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Post by Boony on Jan 24, 2006 17:05:03 GMT
Ah... That's why I want to buy myself a laptop. Unfortunately, that's not enough of a reason to justify it to myself, what with money being a bit tight and me trying to save as much as I can at the moment. Doesn't lend itself to splashing the cash on a new bit of whizzy kit. Especially so soon after I bought myself an iPod. Mmmm, iPod....
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Post by coffers on Jan 24, 2006 17:22:06 GMT
I need to sort out my home PC it's been playing up no end lately, not that I use it much, but it's been refusing to boot up when my daughter uses it. Last time I used it it came up with BIOS CRC error's IIRC I've seen those before when the onboard battery was knackered but that was a long time ago in the days of 286's and 386's. Either it's something and nothing, or I'm going to have to persuade the Mrs that a new CPU is required, that'll be no mean feat I can tell you. She hates PC's and hates the internet with a passion. Had she been born around 200 years ago she'd have been smashing up traction engines or something.
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Post by Boony on Jan 25, 2006 9:35:19 GMT
Hmm, that doesn't sound pretty, Coffers. Tell your daughter she can come round and use my PC anytime she likes...
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Post by coffers on Jan 25, 2006 9:48:04 GMT
I tried to boot the thing up last night and it took 5 attempts to get it going, it then hung up after getting through my XP logon. Another 3 or 4 attempts later it stayed going for longer, I tried running chkdsk it reported knackered files, but running chkdsk with the /f switch won't work as it says something else is using the system. The disk is NTFS format. I couldn't find scandisk anywhere I'll have a root around another time.
I then tried to run the Disk Clean up routine in system admin tools, the system rebooted itself. It's not been istelf since my daughter used WinMedia 10.0 to rip a load of cd's in a 5 hour stint. I fear she might have fried the CPU. EIthe rthat or it could be the BIOS version is too old for XP or something.
Maybe I'll take it in to a local PC repairer and see what they say.
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Post by Moo on Jan 25, 2006 10:54:18 GMT
*sucks teeth*
It'll cost ya!
*tuts and shakes head*
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Post by coffers on Jan 25, 2006 11:02:33 GMT
:checkit:
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Post by coffers on Jan 25, 2006 11:04:56 GMT
2005 League Season continued:Storm In A Teacup, Snooker Loopy and Cyborg are signed up to full time contracts. The extra training should help them improve no end. Crystal Coolbox has damaged his elbow in training and is likely to miss the next 3 weeks. Apparently we have a difficult challenge ahead of us in the next game. Vikingur have been made 6-4on favourites. I like a challenge, I do. The squad for the Vikingur was named as follows: GK: Shouting At Wolves, DR: Cyborg, DL: Used Crash Dummy, DC's: Hide Away & Severe Singlet, DMC: Darned Critter, MC's: Sky Train & Almost A Munster AMR: Raffia Pudding, AML: Foghorn, ST: Storm In A Teacup. Subs: Snooker Loopy (GK), Orange Vegetable (D/L), Framed For Posterity (D/RC), Grommit (ST), Boris (M/LC). 10/9/2005 Vikingur, D1 (Home): The last home game of the season and we serve up an awful bore draw, there's nothing more to be said really apart from the fact that both sides had 5 shots apiece, of which only 2 were on target, at least those were our shots. Drew 0-0. Attendance 825. MOM Cyborg (8). There's one game of the season left now, an away day at HK. Following their 3-2 defeat by 9th placed Vikingur O, KS have been relegated from the 1st division. Our next game is seen as likely to be a tightly contested affair, but we are made 5-4 favourites. In a bid to go end the season on a high, our potentially strongest squad is named. The squad for the HK game was named as follows: GK: Snooker Loopy, DR: Cyborg, DL: Roasted Rasta, DC's: Hide Away & Severe Singlet, DMC: Darned Critter, MC's: Sky Train & Boris AMR: Charmed Existence, AML: Foghorn, ST: BMX Flyer. Subs: Shouting At Wolves (GK), Magnified Eye (D/L), Raffia Pudding (AMR), Storm In A Teacup (ST), Almost A Munster (AM/LC). 17/9/2005 HK, D1 (Away): A hard fought first half saw the honours end even, we were playing good football but failing to find a way through a well marshalled HK defence. With the second period 7 minutes old, Roasted Rasta had to come off when he was injured in a hard challenge, Magnified Eye deputised. On 66 I sent on Raffia Pudding for a poor Charmed Existence and Almost A Munster for Boris. The change perked us up and we started knocking the ball around as though HK weren't there, until the final third that is. On 83 Cyborg gave away a penalty with a rash challenge, but thankfully Snooker Loopy saved our bacon with a good save. HK were to regret the miss as on 87, foghorn sent BMX Flyer through on goal, the striker rounded the keeper to record what turned out to be the winner. HK upped their tempo after that and put us through the mincer for the remainder of the game, but our defence held out comfortably. Won 1-0. Attendance 182. MOM Sky Train (8). As the afternoons other results filtered through, we found out that Vikingur had joined us in the promotion parties to, but Vikingur O were to be relegated along with KS. Ragnarok Replay and Roasted Rasta will be on the injury list for a couple of weeks with minorish injuries, but with the season now over, that doesn't matter too much. The Final League Table:
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Post by Boony on Jan 25, 2006 11:14:29 GMT
Nice form there, Coffers. Only 18 games in the league? Nice! Good luck in the Premier League. :thumb:
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Post by Moo on Jan 25, 2006 12:20:27 GMT
Excellent work there Coffers, a totally dominating display there and just what we expected from you. Too many goals conceded though.
