Sitting on the banks of the Trent

I won't bore any of you. Or I won't try too anyway. But Acidburn uploaded his save for me once I found out Nottingham Forest had been relegated on his save. Here is his thread. Having never managed Forest in League 2 before, I wanted to try and see what I could do and see where things may have gone wrong for them in such a short space of time.

In this save the current leagues and nations are loaded are;

[b]Nation[/b]                 [b]Leagues Loaded[/b]

Algeria                League One
Argentina              Premier Division
Australia              A-League
Brazil                 Second Division
Egypt                  Second Divisions
England                Blue Square Premier
Japan                  Nihon-League 1
Mexico                 First Division
New Zealand            ASB Premiership
Qatar                  Stars League
Romania                Liga I
Scotland               First Division
South Africa           National First Division
Spain                  Liga BBVA
Turkey                 First Division
U.A.E                  Pro-League
U.S.A                  MLS

Here is my manager profile.

So, you're probably wondering what happened for Forest to end up in League Two for the start of the 2016-2017 season. In this thread, I'll aim to give you an idea of what happened.

2011-2012: npower Championship

2012-2013: npower Championship

2013-2014: npower League 1

2014-2015: npower League 1

2015-2016: npower League 1

Landmarks - As you can see, the club were taken over in 2012 by the Fans Trust. This is where I believe things started to go wrong as the club would have been forced to pay off the £60m that it owed after the departure of Frank Clark.

That's where we are before I took over. I don't know what sort of updates I'll be giving. But, for this next update, it will all be together in a few posts.

Worthy mission.

Season 2016-2017 - npower League Two

Pre-Season Review

It's not quite a pre-season review as AB gave me this save about a week in or so into the new season. So all screenshots will be from when I took over.

Expectations - The board wanted promotion, I wanted promotion, but lying in 17th and no room for bringing any players in when I joined and being over budget, that would have been difficult.

One of the first things I did was terminate our affiliation with Crumlin United. We couldn't afford to be giving them £50k a year and use of our facilities. We still had our affiliation with Liverpool which I had no intention of terminating. I'll be looking to use Liverpool as a source of loan players coming in and some much needed money. We'll be getting £109k a year.

Finances - The finances are still fairly poor. Which means I'll have to be shrewd in the transfer market with players that I'm signing.

First Team Squad - As you can see it's a bit on the thin side and lacking depth. But with no funds to strengthen, I'll be having to turn to the loan market if the opportunity and players become available.

Reserve Squad - Not many players and both of those players were immediately moved to the first team.

Under 18s Squad & Rayan Abrahams, Tony Gee & Steven Hines - A number of players who were considered good enough through potential were moved to the first team.

General Information

Facilities - As you can see, The City Ground is now only holds about 22,000 fans.

Season Review

This happened during my first game in charge. For most of the season, much like many lower league clubs, we were inconsistent which led to a few comments from other managers. Some good and some bad. This one stood out more than most because I don't think he had any idea what sort of budgets I had and what the financial situation was like.

npower League Two - Here is how the league finished. We were inconsistent for most of the season, but in our last 6 games we managed to win 5 of them. It should have been a 6th as we were 3-0 up against Fleetwood Town at one stage. Luckily they pulled it back and I'm glad as I didn't fancy playing Darlington due to my previous three encounters against them. All of which we lost. Finishing where we did, drew us Aldershot Town in the Play-Off Semi Final. With the first leg at our place.

Play-Off Semi Final Leg 1 - It was an even game. We were more clinical in front of goal and we gave ourselves a good advantage to take back to their place.

Play-Off Semi Final Leg 2 - They bossed this game right up until we scored our first goal. It seemed our goal knocked them for six as we seemed to get a grip and eventually we sealed a comfortable win late on.

The other two semi-finalists were Darlington and Northampton. I personally didn't want Darlington due to our previous three encounters against them. Unfortunately I got them in the final. I was quite worried that the same outcome would happen again. I was pleasantly surprised at how well we played.

Play-Off Final - Played on my birthday .

Transfers

End of Season Finances - Very alarming.

Key Players

Most of the squad were key players and most played their part in what was a great season for the club. There will be a few more key players than I would normally like in this part, but they performed great and it would be unfair to leave them out.

Lee Camp - Mr Captain Fanatastic. Some of the saves he pulled off this season kept us in games and helped us win them too. He was in the League Two Team of the Season. I was over my budget still with about 4 weeks to go until he could leave. I begged the board to give me some more wages to play with as he was willing to take a fairly big wage cut to stay. He could well be my number 1 for the next 5 years at least.

Ben Gibson - Son of Middlesbrough Chairman Steve, Ben is my Vice Captain. He had a good season all round and due to my weakness at left back, found himself shifted out there towards the end of the season where he still performed well.

Jon Lines - A centre back by trade, a goalscorer with his head. Jon was signed on a season long-loan from rivals Leicester City. It took him a few months to break into the first team on a regular basis but once he did he made sure he stayed there.

Stuart Gate - Originally was the other man in the centre back pairing with Gibson. He performed well, but whether it was pressure that caused his little bit of bad form that made him lose his place I don't know. He did come back strongly though and when Gibson was moved to left back, Gate came in again and performed well alongside Lines.

Jamie Allen - On loan from Sheffield Wednesday for half a season originally which turned into a full season. He played great anywhere in midfield. Out of contract this summer and if the finances are there and he's interested and not asking for too much, I'll be looking to sign him permanently.

Bob Hanford - The playmaker of the side. We were lost when he didn't play but when he did we ticked.

Jeff Vaughan - Probably one of my best players at the club. He was the most consistent player this season. Often beating his man or helping set goals up.

David Ball - Has been our top scorer for the past few seasons. This season though he lost out to his strike partner. Both probably helped us just scrape a play-off place.

Wes Brown - Last season he got eight in a struggling team, this season he got 21 in an average performing team. He and Ball will be key next season and if we're to do well, I need these to be firing.

We Are Going Up

Happy Birthday for 2 days time.

Good luck with this NF.

Pre-Season Review 2017-2018

After our promotion to League One and bouncing back at the first time of asking, I was hopeful that the board would give me about £18k in wages to spend. They gave me more than that, £1k more to be precise. Initially this was my provisional budget and knowing how our finances could go, I decided to go and look for some signings straight away.

Incoming there have been 28 players joining the club whilst 26 have left the club. Most players leaving the club have been through loans.

The pre-season friendlies went well too. We played three of our four games against higher opposition and all three were won. We also won our other game too against Ballyclare.

The bookies have also placed us amongst the favourites for promotion, which if achieved would be a considerable achievement considering our budget.

Our finances at the end of pre-season and for the first time since I took charge are back in the black. I've also managed to get Jeff Vaughan to sign a new deal, despite Huddersfield meeting his release clause at one stage. Finally, and this isn't good news. In my final pre-season game, David Ball picked up an injury which will see him out for 2 months .

Massive turn around in players. Good luck dude.