dafuge's FM10 challenge

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Just about to start my search for players.

Started at 12:30. I'm going to time how long it takes me to fill my squad. I'd guess about 45 minutes.

[Terk]

Build for next season then basically Terk! What are you like financially?

£600K of gate receipts and TV money from the League Cup semi has taken my bank balance to about £1.7M. These cup runs are vital though, as we lose money every month otherwise with our ground only holding 4,308.

[aeropaus]

£600K of gate receipts and TV money from the League Cup semi has taken my bank balance to about £1.7M. These cup runs are vital though, as we lose money every month otherwise with our ground only holding 4,308.

Ditto, 4050 capacity with no expansion so I was 1mil in debt last season until the board started to bail us out. Broke even with some 400k parachute payments but you're right, its very hard to break even beyond the BSP if you fail in the cups.

[minisav]

I use Fraps. Works well with fullscreen games.

Whereas I just save them with paint. Normally have a folder per season so can bulk upload from each season

[Terk]

Right, League Cup semi 2nd leg ahoy. Decided not to chicken out of the attacking style of play I've been employing this season. Let's take the game to them.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Good luck!

And that's something I will have to watch out with then (finances), going to try and keep wages pretty low for as much as possible.

[Dons2387]

GL Terk. You and your cup runs.

[aeropaus]

Good luck!

And that's something I will have to watch out with then (finances), going to try and keep wages pretty low for as much as possible.

GL Terk!

I dunno if it's worth it mate actually, I was losing money but it wasn't a total debacle, so I got board handouts of 80k or 40k every few months to keep me going. In the BSP I won the FA Trophy and that totally wiped out my debts in one go.

In the end success is probably worth more than fiscal security at the lower levels if you stay in the wage budget. Just my experience with this save though, I don't know if anyone has slipped into administration.

[minisav]

Well that holidaying didn't take long.

Decision time, < or > 1000 rep?

[Terk]

Good luck!

And that's something I will have to watch out with then (finances), going to try and keep wages pretty low for as much as possible.

That's one of, if not the biggest challenge I've come across so far. My wage budget in the Championship is £50K per week, and judging by the wages of some of the players we're playing against, that's pretty damn low for this division.

[Terk]

Well that holidaying didn't take long.

Decision time, < or > 1000 rep?

Go higher. I can't imagine how difficult the early seasons would be with a team who's rep is lower than 1000.

[minisav]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

[Terk]

Un-frickin-believable! Canvey are going to Wembley.

Seems like with Spurs currently mired in a relegation battle they sent their kids out to fight for them. Carlos Vela was the only regular starter who was in their XI and they had two 16 year olds, both of whom were making their competitive début. In fact they had five guys 18 or under in their starting XI, and only two of them had played a league game before.

The first half was massively tight, but once their 17 year old centre back gave away the penalty at the start of the second half, their whole team just fell apart. Vela did hit the woodwork twice when the score was 1-0 on the night. Guess it was just destined to be.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Okay thanks for the advice both of you!

Lovely work Terk! Good luck on your trip in the biggest competition in the world as far as I'm concerned

[minisav]

Well the first newly promoted team to appear after randomisation was:

Carshalton Athletic

My manager profile.

[Terk]

Okay thanks for the advice both of you!

Lovely work Terk! Good luck on your trip in the biggest competition in the world as far as I'm concerned

Unfortunately for you, Villa didn't get to the final. Man City won their second leg (4-1), so I'll be facing their horrible millions in the final. Just hope we don't get embarrassed. Villa in the FA Cup up next.

[Dons2387]

Congrats Terk. Hopefully City are in the European spots in the Prem

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Ouch , that's a tough game Terk.

Anyway just finishing searching and scouting for players of what I call (round 1 of negotiations) 40 minutes. Urgh.

Good luck minisav.

[Terk]

Congrats Terk. Hopefully City are in the European spots in the Prem

City are in 2nd, 4 points behind Leeds I thought with the League Cup the Europa League spot went to the next team in the Premier League rather than the runners up in the cup. Doubt we'd get past the first qualifying round, anyway

[minisav]

Well apparently I'm joint 2nd favourites at 6-1 to get promotion. Wish I'd told the club I'd do better than avoid relegation now

[Terk]

Good luck, minisav I can just about make that sound genuine to someone who supports both Aberdeen and Man Utd.

[Dons2387]

You might be right, I have no idea. Long way til I am worried about anything like that haha.

[minisav]

Haha, thanks.

Blame my father. Pretty sure I'd be dead if I'd chosen somebody else.

And SAF is a legend.

[Yidd0!]

christ what a topsy-turvy season so far.

Horrific first 5/6 games start left me in 20th; lowest point being a 3-0 drumming against Merstham in the cup quali stages.

Tactics changed, Leon McKenzie put as a target man with Rob McCormick as the complete forward and thats transformed my team.

A great run left us in 6th, the highlight being a late comeback from being 2-0 down to beating (now top) Bishop Stortford 4-3.

Having some serious defensive issues and keep letting in late goals, but on the whole I'm there or thereabouts in the playoffs and hanging in there, waiting for a late charge.

Half a season to go, currently in 7th on 37 points.

come on the boro!

[Terk]

Haha, thanks.

Blame my father. Pretty sure I'd be dead if I'd chosen somebody else.

And SAF is a legend.

Still, Aberdeen? I'd rather, well, the list of things I'd rather do than support Aberdeen is pretty long

[minisav]

They're the local club!

It was them or Montrose!

[Terk]

They're the local club!

