dafuge's FM12 challenge

[Gilbster]

Finally at home, and have my copy of the game installed. Holidaying now, have been reading the thread with great interest over the past week, and cant wait to take part. Still not completely sure what team I am aiming for so will spend a while reloading and seeing what appears. Obviously if I find any rare teams, I will upload them for people (presume my file sharing account still exists!).

Could someone please just tell me where the quick way to see promoted teams this year is, I know I have seen it mentioned a few times in the threads, but dont really feel like going back over 13 pages for 1 specific detail.

[Andrew Haines]

I'm going to play as Hastings United. Profile below:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Mr Beefy]

World - England - Season Summary. Look for the section after the Blue Square leagues that's called Regional Premier Divs and that will list the 6 promoted teams.

Make sure you save before 19:00 on June 23rd to ensure the reloading works fine. Good luck finding a rare team!

[Shrewsbury_howie]

Possibly the shortest game ive ever had. Got sacked . So, do i start again or just wait till the next june and try it with another club?

[steveoc999]

its up to you, i believe

[Gilbster]

World - England - Season Summary. Look for the section after the Blue Square leagues that's called Regional Premier Divs and that will list the 6 promoted teams.

Make sure you save before 19:00 on June 23rd to ensure the reloading works fine. Good luck finding a rare team!

Thanks Mr Beefy, not positive I want a rare team, but it would feel weird to do a dafuges challenge without a couple of hours of reloading, even if I am a week late! I'm usually so poor at this game that I struggle big time, and I havent touched the demo or done any practice saves yet so this could be painful for me - entertaining usually for everyone else!

Shrewsbury_howie - its up to you what you do from here. Remember that it can only be a club you take over that fits the original criteria if you do wait for next june, and not one of the ones that was relegated in the first season you holidayed, and have boucned straight back up again. Good luck

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Drew. Lowestoft Town. Coca Cola League Two. 2016/2017

Table - So, a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde season from us, whilst I am delighted that we made the play-offs, the fact that we were within the top three for quite a long time would have made it a very bitter pill to swallow if we had not at least made the play-offs come the end of the season, lucky for us we made them, in the Final we overcame Cheltenham quite easily, to take us to League One for the first time in our history.

Graph - As you can see, we were 2nd until game 31, then it all fell apart, but then we managed to claw ourselves into the play-off places at the end of the season.

Squad - Quite a few changes were made, managed to bring in some loans, still need someone who can put the ball into the net, and our midfield needs improving; Nicky Salter was a solid wall in defence, almost nothing could get past him and if they did, then we had a half decent goalkeeper to deal with it; Graeme Christie had a good time in midfield, managed to pop up with a few goals, but I may have to get rid of him in the summer as he is not up to League One standard, but you never know, he may surprise me; Billy Owen came in during the summer from Wales, but missed the majority of the season through injury, but he is still a quality asset; Robbie Sullivan keeps on getting better and better for us, he held the line well for us and I am hoping he will do the same next season.

Transfers

Finances - Got to the 3rd round of the F.A. Cup where we lost to Championship side Watford, still made over £250k through prize money/revenue though

Me

Aims for next season:

Stay up.
Improve the squad.

[tapwater]

ARGH!!.....my saved game got corrupted! n the next saved was @ the previous season ......any idea how?

[kccircle]

As Buxton I have just managed to win in the 2nd round of the FA Cup.

I wanted a big team away from home to generate some real cash. Who did I get


Away at Forest Green Rovers

[GreyedOutMan]

Congrats to our first League One manager, Drew!

[Wellyboo]

I'm proud to be anounced as the new manager of...

Bedford Town FC!

A quick look through the squad shows that I've got an ok CB, but other than that a lot of improvement is needed. I've gone for a mid-table expectation, which gave me an extra £400 to play with for wages, which hopefully won't come back and haunt me.

Profile

[tapwater]

sigh nm i think i will just restart my game....damn stupid laptop crashed on saved game!

[Dons]

December 3, 2017 - Michael Laudrup appointed new England manager. Laudrups' first choice was to make Wayne Rooney captain

[kccircle]

Pretty much the worst result Ive had on any FM

7-0

[spankie]

#17 spankie - St Albans City Season 1 2012-13

When I took over as manager I saw that there were a few decent player left in the squad, but more then enough dross, I managed to get a few players in but struggled with bad form. So I had to strengthen throughout the whole season as and when my scouts found good players or my staff recommended players. Unfortunately that resulted in my having to terminate the contracts of a few players to free up wages, So finances were dire this season.
league form was sketchy at best at the start of the season but as the better players started to join things started to look up and we ended the season on a 30 match unbeated run in the league. We obviouslyt went out early in all the cups.


Because of the run we managed to get into the playoffs and met Dartford in the semi-final and were 2-1 up in the first leg. We also won the second leg 1-0 despite Dartford dominating large chunks of the game.
The final was a very nervy affair and to be honest Dover were the better team, even so it was disappointing to lose on penalties. Needless to say Magwood has had penalty duties stripped.

League Table
Past Positions
Finances - not helped by no cup run and having to pay off players to free up wages.

Squad - there are a few relegated to the reserves that I want rid off, some of them have played for the first team. The loaness, Ryan Johnson, has had a transfer agreed. Luckily after 8 goals in 12 games the club he is signing for is St Albans.
Transfers

Players
Ryan Johnson - hopefully he can form a good partner ship with Miller.
Chris Shaw - if he was quicker he'd be even more devastating but I can't argue against 12 assisted in 15 games.
Ashley Miller - top scorer and very useful squad member as I play with AMR/L so he can play there in an emergency.

Next Season
Aim for the play offs again.
Get rid of deadwood and improve the squad.
Bring in young players with potential (I have 2 come in with the youth intake with high potential and I have already agreed transfers of 3 Scottish youngsters into the U18s and another 2 as potential future first team players, the scout who recommended them also recommended Chris Shaw. So a he earned a new contract.)
Try to get to a money making FA Cup tie to help with the finances.

Just continuing my game and I have 5 first team players who are asking for too much money. 2 strikers (Wooton and Hutchins) and 3 central midfielders (Magwood, Turnbull and Highdale) and my wage budget has been cut.
It's a pain losing so many first team central midfielders as I will now be a bot short in that department.

[GreyedOutMan]

Great. Lost Doyle for the whole season at the start of October. In mid-December, I've now lost Adorjan for 2-3 months. Will do well to get a playoff place again this year, I think.

[sam97]

Got no left midfielder or left back due to 2 of each being injured

[XaW]

Hahaha, I've played a couple of matches in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and get this:

1. round: Won on pens
2. round: Won on pens
Quarter final: Won on pens
Semi final: Won on pens


You think the same thing's gonna happen in the regional final?

[Gilbster]

Introducing the new manager of Harrow Borough.


With a media prediction of 22nd means my only aims for the first season is strengthen squad, not bankrupt the club and try and survive!

