Worcester City - A Saucy Little Career

This is my first time to post a thread in this forum. The reason I have decided to do so now is for two reasons. The first is that I am not taking part in any challenges in the Challenge forum, which usually takes up a lot of time for write ups. Im partial to the dafuge challenge, which you might of worked out for yourself if you decide to read on! The second reason is due to my belief that writing about your adventures in FM is a great way to not only increase the likelihood you are to stick out a career but it also helps to gain a more overall understanding of exactly what is going on in your game. Its all too easy to overlook things when you don't sit down every couple of game months, take a long hard look at your game so far, and write about it! So yeah, if nobody reads this or comments I do intend to keep writing it for my own reasons, although I do hope people get involved!

I have decided to take control of Worcester City this season. They are expected to be a mid to low table team in the Conference North. I lived in Worcester for a while and grew to really like the team and am now a keen follower of them!

I am in Febuary in my first season, and after a great start have now started to drop slightly down the table. I wont overload with the screenshots at the moment as I have started this late and will give a full break down at the end of each season.

This is my current squad... to be honest this is Worcesters current squad in real life! I was given no wage budget at the start of the season and a very thin squad to work with which meant I had to worked at incorporating a fair few youth players into the first team, and could only sign 2 'decent yongsters' The surprise package so far has been 19 year old Ben Maund. He was only given the nob at the start of the season ahead of Daniel Nti who picked up a 2 month injury right after scoring 7 goals in 8 pre-season games and looking set to lead our attacking charge. A number of great performances and amazing individual goals have lead him to be almost indispensable at the moment.

Apart from unceremoniously being knocked out of both the FA Cup and FA Trophy at the first hurdle, to only shake we have had so far this season is the sacking on the captain Ellis Deeney, younger brother of Watford's Troy Deeney. He is another that had a great pre-season, was the current captain and looked set to be a rock in central midfield. However after a very shaky first couple of months it was clear he wasn't good enough to be in the team, let alone captain. I made decision to strip him of the captaincy and give it to 33 year old keeper Nathan Vaughan. This wasn't a popular decision and many of the team thought I had acted too quickly in coming to it.

Overall, I am happy with how the season has gone. Considering I am using almost exactly the same squad I was given and I am pushing the payoffs I cant complain too much.

I will be posting an update at the end of the season but I'm not the quickest when it comes to FM (not now I've had to grow up and get a 'proper' job anyway), so may well post another update before then in the next few days.

If anyone wants to know any other specifics about my game then please let me know. I'll also post any screenshots on request!

Thanks for reading!

I love Worcester Sauce!

I love Worcester Sauce!

Let's hope he get a pair of wonderkid regens called Lea & Perrin.

Great OP, will be following. Any particular things you want to achieve with them, or just finish as high as possible?

Good luck anyway!

Thanks guys. Im looking at taking them into league football and as far as possible to be honest. I found in FM14 it was a lot more difficult for me to take a small team to the top. A rather torrid time at Billericay Town proved too much of a task and I never quite got the hights I have on previous installments. In a way I hope its the same as I do love a challenge!

My short term focus is building a strong first team, focused aorund pace and passing. When the pitch is terrible and your players have unbelievably low technique and are generally pants it is a struggle and I have found myself reverting to the 'hit and hope' strategy during the wet, windy winter period!

Long term I want to revolve around youth development. If I get that far you will notice the majourity of my signings are young players that I will try and get into the first team (Lea and Perrin would be awesome!), but the odd old boy may well sneak in to sure things up a bit!

Late last night I did make a couple of transfers which I will detail later as Im at work at the moment and not in front of the game. They are short term signings to strengthen my first team and make the push for the playoffs, however wage budget was low on my list of concerns as I will explain later... :o

Again thanks for the support! I will definately try and get an update every 1/2 days, whenever time dictates!

Currently 7th in the table.

Ryan Green

This guy has been brought in to really sure up the defence. Now we aren't terrible at the moment. the likes of Graham Hutchison and Wayne Thomas are doing well, but they seem to be getting very tired (possibly over worked) and I believe this is leading to sloppiness in the final 20 minutes of games. That said I am not a fan of making defensive substitutions, especially in central defence, but feel there will be greater benefits during the rest of the season of tightening up the team and reduce the chance of annoying stupid mistakes happening at the end of games.

