Albrecht Turkish

Albrecht Turkish
Full name	Albrecht Turkish Football Club
Nickname(s)	Turkish, the Kinsmen, the Millermen, A.Turks
Founded	1890
Dissolved	Following CMSC XXXIX
Ground	The Solidarity Stadium
Capacity	66,200
Final President	Rainarthirwen Aldalithe
Final Director; of Football	Donovan Alexander
Final Manager	Fabio Mannasuch
League	CMSC
Home colours	Away colours

Albrecht Turkish Football Club was a professional football club based in Albrecht, the capital city of Candelaria And Marquez. Turkish, or historically the A.Turks, were one of the most popular and successful teams throughout the history of Candelariasian football, winning multiple NFBL and CMSC titles, including three in the latter league’s ‘International Era’, during which time only arch rivals Albrecht FC accrued more points overall. They became the first Candelariasian outfit to win the UICA Champions’ Cup in that competition’s third edition.

History

Early years

Founded in 1890 by local shoe shop owners and community leaders Kerem Ateş and Mehmet Ali Ergün, Turkish were initially merely one of numerous outfits in the Albrecht area with a distinct ethnic or linguistic identity, but most would quickly become defunct or change their names as the lines between settler populations in Candelaria blurred. Religious differences ensured that Albrecht Turkish remained an exception for the better part of half a century, and the club initially had few friends among their fellow members of the nascent Cove Combined Footer League, but the popularity of Ergün, who went on to become a Liberal MP and shadow minister, served to both increase the club’s fame and make connections with rivals teams and their supporters.

By the 1930s and 40s, and the exodus of Deevin FC (the club that would become Albrecht FC) and Thompsontown, the ‘big two’ of the Albrecht region’s many football clubs, to the professional National Foot-Ball League, the ‘A.Turks’ had become one of the country’s most popular amateur teams, the embodiment of the sport’s soul to supporters suspicious of professionalism. The charm and talent of stars such as the legendary striker Erdem Büyükbayrak, the inside left Harry Çevik and the rangy defender Erhan Rawlinson, would make their team perhaps the most romantic in all the Candelarias. All those sexy diacritics and natty little beards didn’t hurt, either.

In time, Turkish would give in to the national game and the riches it provided – at the cost of much of the club’s traditional identity and support base, their sister team Turks’ Club and second city counterparts Arrigo Portuguese undergoing much the same shift. By the mid-50s, the club’s new owner – fish merchant and childhood Deevin fan Joe Lyons – even toyed with a name change more than once, and was prevented from formally becoming simply ‘Albrecht FC’ only because Deevin under the Mastini family got there first.

Battling with the new Albrecht FC for the sympathies of the capital’s population, Lyons ultimately abandoned Albrecht altogether in favour of the contiguous city of Lexaton – still part of the Cove region and eventually to become one of the six boroughs of a formally enlarged Albrecht, but still far from their roots. Following the Civil War, the new suburban Turkish settled into their new home and new supporters, and exploded into life. With James Santle in the dugout and Alex Hope churning out the youth-team products, Turkish won four straight NFBL titles. Until the peak of the International Era decades later, this was arguably Candelariasian football’s golden period – unknown to the wider worlds, Santle assembled a core of players as strong as any in the islands’ history: goalkeeper Carlos Meyer, centre-half Donovan Alexander, skillfull midfielder William Muzzi and the wingers Martin Price and Ollie Prior provided the spine for little Millerman Sheppard to become the league’s top scorer for eight years in a row.

Arguably, it was the domination of Santle, Sheppard and their ‘Millermen’ that brought about the collapse of the NFBL, with so many other clubs old and new bursting the bank in order to make in-roads on the Lexaton side’s perennial lead. After the league’s demise Turkish spent several years as a kind of regional globetrotters – they are sometimes credited with bringing the sport to certain far flung outposts of Rushmore, and sister club Stein-Los Turkish remain a major force in Pasarga to this day – but by CMSC V they finally deigned to return full-time to their homeland, winning VI at a canter.

