dafuge's FM10 challenge

[GreyedOutMan]

I didnt. And I still dont get this game. I cant win, I can barely score, and I'm doing exactly the sorts of things that people keep talking about on this forum. It makes no sense. Think I will move over to FML - apparently I might find that easier...

[TacticalGenius]

I can't see where the difficulty is...

[GreyedOutMan]

Well I do everything everyone recommends and still cant get results.

On a side note, does anyone know how to reduce your "other" outgoings? Been trying to balance the books better this time around but still making massive losses, and about 75% of my expenditure comes under "other"! That and "Match Day Expenses" are over £100k out of a total £128k.

As for where is the difficulty - 3 defeats out of 3. With a tactic that people here have recommended and some players who are nice and quick/strong. By everything people say here that should be the recipe for success but no...

[TacticalGenius]

Maybe you should get some practice in as a bigger club first?

[GreyedOutMan]

I have - I always play as Arsenal before I start the harder challenges. The tactics system seems totally flawed in this to me - your players dont do what you ask and you do things which seem to work for one person and they dont work at all for you. Seems far too vague to me. Bring back CM01/02

[michaeltmurrayuk]

A goal from 35yo Nantwich Icon Magnus Eikrem is enough to claim a 1-1 draw in Turin and top spot in our group, Eikrem who isn't even good enough for League One even got Man of the Match against a Juventus side who are third favourites to win the Champions League this season

[MikaelS]

£170k per month.

Its still alot considering you have to up your wages in order to attract the right players.

[TacticalGenius]

Atm my whole team's weekly wage is around £70k, and I'm averaging £2m a month profit

[MikaelS]

Atm my whole team's weekly wage is around £70k, and I'm averaging £2m a month profit

ah thats not that bad. Could be worse

[SnakeXe]

Well I do everything everyone recommends and still cant get results.

On a side note, does anyone know how to reduce your "other" outgoings? Been trying to balance the books better this time around but still making massive losses, and about 75% of my expenditure comes under "other"! That and "Match Day Expenses" are over £100k out of a total £128k.

As for where is the difficulty - 3 defeats out of 3. With a tactic that people here have recommended and some players who are nice and quick/strong. By everything people say here that should be the recipe for success but no...

Could you post up a few pkms for me to look at? I used to find this challenge very hard, but this year I completed it for the first time, and have taken another team to the Championship in successive seasons as well.

I agree about the finances being weird. I have £15m per month going out from my Merthyr Tydfil team in the Premier League, and only about £4.8m of it is wages. I just don't know why certain expenses are so huge! My turnover is around £250m per season but we barely make a profit

[darren1983]

Well after back to back league wins I think I will have to focus on the champions league this season as I feel the premeriship is already out of reach and it's only Dec 1st! Already lost 4 games this season (all away from home) compared to the 5 we'd lost in total in the last 2 seasons.
Just wanted to get that off my chest, my champions league group was Sparta Prague, Marsille (sp?) and Bayern Munich, and somehow our record was p6 w5 d0 l1 and we won the group after just 4 games, onto the whoever we get in the knockout stage

[darren1983]

Sorry for the double post but am annoyed!
Well i'm giving up for today-gotta go out later so am gonna switch the game off after the worst run of results for a couple of seasons. I have now gone 7 games without a win and just got knocked out of the FA cup 3rd round to relegation bound Middelsbrough! Hate this game at times, think I need a change of tactics

[Beerish]

Oxford City - Season 2015/16 - Coca Cola League 1

Pre-Season, and all the hopes and expectations therein

Slightly more subdued this time around, highlights included beating Fulham 3-1 with our second string, pushing Premiership Wolves all the way in a 3-1 defeat, and hammering League 2 Tranmere 5-0. However, there was still no sign that we could push on from last season's mid-table anonymity and inconsistency.

Transfers

The largest exodus of players yet saw us make our first cash sale of a player, Kjartan Finnbogason departing for £10k. Elsewhere, I promised myself not to overload the team with too many new signings...you can probably see how well that ended up. The money from the Brian Cowan sale proved to be particularly useful, especially as he'd only been with us for 6 months as reserve keeper. Also notice the loan signings; they are the reason we had the season we did.

The Season!

My Oxford City team have a traditionally strong record at the beginning of the season, and once again the opening day proved fruitful, Ledda and Songo'o both bagging debut goals in a 3-0 dispatching of Barnsley. Perhaps with a sense of 'after the lord mayor's show' we ground out a 0-0 draw at Mansfield, showing exceptional defensive solidity but my 4-5-1 formation had no natural spearhead and so our only goal threat was Franck Songo'o on the right wing, and set-pieces. This sense of lethargy continued for the next 2 matches as we drew them both 1-1, requiring equalisers in the last 10 minutes from Franck and Murphy as the frailty of our defensive outlook was exposed - the moment the opposition scored, we had to push forward in numbers.

Our next home game was a defeat to league leaders Oldham, but was severely disappointing as it was at home and we really struggled to create chances. The lads responded magnificently, drubbing Bournemouth away from home 4-0 as our striker, loan signing Simon Webb, both wingers, mainstay Daryl Murphy and Cameroonian sensation Franck Songo'o, as well as Dutch master Gregoor Van Dijk. Another important win at Gillingham followed, Tommy Gray coming off the bench to nab his first of the season. At home to Bradford, the 'ex-player' curse failed to come true for Finnbogason and we ground out a 1-0 win. Webb smashed a hat-trick as we closed off September with a thumping 4-0 win at home to Carlisle.
October started with a 1-0 loss at Swansea, who showed us how to play defensive football, and we needed a late own goal to grab a 2-2 draw against Luton. Our next game was disappointing in its immediate context, but would prove critical come the end of the season - a 0-0 draw at bottom side Hartlepool. Webb netted a consolation at high-flying Brighton, before netting a vital, vital winner at home to Milwall in a very narrow 1-0 win, only sterling work from our full-backs preserving the lead. The boys were clearly elated with this win as they went to Preston and set a new record for the biggest win in Oxford City's history as we destroyed them 7-0: the goalscorers were an own goal, braces for Songo'o and Webb, as well as goals for Wedderburn and Murphy. At this stage of the season, Songo'o either didn't turn up to games or was completely unplayable. There was no compromise, and hindsight tells me we were extremely lucky to see him go through the whole season without injury.

It was almost predictible, then, that he would score the only goal at Rochdale, but it was less forthcoming that we would lose our next two home games 1-0 to Stockport and Port Vale, our tactics once again coming into question. So, I changed. From a very defensive minded, probing 4-5-1, I moved into essentially a 4-4-2 with Murphy and Songo'o as permanent wingers (Adam and Revell acted as cover).

