[FM10] From Nantwich to Newport: A career in the English leagues!

The annually, ever shambolic... AI Team of the Year!

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Season Summary

I plead with you guys not to judge me, I'm not turning lazy. I hate the shambles that is the AI's Team of the Year with a passion, but at the end of this first season, I saw that the XI selected was the same as mine. This admittedly, was very surprising, and I imagine when I alt-tabbed over to notepad, the comparison I made between the two matching XI's can't have been too dis-similar to when lottery winners compare their tickets to the winning numbers on their television screens.

Moving swiftly on to slightly more important issues, this was the first season in my second dafuge's challenge attempt on FM10. I have analyzed my errors, I have learned from my mistakes, I have the MEAN, GREEN, Nantwich Town on my side this time!

The season was never going to be a particularly easy one, I always find that the first seasons never are. Not only do I have to assemble a brand new squad, I have to bring in members of staff in each area. Whilst doing this I have to have a tactic planned out so that the players I bring in suit the way I want to play. Then I have to create that tactic whilst still bringing players in because the season is starting. Then I have to accept that I can't bring anymore players in because the wage budget is over, and none of the crappier players are wanted by any other club. Then I have to create a newer tactic that will suit the players that I have bought in. Then I have to watch the team play the exact opposite to how I had imagined they'd play, and linger around the relegation places for the best part of 10 months. One part of me utterly detests this, but in hindsight, this is what my dafuge's challenge attempts are all about. This is the exact reason that I try and inevitably fail to complete this challenge every single year, and I absolutely love it!

P.S -

I'll give you a proper end of season summary at the end of the second season, I promise!

Nobby_McDonald · November 15, 2009

Nantwich, a short drive from where I live. I wish you well.

Saxonaitor · November 16, 2009

Acidburn could sue you for this..

Good Luck indeed :thup:

Sax

klose11 · November 16, 2009

Managing Nantwich myself and made a couple of the same signings. Good luck for next season.

PaulHartman71 · November 16, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 2, 2011-12 - Blue Square North

Finished - 1st

League Table Link

The annually, non-AI team of the year

GK - Nathan McDonald, 20, English

DR - Jared Hodgkiss, 25, English

DL - Dan Smith, 25, English

DC - Jack Pearson, 22, English

DC - Ritchie Sutton, 26, English

MR -

, 25, Canadian

ML - Junior Brown, 23, English

MC - Chris Flynn, 24, Welsh

MC - Kevin Street, 34, English

ST - Harry Clayton, 19, English ** - Been on loan for 2 years, now an official member after being signed at end of season.

ST - Colin Heath, 28, English

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Season Summary

So obviously, after the initiation season, your aims change. Instead of trying to avoid the nasty, black hole of relegation, you begin to push for the dizzy heights of promotion. This could involve you bringing in new players, loan signings, new staff etc. To a certain extent this is exactly what I did. However if you have taken the time to look at the transfers I made, you will see I didn't really make many significant changes to my squad. I don't know if it was whether the squad gelled more, or whether they got better, but whatever it was, it meant that we did a lot better than last year.

A championship win was certainly unexpected, however I think it was more down to the other teams being a lot worse, as we were nothing special. Harry Clayton's story is pretty funny. I manged to get him on loan in the first season, then extended it for 8 months, then got him back on loan until the end of the season a few days after he returned, and then when he left I signed him. If you have looked at my transfer screenshot, you will see upon promotion I signed a few experienced pro's. Most likely Frenchman, Laurent Robert!