In their time away however, many fans had drifted away – Lexaton’s new designation as part of Albrecht leading to a new identification with Albrecht FC, the Alber City Wasps, Albrecht Independent FC and others. Lacking the millionaire owners of other CMSC clubs, Turkish were always in the first division but remained a comparatively minor force until the arrival of Mark Baker well over a decade later. In that time, Albrecht FC had won three titles – with Millerman Sheppard himself as their manager – and even Turks’ Club had become a major force. It was widely agreed that Baker’s side should have won at least one league title – but it never quite happened and the move to the new Millerman Sheppard Stadium, shared with the Scorpions, in the Songstress district of downtown Albrecht seemed to many to be a further nail in their coffin. They still finished second in XXIII, albeit far behind the Scorpions, but Baker left to become C&M manager. The false dawn of Charlie Rushbury followed, before Kris Healy – a manager with a reputation for saving struggling sides – was appointed.

International success

The International Era saw Turkish continue to knock at the door – and eventually break it down. Healy’s was an old team, featuring players such as the later disgraced full-back Damien Sono, striker Ollie Landolfi, and midfield dynamo Speed Wang already deemed surplus to requirements by the Big Blues, but Healy integrated promising Di Bradini Cup stars including big Steven Williams at the back and winger Reuben Kennedy, as well as Gary Maini of Zwangzug – who would soon establish himself as a Turkish and CMSC legend. With seven matches remaining in XVI Turkish were five points clear and, despite being pegged back, went into the final day needing a point at title rivals Marquez-Onwere to take the title – the naranja ultimately coming back from a goal down to seal a late 2-1 victory and deny the Millermen the honours.

The following season Healy was able to put out a team agreed by most pundits from the off to be the best in the division. The regal Scott Soldarian, having been transfer listed at Raynor City, was a cut above in the CMSC, while the management was proven entirely correct to take a chance on Samuel Taha, the Bettian striker having been relegated with Caires City and only recently returned from a broken leg. With soon-to-be C&M goalkeeper Oberon Martinez and full-backs Harris Dixon and Doug Szeczechowicz integrated into the team, Turkish were initially imperious before a mid-season crisis of confidence, but the team eventually pulled it out, albeit only on goal difference, on the final day.

After a poor start in XXVIII Turkish were soon back in the hunt, ultimately finishing two points behind their city rivals but with a run into the Champions’ Cup semi-finals to their name – shocking proof that Candelariasian club sides were capable of mixing it with the very best. Pre-season before XXIX saw Healy depart as expected for the national team job, and the shock announcement of Asdrubal Espinoza, from the little-known nation of Aguazul, as his successor. New signings included AFC MN Smith set piece marvel Niv Cohen and Capitalizt striker Ryan Taylor in place of Taha and, though the team’s league form was initially uneven, the Champions’ Cup was a whole other story. Making the final in Ourseville, and taking on local side CS Sept-Onze, Taylor scored an extra-time winner to give Turkish a never-to-be-forgotten victory and make heroes of Espinoza and his men – not just among their own supporters but in C&M as a whole, for never before nor since was a triumph by a Candelariasian club side so warmly welcomed across the board. Some have suggested that, without TQCC3, the C&M national team might never have gained to confidence to even make the World Cup in the years that followed, much less win it.

