[FM16] A quite challenging challenge...

Ok, this is it. About to commence my long term FM 2016 save and will be doing so in-line with dafuge's challenge.

Hope you all enjoy the ride

Game: Football Manager 2016 (PC)

Database size: Large

Leagues loaded:

England (Vanarama North/South and above)

Have DB of around 45,000 players.

Previous experience: Sunday morning footballer

The in-game editor has been disabled.

Kingstonian FC

Kingstonian Football Club: A background

Kingstonian are affectionately known as the K's and play their home football at The Fan's Stadium - Kingsmeadow.

The clun enjoyed probably their best spell of success during the 2000's. Although now enduring a seven year barren spell, having not won a competition since 2009. The K's still have a history which they can be justly proud of.

will see how u get on

Kingstonian FC

League Expectations

Vanarama Conference South: Avoid Relegation (Board) & 18th/22 (Media Prediction)

Cup Expectations

FA Cup: Reach 4th Qual. Round

FA Trophy: Reach 1st Round

Finances

Opening bank balance: £51,500

Transfer Budget: £5,150

Wage Budget: £5,885

Current Wage Bill: £4,527

Season Tickets

Sold: 44/4893 (Currently reduced by 446) the 40 isnt a typo!

My Thoughts:

Im exicted to get his job underway. Upon joining Kingstonian i was greeted by my new Chairman before meeting my staff, which only consisted of my assistant, a head physio and a U18s manager. My current playing squad looked ok but required some padding out. My first job was to appoint a scout to aid with player recruitment. Ive only managed to bring in 4 players so far, im about another 4 short of where i want to be. The squad isnt that bad, i just hope we can avoid relegation as the board want, that said, my personal ambitions are alot bigger then that. Only time will tell.

Targets

1. Avoid relegation

2. Keep overall bank balance in the green

3. To help with 2., i'll be needing a good cup run, this will be achieved by surpassing the boards expectation for FAC

Ah, found the 'non-contract' players, should make life a little easier...

Added 'Targets' to pre-season review.

Also decided im going to try to never part ways with my assistant. Hes the guy whose been here since day 1 so i'll attempt to take him all the way on this journey and train him up.

He here is;

Kingstonian FC

League Performance: The target was to avoid relegation and im happy to say we are currently surpassing all expectations sitting nicely in 11th place. We will easily avoid relegation but im determined to really kick on in the hope of making a play-off place, although we are 7 points off the lowest P/O place.

FA Cup: Really wanted to make a good cup run but we, embarrassingly, crashed out at the 3rd Qualifier round.

FA Trophy: Again, a nice cup run would have helped with morale and finance but we lost in the 3rd Qualifier round.

Finances: Currently sat with -£55,031 in the bank, meaning we have lost around 80k this season. The bulk being spent on wages and 'other'. Wont be on course to make my season target and it could ed up costing me more then just a target...

Transfers: Since the last update, ive gone abit OTT and have bought in a further 12 players. Some have worked, some simple havent. Will be looking to ship out the excess players ASAP.

Squad: We've made some good improvements. I wont mention an specific players at this point as im not sure who will be sticking around. We really struggle with players fitness. I have no U21 fixtures so make my assistant organise friendlies every week to help with sharpness etc Looking for 1 or 2 of the lads to really step up now and help us kick on.

Summary: A disaster in the cups but im exceeding expectation in the league, which im really actually quite happy about. Form needs to become more consistent if we are to progress this season. My staff are really constrained via the board allowance, i did sack my physio for one with better stats.

A recent formation change, from 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 with a DM, has seen better performances, just trying to get the players to play the roles i require.

Really wanting to make a play-off spot but we'll have to see. I need my pitch to stop being waterlogged!

See you at the end of the season!

Rich Julian

Manager

Kingstonian FC

A new year, a new contract

Going well at the halfway point . A bit more consistency and a play off push should be realistic

Going well at the halfway point . A bit more consistency and a play off push should be realistic

No comment about being a team in red and white? Im shocked

Cheers mate, with no other fixtures then league game, im hoping we can kick on.

