[FM11] Champagne Football at Bloomfield Road

[davidmcain]

The Database :

England down to Blue Square N/S and all players of National Reputation (Global), which left roughly 37,000 players. (11.3 Database)

The Team : Blackpool

Blackpool play their games at Bloomfield Road, a stadium of 16,220 seats. The Training Facilities are average. The Youth Recruitment is Average. And the Youth Facilities and Academy are Adequate.

Board / Expectations :

Well I opted to Avoid Relegation, this gave me 215k per week for wages and a transfer budget of 4.4M pounds. We are expected to reach the third round of the League Cup, and the Fourth Round of the FA Cup. Secretly though, I’m looking for mid-table, and a nice run in the cups.

Tactics :

Well, I have a mediocre team to start with to be fair so it’s going to get overhauled. This means I can choose any tactic rather than one that fits the squad. So I have gone with a tactic I’ve used before. Basically I built it to mimic Barcelona. Realistically, I can expect to concede a few as the side aren’t really of this class required to play this way, but at very least It should grab us a few goals. The setup is this:

GK – Sweeper Keeper (D)

DR – Wing Back (Attack)

DC – Ball Playing (Stopper)

DC – Central Defender (Cover)

DL – Fullback (Auto)

DMCR – Defensive Mid (S)

MCL – Deep Lying PM (S)

AMR – Inside Forward (A)

AMC – Attacking Mid(S)

STC – Deep Lying (S)

STCL – Deep Lying (S) d

The backline is the same as Barcelona, attacks are focused down the right flank, the GK sweeps up in behind. It’s kind of a hybrid of their last two Champions League Winning formations. The DM plays like Busuets, defensive but can pick a pass. MC is the Xavi role, whilst AMC is the Iniesta, both need to be good passers, smart and creative as we play short tight passes. The AMR is basically a pre-2011 Lionel Messi, whilst the STC is Lionel Messi 2011. If you watched much of Barcelona in recent times you will have seen how his role has changed. And STCL is basically the Villa role, dropping off to the left to pressure the defense and interchange with Messi.

Transfers and First XI:

As I mentioned an overhaul was in order. Now normally I pay all fees up front but the most important thing is making sure we stay up so I had to spend big and spread it out, most deals are over 48 months. So coming in we had Abubakari Yakubu, Steve Finnan and George Koch all for free. All experienced professionals with good mentals and capable at this level. In goal we added Alex Smithies(1m), Left Backs Antonin Rosa(1.1m) and Peter Masilela (700k), and Centre Back Dzmitry Verkhovtsov (900k). Centre Mids in were the horribly named Sven Kums(500k), Shunsuke Nakamura(500k), Javad Nekounam(1.8m) and Bressan(200k). And the Widemen/Strikers In were Tarik Sektioui(200k), Pavel Niakhaichyk(1.8m), and Chucho Benitez(4m).

On the way out were Rachubka, Gilks, Coid, Taylor-Fletcher, Edwards, Ormerod, Euell, Crainey, Demontagnac and John-Baptiste. A few other left on loan which meant we recouped 6m in sales to our 12.75m spend. With this all being over 48 months we shifted around the budgets a bit and were left with nothing for transfers but 14k spare for wages. And I hired a new coaching staff too, no need to bore you with that, the key man in was Terry McDermott as my number two. Highly recommend him.

So now the top team looks like this if everyone is fit and on form, the Central players are pretty flexible and can play multiple roles.

GK – Koch, Smithies

DR – Yakubu, Finnan

DC – Verkhovtsov

DC – Cathcart, Evatt

DL – Masilela, Rosa

DM – Nekounam, Basham

MC – Adam, Kums

AMC – Bressan, Vaughan, Nakamura

AMR – Niakhaichyk, Sektioui

STC – Benitez, Harewood

STCL – Campbell, Kornilenko

Games August:

Blackpool 1-1 Manchester United

Verkhovtsov 90+3

Fletcher ‘33

Bolton 2-3 Blackpool

Lee ‘8, Cohen ’70

Niakhaichyk ’31, Benitez ’42, Verkhovtsov ‘76

Blackpool 2-1 Swindon (League Cup Round 2)

Sektioui ’41, Campbell ‘76

Alonso ‘5 Iordache ’52 (missed pen)

Blackpool 3-1 West Brom

Kornilenko ‘45(pen),’76, Bressan ’50,

Fortune ‘64

It was a very good month all in all. Seven points down, 33 to go and we’re riding high in 2nd place. United got the better of us, chances were limited until we went for it late when 193cm tall Verkhovtsov knocked home Nakamura’s corner at the far post. Bolton was a thriller, we played some classy possession football and scored a couple of nice goals, Verkhovtsov again was the saviour scoring a similar goal to his first. Swindon was a rubbish match, think they were the better side to be fair but we got over the line. West Brom was the best game this month, we thoroughly outplayed them having 20-8 in terms of shots and 61% possession. My man of the month was young Goalkeeper Alex Smithies who played four good games after an injury to Koch handed him the number 1 jersey.

[davidmcain]

September 2011

Liverpool 5–0 Blackpool

Carroll ‘3, 56’, N’Zogbia ’34, Kuyt ’68, ‘70

Blackpool 2-0 Tottenham

Cathcart ’14, ‘21

Blackpool 0-5 Chelsea (League Cup Round 3)

Anelka ’16, ’54, Malouda ’46, ‘81 Torres ‘58

Chelsea 4-0 Blackpool

Torres ‘2, ‘8 Drogba ‘5, ‘49

Benitez ‘60(RED)

Don’t want to speak about the Liverpool game, never happened… Next out we dominated Tottenham, Cathcart grabbed a brace from Set pieces, no I don’t use the corner exploit. Scored early, played on the counter, could have been 5-0, Spurs didn’t play Bale or Modric. Plan against Chelsea was to score early and play on the break. They put out a strong team with a youth bench. So we tackled hard in the hope of injuring them (should buy Nigel de Jong). Anyhow, we scored early but it didn’t count, and then we were slaughtered. Board wanted third round, and that’s what they got. We played them again at Stamford 3 days later. I stayed 10 minutes and decided I needed a holiday. Sadly by then we were three down. So as it stands we have 10 points from 6 games and sit 8th. Better than hoped and a few hard games are out of the way. Morale is sliding though, can we play West Brom again please?

