The draw for the group stages of the Maestros Cup took place this evening with each team drawn in to one of two groups of 4 teams each.
The winner and runner-up of each group will proceed to the semi-finals, with the winner's meeting in the final in mid-December; the weekend of 'Super Sunday' when Arsenal play Chelsea and Man Utd play Liverpool.
Here are the groups.
Group A
The Piemen (Chris)
Berbie Goes Bananas (Leon)
It's Only Ray Parlour (David T)
Forthy's Tractor Boys (Peter)
Group B
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 (Ken)
Finntastic FC (David M)
Snaiks 11 (Shalin)
Bobby Robson's Old Boys (Marc)
The first games are next weekend - thanks, and good luck!
Saturday, 29 September 2007
MMM Maestros Cup Schedule
October 2nd-8th
The Piemen vs Berbie Goes Bananas
It's Only Ray Parlour vs Forthy's Tractor Boys
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 vs Finntastic FC
Snaiks 11 vs Bobby Robson's Old Boys
October 9th-15th
International Week
October 16th-22nd
Berbie Goes Bananas vs It's Only Ray Parlour
Forthy's Tractor Boys vs The Piemen
Finntastic FC vs Snaiks 11
Bobby Robson's Old Boys vs Done Like A Kipper 2.0
October 23rd-29th
Forthy's Tractor Boys vs Berbie Goes Bananas
It's Only Ray Parlour vs The Piemen
Bobby Robson's Old Boys vs Finntastic FC
Snaiks 11 vs Done Like A Kipper 2.0
October 30th-November 5th
Berbie Goes Bananas vs Forthy's Tractor Boys
The Piemen vs It's Only Ray Parlour
Finntastic FC vs Bobby Robson's Old Boys
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 vs Snaiks 11
November 6th-12th
Berbie Goes Bananas vs The Piemen
Forthy's Tractor Boys vs It's Only Ray Parlour
Finntastic FC vs Done Like A Kipper 2.0
Bobby Robson's Old Boys vs Snaiks 11
November 13th-19th
International Week
November 20th-26th
The Piemen vs Forthy's Tractor Boys
It's Only Ray Parlour vs Berbie Goes Bananas
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 vs Bobby Robson's Old Boys
Snaiks 11 vs Finntastic FC
November 27th-December 3rd
Semi-Final First Leg
December 4th-December 10th
Semi-Final Second Leg
December 11th-December 17th
Maestros Cup Final
The Piemen vs Berbie Goes Bananas
It's Only Ray Parlour vs Forthy's Tractor Boys
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 vs Finntastic FC
Snaiks 11 vs Bobby Robson's Old Boys
October 9th-15th
International Week
October 16th-22nd
Berbie Goes Bananas vs It's Only Ray Parlour
Forthy's Tractor Boys vs The Piemen
Finntastic FC vs Snaiks 11
Bobby Robson's Old Boys vs Done Like A Kipper 2.0
October 23rd-29th
Forthy's Tractor Boys vs Berbie Goes Bananas
It's Only Ray Parlour vs The Piemen
Bobby Robson's Old Boys vs Finntastic FC
Snaiks 11 vs Done Like A Kipper 2.0
October 30th-November 5th
Berbie Goes Bananas vs Forthy's Tractor Boys
The Piemen vs It's Only Ray Parlour
Finntastic FC vs Bobby Robson's Old Boys
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 vs Snaiks 11
November 6th-12th
Berbie Goes Bananas vs The Piemen
Forthy's Tractor Boys vs It's Only Ray Parlour
Finntastic FC vs Done Like A Kipper 2.0
Bobby Robson's Old Boys vs Snaiks 11
November 13th-19th
International Week
November 20th-26th
The Piemen vs Forthy's Tractor Boys
It's Only Ray Parlour vs Berbie Goes Bananas
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 vs Bobby Robson's Old Boys
Snaiks 11 vs Finntastic FC
November 27th-December 3rd
Semi-Final First Leg
December 4th-December 10th
Semi-Final Second Leg
December 11th-December 17th
Maestros Cup Final
VBCL Stilton Trophy Schedule
October 2nd-8th
Golden Eagles vs AC Tricey
Gusset Rovers vs You Gotta Have A System
Basingstoke Beavers vs We Were Leeds
AFC Cornwall vs Scott Arnold
October 9th-15th
International Week
October 16th-22nd
AC Tricey vs Gusset Rovers
You Gotta Have A System vs Golden Eagles
We Were Leeds vs AFC Cornwall
Scott Arnold vs Basingstoke Beavers
October 23rd-29th
You Gotta Have A System vs AC Tricey
Gusset Rovers vs Golden Eagles
Scott Arnold vs We Were Leeds
AFC Cornwall vs Basingstoke Beavers
October 30th-November 5th
AC Tricey vs You Gotta Have A System
Golden Eagles vs Gusset Rovers
We Were Leeds vs Scott Arnold
Basingstoke Beavers vs AFC Cornwall