It was them or Montrose!

Montrose every time

To be honest, the list of things I'd rather do than support Hearts is pretty long right now, but I'm stuck with it

[minisav]

Made my first signing. A player who is apparently twice as good as the 2nd best player of that position. Pity I signed him for a different position isn't it?

[Terk]

I hate it when that happens, minisav. I signed Ross McCormack this season as a winger, my scout says he's our second best striker. I guess that's what happens when you sign someone to play in one of their secondary positions.

Lost 1-0 to Villa in the FA Cup. Second half goal from Riccardo Montolivo settled it.

[Yidd0!]

Has anyone had this happen to them before?

BTW thats my keeper. Now in the reserves (for a reason)

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

That's a shame Terk!

Yidd0! Damm internet won't let me even see the picture. Really slow tonight!

I'm already £140 over wage budget and have only signed 12 players. That went well

[Yidd0!]

bloody image has gone upside down. reuploading :P lol.

[Terk]

Has anyone had this happen to them before?

BTW thats my keeper. Now in the reserves (for a reason)

Clearly your keeper is the new Bruce Grobbelaar.

[Yidd0!]

I wasnt amused to say the least.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

My squad is completed! First game coming up, should be interesting.

By the way, how did others approach the lower division football? I personally at any level like to try and get my teams to get the ball down and play football but can't help but fell that it could be more successful going a little longer in our play?

[Yidd0!]

My squad is completed! First game coming up, should be interesting.

By the way, how did others approach the lower division football? I personally at any level like to try and get my teams to get the ball down and play football but can't help but fell that it could be more successful going a little longer in our play?

Thats what I tried originally, but for me the team just didnt have any ability, so I just changed to more of a long ball game with a physically strong striker as a target man. Seems to have beefed my goals tally up.

[Terk]

My squad is completed! First game coming up, should be interesting.

By the way, how did others approach the lower division football? I personally at any level like to try and get my teams to get the ball down and play football but can't help but fell that it could be more successful going a little longer in our play?

My first attempt at this I planted my centre forward in the penalty area, got the ball wide and bounced crosses off his head. It worked well for the first season but was disastrous in the second. My second attempt I've played basic 4-4-2 football relying heavily on counter attacking, so it was crucial that I had quick strikers and midfielders. Since I got into League 2 I've been trying to play a bit more football (not that we play Stoke style long ball; more Villa style 'ball into space') and that's worked pretty well so far.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Thanks both! Probably going to start a little director early on. Got some striker who's 196cm, so he can be a good target man!

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Opening day win against Worcester 2-1 at home, so pretty pleased!

[aeropaus]

My squad is completed! First game coming up, should be interesting.

By the way, how did others approach the lower division football? I personally at any level like to try and get my teams to get the ball down and play football but can't help but fell that it could be more successful going a little longer in our play?

Same as Terk I was very reliant on a super-direct counter-attacking style with super fast strikers.

Incidentally I got out of the BSP by ditching the wingers altogether, I wonder whether the AMC/narrow formations are a bit overpowered since it's quite easy to split the defences. Either way since I dropped the wingers in my third season I haven't looked back.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

7 Games in and 9th, 3 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses.

Going to completly change the tactics from direct play to more counter-attacking style.

[roseboy64]

Whereas I just save them with paint. Normally have a folder per season so can bulk upload from each season

Everything's just saved in one folder for me and I just put the season number i.e 9 now, after to differentiate as since I'm taking similar pics they'll be easy to sort through. Player pics are random depending on what I intend out of them.

[roseboy64]

My squad is completed! First game coming up, should be interesting.

By the way, how did others approach the lower division football? I personally at any level like to try and get my teams to get the ball down and play football but can't help but fell that it could be more successful going a little longer in our play?

I just kept the tactics simple and at some stages used downloaded tactics. Don't think I used a target man approach. Don't try to play beautiful stuff though, just tailor it to what your squad can do. I went for technical attributes over the prescribed physical because I got in nice technical oldies and loanees who were too good for the brutes.

[Yidd0!]

Just beat Bromley in the playoff semi-final. (went on holiday)

Time for Chelmsford. Sadly, gotta go to work lol. :P

[Terk]

Sold Waweru on deadline day to promotion chasing Coventry Got £1.5M for him, but it's sad to see him go.

[SnakeXe]

Sold Waweru on deadline day to promotion chasing Coventry Got £1.5M for him, but it's sad to see him go.

Always sad to see a guy who has done the business for you consistently and without any moaning leave

[mag man]

After having a break from my save to go and study the tactical aspect of the game some more I have finally come back. I had 9 games left in the season and I won all 9 comfortable finally getting the best from my players.

It was all to late to make a push for the playoff places after being awful the rest of the season but I am looking forward to promotion next year assuming I can keep my players and I dont suffer from the forum curse

[Yidd0!]

After having a break from my save to go and study the tactical aspect of the game some more I have finally come back. I had 9 games left in the season and I won all 9 comfortable finally getting the best from my players.

It was all to late to make a push for the playoff places after being awful the rest of the season but I am looking forward to promotion next year assuming I can keep my players and I dont suffer from the forum curse

good luck bud!

Cant wait for my bloody shift to finish so I can take Cheltenham on in the BSS playoff final. I kinda feel abit ****** that I skipped alot of the season until pretty much April, is there anything in the rules that says this cannot be done? Dont want to be invalid after one season.

