dafuge's FM10 challenge

[roseboy64]

Last time I completed the challenge the aim was to get an international job and continue to build the club. Didn't happen though as the file was lost due to reasons.

[LoNinjaSword]

For the first time in FM I have found a player who shares my name. If i had 6k I would buy him, just for the novelty

[Rob2387]

Just finished my first season with Ashton United. I struggled throughout the season but was eventually able to stay up. Hopefully things will be better next year.

My team was as follows
GK - Far too good for this level. Glad I had him
RB
LB
CB
CB
DMC
MC - Solid Player
MR
ML
FC - Surprised I was able to get him, but certainly glad I did. Player of the season IMO.
FC - Got him on loan from Crewe, did fairly well after a slow start.
Sub 1 - Got injured for a while and so he didn't do as well as I thought.

My finances are awful and need work, and here are the transfers I made.

Need to get some new players in and work on my tactics and everything should be better next season.

[LoNinjaSword]

I just managed to get Kyle Wilson!

I also got Gordon Dick. I never get tired of seeing things like "Dick Training" and "that Dick has the potential to be very good"

[LoNinjaSword]

First league match was a 1 - 0 defeat to Newport. They had 17 shots, we had 4. You might think I'm lucky to lose by only one goal, but we had 2 one-on-ones and a crossbar hit. Let's hope it gets better

[Rob2387]

By the way, still looking for help in the lower leagues. Any suggestions?

[roseboy64]

Loving the transfers I just had for my first season. All players who are either Prem quality or will be. Got a 34yo Ashley Cole on a free as the highlight as well as Manuel Almunia for about 1m. Loving the 48 month repayment method. Club's now in the red though after spending around 20m in the market and the upgrade to the stadium needed. Means survival is a must if the club is to survive.

[SnakeXe]

For the first time in FM I have found a player who shares my name. If i had 6k I would buy him, just for the novelty

A guy came through my youth team who has the same name as one of my friends - he's awful, but keeping him for the fun of it

[foost]

Does anyone has a kid already btw?

[Satio]

we are doing seriously well...

at drawing :|

keep drawing with the top sides, cant win though. the whole team just feels to weak in all areas to push for a winning goal and defend to keep it. Out of 34 games, we have drawn half of them.

edit: great, my goalkeeper is injured. now to put my second keeper in. he's 40... sigh.

[T-Rex]

By the end of january second season my Carshalton is keeping good pace, sitting 3rd in BSP. Playing above all expectations. Can we manage promotion this season as well?

[Satio]

I reckon you can. Better than me... just three games left. if we win 2 of them, we are safe. but we cant win, likely to be three draws haha.

edit: two games left, won against Droylsdon. leaves us 5 points clear of relegation with two games left. I think we made it. few

[ChelseaDaft]

GUESS WHO'S BACK!!!

Hello everyone, after a long absence I am back amongst you fellow Dafuger's!! After a long absence building up and maintaining my Chelsea Blog I am back in the fold! Got my FM2010 this morning and will be starting the challenge again this weekend!

Congrats to Scab who flew through the challenge as usual, Dafuge for completing and Michael M on his trials and tribulations so far, just one more promotion to go!

Congrats to all of you who have had any kind of success so far.

Happy new year everyone! I can't wait to get started!

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Having money is nice I've just agreed to sign this guy for a record £100k from Athletic I've no idea why they were willing to let him go so cheap my scouts give him Premiership potential and he only wants £500 p/w wages

Though finding English based players is proving to be a bit of a problem as they all seem to be on more wages than I can afford

[SnakeXe]

Having money is nice I've just agreed to sign this guy for a record £100k from Athletic I've no idea why they were willing to let him go so cheap my scouts give him Premiership potential and he only wants £500 p/w wages

Though finding English based players is proving to be a bit of a problem as they all seem to be on more wages than I can afford

If you can tutor him with someone with good positioning and concentration he'll turn out awesome

[roseboy64]

I found loads of cheap Spanish youngsters with Prem potential. Shocking really.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

This is mildly annoying the board will let me scout Europe, the African Nations Cup, the various World Cup Qualifers but they won't let me scout the World Cup that is being hosted by Russia

[GreyedOutMan]

Hastings U 1 - 1 Truro. Not the worst of starts, I guess. Survival is the sole aim this year, as I dont have any scouts and cant get any to join either! No way to get decent players in unless I stumble upon some!

Oh well - building up the club coffers this year I fear.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Nantwich Town – Championship 2017/18 – Season 8

So after tearing up League One in our only season their we now found ourselves in the Championship with no money and hardly any players and even less Championship standard players.

The boards expectations were to bravely fight against relegation and they had so much confidence in that that they gave no transfer budget and told me to slash the wage budget. so considering that the bookies gave us fairly generous odds of 50-1 whilst the media expectated us to finish rock bottom - on the plus side our reputation increased to Regional which allowed us to Scout the whole of Europe (for players I couldn't afford) and more surprisingly the club gained knowledge of random European countries (it's rather weird that the club on it's own has random knowledge of Holland but no knowledge of Scotland, Wales or Ireland?).

Also rather surprisingly I got a semi-decent youngster through right back Tony Leonard who has a 3 star potential I could do with a few more of them.

Transfers - with no money for transfer or wages I was again reduced to loaning in anyone I could - in came 23 loanees from around Europe I even managed to get a few from Brazil (after trialing them first), whilst I brought in two real players on free's Belgian Centre-back Erwin Bauwens arrived after spending last season onloan and in December Bosnian born Swedish Keeper Jonas Gronlund arrived from AIK.

Sales saw the likes of Togwell and Brogan leave who just weren't good enough for the Championship, whilst surprisingly Bohemians were willing to pay £1m to take Byrne back (I signed him for a record £7K from them a few years back) - they didn't technically overpay as for some reason that was his value, if I though someone would pay that I'd have upped my demands. Whilst Mooney and Fitzharris were loaned out as no one was willing to pay for them.