Carlos Logan

Logan and has been signed to go straight into the first team. The wingers that we have are doing OK but they dont have the creative ability that I hope this guy will bring. On top of that I have had a few injuries on the wings of late and have had to draft in some pretty terrible players to cover, potentially causing us to miss opportunities to score goals, win games and ltimately push for the playoffs!

Both of these players have dented my wage budget however. Logan is coming in at £180 per week which is average to my team, but also came for a substantial sign on fee. Green is now officially my teams top earner on £210 per week, agin with a very large sign on fee and additional bonuses.

Nicholas Lyskov

This young defender was taken on trial as scouting was taken too long. A free agent with great stats for this level. Upon signing I was planning on him simply being a backup player but he does have some sound attributes. Definately one to watch, but may not get as many games as he might need. I will be trying my best to incorporate him. He came on a non-contract basis so no wage! Result for a 'hot prospect'!

Ok, I knew not selecting a sub GK in my match day squad would eventually come back to haunt me!

LEAGUE TABLE

LEAGUE POSITION GRAPH

PLAYER STATS

So our first season has finished with a very respectable 6th place finish. Going into the seaosn we were predicted 15th and considering I couldn't really make any transfers, I'm very please. We took it to the final game of the season, but ultimately play offs were a stretch too far! Up to the end of November we were on course to get there, but a long stretch of postponed games in December which lead to a lot of congestion in January really didnt help and moral and squad happiness took a hit, leading to a bit of a snowball effect. Towards the end of the season a couple of signings were made and an new possession based tactic was worked on and we managed to control games to a much more satisfactory level.

FA CUP - An expected 4-0 crushing of Curzon Ashton was followed by a very disappointing 1-0 loss at home to Hednesford. Board were disappointed, but not as disappointed as...

FA TROPHY - ...this! An appauling 1-0 home loss against Cinderford... CINDERFORD!! I had to walk away from my computer for a while when the full time whistle was blown!

TRANSFERS - Nothing to speak of pre-season. In March I brought in Green and Logan. Very pleased with Green's start before an injury runned him out of the final 3 games. Logan was average to poor, but will give him the chance to come good next season.

FINANCES - A nice cup run would have helped, but to be honest I'm not too conceren to be in the red at the moment.

BAKER'S PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Sean Geddes. He made a slow start to the season, but a couple of long range bullet goals put him firmly on my radar. Its not just his ability to produce goals out of nothing but he just seemed to be everywhere. When other players gave up on loose balls he would be the one chasing them down and starting our attacks. He wasn't affraid to get stuck into the tackles and all round sneaked my Player of the Season award.

BAKER'S YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Ben Maund. He could really have been out and out Player of the Season. This 19 year old was a surprise package. With 1 week of pre-season left my intended start striker Daniel Nti got a 2 month injury. I was in a bad position but had a to make a choice; make an expensive signing or trust my young players. I put him into the line up and he scored 5 goals in 6 games, helping us to the top of the table by the start of September. This boosted moral and set us up for a great season. He didn't finish the season as strongly, but I am hoping he can do a job for us again next season.

OTHER KEY PLAYERS

Graham Hutchison (DC) - He was my goalscoring centre half. Powerful in the air and rarely put a foot wrong all season. He is only 22 and is signed on for another season so I hope he can produce some more magic next year!

George Williams (DR) - Another defender I have managed to get to sign a new contract. George was strong on the right hand side, and seemed to fit well into my adapted 4-1-2-3 formation, which requires him to be a bit more creative on wing.

Danny Jackman (DL/MC) - Former Football League star Jackman had a solid season for us, as expected considering his considerable quality at this level. He started as a central midfielder for us but often dropped back to left back when injuries and tiredness hit. His set peice ability lead to most of Hutchisons goals and even managed to sneak his only goal of the season from a free kick against Brackley in a 1-0 win. Unfortunately he is not interested in re-newing his contract.

BAKER'S MATCH OF THE SEASON - 6-5 vs Hyde (H) - Being 4-1 up and having it brought back to 5-5 before a 93rd minute winner put me through so many emotions that I needed a lie down afterwards! On a side note, this 30 yard blinder is probably my

Aims for 2015/16?