KUTGW! :thumb:
And GL for the next step up.
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Post by coffers on Jan 25, 2006 12:21:56 GMT
Hmm, apparently the players are now on holiday until the pre-season starts on 24th October. I'm not sure why that starts so early as the league games didn't start until the 15th May, the lower leauge cup didn't start until the 18th March. We were playing friendlies from 3rd of Jan.
Unless it's one of these weird leages that play their championships, multiple times per season. I suppose only time will tell.
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Post by coffers on Jan 25, 2006 14:39:52 GMT
2005/2006 In between seasons:Whilst the players are on holiday I take the chance to look over what they have done and what potential they have for our future, Stumpy and Open Sore are transfer listed, Minimal Use and Trained Spotter are offered termination of contract on mutual terms, but both refuse to be forced out of the club. Roasted Rasta, Severe Singlet, Darned Critter and Shouting At Wolves all accept new full time contracts. New scouts; Very Small Country and Head Dick are recruited; as is new coach Guiding Light. A re-arrangement of coaching duties get training levels up to 4 stars in: Aerobic, Goalkeeping, Defending, Shooting and Set Pieces. All other training categories are operating at 3 stars. Checking out the player stats for the season I was surprised to find that Fjolnir players took places 1 to 9 inclusive in the first division table. See image below for details: I'm pretty chuffed with that achievement.
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Post by Boony on Jan 25, 2006 15:15:13 GMT
The rest of the division were a bit poor, weren't they? 7 players over 7.00 between them? Poofs! I mean, well done, Coffers, you OAP. Looking at the great footballing resource that is www.rsssf.com, I see that Iceland only have one league each year, and that Fjolnir came 8th in 2004, and 4th in 2005. So you've done better than in real life. :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Jan 25, 2006 16:57:26 GMT
I think that screen shot tells a story about the standard of players in the Icelandic lower league. ie. What I did in signing a load of players, from around Iceland and the Scandielands, probably made the winning of the division almost a certainty.
