[FM09] It's not plain sailing

This is my second run at an FM09 LLM career. The first one is here if you want to read it. To cut a long story short, my thread was closed after I spent the last 5 years of my 25 year career winning lots of trophies with Peterborough United. The subsequent bashing I got from members of the LLM forum accusing me of cheating actually led to me giving up on FM completely - apart from testing FM10, I've been nowhere near it for 5 months. And as I've been playing it a couple of times a week for at least the previous 12 years, that was a bid deal! I'm now fully rested up and ready to go again though...

One of the main problems with my Peterborough save was that I was playing on a small database with only the British leagues and Switzerland loaded. This meant that after 15-20 seasons of play, good quality players were few and far between as it was such a small database. This led to my Posh team cornering the market on talented young players, as I had the scouting network and resources to sign every highly recommended youngster my scouts found. Unfortunately, this led to a pretty uninteresting game, as it became impossible for my team to do anything but win.

So this time around, I'm loading up a large database, and every league from Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. I've also retained all players from England, as that's where my story starts. So hopefully the database will always be big enough to stop me or anyone else cornering the market for talent. To make things extra interesting, I've also decided against using real player names, so there's no way I can base transfer decisions on information I know from real life. Other than this, I'll be playing very much in an LLM style. I'm playing on the 9.3 patch. Attribute masking is turned on.

For anyone not familiar with LLM, the idea is to play the game as close to real life as it is possible to be. The basic guidelines I'm playing to are:

• All tactics will be my own creations, not downloaded or copied from anyone else
  
• All training plans will also be my creations, again with no downloads or copies
  
• I won't be going near the player search screen, as there is no equivalent to this in the real world
  
• I will only sign players found by my scouts, or who I would know about in game (ie. I've played against them, I've been linked to them by the media)
  
• I will be starting with an automatic reputation, as I have no footballing experience in real life
  
• I won't be sharing any tips or tactics in this thread
  
• Most importantly, I will be basing my decisions in game on what I would do in real life. So if a club offers to double my salary in a new job, chances are I'll take it. Likewise, if I'm offered a job in the Brazilian lower leagues, the money will have to be amazing for me to even consider it!
  

Again, inkeeping with the idea of realism, I have chosen to start with the nearest BSN/BSS team to where I live (I live in Peterborough), so I will be starting with King's Lynn in the Blue Square North.

Pre-season update to follow shortly...

So the story starts in July 2008, at The Walks Stadium, home of King's Lynn FC. The chairman has handed me a 3 year contract on £190 per week, and told me he's looking for a mid table finish. To achieve this, I've got a squad of has-beens, never-was' and too-young-to-tells. Along with a transfer kitty of £3.5K and a weekly wage budget of £1.4K. The current wage bill is £995 per week, so I have some room to play with there.

The first problem I come across is that Norwich and Cambridge are both listed as parent clubs. As English clubs aren't allowed parent clubs by FA rules, I cancel the Norwich link immediately, but I can't cancel the Cambridge one until next summer. I just won't take any players from them in the meantime.

Our starting bank balance is £39,433. We have a 1 year kit sponsorship deal in place for £15K that expires next summer. Average ticket prices are £10, average season tickets are £204. There are 200 season ticket holders. Summary of all that information = this is a very small football club! Suprisingly, our estimated value is the highest in the division though at £425K. There must be some hidden potential that I can't see yet!

Perhaps it's the ground, which is a decent size for this level with a capacity of 8200 (1200 seats). This could lead to some decent income from cup runs. The stadium is in good condition, and we're blessed with basic youth and training facilities.

The media are expecting us to finish in 15th place. If we do that, the board should be happy to, so hopefully I've got an achievable season ahead of me.

The kindest way to describe my backroom staff is that they're OK. There's the assistant manager, a coach and a physio who are all fairly average for this level. The scout is terrible, but the board will let me have another one, so an advert is placed at the job centre. Strangely, my 22 year old DMC also doubles up as a rather good GK coach. In fact, his stats show him to be the best coach at the club, so I offer him a new deal as a player/coach, and he starts training the rest of the lads.

The board will only allow me to scout England, so I send the terrible scout out to see what he can find. He's soon joined by a slightly better scout who applied through the job centre. He was unemployed, so no transfer fee for him.

Between the 2 of them and the England Trials Day, they find me about 30 players who all come on trial over the summer. 14 of them become permanent signings (basically 1 for each position, a spare GK and a utility man). I also decided to splash £1000 on a central midfielder who becomes the only player I pay money for all summer. I added a couple of season long loans as well, and identified 6 players who were already at the club who should be good enough to stay in my squad by playing friendlies and consulting with my assistant. During this time, I released 14 players (some of them frees to other clubs, the rest cancelled non-contract players and mutual terminations). I also sent one of the loans back, as he broke his leg in the final pre-season friendly.

After all this wheeler-dealing, I'm left with a first team squad of 22 (unspectacular but solid) first team players, plus 8 youth players (who are self financing because of youth grants). The total weekly wage bill of my new look 30 man squad is £1308 (£100 under budget!), and our bank balance sits at a healthy £61,295, thanks to sponsorship, season ticket sales, and a couple of pre-season friendlies against league clubs.

All of which brings me to the start of my first season. I'll post another update at the end of the season (I'm about half way through at the moment).

