Pangaea Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Phew! We are crap again \0/ The starting form had me worried it would be another season pushing for promotion, as we were in a playoff position early on. But we can't buy a win atm and are sliding down the table. Good to see there is still some reality left in this game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle ron Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Champions Again! I struggling in League One with a wage budget of £34,500 and much better player attributes Good to see Swindon Town are joining you in the Championship. I'm betting you will get promoted to the Premier League and play the first game at home in your new stadium to Manchester United Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 Thankfully that is unlikely to happen. Reality has finally hit us, and we're struggling in every match - like it should have been for seasons already. Took time, but glad it finally happened. We've slid down to midtable now about half-way through the season, with a huge gap to the playoffs. I hope it will take some seasons building the team in the Championship now. Much more fun that way. But I am quite worried that it was so easy to go up the leagues. If I hadn't played this game myself, I would never think it was possible without massive cheating. Didn't think back-to-back promotions like this was possible anymore. Didn't have a proper game on FM09, but struggled much more than this on FM08. So figured it would be more difficult on FM10. But the general sentiment seems to be that it's easier at the bottom levels, but much more competitive at the top. It's quite absurd to be in the Championship with a 2.5K stadium though. Pretty sure that isn't exactly going by the book Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle ron Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Also... I did promise you an award for keeping Trafford in League One. A task I imagined impossible given your tiny wage budget. Here you go Per-Stian, you deserve it! The Pangaea League One Survival with a Minimal Wage Budget and Turned it into a Promotion Award Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 1, 2010 Author Share Posted February 1, 2010 LMAO!!! :D That's brilliant Thank you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 Cups suck arse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 But I am quite worried that it was so easy to go up the leagues. If I hadn't played this game myself, I would never think it was possible without massive cheating. Didn't think back-to-back promotions like this was possible anymore. Didn't have a proper game on FM09, but struggled much more than this on FM08. So figured it would be more difficult on FM10. But the general sentiment seems to be that it's easier at the bottom levels, but much more competitive at the top. It's quite absurd to be in the Championship with a 2.5K stadium though. Pretty sure that isn't exactly going by the book Bragging. I can show you how it's done (or not done rather). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 2017/18 Championship Board expectation: Fight bravely Media expectation: 24th (last) Odds: 80-1 Season tickets: 1914 (up 652) Central defence was still our weakness, so in comes a few guys on loan to plug the hole. An old DC is also signed, but a 450K offer was too good to refuse, and he was sold in January. A couple more come in on loan. We also got rid of both keepers and some others, bringing in 1.5 million. I figured we needed that to survive financially, and most players weren't starters anyway. 600K for talented goalie Pennock is a new club record. This was our last season at Shawe View, and we desperately needed a new stadium. Every single game was packed to capacity. The average attendance for the whole season was 2,500 - exactly the stadium's capacity. The season started off well, and we were just inside the playoff spots after 10 or so matches. Then both keepers went off to play for England U21, and I was left with a 16 year old in goal. We couldn't pick up the play when they came back, and slid down the table. In January we got a 3- and 6-month loanee. This helped us get the football back on track, and we remained stable for the remainder of the season. We finished in midtable obscurity with an 11th position. Like last season we had a small adventure in the cup, but unlike last season it was the League Cup this time around. Some lucky draws saw us get all the way to the Quarter Final. I kept hoping for an away draw to a good team, but the last 3 rounds saw us play at home, resulting in meagre financial gains. We went out 0-3 to EPL Derby in the Quarter. Derby has actually turned into one of the bigger teams in England, and finished 5th this season. We went out at the first hurdle in the FA Cup, against fellow Championship side Leicester 2-3. Despite playing half an hour with a man more, we failed to capitalize. League Progress Squad - We are pretty much lacking DCs so have to rely on loans, but other than that it's pretty decent-looking. Though I suspect some players are getting to the end of their stay here. The star rating isn't looking so impressive any more. Transfers - Two very fine-looking goalies were brought in, which is why both goalies from last season were sold. MC Fyvie was also a good capture. Finances - Wages tripled from about 7K to 20K a week, but the sales and prize money treated us well. A 2.5M profit and we have finally moved from "Insecure" finances to "Okay". Key Players Liam Jones (GK) - Was the better of the two goalies, but I tried to play both Nick Roberts (GK) - Good potential, but ended up playing less than Liam Jones Gavin Dennison (D RL) - Another fine season on right fullback Tom Wright (DR) - Quite talented, but was hard to play when