November 6th-12th
AC Tricey vs Golden Eagles
You Gotta Have A System vs Gusset Rovers
We Were Leeds vs Basingstoke Beavers
Scott Arnold vs AFC Cornwall
November 13th-19th
International Week
November 20th-26th
Golden Eagles vs You Gotta Have A System
Gusset Rovers vs AC Tricey
Basingstoke Beavers vs Scott Arnold
AFC Cornwall vs We Were Leeds
November 27th-December 3rd
Semi-Final First Leg
December 4th-December 10th
Semi-Final Second Leg
December 11th-December 17th
Stilton Trophy Final
Golden Eagles vs AC Tricey
Gusset Rovers vs You Gotta Have A System
Basingstoke Beavers vs We Were Leeds
AFC Cornwall vs Scott Arnold
October 9th-15th
International Week
October 16th-22nd
AC Tricey vs Gusset Rovers
You Gotta Have A System vs Golden Eagles
We Were Leeds vs AFC Cornwall
Scott Arnold vs Basingstoke Beavers
October 23rd-29th
You Gotta Have A System vs AC Tricey
Gusset Rovers vs Golden Eagles
Scott Arnold vs We Were Leeds
AFC Cornwall vs Basingstoke Beavers
October 30th-November 5th
AC Tricey vs You Gotta Have A System
Golden Eagles vs Gusset Rovers
We Were Leeds vs Scott Arnold
Basingstoke Beavers vs AFC Cornwall
November 6th-12th
AC Tricey vs Golden Eagles
You Gotta Have A System vs Gusset Rovers
We Were Leeds vs Basingstoke Beavers
Scott Arnold vs AFC Cornwall
November 13th-19th
International Week
November 20th-26th
Golden Eagles vs You Gotta Have A System
Gusset Rovers vs AC Tricey
Basingstoke Beavers vs Scott Arnold
AFC Cornwall vs We Were Leeds
November 27th-December 3rd
Semi-Final First Leg
December 4th-December 10th
Semi-Final Second Leg
December 11th-December 17th
Stilton Trophy Final
VBCL Stilton Trophy Draw
The Draw for the group stages have been made, even though the league hasn't begun, and this is the lineup.
Group A
Golden Eagles (Glyn)
AC Tricey (David)
Gusset Rovers (Matt)
You Gotta Have A System (Jon R-O)
Group B
Basingstoke Beavers (Jon S)
We Were Leeds (Suresh)
AFC Cornwall (Stuart)
Scott Arnold (Scott)
It is a complete coincidence, but all three newcomers are in Group B.
Can anyone lay claim to being the current holder of the Stilton Trophy, by the way?
David
Group A
Golden Eagles (Glyn)
AC Tricey (David)
Gusset Rovers (Matt)
You Gotta Have A System (Jon R-O)
Group B
Basingstoke Beavers (Jon S)
We Were Leeds (Suresh)
AFC Cornwall (Stuart)
Scott Arnold (Scott)
It is a complete coincidence, but all three newcomers are in Group B.
Can anyone lay claim to being the current holder of the Stilton Trophy, by the way?
David
Monday, 17 September 2007
MMM : First Round Auction Results
The first round of the Online Auction for the Monday Morning Magnificos has now ended with some surprising results. This is my first experience of an online auction league, and I have to admit to being surprised with just how many players we all ended up with.
The lowest number of bids won was 7 by both Leon Hayes and Shalin Naik, with five teams managing to win 11 bids or more. The Piemen (Chris Lamy) topped out with 13 and a further £36m in the bank to spend on just three more players.
But looking just at budgets and bids won doesn't tell the whole story - as Arsene Wenger would say, what is the quality of the player that each manager has bought. Here's my first take.
Berbie Goes Bananas (Leon Hayes), 7 Bids Won for £58.5m
In probably the most inevitable bid, Leon went for Dimitar Berbatov with an amazing bid of £21.5m - outbidding Finntastic FC by £5.5m. But he backed this up with successful bids for strikers Fernando Torres (£21.5m) and Andy Johnson (£6.25m) with Johnson perhaps a bargain at this value with only Snaiks XI submitting a bid for the Everton striker.
The amazing bargain of the lot might be Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho for £2.25m, which certainly does make Leon's defence look a lot better than it might have done, losing out on several low bids for good quality defenders. I bet Leon wonders what he might have done with the £4.25m he bid for Jermaine Pennant unchallenged.
Whilst Leon may have three top quality strikers, his season will rest on what he can do with a limited budget and a lot of positions still to fill including key defenders and goalkeeper.
