Manta Banta

More downtime

2009-12-06T19:59:00.001Z

Just for ease of access (as suggested by Ian)

Downtime

2009-10-29T21:08:00.001Z

Anyone knows something??? When we're going to be back online? Come on Grezz, tell us ...

Stadiums

2009-07-22T18:03:00.002+01:00

Way back in Season 9 I compaired the stadium size of the top 100 clubs in Manta. I had some spare time so I thought I would do it again to see what a difference 6 seasons makes.

Season 15 stadium size

20000 - 2 (Botev Plovdiv, Chaos Shumen)
18800 - 2 (Easyfit Walsall, Kif Villans)
13800 - 2 (High Plains Drifters, Eagle Eyes AFC)
11800 - 1 (Kingriver)
10300 - 7 (Inter Milager, Hornets, Scopio FC*, Noodle FC, Park Rangers, Bulletboys, Liverpool City)
8500 - 1 (Howick United)
6800 - 30 clubs
6350 - 23 clubs
5900 - 18 clubs
5450 - 11 clubs
5000 - 3 (Stonetown, Ghosts AFC, Manchester11)

*Stadium currently under expansion

The top 100 have added an extra 292 corner expansions (450 seats), 20 end expansions (3500 seats) and 5 side expansions (5000 seats). Botev Plovdiv and Chaos Shumen are the only clubs to have started expanding the second teir, totalling 2 second teir corner expansions (1200 seats). All together the top 100 have spent a total of 404,600,000, or approx. 400m to their stadia. Only 3 clubs in the top 100 are yet to expand their stadium.

Season 9 stadium size

13800 - 2 (Botev Plovdiv, Rex Mundi)
10300 - 6 (Kif Villans, Noodle FC*, Hornets, Easyfit Walsall, Roker Park Rangers*, Scudders)
9850 - 2 (Chaos Shumen*, High Plains Drifters)
9400 - 1 (Channel Four News)
8500 - 1 (Howick United)
6800 - 18 clubs
6350 - 18 clubs
5900 - 14 clubs
5450 - 24 clubs
5000 - 14 clubs

*Stadium currently under expansion

The top 100 clubs have added an extra 210 corner expansions (450 seats) and 14 end expansions (3500 seats), spending a total of 251,125,000 or approx. 250m to their stadia. So far no-one has gone for the big 5000 seat expansion.

19.06 Down Time

2009-06-19T07:18:00.000+01:00

Anyone know what's going on and when we can expect to have access?

Test Blog

2009-03-08T22:49:00.000Z

Just testing!

Unexpected update

2009-02-19T19:10:00.002Z

For the first time in my history as IAG manager we have an update in 7 pm GMT. What the heck ???

I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed with it because I haven't set my team for tomorrow and some additional tasks which should be done. And in best case scenario IAG will be back in 9 PM which is actually a little bit late here in Bulgaria. Hope I catch it otherwise pleasant will be lucky :)

Chaos Challenge Fixtures

2009-02-02T09:32:00.019Z

And here's the fixture list:

Round 1 – 05.02.09 (Thursday)
Botev Plovdiv	3 - 1	Scopio FC
Chaos Shumen	2 - 1	Plaistow Allstars
High Plains Drifters	2 - 0	Volvo United
Liverpool City	1 - 2	Killamarsh FC
Round 2 – 06.02.09 (Friday)
Plaistow Allstars	0 - 2	Botev Plovdiv
Volvo United	1 - 1	Chaos Shumen
Bulletboys	0 - 2	High Plains Drifters
Scopio FC	1 - 2	Liverpool City
Round 3 – 07.02.09 (Saturday)
Botev Plovdiv	2 - 1	Volvo United
Chaos Shumen	3 - 0	Bulletboys
High Plains Drifters	2 - 1	Killamarsh FC
Plaistow Allstars	2 - 1	Scopio FC
Round 4 – 08.02.09 (Sunday)
Bulletboys	0 - 3	Botev Plovdiv
Killamarsh FC	1 - 3	Chaos Shumen
Liverpool City	2 - 2	High Plains Drifters
Volvo United	1 - 1	Plaistow Allstars
Round 5 – 09.02.09 (Monday)
Botev Plovdiv	2 - 2	Killamarsh FC
Chaos Shumen	2 - 0	Liverpool City
Plaistow Allstars	4 - 0	Bulletboys
Volvo United	1 - 1	Scopio FC
Round 6 – 10.02.09 (Tuesday)
Liverpool City	1 - 3	Botev Plovdiv
Bulletboys	1 - 0	Volvo United
Scopio FC	1 - 4	High Plains Drifters
Killamarsh FC	2 - 0	Plaistow Allstars

Round 7 – 15.02.09 (Sunday)
Bulletboys	3 - 0	Scopio FC
Chaos Shumen	3 - 1	High Plains Drifters
Plaistow Allstars	2 - 2	Liverpool City
Volvo United	1 - 1	Killamarsh FC
Round 8 – 16.02.09 (Monday)
High Plains Drifters	2 - 1	Botev Plovdiv
Scopio FC	0 - 2	Chaos Shumen
Killamarsh FC	2 - 1	Bulletboys
Liverpool City	1 - 1	Volvo United
Round 9 – 17.02.09 (Tuesday)
Botev Plovdiv	2 - 0	Chaos Shumen
Plaistow Allstars	1 - 3	High Plains Drifters
Killamarsh FC	2 - 0	Scopio FC
Bulletboys	2 - 1	Liverpool City
Round 10 – 19.02.09 (Thursday)
Scopio FC	1 - 2	Botev Plovdiv
Plaistow Allstars	0 - 1	Chaos Shumen
Volvo United	1 - 2	High Plains Drifters
Killamarsh FC	2 - 2	Liverpool City
Round 11 – 20.02.09 (Friday)
Botev Plovdiv	4 - 0	Plaistow Allstars
Chaos Shumen	2 - 2	Volvo United
High Plains Drifters	1 - 0	Bulletboys
Liverpool City	3 - 1	Scopio FC
Round 12 – 21.02.09 (Saturday)
Volvo United	1 - 1	Botev Plovdiv
Bulletboys	0 - 2	Chaos Shumen
Killamarsh FC	2 - 1	High Plains Drifters
Scopio FC	3 - 1	Plaistow Allstars

Round 13 – 22.02.09 (Sunday)
Botev Plovdiv	4 - 0	Bulletboys
Chaos Shumen	3 - 0	Killamarsh FC
High Plains Drifters	3 - 2	Liverpool City
Plaistow Allstars	1 - 2	Volvo United
Round 14 – 23.02.09 (Monday)
Killamarsh FC	2 - 2	Botev Plovdiv
Liverpool City	1 - 2	Chaos Shumen
Bulletboys	0 - 2	Plaistow Allstars
Scopio FC	1 - 3	Volvo United
Round 15 – 24.02.09 (Tuesday)
Botev Plovdiv	2 - 0	Liverpool City
Volvo United	3 - 3	Bulletboys
High Plains Drifters	2 - 1	Scopio FC
Plaistow Allstars	1 - 2	Killamarsh FC
Round 16 – 26.02.09 (Thursday)
Scopio FC	2 - 2	Bulletboys
High Plains Drifters	1 - 1	Chaos Shumen
Liverpool City	2 - 0	Plaistow Allstars
Killamarsh FC	1 - 1	Volvo United
Round 17 – 27.02.09 (Friday)
Botev Plovdiv	2 - 1	High Plains Drifters
Chaos Shumen	3 - 1	Scopio FC
Bulletboys	2 - 1	Killamarsh FC
Volvo United	1 - 1	Liverpool City
Round 18 – 28.02.09 (Saturday)
Chaos Shumen	2 - 1	Botev Plovdiv
High Plains Drifters	2 - 0	Plaistow Allstars
Scopio FC	1 - 1	Killamarsh FC
Liverpool City	2 - 1	Bulletboys

The Chaos Challenge

2009-02-02T08:58:00.036Z

The newest and, as I like to think, most original tournament on IAG yet! To top the table after all matches have been played does have it's benefits, but the Chaos Challenge isn't about that - it's about how much you can do until that moment. There is a list of achievements a team can complete during the 18 rounds of home and away matches and in the end it's how many of those you've accumulated that matters.

The Format
It's a group of 10 teams with a home and away fixture between every one of them, resulting in a total of 18 games.

The Achievement Lists
I say lists, because the whole list is divided into two parts - major and minor achievements. Both carry the same weight in the final overall sum, but in case of an equal number by two or more teams, it's the one with the more major ones that gets placed higher. If that doesn't separate the teams, then they will be considered having performed equally and will share the same spot.

Major Achievements:
- Top Of The Table - Most points after all games have been played (multiple
players winning this is possible)
- Effective Football - Points per game > 2
- Attacking Football - Goals Scored Per Game >= 1.5
- Defensive Football - Goals Conceded Per Game less than 1
- Giantkiller - Be the only team to beat another club ranked higher on points after all games have been played
- Home Fortress - Have no losses at home
- Flawless Traveler - Have no losses away
- All Or Nothing - Have no draws
- Young Future - Field a team with an average age lower than 23
- Iron Team- Have at least 6 players who have participated in every single minute
of the challenge
- One-man Show - Field a player who is at least 15 points higher rated
than any other player from the team selection during a whole game
- Top Scorer - Have the player with the most goals (multiple players
winning this is possible)

Minor Achievements
- Golden Substitution - Have a Half-time or 70th minute sub score a goal
- Hattrick Hero - Player getting a hattrick
- Attack Is The Best Defense - Have a defender who has scored a goal
- Heroic Keeper - Have a 7 or more match rated goalkeeper
- Playmaker - Have a midfielder with at least 1 goal and at least
1 assist in the same game
- Finishing Touch - 90+ minute goal
- Fairplay - Finish with less than 1 yellow card per game and no more than 1 red
- Half-time Reversal - Win game after losing on half-time
- MVP - Have player with most Man of the Match votes after
all games have been played (if more than two players are tied, the achievement
won’t be awarded)
- Youth Star - Have a player aged 20 or lower have the highest match
rating from the team
- Veteran Star - Have a player aged 33 or higher have the highest match
rating from the team
- Top Assistant - Have the player with the most assists (multiple players
winning this is possible)

Determining the Winner
After all the games have been played, the teams will be ordered by number of achievements and the one with the most will be declared winner of the challenge. As was mentioned, in case of a tie, the one with the more major achievements will be given a higher spot. If those are also tied, then the teams will share the same final position.

Team Table
This is the table of the participating teams. It will be updated after every match day.

Team	Played	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	Points
Chaos Shumen	16	12	3	1	32	12	20	39
Botev Plovdiv	16	11	3	2	36	14	22	36
High Plains Drifters	16	11	2	3	31	18	13	35
Killamarsh FC	16	6	6	4	24	23	1	24
Liverpool City	16	4	5	7	23	29	-6	17
Volvo United	16	2	10	4	20	22	-2	16
Bulletboys	16	4	2	10	15	32	-17	14
Plaistow Allstars	16	3	2	11	16	29	-13	11
Scopio FC	16	1	3	12	16	36	-20	6

Completed Achievements
Here will be the list with teams and the achievements they have completed. Note that more than half of these are ones that can only be determined after all the games have been played and thus will not be listed even if they are temporarily achieved. Once half the competition has been played, I might add them in red indicating that they will not be officially completed until all games have been played.

