The Terry Venables Challenge (New and Improved)

Terry Venables Challenge – Any Patch

This is very similar to the Terry Venables Challenge I posted for FM 2007. In that challenge I found it was tough to progress to the next stage as there was a lot of waiting around for a certain job to become available. Therefore I have given a list of alternative clubs that can be used to continue the challenge. Eg. In Step 2 you can manage QPR, Coventry, Hull or Bristol City. I have tried to choose alternative clubs that are similar to the original club.

The Aim

To mirror the managerial career of Terry Venables, whilst matching and in some cases bettering his achievements.

Starting Status

Crystal Palace Manager

Past Experience: International Football

Database Size: Any

Game Start Date: England (July 2007)

Selected Leagues

England – Blue Square North/South +

Spain – LIGA BBVA +

You may load all players from Australia if you wish.

The Challenge

Step 1. Crystal Palace – After starting as Crystal Palace you are to establish yourself as a manager by winning promotion to the English Premier League (EPL). Once promoted you must achieve an EPL position of 10th or above before moving on.

Step 2. Queens Park Rangers (Alternatively Coventry, Hull or Bristol City) – You must then take the Q.P.R (or one of the alternatives) job (through application or declaring interest only). Then you must win promotion to the EPL and finish an EPL season in 6th place or higher before moving to step 3. During your time at Q.P.R you must also go one further than Venables and win the FA Cup.

Step 3. Barcelona (Alternatively Real Madrid, Sevilla or Valencia) – This is where it could get a bit tricky. You must then apply for the Barcelona (or one of the alternatives) job. During your time you must win the Spanish League Title, Spanish Cup and again go one further than Venables and win a European Cup (either Euro Cup or Champions Cup). This doesn’t have to be achieved all in the one season.

Step 4. Tottenham (Alternatively Newcastle, Everton or Aston Villa) – You must then return to your native England and apply for the Tottenham (or one of the alternatives) job. Here you must win the FA Cup and finish 2nd or above in the Premier League.

Step 5. Leeds United (Alternatively Nottingham Forest or Swansea) – In your final club duty you must become manager of Leeds United (or one of the alternatives) where you must leave them in a better state than Venables did in 2003. You are to ensure they earn promotion to the EPL and finish a Premier League season in 10th place or higher.

If you find that Q.P.R or Leeds (or any of the alternative clubs) are already in EPL when you are up to managing them, then you can ignore the “win promotion to the EPL†goal. Consider yourself lucky. You must however still complete the other goals attached with those clubs.

At any time during the challenge you may apply for the English or Australian national team job.

As England Manager you are to deliver international success to trophy-starved English fans by winning either the European Championships or the World Cup.

As Australian Manager you must restore pride among Australians by successfully qualifying for the World Cup and getting past the group stage.

Rules

1. You must complete each step before moving on to the next. (the two international goals can be done at anytime)

2. Once you join a club you must stay there until you complete your goal or are sacked.

3. If you are sacked you must take a job one division lower. E.g. if you are sacked in the EPL you must take a job in the Championship and try and win back your old job. (moral of the story is try to avoid the axe at all costs)

4. No external utilities like FM Scout should be used.

5. Winner will be the person who can complete this challenge in the least amount of time.

Thread Rules

1. Tactics and Player Buys may be discussed (Warning for those whose do not wish to see these)

2. Screenshots reporting your progress are recommended (at least yearly)

Suggestions and feedback on how this challenge could be improved is encouraged.

Have fun guys!!

This looks quite intresting. Will be hard to get the Barca/Madrid/Valencia/Sevilla job from Q.p.r/alternatives!

Will start shortly when I get bored of my save ( won't be long )

looks good

Will start this when i either finish my current challenge, or, if i get bored of my own.

Originally posted by WBA4LIFE:

This looks quite intresting. Will be hard to get the Barca/Madrid/Valencia/Sevilla job from Q.p.r/alternatives

I felt the same, but if you read the top, it says you start with a reputation of international footballer. So it wouldn't be so hard.

i'm gonna give this a go now. manyoo87, will you be taking part in your own challenge? It might get more people interested mate.

Originally posted by Adam C:

looks good

Will start this when i either finish my current challenge, or, if i get bored of my own.

Cheers mate

Originally posted by Adam C:

i'm gonna give this a go now. manyoo87, will you be taking part in your own challenge? It might get more people interested mate.

Yeah, I've just finished the first friendly. Overall the squad looks pretty good so I told the board that I could achieve promotion (got me a nice 2.7M transfer kitty )

I'll post an update once i reach the end of the August transfer window. Let me know how you're getting on Adam C.

Hi manyoo87

I have decided to start this challenge. Here are the following screenshots:

Profile

Personal Message

1st Season Expectations

Team Report

I have £2.7m to spend, and around £30k within my wage budget.

Will update again at the end of the transfer season, then after the January transfer season, and finally at the end of the season.

Originally posted by pcmeister:

Hi manyoo87

I have decided to start this challenge. Here are the following screenshots:

Profile

Personal Message

1st Season Expectations

Team Report

I have £2.7m to spend, and around £30k within my wage budget.

Will update again at the end of the transfer season, then after the January transfer season, and finally at the end of the season.

Good Luck pcmeister

I've had an interesting start to the season, scoring 6 goals and conceding 5 in my first two competitive games. I'll go into more detail when I do my first update at the end of the August transfer window.

Well, that surprisingly took much longer than I thought!

I forgot to say this earlier but I intend to do this exactly as Venables did his career: hence I will not go to any of the substitute clubs.

Anyhow, I had a great preseason - a particular delight was the 2-2 draw with Reading which we really should have won.

Pre-Season

But what really has angered me is that we have not won in the league yet (but the fans are still happy for some reason)

I formed a parent link with Arsenal, who have provided me with two players (Rodgers and Gilbert).

Parent Club - Arsenal

I also brought in a couple of players:

Transfers - Summer 2007

Anichebe has been a particular delight, bagging 4 against Notts County in the League Cup, which is a record.

Anichebe scores 4

Others have been okay, but wondering whether I have brought in enough. Jaime Murphy is one for the future (I was told by my scout that he would be a Premier League striker) I promoted 4 players from the youth squad (Bostock, Moses, Hills and Scannell), all who performed in pre-season, except that Bostock is apparantly ineligible for the Championship - where he would have easily have played in my team - so now he is sitting in the reserves unfortunately on a youth training programme which to be honest is not the greatest. Does anybody know why this is? I know that he is only 15, but does this have something to do with this?

The League Cup has gone well, winning both games quite comfortably, but I need a win in the League if I am going to try to catch up with the pace and deliver promotion as promised. I don't want to be losing more points, and my next game is up against QPR which should be an interesting one! I am 19th, played 3 and picked up 2 points only so I need to win. I had a particularly poor game against Scunthorpe, who beat us 2-0 and Anichebe beat 3 players, then rounded the goalkeeper and missed an open goal!

I also brought in a new assistant manager, Stuart Henderson from Southampton, who was coach there, and gave Mick Jones (former assistant manager) a coaching role because I would have sacked him but did not want to pay him £600k to release him from his contract

Stuart Henderson

Step 2 Watch QPR 10th Played 3 Pts 4

I am not even worrying about Step 2 yet: I must concentrate on doing Step 1 because I could easily get sacked if my team does not start to do its job which would be disasterous!

Will post again after the January transfer window, or before that if a major development occurs.

Sorry for the double post, but Anichebe's 4 goals link seems to be a duplicate of the transfer history. So here goes:

Anichebe scores 4

Well, these are the signings I've made:

Transfers In

Kleineheismann 1k

Iain Turner Loan

Korsos free

Simon Francis 375k

Stelvio 6k

Anichebe Loan

Scribe 4k

Kalouda 550k

I focused mainly on youngsters, but my season hasn' gone well, mainly because I've spent all season making new tactics and seeing if they work. I'm still drawing far too many games, and not winning nearly enough. I'll give you my league table screenie in a second.

