The Underdogs

[Dig_Dog]

This is a thread dedicated to a lower league game whereby managers start in League 2 and have to fight their way to the top. The clan is entitled "The Underdogs". We started with ten members comprising of the cream of the Prem Glory clan, whilst a few members from last years clan have continued and have kept the name, seeing as they are playing a premier league only game.

Last year we had staggered starts, with members starting in both the Championship and League 1. This year we are going deeper than before and everyone is starting in League 2. All teams are playable, other than Crawley and most managers are angling to see who can choose the worst team so as to give themselves a "challenge" but also wanting at least a shot at being competitive.

There are ten members in this part of the clan and all played in the Prem Glory clan the year before.

Please visit our clan website: http://theunderdogclan.ezweb123.com/#.

Here you will find all kinds of stats, pictures and tables. Who knows maybe Jamie will follow through with his promise to produce a Vodcast. The clan rules (slightly modified from the previous year) are also on there.

We will once again be posting regularly and it'll be interesting to see which part of the clan gets more posts and more views than the other, no doubt Belly will be cracking the whip as usual!

This clan will start the first Monday after the official launch of FM12, but the game itself will be launched over the weekend to let people begin to sort their team out so that we can hit the ground running come Monday. We will play, as always Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 7pm until midnight, every session.

Starting Teams:

Barry - Crewe

Jamie - Macclesfield

Matt - Barnet

Mike - Wimbledon

Paul - Morecambe

Stuart - Port Vale

Steve - Plymouth

Joe - Bradford

Tushant - Shrewsbury

Johannes - Burton Albion

[Dig_Dog]

Trophies Won:

Paul 1 - LG2 (2012)

Barry 0

Jamie 0

Joseph 0

Matthew 0

Michael 0

Oliver 0

Stephen 0

Stuart 0

Tushant 0

http://theunderdogclan.ezweb123.com/#/hall-of-fame/4555342510

[Dig_Dog]

Hall of Fame

Paul 33

Johan 23

Steve 20

Joe 13

Jamie 7

Mike 6

Tush 4

Matt -9

Stu -15

Barry -25

For an explanation of how points are accumulated please see our website: http://theunderdogclan.ezweb123.com/#/hall-of-fame/4555342510

[Dig_Dog]

Further reserved

just in case we need it.

[Dig_Dog]

PLEASE DO NOT POST HERE RQUESTING TO JOIN THE GAME.

This will guarantee that you won't get in. In the event we are recruiting we will advertise on the appropriate thread, or you may wish to send a clan member a personal message.

Thanks for reading.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Port Vale

Report to Follow Soon

[dcu223]

I would just like to wish luck to the second best fm Online game on FM12 :p:p

Belly

[Dig_Dog]

Steve aka Stefano Fonzarelli – Plymouth Argyle.

Assuming that FM12 doesn’t change much from the demo, I truly have my work cut out at Plymouth. Despite initial suggestions that maybe they were not the challenge everyone thought they would be (no points deduction, imminent takeover, not a bad side, etc) I can quash these suggestions immediately. They are worse than expected. The squad is wafer thin, the players are below bar, there is no funds even for free transfers (I cannot afford the wages), and the takeover seems to lumber the club in more debt (over the long term) by shifting the negative balance of £3m into a long term and eminently payable loan.

To add insult to injury, my media prediction is 14th, therefore, my board will not be happy for me to gallantly fight relegation and rebuild in non-league looking to fight back. I will not be given time, money or resources. I must be a magician. And so I can sincerely put myself forward as a favourite for the chop first. I say a favourite and not the favourite because Bradford are predicted 7th :D Joe’s in big trouble.

So if by some miracle I’m able to sign someone good enough to play for the first team, where should I concentrate? Well I have nothing upfront, and I’m lacking mostly on the wings. Therefore, I will concentrate my efforts there. I am likely to adopt my time honoured strategy for the game, signing youth. I can offer £90 a week to any youth stupid enough to sign for me.

To Summarise:

Steve aka Stefano Fonzarelli

Plyouth Argyle

League 2

Predicted 14th

-£3m in balance

Transfer budget £0 and less in wages than I already spend!

