Ri916's FM 12 Youth Academy Challenge!

[Conman14]

Carshalton 2012/13 mid-season update

After a great first month, we endured a torrid September and October, with our record over the two months reading two wins, five draws and four defeats. This included being put out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle by Hampton & Richmond. It coincided with an injury for Vines, and it seems that if he has an off day or is unavailable, we go missing. We have stabilised, but once again seem to be faltering as we go through February into March.

Finances are becoming a huge worry for me though, as we seem to be amassing quite a hefty size debt. A couple of players on big wages don't help, and attempts to off-load them in January didn't work.

Anyways, after 28 games, I am sat in mid-table anonymity in 11th place, 10 points off the play-offs.

[Braumiller]

Very jealous of some of the progress you guys are gaining

With my kamikaze tactical approach to the first season my draw total is very opposite what some of you are reporting! Play 33 and drawn only 3 so far! 9 games to go in the season and I am 11 points away from the danger zone and out of any play-off hunt. Just got my first intake of youths and satisfied in general. One need filled (a 15 year old AMC who will go straight into my first team), a couple with backups and one completely ignored!

Cash flow is going to prove to be my next issue.
Started out with 25,000 in the piggy bank, rose to a high of ~70,000 with 3 big name pre-season friendly games, but it has slowly eroded away and now down to 20,000. Might hit red by close season.

My wage bill is currently sitting at 2,690 a week, which I definitely want to trim and will be letting a few of the old guard go who are useless on on a wage now that I have child labor to replace them with!

How are other first season manager's wage bills in comparison? Am I unreasonably high currently?
Next year I definitely want safe mid table football (with a new tactical approach to be installed) and to operate on a profit.

[Goldyrulz]

After losing a little interest in my current save, I thought that attempting this challenge would be a great new game. Something challenging and for the incredibly long term.

So here is the new manager of FC United of Manchester.

[ri916]

FC United of Manchester- Season 4 2015-2016

Welcome to an update on the goings on of my fourth season in charge of FC United.

WARNING- This post contains profanity.

Finances- It looks really good as we have 800k in the bank. Unfortunately we have a £3.2 million loan to pay off for the new stadium which will be ready for next season. The stadium will have half the capacity of the current one we are in (we borrow bury’s stadium) and I will have to wait 20 years to build a new one, so I’m a bit annoyed about it to be honest. The board also seem to think we are in financial meltdown because of it even though its only 20k per month and I still make a profit (Maybe I shouldn’t complain, they pump money in every month to ‘help with the clubs running costs’). So I struggled to get anything improved. That Takeover also went through. No money made available.

Facilities- Our training facilities were improved (we now have 2 silver stars) and our youth facilities are due to be improved provided they are not cancelled as they are going to cost 650k.

League Table- A great season with us squeezing into the playoffs in 5^th place. I have shown you this screenshot because I forgot to take one before the playoffs ended and I didn’t want to give away who won them. It was a year of ups and downs, with us hitting form at just the right time and stringing together an incredible five 1-0 wins in a row (and even then the record was only broken by us winning 3-0) despite that we still had to win on the final day to ensure a playoff spot and we managed it.

Playoff Semi-final- An incredible tie. The first leg was fairly dull, just a 2-1 win for us with them snatching a late away goal. I was worried going into the second leg about their away goal and the slender advantage we had. I was right to be worried. Jordan Ling YP04 gave away a penalty and to my dismay he was sent off! I brought on my third centre back to cover him only to watch Blyth score the penalty. They were ahead on away goals, and I only had 10 men. Oh F**k!!! the rest of the first half went by and the next event happened on about 70 minutes. Blyth-2 Us-0. Well that’s it, Im screwed, I thought to myself. 75 mins……80mins……..85mins…. they all went by. I just thought F**K it, why not have a go. I brought on my youth player with 2 finishing and a bag of pace and told everyone to boot the ball forward to him (in FM terms ; Overload, Get ball forward, Pump ball into box and Take more risks) That’s when I found out why he has 2 finishing. He’s just Xavi with a bit more pace and he plays up front. He played a precision pass to slot Matty Wolfenden through on goal. But he shot straight at the goalkeeper. Just kidding! Well not really, as he did, but I guess Blyth must have just signed a Robert green/Heuralio Gomes hybrid goalkeeper. The ball trickled through his legs. Ha! I thought now the Blyth fans know how I felt when watching England play the USA in the 2010 world up! It was 2-1, and the game entered extra time (I didn’t still have my tactics on overload by the way ) Extra time was probably the most boring thing in the tie, I guess the players were saving up for what was to follow. It went to penalties. Well, the penalties were like a match in their own right. We went behind, they missed. This happened a couple of times and we never had a penalty to win the tie ( they had about 5) 10 penalties each, that’s what it took. As I had ten men, my goalkeeper, who has 1 in the penalties stat stepped up…….. HE SCORED!!!!! Then their player blazed over the bar and it was over, we won 7-6 on penalties! I think I’ll make you sweat it out for the playoff final

Squad – This year I played a 4-3-3 in an attempt to score more goals, and you can tell it has worked well. Wolfenden is back as outright top scorer with 16 goals, but the real story is Billy Smith, with 26 assists to his name, what a year he had.

Youth Squad- Once again I forgot to get the youth intake screenshot. There was one stand out player Danny Wilcox YP08 who got the tag. He has potential to be good league 2 apparently. The rest of the youth squad has potential and a few may make the first team.

Transfers- I’m clean!

YP Watch

Joseph White YP01- Now has some competition. He is slightly better than connor deasy but I wouldn’t be surprised if he became second choice to him. He has been given some games this year but has been sharing with Deasy and Neville for first team action.

David Roberts YP02- Has dropped down the pecking order and had some stats decrease. He still has potential but is no longer 5 stars.

Kristian Colbourne YP03- Has improved well again despite only playing a handful of games. I am determined to let him play as first choice next season.

Jordan Ling YP04- Is now our best centre back after playing over 40 games this season. Wonderful improvements with the only low being the red card in the playoffs

Louis Jordan YP05- also in first team but is now under pressure from YP08.

Connor Deasy YP06- Has developed well and got some first team action.

Ryan Lovell YP07- Has got some action and shown promise.


Player of the season- Billy Smith. 26 assists says it all really.


Playoff Final- Its what you’ve been waiting for, the playoff final. Another cracker of a game that wasn’t decided in 90 minutes. The FC United faithful’s heads dropped when they saw Gainsborough take the lead through a header early on. It wasn’t over through, as at the end of the first half James Keogh weaved through the defence and scored a wonder goal. Minutes ticked by and it was full time after a nervous 50 minutes. Extra time was boring and no goals were scored. Penalties. A much more confident bunch this time, most players stepped up and scored, except for two. We took first and the first 5 pens were scored. Then a lad from Gainsborough missed! Billy Smith stepped up and scored for us and Gainsborough instantly replied. Going into the fifth round of pens, we just needed to score! But we didn’t need to, as Gainsborough missed. I punched the air! This was surely my greatest every achievement on fm. I mean, I only has 2 players that were rated ‘good’ for the league, most were probably not even decent. I still cant believe we won promotion.

Targets for this season

- Get into the playoffs - SUCCEEDED plus more!

- Score more goals- YES, we scored 62 goals in the BSN, 20 more than last season.

- Improve Youth Facilities/coaching- We have got the board to plan improved youth facilities, plus our training facilities were upgraded. So I call that a SUCCESS.

Targets for next season

-Survive
-Make sure youth facilities upgrades go through

I would do 3 targets but I think the two I have set are hard enough!