[Muggert]

Bedford Town - Season 2013/2014 - Blue Square Bet North

Squad - Table - Transfers - Finances

Final position: 1st

FA Cup: 4th Qual. Rnd loss to Kettering(0-1 away)
FA Trophy: 4th round loss to Kettering(0-1 away... again)

Best result: 1-0 win home against Lincoln(BSP) in the FA
Worst result: 0-2 away against Worchester
Top goalscorer: Ryan Donaldson, 22 (17 in BSN)
Most assists: Michael Roberts, 18 (16 in BSN)
Highest Average rating: Aristote Nsiala, 7.45 (7.41 in BSN)

2012-13 Season Review:

Although I failed to find the players I felt needed we got the job done. From pretty early in the season it was evident that the League title would go to us or Halifax. With ten games to go we were tied. Then a couple of injuries set us back, but we managed to claw our way back onto the top spot on the very last day of the season. Halifax ended up going up through playoffs.

Player of the season:

Aristote Nsiala - D LC - Rock solid at the back. THE biggest reason we only conceded 28 goals.

Other Key Players

Loris Karius - GK - The team conceded 28 goals. Can't argue with that although his average rating are low.

Michael Roberts - DMC/MC - Signed late last season. Excelling as a deep-lying playmaker with 18 assists.

Laste Dombaxe - M/AM RC - 15 goals from the midfielder. Seemed to pop up every time I really needed a goal. Many game-winners from his foot.

Ryan Donaldson - AM/S C - Topscorer in his first season. He's got great speed, and I'm sure he has was it takes to continue scoring in the BSP.

2013-14 Season Preview:

The board is expanding the stadium by 1000 seats, so they've got the ambition. First of all we need to survive in the BSP, however if the above-mentioned core guys stays relatively injury free, we'll be more likely to challenge for a midtable position.

[XaW]

Chesham United | Season 2016/17 | New years update

Table | Squad | Finances | Transfers

This has been a very wierd season so far. We started winning the first matches before we lost a couple of matches. Then we went on a run of 7 matches without a win and when we finally ended our run went on a 12 matches unbeaten run. Our biggest problem so far has been our striker and the lack of goals from them. Ümit Eminoglu scored more that 30 goals last season, but has struggled to keep it up this season. His partner Anders Rømer has also had problems, but luckily Villyan Bijev has been there to score quite a bit. Most of our goals have come from the midfielders and our towering center back Kasper Andersen.

The cups have been fun this season. We went out of the Carling Cup in at the first hurdle when QPR proved they were the better team. In the Johnstone's Paint Trophy we are in the regional final after going through all the stages on pens! We are still in the FA Cup, but not for long as we are facing Chelsea away in the 3rd round next. Even though we are looking at a beating it should still give us quite a bit of cash.

It's looking very good this season and if our form continues we should have a chance at the play off, but we are overachieving for the moment so I doubt we can keep it up for long.

[deadfncat]

#15 - Chesham United - nPower League 2 - 2018/19 - 15th

As you might have noticed, I have slimmed down my updates so there is less screenshots. This is due to the time consuming nature of it and frankly, most of them probably don't get seen so its not a big deal. I can upload any on request though. I will try and be more descriptive in my writings though.

This was a huge step up this season with the club turning professional and playing league football. A lot of the boys were disgruntled as they wanted F/T contracts for big bucks which I just didn't have to spend. After resigning my two biggest players, Seidi and Hunt to F/T for insane amounts of money(for this level), and picking up a few players to cover gaps we got started.
To be honest, the step up into this league was quite easy and with my staff all on new F/T contracts, the team was flying. it wasn't until about Xmas time we had a big slump and couldn't really string wins together to save ourselves. Some wins later on in the season helped and kept us in the mix, but we were never consistent enough to be able to challenge in this league.

League Table - 15th



Finances - We didn't do too badly. A poor FA Cup run meant we didn't get the goods there, but increased revenue from the league in attendances and payments countered our increased wage budget.





Drew Fulham from the Championship in the first round and after an amazing game it went to penalties which somehow we won after missing our first two. The next round against Premier League Newcastle, we held a 1-0 lead going into the break, but were outclassed in the second, eventually going down 4-1



Extremely disapointing this season, after nearly being humbled in the 1st round by tier 7 team Hitchin and having to fight it out in a replay, we played poorly and lost to Newport County.



Another bad cup run, losing poorly to Cheltenham in the second round, after a great opening win against Oxford.

Squad - Doing well. Wage budget has been increased so we should be able to stregthen it over the off-season. Midfielder Dale Belfield was out for 10 months this season with damaged cruciate ligaments, so it will be interesting to see how he bounces back.


Key Player Profiles

Luke Robinson - I am currently battling to be able to keep him here next year, but Robinson has been the backbone of the team in the midfield all season and will be missed if I can't keep him.

Alberto Seidi - He was the star of the show four years ago and he is still going strong. Some mid-season injuries plagued him, but he did well to end up with a team high goals of 12.

Player of the Season

Andy Hunt - This used to be Paul Hecker's domain for many a year, but since his departure Hunt has stepped up and more. With a team high average of 7.12, he leads the backfield brilliantly and kept the scoresheet respectable when some games got out of hand. With a new keeper between the sticks next season, Hunt will be relied upon again and again.


Up and Comers

The youth coming through the ranks here is woeful and I won't be handing out any contracts to the kids for the next few years to come at least. Hopefully I can get the board to invest in some more development in the future as we grow our great city to the top of the footballing world!

Transfers - Sold club favourite Ryan Unsworth back to his hometown club, Brisbane Roar FC and let Elliot Lee go after the rise of Seidi and Cham made him obsolete. Goalkeeper Alex Gardner was released at the end of the season and will be replaced by last season's pickup Peter Martin.


Career Overview

Season       Team                       Country                  League                 League Finish             Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    Chesham United               England           Blue Square South            19th                  
2013/14    Chesham United               England           Blue Square South            11th                             FA Trophy Runner Up
2014/15    Chesham United               England           Blue Square South             5th                             Promotion via Playoffs / FA Trophy Semis
2015/16    Chesham United               England           Blue Square Bet Premier      20th                             FA Trophy winners
2016/17    Chesham United               England           Blue Square Bet Premier      15th   
2017/18    Chesham United               England           Blue Square Bet Premier      4th                               Promotion via Playoffs / FA Trophy winners
2018/19    Chesham United               England           nPower League 2              15th

Next Season

Consolidate our position
Build the squad
Gain extra cash from cup runs to be able to upgrade facilities


Tactics

Using my 4-3-2-1 these days to great success and will continue to use it as long as it works. With some better players, should do wonders in the higher leagues as well.

