[FM10] Roar like a lion and soar like an eagle

Setup

• Version
  
  • FM2010 10.2 and onwards (patching up as SI send out builds)
    

  [*]XML files

  • Uncle Ron's England addition
    
  • Added coordinates for Trafford
    

  [*]Database

  • Large (No extra players retained, attribute masking on)
    

  [*]Playable Leagues

  • England (To Level 8)
    
  • Ireland (All)
    
  • N.Ireland (All)
    
  • Scotland (All)
    
  • Wales (All)
    

  [*]View-Only Leagues

  • Argentina (Top Division)
    
  • Brazil (Top Division)
    
  • France (Top Division)
    
  • Germany (Top Division)
    
  • Italy (Top Division)
    
  • Norway (Top Division)
    
  • Spain (Top Division)
    

Club History

The club was formed in summer 1990, being the brainchild of David Brown, John Harrison, David Law, and Bill Whitten under the name North Trafford, sharing Shawe View with Trafford Borough Rugby League Club. After initially being denied entrance, a late withdrawal resulted in the club being invited to join Division 2 of the Mid-Cheshire League for 1990/91 season.

The first game at competitive level versus Macclesfield College was won 3-1,leading to a finish in second place, and promotion to Division One.

As a bonus the club obtained sole tenancy of Shawe View via a 30 year lease, and substantial ground improvements were undertaken.

1991/92 season saw progress continue on the field as 4th place was achieved coupled with a successful application to join Division 2 of the North West Counties League.

1992/93 ended with a 7th place finish, and after an indifferent start to the following season, a magnificent second half in which 20 out of 22 games were won, resulted in 2nd place and promotion to Division One.

Additionally the first trophy was won via a 3-1 victory versus Maghull in the Lamot Pils Cup.

Promotion was dependent on further ground improvements resulting in the erection of floodlights and the South Stand.

1994/95 was launched under the club's present name, ending in 4th place and defeats in the finals of the Manchester Senior and Carling Cups, progress being maintained the next season via 3rd place and reaching the last 16 of the F.A, Vase losing to the eventual winners, Brigg Town.

1996/97 was undoubtedly our most successful, winning the N.W.C.L. and gaining promotion to Division 1 of the Unibond League but losing out in the finals of the Manchester Senior Cup and the League Cup. David Law who had managed the club since inception was named N.W.C.L. Manager of the Year, and the Reserves won the N.W.C.L Reserve Division, the Reserve League Cup, and the Manchester Amateur Cup.

An indifferent start to 1997/98 was reversed ,the club finishing 12th, and a further trophy was won, the Unibond First Division Cup, beating Lincoln United 3-1.

Mark Molyneaux was appointed assistant manager to David Law at the start of 1998/99, taking over the reins in December, and guiding us to a final place of 14th.

Throughout season 2002-03 results didn't come Trafford's way and at Christmas the club decided to release manager Joey Dunn & appoint the vastly experienced Mike McKenzie who has won so many honours as a manager in the Unibond League. Sadly results still didn't come & Trafford were relegated to the North West Counties League.

In October 2003 Trafford decided to part-company with Mike McKenzie after finding themselves in 19th position in Division One.

A month later Trafford appointed 28 year old former Leigh R.M.I. Reserve Team Manager Danny Johnson as the new manager.

Within a couple of weeks the results changed and Trafford began to improved their league position.

By the end of season 2004-05 Danny Johnson's young entertaining side finished in 16th position with 50 points.

Trafford didn't have much joy in any of the cup competitions but finished in an improved 12th position on 56 points. While the Reserve Team won their third County Cup in four seasons by winning the Manchester F.A. Trophy.

Season 2005-06 was Trafford got off to a flying start in the League and had a good run in the FA Vase, but sadly couldn't maintain their league form throughout the season finishing in 14th position.

Season 2006-07 saw Trafford finish in 5th place in the NWCL Division One the club's best campaign since 2001 when they finished in 5th place in the Unibond Division One. The season included a good run in the FA Cup, two players in the top 20 goalscorers in the NWCL, with Glyn Barker in 6th place with 34 goals & Troy Hayder in 16th place with 20 goals, & a end of season run of 17 games unbeaten to round off a marvellous season.