Crystal Palace - Season 1 Update (31/08/07)

Profile

League Table

Had a disappointing start to the season, winning just one out of my 3 league matches. The last loss was courtesy of a 85th minute goal after i dominated much of the match. On a more positive note, i've won both league cup matches and am now through to the 3rd round.

Transfers

It seems V.Anichebe is a popular choice with all three of us bringing him in on loan so far. I also brought in veteran midfielder Gaizka Mendieta for a modest 85k and a couple of promising midfielders, Eggert Jonsson and Owain Tudur Jones (my scout rates his potential as being a good premier league midfileder).

Parent Club

pcmeister I was also able to form a parent link with Arsenal. I had a choice out of Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal and decided to go with the gunners. So far they've sent me Vito Mannone on loan.

Step 1 - Crystal Palace - Season 1 - Mid-Season Update (01/02/08)

Championship 2nd P29 W16 D9 L4 F52 A28 GD+24 Pts 57

League Cup 3rd Round

FA Cup 4th Round

(I will use Italics when I am out of a cup competition)

League Table

The results in the league have picked up. It took until October for me to get my first win, after I told captain Hudson to call a players meeting about the underperformance of the team. I also realised that I was telling my players to play wide on a narrow pitch, which clearly did not help. I then won every game until the start of December, and went unbeaten until the 29th of December when I lost to QPR of all teams! But to be honest, I feel that I will be able to achieve automatic promotion, but I really want the title. Ipswich and West Brom seem to be my main challengers, but Watford also seem quite good, so it will be tough. But it was nice to beat Ipswich in the FA Cup 3rd Round, and the game against Liverpool at home in the 4th Round I really should have won because we were all over them, but even so it does show that Selhurst Park is a fortress, and that if I achieve promotion, I should be able not only to stay up, but to gain a mid-table position, and then we could build for the top 10 to complete the first step.

I also seem to be finding that when I am winning by only one goal my formation of 4 at the back, 3 defensive midfielders, 2 AMC's and 1 ST works very well and I close out a lot of games which so easily could have been draws.

I have brought in Richard Hughes, the defensive midfielder from Portsmouth, for £1.6m, who apparantly is a key player in the squad, and he has just come back from an injury, so he will be introduced to the first team midway through February. I also completed the signing of Jose Fonte, using the agreed price in the loan deal of £400k from Benfica, who is a very useful DC. I terminated the loan of Gilbert, as the fans did not like him and he was not really needed. I got rid of Kuqi, as he was 5th/6th choice striker to Swansea.

Transfers

Other Notes Anichebe has been a revelation, scoring 22 in 29 in the league and 6 in 5 cup appearances.

Victor Anichebe

Step 2 Watch QPR 8th P29 W12 D10 L7 F45 A41 GD+4 Pts 46

I don't know whether I want them to go up, as getting the job might be harder in the future, but perhaps if they stay as one of the better teams in the Championship but do not reach the expectations the board then perhaps I could get the job later.

My Step 1 Expectations

1st Season: Promotion to the Premier League

2nd Season: 11-17th, Premier League

3rd Season: Top 10, Premier League

To manyoo87, Eggert Jonsson is a great player. My scout found him and said that he would be a decent Premier League player (under potential) but he chose Metz over me unfortunately. Also I am finding that I don't need another keeper, because Speroni has been inspirational for me, making some outrageous saves at times How is Vito Mannone doing? A couple of questions: firstly, from your past experience are you more likely to get a job if you resign from a club? Secondly, take for example Step 2, are you allowed to continue to Step 3 if you come 6th in one season and then in another you come lower than 6th but win the FA Cup?

I started this but under my own name not Terry Venebles and i started with "automatic" reputation instead of international footballer.

I'm about 10 games into the season and doing okay, 5th or 6th i think. Can i be a part of the challenge without starting again?

Unfortunately missed out on automatic promotion, so play-offs here we come!

Came 4th, and now playing QPR of all teams

Well I won 3-2 away from home and then got a 2-2 draw at home so I am in the final against Ipswich, who I have not lost to in the last 3 games.

Will post again after the match with the final season update.

Hi, I'm starting this and I will post my transfers when I'm finished with them.

Step 1 - Crystal Palace - Season 1 - End of Season Update

Championship Promoted 4th P46 W23 D15 L8 F86 A48 GD+38 Pts 84

League Cup 3rd Round

[bFA Cup[/b] 4th Round

Final League Table

Unfortunately, we dropped off the pace during February and March, which was unfortunate and we let in both Watford and West Brom, who were eventually automatically promoted but to be honest, promotion through the play-offs makes up for it We beat Ipswich on penalties 4-2, after drawing the game 2-2 after 90 minutes.

Play-Off Final Result

Promotion to the Premier League

Highly Commended

Captain Hudson was a rock at the back, Speroni made us only concede the 2nd least goals in the League and youngster Lee Hills (17 years old) played most of the games at left back and did a fantastic job.

Player of the Year

Victor Anichebe P53 G 53 Asts16 MoM20 Rating 7.70

Anichebe was the main performer, scoring 47 League goals, and picking up the Top Goalscorer, 2 Young Player of the Month awards, and 2 Player of the Month awards, and hopefully he will pick up Player of the Year because he really deserves it.

January Signings: How they performed

Richard Hughes: got injured again for 2 weeks but made some wonderful defensive tackles in front of the back 4 and won us at least 5 games. An instant hit with the fans.

Jose Fonte: Continued his excellent start on loan, and he was considered to be 'a bargain' at £400k. Decent, but did make one awful, awful backpass against Wolves, making me lose the game and relieving the pressure on the top 3 in April.

Other Notes I picked up 2nd in the Manager of the Year. I also decided to get a new assistant manager after Stuart Henderson because he was quite rubbish to be honest, so I gave him a coaching role.

Mark Howard, new Assistant Manager

Step 2 Watch QPR picked up 5th position, and I beat them over two legs 5-4 on aggregate, so they are definitely a top Championship side, so hopefully in 2-3 seasons they will not get promoted but stay up there so I can come in when the board decide to sack De Canio and get them instantly promoted.

Looking to Next Season

I have a loyal and sprited group of players, but my main concerns will be over the defence, perhaps finding a new left back who has Premier League experience as well as a CB who has pace, and the attack, because there was nobody who scored many goals other than Anichebe, and he is a loanee, so I will need a new striking attack. The midfield was quite good, perhaps a new right winger beacause I was playing Ben Watson in that position, because the others available could not do the business. I say I need all these players, but to be honest I am going to have to generate some funds because I am going to need quality for all of the positions above, and the money Palace would be able to give me would probably not be enough unless my signings are shrewd purchases. Hence out of my squad I will be looking to sell Scowcroft, Ifill, Clint Hill, and perhaps Dougie Freedman if a good striker comes about. I have tried to sign Dietmaar Hamann on a free, and I am waiting for him to reply to me, but I have only offered him a one year deal even though he wanted 2, because of his age, but he has the experience and the mental attributes which could be vital in the latter parts of the season. Sean Scannell went on loan to Cheltenham and Brentford (my feeder club) because I felt that he needed some experience, and next year he will be in the first team squad, because his performances for these two clubs were amazing, scoring some wonder goals. Also, I wll try to promote John Bostock again to the first team squad, or perhaps send him on loan if I can, but I think that he will have to stay in my youth squad becuase he is ineligible. Jaime Murphy, who I bought in the Summer Transfer Window, was amazing in the reserves, and next season he will be sent on loan to a Championship club hopefully, but minimum League 1, because he is far too good for League 2.

manyoo87, are others allowed to comment on my squad and recommend some new signings/tell me who I should sell?

My Squad

I would welcome recommendations/comments, but please only do this if and only if manyoo87 says that this is allowed.

FA Cup 4th Round

I will post again after the Summer Transfer Window, or if I make a cracker of a signing.

Originally posted by pcmeister:

To manyoo87, Eggert Jonsson is a great player. My scout found him and said that he would be a decent Premier League player (under potential) but he chose Metz over me unfortunately. Also I am finding that I don't need another keeper, because Speroni has been inspirational for me, making some outrageous saves at times How is Vito Mannone doing? A couple of questions: firstly, from your past experience are you more likely to get a job if you resign from a club? Secondly, take for example Step 2, are you allowed to continue to Step 3 if you come 6th in one season and then in another you come lower than 6th but win the FA Cup?

