60 to One

[PluckaDuck]

Looks like we have slid down the table again, one day that magical victory will come!!

KUTGW Canvey!!

[canvey!!]

Update 80

Years: 6, Months: 80, Days: 2427

Our managers have hit the magic eighty-month mark in their jobs, a true testament to their ability. They all seem to be safe in their jobs at present, which makes it look very likely that they will survive until the end of the season and beyond. The month of February was a short one, but by no means does that mean it was bereft of interesting events.

We’ll start in Spain for a change, where I’m afraid Zaragoza have succumbed and fallen to second place. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona, who have seized the top spot, this month won all of their games other than that against Zaragoza. Mallorca were beaten 2-0, Recreativo 3-0 and Málaga 4-0. They also beat Murcia 5-1. Meanwhile, Real Madrid, who will surely remain in the Top Four come the end of the season, won all their games, beating Osasuna 3-0 in the biggest of the four victories. They also played the home leg of their Spanish Cup Semi Final against Sevilla, beating Maz Armley’s team 3-1. With the month ending at midnight on the Sunday morning, Barcelona’s game against Murcia is one that the rest of the league have not played, so Zaragoza can still reclaim top spot with a win away to Atlético Madrid, but that is not an easy fixture.

In Italy, Ben Cee’s Inter are up to their usual mischief of carving out a significant points lead at the top of Serie A. When they won it in 2011, they did so with 13 points to spare, and they had as many in 2013, although last year saw them claim the Scudetto by a solitary point. They currently have an eight point advantage over Lord Weeman’s Napoli, who are in pursuit of only their fourth ever Serie A title, and the second under their current manager. Yet this month, Inter racked up 12 points with a 100% winning record. Roma were beaten 3-1, while Sampdoria and Mantova were both beaten 4-0. Napoli simply could not complete due to a 0-3 loss at Fiorentina, giving them nine points from their four games, with a resounding 5-1 victory over Parma being the highlight. Further down the table, Tyler Burrows’s Udinese are in pursuit of a Champions League place, sitting in sixth with a point less than fourth. This month they played three games and won two of them, losing 0-1 following a poor performance at Brescia. Sitting one place and two points behind them are Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina, who actually won all three games this month. There was of course that victory over Napoli, and they also beat Fiorentina and Sampdoria 3-1 and 4-1 respectively. Further back sit Palermo in 9th and Reggina in 13th.

Of course, it being February, European competitions were back in action. In the Champions League, all but one of the Italian sides lost, all but one of the English sides one, and all but one of the Spanish sides drew. We’ll take the ties in the order they are listed on my screen, so that means that Cool Manager’s Liverpool beating A.C. Milan 2-0 is the most important fixture, in that it come first. Martin Skrtel and Fernando Torres scored early goals which gave Liverpool an undoubtedly good result, but there is absolutely no room for complacency in the return leg in Italy. Tom Smith’s Arsenal gained the advantage in their tie thanks to a very late Moussa Sissoko goal. Palermo manager Mikey Twigge was surely incensed by the 90+3rd minute winner, which sees his team having to travel to the Emirates to make up the 0-1 deficit. Meanwhile, Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk held Real Madrid to a 0-0 draw but can expect a stuffing in Spain, and Barcelona achieved victory over Inter, 3-2 despite the best efforts of Inter’s Yannick Djaló, Serie A’s joint-top goalscorer. However, two away goals are like gold dust for Ben Cee and his team, and they can be confident of getting the victory back in Italy.

The Battle of Britain ended 1-0 to England, with Vicente del Bosque’s Man United winning 1-0 at Celtic’s Celtic Park. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the goal in the 90+1st minute to take the Red Devils back to Manchester with the initiative. The blue half of Manchester suffered a surprising defeat (surprising to them at least) against sc Heerenveen but, like Inter, procured two away goals to use to their advantage in the home leg. Marco van der Vall opened the scoring for the Dutch, but Vagner Love equalised and Michael Essien but Man City in front. However, with two more goals before half time, Heerenveen secured the win, and with it, hopes of an upset. Meanwhile, Valencia and Bayern Munich came to a 1-1 draw in Spain, and a draw was also the result in Portugal as Porto hosted Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina. Goran Pandev and Juan Manuel Vargas goals give the Italians plenty of optimism for progression with the return leg.

Of course it would be silly to assume that the Champions League is the only European competition worth talking about. In fact, it could very well be said that an English team who make the Europa League final are in fact the best team in the world, regardless of whether or not they beat Atlético Madrid. Spanish high-fliers knocked out dafuge’s Besiktas in style in the Europa League First Knockout Round, winning 2-1 in Turkey and 4-0 in Spain. Of our two teams in the competition, one lost and one won. Lord Weeman’s Napoli managed to snatch a 0-0 draw in Portugal in their first leg, but made no use of it, with Sporting CP winning 1-0 in Italy to knock the Italians out. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham did exactly the same…as Sporting CP, winning 1-0 away to their opponents Ajax, drawing 0-0 at home in the second leg to make a Last 16 match against Hamburger SV. Atlético Madrid face Zaragoza in my highlighted match of the round: a Battle of Spain that is sure to be a fierce contest.

Towards the update’s end we turn our attention to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and specifically the little part of it that they call England. One could say that the campaign of Tom Smith and his Arsenal team is disintegrating, although they aren’t too far behind, trailing Man City by five points and with a game in hand. Draws at Newcastle and Stoke were countered with a 5-2 victory over Leeds, but they’ll want some better form round the corner to make the charge on the Premier League crown. They also secured their trip to Anfield for the FA Cup 6th Round by beating Arnold J. Rimmer’s Middlesbrough 1-0 at home. Meanwhile, Leo Dodge’s Tottenham won two from two in the league this month, and also made the 6th Round by beating Derby 2-0. They’ll host Tim Aubel’s Portsmouth, while Sunderland or Newcastle will host Man United and Chelsea will host Man City. Arsenal face Portsmouth in the Carling Cup Final on March 1st.

So thus ends a safe and solid month for all our managers. Efforts in the next few weeks could determine the destination of the title in the closing stages, so there is bound to be a lot of pressure on managers as the season heads towards its conclusion.

Manager of the Update

The award goes to;

Leo Dodge, Tottenham

for guiding his team through two cup competitions and having a good month in the league. Spurs won at Ajax in a memorable victory, and also won both their league games, and knocked Derby out of the FA Cup. Ben Taylor and Haowan Madridstas both had good months, as did Ben Cee at Inter despite his narrow Champions League defeat, but Dodge gets this award.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2427
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Secure        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Secure        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New] 6th PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2427
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[BenArsenal]

Damn Barca.

Dominating Serie A again.

[PluckaDuck]

Doesn't look as though anyone is leaving soon, the top 10 will have to wait by the looks!!

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham[/font]

Top Five – Games Played

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club     Played[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] tomsmith1989  Tom Smith         Arsenal     407
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd  [color=blue]0[/color] Haowan        Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   405
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd  [color=blue]0[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman      Real Madrid 402
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th  [color=blue]0[/color] SCIAG         Leo Dodge         Tottenham   376
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th  [color=blue]0[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson     Man City    369[/font]

[canvey!!]

Update 81

Years: 6, Months: 81, Days: 2458

March has elapsed, and the season’s finish line is very much in sight. There were no sudden sackings of our managers this month, which is hardly any surprise, so we’ll start off with news on the English Premier League.

Arsenal haven’t been able to reclaim top spot, but then Man City haven’t been able to keep it. In fact, the honour of leading the way with seven games left has fallen to Cool Manager at Liverpool. In his quest to give the Reds their first league title for 25 years, manager guided his team to seven points out of a possible nine this month. Liam Ferguson’s Man City, who are currently second, two points behind Liverpool with a game in hand, played only one game in March, beating Stoke 4-2 away. Tom Smith’s Arsenal played three, drawing with Tottenham but beating both Birmingham and Man United. Eighth-placed Tottenham won their other game, beating Martin Bojangles’s Aston Villa 2-1. The sides also competed in the FA Cup 6th Round, where Tottenham knocked out Portsmouth, Liverpool knocked out Arsenal and Chelsea knocked out Man City. Man United won 1-0 at Sunderland to set up a Semi Final tie against Chelsea, while Liverpool will play Tottenham. Two teams also took part in the Carling Cup Final at the very start of this month.

Wembley Stadium was 15 short of capacity for Tom Smith’s Arsenal’s match against Tim Aubel’s Portsmouth in the Carling Cup Final. The weather was dry and the temperature was moderate, but the fans were still disgruntled when the match trundled to half time still goalless. Eager to make up for this, Arsenal came out in the second half with all guns blazing, and Emmanuel Adebayor put them in front in the 46th minute. Just two minutes later, Theo Walcott doubled the Arsenal lead, and a Robin van Persie penalty in the 55th minute all but extinguished hopes for Portsmouth. Or so they thought. A 61st minute goal by Serbian midfielder Gojko Kacar put them back in the tie at 1-3, but Arsenal made sure to finish it off, with Theo Walcott adding his second, the final nail in the coffin, in the 67th minute. Jubilant Arsenal players claimed their medals as Smith got his hands on his 12th trophy.

In Spain, neutrals will be glad to hear that Zaragoza are back atop La Liga with a six point lead. Even Barcelona’s game in hand would not close that gap, so the leaders would have to slip up now if they are to not win the title. In March, Haowan Madridstas and his team lost to Zaragoza in what was a crucial match, before bouncing back by demolishing managerless Racing 7-1 at home, and then the club who hold Racing’s original manager Maz Armley, Sevilla 3-0 away. At Real Madrid, Lucas Volman had a bad month but is actually not too far from mounting a title challenge, just three points behind Barca and therefore only nine behind Zaragoza. While home wins over Elche and Athletic were the higlights of the month, away losses to Getafe and rivals Atlético, as well as a 0-0 draw at Valencia, will be the worse moments no matter how much people try to console Volman with the sentiment that they were tough matches. On the plus side, Real, like Barcelona, beat Sevilla away, and this was in the Spanish Cup. They won 2-1 at Sevilla’s Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium to seal a 5-2 aggregate victory, giving them a Final match against Valencia, who beat Atlético Madrid 4-3 on aggregate.

A foray into Europe now, where the Champions League Quarter Final is very Anglo-Spanish centric, although less so than last year when four English teams and four Spanish teams contested it. In the March results, Bayern Munich lost 0-1 at home to Valencia to send the Germans packing with a 1-2 aggregate defeat, while Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina used the first leg score to their advantage, beating Porto 2-0 at home for a 4-2 aggregate victory. Manchester City fans who were disheartened by their side’s away loss to sc Heerenveen were no doubt buoyed by Liam Ferguson’s team destroying their Dutch opponents back in Manchester, 6-0, and the red half of Manchester also got a team into the Final Eight, with United’s 1-0 win over Celtic giving them a 2-0 double header win. A.C. Milan’s 2-1 victory at home to Liverpool was not enough to counteract the English side’s first leg 2-0 victory. American Jozy Altidore scored for the Reds in between the two Milan goals, and even a third goal would not have seen the Italians through. Tom Smith’s Arsenal followed up their 1-0 in Palermo by defeating the Italians 4-2. Despite their opponents getting two goals at the Emirates, the Gunners strolled to a confident victory thanks to braces from Henri Saivet and Emmanuel Adebayor. In the biggest of all ties, at least from a 60 to One viewpoint, Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona were able to hold on to their narrow 3-2 lead when they played the away leg of their tie at Inter, and a 0-0 draw sent the Italians out with a crushing blow. Meanwhile, Barca’s Spanish rivals Real Madrid got that one step closer to a fourth consecutive Champions League by thumping Ukrainian opponents Shakhtar 4-0 for a 4-0 win overall. In the Quarter Finals, we see two English match-ups and a Spanish one. Liverpool and Arsenal will face each other, a big tie you must admit. But then you see that Barcelona and Real Madrid will play against each other, a huge match in all circumstances. The two teams have contested the last three finals against each other but that is now an impossibility, and of course they are our only two managers left in Spain vying to be the best for that nation. There’s also a Manchester derby on the cards, and in a match of the ever-so-slightly-underdogs, Valencia play Fiorentina. It’s going to be a cracking Quarter Finals in one of the most exciting Champions Leagues in a good while.

See how excited I got? I just wrote one mighty huge paragraph on the Champions League. We’ll head back to a greater perspective, that being a European one, later, by looking at the Europa League, but first let’s see how the Italian League has turned out in an exciting month of March.