October 2011

Stoke 3-0 Blackpool

Daems ‘5, Whelan ‘1, Verkhovtsev OG ‘23

Blackpool 3-1 Birmingham

Sektioui ’13, Bressan ’42, Campbell(pen)’90

Larsson ’66, Carr ‘89(RED)

Blackpool 0-1 Newcastle

Benzema ‘43

Lessons learned against Stoke were that Glenn Whelan and Filip Daems are lethal from 35-40 yards, and Marlon Harewood is mediocre 5 yards. At least the size of defeat is decreasing by one goal every game. Next up we smashed Birmingham at Bloomfield Road. The old trick of score one then counter did the business. Larsson banged in a nice free kick to make it 2-1 but Stephen Carr bought down Kornilenko on a counter to let DJ Campbell secure the points. After the game I praised my mate Alex McLeish since he was the first guy not to slag me off to the press after the game. Smithies is my only fit keeper too, he’s not going well, but I love how he always looks fired up, even when we’re getting smashed. Newcastle came around next, In the pre-match notes I saw their lethal strikeforce of Nile Ranger, Leon Best and Shola Ameobi were all injured!!! Who would they play? Only Karim Benzema and Humberto Suazo, unfortunate for them. They were rubbish, so were we, and Benzema scrambled home a corner.

We end the month in 10th with 13 points, 9 clear of 18th. We should stay up. But then again strikers should score goals, top scorers Kornilenko and Campbell have 2 each. We will see.

[davidmcain]

November 2010

Man City 0-3 Blackpool

De Jong ’38, Tevez ’52, ‘69

Verkhovtsov ’40 (RED),

Blackpool 1-0 Blackburn

Niakhaichyk ‘4, Basham 46’(RED), Niakhichyk ‘73(missed pen)

Wolves 1-0 Blackpool

Keogh ‘37

Blackpool 1-1 Everton

Harewood ‘79

Osman ‘36

Arsenal 3-3 Blackpool

Nasri ’18, Arshavin ’38, ‘72

Song OG ’15, Benitez ’45, ‘69

Blackpool 3-0 Fulham

Nekounam ’13, Niakhaichyk ’32, Kornilenko ‘60

Generally I like playing against Man City, especially when Mancini is yet to be sacked. Sadly they scored a heavily deflected opener and Verkhovtsov then was sent off. The rest is history. We tried to compete but the extra man made the difference. Mancini slagged me off afterwards, that annoyed me more than the result. I also realised Yakubu is no Daniel Alves. We scored early on in the battle of the Black’s then tried very hard to lose. Basham needlessly was sent off for a shocking tackle, we won a penalty which Niakhichyk skied and missed a hatful of nice chances. Mame Biram Diuof however can’t score either. We were better than Wolves but lost, very annoyed. Played my favourite team Everton next, drew 1-1. Tim Howard was a rock, Leon Osman isn’t very good but scores key goals in real life, same applies here. Hibbert smashed Kornilenko so I had to use Harewood, not great management but his goal means I’m happy with the outcome.

We were picking up a few points and Arsenal away was next so it seemed a good time to ask for a Stadium expansion, and improvements to Training and Youth facilities. The board agreed to it. Strategy vs Arsenal would be to beat them up, injure four or more players so they play with ten, and then injure some more. Flawless management. We struggled to get close to them so smashing them was hard. Song scored an own goal which was nice. The game went goal for goal. Benitez scored two crackers, apparently he can play after all. Helps when all three of your shots go in. We will take the draw happily. A look at the fixtures revealed Fulham were up next and Mark Hughes was under pressure, so I added more pressure through the media, they then smashed West Ham a day later and his job was listed as secure again. Lame. We smashed them anyway, Benitez is looking the bollocks now, and my only concern is our fetish with hitting the post.

At the end of the month we sit 10th equal with Sunderland, they have +11 goal difference on us though. Arsenal lead on 36 points, one ahead of United and Chelsea who have a game in hand. Millwall will visit in January in the F Cup which will be nice for our hooligans.

[iHeadHunta x]

Not b ad but why does the city result say 3-0 to Blackpool with Tevez scoring 2 and de jong :L good start and good luck

[davidmcain]

Cheers Headhunta! Yeah well spotted, will fix that up

December 2010

Blackpool 1-2 West Ham

Evatt ‘64

Upson ’22, Cole ‘30

Sunderland 5-2 Blackpool

Welbeck ‘4, ’22, ’84, Campbell ’50, Elmohamady ‘61

Benitez ’11, ‘82

Wigan 0-1 Blackpool

Niakhaichyk ‘33

Aston Villa 0-3 Blackpool

Campbell ’32, Benitez ’53, ‘79

Man Utd 3-0 Blackpool

Evans ’10, Carrick 45+1, Rooney ‘62

Very good second half vs West Ham, but threw it away in the first so poor result for us in this one. Injuries have struck and Niakhaichyk has to play wingback vs Sunderland. They smashed us, but they said they tried hard, I should fine the lot of them, the liars. We travelled to Wigan next hoping for three points, we are going well this season but morale has slipped after losing two winnable games recently. Niakhaichyk scored a beauty early on and then I countered, Ali Al-Habsi played brilliant but nobody backed him up and we grabbed a rare 3 points away. Boxing Day saw us visit Villa Park. I always beat Villa and today was no different. Niggle guys like Downing and Young, Smash Bradley and Cuellar, and hit them on the counter. 3-0 away was a fair result.Smithies had a strong game though. Had Koch not been injured early on, he would be on the bench but he’s undisputed number one now. United beat us but it wasn’t a fair result, DJ Campbell needs to be hung, dried andquartered for his shooting in this one. We end the year 9th equal on 27 points.