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Post by coffers on Jan 26, 2006 9:07:35 GMT
The In Betweeny Bits continued:20yo Swedish D/RLC Entebbe Raider agrees to join on a free from Helsingborg, the deal will be finalised on 15th October. As September turns to October the board tell me they are delighted with our progress. Then I make a boo-boo by decaying interest in a completely useless Scottish full back from Dumbar ton, I had meant to click the Remove from shortlist link. The Dumbarton manager says he's certainly willing to listen to any offers, I'll bet he is. A 24yo Zambian ARC called Fair Weather Mullet agrees to join us on a free from Zesco, I'm willing to bet that he doesn't get a work permit though as he only has 3 international caps so far. The 15th October arrives and with it the transfer window opens. 18yo Swedish RB,Really Dim, joins on a free from Forward. Entebbe Raider arrives from Helsingborg Sodra. Stumpy goes to Stjarnan on a free, also leaving is Open Sore who heads off to KA on a free. We have sell on clauses against both the previous two named players. Yet another defender joins the club in a free transfer, 23yo French D/WB/RL Scratched Bit arrives from Oostnieuwkerke. Fair Weather Mullet had his work permit application turned down as expected. I think it's time now to review my scouting strategy, as we now have more defenders on the books than we know what to do with, 15 of the buggers in fact. Mind 5 of them can double up in midfield and are included in the 17 mid-fielders that appear to be on our books. We have 5 forwards in tow, 2 of which also appear in the midfield list. One of the mid-fielders, veteran Minimal Use leaves on a free to IR. Orange Vegetable leaves on a free to Volsungur, though there is a 25% sell on clause attached to the arrangement. The pre season fitness and condition report indicates that only Hide Away has returned in top form, happily no one is in the Ass-mans bad books. In a bid to make some money I decide to try to arrange some highish profile friendlies at home, there's a long way to go before our season starts and that means a long time without income. First up is Danish Club Aab, on 6th November, 3030 people turn up and witness a 1-0 defeat. A 41st minute strike was enough to give the Danish outfit a win, still the game generated £20k in gate receipts of which we promised £7k to Aab. The second friendly at home to Young Boys nets us 3071 supporters and a decent wodge of cash as well, but the result is the same a 1-0 defeat, the match was dreadful. Next a home friendly against Danish side FC Midtjylland, this was a much more intriguing game with both sides giving it their all. BMX Flyer settled the game 2 minutes 10 seconds into injury time of the second half when he stroked a neat ball under the diving keeper, after Crystal Coolbox hit a low cross into the six yard box. 3092 hardy souls turned up for a well contested game. Another keenly contested friendly followed in midweek on 23rd November, this time at home to Grasshoppers Zurich. 3132 fans turned out to watch Fjolnir recorded a 2-1 win over our Swiss opponents. A 36th minute BMX Flyer strike was canceled out by Grasshoppers 2 minutes before the break. The Swiss outfit were disappointed not to be in the lead at the break. The second period was pretty even but on 83 minutes two subs combined for the winner, Raffia Pudding sent Grommit through one-on-one with the keeper and the young striker made no mistake from 20 yards. Won 2-1. Next up on the cash wagon, Banik Ostrava of the Czech Republic. So far the November friendlies have wiped out the club debt which was running at £61k by the end of October and increasing by around £15k per month. We are now £1,427 in the black. That should ensure the directors are kept happy and if I can arrange few more high profile games before Christmas they might even give me something to spend next season.
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Post by Boony on Jan 26, 2006 9:19:16 GMT
Good work coffers. I must admit I like the way friendlies make a nice difference to the bank balance like that. How does your squad standard compare to the guys in your new division? Or is it too early to tell?
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Post by coffers on Jan 26, 2006 9:30:46 GMT
I haven't really looked at the sqaud standard in the new division yet. Maybe I'll try for a friendly or two against some of the Premier clubs in the coming weeks to get a feel for how we match up against them. We didn't do too badly against Keflavic in the cup last season, only going down by the odd goal. Hopefully the squad will have trained on by the time the season starts in March (Upper League Cup)/May (League).
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Post by Boony on Jan 26, 2006 9:33:55 GMT
Are your players mainly part time or full time? It makes an enormous difference to training, I've found. All new contracts (existing or new players) I try and make full time in my game, just for that benefit...
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Post by coffers on Jan 26, 2006 9:45:01 GMT
I've noticed that too. I think I have about 9 Full timers on the books out of around 30 players. It's hard to get anyone to sign full time on the shoite wages we can pay, but I'm slowly working my way through the players that I think will really benefit from full time training.
BMX Flyers abilities took an enormous boost when he went full time as did others, but his improvement was more noticable than others. He's actually valued at £1M by the game now and I got him for nothing.
A lot of the players I am able to sign refuse point blank to sign full time contracts, maybe that aspect will change once we slip into the next season as a Premiership club.
