dafuge's FM10 challenge

[CSF]

Truro City FC - Blue Square South - 2011/12

Media Prediction: 12th

Actual Position : 4th

Came into the season with high hopes of being promoted, and started excellently, being involved in a 3 horse race for the title until around February, my form dropped, and I ended up finishing 4th, dropping from 3rd in the 90th minute of the last game of the season after conceding a 90th minute goal to lose that left me behind on goal difference. Into the playoffs I went, and after winning 2-1 in the home leg, and going 1 nil up at halftime in the away leg, it looked excellent, 2 goals in the last 17 minutes though (the 2nd being a penalty which resulted in having a player sent off), they scored again in extra time and that was that. Absolutely heartbreaking, but will motivate me to go for the title this time, with a squad that will need only a few changes. On the plus side, I've only lost 15k in the last year, as compared to 235k the year before, so I can hopefully start to service the debt next year, especially with a number of players out of contract in June that I can renegotiate on to smaller contracts.

League Table

FA Cup

Much better than last year, but a horrible defeat to go out with. Absolutely hammered.

FA Trophy

An improvement again.

Transfers

Revamped my front 2 after a 9 month injury to Kedwell, and generally strengthened my squad, by getting rid of big earners, and bringing in cheaper, younger and better alternatives, no1 I let go elsewhere amounted to anything so I think I made the right choices.

Squad

Good young squad which I've steadily improved and will hopefully continue to do so, onwards and upwards.

Career Overview

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

2010/11   Blue Square South        8th        None
2011/12   Blue Square South        4th        PlayOff Semi-Finals

Next Season

Promotion or bust.

[The Art of Drowning]

Jamie Spencer - Truro City FC - Season 3 BSP

league Position: 13th

Fa trophy - Semi Finals

A decent season in the end, we looked like we were going to be in a relegation battle until several new signings took us to a safe mid table position. Our best players this season were:

Ben Geering: http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1255/geering.jpg

Matthew Martin: http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1471/matthewmartin.jpg

Top Scorer was new signing Scott Rendell: http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/9425/rendell.jpg

Got Adam Boyd coming in for the new season and he should add competition up front, looking for a new keeper too. Still never managed to attract anybody on loan.

[GreyedOutMan]

Hastings United, Season 2014-15 – Season Five, Blue Square South

Summary

In a costcutting season, we were planning for a season of scrapping against relegation. A load of friendlies against Premiership reserve teams were arranged to generate some income, too, so the team suffered even more in the league. But the finances were the focus this year. See later in the report to see how well it worked…

Transfers

Some quite high-earning players were let go, with no signings over the summer. Two players were brought in at the end of the season to help out at the back to cure our leaky defence. One of them did well, the other wasn’t so great.

Competition Reports

Blue Square South

We had a fantastic start to the year and I was wondering if a surprise promotion push was on. It never really was. Safety was much more of an issue though I never really thought we would go down because Weston-Super-Mare had a points deduction. That said, we were not good. The team has really suffered because of the need to be careful with money.

The Final Table this season. We didn’t really deserve the three-place jump at the end of the season but relegation was, eventually, very easily staved off. Our league progress chart shows just how dramatic the start of the season was in contrast to the rest.

The e.on FA Cup - extreme disappointment as we went out to weaker opposition, really.

The FA Trophy - Pretty disappointing, after a good performance in the first game against Gateshead when we were unlucky not to win.

The squad.

With selected stats for all competitions, ordered by the amount of time they spent on the pitch – a rough guide to their importance to the team I suppose. 5 HOURS MINIMUM OF PLAYING TIME.

Phil Parkin was injured for a good portion of the season which didn’t help – as you can see he’s still vital to the team.

Key Players

Phil Parkin

Just simply the best. He’s such a great player. He’s been making noises about bettering himself this season though has withdrawn a transfer request. He’ll be a Hastings player for at least another year – if he doesn’t sign a new contract I will sell him next summer, before I lose him for nothing.

Ryan Hall

Really stepped up to the plate this year with a few other names not firing on all cylinders (naming no names, Sam Hatton!). By far his best year.

Marcus Cassius

Scored a decent number of goals this year, and 5 man of the match awards. He leads the line really well.

