WCA News Edition 11

Player of the Season
The votes are in and have been counted and verified!

• The WCA Championship Player of the Season was won by Dean Shiels of FC Taylormade.
• The WCA Young Player of the Season was won by Matosinhos' Sebastien Weis with 50% of the vote!
• The WCA Premiership Player of the Season was shared by John Fleck (Crimson Fists) and Emanual Adebayor (Matosinhos)

If you don't agree with any of these - let me know in the WCA chat room - start a debate and make sure you use your vote next time!

UFFA Entrants

This season will see LetsTalkAboutCesc and Matosinhos SC represent the WCA in the Gold Cup. The Silver Cup entrants are - Cheechsters, Band of Brothers, Davos Utd and Alea lacta Est. In the Cup Winners Cup we have - Bullard FC, Sporting Club Bainy and Grantchester Utd. Finally the Youth entrants are - Matosinhos SC & Davos Utd.

Best of luck!

League Reconstruction

Due to the number of teams now in the WCA the leagues have been split into 2 divisions of 15 - because of this GA Utd, Killer Saints and Evro41 were spared relegation. However we have seen 9 new teams join us this season - good luck folks!

Not much transfer news to report this pre season - we certainly don't have the big transfers that we saw last pre-season. So LetsTalkAboutCesc remain the favourites for the WCA Premiership and newcomers Legless Ends look like the runaway favourites for the Championship.

WCA News - Edition 10

We're Back! Welcome to edition 10 of the WCA News - back after a season long brake!

1st up - UFFA qualifiers

The WCA representatives in the UFFA Gold Cup are Crimson Fists and LetsTalkAboutCesc. Crimson have been drawn in group with Dueling Dragons, Chester Rats & Athens Utd. LTAC will face Team Kolbotn, 4ytry and Smithson Town.

In the Silver Cup draw the WCA had 3 entrants - Band of Brothers, Matosinhos SC and Davos Utd. Matosinhos will face Athens Eureka Giants, BOR FC and Ajax Trees. Davos are up against Old Avellonians, Mongiat Rovers and Gothia FC whilst Band of Brothers have been drawn in a group with Alcoholics, Mutantes Raivosos and Kop fc.

Finally the 4 entrants in the Cup Winners Cup are Cheechsters who will face Nags Head Rovers, Gobias Industries FC and FC Nueva Casta FC. Alea lacta Est have been drawn against Belesta SV, Rhinokopolous FC and Sacramento Forrest. Unfortunately Papagaios Do Riot and Steinshamn Utd were drawn in the same group and will face Eastlands FC as well as Inter Blues.

The WCA News wishes all participants the best of luck and looks forward to covering there progress in the respective competitions.

Premiership Transfer News

Premiership managers can breathe a sigh of relief as one of the striking greats of the GW has left the WCA. Pavel Pogrebynyok has left Matosinhos SC and signed for Salford Reds for a fee of £500,000. Pogrebynyok was not the only player to leave Matosinhos following him out the door was Joao Moutinho to Athens Eureka Giants for a fee of £1.5 million. Also leaving the WCA is Davos Utd's flying winger Damian Ismodes - rumour has it that Band of Brothers were interested in keeping the winger in the WCA but the two clubs could not come to an agreement. In the end Ismodes moved to Chester Rats for a fee of £1.6 million.

Now if you think that means an easier time for goalkeepers and defenders in the WCA think again.

Matosinhos have reinvested some of there cash in striker Emmanuel Adebayor - £1.5 million to be exact whether he proves to be as successfull as his predecessor Pogrebynyok remains to be seen. Also active in the recruiting front were Band of Brothers - signing Gary Glen from Zen Eagles for a sum of £2.5 million the BoBs will be hoping for Glen to continue to show the predatory instincts he did for Zen. Newly promoted Alea lacta Est have also signed up a new striker - Imed Trabelsi for a fee of £700,000. Finally with all these new strikers popping up we need somebody who'll be able to keep the goals out and Davos Utd have signed possibly the best goal keeper in Clough - Igor Akinfeev for a relatively modest fee of £2 million pounds.

