FMS Patriots — Gearing up for the new season

I’m back! So let’s correct this…

That’s better.

Firsty, thanks Johnny for a fantastic job on completing and securing the Championship title in emphatic fashion. Some of those results were amazing, and I can only hope that the squad can do as well in the Premier League back under my leadership. As for me, holiday’s went brilliantly! Went to Peurto Banus, Spain first. Lovely sunshine, which I didn’t really see much of in all honesty as I spent most of the day in bed recovering from the nights before-hand ;). Also came back FIFA champion which was nice, although my girlfriend wasn’t as lucky when she smashed her head on the sink (drunkenly I might add). There is a story behind that, but I don’t think it’s in good taste!
Went to Sweden in one piece though and had a great time as usual. Of course, I was always looking out for some Varberg BOIS stuff on the sly and I came across this at the local newsagents:

Looking good lads! If you didn’t know, they got promoted last season into the Swedish 3rd tier. They won that game against FC Trollhättan 4-2 and are sitting at the top of the 3rd tier! Talk about following in my footsteps, cmon lads :D. Thinking about getting one of their ridiculously sponsor filled shirts? Haha. Anyway, enough about that! We have a pre-season to go over..

The first match to kick our pre-season off was against Falkirk. I’m pretty sure that Tony Coton arranged the exact same fixture last season? Still, we can batter them again I guess ;). First 30 minutes wasn’t actually showing that though and it was only until afterwards we found a hole in the defence. Rodrigo sliding it into the path of Alex who slotted in from inside the area. After half time, the lads really put themselves about and should have doubled their advantage during the first 5 minutes but it wasn’t to be and it was all-evens in the second half. Malcolm’s header cancelling out Bushy‘s cool finish almost instantly. (Click here to see the highlights)

Northampton away for the second fixture of preseason! The league two side fell behind after just 47 seconds when Bushy smashed home from outside the area. He will have to thank Brazza for that one though, as he won the ball from inside the FMS half and played a sublime ball through the heart of the defence. That’s how it stayed unfortunately, and I’m not surprised with a colour clash like this:

I wouldn’t know who was who either… (Click here to see the highlights)

Another away fixture, and this time it was against north London club Barnet. Things didn’t get off to the best of starts though as the Patriots fell behind within the first 30 minutes due to sloppy defending which left their striker with a free header. Von Karma hit the bar straight from the restart though, and this seemed to kick start the lads as Brazza equalised to make it 1-1. Bizzare goal really, as Karp managed to smash the ball into the defender and lob it over their back line. Trick shot? Even with 19 creativity Johnny, I doubt that your little pixelated character meant it ;). Liam101 stuck us infront just shy of the half from a Rodrigo cross, before McLean found him again unmarked inside the area to put the game beyond any doubt. (Click here to see the highlights)

Blimey, Coton really knew how to travel as he organised our 4th successive away friendly, this time against Northern Irish side Dungannon. We took the little club to the cleaners, smashing a couple of goals past them before half time courtesy of a tap in from Bushy and a direct free-kick from Johnson (which frankly my gran could have saved ;)). After the break it was much of the same as Bushy grabbed his second tap-in of the match, before Yank rounded off the rout with a brilliant header through a Karp freekick. (Click here to see the highlights)

It was time for some home games as St Mirren were next in line for the Patriots. Again, we dominated for large spells of the game but didn’t really seem to be as clinical in front of our own fans. A few hit and misses during the first half led me to believe that this was going to mellow out into a bore draw but luckily Alex managed to add a touch of magic and secure the only goal of the game to give the fans a little entertainment. (Click here to see the highlights)

Then we got to have a taste of what we were in for next season as we welcomed Premier League Champions Manchester United to Patriots Park. Obviously being a City fan, I didn’t want them within 10 miles of our ground but needs-must I guess. Park gave United the lead just after the half hour mark when a Giggs corner floated his way, but we did grab an equaliser before the half. Bmwdestroyer finding half a yard on the edge of the box to fire home past the keeper. Second half saw a number of chances go begging for the away side but the FMS keeper stayed defiant, leading the Patriots to a historic result. (Click here to see the highlights)

Last friendly game of the year, and it was against recently relegated Wigan at the DW stadium. The players looked tired, and this did show as the first half was about as entertaining as watching paint dry. Seriously. Luckily, it was brought to life midway through the second half as Plobdork managed to head home from a Brazza corner. Moses capitalised on some woeful defending to dribble round at least 4 players before striking the top corner from outside the area to draw Wigan level. It looked like it was going to be second successive draw, only for a Dami freekick to get deflected into the net in injury time by the head of what looked like Boyce? I will leave that for you lot to decide.. (Click here to see the highlights)

So a pretty good pre-season for the Patriots there I have to say, especially getting results against United and Wigan. Hopefully, this will mean that we have enough to see us survive the Premier League next season but you know what they say.. Never predict on the basis of your pre-season results. I guess we will just have to see how that pans out, although I’m confident that we have enough strength in the squad to at least get one over on the newly promoted sides.

