dafuge's FM10 challenge

**CSF** · 20-01-2010 21:52

Truro City FC - Blue Square South - 2011/12
Media Prediction: 12th
Actual Position : 4th

Came into the season with high hopes of being promoted, and started excellently, being involved in a 3 horse race for the title until around February, my form dropped, and I ended up finishing 4th, dropping from 3rd in the 90th minute of the last game of the season after conceding a 90th minute goal to lose that left me behind on goal difference. Into the playoffs I went, and after winning 2-1 in the home leg, and going 1 nil up at halftime in the away leg, it looked excellent, 2 goals in the last 17 minutes though (the 2nd being a penalty which resulted in having a player sent off), they scored again in extra time and that was that. Absolutely heartbreaking, but will motivate me to go for the title this time, with a squad that will need only a few changes. On the plus side, I've only lost 15k in the last year, as compared to 235k the year before, so I can hopefully start to service the debt next year, especially with a number of players out of contract in June that I can renegotiate on to smaller contracts.

League Table
FA Cup
Much better than last year, but a horrible defeat to go out with. Absolutely hammered.
FA Trophy
An improvement again.

Transfers
Revamped my front 2 after a 9 month injury to Kedwell, and generally strengthened my squad, by getting rid of big earners, and bringing in cheaper, younger and better alternatives, no1 I let go elsewhere amounted to anything so I think I made the right choices.
Squad
Good young squad which I've steadily improved and will hopefully continue to do so, onwards and upwards.

Career Overview

Code:

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

2010/11   Blue Square South        8th        None
2011/12   Blue Square South        4th        PlayOff Semi-Finals

Next Season
Promotion or bust.

**The Art of Drowning** · 20-01-2010 22:29

Jamie Spencer - Truro City FC - Season 3 BSP

league Position: 13th
Fa trophy - Semi Finals

A decent season in the end, we looked like we were going to be in a relegation battle until several new signings took us to a safe mid table position. Our best players this season were:

Ben Geering: http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1255/geering.jpg
Matthew Martin: http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1471/matthewmartin.jpg

Top Scorer was new signing Scott Rendell: http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/9425/rendell.jpg

Got Adam Boyd coming in for the new season and he should add competition up front, looking for a new keeper too. Still never managed to attract anybody on loan.

**GreyedOutMan** · 20-01-2010 22:38

Hastings United, Season 2014-15 – Season Five, Blue Square South

Summary
In a costcutting season, we were planning for a season of scrapping against relegation. A load of friendlies against Premiership reserve teams were arranged to generate some income, too, so the team suffered even more in the league. But the finances were the focus this year. See later in the report to see how well it worked…

Transfers

Some quite high-earning players were let go, with no signings over the summer. Two players were brought in at the end of the season to help out at the back to cure our leaky defence. One of them did well, the other wasn’t so great.

Competition Reports

Blue Square South
We had a fantastic start to the year and I was wondering if a surprise promotion push was on. It never really was. Safety was much more of an issue though I never really thought we would go down because Weston-Super-Mare had a points deduction. That said, we were not good. The team has really suffered because of the need to be careful with money.

The Final Table this season. We didn’t really deserve the three-place jump at the end of the season but relegation was, eventually, very easily staved off. Our league progress chart shows just how dramatic the start of the season was in contrast to the rest.

The e.on FA Cup - extreme disappointment as we went out to weaker opposition, really.

The FA Trophy - Pretty disappointing, after a good performance in the first game against Gateshead when we were unlucky not to win.

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. 5 HOURS MINIMUM OF PLAYING TIME.
Phil Parkin was injured for a good portion of the season which didn’t help – as you can see he’s still vital to the team.

Key Players

Phil Parkin
Just simply the best. He’s such a great player. He’s been making noises about bettering himself this season though has withdrawn a transfer request. He’ll be a Hastings player for at least another year – if he doesn’t sign a new contract I will sell him next summer, before I lose him for nothing.

Ryan Hall
Really stepped up to the plate this year with a few other names not firing on all cylinders (naming no names, Sam Hatton!). By far his best year.

Marcus Cassius
Scored a decent number of goals this year, and 5 man of the match awards. He leads the line really well.

Sebastien Lake-Gaskin
Not so many goals but gets plenty of shots on target, and 8 useful assists is great.

Notable others:
Marcus Castle. No Phil Parkin but played well in his few starts towards the end of the season. Bernard Abdallah proved an astute loan signing from Kingstonian and I’m trying to secure his signature for another season. **EDT: He has signed! He’s back next year!!**

Finances
We needed a boost, and a handful of highly-paid players leaving in the summer combined with a lot of friendlies this season has helped that a bit. More to come I hope.

Club Records and Awards
>> Lowest Attendance: 231 v Newport County, 17th February
>> Worst Discipline: 17y 3r – Tommy Warren
>> Youngest Player: 16y 52d – Chris Wilde v Basingstoke, 20th September
>> Best Average Rating: 7.30 from 23 appearances (beat own record).

Cumulative records (will be published every season as long as the holder is at the club):

>> Most League Apps for the Club: David Scarsella – 178 – RECORD BROKEN
>> Most League Goals for the Club: Marcus Cassius – 60 – RECORD EXTENDED (Though Lake-Gaskin did overtake him several times! They’re close!)

>> Fans’ Player of the Year: Sebastien Lake-Gaskin
FPOY wins:
Phil Parkin: 3
Louis Lavers: 1
Sebastian Lake-Gaskin: 1

MY team of the year:

Scarsella
Hawksworth – Hunt – Parkin – Abdallah – Lavers
Rodwell – Hall – Warren
Cassius – Lake-Gaskin

Subs: Vasey, Francis, Castle, Hatton, Aguiar, Reid, Mullin.
Overall XI….Just Bobby Hunt inducted to that team from this year.

New Youth Cohort
This year’s pick of the bunch for me, though there’s a decent keeper there too.

Survival and financial viability were the big goals this year, both were achieved to some extent. Hopefully next year there might be a bit of an improvement on the pitch next season.

Previous Seasons:

Season One (2010-11)

Season Two (2011-12)

Season Three (2012-13)

Season Four (2013-14)

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 02:23

And I thought I was having trouble getting into the BSP. Keep going, GreyedOutMan, the law of averages says you'll get there one day

On a brighter note, just qualified for the FA Cup third round with a win at BSP side Morcambe. The tie was picked for TV coverage as well, so with the share of the gate receipt and the £27K prize money, that game alone has done good for. We're currently running at a profit of about £120K for the season (the board have injected about £75K) but still £150K in the red overall.

*crosses fingers and prays for a Premier League team away in round three*

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 02:26

**** it. Luton, 13th in League 2, at home. Really wanted Man Utd or Liverpool away

**Almondo** · 21-01-2010 09:24

Originally Posted by Terk

**** it. Luton, 13th in League 2, at home. Really wanted Man Utd or Liverpool away

I know what you mean with that Terk. I got to the 3rd round and got Preston. Alright it was at Deepdale but I really wanted Man United or one of the other big 4 teams.

**foost** · 21-01-2010 09:33

@ hrbfcrule & Dons2387: Thanks! Well Tottenham have a great winger where I am busy with all season to sign him but they just dont want to let him go.

Update soon

**MikaelS** · 21-01-2010 09:59

I am preparing to enter CCL1. Update is on its way

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 11:01

Just starting the second half of my first BSP campaign and things are looking a whole lot better than I expected. Just won 2-0 at Tranmere (they're in danger of bouncing straight down to the BSN) which leaves us 4th in the table. Darlington are 14 points clear at the top, so they've got the automatic spot sewn up.

Similar to last season, we're looking defensively solid and the two up top are banging the goals in, though I may struggle to keep my best striker, James Foster, past January as there are a number of League 2 clubs sniffing around him. He got 20 in 42 in the league last season and has 11 in 19 so far this time. Starting to get hopeful that the impossible could just be possible, though back-to-back promotions would necessitate a massive overhaul of the squad.

**MikaelS** · 21-01-2010 11:12

Originally Posted by Terk

Just starting the second half of my first BSP campaign and things are looking a whole lot better than I expected. Just won 2-0 at Tranmere (they're in danger of bouncing straight down to the BSN) which leaves us 4th in the table. Darlington are 14 points clear at the top, so they've got the automatic spot sewn up.