[davidmcain]

January 2011

With the club going well so far, the budget was added to by the board, to Avoid relegation we were given 6m pounds, and we sold Carney, Reid, and Southern for about 2.6m total. Elliott Grandin was loaned to Espanyol, In 6 months he should be first team ready. Steven Taylor joined us from Newcastle on loan for half his wages. No other movement despite my best efforts. Couple of kids didn’t want to talk, and a couple pro’s couldn’t get permits.

Blackpool 2-1 Bolton

Benitez ’12, Niakhaichyk ‘88

Klasnic 45+2,

West Brom 4-2 Blackpool

Vela ’19, Bednar ’63, ‘84, Pablo ‘70

Campbell ’34, Benitez ‘61

Blackpool 1-2 Millwall (FA Cup Round 3)

Evatt ’40, Nekounam ‘68(RED)

Morison ’63, Bouazza ‘78

Blackpool 0-0 Liverpool

Yakubu ‘82(RED)

Tottenham 3-2Blackpool

Bale ’23, Crouch ‘80, '89

Adam ‘4(pen), Benitez ‘31

New Years Day saw Bolton come to visit. We got a great start through Benitez but conced right on the half. Injuries forced a reshuffle but Pavel “The Belarussian Best” Niakhaichyk cracked a 35 yard free kick into the top locker to pinch it for us. Against WBA, Vela scored early on so we injured him a minute later. DJ Campbell scored a wondergoal to equalise as I searched for a new striker, and his mate Benitez put us ahead after the break, only for Bednar to square it again, they scored two more too and I was livid, time for some spending to ease my stress. Millwall beat us in the cup, and we deserved it too, enough said. Taylor signed and then Liverpool came to town. Boring game, Yakubu was sent off and I took two weeks pay, think I’ve made about 200k in fines this year, might buy a Hummer. Too ****ed off to speak about the Spurs game, deserved a win and robbed by the refs. Some really tall ***** grabbed a late brace for them. We end the month 12th, 6 points ahead of Newcastle and 8 clear of the drop zone. We have 31 points, think 45 might be needed for safety though. Wigan and WBA are looking bad but the third spot is anyone’s.

February 2011

Blackpool 2-0 Chelsea

Benitez ’51, Niakhaichyk ‘75

Newcastle 3-1Blackpool

Ameobi ‘8, Barton ’26, Jonas ‘84

Vaughan ‘89

Blackpool 1-1 Stoke

Cathcart ‘83

Walters ‘15

Birmingham 2-1Blackpool

Bentley ‘3(MISS), Derbyshire ’13, Larsson 90+5

Taylor ‘60

We started February vs Chelsea who had beaten us 4-0 and 5-0 previously, so the punters wrote us off. Their mistake, we dominated from start to finish. Taylor was a rock at the back and looks an inspired signing, and one we will look to make permanent. Next was Newcastle who hadn’t won in 5 games. Taylor would miss it though as he is owned by them. We missed him, looking shabby at the back. The bizarre form had carried on. Stoke were next up, and are battling relegation so a draw was a letdown. We gave away a penalty against Birmingham early but Bentley was saved by Smithies. It went 1-1 until Campbell appeared to pinch it in injury time, it was ruled out then Larsson scored down the other end. So frustrated but apparently the officials were right.

Chelsea won the League Cup final with a 4-1 victory over lowly West Brom with Anelka winning MOM for his double.

[davidmcain]

March 2011

Blackpool 1-3 Man City

Kornilenko ’46,

Tevez ’53, Balotelli ’57, Nekounam OG ‘77

Blackburn 1-1 Blackpool

Santa Cruz ‘35

Benitez ‘88

The Man City game irritated me, they are rich, but without Tevez and Balotelli they are rubbish. If our strikers could finish like them we would have won easily. Against Blackburn Santa Cruz headed in a long throw. We grabbed a late equaliser, and it’s no less than we deserved.

April 2011

Everton 4-1 Blackpool

Bilyaletdinev ’10, Fellaini ’16, Cahill ’66, Coleman ‘86

Niakhaichyk ‘42

Blackpool 0-0 Arsenal

Blackpool 4-1 Wolves

Niakhaichyk ’14, Adam ’69, Benitez ’83, Verkhovtsov ‘88

Doyle ’17

Fulham 1-2 Blackpool

Adam ‘30(PEN), Nekounam ‘55(RED), Benitez ‘82

Davies 90+2

Blackpool 3-0 Sunderland

Benitez ‘9, Bressan ‘4, Kornilenko ‘50

I like Everton so I let them beat me, I was particularly impressed with my defenders who allowed four goals from corners. To be fair the height of Seamus Coleman and Dinijar Bilyaletdinev was always going to be an issue for us. Arsene Wegner had a go at me so I tried really really hard to beat Arsenal. The guys were told to maim the Gunners and play on the break. I decided to use Verkhovtsov in midfield with Nekounam. The boys listened, Arshavin and Nasri lasted 7 and 15 minutes respectively. Djourou lasted 55. Nobody scored and Arsenal didn’t get any of their 4 shots on target. Take that Arsene. Maybe next year. 3 days later Liverpool knocked them out of the FA Cup, while they failed to make it out of the CL Group Stage finishing 4th behind Rubin and Ajax. Wolves came to town with their 4-1-4-1 brand of anti-football which saw them riding high in 7th, pushing for Europe. We were 7 games without a win. Told the boys to Retain Possession and Work it into the Box. The result was our best win of the year. 65% possession. Masilela completed 81 passes. That was weird as we are a right handed attack side. And that makes 40 points!

