Englischer Fussball Bund - 03/04 (EFB-03/04)

[robdaman77]

Quality Stuff Steve as usual

And thanks pete wicked banner love it

[robdaman77]

NEW SEASON, NEW BEGINNING

After 4 great years at Torquay, it was time for Rob White to search for a new lease of life as his dismal performances with Torquay in the Premiership were not helping the gulls and the best thing White could do was just leave and let a new manager take control of a supposedly highly rated and upcoming team.

Rob White ventured into the unknown and aimed high applying for jobs such as Sheff Wed and Cardiff. But they didnt seem to be interested so Rob White felt like a challenge and stepped into the boots as the new Wimbledon Manager. 22m in debt, wage budget well over and players that even Michael Jackson would take a second look at

After a few games, Wimbledon are doomed to fail unless they un-earth some great young players or make them take some performance enhancening drugs So Rob White resigned once again to his disappointment that The Dons have no ambition to succeed due to the bank debt they carry and the ever excedding wage bill.

So, Rob White started to get desperate in his Treasure Hunt to find a long term job at a club with ambition and a bit of dosh Rob White took some holiday leave to get away from it all and it was down to the job of his personal assistant, he didnt waste no time as he applied for every job going and then up step up the brave people at Bradford City who looked at his CV of taking Torquay from the lowlife of Div2 to the premiership within in 3 years. Bradford could not turn such a Highly Rated manager down

First duties were to keep bradford up with only 6-7 games and 3 points away from the relegation zone Rob White when straight into business by beating the Div 2 leaders 6-0 at home. Rob White was throughly impressed and realised he had a few gems at the club and saw that this club could go places.

Strong home form kept Bradford City in-stead to keeping out of the relegation, but the lacking away form was not a pretty sight but all was good when the last game of the season came and all we needed to do was not to lose 14-0 we done that by grabbing a late winner to win 2-1.

NEW SEASON

Now that Rob White could build on his team it was time to make way for some new stars, ranging from Experienced to in-experienced players. As Rob White went on his hunt to turn Bradford into a promotion chasing team.

Transfers in

Bradford werent the richest teams so many of the reserve and un-wanted first teamers were sold to create come sort of revenue to bring in better quality players.

Jonathan Ashton - 60k - Taken from Torquay has proved himself in the Premiership and surely can do the same thing in Div 2 for Rob White once again.

Craig Fletcher - Free - Released by stevenage, snapped up straight away as this player looks to have potential.

Andius Skerla - Free - No doubt a player who will be the Heartbeat of the team next season, as he was snapped up from Dunfermiline on a free, and we great strenght and technical ability hes sure to be an outstanding player this season.

Souleymane Youla - Free - Suprised at such a good player was interested in joining Ciy and could turn down the chance to sign this Pacey Striker.

Mads Torry - Free - Young lad taken from FC Copenhagen could be a good little player, bought especially for squad backup.

Johnathan Heathcote - Free - Another ex-torquay player, left full back that has plenty of experienced to fill in the left back spot.

Josh Clarke - Free - 24 yr old, Ex-Norwich striker joins City as another highly rated striker joins the ever improving squad.

There were many more a player to come in but mostly players young back-up players, i will give more details soon as we go into hopefully a succesfull pre-seaon.

[Andy H]

Good start Rob so lets see more updates from you throughout the season.

Wonder when Daz will do his update now.

****EFB ANNOUNCEMENT****

Just to let you all know again remember we spoke about this last week. From this week EFB will only be running two nights a week due to a change in my circumstances. So the times of EFB will be as follows:

Monday - 9pm t&t - 9.30pm - Midnight

Thursday - 8pm t&t - 8.30pm - 11.30pm -Midnight

So I will see you all tonight and hopefully we can get to the start of the season and maybe get a few games played.

[robdaman77]

so you will be there at 9pm on mondays then

or are you still trying to get into wimbledon

[chef]

a new clan pic for the clan

[rouchie]

Topp zeitung as ever steve

[rouchie]

After a season long absence, and returning to see Man Utd's Daz Gray holding the Premiership Trophy, The first time another manager has held the trophy after three successive wins for the Hammers! Paul Rouch is back now though, refreshed and ready to go toe to toe with all for the new season, West Ham finished their last season in their lowest ever premiership position since Rouch took control, and failed to qualify for Europe even Serious words with the assistant managers and a long hard look at the squad for the season 2011-2012 meant that some established names headed for the exits, with Addo off to Norwich, Sendoros to Hull, Melchiot was placed on the transfer list . A handful of youth players failing to reach the standard were also released. Incoming were Kasper Schmeichel from QPR for £5 mill to go between the pegs, and Billy Jones from Crewe for £1.3 mill in to bolster the defence, Markegard came in from Celtic for £1.7 mill to add strength to the attacking options. One or two other bids are also on the table and the friend lies are going well as the team respond to the gaffers return to the helm! With 6 CM managers in the premiership now it promises to be a very exciting season ahead!

[Andy H]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by robdaman77:

so you will be there at 9pm on mondays then

or are you still trying to get into wimbledon <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

\o/!!

Well as always I try my best to be there on time but sometimes it just doesn't happen.

[Andy H]

Rams Review - A Revival Of Sorts???

As the end of the season approaches the Rams find themselves on the up. Away from the relegation they actually finished mid table at the end of the season due to some great performances both home and away. Here is a rundown of how the end of the season went....

Everton v Derby - (A) - 6-2

At the end of this game cries of 'Can we play you every week' rang out around the ground as Everton suffered yet another thrashing at the hands of Derby. The architect of this vicotry was Eldar Hadzi who was on top form and bagged four goals in this sensational win. Throughout the game Derby dominated and took plenty of the chances they created. Ryan Russell and Danny Guthrie got the other goals for Derby in a brilliant performance.

Derby v Chelsea - (H) - 0-0

After a brilliant win Derby were in confident mood coming into this game. Although they were up against top class oppostion in Chelsea. In turned out to be a pretty dull game with both sides concentrating on not conceding any goals.

Man City v Derby - (A) - 2-0

Not the greatest of performances from Derby here but for once luck was on their side for a change and they came out on top. They had Cosantzo to thank for a string of top class saves kept City at bay. William Flood opened the scoring with a tap in after a great run and cross from Stuart Downing and Hadzi got back on the goal trail after a game without a goal to seal the win for Derby.

Derby v Tottenham - (H) - 0-2

This was the start of a very bad run for Derby in which they did not score a goal for four games in a row. This was partly due to tiredness as the Derby players had played so much football in the last couple of weeks. It showed in their performance as Tottenham beat them to every 50/50 ball and dominated proceedings. Poor showing from Derby.

Birmingham v Derby - (A) - 0-3

This was perhaps one of the worst performances in the history of Hepburn's managerial career. The players were just not interested in doing the simple things right and they were punished. It was a flattering scoreline for Derby as it could have been much more.

Derby v Newcastle - (H) - 0-1

Lightening does not strike twice as Derby found out in this game. They had the luck in the last game between the two teams. This time it was a different story. Newcastle did come up against stubborn resistance from the Derby defence but they still could not prevent Newcastle coming away with the three points. Jermaine Jenas grabbed the winner but Newcastle were never under any real pressure as they ran out easy winners.

Norwich v Derby - (A) - 1-1

It wasn't pretty but Derby grinded out a 1-1 draw and put an end to the run of defeats. Norwich were the better team but just could find a winner due to some excellent defending for Derby (yes that read excellent defending not usually assoicated with my teams). Hadzi grabbed the important goal for the Rams to put a stop to the defeats.

Derby v West Ham - (H) - 2-3

Pride Park welcomed the Premiership champions minus their manager Pal Rouch who was away on a scouting sorry beer drinking mission abroad. Derby probably will not get a better chance of beating the champions. They had them on the rack for long periods in the first half but could not finish most of the chances. The legendary Simonetta put the Hammers ahead after only eight minutes but Derby fought back and equalised from a corner with a header from Simon Francis. Derby then took control of the game but could not find a way through until the stroke of half time. Landon Donovan scored to put the Rams 2-1 up at half time. The Hammers were not champions for nothing though as they came out second half and tore Derby apart. Goals from Simonetta and then Robinho were enough to give West Ham three points.

Derby v Hull - (H) - 2-0

It was a fixture Hepburn was looking forward to all season. Old club Hull City came to visit Pride Park. It was a full house. Both sides of the gorund chanting Hepburn's name as Hepburn is still held with the upmost respect by the Hull supporters. It was a great day as Hepburn's new team Derby managed to win for the first time in five matches. It was all the sweeter as it was against Hull. The hero was Eldar Hadzi who grabbed a glorious double to seal a great win for Derby. Hepburn was was kicking every ball out there and was delighted with the win. At full time he ran onto the pitch to congratulate his players and looked up to the directors box where Adam Pearson the Hull chairman was sitting. Hepburn in the heat of the moment made various gestures at him which delighted the Hull fans who had stayed behind to watch Hepburn celebrate with his new team. They chanted his name as he went off the pitch and he saluted them as he left. What a day in the managerial career of Andrew Hepburn. One word - FANTASTIC!!!!!

Derby v Blackburn - (H) - 1-0

The Hull game seemed to give Derby a new confidence and it was helped by a huge crowd at Pride Park for the visit of Blackburn. It was an untidy, scrappy affair but Derby came out on top much to the delight of Hepburn. It was Rungratsamee who was the Derby hero as he grabbed a great winner.

Stevenage v Derby - (A) - 2-2

Well all the luck Derby needed came in this game. They were second best in this game as Stevenage minus their manager Stephen Gold tore Derby apart. Derby had two chances the whole game and managed to score them both. Danny Guthrie was the hero for Derby as they somehow managed to pull off a draw.

Derby v Preston - (H) - 1-1

Football is a funny old game at times. At times Derrby have been lucky to escape with a draw or a win. Well it was their turn to be unlucky as they should have beaten a Preston side minus their master Peter Smith who was away on club business. Preston actually took the lead through Adam Arthur but Derby hit back almost immediately through Ryan Wilkie. From then on it was Derby all the way as they created chances but could not put them away.

QPR v Derby - (A) - 5-2

What an absolutely amazing performance from Derby in this game. It was attacking football at it's best. Goals from Wilkie, Guthrie, Hadzi and a double from Rungratsamee gave Derby a superb win. In all honesty it could have been more but it just wasn't to be.

Derby v Man Utd - (H) - 1-1

After the mauling at Old Trafford Derby fans were expecting another mauling off Darren Gray's Diablo Man Utd team. It was a different story this time around as man Utd did have their chances but did not take them like the time. Derby's chances were limited but they managed to convert one of these chances courtesy of Rungratsamee only for man Utd to come roaring back and fifteen minutes later Le Tallec had them level. It was all Man Utd in the second half but Derby missed a glorious opportunity to steal all three points as Donovan missed a one on one opprtunity with the keeper. A great result for Derby if a little lucky.

Arsenal v Derby - (A) - 0-1

Derby's little unbeaten run came to end but it really should not have. They deserved at least a draw out of this very entertaining game. Arsenal started the better of the two sides and opened the scoring through Tommy Walsh. After that however Derby came back into the match and did have a few opportunities to pull level but it just was not to be.

Derby v Aston Villa - (H) - 5-1

What a way to finish the season in style. ok Villa were already relegated but still it was a classy performance for Derby. First half was quite even. Wilkie gave Derby a glorious start after only six minutes with a great goal. Villa equalised after half an hour via Luke Moore. In the second half it was one way traffic as Derby tore Villa apart and with 10 men as well after Simon Francis stupidly got himself sent off just before half time. Second half goals from Hadzi, Guthrie, Donovan and Chambers gave Derby and superb result to end what has been a difficult return to the Premiership for Derby.

The FA Cup Adventure

This came to an abrupt end att he hands of Sunderland. After beating Hepburn's bogey team Oldham thanks to a replay it was time for a trip to the north east to face Sunderland. It was a terrible performance as Derby just could not get going and Sunderland took full advantage of that.