> LEAGUE - I think promtion is achieveable, but I need to make some serious moves in pre-season as a lot of my players will be leaving. Play offs is probably more realistic.

Baker's Prediction - 4th

> CUPS - Just to do better really. Would love to make the FA Cup proper and see if I can get a nice little cup run going!

> TRANSFERS - As stated, transfer need to be made. I hopefully wont be rushing them and will be able to to pick the best players. Scouting is already taking place for some key positions.

Didn't Worcester flit between the two divisions at this level for a while? I wonder if that'll happen here.

Didn't Worcester flit between the two divisions at this level for a while? I wonder if that'll happen here.

This is very true. 4/5 years ago they were in the Conference South and due to southern based teams being relegated from the Prem they did chage to the North due to being on the border of the north and south of England. I not sure how many times this actually happened but it happened at least once. I have been Worcester on previous installments of FM and spent a few years in the Conference North/South without any switching between the leagues.

It is entirely possible for it to be a feature though! Wouldn't be hard to implement. I didnt continue any further last night but will let you know if it does happen when I get home tonight. I kind of hope it doesn't happen as I have a feel for the teams in my league, although in my opinion the Conference South generally does have weaker teams at this level

Also, I probably should have waited for the season to officially finish! I will update on playoff winners later

It is entirely possible for it to be a feature though!

A guy played as Bedford in FM14. He kept moving between the two.

Very interesting then! I will have to check who has been relegated tonight. In a way I would like to experience this as it is a good feature.

Promising start to your career, unlucky to just miss out on the play-off spots - will be keeping a close eye on this

Promising start to your career, unlucky to just miss out on the play-off spots - will be keeping a close eye on this

Thanks man, appreciate it! Yeah, last game of the saeon was a 2-2 draw at home against Colwyn Bay. Went 2-0 down early in the first half and managed to claw mayself back but just couldn't find that 3rd goal that would have put me into the playoffs on goal difference! Oh well at least I got them relegated!

Was great to see a close end to the season in all areas of the table!

Im still in the Conference North, although following a shock relegation Kidderminster Harriers are also in the Conference North. Now something I probably should have mentioned at the start is my stadium is a shared, currently rented off... you guessed it, Kiddy!

This could get very messy come winter with postponed games, cup runs etc etc.

I will let you know if anything comes from this!

Decided to take my video off the main thread but it is linked

Anyway, I will be posting a mid-season update tomorrow hopefully!

Needless to say, both offers were turned down... CITY THROUGH AND THROUGH!!!

Worcester City endured a tiring afternoon when faced with Solihull. Baker employed a defensive 4-4-2 tactic on the difficult trip to the league leaders. A last minute winner from last years Player of the Season, Sean Geddes, was enough to send the Faithful following into raptures.

The match stats suggested pure dominance from Solihull and it would tough to watch as time after time they fialed to make the breakthrough, with Worcester keeper Nathan Vaughan making countless saves to keep his side in it. The defense battled to make clearances, as well as starting the counter attacks for their team.

The star of the show was Geddes whose 2 quality strikes at both ends of the match were a pleasure to watch.

His first shows him dancing through the Solihull defence and smashing home from the edge of the area. Now in HD

His match winner on the 90th minute was a stunning free kick which sent the travelling fans into jubilation! Now in HD

This is very true. 4/5 years ago they were in the Conference South and due to southern based teams being relegated from the Prem they did chage to the North due to being on the border of the north and south of England. I not sure how many times this actually happened but it happened at least once. I have been Worcester on previous installments of FM and spent a few years in the Conference North/South without any switching between the leagues.

It is entirely possible for it to be a feature though! Wouldn't be hard to implement. I didnt continue any further last night but will let you know if it does happen when I get home tonight. I kind of hope it doesn't happen as I have a feel for the teams in my league, although in my opinion the Conference South generally does have weaker teams at this level

In my FM 2010 save, Worcester switched from South to North in the 2nd season.

It won't let me upload the SS, I can e-mail you it if you want to see.

LEAGUE TABLE

LEAGUE POSITION GRAPH

PLAYER STATS

Second season finished and in a position of 5th in the Conference North. Last seasons aim was 4th so can't complain too much. Losing in the playoff's against Kidderminster was the part which hurt the most! Our league position was quite consistent throughout the season. Ending the season on a 10 game unbeaten streak was great. It was made all the more sweet as it seemed tactical tweaks had finally paid off!

