dafuge's FM11 challenge

**Dons** · 15-11-2010 19:41

Congrats on promotion KLH84. The young keeper (Tim Flower's son) looks brilliant.

**PVentress** · 15-11-2010 19:58

Hastings Utd
Season 2 - 2012/13 – Blue Square Premier
Prediction - 24th
Actual - 4th

Going into the season i was expecting a season of struggle and was hoping for survival and not much beyond that, I kept the ins and outs to a lower level than the previous year but we still did some good business, We started out poorly, and after about 20 games we were sat in 20th Place and it looked like a long hard season was instore.

But, our form began to pick up and we found ourselves within touching distance of the play offs with about 15 games remaining, we needed to close a gap of about 7 pts to last Play Off Place. I thought that this would be just to far out of our reach and over the next few weeks it became increasingly frustrating as we hit our best form of the season but struggled to make up the ground as the teams around us were matching us point for point and we couldnt reel them in.

Then with about 8 games to go, things started to go our way, we began to climb the table until we claimed our 1st weekend in the play off places after 40 games gone.

So 6 games left and needed to retain our form and stay in with a shout, needless to say we then lost our next game and drew the next to fall back to 7th,

It all came down to the last game of the season, 2 Play Off spots already filled and the other 2 could be filled by any 2 teams from 5, we needed a win big time,

90 minutes later and after a 2 - 0 away win over Kettering, we had secured 4th Spot and a crack at the Play Offs.

Stevenage awaited in the Semi's and this proved fairly straightforward, 0 - 0 at home in the first leg had me a little worried, but we came out fighting in the 2nd and a 2 - 1 victory sent us to Wembley.

The Final against Macclesfield was a tense affair, we bossed the game but just couldnt find that finishing touch, 90 mins came and went and still it was 0 - 0,

Extra Time was a none event as both teams tired and so to Penalties, Where Adam Street wrote his Name in Hastings History, 3 consecutive Penalty Saves from macclesfields first 3 kicks took the pressure of the lads as they stroked home all 3 of our kicks to take a 3 - 0 victory in the Shoot Out, Cue crazy celebrations and the realisation we were in the football league,

Two consecutive promotions, but now the hard work really starts

Blue Square Premier Table
League Position Graph
Transfers
Squad
Finances

The Cups provided some light relief and we managed to get to the 3rd round of the FA Cup and a home draw with Wolves, never really threatened an upset as we were dispatched 2 - 0 but the TV Revenue was very useful

Top Players

Strangely, Not one player really stood out, was certainly a team effort, but mentions are needed for the solid spine of the team that got us there

Adam Street - GK - Solid All Season, Capped by Canada and save 3 Penalties in the Play Off Final Shoot Out

Elton Monteiro - A Rock at the Back, Came into his own in the run in

Jamie Edge - Solid Defensive Midfielder stuck his foot in and passed it simple

Reece Hands - The Silk to Edge's Steel, Deep Lying Playmaker, got better as the season got older

Nikola Saric - Top Scorer, but very hot and cold, Also suffered with injuries through out the season which really stopped him from getting going

Next Season

Aim for next season can be summed up in one word - Survive

Career Overview

Code:

Season League League Finish Achievements

2011/12 Blue Square South 1st Promoted/Champions 2012/13 Blue Square Premier 4th Promoted/Play Off Winners

**Terk** · 15-11-2010 20:12

Congrats on promotion, PVentress

My season update will be coming soon.

**edin-dzeko** · 15-11-2010 20:13

edindzeko's Bradford Park Avenue - Blue Square Premier - Season 2012/2013

Season Summary
Media Prediction : 24th
Actual Finish: 1st (League Table)
FA Cup: 3rd Round
FA Trophy: Semi Final

WE ARE UP...AGAIN! And not only up, but as champions too! Quite simply, unbelievable Jeff! We made another slow start, fast becoming a trademark, but we kept on being able to grind out 1 goal wins, with some excellent performances mixed in too. I strengthened the team considerably from last year, a lot of dead wood thrown out, and some exciting youngsters signed. Keeping the same 433 paid off, I don’t know what it is but so far it’s been virtually unbeatable! And we managed to cut out the concession of winning positions to draws, simply by losing more instead, but am slightly concerned by our disciplinary record - 117 yellow cards. Decent FA Cup run again, ended by Championship Newcastle, and my reserves fell at the penultimate hurdle in the FA Trophy. Still, can hardly complain about this season.

