The Purity Of English Football Challenge

[thezogsageordie]

Trevor Brooking: The harsh fact is that many clubs feel our young teenage hopefuls are significantly behind the technical skills embedded in their European counterparts like France, Spain or Portugal.

"Although thankfully there are some notable exceptions, I have to agree with the overall judgement that we have some major catching up to rectify this problem. Only around 40% of first team players in the Premiership are English, as compared to around 65% of Spanish players in La Liga for example.

It seems that every April/May The Sky Sports team debate the amount of English players in the top English league, so I thought of a challenge that might interest a few people (added to the fact that my dafuge and Gundo challenges have gone stale!)

The Aim

To take a Premiership team to Premier and Champions League glory in the same season with a team full of British players only.

The Rules

<UL TYPE=SQUARE> <LI> The team you start with cannot have qualified for the Champions League in 2006/07 (AKA The Big Four!).
<LI> A Manager Profile screenshot must be posted on first day of management.
<LI> A screenshot of players, showing nationalities, at the start and end of season must be posted.
<LI>Player naming is allowed
<LI>Tactical discussion is allowed
<LI>Any leagues can be loaded (obviously EPL as minimum)
<LI>You cannot move clubs if you are sacked or offered another job. If you are sacked you can start again but have to post a new profile screenshot
<LI> Genie scout or any other external program is not allowed.[/list] How to post a screenshot
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Hold alt + press f9
<LI>Go to a website like imageshack and upload![/list]
People that cheat: I realise people can play non-British players and then take them out of the Squad, so if you like, cheat but the old saying is "Fortune favours the truthful people" remember that and cheating is boring and never gives you that sense of achievement the others will/might feel!

Any questions just ask and happy gaming!

[CCFC 4 life]

i am very tempted by this, but i was thinking bout adjusting it slightly so insted of an all english team. i would probly have british and irish team

[thezogsageordie]

[quote]Originally posted by thezogsageordie:

The Aim

To take a Premiership team to Premier and Champions League glory in the same season with a team full of British players only.

[Frazza Pee]

I'll give this a try over the week-end it will be hard though as English players are always too expensive (I won't go into it)

[CCFC 4 life]

[quote]Originally posted by thezogsageordie:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by thezogsageordie:

The Aim

To take a Premiership team to Premier and Champions League glory in the same season with a team full of British players only.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i realised that after i posted

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Frazza Pee:
I'll give this a try over the week-end it will be hard though as English players are always too expensive (I won't go into it)

Never was there a truer word said At least you don't have jailbate in your squad

[thezogsageordie]

Profile

So I start with my favourite team, The Toon.

This is my current squad:

Gk
Mark Cook youth
Fraser Forster youth
Shay Given legend
Steve Harper best number 2 in the land!

Defence
Carr for Gods sake
Ramage see above
Taylor GET IN

Midfield
Butt consistent as the Spanish weather
Barton do i need to say anything?
Milner absolute legend
Duff on paper is quality

Uptop
Smithster tries hard
Ameobi potential
Carroll see above
Owen best english striker still playing by a mile

I have told my board that I expect Continental Qualification so they gave me a bank account with £44,000,000.00

My prediction: 7th
Carling Cup: QF
FA Cup: QF

[Ridleys]

Originally posted by thezogsageordie:
Owen best english striker still playing by a mile

You can't be more wrong if you tryed.

Rooney easily the best in England.

[dafuge]

Are Irish players allowed as well?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by ridleys:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by thezogsageordie:
Owen best english striker still playing by a mile

You can't be more wrong if you tryed.

Rooney easily the best in England. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Let me just give my old mate Wiki a ring.

Wayne Roonaldo: 42 apps 14 goals. 1 in 3.
Michael Owen: 89 in 40. 1 in 2.2ish.

Wayne Rooney is only better for his club as look at the midfields.

Man Utd: Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Carrick, Park (?)
The Toon: N'Zogbia, Butt, Barton, Milner.

Is there any contest? At least they have the same midfield for England. Do i win?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by dafuge:
Are Irish players allowed as well?

Yes, they are, I was going to say English but then I realised that Newcastle have Given and Duff plus it makes it a bit easier for everyone.

[Ridleys]

Originally posted by thezogsageordie:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ridleys:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by thezogsageordie:
Owen best english striker still playing by a mile

You can't be more wrong if you tryed.

Rooney easily the best in England. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Let me just give my old mate Wiki a ring.

Wayne Roonaldo: 42 apps 14 goals. 1 in 3.
Michael Owen: 89 in 40. 1 in 2.2ish.

Wayne Rooney is only better for his club as look at the midfields.

Man Utd: Ronaldo, Hargreaves, Carrick, Park (?)
The Toon: N'Zogbia, Butt, Barton, Milner.

Is there any contest? At least they have the same midfield for England. Do i win? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I said best striker in England not for England.

I win.

