And... well...?

The Frecheville Blades manager today announced that he was thoroughly delighted with the Blades' final position of 13th in the inaugural 20 team AEFA Premiership.

With a stonking 6 relegation places up for grabs, the Blades could not afford to many slip ups in their final 5 games on the last day of the season.

Things got off to a great start when a crash to desktop left the Uppsala Gunners accidentally playing the wrong tactics for much of the first of those games. The Blades safely won 2-1. (I think!)

Next up was a 1-1 draw, followed by an absolutely sensational 5-2 win away against 4th placed SanSebastian. Suddenly things looked easy, and it was rumoured that the Blades manager may have been noted singing U2's "Beautiful Day" in the FA Organisers chat room.

This tempting of fate almost bit the Blades right in the bottom. A 2-1 defeat to main relegation rivals ACS Alco was followed up with 1-1 draw with another fellow struggler, CFC...

Results transpired to see Alco four points behind the Blades, with two games in hand. CFC were level on points, but with a poorer goal difference. Two wins for Alco, and a point for CFC would still see the Blades go down.

CFC were first up, but despite battling bravely went down 3-2 to third placed T-Bag Town. That meant the Blades were safe; regardless, Alco had failed to take any points - their last two games had been against the top two sides!

So, I'd expected a real fight to stay up, and in the end really only flirted with relegation. When things had started going wrong, I shipped out Zat Knight and brought in Nikola Zigic - this single act (and Zigic's goals) probably saved my season.

Special mention also has to go to a Fernando Gaona (17 year old DC) and Cavusoglu Ali (17 year old ML), who deputised fantastically towards the end of the season when injuries and suspensions started to bite. The various youth sides may have slipped down the rankings a little as other sides begin to take it more seriously, but the policy appears guaranteed to bring long-term rewards, with some excellent prospects emerging.

All in all... That'll do Blades. That'll do.