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[FM11] The Damned Biggleswade Town


uncle ron

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2012/2013 - March / April / May Update - Hastings United - Ryman League Division One South

Our poor February form continued right through March. Losing 7 in a row isn't fun and certainly doesn't help your chances of avoiding the drop.

At the end of March we were sat 20th and level on points with Chipstead on 32 points.

As for our turnaround in April with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat I can definitely take the full credit.

The switch from my successful 4-4-2 that worked at Biggleswade to a 4-5-1 / 4-1-2-2-1 worked a treat. Why I previously persisted with the same formation week after week I don't know...

Also I managed to sign DC Dean Pooley from Thurrock just before the loan deadline. He played 6 April games scoring 3 goals, 2 man of match awards and an average rating of 7.68. No wonder we only conceded 2 goals in the run in. Despite playing just 6 games Pooley wins my Player of the Season Award!

I thought it would go down to the wire and thankfully it didn't and we survive to play at Level 8 in 2013/2014.

For my troubles my Chairman awards me with a new 1 year contract at £300 per week.

What the final 6 games proved to me is that with the right signings over the summer and some thought to the tactics, Hastings could well be in the reckoning for promotion next year.

The mass clear out of the dead wood begins and hopefully Hastings United will be reinvented and rejuvinated to promotion :thup:

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Congrats on staying up! Its horrible when you get on those long losing runs as I have found in my save! Difficult to built up the squads confidence enough I find. As I was scrolling down the thread and saw all those red dots for the month of march I feared for you, but great turn around in April. Good luck for next year!!

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Well done on avoiding relegation, it was quite a close league by the looks of it :thup: Corinthians certainly hit their stride at the right time too!

Not particularly high scoring though, league top-scorers only with 69. Cow's arse and banjo springs to mind :D

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Congrats on staying up! Its horrible when you get on those long losing runs as I have found in my save! Difficult to built up the squads confidence enough I find. As I was scrolling down the thread and saw all those red dots for the month of march I feared for you, but great turn around in April. Good luck for next year!!

I feared for our future as well with defeat after defeat, not had a bad run like that in FM for a while.

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Well done keeping the team up and good luck for next season. With a new and rejuvenated squad you will hopefully climb up the table and perhaps fight for a playoff spot. GL :thup:

Hopefully we'll make a real push for promotion. Fortunately if that fails the chairman expectations are slightly lower.

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Well done on avoiding relegation, it was quite a close league by the looks of it :thup: Corinthians certainly hit their stride at the right time too!

Not particularly high scoring though, league top-scorers only with 69. Cow's arse and banjo springs to mind :D

Hopefully the league will be similarly close with everyone beating each other again next season. 2012/2013 was a lot less exciting that my Biggleswade total of 81 goals and 83 points.

Speaking of Biggleswade....they survived Ryman Premier Division with a 14th place finish and runner up in the Championship Manager Cup

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Speaking of Biggleswade....they survived Ryman Premier Division with a 14th place finish and runner up in the Championship Manager Cup

Such a bad name. You should have changed it to Championshit Manager Cup Sucks Arse or something like that.

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2013/2014 - August - November Update - Hastings United - Ryman League Division One South

I haven't had much time to play FM recently so here's a condensed update of my progress with Hastings in 2013/2014.

19 players and 17 join over the summer. A complete new squad and I'm starting to push the wage budget a bit, pushing the club more into debt (currently standing at around £100,000).

What a difference a year makes. When I took over in November 2012 we were sitting in the relegation zone, now after the first 4 months we've only lost a single game.

We've had a club record run of games unbeaten and wins in a row and I'm manager of the month for November.

With 3 games in hand there's every chance I can start to catch runaway leaders Leatherhead.

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2013/2014 - December - April Update - Hastings United - Ryman League Division One South

I've reached the penultimate game of the season and things are getting exciting...

Here's how I got here:

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I've caught and overtaken previous runnaway leaders Leatherhead and level on points with Tooting & Mitcham with a slightly inferior goal difference.

All 3 teams can take the title.

Final games:

Chatham v Hastings

Godalming v Tooting & Mitcham

Horsham v Leatherhead

I've definitely got the hardest game of the 3.

Hopefully I can secure my 2nd Isthmian Division One South title in 3 seasons, otherwise it is the lottery of the playoffs.

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It just wasn't to be...

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I was lucky to get a draw and finish with 11 players given the injuries to 3 key players and cautions. KIng and Gorrin miss the rest of the season.

Elsewhere...

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So we wouldn't have been promoted with a win anyway. At least we got the late equaliser to finish second.

In the play-offs we've been drawn against Fleet.

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2013/2014 - May Update - Hastings United - Ryman League Division One South

Into the play-offs The Arrows go....