Similar to last season, we're looking defensively solid and the two up top are banging the goals in, though I may struggle to keep my best striker, James Foster, past January as there are a number of League 2 clubs sniffing around him. He got 20 in 42 in the league last season and has 11 in 19 so far this time. Starting to get hopeful that the impossible could just be possible, though back-to-back promotions would necessitate a massive overhaul of the squad.

Foster sounds good. Got a screenie?

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 11:27

Originally Posted by MikaelS

Foster sounds good. Got a screenie?

Done one just for you, Mikael

James Foster. The lower attributes are quite blurred on the screenie, but you can see the ones that get into double figures. Very good mental and physical stats for this level, he's benefited from being on a full time contract now; I think his composure is vital because he scores a much higher rate than any of my other players in one-on-one situations.

I'm not convinced he can make the step up to League 2 as anything other than a squad player, but if he manages another 13 league goals then he'll become the club's leading league goalscorer and his legendary status will be cemented in my eyes. My coaches reckon he'd be a leading star for any BSP side but that he won't improve any in the future. It's Burton and Wycombe, both near the bottom of L2, who are interested in him. Not sure how much it'd take to make me sell him in January, but given our financial situation, every player does have his price.

**MikaelS** · 21-01-2010 11:31

Originally Posted by Terk

Done one just for you, Mikael

James Foster. The lower attributes are quite blurred on the screenie, but you can see the ones that get into double figures. Very good mental and physical stats for this level, he's benefited from being on a full time contract now; I think his composure is vital because he scores a much higher rate than any of my other players in one-on-one situations.

I'm not convinced he can make the step up to League 2 as anything other than a squad player, but if he manages another 13 league goals then he'll become the club's leading league goalscorer and his legendary status will be cemented in my eyes. My coaches reckon he'd be a leading star for any BSP side but that he won't improve any in the future. It's Burton and Wycombe, both near the bottom of L2, who are interested in him. Not sure how much it'd take to make me sell him in January, but given our financial situation, every player does have his price.

I am pretty sure he can do well in CCL2. Several players on my team are not better than him and they did pretty okay for me in CCL2.

Any chance of getting promoted? If yes, then I would wait and see if you can hold on to him until then at least.

He looks pretty awesome for BSP

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 11:37

I was surprised that Crawley let him go, he scored over 20 goals in the BSP for them (OK over 3 seasons, but he was still a young lad) and he took a while to settle in last season, but once him and Kyle Wilson built up a partnership, they've just not stopped scoring.

We're 4th in the table after 24 games and looking solid enough defensively to make me believe that we have a chance of going up through the play-offs, so I'll try to keep hold of him, but any bid north of £50K would be hard to ignore.

I'm not the best judge of how far a player can go at this level (you'd be amazed at the number of times I've released a player and they've gone on to do well for better clubs) nut if we do go up then he'll certainly have earned the right to prove himself.

**foost** · 21-01-2010 12:00

Season 2018/19 Review - Guiseley in the Premier League - 3rd

League Table
Past Positions
Finances

After our great debut season last year we are did great again. Or better said; superb. We even had the chance to win the league! With 4 games to go the league table was like this. But my fixtures were just way to hard (Aston Villa, Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool). As you can see I was half the season in the 5th place, but always just 6 points away of leading the league. So it was quite close whole the season.

FA Cup | League Cup | Europa League

I had to make a choice. Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League was just to much. So I kicked out the League Cup and FA Cup. But somehow my bench players did great in the FA Cup. We even made it in the final! Ok, the last games was with my 1st squad but still. We would meet Tottenham in the final. That would be for the 2nd time since we also played them in the final 2 years ago! We lost back then with 2-0. This time I was closer. [url="http://www.joostnijhof.com/dafuge/S09_FA-Cup-final.png"]Losing 2-1[url/].

The Europa League was a disaster this year aswell. Just like last season I had inough points for the next round, but not going trough because of the results against the 2nd placed team. The matches itself were ok.

Squad
Transfers

Next to Cristiano and Gitinov I also signed Beretta (free), Foster (big talent) and Ryan Babel (for the bench). Gitinov did great. Came from the bench a couple of times and played most of his games while Cattermole was suspended or injured. Will be more important next season I guess. Cristiano is the best sign ever next to Gustavo Vidal and did perfect from the start. Controling the mid as noone before. with screamers from outside the box he scores aswell. Great multi player. Giacomo Beretta was a suprise, he did not wanted to expand his contract at Atalanta (Italy) so I signed him for free. He was the partner of Vidal in front and scored even more!

Best players of Guiseley this year:
- Gustavo Vidal (scored a lot, but still 1 out of the 3 chances)
- Jesus Mateu (wonderkid, becoming more and more important)
- Alexandr Gitinov (became wonderkid after this season)
- Cristiano (our playermaker in mid - and scores for fun)
- Giacomo Beretta (our best FREE player ever!!)

Awards:
- English Players' Player of the Year (1st place Beretta)
- English Footballer of the Year (2nd place Vidal)
- English Premier Division Top Goalscorer (2nd place Beretta)
- English Players' Young Player of the Year (1st place Mateu (2nd time))
- English Premier Division Manager of the Year (2nd place)

Again no decent/good youngsters. The facilities are adequate atm.. but improving! But really dissapointed about the youth coming trough.

Aim for next season: Our stadium is being expansed(?) again and it will be around 30.000 next season!! Also will have around € 30M to spend on transfers. But one thing I want next season is one price. Don't mind which one. Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup or Champions League (altho I think we arent there yet haha).

Code:

Season     Team           League               Finished  Achievements
2010/11    Guiseley    Blue Square South    	5th       Promoted
2011/12    Guiseley    Blue Square Premier    	1st       Promoted, BSP Champions, FA Trophy winners
2012/13    Guiseley    Coca Cola League Two    	1st       Promoted, CCL2 Champions
2013/14    Guiseley    Coca Cola League One    	3rd       Promoted
2014/15    Guiseley    Coca Cola Championship  	14th
2015/16    Guiseley    Coca Cola Championship  	9th       FA Cup runner-up, Qualified for Europa League
2016/17    Guiseley    Coca Cola Championship  	1st       Promoted, CCC Champions
2017/18    Guiseley    Barclays Premier League 	6th       Qualified for Europa League
2018/19    Guiseley    Barclays Premier League 	3rd       Qualified for CL, FA Cup runner-up

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 14:11

Congratulations on qualifying for the CL at least, foost

We outplayed Luton in the FA Cup third round but conceded an 88th minute equaliser. Still, got the replay to try and get past them. Our reward would be a home tie against League One side Hull in the fourth round

**Welsh Wizard** · 21-01-2010 15:05

Welsh Wizard - Carshalton - Coca-Cola Championship - 2015/16 - Season 6

Table | Past Positions Graph | Player Stats

Predicted: 24th
Finished: 6th Play-off Winners

Play-off Semi Leg 1
Play-off Semi Leg 2
Play-off Final

Great season and another shock promotion

. A draw on the last day manage to snatch 6th by a point.

FA Cup - Lost in 3rd round vs Portsmouth
League Cup - Lost in 3rd round vs Man City

Team Stats
Team General

Transfers

Ivan Velikov was a great signing but had to sell some good players who would of made Prem like David but the 50% on him should make a decent amount if he get sold ons

Finances

Main money coming in was from transfer of David which helped the finances some of which has been spent on improvements to the Stadium and Facilities.

My 8000 stadium is have all seats added to it which will take 6 months. In the mean time we will be sharing Upton Park

Both training and youth are getting improved.

Key Players

Ivan Velikov - David replacement and a very good season

Targets

Improve squad and get rid of dead wood
Avoid Relegation

Code:

Season        Division            Position                 Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11       BSS                 1st                       BSS Champions Promotion
2011/12       BSP                 4th                       Play-off Winners
2012/13       L2                  12th                      
2013/14       L2                  4th                       Play-off Winners
2014/15       L1                  2nd                       Promotion
2015/16       CC                  6th                       Play-off Winners

**hrbfcrule** · 21-01-2010 16:08

Congratz foost on getting the champions league, hopefully you can do better in it than you did in the europa. Unlucky on your fa cup final loss.

