Admin Diary 3

Firstly, an apology from me. I’ve not been as active in the last couple of months as I am normally, or as I intended to be. Most obviously (to me), I stopped doing the Back Page headlines after each matchday. I went away for a week at half-term in October, and just couldn’t get back into it. I’m not sure why, exactly. It was quite a bit of extra work to do, maybe too much. But I think it’s more than that.

A few managers have contacted me privately to apologise for their own lack of activity. And some mentioned that, like me, they have been affected by the horrific events unfolding in Israel and Palestine. So, just to say, it’s ok, I understand. And if anyone has personal issues, or anything else that’s affecting their activity (and you’re worried about getting sacked at the end of the season), let me know.

Tharani joins Admin Team

In other news, I should also have said earlier that Tharani has replaced Beddows on the Admin Team. He’s been doing a great job with the World Club Shield, and I’m hoping he may be willing to take on the World Club Cup as well next season, as Gav is taking a break after the culmination of this season’s competition.

End of season

The season is drawing to an exciting end for many of us fighting for cups, league titles, promotion, playoffs, survival, or to avoid the sack.

Congratulations already to Andrew at Milan on their Top 100 Cup victory last night against hot favourites and two time winners Juventus. Last season, Milan won the Top 100 Shield and the World Club Cup, so are becoming the cup specialists Juve under DP 91 used to be.
Juve’s title push this season has long faded, and their fans will be forgiven for wondering if they were better off winning an occasional cup here and there….

Only Hellas, again, can stop Chelsea it seems. James has turned around his season after a slow start, as has Andre in Verona. On current form, you wouldn’t bet against Porto finishing third, another Andre, and another top team finishing strongly after a poor start.

At the bottom of D1, Southampton and Everton look doomed to return to D2, while West Brom will be favourites to join them, although they have found some good form recently. Leicester are in the quick sand currently, while Manchester City, Valencia and Aston Villa will all be looking over their shoulders over the next few games at least.

In D2, it’s been a tough old battle at the top, with current leaders Espanyol and second placed Sao Paulo pulling away slightly, leaving Levante, Internacional, Liverpool, Celtic, Manchester United and Udinese fighting for the final promotion and playoff places.

It’s squeaky bum time at the bottom, with six points separating Celta Vigo, Hoffenheim, Fenerbahce, Sporting, my Hamburger, Liege and Spurs.

It doesn’t look like anyone can stop Koln (also in the Top 100 Shield Final next week) winning D3, although all of the top 3 are currently in poor form. The chasing pack down to 10th place, are all in great form, so there might still be a surprise or two.

Zenit, undergoing a rebuild, look doomed, while Gladbach, Wolfsburg, Ajax, Sampdoria and Swansea all look to be fighting for the other three relegation places.

Flamengo continue to dominate D4, pursued by Malaga, Augsburg and Stuttgart. There’s a seven point gap between 7th and 8th place, so it already looks like Montpellier, Dnipro and Fiorentina may already be feeling confident of playoff places.

Things look fairly cut and dried at the other end of D4, too, with AZ looking out of it all together, and Feyenoord (another rebuild) looking too far gone at this stage. That said, all the teams from Torino in 12th down are in poor shape from-wise, so if one of Dynamo or Bordeaux can put a run of results together they could still save themselves.

Santos have pegged back PSV at the top of D5, while Brugge, Napoli, Newcastle and Boca will all fancy grabbing the final promotion place. Marseille, Athletic Club, Chievo and Rubin look set to battle it out for the final playoff place.

Shakhtar are rock bottom with Lyon not far above them trying to replicate their real life league position. Basel, Lazio and Besiktas are all hoping to avoid the final sack spot. A poor league season for Independiente in 15th, but they have a Top 100 Shield Final to look forward to next week.

In the World Club Cup and Shield, and the Youth Cup and Shield, we have semi-finals starting this week. Hats off to Glen at Espanyol, who, as well as leading D2, is in the semis of both the WCC and YC (again).

Good luck to all for the run-in!

New rules next season

Finally, a reminder that from the start of next season, we have two new rules coming into play:

• Player Concerns: all players on Level Three (or higher) concerns must be sold immediately to an external club. No bidding by the selling club on the player when he becomes available.
• No loans in the Youth Cup.