We dispatched Fulham at their place 2-1 with 10 men. We were in control even after the red card, and their consolation came through a 35 yard Simon Davies Free kick in injury time. Normally FM2011 saves those for Cup finals and Title Battles so it was nice to get it out of the way when it didn’t matter. We were now mathematically safe, and it looked as if 12th would be a worst result for us, but a top half finish was also within reach. Sunderland were next up and they smashed us last time. Bressan was back after 4 months injured meaning we fielded 4 Belarussians in our first XI, I can only guess that’s some kind of record. He laid on a great opener for Benitez and then we just aimed to play keep-ball. He scored one and then Benitez wrapped it up. That capped a good month as we jumped to 11th place , a point behind Sunderland.

May 2011

West Ham 0-3 Blackpool

Niakhaichyk ’19, Benitez ’57, Sektioui ‘83

Blackpool 2-2 Wigan

Kirkland OG ‘5, Campbell 90+2

Rodallega ’23, Basham OG ‘42

Blackpool 1-2 Aston Villa

Cathcart 41’

Bent 34’, 80’

West Ham was our last away game of the year. Niakhaichyk scored an ugly opener, just a scramble basically. Benitez grabbed another after the orange break. Much of the game was them running into brick walls and me countering at pace. So that made four straight wins. Wigan saw themselves relegated today also, and we had the joy of facing them next at home, Easy three points?? Liverpool beat WBA in the FA Cup final 1-0 so Brom are left twice runners up this year but in danger of going down. Liverpool sit 9th so this this probably saved Dalglish’s job. The neutrals would have enjoyed the Wigan game, I was just frustrated. We deserved the win, not that it matters, but only levelled with the last kick.

So the last day sees Chelsea 3 points and two goals clear of Man United. Chelsea are away to Wolves(6th), United are away to West Ham(12th). Tottenham have secured 3rd and Arsenal have secured 4th. At the other end Newcastle have 34 points, West Brom 33, Fulham 32, and Wigan are gone already.

Last match saw us play Villa, pointless exercise, they were safe, so were we. We traded first half goals. Chelsea and United both had 1 goal leads in their games. Villa got a late winner, it was really soft, but I don’t mind. We’re 11th either way. Chelsea coasted to victory and the title. What I hadn’t realised was West Brom were playing Fulham. Newcastle lost to Blackburn and went down, while Fulham lost to WBA and went down too with Wigan of course. My feeder club Rotherham went up from League Two. We got 8m for our final position so we have 29.5m in the bank now, and I was runner up for Manager of the Year. Cool!

Shortly after, the board announced the Training, Youth, and Stadium Upgrades. We’re getting 8,110 more seats put in. The total cost of renovations comes to about 15.5m. The new capacity will be over 24,000, which means we’re still a small fry. They also showed a bit of common sense and cleared the clubs debts. Burnley, Middlesborough, and Portsmouth have all been promoted to the top flight for next year.

[Deisler26]

Congrats on staying up!

[o JaY]

Well done for staying up, and congrats for 2nd in MotY! Also seems to be good behind-the-scenes, getting more seats and training upgrades. Good luck for next season

[markyosullivan]

Impressive keeping Blackpool up, KUTGW!

[higgins]

11th is a good result, notably if you try to play attacking football.

[davidmcain]

Cheers for the support fellas, tried to stay true to Blackpool by playing quite attacking. Facilities was the key really. You will see in this update that we're not getting any youngsters through the ranks yet and the team is now too big to find players for 1-2m who can walk straight into the starting line-up. Need to keep the upgrades coming

The Offseason 2011

The 2010-11 Season review saw a couple of highlights for us. I patted myself on the back for finishing Manager of the Year runner up. We were the Overachievers of the league and Benitez and Niakhaichyk were named signings of the season. After being castrated by fans for selling Keith Southern he was announced as the Championships worst signing. Verkhovtsov was named as the Fans Player of the Year. We’re the 92nd richest club in the world too!

Onwards and upwards then. The board expects mid-table this year and I’ll agree with that, although really I’m looking for top 8. Budgets are announced as 19.75m for transfers and 350k for wages (currently spending 305k). The new youth join and are all rubbish. They show up only to be released, hopefully the facility upgrade will rectify this in the future. Waited for July 2nd since the transfer list is full of dross. Maybe pick up a couple of free transfers and a couple of marquees, but I’m only going to pay cash now, no 48 month payment deals. The Chairman offers me a 3-year deal worth 26,500 a week, I negotiate a 4th year and he obliges. What a great guy.

Kingson, Koch, Almond, and Martin leave for free. Fringe Right back Neil Eardley goes to Portsmouth for 3.4m, and they wonder why they’re broke! So the club has only 23 players on the books now, some of whom aren’t required i.e. Sylvestre, Finnan. What I really need is a marauding Right Back and a Centre Back of real class. Wouldn’t mind an Usain Bolt like striker or two either.

Sylvestre was sold for 1.7m, and the chairman rewarded my loyalty by selling Niakhaichyk to Werder Bremen for 14.5m. Main targets Thiago, Santon and Miranda opted elsewhere. We added veteran stars Michael Owen, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva and Carlo Cudicini though to add some depth. So basically I had spent big wages without actually adding to the positions I needed. So in came Steven Taylor on loan, though we added a future fee this time, and Fullback Dennis Appiah for 3.5m from Monaco. He’s good, but with bags of potential, he will be this years Smithies. Yakubu will tutor him to speed up his progress too. We added John Fleck of Rangers for 5m, like his versatility and he may fill the Niakhaichyk role possibly, and Ricky van Wolfswinkel from Utrecht for 5.5m to compete with the strikers, and finally Jan Chramosta for 4.6m from Marseille. He’s a striker but his 18 for Dribbling, Acceleration and Pace could see him played out wide.