Of course it’s not at all surprising that Inter still command that massive lead at the top of Serie A. 13 points is the advantage now, over Arsène Wenger’s Juventus and over Napoli. This month, Ben Cee’s team won all their league games to tally up 12 points, but they of course lost that Champions League tie and have gone 0-1 down following the first leg of their Coppa Italia final against A.C.. Lord Weeman’s Napoli are in 3rd place and they did actually have a rather poor month. While they commanded six points at home, beating Brescia and Lazio by one-goal margins, they failed to beat Genoa and left with just a point, and they lost to second-placed Juvé away from home. This was the same in Ben Taylor’s case. His Fiorentina side beat Torino and Pisa at home, by a combined 8-1 score no less, but lost away to Inter and drew away to Roma. They are in 8th place, but with a considerable 12-point lead over 9th-placed Palermo, who won two and lost two this month. Down in unlucky 13th are James Salter’s Reggina who lost all three games this month, but against Juventus, A.C. Milan and Palermo.

As promised, we return to Europe for a report on the Europa League. The Round of 16 took place this month, and our one remaining team got through it. A 3-0 win at Hamburg and a 3-1 win at White Hart Lane sent Tottenham Hotspur into the Quarter Finals for a match against Villarreal. Also in the Last Eight are Zaragoza, who play fellow Iberians Benfica, Chelsea, who’ll play Lyon, and Martin Bojangles’s Aston Villa, a team who will face Juventus. If both Tottenham and Chelsea win, they will face each other in the Semi Final.

So there goes an exciting month. By next month, some more trophies, notably the Serie A crown, will probably have been decided.

Manager of the Update

I think I will have to give this month’s award to;

Tom Smith, Arsenal

as he claimed a trophy in the month, as well as secured seven points from nine in the league and made the next round of the Champions League. An FA Cup defeat to Liverpool was unfortunate, and the month was far from perfect, but in a month where results in both Spain and Italy fell below par, England seemed to do slightly better than the other two, with Liam Ferguson being another manager in contention despite a bitter 1-4 FA Cup loss to Chelsea.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2458
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Secure        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Secure        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New] 6th PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2458
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[hasdgfas]

decent showing in the Carling Cup final against a strong Arsenal team.

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal[/font]

Top Five – Games Won

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club        Won Percent Chnge[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] tomsmith1989  Tom Smith         Arsenal     289 (70.0%) [color=green]+0.8%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd  [color=blue]0[/color] Haowan        Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   283 (69.2%)  [color=blue]0.0%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd  [color=blue]0[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman      Real Madrid 280 (68.5%) [color=red]-0.1%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th  [color=blue]0[/color] BenArsenal    Ben Cee           Inter       244 (67.6%) [color=green]+1.7%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th  [color=blue]0[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson     Man City    230 (61.8%) [color=green]+1.6%[/color][/font]

[canvey!!]

Update 82

Years: 6, Months: 82, Days: 2488

Season Seven is ever so close to its finale now, so let’s see how our managers got on in the month of April.

In the Champions League, April sees the Quarter Final and half the Semi Final being played. In the first leg of the Quarter Final, Cool Manager’s Liverpool hosted Arsenal but will have wanted a much better result than a 1-1 draw. Real Madrid did slightly better in hosting Barcelona, winning 1-0, but they have everything to fear in the return leg. In the Manchester derby, Liam Ferguson’s blue side hosted Vicente del Bosque’s red side and came away with a famous 2-0 victory. Valencia hosted Fiorentina and did wonders for their chances by beating the only Italian side left in the competition 3-1. Ben Taylor’s team got the win over Valencia in the return leg, but two nifty away goals sent Valencia into the Final Four instead. Man United beat Man City 1-0 at Old Trafford, which was clearly not enough to stop Ferguson’s Citizens advancing 2-1. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona sought to prove that Real Madrid’s fears were valid ones, smashing their countryfolk 3-0 with a goal each from Xavi, Alberto Aquilani and Marquinhos. So ends Real Madrid’s three consecutive Champions Leagues, but Barca can still protect their six consecutive Finals. In the last tie, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 at the Emirates for a 3-2 aggregate victory. However, they hit a stumbling block at home in the Semi Final, only being capable of drawing 2-2 with Barcelona. Madridstas’s side looked set to win the tie in London with ease, but were left disgruntled after Eduardo equalised with a quick brace of goals in the 87th and 90+1th minute. In the other Semi Final, Valencia beat visitors Man City 1-0, which gives Ferguson’s side plenty to look forward to in the return leg in Manchester.

Over to England, where Cool Manager’s Liverpool are still holding out for the Premier League top spot. Unfortunately for them, Arsenal are level with them on 79 points and on a +43 goal difference, so the Reds lead the way by a slim three goals scored margin with both teams having four games left to play. This month, Tom Smith’s team won all three games, starting out with a tricky 3-2 victory over Chelsea, to be followed by easy wins over Hull and Middlesbrough. Man City are one point behind and have one extra game to play. Liam Ferguson’s side beat Birmingham and Liverpool this month, drawing at Stamford Bridge. Down in sixth place, but only one point behind fourth place, are Leo Dodge’s Tottenham. April could have been better for them: they started it by beating Fulham 3-1, and then travelled to Spain for their Europa League Quarter Final. They left Villarreal with a 3-3 draw, which meant plenty of away goals, but that was followed by another 3-3 draw, this time at Newcastle. They couldn’t beat Villarreal at White Hart Lane but a 1-1 draw sent Spurs into the Semi Final on away goals, and then disaster struck at Wembley as an in-form Liverpool side knocked out Dodge and his team 3-0. Two more draws followed, 1-1 at Everton and 2-2 hosting Portsmouth, before a narrow 2-1 victory over Lyon was won in the Europa League, sacrificing an all-important away goal and leaving Spurs’ position in Europe on a knife-edge. Zaragoza knocked out Benfica and Aston Villa knocked out Juventus in the Quarter Finals, and the two drew 1-1 at Villa Park thanks to a late equaliser from the Spaniards. Chelsea beat Man United 2-1 in the other FA Cup tie, leading to a Liverpool vs. Chelsea final.

With the title race in England going down to the wire, Spain didn’t want to miss out. As a result, Zaragoza dropped two points from twelve this month and Barcelona tallied the maximum attainable to them to bring the two sides ever so close at 86 points to 85, with three games to play. An away tie to Sporting and a home one against Villarreal shouldn’t be too difficult for leaders Zaragoza to win, but an away tie at Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid sure will be. Precedent says that a draw will be the result, but you can never rule out Real Madrid. For Barcelona, an away trip to already-relegated Deportivo, who sacked manager Mikael Schøler this month, and a home tie against 10th-placed Tenerife look like easy points in the bag, but the away trip to Getafe on the final day of the season could go either way, with Miguel Ángel Lotina’s side being a constant scourge for the Big Two this year. He remains at the club since replacing Joe Seddon in 2009, and has done a hell of a lot more with them than he did. Seddon has since retired. Barcelona performed superbly in March, starting out by accomplishing the feat which Zaragoza will soon be attempting, winning 1-0 at Real Madrid. Of course they then knocked Los Galácticos out of the Champions League, sandwiching a 3-0 conquest of Villarreal in between the two legs. They beat Sporting 2-0 away, Real Sociedad 4-0 at home and then Osasuna 7-0 at home. All in all it was a wonderful month for Haowan Madridstas, and it is still very much anyone’s title. Well, anyone out of Barcelona and Zaragoza. After losing to Barca, Volman’s Real Madrid beat Mallorca, Recreativo and Murcia and are almost guaranteed to finish in 3rd place in the league. But that is scant consolation for not being able to defend their Champions League title, and along with it their Club World Championship and their UEFA Super Cup.

In Italy, the title is still not a foregone conclusion. By virtue of an embarrassing 0-4 loss to A.C. Milan this month, Ben Cee’s Inter have now a 12 point lead over second-placed Juventus, with five games to play. They beat Livorno and Genoa and drew with Brescia this month, but they also went out of the Italian Cup, drawing at home to A.C. 1-1 for a 1-2 aggregate defeat. Marco van Basten’s side will go on to play Juventus, who beat Lazio 4-2. Lord Weeman’s Napoli are third but Champions League football for next season is not yet secured for them. They drew their opening games of the month, against A.C. Milan and Palermo, before beating both Reggina and Frosinone 3-0. James Salter’s side are still in 13th place, having suffered the same scoreline against Roma. But they did beat Mantova and draw with seventh-placed Udinese in April. They are five points above the drop zone but there are plenty of teams between them and Frosinone that are “willing” to take the fall instead of Salter and his team. One manager who might take the fall is Ben Taylor, in charge of Fiorentina. They did of course qualify for the Champions League last season, and only just exited it, but are now eighth, five places below the media’s pre-season prediction. This month was a particularly bad one: alongside that European exit, they drew their first three games of the month and lost their fourth and final one. However, they are unlikely to drop any lower than 8th as Palermo are nine points behind them in 9th place. Yet Taylor won’t be fearing dropping from eighth: he’ll be fearing dropping from his managerial desk into the allele.

Well that’s that then: three hefty paragraphs, one on each of the leagues, as well as the result of that exciting Champions League scenario. The season now boils down to a few basic things, and one of the ones that it was always going to boil down to has been dealt with: Real Madrid will not be winning a fourth consecutive Champions League. But will Barcelona reach their seventh consecutive final? Will Liverpool keep away Arsenal and Man City to claim their first league title in 25 years? Will Zaragoza keep Barcelona from the sweet prize of the La Liga crown? Will Ben Taylor keep his job? And can Tottenham win the Europa League three years after having lost in the Final? All these questions, and more, will be answered in the next update.

Manager of the Update

It’s obvious where this is going:

Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

scoops the prize. Not only did he end Real Madrid’s epic run on Champions League wins, but he won all league games without conceding a goal in order to chase down La Liga leaders Zaragoza. The 7-0 win over Osasuna and the 4-0 win over Real Sociedad were the biggest victories domestically, but the 1-0 one at Real Madrid was the best. As a bonus, they are set to reach their seventh consecutive Champions League final after drawing 2-2 at the Emirates. Tom Smith and his fellow England-based manager Liam Ferguson also had good months in April, but Madridstas ripped up the competition and in some cases swallowed them whole.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2488
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter       Secure        2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Secure        2488
 [/font][font=Courier New] 6th PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable        2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo     Stable        2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Insecure      2488
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[PluckaDuck]

Absolutely no news on me lately. Seems like we are quietly plugging away with Europe on the mind.

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona[/font]

Top Five – Games Drawn

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager       Club        Dn Percent Chnge[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st [color=green]+1[/color] mikeytwigge   Mikey Twigge  Palermo     84 (26.5%) [color=green]+0.4%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd [color=green]+1[/color] SCIAG         Leo Dodge     Tottenham   79 (20.3%) [color=green]+0.9%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd [color=red]-2[/color] tomsmith1989  Tom Smith     Arsenal     76 (18.1%) [color=red]-1.3%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th [color=red]-1[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson Man City    74 (19.6%) [color=red]-0.7%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]  - NE Romanista1994 Lucas Volman  Real Madrid 74 (17.8%)  n/a[/font]

[canvey!!]

WARNING! WARNING! Long update coming up!

Update 83

Years: 6, Months: 83, Days: 2519

Wow, what a month! Not only was it the end of the season, but we dropped down from 11 managers to just nine! The end is nigh, and it may well get nigher!

The sunny shores of England are always a nice place to start, so that is where we will start. Tom Smith’s Arsenal managed to battle through and defend their Premier League crown, leaving Liverpool in second place. This month, the Gunners, who ended up with just one point more than their Merseyside competitors, won three of their four games. Sunderland and Ipswich were beaten before Liverpool won 1-0 at the Emirates. You’d think that would be enough for Cool Manager’s side to win the league, but Tim Aubel’s Portsmouth held the Reds to a goalless draw at Anfield while Arsenal won 3-0 at Blackburn. Smith can hardly believe his luck! Liam Ferguson’s Man City finished in 3rd place, and the 41-year-old is currently Very Insecure, given that 1st was the media’s pre-season prediction. This month, City only won one of their five games, at home to Tottenham, but finished 20 points above fourth-placed Robert Boyle’s Newcastle, a surprise Champions League qualifier who were 10th with four games to play. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham finished 7th but, like City, won only one league match in the final month. Victory came over 19th-placed Ipswich, but losses came to Leeds and West Brom as well as City, while the team drew 1-1 with Stoke. The FA Cup Final was also played this month, with Liverpool facing Chelsea, but I’ll get onto that towards the end.

Over to Spain now, where, to many people’s irritation, Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona scooped the La Liga title. They concluded their season with clean sheet wins over Deportivo, Tenerife and Getafe, while Zaragoza beat Villarreal and Sporting but drew with Real Madrid. Barcelona claimed top spot by one point but fell six points short of last season’s century haul. Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid finished 3rd and gained five points from their final three games, but they also contested the Copa del Rey final against Valencia, who finished 9th despite being touted as table toppers.