David Franck didn't score many in his first season, but the goals he did score were crucial. Following on from his last minute equaliser earlier in the campaign against Torquay, he scored the winner at Rotherham and our only goal in a draw against Colchester; both very useful teams. We then compensated for our JPT defeat at Swindon by returning the same 2-1 scoreline to them with goals from Webb and the impressive Wedderburn. Our first return fixture saw us dispose of Barnsley in similar fashion, but that only preceded an agonising 3-3 draw at home to Mansfield that saw us lead 2-0 and 3-2; Webb scoring braces in both games. Webb scored his in fourth game in succession along with Honey, Wedderburn and Adam to condemn Torquay to a 4-1 defeat and finally end 'the curse of the Novak' where he had terrorised our defence in the past. Songo'o struck in a narrow victory over Charlton, but once again Oldham figured us out and we belatedly lost 2-1.

Loan signing Victor was to be one of our players of the season, and his debut was one to remember as he bagged a brace at Bradford: Songo'o, Murphy and Wedderburn also chipping in. A now-routine home win against Bournemouth featured Charlie Adam and Daryl Murphy on the scoresheet, but Simon Webb looked impressive and it was at this point of the season that he really decided to kick it up a notch; he scored 9 goals in our next 6 games.

A brace in a home win against bottom side Hartlepool, no goals as we were shot down in flames at Brunton Park, one of the crucial goals in a narrow home win against Swansea, the solitary goal as Luton condemned our chances of repeating our FA Cup heroics at Kenilworth Road in a 2-1 defeat, a brace in a free-scoring 5-3 home win against Gillingham, and to round it up, his second hat-trick of the league season against Walsall. 4 wins and 2 losses in that sequence, not a bad return but we continued to lose games to sub-par teams in our push for the title, as it had now become.
Our recent record against Southend was very strong, so it was hardly surprising that we returned from Roots Hall with all 3 points. It was a surprise we only collected 5 points from 9 against Brighton, Rochdale and Stockport, and very surprising we only scored 2 goals in the process. Going into the last 6 games of the season, we were top of the table, but Milwall, Rotherham and Colchester were all breathing down our necks and could easily catch us up...and we still had to play them, twice away from home.

Milwall made significant progress by beating us 3-2 at The New Den, their last minute winner being a speculative long range drive which bounced off the crossbar and went in off our keeper. It was a bitter pill to swallow. 5 games left, and the distinctly easier proposition of Preston at home was met with an easy 3-0 win, making our season aggregate record against Preston 10-0. The next game, however, featured our worst performance of the season as we never threatened to score against a Port Vale side who should have won more than 3-0; luckily our goal difference was so good this result was largely irrelevant. Playing in the most important game of the season yet, we stuffed title rivals Rotherham 3-0 at home, Victor and Songo'o playing immensely.

At this point several of my team was injured, and a patched up side travelled to title challengers Colchester in the penultimate game of the season only to be sent back by Vesylin Stochkov who scored twice in two minutes. Charlie Adam brought us back into contention soon after, but not even a late rally could force a point. Coming into the last game of the season, we were top, a point ahead of Milwall and Rotherham, and two points ahead of Colchester with a superior goal difference to all of them. We were the only team playing at home, and it was against 20th placed Swindon to boot.

The climax to the season began as a shambles. Liam Buchanan's long range sighter flew in after 8 minutes, and we had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside by Murphy before he hit the post when he should have scored. Half-time saw a rollicking and an overload on the tactical front, but Matty Ritchie was allowed to waltz through our defence and make it 2-0 Swindon. Luckily our rivals were all losing are being held to draws. Serge N'Dioro wrote his name into Oxford City folklore as, coming on as a half-time sub, he changed the complexion of the game completely with his sheer pace and soon pulled a goal back on 55 minutes. By the time Songo'o had made it 2-2 in front of a full house, Milwall had made a comeback of their own at Brighton to lead 2-1, whereas Rotherham and Colchester were both losing. The last 15 minutes saw everything but the kitchen sink thrown at the opposition goal, as N'Dioro saw another goal wrongly disallowed for offside and Songo'o hit the post again. Full-time beckoned and it was met with a bittersweet feeling; Rotherham's and Colchester's losses sent is up via automatic promotion, but Milwall's 2-1 win at Brighton handed them the title that looked to be ours for the taking.

Final League Table

It's tough at the top.

Positions Graph

Changed top spot with Milwall a few times.

Stats

Not much of note here, except to say that for the 4th season out of 5 Lewis Price didn't miss a league game. He was a coup in the BSP and I think I'd be tempted to sign him again at Championship level too.

Squad (End Of Season)

The low appearance players usually spent some time on loan for fitness and experience reasons.

Finances (End Of Season)

At the end of the season, the board told me I'd be having a 15k capacity stadium by June 2018. After seeing this, I don't know what to think about it...

FA Cup

Best cup run in my time at the club so far. Drawn away to fellow League 1 side Luton in the first round, we fell behind 3-1 at half time thanks to a frankly inspired Isaac Robledo. With 15 minutes to go I threw caution to the wind and within 5 minutes Songo'o had scored his second and Franck also netted to astonishingly drag it to 3-3 all and force the tie to a replay...until in the last minute we get a free kick 40 yards out. Charlie Adam absolutely pulverises it with his left foot, and we complete one of the most amazing comebacks I've ever seen.

Resting most of my team for the 2nd round tie at Grimsby, Alex Revell forced home an equaliser and in the replay a much stronger team saw off their challenge 3-0. In the draw for the third round, we missed the 'big' teams, but a draw at home to League 2 Sheffield Wednesday was a massive opportunity for us. A dramatic game was settle in our favour 3-2 with another last minute goal, from Simon Webb this time. The draw was once again disappointing, as we faced the trek to play Championship Huddersfield away once more. No penalties this time, but a valiant effort from the makeshift side was well-appreciated.

League Cup

Drawn at home to Championship Fulham I was extremely pessimistic, but we reached a superb tempo in the game to win 2-0, one of the most impressive Oxford City performances I'd ever seen. Next round was a tough away draw to Huddersfield, and despite not creating many chances we forced the game to extra time thanks to an equaliser from Daryl Murphy. The usually reliable Marco Ledda had to score to keep us in it, but his nerve failed him and Huddersfield progressed 4-3 on penalties.

Johnstone's Paint Trophy

Seemed disappointing at the time, but Swindon would eventually make the area final.

Key Players

Franck Songo'o

Quite simply, amazing. He'll be leaving in the summer on a free to Stabaek in Norway because he didn't want to stay with us, but in one season he made such an impact from right wing; broke the records for assists in a season, man of the matches (before the season was even halfway through) and average rating.