Major Competition Winners

Premier League - Chelsea, Man City, Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal, Birmingham
Championship - Cardif, Bristol, Burnley
League 1 - QPR
League 2 - Colchester
BSP - Port Vale
BSN/BSS - FC Halifax/Havant & W
F.A Cup - Sunderland
Carling Cup - Liverpool
Johnstone's Paint Trophy - Sheff Utd
UEFA Champions League - Real Madrid
Europa League - Chelsea
A-League - Adelaide/CCM (Brisbane 8th)

[/center]

[deadfncat]

Wow this was a good start to the season. Beat Fulham 3-1 in the league cup and Australia draw with World Cup Holders Scotland in a friendly

[tapwater]

Sad that i cannot recover my saved game...... reload new club...

Manager info/profile

[hedger_14]

Well I'm having an attempt at this challenge again after getting to League 1 with FC Halifax last year but of course, they're now in the Blue Square North so I have to use someone else and after a tough decision, I decided to go with FC United. Was deciding between them, Bury Town and Cambridge City but decided to go with United instead. Mainly because they have a bigger stadium

Manager Profile:

[Shrewsbury_howie]

Does anyone have any general advice for scouting/signing players/tranfers in general at the start of your first season in BSN/S? It would be much appreciated. Cheers.

[CityAndColour]

I wish my assistant would stop telling me to drop my keeper due to poor form every fortnight, for no other reason than the game gives keepers who don't have much to do low ratings.

[Babaginoosh]

PROMOTION BABY BSP HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!

Season wrap up coming soon, for now night night.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Congrats to our first League One manager, Drew!

Thanks, needless to say League One is going very well after 16 games, currently 2nd in the table.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Hmmmm, might have found a bug, was trying to look at a former players' history, and it turns out there is no recollection of him joining me, so I can't see how many goals he had scored for me

[G_D_K]

Does anyone have any general advice for scouting/signing players/tranfers in general at the start of your first season in BSN/S? It would be much appreciated. Cheers.

My own method for initial season: go through my initial squad and try to identify a few I can build an initial squad around. Dump the deadwood. Take a look at existing scout reports (assuming you start with a scout --- as Hastings Utd I didn't even have that). Pick up a couple low-wage players to supplement the initial squad. Over the first couple of months, I try to bring in only 5-6 players, keeping my wage bill low. Then, over the last couple of months of the year and into January, I fill holes in the team with players that have been identified by my scouts. I'm always looking for those players identified by my scouts to have "good" or "leading" potential in a division (or more) higher than my current division. Since I saved on my wage bill early, I can now spend a bit more, and target needs that the team has.

So far, it's working fairly well for me...I'm about two points outside the playoffs in mid-February, 12 matches yet to play. Because I only added 1-2 players at a time, the team hasn't had a lot of turmoil with the addition of the new players. I've filled the holes nicely, and think I can at least achieve a playoff spot in my first season. I'm still £1K under my wage budget, too.

Edit: I've been using the scouting pool regularly in this new version too....anytime I see a player pop up in my news (out on trial, awards, etc) I add him to the scouting pool to supplement the findings by my scouts/coaches.

[hedger_14]

Already rebuilt my squad before my first match The only two starting XI players are my goalkeeper (I signed another GK but he wasn't as good as the first) and my striker since he's rated as a leading star for most Blue Square North sides. I signed a young striker who has slightly less current ability but has great potential.

[Shrewsbury_howie]

Signing players late sounds good, i have 1.5k (Aus dollar) in wages I can put to that. And the scouting pool? not sure what that i, ill have to have a look. Other than that i scrapped every player in the entire team and started fresh. 3 wins and 2 draws so far. Ill write a half season review to officially enter the challenge. Thanks for the advice G_D_K.

[Dons]

#6 Hitchin season 6 Update npower L2 2017/18



Squad - Table - Graph - Profile - Transfers - Finances

Awards

None

Will only make a small update this time, as nothing really special happened. Best part of season was board deciding to take us pro.

Finished in 5th position, which was really good considering it is first season up. Faced Milwall in the playoff semi final. Leg 1 away 0-0. A result that was absolutely brilliant, however, in Leg 2 we had 2 red cards and succumbed to a 1-0 defeat.

Cups:

FA Cup: 3rd round exit to Chelsea away. We only lost 2-0 and had 700k put in the bank for that perfomance, which was the seasons highlight.

LC: 2nd round exit to QPR who killed us 3-0 at home.

JPT: 2nd round exit 1-0 to Rochdale, also a home and a match we should have won.

There wasn't any players that really stood out this season as amazing. The injuries we didn't have last season, we had this season forcing us to try a different formation. 4-3-1-2. It worked pretty good, except the forwards didnt score as many goals. Defense is still our best trade.

Guiseppe Simonetto was our best overall player. Solid in defense and good in offense when given the chance.

2 new signings that I have high hopes for.

Patrick Henriksen: Danish U21 previously AB - Good potentiel in this one. Looking forward to see how he can mature.
Marcos Costa: Portuguese U21 who has tried his luck at several clubs, with Xeres as high profile one. Really good overall stats. Also anxious to see how he will mature.

Season	League	FA Cup		Other Cups	Europe  	Final Pos.	Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13 BSN	4th qual	FAT 3rd qual	N/A		12th		None
2013/14	BSS	1st rnd		FAT 1st rnd	N/A		 4th		Lost in playoffs
2014/15	BSS	2nd rnd		FAT Final	N/A		 1st		Promoted, FAT runner up
2015/16	BSP	2nd rnd		FAT 1st rnd	N/A		 5th		None
2016/17	BSP	1st rnd		FAT Winner	N/A		 1st		Promoted, FAT Winner, New stadium
2017/18	L2	3d rnd		LC 2nd rnd	JPT 2nd rnd/N	 5th		None

[Shrewsbury_howie]

Also, does anyone know why i can only offer contracts to people as either first team or key player? why cant i go below that? its hard to manage having 20 people all listed at first team. Is it a glitch? or a setting i need to change?

[Utdchamp]

10 points lead, 4 games to go. It's looking good for FC United

[Dons]

Also, does anyone know why i can only offer contracts to people as either first team or key player? why cant i go below that? its hard to manage having 20 people all listed at first team. Is it a glitch? or a setting i need to change?

It will be that way, until you go pro. Is a thread somewhere about it, and its working as intended.

[Dan BHTFC]

Been busy last few days but now back playing, currently in January and sitting just outside the play-offs

[Scab]

Fierce rival derby time

[Hypanimz]

Just had to knock back a bid of £160k from premier league Sunderland for my 19 year old star striker Piotr Kazmierczak. Im a bit worried if i get any other offers. I cant afford to lose him.

[Scab]

Not quite what I had in mind :/

[GreyedOutMan]

Having appalling luck this season. Just got Doyle back after 7 months, and Adorjan back after 3. Doyle comes off the bench for his first game after Adorjan has been back 2-3 games, and Adorjan goes and gets a 5-6 week injury that will keep him out until the playoff final, which it now looks very unlikely I'll be involved in. Bad luck has dominated this season.

[DizzyIzzyB13]

I'm convinced my coach driver has bribed someone involved in the FA Cup draw given the number of away ties we've recieved.