Cheers

Kev

Good luck with this Kev. I followed your progress in your other thread and was disappointed to see the bashing you got. I received the very same thing and my thread, From Hong Kong With Love, was closed in LLM with no reason other than "I may have cheated" simply because I had a little success and I posted about tactics. Not asking for tactics but quering the ambiguity of them in 09. Funnily enough, that was what instigated my push for the creation of this forum and I'm delighted that people are finding their way here and posting their stories. So, without yours or my threads being closed in LLM, this forum may not have been created!

Anyway, like I said, good luck with this. I play my games in the same way and I shall be interested in seeing how you do .

Another well done from me Kev!

I shall be following this very closely as Norfolk is my home county and every team around that area execpt for Ipswich I feel for.

To be honest I feel the LLM forum is a bit of a joke. For people like me who play the game slowly and get a season done every month will never get a career started and evan if they do, to be accused of cheating just because you win titles is just a disgrace. However I feel the LLM game rules are good and I may be looking to do this with my next game. (To my viewers that does not mean i'm quitting my save any time soon)

Hope you have a good time with Kings Lynn, prehaps you may get to Norwich in the future .

I will also be watching as i am one of those 200 season ticket holders you speak of. Good luck.

Thanks folks. This forum certainly seems a lot more relaxed about rules and things than LLM, so hopefully I can just enjoy posting about my save and read what other people are up to without worrying that I'm winning too much!

As for managing Norwich one day - I might look to use them as a stepping stone on my way to the biggest club in East Anglia, the mighty Posh...

King's Lynn FC - Blue Square North - 2008/09

We had a great start to the season, and up until Christmas I thought we were serious title contenders. Unfortunatey, around this time several of our key players picked up injuries, including a long term one for our star man. We started to slip down the table, and managed to scrape into the playoffs by the skin of our teeth. It wasn't to be though, and we were knocked out in the semi-finals by Gateshead, who had been top of the league for most of the season and just outclassed us. We had no fit senior forwards for either leg, so didn't really stand much of a chance with untried youngsters up front...

League Table

League Position Graph

We had some good runs in all of the cups though, and prize money and gate receipts from these, along with some pretty frugal management, led to our bank balance sitting at £306,464 by the end of the season, a profit for the season of £286,231.

FA Cup - we had a great run, knocking out League 2 Dagenham & Redbridge along the way, but lost out in a fairly even contest to Hornchurch in the second round.

Conference League Cup - sadly a familiar story as the season went on. We looked good at the back, had good possession, but just couldn't get the goals we needed...

FA Trophy - completed dominated by a much better side. This one came just too late in the season for us, when the threadbare squad was starting to show some serious gaps.

Transfers - only signed one player mid-season, who gave us some much needed midfield cover. The quality of the signings was generally good, there just wasn't enough of them in the end! I blame the very low wage budget. Luckily, we've got an extra £400 a week to spend on wages next season, so I should be able to get some proper cover in the squad.

Team of the Year - The GK, back 4 and holding midfielder were generally solid throughout the season and picked themselves. I don't see the need for major change there. Further forward we had a good spread of goals, but really need a new forward capable of knocking in 20+ for us if we're to challenge for promotion next year. We were also hit by a lot of injuries to the attacking players, so I may need to have a look at my training for midfielders and forwards...

Player of the Year - Without doubt our key man going forward. For the early part of the season when he was fit, every attack seemed to go through him, and he was a constant danger from the left wing. In February he tore his calf muscle, which put him out for the rest of the season, and we were never the same team. For a successful season next year, I need to keep him fit.

Season Summary

Considering the media were predicting a 15th place finish, and the board agreed with them, the board and the fans are over the moon at overachieving in every competition, whilst at the same time building a very healthy bank balance. And I would have settled for that at the start of the season too. But I can't help thinking about what might have been if Read hadn't have got injured. I'm pretty sure we'd have gone on to make a good challenge for automatic promotion, or failing that a better go at the play-offs.

As far as next season goes, the board have handed me a transfer budget of £45,000 and an extra £400 a week for wages as a reward for such a good season off the field, so hopefully I can add one or two players in key positions (I need a proper goalscoring centre forward!), and have a real go at promotion next year.

I'll be posting again at the start of next season to let you know what I've been upto pre-season (my off season usually lasts as long as the season itself in actual game time). Hopefully I'll be telling you about my new striker who scored 30 goals in League 2 last year, but wanted the challenge of the BSN. I can dream...

Unlucky there at the playoffs Kev!

I to know the heart break of the play offs, in my previous save I took Havant & Waterlooville on a massive winning streak from November when they were almost bottom to 3 points away from the playoffs! (That save was the "United Kingdom Journey" on this very forum.

2008/09 Season Summary

Premier Division

Winners - Chelsea

Relegated - Portsmouth, Bolton, Stoke

Championship

Winners - Reading

Promoted - Reading, Birmingham, Sheff Utd

Relegated - Charlton, Norwich, Southampton

League 1

Winners - Huddersfield

Promoted - Huddersfield, Peterborough, Millwall

Relegated - Yeovil, Bristol Rovers, Stockport, Hereford

League 2

Winners - Grimsby

Promoted - Grimsby, Gillingham, Wycome, Lincoln

Relegated - Macclesfield, Bournemouth

Conference

Winners - Stevenage

Promoted - Stevenage, Rushden

Relegated - Eastbourne Boro, Crawley, Lewes, Barrow

Conference North

Winners - Tamworth

Promoted - Tamworth, Harrogate

Relegated - Stalybridge, Stafford, Hucknall

Conference South

Winners - Chelmsford

Promoted - Chelmsford, Braintree

Relegated - Hampton & Richmond, Newport Co, Bath

FA Cup Winners - Man Utd

League Cup Winners - Chelsea

Community Shield Winners - Portsmouth

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners - Leeds

Conference League Cup Winners - Oxford

FA Trophy Winners - Histon

Champions League Winners - Chelsea

UEFA Cup Winners - Barcelona

It's interesting to see that the same 3 teams got relegated from the Championship in my games as in real life...