Summary

Quite a good season after an awful start and Derby will be looking to build on this for next season. With new arrivals already secured Everyone involved with the club is hoping for Hepburn's men to build on theri 112th place finish and maybe try to break into the top ten in the coming season.

[ChefRobCreations]

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Transfers

| Date | Person | From | Fee|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 23.6.2011| Pozzi, Nicola | Watford | £1.1M|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 5.7.2011 | Murillo, Víctor | Betis | £375K|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 5.7.2011 | Lescott, Joleon | Wolve | £2.1M|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 6.7.2011 | Yahiaoui, Hamed | Preston | £2M |

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 6.7.2011 | Barbosa, Hélder | Torquay | £1M |

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 6.7.2011 | Núñez, José Luis | R.Madrid | £925K|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 11.7.2011| Gama, Bruno | Braga | £65K |

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 13.7.201 | Cruz, Jorge | América | £1.8M|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 24.7.2011| Osbourne, Isaac | Torquay | £1.2M|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 25.7.2011| Advaldo | Torquay | £2.4M|

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 30.7.2011| Hugo Sánchez Jr. | Pumas | £3M |

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 13.8.2011| van der Meer, Pat | Heerenvee | £3M |

| --------------------------------------------------------- </pre>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

| Date | Person | To | Fee

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 7.6.2011| Bowers, Simon | Free Transfer | Free

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 7.6.2011| Black, Simon | Free Transfer | Free

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 13.6.2011| Hyypiä, Sami | Millwall | £1K

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 13.6.2011| Wright, Stephen | Gravesend | £35K

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 16.6.2011| Cooke, David | Coventry | £525K

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 23.6.2011| Norman, Chris | Cheltenham | £375K

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 1.7.2011| Diouf, El-Hadji | Barcelona | £3.1M

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 4.7.2011| Payne, Danny | Free Transfer | Free

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 19.7.2011| Webster, Colin | Free Transfer | Free

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 19.7.2011| Fowler, Graham | Free Transfer | Free

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 19.7.2011| Mitchell, Tony | Free Transfer | Free

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 19.7.2011| Hutchinson, Kevin | Free Transfer | Free

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 19.7.2011| Hall, Lee | Free Transfer | Free

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 19.7.2011| Turner, David | Free Transfer | Free

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 24.7.2011| Elliott, Marvin | Celtic | £1.8M

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 24.7.2011| Diafutua, Gauthier | Middlesbrough | £10M

| --------------------------------------------------------

| 25.7.2011| Geremi | Aston Villa | £325K

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 25.7.2011| O'Donnell, Stephen | Southampton | £1M

| ---------------------------------------------------------

| 5.8.2011 | Foster, Richard | Hull | £500K

</pre>

That all for now more to follow

[chef]

A new pic for the clan that takes in our german friends

[Andy H]

Looking good Pete.

[Goldy]

The Stevenage Journal : The New Season Begins

Well the manager returned briefly for the early part of Pre-season, to take the honours from the board and the praise of the fans, congrats to my assistant duo of Merson and Stanic who have done an excellent job during my absence. I went on to miss the latter part of Pre-season due to moving house

Anyhow, not a lot happened at the Boro during Pre-season anyway, we were given our best budget to date, but our board have not changed their target in the Premiership and still only want a respectable league position. So lets get to some more interesting stuff!

Transfers

Having looked at the squad, I must admit that firstly, nothing major was required and secondly, I didn’t fancy anything that was available at the moment.

We got one player into the squad and it’s a youth striker, my main focus was the other end, getting rid of some players, especially ones that don’t feature too often.

Coming In

Robbie Young – 15 years old – Striker : We have got some very talented strikers in at the club already, especially young ones, so this really rounds it up, lightening pace and a superb eye for goal, one to watch out for in the future. We beat Preston to his signature.

Using the Exit Door

Lindqvist – The Swede was becoming a nuisance more than anything else, taking home a fortune too, he was a good player but needs an attitude change, he leaves on a bosnam to Pete’s Preston.

Nevins – After my previous assistant gave him a new contract earning him a stupid amount, I honestly couldn’t afford to keep him no more, he leaves for 800k to EFB’s newest manager Rob in charge of Liverpool.

There were some other players who have left on free transfers, but they were the main players to leave and earned too much money!

Reto Wild, should be leaving in February, another player taking home too much, he signed a new contract which really made me happy, the wage bill is slowly going down.

Juliusson stays with Boro! Long serving captain discussed a new contract with the manager, at the age of 32, it was either leave and possibly not get a new club, or take a pay cut and continue service, I’m happy to say that he chose the right option and took a 50% pay cut.

Premiership

So, some pre-season games were played which didn’t go to well for us as we got a few injuries, however, its out the way now! The new Premiership season begins!

Our fixture list, well it doesn’t start well, nor end well. We start with playing fellow EFB manager Andy who brings his side to Broadhall Way, we once more end season playing Man Utd, its fixed I tell ya!

Stevenage 4 - 1 Derby

Andy brought his Rams to graze the Broadhall Way Pitch, or so it seemed! The downfall for us in this game is that 6 first team players are actually injured!

The first goal was controversial, Wild won a header on the halfway line which sailed over the Derby defence and into Semler’s path, he was at least 5 yards offside, but the Ref played on, Semler ran to the edge of the area before sweetly chipping the keeper.

Hidalgo scored the second goal, an excellent through ball into the area by McDonald ended up at Hidalgo’s feet, and he blasted it across goal where the keeper got a touch but couldn’t keep it out.

The second half saw more action, having just threatened to score from a long free kick, the Rams didn’t learn, we then got another free kick just inside the Derby half, a long ball into the area got to McDonald, he was on the penalty spot, lost his marker to leave himself with a free header which he punished them with.

A throwing to Derby deep in our half was the setup to finish the game off, Goitom intercepted the ball just outside our area, he blasted it down the left hand side of the park where Semler ran onto it, he took it almost all the way to the corner flag before crossing it into the area for the on coming Colombian Hitman, he didn’t even let it bounce, when he volleyed it straight into the back of the net.

Derby finally realised that their in a football match! They started to develop a couple of attacks and then got a penalty! Guthrie the man who got the equaliser last season in the last minute of play stepped up to take it, he booted……..straight into Orbit!

Derby recovered though and after some defensive lapses, a ball bounced into the area where young Rams striker James got a shot in and made sure Derby didn’t have to wait as long as last season for their first goal.

Middlesbrough 0 – 2 Stevenage

With a great opening thrashing of Derby, we went onto our first away day of the new season, we travel to the riverside against a side we actually normally do quite well against.

Today nothing changed with a goal in either half and a clean sheet to round things off. The first goal came after a long ball was played by Kenton over the midfield to Semler, after beating his defender and taking the ball out wide, he then decided to take the defender on again before passing it into the area where Hidalgo was left totally unchallenged, once more, the Colombian hitman blasted it home.

The second goal came midway through the second half, a throw in got to Read on the halfway line, he then sprinted his heart out all the way down the left wing, mainly unchallenged as M’boro changed to a 4-3-3, as the defender came across, the crossed it in where Jackson beat his marker and put a power header into the back of the net.

Stevenage 3 – 0 Barnsley

The Tykes in the Prem I hear you say! That’s right, Barnsley are the first promoted side that we face this season, they were runners up in Division 1.

We welcomed them with open arms aswell and will be more than welcome to come to entertain us at Broadhall Way.

The Tykes were shown a complete different class of football and it started off after just 15minutes, a ball played to the Iceman, club captain Juliusson, known for some absolute long range belters, he did it again, almost 40 yards out and smacked a curler of a shot that ended up in the top left corner.

Some neat passing play down the right hand side lead to number two, Kenton played it towards Semler down the right wing, he took the marker out wide with him and then passed it into Vieirinha’s path, he easily got to the six yard box before blasting it home.

Although it was one way traffic, only one more goal came, Vieirinha sprinted down the right wing on the counter attack, he then advanced into the area before crossing it in for the three strikers, Jackson got to it first and once more put a powerful header into the net.

Birmingham 1 – 0 Stevenage

I honestly don’t know what it is about Brum but CM does not like me dominating them and wanting me to thrash them.

Last season, we lost against them at St.Andrews as they got 2 shots on target in the last few minutes of the game after dominating the game and making over 15shots on target.

No surprise then when we got a repeat! Boro dominated so much it should have been at least 6-0 and a cruise, instead, Brum get one shot on target, this came from a Penalty, also very controversial as CM went into one of them modes where it doesn’t seem to want you to score!!

No surprise then that Brum keeper Issakson won the man of the match award, very disappointed as it shouldn’t have been a defeat, far from it. It just happens in CM I guess!

Stevenage 6 – 0 West Ham

Our next EFB manager opposition, but he wasn’t here, as he had left the session early. But a tactic change was in place to counter their tactic. It worked against Man Utd so I had high hopes here too, it did wonders!

It took just 43 seconds for the first goal to be put on the board for the Boro! A looping header on the half way line got to Semler, he played a pass around his marker to Hidalgo, he side stepped the keeper and booted it home.

Then the second half came in seek and destroy mode! Hidalgo won the ball down the left flank, left back Clichy came running out of no where to the edge of the box, he received Hidalgo’s pass and then crossed it to the far post where Kenton our right back was, another player who wasn’t expected to be there, he calmly slotted it home like he was a striker.

The defending by the Hammers was awful, a long ball deep into the West Ham half was won by Jackson, he headed it into the path of Hidalgo who had easily lost his marker before once more side stepping and blasting it home.

Jackson was then rewarded with a goal himself, as the Hammers cleared their lines, the ball ended up to Vieirinha, he quickly passed it to Jackson who broke free to slot it.

The fifth goal came from a corner, our typical routine, Partridge swung it in all the way to the far post, Read was ready and waiting and put a powerful header into the net.

Then it was role reversal, Hidalgo this time turned provided for Jackson, the Colombian won a header and made the ball bounce towards the area, Jackson picked it up and advanced towards goal where he then easily placed it into the bottom left corner.

Summary

So we have suffered one unfortunate defeat but apart from that, its been a pretty good start to the season and we have hardly spent a penny. Our injured players have made a return aswell and will help our good start to the season.

Our home record is blooming at the moment as we’ve gone 24 home league games unbeaten now and its certainly something that we can pride ourselves with, especially with the competition that’s in this league.

Still looking for something special in the transfer market, but we are doing really well at the moment and it would have to take something really special to add to the current team, so the search of youth talent will probably continue to be added to the club.

[ChefRobCreations]

Results so far

at home Crewe 0-0 Nothing really happened in this match new players settling in.

Away Southampton 2-4 Pozzi and Van der Meer with goals in the league cup first round game but Div2 Southampton move on in the competition.

Away Halifax 3-1 finally something good happens Pozzi and Van der Meer 2 with the goals in this encounter.

Home Torquay 0-1 nothing from Liverpool in this game.

Away Millwall 3-2 goals from Babel,Van de Meer and Freeman secure 3 points.

Home Oldham 0-2 another poor showing from Liverpool and the manager is starting to wonder if he shouldve gone elsewhere.

Away Bristol City 1-2 Babel with the only goal from pool this time round.

Home Brentford 5-1 Castro 2,Van de Meer,Babel and Advaldo scoring in this fantasic match are things turning for pool ?

Away Coventry 1-4 Babel with the only effort for Pool again another poor performance from my players.

Home Kettering 0-0 Liverpool should have won this one but they had a goal dissallowed on half time.

Away Wycombe 2-0 Advaldo grabbed 2 good goals in this one.

Home Q.P.R. 0-1 nothing good out of this one at all.

Away Aston Villa 1-1 Advaldo scoring from 30yrds out to earn a point.

Home Cardiff 2-0 Gama on his debut opened the scoring before Advaldo added the second.

Away Wolves 0-2 no one at Liverpool is safe from the chop as Perry looks for solutions to his teams winning problem.

