Jay-Producer Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team play in League Two. The club's nickname is the shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890's born in Rochdale. History: Championships * Football League Second Division/First Division/Football League Championship: 1895 * Football League Third Division/Second Division/Football League One: 1961, 1997 Cup wins * FA Cup 1900, 1903 * Lancashire Cup 1892, 1899, 1903, 1906, 1926, 1958, 1983, 1987 * Lancashire Junior Cup 1890 * Manchester Cup 1894, 1896, 1897, 1900, 1903, 1905, 1925, 1935, 1951, 1952, 1968 Minor wins * Newsquest Cup 2009 In FM10: Please note: All this was done on the demo, I have no idea if this will be any different on the full game. The board believe you can achieve the play-offs, but with some improvements you can push for the top 2 spots. The media predict 6th place. 6th place or better is achievable by bringing in the right players. You start off with 16k Transfer Budget, and a 15,75k Wage Budget. There is already 14,910k being used on wages, but you can sell some players to decrease the current wage usage and give you more funds to purchase players. See below players to sell. Squad - Best players in the team: Please note:: Most of the star ratings were provided by the Assistant Manager with 14/14, some by the Scout who is 19/19 GK: Name: Wayne Brown Age: 32 Best Position: GK Value: £18k Strengths: Shot-stopping. Weaknesses: speed - coming off his line. Other: Consistent performer, although he can occasional make the odd stupid mistake (very rairely though). Number 1 choice. Star Rating (out of 5): 2.5 Defenders: Name: Paul Scott Age: 29 Best Position: Centre-Back (can also play right-back) Value: 55k Strengths: Bravery & good team player. Weaknesses: Poor intelligence. Other: Fairly consistent performer, on the slow side and prone to through balls, not ideal for wing-back play. Good at both in the air and in the tackle. He plays best at centre-back. Star Rating (out of 5): 3 Name: David Buchanan Age: 23 Best Position: Left-Back / Wing-Back (left) or Left Midfield. Value: 20k Strengths: Good team player. Weaknesses: Poor intelligence. Other: Good-back-up. He can make the odd stupid tackle giving away a penalty, apart from that a decent player. Star Rating (out of 5): 2.5 Midfielders: Name: Richie Baker Age: 21 Best Position: Central-Midfielder (can also play right-midfield or right wing) Value: £3.5k Strengths: Athletic player. Weaknesses: Poor in the air / jumping. Other: Never played him before. Star Rating (out of 5): 3 ???? Name: Stephen Dawson Age: 23 Best Position: Central-Midfielder Value: £24k Strengths; Good team player. Weaknesses: Poor set-piece taker. Other: Never played him before. Star Rating (out of 5): 4 ???? Attackers: Name: Ryan Lowe Age: 30 Best Position: Right-Wing (can also play Striker) Value: £22k Strengths: Good technique whens striking the ball. Weaknesses: Poor in the air / jumping. Other: Can score you a few goals as a striker. He got 10 in 18 games as a striker for me - he did better than all my other strikers. He is the only one that can score one-one's regularly. I feel he does well on the wing and prefer him to play their. Star Rating (out of 5): 3 Name: Andy Bishop Age: 26 Best Position: Striker Value: £120k Strengths: Pace. Weaknesses: Selfish. Other: Fairly consistent performer although poor against good opposition. He rarely scores one-one's but what he does well is places his shots and can score a few for you. He likes to link up play with the midfield and will drop back for you. Star Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Name: Andy Morrell Age: 34 Best Position: Striker Value: £9k Strengths: Good team player. Weaknesses: Limited skill - hinders his ability to go past a man. Other: Not outstanding but fairly consistent. Don't expect him to score many because he won't. Seems to do fairly well in the air and works his socks off. Star Rating (out of 5): 3 Defenders: On the slow side and therefore prone to being terrorized with through balls. Paul Scott is reasonably solid at the back and fairly consistent - don't expect brilliant performances though. He can also play at right-back as a natural position. Unfortunately all the other defenders are below par. Efe Sodje is ok for back-up and is fairly consistent but fades as the seasons goes on. This is possibly the weakest area in the team. They concede lots of goals and are terrible with through balls. You certainly need to start here with strengthening the team. Midfielders: No outstanding midfielders in the team but they are all fairly consistent performers. This is the strongest area of the team despite not having any high-profiled players in this department. Because they all perform well you get a good balance, but do not expect any outstanding performances. They are all just above average for the division. David Worrall, on loan from West Brom, is excellent as a playmaker in Central Midfield. He is also fairly good on the right-wing - but I found him to be inconsistent their. Strikers: It’s very evident that the strikers are poor for Bury despite being given a good star rating. Off-load all the dead wood and bring in better one’s. Although ‘Andy Bishop’ performs fairly well he does not score many goals – not enough to get you promoted. ‘Ryan Lowe’ is another that performs fairly well but won't score lots - best to play him on the wing. All the Bury strikers are very poor at one-one’s - 'Lowe' isn't too bad but not good enough. 