Vito Mannone is currently 2nd choice to Speroni, although he may get an opportunity soon with Speroni struggling a bit.

You do not have to complete all the goals for a given step in the same season. So you are allowed to win the FA Cup one season and come 6th or higher in another.

As far as i know, having International Footballer as your starting rep should make clubs more willing to make you their manager.

Originally posted by jimalex:

I started this but under my own name not Terry Venebles and i started with "automatic" reputation instead of international footballer.

I'm about 10 games into the season and doing okay, 5th or 6th i think. Can i be a part of the challenge without starting again?

Yeah I dont see a problem with that. Having automatic rep will probably make it a bit harder getting jobs, so it'll add to the challenge for you.

Originally posted by pcmeister:

manyoo87, are others allowed to comment on my squad and recommend some new signings/tell me who I should sell?

My Squad

I would welcome recommendations/comments, but please only do this if and only if manyoo87 says that this is allowed.

Yeah that's fine, in fact I highly encourage it

Congrats on promotion pcmeister

Hi, as I said earlier I started this. With the transfer window now being shut I will post my transfers:

Transfers

I'm not doing to well in the league as I'm in 10th with my results being the following:

Cardiff 1-1 Crystal Palace

scunthorpe 2-2 Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace 1-1 Stoke

Crystal Palace 3-2 QPR

I'm in the 3rd round of the League Cup after beating Northampton 4-3 AET in the 1st round then beating Luton 3-1 in the second round

OMG!!! I have found out who my bogey team is..... Watford!!! I drew 2-2 with them then I got hammered 3-1 by them. Who's everyone elses bogey team?

This looks good, I like the way you don't have to be a certain team, makes the challenge easier. Great stuff!

Originally posted by Frazza Pee:

OMG!!! I have found out who my bogey team is..... Watford!!! I drew 2-2 with them then I got hammered 3-1 by them. Who's everyone elses bogey team?

At the moment everyteam seems to be my bogey team I'm really struggling in the league so far!!!

Good Luck Frazza Pee

Step 1 - Crystal Palace - Season 2 - Post Pre-Season

Premiership 15th P8 W2 D1 L5 F10 A20 GD-10 Pts 7

League Cup 4rd Round

FA Cup not entered yet

League Table

Results have not been great in the League, but picked up a great 2-0 win at home against Portsmouth and a 2-1 win against Derby, but the 1-1 draw against Sunderland we should have won but we got done by a sucker punch in the 88th minute, which is the first time that I have conceded in the last 10 minutes of normal time in this save. However, the losses which we have been subjected to have been very heavy on the whole: 7-3 loss against Manchester City, although Manucho scored a wonderful hat-trick; 3-0 loss against Aston Villa; 4-1 loss to Reading of all teams; 3-1 loss to Everton (Yakubu getting a hat-trick); 1-0 loss to Tottenham when they had 10 men for 40 minutes but the worst loss was in pre-season to Waterford United, 2-1

However, the League Cup has been brilliant, beating Burnley 3-1 in the second round, and a second string Liverpool team 2-1 in the third round, with loanee Samaras scoring a 30-yarder against Carson to win the match.

However, I am, in effect, guaranteed 2 losses in the next 2 games, because I have Chelsea at home and Liverpool away so the next couple of weeks in the game will be tough for the team to take, and will probably dampen the morale.

Fixtures and Results

Transfers

Summer Transfers

I told the club that I could achieve mid-table, and I was given £12m to spend on transfers and £275k on wages per week. I spent £11.75m on bringing in 14 players, and only recouperated £750k. Unfortunately, this has put the club in a bit in the red, but the fact that I do not have a high wage budget (even though I am breaking it by £10k) means that I am gaining money all the time because of the TV money from the Premier League, so eventually I should be reasonably rich for a club of our stature. I suppose this means that if we do get relegated then promotion again should be easy (that is if I don't get sacked). The main signing (for me) was the bosman transfer of Petri Pasanen, D RC, who was willing to come on reduced wages. Others include 2 goalkeepers, Jens Lehmann and Andreas Isaksson, just because I thought that Speroni would not be able to cope with the Premier League. I brought in Jay De Merit, another DC, to shore up that defence but unfortnately I did not get the left back that I wanted. For the midfield, I brought in Jiminez for £1.5m, Emre on the cheap for £180k because Newcastle got relegated, Kome for £1.7m (but he is backup), Hamann on a free on a one year contract and Jake Livermore for £325k. However the department which I strengthed the most was the attack. Anichebe, a fans favourite, was again brought in on loan, as well as Samaras on loan, Crespo on a free, Manucho from Manchester United for £3.8m.

The main departures were Daryl Murphy for £240k to Cardiff, who was wanting to leave, but his year at Crystal Palace last year was a good one and Neil Danns, who did not play for us last year to Hull for £500k.

Other Notes I received a new 2-year contract from Simon Jordan, because I completed the long-term goals set by the board. It has been changed to surviving in the Premier League.

Step 2 Watch QPR Championship 9th P10 W5 D2 L3 F18 A16 GD +2 Pts 17

QPR are doing okay as per usual, and it seems as if they will be vying for another play-off spot in the Championship. It looks as if I will only be able to obtain a chance for getting this job in 2010, when De Canio's contract expires, but hopefully another club will come in for him.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully when I update again after the January Transfer Window, I will still be in the same position roughly with a decent number of points, but I will update before that if something interesting occurs/ I get sacked.

That was a link to my transfers from the first transfer window.

So far i have played 26 league games and am in 8th place.

I have just beaten Huddersfield Town away in the FA cup 3rd round and now face Colchester away.

I had a good start to the league but when my bargain signing Lowe got injured we struggled to score and slipped from 5th to 11th. I made a change to the formation and we are slowly climbing the table, although we are 8th we are only 3 points behind 5th. The bad news is QPR are 3 points clear at the top and looking good for an automatic promotion place.

Crystal Palace - Season 1 Update (01/02/08)

League Table 7th

I’ve really struggled for any kind of consistency in the league so far. But having said that I’m just 1 point out of the playoff race, currently sitting 7th after 29 games in the league. Not to long ago I was as low as 16th and seriously worried about losing my job. The two main problems I’ve faced is that I cannot stop conceding goals (43 in 29 games) and other than Anichebe, who has 27 goals in the league, my next highest goal scorer (Tom Soares) has just 5. Every game is starting to become important now, as a slip up may see me miss the playoffs altogether.

Transfers

I brought in yet another central midfielder in the January window with the transfer of Graham Kavanagh from Sunderland. He’s a bit on the old side but still has pretty good mental and technical attributes. My biggest purchase however was keeper Jaime Ashdown from Portsmouth. I felt that Flinders and Speroni were just not up to the grade, even in the Championship. Flinders was then sent packing to Birmingham for 100k and Kuqi also departed. My abundance of midfielders meant that Shaun Derry had to go and Neil Danns was sold to Hull as he was getting upset over a lack of playing time.

Overall its been a shaky start to the season but I’m still definitely in with a shot at the play-offs and even automatic promotion is still not out the question, although it would be very unlikely given how I’ve played recently.

Step 1 - Crystal Palace - Season 2 - End of Season

Premiership 14th P38 W11 D7 L20 F61 A72 GD-11 Pts 40

League Cup Quarter-Finals

FA Cup 4th Round

Final League Table

Sorry for not updating mid-season, but I only realised that I hadn't done so in April so I decided that I would put it all here, in my end-of-season report.