With concentration returned to the league, and despite missing absent World Cup stars for several key games, Turkish romped home with a fifteen point lead over Caires City. It would however take until three seasons later for Espinoza’s men to return to the top, the return of Soldarian to Valanora via the dreaded buy-back clause in his contract resulting in years of tinkering with the midfield. Turkish developed a reputation as slow starters, and in XXX Espinoza’s large vault of good will earned in Ourseville began to be tapped into as he struggled to mend a rapidly tattered relationship between the front two of Julius Rotherwell and Taylor. The standard late exodus of players to the international competitions underlined the paucity of Turkish’s youth set-up compared to the Scorpions or, indeed, MN Smith, with results including a 3-1 home thumping by Elgin Dannat’s remarkable Caires City side. Revenge in extra-time in the CMS Cup final, and a late burst back up into the TQCC positions, put a gloss on the season, and Espinoza attempted an overhaul of his squad ahead of the following term. Turkish’s lack of foreign funding or connections – save for those of Espinoza himself, from a country yet to enter World Cup football – was starting to cost them however, and although the midfield duo of the asthmatic Chip Noonan and Newmanistan’s Alex Parnett gelled better than the former ever did with Soldarian; the Candelariasian contingent, including ‘keeper Seb Moon, centre-half Sean Wiacek, and once highly coveted winger Erik Kjaer, to join the squad underwhelmed many.

Matchday Eleven marked the Millermen’s third loss in a row, against a KT Hotspur team excelling well beyond expectations as well as being just a little too robust for Espinoza’s liking. The manager was sanctioned to the tune of a pretty reformed penny for his invective towards the fourth official, and it wouldn’t be the last meltdown of a season of disappointment. Turkish finished fifth after both the Apertura and Clausura, and in between suffered the indignity of failing to even qualify for the Globe Cup group stages, albeit thanks to defeat to fellow fallen giants Olympique Protectorat.

Return to the top

Given the exacting standards now expected of Albrecht Turkish in the modern era, Espinoza was the first to admit that he was by now feeling the pressure – but, for the time being, the board stuck by their man and continued to fund his steady revolution of the first team. The biggest spenders pre-XXXII, Espinoza brought in two new Candelariasian full-backs as well as MN Smith starlet Danny Adams, with the young striker set to be part of a new front three alongside Rotherwell and fellow new signing Greg Innisvale from Ad’ihan.

Though Turkish never lost track of the pacesetters during the Apertura, they seldom truly impressed, struggling badly at home and prompting post-match booing from the Solidarity faithful on several occasions. The slow, ageing central pairing of Williams and Wiacek received much of the blame, but the team’s adaptation to the new 4-3-3 was also slow. Their Globe Cup 6 campaign was a further distraction, Turkish inching their way to the quarter-finals through two bouts of extra time and penalties before an exit to the eventual champions. They then missed out on a TQCC place from the Apertura stage once again, prompting the loudest calls for Espinoza’s head yet.

Widely considered never more than a game or two away from the sack, the manager began to take risks – sometimes switching backwards and forwards between formations, at other times playing the kids. The regular presence of teenage forward Taylor Vostakova, who inexplicably was not a girl, among the front three was as much down to necessity as inspiration, but Turkish’s makeshift side began to string together victories at just the time that both Albrecht FC and Caires City were struggling. Much to everyone’s shock – including their own – Turkish found themselves in second come matchday thirty-four, needing a victory against Green Island and for Caires City to fail to win against the Scorpions. Their hopes appeared dashed, despite keeping up their own half of the bargain, but deep into injury time Albrecht FC scored the equaliser which served only to gift their great rivals a sensational and deeply unlikely title. Hopes of a Globe Cup 7 victory to complete the season ended in the quarter-finals at the hands of Cafundó do Juta, but this was still clearly an exceptional season – one to leave Espinoza firmly in his job once more and cause a collective sigh of relief from troubled managers across the Candelarias.

XXXIII

The following season saw Turkish put aside initial fears of a traditional slow start to challenge Albrecht FC for league leadership throughout the Apertura. Espinonza’s major concern centred around integrating the younger members of his squad into a 4-4-2 now devoid of the Cafundéu-bound Danny Adams, before the manager eventually opted to shake things up by returning Vostakova to the starting XI. Alex Parnett played increasingly fewer matches, with an untested midfield pairing of Darren Robinson and Werner performing admirably to keep the champions in the hunt both at home and abroad.

