dafuge's FM08 small club to big club challenge

[Jimbokav1971]

Happy. Just holiday until the end of the season and create a new manager at a newly promoted team.

It saves you having to go through all the holidaying and that hellish first vseason again.

[nerner]

has anyone completed this challenge yet?

[canvey!!]

Plenty of people. dafuge, michaelmurrayuk, kaNovi to name a few. If you go back to the last time dafuge posted an updated table you can find out.

[happy slappy]

Happy. Just holiday until the end of the season and create a new manager at a newly promoted team.

It saves you having to go through all the holidaying and that hellish first vseason again.

I deleted the save, think I'll just start all over again.

[canvey!!]

Plenty of people. dafuge, michaelmurrayuk, kaNovi to name a few. If you go back to the last time dafuge posted an updated table you can find out.

I've found it for you (Link!).

gillianchung, Scab, Leth4187, Beng, 3Sixty, dafuge, Rickaldo, kaNovi, ejthegreat, Annihilator666 and michaeltmurrayuk have completed the challenge. That's 11 people.

[TSmith1991]

Alright, I feel like I need a new challenge. I'm giving this a go.

Rather predictably, the promoted team after season one was AFC Wimbledon, whom I shall be taking this challenge with.

In come 4 loan signings from my parent club Crystal Palace, all of whom look like they could blitz the league. Also arriving are two mega target men to fit my tactic (I'm playing on FM07, where a target man is pretty much de rigeur).

End of season update in due course...

[NepentheZ]

I'm playing on FM07,

dafuge's FM08 small club to big club challenge

I'm not sure if the 07 thread is still about, but I'm pretty sure FM08 is supposed to be used for this challenge.

[TSmith1991]

I didn't really want to drag up an old thread to be the only one posting in it. I just liked the look of the challenge and thought I'd give it a go. If you've got a problem with it I'll stop though...

[NepentheZ]

Meh .... its fine by me. - Just make sure in your End of season reports (or any report) - you let us know you'r on FM07

Oh, and good luck in the challenge.

[NepentheZ]

Real London Update - Season 2 (2010/2011)

To begin....

NepentheZ takes charge of 100th game

Already at 154 by the end of the season, but won my 100th game incharge 4-0 against Bath, infront of the home fans. Greenbean and de Vet scored 2 each, but only 543 fans turned up to see the victory.

Blue Square South Prediction - 15th

Blue Square South Position - 2nd

F.A Cup - 3rd Qual. Round

Setanta Shield - 5th Round

F.A. Trophy - 2nd Round

Blue Square South - Graph | Table

Blue Square South : A much, much better representation on the quality my team has. Unlucky to lose 3-2 to Havant & Waterlooville in the Play-Off final, but no where near winners Woking, who got the most points ever in the BSS. They were dominant, and rarely lost. Next season, If I keep up the same form, winning the league should be what happens, but I'll settle for promotion via the play-offs.

F.A Cup : Went out to a team I've never heard of. Frustrating.

Setanta Shield : My best run in the Setanta Shield this season. Made it all the way to the 5th round, knocking out 2 BSP teams on the way. the prize money really helped.

F.A Trophy : Once again, the furthest I've been, but knocked out by yet another all grey squad. Its extremely frustrating.

Best Elevens - Season | Overall

Other Info

Finances

Team Selection

Team Info

Manager Info

Manager Overview

Manager Profile

Player Records

Team Records

Transfers

Affiliated Clubs

Real London Staff

Awards

Blue Square South - Player of the Season : Ryan de Vet

Fans Player of the Year : Tomb Raider

Blue Square South - Manager of the Season, 3rd place : NepentheZ

[/url]

New Real London Records*

Most Wins in a Row : 6 Wins

Most Club goals in a Season :

Most League goals in a Season :

Worst Discipline :

Youngest Player :

Most Goals in a Game :

Most Man of the Match in a Season :

Most Assists in a Season :

Record Attendance :

Record Gates :

*Records are only displayed when broken, and may not represent the final tally of the broken record

Players of the Season

: A loan signing from Fulham, he was simply phenominal. Finished with 54 league goals and 4 cup goals, breaking the Blue Square South record for top scorer. He really helped the club push forward for promotion, and I'll do all I can to secure his signature for another season.

