We get ourselves a Stadium gents !!

Today at around 9AM GMT approximately St John was upgraded with the Stadium patch. Right after getting the stadium, there appears a flurry of construction activity. People flurrying to build a new stand for their Family fans, some going to build a new stand and Corporate boxes for their big spending corporates.

Indeed the Daredevils board are also pondering on a further stadium expansion to accommodate the family and glory hunter fans, since they currently feel ill at ease to seat themselves with the diehard and devoted supporters. They are wanting a luxurious Di Lusso seating, or at least a Piegvehole type of block. The board has listened to this petition and will make a final decision in the next board meeting which is sceduled in a few days.

The last few days has also seen, some improvements in the club. Most players have recovered from their injuries and the Devils have been active in the transfer market as well. They had loaned out prized striker Sadick Adams to get better first team exposure, as well buying in a replacement in explosive 20 year old Enlish striker, Febian Brandy. Brandy was previously plying his trade at young manager Daniel Malone's Shiny Toy Guns FC. The Devils paid well over the top for the English U-20 striker and the manager hopes that the player will give a good return on the said investment.

Meet Abe "Chat Helper" Roddney

I was called for a chat with moderator Henrik Bjorkman, early morning. I was pleasantly surprised to know, that I have been considered as a potential Chat Helper. And when I responded that I would be honoured with the appointment, bam 2 minutes later I see my name highlighted in blue and on top of the chat helpers.

The second surprise, and this got me elated, was the appointment of yours truly, as the official journalist of the Weekend Casual Association. The new job would see me write more and more interesting articles regarding life at the WCA. So, you will be seeing more of those posted here as well.

Now, with that out of the way, I'm also elated that most of the out of action players are now slowly returning to match fitness levels. With the boost of Activity Rating,(at the expense of Seniors Ranking) injuries are becoming rarer and less of long term ones.

And this post will not be complete without mentioning a certain Aaron Moses-Garvey. He was a panic signing at Daredevils F.C, but with such stunnig performances he's now vying for a regular first team spot ahead of the likes of Rodrigo Possebon, Dimitriu Copil and Yoel Goldstein. With versatility to play in the midfield and as a centre forward, Moses-Garvey has been in exceptional performances, scoring goals at an amazing rate. He lacks up for his lack of technical skills in the pitch with his explosive pace and strength.

His prescence has greatly influenced the team, and has put superstars such as Nathan Eccleston, Omar Andrade and Sadick Adams to raise their levels of performance if they want to maintain their first team spots.

Transfers again

In a move that rocked the GameWorld explosive English winger James Milner was transferred from young English manager Mike Roff's RoFF United to English manager Kieran Reeves' Bristol Sharks for a whopping 1.79Million GBP. The deal also consists of agent fees for Milner's agent of 179,000, who had been a key player in the deal, meeting out the negotiations, over this huge transfer fee, between the 2 clubs. This transfer has been largely been seen by pundits and critics alike as a resounding business deal by RoFF United, and would pave way for large name signings to the Branksome Wreck.

When asked to comment on the deal Roff was bulish,"Every player has a price. Milner is a quality player, but if someone is willing to pay so much, I cant say no. The lad was sad to leave after arriving to the Wreck so soon, but we cannot possibly walk away from such a lucrative proposal.

"I doubt you would see any big names too soon. We are planning an expansion of the stadium, and would probably utilise the money from the Milner deal in it."

On the other hand, at Bristol Sharks, there are mixed reactions. The corporate fans were pleased with the acquisition of such a high profile player, and had vowed to the manager and the board to continue funding to help bring in more big names to the club. Although some diehard and devoted supporters are wary of the deal. Amidst rumours that the club is in debt to pay off such a large amount of money, they hope that The Shark Tank will soon pay host to one of the established trophy rooms at the club.

The manager was ecstatic at the press conference,"I want to reassure all the fans, that the deal is going to pay off. We are looking at long term success, and we aim to bring more quality players such as James, at the club."

The player in question, James Milner, was also excited at the prospect of playing at The Shark Tank. In the press conference where he was unveiled and give the No. 18 shirt, he commented,"I am very happy with the transfer. Its nice to see that I'm being valued at such a high price. I hope I can pay back that kind of money with good performances."

Milner is currently injured for a day with a groin strain.

Transfers

We are only 8 days into St John and we are already seeing an active Transfer market. Apart from the usual high profile signings in the initial squads, which includes the likes of Bojan, Walcott, Amauri, we have also witnessed a host of Private transfers and Exchange Deals, with many big names to boot. With the lifting of the previous 7 day rule, it leaves any manager to sell a player, sometimes immediately after buying, at no profit, since there is a 100% profit sell on clause. But this hasnt deterred ,managers from selling off their biggest names, sometimes in the hunt for a bigger challenge. These host of players is a long list, but some of the most high profile names includes 21 year old Argentine Winger Diego Buonanotte, English striker Jermain Defoe, strong Nigerian target man Yakubu, 19 year old winger Miralem Pjanic, 19 year old French wonderkid Henri Saivet, Brazilian ace Ronaldo, and several others namely Claudio Pizarro, Johan Elmander, Luis Garcia, Arouna Kone, Raul Tamudo, Javier Saviola, etc.