[jdckelly]

the bright side of Bradford 25k stadium, squad not as utterly useless as I thought it would be

the down side no cash to spend no wages to spare an utterly useless defence on first viewing and they expect a playoff place.........

Right now I would like to question the sanity of the Bradford board have they not been paying attention for the last few seasons?!!

Bradford City

League 2

Predicted 7th (how?!)

637k balance

transfer budget 0 wage budget nowt to spare

[JadaX]

Tushant - Shrewsbury

Famed rookie manager Tushant takes over The Shrews in the upcoming FM12 clan with confidence knowing that Greenhous Meadow will be eagerly looking forward to the American manager's attacking style bamboozling opponents on a weekly basis.

Tushant comes with a strong reputation from his old job at West Ham of attacking football that oozes Barcelona all over the pitch - can he repeat the same feat with Shrewsbury? Only time will tell.

Reporter: First of all, welcome to Shrewsbury! What are your first thoughts on this town and the team compared to your previous jobs at Bolton and West Ham?

Tushant: It's a great change to be honest. I've been looking to prove my managerial capabilities by taking over a lower league team for a while now. Anyone who takes over a Premier league team first off has nothing to prove - even my 11 year old nephew could get results with the money/facilities those teams are afforded. Real feeling of accomplishment comes from managing a lower league team with huge potential and die hard fans - am looking forward to this challenge!

Reporter: Have you got a team in mind? Looking to bring in any new players?

Tushant: I have a rough starting 11 in mind, but will wait till end of pre-season to decide on a team. As for transfers, I doubt I will make any moves this summer - I want to build on what we already have in place.

Reporter: Any early predictions of where your team will be come season end?

Tushant: Hopefully fighting it out for promotion

[Johannes]

Johannes aka Rob Jones – Burton Albion (the Brewers)

Took a while for me pick a team. I wanted a challenge, so I decided on picking Burton. Its a small club, really small. Its located in a small town called Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire. The club is often called the Brewers, coming from the town's brewing heritage. Some of the rival teams is Port Vale (Stu's team), Crewe and Derby. Burton has hardly had a sniff at anything else than non-league, but this is their 3rd straight season in LG2.

The club has got some things going for them. Its a well run club, with a nice new 7m pound stadium, the Pirelli stadium. It's small, only 7k. Funny fact, when the stadium was opened in 2005, it was opened by sir Alex Ferguson.

Wage bill is only 18k, despite i can shed the bil even more. Just by looking at the staff one can sense how small this club is. No physio, no coach, no fitness coach, but 3 youth coaches for some reason.

Burton has hardly have any youth facilites. But like I said, its a well run club, so its a stable club and they no long term debts and a actually do have a nice transfer budget. The squad is weak, like proper weak. Its too old and too slow. My captain is 38 yo with 1 passing and 1 pace. My backup keeper is 48 year old.

On the demo I actually managed to sign some nice players and i was 1st in december. But thats only the demo. Network full game is the real deal. I've got a 3 year plan in mind. In 3 years i want a promotion to Lg1. My goal for this season is mid table.

The others have much different and more difficult tasks. I wont be sacked unless I talk badly about Nigel Clough. Without sounding like a total arse, i can see me getting the manager of the season if I manage to get a few signings in.

Pros:

Stability

No debt

Nice new stadium

Transfer/Wage budget

Patient board

Media prediction is very low (which is a good thing)

The players are very experienced, easy to deal with and strong mentally

Cons:

Only 425 season ticket holders despite the new stadium and the highest position in the club's history

The players are terrible

No youth facilites

Its a really small club

Burton isn't really attractive to other players

Best player (excluding loanees):

Jacques Maghoma (the former Spur)

Media prediction:

22nd

[Dig_Dog]

Steve aka Stefano Fonzarelli – Plymouth Argyle.

Assuming that FM12 doesn’t change much from the demo, I truly have my work cut out at Plymouth. Despite initial suggestions that maybe they were not the challenge everyone thought they would be (no points deduction, imminent takeover, not a bad side, etc) I can quash these suggestions immediately. They are worse than expected. The squad is wafer thin, the players are below bar, there is no funds even for free transfers (I cannot afford the wages), and the takeover seems to lumber the club in more debt (over the long term) by shifting the negative balance of £3m into a long term and eminently payable loan.

