L1 | S4 | W1: Gomis fires a hat-trick as League 1’s new season roars to life

📰 Season 4, Week 1 – the new campaign is under way

A new season always arrives with that familiar mixture of optimism and dread, and Season 4 of the PBM Old Boys League wasted no time delivering both. Across all four divisions, there were statements of intent, a couple of early wobbles from clubs who will expect better, and the first hint of storylines that could define the next thirty weeks. Crucially, the league heads into the new campaign fully managed – not a single empty dugout across all 64 clubs.

🏆 Division 1 – early leaders, a shock, and Walsall’s rude awakening

For a league that went into Season 4 with Walsall as champions and the best home record in recent memory, the opening fixture was a cold shower. Rangers welcomed the title holders to Ibrox and put three past them without reply – or rather, with considerable reply, since O’Connor netted twice (28′, 71′) before James wrapped it up in the 90th minute to make it 3-1. Walsall had pulled one back through Murray just after the hour, but the damage was done. Defending a title in a 64-club league is hard enough; conceding three in Week 1 at a rival’s ground sets a testing tone.

The bigger surprise in Division 1 was Plymouth Argyle winning away at Nottingham Forest. The newly promoted side came to the City Ground – one of the division’s bigger grounds – and left with all three points, Silva and Salah doing the damage in the second half after a goalless first forty-five. Forest sit bottom of the division after Week 1, though the table at this stage is more carnival mirror than true reflection.

💡 Six clubs share top spot on three points after one game – the division is still entirely open. Worth noting that Shrewsbury Town, one of three promoted clubs, won away at Portsmouth. The newly promoted sides have made a confident start.

West Ham produced arguably the most entertaining result of the division, coming from 2-2 at half-time to beat Newport County 3-2, with Szoboszlai’s 78th-minute winner settling a game in which Newport had twice threatened an upset. Liverpool edged out Peterborough 2-1 at Anfield, Afash getting both goals in a quiet-looking result that Stuart Merry will take all the same. Norwich beat Wigan 1-0 with Hall’s 45th-minute goal, and Sutton and Lincoln served up a 1-1 draw in what was, on paper at least, a clash between two technically accomplished sides.

💙 Division 2 – Torres and Adu-Adjei announce themselves, Birmingham hang on

Division 2 has returned with all three newly promoted sides – Birmingham City, Everton and Derby County – hoping to consolidate rather than bounce straight back down. It was an uneven opening day for that trio: Birmingham City managed a creditable draw at Wolverhampton, coming from 0-2 down at half-time to level at 2-2 through Trincão and Cunha, though they needed Ibrahimović to pull them level from the away side’s perspective in the first place. Everton lost at Manchester City. Derby lost at Millwall.

The more commanding performances came from clubs with something to prove at this level. Aston Villa dispatched Huddersfield 2-0, Torres getting both. Stoke City beat York City by the same scoreline, Adu-Adjei scoring twice in a controlled performance. Ross County hammered Cheltenham 2-0 with goals in the seventh and eighteenth minutes. Stockport edged Sunderland 2-1 with a late Vargas goal rescuing the points after Johnson had levelled for Sunderland at 2-1.

⚠️ Huddersfield Town enter Season 4 with the best overall squad in the entire league by total rating – yet they lost their opener 2-0. Whether that gap closes as fitness and form beds in, or whether it remains an enigma, is one of the more intriguing questions of the early season.

❤️ Division 3 – Arsenal and Aberdeen hit the ground running

Division 3 is the most competitive of the four on paper, and the opening week suggested it will live up to that reputation. Arsenal put three past Leeds United without reply – Grabban with a brace (19′, 34′) and Ramírez wrapping it up on 77′ – to signal their promotion ambitions immediately. Aberdeen were equally businesslike, beating Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Pittodrie with first-half goals from Kanté and Afobe.

Forest Green Rovers, who finished last season in the Division 3 promotion places with the best midfield in the league, kept up that momentum with a 2-1 home win over Fulham. Carrick and Bendtner scored to counter a Parrott equaliser for Fulham, who will have been frustrated to come away with nothing. Stevenage edged Ipswich 1-0 with a 90th-minute Mateta goal – cruel on Ipswich, but that is the nature of Week 1 drama.

