dafuge's FM08 small club to big club challenge

[swirlypop69]

Originally posted by Blackmama:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by swirlypop69:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Blackmama:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by swirlypop69:

The dafugeschallenge says my account is not verified, i registered there ages ago but no verification email has been sent to me. I have clicked on it to resend but when I click this it takes me to a blank white page. Any help???

try your spam filter! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have - nothing there either! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Damn - that usually does the trick. How about sending an email to Alan who've made the website? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've tried the contact form on the website but to no avial. I will now email him with his email shown in his profile on here. Enough about the website though, I am sure it will be sorted. Thankyou for trying to help

So anyway, just about to start my pre-season with Merthry Tydfil. Managed to build up a semi decent backroom staff, just wish the same could be said about my squad! This team is full of Fred faces and I have to say is probably the ugliest team in FM history! Do we win a prize? It might be my only chance of silverware this season!

[canvey!!]

canvey!! – Mangotsfield United – 2010/11 – Blue Square South

Pre-Season Review

A woeful pre-season left us with the equivalent of 4 points – 8 dropped at teams I really expected to beat. Added to that, Chairman Paul Payne still doesn’t see any point in a parent club. He’s willing to listen to offers and I hope he sells, despite the effect that may have on my position.

Mangotsfield 3 – 1 Guiseley

Having a small handful of new signings, including Cardiff’s reserve keeper, I was optimistic for the clash with Blue Square North Guiseley. Paul Simpson (brought through my youth system) scored a brace before Guiseley could get a goal in, and Lenell John-Lewis restored the lead in the final minute of stoppage time.

MOM: Paul Simpson (9)

Mangotsfield 2-0 Waltham Forest

I wasn’t happy with my tactic, so I simplified it to an attacking 4-4-2. Sam Foley put us ahead 7 minutes in, but at half-time we still held onto that slender lead. Brian Ryan scored a 25-yard free kick on the hour to secure us the win against a grey team, feeder club Waltham Forest.

MOM: Brian Ryan (8)

Mangotsfield 2-1 Witton Albion

Witton Albion had just been promoted to the Blue Square North. Although they took the lead in the 7th minute, a brace from Brian Ryan in two minutes put us 2-1 going into the break. They seemed to stand no chance after getting a man sent off on the hour, and indeed they never recovered, and we won 2-1.

MOM: Brian Ryan (8)

Mangotsfield 2-1 Gloucester

Versus rivals and grey-team Gloucester, Rhys Henry scored both sides of the break to secure the win.

MOM: Rhys Henry (8)

Mangotsfield 2-1 Forest Green

Playing Blue Square Premier Forest Green, based on previous results, I was secretly optimistic. Despite going down in the 52nd minute, I urged for a late comeback, and loanee defender Kieran Brennan converted a penalty to give us the equaliser ten minutes from time. Five minutes later, Lenell John-Lewis slotted home to give us an unlikely win.

MOM: Kieran Brennan (8)

Mangotsfield 2-2 Chester

If we beat Chester, recently relegated from League 2, we would have had a preseason without a single loss. In the end, we drew, thanks to a stunner from Lenell John-Lewis, who scored one and set up Brian Ryan for the other. Yet Spencer Weir-Daley was in top form for the visitors and scored both of their equalisers.

MOM: Spencer Weir-Daley (Chester) (8)

I was confident we could avoid relegation, and this unbeaten preseason has confirmed this. If we do well we may even push for a playoff place. I think the keystone of this good form is my change of tactic, and we’ll say how it holds up as the season wears on.

Transfers

[canvey!!]

Originally posted by canvey!!:

canvey!! – Mangotsfield United – 2010/11 – Blue Square South

Pre-Season Review

A woeful pre-season left us with the equivalent of 4 points – 8 dropped at teams I really expected to beat. Added to that, Chairman Paul Payne still doesn’t see any point in a parent club. He’s willing to listen to offers and I hope he sells, despite the effect that may have on my position.

Ignore this bit - that's from an old preseason, forgot to remove it.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Marine 2013/14 - League One

To survive in our first season in League One reinforcments would be needed - two youngsters were picked up on free's from Arsenal Ryan Flood and Chris Dawes, my scouts also went to the U20 World Cup where they raved about a young Czech Striker Tomas Spevak who was signed for a club record £100K, I also brought in a couple of Hungarian youngsters on free's, and with my new French physio bringing knowledge of half of central Europe with him I snapped up some hopefully promising Spanish and San Marino youngsters among others.

I also managed a coup by signing ex-Arsenal Championship rated Dutch right winger/striker Vincent van den Berg on a free after Swansea let him go.