Road to the Final – Copa del Rey

José Mourinho’s Valencia started their Spanish Cup campaign under a different manager. Rafa Benítez got them through the Fourth Round against Leganés by beating them 4-1 away and 4-0 at home. By the time the Fifth Round tie against Recreativo came around, Benítez was gone and Mourinho was installed as manager. Recreativo were beaten 2-0 at home and 1-0 away, and then league runners-up Zaragoza were knocked out narrowly in the Quarter Final. A 4-3 home victory left a tenuous lead, but Valencia held out to draw 1-1 away. In the Semi Final, Atlético Madrid had the better start with a 2-1 home victory, but Valencia matched that and added a third in the return leg to make sure that they reached the Final.

Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid had the annoying habit of beating their opponents by a greater margin away than at home. First off, Universidad LP were dismissed in the Fourth Round when Real beat them 3-0 away and 2-0 at home. A 1-0 home victory over Osasuna meant that Real’s opponents, who ended up getting relegated from La Liga, were in with a chance. However, a 3-0 victory away sent Volman’s team through. Again in the Quarter Final, a 1-0 win over Getafe at home was followed by a 4-1 one away. In the Last Four, Maz Armley’s Sevilla bucked the trend, losing 1-3 away to Real and 1-2 at home.

Barcelona’s Camp Nou was the home for the Final, and it was five fans short of capacity. The match started with a few minutes of real end-to-end stuff, but settled down very quickly into a slightly dull affair. That is until Real Madrid livened it up towards the half hour mark. Edgar Barreto scored to put them ahead in the 26th minute, and then Wesley Sneijder doubled that lead in the 30th minute. After that, the action died down again and nothing much happened. Half time came and went, full time came…but didn’t go! In the 90+3rd minute, Brazilian striker Diogo clawed one back for Valencia. Could they do it? No, they couldn’t. It was obvious that they couldn’t. Real Madrid won the cup for the nineteenth time in their history, and the second under Lucas Volman.

In Italy, James Salter’s Reggina kept up their solid and stable position, finishing in 13th. This shows an upward trend: last season they finished 14th, and the season before 15th. In May, they guaranteed their survival early on with wins over Frosinone and Sampdoria. Although losses to Torino, Inter and Pisa followed, they finished eight points clear of the drop zone. All of our other managers in Italy were camped out in the top half. Tyler Burrows’s Udinese finished 7th, one place above Palermo, despite failing to win this month. The highlight of the month was a 4-4 draw at Frosinone, and fortunately for Burrows, 8th is exactly where he was expected to finish. In 7th are Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina, and despite the season being fairly well-salvaged in the end, Taylor is Very Insecure. His side qualified for next season’s Europa League by winning three out of five games this month, including a 4-3 win over A.C. Milan. Meanwhile, Lord Weeman’s Napoli finished 2nd, beating Udinese and Roma this month and drawing with Mantova, Sampdoria and Torino. That does mean that Ben Cee and his team won the league. They secured victory after just two games this month, beating Lazio and Juventus, and Inter did go on to win their final three games against Palermo, Reggina and Udinese. In the Coppa Italia, A.C. Milan beat Juventus 2-1 in the Final thanks to an Andrea Pirlo goal in the 87th minute.

And now, I’m afraid, I must relay the tragic news of the month. You may have noticed that I’ve mentioned by name all but one of our managers, and you may think “None of these have done badly enough to get sacked.” There, you’d be right. It all started on the fateful night of May 13th, when Valencia sacked José Mourinho following their cup final defeat. So, who would be the ideal man (or woman) for the job? Well, let’s try someone with 368 games’ experience, as well as nine trophies to his name. Feeling he had achieved all he could in Italian football, Ben Cee jumped ship to manage Valencia, and so to finish 11th out of 60 despite looking like such a good contender to finish 1st. Straight away, Cee had the chance to win one of the titles that eluded him, the Champions League, in the final against Barcelona.

Road to the Final – Champions League

Barcelona started their Champions League campaign in Group B. There, paired up with Manchester United, Rangers and Bordeaux, they made an indifferent start, beating United but drawing with Rangers and Bordeaux. Despite this, they actually beat Bordeaux in France, 2-1, and then travelled to Old Trafford where they drew 1-1. To conclude, they beat Rangers 2-0 at home to set up a Last 16 tie with Inter. In the first Madridstas-Cee match-up of the competition, Barcelona won (obviously), beating the Italians 3-2 at home and drawing goalless in Italy. What followed would be a stern test: a tie against Real Madrid in a repeat of last year’s final. And the year before that. And the year before that. A 0-1 loss away made it look like Real might once again gain the upper hand, but Madridstas and his team ran out 3-0 winners in the return leg to send them into the Semi Finals.

For Valencia, Group H was the origin of their Champions League campaign, and they did not start well, losing 1-2 at the City of Manchester Stadium. However, the tide was quickly reversed, with big wins over Red Star Belgrade, Sparta Prague and then Sparta Prague again. The Spaniards reversed the scoreline in the home tie against City, and then beat Red Star 4-2 in Serbia to secure qualification, but only in second place. Under their new manager José Mourinho, they started the knockout stages with a tie against Bayern Munich, and although the tie in Spain ended 1-1, Valencia managed to win 1-0 in Germany to progress. The Quarter Finals saw them drawn against Fiorentina. They beat the Italians 3-1 at home and clung to victory by losing 2-3 away. This paired them up with their Group H nemeses Man City, whom they beat 1-0 at home. They then lost 0-1 away, in their second visit to Manchester in the season. Four penalties slotted home was too many for City, who only managed two, so Valencia made the Final, although Mourinho wouldn’t be managing in it, replaced instead by Singaporean Ben Cee. Their opponents for the Final were decided when Barcelona knocked Arsenal out 4-3, with a 2-2 draw at the Emirates followed by a 2-1 victory at the Camp Nou.

Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium hosted the Final, and it was at full capacity for the all-Spanish occasion. It took a little while for the teams to get into the swing of things but it didn’t take too long for Barcelona to find an opening to get the goals flowing. Alberto Aquilani’s long shot put Haowan Madridstas’s side in front in the 36th minute. Valencia sought to get back into the game, but Christian Chivu’s foul on Marquinhos just minutes from the break gave Barca a penalty, a chance to double their lead. Oscar Cardozo stepped up and slotted home. The teams resumed, and although Valencia had that typical spell of possession of the losing team just after half time, nothing materialised, and it was up to Barcelona to score the next goal. Lionel Messi duly obliged with another long range shot, chipped in from 25 yards. With Barcelona three goals to the good and just 20 minutes to play, fans were already celebrating their victory. Diogo, who came on as a substitute, pulled one back for Ben Cee’s team just two minutes after Messi’s goal, but despite a frantic attempt and getting more, Valencia couldn’t and Barcelona ran out winners, for the fourth time under Madridstas’s management. Just a bit of trivia for you: Antonio Valencia was Valencia’s best player, other than goalscorer Diogo.

So, Cee didn’t manage to claim that crown he so ardently desired, but he did get the runners-up medal, even though it was handed to him on a plate. What this left us with was a managerial vacancy at Inter. Following his success at Liverpool and Atlético Madrid, Inter called upon Cool Manager to join their ranks, which he did. His timing, however, wasn’t particularly intelligent, as although he had just missed out on the Premier League title, the FA Cup Final was yet to be played. Not only did Manager miss out on the silverware, but Liverpool needed a new manager, and fast! On the plus side for Manager, he became the first of our managers to complete The Treble; managing a side from each of our three countries. In looking for their new manager, Liverpool looked at the side who won last year’s Europa League, and qualified for this year’s Champions League in the same season. After 2507 days of service at Città di Palermo, Mikey Twigge packed up his bags and made his way to Anfield. He had 12 days to galvanise the squad for the FA Cup Final.

In the end, Twigge’s Reds didn’t do too badly. In fact, they did very well. Fernando Torres put them infront just a minute from the break, and although they only kept that one-goal margin they kept danger at bay and looked as though they would creep over the finish line. However, Brazilian striker Amauri was criminally let through in the 90+2nd minute, and a cool finish brought Chelsea from zero to hero. Extra time passed without incident, and it looked as if Liverpool weren’t going to lose it in penalties either. Each side took eight penalties, each side scored them all, but whereas Joe Mattock scored the ninth for Chelsea, Brazilian Denílson missed for Liverpool, giving Pim Verbeek his first trophy as manager of the Pensioners.

Of course there’s one cup we still haven’t covered, despite tallying up just over 2,000 words so far. That is the Europa League final where, much like real life, a Spanish side took to the pitch against an English one.

Road to the Final – Europa League

Marcelino’s Zaragoza started the season in the Champions League, albeit very briefly. A tie against Rangers proved too much for them in the Best Placed 3rd Qualifying Round, as they lost 0-2 in Scotland and couldn’t overcome that with a 1-0 win in Spain. Instead, they were dumped into the Europa League, and Group L was to be their home. Wins against Zilina, Partizan Belgrade and Spartak Moscow followed, in a group more Slavic than Janine’s cheekbones in Click, and Zaragoza completed the rout again in the same order, different locations. In the end, they waltzed the group with 18 points and a 22-1 aggregate. This put them in the Last 32 against dafuge’s Besiktas. A 2-1 win in Turkey was followed by a 4-0 victory at home, sending out the former Torino boss and his team, 6-1 on aggregate.

Meanwhile, Leo Dodge’s Tottenham began their campaign in the Europa League itself. First, they needed to defeat Turks Bursaspor, which they did with ease. A 5-0 home leg victory gave Bursaspor almost no chance of getting back into it, and Spurs followed up with a 1-0 victory by the Sea of Marmara. They were drawn into Group G, alongside BATE Borisov, Aris Thessalonika and CSKA Moscow, in a group almost as Slavic as Janine’s cheekbones in Click. They, like Zaragoza, won all group games conceding just one goal, and ran out as 21-1 victors on goal aggregate. A 6-0 win over BATE and a 7-0 one over the Greeks were very welcome gifts to the White Hart Lane faithful. Next came a tie against Ajax, and remarkably, the team managed to win 1-0 in Amsterdam, and their 1-0 aggregate victory took any boredom away from the 0-0 draw that followed in London. Spurs then faced Hamburger SV in the Last 16. The Germans reached last year’s final only to lose to Palermo, so they couldn’t be written off. Or could they? A 3-0 away victory was followed by a 3-1 home one, which meant a 6-1 demolition of last year’s runners-up.

Zaragoza’s Last 16 tie was not as easy. They faced fellow Spaniards Atlético Madrid. However, a 0-0 draw in the nation’s capital was a very good first leg result, and Zaragoza made it worthwile by winning 1-0 to reach the Quarter Final. There, they saw off another Iberian team, Benfica, by winning 3-1 at home and 1-0 in Portugal. Tottenham, meanwhile, faced Villarreal, and got the tough tie that Zaragoza had faced in the previous round. While a 3-3 draw in Spain was not necessarily a great result, as it showed just how capable the Spaniards were, it did mean three away goals that would make Spurs tough to beat if only they could draw or win. Draw they did, 1-1 at White Hart Lane, giving them a Semi Final tie with Lyon. A 2-1 victory in London was followed up with a 1-1 draw in France, sending Spurs to the Final for the second time in four years. Chances of an all-English Final were dashed when Zaragoza knocked out Martin Bojangles’s Aston Villa in the other Semi Final. A 1-1 draw at Villa Park always made Zaragoza the favourites, and they followed through with a 2-0 home victory.

Bayern Munich’s Allianz-Arena hosted the Final, and the tickets were all sold out, which meant that some fans were standing. But they wouldn’t mind, as it was one exciting final. Just nineteen minutes, Ryan Babel got Tottenham off to a dream start with a blast from just outside the area. But Zaragoza were potent, and offered a powerful threat. Six minutes after Spurs’ opener, Ángel Lafita (not related to Queen Latifah) opened Zaragoza’s own tally with his head, following a quick dash into the penalty area. Things remained at 1-1 up to the break, but the atmosphere was electric and you could tell that more goals were forthcoming. Ryan Babel was again the hero for the English fans with a cool and collected placement past the keeper. 12 minutes later, with 20 minutes left to play, Adam Lallana slotted home to put Tottenham 3-1 in front. He went to the same school as me, and turned out to be one of only two hundred alumni of the school to score in the Europa League Final. Of course, Zaragoza could never be written off, and when the ball came to Axel Witsel (not related to Josef Fritzl) at the far post from a corner, he headed it home to glory to narrow the gap. And just four minute later and one from time, Borja Valero (related to Torville and Dean, actually), took all the time in the world slotting the ball home to level the tie. Extra time passed without incident, and then it came to penalties. Zaragoza fans watched as their side capitulated. It was going well even after the first penalties: both teams missed. But when Zaragoza continued to miss despite Gareth Bale, Robinho and Dan Gosling scoring for Spurs, they fell and Leo Dodge’s Tottenham took the title!

