dafuge's FM12 challenge

**Dan BHTFC** · 12-12-2011 23:27

END OF SEASON

HENDON F.C - Season 2033/34
League Table | Squad | Transfer In / Out

Challenge complete!!

We beat Manchester City in the Final and we won comfortably, this is now my biggest achievement in Football Manager. In the league we lost too many easy games and finished 5th but we have some good youngsters coming into the squad. We also won the F.A Cup beating Sheffield Wednesday so a Cup double is great!

Code:

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
2018/19     Blue Square Premier         1st             F.A Cup 5th Rnd, F.A Trophy Winners
2019/20     npower League 2             9th             F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 1st Rnd
2020/21     npower League 2             1st             F.A Cup 2nd Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT Semi-Finals
2021/22     npower League 1            15th             F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 2nd Rnd
2022/23     npower League 1            14th             F.A Cup Semi Finals, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 2nd Rnd
2023/24     npower League 1             1st             F.A Cup 4th Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 1st Rnd
2024/25     npower Championship         1st             F.A Cup 5th Rnd, Carling Cup 3rd Rnd
2025/26     Barclays Premier League    10th             F.A Cup 5th Rnd, Carling Cup Quarter Finals
2026/27     Barclays Premier League     8th             F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup Winners
2027/28     Barclays Premier League     9th             Europa League Quarter Finals, F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup 3rd Rnd
2028/29     Barclays Premier League     3rd             F.A Cup Final, Carling Cup 4th Rnd
2029/30     Barclays Premier League     4th             Europa League Winners, F.A Cup Winners, Carling Cup 4th Rnd
2030/31     Barclays Premier League     3rd             Europa League 2nd K.O, F.A Cup 4th Rnd, Carling Cup Semi Finals
2031/32     Barclays Premier League     5th             Champions League   1st K.O, F.A Cup Quarter Finals, Carling Cup Quarter Finals
2032/33     Barclays Premier League     1st             Europa League Quarter Finals, F.A Cup Semi Finals, Carling Cup 3rd Rnd
2033/34     Barclays Premier League     5th             Champions League Winners, F.A Cup Winners, Carling Cup 4th Rnd

**Gilbster** · 12-12-2011 23:56

Congratulations Dan. Isn't it a great feeling to beat the challenge at last!

**darren1983** · 13-12-2011 01:35

Darren1983 Kingstonian Season 2020/21 Review nPower Championship

Table Graph Tansfers

Well after 2 season of doing naff all in this league, all I was looking for from this season was a sign of progress. We started the season strongly, and by the end of November we were right in the mix for promotion, however a poor run over christmas saw us slip down to 4th, we soon picked ourselves up and went on a great run that inclueded 5 wins in 6 games in Feb to win me manager of the month and we were looking good. However a shocking run of 6 defeats in 7 games (4 of which were in a row) saw us slide down to 6th, we refound our form in the run in and a last day 1-0 win away to champions Fulham left us in 5th place and in the Play Offs against Watford.

Play Off First Leg saw a poor 1-1 draw at home where we didnt play well and frankly we were lucky to get away with a draw, it did mean we had to go and try and win away from home which I was happy about as on away form alone we were 2nd in the league.

Play Off Second Leg a great away performance saw us win 2-1 and progress to the final. We were much better then the scorelinf suggests and should have had the game won long before we did. The win meant we were to play Blackpool a team that beat us 6-0 over 2 league games

Play Off Final wow!! did not expect that!! We played them off the park and should've been a good couple of goals up by half time, we took the lead mid way through the first half and never looked back, we won a pen in the 2nd hald which was put away and we were never in dange rof losing from then on - Premeirship here we come!!!!

Players Of The Seaon

Fabian Andre picked up this young French keeper from Clairefontaine on a free and he was superb all season - easily the best keeper I've had at Kingstonian

Thierry Thomas another young French player, was released by Le Harve and was on trial with Swansea when he was recommended to me through the backroom staff section, Swansea let him go at end of his trial and he signed for me and ended up with 20 goals and always seemed to score in the big games

A special mention must go to Alex Burhenne I've had this guy since my BSP days and he just gets better the higher up we go, another 28 assists this season and thats not even a record for him

**timers** · 13-12-2011 02:33

Is the challenge to win the EPL and win the Champions League in different seasons, or is it in the same season? I always thought it was in the same season

**Brizza** · 13-12-2011 09:38

Originally Posted by Dan BHTFC

Nottingham Forest Update (January) : Blue Square North 2033/34

Count themselves lucky that Chasetown and Barrow have had points deductions!

**AndyMUFC** · 13-12-2011 10:35

i've been following Dan on twitter. last night it came up he had been beaten in champs league final yet 6 minutes later get another update saying he had led team to a double after leading team to sucess in champions league, Twitter posts, these twitter posts came through about 8 mins before update on here

me thinks he reloaded till he got result he wanted

auto updates through twitter has caught him out

**Utdchamp** · 13-12-2011 12:12

Originally Posted by AndyMUFC

i've been following Dan on twitter. last night it came up he had been beaten in champs league final yet 6 minutes later get another update saying he had led team to a double after leading team to sucess in champions league, Twitter posts, these twitter posts came through about 8 mins before update on here

me thinks he reloaded till he got result he wanted

auto updates through twitter has caught him out

- Properly busted there...

**ejthegreat** · 13-12-2011 12:52

Tooting & Mitcham 2015/16 Season Review

After all the concerns I had with finances and players wanting more than I could both afford and was allowed to offer, the season itself turned out to be an outstanding success.

Comps:

League Cup: Lost first round to Portsmouth. Actually won the game but an electrical storm caused comp to restart and result was lost, went back to most recent save game (autosave 1/week on 3 rolling files) but save was before game. Sadly lost the 'replay'.

FA Cup: Unlike the past two seasons, there would be no financial windfall this year. Drawn away to L1 Middlesbrough in Rd 2, we lost 2:1 in front of only around 8k people. It was enough to break even for the month but didn't give me the kick I got the last two seasons.

JPT: Despite the misses above, T & M did have a great cup run and this was it. We defeated L1 Crawley at home in Sth Rd 1 on penalties, then smashed L2 Champions Barnet 3-0 in Rd 2 at home. The qtr final was away to L1 Reading who made the mistake of putting in a weakened team and we came back with a 2-0 win. Back home for the SF against L1 Plymouth, they were no match for the rolling Terrors and we won 2-0 very comfortably.

On to the South Final against L1 Wycombe and once again in two legged matches, we struggled at home in the first leg, going down 2-1. Off to Wycombe then and an early goal helped our cause, before Wycombe leveled just before the break. After half time though, we were a dominant force. Scoring straight after the break to level the tie, we won a penalty in the 71st min, duly converting and in their desperate attempt to score, Wycombe left themselves open at the back and we took advantage, 4-1 on the day for 5-3 overall.

On to the JPT Trophy against North winners and fellow promotion hopefuls Stockport in front of nearly 23k at Wembley, easily our biggest crowd and a far cry from the 18 people who came to watch our first round match against Crawley. 0-0 at the break, it was a tense affair until Stockport took the lead in the 74th min. We attacked and were rewarded with a penalty in the 83rd minute, 1-1. From there the deadlock couldn't be broken and after full time and extra time, it was off to penalties.

Things started badly for us when Smyth missed our first penalty and sadly, 9 scored penalties in a row later, Stockport had won the JPT 5-4 on penalties. It was a great effort from the boys despite the loss.

League 2: We started off in fine style, unbeaten in our first 5 matches and despite the occasional loss, we had a great run until early in the new year, having played 25 games for 15 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses; 51pts and top of League 2 after Barnet, who had been leading all the way, had a slight form slump and slipped back to second.

From there though, it was much tougher going with the increased fixtures due to the JPT. Only 2 wins from the next 10, but 5 draws maintained the point scoring and we were still in the hunt for automatic promotion, changing between second and third, with Barnet now kicking clear on top.

Our form continued to fluctuate and with a poor goal difference compared to our rivals, we needed to turn things around and hope results went our way over the last three games. Our form returned with a gutsy 2-1 win on the road at Bournemouth, leaving us on 76pts in 4th place, 2 behind Gillingham and Stockport who had to play each other in the second last game. We thumped Bradford 3-0, meaning destiny would be in our own hands on the final day, as long as Gillingham and Stockport didn't draw, however, they did.

This meant, going into the final day, all three of us were on 79pts, with Hereford on 78 and Swindon 77, all vying for the final two automatic promotion spots. We travelled to Tranmere on the final day, whilst Gillingham were at home to struggling Northampton, Stockport were on the road to dangerous Port Vale, Hereford at home to midtable Lincoln and Swindon away at champions Barnet. We needed a win and for one of the two above us not to win.

With one eye on the game and one on the scores, we kicked off and great news came early with Northampton getting an early goal. This was compounded when Obem scored from a corner on 22mins, enabling us to get a foot in the door. Elsewhere, Hereford had taken an early lead too and it looked like the two of us were going through at the half time break, both leading 1-0, with Stockport 0-0 and Gillingham 0-1 down.

That changed on 63mins when Gillingham levelled meaning they only needed one more, which came on 75mins. Luckily though, at the same time, we got word that Port Vale had taken the lead against Stockport, Hereford had lost the lead to Lincoln and Barnet were leading Swindon, meaning we only had to hold on for promotion. Finally after pushing Tranmere back, they relented and we scored a second goal and when the whistle blew, we were going up at the expense of Stockport, getting revenge for the JPT in the best possible way.

Table: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...iew_Stages.jpg
Graph: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...tPositions.jpg
Squad: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x..._Players-5.jpg
Transfers: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x..._History-3.jpg
Board Overview: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...Overview-2.jpg
Current Profile: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x..._Profile-3.jpg

Goals for 2016/17:

Stay up
Get everyone on full time contracts
Find away to afford that
Good cup run to help financially
Get reputation up to at least 1 star

**magicmastermind124** · 13-12-2011 12:58

Originally Posted by Gilbster

Congratulations Dan. Isn't it a great feeling to beat the challenge at last!

It's just a shame that the person decided to reload his save after losing the first time around.
I'm not going to say that's the wrong thing to do but I thought others should know.

**Utdchamp** · 13-12-2011 14:42

Originally Posted by magicmastermind124

It's just a shame that the person decided to reload his save after losing the first time around.
I'm not going to say that's the wrong thing to do but I thought others should know.

Looking at his twitter account it does not seem like the first time either. He lost the Euro Cup final, but magically celebrated the double soon after.

Not gonna judge either since I've done it before, but got out of the habbit some versions ago.

**grff** · 13-12-2011 14:51

Originally Posted by Dan BHTFC

Oh dear, poor old Nottingham Forest!

I've got a similar thing going on with Forest in my game, except they are about to drop off the radar completely as they are fighting relegation in the Blue Square North. I'd be tempted to take over them if it wasn't for the challenge.

**darren1983** · 13-12-2011 15:52

Think my promotion to the Permiership is a season to early for us - the club (stadium, youth training, trainging ground, squad) is not up to standard and I fear a Derby-esque points total

**Gypsum** · 13-12-2011 16:05

Gypsum's Worksop town - Premier league - 2022/23
Challenge completed!

League position: 1st / Position chart
Media prediction: 7th

After last season's league disappointment, we made up for it this year with a sensational league run. And in addition to last year's Champions league success, I have completed the challenge!

Champions league: Knocked out out in the first round.

An obvious disappointment as reigning Champions, but injuries left our squad with a tough task against a strong Sevilla.

League cup: Winners! Beat Sunderland 4-0

Transfers - Not the transfer of Manfred Maes, a good striker I got for £3m, sold 6 months later for £11.5m by my chairman.

Finances

General squad info

Star players;

Philipp Eberlein - Our star man yet again, a livewire as a wide striker who won Young player of the year for the 2nd time.
Peter Birbeck - Signed for just £1.6m from Man City last season, Birbeck is the quintessential playmaker.
Denis - Another impressive goal haul, despite a delayed start to the season through injury.
Arjan Helle - Signed from Hannover for £7.5m, and worth every penny. Completed our front three.
Tete - A towering Brazilian centre-back, signed for £5m from Botafogo.
Carlos Gonzalez - Now in his second season with us, Carlos remains an imperious defender, despite injury problems.
Christ Makumbu - The powerhouse of a midfielder had another good season. An absolute bargain as a free transfer!

Code:

   Year                Division                          Position                    Other achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13              Blue Square North                    1st
2013/14              Blue square Premier                  12th                       FA Cup third round
2014/15              Blue square Premier                  3rd                        Moved into new stadium / Playoff winners 
2015/16              League 2                             3rd                        Automatic promotion / FA cup 5th round
2016/17              League 1                             1st                        FA Cup 4th round
2017/18              Championship                         5th                        Championship playoff semi-finalists
2018/19              Championship                         1st                        
2019/20              Premier league                       7th
2020/21              Premier league                       2nd                        Champions league qualification
2021/22              Premier league                       2nd                        Champions league winners
2022/23              Premier league                       1st                        League cup winners

**Dan BHTFC** · 13-12-2011 19:22

I can promise you I have never reloaded a game on any of my saves ever

**magicmastermind124** · 13-12-2011 20:13

Perhaps you should switch off your contradictory automatic twitter feeds then, they don't seem to be helping your case.

It's nothing against you but it should be seen that the challenge was not completed with the ethic that it deserves to be completed with.

**High Flying Dwarf** · 13-12-2011 20:44

Don't jump on him about it, everybody gets tempted to do it, although denial in face of clear evidence is a bit silly.

Daf will have the final say over it, and nobody else should get involved.

As for Lewes, double header coming up, with two seasons of dramatically contrasting fortunes

.

**High Flying Dwarf** · 13-12-2011 21:34

Season 2022-2023 Review

Not even Super Mario could save a dismal Lewes side from Premier League disaster

Media Prediction: 20th (The Prediction Man strikes back!)
My Expectation: Survival
Final Position: 20th

We knew it would be tough work but nothing could prepare us for the smashing we took this season. It all looked so bright at the beginning of the season when we ran rings around West Brom but failed to secure three points in a 1-1 draw. We were a shambles, and shambles deserve to be in the Championship instead of the Premiership.

I signed Mario Balotelli in a Carsonesque attempt to save our season but it wasn't as effective in a higher level, we took very little out of this season other than the monetary benefits. We made over £20 million pounds (including parachute payments) during our time in the top flight, and with the Thomas Cook Stadium finally built we can look forward to a solid Championship campaign with a bit of reinforcement.

-

FA Cup: Newcastle beat us 2-0 at the Thomas Cook Stadium to send us out in a Fifth Round Replay.
League Cup: We saw out our days at the Dripping Pan with a final splendid victory 3-2 win against Blackburn in the Third Round but Everton proved too difficult to overcome as we were beaten 3-4 in the Fourth Round.

Managers Player of the Season

Josh Swan: A bright spark in an otherwise dull season, Swan left to join Fulham shortly after the season in a £2.5 million pound deal, but his influence in preventing an even worse finish with a 7.04 avg rating was plain to see.

Table
Transfers

-

Season 2023-2024 Review

Young Lewes fans celebrate an incredible season which has seen them become the talk of England.

Media Prediction: 3rd
My Expectation: Winners
Final Position: 1st

After a season of losing I was well aware that I did not want another experience quite like that. In response, I decided to make radical changes, which included shipping out some of the clubs legends. These lads may have helped us get to where we wanted to be, but the simple fact is they weren't good enough to help us stay there. We stood at a new era for the club, and as the season got underway it became clear we wouldn't be disappointed.

Where to start then? Our record breaking title run, our incredible season in the cups, our record breaking top scorers. The simple fact is we came together to shake off the disappointment of last season and go on a big run towards a return to the Premiership. We did just that, breaking the points record for theChampionship with 112 points. Our two top strikers, Richard Boateng and Robert Wojcik, became club legends as they constantly traded the spot for top scorer. In the end Boateng triumphed with 45, but only by a single goal, with the two racking up 89 goals in all competitions.

The team was typified on the final day, a solitary goal from Richard Boateng sealing our points record with a neat finish in front of the Meade Stand. This team definitely has the Premiership ability, now they just have to show it.

Things are looking bright for next season, We've signed a new shirt sponsorship deal with AMD (shirts on the way!) which will open up more revenue for the club, and more TV money will be available thanks to our Premiership status. Here's to, hopefully, staying up.

I was only runner up for Championship MOTY as well! AGAIN!

-

FA Cup: We went all the way to the Quarter Finals in the national knockout cup but Chelsea came back for revenge with a 4-2 win at the Thomas Cook Stadium. So near, but yet so far.
League Cup: We were minutes away from our first ever domestic cup final. Having beaten six teams including the likes of Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool, we came up against a resilient and heavily favoured Newcastle in the Semi Finals. We took them all the way to extra time at the Sports Direct Arena but came up just short as they went home with a 4-3 win on aggregate.