Are there any major drawbacks to having any players on P/T contracts? I only have one on a F/T now after he got leagues top scorer with 27 (Robert McCormick) Hoping I'm not going to have to stretch the budget out greatly for next season to keep him on board. I've already rejected a 6k bid from Grays during Jan and he didnt seem too miffed about it.

Also, I got abit of a decent parent club: Watford (not bad for a BSS team) so that should generate some revenue plus if (and I do mean IF) we get promoted I'll actually be able to loan some of their players. I tried earlier in the season but they were having none of it. Even their 17 yr old's with **** stats didnt want to join (was just a test to see if they were interested more than anything)

Season report up later tonight. Peace!

[MikaelS]

I use Fraps. Works well with fullscreen games.

Ah so you use Fraps to take the screenshot (which saves it automatically I guess into a folder) and the upload fx the folder to photobucket using their bulkuploader?

I like the fact that you in photobucket can have folders to organize things.

[foost]

I am having my hardest season this far. Got 3 superb strikers for 2 places. But at the moment I have 1 striker left since everytime 2 other strikers getting injured. When one is better, the other takes his place. So playing a lot of matches with my youthtalent (16 years)... but he is not good enough of course... really hard games since I cant score and still getting goals against

[Almondo]

Boston united season 10 2020/21

A very consistent season underlined by promotion through the playoffs

League Table, Position Graph

Fixtures pt 1, Fixtures pt 2, Fixtures Pt 3

FA Cup

League Cup

Johnstone's Paint Trophy With a 1st round bye we got all the way to the final. Losing out to Leyton Orient.

Transfers


Key Players


Nabil Sharif

Aidan Campbell

Julien Raimbault A good back up for Sharif and Campbell

Martin Owen


Finances

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
2015/16       Blue Square Premier        3rd                       Lost in Playoff Final   
2016/17       Blue Square Premier        1st                       Automatic Promotion, FA Trophy
2017/18       Coca Cola League 2         2nd                       Automatic Promtion
2018/19       Coca Cola League 1         21st                      Relegated to League 2
2019/20       Coca Cola League 2         4th                       Lost in Playoff Final
2020/21       Coca Cola League 2         4th                       Promoted via Playoffs

Other Winners
Premier League - Chelsea
FA Cup - Tottenham
Carling Cup - Everton
Champions League - Arsenal - An all english final vs Aston Villa
UEFA Cup - Athletico Madrid





Aims for next season

Stay up

[dafuge]

Tooting & Mitcham United FC - Barclays Premier League - 2038/39

Without signing any new players things are getting increasingly difficult. Long gone are the days of a clean sweep of trophies, now my aims are simple in the aim to just win something.

League Table
League Positions Graph

We were missing a couple of key players and got off to an awful start winning just one of our first four games. Things picked up, then dipped again as we starting drawing and losing too many matches. At this point, for the first time ever, I was fearing for my job. As injured players returned, we started to click and rolled out 12 straight wins to put us right back in amongst the CL spots, which was my new aim. Even though our form then dropped, Chelsea fell apart and started throwing away points which allowed us to take the title before the season had finished.

Community Shield - this was a great result as my kids faced the old master, who looked like he would come back to haunt us.

UEFA Super Cup - I had pinned all my hopes on Jon Punal and until now he hadn't scored, so this was a great way to repay me.

FIFA Club World Cup - this was easy, we even rested a few big players.

FA Cup - things were looking good until we had 'one of those games' against Middlesbrough.

Carling Cup - we did put out a weak team but yet again we were cruelly dumped out of the cup.

UEFA Champions League - the group stage was simple enough but our challenge came to an abrupt halt with this unexpected hammering by Man City at home. We beat them in the second leg but there was no way we were going to claw back that deficit.

Transfers - I took a huge step in promoting my youth players as I sold all but one of our foreign players. The money that will come in (eventually) should put us in a great financail state.

Squad - the squad is pretty good right now, but I worry that as the star players get older they will not be replaced.


Key Player Profiles:

Jon Punal - this was more than Sacchi scored last season so I feel like I've made a good decision.

Tom McGoldrick - without doubt, the most talented player in this squad.

Brian Jones - a pretty good season for a youngster.

Steve Shutt - he's past his peak but we just aren't the same team without him.

George Fry - this kid is the future of this club.


Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South        5th         Promoted via playoffs
2011/12   Blue Square Premier      8th
2012/13   Blue Square Premier      2nd         Promoted via playoffs, FA Trophy finalists
2013/14   Coca-Cola League 2       6th         Lost in playoff final
2014/15   Coca-Cola League 2       1st         Promoted as champions
2015/16   Coca-Cola League 1       4th         Promoted via playoffs, JPT finalists
2016/17   Coca-Cola Championship   9th
2017/18   Coca-Cola Championship   6th         Lost in playoff semi
2018/19   Coca-Cola Championship   4th         Promoted via playoffs
2019/20   Barclays Premier League  16th        
2020/21   Barclays Premier League  11th
2021/22   Barclays Premier League  3rd         FA Cup finalists
2022/23   Barclays Premier League  7th         Carling Cup finalists, FA Cup winners
2023/24   Barclays Premier League  3rd
2024/25   Barclays Premier League  5th         Champions League finalists
2025/26   Barclays Premier League  3rd         Carling Cup finalists
2026/27   Barclays Premier League  2nd
2027/28   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Champions League winners
2028/29   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL and CWC winners, Carling Cup finalists
2029/30   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL, CWC, FA Cup and Carling Cup winners
2030/31   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL, CWC, and Carling Cup winners
2031/32   Barclays Premier League  3rd         Club World Cup winners
2032/33   Barclays Premier League  2nd         FA and Carling Cup winners
2033/34   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL and Carling Cup winners
2034/35   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CWC FA and Carling Cup winners
2035/36   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL, FA Cup and Carling Cup winners
2036/37   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Club World Cup winners
2037/38   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Champions League winners
2038/39   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Club World Cup winners

Next Season

I really badly need a new stadium now as I cannot continue to be a selling club. Things are going to get more and more difficult over the next few years and I need to be able to hold on to the best players at the club.