At the end of the season sadly manager Danny Johnson decided to move up to the Unibond League with Ashton United, with our player Ged Kielty becoming Trafford's 'new' Player Manager, assisted by Lee Southwood & coached by Tony Coyne.

With the new look management Trafford had one of their most successful campaign's in Season 2007-08 winning the Vodkat League Championship title by 11 points with a club record of 95 points to be promoted to the Unibond League for a second time after winning the title in 1997.

From September 2007 Trafford went on a 29 league game unbeaten run including 18 straight wins which is a League record. Manager Ged Kielty was also voted Manager of the Year & the club won Programme of the Year.

Centre forward Andy Lundy ended the season with 34 overall goals putting him in second place in the League goalscoring chart, but was the League top scorer with his 28 goals in Division One. His 'sidekick' Scott Barlow came close behind in fourth overall place with 29 goals.

Season 2008-09 saw Trafford return to the Unibond League after an absence of five seasons. Manager Ged Kielty led the team to the club's second Unibond League President's Cup win beating First Division South Quorn 2-0 on their ground in the final. Trafford previously won the President's Cup back in 1999-2000. Trafford's striker Scott Barlow finished runner-up as the First Division North Overall Leading Goalscoring charts with 40 goals. Trafford finished in 15th place in the Division.

Season 2009-10 sees former Trafford stalwart Garry Vaughan in the 'hot-seat' as Ged Kielty decided to step down as manager. During seven seasons in the 90's Garry played a record 305 games for Trafford & is still the overall leading club goalscorer with 89 goals.

(* Courtesy of Trafford FC's official site)

Club Information

• Founded: 1990
  
• Status: Semi-Professional
  
• Fierce Rivals: None
  
• Other Rivals: Flixton
  

• Stadium: Shawe View
  
• Capacity: 2500 (292 seated)
  
• Corporate facilities: Basic
  
• Training facilities: Basic
  
• Youth facilities: Minimal
  

I've removed the records and season summary. I figured it wouldn't be so cool for new readers to see that right away. At least that's what I thought when I read through some similarly structured updates.

I have also changed the title of the thread. It refers to the griffin in the club logo. It is made up of a lion and an eagle. Traditionally the lion has been seen as a powerful animal on land, while the eagle as a powerful animal in the sky. That is why you see this strange creature in countless of logos, as statues and even in the flags and various symbols of countries.

2009/10

Northern Premier Division One North

Continuing the success of former manager Garry Vaughan, who led the team to lift the President's Cup, was going to be difficult. Team was sheit, staff was sheit, economy poor and in decline (hence the horrible title ).

Trafford is playing in the Northern Premier Division One North.

The board wanted me to finish in a respectable league position. That was always going to be difficult with the squad we had, so off to the market I went. Scouts worked for their money, and managed to find the odd guy here and there who could lift the team a little bit.

It took time for them to settle in, which showed in the first half of the season. We barely kept our head above water. Halfway through the season we started to play better, and results soon followed. In the end we finished in a respectable 9th place. Never really in contention for a playoff spot, but the good form had me hoping for better things next season.

Cups were crap, of course. Nothing to mention. It is however worth to mention we had an ancient DL. He turned 42 just after the season finished. He won our player of the season award

2009/10 League

2009/10 Progress

Overall a better season than it looked like early on. Next season the goal is a playoff spot, and preferably promotion.

Records 2009/10

[b]Attendance[/b]
  o High: 262
  o Low:  105
  o Avg:  166
[b]Results[/b]
  o Win:  4-1
  o Loss: 1-3
[b]Sequences[/b]
  o Won in row:  4
  o Lost in row: 5
  o Without losing:  5
  o Without winning: 6
[b]Players[/b]
  o Top goalscorer: 16 (ST)
  o Most assists:   15 (ST)
  o Avg rating:     7.12 (DL)
  o Player of the year: DL

Season Summary

[b]Season[/b]   [b]Division[/b]             [b]Pos[/b]   [b]Movement[/b]    [b]FA Cup[/b]     [b]Other[/b]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10  Northern 1st Div N   9th   -           -          Out of all cups early

2010/11

Northern Premier Division One North

This proved to be a nervy season - on two fronts.