[thezogsageordie]

I hate it when I'm wrong. Who are you thinking of starting with ridleys?

[Ridleys]

Not sure if i'm going to start this yet.

I'm enjoying Gundo's challenge a lot at the moment and I have 2 sign ups running which take up a lot of free time.

[thezogsageordie]

Fair play, the only reason I'm doing this is because my dafuge and Gundo challenges are down the drain! Who are you in Gundo's?

[Ridleys]

Rasharkin, in Northern Ireland.

I'm on about my 15th season and have won he league title 9 seasons running I think

[Frazza Pee]

I'm starting this now and I'm going..... Reading.

[Frazza Pee]

One question. Is there a limit in which we need to complete the challenge? And I changed my mind and went Boro instead.

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Frazza Pee:
I'm starting this now and I'm going..... Reading.

Great choice! Would be really hard but would make you "better" then me as I am (on paper!) a better team! Good luck.

Originally posted by Frazza Pee:
One question. Is there a limit in which we need to complete the challenge? And I changed my mind and went Boro instead.

Awful choice

[Frazza Pee]

I know I noticed that so I changed my mind back after getting the budget

[Frazza Pee]

Am I allowed to play with non-British players the first season because it will take me a while to do it all.

[Frazza Pee]

Also is it ok if the player is non-british but has British/Irish second nationality?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Frazza Pee:
Also is it ok if the player is non-british but has British/Irish second nationality?

Non-British players cannot be used in any competitive match ever. I have used them in my first season friendlies as I didn't have enough British players to field!

Yes thats fine

[thezogsageordie]

I hate to change rules but I've only just realised that I have Joseph Yobo and it didn't click until I just looked at all the nationalities and noticed that he is Nigerian!

The New Rule Is That You Are Allowed 1 Non-British player only.

[thezogsageordie]

I'm having teething problems at the moment with the Toon, I'll be back.

[Tomaldinho]

I'm gonna take this one up. The Villa should do me nicely I feel.

Will post everything up in a minute once I get started.

[Tomaldinho]

Manager Profile

So there we are for Day One. Will post up the first team squad before the first game of the season.

[Tomaldinho]

Seems I forgot to change the resizing resolution. If this doesn't work I give up.

Manager Profile

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Manager Profile

So there we are for Day One. Will post up the first team squad before the first game of the season.

Villa, great choice, if I wasn't a Newcastle fan I'd be Villa or Everton! I was thinking about it mate and if everyone just posts a screenshot of transfers in AND out at the end of the season then that should be sufficient. You can post one before the season (12/13th August?)

Good luck When I get my tactics right I'll hopefully get going again!

[Tomaldinho]

What's the best way to sell off the foreigners? I've transfer listed them and now they are in the reserves but the only players with any bids have been some youngsters worth 85k

[Mark Snellink]

Ok, so just to clarify...

You may never use foreigners in competitive matches (except for 1 foreigner)?

and

You don't have a limit of how long it takes you to do it?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Mark Snellink:
Ok, so just to clarify...

You may never use foreigners in competitive matches (except for 1 foreigner)?

and

You don't have a limit of how long it takes you to do it?

Yes, one foreigner, I had to do that to make it fair.

Nope could take you 20 seasons, obviously the quicker the better, take as long as you like.

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
What's the best way to sell off the foreigners? I've transfer listed them and now they are in the reserves but the only players with any bids have been some youngsters worth 85k

I move them all into the Reserves, Transfer List them, Make them unavailable for Loan and then Offer To Clubs.

[Mark Snellink]

Manager Profile

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Mark Snellink:
Manager Profile

Dennis Bergkamp "Uncapped" (I could've sworn he played for his National team!)

[Tomaldinho]

Could be a long season. Not too much money to spend because I went for a UEFA Cup spot.

My first team could be screwed if we have many injuries. Just played my first game of the season and this team looks like it will be my starting line-up for the whole year until I can offload the few foreign players I have:

Carson
Taylor
Knight
Davies
Lescott
Barry
Reo Coker
Maloney
Young
Agbonlahor
Harewood

The fact Harewood is my best striker worries me a lot :P

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Could be a long season. Not too much money to spend because I went for a UEFA Cup spot.

My first team could be screwed if we have many injuries. Just played my first game of the season and this team looks like it will be my starting line-up for the whole year until I can offload the few foreign players I have:

Carson
Taylor
Knight
Davies
Lescott
Barry
Reo Coker
Maloney
Young
Agbonlahor
Harewood

The fact Harewood is my best striker worries me a lot :P

I would rate the Agbon as better then the machine that is Marlon Harewood! Not a bad squad, only problem is the strength in depth, which is how I'm struggling a bit, I think if you just give the ball to Ashley Young then you'll be fine he is class! Good luck

[Mark Snellink]

Originally posted by thezogsageordie:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark Snellink:
Manager Profile

Dennis Bergkamp "Uncapped" (I could've sworn he played for his National team!) </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Sadly can't figure out how to set caps, but I did put his rep as international footballer.