It turned out to be a rather uneventful season in League One, in the end we finished 15th, no where near relagation or the playoffs, we did start declining halfway through the season, with most of my squad not good enough for League One - Top Scorer Ameobi left in Jan for Exeter for £45K as did a couple of more squad players.

Changing my formation to 4-4-1-1 (AM with forward arrow), helped us out a bit, but with 5 games to go we were going nowhere and I decided to field some youngsters.

Squad - Keeper Woods, left winger Harris, and strikers Naylor and Spevak impressed, Spevak had a good start to his Marine career dispite not being able to speak English.

Season Best XI - not sure how Flood got in there.

Overall Best XI - LB Rhodes bizarley enters even though he wasn't at the club, dropping out the better rated Mtandari? The only other change is James Harris making the bench.

Club Infomation - Board expanded the stadium this season, and we spent the first half playing at the 13,000 Capacity Halton Staduim in Widnes (20 miles away home of the Widnes Vikings Rugby League side and Everton Reserves) - a lot better looking stadium than my current home.

Confidence - Fans not happy with my signings, well what do they expect when we struggle to attract players, they then moan about loanees who aren't costing us a penny and write off youngsters in their first few games for the club.

Snapshot - Carling cup went well again, drawn away to yet another ex-Premiership team Sheffield Utd this time, who hammered us 4-0, the Paint Trophy saw us start in the Second round for some reason (the bottom 16 teams get a bye - must be done on reputation). We beat Port Vale on pens, but then lost to Bradford on pens.

The FA Cup saw us drawn against Southport in the First Round, where we won 2-0, thanks to my 15 year old Spanish Left Winger Mendez scoring an open goal from 70 yards (Since when could under 16's play in the FA Cup on FM?). The Second round saw us drawn against Nottm Forest who we beat 2-1 in a replay after a 0-0 home draw. The Third round saw us entertain Leicester, who stuffed us 3-0.

Manager Profile and Manager Info - I've earned a mighty £90K so far in my Marine Career

[The_shocker7]

Hi guys, im in my 2nd season in the championship but still can only scout U.k. - is this correct? can i request to scout europe?

[canvey!!]

No you can't request - you'll just have to wait until they allow you to scout Europe. Keep in mind you can offer trials to those players you can't scout, and just keep waiting for your board to change the limits.

[Aario]

Aario - Halesowen Town - End of Season 6 (2013-14) Review - League 2

Hi all, not been playing or on here for some time - just finished my 6th season. As the table and graph show we were strong all season but ended up with nothing finishing 4th and then loosing the playoff semi

Had to play Barnet in the final game of the season when we were both 2 of 5 teams which could make the playoffs. Our comprehensive win made sure of our playoff position and should have been great for confidence as despite the loss Barnet still finished 7th so we would face then in the playoffs. Despite playing well we just missed far too many chances in both games to miss out:

First game away

Secibd game at home

There was not really much else to report - nothing special in the cups - although our reserves did do rather well and hopefully a few of the youngsters in there will push on into the 1st team next season. Check out the goals scored!

A few other screenies:

Transfers

Summary

Profile

[jezisaram]

my computer has crashed and i lost my game,

is there anyway i can reregister on the website?

[jezisaram]

done it

just on holiday now, i'm gonna try a below 1000 rep team,cos i wann be a real man.

[jezisaram]

AFC Hornchurch - 900

whoo real man no squad, no staff, no real wage budget, werein trouble got gillinghamas parent club so gonna be long season

me

will give updates every season

[Indy216957]

Indy216957 - Halesowen Town - 2014/2015 - League One

This season was really the one that I wanted to get promoted in. After spending the previous two seasons in mid table and bottom of the playoffs, I felt that we were finally positioned to move up. The free transfer signings of Ashley Barnes and Eddie Nolan solidified the striker and centerback positions, and the free transfer of Maxime Chanot and the loan signing of Ian Williamson provided starting fullbacks. With Mark Anderson in goal my team was a force all season.

Throughout the year we continued to be at the top and in second. Ross Gaynor and Paris Simmons were a sensational strike pair all year providing 32 and 27 goals respectively.

My one disappointment is that my team failed once again to win a trophy. Yes we got promoted butwe still have not won anything. We have been to the final of both the Setanta Shield and the Johnstone Paint Trophy and lost both. Also, all of the seasons that we have been promoted have been either by the playoffs or an automatic spot, but never as champions. Hopefully we can change that soon.

Profile

League Table

Team Sheet

Transfers

[spankie]

Because of a couple of minor annoying bugs, I've decided to stop my Hitchin game.

