dafuge's FM10 challenge

[dafuge]

It has been a while coming, but finally the board have decided to build a new stadium \o/

The financing on it is a bit of a worry but this is something that I have been waiting for for ages now. I just hope it can be expanded a bit further, but the name is a bonus

[TugSafc]

It has been a while coming, but finally the board have decided to build a new stadium \o/

The financing on it is a bit of a worry but this is something that I have been waiting for for ages now. I just hope it can be expanded a bit further, but the name is a bonus

Fantastic to see Dafuge, a nice sponsorship there as well which will be very handy in the future for you, how long you planning on staying on for, with your dedication, I wouldn't be surprised if you played another 10 seasons +

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

We have just played our first game of the season and pre-season was very tough, I found it very hard attracting more quality players than I let go and we actually have a weaker team than last season even though it is much younger and includes a few nice prospects now.

Our main problem last season could well have been our tactic, I need to find a tactic that will work at this level as last season I was using the same we had used for the previous seasons and it obviously isn't working now at this level.

The first game of the season finished Chesterfield 1-1 Tonbridge. Not a bad start but I feel that Chesterfield will be one of those teams near the bottom of the table this season so it could have been a missed chance for an easy away win, we didn't deserve the point, and that was my concern, Chesterfield had plenty of chances but their finishing let them down.

Managed to get a few young south-africans who are joining next summer when they turn 18, I was surprised they were actually given work permits and both looks actually really good players.

Our star player of the last two seasons Tommy Hoiland could be on his way out as well, we have already made a tidy profit so far in the summer and this sale will add to that, we have quite a few strikers now so I can afford to lose him

[CSF]

Truro City FC - League 2 - 2016/17
Media Prediction: 24th
Actual Position : 13th

No relegation battle in the first season, happy enough with that. Could have even got playoffs, only for not winning any of our last 9 games. Couldn't hold leads, and in many of the games we did win we were reliant on late late goals, so we'll definitely have to do that. We've gone fulltime so I obviously needed more coaches, gone for a good few foreign 1s with alot of knowledge of the European leagues. Didn't bother with beyond that, since the ones that would come to League 2 won't get work permits. Hoping for a promotion run next time
League Table
FA Cup
3rd Round away tie at Everton = rich!!!!!
League Cup
Dud.
JP Trophy
Dud.

Transfers
We're a MultiNational Corporation now.
Squad
Just a few quality players away from a promotion challenge.
Career Overview

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

2010/11   Blue Square South        8th        None
2011/12   Blue Square South        4th        PlayOff Semi-Finals
2012/13   Blue Square South        3rd        PlayOff Runner Up
2013/14   Blue Square South        1st        Blue Square South Winners
2014/15   Blue Square Premier      13th       None
2015/16   Blue Square Premier      5th        PlayOff Winners
2016/17   League 2                    13th       None

Next Season
Automatic Promotion please.

[Terk]

That's a good, solid first season in league football, CSF


I'm now halfway through my Championship season and we're sitting 10th, but only three points behind 1st placed Coventry. The top half this season is ridiculously tight. We're on a brilliant run, 8 wins in 9 games, and my £2M signing from Villa, Raymond Auassar has started scoring for fun. Starting to get hopeful that we can make a push for the play-offs over the second half of the season.

[pnefc22]

I'm back!

Just downloading the DDT file, and about to get cracking. Before I load my own game, no-one has got Durham yet have they?

Would be great having a team with 500 reputation

[TugSafc]

I'm back!

Just downloading the DDT file, and about to get cracking. Before I load my own game, no-one has got Durham yet have they?

Would be great having a team with 500 reputation

Don't think I've seen anyone playing with them, and its probably because it will take you about 1000 reloads

[dafuge]

Fantastic to see Dafuge, a nice sponsorship there as well which will be very handy in the future for you, how long you planning on staying on for, with your dedication, I wouldn't be surprised if you played another 10 seasons +

The sponsorship sounded great when I saw it, but it is actually £5m a season, for 10 seasons, so I probably won't notice it.

I'm planning on continuing until FM11 is released. Hopefully I'm not even half way yet

[TugSafc]

The sponsorship sounded great when I saw it, but it is actually £5m a season, for 10 seasons, so I probably won't notice it.

I'm planning on continuing until FM11 is released. Hopefully I'm not even half way yet

What are your other sponsorship deals like?

I actually want to do the same thing, maybe around 2040 or so I will move to another team that gets promoted to BBN or BBS

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

We have made a decent start to the season:

Chesterfield 0-0 Tonbridge
Bradford 0-1 Tonbridge
Tonbridge 2-2 Norwich
Tonbridge 3-0 Northampton

Hopefully we can keep this up.

[dafuge]

What are your other sponsorship deals like?

I actually want to do the same thing, maybe around 2040 or so I will move to another team that gets promoted to BBN or BBS

Just a kit sponsorship of £5.88m per season.

[MikaelS]

It has been a while coming, but finally the board have decided to build a new stadium \o/

The financing on it is a bit of a worry but this is something that I have been waiting for for ages now. I just hope it can be expanded a bit further, but the name is a bonus

Finally a Dafuge Arena

[SnakeXe]

It has been a while coming, but finally the board have decided to build a new stadium \o/

The financing on it is a bit of a worry but this is something that I have been waiting for for ages now. I just hope it can be expanded a bit further, but the name is a bonus

Good job! How much money did you have in the bank when they finally relented?

Kelly Park was under 30k when it was first built IIRC, will be just over 57k by the time the latest expansion is complete. I doubt it'll go much further than that, so probably will be needing a second new ground eventually, is it too much to ask for that one to be named after me too?

[dafuge]

Good job! How much money did you have in the bank when they finally relented?

I think it was about £115m, which was damn hard to work to save up. I think the delay was probably because it was my second new stadium, so roll on another 20 years and I might have a third

[Almondo]

Good job on getting a new stadium Dafuge

[Yidd0!]

bahhhh!!!

Why is it every season I start bad?! Surely pre-season friendlies are for gelling and not the actual season?! I haven't done any drastic tactical changes since last season but its just quite frustrating

[TugSafc]

Just a kit sponsorship of £5.88m per season.

Not bad, at least the £11m from sponsorships a season will pay for a couple of months wages.

Better than my 43k per season

But, I remember when I was FC United on FM09, and when we were in League 1, we secured a sponsorship deal worth £10m per season Bit stupid that when that ran out, we were challenging for the Premiership and we ended up getting one for about £2m per seasom

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Hmmm looks like I may need to regain promotion to the Premiership this season as I am currently losing £2m a month - £1m in, £3m out a month - £1m on wages and £1m on transfers even with 90% attendance rates - though I did raise £9m by cashing in my 50% of next fee on Maidana - Man Utd don't play him and his value is dropping so I took the £9m as I doubt they'll sell him for more than £20m.