  Season       Division       Position       Achievement
  2012/13        BSS             15th     Avoided Relegation
  2013/14        BSS             15th     Avoided Relegation
  2014/15        BSS             11th         Mid-table
  2015/16        BSS              5th         Promotion

This has probably been my greatest save so far as I usually struggle to stick to a save. I know I will stick with this one though as its too rewarding not to!

Sorry for the mammoth update but there was quite a lot to go through.

[Nottingham Forest]

Wilcox, if he plays enough will become a great player for you. Reason being is he has determination. Has anyone managed to get a son yet? I know they're rare but I'd thought I'd ask.

My saves on hold at the minute. It takes the energy out of me to play it continuously. So I'm trying to find a few saves that I don't care about to run alongside it. I'm enjoying it and I can't see myself picking up FM13 straight away at the moment.

When I go back I'll have to decide who to play upfront in place of Rainford .

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

New batch of youngsters have come through

Rob McVarish, finally, someone with a bit of pace, he will fit well with Foulkes up front.

Glenn Franks, a half decent Centre Back, he has decent physical stats, and as he is only 15, they should improve massively.

[TWFL]

Great season there Ri. Nice of you to join us BSP few!

I have a question, it does't really apply to now but later in the game. Are we allowed to re-sign YPs that we have sold? For example I'm about to lose my best striker but in a few seasons time if he fails, or we do really well, I'd quite like to re-sign him. Would that be allowed?

[ri916]

Braumiller- Your wage bill is less than what I had but FC United get massive crowds and have a massive 12k seater stadium, so when I organise a high profile friendly I get about £50k.

Goldyrulz- Welcome to the challenge. Another guy to compare notes with!

TWFL- Nope, sorry. Would go against the philosophy of the challenge mate

[stothy]

Chester 2012/13 Season

After an impecable start to the season, with 8 games unbeaten and 7 of which being wins, things were looking great for Chester. Hailed as a tactical genius with the squad I had, I thought the season was going to be easy. Then they hit a sudden dry spell, not getting any consistent form. The middle of the season was plagues with draws, dropping places all over the place drastic changes were made to the tactics. Not much changed, a few extra wins but more losses too. Finally in the home stretch Stothard managed to get the sort of form his team started the season with together. with 6/7 wins and a draw. It was too late though, restricted to just 3rd place they were destined for the play-offs. This form continued and they passed the semis with ease. The final was going well until the 80th minute when Northwich netted an equaliser. ET brought despair as Chester saw themselves go behind. Then as if by magic in the 118th minute they net an equaliser and the game was sent to penalties. Miss after miss for both teams saw the game go to sudden death. Promotion hung in the balance and Chester held their nerve and won a well deserved promotion!

Fixtures 1 2 3
TABLE SQUAD TRANSFERS

Last season, the previous manager left me with a lovely squad as you can see he made quite a few transfers: 2011/12 TRANSFERS
So here is an analysis of the best players of the season.

GK: Jonny Brain was consistent in goal. In the first half of the season he had conceded less goals than he had played, no doubt helped by the counter attacking game played but he proved a key player in the squad.

FB: Wes Baynes and Joe Anderson, not only the best full backs in the league but 2 of the best set piece takers in the league! With 29 assists between them corners and close range free kicks were a key role in our promotion bid.

CB: Yann Nsaku reached 2nd top scorer in our squad. Ever present in set pieces he really knew how to put them away.8 MOM awards made him the best performer in the squad. At just 19 he has a real future at the club! He lost out to Jamil Adam for player of the season but he will take that with a pinch of salt with such a bright future ahead of him!

CM: Christian Smith was quite a let down, promising at the start of the season he could never string together a good set of results. Still he played his part and more is expected next season.

AML/R: Jack Boyle and Craig King were dangerous all season, they provided a good run of assists and in fact getting on the end of each others crosses for goals. King was also my striker of choice during a bad injury spell and was good at making space for himself, but his poor finishing eventually led to him being put back on the wing. The wings were key in my promotion this season!

ST: Chris Simm led the line on his own until he was hit by injury early on in the season. Jamie Rainford filled in and surprisingly started to score for fun, an injury to him lost him his place at the front but when Simm returned he started scoring for fun becoming club top scorer with a decent 24 goals making him joint 5th top scorer in the league. Work will have to be done on his finishing though as he powered a lot of shots wide of goal when there were simpler options. A strong force at the front has really helped.

Honourable mention to Jerome Wright as he was a super sub during the season being very versatile in where he played and really contributing when he did.

Youth intake
A good intake has made me happy. And will be keeping my eye on Robert Carter YP01. Played in one game and he failed to impress. Still early days!

Anything else people want to know I will be happy to help out!

EDIT

Next Season Targets

• Avoid Relegation
• Improve finances/ Reduce wage bill (from £12.7k p/w :O to 6k)
• Improve youth recruiting once more
• Improve youth facilities (Currently rented)
• Retain current first team squad in the transfer window.

[Goldyrulz]

Thanks Ri916 Well done on the promotion

Just had my first conversation with the board, actually went quite well. Hopefully better youths when March rolls along.

[toonbalmy87]

Braulmiller I am over my budget by 1200k and board arnt happy yet I get at least2.5kpeople into the stadium so my balance is healthy try to find a parent club that pays you boost earnings

[TWFL]

TWFL- Nope, sorry. Would go against the philosophy of the challenge mate

Alright just thought I'd check!

Quick update about life in BSP. I am 9 games in and in 7th place. Started the season well only to go on a 4 game winless streak but then to win the next 3 games on the trot. The league is extremely tight with 4 points separating 1st and 10th.

[ri916]

Stothy- A great first season that has brought promotion. Staying up isnt impossible and I think you can do it

[Conman14]

Can we award the YP tag to more than one player? My youth intake has come along and there's a couple I really like the look of.

[toonbalmy87]

Whats all this yp tag buisness about ?? And wat number is the post with the info

[stothy]

Stothy- A great first season that has brought promotion. Staying up isnt impossible and I think you can do it

Thanks mate, I will only post at the end of seasons on here as to me it makes a better read. Sorry about the lack of input

EDIT: Tipped at 20-1 for promotion even!

[Trusler]

FC United of Manchester: Season 2 - 2013/20134



The 'Consolidation, Consolidation, Consolidation' Season

Season round-up (previous season in brackets):

[B]League: BSN
League Position: 15th (19th)
Points: 51 (50)
FA Cup: 2nd Rnd Q (3rd Rnd Q)
FA Trophy: 3rd Rnd Q (3rd Rnd Q)
Top Goalscorer: Fowler (17) (Wolfenden (13))
Top Assists: Walcott (11) (Grimshaw (18))
Star Man: Nicky Platt (Dean Stott)
I'm not a crook

Fixtures:
P1
P2

Squad

Season two over! Another infuriating and frustrating season. We started well, just like the previous season, but we didn't have a points total like last season. I switched from the 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 and it worked to begin with. August, September, October, November were very good months and entering December I was hanging around the play offs. December was average, as was January, but late February to late April we didn't win in 9 games and we plunged down the table.

The midfield was tight, we moved from 17th to 12th in one result and back down again. I did look likely that we would drop towards the end, but yet again another late surge and we somehow finished 15th.

I always wanted to improve from season one, and that we did. Just.

Youth Intake

This years YP:
Lee Jarvis

YP's:

Martin Fowler 12/13 Martin Fowler 13/14 - Knew he'd be key this season. Top goalscorer and still only 16!

Wayne Cope 12/13 Wayne Cope 12/13

Next Season:

I want top half. Very disappointed with S2 and I can't see much changing for S3, but we'll try!

[TWFL]

Pssht. Who said the BSP was hard?!

