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While the changes are welcomed by many there are concerns about the scope and extend of the changes and their overall effect, especially on the number skill 6s there will be and dealing. Well, never let it be said that Einnek Football is a dictatorship. I have listen to all your comments and have made some alterations to the published changes based on the very constructive feedback I have received.

The changes are now as follows:

1. Players DO have to play for their clubs in order to be eligible for international selection. Any player who is suspended or injured and therefore unable to play a club fixture will be allowed to play in an international if their suspension or injury issues are cleared after the club fixtures are played.

2. All players (any skill) will now receive a maximum of 20 WACS when they change skill level. The Player of the Week, ‘A’ International Man of the Matches and Team of the Year players will be awarded 25 WACS. ‘B’ International Man of the Matches will get 20 WACS.

3. Players will be awarded a skill increase every 10 International Points, starting at 20 IPs – there will be no skill increase for players reaching 10 IPs. The retiral limit will stay at 50IPs where a player will receive 2 skill points. All skill increases due to caps will be at 20 WACS maximum.

4. By popular demand. From today any new player introduced to a side’s youth ranks will enter the game at a random age between 16y0m and 19y11m. This is a drop of one year on both the minimum and maximum ages.

Also, the 2 changes announced right at the start of the season will still take effect. Morale meaning more and IR being related to actually playing rather than just performances.

I apologise for the what must seem like constant changes, but feedback from the managers in the game have led me to make these alterations.

The online rule book will be update over the next 3-4 days and will be 100% up to date by Monday lunchtime.

Good luck with season 6

As mentioned in the turn last week (what do you mean you do not read it?!) there are a number of changes which will be introduced at the end of the season. All the changes are linked together and together they will address many concerns managers have contacted me about during the last few months. The changes are designed to prevent issues which have always occurred throughout the history of the game and to re-invigorate this for those of you who find certain things very stale.

The changes are as follows:
1. Players no longer have to play for their clubs in order to be eligible for international selection. As long as any suspension or injury issues are cleared after the club fixtures are played then they will be able to play at international level.

2. All high skill players (6 or above) will now receive a maximum of 15 WACS when they change skill level. Skill 5 players will continue to receive 25 WACS. The Player of the Week, ‘A’ International Man of the Matches and Team of the Year players will be awarded 25 WACS. ‘B’ International Man of the Matches will get 15 WACS.

3. Players will be awarded a skill increase every 10 International Points. The retiral limit will stay at 50IPs where a player will receive 2 skill points. All skill increases due to caps will be at 15 WACS maximum.

Also, the 2 changes announced right at the start of the season will take effect. Morale meaning more and IR being related to actually playing rather than just performances.
These changes are being introduced for various reasons;
 - To make international selection more competitive. Right now we have the same hard core of players who get selected game in game out. These players are finding it very easy to retain skill points and in fact they will just end up as retired internationals on skill 8 or more with no effort and regardless of how well they actually play long term.

 - To develop some stars in the game which we are currently missing. The 25 WACS players will now stand out. Agent players and successful youth players will also have the chance to shine as they are now more playable.

 - To promote dealing. More players will be worth buying now as internationals are more attractive.

Due to the nature of these changes, I will not be accepting any transfer deals this week. Traditionally we only get half a dozen deals in the final week of a season so I hope that will not inconvenience anyone too much.

Those I have spoken to already are very enthusiastic about the changes and I hope you all will be too.

Congratulations go to Andrew (Nighthawks), Rich (West Leigh Warriors) and Chris (Tombstone Trojans ) on all gaining promotion to the Premier Division. All three are separated by a couple of goals so the final push for the Division One title will be very exciting.

In Divison Two, Rik’s Gorgie Hearts and Steve’s Farmers Inn United are both promoted and face tough away games in their quest for top honours. Five sides are challenging for the last promotion spot, with Jane’s Darwin Disciples narrow favourites.