Congratz Welsh Wizard on promotion to the premiership. I hope you haven't been promoted too early and find yourself struggling in the premiership

**The Art of Drowning** · 21-01-2010 16:21

Jamie Spencer - Season 3 BSP Champions

A great season from us this time around, Adam Boyd fired the goals but it was a real squad effort as we were able to rotate the team every game. We had a big squad of talented players for this division and I think I will be known as "The Tinkerman" from now on

League Table: http://img691.imageshack.us/i/bsptruro.jpg/

Transfers: http://img714.imageshack.us/i/transferstruro.jpg/ Some great signings there such as Hollands, Torres, Boyd, Bean and Parker. Signed Exodus towards the end of the season, him and Futcher (both 6ft7) are not going to be beaten in the air.

Star Players:

Ben Geering: http://img714.imageshack.us/i/geering.jpg/ - For the 3rd year running he was our best player, an absolute rock at the back. had him on Loan in the BSS and made him ours the following year. Legend.

Jamie Day: http://img691.imageshack.us/i/jamieday.jpg/ - former peterborough left back is ace going forward

Adam Boyd: http://img51.imageshack.us/i/adamboyd.jpg/ - Banged in the goals and was generally awesome despite a squad rotation system with Rendell and then later Gillespie fighting for the central striker spot.

Next year we will need to rebuild, my coach has found a french defender and an algerian keeper released from Marseille who should be good. I'd take mid-table tbh.

Code:

Season     Team           League               Finished  Achievements
2010/11    Truro City   Blue Square South    	1st       Promoted, Champions
2011/12    Truro City   Blue Square Premier    	13th       
2012/13    Truro City   Blue Square Premier     1st       Promoted, Champions

**Welsh Wizard** · 21-01-2010 16:26

Originally Posted by hrbfcrule

Congratz Welsh Wizard on promotion to the premiership. I hope you haven't been promoted too early and find yourself struggling in the premiership

Thats my worry

my team was not really strong in the Championship many results were with late goals etc. My rep won't be as big as it would be if I won leagues instead of play-offs. Currently only got basic facilities

. Will be hard but we will see how it goes

Great season The Art of Drowning

**Jaffa** · 21-01-2010 17:37

Hi all, I've not posted an update in a long while, so I'll make a small effort now.

In my 3rd season, second in the BSP I managed to actually win the BSP:http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...otionBSN-1.jpg

First season in CCL2 has begun and I'm currently 4w2D6L which isn't great but considering I haven't really managed to add much to my team I'm happy to consolidate. I parted company with alot of my fringe BSP players so I'm operating on a much smaller pool of players having only added a couple.

**Dons2387** · 21-01-2010 17:50

Wow, Hull have dropped down to L1 Terk?

Congrats to all getting promotions. I've got an update coming at some point today on my 2nd season in BSS.

**Dons2387** · 21-01-2010 18:17

Well it was an interesting second season in the BSS for me and my Truro squad. I flirted with top spot all season, being there for a few games, and then dropping down, and then back up, only to completely back my way into the playoffs after a torrid last month of the season.

The league table saw us finish 4th, which meant we had Grays in the playoffs. First leg at home we drew 1-1, second leg was a bore draw, and just as I was debating whether or not to make any last minute subs in order to have the best penalty takers on, in the 116th minute FM07 legend Darryl Knights popped up to grab a winner and put us through to the final against Dorchester, which we won 2-1 and it was a lot more comfortable than it seemed.

Squad:
GK: Tom Brooks. Difference maker. When he played we seemed so much stronger.
DR: David Pilgrim
DL: Perry Ryan. Solid Player
DC: Santos Gaia
DC: Kieran Nicholson. From my own ranks. What do you guys think?
MC:Andy Taylor. Surprisingly effective in the supporting mid role.
MC: Oliver Hewitt-Fisher . Shortlist for Player of Season. Also won POY
ML: Max Harrop. Needs to be replaced.
MR: Chris Newton. Another to be replaced
FC: Craig Farrell. Definitely needs to be replaced but thankful for a good season from him.
FC: Stewart Yetton. Shortlist for Player of Season. Also came 2nd in Top Goalscorer. Had a poor second half of the season otherwise would have come 1st for sure.

Subs:
Karl Keogh. Played some during injury troubles, scored a few key goals.

On a personal note, i came 2nd in MOY.
Onwards and upwards. Hopefully i'll be able to survive in the BSP. It's gonna be a long off season of bargain hunting!

**hrbfcrule** · 21-01-2010 20:26

1st january 2018, Liverpool are officially in the relegation zone four points from safety and they still have Torres, Reina, Diego, Glen Johnson and Mascherano in their squad. How is this possible?

Then i realised Rafa Benitez is still their manager, that explained it all

(sorry Terk, I couldn't resist)

**roseboy64** · 21-01-2010 20:52

I just splashed out 113M in the just concluded transfer window.

**Swindon69** · 21-01-2010 21:07

Jigs around the room dad dancing - promotion as champions in my 3rd BSN season with 3 games to go.

**Dons2387** · 21-01-2010 21:31

Congrats Swindon! Perseverance pays off! Update soon?

**Swindon69** · 21-01-2010 22:12

Boston Utd BSN 2012/13

Champions - at last!

Won 26 Drew 10 Lost 6 (2 of those in my last three games) Scored 96 Conceded 43 Pts 88

Top for 31 games throughout the season - lowest position 7th after my first game.

11 players played 30 or more leagues games.

Top scorer Christiano Kisuka with 20 goals in 38 games, closely followed by Sean Fitzharris with 17 goals in 30 games, fifteen as sub and Jean Biansumba (21) signed in 2011/12 after being released by Forest, he has no acceleration but all technical skills above 10,came of age this year with 14 in 30.

13 players rated 7 or over, my right back Thobias Skovgaard scored his first goal - a 35 yard fluke in the final match, of my regular starting line up only two players failed to score in the league, those being Joe Anyon my keeper, who kept 14 clean sheets in the league and my left back Ben Gibson.

Oh and my 39 year old centre half Alexis played in 36 games in all competions, scored 9 goals and got a 7.19 rating,.

I also didn't get a single red card this season.

In the cups got knocked out in the 2nd Qual Round of the FA Cup and the 1st Round of the trophy. I think this helped in avoiding fixture congestion, which meant I only used 19 players in the whole season.

**hrbfcrule** · 21-01-2010 22:38

Congratz Swindon69

**Swindon69** · 21-01-2010 22:42

Thanks - after getting beaten in the play-off final in the first season and losing in the semi-finals last season I thought this'd be a tough season as I wasn't allowed to sign any players.

**michaeltmurrayuk** · 21-01-2010 22:43

Nantwich Town – Premier League 2019/20 – Season 10

So after a penalty shootout win over Leicester in the Playoff Final last Season Nantwich found themselves in the promised land, but well and truly out of our depth - it normaly takes me a little longer to reach the Premiership, which normal allows me to have built up our facilities and have a nicely settled core of a team with some promising youngsters and a scouting network in place.

This time I was in the Premiership with a squad of 13 players of which only one or two were currently ready for the Premiership.

The boards expectations were yet again to try and avoid relegation and they gave me £18m to try and do so. The press however gave us no chance setting our odds at 5000-1

and expected us to finish rock bottom.

So with an £18m warchest I went about trying to build a squad capable of staying in the Premiership however it soon transpired that £18m and a max wage of £12K p/w wasn't quite enough.

The first problem was locating Premiership rated players who wanted to play for me - the vast majority of unwanted English players who were in my range wanted nothing to do with me, prefering to drop down to the Championship (who pay better than me) or go abroad.

The second problem was teams want insane prices for their players - teams want £5m-£10m for players worth £1m-£2m, I managed to stretch my funds by offering payments over 48months and attempts to knock teams down didn't quite work - teams seemed to know I knew players and wouldn't budge whilst in other cases another team would come straight in with an offer out of my reach, not that I have much luck attracting players when someone else makes a bid.

The third problem was wage demands - the vast majority of players are being payed over £10K p/w which is out of my reach, even 18 year olds are being paid more than that and I couldn't even afford to match their current wages let only encourge them to sign for me.

So I was then left with having to bring in promising youngsters before the big teams signed them and put them on silly wages, though the big clubs did beat me to the English youngsters I managed to snatch a couple of Scottish ones.

So £36m later I at least had a squad, player sales saw just the one bar the releasing of my useless youth players - Belgian Centre-Back Hassan moaned after Championship side Sunderland declared an interest so he was set back to Belgian for a healthy profit.

Even after spending £36m it quickly became apparent that we were still out of our depth - we just lacked that extra bit of quality, desire and luck to turn defeats into draws or draws into wins - even when we turned up and put the effort in we still lost.