Bobby Robson's Old Boys (Marc Bradbrook), 11 Bids Won for £45.5m
Marc adopted what appears to be a similar strategy to me - to the extent that he bid for two strikers that I went for. Anelka (£8.75m) and Viduka (£7.5m) form an excellent if temperamental strike force. Marc missed out on Michael Owen, though, as he tried to collect Big Sam's strikers.
Elsewhere Marc was unlucky to miss out on Jose Reina by quarter of a million, and Leighton Baines by £2.75m but otherwise secured a good defense lead by Steve Finnan, Micah Richards, Olaf Mellberg, John Terry and Alan Stubbs (if he'll play). Terry is pretty good value at £8m, but Finnan outstanding value at £2.25m.
Shaun Wright-Phillips stands out in midfield for £6m, with fellow Ipswich fan outbidding Marc for Ashley Young and Morten Gamst Pedersen. I've got to admit that I refused to pay big money for midfielders since the difference between a pretty good one and an average one can only by about 20 points which compares very unfavourably with the differences for goalkeepers - but more of that later.
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 (Ken Yau) - 11 bids won for £31m
Ken has a lot of money left in the bank which makes him dangerous in the second round, but he is left hunting for strikers since he missed out on each of Torres, Owen and Berbatov.
Having Wigan's keeper is a bit of a liability, but clearly Ken has faith since he's added Emerson Boyce at full back. Tony Hibbert is a sold selection too as he seems to have a spot in Everton's regular team. Big splashes for Jonathan Woodgate and William Gallas will leave Ken waiting on injury news much of the season, but Amdy Faye might be a really shrewd selection.
Ken spent heavily on Gareth Barry - another player with an international week that boosted his value - but will not be pleased to learn that he was the only player to bid. That's £11.5m wasted... Continuing the theme of big purchases coupled with shrewd investments a midfield of Cahill, Richardson and Parker for £0.5m is not to be sniffed at.
Ken has a lot of money in the bank left - he'll have to hope that there are some good strikers to pick up with it.
Castores Venezolanos (David Trice) - 9 bids won for £51m
Not one but two of the best goalkeepers in the game are on my team. Cech and Reina were secured for £8.25m, and yes that was part of the plan! I'm even more delighted to learn that I outbid colleagues by that extra £0.25m - no, even as chair I cannot see your bids so there is no cheating going on.
As I said before the drop-off at 'keeper and defnder lead me to try and focus on these players, but sadly my plan didn't quite come off. Whilst I picked Emanuel Eboue and Phil Jagielka for next to nothing from good teams (hoping Eboue will be fit on two counts!) I was disappointed not to get Champions League Final scoring Chelsea fullback Belletti with Forthie outbidding me by £3.75m.
Still, securing Daniel Agger of Liverpool at centre back gives me a rock in this position and Mikael Silvestre and Gary Neville's injuries are good news for Man Utd defender Wes Brown who came in to the team for £2.25m.
In midfield I made speculatively low bids for quality players and it came off securing El-Hadj Diouf, whilst Paul Scholes came at a high price considering my only challenge was a minimum bid from the Kippers.
Robin Van Persie leads the line and for a man who had scored 8 from 8 before his season ending injury he looks like a relative bargain compared to Berbie and Torres at £13.25m.
Sadly I came up short on Anelka and Viduka and I'll be looking jealously at Bobby Robson's Old Boys all season long. Still, happy to get RVP, Cech, Reina, Agger and Scholes, my big five targets, and need to get lucky in my next picks on a limited budget to secure the rest of the team.
By the way - for any VBCL owners reading... don't expect me to have followed this strategy in your league!
The Piemen (Chris Lamy) - 13 bids won for £39m
The Piemen are fat on their bidding success... 13 players. Carson and Schmeichel were excellent selections at low prices. Clichy, Warnock and Arbeloa absolute bargains for a £1m apiece. Tal Ben Haim, Joleon Lescott (sickening) and David Rozenahl are all quality centre backs also at a low low price of £1m.
In midfield Chris also bid a low £1m for Elano and Sibierski who are hot right now and Seb Larsson (perhaps betraying his Arsenal allegiances a little too much!). Fortunately he didn't sneak Arteta past us with a low bid.
But what did all of this fiscal prudence get Chris? Well, a chance to big bid money for quality players - and that's where the strategy didn't quite work. Cesc Fabregas came for £15m and he is an outstanding player with a very strong scoring record already this season. Benni McCarthy is an excellent striker and if he repeats last season's 50+ points haul he'll be worth his £10m bid. But failing to secure Torres and Owen spoils this set of bids a bit.
With only three players remaining, Chris's research should be easy for this one and his bid decision-making... well pretty easy too. He just needs to find two great strikers amongst the free agents.
Forthie's Tractor Boys (Peter Forth) - 12 bids won for £51m
Peter was last to submit his bids, and has done well for his money. Tim Howard for £2m is excellent value although getting Cech too would have made this a great pair of keepers. Belletti, Baines and Bale are all excellent pick ups at full back although Bale's bid was uncontested.