Managers Player of the Season

Richard Boateng and Robert Wojcik: Inseparable. So prolific was our partnership up front that we simply couldn't choose one over the over. As said above, 89 goals in all competitions gave us our best season on record.

Table
Transfers

-

Club Overview

Code:

Season   Division              Position  Points   Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13  Blue Square South     8th       67       FA Trophy Semi Finalists
2013/14  Blue Square South     3rd       72       Promoted via playoffs, BSS Manager of the Year
2014/15  Blue Square Premier   12th      63
2015/16  Blue Square Premier   10th      69       FA Cup Third Round
2016/17  Blue Square Premier   1st       87       Blue Square Premier Champions, BSP Manager of the Year
2017/18  Npower League 2       1st       85       Npower League 2 Champions, League 2 Manager of the Year
2018/19  Npower League 1       4th       81       Promoted via playoffs, League 1 Manager of the Year
2019/20  Npower Championship   11th      64       New 16,616 capacity stadium planned
2020/21  Npower Championship   11th      67       
2021/22  Npower Championship   2nd       94       Npower Championship Runner Up, Npower Championship Manager of the Year Runner Up
2022/23  Barclays Premiership  20th      23       Relegation, Moved into the 16,616 capacity Thomas Cook Stadium (Lewes Stadium)
2023/24  Npower Championship   1st       112      Npower Championship Champions, Npower Championship Manager of the Year Runner Up

**magicmastermind124** · 13-12-2011 21:54

Originally Posted by High Flying Dwarf

Don't jump on him about it, everybody gets tempted to do it, although denial in face of clear evidence is a bit silly.

Daf will have the final say over it, and nobody else should get involved.

As for Lewes, double header coming up, with two seasons of dramatically contrasting fortunes

.

It's not him I'm getting at, I wanted to bring it up to ensure that others were aware in case it affected any records or something. End of from me.

It's still an achievement to get that high and into Europe.

**Dan BHTFC** · 13-12-2011 22:05

I have now resigned from Hendon and now waiting to see who comes up into the Blue Square North/South and try it again but this time it will be tougher as all the players in the database are regens

**High Flying Dwarf** · 13-12-2011 22:20

Originally Posted by magicmastermind124

It's not him I'm getting at, I wanted to bring it up to ensure that others were aware in case it affected any records or something. End of from me.

It's still an achievement to get that high and into Europe.

I know, don't worry, I wasn't having a go at you

**ejthegreat** · 14-12-2011 03:39

Finally up to 1 star reputation now that I've been promoted from L2. Been trying to sign up players to full time contracts but I might have to hurry, the takeover merry-go-round has just begun.

http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...ws_Inbox-1.jpg

Chairman is 'willing to listen to offers'. Suspect this might be the type of thing that takes a year to sort out. Most of the FA Cup revenue reserves have been used up, we'll be going into the red within the next two months unless we get a major increase in crowds early this coming season. Need to get the key players sorted out before then.

**AndyMUFC** · 14-12-2011 14:42

AndyMUFC - npower League One - Winners - Season 2016-17

Media Prediction:- 24th
Board Prediction:- Avoid Relegation
My Prediction:- Playoffs

Table Graph Squad Best Player Transfers Finances

A cracking season with us never being outside the playoff spots, with us eventual winning the league with 7 games to go.

Only 1 new player was bought in this was Issac Osbourne who went straight into the first team as our 1st choice DMC, but 12 players were released that no longer where in the clubs plans or would not resign.

The best player over the season was Jordan Walker our AMC who I used as a Trerquartista, he finished the season with some excellent stats of 51 games 29 goals and 26 assists with a rating of 7.65, he was also Man of the Match 13 times.

Finances are in a bad state with us making a loss of £924,367 over the season. £336,000 of this was the loan repayments for the new stadium, we also made subsentual payments on goal and other bonuses due to the excellent season we had. We also overspent £100,000 on wages due to unable to sell or release anymore players as couldn't get any new signings for lower wages that were good replacements, Also a fair amount was lost through match day expsenses due to moving into new stadium at start of season, an all singing all dancing stadium with 17,836 all seater with undersoil heating. At least with having these facilities we had no games called over the season.

Tasks for next season:-

1) Avoid relegation
2) Improve Squad
3) Improve Finances

Code:

Season	Division	         Pos  Pts  FA Cup              Other Cups	                         Europe       Achievements		

2012-13	Blue Square Bet North    2nd  78   2nd Rd              FAT 2nd Rd                                N/A          Promoted via playoffs
2013-14 Blue Square Bet Premier  4th  79   4th Qualifying Rd   FAT 2nd Rd                                N/A          Lost in Playoff Final
2014-15 Blue Square Bet Premier  1st  96   3rd Rd              FAT Final                                 N/A          Automatic Promotion
2015-16 npower League Two        1st  105  2nd Rd              JPT 2nd Rd, Carling Cup 1st Rd            N/A          Automatic Promotion
2016-17 npower League One        1st  105  3rd Rd              JPT Quarter Final, Carling Cup 2nd Rd     N/A          Automatic Promotion

**GreyedOutMan** · 14-12-2011 15:02

During the summer I managed to rake in a record transfer income despite selling no-one I really wanted to keep (apart from a few players who left on Bosmans). I got a million for Gauna, who had been good but was 29 and probably over-performed anyway. I got £2.8m for Dillon Stevens who had played 11 games for me. I got £1m for Georg Antonaccio who was promising but unlikely ever to be a proper Premiership player. Ben Pratt was sold on for £775k a season after signing for nothing. But the most amazing one for me was the sale of Marko Haase. I got him on a free last summer, he looked OK, but not great, he played precisely 11 minutes for Harrow before moving to Newcastle for £1.6m - right little Arsene Wenger I've turned into! I was really happy with that, and after the stadium upgrade which decimated my finances, it was needed. Of course, record transfer spending also had to come, including my first two million-pound men, and soon I was happy that my squad could at least stay up and possibly surprise a few people.

An opening-day 2-0 defeat at home to West Ham brought me back down to earth with a bump, and I settled in for a long, hard campaign, steeled for a possible first ever relegation. I tried to find consolation in the fact that we'd had 11 shots and none on target - we would surely have better days at the office than that!

But it seemed not many. We got a win against fellow promoted team Nottingham Forest, and it was our only points in the opening 9 league games. A 6-1 defeat to Championship Middlesbrough in the League Cup was a particular low-point. On 2nd November, we picked up another win at home to Newcastle but there was still a long way to go. I picked up another win and then put in a credible performance against Chelsea, going ahead twice before losing 4-2. But then Guilbert, whose form had helped us a lot, got injured for three months just as the stadium re-opened. The first game at the expanded Harrow Stadium was the visit of Manchester City. After putting up a valiant fight for most of the first half, we found ourselves two-nil down soon after the start of the second. We were never going to come back from that but by only losing 2-0 we didn't disgrace ourselves.

It didn't get better from there. All my good players were underperforming and it was getting rather embarrassing, really. At one point I got just two points from 13 games, although during this time I did find myself 1-0 up against Man Utd with 17 minutes to go. Needless to say, I lost 2-1! I couldn't buy a win during this period, although in the 14th game I got another draw, that didn't stop the rot, despite having Swansea at home in the next game. I got trounced 3-1. On March 1st, the 16th game since the last win, I was 1-0 up against Leicester with two minutes to go when a stupid own-goal cost us two points. I think at that point I more or less wrote off the season. I started getting players to sign new contracts - luckily they were stupid enough to take small wage rises in return for 50% relegation wage drops! Result!

A harsh penalty for Newcastle and a poorly disallowed goal for us (the defender was level, and they were both on the edge of the penalty area - with a white line already there, there's not really any excuse for the line-o!) combined to rob us of what should have been a first win 17 at St James' Park, and a remarkable double over the Magpies. Relegation loomed ever larger - with nine games remaining, we sat seven points off safety.

Cup Runs this year provided a bit of respite. The Carling Cup defeat to Middlesbrough was shockingly bad and in the middle of a particularly bad run in the league, but the FA Cup saw our best run yet, and a trip to Wembley to face Man Utd in the first major cup semi-final in Harrow's history. It just happened to be my 1,000th game as Harrow's manager. What a feeling, to lead out your team at Wembley in your 1,000th match. Surely fate was on my side? Arsenal had beaten Birmingham in the other semi-final so the prize was on the table if we could manage to sneak a famous win. We had a chance towards the end of normal time, and though United had the better of the game, it wasn't a mismatch, and extra-time promised a tense, nervy half-hour. It wasn't a foregone conclusion. After 20 minutes of nail-biting stuff, Brahim Messaoudi got the breakthrough and Wembley erupted red, not for the devils but for Boro. It was nervy, edgy and horrible, but we hung on to reach the Cup Final! Unbelievable, and an historic day for Harrow. It was just a shame that our league form was so completely opposite to our cup form....

Surrounding the amazing Wembley win against United, I had an impossibly tough run in the league. I lost to Man City away a week before the semi-final, and between the semi-final and the final, our run was Chelsea (H), Arsenal (H), Aston Villa (A) and Blackburn (H), but frankly, sitting 13 points off Ipswich in 17th albeit with a game in hand, I was pretty much resigned to relegation and though I planned to give it everything until relegation was confirmed, the fact that it was almost certainly going to be over with several games to go was quite a relief in that it meant we could rest players for the final, whereas Arsenal had a massive fight on their hands, sitting two points behind Swansea in the fight for the fourth Champions' League spot.

Despite going ahead early against Chelsea, we were losing 2-1 before half time and couldn't drag it back. It meant that the Cup Final dress-rehearsal at Harrow Stadium was almost certain to be the game to seal relegation, not only if we lost but more than likely even if we won as Ipswich were facing Wigan who had little to play for. What I hadn't noticed was that the Arsenal game had been moved to the Sunday, and Ipswich's win over Wigan sealed relegation on 26th April. I was determined to give the Arsenal game everything because I didn't want Arsenal to have the psychological edge at Wembley. That didn't quite happen for me - within 3 minutes, Arsenal had the lead. Before half time the game was all but over at 2-0. A 3rd with twenty minutes to go wasn't great, and the Gunners heaped on the pain, eventually making it 4-0 at full-time. To rub salt into the wounds, Marc Weller was sent off in the last seconds of stoppage time. Our league performance was nothing short of shocking, and 26 games without a league win must be some sort of record.

We went into the Cup Final with Harrow relegated and Arsenal almost certainly out of the running for the Champions' League - so both teams were playing for much-needed pride.

You'll notice that the Cup Runs link doesn't give you the result from the final. Can't lose the suspense! I went into it with a debutant. It was a risk that my AssMan had recommended, and I wasn't entirely convinced but my midfield hadn't been that great throughout the season, and Moussa Camara hadn't been cheap. But when your star striker (and former Sp**s player) Guilbert is sent off within twenty minutes, you're never likely to be in with a chance in a Cup Final against a team like Arsenal. We were two-nil down before half-time. Arsenal's name was on the Cup. The final score was 4-1, and the trouncing rather summed up our stay in the Premiership. I have no idea how I managed to beat United in the Semi-Final. However, Arsenal somehow managed to nick the Champions' League spot, with Swansea getting just one point from the last two games away at Chelsea and United. This meant, of course, a Europa League spot for Harrow Borough!!!

Key Players

Herve Guilbert* - really important to us, and the form of the team went down the pan when he got injured.
Ander Larrea - the loanee whose performances in the FA Cup were absolutely crucial to the run to the Final.
Danny Boon - nearly sold him in the summer - so happy I didnt, and I plan to make him a central figure in our bid for re-promotion.
Regis Mpinda - the only new signing who worked out.
Gabriele Monda - the only one of several central defenders I used this season to really impress - another one like him and we might have stayed up.

(*= fans' player of the year)

The team of the year
The historical best XI - Neuemeier, Cabello and Monda inducted.

Key Records Broken
Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £1.6m for Gustavo from Burnley on 13th July - the first million-pound man was Regis Mpinda from Swansea on 4th July.
Highest Transfer Spend: £5.5m - transfers section says £5.75m
Highest Transfer Income: 9.25m - transfers section says £8.25m
Highest League Finish: 20th in the Premiership
Most Games Lost in a Row: 7 from 14th September to 26th October
Highest Average Attendance: 10,895

Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)

None this year - we sold a bunch of players who had barely played for the club for a lot more than we paid for them. Quite a result, that.

Next season, I need to go back up to the Premiership. But I want to make sure that I also preserve my financial situation. Several of my highest-paid players are going to have to take a 50% wage cut, which will help, not to mention the parachute payments which took my finances to a new level. Unlike last season, when only one of my expensive new signings worked out (Mpinda), I need to buy well this year.

Targets for 2030/31
Survival in the Premiership FAILURE - abject one, at that. We weren't a Premiership side by a long shot.
A cup semi-final SUCCESS - one better, as we managed that shock victory in the Semi-Final!
Get out of debt SUCCESS - amazing the different a season in the Premiership can make!

Targets for 2031/32
Promotion
Save money for the Premiership to get better players in next time around
Sign some good youngsters who will turn into quality Premiership players

In other news, I've been offered just about every Premiership job going this year, including Chelsea, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Newcastle, but the 'childhood dream' Arsenal job which was going at the start of the season eluded me despite press speculation after Lee Clark left to manage England.

Code:

Season      Division	          Position     Points    Achievements

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

2012/13     Blue Square South         17th      45       Stayed clear of relegation.
2013/14     Blue Square South          3rd      80       Playoff runners-up.
2014/15     Blue Square South          2nd      91       Promoted via playoffs.
2015/16     Blue Square Premier       13th      64       Mid-table finish.
2016/17     Blue Square Premier       10th      63       None.
2017/18     Blue Square Premier       17th      57       None.
2018/19     Blue Square Premier       15th      56       Drew with Forest in FA Cup!
2019/20     Blue Square Premier        7th      73       FA Trophy Winners.
2020/21     Blue Square Premier        4th      77       Playoff semi-finalists; FA Trophy Winners.
2021/22     Blue Square Premier        1st      90       Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners.
2022/23     Coca-Cola League Two       1st      92       Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt!
2023/24     Coca-Cola League One       3rd      87       Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round.
2024/25     Coca-Cola League One       7th      77       JPT Runner-up.
2025/26     Coca-Cola League One       1st      97       Promoted as Champions.
2026/27     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      68       Stadium Expansion planned to just over 7,000 all-seater.
2027/28     Coca-Cola Championship    16th      53       Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned.
2028/29     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      66       Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity.
2029/30     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      90       Promotion; Carling Cup Q-Final; FA Cup R5, incl. victory v. Tottenham; Stadium expansion announced (3,500 seats).
2030/31     Barclays Premier League   20th      18       Expansion to 12,662 capacity stadium completed; FA Cup Runner-up & Europa Leauge Qualification.

**CityAndColour** · 14-12-2011 15:13

Bad luck there GoM, I've been on one of those winless streaks in the EPL on FM11 and it's not fun. But it is fun rebuilding for a CCC promotion push again.

**GreyedOutMan** · 14-12-2011 15:54

Yeah - that and the European qualification means I'm not too downhearted. But I'd love to know how to get it right next time - any tips?

**CityAndColour** · 14-12-2011 16:05

I did it with QPR, a fair few seasons into the game. Basically I didn't panic with trying to overhaul the squad. I'm sure you had a lot of players who didn't perform to their abilities at the higher level, so give them a chance to redeem themselves in the Champ.

**mikeytk** · 14-12-2011 16:16

#89 mikeytk - Canvey Island - Blue Square South - 2013/14
Finished 3rd - PROMOTED VIA PLAYOFFS

Table | Graph | Stats

I know it's been ages since the last update, I went on a bad run and ragequit for a while.

Amazingly similar to last season, but with a better end result! Decent start, then terrible spell between September-January then a 17-match unbeaten run in the second half got me into the playoffs again. Beat Dartford 5-4 over the two legs in the SF to face Lewes at home in the final.

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Finances not great again due to wage costs and poor attendances. Hopefully will improve in the BSP.

Key Players

Jamie "the" Tank - Brilliant again. Another double-figure haul and an av. rating of 7.25

M ichael Uwezu - The former Arsenal and Fulham man was top scorer with 18

Moses Ademola - Another good season from the winger signed from Woking last mid-season. 12 goals and 17 assists.

Disappointing. Beaten by Dartford in the 2nd qual. round on pens after a replay

Beaten by Gateshead in the 4th round

Next Year

Survival is the aim in the BSS but I'm confident my current squad is capable of that, with some quality additions who knows?...