Championship Transfer News

Relegated duo Highbury Utd and Hamilton 1961 have both been active in the transfer market in there quests to be promoted back to the Premiership. Both sides spending £400k - Hamilton on striker Ari and Highbury on midfielder Bryan Arguez. New WCA side Sporting Club Bainy have spent near enough £3 million as they look to win promotion the Premiership at the first attempt - bringing in Nani for a fee of £1.6 million and Aaron Hunt for £595,000 as well as a couple of others.

WCA News - Edition 9

Welcome to edition 9 of the WCA News.

WCA Premiership
In possibly the most dramatic season yet Band of Brothers came out on top in the race for the Premiership. Going into the final day of the season Crimson Fists sat proudly in 1st position with 57 points from their 30 games. Cheechsters were in 2nd place with 55 points from 29 games and Band of Brothers in 3rd with 54 points from 28 games. 1st to kick off were the BoBs playing against Crystal Palliss, the match ending in a 1-1 draw leaving the BoBs joint 2nd on points but 3rd on goal difference. Next up was Cheechsters versus the already relegated Brayzil. With Cheechsters just needing to win to wrap up the championship the odds were stacked heavily against Brayzil. But the little Brayzilians fought hard and came away with a 1-o win. This left the Crimson Fists still in 1st place but Band of Brothers had 1 game left versus Redhill Travellers a win for the BoBs would clinch the Championship for the 2nd time in their history. A Scott Robinson goal gave them a 1-0 lead and Redhill weren't causing them many problems. However in the 92nd minute Redhill were awarded a corner and from the resulting cross they managed to prod the ball over the line. The BoBs looked devastated - until they noticed the linesman had flagged to disallow the goal, moments later the final whistle went and the BoBs could start celebrating.

WCA Championship

In this very column a week ago I suggested that ABCDE FC could push for promotion if they put a strong run together but never did I expect them to turn out as Champions. Thanks largely to Robin Van Persie and 9 wins from there last 13 games they flew up the table. With Bushby Babes and Highbury stuttering slightly this allowed ABCDE FC to clinch their first league championship and first WCA honour. Grabbing 2nd and 3rd spot were Ann Arbor RecEd and Highbury Utd.

The Cups

WCA Cup Final - Davos United v Euclydian Dynamo
A poor season for Davos United by their standards saw them finish in 8th place in the Premiership. So they went into the cup final knowing that it was the only way they could qualify for a UFFA competition this season. 2 first half goals from Wesley and Ismodes settled the nerves and Dynamo couldn't even muster a shot on target. In the end Davos ran out comfortable winners.

Premiership Cup Final - Band of Brothers v LetsTalkAboutCesc
In an extremely cagey game 1 goal was enough to win the Premiership Cup and luckily for Band of Brothers it was 21 year old striker Scott Robinson who got it. LetsTalkAboutCesc battled hard but could not breakthrough the resolute BoBs defence.

Victory Shield Final - Band of Brothers v Cheechsters
A tight first half saw the sides go in goal-less. Early in the 2nd half a Scott Robinson goal gave the BoBs the lead against the run of play. The 1-0 lead only lasted 15 minutes as Javier Arajo scored to make it 1-1. With 10 minutes to go Montero scored to put Cheechsters ahead and as the BoBs pushed for the equaliser Faiffer scored in injury time to ensure the inaugral Victory Shield went to Cheechsters.

Non Premiership Cup Final - Highbury United v Norfolkenchance FC
A scrappy 90 minutes saw the game finish at one each. Highbury Utd took the lead in the 60th minute with a goal from Jose Cargacha and Norfolkenchance equalised in the 81st minute. Extra time saw no goals and so we went to the lottery of penalty kicks. The first time a final of a WCA competition has been settled this way. Highbury Uniteds Jose Cargacha was the unfortunate player and Norfolkenchance finished up as winners, winning 5-4 on penalties.



The nominations for the Premiership, Championship and Young player of the Year are all in and all WCA managers are reminded to make their vote count.