I've restarted using the 8.0.2 patch and I've ended up at Tiverton Town.

Profile

I have updated the website.

Since I started this game a little while ago I didn't want to post here until I've finished a full season.

Tiverton Town - BSS 08/09

League table - won it by a clear 10 points, despite a little slump in form during the run in. I am disappointed that we only got 99 points. But getting 100 goals more then made up for it.

Needless to say the cups didn't go that well, but we did manage to get to the 1st round proper of the FA Cup and were beaten by Rushden 3-2 at home.

Squad - I had a real problem getting in enough decent defenders, so I had to resort to a number of loans. I am very happy that I had 5 players get into double figures, with 1 player getting 20 goals and another 30.

I am shocked that everyone's favourite Bulgarian player coach did so well whenever I had to call on him. He's now hung up his boots and is staying on the staff even though I could easily find a better coach.

Transfers 1

Transfers 2

Luckily the screen doesn't show trial players. At one point in pre-season I think I had over 20 triallists.

All of the Irish players did come on trial, including the player signed for £5k

Drewe Broughton - player of the season and a pretty good target man who also is quite good with the ball at his feet. If he was fastre he'd be unstoppable.

Tony Canning - has the potential to play in League 1 at the very least. When he joined on trial I was a little worried by his physical attributes. I regulary have to turn down enquiries for him, but he's on a long term deal and next season I might get him to sign a contract extension.

Alan Thompson - IMO the most important player. The team always played better when the ex-Bolton and Celtic legend was involved. I doubt he'll play much next season as his lack of pace could be a problem.

Roy McKendry - another good Irish triallist and first choice left winger.

Reuben Reid - top scorer and should have scored more except he went on a faily long barren run.

Asa Smith - not played many games, but he could end up being Cannings long term midfield partner.

The good thing about being manager of Tivvy is that you start with good youth facilities and academy. So I started with a few players who could have a future at the club.

Michale Ward - back up left winger. According to my coaches he's got a bigger potential then McKendry.

Zak Evans - a right winger/striker. He's not a quick as I would like but he could potentiall improve that now that he's signed a full time contract.

Nick Edwards - not very quick for a full back, but again hopefully that can improve a little bit over time.

Home Screen - I stayed in the black and under the wage budget.

[Ben-g]

Chippenham – L2 – 2011-2012

Satus : pro

Estimated value : 2,1M€

Media prediction: 24th

Average age: 22

My club is now pro, and I was able to give full time contract to all my players and staff.

I said I expected a mid-table final position, and offered normal bonuses. To be honest, this season was quite easy, almost boring, except for a cup game against West-Ham that gave me a lot of money.

I’ve also translated my game from French to English, so that the screenies look better for everyone.

L2 : 1st | graph

FA Cup : 3rd against West-Ham (PREM): 0-5 away

League cup : 1st round against Southampton (CH): 1-3 home

JPT : 2nd round against Brighton (L2): 1-3 home

Squad and tactic

Transfers

Finance

Profile in 2012

[phildenham]

Ok, I tried this last time around and loved it, so time to have another go... last time around I took on the challenge of Hednesford, so I decided to do it again!

Here's the profile...

Manager Profile

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Marine - League One 2014/15

The board again decided to expand Rossett Park, so we'd be spending most of this season at Knowlsey Road - St. Helens Rugby League Ground, 15 miles away this time. (Or I may have been in their nice new stadium, that's due to be opened in 2010)

With last seasons midtable finish in League One, new players would be needed to lift us up the table - especialy considering I sold most of my defence in the offseason - Captain and centre-back Alexander Harris left for Shrewsbury for £50K, left back Kennedy went to Stockport for £85K, and my best defender Joe Dudgeon was poached for free by Motherwell, after he refused to sign a new contact - has anyone ever actually received compensation for a player you've lost? I always seem to have to pay compensation but the computer doesn't?

Midfielders Tutte and Elghanassy were both released on free's when they wanted way too much money to sign a new contract, in the winter window I sold off a few more squad players - strikers and midfielders who failed to impress and because I needed the money, even after all those sales the board were only giving me ~£200K to sign players.

Initial signings were several hopefully promising youngsters from lower league teams or on free's (as once a player becomes good I have no chance of signing them), and reinforced my defence with some loane's - Man Utd youngster John Pitt at CD, Andy Champion from WBA at Left Back (who was useless), and Callum O'Connor returned on loan from Blackburn, to play down the right, and would join us on a free at the end of the season (about the only player who lists Marine as his fav club, and actually wanted to sign for us - everyone else I've had on loan and tried to sign turned me down). I also signed Dutch left back Jan Eekman on a free from De Graafschap.