To be honest, coming 14th is a disappointment because I really should have come 12th. I had been there for most of the season until I was denied this position by the fixture list because I had Arsenal and Manchester United 3rd and 2nd last games of the season. But I did make 40 points, which is always safe in the Premier League. But this would not have come about had it not been for wins over Arsenal (once) and Liverpool (twice), which were, to be honest, the greatest games which I have ever played on FM. The Arsenal game was at the Emirates, where I was 2-0 down and then I came back 3-2 to win the match. The first Liverpool match at Anfield I beat them 2-1 where Samaras scored a 30-yarder to win the match and the second Liverpool match was at Selhurst Park where I won 3-2, where Manucho scored an 89th minute winner. But the best game was my 6-0 win against Middlesbrough, where Victor Moses scored 5 goals. He has really improved this season, and I gave him a chance for the last couple of games and he scored 2 against Tottenham the next one, but unfortunately he got injured for 3 months so he might actually miss the start of the season.

Comeback over Arsenal

Butterfield feels enthusiastic

1st win over Liverpool

2nd win over Liverpool

Moses bags 5

In the cups, the efforts in the League Cup were particularly delightful. Obviously from before I beat Burnley and Liverpool, but after that I beat Ipswich, until I got drawn against Chelsea in the quarter finals, where I lost unfortunately 5-3, but the efforts were all there, so it is something to build upon next season. In the FA Cup, I got drawn against Chelsea, where I scored until Drogba got an equaliser in the 80th minute which was unfortunate, but in the replay, we went 1-0 up, then they scored 2 in the second half, where the second came in the 85h minute, but Samaras got an equaliser in the 90th minute, so back to 2-2 and extra time, and then they scored in the 94th minute, but Victor Moses scored in the 120th minute to take it to penalties, which was deserved because we were neck and neck for 210 minutes. And then we scored all four of our penalties, but they missed two so we went through to the 4th round. But we were then knocked out by Derby by 1-0, which was very, very soft because we deserved to go through because we dominated all of the posession.

Win over Liverpool in the League Cup

Chelsea FA Cup 3rd Round won on penalties

Transfers

Unfortunately, I was not able to buy any more players in the January Transfer Window because I had run out of money, but I did get rid of some players who were putting a strain on my wage structure, such as Paul Ifill who was receiving £7.5k a week for sitting in the reserves. Next season I will have to get rid of Hernan Crespo, because he is not good enough anymore and is receiving £20k a week, a complete waste of money.

Players of the Season

Andreas Isaksson: very, very good goalkeeper. We would have lost far many more games than we did thanks to him, and he was a very cheap purchase.

John Bostock: now considered a key member of the squad at only 17 years of age, he is now dominating the right-wing position, and his left foot is extremely useful for corners

Victor Moses: scored 10 goals this season, picked up Young Footballer of the Month at some stage this season, and a real delight to watch towards the end of this season which was cruelly ended by a rash tackle from Woodgate, and is now out for 3 months. He would have relished the prospect of testing himself against Arsenal and Manchester United, where I could have been able to have seen how much he has really improved. But his composure nowadays is impeccable for a 17 year old, and the past 2 years experience has really helped developed his game.

Victor Anichebe: again brought in on loan, but he has continued to be a fans favourite and has contributed to the team effort with 13 goals.

Manucho: his performances have doubled his value to 6 million, and he has scored 15 this season. He will be looking to score even more next season. His 89th minute winner against Liverpool is his goal of the season

Player of the Season

Giorgios Samaras: considered to be a 'shrewd' loanee signing, he has wowed crowds this season. He has scored some wonderful goals, including a beautiful hat-trick against Fulham and the goal in the league against Liverpool.

Step 2 Watch QPR Championship 16th P46 W16 D13 L17 F61 A66 GD-5 Pts 61

Unfortunately, a 'declare interest for the job' has come about, but obviously I have not finished step 1 yet. So it looks as if somebody else will get the job before I can apply for it. So it might be some time yet before I get the job.

Looking to Next Season

One place where I need to work upon is the defence because we have conceded far too many goals to start thinking of a top-half finish, but again I should have a lot of money because I made £15m profit this season, despite the fact that I was over the wage budget. Also, I will have to sign 2 more strikers or bring them in on loan again, but I have secured the bosman transfer of Gekas, the centre-forward, who should be a good purchase, if you can call it that so I might only need 1 if Victor Moses can continue to do the job. I am trying to get rid of Clinton Morrison and Hernan Crespo, because to be quite honest, they are a waste of space.

Will post again after Pre-Season, or if something interesting occurs before then.

Step 2. Queens Park Rangers (Alternatively Coventry, Hull or Bristol City) – You must then take the Q.P.R (or one of the alternatives) job (through application or declaring interest only). Then you must win promotion to the EPL and finish an EPL season in 6th place or higher before moving to step 3. During your time at Q.P.R you must also go one further than Venables and win the FA Cup.

I was going to ask: what does the bit in bold actually mean? Does this mean that we are allowed to resign and wait for the job to come about or what?

Originally posted by pcmeister:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Step 2. Queens Park Rangers (Alternatively Coventry, Hull or Bristol City) – You must then take the Q.P.R (or one of the alternatives) job (through application or declaring interest only). Then you must win promotion to the EPL and finish an EPL season in 6th place or higher before moving to step 3. During your time at Q.P.R you must also go one further than Venables and win the FA Cup.

I was going to ask: what does the bit in bold actually mean? Does this mean that we are allowed to resign and wait for the job to come about or what? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah you're correct, you can either declare interest in the job or you can wait for the manager to be sacked and then apply for the job. Just say you complete the Crystal Palace goals, you can stay on as manager and wait until you can get the Q.P.R job or you can resign and wait for the Q.P.R to be available.

January Transfer window.

There wasn't any sales but there was alot of buys. I will just type who I bought as Imageshack won't work for me.

Scribe:4k

Kalouda:350k

Samuel:35k

Wijnaldum:220k

Russotto:600k

Tales:700k

Aquino:2.9million

Buonanotte:1.2million.

We are 2nd in the league after 29 games.

Step 1 - Crystal Palace - Season 3 - End of Season

Premiership 12th P38 W13 D9 L16 F56 A56 GD0 Pts 48

League Cup Quarter-Finals

FA Cup 3th Round

I think that I might only update once a season now on because I am too involved with the game at the moment and keep on forgetting to update at the stages which I said that I would at the start.

2009-2010 League Table

I say that I am too involved with the game, but I am disappointed that we did not deliver to the expectations which I set at the start of the game [see 16/06/08 15:09 post] because I thought that by now I would have completed Step 1. I did say that I would only finish mid-table but I really believed that I could finish in the top half of the table but the money available was £2m less and the same wage budget so I decided that I would look better if a top half finish was achieved. So now I expect a top 10 finish next season, without question.

Anyhow, results this season have been poor even though I got 8 more points than last season. I really thought that I would build after on the previous season's results when I drew with Manchester United 3-3 on the first day of the season but as per usual, I kept on drawing and losing too many games against average teams which I should be/need to beat if I am to get in the top half and complete the first task. However, as it always seems, we were struggling just above the drop zone but our form always seems to pick up near the latter stages of the season ans so we were able to climb the table and reach 12th, at the top of bottom 'pack' of clubs. I also beat Liverpool, but nowadays Liverpool are a top 10 club, not a top 4 club

Draw with Manchester United

In the cups, the performance in the League Cup was good, just like last year, as I reached the Quarter-Finals again but I was beaten by Manchester United 4-1. However, I always seem to be drawn against a top four team in the third round of the FA Cup, but this time I lost 1-0 to them

Transfers

Transfers

Gekas was a disappointment, and now he is listed and of course nobody wants him so I will have to wait. Goltom was a disappointment for £8.75m, he kept on getting injured but did contribute in parts, scoring 6 goals. Samaras was not as good as last season, and perhaps the £6.5m paid was too much for him. I was willing to bring in Anichebe for £10.75m, but I realised that this was too hefty a price, so I got him in on loan again for the 3rd season in a row, and he was good, as per usual. I think that this time I will make the deal permanent unless there are other positions which need adding to. Tamas from Auxerre for £9.25m was far too much despite his attributes, because he was poor at times, and made far too many mistakes, but obviously I will keep him because he will improve next season (I hope!). The other defender I bought was Michael Lamey from Blackburn for £5.5m, who plays both right and left back, and he was an important part of my defence, but he did get himself sent off against Leicester of all teams when we were 1-0 down, but this sparked us into gear and we hammered them 5-1. Sometimes I think that we would play better with only 10 players.

