[FM10] "You'll never win anything with kids"

[RichG]

You are holding your own now mate a few more seasons of building then push for the Europa League

[hrbfcrule]

Nice mid table finish again:thup:

[WH]

Thanks for the comments

I'm pleased with the mid table positions as I think we are still playing above our current level of ability.(Most of our players would be "decent Championship players" according to my staff.) Every point is hard fought and we are just as capable of losing to Burnley as we are of picking up a point at United. I think this is roughly as good as we can get with the current transfer policy.

With 15 years now completed and the original set of youngsters now starting to retire. I decided it's now time to tweak our transfer policy a little to give us more chance of challenging up the top half of the premier league. I decided the age limit will raise from 19 to 21 for new signings and I will now allow myself to spend upto £1m on a player. I don't intend to buy lots of players as this is still about bringing youth players through.

My current first team has 13 former youth academy players in the 24 man squad. And 3 others have made relatively big money moves over the years, I want to try to keep bringing them through. The rest of the squad are young players deemed not good enough by their previous employers. I still intend to try to pick some of these players up and give them another chance.

[RichG]

Thats fair enough mate. Your success so far has earned you some flexability on transfers Its very important to keep your setup though and still focus on youth.

How much cash have you got these days?

[WH]

Thats fair enough mate. Your success so far has earned you some flexability on transfers Its very important to keep your setup though and still focus on youth.

How much cash have you got these days?

Cheers Rich.

I thought upto 21 years old was still young enough to fit in with the challenge I set myself. Also your scouts have to be miracle workers to get a premier league standard youngster for £1m so there will still need to be some development of players on that front.

It takes about 3/4 seasons before its clear whether an academy player is going to be good enough for the first team. ( it took less in the lower leagues) so its quite interesting as you watch them develop then try to guess if and when they are ready to move up to the first team. Every now and then there is one player who stands out and can be brought in quickly.

My finances were a very healthy £55m at the end of the season. But the board took £12m for share holders. So we have £43m in the bank as we approach the next season. We do still owe £61m to the bank for our stadium, but we move into it for next season so income should pick up and make the repayments manageable.

[RichG]

sweet on the new stadium. Should give the club a real boost

Any confirmation on final capacity yet?

[Mack2k7]

probably the best career thread I've ever read.

An amazing idea and amazing achievements.

[WH]

sweet on the new stadium. Should give the club a real boost

Any confirmation on final capacity yet?

It was 27,748 when completed. It should give us a big boost and help to keep ontop of the loan repayments. I just wonder if they could have squeezed 2 more seats in for a nice round figure.

probably the best career thread I've ever read.

An amazing idea and amazing achievements.

Thanks for the comments and thanks for reading

[WH]

"YOU'LL NEVER WIN ANYTHING WITH KIDS."

BRITISH BULLDOGS - ENGLISH PREMIER DIVISION

2024/25 PRE SEASON

NEWS

As the new stadium was almost completed we arranged a friendly with Barcelona. I wanted the Last game at the Kennel to be against a high profile club so we could see the old stadium out with a bang.

Likewise our First game in the new Bulldogs Stadium was a high profile game against Sevilla after Real Madrid pulled out of the friendly.

We paid out 12.75m to our shareholders this season. I'm sure the chairman is happy to be getting a return for his initial investment in the Youth Academy and Training facilities.

With my new transfer policy I had my scouts working overtime. I also brought in an extra scout.

Gary Stevens

was at my Feeder club Exeter, he looked better than any applicants I had for the job so I brought him in. I had to pay £60k compensation to Exeter to get his services. I also brought in

Dominic Field

as our new fitness coach in a hope that better fitness training will reduce the amount of injuries.

SQUAD

The new intake of youth players arrived. We had 2 very good prospects in this years recruits.

Vincent Johnson

and

Andy Green

have the potential to be decent Premier League players in the future if my staff are correct.

This season I am looking to strengthen the defence as we conceded far too many goals last season. Also my staff tell me our veteran center back Hogarth is no longer good enough to compete at this level. I won't sell him like suggested as he is a Bulldogs legend. I will try to keep him until he retires then give him a coaching job if he stays in the game. Shields was promoted to captain as Hogarth is unlikely to feature too often this season.

I'm also looking for a striker to fill the space left by Creaney. We were looking a bit goal shy towards the end of last season.

PRE SEASON

In the friendly matches we won 3 against our feeder clubs and lost 3 to Barcelona Sevilla and Wolfburg. No serious injuries to mention but there were quite a few knocks and sprains to hinder the players trying to get match fit.

