FM2009 Official Shrewsbury Town Thread

Welcome to the official Shrewsbury Town Thread

Shrewsbury Town Football Club are an English football club in Football League Two, the fourth tier of English football. They have played in all the bottom three rungs in various guises.

The club was promoted back to the Football League in 2004 at the first attempt, when they won the Conference playoff final. They had been relegated into the conference national from what was then the Third Division (fourth tier) in 2003. In 2006-07, they reached the first play-off final at the new Wembley Stadium, losing 3-1 to Bristol Rovers. They finished 2007–08 18th, drawing 1-1 on the final day with Rochdale.

Honours

· Welsh Cup winners 1891, 1938, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1985; runners up 1931, 1948, 1980

· Football League Third Division (third tier) champions 1979

· Football League Third Division (fourth tier) champions 1994

· Football League Fourth Division (fourth tier) runners up 1975

· Football League Two (fourth tier) Playoff runners up 2007

· Football League Cup Semi Finalists 1961

· Football League Trophy runners up 1996, area finalists 2003

· Midland League champions 1938, 1946, 1948

· Birmingham & District League champions 1923; runners up 1914, 1924, 1937

· Football Conference Playoff Winners 2004

2008 – 2009 Season

Reputation: Local

Chairman Status: Loves the Club

Finances: Okay

Estimated Value: £1.7m (£0 loan debt)

Stadium: Prostar Stadium

Capacity: 10,000 All Seater

Training: Average facilities

Youth: Average facilities

Media Prediction: 17th

The Minimum expectation of the board in your first season is a safe mid table position. To achieve this the board give you £150k transfer budget and £25.5k a week wage budget.

If you have higher ambitions the board will increase these up to a maximum of £220k and £28k respectively.

Squad

GK Luke Daniels

GK Glyn Garner

DLC Marc Tierney

DC Graham Coughlan

DC Michael Jackson

DC DM MC Shane Cansdell-Sheriff

DC ST Kelvin Langmead

D/WBL DM MS Kevin McIntyre

D/WBR/MR Ben Herd

D/WBR/MR Darren Moss

DM MC David Hunt

MRC Paul Murray

AMRLC Ben Davies

AMR Chris Humphrey

AMR Marc Pugh

AMRC FC Stephen Hindmarch

ST James Constable (out on loan)

ST Dave Hibbert

ST Grant Holt

ST Guy Madjo

ST Richard Walker

Notable players in the reserves (promote them to the senior squad)

GK Scott Bevan

DL DM MLC Neil Ashton

ML Steven Leslie

ST Michael Symes

Squad analysis

According to your assistant manager he is very pleased with the squad and the strength in depth, they should be capable of achieving what is required of them.

He believes the weakest area of the team is in midfield. I would have to agree with him.

Squad Analysis - Goalkeepers.

You have got 3 reasonable goalkeepers. Luke Daniels is the best but he is in on loan.

I wouldn't put this down as a priority area to begin with but look for a long term sucessor to Luke Daniels.

Squad Analysis - Defence

In my opinion the strongest area of the team. You've got at least 2 players fighting for competition in each place.

Neil Ashton and Marc Tierney are very good left backs.

Ben Herd is a good right back and although Darren Moss is not as good he can do a job if Ben Herd gets injured. Maybe look to replace Darren Moss but not a priority.

You are spoilt for choice when it comes to DC. Plenty to choose form here. All I would say is that I prefer to use Shane Cansdell-Sheriff as a DM as he's one of your best players and you lack a little something in Midfield.

Graham Coughlan and Michael Jackson are getting on a bit so look for some young heirs for forthcoming seasons but they'll suffice in at least the first year.

Squad Analysis - Midfield

This is in my opinion where your transfer money needs to go. In Ben Davies youve got your best player, he is utter class. I would reccommend resisting advances for him at all costs. I tend to play him ML but equally he could play MR. I don't particularly rate him as a MC though.

