Dan

I've no sympathy for Martin. Massively put himself above his club and players attempting to emulate the nonsense Kompany situation. Put his own reputation above results and would frequently dig players out publicly for it. He's a clown. I've no time for him.

Potter won't take it as it's clear he's waiting for Barcelona 2012 or something to come up.

Ait-Nouri out and Cunha possibly out for them, while we're potentially going to play Ward. Two sides who can score and two sies who let in 2+ a game. Both absolutely awful at the back. Leicester v Wolves could be one of the funniest games to ever take place in the Premier League. Could be completely bizarre stuff - like an MLS game almost.

We land at SV Lafnitz of the Austrian 2.Liga. I was given three options by myself. They ended up being Austria, Belarus and Bulgaria. I've gone for Austria because I think it's probably the strongest league I'm yet to manage in and it's one I've fancied a while - but my underlying fear is it may just be a bit similar to Czech Republic. We'll see though. As you can see, Lafnitz are a historical minnow who have only in very recent years risen to the second tier. This is their strongest period yet as a club. I would say they're easily the smallest club I could've landed on in the top two tiers of Austria. But the side isn't terrible - predicted around a midtable finish. Austria is going to be very tough and I think it might well take me through to FM25 (if it ever comes out). RB Salzburg have complete dominance of the league and the best side by an absolute mile, to the extent that their reserve team, Liefering, are likely to win the 2nd tier too (but can't go up). Overthrowing them is going to be a mammoth ask with a club like this. But we did it at Brage, we did it at Varazdin, we did it at Jihlava. We will go again. This is probably tougher than any of those however. The 2nd tier of Austria holds 16 teams with just one promotion spot - 1st (obviously) but you can go up in 2nd if it's behind Liefering, or 3rd if it's behind Liefering and Sturm Graz II (unlikely). I think it may be a bit beyond us this year. This is one of those leagues where there is very little time on contracts and I fully envisage an almost nuclear overhaul of my squad within a years time, regardless of division. We do have a couple of players I like the look of though - the standout being Andre Leipold, a young winger I went for at Varazdin (but missed out on). The next leg of this silly journey commences.

We're heading to Austria!

Every fucking time - they've done it again.

Leicester 2022/23 all over again. Whether they go the full way remains to be seen but the signs are there. Leicester v Wolves next week. I know things aren't decided on head to head games in December but that does feel a pretty pivotal one. All season long the nerds have pretty much flipped between us and them for 18th. There's a part of me that wonders if we both go and fall to Ipswich. Ipswich remind me a bit of us in our first season up a decade ago - a very limited but never say die attitude, often close and I wonder if they'll put a bit of a run together at some point. We're the worst side in this league defensively. Embarrassing when Russell Martin manages a team in the league. Barely believable to be honest.

It's an absolute disgrace that he's playing in this league in 2024. What a two fingers up at the fans - again.

We are terrible. But I do think your ceiling performance is pretty high and our floor is very low. Doesn't surprise me that we've been battered. I was relieved when it ended 4-0. That really could've easily piled up to 7/8.

That was bordering on unprofessional. I don't really see how any player could complain if they were docked a weeks wages for that. A complete waste of everyone's time. Newcastle will never play an easier game at this level and I think I've said that about 4 times this season alone. I don't think we're the worst team in this league, but I think our off day is the worst, even more so than Southampton, Ipswich and Wolves. Just a complete battering from a quite out of sorts side themselves. Total disgrace. One of my big measures of Van Nistelrooy is how ruthless he is and how quickly he bins half this lot to Trabzonspor.

I keep flip-flopping on Ipswich. I thought they were screwed after they blew it against us, had a shot after the Spurs game and then have gone and blown it again after collecting 0 points from Palace/Bournemouth at home. They will go down. They just haven't got the quality. They've gone up a bit too early (if such a thing exists) and I would assume that a lot of their business factored in this likelihood. Southampton are obviously going. Then it's probably either Leicester, Wolves or Everton. At the minute I think you would have to edge towards Wolves. Leicester v Wolves next week could really swing things. On the sack race I got Postecoglou at 18/1 last week as well with the thinking being that he'd lose to Chelsea and possibly go before West Ham v Wolves took place on the Monday night. This didn't work out, but as it happens West Ham v Wolves did somehow produce an outcome where neither went so we live to fight another day. I do still think O'Neil and Lopetegui are on very thin ice though. I think a loss on Saturday to Ipswich might do O'Neil despite the vote of confidence. Wolves fans I follow seem to be going through what we did in 2022/23 which is pretty ominous for them. They're in complete shock that O'Neil's still in a job. With another mediocre result in the week and a trip to Southampton this weekend, I think Postecoglou could be in trouble. My opinion of him really has nosedived in 2024. My Howe bet odds have come in a bit as well. Definitely starting to sense a turning tide there and if they lost at home to us I think he'd be right in the discussion. It's such a cruel market but it's quite a fun one I have to admit. There's often decent value to be had and it swings so much.

Been a bit busy but we are back on top. No other moves but the table gets tighter. Stan's figure represents the whole league as me, Rando and John cancelled each other out.