Top Scorers so far

Advaldo 5

Van de Meer 5

Babel 4

Diego Castro 2

Well things keep going from bad to worse at Liverpool 11th in Div1 is just not good enough for these once giants in the Premiership Stay Tuned To See What Happens Next!!

[chef]

The New Season

After coming back off my holidays I have found that the backroom staff had done a sturdy job of keeping us in the Premiership. Looking back at the season, we had come to the conclusion that we needed to add a bit more strength to the squad we have.

With the wage bill under wraps we decided to go and get some players that we could get on a free transfer and offer a bit more to them in wages but still watching that we were not held to ransom.

Transfers In

· Joey Barton….Birmingham….Free

· Sarr….Norwich…..Free

· Alexander Lindqvist…Stevenage…Free

· Demetrius Williams…Reggina…Free

So with this little bunch of players coming in there was room for a few players to go out the exit door and the biggest name to go was Yahiaoui who went to Robs team Liverpool for £2 million. We have a few more players on there way out and most of these went on free transfers.

Pre-Season

With the squad going away for a few weeks to build their strength and team bonding up they were given a few games to get them into the grove for the new season.

We had a mix bag of results and I decided to get a few more coaches to join us and build up the training programme.

The Season’s underway….

Our first game for the new season see’s us away at Spurs. Now this was going to be a hard game to start the season off but I have confidence in the team that we should get something out of the game.

The Premier league

20 Aug 11 Spurs (a)

A hard test for us we went behind to an early goal and then let in another quick goal to see us 2-0 down and so soon into the game. We did get one back on the stroke of ½ time.

We came out with nothing to fear as I told my lads just to go out there and play and enjoy what your doing. Another quick goal for us had seen us get onto level terms and 2 more goals had put us into the driving seat after what had been a bad first half for us.

We held out after a mad 10 mins where my defence had looked like a bomb had gone of in the centre of them every time spurs attacked.

End Result… PNE...Win 4-3

Scorers Williams 45th, 49th, Arthur 52nd, Laurie 56th.

MoM Arthur...PNE 9/10

Attendance 31,884

The Premier league

25 Aug 11 Sunderland (h)

We get of to a flyer with a goal after just 40 seconds and then getting a second 15 minutes later. We have the game in our hands as a goal each side of the half puts us into an unstoppable position. And to rub salt into Sunderlands wounds we get a 5th to leave the crowd and board happy.

2 games played and 2 wins puts us in the top 6 of the league.

End Result… PNE...Win 5-0

Scorers Arthur 1st,38th,58th. Williams 16th,Moran 49th.

MoM Arthur...PNE 10/10

Attendance 22,573

The Premier league

27 Aug 11 Newcastle (a)

A team that had been one of the top teams in the premier for a few years have the pleasure of our company today.

To our surprise we take an early lead and if it was not for some blinding saves by Howard we could have been further infront. The joy did not last as a good team always finds their form and come back and that’s what Newcastle did.

We end the match all square and to be honest it seemed a fair result.

End Result… PNE...Draw 1-1

Scorers Arthur 14th.

MoM Howard...Newcastle 9/10

Attendance 46,805

The Premier league

5 Sept 11 Man City (h)

This has to be the best result so far for my team. The work on the training ground seems to be paying of as we had 14 shots at goal with 12 on target and 8 of them going into the back of the net.

This was the Arthur show out on the park today and I could not fault the team in anyway today. Our next game would be against the Reds of Manchester and the team that were top of the league. Gulp! Yet another hard game, when will I get the easy teams in the league.

End Result… PNE...Win 8-1

Scorers Williams 3rd, Arthur 11th, 17th,45th,54th,59th, Gibbons 51st, Moran 57th.

MoM Arthur...PNE 10/10

Attendance 28,634

The Premier league

17 Sept 11 Man United (a)

We had taken a shock lead but could not hold on to it as we were out played in some parts of the pitch and wilted under the pressure that was put on us.

The game changed on its it head when we had Gibbons sent off for 2 bookable offences in the 63rd minute. We had our backs to the wall and were looking good for a 1-1 draw when their was a penalty awarded for the home team in the last dying minutes of the game. It was duly scored and we had no time to get back into the game

End Result… PNE...Lose 2-1

Scorers Arthur 14th.

MoM Adebayor...UTD 8/10

Attendance 59,534

next games to follow later

[chef]

wont be able to make thursdays game as im out with the family.

[Goldy]

The Stevenage Journal : The Season Continues……

Welcome back fans of Stevenage, fans of the Boro! Well, lets see how the lads at Broadhall Way have been getting on this season in the Premiership, and lets not forget, how Stevenage are getting on in their debut season in the Champions League!

Premiership

Once more, a very dodgy game in this season which was against WBA, somehow we appeared to have lost the ability to defend, players just suddenly did their own thing instead of what they been instructed to do, ah well, it’s a game, it happens I guess! Anyway, here’s how we got on……(in no order)

WBA 4 – 1 Stevenage

As said, an absolute crazy game in which I honestly cant believe it was such a big scoreline, biggest defeat for 2 seasons now I think actually, so I guess it was about time. My defence just didn’t seem to want to defend, they pushed up the park too much despite not even instructed to do so, it seemed they had completely lost themselves. We matched WBA on statistics, but our strikers just couldn’t score!

Chelsea 3 – 5 Stevenage

Entertainment is the aim of the game, I don’t think so!! As soon as we scored, they got one back really easily, absolutely shocking to say the least! It went all the way to 3-3 before we then finally, scored another goal, absolute delight to me but then my team were starting to gift them chances like they wanted them to score, finally though, the iceman and captain wrapped it all up in style with a thunder bolt, that’ll teach Zidane’s army!

Stevenage 0 – 0 Man City

Citeh started off very brightly but that was not to last very long at all! Constant bombarding at their goal was thought to be a goal, but it was wrong, As CM had played up on me, freezing my screen twice and disconnecting me, I found myself only a passenger, So as CM does, it rolls out a 4-4-2 formation and chooses your ******** squad, they did just that and I got to watch an awful ***** game which I would have won easily.

Stevenage 6 – 1 Arsenal

Well all I can say is that Arsenal need to invest in new players, rapidly! It wasn’t a case of just being the better team, but Arsenal being an absolute dire one, they have over aging players who should have retired years ago, Campbell, Lehmann, both over 39! Henry and Viera also in their mid thirties, they don’t have much money either but spanking the gunners, well it was great and continues our superb home run!

Champions League

So, here we are! We’ve made it, the group stages have been drawn, who do we face in our debut season? Well, drawn in our group is FC Bayern Munchen, Galatassaray and Levski Sofia.

The good news we got, Bayern got tipped as Champions League winners, great start!

Stevenage 3– 0 Galatassaray

So our open CL game is at home infront of the Broadhall Way fans! Hopefully we can do a repeat of our Uefa Cup debut, for this game though, I hope my home form can get us off to a superb start.

Brilliant start it was! A dominating performances over one of Europe’s finest! We get our three points on the board and it helped even more with Bayern getting beat at home by Sofia!

FC Bayer 2 – 4 Stevenage

We travel to Bavaria to face the potential winners, well the bookies have tipped them for it anyway! They did take the lead after another defensive lapse by Robinson, but we kept our heads up and back on track, it was former Bayern youth player Borut Semler who did the damage! The lad scored a hattrick against his former employer and made our journey home a party with another 3poitns!

So our away form is like last season, couple of dodgy results, although they been earlier on in the season than before! But our home form is easily taken us through it. We’ve enjoyed a great start to the Champions League and hopefully this season we can once more get into the Top 4 league positions and also qualify from the group stages too!

[chef]

Premier Games

Here is a run down of the games we have had in the league so far. Some of the results were a bit of a bonus to us and on the whole im am pleased as what has gone on here at Deepdale.

24th Sept 11 WBA (H)

This was a result that I would not have expected as we had put on our best performance of the season so far. With all the goals that were scored today for us only 2 of our players were on the score sheet. Arthur had got 6 of them and Williams had got the other 2.

End Result… PNE...Win 8-2

1st Oct 11 Derby (A)

A game where we were up against a fellow human manager. This was a game that could have gone either way but we had got a lucky break and came out with the points

End Result… PNE...Win 1-0

8th Oct 11 Peterborough (H)

We play another human manager, this time its Edan who has just come up from Division 1 and finding it a bit hard at the moment as he tries to find his feet in the Premier Division we have all been there at one point

A close game that had the look of a draw all about it as both teams found it hard to break each others defences down. We did get the breaks and ended up with all the points.

End Result… PNE...Win 3-1

12th Oct 11 Middlesborough (A)

Now after playing against 2 of the human managers im back to normal and play against the computer. Arthur is knocking the goals in and got another match ball today with a hat trick that had knocked all the stuffing out of Midds.

Yet another win for us and this keeps us in the top 6 of the league.

End Result… PNE...Win 4-2

22nd Oct 11 Hull (H)

A team that on their day could play anybody off the park. But then again the way we are playing we seem to be a match to any team that comes to cross our paths.

We come from behind in the game and get the better of the second half to put 2 more goals in the net to make it yet another win for us.

End Result… PNE...Win 4-2

29th Oct 11 Barnsley (A)

Who would have thought that Barnsley would be in the Premiership after so long in the shadows of the bigger clubs in there. This was a game that could be classed as a banana skin game. We came out of the blocks and went for the kill, within the first 30 minutes we were 2-0 up and looking forward to getting a few more, but due to the skill of the keeper it was kept at 2-0.

End Result… PNE...Win 2-0

5th Nov 11 Norwich (H)

This was where we had a couple of players making the game against their old club and who put in outstanding displays to show their old employers what that are missing. A few years ago Norwich were a team that you did not want to play but now they seem to be on the slide and not the force they used to be.

2 headers decided this game and were worked on, on the training pitch. It was a hard fought game but the fighting spirit in the team had given us the edge over a powerful team that did get the ball into the net only for it to be classed as a no goal for an offside offence

End Result… PNE...Win 2-0

16th Nov 11 Birmingham (A)

Now this is a team that fellow manager Steve does not like to play against, they always seem to pull of a result where they should not of have any right in getting a result.

I can see where Steve is coming from this quote as we had the better play of the game but only got a goal from a lucky break from Moran who was 1 on 1 with the keeper after one of the blues defenders had slipped trying to clear the ball away from the penalty box.

End Result… PNE...Win 1-0

26th Nov 11 Stevenage (H)

A team that were in 3rd place in the league and were firing on all cylinders. Now we have got a new tactic to play against and a good one at that as Steve had got his team playing to their strengths a 4-1-2-3 as it looks like on the pitch and the 1 in the tactic is the only player in midfield. And the 2-3 were there 5 upfront.

This had thrown my team as we did not know on what to do about it. We were 2-0 down after 20 minutes and we could not get back into the game.

We did have the chances to get on level but we must have left our shooting boots in the changing rooms. We did get the 1 from Williams but no more were going to go in as Steve resulted in playing 5 at the back to stop us.

This was our first defeat in a long while and we were on the end of a team that should be one of the main teams that will be fighting for the league title, as for us we are in the top 4 and with the start we have had I will be looking for a top 6 finish and a European spot.

End Result… PNE...Lose 2-1

3rd Dec11 West Ham Utd (a)

Could we get back to winning ways after our slip up v Steve. Well things did not go to plan as we were 1-0 down after only 2 minutes from a screamer that hit the back of the net before my defence had time to wipe their bums.

This was yet another game where we had shown no imagination in front of the opponents net and came away from here with our tails between our legs.

After such a good start to the league we have seemed to come of the rails in the last few games. We are still in the top 4 so still on course for our best finish to the league but if we carry on lik we have done in the last few games it will all blow up in our faces.

End Result… PNE...Lose 1-0

So what about the cup games that we have played so far?

League cup

27th Sept 11 Millwall (A)

This was a game where we could have done without. We have had a hard few games and this game was going to be another one and my thoughts had come true. We had to fight for everything that we wanted on the pitch.