FA CUP - Not a bad run to be honest. Board had me down for the 4th Qualifying round. It was always going to be a tough ask going up against League opposition with Fleetwood 2nd in L2 at the time of the match.

FA TROPHY - Another disappointing run if you can call it a run! Losing in the first round was tough and the board were a bit annoyed but I had bigger fish to fry and this wasn't too much of a concern to me.

TRANSFERS - I lost some key players at the end of last season, namely Danny Jackman. Replacing a player of his quality was hard but I feel that all the new players did a job for me with the exception of Luke Bromley who spent a lot of time in the physio room and couldn't force fellow newcomer Louis Harris out of the first team. Overall, very pleased with the players I managed to get in.

FINANCES - Looks pretty bleak, but its all relative. If I manage to get a promotion sometime soon or a lucky cup run then this will soar into the black. I will keep a closer eye on them next season though.

BAKER'S PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Sean Geddes. Sean has retained the player of the year award and rightly so. He has been untouchable in the heart of my midfield and this season was playing in a more attacking midfield role towards the end of the season and absolutely smashed it. I expect more of the same from him next season and feel he is the player to take us to the next level!

BAKER'S YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Charlie Ward. He partly gets the young player of the year award because of his performances, partly because we have few players 21 or under. Either way he did a good job for us. A new signing who I had siting slightly deeper than Sean in the center of midfield. I do think there is more to come from him and will probably be giving him more first team football next season.

OTHER KEY PLAYERS

George Williams (DR) - He had another great season for us again. His tackling was sublime and he seems to have improved his positioning and gets stuck into the tackles a lot more than last season. Most of our attacks were initiated from his bursting runs up the right wing and his eye for defense cutting balls into the box

Louis Harris (DMC) - I have always struggled to make good use of defensive midfielders and find it the hardest position to get good performances from. My tactics are built around moving the ball around, one touch passing and constant pressing. Louis was key to this and provide a lot of support for the more attacking members of the team. Whenever the opposition were on attacks I felt confident that Louis would be able to get hold of the ball and initiate our quick counter attacks.

Graham Hutchison (DC) - Graham was a consistent performer again this year. His tackling was spot on and he seems to be another that is getting used to the formation we play. It requires him to play up the field and put of the low cross field passes (which happen all the time!) before they get to the opposition wingers and it usually stops the attack before it has a chance to get any ground to it.

BAKER'S MATCH OF THE SEASON - 3 - 0 vs Hednesford (H) This game may not have been as exciting as the 6-5 game chosen last year but its the game that made me feel the happiest. I had only recently made a couple of tweaks to the tactic, particularly in the center of the pitch and I felt that this game showed me exactly what to expect. This was near the start of an 11 game unbeaten run which had followed a 7 game winless streak so I had reason to be proud! Here is a snap shot of my fixtures around this time. The tactical re-vamp was implemented after the 2-0 home loss to Kiddy.

IN OTHER NEWS... - My Under 18's have won the league! They are all terrible and want be getting a first team game for love nor money but good on them!

Aims for 2016/17?

> LEAGUE - As I now feel I have my tactics sorted I want to push on and challenge for the title! Its going to be tough and I will need to do a lot of work in pre-season but I think that is realistic based on our previous performances

Baker's Prediction - 1st

> CUPS - I want another FA Cup run, the 1st round again would be great. I think I will try harder to get a FA Trophy run going as well. Anything better than a loss in the first round will do

> TRANSFERS - A lot of my players have renewed their contracts BUT I do need to push on next season so I might be making 2/3 changes to the first team, perhaps a new striker, left back and maybe another winger.

Own Goal of the Year Award goes to... Tyler Weir!

[video=youtube_share;ZOPCmVb6dL8]

Interesting and good luck,

My question is about your video of yourself... do all your games take roughly 10-15 mins to play? If so that is a hell of a long time... im a commentary only, fastest speed guy and even then it grates at me how long it can take

Interesting and good luck,

My question is about your video of yourself... do all your games take roughly 10-15 mins to play? If so that is a hell of a long time... im a commentary only, fastest speed guy and even then it grates at me how long it can take

Thanks Man.

