2016
The King and I
Transfers. Specifically Carrick and Chong. We were in for both of them, we got neither. We had deals agreed with both. It was ready to go, and in both cases, some cheeky brown envelopes and a case of McEwans Export has turned their heads. Franks doing again no doubt, and proof once again of the bias against Levante.
As for tonight, Dinamo Kyiv. Dinamo fecking Kyiv. I’ll tell you something about those tasty little chicken based treats. That side have spent all season playing like Stanley Matthews. They play us and all of a sudden we make them look like Bernard Matthews. We only had 10 men as well. Ramis sent off for looking at the ball boy in a stern manner. Absolute joke that, and completely unsurprising.
Took that crown off them though didn’t we eh? I don’t mind Olympiacos winning the league. All them golden oldies, they were bound to piss it anyway. It’ll be our turn to take the crown next season anyway.
Anyway, he starts mouthing off, so I took that sceptre and used it to knock that crown clean off his head. He was balling, saying something about feeling naked without head gear, and that he gets ill if his head gets cold. So he trots off to his boudoir, and comes back with a fedora on. I told him Hewitt, it’s a swanky hat. I know you think you’re a legend, but you look like a twat
Anyhow, after a while, he’s got himself together and starts droning on about how he’s the best ever, how he’s unbeatable, and how he has gone down in the annals of history as the most special one of all. I called him out, went through the evidence, and called him a complete and utter shirt button.
He wasn’t happy obviously, but I was more interested in my Ginsters Cornish Pastie by that stage. It’s a great piece of pie to be fair, especially when it’s been improved with the addition of 3 grams of coke. Hewitt didn’t fancy one of my versions though, said it’d send me to an early grave. I told him I wanted to be buried in a glass coffin. Remains to be seen if that happens though.
Eruption at Wolfsburg: Can-gate Hits Lower Saxony
Instead of arriving to cheering fans - there to witness the arrival of the young German international - the Wolfsburg manager Greg Owen was hounded by press as his car arrived at the stadium.
Meanwhile Emre Can was safely tucked away at the Wolfsburg training ground where he appeared with his new Wolfsburg shirt ahead of his first match for Die Wolfe, which in the suspension absence of centre back Robin Knoche is expected to be this Thursday.
Much of the questioning at the press conference focussed on the issues surrounding the transaction of buying Can, rather than his place in the Wolfsburg squad, or his potential for either Wolfsburg or Germany.
Reporter: "So how do you explain the third-party ownership of Can?"
Owen: "This was not a case of third-party ownership - in fact the SMFA system of transfers does not even allow such a thing. There's no way to give another club money without getting a player in return, so how do you even end up having third-party ownership?"
Reporter: "So how Wolfsburg manage to buy Can from Arsenal, yet sell Kurzawa to Bayern Munich in exchange?"
Owen: "Look - when we negotiated to bring Gotze to Wolfsburg from Bayern, we also agreed in principle to an exchange of Kurzawa for Can in the other direction. This was on the understanding that Can was transferring from Arsenal to the Allianz in mid-October. What Gursiman at Bayern organised with Michael Bowes at Arsenal was that the transaction would be a three-way one, where Can came directly to Wolfsburg and Kurzawa went to Bayern at the same time as the original exchange between Arsenal and Bayern for Thiago occurred. Simple really. Isn't that clear?"
At which juncture, Owen swept from the room for a well-deserved Doppelbock before putting the squad through its training paces.
Reporter: "But doesn't that mean you're breaking the SMFA's transfer rules, by side-stepping the transfer ban period?"
Owen: "Look, yes, maybe it does. But manager's break the SMFA transfer rules every day. For example, managers do 3-for-1 deals where they exchange a third player for one in a cash deal to make it sweeter; or they do a 2-for-1 deal where they exchange one player and then do a separate cash transaction to get around the maximum amount a chairman will pay. And don't tell me Gino at Liverpool has never done one of them. You only have to watch the ITV expose on English club managers to know they all do it."
"And another thing - all these rules are in place because of the way the marketplace works in SM. Cash is worthless, and all managers ever want are other players. If the transfer market worked more like real life, then we wouldn't need the transfer ban or any of these other mechanisms for making deals."
Reporter: "So if everybody's doing it to some degree or another, what was all the fuss about on Tuesday night?"
Owen: "Well my own theory is that a few of the English managers were drowning their sorrows after watching a particularly poor English national team performance, and leaped into print with less consideration than usual."