[Tactic Master]

Very jealous of some of the progress you guys are gaining

How are other first season manager's wage bills in comparison? Am I unreasonably high currently?

First season i was just over 5k or 6k, but I had brought that down by 2k or 3k with releasing players out of contract. At the end of the season, in the last month I went into the red, but promotion from play-offs and the season ticket sales in the new season sorted me out!

After losing a little interest in my current save, I thought that attempting this challenge would be a great new game. Something challenging and for the incredibly long term.

So here is the new manager of FC United of Manchester.

Welcome to the challenge! I love FC United, but right now they are my rivals, with Chester being geographically close I think.

Wilcox, if he plays enough will become a great player for you. Reason being is he has determination. Has anyone managed to get a son yet? I know they're rare but I'd thought I'd ask.

My saves on hold at the minute. It takes the energy out of me to play it continuously. So I'm trying to find a few saves that I don't care about to run alongside it. I'm enjoying it and I can't see myself picking up FM13 straight away at the moment.

When I go back I'll have to decide who to play upfront in place of Rainford .

I haven't got a son yet, but I think several of us will do before the end of our saves!

RI

Congratulations on your promotion! Best of luck for next season, but it's a shame about the stadium problem, thats a bit harsh!

New batch of youngsters have come through

Rob McVarish, finally, someone with a bit of pace, he will fit well with Foulkes up front.

Glenn Franks, a half decent Centre Back, he has decent physical stats, and as he is only 15, they should improve massively.

Half decent striker there Drew, hopefully he'll have enough pace to score some goals for you!

Alright just thought I'd check!

Quick update about life in BSP. I am 9 games in and in 7th place. Started the season well only to go on a 4 game winless streak but then to win the next 3 games on the trot. The league is extremely tight with 4 points separating 1st and 10th.

That happens a lot in the BSP, you have those months where you are unbeatable, but then the next month you get slaughtered!

Whats all this yp tag buisness about ?? And wat number is the post with the info

You tag the player/players who you think can be first teamers and be a main point in your side. I have a rule where I only tag one per season, I suppose that may change if I get 2 around the same level, but so far it's only one definate challenger for me. Should be in the OP I think. It helps you track their progress.

Trusler

Well done on consolidations! Now for a mid-table finish!

[Tactic Master]

Pssht. Who said the BSP was hard?!

I wouldn't speak too soon, my start was like that, but i've really slumped again. That is more like my season in the BSN when I was up there most of the season and fell at the last hurdle

[TWFL]

I wouldn't speak too soon, my start was like that, but i've really slumped again. That is more like my season in the BSN when I was up there most of the season and fell at the last hurdle

Yeah I'm using an attacking tactic which is catching a lot of teams out but I think I'm beginning to get sussed out, just lost to 20th place Cheltenham after drawing against Gateshead. I'll be happy with a mid table finish if I'm honest.

[Tactic Master]

Yeah I'm using an attacking tactic which is catching a lot of teams out but I think I'm beginning to get sussed out, just lost to 20th place Cheltenham after drawing against Gateshead. I'll be happy with a mid table finish if I'm honest.

I think you could end up like I did around 9th - 14th, but with a bit of luck, you may come higher!

[ri916]

Toonbalmy- Theres no definate rule, I just tag players that come through that I think have very good potential and will be good first team players. Some have chosen to just do one a season though, so do what you want

[slich]

Hmm, when you nickname a player, is it possible to still have his name show up properly on the match screen? Its kind of annoying to have the person's whole name show up, like Bailey Donaldson YP01 for me, instead of just Donaldson or Donaldson YP01. Maybe I'll just have to tag him only when I post up screenshots and then remove it again, but I imagine that'll get annoying after a while

[ri916]

Trusler- I came 15th in my second season, It aint that bad . You just need a few good players in the next intake and I think you can get that midtable. This challenge is monumentally hard to start with. I believe once people get momentum and better and better players coming through promotions should become closer to every 2-3 seasons than 4-5 (unless your chester, then you should be looking at promotion in the first season )

[ri916]

Hmm, when you nickname a player, is it possible to still have his name show up properly on the match screen? Its kind of annoying to have the person's whole name show up, like Bailey Donaldson YP01 for me, instead of just Donaldson or Donaldson YP01. Maybe I'll just have to tag him only when I post up screenshots and then remove it again, but I imagine that'll get annoying after a while

Does it really irritate you that much? You could just nickname him Donaldson YP01 instead of having his first name. Also, in the OP it just says I would 'like' you to do it, you dont have to if you dont want

[slich]

Its not irritating per say, its just really weird when the balls being passed around the midfield and the names that pop up goes, Reed to Smith to Brown to Bailey Donaldson YP01 back to Reed I'll probably get used to it eventually, but I was just wondering to see if anyone knew a way to only have a part of the name show up on the field. I like the YP tag concept since its bringing through youth, so I'll try to stick with it

[toonbalmy87]

Arghh rite cheers Ri

[Braumiller]

No 'reveals' until I finish my first season and put together my first seasonal update (hopefully tonight), but loving the injection the youth intake gives a tiny squad like mine!

4th game after my intake, and I played 4 of them in my starting 11 with another on the bench! Won 1-0, with my AMC YP1 scoring a direct free-kick and claiming the MoM award.

Now my intake did not set the non league world alight, but anything would work with the rag-tag bunch I inherited

[Braumiller]

Hmm, when you nickname a player, is it possible to still have his name show up properly on the match screen? Its kind of annoying to have the person's whole name show up, like Bailey Donaldson YP01 for me, instead of just Donaldson or Donaldson YP01. Maybe I'll just have to tag him only when I post up screenshots and then remove it again, but I imagine that'll get annoying after a while

I have to admit to loving it myself.
I have added another level of depth to my naming convention and see it more often and love that I can see at a glance if my new kids are influencing the game

[TWFL]

Playing the first round of the F.A Cup and this happened. They're bottom of League 1 and Freeman just destroyed them..

[Tactic Master]

Playing the first round of the F.A Cup and this happened. They're bottom of League 1 and Freeman just destroyed them..

I bet they never saw that coming!

[ri916]

Playing the first round of the F.A Cup and this happened. They're bottom of League 1 and Freeman just destroyed them..

TWFL you have just unwittingly tied yourself in the hall of fame with greyham. 4 goals by a YP in a match

[TWFL]

TWFL you have just unwittingly tied yourself in the hall of fame with greyham. 4 goals by a YP in a match

Haha I hadn't realised. The same guy will be in there again soon as he has 94 League goals.

I bet they never saw that coming!

I never saw it coming!

[ri916]

Where can you find out how many league goals a player has? I dont actually know

[Tactic Master]

Where can you find out how many league goals a player has? I dont actually know

History, Career Stats

That will take you straight to the seasonal stats + overall stats.

[Conman14]

CARSHALTON ATHLETIC FC
2012/13 Season

Blue Square South
Media Prediction - 18th
Finished - 14th - Table
Top Scorer - Paul Vines (20) =2nd Top scorer

FA Cup

2nd Qual Round	Hampton & Richmond 1-0 Carshalton Athletic

FA Trophy

3rd Qual Round	Carshalton Athletic 4-2 Eastbourne Town
1st Round	Thurrock 6-0 Carshalton Athletic

Transfers - I'm no fackin' wheelah dealah

Final Squad v Dartford

And so ends my first season. On the plus side, we were never in any real danger of being relegated. Indeed, we started off extremely brightly and looked like we could challenge for the play-offs. However, as injuries and suspensions took their toll over the season, the form dropped, culminating in horribly inconsistent spells. When we were on form, we were unbeatable, and up front we had a natural goalscorer in Paul Vines, usually being assisted by Francis Quarm from the centre of the park. However, we were heavily reliant on them - without them, we were useless, and even they were usually hit and miss at times.