Attempts to sign more players on loan where hijacked by Bankrupt West Ham, who'd just been relagated to League One and proceed to try and loan everyone I wanted.

In the January window I pulled off a coup by signing Premiership rated DM Therry Racon from Watford for £8K, and Brazilian Midfielder Carlos Ramos for £85K (he'd been scouted and trialled last season, last season after being spotted at the U20 World Cup, but the club wanted too much money last season) to reinforce my midfield.

The season didn't get off to the best of starts right winger van den Berg injured his thigh in a friendly against Wolves and would miss the first few months of the season, on the pitch things weren't going too well - we only won 3 of our first 12 games, and two of them were with 10 men - Captain Tsankov scoring in the 90th minute against Wycombe, and a double from Naylor saw us fight back from a goal down against Plymouth after my Captain Tsankov had been sent off.

At the beginning of December we found ourselves in a relagation fight and out of all the cups - The Carling Cup saw us lose away to Championship Accringtion 2-0. The Paint Trophy saw us beat Bury on Pens, before losing to Barnsley 1-0 in the Second Round. The FA Cup 1st Round saw us travel to Blackpool who were flying high in League Two, we drew 2-2 in Blackpool and then went and lost the replay 2-1 at home.

With the team playing badly, a change was in order - I switched from 4-4-2 to a standard 4-3-3 - flat back 4, DM with two CM, two wingers and striker (that the game seems to call 4-1-4-1, which sounds rather negative) this saw us go on a run of 7 games with out defeat including 5 wins (which was more wins than we'd had in the previous 16 league games of the season), and a record 4 games without conceeding.

With the arrival of Ramos and Racon in Jan we stared flying up the table and were unbeaten in the last 12 games of the season (8 of them wins), these included a 4-1 hammering of West Ham, a 7-1 away win over Ipswich (not a league record though - Ipswich and Norwich were involved in a 7-7 draw in 2013!), a 1-1 draw against Sheff Wed where 3 pens were missed by the two scorers, that could prove costly.

In Easter things started falling apart Left Winger Harris who was on fire and had been made vice-captain to try and keep him at the club after he moaned about wanting to move to a bigger club, tore his calf muscle and would miss the rest of the season, my tired team then faulted away to Brentford throwing away a 2-0 lead in the last minutes.

With two games left of the season we were somehow 7th in the League, only two points off a playoff spot - competition for the last 2 playoff spots came down to Swansea, Plymouth, Sheff Wed and Me - with Plymouth and me winning our second to last game and Swansea and Sheff Wed losing, we leapfrogged Swansea into 6th on goal difference, by two goals (+24 to +22)

In the final game of the season, we would need to match Swansea's result or win and hope that Plymouth didn't - we were home at Rossett Park for only the second time this season to already relagated Colchester, we didn't get off to the best of starts with Colchester taking the lead in the 15th minute, but on the stroke of half time, my Hungarian Midfielder Baranyai scored a beauty of a goal from 25 yards to make it 1-1, then in the 66th minute the linesman destroyed our season, wrongly disallowing Naylors goal when he was clearly onside silence from the FA not much comfort, and to make things worse in the 90th minute they broke my left back Eekman's leg, and he'll be out for 6 months.

With Swansea winning, we missed out on the playoffs and would be spending a third season in League One

On the plus side it was fun to see West Ham hammered 7-1 by Ipswich

Final League One Table, and our positions through the season to show just how awful and costly the start to the season was

Squad - in the end 4-3-3 proved very effective - van ben Berg and Harris ripped teams apart down the wings, typical attacks would be either counter-attacking with my wingers or striker running with the ball and getting one-on-one with the keeper, wingers getting to the byline and putting the ball across the face of the goal for my striker to tap in, or the ball being pulled back to one of my late arriving midfielders to place the ball in the corner of the net. The main problem I had was that Naylor and Spevak are two different types of strikers - Naylor is fantastic at one-on-ones, where Spevak would always be in the right place to tap the ball home in the box, luckily I managed to rotate them through the season keeping them fresh, though with Duxbury the only one of my youngsters ready for first team football I could be in trouble if either of them get injured.

Best XI Season - no arguments with that for a change.

Best XI Overall - Left Back Eekman makes the team with just 33 appearances, Spevak makes it upfront and O'Connor makes the bench.

Club Infomation - Our stadium is quickly increasing in size, whilst according to the board our facilities are among the best in the league.

