dafuge's FM10 challenge

[Scab]

Season 2023/24 Review - Kingstonian in the Premier League

League Table

Past Positions

Our best season this far, no doubt. Kept the pressure on Man City for the entire latter half of the season, but they were equally relentless and never made any big slip-ups. The fixture congestion from all the cups combined with Yagi's tendency to disappear off on U23 duty left the squad a bit ragged at times, but luckily the U18 prospects stepped in and performed above expectation when called upon.

FA Cup | League Cup | EURO Cup Group J | Knockout Rounds

Retained the League Cup after a penalty thriller against a hard-working Everton in the final, but the real highlight was probably beating Arsenal 2-0 at Emirates to get there. The EURO Cup was an interesting taste of what's to come next season when we'll be playing in the CL, and the 1-4/3-1 tie against AC Milan quite exciting, but still it was never something we could push hard for in light of the PL title race.

Squad

Solid, but aging. A few players will be leaving before next season for sure as they've simply started declining, others I'm hoping to get enough money for to buy better replacements who I've already scouted. I've been keeping the changes to a minimum this far, but I wouldn't be surprised to break the club's transfer spending record for next season.

Transfers

Hardly a sale as I've fought hard to keep the club's biggest talents in place. Our finances are solid, so there's no good reason to let anyone who isn't unhappy go. Signed quite conservatively as well as Fabio Nardi arrived from from Atalanta to strengthen the left wing along with two youth prospects for the future.

Aim for next season: Dare I hope for another title challenge? With two or three class signings and enough squad depth to deal with the CL fixtures it should be doable.

Season     Team           League                  Finished  Achievements
2010/11    Kingstonian    Blue Square South       4th       -
2011/12    Kingstonian    Blue Square South       1st       Champions, Promotion
2012/13    Kingstonian    Blue Square Premier     3rd       FA Trophy winners
2013/14    Kingstonian    Blue Square Premier     3rd       Promotion through playoffs
2014/15    Kingstonian    Coca-Cola League 2      8th       -
2015/16    Kingstonian    Coca-Cola League 2      2nd       Promotion
2016/17    Kingstonian    Coca-Cola League 1      5th       -
2017/18    Kingstonian    Coca-Cola League 1      2nd       Promotion
2018/19    Kingstonian    Coca-Cola Championship  7th       -
2019/20    Kingstonian    Coca-Cola Championship  2nd       Promotion
2020/21    Kingstonian    Premier League          14th      -
2021/22    Kingstonian    Premier League          11th      -
2022/23    Kingstonian    Premier League          5th       League Cup winners
2023/24    Kingstonian    Premier League          2nd       League Cup winners

[dafuge]

Giantkillers

[Scab]

Premier League table with one game to go. I finish the season at home to Everton, Man Utd are away to Nottingham Forest. Wish me luck.

Good luck!

[IainTN]

After admiring this topic last year, I'm finally jumping in. I re-loaded several times to try and fins Chippenham but in the end settled on being the new manager at Farnborough.

Must admit it's not gotten off to the best start. I forgot to look at the player's contract expiration dates and about ten left on a free transfer on June 30. Half-decent assistant and two scouts are in though. I'll update with my progress.

[DarkOli]

Tonbridge Angels - Season 2010/11

I'm currently 4 games in and have manged to draw three games 0-0 and one game 2-2. I've had such a hard start to the season with finding players. I can't seem to find anyone who is actually better than my current squad and wants to come to longmead stadium. I had to start the first game with only 3 subs.

[Thebaker]

I've lost the first 4 games of League 2. However, I've hit the woodwork no less than 9 times in those 4 games. Something a bit wrong there? :S

sounds like my start in L2, i drew one and lost 2 of my first 3 all without scoring a goal and barely creating a chance, changed from more direct passing to defualt and am now midtable by dec.

[Thebaker]

Scab, Unlucky on missing out on the title, next year perhaps.

Nardi looks a fantastic player, do you have enough HG players in your squad or it it case of having to play inferior players to make up the numbers

[Scab]

It hasn't been a big problem; I just leave a few spaces open (i.e. don't assign all 25 squad numbers). I'm right at my limit though, can't afford to lose any more HG players or there might be trouble.

[Gareth Keenan]

G. Keenan's FC United- 2024/2025 Season Review- Premier League

Season review: After being a mid table Premier League team for the last thee years we finally broke through into the European places. If you look at the league table graph you will see that we got gradually better as the season went on, and if we had a few extra games on the season I'm sure we would have ended up champions, but as it is we ended up 2nd. Wagner continued his goalscoring exploits for both club and country and he was named the Premier League's player of the year again.