EXPECTATIONS

The board expect us to avoid relegation this season and the media expect a 16th place finish. I'm looking to sneak into the top 10 this year.

[Brian Shanahan]

Thanks for reading Brian.

Foley has done a good job since making the huge step up to the premier League. He is now a regular and despite a few poor performances has not let us down.

Ireland have not had much to cheer about. David O'leary spent 10 years in charge after Trapattoni Retired in 2011. Ireland have failed to qualify for either the European Championships or the World cup in that time. They did finish runners up in the 4 assosiations Tournament twice in this time. O'Leary retired in 2021 and was replaced by former Stoke player Glen Whelan. It was Whelan's first management role so he did well to get the National job. But He did win 50 Ireland caps in his playing days.

Sorry for not getting back earlier I'm very active elsewhere myself. I noticed that too about Ireland, Trap retiring sometime about the end of Euro 2012 quals and O'Leary taking over a lot. On the likes of Whelan getting the job there aren't that many Irish managers atm, and the game tends to give it to the highest rep uneployed countryman if there is no human interference. Thanks againfor the update.

Just saw the update, thanks for doing your bit for the future of Irish football:thup:.

I agree with the transfer policy. It's hard enough at the top even when you're allowed to spend.

[WH]

Ireland have made a good start to their world cup 2026 qualifying campaign. They have a 100% record after 4 games including wins against Spain and Russia. Fingers crossed they will do it this time.

I have almost finished the season and an update should be here before the weekend is over. Bad news is, changes at work will restrict my time from Tuesday onwards so progress will slowdown.

[WH]

"YOU'LL NEVER WIN ANYTHING WITH KIDS."

BRITISH BULLDOGS - ENGLISH PREMIER DIVISION

SEASON UPDATE - 2024/25

Media Prediction - 16th

Board expectations - Stay clear of relegation

SEASON SUMMARY

• League

The early season signs were very promising. We had certainly plugged the leaky defence and only conceded 7 goals and lost just 2 of the first 12 games. We also kept 8 clean sheets in that time which was exactly the kind of response I was looking for. We were still a little shot shy going forward. We scored just 10 in 12 matches and as a result picked up 6 draws. One of our 4 wins was against struggling Chelsea. After last seasons poor efforts Abramovich decided he had enough and allowed another board member to take over. With 12 games gone Chelsea and Liverpool were both in the relegation zone. We were in a pleasing 9th position.

During a busy opening to the season, Mid table man Utd and bottom of the league liverpool sacked their Managers, Dave Penny and Paul Lambert. I have been linked with both of these jobs but stated that I was not interested.

As a result of our stronger form, I won the Manager of the month award for October.

Our improvements continued into the new year. We won 7 of our next 13 mid season games and only lost 3. We were still not free scoring with 14 goals in 13 games but it was a small improvement. Our defence had remained very solid throughout with only 10 goals conceded during this time. We managed to maintain this form through a tricky spell which saw our midfield hit by a series of awkward niggling injuries, forcing us to shuffle our midfield lineup every other game. With a third of the season remaining we were in a superb 5th position in the league, although Man City had a couple of games in hand and could easily pass us if they won those games.

Micah Richards

left us to make the Step up from coach to manager. He went to struggling Championship side West Brom, we were given £60k compensation. I advertised the vacant position and decided to let it run until the end of the season before I decide who to appoint.

The season was heading to an interesting finish with Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd all out of the running. We remained strong and difficult to beat. We won 6, drew 3 and lost 4 from the final 13 games. Our tight defence was again the key reason for this form and we managed to keep 7 clean sheets in this time. Our defence was good all season and in total we kept 20 clean sheets from 38 league games, conceding just 30 goals. As a result of this defensive improvement our forward play did suffer and we finished the season having only scored 38 league goals.

We Finished the season in a very pleasing 7th position, finally breaking into the top 10 and meaning we

qualified for the Europa League.

We received £14.4m prize money for our final position in the table.

I think our Higher position this year partly thanks to Man Utd, City, Chelsea and Liverpool all having very poor seasons by their standards and I wouldn't be surprised to see us finish a few places lower next season.

Incredibly Liverpool were relegated this season.

They have had very little success since the game start but this is an all time low.

Arsenal won the Premier League for the 4th time in a row.

Fixtures and Results

League Positions Graph

League Table

• Cups

In the

F.A Cup

we nearly lost to Q.P.R. at the first hurdle and it took a penalty shootout to win it after the replay. A fine run of games saw us beat Oldham, Fulham, Burnley and Huddersfield on our way to the final.The Bulldogs went to wembley and beat Everton In front of 90000 fans and

Won the FA CUP!