Shane Cansdell Sheriff is an excellent DM and again I would not be tempted to sell him.

Your midfield really needs a creative midfielder and another winger depending on which side you want to play Ben Davies.

Squad Analysis - Strikers

Seems like youve got plenty of options here but in my opinion most of the strikers are rubbish.

Richard Walker will get you goals but he is only on loan so you've got to look to replace him.

Grant Holt is excellent, his stats perhaps hide his capability to get goals.

The other strikers are barely worth mentioning and I would look to ship them all out and bring in a 3rd and 4th quality striker.

Squad Analysis - Overall

As I say you need to bring in a couple of class midfielders and at least another striker.

You may wish to replace Graham Coughland and Michael Jackson as they are on quite high wages.

So there you have it! A great team to use in FM09. Relatively good squad good transfer budget and low expectations! A nice big all seater stadium also means that wont need replacing for a while.

Oh and halfway through your first season you should get about another £500k from the Joe Hart transfer!

ENJOY AND POST YOUR STORIES HERE!

Wow so i actually managed it. If anyone wants to suggest any improvements then please do so.

Very good thread mate, good work and well done!

I actually like Shrewsbury as one of their players got me a signed shirt Xmas 2007:)

Good luck as them:thup:

EDIT: I'll add it to the Links Thread:)

Ok so i've completed 2 seasons as Shrewsbury now and i've had 2 consecutive promotions. Here is briefly what happened in each season...

2008 - 2009

First things first I looked to move out some of my staff and get in some who could actually do their job properly. A fitness coach with 1 for fitness training frankly doesnt cut the mustard. I'd recommend just searching for cheap regens to come in.

I will also point out that I have loaded all the players from the Polish league hence why alot of Poles have been brought in, theyre cheap and generally speak English which is what I needed.

Pre Season

Transfers in:

DRC Marcin Nowak £12k

MR AMR Jaroslaw Piatowski £20k

GK Chris Konopka £1k

DM MC Damian Gacki £4k

MC AMC Bartosz Iwan £4k

MC Tom Thorley Loan

AMC FC Krysztof Kaliciak £35k

Transfers Out

GK Glyn Garner £9k

DR Darren Moss £12k

In January

Transfers in

AM RL Abdelhakim Elouarri Free

FC Robbie Fowler Free

DC Gael Le Guerroue Free

DC Sam Sodje £24k

GK Vincent Briant £20k

Transfer out

ST Dave Hibbert £3k

GK Scott Bevan free

DC Kelvin Mcintyre £12k

AMR Marc Pugh £20k

AMR Chris Humphrey £8k

ST Guy Madjo Free

DM David Hunt £3k

AML Steven Leslie Free

You can see that I didn't particularly get the best deals when selling the players so you can press for more money, I was more interested in saving money on wages because you actually have a pretty decent transfer kitty anyway.

What Happened? I hear you cry

Well first off I stripped Ben Davies of the captaincy and gave it to the new boy Gacki. This didn't please most of the squad and 2 seasons later Davies still doesn't want to be considered for the role but the initial fracture was soon eased over because quite simply Gacki was better captaincy material.

I didn't get anywhere in any of the cups so im not even going to mention them. I focused entirely on the league.

I originally started with a 451 formation but realised it wasnt getting the most from my lone striker, he needed a partner. Because I have the narrowest pitch length allowed I was able to sacrifice the wing backs and play a 352 instead with 2 DMs. This has worked wonderfully well for me and I am water tight at the back.

Nowak really played well at the back. Sam Sodje has been unbelievable, in his first season for me he averaged 7.22. If you get the chance sign him.

Cansdell Sheriff and Gacki play the 2 DMs for me and in the first season they averaged 7.10 and 7.08 respectively.

Goals come from Ben Davies who i resisted selling. Think I got offered as high as 200k+ but thought I didn't really need the money and now I am happy i never sold him as his form was awesome. 12 goals 8 assists average of 7.09.