League Table

Graph

Squad

Finances

Career Overview

Season      League                   Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2010/11    Blue Square North          5th         None
2011/12    Blue Square North          1st         Promoted, BSN champions
2012/13    Blue Square Premier        7th         None
2013/14    Blue Square Premier        3rd         Promoted, playoffs
2014/15    Coca-Cola League 2         22nd        None
2015/16    Coca-Cola League 2         3rd         Promoted
2016/17    Coca-Cola League 1         16th        None
2017/18    Coca-Cola League 1         1st         Promoted, L1 Champions
2018/19    Coca-Cola Championship     15th        None
2019/20    Coca-Cola Championship     5th         None
2020/21    Coca-Cola Championship     6th         Promoted, playoffs
2021/22    Premier League             10th        None
2022/23    Premier League             12th        None
2023/24    Premier League             10th        None
2024/25    Premier League             2nd         None

[michaeltmurrayuk]

I'd say so. Recently I signed a quality DM (Lukman Hurana) and it made a massive difference to my team. He's not the best tackler but it makes a huge difference having a quality defensive player.

How'd you manage to get him?

He's two years younger in my game and my scouts rate him as a Good Premiership Player :confused:

[michaeltmurrayuk]

It hasn't been a big problem; I just leave a few spaces open (i.e. don't assign all 25 squad numbers). I'm right at my limit though, can't afford to lose any more HG players or there might be trouble.

If you sign players before they turn 18 they should in three seasons count as Homegrown - though my Bulgarian and Scottish U21 players counted as Homegrown in League Two after just one season at the club.

[dafuge]

How'd you manage to get him?

He's two years younger in my game and my scouts rate him as a Good Premiership Player :confused:

He'd been without a club for over a year and finally decided to join me. He's a good Championship level player according to my coaches.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Don't forget that you can still sign free transfers while under a transfer embargo.

Technically you can, but when I was under a takeover my board limited all wage offers to the minimum allowed

[sacron]

Have started a game with Cambridge C.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/5636/cambridge.jpg

I will post updates after 1st season!

[dafuge]

Giantkillers

I wish I could play Premier League sides every week

[dafuge]

where did he come from, he's not even in my game

He was released by Monaco and noticed by my scouts while they were scouting in France. He could be a player loaded using the 'top clubs' setup in the OP.

[Thebaker]

I'd say so. Recently I signed a quality DM (Lukman Hurana) and it made a massive difference to my team. He's not the best tackler but it makes a huge difference having a quality defensive player.

where did Hurana come from as he's not in my game

Edit: You have already answered my question and i'm wrong he is my game i typed the name wrongly as per your post. He is now at Auxerre after moving for 2.3 Million.

I haven't managed to sign any french players so far they all refuse to come.

[Tejaswi]

Teja's FC United -

Season review - 2010/11

First season in charge, lots of changes in the squad. Key players in were -

Everyone's favorite - Kyle Wilson - Brilliant player, grabs a goal virtually every game. Final stats 25 Goals - 39 Games.

Young CB - Michael Stanbrook - Excellent CB for BSP / BSN sides. Highest number of MoMs for my side despite scoring just 1 goal. http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/241/stanbrooks1.jpg

Midfield quartlet - Nick Main, Michael Kearney, Christian Smith and Tom Kearney. All brilliant in their own respect. 3 of them are DM / MC and Nick Main is the creative midfielder.

Finished 2nd in the league and lost in the play off semis which was gutting

Should've finished first, but fell behind by 1 point with the last three results of Draw - loss - Draw. I knew they were hard fixtures, but 3 draws or a win in any of those would've given me the title and auto promotion.

Play off was a bit weak. Scored first, and sat back to counter in the second half. GK, CB errors gave the other side two penalties. Then had to push forward and they grabbed another goal from the counter.

Home leg, my pitch was absolutely dismal again. Played out a boring 1-1 draw with the opposition missing a penalty.

End of season squad - http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8787/maind.jpg

[dafuge]

Does anyone here use a specific pre season training schedule?

I've never bothered but I seem to be making very slow starts to the season every year, I'm wondering whether this could be the reason.

[NathanTyson.]

Merthyr Tydfil - Pre Season 2010/2011 Season

A less than convincing pre-season i have to say.

Friendlies

Merthyr 0 - 1 Ebbsfleet

Dorchester 1 - 0 Merthyr

Merthyr 1 - 4 West Ham Reserves

If pre season has taught me anything, its that i need a striker, chances have been created yet non of my strikers can score. The only scorer in pre season was a CB.

