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VillaSmith

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235 "I mean, funny like I'm a clown? I amuse you?"

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    Aston Villa

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    Tamworth

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  1. Rotating the team before a cup game and ensuring my starting team is as rested as they can be, so either actually rest them so they don't train or don't play them the game before if it's less than a full week between the matches, I may even rest players for two matches before to just make sure they aren't tired.
  2. It's unsatisfying, but honestly it's luck. I do tend to concentrate on the cups when I try challenges like this, but I got massively lucky with my runs early on in the FA Cup and getting the big away days to Chelsea and Man Utd which allowed me to max out my Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment, also Tamworth started out with a HoyD that was actually pretty good and I still haven't found a replacement good enough yet, all of which ended up getting me some really good intakes early on. The other two things I focus on are morale and fitness, if both of those are good then you'll be able to punch above your weight. If morale is bad, don't be too harsh in teamtalks, once you get a feel for your team you should be able to tell which option will get you the green responses, and then praise every little positive you can just to boost morale, make sure you congratulate players on PotM performances or winning awards. For fitness I would often rest players between matches just to make sure they were at peak condition or as close as. It probably harmed the development of some players by not having training, but it helped win games and got me to professionalism much quicker. Honestly, I don't know if that's just a fluke or if it's even a good way to approach things, but that's what worked for me. Also, I have tried this challenge many times, and I usually spend a fair few seasons getting into the save before posting anything here, there have been many times I have started this challenge and completely failed
  3. Season 11 - 2033/34 - Sky Bet League One League Table - Fixtures - Squad - Transfers League - A very good, albeit long and tough, season, finishing up in 9th to get our highest league finish for the fifth year in a row. We started off brilliantly and even had a flirt with a title challenge, but eventually the hectic schedule caught up to us and we fell away from the playoff places into a comfotable top half finish. It was disappointing to not be able to maintain a playoff push, but since I expected to battle relegation again this season, I couldn't grumble too much. We benefitted a lot from having our backups take a step up this season so that I was more comfortable to rotate players in and out of the side, although we had a fairly settled starting XI for most of the season. We did go in to a bit of a tailspin around February time, but managed to just pull things together enough to stabilise and finish with some decent form. The shining light of this season had to be the partnership upfront between George and Hailey, netting 67 goals between them, with a total goal contribution between them of 90! Hailey's 39 goals, 29 in the league, was the highest ever league and total goals in a season for the club. Hailey really had a fantastic season, breaking the records for fastest goal (13s), most PotM awards (13) and highest average rating (7.23) for the club, plus he's now up to 3rd highest goalscorer of youth academy graduates behind Matt Oliver and Lewis Pearce, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him pass Pearce's 103 goals this season. George's season was also fantastic, he just got overshadowed by his strike-partner! Our intake from last year has already made a decent impact on the side with Reynolds and Waldo forming a good backup partnership to George and Hailey, grabbing 25 goals between them. Eddie Browne ended up securing a first team spot alongside Handzic in central midfield and had a good first full season. Diallo finished the season as first choice LB displacing Baker from the team, with Gibbons also getting some decent minutes at LB too. Maxwell had a good final season for the club too, doing a great job of filling the gap left by Brooks, now I just need to work our who's going to replace him! Cups - Another good season for the cups, although we didn't progress as far in the FA Cup as last year. We made it to the fifth round this year, with Coventry being the first side we faced that was above us in the pyramid. By the time we faced them we had dipped into some horrid form, and just didn't have enough about us to get past them. We manged to come from 3-1 down to make it 3-3 but they finished us off in the last 20 minutes as we tried to push for a winner. Stats wise we probably should've won the match, but given the previous runs we'd had in the FA Cup I can't really complain. Our EFL Cup campaign was our best yet, reaching