Code:

Season         Division               Position                Cups                             Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13     Blue Square South           4th          F.A Cup 1st Rnd, Fa Trophy 2nd Rd          Play offs
2013/14     Blue Square South           3rd          F.A Cup 2nd Qual, FA TRophy 4th Rnd        Promotion via Playoffs

**Kazpeer** · 14-12-2011 21:38

St. Albans – npower league 1 – 2020/2021

Aim or the season: Better place than last season (11th)

League table

Past positions

Actually a quite good season. Only thing missing was the playoff. If I had won my last game i would have been in the playoff.

Squad

Transfers

Sold both my keepers, as they wanted way too high wages.

Key Player Profiles:

Bernard Mensah – Topscorer with 16 goals.

Alan Moores – Once again the best player based on avg. rating.

Career overview

Code:

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2012/13   BSS                     9th         n/a
 2013/14   BSS                     1st         BSS
 2014/15   BSP                    10th         n/a
 2015/16   BSP                    12th         n/a
 2016/17   BSP                     4th         Promotion via Playoff
 2017/18   L2                      2nd         Automatic promotion
 2018/19   L1                     18th         n/a
 2019/20   L1                     11th         n/a
 2020/21   L1                      7th         n/a

Next Season

At least playoff. Would like to get promoted.

**Utdchamp** · 15-12-2011 07:05

Originally Posted by GreyedOutMan

Yeah - that and the European qualification means I'm not too downhearted. But I'd love to know how to get it right next time - any tips?

The combination of Euro Cup and Championship means that you will have a long season ahead. I played 70 matches the year I won the Euro Cup....big squad essential.

**GreyedOutMan** · 15-12-2011 08:35

Yeah tell me about it!

**ejthegreat** · 15-12-2011 09:31

Originally Posted by ejthegreat

Finally up to 1 star reputation now that I've been promoted from L2. Been trying to sign up players to full time contracts but I might have to hurry, the takeover merry-go-round has just begun.

http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...ws_Inbox-1.jpg

Chairman is 'willing to listen to offers'. Suspect this might be the type of thing that takes a year to sort out. Most of the FA Cup revenue reserves have been used up, we'll be going into the red within the next two months unless we get a major increase in crowds early this coming season. Need to get the key players sorted out before then.

Well the takeover has taken another step forward and it's not good news. Have a transfer embargo on the club now and I might be out of a job soon.

http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...ws_Inbox-2.jpg

I'm also not able to interact at all with the board and haven't been for a week or two.

Anyone seen this and come through the other side intact?

**Britrock** · 15-12-2011 10:46

Originally Posted by ejthegreat

Well the takeover has taken another step forward and it's not good news. Have a transfer embargo on the club now and I might be out of a job soon.http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...ws_Inbox-2.jpgI'm also not able to interact at all with the board and haven't been for a week or two.Anyone seen this and come through the other side intact?

I had one at Newcastle on fm11 and survived it. If you've had a successful time at the club and start well under the new guys reign you should be fine.

**Shakes** · 15-12-2011 12:04

Lewes - 2014/15 BSP End of Season Update - 1st

Table | Positions | Transfers | Squad | Finances

Made the mistake of signing some players who didn't really fit my system out of "well they're the best guys who will sign at all at this point" panic. When I tried to fit them in (switching from my usual 4-1-2-2-1 with AML/R to a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow diamond) dropped 3 games in 4 and was slumping to mid table. Thankfully at that point I gave up on the experiment, reverted to my usual style and an abundance of guys who fit the inside forward role started to show up willing to sign. End result was a complete demolition job of the league, most pleasing was the consistency, nobody was a runaway goal scorer but pretty much all the players chipped in and although we didn't often completely destroy sides we were rarely scratching for a goal.

FA Cup - 3rd Round.

1st round was a heart stopper, managed to throw away a 1-0 lead a man up on the away leg, couldn't get more than a draw in a dominant home leg, and missed the first penalty. Got lucky and saved the 5th and 6th to snatch the win, took care of business in the second round to get to the profit stage, an away leg against the Spurs. Very pleasing 1-0 loss, defended bravely and with two penalties denied and a very marginal offside going against us on a luckier day would have got something from the match.

FA Trophy - Winner.

Nearly threw away a 4-0 home leg in the semis ... they came back and had it at 5-4 with 15 minutes to go, but we hung on so no hair dryers were thrown. In the final we were last minute wonders, equalizing in the 90th and then winning with a deflection off a free kick in the last seconds of extra time. Pleasing to make amends for our loss 2 years ago, since hopefully this will be the last crack at the FA Trophy Lewes get!

Next Season

Well despite winning the competition, winning the FA Trophy and a good cup run with wages safely under the budget the new seats required by our promotion means we posted a slight loss on the year, so I'm not expecting a huge wage budget increase. With a fairly large squad getting everyone onto professional contracts could be a challenge, but thankfully I have at least a year on everyone's current deal to run, so I can hopefully do it gradually. Cutting a few players lose probably wouldn't be the end of the world, I have more than I can reasonably rotate through the 1st team when healthy.

Hopefully with the increased number of promotion spots available in league 2 back to back promotions are on the cards, I think the players I currently have are good enough to do it so probably a quieter year than this one when I signed over two dozen players, a few who I shipped back out before they'd even played a senior game (how rude of guys to sign a contract then promptly injure themselves in the reserves ... should be able to cut them without paying them off).

Code:

Season    Division    Pos     FA Cup      Other Cups             Achievements
2012/13   BSS         1st     2nd Rnd     FAT RU                 Promoted, FA Trophy Runners Up
2013/14   BSP         3rd     4th Rnd     FAT 4th Rnd            Promotion Finalists
2014/15   BSP         1st     3rd Rnd     FAT Winners            Promoted, FA Trophy Winners

**GreyedOutMan** · 15-12-2011 13:48

I've never been replaced as a manager following a takeover - I don't think it ever happens, its just press speculation. Might mean you need to start winning more though, if you want to keep your job for much longer afterwards!

**grff** · 15-12-2011 19:53

FC United of Manchester
Season 14 - 2025/26 – Barclays Premier League
Pre-season - Media Prediction: 11th

First proper bit of silverware!

League Table| Progress | Squad | Transfers

Had a fantastic season all in all. My aim was to qualify for the Europa League having been pipped to the post last season, but this wasn't looking to clever after 4 defeats from the first 5 games. However, a steady climb up the table was helped by a successful run in the FA Cup, which instilled confidence throughout the squad.

January came and Champion's League football was looking as though it could be on the cards for next season and luckily the squad kept their nerve and managed to finish 3rd.
Champion's League spot and FA Cup winner. Job done for the season!

Targets for the 2025/26 season

1. Qualify for Europe ACHIEVED
2. Reach FA Cup 6th round ACHIEVED
3. Reach Carling Cup final FAILED

Career Overview

Code:

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13         Blue Square North          4th           Reached play-offs 
2013/14         Blue Square North          9th           Reached FA Cup 1st round
2014/15         Blue Square North          3th           Highest finish to date        
2015/16         Blue Square North          1st           Promoted                           
2016/17         Blue Square Premier        1st           Promoted                               
2017/18         League Two                 17th          None                                       
2018/19         League Two                 3rd           Promoted                            
2019/20         League One                 15th          None      
2020/21         League One                 1st           Promotion/JPT winner                               
2021/22         Championship               5th           None                                      
2022/23         Championship               1st           Promotion/Carling Cup Finalist     
2023/24         Premier League             15th          None                                         
2024/25         Premier League             7th           None                                      
2025/26         Premier League             3rd           FA Cup winner

Targets for new season:

1. Reach last 16 of the Champion's League
2. Retain FA Cup
3. Improve on last year's 4th place finish

**Gypsum** · 15-12-2011 19:57

Originally Posted by GreyedOutMan

I've never been replaced as a manager following a takeover - I don't think it ever happens, its just press speculation. Might mean you need to start winning more though, if you want to keep your job for much longer afterwards!

I know it used to happen quite frequently in older FM's, but SI have probably toned it down a bit.

**Gypsum** · 15-12-2011 20:33

As i've only just completed the challenge and expectations aren't too high, I might work on building an all Home nations squad. I'm not going to ship out my foreign players straight away, but i'll gradually phase them out by only signing UK and Irish players. Will probably take 7 or 8 seasons, and weaken my squad, but it should be an interesting challenge.

**darren1983** · 15-12-2011 21:40

Darren1983 Kingstonian Season review 2021/22 Premeirship

Table Graph Transfers

After our unexpected promotion last season all I was looking for was to stay up, we brought in some much better players (on paper at least) then we let go and even broke the million pound barrier for the first time (though it wouldn't be the last time!) I brought in a 35 year old Gary Cahil for some much needed experience (even with him the average age was still just 22) and we were off!
Firsat game was a home one against Aston Villa, and even though we outplayed them we could only manage a 1-1 draw, this season saw us continue our fairly poor home form whilst shocking everyone that says you need home form to stay up by winning more games away from home then we did at home. Our first win came in the 4th game away to Norwhich and we followed that up by winning our next away game at Everton. In late November we went on our best run of the season, 7 unbeaten, 4 of which were games won on the spin. However a nightmare christmas period where we had to play 4th placed West Brom, 2nd placed Man Utd and 3rd placed Chelsea in the space of 3 days saw us lose all 3 and start a run of 7 straight defeats which was only ended with a change of formation and a scrappy 1-0 win at home to Everton.
We continued to pick up the odd result and the gap between us and the relegation was never bigger then 4 points untill the final 5 games where we had to play 5 of the top 8! 4 defeats and 1 win (home to West Brom) just about saw us creep over the finishing line 3 points clear of the drop zone

Cups

Not much to say, lost at home to Man City in the 4th round of the league cup and lost away to Hull in the 3rd round of FA Cup

Aims for next season

Score more goals
Shore up the defence
Try and have a cup run
Oh yeah - stay up!!!!!

**High Flying Dwarf** · 15-12-2011 21:44

Nigeria have just offered me the managers job out of absolutely nowhere, shame I can't take it, but maybe some day I can emulate my 2010 Ivory Coast winning side from FM 2010.

**darren1983** · 15-12-2011 23:00

I'm now a Kingstonian legend

**GreyedOutMan** · 16-12-2011 01:38

20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

I got a bit carried away this year and the report is long - if you're going to skim down to "Key Players", I will understand, but do check out the screenshots if you can - there are a couple of impressive ones!

Despite the abject relegation of last season, the year in the Premiership did wonders for the long-term future of the club - the finances clearly took a massive shot in the arm, and getting to a Cup Final against a Champions' League-qualified team meant a first European outing for Harrow, which is incredible. However, it was rather odd to be representing England in the competition alongside both Cardiff and Swansea....I have a feeling that IRL, this wouldn't be allowed, would it? I'm sure there was a hoo-ha about Cardiff not being allowed to enter the Europa League if they got to a final a few years back because they're in Wales, not England? Anyway, Southampton were the other English entrants, so this does also demonstrate how much has changed in the 20 years I've been in charge at Harrow.

The season started with more wheeler-dealing. The net transfer profit (i.e. money from sales minus the transfer fees paid for those players) made on the sales I made in the winter transfer window alone amounted to £9.3m! I know with wages this comes down a bit but it's brilliant how much value I'm adding to my players at the moment. I guess even a shocking EPL season is better than nothing! It also, I realised, gave me a chance to bring my younger players through in a less intimidating league, and this, hopefully, would be to my advantage in the long-run. I did manage to keep more or less all of the promising players from the Premiership season - the ones who did leave were the older ones who had underperformed and never really looked like being Premiership quality, and yet I still made a massive profit.

I got in a lot of really good quality. Young quality. Apart from 20-year-old Markevich for £650k, I spent only £20k of the £6.75m I spent in pre-season on players over 19. They all had the potential to be proper Premiership players and whilst I have my doubts about some of them, there are several who do look like they'll be worth the rather inflated fees I paid for some of them. Then you look at someone like Fabian Erwig-Druppel (wow, what a name!), and at £2.5k, even though he's not as young, I think he might be the biggest bargain I've ever had.

After our amazing run to the final of the FA Cup last year, the Cup Runs included the Europa League for the first time. This meant that we went into the Carling Cup late, in the 3rd round, where we drew West Brom - which meant back-to-back games against the then-leaders of the Championship. Two red cards in the last half-hour of the cup game gave us no chance of progression in the Carling Cup - and it was 0-0 when the first red card came. In the league game a few days later, I felt much better as West Brom suffered a red card after half an hour with the score still at 0-0. Which is how it stayed after 90 minutes, but Boucher's 92nd minute winner was extremely satisfying! Revenge was sweet.

As for the Europa League - our first European outing....We got into the group phase, although we were 1-0 down in the first leg against Stabaek until the final minutes. The group of PSV, CFR Cluj and Anji gave me, I felt, a decent chance of progression - as long as PSV got maximum points from the other two, I felt that I could do enough to qualify. After all, I had beaten Man Utd to get into the competition! The first "legs" provided a bizarre set of results. Anji beat PSV 1-0 on the first matchday while i drew with Cluj, before getting a first win against Anji while PSV were beating Cluj 1-0. So far, so good. But it got a lot better very quickly. This remarkable result on 23rd October put us very much in the driving seat in the group. We lost narrowly in Eindhoven, which was disappointing as we could have nicked a draw - but it did mean that in a tight group, we had the edge over Eindhoven if it came down to head-to-head. It wasn't necessary. A convincing with against Cluj followed, meaning we needed just a draw at Anji to progress for certain, and even a defeat could possibly have seen us through. After taking the lead, we were pegged back just after half-time and two red cards before the hour mark made it hard in a snowbound Makhachkala made it look hard, but soon afterwards, Boucher put us back in the lead with just over 20 minutes to go. Of course, Anji got the obligatory equaliser with five minutes left to give us a bit of squeaky-bum time, and a goal-line clearance in the last minute of stoppage time was absolutely crucial. Conceding the lead cost us first-place in the group, which PSV claimed after beating Cluj - but we had qualified to ensure European football in 2032, and having played with 9 men for over half an hour, that wasn't too bad.

With the Europa League qualification sorted, the cup focus switched to the FA Cup for a while in January, and after our final appearance last year I was keen to try to go one better this time around. Luton were dispatched with ease, followed by mid-table Championship team Derby, who took us to a replay at Harrow Stadium, where they shocked us 2-0 after a shockingly bad performance from my lot. With promotion looking likely to be wrapped up quickly, I would have liked to continue the run in the cup and maybe gone on to win it, so that was annoying.

Schalke provided the opposition in the First Knockout Round of the Europa, with a plum tie against Bayern (assuming they beat my group opponents PSV) as the carrot in the 2nd knockout round. In the first leg at Harrow Stadium, we took the lead shortly before the half-hour. Just after it, we doubled the lead! This was crazy! We found ourselves 3-0 up against Schalke at half-time! It finished 4-0, and my jaw was on the floor. The second leg - well let's just say we never do things the easy way.

But Bayern awaited in the next round - and clearly I accepted that would be the end of the line. 3 suspensions, an injury, and ineligible players galore made it harder still. I was playing a couple of players I'd never heard of from my U18s!! My players did their best to make me think they could pull it off by scoring first in Munich, but they soon equalised, and then the stupid idiots proved that they can't learn from their mistakes as 5th choice right back Jason Rents was sent off, followed soon afterwards by Obiorah. We lost 3-1, so game over right? Or was it? The stupid sods scored first at Harrow Stadium too. Making me believe. They're so cruel. We ended up losing the second leg 4-1, 7-2 on aggregate. But for a first outing in Europe, I felt the run had been outstanding.

Back in the league, we had eaten Christmas Dinner on the back of 16 games unbeaten, second to West Brom only on goal-difference and with a game in hand. By New Years' Day, we had caught up the games missed during our Europa League group, and were sitting pretty on top of the league. We did then lose to Wycombe, despite 61% of the possession and 19 shots to 10, to end a 19-match unbeaten run in the league, but things were still looking good. A last-minute winner against 2nd placed Leicester was disallowed, which would have put me a full 9 points clear at the top. After another break for Europa League games in February and March, we were second, three points behind Leicester but with four games in hand.

Three points from four games in early April delayed promotion but was never going to prevent it. On April 17th, with five games remaining for me, and three for my rivals, promotion was secured. Returning to the Premiership at the first attempt, and despite a punishing schedule due to Europa League commitments, with remarkable ease. Motivation was clearly a problem for the team after that, and my last 5 games yielded only 2 points, which cost me the title which looked mine all season. How I didn't get 100 points is beyond me, although with 96 points, we have the highest points total with which anyone has ever NOT won the Championship, so I suppose we were a bit unlucky in that respect.

Key Players - quite a few this year after a great season.

