Premiership Glory 2011 Clan

[Dig_Dog]

[Dig_Dog]

* NB Mike has bumped up his trophy count by winning pre-season tournaments - a bug on the game records them as trophies here!

[Dig_Dog]

Wow, you read all that! So you're up to speed with the clan. The rest of the boys will post you with updates as we near the end of the 2023/24 season with managers in the top 3 English divisions and trohpies being won and promotion chased and relegation fought all over the place. If you have any questions then please feel free to ask us, we're a friendly bunch.

Please do not post here to ask to join our clan. If you want to join then register your interest by PM to DCU223. He's our HR guy. Posting here will make us think you can't read and so disregard you.

[dcu223]

Nice Job Steve

Yes im sad enough to read that..

Ok

Brentford

After failing to get promoted in my first season as Brentford Manager i didnt fail in the second. With a long list of loans as long as your arm we dominated League 2 and won the league narrowly from Oliver's Orient.

Again after another influx of loans we stormed to the top of League 1 with our highest ever purchase Frank Noubles scoring 15 in 14 games better than he ever did in league 2. However those FM Gods came into play once again and not only had noubles succumbed to a broken leg but also my second top goalscorer and goalkeeper went down with injuires too.

Nature took its course we dropped like a stone from 2nd to 12th. Thankfully in the Jan window i managed to bring in half the premiership under 18s on loan and we look more solid again sitting about 10 points of the playoffs. I am just waiting for my team to go on a run but unfortunetly it has not yet come to pass.

Following the introduction of the wildcard i am still considering whether or not to ditch my profile and head for the prem or stick with Brentford. Alot depends on how well or how bad we finish this season.

Until Next Week

Belly

[matt 23]

Matthew Morrison - Notts County

The Lane will never be the same

After a decent first full season with Notts county expectations were alway going to be higher than the season previous and was to prove a harder task than i thought, Signings were made but on my behalf all the wrong ones i choose to go more youthfull and it proved to comeback and bite me where the sun dont shine as after the first 5 games i had 1 win and 4 defeats and the writing was on the wall even from that moment already knocked out off both trophies i was in at the time my job could only be saved on a major turn around off league form and allthough this started to happen with 5 wins from 7 another 4 defeats in a row followed and sitting in 20th in League 2 the Chairman called me into the office and said in the words of Lord Sugar "your fired".

[AVFCMIKE]

Big Phil - Blackburn

Well we finished the season in 12th place, when I was really expecting to be in the playoffs at the very least. It wasn't my fault though.

Stupid board decided to accept a £2mil bid from Olympiakos(lol, not even a massive club http://planetsmilies.net/confused-smiley-17418.gif) for my superstar GK Rosi on the last day of the transfer window. I tried my hardest to get a GK in but the quality of GK's out there was absolutely disgusting and eventually the best one that I could pick up was a 2* GK that quite frankly wouldn't be playing for me if I was in Lg 1. So the season started and we were rooted firmly to the bottom of the table, every time the opposition had a shot they scored, easy game........

Come Xmas we were in dire trouble, the board wanted my head (lol) for the performance in the league but if they hadn't have sold my GK there is no way we would have been down there. In January I finally found a GK that was good enough, Frank Fielding, the former academy player at Blackburn, secured on loan from Matt's Arsenal. After Fielding we then went on a 23 game unbeaten run http://planetsmilies.net/winking-smiley-17138.gif and we lost only one game in the 2nd half of the season (a 6-1 thrashing at home to Shrewsburyhttp://planetsmilies.net/confused-smiley-17418.gif).

This summer I will not be adding too many players apart from a quality GK. With the addition of said GK we could/should be ready to get ourselves back into the Premier League after spending too long down here.

If my board sell 1 player over my head again I will definately be leaving as there are clubs circling for my outstanding AMR(from Brazil ofc) and my Premiership quality DC.

Hopefully this will finally be the season.

Good Luck Us

Big Phil

[djwillster]

well done paul congrats

[dcu223]

End Of Season 2023-2024

Premiership

CCC

League 1

[dcu223]

Manager of the Year Results

Congratz Paul Again..

[djwillster]

congrats paul

[dcu223]

Belly - Brentford

After a poor end to last season we have been busy in the summer. With Several Top Quality loans and some decent free transfers our squad is looking so strong that last years Star Noubles who scored 16 in 15 games can now only make the bench.

We Breezed through our first League game against Aldershot winning 3-0 and then won on penalties in the LC against Plymouth. I am very hopeful of promotion this season as long as i can replace the short term loan players at the right time.

Until Next Week

Belly

[Dig_Dog]

Hall of Fame - final standings for last season:

Stu 25

Ste 23

Oli 21

Belly 13

Jim 13

Anton 10

Paul 9

Mike 0

Joe -2

Barry -2

Wayne -5

Matt -56

Hall of Fame - overall standings:

Ste 295

Jim 140

Stu 139

Paul 124

Oli 92

Mike 65

Joe 32

Anton 12

Marry -2

Wayne -5

Belly -27

Matt -58

Inactive / Past Players - Overall:

Nath 372

Kim 270

Fred 99

Jonny 24

Will -1

Geir -21

Davie -78

[Nayfan]

Might well be on for Mondays session, still start at 7?

[dcu223]

Yes nathan

Might well be on for Mondays session, still start at 7?

[Dig_Dog]

Nice one mate, just in time for the start of the season. What's your plan, to get the first Premier League job available and haul your way back up the table?

[AVFCMIKE]

Big Phil - Blackburn

I hate this board so much..........................

