Third Time Lucky - Starting Where I Should Have

**AcidBurn** · 13-04-2012 17:27

Leagues Loaded

Africa

Egypt
Algeria
South Africa

North America

MLS
Mexico

Asia

Japan
Australia
U.A.E
Qatar

South America

Brazil
Argentina

Europe

England
Spain
Scotland
Turkey
Romania

Oceania

New Zealand

The Aim

As we most of my games the aim is to achieve world dominance by winning every continents Champions League or equivalent trophy, there is no set pattern to how this is done I just plan to mess around moving from country to country. I actually made a mistake when loading the game and wasn't playing attention so I ended up with Turkey and Romania loaded being as I have never managed in any I decided to keep them open.

So I will start my career by becoming the manager of a team I have always enjoyed managing on the last few FM's Auckland City in the New Zealand league. I have started with a semi-pro reputation and will not leave until I win the O-League. New Zealand is a very short league with only 14 matches plus a play-off at the end, no domestic cup and of course the O-League which for some reason adds random lower league New Zealand based sides for the first season. Because of how short it is I will be updating half way through and at the end of the season.

I am hoping this save will be the one for me to keep going with a career thread because the last two I tried ended up crashing. I have added all the leagues I plan on managing in so I do not have to use the add/remove league feature to add in any more and risk bloating the database to unplayable levels. So here goes

**AcidBurn** · 13-04-2012 18:01

The main point of transfers is to bring in some versatile players who are better quality than the rubbish players we currently have. So Totori was signed because he is super fast with 18 for acceleration he might be a poor finisher but his pace is lethal and taking him away from another team in New Zealand is a bonus. Allan Pearce also taken from one of our rivals can play right wing or as a striker I have signed him on previous games and despite poor attributes he usually plays pretty well. Howard Fondyke can play DM or CM and has very good attributes for this level. Hone Fowler is a New Zealander who can play LB or CB. Regino is a Spanish player who is a natural RM but can play LB, CB, RB, DM, CM, RM and AMR obviously this is the sort of player very handy for the lower leagues.

After the fixtures below I thought we could do with a more consistent goal scorer so I signed 34 year old Brazilian striker Milson who is a good finisher and should add something to the team. San Darino is an Argentine who can play RB, DM and CM as well as a small ability to play are RM, AMR, LM, AML and AMC.

Started off the season pretty poorly and the two losses have cost us as Team Wellington have gone on a great run. Obviously I would like the win the league stage as the guarantees a place in the O-League on long with the winner of the play-off. We managed to come back and win most of our following matches the question is will Wellington slip up and can we beat them at their ground like they did to us at ours.

**JojoVillaHursty** · 13-04-2012 18:17

Looking forward to this Acidburn, may I ask where you got Japan,U.A.E,Qatar from?

**AcidBurn** · 13-04-2012 18:39

Originally Posted by JojoVillaHursty

Looking forward to this Acidburn, may I ask where you got Japan,U.A.E,Qatar from?

Cheers, Japan in editors forum and the others from a thread in there by unknown hacker.

**JojoVillaHursty** · 13-04-2012 18:44

Ok thanks and hoping to see this career go the distance for you.

**acidmonkey** · 13-04-2012 19:15

wondering how long till you were back in New Zealand

**SRL88** · 13-04-2012 19:43

Good luck AcidBurn. Hopefully this one works out.

**AcidBurn** · 13-04-2012 20:43

Originally Posted by acidmonkey

wondering how long till you were back in New Zealand

Wanted to be back in New Zealand for a while but been busy with other games,knew it would happen eventually.

Originally Posted by SRL88

Good luck AcidBurn. Hopefully this one works out.

I really hope so to, starting to annoy me big time.

**cerud** · 13-04-2012 22:44

Welcome back, hope this works out better.

**deltablue** · 14-04-2012 10:32

Here in Canterbury there be dragons!

**AcidBurn** · 14-04-2012 10:36

Originally Posted by cerud

Welcome back, hope this works out better.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by deltablue

Here in Canterbury there be dragons!

Them dragons were rich on FM10 and offered 10k a week wage budget.

**JackJCFC** · 14-04-2012 16:50

Good luck in NZ, you've not had a bad start to the season.

