fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
April 26, 2008
Only a great mind can read this.
April 21, 2008
Premiership & Supercup (Virtual League) - Part II
Six rounds passed and already 11 of the Premiership teams went out of the cup. The drawmaster wasn't happy with the number of Manta Premiership left and the result was two all-Premiership matches in Round 6.
So the standings in the virtual league after 6 rounds are:
P
GF GA
+/-
1 Kif Villans 15
15 2
13
2 Rex Mundi 15
14 1
13
3 Botev Plovdiv 15
14 2
12
4 Noodle FC 15
13 2
11
5 Liverpool City 15
12 2
10
6 Hornets 14
15 3
12
7 Tottis Allstars 14
13 2
11
8 Inter Milager 13
14 5
9
9 Chaos Shumen 13
9 3
6
10 Scudders 12
12 2
10
11 Castle King FC 12
11 3
8
12 Smirnenski United 11
12 5
7
13 Coimbra All Stars 9
8 3
5
14 High Plains Drifters 6
10 3
7
15 Burnthouse Surfers 6
6 3
3
16 Foresters 6
5 5
0
17 Lancaster Bombers 3
5 3
2
18 Easyfit Walsall 3
5 3
2
19 Sabbath Albion 3
4 3
1
20 Karachi United 0
0 2
-2
Five of the teams still going with maximum points and all nine teams still with chances for the title!
April 19, 2008
So, there is no such thing as Fate then….
This article could have had completely the opposite slant on it if I’d lost my IAG Super Cup match today against Redrum.
Why is pleasant saying this?, I can hear you say. Well, the reason will become clear in due course.
Ever since the start of this season’s IAG Super Cup competition I have been convinced I knew which round would mark my exit – it was written. Here’s my IAG Cup record prior to this season:
| Season | Round Exit |
|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 3 |
| 6 | 2 |
| 7 | 9 |
As you can see, the missing round for a perfect record (ignoring first round byes) is 6. That’s how I ‘knew’ I was going out in Round 6.
I now realise that there is no such thing as ‘Fate’ or ‘Destiny’ (not on IAG anyway!)
Oh well. I will just have to get past Round 9 this season to keep the record up!
I’m looking forward to the draw for Round 7. I wouldn’t mind a home game against one of the 6 teams with a 1,000+ rating still in the competition. (Mind you, chaosmaster is due an ‘easy’ draw isn’t he? Or did he use up 2 seasons’ worth of luck last season?
April 17, 2008
Basement Battle
With 11 games to go, things at the bottom of the premiership are as tight as a very tight thing with added tightness. It now looks very clear that Coimbra All Stars and Karachi United will be relegated. The third relegation spot is a little less clear though. There are now four teams fighting for safety: Sabbath Albion, Foresters, Lancaster bombers and Burnthouse Surfers. Each of them are on 23 points as the table below shows.
Goal Difference is also very close with only a difference of 5 between Sabbath albion and Burnthouse Surfers. It's far too close to call at the moment and most of us have to play each other. Perhaps it will go down to the last game of the season where Burnthouse Surfers play Lancaster Bombers in what could literally be a premiership playoff game.
April 9, 2008
Premiership & Supercup (Virtual League)
The original idea belongs to Wellings and I decided to continue his efforts and create a Virtual League for the Premiership teams and their performance in the IAG Supercup.
The Rules
Changes in the rules will not be discussed!!! :)
So the standings after Round are: P GF GA +/- 1 High Plains Drifters 6 8 0 8 2 Kif Villans 6 7 0 7 2 Liverpool City 6 7 0 7 4 Castle King FC 6 6 0 6 4 Coimbra All Stars 6 6 0 6 4 Noodle FC 6 6 0 6 4 Tottis Allstars 6 6 0 6 8 Inter Milager 6 8 3 5 9 Smirnenski United 6 6 1 5 10 Botev Plovdiv 6 5 0 5 10 Burnthouse Surfers 6 5 0 5 10 Rex Mundi 6 5 0 5 10 Scudders 6 5 0 5 14 Hornets 6 6 2 4 15 Chaos Shumen 6 5 1 4 16 Foresters 6 4 2 2 17 Lancaster Bombers 3 5 3 2 17 Easyfit Walsall 3 5 3 2 19 Sabbath Albion 3 4 3 1 20 Karachi United 0 0 2 -2
* Teams marked red are already out of the competition.