[heat02]

After having fun getting Canvey Island to the Championship. I've decided to attempt this challenge again this time as Bury Town - http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/100/profilehn.jpg/

[Gilbster]

Have managed to go over budget before the trial day, so have probably messed up for the season before I started. Didnt win a single pre-season friendly, and after the first 7 games of the season, we have 3 points and are sitting 20th position.

However the 2nd round qualifying round draw has just been arranged, and Harrow has been given a mouthwatering, local derby against Wealdstone. Hope we can beat them and kick start the season!

[DarrenP]

Forgive me for being stupid, but how do I:

a) upload an image to a post, such as my club badge
b) upload the code thingy to show my progress in the challenge

Trying to upload an image i click on the image icon, select the file from my computer, click upload file. Thats where i get stuck as it doesnt appear to upload, and i get an icon to the right of my file which says "undefined". Should i be uploading as an image from photobucket?

The code thingy has me completely stumped, but I would love to use it when i'm ready.

[Scab]

a) upload an image to a post, such as my club badge

Although the option is still shown for whatever reason, this forum doesn't allow uploads. Upload the image to a hosting site like imgur.com or, as you mention yourself, photobucket. If you're in WYSIWYG mode here on the forum then simply click the image icon and then "From URL" to insert the image. Obviously enter the image address from imgur/photobucket. If you're in source mode, write [IMG ]http://url.to/the.image[/IMG ] (without the spaces after the G). Although if the images are big you may want to link to them instead.

b) upload the code thingy to show my progress in the challenge

That's not automatic. People compile them themselves within [CODE ][/CODE ] tags. Press the "Reply With Quote" button on any post that has one of these and you can see how they've done it, and then do the same for your own posts.

[deadfncat]

#15 - Chesham United - nPower League 2 - 2019/20 - 18th

A wierd season. Cup games the squad showed up and played well, then when it was back to league football they forgot what to do and stunk the place out. Will need to resort the team and get next season done well.


League Table - 18th


Finances - I Love being in the black. Would love another training facilites upgrade, but it doesn't seem to be on the cards at the moment.





Beat Fulham for the second year in a row, but drew Stoke in the 2nd round and were outclassed everywhere.



Did really well to get to the 4th round and a match against Chelsea where we were blown off the park.



Fantastic run and we weren't really troubled by anyone. Took the trophy easily

Squad - Not bad, a bit weak in defence at times and need more players for depth but confusing why we struggled so badly.


Key Player Profiles

Luke Robinson - Resigned him for four years and he has been quality all season.

Jorgen Ahlstrom - Fantastic DM who held the team together through some tough times. Suffered a broken arm mid season which was difficult, but he came back strong.

Player of the Season

Andy Hunt - Still fantastic even after whinging about wanting more money all season. He is quite injury prone though which is a problem

Up and Comers

Still terrible

Transfers[/URL] - Picked up Neil Russell as backup for the midfield and dumped a whole bunch of excess players. Sold fan favourites Al-Basith and Marwood, but they weren't good enough to compete in this league. I had also been playing favourites with Seidi who had really bad physical stats for this league, so I sold him off to the Italian Serie C. Former GK Gardner went to Forest for a good fee.


Career Overview

Season       Team                       Country                  League                 League Finish             Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    Chesham United               England           Blue Square South            19th                  
2013/14    Chesham United               England           Blue Square South            11th                             FA Trophy Runner Up
2014/15    Chesham United               England           Blue Square South             5th                             Promotion via Playoffs / FA Trophy Semis
2015/16    Chesham United               England           Blue Square Bet Premier      20th                             FA Trophy winners
2016/17    Chesham United               England           Blue Square Bet Premier      15th   
2017/18    Chesham United               England           Blue Square Bet Premier      4th                               Promotion via Playoffs / FA Trophy winners
2018/19    Chesham United               England           nPower League 2              15th                  
2019/20    Chesham United               England           nPower League 2              18th                              JPT Winners

Next Season

Consolidate our position
Build the squad
Gain extra cash from cup runs to be able to upgrade facilities

Same as last season.

Major Competition Winners

Premier League - Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Tottenham
Championship - Leicester, Charlton, Fulham
League 1 - Peterborough, Scunthorpe, Crystal Palace
League 2 - Barnet, Stockport, Cambridge, Notts Co.
BSP - FC Halifax, Bromley
BSN/BSS - Boston Utd. Solihull Moors/Gloucester, Margate
F.A Cup - Leicester
Carling Cup - Liverpool
Johnstone's Paint Trophy - Chesham
UEFA Champions League - Inter
Europa League - Genoa

[/center]

[Hypanimz]

6 Games remaining and its getting very close.

[XaW]

Chesham United | Season 2016/17 | End of season | XaW #8

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Finances | Transfers

A great season all over as we got of to a good start, but we soon found us unable to win matches at all. We went 7 matches without a win, but when we finally won we continued winning and got into a streak of 13 matches unbeaten. Just after new years we hit another slump as we again went 7 matches without a win. Towards the end of the season we picked up form again and managed to establish ourselves in the play off spots. However it was not to be for us as Yeovil beat us on penalties in the semi finals of the play off. As we struggled in the start our star striker Ümit Eminoglu had great problems scoring as he went the first 10 matches of the season without a goal, but after the slow start he showed why he merits a place in the starting line up. The other players who have been great this season have been Kasper Andersen, Per Kristian Karlsen, Elliot Andrews and Radim Skacel.

Just as we had lost in the promotion play off I was offered the job as manager of Middlesbrough, but I declined of course.

The cups went very well this season, but in the Carling Cup we went out in the 1st round against QPR. In the FA Cup we managed to get us to the 3rd round were we drew an away tie against Chelsea. We lost of course, but pocketed us some nice cash. Our best run was in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy were we managed to win it! In the final we met Sheffield Wed, but managed to win in extra time.

Financially we are positiv as we have gotten some big prize money this season. Our board has agreed to improve our training facilities and they should be finished a bit into next season. They still wont improve the youth facilities, but hopefully we can improve it soon enough.

Season         Division             Position       Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 2012/13        Blue Square North    10th       Mid-table
 2013/14        Blue Square North    3rd        Promotion via play offs, FA Trophy winners
 2014/15        Blue Square Premier  13th       Mid-table
 2015/16        Blue Square Premier  1st        Champions, FA Trophy Winners
 2016/17        League Two           4th        Lost play off, JPT winners

[bennyd81]

Been looking to doing this since I got the game on Monday. Been reloading for a few hours over the last couple of days, and I've finally settled on doing this with Marine. Here's my manager profile: http://www.uploadscreenshot.com/image/527027/4483630

Wish me luck...

[Dan BHTFC]

END OF SEASON



HENDON F.C - Season 2017/18
League Table | Squad | Transfers In / Out

I wanted survival and we got it. We were flirting with the Play-Offs halfway through but our form dipped so we had to settle for a midtable finish. We had a few foreign players sign for us after trials, a few from Spain and also have a few from Andorra joining in the Summer. Also my Youth team are doing well in the quality available to me, 3 of them played some part of our season.

