Week....14

the season is at long last starting to pick up the pace as we move towards the final third of the season. leagues are taking shaping and those great expectations of early season will now either come into focus or seem like a distant pipe dream. what lies in store for you this week?

Roma making a couple of low profile signings this turn, not much going on at all, just expecting to keep the run going. 4 more wins should secure promotion. Roma have also applied for a new affilate this turn which, if accepted by PHIFA (PH being pronounced an 'F' to make fifa) will see AFC Bournemouth enter the football league in Week 15.

start em on minus 17 and with Darren Anderton on one leg...

cheats. How can you survive without paying your bills...disgraceful.

let me just shut the door to my glass house.


Barnsley away for me this turn. Bit of a reshuffle in midfield again due to enforced absense of Edu. Need to start to pick up a few away wins. won the last 2 at home, and drawn the last 2 away...but it'll be nip & tuck as to whether thats enough for playoffs.

lol!! and we still stayed up last year Rich!!! just shows how bad the lower end of league two is! anyway, where's that stone to throw at your house!!

saying all this though rich...the facts are that since our new owners came in our tax bill owing the inland revenue has gone down from 686,000 to 312,000. of course, reducing the debt still doesnt stop the inland revenue from wanting to wind you up! they're winding me up i tell ya! the club's bad management has filtered down since the harry redknapp years of over spending - when Mel Machin took over, and before he left, the overall debt was over 4 million, its now down to about £1.2m. Of course, re-developing the stadium and selling it has helped a bit but its been a tough few years and i can't remember the last time we had more than 16 players in our squad!

Its been a good season for Newcastle.

Lot's of "in's and out's" and a change of tactics but it has been a good surprise to have turned the season around from a battle against relegation early doors to challenging the big two at the top end of the table. We weren't disgraced in defeat to Plymouth recently either and we are still in the Cup. I'm pleased and i look forward to next season with relish. A tricky tie at local rivals 'Boro this week but I expect a "result" or it's extra training on Sunday!

My feeder club Perugia have grown in stature with some great signings, Romelu Lukaku being the major capture and I look forward to him signing for Chelsea soon! They are in the running for automatic promotion so that will be exciting as we enter the final chapter of the season.

Rich@Leicester wrote:

League 2 2nd place and 7th now seperated I make it by 3 points. its as tight as you like in there.

Rich@Leicester wrote:

Need to start to pick up a few away wins. won the last 2 at home, and drawn the last 2 away...but it'll be nip & tuck as to whether thats enough for playoffs.

it's make your mind up time!!!

Well,this turn will certainly go down as one id like to forget

The result was fantastic,but the continued absence of a turn doesn't help but unfortunately i've also had to learn a very hard lesson and maybe even dropped my biggest schoolboy error to date, shant be granting my team a weeks rest again, no matter how shagged they are.

But as for the big picture, i'm very happy indeed, the team is starting to look quite tidy and although i may have screwed up this and the next couple of turns im quite confident ive still got enough in the locker to reach the playoff.

As i said to Ja my error changes nothing, just instead of having to beat him in the play off final ill just have to knock him out in the semis instead!!!!!!

Fighting talk !!!!!

who is Ja?

should we not shorten 'Jamie' to 'Jay'...with a 'Y'. ?

Jamie...the official word on this please?

no we shouldnt

Ja Rule?

The Ja Dizzle

surely its week 14?

I'm with Rich and Phil here

Definitely week 14 and it definitely needs a y Will

oh yeah. my bad.

Interesting week ahead. Cambiasso makes his debut and will hopefully settle quickly with the other new boys Pepe and Eto'o.

I play Phil away in Europe which will be interesting. My new tactics plus new players bedding in doesn't fill me with any hope but it's a good test against a very good Arsenal team.

On the signings front .......... we'll see.

An unusual turn for me as having doubled my points with Lazio last turn to 2 for the season, I am on the cusp of greatness, however I shall not be around to lead Lazio to the prize of 3 points over 22 games.

I am taking a break from the game for a while and have asked Mark to stand in as caretaker manager, which he has most kindly accepted to do, otherwise I would have simply walked away.

Fingers crossed, a big deal on the horizon this week to strenghthen the spine of Lazio as a swap arrangement in exchange for a duck . As Rob says ''On the signings front we'll see......''

Bohemians should be brining in a a high quality 'new' CF in order that they remain top dog in the Eircom.

Martin@Bohemians wrote:

An unusual turn for me as having doubled my points with Lazio last turn to 2 for the season, I am on the cusp of greatness, however I shall not be around to lead Lazio to the prize of 3 points over 22 games.

I am taking a break from the game for a while and have asked Mark to stand in as caretaker manager, which he has most kindly accepted to do, otherwise I would have simply walked away.

Fingers crossed, a big deal on the horizon this week to strenghthen the spine of Lazio as a swap arrangement in exchange for a duck . As Rob says ''On the signings front we'll see......''

Bohemians should be brining in a a high quality 'new' CF in order that they remain top dog in the Eircom.

Come back soon, Martin

Knew learning spanish would come in useful one day though.

Great signing Rob.

Not much happening for me this week. Charlton have the excitement of 6 'rehires', 3 'enrols' and 1 'list' as the 10 dealings!!

European result will make the envelope worth waiting for though. As well as the cup draw for the quarter finals.


Wondering how many people DIDN'T order the SO for Tottenham this week. Will be fascinating to see what it says, as it could be a red letter day for the game as a whole, if the system works. Hopefully, these clubs will become a lot more competitive.