Unlucky there at the playoffs Kev!

I to know the heart break of the play offs, in my previous save I took Havant & Waterlooville on a massive winning streak from November when they were almost bottom to 3 points away from the playoffs! (That save was the "United Kingdom Journey" on this very forum.

I don't have a very good history with play-offs. I lost the only ones I played in in my last save too...

Nice job, unlucky in the end.

It's a much better result than what actually happened to us in real life, but thats a different story.

I like the lay out. It makes it look very nice on the page and is easy to find all the info. A good read, keep up the good work.

Thanks for the feedback. I can't take much credit for the layout, it's very much stolen from dafuge with just a couple of tweaks.

And I don't think a repeat of the real life King's Lynn story would have made for a very fun game!

Pre-Season Update

The board finally announced a profit of £275K for last season, which considering we only started with a balance of £46K was a great achievement. This means that this season, I've got a little bit more financial freedom, and can try and bring in some higher quality players. They have given me a transfer budget of £46,000 (last year £3000) and a weekly wage budget of £1800 (last year £1400).

My thinking is that I could go one of two ways with this extra money. I could make improvements to every area of the squad to improve overall quality and hope that is enough to give us the extra push for promotion. Or I could keep the backbone of the team as it is, and just add a few very high quality players. I decided to do the second option, as I think this will lead to a better team overall.

My main priority was to sign a proven goalscorer who could get us 20+ goals a season from the lone striker position. I could also do with some extra cover for my wingers and attacking midfielders. Defensively we did well last year, and I was in no hurry to improve at the back.

But nothing ever seems to go to plan when I'm playing FM. I scouted all summer, went back over last years scout reports, and attended the trial day. And could I find any attacking players? Of course not. What I did find was a 22 year old Greek goalkeeper at Charlton who played 2 Under 21 internationals last season on the transfer list for only £2K. So I bought him and in the process smashed my self imposed limit of £100 a week salaries. He is miles better than my current keeper, and my scout thinks he will be good enough for League 2 one day, so I hope he's worth the money - Xenofon Ioannidis.

At this point, I'd already doubled my maximum weekly wage limit, so why not do it again? I adjusted my budgets, bringing the transfer budget down to £6000 and the wage budget up to £2649 to allow me to pay £425 a week to a 19 year old Austrian who played 4 Under 21 games last year and has just been released by West Ham. Had I finally found the striker I needed? Of course not. He was a centre back. Christian Brandstetter. I didn't really need him, but he's so much better than my other defenders, so hopefully I won't regret giving him so much of my budget. My assistant manager thinks he'll be good enough for League 1 one day.

While all this was going on, I actually released 2 of my 3 strikers from last season, because I fully intended to bring a new one in. But as the summer went on, I just couldn't find one. I signed a few more backup players (a left back, right back and right winger), but none of them will be ready for the first team for a while. I've also saved £500 of my weekly wage budget for when I find my ideal forward. But as it is, I'm going into the first game of the season with O'Connor, my top scorer from last season, and the highlight of my youth intake from this year Steven Battams. He's only 15 at the moment, so I don't expect to play him very often, but my assistant thinks he's destined for League 2 at some point, so hopefully he can take King's Lynn with him!

In other pre-season news, we only sold 172 season tickets this year, compared to 200 last year. King's Lynn fans are obviously an ungrateful lot! We also have a new kit sponsorship deal - 3 years at £16K a year. That's only a £1000 improvement on our previous 1 year deal. I think they saw us coming. If we get a couple of promotions in that time, the sponsors have got themselves a bargain. My board obviously aren't expecting big things from me!

What they expecting is a mid table finish, and mediocre cup performances, which I'm pretty sure I can provide. The media are predicting we'll finish 7th. Unless I find a striker soon, I'll have to agree with them. If I can find the missing piece of the puzzle, I think we can win the league. But it might have to be without our injury prone star man Read, who got himself fit again for pre-season, only to get injured in the first friendly and rule himself out for the first 6 weeks of the season...

Nice first season despite the heart break of the play-offs. I know how it feels, I lost the play-offs two years in a row in my From Hong Kong With Love save. But, i'm sure you're going to be stronger from the experience and hopefully you can push on this year and go up.

Nice read and layout. Same as you, I opted to style my updates in a similar way to dafuge...cheers dafuge, i'm sure you don't mind

A good first season lollujo.

Agree totally about LLM. I have exactly one post in there, got flamed, and then went over to CSE. CSE and the Careers forum are the two friendliest sub forums on the SI Forums.

Hope for a push for promotion.

Hope we didn't put you off completely lollujo!

Hope we didn't put you off completely lollujo!

To be fair, it's a minority of the regulars who cause the problem. It's a significant minority though, and they spoil it for everyone else. I think I'll be happy enough in my new home...

King's Lynn FC - Blue Square North - 2009/10

I feel like I'm writing last season's report all over again, just a more extreme version. We had a brilliant start to the season - in fact we started off with a 24 game unbeaten streak, which left us 6 points clear at the top by Christmas, having not lost a game all season. It all went wrong from there though. We lost our first game of 2010, and then went on to lose a load more. In fact, in the second half of the season, we lost almost half of our games, and could only manage 8 wins after Christmas. We finally dropped off the top of the league with 4 games to go, and you all know how I feel about play-offs after last season...