Other Notes

I was offered the Manchester City job by Dr Shinawatra, and I decided to negotiate to see how much he would give me, but obviously I rejected the job. My goalkeeper Isaksson said recently that he felt that he has achieved all that he could at the club but I do not want to get rid of him because he will not play anywhere else and also I have allowed him to rebuild his career at Crystal Palace.

The Latest Comings and Goings

Jiminez wanted to leave and unfortunately the chairman accepted a bid of £13m + 10% of the next sale from Fiorentina. Players are going to leave the club because I have decided not to renew their contract, and the most notable players are Hernan Crespo, Clint Hill, Shaun Derry, Jens Lehmann, Richard Hughes and Sean Scannell (who has signed for Birmingham). Others have been offered contracts, but they have been offered reduced wages and if rejected they will leave the club. These players include Danny Butterfield, Jeff Hughes and Scott Flinders. Some players are coming in on Bosman transfers, and these include Kevin Doyle, Habib Beye and Tomas Sivok.

Players of the Season

Andreas Isaksson: followed up last season with another wonderful season, but unfortunately he now considers himself better than the club, but I do want to keep him, but if a cracking offer comes in (or if my chairman accepts a bid 'on my behalf') I will sell him and get in somebody else.

John Bostock: picked up a Young Player of the Month award, but this was bettered by coming third in the Young Player of the Year, and is obviously now a key player of the squad, and his corner taking ability is more than useful.

Victor Anichebe: good striker, and in my new formation of 4-3-3 Normal he hugs the left wing superbly.

Player of the Season

Manucho: a proper fans favourite and his value has now increased to £8m, and Manchester United might have been beaten thanks to his two goals against them but for their last minute equaliser. He has also contributed 12 other goals in his 21 other appearances this season. He would have played even more but obviously with 5 strikers on the books it was necessary to rotate players even though I use 3 strikers.

Step 2 Watch QPR Championship 11th P46 W20 D6 L20 F60 A66 GD-6 Pts 66

Luigi De Canio was given a new 3 year contract, which was accepted, so it might be some time until I get a chance at getting the job. I might regret saying that I will not go to any of the alternative clubs, and in fact I may change my mind a bit later on if my luck runs out.

Final Thoughts

As I said, I want to complete the next step this season coming up, but I will need money to add to the squad but at least I will have a competitive wage budget next season because on July 1st, I will have knocked off £100k from my wage budget. It will be the midfield that will be added to, but my hand might be forced if I need to get a new goalkeeper. I think that I will promote players from the youth team if they are good enough. I will need a first team right back as well, but I think that the attack is complete in terms of competition, unless a proper, proper quality player comes around for a reasonable/cut down price.

Will update again minimum at the end of next season.

Crystal Palace – End of Season 1 Update

League Table 10th

League Cup – Quarter Final

FA Cup – 3rd Round

What a frustrating first season! I was hanging around the play-off spots for much of the season but I could never get a good run of results going. In the end I slipped off the pace and finished 10th in the league. Anichebe, who was wonderful at the start of the season, stopped scoring towards the end of the season which didn’t help. But my main problem was trying to find a 2nd striker who could score consistently. Clinton Morrison scored an appalling 3 goals in 30 appearances, and Freedman, Scowcroft and Kuqi provided little in minimal appearances. In better news, I managed to reach the Quarter Final of the league cup after beating Liverpool 2-0 in the 4th round.

Season Two Outlook

I was getting a bit worried that I might face the axe after I promised the board I would achieve promotion in the first season. However I managed to survive and told the board that I expect a top-half finish. I wasn’t given any money for transfers, but prior to the end of the year I made Jose Fonte’s loan deal permanent and agreed to the transfer of veteran striker Kevin Phillips which will bolster my attacking options. I’d be very disappointed if which didn’t finish in one the play-offs spots this year.

I'm in!!! Good Challenge BTW. Will post all screen shots shortly (nb, I am using my own update, which hasn't touched the skills or initial squads, but most future transfers are set as future transfers)

gonna give this a go i think! nice little incentive to manage the mighty whites at the end has won me over!

good challenge matey

Originally posted by Big Marv:

I'm in!!! Good Challenge BTW. Will post all screen shots shortly (nb, I am using my own update, which hasn't touched the skills or initial squads, but most future transfers are set as future transfers)

Originally posted by scottme01:

gonna give this a go i think! nice little incentive to manage the mighty whites at the end has won me over!

good challenge matey

Cheers guys and good luck!!

Step 1 - Crystal Palace - Season 4 - 2010-11 - End of Season

Premiership 4th P38 W18 D9 L11 F63 A51 GD+12 Pts 63

League Cup Winner

FA Cup Runner-Up

Well that is Step 1 completed I don't know how long I will stay at Crystal Palace; I have been offered a new contract and I will see whether I will accept it. (see Step 2 Watch for more about this)

Premiership

2010-11 League Table

I think it is safe to say that I over-achieved! I never set my sights on 4th, just a top 10 finish. I did not think that picking up 15 more points than the previous season would elevate me up 8 places. But as you can see the teams were very close together. It would have been quite easy to finish 9th or 10th in this league, and in particular I feel sorry for West Ham because they ran out of gas at the most important time. They were quite easily going to be in the Champions League by the end of February but they slipped off the pace and now they do not even have Europe. Arsenal were clear and deserved winners of this league - if you only lose 2 games all season then you are going to win this league.

January in particular was the defining month of the whole season because I had to play 9 matches in the month and it was going to be a test of whether I had enough in the tank to come through this without picking up any injuries and keeping the fitness levels up by rotating the players. However I came through very well. I knew that my whole squad would be pushed to the limit throughout this time because I did not know whether it was good enough to do well. But to be honest the results were quite good during that month. It allowed me to keep in touch with everybody else because at that time I was 5th/6th, and it was possible after that month that I could have been 10th/11th.

January 2011 Fixtures and Results

Premiership Games of the Season

5th vs. Sunderland (H) 2-1 - Not the most exciting game, with it being a midfield battle, but a satisfying one when in the 6th minute of added time at the end of the 2nd half, with the game tied at 1-1, Alexandre Song brought down Victor Moses in the box, giving Petri Pasanen the chance to win the match. He took it well, smashing it into the top corner and giving us the win we so badly wanted.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Sunderland

4th vs. Portsmouth (H)4-1 - an absolute thriller. Martins opened the scoring for Portsmouth, and 13 minutes after Henok Goitom got the equaliser. With a hard telling off at half-time, Crystal Palace were shunted into gear. 3 goals in the second half scored by Goitom, Anichebe and Mane wrapped off a thrilling game for the supporters, with Palace winning 4-1.

Crystal Palace 4-1 Portsmouth

3rd vs. Manchester United (H) 2-1 - Manchester United arrived at Selhurst Park with everything going for them. However, we decided to stun them when in-form Goitom scored a brace before a Carlos Tevez goal set up a thrilling finale to the game. But Palace managed to hold out, and took great heart from this.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Manchester United

2nd vs. Chelsea (H) 4-1 - a superb, proper (head, left, right) hat-trick from Henok Goitom and a 30-yard chip from Jake Livermore gave Palace a 4-1 win over Chelsea the day before Haloween. I was completely taken aback by how easily we were able to dominate the game from start to finish, and to be honest it could have been 9 or 10, but for a stormer from Petr Cech.

Crystal Palace 4-1 Chelsea

1st vs. Manchester City (H) - Knowing that whoever won here would have, in effect, qualified for the 3rd qualifying round of Champions League (because of the games that Manchester City had afterwards), and knowing that a draw would have left qualification to the final game of the season, I decided to change the tactics and go out there reservedly. An extremely tense game, with few chances at either end, but thanks to Gabriel Tamas' 94th minute piledriver from 25 yards out, we won the game and secured the victory needed to secure qualification for the Champions League.