**AcidBurn** · 14-04-2012 22:29

We managed to climb back up the league not losing again at least not in the league, we beat Team Wellington in the return match. However the play-off's were a disaster we squeezed past Canterbury Dragons after a penalty shoot out and then went on to lose against Team Wellington in the final and miss out on becoming domestic champions, the only silver lining is the fact that we still go into the O-League.

For some reason despite me starting the next season already the game is not showing a best 11 for that first season. As you can see from the goal scorers and score lines the strikers scored but we struggled defensively all season.

Also got linked to a job at Kidderminster but I am not leaving until I win the O-League title.

**rancer890** · 14-04-2012 22:31

Well at least you can still compete for the O-League title next season. Good luck.

**AcidBurn** · 14-04-2012 22:47

Originally Posted by rancer890

Well at least you can still compete for the O-League title next season. Good luck.

Cheers, should really have won the league though Auckland have more funding and better starting players than any of the other teams, always next season though.

**Flamers** · 14-04-2012 23:48

Spammer

**AcidBurn** · 15-04-2012 09:35

Originally Posted by Flamers

Spammer

Haha, not me.

**Flamers** · 15-04-2012 11:30

You keep posting up threads and leaving them after 2 seasons

**AcidBurn** · 15-04-2012 12:07

Originally Posted by Flamers

You keep posting up threads and leaving them after 2 seasons

lol, not this one, I hope.

**deltablue** · 15-04-2012 15:31

You're still better than Wellington over the course of a season.

**AcidBurn** · 15-04-2012 16:24

Much better than them, the annoying thing is the media refers to us as having won the league but the play-off winners are the official league champions.

**AcidBurn** · 16-04-2012 17:56

Dominated the league as a team like ours should do, only lost twice and strangely to the same team Waikato. I thought we might have bottled it again as we squeezed through the play-off's with a penalty shoot out win in the semi-final but kept our heads with a comfortable win the in the final to take our first domestic championship. Defensively awful but I prefer to take a risk and attack I would rather win 3-2 than 1-0.

We breezed through our league group only dropping points in a 2-2 draw with the champions of Vanuatu Tafea. The final was very pleasurable as we beat Team Wellington 3-2 at their place and then somehow went a bit mad at our smashing them 6-0 to clinch the O-League trophy and complete phase one of my career plan to win all continental trophies.

**AcidBurn** · 16-04-2012 17:56

Not sure why it shows us playing a 4-4-2 as I switched to a flat 4-3-3 after a couple of games. Obvious to see we are strong in attack with Totori and Milson coming close to scoring a goal a game. The third striker position was rotated between Urlovic and Nikolic with them at times covering if Totori or Milson were injured. Totori was fantastic his blistering pace as the right sided striker meant he constantly set up people with great crosses as well as scoring a lot himself. The defensive players ratings mask how bad we are at the back but like I said earlier I don't mind that as long as we score plenty.

The Future

I have won the O-League but will stay at Auckland for one more season so I can compete in the Club World Championship mainly to see if I end up playing a really big side. I am not sure on the prize money in this competition because it is possible to make a few million over the years even at a club as small as ours. I have been linked to several lower league jobs in England so might aim to end up over there to build up a bit of a reputation.

**deltablue** · 16-04-2012 19:55

Very well done so far.

**AK22** · 16-04-2012 20:51

A most excellent season. Very commanding in all competitions

**AcidBurn** · 16-04-2012 21:05

Cheers people, it is what the first season should have been.

**cerud** · 17-04-2012 04:18

Very good season!

**rancer890** · 17-04-2012 06:27

Well, you got the easy continental competition out of the way!

**JackJCFC** · 17-04-2012 11:18

Great first season. Look forward to seeing where you go after next year.

**AcidBurn** · 17-04-2012 18:37

Thanks people, like rancer said easiest one done now time for the harder ones.

**AcidBurn** · 17-04-2012 19:10

Disappointing to finish 2nd in the league after three defeats in a row towards the end of the season. We outplayed the opposition but just couldn't score then morale went all to pot and we lost to Team Wellington but a quick team meeting and we were back to our best with a 4-0 win over YoungHeart followed by a pleasing win over Team Wellington in the semi-finals, we were then crowned champions with a 1-0 win over YoungHeart.

