Spart Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 First off, thanks to the mods for setting this forum up! Now to carry on from my few fledgling posts in the career thread! My setup Using 9.3 (game and db) on mac with no edits... I'm a 29 year old, ex-semi-professional footballer called Greg Johnson; a fan of Barcelona from England with family roots in Holland with the following leagues running: England (BS North/South), France (Ligue 1), Germany (Second), Holland (Eredivisie), Iceland (First), Italy (Serie B), Scotland (Third), Spain (Top), Sweden (First Elite) Season 1 - From Unemployment to Rushden! At the start of season one, after the briefest of holidays, i was offered a job at Rushden & Diamonds for £825p/w with a contract until June 2011 which i quickly accepted. I found a club with great potential and, with a few shrewd signings, i thought i had a chance to do something at this club! We finished the first season 29 pts. clear, unbeaten and with a 66+ goal difference as you can see above. The top XI of the year also including 7 of my players. We also won the conference cup and i picked up manager of the year and managed to reach the fourth round of the FA cup, being beaten by Tottenham. My only real dissapointment is losing in the 3rd round of the FA trophy to Barrow. From the start i wanted to bring exciting, attractive football to Neve Park and, although at times defensively shakey, we stormed the league with our stylish and flashly play, scoring some brilliant goals and racking up some high scoring wins along the way! An overall, highly positive season! Season 2 The plan for next season is try and re-loan or sign my my two most successful loans of last season, Andrea Mutombo (re-loan) and Dean Bowditch (sign him up!) as well as cherry picking some of the blue square's best players to add to bolster up my young and creative squad. Defense is a major concern. The two veterans i bought on a free at the start of last season, Zigor Aranalde and Dennis Iliohan have one last season in them for me but their high wages may have to be dealt with as i've been running over all season. There's a lot of fat to be cut at Rushden, too many players i no longer want or need. It's going to be a busy summer! See you in league two. Season Team League Position Achievements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2008/09 Rushden Blue Square Prem 1st Conference Cup winners 2009/10 Rushden Blue Square Prem Ongoing Media prediction 21st. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilez2 Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Incredible 1st season mate. Good luck for your 2nd year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spart Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Season 2 - Unexpected glory in League 2 With a media prediction of finishing 21st, we were cast as survivors of relegation in League 2. We started the season with a bang and our momentum carried us into the upper echelons and into a season long duel with Port Vale for 1st and 2nd place. We eventually came out tops! A far tighter season than our dominant unbeaten victory in the blue square. Even with a couple of new additions, our defense was shown to be weak on a number of occasions but, considering we were relying on Macheda on loan as our only consistant goal threat until Christmas, we put away a fair few goals and managed to challenge in almost every fixture. Come Januaray i picked up frenchman, Robin Previtali on a free from FC Sochaux-Montbeliard, a buy that was awarded best transfer of the season in the division. No successes in the cup competition this year; We were knocked out of the FA cup in the third round by Premiership newcomers, Wolves, Brighton took us out of the Johnstone Pain trophy at the southern quarter finals and Peterborough killed of any chance of a league cup run, defeating us in the 1st round. The football at Nene Park stayed attacking and full of flair. I brought in practically a second teams worth of youngsters on a free and, after being released by Hull, Mr. Dean Windass. Andrea Mutombo was again brought on board on loan but Dean Windass signed for Oldham on a free. From the trial days I picked up my three best signings of the year; Magnus Eikrem, Jared Wilson and Nathan Smith alongside a number of player touted, by my scouts, as ones for the future. This sudden influx of players led to many in the squad being put on a rotation system and this did cause a few problems not to mention my ever expanding wage bill. By the end of the season though the depth of my squad and burgeoning talent of my youngsters made all the difference. With a smaller squad the sheer amount of injurys i suffered this year would have killed our season but almost every player was able to step it up when called upon to do so. There were a couple of disappointments, most notably from the defenders i bought to bright experience in sometimes barely scraping ratings of 6 even in home matches. They did improve as the season went on however. Match of the season has got be our comeback from 5-1 down, away at Bury. We stormed the second half and came out winners at 5-6 against a team were expected to be destroyed by and almost were. Another very positive season! Leaving us this year to retire from playing... Zigor Aranalde - a 35 year old that i took a punt on in my first and paid off. my vice captin for the last two season although he didn't get many games. Now 37. Leaving to become a coach. Dennis Illohan - bought at 36, he was an impressive goal contributer in our first season but was unable to break into the first team once we'd made it to league two. Now 39. Leaving to become a physio. Dean Windass - we got one season our of the 40 year old and he put in a good number of goals and assists for us, acting as a creative gem in our attack. Leaving for management. And for those interested... Argentina won the world cup with Italy coming second, Ivory Coast third and Germany fourth. England were knocked out in the second round by Italy. Season 3 With our main wage earners, Aranalde and Illohan, leaving, the wage situation sorted itself out. I used my new surplus to sign Mutombo who, shortly after leaving us on loan, was released by Portsmouth. We also went in again for Bowditch as he wasn't offered another contract at Oldham. My plan is to loan as much premier league talent as possible to shore up my squad. According to my assistant manager, the team should actually be fairly capable in our new division. Regardless, i promised the board nothing more than a valiant attempt to avoid relegation. I feel this year could prove to be the year of make or break after two successive seasons of over achievement. Leage One approaches! Season Team League Position Achievements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2008/09 Rushden Blue Square Prem 1st Conference Cup winners 2009/10 Rushden League 2 1st Media Prediction 21st. 2010/11 Rushden League 1 Ongoing Media Prediction 24th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spart Posted September 4, 2009 Author Share Posted September 4, 2009 Season 3 - A stunner of a season! At the start of the season we were predicted to end nowhere higher than 24th. I told my chairman i expected to fight valiantly against relegation but that, sadly, it was probably an inevitability. We shocked the entire division by claiming into the top sixth, then the top three and then camping out at 1st for the majority of the mid season. Only a few poor losses and a storming run by Southampton dumped us down to 2nd. My best players of the year were Matty Ritchie, Zoltan Harsanyi and Robin Previtali, who also happened to win top goalscorer and highest average rated player for the entire season. The blip we experienced was mainly down to injuries to to Zoltan and Previtali. I made last year's amazing free signing wing backs, Nathan Smith and Jared Wilson, my captain and vice-captain respectively. Yet again, no successes in the cup competition this year. The closest we got to glory was forcing a reply in the 3rd round against Stoke with our first choice strikers out and also our defensive midfield loan signing. We started the season poorly collecting only 4 points from our first 5 games. I stuck with it though and refused to comprise on my philosophy of playing football and somewhere along the line we broke through. The team are now on a high in morale and feel they are working as a cohesive unit with a very strong understanding. At the end of the season, the one year extension i signed at the end of last season was close to ending. My players pleaded for me to sign a new one, which i did to keep me at Nene Park until 2014. Season 4 We enter the championship with nothing to lose. Realistically, all i'm aiming for is survival and financial stability. I've ran the club's books through hell and back for the last three seasons but now, with new lucrative sponsors, we have a chance at building a lasting base for future glories. Championship here we come! Season Team League Position Achievements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2008/09 Rushden Blue Square Prem 1st Conference Cup winners 2009/10 Rushden League 2 1st Media Prediction 21st. 2010/11 Rushden League 1 2nd Media Prediction 24th 2011/12 Rushden Championship Ongoing Media Prediction 24th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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