The bacon sarnies must be really good as Rob Painter’s Yellowknife Industries have crusied to the Diviosion Three title. Not bad for a team considered the wrost in Einnek One just two season ago. Rob has shown what can be done. Three sides are in the mix for the two other places in Division Two next season.

Relegation issues are virtually undecided with only one side sure of dropping down a league.

Best of luck to everyone next week.

Each player in the game can only be retired onto a maximum of 3 times in their career. This includes every retiral of any skill point onto a player – including retiring skill 5s onto skill 4s. A couple of managers have fallen foul of this recently so I wanted to make sure people were aware of it.

The day before the game, visiting manager Andy Burton was in top form at the pre-match press conference. His comments about the treatment suffered by defender Adam Reardon seemed a little strange considering the player was sold earlier in the week. Mr Burton claimed the sale was necessary to strengthen the side for the end of season run in. In complete opposite, David Newell was his usual dry self in his press conference and gave very little away ahead of the game.

A sold out 30,000 crowd were in good voice to greet the two Premier Division sides and bright sunshine made a big chance from the almost incessant rain of previous weeks. The sun shone and it initially worked wonders for the home side. Tormenta Advertencia looked to be totally focused on getting a result and after a couple of long range efforts in the first ten minutes they really clicked into top gear.

Mariano Lasa won a tackle of the half way line and drove forward with purpose. As Imanol Erlings looked to force him wide he quickly flicked the ball inside to Sherlock Merrison just inside the area. The Welsh youngster looked to have badly controlled the ball as it rose high into the air. Defenders closed rapidly, but Merrison launched himself into a classic bicycle kick and connected sweetly. The ball flew towards goal and despite fingertips from Monfred Gabel it went in off the post to give Advertencia an early lead.

ELA Elementals looked stunned and from the resulting kick-off they quickly lost possession when the usually reliable Jj Valoy Cuesta over hit a long ball by some distance. The goal kick was quickly taken by Esaie Esau Ade who played the ball square to Vita Gornostayev. The Russian then smashed one his trademark long balls up towards the forwards, where Rubi Valentino got his head to the ball, directing it into the the path of Merrison. A quick touch to bring the ball under control was followed by a rasping drive past Gabel to give Advertencia and Merrison their second goal in three minutes. Mr Newell was even seen to briefly smile on the touchline – a rare event indeed.

Elementals needed to get into the game somehow and slowly they did manage to see more of the ball. Albeit with little end product initially. The visitors were now dominating possession and starting to look for the goal that would get them back into the game. They got their break just before the half hour mark when a Yuma Encinitas clearance smashed into the chest of Marcelo Meier and fell invitingly for Burton Wragg to pick his spot from ten yards. A lucky goal but it was probably deserved as the sides went into half time 2-1.

Half Time: 2-1

The second half began with Elementals having the majority of possession again. Their adventurous approach paid benefits for Elementals when five minutes after the restart Dagfinn Emil finished calmly from eight yards out after a corner was not cleared. Again slightly fortuitous but the scores were level and Mr Burton was screaming orders to his charges, urging them to press on for a winner. However, they had to be aware of Advertencia’s striker Merrison and the lively Valentino who both looked like they could score given any sight of goal. In fact the next period of the game fact saw the best efforts of Meier and Wragg come up fruitless, while Merrison hit the post and had a long range effort well saved by Gabel.

Finally as the hour mark was passed Meier finally found his shooting boots. He controlled a cross from Wragg neatly on the edge of the box and after shifting the ball to the left he smashed a drive low through Grayson Cantrell’s legs and past Esaie Esau Ade. The accuracy of the shot was wonderful and may have been goal of the week most weeks if not for Merrison’s opener.

After seeing their two goal lead turn into a deficit, the home side found new strength and rallied well. Mariano Lasa started to get more of the ball and it was his one-two with Valentino that saw him drive into the area. Beating another challenge he fired a low shot to Gabel’s left only to see it pushed onto the post. All was not lost as the quickest to react was Merrison, who clipped the ball over the keeper with great skill to level the scores once more.