Overall, the main aim of stabilising was by and large achieved, but the finances are still a cause for concern, and a number of players on high wages will be cut over the summer. A cup run or two next season would also be nice to get some extra income and exposure.

Welcome to the Crazy Gang

Youth Intake

The overall consensus is that the intake this season is promising. Most of the players will no doubt slot into the team at some point. I did, however, mark out a few stars to make their mark towards the end of this season.

Wayne McAuley - DC. Performed ably in the 6 games he appeared in, showing the early signs of a good centre back. His height is a huge bonus, definitely one to watch.

Apps	Gls	Pens	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Drb	ShT	Fouls	FlsAg	AvRat
3(3)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.10	60%	-	-	7	3	6.70

Terry Daly - DL. Highly rated by my assistant, but has much to learn based on his early forays into the first team.

Apps	Gls	Pens	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Drb	ShT	Fouls	FlsAg	AvRat
3(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.28	72%	-	-	4	3	6.30

Marco Razafindrakoto - ML. Tipped from the off by my assistant. His early form suggests he will definitely be in and around the first team next season. Looks lively on the ball, and has already got off the mark for the club with a cheeky strike from the corner flag catching the Staines goalie off his line. And for future reference, he is part Madagascan.

Apps	Gls	Pens	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Drb	ShT	Fouls	FlsAg	AvRat
5(1)	1	0	1	1	0	0	3.04	66%	1.87	33%	4	1	6.83

Next season
As I meantioned earlier, a good cup run is a must after our poor showing last season. Promotion would be nice, but I accept that it may be too much to ask for so soon. Further consolidation and growth will do nicely.

[ri916]

Conman- Good season to start of the challenge with and some decent prospects.

TM- Thanks

[slich]

Bury Town - Season 1 2012-2013

End of Season Update

First things first, here's the Transfers!

League Table - It was a pretty successful season, but we just barely missed out on a shot at the playoffs finishing 7th. We blew our chances towards the end when we lost to both Nuneaton and Kettering in April as they finished 3rd and 4th. I'm not too disappointed though since it was obvious we massively overachieved as our GD was only +6 while everybody else in the top 8 was higher than +20. We'll just try again next year.

Finances - A bit deceptive, as even though we're only barely in the red, that's largely due to the board takeover right before the end of the season and the 65k loan that came with it. It'll be a problem if we don't manage to gain some money from friendlies.

Youth Intake - Not really that great both in quality and quantity, but it does help with depth especially with some of our old guys not having their contract renewed. It did however give us our first left footed Left back in Ray Knighton (for some reason, both my natural left backs in the squad are right footed), whose even a Model Pro as well. I'm hoping he progresses quickly to challenge for first team. However, the YP01 tag belonged to Bailey Nicholson, and he had a decent season in the first team after being called up, becoming the youngest goal scorer in both the team and the league thanks to his penalty kicking skill. As an added bonus, he has a fairly professional personality and I'm already on his favored personnel.

Squad - Our squad on the final day of the season. As you can see, Sam Reed kept up his Vamon Perster form as his 32 goals accounted for exactly half of the 64 team goals that was scored. We do have a bit of an old squad as our captain is already 35, and we have some other over 30's as well. We'll lose some of them as they're declining and to allow us to free up our wage bill as well, but we'll have to see if that makes any adverse impact on the team.

Goals for Next Season:

Get Promotion!

Get some money

Get some better youth, especially on defense

Season        Division    Position      Achievement
2012-2013        BSN        7th        Consolidation

[Conman14]

Here's a new one, just conceded three penalties in one game. The ref is certainly not being kind to us at all this season...

[Tactic Master]

Good strong finish there Slich, it seems to be coming together nicely! Best of luck for the next season and i'm confident you will get promoted! The youth-intake was a bit disappointing for you, lets hope next season brings something better.

[jaxika]

Hi. I just read about this challenge and i want to give me a chance to prove myself
I picked AFC TELFORD.
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/view/120326/J...toltes.hu_.png

[Charlie_B]

Charlie Nguyen - Carshalton Viet 2012/13 - Blue Square South

Summary

Promotion! OKish YPs. Rubbish cup run. Small facilities increase.

Overall: Success.

Early days

The staff were rubbish, so my first aim was to sort that out. I brought in a pretty awesome AM and got the board to agree to fund 4 coaches. Brilliantly, the board also agreed to increase youth coaching right off the bat. Arranging half a dozen high-profile friendlies pushed the bank balance up to 90k but wasn't enough to get the training facilities increased.

The season

A couple of lucky red cards in early games saw us build up some momentum and we soared to the top of the table. Falling at the first hurdle of the FA cup (2nd qual) was very disappointing, as was failing to get past the FA trophy 2nd round although christ knows how I'd have coped with the fixture congestion if I had got further.

I always seem to get a new-year hangover in the lower leagues and this season was no different, going on a dreadful run of 1 win in 7 that the team never really recovered from. Fortunately we'd put away enough goals in the early season that we remained competitive in a bizzarely close league - with two games to go five teams could have been crowned champions.

Roll the dice

We hadn't had a great time against the top teams so I was nervous going into the playoffs, particuarly when we drew Dover who'd trashed us twice already this season. We got an early goal in the home leg then changed tactics and sat back for 150 minutes, squeaked through and setting up a finale against Bromley - the one big team we'd beaten already this season. Again we scored early, but Bromley came back strong and equalised. The second half was pretty even and we were into extra time. With exhausted players I had to make changes and did so with an eye on the penalty taking stat. To my surprise we scored twice straight after the restart, and it was all over. Premier League here we come!

Transfers

Ooh. I hadn't noticed that the previous manager had already made a transfer this season. As you can see from the date it was before I joined the club. Rose started 6 games for me - an average signing at best.

Table

It was, as I said, a pretty close league.

Finances

Not good. The few friendlies I played pre-season helped, but I was haemorraging money every month despite a wage bill of just over 2k. I reaped the benefits of a play-off final which brought in 50k but then the board spent 150k installing seats to accommodate our anticipated Premier league glory supporters. We could really do with a cup run next year!

Youth

My first intake.

It was better than I expected, but intakes like this really bring home the enormity of the challenge facing all of us. If they work really hard and are trained really well a couple of these players might possibly just be good enough to play in the BSP in the future. Am I being ungrateful? Possibly. I've given Chris Fraser the YP tag and stuck him into a few first team games - he did quite poorly, the one highlight being setting up a goal in the play-off final.

Player of the Season

Step forward the mighty Dean McDonald. He was head and shoulders above every striker in the division (second place top scorer was another Carshalton player - Vines - with 20). Sadly he didn't win the League PotS award but it was still a cracking season. The cheeky bugger demanded a 125% pay rise to sign another contract and while I argued him down a little he's still become the highest paid player Carshalton had ever had (probably). But he's worth it.

Facilities

Improving. Slowly. The requisite stadium expansion put paid to any hopes I had of a facilities upgrade this season but we got Junior Coaching improved at the start of the season and Youth Recruitment at the end.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Drew. Lowestoft Town. Blue Square South. 2014/2015

Table - We managed to finish 3rd, which is our highest ever position, and again we made it into the play-offs, but, we managed to lose our last 3 games and entered the semi-finals against Dover in poor form, and with awful morale, which ultimately led to Crashing out for the 2nd time in a row; I would have to say that drawing too many games was our downfall, with two youngsters up front, we didn't have the experience to put the ball into the back of the net.