The Oxford United Story

An improvement on last season, but once again they failed in the playoffs.

[Terk]

Also, I got abit of a decent parent club: Watford (not bad for a BSS team) so that should generate some revenue plus if (and I do mean IF) we get promoted I'll actually be able to loan some of their players. I tried earlier in the season but they were having none of it. Even their 17 yr old's with **** stats didnt want to join (was just a test to see if they were interested more than anything)

Talking of parent clubs, when I took over at Canvey in the Blue Square South, Torquay were our parent club, and they were mid-table in League 2. Now, 7 years later, I'm in the Championship and they're in a battle to avoid getting relegated out of the Blue Square South. Talk about contrasting fortunes.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Meh. Going to start this one again. Was my fault, spend £2,000 of my £2,400 wage budget on 5 players and it killed me as all my defenders we're really poor as could only afford low wages.

Learned from my mistakes and hopefully this time, will budget a little better and set out a clear gameplan.

And the holidaying and then transfer begins, urgh!

Sorry to see you lose Waweru Terk

[Terk]

Meh. Going to start this one again. Was my fault, spend £2,000 of my £2,400 wage budget on 5 players and it killed me as all my defenders we're really poor as could only afford low wages.

Learned from my mistakes and hopefully this time, will budget a little better and set out a clear gameplan.

And the holidaying and then transfer begins, urgh!

Sorry to see you lose Waweru Terk

Yeah, spending that much on 5 players was a bit daft

And I was sorry to see Waweru go, but that's my financial reality. To be honest, I'd have accepted a bid of £1M, so to get £1.5M was very nice indeed. I managed to bring two decent loan strikers in before the deadline to cover him until the end of the season and then in the summer I'll put some real effort into finding a replacement for him.

Tried to arrange a bosman move for a young Dutch regen striker who my scouts were very impressed with, but he's decided to move to Turkey in the summer instead

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Yeah at least you got decent money, what are the other two strikers like? any good.

To be fair, your pretty much safe now anyway so you can start to look around and build for next future. Only december of holidaying....come on, quicken up!

[Occam's Razor]

I've finally decided to start the best of the challenges, at the helm of Carshalton Athletic, because well they sound quite cool.

[minisav]

The game decided it hates me and didn't save my progress despite me doing it on more than one occasion. Luckily there was one from the 24th. I'll put my profile up when I do my EoS report.

I am now the manager of Farnborough

They have the same colour of badge and home kit as Staines so all good for me

[Terk]

Yeah at least you got decent money, what are the other two strikers like? any good.

To be fair, your pretty much safe now anyway so you can start to look around and build for next future. Only december of holidaying....come on, quicken up!

Yeah, the average safety mark over the course of the game in the Championship has been 49 points, and I'm on 47 after 35 games, so pretty safe to say that I've survived.

The two strikers are decent stop gaps, nothing more. They'll do until the end of the season but I doubt I'll be looking to sign either of them permanently.

[hrbfcrule]

The game decided it hates me and didn't save my progress despite me doing it on more than one occasion. Luckily there was one from the 24th. I'll put my profile up when I do my EoS report.

I am now the manager of Farnborough

They have the same colour of badge and home kit as Staines so all good for me

Good Luck

I chose Sutton Utd for the exact same reasons I was staines last year as well

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Good luck Occam's razor.

Not nice Minisav, at least you could load some part of the game.

Terk - Yeah, fair enough then!

Anyway just started with Murther Tidifull. (My pronunciation anyway)

[minisav]

Good Luck

I chose Sutton Utd for the exact same reasons I was staines last year as well

Cheers. I do remember you as Staines form last year

Good luck Occam's razor.

Not nice Minisav, at least you could load some part of the game.

Terk - Yeah, fair enough then!

Anyway just started with Murther Tidifull. (My pronunciation anyway)

Thanks and good luck to you

[aeropaus]

Championship is ruddy hard, in 14th atm after 12 games with 12 points. Just can't put the ball in the back of the net (12 goals) but our defence is keeping us in the game (only 15 conceded).

Hopefully we can just keep getting results and get a bit of a cushion up.

[roseboy64]

Cant wait for my bloody shift to finish so I can take Cheltenham on in the BSS playoff final. I kinda feel abit ****** that I skipped alot of the season until pretty much April, is there anything in the rules that says this cannot be done? Dont want to be invalid after one season.

Perfectly legal. Nothing untoward about the AssMan taking charge of most games.

Ah so you use Fraps to take the screenshot (which saves it automatically I guess into a folder) and the upload fx the folder to photobucket using their bulkuploader?

I like the fact that you in photobucket can have folders to organize things.

Yeah pretty much.

[PVentress]

Kings Lynn - Barclays Premier League - 2018/19 - Season 9

Well there was somewhat of a revolving door at the Training ground during pre-season as i tried to improve the squad and also give it a bit of depth, i was concerned that the sheer volume of ins and outs would impact on how we started the season and that our perfomances may suffer. Also as a side issue it was anounced that we would be returning to the Newly upgraded Walks Stadium in the December, this meant that income from the regular 18000 gates at Carrow road would be a thing of the past as we move back to our 12500 capacity stadium, not what the finances needed right now, but nothing we can do about it so will have to cut the cloth accordingly.