In the

League Cup

We beat Charlton, Cardiff and Newcastle before Coventry put us out in the quarter finals. Arsenal won the competition.

TRANSFERS

• Outgoing

16 Players

left for various fees ranging from free to £1m. They were all Reserve of fringe players and a total of 3.7m was made from the sales.

• Incoming

Former Partick thistle midfielder

Steven Ferguson

(19) was signed up after the Scottish premier side decided to let him go for free. With luck he has the potential to step up to the first team.

19 year old defender

David Casey

was our first cash transfer, he cost £975k from Bohemians and while scouting him we spotted 15 Year old

Brian Douglas

he is a big center back with huge potential according to my scout. He cost just £55k

One of my scouts uncovered a gem in 16 year old Defender

Tony McGowan

. He is a big lad and good enough to go straight into the first team squad. He cost £500k from Port Vale and will undoubtedly become the long term replacement for veteran defender Harry Hogarth.

Finally we brought 21 year old striker

Alex Byrne

from Falkirk for £375k. He looks a decent player and I hope he will eventually fill the space left by Creaney.

Our first spending spree came to a total of £1.9m

STATISTICS

• Top scorer

Welch

11

• Most Assists

Johnson

11

• Most Man OF Match

Farrell

6

• Highest Average Rating

English

7.34 from 36 apps

Squad Stats

FORMER PLAYERS

I decided not to report on Taylor or Burge anymore unless something of interest happens to them. ( they are currently mostly un-used sub keepers)

Rains

had an impressive season. He made 54 appearances for Huddersfield, scoring 3 goals and 9 assists as they won the Championship and reached the FA Cup semi final. He will finally get his chance to play in the premier league at the age of 29. 10 seasons after leaving the Bulldogs.

Faivre

Made an £11.5m move to Lyon where he helped them to the French League title. He scored 3 goals and 4 assists from 25 appearances. He couldn't have made a better move as Lyon have played in the Champions League Final in the last 5 seasons winning it 4 times.

Mansaray

left Palermo when his contract expired. He eventually joined English League 1 side Rochdale. He Scored 16 Goals in 34 games as they finished 13th and seems to have finally kick started his career at the age of 24. His goal scoring form has attracted the interest of Spanish second division side Albacete.

Georgiou

played 42 times for PSV scoring 3 goals and 3 assists. PSV won the Dutch first division without losing a game. leverkusen and Juventus are both showing an interest in him.

Creaney

played 24 times for Newcastle, (mainly as sub) He scored 4 goals and 1 assist as Newcastle finished Runners up in the league.

PLANS FOR NEXT SEASON

Hope to have some fun in our first European campaign and would love to qualify for the Europa League again. I do expect Man Utd and City to improve to make this an even more difficult task. Top 10 would once again be a good finish for us.

British Bulldogs Summary

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

09-10     BULLDOGS      Isthmian Premier Division           3RD           Promoted > playoffs
10-11     BULLDOGS      Blue Square South                   1ST           Promoted > Champions
11-12     BULLDOGS      Blue Square Premier Division        9TH                
12-13     BULLDOGS      Blue Square Premier Division        5TH           Lost in playoff semi final
13-14     BULLDOGS      Blue Square Premier Division        1ST           Promoted > Champions
14-15     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 2                  9TH
15-16     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 2                  6TH           Lost in Play-off Final & JPT Runners up
16-17     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 2                  1ST           Promoted > Champions
17-18     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 1                  5TH           Promoted > Playoffs
18-19     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola Championship              17TH         
19-20     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola Championship              8TH
20-21     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola Championship              3RD           Promoted> Playoffs
21-22     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    13th    
22-23     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    11th
23-24     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    13th
24-25     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    7th           FA Cup winners> Qualified for Euro Cup.

[RichG]

Blimey Chelsea almost went as well. With Man U and Man City Flatering its time for some new teams to have a go.

[WH]

Blimey Chelsea almost went as well. With Man U and Man City Flatering its time for some new teams to have a go.

Chelsea and Liverpool were fighting it out all season but one of them was always in the drop zone.

Man Utd and Man City had poor seasons by their standards but with their spending power I would expect them to be back up there for the next season and push us a bit further down.

Man City kept faith with manager Mark Hughes after last season poor performance which suprised me. It must have been because of their Champions league win in the previous season. City have 1 champions League title, 1 premier league title and won 3 FA Cups. Hughes has spent over £870m on players since the game started.

