News has been circling about the future of Natsumi Miyamoto at the Spirit Squad. Earlier today, the long serving manageress saw her team scrape a 0-0 draw away at Blackburn Magics, the point putting the London-based team on 45 points with three games to go; two points higher then last season's total, but as the team were on the coach for the journey back to London, speculation rose about the future of the pop princess at the club. The once flavour-of-the-month manageress oversaw a dramatic rise in form that gave fans dreams of Europe, only to have the form fade mid-season, giving rise to the rumour that she had fallen out of favour with the club's directors.

After several hours of silence and many fans wondering if their manager had been relieved of her duties, the board issued a statement to a packed press conference room.

"Those rumors are false; we perfectly happy with Miss Miyamoto's performance this season. We had clear goals for the campaign which we feel she fulfilled wonderfully. We have full confidence she is the right person for the job and that she will take this club to the next level."

As the spokesman turned to leave, he stopped and turned back to the microphone.

"Oh, and I should stress; we insist that this is not the dreaded vote of confidence. Natsumi Miyamoto will remain at her post. That is all."

The news comes as a relief to many fans who seem quite taken with the Japanese former pop sensation cum manager. Our own analyst looked into the progression of the blue dragons of Shikoku Fortress, recently renamed Spirit Squad for those struggling with their former Japanese name.

Championship season 9 - Knocked Out in play offs
4th Points 71 games 38 won 22 lost 5 drawn 11 GF 110 GA 74

Championship season 13 - Knocked out in play offs
4th Points 62 games 38 won 18 drawn 8 lost 12 GF 69 GA 45

Championship season 14 - Promotion via play off
5th Points 67 Games 38 won 19 Drawn 10 Lost 9 GF 57 GA 34

Natsumi Miyamoto was appointed manageress of Spirit Squad in season 4 when the club finished 10th of league for 4.1. Just 5th seasons later in a year that saw club legend Sreang Dtangpaibool bag 5 goals and 40 assists the club almost reached the Premiership for the first time, in their second season in the Championship. It took five seasons, with one particularly painful playoff heartbreak before ironically sneaking into playoff spots by goal difference on the final day of the season when they finally broke into the top flight for the first time in the club's history.

EPL Season 15 - stayed up by playoff match

18th Points 30 games 38 won 8 drawn 6 lost 24 GF 24 GA 61

Woeful defending, a gross underestimation of opponents and a lacklustre strike-force appeared to doom the once vibrant and free-flowing footballing side lead by their charismatic manageress. Protests and heckling fans outside the stadium on the final day of the season, a home game against Harlow United reminded the footballing world how fickle football fans can truly be, the club's position in the playoffs going down was already confirmed by prior results and losing at home to fierce rivals did her no favors, with many fans calling for her sacking prior to the arguably most important playoff match in the club's history.

EPL Season 16 - Broke club records

11th points 43 games 38 won 10 drawn 13 lost 15 gf 36 ga 41

The following season saw a massive improvement in every department but most importantly in points; club records were broken and Spirit Squad looked a stable Premiership side. Finishing the season with respectable goal difference, they proved naysayers wrong and showed that they were able to compete with the country's best teams. Pundits have credited this feat with a much-improved defense.

Ongoing season 17 - Doubts, are they improving still
11th Points 45 games 35 won 12 drawn 9 lost 14 GF 27 GA 29

Firstly there's still three games left, and a lot can happen in three games, Mid table has been practically achieved and they've avoided the drop, bagging a higher point tally then last season, majority of the rumblings comes from the 27 goals scored, again there's still three matches to be played but they currently average 0.77 goals a game and have been responsible for some of the most boring 0-0 and 1-0 matches of the season with many opposing managers commenting on just how hard it is the break down the spirit squads defenses one manager quoted 'you look at the line ups you see they're playing that back five and you think, this is going to be a cagey affair' And its often been the case, with the margins of victory being so small they became a team hard to beat. And although that leads to less attractive football, and certainly less goals either end, The question is are they better then they were last season and is Natsumi the right woman for the job.

Footballing purists would always be swayed to saying no, but when it comes to cold hard facts they are progressing naturally and improving, they over achieved in season 16, which mislead many fans but the results this year coupled with the manner in which there able to shut out even some of the best attacking teams proves that belong in the EPL as does Natsumi as the mastermind behind the continued development of a rising London club.

Edited for my own future use, because OP has already changed her post to include my edits.