'Jones' and 'Lowe' will do reasonably well on the wings, but don’t expect any fireworks – you should be looking at bringing in better wingers. For me the 2nd weakness in the team is the attack. Overview: Realistically you need to sell some of the players and bring in better quality if you want to achieve promotion. It is possible but very tough with the current squad! 3 players is not enough you need to bring in at least 5 better players to achieve promotion. What you really need is: x1 GK. (although you have a decent gk you need back-up). x1 Right-Back / Wing-back. x1 Left-Back / Wing-back. x2 Centre-Back x1 Defensive Midfielder. (Murphy will be ok as back-up for Division 2). x1 Central Midfielder. (You have some decent players in this position already, but another one will cover injuries, Matt Watson can play in two positions so he will be ideal). x2 Striker. (I personally would keep 'Lowe' and get rid of the rest and bring in better, 'Bishop' is ok but the rest are below average). Players to SELL: Tom Newey - Left-back (Value £4k) Ben Futcher - Centre-Back (Value £5k) Danny Carlton - Striker (Value £40k) Brian Barry-Murphy - Defensive-Mid (Value £10k) Efe Sodje - Central-Def (Value £2.5k) Danny Racchi - Winger (Value £2k) Michael Jones - Winger (Value 26k) Cameron Belford - GK (Value £1.5k) Josh Rothwell - Central-Mid (Value £1.5k) Ryan Cresswell - Central-Def (Value £1.5k) Total amount in wages from these players: £3,300. Potential income from sales: £95,000. Players to bring in: Name: Jason Beardsley Age: 20 Position: Right-back Cost: FREE (value £240k). Other: Solid and consistent defender. Not the best going forward but rarely lets you down at the back. Star Rating (out of 5): 4 (potential of 4.5) Name: Flavien Belson Age: 22 Position: Defensive-Midfielder Cost: FREE (value 22k). Other: Fairly consistent when his moral is high and when the team are doing well, but when the team does badly so does he. He can perform very well and is like Mascerano in Div 2. You have to try and get the best out of him though to be effective. Star Rating (out of 5): 3 Name: Jason Talbot Age: 23 Position: Left-back Cost £5k Other: Although the board and fans find him a poor singing his att's are good and he does well. Fairly consistent and can put in good performances, but he does overdo it at times and looses possession thinking he's C.Ronaldo. Good buy nerveless and rarely lets me down. Star Rating (out of 5): 3 Name: Mohamadou Seck Age: 29 - Centre-Back Cost: FREE (value £22k) Other: Although not consistent he is regarded as a good Centre-back. Excellent in the air. Very slow though which means he is very poor with through balls. I have never gotten any consistency from him so best to use him as back-up or when others are doing badly. I've also noticed that he dives into tackles and his decision making is awful at times. Shaky player I think - he gets your heart going with his stupid decision making and daft diving of tackles. Star Rating (out of 5): 4 Name: Gary Roberts Age: 22 Position: Central-Midfield Cost: FREE (value £35k) Other: He is unavailable to play until October due to personal reasons. The board will say they are unhappy with the singing until he plays. Decent player who is fairly consistent. Don't expect any fireworks or outstanding performances - more of an average player that will serve you well who rarely lets you down. Star Rating (out of 5): 4 Name: Matt Watson Age: 24 Position: Defensive-Midfielder (can also play Centre-Midfield) Cost: £1.5k Other: This guy can be a dynamite in midfield, but at times can give away too many free-kicks and put in the occasional bad performance (not many though). I played him as my playmaker in Central Midfield and he did brilliant at the start, although it is recommended by your assistant that he plays best as a defensive-mid. Scored 4 in 5 for me at the start of the season then faded. Worth every penny. Star Rating (out of 5): 3.5 Staff to bring in: Assistant Manager: Kevin Dillon (Good att's for Div 2 and handles press conferences fairly well - when you start going through a bad rot he does start to do press conferences badly) Scout: Malcolm Shotton (has 19/19). Tips: Players: When bringing in players get a good scout (like Malcolm Shotton) to check their star rating. Go for players that are 4+ or at least can get to 4. Those particular players will also serve you well in Division 1 and be rated as 'good' with an approximate star rating of 3 (possibly 2.5) if