Tales from the River Medway.

And so the season is well underway, although due to being so AI-heavy, the CWA does have a tendancy to lag behind other federations a little in terms of games played.

Transfers

First off, a little update with the ins and outs as the close-season ended:

Out

Released: Sota Hirayama, Charles, Takanori Ueda, Sebastian Vaca, Jacek Wroblewski

Contract not renewed: Robert Marciniak, James Nevin

Sold: Ricardo Verduguez (72k), Freek Sabajo (8k), Kasper Hamalainen (30k), Lukasz Burkhardt (50k), Andros Townsend (250k)

Also, a number of players have gone out on loan to other sides.

In

Signings: Jason Brown (75k), Severo Meza (850k), Wellington Viana (11k), Ivan Carvalho Barbosa (9k)

Youth Wage Auctions: Lucien Thijssen, Nikola Simov, Ivica Balajic, Momar Seck, Mikhail Morgunov, Carlos Garcia, Julien Larbi, Tom Scargill, Walter Monteverde, Jan Abraham, Augustus Uzoma

So, for now, most of those are just meaningless names- youngsters waiting for their chance to shine. Some will succeed, others will fail. But all will get a shot at proving themselves. The two exceptions:

Jason Brown - Awesome former Gillingham goalkeeper who I've been tailing pretty much since day one in the GW. Ze Fuehrers had been transfer-listing him for some time out of my price range with no takers, so when his contract came up for renewal, it was simply a question of winning the wage auction and nabbing him on the cheap. Since then, has established himself ahead of Samir Ujkani as the first choice keeper.

Severo Meza - With the introduction of stadiums, a lot of teams were looking to cut costs and wage bills, and in a dead transfer market, there were some real bargains going. While I'd gone about balancing the books by releasing a lot of low earners, others were forced to offer pretty much their entire squad up for sale. One such manager was Seb Finck, of R Standard Liege, who'd won the first-ever Daria Morgendorffer Knockout Cup. Mexican Severo Meza had been the anchor of his defence, a 23-year-old who'd played over 250 games for the Belgian side. However, in these turbulent times, a record-breaking offer of the player's market value of 850k was too good to turn down, and since then, Meza has become as central to the team as Arouca or Anthony Modeste. With such an attacking formation, it's important to have a quality defence, and Meza has so far proven to be worth every penny.

Season So Far

But enough about signings- the season is underway, and at the time of writing, Riot sit comfortably in 10th, 11 games played (W3, D3, L5). Arouca, Paulinho Dias, Anthony Modeste, Lucas Correa and Saulo are all performing above a 7.0 average, with Modeste ranked 4th on the top scorers charts, having scored 7 goals in 11 games. So, things are looking pretty good. Results tell an incredibly inconsistent story- a 7-2 victory over 2nd-placed Team Trampled On was followed by a run of six without a win, including an ugly 3-6 defeat to Inter HollyValance. The side have been scoring a lot of goals, but they've been conceding them as well- one clean sheet in 11 speaks volumes, but likewise, there's only been one match in which we haven't scored.

In the first round of the Casual League Cup, River Medway Riot overturned a 2-1 defeat in the first leg with a scintillating 7-2 victory over Hamilton 1967. Etien Velikonja bagged a hat-trick, with Criscuolo, Saag and Modeste also getting on the scoresheet. The second round saw them drawn against Tim Smith's Langmere Athletic, where they are currently looking to overturn another first leg defeat, having gone down 3-1 at home.

Riot were less successful in the FA Cup, finding themselves put out 6-5 on aggregate by The Young Ones, having thrown away a 4-2 lead from the first leg.

Finally, on the youth front, both the Casual Youth League and Casual Youth Cup are well underway. Riot sit 5th out of 8 in the league, with 16-year-old striker Diego Silva Nascimento lighting up the home games and looking to be a hot prospect for the future. Lee Wilmot, a £10,000 signing from Luncarty Saints, struck twice against Gary Town FC in a 3-0 Quarter Final win, booking Riot a place in the Semi-Finals despite Davor Pejovic's red card.

Other news

In other news, the first stage of work at Preach Clubrooms is nearly finished- the Berengere Marcos Stand, Crisp End and Brook End have each had their capacities increased, while the Begona Rocca Stand was torn down and replaced with a two-tier stand filled with Pieghevole seating. The work has cost around £2m, and will give a capacity of a little over 20k once completed. There has been talk of raising funds to further develop the Brook End into a two-tiered stand with provision for corporate boxes, but this will depend on the financial situation of the club.

The Rumour Mill

Last but not least, time to look at what the future holds for the Riot. With Brazilian centre-back Lucas Galdino finding himself transfer-listed in order to raise funds for the club, it seems a cheaper alternative is being sought out. A number of names have been linked with the club, including none other than John Terry, transfer listed for £1m, but whose wages seem set to be a stumbling block. A possible move for P.F.C. Levski Sofia's Yasuyuki Konno is said to have been mooted at one point, with youngster Jose rumoured to be moving in the other direction as part of a deal, but word is that negotiations have stalled. Other names recently linked with Riot include centre-backs Gregor Balazic (DonZ FC) and Mohammed Nosrati (Afc.Asha) and midfielder Bacary Mendes (Mart's World XI). Riot scouts have also been seen at Deepdale Elite's training ground, although it is unclear who is being watched.

Brazilian goalkeeper Marcelo Bonan is also said to be on his way out, frustrated at being reduced to third-choice behind Brown and Ujkani, while young Dutch striker Stefan Wijngaarde and Guatemalan midfielder Julio Alvarez have been told their contracts will not be renewed.

And lastly...

Since somebody in the chat asked what "Gold Shoes From Chockers" was all about, a quick explanation- Chockers is a shoe shop along Chatham High Street. It was immortalised in the song "Welcome To The Medway Towns", an homage to the ladyfolk of Medway which can be downloaded HERE. Lyrics have been lovingly transcribed HERE.