To add insult to injury, my media prediction is 14th, therefore, my board will not be happy for me to gallantly fight relegation and rebuild in non-league looking to fight back. I will not be given time, money or resources. I must be a magician. And so I can sincerely put myself forward as a favourite for the chop first. I say a favourite and not the favourite because Bradford are predicted 7th :D Joe’s in big trouble.

So if by some miracle I’m able to sign someone good enough to play for the first team, where should I concentrate? Well I have nothing upfront, and I’m lacking mostly on the wings. Therefore, I will concentrate my efforts there. I am likely to adopt my time honoured strategy for the game, signing youth. I can offer £90 a week to any youth stupid enough to sign for me.

To Summarise:

Steve aka Stefano Fonzarelli

Plyouth Argyle

League 2

Predicted 14th

-£3m in balance

Transfer budget £0 and less in wages than I already spend!

My starting balance is actually -£2.5m. There are no real changes to the Demo version from what I can see and hopefully I have learnt enough from my dummy run to give me time to formulate a plan of attack.

I will be looking to bring in 2 strikers, one old TM type, and a younger one with speed and stamina, eager to run the channels. I also desperately need a right winger. Otherwise, it's more a case of hanging onto my players, particularly Lecointe, however, his potential (at 4*) is not as fantastic as believed in real life. He may well be sacrificed if the money is right.

My board want a mid-table finish so I think i will need to be up there, particularly if a board takeover happens. Otherwise I may well be out of a job. Off the field there are no backroom staff at all and I need to find an assistant straight away. Coaches and scouts will be identified but I doubt i will have the capacity to sign too many. Anyway, the youth revolution is underway and Plymouth, if they give me time, they will climb the divisions and reach the promised land.

Ok, time to ponder how the other clowns will get on:

Mike - Wimbledon - Predicted 15th. His squad is lacking upfront, but no doubt Mike will have shipped everyone out and scoured the freebie market for a whole new squad by the time the first ball is kicked. Mike will ensure there is a constant stream of players in and out. Mike is not a quick results kind of guy and it all depends on how much time he gets. When he gets time he always delivers results, but he recieved a few sackings on FM11 from impatient boards. I expect Mike to deliver his expectations and lead the Dons to promotion within 3 seasons. But for this season I predict mid-table.

Matt - Barnet - predicted last - therefore Matt will have plenty of time. Apparently he has money to spend and I think Matt should get to lower mid-table before eventually kicking on. I expect him to take his time in getting them up but to keep going after doing so. I predict midtable.

Joe - Bradford - predicted 7th. Big name side (for this level), big stadium, big expectations. Joe's problem is that he has not got the squad to deliver those expectations straight off the bat. I expect Joe to be sacked if he takes his time, which he usually does, and does not deliver immediately. I predict sacked.

Johannes – Burton - predicted 22nd. Big things expected from this man. He has a solid little club and should have solid foundations should he add a decent defender or two. I predict upper mid-table.

Barry – Crewe – predicted 8th and should be there or thereabouts for the playoffs. Barry will have to deliver and should do so. I expect a typical glorious failure campaign from Barry, play-offs.

Matt - Maccesfield Town – it'll be a hard fight for Matt to stay up and is finally going to be a real test of his mettle. I predict survival … just.

Paul - Morecambe Predicted 18th, but the team look much better and are flying in real life, expectations are low, which means Paul has time and should do well. Can he repeat his Yeovil feats. I predict play-offs.

Stuart - Port Vale – Predicted 9th – but they are a big side at this level, have a decent ground and have all the infrastructure for a higher division. I predict top 3.

Tushant – Sherewsbury - predicted 11th. I think the shrews are a great little club and should be easy to get them up. I predict play-offs.

[jdckelly]

the bright side of Bradford 25k stadium, squad not as utterly useless as I thought it would be

the down side no cash to spend no wages to spare an utterly useless defence on first viewing and they expect a playoff place.........

Right now I would like to question the sanity of the Bradford board have they not been paying attention for the last few seasons?!!