We were again predicted to finish dead last, but the squad is now used to this and have lost count of the number of seasons this has been the case (I think it is 7 in a row now).

The team on the pitch started sporadically and picked up a few wins and a few draws but they were so inconsistent, it was so frustrating to see them play like world beaters one week but then like park footballers the next. After the first 10 or so games though they seemed to settle down and i have put this down to squad gelling rather than anything else.

After the initial problem period we actually held our own and again defied the predictions to finish in a very respectable 10th position, was well pleased and the magic 40pt barrier was reached by the last weekend in January so no fears of relegation battles this season.

League Table
League Positions Graph
Transfers
Squad

Key Players

Victor Bernal - Rock Solid at the back and i hope he can progress as he looks a decent prospect

David - Combative Defensive midfield, the Steel to Morosi's Silk

Angelo Morosi - Creative Flair in the middle of the park, puts in a shift as well

Romelu Lukaku - The Battering Ram, Strong and Physical, Terrorised a number of DC's

Jason Harper - A top prospect and if he progresses could lead the line for years to come

 
Career Overview
 
Season     League                 Position           Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
2010/11    Blue Square North        1st              Champions, Promotion
2011/12    Blue Square Premier      5th              Play Off Winners, Promotion
2012/13    Coca-Cola League 2       18th     
2013/14    Coca-Cola League 2       2nd              Promotion  
2014/15    Coca-Cola League 1       5th              Play off Winners, Promotion
2015/16    Coca-Cola Championship   13th
2016/17    Coca-Cola Championship   6th              Play Off Winners, Promotion
2017/18    Barclays Premier League  17th
2018/19    Barclays Premier League  10th

Next Season
Depending on the money available and the calibre of players we can attract i am hoping for another top 10 finish, we are not yet up to a european challenge and i think that soon we will no longer be seen as underdogs in almost all games and the tactics and approach may need to be tweaked. Key for the success of the club is for the young players to develop, we have some top prospects and they could form the spine of the team for years if they can progress to the right level,

Also, not sure what impact moving back to the Walks Stadium will have on Finances due to the reduction in gate money, hopefully not to much but could be a factor to take into account.

[Thebaker]

reached 4th in the prem last season but my challenge is now over as all my saves have been corrupted and i don't feel like starting again from scratch

[Yidd0!]

Farnborough FC - Blue Square South Division 2010/2011

Well, the end of my first season in the Dafuge challenge. I'm happy to report that after a fortuitous victory over Chelmsford, Farnborough have been promoted to the BSP.

League Table

It was a tough match last time out, but we managed to grab the lead early on and hold on. Was a topsy/turvy season with a few mini runs and then a massive dip in form only for it to pick up again. Had a late surge towards the playoffs and managed to grab 2nd, only 4 points off the overall league winners.

Didnt fare well in the cups, being knocked out early on in both competitions.

Transfers

Key Signings

Robert McCormick - 26 goals in a season is not a bad return. Leagues top scorer and provided a few too!

Ian Deakin - The main reason behind our big push towards the end of the season. After the embarrassment of my original keeper (see last posts, two OG's in one game, the latter in 89th min in a 3-3 draw)

Kaby - A fantastic little player I brought in on loan from Chelsea for the season. 44 games and 22 assists from a AMC is definitely a fantastic record.

Aim For Next Season: Survival. hang in there, maybe in the top half to push upwards.

ps: how do I put the code in?

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Congrats Yiddo!

I'm absolutely useless at this game. It's just fustrating me. 18th after 11 games with Merthyr Tydfil or however you spell it. Urgh!

[Yidd0!]

Congrats Yiddo!

I'm absolutely useless at this game. It's just fustrating me. 18th after 11 games with Merthyr Tydfil or however you spell it. Urgh!

hehe thanks buddy. now onwards and upwards. Keep an eye out for McCormick and Pacenada. pick either of these two up and you cant go wrong.

[Crispypaul]

I tell you what, the Championship is properly tough. Despite selling out every home game (4502 capacity, wow) and being massively under my wage budget and spending nowt on transfer fees, we're still losing money

Fingers crossed for Man Utd away in the cup!

[Yidd0!]

could it be loan repayments or something?

[Terk]

I don't think so, Yidd0. I'm assuming Crispypaul is like myself in the Championship, no debt but a small stadium. Hitting the wage budget, or even being a good whack under it will see you lose money because you simply can't bring enough into the club. Hence why I put so much effort into my cup runs, an away tie against a Premier League side in the FA Cup can bring in £500K in gate receipts..

[Crispypaul]

Nope, no repayments. Despite being £8k under budget on wages p/w expenditure still outstrips income.

My £1.4m England U-21 left back is being linked to other clubs on a fairly regular basis, as are some others, so it looks like some sales will be required.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

It's a difficult position, I'm guessing simply you will have to get to the Premiership, bring in the TV money etc, before getting your stadium expanded?

[Crispypaul]

I don't think so, Yidd0. I'm assuming Crispypaul is like myself in the Championship, no debt but a small stadium. Hitting the wage budget, or even being a good whack under it will see you lose money because you simply can't bring enough into the club. Hence why I put so much effort into my cup runs, an away tie against a Premier League side in the FA Cup can bring in £500K in gate receipts..