Also, I've already abandoned the Everton thing. Noone wants to sell to Everton . I'm thinking I might find a club that is all British (or perhaps even all English) and take them up the league!

[Mark Snellink]

Also, I make it a point not to make myself an unknown if I am taking on a big team.

[thezogsageordie]

LOL fair play mate, I was wondering how many people were going to try from CCC and below good luck!

[Mark Snellink]

Derby instead

Still Iceman though

[Mark Snellink]

Actually, Derby only has 10 foreign players so I didn't need to drop a league

[Tomaldinho]

Derby? That's hardcore mate, good luck!

[thezogsageordie]

Wow! I dunno if a Championship team is easier then Derby! Fair play that is rock 'n' roll! \o/

[Mark Snellink]

They're a little bit ****, aren't they?

[Tomaldinho]

Well, to be fair you wanted a Championship team

Main priority is to keep Giles Barnes as he is a great young English player but if relegation beckons then it's going to be pretty hard to convince him to stay if a big club comes sniffing round.

Who have you managed to purchase so far?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Well, to be fair you wanted a Championship team

Main priority is to keep Giles Barnes as he is a great young English player but if relegation beckons then it's going to be pretty hard to convince him to stay if a big club comes sniffing round.

Who have you managed to purchase so far?

Very true, I think you are going to have to utilise him to full effect if you want to stay in the Division.

I was thinking about it and Tottenham have quite a good starting team:

Robbo (lol)
-
Dawson
King
-
Lennon
Jenas
Huddlestone
-
Keane
Bent (lol)

I dunno if they have any good players lb, rb or lm. They have potential though.

Originally posted by Mark Snellink:
They're a little bit ****, aren't they?

Slightly! Each to his own though.

[madlad]

I thought I'd make it more of a challenge for myself and I've started as Peterborough. They are in League 1 as my database is fully updated.

Here is my team:
GK Joe Lewis - U21 keeper, great potential
DR Michael Morrison - Bought from Cambridge for 100k, previously scouted by Chelsea
DL Tom Williams
DC Craig Morgan
DC Chris Westwood
MR Chris Whelpdale
ML Jamie Day
MC George Boyd
MC Charlie Lee
FC Aaron McLean
FC Scott Rendell

Will be slighter tougher for me to win the champions league than for you guys, may give me a longer, hopefully more enjoyable game though!

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by madlad:
I thought I'd make it more of a challenge for myself and I've started as Peterborough. They are in League 1 as my database is fully updated.

Here is my team:
GK Joe Lewis - U21 keeper, great potential
DR Michael Morrison - Bought from Cambridge for 100k, previously scouted by Chelsea
DL Tom Williams
DC Craig Morgan
DC Chris Westwood
MR Chris Whelpdale
ML Jamie Day
MC George Boyd
MC Charlie Lee
FC Aaron McLean
FC Scott Rendell

Will be slighter tougher for me to win the champions league than for you guys, may give me a longer, hopefully more enjoyable game though!

Welcome Fair enough, Joe Lewis and Scott Rendell are class (I think that's the right Scott Rendell anyway!) Good luck

[bihdhdhdhbd]

Ok Irish welsh scots and english leagues runing will post my squad before first game of the season.



Oh one thing i have the Defoe bug fixed.

Gone with the toon army

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by bihdhdhdhbd:
Ok Irish welsh scots and english leagues runing will post my squad before first game of the season.



Oh one thing i have the Defoe bug fixed.

Gone with the toon army

Great choice

Can I ask what you was listening to through your computer

[Tomaldinho]

Is the Defoe bug a major issue? I've never bothered changing it, does it make a difference to anything important?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Is the Defoe bug a major issue? I've never bothered changing it, does it make a difference to anything important?

I think it only affects Portsmouth and Spurs, I think Spurs receive the money over a period of time instead of lump sum. (I think!) How you doing Tom?

[bihdhdhdhbd]

makes a big difference if your playing spurs or Portsmouth.

Like 50 million difference

Spurs will get million per league appearances for 50 appearances what should have been 1 mill AFTER 50 appearances

[bihdhdhdhbd]

Ok here is my squad before my very first match.

=http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capture26052008204230sy5.jpg][/URL]

This is going to be hard challenge but should be fun



the chart show i got a thing for that fern girl

[Tomaldinho]

Woah no wonder Spurs have been splashing the cash around then, £1 million per appearance! 23 appearances so far this season. I'm worried about what Spurs will do with that next season.

This challenge is going far too well for my liking, blatently something horrendous is just around the corner.

Out of the League Cup to Birmingham in the 4th round which annoyed my fans. But in return I've given them 1st position after 21 games, one point clear of Man Utd and 4 points ahead of Arsenal who have a game in hand.