Things did not start well for us as we had Laurie sent of for a foul after only 2 minutes and which resulted in a penalty. 1-0 down and we had a mountain to climb. We had to wait till half way through the second half before we got back on level terms. I think the extra training with the coaches was starting to pay of so early into the season as we ran out winners due to the team having better fitness as I could see the players from Millwall starting to tire near the end of the match.

End Result… PNE...Win 3-1

2nd Nov 11 Sunderland (H)

So we had got through to the 3rd rd and now face a sleeping giant of a team. Nothing really happened during the first half and I could see that Sunderland had come here to defend and try and take us back to their place and get a money spinning tie.

Our young full back Davies had got onto a break early into the half and had a fierce shot at the goal only to see his shot go just over the bar. (this should have been a warning to Sunderland)

Late on in the second half Davies had found himself up in the opponents half and let fly with another long shot at goal ,but this time the ball went in and we were through to the next rd.

End Result… PNE...Win 1-0

next games will be up when we play them so till then ……

[Goldy]

The Stevenage Journal : The Season Continues……

Welcome back fans of Stevenage, fans of the Boro! Well, lets see how the lads at Broadhall Way have been getting, some very tough games came up and a massive run of 8 away games in 9 fixtures! Against some top teams aswell, lets also not forget our Champions League debut run!

Premiership

So the dodgy results out the way I hope and with this stretch of away games, about time we get that sorted aswell I think! (Games are not in order)

Stevenage 3 – 0 Peterborough

Edan’s Posh come to visit Broadhall Way, the place we’ve really made our mark over the past season, over 20 game run now without defeat and today it could have stopped as I had a weird feeling about it. But, the lads didn’t disappoint. Service as usual! Barber and Semler did the deed and we cruised to victory. Welcome to the Premiership Edan!

Stevenage 2 – 1 Norwich

High flying Canaries came to Broadhall Way too, like other teams, they left empty handed! They put up a good fight and they are always a team which seem to come in the top 6 since being in the Premiership, possibly losing some of their umph now that they’ve sold some of their hottest prospects. A close scoreline doesn’t tell the story, as we marched all over them, Barber and Juliusson got the goals.

Hull 1 – 3 Stevenage

Once more, a difficult team, The Tigers have assembled a squad of talent that’s worthy of their recent good league positions, they got a lot of money and shown it too with spending the likes of 10million + on Lovenkrands and others. Hull made a good account of themselves, some great attacks but we did even better to keep them out and hit them easily on the counter. The clinical finishing from Semler and Barber secured the points.

Preston 1 – 2 Stevenage

My next encounter of a EFB Manager, this time its Pete! Changed to a reliable 4-1-5, very attacking and it brought us the 2 goals with ease! From then on, I tried some tactical changes to see what else works against Pete’s current tactics, wasn’t too good and it let them get a goal but after that we changed back to be a solid unit formation and it then rolled to a gentle finish! Pete’s team will certainly be going places, I predict champions league footie! A great assembled squad.

Everton 0 – 5 Stevenage

I feel sorry for the Toffee’s and their manager Robert Pires, his jobs is in the balance and he’s missing lots of key players, well, todays toffee’s wernt sticky at all, they melted! Everton’s relegation worries even more upon them after this thrashing, Pires will soon be at the Job Centre! Hidalgo, Juliusson, Barber and Vieirinha scored the goals.

Champions League

So we had played two and won two so far, so far I would say we have faced the best two teams in the group, so next up was the team that also beat FC Bayern! It was away with a return leg shortly after that.

Levski Sofia 2– 4 Stevenage

Well it was a game were two mistakes cost us two goals, but at the moment, I don’t care, Barber scored an awesome hattrick that secured the vital points, an amazing 100% record so far in the CL for us!

Stevenage 3 – 0 Levski Sofia

So we return back infront of the home fans and they are absolutely loving it! 3 wins out of 3 and this could be number 4 with also qualification from group C! Our home form from the league got going in this game too! Completely hammered Sofia and with the other two drawing, it meant Boro qualified! Semler, Vieirinha, Jackson and McDonald with the goals.

Galatasaray 0 – 4 Stevenage

I don’t normally like Turkish Delights, but this one I absolutely loved to bits! The Turks needed a win to put their foot in the door of qualification, if they lost, they’d be out as Bayern won! Juliusson gave us a first half lead when Robinson got sent off! Down to 10 in Turkey, What came next was a massive shock to them, a tactic change saw the best attacking football we had played for ages, crisp passing with deadly finishing. They pushed up the park so much that they just got spanked by the team with a man down, it didn’t even seem like it either! Juliusson, Semler did most the damage infront of goal with Hidalgo.

So our away form is like last season, couple of dodgy results, although they been earlier on in the season than before! But our home form is easily taken us through it. We’ve enjoyed a great start to the Champions League and hopefully this season we can once more get into the Top 4 league positions and also qualify from the group stages too!

League Cup

The third round of the League Cup and who do we get? One of the best teams in the country, Spurs! We set our reserves out as normal but Spurs didn’t! The big men straight on for them, they want this more than us!

Tottenham 2 – 3 Stevenage

So Man Utd reserves took the lead! Postiga seems out of this world at times, completely walked all over my reserve defence and Spurs had two goals in the net before I knew it and it looked all over! But a spirit reserve side don’t give up, well not mine! A tactics change came and Spurs went from Hero’s to Zero’s, what a flop they were. It went into extra time where our super sub did the damage and kicked them out the cup. Gibson, Goitom both scored in normal time before Jackson finished it all off!

Summary

Despite most our games being away, we did brilliantly, very pleased that we won all our games in the session. The champions league see’s us also unbeaten in our debut season and hopefully we can make it six wins out of six when Bayern visit us at Broadhall Way, we’ve qualified with ease.

The Cup competitions seemed to be as fixed up by the game as the Cups as once more we will face Derby! League Cup 4th round draw was made and the Rams play against us again!

I also forgot to mention, our young 17 yr old hero striker from last season, Kevin Houghton was drafted into the England squad! He made his debut and now stands proud with one cap in his early career.

[ChefRobCreations]

Well Perry is still shocked at the way Liverpool are Performing heres results from the session.

Liverpool 3 Watford 2Advaldo and Harrison 2

Nottm Forest 0 Liverpool 2Advaldo,Gama

Liverpool 1 Mansfield 2Advaldo

Liverpool 5 Gravesend 0Pozzi 3,Harrison 2

Burnley 0 Liverpool 3Pozzi 3

Brighton 0 Liverpool 0

Liverpool 4 Cheltenham 0Marshall pen,Pozzi, Babel 2 1 pen

Crystal Palace 0 Liverpool 4Castro,Wild,Advaldo,Pozzi

Transfers In

Reto Wild from Stevenage on a Free

Joe Gold from Darlington 10k

Transfers Out

Adamn Davies to Fulham 400k

Stuart Poole to Crystal Palace for 250k

Scott Davis Free

Matt Cooper to Mansfield out on loan

Stay Tuned For More Updates....

[Andy H]

Rams Review - It's been a topsy turvy season so far....

That is the only way I can describe the rams this season. They have won a few, lost a few and with the odd draw thrown in for good measure. Here is a run down of pre season and the opening fixtures.....

Pre Season

It was a good pre season for Derby as most of the duds left and new fresh talent was brought in as Derby were trying to better last seasons mid table finish.

Transfers In

Joel Soto - From Man City - Free transfer

Steven Taylor - From Newcastle - Free transfer

Christopher Eagles - From Hull - Free Transfer

John Welsh - From Chelsea - Free Transfer

Nick Talbot - From Norwich - £1 Million

Nicky James - From QPR - £350k

Mike Watson - From Everton - £2.7 Million

{I]Ruben Llaneza - From Betis - £4.9 Million[/i]

A lot of new talent brought in to improve both the depth and quality of the Derby squad.

The League Campaign

Stevenage v Derby - (A) - 1-4

Well Derby could not have asked for a harder opening league game. They were up against Stephen Gold's Boro and they were thrashed. Not a good start to the league campaign.

Derby v Everton - (H) - 3-0

After the disasterous start at Boro it was time for whipping boys Everton to come to Pride Park. As always a Derby win was the outcome and it could have been a lot more than three - nil. Derby opened the scoring after only ten minutes through Hadzi and only six minutes later Danny Guthrie made it two - nil to Derby. It was until early in the second half before Derby found the net again. This time it was Ryan Wilkie who found the net after missing a penalty.

Blackburn v Derby - (A) - 3-0

Up next was an away trip to Blackburn. Last season Blackburn got the better of this fixture but certainly not this time. Derby took the game to Blackburn for most of the game and it paid off. Ryan Wilkie got Derby off to an amazing start after only one minute with a superb goal. Hadzi made it two on the half hour and Christopher Eagles capped off a fine performance from Derby by grabbing a third and his first goal for Derby.

Derby v Tottenham - (H) - 2-2

Next up for Derby was the visit of Champions League winners Tottenham. It was a very even match as Derby put up a great fight and a fantastic performance as well. Joel Soto grabbed his first goal for Derby after only eight minutes only for Tottenham to equalise on the half hour through Postiga and he then made it two right on half time. Derby came out in the second half fired up and went in search of the equaliser. They got that equaliser through Christopher Eagles and could have won the game but for some fine goalkeeping.

Newcastle v Derby - (A) - 1-3

Last season Derby shocked the footballing world by grabbing a win at St James Park. This time it was a different story as Newcastle took Derby apart. Miroslav Klose was the hero for Newcastle and not for the first time in his career as he banged in a hat trick. Derby's defence just could not handle this goal scoring machine.

Derby v Man Utd - (H) - 0-4

More misery for Derby as yet again they were taken apart by Man Utd. A terrible defence led to Derby's downfall as they couldn't handle the constant Utd pressure.

Derby v Preston - (H) - 0-1

Next up after the last two mauling was Pete Smith's in form Preston team. Most were expecting an easy Preston win but it turned out to be a very even affair and Derby can count themselves unlucky not to take anything from the game. Derby's finishing at times was woeful and some superb goalkeeping kept Derby out. It was Preston's new signing Demetrius Williams who grabbed the winner for Preston.

Middlesbrough v Derby - (A) - 1-2

This game was another good performance but nothing to show for it as the Derby defence showed all of it's fraility as Boro had two attacks in the whole match and grabbed two goals as a result. At the other end Derby's strikers were off form as usual as they passed up chance after chance so their domination counted for nothing in the end. It was not until injury time before Derby managed to put the ball in the back of the net courtesy of Joel Soto. Frustrating times for gaffer Hepburn as his team were in the middle of a terrible run of defeats.

Derby v Barnsley - (H) - 2-0

Finally the end of the run of defeats much to the satisfaction of everyone connected with Derby. A game full of Derby dominance and finally some end product to show for it. In the first half it looked like being the same old story as Derby managed to pass up many chances before breaking the deadlock. That deadlock was broken by Hadzi early in the second half. He then scored his second goal as Derby secured their first victory in five matches. What relief for everyone when that final whistle sounded.

Birmingham v Derby - (A) - 1-0

This game showed that Derby have come along way in the last few months. This fixture last season saw Derby slaughtered but what a difference a few months make. Derby were up for this game and attacked Brum from the off. Again chances were missed until Hadzi popped up with the opening goal just before half time. In the seond half Derby tried to build on this lead but found Isaksson in fine form. The Derby defence was never really threatened for once and they had a relatively easy game.

Derby v West Ham - (H) - 2-0

Next up to Pride Park was West Ham former Premiership champions. Derby put in an absolutely fantastic performance as they never let West Ham into the game as they pressed them all over the pitch and it worked brilliantly. Two goals in the opening twenty minutes were enough to give Derby the win. These goals came from Ryan Wilkie and Hadzi. It could have been more but in the second half Derby's finishing was terrible so 2-0 it finished.

