soccermanager.com

[scotty2hatty]

Second season in a row I've not had a bye in either cup. Oldham in one and Palace in the other, both at home though.

[AndrewT]

Second season in a row I've not had a bye in either cup. Oldham in one and Palace in the other, both at home though.

Big game in the 1st round of the shield - Man Utd v Arsenal.

[dino1980]

As an aside I found a post on the forum last night to do with wages and figured, in the spirit of Blonde I'd pass that knoweldge on.

Basically there are some big wage jumps, the biggest of which that effect most of us is between those players rated 89 and those players rated 90. For instance in SM3 i'm paying Appiah (89) £21,750 per turn, whilst Miniero (90) is getting paid £44,500. Del Piero (93) is 'only' on £46,500. And a 91 rated player will generally be on 45kish too, although i'm paying Sagnol (91) 57k. So if a player gets a rating decrease then offering him a new contract may save you money (it may not as I found with Sagnol). Also signing a 90 rated player is probably unwise as you may as well get someone cheaper (89) or for the same price but better (91-93). For this very reason i decided against signing 90 rated Burdisso in SM3 despite the fact he'd be an automatic choice. This is probably relavent to everyone in SM1 as if you're signing a regular then avoid 90s and if you're looking for a squad player then you may be better off going with an 89 rated player.

In cold hard monetary terms a squad of 22 players all rated 90 would cost you about 37 million in wages over the course of a season, whereas a squad of 22 comprised of 11 players rated 89 and 11 players rated 91 would cost roughly 27 million in wages.

[scotty2hatty]

thanks Nick, very helpful.

I tend to try and make my squad players 87-88 who are likely to increase but i'll definately be staying away from 90s.

Do you think Gattuso might get a decrease in the upcoming Italian ratings?

I bought Cannavaro (96) for very cheap and I expect him to fall in Spanish ratings but the price will still make him a bargain.

[dino1980]

thanks Nick, very helpful.

I tend to try and make my squad players 87-88 who are likely to increase but i'll definately be staying away from 90s.

Do you think Gattuso might get a decrease in the upcoming Italian ratings?

I bought Cannavaro (96) for very cheap and I expect him to fall in Spanish ratings but the price will still make him a bargain.

If he does it'll be because he's been out injured but I think they base the ratings over the period since the last rating update not just the current season so fingers crossed he won't. If he does then i'll just have to hope he gets the point back when they next update, if not i'll swallow the loss safe in the knowlege he's still my joint top player. It'll annoy me slightly though as it was a toss up between him and Lampard (both same price/same rating) with the deciding factors being that Gattuso can play RM where i'm shorter than AM and that I always think defence first due to my formation (see previous post about having three strikers).

[scotty2hatty]

SEASON ONE

The top five finishers in Division 1 looked quite as expected at the start with Chelsea securing the championship after a solid season, followed by Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd and Barcelona. Man Utd and Barcelona were strongly fancied at the start of the season so 4th and 5th place finishes don't represent a good season.
Everton were the best of the rest and infact only lost 5 games all season - joint lowest with Liverpool. They were followed by surprise package Derby who made a tremendous start to the campaign but couldn't sustain their challenge and finally dropped away to a 7th place finish. Despite the poor ending Derby manager "pokerram" must surely be a candidate for manager of the season.
A host of teams including Man City, Fiorentina and Spurs had a a fairly uneventful season being stuck in midtable for the majority of the season with only "ChipRich's" City side really threatening at any stage. Newcastle United had a terrible season and, as is the norm at St James', manager "mondatoo left before the season ended.
The bottom third of the table looked as it should with long hard seasons for relegated R&D, Norwich and Grimsby. Very decent seasons for survivors Aberdeen and Leeds with Charlton and Wigan achieving their goals of safety.

With fewer active managers in Division 2 it was experienced "Steelio" who led his Portsmouth side to glory in a race against Birmingham which went all the way to the last day. "Matt50's"Crystal Palace had an up and down season but it ended on a high with a great victory in the playoff final against Sunderland. Sunderland, Reading, Villa, Fulham and West Ham stayed down to ensure an exciting upcoming season.