Botev Plovdiv: Finishing Touch, Golden Substitution, Veteran Star, Playmaker, Young Future, Hattrick Hero, Effective Football, Attacking Football, Defensive Football, Home Fortress, MVP
Chaos Shumen: Golden Substitution, Finishing Touch, One-man Show, Young Future, Attack is the Best Defense, Youth Star, Half-time Reversal, Top Of The Table, Effective Football, Attacking Football, Defensive Football, Home Fortress, Top Assistant
High Plains Drifters: One-man Show, Finishing Touch, Attack is the Best Defense, Playmaker, Golden Substitution, Effective Football, Attacking Football, Home Fortress
Liverpool City: Veteran Star, Playmaker, One-man Show, Golden Substitution, Finishing Touch
Killamarsh FC: Youth Star, Playmaker, Finishing Touch, Attacking Football, MVP*, Top Scorer
Bulletboys: Hattrick Hero, Playmaker
Volvo United: Young Future, Youth Star, Golden Substitution, Playmaker, Finishing Touch
Plaistow Allstars: Finishing Touch, Veteran Star
Scopio FC: Youth Star, Golden Substitution, Young Future, Veteran Star, One-man Show, Attack is the Best Defense, Finishing Touch, Playmaker

Team	Confirmed	Temp	Total
Botev Plovdiv	6	6	12
Chaos Shumen	7	6	13
High Plains Drifters	5	3	8
Liverpool City	5	0	5
Killamarsh FC	3	3	6
Bulletboys	2	0	2
Volvo United	5	0	5
Plaistow Allstars	2	0	2
Scopio FC	8	0	8

Confirmed - Completed achievements, as listed in blue before the table
Temp - Temporary achievements, as listed in red before the table. Note however, that these will only be confirmed after all the games have been played if the requirements are still met. Also, these are harder to constantly update, so there might be some delays in changing them.

Fixtures
I will add the fixtures in a different post so as not to make this one too big :)

Runaround................Now!

2008-10-14T12:54:00.001+01:00

Grezz once said "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen", and at game 16 of season 10, that's exactly what he did. Yes, Grezz made the backward leap from the Manta Premiership to Manta Division 8 to take on a new challenge with a team that was lying in 19th position. He renamed his new charges 'Ex Mundi' and set about climbing up the table. The club finished season 10 in 4th place winning every game under Grezz's management. A fantastic achievement.

He was followed soon after at game 22 by Rocketman, who left his post at Chelski of the Eros Premiership. Rocketman took over Ghosts AFC who finished a respectable 8th position.

I, Webby, joined the Division 8 challenge at the end of season 10 after taking Lancaster Bombers to 12th position in the Manta Premiership following many seasons of relegation battles. I renamed my new club, who finished 19th in season 10, Ancestral Bombers as a respectful nod to my previous club. I'm happy to say that Ancestral Bombers were the first team to beat Grezz's Ex Mundi in game 2 of this season, winning 2-1 at home.

It's an interesting new challenge here in division 8, and the manager hopping doesn't end yet. JamieHutber, former manager of Manta Championship outfit Bulletboys, decided to turn down the opportunity of managing in the Premiership (they won the Championship) to take on new foes down here in division 8. Jamie is now managing Bowen FC.

Funnily enough, as I write this, at game 10, you could cover the four of us with a blanket, we're that close, and I don't mean in some homo-erotic way. Take a look at this screenshot:

Anyone else want to join the adventure?

Manager Nationalities in Manta

2008-10-07T11:39:00.002+01:00

I've merged the England into the UK numbers, so don't be surprised if you don't see it :)

Country	Prem	Champ	Div 1	Div 2	Div 3	Div 4	Div 5	Div 6	Div 7	Div 8	Total
UK	9	13	9	9	11	11	9	10	11	10	102
Bulgaria	3					1		1			5
Croatia				1		1	1		1		4
USA	1						1			2	4
Australia	1		1						1		3
Belgium						1		1	1		3
Finland	2								1		3
Romania			1			1	1				3
Ireland		1			1						2
Netherlands	1					1					2
Singapore			1				1				2
France				1							1
France, Metropolitan								1			1
India			1								1
Macedonia				1							1
Marocco			1								1
Mexico		1									1
New Zealand		1									1
Norway					1						1
Phillipines		1									1
Russia									1		1
Scotland			1								1
Sweden	1										1
Yugoslavia					1						1
Zimbabwe				1							1
*Vacant*	2	3	5	7	6	4	7	7	4	8	53

IAG problems again?

2008-09-04T18:12:00.002+01:00

Is anyone else having trouble getting on IAG?

How many...

2008-08-20T12:14:00.002+01:00

While I was working on a lazy wednesday afternoon a friend of mine shared something with me and I decided to post it in here.

So let's see how many five year olds could you take in a fight...

My score is 23 and I'm proud of it. Go get them tigers...

23

Manta Friendly Tournament

2008-08-06T13:55:00.016+01:00

Tournament format:
- Two groups of 4 teams playing home and away fixtures
- Top 2 from each group play in a direct elimination, single-fixture phase with lower ranked teams given home advantage, while the ones finishing 3rd and 4th play in a another tournament with the same rules. There will be 3rd-4th and 7th-8th place games. Every fixture in this phase will be arranged until penalties

Groups:

Group A
Team	P	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	Points
Botev Plovdiv	6	4	1	1	13	8	5	13
Liverpool City	6	2	2	2	8	9	-1	8
Inter Milager	6	1	4	1	8	8	0	7
Tomson Ramblers	6	0	3	3	6	10	-4	3

Group B
Team	P	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	Points
Volvo United	6	5	1	0	13	3	10	16
Chaos Shumen	6	4	0	2	11	5	6	12
Killamarsh FC	6	2	1	3	7	4	3	7
Burnthouse	6	0	0	6	0	19	-19	0

Fixtures:

Group Fixtures
Round 1 – 09.08.08
Botev Plovdiv	2	v	1	Inter Milager
Tomson Ramblers	1	v	2	Liverpool City
Chaos Shumen	1	v	0	Killamarsh FC
Burnthouse	0	v	3	Volvo United
Round 2 –10.08.08
Liverpool City	1	v	1	Inter Milager
Tomson Ramblers	2	v	2	Botev Plovdiv
Volvo United	1	v	0	Killamarsh FC
Burnthouse	0	v	4	Chaos Shumen
Round 3 – 11.08.08
Liverpool City	1	v	2	Botev Plovdiv
Inter Milager	1	v	1	Tomson Ramblers
Volvo United	3	v	1	Chaos Shumen
Killamarsh FC	3	v	0	Burnthouse
Round 4 – 12.08.08
Botev Plovdiv	3	v	1	Liverpool City
Tomson Ramblers	1	v	1	Inter Milager
Chaos Shumen	1	v	2	Volvo United
Burnthouse	0	v	3	Killamarsh FC
Round 5 – 14.08.08
Inter Milager	2	v	2	Liverpool City
Botev Plovdiv	3	v	1	Tomson Ramblers
Killamarsh FC	1	v	1	Volvo United
Chaos Shumen	3	v	0	Burnthouse
Round 6 – 15.08.08
Inter Milager	2	v	1	Botev Plovdiv
Liverpool City	1	v	0	Tomson Ramblers
Killamarsh FC	0	v	1	Chaos Shumen
Volvo United	3	v	0	Burnthouse

Final Phase
Semi-finals - 17.08.08
Chaos Shumen	2(5)	v	2(4)	Botev Plovdiv
Volvo United	1	v	2	Liverpool City
3rd Place Playoff - 18.08.08
Volvo United	1	v	3	Botev Plovdiv
Final - 18.08.08
Liverpool City	2	v	1	Chaos Shumen
Semi-finals - 17.08.08
Burnthouse	0	v	3	Inter Milager
Tomson Ramblers	0	ff	3	Killamarsh FC
7th Place Playoff - 18.08.08
Burnthouse	3	ff	0	Tomson Ramblers
5th Place Playoff - 18.08.08
Killamarsh FC	2(4)	v	2(3)	Inter Milager

* Lower ranked clubs play at home

Stats:

Goalscorers
Name	Team	Goals
J Yates	Chaos Shumen	8
L Much	Inter Milager	8
B Lysen	Botev Plovdiv	7
M Genest	Volvo United	5
Q Dudfield	Botev Plovdiv	4
B Patasso	Liverpool City	4
I Brekke	Liverpool City	4

Assists
Name	Team	Assists
M Abrantes	Botev Plovdiv	3
D Bishop	Chaos Shumen	3
H Nyborg	Inter Milager	3
A Lopez	Inter Milager	3
B Castonguay	Volvo United	3

Discipline
Name	Team	YC	RC
M Hadfield	Chaos Shumen	3	0
T Ison	Chaos Shumen	3	0
D Horner	Killamarsh FC	3	0
C Vinson	Tomson Ramblers	3	0

Name	Team	MoMs
M Hiuspää	Volvo United	4
C Walsh	Inter Milager	4
J Huntley	Chaos Shumen	3
I Brekke	Liverpool City	2
D Cameron	Killamarsh FC	2

Manager Nationalities in Manta

2008-08-01T11:36:00.002+01:00

For a number of reasons, my posting regularity has declined severely and in an attempt to make up for this, I thought it would be a good idea to acquaint the Manta managers with the variety of nationalities our beloved Itsagoal has presented us with.

Now then, there's little to say on the subject and I'll leave any comments to you, so here's the table:

Bombers' Financial Decline

2008-07-25T16:41:00.004+01:00

As some of you may know, I've recently been thinking of moving on from my team Lancaster Bombers due to the very restrictive situation I find myself in.

Being in debt means I can't buy any new players or employ any new staff, which means I can't improve my team. I have plenty of good players who are not maxed out on any skills that could no doubt benefit from better quality coaches.

I've tried selling players to make some money but I never get any bids. Perhaps I'm overpricing, I dunno. Whatever.

I've taken a look at the financial history of the club and notice that in season 6, my first season in the premiership, my ticket sales were 4,262,470. Last season though, season 9, they were down to 2,811,180. Quite a difference. As my club rating has gone down, demand for tickets has dropped off. I've reduced my ticket prices down to around 23 from 29 or 30 from season 6. I must say I don't think I should need to reduce ticket prices below 20 to sell out. I am in the premiership after all. I look at other clubs and see ticket prices in the 40's.

Anyway, here's a screenshot of my financial history:

Disturbing huh?

I'm gonna try and get my ticket price up. After spending a lot of last season renegotiating contracts, I don't need to worry about any of those this season.

Thoughts?

Team Ratings and Matches

2008-07-24T21:38:00.008+01:00

First post of the new season and it's one that looks back over that last two...

Well, not so much looks back as quickly summarises them with a pair of pictures apiece - but as they're each worth a thousand words, it all counts :)

Above are the team ratings in season 9 and below, the season 8 ratings:

Like the graphs posted for season 7, it's much better to be next to a blue or green team name... And, as before, the drop when managers resigned from a team is quite noticeable.

And the matches that played a part in affecting those ratings; for season 9 -

And for season 8:

I'll eventually get around to doing a team rating graph of the Premiership since season 6, but I wouldn't hold your breath ;)

oh, ps. Webby, I can't seem to get this post to have just an excerpt on the index pages - has something changed from the last time I posted or have I just forgotten how?

Techie Friday

2008-07-18T15:19:00.001+01:00

As it's close season on itsagoal, I thought I'd get all techie on you. Just yesterday, I added an RSS button to this blog. There it is under the 'Subscribe To Manta Banta' section of the sidebar -->.