So with a team ill-equiped for the Championship - nearly all of my players had been signed when we were in League Two, whilst my Keeper Adam has been with us since the BSN, whilst most of my loanees didn't speak English and didn't want to be here - it was going to be a long season.

We started the season off with two 0-0 draws before Forest thrashed us 4-2, but our season looked up when we beat Portsmouth and Watford 1-0 - if we turned up and fought hard we could beat teams however would be able to do it enough? - in the first half of the season we beat Stoke, Blackburn, Millwall, Norwich, Cardiff and thrashed Swansea 6-1, however we also lost to Hull, Reading, Gillingham and Preston among others.

At the half-way stage we were sat in the top half of the table and looking comfortable but thats when things started to fall apart - my centre-back Toungara disappeared off to the African Nations after being dropped two years ago, then my other centre-back Abbes got injured as did midfielder Whyte and Strikers Dimitrov and Acapandie which ripped the heart out of my team.

After the turn of the year a run of nine games without winning (4 defeats and 5 draws) saw us edging closer to relegation - we were 19pts clear of relegation with about 15 games to go and it didn't look like a win was going to come from anywhere until we beat Birmingham 2-1 thanks to a 90th minute goal, however that was a one off result as we followed up by being hammered 3-0 by Brighton and then at Pride Park we found ourselves 3-0 down within 48mins however after that we turned up somehow coming back to 3-3 thanks to a double from Striker Dimitrov who scored his 23rd goal of the season - a new Nantwich record and more impressively now top the Championship scoring charts - however our luck didn't turn as he broke his arm in our 3-0 defeat to Blackburn next week and would miss the rest of the season.

Rather worrying with several injuries and players out of form I didn't have anyone to replace them with and with my team only starting to play after going a goal down we were in real danger of relegation - we came back from 2-0 down to claim a 2-2 against Hull but couldn't do the same as we lost to Reading and Millwall 2-1, we then suffered a 1-0 home defeat to a Norwich team we'd hammered 4-0 earlier in the season - the manor of their goal didn't help - a corner was floated into my box and it hit the Norwich player and rolled into the net

Now with five games left we were just nine points above the relegation places and we really needed a win as we were preying none of the teams below us got on a good run - though things got quickly worse as against Bristol City at the start of the game my Keeper who at this point was the only thing keeping the scores down got caught dribbling the ball, I then lost my striker Acapandie to injury and conceeded another goal, luckily his replacement came off the bench and bundled the ball over the line twice to make it 2-2, before my Keeper dropped a cross to make it 3-2 Bristol City.

But just when you think things cannot get worse they do as we promptly lost to already relegated Bristol City, but fortantely the other teams below us were even worse than us and with three games left we just needed a win to survive - and we finally got it beating a Leicester side fighting for the title 3-1 to survive with two games to spare.

Table - we actually finished a fairly impressive 15th considering our form in 2018

Overview - the cups didn't go well losing our second game in each cup.

Squad

Grant Adam continued in goal and he had a solid season as for to many games we was the only thing keeping the score down and there's not much he cane do when he makes a save and the ball comes straight back.

In defence Brazilian Luiz Carlos came in at right back whilst Ross McQuade was reloaned in at left back, in the centre Yanis Abbes and Moussa Toungara proved to be the more reliable partnership, whilst new signing Erwin Bauwens struggled at the start but improved as he settled whilst French youngster Nathan Mancini provided cover.

On the wings were two Man City youngsters Andy Saunders who impressed on the right and the returning Joao Oliveira who had a disappointing season and saw him pressed hard by Stuart McMahon.

In the centre of midfield Matthew Whyte yet again stepped up and found himself named fans player of the year, with Arsenal youngster Daniel Booker providing cover, partnering them was the ever reliable Magnus Eikrem with Anton Vandenadeele again providing cover, whilst Czech youngster Ladislav Drahokoupil provided further cover.

Upfront Bulgarian Vladislav Dimitrov was again in fine form setting a new record of league goals and overall goals scored in a season for Nantwich, though it's a shame he keeps on getting injured, covering him in the Target Man role was Irish Striker Stephen Keane who's attributes shot up but various niggling injuries didn't help his cause. Partnering them as the Poacher was French Striker Vincent Acapandie who had a solid season before it to was ended by injury. Whilst the best of my loanee strikers was Angel Lemaire who stepped up at the end of the season when I had no one else.

Facts - we are just a little bit out of our depth wages wise.

Manager Profile - My reputation increased to National at the start of the season which explains why I was linked with every job this season.

Whilst the board finally agreed to improve the youth facilities - at the end of the season I'm informed the improvements will only cost £230K so why the long wait?

Finances - We finally have money and with a new stadium on the way I may actually be able to build a squad as we are currently down to just 13 players.

Well it looks like this season finally broke the Overall XI feature with the likes Drahokoupil, Booker and Mancini all being named in the Overall XI when they didn't even get into this seasons Best XI

So the plan for next season is to sign some players, continue to improve our facilities and look for some promising players so when we make a push for the Premiership we'll no longer look like a non-league side.

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11        Blue Square North         1st              Promoted - Champions
2011/12        Blue Square Premier       3rd              Promoted - Play-offs
2012/13        League Two                8th
2013/14        League Two                11th
2014/15        League Two                15th
2015/16        League Two                3rd             Promoted
2016/17        League One                1st              Promoted - Champions
2017/18        Championship              15th

[Bartman]

Just failed to retain my EURO Cup, oh well, Champions League is up next year so who caress

[tomc990]

Guiseley Season 6- Tomc990
Current League- League 2
Expectation- Avoid Relegation
Final Finish- 14th

Managers comment: A pleasing season with us comfortable avoiding relegation thanks to good performances from my own players and those signed on loan hopefully next season we can push onwards and perhaps land a playoff space.

Screenshots:

Table

Johnstone paints trophy- beaten 1st round convincingly.

League Cup Also decimated........

Fa Cup Much better we reached round 3 before being beaten by stronger opposition although i would have preferred a game vs a big team to increase our funds.