Central defence is a bit softer, missing out on Agger Peter has Laursen of Villa and Distin of Portsmouth whilst a solid midfield of Ashley Young, Morten Gamst Pederson, James Milner and Jermaine Jenas is good value too despite £16m spent. A tied bid was lost for Noble.
Up front though the Tractor Boys look a little light. Aliadiere and Ashton were good value at their price, but without Benni McCarthy the team is short of a player who will score 10-15 goals this season, in my opinion. The success of this selection rests on finding a good striker and getting further quality in defence.
Finntastic FC (David Mason) - 12 bids won for £52m
And finally - Dave Mason picked up some excellent defenders in Friedel, Cole, Riise and Toure at reasonable prices. Toure particularly for £2m. Losing out on Wes Brown and Micah Richards and not losing out on Ledley King spoiled this a bit ;-)
This is probably the most interesting midfield so far - Reo Coker for £0.25m is a very shrewd selection IMO. Bentley for £5m and Arteta for £6m gives Dave an excellent platform. Babel has looked superb in his brief Liverpool appearances and Freddie Ljungberg could get 30+ points if he stays fit.
Up front Dave picked up Michael Owen who I suspect he'll be really pleased to have on his team, but not getting Berbatov or Anelka spoils the selection a bit.
Overall some shrewd picks and a very sound base in midfield. Without much budget left and two strikers left to buy, Finntastic FC need to be lucky in their final selections. But if they can, they'll round out a very good team indeed.
Free Agents
Well - to be honest this is the big news... we could all have had Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Ryan Giggs, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba or Cristiano Ronaldo for absolutely no cash outlay whatsoever. Shocking!
In goal Jens Lehmann may have gone AWOL mentally but no one picked him or his replacement Manuel Almunia. Other good keepers available include David James, Marcus Hahnemann, Jaskelainen, Robert Green and Paul Robinson.
Full backs include Gary Neville, Wayne Bridge, Paulo Ferreira, Geremi and others. Centre backs left include Rio Ferdinand and Tony Vidic, Yobo, Hyppia and many more besides.
So there is plenty of quality still available and plenty of competition for those remaining spots. Don't forget to submit your bids by Thursday night (10pm) and look out for more news.
The lowest number of bids won was 7 by both Leon Hayes and Shalin Naik, with five teams managing to win 11 bids or more. The Piemen (Chris Lamy) topped out with 13 and a further £36m in the bank to spend on just three more players.
But looking just at budgets and bids won doesn't tell the whole story - as Arsene Wenger would say, what is the quality of the player that each manager has bought. Here's my first take.
Berbie Goes Bananas (Leon Hayes), 7 Bids Won for £58.5m
In probably the most inevitable bid, Leon went for Dimitar Berbatov with an amazing bid of £21.5m - outbidding Finntastic FC by £5.5m. But he backed this up with successful bids for strikers Fernando Torres (£21.5m) and Andy Johnson (£6.25m) with Johnson perhaps a bargain at this value with only Snaiks XI submitting a bid for the Everton striker.
The amazing bargain of the lot might be Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho for £2.25m, which certainly does make Leon's defence look a lot better than it might have done, losing out on several low bids for good quality defenders. I bet Leon wonders what he might have done with the £4.25m he bid for Jermaine Pennant unchallenged.
Whilst Leon may have three top quality strikers, his season will rest on what he can do with a limited budget and a lot of positions still to fill including key defenders and goalkeeper.
Bobby Robson's Old Boys (Marc Bradbrook), 11 Bids Won for £45.5m
Marc adopted what appears to be a similar strategy to me - to the extent that he bid for two strikers that I went for. Anelka (£8.75m) and Viduka (£7.5m) form an excellent if temperamental strike force. Marc missed out on Michael Owen, though, as he tried to collect Big Sam's strikers.
Elsewhere Marc was unlucky to miss out on Jose Reina by quarter of a million, and Leighton Baines by £2.75m but otherwise secured a good defense lead by Steve Finnan, Micah Richards, Olaf Mellberg, John Terry and Alan Stubbs (if he'll play). Terry is pretty good value at £8m, but Finnan outstanding value at £2.25m.
Shaun Wright-Phillips stands out in midfield for £6m, with fellow Ipswich fan outbidding Marc for Ashley Young and Morten Gamst Pedersen. I've got to admit that I refused to pay big money for midfielders since the difference between a pretty good one and an average one can only by about 20 points which compares very unfavourably with the differences for goalkeepers - but more of that later.
Done Like A Kipper 2.0 (Ken Yau) - 11 bids won for £31m
Ken has a lot of money left in the bank which makes him dangerous in the second round, but he is left hunting for strikers since he missed out on each of Torres, Owen and Berbatov.