Simon Webb

Top scorer, but we struggled to find a regular strike partner for him. We are going to struggle to replace our loan players in defence and attack next season.

Nathaniel Wedderburn

Continued to surprise with his consistency as he added goalscoring to his already notable defensive stats.

Alan Sheehan

Easily the best player I signed all season on a free purely from his stats, but he missed most of the last half of the season due to a combination of injury and poor form.

George Elokobi

Signed late on, he was a rock either at left back or in the middle, and was popular amongst his fellow players.

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square North             2nd          Promoted via play-offs
2011/12   Blue Square Premier           11th         -
2012/13   Blue Square Premier           3rd          Promoted via play-offs
2013/14   Coca Cola League 2           7th          Promoted via play-offs
2014/15   Coca Cola League 1           16th         -
2015/16   Coca Cola League 1           2nd          Promoted

Next Season
I believe the team that won promotion had enough quality in it to stay up at the next level, but we've already lost Songo'o to Stabaek and our best players were only there on loan. It's imperative we get them in again, or replace them.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Atm my whole team's weekly wage is around £70k, and I'm averaging £2m a month profit

Wait until players start demanding Premiership wages

I'm paying nearly £600K p/w on wages (it's been increasing by £200K p/w for the last two seasons due to everyone wanting more money) and my average wage is just half that of the average Premiership wage.

Then there is the signing on fee's - they cost me £6m last season (£4.7m renewals, £1.3m new signings), whilst Season Tickets, Other and Merchandising brought in just about £6m.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Well that was typical as we draw Holders Barcelona in the Champions League Knockout Round

[dafuge]

England - European Championship - 2052

For the third time it was my chance to take an all-T&M England squad to a major tournament, could we win it this time?

Qualification should have been easy, but a shock loss to Northern Ireland meant things went down to the wire. Qualification came thanks to this blast from the past.

The group draw was not particularly kind to us, bringing matches against Holland, Sweden and Germany.

Holland vs England (group stage)

It was a tough match but our two strikers made sure that the better team won.

England vs Sweden (group stage)

It was a poor game for us as we just couldn't take our chances. Luckily Germany and Holland drew, so a draw would see us qualify top although a loss and a Sweden win could see us get knocked out.

Germany vs England (group stage)

We were outplayed in a match we really should have been winning.

Final Group Table

We were lucky as Holland beat Sweden 3-2, which meant we qualified despite the loss to Germany. This turned out to work in our favour, as Bulgaria somehow qualified top of their group ahead of Spain.

England vs Bulgaria (quarter final)

We made hard work of what should have been an easy game. We meet my previous nation Russia in the semi final.

Russia vs England (semi final)

It was a very close match and I think we were lucky to come away with the win in normal time. The final gives us another chance to beat Spain, thankfully Jon Punal is not in the squad this time.

England vs Spain (final)

Just completely gutted. We hammered them but just couldn't find the net.

International Career Overview

Year      Country          Competition                 Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2030      Italy            FIFA World Cup              Winners
2032      Turkey           European Championship       Quarter Finals
2033      Spain            Confederations Cup          Finalists
2034      Spain            FIFA World Cup              Winners
2035      Brazil           Copa América                Semi Finalists
2038      Nigeria          Cup of Nations              Winners
2038      Nigeria          FIFA World Cup              Group Stage
2040      Czech Republic   European Championship       Qualifying playoff
2041      Serbia           Confederations Cup          4th place
2042      Serbia           FIFA World Cup              3rd place
2044      Belgium          European Championship       Group Stage
2046      Russia           FIFA World Cup              Group Stage
2048      England          European Championship       Semi Finalists
2050      England          FIFA World Cup              3rd place
2052      England          European Championship       Finalists

Next Season

I'm still in a job, so I've got to have another go at the 2054 World Cup in Mexico.

[SnakeXe]

Getting closer and closer there dafuge, surely World Cup 2054 will be the one! Good to see England will always be England though

[TacticalGenius]

Just moved into the new stadium, and here is my budget for the new season.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Well this is annoying my Chairman has finally decided some more Feeder clubs are good for the club, however all he will find are English ones I've now added Palace (Championship) and Stockport (League 1) to Swindon (BSP) and hopefully that'll be enough for him as I don't see the point in taking teams who are in a lower league than the feeder leagues that we started in.

It is also rather disapointing that the game hasn't done anything with the two Serbian Chairman I've had.

[GreyedOutMan]

Could you post up a few pkms for me to look at? I used to find this challenge very hard, but this year I completed it for the first time, and have taken another team to the Championship in successive seasons as well.

I agree about the finances being weird. I have £15m per month going out from my Merthyr Tydfil team in the Premier League, and only about £4.8m of it is wages. I just don't know why certain expenses are so huge! My turnover is around £250m per season but we barely make a profit

Sorry, dont think they're in order.
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4

Any help you can give me would be great. I want to enjoy this challenge - it looks such fun when you're doing well!

[Mikel LUFC]

Try holidaying a game or two and if you're successful then have a look what formation your assistant plays, helps me sometimes when i'm on a really bad patch of form

[Beerish]

My plans for the new Championship season didn't include conceding with 14 seconds of the campaign gone. It's going to be a long old slog...

[SnakeXe]

Okay let's have a look here:

vs Grays

• Before we even start the game, never start with players below 90% condition unless you absolutely have to, and I'd honestly rather start with a youth teamer than someone under 80%
• Not convinced by the formation either, go with something simple - 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. Just noticed it has a name starting "Chelsea" - tactics that work for the top sides rarely will work for sides in the lower leagues.
• Your back three are very narrow, and your wide players do not have the fitness to track back to help them all day. You are constantly getting exposed in the wide areas. Switch to a back four.
• You are conceding too many fouls high up the pitch. Look at each individual's tackling setting and make sure it is appropriate for their ability at it.
• At half time, most of your team is far too tired to continue the game. This stems from your selecting of players who are out of fitness to begin with, but also I suspect that the tactic you are using asks too much of the players in terms of closing down
• Although you weren't outplayed in this game, Grays were far more incisive in the final third than you were. Your only chance was a bit of skill from Green, which he tucked away. They could have scored quite a few more, despite a pass completion of just 53%. The thing to do at this level is to make just a few good passes count in the right areas.
• You are winning the ball regularly in the air - this is something to take advantage of. Long, direct balls into the strikers with a couple of onrushing midfielders and you'll score bucketloads.

vs Hampton & Richmond

• Better team selection for this one.
• Still not convinced by the formation.
• As I commented in the previous game, your closing down is too high. It is pulling your team out of formation and preventing you from making interceptions
• 33 minutes in and four of your players are so tired I'd be considering substituting them
• Watch the game back on Extended highlights, 2D pitch view, and see how often you're pulled out of formation
• 60 minutes in and everyone but your back 3 and keeper is knackered. Unsurprisingly, the opposition get the opener now
• Just noticed a bit of play where 3 of your players swarmed around an opposing player, who then played an easy pass to the guy who one of those 3 should have been marking
• At the 90th minute you have a player below 50% condition, this is absolutely ridiculous and should never, ever happen, in the exception of injury.
• Go on the Analysis tool, select passing, and look where your two strikers were making passes. This is why you did not make a shot on goal.