So after the storming second half of the season I come back from my break in the Caribbean and find that 3 of my most important players have been sold FFHSGDJSLHDJWHJDNSJDSJDJ. Out when superstar AMR Alex for 16.25mil, AML signed from Rangers in January for 1.3 went to Celtic for 3.7mil and then my superstar in the making Gallego, who had Premier League interest went for 5.25mil. So there goes all the forward/attacking play from last year when we performed so well.

So what could I do. I was seriously thinking of leaving as you just cant build a team/squad to get out of the CCC when your board just constantly sell your best players. I decided to have 1 last go at the CCC this year.

In came Gaucho, a storming ST who will have benefited from playing in the top Spanish league with Espanyol last year. Also signed was a good RW in Gary Welch who Chelsea released and was snapped up straight away. A couple of new other players joined to strengthen the 1st team as well as Frank Fielding who at 36years old is easily still good enough for the Champ. After his performances last year I couldn't pass up the opportunity to sign him.

At the minute I have a transfer budget of 10 mil available but no one who will improve the team/squad will join, I have sent the scouts out to go and find me some quality players hopefully come January I will have found a cpl of players to spend that cash on.

2 results so far this season have surprised me. 0-0 away to Stoke and 2-0 v Bury(LC). What shocks me the most is the fact that we have conceded 0 goals. I must admit I favour attacking a lot more than defending (last year we conceded 75 goals!!!) so to keep two clean sheets as well as outstanding performances by most of the team is encouraging. Hopefully we can carry that on throughout the season.

[jdckelly]

Joe Watford

not much has overly changed since my last post, still at Watford still firmly competitive near top of the table but not able to make the big push to the top due to budget constraints compared to my rivals, hmm all sounds awfully like my time at Wolves last year.............. well with 2 differences no 1 in a division down on where I was with Wolves (bad) but 2 at least I have a trophy this time (and anyone who try's to tell me the paint bucket doesn't count is wrong)

Right recap and the summary of the last 2 seasons are similar, on the offence brilliant, defence iffy but overall problem lies in consistency from week to week, perfectly capable of being brilliant away to a tough side and massacring them 5 or 6 nil and following week losing at home to the side at the bottom of the table. Season before last at least I got to the playoff final but I get the feeling I've used up all my luck in playoffs against Stu that first season since I lost again (and to a side I destroyed twice in the league; typical) but that was due to early away in the 1st leg of the semi my best striker and important squad member Barry Fisher got randomly sent off for a nothing decision and missed 2nd leg (didn't need him as it turned out) the final and oh yes 1st game of the following season, and he's never been sent off before or since so I'm taking it as lady luck deserting me yet again.

Last season I seemed to suffer a season long hangover from that and decrease in performance from previously important players like Ferry and Damine who have since been moved on but the rise of Duncan McKay an awesome left winger with a hell of a cross on him and very useful on set pieces (16 assists last season) and also a Loanee from Chelsea then ai but now Jim is in control, the loanee a young striker Wolfgang Byeur started slow and on his first real league start (after dropping Damine for being useless consistently) then scored a hat trick, that quickly got him to stay in my 1st team where he scored 24 goals and set up 7 or 8 goals too and unfortunately Jim noticed how well he was doing and has put him in his first team. Still more of the same problems that season but on a greater scale than before meant a disappointing 10th place finish (but still top half, somewhere I've never been out of in the Championship in my 4 seasons here)

The transfer window has seen (by my standards not real standards) a clearout of players, partly due to players getting old and less useful or retiring and just not performing in another case. Biggest of the outgoings were 2 of my originals, Jermaine Grandison whom I released and the retirement of Watford legend Will Buckley, I've praised him many times in here and he played a huge role for me in getting out of league 2, 1 and establishing my side in the Championship but sadly time caught up on him. This leaves Oshadi as my last remaining original squad member from League 2 (well Waters as well but he was a kid back then and took a detour through MK Dons) which is sad in its own way as those squad members did so well in improving themselves upon each promotion and saved me the bother of bringing in a whole new team on each promotion.

Now a brief look on my fellow Managers

Steve: You let Spurs win the league?!! hang your head in shame

Matt: did well with Arsenal now needs to push on for first CL football and then challenge for the league

Jim: Did fantastic work turning Chelsea around from the mess that plagued them post Oli (and still plagues them, nice work oli you broke Chelsea) and got them into Europe, now needs to get into cl even just to sort out the finances (now that I've said those nice things can I have Wolfgang back?)

Paul: How in gods name has he done it, not only to get Yeovil up to prem but to keep them there?!

Stu: good work with Shrewsbury got him the West Ham job but failing to get up last season is a black mark and he needs to get up this season or problems could quickly follow.

Mike: Mike would be so much better if he didn't keep selling his whole squad and getting a brand new one in every transfer window. Failure to even get close to play offs as of yet is bad work Mike

Oli: good work so far with the orient

Belly: must be getting dizzy from being so high in the league system but the call of league 2 will always threaten him until he puts another division between him and it.

Thats all for now

Joe

[Scarletrion]

Barry - Swansea

Towards the back end of last season, I took over Swansea and wondered how come they were in League 1. After just a few games however, it was clear why as despite an encouraging start to my reign, we ended the season with 3 losses on the bounce, with the last day being a bit of a thumping...