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Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
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2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league

PaulHartman71 · November 18, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 3, 2012-13 - Blue Square Premier

Finished - 19th

Squad

The annually, non-AI team of the year

GK - Kevin O'Brien, 22, Irish

DR - Jared Hodgkiss, 26, English

DL - Dan Smith, 26, English

DC - Jack Pearson, 23, English

DC - Kristian Platt, 20, English

MR - Michael D'Agostino, 26, Canadian

ML - Laurent Robert, 37, French

MC - Andrew Mitchell, 21, Northern Irish

MC - Darren Williams, 36, English

ST - Christian Nade, 28, French

ST - Gilles Sunu, 22, French

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Season Summary

In our first season in the Blue Square Premier, I expected a hard and fierce relegation battle. This was exactly what I got. Despite signing a trio of French players: Laurent Robert, Christian Nade and Gilles Sunu, we still struggled. Laurent Robert was easily the best of the 3, although his fitness levels aren't that great, as you would expect of someone at his age. Nade was a bit of a disappointment, and didn't score as many goals as I had expected. Sunu was even more of a let down, for an ex-Arsenal youngster he was really woeful, I'd expected him to be an absolute beast in this division.

The season as a whole was an acceptable one, just surviving was enough to keep the board happy. Although we're now 350K in debt, which despite the board's constant efforts to improve the situation, is only getting worse. I think hoping for a tycoon from Russia or the middle-east is a bit optimistic, so we'll have to cope for now. I think only an FA Cup run or promotion will be able to get us out of the red next season, both of those are very unlikely.

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Career Overview

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

2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None

Bridgestone · November 18, 2009

I am managing Natwich too. Started in Northern prem and got up to League 2.

I have a few of your players, Mainly Jared Hodgkiss although i had to pay him a lot more money.

I took a lot of loans from Port Vale and Crewe and signed a few of them too. Stephen Thompson was awesome in first season.

I arrange a couple of friendly leagues at the start of the season to help balance the books.

First thing i did was to get rid of Rodney Jack. Didn't think he was worth the wages. i've got rid of a lot of players for free just to get them off the books. The board weren't happy when i let Lee Jones go. It was a bit of an oversight too as i couldn't get another keeper to replace him. Started the first match with a 16 year old in nets. Then managed to sign a guy call simon brown who was better.

I signed Tommy Mooney towards the end of the second season who helped to sneak us up through the play offs.

Once in the blue Sq prem i could attract better players, Even Antoine Sibierski but he was woeful.

Now i'm in League 2 and Professional but finding it tough. Lower leagues you can land a few bargains and do well. In league 2 and above that's not the case.

PaulHartman71 · November 18, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 4, 2013-14 - Blue Square Premier

Finished - 10th

The annually, non-AI team of the year

GK - David Royle, 19, English

DR - Jared Hodgkiss, 27, English

DL - Daniel Jones, 27, English

DC - Matthew Darlow, 21, English

DC - Matthew Lowton, 24, English

MR - Michael D'Agostino, 27, Canadian

ML - Laurent Robert, 38, French

MC - Andrew Mitchell, 22, Northern Irish

MC - Darren Williams, 36, English

ST - Christian Nade, 29, French

ST - Gilles Sunu, 23, French

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Season Summary

In our second season in the Blue Square Premier we didn't really manage to attract much better players to the club, so a few signings here and there was all I managed. The team was probably a bit better than the one we had last year, and with Gilles Sunu playing a fair bit better, we managed to finish a very nice 10th place. The finances improved a bit, only due to a slight rise in attendance due to a slight rise in the quality of performances.

The season was a lot similar to last season, apart from the fact the last few months we managed a good run of form which lead to a rise up the table. Promotion was never on the cards, but perhaps with a few signings next season we might just manage it. I think if Sunu has a very good year, then we might have a very good year too.

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Career Overview

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

2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier     10th         None

PaulHartman71 · November 19, 2009

I would just like to confirm that I am not some kind of superman, I had completed the first 3 season's about a week ago, it was just a case of actually writing up the summaries. I'm currently around 3/4 way through the fifth season, so will probably have my next update some time at the weekend.

Cardiovascular · November 21, 2009

Christian Nadé, Scotland's laziest striker \o/

Keep up the steadily improving work here Paul!

