Any advice for a great escape?

Hi everyone

I'm in my third season as Whitehawk. I got comfortably promoted in the first year to the conference premier (or whatever it's called these days) and in my second season, surprisingly scraped up into league 2 through the playoffs. I only finished fifth on goal difference and in the final, went all out attack, scored in the first 10 minutes then parked the bus. What I'm getting at is that my team didn't deserve to get promoted and isn't good enough for league 2.

I made a few additions and managed to keep competitive, but I'm now 6 points adrift with 5 games to play, with no wage budget left, morale terrible and everyone availible for loans being less than impressive. My defence isn't bad but I'm really lacking up front. For example my top scorer only has 8 goals. It's looking pretty bleak.

Any ideas for survival? I think I'll need at least 3 wins from 5.

if your team isn't good enough for the league accept the drop then work on getting back in and be prepared for your next season.

In my long term career I went up to League 2, then dropped back to the Conference. You get parachute payments that are basically more than you earned in League 2 anyway, so it's no bad thing in the long term. I was a much better side (on and off the pitch) for going up then down than staying in the Conference for a couple of years.

if your team isn't good enough for the league accept the drop then work on getting back in and be prepared for your next season.

I know what you're saying, but I've consistantly managed to be in between 19th and 21st position but we've had a dip recently. Out of the five fixtures, I would say one is guranteed defeat but I'd say that with the right approach, the other 4 may be winnable, as they are all against bottom half teams. So is there anything that I can do late in a season to give the team a boost or improve or whatever. This is my first time in a relegation scrap so I have no experience. I normally just take on mid table prem sides, so this is uncharted waters for me.

Also, if I do get relegated, will my team still be full time or will it go back to part time?

just go about the matches as you usually would, you could also try encouraging the players through interaction in hopes of boosting morale a bit.

I would say, do what you can as far as talking to the players, try telling them you have faith in them. The one fixture you say is "guaranteed defeat", see if you can't go full Mourinho and park the bus, try to scrap a point. The rest, you'll probably have to play for three points so go more attacking than you usually would, and if you can grab an early goal, sit back and defend the hell out of it. Bottom line is, you'll really have to go for broke.

As far as whether you'll go back to part-time, it'll probably depend on your finances to some extent. I'd say it'd be unlikely you'll go back to part-time, at least in your first season back in the Conference.

Keep things tactically simply and if there's space in the calendar take time to rip apart a lower league team to let them know what winning is again. Take that fragile green moral into the next game.

Oh and praise their conduct, praise their training if mentioned, praise anyone who gets 7.0+ in game or in their form.

take time to rip apart a lower league team to let them know what winning is again. Take that fragile green moral into the next game.

Thanks for that advice. Great idea, if I remember rightly there is space for a friendly to be booked. I'll get chance to play the last 5 games on sunday and I'll arange one.

Thanks for that advice. Great idea, if I remember rightly there is space for a friendly to be booked. I'll get chance to play the last 5 games on sunday and I'll arange one.

In the past I've even dropped the first team if there isn't space in the calendar, played the second XI and got a result. Given they rarely get a starting spot they put up a bit of a fight, and then play the first XI in a friendly on that same day, or near enough.

Well I got the 3 wins that I thought we would need. We started the last match in 22nd, but we lost against Gillingham and ******* Rotherham went and won and stayed up instead of us. Down by 2 points, can't fault the players efforts. Hopefully we can bounce straight back up. Also, only 3 players have asked to leave, all of which are on high wages so I should be able to get rid of them and add in some new players, hopefully I can find someone who can score goals this year.

We started the last match in 22nd, but we lost against Gillingham and ******* Rotherham went and won and stayed up instead of us.

It's probably worth mentioning that Rotherham are going through a financial crisis in my save. They keep selling their best players and still have poor finances. Guaranteed to go down next year for them.

you're still doing a lot better than me. I fancied having a go with Whitehawk as my local lower league side and they sacked me with two games to go in my first season. I wasn't doing that badly either, sitting 5th in line for a play-off place. Ah well, their loss is Concord Rangers' gain.

Save the game before each game, then reload if you lose

you're still doing a lot better than me. I fancied having a go with Whitehawk as my local lower league side and they sacked me with two games to go in my first season. I wasn't doing that badly either, sitting 5th in line for a play-off place. Ah well, their loss is Concord Rangers' gain.

With the squad that you start with its impossible to get promoted, I made a lot of signings. The only players I have left from the original squad 3 seasons in are the defensive mid sylvestre guyonnet and the striker Danny Mills, and he rarely gets a game. If I remember rightly, the defence is shockingly bad and they only had 2 centre backs, so it took a lot of work.

Save the game before each game, then reload if you lose

I never do that. I always hate myself for doing it haha. I was thinking when I got relegated, should I do that, but I'm glad I didn't. Saves a lot of self-loathing.

I never do that. I always hate myself for doing it haha. I was thinking when I got relegated, should I do that, but I'm glad I didn't. Saves a lot of self-loathing.

I was kidding ofcourse. But I have to admit I have done it in the past. Its been when im so annoyed with how low my players condition always is and I leaver players out etc. soused to save it to play diff line ups to see what results I got with differing team line ups and tactics.

next time hold a team meeting, will give your team a morale boost if you get it right.

I was kidding ofcourse. But I have to admit I have done it in the past. Its been when im so annoyed with how low my players condition always is and I leaver players out etc. soused to save it to play diff line ups to see what results I got with differing team line ups and tactics.

The last time I did it was when I had 5 injuries in one match. I thought that just went to far.