Written by member: Big B 1970

When I came second in Division 2 last season, the celebrations didn't last long before the realisation hit home of how difficult things would be in the top division for me. Not surprisingly I was very happy with the restructure of the league to 3 divisions, and to go again in Season 50 in a very different looking second tier. I had some success getting some players in on transfer deadline day, even though I couldn't take part in the latter stages of the shenanigans.

I made a couple of big signings in striker Esteban Lepaul and Carney Chukwuemeka, then had a punt on a couple of raffle tickets to win a wage free player for the season. I think I was accidentally sold a ticket meant for aaronc333 as it came up a winner and my pick was Randal Kolo Muani, a top striker that will hopefully get me a decent amount of goals this season. Last season I'd concentrated on building the attacking side of the squad, which was fine for the division I was playing in, but for the coming season I know I'll be playing on the back foot most of the time so added quality was needed in defensive positions. The switch to a less gung-ho formation meant Lepaul was surplus to requirements before he'd even made his debut, so he was swapped for what looks like a quality midfielder in the Austrian maestro Patrick Wimmer. Kevin Diks was brought in from Fiorentina to strengthen the centre of defence, and Oliver Ntcham was swapped in for Holse to be more of a defensive midfielder. With Chemsdine Talbi getting a position change in a recent update, he was no longer had the same impact wide on the right, so was sold to Coventry for a tidy sum of 25m. I'm now sitting on the biggest bank balance in the league, ready to spend on some quality players in the next couple of weeks.

The league season starts with what will be a tough fixture against GortonBlue78, but I can say that about every matchday this season. I don't think I've played him in the league before, but as he was in the top division last season, I'd be happy to grab a point. After that its MarcTheSharc who is one of the returning players. I hope he'll be a bit rusty this early in the season, but thats probably wishful thinking! Matchday 3 puts me up against my recent rival patoninety who will probably want payback for me stopping his unbeaten league record last season. After a bye week, I'm back to play AJS Ryjones who finished lower than me in Div 2 last season, but is capable of beating anyone in this division on a good day. Next comes the other two returning players in this division, Jaminator and StunningDave and its getting hard to see where the points will be coming from! I expect to be well into a relegation battle by the time I play MJG1878 and the season finishes against S8TY whom I play a lot of head to head games against, which is great that i know his playing style very well, but not so good in that he usually gets the better of me. When you look at all the fixtures laid out, you realise how tough this season is going to be. Its a very difficult division to predict, as you'll know if you listened to the recent podcast, so hopefully teams will all be taking points off each other.

Good luck for the new season everyone!

Written by member: Big B 1970

Having enjoyed being the manager of Tromsø in the past, when I decided on a change of franchise I thought I'd leave the sunshine of Corsica and head back to the Arctic Circle and take charge of the Norwegian champions, Bodø/Glimt. The Aspmyra Stadion might only hold just over 8,000 fans, but they create a great atmosphere at games, with the added unusual practice of waving giant yellow toothbrushes!

Written by member: CCFC Coxy

Having beat expectations and survived relegation from Div 2 last season with St Pauli, Cox finds himself at new pastures in the Galicean city of A Coruña in a newly formatted and stacked 10 team Div 2. With high expectations from outside and after years of decline, the fans have many questions; are Deportivo La Coruña back on the rise? Can Charalampos Kostoulas find his inner Diego Tristán? Is Cesare Casadei the second coming of Juan Carlos Valerón?

Optimism for big upgrades on Kostoulas were dented by a real life summer move to Brighton. Notable upgrades did arrive for Ajax's Jorthy Mokio, Sociedad's Pablo Marin, Torino's Cesare Casadei and Udinese' Saba Goglichidze.

In pre-season, it appeared Cox had moved away from his hugely favoured narrow diamond and for the first time in years and especially in AG league's was seen using wingers. Transfer business suggests this to be a permanent move for his tenure at the Herculinos. Central players Pablo Marin (despite his 6+ overall upgrade), Chris Rigg, Christos Mouzakitis and suprisingly, Nicholas Sattlberger have all been moved on whilst big money moves were made for widemen Mikey Moore, Adam Karabec and Ben Doak. Fulham's Josh King's time in A Coruña could have been short lived after the discovery of his in game short sleeve and gloves combination but he quickly shown why there's so much hype on the England U21 midfielder and with regular appearances in the Premier League, attention has turned to potential upgrades.

Expected line up:

We're excited to kick off the new season of the AG Fantasy League and welcome back the AG Podcast! I am joined by S8TY, Topcat and Goose as we dive into the new season, sharing our early thoughts and predictions, discussing transfer activities and business, and of course, the F1 GP season. We'll be chatting with Goose and Topcat, our two F1 experts, about the past season and their insights on the future of F1 on our site. Plus, for our first discussion of the season, we want to know: What's your favourite biscuit? What's your go-to biscuit with tea or coffee? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

This week's episode is just under1 hour.

The Podcast is now available on Soundcloud, Spotify, iTunes and Amazon Music

We will be back in 2 weeks time for the next episode! If you would like to get involved in a future episode, please do PM myself.