The moves put us over budget, so we sold Grandin and Harewood for 3.5m in total, our plans were rocked though when a 4.5m bid from Blackburn activated Masilela’s release clause. Off he went. Javier Garrido arrived on loan as a replacement. The 2m sale of Matt Phillips to Birmingham would be the final piece of business for the first team. The rest of August would be spent looking for youth team bargains. So on to the team (not sure on my 1st XI though):

GK: Smithies, Cudicini

RB: Appiah, Yakubu

DC: Verkhovtsov, Cathcart

DC: Taylor, Evatt

LB: Garrido, Rosa

DM: Vieira, Basham, Nekounam

CM : Gilberto Silva, Vaughan

AMR: Chramosta, Fleck

AM: Adam, Bressan

STC: Benitez, van Wolfswinkel

STLC: Owen, Campbell

August 2011

Blackpool 1-0 Tottenham

Cathcart ‘72

Stoke 3-0 Blackpool

Pennant ’13, Jones ’33, Molina ‘41

Blackpool 1-0Ipswich (League Cup Round 2)

Owen ‘51

Blackpool 1-0 Portsmouth

Chramosta ‘33

The score against Spurs was 1-0 and Cathcart’s goal was a scramble, but we hit the post three times (all Michael Owen) so deserved this one. We had a good second half against Stoke, but all our creative centre mids are injured which is useless in a passing formation. In the cup Andy Reid but it wasn’t to be a happy homecoming. We edged by by a solitary goal with young Appiah Man of the Match, the veteran poacher Michael Owen doing the business with our goal. This was followed by a very scratchy 1-0 win over Portsmouth. Chramosta scored a wonder goal having wasted several chances in previous games for us.

[davidmcain]

September 2011

Birmingham 0-0 Blackpool

Blackpool 2-1 West Ham

Chramosta ’13, Verkhovtsov ‘39

Ba 90+1’

Tottenham 0-2 Blackpool (League Cup Round 3)

Benitez 5’, 43’ Taylor ‘19(RED)

West Brom 1-0 Blackpool

Morrison ‘46

Can’t help but feel we got the better of Birmingham so a draw rankles a little bit. The real worry is the misfiring strikers. We’re great at the back with four clean sheets in five games though. Beat West Ham easily, they scored eventually but way too late. Happy to see Chramosta score again. Tottenham opted for a weakened side despite failing to win any of their first 5 in the league. Taylor’s red card compromised our possession but a youth team back four found Benitez too hot to handle. Into the last 16. Created and missed a hatful of chances against WBA,3 points dropped.

October 2011

Blackpool 2-5 Blackburn

Campbell ’18, Vaughan ‘79

Narsingh ‘1, ’10, ’68, NZonzi ’34, Vossen ‘38

Everton 2-1 Blackpool

Garrido OG ‘17

Verkhovtsov ’30, Saha ‘56

Blackpool 4-1 Middlesborough

Benitez 5’, Bressan 42’, 63’, Fleck 84’

Welbeck 83’

Blackpool 1-0 West Ham (League Cup Round of 16)

Taylor ‘24

Blackpool 1-3 Man United

Chramosta ‘65

Berbatov ’36, Rooney ’45, ‘85

Blackburn murdered us, thanks to young Dutchman Luciano Narsingh in particular. No real positives in this game, every change I made was countered with a goal. Everton again got by on set pieces against us, van Wolfswinkel hasn’t scored yet in 9 games. My signings look awful. Middlesborough were rubbish and we played well. Bressan was on another level. West Ham were comfortably dispatched as we reached the League Cup Quarters. United bought us back to earth despite a Ronaldo like effort from Chramosta. We ended the month in 12th spot. Burnley are in 9th. After losing their first 5, they have now won 6 on the trot. Well done!

November 2011

Wolves 4-4 Blackpool

Doyle ’32, ’50, Fletcher ’65, Ebanks Blake 90+3

Van Wolfswinkel ’47, Verkhovtsov ’73, Benitez ’83, 90+1

Sunderland 1-1 Wolves

Dzsudzsak ‘90

Van Wolfswinkel ‘27

Arsenal 2-3 Blackpool

Chamakh ‘1, Song ‘12

Verkhovtsov ’50,Vermaulen OG ’62, Benitez ‘79

Blackpool 3-1 Chelsea

Van Wolfswinkel ‘9, Benitez ’29, Campbell ‘47

Benayoun ‘70

Blackpool 1-0 Aston Villa (League Cup Quarter Final)

Nekounam ‘89

Wolves game was a thriller, came from 2 down with 20 to play to take the lead in injury time, only to let it slip. Not sure if I’d call it a point gained or two points lost. Losing a lead on 90 minutes in injury time was a bit more frustrating though. A wonder free kick too. Arsenal was a great result. 2 down at the break and just threw caution to the wind. Wenger is starting to really hate me. So that’s 5 points from 9 in 3 away games this month. Not too bad. Then we beat Chelsea, another huge scalp to put us 8th in a tight table. The emergence of van Wolfswinkel has been key, getting 3 in the last 4. Were in the semis of the League Cup now too! A great goal from Nekounam made the difference as did a great display from Alex Smithies who put on a clinic in goal.

December 2011

Bolton 4-1 Blackpool

Chung-Yong Lee ’28, Enevoldsen ’39, Cathcart OG ’55, Cahill ‘59

Gilberto Silva ‘89

Burnley 1-1 Blackpool

Rodionov ’47

Bressan ‘62

Blackpool 2-3 Aston Villa

Adam (MISS) ’48, Adam ’55, Friedal OG ‘60

Agbonlahor ’50, A.Young ’50, Delph ‘80

Blackpool 0-0 Liverpool

Man City 3-0 Blackpool

Dzeko ’19, Kompany ’50, ‘84

Tottenham 0-1 Blackpool

Huddlestone (RED) ‘80

Taylor ‘90+1

Blackpool 3-0 Stoke

Verkhovtsov ’42, Benitez ’62, van Wolfswinkel ‘70

We created great chances against Bolton and missed them. Conversely they created half chances and were clinical. We perhaps should have beat Burnley. They are in 6th right now though so maybe a draw wasn’t too bad. Villa game was frustrating, we couldn’t deal with their pace and a missed penalty was the difference ultimately. We did okay against Liverpool, bit unlucky not to pinch it. We were pretty bad against City. Spurs game was excellent, I defended and tackled hard as they had played two days earlier. By halftime they had used all their subs, then lost another through injury and Huddlestone was sent off and then I went for it, with Taylor knicking us three points. We opened Stoke up with surgical precision. I’ve rotated players lately and in a hectic December our fitness helped us on our way.

