2018
One small step for man, one giant leap for St.Etienne
Les Verts hit the ground running
St. Etienne claimed their first victory of the season last night, if quite fortuitously, with an impressive 3-1 home win over Ajax at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, and manager Ted Powell, as well as the whole squad, are brimming with confidence after a steady start to the season, which has shown that, hopefully, they’ll be more than capable of pulling their weight and competing in Division Two, rather than make up the numbers.
Things got off to an incredible start, with Andre-Pierre Gignac firing the hosts in front in the 1st minute, but from then on, Ajax’s quality really came to the fore, with the likes of Stindl, Radu and Wernbloom coming close. Eventually, Inaki Williams rifled home a deserved equaliser after 24 minutes, and at this point, having dropped points from a winning position vs Sampdoria on Thursday, the home fans must have been fearing the worst.
However, their despair was to be short lived, when just two minutes later, the front two combined beautifully yet again, with Haraguchi playing in Gignac, and the Frenchman restoring the hosts lead to smash home his 3rd goal of the season. Just eleven minutes later, the roles were reversed, with Gignac playing in Japanese new signing Haraguchi, and the former Monchengladbach man slotted home to give the hosts some breathing space, whilst providing the catalyst for sheer jubilation and disbelief amongst the home crowd.
The second half was a bit of a backs to the wall job. When looking at the stats, it looked like Ajax dominated the game. They had 16 shots, 11 on target, while ASSE had 9 shots, with 3 hitting the target, and all hitting the back of the net. However, when you look at the game itself, it was actually far from a dominant performance. Each side had 7 pieces of attacking commentary each, with 5 of Ajax’s coming before the half hour mark. So while stats may make it look like we were lucky, we feel it was a good defensive performance, and more to the point, we were absolutely lethal with our finishing. This is what Powell had to say after the match-
’ I’m absolutely delighted. It’s a fantastic result for us. Before the match, when you looked at the two teams there was a big difference in quality. Ajax had the likes of Sokratis in defence, Strootman in midfield, and Williams, Bernadeschi and Fekir going forward. They’re all players we could only dream of having at ASSE. However, we showed tremendous fight, grit and determination to get the win. We’ve got four points so far, and we’re showing signs of improvement game on game at the moment. We’ve shown brilliant determination in every match so far and the team’s only getting stronger and stronger. While it’s still early days, it’s vital to get off to a good start to the season. If we’d lost today, with an away game up next, you don’t want to be heading to Sunderland with only 1 point in 3 matches. If we had that, and then failed to win at the Stadium of Light, that leaves you on 1 or 2 points, 4 games in, and that’d be regarded as a poor start. Confidence would get lower and lower and we’d be really struggling. But we’ve managed to prevent that today and I’m over the moon. Some may say we didn’t deserve to win today but truth is, we couldn’t care less. There’ll be games this season where we play much better than today and still lose. That’s how football works. We created as many, if not more, clear cut chances than Ajax. Nobody scored in the 2nd half, yet we came closest when Amrabat struck the woodwork. Our front two of Gignac and Haraguchi are working wonders right now, and 100% of our goals so far this season have been scored by them. They did well in pre-season and have carried that form on, and long may it continue. ‘
Les Verts visit struggling Sunderland on Thursday, but before that, open their campaign for the World Club Shield with a visit to Division 5 Club Brugge. Partizan and Crystal Palace make up the group, and ASSE are feeling confident of progression, but keen to get off to a good start in Belgium. There’s no doubt St. Etienne are one of the favourites to go down this season, and we are heading into almost every game at the moment with much lower-rated starting XI’s. However, it’s been a very promising start to the season, and Les Verts really are showing that, so far at least, that they’re capable of showing why David beat Goliath in the end.
Villa and Villarreal Hit Four, Bowler Hat-trick
A busy night in the opening round of fixtures in this season’s new look Youth Cup saw 27 matches produce 24 wins, 3 draws, 65 (legitimate) goals, almost as many yellow cards (54), and 7 reds.
Biggest winners were Aston Villa and Villarreal with 4-0 wins each (biggest losers, Roma and Udinese). Sunderland’s Josh Bowler tops the scoring charts following his splendid hat-trick in Kyiv.