Brahim Messaoudi* - relatively modest goals return but 20 assists and a massive 82 key passes made him invaluable.
Herve Guilbert and Dimitri Boucher - not much separating these two - both key strikers scoring at just under a goal every two games.
Fabian Erwig-Druppel - same as the last two, but he has such an awesome name that he has to have his own entry.
Tobias Neumeier - I hope that this is a return to form and its not just that the Championship is his level.
Paul Clarke-Harris - surprised by his success - looks like a bargain buy at £1.5m from Southampton. Man Utd are sniffing around, though.
Gabriele Monda - continues his improvement with his best season yet.
Rachid Benali - did equally well in midfield and attack, as this screenshot shows.
Regis Mpinda - missed only two games all season and very consistent.
Danny Boon and Jose Felix Cabello - generally one from two of these, both kept up their form from previous years.
Sergey Markevich - my record signing improved throughout the season and looks like he will be a good investment.
Kevin Franke - althouh he mainly played at right back, his best performances were in central defence - but he did fine in both, which is helpful.
David Wilson - if we're buying into the theory that goalkeepers get lower AvR's in general, then Wilson is a real key player for me now. He's pretty good, and home-grown which is very helpful in all the home-grown toils I've had lately.

(*= fans' player of the year)

The team of the year
The historical best XI - no new inductees but current players Neumeier, Cabello and Monda are still there.

I won manager of the month in both November and December, which was nice because I dont win many - I have won 18 awards in my 20-year career and a fair few of those were Manager of the Year awards. Markevich won the Young Player gong in January. I only got 3rd place in the Manager of the Year awards, so I'm hoping that's an indication that my reputation is rather better than the last time I went up! Neumeier was selected in the Championship XI.

Key Records Broken
Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £2.9m for Sergey Markevich from Rubin on 8th August
Highest Transfer Spend: £9.75m although transfers section says £10.25m.

Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)

THORSTEN WEISSMAN
Crucial in the promotion season in 2029/30, but couldn't make the step-up to the Premiership. I could have kept him on for another season in the Championship but I felt there were better options around.
APPS: 43, GLS: 11, ASSTS: 12, MoM: 3, AvR: 7.08

JOEL
A club icon, but started to lose his place in the team in the promotion year of 2029/30, and really struggled in the Premiership. I'm sure he would have done fine at the lower level but at 26, he wasn't likely to improve enough to do it in the Premiership, so I cashed in, selling him to Newport County for £2.1m. Just 21 times what I bought him for 4 years before!!!
APPS: 118, GLS: 39, ASSTS: 16, MoM: 7, AvR: 7.03

MARC WELLER
Had slowly started to establish himself as the first-choice full-back, although he like most others had a poor season in the Premiership, and disciplinary problems dogged his three years at Harrow with 20 yellow cards and two reds in only 68 games. £2.5m was too good to turn down, although I would like to have kept him.
APPS: 68, GLS: 0, ASSTS: 1, MoM: 2, AvR: 6.88

Next season, it's Premier League take two. I want to survive but I think we have the resources now to aim a bit higher than that. If I can spend a bit better than I did last time, who knows?

Targets for 2031/32
Promotion. SUCCESS
Save money for the Premiership to get better players in next time around. FAILURE but I think by investing in youth I've put myself in a good position to build.
Sign some good youngsters who will turn into quality Premiership players. SUCCESS - see above. Clarke-Harris was the outstanding one, but several other signings who didnt quite make the break-through aren't far behind.

Targets for 2032/33
Survival in the Premiership.
Cup run - I loved being in the Europa League - it's less pressure than the Champs League, and I want to be in it as many times as possible while I build to being a CL team.
Aim for a stadium expansion, although I feel it's likely to be a couple of years away.

In other news, Burnley beat Hull in the Cup Final (yes, you heard correctly). Man Utd claimed their fourth consecutive Premiership title, and AC Milan beat Juventus at Ibrox in a repeat of the 2003 final, also in the UK. Strange. And I continue to be linked with every single job that comes up - Man City and Spurs in particular this year. You'd think after 20 years at Harrow, they might realise I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

Then just before I posted this report, I got my childhood dream. It hurt to turn it down. Henry Stadium, built in 2031, has just under 80,000 all-seater capacity with a retractable roof. Legendary players include Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mario Cueto and Jose Pina. The Lampard Arena has also been built in the Western area.....

The European Championships saw the English Press demonstrate that they cannot learn from history.

PS - apologies for the mistake in my history which has now been corrected - I got 89 points in the first promotion from the Championship, not 90.

EDT: After the last post: I'm not yet a legend! Surely that's mad!

Code:

Season      Division	          Position     Points    Achievements

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

2012/13     Blue Square South         17th      45       Stayed clear of relegation.
2013/14     Blue Square South          3rd      80       Playoff runners-up.
2014/15     Blue Square South          2nd      91       Promoted via playoffs.
2015/16     Blue Square Premier       13th      64       Mid-table finish.
2016/17     Blue Square Premier       10th      63       None.
2017/18     Blue Square Premier       17th      57       None.
2018/19     Blue Square Premier       15th      56       Drew with Forest in FA Cup!
2019/20     Blue Square Premier        7th      73       FA Trophy Winners.
2020/21     Blue Square Premier        4th      77       Playoff semi-finalists; FA Trophy Winners.
2021/22     Blue Square Premier        1st      90       Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners.
2022/23     Coca-Cola League Two       1st      92       Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt!
2023/24     Coca-Cola League One       3rd      87       Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round.
2024/25     Coca-Cola League One       7th      77       JPT Runner-up.
2025/26     Coca-Cola League One       1st      97       Promoted as Champions.
2026/27     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      68       Stadium Expansion planned to just over 7,000 all-seater.
2027/28     Coca-Cola Championship    16th      53       Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned.
2028/29     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      66       Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity.
2029/30     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      89       Promotion; Carling Cup Q-Final; FA Cup R5, incl. victory v. Tottenham; Stadium expansion announced (3,500 seats).
2030/31     Barclays Premier League   20th      18       Expansion to 12,662 capacity stadium completed; FA Cup Runner-up & Europa Leauge Qualification.
2031/32     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      96       Europa League 2nd K/O Round, Promotion.

**ejthegreat** · 16-12-2011 06:44

Originally Posted by GreyedOutMan

I've never been replaced as a manager following a takeover - I don't think it ever happens, its just press speculation. Might mean you need to start winning more though, if you want to keep your job for much longer afterwards!

Transfer fell through for the moment, although the chairman is 'looking to leave the club as soon as possible' so it can only be a matter of time really.

Good news is that we've started the season magnificently, except for one humiliating 8-1 loss to QPR where I had to field a 3rd choice left back and SWP ran rings around him. My left back's rating was 4.2 if that's any indication of how badly he was done that day. Am currently through to 4th Rd of League Cup and sitting 2nd in L1, having won 7 of my first 9 matches.

The big change this season has been formation, I've gone from the standard 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 which drops back to a 4-5-1 when I need to. Only happened because my first two strikers got injured but it's been a very successful change so far.

**Dan BHTFC** · 16-12-2011 11:47

Just waiting now for a team to get promoted who I can apply for or should I just apply for any job?

**Dan BHTFC** · 16-12-2011 13:25

After several reloads I've been accepted as manager at Bashley F.C of the Blue Square South for the 2034/35 season

**GreyedOutMan** · 16-12-2011 14:36

Is this some sort of record? Obviously spread over three seasons since I was relegated and in the championship for the middle season.

EDT: So glad I posted, that, had a reverse forum curse and finally got a win against Forest! Hurrah!

**Dan BHTFC** · 16-12-2011 14:42

Originally Posted by GreyedOutMan

Is this some sort of record? Obviously spread over three seasons since I was relegated and in the championship for the middle season.

I've had that with some other saves with promoted teams into the Premiership

**GreyedOutMan** · 16-12-2011 14:59

Yeah - I checked it out and the (real-life) Premiership record is held by Derby, and is 32. However, 30 is a record within the game's timespan. I was just wondering if anyone had seen a longer run. In theory, you could fail to win in several Premier League seasons while you yo-yo between leagues, so there's no limit to how far the record could go.....

**High Flying Dwarf** · 16-12-2011 19:27

Originally Posted by GreyedOutMan

Is this some sort of record? Obviously spread over three seasons since I was relegated and in the championship for the middle season.

EDT: So glad I posted, that, had a reverse forum curse and finally got a win against Forest! Hurrah!

Oh dear...that's painful

**glennuk** · 16-12-2011 20:40

Just got caught up with updates!
WoW - Controversy - incredible achievements and loads o amazing players

Got a plane journey now, then a 2hour 30 minute wait in sao paulo airport - so will be playing my first season in the championship with Bury Town!

COME ON YOU BLUES!

**grff** · 16-12-2011 21:54

First ever venture into Europe with FC United, fourth pot, dreading the worst...... Barcelona, Milan and Fenerbahce. Great!

**ejthegreat** · 17-12-2011 03:18

Short update.

GK Stephen Andrews wants to move to a bigger club, no one currently wanting him but Everton were interested before, even though they're also in League 1 and 4 points below me on the table. From prior history with Andrews I knew putting him back in his place wouldn't work but I wasn't going to promise he could leave, so I promised to sign better players to match his ambition.

In doing so I went on an extensive search that for some reason my scouts won't and scouted these two players.

John Akonkwo; Was on trial at Oldham at the time, having previously been at Wolves. Has a lot of improving to do but I think has enough tools to be a future target man style striker for the team http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...ew_Profile.jpg

Andrew Jenkin; Released from Liverpool at the end of last season he was just hanging around. Brought him in on trial, signed him up immediately before all the bigger clubs could find out he was around. Once fit, he'll already be in my best eleven and if I can keep him, I think he has the potential to be an important part of our push for the Championship and then Premiership. http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...ew_Profile.jpg

Also played one of the strangest games I've ever seen, had everything bar a yellow card. http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...n_Overview.jpg

Edit: And now we're back under transfer embargo.

**Sideshow Robbie Earle** · 17-12-2011 08:35

#81 - Kingstonian. Season '19-'20. League 1.

L1 position: 4th League table Lost in play-off semis
FA Cup: 3R
League Cup: 1R
JPT: 1R

Summary: Progress Current squad Brought in a few players used to L1 and L2 to try and bolster the squad. Started well, and kept pace with the leaders, but dropped off mid-season during fixture congestion caused by FACup replays and weather postponements. Came back strongly to finish 4th, then got murdered by Millwall in the play-offs. It finished 4-3 on aggregate, but all 3 of our goals came in the 2nd-half of the 2nd leg, when we were down to 10-men. Ended up playing our back-up 'keeper in the run-in as the usually reliable Loris Karius was having nightmare after nightmare.

Transfers: Transfers A new left-winger and holding midfielder at the start of the season, and a new centre-back a few weeks in. Ex-Wolves striker Sam Whittall signed on a free, was absolutely rubbish and shipped off to Barnet after 5 goal-less games. He scored against us 3 weeks later.

Future prospects: Financially healthy, a few promising signings lined up for the summer, and the core of the squad staying on. Mason Bush and Connor Pead have around 300 games each for the K's, but are being let go as they are only adequate for this level, and I want better.

1213 - BSS 5th (lost in play-off final)
1314 - BSS 12th (FAT runners-up)
1415 - BSS 1st (promoted)
1516 - BSP 11th
1617 - BSP 7th (FAT semi-final)
1718 - BSP 5th (Promoted through play-offs)
1819 - L2 6th (Promoted through play-offs, JPT South area runners-up)
1920 - L1 4th (lost in play-off semis)

**slacko87** · 17-12-2011 09:18

hi everyone! a friend of mine put me on to this challenge so i have decided to give it a go, first time i loaded it up i had the chance to play as fc united of manchester and I've previously played with them a few years ago, so i just took them first up.

we are still in our first season, made some pretty good buys, found an awesome player that would sign with us from Uruguay but can not get a work permit no matter how many times i try.

we are 2nd in the blue square north by 1 point and we play the leaders york in two games time. we are also into the final of the FA trophy, against forest green at seasons end, fingers crossed, some big names coming back from injury this week, Mitrovic my swedish striker and solovjovs my latvian right attacking midfielder who at last check was my equal leading goal scorer and leading goal assists.

**AndyMUFC** · 17-12-2011 14:50

AndyMUFC - npower Championship - 5th - Season 2017-18

Media Prediction:- 24th
Board Prediction:- Avoid Relegation
My Prediction:- Mid Table

Table Graph Squad Best Player Transfers Finances

An excellent first season in the Championship with us making a good start, but then having a poor run of draws mid season, finally turning it around in the second half and pushed up the table to finish in 5th in the end. For our first go at this level was a very respectful result, may have been better but just couldn't beat Leeds in the playoff semi final losing 3-0 on agg.

During the closed season a total of 17 players were signed for a grand total of £250,000, going the other way 13 left due to being no longer in team plans plus 2 of the summer signings asked for mutual termination of their contracts during January window which I agreed to as they hadn't broken into first team and were complaining nearly every week, which was disrupting the club morale.

Finances were kept in order with us finishing with a profit of £197,505 which is good as spent £250,000 on players, £2,825,498 on wages and the bank loan repayments of £336,000 over the season. These outlays were covered mainly by the increase of attendences over the season, this was due to having the larger stadium and doing well in the league, also having all 3 cup games as home fixtures bought in around an extra £1,000,000 in gate receipts.

Tasks for next season:-

1) Reach Playoffs again
2) Improve Squad
3) Improve Finances

Code:

Season	Division	         Pos  Pts   FA Cup         Other Cups	                    Europe       Achievements		

2012-13	Blue Square Bet North    2nd   78   2nd Rd         FAT 2nd Rd                       N/A          Promoted via playoffs
2013-14 Blue Square Bet Premier  4th   79   4th Qual Rd    FAT 2nd Rd                       N/A          Lost in Playoff Final
2014-15 Blue Square Bet Premier  1st   96   3rd Rd         FAT Final                        N/A          Automatic Promotion
2015-16 npower League Two        1st  105   2nd Rd         JPT 2nd Rd, Carling Cup 1st Rd   N/A          Automatic Promotion
2016-17 npower League One        1st  105   3rd Rd         JPT Q Final, Carling Cup 2nd Rd  N/A          Automatic Promotion
2017-18 npower Championship      5th   79   4th Rd         Carling Cup 2nd Rd               N/A          Lost 3-0 v Leeds in Playoffs

**GreyedOutMan** · 17-12-2011 15:47

More wheeler-dealing over the summer, the highlight of which was the coup of signing England international Joel Mikiela, the goalkeeper I signed on a free in 2026, only to sell him to Fulham for £3m just 8 months later. He had been released after five up-and-down years at Fulham where the club yo-yoed between Premiership and Championship. I was hoping he would help us avoid this fate. United tested my resilience on Clarke-Harris, including a £3.3m bid. I actually don't think he'll turn into a top quality player, but he will get a bit better and as he's on quite a low wage, I want to wait until he's worth a bit more.

On that subject, I was gutted to see Phillip Baier in Man City's team for the first game of the season. I lost him on a bosman to Benfica, who sold him to the Blues for £15.5m two years later! Ouch! They beat us 1-0, a respectable result, but Baier didn't score, which made me feel a bit better. But things didn't improve fast. I got a draw away at Everton before losing at home to Arsenal convincingly, My first league win came on the 18th of September at home to Forest, our first Premiership win for 30 games, and followed this up two games later with a win at home to Ipswich, and when Chelsea visited us on 23rd October, we were on a 5-match unbeaten league run. Chelsea won 1-0, and we had a good goal disallowed. But to have lost 1-0 to both Chelsea and Man City, who are both 4* rep, behind only Man Utd, so no disgrace there. But on 30th October, this amazing game had me unsure whether to laugh or cry. So close to such a famous win, but a point at O.T. is never a bad thing....

And from there, we looked fairly secure for a while, and we got to 17 points, just one fewer than our total tally in 2031, on 20th November. After that, I was panicking a bit, and it took over three weeks before I managed to get up to that 18 points mark, home defeats to Liverpool and West Ham and an away defeat to Southampton coming between that date and the point we took from Sp**s at the sh**hole on 13th December. As is always the case, the two weeks either side of Christmas were going to be crucial as we faced Burnley (A), Birmingham (H), Fulham (A), Man City (A) and Everton (H) up to New Years' Day. In what is most definitely a bug, I played Birmingham on the 26th, Fulham on the 27th and Man City on the 28th! I kid you not, I was doing a pre-match press conference FOR THE MAN CITY GAME before I had even played Fulham! Still, I was aiming for ten points from those five to get us a significant part of the way towards survival, but I desperately needed at least seven within that run. The results?