No feature from our team in either the team or player stats of league 2 this season.

My Squad:

Value
Selection Pleasing performances from my own st.
Reports

Key Players:

Belmonte Young cb taken on loan from newcastle played well throughout the season.

Burns Another solid season from my cm/amc

Cox Played well with belmonte throughout the season.

Dickinson My leading striker a powerful tall st- a great asset to my team.

Mills Apparently good enough for league 1.......... did well for me this season as a dm/ holding cm.

Thanos Loaned from liverpool in january performed well with high quality finishing from amc.

Transfers I took advantage of the higher quality loans possible in my 1st season in league 2 i shall be more sensible next season......., sold a few deadwood off on frees to reduce wages.

Finances Still quite good, the board will be pleased................

Next Season: A push towards the playoffs would be nice but avoiding relegation will still be the boards aim, i shall look to bring in 4 high quality loans for the season to help us towards this.

Thanks
Tomc990

P.S I've noticed lots of people have those tables underneath their reports showing their clubs achievements, if anyone could tell me how to create one of these i would be grateful, thanks

[GreyedOutMan]

Mark Twain's offspring, perhaps?

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Well this isn't good last year my players took a wage cut, this year they all want £3.5K-£5K p/w wages when the max I can offer is £3K. The last thing I need to do is replace the few players I actually have

[Bartman]

FC United - Barclays Premiership - Season 2017/2018

A truly fantastic season in the Premiership, finishing runners up only to the great Manchester City. We could have done so much better however, as had it not been for some seriously frustrating results at the start of the season, we could have taken the league, as it was there for the taking. However in the end Man City won it by 14 points, deserved winners.

League Table

Our FA Cup run deserves no mention, defeated at the first chance by our rivals Man Utd. The League Cup was somewhat more satisfying with a Semi Final defeat at the hands of Everton, a side I have struggled greatly with in my years in the Premiership.
We won the Europa League last season, however this season we simply could not live up to this feat with Inter stopping us in the semis. We were highly unlucky after our first leg win and came so close to snatching something away from home, but it was not to be.

FA Cup
League Cup
Europa League

I didn't make too many signings this year, bringing in six new faces, one of whom left for a profit and a new player just a few months later, in Derdiyok. The player himself proved to be quite good for us at 4.9m but when an offer of 9.25m came in just a few months later I could not decline. Even better, they gave us a much needed right back in Lee Hodson, one of my best players this season, a fantastic deal.
Going into this season I knew I needed a much improved defence to stand even the slightest chance at doing well, so I brought in a new centre back and left back, spending big to bring in McGuire and Cuneyt Aydin. I perhaps regret spending so much on these two players, and to some extent they have been disappointing, but I cannot say they have not done their job well, simply not excelling. Zezinho proved to be a good signing as did Wijnaldum.

Transfers

Star Players
Gustavo Caamano - Caamano had another brilliant season, finishing top goalscorer in the Premiership for the third season running, with 25 goals in 38 games. The man did not miss a match this season and only failed to start on one occassion, he was simply a credit to the team and is clearly the backbone to our success, without him we would not be where we are and so I owe it to him for the way we performed in the league. He finished with a 7.37 average rating.

Simon Church - Despite still being transfer listed by request, this man had an excellent season and even with Caamano in the side he still did well in terms of goalscoring offering 15 league goals in 33 games. Really hoping to convince him to sign a new contract, but if not he will certainly go down as an FC United legend.

Tim Wolhfarth - An incredible season for the ex-Man Utd man. He was abit disappointing due to a huge injury and some poor spells during the season last year but this season was very much different. Along with truly commanding the midfield, Wolhfarth also proved to be a goalscorer himself finishing with 12 in 32 games, a great record for a midfielder in a team with 2 top goalscorers.

Aims for Next Season:
I will look to challenge for the league this season after finishing second last season and I would also like to see a good first outing in the Champions League.

Season      League                   Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Blue Square North           1st         Promoted, BSN Champions
2011/12    Blue Square Premier         2nd         Promoted
2012/13    Coca-Cola League 2          6th         Promoted, play-off winners
2013/14    Coca-Cola League 1          1st         Promoted, League 1 Champions, FA Cup Runner-Up
2014/15    Coca-Cola Championship      5th         Promoted, play-off winners
2015/16    Barclays Premiership       12th         FA Cup Runner-Up
2016/17    Barclays Premiership        5th         Europa League Winners, League Cup finalists. 
2017/18    Barclays Premiership        2nd         Euro Super Cup Winners

[AdamFitz]

I blame myself for this, my file went corrupt, I didn't keep any back-ups because I thought it'd be ok. Was 4th and all

I'll start again and be more cautious this time.

[GreyedOutMan]

This challenge is SO frustrating. I need more tips, I'm getting loads of players who seem according to my assistant and scout reports to be improving the team, but we're just so inconsistent.

[GreyedOutMan]

oooh! First post of 2010 in the great Dafuge Challenge!

[SnakeXe]

This challenge is SO frustrating. I need more tips, I'm getting loads of players who seem according to my assistant and scout reports to be improving the team, but we're just so inconsistent.

Buy less players

My worst seasons always happened when I dramatically remodelled the team - 2 or 3 changes to the first 11 per season seems to be the golden number for me.

[GreyedOutMan]

yeah thats fine, but the team was rubbish at the outset, i needed to change them. Perhaps if I only took a bought in a couple next season, then we might improve a lot? Survival is the name of the game this year, for me.

[SnakeXe]

yeah thats fine, but the team was rubbish at the outset, i needed to change them. Perhaps if I only took a bought in a couple next season, then we might improve a lot? Survival is the name of the game this year, for me.

Probably a good plan, obviously if your players just weren't good enough then you had to change it around. In my experience, it's very hard to do well with a recently assembled team though, so staying up would be a good aim

[GreyedOutMan]

So far its played 9, won 1, drawn 3, lost 5. So yeah! Let's see what happens at the end of the season and you can give me some more advice then!