the Quarter's only to fall to Championship Forest, but again a game which the numbers say we should have won, only to be denied by Forest playing the reincarnation of Lev Yashin in goal. We had some good wins on the way there, particularly the fourth round smashing of Brighton's second XI which I was really not expecting. I dared to dream of a semi final berth that would give us an away trip to Anfield or the Emirates, or even a local derby against Villa, but it wasn't to be. Finally the EFL Trophy, and my first trip to Wembley Although only the second time the club has ever gotten to Wembley, as I was disappointed to find out the club had played an FA Vase final there in the 80s. Inititally I didn't take this cup too seriously, rotating heavily to try and keep the first XI fresh, but as we progressed further the opportunity of that Wembley trip and lifting a trophy started to become more and more enticing. We faced Portsmouth in the final, but luck was against us as injuries and suspensions meant none of our starting midfield were available and we had to play a very hodge-podge side, which meant we just couldn't create the opporunities to get in to the game. Finances - Our cup runs brought in some decent money this season with the extra home games and the Wembley final, plus an average attendance of 4881 over the season meant we brought in quite a bit in gate receipts. But the the biggest boon to our finances had to be the Maxwell sale, bringing in £7m which we used to upgrade the training facilites (after they were downgraded over the summer) and to increase our Youth Level, which included finally increasing our youth facilities again despite our boards resistence. We are also looking to expand the stadium now too, although it's only in the planning phase currently, but hopefully that should bring in more money as we are still growing our supporter base. Even after all the outlays we still have roughly £4m in the bank, so we're in a pretty good position for a couple of years. Youth Intake Rafael Arana [34A] - Matthew Lamb [34B] - Shola Elijah [34C] - Fred Kasongo [34D] - Danny Knox [34E] - Stevie Munro [34F] - Javon Ho-Lung [34J] Another smallish intake, and unfortunately not quite as good as last year's IMO as we have less first team candidates, though potentially we have some good players here. Lamb and Arana are probably the closest to the first team, though they would both be way down the pecking order. I'm thankful to get Elijah and Munro through as we are hemorrhaging defenders every year it seems, though it'll take a while for them to get to first team level. Former Player Watch Jimmy Cook - A tough season for Jimmy, spending the first half of the season on Huddersfield's bench playing just 3 cup games, he ended up going on loan to Wrexham in League Two, playing 18 games and conceding 19 with 5 clean sheets, grabbing 7th and a playoff berth, though they went out to eventual winners Bolton, with Cook getting a dismal 5.4 rating in the first leg. His value now is at the £50k-£475k range, so may not end up bringing in much future cash for us. Adriano Muzonho - Another season out on loan for Adriano, this time to Moreirense in the Liga Portugal 2, where he underwhelmed with just 1 goal and 1 assist in 26 matches, although he mainly played off the bench. Despite that his value is up at £7.8m-£11.5m and has even started to attract interest from Leeds, so may see some further funds from Muzonho soon Haukur Mar Ottesen - Just 1 sub appearance for Reading this season for Ottesen, and a mediocre time in the their U21s, I get the feeling I played to Ottesen's strengths and other teams that don't need to rely on him won't get the same kind of form out of him. His value is at £75k-£750k now, so I may get a bit of cash still from him, but without gametime at Reading or loans out I can't see him progressing enough to get a decent fee. Nathan Watson - 1 league and 1 cup appearance for Swansea in the first half of the season for Watson, he failed to nail a spot for the first team and ended up at Port Vale in the National League for the second half of the season, only contributing 1 assist over 16 games, but a better spell than his one with Newport as Port Vale at least stayed up and got a mid table finish. Despite that his value has remained high at £2.7m-£5.2m even though Swansea almost released him on a free, so maybe there's still a chance of decent fee in the future. Evans Ackah - A few appearances early on for Blackpool but he wasn't quite ready for the step up to the Championship, so he ended up on loan to Wycombe in League One, playing 25 times and getting 1 assist. Ackah's value has stayed relatively low at £75k-£750k, so another where potential earnings may be limited. John Brooks - Brooks spent the season on loan at York City in League Two, playing 26 games with 1 assist, and just missing out on the playoffs to Cook's Wrexham. Brooks' value is the most unpredictable as it ranges from £12k-£6.2m, he could end up bringing in a good fee, he could get tossed aside it seems, but he still has plenty of time to earn a big fee.