Sebastien Lake-Gaskin

Not so many goals but gets plenty of shots on target, and 8 useful assists is great.

Notable others:

Marcus Castle. No Phil Parkin but played well in his few starts towards the end of the season. Bernard Abdallah proved an astute loan signing from Kingstonian and I’m trying to secure his signature for another season. **EDT: He has signed! He’s back next year!!**

Finances

We needed a boost, and a handful of highly-paid players leaving in the summer combined with a lot of friendlies this season has helped that a bit. More to come I hope.

Club Records and Awards

>> Lowest Attendance: 231 v Newport County, 17th February

>> Worst Discipline: 17y 3r – Tommy Warren

>> Youngest Player: 16y 52d – Chris Wilde v Basingstoke, 20th September

>> Best Average Rating: 7.30 from 23 appearances (beat own record).

Cumulative records (will be published every season as long as the holder is at the club):

>> Most League Apps for the Club: David Scarsella – 178 – RECORD BROKEN

>> Most League Goals for the Club: Marcus Cassius – 60 – RECORD EXTENDED (Though Lake-Gaskin did overtake him several times! They’re close!)

>> Fans’ Player of the Year: Sebastien Lake-Gaskin

FPOY wins:

Phil Parkin: 3

Louis Lavers: 1

Sebastian Lake-Gaskin: 1

MY team of the year:

Scarsella

Hawksworth – Hunt – Parkin – Abdallah – Lavers

Rodwell – Hall – Warren

Cassius – Lake-Gaskin

Subs: Vasey, Francis, Castle, Hatton, Aguiar, Reid, Mullin.

Overall XI….Just Bobby Hunt inducted to that team from this year.

New Youth Cohort

This year’s pick of the bunch for me, though there’s a decent keeper there too.

Survival and financial viability were the big goals this year, both were achieved to some extent. Hopefully next year there might be a bit of an improvement on the pitch next season.

Previous Seasons:

Season One (2010-11)

Season Two (2011-12)

Season Three (2012-13)

Season Four (2013-14)

[Terk]

And I thought I was having trouble getting into the BSP. Keep going, GreyedOutMan, the law of averages says you'll get there one day

On a brighter note, just qualified for the FA Cup third round with a win at BSP side Morcambe. The tie was picked for TV coverage as well, so with the share of the gate receipt and the £27K prize money, that game alone has done good for. We're currently running at a profit of about £120K for the season (the board have injected about £75K) but still £150K in the red overall.

*crosses fingers and prays for a Premier League team away in round three*

[Terk]

**** it. Luton, 13th in League 2, at home. Really wanted Man Utd or Liverpool away

[Almondo]

**** it. Luton, 13th in League 2, at home. Really wanted Man Utd or Liverpool away

I know what you mean with that Terk. I got to the 3rd round and got Preston. Alright it was at Deepdale but I really wanted Man United or one of the other big 4 teams.

[foost]

@ hrbfcrule & Dons2387: Thanks! Well Tottenham have a great winger where I am busy with all season to sign him but they just dont want to let him go.

Update soon

[MikaelS]

I am preparing to enter CCL1. Update is on its way

[Terk]

Just starting the second half of my first BSP campaign and things are looking a whole lot better than I expected. Just won 2-0 at Tranmere (they're in danger of bouncing straight down to the BSN) which leaves us 4th in the table. Darlington are 14 points clear at the top, so they've got the automatic spot sewn up.

Similar to last season, we're looking defensively solid and the two up top are banging the goals in, though I may struggle to keep my best striker, James Foster, past January as there are a number of League 2 clubs sniffing around him. He got 20 in 42 in the league last season and has 11 in 19 so far this time. Starting to get hopeful that the impossible could just be possible, though back-to-back promotions would necessitate a massive overhaul of the squad.

[MikaelS]

Just starting the second half of my first BSP campaign and things are looking a whole lot better than I expected. Just won 2-0 at Tranmere (they're in danger of bouncing straight down to the BSN) which leaves us 4th in the table. Darlington are 14 points clear at the top, so they've got the automatic spot sewn up.

Similar to last season, we're looking defensively solid and the two up top are banging the goals in, though I may struggle to keep my best striker, James Foster, past January as there are a number of League 2 clubs sniffing around him. He got 20 in 42 in the league last season and has 11 in 19 so far this time. Starting to get hopeful that the impossible could just be possible, though back-to-back promotions would necessitate a massive overhaul of the squad.