League Table

League Position Graph

To be fair, we did perform a lot better in the play-offs this season, but lost it in the first leg by giving away a soft goal and not taking our chances. We did all we could in the second leg, but Telford had the second best defence in the league after us, and were just too hard to break down. For the second season in a row, our inability to score goals has cost us.

The cup competitions were nothing to write home about this season:

FA Cup - not the last game this year that we'd dominate but get nothing out of

Conference League Cup - we were just outclassed by better opposition

FA Trophy - another example of us doing everything but score.

Finances - the lack of a cup run this season meant there were no big pay days like last year. The board gambled on promotion by giving me a big transfer and wage budget, but their gamble didn't pay off. This lead to a loss of £58.5K for the season. Although the balance is still very healthy at around £0.25million, I don't expect them to throw money around again next year. They've bumped my wage budget up a bit more to £3600 per week, but have halved my transfer budget to just £24000 for next season. If we keep losing money like we did this year, we'll a get a couple more shots at promotion before we have to give up and sell off the more highly paid players and start again.

Transfers - we operated a more conservative transfer policy this season, as the core of a good side was already in place. We splashed out some big wages on a new goalkeeper and defender as detailed in my last update, but other than that we only signed promising youngsters and loans. We did convert one of the loans into a permanent deal at the end of the season because our loanee centre back had been very impressive and was on the transfer list at his club. We had appearances in both the best and worst signing of the season lists. The BSN best signing of the year was only signed as a youngster, but actually went on to establish himself in our side and win our player of the year award. The BSN worst signing of the season was a striker I spent my whole transfer budget on a couple of weeks into the season. It looks like my search for a goalscorer will continue next year...

Team of the Year - there are more new faces in this team than I'd expected at the start of the season, so the transfer policy must be working. It does draw attention to our goalscoring problems though, with not one player reaching double figures.

Player of the Season - Grant Noble - this 20 year old Scot was signed on a free in pre-season to provide cover on our right wing. I started to train him as a MC straight away as I like all my players to be able to play in at least 2 positions. As the season went on, he made the attacking MC position his own, and weighed in with some important goals and assists along the way. He provides a vital link between the midfield and forwards, and will hopefully continue to get better next season (a decent striker to link up with would probably help him...)

Other key players:

Christian Brandstetter - I signed him as a DC on £400+ a week. By the end of the year he was playing DR for half the money (he was happy to take a pay cut in exchange for a contract extension). He's very good in either position, and one of the key reasons behind our defence being the best in the league.

Xenofan Ioannidis - 24 clean sheets from 44 league games! He's excellent value for money as one of the top earners at the club. If he stays fit, we'll be solid at the back.

Ian Read - last seasons star man never really recovered from his injury, and picked up several more as the season went on. Has now fallen down the pecking order, and is third choice both upfront and on the wing, so will probably be on his way out of the club this summer.

Steven Battams - last years top youth product, he got a few substitute appearances early on, before suffering a couple of injuries that meant he never seemed to be available at times I felt like giving him a go. His stats are promising though, and at 16 he's already starting to look like a big, strong centre forward who's good in the air and quick. Exactly what I need. My assistant thinks he's destined for the football league sooner or later. He needs to play more games next season.

Best New Youngster - my assistant likes the look of him, and says he could be as good as Brandstetter. If he is, my defence is going to be superb!

Career Overview

Season	Team	        League                 Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

08/09	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      5th         Lost in play-off semi-final
09/10	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      3rd         Lost in play-off semi-final

Next Season

I only have 2 goals for next year. 1. Find a striker who can get me 15-20 goals a season. 2. Finish the season strongly! The board are asking for the play-offs again. I need it to be automatic, as another season of play-off misery might push me over the edge...

Just got myself an unexpected payrise. With a year to go on my £190 a week contract, the board offered me a new 3 year deal at £275 per week. So I must be doing something right...

2009/10 Season Summary

Premier Division

Winners - Man Utd

Relegated - Hull, Sunderland, Sheff Utd

Championship

Winners - Portsmouth

Promoted - Portsmouth, Bolton, Doncaster

Relegated - Nottm Forest, Peterborough, Blackpool

League 1

Winners - Leeds

Promoted - Leeds, Northampton, Scunthorpe

Relegated - Tranmere, Hartlepool, Lincoln, Grimsby

League 2

Winners - Luton

Promoted - Luton, Notts Co, Yeovil, Bradford

Relegated - Barnet, Accrington

Conference

Winners - Wrexham

Promoted - Wrexham, Kidderminster

Relegated - Tamworth, Altrincham, Braintree, Chelmsford

Conference North

Winners - Gateshead

Promoted - Gateshead, AFC Telford

Relegated - Burscough, Worcester, Alfreton

Conference South

Winners - Dorchester

Promoted - Dorchester, Crawley

Relegated - Fisher, Merthyr, Thurrock

FA Cup Winners - Tottenham

League Cup Winners - Man Utd

Community Shield Winners - Chelsea

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners - Hartlepool

Conference League Cup Winners - Kidderminster

FA Trophy Winners - Mansfield

Champions League Winners - Arsenal

UEFA Cup Winners - FC Twente

World Cup Winners - Argentina

King's Lynn FC - Blue Square North - 2010/11

Finally some play-off success at the third attempt! After a shocking start to the season, we were mid-table around Christmas, so I decided to change my formation around to try and get some goals out of my forwards. It worked, and not only did we get promoted, but we ended up with 3 players in double figures for goals! The play-off final itself was a bit of nail-biter, needing extra time, but we got there in the end.