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Post by coffers on Jan 26, 2006 15:32:32 GMT
More In Betweeny Bits continued:In the game against Banik Ostrava we were an absolute shambles, we lost 2-0, a goal in each half from Varadi was the difference between two shambolic sides. Maybe I'm expecting too much from the team giving that many of them are part timers or have just stepped up into full time football. At least the crowd of 3025 will boost the treasury again. Next up a home game against CSKA Sofia. It may be time after that to boost morale rather than the clubs purse. With morale boosting in mind and also a chance to look at some future opposition I decide to arrange a friendly at home to premiership FH, the board reckon we'll get near enough a full house for that one, I also arrange a home friendly against a non league team; Grindavick, the board reckon we'll be lucky to get more than the groundsman and his dog for this one. Mock Tennis's training report indicates that Magnified Eye has done well on defending, Bragging With Whores has worked well on his attacking and Entebbe Raider has beefed up his strength. No one got a bad report anywhere. So the friendly games we have coming up in December are: 07/12/2005 H. CSKA Sofia (expected take £18k CSKA will receive £8k of that) 14/12/2005 H. FH (expected take = £18k all ours) 21/12/2005 H. Grindavick (expected take £1k all ours). Meanwhile my illustrious Ass-man, who I theoretically put in charge of arranging friendly games, has arranged a number of friendlies for January The games will be against a couple of non-league teams and 3 current Premiership teams, one of whom I think is coming down to Division 1 by the time we play them. We'll play the non-leaguers away and the better sides will be at home. A quick scan of the accounts shows that gate receipts for November were £102k, for the entire season they were only £185k, which includes Novembers figures. So that shows that the friendlies were/are not a waste of time. Wages for the month were £13.5k and Match day expenses for the month were £13.5k. The Total income for November was £132k, total expenditure was £43.6k, so we're making big bucks not playing competitive games. The bank balance stands at £13.9 k and the bank manager is no doubt a relieved man. The board are still delighted with me, I'll bet that changes to merely pleased when we roll into the start of 2006.
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Post by Moo on Jan 26, 2006 15:50:29 GMT
I try and get a three or four friendlies in and use them for fitness, but I may have to re-think that one to get more cash in. IIRC, the CM3 series didn't really give you much for friendlies, but the FM series seems to.
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Post by coffers on Jan 26, 2006 15:58:31 GMT
You recall correctly Moo. The trick in FM is to try and entice some well known teams, who will fill the ground, to play you on your own patch. Try to get away with keeping the lions share of the takings too.
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Post by coffers on Jan 27, 2006 8:35:25 GMT
More In Betweeny Bits continued:
07/12/2005 H. CSKA Sofia. It all started off so well, we took a two goal lead by the 18th minute, a superb 5 man move finished off by BMX Flyer opened on 11. Sky Train added the second with a powerful header. CSKA broke and pulled one back on 27, but the first half belonged to us. We controlled much of the second half too, but late substitutions did for us, CSKA equalised on 84 and rubbed salt in our wounds in injury time with a break away winner. It has to be said that I think our strongest team would do well in the higher league, but I think outside of the first 11 and usual bencher's, we have real problems. This defeat has really shattered morale within the ranks, but it shouldn't have, as we're playing teams that are used to a much higher calibre of opposition than ourselves, plus they are currently playing competitive games. Another one for the bank manager I think, as 3054 fools turned up to watch the circus.
After reviewing the training schedules I find that part time coach, Open Book, makes absolutely no difference to the level of training of any category, no matter which he is placed in, at a cost of £4000, his contract is terminated. The decision will save £80 per month in wages, he had 4 years left on his contract and didn't want to leave under mutual agreement.
14/12/2005 H. FH - This was more like it a game at a level we would probably play at for most of the season. FH were second in the Premiership last season and they showed it. We broke the deadlock after only 1 minute, Storm In A teacup broke down the left and sent in a cross to the far side of the area, Charmed Existence controlled well before slotting the ball under the keepers diving body. FH came at us with a vengeance but we kept our cool, until the 19th minute when Foghorn floated a ball over the defence for Storm In A Teacup to latch onto and coolly finish from the edge of the area. FH tried to up the tempo but couldn't break our resistance so we took a 2 goal lead into the second period. We played well all through that too, but couldn't increase the lead until BMX Flyer held up the ball in injury time, before beating two players and then sending in Bragging With Whores to complete the scoring. Now I'm well pleased with that result as it gives some indication of what to expect in the coming season. An attendance of 3109 pleased me and the bank manager too.
I told a lie earlier it appears that Grindavik are a Premiership club, they're just not considered a big club, but they are sniffing around Roasted Rasta. KS Who ended the season in bottom place in the first division have hired Open Book as their new manager, God help them.