PaulHartman71 · November 21, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 5, 2014-15 - Blue Square Premier

Finished - 1st

The annually, non-AI team of the year

GK - David Royle, 20, English

DR - Jared Hodgkiss, 28, English

DL - Daniel Jones, 28, English

DC - Michael Lamb, 21, English

DC - Matthew Lowton, 25, English

MR - Jamie Lowry, 28, English

ML - Laurent Robert, 39, French

MC - Stephen Gleeson, 26, Irish

MC - Andrew Mitchell, 23, Northern Irish

ST - Besian Idrizaj, 27, Austian

ST - Gilles Sunu, 24, French

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Season Summary

Well, this was a surprising one. I aimed for a mid-table finish, thus not bringing in too many new players, but enough to launch a challenge for promotion I felt. This time we seemed to score a lot more goals, and by November we were flying high. The end of November, was the beginning of the end. The loan deadline, the free transfer deadline, both passed. Our only first team GK, out for 4 weeks. Gilles Sunu, top scorer, out for 5 weeks. However we managed to limp through without losing too many games, which meant when the two players did return we were still in a good position.

Another fantastic thing about this season was our FA Cup run. After a few relatively easy games we found ourselves in the Third Round. Against Manchester City, at the City of Manchester Stadium. Despite losing that match 5-0, we made around 500K from it which has cleared all of our debts! This means for the first time in ages our finances actually look quite healthy. This run has provided us with money that will really really help us next season in our first year in the football league.

I still haven't managed to improve any of the facilities though /o\

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Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
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2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier     10th         None
2014/15   Blue Square Premier     1st          Promoted via winning the league

Bridgestone · November 24, 2009

I just got Nantwich to League 1. Started well. Won first 3 games. 2 in league and 1 in Cup. Sold out for both home matches. Asked the board to increase the stadium (never asked before) They said that the council wouldn't allow it. So looks like i'm stuck with 3500 capacity (350 seated)

PaulHartman71 · November 26, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 6, 2015-16 - Coca Cola League 2

Finished - 19th

The annually, non-AI team of the year

GK - Mark Jardine, 19, Scottish

DR - Jared Hodgkiss, 29, English

DL - Liam Dawson, 24, English

DC - Nicky Dafydd, 21, Welsh

DC - Gareth Owen, 33, Welsh

MR - Scott Mitchell, 19, English *on loan*

ML - Daniel Jones, 29, English

MC - Stephen Gleeson, 27, Irish

MC - Andrew Mitchell, 24, Northern Irish

ST - Besian Idrizaj, 28, Austian

ST - Gilles Sunu, 25, French

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Season Summary

After a fantastic season last year which involved winning the title and reaching the 3rd round of the F.A Cup, would Nantwich be able to cement themselves as a league club? The best way to describe our season, is to look at Hull City last year in the Premier League. They had a fantastic start, then become utter rubbish, picked up some important victories, and only stayed up because the teams lower than them were worse than them.

That sums our season up in a short paragraph

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Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
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2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier     10th         None
2014/15   Blue Square Premier     1st          Promoted via winning the league
2015/16   Coca Cola League 2      19th         None

Nobby_McDonald · November 27, 2009

Nantwich in the Football League.

PaulHartman71 · November 27, 2009

for now

PaulHartman71 · November 28, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 7, 2016-17 - Coca Cola League 2

Finished - 23rd

League Table Link

Squad

The annually, non-AI team of the year

AI Team of the Year

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Season Summary

Well, we certainly suffered from second season syndrome. Never looking like we would survive the drop, I changed to a new formation, which didn't really help us in the long term. Another FA Cup run to the third round, this time Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, helped clear debts, but after that we lost virtually all the money that made us. None of our players had particularly good seasons, which obviously didn't help us. Admittedly we were very close to staying up, but not close enough.

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Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
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2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier     10th         None
2014/15   Blue Square Premier     1st          Promoted via winning the league
2015/16   Coca Cola League 2      19th         None
2016/17   Coca Cola League 2      23rd         Relegated

dafuge · November 28, 2009

No one likes to see that

How is your job security? Should you be ok to carry on next season?

