Dream Team (season 8)

Dream Team Season 8
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	32
Broadcast
Original channel	Sky1
Original run	October 17, 2004 – May 29, 2005
Season chronology
← Previous Season 7 Next → Season 9

The eighth series of Dream Team was broadcast on Sky1 from October 2004 to May 2005, covering the 2004-05 English football season. It followed the story of Harchester United attempting to return to the Premier League after relegation the previous season and their first participation in the UEFA Champions League.

Cast

Several new faces were brought on board for season eight, mainly within the backroom staff of the club. The most notable of the new signings was former Boyzone singer Shane Lynch, in his first major acting role on television.

Main cast

• Stephen Raman-Hughes as Carl Caskey
• Timothy Smith as Clyde Connelly
• Chucky Venice as Curtis Alexander
• Danny Husbands as Danny Sullivan
• Michael Ryan as Dean Boyle
• Jon Morrison as Don Barker
• Shane Lynch as Eli Knox
• Colin Parry as Frank Stone
• Kara Tointon as Gina Moliano
• Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty as Jodie Stone
• Terry Kiely as Karl Fletcher
• James Watts as Lee Presley
• Ricky Whittle as Ryan Naysmith
• Lisa McAllister as Sofia Moxham
• Chris Brazier as Tommy Valentine
• Philip Brodie as Vivian "Jaws" Wright

Supporting cast

• Andy Ansah as himself
• Karen Ferrari as Chelsea Wright
• Darren White as Darren Tyson
• Lamorna Watts as Holly Jones
• Ray MacAllan as Jeff Stein
• Rebecca Loos as Naomi Wyatt
• Ike Hamilton as Nathan Woods
• Cassandra Bell as Nicole Caskey
• Nina Muschallik as Nikki Peggs
• Hannah Tointon as Savannah Caskey

In addition there were cameo appearances throughout the season by Jeff Stelling and George Gavin as themselves. Kevin Keatings remained as match commentator for the third consecutive season.