Briefly, RSS enables you to subscribe to a website's content. Whenever new content is added, the RSS feed will update. This means that if, for instance, you visit many different websites that add new content, whether that be daily, or as infrequently as once a month or even less, you can simply check the RSS feeds for those sites.

There are a few ways in which you can employ the feed. One, your browser may have RSS built in, so, you can add the feed to your bookmarks folder, or bookmarks toolbar and access it from there. Two, you could use a web based RSS reader such as Google Reader. This requires copying the feed address and adding it into the reader. The third way is to use an actual RSS application on your machine. This works in much the same way as the web based kind.

I'm using the RSS function built into the browser; for me, that's Firefox 3. I know that IE7 has support for RSS, as does Safari. They all work in slightly different ways to achieve the same result. Note: IE6 doesn't work with RSS.

To learn how to use RSS in Firefox, there's a simple tutorial here.

More...

I've been using Firefox 3 a bit recently. IE6 is the default browser on the machines where I work and they won't let us install IE7 because our HR websites are incompatible with it!

So anyway, using FF3; impressed. I like how you can tag bookmarks. Save a bookmark, give it a tag or 3. Easier to find 2 months down the line.

Another thing I like about FF is the add-ons it has. I'm writing this post, and I'm not even logged into my blog. I'm using an add-on called Scribefire. I access it from the bottom right of the browser and up pops a text entry window. From there I can write and publish directly to my blog. Brilliant. It's easier to use than the text entry box within blogger itself, so if you're a Manta Banta author and you're using Firefox, take a look at Scribefire.

Well, I think that's enough techie stuff for now. Have a good weekend chaps. See you in the new season.

All is Well

2008-07-16T18:27:00.001+01:00

After the dramatic events of the last couple of days, I'm happy to say that everything appears to be back to normal with itsagoal.

I don't know what the official cause of the problems were but I'm sure we'll hear soon enough on the site itself.

There was a workaround for the issue though, and for that we thank Grezz. It worked for most but not for some though. It appears that the fix didn't work for those operating behind a proxy server, for example, from a PC at work.

I'd also like to thank fellow mac user Bearing for posting detailed instructions for applying the fix in mac os x. I then posted those instructions in the Facebook group. Not all of us use windoze ya know!

I think that this site was only known to a handful of people but somehow people found their way here. The community spirit and efforts of those that were able to help has been brilliant, so thanks to everyone who contributed to this blog yesterday. I think mantabanta may have found it's way into a few new Favourites and Bookmark folders.

itsagoal down

2008-07-15T18:24:00.003+01:00

Just thought I'd put some keywords up here to aid google searches. Dunno if it'll work.

Can't connect to iag
Can't connect to itsagoal
Can't access itsagoal
Can't access iag
itsagoal site down
Can't login to itsagoal
Problems
Issue

p.s. itsagoal isn't down, there is just an access issue preventing people from getting to the site.

IAG access fix (works for some)

2008-07-15T16:23:00.002+01:00

Now, now. Don't get too excited! I just thought I'd pull the instructions out from the lengthy comments of the previous thread and put them here.

It has been noted that this fix works for some, and not for others. So here goes:

Windows:

Go to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc

Open up your file called hosts with notepad

Add this line:

87.117.198.158 (and then hit tab, and then type) www.itsagoal.com

Save the change

Start a new browser session

Type www.itsagoal.com in the address bar

If your PC does not save this then you need to do the following first.....

Right click on "hosts" and then click on properties, go to security tab, click "edit" to change permissions, highlight your username and then click on all the buttons below where it says permissions for users, and then "apply" the changes. This will enable you to save the changes Grezz has suggested making. You then should be able to access the site.

Good luck.

IAG Connection Problems

2008-07-14T11:24:00.002+01:00

If someone reads this anytime soon, please ask around IAG what I can do to connect to the site. It just refuses to load and I think there was a problem like this a while back. Another manager dio1 also can't open it, while I asked a buddy of mine from another city some 300 miles from here and he said he can open it.

I asked my providers and they said other it's not only them, other providers can't connect either, so it must be something in the site.

God, I hope someone reads this soon!!! I wrote to Guermano vie e-mail, but I haven't got a way to contact anyone else, while he's probably busy at work. And just in case this isn't resolved soon, please tell me who I drew in the Super Cup and how my game with pleasant ended.

Cheers,

A seriously angered chaos

Manta League Cup Quarter Finals

2008-06-03T08:50:00.006+01:00

As has become tradition, after the league cup action I try to supply with a somewhat fictional review of the games and of course - the LC stats. Let's see what the Season 9 quarter-finals had to show.

Botev Plovdiv 3-1 Easyfit Walsall
A penalty win in the last round for Botev and a dominant display of scoring power by Easyfit in the previous round suggested a thrilling encounter in the first quarter-final match up. Hristoskov, however, had different ideas and cruised past his opponent with authority. The 13 shots on target the home team got and their 65% possession clearly show who was in control of this match up. Having taken the lead near the end of the first half, the Plovdiv side were put under a little pressure when Walther equalized for Easyfit 15 minutes after the interval. However back to back goals by Kodritz and Lysen gave the hosts a comfortable two goal advantage which sent them into the Semis.

High Plains Drifters 2-0 North London FC
Relatively new Manta manager FooQ keeps his impressive run going by eliminating the underdog sensation of this season's league cup North London FC. The away side, having started in round 1, showed resilience and took advantage of the luck of the draw to get this far, but having to play away against currently 9th placed in the Premiership was too much for them. Despite the Drifters' crushing possession, it took a penalty in the 40th minute to give them the lead, but even at that point the way the home side played made the outcome clear. Berthiaume and Crouch kept firing at Yerbury's goal and it didn't take much longer before the latter got on the score sheet. With that goal, confidence of victory took over the High Plains players and the lapse in concentration at front was probably the reason Berthiaume couldn't score more despite his constant attempts at goal. On the other end, Sumner and Mullen who both had 6 goals so far in the cup were thoroughly marked and could manage a total of 1 shot, before Mullen had to be carried away on a stretcher in the 69th minute.

Rex Mundi 2-1 Inter Milager
In contrast with what is to be expected of this competitive stage of the competition, the closest game of the four didn't even go to extra time. Rex Mundi needed a 91st minute goal to seal their place in the Semis after Inter's star striker Much tied the game in the 88th. And despite the thrilling ending, the game went under the home side's pace and Logan's 47th minute opener could've easily been enough for his team to progress. After the game Grezz probably had some harsh words towards his lone striker for wasting 10 shots which could've made the victory so much easier, but with progression a fact anything more than a quick talk would probably be excessive.

Warlords 0-3 Castle King FC
Castle King FC made club history by advancing to the Semis at the expense of Warlords. Being at home, the division 4 side probably had a slight edge, but their choice of a 5 man defense didn't stop Castle King strikers Vazuez and New from both scoring. It was Vazuez who gave his side a one goal advantage before half-time, but the second half was New's as he got a brace. Warlords central midfielder Bolder got a red card in the 79th, but at that point the game was practically finished.

S T A T S

Teams
Team	Div	GF	GA	ET	Pen	H	A
Botev Plovdiv	Prem	14	6	0	1	2	3
Castle King FC	Prem	14	4	2	0	4	1
High Plains Drifters	Prem	14	5	1	0	2	3
Rex Mundi	Prem	14	2	0	0	2	3

GF = goals for
GA = goals against
ET = games gone into extra time
Pen = games gone into penalties
H = games at home
A = games away

Top scorers
Player	Team	Goals
B Vazuez	Castle King FC	7
M Campagne	High Plains Drifters	7
B Lysen	Botev Plovdiv	6
M New	Castle King FC	6
E Grogan	Easyfit Walsall	6
D Mullen	North London FC	6
A Sumner	North London FC	6

That's all for this article. See you after the Semis.

Stadiums

2008-05-29T20:34:00.002+01:00

I have done a bit of research into the stadiums of the top 100 teams from Manta to see who has dared go for that big expansion or who would rather splash their cash on players. Here's what I have come up with:

Stadium size

13800 - 2 (Botev Plovdiv, Rex Mundi)

10300 - 6 (Kif Villans, Noodle FC*, Hornets, Easyfit Walsall, Roker Park Rangers*, Scudders)

9850 - 2 (Chaos Shumen*, High Plains Drifters)

9400 - 1 (Channel Four News)

8500 - 1 (Howick United)

6800 - 18 clubs

6350 - 18 clubs

5900 - 14 clubs

5450 - 24 clubs

5000 - 14 clubs

*Stadium currently under expansion

The top 100 clubs have added an extra 210 corner expansions (450 seats) and 14 side expansions (3500 seats), spending a total of 251,125,000 or approx. 250m to their stadia.

So far no-one has gone for the big 5000 seat expansion! (Hristo whats taking you so long? :p)

Manta League Cup Round 5

2008-05-29T15:03:00.005+01:00

Eight teams are left to battle it out for a place in the IAG history books and even more importantly - the 2 million the League Cup winner will get. And unlike in the last article, I'll take a slightly more detailed look at the fixtures that determined the quarter-finalists.

Castle King FC 3-2 Bulletboys (ET)
It took 23 whole shots and 120 minutes for Castle King's offense to bring down the resilient Bulletboys. After a late equalizer by the away side, the seemingly won match was taken into extra time at 1-1 and it took only 4 minutes - between the 100th and 103rd for both teams to exchange a further 3 goals. Castle King's ace striker in this tournament Vazuez finally capitalized on the abundant free space he was given scoring the winning goal for his side and despite Vyse scoring his second of the game for Bulletboys in the following attack, the home team held on for the win and their second ever place in the quarter-finals. Credit must also be given to the other Castle King striker New who scored the first and second goals for his team.

Chaos Shumen 2-2 Botev Plovdiv (3-5 after penalties)
In it's 17th appearance, the Bulgarian derby between Chaos Shumen and Botev Plovdiv was bound to be a close and thrilling game. In their previous 3 meetings in cup competitions, Botev had always run out winners from the clash and this time it was no different. The Plovdiv team made good use of their possession and scored an early goal, which Chaos managed to cancel out as late as the 94th minute. Scorer of the first goal for Botev Lysen gave his side the lead again in extra-time, but Chaos hitman Yates leveled the score again and the game went to penalties. At that point it was all up to chance and a single miss by the home side handed the victory to Botev.

Inter Milager 2-1 Scudders (ET)
This was bound to be a close game and indeed it took a goal 4 minutes from the end of extra-time to determine the winner. And while the Inter forward Much probably had a little word with his manager for scoring once from 6 shots, then Scudders manager Guermano must have made his squad an all-shooting training schedule, as he didn't have even one player with more than a single shot registered for the whole game. This might have been enough for striker Sukova to tie the match in normal time, but nobody else could cancel out the lead given to Inter by Much in the 116th minute.

Kif Villans 1-2 High Plains Drifters
The undisputed most impressive act of giantkilling in the cup thus far. While many were already aware of Drifters manager FooQ's qualities, this away victory to the current Premiership number 1 and most probable league cup winner, showed his brilliance to the entire Manta world. The Villans' constant possession of the ball only payed off once when Hirsch tied the game in the 73rd after Burnell had opened the scoring and given High Plains the lead 5 minutes earlier. The home fans were probably getting ready for a pre-extra time pint when Berthiaume stunned the crowd with the winning goal of the game in the 87th.