Okay, I don't have time to look at the other two right now, but I suspect I'll see pretty much the same thing. Here is your plan:

1. Open the tactics creator
2. Select either 4-4-2 if you have the players for it, or a flat 3-5-2
3. Select a rigid philosophy
4. Select direct passing, everything else default
5. Leave everything default on the roles and duties

Start off with a standard strategy and watch how the match is going. Make sensible alterations and touchline shouts if need be. If this doesn't work, then I suspect either your players are not good enough for the level (although that didn't appear to be the case from watching the pkms), or you're selecting them in the wrong roles, in which case I can try and give you a hand with that, but I'll need you to upload the save file so I can take a good look at them.

Hope some of that was useful

[GreyedOutMan]

Argh! Thats really annoying! I was just about to take your advice, so I loaded up the game, and it has corrupted! That's not fair! Anyway, I'm going to start again now (annoyingly) and I will definitely take your advice there. Also going to edit the database to give Boreham Wood a couple of advantages (slightly better youth facilities, a slightly bigger fan base etc). Nothing ridiculous, just to give me a little boost because I am not very good at this game (obviously). I know this is against the rules and I am not going to claim any prestige no matter how well I do this time, it will just make the game a bit more entertaining. I'm bored of starting again each time and doing hopelessly!

Thanks for your advice, though. Should really help.

[SnakeXe]

Argh! Thats really annoying! I was just about to take your advice, so I loaded up the game, and it has corrupted! That's not fair! Anyway, I'm going to start again now (annoyingly) and I will definitely take your advice there. Also going to edit the database to give Boreham Wood a couple of advantages (slightly better youth facilities, a slightly bigger fan base etc). Nothing ridiculous, just to give me a little boost because I am not very good at this game (obviously). I know this is against the rules and I am not going to claim any prestige no matter how well I do this time, it will just make the game a bit more entertaining. I'm bored of starting again each time and doing hopelessly!

Thanks for your advice, though. Should really help.

No problem! Shame about the corruption

If you want to take a slightly easier approach without editing, Merthyr have much better youth facilities than most at the start

[Terk]

*waves*

Deleted my save in a fit of pique at losing a CL quarter final (2nd leg, 94th minute, clearly offside goal). Absolutely gutted, trying to decide whether to start again or just move on from this challenge.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Well we have just dumped Barcelona out of Europe thanks to a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp and a 2-0 home win

[michaeltmurrayuk]

*waves*

Deleted my save in a fit of pique at losing a CL quarter final (2nd leg, 94th minute, clearly offside goal). Absolutely gutted, trying to decide whether to start again or just move on from this challenge.

I've had one of them deny me promotion before

[SnakeXe]

Season 25 - SnakeXe's Merthyr Tydfil

Premier League - 1st, Champions (Table)
Champions League - Runners Up (lost v Man City)
FA Cup - 6th Round (lost v Everton)
League Cup - Winners
Club World Championship - Winners
European Super Cup - Winners
Community Shield - Winners

Transfers

Updating to 10.3.0 actually made this game interesting again (as in, we didn't win everything really really easily)! So I can finally carry it on, woohoo!

We did win most things still, which is good. Maggio wasn't anything like his old self since I updated, so I think he's probably not going to get much further in the Danny Roberts Challenge. Still, we scored plenty as a team, and played some good football, which is nice.

The title race was utterly fantastic, and Aston Villa and ourselves almost neck and neck for months and months. In the end, it came down to the final game - Villa bottled it, and we held our nerve, to win the title by a point! Viewing the positional history chart shows just how great it was to turn it around

The Champions League Final was a massive disappointment, Man City aren't a very good side any more domestically, but they seem to have an indian sign over me, and we haven't beaten them in a while now. Though actually the semi-final second leg was a bigger disappointment - a 2-1 loss to Porto brought to an end our 104 game unbeaten Champions League run

In other news, I finally got another player through the youth academy who wasn't a mediocre left winger. Our long serving Nigerian defender Abiodun Ekpo decided to retire - on the 24th January so I had to bring in a random guy on loan from PSV to cover for the rest of the season. Hopefully we'll get someone through the academy who can come in as fourth choice, if not then I'll be opening the cheque book.

Season    League                  Position  Achievements                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South       1st       Blue Square South Champions,  Promoted
2011/12   Blue Square Premier     1st       Blue Square Premier  Champions, Promoted
2012/13   Coca-Cola League Two    4th       Play-Off Winners, Promoted
2013/14   Coca-Cola League One    6th       Play-Off Semi-Finalists
2014/15   Coca-Cola League One    4th       Play-Off Semi-Finalists
2015/16   Coca-Cola League One    17th      Johnstone's Paint Trophy  Winners
2016/17   Coca-Cola League One    2nd       Promoted
2017/18   Coca-Cola Championship  18th      None
2018/19   Coca-Cola Championship  21st      None
2019/20   Coca-Cola Championship  9th       None
2020/21   Coca-Cola Championship  6th       Play-Off Winners, Promoted
2021/22   Premier League          13th      None
2022/23   Premier League          14th      None
2023/24   Premier League          9th       None
2024/25   Premier League          4th       League Cup Runners Up
2025/26   Premier League          1st       PL Champions
2026/27   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners, LC  Winners
2027/28   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners, LC  Winners, CWC Winners
2028/29   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners, FA  Cup Winners, CWC Winners
2029/30   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners, FA  Cup Winners, LC Winners, CWC Winners
2030/31   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners, FA  Cup Winners, CWC Winners
2031/32   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners,  CWC Winners
2032/33   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners, FA  Cup Winners, LC Winners, CWC Winners
2033/34   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, CL Winners, FA  Cup Winners, LC Winners, CWC Winners
2034/34   Premier League          1st       PL Champions, LC Winners

Previous Season Reports:
Season 1 - 2010/11
Season 2 - 2011/12
Season 3 - 2012/13
Season 4 - 2013/14
Season 5 - 2014/15
Season 6 - 2015/16
Season 7 - 2016/17
Season 8 - 2017/18
Season 9 - 2018/19
Season 10 - 2019/20
Season 11 - 2020/21
Season 12 - 2021/22
Season 13 - 2022/23
Season 14 - 2023/24
Season 15 - 2024/25
Season 16 - 2025/26
Season 17 - 2026/27
Season 18 - 2027/28
Season 19 - 2028/29
Season 20 - 2029/30
Season 21 - 2030/31
Season 22 - 2031/32
Season 23 - 2032/33
Season 24 - 2033/34

[SnakeXe]

Season 25 - SnakeXe's International Career - Italy

European Championship Qualifying - 1st (Group E)
Friendlies - Played 3, Won 2, Drawn 0, Lost 1

Though I'd won the World Cup the season before, the Italy team wasn't great, so I changed a lot of the old (and old-ish) guard in for up and coming stars in the under 21 squad, and it seems to have paid off so far. We're playing much better football, and Maggio is really coming into his own at this level, breaking the record for number of international goals in a season (14 goals).