: Butler was great this season, playing as the second striker alongside de Vet, and still managed to bang in 26 goals. Played well during de Vet's injuries, and firmly secured himself amoung the fans as a favourite, winning Fans Player of the Season.

Season Summary

A great season. Better cup runs, more consistent in the league and a team made up of only 1 loan signing, that still managed to dominate. Next season, I'll need a few new strikers and a new goalkeeper, possibly a new Left Back, but the rest of the team is solid and worthy of winning the division. Financially, the club is being held back because the fans just aren't turning up. We made a loss every month last season, and the club is now £300,000 in the red. This is seriously hampering the development of the club, as its not allowing the youth and training facilities any expansion, and that could be costly in the long run. I've had to rely heavily on free transfers and loan signings to make up a squad, and thanks to my brilliant 3 scouts, I've been doing a fine job. Hopefully, after finishing 3rd, more fans will show up, and we'll start getting around 1,000 per game, instead of the 694 Average of last season, and start pumping some cash into the club. 1 single decent cup run would also be great, and winning a cup would be massive for the club in terms of prize money and gates.

Manager history

Season 1 - Blue Square South - 8th place

Season 2 - Blue Square South - 12th place

Season 3 - Blue Square South - 2nd place

*Real London were formerly Hendon

[canvey!!]

Very good season for you Neppo. Shame about the playoff loss. Just one thing: you really ought to check your Windows Live email .

[TSmith1991]

New consortium just took over and sacked me. Bastards.

Holidaying to next year and plan to take over the next promoted team. Hopefully this time I'll last a bit longer...

[NepentheZ]

Haha. canvey!! - I get like 300 e-mails per day, so I rarely check it, because 299 times out of the 300 its spam

Also, I've just signed THIS GUY..!!

He's 15, he's an AML - and he look bloodey fantastic.

[rancer890]

Haha. canvey!! - I get like 300 e-mails per day, so I rarely check it, because 299 times out of the 300 its spam

Also, I've just signed THIS GUY..!!

He's 15, he's an AML - and he look bloodey fantastic.

OMG, he looks sick ~drool~

And only 15 too! Hope he has a long career at Real London.

What do the scouts say?

[NepentheZ]

Currently "A good signing for most League 2 sides" or a "Leading Star for most Blue Square Premier" sides.

Potentially "A good Championship left midfielder" or a "Leading Star for most League 1 sides"

[NepentheZ]

Very good season for you Neppo. Shame about the playoff loss. Just one thing: you really ought to check your Windows Live email .

Ahaha. Yea, tol' you I had a lot of spam. No matter what I do, I can't stop it. As soon as I create a new Hotmail account, within days I start getting 50+ per day. 1200 is nothing. Its usually around 4,000 - but every 3 days it self deletes unopened messages.

[MikaelS]

Ahaha. Yea, tol' you I had a lot of spam. No matter what I do, I can't stop it. As soon as I create a new Hotmail account, within days I start getting 50+ per day. 1200 is nothing. Its usually around 4,000 - but every 3 days it self deletes unopened messages.

what about a gmail account?

[NepentheZ]

The names I wanted for G-Mail were gone. Also, I already have like, 15 E-Mail accounts, I can barely remember the passwords for them already

[MikaelS]

The names I wanted for G-Mail were gone. Also, I already have like, 15 E-Mail accounts, I can barely remember the passwords for them already

baah find a new nick then

I use the same password for my 2 email accounts.

[rancer890]

Currently "A good signing for most League 2 sides" or a "Leading Star for most Blue Square Premier" sides.

Potentially "A good Championship left midfielder" or a "Leading Star for most League 1 sides"

Looks good. My Montserrat regen has the same potential!

Nep, just find a new nickname. All my email addresses have different names

[ejthegreat]

My new attempt with fake players with Tiverton failed miserably, so headed back to my AFC Wimbledon game.

Just played the last league game of the 2024/25 season and not only have I made it 4 titles in a row but on the last day of the season, I consign one of the "big 4" to the Championship.

With a loan debt of £576million, it might be a long long long road back for them.

Full details in Season Review later.

[adamc81]

Well just finished my 2017-18 season with Bedford, and was probably my worst season to date. I finished 12th in the Championship after an 11th place finish last year.

