RESTART FA LIGHTS UP ST JOHN

Its the end of the first week of the season in St John and following a brief quiet period after the "big news" the GW is a light again.

The two new FAs "Restart FA" and "Active FA" have seen the core stronghold of active members get together. There is an invigorated transfer market and a whole new load of community spirit and Rivalry.

Ben Talbott (england) and Kai Boshka (France) look like dominating the RFA early days whilst Chick/AKA Roni (Holland) has also made an incredible start!! In the AFA GW moderator and executive chef Jay Derriman is leading the prem and looking to hold off the growing challenge of the mighty Geordies United.

Expect more updates on league progression and awards as the season progresses including a short piece on the upcoming New Years Tournament.

Super Cup Final 2009

So here we are for the main cup of the UFFA season for the winners of the Gold, Silver, Cup Winners', Grassroots and Gameworld Cups. Only the best teams of every competition get into to this competition. And what a final we have here today, the world famous team CFC FC vs. Another world famous team Tatran Stresovice. If I had to choose who I thought would win this match today I would have to put my money on CFC FC having the edge going into the match. Everyone knows that CFC FC have the ability to crush any team in the Gameworld and I doubt they would stop that "tradition" today.

So here come the 22 players out from the SI Towers Tunnel. Tatran seem to be in deep though , they know they can win this game, if they remain tight at the back and strong further up the pitch, but they can they handle the pressure that CFC will throw at them? We will see....

So the whistle is blown and Tatran Stresovice kicks off, setting a quick eager tempo on the game trying to grab that early goal. Looking at the first few minutes it's obvious that Tatran have been told to put pressure on the CFC midfield and try and grab an early goal as they decide not to make chances and just keep the ball around the centre of the field. If CFCs' midfield makes a mistake then Tatran can push up and get a goal scoring opportunity. It only takes just under 20 minutes to get the first goal of the game, after a mistake header from Cristian Zapata that goes into his own net, Tatran are giving the first goal of the game and undoubtedly the advantage. On the 33rd minute disaster strikes, World Class striker Benzema is injured and is forced to be substituted, disaster for Tatran as he is one of their main men. Without Benzema Tatran are becoming sloppy in midfield giving away chances in the midfield too easily and in the 2nd minute of injury time of the first half, CFC make them pay, after CFC's free kick hits the wall. Zapata crosses it into the box and World Class youth Nelson hits a deflected shot into the back of the net to bring the score to 1-1.

Second half with CFC on the attack. Clearly the Tatran manager wasn't happy with his team at half time as when they came back out they seemed angered which affected their performance, conceding many free kicks and gaining many yellow cards, they need to calm down if they want any chance of winning this match. The rest of the second half was a bore with rarely any chances for either side, but then on the 82nd minute, arguably one of CFCs' best players Alejandro Pelayo strikes from just inside the box into the bottom right corner which gives CFC FC the lead, 2-1, the goal is almost certainly the winning goal. And it is , the full time whistle is blown , CFC FC have won it so late in the game, Tatran put up a good fight but in the end their can only be one winner and that winner is CFC FC.

So up goes CFC to collect the Super Cup Trophy, fireworks and music everywhere with confetti flying all around the pitch, this is a true way to celebrate a cup win. So that's the Super Cup for this season, I wish CFC and Tatran all the best through the rest of the season. Can CFC FC retain their title next season? Who knows we'll have to find out!

Thanks for reading everyone,
Jack Panama

St John Game World Cup - Final - Dundee v.s. Flanders

So here we are this is it, the match you had all been waiting for, the St John Game World Cup Final. Both teams have been through a lot to get this far, beating team after team after team just to play this one match to show that they have the best team in St John. The two teams are Alan Hunters Dundee City and Emil Alexandersson Flanders Angels. If I had to choose who I thought would come out victorious. I put would my money on Flanders just taking it, being able to breeze through a world class team like CFC FC must mean something. They got the hardest games of the tournament but didn’t let themselves fail and now here they are, in the final.

So here come the teams at the Super Admin Stadium 10, both teams eyes fixated on the trophy half way up the stand, both captains knowing that they could be lifting that trophy today. After the usual national anthems and general service announcement the teams are ready with Dundee to kick off.

Dundee kick off and all ready it’s obvious they’ve been told to grab and early goal to make it much easier for them as they have most of their team up field trying to score, but Flanders are having none of it and foil any attempt on goal with perfect defending. 10^th minute and Flanders have possession in the oppositions half with their first long range shot of the game is saved and it goes out for the corner. Claudinho smacks the corner to the near post with Leo trying to grab a sneaky shot but changed his mind and decides to play it outside of the box, and with a spectacular right foot shot from World Famous Attacking Midfielder, Miguel De las Cuevas, scores in the top corner and gives Flanders the lead. Once the goal was scored, the tactics seemed to swap around, Dundee had gone for a more defensive approach, presumably to stop more goals being scored and hoping for a sneaky counter attack to level the score, whereas Flanders were on a more attacking approach, hoping to increase their lead to guarantee them a win.

The rest of the match wasn’t very exciting, with the conflicting tactics the ball was very much around the centre circle for most the game with no action, which the fans were clearly noticing by the booing that was going on around the entire stadium, with the score at 1-0 on the 60^th minute, it seems that Alan had told his team to get stuck in, as all of a sudden they were getting right into the Flanders players, but a little too much, with many yellow cards being given out for poor tackles, whatever Alan tried to save his team, it wasn’t good enough, the full time whistle, Dundee City 0 - Flanders Angels – 1.

About 15 minutes after the match had ended, the ceremonial stand had been put up in the centre circle, and with the stand of ovation from the fans, they went out to collect their runners up medals, unlucky to them, they had played well during the whole game, but Flanders were always that little bit better, and performance on the day is what counts. But then the real cheering starting, out came Flanders Angels, the hero of the game Miguel De las Cuevas, will be claiming the cup for them, one by one they pick up their medals and then in a small moment silence, Miguel lifts the trophy well above his head and the noise that was coming from the fans was almost unbearable, they really were proud of their team and so they should be, they’ve played incredibly well over the competition and if they had let their guard down, CFC would have been in the final and it would of most likely ended in a 1 sided boring game.

Well done to Flanders Angels for winning, see if they can produce a second win next season.

So that’s all the reports for this season, thanks to everyone for all your support and messages, hope to see more people enjoying these next season.

Thanks for reading everyone,

Jack Panama

Interview With DHAM11

On Tuesday night i caught up with possibly the most genuine managers in the St John GW, "Gary Dham 11 Williams" to have a chat with himself and also to ask him some questions about his exploits in St John,

Ok first thing Gary i would just like to thank you for taking the time out of your busy life to talk to me( I know the other half is away lol)
"Np at all, but she's got alot of ironing to come back to so i may be on 24/7 yet another night yet, dog needs food too shes been away nearly a month"

At this Stage Gary was afraid the RSPCA where watching this post, he was very nervous, but that was not the least of his worries as he went on to tell me "since she has been away and this is no joke either, i smashed her best lamp, flooded the bathroom, killed most of her flowers, dog thinks a walk is up and down the stairs every few hours, the cat is nervous as the dog is hungry and ive got stale milk in the fridge and not to mention the take aways and cans in the bin" At this moment in time i would like to mention to our women readers DONT LEAVE MEN HOME ALONE LOL,

I had a little chat with gary about his recent Community manager of the season award, Gary was aprreciated all the votes he got for the award and that he was happy to be up there for the last four season but what Gary also told me we need to relly look after the new people who join St John, to help them join in in the community and to help them as much as possible, one thing Gary has been very helpful with and that is why i think he deserved the Community award.