In the first half of the season we were just about staying out of the relegation spots and as my team started to gell I was hopeful we'd survive and after the turn of the year when we beat Chelsea away to claim our first away win of the season it was looking like we might just survive, however things went horribly wrong after that game - the whole of Europe seemed to descend on my team, Madrid were after my right backs, Arsenal and Inter wanted my Strikers and the speculation destroyed my team several players demanded transfers and the others collasped under the pressure and we just started making horrendous mistakes - passing the ball to the opposition under no pressure, picking out the opposition player when surrounded by my players, the worse was corners as we just stood around ball watching, nothing I did seemed to stop it we just lost any ability to play football at all - the only time we showed any spirit or desire was when we came from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw against Arsenal, however with three games left our relegation was confirmed after we could only draw to Ipswich, whilst my Keeper and Centre-back showed great loyalty by handing in transfer requests seemingly before we'd even left the field and to make things worse we then lost to Coventry which lifted them above us and consigned us to the bottom of the table (The only two times I've been relegated on CM/FM and both times we've finished rock bottom).

Table - Pos Graph

Things weren't helped by 23 of the goals we conceeded being due to mistakes.

Squad - An utterly woeful season where not even one player stood out, the flanks were the worst were players were lucky to get a 6.0 rating.

Keeper James Patton kept the score down in several games, however even he gave up at times, dropping the ball into his own net several times and towards the end of the season he just launched his goal kicks straight to the opposition and then promptly handed in a transfer request.

In Defence Galder Ardanaz continued at right back and so did his personal problems and after Athletic wanted him back and Madrid scouted him he demanded a transfer, which is annoying because when he turns up he is a solid player and is going to be a quality player in the future, on the left was Carlos Perez who is now settled but had an awful season and I may see about switching him into the middle, providing cover was Frenchman Hicham Hadji who made a good start but struggled to refind his form after injury kept him out for three months.

In the centre of defence a record £10.75m was spent on signing Paraguayan Rodrigo Maidana who became my first Wonderkid and despite a few lapses had a solid season and was named third in the Young Player of the Year Awards, though he has also demanded a move so I doubt he'll be here next season, partnering him was Erwin Bauwens who started well but disappeared after demanding a transfer in January.

On the Wings £4m was spent on English Winger John Corigan and to be honest I expected more from him, though he did do better than Michael Knightly who was woeful. On the Left new signing Phil McNally made a solid start before an injury in December ended his season, providing cover was the Brazilian Dario who didn't impress but has finally settled in the country at least.

In the centre Darren Fletcher was brought in to end some experience and bite to the Midfield and he had a good season as did his partner Magnus Eikrem who despite being my worst player according to my staff still has the ability to place his pass setting up nine of our goals. Providing cover was Vice-Captain Matthew Whyte though he lost his place when he randomly declared he didn't like Eikrem after five years of partnering him.

Upfront Vladislav Dimitrov again lead the line and was partnered by Dutch Striker Ernst van Beek who Man Utd no longer needed and his 70% shots on target ratio made him the third most accurate Striker in the league, providing cover was Irish Striker Stephen Keane and Spanish Striker Javier Vera who was loaned from Man Utd.

Best XI is about right, though the Overall XI is now broken.

In the FA Cup we again reached the Fifth Round before going out to Aston Villa, whilst the Third Round tie against Crewe saw me manage my 500th game for Nantwich.

Whilst the loyalty at the club continued into the Board room where my Chairman spend most of the season trying to sell the club and in the end handed it over to the only director at the club in the end it was an utterly pointless takeover with the only result being the terminating of our Sampdoria link though at least he sees the point in improving our facilities unlike the last guy.

Confidence wise my position is still Very Secure, whilst we still have £5.5m in the bank after having made a profit of £500K last season after spending £15m on transfers (the remaining £20m is spread of the next three years).

The Premier League Sponsorship League shows how badly we were outmatched - we got less than 0.1% of the Sponsorship money generated this season.

And to make things a little more interesting the new chairman is expecting us to go straight back up...

Career Overview

Code:

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
2018/19        Championship              3rd              Promoted - Play-offs
2019/20        Premier League            20th             Relegated

**Swindon69** · 21-01-2010 22:51

Hope you manage to bounce back.

**Swindon69** · 21-01-2010 23:00

Gah my physio refused to sign a new contract and left and now each time I try to sign one it gets cancelled.

**Scott08** · 21-01-2010 23:17

Anyone else playing as Merthyr? If so did you seem to get better than average youngsters coming through in the early seasons?

**hrbfcrule** · 21-01-2010 23:21

Unlucky michaeltmurrayuk, hope you bounce back.

It looks like i've lost Ezio Massaro

the chairman just accepted a 4.9 mill offer for him, apparently "it was to good to refuse"
Hes been with us for almost 6 seasons racking up 191 league appearances with an average rating of 7.01. Including cup competitions he has made 117 appearances and has been a rock solid defender and his presence will be missed as shown by us conceding the least in the league this season.

EDIT: Awwwww how kind

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 23:22

Originally Posted by Dons2387

Wow, Hull have dropped down to L1 Terk?

Yeah, they got rid of the Tango Man but it didn't seem to help. They're not doing that well this season either, though I doubt they'll go down again, but if we get past Luton in the replay then I'll be having a real go at beating Hull on our own patch. If we could get to the fifth round that would just be stunning. Surely then we'd get a decent tie

**Terk** · 21-01-2010 23:23

Originally Posted by hrbfcrule

Then i realised Rafa Benitez is still their manager, that explained it all

(sorry Terk, I couldn't resist)

I say

to you. Just you wait until I get back playing my Liverpool save, then I'll show you

*shakes fist*

Damn dafuge for making this challenge so addictive

**speni194** · 22-01-2010 00:15

Started this, will post my updates properly tomorrow. Goign to bed now. All I have done is bring in my own staff.

Took over at Boston, which I don't think is cheap because its where I live and have held a season ticket at when they were mid table League 2

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 00:55

I :heart: the FA Cup. Just gone to Luton in the third round replay, took an utter beating in the second half but we stood firm and held on for the win. That got us £68K in prize money

Came at a cost though as Kyle Wilson is out for 2 months

Hull up in the 4th round.

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 01:57

I :heart: the FA Cup even more \o/ Canvey 3 - 2 Hull. ****ing awesome performance, can't quite believe this but we're through to the 5th round \o/ If we don't get a big team now I genuinely think I will cry.

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 02:05

Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd all knocked out in the 4th round

But Newcastle away will do me big time. Pay day here we come \o/ The £90K prize money from beating Hull has actually put us into the black by £35K. Profit for this season up at over £300K. Who said cups suck ass?

**Almondo** · 22-01-2010 03:09

Nice one Terk 5th round of the FA cup is a good show for a conference team

**Dons2387** · 22-01-2010 03:36

Originally Posted by Terk

Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd all knocked out in the 4th round

But Newcastle away will do me big time. Pay day here we come \o/ The £90K prize money from beating Hull has actually put us into the black by £35K. Profit for this season up at over £300K. Who said cups suck ass?

Thats brilliant. Congrats

**Swindon69** · 22-01-2010 07:37

Just noticed Bolton are in League 1.

**foost** · 22-01-2010 08:52

Originally Posted by hrbfcrule

Congratz foost on getting the champions league, hopefully you can do better in it than you did in the europa. Unlucky on your fa cup final loss.

Thanks hrbfcrule... Will do my stinking best. Unfortunately I think it will be hard to make it into the next round of the CL haha..

Poule:
AC Milan
Villareal
Guiseley
Girondins Bordeaux

hehe

**MikaelS** · 22-01-2010 10:45

Originally Posted by foost

Thanks hrbfcrule... Will do my stinking best. Unfortunately I think it will be hard to make it into the next round of the CL haha..

Poule:
AC Milan 2x loss
Villareal 1x loss + 1x draw
Guiseley 2 x wins
Girondins Bordeaux 2 x wins

hehe

I think it looks good

**Thebaker** · 22-01-2010 11:00

Originally Posted by Scott08

Anyone else playing as Merthyr? If so did you seem to get better than average youngsters coming through in the early seasons?

yes, in fact they seemed better than the ones i've got coming through 15 seasons later in the prem

**Bilyletdinov7** · 22-01-2010 11:11

i'm on a great run at the moment, unbeaten in 10, beating Droylsden twice (F.A. cup and league), took Barrow to a replay in the 4th round f.a. cup qualifier and then beating them, then took darlington to a replay in the 1st round and then beat them! bring on gillingham in the 2nd round at home, hopefully being at home will work to my advantage and even better more money from fans coming!

