X11 season 45 - de rigueur Mortis

[nmrfox]

8 jumps for Whoft and a double for Colm Dinamoe with the entire midfield all going up at least a notch. Squad still seems a bit thin though and a(nother) season of struggle in Division 2 seems likely.

[Sits]

Average from the Swine; Costa will retire but at least goalie van Rijswijck squeezes in one more jump to 16 skill.

Need two youngsters but skint.

[Hot Orange]

OK for Hideous, with one DJ in defender Daniel Buumeijer, who's now an 18/7. Serial wage-stealers Roy Lilleby and Richard Lager failed to jump, and the former may well be replaced.

The big news is that Clas Ahlund has announced his intention to retire. His Hideous career spans 20 seasons and 375 games (339 starts, 36 subs). He's scored 63 goals, provided 30 assists and has 128 X11 selections, 33 as captain. He's a legend, the heart and soul of the club, by far and away the best player we've ever had. He is irreplaceable and will be much missed.

Edwin Zeeberg is also calling it a day. Meh.

Zeeberg's impending retirement does mean that fellow striker Arnold van Aerle really needs to step up. The goal instincts he purports to possess have not been obvious in his Hideous career so far, with nine goals scored in five seasons.

[jdsx]

I suppose we could hope for a decent youth tomorrow whom we can sell, but the track record of our YA, even at 300k per week, is not that good....

And sure enough, into my inbox comes a 19/4 forward with 'tough'. Fantastic. Time to have the players in one-by-one to discuss the future I think....

[jdsx]

OK for Hideous, with one DJ in defender Daniel Buumeijer, who's now an 18/7. Serial wage-stealers Roy Lilleby and Richard Lager failed to jump, and the former may well be replaced.

The big news is that Clas Ahlund has announced his intention to retire. His Hideous career spans 20 seasons and 375 games (339 starts, 36 subs). He's scored 63 goals, provided 30 assists and has 128 X11 selections, 33 as captain. He's a legend, the heart and soul of the club, by far and away the best player we've ever had. He is irreplaceable and will be much missed.

Edwin Zeeberg is also calling it a day. Meh.

Zeeberg's impending retirement does mean that fellow striker Arnold van Aerle really needs to step up. The goal instincts he purports to possess have not been obvious in his Hideous career so far, with nine goals scored in five seasons.

Sorry to hear about Clas, HO. Although I certainly won't miss him!
What's the Arnold van Aerle equivalent of the Zeeberg Quandary?

[Auntie Beryl]

The Turds are going down with £17m in the bank. Not boasting, just tight as a coat of paint.

Update: pretty much all the money has gone.

If past history is anything to go by, no one need shake in their boots come next season...

[delicatemoth]

I didn't name this player, but I'm glad my predecessor at Rock City did:-

"Gandalf The Grey has taken up kickboxing classes three nights a week. The extra cardio on top of an already rigorous training regimen leads to an increase in both flexibility and form."

WTF my 33-year old striker jumping to 12 skill AND announcing he plans to retire? Not had that before.

[Sits]

That's seriously weird DM. A jump and retirement announcement simultaneously is crazy; usually a season of poor form and low DV precedes a retirement.

[SouthdownRebel]

Yeah, that is odd, I've not seen that before either.

I've secured Manager of the Month at Bignor Roman Villa - nine games in and still unbeaten, and still in the Cup, we now face a double header against a sadly Wouter-less De Stroppendragers who are clearly feeling his absence as they prop up the table. That's my second MotM recently after a long gap without, so quite happy with that.

[Sits]

Good work SDR.

Personally I’m struggling to find the mojo.

[Sits]

To expand, I've once again let myself get too many teams, and suddenly it's starting to feel like a job. I've managed one PR this weekend and I'm supposed to do nine more today, but I can't be arsed. Similarly when I sit down for an evening and have four sets of tactics some nights. Doesn't sound much, but when I do tactics I like to spend a bit of time on it*.

Currently I'm mulling over ditching all my teams outside OTFers' leagues when their respective seasons end. Probably keep the Pro League team too.

