[sterlingice]

Training
It was a banner week for our training program. 17yo winger trainee Pierre Wellens bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid winger ability. He's going to be one hell of a stud. But the bigger news is 25yo Stephen Connors. He's a fixture on our midfield and now is the Hippos first ever formidable. Way to go, Stephen! Lastly, acting captain Jose Maria Miguel added another notch to his experience belt so that his passable experience now matches his passable leadership.

Future Training
Playmaking on out. Then maybe a week of stamina in the offseason, depending on form. If it's bad, then set pieces. We have good set pieces but you can never have too much. Plus, we have 10 guys who are already at excellent stamina. However, the Uber Trainees(TM) are either at passable or inadequate.

Form
Starters: (+5) (-2)
Entire Team: (+8) (-5)

Starters Form
Solid (or above): Kimber (exc) Benito (exc) Meek Connors Christiano Spagnuolo
Passable: Starks Bush Miguel
Inadequate: Phelan Teepen
Weak (or below): -none-

Looks like last week's stamina training didn't have too many ill effects. In fact, Starks's slump is finally over. However, Phelan bears watching. For the first time in quite a while, we don't have anyone below inadequate.

Value
Starters: (+5) (-6)
Entire Team: (+13) (-8)

Value Highlights
Above $100K: 9(+0)/16(+0)
Above $200K: 7(+1)/11(+2)
Above $300K: 4(+2)/4(+2)
Team Leader: Tim Kimber ($535K)
Outfield Leader: Carlos Alberto Benito ($494K)
Milestones: Stephen Connors ($300K), Robert Tryggvesson ($200K)

Benito inches ever closer to becoming our first $500K player. Not only that, but he will soon pass Timber for the highest value on the team. Starks went back above $300K for the first time since the second week of the season. Connors broke $300K for the first time ever with his bump. Tryggvesson passes $200K for the first time ever so now Wellens is the only one not over $200K. However, he's only 17 so we'll forgive him.

Team Stats
Total Wages: 36208 (NC)
Total Value: 4364000 (+160000)
Avg Value: 198364 (+7273)
Avg Age: 23 (NC)
Avg Form: passable (NC)
Avg Experience: poor (NC)
No of players: 22 (NC)
Nationalities: 12 (NC)


Youth Pull, Week 20.10
Brian Collier sold for $5K last week, so at least I turned a slight bit of profit (if you don't take youth squad upkeep costs). This week, we have Felix Hutton. He's not too bad but our UberTrainees(TM) are better. I'll put him up for $10K and hope someone bites.

Youth Pull Status
Youth Pulls: 39
Youth Pull Grocers: 24 (+0)
Youth Pulls Sold: 13 (+1)
Youth Pulls Still With Club: 2 (+0)
Total Sold for: 1116000 (+5000)

Youth Pull
Felix Hutton (17061821)
18 years, passable form, healthy
A sypathetic person who is tempermental and dishonest.
Has disastrous experience and weak leadership abilities.
Nationality: USA
Assessed value: 49 000 US$
Wage: 740 US$/week

Stamina: inadequate Goaltending: disastrous
Playmaking: passable Passing: wretched
Winger: inadequate Defending: weak
Scoring: poor Set Pieces: weak



Conditions

Youth Squad: excellent (max)
Investment in the Youth squad: 20 000 US$ / week (NC)

Sponsors: dancing in the streets (NC)
Supporter Club: 1449 members (+24)
Supporters: high on life (NC)

Team Spirit: calm (NC)
Confidence: wonderful (NC)


20.10 Week In Review

On the Field
Well, we had a walkover win against zfan so there's not much to report. We should win with relative ease next week, but it's on the road so a PIC is unlikely. That will setup a huge game with Iowa in a rockin' 'drome the next week for 4th place. For our friendly, we went somewhat further than Canada this time, ending up in Oceania playing the Royal Magpies. Six different Hippos scored and we drew a huge friendly crowd of 4909. Next week, we go to Thailand.

Off the Field
Last week's youth pull Brian Collier sold for $5K. This week's should sell for about double that and not much more. However, the big news came on the bump front: 17yo UberTrainee(TM) Pierre Wellens bumped to solid playmaking to go along with his solid winger skill. But even bigger, original Hippo Stephen Connors became the first ever formidable in the history of the team.

SI