Squad : Around 20 in on free transfers and 35 out. Dundalk did us a large favour by buying several for a total of 100k. Having made a loss of 150k last year, decided to keep wages down, so finances are ok. Superstars of the year were:

Nikola Saric (Scored 18 in 40, 29 ASSISTS!!!, Av Rat 7.45) Wow. Just wow. Heaven knows where I’d be without my talismanic Bosnian striker. Scored or created 47 goals in 40 appearances. Incredible.
Davide Somma (Scored 30 in 42, Av Rat 7.35) Was a little surprised that he chose to join us in the BSP, but was a revelation playing as target man. Finished top goal scorer.
Thomas Bendiksen (Av Rat 7.24 in 43) The Norwegian chose us over Championship Hull. Fantastic deep lying playmaker, ran the midfield.

Awards:
Top Goalscorer: Davide Somma (30 in 42)
Highest Av Rat: Nikola Saric (7.45 in 40)
Most Assists: Nikola Saric (29 in 40)
And a 2nd consecutive manager of the season award for me

And now, the awards for the unsung, or simply rubbish players of the year:

The Joey Barton Award for Worst Discipline: Krisztian Timar. What is it with my captains’ penchants for red cards? 3 for the season was quite impressive.
The Owen Hargreaves Award for Worst Injury Record: Vincent Pericard, for snapping his achilles and putting him out for 6 months. Although as you will see below, maybe not the worst thing to happen...
The Ade Akinbiyi Award for Most Useless Player: Vincent Pericard. Two goals in 16 before aforementioned snappage led to a boot out the door in January.
The Juninho Pernambucano Award for Best Name: Oguzhan Ozyakup. Shame that his performances couldn’t match the quality of name, leading to sale in January.
The Edin Dzeko Award for Biggest Legend of the Year: Only one contender this year, Nikola Saric. Simply for his amazing contribution to the team, and hopefully for future seasons too. Quick mention too for Omar Koroma, now icon-status for the club, who chipped in with another 7 goals.

So, after two whirlwind seasons, the football league is sure to be a big step up. I hope we can adapt to the changes, but the focus for next year is most definitely survival. Wish me luck!

**PVentress** · 15-11-2010 20:14

Cheers Terk

Hoping to hear some similar good news from you in the near Future

**Dons** · 15-11-2010 20:22

On a side note - when/if you feel your players arent training 100% as they should be -> private chat -> development -> training level -> you need to step up your level of ..... ---- then BOOM - watch their stats increase

**wriches** · 15-11-2010 20:31

Congrats KLH84, PVentress and edin-dzeko. Hopefully I can emulate your BSP success in my second season.

I'm still in May after my first season (season 1 review on page 15) and I'm struggling with wage demands.

I have 200k in the bank thanks to winning the FA Trophy and in mid-May I asked the board for a higher wage budget, and they bumped it from 3.9k to 4.3k, which is rubbish! Will they re-assess at the end of June/July or something?

**wriches** · 15-11-2010 20:34

Originally Posted by Dons

On a side note - when/if you feel your players arent training 100% as they should be -> private chat -> development -> training level -> you need to step up your level of ..... ---- then BOOM - watch their stats increase

Cool, I hadn't tried that.

Do you ever get a bad reaction from them? At this low level, I'm relying on good free transfers for success so I'm not too bothered about training levels tbh. Once I reach League 1 and am struggling for cash, training good youngsters will be important though I reckon.

**Dons** · 15-11-2010 20:37

Originally Posted by wriches

Cool, I hadn't tried that.

Do you ever get a bad reaction from them? At this low level, I'm relying on good free transfers for success so I'm not too bothered about training levels tbh. Once I reach League 1 and am struggling for cash, training good youngsters will be important though I reckon.

Had bad reaction a few times, but rarely. Players do know if they trained well or not (player -> training -> training levels) Should they state, they disagree and they have trained well - telling them, that they need to remember you pick the team, does the trick

**edin-dzeko** · 15-11-2010 20:38

Originally Posted by wriches

Congrats KLH84, PVentress and edin-dzeko. Hopefully I can emulate your BSP success in my second season.