Considering the weakness of my squad and the fact my backup players are so poor, it has been a remarkable season. Harewood and Maloney are the star men, 12 goals each so far. However too many players have been ever present so far and I see an injury crisis just around the corner which will screw my whole season.

However, I'm enjoying it whilst it lasts! Hopefully Champions League football will give me a major transfer boost for next year.

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Woah no wonder Spurs have been splashing the cash around then, £1 million per appearance! 23 appearances so far this season. I'm worried about what Spurs will do with that next season.

This challenge is going far too well for my liking, blatently something horrendous is just around the corner.

Out of the League Cup to Birmingham in the 4th round which annoyed my fans. But in return I've given them 1st position after 21 games, one point clear of Man Utd and 4 points ahead of Arsenal who have a game in hand.

Considering the weakness of my squad and the fact my backup players are so poor, it has been a remarkable season. Harewood and Maloney are the star men, 12 goals each so far. However too many players have been ever present so far and I see an injury crisis just around the corner which will screw my whole season.

However, I'm enjoying it whilst it lasts! Hopefully Champions League football will give me a major transfer boost for next year.

I can see why you're not trying to get over excited but you must be near January so I'd panic buy how many points are 5th from you? I'd take Champions League football for the 2nd season! You would get shed loads from it, the quality of players wanting to join you would be endless aswell!

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by bihdhdhdhbd:
Ok here is my squad before my very first match.

=http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=capture26052008204230sy5.jpg][/URL]

This is going to be hard challenge but should be fun



the chart show i got a thing for that fern girl

Good luck, she is pretty fit

[bihdhdhdhbd]

Ok first game of the season away to Man U and owen given barton and Duff are all got sick notes from there mom oh dear gods.

ok get to half time doing well only losing 2 - 0 then rooney who lets be honest plays a lot better in fm08 then IRL scores 4 more goals and i go home to chants of your not good enough from my own fans.

Things can only get better....

oh and man city turned down 30mill for m richards

[Tomaldinho]

Don't worry about Man Utd, they are a monster. Managed to get 3-0 up against them at home and ended up drawing 4-4.

In the return fixture at Old Trafford I think they ran me over 6-1

I'm close to the end of Season One so I'll post a report then, but I'm moving house tomorrow so have some stuff to do!

[Tomaldinho]

Season One Review

Premier League: 4th
FA Cup: Winners
League Cup: 4th round

Top Scorer: Marlon Harewood
Highest Average Rating: Ashley Young

Final Squad (Scott Carson just went back to Liverpool and Davies has gone back to West Brom and come back hence his zero appearances)

Transfers - Villa have the smallest squad in the Premier League anyway so apart from Lescott and Taylor, the rest were just squad fillers.

Story of the season

It was all going too well in the first part of the season and until January the Villa looked set for a first place finish. However, Ashley Young had Arsenal and Liverpool sniffing after him and became unhappy, leading to a poor February and March where we dropped way off the pace. With Chelsea, Arsenal (away), Liverpool (away) and Man City (away) in the final 5 games things didn't look good and a 6th place finish looked likely.

That would have been the case until Routledge came on for a rare cameo and scored a 95th minute winner against Man City to take victory and snatch back 4th place from the grasp of Liverpool who had already won 4-0.

FA Cup was jokes. Marlon Harewood had been injured so wuth a change of formation and strategy Alan Mahon came in to play the final behind the lone Agbonlahor, and came out with a hat-trick against Man Utd.

A good season in general, I can post up other screens if anybody is interested. Looking forward to seeing if anybody else is still on this challenge but regardless I'm enjoying it so Season Two and Champions League football await!

Problems will be replacing Scott Carson, and then getting in quality squad players because the schedule will be far worse than this year. Anyway, looking forward to Villa's first taste of the Champions League.

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Season One Review

Premier League: 4th
FA Cup: Winners
League Cup: 4th round

Top Scorer: Marlon Harewood
Highest Average Rating: Ashley Young

Final Squad (Scott Carson just went back to Liverpool and Davies has gone back to West Brom and come back hence his zero appearances)

Transfers - Villa have the smallest squad in the Premier League anyway so apart from Lescott and Taylor, the rest were just squad fillers.

Story of the season

It was all going too well in the first part of the season and until January the Villa looked set for a first place finish. However, Ashley Young had Arsenal and Liverpool sniffing after him and became unhappy, leading to a poor February and March where we dropped way off the pace. With Chelsea, Arsenal (away), Liverpool (away) and Man City (away) in the final 5 games things didn't look good and a 6th place finish looked likely.

That would have been the case until Routledge came on for a rare cameo and scored a 95th minute winner against Man City to take victory and snatch back 4th place from the grasp of Liverpool who had already won 4-0.

FA Cup was jokes. Marlon Harewood had been injured so wuth a change of formation and strategy Alan Mahon came in to play the final behind the lone Agbonlahor, and came out with a hat-trick against Man Utd.