After 20 games we are 7pts at the top of the Championship but with January approaching the computer is tapping up my players again and my season could be destroyed if too many players are poached or upset - I just got all my players happy again by offering them new contracts in the summer, I cannot afford to do it twice a year.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

It has been a while coming, but finally the board have decided to build a new stadium \o/

The financing on it is a bit of a worry but this is something that I have been waiting for for ages now. I just hope it can be expanded a bit further, but the name is a bonus

How much did your original new stadium cost? £188m seems a lot of money.

[aeropaus]

Hastings United - 2019/2020 - Coca-Cola Championship

I was semi-optimistic coming into this season, as the previous year we had developed a solid core and the team progressed markedly as the season drew to a close.

I wasn't this optimistic though...

Season Summary - 1st

What a year.

We had a board takeover attempt in early July, which unfortunately took absolutely forever, until it was finally completed in early November. This meant we couldn't make any additions over the summer period, meaning most of the season we played with a squad of 20 or so. We lost our main centre-back for £2 million after the board decided it was too good a deal to refuse, and then our other one, John Hessel, disappeared in January as he didn't want a new contract and was about to go on a free, but Chelsea offered £1.3 million for him so he went there instead. I was really gutted to see both go as they were two top quality centre-backs who played really well the previous season together and formed a big part of that core we were hoping to lean on.

Luckily, our weak backline wasn't enough to drag us down. We flew out of the gates in the first half of the year, amassing an epic lead at the top of the table, and held on throughout most of the year to win comfortably. We scored over 100 goals, which is all down to continuity in our midfield and striker positions.

Final Table
League Positions - Graph

League Cup - 2nd Round

Second Round again, this time losing to League 1 Bournemouth 2-1 away.

FA Cup - 3rd Round

A bit flat this year, bowing out to a late goal in a 1-0 loss to Leicester.

----

Squad - We're desperate for a backline, it's a must get in the summer. Midfield and up front will probably stay in tact though, we've developed some wonderful partnerships in those areas.
Finances - Biggest profit yet, again driven largely by player sales.
Transfers - I spent over £5 million on a centre back who my scouts labelled as the next Terry Butcher (he's only 17) and whom they agreed had a good potential ability rating. It's a gamble, but we still lack good youth facilities so while our stadium is still small it's one which hopefully could pay off for us.


----

Key Players

Bruno Sanz - The speedster of our frontline duo. This guy was just totally destructive, scoring 26 goals and is attracting massive interest from equally massive clubs. Hope we can hold onto him long term.

Manuel Diaz - The other Spaniard in our forward partnership; the thunder to Bruno Sanz' lightning. 22 goals from him, and second only to Sanz in overall rating.

Anej Lovric - Our best midfielder, a real rock in the middle who allows his midfield partner Rik Adema to play creatively.

---
Around the Leagues

Man Utd are getting used to Europa League football, missing out on the top 4 again. The Glazers seem to want to bail too, listening as they are to offers. Chelsea's dominance of the league was ended as Everton took the title.

Exeter enter the Championship next season as they finished second in League 1, while Crewe failed to progress from League 2 again. York City did however after winning the division, reaching the dizzy heights of League 1.

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)
2017/18   Coca-Cola Championship   18th        None
2018/19   Coca-Cola Championship   9th         None
2019/20   Coca-Cola Championship   1st         Promotion (Champions)

Next Season

Well what a way to end my first decade in charge of Hastings. We're so desperate for a backline it isn't funny, but beyond that hopefully there isn't too much we need to do to stay up. Biggest year yet coming up though...

The stadium is getting a big expansion (relatively speaking) of 8450 seats, which should take us up to something like 12,500 capacity (yay!) from our current 4050. Still dreary, but oh well. So much for that "the board regret to inform you that the council will never allow planning permission because blah blah blah cobblers".

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Congrats Aeropus!

How fustrating, every couple weeks, here and there I just change between Mom and my Dad's house....Mom's going away on holiday for two weeks, so was sending the file over from Mom's to Dad's but was in a rush so left it with 7 minutes of uploading left and get to my Dad's, no file sent Internet must of turned off.

I'd started another one and was 6th wth 4 games to go with Canvey Island in the first season, just a point off play-off's, now I either start a new one or wait 2 weeks to carry on.

Oh the dilemna's

[Terk]

Massive congratulations on the promotion, aeropaus And nice to hear that you've had a stadium expansion despite being told that one would never be granted as that's the situation I'm in now.

Back for my evening session, just lost to Ipswich for the second time this season. Still, if we can keep Raymond Auassar and Luis fit then I think we've got a real chance at getting promoted.

[Terk]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Raymond Auassar, who I bought for £2M from Aston Villa in the summer, has just been the subject of a £4M bid from Atletico Madrid. The board have stepped in over my head and accepted it. I understand that £2M profit in six months in nice, but think big picture, you ****ers, we're setting ourselves up for a promotion run and you sell my best player from under me! This could tear my season apart.

Oh yeah, and add to that the fact that there was a 25% sell on fee, and we actually only make £1M profit. I hope they enjoy their £1M whilst we're playing in the Championship next season, short sighted ****ers.

[Almondo]

Bad luck there Terk. Sometimes the board can be absolute W****rs.

[aeropaus]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Raymond Auassar, who I bought for £2M from Aston Villa in the summer, has just been the subject of a £4M bid from Atletico Madrid. The board have stepped in over my head and accepted it. I understand that £2M profit in six months in nice, but think big picture, you ****ers, we're setting ourselves up for a promotion run and you sell my best player from under me! This could tear my season apart.

Oh yeah, and add to that the fact that there was a 25% sell on fee, and we actually only make £1M profit. I hope they enjoy their £1M whilst we're playing in the Championship next season, short sighted ****ers.

I wonder if it's worth trying to get a better relationship with him with some player interaction and offering a new contract Terk... I tried it with Manuel Diaz when he wanted to go but not sure if it actually works.

[Almondo]

Boston united season 13 2022/23


League Table 1, League Table 2 Position Graph final position - 11th

Another good showing in the league considering some of the teams that we were facing. Namely Fulham, Middlesborough and Crystal Palace. 11th isn't really the position we deserved but the end of season run in saw us throw awayh the chance for a playoff place and drop down. However the start of season expectation was fulfilled. I think the shock of the season has to be Reading being relegated to League 2.

Cups

not the best of showing here. Going out in the first round of the league cup and Johnstones paint trophy. We did do slightly better in the FA cup going out in the 2nd round.

FA Cup

League Cup

Johnstone's Paint Trophy


Transfers

Only two players brought in this year. Just to shore up the back line really although I think we'll need a new left back as Basey is getting a bit long in the tooth now.


Key Players

Marcus Higgs Brought in to partner Nicholas in Defence

Oliver Nicholas Once again a rock in defence. Worked well with Higgs

Aidan Campbell An ever present striker again. Scored less than last year yet still caused problems.

Nabil Sharif Forced himself back into the side and never looked back.


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
2021/22       Coca Cola League 1         9th                         none
2022/23       Coca Cola League 1         11th                        none

Other Winners
Premier League - Manchester United
FA Cup - Arsenal
Carling Cup - Aston Villa
Champions League - Manchester United
UEFA Cup - Inter





Aims for next season

Push up now. We've had 2 seasons here and now need to push for a playoff spot.