Bradford City

League 2

Predicted 7th (how?!)

637k balance

transfer budget 0 wage budget nowt to spare

Full assessment, squad isn't that bad actually, bit light in quality in defence and lack of diversity in my strike force but there is quality in the squad particularly on the wings and Fagan and Stewart are way better strikers than anything else in the division but I wonder if they are too similar to play together. Behind them is not much worth talking about. The main problem is short term but worrying, a £2m loan that is to be paid off in 2 years, now once thats clear my finances should be good enough to help me up the divisions but before that I'm leaking cash in repayments to the bank (which I would rather spend on players).

Another problem for the long term are the facilities, the Stadium is good yes but I don't own it and the training facilities are downright terrible which won't hinder me much in the bottom 2 divisons but if everything goes to plan then its a problem thats going to rear its head as I rise the divisions

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Port Vale

My first report of the new Football Manager 12 season. As you all know by now i am with the mighty Port Vale. When you first look at the set up it all looks very good with all the basic Facilities that come with a League 2 side.

Corporate Facilities : Adequate Corporate Facilities

Tranning Facilities : Average Tranning Facilities

Youth Facilities : Basic Youth Facilities

I also have a big size ground with a Capacity of 19,148, but with only 3,200 season ticket holders and a average gate of 6,000 the fans roll around like peas in a bucket.

My biggest problem is the loan at the club, for a league 2 side my loan bill stands at 2.3m, not as much as steve's Plymouth but still to big for a side in the bottom league. I have £0 Cash to spend and the team is weak so the players i have bid for MUST! sign for me or i am in big trouble for the season.

The media have me finishing 9th this season and the board want a playoff place. I also see my fellow manager steve sees me finishing top 3, maybe hes seen something in my team that i aint.

MY FELLOW PROS.

Mike- alot of work to do with the dons and must keep his side togetter as ripping a team apart in the lower league never works. Keeping Dons up is what mike will be looking for but a top half finish is not out of the question My prediction 12th

Matt - Barnet - Money to spend in league 2 is not common so Matt finds himself with a little advantage over the rest of us, he will need to spend wise but his biggest problem will always be the size of the ground. As like mike a top half Finish would be a good season for Matt. MY Prediction 15th

Joe -Bradford - Maybe has the biggest club in league 2, with a board who live in the clouds. Joe really has it all to do with Bradford and needs to hit the ground running if he has any chance of keeping his job but history is on joes side, he always gets off to a flyer in the first few seasons of a new game and maybe he can do the same again. MY Prediction 5th

Johannes - Burton - Johanne is a manager that can do anything with any club he has, he could be the shock of the season if his part record with the clan is anything to go by. Burton are a small team but have a great set up, i see big things ahead for Burton. MY Prediction 11th

Barry Crewe - Playoffs is the aim for barry a good set up and a cracking youth team barry is my pick to go up first season. He knows the lower leagues well with his time with swansea on fm11 and knows what is needed to get the job done. My Prediction 2nd

Jamie - Macc Town - Very hard season ahead for the welshman hes picked a side that will give any manager sleepless night. His First job is to keep them up, His 2nd job is to keep his right back who will be picked up by bigger teams so will need to get a good price so he can build a team that will move up the table, My prediction 19th

Paul - Morecombe - Can Paul do what he done on fm11 and take a league 2 side all the way to the premiership and then make them a solid unit. All clan members think he can so morecombe fans are in for a bright Future. My prediction 9TH

Steve - Plymouth - Has taken the hardest job in football, The debt at the club is mind blowing and will take years to clear. He still has a big ground and loyal fans but needs some players so he can steady the ship, Steve will get Plymouth right in time but its if the board will give him the time he needs. My prediction 10th

Tushant - Shrewsbury - Taken my old side from fm11 and i have to say its a good club for him, the board are outstanding and will always do what they can to help you out. The ground is 10,000 and almost new, Tush proved with west ham he as the skill to suprise people i think he will be up there for most of the season. My prediction 4th

[jdckelly]

suppose some comment on my fellow madmen is needed, predictions are hard but reasonable guesses can be taken on club size etc