No comment about being a team in red and white? Im shocked

Cheers mate, with no other fixtures then league game, im hoping we can kick on.

I didn't twig to be honest ...but now you've said it...I always knew you liked red!

But you like Derby though Raware. You've admitted it a number of times.

Going well RSJ, staying up will be a good achievement.

But you like Derby though Raware. You've admitted it a number of times.

Going well RSJ, staying up will be a good achievement.

Cheers NF, appreciate you stopping by.

Since the update, just cant seem to kick on, its frustrating to say the least.

Signing off for the night, but things starting to pick up slightly. Really enjoying the save

Should have a solid first season.

watchin this one

Should have a solid first season.

Hoping to really kick on and attempt to make 5th.

watchin this one

Thanks mate, glad to have you onboard.

All good things must come to an end...

Little bit of a spoiler.

go for it rsj

Little bit of a spoiler.

By my reckoning, this news comes with one league game remaining...another last day jitters on the horizon or are you gonna hold your nerve this time?

Season Review will be posted this evening.

Kingstonian FC

League Performance: Wow! What can i say? You left us mid-season, doing well and sitting in 11th place. I said at the time i would love to kick on and find some consistency. As you can see from my previous posts, we did just that and put 1 or 2 nice unbeaten runs together. However, as you can see from the league table, we had too many draws for my liking, with about 8 games to go i thought our hopes of reaching the play-off were over, wee were just too far away. A big win against Bromley changed everything though. We suddenly got more of a belief. With 4 games to go we were 10th, but still in with a shout, the first 2 of 4 saw us facing teams in the relegation zone while the final 2 games of the season were against promotion chasing rivals. We won the 1st 2 games easily adnd then dispatched Bath to climb into 5th, the last remaining P/O place before facing 3rd placed Hemel Hempstead in the final game of the season. A win would see us cement 5th place at least, any other result and we'd be need to see how Weston-Super-Mare (WSM) were doing. Just after half time, we were 3-0 down and WSM were winning 1-0. We were 6th. Dartford then pulled a goal back against WSM but the point would suit them, we remained 6th 1pt behind them. We went for it and pulled it back to 3-2, we all began to believe. Then everything changed, but it was our doing. Dartford scored a dramatic winner with 10 minutes to go. We would go to 5th, on goal difference. Nothing else changed in the final 10 and we scraped a play off place by the skin of our teeth. Final League Table

League Positions Graph: Can be found here. Gives us a really clear picture of just how up and down our season was. The final push from around game 38 onwards was really pleasing though.

,

Play Offs: As we finished 5th (last in the P/O spots, we'd host 2nd placed Margate in the first leg of the P/O semi's. We dominated the game and went on to win 2-0 with a really professional performance. The return fixture in Margate was always going to be tense, we played defensive adn controlled football but eventually went on to lose 1-0. It was enough, we won the semi final 2-1 on aggregate and set a date for the final vs. Bromley, the team we beat to kick start a late revival in the league. Since they had placed higher then us, the final was to be played at their place. In a tight affair, it was us that took the lead with a 75th minute header from centre back Ed Sanders. We shut up shop, wasted time and really frustrated out opponent. The final whistle blew and gave us the confirmation we had craved, we had won the play off final and were heading to the National League. A quite unbelievable finish to a magical season.

FA Cup: Really wanted to make a good cup run but we, embarrassingly, crashed out at the 3rd Qualifier round.

FA Trophy: Again, a nice cup run would have helped with morale and finance but we lost in the 3rd Qualifier round.

Finances: Currently sat with -£95,502 in the bank. In perspective, we 'only' recieved £4,500 in prize money. Its a worry but we'll battle on for now.

Transfers: Since the last update, we bought in another 2 strikers. One of which began to find some goals and i believe scored some crucial goals late on in the season - when it really mattered i guess.