Crystal Palace 1-0 Manchester City

FA Cup

3rd Round: West Ham 3-3 Crystal Palace

3rd Round Replay: Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham

4th Round: MK Dons 1-2 Crystal Palace

5th Round: Crystal Palace 4-0 Port Vale

6th Round: Crystal Palace 2-1 Ipswich

Semi-Final: Newcastle 1-2 Crystal Palace

Final: Crystal Palace 2-4 Manchester United

An eventful FA Cup run this season, and finally I have made it past the 4th Round Two thrillers against West Ham to open this season's FA Cup run, but to be honest we should have won it in the first of these two games because we should have taken advantage of the fact that they were down to 10 men from quite early on. Also, I did not really want a replay, because I knew of the number of games that I had to play in January. But we closed the tie out, and advanced to the 4th Round where we met MK Dons. An upset was on the cards when Stephen Dobbie scored a lovely goal against my second team, but Anichebe scored a brace to do the business and make us advance into the 5th Round, where we played Port Vale from League 2. They were never going to beat us, and we thrashed them 4-0. Ipswich was next, and I was confident of a result of a result because we have never lost to them. And we dispatched them 2-1, to set up a contest against Newcastle United, my favourite team who were looking for revenge from our League Cup Final match. They had beat us the previous week, so I knew that it was going to be touch-and-go. But we came through again in our second experience of the New Wembley, and only Manchester United were in our way from holding the trophy aloft. I thought lightening might strike twice (see earlier win against Manchester United under Games of the Season section) and that our previous winning Wembley experience might give us some sort of advantage, but we were comfortably beaten, and to be honest the Champions League runners-up were far too good for us, and they put 4 quality goals past us with such ease.

League Cup

2nd Round: Burnley 1-3 Crystal Palace

3rd Round: Coventry 1-2 Crystal Palace

4th Round: Blackburn 3-4 Crystal Palace

Quarter Final: Crystal Palace 1-0 Arsenal

Semi-Final 1st Leg: Crystal Palace 0-0 Aston Villa

Semi-Final 2nd Leg: Aston Villa 1-1a Crystal Palace

Final: Crystal Palace 1-1 Newcastle 4-2 on Penalties

Looking to better my results in Seasons 2 and 3, I started off with some very simple wins against Burnley and Coventry to open the account and to reach the 4th Round. Then I met Blackburn, which is my bogey team. And I thought the League Cup was all over when I went 3-0 down, and I was so furious I nearly broke my laptop. But at half time, after I myself had calmed down, told the guys to get out there again, and we turned over the result by winning the game 4-3. Certainly my best game ever played on FM. I always seem to get a 'top 4' club in the Quarter Finals., and this season did not disappoint, drawing Palace against Arsenal of all teams. But we came up with the goods and beat them 1-0, with Doyle getting the goal one minute from half time, and just to add to the amusement Eduardo decided to get himself sent off. So having surpassed what I wanted, I was drawn up against Aston Villa, and over the two legs I thought that I could beat them. Knowing that the game could be decided by away goals, it was crucial that we did not concede any goals. But 0-0 was disappointing, because I thought that I would at least get an advantage going into the second leg. And then dispair occured when Ashley Young scored what I thought was the winner in the 82nd minute. But of course I chucked everything at it, going 2-3-5, and Goitom got the equaliser to send us through 2 minutes from time with what was 'a banana shot' from 30 yards. And so we met Newcastle United in the final, and the game can only be described as nail-biting, because we won on penalties, 4-2, after drawing 1-1 after 90 minutes. And that was that. We were the winners of the trophy, and guaranteed some sort of European football next season.

Transfers

Transfer History

Well, as you know, Luis Jimenez left for Fiorentina for £13m + 25% of next sale, which was very good for me. Speroni wanted to leave because he was 3rd choice keeper after Foster was brought in, and I got a reasonable price from the transfer (£1.4m).

Kevin Doyle was transfer of the season on a bosman transfer, he hugged the AMR position in my 4-3-3 normal and chipped in with 10 goals. Ben Foster was brought in for £1.4m, and he started off 2nd choice, but got his chance in January when Isaksson got injured, and he took off from there and never looked back. Mane was brought in as back-up, and that is how his season went. James McFadden came in for £4.1m, but a lack of confidence hit him during the season and so he spent some time trying to re-gain some morale. Is now on the transfer list, because I do not want anything affecting the rest of my squad. Arnold Mvuemba was a revelation this season, and did extremely well in centre midfield, often linking well with Jake Livermore. Martin Olsson continues the Swedish backbone to the squad, and he made the DL position his own this season, allowing Lamey to have the right-back position. Anichebe also joined us again for the fourth season in a row but he did not play that often, except in the early rounds of the League and FA Cups. He will not be joining us again for our European campaign.

The Latest Comings and Goings

Serge Gakpe has joined Crystal Palace on a Bosman transfer, after rejecting these clubs:

Gakpe rejects these clubs

Serge Gakpe Profile

Ilsinho also joins from Schalke for nearly £11m

Ilsinho Profile

Player of the Season

Henok Goitom: followed up a poor season by winning European Striker of the Year award, European Golden Boot, Premier League Top Scorer, Runner up in Footballer of the Year, 2 Players of the Month awards. His 31 goals arguably carried us to 4th position this season, and he loved playing up front by himself. I cannot even believe that I thought about selling him to Bolton at the start of the season for £20m, which I rejected, and I am glad that I kept the faith. He was awarded a new 5 year contract at the end of the season.

Other Notes

I was offered another new contract again this season, which was accepted. The training and youth facilities got updated, and are now considered one of the best in the world. Job offers from Chelsea and Liverpool right at the end of the season were rejected, despite the fact that I could quadruple my salary. Tom Soares received his first England cap after impressing Fabio Capello, who decided to turn back from his retirement decision.

Step 2 Watch

 Team C Pos P W D L F A GD Pts

QPR R 24th 46 10 13 23 46 63 -17 43

Hull R 23rd 46 12 14 20 52 64 -12 50

Coventry - 8th 46 18 13 15 62 51 +11 67

BristolCity - 19th 46 16 8 22 62 74 -12 56

Considering that this is the season that I have completed Step 1, it is crucial to see how the other possible clubs I could go to have been doing. Well, in your blurbs about being lucky if the club is already in the Premiership, manyoo87, you forgot to think about the unluckiness if 2 of the 4 possible clubs are relegated below the championship, didn't you! (jokes). To be honest, I do not feel like being in League 1, so I will have to wait until either they get promoted again or take one of the alternatives, even though I have said that I want to do the proper career. I will have to have a think about that. I have only really been watching QPR, and I saw that they went through 2 managers this season, including Glenn Hoddle who could not save them.

[b]Final Thoughts[/b]

From your experience, manyoo87 and others, do you think that resigning from the Palace job is the best way to go about things or not? And secondly, if I do not achieve another top 10 with Palace if I do not resign, (say I came 11th next season) could I still continue to Step 2, considering that I have had a top 10 with Palace at one stage in my career?

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Team C Pos P W D L F A GD Pts

QPR R 24th 46 10 13 23 46 63 -17 43

Hull R 23rd 46 12 14 20 52 64 -12 50

Coventry - 8th 46 18 13 15 62 51 +11 67

BristolCity - 19th 46 16 8 22 62 74 -12 56</pre>

good challenge, i am going to start this challenge now and will post screenshots and updates after pre season

Crystal Palace - Season 2 Update (31/08/08)

League Table 11th

I’ve had a decent start to the season, but I’m drawing too many games that I should be winning. I’m currently sitting 11th after 7 matches. It’s still early but my defence seems to be a lot more solid than last year. I think it’ll be tough to make one of the automatic promotion spots, as Everton and Fulham were relegated from the EPL and both have far superior squads than mine. Hopefully I’ll be able to make one of the playoff spots and then get lucky from there.