The Squad

Aradavan Dobinson YP1 had an okay season, until he lost his place to Malcolm through loss of form, but went into the last 6 games as number one, still a lot to learn and a big season from him next season unless he gets replaced.

Callum Foulkes YP2 done well in his first full season, 18 goals in total, hopefully he'll get some more next season.

Rob McVarish YP3 was given a few games, and scored once, he has decent pace, and will need to work on his composure and finishing, but I feel he will be a decent player for us within the next few seasons.

Glen Franks YP4 finally, a decent Centre Back, he may not be the best physically, but he is young and will only improve, looking forward to seeing him play next season.

Finances - Was able to increase Junior Coaching to Average this season.

Proof I didn't cheat

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Hi. I just read about this challenge and i want to give me a chance to prove myself
I picked AFC TELFORD.
http://kepfeltoltes.hu/view/120326/J...toltes.hu_.png

AFC Telford were in the Blue Square Premier in the 2011/2013 season, you need to pick a team who were PROMOTED to either the Blue Square North or Blue Square South.

[Avramski]

Ever notice there is 1 team every season who you get in every competition and can't beat?

[TWFL]

Ever notice there is 1 team every season who you get in every competition and can't beat?

Farnborough in BSS. I can't stand them, they're my bogey team.

Hall of Fame Claim:
Anthony Freeman has just scored his 100th Career League Goal for Carshalton. Proof at the bottom of the screen.

[jaxika]

AFC Telford were in the Blue Square Premier in the 2011/2013 season, you need to pick a team who were PROMOTED to either the Blue Square North or Blue Square South.

Sry, i missed that. And i played a lot with Telford But i have the save from jun 23 2012. Fc United of Manchester its ok?

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Sry, i missed that. And i played a lot with Telford But i have the save from jun 23 2012. Fc United of Manchester its ok?

Yep, that's fine.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

I'm still having trouble scoring, we seem to have at least 15 attempts at goal, with only 3 or 4 on target

[Tactic Master]

FA Cup Action Continued...

First off, we will recap on our success in the cup so far!

4th Qualifying Round
(H) Alfreton 0 - 0
(A) Alfreton 0 - 2

1st Round
(H) Port Vale 3 - 1

2nd Round
(H) Cray Wanderers 1 - 0

Everything was going to plan and we managed to get an unbelievable draw for the 3rd round, playing either Bath City or Fleetwood Town! We couldn't have been luckier if we'd tried. This meant we had a massive chance of reaching the 4th round, if we consider the league positions of both clubs, compared to our own! This is how proceedings went...

3rd Round

Chester Vs Bath City

It didn't exactly go to plan against bath and they dominated the match, so we should be greatfull with the 1 - 1 draw! It looks like we will have to end this in their own back yard!

3rd Round Replay

Bath City Vs Chester

Another nail-biting match against Bath City, which they once again dominated for some reason, but we are very resilient and thankfully we have reached the 4th round because of that! It's also good to see 3 of our most consistent performers, put the ball in the back of the net in the penalty showdown!

The 4th Round Draw - Some Interesting Pairs!

Norwich Vs Aston Villa
QPR Vs Huddersfield
Man City Vs Sunderland
Wolves Vs Newcastle
LIVERPOOL VS CHESTER
Coventry Vs Tottenham
Southampton Vs Arsenal
Man Utd Vs West Brom

Looking at the draw, only one team would have given us a chance of reaching round 5 and even that was highly unlikely! Therefore I was over the moon about an away game against Liverpool, one of the biggest teams in the draw! This is one hell of a money spinner for us and we will enjoy it for sure! To even be part of the 4th round, being 2 leagues apart, from League 1 Coventry as the smallest club left, it's amazing and the draws for each round have been on our side for sure!

4th Round Action!

Liverpool Vs Chester

Although Liverpool didn't field a full strength side, they still had players like Glen Johnson, Jonjo Shelvey, Steven Garrard, Jordan Henderson, Andres Guardado and Andy Carroll, with Stuart Downing coming off the bench aswell! Even the second string players who played were of Championship and League 1 standard! I think we did extremely well not to get slaughtered and kept the scoreline respectable and our confidence intact!

As was expected, this game against Liverpool was going to be a super money spinner for us and these are how things look in the financial department!

Financial Information

£1,000,000!!! I can't believe we are at such a good standing as a BSP team and will help us an awfull lot over the coming seasons!

Verdict: This has to go down as a huge success for the club, not only reaching the 4th round, but also the scoreline against Liverpool, which went to prove how resilient we are! The dressing room is right behind me and if you'd asked me this time last season if we'd be in this position, I would have had my doubts... The dressing room was a nightmare, but I put my foot down and didn't let players walk all over me and it's paid off.

Junior Coaching Upgrade

After our success in the FA Cup this season, I decided to go straight to the boardroom and ask for yet another upgrade to our Junior Coaching! It hasn't been long since the last upgrade, so lets see what happened...

Junior Coaching Result

Brilliant stuff! I never expected to be pushed right up to "Excellent Junior Coaching"! I am definately looking forward to March this season!

[Welsh Wizard]

In my current season looks like I will do something I haven't done on any sports management game since I've played on any (1997)
Coming in to march so likely have season update up later.

[Tactic Master]

Charlie_B

Congratulations on promotion! Fantastic season and some top strikers you have there! I'm jealous Lets hope they can take that form into the BSP and you might be in with a good chance.Unlucky once again in the play-offs, I know how you feel about lack of goals, but your still getting more out of your strikers than I am and did! Callum Foulkes looks like he could be a top player and has top stats! Good luck for next season, your almost there

Drew The Cookie Eater

Unlucky once again in the play-offs, I know how you feel about lack of goals, but your still getting more out of your strikers than I am and did! Callum Foulkes looks like he could be a top player and has top stats! Good luck for next season, your almost there

[Tactic Master]

In my current season looks like I will do something I haven't done on any sports management game since I've played on any (1997) Coming in to march so likely have season update up later.

Sounds like relegation to me?

[Welsh Wizard]

Sounds like relegation to me?

Or it could be winning the F.A cup with BSP side

[Tactic Master]

Or it could be winning the F.A cup with BSP side

That would be hilarious

[Braumiller]

Weymouth FC Summary - Season 2012-13

Target achieved, safety!

The Season

13th place after being tipped for a dead last 22nd place finish has to be considered a success. The season started out in crazy fashion, with MC James Scales scoring a club record fastest goal in our opening league game after just 30 seconds!
If that wasn't enough, in our second league game Matt Groves set a club and division fastest goal record at 15 seconds! (Although this was bettered by 2 seconds by a Dover player later in the season).
The fast start was replicated with league form and we were sitting 2nd after 5 games. This, of course, could not last and the weak 20 man squad began to buckle until the pressure of the fixture list, injuries and suspensions. A torrid 5 game losing streak to start 2013 with put everyone under pressure, but a stroke of luck in our 6th game of the calendar year saw an opponent red card and a draw to stop the rot. This was followed by a win in our next game and suddenly there was a spring in our step again and we maintained mid-table safety through to the end of the season.
Our tactics were somewhat unusual for a newly promoted side, with a narrow diamond 4-1-2-1-2 shape (not unusual) and a very attacking outlook both at home and away. This caused an avalanche of goals at either end and endless entertainment for the fans, with only 5 draw all season. This might also have contributed to the surprising fact of the season, an average attendance of just over 1,300 for Weymouth.
Cups basically never occured. Lost both of our opening cup games

Finances

The higher than expected average attendance was a bright spot in the financial side of the season.
We started out with 25,000 in the account when I was handed the reigns, and with the help of 3 high profile home friendlies against Aston Villa (netted 18,000), Blackburn (netted a dissapointing 9,000) and Birmingham (netted 17,000) we were able to boost the balance to 70,000 before the season starts.
This then eroded over the course of the season and I am now sitting at exactly 613 pounds in the account as we prepare for our first friendly of our second pre-season.