And, once again, it was overseas where the club impressed the most. Winning their TQCC11 group thanks to their impressive home form, Turkish breezed past the Psychiatrists in the last sixteen before squeezing through a group stage rematch with Élite League giants Qidade Savana. Victory sent them into an historic semi-final clash with Caires City – only the second all-Candelariasian meeting in international club competition and the first in the TQCC itself. Controversy abounded throughout both fixtures and, with both sides satisfied with a goalless draw in the first leg, the teams returned to the McNeil Bingo Arena – where Turkish, after being denied a clear penalty and going a goal down to a David Spooner strike featuring an obvious hand-ball in the build-up, eventually booked their place in the final with a Vostakova away goal in the game’s dying minutes. It was to be another meeting with Yuba United, and on this occasion the Silver-Blues were dominant – Turkish going two-nil behind before Greg Innisvale pulled one back to little avail.

Turkish’s domestic form failed to suffer as a result of this disappointment however, chipping away at the Scorpions’ lead until eventually striking out at the top themselves. With a handful of matches remaining it was still the Millermen’s to lose, but the timing of the Di Bradini Cup would cost them dear. Just as Albrecht FC’s title bid in the previous season had been derailed by key departures, so Turkish now found themselves without Werner, Robinson and Vostakova – and that missing trio soon proved a rather greater loss than had been anticipated. The league was surrendered, and Turkish ended the season five points behind the champions, narrowly staying ahead of third-place Green Island. TQCC12, meanwhile, saw Turkish remain in dominant form at the Solidarity while struggling away; but another group victory – including a 5-1 drubbing of Sokojito Dosi Dalamjwijī – helped them on their way to a quarter-final exit to TQCC3 final foes Sept-Onze. They ended the season ranked thirteenth in the worlds.

Epinoza’s last rites

With the major new arrivals prior to XXXIV limited to Cassadagan duo Courtney Poole, the centre-half, and young goalkeeper Brittany Paxson, hopes for a continued title challenge were not especially high among supporters and pundits alike, despite the near miss of the previous season. The team itself seemed lopsided, lacking a genuine offensive threat down the left, and too reliant on the veteran Rotherwell for goals. The highly talented Nethertopian youth Daniel Bakker – an Albrecht native, despite his chosen national allegiance – was involved from the off as part of a 4-3-3, a formation which helped save Niv Cohen’s legs but left Turkish lightweight in the centre.

Despite these misgivings, Turkish’s start was positive enough and they remained consistent challengers to first Marquez-Onwere and then Albrecht FC without finding themselves able to put a defining run together themselves. A costly 3-0 home defeat in the capital city derby and a draw with Arrigo Portuguese on Matchday Seventeen saw the club slip to fifth position in the division – just four points from second place, but enough to cost them a TQCC14 place while their TQCC13 came to a close in the last sixteen against eventual champions CS Lac-Amédée. With Robinson suffering a lengthy injury lay-off as the Clausura got underway, Turkish struggled even further to maintain their form, slipping increasingly far from the top four. At the same time, Espinoza was being linked daily with the Queer Poco el Mono Ara national team manager’s post, with his impending move finally confirmed following Matchday Twenty-Four – suitably, a 1-1 home draw with struggling Sloane Wanderers. Seemingly distracted by his new role, Espinoza’s position became increasingly untenable with further defeats and a CMS Cup exit eventually leading to the board politely asking him to step down with immediate effect and take up his new role with his head held high. The Aguazulian gratefully acceded to their request, and the longest managerial spell at the club came to a close.

The Vanorian years

Beside’s Espinoza’s exit, XXXIV also saw another major event in Albrecht Turkish’s history – with the entirely unexpected confirmation that the club would be sold to the Vanorian information technology firm Viella Inc. The deal was concluded in a matter of weeks, between the corporation led by Rainarthirwen Aldalithe – soon appointed chairwoman – buying up shares in increasingly large blocks before reaching the 50.1% threshold and mounting a successful takeover bid, former chairman Robert Gilbert moving on to become CMSC President in place of Sam Mc O’Neil.