League Table

Position Graph

We had some decent cup runs again this season, but unfortunately not in the FA Cup, so it didn't really help the finances much:

FA Cup - this match came at a time when we were really struggling, and the scoreline flattered us in the end against much better opposition.

FA Trophy - Outclassed by Barnet again...

Conference League Cup - Very disappointing to go out like this after getting all the way to the semi-final. They have one chance and scored. Not impressed...

Finances

Our higher wage bill is starting to take it's toll on the bank balance. We only spent £5K on transfers, but despite the cup runs we still made a £29,000 loss, bringing the balance down to £217,000. We're getting £85,000 TV money now we're in a higher division though, so that should keep us going for another year. The board are giving me £22,000 to spend on players, and a wage budget of £5.75K per week, which is about £1000 a week more than we're currently spending. Our 3 year sponsorship deal at £15,000 per annum ends at the end of next season, so hopefully we'll be able to negotiate some more money there now we're in a higher division.

Transfers

A mixed bag this season. The only player I spent money on in the summer was released on a fee in January as he didn't fit the new formation. Most of the free's worked out well though, and I actually replaced some players I thought were dead certs for the season, just because some top quality replacements were found by the scouts. Over the course of the season we signed a new GK, 4 new defenders, 3 midfielders and a striker, on free's, who all went straight into the first team squad. The other noticeable piece of business is the permanent signing of the striker we had on loan from Norwich for the season, who top scored with 12 goals. Most of those came after we changed the tactics around, so I'm hoping he can have a good year next season - 20 goals maybe?

Career Overview

Season	Team	        League                 Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

08/09	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      5th         Lost in play-off semi-final
09/10	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      3rd         Lost in play-off semi-final
10/11   King's Lynn     Blue Square North      4th         Promoted via play-offs

Next Season

The board are asking me to battle bravely against relegation. I think we're good enough to survive. I've got one eye on my contract now - I think getting King's Lynn into League 2 would be a step too far for them. It'll be nice if it happens, but my goal is to establish them as a BSP side for the next 2 years while my contract runs out, and then see who'll have me for a new challenge. I'm starting to get linked to some League 2 and BSP jobs in the media, and if I'm offered one before then I'll probably go, but I'm all but decided I won't be signing a new contract at King's Lynn, so I've only got a maximum of 2 seasons left here.

2010/11 Season Summary

Premier Division

Winners - Chelsea

Relegated - Portsmouth, West Ham, Middlesbrough

Championship

Winners - Sunderland

Promoted - Sunderland, Stoke, Bristol City

Relegated - Plymouth, Northampton, Barnsley

League 1

Winners - Gillingham

Promoted - Gillingham, Nottm Forest, Leicester

Relegated - Peterborough, Yeovil, Wycombe, Notts Co

League 2

Winners - Port Vale

Promoted - Port Vale, Bristol Rovers, Grimsby, Rotherham

Relegated - Exeter, Chester

Conference

Winners - Accrington

Promoted - Accrington, Barnet

Relegated - Weymouth, Gateshead, Woking, Harrogate

Conference North

Winners - Altrincham

Promoted - Altrincham, King's Lynn

Relegated - Guiseley, Workington, Solihull Moors

Conference South

Winners - AFC Wimbledon

Promoted - AFC Wimbledon, Sutton Utd

Relegated - Staines, Bognor Regis, Bath

FA Cup Winners - Man Utd

League Cup Winners - Aston Villa

Community Shield Winners - Tottenham

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners - Charlton

Conference League Cup Winners - Salisbury

FA Trophy Winners - Oxford

Champions League Winners - Inter

UEFA Cup Winners - Udinese

I've just looked through your old thread, ridiculous it was closed. Best of luck with this

Nice read so far, will be following this with some interest as I live in King's Lynn.

I've just looked through your old thread, ridiculous it was closed. Best of luck with this

Thanks. Luckily I don't have to worry about having this thread closed now we have this nice shiny new forum!

Nice read so far, will be following this with some interest as I live in King's Lynn.

I'm hopeful I can squeeze in another promotion before I move on to pastures new...

Well done on your successful promotion lollujo!

I to have looked through your old thread and was confused to why it was closed, but as I far as I could gather it was due to the PA of your youths. Ridiculous way to end a great career.

Speaking of pastures new, have any other clubs offered jobs to you?

2010/11 Season Summary

Premier Division

Winners - Chelsea

Relegated - Portsmouth, West Ham, Middlesbrough

Championship

Winners - Sunderland

Promoted - Sunderland, Stoke, Bristol City

Relegated - Plymouth, Northampton, Barnsley

League 1

Winners - Gillingham

Promoted - Gillingham, Nottm Forest, Leicester

Relegated - Peterborough, Yeovil, Wycombe, Notts Co

League 2

Winners - Port Vale

Promoted - Port Vale, Bristol Rovers, Grimsby, Rotherham

Relegated - Exeter, Chester

Conference

Winners - Accrington

Promoted - Accrington, Barnet

Relegated - Weymouth, Gateshead, Woking, Harrogate

Conference North

Winners - Altrincham

Promoted - Altrincham, King's Lynn

Relegated - Guiseley, Workington, Solihull Moors

Conference South

Winners - AFC Wimbledon

Promoted - AFC Wimbledon, Sutton Utd

Relegated - Staines, Bognor Regis, Bath

FA Cup Winners - Man Utd

League Cup Winners - Aston Villa

Community Shield Winners - Tottenham

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners - Charlton

Conference League Cup Winners - Salisbury

FA Trophy Winners - Oxford

Champions League Winners - Inter

UEFA Cup Winners - Udinese

Nice to see you bringing this LLM trademark with you.