[Thebaker]

Well this isn't good last year my players took a wage cut, this year they all want £3.5K-£5K p/w wages when the max I can offer is £3K. The last thing I need to do is replace the few players I actually have

unfortunatly i've found you have to either offer less and hope they agree or simply sit it out and at regular intervals go to the contract screen to see if they will want less.
Or sell them.
A lot of my players are on 10-13k p/w now.

[SnakeXe]

So far its played 9, won 1, drawn 3, lost 5. So yeah! Let's see what happens at the end of the season and you can give me some more advice then!

The good news is this is probably the worst form you'll have all season, so don't get too concerned

[GreyedOutMan]

well still no wins since that post, had two further league games...

[Thebaker]

well still no wins since that post, had two further league games...

sometimes you just need to change the players around as others have better morale.
Change what you say in your team talks and in press conferences as this can have an effect

[GreyedOutMan]

OK will bear morale in mind more, though not having any strikers who are happy doesnt help!

What sort of changes in TTs and PCs?

[Thebaker]

What sort of changes in TTs and PCs?

just ones which are encouraging like "you can win today" or "no pressure" rather than "i expect a win"
Sometimes i think just changing your responses makes a difference if you always say the same thing

[GreyedOutMan]

OK. I tend to err on the positive anyway but will try to do so more than before.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

unfortunatly i've found you have to either offer less and hope they agree or simply sit it out and at regular intervals go to the contract screen to see if they will want less.
Or sell them.
A lot of my players are on 10-13k p/w now.

Yes it's annoying to say the least, the worst thing is that they seem to randomly change their demands - I've just loaded the game up and my Bulgarian Striker now only wants £2.8K p/w which is what he is currently on, yet Eikrem now wants £1.2K p/w appearance bonus which is twice what I can offer him.

They all want signing on fees aswell on the plus side they all want four year contracts rather than two year contracts so it means if they sign I won't have to go through this for another two years.

I've also just noticed that Magnus Eikrem is now a Nantwich Idol

[kaNovi]

Kingstonian (2026/2027)

Premier League Prediction - 11
Premier League Position - 7


Table
Graph

Summary
Finally felt like i improved a bit and it will be nice to get back in Europa cup next season. I feel like i only have to make
some small improvements to challenge for a CHL spot.

Squad


Dida
Wesley
Robson Biggest prospect from own ranks

Transfers

Goals for the upcoming season:
CHL spot must be the goal this season

League                Season    Finished   Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------
Blue Square South     2010/11   4th       Playoff Final losers
Blue Square South     2011/12   1st       Blue Square South Champions
Blue Square Premier   2012/13   5th       Playoff semi-final losers 
Blue Square Premier   2013/14   1st       Blue Square Premier Champions
League Two            2014/15   2nd       JPT Winners, Promotion
League One            2015/16   13th      none
League One	      2016/17   2nd	  Promotion
Championship	      2017/18   14th	  none
Championship	      2018/19   12th	  none
Championship	      2019/20   5th	  Playoff semi-final losers
Championship	      2020/21   5th	  Playoff final losers
Championship	      2021/22   1st	  Championship Champions
Premier League	      2022/23   10th	  none
Premier League	      2023/24   14th	  FA Cup semi-finalist
Premier League	      2024/25   13th	  FA Cup Winners
Premier League	      2025/26   9th	  none
Premier League	      2026/27   7th	  none

[Fenech]

And Here We Go!

http://www.hypnotherapynlp.com/Dafug...challenge.html

Hastings United

[Fenech]

And Here We Go! Hastings United

[GreyedOutMan]

Oi, I beat you to that one :P

[DanGLiverpool]

Going to get back into my save after a little hiatus from this. Won my first game back 4-1 to put me up to 16th in League 1.

[Cardiomolester]

2017/18 - Hendon - League 2

After last season's survival, I hoped for a little bit of progress and a higher league position. This I got - not by much - but we progressed nonetheless.

Media Prediction: 24th
League Finish: 16th
Graph

Once again, the media had no faith in us and once again, we proved them wrong by advancing two spaces more than the previous season. Overall, I'd say this was alright as we don't have the greatest in the league but we definitely don't have the worst.

Transfers - El Shaarawy's transfer (which was accepted by me) left me short of a right winger, but only because I had hopd Tudgay would extend his loan. The arsehole rejected us with about 3 hours until the window closed.

Squad - What we lack is a clinical striker. Becchio is getting too old and the rest are pretty poor or suffered extended goal droughts.

Cups

League Cup - We lost in the first round against CCC side Exeter. Overall, they were the better team but we came from two goals down, only to be ousted by a goal deep into stoppage time.

Johnstone's Paint Trophy - Crashed out against eventual League 2 winners Crystal Palace.

FA Cup - Disappointing to lose by such a big margin but they are a league above us.

Key Players

Dave Kearns - Absolutely solid at the back, here are his stats from his loan spell because I took the screenshot too late! Contributed the odd goal here and there.

Noel Todd - Todd was solid when he joined from Derry City on a free and promptly claimed the left back position his own. Cut out any attack down the left and was generally excellent. Looks like a good acquisition.

Matthew Carlisle - Did well until Todd joined before being ousted out. Hopefully, I'll get some cash for him otherwise he'll leave on a free.

Luciano Becchio - Still finished top scorer despite his old age, however he suffered 3 goal droughts and I think it may be time to get in some better talent.

Kevin Ballard - Solid season for Kev, and he was acknowledged by the fans with their Player of the Year award. Definitely one of our best players.