Foster sounds good. Got a screenie?

[Terk]

Foster sounds good. Got a screenie?

Done one just for you, Mikael James Foster. The lower attributes are quite blurred on the screenie, but you can see the ones that get into double figures. Very good mental and physical stats for this level, he's benefited from being on a full time contract now; I think his composure is vital because he scores a much higher rate than any of my other players in one-on-one situations.

I'm not convinced he can make the step up to League 2 as anything other than a squad player, but if he manages another 13 league goals then he'll become the club's leading league goalscorer and his legendary status will be cemented in my eyes. My coaches reckon he'd be a leading star for any BSP side but that he won't improve any in the future. It's Burton and Wycombe, both near the bottom of L2, who are interested in him. Not sure how much it'd take to make me sell him in January, but given our financial situation, every player does have his price.

[MikaelS]

Done one just for you, Mikael James Foster. The lower attributes are quite blurred on the screenie, but you can see the ones that get into double figures. Very good mental and physical stats for this level, he's benefited from being on a full time contract now; I think his composure is vital because he scores a much higher rate than any of my other players in one-on-one situations.

I'm not convinced he can make the step up to League 2 as anything other than a squad player, but if he manages another 13 league goals then he'll become the club's leading league goalscorer and his legendary status will be cemented in my eyes. My coaches reckon he'd be a leading star for any BSP side but that he won't improve any in the future. It's Burton and Wycombe, both near the bottom of L2, who are interested in him. Not sure how much it'd take to make me sell him in January, but given our financial situation, every player does have his price.

I am pretty sure he can do well in CCL2. Several players on my team are not better than him and they did pretty okay for me in CCL2.

Any chance of getting promoted? If yes, then I would wait and see if you can hold on to him until then at least.

He looks pretty awesome for BSP

[Terk]

I was surprised that Crawley let him go, he scored over 20 goals in the BSP for them (OK over 3 seasons, but he was still a young lad) and he took a while to settle in last season, but once him and Kyle Wilson built up a partnership, they've just not stopped scoring.

We're 4th in the table after 24 games and looking solid enough defensively to make me believe that we have a chance of going up through the play-offs, so I'll try to keep hold of him, but any bid north of £50K would be hard to ignore.

I'm not the best judge of how far a player can go at this level (you'd be amazed at the number of times I've released a player and they've gone on to do well for better clubs) nut if we do go up then he'll certainly have earned the right to prove himself.

[foost]

Season 2018/19 Review - Guiseley in the Premier League - 3rd

League Table

Past Positions

Finances

After our great debut season last year we are did great again. Or better said; superb. We even had the chance to win the league! With 4 games to go the league table was like this. But my fixtures were just way to hard (Aston Villa, Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool). As you can see I was half the season in the 5th place, but always just 6 points away of leading the league. So it was quite close whole the season.

FA Cup | League Cup | Europa League

I had to make a choice. Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League was just to much. So I kicked out the League Cup and FA Cup. But somehow my bench players did great in the FA Cup. We even made it in the final! Ok, the last games was with my 1st squad but still. We would meet Tottenham in the final. That would be for the 2nd time since we also played them in the final 2 years ago! We lost back then with 2-0. This time I was closer. Losing 2-1[url/].

The Europa League was a disaster this year aswell. Just like last season I had inough points for the next round, but not going trough because of the results against the 2nd placed team. The matches itself were ok.

Squad

Transfers

Next to Cristiano and Gitinov I also signed Beretta (free), Foster (big talent) and Ryan Babel (for the bench). Gitinov did great. Came from the bench a couple of times and played most of his games while Cattermole was suspended or injured. Will be more important next season I guess. Cristiano is the best sign ever next to Gustavo Vidal and did perfect from the start. Controling the mid as noone before. with screamers from outside the box he scores aswell. Great multi player. Giacomo Beretta was a suprise, he did not wanted to expand his contract at Atalanta (Italy) so I signed him for free. He was the partner of Vidal in front and scored even more!