So that’s May, and season seven, over and done with. Eyes will be looking forward, and which pair of those eighteen eyes will be the eyes of the manager who wins 60 to One. I know, it’s a crazy metaphor, but I just wanted to prove that I know that nine people have eighteen eyes between them. Unless Haowan Madridstas is secretly a pirate. I’ve always suspected.

Manager of the Update

Well, it’s been an exciting month, but this was only ever going to one place.

Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

wraps up his seventh Manager of the Update award in style, by securing a double despite not being in the strongest position to do so. Seeing off Arsenal and Valencia in the Champions League, and Zaragoza in La Liga, the ecstacy of Barcelona fans is unparalleled, and this month saw Madridstas bringing home his 17th title for the club. Other managers in the running were Leo Dodge, who completed a 63-game season by winning the Europa League; Lord Weeman, who had a good month although without silverware; Lucas Volman, whose Real Madrid team seized the Spanish Cup to make the best out of their season, and James Salter, who deserves some recognition for making Reggina into one of the most stable teams around.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2519
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2519
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2519
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Very Secure   2519
 [/font][font=Courier New] 5th weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Secure        2519
 [/font][font=Courier New] 6th PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2519
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2519
 [/font][font=Courier New] 8th fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Very Insecure 2519
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Very Insecure 2519
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[weeeman27bob]

Creeping ever closer.

[SCIAG]

Secure for a long time, now very secure! And the Europa league!

Keep up the hard work, canvey!!

[PluckaDuck]

Down to just 9 now with the possibility of more leaving. Congrats to Ben and Mikey, amazing effort to make it this far!!

[BenArsenal]

Oh.My.Word.

Not really the way I expected my tenure to end. At least I left with another league title.

Inter has been fun. But alas, it's time to move on.

[canvey!!]

Writer’s Notes: Those two managers leaving mean that both Strawberry and Mint Choc Chip are left with their final managers (Lucas Volman and Lord Weeman). Coffee (Tyler Burrows, Ben Taylor) and Vanilla (Haowan Madridstas, James Salter) have two managers, but Chocolate has three (Liam Ferguson, Tom Smith, Leo Dodge).

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona[/font]

Top Five – Games Lost

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager       Club       Lost Percent Chnge[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st [color=green]+1[/color] JSalter       James Salter  Reggina     137 (48.1%)  [color=blue]0.0%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd [color=green]+2[/color] SCIAG         Leo Dodge     Tottenham    99 (25.0%) [color=green]-0.6%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd [color=green]+2[/color] PluckaDuck    Tyler Burrows Udinese      98 (27.8%) [color=red]+1.2%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th [color=red]-1[/color] TaylorB       Ben Taylor    Fiorentina   97 (28.3%) [color=green]-1.7%[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th NE weeeman27bob  Lord Weeman   Napoli       77 (24.3%)  n/a[/font]

[canvey!!]

Update 84

Years: 7, Months: 84, Days: 2549

Our managers have hit the seven-year mark, and in a month unmarked by the managerial chopping and changing that tarnished May, the managers prepared for their eighth season of football management.

In Italy, Inter are expected to retain the Serie A title, making it their fourth title on the bounce. However, they will be without their favourite manager Ben Cee, who fled to Valencia, and so Cool Manager will attempt to take the club into a new era. Other clubs expected to qualify for the Champions League from Italy are Napoli, Juventus and Roma, in that order. Fiorentina and Udinese are expected to finish in the same position as last season, seventh and eighth respectively, and James Salter’s Reggina are also tipped to secure a second thirteenth-placed finish in a row. Modena, Bologna and Triestina are the bookies’ favourites to get relegated.

In England, Liam Ferguson’s Man City have been touted as title winners despite Arsenal having won the last three Premier League titles, and City only managing an average position of 2.6th in the past three seasons. Arsenal are tipped to finish 2nd, with Liverpool and Manchester United also in as the favourites for Champions League qualification. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham are tipped to finish 6th but fourth place will surely be the Englishman’s target. Of the newly-promoted clubs, two are expected to go down: Leicester City in 20th and James Ridley’s Crystal Palace in 19th, but Brettney Joven’s West Ham are believed to be capable of moderate safety with a 13th-placed finish, despite the fact that West Ham were the team that won promotion through the playoffs. Taking their place in the yawning chasm of the relegation zone are, at least according to the bookies, Leeds United.

In the transfer market, a few of our Italian clubs did some deals. Tyler Burrows brought two new players into his Udinese team: Matteo Fabiani from Atalanta for £1.1M and Iacopo Cappiello from Reggina for £800k. James Salter made another outgoing transfer from Reggina, selling Marco Civilleri to Arezzo for £450k.

Now seems like a good time to update you on the quest for Euro 2016 qualification. Italy qualify as hosts, but let’s see how the home nations are doing in pursuing a place in the Last 16. The group winner qualifies, and the 10 group runners-up will play against one other for a place. In Group B, England’s campaign is solid, with a 5-0-1 record so far. A loss came to Luxembourg last September, but since then, England have beaten Belgium, Macedonia, Armenia, Bulgaria and then Luxembourg itself to put them in first place. Victory in Belgium and hosting Macedonia should see them through, although they have games against Armenia and Bulgaria if necessary. In Group C, Northern Ireland are actually top of their group, holding back Spain! The two actually drew in Spain, but the lead is tight and Spain have a game in hand. The Irish travel to Greece and the Spaniards to Latvia in their next games.

In Group G, Scotland are top of their group and very near to qualifying. They won all five of their games, even beating Euro holders Portugal at home. Their next game is in Portugal, and while it wouldn’t be a disaster if they lost, it would qualify them if they won. In Group H, Ireland relinquished an early group lead to the Netherlands after the Dutch beat them 1-0. Their next game is against Malta while the Netherlands play Lithuania, but the most important one will be the away trip to Serbia to see if Ireland can hold them off in order to get a playoff place. Ironically, Saul Goode’s Wales, the only home nation to qualify for the last World Cup, are the nation doing the worst. Losses to Turkey and Ukraine have blighted their campaign and leave them in 4th place with 7 points, but their two remaining home games come against the top two nations, while their away game is against lowly Liechtenstein. Wales wouldn’t lose away to them, that would be like England losing away to…Luxembourg?

Manager of the Update

Only two to talk of this month.

James Salter, Reggina

gets the award for spinning a profit while Tyler Burrows spun a loss. Their numbers, however, were child’s play, and Burrows’s expenditure shows he is planning for the future, not that Salter isn’t. Unfortunately for Salter, he only seems to get these awards at this time of year.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2549
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable        2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2549
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[ssestig]

How is my manager doing now canvey?

Good luck to the 9 that are left.

[PluckaDuck]

Close to Manager of the Month, not that I did anything, KUTGW Canvey!

[BenArsenal]

I'd like to mention something. A bit of a parting shot perhaps.

Despite 9 trophies in my long tenure at Inter, I only managed to get Manager of the Month twice.

Not bitter. Just saying.

Good luck to the rest!

[canvey!!]

@ssestig: Empoli finished 8th out of 22 in Serie B (where 3rd-6th qualify for the playoffs)

English Premier League Table

Italian Serie A Table

Spanish La Liga Table

Sorry, I forgot again to take these before the reset dates.

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina[/font]

Top Five – Goals Scored

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club      Goals (Pr/G) Chnge[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] Haowan        Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   990 (2.35)  [color=blue]0.00[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd  [color=blue]0[/color] tomsmith1989  Tom Smith         Arsenal     946 (2.23) [color=green]+0.02[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd  [color=blue]0[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman      Real Madrid 861 (2.05) [color=red]-0.01[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th  [color=blue]0[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson     Man City    786 (2.05)  [color=blue]0.00[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th NE SCIAG         Leo Dodge         Tottenham   704 (1.78)  n/a[/font]

[el sid]

Some immense changes for Cool Manager in the past few months. Ridiculous to lose the Premier League in that fashion Utter stupidity in taking up the Inter Milan job before the FA Cup final, missing great chances for silverware

Inter Milan though

Kutgw canvey

[canvey!!]

Update 85

Years: 7, Months: 85, Days: 2580

July has passed, and with it a number of transfers. Obviously, Ben Cee at his new club Valencia has been doing a lot of buying and selling, but I won’t be covering that as he is one of “the departed”. Some notable managers retired this month, including Roy Hodgson at Fulham, to be replaced by Dave Jones, and Arsène Wenger at Juventus, to be replaced by Mikael Schøler.

We’ll go to Spain first, Schøler’s home before taking the Juventus job (a big step up considering he was sacked by Deportivo in April for relegating them from La Liga). That league reset this month, and, despite their 9th placed finish last season, Valencia are expected to win it. That would be four consecutive titles for Ben Cee. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona are predicted to finish second with Real Madrid tipped to come third. Betis, Hércules and Valladolid, having all made the step up from the LIGA adelante last season, are all expected to get relegated, and in the order they finished last season too. As for transfers in Spain, Real Madrid made £41M by selling three players: Adriano joined Lazio for £20.5M, Yury Zhirkov joined Man City for £11M and Philippe Senderos joined Arsenal (again) for £9.5M. Barcelona made one sale and three purchases, with Matías Fernández joining Atlético Madrid for £13M, Blaise Matuidi joining from Valencia for £14.25M, Rafael van der Vaart arriving from Arsenal for £13M and César Ruiz Díaz, a Paraguayan regen goalkeeper, joining from Getafe for £150k.

There were some transfers in Italy last month, but they did of course continue in July. Ben Taylor sold Ricardo Faty to Inter for £15.25M and the Fiorentina manager bought both Frosinone’s Benito Nicolas Viola for £5.5M and Brescia’s Robert Acquafresca for £7.5M. At Reggina, James Salter carried on with a number of moves: talented young defender Arturo De Falco half-joined A.C. Milan for £8.25M when a co-ownership deal was struck, English midfielder Ben Watson joined Torino for £375k, and another co-ownership saw Salter earn £140k by letting Lazio buy half of regen defender Marcello Gandini. Tyler Burrows also continued his tinkering into this month, signing Ajax’s Dmitry Torbinskiy for £4.2M and signing both Tim Krul from Celta for £1.4M and Antonio Martino, regen striker, from Cagliari for £675k. 34-year-old John Arne Riise left the club on a free transfer. As for Napoli, they sold Vasco Regini to Marseille for £2.5M and bought half of Frosinone regen Salvatore de Luca for £1.5M.

In Europe, a few of the early entrants to the Europa League have played their first matches. Fiorentina are the only one of our teams to do this, and they beat Ireland’s Bohemians 4-0 in both legs for an 8-0 aggregate scoreline. They’ll also have to win a Fourth Qualifying Round tie before they can join Tottenham in the Group Stages. With the exception of Reggina and Udinese, all of our other sides will be involved in the Champions League, and will all join in the Group Stages: Barcelona, Manchester City, Arsenal, Napoli and Real Madrid.

Concluding with transfers in England then. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham made the biggest transfer, signing Anderson from Vicente del Bosque’s Manchester United for £17M. Rhys Taylor’s £40k signature from recently-relegated Birmingham seems like pennies in comparison. Liam Ferguson at Man City was busy too, bringing in Franco Zuculini from Valencia in a Player Exchange for £11.75M (Yannis Tafer made way), Villarreal’s Andrés for £10M, and of course that Yury Zhirkov transfer. Arsenal’s only two transfers were outlined earlier: Rafael van der Vaart left and Philippe Senderos arrived (that’s three times now!).

The managers have less than a month before the new season starts (and it has already started for Taylor). We lost two last season and three the season before that. How many will go this year?