A good season in general, I can post up other screens if anybody is interested. Looking forward to seeing if anybody else is still on this challenge but regardless I'm enjoying it so Season Two and Champions League football await!

Problems will be replacing Scott Carson, and then getting in quality squad players because the schedule will be far worse than this year. Anyway, looking forward to Villa's first taste of the Champions League.

Well played! I can see what you mean about the transfers, that's a great knock considering what you had! Still can't believe Marlon was your top scorer I imagine Season Two is going to be a hell of a lot easier because of the players you can sign and the money you have available, all the best

[turn it upto 11]

just spotted this, never tried any challenges before, cannot even find dafuges(search wont work, 50 year old pc at work)

tom-get joe hart, i think its pretty common knowledge that after a few seasons he is englands number 1. good luck in the CL

[PaulHartman71]

Thezogsageordie - can you please complete your form in 'The American Manager Sign Up'. Thanks.

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by turn it upto 11:
just spotted this, never tried any challenges before, cannot even find dafuges(search wont work, 50 year old pc at work)

tom-get joe hart, i think its pretty common knowledge that after a few seasons he is englands number 1. good luck in the CL

Scroll down the page for dafuge's challenge, he has about 65 pages!

Unless you'd like to join this challenge then you're in the right place!

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by PaulHartman71:
Thezogsageordie - can you please complete your form in 'The American Manager Sign Up'. Thanks.

Consider it done.

[Mark Snellink]

Transfer Window 1: Summer 2008

First Team
My team, with it's pretty hefty Welsh influence.
The best players are David Jones, Gary Speed, Andy Todd and Stephen Warnock. (I'm doomed, I know). Best performer so far has been Stephen Bywater, who has been really impressive, landing three man of the match awards in four games, as well as player of the month. Giles Barnes has spent most of his time injured, is now being nursed back to health, and will surely cement a spot in the first squad soon.

Transfers - Notable transfers are Gary Speed, Simon Davies and Stephen Warnock. The rest are investments for the future. (Except Michael Standing, who seems to be a mistake.)

After a rough start against two of our affiliates, Notts Co and Chesterfield (both 1:1 draws) we got our tactic sorted, winning our remaining three friendlies against Mansfield (2:0), Bristol (2:0) and Burton Albion (3:0). Our season opener against Chelsea was a resounding defeat (0:4), but we bounced back to defeat Everton (1:0) despite a send-off for McEverly right after half time. A very close and undeserved defeat against Wigan (1:2) and a scoreless borefest with West Ham sees us in 11th at this early time in the season. Brighton were easily taken care of in the League Cup (3:1).

So, not too terrible a start so far, my 3-4-3 formation seems to be working quite well . (Woo Total Football!)

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Mark Snellink:
Transfer Window 1: Summer 2008

First Team
My team, with it's pretty hefty Welsh influence.
The best players are David Jones, Gary Speed, Andy Todd and Stephen Warnock. (I'm doomed, I know). Best performer so far has been Stephen Bywater, who has been really impressive, landing three man of the match awards in four games, as well as player of the month. Giles Barnes has spent most of his time injured, is now being nursed back to health, and will surely cement a spot in the first squad soon.

Transfers - Notable transfers are Gary Speed, Simon Davies and Stephen Warnock. The rest are investments for the future. (Except Michael Standing, who seems to be a mistake.)

After a rough start against two of our affiliates, Notts Co and Chesterfield (both 1:1 draws) we got our tactic sorted, winning our remaining three friendlies against Mansfield (2:0), Bristol (2:0) and Burton Albion (3:0). Our season opener against Chelsea was a resounding defeat (0:4), but we bounced back to defeat Everton (1:0) despite a send-off for McEverly right after half time. A very close and undeserved defeat against Wigan (1:2) and a scoreless borefest with West Ham sees us in 11th at this early time in the season. Brighton were easily taken care of in the League Cup (3:1).

So, not too terrible a start so far, my 3-4-3 formation seems to be working quite well . (Woo Total Football!)

NICE, a top half finish would put you into legendary status amongst the Rams!

Anybody seen the BBC site that has the amount of English players in each team? I saw that and thought of this challenge!

[DefoesRightBoot]

Started a game with Spurs, for some reason it's using the database from the original game so I've still got Defoe (handy!) but not Hutton or Woodgate (not so handy.)

With King and Dawson both injured for a while at the start of the season, centre-half was one of my big initial problems. Newcastle want £40m for Steven Taylor, I even considered Judas Campbell! In the end I signed Hutton and Ryan Taylor as right-backs, and am playing Hutton in centre-half for the moment. Troy Archibald-Henville has featured a couple of times, and I brought in 37 year old David Weir from Rangers as an emergency stopgap. (We lost 4-0 at Chelsea on his debut!)

I've also brought in Drew Surman from Southampton, Adam Johnson from Boro, Kevin Thomson from Rangers and Darren Boyd from somewhere else in Scotland.

Kept the legend that is Berby as my one foreigner!

