My Sheff Wed Career

I've just started a new career with Sheff Wed and here's my progress.

Board Expectatons: Expect the club to stay clear of relegation this season.

Transfer Budget: 300k

I've decided to use a standard 4-4-2 formation but change the default team and player instructions. The instructions are as follows:

Team Instuctions: Emphasis: Normal (change to attacking when losing or need a goal in last ten minutes)

Passing:Short

Tackling: Normal

Pressing: Yes

Everything else set to no.

Player Instructions: Passing: GK- Long, all Def's- Normal and everyone else team.

Tackling: DMC- Hard and everyone else team

Presing: All Def's no and everyone else team

Pass to: All R/L/C

Set Pieces: Haven't Changed

Free Role: AMC- Yes and everyone else no

Forward Runs: DL, DR, DMC, ML, MR and AMC- Yes and everyone else no

Run With Ball: ML, MR and AMC- Yes and everyone else no

Hold Up Ball: DMC- Yes and everyone else no

Long Shots: DMC and AMC- Yes and everyone else no

Through Balls: AMC- Yes and everyone else no

Cross Ball: ML and MR- Yes and everyone else no

Marking: DL, DR, DMC, ML and MR- Zonal, DC's- Man and everyone else no.

I decided to strengthen the squad as i've got a relatively small and young squad.

Players purchased: Alan Sheehan (Leeds - Loan)

Lee Barnard (Southend - £240k)

Eduardo Costa (Free)

Mohamed Kallon (Free)

I also decided to get rid of some unwanted players.

Players sold: Leon Clake (Bristol City - Loan)

Kenny Lunt (Bradford - £30k)

Deon Burton (Derby - £75k)

Peter Gilbert (Norwich - £100k)

Progress so far in all competitions in 2008/2009 season.

League Cup 1st Round: (A) Bradford 0-1 Very disapointing and made some heavy changes to first eleven.

F.A. Cup 3rd Round: (H) Peterborough 1-0 Not a good performance but through to next round

Coca-Cola Championship: After 25 games played, currently sat in 4th place with 12 wins, 7 draws and 6 losses.

The January transfer window has just opened and I've managed to sign several players ready for next season, all on free transfers. I've also been trying to keep the wages some what managable.

Players signed for next season:

Eyal Golasa (M. Haifa - Free)

Bosko Jankovic (Palermo - Free)

Owen Garvan (Ipswich - Free)

Martin Douillard (Le Mans U.C. 72 - Free)

Ben Foster (Man Utd - Free)

Micael Mancienne (Chelsea - Free)

Brian Howard (Barnsley - Free)

I will post more progress on how I'm doing, I'm thinking every 10 games or so.

here's my progress update after 35 games¦

after making my first post at 25 league games played i went 9 games without a win, including a fourth round tie and replay against premier opposition (stoke).

at the beginning of march i'd dropped down to 12th in the league and out of both cups. the board were a little disappointed with my performance. my 35th game was at home against blackpool which i won comfortably 4-0. i'm now hoping we've turned a corner and make a push for the play-off's as i'm only three points behind 6th place.

here's my end of season summary.

i finished 10th in the league on 67 points, 11 points behind 6th place.

my stats for the league are as follows.

p46 w18 d13 l15 f44 a31 gd13 pts67

my overall stats are as follows.

games played 51

games won 20-39.2%

games drawn 14-27.5%

games lost 17-33.3%

goals scored 51-1p/m

goals conceded 41-0.8p/m

i think everyone will agree that there not great stats or i've had a brilliant season. the directors meanwhile were delighted with my general performance as manager. the chairman was also pleased by the team's comfortable finishing position this season.

my hopes for next season are to improve greatly in all competitions and build a stronger squad, one that's strong enough to challenge for the play-off's or maybe one of the automatic promotion spots.

i'll post once season has started.