This would mean letting go:

Ebersbacher Wildschweine - the newest anyway, in the World Premier League or something
Noirs de Bigorre - Xpert Zone
Nakuru Warthogs - J4GL
Oxford Sandy & Blacks - Under 23 Premier

It's just a life balance thing. I'm considering increasing my interest in genealogy, it's been nagging me for a while but current X11 involvemenet prohibits that. Anyway I've brought it on myself, but I need to reignite the passion.

I would feel especially bad for VA who's designed so many lovely kits for those teams.

*Doesn't show, I hear you say.

[SouthdownRebel]

I get it Sits, I've had similar periods including one where I came close to quitting altogether. I think what's helped me is deciding that if I don't have the inclination to write a bunch of PRs, I won't force myself to do it. I also tend to spend less time on tactics and found it didn't cost me much as I was often over-thinking things - trying to come up with some clever plan which would then backfire anyway. Not that that's the same in your case of course (<winky>), but I tend to do better when I stick with my initial instinct with this type of thing - the same applies to fantasy leagues and other similar games.

The genealogy idea sounds great - I've dabbled, but I'm fortunate that my aunt made it her life's passion. Thanks to her decades of work, I have 300 years of history on my dad's side, including written profiles of more recent generations. Nobody else in the family has continued the work since she passed away, but I've occasionally felt the urge to do so - and my mum's side of the family has never been properly explored.

[jdsx]

I don't know how you guys manage so many teams. I've only got 5, and it seems to take an age to do tactics/write PR/study opponents/evaluate new bloody players etc.! Mind you I'm a relative novice, of course.

Wholeheartedly agree about the genealogy btw. But I think looking into mine any more is going to have to wait until retirement! Or I suppose I could just get a load more X11 teams when the time comes...

[Auntie Beryl]

I only write up PR very occasionally these days. When I was a new manager I found that part of the game was the disproportionate time sink, so I gave it up.

[nmrfox]

I only write up PR very occasionally these days. When I was a new manager I found that part of the game was the disproportionate time sink, so I gave it up.

Likewise here and I'm enjoying the game much more as a consequence.

[Wouter D]

I only write up PR very occasionally these days. When I was a new manager I found that part of the game was the disproportionate time sink, so I gave it up.

Likewise here and I'm enjoying the game much more as a consequence.

Same here.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

I've been away for over three weeks, and I'm afraid to open up the X11 website to see what mess my teams are in.

[Me Old Flower]

Is it worthwhile keeping a player who has an Oscar as a special ability? I know he'll be a bit of a twat on the field, but is it likely to benefit me in any way?

[Wouter D]

Is it worthwhile keeping a player who has an Oscar as a special ability? I know he'll be a bit of a twat on the field, but is it likely to benefit me in any way?

These players win you free kicks and penalties when the referee has low skill. May also get an opponent sent off. Conversely, if the referee is any good, Oscar man will receive bookings himself.

[Me Old Flower]

These players win you free kicks and penalties when the referee has low skill. May also get an opponent sent off. Conversely, if the referee is any good, Oscar man will receive bookings himself.

Ah, OK. Thanks.

[Sits]

It's not one of the "negative" abilities which deter me. I like using them as playmakers when playing Cheat with a low S ref. Back in the glory days of Noirs de Bigorre we had a veteran called Jerry Brock who was an Oscar Hulk. Would get six or seven cards a season, but as playmaker with an H2 S2 ref, playing Cheat and Bruise he was almost unplayable.

[Hot Orange]

I really should take more notice of SQs. My selection policy rarely goes beyond trying to get a reasonable balance between skill and experience and DV-needy youth.

[SouthdownRebel]

You and me both, HO - some of my teams are performing above their skill level due to the combination of SQs. Hambledon Legacy in the Heineken are an example of this. However, that's come about by chance, not because I've set out to build the team in that way. Something to work on for some of my other teams...

[Etienne]

Sans Culottes play the league leaders in the Xpert Zone at home. If we win, then we'll narrow the gap to two points. We won't win though as we have 3 of our first team with red cross injuries and one suspended.

[nmrfox]

Following Whoft's Invincible season, Gaffney Globular make it a second Framleyshire team to go undefeated in the space of a couple of weeks by going 13-3-0 in GLX C. Huge debate now on going whether to move the team back to Billberry Buryborry after last season's failed MLX campaign in Gaffney.