Dennison did so well. He didn't really take his chances too well either Barry Finn (DL) - Fine season, but was often benched in favour of loanee Tom Thompson Tom Thompson (D LC) - Very good mercenary. Played mostly central, but also kept Finn out of the team on DL. Ryan Nixon (DC) - Sturdy DC brought in on loan. He did well there, and scored a few goals too Steven Grant (DM/MC) - Another good season where he scored a fair few goals. Most on pens though. Tom Woolley (DM/MC) - This lad is starting to look very good, though he's probably reached his potential now. Probably our best midfielder Fraser Fyvie (MC) - Brought in on free and played pretty well, assisting 10 goals and scoring 4. Ian Wright (AMC) - Had a stunning season. Came like a rocket on the end, and ended up with 21 assists - a new club record. Johnny Breen (ST) - Was our best man last season, but couldn't quite find the net now. Still did well though Scott Robinson (ST) - Had a very good season and was our top goalscorer with 29 hits to his name Other news It took time for the youth and training facilities to be upgraded, but sometime in October work was finished. It's now up to "Fairly basic training facilities" and "Basic youth facilities." Nothing fancy, but it's a start. It was a bit sad to see club hero Danny Egan leave the club. But he was simply not good enough any more. I let him off to the Scottish moors for free. With the improved wage budget our star players, particularly Grant, Wright, Breen and Robinson, signed contract extensions. This was a great relief. Otherwise I would have had to sell them all for fear of seeing them go for free. Then we would have been relegated for sure. Next Season We were never in real danger of relegation this season, cause teams at the bottom were too crap. The goal is to build on this season and perhaps push for a playoff spot. We ended the season playing good football, so I hope we can keep that up going into next season. It will also be great to finally play in front of more than 2,500 people. It's held us back financially the last two season. I'm looking forward to see what kind of crowds are coming next year. Career Summary [b]Season[/b] [b]Division[/b] [b]Pos[/b] [b]Movement[/b] [b]FA Cup[/b] [b]Other[/b] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2009/10 Northern 1 North 9th - - Out of all cups early 2010/11 Northern 1 North 1st Promotion - Out of all cups early 2011/12 Northern Premier 11th - 4th Qual Rnd QF of Northern League Cup, Consortium take-over 2012/13 Northern Premier 1st Promotion 1st Rnd Out of the cups early 2013/14 Blue Square North 2nd Promotion 4th Qual Rnd FA Trophy 3rd Round Promotion through Play-Off 2014/15 Blue Square Premier 1st Promotion 1st Rnd FA Trophy winners 2015/16 League Two 1st Promotion 3rd Rnd [u]New stadium[/u] planned for June 2018. 2016/17 League One 1st Promotion 3rd Rnd 2017/18 Championship 11th - 3rd Rnd [u]Moved into 9,186 cap stadium[/u]. Facilities upgraded Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 Roll of Honour 2017/18 Argentina - River & Boca Brazil - Palmeiras England - Arsenal (goal difference in front of Man Utd) France - Marseilles Germany - FC Bayern Ireland - Limerick FC Italy - Fiorentina N. Ireland - Linfield Norway - Lyn Scotland - Celtic Spain - At. Madrid (Barcelona out of CL for the 2nd year running) Wales - Afan Lido Champions Cup Real Madrid - Olympique Lyonnaise p0-0 EURO Cup HSV - Barcelona 1-5 (Barca did okay here though ) European Super Cup Dortmund - Liverpool 3-1 FA Cup Crystal Palace - Arsenal 0-1 League Cup Chelsea - Man Utd 0-1e Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 The 2018 World Cup was a pretty spectacular event. But I'll write up that later. The Scots have a pretty decent striker btw. :faint: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Something is wrong. You didn't get promoted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle ron Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I'm disappointed with no promotion I can't believe you are making money despite the limited capacity Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UELLfan Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 To be fair on Per Stian, staying up on a meager 20k/week was probably the cause of the profits. Quite lowish IMHO. KUTGW! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 3, 2010 Author Share Posted February 3, 2010 The bulk of the profit was due to player sales. We sold players for 1.5M. Then we got 1.05 million IIRC for being placed 11th. The fairly low wage budget naturally helped keep costs down. So despite a tiny stadium we almost broke even in gate receipts and season tickets - wage costs. We are getting bigger crowds than I thought this season. So far both league games have been sold out Have used up the whole 33.5K wage budget this season, but I hope the bigger stadium will help us break even. I'm just worried what the board will do after the 2.5M profit.... :/ Sad to see Swindon drop right down again. They needed to win the last match against Burnley (quite far up the table). But they lost and went down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 I'm just worried what the board will do after the 2.5M profit.... :/ Buy some exotic fish? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted February 3, 2010 Share Posted February 3, 2010 Perhaps the bubble has burst, and you'll have those painful 10 years as Championship promotion nearly-men. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 They haven't taken out any profits yet, so I guess we'll keep it - this time. 10 years in the Championship would be great actually. But I'll see how it goes. Just played a couple of matches so far. But was very pleased to see the stadium was packed to 9,186 capacity. Maybe that means I'll be able to expand again in a year or two Hope the current stadium can be expanded a fair bit, cause I'm not likely to get a new one for a very long time. Just a shame studying is getting in the way, eh? Haven't been this hooked on FM for a very long time. I blame the Tactic Creator. Could never get my head around the flippin' sliders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 World Cup 2018 Hosts: Australia Group A-D Group E-H Knocked out from Groups A: Tunisia, Australia (bummer in front of home fans) B: Peru, Costa Rica C: Turkey, Cameroon D: England (ho-hum!), Saudi Arabia E: USA, Iran (must have been an interesting match ) F: Belgium, South Korea G: Japan, Czech Republic H: Honduras, Mali Knockout Rounds Second Round Croatia - Italy 0-2 Greece - Russia 2-1 Argentina - Brazil 4-0 (dang!) Mexico - Holland 3-0 Portugal - Germany 2-1 Ghana - Chile 1-3 Scotland - France 0-4 Quarter Final Italy - Mexico e1-0 Greece - Argentina 0-1e Portugal - Uruguay 0-1 (wow) Chile - France 0-1 Semi Final Italy - France 1-1p Argentina - Uruguay 2-1 Third Place Playoff Italy - Uruguay 1-0 Final France - Argentina 1-2 Argentina win World Cup 2018! Lots of giants did poorly. England didn't get out of the group stage and Brazil went out early - albeit to the winners Argentina. Holland smacked around by Mexico was a bit surprising too. Spain didn't even get to the World Cup. They lost to Belgium in the playoff. Deserved too I might add. As mentioned Scotland has a monster of a striker. No wonder they got to the World Cup and did well with a guy like this up front. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Scotland need to find a monster of a GK too, judging by the France thrashing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 Yeah, wish they had a whole team to back him up. One man doesn't make a team. The English FA must be on drugs though. Stuart Pearce has failed to bring England to the Euro, WC and now they went out in the groups - but still he has a job. Just imagine if that happened IRL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychonaut Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Yeah, wish they had a whole team to back him up. One man doesn't make a team.The English FA must be on drugs though. Stuart Pearce has failed to bring England to the Euro, WC and now they went out in the groups - but still he has a job. Just imagine if that happened IRL My money's on an England group exit in South Africa. If I win, I'll buy everyone a copy of FM2011 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 4, 2010 Author Share Posted February 4, 2010 A part of me would really love that actually. Can't believe the English, time and time again, believe England have a team good enough to win the World Cup. Granted, if Terry stops shagging the wifes of teammates and Rooney maintains his fantastic form, England could go places. But even so I highly doubt they'll win it. You need world class players in every position, and England simply don't have that. It is funny to see the press talk about England as one of the favourites though. If they go out on pens again, I'm gonna fall over laughing! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 4, 2010 Share Posted February 4, 2010 Practice your laughing Pangaea... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 2018/19 Championship Board expectation: Safe mid-table Media expectation: 17th Odds: 80-1 Season tickets: 2261 (up 347) I brought in a pack of defenders as defence was still our main weakness. Tom Thompson joined on loan from Arsenal for another season, and did great. We signed our first foreigner. Luan Bratja from Albania had been released from Southend, which is shocking in itself as he had a few caps for his country. Due to this signing it was easier to finally let Barry Finn go. He had done well for us on left back for many years, but he wanted new challenges and asked to be transfer listed. In the end he left to Watford for 2.1M - a new club record. It'll take 3 years for the money to come in though. In the pre-season we moved to our shining new stadium. I figured we better have a match to initiate the 9,186-capacity beast. Tottenham accepted our call. We did better than I feared, but Spurs ran out 2-0 winners to a filled Trafford Stadium. The goal this season was to get a playoff spot, and I felt we had a good shot at it given the strong finishing last season and due to an improved squad. My suspicions were correct. We got into the promotion race almost right off the bat, and never let go. We were sitting top at the halfway line, and with 8 matches left we had opened up an 11-point gap. I was sure we had it wrapped up. But as usual the close season left us with a full physio room. We secured promotion with 4 matches left, but the gap had shrunk to 7 points. I wanted to win the league, but this didn't look good. Going into the last day we were only a point ahead of West Brom, who were in stunning form. They played mid-table Burnley away, while we faced Wolves on 3rd away. It was a tough game and we held onto a draw, barely. I was sure it wouldn't be enough against West Brom. But for once they didn't make it count in front of goal, and Burnley beat them 1-0. We were champions 2 points ahead. We only got 2 points the last 4 matches, though. Close call. EPL, here we come! The Cup draws were kind to us this year. We got far both in the League and FA Cup. Tottenham stopped us in the 4th round of the League Cup. In the FA Cup we got all the way to the 6th round before we faced EPL teams. And it was the cashcow of all cashcows: Man Utd away. I set up shop and they only got one goal past us. And better yet, we earned 1 million. The bankers were happy. League Progress We somehow managed to do better away than home. Squad - We have filled the gap in defence now, and the team is looking pretty