2009/2010 season

this is my second season in charge of sheff wed. the board expectations this season is to stay clear of relegation, but i want to do better than that and push for promotion.

i've strengthened the squad in mosf areas. i've also got rid of some players that didn't feature last season.

players in.

ben foster (man utd - free)

michael mancienne (chelsea - free)

blerim dzemaili (bolton - free)

owen garvan (ipswich - free)

bosko jankovic (palermo - free)

martin douillard (le mans u.c. 72 - free)

brian howard (barnsley - free)

matty fryatt (leicester - free)

players out.

steve watson (bradford - 4k)

james o'connor (bradford - 65k)

francis jeffers (burnley - 230k)

etienne esajas (burnley - 250k)

jermaine johnson (burnley - 150k)

rocky lekaj (bristol city - 625k)

richard o'donnell (cardiff - loan)

wade small (norwich - 375k)

sean mcallister (bristol city - loan)

i've decided to stick with the same tactics as last season for now.

i will post progress every ten games.

here's to a successful campaign.

sign Sander Post v.good SC for championship

i was looking in to signing him. don't want to many strikers though.

hes a bargain

I'm 20 games in and here's how things stand at the minute.

League Table

1st Nottm Forest P21 W13 D5 L3 F43 A25 GD18 Pts44

2nd Wolves P21 W12 D6 L3 F33 A15 GD18 Pts42

3rd Fulham P21 W12 D6 L3 F33 A19 GD14 Pts42

4th Sheff Wed P20 W12 D3 L5 F20 A12 GD8 Ps39

As you can see i haven't been banging the goals in. might have to look at getting a prolific goal scorer in the january transfer window.

League Cup.

1st Round: (A) Rotherham 2-1

2nd Round: (A) Wolves 1-2

I was very disappointed that we got knocked out at such an early stage.

I'm still playing with a 4-4-2 formation but i've changed the player instructions slightly.

Before the transfer window shut in august i managed to:

Maynor Figueroa (olimpia (HON) - £300k)

Theo Adams (stafford - £20k) 15 year old striker with good stats. Currently on loan at Brighton with an Av R of 7.42

What about Post did you go for him?

46 games played and here's how it stands.

League Table.

1st Wolves P46 W24 D13 L9 F79 A42 GD37 Pts85

2nd Fulham P46 W23 D16 L7 F65 A37 GD28 Pts85

3rd Sheff Wed P46 W24 D13 L9 F48 A28 GD20 Pts85

4th Charlton P46 W23 D12 L11 F87 A52 GD35 Ps81

5th Stoke P46 W20 D19 L7 F88 A51 GD37 Pts79

6th Q.P.R. P46 W19 D18 L9 F85 A52 GD33 Pts75

As you can see, it was a very tight finish to the season. Only goal difference seperating the top three.

At one point i was sat in second place behind wolves because fulham were drawing 1-1 with preston, but they ended up winning 3-1.

From the 20 game post you'll notice i only scored an extra 28 goals. will definately need to look at that for next season, no matter what league i'm in.

I managed to get to the 5th round of the F.A. cup, beating Middlesbrough 2-1 and Charlton 1-0. We ended up losing to Tottenham 0-2.

In the January transfer window i signed four players and sold only one.

Players in.

Anton Putsilo (Dinamo Minsk - £150k)

Sander Post (Flora - £110k)

Stuart Keehan (AIS - Free)

Mattia Ancelotti (Sienna - Free)

Players Out.

Akpo Sodje (Crewe - £300k)

I will post a full stats and players signed list after play-offs are finished.

I've done it. I've got Sheff Wed to the promise land of the premiership, all be it through the play-off's.

I got drawn against Q.P.R. in the Semi Final. The first leg was to be played at Q.P.R. which we won with a thumping 3-0. The second leg at Hillsborough was very tight and we won 1-0.

So we're through to the final to face Charlton. Again it was very tight, but we edged it by two goals to one.

The chairman stated that he is very proud of the team achieving promotion. The achievement far exceeded his expectations at the beginning of the season.

Manager Stats.

Games played: 105

Games won: 50 - 47.6%

Games drawn: 27 - 25.7%

Games lost: 28 - 26.7%

Goals scored: 111 - 1.06 p/m

Goals conceded: 75 - 0.71 p/m

Players incoming for new season.

Jonjo Shelvey (Charlton - Free)

Diego Bounanotte (River - Free)

Emmanuel Jorge Ledesma (Genoa - Free)

Jack Rodwell (Everton - Free)

Alex Pearce (Reading - Free)

Juan Angel Albin (Getafe - Free)

Dependent on the transfer budget given will strenghten team more. All the signings above are for the futur, will need to sign some experienced players to help us stay in the premiership.