in Division 1. When in the Championship a player who was rated at 4 in Division 2 would drop down to 1 or 2 stars, and be completely useless in the premiership. You will therefore need to rebuild the whole squad when you get to the Championship - I would suggest starting this when you get to League 1. I.e. Bring in 4 or 5 star rated players when you reach League 1 - these particular players will become approximately 3 star (possibly 2.5) rated players when you reach the Championship. It's about building for the future - you have to think ahead and prepare yourself for the next league. Bury will not be able to compete financially with the bigger clubs - you will feel this strain when you get to the Championship. That's why Freebies become important. Try and get as many players on the cheap as possible (and make sure they have 4.5 stars+ so they can play in the premiership). Freebies are better than paying for players in the long run as your bank balance will be kept reasonable and used to build up your stadium and youth facilities. Most of your transfer budget will be used on singing-on fees anyway, or put back into the club to improve other areas (see below). Don't be tempted to use up your transfer budget before the season ends - this money will be re-injected to up the bank balance and increase your chances up upgrading facilities at the club. Income (cash injection): To bring in much needed cash to buy players for the following season and improve your youth facilities play as many friendlies at home against the big teams. Bury already have affiliates with Man Utd, Everton and Man City, and play against Preston in pre-season friendlies, but try and get another team to play, preferably a Championship side to up your income. Aim to play at home against 5 big teams every season. Don't worry about getting humped and your moral being drastically affected as you can set-up friendlies against poorer teams after these bigger games. As a rule, during pre-season I usually play 5 games at home against bigger teams to increase income (you will get full crowds turning up), and 5 against very weak opposition (weaker than your team) - these can be either at home or away and will increase your form and moral. Playing against better teams will also allow you to see how strong your tactics are. The money you have generated from those big games will serve you well for next season. You will see your bank balance dramatically rise - the Chairmen won't give you anymore money for transfers, but that's not a problem as there are plenrty of free players around - this money should be used for next season to improve the youth facilities and bring in much needed players. Youth Facilities: Because Bury can't compete financially with the big guns when you get to the Premiership you need to rely on youth development by improving your youth facilities early on as possible. Around half way through your first season ask the board if they can improve the youth facilities. If they say they "do not currently have enough funds" wait until towards the end of the season and try again. If they come back to you and give you the same answer as before you need to wait until the new season starts and all season tickets have been sold before asking again. Season ticket sales will increase the bank balance. Don't forget that home friendlies against bigger clubs will also increase your bank balance. Stadium: To maximise your income you need to try and increase the stadium capacity. The more successful you are the bigger the crowds you will attract. At the end of your first season, if you achieve promotion to Division 1, ask the board to improve the stadium capacity. If they say we "do not currently have enough funds" wait until half way through the 2nd season before asking again - only ask if you are doing well, otherwise the board will just say no because you will not be attracting enough fans or doing particularly well to warrant an increase. Tactics: I'm currently working on a set of tactics. So far so good, I've got mixed results with the tactics I'm using. I couldn't import my old tactics from FM09 so I've started from scratch. I use classic wing-play which has always worked well for me. I'll test it out for a whole season and then with other teams to see where the flaws are with it and what can be improved before uploading it. This will hopefully be done before Christmas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 Updated. Star ratings now included to give you an indication of how good they are. I have also included some staff to bring in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 Updated: I've ensured it is as accurate as possible now. This was done in the demo so no idea how differently it will be in the full-game. Hope it isn't much different - I shouldn't think so. I will add my tactics once Ive finished experimenting and will also add all the players I feel will be suitable for Bury and able to compete in Div 1 also. I will upload the link to the shortlist for players once Ive compiled it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 Updated: Ive added some tips. Has anyone started using this guide? would be helpful to get some feedback on it. I'm doing this blind at the moment. I'm still working on the shortlist for the 1st season on what players to bring in. Hopefully this will be done before Christmas along with the tactics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purefun Posted November 23, 2009 Share Posted November 23, 2009 If you can, could you put up a badge? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 Will do if you tell how I do that lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 Give it a wee bump. May start with Bury again sometime. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommobfc Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Im a Bury season ticket holder and have played with them a few times. Best Ive ever done is 5th and then won the playoffs at Wembley against Bradford. With regards to the OP, I wouldnt sell Carlton, he was immense for me scoring 25 across the season. I would also recommend Lewis Guy from Donny, he is rapid and plays well alongside DC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clokey1988 Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 I don't know how the AI uses him but Bishop always scores for fun on my Luton games, on FM09 and 10. Whenever I sign him though he is crap :-( Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommobfc Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 I struggled gettin anythin out of Bish. He scored about 10 all season. Doesnt help that he is injured at the start for about 2 months. And on 3k a week :/. If I play as Bury again I think Ill look to offload him tbh. Should be able to rebuild the entire team with the fee/wages freed up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 Im a Bury season ticket holder and have played with them a few times. Best Ive ever done is 5th and then won the playoffs at Wembley against Bradford. With regards to the OP, I wouldnt sell Carlton, he was immense for me scoring 25 across the season. I would also recommend Lewis Guy from Donny, he is rapid and plays well alongside DC You can get a better striker in than him though who will get 30+ goals for you. You need to get better players in to finish in the top 2. You need at least 10 new players in who are excellent. Try EPL teams for loans. I see that Bury are doing really well this season. Makes a change. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 New badge up guys. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommobfc Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 You can get a better striker in than him though who will get 30+ goals for you. You need to get better players in to finish in the top 2. You need at least 10 new players in who are excellent. Try EPL teams for loans. I see that Bury are doing really well this season. Makes a change. On the 10.2 patch I signed Ben Mee, Javan Vidal, Paul Marshall from Man City. All excellent. And yeah, we are doing well this season, although the wheels have fallen off recently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leedsankergren Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I just started with Bury on patch 10.3 and i need some ideas for signings. I only signed Mamadou Seck and i can't seem to find more good players. This is only my second save so im really bad at FM. Sorry for my bad english. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted April 5, 2010 Author Share Posted April 5, 2010 I just started with Bury on patch 10.3 and i need some ideas for signings. I only signed Mamadou Seck and i can't seem to find more good players. This is only my second save so im really bad at FM.Sorry for my bad english. Theres already some suggestions around 3 posts up and my OP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leedsankergren Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 I don't want to many players on loan and most players in the OP is not free anymore. Just one or two good players more i could sign and i would be happy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay-Producer Posted April 5, 2010 Author Share Posted April 5, 2010 I don't want to many players on loan and most players in the OP is not free anymore. Just one or two good players more i could sign and i would be happy I'm not sure then mate. I've not went Bury in patch 10.3. You'd need to scout some. Have a look at freebies and get your scouts to do a simple report on them. What I do is filter out those that have low stamina, speed and acceleration, and any unrealistic signings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leedsankergren Posted April 5, 2010 Share Posted April 5, 2010 Okay thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leedsankergren Posted April 10, 2010 Share Posted April 10, 2010 First season with Bury