Transfers

As I said earlier, I made Jose Fonte’s loan deal permanent and also brought in striker Kevin Phillips. Because Everton were relegated, they wont let me loan Anichebe which is a huge blow because he was by far my best player last year. Instead I got Manchester United strikers, Frazier Campbell and Febien Brandy on loan. Tommy Forecast and Mark Randell were also brought in on loan from Tottenham and Arsenal respectively. Forecast will become my backup keeper after Speroni left for Southend and Randell is an attacking midfielder who will get some opportunities if Ben Watson struggles. Ibrahim Tall was a bosman signing from Hearts and can play right or centre back. Reluctantly I sold Eggert Jonsson after he decided he wanted to leave Palace, he went to Preston for 1.3m, a tidy profit as I purchased him for just 230k.

Originally posted by pcmeister:

From your experience, manyoo87 and others, do you think that resigning from the Palace job is the best way to go about things or not? And secondly, if I do not achieve another top 10 with Palace if I do not resign, (say I came 11th next season) could I still continue to Step 2, considering that I have had a top 10 with Palace at one stage in my career?

Pcmeister I’m not too sure what the differences in job offers will be if you resign as opposed to continuing to manage palace. As for your second question, no matter what happens from now on, you can move on to Step 2 whenever you want. You just need to achieve the goals which are set once and after that it doesn’t matter how you do if you stay on with the team. Hope that helps!

Also Congratulations on completing Step 1 , first person to do it so far.

Originally posted by bristolcityfan_06:

good challenge, i am going to start this challenge now and will post screenshots and updates after pre season

Thanks bristolcityfan_06, Good Luck!

Step 1 - Crystal Palace - Season 5 - 2011-12 - End of Career

Premiership 11th P16 W5 D6 L5 F18 A20 GD-2 Pts 21

League Cup 4th Round

FA Cup not entered

Champions League 3rd Qual. Round

Euro Cup Qualified from Group Stages

Premiership

League Table

Not as good a start, but when I left, we were mid-table, but the signing of Kuyt and Babel from Liverpool helped us out a lot. It is just a shame that I have to go because I feel attached in some sort of way to the club. It was quite enjoyable.

Europe

Unfortunately, I was drawn against AC Milan of all teams in the 3rd qual. Champions League round, and having lost 3-2 on aggregate, they went on to make the final but at least we made a great effort against them.

3-2 agg loss to AC Milan

So, having entered the Euro Cup, we easily passed the First Round to the group stages where we qualified from the Group before I left.

Euro Cup Group

League Cup

3rd Round: Crystal Palace 3-1 Cardiff

Qtr Final: Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United

Unfortunately, our defence of the League Cup started well with victory over Cardiff in the 3rd Round, but then we were drawn against Manchester United, who quashed our hopes of retention.

Moving On

Half-way through December, I saw that QPR were mid-table in League 1 and a 'declare interest in the job' option on the squad screen. So having clicked that, and with the Crystal Palace board declaring my unprofessionalism, QPR sacked their manager and I was immediately approached, and I accepted a 3 and a half year deal worth £2.9k a week (quite a monetry cut) to become QPR boss.

QPR Manager

Henceforth I now move onto Step 2, and here is my end of Season Report

Step 2 - QPR - Season 5 - 2011-12 - End of Season

League 1 Promotion 4th P46 W24 D8 L14 F83 A62 GD +21 Pts 80

FA Cup 3rd Round

I will only talk about I have been involved with.

League 1

League Table

Having arrived when QPR were mid-table and with morale down, I changed the tactics to what I know works for my teams, and results quickly picked up and we reached the top 6 by the start of February. And we never lost the plot, and results were solid and we should have got automatic promotion, but for 3 stupid slips at the end of the season. But we destroyed Rotherham in the Play-Off Semi, beating them 6-1 on aggregate, and met a tough Wolves side in the final, but we came through 4-2 to achieve promotion to the Championship.

Play Off Semi-Final 1st Leg: Rotherham 0-4 QPR

Play Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg: QPR 2-1 Rotherham

Play Off Final: QPR 4-2 Wolves

FA Cup

We went out to Leeds in the Third Round, and to be honest they were much better than us, and they challenged for Play-Off Promotion to the Premier League.

Transfers

Transfers

_{The transfers I made were from January 1st 2012}

I brought in a lot of people, but the best transfer was Tom Craddock, who scored 18 goals in 18 appearances. Unfortunately, with the club needing money, the chairman accepted a £1.6m bid from Southampton for Ross McCormack, and he left for the Premiership. With a wage budget of only £475 a week, I really needed promotion this season, because when I came the club were in a lot of financial trouble (and still are, although slightly better off).

Other Notes

I achieved 3rd in Manager of the Year. I have made a lot of bosman transfers, but my fingers are too tired to elaborate now.

Will update again at the end of the season, and having told the board to consolidate, the long-term target of achieving stability in the Championship by 2014 will be achievable, but you guys must know by now that I want to be in the Premiership in 2-3 years. I will start doing my Step 3 watch from next season.

Sorry for double post, but where I said quarter final for the Man Utd Game, I meant only the 4th Round

Crystal Palace - Season 1 Update (31/08/07)

Profile

League Table

I've had a topsy turvy start to the season beating wolves 4-0 and then losing to scunthorpe and drawing with cardiff.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u32/bristolcityfan/resultssofar.jpg

I started well in the league cup by beating shrewsbury 3-0 in the first round but then suffered defeat in the second round at the hands of burnley.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u32/bristolcityfan/transfers.jpg

I decided to get rid of Scott Flinders and replace him with Jimmy Walker to add a bit of experience to my side and that made me 60k profit, i also brought in Daryl Murphy from Sunderland and he has been impressive scoring 5 goals in 5 matches in all competitions and i have gambled on buying Kevin Phillips for 525k who has only just signed so has yet to play for me yet but i believe he will be a good signing and he will also bring bags of experience into my side which is needed at this level.

Parent Club

I was able to form a parent link with Chelsea who have sent me Phil Younghusband on loan who will provide good backup to my strikers.

My next update will be after the January transfer window.

Crystal Palace - season 1

I finally finished my first seaon in charge and after a good start things started to go wrong so i decided to change the formation. It took a while for the results to improve but they did in the end and we climbed the table, after a 3-0 win at home to Ipswich we overtook them and claimed the last play-off spot.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc157/jimalex_2007/palacetable.jpg

We had to play Watford who had beaten us twice this season and knocked us out of the league cup but we managed an edgy 1-0 home win and drew the return leg 1-1. This set up a play-off final against Sheff Utd which we won 3-1.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc157/jimalex_2007/palacetransfers.jpg

I am a little concerned that we may have overachieved this season and we will struggle to stay up in the premier league but who knows.

I have been given £12 million to keep Palace in the premier league and have spent the lot.

I will post a screenshot later, but my fears were realised on the opening day of the season as we were thumped 5-0 at home to Man City.

It looks likeit could be a long season.

Crystal Palace – End of Season 2 Update

League Table 5th (Lost in Playoff Final)

League Cup – 3rd Round

FA Cup – 3rd Round

I had a pretty solid season, I never threatened the two automatic promotion places, but I was around the playoff spots for much of the season. Despite this, the board continually told me that they were disappointed and towards the end of the season I kept getting news messages saying they were unlikely to renew my contract, which started to get me worried. So after finishing 5th I had to versus Norwich is the play-off semi. I beat them 3-2 at home courtesy of two late penalties, and after they had led 2-0. I then managed a 2-2 draw in the 2nd leg, so I made it through to the final 5-4 on aggregate. The only problem was that in 2nd leg both my centre-backs, J.Fonte and M.Hudson, picked up their 15th yellow card of the season and were suspended. This meant I had to draft in defensive midfielder Carl Fletcher to play centre-back in the playoff final versus West Brom.

Playoff Final

Heartbreakingly I lost the final 2-1, with C.Fletcher managing only a 5 rating. So close to the Premiership but now I’ll have to spend another year in the Championship. Luckily after making the play-off final the board saw it fit to give me another two-year contract. In terms of the two cups, I was knocked out of the League Cup 3rd round by Bolton and by Cardiff in the FA Cup 3rd round.