My new winger Piatowski settled well, frankly because i brought in so many Poles, 2 goals 8 assists average of 7.09 and my AMC Iwan chipped in with a healthy 9 goals 13 assists 7.07.

Up front everyone scored in patches, Kaliciak got 7 goals, Walker got 4, Fowler got 6 in a half season. But the real star was Grant Holt with 23 goals.

By the way I would not recommend signing Robbie Fowler. His stats are good and I thought he must be able to get goals at league 2 but frankly he was awful. If you do sign him he needs a decent run in the team before he starts to play well.

Finished 3rd in my first season which was good enough for auto promotion to League 1.

2009- 2010 Season,

So here I am in L1. Board want me to bravely fight relgation and gave me the best part of £500k to do so. (i didnt acutally spend that much in my first season with all the sales and got another £500k from the Joe Hart transfer).

Pre Season

Transfers In

DM Jim Goodwin £275k

AML Ludovic Baal £300k

DLC Stephen O'Halloran Loan

DRC Sam Hutchinson Loan

DM Diego Yesso Free

MC Jan Zapotoka £50k

ST Collins John Free

Transfers out

DR Ben Herd £4k

DC Kelvin Langmead £5k

AMR Stephen Hindmarch loan

MRC Paul Murray Free

GK Jasbir Singh Free

DLC James Meredith Free

ST Michael Symes Free

DC Graham Coughlan Free

ST James Constable Free

DC Micheal Jackson Free

In January

Transfers in

ST Lukas Jutkiewicz Loan

DR Edward Milla Free (regen)

DC DM Antonion Merchan £5k (regen)

Transfers out

DL Neil Ashton £3k

DC Gael Le Guerroue £10k

DL Marc Tierney £5k

I got some pretty good buys in pre season. Collins John on a free is one of the best pieces of business ive ever done, frankly he was unstoppable. In one game he bagged 5 when I was down to 10 men.

Jim goodwin has been very good for me although quite expensive I thought he was worth it. Ludovic Baal is a very good player but not really worth £300k, I still prefer to play Ben Davies although baal has chipped in with a fair few goals and assists. Zapotoka didnt settle too well, his stats are awesome but he does take a while to overcome the language barrier etc. In fact he didnt really start to play well til next season when i brought in another Serb.

Gael Le Guerroue came very highly recommended by my scouts but i couldnt really see what all the fuss was about and eventually sold him. Same with Yesso really, very highly rated but I didnt think he was as good as my other DMs. I sell him after this season for £100k, so maybe in missing something, i dont know.

Same formation worked again for me, 352. I moved Cansdell Sherriff back to DC as Goodwin now runs the show in the middle of the park. Was pretty tight all season with Sodje again averaging a mighty 7.23.

Vincent Briant is an epic GK, so much better than Chris Konopka who I had previously signed. Makes a big difference to my defence. He has the ability to play at a higher level and got unsettled towards the end of the season.

The real star of my season was Collins John though who was miles too good to be playing at this level, bagging 25 goals and 11 assists.

Somehow i went on some run after christmas where i won loads of games 1-0 and before i knew it i was in line for a playoff spot.

I finished 4th in the league before beating Southampton on penalties in the playoff final to gain promotion to the championship. Again the cups were just really friendly matches and i didnt progress.

Shame you didn't mention how my Exeter team, with a 10th of your budget and a 15th your stadium capacity cruised passed you in the first season.

As for the season after that, well we can just forget that ever happened!

I've said it before and I've said it again, you're playing well even if you do have half of Poland in your team! I hope you stay up and I look forward to getting Exeter into the Champ before you move on up again.

And nice article haha, made me chuckle to see it condensed in such a manner.

x

Always wanted to make a thread for Shrewsbury!

Well done OP nice starting post!

Going to have to start a new game with Shrews so i can report how it goes.

Usually i sign Botero, Tordoya and Grendel. By january there is usually a good keeper available. Ruddy is my favourite choice.