It is good to see some other clubs doing well. Kevin Phillips and Michael Owen are doing a good job with Fulham. Paul Ince is responsible for Spurs recent improvements and Shearer is doing a fine job for Newcastle.

[hrbfcrule]

Congratz on qualifying for Europe. It's weird seeing the big teams struggling although I am glad Liverpool went down and not Chelsea

[Chuffa]

Great thread, just read it from the start, you've done a great job and it's an awesome read. Keep it up mate.

[donnie]

If you do not want to sell any of your players, just set their value to zero and reject all offers. hehe..

Anyway, great thread, i'm inspired to continue my thurrock game and get a new stadium. Long ways to go though. Keep up the good work!

[onecockygeezer]

Well done, your thread has inspired me to make my first post in a while. a really interesting read. ive found myself becoming fond of a couple of players as the seasons gone by, one being the big harry hogarth and rightly so that you wont be selling him but letting him retire at the club. and the other being ian foster, he seemed to be a major player for you earlier on in the thread in the lower leagues.

Again well played on your league status keep up the good work!

[WH]

Thanks for all the comments, I'm pleased others are enjoying reading it.

@Donnie. I quote what I think is a good deal for us if I get offers for players. If they agree to the price then I let the sale go through. Just like the Creaney deal with Newcastle. Apart from the original edits and turning down good jobs, I have tried to keep my style of play as realistic as possible.

@Onecockygeezer. Hogarth and Foster have done so well to keep in the team through all the different leagues as we made our way up. Its a shame that they are now dropping down the pecking order but I will try to keep them until they retire if I can keep them happy.Unfortunatly I can't afford to play my weaker players in the Premier league too often.

I have a day off tomorrow so hope to get the pre season update done some time during the day.

Thanks again for reading.

[jayahr]

Again, I love reading this too and drop in daily to see if there is an update

You never talk about your tactics. I don't want to urge you to do so, but I guess they must be good considering what you achieve with a team where many of the best players only have decent Premier potential. Are you doing something special or do you keep if pretty basic and mainstreamed in that area?

[WH]

Hi Jayahr, Welcome back.

There is nothing amazing about my tactics. I try not to mention tactics too often so it doesn't turn into a Tactics request thread.

I use a narrow 442 diamond formation made with the tactics creator. I have made sure my pitch is narrow to help us out too.

I have 2 versions, The first uses attacking mentality with a very fluid philosiphy and uses wingbacks to support the attacks. I use this one at home and against weaker teams.

The second is standard mentality and uses very fluid philosiphy. In this one the wing backs are pushed back to the fullback position and are more defensive. This is used away and against better teams. (Used more often than not in the premier league)

For both I use shorter passing and more expressive creative freedom.

Corners are aimed for the back post where I set my biggest, strongest and ugliest defender to attack the far post.

I use touch line shouts if I feel I need to change things. I also don't hold back when I'm behind in a game, I often push an extra player forward and switch to a direct passing game. As a result of all the changing my tactical consistency rating is 1.

[hrbfcrule]

I like your manager stats, 20,20,20. . . .1

[WH]

lol, I know. Its a bit of an extreme but I do tend to tinker with things several times per game.

[jayahr]

tactical consistency rating is 1.

Got you! You are Ricardo Moniz. Confess!

Cheers for that bit of info

[WH]

"YOU'LL NEVER WIN ANYTHING WITH KIDS."

BRITISH BULLDOGS - ENGLISH PREMIER DIVISION

2025/26 PRE SEASON

NEWS

The shareholders received a payout of 12.25m this season.

The Board announced plans to expand the stadium just 1 season after it was built. They are spending 18.5m to add another 13874 seats and it is expected to be completed in 6 months. That will make the new capacity 41622. The little 8000 capacity stadium with 2000 seats seems so long ago now.

After leaving the advert for a new coach running until the end of the season we had more than 15 applicants. The successful applicant was former Chelsea player

Micheal Mencienne.

He had a very impressive playing career with Chelsea and Newcastle which saw him win 3 premier league winners medals and 2 champions league winners medals among others. He also player 37 times for england.

After at first overlooking him, I also appointed unknown French coach

Killian Rondeau

who was one of the more impressive of the other applicants.

SQUAD

The new intake of youth players arrived.

Colin Parks

looks to be the only one with the potential to progress.

Ageing Legends Hogarth, Kerr and Johnson seem to be rapidly deteriorating as during team meetings I am often told how they become weaker at certain skills. I have repeatedly been advised to sell them. I have moved them into the reserve team to give them games and may consider loaning them out if they become unhappy.

I'll try to add a few more players If I can find any players with the potential to make it into the first team.

