Written by member: Big B 1970
When I came second in Division 2 last season, the celebrations didn't last long before the realisation hit home of how difficult things would be in the top division for me. Not surprisingly I was very happy with the restructure of the league to 3 divisions, and to go again in Season 50 in a very different looking second tier. I had some success getting some players in on transfer deadline day, even though I couldn't take part in the latter stages of the shenanigans.
I made a couple of big signings in striker Esteban Lepaul and Carney Chukwuemeka, then had a punt on a couple of raffle tickets to win a wage free player for the season. I think I was accidentally sold a ticket meant for aaronc333 as it came up a winner and my pick was Randal Kolo Muani, a top striker that will hopefully get me a decent amount of goals this season. Last season I'd concentrated on building the attacking side of the squad, which was fine for the division I was playing in, but for the coming season I know I'll be playing on the back foot most of the time so added quality was needed in defensive positions. The switch to a less gung-ho formation meant Lepaul was surplus to requirements before he'd even made his debut, so he was swapped for what looks like a quality midfielder in the Austrian maestro Patrick Wimmer. Kevin Diks was brought in from Fiorentina to strengthen the centre of defence, and Oliver Ntcham was swapped in for Holse to be more of a defensive midfielder. With Chemsdine Talbi getting a position change in a recent update, he was no longer had the same impact wide on the right, so was sold to Coventry for a tidy sum of 25m. I'm now sitting on the biggest bank balance in the league, ready to spend on some quality players in the next couple of weeks.
The league season starts with what will be a tough fixture against GortonBlue78, but I can say that about every matchday this season. I don't think I've played him in the league before, but as he was in the top division last season, I'd be happy to grab a point. After that its MarcTheSharc who is one of the returning players. I hope he'll be a bit rusty this early in the season, but thats probably wishful thinking! Matchday 3 puts me up against my recent rival patoninety who will probably want payback for me stopping his unbeaten league record last season. After a bye week, I'm back to play AJS Ryjones who finished lower than me in Div 2 last season, but is capable of beating anyone in this division on a good day. Next comes the other two returning players in this division, Jaminator and StunningDave and its getting hard to see where the points will be coming from! I expect to be well into a relegation battle by the time I play MJG1878 and the season finishes against S8TY whom I play a lot of head to head games against, which is great that i know his playing style very well, but not so good in that he usually gets the better of me. When you look at all the fixtures laid out, you realise how tough this season is going to be. Its a very difficult division to predict, as you'll know if you listened to the recent podcast, so hopefully teams will all be taking points off each other.
Good luck for the new season everyone!