The Kings Go Forth

The Kings of Dion FC go forth into the Saunders Gameworld of FML. Its been just under 2 weeks since the start of Saunders and things have just started to get exciting with the start of the FA competitions and the first wave of transfer auctions.

Day 1
It was really tense prior to the start of the Gameworld and I was lucky to be one of the first to get in the Gameworld. I quickly snapped up Obafemi Martins for £400k. That basically blew my budget but what can I say, he has scored 62 goals in 93 games, well worth it in my opinion. He is superb on the counter attack, his pace destroys most teams and he can strike a ball from any angle meaning he often bags goals from positions where most players wouldn't even chance a shot on goal.

My other notible signing in the initial squad was Nicolas Olivera for £30k, he has done me proud with 24 goals and 26 assists in 79 games. He has real creative flair and lays some beautiful balls through to Martins from the centre of midfield.

With the initial squad signed up I started to put together some tactics and after 24 games of messing about with 3-5-2, I went back to the good old 4-4-2 (I haven't used that formation since FM06). I've now been with the 4-4-2 formation for 77 games and thanks to some top tips from Simon James of Wild Geese FC (check out his blog - http://www.wildgeesefc.blogspot.com/) I've clawed my way up to 186th in the rankings. I'm pretty pleased with that so far.

Day 12
Today is day 12 of the gameworld and I've made quite a few changes to my first team since day 1. I snapped up Marcio Emerson Passos (he current plys his trade in Qatar) for £24k and he's scored 27 goals in 51 games for the Kings. I've just sold 33 year old David Possanzini for £129k, a nice profit of £115k. My most recent signing was Dmitry Molosh (the Belarus CB/LB currently playing for Russian side FC Nosta Novotroitsk) for £80k which has helped strengthen my back line. I managed to knock £20k off the initial asking price of £100k so I was pleased with that.

Aside from FML I've just finished reading an excellent book by David Peace called The Damned Utd. It covers the 44 days of Brian Howard Cloughs rein as Leeds United Manager in 1974. It also covers the history of how Cloughie took Derby to the First Division Championship in 1971-72. Its a fantastic read and I thoughrly recommend it to every one interested in football - you can pick it up for £4 in HMV.