Burnley 3-1 Harrow, Harrow 3-1 Birmingham, Fulham 0-2 Harrow, Man City 1-1 Harrow, Harrow 4-0 Everton.

So I managed to hit the ambitious target of ten points, which given the poor performance at Burnley was a fantastic effort. I then got the seven points in three days, which was fantastic. The Man City result was brilliant and of course meant I was not beaten in Manchester this season. The convincing win against Everton was really encouraging and probably the best performance of the season. After that run, relegation was not an issue this time around. But for a while, at least, it kept getting better. A famous win at Henry Stadium in mid-January was particularly special.

We coasted after that. I never really believed we could challenge for a European place, but relegation was so clearly out of the question. I was in 9th or 10th for most of the rest of the season from then onwards. Apart from losing to both Welsh teams at home, we beat the "lesser" teams and lost to the big teams - including three in a row against Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool. But that boded well for the run-in, as we had no big teams left - Spurs, in 6th at the start of the run and with the FA Cup Final on their minds, were the top team remaining on our fixture list.

Our last 8 results: Harrow 1-0 Leicester, Harrow 1-1 Southampton, Wigan 1-2 Harrow, West Ham 2-0 Harrow, Harrow 1-1 Tottenham, [B]Harrow 2[B]-2 Burnley, Birmingham 2-1 Harrow, [B]Harrow 0[B]-2 Fulham.

9 points from 8 games was really disappointing with that fixture list and wins against Southampton, Burnley and Fulham at home as well as West Ham and Birmingham away would have give us 13 extra points and 6th place, ahead of West Ham who would have had three points fewer. That's not unrealistic, and of course would have given us a Europa League place not to mention almost £5m more in prize money. Oh well.

Cup Runs were a big deal for me this year. I wanted a bit more Europa League action after getting my first taste last year. We started well with routine wins over Leicester and Wolves in the Carling Cup, before Spurs visited in the quarter-final. As had become our habit against big teams, we took the lead, but this time it seemed we would back it up as we doubled our lead early in the 2nd half. Spurs gave us a bit of a dose of squeaky-bum with about 25 minutes remaining, pulling it back to 2-1, but within a couple of minutes, we restored our two goal lead and another great cup victory was secure, albeit not quite on a par with the Semi-Final victory over Man Utd in the FA Cup two years before. We drew Liverpool in the semi-final with the first leg at Harrow Stadium.

However, before we could get there, other than league commitments, we had the small matter of Rotherham in the FA Cup 3rd Round - and they were dispatched with applomb by 6 goals to nil. The home leg against Liverpool was clearly not going to be as simple. But we played magnificently in the first half, taking the lead against a top team once more and going into the break 1-0 up. However, soon after the break we were pegged back. It looked like we'd lose, but we held on for a 1-1 draw which meant we had half a chance of nicking a place at Wembley in the second leg at Dalglish Park. Bizarrely, Liverpool's reserve striker, Andy Dalglish, was playing in the game - he doesnt list Kenny amongst his favoured personnel so I assume that, if he is Kenny's grandson (or even possibly great-grandson?? He was born in 2004), then this isn't an FM feature that you can actually see...either way, soon after half-time, it was he who provided the defence-splitting pass to give Liverpool the lead. With the Harrow players chasing the game, Karel Charvat gave away a careless penalty with 3 minutes remaining and the Wembley trip was taken off the menu. It was disappointing. But by way of consolation, Liverpool did lose to Man City in the Final!

A few days after the Liverpool defeat, there was some consolation with a massive 7-1 win at Fratton Park in the FA Cup 4th round - which equalled our biggest ever win. The fifth round, too, was straightforward, as we saw off Hull at Harrow Stadium in one of those games that was 1-0 going on 10-0. The last of the Championship teams in the cup lost to us, both Manchester teams and Swansea in that round so it suddenly looked much harder, although I did draw basement boys Nottingham Forest in the Quarter-Final, which meant a Wembley semi-final was a definite possibility even if a place in the final, and the associated Europa League place that would have been almost guaranteed, looked tough and would require another historic performance like the victory over United two years before. However, a shocking first hour against Forest meant that I didn't even get a shot at it. We battered the Forest goal in the final half-hour but could only get one goal, and suddenly the Europa League was almost certainly not coming to Harrow Stadium in 2033/34. It would have given me the chance for revenge on Liverpool in the Semi-Final, too!

During the season, I was in contract talks with several of my star players and unfortunately not all of them ended well. Bernard agreed a Bosman move to Cagliari on January 11th, and then Danny Boon, who has been so influential in my team for four years, agreed a summer move to Malaga on 14th January. Valued as he was at £2.3m and only 23 years old, I probably missed out on a pretty huge transfer fee there. If I'd sold them for money at that point rather than for nothing, I think for that pair of players, at the age they were, I could have got something in the region of £10m. Devastating. At the same time, Man City's ageing defensive midfielder Vitaliy Konovalenko was brought in quickly because Mpinda was off to the ANC with DR Congo. But he proved a remarkably good deputy. Then in February I successfully persuaded my board to sign a player for the first time ever in any FM. I didn't realise how it worked - the whole transfer was taken out of my hands, and within 4 days, he signed on for next season. Look out for the name Enrico Baggio next season! He's going to cost me £7m and no idea how much in wages, but he looks like a gem to replace Boon. He's not quite as quick as Boon, which is a shame, but he's bigger and better defensively. It simply means Cabello will be more important to the attacking side of the team from now on. Note that the finances screenshot includes the transfer fee for Baggio but his transfer will be shown with next season's transfers, along with what will probably be a spending record.

Key Players

Dimitri Boucher - top goalscorer by a distance, and I fear will be tough to keep hold of beyond one more year.
Jeremy Bernard - burst onto the scene half way through the season, and it cost us as we lost him on a bosman.
Jose Felix Cabello - after Boon agreed his move away, Cabello stepped up and did really well.
Brahim Messaoudi* - improved a lot - lots of assists and the most key passes in the side.
Danny Boon - though not as outstanding as I thought he would be, he's still going to be a big miss.
Paul Clarke-Harris - the step-up in standard meant he found it harder, but still did very well for a 19-year-old this year.
Regis Mpinda and Vitaliy Konovalenko- Mpinda is still the future, but Konovalenko was a great deputy while Mpinda was away on ANC duty.

(*= fans' player of the year)

Neumeier's absence is notable - I'm hoping that he's just adjusting to Premiership football but if he's not on that list next season it might be time to move him on.

The team of the year
The historical best XI - Boon and Guilbert inducted, both to the bench.

Key Records Broken
Highest Average Attendance: 12,365
Highest League Finish: 12th in the Premiership

Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)

VICTOR OBIORAH
Always been a fringe player and barely good enough for the Championship let alone the Premiership.
APPS: 56, GLS: 1, ASSTS: 9, MoM: 0, AvR: 6.92

BRAHIM MESSAOUDI
Wouldn't sign a new contract even though no-one else wanted him. Now has no club, and will probably retire before he turns 26 in 4 months.
APPS: 120, GLS: 31, ASSTS: 36, MoM: 9, AvR: 7.15

JEREMY BERNARD
Mentioned above - really annoyed that he felt the need to move in January, I was more than willing to give him a pay rise.
APPS: 30, GLS: 8, ASSTS: 7, MoM: 2, AvR: 7.19

DANNY BOON
The worst of the lot. Released by Arsenal after a loan spell in Serbia of all places, I signed him in 2028 and he was an instant hit from a young age. Whilst poor in the first Premiership season, he was great the second time around.
APPS: 170, GLS: 33, ASSTS: 42, MoM: 11, AvR: 7.16

Next season, with a facilities upgrade due in October, I'm hoping to push on fast. A Europa League spot, one way or another, is a must.

Targets for 2032/33
Survival in the Premiership. SUCCESS
Cup run - I loved being in the Europa League - it's less pressure than the Champs League, and I want to be in it as many times as possible while I build to being a CL team. SUCCESS to some extent. We did well in the cups but there will be no Europa League next year.
Aim for a stadium expansion, although I feel it's likely to be a couple of years away. FAILURE - there isn't even an option to ask the board at the moment. But I did get a facilities upgrade.

Targets for 2033/34
Get a Europa League spot for the 2033/34 season.
Improve our position in the league.
Try to make sure no star players are lost on Bosmans this year!

In other news, after beating Spurs in the FA Cup Final and a thrilling last-day clinching of the Premiership title, Man Utd beat Arsenal after extra time in Brussels to clinch their 2nd treble. They have now won the Champions' League seven times, four behind Real Madrid still. The Euro's at the start of the season saw Spain beat Germany to win their fourth consecutive European Championship - Serbia and Germany won in 2012 and 2016 respensively. The World Cup in 2034 is to be held Down Under - that should be interesting. The last unusual hosts - Qatar - proved conducive to strange results as Uruguay claimed the trophy by beating Italy and England, who had themselves beaten Brazil to get to the final. But Australia might feel heartened by the fact that the hosts have got to the final in each of the last two World Cups in Mexico and Italy. On both occasions the hosts have lost the final though - England won their first World Cup for sixty years in Mexico and Argentina claimed their third in 5 by beating Italy in 2030. Arsenal approached me for the 2nd time to take over at Henry Stadium. I hate turning them down.

Code:

Season      Division	          Position     Points    Achievements

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

2012/13     Blue Square South         17th      45       Stayed clear of relegation.
2013/14     Blue Square South          3rd      80       Playoff runners-up.
2014/15     Blue Square South          2nd      91       Promoted via playoffs.
2015/16     Blue Square Premier       13th      64       Mid-table finish.
2016/17     Blue Square Premier       10th      63       Move to Harrow Stadium completed.
2017/18     Blue Square Premier       17th      57       None.
2018/19     Blue Square Premier       15th      56       Drew with Forest in FA Cup!
2019/20     Blue Square Premier        7th      73       FA Trophy Winners.
2020/21     Blue Square Premier        4th      77       Playoff semi-finalists; FA Trophy Winners.
2021/22     Blue Square Premier        1st      90       Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners.
2022/23     Coca-Cola League Two       1st      92       Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt!
2023/24     Coca-Cola League One       3rd      87       Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round.
2024/25     Coca-Cola League One       7th      77       JPT Runner-up.
2025/26     Coca-Cola League One       1st      97       Promoted as Champions.
2026/27     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      68       Stadium Expansion to just over 7,000 all-seater planned.
2027/28     Coca-Cola Championship    16th      53       Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned.
2028/29     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      66       Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity.
2029/30     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      89       Promotion; Carling Cup Q-Final; FA Cup R5, incl. victory v. Tottenham; Stadium expansion announced (3,500 seats).
2030/31     Barclays Premier League   20th      18       Expansion to 12,662 capacity stadium completed; FA Cup Runner-up & Europa League Qualification.
2031/32     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      96       Europa League 2nd K/O Round, Promotion.
2032/33     Barclays Premier League   12th      49       Carling Cup S-Final.

**Sideshow Robbie Earle** · 17-12-2011 23:34

Originally Posted by GreyedOutMan

In 2029, Met Police have been promoted to the BSS!! Report to follow, but just thought I'd share this news with everyone. If anyone wants to give the challenge a go with Met Police, let me know, I've kept a copy of the save the day they were promoted.

Met Police have come up to BSS in 2020 for me. And Chasetown in BSN, too. Shame it took me 'til December to notice.....

**grff** · 18-12-2011 02:12

Sad times for Nottingham Forest

**ejthegreat** · 18-12-2011 08:55

The season in Jan 2016, with the capture of three expiring players from outside of England, two Welshmen; Waters and Holmes and a Northern Irishman in Martin. All three would have important roles to play in T & M's League One campaign.

A fantastic start to the season saw us leading after the first game and after winning our first six in a row we were brought back to earth by a rampant QPR, losing 8-1 in what will probably remain as the club's worst loss of all time. Despite this, we recovered well and were still holding on to top stop midway through December.

At the same time, despite dropping out of the JPT in the 2nd round, we were having a strong League Cup run, starting with a 2-1 win on the road to midtable CH team Charlton. This was followed up with home wins in the 2nd and 3rd rounds to CH team Sheffield Utd and then our first Premier League scalp, a 2-0 win over West Ham. An even better performance in the 4th Rd saw us destroy CH team Norwich on the road 4-0, setting up a Qtr final away to CH Bolton. This time we met our match, getting outplayed convincingly and finally losing 2-0.

Meanwhile, in the early stages of the FA Cup we needed home replays to beat BSP York and L2 Walsall, putting a huge strain on the squad, so come mid December, we lost hold of top spot in L1. With the even nature of the league, we dropped from 1st to 6th after only managing 7pts from 7 matches in our yearly down patch. In this patch we also faced PRM team Wigan at home in the FA Cup 3rd Rd and were soundly beaten 1-3.

With the cups out of the way, we finally had some more rest between matches as we stormed our way back into the promotion places, hitting top spot again, going unbeaten through 9 matches, with 7 wins in there for good measure. Once we were finally beaten by Everton though, Leeds had taken the top spot back and never let it go, running away with the league and leaving about 8 clubs fighting it out for 1 automatic promotion slot.

Despite some fluctuations in form, we held our nerves as those around us starting dropping off the pace, first QPR, then Plymouth and finally Oldham and whilst Everton made a late dash, they had started too far back and a 1-0 win on the road over MK Dons in the penultimate round brought on celebrations after Leeds had beaten QPR at the same time, meaning, for the fourth season in a row, we were going up!

We don't have the best squad that's for sure but we have winners. Of our 26 league wins this season, 15 of them were by 1 goal, they score 'em when it counts.

Leading Scorer: Zak Ansah His attributes aren't that good but he scores, more consistently than any other striker so far.

Earlier in the season we were finally taken over by a fans' consortium, unfortunately, it was done during the Jan transfer window and I missed out on most of the players I was after at the time. This made GK Andrews annoyed as I had promised to improve the squad to keep him and then finally towards the end of the window, with the embargo lifted, I brought in Harper from fellow L1 promotion contenders, Plymouth for £5k. He's not that good although he is better than what I have there but most importantly, he was enough to make Andrews quit whining and play football (for the moment).

News post season that the stadium will have to be improved to meet CH requirements. No loan, just a big hit to the finances, we go from being 329k up to 166k in the red. Will make next season very difficult. The new stadium will still only be 8,000 but will be an all seater it appears. In the meantime, we will be playing at the 10,000 (650 seat) Feltham Arena which has synthetic grass.

Goals for 2017/18:

Mid-table Championship finish
Improve squad with players from Europe which I can now scout
Good money making cup run

Code:

Season    Division   Position    Achievements
2012/13     BSS        7th        FA Trophy-3rd Rd
2013/14     BSS        3rd        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-4th Rd
2014/15     BSP        4th        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-3rd Rd, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16     L2         3rd        Automatic Promotion, JPT South Winner, JPT Finalist
2016/17     L1         2nd        Automatic Promotion, League Cup-Qtr Final, FA Cup-3rd Rd

**glennuk** · 18-12-2011 18:38

#42 - Bury Town Fc - Glenn Crane - 2017/2018 - End of Season Review - L1 - 6th -PROMOTION
Fixtures 1 -2 - 3 Table

The League

Gunna be a short update due to the fact i finished this season prehaps 2 or 3 weeks ago. Just been travelling and so haven't had any time.

Anyway was a pretty much rollercoaster of a ride season, had some ups and downs, at one point thinking i could get auto promotion, but alas it wasn't to be.

Sold a few players for big fees, Lourens for 350k at the start of the season, and another defender in Zimmerman my LB who could also play CB for 350k + clauses mid season.
Kept my playoff spot on the last day of the season and basically walked through the semi final play off legs.

Playoffs

The semis were against Hereford, and i walked the first leg 3-1. I resisted the urge to go defensive in the second leg and won 4-2.

The final saw us against leeds, and we were comfortably winning 2-0, they scored to make it 2-1, we scored again to regain the 2 goal lead, and ever doing things the hard way let them score in the 82nd minute to give us a tense last ten minutes.
We did go defensive and held on for PROMOTION

Cups

Nothing exciting to report really.
A dissapointing 1st round league cup match to stevenage losing 6-4.

Fa cup was ok got into the 3rd round and took premier league West Ham to a replay.

Summary

Here is the final Table
Position Graph
Transfers In/Out Pt2
Fixtures Pt1 Pt2 Pt3
Squad (Best performing players)

Key Players

Zac Ansah - As Usual was one of the best players at the club. Not his best season, and will be interesting to see how well he does in the championship but has not dissapointed thus far. Really is one of those players i will try to keep around forever.

Morten Tajet - Did not start the season as a key player really, but ended the season as part of my first choice center midfield partnership. A great tackler and chipped in a with a few goals and assists too.

Lee Carpenter - Again a solid season filled with assists and goals. Contract is up at the end of next season and at the moment is asking for over 6k (Which i cant give) Will see if i can convince him with a good start in the championship.