North London FC 3-1 Kingriver
Who would've thought a team which played in the 1st round of the cup would reach this far? If you're one of the few who would, then surely even you had doubts as to North London's ability to win this game against 113 ranked Kingriver. Well, against all odds the Division 1 side cruised past their 600 better ranked opposition with a brace from Sumner and a 3rd by Mullen, which took both forwards to 6 goals in the cup. With no cards received in this game, North London will be certain to have their best available for the next round and man of the match right back Clavette will be looking to supply match deciding assists in the next round which is the best North London have ever achieved.

Smirnenski United 1-3 Easyfit Walsall
While not particularly impressive throughout the game, Easyfit took a 3 goal lead and only conceded 7 minutes from full time, which was nowhere near enough to stop them from winning the game. It's totti's second quarter-final in a row and he'll be having his eye on the semi-final he couldn't reached last season. Grogan's opener also was his 6th goal of the competition equaling him to 3 other players with the same tally on 2nd.

The Trumpton Riots 0-2 Rex Mundi
A 2000+ ranked team facing a former two time League Cup winner and top 100 club. Needless to say bookies weren't putting odds in Trumpton's favor. Rex went on to comfortably win the game with a goal in each half and with Noodle FC and Kif Villans out could be considered the title main contenders alongside Botev Plovdiv.

Warlords 1-1 Northbankhighbury (4-3 after penalties)
The second team ranked outside the top 500 to progress to the quarters was Warlords from Division 4. Having taken the lead against the newly promoted Premiership side early in the game, Warlords supporters were seriously disappointed to see Mann equalize for Northbankhighbury in the 91st, but the penalties went the home side's way and ensured a new record league cup performance for Warlords.

Stats of the competition after round 5

Teams
Team	Div	GF	GA	ET	Pen	H	A
Botev Plovdiv	Prem	11	5	0	1	1	3
Castle King FC	Prem	11	4	2	0	4	0
Easyfit Walsall	Prem	10	3	0	0	1	3
High Plains Drifters	Prem	12	5	1	0	1	3
Inter Milager	Prem	9	3	2	0	4	0
North London FC	Div 1	13	2	0	0	4	1
Rex Mundi	Prem	12	1	0	0	1	3
Warlords	Div 4	6	2	1	1	2	2

GF = goals for
GA = goals against
ET = games gone into extra time
Pen = games gone into penalties
H = games at home
A = games away

Top scorers
Player	Team	Goals
M Campagne	High Plains Drifters	7
B Vazuez	Castle King FC	6
E Grogan	Easyfit Walsall	6
A Sumner	North London FC	6
D Mullen	North London FC	6

This article will be further expanded with information about the other games in the next few days.

Manta League Cup Round 4

2008-05-26T15:15:00.003+01:00

Anyone remember last season's articles I wrote about the League Cup? They're back again and for those of you reading who are still in contention, this one could provide you with a little info about what to expect or hope for.

At this point, with so many teams left (and so little time at the office before going home), I'll just wrap this article up with the basic stats:

Divisions
- 11 out of the 16 remaining teams are from the Premiership
- 2 are left from the Championship
- Divisions 1, 2 and 4 each have one last representative

Finishing power
- 4 teams claim the title of most goals scored thus far: Kingriver, North London FC, High Plains Drifters and Rex Mundi have all scored 10 goals. North London, however, have played 1 more game than the others.

Venues
- Castle King FC, Inter Milager and North London FC have had the privilege of playing 3 games at home. However, North London have had one away game, as they started from Round 1.
- Kif Villans are the only team having not had a home game so far. Doesn't look like they need on though.

Teams
Team	Div	GF	GA	ET	Pen	H	A
Botev Plovdiv	Prem	9	3	0	0	1	2
Bulletboys	Div 2	7	3	1	0	2	1
Castle King FC	Prem	8	2	1	0	3	0
Chaos Shumen	Prem	6	1	0	0	2	1
Warlords	Div 4	5	1	1	0	1	2
Kif Villans	Prem	7	1	0	0	0	3
Easyfit Walsall	Prem	7	2	0	0	1	2
Inter Milager	Prem	7	2	1	0	3	0
Scudders	Prem	6	1	0	0	2	1
Kingriver	Champ	10	3	1	0	1	2
North London FC	Div 1	10	1	0	0	3	1
Northbankhighbury	Prem	7	1	1	0	2	1
High Plains Drifters	Prem	10	4	1	0	1	2
Smirnenski United	Prem	8	2	0	1	2	1
Rex Mundi	Prem	10	1	0	0	1	2
The Trumpton Riots	Champ	7	3	0	1	2	2

Top scorers
Player	Team	Goals
M Campagne	High Plains Drifters	7
B Vazuez	Castle King FC	5
E Grogan	Easyfit Walsall	5
D Mullen	North London FC	5
G Dunlop	Bulletboys	4
A Sumner	North London FC	4
G Wilk	Rex Mundi	4
J Oscroft	Smirnenski United	4
Q Dudfield	Botev Plovdiv	3
A Tracey	Botev Plovdiv	3
J Yates	Chaos Shumen	3
T Barrett	Inter Milager	3
R Grey	Kif Villans	3
A Hirsch	Kif Villans	3
L Mike	Kingriver	3
A Henckler	Northbankhighbury	3
T Sukova	Scudders	3
W Schwarz	Scudders	3
R Nash	Smirnenski United	3

The Premiership Managers

2008-05-12T16:08:00.008+01:00

The original idea behind this article was to go through the entire Manta to collect information on manager nationalities. I quickly realized that was quite a tedious and time-consuming task, but doing a more detailed look at manager stats from the Premiership only seemed like a good way to kill time. Here's what I ended up with:

Managers not since day 1
Manager	Date Joined
scud	12.05.2007 г.
ryanj1991	8.12.2006 г.
mobby	28.10.2006 г.

Account types
Free	9
Subscriber	7
MOD	2
ADV	1
GM	1

Clubs Managed
Manager	Current Team	Clubs Managed
scud	Norwood FC	4
Wellings88	Killamarsh FC	3
mobby	Tottis Allstars	3
totti	Easyfit Walsall	3
ryanj1991	Smirnenski United	2
FooQ	High Plains Drifters	2

Everyone else has only managed one team before.

Nationalities
UK	12
England	3
Bulgaria	2
Ireland	1
Australia	1
Spain *	1

* Guermano may be treated as a multi-national citizen :)

Transfer Rating
Value	Managers
10	11
5 – 9	5
1 – 4	2
<>	2

Games played
> 400	2
350 – 400	14
300 – 349	2
<>	2

Wins
> 250	6
200 – 249	10
<>	4

And finally the full table I used to draw these stats from:

Manager	Team	Joined	Account	Clubs	Nationality	TR	G	W	D	L
Hristoskov	Botev Plovdiv	27.10.2006	Free	1	Bulgarian	10	407	285	67	55
Haziebob	Burnthouse Surfers	27.10.2006	MOD	1	UK	8	371	178	77	116
KingOfMyCastle	Castle King FC	27.10.2006	Subscriber	1	UK	4	359	245	55	59
chaosmaster	Chaos Shumen	27.10.2006	Subscriber	1	Bulgarian	10	371	229	79	63
totti	Easyfit Walsall	27.10.2006	Subscriber	3	UK	10	361	246	67	48
DaveMc	Foresters	27.10.2006	Subscriber	1	UK	5	355	219	61	75
FooQ	High Plains Drifters	27.10.2006	MOD	2	Australia	10	360	256	49	55
ndjuk	Hornets	27.10.2006	Subscriber	1	UK	10	373	240	69	64
pleasantsurprise	Inter Milager	27.10.2006	Subscriber	1	UK	10	366	245	56	65
kifd	Kif Villans	27.10.2006	Free	1	UK	10	382	232	78	72
Wellings88	Killamarsh FC	27.10.2006	Subscriber	3	England	0	344	194	62	88
Webby	Lancaster Bombers	27.10.2006	ADV	1	UK	4	355	209	67	79
benzb	Noodle FC	27.10.2006	Free	1	England	8	404	281	80	43
NickMcG	Northbankhighbury	27.10.2006	Free	1	Ireland	5	358	257	57	44
scud	Norwood FC	12.05.2007	Free	4	UK	-1	208	143	26	39
Sainsy69	Openshaw United	27.10.2006	Free	1	England	10	355	256	53	46
Grezz	Rex Mundi	27.10.2006	GM	1	UK	10	399	284	69	46
Guermano	Scudders	27.10.2006	Free	1	Spain :D	9	375	218	78	79
ryanj1991	Smirnenski United	8.12.2006	Free	2	UK	10	292	197	37	58
mobby	Tottis Allstars	28.10.2006	Free	3	UK	10	341	222	39	80

Enjoy

Information is valid as of 12.05.2008

Season 8 Summary

2008-05-07T13:27:00.005+01:00

Another thrilling 70 days went by and gave some of us moments of joy, while others were dissatisfied with how things turned out. In the end, despite the many twists and turns the standings are final and the wait for the new season is all we have left. So let's take a somewhat quick look at what the 38 match days gave us to think about.

The king is ... still the king. Long live king Botev!
Anyone believing Hristoskov is not the most dominant force in Manta has got to rethink his football philosophies. Three titles in a row for Botev make them the most successful Manta team in history and the 5 point gap they left behind them is a reflection of that. With 81 goals scored, which is 11 more than the second best, and only 5 points lost at home, Hristoskov was unreachable at the top yet again. And having lasted all the way to the Super Cup semi-finals, Botev have made a strong claim as to who will be the undisputed favorite for next season's championship.
Top scorer: Laurent Kodritz - 39 goals
Most assists: Joosep Impinen - 17 assists

A villain in the making
Will Kifd be the one to finally dethrone Hristoskov and take the Manta Premiership glory for himself? Looking at the Villans' success in recent times it looks like a very plausible possibility. Two League Cup finals in a row, one of which won and a constant rise in division ranking give this season's runner-up a lot of hope for a title, if not next season, then in the very near future.
Top scorer: Rob Grey - 36 goals
Most assists: Curtis Chevarie - 12 assists

Chaos theory applied
Don't be fooled by the title's reference to another popular manager's team, this is about Chaos Shumen and how their name reflects their unpredictability. One could have easily considered chaosmaster's side incapable of breaching the top 5 at the start of the season, but a League Cup semi-final, a Super Cup round 9 and the best away record of this season prove the contrary. Will 'the best season of the club', as the manager describes it, be a sign of great things to come or the zenith of the team's performance in the next several seasons? Time will tell, but any prediction is completely random.
Top scorer: Jason Yates - 36 goals
Most assists: Roger Waine - 11 assists

Botev, Kif, Chaos ... what happened to Noodle?
One of Manta's top managers had a season he'd be willing to forget quite soon. A constant contender to the Premiership title and a League Cup winner, Noodle FC finished below what most expected of them. A League Cup quarter-final and round 9 in the Super Cup may seem like good performances, but surely benzb is eager to show his team can do much much more. A title challenge could have also been issued, but a loss and 4 draws in the last 6 games of the season meant Noodle would have to settle for 4th.
Top scorer: Nigel Pelissier - 30 goals
Most assists: Nigel Pelissier - 13 assists

Whose stinger is bigger?
In the vicious fight between hornet and devil, ndjuk had the last word with goal difference giving him the edge over Grezz's Rex Mundi. Being one of Manta's last teams standing in the Super Cup, Hornets showed great form in the Premiership as well, before succumbing to a disappointing several results near the end of the season - 5 losses in the last 9 games. As for Rex, their description says it all: 'We used to be good but now we aren't. Haven't won a thing in years.'
Top scorers: Matthew Owen & Ray Tilly (Hornets) - 28 goals, Lee Logan (Rex Mundi) - 29 goals
Most assists: Jan Houghtailing (Hornets) - 13 assists, Midge Craddock & Grosvenor Dugal (Rex Mundi) - 12 assists