finished. I won the league by 23 points down to Rochdale, im very suprised i thought i was lucky if i could get in top 3. I also reached the fifth round of the FA cup beating Hull on way. I was knocked out by Man U 0-3. My transfers was: Matt Watson, DKK 15k (i think it's around £1,5k) Jeremy Helan, loan from Man C Lucien mettomo, free Wouter Jansen, free Sean Welsh, loan from Hibernian Mamadou Seck, free Some of my best players was: Andy Bishop 33 goals and 11 assist in 38(1) games average rating 7,33. Wouter Jansen 6 goals 17 assist in 40(1) games average rating 7,63. Paul Scott 2 goals 2 assist in 33(7) games average rating 7,56 Tom Elliot 19 goals 11 assist in 40 games average rating 7,22 Matt Watson 9 goals 12 assist in 38 (7) games average rating 7,24 Now looking for some good freebies in second season in coca cola league 1. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leedsankergren Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Second season with Bury finished. I finished number 10 with 70 points, even thought i was expected to go straight down in league 2. If i had won my last match in the season i would finished number 7 just outside the playoffs. Got knocked out of the FA cup in the first round by Mansfield VERY disapointed. Transfers: Adam Eckersley, free Tom Elliot, loan from leeds Zacharie Boucher, Loan from Man City Mustapha Traore, free Elliot Omozusi, free Daniel Nardiello, free Viktor Palsson, loan from Liverpool Ryan McGivern, Loan from Man City Marc Fitzpatrick, free Cameron Bell, DKK 140K Some of the best players: Andy Bishop 25 goals 5 assist in 29(4) games average rating 7,20 Wouter Jansen 2 goals 7 assist in 35(3) games average rating 7,23 Daniel Nardiello 13 goals 9 assist in 25(6) games average rating 6,96 David Worral 3 goals 12 assist in 45 games average rating 6,94 Let alot of players go on free, so needs to get many playser in. And possibly some good players that can take me to the Championsship. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bladez Posted April 21, 2010 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Are bury likely to be letting go alot of there players in the summer? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leedsankergren Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 Are bury likely to be letting go alot of there players in the summer? No i did just let them go as they were not good enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrenTurpin Posted April 24, 2010 Share Posted April 24, 2010 So were you playing a 4-4-2 as standard, or did you switch things around? I did okay with Bury in FM10.2 with a 4-5-1 - Andy Bishop was the lone striker and netted 44 for the first season, including a memorable 7 in one match against Crewe. But we still only finished 5th and got knocked out of the play-off semis on penalties (in an eerie echo of RL Bury's 08/09 season). Then it all fell apart in the second season when a takeover saga completely screwed my close-season and I ended up getting sacked in March after a bad run of games Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leedsankergren Posted April 24, 2010 Share Posted April 24, 2010 So were you playing a 4-4-2 as standard, or did you switch things around? I did okay with Bury in FM10.2 with a 4-5-1 - Andy Bishop was the lone striker and netted 44 for the first season, including a memorable 7 in one match against Crewe. But we still only finished 5th and got knocked out of the play-off semis on penalties (in an eerie echo of RL Bury's 08/09 season). Then it all fell apart in the second season when a takeover saga completely screwed my close-season and I ended up getting sacked in March after a bad run of games I'm just playing a normal 4-4-2, i sometimes change to a 4-1-4-1 if i am playing a better team than me. I mostly used the 4-1-4-1 when i was in league 1. When i was playing in league 2 i also hat Hans Jorritsma as my assman. I holidayed half of my matches, he took care of them really nicely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarrenTurpin Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Two seasons in to my new Bury game. Thought I'd report back (in case anyone is vaguely interested...) Season One League Two Champions Finished top, 3 clear of Rotherham. 