Kristian Leskur - Another solid season, his most impressive yet. 11 goals and 11 assists and still has more potential that my coaches say that he can reach. Will probably be a key player next season and for years after. Also wouldn't be surprised if he gest player of the season.

Jozsef Vagi - A player who again was not a starter at the start of the seaosn, but proved his worth throughout the season, even after some niggling injuries. 10 goals in 24 starts ain't bad, with 6 assists added on top.

Robin Lopes - My 17 year old kid was originally going to be used mainly in cup games. He ended up being a sub that was appearing most games. Scored plenty of goals for his playing time, and also chipped in with a few assists. I have high hopes for this one.

Other News

Nothing much except this strange piece of news. Ground share with myself??

Next Seasons Aims

1. Survival - Simple really we need to Survive.
2. New key players - need a few more key players and a few more english as i was struggling AGAIN to field 6 HG players in the squad last season.

Code:

   Year                Division                          Position                    Other achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13              Blue Square North                    2nd                        Playoff Winners
2013/14              Blue Square Premier                  9th                       9th Place, FA Cup 1st round (Oldham)
2014/15              Blue Square Premier                 2nd                        Playoff Winners, Fa Trophy Winners
2015/16              League 2                            5th                        Playoff Winners
2016/17              League 1                            11th                       Nothing :(
2017/18              League 1                            6th                        Playoff Winners

**GreyedOutMan** · 18-12-2011 23:27

I faced the toughest start to a season I can remember: Chelsea (H), Liverpool (A), Watford (A), Man Utd (H). But I tried to see the positives - it meant that I could bed in some new players in a set of matches with very little pressure because it didn't matter too much if we were beaten three times in that run. We came from 2-0 down to get a point off Chelsea, but lost Guilbert to injury having lost Dietz for a two month stretch before the game. Within ten minutes of the start of the Liverpool game, two more strikers got injured and I had only one fit striker. When we went two goals down again, I knew there was no chance of a reprieve this time. Luckily, we were still in August, and it meant I could bring in a new striker. Or rather I thought I could, but as it turned out, I couldn't get hold of one who was good enough, so I had to make do with the ones I had. But the promising young striker who originally was supposed to go out on loan was given his chance, and Ondrej Jicha, who has the most potential of anyone in my squad, got 2 goals in his first 3 games.

So, when Dietz made his debut in the League Cup against Arsenal, it was Boucher who dropped to the bench and not Jicha. Typically, having been 2-0 down, it was Boucher who came off the bench to get the first goal and then a second substitute, Rafael Serrano, scored just before the end to take the game to extra-time. The Cup Runs show that extra-time didn't go our way, however. The first chance to get that crucial Europa League spot had evaded us.

However, the league form didn't suffer. After such a tough opening run, we were playing catch-up to a certain extent after seven points from the first seven games (although in that run we only lost to Liverpool and Spurs). In the next three games, we doubled our points tally before the visit of Man Utd to Harrow Stadium. We had the better of the game - more shots, more than twice as many on target, and more possession, but couldn't get the vital goal whereas United did, and won 1-0. However, in the first 11 games, we had played Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and United, and still managed 14 points.

But it wasn't getting any easier. Next up was Man City away followed after West Ham at home with a trip to Henry Stadiun. The Man City game was a fantastic performance, and brought our first win against City, despite old-boy Baier scoring a late goal to make it tight, having been 2-0 up. That was special. But those sort of victories are so easily made pointless. A last minute equaliser robbed us of two points at home to West Ham, and I got trounced 5-1 by Arsenal. Four points from those three doesn't sound bad but having beaten City away, it felt disappointing.

However, it did mean that I had played all the big teams, and though January was to be tough (Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd out first three opponents of 2034), the rest of December looked straightforward, facing Newport, Burnley, Swansea, Ipswich and Birmingham. Defeat in the first of these was probably the worst result in my 22-year Harrow career, and I followed that up with another two against Burnley and Swansea. Suddenly my season was in turmoil - since starting with 18 points from 14 games despite playing all the top teams, we hadn't taken a single point. We did dig out a scrappy win against bottom-placed Ipswich, which was badly needed, but it was still a terrible run with which to go into the FA Cup and then a tough run in the league.

The FA Cup game was on New Years' Eve, and was a draw, so we went into the New Year facing a replay buried within another really tough run. We took a draw away from Lampard Arena in a fairly even game, and did the same at home to Liverpool. We squeaked past West Ham in the Cup replay, before the big game at Old Trafford. The 3-0 trouncing brought us back down to earth with a bump and suddenly it was relegation avoidance, and not Europa League qualification, on my mind. Beating Everton in the FA Cup was good and made me think that could be the route into Europe...

It would have to be. After the amazing win at Man City Stadium, we got two wins and four draws from the next 13 GAMES! Shockingly bad form, which really put the cat amongst the pigeons in the relegation battle, including as it did defeats to Newport, Burnley, Swansea and Birmingham as well as draws with Cardiff and West Ham. This was a major step backwards. Many of my players started making noises about moving to bigger clubs, and understandably. But we'd had a few key players out with injury and as they came back, suddenly we improved massively to beat Wigan 4-0. But the improvement was short-lived. The Europa League dream ended at White Hart Lane with a shocking performance against Spurs in the 5th round of the cup, and we followed that up with another poor performance at home to Wolves.

On 4th March, we went to Villa Park and beat Villa 1-0, with 61% of the possession. The inexplicable results were commonplace this season, as you probably picked up on. We then failed to beat Fulham who had lost their last five and were the new table-proppers. Then we got a convincing 2-1 win against Man City at home, before scraping through to get my one and only point of the season against Newport! What was going on?!

It hadn't finished - the next game was against leaders Arsenal, and with four players playing out of position (red-dots, not orange) due to injuries, I scraped a draw. But the team was totally useless and after the Man City triumph, a run of 2 wins in the last 7 games culminating in a pathetic capitulation against Birmingham on the last day which cost us three league places.

There's no doubt we underperformed this year, but the potential of players like Jicha, Dietz and Clarke-Harris means that I feel confident we can improve next year. They keep getting Young Player of the Month awards. The improvement is marked in all of them. I'm trying to get replacements for players like Markevich and Neumeier in now, so that I can buy potential rather than ability and then when those players inevitably move on, I'll have ready made replacements. Hopefully that'll work....

Harrow Stadium also has new, more generous sponsors (£400k a year). So, for report purposes only, we will be playing, as of next season, at the Phones4U Arena. The finances screenshot includes a couple of early-summer signings you'll read about next year.

Key Players

Jose Felix Cabello* - consistent as ever.
Ondrej Jicha - not bad for an 18-year-old.
Tobias Neumeier - the pick of the defenders but thinking of cashing in on him soon as his development seems to have stalled.
Regis Mpinda - still holding off the more experienced Konovalenko as first-choice DM.
Sergey Markevich - hard to believe he's still 22.
Enrico Baggio - slightly disappointing for a £7m record signing, but still did well.

(*= fans' player of the year)

The team of the year
The historical best XI - Mpinda inducted on the bench.

Key Records Broken
Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £7m for Enrico Baggio from Atalanta on 9th June.
Oldest Goalscorer: Vitaliy Konovalenko - 32 years 33 days v Watford (Premiership), 21st January

Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)

DAVID WILSON
Lost his place to Mikiela and £1.4m was too much to refuse for a back-up keeper.
APPS: 97, CONC: 116, CLN: 36, MoM: 3, AvR: 6.84

RACHID BENALI
Had also lost his place since promotion to the Premiership, and was going to leave on a Bosman at the end of the season so I had no choice but to try to cash in and £1m of free money in January was a no-brainer.
APPS: 64, GLS: 15, ASSTS: 14, MoM: 2, AvR: 7.02

VITALIY KONOVALENKO
He was good for me but £2.5m for a 32-year-old was not an offer I could refuse, really.
APPS: 56, GLS: 4, ASSTS: 2, MoM: 1, AvR: 7.01

HERVE GUILBERT
Whilst key in both Championship promotion seasons, the truth is he never cut it in the Premiership and it was time to go. But I would have liked some money for him!
APPS: 158, GLS: 69, ASSTS: 35, MoM: 12, AvR: 7.09

DIMITRI BOUCHER
£2.4m was too good to turn down for a player who has been good but not outstanding.
APPS: 127, GLS: 40, ASSTS: 24, MoM: 6, AvR: 6.99

KEVIN FRANKE
Did a job at right back and at centre-back for me but didn't merit the wage increase he wanted.
APPS: 99, GLS: 1, ASSTS: 3, MoM: 4, AvR: 6.89

Next season, we need to start building towards getting into Europe regularly. This season was a step backwards really. Some of the dead wood needs to be shipped out whilst I must hold on to my star players, and get youngsters to start to groom into eventual replacements for them.

Targets for 2033/34
Get a Europa League spot for the 2034/35 season. FAILURE - pure and simple.
Improve our position in the league. FAILURE - this wasn't a good season. We should have been several places higher.
Try to make sure no star players are lost on Bosmans this year! SUCCESS - there were some, and probably at least a couple I could have got money for, but no stars. Herve Guilbert had been a star but had fallen down the pecking order.

Targets for 2034/35
Get a Europa League spot for the 2035/36 season.
Sign some youngsters with amazing potential.
Avoid knee-jerk signings like Baggio who, whilst good, aren't good enough to warrant huge transfer fees.

In other news, Premiership new-boys Newport County lost to Sp**s in extra-time in the League Cup Final, and then the white scum completed a Cup double with a shock victory over City in the FA Cup Final. Man Utd beat Roma to win yet another Champions' League (their 8th). Not to mention that they've now won the last six league titles, too. For the record, Harrow are currently ranked 63rd in Europe, according to the co-efficients. We need another Europa League run soon or that will drop like a stone when the first one becomes consigned to ancient history.

Code:

Season      Division	          Position     Points    Achievements

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

2012/13     Blue Square South         17th      45       Stayed clear of relegation.
2013/14     Blue Square South          3rd      80       Playoff runners-up.
2014/15     Blue Square South          2nd      91       Promoted via playoffs.
2015/16     Blue Square Premier       13th      64       Mid-table finish.
2016/17     Blue Square Premier       10th      63       Move to Harrow Stadium completed.
2017/18     Blue Square Premier       17th      57       None.
2018/19     Blue Square Premier       15th      56       Drew with Forest in FA Cup!
2019/20     Blue Square Premier        7th      73       FA Trophy Winners.
2020/21     Blue Square Premier        4th      77       Playoff semi-finalists; FA Trophy Winners.
2021/22     Blue Square Premier        1st      90       Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners.
2022/23     Coca-Cola League Two       1st      92       Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt!
2023/24     Coca-Cola League One       3rd      87       Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round.
2024/25     Coca-Cola League One       7th      77       JPT Runner-up.
2025/26     Coca-Cola League One       1st      97       Promoted as Champions.
2026/27     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      68       Stadium Expansion to just over 7,000 all-seater planned.
2027/28     Coca-Cola Championship    16th      53       Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned.
2028/29     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      66       Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity.
2029/30     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      89       Promotion; Carling Cup Q-Final; FA Cup R5, incl. victory v. Tottenham; Stadium expansion announced (3,500 seats).
2030/31     Barclays Premier League   20th      18       Expansion to 12,662 capacity stadium completed; FA Cup Runner-up & Europa League Qualification.
2031/32     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      96       Europa League 2nd K/O Round, Promotion.
2032/33     Barclays Premier League   12th      49       Carling Cup S-Final.
2033/34     Barclays Premier League   12th      46       None.

**Thebaker** · 19-12-2011 13:49

Worksop 2020/21 Championship

Table

Positions

FA Cup - 3rd Rd
League Cup - 4th Rd

The season went quite well as the team was never really near relegation, a good run meant that by mar the playoffs were in sight before a poor apr ended in a mid-table finish. The FA cup ended in the 3rd Rd with a 3-1 home defeat to championship Middlesborough. In the league cup it took ET to get past first L2 Port Vale and then prem Sunderland. L1 Leyton Orient were defeated 1-0 before a 3-0 thrashing by championship Bristol city in the 4th Rd.
Converting the ground to all seater cost a million and the board approved the first training facilities improvement after the sale of players at the start of the season. They then cancelled this at the end of the season due to lack of funds a week before the solidarity payment of 2 million was given out, they also now won't improve them as 'they are good enough'

Squad

Transfers

Sold my record apps holder Bjornhart (260 apps, 0 goals) to improve the finances as i had already signed Hajgato after waiting a whole year. Scapuzzi (171 apps 63 goals), Williams ( 207 apps 32 goals)and Selnaes (216 apps, 19 goals) also left as i considered tham not up to the standard needed. In came Vuran who excelled and Bretthaurer who was very disappointing only scoring in one game. The defence was generally poor with one player of the four having a nightmare in most games. Hajgato was probably my best player in spite of this. In midfield Bule didn't play to the same high standards he had shown and had a lot of minor injuries. Brandt and Kaczmarek did well for most of the season. Flemming took a long time to get going but ended as top scorer just ahead of Klinger.

Code:

Season        League       Position       FA Cup              Other Cups                Europe              Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13        BSN           13th         4th QRd           FA Trophy - 1st Rd           N/A                    None
2013/14        BSN           3rd          1st Rd            FA Trophy - 1st Rd           N/A                    Promoted via playoffs
2014/15        BSP           6th          1st Rd            FA Trophy - 1st Rd           N/A                    None
2015/16        BSP           2nd          3rd Rd            FA Trophy - Winners          N/A                    Promoted via playoffs, FA Trophy winners
2016/17        L2            14th         1st Rd            LC - 2nd Rd/JPT - Qtr-f      N/A                    None
2017/18        L2            6th          3rd Rd            LC - 2nd Rd/JPT - 2nd Rd     N/A                    Lost in playoff Final
2018/19        L2            3rd          3rd Rd            LC - 3rd Rd/JPT - N- Final   N/A                    Automatic promotion
2019/20        L1            1st          5th Rd            LC - 1st Rd/JPT - Winners    N/A                    League Winners, JPT Winners
2020/21        CMP           11th         3rd Rd            LC - 4th Rd                  N/A                    None

**Sideshow Robbie Earle** · 19-12-2011 17:20

#81 - Kingstonian. Season '20-'21. League 1.

L1 position: 6th League table Promoted through play-offs.
FA Cup: 4R
League Cup: 3R
JPT: Regional 1/4-final

Summary: Progress Current squad A bit more strengthening over the close-season, but partly to replace some ex-BSP players. New Welsh striker came in and was on fire for the first few weeks as we hung around the promotion spots and made progress in the minor cups. Then the customary slump came, and it took us until Christmas to pull ourselves together and start climbing the table again. A series of draws in the spring (7 in a row!) would have scuppered a play-off place if everyone around us wasn't rubbish too. We left it until the last day, but a 3-0 win at Doncaster gave us 6th; 3rd-placed Watford were on an awful run, and offered less resistance than expected; Coventry were beaten 2-0 at Wembley to seal promotion to the Championship. The gate receipts from that, and a televised FAC4R at Old Trafford have helped pad out the bank account.

Transfers: Transfers New centre-back, striker and 2 midfielders, some have a better impact than others.

Future prospects: Welsh striker was a flash in the pan and was gone in the summer. A few more L1/2 players are off over the summer, and success will depend on what we can attract to replace them. The bank account is healthy, the board aren't willing to spend much. Best prospect is Remi Nduwayo, Burundi international 'keeper. He's been back-up to Loris Karius for a few seasons, but took over after our autumn slump and has kept his place.

1213 - BSS 5th (lost in play-off final)
1314 - BSS 12th (FAT runners-up)
1415 - BSS 1st (promoted)
1516 - BSP 11th
1617 - BSP 7th (FAT semi-final)
1718 - BSP 5th (Promoted through play-offs)
1819 - L2 6th (Promoted through play-offs, JPT South area runners-up)
1920 - L1 4th (lost in play-off semis)
2021 - L1 6th (promoted through play-offs)

**GreyedOutMan** · 19-12-2011 20:15

http://community.sigames.com/showthr...05#post7417705

This might be of interest to some people here - if you've done Dafuge's challenge for several years, WHAT IS YOUR BEST XI EVER?!

**GreyedOutMan** · 20-12-2011 01:26

Could this be the beginning of the end???

**ejthegreat** · 20-12-2011 08:36

Quick question that I'm hoping someone might know (I tried looking at manual and searching in forums but it's a nightmare). I had a natural CB that I re-trained to be a RB (poor jumping). After 18 mths or so of training and playing there, he's now listed as being 'natural' for RB. Two things, 1. I thought you could only ever train to an accomplished position and 2. If you can train to natural, does this mean I can take him off that position training now, or will he slip back down?