**MikaelS** · 22-01-2010 11:11

Originally Posted by Thebaker

yes, in fact they seemed better than the ones i've got coming through 15 seasons later in the prem

That's because you need to UPgrade your facilities, not DOWNgrade

**Thebaker** · 22-01-2010 11:17

michaeltmurrayuk, Unlucky on being relegated i hope you get back first time.
I'm in my first season in the prem and fighting relegation but my 5 years in the championship mean i have a reasonable squad already, in fact 3 players have become wonderkids and my rightback is one of the best in the world.
I've struggled in midfield and looking at your players i think thats where you were losing games, none of your midfielders looks real quality, you might need someone with more passing ability

**Thebaker** · 22-01-2010 11:19

Originally Posted by MikaelS

That's because you need to UPgrade your facilities, not DOWNgrade

my chairman thinks my facilites need no improvement even though they are still average, i beg to differ.

**MikaelS** · 22-01-2010 11:22

Originally Posted by Thebaker

my chairman thinks my facilites need no improvement even though they are still average, i beg to differ.

I'm having the same problem, also with feeder/parent clubs. I had the same problem in FM08. I think Chippenham need a new chairman

**Thebaker** · 22-01-2010 11:26

Originally Posted by MikaelS

I think Chippenham need a new chairman

Mines been there for 12 years and shows no sign of leaving

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 12:19

Lost 4-0 to Newcastle at St. James' Park but the gate receipts from the game netted me £561,000

Crowd was about 36,000

**Rattlesnake_85** · 22-01-2010 12:24

Promotion!!!
Report to follow later

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 12:36

Congratulations, Rattlesnake

I'm threatening to pay the price for the FA Cup run. The players are dead on their feet as we've had a good few weeks now of games every three or four days. Got humped by both Mansfield and Morecambe, we're seven points clear of dropping out of the play-off zone with 13 games to play, but I fear that even if we finish in the top 5, we'll have nothing to give when we get the play-offs.

Anyway, the cash from this year's cup run means that, if we don't go up this year, we'll be able to put the cups to one side next season and go all out for promotion next season. Hopefully come May 2016, Canvey Island will be a league club.

**The Art of Drowning** · 22-01-2010 14:34

Just posted this in the OTF FM Thread, seeing as it's doing the challenge and I want to moan more i'll post here:

****ing fuming right now. My keeper went off injured so I had to change and put an outfield player in goal as I had used all of my subs. before I had the chance to do that they have got the ball and twatted it into an empty net. Can't be right can it?

**The Art of Drowning** · 22-01-2010 15:40

Was thinking that it was going to cost us big time then but we've actually done it and been promoted to League 1! Will post a better report later but right now i'm relieved more than anything.

**JonnyCurrie** · 22-01-2010 15:56

Dartford - Barclays Premier League - 2032/33

Predicted: 1st
Finished: 2nd

Continuing with the youth revolution and trying to stay successful.

League Table
League Table Graph

Our best and most creative player, Marko Grgic was injured for most of the season - that didn't help.

Beaten by one point to deny our 8th consecutive Premier League trophy. It sounds harsh but when the read down further, you'll see it's more in spite of a dreadful step backwards.

Community Shield Easy enough.

Carling Cup Again all team selections were done with reserves and under 18s. They did brilliantly getting to the final and gave Man Utds first team a really good run for their money.

FA Cup As like the Carling Cup, youth was given priority and they did superbly reaching the final against..once again Man Utd. Only this time they managed to avenge their Carling Cup defeat with a dramatic late winner to take the cup.

Champions League Last year we missed on the Treble by getting beat on penalties by Man Utd in the Final. I was not expecting this. Disastrous to say the least.

Europa League I didn't give a toss about winning this like some might, as some sort of redemption for a dreadful early exit in the CL. I didn't care. I let my youth players add more experience.

-----------------------------------

Squad You can see how the amount of appearances throughout the squad is very evenly spread. A small number of players who I feel are either lacking in ability or are just not doing enough for me, will be transferred out this summer for sure.

Dartford players representing..

World Team of the Year

European Goalkeeper of the Year

European Defender of the Year

-----------------------------------

Transfers Couple of young lads in. Alain Keller is a good player but never really going to be a first teamer despite his great versatility - he moved on. Eneko Martin moved on to Man City for £30million - I thought the price was fair, as much as Martin was a great player, he's pretty unremarkable for player costing £30million.

Finances Looking flush. Problem is though, the board won't expand the stadium any further, which makes me think this is probably the maximum for me. Here's hoping they maybe build another stadium in the next 5-10 years.
------------------------------------

Key Players This Season

Javier 32 years old and still a great centre back. Not as great as he used to be mind.

Tiaguinho No where near as good as last season but I suppose he was the best of the forwards.

Ricardinho Has been better. Still a threat mind.

Henriques Great as always.

Rik De Jong He had a good season. Unfortunately he is now 30 and when he kept asking for another challenge, I offered him out (Captain or not) and so he will be joining Sevilla to see out his career in Spain.

------------------------------------

Youth Prospects

Frank Niessen Second season at the club and is now a 'wonderkid.' Should be interesting to see if he can kick on.

Igor Eizagirre Has been out on loan more in the last 2/3 years but he looks like a top striker in the making.

Roger Gordon Cost me £3million in compensation to bring this lad of 16 in from Bolton, if he kicks on he could be an incredible forward.

------------------------------------

Holland

Took the reigns in the summer. Seemed like a decent team at the time.

We cruised through our Euro qualifiers and by the end of the season looked pretty secure at the top of our group.

Then we had the Confederations Cup. We met Australia in the Semi-Final and unbelievably got beat.

If this lot can't beat Australia, they have no chance in the Euros or the World Cup.

I'm out.

------------------------------------

Club Career Overview

Code:

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

2010/11   Blue Square South        4th         Promoted Via Play-Offs
2011/12   Blue Square Premier      5th         Defeated in Play-Off Semi-Final
2012/13   Blue Square Premier      1st         Promoted as Champions
2013/14   Coca Cola League Two     10th        n/a 
2014/15   Coca Cola League Two     2nd         Promoted
2015/16   Coca Cola League One     6th         Defeated in Play-Off Semi-Final
2016/17   Coca Cola League One     9th         n/a
2017/18   Coca Cola League One     1st         Promoted as Champions
2018/19   Coca Cola Championship   13th        n/a
2019/20   Coca Cola Championship   3rd         Promoted Via Play-Offs
2020/21   Barclays Premier League  8th         n/a
2021/22   Barclays Premier League  10th        Qualified for Europa League via Fair Play League
2022/23   Barclays Premier League  16th        n/a
2023/24   Barclays Premier League  15th        n/a
2024/25   Barclays Premier League  5th         Carling Cup Winners, FA Cup finalists, Qualified for Europa League
2025/26   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League Winners, Europa League Winners, Qualified for the Champions League
2026/27   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League Winners, FA Cup Winners, Champions League Winners, Super Cup Winners

Challenge Complete

2027/28   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL Winners, FA Cup Winners, CWC Winners, CL Winners
2028/29   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL Winners, CWC Winners
2029/30   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL Winners, FA Cup Winners
2030/31   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL Winners, FA Cup finalists
2031/32   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL Winners, FA Cup Winners, CL finalists
2032/33   Barclays Premier League  2nd         PL runners up, Carling Cup Finalists, FA Cup Winners

------------------------------------

International Career Overview

Code:

Season    Nation                   Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hired by Brazil

2027/28   Brazil                   N/A
2028/29   Brazil                   Qualified for the 2030 World Cup

Sacked by Brazil

Hired by Italy

2030/31   Italy                    N/A

Resigned from Italy

Hired by Holland

2032/33   Holland                  Semi-Finalists in Confederations Cup

Resigned from Holland

------------------------------------

Next Season

As I said, I'll be letting some players move on.

Hopefully we can get better performances this season and get back the league title - which is the most important trophy afterall.

**The Art of Drowning** · 22-01-2010 16:34

Jamie Spencer - Season 4 League Two - 3rd Place

Got no idea how we've managed to get automatic promotion, we were at times a terrible side and took some batterings along the way. It's more down to the rest of the league being shocking tbh. Didn't enjoy the season 1 bit but we've done what was needed of us so I can't complain.