Manager Profile - new fav formation, and bit more knowledge.

Snapshot Screen.

It was also World Cup season, that saw pretty much every manager fired, including the Argentina manager who'd just won the World Cup, which is rather harsh.

[foost]

Great update there michaeltmurrayuk!

I am playing with 4-3-3 aswell... (2nd season for me and still in BSS, but ok )

[jezisaram]

my pc is rubbish. gotta start again,

gonna achieve this time

[bazfmmad]

Hi guys,

I did this challenge in one of earlier additions but never quite finished it after getting hendon to championship. Going to start again so here is my profile.

Hope to start climbing the leagues and will give updates when appropriate.

Oh and congratulations dafuge on becoming a moderator

[MikaelS]

Its been a while since I've been online (been on vacation). Chippenham is still performing above expectations, but I fear my time is short as the finances really is in deep red. With the star players' values being crap (come on team rep!), I don't think a massive sellout will help.

With 27 games played, I'm 5th, but battling hard with 6 teams.

[A True Fan]

Renewing my AFC Wimbedon game after a few months of playing other games. Currently in Blue Square South in 2011/12.

[saab693]

Realised I hadnt tried this on 08 yet! Hopefully some of you may have followed my progress over in Gundo world. Despite reloading desperately to try and get Leek Town promoted I settled with Halesowen Town.

Profile

Should have a season done by the end of the week

Take it noone has managed to get Leek Town promoted?

[jezisaram]

just on holiday now.

doing the march challenge at the same time so might be distracted.

will post seanally updatesafter original profile.

[ejthegreat]

Finally decided to come back to my AFC Wimbledon game knowing that I'm still likely to get sacked soon.

Chairman has stepped in for the 5th time since the 8.02 patch, this time with striker Kounovsky.

Kounovsky Sale

Mixed feelings about this one.

He could've left on a Bosman at the end of the season and with Lorient sniffing around, I can't blame chairman for accepting now when they could've waited 2 weeks and got him free.

Problem is that he's scored 6 goals in last 5 matches, winning me 2 games single-handedly, which has probably kept me my job.

Current job status is "insecure" and with next three games against 8th, 7th and 6th, there's a very real chance that I won't last much longer.

[ejthegreat]

Originally posted by ejthegreat:

Finally decided to come back to my AFC Wimbledon game knowing that I'm still likely to get sacked soon.

Chairman has stepped in for the 5th time since the 8.02 patch, this time with striker Kounovsky.

Kounovsky Sale

Mixed feelings about this one.

He could've left on a Bosman at the end of the season and with Lorient sniffing around, I can't blame chairman for accepting now when they could've waited 2 weeks and got him free.

Problem is that he's scored 6 goals in last 5 matches, winning me 2 games single-handedly, which has probably kept me my job.

Current job status is "insecure" and with next three games against 8th, 7th and 6th, there's a very real chance that I won't last much longer.

Same day as previous transfer goes through and chairman is determined to wipe out my strikers with his 6th sale over my head.

Agard Bid

The player who would be taking Kounovsky's place in the side and with 18mths left on his contract.

He is unhappy at the moment and wanting to go to a bigger club, so he won't accept new contract but I've always been able to bring those players around so very disappointed.

I guess it's time to blood in the young striker Zima

[htfc_ttid@yahoo.co.uk]

Blimey!

That chairman doesn't like you, does he?

You haven't been sleeping with his wife or anything have you?

[Aario]

More to the point where did Falkirk get £2 mil from

[jezisaram]

i'm going again i've got a team under 1000

chippenham 900

profile

will post more after 1st season

[dafuge]

Originally posted by bazfmmad:

Oh and congratulations dafuge on becoming a moderator

Thanks

[ejthegreat]

Originally posted by Aario:

More to the point where did Falkirk get £2 mil from

Have no idea how they got that kind of money, no big transfers out. They all bought my winger Ryan Hall in the summer for £2.4m albeit that most of that was a £90k/month for 24 months fee.

Also just realised that Kounovsky has a 25% sell on clause so I'm only going to get 75% of the fee for him.

[dpalmer]

Just started up my game, AFC Wimbledon in the BSS.

Weak team to start with but managed some absolute coups in the transfer market, mainly loans but i'll worry about that at the end of the season! Got Palace as my parent club and have taken Lewis Grabben (awesome in this league, my scout reckons that he would be a leading star for any championship club so dunno wat he's doing with me), Jamie Smith (decent AMC who gets a few goals), Hotchkiss (ex-leeds, wouldn't come to me on loan but wwhen they released him on a free he was happy to sign.