The best 11 not as impressive as last season for some reason Andrew Milne really stood out he has awful attributes and only got a shot at first team football due to multiple injuries. Once again the best 11 is wrong as we played a flat 4-3-3 for most of the season. Totori was not as potent in front of goal as last season but without his and Milne goals we would have barely scored at all. Shows a real lack of goals from elsewhere in the squad.

**AcidBurn** · 17-04-2012 19:10

O-League and Club World Championships

For some reason I cannot filter out the other competitions to post the results from the O-League group stages. We breezed through them although playing youngsters in the last league game made us lose 2-1 against the champions of Tahiti. We once again won the final against Fijian champions Ba with two easy wins.

This is the reason I stayed although we got hammers both times it was good fun. Al-Ahly were the first team to beat us, they scored after 2 minutes but we pulled one back after 10 minutes and I began to dream of a shock draw or even a win. That lasted 2 minutes as they scored in the 12th and then got two more. Next up in the fifth/sixth place play-off was LA Galaxy I was disappointed we never scored but happy we kept it to only two goals as they could have had a lot more.

I really enjoy this competition as usually I enter it was European Champions and favourites so playing in it as the smallest team is great. Auckland City also had a bank balance of £50,000 before this tournament but thanks to prize money and gate receipts the bank balance now reads £1.8 million. I got the board to improve the training facilities straight away still leaving £1.2 million in the bank enough to run a club like this for years and years.

Also worth mentioning that I have resigned and am now unemployed. I am aiming to go the lower leagues of England and work up a bit of a reputation.

**cerud** · 17-04-2012 19:43

I've had the same problem with filters in most leagues too. Annoying.

**AcidBurn** · 17-04-2012 20:36

Looks like I will be back in England managing the team I go to watch every home game of in real life. I couldn't turn it down, also got offered a chance to manage in Egypt but the team were one of the lowest in the Egyptian Premier League and way behind the main team in terms of player quality. During my unemployment I was heavily linked to several other league two clubs but anyone that knows me knows I had to take the chance to manage my real life second team.

**deltablue** · 17-04-2012 21:19

Next continental title a while off then.

**AcidBurn** · 17-04-2012 21:28

Originally Posted by deltablue

Next continental title a while off then.

Depends if I stay at Crewe, then again even if I use my time in England to build my reputation and go to an African side it will still be a while away yet.

**AcidBurn** · 18-04-2012 18:19

Walter Flenley

Not a great player but decent enough for this level will play mostly as a back up to Nouha Dicko the quickest and best striker at Crewe according to the ass man.

Suso Santana

The best signing so far, will probably fit into the team on the right wing but if I go with an AMC he will play there. He is lacking in certain areas but is miles ahead of most of the players in League Two. Really looking forward to seeing him in action.

Ian Craney

Bit of experience in the middle of the pitch and is a decent CM to have but at 32 is only a short term measure.

Edward Lambert

Only on loan and still young but is a better play than most of the CB's currently at the club, I expect him to start a lot of game this season.

Bradley Wright-Phillips

Another loan signing, I tried to get him on a proper transfer but couldn't offer enough in wages despite a £0 asking price. I got him on loan and only had to pay 50 percent of his wage so didn't mind the £12k loan fee. Looks very good for this level.

The Ones That Got Away

I tried to bring in two players both of which were willing to discuss contracts the first being Andy Reid, he would have been class for League Two but in the end choose to go to Plymouth in League One instead. The other was Adam La Fondre unwanted at Blackburn but he ended up at League One Millwall instead and on £3,700 a week a wage we could not match. I also tried to get Ji-Won Dong from Sunderland when his contract expired but he wouldn't talk about a contract and ended up back in South Korea.

Next up was trying to improve the staff at the club. I sacked every apart from Andy Franks who is surprisingly a 4 star fitness coach. I tried ambitiously to bring in Alessandro Del Piero and Pablo Aimar as assistants both willing to discuss a contract but both wanting way too much in wages. In the end I got Kevin Phillips one of my favourite players of all time. I got in two coaches for the GK's both 4 star in Jimmy Walker and Darryl Flahavan. I got Dave Artell in who used to play for Crewe and in real life is still there for some reason he always turns into a decent coach on my save, he is a 4 star defending coach. James Collins also came in but he is not the Aston Villa defender he is an ex-Crewe player and youth coach released at the start of the game but I got him in as a 4 star attacking coach. Gareth Ainsworth was the last man in and is a 4 star tactics coach but is currently doing tactics and ball control.