[Dons2387]

Congrats everyone on promotion. Sorry about the absence, I've actually been on a trial of my own this weekend, felt like I got insight into what it would be like to be a random potential player on FM that's brought in to be looked at. Not the most comforting situation, but hey, worth the experience. Hopefully will be making progress soon.

[SnakeXe]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Raymond Auassar, who I bought for £2M from Aston Villa in the summer, has just been the subject of a £4M bid from Atletico Madrid. The board have stepped in over my head and accepted it. I understand that £2M profit in six months in nice, but think big picture, you ****ers, we're setting ourselves up for a promotion run and you sell my best player from under me! This could tear my season apart.

Oh yeah, and add to that the fact that there was a 25% sell on fee, and we actually only make £1M profit. I hope they enjoy their £1M whilst we're playing in the Championship next season, short sighted ****ers.

Reminds me when I was in League One, challenging for the title having signed a quality pair of wingers and a centre-back to match in the summer. The centre-back was sold off above my head for roughly half of what he was worth (although I lated resigned him on a free when I made the Championship), but at least it was to a club in the division above.

The board sold the left-winger, my highest ave rating and highest assist provider to my direct promotion rivals, for, again, roughly half of what he was worth, on the morning of my match against them

Still riles me even now! I think if I wasn't participating in the challenge I would have resigned out of principle. We managed to beat our rivals on the day, but couldn't compete with them over the second half of the season without those two players and limped in in second place. If we'd fallen into the play-offs there's no way we'd have won them with our form.

[Terk]

They've now sold my best centre back to West Brom for £1.6M Absolutely furious. The moral of the story, kids, is don't try to sign players above your level or your ****wit board will sell them from under you six months later. Luckily my other top notch players, my Spanish DM and my Brazilian winger, are only on loan at the club so they can't sell them.

[SnakeXe]

They've now sold my best centre back to West Brom for £1.6M Absolutely furious. The moral of the story, kids, is don't try to sign players above your level or your ****wit board will sell them from under you six months later. Luckily my other top notch players, my Spanish DM and my Brazilian winger, are only on loan at the club so they can't sell them.

Have you been setting a high asking price? I haven't had the problem of a player being sold from under me since setting their asking prices above what I would accept for them, you then generally don't get the offers (and therefore the board accepting them) unless you would snap their arm off anyway.

For example, I had a key striker, DM and pair of wingers who were instrumental in me getting out of the Championship. I set each of their asking prices to £10m and although I had interest, not one bid was lodged. I eventually sold 3 out of 4 of them on in the next few of seasons on my own terms when I signed better players in the Premier League

[Terk]

That sounds worth trying

We're hanging around in the play-off places at the moment (10 games left) and with no cup distractions to talk of (lost in the fourth round, the third time this season that Ipswich have beaten me; aggregate score against them is an 11-3 defeat ) so I'm remaining positive that we can still bag a play-off place at least.

[foost]

I mostly set all my players to 63 million, no-one is worth that so if they bid that I dont care

[Thebaker]

Have you been setting a high asking price? I haven't had the problem of a player being sold from under me since setting their asking prices above what I would accept for them, you then generally don't get the offers (and therefore the board accepting them) unless you would snap their arm off anyway.

For example, I had a key striker, DM and pair of wingers who were instrumental in me getting out of the Championship. I set each of their asking prices to £10m and although I had interest, not one bid was lodged. I eventually sold 3 out of 4 of them on in the next few of seasons on my own terms when I signed better players in the Premier League

i've found the same, clubs never actually bid for them and the chairman never intervenes on the few occasions a bid has come in.
only player the chairman sold in the last 7 years was my star centre back for 26 million, i only bought him 6 months before for 17 and forgot to put an asking price on him.

[foost]

I signed my first contract on a National job! I am now also the manager of Brazil! Unfor. it will take 4 years to play in the World Cup (just finished), so need to hold on for a bit.

[PVentress]

Kings Lynn - Barclays Premier League - 2020/21 - Season 11

Following our 4th placed finish last season, Kings Lynn were venturing in to Europe for the very first time, I did not think the squad would be strong enough yet to challange on all fronts so the priority was to maintain our place among the top 4 in order to preserve our participation in the Champions League in the coming years, the money this generates will prove invaluable for both squad building and working towards a new stadium.

We were also looking to defend the League Cup, although that competition is now much lower in the priorities than before.

We made somne decent moves in the transfer market and focused on improving the defence as this was a key area for continued success.

We started again inconsistently didnt get ourselves up into the top 4 of the league until the season was nearly 20 games old, even after this we still proved to be highlry inconsistent and fluctuiated between 3rd to 6th for the remainder of the season, finally confirming a 4th place finish with 1 game to spare. So job done in the league and we can look forward to further Champions League participation next season.

In the cups it was a very mixed back,

In the League Cup as holders a strong team was put out, unfortunatley they all forgot to play and a painful early exit was certainly not in the script.

The FA Cup and Champions league were very different stories,

In Previous seasons we had barely made a ripple in the FA Cup, however this year we had a turbulent run to the final, including 3 replays before meeting Man Utd in the Final.

The Champions League was truly a fairytale in the making, unfancied at the start and really only focussing on making some money and gaining experience we had a rollercoaster ride all the way to the Semi-Finals, where sadly we were taught a lesson by the mighty AC Milan who put us out 5 - 2 on aggregate, 1st Leg, 2nd Leg

League Table
League Positions Graph
Transfers
Squad

Key Players

Victor Bernal - Still a Rock at the back and has kept his place despite others being boughtto replace him, came back fighting for his place.

David - Still Providing the Steel in Midfield

Angelo Morosi -Continues his Highly succesful midfield partnership with David

Romelu Lukaku -Still Terrorising Defences with his sheer physicality

Jason Harper - He is just getting better and better, a great goal return for a youngster

 
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
2019/20    Barclays Premier League  4th              League Cup Winners
2020/21    Barclays Premier League  4th              FA Cup Winners

Next Season
Maintain our position in the premiership and get as far as we can again in the champions league, i feel the squad is still some way off being able to compete at the really top level and will need strengthening but i do not feel as if our Rep has caught up with our position as yet as i still dont seem to be able to attract any really top class players, my only realk match winner is Harper and he is still young so a little inconsistent.

Also still need to try and save some funds to try and force a new stadium.

[dafuge]

How much did your original new stadium cost? £188m seems a lot of money.

£188m does seem expensive now I think about it, my first stadium cost just £16.25m for a 17111 seater. It is taking twice as long as well

[pnefc22]

I have holidayed the season and now to choose the club...or get reloading

Tempted by Nuneaton Town. I will only play in the north

[TugSafc]

Back from college so going to play on FM for most of the night now

When I turned off last night we were in some decent form and we were sitting joint 2nd, although in a few games this season we have gave away a few late goals, and missed out on 4 or 5 points doing this already, and I will need to fix this before it hinders our promotion chances.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Raymond Auassar, who I bought for £2M from Aston Villa in the summer, has just been the subject of a £4M bid from Atletico Madrid. The board have stepped in over my head and accepted it. I understand that £2M profit in six months in nice, but think big picture, you ****ers, we're setting ourselves up for a promotion run and you sell my best player from under me! This could tear my season apart.