"Cangate", External Player Ownership - The Need For A Considered Response
Concerned that the current furore over the external ownership of players is in danger of promoting a knee jerk reaction without the issue being fully discussed and thoroughly thought through I write expressing my view that care and a considered approach needs to be taken in implementing any rules to prevent possible abuse of the transfer system whilst retaining some degree of flexibility to managers within the constraints and limitations of the current SM transfer system.
Amongst the many areas of game play which I feel SM is lacking is the very limited ability to construct transfer deals, the options being simply - cash, 1 for 1 or 2 for 1.
As we see from Game Worlds like T100 transfers are an essential part of constructing an active GW where managers interact, the current transfer options are adequate when dealing with external clubs but human managers are more complex and push the boundaries and as such a more sophisticated method for constructing deals is required.
I don’t want to digress further on that so won’t go in to my thoughts and suggestions for how this could be achieved, I’ll keep that powder dry for another day maybe.
The current issue we have in T100 regarding external ownership has arisen through that natural human trait of pushing beyond limiting and often undesirable constraints, which is fine in itself until it conflicts with desirable constraints which is a skeleton that currently rattling in our cupboard.
Before going on further I should define what I see as being external ownership.
In T100 we have a transfer code of honour that any transfer mutually agreed by two managers whether via the SM transfer system, in the News Feed or through Chat or Private Message is a binding agreement, reneging on that deal being seen as a violation of T100 rules. The only exception being when a transfer is accepted in error through the SM system and is cancelled immediately.
This works fine when a simple cash for 1, 1 for 1 or 2 for 1 transfer is agreed, the bid is placed, accepted and the deal is completed, transparent throughout.
The potential for “external ownership” arises when a more complex multi-part deal is negotiated and agreed and when the 2nd or subsequent parts are not acted on immediately after the 1st part has been completed leaving a player or players agreed as part of the overall deal still at their original club.
To those outside the deal they see the ownership of the player being at the club at which they are still at whilst to those party to the deal and under T100’s code of honour they see the ownership being at the deal agreed final destination club, “external ownership”.
Whilst many may argue that there is nothing wrong with this in principal and and that these “2nd Party Ownership” deals go on all the time but as is currently being highlighted they have the potential to create issues or at worst are open to being abused.
Scenario 1
Manager A agrees to exchange Players X & Z for Player Y from Manager B, Player X is currently transfer banned so it agreed that Z will be transferred for cash and X exchanged for Y when the transfer ban is up.
Two days after the transfer of Z Manager B resigns, his former club now have all three players, is that clubs new manager obliged to stand by a deal they did not make and probably nobody but Managers A & B are aware of, if so how can that be enforced?
Manager A is at their squad limit of 50 but is tempted by an offer to exchange their Player Y for Players X & Z from Manager B. The managers agree to Y being exchanged for X whilst Z will stay in Manager B’s squad until a later date but is now “externally owned” by Manager A.
Whilst Manager A has not gone over the 50 squad limit they have in effect a 51 player squad. Is this acceptable within T100 squad cap rules and if not how can this be policed?
The situation gets even murkier when we move into “3rdParty Ownership” where players like Z in Scenario 2 are used in a further transfer without the original transfer ever being completed.
Scenario 3
Manager A would also like to do a deal for Player W from Manager C but has already done 3 transfer deals with them this season, however A knows that C is interested in Player Z.
Managers A & B agree to exchange Players Y & X and that Player Z will be exchanged by Manager B for Player W from Manager C but will in effect be “externally owned” by Manager A, effectively bypassing the 3 transfer limit.
Scenario 4
Manager A has received an offer to exchange their Player Y for Players X & Z from Manager B.
Manager A would also like to do a deal for Player W from Manager C but has nobody currently in his squad that interests Manager C, however A knows that C is interested in Player Z but Manager A wants Player W now and is not prepared to wait until Player Z’s transfer ban is up and risk missing out on a deal.
Managers A & B agree to exchange Players Y & X and that Player Z will be sold by Manager B to Manager C whilst Player W in return is sold by Manager C to Manager A.
Effectively Player Z is transferred twice but serves only one transfer ban.
Whilst these scenarios and others may appear fanciful or far fetched they are all very possible and nobody can say with any degree of certainty that similar actual transfers haven’t already been conducted within T100 due to the total lack of transparency that there is in such deals.
At present there is nothing within T100 that state that these types of transfers are against its rules and as such they are currently legitimate methods of circumventing both SM game rules and also T100 game world rules.
Legitimate or not they undoubtedly stretch the realms of fair play to the limit and possibly beyond by at best avoiding SM restrictions imposed by transfer bans and transfer limits and at worst bypassing T100 rules, all of which should apply equally to all Managers at all times.