Mike: taken on a challenge with Wimbeldon but should do ok, the question is can he adapt to League 2 and no money to work with as others have familiarity with from previous experience

Matt: So he has some cash which is good, the rest for his club is not, small stature of club which creates problems in getting players in, limited stadium but good training facilities which is a nice bonus and debt free which is also good, getting himself safe in the division should be the priority and bottom half is my prediction

Johannes: good manager hard job, again we hark back to the limited stadium theme and small stature of club which are big hindrances needs to be clever in his transfer dealings but considering the talent of the manager I'll say mid table

Barry: Decent club in Crewe, good stadium, bit of debt to deal with but could be a lot worse and Barry's familar with the travails of lower league management and in facing adversity should push for a playoff place

Jamie: the bright side of his club no debt, the downside everything else crap stadium doubt theres much available cash wise to work with, season of consolidation ahead lower Bottom half I think

Paul: a miracle worker of a manager so I'm not sure whats going to happen here I hark back again to the crap stadium and facilities and can't be much cash to spend but that didn't stop Paul last time out with Yeovil so I think he'll push for a playoff spot

Steve: he wanted a challenge he's got one with Plymouth a basket case of a club, heavily in debt and no balance at all means things will be very difficult for Steve in the short term, in many ways similar to his last club in one of the biggest sides in the divison but up the creek financially but this is on a much greater scale, there are bright sides, there are some gems in his side but also some utter tripe and dependant on kids, his stadium is one of the bigger which is good, but its falling apart which is bad. Still expect a top half finish but he needs to hope he gets a good takeover quickly

Tushant Perhaps in the best position of all of us with a good sized club, reasonably good stadium and no debt to worry about, should be there or thereabouts in the promotion picture

Stu: has one of the biggest clubs in the division with a good stadium and pretty good facilities for this level but similar to myself has a big debt to worry about (not steve big but still big), with his experience of what a tough division this is he should have enough to get out of it at the 1st attempt

[matt 23]

Matthew aka Walter Melon - Barnet

So i decided after my entrance half way through the clan last season i neeeded to prove myself after being sacked early on last year so i took the team at the bottom off the Football league ladder Barnet, According to others i have ash to spend this is not he case i have only 5k and wage budget off 16k.

Plus sides off being a side like Barnet with a media prediction off 24th means i will get time to turn things around and having no debt within the club means finances are already in good order and should not restrict my chances off progression within the game.

Negitives off being Barnet is stadium is small only 6200 and only 2400 off that is seated so the financal benifits will not be rewarding meaning making decent money early on maybe a challange will be sure to look to improve this in future, Only other downside i could pick out that could be a problem is that the side is already young with 10 players under 22 out off the 19 man squad so bringing in older looks to be a must.

The side as a whole although young has a good strikeforce in Izzy Mcload and Steve Kabba aswell as Lloyd Owousu as back up so good experience there but others are not aswell known but are not as bad as feared. Most will stay as will be hard to shift plus may come in handy as back ups.

Media Prediction:24th

Stadium: Underhill

Capicity: 6023 (2303 seated)

Trasfer Budget: 5k

Wage Budget: 16.25k

Key Man: Izzy Mcload

Corporate Facilities : Adequate Corporate Facilities

Training Facilities : Good Training Facilities

Youth Facilities : Basic Youth Facilities

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt - AFC Wimbledon

Well I thought I would take a challenge this year and have the lowest team ranking before the season started, as AFC managed to sneak up through the playoffs.

Well as a contradiction to most years on FM I am gonna take it very easy this 1st year and not sign too many players, (mainly due to the fact that it is near impossible to sell/release anyone) and I only have 11k available in wages.

For some reason we have a reserve team (dunno why I need one at this level!) and there is a decent kid in my U18's (probably gonna be a BSP player)

We have no cash to spend and as Steve said in previous posts I plan to get out of League 2 within 3 years, as the 1st year is a right off due to the total amount of useless players we have at the club currently.

Until we have played a few games....

[welshguy21]

Jamie aka David O'Dreary - Macclesfield

After taking on lowly Wolves at the end of FM11 with a big wage budget for the divisions they were in and coming close to a return to the premiership in the first season in the championship i decided to go one of the lowest rated teams on FM 12 with a have only 50k and a wage budget of 13k.