So we end the year with 27 points, a record of 8-5-8. So its marginally better than last year. The cup run has been brilliant though and this month sees us face Liverpool in the semifinal. The FA Cup kicks off this month too and the problem of our success so far could be the extra games leading to fatigue. I’ve arranged the transfers of a few young starlets for January so I might throw up a few screenshots in my next update if anyone is interested.

[davidmcain]

January 2012

After the summer transfers window where we grabbed a few veterans, I turned my focus to youth. 5 regens were bought in. Dmitry Pyshnik of Belarus joined for 100k and will join the first team, he is a DM with massive potential, he is only 18 but looks of similar ability to Gilberto and Vieira. Czech fullback Jindrich Charvet is only 15 and joins the youth team. Norwegian midfielder Asbjorn Waage is a model professional of reasonable potential and will be loaned to Rotherham. Bamba Bengaly is an 18 year old Malian striker who has good ability already but lacks a work permit. He lacks determination(7) so Michael Owen(11) will tutor him first and will reapply for a work permit in the summer. Finally, Bob Hughes joined from BSP side Stockport for 450k. He is a 196cm tall Striker and has great mentals. He scored 14 in 22 for Stockport and will spend 6 months at Rotherham in League One. He’s not too quick so when he returns we’ll work on that and integrate him next year. CB Magnus Lukic joined for 100k from Orebro, I’m not sure on him but he is a model professional. He’s 21 though so he will need to rapidly improve if he’s to have a long term career here.

We sold Vieira for 375k to Southampton and welcomed one major signing. Guillermo Burdisso from Independiente joined for 5m. He is the younger brother of Nicolas Burdisso and at just 23, has already been capped by his country.

Portsmouth 0-5 Blackpool

Brown (RED) ‘9

Nekounam ’32, Fleck ’63, Chramosta ’66, Pyshnik ’71, Verkhovtsov ‘78

Stoke 1-2 Blackpool (FA Cup Round 3)

Faye 90+2

Fleck ‘9, Owen ‘83

Blackpool 3-0 Liverpool (League Cup Semi Leg 1)

Adam ’13, Bressan ’65, Chramosta ‘73

Carroll RED ‘23

Blackpool 2-1 Birmingham

Burdisso ’60, ‘67

Ranger ‘75

Blackpool 5-1 West Brom

Burdisso ’24, ’50, Fleck ’50, Verkhovtsev ’54, Fleck (MISS) 45+3’, Olsson (OG) 79’

Fortune ‘46

Liverpool 1-2 Blackpool (League Cup Semi Leg 2)

Migliaccio 68’

Benitez ’47, Cathcart ‘78

Blackpool 1-1 Barnsley (FA Cup Round 4)

Vaughan 74’

Shackell ‘20

West Ham 1-2 Blackpool

Rosina ‘62

Benitez ’22, Green OG ‘82

Portsmouth were 20th on 2 points. They started Kanu up front, and Brown was sent off after 9 minutes. We absolutely mauled them. Pyshnik came on at half time and scored a nice debut goal. I can see why they’re in last place though. That’s three on the trot for us now. Stoke were dispatched in the cup although we rested a couple of players. Liverpool was the reason why and in the cup semi we had a dream start, Adam scoring from a very soft penalty. Carroll was dismissed soon after for a shocking tackle on debutant Burdisso. Bressna and Chramosta scored great goals after the break meaning young Lukic was handed a debut as well. Birmingham was easy. Burdisso headed home a corner and a free kick. But we should have had a couple of open play goals too. WBA victory was emphatic. Rotated plaers against Liverpool as we were three up already, Pyshnik got a start, hard to motivate them though. Burdisso was Mom for the 3rd time in his first 4 games. We meet Chelsea in the final. Should have beaten Barnsley and now we have to replay them which isn’t ideal. Then I got lucky against West Ham. They were better but I rolled the dice at the end and got lucky. So we went 4 out of 4 in January and are now 5th, adjusted for games in hand we should drop to 7th. I won Manager of the Month, my first award. Unietd and City are separated by one point at the head of the table. Next is Liverpool and Arsenal, followed by me, Villa, and Chelsea.

[o JaY]

Good luck in the cup final!

[davidmcain]

Cheers O Jay! Sadly didn't go so well....

February 2012

Blackburn 2-4 Blackpool

Gamst Pedersen ‘, Bellamy ‘10

Burdisso ‘2, Chramosta ’16, van Wolfswinkel ’20, ‘82

Barnsley 5-3 Blackpool (FA Cup 4th Round Replay)

Bicak ‘1, ’53, O’Connor ‘4, ’85 Doyle (PEN) ‘73

Benitez ‘9, ’44, Owen ‘28

Blackpool 0-0 Everton

Man Utd 3-1 Blackpool

Rooney ’30, Hernandez ’33, Berbatov ‘72

Chramosta ’63,

Blackpool 1-2 Chelsea (LEAGUE CUP FINAL)

Ramires (OG) ’48,

Cole 90+5, Ramires ‘102

A terrific win against Blackburn avenged an earlier heavy defeat. They used Salgado and Dorsin as fullbacks and our pace exploited their lack of mobility leading to three of our goals. Fleck had two assists but picked up a three month Achilles injury. Barnsley put our 2nd XI out of the FA Cup despite 8 CCC’s for us to their 4. Luck just deserted it in this one. The Everton game was very boring. We have had games every three days for a month now so 11 days off is a nice chance to recover our fitness before the League Cup final and last quarter of the season. United beat us easily, with a seconh half Evatt cameo confirming he isn’t up to it anymore. Adam’s 89th minute injury was the real kick in the teeth.