Good luck in Round 4!!!
Money, Money, Money! (not so funny)
After my cruel defeat on penalties in last night's super cup match, I have to say my finger momentarily hovered over the Vacancies button. Ack, what's the bloomin' point I thought. I'm getting nowhere fast. I keep getting tough teams in the cup draws while other, better teams, seem to get easier draws. My form in the Premiership is faltering to say the least. I can't buy an away win at the moment, which is just as well cos I haven't got any money. Relegation is a serious possibility this season, and, do you know what? It might actually be for the best.
Getting knocked out of the super cup so early severly affects my finances. Without the income from those games, my balance drops just that little bit faster. I don't tend to sit down and work out my finances to see where I'll stand at the end of the season. I'm sure others do, but I just let things take care of themselves. I mean, what can I do about it? Well, today I thought I would look at my finances more closely.
First of all, this week, I secured two of my regular players on new 4 season contracts. I managed to tie them up quite quickly. The first, Jay Sinclair, I did in one hit. Maybe I should've offered less? A wage of 7,750 and a signing on fee of 100,000 was enough for him. The second, Colum Goff, one of my best players, took a couple of meetings to thrash out a deal. Surprisingly, he wasn't after a wage rise, just a massive signing on fee. So, he remains on 15,960 but I'm 280,000 out of pocket cos he wants a new Ferrari. With those two contracts in the bag, I could now take a look at my money situation.
Income. Income. Income. Oh, wherefore art thou income? Reveal thyself to me. Ahem, um, where was I? Oh yes, income. Income actually comes in various different forms. Obviously, you could sell players to boost income, but here, I'm focussing on regular, every day income. Regular income comes in the form of ticket sales, merchandise, and TV rights. What these amount to will depend on whether you have a home game, or an away game. My average income for each is thus:
Home game: 240k
Away game: 85k
So, in a season of 38 games, I can expect a total, regular income of around 12,350,000. This season, I have 9 home games left, and 7 away. So, for the rest of the season I can expect around 2,755,000.
Now, let's have a look at expenses. Expenses. Expenses. Expenses. Wherefore art tho.... Er sorry, haven't we already done this? The expenses list is a little longer than the income list. Generally, expenses are taken up through player wages, player bonuses (appearance fees), policing services, stadium maintenance, and staff wages. My average expenses are approximately:
Home: 200k
Away: 188k
No game: 144k
The expenses, home and away, are the same except you don't pay policing services for away games. Non matchdays have all expenses except policing and player bonuses. So, again, for a 38 game season, expenses amount to around 14,744,000. But, that's just matchdays. The actual season is 70 days long, so you have to factor in 32 non matchdays, costing 144k each. That's another 4,608,000. We now have a grand total for the season of 19,352,000. Eek! Quick, let's go back and look at that income amount again. 12,350,000. Hmmmm. 7,000,000 difference. You begin to see how tough this game is. As someone once said, finances first, games second.
With 30 days left to go this season, 14 of those non matchdays, I can expect to lose another 5,132,000. Adding the income of 2,755,000 gives me a loss of 2,377,000. My current balance though is -1,604,000. So that leaves me with -3,981,000 by the end of the season. I can expect league prize money to be around 3,500,000 so I'll start next season about half a million in debt. Super! I look forward to it.
All these figures are approximate, and it's pretty early in the morning so I may have made mistakes, but I had to write something to keep me away from that Vacancies button. I hope this gives a good insight into the financial implications of the game.
Cheers
April 7, 2008
The Championship - Just passing the half-way point
Well every team has played 21 games so far and the Championship looks like its going to have many contenders challenging to get into the Premiership. There's still plenty of games to go and many things could change from now till the end of the season. Let's look at some statistics for the teams in the championship. Here's a few: Most Goals Scored: Least Goals Conceded The championship table hasn't changed that much since the last update but at the moment, after game 21 the top5 in the table looks like this:
Top Goalscorers:
Super Cup Prediction Stats
Season 8's super cup is well under way and, as per usual, the manta managers have partaken in a little prediction competition, choosing 10 teams (no more than 7 from the premiership), in order of who they think will go farthest in the cup. Now, I missed the deadline for this season's entry, so in an effort to make up for it, I thought I'd post a few stats about the predictions. So here goes....