Suspensions and injuries turned out to be the story of my season. Loan signing Febien Brandy was sensational, scoring 18 goals in 25 games, before damaging his ACL and putting him out for 8 months. Young striker Sean Scannell was given an opportunity after Brandy’s injury and responded with 10 league goals before he too broke his leg and missed the rest of the season.

Transfers

I ended up selling goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown for 2.5m in the January transfer window after he asked to leave. This left me with no senior keeper in my team, so loan signing Tommy Forecast became my 1st choice and I brought in another keeper on loan to back him up. My number 1 priority for next season will be to sign a new goalkeeper. I also got rid of some dead weight at the January transfer window, with Mendieta, Freedman and Clint Hill among those departing.

Season 3 Outlook

I really feel that next season will be a make or break season for me. The patience of the board in running thin and if I don’t gain promotion in season 3 I could be facing the axe. At least this year I should be given a transfer budget to bring some new faces in.

Step 2 - QPR - Season 6 - 2012-13 - End of Season

Championship 10th P46 W22 D6 L18 F85 A76 GD +9 Pts 72

FA Cup 3rd Round

League Cup 2nd Round

Championship

League Table

Having been promoted the previous season, coming 10th was more than respectable and far more than expected. Obviously this Championship season was much harder but the competition itself has become much harder than the first season when I got promoted with Palace because there are many previous Premier League teams who have more money and better squads and so they are more likely to take up those top 6 places in the league. This is shown by the fact that the top 2 teams this season got 100 points to get automatic promotion, and the other promoted side got 95 points, so there is a lot of work to do. Despite this, we were able to score nearly 90 goals, with Danny Haynes contributing nearly 35 goals, so we certainly have the firepower to start considering play-off places, but the number of goals conceded is far too high (not helped by the fact that I do not have a goalkeeper of my own) so measures to counter this will need to be put in place in order to secure another top half finish (or higher, as I want).

FA Cup

3rd Round: QPR 1-2 Bolton

Our FA Cup adventure ended pretty swiftly, having been drawn against Premier League side Bolton, but we gave a good account of ourselves and should have taken the tie to a replay, but for slack defending after scoring ourselves. I am not looking to do well in the cups in general at the moment, as I would like to keep my rather small squad fit for those important League games.

League Cup

1st Round: QPR 4-0 Gillingham

2nd Round: vs Portsmouth (screenshot unavailable at the moment but I lost 6-2)

We made it past the first round rather easily, thrashing League 1 side Gillingham 4-0 at home, with Dong Fangzhuo scoring a hat-trick (he is very good at this level but not so great in the Championship, but is more of a super-sub figure). However, we were drawn against Portsmouth in the next round, and despite them playing a 1st/2nd string side, we were thumped at home 6-2, with Paris Cowan-Hall getting a hat-trick (even though is stats are all 10 and below ), and so we were comfortably knocked out of this cup.

Transfers

QPR Transfers

Lots and lots of people were brought in during the August Transfer Window (not even going to bother counting) because the chairman accepted bids of £4.3m and £2m for my best CB Elliot Omozusi and my right-winger Jan Kysela respectively, so I had a lot of money to spend (around £3.6m). So having brought in 8 bosman signings (Haynes by far the best signing), I spent £230k on Freddy Eastwood (who only played 3 games for me through injury and was hence sold for £250k to Southend this summer), Simon Walton (he is quite good for this level) for £500k from League 1 side Hull, £1.2m on Damien Plessis, who plays in the midfield for me, £1.7m on Damian Bellion, who is versatile as he can play in both defence and midfield, and I continued the Swiss buying by obtaining Patrick Budmiger (a regen) from Grasshopper on a free, who plays for the Swiss national team in midfield (good at passing and creativity) and Xavier Margairaz on a free (I think a former Hearts player). Loan signings included 2 goalkeepers, Martin Hansen from Liverpool and Kenny Price from Manchester City (both rubbish), Lauri Dalla Valle from Liverpool, who did reasonably well, and Jay Simpson from Arsenal, who hugged my right wing for the season and I have signed him on a bosman for next season.

Other News

Arsenal approached me right at the end of the season on a £100k a week but the offer was swiftly rejected.

Verbeek left Australia

Verbeek was sacked as Australian manager, and I applied for the job, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful so I will have to wait a bit of time for that to come around again.

Expectations for the next couple of seasons

2013-14: Top 6 Finish

2014-15: Promotion to the Premier League

2015-16: Survival in Premier League

and we will see from there...

Will post again at the end of the season

Step 2 - QPR - Season 7 - 2013-14 - End of Season

Championship Promotion 6th P46 W23 D14 L9 F81 A54 GD +27 Pts 83

FA Cup 3rd Round

League Cup 2nd Round

Championship

League Table

I wanted a top 6 finish this season, and I sure got that, and even more, passing my own expectations a year early by achieving promotion! I hoped that I would not concede as many goals as I did last season, and with some new additions to the squad, we conceded far fewer goals leading us to change losses into draws, propelling us into the Play-Off positions. The main goalscorers were the same as the previous season. Wigan and Leicester were the teams who came down the previous season (as well as one other which I cannot remember), and so they went up straight away because of the ability of their squads, which I hinted might happen.

Play-Off Semi-Final 1st Leg: QPR 3-2 Southampton

Play Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg: Southampton 0-3 QPR

Play Off Final: QPR 2-1 Southend

I am absolutely thrilled with how the Play Offs went. I don't think that the semi-final could have been any more thrilling. We were 2-1 down right until the 90th minute where we scored 2 to win the match, absolutely crucial if we were to have a chance. The second leg was a doddle to be frank, so we were always going to make the final. Then, on to the final at Wembley, I thought that it was it for the season when Madine scored in the 67th minute, but after an equalizer from loanee Herve Plesses, we scored in extra time and held on to achieve promotion. Delighted!

So next season will be tough because we do not have the money to do amazingly well and the club was very insecure financially two seasons ago. Despite getting a keeper of my own at the start of this season, Wayne Henderson from Leicester on a bosman transfer, I will need a goalkeeper with lots of top league experience if we are going to survive, plus a striker also with top league experience.

FA Cup

3rd Round: Liverpool 2-1 QPR

Our FA Cup experience once again ended right at the start, after being drawn against Liverpool in the 3rd Round, and we were beaten 2-1 by them unfortunately. Hopefully next season, the draw will be kind to us and we might get someone who we can beat!

League Cup

1st Round: Wycombe 2-2 QPR pen 5-4

To be honest, we were a pile of rubbish. Wycombe were 24th at the time in League 2, and we could not even overcome them, despite going 4-2-4 in extra time. Their goalkeeper was saving everything, and they were rewarded, by being the better team (yes I really mean that), with the win in the penalty shoot out and we went crashing out.

Transfers

Transfers

_{Please ignore the fact that there is a premier league sign, I took the screenshot just now}

Well I brought in, quite crucially, 3 new goalkeepers, all with different squad statuses, but I added to the attack mainly, with some additions to the defensive unit, such as Craig Cathcart on a free, who was very important for the lack of goals conceded this season. I decided to sell a couple of players, including David McGoldrick for £2.6m, to improve the financial situation, but I suppose that my one regret was the selling of Freddy Eastwood, because he scored 40 goals for Southend this season. Perhaps I should have stuck by him through his injury problems, rather than being so rash.

Other News

The England job became available at the end of the season after their poor performance in the World Cup, but they decided to choose Stuart Pearce over me, and so with the Arsenal job becoming available, I was once again offered it, with an £150k per week offer, but it was once again rejected.

I received a new contract worth £2.9k a week, and at the end of the season, I decided to change my assistant manager when John Anderson's contract was not renewed, and I decided to bring in the man I can trust from my Crystal Palace days, Mark Howard on the same money per week as me.

To Next Season

The main target next season will be avoiding relegation, and I think that with a few additions, I will have the squad able to stay up. I think that I might complete the targets in 3 seasons if I am lucky and bring in the right people. I really need to start doing better in the FA Cup, rather than dropping out in the 3rd round.

Will post again at the end of next season.

Sorry about the fact that I said that I got to the second round in the League Cup, obviously I only got to the first round.

I need to start this again. damn save got corrupted.