The most controversial team in Manta
The unlucky winner of this 'award' goes to ex-Liverpool City who are now dully named The New Team. Putting non-football circumstances aside, the 606 rated team did wonderfully to finish ahead of 8 teams higher rated than themselves. With a new manager who has had his share of Premiership football, perhaps this is the dark horse top teams should be looking out for next season.
Top scorer: Niels Holdt - 30 goals
Most assists: Gustav Caris - 13 assists

This is where I have to apologize to many of the managers whose teams I don't feel like giving summaries on, as it's quite time-consuming and I don't really have much to say about them. Perhaps if someone, even the managers themselves, have ideas of what to add, they could send them to me and I will include them in this article. As a gesture of good will, I'll post the scorers and assisters like in the previous teams:

Top scorers:
Paul Ball (Tottis Allstars) - 31 goals
Riggott Nash (Smirnenski United) - 21 goals
Malagigi Campagne (High Plains Drifters) - 24 goals
Eddie Grogan (Easyfit Walsall) - 33 goals
Liam Much (Inter Milager) - 40 goals - premiership top scorer
Bruce Vazuez (Castle King FC) - 35 goals

Most assists:
Neil Lawrence (Tottis Allstars) - 10 assists
Riggott Nash & Gazsi Kálmán (Smirnenski United) - 14 assists
Brenden Dew (High Plains Drifters) - 9 assists
Eddie Grogan (Easyfit Walsall) - 12 assists
Thomas Barrett (Inter Milager) - 12 assists
Miles New (Castle King FC) - 10 assists

The Ultimate Underdog
Despite his low finishing position, one can't simply go past Guermano's Scudders knowing their awesome feat that sealed their place in IAG History. They are after all League Cup champions! By breaking the hegemony of the top 100 teams and ex-champions Botev Plovdiv, Kif Villans, Noodle FC and Rex Mundi, Scudders have given all those teams who were discouraged by the quality of their potential opponents a very bright light that might soon guide another underdog to the immortal hall of fame of IAG.
Top scorer: Walarik Schwarz - 39 goals
Most assists: Cristos Segovia - 11 assists

The battle for survival
Words can't describe one of the most vicious and thrilling battles the Manta Premiership has ever had - the four way fight for survival. Lancaster Bombers, Burnthouse Surfers, Foresters and Sabbath Albion all went through an incredible period of suspense until finally all 4 teams finished on equal points and a single goal scored meant Sabbath would be the ones going down. With everyone scoring different points in the last 5 games it was down to luck more than anything else and Webby, Haziebob and DaveMc were the ones to draw the long straws. How this will affect their performance next season can mean the difference between a renaissance or a plummet to the Championship.
Top scorers:
Ron Stanford (Lancaster Bombers) - 26 goals
Nick Provost (Burnthouse Surfers) - 17 goals
Ian Oakes (Foresters) - 16 goals
Gregory Burns (Sabbath Albion) - 24 goals

Most assists:
Christofferson Ali (Lancaster Bombers) - 8 assists
Calum Sherwood (Burnthouse Surfers) - 9 assists
Jen Field (Foresters) - 8 assists
Jakob Lyngso (Sabbath Albion) - 8 assists

A sad, but long expected farewell
Coimbra All Stars had been on the brink of relegation for several seasons and what finally happened was no surprise. Belgicano who is one of the original Premiership managers gave all he had to hold on to the best division there is, but a constant flow of great teams from below ultimately cost him his place in the top flight. Good bye for now Belgicano and best wishes for the Championship, so you can quickly come back to the division your team was born in.
Top scorer: Janne Loiva - 13 goals
Most assists: Erminio Baciagalupo - 6 assists

Rock bottom
Karachi United never managed to cope with the Premiership and turned into the boxing bag of the division. With a goal difference of -70 and 90 conceded, their place among the best is rightfully removed.
Top scorer: Several players - 2 goals
Most assists: Alvar Larsson & Cristiano Panichella - 3 assists

Hope you enjoyed.

Only a great mind can read this.

2008-04-26T19:07:00.003+01:00

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!

Premiership & Supercup (Virtual League) - Part II

2008-04-21T12:24:00.004+01:00

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!

So, there is no such thing as Fate then….

2008-04-19T16:37:00.026+01:00

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?

Basement Battle

2008-04-17T07:28:00.006+01:00

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.

Premiership & Supercup (Virtual League)

2008-04-09T13:39:00.006+01:00

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

Each team collect points depending on their performance in supercup matches.

Teams receive 3 points for winning, 2 points for winning after extra time and 1 point for winning after penalties.

Teams receive 0 points for losing even if they lose on penalties.

Goals scored in 90 min and extra-time counts for the goal difference, penalties don't.

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)

2008-04-09T07:57:00.008+01:00

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

The Championship - Just passing the half-way point

2008-04-07T21:20:00.011+01:00

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:

Top Goalscorers:

38 goals scored by Karl Tilly (Norwood FC)
25 goals scored by Theodulf Lucius (Flair FC)
24 goals scored by Rory Bridges (Openshaw United)

Most Goals Scored:

49 goals (The Smoothies)
47 goals (Openshaw United)
47 goals (Splott United)

Least Goals Conceded

17 (Norwood FC)
20 (Openshaw United)
22 (Northbankhighbury)

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:

Openshaw United with 52 Points and a goal difference of +27
The Smoothies with 49 Points and a goal difference of +26
Northbankhighbury with 47 Points and a goal difference of +23
Norwood FC with 46 Points and a goal difference of +28
Splott United with 42 Points and a goal difference of +22

Super Cup Prediction Stats

2008-04-07T09:36:00.006+01:00

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.

The League Cup Experience

2008-04-01T08:00:00.011+01:00

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

Manta League Cup Final

2008-03-29T10:06:00.032Z

It's over! What is? One manager's waiting for a triumph, another's ambitions for a double, but most importantly - this season's Manta League Cup.

A Scudders fan gave the most descriptive summary of what his team achieved that night: "Who would've thought?". Against all odds, with the title holders eager for a double as opponents, manager Guermano's lads fought with everything they had and prevailed in a battle that seemed predetermined. Here's how the game looked through the eyes of another club's manager who was sitting as a guest of honor supporting the "ultimate underdogs" as Scudders are suitably called.

Kif Villans were as cool and determined as only a team confident in it's abilities and talent can be. Surgical passing, tactical awareness, lethal finishing and with the mental setting that the title can be won, the Villans team was all over the pitch. Scudders, whose manager was long satisfied with what his team had achieved, were playing under no pressure that a win was expected, but in the early stages of the game that provided kifd's zealously motivated players with more than an edge. Their dominance in play was finally realized when who else, but their top scorer Gray found the back of Reinhard's net and set the half time result at 0-1.

The second half was no less under the Villans' control. Midfielder Chevarie was the maestro behind his team's offensive build up and if Hirsch at the front was a little more concentrated a 2 goal lead could've easily been established. When kifd decided to sub out his scorer Gray for Milroy, critics remembered the effective substitutions the manager had made in the past two cup matches and this seemed to be the final touch in the Villans' masterpiece of a performance. But less than a minute afterwards things took an unexpected turn. A penalty for Scudders! The one thing kifd could not anticipate and so soon after the substitution and change in game plan it came as a great shock to the defending champions. With 9 goals and the title of the competition's current top scorer, Schwarz stepped up to the occasion and provided Scudders with the vital equalizer. With Kif disorganized and Scudders set to defend the result in hopes of taking the game to penalties, full time came with little to remember.

Extra-time. 30 minutes to either decide the better team or to leave things in fate's hands when the penalties came. It's the period in which teams prefer defending to attacking and this game was no different. However, it was referee Raban making the headlights before it came to spot kicks with his second penalty of the game - again for Scudders. If Schwarz was under pressure to score his previous penalty, then this time he carried the burden of the entire cup's fate on his shoulders. A quick glance at the goal, a step towards the ball, a kick ... and 2-1 for Scudders! The remaining 15 minutes were the slowest Scudders fans had experienced, while time was drifting away at an incredible pace for Kif supporters. But when the final whistle came, it was Guermano and his "underdogs" who were all over the pitch with joy. You'd think the manager would be speechless, but in less than a minute he had no voice whatsoever after screaming "We've won", "I can't believe it" and "2 Mio!!!".

And with this another exciting chapter of Manta's League Cup was closed. The Scudders hero from the final (and almost every other game) is unsurprisingly the competition's top scorer:

Top scorers

Name	Team	Goals
W Schwarz	Scudders	11
R Grey	Kif Villans	7
H Walther	Easyfit Walsall	6
K Tilly	Norwood FC	6

All eyes will now be set on the far more exciting and even more so challenging Super Cup. How far will the Manta teams go? Who will be the last one left? Will Manta have the Super Cup for a first time since Season 1? All of this will be answered within the next 40 days.

Thank you for following the League Cup through my articles and looking forward to providing you with more of them in the future.

chaosmaster

The Championship

2008-03-25T22:00:00.004Z

Day 25 and the Championship has many teams trying to grab the 3 top places and it seems like it's going to be a tight finish between quite a few teams. If we look at the championship now we see that Openshaw United are in 1st place with 34pts and they have a 1 point lead over The Smoothies with 33pts in 2nd. With 30pts is Norwood FC who are 3rd and with a goal difference of +18 and also Northbankhighbury have 30pts who are placed 4th with a goal difference of +13.
There is plenty of talent and quality from many teams and certain individual players and will shine like stars in their respective team. Theres definately one to watch out for, like Karl Tilly whos scored 29 goals in only 18 appearances for Norwood FC and is the top goalscorer for the championship and the manta league. Also Openshaw United at this present time has the best defence with just 12 goals conceded. The Smoothies have scored the most by hitting 33 goals in the net. Also Openshaw United and Northbankhighbury haven't lost a match yet and i'm sure they intend to keep it that way!

There are plenty of teams who want to make it to the Premiership and the teams who i think seem likely to finish in the top 5 are, The Smoothies in 1st, Openshaw United in 2nd, Splott United in 3rd, Norwood FC in 4th and Northbankhighbury in 5th. Im sure it will be a tight finish at the end of the season and im sure many teams will keep switching places.

Manta League Cup Quarter-finals

2008-03-23T10:52:00.004Z

Only six days from now, this season's Manta League Cup champion will be decided. Who are the contestants left to battle it out for this great award? The winners from the quarter finals of course. In this article, you'll find a small review of each game and of course the cup stats.
Chaos Shumen 2-0 Sabbath Albion

A dominating performance in midfield saw The Chaos Squad come out deserved winners in the most predetermined of this round's matches. Having beaten Sabbath at their own ground just a day before in the league, chaosmaster had decided to switch tactics and went for a 4-5-1 to counter the away side's 4-3-3. This choice seemed to pay off, as the Chaos midfield had full control and two second half strikes by DMF Huntley and CMF Lomas secured progression into the semis.