Spot on!

And no money to get a new ground or better facilities (currently average training and adequate youth).

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Pretty much just scrapping for relegation this season, pretty **** really. Hopefully will be able to mount a challenge next year for promotion.

[Terk]

Keep going with it, TPF. I got sacked from my first job before I landed with Canvey.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Will battle through it, hopefully get to the end of season by tommorow.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Did poor in both cups, however 1 loss in 7 games and won my last 3 games out of nowhere really, same team, same formation as failure but something has just "clicked" I suppose. My striker Andy Pugh has got 7 goals in these 3 games. Still 17th at Christmas but at least it's improving.

[Yidd0!]

First win of the season comes 8 games in, a 2-1 close call against bottom Mansfield. Signing Alan Marriott in goal has really helped. As I type this, I think my game has crashed. I didnt save it after I won. FML.

[Terk]

Finished 12th in the Championship, will post my end of season update tomorrow.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Oh dear Yidd0!!

Congrats Terk, that's a good season that!

[Yidd0!]

reloaded. beat mansfield and am on an unbeaten run of 5

have to be up in 4 hours for work... *****.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

£250k in the red. Dissapointing. Should be safe now for this season and look forward to next to be fair!

Edit:

Nice work Yidd0 and haha, ouch! I've got to be up at 8 unfortunately but I'll soldier on through the night

Wowa, 2-0 down to Woking, 15 minutes to go, throw on striker on as sub and he scores 3 in the last 6 minutes to win 2-3! (Will show in end of season update)

[aeropaus]

Pretty much just scrapping for relegation this season, pretty **** really. Hopefully will be able to mount a challenge next year for promotion.

Same here. I've actually made a collossal mess of the summer transfer window and am really struggling to stay above the relegation zone in the Championship.

Since the BSP I've relied on a narrow diamond 4-1-2-1-2 and just lumping the ball through the middle, which has worked pretty well IMO. Apart from being within the technical abilities of my players, it also meant I didn't have to bother with wingers so meant I could have a pretty thin squad.

However, it's obvious that I just don't have the skill in the middle of the park to make it work at this level, but I didn't realise this until a fair way into the season. I drafted in a couple of fairly ordinary wingers to get a very rigid, direct 4-4-2 going but it's messy stuff. Getting some wins now and hopefully I can improve over the Jan window but right now it's getting desperate.

Our defence is competitive for this level though so I'm relying a bit on 1-0 smash and grabs too.

EDIT: But having said all of that we just beat Premiership Stoke 2-1 in the FA Cup 3rd Round

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Aeropus - I hate them sort of seasons where it's not to progressive, just all about doing enough and then building for next season and sorting out what players you want for what football your looking to play.

Merthyr Tydfil - Blue Square South - Season 2010/2011

Here we go then, just a short update, not exactly the most exciting season!

League Table

As you can see, it weren't the greatest season and not one I possibly hoped for, however we will look to build on it and challenge for promotion next year! Didn't do very well in the cups. Knocked out Fa Cup in 2nd round qualifying and Fa Trophy knocked out in the 1st round of that.

Best Player:

This is a short one this, hopefully will be able to post 3/4 players in coming seasons but honestly, only one real player shining through.

Andy Pugh

Also got player of the season in the division so a really good season for him and hopefully he can produce more of the same next season!

Sorry, it's only a short update but it weren't the greatest and funnest season i've experienced. Will add more screenshots and information in future years!

[roseboy64]

I've followed backroom advice and switched to a 4-1-3-2 formation. Quality right winger wasn't available and I've some good CMs so made sense to change that. Ended up with me bringing in some CMs as well, two who should be starters alongside my captain Paz in the 3. Transfer window almost closed and it could be tricky with strikers. Might be able to get a 30yo Higuain for less than 10mil but it means I'll be over 25 registerable. My 4th choice striker is 19 and good enough for the Prem so could do with regular match practice. He obviously doesn't have to be registered so would be between one of Taison, Zarate or Anichebe to be sold or not registering a 30+yo Lorik Cana who I brought in as backup.

Anichebe counts as nation trained and English despite playing for Nigeria. Taison I just recalled to the Brazil squad for his second cap so can't really just sell him so. Zarate's the oldest of the lot but still good. Should really just loan Cana out with a recall clause as well as Edson the 19yo striker, in case things get sticky.

[aeropaus]

GJ staying up Perfect, BSN/S is such a dodgy league to get in and out of so keep with it mate.

Just gone 5 straight unbeaten in January so we're 15th now on 34 points with 29 games gone, and a nice 4th round FA Cup tie away at League One Oldham, so hopefully that's the turning point that keeps us up. Still a lot of work to do though to reach 50 points.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Nice Aeropus, should get through that round, would you want a winnable tie or perhaps a bigger tie for financial reasons?

Bit gutted really, had to sell Andy Pugh because of his wage. My wage budget was £500 lower this season which is a big difference in the BSN/S. So just about got a squad together including two youngsters as back-up's, so could be another difficult season in store although I think overall, I'm stronger in a few departments like midfield especially.

[aeropaus]

Nice Aeropus, should get through that round, would you want a winnable tie or perhaps a bigger tie for financial reasons?

Bit gutted really, had to sell Andy Pugh because of his wage. My wage budget was £500 lower this season which is a big difference in the BSN/S. So just about got a squad together including two youngsters as back-up's, so could be another difficult season in store although I think overall, I'm stronger in a few departments like midfield especially.