They usually do take me about 10 minutes per game. I play extended highlights and often pause the game at various points to get a look at stats for the opposition players (which I dont have as an on-screen widget) Also, that game in particular was very action packed so there were more highlights than you might get in a 1-0 for example.

I did take a couple of days away from this but back on it now. Just entered Feb and things are looking good so far.

Thanks Man.

They usually do take me about 10 minutes per game. I play extended highlights and often pause the game at various points to get a look at stats for the opposition players (which I dont have as an on-screen widget) Also, that game in particular was very action packed so there were more highlights than you might get in a 1-0 for example.

I did take a couple of days away from this but back on it now. Just entered Feb and things are looking good so far.

Nice one, good luck this season, hopefully theres a celebration on the horizon

LEAGUE TABLE

LEAGUE POSITION GRAPH - Including Barrow and Altrincham

SQUAD STATS

My prediction of finishing first this season has become a reality. I felt quite positive throughout the season of getting a solid finish, however it should have been a lot easier. If we had take merely a small percentage of our clear cut chances we would have won the league with several games to go for sure but I will touch on that a bit further down. The disappointment of being knocked out early in the FA Cup was off-set by a great display in the FA Trophy and overall I am very pleased with the season as a whole.

FA CUP - A fairly disappointing 1-0 home loss against Solihull Moors, who we should really have beaten, in the 2nd Qualifying round (our first round).

FA TROPHY - A much better display in the FA Trophy this season. My only board aim was to be competitive However, I felt it important to get a good cup run under my belt in this tournament as it is one I am eyeing up to win at some point in the future. We were no match for an impressive Wrexham side and I did rest a couple of key players in the 2nd leg as this was in place of game week 26 where we have just fallen to 6th in the table with 5 games in hand... a VERY busy league schedule needed to be my focus.

TRANSFERS - Some key signings this season. I believe Les Holcroft to be a good player for the future but it is difficult to develop players this young in non-league. Still he did a decent job when he was called on. Christoforos Christodoulou (lets just call him Chris...) was a fantastic signing for me. The young winger was purely signed as he had a bit of pace and huge amount of flair. I wanted to exploit those old, slow non-league defences and he really ripped them apart. His scout rate still only reads that he would be a decent player in the Regional leagues below mine but I don't care. he got me goals and assists from his Inside Forward role! The 3rd signing was Kyle Rowley. Now, I had been eyeing him up for a few weeks as I knew of the imminent departure of Ryan Green. He stepped up and really showed a hell of a lot of promise especially considering he is a young centre half in a team designed around attacking football.

FINANCES - Still really really need a decent cup run or something. Hopefully the Conference Prem will grant us slightly more money. I’m still not hugely worried but I do need to get this on track. I would hate for this team to be hit with point deductions etc!

BAKER'S PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Sean Geddes. For the 3rd consecutive season he is my player of the season. Nobody really came close to him as you'll see in the squad stats picture above. Yes, a lot of his goals were from the spot but he does provide a lot more than just penalties. He always seems to be there to pick up the loose balls all across the midfield and always seems to pick the right pass when other players choices often leave me frustrated. Will be very interesting to see if he can replicate this form in the Conference.

BAKER'S YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Christoforos "Christiano" Christodoulou. This was a very tough choice. It was between Chris and Kyle, my two new signings, for the young player award. I thought Kyle was solid, but Chris gets the reward as I love an underdog. He came from Boston with skills like Ronaldo and set Aggborough alight! Always bursting into the box and provide some excellent goals and assists. Really want to get this lad tied down now and hope he can be equally impressive next season!

OTHER KEY PLAYERS

Kyle Rowley (DC) - So narrowly missed out on young player of the season. Kyle was ever present in the centre of my defence and didn't put a foot wrong. To be fair his foot was usually the cause of a lot crunching tackles which I loved to see!

Charlie Ward (MC) - Last season’s young player of the year. Ward is a very similar player to Geddes and the two work very well in my formation. Maybe partly the reason Ward didn't challenge Geddes for player of the year was because he sits a lot deeper in my midfield so isn’t always the one springing the final ball into the attackers feet, but who knows. He does his job well and is a great player for me.

