Football Manager 2010 Experiment
Season 2 (10/11) - Half-Season Update
Club News
Surprising news from the Championship, as FC Searl manager Anderson Searl decided to sell the club to a consortium led by Guido Rossi. The exact value of the deal is not known, but the recently relegated Championship club is now valued at £330 million, 4th richest club in the world and £56 million higher valued than the second "biggest" RedCafe club.
Managers
Though Halcyon had had a disappointing second half to the season, finishing second on goal difference in the first season of the RedCafe Premier League wasn't a bad performance at all. Yet, manager Gregorio Manzano was fired, and Halcyon scout Luciano Chiarugi was promoted to Manager. Elsewhere, Luciano Spalletti left Real Sheep for newly promoted GDH, which prompted them to offer a lucrative deal to Victum manager Marco van Basten. Victum responded by hiring another Dutch footballing legend, Ronald Koeman. Emirati FC decided to sack Javier Clemente, and hired Grasshoppers manager Ciriaco Sforza. Gordon Strachan, who had been sacked by FC Searl at the end of the last season and hired by Foot FC, was again sacked, this time replaced by Hristo Stoichkov.
FC Searl manager Hugo Sanchez, who had taken over for Gordon Strachan, was himself sacked and replaced by Oleg Protasov.
Transfers
Unsurprisingly quite a big transfer season. The three biggest transfers in the Premier League were all instances of Premier League clubs buying players from Championship clubs. FC Delhi splashed out £53 million on Emirati FC's Giovani dos Santos and £41 million on Gotham's Juan Manuel Mata, while newly promoted GDH signed Chili's Giuseppe Rossi for £40 million. FC Delhi also signed Aaron Lennon from recently relegated Athletic Shorts for £18.5 million, a player who had been signed last January for £17 million. Elswhere, there were some fairly spectacular buys as Champions Paz United snapped up Banana Co star defender Sergio Ramos for only £13.5 million, and Licking wooed moody striker Robinho from relegated Foot FC for only £10.25 million.
As if that wasn't enough, Foot FC also sold Ashley Cole to Manchester City for a puny £6 million. Crack had better business sense, as they managed to get £35.5 million for Philipp Lahm when they sold him to Milan. Banana Co and Ridgeback were busy during the summer, signing players for £69 million and £87 million respectively. FC Searl decided to go the Foot FC route, and promptly sold Philippe Mexes to Real Madrid for £5.75 million and Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona for £9.75 million, and both clubs decided not to buy any players. Not to be bested, Athletic Shorts sold Gerard Pique to Arsenal for £5.5 million. Elsewhere, Gotham were quite busy, though they only spent £4.5 million, instead signing players such as Robert Pires and Mikael Silvestre on a free transfer. Similarly, The Gate signed Nolberto Solano, Torpedo signed Robert Ayala and Roberto Carlos, Lecton signed Sylvinho and Blackheath signed Wilfred Bouma.
Championship
When Athletic Shorts, FC Searl and Football Club FC got relegated from the Premier League last season, most would have expected them to make a strong showing in the Championship. Or at least
as good a showing. A worse showing? Couldn't happen.
Happened. That is, Athletic didn't do
too badly. Having sold two of their best players, they had signed a few players as well, including the brilliant Jermaine Pennant. At the end of December, they still found themselves only in 10th, though. It could have been worse. FC Searl, who had sold their two best players for a pittance, and the actual club sold off, didn't have a happy first part of the season. Having signed no new players, their best player, by far, was Thomas Hitzlsperger, and he couldn't stop them from sitting second to last, in 16th. Still, it could have been worse. Foot FC, who had also sold off their best players, and who had also neglected to sign any replacements, had scored 5 goals. With 0 points after 18 games, and a goal-difference of -49, the second part of the season would be interesting.
In 15th lay Crack, with 13 points, just 2 points more than FC Searl, and with a much bigger gap up to last season's deadweight, Jubilee. With 21 points, they almost had twice as many points as they finished with last season. Relatively, a success. Above them in 13th sat Emirati FC, who had sold big and bought bigger. The signings hadn't quite paid off yet, but the middle of the table was very close in points. Still, not a very impressive display after finishing just off playoff last season. Last season's Red Cup runners up Victum were in 12th. The near success hadn't gone to their heads, as they had spent only £725k on two players during the summer. Above them sat Torpedo Ubergrad, who had finished somewhat lower last season. After signing one player during the last two windows, they decided to.. well, not splash the cash, considering all the signings were on free transfer. You could say they went for experience over youth, considering the average age of their signings was 36. The 31 year old dragged it down somewhat.
Another team who had so far outperformed last seasons' showing was Barden Ridge Football Club, who had spent massively during the window. Last season's Red Cup winners WL102 sat squarely in the middle of the table in 8th, their two free transfer signings playing... often. In 7th sat the team that had been only twice as good as Jubilee during the last season, when everyone else had been at least three times as good, The Gate. Yet another club who had improved their position so far was Lecton, a club who had gone the same way as Torpedo with their free signings. With an average age of 30, they were definitely going for more
youthful players, though. In 6th, and with a better goal difference than everyone except for the league leaders, were Blackheath. Keeping their players and signing a nice mix of free transfers and mildly expensive players, they were doing well, their definite top performer being Oscar Cardozo.