Will have to see how it goes this time.

Nice opener

Just gonna quickly post some awesome signings you can make

Botero ST 100k

Grendel AML 20k (only 17 very good)

Mascio CM 30k

Tordoya CB 100k

Ruddy GK free january

Soley free DM

Blizzard 50k CM (my signing of the season)

I never buy them all but usually one or two of the above in the positions i like to strengthen

Soley 60k DM

Why would you pay for someone who is on a free, unwanted by any clubs at the start of the game? I've signed him in games for various clubs and he has never cost me anything other than his plane ticket.

(He's a legend btw)

Does anyone know how to stop making a loss every month?

Ive been promoted consecutive seasons so ive had a nice windfall at the beginning of the season but then im losing 200k a month from then on, softened only by another windfall 12 months later. I cant keep getting promoted!

im well under my transfer and wage budget, money just seems to be spilling out

Why would you pay for someone who is on a free, unwanted by any clubs at the start of the game? I've signed him in games for various clubs and he has never cost me anything other than his plane ticket.

(He's a legend btw)

think i got the price wrong thanks for noticing though. very obserbant haha

Does anyone know how to stop making a loss every month?

Ive been promoted consecutive seasons so ive had a nice windfall at the beginning of the season but then im losing 200k a month from then on, softened only by another windfall 12 months later. I cant keep getting promoted!

im well under my transfer and wage budget, money just seems to be spilling out

I hear you there homes. As Exeter, I'm nearly 10k under my 30k wage budget and im still recording a month on month loss. Perhaps it fluctuates depending on home games.

Is there anything that you can do? Clearly I can't expand my stadium to get more people in cos I've got no money to do it! (also 40k a month on "travel expenses" really!?!)

I've had the cunning idea that come my next contract offer, I will negotiate a wage of 0, thus saving my club nearly 2.5k a week.

Funny also Travis, how you haven't given us an update on your 6 match slide, picking up a total of 0 points was it!?

nice thread pround Shrewsbury town season ticket holder!

Have to update how i do.

nice thread

have been looking for a Shrewsbury Town Thread

I will be posting my results when i complete my first season.

Currently top by 5 points, 32 games played.

Best signing so far

Loan - James Chester from Man U. Great CB

£60k - Junior , LB / ML. Great brazilian at 35 gives the team the flair and experience.

But i do need an out and out goalscorer.....

Completed the first season

Finished 2nd in the league, loosing out on goal difference........

so close yet so far.

Transfer In

Loan - Fabio (Man Utd)

Loan - Nicky Featherstone (Hull)

Loan - James Chester (Man Utd)

Free - David Moreno (Almeria B)

£69k - Junior (Sao Paulo) STAR MAN

January

£5k - Gareth Edds (Tranmere)

Free - Gavin Rothery (Wycombe)

£5k - Gareth Ainsworth (QPR)

£1k - Danny Cadamateri (huddersfield)

Transfer OUT

£14k - Neil Ashton (exeter)

£7k - Dave Hibbert (morecombe)

£100k - Ben Davies

i started out trying 442 normal as i believed with the players i have this was best to play

but i changed to 442 attacking with the two wingers above the midfield but behind the strickers.

while allowing the full back to bomb on forward.

This proved a success and during the season i had a stern defence but the attack was not firing.

with this tactic i was able to go unbeaten in 17 games. this turned out to be a record for shrewsbury.

Pl won Drawn Lost for Ag GD Points

46 25 14 8 59 42 +17 86

Not too bad

I decided to sell ben davies as i thought i had bought gareth ainsworth i was able to continue on

this proved a good decision as i put cansdell sherriff as captain and everyone was pleased.