Squad: All in all, i used a massive 35 players this season. No screen shots or anything, my squad is no where near settled, alot of players will come and go. My best player by far wont sign a new deal as he thinks the current squad isnt good enough for him to be apart of. I hope to change his mind but he certainly isnt bigger then the club. 2 or 3 players seem solid enough to be definite starters next season, we;'ll just have to see.

Summary: A great first season at the club im starting to fall for. No-one expected us to do anything but we proved alot wrong, even when the chips were down. We now get over the celebrations and turn our attention to next season. I genuinely believe, at this stage, it will be purely be about survival. Nothing else will matter but a cup run would help the bank balance.

Targets Review

1. Avoid relegation - Achieved

2. Keep overall bank balance in the green - Failed

3. To help with 2, i'll be needing a good cup run, this will be achieved by surpassing the boards expectation for FAC - Failed

Will be back to review next season ASAP

Rich Julian

Manager

Kingstonian FC

Career Summary

 
[b][u]Season[/u][/b]               [b][u]Team [/u][/b]                [b][u]League[/u][/b]                 [b][u]Position[/u][/b]                  [b][u]Achievements[/u][/b]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17              Kingstonian FC       Vanarama South         5th                       Promoted via Play-Offs

Trophy Cabinet

[b]Vanarama South Play Off Winners[/b]
2017

Great season RSJ.

Great season RSJ.

Thanks NF

This could put the cat amongst the pigeons...wonder if A) it will happen? B) the new guy will keep me on?

Well thats over without any real drama. No investment but a loan taken out to help with the running of the club.

Kingstonian FC

League Expectations:

Vanarama National League: Avoid Relegation (Board) & 24th/24 (Media Prediction)

Cup Expectations:

FA Cup: Reach the 4th Qual. Round

FA Trophy: reach the 1st Round

Finances:

Bank balance: £5,492 this is down to the loan the new chairman took out.

Transfer Budget: £0 (last season £5,150)

Wage Budget: £10,334 p/w (last season £5,885 p/w)

Current Wage Bill: £4,689 p/w (last season £4,527 p/w)

Pre-season Results:

Nothing much to report on really. Won 3 out of 4 games. Nice 2-1 win against Bolton, who featured a handful of first teamers. Was nice to pull in a good sized crowd for the game too.

Transfers (to date): A busy-ish summer. 5 players have joined us but, more importantly, we've cut out alot of dead wood and slashed the wage bill in the process. At the time of writing, we are still negotiating a few deals as i look to add extra quality to the squad. Ben Glasgow was the player who didnt want to renew his contract. He left and then re-signed A summary can be found here

Season Tickets:

Sold: 88/5000 (+88 from last season)

My Thoughts: Ok so we are set to embark on our first season in the National League under my tenure. We, as a club, havent been in this league since the 2000/01 season. Our task this time is to achieve what couldnt be done in 2001, survival! Thats it. My sole aim is to keep this club in this league. Last season i secretly thought we could give promotion a good go, not so this season. That said, pre-season has been good. We've a new owner/chairman, finances are in the green (for now), we've massively slashed the wage bill, the ground has been expanded to 5000 (2000 seated), we've bought in new players and staff. We also have both the U18s and U21s competing in a competitive league.

Its not all doom and gloom, thats for sure. Im looking forward to the task ahead.

Targets:

1. Avoid relegation

nice update... cant wait to see what promotion throws at you

Cracking end to last season bud:)

Seems you've had a decent pre season!

GOOD LUCK!

Keep getting underestimated, keep getting results

Kingstonian FC

League Performance: Those of you who read the pre-season will know that no-one was giving us a chance this season, not even me! That said, im happy to report, we are again exceeding all expectation and you find us sitting in 5th place. Its been a grat first half of the season. Whilst im obviously delighted, theres an element of frustration too as we have been higher, some silly results have cost us. We were unbeaten in the first 8 games of the season but then went on to lose 3 on the spin in September, it think it was here that people started to feel we'd drop away back to where we 'should be'. A massive win away at Accrington, who were 5th at the time sent out a real statement (see previous posts). The game in had will be key, we need to start to cement our play-off place. Wrexham are too far away, simple as that.