PaulHartman71 · November 28, 2009

At the moment my job security looks to be alright, when setting the aim I luckily only picked 'avoid relegation' because the likes of 'mid-table' etc didn't provide me with much more of a budget anyway. I think the run in the FA Cup might save me, most of the confidence stuff is just below stable, but they seem really pleased with the FA Cup performance, my overall confidence at the moment (June 2nd) is 'stable' so I think I might keep my job

dafuge · November 28, 2009

Sounds good, looks like you should get a chance to bounce back then.

Nobby_McDonald · November 28, 2009

I think you've added man71 to your username by mistake.

PaulHartman71 · November 28, 2009

'Hartman' is an inside joke from when I was at secondary school. One day in year 10 we had a substitute teacher, who looked at the register and managed to say 'Paul Hartman' rather than 'Paul Hart', it stuck!

Nobby_McDonald · November 28, 2009

So you actually are Paul Hart then. Unlucky!

MeLikeFM · November 28, 2009

I think you've added man71 to your username by mistake.

'Hartman' is an inside joke from when I was at secondary school. One day in year 10 we had a substitute teacher, who looked at the register and managed to say 'Paul Hartman' rather than 'Paul Hart', it stuck!

Brilliant

PaulHartman71 · November 29, 2009

I'm past pre-season, so it looks like I have indeed kept my job \o/

PaulHartman71 · December 2, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 8, 2017-18 - Blue Square Premier

Finished - 2nd

Squad

The Players Who Weren't That Crap

Harlee Dean - A new signing, Harlee plays in midfield. He was easily the best performer on the pitch, he was also selected fan's player of the year. He's also quite loyal, as the majority of the other players at the club refused to renew their contract's.

Zak Oakes - A young striker who has been at the club for about 3 years, was merely a substitute in League 2, but after a few departures I reluctantly started him in the first team. He didn't disappoint, getting a goal every other game.

Gilles Sunu - A fairly loyal servant at the club, has been here for around 6/7 seasons scoring over 100 goals in total. This was to be his last season at the club after refusing to renew his contract, he played well and his record in the league was more than exceptional. Unfortunately he couldn't guide the club to promotion in his last season.

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Season Summary

After our unfortunate exit from League 2 last season, this obviously lead to a bit of a clear out as a lot of players wanted to go. I made about 150K through transfers, but because our finances are so bad that money didn't keep us out of debt for very long. A few new players were brought in on loan and free transfer, but even then we had a relatively small squad. It seemed for the majority of the season we were going to be average, then we went on a good run of form and found ourself high up in the League. We were actually within a few games of winning the league, but managed to blow it.

The play-offs were a diffrent story, in the semi-final we won 6-4, despite being 3-0 down in the first leg. The final however, despite the glory that we would have received upon winning, despite the financial reward, we blew that as well. Another season in the Blue Square Premier looms, how very depressing, and that's just our finances

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Career Overview

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

2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier     10th         None
2014/15   Blue Square Premier     1st          Promoted via winning the league
2015/16   Coca Cola League 2      19th         None
2016/17   Coca Cola League 2      23rd         Relegated 
2017/18   Blue Square Premier     2nd          Lost in play-off final

Raware · December 3, 2009

What a gutting past couple of years! Bet you were pulling your hair out. It looked like a close finish to the season too.

Hopefully you'll make up for it next season and make it back to the football league :thup:

PaulHartman71 · December 3, 2009

well, first we lost automatic promotion in the last game of the season, then lost in the play-off final, so yes I was pulling my hair out

Nobby_McDonald · December 4, 2009

Paul Hart doesn't have any hair to pull out.

PaulHartman71 · December 5, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 9, 2018-19 - Blue Square Premier

Finished - 10th

The Players Who Weren't That Crap

Zak Oakes - A decent season for the young striker.

Andre Blackman - A very solid year for the experienced left back.