Premiership Player of the Season - Michah Richards (LTAC), Peter Johnson (Davos), Roger Guererrio (BoB), Kevin Thomson (Crimson) and Pavel Pogrebnyak (Matosinhos)

Championship Player of the Season - Fabien Camus (Evro), Robin Van Persie (ABCDE), Matthew Etherington (Highbury), Jose Largacha (Highbury)

Young Player of the Season - Peter Johnson (Davos), Vladamir Ionov (BoB), Scott Robinson (BoB), Francisco Fuentes (Davos)

WCA News - Edition 8

Premiership Update

The season 6 Premiership title race is proving to be the most exciting yet. With only 6 points seperating the top 7 sides - it's anybody's guess as to who will come out on top. Currently the predicted winner is Pete Booth's Euclydian Dynamo side. A far cry from last season when LetsTalkAboutCesc ran away with it.

The fight to beat the drop is also causing some drama. Again there are 7 sides involved and only 7 points seperate them. James Bray's Brayzil side did look doomed but a couple of recent wins have dragged them closer to the pack above.

Championship Update

Another competitive Championship season has seen 2 sides going head to head for the title - Bushby Babes and Highbury Utd. Both sides look good for promotion and are likely to be followed by Ian Everington's Evro41. New members ABCDE FC, Real Boogie and FC Bundeslige look likt they'll have to settle for a mid table in there first season. Although if ABCDE FC can put a good run together they could make a late challenge for that last promotion place.

One to Watch

Ian Evrington and his Evro41 side have been around the WCA since season 1. Not a particularly active side over the first 5 seasons this has started to change in season 6. With Evro41 looking to challenge for promotion and having recently spent £850,000 on Paul Caddis as well as £300,000 on Matjaz Rimez there appears to be a decent side forming there. Not content with adding to the playing side - Evro41 have also started a new stadium construction project. Look out for this side - definately one to watch.

WCA News - UFFA Round Up

Gold Cup

LetsTalkAboutCesc - qualified from group D in 2nd place and faced highly regarded side Ariadni FC (AEFA) in the last 16. The first leg has been played and LetsTalkAboutCesc have managed to gain a 2-1 advantage to protect in the 2nd leg.

Matosinhos SC - Unfortunately Tiago's side struggled slightly in the Gold Cup this season finishing 3rd in their group and missed out on the knock out stages.

Silver Cup

Euclydian Dynamo - Finished 2nd in Group A qualifying for the knock out stages where they will face Tupton FC from the XFA.

Crimson Fists - Sadly Crimson Fists finished bottom of group A and did not join Euclydian Dynamo in qualifying from the group.

Davos Utd - Pitched into Group D, without the mercucial talents of Robin Van Persie this season Davos struggled to make an impact in the groups and finished 4th.

Cup Winners Cup

Band of Brothers - Finished top of group B, undefeated the BoBs will face Sloane Square Rangers (PFA) in the knock out stages

Team Extreme - Managed to confound the pundits and qualified in 2nd place from the group stages. They'll face Ehcoelavon of the SFA in the last 16.

Grantchester Utd - Poor season for Grantchester continued as they finished bottom of the qualifying group.

Could this be a season of success for the WCA in the UFFA competitions this season. It's certainly an improvement on previous seasons with 4 sides through to the knock out stages.

The Big Interview - Tiago Nogueira

An Interview with a winner .. Fresh from his sides first ever trophy win following a 2-0 victory in the WCA Cup Final over Band of Brothers, WCA News caught up with Matosinhos SC manager Tiago Nogueira

Garry Pettigrew: How would you describe your FML experience so far?
Tiago Nogueira: Very good. This game is awesome. At beginning I was a little sceptical about spending money on online games (the price of this game for Portugal people is a little expensive), but I wanted to try and I'm really happy with my decision. Playing with real people is more fun!


Garry Pettigrew: As an original WCA member - what do you like about the FA?
Tiago Nogueira: I've added myself to the FA because most of the time I'm working at week and on weekends I can play more. The most I like is the people on it. Always trying to play their games instead of playing against AI and always helping each other. Of course is not always possible to play against all people but we all try to play human vs. human which is very nice


Garry Pettigrew: With the talented Pavel Pogrebnyak and Niko Kranjaer both still only 28 and you first trophy win out the way. Do you envisage more success next season? Can you get closer to Wayne's LetsTalkAboutCesc side?
Tiago Nogueira: Season after season I'm trying to do better. It isn't easy, because we have to win against great teams. At the beginning this FA hasn't a lot of really good players, now all teams have 2/3/4 excellent players that make difference in some games. Niko was my first choice since the beginning and he's my best player, always playing at same level, doing a lot of assists. Pavel I had luck in season 4 when I buy him on a contract auction. It's not only these two players that are important, but this season they helped me a lot. If it wasn't the big number of draws that I have. I could have been more close to Wayne. He has a very strong squad with Matusiak in front making lots of goals. Next season I will try to do better, trying to get 2/3 young players into first eleven. It's not easy but I will try...