Career Overview

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

2010/11    Blue Square North          1st            BSN Champions
2011/12    Blue Square Premier       23rd             Relegated
2012/13    Blue Square North          1st            BSN Champions
2013/14    Blue Square Premier       15th               None
2014/15    Blue Square Premier        9th                None
2015/16    Blue Square Premier        5th         Promoted through playoffs
2016/17        League 2              18th                None
2017/18        League 2              16th                None

[SnakeXe]

Good job kaNovi and Cardio

Finally got some young players worth a damn this season, will include some info about them in my update

[tomc990]

tomc990
Guiseley Season 7
League 2
Media Prediction 22nd
Finish- 7th promoted via playoffs

Managers Comment: A great season with us promoted after winning the playoffs, some good form towards the end of the season ensured we would be in the playoffs and we carried on the good form to ensure promotion to league 1. Hopefully we can continue to improve as a club and avoid relegation from league 1 next season.

Screenshots:

League Table

League Cup Exit to Derby 1st round

Fa Cup We Reached Round 2 before defeat at the hands of Preston.

Johnstone Paints trophy We reached round 2 after impressively beating league 1 club Sheffield wednesday in round 1 3-1.

Team Stats As you can see a good defence and impressive late form led me to promotion.

Player Stats My defensive cm achieved top pass completion and i had 3 players with high amounts of tackles per game.

I came 3rd in manager of the season for my efforts............

Here is the squad:

Value
Selection
Assistant reports

Here are the key players in my promotion:

Goncalves Angolan cb signed on a free at the start of the season- been a real star with 7.34 average rating, Guiseley's 1st international player too!

Burns Still playing great in his 5th season for the club attacking from lcm and also played backup at lb when i had bad injury problems.

Hitchen Signed on a free at the start of the season- starting rb performed well

Manuel Cm on loan from arsenal at the start of the season apparently good enough for the premiership- shame he's not mine, i will definately look to the possiblily of loaning him again for league 1, a great season, plently of goals and assists

Martinez Youngster on loan from man city- starting lb played well

Mcghee 20 year old cm/amc made a mockery of his 2k transfer fee.

Murray AMc/st signed on loan from man utd- was great towards the end and his form pushed us into the playoffs.

Manager Profile

Transfers

Finances

Am looking forward to next season in this ever increasingly addictive save
Thanks
Tomc990

[DanGLiverpool]

Grr, we were doing really well, winning games left right and centre. One player (who I had given so many chances despite the fact he isn't that great) complains of a lack of harmony, after a 5-0 win over our rivals AFC Wimbledon, and now everyone and their dog is moaning about this lack of harmony. Now the run isn't doing so well. Stupid players, selling the guy who started it when the window opens, but hes done the damage already.

[stokes_83]

Boston Utd - Coca-Cola League 2 - 2017/18

Final Position - 1st
Predicted Finish - 21st

Final League Table
Positions Graph

Incredible finish to the season earns my club the title and promotion to League 1!

News Item Praise
More Praise
More Praise

Career Overview

Boston Utd
Season        Division                    Position                 Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11       Blue Square North           9th                   None
2011/12       Blue Square North           3rd                   Promoted (through playoff)
2012/13       Blue Square Premier         11th                  FA Trophy Winners
2013/14       Blue Square Premier         3rd                   None
2014/15       Blue Square Premier         3rd                   None
2015/16       Blue Square Premier         3rd                   None
2016/17       Blue Square Premier         4th                   Promoted (through playoff)
2017/18       Coca-Cola League 2          1st                   Promoted

[ScottishSteven]

Hey folks,

Not really been updating on here with my progress (I know, shocking. Promise to try more!) but I was just wondering how people are getting on with job offers?

I'm in my 2nd season in the Championship with Bradford Park Avenue in 2016, and so far I've had 7 job offers, most of them within the last year.

The thing is though, they are all from teams in poorer positions than me. For example, last year I just survived in the CCC finishing 2 points ahead of Stoke on the last day. Well now they just offered me the job there in November next season, despite me sitting 14th in the Championship, and them 19th in League 1?

While I can understand reputation plays a big part in it, I can't think of too many occasions where a manager has made a move like this?

Oh, and on a side note, the legend that is Henrik Larsson is my new chairman this season!

[Almondo]

meet the new manager of Boston United

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[GreyedOutMan]

SAFETY hurray!

[GreyedOutMan]

Hastings United, Season 2010-11 – Season One, Blue Square South

Summary
It was a season simply geared towards survival. That was not really in question. However, the inconsistency of the team was maddening, and at times we looked like promotion contenders rather than relegation battlers. Our defence was great, but we simply couldn’t score enough goals.


Transfers

Lots of players in, probably too many, but they seemed to improve the team at the time! Sam Hatton was definitely the best of the bunch, though the team’s stars were mainly players who were already with the club.


Competition Reports

Blue Square South
Fairly consistent in terms of being inconsistent, which meant that our table position never changed much. We never really looked likely to go down – even after our worst run of the season, we weren’t bottom. From the time we hit 18th onwards, it was never really a possibility. The problem was, clearly, scoring goals. Our defence was top-half standard, but only two teams scored fewer goals than us this year. Major priority is to find a prolific goalscorer and I’d love some advice on how to do that!

The Final Table this season. St Albans pipped Hampton & Richmond Borough on the last day of the season as H&RB lost to Weston-Super-Mare while St Albans beat Tonbridge. It was probably justice, as St Albans had been top of the league for the vast majority of the season, and constantly from the 12th game until the 36th, after which the two switched positions after each game! Literally!

The playoffs saw two 2-0 away wins, for Bishop’s Stortford at Chelmsford in the first leg, and for Lewes against Hampton & Richmond in the 2nd. Both of the other legs were 1-1, so Lewes and Bishop’s Stortford met in the Playoff Final...

The e.on FA Cup
Decent run before defeat to promotion-chasing Chelmsford.


The FA Trophy
Soundly beaten by BSP outfit Gateshead.


The squad.
With selected stats for all competitions, ordered by the amount of time they spent on the pitch – a rough guide to their importance to the team I suppose.
The obvious thing from here is something I will mention later – the need to cut the wage bill. I have done some already, more to come I hope.

Key Players

Phil Parkin
Easy choice as the player of the season, for me. His first season in the game, possibly the first time a 1st year regen has ever been player of the year for me. He looks like he could even be Premiership potential eventually – my big task will be to keep hold of him. Certainly, one of my coaches believes he could be a leading League Two player in the future.