Best players of Guiseley this year:

- Gustavo Vidal (scored a lot, but still 1 out of the 3 chances)

- Jesus Mateu (wonderkid, becoming more and more important)

- Alexandr Gitinov (became wonderkid after this season)

- Cristiano (our playermaker in mid - and scores for fun)

- Giacomo Beretta (our best FREE player ever!!)

Awards:

- English Players' Player of the Year (1st place Beretta)

- English Footballer of the Year (2nd place Vidal)

- English Premier Division Top Goalscorer (2nd place Beretta)

- English Players' Young Player of the Year (1st place Mateu (2nd time))

- English Premier Division Manager of the Year (2nd place)

Again no decent/good youngsters. The facilities are adequate atm.. but improving! But really dissapointed about the youth coming trough.

Aim for next season: Our stadium is being expansed(?) again and it will be around 30.000 next season!! Also will have around € 30M to spend on transfers. But one thing I want next season is one price. Don't mind which one. Premier League, League Cup, FA Cup or Champions League (altho I think we arent there yet haha).

Season     Team           League               Finished  Achievements
2010/11    Guiseley    Blue Square South    	5th       Promoted
2011/12    Guiseley    Blue Square Premier    	1st       Promoted, BSP Champions, FA Trophy winners
2012/13    Guiseley    Coca Cola League Two    	1st       Promoted, CCL2 Champions
2013/14    Guiseley    Coca Cola League One    	3rd       Promoted
2014/15    Guiseley    Coca Cola Championship  	14th
2015/16    Guiseley    Coca Cola Championship  	9th       FA Cup runner-up, Qualified for Europa League
2016/17    Guiseley    Coca Cola Championship  	1st       Promoted, CCC Champions
2017/18    Guiseley    Barclays Premier League 	6th       Qualified for Europa League
2018/19    Guiseley    Barclays Premier League 	3rd       Qualified for CL, FA Cup runner-up

[Terk]

Congratulations on qualifying for the CL at least, foost

We outplayed Luton in the FA Cup third round but conceded an 88th minute equaliser. Still, got the replay to try and get past them. Our reward would be a home tie against League One side Hull in the fourth round

[Welsh Wizard]

Welsh Wizard - Carshalton - Coca-Cola Championship - 2015/16 - Season 6

Table | Past Positions Graph | Player Stats

Predicted: 24th

Finished: 6th Play-off Winners

Play-off Semi Leg 1

Play-off Semi Leg 2

Play-off Final

Great season and another shock promotion . A draw on the last day manage to snatch 6th by a point.

FA Cup - Lost in 3rd round vs Portsmouth

League Cup - Lost in 3rd round vs Man City

Team Stats

Team General

Transfers

Ivan Velikov was a great signing but had to sell some good players who would of made Prem like David but the 50% on him should make a decent amount if he get sold ons

Finances

Main money coming in was from transfer of David which helped the finances some of which has been spent on improvements to the Stadium and Facilities.

My 8000 stadium is have all seats added to it which will take 6 months. In the mean time we will be sharing Upton Park

Both training and youth are getting improved.

Key Players

Ivan Velikov - David replacement and a very good season

Targets

Improve squad and get rid of dead wood

Avoid Relegation

Season        Division            Position                 Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11       BSS                 1st                       BSS Champions Promotion
2011/12       BSP                 4th                       Play-off Winners
2012/13       L2                  12th                      
2013/14       L2                  4th                       Play-off Winners
2014/15       L1                  2nd                       Promotion
2015/16       CC                  6th                       Play-off Winners

[hrbfcrule]

Congratz foost on getting the champions league, hopefully you can do better in it than you did in the europa. Unlucky on your fa cup final loss.

Congratz Welsh Wizard on promotion to the premiership. I hope you haven't been promoted too early and find yourself struggling in the premiership

[The Art of Drowning]

Jamie Spencer - Season 3 BSP Champions

A great season from us this time around, Adam Boyd fired the goals but it was a real squad effort as we were able to rotate the team every game. We had a big squad of talented players for this division and I think I will be known as "The Tinkerman" from now on

League Table: http://img691.imageshack.us/i/bsptruro.jpg/

Transfers: http://img714.imageshack.us/i/transferstruro.jpg/ Some great signings there such as Hollands, Torres, Boyd, Bean and Parker. Signed Exodus towards the end of the season, him and Futcher (both 6ft7) are not going to be beaten in the air.