PRE SEASON

The friendlies were mixed with 3 wins and 3 losses. Injury and illness hit hard in the pre season, Steven Johnson broke his collar bone in first friendly and will miss 7 weeks. Sweeney slipped a disk in the weights room and is out for up to 3 months and

English

is suffering from a serious viral infection and could be out for 8 months.

EXPECTATIONS

The board expect us to Achieve a respectable league position. I think thats a top half finish. I'm looking to sneak into the Europa league qualifying positions again but would be happy with top 10.

[RichG]

41622 should enable you to at least hold on to your top young players now and add 1-2 top overseas players to complement them.

I feel a title coming on soon

[ancipital]

I started following this a few days ago before I registered on here and now I'm caught up I have to say I'm really impressed with what you've done here.

I know your ideal answer to this would be "both" but if it comes to it, would you rather focus on trying to improve your league position next year or going all out in the Europa League? Clearly I'm thinking of a real world example

[WH]

41622 should enable you to at least hold on to your top young players now and add 1-2 top overseas players to complement them.

I feel a title coming on soon

Our financial situation is very good at the moment and the upgraded stadium will help out even more. The £1m max spend on players means it would be almost impossible to spend beyond our means. I think a title is still a long way off but if several of our players mature at the same time we could make a big leap forward and then you never know.

I started following this a few days ago before I registered on here and now I'm caught up I have to say I'm really impressed with what you've done here.

I know your ideal answer to this would be "both" but if it comes to it, would you rather focus on trying to improve your league position next year or going all out in the Europa League? Clearly I'm thinking of a real world example

It's a difficult one. I think we will need to be very good just to finish in a simular position as last year. I'm expecting the big teams to get back to where they belong and push us further down the league.

I will be going all out in the Europa league because due to the reasons mentioned above, we might not qualify for it next season.

Thanks for reading.

[WH]

I have the weekend off this week so I should be able to get the season done and an update posted soon.

Until then, here is the new facegen for midfielder Leon Bennett

I'm now training him to be an AMC as he has a good shot on him and I think he would be more dangerous further up the field.

[WH]

"YOU'LL NEVER WIN ANYTHING WITH KIDS."

BRITISH BULLDOGS - ENGLISH PREMIER DIVISION

SEASON UPDATE - 2025/26

Media Prediction - 11th

Board expectations - Respectable league position.

SEASON SUMMARY

• League

Things seemed a bit more predictable in the early part of this season. Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea all returned to fight it out at the top of the table. Arsenal were there too and worryingly for the rest of us, they didn't seem to be having their normal slow start.

Despite the early revival of the big teams we were right there with them. 7 wins and 2 draws from the first 12 games was good form. A win against Utd and a draw against Arsenal are the pick of the results so far. We were scoring much more freely and had a goal difference of +8 from 12 games. We were in 4th place with a third of the season completed.

We had one big blow in the opening to the season when we Lost Farrell for 3 months with a torn calf muscle.

The mid part of the season started very badly with 2 defeats and injuries were starting to deplete the squad with no fewer than 7 of our first team trying to shake off minor injuries. Veteran midfielder Kerr was brought back into the first team to provide some cover in the midfield.

We had Some good news when Our stadium upgrade was complete. this added a nice boost with more fans behind us and the financial benefits that come with it. The Bulldogs stadium is now a 41622 all seater stadium and We managed to sell out for the first game against Chelsea.

During our poor mid season spell we won 5, drew 3 and lost 5 games .One sore point was when our former star striker Creaney scored a hat-trick against us as Newcastle destroyed us 4-1.

Arsenal and Man City had now pulled away from the rest of the pack to battle it out for the title. Despite our worrying drop in form we were still in 6th place and fighting with Chelsea, Newcastle, Man Utd, Vila and Spurs for a spot in one of the European competitions.

A good recovery followed as we were unbeaten in all 13 league games in the Final third of the season. we won 7 and drew 6 games, the unbeaten run was an incredible 16 games in total. This run meant we left a few teams behind and were in a battle for a champions league spot with Chelsea and Newcastle. But We were unable to keep with Chelsea as they soon pulled clear. That made it a 2 horse race for 4th spot

Beating Newcastle in the penultimate game meant it all came down to the final game of the season. Newcastle were 1 point ahead but lost to West Ham while we battled to a 1-0 win over Birmingham. This unexpected last day turn around meant we took 4th spot and a chance to

Qualify for the Champions League

group stages.

We received 17.5m prize money for finishing 4th in the league. I assume that will be shared out between the shareholders.