Top of the Euro 2036 qualifying table easily, a weird defeat to Slovenia notwithstanding, things are going fairly swimmingly!

I'd imagine since Maggio no longer has a real shot at the Danny Roberts challenge that I'll change jobs after the Euros, either back to England, or to Wales if the job finally becomes available.

Season     Nation                  Achievements                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2030/31   England                 None
2031/32   England                 European Championship Winners
2032/33   Italy                   None2033/34   Italy                    World Cup Winners
2034/35   Italy                   None

Previous Season Reports:
Season 21 - 2030/31
Season 22 - 2031/32
Season 23 - 2032/33
Season 24 - 2033/34

[SnakeXe]

*waves*

Deleted my save in a fit of pique at losing a CL quarter final (2nd leg, 94th minute, clearly offside goal). Absolutely gutted, trying to decide whether to start again or just move on from this challenge.

Noooo!! /o\

I'd like to see you try again personally, you liven up the thread

[Terk]

Noooo!! /o\

I'd like to see you try again personally, you liven up the thread

Cheers

Decided I'm going to give it another shot, trying to decide which team to start with now. Not sure I can face going with Canvey again.

[TacticalGenius]

Cheers

Decided I'm going to give it another shot, trying to decide which team to start with now. Not sure I can face going with Canvey again.

FC United are a good club to play as

[Terk]

FC United are a good club to play as

I have indeed decided to brush away my prejudices about everything Manchester based and gone for FC United.

[Terk]

Congratulations on ten in a row, by the way, SnakeXe

[TacticalGenius]

Technically they're anti-Manchester... (United, anyway)

[andylincoln]

Has anyone got a save where oxford city get promoted to start the challenge off with.
would be great.

Andy

[Terk]

Andy,

Oxford City save

[Terk]

Technically they're anti-Manchester... (United, anyway)

True, but I still can't like them. Respect them for what they did, but not like them.

Anyways, I'm managing them now.

Profile

[andylincoln]

Thank you Terk for the very quick reply, clicked on link and comes up ' the file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable.
Will be patient and wait.
Will it when downloadewd need to be put anywhere on my pc or will it start up and running immediatly.
many thanks
Andy

[Terk]

Thank you Terk for the very quick reply, clicked on link and comes up ' the file you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable.
Will be patient and wait.
Will it when downloadewd need to be put anywhere on my pc or will it start up and running immediatly.
many thanks
Andy

No idea why its doing that. It came from this thread. That saves seems to be the only one it's affecting.

When you do get your save downloaded, you need to save it to

My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2010/games

Some of the other saves in that thread I posted may have Oxford City as a promoted team, but there's no way of knowing that until you download it and then run it in the game.

[SnakeXe]

Congratulations on ten in a row, by the way, SnakeXe

Thanks bud it was definitely the most satisfying since the first

Good luck with FC United!

[TacticalGenius]

League               Season    Finished  Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blue Square North    10/11       1st    Champions
Blue Square Premier  11/12       1st    Champions, FA Trophy Winners
League Two           12/13       3rd    Automatic Promotion
League One           13/14       5th    JPT Winners, Promoted
Championship         14/15       4th    Promoted
Premiership          15/16       14th

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Sunderland just don't learn they have just gone into admin for the second time in three years at least this time they were already relegated before going into Admin, though I'm not sure how they even went into Admin - they have had two years in the Premiership since being relegated the last time they went into Admin, make profits in the transfer market, have an average wage of £14K (I have £13K, the league £25K) and an average attendance of ~33,000 (to my ~24,000) so I wonder where all their money is going?

[michaeltmurrayuk]

*waves*

Deleted my save in a fit of pique at losing a CL quarter final (2nd leg, 94th minute, clearly offside goal). Absolutely gutted, trying to decide whether to start again or just move on from this challenge.

I've just made it to the Champions League Final thanks to a 92nd minute offside goal

[Terk]

I've just made it to the Champions League Final thanks to a 92nd minute offside goal

Nice

I've just made my BSN début with FC United. We lost 4-1 I forgot how difficult it can be at this level.

[andylincoln]

No idea why its doing that. It came from this thread. That saves seems to be the only one it's affecting.

When you do get your save downloaded, you need to save it to

My Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2010/games

Some of the other saves in that thread I posted may have Oxford City as a promoted team, but there's no way of knowing that until you download it and then run it in the game.

morning
Cheers Terk for your help last night with an Oxford City save, am finally up and running this morning so will keep all posted as I progress.
Thanks again Terk.

Andy

[alstarz01]

Morning People. After getting bored with Southend i've decided to give this a good go Hoping to get Either Canvey or Billericay as they are my local clubs! See how things go

[SnakeXe]

Nice

I've just made my BSN début with FC United. We lost 4-1 I forgot how difficult it can be at this level.

I'm in the Championship with Tiverton, with a barely League One standard squad - now that is difficult!

[dafuge]

Tooting & Mitcham United FC - Barclays Premier League - 2052/53

Last season we drew a complete blank as we failed to win anything and only just qualified for the Champions League. We badly needed to win something this season.

League Table
League Positions Graph

We were back to our best, although Swansea look like interesting title challengers for next season.

Carling Cup - we fell atthe first hurdle thanks to an own goal and some awful penalties.

FA Cup - the run was hard work with tight games against Spurs and Newcastle, the final was shocking as we just didn't perform.

UEFA Champions League - I made a huge mistake in the group stage, going into the last game thinking that we had already qualified top of the group. Atletico Madrid made the most of the weak team I put out and beat us 3-0, the scoreline they needed to top the group. The punishment for my mistake was a match against Real Madrid, which we came through only to be punished by their neighbours once again in the next round.

Squad - the squad did well this year as most of the key players avoided injury.

Transfers - we made a bit of money this year as Julian Cockerill finally left the club and a talented reserve goalie was moved on for a good price.