Also just signed Charlie Sheringham on loan as well as Dion Dublin on a 1 year deal! he's very slow but still better than any other defender i have!

Just beat Salisbury 6-2 at home (grabben hat-trick, get him if you can!) and sitting at the top of the league (albeit only 8 games in!)

[chrishunt1212]

Chrishunt1212 - Mangotsfield 2009/10 - End of Season Update

Unfortunately, we didn't beat Charlton in the FA Cup, we actually lost 2-0, which wasn't too bad, the annoying thing was we just didn't really play well and create any chances. We were just left to concentrate on the league and the FA Trophy.

The second half of the season was fairly uneventful, we had a spell of about 5 or 6 games when my 2 star strikers, Tristan Plummer and Zavon Hines were injured, and we either conceded late goals or just simply couldn't score and our slender 1 point lead soon turned into a 12 point gap and second place in the league looking over our shoulders at the chasing pack.

With the end of the season fast approaching, we had a FA Trophy semi final 1st leg match against York which ended in a 2-2 draw. The 2nd leg which was played at Bootham Crescent ended with a fantastic 1-0 win which sent us through the the final against Kidderminster.

]Through to the final!!

With 10 games to go, we were sitting in 2nd place 10 points behind leaders Rochdale, and automatic promotion looked out of our reach. But, a string of good performances by us, and a few poor performances by Rochdale meant that with just 2 games left, 1 of which against leaders Rochdale, we were just 1 point behind them.

The Rochdale game was quite tight, but we edged it with an early goal by Tristan Plummer, but it could have gone either way with both teams creating a couple of decent chances.

rochdale narrow win

With us now 2 points clear in 1st place, all we had to do was equal or better Rochdales result in the final game to book our place in League 2 next season. We had the slightly easier game against Torquay, who were in mid-table with nothing to play for, at home whereas Rochdale were away to a strong Stockport side who were aiming to cement their place in the playoffs.

We won our game 3-1, the score should have been a little better as Torquay were reduced to 10 men after about 20 minutes, but we didn't mind too much as Rochdale suffered a 3-2 defeat and left them missing out on automatic promotion, and with a tricky playoff tie with Stockport, the team they had just lost to.

last league game

won the league

Rochdale overcame Stockport 3-2 on aggregate, and in the other tie York beat Exeter 4-2 on penalties after their tie ended 3-3 after the 2nd leg.

Rochdale hoped to beat York to gain promotion, which looked to had been theirs until a few games from the end of the season, but, unfortunately it wasn't to be as York beat them 2-0 in a surprisingly one-sided final.

final league table

league positions graph

All that was left was for us to play Kidderminster in the FA Trophy final. We didn't have a brilliant record against them winning 1, drawing 1 and losing 1 game against them, but I knew that if we played well then we wouldn't have a problem.

After the opening 10 minutes we were 2-0 up, and I thought the game was going to turn into a rout, but Kidderminster fought back and levelled on the stroke of half time. But, the second half went to plan and after a rousing team talk my team stepped up a gear and outplayed them, Tristan Plummer completing his hat-trick and we ran out 5-2 winners.

Our first cup win!!!!!

FA trophy final overview

FA trophy final ratings

Tristan Plummer was the undoubted player of the season scoring 51 times in 51 matches, although Zavon Hines got the fans player of the season award, I think because Plummers loan ended before the award was announced.

Plummers overall stats

final player stats

results part1

results part2

results part3

An increase in attendances, a good FA cup run and the prize money from winning the FA trophy meant our bank balance was in a very healthy state, and when I asked for improvements to be made to the youth and training facilities and also a stadium expansion, the board were all too happy to oblige, and work will begin soon on that.

end of season finances

I won the manager of the season accolade for the second season in succession, and to top that off I was also given a new 2 year £450p/w contract too.

manager of the season

See you next season.....

[chrishunt1212]

Originally posted by chrishunt1212:

Chrishunt1212 - Mangotsfield 2009/10 - End of Season Update

Unfortunately, we didn't beat Charlton in the FA Cup, we actually lost 2-0, which wasn't too bad, the annoying thing was we just didn't really play well and create any chances. We were just left to concentrate on the league and the FA Trophy.

The second half of the season was fairly uneventful, we had a spell of about 5 or 6 games when my 2 star strikers, Tristan Plummer and Zavon Hines were injured, and we either conceded late goals or just simply couldn't score and our slender 1 point lead soon turned into a 12 point gap and second place in the league looking over our shoulders at the chasing pack.