Chris Lock
Not a spectacular player but he does a good job and he could end up being my skipper next season, I think.

Sam Hatton
The highest paid player at the club, and arguably my only decent signing. Need to try to persuade him to take a wage cut, however.

Kevin Milton
Decent player, although entirely unspectacular. Should be a first choice next season I think.

Notable others:

None, really. We need more strength up front, for sure. Alex Hird was the top scoring striker, although Bradley Gray had a better scoring ratio. Not that that is saying much. How to find a proper striker?


Finances
A total mess, unfortunately. Cost-cutting exercises necessary in July and August. Hopefully should only need a couple of new players, though.


Club Records and Awards
>> Lowest Attendance: 241 v Havant & W, League, 23rd November.
>> Biggest Win: 3-1 v Tonbridge, League, 26th December.
>> Biggest Defeat: 4-1 v Bath, League, 22nd January.
>> Highest Scoring Game: 3-3 v Staines, League, 11th September.
>> Most Games Lost in a Row: 3, 4th to 18th December.
>> Most Games Without Winning: 6, 16th October to 13th November.
>> Most Games Without Conceding: 2, 30th October to 2nd November.
>> Most Games Without Scoring: 5, 29th January to 26th February.

>> Top Goalscorer: Sam Hatton – 7 Goals
>> Top League Goalscorer: Sam Hatton – 7 Goals
>> Most Goals in a Match: Tony Boot – 2, v Staines, 11th September.
>> Most Assists: Martin Foster – 4
>> Highest Average Rating: Phil Parkin –
>> Most Man of the Match: Phil Parkin – 8
>> Worst Discipline: Martin Foster – 5y0r
>> Youngest Player: [B]Phil Parkin, 16y 263d v Thurrock, 14th August.
>> Oldest Player: [B]Martin Foster, 33y 183d v Bishop’s Stortford, 30th April.
>> Fastest Goal: Alex Hird, 2m17s v Weston-Super-Mare, 5th March.
>> Youngest Goalscorer: Phil Parkin, 16y 266d v Lewes, 17th August.
>> Oldest Goalscorer: Sam Vardy, 28y 164d v Thurrock, 14th August.
>> Fans’ Player of the Year: Phil Parkin


MY team of the year:

Scarsella
Brown – Milton – Parkin – Lock
Foster
Hatton – Smith – Turnbull
Gray – Hird

Subs: Howe, Cochlin, Craddock, Vardy, Thomas (A or Z!)
Overall XI….not even the same as the computer generated Seasonal XI, which we know is a bit rubbishy. This one gets more significant after a few years, methinks. This one is clearly wrong for me – how Milton isn’t there is beyond me. He is in the Season XI. But as I said, this one will evolve and improve.

New Youth Cohort
This year’s pick of the bunch, who might well go straight into the first team, although Dennis Palmer looks decent too, and has been put straight into the first team squad.

I think it’s pretty clear that the main issue is finding a decent striker. Anything else that could be improved? Any other thoughts? But my main question is simply how do I find the new Danny Roberts??! To be honest, he doesn’t even have to be that good, he just needs to be able to bang in 20 a season and that will make such a huge difference. Will be returning to my Arsenal game for a while to wait for some responses, please do help me! I need it! I’m already looking at a few reserve team strikers from big teams to try to get some goals into the side but none seem interested. The other big target is to considerably cut the wage bill – a fair few players have taken wage cuts, and quite a few more won’t be getting new contracts, as the squad size will be trimmed significantly, and a couple of quality players will be bought in key positions.

Previous Seasons:
None Yet!

[GreyedOutMan]

Missing Hastings already, so please give me some feedback quick so I can get on with the new season!

[Thebaker]

Missing Hastings already, so please give me some feedback quick so I can get on with the new season!

some of your players look terrible attribute wise, your strikers are some of the worst i've seen. most people signed up scottish youth strikers like Fitzharris and Mcshea in the first season who could get 30-40 goals a season, i did and they were still playing for me in league 1.
if i'm honest i would not have signed players with such low attributes, i look for at least 8-10 in key areas.
scan the scottish sides and prem sides for youth players, nearly all will be better than what you have and see if you can sell or pay off your existing players.
Think you should have gone for a few quality players and less quantity.

[GreyedOutMan]

Yeah - it got to the stage where I was panicking last season because I couldnt find any decent players. Will definitely be on the hunt for a quality striker this year, without a doubt. Plus a couple of quality loan signings and probably one or two defensive players as I've lost a few on free transfers at the end of the season, which has cut the wage bill but left me a bit short. And the lack of strikers is a problem I'm all too aware of.

So you think scouring U18 teams in the Prem/Championship is the way to go?

[Thebaker]

So you think scouring U18 teams in the Prem/Championship is the way to go?

just look at the youth players released on 1 jul each year from the better clubs and the u-21 and u-19 national sides, england, ireland, scotland and wales since players from other countries are unlikely to join and you can't scout most of them

[Liverbird93]

just missed out on the third round of the FA cup. Second had L1 Mansfield at home got a 2-0 lead and chucked it away to lose 3-2. Gutted.

[GreyedOutMan]

just look at the youth players released on 1 jul each year from the better clubs and the u-21 and u-19 national sides, england, ireland, scotland and wales since players from other countries are unlikely to join and you can't scout most of them

Cheers, will try that for sure. I had a quick look at them at first, but couldnt get anyone released from the big clubs to join me. Will have a closer look now.

[mocko666]

Greyed out Man when I start off I usually check the premiership, then championship then league one transfer history for players they release, your bound to find some quality players and youngsters who would cut it at probably league two level. At the very least blue square. Good luck.

[GreyedOutMan]

Scotting and Welsh leagues arent active though so not many players from there...and even players released from Birmingham arent interested in moving to Hastings...

And have had a look through some Championship teams' released players, too, and again none are interested. Even in League Two I'm yet to find any.....