Manager of the Update

My manager of the update is;

Ben Taylor, Fiorentina

who navigated his Europa League tie with ease and was an active force in the transfer market. At Reggina, James Salter kept making sales which endeared him to me, and Haowan Madridstas made a healthy profit this month, but cup progression is very important and Taylor secured it for his team.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2580
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable        2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2580
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 15 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina[/font]

Top Five – Goals Conceded

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club      Goals (Pr/G) Chnge[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] JSalter       James Salter      Reggina     438 (1.54) [color=red]+0.05[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd  [color=blue]0[/color] SCIAG         Leo Dodge         Tottenham   409 (1.03) [color=green]-0.01[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd  [color=blue]0[/color] tomsmith1989  Tom Smith         Arsenal     386 (0.91)  [color=blue]0.00[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th  [color=blue]0[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson     Man City    370 (0.96) [color=green]-0.02[/color]
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th  [color=blue]0[/color] TaylorB       Ben Taylor        Fiorentina  361 (1.05) [color=red]+0.02[/color][/font]

Lifespan – 2 to 5 Years

[font=Courier New]  [b] Pos Username             Manager             Club       Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]15th [/font][font=Courier New]hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham     1705
 [/font][font=Courier New]16th ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton    1701
 [/font][font=Courier New]17th rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro 1614
 [/font][font=Courier New]18th ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania    1405
 [/font][font=Courier New]19th bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta   1320
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia   1320
 [/font][font=Courier New]21st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing     1288
 [/font][font=Courier New]22nd el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid 1263
 [/font][font=Courier New]23rd spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia   1259
 [/font][font=Courier New]24th Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting   1244
 [/font][font=Courier New]25th Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull       1241
 [/font][font=Courier New]26th clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma       1237
 [/font][font=Courier New]27th Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal 1230
 [/font][font=Courier New]28th Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom  1210
 [/font][font=Courier New]29th Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton     1208
 [/font][font=Courier New]30th Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   999
 [/font][font=Courier New]31st Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus    925
 [/font][font=Courier New]32nd pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis       889
 [/font][font=Courier New]33rd AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan  882
 [/font][font=Courier New]34th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol    873
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo  873
 [/font][font=Courier New]36th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United  852
 [/font][font=Courier New]37th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena       843[/font]

Lifespan – 1 to 2 Years

[font=Courier New]  [b] Pos Username             Manager             Club      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]38th conners              Sirus Lannock       Málaga     628
 [/font][font=Courier New]39th MikaelS              Mikael Schøler      Bologna    613
 [/font][font=Courier New]40th Swafe                Saul Goode          Osasuna    551
 [/font][font=Courier New]41st hamilton162          Tom Hamilton        Mallorca   509
 [/font][font=Courier New]42nd kashmirshazad        Shazad Ali          Newcastle  508
 [/font][font=Courier New]43rd DiscoStu94           Da Hoover Man       Sampdoria  501
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - ScottT!              Scott Tysoe         Sunderland 501
 [/font][font=Courier New]45th canvey!!             Fréderico Canvey    Stoke      476[/font]

Lifespan – Less than 1 Year

[font=Courier New]  [b] Pos Username             Manager             Club      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]46th corinthiano          Mathias Brunckhorst Chievo     327
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Neilio               Neilio              Almería    327
 [/font][font=Courier New]48th Robert_296           Robert Boyle        Blackburn  326
 [/font][font=Courier New]49th brettney1980         Brettney Joven      Wigan      320
 [/font][font=Courier New]50th TigerJoe             Joe Seddon          Getafe     271
 [/font][font=Courier New]51st jack.browne          Jack Browne         Sevilla    250
 [/font][font=Courier New]52nd NepentheZ            Neppo Monster       Cagliari   236
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - dafuge               dafuge              Torino     236
 [/font][font=Courier New]54th KiddingChoc          Zach Machios        Portsmouth 235
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Whoopy D             Whoopy D            West Ham   235
 [/font][font=Courier New]56th d-machine            David Machine       Athletic   229
 [/font][font=Courier New]57th PaulHartman71        Jeremy English      Liverpool  204
 [/font][font=Courier New]58th Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa[/font]

[PluckaDuck]

Lots of signings as usual for Udinese, constant tinkering seems to keep everyone on their toes. MON THE TITLE THIS SEASON!!!!

[canvey!!]

Update 86

Years: 7, Months: 86, Days: 2611

And we’re under way! The season has started in all three of our countries.

Let’s start with England, where Robert Boyle has taken his Newcastle team to top spot. They beat Hull, Aston Villa and Leicester this month to end it with a perfect record. The other Tyne-Tees side, Arnold J. Rimmer’s Middlesbrough, have also started their season undefeated, as have Tottenham, Liverpool, Man City and Tom Smith’s Arsenal. Arsenal beat Chelsea and Everton but drew with Manchester United, while Man City beat West Ham and Portsmouth and have a game in hand. Arsenal also took part in a London derby at Wembley, where the Community Shield was settled on penalties following a 1-1 draw. Francesc Fàbregas put the Gunners in front after just one minute, but Giampaolo Pazzini levelled for Chelsea in the 51st minute. One penalty scored from three wasn’t good enough for the Pensioners, and Arsenal took and scored their fourth to take the title. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham, against whom Man City have that game in hand, drew goalless hosting Liverpool and beat West Ham. They also travelled to Monaco where Mario Gómez scored the only goal in a fantastic 1-0 victory over Barcelona, giving Tottenham England’s second UEFA Super Cup in two years.

Despite this match, Barcelona did manage to play a game in La Liga. It was a weird game with which to start the season, but they drew goalless with Real Madrid nonetheless. This was after just having beaten Lucas Volman’s team in the Spanish Super Cup. A 2-1 away victory was followed by a draw at home to give the prize to Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate. Also this month, Barca made three outgoing transfers: Carlos Eduardo joined Atlético Madrid for £8.5M, Ricardo Campos joined Deportivo for £2M, and you know that Paraguayan goalkeeper César Ruiz Díaz? He joined Barca last month but left for Zaragoza with an £850k price tag (£700k profit). He has now agreed to join Real Madrid at the end of the season for £1.2M (£350k profit). Real’s only other transfer activity this month was selling youngster Iván Villar to Cartagena for £80k.

In the Champions League, Ireland got their first ever representative in the Group Stages (as did Estonia, incidentally). Cork City will be in Arsenal’s group, Group A, alongside Fenerbahçe and FC Twente. Other groups of interest to us are Group B, where Barcelona will shape up against Newcastle, Rapid Wien and Porto; Group E, where Man City will face Ajax as well as Anderlecht and Estonians Levadia; Group F where Real Madrid will try their luck against Bordeaux, Werder Bremen and Galatasaray; and Group H where Napoli try to overcome Benfica, Liverpool and Basel. In the Europa League, Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina beat Levski Sofia 5-0 away and 9-1 at home in order to secure their qualification for the Group Stages in style. Chelsea, Roma, Villarreal, Man United, Elche, A.C. Milan, Getafe, Blackburn and of course Tottenham will join them from our nations. dafuge's Besiktas also made the groups by beating Slovenia’s Interblock 8-1 on aggregate, as did Phill Ewles’s Olympiakos who lost to Lazio in the Champions League playoff.

We mentioned Barcelona’s and Real Madrid’s transfers this month, but they obviously weren’t the only teams making transfers. Lord Weeman bought Palermo’s Federico Laurito for £14.5M while sending Brazilian Filipe the other way for £375k. James Salter continued his work in the transfer markets, as did Tyler Burrows, with the Reggina manager signing Siena’s Montenegrin regen defender Dragan Rasic for £2.2M and selling Antonio Barillà to Sampdoria for £5.5M, and the Udinese boss bringing in Real Sociedad’s £7.25M Pablo Piatto and Ajax’s £375k Tommaso Berni, and selling Alessandro Tuia to Ascoli for £1.3M in the bigger of his two outgoing transfers. Arsenal bought Gökhan Inler for £17.25M from Inter, and sold wingback Steven Smith to Ipswich for £4M, as well as two smaller transfers, and Ben Taylor made three outgoing Fiorentina transfers. Cheick Diabaté joined Mikael Schøler’s Juventus for £9M, half of young striker Piero Bellani was sold to Inter for £3.3M, and all of young striker Niccolò Simeoni joined Triestina for £375k.

As for the Italian league, Fiorentina are sitting pretty nicely after one game played. They beat Triestina 3-0 (Simeoni came on as a sub and got a 6.1 rating) and are second behind A.C. Milan. James Salter’s Reggina also won, beating their Coppa Italia 4th Qualifying Round opponents Torino 1-0. They reached that round by beating Foggia 1-0 in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Udinese did well to draw goalless with Inter, while Napoli lost to Juventus, despite finishing higher than them last season. In the Italian Super Cup, Cool Manager’s Inter beat A.C. Milan 2-1.

So that’s that. The season’s under way, there’s no going back now. Who will survive right through ‘til the end? There’s no way of knowing until we get there!

Manager of the Update

I think I’ll give this award to;

Leo Dodge, Tottenham

as he managed to win the UEFA Super Cup against the odds. He also started his Premier League campaign rather well. Tom Smith was another manager in England who started undefeated, while I have to give credit to Ben Taylor, whose Fiorentina team made a nice transfer profit, won in the Europa League and won their first league game 3-0, and to James Salter, who is still doing transfers and who also won his first game of the season.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2611
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable        2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2611
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[el sid]

Already a cup victory

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 15 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham[/font]

Top Five – Goal Difference

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club  Goal Diff.[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] Haowan        Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   +675
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd  [color=blue]0[/color] tomsmith1989  Tom Smith         Arsenal     +563
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd  [color=blue]0[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman      Real Madrid +558
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th [color=green]+1[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson     Man City    +419
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th NE SCIAG         Leo Dodge         Tottenham   +298[/font]

[Spleen!]

Still in it Good to see we're making slow progress up the league, maybe it will be a 12th place finish this season.

[canvey!!]

Update 87

Years: 7, Months: 87, Days: 2641

With the month of September completed, let’s see how our managers fared as the new season developed.

In Italy, Inter don’t seem to be suffering too much after Ben Cee’s departure. Cool Manager has them top of the league after six games, and with 16 points they are as yet undefeated. The only other team that can boast that feat are Tyler Burrows’s Udinese. They rattled up some impressive results in September, and while a 2-1 away win over Torino was nothing special, 3-0 victories over Triestina and Modena and a 4-0 one over Brescia were. The month ended with a credible goalless draw at Napoli. However, Burrows and his team always start seasons well, only to drop off when the going gets tough. The target for the Andorran this year will be European qualification of any kind. Lord Weeman’s Napoli are in 5th place, recovering after last month’s defeat to Juventus. They beat Parma 3-2, Fiorentina 5-1 and Reggina 3-0 this month, but could only draw against Palermo and Udinese. Down south, James Salter’s Reggina suffered two further defeats this month, and goalless draws against Triestina and Modena are likely to be four points dropped rather than two gained. On the plus side, they beat Torino again, 4-3, to clinch progress to the Coppa Italia 1st Round, but they are a little close for comfort league-wise, one point above the drop zone – although it is early days. They’ll travel to A.C. Milan for the cup’s next round, surely ending their participation. The other three teams have easy home ties: Fiorentina with Mantova, Udinese with Livorno and Napoli with Brescia.

In Spain, Zaragoza have made a strong start to the season, rising to 1st place with 15 points out of 15, but one does wonder whether they can sustain that. Obviously, Real Madrid dropped points last month due to their draw with Barcelona, but Lucas Volman’s side won all this month. Murcia, Athletic, Sevilla and Elche all fell to the club from the capital, and none of those were easy victories, with all but one of them coming with a one-goal margin. Barcelona dropped a further two points in drawing with Ben Cee’s Valencia in their second game of the season. However, that’s two of the toughest ties out of the way and with wins over Racing, Valladolid and Getafe in relative comfort, it shows that Haowan Madridstas and his team look to be building up some momentum. However, those dropped points against Valencia could be crucial when the end of the season rolls around.

September saw the start of European competition in all its majesty. In the Champions League, four out of five of our teams lead their groups. Lord Weeman’s Napoli won 3-0 in Basel but drew 1-1 hosting Benfica and so are second behind Mikey Twigge’s Liverpool. In order of ascending goal difference, Real Madrid snuck narrow 1-0 wins over both Bordeaux and Werder Bremen. While they weren’t spectacular results, the points are on the boards and, hopefully, the Real fans won’t mind if the entire group passes like this. In Group A, Arsenal beat Fenerbahçe 2-0 at home and achieved a hard-fought 1-0 victory in Enschede. In their next tie, they welcome Cork City, which should be an opportunity for goals. The other newcoming country, Estonia, saw their entrant defeated 5-0 by Liam Ferguson’s Man City in the first match of the campaign. City then went on to win 2-1 at Ajax while Levadia lost 2-3 at home to Anderlecht. Finally, Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona romped to victory in their two games, annihilating Robert Boyle’s Newcastle 7-0 at home, and then winning 6-0 in Austria against Rapid Wien. Let’s hope Porto can put up at least some resistance against the holders. As for Europe’s secondary competition, only one game was played by each team. Tottenham beat NK Zagreb 6-0 while Fiorentina drew 2-2 at Phill Ewles’s Olympiakos. dafuge's Besiktas beat OGC Nice Côte d’Azur 2-0 but the biggest win was for Manchester United, who triumphed 9-0 over Lithuania’s FBK Kaunas.