Carlos Logan (AML) - Carlos was a player I signed during the final 3rd of my 1st season and since then he has been good, but not great. Because of this he didn't really get any game time at the start of the season. However, as soon as he was given a chance he took it and kept a first team place for most of the second half of the season. He even managed to get the most assists (joint with Chris) in the league, and considering he only made 16 starts this goes to show I should have called on him sooner!

Aims for 2017/18?

> LEAGUE - I do have the feeling I have made the leap too soon. I'm not just lowering my expectations so that if I do well it looks better by the way! I really do feel it is going to be tough. there are so many areas I need to strength that have just about been OK but now they will be hugely exposed. I think we will stay up, but it will be a tough season (PLEASE LET ME BE WRONG!)

Baker's Prediction - 18th

> CUPS - FA Cup 1st Round. FA Trophy Semi-Final

> TRANSFERS - A lot of review needs to be done and I haven't had chance to do this yet. I think there could be an over haul. Out defence, although statistically decent, are nowhere near the quality they are going to need to be. I would love a new left back and centre back. I also feel Nathan Vaughan is nearing the end of his career. The amount of stupid butter finger moments this season had me nearly go bald with stress! I think the midfield is pretty solid, but maybe 1 or 2 youth players in to act as cover. I really need a new striker. Daniel Nti and Ben Maund, the later being my former young player of the season, are both rubbish! It’s not their fault to be fair. The score a decent amount but they just don’t fit my formation. I need a quality False 9. Somebody with technique, determination, passing, long shots... generally be amazing. At this level I know it is almost impossible to get great creative agile 'Messi-like' players but this is what I need.

My sole aim is to find a player to fit the false 9 position. I do this, I'm golden!

How are you playing Geddes? In my game game he has spent more time on the physio table than the pitch. Not really performed when he has played. Only in my first season so maybe he just needs some time. Any hints or tips much appreciated!

How are you playing Geddes? In my game game he has spent more time on the physio table than the pitch. Not really performed when he has played. Only in my first season so maybe he just needs some time. Any hints or tips much appreciated!

I play him as an advanced playmaker (attack) on the right hand side of a two man central midfield. His player instructions are to get further forward and play it shorter. He's never really had any injury problems for me, although his 15 aggression has meant that he has picked up a fair few yellow card suspensions!

LEAGUE TABLE

LEAGUE POSITION GRAPH

SQUAD STATS

My prediction for this season was to finish 18th in the league and escape relegation. We managed this quite convincingly in the end and were able to relax towards the end of the season and test out a couple of different formations and try out a few different player combinations in some key areas. Hugely happy with the season as a whole. The Conference is a great league, one of my favourites to manage in, and it has been a very enjoyable season.

FA CUP - Predicted 1st round... boy oh boy did I get more than I bargained for! I had a fairly easy run, albeit a lot of replays! Losing 12-0 to Man City was embarrassing to be honest, even setting a new biggest ever loss record, but at the end of the day it was 1 game that we were never going to win. The plus side of this is that our finances went through the roof!

FA TROPHY - Predicted Semi-Final. Really disappointed about this, but the competition did cross over with a huge fixture list which wasn’t helped by the FA Cup replays. January's fixture list featured 8 games, but only 2 league games!

TRANSFERS - A lot of signings were made, too many to talk about them all in detail. Murphy was a striker bought to try and fill the false nine role, but the jury is still out. Byrne was a young goalie to replace the aging Vaughan. Stonehouse was a replacement left back to Tyler Wier following the promotional step up. Cook was signed as support to Geddes in the centre of my midfield. Smith was signed as a backup to Christodoulou. McMahon was 'initially' signed as backup to Rowley and Hutchison in central defence but this will be touched on further down. Mbunga again was supposed to be a back up to Logan but forced his way into the first team. Jones was signed as a young back up to Nti and Murphy as striker. Gormley was signed as a backup to Willims at right back, although he does have a hell of a lot of potential! Verma was signed on a whim as he was very cheap and I was so desperate to find a good false nine. He managed 0 starts but 21 sub appearances! Fortnam-Tomlinson was signed in January and went on to be a great signing for us!

FINANCES - I had been desperate for a cup run and finally got one! The game against City got us about 800k which lead us to be able to afford to improve the youth development program amongst other things!