🔍 Watford won away at Crystal Palace despite entering the season with a squad rating considerably lower than their hosts. Crystal Palace’s squad sits at just 545 overall rating – the lowest in Division 3 – against Watford’s 644. That gap is notable.

Leicester City produced the away result of the round in Division 3, coming to Tranmere and winning 2-1 through Okazaki and Bellamy despite facing a Tranmere side playing at home. Tranmere start the season at the foot of the division, and with a squad rating of just 523 they may find this level a serious test.

💛 Division 4 – Gomis hat-trick, Hibernian arrive with a statement

The most eye-catching individual performance of the entire week came in Division 4, where Hull City’s Gomis hit a hat-trick against Colchester United – all three goals coming in an eleven-minute burst between the 64th and 75th minutes. Colchester, a newly relegated side, were taken apart at Hull City Stadium in front of nearly 40,000, and the 3-0 scoreline barely tells the story of how comfortable Hull were. Gomis ends Week 1 as the league’s joint top scorer alongside nobody – three goals is a statement in any opening week.

The other standout result came from Hibernian, who arrived in Division 4 as one of three clubs relegated from Division 3 and immediately made clear they intend to bounce back. A 2-0 away win at Manchester United – two first-half goals from Falcao and Bossio – leaves United rooted to the bottom of the division after their Week 1 home fixture. For a club of Manchester United’s history to lose at home to a relegated side in the opening week is the sort of result that lingers.

💡 Wimbledon’s Lumeka scored twice (29′, 68′) in a comfortable 2-0 win over Celtic. Lumeka and Hull’s Gomis are the early candidates for the division’s Golden Boot conversation, albeit from a sample size of one game.

Chelsea and Oxford United both won at home without conceding. Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur played out a 1-1 draw, and Bournemouth and Leyton Orient also shared the points after an 88th-minute Dempsey equaliser for the Orient cancelled out Henry’s earlier goal for Bournemouth.

🔎 The wider picture

The Squad Rankings table at the end of Week 1 makes for interesting reading. Huddersfield Town top the overall squad chart, followed by Sheffield United and Leeds United – yet all three lost their opening fixtures. Sheffield United (Division 3) and Leeds (Division 3) are both in the bottom half of their division after Week 1. That disconnect between squad strength and results is not unusual in the opening weeks, when match form, tactics and fitness matter as much as raw rating numbers, but it is worth watching as the season develops.

Among the busiest managers in the transfer market this week, Walsall parted with three players – Lovren, Rice, and Viduka – while Peterborough United and Southend United were involved in a significant loan arrangement (Peterborough sending two players to Southend for extended periods). The circuit was active, with Zlatko Dedič joining Manchester City for £3.3 million after a competitive round of bidding. Chelsea recruited Christian Demirtas, Brighton snapped up Álvaro Luengo, and Crystal Palace brought in José Díaz. Leeds also won the bidding for Alexander Meier. The early recruitment picture suggests several clubs are wasting no time reshaping their squads for the season ahead.

🔍 The Police Report flagged trouble at three fixtures: the worst incident was at Aston Villa vs Huddersfield, where 85 arrests were made and £95,999 of stadium damage was reported. Ross County vs Cheltenham and Crystal Palace vs Watford also saw disturbances. Three crowd trouble incidents in Week 1 alone is a notable early-season statistic.

👋 Community and the League Cup

Congratulations to Matthew M of Blackpool, who correctly predicted five score draws and takes home £800,000 – the only manager to get the pools right this week.

The League Cup makes its Season 4 debut in Week 2, with Round 1 split into four divisional groups. Every club has a cup tie next week alongside their league fixture. The prize money steps up sharply from Round 2 onwards, so even a first-round exit means nothing this week – but clubs who progress will find the financial reward grows quickly: £60,000 for Round 2, £90,000 for the Last 16, £150,000 for the quarter-finals and up to £600,000 for the winner. Several of Week 2’s fixtures look genuinely interesting – Rangers host Nottingham Forest in the D1 group, and Stoke take on Aston Villa in D2, both contests between sides who opened with winning results.

Fulham’s message on the Notice Board captured the mood many managers will recognise heading into a new campaign: “Good luck everybody for the new season – I for one am hoping for an improvement this season.” Twenty-nine weeks to find out.