The League Cup final saw us(6th) against Chelsea(7th), though nobody saw us as the favourites. The first half was spent feeling each other out with no major chances, Chelsea were probably slightly better. The boys were instructed to make Bosingwa and Cole’s lives hell in the second half. The scoring was opened after 48 minutes when Ramires expertly placed a Bressan corner in his own net. Chelsea never really challenged until Cole scored deep into injury time! A horrible error from Verkhovtsov allowed Ramires to hand them the lead, and ultimately the win. It was disappointing to be seconds away only to see the left back head home at the far post. And for that we deserved what we got. With 10 games remaining we’re 6th in the league. The run in has a few tough games for us, but conversely beating the big teams could see us climb the table. My only goal is Europe. The board wanted midtable, and the media predicted 15th.

March 2012

Middlesborough 1-4 Blackpool

Alexe ‘2,

Chramosta ’32, Benitez ’60, Burdisso ’65, Appiah ‘75

Blackpool 2-1 Sunderland

Verkhovtsov 45+2, Chramosta ’50, Nekounam (RED) ‘71

Gyan ’58,

Chelsea 1-1 Blackpool

Anelka ‘89

Benitez ‘75

Blackpool 1-0 Wolves

Burdisso ‘66

We piled on the misery on Boro, who have now lost 5 in a row. With the league our only focus, we need to make every post a winner and we deserved this. Sunderland was a bit tougher, especially with Nekounam’s dismissal but we got the result anyway. The Chelsea result was infuriating. Just like the Cup final they stole a late goal for a share of the points. Last game of the month was 8th placed Wolves, They are three points behind us, so a win would see us in prime position for a top 7 finish. Easy win in the end. Wolves didn’t even manage a shot on goal.

April 2012

Blackpool 4-0 Bolton

Cahill (OG) ’17, Taylor ’25, Chramosta ’36, Burdisso ‘42

Aston Villa 3-2 Blackpool

Collins ’15, Heskey ’69, A.Young ‘88

Van Wolfswinkel ’48, Chramosta ‘75

Blackpool 4-2 Burnley

Van Wolfswinkel (PEN) ’10, Burdisso ’42, Bressan ’61, ‘87

Rodionov ’53, ‘81

Liverpool 0-1 Blackpool

Verkhovtsov ‘27

We kicked off the month with a huge victory over Bolton, the momentum right now is fantastic, and I think we’re an outside chance of Top 4. Villa was a frustrating result. Whenever we got close they scored again. A win against Burnley left us three points outside the top 4 with Liverpool(A), Arsenal(H), Man City(H) our three remaining games. The advantage over Liverpool is they’re four games without a win, and played a EURO Cup game three days prior. We started the game 10% fitter man for man. So we kept the ball and wore them out. They used all three subs at the break and then we got physical. They never threatened. Im almost embarrassed to say we have 21 goals from corners. I set them to Mixed and we score from short ones, near post, far post, multiple headed goals. My players are generally beasts in the air so I can’t apologize.

May 2012

Ok so currently there are three battles. The title race sees City and United both on 76 points from 37 games. Arsenal have 75 from 36. The race for 4th sees Liverpool and Chelsea on 65, and BLACKPOOL on 64. Chelsea and us have a game in hand. Finally Birmingham on 34 has a point in hand on WBA and Bolton. Portsmouth and Middlesborough are both relegated.

Blackpool 0-2 Arsenal

Fabregas ’17, Hamsik ‘60

Blackpool 2-1 Man City

Fleck ’42, Chramosta ‘88

Milner ‘50

A huge day saw us face Arsenal and Chelsea away to Everton, the right results here would see us jump to 4th. Arsenal could jump into first with victory so it’s really the game of the year. We had better fitness again and employed similar tactics to the Liverpool game. We fought hard but ultimately our tactic of shooting straight at Adler in the hope he would move didn’t work out. Chelsea also lost though so we’re still in with a chance at fourth. We ended up beating Man City thanks to a late goal, however Chelsea also won so they took 4th. Arsenal won as well to wrap up the title. Whilst Birmingham’s loss meant WBA’s goalless draw and Bolton’s win saw them relegated. In the final of the FA Cup, Wigan beat Cardiff in a Lower League Final. Wigan were also promoted back to the top, along with Fulham and QPR. My feeder club Rotherham stayed up on the last day. Young Bob Hughes grabbed 9 in 18 on loan from us and I’m excited for his future.

Bressan was 3rd for Players Young Player, whilst I was again Manager of the Year Runner Up. Verkhovtsov made the Premier League Select XI. The board were kind enough to upgrade the Youth and Training facilities for 8.5m which will help as I move into the next year with Blackpool. Owen and Evatt were sold for 1.25m combined, and we bought in Dragutin Sliskovic, a Croatian Under 21 midfielder for 600k. Agents have strated touting better players our way too, the likes of Jerome Boateng, Hatem Ben Arfa, so our rep must be increasing thankfully. We were again the Overachievers of the league and Burdisso was the Signing of the Season. We are now the 62nd richest club in the world, though recent improvements didn’t prevent another terrible youth intake.