At the moment Gary you are playinging in the AEFA Fa, How has the season been going so far?
"At the moment it is Medioka as expected, however every season i have moved up and not down at the end of the season so i am hoping this season is no different, My team has never gone backwards yet so mid table above 13 is Garys projection, anywhere from 12th or above i will be happy" "But a few people tipped me for relagation so i aim to prove these people wrong"

I asked Gary what the main aim for the season was apart from finishing in 12th or above in the league.
"We need to win another major cup, we have won one already so far, got two semi finals to play and a quarter, now if we manage one more cup and above 12th then that would be a very good achievement also before this season Durham Eleven hadnt won anything.

Gary during the season you had a major clearout of players and brought in plenty of new faces, how has this affected your team and moral?
"Well it was needed, i had some problems in the prem with about four positions, The championship was ok but we all have to up our mark,so it was always going to happen that i would replace the week side, end of last season we managed to stay in the prem with the buy of two good quality players, this season was more or less the same untill kick off, more weekness due to age, so we brought in a couple of first teamers and placed the weeker ones on the bench and im happy so far"

I asked gary what the long term goals are for Durham Eleven"
Gary told me he takes one season at a time and he aims to stay in the prem and keep moving up the league and that he was going nowhere from the AEFA and he was very happy where he is, "If its not broke dont fix it i say"

Gary would you like to one day try your hand at becoming an FA Org?
" I have taught about it but my main focus is on my team and on my players at the moment and i could not commit to other duties with my responsibilites".

I wanted to know what Garys Favourite moment has been so far,
"I have a few moments that i can pick but my main one at the moment is winning the AEFA Daily trophy" Gary had some memorable moments in this trophy especialy the 2.0 win over Ben Talbotts Last Minute Wanderers, also gary picked out his American Goalkeeper Brad Guzan as his star performer in the cup that "Old dont mean not good enough" 10 million might tempt him to sell though, oh Matt Case where are you now lol.

One last thing Gary told me before we wrapped up that the choice of name for his team is because he comes from a town in Durham between Newcastle and Sunderland that had no footie team so he wanted to create something that Durham never had, "awh Bless him" lol


That Concludes My interview with Gary Williams, "Gary i wishyou all the best with your league and cup games for the season mate and lets get your hands on that 2nd cup"

"Thank you very much Barry, I appreciate your time too mate, all the best".

Comming Soon

Hello folks, Barry has got his hands on the blog, i will be writing about alot of things in the future, some of the happenings in St John and also catching up with managers in the GW, if there is anything anyone wants me to talk about give me a shout in game or you can mail me at barryokelly84@gmail .com, looking forward to writing and hope it can be fun for everyone,

All the best Barry

AEFA SEASON 8

Another season of heartache ,joy,tears and disapointment is upon is the season 8 of AEFA ST JOHN

PREMIERSHIP

Last season`s champions LAST MINUTE WANDERERS will again take some beating and will look to hold onto their newly won crown.They will as usual face very stiff competition from 5 times former champions FLANDERS ANGELS,who will do all they can to wrestle the title back to their trophy cabinet.The bookies favs are UPPSALA GUNNERS who with the star studed team they have slapped together may well take the titel this season

CHAMPIONSHIP

Always a tough division to get out of in fm live and this is no different.
New side SAMA UNITED are clear favourites though and will takea lot of beating to keep them away from the premiership in season 9.PORTO WINE FC will also be a strong sode and look for top 3 finish as will the very strong THE NOIRS and STAYTON AFC

AEFA DIV 1

Always a cracking dividion and this season will be closer than possibly ever including last seasons last minute title win.ANOTHER WASTED CORNER AND JUMBO FC look very strong for top 3 placing come end of the season as do MCTEEZY CITY and RUFFHEATH RANGER

Again this will be a tough season for all teams and will no doubt go right down to the wire as in previous seasons

SEASON 8

CUP FEVER

cup updates

Granite City Highlanders are through to the next round after a 2-0 win over Hutton Harriers

CarTOON United have eliminated aefa div 1 second place Black Cats also 2-0

Grimsby Town 1st's had a convincing 3-0 victory over Pity The Fool

Riley's Rovers lost 2-1 to former premiership champions Flanders Angels

mattcfc lost out 1-0 to Beckenham's Babes

current chanpionship leaders Atletico Mongoose ended EDINBURGH HEARTS cup dream for another year

Fly Bhoys beat now bankrupt CrazyGang FC 1-0

after a 1-1 draw Blackley Rangers were eliminated 6-5 on penalties to McTeezy City in the shock of the round

more games still to be played

MONEY MAKES THE FOOTBALL WORLD GO ROUND

BLACKLEY SIGN ANDRE FOR GIANT FEE

BLACKLEY Rangers have smashed their transfer record with the signing of winger Andrés Guardado for £1.9M.
The tricky Mexican has been signed by manager Si Coyle's on a 2 season contract from Lee Jones's dazzling T-Bag Town
It comes on the same day the club let Wilson Palacios go for £1.6M and saw the newly promoted side reach the top of the Premiership table.
Coyle said: "Andre is a great capture for us and will scare the hell out of opposition players. We have three quality wingers now who can all score and create lots of goals."

AEFA DIV 1

The bottom tier of AEFA league football is no less exciting than any other

HUTTON HARRIERS leads the way currently sitting proudly at the top with 40 points from 20 matches played .This includes only defeats which is a great record so far in the season and must be favourites to head into the championship


BLACK CATS lead the way for a brief time but must be happy with currently sitting in 2nd place.They have 32 points from their 20 games which includes an impressive 9 victory`s.

MCTEEZY CITY have 3rd place with 31 points from their 35 games so far and will look to keep it up to fight for promotion.

JUSTICE OF ROMA are happy in 4th after only 11 matches and have 21 points.They do have plenty of matches in hand

This will be a tough league to get out of and this will be updated as the season goes on as with all the AEFA ST JOHN leagues

PREMIERSHIP LEADER WAY AHEAD

AEFA PREMIERSHIP

LAST MINUTE WANDERERS are a huge 10 points clear in the AEFA PREMIERSHIP as after 8 matches they have racked up a very impressive 21 points,WAYNE ROONEYS performances have played a huge part in the impressive run

BLACKLEY RANGERS managed by SI COYLE have 2nd place but are 10 points behind the leaders but im sure will try to push the leaders all the way

Durham sit 3rd also 10 points behind

Bens team LAST MINUTE WANDERERS will really take some beating this season in the AEFA top flight

AEFA PREMIERSHIP ONE TEAM WAY AHEAD

SEASON 7 CHAMPIONSHIP

Season 7 is under way in the aefa championship and its all a bit tight already

JORVIK VIKING sit proudly top after their 3 matches on 7 points and is a pretty good return.