Oh yeah, and add to that the fact that there was a 25% sell on fee, and we actually only make £1M profit. I hope they enjoy their £1M whilst we're playing in the Championship next season, short sighted ****ers.

My Brazilian Winger Dario turned down a £10m move to Austria after my chairman accepted the offer for him

[SnakeXe]

£188m does seem expensive now I think about it, my first stadium cost just £16.25m for a 17111 seater. It is taking twice as long as well

Well when considering Wembley was several billion, it's actually rather cheap

[dafuge]

Well when considering Wembley was several billion, it's actually rather cheap

Maybe it isn't so bad then, it is about half of the cost of the Emirates Stadium, and it is bigger

[pnefc22]

HE'S BACK

Well, after around 5 reloads, I decided to take the first team which looked inviting to me.....Guiseley.

Yes, I managed these last year in my attempt where I reached the glorious highs of the BSP (which I was top off when I gave up).

I have chosen 'Avoid Relegation' as this is the only feasible option with 'Attempt to...' getting me sacked if I fail it ofc.

Transfer Budget: £0 - Well, I didn't expect anything
Wage Budget: £5.5K a week - That's alright

Season Hopes: Avoid Relegation, Build up the Finances with some good cup runs.

Points total to aim for: 50 (should keep me up)

[TugSafc]

HE'S BACK

Well, after around 5 reloads, I decided to take the first team which looked inviting to me.....Guiseley.

Yes, I managed these last year in my attempt where I reached the glorious highs of the BSP (which I was top off when I gave up).

I have chosen 'Avoid Relegation' as this is the only feasible option with 'Attempt to...' getting me sacked if I fail it ofc.

Transfer Budget: £0 - Well, I didn't expect anything
Wage Budget: £5.5K a week - That's alright

Season Hopes: Avoid Relegation, Build up the Finances with some good cup runs.

Points total to aim for: 50 (should keep me up)

I would aim for higher than 50 points, the first season isn't really that hard and I think you will easily manage top half of table

Maybe it isn't so bad then, it is about half of the cost of the Emirates Stadium, and it is bigger

How long is it going to take to build?

[Beerish]

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party guys.

I've had a longer than anticipated three year break from FM, and I've decided to throw myself in at the deep end with Oxford City:



1. Please excuse the poor picture, but Mandela is indeed my homeboy.
2. Any simple advice for a prodigal son?

[aeropaus]

2. Any simple advice for a prodigal son?

IMO best advice in the first year or so, just attack attack attack with a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3, get lots of pace and use player interaction to keep morale up. That's half the battle really imo.

[TugSafc]

Sorry I'm a bit late to the party guys.

I've had a longer than anticipated three year break from FM, and I've decided to throw myself in at the deep end with Oxford City:



1. Please excuse the poor picture, but Mandela is indeed my homeboy.
2. Any simple advice for a prodigal son?

I would go for players with pace, like someone said in this thread to me, finishing isn't that essential as to what pace is in the lower leagues for strikers etc

CB's with good heading ability is also very important for lower leagues and also look at released players from Celtic and Rangers from 2nd July

[Beerish]

Much obliged!

[Dibond]

Sutton United - Blue Square Premier - 2011/2012

Started off the preseason by buying 6 or 7 players who I thought would perform better in the league. After a decent run of results in our friendlies, the players went on to start the season off with an unbeaten run of 26 games in the league which lasted until December.

Just like last season towards the middle of the season we started drawing too many games, and just played "average" until the end of the season really. This saw us drop what was like a 20 point lead over Luton to an eventual 2 point win. Luton was absolutely ridiculous too, they just hardly ever lost games, especially near the end of the season. I swear they had at least 2 or 3 9 game win streaks.

As for cup runs, we didn't get anywhere in the FA Cup again, but we did manage to beat Luton in the FA Trophy. This was great for our finances. Last season the the BSS we lost around 400k, but we were standing about even this season. But after winning the FA Trophy it finally pushed us back into the positives.

Also, on the youth side of things, I didn't get any good ones through our system. However, I invested in 10 or so throughout the season on $150 p/w contracts and loaned most of them out. Hoping that a few of them will turn into decent players or at least provide me with the opportunity to earn some money by transfer.

League Table
League Positions Graph
Transfers
Squad List

Key Players

Steve Irwin - Former Liverpool youngster, this DM played great for me and looks to have a good bit of potential for the years to come.
Jordy Brouwer - Another great youngster I picked up from Liverpool. Was absolutely fantastic scoring a large portion of my goals.
Jack Lampe - Defender who I picked up at the start of this challenge, but really came into his own this season. Was a force to be reckoned with in the air. Looks to have a huge upside too. 504/631 Headers Won/Attempted

Career Overview
Season          League                 Position           Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/2011     Blue Square South           1st            Champions, Promotion
2011/2012     Blue Square Premier         1st            Champions, Promotion, FA Trophy Winners

[bermybhoy]

Well after a long spell under the influence of Civ 4, I'm finally into FM10. As such, back in business with a Guiseley save started many moons ago but which had barely got past August.

Trouble is, it's now going horribly wrong. Sit 2nd bottom, 6 from safety. On a mammoth run of 12 games without a win. Only won once and drawn 3 times all season. Morale is rock bottom; nearly every player is 'poor' or worse. Slowly bringing in players who I (and more importantly the scouts and coaches) think are better but they too, tend to have low morale the minute they arrive.

So far I've tried
- home friendlies with minnows to get big wins; won both 2-1 and in each case ended up hanging on for even that, so negligible effect on morale
- offering new contracts. No effect, none.
- fiddled with tactics; playing attacking, defensive, counter, short, long...all variations on my trusted 4-4-2 granted, but no discernable difference in our threat going forward, ability to pass, or defend...

So while this is partly a moan about my incompetence, any words or advice? Or is it beyond help and should start again?

[pnefc22]

Don't give in bermy! Us Guiseley boys need to stick at it

Try calling a meeting to talk about underachievement.

On another note, I think we have a first for challenges.......

Has anyone's first goal with the challenge club come from their goalkeeper?

I didn't think so. Well, Johny Lund has just netted a 70 yarder against Leeds to score my first ever goal with Guiseley

[bean824]

Bradley King - Wealdstone

After reloading for nearly 2 hours hoping for either Harrow or Truro, Wealdstone got promoted, which is basically Harrow area anyway!

Been given a £7k transfer budget - which is pretty surprising - and a wage budget of £4.2k p/w for avoiding relegation. My first trying out this challenge, and my first time ever using attribute masking, so this should be entertaining!

