-Ittihad Tyneside. The Magpies have been reinvigorated by Nice Guy Eddie, but building a Geordie revolution will take time, and a simple push for European football should be the aim. 9. Aston Villa - The adventures of Stevie G and his dirty (Polish right-back Matty) Cash. Money talks in the Premier League, but Villa's emerging crop of young talents should start to flourish pretty soon. 10. West Ham United - The Hammers are very hit and miss in transfers; there's a Benrahma for every Soucek. Another lengthy run in Europe could jeopardise their hopes of cracking the top six. 11. Leicester City - I reckon this is the season when the Foxes lose faith in Rodgers. Far too fragile at the back, hopeless at set-pieces, but their biggest long-term dilemma, it's... how to replace Rebekah Vardy's husband. 12. Wolverhampton Wanderers - Hey, remember when we all thought Jorge Mendes would take Wolves into the Champions League? That dream will keep slipping away if they keep relying on Jimenez to score all their goals. 13. Crystal Palace - I'll hold my hands up; appointing Vieira I to rebuild Roy Hodgson's team was a masterstroke. Paddy's boys are exciting and dynamic, even if Zaha has the biggest ego in Croydon. 14. Southampton - Hasenhuttl got tired of losing 9-0 every season, so his new party trick is to sign top youngsters from Big Six teams. Yet another pointless season meandering in mid-table beckons. 15. Everton - After signing Dele Alli and Salomon Rondon, I thought Everton were serious contenders to win the Championship! No, but seriously, Lampard's got a big ask managing this bunch of overpaid, overrated numpties. 16. Leeds United - Bielsa's kicked the bucket, and the Leeds fans already hate their new coach because he isn't Bielsa. It doesn't bode well for an increasingly dysfunctional team now reeling from losing Super Kalvin Phillips. 17. Fulham - After going up and down more often than the Vengaboys in the late 90s, it's about time Fulham settled back into the PL. With Mitrovic in peak form and a productive supporting cast, Silva's boys might just do it. 18. Nottingham Forest - The last time Forest graced the top flight, I was 9 years old. Steve Cooper may be a top manager, but it's so tough at the bottom that I fear the Tricky Trees will eventually be cut down to size. 19. Brentford - The Moneyball Gang were magnificent at times last season, but second season syndrome will hit them hard. Ivan Toney's social media antics off the pitch won't help matters on it either. 20. AFC Bournemouth - Too good for the EFL, not good enough for the PL - but enough about Scott Parker's managerial skills! I'm afraid this will be "Bournemouth in the Premier League 2: Electric Boogaloo".
  3. I'm not sure where to put this, but I don't think AI manager touchline bans are being recorded properly in-game. My Arsenal team is about to play in the EFL Cup Final against Man UFC. Earlier in the week, there was a news article saying that Man UFC's manager Maurizio Sarri had been given a touchline ban for comments he made after their last match immediately before the Final. (For the avoidance of doubt, Man UFC did not play any other matches between the Bournemouth defeat and the EFL Cup Final.) However, when I go into the final, I quickly notice that the manager standing in Man UFC's technical area is... yep, Maurizio Sarri. Surely if a manager (AI or human) is serving a touchline ban, they should not be present in the match engine - and their place should be taken by their assistant? (In Sarri's case, this would be Giovanni Martusciello.)
  4. It's the first game of the season - my Arsenal team are away to Aston Villa. On my bench is Reiss Nelson, who has just returned from a season-long loan at Feyenoord. As you can see from his career stats, Nelson has previously played in 22 league matches for Arsenal, scoring 1 goal. However, when I put Nelson on as a substitute during the match, the 'team talk' options seem to suggest that I am giving him his debut for the club: "I want to know there's no pressure on you today, just enjoy your debut" and "I need you to hit the ground running on your debut".
  5. After a season off because of (ahem) technical issues, I'm making sure to sign up early this year. Bethianne Meadema are in.
  6. Yes, it's good that older players can play at a higher level for longer now. I just think that too many of them are staying at a very high level for too long, which might be stopping younger players from breaking in. It's a matter of SI getting the balance right, which I appreciate is tough. We can't go back to the days of having loads and loads of 20/21-year-old beast players who've already reached their potential.
  7. Yes, I believe there is a serious issue with this on FM22. I think it's more of a reputation thing than a development thing, but something's clearly not right. We all know that player development and decline were too fast on FM21. The best newgens could easily reach their peak at 21-22, but their attributes would start to fall off a cliff at around 32-33. Now they improve much more steadily and realistically (peaking at around 25-29), but they also decline more slowly - perhaps too slowly. A world-class player with very high Natural Fitness could still be world-class when they're almost 40. Yes, I'm basically describing Zlatan, but there seems to be a lot more Zlatans on FM22. N'Golo Kanté doesn't look much different at 39 than he does at 31. It really feels like SI have massively overcorrected here. A few months ago, I ran an experiment where I holidayed until 2030, and then compared the database to how it was at the start. I submitted a bug report and also wrote a blog post where I explained everything in more detail, but here's a rundown of my key findings: At the start of the game, the average age of a first-team player at a top European club is 26.3. In 2030, that has increased to 28.8, with many clubs having a majority of players over the age of 30. I also compared the average ages of 16 national teams who played at the 2018 World Cup in real-life and the 2030 World Cup in-game. The average age increased from 27.5 in 2018 to 29.9 in 2030. On average, only three players in each 23-man squad was aged 24 or under. Senegal's youngest player was 28, while Belgium's three goalkeepers had a combined age of 112! Then I looked at the reputation star ratings for every player aged 24 or under. At the start of FM22, there were 591 players in this age bracket with 2.5* reputation, which I find is a good benchmark for a Premier League player. In 2030, there were only 128. That's a decrease of 78%! There were 29 young players with 3.5* reputation at the start. In 2030, that number was just 13. I also found a noticeable decrease in the Current Ability of the best young players - but it's not that big a decrease. There were about half as many 140+ CA youngsters in 2030 as there were in 2021, but it's nothing compared to the huge reduction in youngsters with high reputation. So while it's possible that players aren't developing quickly enough on FM22, I'm also led to believe that their reputations are not improving fast enough relative to their abilities. I think it's a combination of these two factors which is stopping clubs from putting faith in their young talents. The reputation issue is certainly shutting very good newgens out of their national teams, who generally prefer to pick average-looking 30-somethings who just so happen to have higher rep. It would be like if Gareth Southgate decided that Jude Bellingham couldn't play for England until he was 25, because he would rather select a 35-year-old Jonjo Shelvey instead. On Football Manager 2022, if want to be a top-flight footballer and play for a top national team by the time you're 23, you basically have to be a 'freak' - like a Kylian Mbappé or a Gigio Donnarumma. Even a perfectly decent young player like Mason Mount would not cut it. That is truly immersion-breaking, and that is why I'd be put off starting a long-term save on FM22. Even on my current save with Arsenal, I've no intention of playing on for more than 6 or 7 seasons, by which point FM23 will probably be released. I just hope its take on player development is much more realistic than this.
  8. Go into Advanced Setup, and make sure the box next to "Prevent control of teams with managers in place" is NOT ticked.
  9. I'm pretty sure that if another club meets your player's release clause, you have to let the player speak to that club, otherwise you'd be in breach of their contract. Whether the player chooses to accept their contract offer or stay at your club is their prerogative. Also, if your player's release clause was met, and you instantly convinced them to reject the offer, it would defeat the entire purpose of having release clauses at all.
  10. Well, after a performance like that, surely it's time for another Mark Wilson England stor... oh, wait, here it is. 19-1 vs Andorra! I think the biggest win I've ever had with England was a pathetic little 8-0. Carry on, sir. You can't be any worse than the current boss.
  11. FIFA weren't being entirely sensible in my universe, to be fair - some of the matches were played in a city that's actually in Western Sahara. If you want to share your World Cup details, there are a couple of places you can go: FM Career Updates if you want to include screenshots in your posts, or FM Stories if you're doing text-only updates (they have a strict no-images rule).