[Thebaker]

Cheers, will try that for sure. I had a quick look at them at first, but couldnt get anyone released from the big clubs to join me. Will have a closer look now.

most wont, but some will, you may have to trawl through them. keep your scouts searching for young players as they will often ask for less wages then an older player at the same level of ability. also switch the high earners (over 100 p/w) onto full time contacts as they wont ask for much more than the part time contracts, you may also be able to reduce the contract length if it runs for a while.

[Thebaker]

Scotting and Welsh leagues arent active though so not many players from there...and even players released from Birmingham arent interested in moving to Hastings...

rangers and celtic are the main one, welsh clubs are not worth the effort, nearly all players in the welsh national youth sides are from english clubs.

[GreyedOutMan]

Old Firm have only released three players between them since the beginning of the game, and none this season...will keep trawling through other clubs.

[mocko666]

Seems strange that you havn't managed to find any in the chamionship or at least league one. I usually find at least half a dozen but then again I don't know how low Hastings reputation is. For example a lot of people managed to get Eikrem who if i recall correctly is a Man Utd youngster. Correct me if I am wrong I don't have the game up atm.

[GreyedOutMan]

Signings so far this pre-season (any reaction?)

Calum Whitaker on loan
Kaid Mohamed on a free
Marcus Cassius from Bromley for nothing
Nikki Lewis on a free
Sebastian Lake-Gaskin on a free

Obviously there is a bias towards strikers there - we needed it badly. Lake-Gaskin looks to be the best of that lot, though Nikki Lewis looks a good prospect too.

20 players out, so the wages should be much lower

Any thoughts? Will be searching for a left back and a central defender before the season starts, too. There was a large exodus of players who didnt want to renew their contracts...

[GreyedOutMan]

PS Eikrem moved to Shakhtar at the start of last season for nearly £1m!

[Liverbird93]

Where is Sean Fitzharris on your game. He scored 28 in the BSN for me and 24 in BSP.

[GreyedOutMan]

Doesnt exist. Hoping I'm sorted now for strikers. Season about to kick off ....

[mocko666]

Whittaker, Gaskin and Lewis look pretty good and importantly are young. I was in your situation in Gundo's challenge in Austria where every single player I scouted were just poor and nobody would come it is frustrating.

[GreyedOutMan]

Well looks like two more defeats at the start of the season. Could this be an issue with tactics? The team seems to me to be a bit better than last season now.

EDT: We've equalised in the 2nd game but its still not looking great, Bath have had 15 shots to our 3.
EDT 2: We got a draw. But again, thats not exactly brilliant against a Bath side who only finished 11th last year. And still not a single goal from a striker....

[GreyedOutMan]

Two further signings: Aguiar and Lavers, the latter of whom will go straight into the first team, and is badly needed. Still looking for a decent centre back, but that is it now. Unless anyone can find me my new Danny Roberts?!

[GreyedOutMan]

I have my centre back and one other good prospect. Luke Waterfall will be helpful in the air and might add some steel to the defence, whilst Richard Evans looks like a quality keeper for the future. That is now well and truly it for the signings I think, unless some sort of Danny Roberts turns up!!

[GreyedOutMan]

Still cant get a win for love nor money, though. This looks like it might be an even more difficult season!

[SnakeXe]

I played 4-5-1 between BSS and Championship. Rigid, Direct, Low Creative Freedom. Keep it simple, don't try and reinvent the wheel with it, leave most things default. One possible idea is to turn everyone's long shots to rarely unless you have someone ridiculously good at it (I mean 15+), as at that level it's usually a sure fire way to give the ball away.

As for players who did well for me, I don't think I had many strikers at all who weren't newgens. I had Beckford and Anichebe in the Championship, but that doesn't help you much now! I seem to remember Magno Silva Vieira being a decent player at that level as he's incredibly fast.

[Cerneo]

North Ferriby 10/11

Table

Graph

Season Review: Got off to a slow start and got bogged down with little injuries here and there, picked up mid season and we rolled into a play off spot. Ended up losing in the finals to Northwich who had been besting us all season.

Playoffs: First Leg, Second Leg, Final.

FA Cup

FA Trophy

Cup Review: Got the first round in the FA cup and lost a close game to a BSP side, Northwich knocked me out on the FAT, foreshadowing the playoff final.

Transfers

Squad

Finances

Season        Division            Position                 Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11       BSN                 4th                 Lost in Playoff Finals

Next Season: Get promoted, find another defender or two and maybe some better wingers.

[GreyedOutMan]

I played 4-5-1 between BSS and Championship. Rigid, Direct, Low Creative Freedom. Keep it simple, don't try and reinvent the wheel with it, leave most things default. One possible idea is to turn everyone's long shots to rarely unless you have someone ridiculously good at it (I mean 15+), as at that level it's usually a sure fire way to give the ball away.

As for players who did well for me, I don't think I had many strikers at all who weren't newgens. I had Beckford and Anichebe in the Championship, but that doesn't help you much now! I seem to remember Magno Silva Vieira being a decent player at that level as he's incredibly fast.

Thing is I have no wingers, which is why I have a 4-1-3-2 formation. Other than that, I have pretty much the same sort of settings as you suggest though I will definitely try to stop them shooting so much.

Might try to buy Silva Vieira though the two I have this season have improved the team a bit, and we've just beaten Staines away, our 2nd win of the season, and now we're in mid-table. But will try the long shots thing. Thanks for the advice, keep it coming!

[Chater1703]

Here we go

New Manager of Nuneaton

Profile

Personal

Would Have preffered Halesowen Town, but got bored of reloading

[DanGLiverpool]

Going to Wembley after a 3-1 aggregrate win over Rotherham in the League 1 Playoff semi finals

Facing Colchester at Wembley

Did it, albeit twice. I won it 3-0, then got a crash dump. I had to replay the final again, and this time won only 2-0. Shame as I like bigger scores, but oh well, going to the championship nonetheless

Still only favoured personnel though

[radicell]

Dartford - Blue Square Premier - 2013/2014

League: 7th (view)
FA Cup: First Round
FA Trophy: First Round

We were very close to a playoff spot this year, and we were in contention for one all year round. However, a final-day slip against Gateshead saw Tamworth and Accrington pip us to 7th spot, with Tamworth grabbing the final playoff spot.