GRIMSBY TOWN 1ST`S are placed second so far after 4 matches and have bagged 6 points so a steady start

CLAYDON DUCKS are 3rd currently after 5 matches with 6 points and will look to keep the points ticking over to make the top of the table and push for the premiership next season,

KAPTAJNE have 5 points from 3 games so also have a steady start

This will be a tight league as ever and as the old saying goes its harder to get into the premier league than to stay in it

PEFA Feature Match Week 2 - Crumpstars vs bizkit utd

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Primetime Evening Football Association Feature Match Week 2 - Crumpstars vs bizkit utd
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This weeks feature was the P.E.F.A. Cup Last 16 Match between James Crump's Crumpstars & Mark Mcauley's bizkit utd at The Crumpstars Arena.

The game kicked off with Crumpstars operating a 4-5-1 formation, and bizkit utd picking a more traditional 4-4-2.

It didn't take long to see where the main difference between the two teams was going to be. That was midfield, as in the 2nd minute, bizkit utd's Tamás Hajnal was sucked out wide to defend, leaving bizkit utd with one midfielder left in the center against the central trio of Crumpstars.

Pavle Ninkov received the ball on the right flank & was quickly closed down by Tamás Hajnal & Sergio Floccari. Pavle Ninkov found Davide Bottone in the center, Davide Bottone then burst through what was remaining of the bizkit utd midfield to lay a through ball to Papa Waigo whose shot was blocked resulting in a corner.

Just before half time Crumpstars threatened from a corner but Elliott Ward's header was tipped over by Luke Daniels. That was the last bit of action from a rather disappointing half of football.

HALF TIME Crumpstars 0 - 0 bizkit utd

Within 2 minutes of the second half kicking off there was a goal. Pedro Morales whipped in a free kick from around 27 yards up bizkit utd left touchline. The resulting cross caused havoc in the bizkit utd penalty area which saw Luke Daniels save well twice. It was third time lucky for Crumpstars tho as Luke Daniels pushed the ball straight to Eddie Johnson who had had a empty net to hit from 5 yards. Needless to say he didn't disappoint. First blood Crumpstars.

Crumpstars 1 - 0 bizkit utd

On 71 minutes Pavle Ninkov miss hit his clearance straight to the feet of André Dias just inside the Crumpstars penalty area. André Dias' shot was deflected to the feet of Sergio Floccari who took a quick swing at the ball. His shot was well saved by Javi Martínez, however Tamás Hajnal was first to pounce on the parry to fire home the leveler.

Crumpstars 1 - 1 bizkit utd

Whoever said save the best until last was right. 3 minutes after bizkit utd drew level Pedro Morales stole the show. Pavle Ninkov took a quick throw just about level with the bizkit utd penalty area. The throw found Eddie Johnson who layed it off to Papa Waigo. Papa Waigo picked out Pedro Morales just outside the right side of the area. Pedro Morales took one touch, looked up and fired home a goal worthy of winning any football game. Pure inspiration from Pedro Morales. Take a bow son!

Crumpstars 2 - 1 bizkit utd

FULL TIME Crumpstars 2 - 1 bizkit utd

The game was fairly even with both teams keeping it tight. It took a moment of magic from Pedro Morales to win the game for Crumpstars, however bizkit utd will be disappointed they didn't close him down a bit quicker.

Man of The Match: Pedro Morales
Attendance: 12,722
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PEFA Newsletter - Week 2

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P.E.F.A. Premiership Round-Up
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The PEFA has reached the all important mid season turn and George Philip's impressive Aberdeen Locos lead the wayin the Premiership. The Locos have lost just one top fight game from their first 22 games, a narrow 1-0 loss to Ronald van't Veld's Veldmuisjes FC. However, North Scotlands top PEFA side wont be able to rest on their laurels as there are several sides hot on their heels.

If anyone is going to break away from the chasing pack, the favourites to catch the leaders must be Andrew Fox's Tangerine Dream. Scotlands other PEFA giants will be determined to pounce upon any slip ups which their Aberdeen counterparts may befall.

Long time leaders SC Stockel are still in the mix in second place and will also be waiting for any chances which come their way.
With 5 teams to be relegated, the bottom half of the Premiership is a daunting place to be resting. There are still plenty of games to be played before the pressure really kicks in, but all the sides in the bottom half will be looking to get as many point on the board as possible in the next few days.

Corby Steel currently occupy the basement spot and will need to push on quickly before they lose contact with the teams above.

The race for the Premierships golden boot is currently lead by Curry Knight FC's Shane Long with an impressive 18 goals from just 21 games. His main challenger will surely be Steven Fletcher from the league leaders Aberdeen Locos.

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P.E.F.A. Championship Round-Up
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With 4 automatic promotion spots and 4 playoff places on offer the PEFA Championship is sure to remain exciting until the very last game.
Bexleyheath FC are in the driving seat for promotion and the title, but yet another scottish team- Dundee City are hot on their heels. Any of the top 10 will still fancy their chances of automatic promotion but with half a season left to play there are sure to be many twists and turns before anyone is sure of their destiny.
At the wrong end of the table Royton Blues cannot afford any more slip ups, they are already 25 points from safety with just 12 games remaining.

With 8 wins and 2 draws in the last 10 games, this weeks Championship team of the week is Dundee City.

The race to become top scorer in the Championship is currently lead by Lazy Football's Matías Suárez with 20 goals in 28 games.

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P.E.F.A. Zone A Round-Up
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Week 2 of PEFA Zone A has seen Pingvinen FC top the table with Tra staying within there slipstream ready to pounce on any slip up. The top 5 are so tight that any from Pingvinen FC, Tra Ghearr, Spectrum Conversion, FrootLoops FC to Northfleet FC could take the title or one of the two automatic promotion spots.

The game of the week must go to big mac's lads vs Earlington Town. A great game for the neutrals finishing 4-3, two teams that enjoy putting the ball in the net rather then stopping the other team. Who says the premier league is the most exciting.

The leagues top scorer is still Roman Pavlyuchenko, with an amzing 26 goals this far.

With 2 teams deactivated and only 2 on 100% AI the league has thus far been very active so keep up the good work guys.

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P.E.F.A. Zone B Round-Up
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This week in the P.E.F.A. Zone B has seen Jack Army FC & Crumpstars switch and swap at the top a few times. However, at the end of Week 2 James Crump's Crumpstars are at the top of the pile in 1st position with Jack Army FC behind them in 2nd.

Casagrande fc are heading the playoff places, 9 points behind Jack Army FC with 2 games in hand.

The bottom club stays the same as last week with Moisas F.C still bottom.

At the end of week 2 the two automatic promotion spots are held by Crumpstars and Jack Army FC.

Casagrande fc, FlyMyBeauties FC, bizkit utd & Glimakra IF occupy the four playoff places.

Team of the week goes to Crumpstars as they have capitalized on there games in hand to climb to the top of the league.

Crumpstars Eddie Johnson is currently the leagues top goal scorer with 28 goals in 31 games for the club.