I would propose that if the current poll being conducted, which relates solely to 3rd party ownership, falls on the side of it being banned further discussion and debate on external ownership on the whole be entered into to formulate transfer rules which give managers a degree of flexibility beyond the rigid structure imposed by the SM software but in turn close off current loop holes that have the potential to be exploited.
Besiktas Final Review
As me and the players put together the final touches for our last game against Aston villa on Thursday night.i thought id take a little time out to thank the most important people at this club and thats you the fans. you have been incredible all season and the players appreciated the support through the good times and the bad.
overall no matter what happens against Aston villa this week in our attempts to claim a play off place.i believe this season can be called a successful campaign. the players and myself are determined to do our best to achieve a play off place.no matter what we will come back next season more determined than ever to achieve our ultimate goal of winning a trophy for the fans.
rumours this evening seem to suggest that frank hirst has sent his top lawyer to turkey to deliver a new team coach to besiktas with all the mod cons on board. And free tickets to Italy for all players included. sky sports contacted besiktas for there response to these rumors. besiktas said in a statement.
with rumors of bribes being used to influence our teams performance on Thursday night we feel we must respond to these reports.besiktas have not been bribed by frank or anyone at Genoa..And will never be bribed by anyone but with finances so low at this moment in time we are not in a position to turn down gifts from others and so we thanked frank and the Genoa board for our new coach and wish them well on Thursday.we must stress this was a free gift and not a bribe as people are wrongly assuming.
Match Day 38 Preview
T100 Season 3 – Match Day 38 Preview
Judgement Day !!!
Well it’s been a long old race but Thursday sees us down the final straight and across the finish line, but who will be on the podium and who will fall at the last hurdle? Here’s the final run-in run-down to look at the definites and the maybes going into the last game of the season.
Division 1
Champions – Barcelona
SMFA Cup Qualifiers– Barcelona, Bayern, Real
Juve (64pts) currently in 4th will take the final place unless they lose by 9 goals to 5th place Dortmund (61pts) in their last game of the season clash.
However with Real and Bayern having reached the final of this seasons competition it means an additional qualifier will come from the league so 5th will also be guaranteed a place in next seasons tournament.
SMFA Shield Qualifiers – Juve or Dortmund, Liverpool, Arsenal, Napoli and Lazio.
Porto also qualify by virtue of winning this season T100 Shield, there is no qualifier from this seasons Cup which was won by Real.
As such the final qualifying place via the league is between PSG (51pts) and Chelsea (48pts), a draw being good enough for the French team at Porto whilst the Blues must win at home to Liverpool and hope the Parisians draw a blank.
All is not lost for the team who loses out because as the 5thplace will be promoted to the SMFA Cup this means an additional Shield place will also be available via the league.
It doesn’t stop there though as Chelsea and Valencia who are vying for that additional league qualifying place meet in the final of this seasons Shield and as such both will qualify for next seasons tournament.
Confused? So am I and not 100% I have it right and stand to be corrected.
Relegated – Fiorentina and Leverkusen.
The final two drop spots are between Fenerbahce (35pts), Man Utd (35pts) and Schalke (36pts).
If Schalke win at home to Man City, Fenerbahces result at Real and Man Utds at Napoli will be irrelevant, even if the Germans lose by less than 4 goals and the other two draw they will still survive.
If Schalke lose and both Fenerbahce and Man Utd win then goal difference will decide which of them joins the Germans in the drop with the English club having a 1 goal advantage over the Turks going into Thursdays game.
Division 2
Champions – Spurs or Milan?
The script couldn’t have been written any better with a winner takes all title deciding game to finish off the season, Spurs (73pts) visit Milan (73pts), a draw would be enough to see the Londoners crowned by virtue of goals scored as both clubs not only are level on points but on goal difference too.
Promoted – Spurs, Milan and Monchengladbach
Play-Off Qualifiers- Roma
Shakhtar (58pts) need at least a draw at Lyon as do Ajax (58pts) at home to Everton, Zenit (57pts) need a win away to Newcastle to assure their place.
Sevilla (55pts) must see off the visiting Roma and hope that either Shakhtar or Ajax lose and that they can overcome the 5 goal discrepancy in goal difference or failing that that Zenit get no more than a draw.
Spartak (54pts) must win at home to Benfica and rely on Zenit losing and Sevilla failing to win, they must also turn around a 7 goal disadvantage to Zenit.
Relegated – Sporting, Loko, Basel and Boca.
Division 3
Champions – Villa or Genoa?