Well done

Third time lucky with the play offs.

What are your plans when you leave King's Lynn behind? Do you know where you wan't to go or are you going to play it by ear?

Well done on your successful promotion lollujo!

I to have looked through your old thread and was confused to why it was closed, but as I far as I could gather it was due to the PA of your youths. Ridiculous way to end a great career.

Speaking of pastures new, have any other clubs offered jobs to you?

Cheers. I've not had any offers yet, but I have a feeling as soon as I do I will be off. Getting itchy feet. Depending on how this season goes, I might start applying for jobs in the summer, even though it will inevitably lead to me being sacked...

Nice to see you bringing this LLM trademark with you.

I always like to see it in other people's threads. It allows me to keep track of what Peterborough are upto! Not to well in this save at the moment...

Well done

Third time lucky with the play offs.

What are your plans when you leave King's Lynn behind? Do you know where you wan't to go or are you going to play it by ear?

I'm hoping Peterborough have a terrible season! After going up to the Championship in the first season, they've now been relegated twice in a row. So they're only one division above me. A bad season for them, and a good one from me in the BSP could lead to me being a contender for my dream job a little earlier in my career than expected. Failing that, I'll go anywhere that'll have me!

King's Lynn FC - Blue Square Premier - 2011/12

The board wanted us to try and avoid relegation, but didn't seem that bothered whether we did or not. That, combined with an impending board takeover left me on a bit of a downer with the club at the start of the season. I had 2 years left on my contract, but was seriously considering resigning on a high and seeing what I could find elsewhere.

In the end I decided to stay on for another year. We had a terrible start to the season, unable to win in the first 5 games and struggling at the wrong end of the table. By mid-September I was on the verge of quitting again. Then the board takeover went through, much sooner than expected, and our form suddenly improved. We went on a 9 game unbeaten run in all competitions (which included 8 consecutive clean sheets!), and found ourselves in a playoff position. It was never going to last though, and by Christmas we'd settled into our role as an inconsistent, boring, mid-table team. We never threatened promotion or relegation, but that was far more than the board asked for anyway.

League Table

League Position Graph

Transfers - We came into the BSP with a squad I felt was only one or two players away from being good enough to stay up. Those players were a good striker and good centre back. Luckily they both fell into my lap courtesy of my scouts. Roland de Boer is a League 2 standard defender, although he was young and inexperienced. Dan Green though was the striker I'd been looking for for the last 3 years. He'd been a squad player for Southend in League 1 for the last couple of seasons, but scored 9 goals in 12 games on loan at Braintree in the BSS last season. He didn't disappoint, and ended the season as the top scorer in the conference with 25 goals. On top of those 2, I also added a few young Premier League rejects to fill out the squad after releasing quite a bit of the deadwood from last year.

Squad - The standout player is Green - without his goals we'd have really struggled. Other than him, the rest of the squad are very evenly matched. I have 2 players for every position, and they're almost all interchangeable without any drop in performance levels. I need some more players of Green's quality if I'm to ever get out of this league.

Finances - Although there was a takeover mid-season, they've not invested any money into the club. We had a good run to the third round of the FA Cup which helped fill out the coffers though, and we finished the season with a very healthy £218,000 profit. We've also doubled our shirt sponsorship deal from £15K to £30K a season for next year.

Career Overview

Season	Team	        League                 Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

08/09	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      5th         Lost in play-off semi-final
09/10	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      3rd         Lost in play-off semi-final
10/11   King's Lynn     Blue Square North      4th         Promoted via play-offs
11/12   King's Lynn     Blue Square Premier   12th

Next Season

I've got 12 months left on my contract. The board offered me another 3 years, but I turned them down, as they were only offering a £50 per week payrise, and wouldn't budge on it. I also feel I've taken King's Lynn about as far as I can - their average gate is only around 1000, and a I don't think they could support a full time playing squad with that fan base. I've applied for some jobs over the summer, which the board had no objections to. But I was turned down by League 2 sides Norwich and Peterborough, and BSP Cambridge. I'll keep looking as the season goes on, but will probably just let my contract run down and see what I can get as a free agent next summer.

2011/12 Season Summary

Premier Division

Winners - Chelsea

Relegated - Doncaster, Bristol City, Stoke

Championship

Winners - Middlesbrough

Promoted - Middlesbrough, Hull, West Ham

Relegated - Scunthorpe, Leicester, Ipswich

League 1

Winners - Southend

Promoted - Southend, Brighton, Bradford

Relegated - MK Dons, Bristol Rovers, Norwich, Rotherham

League 2

Winners - Rochdale

Promoted - Rochdale, Bury, Morecambe, Peterborough

Relegated - Wrexham, Rushden

Conference

Winners - Torquay

Promoted - Torquay, Exeter

Relegated - Forest Green, Northwich, Sutton Utd, AFC Telford

Conference North

Winners - Braintree

Promoted - Braintree, Fleetwood

Relegated - Boston Utd, Hinckley, Redditch

Conference South

Winners - Lewes

Promoted - Lewes, Basingstoke

Relegated - Tiverton, Newport Co, Carshalton

FA Cup Winners - Newcastle

League Cup Winners - Arsenal

Community Shield Winners - Man Utd

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners - Carlisle

Conference League Cup Winners - York

FA Trophy Winners - Torquay

Champions League Winners - Man City

UEFA Cup Winners - Man Utd

Euro 2012 - Italy

How the hell did Fleetwood end up in the Conference South?!