With the end of the season fast approaching, we had a FA Trophy semi final 1st leg match against York which ended in a 2-2 draw. The 2nd leg which was played at Bootham Crescent ended with a fantastic 1-0 win which sent us through the the final against Kidderminster.

***** fixed link Through to the final *****

[Supermas2]

Hitchin Town - Blue Square South - 2010/11 Season Review

Well, after not playing football manager for months, I dived straight back in, midway through my third season with Hitchin Town.

The season started very strongly, with us going unbeaten until November, when we lost 2-1 away at recently relegated Weymouth. We continued strongly in the league, however, winning all our home games going into the new year, and by the end of January we sat top of the table, 7 points clear.

Then it went wrong.

A 2-1 loss away at Bromley was followed by defeat at Boreham Wood, and then a home defeat to Braintree. We then lost to Chelmsford, to lose 4 consecutive league matches in February. Dorchester went ahead of us as top of the league. Then, incredibly, we went to our away game at Dorchester, on the back of our 4 defeats, and won 3-2. I thought we may overhaul Dorchester as leaders at this point, however 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in our last 8 games meant we finished the season in 2nd - 13 points ahead of 3rd placed Weymouth, 8 points behind Dorchester.

Into the playoffs, where we had lost to AFC Wimbledon in the semi final last year. We played Ebbsfleet, and after a 5-2 win away in the first league, I was confident of reaching the final - however we made it hard for ourselves - going down 4-2 at home, and sneaking into the final, 7-6 on aggregate.

The final was against Weymouth, who we had lost to both times in the league. At the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, we fought back from a goal down, for Andrew McIntosh to score an 84th minute winner, to send Hitchin town into the Blue Square Premier. Playoff Final - Weymouth 1 - 2 Hitchin Town

League Table

Positions graph - we lead for so long!

Top goalscorer- Dubois

I am really hoping we can sign a few players, and stay in the Blue Square Premier next season - however, Ithink it will be a long slog!

[kaNovi]

I might restart the challenge.. cant really decide..

Havent played FM since i stopped some months ago..

[jezisaram]

i didn't save my chippenham game before saving, so i've got to start again

profile

up the gateshead

[Blackmama]

Originally posted by kaNovi:

I might restart the challenge.. cant really decide..

Havent played FM since i stopped some months ago..

I couldn't go for several months without FM - that's some achievement. Have you been attending AFG-meetings?? (anonoumous FM gamers) . I go to bed at night thinking possible tactic adjustments, wondering how I improve my training, players to sign......I'm sad

[MikaelS]

Originally posted by Blackmama:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by kaNovi:

I might restart the challenge.. cant really decide..

Havent played FM since i stopped some months ago..

I couldn't go for several months without FM - that's some achievement. Have you been attending AFG-meetings?? (anonoumous FM gamers) . I go to bed at night thinking possible tactic adjustments, wondering how I improve my training, players to sign......I'm sad </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

hahahaha I tend to do the same atm. If I did a player search just before I went to bed, I lie in bed thniking about the players I found and the ones I didnt

[MikaelS]

uuuuh this is getting way too exciting! One match to go and 4 teams can pinch 1st place, including my beloved Chippenham. I had a fantastic run during the last period of the season. I would hate to see it all go down the drain

LEague Table before final match

Fixtures for the final game:

Q.P.R: away against Brighton (7th)

Carlisle: home against Rochdale (8th)

Southampton: home against Notts Co (23th)

Chippenham: away against Hull (5th).

Final fixture

Southampton looks to have the easiest game. I am forced to win if I want 1st place - not even a draw is enough. I could settle for a draw though. If either Q.P.R or Carlisle either lose or draw.

Exciting and nervous time ahead!

[MikaelS]

Halftime scores

Q.P.R: up 2-1.

Carlisle: draw 0-0

Southampton: down 1-2

Chippenham: up 1-0:

Chippenham halftime score

League table at halftime

If I can hold onto the small lead, I will take the title.

-------

Final scores:

Final scores

Q.P.R: drew 2-2

Carlisle: lost 0-1

Southampton: lost 1-2

Chippenham: held 1-0.

Chippenham final score

Final league table

woohoooo I won the league!

[kaNovi]

Originally posted by MikaelS:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Blackmama:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by kaNovi:

I might restart the challenge.. cant really decide..

Havent played FM since i stopped some months ago..

I couldn't go for several months without FM - that's some achievement. Have you been attending AFG-meetings?? (anonoumous FM gamers) . I go to bed at night thinking possible tactic adjustments, wondering how I improve my training, players to sign......I'm sad </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

hahahaha I tend to do the same atm. If I did a player search just before I went to bed, I lie in bed thniking about the players I found and the ones I didnt </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, i did the same when i was playing the challenge before.. but when i stopped the challenge i really couldnt start a new game.. the longest i played was a parma game for till 2010..