balanced. Not too many players stand out now, but Bratja is clearly a good one. Transfers - Opened our wallet for the first time, in bringing in a 16 year old kid from Scotland that our scouts say will be a good Premier League player one day. I sure hope they are right... Finances - The new stadium meant we were bringing in a lot more dough. So even though I blew the whole 33.5K wage budget, we made a healthy profit. Key Players Liam Jones (GK) - Did well between the sticks. Pulled off some great point-savers. John French (D RLC) - A good buy that can play all over the place in defence. Tom Wright (DR) - Quite talented, but was hard to play when Dennison did so well. He didn't really take his chances too well either Luan Bratja (D/WB L) - A fantastic signing that even provided a handful of assists Tom Thompson (D LC) - Has come a long way and played brilliant on DC. If he was ours I'm pretty sure he would have won the fans' player of the year. Ken Green (DC/ST) - Another fine signing in defence. Can even play up front if needed. Stuart Keast (DM/MC) - Hardly played, but he looks like a very nice prospect. I only hope all that money wasn't wasted. Tony Woolley (DM/MC) - Had 3.5 stars until the end of the season, and did very well. Provided a few goals and assists too. Ian Wright (AMC) - Was stunning before Xmas, when he had almost an assist per game. Thought he would smash the 21-assist record, but he came 3 short in the end. Ryan Higgins (AMR/ST) - Some players say he will have a big future in the club, so I have big hopes for him. Decent first season. Johnny Breen (ST) - Another fine season from our star. Top goalscorer. We have 4 spledid strikers now, though, so I all let them play a lot, which meant fewer matches and goals for Breen that I'm sure he could have gotten. Alan Fitzgerald (ST) - Much better 2nd season. Scored quite regularly. Scott Robinson (ST) - Also did pretty well, but was surprisingly the 4th least efficient striker Other news I kept asking the board to expand the stadium as we filled it up every game (usually to the last seat too), but they kept saying they saw no need. But due to the promotion the FA saw the need. So thankfully the board was forced to expand it, by 3,500 seats. It will be ready in November. In the meantime we'll make due with roughly a 8,000 stadium. This is also why our nice profit evaporated in the last days of the financial year During the season I managed my 500th game. It's nice to get that message, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed it. This is what the manager profile looks like upon entering the Premier League. My contract ran out at the end of this season. The board tried to give me a 4-year contract at 1,800 at the start of it - same as I was on. I was well p!ssed I can tell you! Even after many rounds and postponements they were only willing to stretch it to 3,300. But I want to stay, so I have no option but to accept it. Have only made it a one-year deal though, which I will until they give me proper wages for the EPL. Next Season It feels unreal to be in the Premier League. I actually can't remember when I last played long enough to make it up here. I can safely say FM2010 has me bitten. The goal is obviously to stay up, but it's not going to be easy. We got a 11.5M transfer kitty, but I can't see players that will improve our squad much, so will mostly stick with what I've got. It will be very interesting to see how we do against the big boys Career Summary [b]Season Division Pos Movement FA Cup Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]2009/10 Northern 1 North 9th - - Out of all cups early 2010/11 Northern 1 North 1st Promotion - Out of all cups early 2011/12 Northern Premier 11th - 4th Qual Rnd QF of Northern League Cup, Consortium take-over 2012/13 Northern Premier 1st Promotion 1st Rnd Out of the cups early 2013/14 Blue Square North 2nd Promotion 4th Qual Rnd FA Trophy 3rd Round Promotion through Play-Off 2014/15 Blue Square Premier 1st Promotion 1st Rnd FA Trophy winners 2015/16 League Two 1st Promotion 3rd Rnd [u]New stadium planned for June 2018[/u]. 2016/17 League One 1st Promotion 3rd Rnd 2017/18 Championship 11th - 3rd Rnd Facilities upgraded 2018/19 Championship 1st Promotion 6th Rnd [u]Moved into 9,186 cap stadium[/u]. Facilities upgraded Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 Roll of Honour 2018/19 Argentina - River & River Brazil - Fluminense England - Arsenal (Man City and Liverpool out of Europe) France - Lyonnais Germany - Werder Bremen Ireland - Bohemians Italy - Juventus N. Ireland - Linfield Norway - Rosenborg Scotland - Celtic (that's 10 (!) in a row; Rangers finished 6th) Spain - Barcelona (R.Madrid 4th with an ageing Ronaldo) Wales - Llanelli Champions Cup Chelsea - Man Utd e4-2 EURO Cup Sevilla - Zaragoza 0-2 European Super Cup Barcelona - R. Madrid 0-2 FA Cup Man Utd - Arsenal 0-1 League Cup Man Utd - Chelsea 0-1e Not a good year for Man Utd in finals. They lost the finals in the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup - twice to Chelsea. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 8, 2010 Share Posted February 8, 2010 A wage budget of just £33,500 per week and you won the Championship? Sweet Jesus! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 8, 2010 Author Share Posted February 8, 2010 Any idea what the 'normal' wage budget is at that level? I've been handed 125K in the Premier League. But since the players I can afford won't significantly strengthen the team, I'll stick with what I've got - for the most part. So can't see myself using the whole budget. At least not until January. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UELLfan Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 I was also going to congratulate you on going up on such meager wages Good luck on staying up with your current crop. I'm afraid your defence won't be up to the required standard if the screenies reflect all you have in there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreemSim Posted February 9, 2010 Share Posted February 9, 2010 Premier League baby! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 10, 2010 Author Share Posted February 10, 2010 Aye, the screenies do reflect my standard. But since my scouts have found some players that were willing to sign that didn't cost my right ball and then some, I have gone on a spending spree. Went a bit overboard with DCs though, so I have a small team of them now Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UELLfan Posted February 10, 2010 Share Posted February 10, 2010 It's never bad to have some few players to choose from* *Words pronounced by some ageing bald Jockmod after being inquired for his 30something players free transfer spree signings in the original Clan A game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 11, 2010 Author Share Posted February 11, 2010 I went from having in effect zero DCs two seasons ago, to 9 now Managed to sell one and loan out two others though, so it's not too bad... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 11, 2010 Share Posted February 11, 2010 It's never bad to have some few players to choose from**Words pronounced by some ageing bald Jockmod after being inquired for his 30something players free transfer spree signings in the original Clan A game Kostis used to do that with just strikers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle ron Posted February 14, 2010 Share Posted February 14, 2010 Just catching up.. Fantastic achievement getting Trafford to the Premier League and with another league championship. Have any other original non-league teams got into the Football League and established themselves higher up the pyramid? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 Not an awful lot to report. I can't see that any below the Blue Square N/S have made it up. But some from the BS leagues have made it further up. Hardly a big jump, but Ebbsfleet, Cambridge, Wrexham, Mansfield, Rushden, AFC Wimbledon and Oxford have made it up to League Two. Luton are in League One. Most impressive, however, is York who have gone from Blue Square Premier to the Championship. Unfortunately they got relegated this year, but maybe they will be back? Tranmere has seen quite a fall, going from League 1 to BSN (one season only). They are back to League 2 now. Bit of a yo-yo team. Other than that I don't think any other big-ish teams have fallen far down the pyramid. I was quite chuffed to see FC United almost get promoted to Blue Square Premier last season. But as it often goes when small teams overarchieve, they ended up in the lower half of BSN this season with a 16th position. The only of the Big Five that hasn't performed really well is Liverpool. They have done quite poorly a few seasons now, being 8th, 9th and 10th the last 3 seasons. City haven't impressed either given their huge wallet. Have only won the league once - but with a lot of 2nd and 3rd places. Have won 2 League Cups, 1 FA Cup and lost 2 Champions League finals though. I am really excited about what is going down with Man Utd now though. For a good while now there has been a board take-over process going on, with talk of a consortium taking over. It would just be awesome to see the Glazers leave! I fear only Gill will leave though, and the leeches will stay put. Can't remember what happened when a consortium took over my club, if the director(s) stay put or not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 Sweet relief! The Glazers are gone! No idea if they will do anything more, but there was talk of manager Tony Mowbray, who just won the title, being replaced with some bloke from Spain. Apparently the new chairman had business links there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 15, 2010 Share Posted February 15, 2010 This talk of manure has made your career become boring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 15, 2010 Author Share Posted February 15, 2010 I better update it soon then Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 2019/20 Premier League Board expectation: Fight bravely Media expectation: 19th Odds: 5000-1 (!!) Season tickets: 3977 (up 1716) I felt we couldn't rely on loans in central defence any more, and since the board now had no restrictions on scouting, off they went. We picked up players from Holland, Spain, France, Turkey and Belgium. Most were promising players, but DCs Brunner from Tottenham and Fortune from Grenoble slotted right into the team. We ended up with too many defenders and strikers, so some were sent out on loan. Striker Fitzgerald was shipped off to Italy in January for a club record of 4.9 million. Season started as you'd expect, struggling for survival. Then we yo-yo'ed ourselves up the table. The last half of the season we swapped EURO spots for CL spots a few times. It was a tense finish to the season. We ended up handing the title to Man Utd after very luckily beating Arsenal 1-0 at home. A late conceded goal from 4th placed Man City meant we climbed above them and grabbed a CL spot. I should cheer, but this save has just been too strange. Explanation with WTF we are doing so well on a postcard, please As you can see from the screenshots below our players are not good enough for this level, so why this is happening is beyond me. The FA Cup wasn't a great adventure this year. I played some kids, and they fell to Championship side Sheff Utd in the 5th round. Sheff Utd got relegated to League One. The League Cup went better. We knocked out Wycombe, QPR, Portsmouth, Man City and shockingly Arsenal (with superman Lawson up front) to face West Ham in the League Cup final. It was a