On England’s fair shores, both Arsenal and Middlesbrough are still going strong in the Premier League. Tottenham also remain undefeated. Tom Smith’s side scored four goals in all three games this month, beating West Brom 4-0 and both Leeds and third-placed Newcastle 4-1. They also travelled to Derby where a 3-0 win put them into the Carling Cup Fourth Round. As for Tottenham, they drew with Man City, Fulham and Leicester, all 1-1 and all away, and beat Aston Villa 1-0 in their only home tie. Yet they lost 0-1 as Man United put them out of the Carling Cup at White Hart Lane. And Man City are really struggling. Liam Ferguson’s side may be doing well in the Champions League, but they lost both away league games, 0-4 to Liverpool and 0-2 to Aston Villa, and could only draw at home against both Fulham and Spurs. They also crashed out of the League Cup due to having the misfortune of travelling to Anfield for the 3rd Round. That leaves Arsenal as our last team standing, and they travel to bottom-of-the-table Blackburn to defend that status, as well as to defend the cup itself.

So, we’ve already had some interesting results. All’s fine and dandy on the European front, but there are a couple of teams in mild danger in their leagues. Results should pick up soon, but if they don’t…

Manager of the Update

This isn’t an easy one to give. I think I’ll award it based on improvement, so;

Tyler Burrows, Udinese

takes this award. He has his team 2nd in Serie A and won four games from five this month, drawing the other and attaining a 12-1 aggregate. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona were dominant in the Champions League, but then you would expect that, and Lucas Volman ground out a good if uninspiring month with Real Madrid. Tom Smith won all his games in three competitions.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2641
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Stable        2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2641
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[PluckaDuck]

A fantastic performance this month. Manager of the Month rewards a few months of really solid work, hopefully we can keep it up and not continue the mid-season form-lapses we have been suffering from. The time has come!

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 15 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 15 Tyler Burrows, Udinese[/font]

Top Five – Age

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club       Age[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman      Real Madrid 55
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd  [color=blue]0[/color] Haowan        Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   54
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd [color=red]-1[/color] SCIAG         Leo Dodge         Tottenham   53
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th [color=green]+1[/color] PluckaDuck    Tyler Burrows     Udinese     51
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th NE TaylorB       Ben Taylor        Fiorentina  50[/font]

[canvey!!]

Update 88

Years: 7, Months: 88, Days: 2672

October saw a few sackings, but not any of our managers. That’s a good thing, surely? However, we do have two managers who are Insecure in their jobs. Let’s take a look at the month of October to see how that situation arose.

Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid lead La Liga, and have yet to lose a game. They continued their fabulous winning streak in the first three games of the month, beating Málaga 3-1, Racing 2-0 and Valladolid 4-0. However, Valencia put up ample resistance and the two sides drew 3-3 at Nuevo Mestalla. A 3-0 win at Alicante puts them in a good position to reach the Copa del Rey 5th Round. As for Barcelona, they sit 4th, also unbeaten, but they dropped four points this month in the form of draws against Betis and Zaragoza. On the plus side, Sporting were beaten 4-1 and Real Sociedad 4-0, and they beat Palencia 7-0 away to pretty much guarantee cup progression.

In the Europa League, both our sides tallied two victories this month. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham thrashed Brøndby 6-0 and Toulouse 3-0, and Ben Taylor’sFiorentina achieved comfortable wins over Beitar Jerusalem and Belenenses, 3-0 and 4-0 respectively. In Europe’s daddy competition, the biggest wins of the month were Arsenal’s 9-0 destruction of Cork City, Real Madrid’s 7-0 annihilation of Galatasaray and Man City’s 4-0 win over Anderlecht. The month also carried two major surprises: Levadia did Estonia proud by beating Ajax 2-1 at home, and Porto defeated their fellow Iberians Barcelona, a team who had chalked up 13 goals from the first two games, 3-1.

Robert Boyle’s Newcastle lead the Premier League, much to the delight of (read the following two words in a Geordie accent) Geordies worldwide. Leo Dodge’s Tottenham are fourth, one point behind Middlesbrough and five behind 2nd-placed Arsenal, and they had a tight month, sneaking wins against Man United and Blackburn at home, and Arsenal away – a truly delightful result for the fans – while only being able to draw with Hull and Crystal Palace, and going down to a solitary goal at Goodison Park. Liam Ferguson’s Man City seemed to be recovering from last month’s woes, beating Leicester 5-0 at the start of the month and beating Arsenal 2-0 in the third game – giving the Gunners their second of two defeats this month and season – but a 0-1 loss to Blackburn followed a 3-1 victory over James Ridley’s Crystal Palace, and then a trip to Old Trafford for a fiercely contested Manchester derby saw Vicente del Bosque’s Red Devils winning 2-0. With Everton, Chelsea and Newcastle all coming up in the next four games, Ferguson is Insecure and a possible candidate to get sacked before the year is out.

Another Insecure manager is James Salter, whose Reggina side have slid ever closer to the drop. Two 2-2 draws bookmarked the month: they opened with one at home to Sampdoria, and closed with one away to Mikael Schøler’s Juventus (Schøler, incidentally, is Very Insecure). Inbetween came losses to Lazio and A.C. Milan. Our other three Italian teams are concentrated in the 3rd-5th range. Lord Weeman’s Napoli, who won two and drew two this month, a feat which included handing Inter their first defeat of the season, sit 3rd, with Udinese, who got one of each result, one point behind. Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina are then a further two points back, and did well out of a tough month, getting six points from Lazio, A.C. Milan and Juventus.

Onwards we go, to November! I hope everyone had a Happy Hallowe’en!

Manager of the Update

There weren’t any exemplary performances this month.

Lucas Volman, Real Madrid

gets the award and was pretty much the only candidate. Despite a 3-3 draw at Zaragoza, the Real Madrid manager guided his team to five wins in three competitions, a 19-1 aggregate, which becomes 22-4 if the final league game is included. Not too shabby!

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2672
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2672
 [/font][font=Courier New] 3rd Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Secure        2672
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2672
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2672
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2672
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2672
 [/font][font=Courier New] 8th JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Insecure      2672
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Insecure      2672
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[tomsmith1989]

Still going strong with my Arsenal team! It's getting quite tense now as it comes to the final few managers, although this could still go on for some time! Keep up the good work canvey, and apologies for not being around here so much recently, real life is getting in the way.

[canvey!!]

Good to have you back, Tom - I was worried about you! Good to see you reading, too, GCB [noparse][/noparse].

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 15 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 15 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 15 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid[/font]

Top Five – Highest Fee Spent

 [font=Courier New][b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club        Player             Fee[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] Haowan        Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   John Heitinga   £37.5M
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd  [color=blue]0[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson     Man City    Michael Essien  £26.5M
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd  [color=blue]0[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman      Real Madrid Adriano         £23  M
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th [color=green]+1[/color] tomsmith1989  Tom Smith         Arsenal     Andrés Guardado £22  M
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th NE SCIAG         Leo Dodge         Tottenham   Mario Gómez     £21.5M[/font]

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Hmmm looks like Salter & Ferguson could be in trouble, they might need to do something about that or they will end up falling out before the end...Still looking excellent Canvey. Please KUTGW I am also still reading every update.

[canvey!!]

Update 89

Years: 7, Months: 89, Days: 2702

It’s December, and the managers are opening the first doors on their advent calendars. Rumour has it Leo Dodge has opted for a Tweenies one this year, while Tyler Burrows has gone with his standard fare: Andorran football heroes. Sorry, that was a typo – Andorran football hero. The production costs are limited because the chocolates are all the same shape, that of the best Andorran player ever, Ildefons Lima. Anyway, before we get all Christmassy, let’s take a look at how the managers did in November, with detailed analysis from yours truly.

We’ll start with the Champions League, where two more sets of fixtures were played this month. Several sides have already qualified, including Tom Smith’s Arsenal, who won 5-0 in Cork but lost 0-1 in Istanbul. FC Twente qualify alongside them, while Fenerbahçe are guaranteed to take the Europa League place. Liam Ferguson’s Man City drew 1-1 with Anderlecht but beat Levadia 6-0 in Estonia to seal their qualification alongside Ajax, and Real Madrid won 2-0 at Galatasaray before drawing goalless in Bordeaux to put themselves through as the first qualifier from their group. Barcelona and Napoli have yet to qualify, but the Spaniards won both games this month and the Italians beat Basel 5-0. They’ll travel to Benfica next to decide which of those two will join Liverpool in making the Knockout Stages. As for the Europa League, just one game was played this month. Tottenham beat NK Zagreb 4-0 away and Fiorentina beat Olympiakos 5-2 at home. Roma, Atlético Madrid, Spurs, Villarreal, Chelsea, A.C. Milan and Manchester United have sealed their progression to the next round with two games to spare.

In Italy, Reggina have now fallen into the drop zone, but manager James Salter finds himself Stable. The team beat Palermo this month but lost to Parma and Fiorentina. Meanwhile, Tyler Burrows’s Udinese have embedded themselves in the Toup Four with an unbeaten month. But Udinese fans oughtn’t get too excited: two of the games ended level. A great 3-0 win over an underperforming Juventus and a 5-0 victory over Parma were the two higlights. Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina, like Udinese, won two and drew two. Palermo resisted in Sicily, Parma resisted in Florence, but neither Mantova nor Reggina could offer resistance at their own grounds.

In England, Liam Ferguson’s Man City are continuing their quest to restore themselves to glory, ascending two places to 7th after a decent November. Everton were beaten 4-1 and West Brom 3-1, but a crunch game at Stamford Bridge saw Pim Verbeek’s Chelsea win 2-1, aiding the Pensioners in the pursuit of fourth-placed Tottenham. In other English news, Tom Smith’s Arsenal have regained the top of the Premier League with wins over Fulham, Aston Villa and Leicester. The FA Cup 3rd Round draw was also announced this month: Arsenal will be hosting fellow Londoners Charlton, Tottenham will travel to Peterborough and Man City will host Sheffield United. The Gunners also dumped Blackburn out of the Carling Cup in the Fourth Round, but look likely to be dumped out themselves when they travel to Anfield for the Quarter Final.

The playoffs took place this month, and the qualification for Euro 2016 is complete. Both England and Scotland qualified in first position in their groups, holding off Belgium and holders Portugal respectively. The Republic of Ireland suffered 0-1 home defeats to both the Netherlands and, of all countries, Malta, and suffered a 0-6 thrashing in Serbia, which alone is enough to justify the Serbs’ second-placed finish ahead of them. Northern Ireland resisted the Greeks and claimed second place in their group, behind Spain, and Saul Goode’s Wales finished above both Hungary and Turkey to qualify for the playoffs too, with Ukraine being Group J’s automatic representative. In the playoffs, Wales would face Ireland’s conquerors Serbia, and Northern Ireland would face Switzerland, who recently appointed a new manager.

In the first leg, the Welsh managed a narrow 2-1 victory over Serbia, thanks to goals from Ched Evans and Neal Eardley. The Swiss beat Northern Ireland 2-0 in the Alps, and while the result was disappointing, qualification was still achievable. The Czech Republic missed their chance to damage Portugal, hosting the holders and drawing 1-1, while the advantage swung to Denmark and Belgium, who drew 0-0 in Russia and 2-2 in Sweden respectively. However, both of those two lost when all was considered: they both lost 0-1 at home. Portugal got the desired result – a 3-1 victory – to send them to Italy instead of the Czech Republic, and, unfortunately for Wales, Serbia thrashed Saul Goode’s side 4-0, two thirds as badly as they did to Ireland. Serbia is to Wales as Northern Ireland is to Switzerland: Nigel Worthington’s side beat the Swiss 4-0 at Windsor Park to become the third home nation represented in the tournament. Jonny Evans and Steven Davis both scored, with Martin Paterson getting a brace. All eyes now turn back to the domestic season, before the tournament kicks off next June.

In Spain, Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid continue to lead La Liga. They hosted both Getafe and second-placed Zaragoza this month, beating them 5-0 and 2-0 respectively. However, they dropped points on an away trip to Gijón. In their Copa del Rey Fourth Round Second Leg match against Alicante, they notched up double figures with a 10-0 victory. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona did much the same as Real this month: two league victories bookending a draw, with a big cup win inbetween. They beat Hércules and Villarreal, 3-0 and 3-1 respectively, but drew with Atlético Madrid, and beat Palencia 8-0 in the cup for a 15-0 aggregate victory. In the next round, Barcelona play second league Alavés and Real will play mid-table Mallorca.

Here’s wishing all the managers a Merry Christmas! Especially Liam Ferguson; he may need one.

Manager of the Update

I’m afraid this goes to Spain once again.

Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

is chosen as my Manager of the Update. Two Champions League wins, two league victories and an 8-0 domination in the Spanish Cup were all his this month. But for a draw with Bordeaux, Lucas Volman would have had it, while Ben Taylor, Tyler Burrows and Tom Smith also deserve a mention.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2702
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2702
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2702
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Very Secure   2702
 [/font][font=Courier New] 5th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2702
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2702
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2702
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - JSalter              James Salter        Reggina     Stable        2702
 [/font][font=Courier New] 9th fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Very Insecure 2702
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[PluckaDuck]

Very Secure, a great month from Udinese's finest and the Greatest Manager Andorra has produced

[canvey!!]

Sorry, I neglected to give you an update yesterday.

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 15 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 15 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 15 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona[/font]

Top Five – Highest Fee Received

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager       Club        Player           Fee[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] PluckaDuck    Tyler Burrows Udinese     Carlos Vela   £27  M
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd [color=green]+1[/color] weeeman27bob  Lord Weeman   Napoli      Stéphane Mbia £20.5M
 [/font][font=Courier New]  - [color=green]+3[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman  Real Madrid Adriano       £20.5M
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th  [color=blue]0[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson Man City    Nigel de Jong £19.5M
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th  [color=blue]0[/color] TaylorB       Ben Taylor    Fiorentina  Tales         £18  M[/font]

[canvey!!]

Update 90

Years: 7, Months: 90, Days: 2733

And then there were eight. Our managers celebrated their 90th month in management this month. Well, most of them did. One manager lost his job, and although it should be fairly obvious who that was, we’ll not mention it ‘til later on.

So, we’ll start in Spain, where we have a new contender for the La Liga title: Atlético Madrid. They’re currently top but level on points with their cross-city rivals, due to those rivals having lost at home to newly-promoted Betis. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona moved up to third, winning all three league games, beating Rapid Wien 7-0 in the Champions League to qualify from their group, and travelling to Mexico to defeat two Mexican teams en route to the Club World Championship: América (MEX) 1-0 and Chivas Guadalajara 3-0.

The Champions League group stages were completed this month, and our two undecided teams were put out of their misery. As above, Barcelona qualified, and Lord Weeman’s Napoli also made their way into the First Knockout Round by winning 3-2 at Benfica. Other notable results were several 4-1 wins: Fenerbahçe at Cork City, Bayern Munich at Zenit, Man City hosting Ajax, Bordeaux at Galatasaray and Inter hosting Rangers. Arsenal beat FC Twente 4-0. The next round sees two of our teams drawn against each other: Napoli play Barcelona. Man City and Arsenal swapped Dutch teams, meaning City will play FC Twente and Arsenal will play Ajax. Real Madrid will play AS Monaco who, along with Bordeaux, are the first French team(s) to reach this stage for four years. Two sets of Europa League games were played this month, with Tottenham beating Brøndby 5-0 and winning 1-0 in Toulouse to proceed with six wins, no draws, no losses, 25 goals scored and no goals conceded. Fiorentina won twice by five-goal margins, winning 6-1 in Jerusalem against Beitar and 5-0 hosting Belenenses. dafuge's Besiktas won both games this month but still missed out due to goal difference. In the First Knockout Round, Fiorentina drew Tottenham’s groupmates Toulouse, while Spurs will face Champions League dropouts Fenerbahçe. Of our other managers in the competition; Bryan McGuinness’s Roma drew Getafe and Phill Ewles’s Olympiakos drew Sporting CP.

Over to Italy now, where Tyler Burrows’s Udinese are keen to chase down first-placed Inter. A 4-1 win over Mantova and a 5-0 one over Reggina, coupled with a draw at Fiorentina, gave them seven points for the month, keeping them in touch. Just one point further back are Lord Weeman’s Napoli, who beat Atalanta 1-0, Mantova 2-0 and Brescia 3-0 this month. The Italian managers also played the Coppa Italia First Round: Mantova become victim to yet another of our sides as they lost 2-4 to Fiorentina, Napoli beat Brescia 3-1, Udinese beat Livorno 3-0, and Reggina lost 1-5 to A.C. Milan. Udinese will face Fiorentina in the next round, while Napoli play Roma. As for Reggina, they became the 52nd side to lose their manager as they sacked James Salter following that game. Mantova then fell victim to the fourth of our sides, as Reggina poached their manager for £675k. That manager, Luigi Del Neri, had just beaten Reggina 2-0 in the league.

Liam Ferguson is still in trouble in England, but he has moved from Very Insecure to Insecure. Positive, morale-boosting wins over Newcastle, Leeds, Sunderland and Portsmouth, all with a good degree of dominance, came interspersed with crucial and demoralising losses to Tottenham and Middlesbrough. The side are 8th, seven places below the media’s pre-season prediction. Despite their win over City, Spurs fell to 5th, losing to Sunderland and drawing with both West Ham and Newcastle. Tom Smith’s Arsenal are top of the league, and hold a seven-point advantage over Martin Bojangles’s Aston Villa. The Gunners tallied up some nice wins this month; 5-0 over Crystal Palace, 3-1 over West Ham and 2-0 over both Man United and Everton, of whom the latter hired Scott Tysoe as their new manager this month. But Arsenal dropped four points hosting Hull and Blackburn, and went out of the Carling Cup 1-2 at Anfield. Liverpool will face Chelsea in the next round while Man United will face surprise package Hull.

2016 has begun; a land of new opportunites. For James Salter, that is certainly true. You know, he’s always wanted to try gardening.

Manager of the Update

December’s award goes to;

Lord Weeman, Napoli

for wriggling out of a tricky situation in order to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League. He also won all three league games this month and sealed progression in the Italian Cup. Haowan Madridstas lifted the Club World Championship for his club for the fourth time, but it was not in the style that one would expect. Just one goal settled their Semi Final tie. Tom Smith gets a mention despite losing in the Carling Cup and dropping some valuable home points, and Tyler Burrows does also for keeping his pursuit of Inter hot.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2733
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2733
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2733
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Very Secure   2733
 [/font][font=Courier New] 5th SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2733
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2733
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2733
 [/font][font=Courier New] 8th fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Insecure      2733
 [/font][font=Courier New] 9th JSalter              James Salter        Reggina                   2710
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[Lower Leagues Rule]

And then there were 8, I was a little surprised to see Salter go & Ferguson survive, but its getting to the point where managers only need a slight slip up now.

[PluckaDuck]

Keeping the pressure, surprised as usually we would have had that average month where we drop back to 6th and ruins our season. Lets hope me can continue just wining every match and keeping the pressure on Inter. Been a brilliant season so far, KUTGW Canvey!!

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 15 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 15 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 15 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 15 Lord Weeman, Napoli[/font]

Top Five – Players Bought (No)

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager       Club        No[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st [color=green]+1[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson Man City    46
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd [color=green]+1[/color] PluckaDuck    Tyler Burrows Udinese     45
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd [color=red]-2[/color] weeeman27bob  Lord Weeman   Napoli      44
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th  [color=blue]0[/color] TaylorB       Ben Taylor    Fiorentina  38
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th NE Romanista1994 Lucas Volman  Real Madrid 32[/font]

[el sid]

Michael Essien left Chelsea?

[canvey!!]

Essien left Chelsea in 2012 - see Update 49.

Update 91

Years: 7, Months: 91, Days: 2764

The year of 2016 is already under way, with January and its associated transfers having been completed. Let’s take a look at how our managers fared in that first month of the new year.

Cool Manager’s Inter are waltzing away with the Scudetto, which is not particularly good new for Lord Weeman’s Napoli. However, Napoli aren’t upholding their half of the bargain, and only won two of four games this month, against Lazio and lacklustre Juventus. Inter now lead the way by eight points. As well as beating Genoa and Bologna, they beat Fiorentina and drew with Udinese this month. In the Coppa Italia, Ben Taylor’s Fiorentina knocked out Udinese by winning 2-1 in extra time. Although they were away from home, a one-man advantage created by Rolando Bianchi’s dismissal right before half time saw Fiorentina snatch victory from 0-1 down. Napoli took a 1-0 lead against Roma, doubling it in first half stoppage time. Roma scored in the second half but the advantage was restored with another stoppage time goal, in the 90+1st minute for a 3-1 win. Napoli face Fiorentina in the Semi Final, while Juventus play A.C. Milan.

In La Liga, Barcelona lead the way by four points. This month, Haowan Madridstas’s side won all five games without conceding a goal. They beat Murcia and Sevilla both 2-0 away, and Elche 3-0 at home. They beat Athletic 6-0 at home, but what was most impressive was the 5-0 win over Real Madrid. 3-0 up before half time, Andrés Iniesta and Gerard Piqué added second half goals to utterly thrash supposedly the best or second-best team in the country. In addition to this, Barca made the Cup Semi Final by beating Alavés 5-1 on aggregate and Hércules 6-1 on aggregate. They will face Valencia while Lucas Volman’s Real Madrid will face Zaragoza after overcoming Mallorca and Getafe. Strangely, despite winning both legs of the tie against Mallorca, the island team beat Real 1-0 in their league match. Volman’s side are now fourth and two points ahead of fifth-placed Valencia. Don’t be surprised if they don’t finish in the Top Four this season.

Just like points mean prizes, January means transfers, and I have a raft of transfers to tell you about. Lord Weeman’s Napoli were very busy, and Liam Ferguson’s Man City made several sales. Weeman bought A.C. Milan’s Marquinhos for £13.25M, incidentally the price Napoli paid Sporting CP for when they signed him the first time, before selling him on to A.C.. Perhaps they got him confused with Barcelona’s Marquinhos, who has been playing particularly well recently. They also bought Vittorio Mattioli, a regen attacking midfielder, from the two teams that co-owned him, A.C. Milan and Parma, paying each of them £5.5M. Nigel de Jong left the club for Palermo for £5.75M, a £4.5M loss, and Andrea Spuntarelli joined Fiorentina for £2.6M, a £900k loss. As for Man City, Ferguson took the opportunity to clear out dead wood. Ashley Young joined Aston Villa for £9.5M, Ibrahim Afellay joined Liverpool for £12M, Steven Davis joined Bayern Munich for £2.7M, and do you remember that Australian striker I raved about? Ferguson sold Matty Barton to Racing for £8M. He also signed Leeds goalkeeper Ben Atkins for £1.3M. Fiorentina sold Henok Goitom to Palermo for £5M.

And now it’s over to England, where we’ll first deal with the FA Cup. Arsenal beat visitors Charlton in the Third Round, 3-0, and then won 3-0 at St Mary’s in the Fourth Round. They’ll be away again in the Fifth Round, against Leicester or Wigan. Tottenham won 3-0 at Peterborough in the Third Round, but lost 1-3 at Old Trafford in the Fourth Round, and Man City beat Sheffield United 3-0 in the Third Round before knocking out a second Steel City team, Sheffield Wednesday, 2-0 away in the next round. They’ll face Hull, who have just replaced Brian Eastick, who fled to Blackburn, with Alan Irvine. In the Premier League, things aren’t going as well for Liam Ferguson’s side. They carved out a nine-point lead over 10th-placed Portsmouth, but given that the media tipped them for the title, 9th place is not good enough. Stoke hired Ferguson this month, but luckily for Liam, it was Darren Ferguson they hired. City had an all right month in January but missed the chance to pick up crucial points at home to Liverpool when they lost 0-2. However, February marks a golden opportunity for the Sky Blues, with ties against Hull, Leicester, Crystal Palace and Blackburn. They’ll want maximum points from those, as the next ties come against Arsenal, Man United, Scott Tysoe’s Everton and Chelsea.

As for the other two teams in England, Leo Dodge’s Tottenham had a half-and-half month, winning two of their league games and losing the other two. They beat Fulham and Leicester but lost to Liverpool and Martin Bojangles’s Aston Villa. Tom Smith’s Arsenal now have an eleven point lead at the top of the Premier League, and this month they won all their games, beating Chelsea 4-1, West Brom 2-1, Leeds 2-0 and Newcastle 2-1. They face fourth-placed Middlesbrough next, whose manager Arnold J. Rimmer just claimed Manager of the Month award for a similar 100% winning record.

So that’s January. Liam Ferguson is obviously in trouble. Can he weather the storm by succeeding in his next few games? There’s only one way to find out…

Manager of the Update

I’m giving this award to;

Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona

for not conceding a league goal this month, winning all five games in style, getting through two rounds of the Spanish Cup, a thumping rivals Real Madrid 5-0. He’s had a great month and is always moving ever closer to seizing another La Liga title. Tom Smith also had a winful month, although not with the massive wins that Barcelona enjoyed, and despite being so insecure in his job, Liam Ferguson gets a mention by selling lots of players, and perhaps his soul, in making a transfer profit.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2764
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2764
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2764
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2764
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2764
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2764
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2764
 [/font][font=Courier New] 8th fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City    Very Insecure 2764
 [/font][font=Courier New] 9th JSalter              James Salter        Reggina                   2710
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[canvey!!]

