Thursday 29 January 2009

FA Cup Quarter-final results

Claymore Athletic FC 1 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
San Dimas High School 1 v 3 22 Legged Groove Machine
The Cow-Faced Juniors 2 v 1 Final Fantasy XI
The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 5 You Know Your Boston Rock FC

Semi-final draw to be held at the transfer window get-together.

Thursday 22 January 2009

Bellamy stays with Artisans

Fabulous Artisans manager Ben Warr has rebuffed a £14m offer from Manchester City for his Welsh international striker Craig Bellamy.

The City offer represented a £5m+ profit and would have comfortably been a record sale for the Artisans but Ben gave the moneybags Mancunian outfit short shrift.

Bellamy has only bagged three WSFFL goals since the beginning of the 2007/8 season but the Artisans manager told the co-ordinator: "He's a top class striker, I'm not in the business of selling my best players."

Monday 19 January 2009

Week 17 Results

Week 16 rearranged match

The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 v 1 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum

Week 17

22 Legged Groove Machine 0 v 2 Aardvark Abacus
Claymore Athletic FC 0 v 2 Fred West Landscape Gardening XI
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum 1 v 2 Dynamo Kev
Real Muppets 2 v 0 York’s Returning Glory
San Dimas High School 0 v 4 Mega Buck Bandits
The Dead Parrots 1 v 3 Final Fantasy XI (revised from 2-3)
The Fabulous Artisans 1 v 4 The Cow-Faced Juniors
Trusted By Millions 2 v 6 You Know Your Boston Rock FC

Saturday 17 January 2009

WSFFL FA Cup Quarter-Final Draw

The Fabulous Artisans v You Know Your Boston Rock FC
The Cow-Faced Juniors v Final Fantasy XI
Claymore Athletic FC v Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
San Dimas High School v 22 Legged Groove Machine

Matches to be played midweek 27/28 January.

Wednesday 14 January 2009

Transfer Window Latest - Real Madrid take pity on Fred

Ailing Fred West Landscape Gardening XI have been given a shot in the arm after selling defensive midfielder Lassana Diarra to Real Madrid for £20m.

It's not the first time Madrid have opened their cheque book for one of Fred's players. The Spanish giants paid £24m for Arjen Robben around 18 months ago. The fee remains a record sale for the league.

The Diarra deal is the third biggest outgoing transfer (to my knowledge) in the league's history with second place going to Aardvark Abacus' £21.5m sale of Nicolas Anelka to, yes, Real Madrid.

It's been a quiet start to the month with the only other outgoings being Heidar Helguson from York's Returning Glory to QPR for £1.5m and Mega Buck Bandits releasing Paul Stalteri.

You can see the incoming players for auction in the document in the WSFFL docs section.

Sunday 11 January 2009

Week 16 Results

Aardvark Abacus 0 v 3 The Fabulous Artisans
Dynamo Kev 1 v 2 Trusted By Millions
Final Fantasy XI 1 v 6 Claymore Athletic FC
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2 v 2 San Dimas High School
Mega Buck Bandits 0 v 1 Real Muppets
The Cow-Faced Juniors v Nil Satis Nisi Optimum POSTPONED
York’s Returning Glory 1 v 1 22 Legged Groove Machine
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 1 v 2 The Dead Parrots

Muppets cut Aardvark's lead to four points.
Boston Rock and Groovers fail to take advantage of another Ady defeat.

Monday 5 January 2009

WSFFL FA Cup 1st Round Results

22 Legged Groove Machine 3 v 0 York's Returning Glory
Aardvark Abacus 1 v 3 The Fabulous Artisans
Final Fantasy XI 4 v 0 Mega Buck Bandits
Fred West Landscape Gardening XI 2 v 3 Claymore Athletic FC
Real Muppets 0 v 2 Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
San Dimas High School 2 v 1 The Dead Parrots
The Cow-Faced Juniors 3 v 2 Dynamo Kev
You Know Your Boston Rock FC 3 v 2 Trusted By Millions

Crash! Holders go out to in-form Nil Satis.
Bang! League leaders are beaten by the Artisans, again.
Wallop! Fred's season gets worse.

Sunday 4 January 2009

Half-Term Report - The Fabulous Artisans

After a slow start the team has performed well in the last couple of months to reach mid-table respectability.

The undoubted star of the team is Ashley Young who has been the subject of an unsolicited (hostile!) bid from a rival manager. But 3 mediocre players for one world-class just isn't enough Sheriff. Although I'm new to this management lark I wasn't born yesterday!

I had two holidays during the first half of the season. On reflection it was a mistake to try to pick, coach and manage the team from France and Mauritius. The team lost all 4 games while I was out of the country.

My signings have been successful by and large. Johan Elmander took a while to get going but is now moving nicely. Nadir Belhadj has been a success but Robert Koren didn't work out at all. No goals in half a season at a cost of £5M is just not good enough so he's been moved on (dumped!). I'm quite excited about two youngsters I've picked up from the pool. I've loaned Jay Simpson out to West Brom (Tony Mowbray's an old friend) where I'm hoping he will get some valuable first-team experience (and a few goals!), and Adam Johnson has been the subject of some interest from Real Madrid no less. I'm after a first-team goalkeeper to strengthen the squad, so if anyone has a decent one surplus to requirements please let me know. I'm willing to pay
some money!

Injuries haven't been kind to the team. Bellamy, Elmander, Skrtel and Barton have all had lengthy spells out although 3 of those 4 should be back in action in January.

All in all it's been an enjoyable start to my managerial career. The team has done ok and we are well placed for further steady improvements.