League Table: http://img15.imageshack.us/i/league2truro.jpg/ We did it on the last game, thought we had blown it when Northampton equalised in the last minute but somehow the others slipped up too. very tight league.

Transfers: http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/1...sferstruro.jpg Roberts and Zola the standouts there, some of them were average and as you can see they soon moved on in Jan.

Star Players:

Ben Geering: http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/3...rringstats.jpg - Ben Gerring deserves a mention as he has been brilliant in every league for us so far. Amazing signing.

Gary Roberts http://img442.imageshack.us/i/garyroberts.jpg/ - Former Crewe midfielder got our player of the season, dominant in defensive midfield.

Calvin Zola: http://img229.imageshack.us/i/calvinzola.jpg/ - Took a while to get going but he was a great physical presence and caused a lot of problems in the centreal striker position.

Next year we will need to completely gut the side I think, somehow we were good enough to go up from League 2 but this side is no way near ready for League 1

Code:

Season     Team           League            Finished     Achievements
2010/11    Truro City   Blue Square South    	1st           Promoted, Champions
2011/12    Truro City   Blue Square Premier    	13th       
2012/13    Truro City   Blue Square Premier     1st           Promoted, Champions
2013/14    Truro City   League 2                3rd       Promoted

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 16:56

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

6 games left in the season and my über striker, James Foster, has broken his foot, out for 5-6 months

Happened five minutes after he'd become the club's all time top league goal scorer.

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 16:58

Congratulations on the promotion, Drowning

Gerring certainly looks to be impressive, I'm hoping Foster can make the same sort of impact when (if) we make the step up to league football.

**AdamFitz** · 22-01-2010 17:19

Bit of an idiot with editing, how do I put a badge/crest ingame? Or is there a pack for lower league badges? Help would be really appreciated.

**Terk** · 22-01-2010 17:22

I haven't found a pack for Unibond/Ryman club badges yet.

**The Art of Drowning** · 22-01-2010 17:34

Originally Posted by Terk

Congratulations on the promotion, Drowning

Gerring certainly looks to be impressive, I'm hoping Foster can make the same sort of impact when (if) we make the step up to league football.

Thanks, I think if they just have decent stats in the right places for the position then they should be fine for league football.

**Rattlesnake_85** · 22-01-2010 17:43

Season 2 - Bedford Town - BSN - 2011/2012

Media Prediction - 16th
Actual Position - 4th (Table) - (Positions Graph) - (Results 1) - (Results 2)

Review of Season: In the summer I raided the BSP for released players and managed to find some much needed quality to take us to the next level. Incidently this disrupted the squad quite considerably and because I left the friendlies to the Ass Manager I began the season in poor shape. Going into December my job was insecure and the board were begining to get on my back. After hours of refining tactics I finally began to pick up some points. January came and in the second half of the season it was like I had a different team. Players had found their feet and actually began to play. I decided to keep the same starting 11 for most games only changing things for injuries/suspensions and they clearly began to gell together. This of course upset those who had been demoted to the reserves, but I didnt care. After all its a results business and im not here to make friends

Playoffs:
BSN Playoff semi final leg 1: Tough First leg and it looked like an uphill struggle going into the away leg.
BSN Playoff semi final leg 2: A real nail bitter, after going ahead in first half and level in the tie, it went to penalties. we held our nerve scoring all our penalties and going through to the final.
BSN Playoff final: My boy, Briscoe smashing 2 quick goals to send us up, in a surprizingly comfortable game

Fa Cup: Rubbish
Fa Trophy: Rubbish, knocked out by Cambridge City again, but who cares were up

Transfers: More transfers in than I thought, also quite a few players who had done well for us last season left but it was all in the name of progression. Even my Key player from last season wasn't safe from the exit door.
Finances: heavily in the red despite over 300k worth of investment from the board
Squad: The bit of quality I managed to get in really took the squad to the next stage, however there will be a few comings and goings for next year in the BSP.

Drew Rattlesnake_85 Key Player of the Year Award: Winner - outstanding to be honest. With 12 assists and his killer balls to the front men, in particular Briscoe was handed chances on a plate.
Runner-up - runner up for the second year in a row, as important as ever and looked good alongside Connor Goldstone.

Aims for Next Season: Survival first of all and consolidate any thing else is a bonus. Try and get some League 2 rejects in

Code:

Bedford Town
 
Season        Division                    Position                 Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11       Blue Square North           8th                      None
 
2011/12       Blue Square North           4th                      Promotion (Playoff winners)

**Almondo** · 22-01-2010 18:08

Boston united season 5 2014/15

A better season than last year finishing 12th. We could have been even higher but hit a big mid season slummp once again.

League Table, Position Graph

Fixtures pt 1, Fixtures Pt 2, Fixtures Pt 3

FA Cup A good showing here eventually going out to Preston
FA Trophy Disappointing here going out in the first round

Transfers

Key Players

john Foster Goo d Left sided player who has terrorised right backs.
Tom Parkes Young Centre back who slotted straight into the defence.

Finances

Code:

Season           League              Final Position               Achievments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11       Blue Square North          7th                         none
2011/12       Blue Square North          2nd                       Promoted Via Playoffs
2012/13       Blue Square Premier        15th                        none  
2013/14       Blue Square Premier        20th                        none
2014/15       Blue Square Premier        12th                        none

Other Winners
Premier League - Man United
FA Cup - Tottenham
Carling Cup - Man United
Champions League - Man United
UEFA Cup - A.C. Milan

Aims for next season

Carry on where we left off and get even higher up the table.

**Rattlesnake_85** · 22-01-2010 18:24

Originally Posted by Terk

Congratulations, Rattlesnake

Thanks alot

**hrbfcrule** · 22-01-2010 20:02

Yay ive been promoted to the premier league with 5 games to spare, update coming soon

**hrbfcrule** · 22-01-2010 21:09

Sutton Utd Championship 2017/18

Competitions:

Fa Cup: Lost in 3rd round 2-1 to QPR
League Cup: Lost 2-1 to Liverpool in 3rd round
League: 1st Promotion

League Table, League Graph
Squad, Transfers

Complete domination from almost the start to the finish. We looked very comfortable even against the top teams in the division. Hopefully this shows my team is ready for the premier league. We won promotion with 5 games to spare and won the league with 4 games to spare. We conceded least in the league (40) and scored the most (88).

Player/s of the Season

Raul Clemente - he was the stand out striker this season with 22 goals in 42 appearance although my other two strikers didnt do too badly themselves

Special mentions must go to Ezio Massaro (history) who left in january for ajax for a club record 4.9 mill, he had amassed 191 league appearances for Sutton and also to Miguel Angel (history) he is still with us and is Sutton's all tim leading top scorer with 87 league goals in 169 appearances (100 goals in 192 appearances in all competitions excluding friendlies for Sutton)

Cups

Pretty poor on both cup fronts we managed to get to the 3rd round in the league cup before narrowly losing to liverpool, this run included a 5-2 thriller against leyton orient

Fa cup was equally as bad we managed to take premier league qpr to a replay but we lost that .

Finances:

Again main help was from player sales and with over 20 mill in the black now we should be getting a new stadium and training/youth facilities soon

Code:

Career so far:
 
 
Season    League                   Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
2010/11   Blue Square South       2nd      Promoted via playoffs
2011/12   Blue Square Premier     1st      Automatic Promotion 
2012/13   League 2                3rd      Automatic Promotion
2013/14   League 1                7th      N/A
2014/15   League 1                1st      Automatic Promotion
2015/16   Championship            14th     N/A
2016/17   Championship            4th      Lost in Playoff Semi Final
2017/18   Championship            1st      Automatic Promotion

In other news Liverpool escaped relegetion on the last day by beating 19th placed wolves while sheff utd lost to West Brom

**Rattlesnake_85** · 22-01-2010 21:37

congratulations on the promotion hrbfcrule, good luck in the Premier League. By the looks of things you should have no problems staying up.

With this seasons youth intake, Bedford have produced their first player with anything resembling potential.

James Needham, scouts say potential to be good BSP player in future so, he will be 4th choice striker. Will try to give him 10 or so games.

**aeropaus** · 22-01-2010 21:39

Not a usual visitor to these forums but loved the idea of the challenge, so I took it up as Hastings United

Profile

BTW I had edited the database a while back to change the names of some of the psedonymed competitions (PL, CL etc.). As that's pregame and not savegame edited (and cosmetic) I assume that's ok?