In the F.A Cup we managed to reach the 2nd Round but Eastleigh put us out after a replay and we missed on a potential sell out against Premiership Burnley. In the F.A Trophy we were put out in the 4th Round as League winners Salisbury pushed past us.

Season      Division                    Position        Cups
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13     Blue Square South           6th             F.A Cup 3rd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 2nd Rnd
2013/14     Blue Square South           5th             F.A Cup 2nd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 1st Rnd
2014/15     Blue Square South          12th             F.A Cup 3rd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 2nd Rnd
2015/16     Blue Square South           9th             F.A Cup 2nd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 1st Rnd
2016/17     Blue Square South           1st             F.A Cup 2nd Rnd, F.A Trophy 4th Rnd
2017/18     Blue Square Premier        10th             F.A Cup 4th Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 4th Rnd

Next season I'm looking at a push towards the play-offs

[XaW]

Looks like a takeover?

[Hypanimz]

4 Games to go and only 7 points seperate the top 5 and my next match is against 2nd place Fleetwood. Wish me luck

[mikeytk]

After what feels like days of reloading. Please welcome the new manager of Canvey Island, Michael Keighery

[Dan BHTFC]

This player has just been released by Derby, I've never seen that surname before!

[dinthead]

Here is a 23rd June Save Game Uploaded for those of you who do not wish to wait the time it takes to Holiday

I'm going to start using this guys save.

[Hypanimz]

Its all down to the last game of the season for 1st place in the BSP. Level on points with Barnet but ive got +12 GD on them. Here we go....

[Hypanimz]

GET IN!!! Won the league on goal difference. Did lose my final game of the season 1-0 but Barnet lost 3-1. So League 2 next season!! Full season review to come later.

[dinthead]

I chose FC United as I didn't really have a preference.

Profile

[shaggy61]

Bedford Town Season 1 2012/13 BSN

Grace makes optimistic start to life at Bedford an unbeaten pre season followed by a great opening day victory at Gainsborough.

This is probably the first time I have ever started so solidly, wages low and good couple of youngsters signed up including an Italian named Zola who likes producing back heels in the opposition box. Oh and we play in blue too.

Probably cursed us now and we'll lose the next 5 games.

[CasFan]

END OF THE SEASON



#58 – Bradford Park Avenue – Blue Square Bet North – 2012/13 - 15th

Overall, I'm not really happy with the season. Didn't have any meaningful cup runs and an average league performance. Looking forward to next season where I should be able to bring some better players in and better results.


League http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...B04FE10D61E24F


Finances – Very poor, currently £202k in the red, I'm yet to have any board support, let's see what happens.



Was knocked out in the 4th qualifying round, by Blue Square Premier promotion hopefuls Mansfield.

Squad – Strong defensively and in goal. Despite having the 8th and 21st highest goalscorers, I struggled for goals at times.

Key Player Profiles

Andrew White – My top scorer, scoring 20 goals in 37(2) appearances.
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...A84C1157F5B91/

Matty McGinn – Wide midfielder, who I switched to LB when I changed my tactic to 5-3-2. He is my set piece specialist and contributed 17 assists (team highest, 2nd highest in the league) in 46(1) appearances.
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...F5684F483052C/

Matt Plummer – My right back, contributed 8 goals (highest in all leagues) and 4 MOM's and had the highest av. Rating for me in the league.
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...260BF493D236A/

Career Overview

Season       Team                       Country                  League                 League Finish             Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    Bradford PA              England           Blue Square North            15th

Next Season

Improve the squad
Improve the finances
Aim for a promotion place.

Transfers: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...9A9764AB4EE56/
Fixtures: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...D58BDE7260658/
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...A05840A525617/
Squad: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/61...0836EB37F5AF7/

[Hypanimz]

#7 Banbury United - 2013/2014 - Blue Square Premier


Season Review

Wow what a season! It went down to the final game where I lost to 6th place Stockport however my closest challenger Barnet lost to 11th place Tamworth handing me the title by 13 Goals on GD.

League Table

FA Cup - 2nd round defeat to Exeter
FA Trophy - 4th round defeat to Tamworth

Finances Rubbish, need drastic improvement.

Player of the season

Piotr Kamierczak - Amazing return from my star striker had Sunderland sniffing around in the January transfer window but thankfully held onto him.

Other key players

Piotr Banasik - Picked up a few injuries throughout the season but kept the team ticking when fit. 11 Assists from DMC.

Mikkel Desler - Mid-season signing who fit in very well alongside Banasik, could hopefully go on to form a fantastic partnership.

Michal Wronski - Found this lad who my coaches rate higher than Karius so started to play him and never looked back. 13 Clean sheets in 39 games.



Season 2014/2015 Preview

Survive in League 2
Turn Professional
Reach 3rd round of FA Cup
Increase scouting pool available
Sort finances

[Welsh Wizard]

Mid-Season Update



Table

20 points clear at the top and undefeated surely can't throw it away.

Did change my tactic after the first few games as was controling games but were not putting teams away with chances we had the players were instructed to be too defensive for the team instructions and the quality of players I have. Seems to have worked as controling more and looking more of a threat.

Cups

In F.A cup we got fellow L2 side Bristol Rovers in 3rd Round. In JPT we are in the South Final but was knocked out of League cup by West Ham in 2nd round after getting a win over Brighton in 1st round.

Transfers

Ben Parker
Mark Byrne
Lateef Elford-Alliyu
Andy Weimann
Will Keane
Christian Montano

Not may in as very happy with the squad mainly Strikers with selling my 2 main ones for the last few seasons. Loans were for cover due to injuries. Most of the frees have 50% sell and all the transfers do, Williamson was the only transfer I was not forced in too as rest wanted to go/running out of contracts but happy with who I've got in.

Key Player other than the ones above has to be Joe McKee. Has been god like and mosts of his goals have not been FKs

[Dan BHTFC]

Pre-Season going well for me, have brought in some decent young players to build on and they are doing really good

[Impale]

#48 - Impale - Redditch United

Season Two - 2013/2014 - Blue Square Premier

Media Prediction - 24th
Final Position - 4th - Play-off semi final losers.
FA Cup - 2nd Round
FA Trophy - 3rd Round

Transfer Policy

8 players in, 9 out. As of yet no money has exchanged hands for any transfers.



Gutting season. Gutting. Very average form until the New Year, when we had a meteoric rise from 15th - 4th. Our points tally over the last 20 games was nothing short of Championship winning. Here is the spectacular run in all of its glory. The cups went okay. The FA Cup saw us lose 0-1 away to Sheffield United, which netted a small amount of cash. I had hoped to reach the 3rd Round for a bumper tie against a Premiership big gun. I thought we might make a good go of the FA Trophy, but we were knocked out before the team got their act together in the second half of the season.

Positions Graph - I thought this was interesting. It clearly displays my rise from mid-table mediocrity.