Four teams - Sassuolo, Shakhtar, Besiktas and Koln - fielded overage players and recorded 0-3 defeats by default.
Group A
Juventus lost their opening re-run of last season’s Youth Cup Final. The Old Lady fielded 9 of the 11 who lost to Bayern in the first leg of that final, with new signings Arana and Diop appearing to strengthen the tournament favourites. Bayern, meanwhile, lost their captain Henrichs to Arsenal, and Castagne to age (and Atletico).
An even first half saw the sides level at one each. Bayern came out all guns blazing in the second half, and could have easily been three or four one up, by the hour mark. They sat back on their 2-1 lead, and soaked up all Juve’s pressure to hold on to yet another surprise result, leaving the Turin club’s boss Dan Payne scratching his head for answers.
Group B
Great win for Hellas at The Emirates, and Doc remembered to set his team, the headlines in Group B.
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Gregg Robinson reports live from Buenos Aries:
Flamengo take the early lead in the league after an impressive 2-0 win at Independiente. Leverkusen fill second spot with a good 2-1 win at Marseille. And Valencia in third after beating Hoffenheim 1-0 at home.
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Group D
Group E
Magpies supremo Greg Bilboa was understandably over the moon with victory at Liverpool, and especially his young goalkeeper's man of the match performance.
Meanwhile, new City boss Alex McLean seems to be cracking under the pressure:
Group F
Our Group F correspondent Lee Adams updates from The Liberty Stadium:
Youth Cup Group F kicked off last night with 10 goals in 2 matches. Basel and Sunderland got decent away wins at Swansea and Kiev, both 3-2. Anderlecht though sit in pole position and get a 3-0 win after Sassuolo fielded over aged players. Anderlecht were surprise 1-0 winners anyway.
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* Sassuolo played overage team
Group G
Hertha Berlin boss Mark Stewart started the mind games early and conceded defeat before the kick-off of his team's match against Augsburg. Claiming that he 'forgot' he had no eligible central defenders, he said he hoped for anything better than a 3-0 defeat, as that would feel like a victory.
H. Berlin 0-2 Augsburg: Svendsen 18' (assist Medina), Repas 39' (assist Svendsen).
Sander Svendsen MOTM rat. 8.
Tottenham H. 0-1 ACF Fiorentina: Allende 63' (free kick).
Marcelo Allende MOTM rat. 7.
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-->* Shakhtar played overage team
Group H
* Besiktas played overage player (Dompe)
Group I
* Koln played overage player (Hendry)
T100 Return for Little
Much Travelled Little Returns To T100
The return of seasoned manager Norman Little to T100 was announced late on Saturday night when the Italian club Atalanta BC announced the replacement for Gregg Robinson who left for Independiente. This will be another notch on the CV for Little whose tour of T100 has seen spells at West ham(x2), Newcastle, Fenerbache, and West Brom.( conceivable I might have missed out a club).
Little returns after taking a spell away from all things in life to try and sort himself out, without going too deep I've suffered with some mental health problems for a long time in my life and added with a severe gambling addiction it nearly took my life in late September. Thanks to the support of my family and some close friends I'm in a much better place mentally and receiving counselling. More importantly I'm 108 days and counting gamble free. Advice for anyone suffering out there, there is help available if you want it. Talking helps.
Back to the game and I'm approaching Atalanta with a new outlook on the game, no longer going to get irate at the match engine and just enjoy being back amongst the best set up in the game. You lads make it a great game, I've been back on SM about 2/3 weeks and its been a bit stale, this game world makes the rest bearable.
Atalanta have been left in good shape by Gregg, I will be looking to put my own stamp on the team and I need to do some serious researching on players as I've missed most of what is happening in world football of late. As such I won't be selling many players till I've done some studying. Most youth team players are unavailable, although as I'm not in youth cup(I think) they could be available to loan once I decide who could be of use in first team. I've put 4 players on list who I am willing to deal with and can use them together for a player.
Thanks for listening and its great to be back.