A quick look at the squad suggested that while there were 1 or 2 good players, the majority of the squad didn't seem up to par. So the summer plans were set... the squad needed an overhaul. The transfer window arrived and I quickly checked how much I had to spend, expecting at least a few hundered thousand.... and saw I was given a whopping £45k budget - gee thanks board. So that left with me only one real option - freebies and so I set about trying to convince players to join the Swans, but nobody seemed to want to come and join Swansea, preferring to join other teams. Was I setting my sights on players that would never play in League 1, or were Swansea just that poor a team (especially with me as their manager, who can blame the players for not joining us...)? As the league approached, while 8 had left, only 1 or 2 had arrived, and I began to wonder if the squad would be worse than the one I inherited.

Eventually by the start of the league campaign, I'd managed to get around 10 players in and hoped for a better season. So first game up against a promoted team.. easy win I thought... endud up losing it. Was it just too many new players, are the players still not up to par or are they unable to play the way I want? Eitehr way, I hope something changes soon, or this is going to be a hard season for me...

[matt 23]

Matthew Morrison II - Arsenal

Wildcard taken

The option off a wild card was offered to every manager over the course off the season and having lost my job at Notts County and waiting six months for a new job i decided to jump up the leagues straight to Arsenal who in the season previous had finished 7th just making the last euro place available so some work was needed to make them great again, i began by geting rid off any deadwood that was not needed to give me a more healthy transfer budget to bring better talent, the side as a whole had a good mix off youth and expierence although the likes off Moussa Sissoko and Kjear were coming to the end off there careers and only really played a supporting roll over the season, Main objectives over the season was to push for CL places not really knowing much about the players with the majority off them being regans and ever the teams who were in the prem now not knowing how they had done in previous seasons did not know who were decent and who was not apart from other players in clan and the obvious Man city but as season started you soon got a general feel for who you was going to compete against.

Season started off well enough with me only losing 1 in my first 5 league games and as expected a solid path through the Europa Qualifiers and group, only downside up to xmas was the finishing from my team by no means prolific we seemed to do decent against the bigger sides and not so well against the lesser sides. After bringing in one or two during the Jan window we seemed to kick on in league seemingly not slipping out off the top 6 from here on in and getting all the way to Wembley to play Steve and his defending champions Sheff Wed although he was away for this match due to personal issues which is expected to creep up again in the not to distant future his side put up a brave fight but none the less my side came through for once taking our chances and taking the Cup home 2-0. Still in Europe league it seem to not help my league form as taking in to final day off season i lost out on CL places by a point but on plus side i had made the final off the Europa against AC Milan which i also managed to bring the trophy back coming from behind to win 2-1 in the last 10mins. Overall a decent first season although i had hope for CL football next season i can hold my head up high with 2 trophies and will get to defend them both next season but next season CL football is a must.

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Sheff Wednesday

It's been a while so I'll fill you all in. Kim left, as you know, then Nathan went. They left great sides, but I was able to pries a couple of players from Newcastle and get the run on Man City. Whilst Nathan was here, I was able to deliver the Champions League trophy for the first time to Sheff Wed. Next we won the Charity Shield (qualifying as runners up to the double winners). Then we bagged a Super Cup, a World Club Cup, and the League Cup. Things really started to hot up as we were going like a train in all competitions. We sewed the League title up and added the FA Cup and then a second successive Champions League to take the trophy count to 8 consecutive trophies and 7 out of a possible 7 for the season. Thereafter, we added a Charity Shield (9), a Super Cup (10) and a World Club Cup to take it to 11 consecutive trophies. I then went away on business and my ass man royaly cocked up handing Matt the League Cup, I'd already gone out in the FA Cup having beat Newcastle in the 3rd round but being unable to beat Man City in the 4th. We limped home in 2nd in the league ahead of city but behind Spurs. Man City also denied me three successive Champions League titles by dumping me out in the quarters.

We vow to be back better this season and so reclaim our league title and the champions league in particular. It will not be easy as Matt is improving arsenal and looking a competitor, City are City, Newcastle still have a good side, Spurs are Champions, and then there is Chelsea managed by Jim. I expect them to come good sooner rather than later. And what's this? Nathan is coming back. Sounds like the Prem is the place to be then.

Steve

[Olib1983]

Oliver- Leyton Orient

New season coming

Fingers crossed

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - SHREWSBURY BOSS NOW WEST HAM.

Been a mad few weeks for me a manager. First half the season i found myself 3rd in the league with my little shrewsbury side now and dreaming of doing the business and making it to the money land that is the premiership. But football has a funny way or springing up shocks and west ham wanted me as there new manager, i found myself at a crossroads try and take little shrews all the way or take a bigger club like west ham and build a team that would have a fighting chance in the premierleague. I took the west ham job and went from 9th to 4th in the next 5 months of the season. We got all the way to the final before losing 3-1 to southend, and breaking the hearts of me and te fans.

New season is here and im ready for the fight ahead.

More soon

[djwillster]

good luck stu

[Postman pat]

jimmy-chelsea

Had to rebuild the squad bought in loads of new players some young some old i hope they can get me a midtable finnish,yes a midtable finnish with chelsea oh did i not mention oliver alsop was once the manager of chelsea.

[djwillster]

pmsl wat did oli do to them lol

[Olib1983]

Chelsea were in a great position jim i dont know what you have done to them

[djwillster]

oli 10th aint a great postion lol for the

[Dig_Dog]

Chelsea were in a great position jim i dont know what you have done to them

If they were doing so well, why did they sack you?

[Olib1983]

They pushed me too far too early its their fault i got the sack i was flying high and they increased my expectations they shot me in the foot

[djwillster]

pmsl oli its chels wat u expect an easy job come on you should no better less of the crap excuses

[AVFCMIKE]

Big Phil - Blackburn

Well my board continue to sell my best players and we have underachieved and currently sit in 12th, 9 points behind the last playoff spot.