Three games in so far, draw away at Boro, home win v Villa and that horrible 4-0 trouncing at the Bridge - but we always lose there anyway! Rather get it out of the way now TBH!

Will keep you updated...

[Tomaldinho]

Good effort so far Mark, top half finish would be extraordinary, but even keeping them in 17th or above could prove difficult. A great start though, seems even total football in Derby can be successful!

DefoesRightBoot, Ryan Taylor has been awesome for me in my Villa game so hopefully he will do the same for you. Try Lescott at centre-back, he's stupidly cheap (I think I got him for around £10mill).

About to get stuck into Season Two so I'll post updates soon hopefully.

[DefoesRightBoot]

Nah Everton wouldn't take less than about £15 million for Lescott, and with King, Dawson and Gardner already there I decided he wasn't quite worth it. Got some cash left over so might look at him again in January.

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by DefoesRightBoot:
Started a game with Spurs, for some reason it's using the database from the original game so I've still got Defoe (handy!) but not Hutton or Woodgate (not so handy.)

With King and Dawson both injured for a while at the start of the season, centre-half was one of my big initial problems. Newcastle want £40m for Steven Taylor, I even considered Judas Campbell! In the end I signed Hutton and Ryan Taylor as right-backs, and am playing Hutton in centre-half for the moment. Troy Archibald-Henville has featured a couple of times, and I brought in 37 year old David Weir from Rangers as an emergency stopgap. (We lost 4-0 at Chelsea on his debut!)

I've also brought in Drew Surman from Southampton, Adam Johnson from Boro, Kevin Thomson from Rangers and Darren Boyd from somewhere else in Scotland.

Kept the legend that is Berby as my one foreigner!

Three games in so far, draw away at Boro, home win v Villa and that horrible 4-0 trouncing at the Bridge - but we always lose there anyway! Rather get it out of the way now TBH!

Will keep you updated...

Fair play, I always like to get the big games out the way. If I had it my way my first eight games would be the top 4 twice. Then start my season.

Originally posted by DefoesRightBoot:
Nah Everton wouldn't take less than about £15 million for Lescott, and with King, Dawson and Gardner already there I decided he wasn't quite worth it. Got some cash left over so might look at him again in January.

£10mil + 50% and your laughing.

[thezogsageordie]

Bit of a mixed bag so far in my season, I predict an end of season update by 9.05.

[thezogsageordie]

Tell a lie, I'm still in bloody January!

[SuperCupra]

This sounds like fun gonna load up FM now....


Being a Spurs fan im gonna be them but using the patched version instead so i can have a better defence. Managers profile in a sec..

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by SuperCupra:
This sounds like fun gonna load up FM now....


Being a Spurs fan im gonna be them but using the patched version instead so i can have a better defence. Managers profile in a sec..

Fair play mate, they have a good chance as the core is there, added to the amount of money AND Wafer Cup football! All the best

[SuperCupra]

Ok here we go.
<a href="http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=managersprofileqm2.png" target="_blank"><img

Onto the transfer list goes everyone except Berba which aint so bad except for Steed I quite like him he's like a pitbull

Also how do I make my screenshots say what i want them to say and not the code like above?

[SuperCupra]

<a href="http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=managersprofileqm2.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3764/managersprofileqm2.th.png" border="0"/></a>

Did this one work?
Oh and what about coaching staff do these have to be british as well?

[thezogsageordie]

If you use imageshack go to the bottom of the page and copy and paste the link that says "show image to friends" into "URL" and then title it whatever you want to title it!!

[SuperCupra]

Third time lucky?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by SuperCupra:


Third time lucky?

Bingo

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by thezogsageordie:

My prediction: 7th
Carling Cup: QF
FA Cup: QF

Newcastle's End Of Season 1 Update 2007/08

After a rocky start we managed to get the tactics right in the 5th game and from then on it was goals galore
a la Keegan. Finished 6th with 62 points, Arsenal won the league averaging 2.5 PPG and only losing to yours truly!
I did, however, feel sorry for United; 91 points for 38 games and still comes second!

I Hate It When This Happens To Me But Love It When I Get It My Way (Look At Time)

Table

Before They Shot

After

Players

Transfers

Beer Cup Semi-Final (Worst thing was that the first leg I had Smith as left-back for part of it so I could've got further in hindsight but you don't know I suppose!)

Stoppage Time?

Derbyshire 3rd - Fella got 18 league goals and quite a few in the Cups aswell!

Notice How The League Cup Is Greyed Out - Written Off Before The Second Leg!

Great season IMO I think if I can get a few quality players in I can make the top 4.

My prediction: 7th
Carling Cup: QF
FA Cup: QF

Passed
Passed
Failed.