Episodes

#	Episode title	Written by	Original airdate
325 - 8.01	"Down"	Harry Hewland	October 17, 2004
Following relegation to the newly-formed Championship by UEFA as punishment for match fixing, Harchester attempts to appeal against the decision but fails. Management changes immediately come into force. Eli Knox, a wealthy online casino entrepreneur, purchases the club and poaches Donald Barker from Wigan Athletic to join as manager. Frank Stone, Barker's son-in-law, also leaves Wigan to play for the Dragons and midfielder Tommy Valentine joins on loan from Chelsea. Barker immediately gets to work in adjusting the squad to Championship-style football, which the players seem to like except for Clyde Connelly, who is not happy in having to give up his preferred playing position to Valentine. The first match of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion is a disaster with the squad lacking in faith, and lose 1-0 with Barker sent to the stands to rub salt in the wound. First appearances of: Don Barker, Frank Stone, Jodie Stone, Eli Knox, Sofia Moxham and Tommy Valentine
326 - 8.02	"Out"	Jaswinder Bancil & Jesse O'Mahoney	October 24, 2004
The team flies out to Portugal to face Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their third qualifying round match in the UEFA Champions League. Lee Presley is forced to stay home after receiving an offer from Manchester United but ends up travelling to Lisbon to join the rest of the squad. Meanwhile, Tommy dislocates his shoulder in a gym workout but is determined to shake it off in time. He doesn't and when to trying to excuse himself out of the morning training session, Barker takes him on a car drive and abandons him 15 miles from the team hotel. New physio, Holly Jones, later bails Tommy out by stealing Barker's car is consequently fired. After Holly deals with Tommy's injury, he attempts to get her job back but winds up insulting Frank's wife Jodie and leads to a massive team brawl in the bar. The whole squad is arrested and thrown in a Portugese jail cell except for Viv Wright, who ignores the commotion and Lee, who gets drunk with two Portugese women. After an argument with his agent Nikki, it leads to the two sleeping together only for Viv to find out the next morning. The squad is bailed out by Barker with the exception of Tommy, as Holly decides he is not fit to play. Manchester United withdraws its bid for Presley and Barker duly places him in the starting eleven for the Sporting Lisbon match. It proves to be crucial as he scores just seconds into the start of the match. First appearance of: Holly Jones
327 - 8.03	"Last Exit To Harchester"	Andrew Hunt	October 31, 2004
After taking the lead in their Champions League qualifying match against Sporting Lisbon, Harchester go on to lose 2-1. The build-up to the second leg is dominated by players wanting to leave for better clubs with offers from Barcelona for Lee, Bolton Wanderers for Viv and Charlton Athletic for Curtis Alexander. Eli tells Dean to stall all transfers from going ahead until the game has been played as they can't afford to sell key players if they want to win promotion. At a team dinner, however, Jeff Stein finalises a deal for Lee's move to Barcelona and Viv ends up telling up about Lee and Nikki sleeping together in Portugal. Meanwhile, Eli has better ideas and order the transfer documents to be shredded and informs Bolton of Viv's secret mental disorder so that they lose interest in him. Harchester win the crucial second leg match 1-0 to qualify fot the Champions League group stage and all transfers are called off, leaving the players dejected whilst both Jeff and Nikki leave Harchester, being forceably removed from their jobs. Last appearances of: Nikki Peggs and Jeff Stein
328 - 8.04	"Boot Camp"	Rachel Flowerday	November 7, 2004
Barker still believes the agilty and teamwork within the squad still isn't up to standard and so arranges for the squad to spend a few days at an army boot camp. Meanwhile, feeling bored at not being able to train as he still recovers from his broken leg, Ryan Naysmith begins to spend time with Viv's wife Chelsea, at the idea of Dean. At boot camp, the players are pushed to the absolute limit, especially Clyde, who is exposed for being weaker and tiring out too quickly. In the final challenge, an assualt course, Clyde can't take any more pain and Curtis is forced to break ranks and convince Clyde to carry on and complete the course, which he does. Barker duly decides to retain Curtis as team captain following the trip.
329 - 8.05	"El Burro"	Jesse O'Mahoney	November 14, 2004
Harchester stretch their unbeaten run in the Championship to five games, with a 2-0 win over West Ham United, earning Don Barker the Manager Of The Month award. The team now faces its most tricky test yet as their first match in the group stage of the Champions League is against none other than Barcelona, in a group that will also see them play Paris Saint-Germain and Celtic. The visit of Barcelona no doubt raises the prospect of strong revenue and is boosted by Jodie's idea to hold a charity auction with player's donating old football shirts. Meanwhile, Ryan and Chelsea continue to grow closer as they head on a romantic picnic together, and later find themselves in a passionate embrace in an empty closet inside the stadium. During this, Harchester play Barcelona and it all goes horribly wrong. Barcelona win 5-0, with both Clyde and Frank making fundemental errors throughout the game. Connelly's winding up of Frank after the game makes him agitated even further and when Connelly bumps into him in a dark alleyway of the stadium, his frustration finally gets the better of him and he beats Connelly up to within an inch of his life.
330 - 8.06	"Stonegate"	Ben Harris	November 21, 2004
Ryan and Chelsea discover Clyde battered and brused and rush him to hospital. When he is discharged, he is furious to see Barker has done nothing about the situation and decides to sell the story to the tabloids. Meanwhile, concerned that his marriage is falling apart, Viv confides in Ryan to suggest seeking a counsellor, unaware of their secret affair. As the pressure continues to grow on Connelly, he drowns his sorrows in a lap dancing club, only to be spotted by Barker. He promptly puts him into the starting eleven for the match against Gillingham, which Harchester loses 2-0, to expose his weakness even further. Then, he invites him to the post-match press conference where Connelly's antics the night before are revealed which turns the press against Connelly and making him feel more isolated than ever before.