"Rookie's" Chelsea side secured the double when they won the Championship Cup and "AndrewT" finally gave Man Utd supporters something to cheer about when his side won the Championship Shield.

Peter Crouch rarely featured for Liverpool but when he did he scored plenty goals and ended the season with a staggering 8.50 average rating over the 20 games he played - the highest in the league. However, most fingers point to Ruud Van Nistelrooy when discussing a player of the year award after he recorded an 8.41 average over 31 games, scoring 14 goals and setting up 19 goals in the process.
There were two stand out players in Division 2 this season - Reading's Julio Cruz (8.71 average) and Palace's Nicolas Anelka (8.68). Anelka most likely narrowly takes the player of the year award for his devastating record of 17 MoM awards in 31 games - certainly an inspired signing for Chelsea.

Man City's Pato and Everton's Klose shared the Division 1 top scorer award with both notching 21 goals in 30 games. They were closely followed by surprise Llorente and Arsenal's Van Persie. Jermain Defoe grabbed the Division 2 award, also scoring 21 goals.

Season 2 sure looks set to be even better with all teams, except Birmingham, actively managed and getting stronger all the time.

[AndrewT]

Man Utd and Barcelona were strongly fancied at the start of the season so 4th and 5th place finishes don't represent a good season.

Thinly veiled 'Man Utd were managed badly this season' post IMO

and "AndrewT" finally gave Man Utd supporters something to cheer about when his side won the Championship Shield.

Thinly veiled 'Man Utd only managed to win a crappy shield and were, thus, managed badly' post IMO

However, most fingers point to Ruud Van Nistelrooy when discussing a player of the year award after he recorded an 8.41 average over 31 games, scoring 14 goals and setting up 19 goals in the process.

Thinly veiled 'Man Utd had the best player yet still were rubbish - I blame the manager' post IMO

[TightEnd]

Interestingly Drogba was named SMFA Player of the season in our league for 12 goals in the last 12 games after I signed him

Odd I thought, if not a plain wrong choice

[Josedinho]

90 rated players have just put me on tilt after todays news.
I've got 4 of them that start for me. Milito (93) is on 10k less than Carew (90).
Even worse news only one of my 90 rated players is worth any thing.

[scotty2hatty]

SEASON 2 ODDS

Division 1

Barcelona  7/4
Man Utd    2/1
Chelsea     5/2
Arsenal     5/1
Liverpool   10/1
Everton     12/1
Man City    25/1
Derby        66/1
Fiorentina   66/1
Blackburn   80/1
Portsmouth 100/1
Spurs         100/1
PSV           150/1
Charlton      250/1
Newcastle   250/1
Wigan        500/1
C.Palace     500/1
Leeds        1000/1
Birmingham 1500/1
Aberdeen   3000/1

Division 2

Aston Villa   4/1
Sunderland  6/1
Reading      14/1
West Ham   16/1
Fulham        33/1
Cardiff         66/1

[scotty2hatty]

Interestingly Drogba was named SMFA Player of the season in our league for 12 goals in the last 12 games after I signed him

Odd I thought, if not a plain wrong choice

Where did u see the player of the season thing?

[scotty2hatty]

90 rated players have just put me on tilt after todays news.
I've got 4 of them that start for me. Milito (93) is on 10k less than Carew (90).
Even worse news only one of my 90 rated players is worth any thing.

no bad beat posts please

[TightEnd]

Interestingly Drogba was named SMFA Player of the season in our league for 12 goals in the last 12 games after I signed him

Odd I thought, if not a plain wrong choice

Where did u see the player of the season thing?

It was on my Club messages. Presumably its in the Set up info somewhere too

[Josedinho]

90 rated players have just put me on tilt after todays news.
I've got 4 of them that start for me. Milito (93) is on 10k less than Carew (90).
Even worse news only one of my 90 rated players is worth any thing.

no bad beat posts please

90 rated players were bad enough now my thinly veiled "i've got Milito" brag post is mistaken for a bad beat post.

[Scottish Dave]

Trying to register, but the only Gold member setups, are named 1 - 37, and they all seem to be public setups

Can't find the Blonde Poker Forum Championship??, or any other area where the private leagues are?