BAKER'S PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Bradley Fortnam-Tomlinson. He was brought in during the January transfer window as Jordan Murphy wasn't adapting well to the demanding false nine position. Bradley still has some way to go to get to grips with the position but at the end of the day I brought him in to get goals and win us points, which he did perfectly. His contributions was a huge part as to why we stayed up and was scoring from distance, placed shots, headers and even a free kick. An all round good goal scorer and he deserves player of the season.

BAKER'S YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Christoforos "Cristiano" Christodoulou. This again was close but the Greek from Boston managed to get the award. He stepped up to the Conference very well and bagged 10 goals in the league. His movement on and off the ball is great to watch on match days there is always a sense that something can happen when he has the ball. I just hope that he has the potential to keep progressing and gets better and better over the next couple of seasons.

OTHER KEY PLAYERS

Kyle Rowley (DC) - A very close candidate for player of the season. Kyle put in another great show this season. Watching the games he is always the player diving in with the interceptions and its great to see him crushing the long ball tactic employed by the opposition by simply cutting the passes out with his great heading ability. Very reliable player who rarely makes a mistake. He could be a main stay of my first team for a few seasons to come.

Peter McMahon (DC) - He would probably be annoyed that I didn’t choose him as my young player of the season! Peter was only ever signed to be a back up player to Graham Hutchison, but Hutchison just didn’t put in the sort of performances I expected from him this season so gave Peter a chance early on. His position in my formation means that he sits slightly deeper in my defensive line than Rowley. His skill comes from staying on his feet and getting the great block tackles in around the penalty area. Maybe he should have been Young Player of the Season, but there is always next season!

Oliver Byrne (GK) - Oliver was brought in to replace Nathan Vaughan who I didn’t feel was able to step up to the Conference. His stats may not look great, but if you ignore the 12-0 loss against City, he only conceded 67 goals in 56 games. We had the 9th best defensive record in the league. He was solid to be honest and I hope to see more again next season.

IN OTHER NEWS

> Sean Geddes keeps his first team spot and was even appointed captain but didn’t blow us away this season. I will give him another season to prove he is good enough but I have players ready to step up if he can’t perform.

> We have been taken over... and I managed to keep my job!

> We're getting a new stadium!

Aims for 2018/19?

> LEAGUE - More of the same. I would be happy with another mid-table position. I always want to improve on the previous season though so let’s try and get in to the top half of the table.

Baker's Prediction - 12th

> CUPS - FA Cup 3nd Round. FA Trophy Semi-Final

> TRANSFERS - Not 100% yet. No really aims on signings. I will probably be getting rid of a fair bit of dead wood though!

Looks like the fans disagree with me and Geddes wins his 4th consecutive Fans Player of the Year award!

I HATE affiliations. I have just cancelled one with Birmingham City... and the new chairman sorts this out... useful!

We are now a professional club!

Great news!

Making very good progress.

Thanks guys. Just an update, I started a new job last Monday with some longer hours than before so not playing FM as much as I was before Christmas. I am in March of my current season so might get an update done this weekend, but just wanted to let anyone know who was following. I'm still very much enjoying this career, but I'm sure a lot of you understand the situation! Thanks to everyone that has been reading and I hope to update as much as possible.

Just a quick update, March hasn't been a great month for my first teams injuries!!!

The more you mature the less FM you play. That's life.

The more you mature the less FM you play. That's life.

LEAGUE TABLE[/url]

LEAGUE POSITION GRAPH"]

"]SQUAD STATS[/url]

After a steady start to the season we eventually hit a lovely bit of form around mid-season and for a short while looked on track to achieving a play-off position. By the end of the season we were comfortable in the top half of the table and an 8th place finish seems a fair reflection of our season as whole.

FA CUP"][/url] - After last season's incredible success, I hoped to emulate it but ultimately we just didn't perform against a very beatable Whitehawk side and a 2-1 home loss was a disappointing end.

FA TROPHY"][/url] - I predicted a semi final showing this season and we managed it with a couple of great performances. Even after coming from 3-1 down in the first leg of the semi with 2 goals in second half stoppage time, Accrington embarrassed us at home and the Wembley dream was over for another season.