Over the summer I managed to sign several players that raised the quality (err, it's all relative ), including the loan MC I had for the last section of last season. Some signings were crap, while others really improved the team. The ST we landed shortly before Xmas was on fire!

Having improved the team quite a bit, the bar was raised by the board. IIRC they wanted a secure position, which I guess means gunning for a playoff spot. After about 10 matches of settling in, we were up there and fighting it out with the big boys, steadily improving our hand. As the last third of the season commenced, we climbed to the top, and were in brilliant form. From end of December to end of March we went 14 matches without a loss. I thought we had it all sowed up.

Then the slump hit us. 1 point in 3 matches, and Radcliffe Boro was all over us. We had wasted a 6 point lead, and were now tied. This one would go right down to the wire. We went into the last match tied on points, but we had a 6-goal advantage in the goals column. Thankfully they had a tough away encounter to a playoff fighter, while we had a tough one at home.

The nervousness was back, both in players and manager, and we didn't play well at all. Warrington took the lead after 15 minutes, and they were outplaying us. Radcliffe had 0-0. We were out of it. Not much changed in the 2nd half, though we were more into it now. But with 20 minutes left on the clock the live table still said Radcliffe Boro on top by 1 point. Drastic measures were needed. I put all eggs in one basket and went Overload with all kinds of stiff-haired shouts. It paid off. In the 77th minute our MC got the ball just outside the box and hammered it into the far top corner. Almost on overtime, and frantically checking the league table, we got a penalty. I was sure we were home now. I hadn't seen a player miss a penalty in our games over two seasons - and there were a lot of them. But our bloke did a very good Roberto Baggio copy, and blew it well over the bar. Expletives were thrown about.

Radcliffe Boro did not score though. In fact, they were lucky to get a 0-0 draw. I was jubilant after the match, and fixed up the foot of the table I had kicked all out of shape when we missed the penalty!

This is what FM is all about. Nail-biting end-of-season matches with love and hate feelings battering it out in your (not-so) rational mind. Promotion was secured on a +6 goal difference.

The other nervy front was that we were running seriously into the red, even though I kept wages under the limit. The chairman was clearly fed up, and wanted out. Mid-season a consortium wanted to buy him out, possibly leading to my firing. In the end they pulled the plug though. I guess we were too much in the red for their liking \o/

(This got a bit long, but it was fun to re-live it through writing )

2010/11 League

2010/11 Progress

Next season:

The goal is to survive, and preferably without having to battle it out in the final rounds of the season.

Records 2010/11

[b]Attendance[/b]
  o High: 361
  o Low:  130
  o Avg:  234
[b]Results[/b]
  o Win:  4-1
  o Loss: 1-3
[b]Sequences[/b]
  o Won in row:  5
  o Lost in row: 2
  o Without losing:  14
  o Without winning: 4
[b]Players[/b]
  o Top goalscorer: 15 (ST)
  o Most assists:   11 (DR/DM)
  o Avg rating:     7.24 (DC)
  o Player of the year: DC

Season Summary

[b]Season[/b]   [b]Division[/b]              [b]Pos[/b]   [b]Movement[/b]     [b]FA Cup[/b]     [b]Other[/b]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10  Northern 1st Div N    9th   -            -          Out of all cups early
2010/11  Northern 1st Div N    1st   Promotion    -          Out of all cups early

This really has become the LLM schism forum.

Oh, and KUTGW!

Thanks

We gotta hide our club hidings somewhere

I'm waiting for the other eight seasons to be posted

Congrats on the promotion. Winning the league on goal difference!

It will be interesting to see how you find the difference in quality between the leagues.

I've responded to your post in the league edit thread.

Aye. It was very nerve-wrecking. Especially for the table. But hey, at least it wasn't a church door!

Nice one. I love managing in these leagues. I have an Ossett save, from which I'm writing a story. I'm loving that save.