21/12/2005 H. Grindavik - It's often said that football is a game of two halves and boy this was one of those games. To say that we were a disaster in the first period is an understatement. We were two goals down in 14 minutes as Grindavik went all out to prove we were in for a long hard season and their play really looked as if they would be proved right. We were all over the place. Thankfully the one place they didn't expect us to be in the 21st minute was in their penalty area, where BMX Flyer was on hand to blast home a Charmed Existence through ball. It was a brief respite for what proved to be a torrid 1st half We collapsed again in the 45th minute as Grindavik restored their deserved 2 goal lead in time for the break. Words were said and faces were changed at half time and, it resulted in a better second period performance. Unfortunately that only meant we didn't concede any more goals. On 66 a couple more faces were changed and we started to respond. Eventually on 74 a long ball by Cyborg caught the visitors on the hop, Raffia Pudding centred and Foghorn blasted home to reduce the deficit to one goal. More faces were changed on 85 and within three minutes we were on level terms, as Cyborgs near post cross was blasted in by Bragging With Whores. It was a great comeback, unfortunately the exciting 3-3 draw was only watched by 94 people and the groundsman's dog.
A couple of ideas are taking shape in my mind, and thy are that centre backs; Framed For Posterity and Ragnarok Replay, may not be up to the rigours of playing at a higher level. Meanwhile Grindavik think Roasted Rasta is up to the rigours of the Premiership and offer me some crap reject plus 50% of the next transfer fee for him. They're told to stump up £1.5M plus 50% of the next fee or they should fook off. They take the opportunity to fook off. For a finale to December we manage to entice French side Toulouse to a game on our home ground. It should be the last money-spinner of the year.
Ragnarok Replay will be out for up to two months with a sprained ankle
26/12/2005 H. Toulouse - I was expecting a hard time form this game, but what we got was a fantastic unexpected result. The French outfit looked as if they had been over indulging in the festive spirit. We dominated the opening proceedings, but it took 12 minutes to open the scoring, Sky Train collected a Cyborg pass and ran into the area before driving a low shot in from the corner of the 6 yard box to start the scoring. On 28 Charmed Existence put BMX Flyer through to drive a 12 yard shot in at the near post. It gave us a two-nil lead at the break and hinted at nothing of what was to come in the second half. Toulouse came out with more purpose and pulled a goal back on 57, bad marking letting them in to finish from the edge of the area. Three changes were made and we had a 2 goal lead again 8 minutes later, A Cyborg long ball found Charmed Existence he ran on and played a low ball across the goal where Foghorn gratefully slotted into an empty net from the back post. On 73 Almost A Munster sent one over the defence to put BMX Flyer in one-on-one with the keeper, 4-1. Four fresh faces went on, on 71 and, on 73 it was 4-2, route one stuff ended in a shot hitting the post and the follow-up gave Toulouse hope. Hope is all it was, as on 79 a long clearance from Hide Away found Storm In A teacup in the clear and he thumped in a near post shot. Two minutes on and Storm In A Teacup had doubled his tally, volleying in a Cyborg cross from an acute angle. We easily won 6-2 and 3031 turned up to witness it. It can't be bad, can it?
2005 ends with the board still delighted.
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Post by Boony on Jan 27, 2006 9:20:53 GMT
Friendlies, friendlies, friendlies. 5 months until the league starts again? Pfffft... How's the hunt for new players going?
Oh, and coaches who don't add anything to the stars in your training schedule may still be useful for taking off some of the workload. Depends how many players you've got, I suppose. I've never noticed a workload anything more than "light", so I've never had a problem with this, but apparently that's the way it works...
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Post by Moo on Jan 27, 2006 9:21:48 GMT
Humping Toulouse is no mean feat, Coffers, a fantastic effort there. Nice to see that Open Book got another job though, he always seemed like a nice chap. maybe.
KUTGW!
I think this season should be an interesting one for you. Are you expecting anything out of it, or would mid table mediocrity be sufficient?
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Post by coffers on Jan 27, 2006 10:16:41 GMT
Boony: Yeah five months of tedium, the hunt for new players is awful, I can only ask the scouts to hunt for freebies and they are coming up with shoite. The only decent players they've found wouldn't get a work permit in a month of Sundays. I'll just have to hope that the board see fit to give me some money over the next month or two.
Moo: I think mid-table mediocraty would be a good achievement this season, but that might change once I've seen how we perform against other Premiership opposition in the unending and boring friendlies.
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