Happy Birthday to us! Lets party like its 1999!

Exactly four years ago today, "If Selected..." launched itself into cyber-space and has been orbiting elaborately ever since. After six years on paper, there were understandably a few nerves in a board-room more familiar with cobwebs than world wide webs. But since that October Friday in 1999, this footballing webloid has gone from strength to strength, and can boast nearly 14,000 internet visitors in the interim.

And looking back to that pivotal moment in the last millennium, some things haven't changed a great deal. On the face of it, our league position was a tad healthier back then. Indeed "If Selected..." launched with Logica Football Club sitting proudly on top of the league. But Supremo Fleming had master-minded this dramatic improvement with the not insignificant help of the older generation, and the the current gaffer cannot have failed to have heard mutterings that the likes of Sidaway, Skippy, Spence and Lambert might be called upon again to help the club get back on track. But before Groom pays too much heed to these knee-jerk reactions, he should be wary of the scandal surrounding the recall of a certain legendary elder-statesman back in 1999.

These giddy heights had been reached after an unbeaten start to the season. "If Selected..." hit the net following a 1-1 draw in the top of the table clash against second-placed Lusitanos, and Nigel Hoyland was still bathing in the satisfying glow of his amazing individual scoring feat, when he notched all six goals against Wandsworth Town.

All was not rosy in this blooming garden however. Then, as with the Broadway bomb-shell now, we were smarting from a controvertial match award handed out by the mandarins down at Sportsmans League HQ. And even top-spot and an unbeaten start to the season were not enough to keep every squad-member happy, a certain hole merchant was soon flouncing off to Spain George Best style after the Supremo had had the temerity to ask him to do a little bit of work.

And other stories from four years ago have a remarkably familiar ring, as Abbott's glaring inability to find the net was making the headlines. As ever, the ageing striker had a ready-made excuse to hand, as a new pair of shiny yellow boots was used to explain away his profligacy. As Abbott was recently spied purchasing a pair of cheap red boots from a mail-order catalogue, we can probably expect a carefully crafted explanation any day now for that very round number appearing in his goals-scored column.