  12. I don't think anything like that would spoil my enjoyment - if anything, I love the alternative universes Football Manager can create, and I get even more invested when things get crazier and especially once the newgens take over. FM is a fairly realistic football simulator, but the older games especially are never going to be ultra-accurate to real-life. You never know which players will break through out of nowhere or which former wonderkids will fade away. I too have fond memories of FM17, leading England to glory at the 2022 World Cup in Morocco. We won THREE consecutive penalty shoot-outs against Poland, Italy and Sweden (which is unrealistic in itself! ) and then beat France 2-0 in the Final because Claude Puel decided to put Alphonse Areola in goal ahead of Hugo Lloris. Some of my World Cup winners included Josh Tymon, Lewis Cook, Jordon Ibe and Brendan Galloway. Phil Foden ended up at Hearts on my save. I'm pretty sure that Tammy Abraham went to Hull and switched nationality to Nigeria. Jordan Pickford stayed at Sunderland after they were relegated from the PL. Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham were obviously too young to be in FM17. Meanwhile, Manchester United absolutely dominated the Premier League for five years under José Mourinho. They signed basically every world-class forward under the sun - Mbappé, Lewandowski, Isak, Memphis Depay, Ousmane Dembélé, Bernardo Silva - which meant Marcus Rashford could only get into the team as a central midfielder! Also, I've just booted up my old FM13 save to see how the world looks in June 2022, and some of today's big names have had very different career paths - though to be fair, I doubt many people at SI predicted in 2012 that Jack Grealish would be a £100million player for Manchester City, rather than warming the bench for West Brom. Virgil van Dijk ended up at Galatasaray. Mohamed Salah went back to Egypt after playing for the mighty FC Vaslui in Romania. Bruno Fernandes is a right-winger for Uniao de Madeira. Romelu Lukaku was released by Chelsea in 2021 after a load of injuries and never played again. Serge Gnabry was also wrecked by injuries, signed for my Romford team in the Conference South, and now plays in Milton Keynes. Joshua Kimmich was released by Stuttgart at 18 and retired. Sure, those stories aren't entirely true to real-life - but that's FM for you, and I love it!
  13. How often does this happen in real life? Also, none of those examples you've given were because those teams wanted to play in a bigger league. There is no football league in Liechtenstein. All Liechtenstein teams (including Vaduz) play in the Swiss leagues. Swansea and Wrexham have always played in the English league system. Cardiff and Merthyr played in the Welsh leagues for only a few years before joining the Southern League in England. (Incidentally, the Welsh league champions TNS play their home games in England... but that's a different, more complicated story.) There is one Northern Irish team playing in the Republic of Ireland - Derry City moved for political reasons, not football. Yes, there's talk of Celtic and Rangers moving to the English leagues. That discussion's been going for many years but has never happened, for many reasons. I also can't see how that can be implemented in FM. As well as the logistical reasons of moving a team from one country to another (and the league shake-ups that would happen in those two countries), SI would also have licencing reasons to contend with. I can't imagine the SPFL would be too happy about SI using their licences if their two biggest clubs could suddenly leave the SPFL to join the Premier League or the EFL.
  14. I had this situation on FM21. My Basel team went deep into the Europa Conference League, which meant our Swiss Cup Quarter Final against Sion was pushed back into the March international break. Most of my players were called up - and Sion had a few called up as well - but as they were mostly friendlies, I could withdraw some of them if I wanted to. But as Sion weren't recalling their players, I felt it would be a bit unfair if I recalled everyone. As a compromise, I decided only to withdraw those players who'd been called up for the U21s/U19s (anyone who'd been picked for their senior team was allowed to go on international duty). So I still had a load of senior players missing for the Quarter Final (albeit by choice). Not that it mattered, as we won 2-0.
  15. I'm not sure where to put this, but I think there's a serious issue with the reputation growth of young players. I set up a save file with just the top divisions of the five major European leagues loaded (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain) and all European international players. I then went on holiday for nine years, until the start of the 2030 World Cup. At the start of the save game, there were 591 players under the age of 25 with a World Reputation of at least 2.5*. 151 have a World Reputation of at least 3*, which I believe is a good benchmark for an international player from a major nation. There are 161 players under the age of 22 with at least 2.5* WR, 34 of which have at least 3*. After holidaying nine years, here's what has changed: There are now only 128 players under the age of of 25 with a 2.5* World Reputation (a 78% decrease from the start of the save). 49 of these have 3* WR or better. (Incidentally, I also found that there were 22 English players aged under 25 with 3* WR or better at the start of the save - but NONE at all when we get to 2030. In fact, there's only one English player aged 15-24 with even a 2.5* WR). In terms of players under 22, there are only 21 who have a WR of at least 2.5* (an astonishing 87% decrease from the start of the save), and just SEVEN with at least 3*. I also measured the number of young players (aged under 25) who had at least 140 Current Ability at the start of the save, and then again in 2030. Again, there's a big decrease - from 213 players to 116. But this reduction of high-ability youngsters in the database is only by around half, compared to the 75%+ reduction of high-reputation youngsters. As a consequence of this, it seems many talented newgens are not being used by top clubs or being picked for top nations until they're well into their mid-20s. The average age of a major European club's squad increased from about 26.3 at the start of the save, to 28.8 at the end of the 2029/2030 season. It appears that these major teams are packing their teams with And here are another couple of charts showing the reduction of young players being capped by major football countries. At the start of the save, there are 165 players under the age of 25 who have been capped by any of the ten major nations listed above. Fast forward nine years, and that number has dropped to 42. The number of under-22s players with caps has gone down by nearly a quarter, from 39 players at the start to just 10 players in 2030. Most startling for all for me (being English) is that nine seasons into this save, England haven't capped a single newgen at senior international level. The youngest players in the save with any England caps are Lewis Hall and Thierry Small, who are now 25 in-game and didn't win their first caps until they were 24. Other nations which have a reputation for blooding young internationals early are now neglecting their best talents, perhaps because their reputation is not growing fast enough. I have written a blog post explaining this in some more detail, but in summary, it appears that many young players' reputations are not increasing fast enough - at least not relative to their abilities. This leads to them effectively being ignored, and club and national teams being stacked full of veterans when you get to around 2030. I'm not sure if this evens itself out in the 2040s when all the original players have retired and we're left with just newgens - but as someone who likes to immerse myself in a long-term FM save, this is a huge realism-breaker. I have uploaded a save file from June 2030, so that you can see for yourself. Unfortunately, I do not have any save files from previous seasons. If you have any questions, please let me know. I'd also be willing to run a few more holiday saves if that helps. I appreciate that it's too late to fix this for FM22, but I hope you can at least balance things out a bit more for FM23.
  16. Not sure, but probably. I usually pre-order every odd-numbered FM anyway (FM17 > FM19 > FM21), so I may well do the same with FM23, especially if the new features/improvements wow me enough. I've not been that impressed with FM22, to be honest. The ME's better than FM21's in many respects, but there are some pretty big issues (e.g. poor AI squad-building, player reputation not growing fast enough, lower-league clubs often completing 90%+ of passes and/or out-possessing far better teams) that are putting me off starting a realistic long-term (or even medium-term) save. I really hope SI can sort these issues out for FM23. Even so, the game is still great value for money.
  17. CFuller