Great start to your career and incidentally Trafford have just knocked me out of the cup.

Ossett Albion right? IIRC Town started off in the Premier.

I actually beat Albion twice the first season. And they got relegated. See they have bumped back up now though

Crap. I just checked every team that got relegated from Level 8 in the first season. All 12 are back again now in the 3rd season Does that mean reputation trumps all?

No, Town. A league higher than you started but still.

I have started in your league before though, Garforth Town.

Player naming! What would Ian say?

Good start there, hope you have more success following your promotion.

Player naming? Apart from the history?

We battled it out with Garforth last season actually. They finished 3rd but lost the playoff final. Season before they lost in the playoff semi. I know how that feels...

Good start there Single Continent Bloke.

I'm not sure if people are interested in seeing the full World Cup stuff, but I should at least mention who won the thing.

World Cup 2010

3rd Place Playoff

Italy - France 2-0

Final

Nigeria - England p0-0

Nothing to worry about there! :D

Shrek blew it on the 5th btw.

I'm interested.

Allright. I'll add them for your pleasure

World Cup 2010

Knocked out from Group Stage

Slovakia, Morocco; Japan, Ivory Coast; North Korea, Costa Rica; Mexico, South Africa; Switzerland, South Korea; Denmark, Saudi Arabia; Chile, Algeria; Honduras, Australia

Second Round

Paraguay - Ukraine 2-0

Italy - Spain e2-1

Ecuador - Brazil 0-1

France - Greece 2-1

Holland - Germany 0-3

Nigeria - Ghana 2-1

Argentina - Russia 1-3

England - Scotland 2-0

Quarter Final

Paraguay - France 0-2

Italy - Brazil 1-0

Germany - England 0-1

Nigeria - Russia 3-1

Semi Final

France - Nigeria 1-2

Italy - England 2-3

Third Place

Italy - France 2-0

Final

Nigeria - England p0-0

Not only did Scotland qualify, they also reached the Second Round.

Sort it out SI!

I thought it was fantastic to see an African nation finally winning the WC. And I can't help laughing when England fail at a pen shootout. Again!

Well done on getting promoted, do you think you will struggle this season?

I thought it was fantastic to see an African nation finally winning the WC. And I can't help laughing when England fail at a pen shootout. Again!

Usually they do that in the QF.

Wonder_pus, I'm actually doing better than feared, though form has taken a serious dip lately. Not been able to play lately as I've been testing something for the beta team, but will hopefully get the season done this weekend.

Who will England fail against in next year's QF I wonder

Euro 2012

Group Stage

Knockout Stage

Many national managers lost their job or left after the tournament, including Capello, Domenech and Lippi of England, France and Italy. All left without being fired though.

Season update to come....

2011/12

Northern Premier League Premier Division

The transfer window was one of a lot of speculation. Last year the chairman wanted out and almost succeeded. This time he did. A consortium took over the club, and gave us a 300K loan. We were back in the black, if only momentarily so. Despite the long transfer ban we managed to sign some players close to season start.

The new board wanted us to survive the division, and gave us a whopping 2,200 wage budget to play with. Considering we were leaking 10-15K a month, though, I kept the budget to about 800, same as last season.

The season started off really well, it looked like we were going to fight for a playoff spot. About halfway through we suffered a row of injuries, and with few backups it was bound to impact results. We couldn't buy a win, and went 8 on the trot without victory. We were almost down in the relegation battle. Then we recorded some (very) lucky wins and managed to drag ourselves out of it before it got too serious. Managed to sign some good players in March to fill some weaknesses in the team, on DL, DC and MC. Hopefully they will start to play well into next season. We ended on a respectable 11th place. A very nice feather in the hat in the 2nd last match was to beat run-away leaders Harrogate 1-0 at home. They won the league by 19 points.

We actually did quite well in the cups this season. We lost to Sheffield in the Northern League Chairman's Cup (final between the winners of the N1N and N1S divisions), but did well in the others. Took BSP outfit Fleetwood to a replay in the FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round, and only lost 1-0, after a goal in the 90th minute. Supporters were still unhappy though ( ). Also got to the 1st Round of the FA Trophy. I hoped we could get some silverware in the Northern League Cup, as there were quite a few Division One teams left in the Quarter Finals. But this was when we hit horrible form, so we lost out to Waltham Abbey from Division One.