The current squad has some decent young players that could develop in to very good players for this level given game time so i will need to be patient and the main aim for this season has got to be just to stay up. Key man for me this season will be my young striker Waide Fairhurst if he can get amoungst the goals then we should have to problem in reaching our target for the season. One young player that could prove to be a money spinner for us is young Welsh right back Elliot Hewitt who could be a potential target for the bigger clubs over the next few seasons.

Media Prediction:21st

Stadium: The Moss Rose

Capicity: 5988 (2599 seated)

Trasfer Budget: 50k

Wage Budget: 13.99k

Key Man: Waide Fairhurst

Corporate Facilities : Average Corporate Facilities

Training Facilities : Good Training Facilities

Youth Facilities : Basic Youth Facilities

[Dig_Dog]

The table at the end of the first week:

[Dig_Dog]

Aaaaay! It’s Fonzie here. How did a young american who knows nothing about soccer become the head coach at the Plymouth Argyle? I have no idea, but I’ll tell you my story.

It all started back in the summer. My uncle Paulie came to see me and he said, “Stefano, I am owed some money by a soccer team in England, and I want you to go with Frankie (that’s his son, my cousin), in case he needs a hand.”

And so Frankie and I jetted off to England. We got to London, and then drove for what seemed like even longer than the flight. We got to some small town and I waited in the car, whilst Frankie went to see some suit. He said he was going to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Frankie then came out to the car with 5 suits. I was invited inside and Frankie told him I had to stay here and look after things for a while. He said it would only be for a couple of weeks, he would be in London if I needed him. Shortly after that some guy who looked like he had a monkey’s head said something to be in a language I didn’t understand. He did not seem happy, he was carrying a box and then sped off in his car, i haven't seen him since.

So, Frankie had told me to look after things and that I’d be in charge. I had no idea about soccer. I’m of Italian descent and my grandpa used to tell me that soccer was the main game back in the old country. Grandpa is gone now otherwise maybe I could have asked him some more. Anyway, all the suits keep asking me what to do and everyone does what I say, so that is fun. People don’t usually ask me what to do, they usually ask Paulie, Frankie or my uncle Tony.

I spent a week with the suits learning all about the soccer team. It’s called the Plymouth Argyle. We’re actually based in a resort location, well they call it the sea-side here. When I first got here, the top suit was called Peter, Peter Tisdale or something, and he was even more clueless about finances than me, in fact he was worse than Uncle Jackie, a doctor who used to play fast and loose with the old prescription pad.

I had a look at the books and saw that they were not in the best of order. I phoned up Frankie and asked him what to do and he told me to burn them. So I made a day of it and we had a barbeque, all the players came and they seemed like nice guys. The next day, Frankie came down and took the players into my new office. He told me that he had solved the immediate financial problems and that the players were now on wages a quarter of what they had been before. I asked the captain, Fletch, what Frankie had wanted, fletch told me that the club needed to reduce wages and Frankie had persuaded him. I asked how Frankie persuaded him to drop so low, Fletch told me that Frankie had promised to introduce him to a friend of his, Mr. Cricket Bat. What an odd name. And even odder, why would that persuade Fletch to reduce his wages?

Anyway, now all the players were back off holidays, I went to watch them train. The coaches asked me what to do, I told them to do what they normally do. The players all seemed to have fun. The coaches told me that we were a bit short on players but that we had no money to sign new players. I asked Frankie if we had any money for new players. Frankie told me that if I wanted to sign new players then that was up to me, but I had to ask the suits first. If the suits said yes then I was not to bother him.

I had no idea where to find new players, but the coaches had a few suggestions. I also had a few scouts ring me up and give me some names. Then some agents were ringing me up offering me players. Pretty soon my phone was ringing non-stop. Before long the suits had let me sign some players, about 15 I think. Frankie even let me pay £26,000 for some guy called Owen Lancashire, Frankie told me that the transfer would pay for his new car, but I have no idea how Frankie would get a new car if we were paying money.