Youth

The first youth intake was looming large on the horizon for most of the season. A small squad, with many glaring deficiencies (only one DR, one DM, one 15 yr old backup FC and no discernable width) meant that a lot rode on the fateful day in March.
Overall I believe we can look back on the intake with a smile and find that several needs were met and that we have a couple of foundations for building a solid squad over the next few years.

Youth Intake Squad

I have added a little extra depth to my YP naming here, as I enjoy seeing them progress a lot. The letter after YP 1 shows the order in which I think that years crop of players will develop.
This year I tagged five players, who all received part time contracts immediately (every other youth candidate receive a youth contract immediately).
Jake Jordan (YP 1a) - Jake is going to be interesting. Coaching staff show him immediately as my best AMC at the club and the potential to be a leading BSP AMC! He does show to be selfish (not great for the AMC in my initial tactic) and has a teamwork of 1! But he is pacey and enjoys the big games! 3 goals in his first 5 games showcased his real promise, but then disaster struck as he tore his hamstring and was out for 3-4 months (due back as pre-season starts).
Rob Neal (YP 1b) - Finally some bona fide width. Also projected as a BSP leading player at his position.
Paul Brown (YP 1c)
Martin Richards (YP 1d)
Callum Moore (YP 1e)

Also very happy overall with the new personalities entering the club. Nothing overly worrisome. And they are all Weymouth born lads!

With the new width from Rob Neal and a selfish, pacey Jake Jordan it was time to completely change tactics and begin integrating and developing these kids immediately.
This is our new tactic. Only changes to the Tactic Creator settings are to manually set Playmaker and Target Man to None (my backup FCs are Target Man types, so if I sub them on it is then set to not have them as TMs).
This is the away setting, at home (unless a heavy underdog) I change the strategy to Control.

Jake Jordan also unsurprisingly set our club record for youngest goalscorer (in his second game)


Player Of The Season

Without a doubt it was Sam Malsom. 24 goals from our Advanced Forward and the main reason we acheived mid table.


Facilities

An initial Junior Coaching improvement was granted by the board, but this was the only advancement made this season


Squad Overview Going Forward

The side has a more youthful (and promising) outlook to it now. All 5 of the tagged youth intakes are now regular first team matchday squad members, with YP 1a & YP 1b first teamers. Others who are in the youth team will no doubt get their chances too as season 2 wears on.


Goals For Next Season

* Sticking to the 4 year per division game plan, solidify the club with a mid table finish (9th - 14th).
* Develop the youths.
* Reduce the wage bill further, by letting fringe players contracts run out and promoting up youth.
* Operate on a profit
* Win a cup game!


Transfers

Proof!

[Welsh Wizard]

Another worry I'm out of contract at end of season and talk going around that the board may not offer me a contract. Some good that has happened some decent youth have come up.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Youth Intake

So we finally have someone who can play on the left of midfield, and we also have Ollie Driver a striker who has decent Composure and can finish, fantastic.

[Welsh Wizard]

Another worry I'm out of contract at end of season and talk going around that the board may not offer me a contract. Some good that has happened some decent youth have come up.

After more rumors of no contract decide to seek reasurance from the board found a new option and think it was perfect and for what I would like to say.

Had this reply.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Youth Recruitment has been improved, now at a Basic level.

[Tactic Master]

After more rumors of no contract decide to seek reasurance from the board found a new option and think it was perfect and for what I would like to say.

Had this reply.

Good news to see that they will keep you on

[Charlie_B]

Financial Information

£1,000,000!!! I can't believe we are at such a good standing as a BSP team and will help us an awfull lot over the coming seasons!

That's amazing! How are the rest of us supposed to compete?

[Braumiller]

Maybe my financial issues are over!

I sold 262 season tickets for the 2013-14 season, up from 260 last year

[ri916]

It is very promising for this challenge that I dont check the thread since the night before and there has been 4 updates!

Slich- 7th place is consolidation?! I think your being a bit harsh with yourself there . Dont be too disappointed if you dont get promoted this season as you said yourself that you overachieved plus your youth intake wasnt great.

Charlie- Great first season promotion! Dont get down on the youth intake, its only 1 year and it was still good.

Drew- The playoffs have thwarted you again. very unlucky but i suppose thats why they say you should get the automatics. Promotion next season

Braumiller- A great start considering the tough team you have picked. I believe you can push on now and i expect you will make the playoffs be season 3.

TWFL- A great achievement to be the first challenger with a YP that has 100 league goals!

[Tactic Master]

I've just had my youth intake, but I forgot to take a screenshot I've sorted them out into the U18's and taken a screenshot like that, i've got 2 more with 4 half stars for potential, but their stats aren't good, so unsure whether to sign them. I'm very very happy with this years intake and is probably better than I expected despite the rapid increase in my junior coaching.

[Welsh Wizard]

Chester - BSP - 2013/14 End Of Season Report

League Table | Squad Stats | Transfers | Finances | Facilities

Very bad season but was kind of expected. Just the 6 wins and they were hard to get. Tried a different type of tactic midway through which seemed to work for bit but could not get a decent run going. Morale was down all over, Rainford was worst than a lack of confidence Torres in front of goal so his 7 goals is quite a shock with some of his chances he missed. Just the Youth Coaching up this season. Finances not looking good at all Hopefully can get back in the black with season tickets and money spinners friendlies.

F.A Cup

4thQR Hereford (A) 4-0

F.A Trophy

1stR Vauxhall (A) 2-3
2ndR Stalybridge (A) 3-1

Season   League   Position   Achivements 
12/13    BSN      1st        BSN Champions & Manager of the Year
13/14    BSP      23rd       Relegated

Youth Intake

Youth Candidates

Best news of the season was a decent year of youth with 5 getting contracts and 3 given the YP tag with high hopes on them for the future.
Most if not all of them will be playing most of next season as we move forward.

Jonathon Ware - Report
Sammy Neill - Report
Nathan Jones - Report

YP Watch

YP1 - Lee Hoskins - ST
Initial Profile - Coach Report

Season      Games    Goals    Assists       Average Rating
12/13        0(7)      2        2                    6.88
13/14       33(8)      7        8                    6.72

YP2 - George Collis - CB
Initial Profile - Coach Report

Season      Games    Goals    Assists       Average Rating
12/13        9         0        0                    7.07
13/14       38(6)      9        1                    6.81

YP3 - Jonathon Ware - MC
Initial Profile - Coach Report

Season      Games    Goals    Assists       Average Rating
13/14        7         0        0                    6.59

YP4 - Sammy Neill - MC

Initial Profile - Coach Report

Season      Games    Goals    Assists       Average Rating
13/14        7         0        0                    6.64

YP5 Nathan Jones - RB

Initial Profile - Coach Report

Season      Games    Goals    Assists       Average Rating
13/14        7         0        0                    6.79

[Welsh Wizard]

Anyone able to tell me what happened to Nathan Jones? (Check his Profile Pick and then end of season marked as 13/14)

[Charlie_B]

Dear backroom staff,

STOP TELLING ME TO DROP MY GOALKEEPER FOR POOR FORM WHEN HE'S THE ONLY BLOODY KEEPER I HAVE AT THE CLUB.

Cheers,

Charlie

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest!

[Nottingham Forest]

Hahahahahahaha . One keeper . When I was at Kingstonian, I had 4 to start off with. My second choice left and in squad of 17, it was usually only 11 due to injuries I had 3 keepers. My two backs ups played in most positions. One even scored .