LLaMas will have to block their eyes in a few screens here. I've decided to post the squad screen and mention some player names. Everybody are probably randomly generated anyway, so it's just for my own sake. Strictly this isn't a LLM game anyway as an editor (XML file) has been in use, even though other rules and guidelines apply.

Screenshots

2011-12 League Table - 2011-12 League Graph

2011-12 Squad

2011-12 Best Eleven - Overall Best Eleven, per 2011-12

2011-12 Finances

We're losing a lot of money each month, and there is nothing we can do about it. I just hope our new chairman has deep pockets and is willing to invest a bit. Otherwise we'll end up with loan after loan, bleeding us dry.

Next season:

Despite a mid-season disappointment we did quite well for ourselves. The goal next season is to get a playoff spot. I feel we can achieve that with a few more solid signing, in particular a striker. We have two very promising strikers in Egan and Breen, but they're not quite ready yet, despite playing a lot.

Records 2011/12

[b]Attendance[/b]
  o High: 497
  o Low:  146
  o Avg:  251
[b]Results[/b]
  o Win:  4-0
  o Loss: 0-3
[b]Sequences[/b]
  o Won in row:  3
  o Lost in row: 3
  o Without losing:  9
  o Without winning: 8
[b]Players[/b]
  o Top goalscorer: 13 (Danny Egan)
  o Most assists:    9 (Terry Masson)
  o Avg rating:   7.11 (Ian Nagle)
  o Player of the year: Terry Masson

Season Summary

[b]Season[/b]   [b]Division[/b]              [b]Pos[/b]   [b]Movement[/b]     [b]FA Cup[/b]       [b]Other[/b]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10  Northern Div One N    9th      -           -          Out of all cups early
2010/11  Northern Div One N    1st  Promotion       -          Out of all cups early
2011/12  Northern Premier     11th      -       4th Qual Rnd   QF of Northern League Cup, Consortium take-over

Good solid first season at this level for Trafford.

Good to see Dan Egan signed for you. He did a good job upfront for Supermarine in my save for a few seasons.

So he's not a random player then? Figured just about everybody at this level were. My coaches rate him highly, but low now, so I hope he can be good in a year or two. Same with Breen. Have thankfully managed to sign a mature striker now, so I hope we can score a bit more regularly. Just a shame he got injured in pre-season, eh?

Board actually offered me a new contract even though there's a year left on the other. Tight bastards wouldn't increase my wage, so I turned them down. Hope that doesn't bite me in the arse

Any chance you could take a look at Stocksbridge Park Steels please?

Sure thing

They got relegated from the Northern Premier in their first season, and has been in the Northern D1S the last two season, doing poorly (15th and 16th). But they have a decent start this season - 9th after 10 games. Not much to report from the cups either, though they did reach the 2nd round of the FA Trophy in the first season.

Their finances are "insecure", with a loan debt of 475K.

Anything else?

Sure thing

They got relegated from the Northern Premier in their first season, and has been in the Northern D1S the last two season, doing poorly (15th and 16th). But they have a decent start this season - 9th after 10 games. Not much to report from the cups either, though they did reach the 2nd round of the FA Trophy in the first season.

Their finances are "insecure", with a loan debt of 475K.

Anything else?

Nope that's great thanks! I wonder where their debt came from :confused:

No idea tbh. But a lot of clubs are having financial problems, including ourselves. The finances at the lower leagues aren't working well at all, something I really hope will be fixed for FM11, but also tweaked for the 10.3 patch.

Looking at my own team, we are actually losing money on matchday, even when I include ticket sales. I know many are struggling with finances, but to lose money on matchday? That's taking it a bit far.

Looking at English clubs down to level 8 there are:

2 bankrupt

1 in debt

(I hope you are sitting down...) 105(!) insecure

The vast majority of the rest are okay. But I reckon a good amount of those are struggling too, cause when we were 250K in the red our status was still "Okay".