Chelsea v Derby - (A) - 3-1

What a great performance this was from a Derby side bang on form. They did well at both ends for once as the Derby defence stood firm and the strikers actually took their chances for once. Ryan Wilkie put Derby ahead from the penalty spot three minutes before half time but Mutu equalised for Chelsea. Now the Derby fans could be forgiven thinking it was gonna be the same old story again. It was different this time as they went ahead again through Stewart Downing and then Hadzi grabbed a third for Derby only two minutes later. It was a body blow for Chelsea as they had only just got back into the match. It was a blow they never recovered from and Derby ran out the winners.

The League Cup Experience

In round two Derby were drawn against Crystal Palace and Derby narrowly went through 2-1 winners but the margin of victory should have been much greater. Joel Soto and Mike Watson were the goalscorers to send Derby into round three.

In round three Derby were drawn against Mansfield who have the goal scoring machine Eddie Field whose goals have seen Mansfield come up through the divisions. Derby struggled with a couple of key players out injured. It had started well with Joel Soto puting Derby ahead after only seven minutes. It was that man Field who drew Mansfield level with a great header. No one could find a winner so the tie went to extra time and again no winner could be found by either team. So it was onto the dreaded penalty shoot out which Derby managed to win 4-2 and into round four they went. Who did they draw? Yes as usual in the cups it was Derby and Stevenage drawn together yet again. A game to look forward to I suppose.

[Goldy]

The Stevenage Journal : Through the Midpoint!……

Your in for a treat in today’s update, Domestic Cup games, Champions League action aswell as the usual Premiership matches, all in one update! Fans of Stevenage, fans of the Boro, lets see how the team has got on over the past couple of sessions.

Premiership

We have purchased a couple of new faces, basically to replace some aging players and others who are just too greedy and will be leaving the club this season, eg Partridge, wants 55k, he’s getting to go to the job centre instead! We have brought Savage from Cheltenham, a very pacey left sided player and then also brought Thompson from Crewe, they will be replacing Higginbotham and Kenton who are both now 33 years old. So once more, here are the games in random order.

Derby 0 – 4 Stevenage

So we return to play Andy’s side in the league, having given them a thrashing on the opening day of the season, revenge was on the cards, well it didn’t turn out like that at all. We ran riot, shot after shot after shot, it was amazing that the scoreline was so low! With all my strikers having easily had the chance to score a hattrick each, I’m just more than delighted to go home with three more points, Barber and Hidalgo scored two each.

Arsenal 3 – 1 Stevenage

God knows what has happened in this game, the gunners touched the ball and it just floated into the back of the net, despite actually being the better team and raining shots on goal, we were kept out by the superman goalie that came to Arsenals rescue after that earthquake in China! Thankfully our own league defeat in the two sessions we played.

Barnsley 0 – 5 Stevenage

The Tykes are battling for Premiership survival along the likes of Chelsea and Blackburn, so when they came across us, I don’t think they really fancied it. It was a case of how many, their defence was more open than Jordan! We were already 3 up before the Tykes were reduced to ten men, despite a penalty miss from the captain, he made up for it later. Semler(2), Vieirinha, Hidalgo, Juliusson got the goals.

Tottenham 2 – 2 Stevenage

A team I very much don’t like, the Man Utd reserve team have got a good squad, but even when their getting dominated, they still somehow get a goal. Recently though we been getting a bit of an upper hand on them. But you just know when CM seems to want the other team to score, having been 2-0 up, a 40 yard strike came and in the 94th minute, my centre back ran into the right back position, despite the right back already being there, strange, very strange! 2 points stolen from us!

Man Utd 2 – 4 Stevenage

They were once again, Undefeated before they bet the mighty Boro! Within 10minutes we were already 2 up. The very odd poor defending let them back in with a couple of goals, but we just kept attacking them and were rewarded at the theatre of dreams with a delightful three points. Barber scored a hattrick, a great start to the new year.

Stevenage 4 – 0 Birmingham

I hate this team, twice they have buggered us up with the one shot on target, one goal ratio, we’re at home again and it’s a bit of a fortress for us over the past season and a half. So I was very happy when we once more dominated the game, but this time our chances actually went in and we ran riot. Barber got another hattrick for us.

Stevenage 7 – 0 Blackburn

I think I can start to love Rovers, especially after this game!! We just ran circles round them and our set plays just gave them no chance, Juliusson was the man, the midfielder and captain scored a hattrick, Barber and Hidalgo also scored and Rovers even put one in themselves for us.

Stevenage 1 – 0 Chelsea

Chance, after chance, after chance, we couldn’t put that piece of round leather into the back of the net! The Blues are in relegation and looking set for relegation but their keeper just held everything out, until the 90th minute that was! Jackson, the super sub got the goal for us.

Stevenage 2 – 0 Middlesbrough

Boro are normally a team we’ve liked to play since we joined the Premiership as we have normally always beaten them, and today was no different! With us once more at Broadhall Way, the team just plays so much better and it was the case again today, only two goals but its three points which matter at the end of the day. Hidalgo and Semler got the goals.

Stevenage 3 – 0 Newcastle

The Magpies are still up there in the Top 6 but the competition this season from Preston is keeping them out of the champions league places. Always a tough game but today was different! They looked lost and we took advantage of that, Barber had another field day and got two of the goals followed by a great finish from Semler to finishing the thrashing.

Stevenage 4 – 0 Sunderland

We struggled to get the shots on targets in this game, I must have forgotten that I invited Jonny Wilkinson as a VIP in my starting 11! But thankfully, we did get a couple of well deserved goals which came from the iceman and captain Juliusson and the Colombian goal machine Hidalgo.

Champions League

So, Stevenage have a 100% record in a group which consists of the team that are tipped as the favourites to win! So, one more game left and its at home, qualification already gained, can we keep our record against the cup favourites Bayern?

Stevenage 2 – 1FC Bayern

Well, we’ve done it! We kept a 100% winning run in our group and it was former bayern youth striker Semler who scored a brace. Bayern also go through but we go through as group winners and some more money in our pocket!

We go on to face Celta Vigo in the next round, it will be a tough game but anything is possible.

League Cup

The fix in the cup takes us to face Derby, so our reserve team go out in force, with our strike force all coming from the U19’s!

Derby 1 – 0 Stevenage

In what was probably the most boring cup tie ever until extra time came, some chances were created and Talbot took Derby through to the next round.

FA Cup

Peterborough 0 – 0 Stevenage

The very young reserves go out again with the three U19’s strikers trying to see if they can do anything. Chances came but missed, for both sides and so it went to a replay.

Stevenage 2 – 0 Peterborough

The return leg came and even our reserves seemed happy to continue our good form infront of the home fans and it was Gibson and Jackson who scored the goals and kick Edan’s team out the cup.

Newcastle 2 – 1 Stevenage

Well the Magpies were absolutely lucky to win this one, our young reserve strikers just didn’t score a second goal and they paid for it when Newcastle got a “they need a goal†moment. In the 93rd Minute, they got their goal to win but they certainly don’t deserve it and hopefully they wont advance from the next round!

Summary

We’re out the domestic cups but I’ve never really been bothered with it, If I wanted to give myself a chance of winning these, I’d play my first team, seeing as I have better things to do with my first team I let the reserves get a few games and experience to the young players.

We’re through in the champions league and hopefully we can advance to the quarter final, it would be a great achievement, it’d be fantastic to win it but that’s probably a very long shout! But nothings impossible.

Our league form is going pretty well and we got plenty more clean sheets in our last session after conceding quite a few but still winning. Currently top of the table with about 13 games or so to go, we still face all the big teams in the league so it wont be easy if we were to win it, but it’s gonna require our best ever finish to the season and probably break a Premiership record to take the title, we need to win at least 30 games, so 9 more left to go.

We signed Thompson and Savage to replace Higginbotham and Kenton who are both about 33/34 now and it will be time to say good bye to these two players who have served the club so well in their short time with us. Juliusson is having a great season aswell, one of his best, he’s scoring a lot of wonderful long range strikes. Hopefully we can continue in our current form and take the league title away from the champions.

[chef]

hello all just to let you know my dad wont be on tonight as hes been ill all weekend with the flu (hes not even going to be watching his team play tonight on sky)

he hopes to be on on thursday

"liam his son"

[Guest]

Well well well no surprize you guys are still going strong , thought i would drop in ans say hello to all and see how everyone one is . well i hope everyone is ok and enjoying themselves catch u later

[Goldy]

The Stevenage Journal : Approaching The Final Countdown!!……

Welcome once more fans of Stevenage, fans of the Boro, An exciting couple of months are coming upon us and we’re certainly enjoying our best ever season in the Premiership. The board’s target is being met with ease and my own target is also currently on course. So lets see how it all went.

Transfers

So, in that January transfer window we purchased a couple of additions for the squad which were Savage and Thompson, both full backs, both English and both going to be knocking on the door of the England manager within the next couple of years if they play to the standard that they already have.

Joining them is 19yr old John Bailey from Wolves, the left sided centre back and enjoyed three good seasons at Wolves and playing some incredible football this season, this is one for the future.

Relating to Transfer news, Chelsea have also just gone bankrupt! Who’d have thought that would happen eh, so some rather small bids have gone in for their players as reasonable offers will be accepted said a statement made by the receivers.

Premiership

West Ham Suffer Hammer Blow From Boro

West Ham 0 - 4 Stevenage

Upton Park, London

Attendance : 23168

Ref : Phil Dowd

It took just 4 minutes for a goal, Barber unleashed a 20 yard drive that rocketed into the net. Two goals were disallowed for offside in the first half and it was Kompany who was keeping the hammers in it.

The second half saw Kompany leave for an early shower just 2 minutes after the break, he was the last man and took Barber down, straight red.

With West Ham now not really having any great defenders, Robinson went unchallenged from a corner to double the lead with a powerful header.

It then became the Barber show! Two more goals came from the England striker to round up a fantastic hattrick, his brilliant movement between the West ham defenders and a lethal powerful finish, helped made the Hammers defence look invisible.

Boro Give Citeh The Blues

Man City 1 - 2 Stevenage

City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester

Attendance : 41998

Ref : Carl Barnes

In amazement it was actually Citeh who took the lead through Aghahowa just before the half time whistle, in what was a Boro domination, one of the most bizarre goals ever got Citeh infront before half time.

In what was a case of how many for Boro, the Citeh keeper just kept everything out and also Jonny Wilkinson timed his VIP trip just wrong as everything skied over the bar from the smallest of distances away from goal.

But once more it was the inform England hitman who did it again, he got a brace in this game, a rebound from a corner saw him slot it in from a couple of yards and it was followed up with a great goal where he left two defenders standing before running almost the full length of the opponents half before he slotted it easily past the keeper.

Baggies Tied Up And Sent Packing

Stevenage 3 - 1 WBA

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

Attendance : 21578

Ref : Rob Styles

Once more we went down to a stupid goal but I must admit, West Brom had created a couple of decent chances and caused me problems the first time round we met.

So when they took the lead, I wasn’t best pleased, especially as it was bang on half time again! But, a tactic change at half time did the trick like it has a couple of times this season. Despite Juliusson missing a penalty, we came back very strongly and out played the Baggies.

Semler got the equaliser after breaking through the West Brom defence and neatly slotting it past the helpless keeper, his effort was followed up by McDonald who received a great pass from Barber inside the box and it once more, left the keeper stunned.

The game couldn’t be completed if the star man didn’t round it up! Of course, it came from a corner, Partridge whipped it in to the near post where Barber flicked it on into the empty net as the keeper was found in no mans land.

Champions League

Battling Celta Edged Out By Tough Boro

Stevenage 3 - 2 Celta Vigo (agg)

The first leg took place at Broadhall Way, our superb home form made us dominate the game and it was unbelievable that the score line was only 2-0! In what should have been 5 or 6 left me a bit disappointed but to have kept the clean sheet was vital. Barber and Vieirinha got the goals.

In the return leg Celta came out of nowhere, anything they got on target just went in, but despite being tempted to change tactic, I didn’t have too, I was the better team, we were creating chances, so we battled on, then 4 injuries! Four of our best players taken out the game and it was difficult to decide who to leave on, eventually, Juliusson was left to battle through the pain barrier, what a decision to make!