After a while I was told that we had some pre-season games, just like we do in football back home. The suits told me that I had to pick the team. I had no idea how good the players where, I spent most of the training wondering what the hell everyone was doing. I asked all of the coaches into my office one by one and asked them each to give me a team. I even asked Fletch for his team. They all said pretty much the same team, so that’s the team I picked. We won our first game and I thought this is easy this. I did this for each of the games. All of the people I meet in town are really nice. They come up to me all the time and tell me who I should play in the soccer team. They look at me funny when I write the team down in my little notebook.

There’s been a few odd games. One of them we won, and the other team didn’t seem to want to have a shot at goal. When we scored their goaltender jumped right over the ball, After the game I saw Frankie, talking to some Asian gentlemen who gave him a suitcase. I don't know why they gave him a suitcase, but afterwards Frankie gave me £5,000, he called it my "win bonus". We've won lots of games since, but I have not had any other win bonuses.

Frankie has gone home now. He said there had been a takeover and now we could go home. All the old suits were replaced. I was asked by the new suits to stay on as head coach. I asked Frankie what to do, and he said I should stay here and have some fun. So I have. I’ve even gotten on TV now, after we played Sheffield in the cup, a man from the BBC came up to me with a television camera. I had never been on TV before, I hope my mum sees it.

The new suits asked me into their office yesterday, they told me they are really happy with me. They seemed really impressed with my plans for the future. I didn't even have any plans for the future until they asked me. Anyway, it's all been fun so far and I like looking at the league table and seeing that we are 1st. At the end of the season I am told we will promote to the next level and that if we promote three times then we can play the Manchester United. I think that would be swell. The only bad thing so far is I keep getting funny phone calls, it used to happen from someone talking really fast in a highpitch voice which sounded like a cat being strangled. The police found out this was a Mr. Reid and have asked him to stop, and he has to be fair. Recently, I have been getting phone calls from someone called Cupid Stunt, a strange name. He speaks really weird like he is slow or something. He is very unhappy that I am managing the Plymouth Argyle, he says that he thinks I need a bigger challenge, but I have no idea what he is on about.

Stefano Fonzerelli – head coach at the Plymouth Argyle

[jdckelly]

Joe aka Don Revie

Well I've had worse starts (12 games 12 losses, now thats a bad start) but I can't help but feel disappointed in that it could have been so much better, I've only lost 1 league game away to a very impressive Swindon but I'm not winning enough games and drawing way too many (over 50% of my results have been bloody draws) on any given day I'm perfectly capable of destroying anyone as demonstrated by hammering Stu's Port Vale 5-1 away I think but equally my defence gives everyone a chance against me and some daft decisions (daft linesman not flagging Steves striker offside as he was allowing him to claim an utterly undeserved point in one of the greatest crimes against football ever)

Still sitting pretty in the playoffs and plenty of time left to grab an automatic spot just need to tighten things up at the back and break a few more legs

[Scarletrion]

Jose Poorinho - Crewe

Well the start of the season can be summed up in 1 simple word - awful. Despite bringing in some what I believed to be quality defenders, my defence is all over the place, with teams scoring freely against me left, right and centre, regardless of what I do to try to combat it. This has left me bottom and staring at the sack already, with no more than a game or two to save myself from the inevitable. Given I've got nothing to lose, I'm tempted to put some of the youth defenders in the team - after all they do have some promise (albeit in a season or two) and can't do any worse than the so-called experienced players who seem to be spectating more than actually defending.

[superstar111111]

Cupid - AFC Wimbledon

So so start to the season, we have picked up wins against the big teams, Plymouth and Burton, but we cant seem to replicate this on a game by game season. We are pretty tough to beat, but we lack the killer instinct to win games something which I have been working hard this week to rectify.

Still a long way to go though and although we are lagging behind the playoff spots we are by no means given up the chance of completing back to back promotions.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Port Vale

Rocky start for me as Vale boss my forward line is one of the best in the league, but my back 4 is one of the worst also. Ive worked over the weekend on my tactic and fingers crossed things will get better this week. I had a feeling things like this might happen as like in my first post, i have a weak team.

To top off a mad week on fm i got news on wednesday night that Peter Risdale has taken over as my new chairman. