Q1: Season 8 Preview

With season 8 approaching, the FC Winnipeg Royal Lions have managed to avoid complete disaster, and have the minimum 18 players required on the roster. They do hope to be strong competitors like every other year, and will not use the past season's confusion as an excuse.

Pemton Florent commented "It was my first year here this past season and there was great confusion. I was released to free agency but decided to come back. I did so because I know we have a competitive team, and city here, and it gives us a shot at winning".

There is a positive aura going around the dressing room, even though seven of the returning players were released to the market at the end of last season.

"It's tough for all players, those released, those not" stated Trevion Collins. "It's tough for the staff too. But the players cannot give up. If the players give up the team is lost. Kudos to the staff to get some key names resigned. All that is left is to sign some depth over the length of the season. We went from a state of panic to 'everything will be alright'. We have confidence in ourselves."

Despite the "state of panic" the team had some crucial resignings, as well as the signing of three big name scorers. The team managed to resign the following players this off-season:

27 year old - Vibert Caravallo (USA) M - $128,000 p/y 1-year

31 year old - Giovanny Church (Canada) M - $200,000 p/y (+$72,000) 1-year

31 year old - Dirk-Heijndrikse Dierckx (Netherlands) D - $150,000 p/y (+$50,000) 1-year

28 year old - Pemton Florent (Canada) M - $500,000 p/y (+$272,000) 1-year

28 year old - Herbert Hamner (Canada) D - $200,000 p/y (+$50,000) 1-year

28 year old - Gerald King (Canada) M - $165,000 p/y (+$50,000) 1-year

22 year old - Bartleah Kays (Canada) D - $75,000 p/y 1-year

The three new acquisitions the FCW Lions made were all forwards. Expect to see goals coming from:

26 year old - Elijah Barry (Canada) F - $400,000 p/y (+$167,237) 1-year

32 year old - Jamison Bault (Canada) F - $150,000 p/y (+$50,000) 1-year

25 year old - Christian Klein (Canada) F - $666,666 p/y (+$100,000) 1-year

*Signing bonus amounts are in brackets

Players let go included Kelan Corsie, Phil Digby, Ardolph Evans, Brennen Gaskins, Charlie Henry, Jeremain Kolk, Bryan Price, Sallsbury Routledge, Alex Stewart, and Silvestre Trelawney.

34 year old Charlie Henry announced his retirement shortly after and commented on his time with the Royal Lions:

"It has been great. I love soccer and I will miss playing, but most of all I will miss this great organization and town. I have no regrets and thank them for the opportunity late in my career."

Henry scored 58 goals in 119 games for the FCW Lions, and captured a league scoring title in season 3 with 25 goals.

Season 8 has a lot of questions that the Royal Lions will need to answer. No one is sure where the team will end up in the standings. There has been no mention of when the World 90 Tournament is slated to start, however the Royal Lions will be participating again this year hoping for redemption. The team will need to sign depth throughout the season and is expected to sign first and foremost a backup goalkeeper. Martha is the only goalkeeper they have currently.

"I'm fine with it" stated Martha jokingly. "I'll play all 38 games, I'd love to. However I know it is a tough sport, fatigue and injuries do occur, I'm not blind to the reasoning".

The team hopes to start off on the right foot, and answer some of the questions about their ability on 2/14 @ lets go.