  4. Love a good old bidding war - initially agreed to sell him for around £1m, then kept offering him out and slowly negotiating the price up until I got to £7m
  5. Season 10 - 2032/33 - Sky Bet League One League Table - Fixtures - Squad - Transfers League - A tough season, but we managed to stay up with one game to spare! It was an incredibly tight scrap at the bottom, which I thought would be too tough to escape from as we really stuggled early in the season despite picking up some early wins. A shift back to 4-4-2 brought some good results in November and we made the most of playing our relegation rivals in December to drag ourselves into mid-table. We were very streaky this season though and we ended failing to win in 9 games before good old rivals Burton showed up to get another pumping by us After that we limped to the end of the season and with 4 games to go I felt like 4-6 points would be enough and very gettable with fellow strugglers Wycombe and Swindon in our run-in, but we ended up FM'ing eventually promotion winners Woking to derail their title challenge and give us the points that essentially kept us up! A win against Wycombe all but confirmed it, whilst Cambridge and Swindon faced each other in a game-in-hand survival decider, which Swindon won and sealed survival for me. Alex Hailey and Richard George ended up with a fantastic partnership up front, getting 35 goals between them and really filling the gap left by Muzonho and Ottesen. Brooks was formidable at the back, as was Ackah both developing fantaastically. Skjeldestad went from shaky back up for Baker to first choice CB over the season, making fantastic progress and nailing himself a starting XI spot. After Jason Hart's dislocated shoulder, he fractured his back after just three games, so Keith Curran ended up playing the majority of my games this season really stepping up and doing well, giving me a headache for next season as to whether he keeps the #1 spot for next year, especially having two major injuries in one season make me worried about Hart's longevity. Maxwell had a good first season too making a good partnership with Handzic in midfield, though I made the mistake of not offering him a contract when he came through and had to panickedly give him £1.4k p/w as Burnley almost managed to get him on a free transfer. All in all, a good season to stay up and for development, I'm confident we can stay up again next year as long as we don't lose too many players in the summer. Cup - A slight disappointment in the EFL Cup this year, we got to the 3rd Round again which is great, but no big teams as a money spinner We were fortunate to get two League Two sides in the first two rounds to help us progress, but we ended up with Blackburn at home just which ended up being too much for us. The EFL Trophy was better than last season, winning our group, but by the time the second round came around we were in horrid form and I felt it was more useful to rest the first team than progress much further, although if it wasn't for a 1st minute red card, I feel my back-ups could have gotten past Portsmouth, but it wasn't to be. I did look up how much you get for winning the EFL Trophy and almost decided to prioritise it as it does give decent money, netting at least £225k if you win it all, but the sub-1k attendances kinda balance that out and it ends up being an unneccesary distraction. Then the main event, the FA Cup, we were so close to Wembley! We were very fortunate again with our draws, getting League Two sides again in the first two rounds, which were useful "easy" games to help regain form when we were pretty bad in the league. We got Salford in the 3rd Round which was disappointing, but they were struggling enough in the Championship that we managed to cause an upset. The 4th Round drew us at home to National League Port Vale, which again helped us as we were struggling for league form at the time, and we managed to get past them fairly easily even with a rotated side. Millwall at home was the draw for the 5th Round, which was good for progression chances, but actually annoying as I just wanted a Premier League team at this point so I could get my money and concentrate on the league. But like Salford, they were struggling in the league (the two of them finished 20th and 21st in the end), so we ended up managing to knock them, we were second best for most of the game but Richard George popped up at the end of the game to send us to the QF! Newly-appointed Top 6 side Everton was our reward in the Quarters, which bagged us some decent change as they now play in the 53k Bradley-Moore Dock, but we were thoroughly out-classed by them (not surprising against Premier League challengers), a late-ish flourish to get back to 3-2 gave me some fleeting hope we might pull off a huge shock and get to Wembley, but it wasn't to be. Furthest we have gotten so far, and a magnificent run! Finances - The cup run helped our finances massively this season, as did the sales of Ackah and Brooks for a combined £2.4m (£1.2m of which came in this summer), plus the installments from previous sales. We're staving off serious financial trouble, but I think if we can stay in League One, we should be able to sustain ourselves with solidarity payments and 1 or 2 player sales a year, plus we continue to grow our supporter base which should help generate more cash and increase season ticket sales. We're