Pre-Season Aims

Get under wage budget - Failure
Turn a profit - Success
Cup Run - Failure
Mid-table finish/play-off push - Success


Highlight of the season

After a terrible run of 4 defeats and 2 draws, we edged a thrilling game against Ebbsfleet 3-2, with both teams reduced to 10 men. The return game ended 4-3.

Lowpoint of the season

Play-off Semi Final Second Leg. No contest. The first game finished 0-0 and I missed a penalty. After I went 1-0 after 18 seconds, I felt that it was going to end well. However, I was 1-2 down 5 minutes later. I equalised but conceded two more goals before pulling one back with 10 minutes to go. Sadly we couldn't make the breakthrough.


The Key Men

Daniel Devine - DC - The young centre-back was a stalwart at the back.

Tony Douglas - DRC - The guy was spotted by my scouts and once given a chance in the first team proved to be an excellent player. Future captaincy material.

Zoltan Stas - MC - The Slovakian midfielder had a good first year, formed a good partnership alongside...

Lars Andersen - MC - The lad didn't have such a great season as last year, but was played in a deeper role, allowing Stas to roam forward.

Henrik Jensen - ML - Recovered from only playing 5 games last season due to a cruciate ligament injury to become the creative force of the team.

Stefan Knudsen - ST - Top Scorer, but suffered from a couple of goal droughts.

John O'Sullivan - ST - The true star of the team. Played all across midfield and up front. If only he had pace


Next Season's Aims

Get Promoted.
Try not to get too much further into debt.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------
| Season | Division | Position |          Achievements             |
|--------|----------|----------|-----------------------------------|
|2012/13 |    BSN   |   1st    |   Champions                       |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|2013/14 |    BSP   |   4th    |  Play-off Semi Final losers       |
 ------------------------------------------------------------------

[Welsh Wizard]

Hypanimz - Well Done
XaW, Impale and Dons - Unlucky in play-offs.
dinthead, heat02, bennyd81 and others - Good Luck.

[Hypanimz]

Thanks Welsh, Amazing start to the season you've made. Promoted by March at this rate.

[XaW]

Great, transfer embaro pending the takeover in the middle of pre-season.....

[Brizza]

Manager 44 reporting for duty, and what a tale I have to tell (although I'm too keen to get on with next year to both doing it justice)


Carshalton Athetics - Season 2013/2014 - Blue Square Bet South
sponsored by Sports Direct
Final position: 1st
TableSquad
Transfers
Finances

FA Cup: 2nd round loss to Northampton, 2-1 having thrown away 2-0 lead at home
FA Trophy: 4th round loss to York, 5-2aet after throwing away lead away at their place

Best result: 6-0 win v Bashley in the league
Worst result: 2-5 to York, as above
Top goalscorer: Nathaniel Jarvis, 43 (35 in BSS)
Most assists: Enric Valles, 25 (16 in BSS)
Highest Average rating: Nathaniel Jarvis, 7.83 (7.89 in BSS)

2013-14 Season Review:

Well, as I expected, I ran away with the league. 10 consecutive wins at the start of the season set the tone. The only issue I battled throughout was squad fitness. With a high tempo tactic and only maybe 14 players I'd happily rely upon, most of my squad spent Monday and Tuesday of each week on their sofa (presumably playing FM) recovering in advance of the next game. I have a sensational front 5 and a dreadful defence, mitigated only by Pedersen who my coaches tell me will still be good enough and and when we get to League One. My only tinge of sadness is not to get 100 points or 150 goals, fitness cut those ambitions short, along with hopes of an FA Trophy win.

Player of the season:

Nathaniel Jarvis A goal machine, as evidenced above.

Other Key Players

Kevin Gameiro One half of a lethal front line partnership. Will be good enough to continue through to League One by all accounts. 26 goals in all competitions in a season curtailed by injury.

Enric Valles was a signing immediately after the end of last season's campaign and brought an exotic continental flair to the side, cutting in from the left wing to great effect.

Oguzhan Ozyakup was released by Arsenal in the close season, but only agreed to join us in the late Autumn, presumably having exhausted all other potential avenues. Allegedly will become a leading Championship midfielder, hopefully with us!

Thomas Pedersen. Honourable mention for my only defender of any note. Hopefully I'll find some friends for him to play with for next season!

Future Prospects:

Jim Cray came through the youth system at the end of season and the total lack of depth and rumours of his amazing potential meant he immediately made the side.

Julian Vale was in a similar position to Cray and had a similar return for his efforts.

Sotiris Charalabous was a similar story.

2014-15 Season Preview:

Hmmm, not sure. If I can sign a whole new defence, whilst keeping enough budget for anyone that my scouts find during the season, I'll be very happy. I'd be most disappointed if I'm not challenging at the top end of the table, especially as most of my players supposedly will be good enough to eventually be playing League One or Two football in due course. And no matter what else happens, I can confidently predict goals throughout.

[spankie]

This player has just been released by Derby, I've never seen that surname before!

Believe it or not but I'm pretty sure that surname is pronounced exactly as its written.


Well my preseason went well. I managed to get in 4 Scots for my U18s on top of the two that came through the St Albans youth and got a couple of MCs in to replace those that were asking for too much money. The good thing is that one of them is even better for the MCd role then the pair I had last season.
During pre-season I even arranged my first transfer for the January transfer window. Simon Hegarty should go straight into my first team, his Flair and Dribbling are the only problem areas but some training and a PPM should gloss over those problems.

Pre-season also brought in a big club or two, usually with a hammering on my side. So it's kind or pleasant to think that my side are better then Scottish Premier League side Hibernian

Now I need to look for the FM12 records thread. It's a pity that this guy turned 15 during pre-season as he was 14 when he signed. Also both of the kids who were promoted a couple of game months ago came on to make their debuts at 16 and one got a flukey assist.

[Brizza]

Well, this is good news. Not sure we need them, but I'm glad to see Ashley putting his hand in his pocket. Will be interesting to see how our relationship develops in time. He's already allowed me to get a parent club. Er, Northampton Town. Thanks Mike.

[XaW]

So your name is Neil.....eh.....Neil?

[Dan BHTFC]

So your name is Neil.....eh.....Neil?

So good they named him twice!

[glennuk]

10 games of the season left - 9 points from playoffs in my first season in BSP, just got beat to end a 9 game unbeaten run. If i can get another run like that i coul do it, but its a long shot....>COME ON BURY TOWN

[Hypanimz]

League 2 may be interesting - Put my players onto FT contracts and im £929 over my wage budget with only 18 Players in my first team squad. Cant find any loanees either. Squad is completely lacking depth

[Welsh Wizard]

League 2 may be interesting - Put my players onto FT contracts and im £929 over my wage budget with only 18 Players in my first team squad. Cant find any loanees either. Squad is completely lacking depth

I took time with mine only got last of mine on FT now and most of contract is in team of season and loyalty bonus. Just under budget atm.

[chuk]

I've got a question for you guys, especially the ones who haven't got out of the bottom rung yet.