Key Player Profiles:

Paul Moran - this was his best season ever.

Andy Greenhouse - another good year with a great number of goals.

Edward Graham - he's still young but he's improving.

Tom Forster - Julian Cockerill leaving game him his chance to shine, which he seems to be taking.

George Aston - he's suffered fitness and injury problems but he's great when he's fit.

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
2039/40   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League winners and FA Cup finalists
2040/41   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Carling Cup winners, Champions league finalists
2041/42   Barclays Premier League  3rd         FA Cup and Champions League winners
2042/43   Barclays Premier League  5th         Club World Cup winners
2043/44   Barclays Premier League  2nd         Carling Cup and Europa League winners
2044/45   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League winners and Carling Cup finalists
2045/46   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and FA Cup winners, Champions League finalists
2046/47   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League winners and FA Cup finalists
2047/48   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Champions League winners
2048/49   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL, CWC, and FA Cup winners
2049/50   Barclays Premier League  2nd         Club World Cup winners
2050/51   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League winners, FA Cup and CL finalists
2051/52   Barclays Premier League  4th    
2052/53   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League winners, FA Cup finalists

Next Season

Next season could possibly be the last of my all-T&M era, depending on what happens in the World Cup. Retaining the league title is my aim but it would be nice to win something else as well.

Confederations Cup with England is up next.

[SnakeXe]

Great season to recover from the last, I almost hope you don't win the World Cup - the all-T&M era is very interesting

[Terk]

If I'm counting right that's 19 Premier League titles, dafuge. Massively impressive. It would be fitting, if next season is to be the last of the all T&M era, for you to round it off with title #20.

[dafuge]

Great season to recover from the last, I almost hope you don't win the World Cup - the all-T&M era is very interesting

It has been good, but it has also been frustrating. Knowing you have weaknesses in your squad and not being able to do anything about it is a bit annoying, as it missing out on all the world class players I could be signing.

[dafuge]

If I'm counting right that's 19 Premier League titles, dafuge. Massively impressive. It would be fitting, if next season is to be the last of the all T&M era, for you to round it off with title #20.

20th title followed by a World Cup win, that would be my ideal scenario for next season.

[Thebaker]

It has been good, but it has also been frustrating. Knowing you have weaknesses in your squad and not being able to do anything about it is a bit annoying, as it missing out on all the world class players I could be signing.

your domination with your own youth players is incredible. i assume you have top youth + youth acadamy.
If i only played my youths i'd be in league 1, mind you my youth facilities are only good as the chairman see's no need to improve them.
Not sure i could give up trying to buy world class youngsters, my best rated player is a 20yo South African bought for only 120k

[dafuge]

your domination with your own youth players is incredible. i assume you have top youth + youth acadamy.

The youth players I was getting before the facilities were maxed out were pretty awful, there's no way I could have done it with them.

[TacticalGenius]

2016/17 completed. Finished 8th, which was well above both the Board's and my expectations. Got to the 6th round of the FA Cup, losing 1-0 at the Emirates to Carling Cup and League winners Arsenal. Lost in the 4th round of the Carling Cup, 1-0 away to Southampton.

Guidetti had a stinker of a season, ending with only 10 goals and 15 assists in all comps as the lone striker.

Board have agreed to a Youth and Training upgrade, using the EPL prize money

League              Season    Finished  Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blue Square North    10/11       1st    Champions
Blue Square Premier  11/12       1st    Champions, FA Trophy Winners
League Two           12/13       3rd    Automatic Promotion
League One           13/14       5th    JPT Winners, Promoted
Championship         14/15       4th    Promoted
Premiership          15/16       14th
Premiership          16/17       8th

[alstarz01]

Well... I dont know how everyone won there league on the first go. Im having some trouble with Billericay. 1 Game won and 3 games drawn, 2 games lost to Forest Green and Bromley. Is this not bad for a starting 6 games?

[Thebaker]

Well... I dont know how everyone won there league on the first go. Im having some trouble with Billericay. 1 Game won and 3 games drawn, 2 games lost to Forest Green and Bromley. Is this not bad for a starting 6 games?

Personally i rarely start a season well, usually i pick up after xmas. An influx of new players at the start often leads to an indifferent start and things improve when they bed in.
Your start is not too bad anyway, maybe a bit more firepower needed or a better defence to turn the draws into wins, or maybe just more luck

[Jaffa]

Very impressive Dafuge!

FAO Tactical: Nice budgets!

[Jaffa]

Well... I dont know how everyone won there league on the first go. Im having some trouble with Billericay. 1 Game won and 3 games drawn, 2 games lost to Forest Green and Bromley. Is this not bad for a starting 6 games?

Thats not bad really, as mentioned once your team beds down those draws will edge into wins and the losses become draws

[Jaffa]

Anyone noticed by the way how it's nigh on impossible to score from corners?! Am I missing something here?

[dafuge]

England - Confederations Cup - 2053

This tournament came as a bit of a bonus as I didn't even realise we had qualified to play in it.

England vs New Zealand (group stage)

We got off to a flying start but struggled to find a second goal as their keeper played a blinder. The second half was more of the same as we continued to dominate but just couldn't find the net. Disaster then struck as the ball rebounded off one of our players, making the score 1-1 in the 95th minute. This was a worrying result as it meant we had gone on a run of 5 games without a win, it could mean my time with England could come to an ubrupt end.

Cameroon vs England (group stage)

We got the job done with a comfortable victory. Results elsewhere mean we could finish anywhere from 1st to 3rd depending on what happens in the final games.

England vs Mexico (group stage)

Just when we really needed it, we pulled out a great performance against the hosts.

Final Group Table

Despite the early shock, we managed to top the group. The semi finals see us against Brazil and Mexico against Spain.

Brazil vs England (semi final)

The first half was a tight affair with not a lot between the two teams. Brazil took the lead early in the second half from a corner and didn't look like losing it until and own goal from a corner brought us back into the game. An injury in the second half of extra time put us down to ten men just before Paul Moran fired us into the lead. We then hung on to what looked like an unlikely victory to put us into the final against Mexico, who beat Spain 1-0 in extra time. It would have been nice to meet Spain again but I can't complain as we get a great chance to win a trophy for England with an all-T&M squad.

England vs Mexico (final)

It felt very different to the grpu match as Mexico defended much better and kept us at bay in the first half. In the second half, the runs down the left wing from Mark Kidd were causing them trouble as they twice chopped him down, both times resulting in a red card. Mark Kidd then continued to bother them as he fired us into the lead, with Edward Graham scoring a free kick to make it 2-0 just minutes later. The nine men of Mexico just couldn't cope as we ran out comfortable winners to pick up the first ever trophy for England under my management.