Hopefully after a few signings we may be able to catch them up

More soon.

[jdckelly]

Joe Watford

Well I really don't know what to make of my season so far. A consistent theme of my last few seasons has been rather inconsistent form and that continues but on a much more epic scale. After a reasonably good start I ran into Stu's West Ham and my team turned in quite possibly the worst performance I've had as Watford manager losing 6-0 at his place, this was followed by losses to Leicester and Sunderland (another 6 goals shipped between those 2 games) and a loss to of all clubs Doncaster and according to the media I was under pressure lying in 20th place. I then went on to win 7 games on the trot smashing some of the opposition heftily. Since my form has been all over the place getting some excellent wins but also some disgusting losses and yet somehow I remain in the play offs and 2 points off the automatic spots, quite how I'm not entirely sure.

The pattern of my season has been utter inability to keep a clean sheet or even keep it down to 1 goal conceded most of the time, on the bright side though my offence is quite formidable and quite capable of putting several goals past anyone, combine this with a slightly leaky defence and my games are usually the most exciting to watch, in fact the excitement has come so often its getting dull, what I would give for a few boring 1-0 wins in a row.....

Star Performer is hard to tell, my wingers Duncan McKay and on loan from Steve Kinho have been outstanding but so have Barry Fisher and my new striker for the season Victor Nouges

Thats all for now

[dcu223]

Belly - Brentford

Well - What a ****** **** week. Again my 2 top hitman Allen from City and Benhavi from Liverpool both out injured so we rose to 1st and then fell to 15th. Our Attack (When Not Injured) is awesome. Our defense is just pants. I will enedevour to improve this but i can hear the call of the premiership and i may have to take the old WC before i click on the old FM uninstall button out of pure frustration.

Until Next Week

Belly

[djwillster]

keep at it belly you will get there

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - West Ham

A great week for me and my west ham team, we sit top of the league and are beating all who stands in our way. The 6-0 win over joes Watford was the highlight of the week, it's always nice to get one over a fellow clan member. At the start of the season i won my first 6 games and was a points clear, i then missed all of tuesdays games because of work and my lead was cut down to 1 point as my ass man won one game in 7, i am now 7 points clear again, so you can see the gap could of been alot more if not for a missed session.

More soon

[Scarletrion]

Barry - Swansea

Well it's certainly been a season of two halves so far for me. The start of the season didn't go at all well, and after a couple of matches we sat in the relegation spots as we just couldn't seem to get a win in any way, shape or form. However we then managed to find a little form and slowly managed to pull oursleves out of the relegation places, but continued to bob around the mid-table area as we had a real lack of consistency. But out of nowhere, the team suddenly began to click and a 15 match unbeaten run ensured that we climbed the table and Swansea are now currently sitting in 3rd place. While I'd like to see us get to an automatic promotion spot, there's just a small matter of an 8 point gap to overcome first... and the top 2 don't seem to be droping many points at the moment...

[matt 23]

Matthew Morrison - Arsenal

Well new season and we seem to be going from strength to strength after a busy summer off ins and outs including bringing in a few youths for the future i was hopeful the business i had done this season would get me the extra place in the league to take me to CL spots and get the Gunners back to where they belong, i am up to now not been dissapointed after a suspect start to the season the results seem to be flowing my way now and into the January window i sit 3rd 4 points off the lead i think it is and am still in all comps although have the tougher semi final against City while other semi i think is between 2 other clan members, breezed through Europa group stage which was to be expected and still seem to have Steves number in all comps seemingly nicking another win off him in the league to put me top off the clan members in the league if form continues i expexct to make CL and even challange for the title a cup win would not go a miss either but things can change very quickly.

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Sheff Wed

I only post when I'm winning! So yes it has been a horrible season for me. Apparently I should be winning the league easily and my recent league placings of 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd are a poor showing. I've also been told that winning all 7 trophies in a season is what is expected of me. I've succumbed to this pressure and messed up by shuffling my team around and selling off brilliant players who were gelled into a team and replaced them with players on bigger salaries, requiring massive signing on and agent fees, and massive transfer fees. As a result my well run club is suddenly in financial turmoil.This situation was exacerbated by the fact that 90% of my first team had 2 years or less on their contracts and so I had to offer new terms to tie them down.

I made a poor start to the season. I wish I could place the blame at the door of the Olympics as during that period I had about 75% of my 25 man first team unavailable and was playing u18s. However, I came through that period relatively unscathed and at the right end of the table. Our goal difference shows just how effective we can be and right at the start of the season we were regularly putting 6 past teams. We suddenly lost a few games in a row and mainly against the run of play. This poor run of form continued up to the Christmas period and we were left down in a very disappointing 5th position. Since then we have played 24 games in all competitions, and have been unbeaten, winning 20 of them. Suddenly we have roared back into title contention, although the odds are stacked against us.

We now sit in 3rd, 6 points back but having played a game more. There are only 7 games left. We have tough games left, but in this situation you want matters to be in your own hands and we now have that opportunity. We play Matt, a win will ensure he stays firmly below us. We play Man City and a win will take us to second. We also play the top club Newcastle. Win all those games and we are in the driving seat, albeit maybe 3 points back on Newcastle.

Meanwhile, we’ve just smashed Bayern Munich 8-0 in the quarter finals of the Champions’ League, so the second leg is now a formality, we also beat Matt in the League Cup final, and we also have a FA Cup semi final against a Championship side (?) in Doncaster. We’re not out of any competition just yet, and this nightmare of a season looks salvageable and gives me optimism for the new season.