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PEFA Feature Match Week 1 - Atletico Abertawe vs SC Stockel

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Primetime Evening Football Association Feature Match - Atletico Abertawe vs SC Stockel
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This weeks feature was the first match of Season 6 in the PEFA Premiership between Atletico Abertawe and SC Stockel at The Roberto Martinez Stadium, Swansea.

The game kicked off and both sides started brightly with each team trying to get a hold of the possession. The similarities between the teams were plain to see from the off with both teams focusing on keeping the ball whilst on the attack and closing down quickly whilst defending. Needless to say, with both sides being so tentative it wouldn't take long for someone to loose concentration. Indeed it did and on 12 minutes when SC Stockel took the lead following an Atletico Abertawe Attack. Atletico Abertawe committed players forward and got caught out when there midfield failed to get back quick enough to defend a Bogdan Shust clearance. A long kick from Bogdan Shust found the head of Giovanni Moreno just inside the Atletico Abertawe half. Giovanni Moreno flicked the ball sideways to McDonald Mariga who in turn played a neat one-two with Trésor Mputu to bypass the Atletico Abertawe midfield. McDonald Mariga then held off three of Atletico Abertawe's defence before placing his shot to the right of Kasper Schmeichel.

Atletico Abertawe: 0 - 1 SC Stockel

The lead however only lasted three minutes with Atletico Abertawe drawing level on 16 minute mark. Serkan Çalik received the ball inside the Atletico Abertawe half before driving down SC Stockel's right flank unchallenged to cross the ball from the byline. Serkan Çalik's cross was missed by the head of SC Stockel's Eric Matoukou and found Marko Maksimovic at the far post who bust a gut to get into the area undetected and fire home the leveler.

Atletico Abertawe: 1 - 1 SC Stockel

Half Time

The second half started much the same as the first half ended, with nothing of note to mention and neither team able to stamp there territory on the game, then on 58 minutes Atletico Abertawe's Benoît Leroy fouled McDonald Mariga 25 yards from Atletico Abertawe's goal. Trésor Mputu took the resulting freekick and saw his shot deflect off the Atletico Abertawe wall to find Musaba Selemani unmarked at the far post. Musaba Selemani steadied himself before hitting the back of Kasper Schmeichel's goal.

Atletico Abertawe: 2 - 1 SC Stockel

SC Stockel were now looking to keep hold of the ball and control the game, but they conceded a corner in the 83rd minute.
From the resulting corner Atletico Abertawe's Léo Silva climbed high to head home the equalizer.

All square in an even game between two similar sides.

Atletico Abertawe: 2 - 2 SC Stockel

FULL TIME Atletico Abertawe 2 - 2 SC Stockel

Attendance: 18,597

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PEFA Newsletter - Week 1

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P.E.F.A. Premiership Round-Up
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The land of the promised ones consists of 22 teams competing to be the biggest fish in the Primetime Evening Football Association. Five teams will be relegated to the P.E.F.A. Championship and they will be replaced by five of the P.E.F.A. Championship's promoted teams.

This week in the P.E.F.A. Premiership sees SC Stockel sitting at the top of the PEFA hierarchy. SC Stockel have played 10, won 5, drawn 4 and lost just one.

The bottom five of the P.E.F.A. Premiership had Corby Steel in 18th place, with Newcastle UTD, Pelton FC, Kilburn Athletic & Worcester United in 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd place respective.

Although only a week has passed SC Stockel are sitting pretty at the top of the P.E.F.A. Premiership 7 points clear. Although the majority of teams below them have games in hand.

The team of the week award must go to SC Stockel as they have really taken the league by storm to sit at the top of the PEFA's most competitive league.

Riverside Roar's Niki Zimling tops the goal scoring chart with 8 goals in 10 appearances. Riverside Roar however sit in a mid table 13th place with only one win in there opening 10 games.

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P.E.F.A. Championship Round-Up
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The P.E.F.A. Championship is one of the most prestigious leagues within the PEFA structure, coming only second to the P.E.F.A. Premiership. Each year 6 teams are relegated into a mix of P.E.F.A. Zone A & P.E.F.A. Zone B and are replaced by the promoted teams from P.E.F.A. Zone A & P.E.F.A. Zone B respectively. 5 get promoted to the promise land, the P.E.F.A. Premiership.

This week saw Bexleyheath FC top the league with Black Cats, stoke lane, and OUFC Ultras taking up the remaining promotion spots. The playoffs are occupied by Soupylou Superstars, Weasel United, wba4eva, and random shi.

The relegation zone currently consists off W15b0ne Athletic, Royton Blues, Rubicon FC, Rathgael Arrows, EFC Light & The Bantams holding the rest of the league up at the bottom.

Team of the week goes to Bexleyheath FC who top the league having played 13 games, scoring 21 goals in the process & only letting in 12. This leaves them with the highest goal difference in the league.

stoke lane's Joseph Mawaye is the P.E.F.A. Championship top goalscorer with 16 goals in 24 games.

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P.E.F.A. Zone A Round-Up
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The match of the week this week was between Billingham Rovers and Tra Ghearr. It was the second highest scoring game within the league to date and sadly for Scott Mahon's Billingham Rovers they were on the wrong side of a football lesson. Tibor Tisza started the scoring with a close range finish and this was followed by another 4 goals to Tra Ghearr giving them a 5-0 win.
Although Scott's team has taken a couple of beatings he must be admired for willingness to accept the challenges and behave like a gentleman thoughout.

The leagues top goal scorer so far is Leroy Lita formerly of Cookham Crusaders who are looking very good for the title at the present moment in time. They have swept away all before them including doing the double over Pingvinen FC who many tipped for the title before the season started.

All in all it has been an exciting first week in Zone A with resonable activity so far.

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P.E.F.A. Zone B Round-Up
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The last week in PEFA Zone B has been interesting with Jack Army FC leading the way at the top. After stringing 7 draws at the start of the week, they have now started to turn those draws into wins and have leapfrogged bizkit utd, Crumpstars, and Casagrande fc to sit proudly at the top of the league.

Nearing the end of week 1 Jack Army FC and Casagrande fc occupy the top two automatic promotion places with Crumpstars, bizkit utd, ruffheath rangers, and Nunvogels FC sitting in the four playoff positions.

The league however is very tight with 14th place hong kong harry united just 4 points off a playoff place. There is no relegation in this league, but AI manager Diogo Ferreira's Moisas F.C are bottom with PEFA new boy Mark Perry's Pezmos United one place above Moisas F.C in 22nd place.

P.E.F.A. Zone B's team of the week goes to James Crump's Crumpstars who are still undefeated after 10 matches.

The top goalscorer so far is bizkit utd's Kikín Fonseca who has 11 goals to his name.

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World Youth League 1
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Two of the top youth sides locked horns this evening as I watched a quality display from two teams that really wanted to win.The first blow was to Abe Roddney's Daredevils Fc as Steven Mcginty of DR Dazzlers slotted home after 10 minutes.Then the game kicked off again and within two minutes the Daredevils had the ball in the net only for it to be disallowed Fabio was disgusted after the game as replays clearly made everyone see that the goal should of counted.