A decent bunch of coaches but we could do with another fitness coach and a ball control coach but they are hard to find and the board will not allow any more coaches for now.

Pre-Season Friendlies

I like to have between 5 and 7 pre-season friendlies but opted for only 5 this time. Some decent results won what we were expected to win and lost to Bristol City but recovered to pick up a surprise win over Coventry. Despite me not being sure about Nouha Dicko because of low finishing attributes he has smashed in the goals in pre-season and I expect he will be key for anything we achieve this season.

Board League Expectations - To achieve a respectable position in League Two.
My League Expectations - To get into the play-off's.
Board Cup Expectations - 2nd Round of FA Cup and JPT and to simply enjoy the experience of the League Cup.
My Cup Expectations - Really all depends on the draw, I will be looking and hoping to progress depending on who we play if we go out to teams in our league I will be disappointed.

Keys to Success

If Wright-Phillips and Dicko can form a decent partnership then we should score a few goals with Santana providing the creativity. Long term things could be good, there are several youg player under 18 who have 5 star potential and it will be interesting to see how they develop. Crewe have always given youth a chance in real life and I hope to give them a go in the first team at some point as well mainly because there are so many games and a big-ish squad is needed to cope with the 46 league matches.

**Unknown Hacker** · 18-04-2012 18:31

Glad you lost to Bristol City.

Getting le Fondre would have made you beastly up front in League 2...

**AcidBurn** · 18-04-2012 18:42

Originally Posted by Unknown Hacker

Glad you lost to Bristol City.

Getting le Fondre would have made you beastly up front in League 2...

Haha, I wasn't pleased about it!

Le Fondre wanted 6k a week which was 3.5k too high real pity as he would have scored for fun at this level.

**Reedy_1988** · 18-04-2012 18:54

I notice you have Elliott Whitehouse? is he playing well? screenshot of him please if possible?

**AcidBurn** · 18-04-2012 18:58

Elliott Whitehouse

He is not bad, coaches judge him as 3 star CA and 5 star PA.

**cerud** · 18-04-2012 19:40

Always good to move to your home side

Enjoy the success with Crewe!

**AcidBurn** · 18-04-2012 19:53

Originally Posted by cerud

Always good to move to your home side

Enjoy the success with Crewe!

I have never done it on FM, whenever I manage Crewe or Sunderland I have always managed them from the start.

**AcidBurn** · 18-04-2012 21:55

August Update

Not a bad start at all, however we fell out of the League Cup at the first hurdle against Championship side Blackpool but were slightly unlucky. The best thing was before this match and my first competitive match as Crewe manager saw us run out 8-2 winners breaking Crewe's highest win record in the first match, even better for me personally was that Luke Murphy scored the first competitive goal because I really like the lad in real life. We were 2-0 up then it was 2-2 then they had a man sent off and everything we did after that created a chance for us to score.

The Accrington game was annoying we dominated and then their striker turned into an FM cliche, 7 for long shots and not scored so far this season crashes in a spectacular 30 yard screamer to beat us. We bounced back with two 4-1 wins to stay in first position after 5 matches. Bradley Wright-Phillips and Dicko are on fire up top and Santana has been outstanding scoring and creating very well from the right of midfield.

**Mike7077** · 18-04-2012 22:13

Hadn't noticed this thread until now. I'll be keeping a close eye on your progress.

By the way, I went through Crewe on the train at the weekend. Caught a glimpse of the big stand at Gresty Road. It was very exciting, as you can imagine.

**AcidBurn** · 18-04-2012 22:22

Originally Posted by Mike7077

Hadn't noticed this thread until now. I'll be keeping a close eye on your progress.

By the way, I went through Crewe on the train at the weekend. Caught a glimpse of the big stand at Gresty Road. It was very exciting, as you can imagine.

lol, I can imagine your excitement.

**AcidBurn** · 19-04-2012 16:52

September Update

Another good month puts us still top of the league. We started by beating League One Preston in the JPT, this saw Lee Campbell the 16 year old striker grab his first ever goal for the club after coming on as a substitute late on. Unfortunately we lost our next match but quickly recovered to thrash Bradford 7-1 and then beat Torquay 3-2, Bury were pretty easy to beat and a draw away at Crawley was a good results for us because at the time they were top and we were second we also equalised pretty late in that match. The win over Barnet took us to top place.