On the transfer front, we’ve sold Campos as we did not want to pay a substitute £100k a week plus and his contract was running down. We signed Guarna from Man City for £23m to replace Girardi who we sold for £33m, and we also picked up Josh Hall for £1.5m. Caberara is an expensive signing at left back. All this leaves me thinking we have 9 world class players. We still need to find a world class keeper and a world class MCa. However, since I pushed swales from DM to MCa and Sam Nicholas came in as DM we have played a lot better and I am now thinking that Nicholas and Maghales can be my DMs with Swales and Costa as the MCas. I can then transform Diallo or Owens into a rb. Hopefully Mulders will continue to have green arrows and become a world class keeper. Therefore, I will not be looking to sign anyone in the summer and use my funds to clear my debts. Most likely I will look to flesh out my non-existant reserves with the best u18 talent I can pinch from around Europe.

Hopefully my next post will recount the joys of a great comeback to clinch the PL, the CL, and the FA Cup to add to the League Cup I have already won.

Steve

[dcu223]

End of Season Table 2024 - 2025

Prem

CCC

League 1

[dcu223]

Manager of the Year Results 2024 - 2025

Congratz Stu

[dcu223]

Belly - Brentford.

This season can be summed up by 4 words - Awsome Attack - Hopeless Defense. As you can see above i am amongst the league's top goalscorers and highest conceders.

I have come face to face with 3 options.

1.Take a wildcard to the Prem taking Liverpool or Manu.

2.Stick with Brentford and invest in youth which could take several years to pay off.

3. Continue to do what ive been doing in the hope of quick success with loans.

I honestly think that Injuries again have seriously effected my season so im going to give it another go. So if you want your young stars of tomorrow to play 1st team football. Pick up the phone.

Belly,

[djwillster]

congrats stu

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Sheff Wed

In the League we were all geared for an all or nothing charge for the title. However, things got off to the worst possible start and we lost without putting up a good fight to Man City, by the odd goal at their ground. We then focused on all the trophies, namely the Champions League and the FA Cup. We then went on a charge, we saw off Bayern Munich 2-0 at home to advance to the Champions League Semi-Finals in fine style with a 10-0 aggregate win. Thereafter, we destroyed Championship side Doncaster 5-0 in the FA Cup semis. Then we destroyed league leaders Newcastle 4-0, and Matt's Arsenal 2-0. The latter result effectively ended their pursuit and threat to our now firmly held third place.

The draw for the Champions League was a unique affair. There were 4 teams left, we were in the hat, so to were the outgoing Premier League Champions, Spurs, the reigning Champions League Champions Man City, and last years Champions League Runners-Up, Liverpool. Yes, that's right, all four semi-finalists were, for the first time ever, English. Last year had highlighted the English dominance with City beating Liverpool, and the year before that we had defeated Munich in the final, and then the year before that we had defeated Newcastle in the final, their first season without Kim. Prior to my two victories, Nathan had won 3 titles in 4 years with Kim stopping his run with one solo victory. So that was 7 successive English winners. and only twice had the beaten finalists not been English either! So who did I want in the draw? The League Champions who were struggling domestically in 10th, a resurgent Liverpool who were snapping at Matt's heels in 5th, or money bags Man City who were relentlessly pursuing Newcastle for the title as well as sweeping all before them in Europe? The truth is we could handle anyone, we had won all 6 group games, scoring 25 goals and conceding just two. We drew 1-1 with Zenit but easily dispatched them 2-0 at home. We smashed Munich 8-0 in germany. However, we felt the only threat was City. We wanted them in the final. The football gods deemed the match only worthy of a semi-final and we had the one team we feared, still fresh from them effectively ending our title charge.

We edged a tense game in Manchester by the odd goal to take a precious lead into the second leg. It was enough as we defended well to take the 1-0 aggregate lead all the way to the final half of the second leg. Thereafter, we showed our mastery from set peices and scored 3 in 18 minutes to put the tie beyond doubt and extract revenge from the game just a few weeks earlier.

After beating Paul 4-0, and notching our 8th successive win (in all competitions) we were in buoyant mood, however, we were held to a draw by a tough Chelsea team. Jim may well feel aggrieved that we scored an equaliser deep in stoppage time (94th minute) and so he should, but the stats show we had twice as many shots, twice as many efforts on target, 4 times as many off target, we edged the possession, and as far as we were concerned the villains of the game were my keeper (5.8 rating) and my star centre half (5.4 rating) as well as my on form 30 goal striker (5.9 rating). We had run the top two hard and had started believe that maybe we could still catch them, but with this draw, the game was well and truly up.

We finished the season in the league with another victory, but ultimately came up short. We were 3 points off top and 2 points off 2nd, with a superior goal difference to everyone, especially after firing home 103 goals. It was a poor season, in league terms, but even so, we were only a whisker away. There is no doubt as to where the league was lost. No, not the final defeat of the season in Manchester, but the run of 3 successive defeats starting with an embarrassing reverse in the Sheffield derby at the ground at our less illustrious neighbours. We followed that up a narrow defeat by City at home in a game we should have won before losing 2-1 at Matt's Arsenal. After defeat to Matt we had to call the police and complain of the 9 points we had just had robbed from us, as we could have easily won all 3 of those games. Prior to that we were on one hell of a run, smashing sides 4-0, 3-0, 7-1, 3-0, 4-0, and 5-1. We then went on to show a pattern for the season, when we won, we won by a landslide, but every now and then we just drew a blank or conceded a soft goal and ended up embarrassed especially when we recorded back to back draws with burnley and peterbrough (both at home). You can excuse getting beat by Newcastle (once) and City (twice) and even Matt (once) as these are the good sides fighting it out at the top, but losing to the weaker sides is soul destroying. We can look back and see that run of 3 defeats could have given us just one win and we'd have won the league, or to beat both Peterbrough and Burnley and we'd have 4 extra points and again have won the league title. However, at the end of the day we were just not good enough this season.