We had some End of season bad news as

Scott McClair

broke his leg against Everton in the league run in and will be out for 6 months missing the pre season and the first few months of the new season.

Man City held firm to win the title and put a stop to Arsenals recent dominance.

Elsewhere Liverpool destroyed the opposition in the Championship scoring over 100 goals and finishing with 101 points. They sold over 80m worth of players in the summer and used 20m to rebuild their squad.

Fixtures and Results

League Positions Graph

League Table

• Cups

In the

FA Cup

we beat West Ham, Q.P.R. Portsmouth and Swansea to set up a Semi final against Arsenal. As usual they beat us. We matched them for long periods but they scored in the second half then finished us off when we were pushing for an equaliser. Despite some complaining about a penalty we didn't get, Arsenal deserved the win. Aston Villa went on to beat them in this seasons final.

In the

League Cup

Tottenham knocked us out in the first game. The board didn't like it but this cup was my lowest priority for the season. Chelsea were the winners.

Our first foray into Europe with the

Europa League

started well as we comfortably dispatched Austria Wein over 2 legs in the qualifying stage. We were placed in group A which looked difficult but not impossible to get out of. We did ourselves proud by finishing

second

in the group having only lost 1 game.

In the first knockout stage we were drawn against Spanish Giants Valencia. The first leg was at home and despite being on the back foot for most of the game we managed to come away with a 1-0 lead to take into the away leg. Valencia came at us in the second leg laying siege to our goal. We managed to weather the storm then late on snatched a goal to take a 2-0 lead in the tie. That took the sting out of Valencia and we advanced to the 2nd knockout phase.

We met German side Hamburg and again were at home in the first leg. We took the game to them and were rewarded with a 3-1 win. We thought we had done enough but were soon surprised when Hamburg scored 3 first half goals in the second leg. Our defence were a joke and I told them how I felt at half time. The second half was better and we scored to level the tie. But with just 2 minutes left we allowed Hamburg to score an easy goal that sealed the win for Hamburg and knocked us out of the competition. Palermo won the competition.

TRANSFERS

• Outgoing

9 players left for a combined total of 6m. they were all players who had dropped down the pecking order or ended up not making it.

Rob Reid

was the biggest player to go having played over 400 games for the bulldogs in his 15 years at the club. He was dropping down the pecking order and when Sheff Wednesday made a £1m offer I decided he should go.

• Incoming

6 players

arrived for a total of £3.5m

Former Celtic midfielder

Steven Adam

was signed after the Scottish side released him. he was loaned out straight away to allow him to develop.

18 Year old fullback

Chris Pilgrim

cost 875k from port vale. He was brought in to strengthen the particularly weak left fullback position.

Versatile Teenage midfielder

Scott McClair

cost £1m from Rangers but it was suggested that he is now comfortably the best midfielder in the squad.

Big Welsh striker

Jon Fowler

was a bargain £40k from Bala in the Welsh Premier division. I hope he will add some aerial threat to our attack.

My scouts were raving about the potential of 16 year old Hearts striker

Graeme Duncan

. I brought him in for £850k as one for the future.

When fullbacks English and Pell were both ruled out I was without a right sided Fullback

Paul McLeod

was signed for £700k from Celtic as an emergency replacement. He could well be Pell's long term replacement.

STATISTICS

• Top scorer

Sealey

20

• Most Assists

McClair

18

• Most Man OF Match

McGowan

5

• Highest Average Rating

Sealey

7.38 from 34 apps

Squad Stats

FORMER PLAYERS

Rains

played 27 times for Huddersfield this season. They had a difficult season and went straight back down to the championship. rains might not be there much longer as he has Rejected several contract offers and his current contract is due to expire very shortly. He could still stay in the premier league if Burnley renew their interest in him.

Faivre

played 13 times for Lyon before David Moyes took him to Arsenal in an incredible 23m deal. He played 11 games for Arsenl but they missed out on the title with a 2nd place finish.

Mansaray

scored 8 in 23 games for Rochdale as they finished 15th in league 1. He could be in with a chance of Championship football next season with Wigan currently monitoring his situation.

Georgiou

made another big money move, this time a 9m switch to Sevilla in Spain. He played 29 times and helped them to a 6th place finish.

Creaney

played 48 times for Newcastle scoring 20 goals. His Newcastle side finished 5th this season 2 points behind the Bulldogs.

PLANS FOR NEXT SEASON

I hope to progress a little way into the champions league and boost the clubs reputation even more. Top 4 might be difficult to pull off again but I would like to qualify for one of the European competitions again.