First up is the semi-final with Fleet. An easy game which we never looked like losing. A deserved 2-0 victory in front of a record Isthmian Division One South crowd of 1216.

Into the FINAL versus early season pacesetters Leatherhead!

The Final has to be one of the greatest matches I've ever played on Football Manager.

Going into the match I doubted our chances. Only 2 central midfielders fit in a 3 man midfield doesn't go, yet I persist to play out of position to go into the match with my favoured 4-1-2-2-1.

We couldn't control the first half. In fact I'd say it was one of our worst performances of the season. Leatherhead take the deserved half time lead, even thought it was a penalty...

A half time rollicking and changing round the midfield works as DC Jordan Tuncliffe equalises with a header from a corner.

Late in the second half we finally make the breakthrough in the 86th minute with a close range finish by AMR Matt Barnes.

Surely that goal seals promotion for Hastings?

NO... Leatherhead only go and spoil the party with a very late strike, 3 minutes into injury time!

As for extra time, the players are flat having conceded so late. We can't make our advantage over 10 man Leatherhead (as they were reduced through injuries) pay.

Until the 119th minute as Barnes finds space down the right and his cross is met by MC Mark Smith to head home.

Final Whistle... HASTINGS ARE PROMOTED :D:applause:

With Biggleswade Town finishing 12th in the Ryman Premier League, I'm coming to reek my revenge :mad:

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Well done on promotion are you in the same division as Biggleswade town now?
Well done Ronster.
Great job with the playoff win, looking forward to see you batter Biggleswade Town next season :)

Thanks, I'm extatic with the promotion.

I haven't yet got to the end of the season, but hopefully Hastings should be sorted into the Isthmian Premier Division where we'll face Biggleswade next season.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Right then I'll just be doing condensed season updates from now on.

Now that I've reached the end of 2014/2015 here we go...

2014/2015 | Hastings United | Ryman League Premier Division

Expectations: Safe mid table finish

Wage budget: £3,400 per week

Transfer budget: £0

Since I've been at Hastings I've played a 4-5-1 and this continues for our first season back in the Ryman Premier Division. 8 signings are made in the expectation of sticking to this formation and I managed to attract a high calibre of player, I started to believe we could challenge for the play-offs.

The problem was a few months in our season was stuttering, we were mid table but I thought we could do better with the players at my disposal. So I threw away the 4-5-1 and embarked on rebuilding the team less than 3 months into the season, resulting in 8 more signings on free transfers as I'm asking the team to play with a lot more attacking flair with a 4-2-3-1.

The new formation took about 1 month for the team to settle in, then as our progress graph shows our second half of the season is a joy to watch and we cement our position as play-off contenders.

On the way to this finish we take the final six points off Biggleswade Town. An early season 2-1 win at home under the old 4-5-1 is followed up with a 4-1 thrashing of Biggleswade at the Carlsberg Stadium. Just to emphasise our dominance under the new setup and 8 later signings we lose only 3 league games after the new year.

The 3rd place finish sends us into a play-off tie at home against Kingstonian. After last season's nervy affair I remained confident we could secure our second successive promotion, especially with this new squad and tactics, however I was wrong as we lost 3-1.

1-1 after normal time Kingstonian took the extra time lead and I had to push forward for the equaliser, however it was inevitable we'd be caught on the break and that gave away the foul that lead to their final goal. The 3-1 scoreline flattered them...

[video=youtube;Ri67Gj5XCdg]

Ryman Premier League - 3rd and Play-Off Semi Finalists - Table | Progress Graph

FA Cup - 1st qualifying round defeat to Chatham

FA Trophy - 1st qualifying round defeat to Bracknell

Championship Manager Cup - WINNERS - My first piece of silverware as we walk the Champ Man Cup. We faced a Ryman First Division team for the quarter, semi and final and scored plenty and set new records.

Squad - One big highlight of the seaosn was three of the squad recieving call-ups for youth internationals throughout the season. DR Nunn got called up 3 times by England u20 and played once, DC/DMC Patterson received an Ireland u19 cap and AMC Will Gibson was called up by England U20s but didn't play a game.

Goal of the Season: AML/SC - Ozer scores an absolute wonder goal in the Championship Manager Cup final

[video=youtube;NU2NXwO-D9o]

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You should have called it the Eidos Suck Arse Cup.

Very true, might change that for the next release of my file...

Bad luck, the playoffs are really an arse. Hopefully, third time lucky next season.

Well done on the cup win :thup:

Cheers! The play-off defeat was a true kick in the teeth after a great second half of the season, lifted by the excellent cup win.

Are you looking at any supermarine players Ron? How are they getting on?

Supermarine have just been relegated from Zamaretto South / West after a terrible year. They were 2nd in October and then went on a 9 game losing run and finished 21st.

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