So after 2 years of promotion im in the championship.... relegation favourite with a media prediction of rock bottom. only 140k to spend this season

Players in - Pre Season

Lubos Bernath ST Free

David Royo DR Free (regen)

Stephen O Halloran DL Loan

Antoni Lukasiewicz DC £2k

George Boateng DM Free

Jay Simpson St Loan

Gael Kakuta AML Loan

Transfers Out

Robbie Fowler Free

Diego Yesso 100k

Grant Holt 30k

Stephen Hinmarch Loan

Wayne Farmer Free

January Transfers in

Ramos Inaki GK Free (regen)

Petr Zich AML Free (regen)

Ondrej Cervenka AMR Free (regen)

Radek Tuma STFree (regen)

Transfers out

Tom Batchelor Free

Chris Konopka £24k

Marcin Nowak £20k

Elouarri £22k

Eduard Milla Loan

Matty Williamson Loan

I opted to stick with the familiar small pitch and the 352 although with my new target man, Bernath, i played a more defensive 451 away from home. Alot of the players i brought in this season are regen players, i got a whole load more scouting options so been picking up free players from different countries, also asked my board to invest in youth development, as i wanted to start producing my own talent and making money from it.

Initially i started not too badly and by christmas i was 10 points clear of the relegation zone. I think i got a bit complacement at this point and started giving too much game time to youth players and my season ended with a horrible run of 2 points from 30 that saw me flirt with relegation and end up avoiding relegation on the last day of the season by 1 point.

Collins John was up to his usual tricks bagging 16 goals and Sam Sodje was as solid as ever. Jim Goodwin and Lukasiewicz (seriously sign this guy, for £2k!) are definitely Championship quality. However a few other players looked seriously out of their depth and im gonna have to bring in some new players for the new season. So wish me luck for that!

Keep the posts coming guys, I want to see someone get The Salop into the Prem

Anyone still playing as this save?

I am in my 1st season, sitting top with a game in hand, Javier Acuna has been a star for me, costing 9k and producing 17 goals in 11 league games, how has everyone dealt with thegoalkeeper issue as this is my worst position, a complete liability, I'll upload some screen shots after jan window with my new squad, anyone got any ideas for GK and RM, also LB and RB wouldn't go a miss

Cheers Lads

Second season finished and promoted through the playoffs

I was relegation favourites positioned bottom by the press

Players In

£55k – Koki Mizuno AMR (Celtic)

£65K – Jamie Hamill DM/MC(Doncaster)

£35k – Brian Murphy GK

Loan – Jay Emmanuel-Thomas WBL/DMC/ML(arsenal)\

Loan – Kyle Bartley DC (arsenal)

Loan – Nicky Featherstone MC/FC (Hull)

Free - Jared Hodgkiss DR

Free - Andy Van Der Mayde AMRL

Free - Ryan France WBR/MR

Free - Shelton Martis DRC

Free - Richard Cresswell FC

Free - Gunnar Nielsen GK

Total Spend £165

Player Out

£24k – Stephen Hindmarch

£18k – Guy Madjo

£4k – Gareth Edds

£10k – Ben Herd

Free – David Hunt

Free – Scott Bevan

Free – Graham Coughlan

Free – Kevin McIntyre

Free – Michael Jackson

Free – Paul Murray

Total Received £56k

I staed with my tactics from the previouse season. This was 442 with the two wingers pushed up. This was going well enough as I was below the playoffs after 8 games. Then I decided to change to sexyfootball tactics from the forum and it works a charm. I moved towards the top and challenging for the (442) title. I started faltering during the end of the season and on the final day finished 4th from 3rd.

Loosing the first game to Nottingham Forrest 1-0 away, at home I won the second leg 4-0. Went to Wembley and won the Final 1-0 against milwall.

At the beginning of the season I decided to add more coaches to improve my training. The players that I brought in helped a great deal but my wage demand was always above my budget. Brian Murphy is a class keeper on the cheap. With the defenders fron arsenal I was able to keep a mean defence. The wingers in place, Koki mizuno and van der mayde I was able to provide more opportunities for the strickers and creswell was able to score 29 goals in the season. He turned out to be the best signing of the season in league 1.