Strange how the game reads things, I don't mind the praise for being a tinkerer but I usually play 4-4-2 and all I did was move the left winger to AML because of injuries and all of a sudden it became a 4-3-1-2, weird.

Lee Campbell is a product of the Crewe youth academy and has broke into the first team as a rotational/back up player at just 16 years of age. Worth noting he is a massive 6 foot 8 inches tall and whilst his attributes are not the best he is currently rated at 2 stars with a 5 star potential and could become a leading Championship player. I will mostly be working on his physical attributes and hoping he can become a good targetman at this level and beyond, it will be interesting to see if he can hack it in the Championship if I can ever get there.

Worth mentioning that on his first full start against Bradford he scored twice and assisted 5 goals, to be fair one assist was because he missed a one on one and another was because he was fouled for a penalty but still impressive in my view.

**SRL88** · 19-04-2012 16:55

Cracking start to life at Crewe

.

**AcidBurn** · 19-04-2012 20:46

Cheers mate, now I have a dilemma though the idea of my save was to win every continents champions league but it may prove hard to leave Crewe.

**acidmonkey** · 19-04-2012 21:13

win it with Crewe, cant believe the one week i was in Crewe they played away from home!

**AcidBurn** · 19-04-2012 21:18

Originally Posted by acidmonkey

win it with Crewe, cant believe the one week i was in Crewe they played away from home!

That was a shame you could have come with us and witnessed their brilliance, although I think we were pretty crap when you were down here.

**AcidBurn** · 24-04-2012 16:56

October Update

We remain top of the league after another decent month in League Two. We lost heavily to Huddersfield to put us our of the JPT trophy which I am not too bothered about. The best game for the neutral would have been against Oxford a game we should have finished off easier being 4-0 up at one point they got us to 4-3 before we secured the win with a fifth goal. Dicko is injured for a few weeks now so youngster Lee Campbell will have to step up as Bradley Wright-Phillips has already done. All in all a decent month disappointing draw against Gillingham but we cannot win every match. The rest of the league are so far keeping pace with us.

My PC went wrong that's why I haven't posted for a few days, luckily I was able to save this game before it went wrong.

**SRL88** · 25-04-2012 09:33

Still going very strong. Lets hope your PC doesnt be a bitch again.

**deltablue** · 25-04-2012 11:15

Be shame if it went wrong again on that form.

**Mike7077** · 25-04-2012 17:33

Why does Ant's PC always seem to goose up?

Looking good for the Railwaymen here.

**cerud** · 25-04-2012 19:28

A great start to the season! Looking dominating

**AcidBurn** · 26-04-2012 16:23

Cheers lads, I had another scare got my PC back from the shop loaded FM and played about a month and it wasn't fixed so lost the month of games. Really annoying but at least this time I made a back up!

**AcidBurn** · 26-04-2012 21:05

20 Game Update

Another decent month and we remain top of the league, I took the screen shot one game into December after forgetting. Only 4 league games in that time the FA Cup was pretty good we dispatched Newport easily as expected then defeated Oxford in a thrilling 5-3 game to go through the the third round in search of an away day at a big club to help the slowly diminishing bank balance of the club. The league matches were pretty simple but it is annoying to concede so many goals, I have given up on even trying to defend and will just go for goals.

Dicko continues to rip apart all defences put in front of him as he keeps up his goal a game ratio for the season so far, Santana keeps creating and it will be hard to hold onto these two players unless we get promoted this season. Lee Campbell has been developing decently on the field it must be strange to see a 6 foot 8 17 year old inside forward running at people with the ball. I find his heading is more help when he plays on the wing and heads in the crosses that reach the far post. Hoping to continue our good form and secure promotion as soon as possible.

Are the league screen shots too small to see?

**deltablue** · 26-04-2012 22:25

No, they're just about fine.

**Mike7077** · 26-04-2012 22:30

Screenshots are fine for me. Wouldn't want them any bigger.

**SRL88** · 27-04-2012 10:40

Talk about a goal glut

.

**AcidBurn** · 27-04-2012 14:27

It's not over yet, my team seem to have had some sort of defensive melt down and cannot keep a clean sheet.