331 - 8.07	"The Long Kiss Goodnight"	Ben Harris	November 28, 2004
Connelly continues to sink further into depression, delibrately turning up late for training and making the rest of squad do extra training. Meanwhile, Viv reaches a breakthrough with his anger therapy whilst Chelsea, believing she can't keep her liaison going further, decides to run off to the Maldives with Ryan. After Tommy discovers Clyde's paranoia with Barker, he warns Barker not to start Clyde in the Champions League match against PSG. Barker refuses but Connelly plays a blinder in a 2-0 Harchester win, setting up a goal for Alexander and scoring one himself. During this, at East Midlands Airport, Ryan gets too engrossed in the match and Chelsea leaves for the Maldives without him. Clyde is substitued towards the end of the match but instead of taking a seat on the bench, he goes down the tunnel, walks onto the stadium gantry, and commits suicide by jumping off the roof. Last appearances of: Clyde Connelly and Chelsea Wright
332 - 8.08	"Blame"	Andrew Hunt	December 5, 2004
The players' celebration of a 2-0 win over PSG is short-lived by the news of Connelly's death. Everyone is dismayed but Tommy immediantely blames Barker for including Connelly in the starting line-up. The players decide to drown their sorrows at Viv's bar but are kicked out when Viv discovers that Chelsea has left him. Angry, he vows to kill whoever cheated with his wife, leaving a guilty Ryan on edge. After Holly and Tommy come across a suicide note from Clyde, they give it to Clyde's mother, who releases it to the press and calls for Barker to be sacked. At the same time, Barker gives suspicsion to Viv that is was Ryan who slept with Chelsea. Viv soon turns up in Ryan's hotel room and threatens him with a shotgun. Ryan is forced to convince to Viv to put the blame on Clyde for sleeping with Chelsea, which he believes. An under-pressure Barker leads Harchester to a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, thanks to a Tommy Valentine penalty kick and his efforts to convince the press not to blame him over Connelly's death convinces Dean and Eli to keep him as manager of the club.
333 - 8.09	"Coupe De Foudre"	Rachel Flowerday	December 12, 2004
Whilst visiting Clyde's grave, Dean meets Shay Maguire, leader of the Harchester United Supporters Association. On his advice, Dean requests to Eli for more transfer money to be made available to sign a quality replacement for Connelly. Carlos Valdez, a top-class midfielder at Juventus, immediantely comes to mind but the catch is that Tommy Valentine must be sold to Juventus if the deal would go ahead. Meanwhile, ahead of their reverse Champions League fixture against PSG, Barker rests Valentine and Lee Presley for the upcoming Championship match against Wigan Athletic. When Valentine lets Shay in on Barker's tactics, Shay hijacks the teach coach and refuses to give way until Barker changes his mind, which he eventually does. Then, the match against Wigan is postponed as the opposition is struck down with illness, ensuring Valentine and Presley can play against PSG, but the team still loses 1-0 and is left under severe pressure to qualify from their group and to make matters worse, the Valdez transfer deal falls through. Guest starring: Craig Charles as Joel Brooks
334 - 8.10	"Who Ate All The Pies?"	Jaswinder Bancil	December 19, 2004
A last-gasp 1-1 draw at home to Celtic has left Harchester with a fighting chance to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. However, they must travel to and beat Barcelona. In the Spanish city, Dean is surprised to find Harchester legend Karl Fletcher, who now plays his football for Real Murcia. Together, they try but fail to sign Argentinian playmaker Gabriel Batistuta to join the Dragons. Meanwhile, Tommy tries to pay off Shay's wife Michelle so that their secret liaison remains a secret but Jodie ensures the incriminating evidence to sent to Shay's phone. Harchester manage to pull off a surprise 1-0 win in the Nou Camp and with the PSG v Celtic game ending 2-2, Harchester qualify for the next round. But then at the aftermatch party, Shay sneaks inside and gets revenge on Tommy for playing about with his other half...by stabbing him in the back!
335 - 8.11	"A Contract Killing"	Jesse O'Mahoney	January 2, 2005
After failing to sign Batistuta to Harchester, Dean is now hopeful that Fletcher will give up his place at Real Murcia and rejoin the Dragons but every convincing moment turns out to be a failure. Matters are further complicated when a youth academy player named Byron claims to be Flecther's secret son. Meanwhile, Tommy awakens from being attacked by Shay but is left scared when he learns that the Spanish police fell for Shay's alibi and was released without charge. When Tommy suffers a panic attack, he arranges for Shay to be killed by hitman but later has second thoughts about the idea and after failing to contact the hitman to try to call off the deal, he fears the worst only to see Shay in the crowd on the control room. After helping Byron to get back into the academy after he was let go, Fletcher takes a seat for Harchester's Championship match against Derby County...and there and then, he signs the contract to return to Harchester. First appearance of: Gina Moliano
336 - 8.12	"This Town Ain't Big Enough"	Jane Hewland & Tom Rob Smith	January 9, 2005
Fletcher's return massively excites the Harchester supporters ahead of the FA Cup third round tie against Manchester City. Barker, however, isn't best pleased with Dean's work in making Fletcher return and treats him badly on the training pitch. The night before the game, Fletcher invites Lee on an all-night bender and when Barker discovers their antics, he promptly drops Lee and puts Fletch into the starting eleven, in a hope to destroy his credibility once and for all. It works as Fletch plays badly in the first half, leading to the other players to cut him out of play for the second half. But when a late free kick is awarded to Harchester, Fletcher goes against the wishes of the others by taking it and scoring, ensuring Harchester go into the next round and making Barker look a bit of a fool. Meanhwhile, Lee's behaviour on the pull soon catches up with him, ruining any prospects of a date with Shanice, the mother of youth player Byron.