St Albans City FC Official Thread

St Albans City Football Club

Blue Square South

THANKS TO CROUCHALDINHO FOR THIS INFORMATION

Club Information

Club: St. Albans City

Nicknames: 'The Saints' or 'City'

Stadium: Clarence Park

Club Colours: Traditionally yellow and blue, however for this season only City will be playing in a blue strip with gold trim, gold shorts and blue socks. This is because it is their centenary season and this is a replica of their 1908 kit.

Claim to fame: You'll like this one. I promise. This proud Hertfordshire club has a major claim to fame. Wilfred Minter, a legendary forward who turned down the opportunity to play professional football to stay with his hometown club and work for his father's family business, holds the record for the most goals scored by one player in an FA Cup tie. This feat took place in City's most famous match on November 22, 1922 in a first round FA Cup tie. Having been held by Dulwich Hamlet to a 1-1 draw at Clarence Park on November 18, the replay drew a gate of 4,060. City's New Zealand-born goalkeeper W. Tennant did not appear, his place taken by Alf Fearn who was usually a half-back with the reserves. Dulwich put eight goals past him, the winning goal coming in near darkness at the end of extra time. What put the game in the record books was that City scored seven times, with all seven goals being scored by Wilfred Minter. His feat remains the highest tally by a player on the losing side of an FA Cup tie. Brilliant!

Favourite supporter chants:

Among the more witty and original songs:

- 'We've got a cathedral, we've got a cathedral, la la la laa laa, la la la laa laa' etc. (sung to any club in a location without a cathedral)

'Our ca-the-dral, is bigger than yours, our cathedral is bigger than yours' (to tune of 'Saints go marching in' and sung to any club in a location with a cathedral)

- 'We're rich and we know we are' (Well, it is St. Albans so this is generally true!)

- 'We all shop at Waitrose, we all shop at Waitrose'! (see above)

- The supporters also do a nice rendition of 'Hey Jude' which they have renamed 'Cit-eh'.

Division: Blue Square South

Transfer Budget: Yeah, right!

Key Players: Hakim, Sulaiman, Ben Martin, Clarke (when fit).

Good Points: There is a good basis at St. Albans for building a side that could challenge in the BSS. A solid defence that can dominate in the air. Good attacking players like Sulaiman and a good goalscorer at this level in Paul Hakim. New signings like Gary Cohen and Alex Bailey look like exciting prospects.

Bad Points: Lack of money. Had a poor season last time around so predicted by the media for lower table/survival. Lots of new signings so squad will need time to gell. Need to be strengthened in the middle of the park. Requirement for a strong second striker to support Hakim. Finally, can you get the best out of Lee Clarke? He has an excellent goal ratio at this level but has been in poor form recently. You will need to get him fit and then make a decision about whether he is better in the middle of the park or up front.

Short-term target: Get the team challenging for promotion to the Conference. The club have only been there once in their history, back in 2006/2007. Can you take them back?

Mid-term target: Consolidate and make the club a challenger in the Conference. Here you will need to reach the same status as, or overtake, county rivals Stevenage. Better still, St. Albans is a city that could easily contain a Football League club, so aim for the Football League.

Long-term target: Can you make the mighty Saints the real pride of Hertfordshire by overtaking Watford in the Football League structure? On your way up, look forward to building up a rivalry with nearby Luton Town as well, who are only 10 miles down the road.

Additional Information: It is a centenary season for the mighty Saints - can you bring some happy times back to Clarence Park? To mark the occasion, City will be playing in a blue and gold replica of their original 1908 football kit.

Saints have not had a dull moment in the last three seasons. They were promoted to the conference in 2005/06, relegated back to the conference south in 2006/07 and nearly relegated again last season. The Saints never make it easy on themselves. You will need to steady the ship and consolidate after a disasterous campaign in 2007/08.

The BSS is a very close division this year, so with some canny management and a few signings, you may feel that you can push on for a promotion spot. Expectation is always high at Clarence Park and what the fans really want is to see the mighty Saints back in the Conference. Can you be the man to do it and attain hero status at this proud Hertfordshire club? Good luck.

I've often fancied a game as St Albans as I live qutie near, but cant get into it tbh.

I'm not going to add this to the links thread yet, I think it needs to be more detailed tbh. Imo you should add a badge, and post about their FM information(e.g. Stadium size, amount of coaches allowed).

