(FM11) From paupers to kings vol II: building from the ground up

EDIT: the first attempt at this didn't get off the ground after a major error, but I'm now back up and running.

Evening all.

Back again with another save after running out of steam with my marathon FM13 career. However, despite buying FM15 recently, I've decided to go back to FM11 for my latest effort. Like many of us here on FMCU I suspect, the amount of time I have to play FM is diminishing, especially now there's a toddler about. My laptop is also getting on a bit which means when I do play one of the more modern versions of FM, I seem to spend a lot of time waiting in between games so progress can be painfully slow. (I was on a train for an hour and 40 minutes a couple of weeks ago and only managed two matches, plus I nearly missed my stop as it also seemed to take about five minutes to save my progress!)

All of this means I've decided to play a more stripped-back version of the game, and I know I could have got this with FMC, but that's a bit like eating a bacon sandwich and not adding sauce - there's just something missing. Anyway, I really enjoyed FM11, so I'm more than happy to go back to it until buying a new laptop moves up my priority list.

With the career itself, I've had to be a little more mainstream than I would have been on 13 or 15 (I don't own 14) as I don't have the add/remove leagues option, but that's OK. It's been a long while since I've played in any of the leagues I've loaded, and the only rule I'll give myself over the course of this career is that I can't move to a "ready-made" big club. ("Big club" of course is a relative term, I essentially mean a top 6 club in any major country, but I wouldn't be opposed to a Hibs or Dundee United type club in one of the smaller countries.) Instead I'll look to build a club up, although if there is a big club in genuine peril, I may attempt to rebuild them. My overall ambition is to take a lower-league club and turn them into world-beaters. Unlike my FM13 career though I'm planning on this being a journeyman career, and I'd certainly like to manage in several different countries.

The details

FM11.3 (original database, no edits)

Leagues loaded from:

England (BSS/N and above)

Scotland (Third Division and above)

Ireland (First Division and above)

Italy (Serie C2 and above)

Portugal (Second League and above)

Wales

France (National and above)

Medium database, 35,000 players

Meet the manager

Unlike in other saves, the manager is a 30-year-old me, English by birth with Scottish heritage. I'm a Notts County fan, which I forgot to add, so that may influence some of my club choices...

League (Principality Welsh Premier)

Media prediction: 12th (of 12)

Cups

Loosemore League Cup: First Round

Welsh Cup: winners

Top scorer

Gifton Noel-Williams: 20 goals (17 in the league)

Player of the season

Danny Murphy (no, not that one)

Attendances

Lowest attendance: 132 v Bangor City in the Loosemore League Cup

Highest attendance: 599 v Aberystwyth in the Welsh Cup

Average attendance: 363

Haverfordwest County AFC - Season summary 2011/12

League Principality Welsh Premier

Media prediction: 3rd

Board expectation: challenge for the title

Final table:

Cups

Loosemore League Cup: winners

Welsh Cup: winners

Top scorers

Rene Howe: 27 goals (20 in the league)

Gifton Noel-Williams: 25 goals (18 in the league)

Ambitions

My plan was to leave the club after after dominating Wales, and I was to get my wish...

Player of the season

Byron Webster

Attendances

Lowest attendance: 232 v Aberaman in the Welsh Cup

Highest attendance: 1,009 v Llanelli in the Loosemore Cup Semi final

Average attendance: 434

Finances

£290,000

On the day of the cup final, which was also the last day of the English Football League season, I received an offer I simply couldn't refuse....

Good to see someone else with the sense to play FM11

Good luck with this. Seems a lot of people are going back to older FM's, agreed with the save time too, my laptop scores 8 on the CPU benchmark and it still takes a few minutes to save, i've actually lost progress in some saves because i've had to use a 3 month rolling file rather than a weekly one Backwards is the new forwards

Good to see someone else with the sense to play FM11

Good luck with this. Seems a lot of people are going back to older FM's, agreed with the save time too, my laptop scores 8 on the CPU benchmark and it still takes a few minutes to save, i've actually lost progress in some saves because i've had to use a 3 month rolling file rather than a weekly one Backwards is the new forwards

After a slight delay thanks to my laptop switching off while mid-game (awful error) I'm back with this. Slight swerve in the game, but at least it is back to life!