Noodle FC 2-2(pens: 3-5) Kif Villans

In the most anticipated match of the round, champions Kif Villans and ex-champions Noodle FC played a magnificent game which left the full stadium in awe, despite the home side losing in the end. Benzb had done a great job motivating his players and despite the defensive 5-3-2 line-up, it was midfielder Czeszyk who shined and subsequently earned the MotM award. 33 minutes into the game, the home side's dominance in possession finally paid off and Sonderby gave his side a deserved 1-0 lead. The goal turned out to be a big blow for Kif midfielder Wodaszak who couldn't control his nerves and was sent off just a minute later. With a 1 man advantage and the score in their favor, Noodle were looking to be certain semi-finalists and benzb subbed out their scorer 20 minutes before the end. kifd then made a match-defining decision. Having subbed out his forward Hirsch after the red card of Wodaszak, he proceeded to replace his other starting forward Milroy for Gray. And just as it seemed it was all over, Gray grabbed his fourth goal of the competition in the 92nd minute and forced the game into extra time. After a goalless first part, Czeszyk gave Noodle the lead again 5 minutes before the final whistle, but it was again Gray and again in the dieing seconds who equalized for the Villans and so the game had to be decided by penalties. Goalkeeper Shields kept his cool and with all of Kif's players scoring, Noodle were out after two misses.

Rex Mundi 3-2 Easyfit Walsall

Going into this game, The Happy Mundis were unsurprisingly favorites and the twelve thousand gathered to watch the game were pretty certain it would end in normal time. Total control of possession and a cannonade of shots by the Rex forwards confirmed those expectations, but it took almost an hour for the scoring to be opened. Logan's 57th minute goal was no surprise, but the immediate equalizer by Easyfit's Walther was a cold shower for the home team. And if that wasn't enough, Walther grabbed his second of the evening 13 minutes later. Emotions were high again for the home supporters just 2 minutes afterwards with Wheldon making it 5 goals in this season's league cup. It was only fitting for such an entertaining game to go to extra time, but unlike the Noodle FC versus Kif Villans game, this one didn't last until penalties. Craddock earned the MotM award with a goal on the brink of extra time's finish and with it Rex are now in the semis.

Smirnenski United 1-2 Scudders

While the quarter-final between benzb and kifd was bound to be a close game and stole the highlights, many had also directed their attention to this fixture as neither of the teams had an obvious advantage over the other. The game flow seemed to justify the thousand empty seats as chances were scarce and fouls were aplenty, but the home side were one ahead in the 63rd minute courtesy of an Oscroft shot. The pressure was now on Scudders and with Smirnenski having not conceded in this season's competition, things weren't looking good. However, all it took was two minutes between the 72nd and 73rd for Sukova and Atwell to turn the game around and a sound display in defense and midfield secured Scudders' progression into the semis for the first time in their history.

Team Stats

Team	Div	GF	GA	ET	Pen	H	A
Chaos Shumen	Prem	10	3	1	0	3	2
Kif Villans	Prem	12	4	0	1	2	3
Rex Mundi	Prem	12	3	2	0	2	3
Scudders	Prem	13	4	0	0	4	1

Top Scorers (players from eliminated teams in red)

Name	Team	Goals
W Schwarz	Scudders	7
H Walther	Easyfit Walsall	6
K Tilly	Norwood FC	6
R Ianniello	Hornets	5
R Grey	Kif Villans	5
D Wheldon	Rex Mundi	5
G Burns	Sabbath Albion	5

Manta League Cup Round 5

2008-03-19T16:07:00.003Z

And then there were eight. Yes folks, that's all that is left of a whole 200 teams that started the competition and in just 3 days there will be only four in contention for the big cash. Those who got eliminated this morning will have to be satisfied with 125k, while the ones to exit in the quarter-finals will receive the not-so-measly 250k. And although this isn't a small reward, the potential treasures that lay even further ahead will undoubtedly make the losers of the next round feel bad.

But let's not get too ahead of things. First things first, this round's highlights and stats!

Home importance
The first thing that makes an impression when looking at the results is that all 8 teams who played at home won their matches, with Rex Mundi the only team to have settled things in extra-time. On the opposite end we have Easyfit Walsall who smashed 4 goals in Bavaria Weegen's net - a new worst defeat for the German manager.

Premiership supremacy
Round 5 was as high as any non-Premiership team got this season. Only teams which are now competing in Manta's top flight are in the quarter-finals and this is likely to be the case in seasons to come. Enough time has passed since the creation of IAG so the league has sorted 'the best from the rest'. But who will be the 'best of the best'?

Rankings
Here's where everyone left is according to IAG's official club rankings:
1. Noodle FC (75)
2. Rex Mundi (107)
3. Kif Villans (109)
4. Chaos Shumen (211)
5. Scudders (336)
6. Smirnenski United (343)
7. Easyfit Walsall (352)
8. Sabbath Albion (796)

So everyone will be hoping to avoid the top 3 from this table and Sabbath will be the most desired opponent, right? In my own opinion - it's not the opponent that matters in the next round, it's the venue! After all, this round's stats concerning the successfulness of teams who played at home is enough evidence for me.

And now the table with the team details:

Team	Div	GF	GA	ET	Pen	H	A
Chaos Shumen	Prem	8	3	1	0	2	2
Easyfit Walsall	Prem	12	4	0	0	2	2
Kif Villans	Prem	10	2	0	0	2	2
Noodle FC	Prem	11	1	0	0	4	0
Rex Mundi	Prem	9	1	1	0	1	3
Sabbath Albion	Prem	9	2	0	0	4	0
Scudders	Prem	11	3	0	0	4	0
Smirnenski United	Prem	7	0	0	0	2	2

Finally, the top scorers (players from knocked out teams in red):

Name	Team	Goals
W Schwarz	Scudders	7
K Tilly	Norwood FC	6
R Ianniello	Hornets	5
G Burns	Sabbath Albion	5
L Kodritz	Botev Plovdiv	4
J Yates	Chaos Shumen	4
E Grogan	Easyfit Walsall	4
H Walther	Easyfit Walsall	4
S Gos	Howick United	4
N Holdt	Liverpool City	4
D Wheldon	Rex Mundi	4

See you after the quarter final :)

Manta League Cup Round 4

2008-03-15T11:07:00.005Z

One more round down, one less step to the coveted final... at least for half of those who participated in round 4. It's still too much information to go into details, so you know what follows, right? If you though to yourself "Stats of course!" then you're on the right track.
Firstly, let's just take a look at the basic statistics and then you can have the pleasure of digging deep into the tables so you can have a good look at your own team's performance and then probably through those of the others.

Divisions
- 10 Premiership teams left
- 4 Championship teams left
- 1 team left from Divisions 1 and 2

Goals
- The top scoring teams are Botev Plovdiv and Hornets with 10 scored in 3 games
- Northbankhighbury have the most trouble finding the net with only 4 goals in 3 games

Venues
- 5 teams have had the pleasure of playing all 3 of their games at home
- Only Rex Mundi and Flair FC have reached this far without a single home game

Rankings
- Botev Plovdiv and Noodle FC are the top 100 representatives still in contention
- 3 teams ranked between 100 and 200 are in round 5
- 4 teams ranked between 200 and 300 are in round 5
- 4 teams ranked between 300 and 400 are in round 5
- Norwood FC (631), The Smoothies (752) and Sabbath Albion (798) are left from outside the top 500

Finally, here's the detailed tables themselves:

Teams

Team	Div	GF	GA	ET	Pen	H	A
Botev Plovdiv	Prem	10	4	0	1	1	2
Chaos Shumen	Prem	7	3	1	0	1	2
Easyfit Walsall	Prem	8	4	0	0	1	2
Hornets	Prem	10	2	0	0	2	1
Kif Villans	Prem	8	2	0	0	1	2
Noodle FC	Prem	9	0	0	0	3	0
Rex Mundi	Prem	7	0	0	0	0	3
Sabbath Albion	Prem	6	1	0	0	3	0
Scudders	Prem	9	2	0	0	3	0
Smirnenski United	Prem	6	0	0	0	1	2
Flair FC	Champ	7	1	0	0	0	3
Northbankhighbury	Champ	4	0	1	0	2	1
Norwood FC	Champ	7	2	1	0	3	0
The Smoothies	Champ	7	2	1	0	2	1
Scottish Warriors	Div 1	6	1	0	0	2	1
Bavaria Weegen AC	Div 2	6	2	0	1	3	0

Top Scorers

Name	Team	Goals
K Tilly	Norwood FC	6
W Schwarz	Scudders	6
R Ianniello	Hornets	5
J Yates	Chaos Shumen	4
S Gos	Howick United	4
N Holdt	Liverpool City	4

Congratulations to those who have gotten this far and good luck to those still remaining.

Manta League Cup Round 3

2008-03-13T13:59:00.004Z

The League Cup - an event all hope to shine in, but direct elimination rules mean only one will earn the glory of having his name in the all-time cup honors list. For the rest the only consolation is the prize money, which at this moment is ... zero! With 32 matches having been played in the previous round, going into details about all of them is a job few can handle, so instead I will present you with a few lists containing the stats so far.
But first of all, let's turn our attention to the games and events that deserve noting from the third round:

Hornets striker R Iannielo scored 4 whole goals in his side's 4-1 thrashing of bottom division Paradis Amour.
Three other players managed hattricks: A Tracey (Botev Plovdiv), N Holdt (Liverpool City) and W Scwarz (Scudders)
Two teams managed to inflict 5 goal defeats on their opponents:

Botev Plovdiv 5-1 3vialistic

Tandridge Town 5-0 West Coast Eagles

Below is a table containing all the remaining teams going into round 4, their respective divisions, goals scored and conceded thus far, number of games gone to ET or penalties and the number of the home and away games they have played:

Team	Division	GF	GA	ET	Pen	H	A
Botev Plovdiv	Prem	8	2	0	0	1	1
Chaos Shumen	Prem	4	2	1	0	0	2
Easyfit Walsall	Prem	6	3	0	0	0	2
Hornets	Prem	7	1	0	0	2	0
Inter Milager	Prem	5	3	0	1	1	1
Kif Villans	Prem	5	1	0	0	0	2
Liverpool City	Prem	7	1	0	0	0	2
Noodle FC	Prem	6	0	0	0	2	0
Rex Mundi	Prem	5	0	0	0	0	2
Sabbath Albion	Prem	4	1	0	0	2	0
Scudders	Prem	6	1	0	0	2	0
Smirnenski United	Prem	4	0	0	0	1	1
Flair FC	Champ	5	0	0	0	0	2
Knodishall FC	Champ	5	3	1	0	1	1
Northbankhighbury	Champ	3	0	0	0	1	1
Norwood FC	Champ	5	1	0	0	2	0
Openshaw United	Champ	6	2	0	0	0	2
Splott United	Champ	6	0	0	0	1	1
The Smoothies	Champ	5	1	0	0	2	0
Waxing Gibbons	Champ	4	1	0	0	2	0
Charlestown Albion	Div 1	6	1	0	0	2	0
Howick United	Div 1	5	0	0	0	1	1
Kingriver	Div 1	5	2	0	0	2	0
Scottish Warriors	Div 1	4	1	0	0	2	0
Bavaria Weegen AC	Div 2	4	1	0	1	2	0
FC Afghanz	Div 3	5	1	0	0	0	2
Tandridge Town	Div 3	6	0	0	0	1	1
Gospodarite	Div 4	6	0	0	0	3	0
Mansfieldathletic	Div 4	4	2	2	0	1	1
teeside terrors	Div 4	7	2	0	0	0	3
Warlords	Div 4	4	3	0	1	2	0
Fallowfield Blues	Div 5	3	0	0	0	2	0

And for those of you who believe they have a good offense, here are the top scorers:

Name	Team	Goals
W Schwarz	Scudders	6
R Ianniello	Hornets	5
S Gos	Howick United	4
N Holdt	Liverpool City	4
K Tilly	Norwood FC	4
R Bridges	Openshaw United	4
B Ferguson	Warlords	4
A Tracy	Botev Plovdiv	3
G Calderwood	Charlestown Albion	3
B Trollope	Flair FC	3
C Hutchison	Gospodarite	3
J Reid	Knodishall FC	3
D Wheldon	Rex Mundi	3
T Parfett	Splott United	3
G Scott	Tandridge Town	3
E Yorke	teeside terrors	3

Hope you enjoy and be on the lookout for the future Season 8 LC stats I'm planning on posting after every round :)

State of the Premiership

2008-03-06T22:16:00.009Z

As of day 5 of the new season, this is the state of the Premiership...
Players

As looked likely, we've acquired a few more players than in the last couple of updates - at least 10 new faces are out on the training grounds, making 436 players in the Premiership (21.8 per squad on average). The differences in squad sizes are bigger than ever though - from Rex Mundi and Lancaster Bombers with 17 players each through to Karachi United and Easyfit Walsall on 26 and 27 apiece (although the other teams are spread fairly evenly between these extremes).