[davidmcain]

July-August 2012

Moving on we raided the Free transfer market again. This time we grabbed Maarten Stekelenberg, Eric Abidal, Owen Hargreaves and Ivica Olic. All should be good squad players, and great tutors. We spent a lot of money on a number of youth players too and had 5.25m left over to facilitate the signing of Spanish Attacking Midfielder Ander. Antonin Rosa was sold for 1.8m. Santiago Garcia joined us on loan from Palermo to replace him and will rotate with Abidal. We were drawn against Danish side Viborg in the Euro Cup Qualifiers. Finances aren’t great as several players have had their deals upgraded plus we now have a bigger squad and are spending on youth players and facilities. In the long term this will save us money though I feel. So our 1st team squad for the year will be :

GK: Stekelenberg, Smithies

DR: Appiah, Yakubu

DC: Cathcart, Lucic

DC: Burdisso, Verkhovtsov

DL: Abidal, Garcia

DM: Hargreaves, Nekounam, Basham

MC: Adam, Vaughan, Pyshnik

AMC: Ander, Bressan

AMR: Fleck, Chramosta

ST: Benitez, van Wolfswinkel

ST: Olic, Campbell, Bengaly

Blackpool 0-0 Blackburn

Viborg 0-4 Blackpool (EURO Cup Qualifier Leg 1)

Van Wolfswinkel ‘3, Burdisso ’34, Hughes ’69, Lukic ‘90+1

Fulham 2-4 Blackpool

Burdisso (OG) ’55, ‘83

Van Wolfswinkel ‘45+1, ’53, Olic ’64, Verkhovtsov ‘79

Blackpool 4-0 Viborg (EURO Cup Qualifier Leg 2)

Burdisso ‘3, Olic ’23, Chramosta ’55, ‘86

Blackpool 1-0 Wigan

Benitez ‘44

We suffered from a large number of injuries against Blackburn and despite being the better side, had to settle for a point on opening day. We were rarely troubled against Viborg. A number of youngsters made debuts, most notably Bob Hughes aka the next Les Ferdinand who scored after just a minute on the pitch. Gave some of the kids a run against Fulham too, the game was most notable for Burdisso’s brace of own goals and Olic’s debut strike. Viborg was a formality but it was nice to do it in style. Our group will contain Valencia, Auxerre, and Elfsborg. Think we can make it out alive! Wrapped up the month with a single goal win over Wigan. This could be our year!

[davidmcain]

September 2012

Man United 3-0 Blackpool

Macheda ’30, Nani ’61, Hazard ‘75

AJ Auxerre 0-2 Blackpool (EURO Cup)

Bressan ‘6, Burdisso ‘8

Blackpool 4-1 Q.P.R

Verkhovtsev ’30, Olic ’45, Bressan ’54, Burdisso ‘66

Gomaa ‘12

Blackpool 1-2 Brighton(League Cup Round 3)

Olic ‘10

Ivana ’44, Rujovic ‘73

Sunderland 1-2 Blackpool

Vierinha ‘25

Garcia (RED) ’33, Olic 45+1, van Wolfswinkel ‘76

Can’t win them all, but the performance against United was simply not good enough. Dream Group Stage debut in Europe. 3 points here sees us right in the mix for the next round. Against QPR, Chramosta’s 3 assists inspired us to an easy win. He seems to be a bit streaky, but when he’s hot, he’s unstoppable. Shocking performance against League One Brighton. Out of the cup at the first hurdle. Could be a blessing long term though as I’m more interested in the EURO Cup and EPL. I was over the moon with the Sunderland result. A goal down, a man down, and away from home, we showed amazing spirit to fight back for an unlikely win. So the end of September sees us riding high in 3rd spot. Success is paramount this year as the increased wages mean our monthly profits are much less. Suprisingly, we’re not filling out our 24,200 capacity stadium, so expansion could still be a long way off. The facility expansion is complete, we now have Top training and Good Youth Facilities. Our Reputation is not high enough to improve our Average youth Recruitment though, so we will have to reply on lower league and eastern europen youth teams to fill our’s up. Not ideal really.

[davidmcain]

October 2012

Blackpool 0-1 Valencia (EURO Cup Group Stage)

Soldado ‘52

Blackpool 0-2 Arsenal

Koscielny ’48, Bendtner ‘88

Everton 3-2 Blackpool

Rodwell ’25, Bilyaltdinev ’36, Burdisso OG ‘90+4

Van Wolfswinkel ’50, Ander ’76, Hargreaves (MISS) ‘87

Blackpool 4-1 Elfsborg (EURO Cup Group Stage)

Olic 9’, 90+1’ Burdisso ’23, van Wolfswinkel ‘32

D.Elm ‘28

Blackpool 1-1 Wolves

Verkhovtsov ‘28

D.Jones ‘30

Burnley 1-1 Blackpool

Patersen ‘87

Van Wolfswinkel ‘71

Valencia game is one of our biggest in recent history and also marks 100 games in management for me so I’m very hungry for victory. We played the better game but were unlucky to concede for a corner and Valencia were happy to play anti football for the rest of the game. Then set pieces killed us against Arsenal. We should have won, but whenever we broke through we were met by Rene Adler in goal. An immense cameo from Chramosta almost stole an unlikely win from Everton. He created two assists and then won a penalty which Hargreaves botched, and soon after Burdisso scored an own goal. I expected Elfsborg to be an easy win and welcome relief but had both senior GK’s injured meaning 16 year old Slovenian Etien Marc would make his debut years earlier than I expected. We won in the end and followed up with a draw at home to Wolves. Our great start is well and truly in the past now as we are crippled by injuries and inconsistency. The Burnley game was again a draw and we missed having an experienced keeper again. Marc is going okay, but these draws are making my blood boil and Im putting this save aside for day or two

[o JaY]

Unlucky in the cup final but you seem to be seriously improving the side. I'm thinking a title challenge for the coming seasons

[markyosullivan]

Guessing you finished 5th in the 11/12 season? Very well done!

[davidmcain]

Cheers fellas, dont think I'll be making a title challenge this year as i can seem to string 2 games together at the moment, but next year could be the one.Will update later on!