A new season… a new era!

Next Tuesday marks the start of Almaty Athletic’s 3rd season in the astro leagues. After narrowly missing out on the championship in their inaugural season they were crowned champions last season. Gaffer Spratt has been ruthless in his quest to retain the championship this year – out with the old and in with the new has been his motto! The following players’ contracts were not renewed:
- Jim “ate all the pies” Butler
- James “I've already got 3 winners hoodies already” Galvin
- Keith “the grass needs cutting” SP
- Tadhg “gone to Oz with the other convicts” O’Connell
- Morgan “Axel” Foley

The following players were lucky enough to secure new contracts:
- Jeremy “safer than safe hands” Sweetnam
- Gav “Old Gil” Jeffery
- Alex “I’ll play until I’m 40” O’Donovan
- Billy “The Kid” Murphy
- Phil “now full-time squad member” Smith

Disappointingly enough, despite putting pen to paper last summer, Fat Spratt was unwilling to commit to the team but he has promised to make a guest appearance some night. However, Gaffer Spratt was delighted to welcome Marco “Ronaldo” Machado to the squad. Apparently he has signed a pay-per-nutmeg contact which could prove to be quite costly! Dave “Brother of Phil” Smith has also signed up for some Almaty glory! Gaffer also attempted a double signing from the now dissolved Citco team of last year. Mark “Smiley” Dawson was overjoyed to get the call however Nigel “I miss Dawson terribly” Wilkins decided to stick playing with his friend Milko.

Almaty will play all their games on Tuesday nights (see fixture list to the right) in the usual pitches at CIT. With the exception of Gliebenhagg (who almost denied Almaty the championship last year), all the teams are new. It will be interesting to see if “2 touch” live up to their name; whether “Bananaskins” turn out to be, well, a bananaskin and (last but not least!) “The Invincibles” are truly invincible (ED: Are you Anne Robinson in disguise?!).