    25 Years

    A fitting end to one of the most boring tournaments in history too. Less than 2 goals per game.
  18. CFuller

    25 Years

    EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP REVIEW: PORTUGAL 2004 GROUP 1 5 June [Lisbon] Portugal - 1 (Cristiano Ronaldo 14) Croatia - 1 (Dalibor Viskovic 23) 7 June [Lisbon] Greece - 3 (Giorgos Karagounis 33, Angelos Basinas 45, Demis Nikolaidis 82) Denmark - 1 (Jesper Grønkjær 90) 9 June [Lisbon] Denmark - 3 (Jon Dahl Tomasson 22,78, Dennis Rommedahl 64) Portugal - 2 (Simão 39, Rui Costa 59) 10 June [Lisbon] Croatia - 1 (Zvonimir Deranja 82) Greece - 2 (Dimitrios Grammozis 37, Grigoris Georgatos 53) 15 June [Lisbon] Croatia - 1 (Alen Boksic 84) Denmark - 0 15 June [Lisbon] Portugal - 2 (Cristiano Ronaldo 54, Litos 77) Greece - 1 (Nikos Liberopoulos 5) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Greece 3 2 0 1 6 4 6 2nd Q Portugal 3 1 1 1 5 5 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Croatia 3 1 1 1 3 3 4 4th Denmark 3 1 0 2 4 6 3 GROUP 2 6 June [Lisbon] England - 0 Germany - 1 (Michael Ballack 10) 7 June [Setúbal] Republic of Ireland - 1 (Gary Doherty 77) Austria - 1 (Dietmar Kühbauer 35) 10 June [Lisbon] Germany - 0 Republic of Ireland - 0 12 June [Setúbal] Austria - 0 England - 1 (Gareth Southgate 21, Steven Gerrard s/off28) 15 June [Lisbon] Austria - 1 (Niko Kranjcar 51) Germany - 3 (Miroslav Klose 24, Roy Präger 34, Michael Ballack 70, Frank Baumann s/off80) 15 June [Setúbal] Republic of Ireland - 0 England - 2 (Michael Bridges 6, Emile Heskey 54) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Germany 3 2 1 0 4 1 7 2nd Q England 3 2 0 1 3 1 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Republic of Ireland 3 0 2 1 1 3 2 4th Austria 3 0 1 2 2 5 1 GROUP 3 6 June [Porto] France - 1 (Sebastien Frey s/off36, David Trezeguet 50) Holland - 2 (Ruud van Nistelrooy pen37, John de Jong 43) 8 June [Lisbon] Russia - 1 (Alexandr Panov 72) Belgium - 0 11 June [Porto] Belgium - 0 France - 2 (David Trezeguet 19, Patrick Vieira 27) 13 June [Lisbon] Holland - 1 (Phillip Cocu 75) Russia - 0 16 June [Porto] France - 1 (Djibril Cissé 72) Russia - 0 16 June [Lisbon] Holland - 1 (Edgar Davids 20) Belgium - 0 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Holland 3 3 0 0 4 1 9 2nd Q France 3 2 0 1 4 2 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Russia 3 1 0 2 1 2 3 4th Belgium 3 0 0 3 0 4 0 GROUP 4 6 June [Vila do Conde] Spain - 0 Italy - 1 (Cristiano Doni pen58) 8 June [Braga] Czech Republic - 1 (Pavel Nedved 10) Finland - 1 (Aki Riihilahti 40) 11 June [Vila do Conde] Italy - 1 (Fabio Liverani 3) Czech Republic - 0 13 June [Braga] Finland - 1 (Antti Pohja 18, Hannu Tihinen s/off81) Spain - 1 (Fernando Torres 33, Gaizka Mendieta m/pen81) 16 June [Braga] Czech Republic - 0 (Petr Cech s/off73) Spain - 2 (Ismael Urzáiz 17, Xavi m/pen74, José Antonio Reyes 86) 16 June [Vila do Conde] Finland - 0 Italy - 3 (Fabio Cannavaro 21, Filippo Inzaghi 45, Filippo Maniero m/pen79, Filippo Maniero pen88) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Q Italy 3 3 0 0 5 0 9 2nd Q Spain 3 1 1 1 3 2 4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Finland 3 0 2 1 2 5 2 4th Czech Republic 3 0 1 2 1 4 1 QUARTER FINALS 19 June [Lisbon] Germany - 2 (Oliver Neuville 4, Roy Präger 32) Portugal - 0 19 June [Lisbon] Holland - 1 (Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 45, Niels Oude Kamphuis s/off81) Spain - 2 (Capi 68, Fernando Torres 72) 20 June [Porto] Italy - 1 (Gennaro Ivan Gattuso 105) France - 0 [after extra-time] 20 June [Lisbon] Greece - 0 England - 4 (Jermaine Pennant 6, Michael Owen 31, Frank Lampard 80, Seth Johnson 90) SEMI FINAL 23 June [Lisbon] England - 0 Italy - 1 (Francesco Totti 82) 23 June [Lisbon] Germany - 2 (Miroslav Klose 47, Roy Präger 80) Spain - 0 FINAL 27 June [Lisbon] Germany - 0 Italy - 0 (Fabio Cannavaro s/off61) [after extra-time, Germany win 3-1 on penalties] PENALTY SHOOT-OUT (Germany, Italy): Bellucci 0-1, Ballack 1-1, Liverani missed, Böhme 1-2, Gattuso saved, Klose 1-3, Totti missed. GERMANY (3-5-2 Attacking): Oliver Kahn [C]; Christian Wörns, Marko Rehmer (Jens Nowotny), Frank Baumann; Daniel Bierofka, Jörg Heinrich (Sebastian Deisler); Jens Jeremies, Michael Ballack; Roy Präger; Miroslav Klose, Oliver Neuville (Jörg Böhme). BOOKED: Bierofka, Wörns. ITALY (4-4-2): Francesco Antonioli; Giuseppe Pancaro, Fabio Cannavaro [C], Alessandro Nesta, Luciano Zauri; Stefano Fiore (Claudio Bellucci), Gennaro Ivan Gattuso, Fabio Liverani, Cristiano Doni (Marco Delvecchio); Filippo Inzaghi (Francesco Totti), Filippo Maniero. BOOKED: Nesta. SENT OFF: Cannavaro. Top Goalscorer - Roy Präger (Germany): 3. Most Assists - Martin Jørgensen (Denmark): 4. Highest Average Rating (at least 4 matches) - Juanito (Spain), Simão (Portugal): 8.25.
  19. CFuller

    25 Years

    OTHER LEAGUES FRANCE Ligue 1 Top Three: Monaco (1st), Lille (2nd), Marseille (3rd). Relegated: Grenoble (18th), Nancy (19th), Nîmes (20th). Promoted from Ligue 2: Rennes (1st), Metz (2nd), Ajaccio AC (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Pauleta (Bordeaux): 23. Most Assists - Juninho Pernambucano (Lyon): 12. Highest Average Rating - Didier Drogba (Marseille): 7.97. Coupe de France: Guingamp 1-1 Monaco (3-2 PSO). Coupe de la Ligue: Monaco 3-2 Lens. GERMANY 1. Bundesliga Top Three: FC Bayern (1st), Dortmund (2nd), Schalke 04 (3rd). Relegated: Rostock (16th), Mainz (17th), Cottbus (18th). Promoted from 2. Bundesliga: Frankfurt (1st), Karlsruhe (2nd), SVW Mannheim (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Ebbe Sand (Schalke 04): 22. Most Assists - Sebastian Deisler (Hertha BSC): 15. Highest Average Rating - Élber (FC Bayern): 8.03 DFB-Pokal: FC Bayern 2-1 Dortmund. DFB-Liga Pokal: Schalke 04 0-0 Dortmund (3-0 PSO). HOLLAND Eredivisie Top Three: PSV (1st), Ajax (2nd), Feyenoord (3rd). Relegated: Eindhoven (17th, via play-offs), Telstar (18th). Promoted from Eerste Divisie: Utrecht (1st), Fortuna (4th, via play-offs). Top Goalscorer - Marcus Allbäck (Heerenveen), Mateja Kezman (PSV): 26. Most Assists - Andy van der Meyde (Ajax): 19. Highest Average Rating - Mateja Kezman (PSV): 8.23. KNVB Beker: NAC 3-2 Feyenoord (aet). ITALY Serie A Top Three: Roma (1st), Lazio (2nd), Bologna (3rd). Relegated: Sampdoria (15th, lost play-off), Fiorentina (16th), Verona (17th), Brescia (18th) Promoted from Serie B: Torino (1st), Empoli (2nd), Chievo (3rd), Bari (4th, won play-off). Top Goalscorer - Andriy Shevchenko (Milan): 22. Most Assists - Zinedine Zidane (Roma): 13. Highest Average Rating - Cafú (Roma), Guilherme (Lazio): 8.19. Coppa Italia: Milan 2-0 Vicenza (aggregate). PORTUGAL Primeira Liga Top Three: Sporting (1st), Porto (2nd), Benfica (3rd). Relegated: Beira-Mar (16th), Alverca (17th), Nacional (18th). Promoted from Segunda Liga: Leixões (1st), Marítimo (2nd), Arrifanense (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Jardel (Sporting): 35. Most Assists - Gouveia (Boavista), Lito (Maia): 13. Highest Average Rating - Jardel (Sporting), Cristiano Ronaldo (Sporting): 8.52. Taça de Portugal: Vitória Guimarães 4-3 Benfica. SCOTLAND Premier League Top Three: Rangers (1st), Celtic (2nd), Motherwell (3rd). Relegated: Arbroath (12th). Promoted from Division 1: Ayr (1st). Top Goalscorer - Tore Andre Flo (Rangers): 33. Most Assists - Bobby Petta (Celtic): 26. Highest Average Rating - Barry Ferguson (Rangers): 8.37. Scottish Cup: Celtic 1-0 Rangers. League Cup: Rangers 2-1 Kilmarnock. SPAIN La Liga Top Three: Barcelona (1st), Valencia (2nd), Real Madrid (3rd). Relegated: Oviedo (18th), Extremadura (19th), Sporting Gijón (20th). Promoted from Segunda División: Valladolid (1st), Real Sociedad (2nd), Numancia (3rd). Top Goalscorer - Gabriel Batistuta (Espanyol): 19. Most Assists - Kizito Musampa (Málaga): 14. Highest Average Rating - Raúl (Real Madrid): 8.15. Copa del Rey: Deportivo 1-0 Barcelona. CONTINENTAL & INTERNATIONAL CLUB Champions League: Roma 1-0 Liverpool (aet) - in Glasgow. UEFA Cup: Milan 2-0 Deportivo - in Lisbon. Super Cup: Lazio 2-1 Dortmund. Intercontinental Cup: Lazio 2-0 Vélez. Club World Championship: Lazio 0-0 Valencia (5-4 penalties). FIFA World Player of the Year - Hernán Jorge Crespo (Lazio & Argentina). World Footballer of the Year - Hernán Jorge Crespo (Lazio & Argentina). African Player of the Year - Julius Aghahowa (Schalke 04 & Nigeria). European Player of the Year - Raúl (Real Madrid & Spain). South American Player of the Year - Fernando Cavenaghi (River & Argentina). Oceania Player of the Year - Mark Viduka (Leeds & Australia). LEADING TRANSFERS (Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 12/07/03 Fabio Cannavaro SW/D C Parma Leeds £20M 30/08/03 Gianluigi Buffon GK Juventus Liverpool £16.5M 12/07/03 Edgar Davids DM C Juventus Arsenal £13.75M 06/08/03 Alex AM/F LC Cruzeiro Middlesbrough £13M 15/09/03 Andre Ooijer D RC PSV Liverpool £12.5M 07/08/03 Dodô S C Vasco Chelsea £11.75M 15/08/03 Juninho Paulista AM C Mallorca Everton £10M 25/08/03 Ariel Ortega F RC Juventus Arsenal £10M 01/08/03 Dimitris Eleftheropoulos GK Olympiakos Chelsea £8M 22/10/03 Richard Dunne D RC Man City Blackburn £8M LEADING TRANSFERS (not including Premiership) DATE NAME POSITIONS FROM TO FEE 29/01/04 Michael Ballack M C Leverkusen Milan £37.5M 06/07/03 Ronaldinho AM/F LC Paris-SG Real Madrid £27.5M 15/12/03 Christian Chivu D LC Ajax Barcelona £26M 02/01/04 Juan Sebastián Verón AM C Man Utd Lazio £24M 15/12/03 Claudio López F LC Lazio Valencia £19.25M 07/10/03 Jon Dahl Tomasson AM/F C Feyenoord Juventus £19M 01/07/03 Zinedine Zidane AM C Real Madrid Roma £16.75M 26/07/03 Figo AM/F RLC Lazio Real Madrid £16.25M 20/07/03 Sami Hyypiä D C Liverpool Juventus £12.25M 11/10/03 Juan Arango AM LC Monterrey América [MEX] £12M
  20. CFuller

    25 Years

    SEASON REVIEW 2003/2004 ENGLAND NOTE: All goals and assist records relate to league matches only. PREMIERSHIP Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Man Utd 38 18 1 0 51 7 10 5 4 29 14 90 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Liverpool 38 13 5 1 30 12 9 3 7 24 20 74 3rd Chelsea 38 14 3 2 33 14 6 4 9 26 34 67 4th Leeds 38 11 8 0 36 12 6 7 6 33 34 66 5th Arsenal 38 12 7 0 30 9 6 5 8 23 25 66 6th Blackburn 38 12 2 5 34 19 5 5 9 19 31 58 7th Middlesbrough 38 11 5 3 31 14 3 10 6 32 40 57 8th Aston Villa 38 10 6 3 31 19 4 6 9 17 29 54 9th Ipswich 38 12 5 2 38 20 3 3 13 15 32 53 10th Southampton 38 10 4 5 32 23 4 3 12 16 31 49 11th Bolton 38 8 6 5 32 25 5 2 12 28 44 47 12th Everton 38 11 4 4 29 19 2 4 13 18 39 47 13th Stoke 38 10 6 3 32 24 1 5 13 8 25 44 14th Tottenham 38 7 5 7 23 24 5 3 11 19 33 44 15th Crewe 38 10 1 8 34 33 3 3 13 18 45 43 16th W.B.A. 38 5 4 10 29 33 7 1 11 21 29 41 17th Newcastle 38 10 2 7 33 28 2 3 14 10 32 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18th R Sunderland 38 7 5 7 33 27 3 4 12 25 41 39 19th R Coventry 38 7 3 9 24 27 3 6 10 19 34 39 20th R Leicester 38 5 5 9 27 28 3 5 11 17 30 34 Top Goalscorer - Ruud van Nistelrooy (Man Utd): 32. Most Assists - David Beckham (Man Utd): 13. Highest Average Rating - Ruud van Nistelrooy (Man Utd): 8.14. PFA Player of the Year - Ruud van Nistelrooy (Man Utd). PFA Young Player of the Year - Jermain Defoe (Stoke). DIVISION 1 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Gillingham 46 20 0 3 47 19 9 5 9 34 33 92 2nd P Fulham 46 14 7 2 52 31 10 4 9 31 27 83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Charlton 46 14 4 5 48 26 10 2 11 33 42 78 4th Man City 46 15 4 4 46 30 8 4 11 37 39 77 5th Grimsby 46 16 6 1 47 24 6 5 12 34 46 77 6th P Bradford 46 12 8 3 38 24 9 5 9 31 27 76 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th West Ham 46 16 7 0 57 26 3 9 11 36 46 73 8th Preston 46 17 2 4 59 27 4 8 11 31 44 73 9th Wolves 46 14 4 5 49 34 7 3 13 35 43 70 10th Derby 46 14 3 6 42 26 7 3 13 29 40 69 11th Walsall 46 15 4 4 47 27 5 5 13 28 44 69 12th Portsmouth 46 11 7 5 38 27 7 7 9 26 35 68 13th Crystal Palace 46 13 3 7 45 39 6 7 10 44 52 67 14th Nottm Forest 46 13 6 4 52 28 4 6 13 31 48 63 15th Birmingham 46 10 7 6 48 39 6 4 13 27 39 59 16th Brentford 46 11 6 6 37 26 5 5 13 30 47 59 17th Sheff Wed 46 9 7 7 39 37 6 7 10 35 45 59 18th Burnley 46 8 10 5 32 26 6 4 13 28 43 56 19th Q.P.R. 46 9 6 8 36 35 5 6 12 31 44 54 20th Millwall 46 10 5 8 38 33 3 6 14 22 41 50 21st Sheff Utd 46 9 6 8 40 34 2 7 14 28 50 46 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22nd R Port Vale 46 8 4 11 34 39 3 5 15 34 58 42 23rd R Barnsley 46 6 8 9 33 38 1 9 13 22 51 38 24th R Norwich 46 4 5 14 28 44 3 3 17 22 48 29 DIVISION 2 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Chesterfield 46 13 4 6 38 17 14 3 6 33 19 88 2nd P Bristol City 46 13 6 4 51 34 13 4 6 39 31 88 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd Notts Co 46 15 2 6 44 29 12 3 8 42 33 86 4th P Hull 46 14 4 5 46 26 12 2 9 37 32 84 5th Wrexham 46 14 6 3 45 26 10 4 9 44 40 82 6th Rochdale 46 15 4 4 41 26 7 7 9 32 35 77 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7th Kidderminster 46 14 3 6 44 25 9 4 10 33 35 76 8th Wigan 46 13 5 5 47 37 7 6 10 34 38 71 9th Blackpool 46 12 4 7 49 34 6 8 9 33 37 66 10th Cardiff 46 14 6 3 48 29 3 9 11 24 40 66 11th Luton 46 13 5 5 37 23 3 12 8 20 29 65 12th Huddersfield 46 8 10 5 33 27 9 4 10 25 27 65 13th Carlisle 46 10 6 7 31 25 7 6 10 30 35 63 14th Reading 46 13 4 6 40 27 3 9 11 19 35 61 15th Tranmere 46 12 5 6 39 24 5 4 14 24 42 60 16th Watford 46 10 6 7 38 34 6 2 15 27 53 56 17th Wimbledon 46 11 5 7 40 29 4 4 15 28 57 54 18th Swindon 46 12 3 8 38 30 2 8 13 30 53 53 19th Bournemouth 46 11 6 6 41 32 2 8 13 24 48 53 20th Bury 46 6 9 8 22 24 4 6 13 18 31 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21st R Darlington 46 7 12 4 33 26 3 3 17 23 46 45 22nd R Cambridge Utd 46 9 3 11 38 35 3 5 15 25 47 44 23rd R Doncaster 46 6 7 10 29 37 4 5 14 34 49 42 24th R Wycombe 46 6 5 12 31 43 3 4 16 21 51 36 DIVISION 3 Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Northampton 46 16 4 3 53 29 14 4 5 43 25 98 2nd P Peterborough 46 13 5 5 47 31 14 6 3 48 25 92 3rd P Bristol Rovers 46 14 5 4 44 27 10 6 7 46 41 83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th P Lincoln 46 12 7 4 42 25 10 6 7 34 23 79 5th Colchester 46 14 2 7 33 21 9 6 8 30 31 77 6th Torquay 46 13 2 8 45 35 11 1 11 37 35 75 7th Dag & Red 46 13 9 1 38 20 7 5 11 33 35 74 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Mansfield 46 12 8 3 42 24 7 7 9 34 34 72 9th Brighton 46 12 4 7 41 36 8 6 9 46 48 70 10th Rotherham 46 14 3 6 46 37 6 5 12 31 43 68 11th Scunthorpe 46 13 2 8 51 43 7 4 12 39 48 66 12th Macclesfield 46 10 7 6 43 41 8 4 11 39 40 65 13th Plymouth 46 9 4 10 32 33 10 3 10 39 35 64 14th Oxford 46 13 5 5 34 22 5 5 13 25 36 64 15th Shrewsbury 46 11 6 6 37 29 6 4 13 35 47 61 16th Hartlepool 46 9 4 10 33 35 7 8 8 31 31 60 17th Rushden 46 11 4 8 36 35 6 4 13 34 47 59 18th Leyton Orient 46 10 3 10 30 29 6 5 12 24 34 56 19th Cheltenham 46 8 8 7 38 43 6 3 14 34 51 53 20th Exeter 46 7 7 9 27 34 3 9 11 20 34 46 21st Stockport 46 10 7 6 41 41 1 5 17 29 48 45 22nd Halifax 46 8 8 7 31 34 1 7 15 22 46 42 23rd Oldham 46 7 4 12 40 44 3 3 17 23 49 37 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th R Swansea 46 6 3 14 34 47 1 5 17 19 52 29 CONFERENCE Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Northwich Vics 42 15 3 3 50 22 13 3 5 39 21 90 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd Bath City 42 13 6 2 44 25 13 2 6 39 28 86 3rd Farnborough 42 15 1 5 53 25 8 9 4 37 32 79 4th Morecambe 42 11 7 3 40 26 9 8 4 45 32 75 5th Stevenage 42 9 8 4 36 22 12 3 6 33 24 74 6th Barnet 42 12 6 3 42 29 7 7 7 38 42 70 7th Boston Utd 42 7 6 8 28 26 11 2 8 27 23 62 8th Yeovil 42 10 4 7 42 36 8 3 10 39 44 61 9th Hereford 42 12 5 4 37 23 5 5 11 32 45 61 10th Stalybridge 42 9 5 7 50 44 9 2 10 40 47 61 11th Southend 42 11 3 7 42 35 4 11 6 33 42 59 12th Dover 42 10 6 5 33 26 5 7 9 22 36 58 13th Margate 42 8 5 8 43 34 7 4 10 27 26 54 14th Slough 42 12 3 6 35 18 3 6 12 17 40 54 15th Southport 42 5 7 9 25 32 8 5 8 32 33 51 16th Scarborough 42 10 5 6 39 29 4 3 14 28 42 50 17th Halesowen 42 8 7 6 30 32 3 8 10 26 34 48 18th Nuneaton Borough 42 8 4 9 30 34 4 5 12 26 41 45 19th Telford 42 4 8 9 32 42 6 3 12 30 46 41 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20th R Gateshead 42 10 2 9 38 40 1 6 14 21 46 41 21st R York 42 7 5 9 32 33 2 6 13 27 45 38 22nd R Hitchin 42 3 4 14 25 41 1 2 18 16 57 18 Promoted to Conference: Aldershot, Frickley, Stafford Rangers. FA Cup: Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham. League Cup: Leeds 2-1 Man Utd. Community Shield: Man Utd 2-0 Middlesbrough. Football League Trophy: Notts Co 2-1 Reading.
  21. CFuller