With the League lost, we refocused our attentions. I rolled the dice in the FA Cup final, which was to be played just days before the Champions League final. I was playing spurs but I believed a more or less second string could beat them. I sent out the following side:

GK: Mulders

RB: Ramaciotti

LB: Robertinho ©

CB: Cardi

CB: Pepe

DM: Nicholas

MC: Costa

AML: Lé

AMR: Cristian

CF: Carbonaro

CF: Guarna

This second string included my starting keeper, my favoured right back, my second and third choice centre backs, my £34m left winger, my favoured right winger for most of the season, my trusted TM and my big signing of season £23m Guarna. I also brought on my star player (Razor Ramon), and then gave a run out to my star left winger, and my the goal hero of the season with the game won late on. It was only 1-0 but we were firmly in control. Carbonaro (Pasta to his mates) was not cutting it and so Razor was sent on to put the game beyond doubt, which he duly did. In truth it was a comfortable win and if the two strikers who ended the match had started it, I'd have won by 4 or 5. However, my aim had been to rest as many as I could, but still to win the game.

With the FA Cup added to the League Cup, we went to Stockholm to salvage the season. Only by winning the Champions League for a third time could the third spot in the league be forgiven. In our way were Liverpool, a team who always gave us a close game and a team we rarely beat at Anfield. This game was not at Anfield and except for a meaningless League Cup game, Liverpool had never beaten me away from Anfield. The odds were in our favour. Out came my best xi, only the injured Kocourek missing:

GK: Mulders

RB: Ramaciotti

LB: Robertinho

CB: Guevara

CB: Pepe

DM: Nicholas

MC: Swales

RW: Cristian

LW: Diaz

CF: Ramon ©

CF: Guarna

I stayed with 3 of the back 4 from the cup final. It was a hard decision to leave out my best LB in Cabrera, but Robertinho was in form and was not tired from Wednesday's cup final, Pepe had the edge in experience over Cardi or R. Diallo, and Ramaciotti had played his way back into form and fitness in the cup final and so reclaimed his RB berth. Nicholas was the form player in midfield and Swales was my star man and relishing the more advanced role. Magahaeles and Costa missed out. Diaz came back in for Lé, and Cristian edged out Claudio in place of the injured Kocourek. Ramon is the best player at the club and Guarna was hitting form at the end of the season and showing what might have been had he not not broke his ankle and then struggled for form. M. Diallo seemed to suffer from stage fright and this game seemed to be one to keep the fastest player on the game firmly on the bench to threaten tired legs if need be. Despite having all the play (60% possession) and three times as many shots 15-5), it went right down to the last minute of normal time before Guarna popped up with the winner. The fans went wild and all dissent from a season that seemed to have fizzled out by christmas evaporated.

I'm left with major decisions to be made in the summer and to look hard at the squad:

Gk:

Guilherme - cost £15m from Man City, despite being firmly third choice, and has never really showed the consistency here to make the number one shirt his.

Mulders - conceded just 17 in 28 games, keeping 13 clean sheets, he kept 20 two seasons ago, but prone to errors and bad lapses in form. My scout rated him when I signed him, all my coaches said he had massive potential but now it seems he is destined to never fulfill it. At 26 he's as good as he's going to get and whilst he's good, he's never going to be world class.

Lancaster - pinched from Man City for a pittance as a 16 year old, he did well for Swansea and maybe he'll do well for a few more spells on loan until he comes of age. However, the coaches believe that he's not the answer to my search for a world class keeper.

RB:

Ramaciotti - the guy is a legend. Only 27, but this will be his 8th season. How Man City let him go all those years ago, I'll never know.

There is no back-up as I rotate in centre-backs Pepe, R. Diallo and maybe Owens next season.

LB:

Cabrera - cost me £25m from Barcelona as I finally fought sentimentality and relegated Robertinho to the sidelines. Played 23 league games and averaged 7.30.

Robertinho - this will be his 10th season and he's still only 27. Finally ousted from the left back spot, but that happened in 2020-21 and he recovered it then. the competition was good for him last season as he averaged 7.31 and played in all 3 cup finals and added his third Champions League medal.

CB:

Guevara - a pact with Mike saw him sign Silvério unopposed from his old club Southampton and me sign Guevara unopposed from the same club. Mike didn't have the funds for both and I only wanted one of them. A comprimise was reached and almost 8 years later Geuvara is still the first name on the team sheet in the centre of defence. An absolute rock at the back.

Pepe - this could be his 10th season at Sheff Weds, but his place is under threat from my young guns. Now 27, he may be sold in order to swell my transfer kitty and to unimpede the development of others.

Cardi - now 20 and looking the long term successor to Guevara, he's already started to oust Pepe from the centre back spot and made my decision to reconvert Pepe to a right back even easier. Will certainly be first choice next season.

Rory Diallo - also now 20 and solid at right back where he played most of the season. However, he has all the attributes to be a long term answer in the middle of defence.