Star Players:

Ben Geering: http://img714.imageshack.us/i/geering.jpg/ - For the 3rd year running he was our best player, an absolute rock at the back. had him on Loan in the BSS and made him ours the following year. Legend.

Jamie Day: http://img691.imageshack.us/i/jamieday.jpg/ - former peterborough left back is ace going forward

Adam Boyd: http://img51.imageshack.us/i/adamboyd.jpg/ - Banged in the goals and was generally awesome despite a squad rotation system with Rendell and then later Gillespie fighting for the central striker spot.

Next year we will need to rebuild, my coach has found a french defender and an algerian keeper released from Marseille who should be good. I'd take mid-table tbh.

Season     Team           League               Finished  Achievements
2010/11    Truro City   Blue Square South    	1st       Promoted, Champions
2011/12    Truro City   Blue Square Premier    	13th       
2012/13    Truro City   Blue Square Premier     1st       Promoted, Champions

[Welsh Wizard]

Congratz Welsh Wizard on promotion to the premiership. I hope you haven't been promoted too early and find yourself struggling in the premiership

Thats my worry:( my team was not really strong in the Championship many results were with late goals etc. My rep won't be as big as it would be if I won leagues instead of play-offs. Currently only got basic facilities:(. Will be hard but we will see how it goes;)

Great season The Art of Drowning

[Jaffa]

Hi all, I've not posted an update in a long while, so I'll make a small effort now.

In my 3rd season, second in the BSP I managed to actually win the BSP:http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i184/Jaffak/PromotionBSN-1.jpg

First season in CCL2 has begun and I'm currently 4w2D6L which isn't great but considering I haven't really managed to add much to my team I'm happy to consolidate. I parted company with alot of my fringe BSP players so I'm operating on a much smaller pool of players having only added a couple.

[Dons2387]

Wow, Hull have dropped down to L1 Terk?

Congrats to all getting promotions. I've got an update coming at some point today on my 2nd season in BSS.

[Dons2387]

Well it was an interesting second season in the BSS for me and my Truro squad. I flirted with top spot all season, being there for a few games, and then dropping down, and then back up, only to completely back my way into the playoffs after a torrid last month of the season.

The league table saw us finish 4th, which meant we had Grays in the playoffs. First leg at home we drew 1-1, second leg was a bore draw, and just as I was debating whether or not to make any last minute subs in order to have the best penalty takers on, in the 116th minute FM07 legend Darryl Knights popped up to grab a winner and put us through to the final against Dorchester, which we won 2-1 and it was a lot more comfortable than it seemed.

Squad:

GK: Tom Brooks. Difference maker. When he played we seemed so much stronger.

DR: David Pilgrim

DL: Perry Ryan. Solid Player

DC: Santos Gaia

DC: Kieran Nicholson. From my own ranks. What do you guys think?

MC:Andy Taylor. Surprisingly effective in the supporting mid role.

MC: Oliver Hewitt-Fisher . Shortlist for Player of Season. Also won POY

ML: Max Harrop. Needs to be replaced.

MR: Chris Newton. Another to be replaced

FC: Craig Farrell. Definitely needs to be replaced but thankful for a good season from him.

FC: Stewart Yetton. Shortlist for Player of Season. Also came 2nd in Top Goalscorer. Had a poor second half of the season otherwise would have come 1st for sure.

Subs:

Karl Keogh. Played some during injury troubles, scored a few key goals.

On a personal note, i came 2nd in MOY.

Onwards and upwards. Hopefully i'll be able to survive in the BSP. It's gonna be a long off season of bargain hunting!

[hrbfcrule]

1st january 2018, Liverpool are officially in the relegation zone four points from safety and they still have Torres, Reina, Diego, Glen Johnson and Mascherano in their squad. How is this possible?

Then i realised Rafa Benitez is still their manager, that explained it all (sorry Terk, I couldn't resist)

[roseboy64]

I just splashed out 113M in the just concluded transfer window.

[Swindon69]

Jigs around the room dad dancing - promotion as champions in my 3rd BSN season with 3 games to go.

[Dons2387]

Congrats Swindon! Perseverance pays off! Update soon?

[Swindon69]

Boston Utd BSN 2012/13

Champions - at last!

Won 26 Drew 10 Lost 6 (2 of those in my last three games) Scored 96 Conceded 43 Pts 88

Top for 31 games throughout the season - lowest position 7th after my first game.

11 players played 30 or more leagues games.

Top scorer Christiano Kisuka with 20 goals in 38 games, closely followed by Sean Fitzharris with 17 goals in 30 games, fifteen as sub and Jean Biansumba (21) signed in 2011/12 after being released by Forest, he has no acceleration but all technical skills above 10,came of age this year with 14 in 30.

13 players rated 7 or over, my right back Thobias Skovgaard scored his first goal - a 35 yard fluke in the final match, of my regular starting line up only two players failed to score in the league, those being Joe Anyon my keeper, who kept 14 clean sheets in the league and my left back Ben Gibson.

Oh and my 39 year old centre half Alexis played in 36 games in all competions, scored 9 goals and got a 7.19 rating,.

I also didn't get a single red card this season.

In the cups got knocked out in the 2nd Qual Round of the FA Cup and the 1st Round of the trophy. I think this helped in avoiding fixture congestion, which meant I only used 19 players in the whole season.

[hrbfcrule]

Congratz Swindon69:thup:

[Swindon69]

Thanks - after getting beaten in the play-off final in the first season and losing in the semi-finals last season I thought this'd be a tough season as I wasn't allowed to sign any players.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Nantwich Town – Premier League 2019/20 – Season 10

So after a penalty shootout win over Leicester in the Playoff Final last Season Nantwich found themselves in the promised land, but well and truly out of our depth - it normaly takes me a little longer to reach the Premiership, which normal allows me to have built up our facilities and have a nicely settled core of a team with some promising youngsters and a scouting network in place.

This time I was in the Premiership with a squad of 13 players of which only one or two were currently ready for the Premiership.

The boards expectations were yet again to try and avoid relegation and they gave me £18m to try and do so. The press however gave us no chance setting our odds at 5000-1 and expected us to finish rock bottom.

So with an £18m warchest I went about trying to build a squad capable of staying in the Premiership however it soon transpired that £18m and a max wage of £12K p/w wasn't quite enough.

The first problem was locating Premiership rated players who wanted to play for me - the vast majority of unwanted English players who were in my range wanted nothing to do with me, prefering to drop down to the Championship (who pay better than me) or go abroad.

The second problem was teams want insane prices for their players - teams want £5m-£10m for players worth £1m-£2m, I managed to stretch my funds by offering payments over 48months and attempts to knock teams down didn't quite work - teams seemed to know I knew players and wouldn't budge whilst in other cases another team would come straight in with an offer out of my reach, not that I have much luck attracting players when someone else makes a bid.

The third problem was wage demands - the vast majority of players are being payed over £10K p/w which is out of my reach, even 18 year olds are being paid more than that and I couldn't even afford to match their current wages let only encourge them to sign for me.

So I was then left with having to bring in promising youngsters before the big teams signed them and put them on silly wages, though the big clubs did beat me to the English youngsters I managed to snatch a couple of Scottish ones.

So £36m later I at least had a squad, player sales saw just the one bar the releasing of my useless youth players - Belgian Centre-Back Hassan moaned after Championship side Sunderland declared an interest so he was set back to Belgian for a healthy profit.

Even after spending £36m it quickly became apparent that we were still out of our depth - we just lacked that extra bit of quality, desire and luck to turn defeats into draws or draws into wins - even when we turned up and put the effort in we still lost.

In the first half of the season we were just about staying out of the relegation spots and as my team started to gell I was hopeful we'd survive and after the turn of the year when we beat Chelsea away to claim our first away win of the season it was looking like we might just survive, however things went horribly wrong after that game - the whole of Europe seemed to descend on my team, Madrid were after my right backs, Arsenal and Inter wanted my Strikers and the speculation destroyed my team several players demanded transfers and the others collasped under the pressure and we just started making horrendous mistakes - passing the ball to the opposition under no pressure, picking out the opposition player when surrounded by my players, the worse was corners as we just stood around ball watching, nothing I did seemed to stop it we just lost any ability to play football at all - the only time we showed any spirit or desire was when we came from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw against Arsenal, however with three games left our relegation was confirmed after we could only draw to Ipswich, whilst my Keeper and Centre-back showed great loyalty by handing in transfer requests seemingly before we'd even left the field and to make things worse we then lost to Coventry which lifted them above us and consigned us to the bottom of the table (The only two times I've been relegated on CM/FM and both times we've finished rock bottom).