    25 Years

    ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... England expects at the European Championship, and excitement only grows after they demolish Greece 4-0 in the Quarter Finals. But then a late Francesco Totti winner eliminates the Three Lions at the Semi Finals. The media immediately call for Sven-Göran Eriksson's head, criticising the England manager for selecting Michael Ricketts ahead of Andrew Cole. Euro 2004 is an unusually low-scoring tournament, so it's no surprise when the Final - a rematch of the 2002 decider between Germany and Italy - finishes in a dire 0-0 draw. Italy somehow survive with nine men after captain Fabio Cannavaro is sent off and striker Filippo Maniero is injured, but they then fall apart in the penalty shoot-out as Germany lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy for a record fourth time. Dutch centre-back Jaap Stam is on the move yet again, joining Barcelona for £11.75million after an early falling-out with new Juventus manager Bum-Kun Cha. Bitter rivals Real Madrid respond by re-signing left-back Roberto Carlos from Arsenal for £9.25million, while Valencia make a £10.75million swoop for Leverkusen sweeper Jens Nowotny. Liverpool's chief executive Rick Parry bumps into Valencia boss Rafa Benítez while on holiday and asks him to recommend a signing. A few weeks later, Spanish playmaker Xabi Alonso is unveiled at Anfield after completing a £4.1million transfer from Atlético Madrid. Barely a month after being sacked by Mallorca, Claudio Ranieri finds himself a new job - at PSV. The Italian tinkerman replaces Anatoly Byshovets, who mysteriously disappeared shortly after leading the Dutch giants to their fifth consecutive Eredivisie title. IN OTHER NEWS... Ronald Reagan - the former Hollywood actor who served two terms as US President during the 1980s - dies aged 93. Though Reagan arguably played a key role in thawing the Cold War, Americans vow never to elect a big showbiz personality into high office again. Tony Blair's Labour Party suffer significant defeats in Britain's local elections, though Ken Livingstone is re-elected Mayor of London. The anti-immigration UK Independence Party make major gains in the European elections... but is their success a flash in the pan, or a genuine sign of growing Euroscepticism? The Killers are coming out of their cage and they've been doing just fine on their debut album "Hot Fuss". Though their brand of 'glamorous indie rock & roll' gets a modest reception in their native US, it becomes a HUGE success in Britain. Five months after breaking up with Ben Affleck, the famously down-to-Earth pop superstar Jennifer Lopez marries her third husband Marc Anthony in Beverly Hills, California. Cleopatra is not amused.
  22. CFuller

    25 Years

    JUNE 2004 After a worrying decline in the last few months of our debut Football League season, there was a real fear that Dagenham & Redbridge would endure a sophomore slump. I had to make major changes ahead of the 2004/2005 campaign - but not so drastic that they would completely ruin any sense of team spirit. Several players would leave Victoria Road over the summer to make room for fresh blood. The first man out the door was backup striker Clive Platt, who had never looked better than a mere speed merchant in League football. Just 18 months after joining us on an initial loan deal, Platt dropped back down to the Conference, joining Margate on a free transfer. Also leaving on a free was third-choice goalkeeper Nick Baxter, who headed back to the north-west after three years, signing for Morecambe. His reserve team-mate Brett Gallagher - a left-back who came through the youth system a couple of years ago - went to Halifax, presumably because he's a big fan of those Howard Brown adverts. Another left-back - Gareth Hanmer - was a semi-regular in our 2002/2003 promotion campaign but hardly saw any action after our rise to Division 3. The 30-year-old Welshman would now move to Scotland, playing in Division 1 for Inverness. Non-league Atherton Collieries took not just one but TWO players off our hands. After buying goalkeeper Richard Knight for £18,000 (a 50% increase on the 12 grand we paid Oxford for him last summer), Atherton also got left-back Duncan Spedding for free. Spedding had been a fairly solid presence in our defence after his arrival for Northampton. However, he was among the players who protested about my treatment of Ian Bennett after our bust-up against Halifax in January. While most of those had calmed down and moved on, Duncan was still furious over what had happened. Our relationship had been damaged beyond repair, so I decided to get rid. Bennett was also on his way out. Despite briefly returning to the Daggers line-up after being cast out for three months, the 32-year-old goalkeeper's performances - and general happiness - had not improved. He wanted out, so I granted his wish by selling him to Bristol City for £20,000. I'm sure he was worth a lot more than that, but this was another situation where it made sense to sever ties quickly. I made one more sale before the month was out. After scoring just seven goals in 39 games, striker Michael O'Neill probably wasn't going to make the grade as a regular starter. The 20-year-old was sold to non-league Christchurch City for £16,000. With those sales, and another year's worth of TV revenue coming in, the coffers had swelled so much that the board gave me a very generous transfer budget - of £1.2million! My first job was to bring in a couple of goalkeepers, mainly because... well, we'd sold all our goalies. For starters, I decided to sign Mike Pollitt permanently from Wrexham for a club-record £100,000. Pollitt only played four times during his loan spell and conceded five goals, but the 32-year-old's agility and experience should be of great use to us. He's now earning £1,300 per week, so I bloody hope so! Mike's backup would be another 32-year-old. The much-travelled Londoner Andy Woodman joined us for £10,000 after spending the past two seasons warming the Exeter bench. I beefed up our attacking options with the free signing of 31-year-old Sean Devine. The Republic of Ireland B international had scored over 100 league goals in nine seasons for Barnet and latterly Wycombe. People used to say Teddy Sheringham "had the first yard in his head", and they could probably say the same about Devine; his strengths lie less in his physicality and more in his intelligence and predatory instinct. A second Irishman - Shaun Maher - arrived at Victoria Road in a £50,000 transfer from Bournemouth. The 26-year-old sweeper was known for his athleticism and his deadly heading ability, but he would also add some much-needed tactical expertise to our defence. Our fifth and final signing (for the time being at least) was ex-Wimbledon full-back Peter Hawkins, costing us £65,000 from Rochdale. The tough-tackling 25-year-old is right-footed, but I'll mainly be using him on the left flank. Of course, there were still some areas where we perhaps needed strengthening, so we brought in another scout to help with our recruitment. Joining Mick Loughton and Gary Reilly on the scouting team was Mark Lloyd - a 39-year-old Welshman who came to us from part-timers Conwy Borough. Meanwhile, top scorer Julian Alsop was named Dagenham fans' Player of the Year for the second season running. He was rewarded with a new contract worth £1,200 per week over the next four years, which should keep him at Victoria Road up until his 35th birthday. So that's the state of play as we head into my fourth season as Daggers boss. Will it be another season of success - or will reality finally bite us?
  23. Focus. But just use it for those specific players, not the whole team.
  24. CFuller