**AcidBurn** · 27-04-2012 17:11

December Update

Could it be time to start panicking? A good start to the month collapsed as we were thrashed by Rotherham 4-1 and then lost to a relegation fighting Grimsby at home, this has seen our lead cut to just 2 points at the top of the table. We have also been drawn against Exeter City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup should be an easy win but our form is crap in the last two matches as you can see. I see this time and time again on FM our next match is the FA Cup match against Exeter and then not surprisingly we will face Exeter in the league after that. These are two great matches to have to try and turn our form around and keep up the push for promotion.

**AcidBurn** · 27-04-2012 19:19

3 Months Later

So we turned the two defeats around with a 4-1 win over Exeter City in the FA Cup, we then drew Stoke City one of our rivals at home I expected we would put up more of a fight but we limped out 3-0 barely getting a shot on goal against our EPL rivals. The league has gone well and we have secured a play-off place and sit in a comfortable position at the top losses against Dagenham and MK Dons were poor but a 7-1 win and a 6-2 away win over Hartlepool more than made up for it. Keeping three clean sheets in a row was a miracle for a side managed by me. Dicko continues to score as you can see usually in batches of twos and fours. Bradley Wright-Phillips has stepped up and I hope to sign him on a permanent transfer in the summer if he is released by his club.

**deltablue** · 27-04-2012 19:20

Still rolling in goals and a promotion.

**AcidBurn** · 27-04-2012 19:22

I worry about our defensive abilities especially if we get promoted.

**Mike7077** · 27-04-2012 19:28

Well, if you get promoted, sign better defenders. Simple as that! You wish.

By the way, Ant, I notice Crewe are in with a good shout of making the play-offs in real life. Just like I told you they would be. But you wouldn't have it.

**AcidBurn** · 27-04-2012 19:32

Originally Posted by Mike7077

Well, if you get promoted, sign better defenders. Simple as that! You wish.

By the way, Ant, I notice Crewe are in with a good shout of making the play-offs in real life. Just like I told you they would be. But you wouldn't have it.

If only FM was that simple!

I hope you end up right Crewe have been fantastic since Gradi left, new belief in themselves from Davis and a lot of the players are now showing their potential. Torquay away will be hard but we haven't lost for something like 15 games so who knows.

**cerud** · 28-04-2012 08:58

A crazy amount of goals by your players, but you are bleeding a few as well. Defensive focus will definitely be necessary for next season in L1. How did the season finish?

**AcidBurn** · 11-05-2012 22:31

End of Season Review

We won the next two games and that secured promotion then two matches later after a loss and a draw we were crowned champions finishing top with 2 matches to spare. The end of the season was a bit pathetic but I wasn't really that bothered after securing automatic promotion.

Dicko's speed was a essential to the season with him ending with more goals than games, as you can see he was brilliant but at times scored in batches rather than consistently but that is not worth moaning about without him we would not be facing a season in League One. Wright-Phillips was also pretty damn good playing on either wing and up front with Dicko or covering for him, finishing with 20 goals it is a real shame that I cannot manage to sign him on a permanent basis or for another seasons loan. Suso Santana started with great form averaging over an 8 for the first 10-15 games but faded towards the end of the season. Lee Campbell the 6 foot 8 beast of a striker still only 17 chipped in with 10 goals also featuring on the wing occasionally.

Well here goes a promotion means I am not sure what we can achieve next season, after some signings I am hoping for anything above a relegation scrap. We will be losing lots of over paid players in the summer so there should be some wage available if these players can be replaced by players whose skill matches the wages.

Worth mentioning this update has taken a long time due to my motherboard and processor deciding that they do not want to work any more. I am hoping that the new parts will work and I can continue this save that I am enjoying a lot.

**cerud** · 11-05-2012 23:16

Congrats on promotion. Looking at your goals against, you're probably right about needing a few new defenders for next season, especially at a higher level.

**AcidBurn** · 11-05-2012 23:23

Cheers, already trying to bring a few in. It's annoying because their average rating is pretty decent but they were all prone to big mistakes, not sure outscoring the opposition will work in League One.