The move came as an almighty shock to the system for most Turkish supporters – as well as for the government, who had tolerated Vanorian involvement at Green Island up to a point, but never expected another of the country’s greatest clubs to ‘fall’ into foreign ownership, never mind one that foreign. The true extent of Viella’s impact – as well as the cash potentially on offer – did not become clear for some time, but the immediate effects saw Aldalithe push Espinoza gently out the door and replace him, initially on a temporary basis, with Fabio Mannasuch. An immensely experienced manager after decades at the helm of Raynor City, Mannasuch’s Turkish lost two of their remaining ten league fixtures – a positive enough record to leave them in fifth place and take a place in preliminary qualifying for TQCC15. Though their Globe Cup run came to a jarring stop with defeat to Atlético Jutense, Mannasuch had impressed the board sufficiently to be given the job ahead of XXXV.

Handed the post-season break in which to imprint his own mark on the club, Mannasuch’s only major signings were aggressive Yaforite Kjarik Tashkir and the Pasarga international striker and amateur philosopher-poet Ausilio Calabrese, though his countryman Fernando Lori would later arrive from Club Stein-los in a rare and somewhat circumspect mid-season transfer, but the 3-4-3 that the venerable Vanorian manager put out for the opening few weekends of XXXV was still nothing if not surprising. Experienced left-back God’s Power Adekunde and fellow C&M international Robinson found themselves dropped to the bench, making way for long-time squad player John Yeoman – a vigorous midfielder in his late twenties who had done great things for Gamboa FC in years past but had been an anonymous figure under Espinoza since his transfer to the capital – and Mohamed Dirie, a home-grown, left-footed, midfielder who had never proven able to break his way into the first-team despite being on Espinoza’s bench for more than a decade.

Initially however, Mannasuch appeared to have got his selections spot on and Turkish topped the table after three rounds of matches – the third victory coming in a 7-0 demolition of Albrecht Independent which set an international era record. Yeoman in particular proved a real star throughout much of the remainder of the season, and Mannasuch’s many early critics were silenced – but not for very long. As the appalling form of the Indies helped dampen previous praise of the scoreline in the Hoxton derby, so Turkish began to lose eminently winnable games, particularly away from home. The perceived confusion shown by his side as to their formation and the lack of service to the front three hit home most spectacularly on matchday twelve – when the 7-0 result of just a few weeks earlier was sensationally equalled in Turkish’s defeat to fellow unexpected strugglers MarquezOW. Inevitable left stunned by this result, Turkish slowly rallied sufficiently to win the Albrecht clásico at the MSS, and grab a conciliatory Globe Cup space. Their TQCC15 campaign had already ended in a failure to return to the knock-out stages, with home and away defeats to Snowspire condemning them to third position, while their subsequent Globe Cup 12 efforts ended in the last sixteen – with a 5-4 aggregate defeat to Caires City, the Errant Knights gaining a semblance of revenge for their TQCC11 semi-final defeat to Turkish.

Rehashing his side most considerably at the start of the Clausura, Mannasuch returned Moon to goal in place of Paxson and started Adekunde and Oscar Smith in a slightly more traditional looking 4-3-3. Their improvement was dramatic – losing just one Clausura match by matchday thirty-one, they sat ten points behind the leaders: out of contention for the title, but still in the running for the half-season gong and seemingly certain to grab a TQCC spot. Three defeats in their final three matches very nearly cost both Turkish and Mannasuch dear, but they ultimately held onto fifth on goal difference ahead of Caires Sports. Having been dumped out of the CMS Cup by Albrecht FC, and lost the second derby match at home, Turkish were nothing if not sick of the sight of their great rivals – and so, with grim inevitability, the club would meet and be defeated by the Scorpions in the last sixteen stage of Globe Cup 13, with Torrealba’s men shaking off a first leg defeat and an early deficit in Songstress to progress.