Both sides started to feel the pace and it looked the sudden death extra-time was inevitable. Neither side created too much and when the impressive Merrison just failed to stretch out a leg to sub Bobby Briggs’ cross with four minutes on the clock, both managers looked resigned to giving another team talk. However, Wragg had other ideas and his speculative long range effort look a wild deflection to leave Ade stranded as the ball trickled over for a sure-fire winner with a couple of minutes remaining. Luck was certainly on the side of the ageing English striker.

Clearly frustrated, Advertencia manager David Newell appealed for a last ditch effort from his side, but they could not create anything worthwhile and were left to concentrate on the remainder of their league campaign. The only positive at the end of the day was the performance of Man of the Match Sherlock Merrison; his hat-trick was top draw and he could and maybe should have had more. The young man from the heart of rugby mad Wales is one of the brightest starts in Einnek One.

Full Time: 3-4

To clarify; all youth players promoted to senior ranks go up at the same skill and retain any international points they may have gained. But they lose form dots, goals, cautions and their performance record is wiped clean.

The upper limit for morale will be increased to 30, this gives a new range of 1 (lowest) to 30 (highest). There will be more variation of morale based on things that effect your club – results, transfers, performances, wages, etc. The in-game code will take morale into account a lot more, so having a better morale than your opponents will give a lot more of an advantage than it does currently.

Managers will need to consider morale as an integral part of the game rather than the cosmetic thing it is now.

The “loophole” of giving player pay-rises will be removed. This will take effect this week.

A summary of events that will have a positive effect on morale:

• Winning league games
  • Any victory +2 morale.
  • Beating a side above you in the league would be worth an extra 1 or 2 morale depending on the difference in relative positions.
• Winning cup games and friendly challenges
  • Any cup victory +2 morale.
  • Any friendly challenge victory +1 morale.
• Drawing with teams above you in the league.
  • A draw against a side higher in the league would be worth 2 morale points.
  • A draw against a side lower in the league would be worth 1 morale point.
• Not losing away games.
  • Staying unbeaten in an away fixture increases morale by 1 point.
• Players performing well.
  • Each player getting a 9 rating increases morale by 1 point.
  • Getting Player of the Week is worth 2 morale points.

While events that will have a negative effect on morale are:

• Changing Captain
  • Loss of 5 morale points.
  • Captain not selected (for whatever reason) equals a temporary loss of 5 morale for that fixture.
• Losing league games
  • A loss to a team higher in the league results in a 1 morale point drop.
  • A loss to a team lower in the league sees a 2 point deduction.
• Losing cup games or friendly challenges
  • Being knocked out of the EFA Cup sees a 2 morale point drop.
  • Losing in a friendly challenge match will result in the loss of 1 morale point.
• Not winning at home.
  • Drawing at home loses 1 morale point.
  • Losing at home will see a 2 point morale drop.
• Numerous team or squad changes.
  • Making 6 or more changes to your starting 11 reduces morale by 1 point.
• Players performing badly.
  • Each player getting a 5 rating sees morale decrease by 2 points.
• Cautions/Players Sent-off
  • Any player sent off reduces morale by 2 points.
  • Four or more yellow cards in a game reduces morale by 1 point.
• Injuries
  • High skill player injured below 5 fitness reduces morale by 1 point.

END OF SEASON EVENTS

• Divisional Champions = +5 morale
• Promotion = +3 morale
• Relegation = -3 morale

The whole premise behind this change is to make morale mean something more than it does currently. There is scope with this system to add or remove factors which effect morale if and when required.

All sides will see their morale adjusted at the end of the season to a range between 8 and 15 based on a sliding scale of their morale at season’s end.