I'm trying a trial of this challenge, if after 3 seasons I'm enjoying it, I'll post my profile and then 3 season reports, if I'm not enjoying it, I'll turn it into a career save.

The question, I'm currently in Season 2, Season 1 finished a respectable 11th, in Season 2 I'm 3rd after 9 games and into the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. My club reputation is appalling, Canvey Island have the worst rep of all the Blue Square and above teams. If I filter on BSS and Other, there are more than 30 'other teams' between my rep and the team in 21st place, including the Met Police.

I see from post 1, Canvey Island have a better rep than the Met Police at the beginning, so we seem to be deteriorating rather than improving.

Does anyone else see this?

[XaW]

I swear, I didn't pay him!

[Babaginoosh]

Starting Team Info

Manager Starting Profile
Manager Starting Info


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

#49 - Babaginoosh - Tooting & Mitcham - Season 2013/2014 - 2nd Year

League Table | Finances | Transfers | Squad

Media prediction - 19th
Actual finish - 1st

Manager of the Season

A smashing season made up of solid defense, adjustments to away games and late season signings.

Biggest change i made this season was coming up with a formation for my away games. I conceded way too many goals the prior season when i was away (goal differential was -22) and i needed to come up with something new to stop that so i went to a 4-1-4-1 with DM and lone striker all the way up top. Another thing that really helped was pairing up the cb's that i had in Dessie Whelan and Jamie Tank. Playing them as cover/stopper pairing made a world of a difference in defending and helped a tremendous amount. After the change in formation i ended up top of the table for away games.

Key Players:
ST - Ben Mackey - 22 of our 71 league goals came from Mackey, along with 7.12 avg rating, 5 MoM, 5 assists in 34 matches. Missed about a month due to injury but still managed a great season.
MR - Aaron Cole - Once again set the tone for the team on the right wing with his 15 assists and 7 goals of his own with a 7.20 avg rating 2 MoM in 32 matches.
CB's - Jamie Tank / Dessie Whelan - This duo deserves credit for keeping the backfield clear and helping with finishing top of the table.
MC - Umit Eminoglu - Picked him up at the end of January and just shined in the midfield playing well on both ends of the field. Finished with 4 goals 2 assists and 75% pass rating and 3.38 tackles in 14 games. He bossed the midfield every time he started.
MC/DM - Jimmy Beadle - My most versatile player and probably second most important for my team. He played an excellent DM when needed along with filling in the holes for MC and DR when starters needed a rest. I probably couldnt have done half the things i needed to without this bad ass enforcer.

Future of the team:
ML - Andy Pasco - Will be replacing my starting ML next season. He is pacey and has a cannon for a leg which i like.
ST - James Melia - Will add him to my arsenal of strikers as a target man. His stats dont show what he really is but when paired up with Mackey he did very well.

Other notables:
FA Cup - Reached 1st round and lost to Colchester 5-1 aggregate. Wasnt even expecting to go this far but i drew weak teams so it helped.
FA Trophy - Reached Semi Finals and lost to Grimsby 3-2 aggretate

Next seasons objectives:
Avoid relegation
Earn cash through cup matches to get out of the red
Clean out dead weight

Season    League    FA Cup     FA Trophy    Europe     Final Pos.    Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13    BSS      3rd qual   1st round     N/A         10th          None
2013/14    BSS      1st rnd    Semi-Final    N/A         1st         Champions

[Gilbster]

#86 - Just past Feb update!


As it currently stands Harrow are in last place with a 13 point gap between them and safety, and as their manager i'm giving them no hope. I will be restarting this challenge shortly with a brand new team and start post, as I think I made vital mistakes panic buying before that always useful trial day where you can normally get a couple of good players, and my wage budget was gone before that good player reports started coming through. Have learnt a bit about how FM12 is working, so hopefully my next attempt will be a lot longer and a bit more sucessful

[MikaelS]

Gilbster: I think I did the same mistake as you did. I went out and bought tons of players before the trial matches and that cost me dearly.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Crap, just finished 7th in League One, which you may think is an outstanding achievement, bu they fact (as was the same as last season) we were in the play-offs for the majority of the season and then suffered 3 defeats at the end of the season

[Gilbster]

#86 - New Club - New Start


Profile of the new manager of AFC Hornchurch​. Hopefully I will get the pre-season and start of this one better, so I can figure out how to win matches this seaso - I've heard it involves scoring goals, but I cant quite figure out how!

[MikaelS]

Gilbster: join the steam chat thingy

[Andrew Haines]

#84 – Hastings United – Blue Square Bet South – 2012/13 - 2nd

Disappointingly after hitting form in the last few weeks of the season, including thrashing eventual 3rd place Welling 6-1 away from home, my Hastings side fell short in the play off semi-final against Dover. A 2-1 win away in the first leg was not enough and despite having the lions share of the chances managed to lose the 3-1. Dover took advantage of one of their players having an absolute monster long throw (2 goals resulting and they hit the crossbar from another).



My star player for the season was probably centre back Aristote Nsiala. Barnet are showing an interest... no chance.


I'm expecting automatic promotion next season, this should be aided by four new signings including David Martin and Cedric Baseya who look a bit tasty.

[Hypanimz]

I've just checked the Salary per annum in League 2. Predictably im last with 360k per year but 1 place above me spends £768k per year on wages How am i suppose to survive on under half of the next team up from me. Unbelieveable.

[glennuk]

Finished my first season in the bsp 6 points away from play offs in 9th....full season report to come tomorrow

[kccircle]

With Buxton I have managed to get into the 4th round of the FA Cup. We just beat Forest Green via a replay in the 3rd round. Next up is Watford - it is just a shame that it is at home

[GreyedOutMan]

Just got offered the job at St James' Park.


Unfortunately, I'm not very good - it was Exeter not Newcastle!!

[Dan BHTFC]

Just got offered the job at St James' Park.


Unfortunately, I'm not very good - it was Exeter not Newcastle!!

Exeter is St James Park
Newcastle is St James' Park

[GreyedOutMan]

Ah I never knew that. Thanks for that Dan.

[Scottehhhh]

To clarify as I know there was some confusion in my end of season review....

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...29at111411.png

I am now currently in my second season

[kccircle]

With Buxton I have managed to get into the 4th round of the FA Cup. We just beat Forest Green via a replay in the 3rd round. Next up is Watford - it is just a shame that it is at home

Scrap that - home tie is good, especially when on TV - £140k ch-ching

[MikaelS]

To clarify as I know there was some confusion in my end of season review....

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...29at111411.png

I am now currently in my second season

Holy carp that was close!

[kccircle]

Scrap that - home tie is good, especially when on TV - £140k ch-ching

Odds are 30-1 with Watford 1-20

[kccircle]

Odds are 30-1 with Watford 1-20

Oh no - match was postponed - no idea if the rearranged game will be on TV

[GreyedOutMan]

Worksop Town | Season 2016/17 | Blue Square North


Table | Positions Graph | Squad | Finances | Transfers

After last season so nearly getting the perfect end to a season, I was determined to get it right this season. And I had the funds to do it thanks to the good people at the FA and the associated gate money from our Wembley visit last year. This meant that my job over the summer was to find some real quality to go alongside Doyle, Adorjan and Murphy.