XXXVI

Mannasuch’s status as the league’s much-mocked ‘tinkerman’ continued unabated the following season, with the side now typically resembling a traditional 4-4-2 with Innisvale frequently dropped to the bench, and a new full-back pair of Alex Rafaela, from Tenderville, and Vanorian international Dwier Titenburg Junior. Most controversially, Mannasuch opted to start regularly with twenty-six year-old right-sided midfielder Denny Alexander – the nephew of the club’s director of football, and a player who had up till then enjoyed only a peripheral role. Yeoman, meanwhile, was squeezed out in favour of Robinson.

On this occasion, however, Mannasuch’s stance was seemingly proved right. The club were immediately among the title challengers, and by matchday thirteen – following an away victory at fellow pace-setters Port of Clotaire – Turkish were three points clear at the top with a single defeat and just six goals conceded. It was certainly a season in which the defence played the most important role, with Tashkir finally able to suppress his more rambunctious tendencies and forge an invaluable partnership with Estévez, and Brittany Paxson enjoying comfortably her best season between the sticks. Up front it was a somewhat different story with Bakker and Calabrese failing to hit it off as a twosome – Innisvale, instead, would become increasingly important as the campaign marched on, his scoring comfortably into double figures despite starting only a handful of games.

On the UICA front, Turkish outclassed their Globe Cup 14 opponents until coming up against Mort Park, the wealthy West Zirconian side – having already disposed of Soldarian FC, knocking Turkish out on away goals in the last sixteen. Their exit coincided with a disappointing period domestically, where the club fell to finish fourth after the Apertura and were beaten home and away by Stoneridge United in TQCC qualifying. More than strong enough defensively to once again breeze through their subsequent Globe Cup group, Turkish again exited the last sixteen to unheralded opponents – on this occasion being Arcrés Millos. It was a flaw that would plague Mannasuch’s side throughout the year, with defeats to Cathedral City and – inevitably – MN Smith costing them dear, but the Vanorian could probably never truly expect to hold a candle to his countryman at Green Island, and the club’s second-place finish was ultimately a worthy reward.

Final years

Mannasuch’s third full season was one of considerable contrasts. Continuing to rely on a mix of imported Rushmoris – with Pasargan centre-half Áron Mihály the latest to win a first team spot – home-grown youngsters – with Lyle Gwyther taking a place in goal – and the occasional extremely expensive newcomer, this time in the form of Arrigo Portuguese winger Koviljko Randjelovic; criticism abounded before even matchday one that the squad, while nothing if not comfortably proportioned, lacked the ability to maintain a title push.

So it proved, Turkish enduring a horrible Apertura that left them ninth at the half-way stage. The likes of Tashkir and Alexander appeared particularly outclassed, and Mannasuch’s 4-4-2 looked tired and backward. Domestically, at any rate: for Turkish’s international displays were in dramatically stark contrast to those at home. Powering through their TQCC19 group stage, the club’s focus inevitably shifted to attempting to take their second trophy at this level – not least because, otherwise, their chances of qualifying for the next edition appeared slim. Making the quarter-finals, Turkish were underdogs against a Green Island side who had put their own poor domestic start behind them to power to the top of the league, but won through 5-3 on aggregate after an impressive 3-1 first leg victory in Zapata. The semi-final against the Sonoma Center Panthers was a true classic, providing you like embarrassing defending and loads of goals, with the tie hanging at five-all following the two sets of ninety minutes. Turkish appeared dead and buried soon into extra-time after a well-taken brace by Panthers striker Ca, but the Capitalizt outfit would suddenly be introduced to Koviljko Randjelovic. All but asleep for most of the second leg, the Squornshelan-born Marquezian left-footer tore past three defenders from the half-way line to pull one back brilliantly – before, in the dying seconds of the thirty, delivering a perfect cross to the head of Bakker. Seven-seven, and Turkish made their final on away goals.