My prediction: 4th
Carling Cup: SF
FA Cup: QF

[thezogsageordie]

I forgot to say that I was the only team to beat Arsenal! 2-1, 3 games to go! Funny thing is that I had nothing to play for

[Tomaldinho]

The thing is in the second season when all the other teams fighting to be the best of the rest (Newcastle, Villa, Everton, Spurs, Man City etc) are buying in really good foreign players for under 10million, buying anyone of a similar quality who is English costs double every time which makes competing really difficult.

I've found the second year much harder, maybe due to overly trusting my team from Season One (you'll find out why in my season report later **suspense**).

[Tomaldinho]

Aston Villa Season Two Review

Season Two went horribly during the first half of the season. Having contemplated all summer whether to replace Scott Carson with Joe Hart or Craig Gordon, I decided that reserve keeper Stuart Taylor was good enough for a first team role.

Going into January we were languishing in the bottom half, luckily relegation was out of the question as the three promoted teams were all equally shocking. However, the board weren't too pleased that I was in and around the bottom half of the table.

In December, Taylor and Zat Knight both missed a few games through injury, and suddenly the team played much better. It then dawned on me that both were **** and needed to be replaced!

Manchester City wanted £18 million for Joe Hart so I settled for Craig Gordon. A MOM performance in his first game justified the £10million spend.

The second half of the season was awesome and despite going out of all the cups, a surge up the league resulted in another 4th spot.

Transfers 2008/09 - The Bentley deal was actually £12million after 20 appearances. Barnes and Wilson were great signings. Gordon too but I've explained his impact above.

Who Played and Their Nationalities

Stats
Premier League - Finished 4th
Champions League - 3rd in group
UEFA Cup - Semi final
FA Cup - 5th Round
League Cup - Semi Final
Community Shield - Lost

Top goalscorer - Gabriel Agbonlahor (27)
Most assists - Ashley Young (47)
MoM - Gabriel Agbonlahor (9)
Yellow Cards - Joleon Lescott/Nigel Reo-Coker (13)
Red Cards - Zat Knight (1)
Average Rating (7.59)

Next Season

As fourth seeds in the Champions League I was in with some big teams and got killed. Hopefully this summer I'll be able to get some better players and build on the performances.

In the Premier League Liverpool are nowhere and spent the majority of the season in the bottom half. Despite this, the other 3 big clubs have become so strong and completely dominate the league. Winning it will take longer than I anticipated!

[ocy]

hi,

after running through the list of EPL teams, I think spurs has the greatest potential. so here it goes.

Profile

Will post new update at the end of the season.

Squad

[ocy]

didn't manage any quality signing.
nonetheless, this is my squad for the new season.

my squad for the season

[Tomaldinho]

Not a bad squad mate, good luck for the season!

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Aston Villa Season Two Review

Season Two went horribly during the first half of the season. Having contemplated all summer whether to replace Scott Carson with Joe Hart or Craig Gordon, I decided that reserve keeper Stuart Taylor was good enough for a first team role.

Going into January we were languishing in the bottom half, luckily relegation was out of the question as the three promoted teams were all equally shocking. However, the board weren't too pleased that I was in and around the bottom half of the table.

In December, Taylor and Zat Knight both missed a few games through injury, and suddenly the team played much better. It then dawned on me that both were **** and needed to be replaced!

Manchester City wanted £18 million for Joe Hart so I settled for Craig Gordon. A MOM performance in his first game justified the £10million spend.

The second half of the season was awesome and despite going out of all the cups, a surge up the league resulted in another 4th spot.

Transfers 2008/09 - The Bentley deal was actually £12million after 20 appearances. Barnes and Wilson were great signings. Gordon too but I've explained his impact above.

Who Played and Their Nationalities

Stats
Premier League - Finished 4th
Champions League - 3rd in group
UEFA Cup - Semi final
FA Cup - 5th Round
League Cup - Semi Final
Community Shield - Lost

Top goalscorer - Gabriel Agbonlahor (27)
Most assists - Ashley Young (47)
MoM - Gabriel Agbonlahor (9)
Yellow Cards - Joleon Lescott/Nigel Reo-Coker (13)
Red Cards - Zat Knight (1)
Average Rating (7.59)

Next Season

As fourth seeds in the Champions League I was in with some big teams and got killed. Hopefully this summer I'll be able to get some better players and build on the performances.

In the Premier League Liverpool are nowhere and spent the majority of the season in the bottom half. Despite this, the other 3 big clubs have become so strong and completely dominate the league. Winning it will take longer than I anticipated!

Quality stuff, my 2nd season is going brilliant at the moment, don't want to jinx (sp?) things but I'm confident of a Champs League spot! I always find it easier but it may be because I have more money and foreign players, as you rightly stated, on previous saves!

Ashley Young (47 ass) is just immense! Didn't Watford get relegated with him? What was your Champions League group?

I was contemplating buying NR-C but Villa wouldn't past with him, the guys a machine!

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by ocy:
didn't manage any quality signing.
nonetheless, this is my squad for the new season.

my squad for the season

Fair enough, did you get St Ledger because of watching Big Ron Manager last year?