[Conman14]

Carshalton Althetic 2013/14 mid-season report

This season has been an extremely trying one, and at the moment safety is my only aim. The FA Cup ended badly again, but the FA Trophy is going very well. All the news will come with my end of season report.

In terms of players, it's the same old story of inconsistency. The three players I marked out have got plenty of games, and McAuley seems to be developing very nicely.

[Braumiller]

Welsh Wizard, unlucky . Tough ask to begin with, but upside is your squad is stronger this season than your promotion season

Two signs of the apocalypse during my play session just now.
*. After 48 competitive games I played out my first goalless game
*. A cup win (in fact two, and an upcoming away fixture against non league opposition in FA Cup 4th qualifying round)!

[Avramski]

Hmm, think I need to get my youth recruitment network expanded. Despite my junior coaching being rated as Good, my intake is worse quality wise than last year when it was only Average. Screenshot to come in my end of season report.

[Tactic Master]

A double update from me here in my career updates thread!

I have the monthly updates up till March + my youth intake update including 4 YP screenshots! Just incase anyone is interested

Unlucky on the relegation Welsh Wizard Better luck for next season and i'm sure you will get promotion again!

Avramski, for some reason my chairman doesnt want to know when I come looking for a youth recruitment upgrade, yet he let me get to excellent junior coaching :S

[Conman14]

No win in 10. 10 points off safety with 13 games left. If it wasn't against the spirit of the game I'd have packed it in long ago!

[ri916]

WelshWizard- Chin up mate, surviving the BSP was always going to be tough (Im having the same issues, played 5 games and have one point!) your squad is stronger than your promotion season so you should try and bounce straight back

[Conman14]

What's the rule on if you lose your job or your team is relegated? Do we make a new manager to start again or what?

[Welsh Wizard]

Thanks guys. Should benefit in BSN with expecting to win most games so should play well which will help the young players grow and get morale back-up. Hopefully we bounce back but think my job is quite safe as signed another 3 year extension so signed for 4 seasons so doubt the club could afford to get rid of me with the debt it currently has .

Hopefully I've learned something from the time in the BSP(Can't think of anything yet ) which will help us in the future. Youth recruitment has been good to me last 2 times so if we keep going should have a decent enough squad to push for L2 in a few years.

Going to try to get a more stable tactic now I have a core to my team which can hopefully make us a more threat next time in BSP.

[slich]

Welsh - Good luck in the BSN next year. As others have mentioned, your team is stronger now than before, so I'm sure you'll right back up there soon.

Conman - According to the rules, you can pick a newly promoted team on the next reset date if you get sacked. Hopefully you'll be able to turn it around before the end though to avoid that scenario.

Also a question to the people here about their youth intake, have you guys had any luck in getting really good personalities? I imagine Model Citizen is a bit too much to get, but wondering if any of the others like Perfectionist, Resolute, or Spirited are coming through. I got a Model Professional on my first intake that I was happy about even though his low PA makes me sad, but was wondering how its going for others.

[TWFL]

Youth Intake in. It's pretty dire. Only 1 good player who I'm pleased with but the rest of them are woeful which I don't understand as I have Excellent Junior Coaching and have just upgraded my youth facilities..

[JB]

Fancied something new, something ridiculously impossible too, apparently.

JB at FC United.

[Conman14]

CARSHALTON ATHLETIC FC
2013/14 Season

Blue Square South (all stats at time of resignation)
Media Prediction - 16th
Finished - 22nd - Table
Top Scorer - Paul Vines (13)

FA Cup

2nd Quali Round	Woking 5-2 Carshalton Athletic

FA Trophy

3rd Quali Round	Whitehawk 2-4 Carshalton Athletic
1st Round	Carshalton Athletic 1-1 Braintree Town
1st Round Rep	Braintree Town 1-2 Carshalton Athletic
2nd Round	Carshalton Athletic 4-4 Welling United
2nd Round Rep	Welling United 3-1 Carshalton Athletic

Transfers - I'm no fackin' wheelah dealah

Final Squad

An awful season for all involved. Relegated with 4 games left to go and no win in 2014 until mid-March. Only one player shone for me all year, Wayne McAuley (see below). Once again knocked out of the FA Cup first time round, but a couple of good FA Trophy games were merely one-offs.

A mini-revival towards the end didn't work, and ultimately we deserved to go down.

The Youth Players
Wayne McAuley - Looked assured throughout the season, and ultimately took on a key role as David Ray battled injury all season. Will definitely monitor his progress, no doubting he will end up in the Football League at some point.

	Apps	Gls	Asts	MoM	AvRat
12/13	3(3)	0	0	0	6.70
13/14	31(3)	3	0	1	6.71

Terry Daly - Ended up being in the team more often than not, and did develop over the season, but expected more from him.

	Apps	Gls	Asts	MoM	AvRat
12/13	3(1)	0	0	0	6.30
13/14	26(2)	0	0	0	6.48

Marco Razafindrakoto - Disappointing, and niggling injuries hindered his development.

	Apps	Gls	Asts	MoM	AvRat
12/13	5(1)	1	1	1	6.83
13/14	23(2)	0	1	0	6.56

Welcome to the Crazy Gang

Youth Intake

Once again, the intake was pretty promising, and the players are coming from further afield too! Jamaicans, Puerto Ricans and Nigeriens now. As I was fighting relegation, none of them got the chance to play before I left.

Adrian Thurlbourne - ST. Highly rated by my assistant. Looks like a decent pacey striker could turn out into a good poacher.

Philip Kerr - ML. Looks like a better prospect that Razafindrakoto, and has an easier name to boot! Half Northern Irish too, so I will monitor his progress a tad closer!

Jay Rockett - MR. A good talent in a position we've been lacking in this season.

Steve Limbert - DC. Another good centre back. Not as good as McAuley in my opinion, but still looks decent.

So what now?
Well I guess it's off to find a better club! I have definitely learned lessons from Carshalton, and hopefully next time round will be more successful.

[Conman14]

Btw, do we create a new manager if we're going to a new team or do we have to use our original one? I read what happened to NF and I'm still not sure.

[Avramski]

Northwich Victoria - 2014/15 Season review

League review

The season started well enough, with us picking up 22 out of 30 points during August and September, but that's where the best part of the season ended. As with the previous season, we had another horrific run, only this one was in the early part of the season and left us playing catchup. October saw us gain just 3 points from a possible 9, that being a win away to Boston United. November was even worse, with only 3 out of 18 gained, this time, a shaky 1-0 victory over Worcester.

From December though, things started to pick up a bit, as we started the month with a draw at home to Kettering, before crashing 5-1 away to Telford (yes, that team again ....) However, 6 wins and 2 draws in the next 9 games gave me hope that we could indeed challenge for a play off position after all, to leave us sitting 8th after 30 games. But it was the lack of a out and out goal scorer that cost us in the end. The teams record for the final 12 games was W4, D4, L4, Goals scored 9, goals against 14. While we only conceded 45 goals over the season (not bad actually), compared to my previous 2 seasons, the defence has been leaking like a sieve! Early on in the season, Jordan Pavett tore his calf muscle, and was out for 4 months. That destroyed his confidence. With the only decent strikers coming from my youth intakes being target men, and Matthew Clarke going from a 3 1/2 star striker to a 1/2 star striker* after his broken leg last season, I had no idea where the goals needed were going to come from.