How much are your ticket sales and attendances? It really depends on how much your wages are like with your players and staff. If your wages are under 2k per week then you would be making a profit if you are getting around at least 300-400 fans per game. Clubs at this level are so dependant on their sponsors just to keep afloat. Look at Durham City. They lost their main sponsor due to the conference not allowing them to get promoted. So they had to release all their players and are now playing kids. They are almost certain for relegation as they have lost every game.

How much are your ticket sales and attendances? It really depends on how much your wages are like with your players and staff. If your wages are under 2k per week then you would be making a profit if you are getting around at least 300-400 fans per game.

Going by those figures I should be making a profit I reckon (or at least not bleed 15K a month) - which I'm certainly not.

300-400 fans is a stretch for most clubs at this level. I'm at about 250 a game. We have 61 season ticket holders this season (two of them have dogs though). Taking away 30K we made from an away encounter in the Cup we have these figures:

+36K Gate receipts (£11 average)

+10K Season tickets (£165 average)

+8K Match-day income

-9K Ground maintenance

-53K (!!) Match-day expenses

-8K Total income on matches

This seems utterly bizarre to me. Add on player and staff wages, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out we're bleeding an awful lot of money. It's especially the match-day expenses that are wildly overestimated. Do we have the Secret Service guarding our donkeys or what?

I had planned to do a proper check on this and hand the data over to SI, as I think it's far removed from reality. But adding a new manager for every team and noting down the figures got boring very quickly

Blimey Pangaea, those colours are bright!

Rather one sided Euro final, such a shame the Italians hammered the French.

I agree. Why couldn't they both lose?

I quite like the Italians, mainly stemming from a ski holiday there this past February. The workers in various establishments were far friendlier than their French counterparts. We also watched the Chelsea v Juventus Champions League match in a bar, where there were approximately 100 Italians and 10 English (seven of whom were in our party). We were in Sestriere, and as the ski resort has no team and Torino is the closest city, Juventus is their main team. The Italians very much got behind their team in the bar, were devastated that they lost but were so courteous and friendly to us after the match and chatted to us about many things calcio, it was a pleasure to have been there.

Italians I have come across are very nice too. Very friendly and warm people. It's the football style and mentality I don't like too much.

Everybody seem to hate the French. Good thing Henry fixed that problem, eh?

He just reinforced international relations.

I can't say a bad word against the Romanians, not since I went skiing there in 2004. Lovely nightlife, particularly the Mafia run clubs where you can leave with more than a bird on your broken arm.

This took a while. Not played during xmas as I went 'home', and been a bit torn about the whole save because some teams are not put in the right divisions. But I've come too far here to just let it die. Being a slow player and not having a lot of FM-time in the foreseeable future, it's this or nothing.

2012/13

Northern Premier League Premier Division

The League

The board wanted a respectable league position, which I guess means mid to top-half finish. The media had us on 11th. We had a tiny wage budget and an economy spiralling downwards, so I had to offload players to sign new ones.

With a changed team it looked like it would be another roller-coaster season. We went up and down the first half. When November turned into December we finally hit form and climbed up the table. We had a playoff spot, and was gunning for more. In mid-January we were on top of the mountain, and all was looking bright. Then I noticed Sheffield were notching up win after win after win behind us, and closing in point by point. We kept doing well, but just couldn't keep up with their perfect record. From mid-January to the beginning of April they notched up an amazing 11 straight wins, and were breathing down our neck.

It looked like it would go right down to the wire. We would play them at home in the last match, for what looked like a must-win decider. But then it happened. Sheffield stopped winning. They drew the next two matches, and we were crowned Champions before our final meet. It ended 0-0, which was actually the first home match we hadn't won since mid-October(!). Shawe View had become a fortress, with a 16-3-1 record. Blue Square, here we come!!

League Table

Graph

The Cups

We got some poor opponents in the Northern League Cup, and since we had been horrible in the cups so far I wanted to take this one home. But it wasn't to be. Northern 1South team Market Drayton smashed our dreams on penalties in the 2nd Round.