Manager profile

[TugSafc]

We have kept our form going so far and are top of the table and look good going into December, lets hope we keep this up

[Terk]

Canvey Island
2019/20
Championship

Championship
As we prepared for the season I was adamant that our target should be stability in the division, but once we had picked up a few special looking players I began to hope that there might be something more in store. It didn't seem that way for much of the first third of the season, but once Raymond Auassar started firing and we stopped leaking goals at the back we began to quickly rise up the table. A run of ten wins in twelve games took us right up to 2nd in the table, but then potential disaster struck.

Despite the club being in quite a healthy financial position, the board decided to sell Auassar (11 goals in his previous 13 games) and my best centre back, Graeme Hastie, for a combined total of £5.6M. It seemed short sighted to me as we'd lose out on more than that by missing promotion, but despite a small wobble which saw us drop to the bottom of the play-off zone, we managed to stay in the fight all the way to the end of the season. A run of four wins had even propelled us into second place again with two games left, but a draw against Bristol City and defeat against Leicester saw us drop back to third. Sheffield United were dispatched 3-2 on aggregate in the play-off semi final before we faced Wigan at Wembley and came away with a win which few were expecting.

League Positions Graph


League Cup
After last year's excursion to Wembley, it was a disappointing year in the cups, having beaten Oxford and Middlesbrough in the first two rounds, we succumbed 3-2 to Premier League Newcastle in round three, a defeat for which my young goalkeeper, Giovanni Pasini, was unfairly blamed.

FA Cup
I hate Ipswich. Having doinked us 6-2 on the opening day of the season and then beaten us 1-0 on our own patch in the league, they turned up at Park Lane in the 4th round of the FA Cup and duly dicked us 4-1. I hate Ipswich.


Transfers
A transfer profit of £5M came in over the course of the season, which can entirely be put down to the sales of Auassar and Hastie (although I did spend £1.7M on Spaniards after those two had left the club). We also lost prize young talent Sam Mills to Arsenal for £1.1M, whilst the best money spent (once Auassar had left the club) was the £750K it took to part Pasini from Fiorentina.


Key Players
Early in the season the media were on something of a witch hunt against my new young Italian 'keeper, Giovanni Pasini, but once the lad had settled in and learned a bit of English he performed superbly well and I have every confidence that he can step up to Premier League level. Alongside him in defence was Jamie Murphy, who has frankly ridiculous stats for a seventeen year old, and for that reason I doubt that it'll take more than I have at my disposal to part him from Birmingham on a permanent basis.

John Bostock continued his rise up the leagues with us since returning to English football from the Welsh Wastelands, 14 assists from the central midfielder was an excellent contribution. And once Auassar had left in January, Sam Vokes and Patrick Marongiou formed a formidable partnership up front. Like Murphy, I think we'll struggle to get Marongiou back at the club next season; Juventus will want to make more of him.


Next Season
The hardest yet, surely. Survival in any shape or form will be a massive success.

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
2019/20         Championship                3rd               Promoted via play-offs

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)
Kostas Tsioukas (DC)          188 (223); 27  (30); 7.14
(2014-Present)
Mark Hartmann (MC)            183 (217); 20  (31); 6.91
(2010-2017)
John Bostock (AMC)            148 (175); 16  (24); 7.08
(2015-Present)
Iain Blackman (AMLC/FC)       137 (164); 31  (39); 7.09
(2016-Present)
Theo Angus (DL)               125 (150);  0   (2); 6.87
(2012-2018)
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]

And just days after our promotion, the board announce plans for a new stadium. So we'll only have to survive a year in the Premier League with a 4,308 capacity, though I'm slightly gutted that after getting the club to the Premier League in just eight years I'm not even on the favoured personnel list, let alone having the stadium named after me Guess I'll have to play as far as dafuge has before that happens.

[aeropaus]

Big congrats on the promotion!

How much cash did you have in the bank Terk when you got the new stadium?

I'm a bit surprised the board chose to upgrade Pilot Lane in my game when the council refused to do it instead of building a new one. I guess an upgrade had to occur due to Premiership regulations or something but seems a bit weird.

Maybe attendance comes into it too or something but then we were selling out anyway...

[Terk]

Cheers, aeropaus

We had just over £3M in the bank when the decision came through to build the new stadium. And attendances actually dropped from last season (from 4,210 to 4,035) so I was quite surprised (and delighted) to get the news. In the long term I can see a capacity of 16,700 holding us back, but for a few years at least it will seem like we're raking in huge gate receipts.

Oh, and the sponsorship deal is about £670K per season over 15 seasons; a bit stingy but better than nothing. It'll pay more than a third of the loan repayments though (£140K per season), so that's nice.

[Terk]

Clearly the bookies are impressed with our chances of staying up. Our title odds are 5000-1

[bermybhoy]

Finally just ended that run of 13 games without a win, with our 2nd after 15 games of the season Now ready to push on for an unlikely run at the playoffs....

Good luck with that Terk, sounds like you might need it.

[roseboy64]

And just days after our promotion, the board announce plans for a new stadium. So we'll only have to survive a year in the Premier League with a 4,308 capacity, though I'm slightly gutted that after getting the club to the Premier League in just eight years I'm not even on the favoured personnel list, let alone having the stadium named after me Guess I'll have to play as far as dafuge has before that happens.

If I'd managed to get my stadium the season I won rather than when I survived it might have been named after me as I got Legend status along with Bastock. Was getting a 28k seater so couldn't complain. Shame it has the name of that useless guy though. Gonna have to wait a little less than 20 years now to get a new one. In better news though, the upgrade to a 42k seater will be nice.

[SnakeXe]

And just days after our promotion, the board announce plans for a new stadium. So we'll only have to survive a year in the Premier League with a 4,308 capacity, though I'm slightly gutted that after getting the club to the Premier League in just eight years I'm not even on the favoured personnel list, let alone having the stadium named after me Guess I'll have to play as far as dafuge has before that happens.

That's weird, I'm sure I made it onto the Merthyr Legends list way back in League One when I took home the JPT

Could perhaps be a slight anomaly because you haven't yet won a trophy for the club despite the promotions, whereas I'd won the BSS, BSP and JPT by then (I seem to remember my status on that screen being updated after each trophy win). I'm sure you'll make it on there sharpish when you start raking in the pots

Although once you are there you'll have to accept stuff like a striker who barely topped 100 goals for the club being counted alongside you as a club legend

And congrats on the promotion of course!

[aeropaus]

So as it turns out, when my board said the capacity would be reduced by 400, they were telling a bit of a lie.

Before, our stadium had 1000 seats and a capacity of 4050.

Now, because we can't sell any standing room in the Premiership, our ground has a total capacity of.....

696.

That's a hell of a lot of cheesed off season ticket holders.