Anyway, it came down to the last 4 games of the season in order to secure a play off spot. At the time, we were in 5th, 1 point ahead of the rest, but the fixture list wasn't very promising. We lost to Tamworth 1-0 and Telford (grr) 2-0 (both away), which left us needing 6 points from the last 2 games of the season and a little bit of luck. Stalybridge was the first team to visit the Victoria Ground, and equalised in the 5th of 3 added minutes to force a draw (Fergie time is alive and well, even in a computer game). That left Kettering as the final visitors, where we managed to beat them 2-1, thanks to a 93rd minute winner. So we finished 7th, just 2 points behind Tamworth in 4th. If we had beaten Tamworth, we would have finished 4th ourselves

Cup review

Nothing to write home about .... FAC Q2 Warrington (h) 3-0. Q3 Southport (h) 1-2
FAT Q3 .... Southport (a) 1-3


Transfers .... Once again, I'm clean!

Youth Intake

After we beat Warrington, I once again went to the board, and managed to secure another increase in my junior coaching, bringing the standard upto Good. However, despite this, the quality of the players coming in was slightly worse than last season, so my next upgrade has to be to the Youth Recruitment Network I think.

Youth Player Progress

Barry Ballie .... Due to a longish injury to Mark Lynch, he was thrown straight into the team as the right back, despite not being ready for first team football, and it showed. in his first 4 games, he picked up 5 yellow cards and 2 reds (both for 2 bookable offences). Whoops! After that though, despite picking up a further red for 2 bookable offences, he has improved quite a lot of the season, ending up with an average rating of 6.87 from 27 games, including 2 MoM awards.

Ben Ryan YP01 .... Because of players out of form, injuries and suspensions, he's been pretty much a fixture in the team, appearing in all 45 competative games, 14 of them as a sub. He finished up with an average rating of 6.73, with 2 goals, 6 assists and 1 MoM award.

Frank Lenders YP02-1 .... Despite still only being 16 years of age, in the 16 appearances he has made (7 as sub), I've been highly impressed. Final average rating of 6.86 and 2 assists. His season was curtailed by injury however at the end of February. With 1 of my starting CB rejecting a new contract however, he will get a lot more football next season.

I have used a couple of other youth players as well during the season, but they have only been bit-part players, so I'm not going to give them a review until they have played a few more games.


Finances


Not good. At the time of this post, the club is £170,000 in the red. That means, not 1, not 2, but 3 pre-season friendly tournaments, to make up the deficit and leave me with a few spare pennies. Hopefully, I'll have a couple of decent cup runs as well, to rake in some extra gate and prize money, and hopefully a televised match. There is a little glimmer of hope though, as 4 players will be leaving from the first team squad. Between them, that will save me just under £1600/week.

PS. Further screen shots will be available if requested.

[Avramski]

Quick update - I've just been offered the Kidderminster job! I didn't even know the job was available! Needless to say, I rejected it.

[slich]

Bailey Donaldson - He wasn't exactly a world beater prospect, but when your YP01 gets a torn calf muscle in the 6th game of the season, all you can say is NOOOOO!

Edit: Goodness me, just lost my top goalscorer Sam Reed to a broken foot for 5-6 months the very next game, as well as my best right back for 2 months with strained knee ligaments. I hope this isn't going to be a trend, but I'm really thankful now that I signed 9 of my youngsters last March even when their qualities aren't that great.

[ri916]

slich- I havent checked their personalities but I had a player with 17 determination and 16 workrate through. You also seem to have been quite unlucky with injuries, hang in there

JB- Good luck with FC United!

Conman- Unlucky to get relegated after a great first season, I hope to see you back with another team

Avramski- A good season there. You should be pushing for promotion next season after 3 years of building.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Drew. Lowestoft Town. Blue Square South. 2015/2016.

Table - FINALLY! In my fourth season at the club we finally managed to get promoted, even thought we were drawing the majority of our games, the teams around us were faultering and we managed to sneak into first spot, 3 wins on the bounce at the end helped achieve this.

Squad

Aradavan Dobinson YP1 - Played the most games this season, but when he lost his form, I brought in Malcolm who done really well, but Dobinson will be my number one for next season.

Callum Foulkes YP2 - 22 goals this season, and this is with no senior strike partner to help him, not bad really, development wise, he is progressing really well, and he will be our main man next season.

Rob McVarish YP3 - Not bad for his first full season, getting into double figures, though he had it easy with no really third choice striker providing competition.

Glen Franks YP4 - Really good season from the youngster, solid at the back, and a threat going forward, will look for him to improve next season.

Ollie Driver YP5 - 15, and with decent finishing and composure, looks like a half decent prospect, will try and get him some game time next season.

Finances

Proof that I'm not cheating

[Donaldoholic]

Congrats Drew. Foulkes is a beast.

I'm only half way through my first season, but I'm having a lot of fun. Even though it's taking forever. I selected too many leagues.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Youth Intake

Decent intake this year, with my Junior Coaching up to Excellent, Christian Frew is the pick of the bunch, and should be a decent player, will try and get him some game time next year.

[Tactic Master]

Youth Intake

Decent intake this year, with my Junior Coaching up to Excellent, Christian Frew is the pick of the bunch, and should be a decent player, will try and get him some game time next year.

What's his current star rating?

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

What's his current star rating?

3 at the moment.

[Tactic Master]

I'd just like to say, i've reached the play-offs on the last game of the season and will have the update up soon!

[Braumiller]

Sometimes you just want to scream!!!

After playing wonderfully and challenging for promotion, I get medium length injuries to my YP1 and only decent FC. A run of 8 games without a win follow and then the icing on the cake.
Winning 1-0 away from home in the 79th minute my GK goes off injured. No backup GK on the bench, so an outfielder goes in goal. They score in the 89th and 91st minute......
The streak continues and if it wasn't 6.48am here the manager would have hit the bottle!

[Braumiller]

You cannot make this up!
After coming back from injury, Sam Malsom (my main, and only, decent FC) went through a wretched time regaining his form. Not helped by all 3 of my MCs being out for around a month each. After 11 hours of football Sam finally scores and then within 10 minutes he is carted off injured and is now out for 5-6 months with a broken foot!

Oh, and in that game we conceded an 89th minute equalizer! lol

Only 2 weeks away from youth intake time and to say I need an FC or two is beyond an understatement!
A one-legged tea lady would get games up front for me at the moment......

[Tactic Master]

Thats really unlucky Braumiller That really sucks, I hope you get better luck soon!

I am just letting you know, i'm about to attempt my first ever "End Of Season Report - Video & Commentary"! I think it will add a new aspect to my reports and also help me keep secret some of the things like the play-offs, how we did, if we reached the final and what happened in the final!

[JoeBainborough]

Some serious action going on in here now!

I'm just commenting to tell you I'm still alive and my lack of posting and playing time isn't going to affect me continuing with this save. I've just been very very busy but and it may have to wait a couple of weeks before I get some solid playing time back together.

[ri916]

Drew- Well done on promotion mate were you behind your game on the updates? as the last two have come quickly plus your youth intake was 2hrs after your end of season update.

TM- Looking forward to your end of season post! the prospect of someone making the football league is an exciting one

Joe- Thats fine, life comes before fm

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Drew- Well done on promotion mate were you behind your game on the updates? as the last two have come quickly plus your youth intake was 2hrs after your end of season update.

Just a little bit, just about finished my first season in the BSP.

[Braumiller]

Ok, last of my random updates / tales of woe for now

Looks like I finally caught a decent break after the horrendous run of injuries.
Youth intake provided 3 good prospects and a couple of long shots, but 2 of the good prospects are FCs!

Now, this being Weymouth, it isn't all good news. Both have a much disliked weakness listed, one is "regarded as an inconsistent player" and one is "regarded as a fairly inconsistent player".
That said, I guess good and inconsistent beats my current consistently poor