Table - Pos Graph

Things weren't helped by 23 of the goals we conceeded being due to mistakes.

Squad - An utterly woeful season where not even one player stood out, the flanks were the worst were players were lucky to get a 6.0 rating.

Keeper James Patton kept the score down in several games, however even he gave up at times, dropping the ball into his own net several times and towards the end of the season he just launched his goal kicks straight to the opposition and then promptly handed in a transfer request.

In Defence Galder Ardanaz continued at right back and so did his personal problems and after Athletic wanted him back and Madrid scouted him he demanded a transfer, which is annoying because when he turns up he is a solid player and is going to be a quality player in the future, on the left was Carlos Perez who is now settled but had an awful season and I may see about switching him into the middle, providing cover was Frenchman Hicham Hadji who made a good start but struggled to refind his form after injury kept him out for three months.

In the centre of defence a record £10.75m was spent on signing Paraguayan Rodrigo Maidana who became my first Wonderkid and despite a few lapses had a solid season and was named third in the Young Player of the Year Awards, though he has also demanded a move so I doubt he'll be here next season, partnering him was Erwin Bauwens who started well but disappeared after demanding a transfer in January.

On the Wings £4m was spent on English Winger John Corigan and to be honest I expected more from him, though he did do better than Michael Knightly who was woeful. On the Left new signing Phil McNally made a solid start before an injury in December ended his season, providing cover was the Brazilian Dario who didn't impress but has finally settled in the country at least.

In the centre Darren Fletcher was brought in to end some experience and bite to the Midfield and he had a good season as did his partner Magnus Eikrem who despite being my worst player according to my staff still has the ability to place his pass setting up nine of our goals. Providing cover was Vice-Captain Matthew Whyte though he lost his place when he randomly declared he didn't like Eikrem after five years of partnering him.

Upfront Vladislav Dimitrov again lead the line and was partnered by Dutch Striker Ernst van Beek who Man Utd no longer needed and his 70% shots on target ratio made him the third most accurate Striker in the league, providing cover was Irish Striker Stephen Keane and Spanish Striker Javier Vera who was loaned from Man Utd.

Best XI is about right, though the Overall XI is now broken.

In the FA Cup we again reached the Fifth Round before going out to Aston Villa, whilst the Third Round tie against Crewe saw me manage my 500th game for Nantwich.

Whilst the loyalty at the club continued into the Board room where my Chairman spend most of the season trying to sell the club and in the end handed it over to the only director at the club in the end it was an utterly pointless takeover with the only result being the terminating of our Sampdoria link though at least he sees the point in improving our facilities unlike the last guy.

Confidence wise my position is still Very Secure, whilst we still have £5.5m in the bank after having made a profit of £500K last season after spending £15m on transfers (the remaining £20m is spread of the next three years).

The Premier League Sponsorship League shows how badly we were outmatched - we got less than 0.1% of the Sponsorship money generated this season.

And to make things a little more interesting the new chairman is expecting us to go straight back up...

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11        Blue Square North         1st              Promoted - Champions
2011/12        Blue Square Premier       3rd              Promoted - Play-offs
2012/13        League Two                8th
2013/14        League Two                11th
2014/15        League Two                15th
2015/16        League Two                3rd              Promoted
2016/17        League One                1st              Promoted - Champions
2017/18        Championship              15th
2018/19        Championship              3rd              Promoted - Play-offs
2019/20        Premier League            20th             Relegated

[Swindon69]

Hope you manage to bounce back.

[Swindon69]

Gah my physio refused to sign a new contract and left and now each time I try to sign one it gets cancelled.

[Scott08]

Anyone else playing as Merthyr? If so did you seem to get better than average youngsters coming through in the early seasons?

[hrbfcrule]

Unlucky michaeltmurrayuk, hope you bounce back.