British Bulldogs Summary

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

09-10     BULLDOGS      Isthmian Premier Division           3RD           Promoted > playoffs
10-11     BULLDOGS      Blue Square South                   1ST           Promoted > Champions
11-12     BULLDOGS      Blue Square Premier Division        9TH                
12-13     BULLDOGS      Blue Square Premier Division        5TH           Lost in playoff semi final
13-14     BULLDOGS      Blue Square Premier Division        1ST           Promoted > Champions
14-15     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 2                  9TH
15-16     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 2                  6TH           Lost in Play-off Final & JPT Runners up
16-17     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 2                  1ST           Promoted > Champions
17-18     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola League 1                  5TH           Promoted > Playoffs
18-19     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola Championship              17TH         
19-20     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola Championship              8TH
20-21     BULLDOGS      Coca-Cola Championship              3RD           Promoted> Playoffs
21-22     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    13TH    
22-23     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    11TH
23-24     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    13TH
24-25     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    7TH           FA Cup winners> Qualified for Euro Cup.
25-26     BULLDOGS      Premier Division                    4TH           Qualified for Champions League

[hrbfcrule]

Congratz on a champions league place, a step closer to challenging for the title:thup:

[EnEguE]

KUTGW! Good luck in Europe, again. A trophy will be awesome for your club.

[RichG]

grats on 4th place.

[Paggioram]

Well done mate it is fantastic to see how you are progressing. Good luck next season

[WH]

Thanks for the comments, we really pushed on last season, way beyond expectations. I'm looking forward to trying our luck in the Champions League.

Progress will be a bit slow as I'm struggling to get a day off work at the moment, but the Bulldogs will continue.

I forgot to mention Micah Richards who left us to take over struggling Championship side West Brom, has not had an easy time of it. He did save them from relegation when he took over but they only just avoided it again last season. I can't see him keeping the job much longer if he can't get them higher up the table this coming season.

[WH]

"YOU'LL NEVER WIN ANYTHING WITH KIDS."

BRITISH BULLDOGS - ENGLISH PREMIER DIVISION

2026/27 PRE SEASON

NEWS

The shareholders received a payout of 12.5m this season.

I was offered a new 4 year contract. This time its worth £56k per week.

We announced a new main kit sponsor. its a 5 year deal worth 3.1m

Frank Lampard was poached by Man Utd, we received £110k compensation. We then replaced him with

Nugent

. He was by far the best of the applicants.

After finally qualifying for the world cup Ireland only went and won it!

Brian Shanahan

will be pleased.

Manager Glen Whelan decided to leave on a high after the tournament.

SQUAD

The new intake of youth players arrived. 2 players,

Michael Ward

and

Steve Perry

look promising.

3 players retired this summer, They were Legends

Hogarth

and

Kerr

, and

Foster

who was one of the original set of youngsters. I employed

Kerr

as a coach but Hogarth turned me down as he wishes to become a manager. Foster is a scout but is not up to the required standard.

With striker Fosters decision to retire it left a space in the first team squad so I decided to promote young striker

Graeme Duncan

and give him a chance in the premier league.

PRE SEASON

We were unbeaten in the friendlies. A terrible injury crisis hit in pre season as 9 players were out injured including midfielders McClair, Farrell and Bennett. Fullback

McLeod

was the worst with a broken leg that will see him miss 5 months

EXPECTATIONS

The board expect us to qualify for the Europa league this season so thats a top 7 finish. The media are expecting the same for us too.

[john1]

Read the whole lot and was brilliant Surprised to see Liverpool got relegated

[WH]

Read the whole lot and was brilliant Surprised to see Liverpool got relegated

Thanks John1, Must have taken a good while to get through. I'm trying not to make the updates too big while also trying to offer as much info as possible. Some times I ramble on a bit though, so sorry for that.

The season Liverpool got relegated was a strange one. Liverpool are no longer one of the "big 4", Man City have well and truly taken that spot. (Aston Villa and Newcastle are probably rated as bigger clubs now too) Man City and United had both stumbled into mid table positions. Chelsea and Liverpool were fighting it out for 17th spot all season and it was always going to be one of them who went down. Liverpool did demolish the competition in the Championship the next season though after clearing out £80m worth of players and starting again.

[MeLikeFM]

Ireland winning the World Cup

[WH]

Ireland winning the World Cup

It was a big surprise after failing to qualify for a major tournament up to that one. Glen Whelan left on a high and took a job as a youth coach at Aberdeen . I would have expected a higher profile job would be waiting for him, but hey this is FM. Former Burnley, Chelsea and Villa manager Owen Coyle then took over. His biggest achievement so far is winning the FA Cup with Burnley in 2016.