Next year, it's time we dragged ourselves out of the BSP and into the professional leagues. The highlight of the year was re-signing Jeet Padaruth, who had apparently forgotten about his unhappy times with us after being re-signed by Barrow and then released on a free.

[roseboy64]

Who's your parent club GreyedOutMan? Had Man Utd as mine so that helped with getting in some quality loan signings to supplement the players I found.

[glenn28]

Started a game with Met Police below the BSN ill post my review @ seasons end.

[foost]

Made it to the UEFA Cup, don't know if i must be happy with that since it will give me a lot of games, where I need my players to be good in teh Championship, but we gonna give it a go

Group draw is been made:

Group L:
AEK
Sevilla
Guiseley
B.Jerusalem

Could be worser. Ok Sevilla will probably destroy me but the rest is ok, i guess.

[GreyedOutMan]

Who's your parent club GreyedOutMan? Had Man Utd as mine so that helped with getting in some quality loan signings to supplement the players I found.

Board for some reason dont think one is needed! Can't get one. But glad to see that someone else uses those deals. I think they're perfectly legit - if you can do it, that is.

[foost]

lol... my biggest signing ever Anderson, a striker i signed from Sparta Prague, for 1.7M euro got injured in his first match... argh

[Thebaker]

Old Firm have only released three players between them since the beginning of the game, and none this season...will keep trawling through other clubs.

you are looking at youth players under transfer history and not players out?
Can't believe that Fitzharris doesn't exist, scored loads of goal in BSS and BSP for me, Rangers and Celtic released load of youth players at the start the first season and i signed about 7 of them inc Fitzharris.

[foost]

Sharp one Thebaker

[foost]

Pff really need to get some English players in my team, got to leave some people behind while signing players up for the UEFA Cup lol

Tho I find it hard to find good English players for cheap/free money

[SnakeXe]

you are looking at youth players under transfer history and not players out?
Can't believe that Fitzharris doesn't exist, scored loads of goal in BSS and BSP for me, Rangers and Celtic released load of youth players at the start the first season and i signed about 7 of them inc Fitzharris.

Probably you started out with a different database.

Could be in for a quintuple season, finally managed a decent performance in both League and FA Cup

[foost]

After 15 seconds we are in lead against B.Jerusalem 1-0!

[Almondo]

Quick update. Having a torrid time with Boston Utd. Won the first game of the year but haven't won a league game since. We have just won in the 2nd qualifying rd of the FA cup so hopefully we can kick on now.

[foost]

We won 3-0! Must say we played one of our best games ever. Triangles everywhere on the field. Real, as it should be, TOTAL FOOTBALL!

If we stay playing like this I think promotion will be easy.

Sevilla won 3-0 vs AEK...

[SnakeXe]

We won 3-0! Must say we played one of our best games ever. Triangles everywhere on the field. Real, as it should be, TOTAL FOOTBALL!

If we stay playing like this I think promotion will be easy.

Sevilla won 3-0 vs AEK...

Sounds great, keep up the good work! Judging by Sevilla on my game (my record vs them is P5 W5) you might even give them a game

[foost]

Oeh, that would be awesome. But to be honest I don't think we deserve to be in the next round judging my team. It is really high Championship class and low/decent premier at the moment.

Right, going to field a B-Team in the FA and League Cup since we play way to much matches hehe

[Munchkin]

boys.. it's me
c'om u know the worst ever dafuges challenge player from 09

(starting now)

[ugen64]

Link

I did this challenge for a few seasons last year, but I didn't bother to post any screenshots or anything because I thought I'd just give up after a month or two like I usually do. The story wasn't that exciting anyway - I got Dover (one of the easier teams) promoted immediately, then got stuck in mid-table in the Blue Square Premier for a few seasons (I think my highest finish was 10th).

Anyway, picking a team was a lot easier this time around, because Boreham Wood have an annual friendly with my favorite team Arsenal. So with the factor of name recognition and all...

[Munchkin]

Profile

Here we go...

[foost]

Right.. We have been playing some games now in the UEFA Cup

1st: Guiseley - B.Jerusalem 3 - 0
2nd: AEK - Guiseley 1 - 1
3rd: Sevilla - Guiseley 1 - 0
4th: Guiseley - Sevilla 1 - 2 (they scored in the 87th minute )
5th: still to come
6th: still to come

AEK and Guiseley both got 4 points, B.Jerusalem has got 3. So still possible to get further...

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Still cant get a win for love nor money, though. This looks like it might be an even more difficult season!

First if you haven't already I'd advise applying patch 10.2 as it made improvements to both the defence and keepers and fixed some issues with the DMs.

Tactics wise the first thing you need to do is pick a philosophy (the different ones are explained a lot better here than in game)

Then pick your formation and player roles - player roles are very important - try and match them to your players strengths whilst keeping a balanced team playing how you want (for example one DM role I've noticed has your DM running all over the pitch closing players down, the other causes him to sit in front of the defence).

With your player roles set when signing players look at the attributes the game highlights for each role first.

Then it's just a case of seeing what's going wrong in matches and trying to fix it - I've found if you are spending most games defending adopting an attacking strategy can work, whilst if you are getting caught on the break using Control works as does setting my full-backs to defensive.

Another thing to do is to set up your set-pieces, though corners don't seem as effective this year.

[SnakeXe]

Another thing to do is to set up your set-pieces, though corners don't seem as effective this year.

I wouldn't say so, I've gotten 20 goals out of my centre-half this season without doing anything particularly special. I just looked at where most of the goals came against me from corners and created a routine to exploit that (fyi, it's the far post).

But anyway, here's what I came in to post