I was in the playoff places up until christmas then had a bad run of 11 games with out a victory.

I had to sell my best centre midfielder for £1.3mil and my best centre back for £1.2 mil as there contracts were up in the summer and they were refusing to sign new deals. I think it cost me any chance of a playoff place.

My squad is pretty young though and progessing nicely. Hopefully my clubs rep will keep improving and will allow me to buy more established players. The worrying issue at the moment is pretty much 3/4 of my squad are out of contract next season, 8 of which are pretty key players so am gonna have to make some tough decisions over the summer if they won't sign new contracts. I already have over £6mil in the bank so money isnt the big issue but at the same time i won't let them go on a free but i have 3 players valued £2mil who are attracting alot of attention. Will be sorry to see them go as they are all in their early 20's but can't help thinking that not allowing them to leave in January affected their form pretty dramatically and so don't want to be in the same situation again even if they are destined for greatness.

[MikaelS]

Well just finished my 2017-18 season with Bedford, and was probably my worst season to date. I finished 12th in the Championship after an 11th place finish last year.

I was in the playoff places up until christmas then had a bad run of 11 games with out a victory.

I had to sell my best centre midfielder for £1.3mil and my best centre back for £1.2 mil as there contracts were up in the summer and they were refusing to sign new deals. I think it cost me any chance of a playoff place.

My squad is pretty young though and progessing nicely. Hopefully my clubs rep will keep improving and will allow me to buy more established players. The worrying issue at the moment is pretty much 3/4 of my squad are out of contract next season, 8 of which are pretty key players so am gonna have to make some tough decisions over the summer if they won't sign new contracts. I already have over £6mil in the bank so money isnt the big issue but at the same time i won't let them go on a free but i have 3 players valued £2mil who are attracting alot of attention. Will be sorry to see them go as they are all in their early 20's but can't help thinking that not allowing them to leave in January affected their form pretty dramatically and so don't want to be in the same situation again even if they are destined for greatness.

perhaps ship the players off for a lot of money before they run out of contract and leave for free.

[adamc81]

yeah i can probably get £2-3 mil for them each, anymore and the chairman tends to accept the bids anyway so might even be out of my hands.

The problem i have is that i havent been able to spend the money i have with alot of players not wanting to consider my offers. So getting reasonable money for them might help me in the longrun but im tending to rely on my scouts to pick up the bargains to replace first teamers at the min, and whilst its working there taking time to bed in. To add to that Everton and Leeds have just got relegated to the Championship so will be a tough league.

I think your right though, just going to have to cut my losses, work with the youngsters i have on long term contracts and hope to pick up a couple of decent replacements. Another midtable finish will look likely though.

[MikaelS]

Hopefully getting a fair amount of cash could provide a decent cover in new players.

I hate it when players leave on free. Then it's better to offer them to clubs for a larger fee and cash in.

[MikaelS]

I've done some reloading tests just to see which teams are available the most. (yeah I was bored )

This is the result of 50 reloads:

[b]North           No[/b]
Bedford                11
Gateshead            14
Guiseley                 6
Halesowen              2
Hednesford Town   21
King's Lynn           33
Marine                 13
Matlock Town       13
Whitby                  2
Witton Albion        21
Worksop Town      11

[b]South                    No[/b]
AFC Wimbledon     43
Billericay Town     11
Chelmsford City    32
Chippenham          2
Hitchin Town         9
Mangotsfield         1
Margate             13
Merthyr Tydfil     30
Tiverton Town    12

What you can use this for? I have absolutely NO idea

argh can't figure out how to sort this right

[NepentheZ]

I've done some reloading tests just to see which teams are available the most. (yeah I was bored )

This is the result of 50 reloads:

[b]North           No[/b]
Bedford         11
Gateshead       14
Guiseley         6
Halesowen        2
Hednesford Town 21
King's Lynn     33
Marine          13
Matlock Town    13
Whitby           2
Witton Albion   21
Worksop Town    11

[b]South             No[/b]
AFC Wimbledon     43
Billericay Town   11
Chelmsford City   32
Chippenham         2
Hitchin Town       9
Mangotsfield       1
Margate           13
Merthyr Tydfil    30
Tiverton Town     12

What you can use this for? I have absolutely NO idea

argh can't figure out how to sort this right

That should look better for you mate.