FA Cup: The 4th Qual. round saw us drawn against an 'old enemy' in Margate, who we knocked out the play-offs last season. We went 3-1 up and looked good, i thought we were showing just how far we had come but they fought back and we went on to win the tie 4-3. In the firsr round proper, we face Maidenhead, who we got promoted alongside. We lost the game 1-0 and are now out the FAC. We made about 12k from the competition.

FA Trophy: We are still competing in this competition. We won the the 1st round tie vs. Gosport 1-0 and will face Telford next. We have made about 5k so far.

Finances: We currently have £32,485 in the bank, this is largely down to a £70,000 injection late on in December. Im only spending 64% of my wage budget so the board recently changed the amount of revenue im allowed to keep, from 0% to 20%. every little helps.

Transfers: Since the last update, i have gone on to bring in another 8 players, all free's or loans. Some simply havent worked and they wont be featuring again. If i see a player who improves the matchday 16, they will be coming in. Its a revolving door at the club currently.

Squad: In a typical match day squad, we are using around 9 players who were with me last season. Everyones starting to now buy into the way i want the football to be played and this shows with our performances. They are all buzzing and now look as sharp as ever. Having a competitive U21s side has helped with those not always playing and/or coming back from injuries.

Summary: An excellent start to the season that could have been even better. Aim now is to maintain the results and stay in the top 5. I will improve the squad when the opportunity arises too. Im hoping to go as far as possible in the FAT in the hope it brings a few quid in.

I have won 1 MOTM, for December as it happens, i hope it isnt a curse. Of note, im not being linked with any jobs, not that im going anywhere.

See you all in May.

Rich Julian

Manager

Kingstonian FC

Flying through the season! And making good progress by the looks of it as well Can you maintain your form though...that's the question...

Well done going up RSJ.

Fantastic stuff so far this season!

Flying through the season! And making good progress by the looks of it as well Can you maintain your form though...that's the question...

Well done going up RSJ.

Fantastic stuff so far this season!

Thanks for both the comments and for following gents, nice to know its being read

Kingstonian FC

League Performance: Final Position - 9th At the last review we were sat nicely in 5th place. A disastrous run from February onwards has seen us end up in 10th. Not quite sure where it all went wrong, a few bad results saw morale crumble and it continued to go downhill from there. The last 4 game of the season saw us lose to 5th, 3rd and draw with 1st but in respect, the season was already over for us by then.

League Positions Graph: As you can see here, we spent the majoirty of the season occupying a play-off place but, as is evident, slumped right at the end of the season. Such a decline really disappoints me and its definitely something to work on next season. Just hope we arent a one season wonder.

,

FA Cup: The 4th Qual. round saw us drawn against an 'old enemy' in Margate, who we knocked out the play-offs last season. We went 3-1 up and looked good, i thought we were showing just how far we had come but they fought back and we went on to win the tie 4-3. In the first round proper, we face Maidenhead, who we got promoted alongside. We lost the game 1-0 and are now out the FAC. We made about 12k from the competition.

FA Trophy: Knocked out in the 3rd round by Havant & Waterlooville from the league below us. We beat Telford 6-0 in the 2nd round, this was our biggest ever win. I think we made around 11k from our appearances in this competition.

Finances: A worrying area and if we are to progress in anyway then the balance needs to get better. Currently have £75,347 in the bank but, again, this is due to the board making injections in order to control the debt and league prize money of £83,690. Trasnfer revenue was decreased back to 0% in March.

Transfers: We only bought in one more player since the MSR, a striker who scored on his debut then failed to score for the next (and final) 6 games. That said, hes only 20 and i'll be pinning alot of hope on him next season, i think.

Squad: Really thought we had a squad that was competing. As mentioned, few bad results and heads dropped far too quickly. The fact they are only at the club part-time, for training etc., is killing me to be honest. Would love them here full-time to see some form of progression. There will be alot of ins and outs over the season as i look for the quality needed to take it to the next level. This season we used less players then the last campaign, 26 in total.