Garry Pettigrew: Your Best and Worst moments?
Tiago Nogueira: My best moment was winning the WCA Cup this season. It was an intense and close game against a great team ,but as I said before Niko Kranjcar and Pavel Pogrebnyak have made a difference. Also my goalkeeper saving that penalty at minute 76 made the game safe.

My worst moment was season 4, very poor performance when I have a good team, only winning some games at the end of season, trying to not get relegated.

Garry Pettigrew: And any final messages?
Tiago Nogueira: Hope all continue enjoy this game. Anybody that needs my help could always be talking to me; I'm always available to help u guys. Continue with good performances, trying to go for glory. Cheers and see u next season.

Pettigrew joins Cloughite staff

Garry Pettigrew, editor of the WCA News has today joined the Cloughite's staff and will be bringing the latest news from the Weekend Casual Association direct to the Cloughite from now on.

The Cloughite is always looking to recruit new writers -- if you're involved in an association specific newspaper and would like to become an editor at the Cloughite please get in touch, with your help we can make the Cloughite even stronger; something that all UFFA members can be proud of.

WCA Season 6 Preview

UFFA Qualifiers
- Gold Cup: LetsTalkAboutCesc & Matosinhos SC
- Silver Cup: Davos Utd, Euclydian Dynamo & Crimson Fists
- Cup Winners Cup: Grantchester Utd, Band of Brothers & Team Extreme
- Youth: LetsTalkAboutCesc & Crimson Fists

As always the WCA News wishes all the participants the best of luck as they try to bring some glory to the WCA.

Player of the Year Awards
The results of the 2nd annual WCA Managers Player of the Year awards are in.

The Premiership Player of the Year Award was won by LetsTalkAboutCesc's Marek Matusiak with 63% of the vote. Marek also won the Young Player of the Year for the 2nd year running with 50% of the vote.

The Championship Player of the Year was won by Brayzil's Matt Derbyshire with a massive 80% of the vote.

Thanks to all who took the time to vote.


WCA League & Cup News

WCA News Victory Shield: Thats right folks. A brand spanking new competition sponsored by the WCA News. With the low numbers in the WCA (although we are up to 35 now) it was decided that a new FA competition was in order. So - no prize money, no UFFA spot, simply for prestige. A Champions League Style competition starting with 8 groups with the winners progressing to the quarter finals. Good luck with it next season.

WCA Leagues: Currently looking at a Premier League of 16 and a Championship of 19 with 3 up and down for next season. The promotions from the Championship may increase depending on the number of WCA members next season.


Transfer News

Championship Major Transfers: In the Championship only Bushby Babes have been active signing Kakha Kaladze (250k) and Fernando Ance (450k) as they look to gain promotion back to the Premiership.

Premiership Major Transfers: Band of Brothers have been active with Yossi Benayoun leaving for 350k and Davis Curiale joining in a wage auction for a fee of 250k. Scottish fullback Mark Wilson was also signed for 200k in a transfer auction. Euclydian Dynamo spent 525k on Charles Kaboe and a further 220k on Rafael Dida. Last years runners up Matosinhos SC have yet to strengthen their squad but have let Rene Mihelic leave for a fee of 600k.


So that's it. Will anyone challenge LetsTalkAboutCesc? With 5 new members in the WCA will we see a first timer gain promotion to the Premiership?

Here's to another great season.

WCA News Edition 5

Brought to you in association with the Cloughite


Davos Utd Claim Charity Shield
Davos Utd and LetsTalkAboutCesc qualified for the Charity Shield Final. In a tight contest, goals in either half from centre half Fransico Fuents saw Mark Garner's Davos Utd retain the WCA Charity Shield.