I'm still in May after my first season (season 1 review on page 15) and I'm struggling with wage demands.

I have 200k in the bank thanks to winning the FA Trophy and in mid-May I asked the board for a higher wage budget, and they bumped it from 3.9k to 4.3k, which is rubbish! Will they re-assess at the end of June/July or something?

Thanks man, and very best of luck in the BSP

**Gypsum** · 15-11-2010 21:02

Damn Christmas fixture congestion is a pain in the arse!

**Quavis** · 15-11-2010 21:04

Congrats to all those who gained promotion while I was away! Welcome to all of the newcomers to the challenge!

wriches: you should be able to re-adjust your wage balance on june 25th, the official start of the next season. Congrats on winning the FA trophy, I think you might be the first this year to win that one.

jodans: nice cup run.... but you were knocked out in the 4th round which sorta ruins your game for me sorry

**Stephanie McMahon\'s Secret Lover** · 15-11-2010 21:04

Just took the manager's job at Leamington and after just a week there was a very quick board takeover. The skinflints naturally didn't invest!

Well I have the week off work so it had to be done.

**Dons** · 15-11-2010 21:05

Originally Posted by Gypsum

Damn Christmas fixture congestion is a pain in the arse!

now i have a picture of 22 turkeys running around on a pitch after corn

thanks!..

**Quavis** · 15-11-2010 21:06

Originally Posted by Gypsum

Damn Christmas fixture congestion is a pain in the arse!

I must be a bit odd, I love the Christmas period. Typically by then I've already managed to get knocked out of all the cups so fixture congestion for me isn't to bad :P Everyone else still has horrible fixture congestion so I can use my rested players to move up a few spots!

**timers** · 15-11-2010 21:14

2nd season in with Evesham United.

Just got them promoted from the BSP. League 2 football here we come!

Finished 3rd, but ended up winning the playoffs 8-2 in semis and 2-0 in final vs Newport Co. Scored 122 goals this season, though gave up 72.

Montano had 44 for me.

Low rep Evesham United with their 600 now in League 2! We also made it to the FAT final where we lost 3-1.

**Dons** · 15-11-2010 21:31

Originally Posted by timers

2nd season in with Evesham United.

Just got them promoted from the BSP. League 2 football here we come!

Finished 3rd, but ended up winning the playoffs 8-2 in semis and 2-0 in final vs Newport Co. Scored 122 goals this season, though gave up 72.

Montano had 44 for me.

Low rep Evesham United with their 600 now in League 2! We also made it to the FAT final where we lost 3-1.

Congrats! But where are all the screen shots of the progress?

**Terk** · 15-11-2010 21:38

Marine FC
2012-13
Blue Square Premier

Leauge
My aim in our first season up was obviously to simply avoid relegation; however, we began well with a 3-0 win over AFC Wombles. We bounced around for a long time between the lower play-off places and upper mid-table (we never dropped lower than 11th) but after we'd got over the effects of the forum curse, we climbed in style. The second half of the season saw us string together a few runs of six or so games unbeaten, and our home form in particular was outstanding, second only to league winners Grimsby.

The play-off picture had been tight through most of the season, but as Grimsby pulled away we held our place in the top five, and should have secured second place in the league, but an 89th minute equaliser from York on the last day of the season allowed Hartlepool to overtake us.

That meant a play-off semi final against Crawley, who had beaten us 3-2 in both our league meetings over the season. We played brilliantly in the first leg, coming away from their place with a 2-0 win, but managed to throw it away at home, nerves getting the better of us as we put in an abject performance and got our asses handed to us. Crawley went on to beat Hartlepool 3-0 in the final and book their place in League 2.

League Positions Graph

Cups
I wanted to throw myself into the cups this season, as I know from experience with Canvey that a good run, particularly in the FA Cup, can be a financial life saver. We got into the second round and grabbed a tie at St Mary's against Southampton. We lost the match 6-0, but more importantly we made in the region of £200,000 from the gate receipts, money which was very welcome and put us firmly back in the black.

I wanted to take a stab at winning the FA Trophy, and we whipped both FC Halifax and AFC Telford before coming up against Mansfield in the second round and losing 2-1 at Field Mill.