Villa (69pts) need at least a point from their trip to Besiktas whilst Genoa (66pts) must rely on Villa losing and taking all 3pts away to Cruzeiro.
Promoted – Villa
Whilst Genoa may have title ambitions they have yet to guarantee promotion, realistically they need a draw at Cuzeiro to do so, that or a defeat for Internacional.
For PSV (65pts) only a win away to Palace will assure their promotion.
Internacional (64pts) need a win away to Galatasaray and for either Genoa to lose or PSV to fail to take all 3pts from their game to pip either of them to an automatic spot
Leicester (62pts) must rely on both PSV and Internacional losing whilst they must win at home to Bordeaux for them to make the last promotion spot.
Play-Off Qualifiers– 2 from Genoa, PSV, Internacional and Leicester.
Southampton (58pts) need at least a draw at Monaco or for Besiktas to fail win for them to book their play-off place, similarly for Marseille (57pts) who visit Stoke, a draw would be enough due to their superior goal difference over Besiktas.
Besiktas (55pts) need to beat Villa and hope that either Southampton or Marseille lose in their games.
Relegated – Bordeaux and St Etienne.
To avoid the drop Hoffenheim (40pts) must beat Athletic Club at home and then rely on both Swansea and Monaco losing.
Swansea (42pts) need a victory at home to Udinese and for Monaco to fail to win for them to assure their survival.
For Monaco (43pts), Stoke (44pts) and Udinese (44pts) wins against Southampton, Marseille and Swansea respectively would guarantee Div 3 football next season whilst draws would be enough if either Swansea or Monaco fail to win.
Division 4
Champions – ???
Villarreal (60pts) need to win away to Stuttgart to guarantee the title or rely on Hamburg (59pts) losing at home to Feyenoord. If the Spaniards lose a draw will not be good enough for the Germans unless the defeat is by 8 goals or more.
Sao Paulo (57pts) have a remote chance and whilst they could draw level on points with Villarreal if the they win at home to Dnipro, Villarreal lose and Hamburg fail to win but they would have to overcome a 7 goal deficit in goal difference.
Promoted – Villarreal
A point for Hamburg assures them of Div 3 football next season whilst Sao Paulo need a win to avoid being caught by one of the chasing pack.
Chievo (56pts) need to win away at Koln and for either Hamburg to lose or Sao Paulo to draw.
West Ham (56pts) need to beat Malaga at home and hope Hamburg lose and bith Sao Paulo and Chievo fail to win their games.
Feyenoord (55pts) have to beat Hamburg, rely on Sao Paulo losing and hope that both Chievo and West Ham fail to win their games.
Stuttgart (55pts) need the same results with the addition of Feyenoord failing to win.
Lille (54pts) have an outside chance if they beat Sassuolo at home, Sao Paulo and West Ham lose and Chievo, Feyenoord and Stuttgart all fail to win, if the Frenchmen win by 3 clear goals they would only need the Hammers to draw.
Play-Off Qualifiers
Hamburg are guaranteed at least a play-off spot whilst the current occupants of the places Chievo, West Ham, Feyenoord and Stuttgart all need to win to assure booking their places.
Lille would sneak in if they win and either Chievo or West Ham lose or Feyenoord or Stuttgart fail to win.
Sampdoria (52pts) need to win at Montpellier and for Feyenoord and Stuttgart to lose and for Lille to fail to win.
Hellas (52pts) have to win at Dynamo and hope for the same results with the addition of Sampdoria also failing to take 3pts.
Relegated – Malaga, Dynamo, Torino
Koln (44pts) are down if they lose their home game with Chievo, they stay up if they win and either Dnipro or AZ fail to win, also if River Plate lose and they can overcome a 5 goal deficit in goal difference that mean they survive.
Dnipro (45pts) travel to Sao Paulo needing in reality to match Kolns result or if the Germans draw they cannot afford to lose by more than 3 goals.
AZ (45pts) at home to Atalanta need to match either the result for either Koln or Dnipro result but would also stay up if they lost and Germans manage only a draw due to their goal difference.
River Plate (46pts) travel to Torino needing to match the result of any one of Koln, Dnipro and AZ.
Whilst Atalanta and Montpellier both on (47pts) could be caught the vastly superior goal differences see them safe.
Division 5
Champions – Olympiacos
Promoted – Kyiv and Liege
Play-Off Qualifiers– Flamengo and Brugge
Celtic (56pts) need either a draw at home to Brugge or for Hertha to fail to win.