International Career Overview

Year      Country          Competition                 Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2030      Italy            FIFA World Cup              Winners
2032      Turkey           European Championship       Quarter Finals
2033      Spain            Confederations Cup          Finalists
2034      Spain            FIFA World Cup              Winners
2035      Brazil           Copa América                Semi Finalists
2038      Nigeria          Cup of Nations              Winners
2038      Nigeria          FIFA World Cup              Group Stage
2040      Czech Republic   European Championship       Qualifying playoff
2041      Serbia           Confederations Cup          4th place
2042      Serbia           FIFA World Cup              3rd place
2044      Belgium          European Championship       Group Stage
2046      Russia           FIFA World Cup              Group Stage
2048      England          European Championship       Semi Finalists
2050      England          FIFA World Cup              3rd place
2052      England          European Championship       Finalists
2053      England          Confederations Cup          Winners

Next Season

The win was much needed as the pressure on my job was mounting. This is ceratinly not it for my all-T&M England team though, as I've firmly set my sights on the 2054 World Cup in Spain. Qualification has not been too easy, with a few silly points thrown away but the remaining fixtures should work in our favour.

[alstarz01]

From no Red Cards to deal with to 2 in one game! 4-0 Loss against Eastbourne has left me reeling a bit. Im still in the thick of a Play-Off battle though

[Jaffa]

My squad is unravelling at the seems, just lost my 2 best players, had to sell one before he left on a free...and my main striker did leave for free.. refused to accept a new contract and I ran out of time on him My main central midfielder is now also refusing to negotiate a new deal and I'll be losing him on a bosman to by the looks of it !!

Frustrating.

[SnakeXe]

Great job on the first T&M trophy on the world stage dafuge

Unlucky Jaffa, I hate losing players when you want to keep them. I had a world-class right fullback who sulked for two whole seasons after I rejected £40m for him from Man City, and left on a free.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Trying to get back into the game so decided to give this challenge a go. Couldn't get too many interesting teams to come up, got bored of reloading and eventually settled for Truro.

Profile

Added English as second nationality so my manager would speak the language (can't think of any other way to do it). Hope that's alright?

[GreyedOutMan]

Brilliant! Lewes just got a penalty. They missed it. The striker went for the rebound but my defender lunged in and brought him down - another penalty straight away. They missed it again

Will probably still lose

EDIT: I didnt

[darren1983]

Brilliant! Lewes just got a penalty. They missed it. The striker went for the rebound but my defender lunged in and brought him down - another penalty straight away. They missed it again

Will probably still lose

EDIT: I didnt

Looks like your luck is turning mate?

[Jaffa]

Hope mine is turning too, had an epic 4-3 away win at Portsmouth in the FA Cup 3rd round, that was pleasing

Just lost one of my most promising midfielders now too, bloody chairman accepting a 500k offer... what the hell, thats hardly anything!! Too good to refuse my a*se. I reckon I could of easily netted 1-2 million for him

[alstarz01]

Ive just got so annoyed at my season i've broken my desk! How can we go from 5th to the relegation zone cos the team can't win to save their lives! 12 Games without a win in a row. Most of those have been losses. What on earth is wrong!!

[Terk]

Pretty happy with my start to life with FC United. 7 games in, we're 7th with 11 points. The two games we've drawn we probably should have won as well.

[Terk]

*bangs head off wall*

I've kept forgetting to set my penalty takers, despite us having been awarded four penalties already this season. As such, my centre back captain keeps deciding to take them himself and so far he's missed all of them (and only got one on target).

[roseboy64]

Trying to decide if I should sell my RB. It's August and he has one year left on his contract. Only 25 as well. I have a younger RB who I could slot in but he could not have enough in him to be an adequate replacement. He is home grown though as I got him cheap young from Spain in time. Another option is to buy a 19yo RB but he might cost too much for his age and I have no idea if he'll adapt. Guess I could give my backup RB a shot until January and see how he does and go for the other guy. Means I'll sell my RB then.

Also have a young CB who's 23 IIRC and has good stats but keeps rating below 7. I brought in a teenage CB who's not as good but could be better with the right development. I also have a another teenage CB who got a few games here and there last season after I brought him in cheap. Now to wonder if I cash in on the CB or give him a chance to put in the performances.

[Terk]

That's a tough one, roseboy. I'd probably sell the RB and keep the CB, give him a little more time to prove himself.

Things going even better with FC United now, 14 games into the season and we're top of the table on a 9 game unbeaten run in the league.

[alstarz01]

Well... Last game of the season against Lewes, there top of the league. Im in the relegation zone. Nothing but a win can save me. We won 2-1!!! Im still there. 2nd Season hopefully will be better than this one

2010/11 - 18th

[andylincoln]

afternoon guys.
Started a game with oxford city yesterday, really strugling to get some free signings in or any signing at all, no one is interested, can anyone hint me to the best way off getting players in at beginningoff 2010/11 season.
looked and gone through the list off players that left their club end off last season as well.

any helpbe greatly appreciated.

andy

[Thebaker]

afternoon guys.
Started a game with oxford city yesterday, really strugling to get some free signings in or any signing at all, no one is interested, can anyone hint me to the best way off getting players in at beginningoff 2010/11 season.
looked and gone through the list off players that left their club end off last season as well.

any helpbe greatly appreciated.

andy

As mentioned before, if you loaded players from top clubs look at Glasgow Rangers and Celtic, they have a lot of good youths who will join

[Paulo1985]

I am thinking that i will give this challenge a go for the first time. Does anyone have a Horsham save that i can have as they are the side most local to me eligible for this challenge?

Thanks

[GreyedOutMan]

Looks like your luck is turning mate?

Indeed. Have been gradually working my way up the table and I'm now top of the table at the start of February. Looking really good and I have four really good strikers banging it in. The way this is going I'll be looking at consecutive promotions

Hasnt all been easy as you've seen - was hanging around mid-table until about 14 games in but since then have really gone on a good run.

[andylincoln]

I am thinking that i will give this challenge a go for the first time. Does anyone have a Horsham save that i can have as they are the side most local to me eligible for this challenge?

Thanks

If you look on entry 7349 in this thread approx 30 up you will see where 'Terk' has highlighted 'This thread'
I have had a look and there is a horsham save in there.

hope that helps

andy

[darren1983]

Indeed. Have been gradually working my way up the table and I'm now top of the table at the start of February. Looking really good and I have four really good strikers banging it in. The way this is going I'll be looking at consecutive promotions

Hasnt all been easy as you've seen - was hanging around mid-table until about 14 games in but since then have really gone on a good run.

Pleased to hear things are going well, as I have said before, took me 3 years to get out of BSS am now in Jan 2028 and in the premiership, keep at it mate.