**MikaelS** · 22-01-2010 21:40

Originally Posted by aeropaus

Not a usual visitor to these forums but loved the idea of the challenge, so I took it up as Hastings United

Profile

Welcome and good luck

**AdamFitz** · 22-01-2010 22:18

Sutton in the Prem

. Hopefully I can do that, I've finished my first season, update will be up soon.

**hrbfcrule** · 22-01-2010 22:23

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake_85

congratulations on the promotion hrbfcrule, good luck in the Premier League. By the looks of things you should have no problems staying up.

With this seasons youth intake, Bedford have produced their first player with anything resembling potential.

James Needham, scouts say potential to be good BSP player in future so, he will be 4th choice striker. Will try to give him 10 or so games.

Thanks i hope i dont have problems staying up as well.

My board have just announced a stadium expansion.................of 1032 seats to take the total capacity to just over 8000

even if i filled out this stadium i would still have had the lowest average championship attendance let alone in the premier league

**Spartansteen** · 22-01-2010 22:32

After having a few months off from this challenge, tonight I decided to load up my saved game as Nuneaton in championship! Only to find that my file is corrupt! Is there anyway it can be fixed? Would someone be kind enough to pm me a saved file of a team that is liable to this challenge prefrabley in the championship or premiership if that is all availble!

**AdamFitz** · 23-01-2010 00:17

Sutton United: Season 2010/11

Media Prediction: 18th
Final Position: 5th (Promoted via play-offs)

Squad
Weren't the most consistent bunch, but my strength in depth was certainly good. Stand-outs were the back four, Kaby who I got on loan from Chelsea and Jon Stevenson, who had a lot of annoying injuries, hence his 20 substitute appearances. As you have probably noticed, my keeper has only made one appearance, this was due to me selling my other keeper Ian McCaldon to AFC Hornchurch recently. I think I will have A LOT of rebuilding to do if we want to stay in the Blue Square Premier next year. These were my Tactics, which despite keeping all year, my Tactical Consistency still managed to drop.

Finances
Oh god, these are an absolute disgrace, I actually have no idea how we are losing all this money. Hoping for something good to happen like a new owner or a stadium expansion (both very, very unlikely).

Transfers
I made a lot of transfers throughout the season, after scout reports and all. The loans of Kaby and Huston being my favourites easily.

Links
Club Information
Manager Profile
Overview

Key Players
Kaby
Jon Stevenson
Angelos Tsiaklis
Tony Huston
Brad Cann
Sam Gargan
Luis Cumbers

Code:

Season     League                 Position     Notes
2010/11    Blue Square South      5th          Promoted via play-offs

**The Art of Drowning** · 23-01-2010 00:17

hrbfcrule - Congrats, how do you have such great players on low wages? I'm paying some players £5k per week in League 1 and we're going to finish mid table.

**Terk** · 23-01-2010 00:22

Canvey Island
Blue Square Premier
2014/15

The aim this season was nothing other than to avoid relegation, I've documented our FA Cup successes pretty well in here already, but suffice to say that the season in its entirety went better than expected.

Blue Square Premier
The league season got off to a good start (in light of our pre-season objective at least) with a couple of wins in our first four games, but three straight defeats brought us crashing back down to earth pretty quickly. From that point on, however we were solid as a rock, keeping eighteen clean sheets in the campaign and for the large part of the season occupying one of the play-off spots. The wheels wobbled for a while as the FA Cup exertions took their toll and defeats against Mansfield, Morcambe, Kettering and Darlington threatened to derail us completely, especially as our star player, James Foster, suffered a broken foot, but a 5-1 win over Macclesfield got the confidence flowing again and we closed out the season in third place.

That put us in a play-off semi final against Morecambe, and having stolen a late draw at Westgate, we scored early back at Park Lane to put us ahead on aggregate and from then we defended magnificently to book our place at Wembley. Mansfield overcame Chester in the other semi, so it was them we would face. They looked likely to overwhelm us in the first half hour, but we conceded only once and came roaring back in the second half, Mark Hartmann equalising from 25 yards before serial substitute Phil Parkin nabbed a winner three minutes from time.

League Positions Graph

FA Trophy
Nothing remarkable in this and to be honest I was quite glad when Forest Green scored an 89th minute winner against us as the last thing I wanted was another replay during a period when our fixture congestion was getting out of control.

FA Cup
The wonderful, money spinning machine that is the FA Cup. It almost didn't happen as we had to fight back from 3-1 down to force a replay against Braintree in the first round, but once we had beaten Morecambe in round two it was time to pray for the big boys. That didn't quite happen, but we dispatched Luton after a replay and did the same for Hull but without the need for a second go. Finally we got our draw, Newcastle away, and though we lost 4-0, we made half a million from the game and the run as a whole helped us post profits this season not far short of a million pounds.

Transfers
I think what proved to be key in this department was managing to pick up a number of players who had been released by League sides. Philip Appiah, John Mousinho, Kostas Tsioukas and others were sent packing by their clubs higher up the food chain, and they brought with them that extra level of schooling that served us well. I took a chance in dumping £12,000 in installments for Truro winger Nathan Woolfe and it didn't really pay off; he signed a one year deal and won't be getting a renewal this summer.

Key Players
As with last season, there can be only one star in here and his name is James Foster. An absolutely stunning season, curtailed by injury, James has fired his way into the record books as the club's leading league goalscorer in just two years with us and I'm starting to become convinced that he can be a real asset at League Two level.

Former Swindon trainee Mark Hartmann continued to impress me and now has over thirty assists in the three seasons that I've been at the club, but the most creative award for this campaign went to French winger Lassana Sidibé, whose pace caused problems for many a defence.

Honourable mentions should also go to Kyle Wilson, who returned from injury just in time to ensure that we held onto our play-off place; John Mousinho, whose versatility proved invaluable and Matty Darlow, our goalscoring centre back who proved to be rock solid as well and a good choice as a back up captain.

Next Season
Stay up. It's going to be massively difficult, though hopefully the cash from the FA Cup run this year will reduce the financial burden a little. I'm pinning many of my hopes on James Foster returning successfully from injury and scoring enough to keep us afloat. It's a lot of eggs in a small basket, but it has to be done.

Career Overview

Code:

Season              League               Final Pos.              Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nuneaton Town
2010/11       Blue Square North             5th             Lost in play-off semi final
2011/12       Blue Square North            12th           Sacked 11 games into the season

Canvey Island
2012/13       Blue Square South            10th                        None
2013/14       Blue Square South             4th               Promoted via play-offs
2014/15      Blue Square Premier            3rd               Promoted via play-offs

**hrbfcrule** · 23-01-2010 00:24

Originally Posted by The Art of Drowning

hrbfcrule - Congrats, how do you have such great players on low wages? I'm paying some players £5k per week in League 1 and we're going to finish mid table.

i tied them down on 4 and 5 year deals so they started on low wage. Also i dont sign players if they ask for too much in wages because i always try to keep my finances healthy and well into the black. Problem now is im having to offer them all new contracts as their previous ones had run out and since im in the premier league now they are asking for a lot more. But i found that the longer the player has stayed at the club he asks for less because most of my team now has wages of about £9000 week now.

Congratz AdamFitz, Good luck next season in the bsp

Congratz Terk it looks like you are really getting the hang of lower league managment

**AdamFitz** · 23-01-2010 00:51

This guy, Ashley Dunkley just came through my youth system, looks like he'll slot straight into my first team, looks amazing for this level!

**Terk** · 23-01-2010 00:56

Originally Posted by hrbfcrule

Congratz Terk it looks like you are really getting the hang of lower league managment

Cheers

It would appear that way (at last). I think I owe that to whomever it was who gave me the advice to almost ignore technical stats in favour of the physical (in particular acceleration and pace) at this level. Since I took that on board my fortunes have turned round completely.

**Terk** · 23-01-2010 00:57

Originally Posted by AdamFitz

This guy, Ashley Dunkley just came through my youth system, looks like he'll slot straight into my first team, looks amazing for this level!

Yeah, he should slot into a BSP side comfortably even at his age. Will be interesting to see how he develops.

I've not had any youth players that have even the slightest hint of talent yet.

**AdamFitz** · 23-01-2010 00:59

With Adequate Youth Facilities it came as a bit of a shock to be honest. Hopefully he'll reach full potential if I play him regularly.