I will try and use the same 4-4-2 tactic as much as possible as i have done in previous seasons.

Our main focus for next season is to cement our place in the premiership, anything after that will be a bonus. Bring it on!!!

how did you find Post then?

He wasn't to bad. He scored 8 goals with 3 assists in 27 games, with an Av R of 7.37

2010/2011

Here we are, ready to embark on our first campaign as Sheffield Wednesday in the Premier League.

Board Expectations:

The Sheff Wed directors expect the club to achieve cup success and attain a respectable league position this season.

I think this is maybe a year away yet,but we'll give it a shot.

All the players I'd listed on 2009/2010 end of season summary hav now joined the club.

Players Out.

Lee Barnard (Bristol City - £1.8m)

Martin Douillard (Bristol City - £2.3m)

Mohamed Kallon (Bristol City - £775k)

Brian Howard (Bristol City - £1.7m)

Richard Hinds (Charlton - £1.6m)

Eyal Golasa (Bolton - Loan)

Theo Adams (Cardiff - Loan)

Jonjon Shelvey (Fulham - Loan)

Mattia Ancelotti (Fulham - Loan)

Jack Rodwell (Birmingham City - Loan)

All the players that have been loaned out have been allowed so they can gain some vital experience. Not sure if they could cut it in the premier.

I've played the three friendly's which were against:

Derby (H) 0-0

Stoke (H) 2-0

Viking (A) 3-1

The first match of the season was against Man City, which should show how strong my team really is.

Unfortunately my team is nowhere near strong enough. We got hammered 0-3, didn't even have any shots and was totally out played. May have to change tactics/formation if this carries on.

Our second match was at home again but this time the visitors were Tottenham. I made a few changes to the player instructions prior to this match. This was a bit more tighter with equal possesion and the same amount of shots. The game finised 1-1. Tottenham's goal came via an own goal by one of my defenders.

Just signed Kerlon from Inter for a fee of £3m.

If anybody has any suggestions or ideas please let me know. I'll post progress again at midway point of season.

get rid of Kerlon was always injured in my games, physio says hes injury prone.

Rodwell is def one for the future start playing him next season and youll most probably get a massive bid for him, i saw him sold for 30 million in my game

2010/2011 mid-season progress.

league table.

1st sheff wed p23 w16 d4 l3 f29 a16 gd13 pts52

2nd chelsea p22 w15 d4 l3 f41 a21 gd20 pts49

3rd arsenal p22 w13 d6 l3 f35 a14 gd21 pts45

4th man utd p23 w11 d5 l7 f35 a24 gd11 pts38

5th man city p23 w11 d4 l8 f42 a26 gd16 pts37

6th tottenham p23 w9 d10 l4 f41 a29 gd12 pts37

i've really surprised myself by getting up to first.

only one player brought in during the january transfer window and that was rafael sobis from al-jazeera for £5m.

my heaviest defeat was against man city and reading which were both 0-3. my biggest victory was against middlesbrough in the qtr final of the league cup which finished 4-1.

i'm through to the final of the league cup after beating newcastle 2-1 on aggregate. i will now face everton in the final. i'm also through to the 5th round of the f.a. cup and will be facing chelsea.

i hope we can maintain our current form and position untill the end of season.

i will post end of season summary in the morning.

2010/2011 End of season summary.

After my last post i managed to grind out some 1-0 and 2-1 wins with the occasional 2-0, still managing to stay top. After looking at the league table i noticed once again that i was the lowest scoring team in the top six. I decided to change formation/tactics. I opted for a Xmas Tree formation, as shown below.

ST

AMC AMC

ML MC MR

DL DC DC DR

GK

Team Instructions:

Emphasis: Attacking

Passing: Short

Tackling: Normal

Pressing: Yes

Everything else set to no

Player Instructions:

Passing: All set to team

Tackling: MC set to hard, everyone else set to team

Pressing: GK ans all Def's set to no, everyone else set to team

Pass to: Not changed

Set Pieces(A): Not changed

Set Pieces(D): GK normal, all def's, ML, MR and MC all set to back, AMC's normal and FC forward