Premiership Round Up
Perenial title challengers Cheechsters find themselves top of league with 36 points from 21 games, however with LetsTalkAboutCesc only 6 points behind and with the advantage of having only played 12 games this is likely to change between now and the end of the season. Also in the mix are last season's WCA Cup runners up Davos Utd with 25 points from 13 games. Surprise packages Grantchester Utd and Crystal Palliss are also in contention for UFFA qualification with 23 points from 12 games.

In the battle for the drop Jamtarts, Decca FC, Yeti FC and Redhill Travellers find themselves predicted for the bottom 4. Somewhat surprisingly last years Champions Band of Brothers as well as Silver Cup qualifiers Euclydian Dynamo and Papagaios Do Riot find themselves hovering above the drop zone.

Congratualtions to Wayne and his LTAC side as they won mover of the week. Also LTAC have become the WCA's first four star reputation team.


Championship Round Up
In a 4 way race for the title a Joe Cole inspired Brayzil find themselves top of the pile after 10 games with 23 points. With Team Extreme just 2 points behind on 21 points and followed closely by GA United on 20 points this title race looks as if it will go down to the wire -- Ballerinas on 16 points, but with 2 games in hand can't be discounted either.


UFFA News
Mainly bad news for the WCA. Gold Cup qualifiers Band of Brothers and Crimson Fists both found themselves eliminated at the group stage. Similarly in the Silver Cup - Cheechsters, Euclydian Dynamo and Papagaios Do Riot also faced the same disappointment.

In the Cup Winners Cup both Davos Utd and the Bushby Babes have been eliminated but LetsTalkAboutCesc have qualified for the last 16. In the UFFA Youth Competitions both Crimson Fists and LetsTalkAboutCesc have qualified from the initial stages.


Possible WCA Changes
The possibility of a WCA reserve league was discussed in the WCA chat room recently. If there is demand for this please let one of your organisers know. If you have any other suggestions on how to improve our FA - don't be shy.

WCA News Edition 4

UFFA Qualifiers
Representing the WCA in the UFFA Competitions this season are:

Gold Cup: Band of Brothers, Crimson Fists
Silver Cup: Cheechsters, Papagaios do Riot and Euclydian Dynamo
Cup Winners Cup: Davos United, LetsTalkAboutCesc and Bushby Babes
Youth: LetsTalkAboutCesc and Crimson Fists

Everybody at the WCA News wishes all the competitors the best of luck! It's about time the WCA made some kind of impact.


Player of the Season Awards
In the inaugral WCA Managers Player of the Season awards there were few shocks.

LetsTalkAboutCesc's young striker Marek Matusiak was a double winner carrying off the WCA Young Player of the Season award (70% of the vote) as well as the Championship Player of the season (77.8% of the vote).

The Premiership award was shared by Band of Brothers player's Yossi Benayoun and Matuzalem (36.4% of the vote each)


League Reconstruction
Due to the number of members who were decanted off to the newly formed Casual Inactive Football Association (CIFA), the WCA was left with only 33 members.

The WCA orgs found them up untill the small hours playing around with possible league programmes. (Well this one at least) It was decided with the help of the GW Mods that the best solution would be a Premier League of 18 teams, followed by a Championship with 15.

The teams promoted from the Championship were: - LetsTalkAboutCesc, Bushby Babes, Redhill Travellers, Yeti FC, Crystal Palliss and Caspers Shockers. The Championship's remaining teams + the relegated PL teams were amalgamated with those remaining League 1 sides.

We also welcome a new member to the Championship in Owen Churchill manager of Spudders United.


Pre-Season Transfer News
There is still not much transfer activity taking place at the moment, hopefully this will begin to improve over the coming season.

There were a few major transfers in the Premiership. Firstly Davos United made Damian Ismales loan deal permanent in a swap deal worth £450k which saw Ji Sung Park move in the opposite direction.

Three of the newly promoted teams also strengthened, Redhill Travellers signed Tim Cahill (33) for £595k in a wage auction. Pablo Zabaletta joined Bushby Babes for £450k. Lastly Crystal Palliss were the most active with 2 major transfers with Simon Vukevic (£350k) and Sidnei (£650k) moving to the Championship's runner up.