**Terk** · 23-01-2010 01:20

Canvey Island now a professional club \o/

**Almondo** · 23-01-2010 01:31

Nice one on the promotion Terk.

**Terk** · 23-01-2010 01:33

Cheers

Already starting to realise just how massive a task staying up is going to be, my scouts keep recommending players but no one wants to join me.

**aeropaus** · 23-01-2010 01:36

Originally Posted by Terk

Cheers

It would appear that way (at last). I think I owe that to whomever it was who gave me the advice to almost ignore technical stats in favour of the physical (in particular acceleration and pace) at this level. Since I took that on board my fortunes have turned round completely.

It's definately the way to go... to an extent

I say because I signed Craig McShea who has fairly good physical attributes but his technical attributes are hopeless. Halfway through the season he has 43 shots and just three goals playing in the striker position, and I'd wager that a mighty number were CCCs.

In the last game he had an open goal from 6 yards out and blasted in as high into the sky as you probably can, so I think he's about to get chopped from the first team for sure.

**Cardiomolester** · 23-01-2010 01:39

How are you finding the step up to professional? I had a mammoth task trying to get my best players on long, cheap contracts to no avail.

**Terk** · 23-01-2010 01:54

I've been signing my players to full time contracts for the past year, even when we were semi-pro, so that's lessened the blow as I don't have to renew too many and up their wages considerably.

aeropaus, that is shocking, I think you can justifiably drop him

Now that I'm in the league I'll tip the balance back towards the technical a little bit, that's if I can actually get a single sodding player to join me.

**roseboy64** · 23-01-2010 02:20

Just look for as many players as possible. Check what I did. Quality loan signings while picking up cheap players to round out the squad helped. Having Man Utd as a parent club helped as well.

**Terk** · 23-01-2010 02:27

I've got Chelsea as a parent club but the three players I tried to loan from them all turned me down

Managing to get some decent players in now, squad looking a good bit better.

**Dons2387** · 23-01-2010 03:06

Originally Posted by Terk

Canvey Island
Blue Square Premier
2014/15

The aim this season was nothing other than to avoid relegation, I've documented our FA Cup successes pretty well in here already, but suffice to say that the season in its entirety went better than expected.

Blue Square Premier
The league season got off to a good start (in light of our pre-season objective at least) with a couple of wins in our first four games, but three straight defeats brought us crashing back down to earth pretty quickly. From that point on, however we were solid as a rock, keeping eighteen clean sheets in the campaign and for the large part of the season occupying one of the play-off spots. The wheels wobbled for a while as the FA Cup exertions took their toll and defeats against Mansfield, Morcambe, Kettering and Darlington threatened to derail us completely, especially as our star player, James Foster, suffered a broken foot, but a 5-1 win over Macclesfield got the confidence flowing again and we closed out the season in third place.

That put us in a play-off semi final against Morecambe, and having stolen a late draw at Westgate, we scored early back at Park Lane to put us ahead on aggregate and from then we defended magnificently to book our place at Wembley. Mansfield overcame Chester in the other semi, so it was them we would face. They looked likely to overwhelm us in the first half hour, but we conceded only once and came roaring back in the second half, Mark Hartmann equalising from 25 yards before serial substitute Phil Parkin nabbed a winner three minutes from time.

League Positions Graph

FA Trophy
Nothing remarkable in this and to be honest I was quite glad when Forest Green scored an 89th minute winner against us as the last thing I wanted was another replay during a period when our fixture congestion was getting out of control.

FA Cup
The wonderful, money spinning machine that is the FA Cup. It almost didn't happen as we had to fight back from 3-1 down to force a replay against Braintree in the first round, but once we had beaten Morecambe in round two it was time to pray for the big boys. That didn't quite happen, but we dispatched Luton after a replay and did the same for Hull but without the need for a second go. Finally we got our draw, Newcastle away, and though we lost 4-0, we made half a million from the game and the run as a whole helped us post profits this season not far short of a million pounds.

Transfers
I think what proved to be key in this department was managing to pick up a number of players who had been released by League sides. Philip Appiah, John Mousinho, Kostas Tsioukas and others were sent packing by their clubs higher up the food chain, and they brought with them that extra level of schooling that served us well. I took a chance in dumping £12,000 in installments for Truro winger Nathan Woolfe and it didn't really pay off; he signed a one year deal and won't be getting a renewal this summer.

Key Players
As with last season, there can be only one star in here and his name is James Foster. An absolutely stunning season, curtailed by injury, James has fired his way into the record books as the club's leading league goalscorer in just two years with us and I'm starting to become convinced that he can be a real asset at League Two level.

Former Swindon trainee Mark Hartmann continued to impress me and now has over thirty assists in the three seasons that I've been at the club, but the most creative award for this campaign went to French winger Lassana Sidibé, whose pace caused problems for many a defence.

Honourable mentions should also go to Kyle Wilson, who returned from injury just in time to ensure that we held onto our play-off place; John Mousinho, whose versatility proved invaluable and Matty Darlow, our goalscoring centre back who proved to be rock solid as well and a good choice as a back up captain.

Next Season
Stay up. It's going to be massively difficult, though hopefully the cash from the FA Cup run this year will reduce the financial burden a little. I'm pinning many of my hopes on James Foster returning successfully from injury and scoring enough to keep us afloat. It's a lot of eggs in a small basket, but it has to be done.

Career Overview

Code:

Season              League               Final Pos.              Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nuneaton Town
2010/11       Blue Square North             5th             Lost in play-off semi final
2011/12       Blue Square North            12th           Sacked 11 games into the season

Canvey Island
2012/13       Blue Square South            10th                        None
2013/14       Blue Square South             4th               Promoted via play-offs
2014/15      Blue Square Premier            3rd               Promoted via play-offs

Congrats Terk. Thought about getting Sidibe myself before. Right midfield is probably the weakest position on my entire team.

**Dons2387** · 23-01-2010 03:08

Originally Posted by AdamFitz

This guy, Ashley Dunkley just came through my youth system, looks like he'll slot straight into my first team, looks amazing for this level!

Yeah he looks really good. I had a guy as soon as I got to the club but since then i've had no one good come through at all. Could use some to be honest. Love playing youth players.

**Dons2387** · 23-01-2010 03:38

Wow, after only 33 games Oxford have already set the record for goals scored in a season in the BSP with 90. They might get to 120 if they're not careful.

**hrbfcrule** · 23-01-2010 11:17

Great start to the premier league

we even out played them

I have had a problem to do with my stadium though. it was expanded in the summer but it still only has 1819 seats and due to the premier league rule where you can't have fans standing means for the whole of this season i can only have a max attendance of 1819

, i've asked the board and they say "the board assure you there are plans afoot to expand the stadium"

What makes this even stranger is that i have over 4800 season ticket holders, so 3000 are going to be disappointed

**AdamFitz** · 23-01-2010 12:30

They still have you playing at GGL :X Hope you get a new stadium soon.

**hrbfcrule** · 23-01-2010 13:19

Originally Posted by AdamFitz

They still have you playing at GGL :X Hope you get a new stadium soon.

Yer hopefully i'll get a new stadium at the end of this season. I haven't been given the best starting fixtures in the premiership (positions from last season in brackets):

Chelsea (h) (3rd)
Burnley (a) (12th)
Man City (h) (2nd)
Arsenal (a) (1st)

although i managed a win against Chelsea and i managed to get 2 lucky draws against Burnley and Man City

**hrbfcrule** · 23-01-2010 15:07

Incredible late scenes against the current premier league champions

**AdamFitz** · 23-01-2010 16:30

Got relegated, so I'll post up a quick update instead of something fancy. Dunkley looks to be on his way out for 250k.

**AdamFitz** · 23-01-2010 16:47

Sutton United: Season 2011/12

Media Prediction: 23rd
Final Position: 21st (Relegated to Blue Square South)

Squad
Never signed anyone who was a stand-out, best players were probably Adam Phillip who I got on loan from Chelsea and Ashley Dunkley, a good youth product who wants to leave, so I'm trying to sell him to Llanelli for £250k. Kept the same tactics as last year.

Finances
Improved a bit thanks to cash injections from the board, and reaching the 1st round of the FA Cup. Hopefully selling Dunkley will help me out.

Transfers
Didn't really help, made a profit though I suppose

.

Links
Club Information
Manager Profile
Overview

Code:

Season     League                 Position     Notes
2010/11    Blue Square South      5th          Promoted via play-offs
2011/12    Blue Square Premier    21st         Relegated

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