[Thebaker]

That's weird, I'm sure I made it onto the Merthyr Legends list way back in League One when I took home the JPT

Could perhaps be a slight anomaly because you haven't yet won a trophy for the club despite the promotions, whereas I'd won the BSS, BSP and JPT by then (I seem to remember my status on that screen being updated after each trophy win). I'm sure you'll make it on there sharpish when you start raking in the pots

I'm still not on the Merthyrs favoured personnel list, after 21 years in charge i've only won 2 JPT's, 1 FA cup and League 1 as well as reaching the prem.
the 2 on the list are a striker with about 50 goals in 130 appearances and a winger who has 150 appearances

[Terk]

Could perhaps be a slight anomaly because you haven't yet won a trophy for the club despite the promotions, whereas I'd won the BSS, BSP and JPT by then (I seem to remember my status on that screen being updated after each trophy win). I'm sure you'll make it on there sharpish when you start raking in the pots

Although once you are there you'll have to accept stuff like a striker who barely topped 100 goals for the club being counted alongside you as a club legend

And congrats on the promotion of course!

That's a very good point, no pots in the cabinet yet. 4 play-off victories, once sneaked up automatically and only one (losing) cup final; I could see it being a few years yet before I get the chance to bring a trophy home as well, it's not going to be my priority in the near future. And James Foster, my striker who scored 118 league goals, is on the favoured personnel list ahead of me

My biggest problems in the coming season are going to be (a) balancing the need for new players with not taking the club into the red (£2M in the bank and an £11M transfer fund) and (b) the fact that my wage budget is pretty much exactly the same as last season, but with the contractual pay rises after promotion I have 16 players in my squad and only about £6K left to play with. How do I do this without sending the club down Portsmouth's road?

I have just profited from the fact that Birmingham have gone into administration for the second time in three years and picked up Jamie Murphy, the excellent young centre back I had on loan last season, for the very fair price of just £2M

aeropaus, a 696 capacity in the Premier League You'll not be bringing in much in the way of gate receipts then

[bermybhoy]

So as it turns out, when my board said the capacity would be reduced by 400, they were telling a bit of a lie.

Before, our stadium had 1000 seats and a capacity of 4050.

Now, because we can't sell any standing room in the Premiership, our ground has a total capacity of.....

696.

That's a hell of a lot of cheesed off season ticket holders.

This is a bit of a flaw in the game, surely? Isn't there a minimum requirement for the number of seats? The SPL has a minimum of 6,000 seated, which is reduced from 10,000 a few years ago (cost Falkirk for one promotion a couple of times).

You should be forced to groundshare at the very least. Wasn't that the case in previous versions?

[Yidd0!]

Afternoon guys! Another season over, another 'so close' moment. 1 Spot off the playoff's once again. Damnit! Its the bad starts that get me everytime. The new players just dont seem to gell that well for the first 2 months. Might not get rid of as many this time around.

I finally made my first sale: Dan Currie, a regen I picked up on a free, 45k to Gillingham. So I actually had a transfer budget! Albeit it was a measley 1k but Its definately made my bank balance alot healthier than previously. My Wage budget is starting to really hit me hard, so during the off-season I will have to get rid of the high earners. Sad to see a few of them leave but I cannot afford 450p/w on FT in the BSP.

Anyone else have their assistant manager demand unreal wages to be kept on? I've had to change mine every season so far, really ****ing me off.

The 'Boro are in need of stability and removing staff as well as players cannot help that.

Best signing: Tommy Black. The former Palace ace really ghot our season on track with plenty of firepower through the middle. Cant remember exact stats, but he really boosted our promotion chase. Definately one to keep on! Only asks for 90p/w too at 32. Looking at boosting him to Ass-Man in a few seasons.

Full update when I get home. This is all from memmory :P

Oh yeah, how do you put the [CODE] stuff at the bottom to show your progress?

[Terk]

Unlucky, yiddo

My Premier League début went better than expected. Slightly confused by the fact that we have a 4,308 capacity stadium, have sold over a thousand season tickets and yet got an attendance of 500 for a game against Liverpool And I think I've just figured it out, we've only got a 500 seated capacity, and the game obviously stands by the rule that you're not allowed standing areas in the Premier League. ****, **** **** **** **** **** ****. And the board have just announced that we've sold 1,291 season tickets. The people of Canvey Island are clever folk

My next two league games are against Man City at home and Arsenal away. A nice, easy start

[foost]

I would sign in a debut season for 3 points in total from those 3 games! gl Terk!

[mag man]

I thought the game automatically upgraded the ground to comply with premier league rules, did in FM09 iirc.

[Yidd0!]

I got it.

 
Farnborough Career Overview Season          League                 Position           Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/2011     Blue Square South          2nd            Promotion
2011/2012     Blue Square Premier         7th           No Achievements
2012/2013     Blue Square Premier         7th           No Achievements

[Thebaker]

I thought the game automatically upgraded the ground to comply with premier league rules, did in FM09 iirc.

it still does i think, In Terk's case it didn't as a new ground is being built.

[Terk]

it still does i think, In Terk's case it didn't as a new ground is being built.

Yeah, I'd guess it's the fact that I have a new stadium being built for next year that we haven't had the current stadium updated. It does amuse me though that Waford in the league cup got us a crowd seven times bigger than Liverpool in the league

[mag man]

Maidstone Season 7 Update 2016/17 - Blue Square Premier

Position - 1st
Predicted - 19th

League Table
League Positions

A great season and picking up the clubs first silverware under my management

I basically carried on as I finished the last season, my squad was far to strong for anyone else in the league and I also picked up a league 2 and league 1 scalp in the FA Cup before going out to Premier League side West Brom in the 3rd round. I also picked up the FA Trophy again comfortably beating everyone else I faced.

I also picked up the BSP record for most points.

I think I am ready to take on League 2 at my first attempt if I can add a few decent loan signings.

FA Trophy Final

Now on Favoured Personnel list
Star Player: Tom Craddock

Squad
Finances

Manager Profile
Manager Personal
Manager Information

Career Overview:

League         Season    Finished   Achievements
------------------------------------------------
BSS            2010/11   19th
BSS            2011/12   19th
BSS            2012/13   15th
BSS            2013/14   10th
BSS            2014/15   5th        Playoff Winners
BSP            2015/16   10th
BSP            2016/17   1st        Champions

[Thebaker]

Merthyr Tydfil Premiership 2030/31

Table

Position


FA Cup - 4th Rd
League Cup -2nd Rd

Started in fantastic form and soon went top, however i hit a bad run from november onwards and barely won a game until march. i showed good form at the end of the season to go into the last game of the year against man u. a 3-0 win gave me champions league football for the first time and denied them the title. Overall this was perhaps a chance lost with no dominant team for the first time in years.
My reserves crashed out to championship Burnley in the league cup and i lost 1-0 to championship Southampton in the FA cup.

Transfers

Two long time servants left with Rivera (history) retiring and the captain Rodrigues (history) leaving.
Marcelo was sold by the chairman only 6 months after arriving. The defence needs changing and the first step towards this was bringing in Bartolini who i hope can become a wonderkid and Djokic who is rated better than Carreras, Carreras (history) was then sold as his displays were highly erratic.
The midfield was changed with Anastasiadis (history) being sold after wanting to leave for years, he was replaced by Francisco. 2 backups in Sergio and Angel Luis were also sold.

