Screamin’ Seamen Football Club – Season 4
For the first installment of this dynasty report (season 2) click
here
For the second installment, click
here
Seamen Hope To Improve On Last Season’s Disappointing Performance
(Chicago, IL) The Screamin’ Seamen Football Club, under the ownership and management of Data King, are hoping that their fourth season in the world-wide Hattrick League is much better than their third. In the club’s first season, SSFC easily cruised to a Division V title, with an impressive record of thirteen wins and one draw. Their second season saw the club fail in their bid for a Division IV title by the narrowest of margins, their championship dreams dashed by a 1-nil loss in the last match of the season to Croats in Miami.
Despite their narrow loss, the club was flush with success and optimism heading into their third season, and were hoping to contend for the Division IV title once again. Things would not shake out that way, however. Due to a marked improvement in the level of competition in SSFC’s Division IV series, some management and coaching errors, and a bit of bad luck on the part of the Seamen, the club was barely able to claim sixth place in the series. They won their relegation match narrowly, 1-nil, in order to keep their place in Division IV.
King has publicly stated that, despite criticism received on his part, he is dedicated to making SSFC a long-term contender, and will not sacrifice the club’s long-term prospects for short-term gains. Despite these claims, a number of changes have been made by the club this past off-season, with more to come.
The most significant change was the firing of head coach Ken Brown at the end of last season. After using an interim coach for the last couple weeks of the season, King bent all of his efforts on finding a new, permanent head coach, and eventually settled on Ioan Fluieras, a 35-year old from Ploesti, Romania. While Fluieras is, by all accounts, more of a practice-field coach than a game-day one, he has promised that fans will see “a much better balance between offense and defense than they have in years past,” this season.
Fluieras wasted little time in making his mark upon the club and it’s roster. Shortly after the new coach’s arrival, Chuck Scales, long-time sweeper and defensive quarterback for the club was sent packing. The sale of Scales to the Lunden Loafers (a Swedish 4th Division side) flooded the club’s accounts with over $1 million in fresh funds. King immediately opened most of this new income to Fluieras for use on the transfer market.
The club has made one purchase with the Chuck Scales money thus far, adding veteran midfielder David Burton to the roster. Burton, a 36-year-old London native, is said to be past his prime, but still a fine contributor in the midfield. He excels at providing midfield possession for his club, and is known to jump up onto the attack from time to time. He has scored 26 goals in his long career, many of them off of dead balls, as he is a dangerous set pieces specialist as well.
As far as the rest of SSFC’s series goes, things haven’t gotten much easier. Gone are the SoccerWussies and the lowly Syracuse Supers, but the top five teams from last season all remain. Croats in Miami, Ramblers, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Big Reds, and Sweden Heights will all be duking it out with the Seamen for the series title in the coming season. Recent promotees JP8 and Tortioses are likely to be out-matched, however, and should be relegated back to Division V at the end of the season, barring a miracle.
Fans of the Seamen hold their breath, waiting to see what other changes the club makes on the transfer market. There are certain to be at least a couple more, as quite a bit of cash remains from the Chuck Scales deal. Let’s hope that these changes are made soon, as the new season is very rapidly approaching.
Ivan Phillip Freely is an associated press writer for the Chicago Tribunal.