In fact I drew 1-1 unfortunately, and annoyingly if I win I get championship Bolton at home, which isn't great for income. Still, it's winnable so better than Chelsea at home I guess!

Hopefully you can get a good replacement up front, if not then look on loan or for someone who's lightning quick, I remember I dragged in a one-star striker as a backup and he ended up getting a goal a game off the bench because he was so quick and the opposition defence was knackered by the time he got on.

[aeropaus]

Hastings United - 2017/2018 - Coca-Cola Championship

Season Summary - 18th

We survived.

This was the most difficult season by far. We'd played a narrow diamond formation for the past 4 or 5 years and ground out victories through good defence, but we didn't have the skill to do that at this level. We were very much struggling in the first half of the season to even compete.

We switched to a very rigid, basic 4-4-2 formation and drafted in a couple of players who were serviceable on the wing to see us through, and we played much better in our games and certainly deserved to stay up.

We were somewhat lucky in a way the division wasn't as competitive as in past years; 47 points was sufficient to stay up and it wasn't even really close in the end as we survivied by 11 points. Even so, it was a frustrating season and we got taught a valuable lesson.

Final Table
League Positions - Graph

League Cup - 2nd Round

Beat L1 Oxford 2-0 away in the 1st round before deservedly losing to fellow Championship side Bristol City in the 2nd round by the same score.

FA Cup - 5th Round

Got a good run in this for once. Obviously a bye to the 3rd round as a result of our new league status, and we beat Premiership Stoke 2-1 at home. In reality we cruised to victory here.

We then made a messy sandwich of Oldham, beating them in the replay 2-1 after drawing the tie 1-1 at Boundary Park.

In the 5th round, an even game saw us 2-2 with Championship Bolton (who would get promoted to the Premiership), before getting beated 2-0 in the replay.

----

Squad - Pretty weak really. Will probably look to sell a few in the summer as we bring in better players.
Finances - A profit, but still in the red.

----

Key Players

Adam Hunter - Top man again, but I'm really in a dilemma about his future. I don't think he's good enough for this level of football and I think his ratings flatter him. He's worth 325,000 and I could probably get more than that for him, but we'll see. He's been with us since the first season so it's a shame to see him go.

My head says sell, my heart says keep him. A decision awaits.

Manuel Diaz - Made the most of our switch to a 4-4-2, really excelling at this level.

Florent Cuvelier - Bossed the midfield for us.

Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South        3rd         Promotion (Playoffs)
2011/12   Blue Square Premier      8th         None
2012/13   Blue Square Premier      8th         None
2013/14   Blue Square Premier      4th         Promotion (Playoffs), FA Trophy Winners
2014/15   Coca-Cola League 2       6th         Playoffs (Semi-final defeat)
2015/16   Coca-Cola League 2       2nd         Promotion (Automatic)
2016/17   Coca-Cola League 1       2nd         Promotion (Automatic)
2016/17   Coca-Cola Championship   18th        FA Cup 5th Round

Next Season

Short term goal is to build a Championship quality side. Medium term goal is to make a run at the top half of the table.

It's an important summer for us; we struggled through this season but we have a blank slate now to work on, so the offseason will be crucial.

[psg9hoarau]

Well played Aeropaus - saw Hastings play a couple weeks ago, they could do with your management skills right now

[Terk]

Congratulations on survival, aeropaus. It looks to me like getting out of the Championship (the right way) is going to be the biggest challenge yet.

[Yidd0!]

Congrats on the survival mate.

The change for me was going from a rigid 4-4-2 which my players clearly didnt love, to a narrow 4-1-2-3 with the greatest part of our team (the attack) being let loose on poor defences & attacking midfielders supplying our strike force. Great news is I'm still waiting on two of my first-teamers to return (both MC) who have been involved since day 1. When there back, Farnborough will be unstoppable (I bet noones ever had to say that before...)

Also got pace on the bench in the form of a coule young wingers who i've retrained to play through the middle. Got my solid as a rock DMC who not only has pace, but can score a few. 3rd top scorer so far on free kicks and bullets outside the area. Will get you the name when I get home (about 7ish) Definately worth a look if your in need of some midfield stability.

Still chuffed that my only transfer which actually cost me anything was for a bank-breaking £8 to FC Belize. Might aswell payed for the player in turnips.

[Terk]

Canvey Island
Championship
2018/19

Championship
My first season at this level and I was very worried about having come too far too fast. In the end though, we survived by a very comfortable 25 points, which I think is more indicative of the lower half of the table being quite poor rather than us being particularly good. We spent most of the season bouncing around between 14th and 18th, though a bad patch of form just before the halfway point of the season (which saw us drop to 20th at one point) did worry me. However, a good little run at the end of the season (3 wins and 2 draws in our final five matches) saw us jump up to 12th and a perfectly mid-table finish.

We tried to play a little more expansively this season and it cost us at times defensively; although some of my better performers were my defensive players, we struggled without a quality keeper and let it far too many goals for my liking (76 in the league; only two other teams finishing outside the relegation zone conceded more), so that is a real area of concern for next season.

League Positions Graph


League Cup
Where to start on this amazing journey? How about with our first game? We dumped Aldershot out in the first round before thrashing fellow Championship side Birmingham, just days after they fell into administration. It took extra time to see us squeeze past Sheffield United before we grabbed another heavy win, overpowering an understrength Watford side. That put us into the quarter finals and we stunned West Ham 2-0 on our own turf. Tottenham awaited in the semi final, and we were unlucky to come away from White Hart Lane in the first leg with only a 1-1 draw. Spurs' league troubles meant that they sent a young team to face us in the second leg and duly paid for it as we romped away in the second half. The final was against Man City, we took the lead early on but eventually we just ran out of steam and their pressure told as they wrapped up the trophy with a 3-1 win.