12 managers voted
23 teams were chosen
2 teams received 12 votes; Botev Plovdiv and Rex Mundi
2 teams received 11 votes; Kif villans and Chaos Shumen
Botev Plovdiv were voted no.1 7 times, Rex mundi 4 times
The manta manager's favourites, based on a 10 points for a no.1 vote, 9 for a no.2 vote etc, are Botev Plovdiv with 111 points.
Next up are Kif Villans, this season's league cup winners, with 92 points.
Third come Rex Mundi with 76 points.
Chaos Shumen and Noodle complete the top 5 with 72 points and 69 points respectively.
The most fancied team from outside the premiership is Channel 4 News with 36 points, 8th in the list.
.....and that's about all I've got.
April 1, 2008
The League Cup Experience
In the aftermath of the League Cup, managers are now concentrated on the League and possibly the Super Cup, but the emotions they experienced are still fresh. What better time to ask them how they feel after the tournament? Here's what four of Manta's finest had to say:
_______________________________________________________
It's only normal that we start with the winner himself - Scudders manager Guermano:
Did you expect to win the League Cup in the beginning of the season?
Guermano: No, not at all. Our goal was the quarter-finals just like last season. But as we progressed through the rounds, I started to dream of it, in particular after our win against Rex Mundi in the semi-finals.
Dream?
Guermano: Yes, I dreamt….,or let’s say, flirted with the idea of winning the League Cup. Anyway, I knew all too well that it would be utterly difficult to beat Kif Villans and I figured that we’d stand a 20% chance.
What was the key to success in winning the League Cup in general?
Guermano: First of all and most importantly, underdogs can win the League Cup! I’d say that making sure your best team is available at the right moments was one of the keys to success. If our best players hadn’t been available for selection, we might not have been able to beat previous Super Cup winner Howick United, Rex Mundi and Kif Villans. It goes without saying that underdogs need luck as well and we had our share of it this time around.
If your team is an underdog, then which teams are Manta’s finest at the moment?
Guermano: At the moment Noodle FC, Botev Plovdiv, Kif Villans, Rex Mundi and Hornets are Manta’s finest but there’re many teams challenging them. Just to name a few here; Chaos Shumen has been challenging Manta’s finest for seasons and it’s only a matter of time till they’ll win either the League Cup or the Premiership title. Easyfit Walsall and High Plains Drifters, previously Mad Dogs, are rising stars and will likely challenge Manta’s finest soon. Moreover, Liverpool City and Inter Milager appear to re-emerge at the very top again. It is my understanding that it’s getting tighter at the top in general.
You seem to be very fond of the challengers. Do you consider your team a challenger?
Guermano: It would take a lie to say I wasn’t. Furthermore, I consider my team to be a challenger to some extent. However, becoming one of the true challengers takes a lot of time and consistency. One League Cup win isn’t enough to establish yourself as a true challenger…….but it could be a start!
_______________________________________________________
Next we had a word with the runner-up - Kif Villans manager kifd:
Any regrets?
kifd: No regrets, none at all. My only regret is that we went out on penalties. That’s my only regret but no, no regrets. For sure, the atmosphere in the dressing room is a lot more subdued than last season, but I'm still proud of the lads - they really ran their socks into the ground, and I hope once they pick themselves up they'll realize what a good run we had in putting up a decent title defense.
So, what went wrong?
kifd: I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat. But seriously, we were too defensive on the day and failed to take our chances as well as we had done in the previous rounds. Goals change games and this time, nobody grabbed the ball by the horns. Just goes to show, there's no easy games at this level...
Any final words?
kifd: Congratulations to Guermano's Scudders - considering their unexpected league form this season, that was a wonderful cup fairy tale now etched into the club's history and they've given their fans something to remember for a long time. And on my part, at least the chairman can stop nagging me about the bank balance again.
_______________________________________________________
Feeling there is more to the cup than just reaching the final, semi-finalist Rex Mundi's Grezz was sought to give his view on things. In a happy mood he invited us on the table he was sitting on and after clearing away the bottles so we could have space to write down things, we proceeded with the questions:
Having had a few days to think on your performance, how do you feel?
Grezz: Well, I was happy with my performance. These days I don't expect to win championships or cup finals, although I'm going to start expecting that very soon. I had an easy run to the semi-finals and the draw is all important. I was away all the way until the Q/F but against massively lesser teams.
And there you faced Hornets.