My season is going from bad to worse, have now slipped down to 10th after just 1 win in 10, after back to back league wins I really wanted the chapions league this year but, despite drawing so poor slovakian (I think) team in the first knockout stage, with my current form thats not gonna happen, and may well miss out on europe all together

[roseboy64]

That's a tough one, roseboy. I'd probably sell the RB and keep the CB, give him a little more time to prove himself.

Things going even better with FC United now, 14 games into the season and we're top of the table on a 9 game unbeaten run in the league.

Yeah probably what I should do. Have a bit of time left to loan out one of the teenage CBs. As well I'm thinking I'll give my backup RB a shot at the big time. He'd not done badly in his chances.

[Jaffa]

I think I'm going to ditch this save, it's winding me up far too much.

[TacticalGenius]

I've not been able to play since yesterday afternoon... I was 4-0 up in the 1st game of the season away to Tottenham at half time. We were cruising. I didn't give a half time talk, as I didn't want them to be complacent, nor did I want to say I was disappointed. The game ended 4-3, and if it wasn't for my fantastic GK, who the world and his wife want, we'd have been smashed by 8 or 9 to 4 come full time. On letting the 3rd in, I proceeded to smash the **** out of my mouse. It was the 1st thing to hand... My 2nd in a month

[GreyedOutMan]

Boreham Wood FC - Blue Square South - 2010/11

First of all, thanks to Dafuge for this brilliant challenge that has kept me entertained for many an hour for two years. Also apologies for the liberty I hope he will see as a compliment – I stole his report layout! Like Dafuge in his first season, we were predicted by the media to finish rock bottom. However, on looking at my squad I didn’t feel the prediction was justified – there were some good players there. Some gaping holes, too – especially at left-back – but a squad that I felt was capable of at least a mid-table finish.

League Table
League Positions Graph

Mid-table my foot! What a season! The first third of the season was very up and down but after that the squad really gelled and we scored goals for fun. Really pleased with that – only my 2nd promotion on this challenge, and this time it came in the first season for the very first time. Promotion was secured with a game to spare but we were 5-6 points ahead of Eastleigh for quite a while before that, and a playoff spot was guaranteed well before.

The e.on FA Cup – we had a really good run including a famous win against League Two promotion chasers Chesterfield before a narrow defeat to League One strugglers Oldham. Pleased with that, definitely. With a bit of luck we can go one further next season and get a big draw against a Premiership side and a trip to O.T., Emirates or Stamford Bridge, although I’d happily settle for somewhere like Upton Park, The Stadium of Light or St Andrew’s even...

FA Trophy – disappointing defeat to Cheltenham having beaten one BSP opponent already.


Transfers - the squad was pretty good already for this level, and I usually end up in huge debt with poor players in the first season so I thought this time I’d try to do it with my own squad. Cassius was a legend for my Hastings Utd team so I got him in but that was it until March when, after months of trying to find a decent left-back, I signed two 16 year-olds on the same day. Hopefully at least one of them will be OK – either is better than the hopeless wing back I played at full-back most of the season. Two decent central midfielders signed on frees at the end of the season.

Squad - a pretty young side with significant contributions coming from all over the place. Particularly the strikers who managed a massive goals tally of 65 between them.

Key Player Profiles:

Stuart Barnett – not a regular at first, as Robins and Robson started off the season on fire and were then joined by Cassius. But once he got into the team he made himself a regular very quickly and as you can see, he really took the league’s defences by storm. By far the best player in the squad now. Got a nasty hip injury in April so will spend the summer with specialists.

Jamie Robins – didn’t score quite as regularly as Barnett but his goals in the early part of the season salvaged a few points which looked at the time like they wouldn’t be enough to keep us in the league, but ended up being crucial in getting us promoted.

Marcus Cassius – annoying to have three strikers in the squad as the defence was good too as a unit. But Marcus, who was a stalwart in my Hastings United team, gets a much quicker promotion this time around.

Ben Owen – the stalwart at the back – held the unit together brilliantly all season.

Robert Connor – possibly my favourite player. The best winger I’ve ever seen at this level, and Connor has really shown it this season.

Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South        1st         Promoted as Champions

Next Season

Well after struggling with this game for so long I didn’t think I would have such a great season. It wasn’t easy and we struggled a lot in some games especially at the start of the season. Next season will not be a walk in the park but if we can hang on to our best players we should be in with a chance of another promotion. Will also look to clear out some of the dead wood that clearly does still lurk in that squad. There’s more in the reserves too!

[TacticalGenius]

Congrats GOM, good to see things are starting to work out for you, and well done for persevereing

[GreyedOutMan]

Thanks TG any comments?

[TacticalGenius]

I dunno really, I don't know much about players at that level... But regens I know a bit about Barnett and Connor are too good for the BSS

[TacticalGenius]

The 3 players that they all want:

Got Schouten while in the CCC for free from ADO Den Haag

I got Verratti on a free from AC Milan at the end of 2015/16

My £12.5m record signing: Rodriguez (and already rejected an £18.75m bid from AC Milan)

[GreyedOutMan]

Yep. Got a rather interesting academy graduate a few minutes ago too - watch out for the name Peter Parnaby

Might have to sell one or two strikers this summer, got a selection headache with three strikers who are good enough for league football and a further three who would be leading stars in any BSP team.

[GreyedOutMan]

Gonna lose Connor on a free though

EDT: No I'm not! Signed a 4-year contract

[GreyedOutMan]

Being a Gooner, this was a great moment :-)

[GreyedOutMan]

So - any tips on the BSP and what strategies need to change from the BSS?

[TacticalGenius]

Carry on as you ended the last season, and change things as you go along if they need changing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[TacticalGenius]

Who the f**k are Man United?

[cookie15]

Another season in charge of Truro City, another promotion
This time we're heading into the Championship after coming 2nd in League One behind Derby. Heavy investment is needed and the club have just received their first £1million offer for a player! It's my Icelandic ST Finbogason who is likely to heading out of the door to join Portsmouth.

More details to follow and screenies later...................

[mag man]

Glad to see you stick with it GreyedOutMan and congrats on the promotion.

[Paulo1985]

Thanks for the Horsham Save.

Just wondering if anyone has a save game with all top clubs players retained. I can not get the DDT file to show up in 10.3 patch and really want to give this a go. I dont mind if it is already with the teams promoted or if it is from the 24th june. Would like to start with a local team (South east England) but am not really fussed just as long as the top club players are retained.

Thanks Guys

[Paulo1985]

Who the f**k are Man United?

wow is that the Real Madrid Raul if so he would be 40/41 and still scoring a hatrick at the highest level