There's a First Time For Everything!

By Paul Price

The Neville Southall Championship sees Harold hill fc as the winners, gaining promotion to the Premiership for the first time. Finishing a full 11 points clear of second place is no easy feat in a difficult league, with six teams inside the game worlds top 100. Manager Mark Holloway will have his strike partnership of Tristan Plummer and Nathan Delfouneso - 28 and 16 league goals respectively - to thank for his excellent title win.

In second place came Greenking FC, with the ever prolific Shane Long finishing as the teams top goal scorer. Also on form for Greenking this season was experienced creative midfielder Jougle, creating 8 goals for the side from Harrow. Fans will be a little worried of their playoff chances however, after some mixed recent form.

Finishing third this season was Matt Payne's England, just one point behind Greenking in what was a tight league after the run away champions. Their outstanding performer of the season was centre Nicholas Knight, along with partner David Wheater, although they did concede the most goals out of the top five. Gaining a place in the playoffs, England have since left the SPFA, giving up their place to the next best positioned team. Greenwich FC therefore qualify after finishing in 6th position, and will join Aye Ready FC and Enugu Rangers in this seasons playoffs.

No surprises in the Ivan Zamorano Championship as the excellent Inter Reisha make a quick return to the Premiership after winning the league by seven points. As ever, it's striker Omar Koroma who produced the goals for Reisha, with Erick Flores running the show from midfield. Many were surprised when Reisha were relegated last season, but the side have shown they can bounce back and you can expect them to be a force in the Premiership next season.

Finishing in second place was Lundy Villa. Matt Jones' side had the best defensive record in the league, and led the way early on in the season, before Inter Reisha showed their quality and took over. After a couple of inactive seasons, Lundy decided to swap the XFF for the SPFA, and making the playoffs in their first season is an achievement worth celebrating.

Achieving their highest position yet in the SPFA in fifth spot was Steve Richards' XTRA_TIME. Deciding against signing any new faces during pre season, Richards has seen excellent performances from veteran Soloman Kalou and Ivan Temnikov in midfield and goals coming from striker Wallyson.

Joining Lundy Villa and XTRA_TIME in the playoffs will be Old Boys Tolworth and Horsham Rangers AFC, with many punters placing their money on Lundy Villa.

The John McDermott Championship saw an interesting battle at the top, with Yaktopian Yaks and CUJimmyFC exchanging places at the top a number of times towards the end of the season. Despite CUJimmy leading the way for the most part, it was the Yaks that ended up champions, four points clear of their rivals. Striker Claudio Amaya got the goals but it was Alessandro Rosina who was the outstanding performer, not just for the Yaks, but in the whole league. Manager Phil Cooling reluctantly released the ageing Rosina at the end of the season, but dedicated his title win to the Italian.

CUJimmyFC will have to make do with a playoff spot, although they will be entering as the favourites, with goals not only coming from the strikers, but also from the wings, proving that manager Jimmy Brown likes his team to attack in numbers. At the other end of the pitch, the two solid centre backs Gianni Zuiverloon and Olenxadr Chyzhov mean the team can afford to commit numbers in attack.

Finishing fourth was the Edible Flowers, the yoyo club managed by Phillip Anderson. Can Anderson's side make it back to the Premiership through another playoff, after achieving the same feat two seasons ago. With some excellent performances from new signings Ahmet Ari and full back Luis during the season, Anderson has once again proved himself as a shrewd operator on the transfer market. Striker Fabian Moreno - another pre season signing - finished as the clubs top goal scorer with 16 goals, making fans believe they can once again make the Premiership and maybe this time, survive.

Also in the playoffs are Lilywhite Army, and Badger's Creek FC sneak in due to FC Ballaghkeen leaving the SPFA.

The Champions Curse Strikes Again!

by Paul Price

So the eleventh season of Lineker football is now over with, and with it the tenth anniversary of the SPFA Premiership. A total of six different teams have won the illusive prize, but still not one team have managed to retain it. Last seasons winners The Tangerine Candyfloss could only manage a fourth place finish, despite doing extremely well in all other competitions.

Taking the title for the second time in three seasons, was FC Tensixty, finishing up an impressive ten points clear of their nearest rivals. The pre season signing of Sergio Aguero proved an excellent one as he repaid the £2,750,000 fee by scoring a total of 20 league goals, forming a formidable front line also consisting of league top scorer Bojan and Maxim Choupo-Moting. Daz Hargreaves’ side also held the best defensive record in league, conceding just 43 goals. The experienced trio at the back of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and centre backs Federico Fazio and Gary Medel are largely to thank for the sides solidity.Finishing up in second place was the Viking Raiders, their highest finish yet, since the merge between the PFA and the SFA. The Raiders have creative midfielder Toni Kroos to largely thank for their excellent finishing position, having his best season yet after eleven seasons at the club. With veterans Daniele Vantaggiato and John Heitinga still producing the goods at either end of the pitch, it goes to show that sometimes experience comes up better than youth and pace. At 35 and 34 respectively however, how long can the two players last?Finishing in fourth was last seasons winners The Tangerine Candyfloss. After spending more than £4,500,000 on new talent, Rob Barker will be disappointed with the sides Premiership performances. Especially given the long list of honours that The Candyfloss managed in other competitions. They managed to win no fewer than six trophies, including an SPFA cup treble - League Cup, SPFA Cup and the Memorial Cup - and the most prestigious competition in the gameworld, the Lineker Gold Cup, beating Carrazeda Ansiaes 1-0 in a tight final.

On the last day of the season all but one relegation spot had been taken up. It was between White Riots and Woodstock FC as to who would take that last spot, with the only game remaining being White Riots against the already relegated Hornstulls Eagles. With a worse off goal difference nothing but a win would suffice for Riots. In a surprisingly open game - 25 shots on goal between the two teams and it was 2-2 after 25 minutes - the White Riots deservedly came out on top winning the game 3-2 with two goals from Brazilian striker Jair Miranda. Not for the first time White Riots managed to survive relegation on the final day of play.Not so lucky were the Mutt Ring Racers, finishing just two points away from safety. Fans have blamed a lack of signings for the sides poor form, with nothing but youngsters signing for the club during pre season. Manager Kev Kennedy has faith in his squad however, and will be looking to the same players to help them gain promotion back to the Premiership next season.Recently promoted Gooners FC will be playing Championship football once again next season after failing to survive. Having started extremely badly - the side went the first 16 games of the season without a win - Gooners were always up against it. Manager Matt Coggins managed to turn his teams fortunes around as the season grew older, but it was too late as too much ground had already been lost. Expect them to back playing in the Premiership in the not too distant future, especially if they can keep hold of prolific striker James Vaughan.The other teams suffering relegation to the Championships were Wessex Wyverns, Psycho All-Stars and Hornstulls Eagles.