We were less lucky with the draw in the FA Carlsberg Trophy, and BSS outfit Dover stopped us in the 1st Round after a honourable 1-0 loss. Fans still lined up outside my office with their kicking boots on though - the ungrateful basterwds!

The FA Cup was the highlight, at least for the chairman. We beat AFC Fylde, local Salford, and Accrington, before meeting League Two team York City - away. Over 2,200 people came to see us be narrowly defeated 1-0, though pinned back. Fans were encircling the stadium with torches in hand again...

Transfers

Many players left the Trafford club house as we needed better ones to improve on our last position. In addition to the loanies, keeper Lyness, AMC Wright and forwards Lavery and Scully would prove to be good signings.

Squad

The mercenary soldiers Greenwood, Hill and Harris had good seasons, especially Harris who both scored and assisted a lot.

Danny Egan was starting to mature, and scored 24 goals. He was voted player of the season in the league to boot.

Terry Masson played really well too, in creating 15 goals.

New signing James Lavery had an okay season up front, scoring 15 and assisting 8 others.

Promising striker Johnny Breen scored 9 times, but he isn't quite maturing yet.

Steve Maguire was good on DL and provided some assists. Despite Egan being voted player of the season in the league, Maguire took home the fans' prize. Usually the striker with most goals does.

Dean Lyness was a nice improvement between the sticks.

Seasonal Best Eleven

Overall Best Eleven

Finances are continuing to spiral downwards. It was nice to see the chairman invest 25,000, but that has been all since the 300,000 loan after the take-over. Cheapskate.

Next Season

We got promoted this season, so obviously the goal is to not go straight down again. I don't know how big the gap is, but I'd like to make a good foundation for a go at promotion in two seasons.

Career Summary

[b]Season[/b]   [b]Division[/b]            [b]Pos[/b]   [b]Movement[/b]     [b]FA Cup[/b]       [b]Other[/b]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009/10  Northern 1 North    9th      -           -          Out of all cups early
2010/11  Northern 1 North    1st  Promotion       -          Out of all cups early
2011/12  Northern Premier   11th      -       4th Qual Rnd   QF of Northern League Cup, Consortium take-over
2012/13  Northern Premier    1st  Promotion    1st Rnd       Out of the cups early

PS: A little fun fact was that Man Utd striker Macheda was loaned out to Aston Villa the whole season. While Man Utd did win the league title, Macheda was the top goalscorer in the Premier League with 20 goals, 6 more than Rooney and Berbatov, and he made the EPL team of the year. Javier Aguirre had taken over when Sir Alex Ferguson retired, but he was fired just 5 days shy of xmas when United tumbled out of the CL. Tony Mowbray took over the reigns, and brought the trophy back to Old Trafford.

I also thought it was very nice to see FC United get promoted along ourselves. When I started this save I wanted to take over FC United at some point, as I follow that team with one eye. But now I'd just want to see how far Trafford can go.

2012/13 Records

[b][size="4"]Attendance[/size][/b]
  o High: [b]520[/b]
  o Low:  [b]118[/b]
  o Avg:  [b]288[/b]
[b][size="4"]Results[/size][/b]
  o Win:  [b]5-0[/b]
  o Loss: [b]2-4[/b]
[b][size="4"]Sequences[/size][/b]
  o Won in row:  [b]7[/b]
  o Lost in row: [b]3[/b]
  o Without losing:  [b]11[/b]
  o Without winning: [b]4[/b]
[b][size="4"]Players[/size][/b]
  o Top goalscorer: [b]24 [/b](Danny Egan)
  o Most assists:   [b]15 [/b](Terry Masson)
  o Avg rating:   [b]7.30[/b] (Danny Egan)
  o Player of the year: [b]Steve Maguire[/b]

Club Records

[b][size="4"]Attendance[/size][/b]
  o High: [b]520[/b] (07.11.2012, vs Accrington, FA Cup 4th Qual Round)
  o Low:  [b]105[/b] (13.10.2009, vs Chorley, Northern League Presidents Cup 2nd Round)
  o Avg:  [b]288[/b] (2012/13)
  o Highest Gate Receipt: [b]£7,000[/b] (07.11.2012, vs Accrington, FA Cup 4th Qual Round)