It was 2-2 on agg, every shot from the strikers was ending up on Pluto and it seemed as though extra time was coming upon us, something I could do without. The Iceman still on the pitch! The captain showed the way! A Juliusson special came on the menu, he struck a 35 yard curler right into the top corner to make it 3-2 and an away goal! The Boro advance into the Quarter Final of the Champions League!

Summary

Well after a scare in the second leg of the CL we managed to get through and advance into the quarter final, waiting for us there is dutch giants PSV, another tough game, but they all are in this competition.

We’re doing extremely well in the league and have taken top spot away from Man Utd having beaten them in an earlier session, with Preston also beating United its looking very good for Boro at the moment. 5 points clear at the top with about 9 games left, although we do face some rather tough teams in the remaining games I must admit that nothing is impossible.

We have plenty of home games left and if we can carry on our tradition of staying unbeaten at home then we will have a brilliant chance of getting the biggest silverware in English football, our unbeaten run has stretched to a massive 36 games, almost 2 seasons! Cant complain about that.

[Goldy]

The Stevenage Journal : Counting Down The Season!!……

Welcome back once again Boro fans! It’s not far now till the season is over and we’re currently enjoying our best ever season in the Premiership

Transfers

The only transfer that will be coming in is a very experienced left sided winger in the one and only Damien Duff, he takes a 80k pay cut to join Boro and will be battling with Partridge who signed a contract extension.

Premiership

Again, sorry it’s not in order but here is how we got on in our premiership campaign.

Rovers Demolished By Boro Train

Blackburn 0 - 4 Stevenage

Ewood Park, Blackburn

It was a very one sided affair that started with a disallowed goal by Barber after just 15minutes on the clock, he then made the next one count on the half an hour mark.

His effort was followed up with a brace by Semler who should have easily had a hattrick, sub Jackson competed the rout when he scored with ten minutes still remaining.

Boro Too Posh For Peterborough

Peterborough 1 - 2 Stevenage

London Road, London

With Edan having moved on for a new challenge within the game, it was time to see what his replacement could do!

Well, not a lot really, a good performance didn’t get the goals this time round but we still walk away with three points after goals from Barber and Hidalgo.

Canaries Shot Down By Rampant Boro

Norwich 1 - 4 Stevenage

Carrow Road, Norwich

Well, after completely dominating the first half, Norwich somehow scored first, but that lead only lasted 2 minutes before Semler finally found the net!

The second half carried on very much like the first but this time Norwich super keeper was unable to keep the chances out and Barber added a second.

Not long after that, Semler finished things off in style with a hattrick and gives us the regular scoreline of late over our favourite opponent Andy!

Toffee’s Continue To Stick In Relegation

Stevenage 4 - 1 Everton

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

Relegation side Everton certainly didn’t want us as an opponent while their fighting for the Premiership status, however, they did put up a fight only to be shot down with some great passing and skills from the Boro lads.

Barber opened the scoring for us against his former employer before the goal of the month came from Partridge. Despite a goal from Rooney the action was all at the other end.

With just 5minutes left on the clock, Semler was not finished with this game and therefore put his scoring boots to good use by bagging another brace and making it a rout.

Roaring Tigers Put Down Quietly

Stevenage 3 - 1 Hull

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

What seemed like a quiet first half ended with the Colombian hitman Hidalgo taking us into the break with the lead.

The second half got more exciting for Boro fans when young England striker Barber found the net once again, a goal for hull for followed by that attempt but we never looked back and got another goal, this time by Semler.

Preston Sent To The North End

Stevenage 4 - 1 Preston

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

Well, this game was not just a big one because I was taking on Pete’s team, but if we remain unbeaten in this game, it would mean we go 38 home league games unbeaten in a row, that’s 2 season’s worth of home games!

The worst start ever for Pete, within a minute and a half, his team go down to ten, to add to it, minutes later, Barber takes us into the lead. Preston battled on though and rewarded themselves with a goal to level things.

Things got back on the road then when Hidalgo and Semler both smashed the ball home followed with a goal from Barber on the stroke of half time.

Champions League

Having edged out Spanish side Celta Vigo in the second phase, we moved onto the quarter final where we face Dutch Giants PSV.

Boro Blitz See’s Off Einhoven

PSV 1 - 4 Stevenage

Philips Stadion, Eindhoven

What an unbelievable match this was, we travel away to Einhoven expecting an absolute stinker of a game against this side, instead, within half an hour of play, we completely played them off the park and to add to it, we banged three goals home!

The first goal came from Semler before Barber added two of his own. We then went on to score a fourth goal which was scored by Hidalgo.

With four away goals on the card, we where very happy with the result, PSV did score with three minutes left but never really threatened us.

Free Scoring Boro See Off PSV In Style

Stevenage 4 - 0 PSV (agg 8-1)

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

Well it ended up being a massive scoreline, one I’m sure PSV wont want again in the future. Our home form. It was another dominate performance infront of the home fans and we completed another rout over PSV.

Goals from Barber and Semler ended PSV’s European run and it means we advance to the Semi Final! An amazing achievement on its own for our first season in the Champions League, the draw was made and we got drawn against Dinamo Kiev

Kiev Get Stuffed With Boro Skill

Dinamo Kiev 0 - 2 Stevenage

Valeriy Lobanovskyi Stadium, Kiev

The Ukrainians gave us a great game and it was end to end stuff. They threatened to score on a couple of occasions but we are thankful to Robinson for keeping them out.

We came good in the end as with ten minutes left on the clock, it was Barber and Hidalgo who did the honours and bagged two away goals for us which will be very vital.

Free Scoring Boro See Off PSV In Style

Stevenage 2 - 1 Dinamo Kiev (agg 4-1)

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

In shock events, it was Dinamo who actually took the lead against us and bagged themselves an away goal.

But we didn’t sit down, after the half time break the lads went out very refreshed and in one mind, to beat the opposition.

So they did! Hidalgo got the first to equal the score before the Iceman and captain Juliusson rounded things up in style.

Summary

So in a couple of amazing sessions we continue our winning form and stretch our home form to a massive 38 games unbeaten, that’s made me very proud as it takes us two full seasons worth of home games unbeaten.

In an absolute dream, Boro advanced past some very tricky opposition in the champions league, we have reached the final! No one fancy in the final though, we face fellow English side Newcastle who are actually the defending champions!

We have just three Premiership games left now and of course the very famous and glamorous Champions League final! Could the dreams of Boro fans come true? Wait and find out!

[Goldy]

The Stevenage Journal : The Final Countdown!!……

Welcome back once again Boro fans! It’s not far now till the season is over and we’re currently enjoying our best ever season in the Premiership

Premiership

Just three games left to go now until the Premiership season once again comes to a close, so lets see how we got on in what are probably the three hardest games on paper in the league for us!

Boro On A Hot Spur

Stevenage 3 - 1 Tottenham

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

Spurs are normally a side that give us some trouble and they certainly were hanging in there with this game, but quality showed by when Semler and Barber took us to a two goal lead.

Spurs got a goal which really should have been kept out if defending was properly organised but it didn’t get us down as super sub Goitom put in a screamer to round things off.

Lucky Magpies Manage To Hold Boro

Newcastle 1 - 1 Stevenage

St.James’s, Newcastle

In a game that mainly saw one way Boro traffic, Newcastle who are our opponents in the Champions League final certainly made sure to harm us rather than win the game as they took out a total of 4 key players in this game including Robinson (GK), Barber, Hidalgo and Juliusson.

But we did take the lead through Juliusson who just had to battle through the pain barrier, Newcastle got their equaliser from a penalty, which came from their only proper attack in the game!

Red Devils Sent Straight Back To Hell!

Stevenage 5 – 0 Man Utd

Broadhall Way, Stevenage

Our favourite opposition comes to visit us at home and they were more than willing to add to our unbeaten home run in the league and stretch it to a massive 41!

Well, to end the season in style and to give us our name of Premiership Champions, we did that tag proud by thrashing Man Utd once more this season, we took a three goal lead in the first half with goals coming from all angles! Hidalgo, Semler and Barber scored.

The second half saw Hidalgo get a brace and Juliusson also scored, having missed his penalty, the did get the rebound with ease to round up a magnificent game for us, and for the fans to watch and celebrate a fantastic season.

Champions League Final

We have reached the Final! We take on Newcastle and I very much fancied our chance for this massive trophy as we were at almost full strength with only Solstad missing.

One Sided Final See’s Boro On Top With Ease

Newcastle 0 - 2 Stevenage

Jan Breydelstadion, Bruges

In what was probably the most one sided final did end up going to extra time to decide the winner!

The Boro completely dominated play with Newcastle not even getting a shot in throughout the whole match!

So with the Boro frurstrated at not having scored, a few chances were made for extra time and it was the silver goals which won it for us!

Robinson nodded a powerful in after a free kick and his effort was followed up by our 17 year old England starlet Houghton, he had just been on loan at Liverpool where he smashed in around 13 goals in around as many matches, he placed it past the helpless keeper.

It meant Stevenage fans got to see their team fulfil what was only ever a dream! They lift the Champions league Trophy and are crowned Kings of Europe.

Summary

What a season! That is all I can say, Stevenage Borough are not only the English Premiership Champions, but they are the European Champions aswell! The double has been made, what a fantastic year for Stevenage fans.

The fans and board are absolutely delighted with achieving well over the expectations of a safe mid table position.

We have made a record points total and record wins total aswell in this superb season and its for certain, one to remember.

It was just 9 seasons ago that Stevenage were sitting in conference and could only ever dream of being in the premiership, let alone the champions league and winning it!

A big tribute goes to our longest serving player and captain, he has been with the club since the conference days and has now had the pleasure to be involved with everything the club has won, many thanks to my club legend Juliusson.

[ChefRobCreations]

Welcome to my update and what a update it is after a long hard season Liverpool made it back to the premier League thanks to 13 goals from Houghton on loan from stevenage,Pozzi and Houghton formed a great partnership but will now face each other in the prem here's the results of the triumphant season.

Results

h Wycombe 3-0 Pozzi 2 Advaldo

a Q.P.R 4-2 Pozzi 4

a Cardiff C 2-1 Gama

h Wolves 6-0 Pozzi 3,Houghton,Van Der Meer and Supat

a Watford 4-1 Babel,Houghton 2 and Pozzi

h Nottm Forest 0-0

a Gravesend 2-0 Houghton and Gama

h Burnley 2-0 Houghton 2

a Mansfield 1-0

h Brighton 6-1 Pozzi 3,Houghton 2,Yahioui

a Cheltenham 1-0

h Crystal Palace 1-0 Houghton

h Fulham 1-0 Houghton

On To The Play Offs For POOL!!

h Cardiff 5-0 Houghton 3 and Pozzi 2

a Cardiff 2-1 Christensen and Yahioui

Final

n Torquay Utd 3-1Barbosa,Babel 2

So to the premiership we go...

Pozzi was voted fans player of the year but I cant help thinking that Houghton deserves a special mention due to his goals lifting us up the table and into the final of the play offs.

Id like to thanks Stevenage manager for allowing such a talented player on loan to liverpool.

Stay Tuned For More Prem Updates

[Dark_Soccer]

Mr Gold seems to be winning a bit too much for my liking

KUTQU (Keep up the quality updates!)

[Andy H]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dark_Soccer:

Mr Gold seems to be winning a bit too much for my liking

KUTQU (Keep up the quality updates!) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah he is just a jammy git half the time. He has all the luck in EFB.

*waits for the usual Gold reply - "yeah just cause your pish etc etc*

[chef]

So let’s take a look at the season

We had found some good form in the early part of the season to be up with the top 6 teams. Much to my surprise.

In the month of December we had a few wins in the league but we came unstuck to a good team in the cup.

It was Hull who had beaten us 4-2 to go through to the next round of the league cup.

This defeat seemed to have a knock on effect to the team as they started to lose a bit of their self confidence.