[Drewski]

Drewski. Boston United. 2015/2016. League 1

After last seasons' surprise promotion I made it my aim to make sure that we survive this season, and after the start that we had I started to think that we might actually do quite well this season, but, never did I think that we would be able to finish where we did, 2 points from the play-offs, and our inability to turn draws into wins was the main problem, which we were left to rue; a bit of a topsy, turvy season overall, with the amount of draws we were moving around a lot, this will need to change next season.

Squad - defense was near enough solid, keeper was shaky at least, midfield was competent, and our strike force, well our four strikers were able to get into double figures, which was pleasing; McLaughlin - a solid season from the DL, always put in a good performance for the side, and a very good penalty taker as well; O'Connor - just like McLaughlin, he also put in a good performance from the DM position, but, with the amount of players leaving in the summer, I will be looking to moving him into defense next season; O'Brien - a arrival in January, I spent quite a few times wondering what if I signed him a little earlier? Surely our season would have been so much better if he was at our club at the start of the season not during the middle.

Transfers - same as usual, crap players left whilst a few decent players came in, most notably our Irish contingent in January.

Finances - improving all the time, mostly thanks to our FA Cup run.

Aims for next season:

Turn some draws into wins.

Make more money.

Improve squad.

[klose11]

Taken over at Nantwich Town. Hope the late screenshot is okay, I'll start again if not.

[dafuge]

and the run ends

Fantastic match though.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Does anyone here use a specific pre season training schedule?

I've never bothered but I seem to be making very slow starts to the season every year, I'm wondering whether this could be the reason.

I have my players on a light pre-season training, though I rarely get off to a good start so I may be doing it wrong aswell.

[Scab]

I don't get this home-grown thing...this player does not count as "trained in England"? :confused:

[turn it in]

AFC Hornchurch Update (Season Two 2011-2012)

Media Prediction: 21st (no faith eh?)

Final Standing: 9th

Promised Board: Safe Mid-table

FA Trophy: 1st Round

FA Cup: 2nd Qualifying.

My Final Opinion: Happy but slightly frustrated

It's hard to believe the game has only been out for two weeks and that some people are chasing the Premier League title. I, however, am a lot slower and my second season in charge of Hornchurch saw us still firmly placed in the Blue Square South. After last seasons plucky battle at the bottom and ultimately finishing 16th Hornchurch fans weren't sure they could get promotion this season and I promised the board more of the same to underline that fact. The season was a lot better than expected though and although we were never in Play off contention we were pretty much top ten all season and with one or two additions. Well...

The main problem this season was the protracted board takeover talks which took up half the season. Eventually towards the end of March the new chairman took over and told me I could keep my job. By then it was too late to buy any reinforcements for a potential play-off push so the final position of ninth was though good all round.

Cups? Rubbish again. I suck at cups.

So the for visual among you here are the Screenies:

Blue Square South Table

Hornchurch Squad

Transfers 11-12

Manager Profile

So a better season overall and defensively strong again. My strong defence meant for the second season running the fans player of the season was a defender and it was new signing Simon Cox who took the accolade. All my defenders were fairly solid and will form the backbone of my promotion push next year.

The other player of the season for me was signing Harry Crawford from former parent club Southend. My first actual money signing for £14000 and he will also be the man I look to for the promotion push next season. 17 goals in 34 games means if I find a good striker to go along side him then promotion could be a real possibility.

Aims for Next season:

Another decent striker to go alongside Harry and decent wingers. My defence is good enough to do well in this division as is my centre midfield. If I get the right sort of players then it should be play-offs minimum. I also have Fulham as a parent club now and with them back in the Premiership after winning the Championship there could be some good young players to be had by them.

Competition wise I think I should be pushing for promotion this coming season and I really need to start having cup runs. While our financial situation has got slightly better due to the board takeover extra money in the coffers can't hurt.

AFC Hornchurch

Season 1 (2010-2011); BSS 16th; FA Cup 3QFR; FA Trophy 1st RD

Season 2 (2011-2012); BSS 9th; FA Cup 2QFR; FA Trophy 1st RD

Holiday Manager Ian Smythe Watch:

Ian continued to wow Thomas Cook executives with his holiday selling abilites. By the end of the year he had claimed the best travel agent in the world award and been elected to board level at Thomas Cook. He has also met a nice young lady called Geraldine and moved into her flat just outside of Peterborough. He still hates Hornchurch.

[spankie]

I think that my Sutton United players have done well during March.

A cleansweep of the Player of the Month awards and a cleansweep of the Young Player of the Month award

Also I got the manager of the month and one of my players got the 3rd best goal of the month.

[ssestig]

I don't get this home-grown thing...this player does not count as "trained in England"? :confused:

HG = 3 years trained at club/nation before 21st birthday.