close match that could have gone either way, but fate played into our hands when West Ham awarded us a penalty in the 110th minute. The club's first proper trophy was ours League - We didn't score much, but kept it tight at the back Progress - In the first half we were high due to playing more matches than the others, but in the end we earned the spot ourselves Squad - I've brought in some really talented players. I was really excited about Fortes and Aktas as they had 4.5 stars the first half or so of the season. Aktas is now down to 3.5 so maybe he's not "all that" after all. I think both Azgin and Fortes can be key players in a few years though. They look pretty strong (look below). Transfers - More or less even in and out. 10 million spent and 9.25 earned. Some players only lasted a season, but as mentioned I have high hopes for a few of these lads. Finances - TV and prize money, plus the bigger stadium, gave us a huge financial boost. Key Players Steven Brunner (DC) - Very solid at the back. Great signing Clement Fortune (DC) - Was injured for 2 months with a back injury, but played great when fit. Mirac Azgin (DC) - This looks like a very bright prospect. Already playing well. Dejan Pusnik (DR) - Didn't play great, but I hope he can make the DR position his. Luan Bratja (DL) - Great season. Teams such as Man Utd and Inter are enquiring about him. Won't be easy to keep him. Stuart Keast (MC) - Another player I hope can be big for the future. Richard Cummins (MC) - Best midfielder this year. Had a fine season with 9 assists. Ian Wright (AMC) - Another good season from Wright. Fans' player of the year again. Ryan Higgins (ST) - Scored quite a bit. Can't make up my mind who should be starters of my strikers. All are basically evenly matched Roel Fortes (AMC/ST) - Big hopes for this lad. Played really well, and he's only 17. Johnny Breen (ST) - Probably still our best striker. Topscorer with 15 goals. Orhan Aktas (ST) - Had huge hopes for him. But looks like he has personality issues, cause half the team can't stand him. Scott Robinson (ST) - Still scoring a fair bit. Should perhaps sell him, but it's difficult seeing that both Breen and Robinson have been with us for 10 and 6 seasons. Season Best Eleven Overall Best Eleven - A small bug has been fixed so this much better represents who deserve to be there. Last season a lot of 1-season players were in, simply due to playing at a high level. Now it seems like matches and average rating play a bigger role - which is great. Other news Due to the much improved finances, the board cleared our debts at the end of the season. It was 4.4 million. They also decided to expand the stadium again, even though they kept telling me to get the F out of their office. It will be finished in November. When completed Trafford Stadium will hold about 16,000 fans. The youth and training facilities will be upgraded too. The board finally agreed towards the end of the season. Next Season It would be great to copy this year's achievement, though it should be difficult given our playing staff. I've decided to change my tactic, just in case the match engine can't quite cope with the 4-1-2-1-2 formation I've used for this whole save (IIRC). I'm not sure how much of a difference it has made since Chelsea have used the same formation all the time (I think) and not done particularly well. But it's worth a try nonetheless. Career Summary [b]Season Division Pos Movement FA Cup Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [/b]2009/10 Northern 1 North 9th - - Out of all cups early 2010/11 Northern 1 North 1st Promotion - Out of all cups early 2011/12 Northern Premier 11th - 4th Qual Rnd QF of Northern League Cup, Consortium take-over 2012/13 Northern Premier 1st Promotion 1st Rnd Out of the cups early 2013/14 Blue Square North 2nd Promotion 4th Qual Rnd FA Trophy 3rd Round Promotion through Play-Off 2014/15 Blue Square Premier 1st Promotion 1st Rnd FA Trophy winners 2015/16 League Two 1st Promotion 3rd Rnd [u]New stadium planned for June 2018[/u]. 2016/17 League One 1st Promotion 3rd Rnd 2017/18 Championship 11th - 3rd Rnd Facilities upgraded 2018/19 Championship 1st Promotion 6th Rnd [u]Moved into 9,186 cap stadium[/u]. Facilities upgraded 2019/20 Premier League 4th - 5th Rnd Stadium expanded (12,686). League Cup winner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 16, 2010 Author Share Posted February 16, 2010 Roll of Honour 2019/20 Argentina - Boca & Independiente Brazil - Santos England - Man Utd France - Lyonnais Germany - Werder Bremen Ireland - St. Pat's Athletic Italy - AC Milan N. Ireland - Linfield Norway - Brann Scotland - Celtic Spain - Barcelona (Messi moved to City after the season. Ronaldo retires next summer) Wales - Llanelli Champions Cup Inter - Arsenal 1-0 EURO Cup Palermo - Marseille 3-1 European Super Cup Zaragoza - Chelsea 1-6 (dang!) FA Cup Derby - Liverpool 0-2 League Cup West Ham - Trafford 0-1e Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 16, 2010 Share Posted February 16, 2010 Are your neighbours getting worried yet? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 Doubt it. Looks like it was a lucky first season for us. Struggling a lot more now. 13th after 9 matches. Big teams are dicking us, and we can't break down the weaker ones. But each time I try to go more offensive our players are all over the place with massive gaps at the back. Perhaps the talents just need more time to develop before I can give them freedom to roam about more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 A great debut season in the Prem and congrats on claiming the League Cup! . I'm starting to think along the same lines as you with regards to this years release...it can be too easy at times (in no way am I meaning to put a dampner on what you've achieved, what you've done with Trafford is a great achievement regardless ) but with players that shouldn't be able to compete in leagues where they're no where near good enough, it seems that they are indeed able to. It's a shame you're thinking of changing your tactic just so you don't win anymore . I hate to 'bash' SI as I know how difficult it is to make FM but I do think it should be a little more difficult in climbing the leagues. There's only a few teams I can think of IRL who have done so in the past few years. But then again there'd be threads and threads of people complaining that it was too hard if they changed it! Anyway, again, congrats on the great job you've done so far . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 Thanks for the and thoughts. I did change my tactic for this season. Only a minor change, but nevertheless. We are doing much worse now, but tbh I don't know if that is down to the change in tactic or something else. There are probably many factors in play. I suspect that one is that our reputation has lacked behind our true skill for quite some time, so teams have been too offensive against us, often leading to break-away goals from our quick strikers. Since I'm playing with betabuilds the strikers are able to miss the goalie once in a while, leading to goals Chelsea have been using the same tactic as I used, and have not been impressive, so it can't be as easy as down to the tactic either. Especially as all my roles are default and totally untinkered with. It really is a mystery to me. Whatever has caused it, though, it should simply not be possible. I do think it has been too easy to rise up the leagues, obviously, but I don't know why this has been so. But what I can say is that we are struggling a lot more this season. Defence is still pretty decent, but we can't score in a brothel. Which is probably as it should be with the players at my disposal. It is very strange though. Last season there were times we didn't look able to lose. This season we are struggling to even score goals. Most of the wins we've had have been of the lucky sort. 6-18 shots, 2-1 score and so on. It's a totally new world this season. Here's hoping the new influx of realism will last Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dafuge Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 I do think it has been too easy to rise up the leagues, obviously, but I don't know why this has been so. But what I can say is that we are struggling a lot more this season. Defence is still pretty decent, but we can't score in a brothel. Which is probably as it should be with the players at my disposal. It sounds like your team plays well as underdogs. I've seen this in the past and when I got near the top things suddenly got a lot more difficult, taking me quite a while to finally crack it. Playing in the Champions League this early should be interesting though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UELLfan Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 CL Footie?! Ooers. KUTGW! I see you well reinforced the weak CB links though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 It sounds like your team plays well as underdogs. I've seen this in the past and when I got near the top things suddenly got a lot more difficult, taking me quite a while to finally crack it.Playing in the Champions League this early should be interesting though I think that is pretty much what happened in my game too. In almost every season so far there have been large parts of the season we have seemed invincible, including last season. But now, when I assume our reputation has climbed quite a bit, I'm finding it a whole lot more difficult. We have scored less than a goal a game, so we'd be mired in a relegation battle if it wasn't for our good defensive record. I think the players I have are pretty talented though, so I hope the team can get into the top 3 when they mature. But it is annoying to see the star ratings gradually drop on them. Hopefully the initial estimation is pretty well on target. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 CL Footie?! Ooers. KUTGW! I see you well reinforced the weak CB links though. I almost always end up with too many DCs and strikers. Which makes it very difficult to give them all enough matches to keep their fitness level up. I should have had two reserve sides Btw, are others finding regional scouting works much worse than national scouting? I prefer the former as I hate to restart scouting missions all the time, but they are finding much less than when I go to individual countries. Except UK and Ireland. One thing I really hope is implemented next year is that we can select what countries we want scouted, and then the scout will keep scouting them, like they do in regional scouting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 European Championship 2020 Hosts: Italy Group Stage Knocked out from Groups A: Croatia, Belarus B: Romania, Portugal C: Czech Republic, Sweden D: Russia, Turkey Knockout Rounds Quarter Final France - Spain 1-0 Italy - Scotland 2-0 Austria - Germany 2-3e Holland - England 2-1e Semi Final France - Holland 2-1 Italy - Germany 2-0 Final France - Italy 1-3 Italy wins European Championship 2020! England out in the Quarters this time. They did quite well Scotland has turned into a wee force with Lawson up front. Surprising to see Portugal go out so early too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangaea Posted February 20, 2010 Author Share Posted February 20, 2010 2020/21 Premier League Board expectation: Safe mid-table Media expectation: 11th Odds: 200-1 Season tickets: 4,275 (up 298) It would be tough to copy last season's 4th finish, but to help me out I got in some summer transfers, while others left us. I was slightly shocked when ex-Man Utd goalie Raul joined us, in stiff competition with some 15 other teams. He would prove to be a lifesaver. The season would be very different form the previous one. We never stood at chance at fighting for Europe, and never rose above 9th. Was never any danger of relegation either, as we stayed mid-table all season. We finished 10th. Defence was good, but we failed to make it count in front of goal. We struggled a lot in the beginning and were on the back foot in most matches. Felt we played better towards the end, so hope we can step it up a little next season. League Progress Our defense of the League Cup was a disaster. We fell in the first hurdle to Everton. The FA Cup didn't go much better. I played some youngsters, and we needed a replay to get past Swindon. No such luck against Doncaster in the 4th round, and out we went. Europe was more interesting. We met Bayern München in the last qualifying round. We managed to get a draw in Germany. Shockingly, we actually deserved to win. 0-0 at home meant we got into the group stage. Ching-ching! We won the first match as Lady Luck smiled our way, but from there on it was just a matter of keeping embarrassments at bay. It was very cool to record a 0-0 at Camp Nou though We ended 3rd in the group and went into the EURO Cup. Not much luck here either. We met Atletico Madrid, who have become a big force in Spain. We lost 0-1 away and got 0-0 at home. Atletico went on to win the Spanish league and the EURO Cup. Was fun to be in Europe, so hope we can get back in a few years Squad - We have potential on most places, so should be set for a nice future. But they will probably need a few years to mature before we can reap the benefits. I'm really excited about de Jong and Fortes. They look like starlets in the making Transfers - 11.75 spent and 18m in. Mostly backups were sold, while some nice prospects came in, plus a splendid goalie in Raul. Huges for 300k and Ward for 800k were steals. They look really promising. My staff say they can both be leading EPL players. Finances - Europe brought in a wicked amount of money, especially when TV money came in after the season was over. Didn't expect that. Our crooks dressed in suits took out 13 million (not present here), but we ended the financial year with a healthy bank balance of 58 million. It's impossible to keep wages this low though. We only had a budget of 170k, of which I spent 140k. Key Players Raul (GK) - Great buy. He played some blinding matches where he just closed the doors. Luan Bratja (DL) - Another fine season. Wanted by Man Utd and others. Liam Hughes (DL) - Very young bloke, but is looking great. Got his first U21 cap aged 16. N.Ireland, but still.. Yunus Sari (DR) - Fine Turkisk prospect. Dejan Pusnik (DR) - Not developing as fast as I hoped. But a nice prospect Steven Brunner (DC) - Good season from the young Swiss Mirac Azgin (DC) - Difficult to keep him out of the team now. Looks very nice Clement Fortune (DC) - Had him locked down in the first team, but Azgin gradually took over his spot Barry Ward (MC) - Fantastic buy for 800K. Will be solid in a few years Glenn Taylor (MC) - Paid out the arse for him (4.2M), but looks quite promising Richard Cummins (MC) - Best midfielder on paper, but he doesn't contribute much in goals and assists Hans de Jong (AMC) - Looks like he'll be a breathtaking AMC in the future. Got a fair few assists already Ian Wright (AMC) - Still our main assist-maker. But his future looks bleak Roel Fortes (ST) - Have big hopes for this bloke. 2 goals in 26 is hardly good, but his attributes look good. Should be smashing in a few years Ken Green (ST) - Started out at DC, but ended the season scoring 7 in 7 up front Orhan Aktas (ST) - Had big hopes on this guy, but looks like he won't turn into much, sadly. Will give him at least one more year to impress me. He already wants out though Ryan Higgins (ST) - Coaches are raving about him. He scored a few, but had a uncomfortable amount of stinkers too. Johnny Breen (ST) - Difficult to sell since he's been with us for 11 seasons. Very useful as tutor, and was still dangerous-ish up front Scott Robinson (ST) - Same as Breen. Useful as tutor. But not really good enough for the PL. Other news I don't really get the board. I kept asking for a stadium expansion, and they kept slagging me off. But only days after I last asked, they announce it will be expanded by 2,260 seats. Training and youth facilities will also be upgraded. They're currently "Good." Would be great to get a youth academy soon so we can hopefully get some half-decent kids through. But doubt that will happen for some years yet. Next Season A much more realistic this season. I felt we played better towards the end and were able to control a few matches, so the goal is to improve on our 10th place. Career Summary [b]Season Division Pos FA Cup Ch. Cup Other happenings[/b] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2009/10 Northern 1 North 9th - - Out of all cups early 2010/11 Northern 1 North 1st P - - Out of all cups early 2011/12 Northern Premier 11th 4th Q Rnd - QF of Northern League Cup. Consortium take-over 2012/13 Northern Premier 1st P 1st Rnd - Out of the cups early 2013/14 Blue Square North 2nd P 4th Q Rnd - FA Trophy 3rd Round. Promotion through Play-Off 2014/15 Blue Square Premier 1st P 1st Rnd - FA Trophy winners 2015/16 League Two 1st P 3rd Rnd - [u]New stadium planned for June 2018[/u] 2016/17 League One 1st P 3rd Rnd - 2017/18 Championship 11th 3rd Rnd - Facilities upgraded 2018/19 Championship 1st P 6th Rnd - [u]Moved into 9,186 cap stadium[/u] 2019/20 Premier League 4th 5th Rnd - Stadium expanded (12,686). League Cup winner 2020/21 Premier League 10th 4th Rnd Groups Stadium expanded (16,112) [i]P = Promotion, R = Relegation[/i] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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