Chaos Shumen's successful youth promotions result in having the youngest squad again - a mere 22.9 years old - just under 6 years younger than Liverpool City's ongoing collection of geezers at 28.4 (to be fair though, that average will drop when the venerable Wayne Preston retires at the grand old age of 39 ;) As with the previous two updates at least, the division average is roughly as it was at 25.1 years old.

Contracts

There's going to be a few more players out of contract this season - 68 in total, and amongst them, quite a few retirees who will be missed by their respective managers.

On average, a Premiership player has 163 days left on their contract (one day more than the previous update half a season ago!) and Inter Milager are now the only team that won't have to worry about renewals for a while, with 232 days on average, unlike Mad Dogs United who'll need to be doing a lot of paperwork over the next 108 days.

Wages

Players' agents have been working overtime since last time and those contract renewals haven't come cheap - we collectively pay 2.9m per day to our teams... On average, a squad bill in the Premiership is 133k (not much more than before) but the spread between teams is shown up even more than in their relative sizes, going from Forester's 78,530 (beating the next closest of Chaos Shumen by over 10k!) to Botev Plovdiv's incredible 182,845 daily wage bill.

But the both the Scrooge and Peter Ridsdale Awards go to none of those teams - the miserly spend of a mere 3,906 per player on Easyfit Walsall's huge squad shows there's been some swift negotiating going on there in order to keep the Scrooge Award for a second time. And Rex Mundi keep the Peter Ridsdale Award in their trophy cabinet, continuing to treat their players to a shade over 10k each per day. That's one more milestone passed - now how long til the first 200k squad bill...?

And that's the start of the season roundup - most teams now have between 19-24 players aged 23-26 with a bill of 110-150k per day with an average of 140-180 days left on their contracts - all in all, pretty similar to before but there are definitely some much greater extremes in these figures.

Forum Gold

2008-02-29T16:39:00.008Z

The following article has been emailed to me by the 'Forum Historian'. Now, I've no idea who this is, although I suspect it may be Fooq. If you know who has been compiling the best bits of the forum, let me know. Anyway, here it is:

The best bits of the forums I’ve been able to save from the back end of Season 5 to the end of Season 6...
Posted by FooQ. A classic.

Best Mod: Grezz, keeps the game cheat free. Yes that’s right, Valadorn with his sale of a 34 year old 40 rated player for 1.92m is NOT a cheat. I repeat NOT a cheat. My lawyers insisted I type that twice.

Most Helpful Poster: ryanz, always ready to answer an annoying newbie question with a well typed out response. Possibly way too helpful sometimes but is that a crime?!? Oh it is? Oh. Doh, my bad.

Friendliest Poster: Haziebob, even on those awkward days of the month she refuses to give in to her urges to shout at everyone and send us all on huge guilt trips befor banning us all for months. I respect her for that.

Mysterious Poster: Lovemaster, the master of love keeps on revealing his mysterious past, including the revelation this week that he used to be a popular mid sized motor vehicle.

Spam Monkey Award: Lucifer, he can even spam other peoples spam threads he’s that good.

New/Upcoming Poster: saintgodric, I don’t know much about him cept he’s funny and he’s new, hence the vote as 'New poster'. Jeez.

Funniest Poster: Kev4Real, he’s funny. Hence the vote for 'Funniest poster'. Picking up a theme here?

Best Blogger: I haven’t read anyone’s blogs cos I’m obviously way too busy conceiving and raising a family, teaching them how to ride bikes and putting them through college n stuff. In fact, this whole post had to be typed inbetween family moments and took well over a month. Apparently, saintgoldric has a blog so I’ll vote for him.

FooQ’s “I pity the fool who posts like that” Award For Most Annoying Poster: eddy1blah3yaddayadda53. As Mr T often says 'So many foos, so little time to pity them' but he always finds time to pity eddy.

Most In Need OF IAG Rehab: TopGun2. TopGun, if you don’t tone down your IAG addiction you’ll never find time to conceive and raise a family, teach your kids how to ride a bike, put them through college n stuff. Spreadsheets don’t love you back, and spreadsheets don’t make you laugh when they fall off their bikes. Remember that.

Best Drunken Poster: Riggs. Not many people know but Riggs was actually Britney Spears. She’s a huge 'soccer' fan but she had to quit IAG to go into rehab for the 5th time. All the pressure of trying to revive an already crappy career with little talent, splitting up with K-Fed and fighting for her kids meant she had to quit IAG 'to concentrate on her work and family'. Sounds familiar huh? I saw right through that alias Britney. Better luck next time.

King Numpty Award: Leon_Hamilton, for consistently asking questions that are answered in the help section and FAQ. Not only that but he posts them in the wrong forum 99% of the time. He beats out eddy as eddy is usually doing it on purpose and at least has the excuse that he can barely type or read plain english. Often eddy can’t help but seem like an eejit as another member of his family is using the family brain cell that evening.

Smashie & Nicey’s Smileytasic Award: Dunno, it’s a silly award anyways.

Wurst Speeling Aword: I would like to vote for eddy but I won’t, cos if he wins he’ll spell badly on purpose.

Best Team Name: Inter Milager, pleasantsurprise’s team of drunkards spawned many copycats but his is the original.

Posted by ryanz – what does he mean?

The I was the are ranked the 4th or 5th best side in the division and I smiled some more :)

Posted by Enzo – a culinary comparison

I’d say Scotland have more chance.
Only by like the slightest nob of butter.

Posted by Kev – he puts the boot into American Football

Why the hell is your so-called 'football' called such, when the ball is only kicked about 3 times a match? Has that never seemed a little odd to you? Imagine you ordered a pizza, and were given soup instead, would you not think 'this isn’t right, that ain’t what its supposed to be'. Think about it.

Posted by Phil – I’m sure he’s making a valid point…

Actually I know you won’t be sacked. It’s just a minor insignifficant display bug. It isn’t liked tou your actual contarct as is cosmetic.....so I’m told.

Posted by Lovemaster – trouble with the opposite sex

Quote:
Originally posted by TopGun2
Hang on a minute, you had some girl who wanted to do your housework for you and you got rid of her because of it? Are you mental?

Some defining moments.......
Q. Do you have to put your feet on the table?
A. No, but if I wish to do so in my own house I will.
Q. Are those curtains not old fashioned?
A. I like old fashioned curtains.
Q. Where do you keep your dusters? (11.30 at night.)
A. I don’t have any.
Q. I hate these documentaries and stuff, why do you watch them?
A. I like them if you don’t there is another tv upstairs.
Q. It’s like a fridge in here why do you sit in the cold?
A. I’m not cold, if you are? put the heating on you know where the thermostat is.
Q. Why do you never answer your mobile? That ringing really get’s on my nerves.
A. I have my reasons.
Q. I think you have a drink problem, have you?
A. when it comes to drink, It’s no problem.
Q. Why do you keep a broken watch upstairs?
A. It only needs a battery where else should I keep it? (£675’s worth).
Blah, blah, blah.........I detest rabbiters.

Posted by rossrich – some sound advice followed by too vivid a detail?

Before you bin her Phil, why not experiment a little Ask her if she fancies bringing her mate along for a threesome (and i’m not talking about john from the chippy). If she’s up for it, cool. If she’s not then she bins you, feels better herself and you dont end up with a bunny boiler wanting to put love bites in your poo.

Posted by josemourinho – offering his programming skills….

If my coding skills are required just shout. aahhem.
C:pro club 'Barcelona fc' AS 'BEST CLUB ON IAG'

LIKE Barcelona fc BANK BALANCE AS '£150 Million'.

LIKE 'Barcelona fc' Player Rating as '100'.

You get the picture i’m sure.

Theres more where that came from. Only took me 15 minutes to write that as well. I await the phone call bosses.

Posted by Guermano – letting off a bit steam with his trademark PS’s

Stop discussing because here’s the best of the best:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Aliens
3. .......uhm......... Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo

Don’t care about the No. 3!

PS: Grezzy, eat some Gouda to stop you from saying anything!
PPS: AKitty, shut it!
PPPS: chaos, buy the Pepsi for Hristo and forget this post of mine!
PPPPS: Hristo, drink chaos' Pepsi and forget this post of mine!
PPPPPS: Webby, your Mac messed up this post of mine!
PPPPPPS: TG, have I ever expressed my true feelings about accountants?
PPPPPPPS: phil, don’t dare to ruin our long friendship!
PPPPPPPPS: pleasant, you’re a wizard when it comes to wording your thoughts, but not now!
PPPPPPPPPS: Luci_Lu, No!
PPPPPPPPPPS: Ian, Nope!

A series of posts from the ‘Confessions’ thread by FooQ – Pure Genius

1.

Quote:
Originally posted by niihty
On a recent jolly boys to Ireland, we had a “quickest dump” competition. The idea was you stand outside the bathroom fully clothed. Then dash into the toilet “lay a cable” wipe your arse and appear back outside the bathroom, pants belted back up. Obviously you don’t flush, so other competitors can check the evidence. The winner “dropped his back” and appeared back outside the bathroom, fully clothed, in 9 seconds flat.

Quite an achievement.

I suspect your friend pooped earlier into a jiffy bag, concealed it on his person and simply ran into the stall, closed the door, dropped the previously prepared poop and some toilet paper into the toilet and then re-emerged with his record time. It’s disgraceful really, how low can you get cheating in a pooping race?

2. Ok, for those wishing to crack down on any possible future cheating in 'Poop Racing' we here at the 'Committee of Racing And Pooping' (C.R.A.P. for short) have come up with the following measures to ensure a good 'clean' pooping race.

(1) Roughly 12 hours before the competition, all the competitors must eat a Gogurt © brand yoghurt randomly selected for them by an unbiased 'Turd Referee'. The Goghurt © flavours used should be Cherry, Blueberry and any Shrek © flavour. The yoghurts will of course have the effect of colouring the excrement at race time. The competitors are recommended to not vacate their bowels until the race time at risk of disqualification due to uncoloured doodoo.

(number 2) There remains however the possibility that a 'Poop Racing' contestant could cheat by previously storing a dookie of each of the three official 'race colours' to conceal on his person at race time. So much like a boxing match a weigh in will be conducted pre and post race. A simple formula is used to ensure fairness:

Pre-race weight MUST EQUAL post-race weight + poop

Any contestant whos pre-race weight is lighter than their post-race weight will recieve an official SEVEN year international ban from all excrement related sports.

