IT STARTS TONIGHT

It’s brand new and it kicks off tonight. Season 1 of the all new Top 100 league will see 92 European sides plus 8 from South America do battle over 5 Divisions.The idea was reportedly going to be the top 100 European teams but the inclusion of 8 South American sides plus teams such as Stoke City and Crystal Palace made a mockery of the title. In fact a better title would have been ’99 Football Teams and Leicester City.’ Now don’t get me wrong, I am in no way criticising the title of the set up and in fact, the real reason behind the Top 100 name, won’t be revealed later but Frank was obviously under pressure at work and had to think of a title quickly before his next tea break. The title evolved from the first idea which was Haircut 100, to whom he was listening to on his cassette recorder. It wasn’t even an original cassette but a concert he had taped from Radio 1 on a Tuesday night in 1980.
Anyway, enough of the small talk and on to the main topic of this article. Club Brugge were deemed to be no better than a Division 5 side. They are Belgian after all and what good has ever came out of Belgium aside waffles. They are often referred to as a boring country but recently in the football world they have risen in reputation and produced some great footballers such as Eden Hazard and Vincent Kompany as well as players like Benteke and Lukaku. By God, they have even given us decent keepers like Courtois and Mignolet. Their stock is rising and now Brugge have the chance to make their way through the divisions and enhance the Belgian reputation further. To do this they need a top class manager, someone with experience at getting clubs promoted. A manager that when other managers play against him, they immediately set out their stall to try and at least get a point. Unfortunately Brugge had to settle for Gordon ‘Gino’ Kinnear. A very generous manager who liked to make sure other managers picked up points. The fans were underwhelmed. Kinnear hasn’t won a trophy since Stephen Beddows was just a little sperm. He came close not that long ago when he reached the Second round of some Shield but apart from that he has been an also ran.
So what has Kinnear done to make Brugge ready for the new set up. Pretty much fuck all really, citing that the players already at Brugge can keep up his record of reaching the second round of a cup competition and threaten to break into the top half of the league. That’s not really fair to be honest as he has spent £11.6m while bringing in £4.5m from the sale of two 78 rated youths. The biggest spend has been on his lunch closely followed by the acquisition of Argentine defender Guillermo Burdisso at 3.9m plus an ageing defender. There is still 12.8m in the bank but that will stay there until he sees how the first few games shape up. Plunging into the loan market is always an option but that is more likely to be kept for a rainy day. The Brugge fans may be underwhelmed but Kinnear has promised them a brand of football to match their countries reputation. Boring. You can be guaranteed that the majority of games will be 0-0 after half an hour and will always be the last game to produce a goal in that day’s fixtures. The front two of the experienced Tom De Sutter and the relatively young Colombian Jose Izquierdo hardly strikes fear into the opposition defences but that is the way Kinnear likes it. He likes to have players that suit the Division they play in and certainly won’t splash out the biggest majority of his budget on one player. Brugge will not be one of the favourites for promotion but they may surprise a few onlookers with their boring style of play attracting a lot of interest, mainly from trainspotters and basketball fans. The most interesting feature in home games will be whether Kinnear has his wife or his 21yo girlfriend in the stand. The main thing is, we have a new league that is filled by 100 managers and that in itself is a great achievement from Frank and DP91 (I apologise if I have that wrong as I am trying to write this from a very poor short term memory). A lot of work has been put in and the best way we can all repay them is to STAY in the league and not quit after 3 games because you are not winning. Taking part is the proudest thing of all and this can become the greatest league in Soccer Manager if everyone plays their part.

Good luck to everyone and let’s make this the best.