The Special One - Ready claims treble

Breaking news8888888The N&R Champions League Final Scores - the top 12

I will take considerable pride and no doubt plenty of ribbing in presenting Ready with 3 (THREE) trophies tomorrow night after he became the first ever N&R manager to win the domestic treble - The N&R FL league title, the N&R Cup and the Team Challenge Trophy.

I feel I need to add that in 14 years I, Nobby, have never won anything, a few quid aside, yet I see all the teams, all the transfers and all the tables. Nor has Mark Simmons, who does all of our scoring. Yet this is Ready's 3rd N&R FL title after winning it in 2001/02, 2003/04 and now 6 years later.

Of course our very own 'Special One' will have trouble getting his head through the door of the New Moon, and I fully expect him to be wearing a Mourinho style Ralph Lauren suit with a blue and black tie with the top button of his shirt undone. The specks of grey hair have been there a while though, in fact specks of hair would be a better description!

Hannoi Utd (and yes he knows it is spelt wrong) were in the top 12 for all but 11 weeks of the season. One week he got as low as 20th but he used his transfers well - a mark of a true champion - and spent 4 weeks in 6th in March biding his time.

A big week 33 propelled Keith into 3rd behind Tanus Terriers and leader's Frank & Beans. Glasgow kiss was next to take the driving seat but Hannoi Utd hung in there as the title race got tighter and tighter. Steve's Guinness & eggs joined the fray as did Paris Eagles but in week's 38 and 39 when it really mattered Keith took advantage of slip-ups by Kirstie and Tim & Dennis to claim what become an unassailable lead and took the 2009/10 title by 19 points. Well done mate.

Vodka Hooligan, Glasgow kiss and Frank & Beans all slipped backwards before the finish line, which allowed Guinness & eggs to come up on the rails to claim a fantastic 2nd place. Steve bettering his 10th finish last season. In 3rd was long time leaders Frank & Beans. The Chicago boys were top for 15 weeks, more than any other managers, but ran out of transfers but Tim & Dennis can be very proud of their campaign.

In 4th was old bar steward Barry Paull. One of our original punters, Paris Eagles spent up until Christmas outside of the top 12, then had a purple patch before dropping back again. But they finished very strong and with an armful of Chelsea players in his team Barry snatched 4th on the last day of the season.

Tanus Terriers had a very strong season. Our first league leader in August, he maintained a top 12 place for each of the 40 weeks (only Frank & Beans managed the same) and moved around the top 5 until the early part of this year periodically claiming top spot. During March and April we thought his title aspirations were done, but Lee came strong again in one last push and finished 5th.

Ah, Petal. What can we say. We once before had a female champion (Soozie in 2005/06) and for many weeks we thought we were going to witness another one as Glasgow kiss gave a lesson on how to play fantasy football. Kirsty was very consistent from around week 15 through to almost the last two weeks. Top for 7 weeks including weeks 36, 37 and 38 and with a fortnight left she had one hand on the coveted trophy but our little haggis stumbled badly and ended up in 6th (she was 3rd last year). Unlucky Pet.

Finishing in 7th was last year's champion Neil Reynolds and Gooner win league. Neil had a very slow start but to me he was always a threat, and he made his move into the top 12 at Christmas but was still very much on the periphery until week 32 but he left himself with too much to do and couldn't emulate the then joint management team of Godfrey and Rose, the only managers to be able to retain this so sought after title.

In March and April Vodka Hooligan was putting in some very solid performances and became a strong contender. Mark burnt his transfers though and as others around him got stronger, he floated backwards slightly and ended up 8th, which was a huge improvement on last season.

I've promised myself that in a dull summer moment I will go back through all 14 years of N&R FL and see who has been our most consistent performer. I will hazard a guess that Johnny McGowan will be very high in that list.

Loads of Roubles last four seasons have seen finishes of 9th, 4th, 3rd and 7th. This season he spent oodles of weeks hanging around the prize money positions, but never higher than 4th. John also ran out of transfer opps but a 9th place finish is nothing to sneeze at. In 10th was our only team that is sponsored. Old Bodeanians were a bit of a surprise if I am honest. But then again I don't know why I say that because last year Oakers finished 7th, this year 10th. But for every year before that he was down the bottom. Hmm, nurse check his blood..

11th came our man from Mexico City Greg Foulger. He will be disappointed I am sure. Last season Boys on Tour came 5th, the season before 7th. Some of us would die for a top 10 slot but I am sure Greg will go back to his bottle of Tequila and plot another challenge next year.

And the final prize money went to Morgan's Machines in 12th in Scott's virgin N&R season. He played almost the whole season high up the table and it was a fine effort for the Aon Benfield boy.