Having Wigan's keeper is a bit of a liability, but clearly Ken has faith since he's added Emerson Boyce at full back. Tony Hibbert is a sold selection too as he seems to have a spot in Everton's regular team. Big splashes for Jonathan Woodgate and William Gallas will leave Ken waiting on injury news much of the season, but Amdy Faye might be a really shrewd selection.
Ken spent heavily on Gareth Barry - another player with an international week that boosted his value - but will not be pleased to learn that he was the only player to bid. That's £11.5m wasted... Continuing the theme of big purchases coupled with shrewd investments a midfield of Cahill, Richardson and Parker for £0.5m is not to be sniffed at.
Ken has a lot of money in the bank left - he'll have to hope that there are some good strikers to pick up with it.
Castores Venezolanos (David Trice) - 9 bids won for £51m
Not one but two of the best goalkeepers in the game are on my team. Cech and Reina were secured for £8.25m, and yes that was part of the plan! I'm even more delighted to learn that I outbid colleagues by that extra £0.25m - no, even as chair I cannot see your bids so there is no cheating going on.
As I said before the drop-off at 'keeper and defnder lead me to try and focus on these players, but sadly my plan didn't quite come off. Whilst I picked Emanuel Eboue and Phil Jagielka for next to nothing from good teams (hoping Eboue will be fit on two counts!) I was disappointed not to get Champions League Final scoring Chelsea fullback Belletti with Forthie outbidding me by £3.75m.
Still, securing Daniel Agger of Liverpool at centre back gives me a rock in this position and Mikael Silvestre and Gary Neville's injuries are good news for Man Utd defender Wes Brown who came in to the team for £2.25m.
In midfield I made speculatively low bids for quality players and it came off securing El-Hadj Diouf, whilst Paul Scholes came at a high price considering my only challenge was a minimum bid from the Kippers.
Robin Van Persie leads the line and for a man who had scored 8 from 8 before his season ending injury he looks like a relative bargain compared to Berbie and Torres at £13.25m.
Sadly I came up short on Anelka and Viduka and I'll be looking jealously at Bobby Robson's Old Boys all season long. Still, happy to get RVP, Cech, Reina, Agger and Scholes, my big five targets, and need to get lucky in my next picks on a limited budget to secure the rest of the team.
By the way - for any VBCL owners reading... don't expect me to have followed this strategy in your league!
The Piemen (Chris Lamy) - 13 bids won for £39m
The Piemen are fat on their bidding success... 13 players. Carson and Schmeichel were excellent selections at low prices. Clichy, Warnock and Arbeloa absolute bargains for a £1m apiece. Tal Ben Haim, Joleon Lescott (sickening) and David Rozenahl are all quality centre backs also at a low low price of £1m.
In midfield Chris also bid a low £1m for Elano and Sibierski who are hot right now and Seb Larsson (perhaps betraying his Arsenal allegiances a little too much!). Fortunately he didn't sneak Arteta past us with a low bid.
But what did all of this fiscal prudence get Chris? Well, a chance to big bid money for quality players - and that's where the strategy didn't quite work. Cesc Fabregas came for £15m and he is an outstanding player with a very strong scoring record already this season. Benni McCarthy is an excellent striker and if he repeats last season's 50+ points haul he'll be worth his £10m bid. But failing to secure Torres and Owen spoils this set of bids a bit.
With only three players remaining, Chris's research should be easy for this one and his bid decision-making... well pretty easy too. He just needs to find two great strikers amongst the free agents.
Forthie's Tractor Boys (Peter Forth) - 12 bids won for £51m
Peter was last to submit his bids, and has done well for his money. Tim Howard for £2m is excellent value although getting Cech too would have made this a great pair of keepers. Belletti, Baines and Bale are all excellent pick ups at full back although Bale's bid was uncontested.
Central defence is a bit softer, missing out on Agger Peter has Laursen of Villa and Distin of Portsmouth whilst a solid midfield of Ashley Young, Morten Gamst Pederson, James Milner and Jermaine Jenas is good value too despite £16m spent. A tied bid was lost for Noble.
Up front though the Tractor Boys look a little light. Aliadiere and Ashton were good value at their price, but without Benni McCarthy the team is short of a player who will score 10-15 goals this season, in my opinion. The success of this selection rests on finding a good striker and getting further quality in defence.
Finntastic FC (David Mason) - 12 bids won for £52m
And finally - Dave Mason picked up some excellent defenders in Friedel, Cole, Riise and Toure at reasonable prices. Toure particularly for £2m. Losing out on Wes Brown and Micah Richards and not losing out on Ledley King spoiled this a bit ;-)
This is probably the most interesting midfield so far - Reo Coker for £0.25m is a very shrewd selection IMO. Bentley for £5m and Arteta for £6m gives Dave an excellent platform. Babel has looked superb in his brief Liverpool appearances and Freddie Ljungberg could get 30+ points if he stays fit.