Down in the Championship there were some big spenders as some experienced players were added to squads in the battle for promotion. Brayzil signed the talented Joe Cole for £600k. Sreinsham United signed Steven Pienaar for £800k, but the biggest spenders were jAgarna spending in total a whopping £4,300,000 on three players; Guisppe Rossi (£1.2million), Yury Zhirkov (£825k) and Sergio Ramos (£2.3 million).

WCA Season Review

The Cups

The Premiership Cup Final - Crimson Fists 3 Whisp R.O.L FC 2 AET
A cracking game saw Crimson Fists come out on top. Crimson raced into an early 2-0 lead with 2 goals after 11 minutes. Whisp pulled 1 back after 18 mins. On the stroke of half time the Whisps equalised, the second half was goal less. Which meant extra time! Just as it looked like we would face the heart ache of a penatly shoot out, Whisps got a corner. From the corner Gary's Crimson Fists launched a lightning counter attack, Naismith fed Silva who showed remarkable composure to chip the advancing keeper for his second goal of the game and the Crimson Fists first major trophy .

Non Premiership Cup Final - LetsTalkAboutCesc 1 Bushby Babes 0 AET
A somewhat cagey affair with the less fancied Bushby Babes pushing LTAC all the way. No goals after 90 minutesmeant extra time. Merida floated in a free kick, Micah Richards unleashed a half volley, 1-0 and thats how it finished. LetsTalkAboutCesc had their first trophy of the season and a place in the UFFA Cup Winners Cup.

WCA Cup Final - Band of Brothers 2 Davos Utd 0
In an open game the BoBs came out on top. A goal in either half from Danny Swanson saw the BoBs go into a 2-0 lead. Despite Davos creating plenty of chances they couldn't convert any of them into goals. The BoBs could even afford to miss a penalty in the 86th minute, 4 minutes later the frustration got to Davos defender Lance Laing and he was sent off in the 90th minute. Davos finished the gamewith 5 up front as they desperatley tried to make a break through but the BoBs stayed strong and the Cup was theirs for the second time in their short history.

The Leagues

Champions:

• Premiership: Bandof Brothers
• Championship: LetsTalkAboutCesc
• League 1: Evro Utd

LetsTalkAboutCesc ended up finishing 23 points clear in the Championship. With 3 more automatic promotion places up for grabs it was an incredibly tight finish. Only 5 points split 2nd from 6th -- Crystal Pallice, Bushby Babes, Redhill Travellers and Yeti FC With a few decisions still to be made on some Premiership teams that have left the UFFA it may be that all of these valiant competitors gain promotion.

The Premiership as predicted went right to the wire! With one game to go both Crimson Fists and Band of Brothers were level on points although the BoBs had a slighty better goal difference. The BoBs kicked off their final game against Euclyidian Dynamo knowing that a win would virtually settle the title. ED took the lead and then went on to miss a penalty to put them 2-0 up! The BoBs won a penalty themselves and levelled the game at 1-1. ED again took the lead and in desperate circumstances the BoBs threw 4 up front. Luckily the tactic worked and 2 quick goals saw them take a 3-2 lead, knowing that the Crimson Fists still had to play Hamilton 1961 the BoBs fought bravely to secure the win. As predicted the Crimson Fists beat Hamilton but could not score enough goals so the BoBs were champions for the first time (double winners).

Brilliant runs of form saw Cheechsters and Papagaios do Rio grab 3rd and 4th place and the UFFA spots go with them . A slightly disappointing end to the season for Euclydian Dynamno drop to 5th but still qualify for the silver cup. 6th and 7th went to our two Cup runners up - Whisp and Davos, in a positive for them due to Crimson Fists and BoBs being in the Gold Cup both sides should qualify alongside LTAC in the CWC.

Relegation Issues - In a dogfight at the bottom of the Premiership Robs Decca side did drag themselves out. The unfortunate 4 were Nitros, Highbury United, Hamilton 1961 and Welwyn Wanderers. In terms of relegation from the Championship some issues are still undecided and could be affected by possible league reconstruction.