Who have you got on the left? Just curious as Spurs have had a whole there for about 5 years!

Originally posted by ocy:
hi,

after running through the list of EPL teams, I think spurs has the greatest potential. so here it goes.

Profile

Will post new update at the end of the season.

Squad

Spurs, as I have said, have got a lot of quality British players already there, selling Berbatov is going to be painful though

[ocy]

lineup
basically I am playing with 3 centrebacks and 1 sweeper.

The reason why I got S St. Ledger is because I couldn't get any decent sweeper!!

Facing difficulties selling my foreign players.
Can't believe nobody wants BERBATOV!!

Played 4 games, W3 D1. 3rd in the table. Still early days yet.

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by ocy:
lineup
basically I am playing with 3 centrebacks and 1 sweeper.

The reason why I got S St. Ledger is because I couldn't get any decent sweeper!!

Facing difficulties selling my foreign players.
Can't believe nobody wants BERBATOV!!

Played 4 games, W3 D1. 3rd in the table. Still early days yet.

LOL nice, I don't know any good british sw tbh!

Fair play, you played anyone hard yet :P ?

[thezogsageordie]

Also, I can't believe that, surely at least 20 clubs would snap him up for £20m

[11Clarkie11]

Im starting the challenge but my F's (F1, F2, F3 etc) dont work so i cant screenshoot.

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by 11Clarkie11:
Im starting the challenge but my F's (F1, F2, F3 etc) dont work so i cant screenshoot.

Check dafuge's small club thread, there's a list there of how to take one something to do with the print screen button.

[AcidBurn]

Im starting the challenge but my F's (F1, F2, F3 etc) dont work so i cant screenshoot.

Just press the Print Screen button and then open paint and press ctrl + Alt + V. Save as JPEG and then upload to www.imageshack.us.
This look like a decent challenge might give it a go with Man City. LEt em get this clear though we are allowed one foreign player?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by AcidBurn:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Im starting the challenge but my F's (F1, F2, F3 etc) dont work so i cant screenshoot.

Just press the Print Screen button and then open paint and press ctrl + Alt + V. Save as JPEG and then upload to www.imageshack.us.
This look like a decent challenge might give it a go with Man City. LEt em get this clear though we are allowed one foreign player? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Cool, yeah well what it was because I was searching through players I signed Yobo then realised he was Nigerian so I said 1 foreigner then realised his 2nd nationality is English which makes him eligible to play for me, I'm not signing anyone that isn't British in their 1st or 2nd nationality but everyone else can (I made the rule as I cba to start a new save so I evened the playing field ) Good luck

[thezogsageordie]

I'm having a bit of second season syndrome (sp?) I think, after about 14 games my record is 6-6-2, therefore I'm on 24 points; a good amount I think, on the basis that I have always considered 2 PPG a good enough amount to reach the top 4 at least (obviously depending on everyone else but on the whole, a good enough total)

With my 24 points I am 7th! 4th is Liverpool with 29 I think and Man Utd have dropped 3 points making them on 39 and Arsenal have dropped 4, putting them on 38, which is unbelievable and they aren't showing any signs of slowing down!

My team as a whole is brilliant (I think) but what I do need in January (6 weeks time) is a 'Miguel Veloso' type player and also a striker that doesn't mind being 3rd choice to Derbs and Mikey, possibly Peter Crouch although I dunno if he would join or is any good, possibly James Vaughan aswell.

I should get the 2nd season update by tomorrow night as I'm trying to join a gym

[Tomaldinho]

Gotta be pure British players all the way lads, none of this second nationality nonsense

Zogs, try Mark Noble from West Ham is your on a tight budget. He has had a good start for my team (only a few games played though) but time will tell if he was worth it. However for the price he was definately worthwhile. Hargreaves may be a possibility if you have a bundle of spare cash?

[thezogsageordie]

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Gotta be pure British players all the way lads, none of this second nationality nonsense

I'm trying to make this happen myself but I don't want to have an unfair advantage over everybody else in the mean time!

Originally posted by Tomaldinho:
Zogs, try Mark Noble from West Ham is your on a tight budget. He has had a good start for my team (only a few games played though) but time will tell if he was worth it. However for the price he was definately worthwhile. Hargreaves may be a possibility if you have a bundle of spare cash?

IRL the guy is quality, I didn't think about him! I'll try tonight to get him or OH - would be a great buy, I've got enough money just don't know who wants to play for a Wafer Cup team (Barcelona are in it this year I reckon it'll be me or them that win it)

[thezogsageordie]

Following on about what I was saying earlier about the gulf between the big four and the rest of the league:

Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea & Man Utd between them have dropped 46 points after playing 41.

Spurs have dropped 17
Villa - 22
Newcastle - 20
Pompey - 23

See what I mean now? The Big 4 are averaging dropping 10 points every 15 games, the chasing pack are averaging 20!