Up front Dave picked up Michael Owen who I suspect he'll be really pleased to have on his team, but not getting Berbatov or Anelka spoils the selection a bit.
Overall some shrewd picks and a very sound base in midfield. Without much budget left and two strikers left to buy, Finntastic FC need to be lucky in their final selections. But if they can, they'll round out a very good team indeed.
Free Agents
Well - to be honest this is the big news... we could all have had Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Ryan Giggs, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba or Cristiano Ronaldo for absolutely no cash outlay whatsoever. Shocking!
In goal Jens Lehmann may have gone AWOL mentally but no one picked him or his replacement Manuel Almunia. Other good keepers available include David James, Marcus Hahnemann, Jaskelainen, Robert Green and Paul Robinson.
Full backs include Gary Neville, Wayne Bridge, Paulo Ferreira, Geremi and others. Centre backs left include Rio Ferdinand and Tony Vidic, Yobo, Hyppia and many more besides.
So there is plenty of quality still available and plenty of competition for those remaining spots. Don't forget to submit your bids by Thursday night (10pm) and look out for more news.
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
CSMCL : Transfer Deadlines
Quick confirmation that all transfer deadlines will be at 2200 on a Thursday, on the following dates.
1 - 27th September
2 - 18th October
3 - 8th November
4 - 6th December
5 - 10th January
6 - 17th January
7 - 24th January
8 - 31st January
9 - 7th February
10 - 6th March
11 - 3rd April
12 - 1st May
You'll note that save for the January transfer window the deadlines are the first Thursday of each month from December onwards.
1 - 27th September
2 - 18th October
3 - 8th November
4 - 6th December
5 - 10th January
6 - 17th January
7 - 24th January
8 - 31st January
9 - 7th February
10 - 6th March
11 - 3rd April
12 - 1st May
You'll note that save for the January transfer window the deadlines are the first Thursday of each month from December onwards.
CSMCL : Dairylea Triangular Tournament Schedule
September 18th-24th
Group A - The Who vs Hoad Harriers
Group B - Dinorben Tigers vs Farcelona
Group C - Rennet Rovers vs Cabernet United
September 25th-October 1st
Group A - Hoad Harriers vs AFC Richmond's Rovers
Group B - Farcelona vs Prancing Show Ponies
Group C - Cabernet United vs Oi Oi Saveloy
October 2nd-8th
Group A - AFC Richmond's Rovers vs The Who
Group B - Prancing Show Ponies vs Dinorben Tigers
Group C - Oi Oi Saveloy vs Rennet Rovers
October 9th-15th
International Week
October 16th-22nd
Group A - Hoad Harriers vs The Who
Group B - Farcelona vs Dinorben Tigers
Group C - Cabernet United vs Rennet Rovers
October 23rd-29th
Group A - AFC Richmond's Rovers vs Hoad Harriers
Group B - Prancing Show Ponies vs Farcelona
Group C - Oi Oi Saveloy vs Cabernet United
October 30th-November 5th
Group A - The Who vs AFC Richmond's Rovers
Group B - Dinorben Tigers vs Prancing Show Ponies
Group C - Rennet Rovers vs Oi Oi Saveloy
November 20th-26th
Semi-Final Week 1 - Winner Group A vs Winner Group B
November 27th-December 3rd
Semi-Final Week 2 - Winner Group B vs Winner Group C
December 4th-December 10th
Semi-Final Week 3 - Winner Group C vs Winner Group A
December 11th-December 17th
Dairylea Triangular Tournament Final
Group A - The Who vs Hoad Harriers
Group B - Dinorben Tigers vs Farcelona
Group C - Rennet Rovers vs Cabernet United
September 25th-October 1st
Group A - Hoad Harriers vs AFC Richmond's Rovers
Group B - Farcelona vs Prancing Show Ponies
Group C - Cabernet United vs Oi Oi Saveloy
October 2nd-8th
Group A - AFC Richmond's Rovers vs The Who
Group B - Prancing Show Ponies vs Dinorben Tigers
Group C - Oi Oi Saveloy vs Rennet Rovers
October 9th-15th
International Week
October 16th-22nd
Group A - Hoad Harriers vs The Who
Group B - Farcelona vs Dinorben Tigers
Group C - Cabernet United vs Rennet Rovers
October 23rd-29th
Group A - AFC Richmond's Rovers vs Hoad Harriers
Group B - Prancing Show Ponies vs Farcelona
Group C - Oi Oi Saveloy vs Cabernet United
October 30th-November 5th
Group A - The Who vs AFC Richmond's Rovers
Group B - Dinorben Tigers vs Prancing Show Ponies
Group C - Rennet Rovers vs Oi Oi Saveloy
November 20th-26th
Semi-Final Week 1 - Winner Group A vs Winner Group B
November 27th-December 3rd
Semi-Final Week 2 - Winner Group B vs Winner Group C
December 4th-December 10th
Semi-Final Week 3 - Winner Group C vs Winner Group A
December 11th-December 17th
Dairylea Triangular Tournament Final
CSMCL : Dairylea Triangular Tournament Draw
The draw for the first cup competition of the season in CSMCL is complete. The Dairylea Triangular Tournament will conclude just before Christmas with a final on the same weekend that Arsenal play Chelsea and Liverpool play Manchester United.