**GreyedOutMan** · 20-12-2011 09:03

Originally Posted by ejthegreat

Quick question that I'm hoping someone might know (I tried looking at manual and searching in forums but it's a nightmare). I had a natural CB that I re-trained to be a RB (poor jumping). After 18 mths or so of training and playing there, he's now listed as being 'natural' for RB. Two things, 1. I thought you could only ever train to an accomplished position and 2. If you can train to natural, does this mean I can take him off that position training now, or will he slip back down?

Does seem odd. Surely if you've retrained a player for a position, he's by definition NOT a natural in that position???

**Thebaker** · 20-12-2011 09:34

Originally Posted by ejthegreat

Quick question that I'm hoping someone might know (I tried looking at manual and searching in forums but it's a nightmare). I had a natural CB that I re-trained to be a RB (poor jumping). After 18 mths or so of training and playing there, he's now listed as being 'natural' for RB. Two things, 1. I thought you could only ever train to an accomplished position and 2. If you can train to natural, does this mean I can take him off that position training now, or will he slip back down?

You can train to natural - you can take him off training but he will slip back if you don't play him at RB otherwise he should be fine. Some players do need to be kept on the training all the time, i assume they have low adaptability.

**ejthegreat** · 20-12-2011 09:50

Originally Posted by Thebaker

You can train to natural - you can take him off training but he will slip back if you don't play him at RB otherwise he should be fine. Some players do need to be kept on the training all the time, i assume they have low adaptability.

Ok thanks, I assume by the fact that he went from nothing to natural in 18mths that he won't drop off quickly. I'll still be playing him there but now I can have him spend more time doing normal training so that's good.

**glennuk** · 20-12-2011 15:24

Signed prehaps THE BEST ever 17 YEAR OLD GK i have EVER seen

SOOOO EXCITED FOR HIS POTENTIAL

Profile
Report

Bare in mind he is 17 and i am in the championship

**Thebaker** · 20-12-2011 16:26

Zeman looks like a good player, i always find that they get downgraded by the coaches in ability a few months down the line. It makes me start wondering why i signed them in the first place.

**grff** · 20-12-2011 17:16

Looks good Glen. Only worry is his unpredictability.

**glennuk** · 20-12-2011 18:14

Yeh i am not going to rush him.

He has played a couple of games (Only played like 6) but will be second choice to Kolmokov - who will also be tutoring him!

**Gypsum** · 20-12-2011 19:50

Yeah... The Man Utd manager got sacked after this.

**GreyedOutMan** · 20-12-2011 20:59

It was a turbulent summer. I signed a striker early in the summer which gave me three strikers of real quality, but suddenly towards the end of July, Sporting met the minimum release clause for Malte Dietz. £6.5m was good money, but I would much rather have held on to him - he was improving fast.

We did have a striker problem all season - not helped by, at times, having four of them injured at once! It was so bad that my 3rd choice goalkeeper ended up playing 15 times up front! However, the team had clearly improved, and the season started well and got better and better and better. If it hadn't been for stupid draws with Birmingham and then Burnley with only a few games to go, I would have been in the Champions' League next season! Even then, with Liverpool having beaten Chelsea, the game between us and Liverpool at Dalglish Park was more or less a Champions-League decider, with Ipswich at home the final hurdle.

I think deep down I knew we were destined to fall short this year. Liverpool trounced us at Dalglish Park by three goals to nil, in a game we never looked like winning. After that, we were relying on two of Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool slipping up - in Liverpool's case, twice.

Well - Liverpool didn't slip up before the last day so we couldn't get third place. However, Chelsea lost to Man Utd, so on the last day, we were head-to-head with Spurs who had surprisingly lost their last two games to Arsenal and Cardiff. However, to expect them to lose or even draw with Swansea on the last day seemed a long-shot, even though Swansea are much stronger now than IRL. I needed to better their result in any way to get Champions' League football at Harrow Stadium next year.

Check out the final day results for yourself

Cup Runs this year included another Carling Cup Semi-Final, the defeat in the 2nd leg felt like a disaster, but then I didn't know I'd get into the Champions' League!!

Key Players

Jose Felix Cabello - really stepped up for me this year when it counted.
Enrico Baggio* - lived up to his record price-tag.
Tobias Neumeier - good to see him coming good.
Diego Bertolotti - his 12 assists were crucial, did such a good job, and chipped in with the goals too.
Ondrej Jicha - top scorer and at his age, who knows what he might do??
Joel Mikiela - almost twice the number of clean sheets he got last year.
Sergey Markevich - great player, consistent as anything at right back.
Paul Clarke-Harris - improving year-on-year.
Regis Mpinda - might not hold onto his place much longer, but still does a job.
Erman Ozkan - the 2nd DC is crucial to a team's success, I think. Neumeier is great, but having Ozkan was the difference.

(*= fans' player of the year)

The team of the year - it shows how severe the injury crisis up front was when your left-back is in the team as a striker!
The historical best XI

Jicha was the golden boot runner-up
Bertolotti won the Young Player of the Year
Mikiela was 3rd in the Golden Glove

CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE AT HARROW!!
That was totally unexpected and quite a surprise. What a season, eh?!

Key Records Broken
Highest Transfer Fee Received: £6.5m for Malte Dietz on 23rd July.
Highest Transfer Fee Received (broken again): £13m for Diego Bertolotti on 22nd June (after the CL qualification).
I have broken the transfer fee spent, too, but you'll have to wait till next year for that. It does explain the drop in finances though.
Highest League Finish: 4th in the Premiership.
Most Games Without Scoring: 5: 28th January to 10th February.
Highest Transfer Spend: £22m, although transfers puts it at £27m.
Highest Transfer Income: £15m, although transfers puts it at £20.5m.
Highest Average Attendance: 12,635

Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)

KAREL CHARVAT
Two dodgy years from Charvat, £3.5m profit as he left for Parma for £5m.
APPS: 84, GLS: 4, ASSTS: 0, MoM: 1, AvR: 6.90

MALTE DIETZ
One year from Dietz, before I fell foul of a minimum fee release clause of £6.5m.
APPS: 32, GLS: 9, ASSTS: 3, MoM: 3, AvR: 6.97

DIEGO BERTOLOTTI
Hard to turn down £13m in my position, even with the Champions' League coming. That's over £8m profit in just a year. I did look back after he'd gone and wonder whether it was a mistake because he looks like he will only get better, but oh well...I've got my eye on a couple of gems to replace him.
APPS: 34, GLS: 12, ASSTS: 12, MoM: 2, AvR: 7.24

FABIAN ERWIG-DRUPPEL
The guy with the ridiculous name didn't want to sign a new contract so he's now on the dole. His only decent season was in the Championship anyway!
APPS: 81, GLS: 24, ASSTS: 10, MoM: 5, AvR: 6.96

Next season, it's Champions' League! So I want to get into the groups at least, and get a Europa League place by finishing 3rd in the group. No need to run before we can walk.

Targets for 2034/35
Get a Europa League spot for the 2035/36 season. SUCCESS - well, strictly speaking we didn't get into the Europa League, but....
Sign some youngsters with amazing potential. SUCCESS - Acuna 5*, Churin 4.5*, Odhiambo 4* (in goal, rather than up front!) - those three were the best from this year, but we now have FOUR 4.5* potential players.
Avoid knee-jerk signings like Baggio who, whilst good, aren't good enough to warrant huge transfer fees. SUCCESS - Churin is the ultimate example - I chased him for over a year! Second highest fee paid was for Bertolotti who has proved a great purchase.

Targets for 2035/36
Europa League qualification again at the least.
Replace some of my ageing stars - particularly Cabello who has been amazing but is old now.
Get into the Europa League by finishing 3rd in my CL group at least.

In other news, Man Utd's points tally was a new record, and they also won the Champions' League. They've won seven league titles and three Champions' Leagues in a row. Alex Ferguson eat your heart out! Zvonmir Soldo and William Vincent are the new United legends! Serbia shocked Italy in the World Cup final, and I got offered the Arsenal job AGAIN after Alan Shearer left.

Code:

Season      Division	          Position     Points    Achievements

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

2012/13     Blue Square South         17th      45       Stayed clear of relegation.
2013/14     Blue Square South          3rd      80       Playoff runners-up.
2014/15     Blue Square South          2nd      91       Promoted via playoffs.
2015/16     Blue Square Premier       13th      64       Mid-table finish.
2016/17     Blue Square Premier       10th      63       Move to Harrow Stadium completed.
2017/18     Blue Square Premier       17th      57       None.
2018/19     Blue Square Premier       15th      56       Drew with Forest in FA Cup!
2019/20     Blue Square Premier        7th      73       FA Trophy Winners.
2020/21     Blue Square Premier        4th      77       Playoff semi-finalists; FA Trophy Winners.
2021/22     Blue Square Premier        1st      90       Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners.
2022/23     Coca-Cola League Two       1st      92       Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt!
2023/24     Coca-Cola League One       3rd      87       Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round.
2024/25     Coca-Cola League One       7th      77       JPT Runner-up.
2025/26     Coca-Cola League One       1st      97       Promoted as Champions.
2026/27     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      68       Stadium Expansion to just over 7,000 all-seater planned.
2027/28     Coca-Cola Championship    16th      53       Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned.
2028/29     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      66       Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity.
2029/30     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      89       Promotion; Carling Cup Q-Final; FA Cup R5, incl. victory v. Tottenham; Stadium expansion announced (3,500 seats).
2030/31     Barclays Premier League   20th      18       Expansion to 12,662 capacity stadium completed; FA Cup Runner-up & Europa League Qualification.
2031/32     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      96       Europa League 2nd K/O Round, Promotion.
2032/33     Barclays Premier League   12th      49       Carling Cup S-Final.
2033/34     Barclays Premier League   12th      46       None.
2034/35     Barclays Premier League    4th      72       Champions' League Qualification.

**darren1983** · 20-12-2011 21:09

Darren1983 Kingstonian Season 2022/23 Review Premiership

Table Graph

A good solid season for our first in the new stadium, all I was looking for was to stay up again, to do this I knew we needed to tighten up at the back, a cange in formation from our 442 to a Mourhino-esqe Chelsea style 433/451 worked in doing so, it do hoewever cut down the amount of goals we scored, but finishing 10th rather then 17th shows that stopping goals seems more important then scoreing them. We were really solid all season and never really close to relegation but never really convincing enough to look for a top half posisition, we had a habit of going on a 4-5 game unbeaten run then losing 5-0 (this happened 3 times during the season)

Cups

FA Cup - not much to say here, a nice 3rd round win against championship Leeds before losing to a Newcastle team that would go on to be relegated at the end of the season

League Cup - much better! couple of comfortable wins saw us through to the 1/4 finals where we played Championship Chesterfield it was one of the worse games of the season and they beat us with ease - this was even more dissapionting as all the big guns were out by this stage and the semi final line up was 1 prem team (20th placed west ham) and 3 championship teams - this really was a wasted chance for us to maybe get pur first "real" cup and even a shot at Europe (Championship side Leciester won the comp)

My Player Of The Year

My 23 year old French Keeper Fabien Andre - been with us (and first choice) for 3 seasons and just gets better - have been turing down bids all season for him

**Thebaker** · 20-12-2011 21:39

great season GOM, you look like you are making real progress. Why did you play a goalie up front? do you have no young strikers or could you not change the formation.

**GreyedOutMan** · 20-12-2011 21:43

I had young strikers, but they were all injured. It was crazy. Honestly. At one point I had only one fit striker through my whole squad, and was playing a left-back and a 'keeper up front. Surprisingly didn't totally destroy my team!

However, with another striker out, and I think only one in, I am going to change my formation this season.

**GreyedOutMan** · 20-12-2011 21:45

Can't resist giving a preview of my new record signing. I think he will be a real gem.

**GreyedOutMan** · 21-12-2011 01:03

I'm in a race with Newport County now - which low-division side will be the first to win the League???

**ejthegreat** · 21-12-2011 03:20

Originally Posted by ejthegreat

News post season that the stadium will have to be improved to meet CH requirements. No loan, just a big hit to the finances, we go from being 329k up to 166k in the red. Will make next season very difficult. The new stadium will still only be 8,000 but will be an all seater it appears. In the meantime, we will be playing at the 10,000 (650 seat) Feltham Arena which has synthetic grass.

So, just started Ch season and I'm not sure this ground sharing is going to work. First home game of the season, crowd was 650 in total, where as last year's average was 4,470. I gather it would be around a half hour drive from Tooting to Feltham.

Edit: Just realised I can only get 650 people due to the laws in the Championship about needing full seating so they can only have as many people in there as there are seats. This is going to really hurt financially until the end of January when the stadium is ready for me to move back into.

**Faramir** · 21-12-2011 04:47

Lowestoft 2013-14 Review

1st Season BSP- 10th Place
FA Cup Lost to Leeds in 1st Round (unlucky draw)

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1...14bsptable.png

Overall, our first season in BSP play had good and bad moments. We played well in many matches and would have had a shot at the Playoffs if we hadn't conceded so many late equalizers and match winners. I would attribute that to having a young side that just didn't show good composure and concentration at the end of matches.

Due to the financing of our new stadium, we had to part with 4 important players after the season (for zero money) to rebalance our weekly wage bill. Leaving were Torbjorne Agedestein (scored 10 goals in 17 matches for us after arriving on free transfer. He had the highest wages on the club at 475 a week), Graeme MacGregor (the Scot midfielder was solid, but never really excelled to the extent I thought he would and with his contract expiring at the end of next season and high wages, it seemed prudent to move him to greener pastures), Mihai Gherasim (Young Romanian keeper who carried us last season was aced out of starting role due to the free transfer signings of Mirko Ranieri and Sam Johnstone, and Dominic Ball (Do it all backline player who was our super-sub, but his high wages dictate we find a cheaper replacement).

Those moves slid us under the current 5.4K a week wage budget. I would like to keep Vances Bola who had another fine season for us- leading the club with 16 goals- but his agent fiercely dislikes me and I can't find an acceptable contract for him after lengthy negotiations, so I am resigned to allowing him to leave.

It will be a difficult summer for us as we try to re-align the club with what we have left and hope that eventually our new stadium will allow us more financial flexibilty once it is finally completed.

**Shakes** · 21-12-2011 12:04

Lewes - 2015/16 League 2 End of Season Update - 1st

Table | Positions | Transfers | Squad | Finances

Very easy season where we absolutely cruised to 1st place. We had a good year and nobody else really rose above the pack meaning promotion was never in doubt. Managing the side off the pitch was the bigger challenge, everyone wanting their deals upgraded and being well over budget already made for a bit of work, but managed to hold most of the side together other than a few who just wanted too much. Also had fun times when I fined my best full back (who I've had since the first season) for getting a stupid red card and he cracked it with me, thankfully he eventually came around and decided to stay.

League Cup - 3rd Round.

Nice to make it to the 3rd round and put up a respectable showing against Premiership competition but I don't think any of the teams take this too seriously.

FA Cup - 3rd Round.

Made it to the big 3rd round away money maker so that's all you can ask for, got thumped by Liverpool but can't argue with the split of the gate, it accounted for about 25% of my revenue for the year.

Johnstone's Paint Trophy - Winner.

Nice to win it and even nicer that there were no let down games. Cruised through this even easier than winning the league, which gives me hope that League 1 shouldn't be a huge step up in class.

Next Season

Made a small profit even with the required stadium expansion from league 1 promotion, so the wage budget doubles next year which I'm going to need to get the remaining players I want to keep on to full time contracts. Need to do some shopping for some home grown players since my stocks of those are pretty thin now, a couple of years of strengthening the team with European imports while my existing players who wanted too much were allowed to leave means my current first choice team has only the bare minimum of 6. So long as I can get a few locals in without making my usual mistake of signing players just to sign players I'm confident going forward.

Also hoping for a takeover by someone with a bit of ambition, getting mighty sick of my current board, they never grant me anything. 3 promotions in 4 seasons while making an overall profit even after stadium expansions yet I can't get facilities, scouting range, affiliated clubs, whatever I want it's not in their long term vision.

Code:

Season    Division    Pos     FA Cup      Other Cups               Achievements
2012/13   BSS         1st     2nd Rnd     FAT RU                   Promoted, FA Trophy Runners Up
2013/14   BSP         3rd     4th Rnd     FAT 4th Rnd              Promotion Finalists
2014/15   BSP         1st     3rd Rnd     FAT Winners              Promoted, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16   League 2    1st     3rd Rnd     JPT Winners, LC 3rd Rnd  Promoted, Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners

**ejthegreat** · 21-12-2011 12:34

Well done Shakes, very dominant. Looks like you've raided Denmark for all it's worth

, did you have a Danish coach/scout or something?. You should be alright for HG for another season or so given how many U21 players you have but it might become an issue the season after so that might something to think about.