Good luck with them:thup:

I have just started a game with them too.

Currently 7th in league only 5 points from top spot. Played 22 games and league top scorers. FA Cup lost in 1st Round proper to Leicester of L1 3-0 and was well beaten tbh! The CLC I lost in Rd 2 but I am through to the 2nd Rd of FAT.

I have signed the following (all freebies)

Jean-Jacques Misse Misse - a 55 cap Cameronian International forward, he is 40 years old though! Also has quite an appropriate name since in all his 55 caps he failed to score!!!! 20 games so far (6 as sub) and a healthy 8 goals.

He recommends a former team mate Jens De Cat, who plays DLC, DM, AML - so is VERY useful.

From him I was suggested Dennis Moerenhout a AMR/ST - 19 games and 7 goals / 7 asst. Worth £9k now.

Abu Ogogo on loan from Arsenal D/M R played mostly at RB. 26 games and a 7.02 ave only 17 years old.

Rob Keirnan on loan from Watford. Only got 12 games, ave 7.06 and 4 goals from DC/DM.

Matty Collins was transfer listed by Swansea for £18k but they accepted a zero bid! 21 games and ave 6.90 for a MC - now worth £8k

Paul Owens a AML on a free, played 9 games scored 5 and asst 4 more ave 7.18

Sam Pearce a GK who is keeping the 'club hero' Bastock out of the side.

From these forums I signed Jim Ablancourt & Yohan Guichard - I have played various lower league sides previously and managed to sign lots of the suggested players which made things very easy!

I have signed a few other people but not been overly impressed with them.

Allowed AM, 1 Coach, 1 Physio and 2 Scouts.

Capacity is 7,000 with 700 seats.

Try for Willy Robert, he might be on your game and is excellent.

thanks guys, i'll add more info when i get my new pc on thursday

part of my problem is because they are my supported and hometown team, i dont like leaving out players that i watch every week

ha, i better sort out my ocd

Hey, I'm excited to find an official Saints thread! Can't believe I missed this!

Here is my write-up and attempt to convince a few of you to take up the challenge of managing in Hertfordshire's famous and historic Roman city.

Club Information

Club: St. Albans City

Nicknames: 'The Saints' or 'City'

Stadium: Clarence Park

Club Colours: Traditionally yellow and blue, however for this season only City will be playing in a blue strip with gold trim, gold shorts and blue socks. This is because it is their centenary season and this is a replica of their 1908 kit.

Claim to fame: You'll like this one. I promise. This proud Hertfordshire club has a major claim to fame. Wilfred Minter, a legendary forward who turned down the opportunity to play professional football to stay with his hometown club and work for his father's family business, holds the record for the most goals scored by one player in an FA Cup tie. This feat took place in City's most famous match on November 22, 1922 in a first round FA Cup tie. Having been held by Dulwich Hamlet to a 1-1 draw at Clarence Park on November 18, the replay drew a gate of 4,060. City's New Zealand-born goalkeeper W. Tennant did not appear, his place taken by Alf Fearn who was usually a half-back with the reserves. Dulwich put eight goals past him, the winning goal coming in near darkness at the end of extra time. What put the game in the record books was that City scored seven times, with all seven goals being scored by Wilfred Minter. His feat remains the highest tally by a player on the losing side of an FA Cup tie. Brilliant!

Favourite supporter chants:

Among the more witty and original songs:

- 'We've got a cathedral, we've got a cathedral, la la la laa laa, la la la laa laa' etc. (sung to any club in a location without a cathedral)

'Our ca-the-dral, is bigger than yours, our cathedral is bigger than yours' (to tune of 'Saints go marching in' and sung to any club in a location with a cathedral)

- 'We're rich and we know we are' (Well, it is St. Albans so this is generally true!)

- 'We all shop at Waitrose, we all shop at Waitrose'! (see above)

- The supporters also do a nice rendition of 'Hey Jude' which they have renamed 'Cit-eh'.

Division: Blue Square South

Transfer Budget: Yeah, right!

Key Players: Hakim, Sulaiman, Ben Martin, Clarke (when fit).

Good Points: There is a good basis at St. Albans for building a side that could challenge in the BSS. A solid defence that can dominate in the air. Good attacking players like Sulaiman and a good goalscorer at this level in Paul Hakim. New signings like Gary Cohen and Alex Bailey look like exciting prospects.