However Andy van de Mayde didn’t enjoy his time at the club so I will be looking to offload him asap.

New season I have so far bought in Collins John for £200 (my transfer Budget) and Freddie ljungburg on a free.

My tactics has been to bring in loan players from the premier league. I was able to get Fabio (wbl/ml) from man u which helped a huge deal. Try looking at the reserves for the prem and try and loan them

Just started this, Thought i'd give them ago.. Update coming when transfers done.

Mini update

I'm into October now, Laying 4th in the league with a game in hand(due to internationals).

Signings are:

Willy Robert

John Ruddy - Loan

Konopka - 4k

Devineau

Nowak - 8k

Guichard

Caro

Hodge - Loan

Louis-Jean

Marvin Andrews

James Lawrie - 20k

Rhys murphy - Loan

Grendel - 26k

Total: 58k.

Sold:

Singh - Woking

Symes - Stevenage

Hibbert - Chesterfield

Humpreys - Woking

Garner - Swansea? :|

Chadwick - Oxford(loan)

McIntyre - Stockport

Moss - Gillingham

Coughlan, Murray & Hinchmarch - Released.

Total: 0k.

Got a slight problem to get my strikers scoring aswell but i am still doing well but i think i am going to look for someone in Jan. Sending Murphy back aswell in jan, 130k to spend so i might look abroad for someone young and determined and pacey.

My first season was a big dissapointment, the team played really well with the exception of a run of one win in 20 games through the middle of the season, so i finished tenth. I had England Spain Italy and Scotland loaded, these were my 1st season signings

Jordan Parkes - Watford - 35K (quality full back)

Nathan Porritt - Boro - Loan (Always a sub filled in well when davies was injured)

Kristian O'Leary - Swansea - Free (Did a good back up DMC)

Pat Clarke - Clyde - 22K (Not that keen on him but scored 17)

Mark Wright - MK Dons - 65K (Excellent RW for this level)

Tom Pope - Crewe - 55K (Worst signing of the season)

Richie Baker - Bury - 60K (Super signing)

Kyle Bartley - Arsenal - Loan (OK didn't feature much)

Breckin - Notts Forest - Free (Solid through my run of last 8 games unbeaten)

Zieler - Man Utd - Loan (Bought in March due to Daniels dip in form was solid)

Players Out

Moss 35K

Garner 9K

Pugh 20K

Symes 0

Chadwick 20K

Jackson 12K

Murray 20K

All the players i sold were never really Town standard

So far in the second season i have played 6 won 3 drawn 3 sitting in 8th

Players In

Giles Coke - Northampton - Free (Looks Good seems to be often unfit though)

Kenny Arthur - Accrington - Free (Signed as a backup nothing else to put)

Willie Gueret - MK Dons - Free (Looks excellent saves lots and even scored and saved a penalty in a shootout win over Charlton)

George Elokobi - Wolves - Loan (Pushes Parkes to RB Elokobi LB the best full backs in the league)

Liam Dickinson - Derby - 250K (For the money not quite got going but has scored a few crucial goals)

Pawel Abbott - Darlington - Free (At the moment is a sub but has scored a couple pushing for a starting berth)

Momadou Seck - Free Agent - (Only just signed him as a free too early to comment)

Adam Rundle - Rochdale - (Plays second fiddle to Davies)

I got rid of some more of the rubbish - Coughlan, Constable, McIntyre, Dunfield, Pope who was awful and got good money for all these. Also released Ashton Meretdith and Singh. Dissapointed with my first season but if i don't go up this year with this squad i never will

I would like to get some life into this tread, I am starting again now with the salop

have started a game with Shrewsbury - will update as i go. on 9.03.

Have started again after editing this years transfers

Still Playing T-dizzle?

I think my Shrewsbury game was my favourite in all the games I've played. Made it to the Prem and then in 2015/2016 finally won it! Arsenal beat me in the CL final though

Anything is possible