Then disaster struck as Opoku of DR Dazzlers clattered into Matthew Hewitt and the player had to be stretchered off on the 38th minute.Then just before half time Daredevils striker Flavio broke the offside trap only for a DR Dazzlers player to bring him down clearly being a professional foul but the player only got booked.Then when no one expected it the half time whistle blew and the fans were thirsty for more.

The second half started a little slower until Daredevils FC manager Abe Roddney's tactical genious and the goals flooded in first Unai Mendoza finished a lovely passing move with a pile driver on 75 minutes.Then three minutes later as DR Dazzlers were getting over the first one Eneko Castillejo scored a typically placed finish on 78 minutes.When the cameras turned to the sidelines Craig Legend, DR Dazzlers manager could be seen cursing and throwing his toys out of his pram.

Then the fantastic Fabio that had earlier had a goal disallowed got free of his marker and slotted the ball home to make it 3-1 to the away side Daredevils FC.When the home fans had all but given up hope Bjorn Van Poppel broke the Daredevils FC offside trap in injury time to chip the keeper and finish what was a quality move.

The game finished DR Dazzlers 2-3 Daredevils FC.

Editor :- Sharon"St.Johns Journalist"Lowe

Interview with Chris Boocan and Ant Witheyman

Some have described Football Manager Live as more addictive than Crack Cocaine- how did it get to You?

CB: Well I used to spend most of my time in run-down heroin shacks, pushing off with ferral city raccoons. My mates staged an intervention and introduced me to FML. Victorian Queue manger Ian Bush pulled me over to the "Champy" way of life. Things have never been better.

AW: I was involved in Beta testing at an early stage and to be honest I thought it was a little bit dull. A few years later and here I am secretly playing at every opportunity. Hiding the game behind 'work'. Popping into other rooms where my computer is just to see how the auction is progressing, or to fit another sneaky game in. My wife already calls it the other woman!!!

CB: My woman called FML the other woman too. Clare is no longer with the club... Guess I can't complain though- my 'work' is playing FML. Can you believe they pay me to do that?

AW: I am not sure that FML is the best form of rehab. Where do you go from FML.......the only place is the gutter!!!!

Many would regard you as one of the worlds more eccentric and flambouyant managers- how do you feel about that?

CB: I suppose I feel normal about it. Let's not try to fool anyone, I'm a F&*#ing madman.

AW: I take it as a compliment!!! I like to play attacking football.....I play an unusual formation that has served me well throughout the years of playing FM games. I would rather win 5-4 than 1-0. It's what the fans would want and I like to keep them happy. I also have another strange addiction. Strikers......I just cant help buying them!!!

CB: I'm totally with Ant on this one. I too am an attacking manager. Although Ant's goals are a bit shy. I prefer to win 9-0 than 5-4. Ask Gre's SK all about that...

AW:You do tend to get a little stressed playing the game Chris. You need to calm yourself down a bit....it's only a game......except when I beat you and is far more than a game!!!

The obvious question- everyone has ambitions in FML..what are yours and what would you say are your key strategies for fulfilling them? What in your own makeup do you think is most likely to prevent you from getting there?

CB: I entered this game society with no ambitions or high hopes what so ever to be honest. My starting lineup was...less than satisfactory. Guess i just didn't know how to pick 'em, hahaha. After my restart I managed to pick up Patrick Helmes and a few other tasties. I spent all of first season in the top 10 in the GW! Who'd have seen that coming? My goals have now
been clearly defined, after falling through the rankings I now find myself trying to claw back my star rating, my fans and my dignity. So, goals for the current season and coming season are to breach top 10 and win the XFA Championship....Then on to dismember everyone in the Premiership. The only thing standing in my way are my lazy defenders. My key strategy for completing my goals is simple: Buy a bunch of world class attackers and make them hurt people. Strategy 1: Make Asamoah round all 11 opposition players and kick the ball in. Strategy 2: Make Fabio Quagliarella longbomb 35 yard goals in (maybe the occasional bicycle kick) Strategy 3: Hard tackle the bejesus out of my opponents, leaving them crippled, demoralized and (more often than not) with soiled britches.

AW: One of my ambitions when I switched over to the XFA was to make the top100. I did....it lasted a day!!! I will settle for a top 10 finish in the Championship this season and then I will push for promotion. The non-prem cup is another ambition of mine. Key strategies involve playing attractive football, resisting the temptaion to buy yet another striker and trying to keep wages relitively low. My obsession with strikers does not really help with this aim!!!

CB: Great goal for the championship Ant. I would love to see you come top 10- just stop sapping my freaking points away to achieve your goal!

AW: I think you take this a little too seriously!!!

If you had one tip for 'noobs' in FML what would it be and why?

CB: I've been known to pour advice on anyone who wants (or sometimes doesn't want) advice. And each time I say the same thing: "new guy- don't let your squad inflate over 17 players. You can only field 11 at a time, and no one is gonna suffer 6 injuries all at the same time!" So again, keep the squad sizes down people!

AW:Get involved, join in, dont give up. Dont post in the market place more than every 10 mins!!! My team were awful in my second season in St John. Finished bottom of the EEFA Premiership with only 3 wins to my name. I sold all of my best players, stockpiled money, moved to the XFA and have not looked back!!!

CB: I find it hard to tell new teams not to give up after thrashing them 9-0...maybe it's just me?

AW :I cant say fairer than that!

Everyone makes mistakes- what would you say is the daftest thing you have done so far in FML?

CB: Mistakes? what the hell are those? No, but seriously I think the worst mistake I made was the deal involving Arjen Robben. I cleared my entire youth team and 15-20% of my senior squad to get him. Bankrupted myself in the process.

AW: Posting in the market place more often than every 10 mins!!!!

CB: Barring the Robben deal, I would say losing to Godswill 2 consecutive times in the Championship was pretty daft.

AW: That was pretty crazy. I think it is amazing how people will throw everything including the kitchen sink to get an awesome player. There is no point playing Ronaldo and 10 other spanners...it will get you nowhere!! One man doth not maketh a team!!!

Utter fanatics like Dan Malone have 'burned out' playing FML and given it up- could this ever happen to you ?

CB: Certain 'fanatics' should have their 'fanatic' status re-evaluated. I can't get enough Champy to save my life. If I could F$!* this game I would marry it.

AW:I would like to think not....however my wife may confiscate my laptop. Sometimes I think she would rather I had an affair!!!!

CB: Ant you should read my chat logs talking about the joys of sex from behind. Just set the laptop up on your mistress' back and you can "pull and play". If your wife would prefer the affair, this way you're both winners!

AW: How sweet! A match made in heaven. I have heard they go for things like that in Canada. Marriage to inanimate objects!!!

Jonno Pereira is well known as my 'pet' player- do you have a pet or favourite player? Ramble wildly about them for a bit....