**cswalk08** · 12-05-2012 06:38

Congrats on winning the league, it'll be exciting to see how you do in League 1

**AcidBurn** · 12-05-2012 08:08

Originally Posted by cswalk08

Congrats on winning the league, it'll be exciting to see how you do in League 1

Thanks, the main issue could be that we are going to have to make a load of signings which will obviously take time settle.

**DazRTaylor** · 12-05-2012 08:16

Congratulations on winning the league - all the best in League One!

**SRL88** · 12-05-2012 09:07

Brilliant season. Well done.

**AK22** · 12-05-2012 11:12

Dicko had a storming season; well done on promotion!

**acidmonkey** · 12-05-2012 18:28

congrats, bit leaky at the back you can cope

**deltablue** · 12-05-2012 18:41

Should do well in League 1.

**AcidBurn** · 12-05-2012 22:25

Thanks people, I cannot see me conceding less than a goal a game for a long time yet.

**rancer890** · 12-05-2012 22:49

Scoring lots of goals AcidBurn. The best defense is an unstoppable offense.

**AcidBurn** · 13-05-2012 13:23

New Season Transfers Out

Moved a load of players out mainly because a lot of them were on wages way too big for their talent and for this league. Overall this has reduced the wage bill to put us 25k a week under our new League Two wage budget.

The first two transfers were already arranged a few months a go Scott Smith is a talented 19 year old two footed attacking midfielder who I think we will make a decent profit on if we eventually choose to sell him. Also pre-arranged and from Scotland is Darren Ramsey still only 20 years old and can play multiple positions CM, RM, AMR, AMC and ST. Charlie Hunter an extremely fast AMR and striker arrives on loan from Watford, Will Keane also comes on loan from Bristol City, he is more of a skilful forward than an out and out goal scorer and should help out Dicko in attack. Another Scottish player on a free from Rangers is 24 year old MC Jamie Ness has decent attributes for this level but is extremely one footed. Rudy Evrard another loanee has nothing apart from speed and can play up top or on either wing, I feel his quickness will be a big help in attack.

Regan Jones played pretty poor for Yeovil last season but has great attributes for League One, not sure why they never got the best out of him. Andy Alexander yet another loan player arrives to become first team GK a position I have been really struggling to find any quality for. Alex Bruce obviously his dad is more famous than him comes in to mean we now have 3 CB's at the club. Scott Griffiths brings experience at this level at 30 years old and recently released by Nottingham Forest he should be a good back up/rotational option with Crewe academy LB Stewart Raven. John Baird a loanee we had to pay a fee for and one I am hoping can reduce the workload on Dicko upfront.

Scott Boyd 29 years old and a little bit slow he was willing to accept only £750 a week and adds an extra option to our defence, a defence that is bound to be poor no matter who I sign lol. Kevin Long is another CB that never really made it at Burnley but looks reasonably good. Dominic Chatto accepted a big pay cut to join us and arrives for a huge fee of £75,000 he is a good all round CM that should add something to the squad, he can also play DMC and his attributes probably make slightly better at a deeper role. Connor Ripley is a good back up GK that we really needed being as we only had our on loan GK in the first team. Fouad Bachirou a 25 year old French CM and the second highest transfer fee of my time at Crewe, he has good mental and physical attributes and was too good to be playing for Morton.

Loads of player bought in and it may take a bit of time for the team to gel so I am going for a midtable finish as the board expect but I have a good feeling about this season.

**DazRTaylor** · 13-05-2012 13:32

You know how you avoided the Sunderland result in my thread?

Well, I will refuse to mention you beating Yeovil Town (my first and main love).

**AcidBurn** · 13-05-2012 13:34

Originally Posted by DazRTaylor

You know how you avoided the Sunderland result in my thread?

Well, I will refuse to mention you beating Yeovil Town (my first and main love).

Haha, a small piece of revenge!

**AcidBurn** · 13-05-2012 14:36

End of September

Well looks like the defensive issues are going to continue with 13 conceded in the first 4 but we scored 14. The big loss against Huddersfield seems to have set the tone of us chasing them for first place in the early stages of the season. Dicko has started like a mad man as you can see scoring at least two goals a game for the first 5 matches of the league. Will Keane has not done bad when called upon to replace Dicko or to partner up with him in a 4-4-2 that I use occasionally instead of my 4-5-1/4-3-3. Bit disappointed that it took Santana a long time to score his first league goal of the season.

