[FM10] A legend in the making?

Here I will be keeping a record of my career as i aim to reach unbelievable heights as a manager. I will be starting my career at Stevenge Borough in the Blue Square Premiership. Monthly Progress reports coming soon. Watch this space.

July 2009

Michael Vine signs a 2 year contract with Stevenage Borough worth £1,300p/w. The board have set the target to reach the playoffs in my first season. I have a transfer budget of £0 and wage budget of £14.75kp/w of which there was £650 remaining.

The squad at the start of my reign as Boro manager was:

GK - A Bayes

C Day

DF - R Henry

M Roberts©

M Bostwick

J Ashton

M Albrighton

S Laird

MF - E Odhiambu

P Vincenti

S Long

A Drury

L Wilson

J Byrom

M Cole

D Bridges

ST - Y Odubade

L Boylan

C Griffin

C Beardsley

I was looking to sign a LB and two strikers before the start of the season.

I approached R Follett (LB) and S Gough (ST) who both accepted the contract offers and joined. I also approached D Williams who turned down the offer so instead went for J Harris (ST) who signed.

On the 24th The Promotion odds were announced placing my side 5th at 14-1. Luton were declared favourites to win the league at odds on.

Results

11/7/09 - Friendly - Boro 2 - 3 Grimsby Town Attendance: 693

16/7/09 - Friendly - Havant & Waterlooville 0 - 0 Boro

21/7/09 - Friendly - Boro 2 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur Reserves Attendance: 371

23/7/09 - Friendly - Boro 0 - 1 Swansea City Attendance: 2925

26/7/09 - Friendly - Boro 1 - 1 Darlington Attendance: 653

30/7/09 - Friendly - Thurrock 1 - 0 Boro

The highpoint in a poor first month was the 2 - 2 draw with a strong Spurs reserves side featuring 3 first team players (Cudicini, Bentley & Giovanni dos Santos). We twice took the lead through Lee Boylan but Spurs managed a second equaliser in the 85th minute. The lowpoint by some way was losing 1 - 0 to Thurrock from the division below.

Looking forward to a better month in August hopefully with some results going our way.

August 2009

After a poor July, things didn't look like getting better any time soon as on the first day of August Boro were on the recieving end of a 6-0 defeat to Barnsley. To make matters worse Bridges picked up a hip injury during the game forcing him out of the side for 3 months.

The board announced that 735 season tickets were sold bringing some much needed income to the team.

The team finally seemed to hit form just when it mattered, starting their league campaign with a 2-0 win against Tamworth. Stevenage remained unbeaten with 2 draws in the next 2 games. the only 2 bits of bad news in this period were that Laird picked up an injury ruling him out for 2 weeks and Michael Vine recieved a warning from the FA for complaining about the referee in the match against Barrow.

The board were looking to attract some new fans, so they announced a fan day for the next home game. Each paying adult would get a child in for half price. The game chosen for the fan day was not the most enthralling, however Boro's unbeaten run continued as they won 1-0.

The sides first defeat came as they made an away trip to Oxford. Gough came out of the match with bruised ribs meaning he would be sidelined for 10 days.

Boro finished the month with 2 draws to cap of a reasonable first month of competitive football.

Results

1/8/09 - Friendly - Boro 0 - 6 Barnsley Attendance:1614

8/8/09 - League - Boro 2 - 0 Tamworth Attendance: 2469

11/8/09 - League - Hayes & Yeading 0 - 0 Boro

15/8/09 - League - Barrow 0 - 0 Boro

18/8/09 - League - Boro 1 - 0 Ebbsfleet Attendance: 2593

22/8/09 - League - Oxford United 3 - 1 Boro

29/8/09 - League - Boro 1 - 1 Rushden & Diamonds Attendance: 2117

31/8/09 - League - Histon 0 - 0 Boro

Final League Position - 9th

Good luck with your career, i will folow you.

What leagues have you load and what is your goalfor this game?

Cheers

I have loaded 6 countries(England, Scotland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) and am running all leagues available in those countries(original database).

My aim is to take Stevenage to the highest level possible.