[MikaelS]

Thanks Nep.

How did you fix it?

It actually a quite interesting piece of reloading. Out of 50 reloads only 2 teams below rep 1000 came up and only 3 times in total.

[NepentheZ]

I just changed the text inside the code tags to Courier New. It works in a different format, and basically, the gaps you see are the gaps that appear when you post, rather than you having to count out the spaces. Try it out.

I'll show you best I can....

Not Courier New :

What you see.....

Games | Won | Lost 
  2  |  2  |  0

What the coding shows....

Games | Won | Lost
    2         2       0

Courier New......

What you see....

[font=Courier New]Games | Won | Lost
 2   |  2  |  0

What the coding shows....

Games | Won | Lost
 2   |  2  |  2

See. Much easier. I just wish you could have Courier new as a default font.

[/font]

[MikaelS]

aaah sehr cool. Thanks a lot

[Harryseaess]

I have decided to give this challenege a go because I have heard such good things about it. I have never managed below the Chapionship in FM08.

I chose to take over AFC Wimbeldon, here is my manager profile:

[TSmith1991]

Nice pic.

Anyway, a new season, a new job. This time it's Chelmsford who I shall be taking up the leagues.

More to follow...

[sirdez24]

Given this thread isn't nearly as busy as it was (obviously, given the time of year) I may as well post some updates of my Billericay game. I actually hollidayed for two seasons, not one, with fake players, and had a choice of Billericay, Gloucester and Witton as my three preferred teams. Anyway, first season was a success, getting promoted via the playoffs after blowing a lead at the top of the table to Ebbsfleet.

Final table - Must say I've found getting promoted from the BSN/BSS easier this version than any other, even without excessive loan signings. That said...

Price - My star loanee for the season. I don't have Arsenal as a parent club but my scout turned up a few of their youngsters as loan options, so I pounced on him.

McKay - My other star. 18 league goals and 22 assists (all from open play too), with he and Price forming a seemingly telepathic understanding on the field.

The playoffs were pretty straight forward as only Ebbsfleet really provided any sort of a challenge during the season proper. Now I am predicted to finish 24th in the BSP, but I've gone for mid-table finish. Haven't gone overboard with signings, and only lost one first-teamer over summer, that being my left-back to Bury on a free.

Here is the pick of who has come in...

Wallace - Signed on a free from Brighton and has plenty of L1 experience. Should be too good for this level up front.

Parsons - Released by Wolves having not played a game in three seasons, he gives me a genuine dead-ball specialist.

Bottinelli - Released by QPR, I came across him playing for Basingstoke against me last season. Has English as a second nationality.

Shaw - Released by Portsmouth after a loan spell at Maidenhead, he'll provide competition for my two CM slots.

I also got Price back on loan again (has me and the club as favourites, but an exorbitant salary of £30,500pw probably ensures he'll never join permanently), so I am pretty happy with the depth of the squad, although could probably use an extra GK. I think top half is achievable depending on how quickly the side gels.

[MikaelS]

hehe never seen this before :-D

[george94]

Just started a game as the mighty Hendon . I've decided to write a story to go with it and, if anyone is interested, the link can be found here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=48219

[MikaelS]

I still have my Chippenham save but wanted to try out one of the minor clubs and also try our mixed player names.

So I went for Mangotsfield. I scouted all players and found a huge load of danish player, incl this guy. His league debut looked like this.

[canvey!!]

[font=Courier New]Games | Won | Lost
 2   |  2  |  0[/font]

What the coding shows....

Games | Won | Lost
 2   |  2  |  2

See. Much easier. I just wish you could have Courier new as a default font.

And Courier New gets rid of those two losses! You enter them in the code, but all of a sudden, they're gone

[NepentheZ]

Hahaha. yea, I was rushing as I was typing it - New I had something wrong somewhere.! Doh.

[canvey!!]

Hahaha. yea, I was rushing as I was typing it - New I had something wrong somewhere.! Doh.

I almost didn't say anything . Proof-read before you post, or I'll be on you like a ton of bricks .

[NepentheZ]

Well its hard. - I'm doing so many things at once, I really don't have the time to care if I write Knew or new.