Edit: Having looked at the screenshot - no idea.

[Scab]

He's been in England all his career, so surely he should qualify then? :confused:

This is doing my head in.

[Cardiovascular]

Sunderland is not part of the UK maybe?

[iacovone]

Sunderland is not part of the UK maybe?

No it definitely is in the UK

[glennuk]

Its unlucky that scab, prehaps report in the bugs forum.

Having a good few matches but stopping for now, was thinking of waiting for the big las vegas fight at 2am but too tired and ill

Will post a full update when i finish.

But half way through my third season with Kendal and am just inside the playoff spots (5th) in the BSP. Got some very good players and a settled side, now lets hope i don;t go through an obligatory end of season slump!

Full season update to come probably sometime tomorrow or monday!

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Well this isn't going well I've just lost my left back Basey for 5 months, he now joins my rightback Ifil (8 weeks) and Striker Keatings (3 months) in the treatment room

I'm now forced into playing a half star rated youth player at right back - though he seems to be playing well and we've won 4 of the 5 games he's played so far.

After 28 games we are somehow 5th in the league, though I have no money and I am still struggling to sign better players, my transfer tactic at the moment is to try and loan anyone I can and hope someone wants to join me on loan.

[mag man]

So finally got the game....

Initial Profile - I have taken over Maidstone for a third year running I doubt I will enjoy as much success in this version as playing time is very limited.

[Meszudo]

Right, finally managed to get FC United...as a MUFC fan, just thought it'd be interesting to see how I go with these guys. Especially with rivals listed as City, Leeds and Liverpool

Anyway - here's my manager: http://i35.tinypic.com/29qnrk7.jpg

[Bartman]

FC United - Coca-Cola League One - Season 2013/2014

Our League 1 season was simply brilliant, my team surprised me so very much, I expected a struggle in mid-table but soon into the season, I realised I could acheive so much more, and so I pushed and pushed, and in the end we pulled off top spot, and secured our shot at the Championship.

League Table

Our FA Cup run was just beyond believable, reaching the Final against Man City defeating 3 Premiership teams in the process. However the Final was indeed a crash back down to earth, a severe crash with our 4-0 defeat, however it was a great run and brought the money in, and indeed giving us a shot at the Europa League next season. The other two competitions arent even worth mentioning tbh, poor poor show.

FA Cup

League Cup

Johnson's Paint Trophy

Top transfers would definitely have to be new Maltan goalkeeper, Justin Haber, who was tremendous in goals. Also, easily the best outfield signing, and well worth the 375k price tag was Mitchell McPike, he was incredible in midfield, finishing with a 7.11 average and 9 goals. Other important signings was the loan of Ben McGoldrick from our new partners Everton, this young midfielder surpassed my expectations and featured in the first time most weeks. Another important signing was Guillem Bauza, the striker, he wasn't quite a Craig McShea but he scored some goals, finishing with 12 in 31, helping the cause. Disappointments included Reggie Lambe, Marlon Jackson, Jim Goodwin and Scott Kay. Other important signings were Gary Sawyer in the January transfer window, Joe Edwards and Tommy Smith also. Overall, our signings were pretty successful but I think I have a habit of bringing in too many free transfers without properly checking them out, as I always find a few gems, with some others a waste.

Transfers

One player who continues to amaze me is of course Craig McShea, who has been with the club since its Blue Square North days, he has progressed amazingly and adapted to every league we have featured in, I am very curious as to how he fares in the Championship. He finished the season with 19 goals, 10 assists and 7 Man of the Matches in 36 matches. For a player I didnt expect to make past the BSP, I am just so delighted. Even with only 19 goals, he was easily our best player, which was excellent. He is the only player to still remain from the BSN and I can see him there for a very long time.

Aims for Next Season:

Considering my progress in the other leagues, with the right signings, I am confident of a play-off push, obviously it wont be quite as simple as before, but I am of course hopeful.

Season      League                   Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Blue Square North           1st         Promotion, BSN Champions
2011/12    Blue Square Premier         2nd         Promoted
2012/13    Coca-Cola League 2          6th         Promoted, play-off winners
2013/14    Coca-Cola League 1          1st         Promoted, League 1 Champions

[sacron]

First season done with Cambridge C!

Well i had a rough start in the league, and I had a hard time with 9 matches without victory. But my goal for the season was to avoid relegation and that Succeeded, so it was not a good season but I did manage to stay in the league, which was my goal from the start, so its all good.

League table:

Tranfers:

Confidence:

i havnt been offered a new contract yet, but i hope the will offer one soon.