Norman
FrankBet Odds Season 7 - Division 4
Here we are with Division 4 odds for Season 7 from FRANKBET
Former Monaco manager Andre is installed as firm favourite to win the league but with a plethora of top managers including Brar, Scallotti, Wheels etc it is going to be incredibly hard to pick a winner from this division.
Linder has improved season on season but FrankBet feel the new boys in the division will be too much for the likes of him and Wheels who could once again become "also rans".
FrankBet predict other relegated sides like Marseille and Villa should comfortably finish mid-table, likewise for Earle's Espanyol.
Relegation specialist, Gerrit is odds on for another relegation as is Ben Clifford.
| Hellas Verona | 1/10 |
| RSC Anderlecht | 1/2 |
| Standard Liège | 3/1 |
| Olympiacos | 6/1 |
| São Paulo FC | 7/1 |
| Crystal Palace | 10/1 |
| AS Monaco | 10/1 |
| Olympique Marseille | 14/1 |
| Atalanta BC | 14/1 |
| RCD Espanyol | 16/1 |
| Aston Villa | 20/1 |
| Beşiktaş JK | 20/1 |
| Torino | 22/1 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 22/1 |
| Levante UD | 25/1 |
| FK Partizan | 25/1 |
| Stoke City | 33/1 |
| Dynamo Moskva | 50/1 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 66/1 |
| Girondins Bordeaux | 100/1 |
FrankBet Odds Season 7 - Division 5
Well it is time for the odds for Season 7 - lets start today with Division 5 with our specialist sponsors - FRANKBET
No one will be surprised to find Mister Malcolm’s Celta Vigo as the favourites for the title, after a strong season last time around and despite rumours linking him with a move away Warren Livesey finds himself as 2nd favourite.
West Ham (Aldridge) and Basel (Matt “Chopper”) should both be in the mix with the former of the pair having undertook a rebuilding job at the end of last season.
Other teams who should do well are Twente, under their long-serving manager Bal Gil and will season 7 see Ignazio (Udinese) show his managerial talent - FrankBet think not so with them out at 20/1.
Davy, PMW and Nuno according to FrankBet should all struggle.
| Celta Vigo | 2/1 |
| Werder Bremen | 5/1 |
| West Ham United | 6/1 |
| FC Basel | 6/1 |
| FC Twente | 7/1 |
| River Plate | 9/1 |
| Málaga CF | 10/1 |
| Feyenoord | 12/1 |
| Montpellier HSC | 16/1 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 16/1 |
| Udinese Calcio | 20/1 |
| Independiente | 20/1 |
| FC Augsburg | 20/1 |
| Flamengo | 22/1 |
| Lille OSC | 25/1 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 25/1 |
| Santos FC | 25/1 |
| Club Brugge KV | 33/1 |
| 1. FC Köln | 33/1 |
| Rubin Kazan | 50/1 |
Season 7 Youth Cup Fixtures
Just a quick post to remind anyone who hasn’t seen it on the newsfeed or the blog page.
The fixtures for the Youth Cup Groups Stage are on the main blog pages:
All managers should send out friendly requests for their home games as soon as possible.
The first week of matches is scheduled for Saturday 20 January.
I've used a website called FixtureList.com to generate the fixtures this season. I'm hoping it makes it easier to manage the scheduling of fixtures, as well as recording the results of matches, and updating the tables each week.
One possibly useful feature of the FixtureList.com website for organising your fixtures is that you can see them in different views:
- week by week for the three groups at a time
- all ten weeks for each group (as above on the main blog pages, e.g., Group A)
- all the fixtures for each team (Groups A, B & C - click on any team and you can view all their fixtures)
- For example, here are all Benfica's fixtures
- No games played yet, of course, but here are the tables
You can find all the Groups just by searching for Top 100.
The Depth Of Fear - How New Man City Manager Alex McLean Views The Season Ahead.