Although i have already completed the challenge its the only thing that "grabs" me..

[kaNovi]

Im Boreham wood in year 2031

Ill think ill resign and wait a year, then take over a newly promoted club and start from the scratch..

Ived won everything possible with boreham!

[MikaelS]

Originally posted by kaNovi:

Im Boreham wood in year 2031

Ill think ill resign and wait a year, then take over a newly promoted club and start from the scratch..

Ived won everything possible with boreham!

I know the feeling. The urge for a change and new challenge exceeds holding on to the same and same.

[kaNovi]

Havent seen this before

[MikaelS]

Originally posted by kaNovi:

Havent seen this before

hehe nice. Just proves how appriciated you were at the club.

on a sidenote - you should really look into securing your wireless network

[kaNovi]

hehe, its not my network

I play on my laptop which has no network

Im taking over Gateshead ( In Fm06 and 07 i was them in this challenge )

They have been up and down in my game, and when they popped up the 20th june i applied for the job, and got it (surprise)

Manager Profile

[MikaelS]

Originally posted by MikaelS:

MikaelS - Season 11/12 - Chippenham in Coca-Cola League 1

*snip*

Just fixed the links.

MikaelS - Season 11/12 - Chippenham in Coca-Cola League 1

As I did in the other leagues, I thought this was going to be a tough time and a direct relegation. At first it really looked like it, but as time went on, my players played better and better. I changed the squad a lot because I found some not playing consistent enough.

League Table

League Progress

Player stats – league

As I said, the start was horrible, but slowly we began to progress up through the table. In the end it was a matter of hanging on and getting the luck needed. I clinched the 1st place on last 2 matches.

League Cup:

1st Round: Lost 4-7 to Wycombe.

FA Cup:

Saw us beating Swindon 3-1, Rochdale 1-0 before losing to Preston in the 3rd round. I managed a draw in the first match though (away), but lost the rematch.

1st match

2nd match

Johnstone’s Paint Trophy:

Saw us beat Bournemouth, Wycombe (revenge!), Port Vale, Aldershot before meeting Oxford in the South Final.

1st leg away

2nd leg home

This saw us progressing into the final where we faced Hull.

Final

-----------

Players:

Stats

Full stats – overall

Yves Makabu Ma Kalambay

He did very well considering 76 goals were scored against us in the league.

Jo Kuffour

21 assists. Fantastic season.

Zoltan Harsanyi

4th choice striker, but he did bang in 19 goals. Very lethal in the cups.

Liam Barratt

Another great season by Liam. He was 2nd choice as a striker until I found my Norwegian killer

Joshua King

Fantastic season by this Man Utd reject. 20 goals in 34 matches.

Oskar Karlsson

Amazing season from this AIK reject. Absolutely 1st choice.

Transfers 1

Transfers 2

I received some good money for crappy players – 1.2 mill for James Poole fx.

Manager screen – End of season 11/12

Finances

They really suck. I got gutted by the win bonuses and extra wages. I really fear that it will be even worse when I move up into CCC.

Wage budget

They went up and down and I had to free transfer some players in order to keep it in check.

CCC here we come

[MikaelS]

Speculations in other managerjobs are already beginning:

Sunderland

[ejthegreat]

AFC Wimbledon update:

Currently 15th in the Championship which is bad considering I promised Promotion.

Got so annoyed with my team after the 4th Rd FA Cup loss that I decided to go on holiday and let the ass-man take over for some games.

Turns out, having watched the extended highlights, that's he's actually a pretty good manager except for 1 thing.

He's Mute.

Not his fault of course but he doesn't say anything to the side, ever. I noticed this after preseason games but presumed it was just because it was preseason.

Pre-game: Team (None)

Half-time: Team (None)

Post-game: Team (None)

After winning their last game, the None has of course made the team angry, just wish I could let him keep managing for a while and just do team talks.

Also, on a side note, Watford have just been deducted 10 points for going into administration. Time to get what I can from them

[KLH84]

Righty,

New starter here. Tiverton are lucky enough to have me as their new manager.

Manager screenshot before - currently spending £45pw on wages - oh dear.

Manager Screenshot

[MikaelS]

Originally posted by KLH84:

Righty,

New starter here. Tiverton are lucky enough to have me as their new manager.

Manager screenshot before - currently spending £45pw on wages - oh dear.

Manager Screenshot

Welcome. And good luck