not quite at the level to invest much more in our facilities, but hopefully we can get there soon, although I'm not sure I agree with our boards reasoning to not improve our youth facilities... Gestures broadly at my entire career at the club Youth Intake Connor Reynolds [33A] - Michael Gibbons [33B] - Marc Chapman [33C] - Izak Waldo [33D] - Joshua Diallo [33E] - Eddie Browne [33F] - Scott Dunn [33L] A much smaller intake this year, but one I'm very excited about. Connor Reynolds looks a great prospect and already a decent striker for this level, he even scored on debut coming off the bench against Everton to become ours and the Cups youngest player/goalscorer! Browne is another player that became a first team option after coming through, though more due to my light options in midfield, but I'm still very excited for him. We also won't be lacking for left sided options with 3 decent looking LB/LMs, plus some decent potential depth options up front with Waldo and Dunn. Former Player Watch Jimmy Cook - Spent the season on loan at Grimsby (Which funnily enough meant 2 matches vs Us in which he conceded 7 goals ) playing 47 games and conceding 61 goals, Grimsby ended up 17th in what ended up being a decent loan spell for him. Huddersfield got relegated to League One this season, so he may potentially be taking their #1 shirt next year, which should increase his value even further. Adriano Muzonho - No games for Stoke this season, and ended up on loan in the Portuguese 4th tier getting 4 goals and 2 assists in 17 matches. The highest valued of my sales at £900k-£9m, I get the feeling Stoke won't be selling him any time soon. Haukur Mar Ottesen - Little of note from Ottesen this season, one appearance off the bench in the EFL cup for Reading and then U21 football for the rest of the season, he didn't take part in Reading's title win. Plenty of loan interest in him now though, so hopefully he can some game time elsewhere next season. Nathan Watson - Loaned out to Newport in the National League, he played 46 games in total getting 4 goals and 4 assists, but was ultimately unable to help prevent Newport finishing 22nd and falling to the VNS. Surprisingly, it seems Swansea are already cutting him loose as he is transfer listed for £2.5m, unfortunate for the lad, but a potential £1m windfall for me!
  6. Currently in 32-33, half the team wants to leave and the other half is too young, plus Jason Hart dislocated his shoulder and is out for two months, suffering is one way to put it But we randomly smash teams to keep our survival hopes alive, so I got that going for me.
  7. A sneak peak at how League One is treating us We may not be good enough for this league, but at least our local boys can pull it out of the bag to claim the pride of Staffordshire label!
  8. Season 9 - 2031/32 - Sky Bet League Two League Table - Fixtures - Squad - Transfers League - The main takeaway from this season is I had the chance to potentially relegate Birmingham City from the EFL on the final day, but couldn't beat them rendering the whole season a disappointment really Seriously though, it was an unbelievable season, we got off to a good start but I thought the poor turn in September would result in a very patchy season, but then we went on to win 8 games in a row in the league and spent two months at the top of the table! The sheer amount of games in November and December derailed our initial title challenge, but we managed to pick form up towards the end of the season whcih put us back in the conversation as it seemed no-one wanted to win the title, case in point, with three games to go the top 5 sides were seperated by just 3 points, it's one of the tightest title challenges I've ever had. We did briefly get top spot back, and even took the lead against 2nd place Wycombe in the penultimate game, which would have won the title, but we let the game slip and only picked up a point on the final day so we slipped down to third. Keeping Ottesen and Muzonho for the second half of the season was crucial as it allowed me some consistency whilst I started to blood in some of their potential replacements for next season and adapt to a new tactic. What was reassuring about the tactic switch was that it resulted in my good run of form in March/April as soon as I made the change, getting a record of 6/2/2 in the final 10 games, so I'm confident in the 4231 I'm now going with to get the best out of this team. Evans Ackah stepped into Watson's shoes magnificanetly and became a key player this season making the role his own, whilst John Brooks cemented his place at CB alongside Robinson. Bonnevie and Handzic also made big strides, which has got me considering the possibility of dropping Atkinson from the team for the first time in seven seasons. Hailey's development and good finish to the season gave me confidence he can lead the line on his own next year even if there isn't much of a backup for him currently, making the Ottesen and Muzonho losses less of a blow. Looking at my loan players too it looks like it may be time to phase Jason Hart out of the team as Jimmy Cook has developed really well after three years out on loan, having a magnificent season for Hartlepool in the National League. Whilst I'm obviously delighted to be promoted, I am worried that it is far too soon, especially with players leaving, a lot of younger players are going to have to be thrown into