Adam Paterson - Former Motherwell youngster joined us this season, and he had a brilliant season, averaging nearly a goal every other game in the League.

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Season Summary

After suffering the heartbreak of losing in a play-off final last season, could Nantwich Town gain promotion this season? No. The finances were in the complete crap, meaning to bring players in I had to have a massive massive clear out. I only had 17 players at the club this season, including 3 loan signing. For most of the time we have a very good squad, which is capable of promotion, but as soon as we have a few injuries we are totally crippled.

The finances at the end of the season, show just how bad the club is looking financially. I doubt that we will be able to bring anyone in next season as it is very likely the wage budget will go down even more. The board seem fairly happy for me to continue, although how long that will continue for is yet to be seen.

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Career Overview

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

2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier     10th         None
2014/15   Blue Square Premier     1st          Promoted via winning the league
2015/16   Coca Cola League 2      19th         None
2016/17   Coca Cola League 2      23rd         Relegated 
2017/18   Blue Square Premier     2nd          Lost in play-off final
2018/19   Blue Square Premier     10th         None

Nobby_McDonald · December 5, 2009

Stagnation.

PaulHartman71 · December 9, 2009

Nantwich Town, Season 10, 2019-20 - Blue Square Premier

Finished - 10th

League Table Link

The Players Who Weren't That Crap

Matty Moore - The young English central defender did a very good job this year, having a very solid season.

Jared Hodgkiss - The experienced right back had a very good season, as Captain he definitely lead by example.

Adam Paterson - The young striker had another good season, producing 27 goals from 51 appearances.

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Season Summary

So, another season of debt, lackluster performances and of course, the Blue Square Premier. With the club still in debt and the wage budget still restricted, I couldn't really bring anybody in. Half-way through the season I managed to convince most of the players to renew their contracts, I've freed up about 2K at the moment, however I don't know how much of that I will have next season.

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Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
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2010/11   Blue Square North       15th         None
2011/12   Blue Square North       1st          Promoted via winning the league
2012/13   Blue Square Premier     19th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier     10th         None
2014/15   Blue Square Premier     1st          Promoted via winning the league
2015/16   Coca Cola League 2      19th         None
2016/17   Coca Cola League 2      23rd         Relegated 
2017/18   Blue Square Premier     2nd          Lost in play-off final
2018/19   Blue Square Premier     10th         None 
2019/20   Blue Square Premier     10th         None

Nobby_McDonald · December 10, 2009

More stagnation.

Raware · December 10, 2009

It's looking like 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Mid-table, lower league obscurity for a number of years isn't something we see very often here on the forums but i'm enjoying the read. How much more stagnation can you take? Are you in it for the long run or would you be tempted to jump ship soon?

PaulHartman71 · December 10, 2009

It's looking like 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Mid-table, lower league obscurity for a number of years isn't something we see very often here on the forums but i'm enjoying the read. How much more stagnation can you take? Are you in it for the long run or would you be tempted to jump ship soon?

I'll stay until they sack me. I am completing it as part of dafuge's challenge, but since I play fairly LLM style, I never complete it in the amazingly fast style so many do. If I am sacked I will probably try and find another job and turn this into a multi-club story.

Raware · December 10, 2009

I'll stay until they sack me. I am completing it as part of dafuge's challenge, but since I play fairly LLM style, I never complete it in the amazingly fast style so many do. If I am sacked I will probably try and find another job and turn this into a multi-club story.

Good to hear :thup: I knew you were playing along side dafuge's challenge rules (I wasn't being ignorant and not reading your entire thread ), I just wondered if you were tempted to jump ship. Let's hope you can start to gain some momentum in the next few years. :thup:

PaulHartman71 · December 12, 2009

I have been sacked, how lovely.

Raware · December 12, 2009

Hope it wasn't me jinxing you! I hope they at least gave you a testimonial! Any preference of where you'll go next?

PaulHartman71 · December 12, 2009

Newport County, 2020-21 - Blue Square South

Finished - 2nd