FA Cup
My pre-season target of an away day at a Premier League club was met, we drew Aston Villa in the fourth round having beaten Brighton via a replay in the third. We did very well at Villa Park and perhaps deserved a replay, but Riccardo Montolivo settled it in their favour.


Transfers
Without much of a transfer budget I again scoured the free transfer and loan market, looking particularly to bring in some experience to balance out what was a pretty youthful squad. Some did well (Phil Bardsley, Lewin Nyatanga) others didn't quite live up to what I expected (Joleon Lescott, Gonzalo Castro), but overall I think I did some good deals. The big news going out of the club was the sale of Edwin Waweru at the end of the January window to promotion chasing Coventry. He'd already rejected Stoke but eventually decided it was time to leave and the £1.5M fee was something I couldn't turn down. He scored 8 times in 14 games for his new club over the rest of the season and I was gutted to see him just miss out on promotion when Sheffield Wednesday beat Coventry on a penalty shoot out in the play-off final.


Key Players
It seems slightly strange that so many of my best performers were defenders in a season where we conceded so many, but without some of these strong performances then my sub standard goalkeepers would have let in a hell of a lot more. The Terkleton Player of the Season award most definitely goes to my 6'2" Greek, Kostas Tsioukas. Released long ago by Championship club Middlesbrough, it was time for him to prove that he could play at this level and he did that with ease. With Phil Bardsley and Lewin Nyatanga either side of him in the full back positions, we have the basis of a solid defence.

Iain Blackman celebrated joining the 100 Club with a superb season from the left flank whilst John Bostock had a good season which could have been even better had it not been injury interrupted. My long standing favourite, James Foster, struggled with the step up in level (though he was my top scoring striker) and although it will be with a heavy heart, I expect to part with him this summer. He's been with us since the BSS and scored over a hundred league goals for the club, but he'll do better if he drops down a level and I can't, in all good conscience, see a player I admire so much inevitably sit in the stands as he would with us next season.


Next Season
Like aeropaus, the short term target is to build a squad that is comfortable within this division before then, in the medium term, targeting promotion to the Premier League. This is quite clearly the toughest step of the challenge yet, and I'm preparing myself for a pretty long stay in the second tier of the country's game. Around the back of of next season I may just reach my 500th game in management as well, which will be a nice landmark.

Career Overview

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
2015/16           League 2                  8th                        None
2016/17           League 2                  3rd                Automatic Promotion
2017/18           League 1                  4th               Promoted via play-offs
2018/19         Championship               12th                League Cup Finalists

Canvey Island 100 Club

Name (Position) League Games (Overall Games); League Goals (Overall Goals); Average Rating
(Dates at club)

James Foster (ST)             215 (260); 118(135); 7.12
(2013-2019)
Jeet Padaruth (GK)            213 (243); 76  (89); 6.96
(2012-2018)
Matthew Darlow (DC)           194 (232); 16  (20); 6.86
(2011-Present)
Mark Hartmann (MC)            183 (217); 20  (31); 6.91
(2010-2017)
Kostas Tsioukas (DC)          168 (202); 25  (28); 7.17
(2014-Present)
Theo Angus (DL)               125 (150);  0   (2); 6.87
(2012-2018)
Iain Blackman (AMLC/FC)       117 (141); 27  (33); 7.14
(2016-Present)
John Bostock (AMC)            113 (135); 13  (18); 7.07
(2015-Present)
Joseph Owusu Tabiri (DR, MRC) 105 (130);  3   (4); 6.91
(2012-2016)
Kyle Wilson (ST)              103 (120); 36  (44); 6.96
(2013-2016)
Ismail Yakubu (DC)            102 (113);  4   (4); 7.09
(2013-2016)

[Terk]

Still chuffed that my only transfer which actually cost me anything was for a bank-breaking £8 to FC Belize. Might aswell payed for the player in turnips.

Pfft, I paid just £1 for a player when I was in the BSS

[foost]

Nice season Terk! Lets hope you can get the team around the promotion places!

Funny to see Portsmouth hanging there

[Terk]

Cheers, foost. And yeah, I'm hoping Pompey go down next season

This coming season I'm just hoping for consolidation, to be honest, rather than targeting the play-offs or anything above. The League Cup run and the sale of Waweru last season mean that I do have a bit of a transfer budget to play with this time and that my wage budget has gone up, so hopefully I can attract better players, but I'm not setting my hopes too high. If I could win promotion at the end of my fourth season in the Championship then I'd be pretty happy; I'd feel that I'd had enough time to build the squad. Obviously if it comes earlier than that then I'm not going to complain, but that's my target.

On a bright note, just had my first player through the club's youth system who looks like he'll be able to break into the first team. Introducing Sam Mills. My assistant manager, Joe Cole, reckons that he's got the potential to play in the Premier League.

[Almondo]

Good season there Terk. It's always good to stay in a division when you've just got up into it really instead of going straight back up. I think that's where I went wrong when I first got promoted from League 2 and went straight back down.

Edit: Mills looks good there. His stats are great for a 15 yr old

[Terk]

Luckily I've not suffered the agony of relegation yet, but I'm sure it'll come at some point (most likely whenever I get to the Premier League). I think the time between getting to the PL and getting a new stadium will be a very difficult one.