millossobek
The 3-Stars Cup
BOLTON REINVIGORATED!! (PES 2019)
The Wanderers Return to the Premier League on the Last Day of the Season!!
Man, was that a great season with a lot of drama! The board's directive was clear before the Championship started: Manager José Maria Goya had to get the Wanderers promoted to the Premiership, as an unprecedented injection of talent made the Wanderers one of the favorites in second division. You all know the cast of characters: Our Four Musketeers, Nigerian Magician Jay-Jay Okocha, American star Landon "Dotan" Donovan, Japanese Legend Hidetoshi Nakata, and our long-term Captain and Team Leader Sol Campbell. Led with this talented, young cast (22-25 years old as the season started), expectations for promotion were riding very high.
And deliver they did! However, the road was long and full of obstacles. The English Championship was full of good and talented teams that were aching to fight for promotion as well. An interesting twist, as I mentioned earlier, was the great play of our starting striker, Jamaican-born Clayton Donaldson (pictured below, with his arms extended). who had decided earlier to retire after the season ended, no matter what. But he had a great season, and was the unofficial "Fifth Musketeer" all throughout the season, banging goals left and right, and earning top goalscorer in the league! What a way to end his career!
Spanish Manager José María Goya (invented by millossobek, loosely based on a younger Rafa Benitez), had his hands full with this team. Not only do the Wanderers have four young superstars, but they also had a mix of aging players and young prospects to juggle and manage. However, Goya did a wonderful job by having everyone buy into his system, with no egos, and have the whole team follow the talent of the Musketeers. (I also had a very nice signing in the midseason, Colombian Kevin Balanta at Defensive Midfielder, who helped anchor the team and give it stability). One of the most important cogs in the wheel was undoubtedly Sol Campbell (in this alternate story, he is a Bolton product, and intends to play his entire career here). His calm yet determined professionalism kept the entire team in check, and his steady leadership led the team throughout the Championship very steadily.
Going into the last games of the season, it definitely looked like a three-horse race for promotion between Aston Villa, Stoke City, and our Wanderers. Just a quick review of the Championship format: The top two teams advance automatically to the Premier League, and teams placed 3-6 have to fight in a playoff in order to determine the third promoted team. My goal was pretty clear: I didn't want to leave anything to chance, and wanted to earn promotion directly by finishing in one of the top two spots. Going into the final fixture, we were in third place, well ahead of Third Place Middlesbrough but trailing Aston Villa and Stoke City. The table looked like this with one match left to go:
Stoke City 92 points, + 38 Goal Difference (last game at home vs Derby County)
Aston Villa 90 points, + 34 Goal Difference (last game away vs Nottingham Forest)
Bolton Wanderers: 89 points, +41 Goal Difference (last game away vs Rotherham)
A nerve-wrecking final fixture was in store for us. We were not in control of our own destiny, as even if we won, we had to expect the chips to fall our way in order to get promoted. But things worked out for us in the final match!! Even though Aston Villa beat Forest and claimed the Top Spot in the Championship, Stoke City LOST to Derby County AT HOME 0-2!! (Derby County finished in the bottom half of the league!) This, combined with our 2-5 away domination of Rotherham, gave us DIRECT PROMOTION TO THE PREMIER LEAGUE ON THE LAST DAY OF THE SEASON!
As you can see below, this combination of results meant that Aston Villa won the league, Stoke City (who eventually lost in the playoff final against West Bromwich Albion) was not able to hold on to their lead and incredibly lost their place in First Division, AND WE GET PROMOTED ON GOAL DIFFERENCE!!!! (I guess I really have to thank Derby County for this one! ) In anycase, this was a HUGE relief, since I really was in no mood to play a tough playoff against the 4-6 ranked teams! I really also loved to send off my striker Clayton Donaldson with a huge reward for retirement, as he played a huge role in his last season as a player, helping the Wanderers have earned direct promotion! The Musketeers' saga continues.. We will be playing next season in the top flight of English Football, The Premiership!!!!
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