Squad

Bonetti and Hadland shared the goalie spot with both doing well.
Hagelstein was almost ever present at right back with Djokic making a great start at left back. In the centre Bartolini also made a great start and Castillo was immense.
Francisco and Bianchini were in the centre with Bianchini particually good.
On the wings were Aslan and Nogueira whose good performances and goal output were the main reason for my good form over the season.
Up front my main 3 strikers played well without getting the number of goals i wanted from them.

Star player - hard one to choose as there were several players who had good seasons but it was noticable that when Aslan didn't play the team performance dropped, came up with some crucial goals

Career so far:


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

2010/11   Blue Square South             3rd         Promoted via playoffs
2011/12   Blue Square Premier           9th         None
2012/13   Blue Square Premier           2nd         Promoted via playoffs
2013/14   League 2                      15th        None  
2014/15   League 2                      13th        JPT Winners
2015/16   League 2                      5th         Promoted via playoffs
2016/17   League 1                      13th        None
2017/18   League 1                      14th        None
2018/19   League 1                      12th        None
2019/20   League 1                      15th        None
2020/21   League 1                      14th        None
2021/22   League 1                      1st         JPT Winners,Champions
2022/23   Championship                  16th        None
2023/24   Championship                  8th         None
2024/25   Championship                  10th        None
2025/26   Championship                  6th         Playoff semi-finalists
2026/27   Championship                  6th         Promoted via Playoffs
2027/28   Premiership                   15th        None
2028/29   Premiership                   14th        FA Cup Winners
2029/30   Premiership                   12th        None
2030/31   Premiership                   4th         None

[Terk]

Holy **** this Premier League thing is really tough 4 points from my first 7 games. To say I'm concerned about our chances right now would be an understatement.

[PVentress]

Holy **** this Premier League thing is really tough 4 points from my first 7 games. To say I'm concerned about our chances right now would be an understatement.

1st season in the Prem is by far the toughst season of the challange in my opinion,

I only avoided relegation on the last day of the season in my first season,

Stick with it though the results do come eventually, once the players come to terms with the higher standard, i ended up having to go for a very rigid counter attacking style and pinch results where i could.

Not the prettiest, but survival was the only aim.

[SnakeXe]

Holy **** this Premier League thing is really tough 4 points from my first 7 games. To say I'm concerned about our chances right now would be an understatement.

It's tricky but the standard to avoid relegation isn't that brilliant. Just checked my post-promotion season and we finished 13th with 40 points, Leeds were relegated in 18th with 30.

Checking through all the seasons, the highest points total someone has been relegated with is 36, but it's very often less than 30.

[TugSafc]

We are consistently hitting out 5000 capacity in attendances most games, but the board say that the council will never allow planning permission because of the lack of space or something

At the moment, there is us and Charlton rotating between 1st and 2nd, we both are about 6 points ahead of third so its looking quite good so far, bare in mind, play-off place was my aim for this season.

I'm happy with my team atm, maybe we could try and sell a few players that we don't need to free up some wages, but our balance is actually really good as well after the amount of money we brought in the summer, think at the moment it is around £4.8m

[CityAndColour]

Just signed Charles Ademeno at the end of February after Crawley went in administration - I love the fact there is no transfer window in the BSN/S, especially if you're in a tight promotion or relegation battle.

Currently just out of the playoff spots with five and a half games to go, but in superb form after a horror first half of the season. If I can sneak in I reckon I'll win them.

[aeropaus]

Unlucky, yiddo

My Premier League début went better than expected. Slightly confused by the fact that we have a 4,308 capacity stadium, have sold over a thousand season tickets and yet got an attendance of 500 for a game against Liverpool And I think I've just figured it out, we've only got a 500 seated capacity, and the game obviously stands by the rule that you're not allowed standing areas in the Premier League. ****, **** **** **** **** **** ****. And the board have just announced that we've sold 1,291 season tickets. The people of Canvey Island are clever folk

My next two league games are against Man City at home and Arsenal away. A nice, easy start

Wow you've got the same issue as I do.. and a lower capacity amazingly.

It really is stupid, a ground share is the obvious solution instead of forcing you to put up with stupid capacities like we have atm.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Only just seen so, Congrats on promotion Terk, although things not going too well!

[Terk]

It's tricky but the standard to avoid relegation isn't that brilliant. Just checked my post-promotion season and we finished 13th with 40 points, Leeds were relegated in 18th with 30.

Checking through all the seasons, the highest points total someone has been relegated with is 36, but it's very often less than 30.

Can I have your game, please

Just checked through the seasons on my game, and the team finishing in 18th place has had the following points totals.

2009/10: 35
2010/11: 34
2011/12: 34
2012/13: 39
2013/14: 35
2014/15: 37
2015/16: 28
2016/17: 30
2017/18: 35
2018/19: 37
2019/20: 42

Which makes for an average 18th place total of 35.09 points. So 40 points is still going to have to be my target. I will admit I'm going in with a bit of a Tony Mowbray attitude (maybe more Owen Coyle, actually) in that I'm not yet willing to sacrifice my footballing philosophy, but if our position worsens much more then I'll have no option but to go pretty negative.

[Terk]

Wow you've got the same issue as I do.. and a lower capacity amazingly.

It really is stupid, a ground share is the obvious solution instead of forcing you to put up with stupid capacities like we have atm.

It is staggeringly stupid that I'm playing Premier League games with a capacity of 500. If there's one thing I'd like to see fixed in future FM versions then this is it; I'm no games developer but whilst I accept it may not be easy I can't believe that it's beyond the realms of man to have forced ground shares come into the game in this situation.

[bermybhoy]

It is staggeringly stupid that I'm playing Premier League games with a capacity of 500. If there's one thing I'd like to see fixed in future FM versions then this is it; I'm no games developer but whilst I accept it may not be easy I can't believe that it's beyond the realms of man to have forced ground shares come into the game in this situation.

I'm fairly sure this is something that's been inexplicably dropped. Could swear it used to make you expand or move?

Should raise it as an issue really.

[Terk]

I'm fairly sure this is something that's been inexplicably dropped. Could swear it used to make you expand or move?

Should raise it as an issue really.

In a way it has made us move because we have a stadium being built which complies with the PL regulations, it's just this in between season that is driving me crazy. To be honest I have no idea whether in this same situation in previous FM games you would have been forced to ground share for a year or expand your current stadium, even just for that one season. If that did used to be the case and it's been dropped from the game then that makes me even more angry

[michaeltmurrayuk]

It is staggeringly stupid that I'm playing Premier League games with a capacity of 500. If there's one thing I'd like to see fixed in future FM versions then this is it; I'm no games developer but whilst I accept it may not be easy I can't believe that it's beyond the realms of man to have forced ground shares come into the game in this situation.

Haven't ground shares been banned in the Premiership (or England) after everyone was trying to move stadiums for cups a couple of years back?