Bad Points: Lack of money. Had a poor season last time around so predicted by the media for lower table/survival. Lots of new signings so squad will need time to gell. Need to be strengthened in the middle of the park. Requirement for a strong second striker to support Hakim. Finally, can you get the best out of Lee Clarke? He has an excellent goal ratio at this level but has been in poor form recently. You will need to get him fit and then make a decision about whether he is better in the middle of the park or up front.

Short-term target: Get the team challenging for promotion to the Conference. The club have only been there once in their history, back in 2006/2007. Can you take them back?

Mid-term target: Consolidate and make the club a challenger in the Conference. Here you will need to reach the same status as, or overtake, county rivals Stevenage. Better still, St. Albans is a city that could easily contain a Football League club, so aim for the Football League.

Long-term target: Can you make the mighty Saints the real pride of Hertfordshire by overtaking Watford in the Football League structure? On your way up, look forward to building up a rivalry with nearby Luton Town as well, who are only 10 miles down the road.

Additional Information: It is a centenary season for the mighty Saints - can you bring some happy times back to Clarence Park? To mark the occasion, City will be playing in a blue and gold replica of their original 1908 football kit.

Saints have not had a dull moment in the last three seasons. They were promoted to the conference in 2005/06, relegated back to the conference south in 2006/07 and nearly relegated again last season. The Saints never make it easy on themselves. You will need to steady the ship and consolidate after a disasterous campaign in 2007/08.

The BSS is a very close division this year, so with some canny management and a few signings, you may feel that you can push on for a promotion spot. Expectation is always high at Clarence Park and what the fans really want is to see the mighty Saints back in the Conference. Can you be the man to do it and attain hero status at this proud Hertfordshire club? Good luck.

And, also, here is my St. Albans City story for those who might be interested in what it is like to manage the mighty Saints:

'Oh When The Saints Go Marching In' - A St. Albans City Story

Hello all,

I have some information for those playing as St. Albans City regarding their colours and kits in FM.

As most of you probably know, the Saints traditionally play in yellow and blue, however for this season only City are playing in a blue strip with gold trim, gold shorts and blue socks. This is because it is their centenary season and this is a replica of their 1908 kit.

FM09 is set up to change the colours of St. Albans City for the second season in the game (2009/10). You will notice that as you finish your first season and enter into the second, the St. Albans City text will change to yellow and blue. Also, St. Albans will play in yellow and blue on the 2D screen.

Unfortunately, this doesn't translate to the 3D match view and, much to my frustration, the Saints keep playing on in their centenary kit. This has been reported by me as a 'bug', although it is really very minor and not so much a bug as a slight oversight. Anyway, I now have a solution for those who might be interested.

I love realism in my game and so I decided to investigate creating my own 09/10 home kit in traditional colours of yellow and blue. What I have come up with is fairly basic but it is my first attempt and I think it isn't bad for starters. Perhaps someone else playing as Saints or another Saints fan might come up with something better in the future. Anyway, below is a link to a screenshot of my 09/10 kit from the 'club information' screen. (As I am a total amateur at this kind of thing, I am only posting a link - if anyone can explain how I can get the image embedded in the post then that would be great).

Screenshot of Saints Kit

This kit will show on the 3D representation in place of the centenary kit (by this, I mean the 3D players will be wearing this kit). As you can see, the shirt is yellow with blue stripes along the shoulders, arms and down the sides. The shorts, which you will see in the 3D match screen, are blue, and the socks are yellow with a single blue stripe.

You can download this kit with the config file here:

Download page

To install the kit:

Unzip (or whatever the correct term is) the file you have downloaded. Place the 'config.xml' and 'stalbanscity_home.png' files in the following location:

......./Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2009/Graphics/Pictures/Kits/Outfield/Clubs/eng

You will probably have to create these directories.

Then go into FM and do the whole load skin business. If you are unsure, then check the sticky threads in the Skinning Hideout.

Load up FM and then you are off with Saints playing in the right colours for 09/10!

Please note that this will not work in season 08/09 - the centenary kit will remain. This is because the config.xml file is setup to make it so that the kit only comes in after the first season, when the centenary should be replaced. Once you reach 09/10 though, my kit will come in.

As you will see from the screenshot above, I have also designed a new third kit. However, I am not putting this up for download at the moment. If you are interested in it then feel free to PM me and I will gladly forward to you.