103 points, 94 goals scored. Not too shabby. Played a 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond) attacking formation all season, home and away. Signings: Mamadou Seck (DC, Free), Ben Mee (DL, Man City, season-loan), Corry Evans (DMC/MC, Man U, season-loan), Nathan Porritt (AML, Middlesborough, season-loan), Rhian Dodds (AMC, Free), Kenny Pavey (AMR, AIK, Free), Lukas Jutkiewicz (ST, Everton, loan), Martin Hansen (GK, Liverpool, Free), Tony Diagne (DL, Notts F, £5K), Ryan Conroy (AML, Celtic, Free), Maxime Chanot (DRC, Free), Rafe Wolfe (DR, Sheff Utd, Free), Paul McGowan (ST, Celtic, Free), Kobi Shemesh (GK, Free), Joel Adegoroye (DC, Free), Jamie Adams (DMC, Kilmarnock, £4K), Thomas Kind Bendiksen (AMC, Rangers, Free), Benoit Pansier (GK, Toulon, Free), Lucien Mettomo (DC, Free). Notable Exits (mostly in Jan window): Andy Morrell (Borunemeouth, Free), Ryan Lowe (Burton, £10K), Ryan Cresswell (Mansfield £5K), Wayne Brown (Bohemians, Free), Stephen Dawson (Burton, £10K) and Makhtar N'Dyiaye, signed on a Free in August, sold to Bristol Rovers for £75K in Jan (result!) So, quite busy on the transfer front. Key players: Scott & Seck in the heart of defence, Mee at left back, Evans in the DMC holding role, Porrit and Conroy on the left wing, Pavey on the Right, Dodds at AMC, Bishop, Jutkiewicz and Carlton up front. Benoit Pansier took over from Wayne Brown between the sticks in January. Season Two League One Play-Off Finalists Played above all expectations to stay in the top two for most of the season, but injuries to a couple of key players in the run-in meant that we were overtaken by Millwall and Southampton to finish third. Beaten by a Huddersfield team that just played better than us in the final, but half the Wembley gate was a decent consolation. Again, used the same a 4-1-2-1-2 (diamond) attacking formation all season, home and away. Made us slightly vulnerable to the counter, but we generally scored more than we let in, so that was (so nearly) enough to do the job. Signings: Corry Evans (Man U let him go on a Free with a 50% sell-on clause. Best bit of business I've done in a long time...), Michael Mifsud (ST, Free), Magnus Eikrem (AMR, season-loan from Man U), Ben Mee (another season-loan from Man City, couldn't persuade them to let him go on a free though), Gael Kakuta (AMC, Chelsea, season-loan), Lenny Pidgeley (GK, Free), Louis Moult (AM/FC, Free), Hope Akpan (MC, Free), Rhys Bennett (DC, Free), Gaetan Caro (AMC, Free), Jason Thomson (DR, Hearts, Free), Andrew Milne (AMR/FC, Free), James Forrest (AM/FC, Celtic, Free), Jimmy Modeste (DL, Dundee, £6K), Craig McKeown (DC, Dundee, £6K). Quite a lot of youngsters in there - building for the future. Notable Exits: Rafe Wolfe (not enough pace - Virtus, £14K), Lucien Mettomo (never better than Scott - Morecambe, £30K), Tony Diagne (too arsey - Pro Sesto, £18K), David Buchanan (Derry City, £35K), Richie Baker (Derry City, £45K), Antoine Ponroy (in for a free in Aug, out to Ancona for £40K in Jan) Key players: Scott and Seck at the back still (slow, but steady, good enough for L1), Mee at left back, Thomson at right back (very useful!), Evans & Adams at DMC, Conroy & Kakuta at AML, Dodds / Bendiksen at AMC, Pavey on the right wing, Mifsud (what a player!) and McGowan (came good, kept bishop out of the team) up front. Pansier carried on in goal, but he's not the shot-stopper he needs to be. I was linked to about 20 different jobs this season and offered two - both German second division clubs. No, ta. Season Three Just started, sticking with the tried-and-trusted 4-1-2-1-2 and so far we've drawn with a full-strength Man City team in a pre-season friendly and held our own at 1-1 against Liverpool for 72 mins (before collapsing to lose 4-1) in another. Oh, and we've beaten Rochdale 2-0 at Spotland on the first day of the season (get in!) Signings so far: Gael Kakuta (another season-long loan, this time for the AMC role), Magnus Eikrem on a Free (another 50% sell-on, but well worth it), Mark Howard (GK, St Mirren, £70K and looks to be worth every penny so far), Helton Dos Reis (ST, Free - another good bit of business, I hope), Pedro Botelho (DL/AML, Arsenal, Loan - a fleet-footed Brazilian kid), Joachim Ichane (DL, Stade Lavallois, £20K, hopefully a solution to the problem left-back area), David Jensen (6'5" GK, Man City, Loan - Given was publicly pleased to see the back of him, which is worrying, but still...) Have also committed Corry Evans to a five-year contract on £3.5K a week. Highest-paid player by far, but definite club-captain material (as soon as I find a replacement for Paul Scott). Failing that, he's worth £650K (and rising...) Exits so far: Andy Bishop (had to let him got on a free to Northampton, he was on £3.8K a week and well down the pecking order, but no-one would give me money for him), Rhian Dodds (Amiens, £60K - his legs had gone), Lenny Pidgeley (Hamilton, £55K - complaining about a lack of first-team action), Thomas Kind Bendiksen (Perugia, £100K - good player, but Kakuta will keep him out of the team), Danny Carlton (Chesterfield, Free), Craig McKeown (Exeter, £30K - not breaking into the first team, better prospects in the reserves), Kenny Pavey (Scunthorpe, £80K - form dipped dramatically at the end of the season, Eikrem is an effective replacement. Good luck to Scunthorpe if they think they can get him back to his best...) I've told the board that we're going to be promoted this season, so it had better happen. Then again, David Moyes is looking extremely vulnerable at Everton and if that job came up and I was offered it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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