We won the next 2 games but we did not show the true conviction of finishing teams off. This was going to be a problem for us as in the month of January and February as we would struggle to kill the teams off.

We still found ourselves in the top 4 of the league and we had a few points difference from the team that was in 5th.

It was not until we played against the team Derby that was managed by then Andy that we found some good form and started to kick start our season back on track (thanx Andy ïŠ)

We had early played against Edan’s Peterborough who had given us a run for the money and in a game that could have gone either way but a 1-1 draw seemed the right result.

As I said it was Derby who were next ….a strong Derby team on paper but were put to the sword here at Deepdale where they went home with their tails between their legs. A 3-0 win for us had put us in command for a Champion league spot for next season, but more to the point had started to sow some seeds of doubt in Andy’s mind on how far he could take his Derby team.

The next 11 games would take us through to the end of April in which we had to play a FA Cup game against Manchester United and a few of the top teams in the league.

We went on to win 6 of the games losing 4 and drawing 1 so it was a mixed bag of fortune.

The draw had come in the cup in which we got a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford only to be beaten 3-0 in the replay.

We had got our own back as we played Utd At home just before the replay and had beaten them 3-0 so I believe the 3pts were better than the cup run. And that’s what I went for in the team selection I need points more as it was so close at the top of the league and I wanted us back in Europe, this time for the first time in the Champions league.

So our defeats in the games came away at Hull 2-0, Stevenage borough 4-1, Everton 4-1, and our home defeat against Man Utd 3-0 in the cup.

The Stevenage game was a hard pill to swallow as they were top and only 7 points ahead of us and I felt that we could at least get a draw there at the very least.

But alas this all went tits up after only 1 minute when Whitehouse was sent off for a foul. So we ended up playing with 10 men and the star of the defence sitting in the bath all on his own.

We had to change the tactic round a bit and all the hard work done on the training pitch the week leading up to the game had gone out of the window, And with it any chance of getting a good result.

The other big defeat was against a team that were in the bottom of the table and I decided to rest a few players that had been near ever present in the team in one way or another……big mistake the team was not firing on all cylinders and even going ahead in the game after 6 minutes from Arthur we could not hold out and were caught out in the last 20 minutes of the game.

As it stands I’m 1 win away from getting a place in next seasons Champions League, now how would have thought that at the start of the season as we are in 3rd place behind Stevenage and Man Utd respectively.

Results

17 Dec PNE 4 - Everton 0

21 Dec League Cup ¼ Final Hull 4 - PNE 2

26 Dec Chelsea 1 – PNE 3

28 Dec PNE 3 – B/burn 1

7 Jan 12 FA Cup 3rd PNE 3 – Port Vale 0

11 Jan PNE 1 – Spurs 1

14 Jan Sunderland 1- PNE 1

21 Jan Man City 0 - PNE 2

28 Jan FA Cup 4th Halifax 1 – PNE 1

1 Feb PNE 1 – Newcastle 1

4 Feb WBA 1 – PNE 2

8 Feb FA Cup Replay PNE 2 - Halifax 0

11 Feb Peterborough 1 - PNE 1

15 Feb PNE 3 – Derby 0

18 Feb FA Cup 5th Man Utd 1 – PNE 1

22 Feb PNE 3- Man Utd 0

25 Feb PNE 5 – Middlesbrough 0

3 Mar FA Cup Replay PNE 0 – Man Utd 3

18 Mar Hull 2 – PNE 0

21 Mar PNE 2 – Barnsley 0

24 Mar Norwich 0 – PNE 4

14 Apr PNE 2 – Birmingham 0

21 Apr Stevenage 4 – PNE 1

29 Apr PNE 2 – West Ham Utd 1

2 May Everton 4 – PNE 1

Due to falling ill at the weekend I do not have the final results for the end of the season and my final place in the league as I missed out on Mondays session so will update when I get to see them .

[Goldy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Andy H:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dark_Soccer:

Mr Gold seems to be winning a bit too much for my liking

KUTQU (Keep up the quality updates!) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah he is just a jammy git half the time. He has all the luck in EFB.

*waits for the usual Gold reply - "yeah just cause your pish etc etc* <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jammy git lol, its called Skill!

As it clearly shows of course with your management style hehe

I hope your feeling much better now Pete and thank you Dark_Soccer for your kind comments

Dont forget lads, no session tonight!

[Andy H]

Knew you would come out with something like that Gold.

My jokes - fresh and innovative > Your jokes - Old and boring now.

[chef]

sorry for the delay lads but here are the latest clan pics:-

hope these are ok for ya lads

[Andy H]

Very nice Pete indeed. One question though? How come Edan gets a sexy woman on his and I don't? Are there no sexy women in Norwich or something?

[edan217]

hehe ,pete you are great !i love this one with the sexy lady (haha andy),and i cant wait for monday's sesion as the last one was cancelled

one more thing fm2005 will be out on the 5th of november ,i cant wait for that !

[chef]

Andy the last time i looked.... not that sexy

[Andy H]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by chef:

Andy the last time i looked.... not that sexy <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can you not just put one in to make me feel better?

[Goldy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Andy H:

Very nice Pete indeed. One question though? How come Edan gets a sexy woman on his and I don't? Are there no sexy women in Norwich or something? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As soon as it was announced you were manager, all the sexy women left Norwich

[Andy H]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Goldy:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Andy H:

Very nice Pete indeed. One question though? How come Edan gets a sexy woman on his and I don't? Are there no sexy women in Norwich or something? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As soon as it was announced you were manager, all the sexy women left Norwich <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Aye at least there are women is Norwich. When you were announced as Stevenage manager all the men stayed for some reason!!!!

[Andy H]

******ANNOUNCEMENT******

Lads I have sent you all emails but just a quick note ont he thread to let you know session tonight is cancelled due to a last minute meeting I have to go to at work.

However if you all agree and are available we could play tomorrow night at the same times - 9-12. Yay or nay to that suggestion please.

[edan217]

i am free for tommorow

[Goldy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Andy H:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Goldy:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Andy H:

Very nice Pete indeed. One question though? How come Edan gets a sexy woman on his and I don't? Are there no sexy women in Norwich or something? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As soon as it was announced you were manager, all the sexy women left Norwich <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Aye at least there are women is Norwich. When you were announced as Stevenage manager all the men stayed for some reason!!!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, cause they all knew that their football team was to see a new revolution with entertaining and winning football

[chef]

ok no game tonight tomoz ok kick off @ 21.30 then

[Goldy]

*** EFB Zeitung ***

Here are again! You’ve guessed it, EFB has completed another successful season and there has been plenty of action going on.

Managers on the Merry Go Round! Managers with big trophies in their hands and plenty of frustrating times for every manager!

Welcome once more to the EFB Zeitung,, happy reading!

Community Shield

We know the season begins when the Community Shield kicks off at Wembley infront of thousands of football fans who hope that their team will win not just today, but in the coming Premiership season.

This season’s teams kicking off the campaign are Sunderland, they will be taking on the Premiership Champions Man Utd!

Sunderland In Theatre Of Lights After Shoot-Out!!

Sunderland 0 : 0 Man Utd (Sunderland win 3-1 on Penalties)

League Cup

It was the defending cup holders Hull who managed once more to get into the final, could they defend their crown and also qualify for Europe? Standing in their way is Derby County, recently managed by Andrew Hepburn who left for Norwich, although, Hull are another one of his former clubs!

Roaring Tigers Punished In Thrilling Final By Rams!!.

Hull 3 : 5 Derby County

FA Cup

Well no, Gold is not manager of Southport! But yes, a conference team has made it to the FA Cup final and will be playing European footie next season. They will be playing the giants of the English game in Manchester United.

Red Devils Domination Over Minnows

Man Utd 1 : 0 Southport

FA Trophy

None of the big teams in the conference made it into the final, instead it was two mid-table battlers in Cambridge and Luton, they will be fighting it out for the one and only FA Trophy!

Cambridge Throw Hatters Up In The Air!

Cambridge 3 : 1 Luton

Vans Trophy

Once more, a trophy that lower league sides get to fight for, this time around we got to see York City take on battling Burton Albion.

Albion Squeeze Late Winner Past York

York 0 : 1 Burton Albion

FA Barclaycard Premiership

This Seasons Premiership Winners Are.............Stevenage

Golden Dreams Fulfilled For Boro

Just 8 years ago, this club had won the double with taking the Conference title and FA Trophy, then it was just unbelievable and fans could not believe it.

Now the fans are in absolute heaven as manager Steve Gold has brought to them the thing that every football fan dreams off to happen with their club, he has got Stevenage Borough into the history books with winning the Premiership Crown, in an absolute stormer of a season, the current Boro form showed exactly what was required to take the title.

One member of the board said “We told him that it would be an excellent achievement to get a mid table league position, but once more he has achieved above everyone’s expectationsâ€.

Fans were full of praise of their long term manager and were still in shock and disbelief that their club has actually won the Premiership.

Preston Celebrating On The North End

What a remarkable season for Pete and his Preston side, having enjoyed the taste of Premiership football, they just wanted more of it.

Pete assembled his squad and went ahead with battling against every opponent they were to meet, with star striker Arthur stamping his mark and destroying defences week in, week out, its still difficult to see why the lad doesn’t get an England Call up.

The Preston board were said to be absolutely delighted with the instant success their manager has brought to the club and they were more than impressed that their man got them into the Champions League.

From a radio phone in, one fan said “its an absolute dream†with the main chorus of fans were just over the moon and hope that Pete Smith will remain manager for a very long time.

Hepburn Takes Charge Of Flying Canaries

Andy was manager of Derby County, having got them to the Premiership and survived, things were not moving forward as quickly as the manager himself wanted.

When the opportunity of moving onto a club which has been celebrating a lot of success came along, there was no changing his mind but to move on for a new and exciting challenge.

Hepburn took over a squad that will need change and he certainly feels he is the man to just that.

The board were said to be delighted that Hepburn accepted their offer and hope he will be plenty of success to the club in the seasons to come.

Waldmann Turns Light Blue With Citeh Move

Having got promoted via the play offs and battling hard in the Premiership, Edan wanted to show exactly what he can do when given the right kind of resoucrces.

So when Man City had a gap to fill, he really wanted it, the club were impressed and so the new era for both begin.

The board were very happy to have Edan as their manager and will be hoping that he is the right man to take them in direction of further up the table.

Nationwide Division One

Going To The Premiership and Champions Of Division One are......Fulham

Runners Up and joining them in the top flight are : QPR

Play Off Winner : Liverpool

So Fulham and QPR both make their return to the Premiership after a short exile from it, will they stay up? Well, you’ll find out next season.

Perry Power Takes Pool Back To The Promise Land

Having been sitting and hovering above the relegation zone for two seasons, it didn’t look good for Liverpool, but that changed when their new manager Rob Perry took over!

They probably never seen so much money go in and out of Liverpool when Rob started his wheeling and dealings in the Transfer Market. Lots of talent came in and useless flops went out.

The start of the season was of course, as some would predict, nervy times as the squad gelled, however, Pool fans were full of joy and praise for their new man at the helm as he is bringing back the good times.

Winning ways were found and Rob found his team very close to the automatic promotion spots, eventually though, he had to settle for a play off place where his team once more excelled and this time, they will be gearing up to making their mark once more on the Premiership.

Going the opposite direction are Burnley, Wycombe and former conference side Gravesend.

The Round Up

Division Two Winners : Southampton

Also Promoted : Swansea

Via Play Off : Chesterfield

With Southampton ripping through the league and Chesterfield getting their first promotion in nine seasons, others had to suffer, so relegated are Darlington, Ipswich, Rushden and Swindon

Division Three Winners : Farborough

Also Promoted : Tranmere, York

Via Play Off : Blackpool

Tranmere get their second promotion in a row after going via the play offs last season in the conference, but who goes to join the place they used to be? Its Colchester and Chester who face the dreaded drop!