Moises - a 20 year old wonder kid who infuriatingly only played 3 games for Jim's Chelsea last season. I may have no choice but to loan him out once more, as he needs games and not a place on my bench to realise his long term future.

Owens - like Diallo can also play right back and he may be called into action there. At only 18 years of age he has a bright future and played 35 games for a Villa side that sank like a stone. Perhaps another loan is needed.

DM:

Swales - world class DM who was stolen by Man Utd from Kim's Newcastle side for just £15m and caused Kim to almost resign then and there. He cost me £35m but I believe that to be a bargain and he's really played well in a more advance MC role.

Nicholas - he really came into the side after Campos was sold and played a part in all three cup finals. He is now the first choice DM, with Swales in MC.

Magalhaes - the guy whose name i can never spell! He is just 19 and has come into contention after Campos' sale as back up to Nicholas. I have full faith in him for the next 10 seasons! He may even end up as a right back.

MC:

Costa - following the sale of Cicek, Moreno and Maes in recent seasons, I was really expecting Costa to come through, but instead I have had to turn first to Kocourek and then to Swales to find an answer at MC. The guy is 27 now, he's been here 9 seasons (not including a season on loan in spain), and he's never started more than half the league games. He has all the attributes but seems to lack the consistancy for me in what is a very important position for me. Likely to make do as understudy and to be sold if a suitable bid comes in for the £88k a week man.

Donati - more of an AMC than a MC, but that can easily be trained. He lacks the bite to play in the truly big games and may well be sold to West Ham where he was on loan last season. Still only 18.

Claudio - was back up as a right winger last season and Joe still raves about him from his time there. He's behind a legend and another excellent player at right wing and so will either quickly prove himself in the centre or be sold.

RW:

Kocourek - an absolute legend. Still only 26, but in his 10th season here. Last season was looking like his first poor season for me until I gave up the experiment of playing him in the middle and went back to sending him out to the right wing where he excels. Unfortunately missed the cup finals through injury.

Cristian - now 23 and would walk into any side, however, he's behind Kocourek on the right and two other wonders on the left. His versatility in playing either side will secure his long term future here.

LW:

Diaz - one of the elder members of the squad at 29, but still flying down the wing. The only question is, should I cash in on a 29 year old if i receive a £30m + bid, bearing in mind that he's probably not my best left winger.

Lé - now has two seasons under his belt and has started to shrug off his £36.5m price tag and claim the left wing spot for himself. However, he missed out on the CL final and that will probably irk him.

Strikers:

Razor Ramón - the legend, the captain, Mr. Sheffield Wednesday. He's 27 but is now in his 12 season. He has 209 league goals to his name in just 349 games. He's the only surviving member of the team that played outside the top flight (12 seasons ago now). The first name on my team sheet still and my pick for best player on the game, though I'm sure Kim and Nathan will put others forward from their old sides.

Guarna - bought for £23m, £10m less than I sold Girardi for, and a player I desired when Nathan swooped to take him to city as a teenager. Now 20 and ready to prove his worth. He's fast as the proverbial off a shovel, but like Razor he has an all-round game and so may find himself deferring to be Razor's understudy rather than foil when the game calls for even more speed.

Marvin Diallo - now 20 and with two seasons in the first team under his belt. He struggled at times last season but still scored 34 in 42 in all competitions (beaten only by Razor's 38 in 55). He's got acceleration of 19 and that cannot be bettered by anyone else on game, though his compatriot Bernardini can match him (plays for Sporting and ex City for all those interested).

Hall - played so well for me on loan for 3 months a few years back so I picked him up for a snip at £1.5m. However, it seems that all those seasons in the interim where he has rotted in the reserves have taken their toll. He did score 4 in 7 in the league, but I'm not willing to take a chance on him when I have younger precocious talent waiting in the wings.

Larramendy - would not go on loan last season and so found games hard to come by. He's only 19 and very much in Diallo mould with acceleration of 19. I will have a decision to make on him and whether or not to loan him out this summer.

So that's the squad analysed. I don't care about my budget as this season I'll be paying closer attention to my balance. I do not want to dip back into the red like I did last season. So I'm unlikely to spend £100m landing the MCa or the Keeper I crave.

[Dig_Dog]

Hall of Fame Standings:

Season 24/25:

Steve 55

Matty 21

Oliver 15

Stuart 16 (Manager of the Year)

Barry 13

Paul 10

Joe 9

Tushant 7

Nathan 5

Mike 4

Jimmy 3

Belly -1

Hall of Fame Standings Overall:

Nathan 377

Steve 350

Kim 270 inactive

Stuart 155

Jimmy 143

Paul 134

Oliver 107

Freddie 99 inactive

Mike 69

Joe 41

Jonnie 24 inactive

Anton 12 inactive

Barry 11

Tushant 7

Will -1 inactive

Geir -21 inactive

Belly -28

Matty -57

Davie -78 inactive

[jdckelly]

Joe Watford

So everything went about as well as I expected; Offence working great through the season, defence resembles a group of headless chickens (and I think I'm being harsh on the chickens), Just as I'm about to face the toughest period in the season facing all the top half sides in the division in a vital period if I wanted automatic promotion the closest thing I had to a competent defender Alvin Clarke goes and injures himself in training and is out for 2 months, leaving me with almost competent Matt Butt and 36 year old Jonny Evans as my only centre backs (and boy did teams take advantage of his old legs). Beat West Ham in a showing of what my side is capable of, draw at home with bottom side Shrewsbury in a display of just how consistent my team is.

