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