In 4th, another club with a promising start compared to last season, Chili's, who had sold Rossi for £40 million and spent £52 million on another nice mix of players. In 3rd, and surprisingly still Torres' employers, Gotham City. Despite selling Mata and only signing a bunch of free or cheap players, they were outperforming themselves from last season by quite a bit. In 2nd, and with just two points less than they finished with last season, Banana Co were exploiting their buying-spree for all it was worth. Unsurprisingly, they had conceded the most goals in the top 6, likely because of the £13.5 sale of Sergio Ramos. In 1st sat the club who had been the only among last seasons' top 4 who didn't get promoted, The Walrus Wovers. They had spent handsomely, and it showed.
Premier League
Having just avoided relegation on the last day of the season last year, Dalkey were apparently looking for another thrill. Despite scoring 14 goals in 14 games, they had only managed to draw twice so far, winning none. PFC had finished deceptively close to relegation last season, when in fact they were closer to 4th than 10th, but it seemed as if they decided to go for the real thing this season, with 10 points so far. Above them... ready for it? last season's runners up, Halcyon. Who knows why, but Tevez bagging only 5 goals in 13 matches so far certainly didn't help. In 11th, a club that finished in the middle of the table last season, JEKS. They had a gap of 7 points down to Halcyon, but they were still in the same playoff zone.
Real Sheep had only managed to avoid the drop last season by beating the league leaders away: they might not have to this season. If they could regain their form from the second part of the last season, the 10th position didn't seem so bad. Equal on points with them in 9th were Emirati FC, who couldn't improve on their position last season despite spending £116 million on players this season. Also equal on points were Leca in 8th, who had combined spending £8.5 million and £6.5 million on players such as Tom and Anele, with spending nothing on legends like Mark van Bommel and Charles Itandje.
Last season's 4th, Forest Heath, occupied the #7 spot so far this season. At the turn of the year, both their best performers for the season, Tosic and Pazzini, were out injured. In 6th, and with a fall far from as spectacular as their former title rivals, Paz United were a full 9 points off the top despite cheaply signing such players as Sergio Ramos and Valeri Bojinov. A point off 4th and the last Champions League spot, the exact same situation they ended last season in, Longsight Athletic had bought many players cheaply, among them Michael Owen - who so far had 0 goals in 7 league appearances.
In 4th, and
disappointingly so far failing in their quest to win back-to-back league wins, last season's outstanding Championship champions, Manchester Buccaneers. Spending £80 million on players during the summer, they had not rested on their laurels. In 3rd, and the only team in the top 4 that
wasn't in the Championship last season, Licking had combined big signings like Robinho and Hangeland with piss takes like Fernando Morients for free (who almost equaled Owen, with 0 goals in 6 league games). In 2nd, equal on points with 1st, Waverley found themselves in a position similar to last season. Except then they had been the runners up in the Championship, not the Premier League. Unlike the other promotees, they hadn't spent outrageously, only spending a total of £20.5 million. As the current league leaders, GHD
had spent outrageously. £132 million on players such as Rakitic, Giuseppe Rossi, Diamanti and Srna had obviously paid off.
RedCafe Cup
Quite unlike last year, this seasons Semi Finals only had 1 Championship team in it. That was last seasons' winners, WL102, who had beat fellow Championship teams Gotham (2-0 a.e.t), Torpedo (3-2) and Athletic Shorts (2-1, 89th minute winner). They would face stiffer competition in the Semi Finals, facing either 4th placed Man Buc or 5th placed Long Ath, who had drawn 1-1 and were yet to play the replay. Long Ath had beaten The Wovers (2-1 a.e.t) and Leca (2-0), while Man Buc had beaten Crack (4-3) and The Gate (7-0). The other tie was out of form Premier League team JEKS, vs in form Premier League team Licking. JEKS had beaten Chili's (2-1) and Forest Heath (1-0), with a bye in the first round, while Licking had beat FC Delhi (2-0), Waverley (2-1) and GDH (2-1).
Europe
7 teams represented RedCafe in Europe this season, Paz Utd, Halcyon, Licking and Forest Heath in the Champions League, and Longsight Athletic, Leca and WL102 in the Europa League. Cup-winners WL102's European journey ended quickly, losing to Romanian club FC Vaslui in the Europa League 4th Qualifier. It didn't go much better for Leca, as they were beaten by another Romanian team, Rapid Bucharest, in the 3rd Qualifying round. Alas, Longsight Athletic didn't fare much better, as they themselves were beaten in the 4th Qualifying round by Monaco. That wasn't the end of the RedCafian Europa League adventure, though, as Forest Heath were supremely unlucky to face Arsenal in the Champions League "Best Placed Playoff". They proceeded to finish a solid second in a Europa League group consisting of Fiorentina, Red Star and Real Sporting. They are currently set to face Zenit St. Petersburg in the 1st Knockout Round.
Halcyon might have wished they weren't straight into the CL Group Stages, because they might at least have continued in the Europa League. They almost did anyway, but drawing the last game away to Anderlecht meant they finished 4th in the group. The true RedCafian adventure in Europe was by champions Paz United. In a strong group with Inter, Rangers and Dynamo Kiev, they managed 5 wins and 1 draw, beating Inter at Giuseppe Meazza after 2 late goals (2 of their 3 shots on target). They will face Olympiakos in the First Knockout Round.
Injuries
The current Premier League injury table sees Waverley top with 6 injuries, followed by GDH and PFC with 5 each. Halcyon are at the bottom with 0 injuries. In the Championship, Chili's lead the way with 4 injuries. 4 teams have 3 injuries, while a whole 7 teams only have a single injury. The highest profile injuries are David Villa, Welliton, Rakitic, and Mutu.
Various Stats
Player Stats: CC
Player Stats: PL
Transfer Rumours: CC
Transfer Rumours: PL
Estimated Club Values
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