An expensive in terms of wages but brilliant signing for us, never quite made it to the top level in real life despite showing extreme promise. I think for this level and the Championship he will be brilliant, as you can see he scored on his debut and I am confident he can ease the goal scoring burden we have placed on Dicko and really fire us towards the top of the league this season. I really hope he can contribute as his £4,000 a week wage is a lot for this club especially coupled with £500 appearance and goal bonuses, worth the risk though.

Domestic Cups

We are already out of the league cup after thrashing Scunthorpe 5-2 we drew Hull City away who dispatched of us easily with a 3-1 win. The JPT was pretty good as we spanked Huddersfield 5-1 to reach the next round.

**deltablue** · 13-05-2012 14:51

Wow, well done racing out of the blocks.

**cerud** · 13-05-2012 20:37

Great start to the league!

**acidmonkey** · 13-05-2012 21:35

Good solid start for you, hope you keep it up

**AcidBurn** · 14-05-2012 16:14

Three Months Later

We are just about keeping pace with Huddersfield but it is getting as far ahead of 3rd as possible to try and grab promotion that really counts. A mixed bag over the last few months a tennis score loss of 6-4 against Palace was followed by two easy away wins to keep us in second. The Chesterfield match although a good win has seen Dicko pick up a 3 month injury luckily Nugent has really stepped up scoring some great goals and finishing some easy chances very well.

After we lost 6-4 I got angry and applied for a job and surprisingly got offered it but after calming down I decided to stay at Crewe. If I was at another club that I didn't really care about in real life I am pretty sure I would have moved or if I wasn't challenging for promotion with Crewe but I am and I would love to beat their highest Championship finish ever.

**AcidBurn** · 14-05-2012 16:14

First International Adventure

The manager of Chile retired so I thought I would have a punt and applied for the job and they accepted my application. The team is sitting in an okay position in the South American World Cup Qualifiers with the big boys Brazil and Argentina leading the way there is every chance I could get this team into 3rd or 4th place. The squad is ageing though so I doubt my stay will be past the 2018 World Cup, if we managed to get there that is.

Alexis Sanchez - Obviously the star of the team but I dislike the cheat in real life, still in FM he is an awesome player and key to any success we will ever have.

Arturo Vidal - A very good midfielder although I am sure I can remember him as a DC on an older FM. He is also a key player to the squad.

Mauricio Isla - Very good fullback but can also play in midfield.

**AcidBurn** · 14-05-2012 16:15

Originally Posted by deltablue

Wow, well done racing out of the blocks.

Originally Posted by cerud

Great start to the league!

Originally Posted by acidmonkey

Good solid start for you, hope you keep it up

Cheers, as you can see so far we have kept going pretty well.

**Cleon** · 14-05-2012 16:21

I like Chile, they have a half decent squad.

**AcidBurn** · 14-05-2012 16:22

It looks like a squad with 5-6 really good players but it is an ageing squad. There are only about 60-70 Chilean players in my game.

**Nobby_McDonald** · 14-05-2012 21:19

Well done Acid and doing well in League One.

Gateshead doing well too.

**AcidBurn** · 14-05-2012 21:25

Thanks, they always seem to do pretty well on my saves it's usually them or Bromley.

**SRL88** · 15-05-2012 07:09

Congratulations on getting the Chile job

.

**AcidBurn** · 15-05-2012 19:13

Promotion Secured!

A nice surprise although I had a sneaking suspicion we might be able to get another promotion given the way we started the season. We have moved a few points clear now and although promotion is important I hope we can continue our form and win the league. January was a very important month for us as we managed a win over Huddersfield and also a win over Orient who were right up at one point. Dicko came back but struggled to get in the line up past Nugent who has been on fire, however recently I have been playing both of them.

It will be hard in the Championship and so far the job links are coming thick and fast with me constantly being asked about moving to a bigger side. It is tempting as I have been linked to Premier League sides Blackburn and Aston Villa but I feel I wouldn't mind a season with Crewe in the Championship first.

**deltablue** · 15-05-2012 19:14

Wow! Great double promotion!

**AcidBurn** · 15-05-2012 19:15

Cheers, lots of goals conceded for a promoted side though.

**deltablue** · 15-05-2012 19:16

You'll be winning the CL in no time

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