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City Boss McLean With Club Legend Shaun Goater Secondly, I'd like to wish new Inter manager Josh the very best of success at my old club. I sincerely hope you succeed in areas where I have failed. Very best wishes to you Josh. It has been some time coming, although not altogether unexpected, when it was announced that I would be leaving Italian giants Internazionale for the club I support, Manchester City. Indeed the optimism and joy I felt at knowing I was taking over informed a last gasp finish for Inter into the play-offs for the 3rd season in a row. I had appraised myself (somewhat) of the squad at City before taking over. When I fully took over and gave a full appraisal my early optimism turned to dread then fear. The fear of relegation and losing hold of the club of my dreams. The main striker was 36. The main winger was 34. The main 'hotshot star' was playing for Arsenal. My second string included 34 yr old Ribery and a bunch of nobodies. I looked at my youth. Komar stood out. Vitinho? Jury's out. Di Mariano? Possibly. Other than that another bunch of nobodies that I would have to wait until February to get rid. This task, this job, although not beyond me, was a long term effort that needed care, love and attention - requirements needed to build this club into a strong force for the future and one that could play to its heritage of attacking football. I love this club. It is the job of my dreams. I am fully confident in my own abilities to turn this club around. But it will not happen overnight in a frenzied burst of transfer activity. It will take a real effort, a balancing act. The players I want to sell the most I have had to keep to remain competitive. The players I've least wanted to sell I have had to sell to bring in depth and hope for the future. A shred of hope was brought buy the sale of lacazette to Monaco. Negotiations which started in September 3rd 1926 were finally concluded almost a century later. In came some REAL talent. Spanish winger Oyarzabel, much in demand across Europe signed. As did Lyon phenom Mariano Diaz and new PSV wonderkid Romero. Brilliant. Next to go was free scoring converted striker Mertens in exchange for PSV star Pereiro and another wonderkid in Juve's Bentancur. Absolutely thrilled. And that's where it ends. Our hopes of bringing in much needed defensive cover in exchange for Gundogan have been cruelly dashed. Likewise with Robben who was shown firm interest before being completely brushed off with a terse rejection. I have had to reject what were decent bids for both in terms of quality, but not in terms of what I needed, and will now hold onto the squad as is, as recruitment efforts have come to a grinding halt. More galling is having to rebuff managers efforts for minor players as I have sought and waited to conclude deals I thought close to fruition, only to see them dashed and with them the deals for said minor players. I look to the season ahead, not with optimism, not with a jolly and carefree attitude, because I cannot. My goal now is simply to avoid relegation before season's end, such that I may transfer out the oldies in search of brighter, younger talent and continue the regeneration of this great club. Fear abounds. |
Espanyol: On the Up!
After finally gaining promotion from Division 5, Espanyol will be looking to push up the leagues and make up for lost time. Last time Earle was in Division 4 he took over an aging, deflated Espanyol squad destined for the drop. Despite a valiant effort from the newly formed squad they were relegated on the final day of the campaign to begin a 4 season stay in the bottom division. However, after losing in the playoff final the previous year, Espanyol clinched their promotion spot in season 6 to return to where it all started, but with a majorly improved squad. This season promises to be one of the most exciting and successful in the clubs history for a number of reasons ranging from the talent in the first team to the number of tournaments to the development of players.
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3 seasons of waiting will finally
pay off: Benjamin Hubner.
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While improving their defence, Espanyol have also managed to bolster their attacking options adding Brazilian duo Alex Teixeira and Goncalves Jonas to their ranks. Teixeira has already shown some promise at the club, helping them to victory in the playoffs, while Jonas is due to arrive just as the season starts. The additions of these two stars seemed to put question marks over the future of Iago Aspas who was heavily linked with a move to Hamburg. Despite this, Aspas remained at the club and is expected to take up a wider role than last year. The 30-year-old has also been named club captain once again.
Jens Toornstra has also arrived at the club after 6 seasons at Feyenoord. The 29-year-old offers added depth in the midfield after the sales of Roberto Pereyra and Joshua Guilavogui. Edin Visca has re-joined after arriving back in Earles debut season. In his two seasons with Espanyol, Visca played 48 games scoring 7 and assisting 13. Earle has said he is delighted to have brought him back and is excited to work with the Bosnian again.