September 2009

September was another poor month for Boro, with only 1 win in the 6 matches.

The month started badly as the board announced losses of £71.97k for August. Boro then managed 2 draws in their next 2 games before losing 4-3 to Chester. This game set a Boro record of 6 games without a win. It also saw Harris out for 3/4 months with a torn hamstring, after scoring the opening goal.

Boro finally managed a win in their next game winning 2-0 at home to Grays, a game witnessed by the smallest home crowd of the season so far.

They ended the month with a narrow defeat at local rivals Luton.

The board clearly still think Vine is the man for the job after they announced they were delighted that he had stated that he wasn't interested in the newly available Wrexham job.

Stevenage end the month with a game in hand over most of the other teams in the league.

Results

8/9/09 - League - Boro 1 - 1 Eastbourne Borough Attendance: 1367

12/9/09 - League - Mansfield Town 1 - 1 Boro

19/9/09 - League - Chester City 4 - 3 Boro

22/9/09 - League - Boro 2 - 0 Grays Athletic Attendance: 1289

26/9/09 - League - Boro 0 - 0 Altrincham Attendance: 1603

29/9/09 - League - Luton Town 1 - 0 Boro

Final League Position - 14th

October 2009

The month started with the board's confidence report, which stated that they felt I should be performing better as manager. they also announced losses of £97.88k.

After a worse than expected start to the season Stevenage were looking to get a good run of results going. The start of October provided some much needed relief from the pressure they were feeling, winning their first 3 games in a row before a narrow defeat to Wrexham, although Vicenti who had been putting in some good performances picked up a rib injury forcing him out for the rest of the month.

The FA Cup 4th Qualifying round draw gave Stevenage the best rated team in the competition at this stage, drawing them against local rivals Luton. They managed to take the game to a replay after a convincing performance at home, seen by the largest crowd so far this season, however were knocked out after Luton proved the stronger side winning 3-2 at Kenilworth Road after extra time. The replay was the third time Boro & Luton had met in the last 7 matches and the second time in 5 days. If Boro had won the tie it would have provided an easy game in the next round after drawing Swindon Supermarine.

The month ended with a heavy loss away to Kettering as the side failed to finish their chances in a fairly even game.

Results

3/10/09 - League - York City 0 - 1 Boro

10/10/09 - League - Boro 1 - 0 Hayes & Yeading Attendance: 1451

17/10/09 - League - Boro 1 - 0 Salisbury Attendance: 1839

20/10/09 - League - Boro 0 - 1 Wrexham Attendance: 1863

24/10/09 - FA Cup - Boro 2 - 2 Luton Town Attendance: 2701

28/10/09 - FA Cup - Luton Town 3 - 2 Boro (aet)

31/10/09 - League - Kettering 3 - 0 Boro

Final League Position - 10

Can you post the league table image to see the difference between your team and the others?

Good summaries but could do with a few more screen shots.

Good summaries but could do with a few more screen shots.

i'll post some in the next one for you

November 2009

After October saw Stevenage rise up the league by 4 places the fans were wanting more of the same. The board still felt I should be doing slightly better, but at least the club was moving in the right direction. The board announced losses of £14.26k, which despite being poor meant October was the best month financially so far.

November was a fairly uneventful month with only 4 games being played.

The board announced another fan day this time against Gateshead. It was another poor spectacle for the fans but at least it wasn’t a loss. The next 2 games saw 1 win and 1 loss for Boro and the lowest home attendance of the season.

We then witnessed the draw for the FA Trophy first round, which one again saw Boro drawn at home against Luton. That will be the 4th time the 2 sides have met in the season with at least one more in the league to be played and possibly a replay if the game is drawn.

Boro ended the month with a narrow away win in yet another disappointing month.

Results

14/11/09 - League - Boro 0 - 0 Gateshead Attendance: 1776

14/11/09 - League - Forest Green 1 - 0 Boro

14/11/09 - League - Boro 1 - 2 Chester Attendance: 1252

14/11/09 - League - Salisbury 0 - 1 Boro

Final League Position - 13th

Screenshots will start from december as i had already played a couple of december games before i posted.