Career Overview:

Season      League                   Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2010/11    Blue Square South          16th         None

Well i hope the next season will be better, and maybe i can promote to Blue square league.

[hassebasse80]

Hassebasse Merthyr Tydfil 2016-2017 League Two

Was top by 8 points around Christmas, then it all fell apart. Finished 6th and lost the play off final on penalties after Bristol Rovers made it 2-2 3 minutes from full time, with a 35 yard free kick from a player with free-kick rating of 4 and long shots rating of 7

League Table

Transfers

Squad

Youth watch: my left wing Scott, who has been with me since my first season, the only successful player of my academy so far, and the only real quality in my squad.

Goals for the new season:

Bring in some quality

Promotion.

[MikaelS]

It's been a while but I am nearing seasons end.

With 9 games to go I secured a play-off spot. I don't think it will be used though

[hassebasse80]

Scott is history, he didn't like life in League Two anymore

At least my finances are okay now, brought in £3.7m

[Drewski]

Scott is history, he didn't like life in League Two anymore

At least my finances are okay now, brought in £3.7m

Well at least he is in good hands now

[Drewski]

We were going well in the league, pushing for automatic promotion, morale was high and the team were playing well, and then this happened

[dafuge]

I don't get this home-grown thing...this player does not count as "trained in England"? :confused:

Yet this player does :confused:

[Scab]

Seems pretty broken. :/

[fatgra]

Hi guys, help needed.

I am playing the challenge, although seem to spend all available time playing and only get to read this at work .

The background - I'm playing as Guiseley won last 8 games in first season to get top spot in BSN (for the first time on the last day of the season). Now mid-table in BSP.

The problem - Even if my entire playing squad were playing for free I'd still be losing money . I get crowds of 700.

How can I increase my finances, it seems to me the obvious way is increase crowds, but I'm doing well and after two sucessive promotions, I don't see what more I can do. Any help please???

[Scab]

Aim to go far in the cups, that's where the money is. If you can get an away tie against a big-ish team that will earn you quite a bit. A parent team will also contribute about £20K-£30K per season if you're in the BSP, which isn't a whole lot, but hey, free money. Other than that there's not much you can do; keep the wages/bonuses down and make as much as possible from the pre-season friendlies.

[dafuge]

Aim to go far in the cups, that's where the money is. If you can get an away tie against a big-ish team that will earn you quite a bit. A parent team will also contribute about £20K-£30K per season if you're in the BSP, which isn't a whole lot, but hey, free money. Other than that there's not much you can do; keep the wages/bonuses down and make as much as possible from the pre-season friendlies.

What he said about the cups, they have pretty much saved me this season.

When you take a small club up through the leagues quickly you are bound to have financial problems as the club doesn't yet have the fanbase/stadium to back up the success.

You've almost got to sell a couple of players and hope for good draws in the cups to balance the books.

[fatgra]

Cheers guys,

I inherited Leeds as parent club when I took over.

Ah, the cups! I have a life long FM under-achievement in cup competitions, just lost in first FA cup match of the season, looks like a fire sale in Jan!

I'm 300k in debt losing 20-25k per month, any ideas on sustainable debt levels in BSP before I get docked points/sacked?

[BennyLava]

Cheers guys,

I inherited Leeds as parent club when I took over.

Ah, the cups! I have a life long FM under-achievement in cup competitions, just lost in first FA cup match of the season, looks like a fire sale in Jan!

I'm 300k in debt losing 20-25k per month, any ideas on sustainable debt levels in BSP before I get docked points/sacked?

Start betting money you dont have on the clubs behalf (should be an option on the game imo) ;_;

[thelahm]

The Terrible first season of Bradford Park Avenue! 2010/2011

As the topic said my first season at Bradford PA was a terrible season. It could have been a total disaster but some good results in the last 4 games secured me another season in the North divison. I started out pretty good but around new year i found myself stuck amongst the 5 last teams in the league, and from there on it was a huge struggle to stay up. But i succeded, but im not satisfied!

League Table

In the cups i was knocked out very quickly, and i most admit the this was a second priority all the way, and its probaly gonna be again in season 2.

At the start of the season i thought i had a decent team but i was proven wrong.

Squad

Transfers

I signed a lot of players who was out of contract a the start of the season. I made some huge mistakes and some of them where quikly moved to the reserve team where the pretty much played the whole season. Actually i think that the transfers where the main reason for my bad season, so i cant say that any of them played very well, but Gordon Dick is a regular at the Scottish U19 national team.

Goals for next season:

I will look for promotion for sure. I know its gonna be a tough challenge but with a lot of new faces to the team i think i can do it!

Season      League                   Position    Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Blue Square North           19th         None