We have split the nine teams in the CSMCL in to three groups of three (hence, triangular) and each team plays each other in their group twice over the next few weeks.
The idea of a head-to-head game is that the team with the most points that week between you and your opponent wins the game and earns three points in the league table. A draw (i.e. equal points for a game week) earns you one point each. I'll keep you posted on fixtures, results and league tables, but basically you have to try and do as well as you can each week in the Premiership and hope to outscore your opponents.
So, without further ado... here are the groupings.
Group A - The Who (Anthony Trice), Hoad Harriers (Paul Hoad), AFC Richmond's Rovers (Pete Turner)
A grudge match between father and son-in-law for The Who and the Harriers, and Pete Turner professed himself to be quietly confident about this group - we'll see.
Group B - Dinorben Tigers (David Trice), Farcelona (Gavin Short), Prancing Show Ponies (Ben Renshaw)
Initially dubbed "The Group of Death" this could be an interesting group with Farcelona's undoubted power in attack pitted against the Tigers' defence. The Show Ponies will do far more than make up the numbers and have every chance for success.
Group C - Rennet Rovers (Andy Jewitt), Cabernet United (Shiraz Cassim), Oi Oi Saveloy (Andy Holmes)
As the final name was being drawn out of the hat, the Saveloys could have ended up with the Tigers and Farcelona. However Cabernet United will be formidable once their players are fit and Rennet Rovers have had a good start to the season so this may truly be the Group of Death with three very good teams battling each other.
The winner of each group will progress to a further three team "Semi Final" grouping, with the top two from that group meeting in the Final.
Matches start in the week 18th-24th September with the following fixtures.
A - The Who vs Hoad Harriers
B - Dinorben Tigers vs Farcelona
C - Rennet Rovers vs Cabernet United
I'll publish a full schedule in due course.
David
We have split the nine teams in the CSMCL in to three groups of three (hence, triangular) and each team plays each other in their group twice over the next few weeks.
The idea of a head-to-head game is that the team with the most points that week between you and your opponent wins the game and earns three points in the league table. A draw (i.e. equal points for a game week) earns you one point each. I'll keep you posted on fixtures, results and league tables, but basically you have to try and do as well as you can each week in the Premiership and hope to outscore your opponents.
So, without further ado... here are the groupings.
Group A - The Who (Anthony Trice), Hoad Harriers (Paul Hoad), AFC Richmond's Rovers (Pete Turner)
A grudge match between father and son-in-law for The Who and the Harriers, and Pete Turner professed himself to be quietly confident about this group - we'll see.
Group B - Dinorben Tigers (David Trice), Farcelona (Gavin Short), Prancing Show Ponies (Ben Renshaw)
Initially dubbed "The Group of Death" this could be an interesting group with Farcelona's undoubted power in attack pitted against the Tigers' defence. The Show Ponies will do far more than make up the numbers and have every chance for success.
Group C - Rennet Rovers (Andy Jewitt), Cabernet United (Shiraz Cassim), Oi Oi Saveloy (Andy Holmes)
As the final name was being drawn out of the hat, the Saveloys could have ended up with the Tigers and Farcelona. However Cabernet United will be formidable once their players are fit and Rennet Rovers have had a good start to the season so this may truly be the Group of Death with three very good teams battling each other.
The winner of each group will progress to a further three team "Semi Final" grouping, with the top two from that group meeting in the Final.
Matches start in the week 18th-24th September with the following fixtures.
A - The Who vs Hoad Harriers
B - Dinorben Tigers vs Farcelona
C - Rennet Rovers vs Cabernet United
I'll publish a full schedule in due course.
David
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
CSMCL Draft is Complete
The Czechoslovakian Sheep's Milk Cheese League's selection draft was completed last Wednesday evening (29th) and the league began competition in the first weekend in September.
The first league in the Monday Morning Meisterschaft network used an American style selection draft rather than an Online or Traditional auction to select teams with Pete Turner's "AFC Richmond's Rovers" making the first selection of the evening.
Debate had raged at the bar prior to the first selection - would Drogba's indifferent start to the season bump him from the top spot, would Rooney's injury scare off manager's or would the first pick be a surprise selection of a midfielder in last year's top points scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.
We didn't have to wait long to be surprised by the first pick. Pete chose Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie, a move which caused great disappointment for the chairman at the other side of the table.
