BakerMan >> sunday july 18 - 13:01

Well that ladies and gentlemen is the league over. Melchester lost to Seaburn at home and we all really needed that to go the other way. Melchester and Cardiff have now dropped too many points, Oxford are having a great season so far, but can't see them realistically keeping pace, I've already lost once to Seaburn and I'll drop points to the others around me, so time to call it already.

Congrats Seaburn.

Stephen >> sunday july 18 - 13:23, Edited sunday july 18 - 20:13

With 11 games gone for Seaburn, it's 11 wins and, with the CL/EL group stage draw having taken place, thoughts turn to European adventures. 

Seaburn has managed to pull a pretty difficult group and even finishing third might be a struggle. But there are four of us through to the group stages. Hopefully, we can all make it through to the knockout rounds, as our coefficient has been steadily improving and we're back up to 9th now as a league. The higher we get, the more European spots we can earn and more of us can make it straight through to the group stages. Good luck all!

My preseason hopes that Tabuyo would now be ready to be effective in the league are happily proving to be correct. I'm going to need all his skills and more in the CL though!

@Bakerman - a bit early for the victory parade, I think :) But yes, confidence is high on the Beach and the team has been rewarded with 99s all round for their fabulous start. A couple of injuries that I am too tight to heal and things might be looking different though!

EDIT: ah, screw it. Who needs self-restraint? The conga line starts outside turnstile E78.

Lee >> sunday july 18 - 22:35

Congratulations to Oxford for their 90th minute winner - it's going to be a long season.

Monk >> monday july 19 - 05:56

Sorry chaps. I tried my best to halt the Seaburn juggernaut, but to no avail. Like Seaburn, I'm looking at Europe and trying to do my best there.

Stephen >> monday july 19 - 11:33, Edited monday july 19 - 18:32

A thrilling 3-5 CL away win for Seaburn in Latvia this morning, effectively with 10 men as Hoskins played the full 90. (None of my subs registered, probably because I was trying to be a smart arse with my kids and get them a couple of mins experience. Then the board intervened and I must have forgotten to fix the details.)

The travelling Seaburn Beach support was in his element. The lone voice chanting "Tabuyo, Tabuyo, Tabuyo!" over and over again as the midfielder scored, made two more and won a penalty at the end for the nerve-settling 5th. With Addo banging in a hattrick - his 420 millionth for the club now - the Sandmen were able to return to England with a vital three points.

EDIT: 4 matches for the English clubs today and 4 wins. Well done all!

Stephen >> wednesday july 21 - 07:59

4 more European matches and 4 more wins! This is an excellent start to the group stages for the 4 clubs involved. If we can keep this going our coefficient ranking will get a real boost.

Stephen >> wednesday july 21 - 11:26

The fifth tier of English football is back in business! (Might not be for long, but enjoy the benefits while it's here.)

Go to your finances tab and sign a new improved sponsor deal. It's not much but it all helps.

Lee >> wednesday july 21 - 13:24

Thanks Stephen - would never have known about the sponsor deal, as the Finances tab wasn't highlighted.

Alex Seymour >> wednesday july 21 - 14:25

Nice one Stephen. Now we can finally replace the carpet in the members only bar.

Numpty >> wednesday july 21 - 14:48, Edited wednesday july 21 - 15:09

Mine went up by 14%. I think it also increases TV rights a little. 

Seems strange that we got the 5th tier back though. It's not like the 4th divisions are all full. Must be some logic to it. 

Other recent additions. Sweden tier 3 and Vietnam  tier 5 started a few days ago, Afghanistan and Zambia got another tier 2 days ago. It's getting pretty regular.

A bit of fairly useless information but I wondered if the game re-used the old clubs that had been previously in tier 5. Appears not. A whole load of entirely new clubs are generated.

Stephen >> wednesday july 21 - 16:53

There's a threshold where when enough clubs are taken a new level is added. The leagues don't have to be full. Just full enough. I've never bothered to study just what that threshold is.

And can confirm, once a club stops playing professional football, that's them done forever. It's a bit of a pity trophy winning clubs don't come back, but never mind.

BakerMan >> wednesday july 21 - 20:11

Another day of European action and another days of wins for everyone - looking promising for 4 through to the knockout stages. My next 2 are my toughest - a point from those 2 and should be OK to pick a win from the final 2 matches. 

Numpty >> thursday july 22 - 07:51, Edited thursday july 22 - 08:01

Despite the lack of development I've noticed that there seems to have been a slight growth recently in the number of users. The game is still very playable so it would be good if that continues. 

This is guesswork on my part but I think there are probably 2 different thresholds. If a league gets full or near full then it gets another level regardless of the rest of the game.

But then there's probably a more general game threshold where new levels get created based on the total number of users. I think this is why we've got tier 5 back.

Stephen >> friday july 23 - 18:00

Match day 3 in the group stages. Our first defeat (Cardiff City), but two more draws and another win. Seaburn are almost guaranteed to be in the knockout stages, even if that means dropping into the EL, though I'd be disappointed for that to happen from here.

Melchester, Jaypridee and Cardiff are still well-placed to advance. Keep at it boys!

Stephen >> saturday july 24 - 21:27

A glimmer of hope for the Rebel Alliance in England as the absence of Addo might be the equivalent of the thermal exhaust port on the Seaburn Beach Death Star. Without him and despite 33 shots, it took to the 88th minute until ("Oh, Archie, Archie! Archie, Archie, Archie, Archie) Gildersleeve slammed in a free kick to take a 1-0 win.