I think the main problem is that I don't think any of us have had our grounds improved in the lower leagues in FM2010, unlike previous verisons so you are left with a ground unfit for the Conference in the Premiership.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

That's a very good point, no pots in the cabinet yet. 4 play-off victories, once sneaked up automatically and only one (losing) cup final; I could see it being a few years yet before I get the chance to bring a trophy home as well, it's not going to be my priority in the near future. And James Foster, my striker who scored 118 league goals, is on the favoured personnel list ahead of me

My biggest problems in the coming season are going to be (a) balancing the need for new players with not taking the club into the red (£2M in the bank and an £11M transfer fund) and (b) the fact that my wage budget is pretty much exactly the same as last season, but with the contractual pay rises after promotion I have 16 players in my squad and only about £6K left to play with. How do I do this without sending the club down Portsmouth's road?

I have just profited from the fact that Birmingham have gone into administration for the second time in three years and picked up Jamie Murphy, the excellent young centre back I had on loan last season, for the very fair price of just £2M

aeropaus, a 696 capacity in the Premier League You'll not be bringing in much in the way of gate receipts then

TV money and paying for players over 48mths is what I did, if you can survive your first season unlike me then things should be fine in the second season when you get your new stadium.

Or go down the Portsmouth route of praying for a Tycoon takeover

[Terk]

Haven't ground shares been banned in the Premiership (or England) after everyone was trying to move stadiums for cups a couple of years back?

I think the main problem is that I don't think any of us have had our grounds improved in the lower leagues in FM2010, unlike previous verisons so you are left with a ground unfit for the Conference in the Premiership.

I'll admit ignorance on that one, but if it is the case then it obviously makes sense that it's not in the game. you are right in that a large part of the problem was that I had an average crowd at 97% of the stadium capacity back in League 1 but haven't been able to get any sort of expansion or move.

[Terk]

TV money and paying for players over 48mths is what I did, if you can survive your first season unlike me then things should be fine in the second season when you get your new stadium.

Or go down the Portsmouth route of praying for a Tycoon takeover

A takeover would be nice, I'd have the same chairman since I took over at Canvey. And he still feels he will never leave the club of his own volition I want some oil money.

[TugSafc]

Just noticed that Arsenal are 17th in the league after 17 games /o\, will be interesting to see what they will do in the second half of the season

Aston Villa and Tottenham want my 17 year old CB Xabier Sanchez but he is a real good prospect so I will be trying by hardest to not sell him.

[PVentress]

It is staggeringly stupid that I'm playing Premier League games with a capacity of 500. If there's one thing I'd like to see fixed in future FM versions then this is it; I'm no games developer but whilst I accept it may not be easy I can't believe that it's beyond the realms of man to have forced ground shares come into the game in this situation.

When i got promoted with Kings Lynn i was forced into a Ground Share with Norwich at Carrow Road for 2 seasons whilst the Walks Stadium was upgraded with All Seating, so it is in the game,

Not sure why you wouldnt have had it happen, Maybe it depends if there is a suitable ground within a certain radius

[Yidd0!]

Farnborough FC 2012/2013 - BSP

Well, after a season that saw a late charge for promotion, our aim was to do it again this season and to capitalise on our bad run at the start of last season that saw us take 1 point from 8 games. Our aim was promotion. I believe we had a good enough squad to do that, with our resident goal scorer Robert McCormick once again amongst the goals at the start, I was confident that this was our season. But like most teams, you cant rely on one player to do it all for you.... This was a tough one...

As I said earlier, we made our first sale: Dan Currie- 45k to Gillingham. Dan was one of the youth players I picked up on a free. After he performed well in the first few months, getting the odd goal here and there, I saw an opportunity. The Gills offered 30k for him. I put 50k, but overall we settled at 45k and both parties went away happy. I will keep an eye on his progress as he does definately look like one for the future. Who knows, in a few seasons I might be able to pick him up again, so he can once again wear the glory of Yellow.

Anyway, back to the season at hand:

I picked up a few players on a free and committed the SIN to end all SINS: I spent too much on wages. I made the mistake of going for players that were a little out of my 'league' so to say and was punished when they didn't perform. However, there were a few players that saw the light at the end of the tunnel and actually TRIED during this season. These are as follows:

Daniel Subouola

Tommy Black

Caolan Lavery

So. Back to the season at hand. Tommy Black was brought on quite late into the season, but REALLY did some damage: scoring a screamers to win us the points in a last gasp match against Kidderminster in his debut. That my friends was the highlight to this season. Two goals in the last 2 minutes of the game.

Reflection: Overall a disappointing season, finishing in 8th.

A low start to the season, a great middle yet a feeble end to the season where we couldnt buy a win didnt help. I've got a couple transfers lined up that I feel will solve these issues completely. I want to keep the core nucleus of players, but will chop and change around the edges, only signing players when 100% necessary. Just saw that tough to beat Macclesfield didnt get promoted out of the BSP. That's not a good sign, will have them for serious competition.

Well, theres my team report. Target for next season: Promotion.

The bright side is that we are now an established BSP team. We have the ability to become a professional team. This will happen next season.

League Table

Farnborough Career

Season     League                       Position      Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South             2nd        Promotion
2011/12   Blue Square Premier           7th         None
2012/13   Blue Square Premier           8th         None

[turn it in]

The closest league ground would be Roots Hall to Canvey.

[Terk]

Man Utd sacked their manager (Chris Hughton) just 24 hours after they beat me 6-1

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Doesn't that make you feel embarssed that they believed 6-1 to be a bad result?

[Terk]

Very

I have come to the conclusion that we really are an appalling shower of *****. 1 win, 2 draws and 8 defeats so far, bottom of the table Looks like the Canvey Island Stadium will be opening to the sounds of Championship football.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

A takeover would be nice, I'd have the same chairman since I took over at Canvey. And he still feels he will never leave the club of his own volition I want some oil money.

I'm onto my third chairman and all I've got out of them are transfer embargo's so far

[Terk]

5 points from 14 games. Time to go Stoke-style.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

I'm not going to lie, that is quite bad

Then again, you made the Premiership!

[Terk]

It's absolutely appalling, TPF And my last three games make it even worse. We went 2-0 up at Everton only to lose 4-2; we fought back from 2-0 down at home against West Brom, led 3-2 and lost 5-3; then we lost 3-0 in a truly pathetic performance against 19th placed QPR Forest at home next, we have to win.

[Yidd0!]

It's absolutely appalling, TPF And my last three games make it even worse. We went 2-0 up at Everton only to lose 4-2; we fought back from 2-0 down at home against West Brom, led 3-2 and lost 5-3; then we lost 3-0 in a truly pathetic performance against 19th placed QPR Forest at home next, we have to win.

Good luck buddy!!!

go 4-2-4 :P

[Terk]

Sneaked a totally undeserved 2-1 win. Played truly dreadful long ball stuff but it paid off. Leicester away next, hopefully we can at least get a point from that and start to build some momentum.

[Yidd0!]

nice one bud. its a start!!!