Conference Winners : Scarborough

Via Play Off : Walsall

With Walsall making their return to the football league, there had to be teams who have to leave the conference! Well they are Margate, Canvey Island and Bournemouth.

Champions League

Amazing! Stevenage, under the guideance of Steve Gold, their debut season in the competition and they got to the final, facing them are last seasons runners up and also past winners of the cup in recent years, Newcastle Utd.

One Sided Final See’s Boro Crowned Kings Of Europe!!

Newcastle 0 : 2 Stevenage

In what can only be described as a one sided final, it took until extra time to conclude it! But justice was done and the team that wanted it more certainly got it.

The Boro board were absolutely thrilled with their manager winning this Cup, they were celebrating with the fans in the street who just couldn’t believe that their club have won the Champions League!

Uefa Cup

The defending Champions league winners didn’t manage to defend their crown, therefore they found themselves in the Uefa Cup final, that’s right, Tottenham try to win Europe’s other big prize, in their way are Italian giants Roma who been building up a squad full of World class talent

Roma Too Hot For Spurs

Tottenham 1 : 2 Roma

Super Cup

So it’s the Champions league winner who takes on the Uefa Cup winner, so that means its Spurs against Man Utd!

Which English team will take home the Silverware? Only one way to find out!

Spurs Too Hot For Red Devils!!

Tottenham 3 : 2 Man Utd

I hope you have all enjoyed reading the EFB Zeitung once more, for me, it was an absolutely crazy and unbelievable season, so that rounds up another brilliant season, next up, season 10!

Zeitung by Goldy

[Andy H]

Superb Zeitung as usual Steve.

[Dark_Soccer]

Dont want to just barge in or anything but since I am so fluent in my German what does Zeitung mean??

And i hope it is German or i have made a complete idiot out of myself

[Goldy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dark_Soccer:

Dont want to just barge in or anything but since I am so fluent in my German what does Zeitung mean??

And i hope it is German or i have made a complete idiot out of myself <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am suprised they have not taught you that at school!

Zeitung = Newspaper

Cheers Andy!

[chef]

another good report steve

[Andy H]

From a Ram To A Canary

Yes that’s right folks Andrew Hepburn as flown his nest from the Rams of Derby onto the highflying Canaries of Norwich. It was noted that Hepburn was starting to become disillusioned with life at Pride Park and was reportedly on the lookout for a new job. It was a surprise move by Hepburn but one that he made for the good of his career.

So it was onto life as manager of Norwich City. A club that has a proud tradition and has done very very well as of late. Once managed by Wayne Brister before he had to leave due to unforeseen circumstances it was the job of Hepburn to try to take Norwich that one stage further and onto the top level in the Premiership and into the Champions League.

Looking at the squad it was time for a rebuild during pre season but firstly Hepburn wanted to get Norwich as far up the table as possible for the remainder of the season.

The League Campaign

Hepburn’s first game in charge saw Hepburn’s Norwich take on WBA at the Hawthorns Stadium.

WBA v Norwich – (A) – 1-2

Having only a day to prepare his team this match was really seeing what players made the grade for Hepburn and what areas of the team needed strengthening. WBA dominated the game from the off as Norwich’s old rear guard caved in to the constant Braathen led pressure from WBA. Cherno Samba grabbed Norwich’s goal to show Hepburn some of what this guy is all about.

Norwich v Peterbrough – (H) – 4-1

Hepburn’s first game at Carrow Road and what a way to endear yourself to the fans – a thumping win with some great football played at the same time. Again Samba was the highlight for Norwich as grabbed two of the four Norwich goals. Young striker David Davison also grabbed his first goal for Norwich and an own goal from Lee Cartwright put the icing on the cake on a superb performance from Norwich.

Hull v Norwich – (A) – 0-3

Another away game for Hepburn and this time he was at his old club Hull. As usual the fans gave him a heroes reception but they could do nothing as they cheered three Hull goals and three points for their side. Norwich were poor in all areas highlighting the fact that change at Carrow Road was needed during pre season. Even Cherno Samba had a bad game that tells you something about how bad Norwich were. Credit to Hull who were up for this and put the canaries under all sorts of pressure.

Norwich v Preston – (H) – 0-4

Norwich reeling after their 3-0 beating at Hull got another thumping. This time it was off Peter Smith’s high flying Preston. Norwich did have their chances to get back into this game but a series of bad defending and goalkeeping led to Preston’s four goals. In truth however Norwich just could not handle Adam Arthur as so many other sides have found to their cost. He terrorised the Norwich defence with two goals and plus could have scored numerous other chances.

Norwich v Stevenage – (H) – 1-4

Next up at Carrow Road was championship challengers Stevenage managed by Steve Gold. Norwich made the mistake of scoring first in the game through Shaun Wright-Phillips and this only seemingly ****ed off there opponents. Four second half goals and numerous other chances were enough to keep the Stevenage championship bandwagon rolling on.

Everton v Norwich – (A) – 4-1

It was a tough start for Hepburn’s managerial reign at Norwich facing some tough games straight away. They were on a losing run and confidence was low. Next up was a trip to Goodison Park to face relegation threatened Everton. You can always rely on Everton to boost your team’s goalscoring column and points total. It was a game of two doubles from Norwich’s front pairing of Cherno Samba and Bryan Stewart. They managed to dominate Everton straight away and Everton had no answer for the pace and power of Norwich. It was also good to see Norwich getting back on track for a top ten finish.

Norwich v Blackburn – (H) – 1-1

The Norwich fans were on a high after seeing their team get back to winning ways against Everton. The goals were flowing and the team was playing well. They continued this form into the game with Blackburn and had them under severe pressure for most of the game but they just could not finish the chances they were creating. It took Norwich until the fifty seventh minute to open the scoring and of course the goalscorer was Samba and was created by the talented Tyrone Berry. Norwich pressed forward after the goal in search for the second game killing goal. However they were caught out and hit on the counter attack for the Blackburn equaliser much to the dismay of the fans. Again Norwich threw everything at Blackburn but just could fins a way past Freidel in the Blackburn goal.

Tottenham v Norwich – (A) – 0-1

A really tough match this one. Spurs are one of the best teams in Europe at the moment and they showed why during the game. Their workrate and willingness to work for each other was evident as they did not let Norwich gain any advantage over them. They limited Norwich to just a couple of chances none of which were taken by Norwich much to the anger of Hepburn in the dugout. However Norwich defended very well against the onslaught of Spurs pressure and only a Petrov penalty separated the sides despite Spurs having most of the game.

Norwich v Newcastle – (H) – 0-0

A candidate for most boring game of the season this one. Hardly any action worth talking about apart from Norwich missing the chances they did have.

Man Utd v Norwich – (A) 0-2

This game goes by the old saying football is a game of two halves. First half Norwich dominated the mighty Man Utd but again their downfall was that they could not put the ball in the back of the net. They created numerous clear cut chances but again poor finishing cost them dearly. In the second half Man Utd came out flexing their muscles after an ear bashing and took poor Norwich apart in the second half.

Norwich v Derby – (H) – 3-3

How fitting that the last game of the season pitted Hepburn’s new employers against his old employers. Some people complain about boring end of the season affairs but not this one. This had goals, drama the whole lot. Sandro Ferretti got Norwich off to a good start only for Derby to equalise right on half time through Hadzi. Into the second half and Norwich regained the lead through Roger Graham but only for them to throw away that lead almost straight away with some comical defending. Then Graham grabbed his second and Norwich’s third but only for Derby to hit back for a third time and in injury time to grab a point. The Derby players did not shake hands with Hepburn after the match due to some of the things said in the press by Hepburn about them.

So the end of the season came about and it was time for the rebuilding to begin for Hepburn who had already secured the signing of some top names who would be joining Norwich in the summer. For now Hepburn was away for a break to the Caribbean to prepare for the new season.

Pre Season At Carrow Road

Pre season was upon us and Hepburn went about his business in the transfer market and secured the names of a number of players. These players were:

Alessio Marchesi (SC) – From Sampdoria - £10 Million

Rincon (DR) – From Man Utd - £3.4 Million

Scott Agnew (AM/Forward/R/L – From Rangers - £2.8 Million

Lee Sims (DR) – From Stevenage - £2.5 Million

Tommy Walsh (SC) – From Arsenal - £2.4 Million

Matthew Killgallon (DC) – From Everton - £2 Million

Nicky James (SC) – From Derby - £1 Million

Mikel Arteta (MC) – Free Transfer

Jelle Van Damme (DLC) – Free Transfer

John Spicer (MC) – Free transfer

Kolo Abib Toure Defender/Midfielder (Centre) – Free Transfer

Danny Coid – Free Transfer

Hepburn spent all his budget but he feels he has spent it very wisely. He was excited about the prospect of Arteta and Marchesi joining the canaries and hoped they would fire them to glory along with the rest of the squad of course.

The League Campaign – 2012/13 Season

Pre season was over and now the real action was about to begin. Hepburn and his team had an awkard pre season in terms of friendlies but it was all about gelling as a team and getting the fitness. Some results were awful but they will count for nothing if Hepburn and his team come out of the season with some silverware. Here is a rundown of the opening games…..

Hull v Norwich – (A) – 1-1

After the thumping win last season in this fixture Hepburn was not hoping for a repeat. His new look team of course will take time to gel and they actually played pretty well against a talented Hull team with the inspirational Freddy Guarin in their ranks, a player whom Hepburn brought to these shores. Norwich started off the better of the two teams and Alessio Marchesi made an instant impact only sixteen minutes into his debut, running onto a through ball and firing it into the roof of the net. Hull came back into the match and equalised through Michael Chopra. In the second half Hull were reduced to ten men as Okoronkwo was given his marching orders for pulling down Marchesi. From then on it was all Norwich but could not find a way past Kristiansen who was in top form and he had to be. Solid start to the season away from home.

Norwich v Liverpool – (H) – 6-2

Norwich’s first home game of the new season saw them entertain Liverpool who had suffered some problems that saw them relegated to Division One. Rob Perry was now in charge and has revitalised them and got them back to the Premiership. It was an entertaining game to say the least, well if you are a Norwich fan that is as they took Pool apart with an awesome display. The man at the heart of it all was Tyrone Berry who managed to grab an incredible five goals as Pool could not handle the boy’s pace and finishing. It truly was a great performance from Norwich as they welcomed Pool back to the Premiership in style.

Middlesbrough v Norwich – (A) – 6-1

After that awesome performance at home against Pool it was time for a trip to the Riverside and it was another thrilling victory for the Canaries. The performance was aided by some very poor discipline on the part of Boro as they tried to kick Norwich off the park. Again star of the show was Tyrone Berry who continued his awesome goalscoring form with a hat trick on top of the five he had scored in the previous game. Marchesi also continued his good goalscoring start to the season with a tap in after missing a penalty. Cherno Samba also got off the mark for the season with a glorious double as Norwich were rampant. Another superb performance.

Norwich v WBA – (H) – 2-2

After the two previous games the Norwich fans were optimistic of their team continuing their superb start to the season. They welcomed WBA to Carrow Road but they proved to be tough opponents as always. It was that man Tyrone Berry who opened the scoring for Norwich after only seven minutes. WBA hit back though after some poor defending. Cherno Samba restored the Canaries lead only for WBA to hit back for a second time to level the match at half time. The second half was more Norwich pressing but could not find a way past Morgan De Sanctis in the WBA goal.

Fulham v Norwich – (A) – 3-5

Next up was a trip to Fulham who had also started the season very well indeed. This game was a case of defending out the window and all out attack from the start by both teams. In the end Fulham took more of their chances than Norwich whose shooting was woeful in the second half. After going 2-0 down, Marchesi grabbed a goal to get Norwich back into the match and then Arteta managed to equalise right on half time. In the second half Norwich’s strikers seem to have left their shooting boots in the dressing room. Fulham re took the lead only for Tyrone berry to again equalise for Norwich. Norwich then passed up numerous opportunities after the equaliser and Fulham grabbed two late goals to give Fulham the win and end Norwich’s unbeaten start to the season.