The Estadio de Reyes cheers home its Kings

Season 1 of the Saunders gameworld is over and the Kings of Dion finished in a very impressive 4th place in the Xtreme Football Association (XFA). It all came together on the last day of the season when we managed to beat 5th place Sagresse 1-0 and then 6th place Blue Nose Bears 2-1 to cement 4th place. Unfortunately, this will all come to nothing as I took the decision to leave the XFA and join the Super Evening Football Association (SEFA). There were just too many games in the XFA and hopefully the SEFA will suit me better.

The starting line up which ended Season 1 is to the left and there were only a few changes made throughout the season. Avimiled Rivas joined the Kings for £60k and is taking over as a key player in the team. He is calm under pressure and links up the entire team. He starts most of our attacking moves receiving the ball from Defense and playing to either the wings or Olivera in the attacking midfield position. He also plays an important part in linking the width of the team. Balls are quickly spread from left wing to right wing and vice versus through Rivas in midfield. (An important part of the 442 system and often overlooked by teams who want star strikers and wingers) If you have no-one good to give them the ball from defense it doesn't matter how good your wingers or strikers are.

My first ever experience of the end of season contract auctions has begun. Its been touted as one of the crucial points in the FML season and I must say Simon's post on the Wild Geese blog has been invaluable http://wildgeesefc.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-favourite-time-of-year.html

I've been lucky this season, in my intial squad I had only 5 players worth keeping for the future and by signing 6 or 7 players on 2 season contracts during the season i've managed to keep most of my first team secure for next season. This has left me with 3 players who are entering the wage auctions that I actually want to keep, my goalkeeper Orkun Usak, and my two fullbacks Sami Tajeddine and Sampo Koskinen. I've taken a gamble and allowed them to go to the dreaded wage auction, i'm just hoping nobody noticies them because at the end of the season their average ratings dropped below 7 to around the 6.9 level.

The major tip I could give to anyone is to search through all the players on the gameworld with a contract expiry of less than 7 days and shortlist all the players (not already locked) who catch your eye. This way you get regular updates on when their contract is going to a wage auction and you can decide at that point if you want to make a bid on them.