Free Role: All set to no

Forward Runs: DL, DR, ML, MR and both AMC's set to yes, everyone else set to no

Run With Ball: ML, MR and both AMC's set to yes, everyone else set to no

Hold up Ball: MC set to yes, everyone set to no

Long Shots: AMC's and FC set to yes, everyone else set to no

Through Balls: AMC's yes, everyone else set to no

Cross Ball: DL, DR, ML and MR set to yes, everyone else set to no

Marking: GK and FC none, DC's man, everyone else set to zonal

My first game using this formation was away at fulham which we won 1-0. Then we played host to reading which ended as a bore draw (0-0). then came a break from league action as we were pitted against chelsea at home in the F.A. Cup 5th round. We ran out winners with an emphatic 3-0 score line. Back to league action with a home game against Man Utd, again winning by 3-0. Next was the League Cup Final against Everton. After 90 mins it was still 0-0 and i was fearing the worst, but with a goal either side in extra time we were crowned League Cup Winners. I decided to stick with this formation since.

League Table:

1st Sheff Wed P38 W25 D8 L5 F51 A22 GD29 Pts83

2nd Chelsea P38 W23 D11 L4 F70 A37 GD33 Pts80

3rd Arsenal P38 W22 D10 L6 F66 A27 GD39 Pts76

4th Tottebham P38 W17 D14 L7 F67 A44 GD23 Pts65

5th Man City P38 W19 D7 L12 F67 A46 GD21 Pts64

6th Man Utd P38 W18 D10 L10 F60 A39 GD21 Pts64

After beating chelsea in the F.A. Cup 5th round. we went all the way to the final beating, Fulham (H) 2-0, then Bolton in the semi's 1-0. We eventually lost in the final to Man City 0-2.

Board Assessment:

Your chairman has pronounced his pleasure at the team winning the English Premier League.

This achievement far exceeded his expectations at the beginning of the season.

Manager Stats:

Games Played 156

Games Won 86 - 55.1%

Games Drawn 36 - 23.1%

Games Lost 34 - 21.8%

Goals Scored 185 - 1.19 p/m

Goals Conceded 101 - 0.65 p/m

I was quite surprised at how much i'd won in our first premier season. I didn't go out and splash a load of cash on players. The majority of the players i did sign were all free signings.

Back were we belong.

Up the Owls!!!

how has Kerlon been doing?

he's been rubbish and injured quite a lot too.

yeah its always the case ive found, i would really try to off load him

2011/2012

Board Expectations: The Sheffield Wednesday directors expect great success in every area this season.

There is a transfer fund of £41m available to help you achieve these goals.

As last year i still don't think were ready or strong enough to defend our title successfully. £41m is'nt really a lot of money these days.

Players Signed to date:

Lionel Rodriguez (OL - Free)

Matias Cahais (Boca - £3m)

Sergio Ramos (R. Madrid - £27m)

Darijo Srna (Shakhtar - £11.5m)

Players Sold to date:

Blerim Dzemaili (Derby - £4.6m)

Kerlon (Aston Villa - £11.75m)

George Boyd (Derby - £3.1m)

Matty Fryatt (Ipswich - £3.1m)

Richard Wood (Derby - £3.6m)

Decided to stick with the Xmas tree Formation that i used in the second half of last season so well.

We lost in the Community Shield to Man City 1-3. Our first League game was against Chelsea which finished 0-0. Hopefully our season can kick on from here.

Will post again at end of season with full stats and players in/out list.

have you still got mark beevers??? Is he any good for you and what is he worth?

Yes i've still got mark beevers. He's in the centre of my defence with sergio ramos. He's currently worth £9.75m has an Av R of 7.08 and is an england international.

nice bit of business with Kerlon!

Kerlon was good for me didnt get injured that often and i only payed around 2m for him

always injured for me played a handful of games over 2 seasons

Darijo Srna is now starting to be a little bit annoying. He'll play two or three games then be injured for anything up to two months.

ive never actually signed him

I'm gutted, i deleted save game file by accident when clearing memory card of old saved games. I've now started a new game, but this time for a more challenging game i've started in Blue Square Premier with Burton. I've got 6k to spend and a wage budget of 10k. The squad is very thin as well with just 15 players. Lets have some fun and see where we can get!!!

Doing realy well at minute with Burton. Got them promoted to league 2 in first season as well as winning the F.A. Trophy. Signed some really good players for new season, all of them on free's. hopefully we'll make it a double and get promoted two seasons running.