Thanks to Paul for putting the time in on this improvement, seems the game isn't stuck in the past as some suggested.

Rob@Inter wrote:

Interesting week ahead. Cambiasso makes his debut and will hopefully settle quickly with the other new boys Pepe and Eto'o.

That is a nice spine of a team that should serve well for a few seasons. But Eto'o and Cambiasso whilst being at the top are both 29 and will need replacing in about 4 years, but make hay whilst the sun shines

Great signings Rob!

You have to be in with a shout for the major honours very soon with the squad you have built in a relatively short period at Inter.

Tom@Charlton-Bayern wrote:

Wondering how many people DIDN'T order the SO for Tottenham this week. Will be fascinating to see what it says, as it could be a red letter day for the game as a whole, if the system works. Hopefully, these clubs will become a lot more competitive.

not me. (yet). I had a conversation in the week with rob about all this and I'm interested to see the impact. what will happen surely is all our teams get stronger from destroying them by taking their best players (defoe etc). they might then go out and conquest Nacho Novo from Rangers or some other shite striker as a replacement (they wont be able to get anyone else cos you/we wont sell them) but what these sides will lose is the continuity and team understanding that previously ensured they remained competitve when set upon by the frantic, frail and merry-go-round nature of our own sides. in essence it should mean a demise in the level of quality and i fully expect to see a few drubbings to be received by these "personality managers" as they enter the wacky world of ins and outs and see life thru our lenses.

interesting to see how it develops anyway. maybe paul will do them a favour and default them the "perfectly tuned after many games together". after all when i was due to play Cremonese the week after they signed 14 new players from a rape exercise they had exactly that as their team understanding, which was quite interesting!

Stuart@Roma wrote:

Tom@Charlton-Bayern wrote:

Wondering how many people DIDN'T order the SO for Tottenham this week. Will be fascinating to see what it says, as it could be a red letter day for the game as a whole, if the system works. Hopefully, these clubs will become a lot more competitive.

not me. (yet). I had a conversation in the week with rob about all this and I'm interested to see the impact. what will happen surely is all our teams get stronger from destroying them by taking their best players (defoe etc). they might then go out and conquest Nacho Novo from Rangers or some other shite striker as a replacement (they wont be able to get anyone else cos you/we wont sell them) but what these sides will lose is the continuity and team understanding that previously ensured they remained competitve when set upon by the frantic, frail and merry-go-round nature of our own sides. in essence it should mean a demise in the level of quality and i fully expect to see a few drubbings to be received by these "personality managers" as they enter the wacky world of ins and outs and see life thru our lenses.

interesting to see how it develops anyway. maybe paul will do them a favour and default them the "perfectly tuned after many games together". after all when i was due to play Cremonese the week after they signed 14 new players from a rape exercise they had exactly that as their team understanding, which was quite interesting!

THE GREEN PEN SAYS WIN & the red button says lose. Thats how it works on the abacus.

Not a lot happening for Hull this week, just some staff movement and new contracts for a few youngsters and signing up one of my trialists.
Hopefully 2 more exciting Brazilian youngsters coming to Goias.

As for Sunderland, it's a must win game, despite last weeks result, the match report was encouraging as Sunderland battered top of the league Lincoln away from home, so back at the SOL Im expecting a win.
On the player movement front there should be a couple leaving to add more cash to the coffers.
I've finally managed to make a permanent signing and an excting young forward will be joining the squad this week if all goes to plan, so the attacking options are looking a little better.
Regarding staff, despite the bookies closing the bet on Harry Rednkapp becoming the new Spurs boss, my AM coach (Mr Redknapp) denies he's going anywhere. Where have we heard that before?

Stuart@Roma wrote:

Tom@Charlton-Bayern wrote:

Wondering how many people DIDN'T order the SO for Tottenham this week. Will be fascinating to see what it says, as it could be a red letter day for the game as a whole, if the system works. Hopefully, these clubs will become a lot more competitive.

not me. (yet). I had a conversation in the week with rob about all this and I'm interested to see the impact. what will happen surely is all our teams get stronger from destroying them by taking their best players (defoe etc). they might then go out and conquest Nacho Novo from Rangers or some other shite striker as a replacement (they wont be able to get anyone else cos you/we wont sell them) but what these sides will lose is the continuity and team understanding that previously ensured they remained competitve when set upon by the frantic, frail and merry-go-round nature of our own sides. in essence it should mean a demise in the level of quality and i fully expect to see a few drubbings to be received by these "personality managers" as they enter the wacky world of ins and outs and see life thru our lenses.

interesting to see how it develops anyway. maybe paul will do them a favour and default them the "perfectly tuned after many games together". after all when i was due to play Cremonese the week after they signed 14 new players from a rape exercise they had exactly that as their team understanding, which was quite interesting!

Haven't you just described Harry's transfer strategy at most of the clubs he goes to? As long as each deal has a brown envelope attached he doesn't care.

Not a lot going on at Chelsea,Miroslav Stoch is leaving and no one coming in,Been a bit of a reshuffle going on due to injuries which sees Gael Kakuta start in the league and cup against Villa and Dinamo and a new car park being built

Cremonese im hoping for a win against Genoa to keep a nice little gap from the relegation places on the tranfer front Marco Borriello is leaving and Adriano coming in

Are we expecting a delay for a week this turn, as the deadline will fall on Easter Monday?

Could be.