[b][size="4"]Results[/size][/b]
  o Win:  [b]5-0[/b] (05.02.2013, vs North Ferriby (H), Northern Premier League Premier Division)
  o Loss: [b]0-3[/b] (15.02.2012, vs Sheffield (H), Northern Premier League Premier Division)
  o Highest Scoring Game: [b]4-4[/b] (16.01.2010, vs Radcliffe Boro (H), Northern Premier League First Division North)

[b][size="4"]Sequences[/size][/b]
  o Games Won in Row:  [b]7[/b] (26.02.2013 - 16.04.2013)
  o Games Lost in Row: [b]5[/b] (13.10.2009 - 27.10.2009)
  o Without Losing:   [b]14[/b] (28.12.2010 - 26.03.2011)
  o Without Winning:   [b]8[/b] (21.01.2012 - 21.02.2012)
  o Without Conceding: [b]4[/b] (06.03.2010 - 03.04.2010)
  o Without Scoring:   [b]4[/b] (25.08.2009 - 08.09.2009)

[b][size="4"]Players[/size][/b]
  o Top Goalscorer:           [b]24[/b] (Danny Egan) (2012/13)
  o Top League Goalscorer:    [b]21[/b] (Danny Egan) (2012/13)
  o Most Goals in a Match:     [b]3[/b] (Mark Pocock) (06.02.2010, vs Ossett Albion)
  o Most Assists:             [b]15[/b] (Mark Pocock) (2009/10)
  o Highest Average Rating: [b]7.30[/b] (Danny Egan) (2012/13)
  o Most Man-of-the-Match:     [b]7[/b] (Danny Egan) (2012/13)
  o Most League Apps:         [b]93[/b] (Marcus Clyne) (2012/13)
  o Most League Goals:        [b]45[/b] (Danny Egan) (2012/13)
  o Youngest Player:          [b]16 years, 47 days[/b] (Dan Baxter) (22.08.2009)
  o Oldest Player:            [b]42 years, 271 days[/b] (Paul McGee (12.02.2011)
  o Youngest Goalscorer:      [b]18 years, 251 days[/b] (Ian Wright) (05.02.2013)
  o Oldest Goalscorer:        [b]33 years, 187 days[/b] (Billy McCartney) (20.10.2009)
  o Fastest Goal:             [b]37 seconds[/b] (Terry Masson) (17.12.2011)

[b][size="4"]Transfers[/size][/b]
  o Highest Transfer Fee Paid:     [b]-[/b]
  o Highest Transfer Fee Received: [b]£4,000[/b] (Mark Clarke to Morton) (20.06.2013)
  o Total Transfer Spending:       [b]-[/b] 
  o Total Transfer Income:         [b]£7,000[/b] (2012/13)

Roll of Honour

Argentina: San Lorenzo

Brazil: Sao Paulo

England: Man Utd

France: Olympique Lyonnais

Germany: Werder Bremen

Ireland: St. Pat's Athletic

Italy: AC Milan

N.Ireland: Cliftonville

Norway: Sandefjord

Scotland: Celtic

Spain: R. Madrid

Wales: Neath

Wow. Here's something to cheer about for those AFC Wimbledon fans.

MK Dons in League Two and AFC in BSP btw.

Well done on the promotion

I'm sure you can now find a few extra £ to reward Danny Egan's goalscoring form. I'm not sure he can really (Tr)afford much on only £35 per week

Way ahead of you. He's already got a shiny new contract and now earns almost a 3-digit sum every week

The board was nice enough to boost our wage budget from £1,000 to £2,800

I figured we were losing money right, left and center anyway, and not mostly from player wages, so I might as well try to secure some decent players for the future before the future locks off the purse.

Two seasons to win Conference North then.

If history is something to judge on, that is within reach

What did you get an infraction for btw Nobby?

Tg! Kutgw!

Oi! What happened to your shift key?

Sometimes SI lower cases strings of capital letters.

What did you get an infraction for btw Nobby?

For being a cock.