Overall it was one of the simply daftest campaigns I've been through, a horrid start leaving me in the eyes of the media "under pressure" but then go on an 8 game winning streak destroying all in my sight only to lose to bloody Cardiff which was one of the most irritating results I've had, losing 6-0 to stu I could almost tolerate but Cardiff?!!

Then I was all over the place form wise for a while until I get something consistent going and around Jan things were looking up competing for an automatic spot and gotten good results in Beating Stu's West Ham (as I mentioned) and a good draw away to Leicester a game I should have won if not for daft reffing. But at that stage I was quite confident which I really should have known better than to be confident. The mentioned injury to Clarke left an already iffy defence (being kind there probably) looking incompetent and everyone of the teams in the top half seemed to take advantage of it so I tumbled down the table and even the playoffs didn't look likely. It was at this point I decided to screw it all if my team can't defend then don't bother trying as I had in vain to sort it out and just went on the offence. It worked, I got some form together leaving me on the final day of the normal season needing to beat Hull (who needed something to avoid relegation) and for Leicester and Sunderland to do me a favour against Gillingham and Reading respectivly, I held my end of the bargain relegating Hull in a 5-0 slaughter and I was wondering at one point was it going to come down to goals scored as Sunderland typically screwing me over losing to Reading and Leicester only drawing with Gillingham but the Foxes got a winner so I snuck into the final playoff place on the final day.

That left me against Sunderland in the semi final, a side I'd faced 4 times (fa cup tie and replay) that season and lost 3 times so things weren't exactly looking up and indeed last time I was in the playoffs it was Sunderland I faced in the final and they massacred me 4-0 on the day, I returned the favour in the home leg beating them 3-0, while not tie over (not with my defence) it was as good as I could have hoped for. the second leg started well too and I got into a 2-0 lead quickly of coarse things didn't exactly go to plan after that, they pulled one back but my offence came through again with a 3rd and even missed a pen. It was about that point my defence realised they hadn't ****ed up badly in a while and set about ****ing things up and Sunderland won the game 4-3 not that I overly cared, I still got through and Reading were my opponents.

Now I've started to notice a pattern with me and playoffs, since my first one and sole victory in them something has usually gone badly wrong along the way leading to me losing in them. With Bradford just as I was coming to extra time and after making all 3 subs I get an injury leaving me with 10 men, Watford in league one after easily winning the away leg my team commits Hara Kiri in the home leg in the most inexplicable performance I've seen causing me to go out. Watford in the Championship the straight red of my best striker Barry Fisher in the 1st leg of the semi in the 1st half (and still his only sending off for me to date) deprived me of his invaluable skills for the playoff final and this time was no different with Sunderland deciding to screw me over one more time taking out my first choice left back and more importantly star left winger Duncan McKay (he of 9 goals and 24 assists) depriving me of his vital attacking threat for the playoff final. In a game where I battered them from start to finish but Reading displayed admirable defensive grit (9 blocked shots) and a case of outstanding goalkeeping for them as he made some stunning saves and they caught me on the counter from this impressive rearguard action and they won 3-1. Overall it was a lesson for me and I don't have much complaints, how can I after conceding 82 goals in the normal season? The one complaint I do have and which I blame the final defeat on is bloody Sunderland when they knew they couldn't get through deciding to cynically take out my players and the idiotic ref who didn't even bother booking them.

Next season will mark my 10th year at Watford and the plans to make it extra special by getting promoted are in motion as I strive to get them up on a budget. Will I succeed? Probably not.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - West Ham

BACK IN THE BIG TIME, West ham are now the talk of all East london on what we can do in the premiership next season. Things will be hard in the summer as there is not much money at the club because of a big debt (( for once nothing to do with olly )) so alot of my scouting will be done in the free market where i have already picked up 2,3 players one looks to be a right gem so that was pleasing.

Was also nice to pick up Manager of the year altho some of the Voting from managers leaves more Questions and Anwsers but im used to it now so its pointless banging that drum again.

17th is the aim for next season and 26 points was enough to stay up so there is hope for me. Fingers crossed ill stay up but its going to be hard.

More soon

[Olib1983]

Seems someone isnt a happy bunny

[Olib1983]

Oliver- Leyton Orient

Finally im back in the championship its took a long time to get Leyton going but things are on the up at the moment. We managed to get 2nd in League one only missing out on the title which i feel we deserved by one point. Anyway the Board have just bought our stadium so we now have an 8m debt with the bank. However, i feel financially we are stable. If i can get a mid table finish this season i will be happy as we have a young squad which will only get better over time. Our star player has signed a new long term deal which will hopefully see him stay with me for another season or two. If i can pick up one or two good free transfers i really feel this could be a good grounding season. All i hope is that we dont really struggle or overachieve promotion would kill the club.

[AVFCMIKE]

Phil McCracken - Blackburn

Season started crap and then last 6 months improved massively same as last year.

I need a quality GK and then I will be praying that this stupid f@#$ing board dont sell anyone and then we should be up there at a minimum fighting for a playoff spot

[matt 23]

Matthew Morrison II - Arsenal

Back in Europes top comp

Well as mentioned before season was going well up to xmas and thing continued although did not finish as good tropy wise as last year we did this season managed to snatch 4 from Liverpool ironically by 1pt the same team that denied by a point before things in reverse seemed to carry on as the season came and went again made the Final off the League Cup but this time lost to Steve's Sheff Wed same as in the Europe league final against Milan who i beat last year i had to fall to defeat this year but my goal off Champions league football was secured by my 4th place finish in the league.

Targets for next year to stay in Champions league place and even a sneaky push for the title.