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Host round up Season One
Well, after a number of issues EPL Challenge has completed a very good first season.
Here are just a few memorable moments.
Despite the huge lag, everybody set out with high hopes with Newcastle's Jay Da Costa established as the bookies favourite, ignoring the sceptical and unprintable comments of Spurs manager Sam Bouchard.
As pre-season went into full swing, talented player after talented player arrived at St James' - but surprisingly - quite a few talented players also left the Geordies, as their revolving door transfer policy went into overdrive.
Da Costa soon became a hero at.....Villa Park :p - as he handed Mark Smallwood - Kieron Dyer and Laurent Robert on a plate, even paying Dyer a weekly wage just to play for the Villans. 10 minutes later, Smallwood had purchased Juan Seba Veron to set up a frightening looking midfield and Da Costa was starting to irritate other managers as well used his club rep to hoover up top youth talent.
Poor Mr Smallwood had even gone to the lenghts of noting Van Den Borre's 17th birthday in his diary, before being pipped at the post by the dirty Geordies and a £43K a week contract for a 17 year old. One was not amused in the Midlands.
However, what occurred will forever go down in EPL legend as we witnessed the quickest decline of a top club that I have ever seen. After 10 games on their own patch, Newcastle had not only failed to win, but had failed to even score a goal - before my own Everton side turned up at St James Park and promptly conceded three.
Needless to say the goings on at Newcastle dominated proceedings in the EPL and although the banter was lighthearted - the failings soon became too much for Jay to bear.
By Christmas he was gone and Kevin Keegan rode into St James' - in the end narrowly failing to pip Pagi's Bolton in a last day battle for survival. Therefore, the once mighty magpies (for those with a very long memory, eh Andy) are now a Championship club - to the detriment of the Premiership as a whole. However, Jay provided much entertainment to the game and although he had a bad experience here, we wish him all the best if he returns to online managing.
The next big shock to hit the EPL has to be Sam Bouchard's Spurs team, who were simply class from August to around March when it all became too much for him and his boys. Injuries and a drop in form stopping an unexpected title challenge in its tracks.
Sam's success certainly surprised me after I had given him a bit of a slagging about re-uniting England's Euro 96 squad with the signings of Alan Shearer and Gareth Southgate early on. The Spurs fans were checking their daily papers to make sure Gazza wasn't primed for a Spurs comeback approaching the age of 40!!
However, Sam's lads have gone on to complete an achievement, probably well above the wildest hopes of the Spurs board on his appointment, by qualifying for the Champions League in 4th place so a big well done there to Mr Bouchard, EPL's sole Champions League participant in 2005/06. :thup:
Another talking point soon arose as Everton slid into administration. Nine points deducted, and the vultures swooping as Gravesen, Yobo and Zurawski. Everton's future prospects looked bleak to say the least. Within a few weeks though, Murphy was back on his feet as Everton received new investment, his squad still intact and his determination to build a championship winning side at Goodison doubled.
Ever seen a team buy 50 players? Well we just did as Bolton's David Pagi went berserk and purchased a flood of unknown Bosmans to his team, all timed to arrive in July. :eek:
Pagi appeared to have gone crazy as his Bolton slumped dangerously towards a previously unexpected relegation war. In the end, Bolton survived, but Pagi didn't...booted out of the Reebok with his tail between his legs and his P45 shoved up his ass
It's a funny old game though and amazingly, a day later, Bolton appointed a very similar looking manager who just happens to go by the name David Pagi II. All in all, you just never know what these Pagi's are up to tbh and sometimes it is best not to ask too many questions. Lets just say there is slightly more interest in Bolton's prospects this season than last, and I for one would love a peak at their wage budget.
Of course while this was going on, the European and Carling Cup competitions began. In the Carling Cup 2nd Round, someone
always gets knocked out in the second round to a pack of lower division cloggers and half the pressure is just avoiding that shame.
This year, that dubious pleasure fell to Mark Smallwood and Rick Boult, giant killed by Preston and Plymouth respectively (before Boult took himself off to Florida). The Carling Cup progressed, Chris Morris eliminated by Man Utd, Sam Bouchard falling to the Wenger Boys, Andy Nilsen and Rob Steel thwarted by the mighty Toffees.
In the end Niall Murphy and David Pagi reached the semi finals but unfortunately we were denied an Everton vs Bolton final, to the relief of all the other managers who have sat through Murphy vs Pagi games in the past. Rafa Bentiez went on to lift the cup for the red side of Merseyside and collected his first trophy in his first full season for Liverpool. A sign of an Anfield resurgence perhaps?
In Europe though there was another story breaking. Jay Da Costa and Richard Liggins were both striving for UEFA Cup glory. As expected, Newcastle's poor league form soon affected their European hopes and the Geordies were eliminated. However, Liggins appeared to have made the UEFA Cup his top target for the season.
The UEFA Cup has of course changed format and to the annoyance of everyone else who had no games on a Thursday, Liggins went on and on and on and on in the competition destroying European dream teams like Hearts, Dunfermline and Besitkas along the way :p
Eventually Liggins progressed to the semi final and now it was time to earn his corn as firstly Dortmund and then Sevilla (who haven't the name but definitely now have the team) stood in his way. Could Liggins break his duck and win his first trophy for Middlesbrough and indeed his first trophy in EPL Challenge?
In a tense final that ended 0-0, the game went into extra time and then penalties. Boro and Liggins held their nerve and the UEFA Cup was delivered to the Riverside in Ligs' first season. An excellent achievement by the Boro manager and EPL Challenges' undisputed human manager of the year. :thup:
In the Champions League, Jose Mourinho took home the cup beating Bayern Munich in the final capping an outstanding season for the Portuguese manager.
The Premiership soon wound up as well. In a complete turn around from the previous game, Murphy and Nilsen were caught up in a relegation quagmire, both surviving by the skin of their teeth. Pagi soon joined them.
Steel, despite many a fit along the way, managed a respectable mid table finish . Blackburn's Rick Boult buggered off to Florida and his team chugged along, looking like they might get dragged down but just staying afloat.
Chris Morris hit the heights of 11th spot and reached the FA Cup semi's losing on penalties to Chelsea and impressing all his fellow managers in the process. Leo Hardy gets a well deserved top half finish and Mark Smallwood comes in fifth a solid performance.
We also owe Mark a huge thanks for stepping in on hosting duties. :thup:
As expected Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd dominated in the Premiership, Chelsea with an incredible 96 points completing the treble of European Cup, Premiership and FA Cup. Will anyone be able to match or beat this in the coming years. You can bet your life we'll be giving it a damn good try....
Roll on season 2 and a big welcome to Danny King at Birmingham City.
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