I've got 26 tabs open on Firefox currently, and I use them all as regularly as each other, so you can imagine the mayhem when taking 30 seconds to type out a few sentences on these forums. On top of that, I'm trying to write songs for my new (yea, new) mixtape, AND play FM08 at the same time.Its a wonder how I'm up to the 7th prestige on COD4

[MikaelS]

It most be a living hell having you on msn. Takes you 2 hours to respond

[NepentheZ]

Don't get me started. I rarely sign into MSN because I get a lot of the music world I'm involved in messaging me, and I just don't have time to respond

Anyway, getting back on topic - (sorry Daf, don't mean to hijack the thread....)

I've started my 4th season in the BSS in spectacular fashion, winning 10 of the first 12 games, and only losing to the leaders, who have an identical record to me (10 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 33 scored, 10 conceded) - and are only above me on head-to-head this season.

Also, you may have noticed (and I may have mentioned) - that I signed my loanee striker "Tomb Raider" from the first season, 2 years ago. He was on loan in my first BSS season with Hendon, got released by Southend and I snapped him up. Well, that very same season, I also loaned in Paul Hardy, and managed to sign him on another season loan the year after. He decided to go to woking after the 2nd year with me for a season, but then he left his parent club Wycombe, and I picked him up on a free transfer too. So my 2 loanee strikers that pretty much kept me in the division 4 years ago, are now my first choice strikers and are at my club on full time contracts. \o/

[rtgr]

im about to start this challenge as im bored of starting as a team in top 5-8 and winning it all so i was just wondering im from grimsby (45mins away from humber bridge for those that dont know) and would like to be a local team so if anyone can make any suggestions please do so the only real possibility is lincoln united. thanks

[Guest roberto922]

Grumble, grumble, grumble I wanna play damn unreliable laptops. I will be back...

[sirdez24]

Just about at the halfway point of my first season in the BSP. Started ok but not great, but a slight tactical switch has resulted in seven wins in the last nine games to have me sitting pretty near the top - table. Club is still £350K in the red but has made a small profit each of the last two months, helped by a nice replay against L2 Wycombe in the first round of the FA Cup.

As expected, Wallace has blitzed the league, playing up top as a lone striker with two wingers cutting in either side. His workrate and off the ball movement are first class so he creates a lot of problems, although his lack of any real fitness means he tires easily. As you can see by this, he is by far the most lethal striker in the league, and if I don't get promoted I probably won't be able to hold into him.

My squad is still paper thin however, meaning Wallace often sees out entire games despite getting really tired. With that in mind I've organised my first ever money transfer (thanks to budget adjustment), bringing in Boateng, who's physical fitness will allow him to come on fresh in the last 15-20 minutes up front and also provide another midfield option. Leaves me with around £50K in the kitty and just over a spare grand per week in wages if required.

Defensively the team has been very sound but I may have some problems going into the second half of the season, as of my three best CBs, one has torn his calf and another has personal problems (local kid too, not the Argy), and I can't afford to grant him a leave of absence.

Finally, Farsley trumped me to the signing of this young man. I will certainly keep him shortlisted and see how his physical stats develop as he gets older and plays more first team football.

[matty_boy08]

I am starting out with Hendon...

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/338/hendonhendonplayersci3.png

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5564/matthewboyoverviewli9.png

[sirdez24]

As luck would have it, Boateng's final game for Kidderminster before joining me is a cup tie against me, and he has twisted his knee during the match and is thus out for a month. Lovely.

[NepentheZ]

sirdez24 - Gutted on missing out on Joe Davis. He looks awesome for that level. Nice start to the season, though. Looks like promotion is a real possibility.

matty_boy08 - Welcome to the challenge mate. Good luck with Hendon, its not easy, trust me

[sirdez24]

Nep, I think my lack of depth, particularly defensively, will catch up with me, but if I can stay in playoff contention for as long as possible and rebuild in the offseason I'll be very pleased.

[NepentheZ]

Yea I had the same problem in my first few seasons. Scouting in season 1 is imperative if you want to compete in the next 1-3 years. If you haven't already, get your players and staff to sign full time contracts at ANY COST. The level of training is much higher of the part-timers and the class will show in the league after 2-3 months. You'll start battering teams that you should batter, and have much better competitive games against those around you.