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The man in demand:
Guido Burgstaller
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With the notably stronger squad and improved depth, the chairman has told Earle that promotion is the target yet again. Earle has said he has the same target and that the players are motivated and determined to get back to back promotions. The club also aren't fully done in the transfer market. Several more players are set to arrive in the next few days after previously agreed deals. It is also believed that Espanyol are still on the hunt for on more midfielder.
The improved squad has also lead to the club opting to participate in five club competitions this season. These will include Division 4, Top 100 Cup, Top 100 Shield, World Club Cup and Youth Cup.
With the option to join the youth cup, a vigorous recruiting process began. With just a handful of youth stars, the recruitment team had to bring in almost an entire squad. Earle said he wanted to keep Andriy Lunin and Ezequiel Barco in the team after the duo impressed on their loan spells last season. Earle has been able to bring in three key defenders for the tournament with right back Silvan Hefti and centre back Ertugrul Ersoy both joining from Liverpool. Bogdan Mykhaylychenko also arrived to fill in at left back. The 20-year-old free agent was snapped up on a 3 year deal and Earle has said he has high expectations. Both Stefan Posch and Boubacar Kamara will hope to fill the final defensive spot although it looks more likely that the club will attempt to bring in someone on loan for the tournament. Jerry St. Juste is rumoured to be their number one target and initial reports claim that Southampton are willing to let him join Espanyol on loan if he is still at the club come the start of the tournament.
Espanyol are also one of nine clubs who are attempting to sign centre back Lucas Martinez Quarta from Los Andres. The 21-year-old was put up for sale for bids of around £5.5 million and is now set to pick between teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and many more. The Argentine was previously at Espanyol but left for Internazionale two seasons ago.
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| Taking the number 11 shirt: Andreas Pereira. |
Earles crown jewel of the youth squad is new arrival Andreas Pereira who will act as the central attacking midfielder in the squad. The Brazilian wasn't initially expected to be eligible for the tournament but slipped just inside the brackets by a few hours. Espanyol also picked up Isaac Mbenza from Liverpool who will act as the primary youth striker. One further big youth signing is the exciting Hassane Bande who will join from Hertha Berlin at the end of the month.
So far in their pre-season games Espanyol have faced Lokomotiv Moskva and Wolfsburg. They beat Lokomotiv 1-0 with a goal from Pizzi and earned a respectable draw against the Division 1 Germans. They will now face FC Porto, Sampdoria and Stuttgart before kicking off the season away at Torino. Other big games in the first half of the season include Hellas Verona on the 8th, Standard Liege on the 11th, Anderlecht on the 22nd and Monaco on the 25th all in February.
Whether Espanyol can go on and earn a second successive promotion remains to be seen but currently they look in good shape to challenge for a high finish this season.
The infamous SPOON ARMY in Munich - BANNED TV News report
SAO PAULO VS BOCA JUNIORS DIV 4 PLAY OFF FINAL…..MUNICH CENTRE DESTROYED…..BILLIONS OF EUROS DAMAGE……ARSON…LOOTING…VIOLENCE…….POLICE OUTNUMBERED…….T100 SUPREMO FRANK ‘PATTY’ HIRST KIDNAPPED………………..
This is the live new report brought to you by fearless eporter Python Lee for the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk news organisation in Germany. It was never broadcast due to EU Government fears of copycat actions in European Capitols.
Here it is in full because we deserve to know the truth.
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch
Winshill Green Under 9 - Mid-season report
So back in August I decided to take on a Winshill Under 9’s football team - it wasn’t an easy decision if I am honest - my workload is heavy, and it would mean taking Persephone away from her current team to play for a 2nd team - something which she wasn’t too keen on doing - but pressure from the club mounted, there were too many “new” players who were good enough to be in a side and my love of football saw me capitulate and I said YES - and thus began my official life as a Winshill FC manager.
Here follows - for the sponsors benefit (honest) - a half-time report!
My association with Winshill FC officially goes back to 2010/2011 when my step-son, Alessandro signed for Winshill and played under John Grangier - every season since then 1 or in some cases BOTH of my children have pulled on that famous yellow jersey.