They're now in the BSP after being in the BSN since the start of the game? Have I made a typo somewhere?

King's Lynn FC - Blue Square Premier - 2012/13 - Mid-Season Update

I knew it was coming, and on the 18th November 2012, I resigned from King's Lynn. I have left them in good shape, just outside the play-offs with a good chance of promotion this season:

League Table - on my last day, after 18 games.

Career Overview

Season	Team	        League                 Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

08/09	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      5th         Lost in play-off semi-final
09/10	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      3rd         Lost in play-off semi-final
10/11   King's Lynn     Blue Square North      4th         Promoted via play-offs
11/12   King's Lynn     Blue Square Premier    12th
12/13   King's Lynn     Blue Square Premier    6th (at time of resignation after 18 games)

New Club

Another post will be coming soon so you can see who tempted me away from The Walks...

I couldn't resist, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I have some real life links with Bristol, having worked there for a couple of years. I know the ground, I've seen some games, and know quite a few fans. As for in game reasons, they've more than doubled my money, which helps! I was on £375 p/w at King's Lynn, and they were only offering me £425 p/w on a new 3 year deal. Rovers will be paying me £800 p/w, on an initial 18 month contract.

I also thought I had taken King's Lynn as far as I could. The next step up for them was to turn pro, and I just didn't see how they could do that with an average gate of only 1000. Bristol Rovers are a much bigger club, and potentially have a couple of promotions in them from their current position in League 2.

Talking of the current position, it's not going to be an easy job. I join them after 16 games, with them sitting 21st:

League Table

The board are expecting promotion this season after getting relegated from League 1 last year, and we're currently 9 points off the play-offs, 15 points from automatic promotion and 24 points off the top of the league. So there's a lot of ground to make up, and not much time to do it.

On top of all that, the club is £500,000 in debt, the wage bill is £500 p/w over budget, there's no money available for transfers and the deadline for free transfers and loans is in 4 days. This is going to be very difficult...

Well that didn't last very long...

My first taste of football league management ended on 20th April 2013, the day Bristol Rovers were relegated from the football league for the first time in 94 years. Oops.

League Table

I only managed 12 points in my 28 games in charge, and finished with a run of 11 consecutive defeats. It was mainly because I released or sold most of the squad to try and reduce the wage bill to save the club from bankruptcy, but just couldn't find quality replacements who were cheap enough. In my last game in charge, there were 5 youth team players in the side, and the club was still losing money hand over fist. Total debt doubled to over £1million during my 6 months at the club, even with a £7000 a week reduction in the wage bill. Almost the whole squad is out of contract in the summer.

Unfortunately I think the future for Bristol Rovers looks fairly bleak. In a couple of months they're going to be a non-league club with almost no players and £1.5million of debt. Unless they get a nice rich businessman come along and save them, I can see them disappearing out the bottom of BSS within 2 or 3 years, never to be seen again...

Career Overview

Season	Team	        League                 Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

08/09	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      5th         Lost in play-off semi-final
09/10	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      3rd         Lost in play-off semi-final
10/11   King's Lynn     Blue Square North      4th         Promoted via play-offs
11/12   King's Lynn     Blue Square Premier    12th
12/13   King's Lynn     Blue Square Premier    6th (at time of resignation after 18 games)
12/13   Bristol Rovers  League 2               24th        Relegated to BSP (sacked)

Next Season

It's now holiday time for me, I'll update again when I find a new club...

Unfortunate there for you lollujo...Will you be looking to stay at League 2 level or drop down to BSP promote a hopeful club?

I'll go wherever will have me! In the unlikely event that I get 2 offers, I'll take the one which offers me the most money! The only rule for me at this stage is that I'll only look at English clubs, unless I'm offered £1000+ a week (which I won't be!). The further away from my home in Peterborough a job is, the more money they'll need to offer me.

In an ideal world I'd stay in League 2, but I doubt anyone will have me at this level, so I guess I'll be dropping back into non-league...

Looks as though you didnt really stand much chance from the start.

How did Kings Lynn end up? Going by this luck they probably got promoted:p

Just been offered £475 a week to go to Varese in the Italian C2/A. There's no way I could move to Italy for less than £25,000 a year, so that one's a no go...

Looks as though you didnt really stand much chance from the start.

How did Kings Lynn end up? Going by this luck they probably got promoted:p

King's Lynn are 11th with 2 games to go, so another season of mid-table obscurity for them. It's actually been a bit of a recovery by them to get that high. When I left, they were 6th, but they fell down to 15th within weeks, and didn't make it back into the top half of the table until March.

First realistic job offer is in - Rotherham, the team who finished one place above me in League 2 (and therefore were relegated to the BSP) have offered me a 3 year deal at £525 per week. They've also kindly allowed me to delay my decision until the end of the season, so I'll see if I can get a league job, failing that, I'll be taking over at Rotherham in the near future.

Personally I would have taken the job in Italy. You become more known across in another country so in the future other clubs will look to you before another manager possibly because you have experience already in Italy.

So here we go again. Rotherham had been a Football League club for over 90 years until last season, when they finished 23rd in League 2 and got relegated along with my very own Bristol Rovers.