With the injection of FA media money, we can expect more such deals following. St John already benefits from a very active community, whereby the chatrooms are always buzzing even as late as 12 in the night and as early as 6 in the morning. Now with an active transfer window, we can expect an even better season. Be around for the next update about life in St John in the weekend where we will have views from the managers about the goal of the week, and the most improved manager. Till then may your team be injury free and your scoresheet filled with goals.

And We Are Off

The inaugural season in St John kicked off yesterday at 8PM GMT. The Devils being placed in the WCA(Weekend Casual Association) Qualifier 3 faces stiff competition from 20 other equally competitive teams. Even more so, because unlike the Devils, most of them are teams focussed primarily on Seniors success. They have older, and more experienced players, who are stronger and have more stamina. But this makes the job more challenging and difficult., because our manager loves new and difficult challenges, "It gives me a greater thrill." he was quoted as saying.

The manager was accompanied by Rodrigo Possebon, the most famous player in the team and the current captain of the squad, in the season inaugural press conference. Possebon has wowed the fans with his amazing goal scoring prowess especially from long range in the Pre season friendlies and competitions.

Normally known for his versatility, Rodrigo is best when played in the Central midfield, although he is also capable in playing on the right side of defence and midfield. Currently valued at 60,000, Possebon has an Acquisition Fee of 55k, and a daily wage of 3,500 GBP. At the moment of writing this article Rodrigo was out with an injured knee for one day. But he was very upbeat about returning to first team football, as soon as possible. We hope for his speedy recovery so that he can once again bang in his long range swerving screamers and wow the fans of the Daredevils.

Season Kick Off

So, we are a few hours away from the Season to start. The youthful Daredevils F.C. have been placed in the Weekend Qualifier 3, in the Weekend Casual Association(WCA), with 19 other teams. So far the Daredevils F.C have performed admirably. We already have 6 youth records under our belt with the seventh on its way. The likes of Sadick Adams and Omar Andrade have been pumping in goals in the youth scoring charts and as a result the Daredevils F.C remain a top spot of 5th in the youth rankings(our highest so far, ever).

To kick off the season, I've got a small profiling of the young guns of the squad, and I'll start off with the current gameworld record holder of most number of assists, Ghana U19 sensation Sadick Adams.

Sadick Adams, is currently the most expensive player in the squad. With a high Acquisition Fee of 120,000 he is certainly way more expensive than the rest, but the manager firmly believes all the money is well invested, and Sadick Adams will be giving some eye catching performances. So far so, the Ghana starlet hasnt disappointed the fans. The manager has been ecstatic in the recent performances, and although he along with 3 others is almost certain to miss out the start of the season with a fractured rib, the manager firmly believes that if the Daredevils are to scale new peaks this season, Sadick will be a big part of it. Sadick is under a one season contract with a daily wage of 2, 25k.

The Debut of the Daredevils

After a brief stint in Beta, which ended very soon, I finally purchased a 6 month subscription to Football Manager Live. Although i would have liked to be a part of the Pro world Toms(in hindsight its a better idea I'm not, since Toms does have its share of users who have migrated from other GWs with their skills intact), I was left to choose only St John, the newest GW. Apparently I was already 3 days late into the GW. But I still managed a good pick of players. My initial squad, the pre selected one,(something new, which wasnt in the original Beta) had a nice bunch of players, especially Man Utd starlet Rodrigo Possebon.

Then came the tough part. Of selecting the initial squad. My only other occurence of choosing a squad was back in my first and only Beta world. And back then I didnt know much of the game, and I didnt know what manual select was. So, after clearing away the deadwood, and keeping the useful, I tried to create a good enough squad with a mixture of experience and youth. Sadly so, I failed to manage to find the required players, leaving me in a dilemma, whether to go all Seniors(something I've hated doing in my only previous experience) or pull of a coup and go the youth way(something which I found highly exciting since I saw most moderators in my original GW do). So, after pondering, Daredevils F.c decided to choose the youth part.

With a initial skill set of Jack Of All Trades(which I personally feel is a superb innovation on the part of Sports Interactive), I had a bit of everything everywhere necessary. Add to that a squad brimming of all 20 year olds and younger. And the Daredevils officially all set to go.


Like expected, my bunch of 20 year olds performed abysmally in senior games, we had to wait for more than 10 games to register our first win. But having said that, I'm most delighted to say, each of those sorry performances on the pitch has been compensated with the brilliant way they have managed themselves in the youth games. In the 3 days that we've been in St John, Daredevils have leapfrogged to 5th in the youth rankings, and are currently holding 3 of the youth records. Its great to be in a Live GW, but to be on the top of a rankings chart(youth or seniors) is an exhilarating feeling.

Currently we are vying hard for a youth league to be set up in the FA's so that our entire hard work to put together a bunch of kids doesnt go in vain.