CB: I am a very sentimental manager. But I am also a brutal manager. Obviously every striker to work his way through my ranks meets my top list. Helmes was a great player, but I simply wore him out...now I hear he is rotting away on Pingvinen's payroll. Omar Bravo was a big favourite of mine, I was sad to see him age and go (but I was happy to take the 1.25mil for him <:emoticon#67>) Asamoah has won my hearts, and the hearts of my fans with his ridiculously speedy antics (picture Bravo...but younger and a bit less Mexican). Fabio Q- although moody at times, has always been my golden boy. I've tracked his progress since 3 seasons ago when Victorian Queue signed his sexy ***. Now he is mine, in all of his old, red arrowed, glory. I've never had a favourite defender that comes to mind, so I won't worry about them. Midfield is where my true passion has always been. A few season ago I had a midfield so strong it put Patrick Helmes out of business! Players like Alex maranhao, Mateus and Carlos Esquivel (whom I resigned for a short spell last season) are my favourite. I prefer a midfield full of sexy playmaking, longshot beast monsters. Luis Jimenez anyone?
And lastly, a special note about my favourite wingers. Kanga Akale, Alberto Medina and Javier Angel Balboa. All 3 were fast, great crossing and had their moments.

AW:I thought he was your love child!!! I was obsessed with Tobias Grahn for a season or two, I loved the way that boy took a free kick!!! At the moment my keeper is my favourite. He can't do wrong for me. Even when he does!!!! He loves playing against the bigger teams and pulls out an absolute stormer!!!! Then he plays like a bag of ****e and scores and OG or something against dross!!!

CB: my players can't do wrong for me either. If they do I beat them and then sell them. It's a love/hate relationship.

AW: I think you and Kylar take this too far!!! Pet names for your favourite players!! Fabio Q, Johno!!! Next it will be 'snuggles' and 'fluffy bum'!!!

You are having dinner and a few bottles of wine with Ov Collyer- what do you say to him?

CB: Fancy a match Ov?

AW:I hope you are paying for this because my wife has left me because of my addiction to your stupid game!!!!

CB: So Ov, I met this recently seperated woman the other day...

Interview with Chris Gillman, manager of Beggarwood Athletic

Our roving reporter met up with Chris Gillman, the Beggarwood Athletic manager, at the end of his first season to ask him about the tactical side to his rise through the FML rankings.

Chris, your team is rising up the world rankings. How much do you think your unusual 4231 formation is helping to improve your team’s fortunes?
CG I'd like to think it has played a fairly significant part. We had seemed to hit a bit of a wall with what we were playing before so I decided to play to what I thought would best accommodate my best players.

How did you decide upon your current formation? Did you look at the players at your disposal and build a formation around that, or did you start with a formation and recruit a team around it?
CG It was a mixture of both to be honest. I could see that I just wasn't creating enough goals with my old formation, and it was clear to be that my wingers we my weak link. I was also inspired by Liverpool's current formation, but I knew that I had to narrow it as I knew that my players weren't quite of the caliber of Torres and Gerrard and so I wouldn't score enough goals with the level of width Liverpool play with. As a Benitez style tactic, it's been a far more successful attempt to recreate his work that anything I've managed in any of the offline versions of the game. And when I saw that El-Hadji Diouf was available, it swung my decision to change my tactics as I felt he was likely to be a perfect fit!

As a Liverpool fan you must have been pleased to bag a former Anfield player. As your record signing, how is El-Hadji Diouf, is he faring at the The Warren?
CG Diouf has been a great signing for me. He's averaged over 7 for me in all games and his 6 competitive matches have resulted in an average rating of 7.36. I've not had a lot of opportunity to play him where I've wanted to yet as he filled in at AMC while my first choice was injured for a week and since he's gone up front he's suffered from injury himself. He's due back later this evening though and I'm looking forward to trying him out with my other off-season signings.

El-Hadji Diouf - stylish

Without wanting you to divulge your tactical secrets, playing two midfielders in a defensive position and three in an attacking position, how do you cope with a lack of wide players?
CG Most of the time, we cope okay. Having two defensive midfielders allows my fullbacks the freedom to get forward without leaving me too exposed at the back.

With most of the top teams playing a form of 451, how do your tactics deal with that formation? And are you confident of breaking into the higher reaches of the gameworld rankings?
CG I haven't come across a lot of teams that play 451, it has to be said, although I suspect that this is because I'm not high enough in the rankings yet. At home, I have narrowed my pitch in an attempt to stifle teams that play with a lot of width and away there are a few tweaks to be made to help us to cope. I'd like to think that we are capable to reaching the upper regions of the ranking eventually. I'm confident that the tactics are fully capable of it, but I'm well aware that with my current squad of players we are still a long way off the pace.

Before you settled on your 4231, what previous formations did you try? How successful were these attempts?
CG I've only really played with one other formation. I only had one decent forward in my initial squad so I played a 4-5-1 with a DM, an ML a MR and two AMCs. It worked well, up to a point. We were solid defensively but just couldn't score enough goals to progress beyond a certain level. I was very proud to win the mover of the week award in my first week, gaining 533 places but we levelled off after this and the lack of goals really began to hit home in the league. We ended up finishing 5th but with the second best defensive record conceding just 29 goals in my 38 matches but I was frustrated by numerous 1-0 defeats in matches that I ought to be winning! Changing to my new tactic late in the season brought me 8 wins, a draw and a defeat to the champion's CarTOON United in my last 10 matches, which was very satisfying.

Having completed a successful first season in StJohn, had you played in other FML gameworlds before, or just Football Manager before that?
CG This was my first ever look at FML and I'm still getting to grips with some of its nuances. I lost my best defender in a wage auction yesterday as I hadn't fully appreciated quite how it worked, but I'm learning from my mistakes and I'm fully enjoying the experience. I've been with Football Manager since it's reincarnation and the first football management game I owned was CM97/98.

Having joined an older gameworld in its fourth season, what tips do you have to managers considering a move to StJohn?
CG The best tip I can give is to get involved. There is far more to get gained from the game if you're friendly, chatty and sociable. From what I've heard about v1.2 this is going to become a bigger part of the game anyway and I think it's a great decision by SI. I think the blog is a great idea to keep people up to date with GW information and I've enjoyed contributing to it both now and with the AFA articles last season. Another think I can advise is to be honest. There's no substitution for a good reputation and of course, if you get a bad rep it's nigh on impossible to shake, no matter how much you might insist you've reformed.

What can we expect from Beggarwood Athletic in season five?
CG I'm hoping for a rather boring top half finish in the league this season. There are still some changes that I want to make to my squad and I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to plug these gaps. Last season we showed ourselves to be a bit of a cup team and if I get a good draw I'd like to challenge for the Non-Premiership Cup and hopefully get a couple of wins in the AEFA cup too.

Chris, thanks for the interview and best luck in season five!

Your Groundsman is Your Best Friend

We're a day away from the fifth season in StJohn and managers across the gameworld will be wondering whether they've bought the right players, picked the right formation and devised the right tactic for a successful season. But is their pitch the right size for their team?

Size does matter

If you look at real-life football, it's no surprise that teams like Manchester United have a long pitch, and teams like Bolton Wanderers have a narrow pitch and the same is true, possibly more so for FML. It's often said in football that the crowd is the 12th man; in FML, the groundsman is certainly the 13th, and he can be your best friend in your pursuit of success. Pitch size can be changed from the stadium screen - click the 'edit details' button to change the length and width.

What size fits me?

A look at your players and tactics gives a good idea of the size you'd want. As a general rule of thumb, attacking teams will prosper on larger, longer, wider pitches, while defensive teams will benefit from a smaller, shorter, narrower pitch.