**Shakes** · 22-12-2011 02:05

Originally Posted by ejthegreat

Well done Shakes, very dominant. Looks like you've raided Denmark for all it's worth

, did you have a Danish coach/scout or something?. You should be alright for HG for another season or so given how many U21 players you have but it might become an issue the season after so that might something to think about.

I believe a few of my younger players I've had for 2 years already should become home grown next season so I think I'm going to be alright going forward. A lot of the non-Danes in my squad are dual nationals who are home grown so it's not quite as bad as it looks when you look at the squad and see no English flags.

As for getting the players, it wasn't a scout, it was just asking any unattached players on U19/U21 squads if they'd like to come for a trial. Denmark became the target because they has so many players without a club and pretty much all of them were willing to trial. Probably helps them all feel at home having so many mates on the squad because nobody has had any issues adapting. It also means international commitments weren't an issue, you just get the games moved when a dozen players go away at once.

I imagine the challenge is harder if the rules were you had to be able to scout them, since my board still wont let me scout outside Ireland & UK even in league 1 ... the ability to offer a trial as a substitute for scouting was great once I realised what a goldmine Denmark is at these levels! Pity I can't get work permits through, because there's some even better players in Columbia who will sign for about 1/4 of the wages English players of their ability demand (if they'll listen to offers at all) ...

**nicka94** · 22-12-2011 06:34

Hi all, just got FM12 and decided to take up the challenge

From now I will be manger of FC United of Manchester

**ejthegreat** · 22-12-2011 06:52

Celebrations as two Tooting & Mitcham players make their international debuts.

Massimo Loungo and Stephen Andrews Massimo had maintained for the last three years that he only wanted to play for Italy but I guess he finally realised he would never get the chance. Andrews is probably Ireland's 3rd or 4th choice keeper but they decided to give him half a friendly, which was nice.

Also, after years of struggling with handling crosses and set pieces, I've gone and signed my first towering centre back, Bojan Halliovic. Touted as the next Muhamed Konjic, the former Bayern Munich youngster has to work on his decision making, positioning and speed but I think there's enough about him to suggest he might be good enough if we get to the Premiership, assuming he settles in well.

**Gypsum** · 22-12-2011 22:50

Gypsum's Worksop town - Premier league - 2023/24

League position: 2nd / Position graph
Media prediction: 4th

A four way title race went down to the final day, with us needing to better Liverpool's result against 3rd place Tottenham. Although we won, Liverpool's 2-0 win made them champions.

Champions league: Finalists / Lost 2-1 to Barcelona - Despite the return of Gonzalez from a minor injury, and Mukumbu from a broken leg, a full strength squad wasn't enough to overcome Barca in a tight game.

Transfers

Finances

General squad info

Star players;

Peter Birbeck - Our best player by far, 29 assists, 12 goals and a 7.71 rating. Amazing to thing I got him for £1.6m a few seasons back.
Denis - Mr Consistency as our central striker. His second 30+ goals season in a row.
Philipp Eberlein - Typically tricky as a wide striker.
Tete - A powerhouse in defence.

Code:

   Year                Division                          Position                    Other achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13              Blue Square North                    1st
2013/14              Blue square Premier                  12th                       FA Cup third round
2014/15              Blue square Premier                  3rd                        Moved into new stadium / Playoff winners 
2015/16              League 2                             3rd                        Automatic promotion / FA cup 5th round
2016/17              League 1                             1st                        FA Cup 4th round
2017/18              Championship                         5th                        Championship playoff semi-finalists
2018/19              Championship                         1st                        
2019/20              Premier league                       7th
2020/21              Premier league                       2nd                        Champions league qualification
2021/22              Premier league                       2nd                        Champions league winners
2022/23              Premier league                       1st                        League cup winners 
2023/24              Premier league                       2nd                        Champions league runners-up

This season I can really make a start on my new challenge of building an all home nations squad. I'm going to keep hold of my best players, so the change will be gradual, but from now on I will only be signing players from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland or Northern Ireland. Could be interesting to see if I go bankrupt paying the English premium, or slip down the table with a weakened squad...

**duccio** · 23-12-2011 01:34

Hello folks. I think I will try this challenge.

I don't remember when was the last time I managed an English club - could have been pre FM11. It has been some time when I last manage a non-professional team aswell, but now I'm at the helm of Kingstonian. Is it normal that I can sign staff only on non-contracts, eventhough the personnel already at the club are part timers? Also cannot offer full time contracts to players (I think in earlier game version it was possible), and part time contracts must have squad status set to key player. Is this right?

**Sideshow Robbie Earle** · 23-12-2011 11:25

Originally Posted by duccio

Is it normal that I can sign staff only on non-contracts, eventhough the personnel already at the club are part timers? Also cannot offer full time contracts to players (I think in earlier game version it was possible), and part time contracts must have squad status set to key player. Is this right?

Are non-contract staff effectively working for free? It might be you can only sign them on that because you don't have any wage budget left. When I started at Kingstonian I could sign players with any squad status - are the ones you are trying to sign just being insistent on how important they are to you? You won't be able to offer full-time contracts until the board decides to turn the club professional; that'll be in the BSP or when you get promoted to League 2.

Good luck! There's a couple of us on here doing quite well with the K's.

**Sideshow Robbie Earle** · 23-12-2011 13:22

#81 - Kingstonian. Season '21-'22. Championship.

League position: 12th League table
FA Cup: 4R
League Cup: 1R

Summary: Season progress Current squad A mixed bag of a season that ended with a great deal of optimism for the future. Started with some good results before running into some better teams and getting taken apart. Briefly rallied mid-season (and beat a Tottenham side 4-0 in the FAC3R) but January sucked; form plummeted, team meetings caused morale to follow, and I seriously considered walking away from it all. I gambled on a tactics change, going more attacking and shifting away from my preferred counter-attacking style. It worked, and we raced away from the relegation zone, and I added a couple of free transfer signings to fit into the new formation. We looked set for a top-half finish, but 3 straight losses put paid to that. The season highlight was a last day drubbing of QPR, as well as players getting full caps for Wales and Northern Ireland to add to my overseas and U21 internationals.

Transfers: Transfers The scouts uncovered a lot of young prospects, so quite a few were signed; some went into the 1st team squad, others were sent out on loan. Being able to scout outside of the UK was extremely useful. After our January slump a lot of the youngsters got a chance, and the K's started a couple of games with a fully overseas starting XI (although some of those have been at the club for a few years and have English 2nd nationality). Key signing was Benik Afobe - 10 games, 10 goals after signing in March.

Future prospects:
Most of the squad are prospects, I only have a handful of players over 21.
Remi Nduwayo - Burundi international goalkeeper, stats aren't great but he's a quality stopper at this level.
Alexander Schneider - German defender
Jesper Hansen - commanding centre-back, first-team regular at just 18
Karl-Heinz Kratz - German attacking full-back
Lars Schober - another German youngster, building him up to take over from Bakary Bunga Cham as my defensive midfielder
Sebastian Campagna - late season signing, a definite starter for next year
Karim Slama - French forward, got picked on by the press for "lack of maturity" but has excellent potential

I'm actually quite confident for next season! Loads of cash in the bank, board seems to have started planning a new stadium although nothing has been announced yet.

1718 - BSP 5th (Promoted through play-offs)
1819 - L2 6th (Promoted through play-offs, JPT South area runners-up)
1920 - L1 4th (lost in play-off semis)
2021 - L1 6th (promoted through play-offs)
2122 - Ch 12th

**duccio** · 23-12-2011 13:29

Thanks for good luck wishes Sideshow Robbie Earle.

I have plenty of wage budget remaining. The non-contract staff are working for free on moth to month basis. My part timer staff can also be offered only non-contract deals. When I offer part time contract to a player I'm trying to sign, the only squad status that is available is key player. If I offer an amateur contract, the only status available is youngster - amateur cntr can be offered only to youth players. If I offer a non-contract deal, the statuses available are first team, rotation, backup and hot prospect if the player is young. The players already at my club can be offered part time deals with any squad status.

I created this save with the latest (I think) patch 12.1.0 242761(m.e v993) installed. Maybe that has brought these changes (on purpose)? Or is what I have described something that should not be happening? What else I have noticed after installing the patch is that, on this new semi-pro Kingstonian save, and older saves with pro clubs, the player 1 year contract extention after x number of games played clause (or what ever it is/was called) has disappeared and cannot be offered in negotiations.

**Gypsum** · 23-12-2011 18:26

May deviate slightly from my all-British team goal because i've just been offered the world's best keeper for £10m...

**DarrenP** · 24-12-2011 00:18

Regarding player contracts, I have found, and logged it as a bug, that I cannot offer non-contract terms to any player, be it an existing squad member, or a new recruit. This has left me with a real problem, as every player wants a salary, which eats into my ever decreasing budget.

Managing Hastings United, I have spent 5 seasons in the BSS. It's getting a little frustrating!

I'll keep on going, as it doesnt appear the issue has been resolved in the latest patch, but as soon as it does I will be starting a new save.

**ejthegreat** · 24-12-2011 03:19

Little things in this game sometimes annoy me. Two things; 1. Fans complaining about me not changing formation after a game in which I played with a completely different formation than the one they were complaining about and 2.Stadium re-development finally completed and pitch was re-turfed over break too, no games have been played on there, it was 'perfect' when stand construction started and now that it's complete, it's 'terrible'.

Doesn't help that I'm in a really bad run of matches in the Championship, have dropped from 3rd to 10th in 5 matches and could be 14th by next week.

**midgetram** · 24-12-2011 12:01

Long time, no post. I've already got the next season done, but I'll post that later today.

Canvey Island - 2015/16 End of Season Update - L1
The promotion train keeps on going...

League: (Positions) The season started off by getting approached by Cardiff, just imagine what I could do with that transfer budget?? But after duly declining, everything else was just completely straightforward. I knew from the previous year that we were capable of doing well here, but I didn't expect to run away with the league as much as I did. The only times were were knocked off the top was early in the season when internationals pushed my fixtures back (the downside of having mostly U-21s in your side). So all in all another pretty successful season

.

Cups
FA Cup : A fantastic run here, although I avoided any 'big' teams until playing runaway-CH leaders Wigan in the last 16, who surprisingly put out a weaker side here than usual, but we were eventually stopped at Norwich, which was a shame since we dominated the game quite clearly.

League Cup : I don't know what to say about this run; so I'll let the screenies do that for me...

1st Round: Ipswich 1-2 Canvey
2nd Round: West Ham 1-5 Canvey
3rd Round: Swansea 2-5 Canvey
4th Round: Bolton 1-3 Canvey (after extra time)
Quarters: Fulham 2-4 Canvey
Semis Leg 1: Wigan 3-0 Canvey
Semis Leg 2: Canvey 3-3 Wigan [3-6 agg]

Slight shame we went out on our only home tie...

Johnstone's Paint Trophy : (Final) Easy as you like, although we almost got caught out against Torquay with penalties required.

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers: I would say one of the main reasons we were so good from the start was the limited transactions in the summer, compared to other seasons. It also helps that Impey, Oliseh and Rush are easily Championship quality.

Player of the Season : Stephen Impey - AMR

For 19, this guy is ridiculously good. Hope we can keep him for a while since his goal and assist contribution will be vital at the next level.

Finances : Good cup run, meet new stadium expansion

(although the graph doesn't show it, the numbers do)

History:
2012-13: BSS - 1st
2013-14: BSP - 1st, FA Trophy Winners
2014-15: L2 - 1st, JPT Winners
2015-16: L1 - 1st, JPT Winners

**ejthegreat** · 24-12-2011 12:20

^^^Wow, I've yet to raise a single dollar from transfers and you've raised 4mill this year from them, just blows my mind. I really need to improve my scouting methods and ways of enticing players to the club in the early years of the challenge. Incredible effort midgetram and that money should enable you to afford even better players and keep winning leagues, let alone getting promoted.

**ejthegreat** · 24-12-2011 13:09

Tooting & Mitcham United Football Club
2017/18 Season Review
npower Championship

Table|Graph|Squad|Transfers|Profile

The preseason saw an increase in scouting and consequently, an influx of players from around Europe. Notable transfers included Fjellseth (snapshot is just after 4mth inj layoff), Ferner (started in U-18 and promoted when Capelloni went down for 4mths), Jung (became first choice striker in the second half of the season), Wamba (never really clicked on field), Rafferty and Halilovic my new starting centre backs and young wide players in Teresi and Amato (in Jan window).

The season started very well and we were challenging for automatic promotion until the halfway stage of the season when everything started to go wrong and T&M went on their worst run in my time. We lost Fjellseth and Capelloni to torn calf muscles, fullbacks Hunt and Martin got injured as did RW Bristow, CMS Waters and Jenkins and then striker Ansah. Whilst we had improved our depth this season, I had wanted to bring the young international players in a bit more gradually but they had to be thrown in and combined with other teams working out our fairly predictable gameplan, we
went on a horror 9 game run, only managing 3 draws in that time to see us drop down as low as 11th and now with no chance of promotion and an uphill battle for a playoff spot.

We also went out in our opening FA Cup tie to fellow CH team Charlton, adding to our first up loss in the League Cup to L2 battlers Torquay (although admittedly, I had over half my starting eleven away on international duty that day).

We finally steadied the ship with a 1-0 win over Hull and after a string of draws, we slowly stared climbing back towards the playoff spots but a loss at home to Bolton on the penultimate day saw an end to our chances and we ended the season four points away in 8th.

Leading Scorer: Ansah He's reached his maximum level and has now been surpassed by Jung but he still scores when given the chance, I'd like to keep him but he wants a lot of cash for next year. He's also the club's favourite personnell, so letting him go will upset many at the club.
Leading Assists: Luongo and Holmes Both played in the hole behind the striker on many occasions, sometimes both played together with Luongo dropping deeper. Would love to keep both if I can.
Most Important: Andrews No real back up keeper still so re-signing Andrews during the season was vital. Been with me since the BSP and although his rating isn't that good, he's easily one of the best keepers in the Championship.

Off-field we had to use the Feltham Arena until the end of January and due to CH laws, we could only have as many people as there were seats. There are only 650 seats at Feltham so our crowds were 650 each home game. Since Feb, we've been back at Imperial Fields and have averaged over 7,000 per home game. This meant we started making money towards the end of the season and if we can continue that trend next season, it will put us in a good position financially.

Finances
Board Overview

Goals for 2017/18:

Mid-table Championship finish Success
Improve squad with players from Europe which I can now scout Success
Good money making cup run Failure

Goals for 2018/19:

Promotion
Try to recruit 5 star potential players in every position, HG where possible
Save money to improve training and youth facilities

Code:

Season    Division   Position    Achievements
2012/13     BSS        7th        FA Trophy-3rd Rd
2013/14     BSS        3rd        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-4th Rd
2014/15     BSP        4th        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-3rd Rd, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16     L2         3rd        Automatic Promotion, JPT South Winner, JPT Finalist
2016/17     L1         2nd        Automatic Promotion, League Cup-Qtr Final, FA Cup-3rd Rd
2017/18     CH         8th        None

**midgetram** · 24-12-2011 16:13

Originally Posted by ejthegreat

^^^Wow, I've yet to raise a single dollar from transfers and you've raised 4mill this year from them, just blows my mind. I really need to improve my scouting methods and ways of enticing players to the club in the early years of the challenge. Incredible effort midgetram and that money should enable you to afford even better players and keep winning leagues, let alone getting promoted.

I try and get young players released from the big teams, when they get good I sell them on. It works for the lower leagues, but historically I struggle in the bigger leagues since I usually have a large turnover of players. Also, the large transfer fees are usually my board selling over my head, my asking price is usually twice as much as they let them go for

**ejthegreat** · 24-12-2011 23:59

Originally Posted by midgetram

I try and get young players released from the big teams, when they get good I sell them on. It works for the lower leagues, but historically I struggle in the bigger leagues since I usually have a large turnover of players. Also, the large transfer fees are usually my board selling over my head, my asking price is usually twice as much as they let them go for

I can understand the board doing it. The money means a huge amount to the club and you're winning leagues by 25pts so it doesn't appear to be affecting your onfield performance either. Obviously, this only assumes that the money the board makes for selling the players goes back into the club by way of ground, training, etc improvements and transfer budget.

**ejthegreat** · 26-12-2011 13:06

Does anyone know how to stop conceding a goal from a header won in the middle of the pitch? The sequence is, my keeper takes goal kick, opposition player wins header around centre circle, the header goes over the top of my centre backs to a perfectly timed run from the opposition striker who reaches the ball just outside the edge of the box and scores the goal.

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