With the second pick Ben Renshaw selected Cristiano Ronaldo, and with the third Gavin Short picked Didier Drogba. The first real eyebrow raising selection of the evening was to Rennet Rovers when Andy Jewitt chose Manchester United midfielder Nani - this could be an inspired choice but could have been an unnecessary risk so early in the draft. His goal against Tottenham had clearly impressed Andy sufficiently though, and we moved swiftly on.
By the end of the first round it was no surprise to see strikers Wayne Rooney (MU), Mark Viduka (NEW), Obafemi Martins (NEW) and Dimitar Berbatov (TOT) go off the board, with midfielder Frank Lampard (CHE) joining Cabernet United with their first pick.
I felt pretty conflicted about my pick - whilst I was delighted that Berbatov was still available to me at the 8th pick, as an Arsenal fan it is going to be difficult for me to will a Spurs player to score goals for the rest of the season.
Once "Oi Oi Saveloy" picked Martins we began with the second round and Andy Holmes added to the Newcastle striker with Nicolas Anelka from Bolton - a very strong strike force with the first two picks of his draft.
As the draft snaked it's way back to Pete Turner with the 18th pick, I started a run on goalkeepers by picking up Chelsea's Petr Cech with the 10th pick. Jose Reina (LIV) went 12th, Jens Lehmann (ARS) 13th and Tim Howard (EVE) 17th, interspersed by John Arne-Riise (LIV), and strikers Andy Johnson (EVE) and Fernando Torres (LIV).
The final pick of the 2nd round belonged to AFC Richmond's Rovers who selected centre-back John Terry (CHE) at 18 before starting the 3rd round by pairing him with club team mate Ricardo Carvalho (CHE).
As the evening progressed, finger nails were bitten, pens chewed, players overlooked and crisps eaten until we reached the 16th round and the 144th selection by Pete Turner with the selection of Wigan full-back Mario Melchiot.
Over the next few days I'm going to take a look at each team and make my own comments against the selections in the cold light of day and include some predictions, so look out for those on this blog.
Do you think the order of selection and talent in the first two rounds was good, or were you surprised that players fell further or appeared earlier than you had expected? I'd be interested in your views - post your comments against this blog.
David
The first league in the Monday Morning Meisterschaft network used an American style selection draft rather than an Online or Traditional auction to select teams with Pete Turner's "AFC Richmond's Rovers" making the first selection of the evening.
Debate had raged at the bar prior to the first selection - would Drogba's indifferent start to the season bump him from the top spot, would Rooney's injury scare off manager's or would the first pick be a surprise selection of a midfielder in last year's top points scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.
We didn't have to wait long to be surprised by the first pick. Pete chose Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie, a move which caused great disappointment for the chairman at the other side of the table.
With the second pick Ben Renshaw selected Cristiano Ronaldo, and with the third Gavin Short picked Didier Drogba. The first real eyebrow raising selection of the evening was to Rennet Rovers when Andy Jewitt chose Manchester United midfielder Nani - this could be an inspired choice but could have been an unnecessary risk so early in the draft. His goal against Tottenham had clearly impressed Andy sufficiently though, and we moved swiftly on.
By the end of the first round it was no surprise to see strikers Wayne Rooney (MU), Mark Viduka (NEW), Obafemi Martins (NEW) and Dimitar Berbatov (TOT) go off the board, with midfielder Frank Lampard (CHE) joining Cabernet United with their first pick.
I felt pretty conflicted about my pick - whilst I was delighted that Berbatov was still available to me at the 8th pick, as an Arsenal fan it is going to be difficult for me to will a Spurs player to score goals for the rest of the season.
Once "Oi Oi Saveloy" picked Martins we began with the second round and Andy Holmes added to the Newcastle striker with Nicolas Anelka from Bolton - a very strong strike force with the first two picks of his draft.
As the draft snaked it's way back to Pete Turner with the 18th pick, I started a run on goalkeepers by picking up Chelsea's Petr Cech with the 10th pick. Jose Reina (LIV) went 12th, Jens Lehmann (ARS) 13th and Tim Howard (EVE) 17th, interspersed by John Arne-Riise (LIV), and strikers Andy Johnson (EVE) and Fernando Torres (LIV).
The final pick of the 2nd round belonged to AFC Richmond's Rovers who selected centre-back John Terry (CHE) at 18 before starting the 3rd round by pairing him with club team mate Ricardo Carvalho (CHE).
As the evening progressed, finger nails were bitten, pens chewed, players overlooked and crisps eaten until we reached the 16th round and the 144th selection by Pete Turner with the selection of Wigan full-back Mario Melchiot.
Over the next few days I'm going to take a look at each team and make my own comments against the selections in the cold light of day and include some predictions, so look out for those on this blog.
Do you think the order of selection and talent in the first two rounds was good, or were you surprised that players fell further or appeared earlier than you had expected? I'd be interested in your views - post your comments against this blog.
David
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