Their performance in Valladares against Poikimitagiin FE was rather less impressive however, and Mannasuch’s men went down tamely against the Vephrese. The costly defeat left Turkish without UICA football for the following calendar year and, with defeats against Turks’ Club and Radyukevich CSC coming in the next three league games, their season threatened to fizzle out into potentially even a relegation struggle. The CMS Cup remained their only obvious target, and even here Mannasuch’s wisdom was called into question after a scratch side struggled badly at home to semi-professional Gómez United before a trio of stars joined the fray from the bench. The manager reacted by making a number of changes, introducing teenager Brandon Qiu to the left and moving Titenburg into the centre of the defence, while Pasargan Lorí Sànchez and Candelariasian Oscar O’Neil began to get games in the midfield. Coupled with a burst in form from Calabrese, these changes appeared to revitalise Turkish, stringing together victories in both league and cup as the club stormed up the table. Turkish didn’t lose another game until the CMS Cup final itself, a defeat to Tenderville United, and finished fifth – just three points outside a TQCC place and scoring enough points to take the Clausura trophy.

Soon after, amid news of the exodus from Green Island, Turkish announced their now traditional, big-name summer signing – and one of the biggest coups in Candelariasian football for many a year – with GIZ legend Espy va Drake switching from black to red and white stripes. va Drake’s arrival was no doubt the catalyst for Turkish’s transformation back into title challengers, though the team ultimately fell five points short and finish third – XXXVIII champions instead being, much to almost everyone’s amusement, Green Island. Shorn of most of their Vanorians but with their human protégés lighting up the division, the GIZ left Turkish, Viella and va Drake in the dust. Beyond their hit-and-miss new talisman however there were some significant individual bright spots for Turkish – the form of Robinson and Titenburg, despite the latter joining the rest of his Vanorian colleagues in briefly vanishing during the Clausura, and the emergence of Qiu as a truly exceptional young left-back and Cobus Van Linschoten as one of the league’s top goalkeepers.

XXXIX duly promised much, but Viella Inc’s scattergun approach to new signings once again came under the spotlight. Did Turkish really need the piping Krytenian tones of Anthony Johnson in defence when what they were desperately in need instead of a goalscorer? With no expensive new striker forthcoming, Mannasuch had to rely on the veterans Bakker and Calabrese once more… except, much to widespread bemusement, he didn’t. Both were routinely benched, and instead a new partnership was forged between Carlos Cabrera, a Candelariasian who had spent the last decade playing, occasionally, in Mannasuch’s homeland, and Samson Patris and Bavent, about whom the sporting world would find out a frankly quite excessive amount about some months later in his role as captain of the Seunem national team.

The new striking partnership failed utterly to catch fire, and Turkish generally were woefully inconsistent all season. va Drake’s head was clearly turning towards the prospect of a move to pastures new as the club continued their slump towards an eventual eighth-place finish, their worst of the international era, though by the time it was confirmed there few fans paying too much attention. C&M had entered its post-Beatrice era, from which Candelariasian football would never recover. Viella maintained their stake in Turkish for some time before switching their attentions elsewhere. The Solidarity Stadium has spent the last few years bouncing around between various private, corporate and local government owners, while the club’s Moon Town training facilities were sequestered for use as one of numerous psychological rehabilitation centres required by the Candelariasian state at the dawn of the 2010s. The club itself, like so many others, is but a memory.

Players

Supporters’ Players of the Season

Supporters’ Players of the Season
Season	Winner
XXV	Ollie Landolfi (FW)
XXVI	Gary Maini (FW)
XXVII	Scott Soldarian (CM)
XXVIII	Samuel Taha (FW)
XXIX	Steven Williams (DC)
XXX	Steven Williams (DM)
XXXI	Niv Cohen (MR)
XXXII	Greg Innisvale (FW)
XXXIII	Greg Innisvale (FW)
XXXIV	Niv Cohen (MR)
XXXV	John Yeoman (AM)
XXXVI	Darren Robinson (AM)
XXXVII	Dwier Titenburg Jr. (DL)
XXXVIII	Darren Robinson (AM)
XXXIX	Darren Robinson (AM)