It was very much a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ for Logica this time out. After romping away with the Division Two Championship in 1990 without losing a single league game, the team struggled to adapt to life in the top tier.

This really should not have been the case. Promoted Holland Park and Gucci, both of whom finished behind Logica in the Second Division, put in serious Division One Championship challenges whilst we finished in a disappointing sixth spot. Luckily this proved to be an acclimatisation blip, for the club, under ’s Supremoship, went on to put in serious bid for championship glory in each of the next two seasons.

Perhaps it was the disappearance of our old foes Sarkpoint that had disorientated us. After a fierce rivalry over the last four seasons that included our famous Cup Final victory over them in the Double season, not to mention some very entertaining dressing room confrontations, the Hackney club had surprisingly folded half way through the season.

This was a double blow to Logica. Not only did it deprive us of a competitive focus, but it also robbed us of six points. After trouncing a still competitive Sarkpoint 7-3 at the Battersea Astrodome with perhaps our best performance of the season, the signs of our opponents’ demise were perhaps there to see when we hammered a late arriving and numerically deficient Hackney outfit 6-1 in the return down at the Marshes. We even felt some element of pity for our arch-rivals, donating them to play sweeper for them in the second half!

The club had their own problems in terms of fielding a full XI. Despite a squad that numbered 30 by the end of the campaign, regularly had difficulty fielding a full side. Perhaps the most telling statistic was that of those 30 players, 12 played less than 5 games each. And the showed signs of a stressful year at the helm when he published the following thoughts in the Match Day programme at the end of the season:

In many ways it has been a disappointing season for me as [Supremo]. After unparalleled pre-season enthusiasm and promises of commitment for our first season in the First Division, things began to decline around November. It began to get very difficult to get eleven players out on a Sunday morning, let alone something close to the same XI from the previous week. This coincided with a drop in our fortunes as we found it much harder in the First Division than we had anticipated. After Christmas things deteriorated rapidly, and climaxed with two consecutive games where we could only raise nine men, followed in our last game by the infamous kit farrago.

Much of this may ring a bell to the Supremos of the modern era. What may be less familiar, however, are the remarkable results achieved in those two games with nine men. Both were against an Iveys side boasting a full complement of players. The first game saw the majestic take on the opposition almost single-handed, the brilliant striker scoring a hat-trick to claim a 3-3 draw. The even had the temerity to be disappointed at not winning that game, a harsh and old-fashioned managerial approach that reaped dividends a fortnight later when Logica could again only raise nine players, and were also without . But there was always , and two goals from the Geordie striker were enough to secure a famous 2-1 win.

In a difficult season for the club, these two strikers were an outstanding success. It was ’s first season with the club, and the player recommended by the scouting network would go on to become a Logica legend. Showing some early nerves at a club of the stature of Logica FC, managed a mere 16 goals in as many appearances during his first season.

But even more important than his impressive strike rate was an almost perfect strike partnership with in-situ legend . ’s strength, pace, close control and skill enabled him to embark on endless dribbles that more often than not climaxed with him teeing something up for his partner in net-bulging. And ’s no-nonsense finishing fed ravenously on such a generous supply as he helped himself to 20 goals in just 14 starts.

After some early season nonsense in which claimed to be an accomplished right-back in an earlier life, which resulted in some defensive clowning against Gucci, put his foot down and moved the Geordie back to his tried and tested striker’s role for the next match. The sense of this managerial decision was made clear when a rejuvenated banged in six goals against Hampstead to equal the club’s individual scoring record set by some years earlier, a feat that has only been matched once since (by against Wandsworth Town in 1999.

At the other end things were a little more problematic. Another club legend, scouse goalkeeper , could only be tempted out from beneath his duvet one last time. Unanimously voted Player of the Season during Logica’s Championship campaign, agreed to play in the season’s first game as no replacement had yet been found. And some game it was too, as Logica stunned what would prove to be an outstanding Venice Utd side by six goals to three, with the Scouser contributing his usual array of brilliant saves at vital times.

Unsurprisingly, one more week made little difference in enabling the club to find a new permanent keeper. A number of temporary stand-ins were bribed to don the gloves in the next few games ( and ) before the bowed to the inevitable and tried the Number One jersey on for size. It seemed to fit, and spent much of the rest of the season between the sticks, even turning in the occasional match-winning performance such as when Logica hung on to win a bruising encounter against Woodvale Rovers at the Astrodome. Eighties goalkeeping star was even coaxed out of retirement for a couple of games when the team were really struggling for numbers. But even when did manage to unearth some new goalkeeping talent half way through the season, promising 4-a-Side glove-man seriously injured his back on his debut against Hampstead

This goalkeeping merry-go-round seemed to epitomise the selection problems facing the all season. It was not that lacked choice, more perhaps that the Software Engineer of yesteryear had more money and therefore more holidays than his modern counterpart. Only two players had decided to leave on a high clutching a Championship medal ( headed for the duvet whilst was snapped up by Serie A giants Milan), and this was amply counterbalanced by an influx of new talent. had showed glimpses of a deft left peg as well as a finely tuned footballing brain in a few appearances at the end of the previous season, but now this promise was fulfilled in an impressive first full season that saw him walk off with the Goal of the Season Award for his remarkable strike against Holland Park. Similarly, skilful and determined midfielder built on a debut during the preceding Championship run-in to establish himself as a regular during a season in which he only missed two games.

With a glut of attacking talent that allowed to sacrifice himself to the gloves and to a central midfield role for much of the season, the concentrated on strengthening the defence. So it was that was drafted in from the Academy half way through the season. It was a difficult introduction for the no-nonsense Lancastrian as he appeared to have a different centre-half partner for each game, but he put in some stirling performances and would flourish as a regular the following season.

But perhaps the most inspired signing was that of Fulham full-back . Despite a quiet debut that nevertheless saw him nearly put through his own goal during the 9-0 drubbing of Hamptead, actually only made one more appearance this season. But the dogged and pacey defender would go on to top the appearance charts for many seasons to come, and more importantly would take over the Supremoship from in 1993.

The sensational opening day victory over Venice Utd only served to heighten the pre-season excitement and expectancy felt by many fans of the Second Division champions. But after this brilliant start, life in the top flight quickly fell flat as reality began to bite, and the club lost their next three games. After defeats to experienced First Division sides Prince of Wales and Woodvale, Logica crashed 7-2 at home to Gucci, a side who had finished fourth in Division Two last time out.

But the -inspired demolition of Hampstead SDA gave the team their confidence back, and they went to win their next three games, even if two of these would prove ultimately pointless when Sarkpoint folded. Even a ding-dong 4-6 defeat to Championship challengers Prince of Wales saw impressive play at times, and Logica continued with a second beating of Hampstead at home.

But the last game of the year saw a heavy defeat at home to Venice who showed just what a good side they were, and after Christmas the team became increasingly erratic as they struggled to field a strong, and later even a full, side. A battling draw against Gucci was followed by a second nine-goal victory, this time in the Trophy against Division Four outfit Sporting Bloomsbury as bagged his first goal in Logica colours. But the inconsistency was there for all to see when Logica crashed out of the Divisional Cup at the first hurdle, losing 3-5 to Gucci.

There followed those two nine-man ‘Roy of the Rovers’ style performances against Iveys, but Logica’s luck ran out when they lost in the second round of the Trophy to Second Division Fianna. As everyone began to yearn for the end of a difficult season, a final pair of double header matches yielded just one point, starting with two comprehensive defeats at the hands of Holland Park. In our last outing of the season, we could only draw against lowly Star before losing the second match 2-0. The games against Star seemed to sum up the increasing organisational disarray of the club after the players had arrived to find the kit missing, and was glad of a Tour-free summer that would give him some time to re-group and re-plan.

SEASON AT A GLANCE:
Most Appearances: (21 out of 21 games max)
Golden Boot: (20 goals in 14+2 games)
Players' Player of the Year:
Goal of the Season: v Holland Park (h)
Biggest Victory: 10-1 v Sporting Bloomsbury (Trophy1) (h)
Heaviest Defeat: 2-7 v Gucci (h); 2-7 v Venice Utd (h)
Number of Players used: 30
Goals Scored: 68 goals in 21 games (average 3.24 per game)
Goals Conceded: 60 goals in 21 games (average 2.86 per game)
Clean Sheets: Two in 21 games (average one every 9.52 games)