Player of the Year: Jack Heddon

Summary: Would i have taken 9th before the season started? Of course i would have. Its a great first season in this league but its definitely a case of bitter sweet having spent so long in and around the play-offs. Learnt some lessons and we'll look to hit the ground running next season and write some wrongs from this one.

Ive just agreed a new contract after the board requested we start negotiations, ive had a clause agreed where the board have said they will look for an affiliate where we can share training facilities. Eager to see how this pans out, never done it before personally.

EDIT: They have just got back to me saying they cant find a suitable club

I got offered 2 jobs but refused to attend both interviews at Kidderminster and Macclesfield respectively.

The U21s finished 5th in their league, was nice to see the squad playing competitive games. The U18s ended their season sitting in 12th (2nd bottom) place. The average attendance this season rose to 515

Target Review

1. Avoid relegation - Achieved

Rich Julian

Manager

Kingstonian FC

Career Summary

 
[b][u]Season[/u][/b]               [b][u]Team [/u][/b]                [b][u]League[/u][/b]                 [b][u]Position[/u][/b]                  [b][u]Achievements[/u][/b]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17              Kingstonian FC       Vanarama South         5th                       Promoted via Play-Offs
2017/18              Kingstonian FC       Vanarama National      9th

Trophy Cabinet

[b]Vanarama South Play Off Winners[/b]
2017

On a whole seems a gutting end but a great season!

Always nice to see...

It's a good season, your first at that level, predicted to finish 24th - so 9th is a good effort even if the way it happened can make it feel less so!

Time to push for those playoffs next season though, very difficult league to get out of is the National League!

Kingstonian FC

League Expectations:

Vanarama National League: Avoid Relegation (Board) & 23rd/24 (Media Prediction)

Cup Expectations:

FA Cup: Reach the 1st Round

FA Trophy: Reach the 2nd Round

Finances:

Bank balance: £29,516 (last season £5,492 p/w)

Transfer Budget: £0 (last season £0)

Wage Budget: £10,382 p/w (last season £10,334 p/w)

Current Wage Bill: £6,562 p/w (last season £6,547 p/w)

Pre-season Results:

The first 3 games i organised myself, mainly to pull and a crowd and make some money - we made about 30k i think. Aware that the 3 games could damage morale, we put them at the beginning. My assistant sorted the rest. Nice draw vs. Stoke and a good win vs. Rotherham U21s.

Transfers (to date): A total of 9 players have left the club over the summer and we've managed to bring in 5 players so far. Ive high hopes that Grainger (GK) and Chiedozie (ST) could be 2 players to make a real difference.

Season Tickets:

Sold: 101/5000 (+13 from last season)

My Thoughts: Despite last seasons performance, neither the board nor the media are giving us a chance, even the bookies have us as 101/1 shots for winning the league. On the transfer front, it could have been alot better. Missed out on 1 or 2 massive signings. The board continue to give me no pennies to spend so its all about scouting free's and unattached players. Nightmare. Have we got a squad capable of both competing and last the length of the season? Only time will tell. Again, if a player is bought to my attention as being better then anyone in the squad, we'll be looking to bring them straight in. The board also continue to refuse me a senior affiliate.

Dduring the summer, i replaced my U21s Manager and my Head of Youth Development in an attempt to make ant improvement possible - feel like i really am on a one man crusade!

Targets:

1. (for the boards sake) Avoid relegation

2. A personal one, Make the Play-Offs

It came around so fast

Very good second season.

About as close as a 'big signing' as we'll get for now...

Really enjoying this read. Good luck for the future at Kingstonian.

Gotta love LLM! It says a lot about the status of your club when free transfers take up a "considerable chunk" of your budget...

Really enjoying this read. Good luck for the future at Kingstonian.

Glad to have you following mate, wasnt sure anyone was reading

Gotta love LLM! It says a lot about the status of your club when free transfers take up a "considerable chunk" of your budget...

Do you know, i hadn't noticed that. My bugdet is £0 so how was it such a chunk? Lol.