My job is get them back where they belong. I've been given a 3 year contract at £525 a week, and the financial situation is far better here than at Bristol Rovers. There's £200,000 in the bank, a £25K transfer budget, and a huge wage budget of £28,000 a week (current wage bill only £23,000).

I'll update with more details once I'm given my start of season expectations.

Good Luck, much better financial situation. Definitely be able to reduce that wage bill further too, to ensure you stay afloat.

Thats a nice little job there.

Disaster with Bristol though.

2012/13 Season Summary

Premier Division

Winners - Man City

Relegated - Everton, West Ham, Hull

Championship

Winners - Portsmouth

Promoted - Portsmouth, Bristol City, Gillingham

Relegated - Brighton, Millwall, Bradford

League 1

Winners - Ipswich

Promoted - Ipswich, Colchester, Leyton Orient

Relegated - Morecambe, Blackpool, Grimsby, Bury

League 2

Winners - Hartlepool

Promoted - Hartlepool, Shrewsbury, Norwich, Notts Co

Relegated - Rotherham, Bristol Rovers

Conference

Winners - Chester

Promoted - Chester, Kettering

Relegated - Cambridge, AFC Wimbledon, Fleetwood, Basingstoke

Conference North

Winners - Barrow

Promoted - Barrow, Cambridge C

Relegated - Droylsden, Witton, Gainsborough

Conference South

Winners - Woking

Promoted - Woking, Eastbourne Boro

Relegated - Chippenham, Maidstone, Dartford

FA Cup Winners - Arsenal

League Cup Winners - Newcastle

Community Shield Winners - Chelsea

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners - Colchester

Conference League Cup Winners - Burton

FA Trophy Winners - Mansfield

Champions League Winners - R. Madrid

UEFA Cup Winners - Arsenal

So in the season I took Bristol Rovers out of the league, Bristol City got promoted to the premier league! That's got to sting a little for a Rovers fan...

You did a great job at King's Lynn. Its a shame about Bristol Rovers but you can brush that one under the carpet like it never happened if you get Rotherham firing on all cylinders. Apart from one half of Bristol who will remember you like a hero for many years to come.

I personally think there should be a statue of me outside Ashton Gate...

Rotherham United - Blue Square Premier - 2013/14

Unfortunately I think the future for Bristol Rovers looks fairly bleak. In a couple of months they're going to be a non-league club with almost no players and £1.5million of debt. Unless they get a nice rich businessman come along and save them, I can see them disappearing out the bottom of BSS within 2 or 3 years, never to be seen again...

Show's what I know:

League Table

Position Graph

I made some good signings, and we got off to a good start of the season, and for the first month it looked like it was going to be a 2 horse race between us and my old club King's Lynn. Unfortunately I then lost my star midfielder Mark Linnane to a broken leg for 6 months, and both of our French strikers (the only 2 decent strikers at the club). The led to some very inconsistent form for several months, and we just couldn't score enough goals in the end. By April we had every fit again, and looked like a very good side, and comfortably qualified for the play-offs. But then the 2 strikers picked up injuries again and we were knocked out by Oxford, again posing no goal threat.

We did also reach the final of Conference League Cup, but lost that to Grays, in part because the final was played at Grays' ground!

A note on Bristol Rovers as well - I'm attempting to claim an assist for their excellent season, as one of the last things I did before they sacked me was arrange the free transfer signings of 2 wingers a DM and a midfield player. These are the only 4 additions to the side that got relegated last year. And they completely transformed the team, allowing them to play a very dominant 4-3-3/4-5-1 formation, with the 2 best wingers in the league. I've learnt my lesson and won't arrange any transfers into Rotherham until I know they're not sacking me! Sometimes I wish I could play as a Director of Football rather than manager, as I seem to be able to assemble very good squads of players (3 of the top 5 this year were teams I assembled), but then don't get the best out of them on the pitch (the one I'm currently managing was the lowest placed of the 3).

Transfers - I basically signed a whole new squad on free transfers, and sold the highly paid players for as much as I could. I still only managed to get the wage bill down to £22,000 per week though (£2000 over budget). I feel another pre-season of free transfers and selling my best players is approaching...

Finances - We made a loss of £281,000 over the course of the season, and unless we go up next year that's only going to get worse. There's no parachute payment for us next season, so that's an extra £50K to add to the loss, and also the League 1 level sponsorship deals start expiring at the end of the season, so expect them to be considerably lower when they're re-negotiated. Add that to the £100,000 a year we have to pay for our ground, and the £20,000 a week wage bill, and you can see that this club needs to be at League 1 level getting crowds of 10,000+ just to break even.

Squad - The most obvious thing about this squad is how few players are in it. It's literally just these guys and the youth team, hence we fall apart at the first sign of some injuries. I might have to re-think the plan, and try and get a 22 man squad (although this would mean limiting salaries to around £1000 p/w, when the current first team are on around £1500 each).

Career Overview

Season	Team	        League                 Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

08/09	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      5th         Lost in play-off semi-final
09/10	King's Lynn     Blue Square North      3rd         Lost in play-off semi-final
10/11   King's Lynn     Blue Square North      4th         Promoted via play-offs
11/12   King's Lynn     Blue Square Premier    12th
12/13   King's Lynn     Blue Square Premier    6th (at time of resignation after 18 games)
12/13   Bristol Rovers  League 2               24th        Relegated to BSP (sacked)
13/14   Rotherham       Blue Square Premier    5th         Lost in play-off semi-final

Next season

The board are expecting promotion, and I don't think I'll get away with disappointing them 2 seasons in a row, so I need to deliver next year. And as there's no money to spend that could be easier said than done...