Fast players like longer pitches as they gives attackers room to run, while speedy defenders will not be phased by the larger distances they need to cover at the back. Having a longer pitch, though, will cause problems for players with low stamina or playing with a high tempo, as the side may well run out of steam before the end of the match (start making mistakes, misplacing passes and shipping late goals). Wide pitches generally provide more attacking options and are great for teams looking to exploit the flanks and are ideal for any side with quality wingers. Again, defending becomes harder on a wide pitch, as fullbacks and also centrebacks find themselves dragged out of formation to cover an attack from wide.

While a small pitch is a perfect choice for a team looking to defend, it is also a great option for a team looking to close down the opposition and to counter-attack: with smaller distances to cover, a well-organised team can press, catch the opposition in possession and break with success. Some formations particularly benefit from a smaller surface, in particular, the 451. The shorter length makes runs from the midfielders more effective and the narrower width makes flooding the midfield even more successfully when space is at a premium.

What if my pitch size isn't working?

Unlike real-life football, you can change your pitch dimensions at any stage (other than during a match, obviously). If your current dimensions don't suit, if you're about to face an opponent's pesky 451, or if you're worried about facing wing wizards in your upcoming cup tie, why not change? Experiment, and if your changes are successful and your groundsman does become your best friend, we'd love to hear from you!

AEFA Goes Global

There are some new exciting features starting in the StJohn AEFA as of today,

The brand new news ticker is now up and running in the AEFA chatroom keeping members bang up to date with all the latest news, rumours and players available.

The new AEFA TV channel will kick off on the first day of season 5, giving players the chance to jump straight into live matches and those all important games as they happen.

The AEFA daily newspaper has been extended to 4 pages, covering each division in more detail - meaning more press coverage for each team and its manager.

These are exciting new features all available first in AEFA - come join the best!

The Tactics Chalkboard - Part One: Winning Formations

Welcome to the Tactics Chalkboard, where we will be taking a close look at the tactical side to FML: what works, what doesn't and what's going on across the gameworlds.

Today, we're looking at the winning formations used by top teams. There has been much discussion of this on the Football Manager Live forums: some folk think that certain formations are overpowered 'ubertactics', others that some formations just aren't worth playing, and even a few that think that it's impossible to become a successful team unless you play a 4-5-1. We thought we would put these theories to the test, by looking at the formations used by StJohn's top 40 teams and were pretty surprised to see how throughly the 451 had thrashed all its rival formations.

Attack of the Clones

Of the top 40 managers, almost three quarters, use a variant of the 451 formation. Of the 29 managers in total using a 451, the majority fielded a side with an AML, an AMR and three central midfielders (the 'arrowhead' formation); the remainder a flat 451 or some similar variant. The arrowhead is the formation used by Cihangir Kirac's gameworld-topping Turkiye and six other managers in the top ten use a 451 style tactic.

I spoke to Ben Talbott, manager of 31st ranked Last Minute Wanderers, and asked him if he thought the flat 451 he used was what forum posters described as an ubertactic. "Ubertactic, my backside!" he replied, just as his team conceded a goal against play to The Unexpected Spanish Inquisition (whose chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear... etc). "To be honest, though, I always played a variation of 451 in FM, so it would have been my default tactic here if it wasn't for the fact I wanted to be different," he added, "I lasted two seasons of being different and then I had to return to what I knew best!"

Only four teams in the top 40 play the traditional 442. "I love teams that play the 442," said Abe Roddney, the Daredevils FC manager. "It's the fairest tactic. You can score a lot of goals. You can also concede a lot of goals!" Nineteenth placed James Recury's Volusia County are the only team to play a 532, using a successful attacking variant of the formation. And only one team in the top 40 plays a 424, Manchelski United in 25th place.

The Phantom Menace

The second most popular formation amongst the top 40 is the 460 with five managers using the tactic. In its most common variant, the formation will have the usual four at the back, then a layer of ML, MC, MR and in front of that, a layer of AMC, AMC, AMC. The popularity and notoriety of the tactic is fairly recent, but the 460 is proving particularly successful for Flanders Angels in 2nd, T-Bag Town in 3rd and CFC FC in 4th. Roughly modelled on the Roma tactic with Totti, you can find out more about the 460 here, though it does seem a little more famous in FML than in real life - type football, 460 and formation into Google and a post on the SI forums is the top result! While there have been rumblings from certain quarters about the formation, words like 'hacktic' and 'exploit' muttered, it will not be long before more managers jump onto the bandwagon!

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We'd like to hear from you! Are you powering up the gameworld rankings with a rare formation? Are you one of the few that plays three or five at the back, or, rarer still, someone that plays a traditional 433 with three out-and-out strikers?

In Part Two, as the vast majority of the top 40 managers are playing either a 451 or a 460, we'll look at some common ways to counter these formations!

Interview with Frecheville Blades' manager, Nik Reeves-McLaren

The Fiery Baptist's roving reporter met up with Nik Reeves-McLaren at the close of season four, to talk about relegation woes, the future for StJohn and the lovely Liz Phair.

It’s not been a great season for the Frecheville Blades, with only five wins in the All Evening Premiership. How has your side reacted to the relegation?
NRM It’s been a tricky season. I’ve got a long-term plan which will hopefully pay off for me – I’ve been in FML a long time, and one mistake I’ve possibly made in the past has been to make small incremental changes (i.e. sign a slightly better left back for a lot of money, and sell my old one for a pittance) or to be too reactionary (at the first sign of a dodgy season, sell sell sell! and buy buy buy!). This season, things were clearly going awry, but I decided to stick to the plan – I didn’t over-react, I didn’t make wholesale changes... Relegation should give me the time and space to blood some youth and build for a stronger future.

Season four... a bit 'meh'!

As a real-life Sheffield United fan, you will know how important it is to try and bounce back into the top flight. Are you confident of promotion from the Championship in season five?
NRM As a Sheffield United fan, I’m never confident of anything – I know my team will ultimately only bring pain and disappointment! I’m hoping for a better season than this one just finishing, but a lot will depend on the wage auctions over the next week...

Season five... a bit more 'yeah'?

With a commercial focus and the lowest wage bill in your division, half that of last year’s winners, Flanders Angels, do you think this financial prudence cost you your place in the Premiership or do you reckon that living within your means is the longer-term key to success?
NRM It has definitely cost me – I lack one or two key players that could really make a difference in a game. My squad is a lot weaker than those around me, so I needed to rely on tactics and luck. Both let me down badly this season; I could probably name 10 games I should’ve won but didn’t. That said – I’ve tried the high risk, high wage strategy in the past, and it’s not the plan for the Blades in StJohn... I’m trying ‘slow and steady wins the race’ this time round – it’s all about seasons 6 and 7...

It looks like all-change at the Beautiful Downtown New Bramall Lane Stadium, with key players like Nikola Zigic, Gary Glen and David Jarolim out and striker Raffaele Palladino and defensive midfielder Sandro Silva in. What should we expect from the Blades’ line up for their fifth season?
NRM More changes are on the way, certainly. Zigic was getting on, and I got offered a decent deal. That took £24k off my wage bill: 20% of the total at the time! Glen has had four seasons to make an impact, and hasn’t. Jarolim was a legend in his time at the Lane, but was fading badly with age. With Palladino and Silva I’ve added genuine class to the team, and I think the future recruits will only be even better. I’m looking to add some real sparkle in midfield and attack.