[jayahr]

It was a big surprise after failing to qualify for a major tournament up to that one. Glen Whelan left on a high and took a job as a youth coach at Aberdeen . I would have expected a higher profile job would be waiting for him, but hey this is FM. Former Burnley, Chelsea and Villa manager Owen Coyle then took over. His biggest achievement so far is winning the FA Cup with Burnley in 2016.

Strange coincidence. Just yesterday as ManU I lost the FA Cup Final 2016 against Burnley. Seems to be hardcoded in the game

[RichG]

a bit harsh that the board already expect euro qualification after only one season of achieving this. Your job may become very hard in a few seasons hope all goes well this season

[creigo]

WH, on and off its taken me the best part of the morning to catch up with your achievemants. Top thread. I must say you have done brilliantly to mastermind The Bulldogs into 4th. Good effort.

R.I.P Harry Hogarth...Gone, but never forgotten.

Out of curiosity did you ask him to reconsider his retiremant? Due to him playing under you for near enough all of his career a Bulldogs, it might have been the one time i would have heard of a domestic player turning his retiremant plans around. I managed to do it on FM08 with Paul Scholes on an international level, but never with anyone domestically.

[WH]

Strange coincidence. Just yesterday as ManU I lost the FA Cup Final 2016 against Burnley. Seems to be hardcoded in the game

It must be another FM cheat like Super keepers and tactic cracking.

a bit harsh that the board already expect euro qualification after only one season of achieving this. Your job may become very hard in a few seasons hope all goes well this season

I did seem a bit soon to be demanding Euro qualification, but I suppose the game doesn't realise I'm trying to do it with kids. I think the more successful we are the higher the expectations and the harder it will get. It could end up being my eventual downfall. (Unless I can come up with another tweak of the transfer policy in the future.)

WH, on and off its taken me the best part of the morning to catch up with your achievements. Top thread. I must say you have done brilliantly to mastermind The Bulldogs into 4th. Good effort.

R.I.P Harry Hogarth...Gone, but never forgotten.

Out of curiosity did you ask him to reconsider his retiremant? Due to him playing under you for near enough all of his career a Bulldogs, it might have been the one time i would have heard of a domestic player turning his retiremant plans around. I managed to do it on FM08 with Paul Scholes on an international level, but never with anyone domestically.

Sorry I made you lose your morning, lol. Thanks for taking the time I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I didn't try to dissuade Hogarth from retiring as his stats had dropped so far I couldn't see him getting many games and he was already getting frustrated due to his lack of action. I will keep an eye on him if he gets a job and give an update from time to time. He might even change his mind and join as a coach if out of work for too long.

[RichG]

I think all games evolve after 10-15 seasons and some tweaks have to be made.

[Raware]

Some great progress WH since my last visit in here . Glad to see that things are going well. Also glad to see the facegen pics carrying on. Is it me or does Leon Bennett look like the offspring off SWP and Carlton Palmer?

Good luck in the Champions League .

[WH]

Some great progress WH since my last visit in here. Glad to see that things are going well. Also glad to see the facegen pics carrying on. Is it me or does Leon Bennett look like the offspring off SWP and Carlton Palmer?

Good luck in the Champions League .

Carlton Palmer? He will be devastated. lol.

It was a good guess though, I pasted the top half of Micah Richards face onto the lower half of SWP and let facegen work its magic from that monstrosity

Thanks for popping in

[WH]

Once again on the subject of Facgens I added one for another midfield star Christy Farrell.

[creigo]

Sorry I made you lose your morning, lol. Thanks for taking the time I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I didn't try to dissuade Hogarth from retiring as his stats had dropped so far I couldn't see him getting many games and he was already getting frustrated due to his lack of action. I will keep an eye on him if he gets a job and give an update from time to time. He might even change his mind and join as a coach if out of work for too long.

WH, there is no need to apologise, the boss is away so i'm going great guns to skive as much as possible

Think it would only be fair to give us a report on how The Big Man does with his career after Bulldogs.

[Brian Shanahan]

I've been away from the thread too long, should look at my UserCP more!

After finally qualifying for the world cup Ireland only went and won it! Brian Shanahan will be pleased.

Manager Glen Whelan decided to leave on a high after the tournament.

Damned right I am, and in order to celebrate let me .

Congratulations on the cup win, Europa and CL qualifications, and I've looked at some of your new buys and promotions, and you're developing a good crop. I've a feeling the league will be a bitt quicker than expected.