August
So starting a new football team - what would I need - players, kit, balls, skins, ball pump - the list was and is endless! Oh and I needed an assistant.
The players situation was relatively easy - we had Persephone of course and also a number of players who have been training for a good while and a core of a team we definitely had. By the end of August - transfer deadline day being 31st August :) we had our 9 players - some more raw than others, some pretty talented individuals but collectively the raw ingredients for making a great team.
Kit was on order and we’d raised money via Top 100 for our jackets (see photo below) Assistant Steve Watson was appointed on an initial two season contract and our first friendlies played with great success I might add - this managerial lark was quite easy - surely we’d walk the league?
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| Neil Frankland represented sponsors T100 at a pre-season tournament |
September
So September came and league football - well it wasn't as we'd planned as our first game ended in defeat.
v Outwoods Hawks (2-6)
The following week though saw us successfully win (3-2) an awesome comeback by the team which delighted both the fans and managers alike... was this victory the beginning of a great run? - not so we suffered disappointing (1-8) defeat the following week v Newhall Lions.
October
What was going wrong? Beddows sat up most nights questioning his tactical decisions - was it down to him or down to his assistant Watson? They began October in the same way we ended September v Albert Village Harriers (0-5)
But then 3 wins in a row followed.
v Doveridge (4-3)
v Repton (4-2)
v Hilton Harriers Blue (4-0)
November
Could we continue winning? We yes but we had a sight blip early on. Losing (0-2) to Hatton United Red but then we won 3 in a row again.
v Outwoods Kestrels (5-1)
v Doveridge (4-0)
v Melbourne Lions (5-3)
December
Due to the cold weather and postponments we only had 1 game which was ironically against our first opponents Outwoods Hawks - score 1-1 - progress definitely made.
January
We began January with a disappointing 5-1 defeat against AFC Chellaston Hawks.
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| Top 100 and another sponsor, Winshill Parish Council on the jackets - THANK YOU Top100 |
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| Players L-R, Ben, Persephone, Dejaun, Natan, Zuza, Archie, Jakub, Maiciej |
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| Players L-R Persephone, Lucas, Ben, Dejaun, Natan, Archie, Jakub, Zuza |
v Doveridge (13th January 2018)
v Outwoods Hawks (20th January 2018)
v Hatton United Red (27th January 2018)
Player reports
1. Jakub - a solid goalkeeper who also likes to play outfield. His highlight of the season so far without doubt was his hat-trick in 10 minutes that he scored to win us the game v Doveridge.
11. Natan - very good feet - runs with the ball very well and scored some excellent goals this season including the first goal in Winshill Green history. His dad is the assistant and I am sure he will agree with me in saying decision making is his area to work on.
12. Archie - a good little player who has made good improvements as the season has gone on - scored a good goal v Melbourne.
14. Lucas - very intelligent player and very versatile, he has played in goals, in defence, in midfield and up front - I personally think he will develop into a defender ultimately - scored a goal on his Winshill debut earlier this season and was outstanding in our game against Hilton Harriers.
15. Ben - one of our most reliable players, very quiet but his no nonsense approach to defending and his brilliant attitude to absolutely everything is a real credit to him.
16. Zuza - she is brilliant - initially we played her in defence but have latterly moved her to striker. Her work rate is exceptional and she has made great strides in her football development - she has scored 2 great goals as well including a late consolation today.
17. Maciej - a very good footballer - he has scored some great goals this season and drives the team forward from the middle of the park - adept wherever we play him - although need to be more disciplined :)
18. Dejaun - another no nonsense defender who can also play a bit - sometimes tries to do skills though when he is the last man :) - another strong player who was Neil Frankland's (one of the sponsors) choice as Captain when he came down to watch us play earlier this year.
19. Persephone - my daughter - and as a parent manager you always worry if you child will merit their place in the team - I am happy to say ability wise she definitely does - top scorer and most assists across the team so far - moment of the season arguably her first half hat-trick v Repton. Attitude and work rate need to be better though sometimes - its tough managing your kid! lol.
20. Hassan - a recent addition to the team - very good on the ball and he has scored a few goals already - still a lot more to come from him I feel as we know how good he is in training!