Lastly before you flick over to the next page, there are a couple of awards to hand out that weren’t previously mentioned in the last post:

Take a bow Darren Smith as you have been voted player of the year. Fully deserved, smashing that record for Championship goals in a season is bound to win you the fans respect and I can only hope that your little pixelated character can continue it! Next is the team of the year:

Realistically, I would have expanded this to 30-odd players but unfortunately we can’t do that. Instead, I would like to say most of the players who played a couple of games over the season performed very well and I hope that we have as much competition for places as we had last year for this coming one!

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story…

Right, so this is where the games for the reserves and U18’s usually go but as there haven’t been any over pre-season we will miss it out. Although there is another reason, and that is the competition for places is going to be drastically increased due to the players in the U18’s getting ‘promoted’ to the reserve teams, so I have been forced to loan out a lot of you to get first team football. Obviously, I have been looking at the best possibilities for both parties and there are a number of you that have been shipped out. Every respective club has stated that they are making you valuable first team members so I am quite happy with that. More about the loan situation later in the post, but as a result I will only be posting games about the reserves from now on. Here are their fixtures for the coming month:

Hopefully our lads can lift the title again :D

Secondly, there has been a bit of international action during the off season and I’m happy to inform that the Euro U19’s campaign was a massive success as every England goal in the competition was scored by one of our players (either at the club, or created and at a different one!). Here is how the groups panned out:
France 0 — 4 England (Matt x4)
England 4 — 1 Romania (Laxeyman, Matt x3)
England 3 — 1 Greece (MRDNRA, Smith, Matt)

A huge EIGHT goals for Matt in the group stages!? Surely he couldn’t score many more as a Semi Final tie would surely seem him be denied?

Another two. The guy just can’t stop scoring, along with Smith who also managed to grab a brace. Final against France then?

Well it had to stop somewhere, but we still managed to get 4 scorers on the board as every goal in the final was scored by one of our players. Smith grabbing one, Pepper for France, and then super sub Bmwdestroyer bagging two in injury time to seal the trophy for England! Seems like another FMS player wants to get in on the glory too:

Here is the other international news concerning our lads:

Before we divulge into the loan situation, I do have one more piece. Now, pretty much everyone is unhappy with their contract at the moment and honestly I would love to give you all new contracts. This is however, not possible due to the financial state FMS is in at the current time. Most seem fine with that, but only Brazza has taken it upon himself to not once, but twice request a transfer and quickly retract it. I will try and put him straight for you mate:

So, who is getting loaned out this season I hear you cry?! Well, here is the comprehensive list of not only our own squad, but of all the other lads who have been loaned out by their respective clubs:

So to re-cap!

Leaving FMS on loan:
Matty B — Charlton
Cruickshanks — MK Dons
Wolfman — Huddersfield
Sibo — Derby
Skip — Swansea
Brazza — Swansea

Leaving other clubs on loan:
Lye — Millwall
Big Mac — Motherwell
Daniel Ellis — Bolton
Nick — Swansea
CS Atlantis — Brentford

There was also a couple of serious injuries to report too unfortunately:


At least it isn’t Von Karma again haha ;)

Lastly, due to Wolfman getting sent out on loan we needed a new captain. Step forward…

Sears! Well done mate, you deserve to be captaining that back line of yours. Hopefully you can influence the lads in the tough matches, at least enough to grind some points our way. He did have a few words to say, but not at me..?

A telling off that you can hardly understand. I’m sure Brazza loved that one ;)

Anyway with Sears at the helm, we will have a very tough opening to our debut in the Premier League, hosting Liverpool at Patriots Park. Then comes an away trip to Fulham, a Carling Cup 2nd round tie against Posh, before we round off the month to Arsenal. Can you guess our next fixture? Yep.. Manchester United. Talk about a run in, i’ll be surprised if we get a single point from that start. Still as they say, it’s not a race so you never know what is in store over the course of the season!

If any of you are looking to get loaned out, or have another request then feel free to stick it in the comments box! Until next time then, see you later! :)