North Bank Guns’ manager Rich Burge went into the game hoping to carry on their impressive home form of late and push towards a promotion place. A win today would move them ahead of visitors FC Cosmos. Mr Burge selected the same eleven that played in last week’s Friendly Challenge, while Joseph Burridge sprang a surprise with a switch of formation. Tobikuma Zero and Kerrea Ridler selected ahead of Mateus Jacomossi and Kutukutu Tamarama in what was a more attacking looking side.

The inclement weather of recent days had left the pitch very wet, but with dark grey clouds over Armoury Stadium, the game started on time in front of a crowd of just under 40, 000. The early play was very cautious as both sides tried to feel each other out. The pitch played its part and Brazilian referee Romualdo Arppi did well to try and let the game flow. Christopher Nations had a good chance after twelve minutes, but saw his drive from the edge of the box clip the bar and sail high into the travelling Cosmos fans, much to the relief of Redding Fairfax who watched the shot fly past him.

An even game was getting bogged down in midfield and with both defences looking comfortable, it was going to need some inspiration to open the game up. Cosmos’ midfielder Tychon Vanderflore provided the spark that lit things up. His wonderful cross-field pass released rampaging Pablo Lopez who crossed first time to Thor Johansson. The Swede reacted quickly to flick a header that looked bound for the top corner before Hieronim Gusty stuck out his left hand and somehow got enough on the ball to send it past the left hand upright. The resulting corner lead to the deadlock being broken. Ardaz Nelz rising highest to plant a bullet header downwards past Gusty and into the net. This was the big Brazilian’s first goal for over a year and his Samba style celebrations were greeted with glee but the Cosmos’ fans.

They say you are at your most venerable right after you have scored and yet again the old premise was proved correct. Straight from the kick-off Lombardo Martinez beat two hapless challenges before flicking the ball to Nations. The American striker cut inside another weak tackle from Zero and curled a wonderful 30 yard effort just inside Fairfax’s far post to restore parity less than a minute after going behind.

Both sides were now in the mood for a game and it was classic end-to-end stuff for the remainder of the first half. Half chances falling to Nations, Vasco Di Corbacho and Montegho but their efforts all proved fruitless. Di Corbacho found his way into the referee’s notebook 5 minutes before the break when his protests for a penalty after he thought he had been fouled by Chuco Pena became a little too vocal.

Half Time: 1-1

Rain greeted the players when the came out to start the second half. This would make an already soggy pitch even more difficult and some feared the game may be abandoned as large pools of water appeared in a couple of places.

The North Bank Guns players slowly started to get a bit of control of the game and despite even possession they had the best chances to take the lead. Nelz was commanding in defence for Cosmos and somehow he was always in the right place to sweep up, make a tackle or clear the ball. His goal line clearance on 72 minutes after Manuel Meier’s snap shot was top class as he threw his body in the way of the goal bound effort. Replays showed just how well he did to get to the ball and not handle it; something Meier was convinced he did and his complaints saw him become the second player booked for dissent.

A long Martinez ball over the back four of FC Cosmos towards the run of Vanderflore looked very dangerous but Fairfax came quickly out of his goal to dive on the ball. His momentum in the wet conditions saw him slide outside the area, however and a free-kick was rightly given for handball. Mr Arppi only produced a yellow card despite the protests of the home players and fans alike – probably the correct decision under the circumstances. The free-kick was wasted by Philippe Pauchard who was soon substituted after a disappointing all round display.

The game appeared to be heading for a draw as FC Cosmos sides struggled to overcome the elements and the Guns could find no way past the excellent Nelz. Nations, however had other ideas and it was his run past two players followed by a neat one-two with Martinez that saw him fire a shot from the penalty spot goal wards. Fairfax looked to have is covered but a lunge from sub Ximi Zubizarreta in trying to block only succeeded in diverting the ball just enough to wrong foot the young English keeper and give the home side a vital win.

Nelz’s display on the losing side was the only real compensation for a disappointed Mr Burridge. The defender rightly winning the league Player of the Week award and proving he is the man Brazil should look to in order to restore past glories.

Full Time: 2-1