There were next to no expectations for Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies for this season, as the supporters recognized that their new recruits needed time to get in the groove. It would be a rather relaxed year, then, and not even all that disastrous on the results front, as both clubs secured mid-table finishes in Division Three. Not so for Grilled International, who were painfully relegated after a spate of inconsistent performances, and then got found out by hungry challengers in their qualifier.

The Birds would welcome Damian Hutter and Egemen Dinçer Ferzan early in the campaign, if neither as core signings, though Hutter would arrive nicely on time to fill in for the injury-stricken Gilbert Webb. This was after a difficult start to the league that saw Grilled Birds lose their first three matches, and if it was close against LKS FC and HEBFC Tonners FC, a 0-4 home destruction by TeamNigma clarified that the Birds remained a ways off the cream of the third division. Moey Xin Seng and Chan Ze Han finally stood up to be counted in the fourth round against Mayuyu AKB48, which set them off a seven-game winning run.

Nothing doing in the cups as the Birds were dumped out by Yomiuri Giants in the second round of the main event, and JR Football Club in the Ruby Challenger Cup, as they had little enough talent to spare in the rotation. To address the exits, Tian Yonghang had his charges participate in tournaments aplenty, which helped to prep the youngsters for the rigours of a full season. Aw Keng Chuan emerged as a leading light, as he lent a much-needed stability to central midfield, with Enrique Baena also growing from cult hero to actually-serviceable wing option. The reliability of Bhavya Panigrahi was also remarkable, in a period where many of Grilled's seniors suffered from extended timeouts from physical ailments.

It was much the same story for the Farmer Bunnies, who continued integrating their large and growing class of academy hopefuls, while putting their former stars out to pasture, sometimes on the wings. There wasn't much coherence to speak of, as the Buns resorted to having Vitaliy Efendiev try and carry the attack mostly by himself, a forlorn cause. In that light, Efendiev's haul of six goals - two ahead of next-best scorer Aitykul Zaripbekov - had to be accounted quite respectable, as the Buns hobbled into fourth place with workmanlike wins against the weaker set.

Their losses being largely competitive was a good sign for head coach Dalibor Kostadinović, who spent much of his time seeking profitable deals for the Buns' remaining valuable assets. Richard Agyei, Xue Kangfang, Aitykul Zaripbekov, Lim Su Liang and then Sunil Patel would all depart on multi-million dollar deals, as Kostadinović refilled the treasury for future glory. A number of old soldiers, most notably Wong Ting Yew and Llamil Vener, would also retire towards the end of the season, leaving the Buns a clean slate to start afresh with.

If the Birds and the Buns fulfilled expectations, Grilled International could not pretend to have done so, as Didi Reidenbach's squad heavily underperformed the minimum that was expected of them. There had been an air on inevitability about the drop, after International had cheated death in relegation deciders for the past three seasons, and it had long been clear that their lone runners-up finish in IV.54 had been a fluke. On the face of it, they had to be more than a match for any other side in the league, but the sum of their parts remained stubbornly less than their individual reputations.

For example, Hardi bin Besar together with Li Xin Chi and Tibor Atzenhain represented an attack at least as good as those of Rohan, Al Khanal, roter stern ghana or The Sun men, all of those who however schooled International regardless. Both roter and Al Khanal managed to hit seven past Querubim Santos Couto when International went visiting, which indicated where the failings lay - although it's not as if Didi Reidenbach needed any hints. For better or worse, Grilled International's weak spots had not been fixed for years, with the coaching staff apparently planning for their strengths to overwrite those.

There will be no more last chances, however, and a 4-5 defeat to Avatar FF in the qualifier set off a wholesale rethinking of the club's future. As with the Buns, almost all of International's big names were made available, but as to whether Reidenbach will stick around to oversee International's reforging, only the board knows.