One final thing - obviously I have used a bit of creative license in designing this kit but I am just aiming at some level of realism. I wanted to make sure that Saints were playing in yellow and blue after their centenary season. I will probably design a few variations in the future, once I get bored of this one. I might try a few retro-style Saints kits next.

Hope some people enjoy this. It is a very modest effort but it took me a lot of time to achieve as I am not the best when it comes to this kind of thing!

Cheers,

C.

I should add that the kit design is a basic retro-style and is, in part, based upon a combination of one or two of our past kits in real life.

Ahhh, I remember my game last year with St Albans. Started in the lower swedish division, got relegated, went some tiny brazilian team who played in blue... esportivo I think. Got annoyed with the brazilian league system, left brazil, went to Serie C, left after half a season, went to st albans, blitzed the BSP after getting some good players on loan from charlton, missed out on promotion to league two the next season, the save file died. It's the only time I've played a proper LLaMa game, and while I enjoyed it, I generally spent much more time on it than other games with far less to show for it with regards to the amount of seasons. I'd like to do another LLaMa game at some point, but I need a lot of time clear for it, because it really does eat the time up haha

Finished my first season with the Saints. Had some bad injuries to contend with and finished just outside the playoffs in 7th.

Have a good team now and hoping to push on in the second season.

I've found the existing defence really solid, especially Scott Cousins and Ben Martin. Hassan Sulaiman on right is doing the business for me. Had to bring in a few new players in central midfield. A player called Kieran Hall was on a free at the start of the game and is awesome. I'm struggling to get goals out of Paul Hakim but I suspect that might be my tactics more than anything. Ex-Football Icon and Chelsea player Sam Hurrell is proving a good super sub to bring on late in the game.

Haven't brought in any new players this season as I feel the team is good enough and I'm hoping to get them to gel.

Come on you Saints!

C.

In my 1st season we were league runners up but lost in the play off final but lost to a disputed penalty in 85th minute! Not happy. However we did win the FA Trophy and reach rd1 of FA Cup proper.

In my 2nd we won the league at a canter, runners up in the FATrophy - which was disapointing and 2nd round of the FA Cup.

In the 3rd season I suggested I would be interested in a job at another club and the board demanded loyalty from me. Just hanging outside the play off zones and the club get taken over (nice loyalty there from the board) I reach the 3rd round of the FA cup where I am due to play a NL side (no division) so the new board promptly sack me and put their own guy in charge!

Nice thanks!

So my story is off to pastures new, Doncaster Rovers to be precise - more money for signings, wages and my own wage!!

Signed Zlatko Yankov. Seems pretty good but is 42 :/

He was good on FM08 too, I had him for Harpenden.

Fantasy Kits

Past Kits

Awesome kits bouttifull - seriously impressed with those!

C.

They are awesome - downloading those straight away!!

Click For Full View

Anyone have some player instructions to get the best out of Paul hakim please?

Paul Hakim... Well first thing, how are you playing him? Lone striker or in a partnership?

I got quite a lot out of Paul Hakim by playing him as FCd, number 10 style, lower mentality than his partner, mixed forward runs. Then I gave him fairly decent creative freedom, run with ball mixed, through balls mixed or often, hold up ball.

If you play him something like that, then he should hold his runs a bit and collect the ball into feet in a central position or in the channels. That's how he tends to play in real life.

Could try setting him as TM and setting balls 'played into feet', as that is a PPM for him. He is quite an agile player for that level and he tends to play with his back to goal, get the ball into feet, then turn and run, or move into the channels, or try to get a shot away. He has quite a bit of flair and creativity so make sure you allow him a little bit of freedom.

He's a decent composed goalscorer and I think you should be able to get, say, 20+ goals out of him, if you get the settings spot on.

I think I got 20 league goals out of him with these kind of settings.

He has a decent personality but make sure you keep his morale up and try to fire him up because he is that kind of player.

When I got the Saints up to BSP and Paul Hakim did quite well at that level too.

Hope that helps.

Let me know if you want any other advice. Good to see someone playing with the mighty Saints!

Regards,

C.

I should also mention that I have also played Paul Hakim in more of a 'poacher' type role and also as a lone striker, the latter mainly for his ability to hold up the ball and his strength, as much as his composure in front of goal and his working the channels. He is quite a good forward in that respect, as he has quite a few different attributes to be successful at that level.