Here’s to a cheat-free future in the world of toilet sports.

Yours faithfully,

FooQ

Chairman of C.R.A.P.

3. Addendum
_________

In the previous C.R.A.P. statement where it states in point number 2:

'Any contestant whos pre-race weight is lighter than their post-race weight will recieve an official SEVEN year international ban from all excrement related sports.'

This should of course read:

'Any contestant whos pre-race weight is lighter than their post-race weight PLUS POOP will recieve an official SEVEN year international ban from all excrement related sports.'

We here at C.R.A.P. apologise for any confusion caused.

Yours apologetically,

FooQ

Chairman of C.R.A.P.

4.

Quote:
Originally posted by Lee_Wooding
A way to ensure cheating does not occur would be to make the contestants bring some of the used paper with them.

Unfortunately, used toilet paper is all too easily hidden in the shirt sleeves or socks. Believe me, we here at C.R.A.P. have held numerous meetings in the last 15-20 minutes discussing the numerous ways poothletes can cheat at what should be one of the fairest events in modern toilet competition.

Season 7's Honours List

2008-02-27T08:26:00.008Z

Here's a rundown of season 7's division winners and promotees, starting, of course, with the premiership...
Premiership Champions - Botev Plovdiv
Runner up - Noodle FC

Championship Winners - Tottis Allstars
Promoted - Foresters, Karachi United

Division 1 Winners - Splott United
Promoted - Flair FC, Northbankhighbury

Division 2 Winners - Howick United
Promoted - Work Reds, Kingriver

Division 3 Winners - Channel Four News
Promoted - Volvo United, Bavaria Weegen AC

Division 4 Winners - Raf Blues
Promoted - Fc Afghanz, Roker Park Rangers

Division 5 Winners - Mansfieldathletic
Promoted - Rahman Rovers, Passarelli FC

Division 6 Winners - Koronet Royals
Promoted - Fallowfield Blues, Socceroos FC

Division 7 Winners - Donkos Boys
Promoted - 3vialistic, Matelot Shufflers

Division 8 Winners - Fat Greeks
Promoted - New York United, Bdotcs Boyz

Congratulations to one and all! Good luck in season 8.

Season 7 Rankings and Results

2008-02-26T22:16:00.012Z

There'll be another Premiership stat round-up early next season - everything seems to be mostly the same as the last mid-season one. (Although it does look now that two clubs are definitely starting to pull away from the rest - no prizes for guessing which ;) - both with squad values almost 10m more than the next club!)

In the meantime though, here's a graph of club rankings over the season...
Apologies for the scale, but hopefully you can still make out that, aside from the spectactular readjustment of Mad Dogs United (bank balance reset to division average??) after Mad Dog left, the league has started to split into 3 groups. Whether you're happy with that probably depends on which colour line your team has been drawn with ;)

And a cut out 'n' keep picture for your club's scrapbook - all the Premiership results for season 7:

Enjoy, and good luck for the coming season :)

Edit: and here's an extra picture of the same thing for season 6:

Season 7 Winners and Losers

2008-02-26T11:51:00.017Z

Season 7 has come to an end and that means we have some winners and some losers to report. Actually, in the premiership there is only one winner and this season, as it was last season, and in season 3, the champions are Hristo's Botev Plovdiv. Well done Hristo.
In 2nd place, let down by 3 draws in the final week and a crushing defeat at home to Liverpool City in game 34, we have Benzb's Noodle FC. Unlucky Benzb. In 3rd, we have Grezz's Rex Mundi, who could only manage to draw at home to Noodle, Hornets and Kif Villans. Wins there could've made all the difference. 4th place went to ndjuk's Hornets who put up a strong challenge and could be there or thereabouts again next season.

At the bottom of the table we have to say goodbye to Norwood FC, Thames Ironworks and Crazy Clowns. Crazy Clowns season reads W1, D1, L36. That's some season! Who did he beat? The unfortunate Thames Ironworks.

That's it guys and gals. Here's to season 8 and a new challenge. Keeping the debt collectors at bay!

The Premiership XI

2008-02-26T11:13:00.010Z

One of the regular threads in the manta forum is the match day best XI thread. The big contributors in that thread are Chaosmaster, Totti and pleasantsurprise (I believe it was Totti's idea). They really do spoil us. The idea is that they compile a team of the day from the player's match ratings from each game. It's a sterling effort, and it makes interesting reading.
Totti has now taken this one step further now that season 7 has ended. Naturally, he has compiled a season's best XI, and here it is:

The Manta Team Of Season 7 :

Goalkeeper
E Mickeljoen (Easyfit Walsall)

Defenders
G Woollard (Chaos Shumen)
D Bishop (Chaos Shumen)
P Rowe (Scudders)

Midfielders
A Casey (Smirnenski United)
E Roth (Easyfit Walsall)
W Sass (Mad Dogs United)
I Bridges (Castle King FC)
M Çardinha (Kif Villans)

Forwards
L Much (Inter Milager)
R Grey (Kif Villans)

Two players each from Easyfit Walsall, Chaos Shumen, and Kif Villans. No players at all from this season's title winners Botev Plovdiv!

Nice work Totti!

Near Season 7's end

2008-02-22T16:04:00.008Z

The quality of the Manta Premiership has gone up significantly over past seasons and with it so has competition. So do we have a 3-4 team deadlock for the title two match days away from the final standings? “Unfortunately” from a neutral spectator’s point of view it’s pretty much Botev’s title yet again. The six point gap means Botev must lose both remaining games including a home game against second place Noodle FC, so that benzb’s side have a chance at getting the gold. With recent performances in mind, this seems quite unlikely. Botev are second in the form chart, while 2 draws and an unexpected loss at home to Liverpool City have left Noodle in 8th. Looking at the other stats between the two, Hristoskov’s side has scored the most goals (72), while Noodle have conceded the least (32), but despite having only 1 loss, the latter has registered 13 draws compared to Botev’s 7 and it seems victories is what benzb must be aiming for if he is to challenge the established Manta monopolist Hristoskov for his title next season.
In 3rd, 4th and 5th, just several points behind Noodle FC, we find the constantly threatening Rex Mundi, the Premiership’s best original squad Hornets and the league cup winner Kif Villans. And while Rex' performance in the last 5 matches has cost them a shot at second place, Hornets have been doing their best in recent times to finish as high as possible. Looking at their remaining games, two very probable wins for Hornets mean that Rex can’t afford anything than a win in their last game away to Scudders - a target Guermano would be more than glad to ruin. The Villans were considered potential title contenders ever since joining the Premiership, but despite a commanding performance in the league cup, manager kifd just can’t find the right rhythm for his boys to stay in contention. Being one of only 3 teams with no losses at home so far, it’s the away games that should probably be given attention in the future. Kif’s 2 representatives in the top 3 Premiership most expensive players table tells a lot of the team’s true potential, so look out for his side in the future!

Sitting comfortably in 6th, Chaos Shumen have had nothing more to fight for ever since Thursday when their position was sealed and one could wonder if their defeat at Liverpool City on the next day was a result from that. Despite the several injuries chaosmaster has complained about, his side have held on to another finish just behind the top dogs and with the good cup run this season, his side might be looking for a better performance in the seasons to come. Stat wise, Chaos are the lowest placed of the three teams without home losses alongside Kif and Botev and second in terms of goals conceded at home behind likely champions Botev. Scoring also seems to be nicely covered as their HPL Jason Yates is top of the scorers table in the Premiership.

And now we get to the zone where things are still very interesting despite the few remaining games. From 7th to 12th, Easyfit Walsall, Mad Dogs United, Smirnenski United, Scudders, Liverpool City and Inter Milager are just 5 points apart and every point and maybe even goal in the next two matches could be essential towards a team’s final standing. Totti’s first season at Easyfit has been quite a success and if a few of those 10 away draws were converted to wins, he could’ve given Chaos a tough fight for the higher position. Scoring doesn’t seem a problem for this team with 64 and only 3 teams having scored most, but 52 conceded compared to Shumen’s 35 give away a hint as to where totti’s future problems may lay. After losing their original manager Mad Dogs United are plummeting downwards in both performance and position and relegation might be lurking behind next season’s corner for them. Smirnenski have done a good job to be in the top of the table in their first Premiership season, but despite an impressive home form, away games seem to be causing ryanj1991 too much problems. Scudders have played a good season as well, but their manager’s satisfaction from the current position is questionable. Their big stadium and star-striker Sukova’s second place in the top scorers chart could prove a difference in seasons to come, but an away game to in-form Liverpool and a derby at home against Rex Mundi will likely hinder Guermano’s team’s chances of finishing higher than they are right now. Despite a great run in recent games, including wins over Noodle FC and Chaos Shumen, Liverpool City stumbled away against Norwood FC and that has cost them a third place in the form table. Considering the team’s early season crisis, one can safely say Boozer has made a great job of motivating his players and had he done it sooner, contention for 6th could have been possible. Last in this group, but with probably the easiest matches left we find “draw master” Inter Milager. A win in his derby against rival Webby could move pleasant’s side to the top 10 in the final standings - a finish the manager should be happy about.

In 13th and 14th, Castle King FC and Sabbath Albion are battling it between themselves for a higher position. Last season’s promotees Castle King were looking impressive at the start of the season with 7 home wins out of 7, but with the same number of losses away they were stuck in mid-table. Now this cycle seems to have shifted to draws at home and losses away, justifying their current position. Sabbath, on the other hand, started off at the bottom and were considered by many (myself included) likely to be relegated. However, their resilience granted them a chance to prove their worth in seasons to come, as their finish in relegation doesn’t seem likely in the next few seasons.

Just over the relegation line, Lancaster Bombers, Burnthouse Surfers and Coimbra All Stars are lucky to be pretty much certain of staying in the Premiership for at least another season. Webby’s disappointing single win away is likely the reason why he isn’t challenging for a higher finish, while Hazie could’ve done better if a few of those home draws ended in victories. Lastly, Coimbra have been in the “most likely to be relegated” graph for 2 seasons now, but just like fellow original Premiershiper Sabbath, they are still refusing to leave their “birth place”.

Below the relegation line, Norwood could be cursing their luck, as just a few more points could have meant their staying in the Premiership. However, with just 3 wins at home their place doesn’t look all that surprising. 3 points further behind and absolutely certain of relegation, Thames Ironworks haven’t really had a good first Premiership season and 4 points away pretty much explains why. Finally, we can see the perfect example of what happens to an established club once his original manager leaves it at the start of the season - Crazy Clowns with a measly 4 points were nothing more than a boxing bag for almost everyone in the division and their future in the Championship also doesn’t seem certain.

Manta Banta Contributors

2008-02-21T14:47:00.009Z

Managers! Hello, and welcome to the Manta Banta Blog.

You will be able to log in using your Google account details and publish your own posts to the site. You can edit your posts too if you so wish. You can format your text using the post editor which has all the basic features that word processor apps have. You can also add images. You might want to add a label too which is just like a tag. For example, all posts labeled 'Super Cup' could be viewed by clicking the 'Super Cup' label.
Once you're done typing up and formatting your post (I'd suggest leaving the font alone so everything looks the same), you can preview it using the preview button. If you're happy with the layout then choose 'publish post' and your work is done.

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Ok, go for it guys, and thanks for agreeing to help.