Manager of the Update – Previous Winners

[font=Courier New]  [b]Update Winner, Club                [/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 08 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 08 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 08 Clark Aitken, Roma
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 08 Clark Aitken, Roma 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 08 Leo Dodge, Tottenham 
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 08 Maurice Jobson, Man United
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 09 Bryan McGuinness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 09 Robert Boyle, Blackburn
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 09 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 09 Neji Hyuuga, Deportivo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 09 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 09 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 09 Wobill Luman, Betis
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 09 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 09 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 09 Lisa Jeffries, Juventus
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 09 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 10 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 10 bermybhoy, Atalanta
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 10 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 10 Will de Mote, A.C. Milan
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 10 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 10 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 10 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 10 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 10 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 10 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 11 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 11 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 11 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 11 Super Lampard, Lecce
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 11 Mark Cator, Aston Villa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 11 Bryan McGuiness, Everton
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 11 Brucie Bonus, West Brom
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 11 Cool Manager, Atlético Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 11 Lawrence Lazewski, Valencia
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 12 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 12 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 12 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 12 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 12 Cardio Vascular, Genoa
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 12 Ricky Nakano, Middlesbrough
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 12 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 12 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 12 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 13 Tim Aubel, Fulham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 13 Ben Cee, Inter
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 13 Jonte Rhodes, Lazio
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 13 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 13 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 13 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 13 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 13 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 13 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 14 Mikey Twigge, Palermo
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 14 Martin Bojangles, Aston Villa (formerly of Hull)
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 14 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 14 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 14 Liam Ferguson, Man City
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 14 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 14 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Feb 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Mar 15 Tom Smith, Arsenal
 [/font][font=Courier New]Apr 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]May 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jun 15 James Salter, Reggina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jul 15 Ben Taylor, Fiorentina
 [/font][font=Courier New]Aug 15 Leo Dodge, Tottenham
 [/font][font=Courier New]Sep 15 Tyler Burrows, Udinese
 [/font][font=Courier New]Oct 15 Lucas Volman, Real Madrid
 [/font][font=Courier New]Nov 15 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona
 [/font][font=Courier New]Dec 15 Lord Weeman, Napoli
 [/font][font=Courier New]Jan 16 Haowan Madridstas, Barcelona[/font]

Top Five – Players Bought (Value)

[font=Courier New]  [b]Pos +- Username      Manager           Club        Value[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]1st  [color=blue]0[/color] fergysafc     Liam Ferguson     Man City    £515M
 [/font][font=Courier New]2nd [color=green]+1[/color] Haowan        Haowan Madridstas Barcelona   £362M
 [/font][font=Courier New]3rd [color=green]+1[/color] Romanista1994 Lucas Volman      Real Madrid £309M
 [/font][font=Courier New]4th [color=green]+1[/color] weeeman27bob  Lord Weeman       Napoli      £267M
 [/font][font=Courier New]5th NE TaylorB       Ben Taylor        Fiorentina  £205M[/font]

Lifespan – 2 to 5 Years

[font=Courier New]  [b] Pos Username             Manager             Club       Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]15th [/font][font=Courier New]hasdgfas             Tim Aubel           Fulham     1705
 [/font][font=Courier New]16th ~Ian~                Bryan McGuinness    Everton    1701
 [/font][font=Courier New]17th rancer890            Ricky Nakano        Middlesbro 1614
 [/font][font=Courier New]18th ssestig              Theo Stigarakis     Catania    1405
 [/font][font=Courier New]19th bermybhoy            bermybhoy           Atalanta   1320
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - IlikeJellybeans      Jellybean Man       Numancia   1320
 [/font][font=Courier New]21st m1234566778          Maz Armley          Racing     1288
 [/font][font=Courier New]22nd el sid               Cool Manager        At. Madrid 1263
 [/font][font=Courier New]23rd spartans5            Lawrence Lazewski   Valencia   1259
 [/font][font=Courier New]24th Greasy Chip Butty    Andy Morton         Sporting   1244
 [/font][font=Courier New]25th Martin_              Martin Bojangles    Hull       1241
 [/font][font=Courier New]26th clrkaitken           Clark Aitken        Roma       1237
 [/font][font=Courier New]27th Waghlon              Lars Tommersen      Villarreal 1230
 [/font][font=Courier New]28th Walcott’s Wonderkids Brucie Bonus        West Brom  1210
 [/font][font=Courier New]29th Almondo              Arnold J. Rimmer    Bolton     1208
 [/font][font=Courier New]30th Neji                 Neji Hyuuga         Deportivo   999
 [/font][font=Courier New]31st Jack Rudd            Lisa Jeffries       Juventus    925
 [/font][font=Courier New]32nd pnefc22              Wobill Luman        Betis       889
 [/font][font=Courier New]33rd AtilasMiserly        Will de Mote        A.C. Milan  882
 [/font][font=Courier New]34th JoeLatics            Joe Gleeson         Espanyol    873
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Blanco               Cristobal Blanco    Recreativo  873
 [/font][font=Courier New]36th ian_1982             Maurice Jobson      Man United  852
 [/font][font=Courier New]37th Ridleys              James Ridley        Siena       843[/font]

Lifespan – 1 to 2 Years

[font=Courier New]  [b] Pos Username             Manager             Club      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]38th conners              Sirus Lannock       Málaga     628
 [/font][font=Courier New]39th MikaelS              Mikael Schøler      Bologna    613
 [/font][font=Courier New]40th Swafe                Saul Goode          Osasuna    551
 [/font][font=Courier New]41st hamilton162          Tom Hamilton        Mallorca   509
 [/font][font=Courier New]42nd kashmirshazad        Shazad Ali          Newcastle  508
 [/font][font=Courier New]43rd DiscoStu94           Da Hoover Man       Sampdoria  501
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - ScottT!              Scott Tysoe         Sunderland 501
 [/font][font=Courier New]45th canvey!!             Fréderico Canvey    Stoke      476[/font]

Lifespan – Less than 1 Year

[font=Courier New]  [b] Pos Username             Manager             Club      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New]46th corinthiano          Mathias Brunckhorst Chievo     327
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Neilio               Neilio              Almería    327
 [/font][font=Courier New]48th Robert_296           Robert Boyle        Blackburn  326
 [/font][font=Courier New]49th brettney1980         Brettney Joven      Wigan      320
 [/font][font=Courier New]50th TigerJoe             Joe Seddon          Getafe     271
 [/font][font=Courier New]51st jack.browne          Jack Browne         Sevilla    250
 [/font][font=Courier New]52nd NepentheZ            Neppo Monster       Cagliari   236
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - dafuge               dafuge              Torino     236
 [/font][font=Courier New]54th KiddingChoc          Zach Machios        Portsmouth 235
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Whoopy D             Whoopy D            West Ham   235
 [/font][font=Courier New]56th d-machine            David Machine       Athletic   229
 [/font][font=Courier New]57th PaulHartman71        Jeremy English      Liverpool  204
 [/font][font=Courier New]58th Chimpos              Phill Ewles         Valladolid
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tadr                 Andre da Conceiçao  Chelsea
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - markcator3006        Mark Cator          Aston Villa[/font]

[canvey!!]

Writer's Notes: Truth be told, I fell a bit in love with writing updates, so developed a bit of a surplus. So here's a free update. Although you wouldn't guess that I was that enthused from the opening paragraph of this update, which I must have written about two or three weeks ago.

Update 92

Years: 7, Months: 92, Days: 2793

I find it increasingly difficult to write an opening paragraph. I don’t want to be mundane and just say ‘Let’s see how the managers did in February’, so I’ll open with a joke. I saw a man on the train the other day, using his Dictaphone. I don’t know why he couldn’t use his finger like everybody else.

We’ll start in England, where Tom Smith’s Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League has been extended to 14 points. They got two wins in February, against Sunderland and Portsmouth, followed by a draw at White Hart Lane. They also knocked Leicester out of the FA Cup in the Fifth Round, and drew 2-2 in the Netherlands to give them a good basis for Champions League progression against Ajax. They’ll face Fulham at home in the FA Cup Sixth Round. Meanwhile, their London rivals, Leo Dodge’s Tottenham, drew most of their games this month. As well as against Arsenal, they drew against Blackburn and Hull, but beat Crystal Palace 4-1 to tally six points for the month. They also knocked Fenerbahçe out of the Europa League with a 3-2 away victory and a 2-0 home one, but their next three games come against Manchester United; in the league and in the Europa League. Fiorentina are also through in Europe, against Toulouse, and will play Bayer Leverkusen.

As for Man City, this was how their month went: they beat visitors Hull 2-0 in their first game, but missed out on vital points in an away trip to Leicester, drawing 1-1. They played Hull again, and knocked the Tigers out of the FA Cup 3-0, setting up a Sixth Round tie with Newcastle, and then travelled to London for a league game with Crystal Palace. James Ridley’s side beat them 4-2 despite a brace from Giuseppe Rossi, and Palace’s first win for 13 games was the last nail in Liam Ferguson’s coffin. Khaldoon Al Mubarak sacked the 42-year-old after 2783 days of service to the club. His replacement, Lawrence Lazewski, won his first league game in style by beating Blackburn 4-0. Lazewski’s former side, Chelsea, won the Carling Cup Final by beating Manchester United 2-1.

And next we go over to our other nation with just two managers, Spain. Haowan Madridstas’s Barcelona still lead the title pursuit, and a 2-0 win at Ben Cee’s Valencia was among the highlights this month. That, alongside another three wins, meant a 100% winning month in the league and the accompanying 12 points. They also won 3-1 at Napoli in the first leg of their Champions League tie, pretty much guaranteeing that Lord Weeman’s side won’t be getting any further. However, they did lose their Copa del Rey Semi Final first leg 0-1 to Valencia. Real Madrid won three of their four games, drawing the fourth, and won 1-0 in Monaco to build a good foundation in their Champions League tie, yet they also lost their first leg in the Spanish Cup, 0-1 to Zaragoza.

Lord Weeman’s Napoli have dropped down to third place in Serie A, due to a 2-4 loss to Tyler Burrows’s Udinese. The month was going swimmingly for Napoli; a 3-3 draw at Fiorentina, a 4-0 win over Reggina, a 4-1 win over Bologna, until that tie with Barcelona and that trip to Udinese. Burrows’s side, who are fifth in the league, two points behind fourth and ten points ahead of sixth, also won games against Modena and Brescia, but succumbed to their own 2-4 loss, against Atalanta.

I’d say that that’s all the sackings you are going to get this season. Still, with just seven managers left, there will be a constant battle for the 60 to One crown!

Manager of the Update

This month’s award goes to;

Tom Smith, Arsenal

for a decent if unspectacular month. There’s not as much you can fit into 29 days, but Smith won three league games, assured FA Cup progression and got a good pedestal for Champions League progression this February. Leo Dodge also had an unbeaten month but with a few too many draws, and Haowan Madridstas’s narrow Spanish Cup defeat meant that Smith takes home this award.

Job Securities

[font=Courier New]  [b]Rank Username             Manager             Club        Security      Days[/b]
 [/font][font=Courier New] 1st Romanista1994        Lucas Volman        Real Madrid Very Secure   2793
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - tomsmith1989         Tom Smith           Arsenal     Very Secure   2793
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - Haowan               Haowan Madridstas   Barcelona   Very Secure   2793
 [/font][font=Courier New] 4th PluckaDuck           Tyler Burrows       Udinese     Stable        2793
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - SCIAG                Leo Dodge           Tottenham   Stable        2793
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - weeeman27bob         Lord Weeman         Napoli      Stable        2793
 [/font][font=Courier New]   - TaylorB              Ben Taylor          Fiorentina  Stable        2793
 [/font][font=Courier New] 8th fergysafc            Liam Ferguson       Man City                  2783
 [/font][font=Courier New] 9th JSalter              James Salter        Reggina                   2710
 [/font][font=Courier New]10th mikeytwigge          Mikey Twigge        Palermo                   2507
 [/font][font=Courier New]11th BenArsenal           Ben Cee             Inter                     2502
 [/font][font=Courier New]12th super_lampard        Super Lampard       Lecce                     2119
 [/font][font=Courier New]13th Cardiovascular       Cardio Vascular     Genoa                     2010
 [/font][font=Courier New]14th Lower Leagues Rule   Jonte Rhodes        Lazio                     1968[/font]

[BenArsenal]

Some joke.

[spartans5]

At Man City now, let's see what I can do with tons of money