That didnt really happen. My scouts completely deserted me, and I ended up with no proper 'keeper at the start of the season, and no really quality players to add to last year's squad which was crying out for defensive reinforcement. However, the forward players came through for me and I was top of the league on October 1st. However, On the day we got there, Doyle broke his leg. Disaster had struck and his season was over. To me, that looked like our chances of promotion out of the window. But I got over the line without Doyle for a significant chunk of last season so I wasn't completely without hope.

However, it was very much downhill from there. Wierdly, it's hard to put this down to Doyle's injury. Whilst his replacement wasnt quite as prolific, he was no mug, as you will see below. I dont know what went wrong really, apart from that we lost games. A lot of them. I also lost Adorjan for a couple of months but I dont really think that would have had such a dramatic effect alone. I think the lack of any real quality coming in at the back really told in the 2nd half of the season or so. We were conceding far too many goals. Next season it is an urgent priority to get some quality in at the back including a top-class goalkeeper. However, that proved extremely hard. None who were available on loan were at all interested in joining, and there just werent any decent ones available to bring in permanently.

By the time Doyle and Adorjan were both fit, I was 4 points from the playoff places, and 13 points from top-spot. I figured a playoff place was as good as I could hope for. But despite Doyle coming off the bench for the first time against playoff rivals Macclesfield, I succummbed to yet another defeat due to defensive frailties, losing 3-2. And, of course, luck was still not on my side as Adorjan got injured again in the 95th minute. Suddenly I was 7 points off the playoffs with just 7 games to go. 7 wins out of 7 were more or less necessary now, and without Adorjan, whose 5-6 week injury meant the end of his season, apart from a possible playoff final appearance if things went well. Despite a poor performance from Doyle, we started to turn things round against Chester next up, winning 3-1 having been 1-0 down. We then snuck a 1-0 win over 2nd placed Kettering in the last minute despite having 65% of the possession. The next match, we werent so lucky. 1-0 down late on, we grabbed an equaliser and went in search of a necessary winning goal. We scored it. Perfectly legitimately. It was clear from the replay that no foul was committed, but the referee didnt want us getting a playoff spot so disallowed it. Still searching for the goal, just seconds later, we conceded at the other end and the realistic hopes of a playoff spot were gone - we were a full 8 points back with 4 games to play. I had a moan in the press and predictably it was not commmented on by the FA - clearly a mistake had been made by the ref. This one was costly. Then the next game, our last chance against 5th placed Barrow, was yet another kick in the teeth. 10 minutes to go, 1-0 up, well over 50% of possession and yes, you guessed it, we lost 2-1. The last five games ended up producing just one win and four defeats, despite having a full-strength side.

Seriously wasn't our year. Thanks mainly to Doyle, we're also massively in debt again despite the massive payday at Wembley last season.

The cup runs were interesting this year but not as successful, hence no second windfall. The Walsall replay was seriously pressured, as the winner played Wigan at home. Would have been really nice. But it just wasnt to be. I cut the lead from 2-0 to 2-1 with a few minutes left and then peppered the Walsall goal, but it just wasnt to be this time. Hopefully next year we can finally reach round three. In the FA Trophy, a red card in the 2nd minute against Kettering meant the writing was on the wall for our defence of the FA Trophy.

A really disappointing season, but caused mainly by bad luck. As you can see above, we're back in debt despite a massive windfall last year, and a big chunk of that was money paid to Doyle, who missed most of the season, and never really found his form again at the end. I'm hoping for a real push from him next season, and unless our financial position improves dramatically, I will then sell him. This season I could have got about £160k for him. I'm looking for closer to £250k really.

I would really appreciate some input - I'm struggling to keep MY morale up at the moment, seriously considering a restart. Though I'd probably stay in-game and just pick a newly promoted team in 2018 if things go badly this year.


Key Players - I have shown overview screen rather than attributes screen this season as various important information isnt shown for some reason on the attributes screen.

Conor Doyle - I knew he'd be THE key player. Was just hoping he'd play more than 17 games. Next season, he will be the driving force behind, I hope, promotion.
Gary Murphy* - Rock solid as usual, and the interest in him has been huge. Might be forced to sell soon....
Krisztian Adorjan - The final point of the magic triangle. These three are miles ahead of the rest.
Mark Pelosi - Another good season from the "other" Yank.
Simon Maybury - The one decent summer signing. Did a good job as a Doyle impersonator.

(*= fans' player of the year)

It should be noted that some players who have appeared here before had major shares of blame for the debacle this season. Dishonourable mentions go to Matt Needham, who was shocking, Lewis Garner who stalled, and James McQuilkin who wasnt his consistent self from last year.

The team of the year
The historical best XI

Next season, hopefully Doyle will stay fit. That, and with a bit of luck a decent goalkeeper and a couple of new defenders, and this squad could push for promotion hard. I just fear a few players might be out of the door this summer. Pelosi in particular is looking like he wants to leave. Murphy might too, but only for the right price....we will see. As you can see, I do need the money! The lack of any kind of cup run this year has really put the club in problems.

In other news, Chelsea won the league for the first time since 2010, but my own beloved Arsenal finally did it in the Champions League, Gervinho and Chamakh, both still at the club, securing a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in Brussels. The absurdly unrealistic £45m shelled out on Neymar at the start of the season is, perhaps, a messsage to the Arsenal board of what it takes to get success. Indeed, their top two performers of the season were Yann M'Vila and Nicholas Nkoulou.

Season      Division	         Position     Points     Achievements

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2012/13	    Blue Square North      17th	        45       Avoided relegation
2013/14	    Blue Square North      11th	        58       Mid-table finish, FA Cup 1st Round, BSN Manager of the Year.
2014/15	    Blue Square North      13th	        56       Mid-table finish.
2015/16	    Blue Square North      2nd	        77       Playoff semi-finals; FA Cup 2nd round; FA Trophy Winners.
2016/17	    Blue Square North      10th	        60       Crap season, really disappointing. A backwards step.

PS Could I add my usual plea to the end of my post - anyone who gets a moment, if you could check the table on the first page whenever you can it would make my life easier. Just check the numbers at the bottom beneath the table add up, really, and let me know if I've missed any posts!

[fergysafc]

Exeter is St James Park
Newcastle is St James' Park

Not true Newcastle is Sports direct @ St James park

[kccircle]

Oh no - match was postponed - no idea if the rearranged game will be on TV

Well, I lost (0-4) and was never in the game.

On a positive my bank balance has been boosted to £243k as the game did remain a TV game

My league form is poor though and I keep buying players to plug holes - its not that bad as they are all on pay as you play deals

I need to hang on and hope one or two more (there are two already) go into Administration