Santos (54pts) need a win at home to Zagreb or for Hertha, Rubin Kazan to fail to win. If they draw then neither of the challenges must win.
Hertha (53pts) travel to Bremen needing a win and for Santos to lose or draw. Whilst they can catch Celtic if they lose they need to level the 5 goal deficit in goal difference too.
Rubin Kazan (52pts) at home to Partizan also must win and rely on both Santos losing and Hertha failing to win.
Zagreb (52pts) away at Santos need to win and for both Hertha and Rubin Kazan to fail to take 3pts.
Wooden Spoon - Augsburg
Boca Juniors Manager Issues a Statement
Under siege Boca Juniors Manager Sir Kevin Wallace has spoken to the press this morning in advance of the clubs final Division Two match against Sporting on Thursday night.
With relegation confirmed on Sunday, the club and all its best laid plans lie in tatters and the board have already met to discuss the manager’s future which will probably now hinge on nothing short of a win on Thursday.
Manager Wallace refused to answer direct questions from the media, choosing instead to read a prepared statement:
‘It has been a disaster for this club the past few weeks, I take full responsibility, it was my chosen teams that played, my tactics that went wrong, my plan that has failed to bring improvement to the club. Our season started brightly, we were consistently in the top half of the table for most of the opening weeks and the plan the Board and I settled on to bring only Argentinian born players to the club was finalised as soon as we could achieve it. The pride of being the best is at the heart of Boca, the fans expect nothing less and we have failed them…I have failed them. We didn’t add enough quality to what we had, we let better players leave based on nationality, the Board and I accept the fans mixed emotions at this all and understand their need for both a team driven by pride and also the quality of players to match ambition.
The club has now lost its status in Division Two, but I know pride still burns in the fans, I know that 49,000 will turn up on Thursday night and once again expect, and we must deliver for them and prove that this team whilst set for Division Three is capable of making a return back to this league after only one season down…It will be tough, leagues are very competitive but the fans will demand no less and the players and manager must ensure the fans expectations are met.
I want to be a part of that, I know I can turn this around, but I leave my fate in the hands of the Directors and should they choose another path then I accept that because the club comes first and the past few weeks have just not been good enough for me personally and it must be devastating for those whose lives are consumed by this great club.
All I ask is the fans get behind the team on Thursday night, make noise, make La Bombonera as uncomfortable a venue for our opponents and in return myself and the players will try to get a result fitting of this great establishment…after that the Directors will make their decisions.
It is still a massive honour to be manager of Boca Juniors, the club deserves success, and no matter what the days ahead bring I am certain that success will come.’
Vive la LokoResistance!
Time to earn those Rubles!
The end of the season is upon us, and this must be the worst run of Lokomotiv Moscow manager Ashley Holtom(ovicovicovic)'s entire time on SM. The former SM forum supervisor has had enough and has decided to start work with next season in mind.
Manager Ashley Holtom(ovicovicovic).
Despite only being at Lokomotiv for 18 games, Holtom(ovicovicovic) is wielding the axe and sending a significant amount of players where they belong, an OAP home.
Dmitri Tarasov, Manuel Fernandes, Alan Kasaev & Aleksandr Ryazantsev are the first group to be placed on the transfer list immediately after training this morning, with more to come.
Training this morning.
A new era at Lokomotiv couldn't be more needed, this was summed up perfectly in their last fixture vs FC Basel when Lokomotiv subs were warming up at half time & the crowd went crazy as they thought it was an elderly pitch invader!
Lokomotiv sub Dmitri Tarasov.
"We deserve to go down, this is a terrible run but we will bounce back next season and the hope is to secure some stability in division 3 next season" Holtom(ovicovicovic) said at lunch. "We have some good young players with Aleksey Miranchuk very close to the starting XI, a new captain will also be announced as we look to take some positivity into next season".
"THE LOKOMOTIV ULTRA'S WILL SING AGAIN, VIVE LE LOKORESISTANCE"
Before the season concludes there is the small matter of playing CSKA first...
FrankBet - Managers Odds
With two top jobs coming up next Thursday FrankBet runs the odds on some of the favorites for those jobs...
INTER MILAN
Rahul W 2/1
Josh McMillan 5/1
Libaan Hassan 8/1
feargal Hickey 10/1 (FRANKBET are offering 30/1 on Feargal for NEW CUSTOMERS)
Alex McLean 12/1
FIORENTINA
James Foster 5/2
Hussain Saif 5/2
Greg Bilboa 11/1
paddy d 11/1
BORDEAUX
Pat Roper evens
Reg Robinson evens
Barca Kes evens
RJ Alston evens