Two Years.

It’s the 28th of December again, time to celebrate this website’s second anniversary! It all started on December 28th in the year 2008, a day in which I had nothing better to do than to set up this website :) Two years have gone by since then and I am amazed that I’m still keeping this website running with the same passion that I had back when it all began.

I could go on and on about these two years but I guess the best thing would be to let the numbers do the talking:

• — 726 posts were published
• — 10,512 comments were posted
• — 13,543 spam comments were deleted (yikes!)
• — around 500,000 different people visited the website at least once during these two years! Thankfully many of them came back for the new posts now and again! ;)

I’m quite proud of these numbers because when it all started there was just me and my computer! But I have to thank so many people for these two years…

Firstly I have to thank the people that come here to read the stories or ask for help with their game. Your passion for the game is admirable and this website would have been shut down long ago if we wouldn’t have had your kind support.

Secondly I have to thank the writers that were kind enough to publish their stories here, starting with Kevin, our friend from Canada, Laxeyman, the brilliant writer that entertained us with his FM 2010 stories, Ana Garcia, the loveliest manager in the world, and all the others that tested their skills and shared the passion with all of you.

Last but not least, I have to thank the fantastic people at Sports Interactive who keep providing a great game for us to enjoy. The game gets better and better each year and for that we have to be grateful to Miles Jacobson and his team for working so hard for our addiction :)

Since we’re around Christmas and it’s a festive moment I would like to give out some gifts for the people that have supported this website. I intend to make this a tradition from now on, so don’t worry if you won’t be getting any presents this time. Here goes:

Prize #1

To our top commentator, our friend from Singapore Lye Kuek Hin, I will give the book called «Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics» by Jonathan Wilson. Lye has posted more comments here than anybody else, 490 to be exact, so I guess you will all agree that he fully deserves the prize. I hope you will enjoy reading the book Lye! :)

Prize #2

To our first guest author and one of my best friends, Kevin Mayo, I will give a book about Manchester United since he’s a Red Devils fan. The book is called «Football — Bloody Hell!: The Biography of Alex Ferguson» and it’s written by Patrick Barclay. I hope you’ll enjoy it on the subway mate! :)

Prize #3

One of the gifts has to go to Ana Garcia, the most attractive football manager there is, real or virtual! Her stories are a breath of fresh air and a challenge for all of us males who think that we know everything about football. Ana will get an entertaining book, it’s called «Football Oddities: Curious Facts, Coincidences and Stranger-than-fiction Stories from the World of Football». I hope you will like it Ana.

Prize #4

Last but not least, Laxeyman will get a book about Liverpool FC since he’s a fan of the club. Although Laxeyman is no longer a member of our writing team I can not forget his brilliant posts that we have all enjoyed this year. The book is called «Red Men: Liverpool Football Club – The Biography» and it’s written by John Williams.

I would have wanted to give presents to each and every one of you but this is all I could afford this year. I hope to have more to offer next year when we’ll celebrate the website’s third anniversary but I will surely never have enough to show my full gratitude to all of you. I want to thank you all once again, readers and writers, for keeping this website going.

P.S.: For the gift recipients, please drop me an email with your postal addresses and if you already own the book that I’m offering you please don’t be shy and tell me about it, we can always switch it for another nice book about football.