the deep end I reckon, and I think I need a cull of some of the players that are just not good enough for this level despite their work to get us here, such as Pearce and McDonald. Cup - An extra cup competition means an extra potential revenue source! Our first foray into the EFL Cup was very succesful, although slightly disappointing that our first ever game in the competition was with the only other side to have never played in it, Dorking. However that did give me the confidence we could win the game, which we did. League One Chesterfield awaited in the Second Round, and they were not playing well at the time, having only scored one in their first four games, they would go on to fight relegation all season, only to save themselves with a flurry of wins in the second half of the season, but we managed to take advantage of their fraility in the cup. Man City away was our reward in the first round, a much needed money-spinner, and one we did very well in, even having a couple of chances to score, but ultimately going out 2-0. A respectable first attempt in the comp. The FA Cup was so close to embarassment in the first round, going behind early against National League Boreham Wood, we needed a 94th minute equaliser from Lawley to force a replay. Once we were back at the Lamb Ground, we whooped Boreham Wood, but it was too close of a scare. The Second Round we were much better, beating National League Chester with ease to return to the Third Round. Stamford Bridge once again welcomed us for the Third Round and once again ended our run. Not as competitive as my last trip here or the trip to Manchester earlier this season, as we went 2-0 down in 11 minutes, but still it was a commendable performance. The EFL Trophy was a disappointment really, we were out after 2 games and after losing to Newcastle U21s, I didn't feel it was worth the effort this season. Finances - Cup runs and player sales really helped this season, bringing in roughly £2.2m in total, without which we'd have been screwed. I'm hoping though that next season our income will start to improve with promotion, having the bigger stadium for a full season and our fan base taking another boost. Plus the reputation boost to ourselves and the players should mean we won't need to sell many players to cover any shortfalls if it comes to it. I'm cautiously optimistic that we're getting to a good position. Youth Intake Josh Evans [32A] - Jared Rowett [32B] - Derek Kelly [32C] - Gaz Mundell [32D] - Aaron Maxwell [32E] - Bradley Anderson [32F] - Richard Bannister [32G] - James Daly [32H] - Christian N'Gakosso [31I] - Lewis Joseph Gunnell [32J] A good intake, with a couple first team squad candidates. Maxwell I'm very excited for due to him being my first Perfectionist, and potentially looking like a good back up for Handzic. Rowett, Kelly and Mundell may benefit from my lack of forward options next season and get some game time, but they're definitely ones for the future. Evans continues my tradition of good GK options in my intakes, but will probably follow the path of my other GK's like Cook, Curran and Baptiste and spend some time out on loan before getting first team consideration.
  9. After the first negotiation I locked it in and they just didn't walk away. My guess is because they offered a loan back anyway after agreeing the deal they weren't worried about having them right away so wasn't a big deal in the negotiation.
  10. The academy is starting to pay off with two more sales in January Both had gotten unsettled after attracting Championship attention, so whilst I possibly could've gotten more for them, I didn't want to **** them off too much and took what I could get without worrying about too many add ons. It would've thrown a spanner into the team if they'd left mid season as we don't really have good enough replacements for them and I didn't want to search for a new tactic mid season, but you don't need a loan back if you demand the transfer happens at the end of the season *taps head*
  11. To add to what @XaW and @darren1983 have said, Stourbridge only start with 16 players, so if they released players and didn't sign any youth players they're going to have a really small squad unfortunately. Personally I wanted to start a save as Merthyr for my attempt but had the same issue so had to choose someone else.
  12. I don't think I've ever had an average attendance % that high as a team at this level, or any level even, the stadium expansion can't come soon enough!
  13. The Zaha curse, good enough to be so important to a mid-table side that they don't want to sell, not good enough that anyone who can afford him is willing to pay up.
  14. I'm only 8 games in to my first League Two season, but this makes me very happy Just local bragging rights, no other reason, honest...
  15. My first big-ish sale of the save, Nathan Watson left on deadline day for Championship Swansea. £200k guaranteed with the possibility to rise to £425k with very achievable add-ons, plus 40% of his next sale and a friendly next summer which should bring in a further £30k-£40k. A tad disappointing as he developed into a key player for me last season and his ability at RB really helped my narrow formation work and added some needed width, so hopefully Evans Ackah can make the step up even though I just planned to use him as a backup this season.
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