They say to get to the top is the easy part. What is difficult is to stay there. Such is the task in front of Manchester United XI manager Sir Brown Knight this season. After a comeback season that will go down in history as his best season yet, will the manager be able to repeat last season's success in a higher division?
Many might argue that last season was a walk in the park with no real competition allowing Sir Brown's side to dominate the league competition just by showing up for matches. In fact, it is true to some extent, as United was beaten by their Second Round cup opponents in both legs. Loyal supporters of the club would argue that the gap in quality between the two sides would have resulted in easy wins for their opponents, but the fact still remains that last season was a season where they won everything, and proved nothing.
With their first ever season in Division 6 fast approaching, the club seems to be going through a minor rebuild, albeit at the expense of the very same players that got them there. Over the past week, the club has terminated the contracts of a few players who played key roles in securing the title last season. With star striker John-Erik Wall announcing his retirement at the end of this season, Sir Brown sent his scouts to evaluate a large number of players, and the club has made quite a few signings recently.
Amongst the big names that have left Old Trafford are midfielders Pavel Koubek (21/6), Olivier Tourneux (24/6) and Linford Pennant (28/8); as well as defenders Oluwa Puma (36/9), Vicente Paredes (20/5), and Quico Barragan (30/9).
With a 6 million econ budget this summer, Sir Brown has managed to sign six players so far, with another two rumoured to be arriving soon. The first to arrive was defender 31/10 Macu Rosoga, billed as a direct replacement for Puma, although his similar age/skill path makes him more of a slight upgrade from Barragan. In midfield, however, the upgrades are more obvious. 23/7 Christiano Silvestre replaced Tourneux, while the manager opted for skill over youth in replacing Koubek and Pennant with 11 skilled veterans Reinaldo Figueira (32) and Tedi Cosasu (33).
But the most interesting change would be the fresh pairing of 30/10 Johnnie Rogers and 26/9 Szilárd Lengyel up front. With Wall taking a back seat this season Sir Brown will be rotating his three youngsters with either Rogers or Lengyel, maybe both, to try to emulate the veteran's incredible haul of 31 goals and 6 assists last season.
With just a few days left before the curtain raiser cup match, the club is still keen on signing a high skilled goalkeeper and a freekick specialist. With sources close to the club confirming that both Herold Bátori and Ricardo Peixeiro, who earned the most assists (16) and most clean sheets (10) respectively last season, are on their way out of the club, the next 72 hours might see another two signings to replace two players who were deemed irreplaceable last season.
Such is the harsh reality of club football, heroes and villains are oft forgotten in the euphoria of glory. In the end, the truth is, and always will be, that No Player Is Bigger Than The Club.
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