Bradford City Association Football Club (also known as the Bantams, and previously the Paraders) is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

The club was founded in 1903. It was immediately elected into Division Two of the Football League despite not having played a previous game. Promotion to the top tier followed in 1908 and the club won the FA Cup in 1911, its only major honour. After relegation in 1922 from Division One, the club spent 77 years outside the top flight until promotion to the Premier League in 1999. City stayed up, with a then record low of 36 points, in the first season in the Premier League. Relegation followed the following season in 2000–01. Since then a series of financial crises did push the club to the brink of closure. The financial pressure resulted in two more relegations to League Two.

The club's colours are claret and amber and they play their home games at the 25,132 capacity Valley Parade Stadium.

The club have more than 9,000 season ticket holders, and adequate training and youth facilities.

They were expected to get promoted this season, but instead finished the season in 20th place in League Two. The club were spending more than £26,000 a week in wages, certainly the largest budget in the division. A transformation job is certainly required...

Bradford City AFC - Season preview 2012/13

Media expectation: 13th

Board expectation: top-half finish

Transfer budget (remaining): £70,000

Wage budget: £28,500p/w (£500p/w under budget)

It's taken a little while to get to the beginning of my third campaign, and there has been a lot of upheaval at my new club. It is no coincidence why Bradford finished 20th in League Two last year, there were too many players who quite frankly just weren't good enough. I'm pretty sure we'll do much better this time around, and my ambition is to finish 3rd, which would see us promoted. A huge improvement on last year, but definitely achievable I think.

My first act upon arriving at the club was to sort out the coaching staff. For some reason, there were five youth coaches and no first-team coaches on the books, so a little renegotiation solved that problem. I also replaced my assistant with my old number two from Haverfordwest.

Financially we're looking quite steady, with over £1m in the bank thanks to healthy season ticket sales, I've also arranged two pre-season cups, both of which should earn £300,000 plus, and both are televised so that should help even further. I'd like to think we can use that money to upgrade our training or youth facilities, but so far my board have denied every request I've made, so we shall see!

Transfers

Players out

Not a great deal to write home about here, although David Buchanan leaving for £70,000 was a surprise. He was solid enough and so I had no plans to sell him, but at £2,000p/w he was probably earning more than he should. Jon McLaughlin's sale didn't go down well as he went to rivals Huddersfield, but given time the fans will come round.

Players in

My assistant was not the only one who followed me from Pembrokeshire - full-back David Cowan and central midfielder James Ashmore came in for a grand total of £33,000. Next up I brought in young goalkeeper Martin Hansen from Plymouth for £10,000, as well as the commanding central defensive duo of "]Andy Butler[/url] and "]Jerel Ifil[/url].

We've also signed five first team players on loan: striker Will Keane and midfielder Eztaz Hussain from Manchester United, midfielder James Wallace from Everton and central defender Kevin Long from Burnley. Another arrival was midfielder Scott Allan from Dundee United.

The two most important arrivals though are these two, both of whom could probably play in the Championship according to my scouts:

Right, time for some friendlies.

Mainly played for confidence, but the cup earned us over £1m in the end. As a result, I was happy just to play the one rather than the two I had planned.

August

LG2: Morecambe 1-1 Bradford

A decent display in my first outing, and I'm happy enough with a point. On-loan striker Will Keane grabbed our goal early on, smashing home from the edge of the box, and although we conceded from a set-piece, there are plenty of positives on display.

League Cup 1st Round: Bradford 0-0 Sheff Wed (aet - 5-4 on penalties)

This was an excellent display against a side two divisions higher than ourselves, especially as I made lots of changes. Delighted to go through, although not so much to be playing for 120 minutes at this stage of the season!

LG2: Bradford 3-0 Dagenham & Redbridge

A wonderful display secures our first win. Will Keane grabbed a wonderful hat-trick, and looks like he could be an excellent addition for us.

LG2: Stevange 0-1 Bradford

A real test, but we came through it. James Ashmore with the winner, his first for the club, with 5 minutes to go.

League Cup 2nd Round: Fulham 2-1 Bradford

We put up a good fight, but didn't quite have enough for the win. Eztaz Hussain grabbed a stunner from 30 yards, but Fulham deservedly go through.

Good start there

Good start at Haverfordwest.