    25 Years

    DAG & RED PLAYER STATISTICS (2003/2004) Goalkeepers Apps Con Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Baxter, Nick 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 1 Bennett, Ian 22 27 0 0 1 1 6.95 13 Knight, Richard 29 31 0 0 0 2 7.31 27 Pollitt, Mike 4 5 0 0 0 0 7.00 Outfield Players Apps Gls Asts Yel Red MoM Av R ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 Alsop, Julian 29 (11) 15 2 2 0 2 7.13 6 Anderson, John 43 (1) 6 2 5 0 5 7.36 * Bailey, Mark 2 (6) 0 1 0 0 0 6.25 5 Bayliss, Dave 48 0 3 3 1 2 7.08 14 Carter, Ryan 39 (4) 7 6 6 0 3 7.02 26 Clark, Dean 24 (5) 3 1 0 0 0 6.83 21 Gledhill, Lee 16 (8) 0 2 0 0 1 6.96 2 Goodwin, Lee 35 (3) 0 3 1 0 0 6.42 16 Grant, Martin 5 (4) 1 0 1 0 0 6.44 32 Griffiths, Chris 1 (8) 2 1 0 0 0 7.11 23 Hanmer, Gareth 0 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 5.75 7 Janney, Mark 17 (9) 0 1 0 0 0 6.73 4 Lacey, Damien 52 4 9 5 0 3 7.06 11 Mayo, Kerry 36 (10) 0 6 1 0 2 6.85 9 McDougald, Junior 30 (8) 5 1 0 0 1 6.92 31 McLean, Alan 0 (4) 0 0 0 0 0 6.25 17 Melton, Stephen 41 (8) 10 5 0 0 2 6.86 * Moore, Neil 3 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 6.17 22 O'Neill, Michael 2 (11) 2 0 0 0 0 6.69 18 Platt, Clive 14 (8) 4 2 1 0 1 6.86 12 Renner, Victor 16 (2) 4 3 0 0 0 7.06 19 Rose, Richard 9 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 6.64 8 Selley, Ian 9 (8) 1 1 0 0 0 6.47 15 Spedding, Duncan 36 (7) 0 3 3 0 0 6.91 * Tarrant, Neil 19 (2) 13 2 0 0 5 7.57 * Victory, Jamie 6 (10) 0 0 0 0 0 6.44 20 Weekes, Nick 18 (12) 4 8 0 0 0 6.93 * [Player not currently at club]
  25. CFuller

    25 Years

    DIVISION 3 TABLE (End of 2003/2004 season) Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st C Northampton 46 16 4 3 53 29 14 4 5 43 25 98 2nd P Peterborough 46 13 5 5 47 31 14 6 3 48 25 92 3rd P Bristol Rovers 46 14 5 4 44 27 10 6 7 46 41 83 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th P Lincoln 46 12 7 4 42 25 10 6 7 34 23 79 5th Colchester 46 14 2 7 33 21 9 6 8 30 31 77 6th Torquay 46 13 2 8 45 35 11 1 11 37 35 75 7th Dag & Red 46 13 9 1 38 20 7 5 11 33 35 74 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8th Mansfield 46 12 8 3 42 24 7 7 9 34 34 72 9th Brighton 46 12 4 7 41 36 8 6 9 46 48 70 10th Rotherham 46 14 3 6 46 37 6 5 12 31 43 68 11th Scunthorpe 46 13 2 8 51 43 7 4 12 39 48 66 12th Macclesfield 46 10 7 6 43 41 8 4 11 39 40 65 13th Plymouth 46 9 4 10 32 33 10 3 10 39 35 64 14th Oxford 46 13 5 5 34 22 5 5 13 25 36 64 15th Shrewsbury 46 11 6 6 37 29 6 4 13 35 47 61 16th Hartlepool 46 9 4 10 33 35 7 8 8 31 31 60 17th Rushden 46 11 4 8 36 35 6 4 13 34 47 59 18th Leyton Orient 46 10 3 10 30 29 6 5 12 24 34 56 19th Cheltenham 46 8 8 7 38 43 6 3 14 34 51 53 20th Exeter 46 7 7 9 27 34 3 9 11 20 34 46 21st Stockport 46 10 7 6 41 41 1 5 17 29 48 45 22nd Halifax 46 8 8 7 31 34 1 7 15 22 46 42 23rd Oldham 46 7 4 12 40 44 3 3 17 23 49 37 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th R Swansea 46 6 3 14 34 47 1 5 17 19 52 29 ELSEWHERE IN FOOTBALL... For the third year in a row, an Italian club wins the Champions League Final with a golden goal. This time, it's Roma who celebrate, as club icon Francesco Totti scores in the 102nd minute to leave Liverpool heartbroken once again. The Giallorossi's first European Cup caps off a tremendous season in which Fabio Capello's side also dethrone Lazio at the top of Serie A. Gérard Houllier's decision to join Milan late last season pays off, as the Frenchman lifts his second UEFA Cup in four years. Paul Lambert's Italian cousin Lamberto Zauli scores one goal and sets up another for Andriy Shevchenko to see off 2002 winners Deportivo. The Rossoneri's triumph makes up for them losing out on a Champions League place to arch-rivals Inter. Manchester United retain the Premiership title by 16 points from Liverpool, with three-time PFA Player of the Year Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring a whopping 32 goals. The champions' 2-1 win over Sunderland on the final day condemns their opponents to relegation, as the Mackems follow Coventry and Leicester into Division 1. Just two years after finishing 3rd, Newcastle narrowly survive in 17th. Liverpool's first full season under Eric Gerets doesn't end empty-handed. Goals from Emile Heskey and Pavel Nedved see the Reds defeat Tottenham in the FA Cup Final. Spurs boss Alan Cork's decision to start German rookie Michael Schuster ahead of first-choice keeper Matteo Sereni leaves Sir Alan Sugar speechless. Though only two points separate the top four teams in Ligue 1 when all's said and done, Monaco actually win the French championship with one game to spare. Egil Olsen's uncompromising brand of direct, disciplined football is clearly more at home on the Côte d'Azur than it was in south-west London. IN OTHER NEWS... After 10 seasons and 236 episodes of "Friends", the last one airs. It's a particularly sad month for US television, as viewers also say goodbye to "Frasier" and "The Sharon Osbourne Show". Piers Morgan is fired as editor of the Daily Mirror for publishing fake photographs of British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners. With his reputation in tatters, he immediately scampers off to America. "Fahrenheit 9/11" becomes the first documentary to win the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival. Directed by left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore, it is hugely critical of George W Bush and his invasion of Iraq. It's also an uncomfortable month for Bush's pal Tony Blair. During Prime Minister's Questions at the House of Commons, Fathers 4 Justice campaigners throw a... 'packet' of purple flour at Blair, disrupting proceedings.
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