TRANSFERS"][/url] - We off loaded a fair few players and made a few signings in key areas. Ali Tindle"][/url] came into the squad at right back and the youngster was a record signing for Worcester at 31k! He had an average first season, but I hope he will improve. Nick Moore"][/url] is a great young keeper, signed as backup, but probably will never feature as a first teamer (but don't tell him that!). Avis Ganiyu"][/url] was brought in as a first team left winger, but the Irishman suffer a bad injury and missed the last couple of months of the season. Steve Crawford"][/url] was brought in during January as extra fire power up front, but he too suffered a bad injury during March and never got going this season. Huw Johnson"][/url] was brought in during the mid season window also. He was signed as a set piece specialist and scored 2 goals from cracking freekicks. He certainly did the job!

FINANCES"][/url] - With all my new expenses, including loan repayments, high wages etc etc, all the money we made last season has pretty much gone! Heres hoping for another cup run next season!

BAKER'S PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Paul Stonehouse"][/url]. The 31 year old left back was solid throughout the season and did exactly what he needed to do. This being his 2nd season with the club he has gone on to prove himself as one of the first players on the team sheet and a great player all round. Overall there were no stand out players as everyone did well, but he was consistent and very rarely put in a bad performance.

BAKER'S YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON - Christoforos "Cristiano" Christodoulou"][/url]. For the third year running, Cristiano is my Young Player of the Season. Yet again it was a hugely difficult choice and there is valid argument for him to be Player of the Season. He put in match winning performances and completely changed our fortunes on many occasions throughout the season. He lacked a bit of consistency, potentially due to two nasty injuries that keep him out for about 8 weeks of the season. I really hope that he excels next season and can take the Player of the Season award!

OTHER KEY PLAYERS

George Williams"][/url] (DC) - He didn't play a huge part in the season as I was restructuring my defence, but injuries in the back four gave him a chance to re-secure a first team spot. In previous seasons I have used him as a right back. At centre half he proved to be very accomplished. The biggest point being that he managed to score 5 goals from corners which proved vital, securing us a lot of points.

Bradley Fortnam-Tomlinson"][/url] (ST) - It's rare that I have a striker as one of my key players, but as he actually got into double figures I found it something of a rarity! He was important and for large parts of the season it felt like he was single handily keep us competitive with his goals. He rarely scored more than one a match which kind of shows how many points he secured for us.

Sean Geddes"][/url] (MC) - The welcome return of Sean to my key player list! The captain of the team! He didn't have an amazing season but proved he could still fit into my squad well. In all honesty I'm not sure if he has another season in him but I will give him a chance for sure.

IN OTHER NEWS

> More training ground upgrades, but it has been hitting our finances

> We played our last game in the rented Aggborough and will be moving to our new stadium next season!

> Game of the Season - Coming from 1-0 down in last 20 minutes to with 3-1"][/url] after a tactic change!

Aims for 2018/19?

> LEAGUE - I’m aiming for the playoffs

Baker's Prediction - 4th

> CUPS - FA Cup 3rd Round. FA Trophy Winners

> TRANSFERS - No really plans. I haven't fully assessed where needs improvement but maybe if a star winger is up for grabs I will sign him.

Tidy improvement.

Tidy improvement.

One of my long term, continuing aims is to play a passing game. I love to watch possession football and want to emulate it in my career. something that I will be keeping track off is passes per game and pass completion. At the moment I'm not sure which pass completion % to set as my goal per game but something I am keeping an eye on is the amount of passes we are connecting compared to our opponents TOTAL passes. Say for example we attempt 500 passes per game and complete 400 of them, I am aiming to make sure that the oppositions total attempted passes doesnt exeed 400. It may sound weird but it's something I feel shows a dominant passing game that not only shows our ability to knock the ball about, but also the extent to which we can shut the opposition down. These two things are vital to having a free flowing possession based tactic that effectively takes all the sting out of the opposition.

At mid season this season I will make a small post about this with facts and figures. It may sound nerdy but it's things like this that suck me into a long term career! Thanks again for continuing to read. I will post mid season update later this week

Sorry about the lack of activity. like I said before I stated a new job at the start if the year and it's been a busy couple of months. Going to have a good session this afternoon, but might not get an update out... we shall see

Have you been coaching your players in how to suplex opposition players?