It looks like i've lost Ezio Massaro the chairman just accepted a 4.9 mill offer for him, apparently "it was to good to refuse"

Hes been with us for almost 6 seasons racking up 191 league appearances with an average rating of 7.01. Including cup competitions he has made 117 appearances and has been a rock solid defender and his presence will be missed as shown by us conceding the least in the league this season.

EDIT: Awwwww how kind

[Terk]

Wow, Hull have dropped down to L1 Terk?

Yeah, they got rid of the Tango Man but it didn't seem to help. They're not doing that well this season either, though I doubt they'll go down again, but if we get past Luton in the replay then I'll be having a real go at beating Hull on our own patch. If we could get to the fifth round that would just be stunning. Surely then we'd get a decent tie

[Terk]

Then i realised Rafa Benitez is still their manager, that explained it all (sorry Terk, I couldn't resist)

I say to you. Just you wait until I get back playing my Liverpool save, then I'll show you

*shakes fist*

Damn dafuge for making this challenge so addictive

[speni194]

Started this, will post my updates properly tomorrow. Goign to bed now. All I have done is bring in my own staff.

Took over at Boston, which I don't think is cheap because its where I live and have held a season ticket at when they were mid table League 2

[Terk]

I :heart: the FA Cup. Just gone to Luton in the third round replay, took an utter beating in the second half but we stood firm and held on for the win. That got us £68K in prize money Came at a cost though as Kyle Wilson is out for 2 months Hull up in the 4th round.

[Terk]

I :heart: the FA Cup even more \o/ Canvey 3 - 2 Hull. ****ing awesome performance, can't quite believe this but we're through to the 5th round \o/ If we don't get a big team now I genuinely think I will cry.

[Terk]

Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd all knocked out in the 4th round But Newcastle away will do me big time. Pay day here we come \o/ The £90K prize money from beating Hull has actually put us into the black by £35K. Profit for this season up at over £300K. Who said cups suck ass?

[Almondo]

Nice one Terk 5th round of the FA cup is a good show for a conference team

[Dons2387]

Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd all knocked out in the 4th round But Newcastle away will do me big time. Pay day here we come \o/ The £90K prize money from beating Hull has actually put us into the black by £35K. Profit for this season up at over £300K. Who said cups suck ass?

Thats brilliant. Congrats

[Swindon69]

Just noticed Bolton are in League 1.

[foost]

Congratz foost on getting the champions league, hopefully you can do better in it than you did in the europa. Unlucky on your fa cup final loss.

Thanks hrbfcrule... Will do my stinking best. Unfortunately I think it will be hard to make it into the next round of the CL haha..

Poule:

AC Milan

Villareal

Guiseley

Girondins Bordeaux

hehe

[MikaelS]

Thanks hrbfcrule... Will do my stinking best. Unfortunately I think it will be hard to make it into the next round of the CL haha..

Poule:

AC Milan 2x loss

Villareal 1x loss + 1x draw

Guiseley 2 x wins

Girondins Bordeaux 2 x wins

hehe

I think it looks good

[Thebaker]

Anyone else playing as Merthyr? If so did you seem to get better than average youngsters coming through in the early seasons?

yes, in fact they seemed better than the ones i've got coming through 15 seasons later in the prem

[Bilyletdinov7]

i'm on a great run at the moment, unbeaten in 10, beating Droylsden twice (F.A. cup and league), took Barrow to a replay in the 4th round f.a. cup qualifier and then beating them, then took darlington to a replay in the 1st round and then beat them! bring on gillingham in the 2nd round at home, hopefully being at home will work to my advantage and even better more money from fans coming!

[MikaelS]

yes, in fact they seemed better than the ones i've got coming through 15 seasons later in the prem

That's because you need to UPgrade your facilities, not DOWNgrade

[Thebaker]

michaeltmurrayuk, Unlucky on being relegated i hope you get back first time.

I'm in my first season in the prem and fighting relegation but my 5 years in the championship mean i have a reasonable squad already, in fact 3 players have become wonderkids and my rightback is one of the best in the world.

I've struggled in midfield and looking at your players i think thats where you were losing games, none of your midfielders looks real quality, you might need someone with more passing ability

[Thebaker]

That's because you need to UPgrade your facilities, not DOWNgrade

my chairman thinks my facilites need no improvement even though they are still average, i beg to differ.