Transfers
Another season of plenty in and plenty out, we made a couple of significant sales (Christian Montano and Neil Byrne) that helped us financially. I was pleased with the capture of some players released by Premier League clubs, namely Cedric Evina and Charni Ekangamene whilst the late season signings of Kevin Amankwaah and Exodus Geohaghan got us through a little period of injury worry as squeaky-bum time hit.

Terkleton's Top 5 Players
5. Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu - Last year he finished 2nd on this list, and he perhaps would have finished higher this time around had he not suffered with a few niggling injuries, or the form of Charni Ekangamene. Played an important role in the side whilst Bagshaw was out injured and proved he remains a good goalscorer even at a higher level than the BSN. Earned his contract extension for next season.

4. Andy Parry - Same place as last year for the goalscoring defender. He sat out the first few games as Patrik Poór got his chance, but Parry soon got his opportunity and became the first choice in our back line. Suffered a bit from yellow card fever (15 bookings in a season is too many, and he'll miss the first three games of next season because of it) but his prowess in the air was required as we tended to get caught out down the flanks this season and we needed someone good enough to challenge opposition forwards.

3. Charni Ekangamene - Didn't score for about his first twelve or thirteen games in the side, but the former Man Utd youngster eventually did find the net and then couldn't stop. Forced Ndumbu-Nsungu out of the side and struck up an excellent partnership with Callum Bagshaw, but also showed himself to be the king of the solo goal, on three or four occasions this season taking a ball thirty or so yards from goal, dribbling into the penalty area and then guiding a shot past the 'keeper. Clearly the Lionel Messi of the Blue Square Premier.

2. Sofiane Zaaboub - A player with plenty of experience, we picked him up after Southend released him and we never regretted it. A few had expressed concerns that he tends to be a bit outspoken, but he was nothing other than a gentleman and his assist count shows how crucial he was in our play. We played a lot on the counter attack this season, hitting sides fast on the break and he was a great help, often sliding in the perfect ball for Bagshaw or Ekangamene. His ability to play well on the right flank and cut inside also gave us another option to change things about.

1. Callum Bagshaw - There was never any doubt. He is a real confidence player, and his morale is massively fragile, but when he feels good there is no one in this division can stop him. He missed a chunk of the season with an ankle injury and a broken nose, but played whenever he was fit and didn't let me down. His record in a Marine shirt now reads 86 games, 44 goals, 27 assists, and next season he will surely become the first to enter our '100 Club', and will be very deserving of the honour.

Marine FC Goal of the Season
3. Sofiane Zaaboub (vs Salisbury, 16th January)
How do you break down two banks of four in defence? Belt one from the edge of the area into the top corner of the net. A perfect example of what Sofiane offered us when he cut inside from the right flank.

2. Callum Bagshaw (vs Fleetwood, 25th August)
A beautiful twenty yard pass, a well timed run, lovely control and a superb finish across the goalkeeper. Or, in other words, how to hit a team on the break in one easy lesson.

1. Andrew Mitchell (vs York, 29th December)
What better to warm the heart on a wet December day in Yorkshire than to see Andy Mitchell pick up a loose ball on the edge of the area and curl a shot with pinpoint accuracy round two defenders and the goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net. Special.

Next Season
Not too much expectation, another run at winning the FA Trophy, a good run in the FA Cup and promotion. Simples.

Career Overview

Code:

Season              League                     Final Pos.              Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2011/12       Blue Square North             2nd               Promoted via play-offs
2012/13       Blue Square Premier           3rd              Lost in play-off semi final

Marine FC 100 Club*

Code:

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

No entrants yet

Managerial Record

Code:

Season     Games     Won      Lost     Drawn     For     Against     Win %
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12      51           29         9          13        112        67         56.86
2012/13      54           30        13         11        124        80         55.55

Total          105          59        22          24       236       147         56.20

*This is a feature tracking those who have played 100 or more games for me at Marine. With goalkeepers, the league goals (overall goals) figures are replaced by clean sheets.

**timers** · 15-11-2010 21:41

Originally Posted by Dons

Congrats! But where are all the screen shots of the progress?

Okay, just for you. Here is the league table.

I've already begun the next season friendlies, but it was a great season.

**jsar** · 15-11-2010 21:53

Originally Posted by PVentress