Grezz: It was no surprise I made it to the Q/F but I faced Hornets at home. Luckily, at home. Ndjuk has to be the best tactical manager in our division because he performs so well with, actually, a pretty average side. I still don't know how he does it to be honest. Anyway, Hornets at home.....of course I expect to win. If it were a league match he probably gets the draw because he's a clever sod and he manages to do that despite the fact he really should be able to. However, in the cup I know he doesn't stand a chance when a result has to be decided and, sure enough, that game went exactly how I expected. An extra time win for me.
So, the S/F draw. Funnily enough I predicted to Guermano before the Q/F games that I'd meet him in the semis. I was not pleased he got the 'home' draw. I'm a GM and I'm also a pretty savvy programmer. I can tell when stuff is working how it should be and why it might not be so not being drawn first in that semi was an immediate 'concern' . Therefore, I cursed my luck when I was drawn 'away'. However, it was Scudders and I know how to beat Scudders if I want to (yes, sometmes I have chosen not to for the longer term good of my team). Yep, tough opponent and he's really gotten better. He could be so much better in the league if he wanted to be but I know what he's up to and why. I knew what he'd do because I taught him but I also knew I could cancel his tactics out. It was all good ......right up until I played High Plains Drifters. My starting 11 were totally prepared for that semi-final. I knew Guermano would prepare well but I had my guys better prepared. I knew it. I had them better prepared to take him, propably in extra time. That was until FooQ nobbled Logan in the 2nd minute of our match. I'd prepared my starting 11 perfectly. I didn't prepare for the fact i'd have to bring in a fatigued midfielder up front.
I went into that S/F considering myself to be the underdog. I never expected to go to penalties but the the fact that I made it that far and lost made it an even bitterer pill to swallow. But, as I said to Guermano - and this is 100% true - If I want to lose to anyone in a semi-final it is him because he plays the game with such a great spirit and enthusiasm. We have a fantastic rivalry and I couldn't wait for him to slag me off after his win. He has actually disappointed me by not taking the **** out of me as much as I expected. Finally, at the end of the day, if I didn't win it there was no-one esle I would have liked to see win it than him. Fair play Guermano. He set his stall out to win the league cup and he pulled it off against the odds. I can only have respect for that.
_______________________________________________________
Finally, as we got back to write the article, our manager popped up and asked what we were doing. We'd completely forgotten he was in charge of a league cup team and a semi-finalist at that. So as not to reveal our ignorance, we thought we'd just ask about his experience while in our coffee break.
Boss, you never told us what the cup was like for you?
chaosmaster: Heh, it was quite something, although I can't understand why you'd ask me now?
Oh, just curious.
chaosmaster: Well, there's a lot to tell, but you have to get back to work in 10 minutes, so I'll keep it short. The first couple of rounds weren't anything special. There was a slight scare when we played away to Roker Park Rangers, but even after extra-time we came out deserved winners. The following three home draws against Openshaw, The Smoothies and Sabbath Albion were all challenging, but nothing we couldn't handle. By that time I was well satisfied with where we'd gotten, but you know what it's like. The further you go, the more you want to get to the final.
So you wanted to play Scudders?
chaosmaster: Of course. And not just because they were the team I had biggest chances against. Guermano and I go back a long way you know and facing each other at such a vital part of the competition was something both of us would cherish. Playing in the final would've been even better, but at that time we figured our chances against both Rex and Kif were minimal.
But he won and you didn't.
chaosmaster: *giving a scary look*
Is that jealousy boss?
chaosmaster: Hell it is! Up to that point I considered my team slightly better than Guermano's and was damn proud of it. I knew kifd would make me regret even getting to this point, but when I lost and Scudders won I didn't know if I was happy about Guermano or mad at my bunch. To make things worse he actually won in the final ... against the team that made a laughing stock of my own squad. *finishing half a cup of coffee* But I can't help being happy about him. I'd probably have felt better if the team that beat me had won it, so I could say I went out to the very best, but knowing a complete underdog can win the cup makes me feel confident in my own future.
Anything else to add?
chaosmaster: To add? You make it sound like you're interviewing me? ... Wait a sec! What was it you were doing when you came here?
Erm, sorry boss, can't tell ... *shooting off out of the building*
Hope you all enjoy. A big thanks to all the managers who contributed and sorry I couldn't add more, but it's big enough as it is.
See you soon,
chaosmaster
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