While the seniors may have struggled this season, your youth side has reached the knockout stages of the StJohn U19 Cup and the semi-finals of the StJohn U17 Cup. With some exciting talent on the Blades’ books, will youth development play a large part in the future of the club?
NRM Youth development was never a huge part of my plan – but it makes sense for any financially prudent manager to have an easy source of cheap talent. The youths have been steadily ranked in the top 30 in the world, which bodes well for the future, and this season I’ve been very pleased with their progress. That said, I’ve just sold two of the brightest prospects for sizeable fees. Prudence works both ways!

As a veteran of several gameworlds, for how long have you been playing FML? And did you come cold to FML, or had you honed your skills playing Football Manager before that? And when did you become a gameworld moderator?
NRM I’ve been playing FML since, I believe, the 25th of June, 2007. It’ll be two years next month! I’ve been playing SI's football management game since the very beginning, much to the bemusement of my wife! I realised fairly early on that I wanted more from FML than I was getting, and so when the opportunity to become a moderator came up, in December 2007, I asked for more information. I was off work ill at the time, so I logged off for an hour to get some rest. When I logged back on, I was in a new gameworld and had a blue stripe... It was something of a surprise!

How do you see the role of a gameworld moderator? What virtues should a successful moderator possess and what vices should they avoid?
NRM I think FML needs all different sorts of moderators, and for mods to act as a team. I’m probably more the community builder, the diplomat; we also need disciplinarians, enforcers, scouts (people who have a knack for spotting cheats) etc... To be a moderator, you need to be ‘whiter than white’, putting the gameworld’s health and the standing of the mod team above the health of your own team. You need to be committed, willing to put a lot of hours in for free. You need to be professional, helpful and confident as well. Clearly you need to be able and willing to follow the rules of the game! Lastly – you need to be a team player; there’s nothing quite so terrifying as a mod gone rogue...

StJohn is currently in close-season, allowing new and experienced managers to join. Why do you think StJohn is a great gameworld, and what tips do you have for managers new to StJohn?
NRM I really do think StJohn is a top gameworld – I’ve been in six or seven now, and it’s definitely my favourite. We have a terrific community, with lots going on and plenty of friendly banter and chat. From a mod’s perspective, there has been a lot less trouble in StJohn that I’ve been used to elsewhere. Many of those managers who have left StJohn for new worlds have been starting to return. I can’t recommend it highly enough. Tips for new managers – sign up and get involved, make use of the chatrooms. Ask for advice in game – we’ve loads of helpful members who can give you far better tips than me!

You have spoken before about FAs evolving, developing distinctive character as the gameworld matures. With the fifth season in StJohn a week away, how do you see the gameworld progressing?
NRM I think a gameworld needs to evolve to stay fresh and to keep engaging its members – we need to constantly re-evaluate what we are doing right and what we’re getting wrong. We need to not be scared to make big changes if they are right for our community. I would personally like to see a move to having some bigger FAs with structures much more like the English FA. At the moment, FML fails those teams who are weaker or new by over-exposing them to too many big sides, too soon. Everyone likes a challenge; no-one likes getting a thumping every week. We need to keep working to find the balance there – as do all gameworlds.

With moderators doing much to encourage their gameworld’s community, do you have any tips for managers wanting to get involved in the community but not sure where to start?
NRM The best and easiest place for people to start is to add character to their team and FA – use your imagination and write something about your team, your division, your rivalries... anything! Mail it to people. Any quality work can easily be hosted on the GWs own blog too – it’s this sort of character that makes StJohn special.

As an active member in the wider FML community beyond StJohn, as well as writing for the Fiery Baptist, you also run your own blog and contribute to another. Could you tell us a little about these sites?
NRM My own blog, A Mod’s Life, was the first ever blog for FML, which I’m rather proud of. It’s still going too, with regular features on the progress of the Frecheville Blades. The new site I’m contributing to is called gameworldone.com, which intends to really become a one-stop shop for everything and anything to do with FML. They’ve got some terrific writers on board, and a strong StJohn contingent, so hopefully it will do well!

Lastly, Nik, if you were visited by the FML genie and he offered you three FML-related wishes, what would be your picks?
NRM One, in the words of the beautiful and talented singer Liz Phair, in one of her songs: “it has got to be shitloads of M-O-N-E-Y, money”. Two, Sergio Aguero – he led the line for me in GW2, and I’ve never recovered from selling him! And three, an active and fun-filled future for StJohn!

Nik, many thanks for the interview and best luck with the Blades in season five!

XFA season round up

Premier League

As season 4 draws to a close we have seen Turkyie take top spot in the Premier League once again. St John's most famous team did not let their fans down, before the season had kicked off there was talk that Hajduk Spliff would give them a run for their money however this was soon dispelled once Cihangir's team got into their stride. Second place went to Shiny Toy Guns which have sadly moved onto pastures new. Coming in a respectable 3rd place was Geordies Utd, a very solid and well run club under the stewardship of Shaun Punton. With Raynes Park Rangers and Hajduk Spliff finishing 4th and 5th respectively the XFA will be able to boast a strong line up in the UFFA Gold Cup once again.


Championship

The Championship was won by Never Back Down FC but with a very annoying 100% AI. Second place was secured by Club Athlectico de Middleton and James Crumps' Crumstars coming in third. James will be wheeling and dealing in the pre season I would think since this will be his second promotion running, a rapid raise to the land of milk and honey can sometimes see team become the whipping boys but with Mr Crumps tactical nounce I think they will do ok.


Onslaught and Lazio United coming in 4th and 5th will be looking at the possible chance of playing in the Premier League as well with 6 places available this time around.


League 1A

Bishop Ultras have taken their first silverware with the 1A title which sparked scenes of amusement when Jon Williams was reportedly seen celebrating in the board room with a glass of Fanta. Amaranth J F C came second and some of the media have found this quite an achievment with rumours their manager, Chris Parkin, prefering the lobby chatroom to the training pitch. Ritchie Coles' Natural Born Losers managed to win a close battle with Horse's Head FC for the third spot. With only one point separating them in the final few games it really was an interesting battle.


League 1B

Chris Buchan's merry gang of thugs and opertunists won this league and in doing so got their hands on their first silverware for Boocan VFC after finishing second three times in the MLFA. Harcester United brought home the runners up spot and battle for third and fourth between Emperor Elite F.C and Peking University saw Godswill's troops triumph.


League 1C

League 1C title went to Million Town managed by Jamie Vinall. Atheletico Dalek and Tyne And Wear Boys came in second and third but a special mention to one of the more colourful managers around, "The Hoff" of Chelsea Football Club. Coming in last place in never nice, however to come last and still only have 8% AI games is impressive, a big round of applause from everyone please...


That just leaves the cups.


The XFA Cup went to Manchelski United .


And Never Back Down took the Non Premier League Cup.


Congratulations to everyone that won their league or cup, but dont forget, it all starts again next season.......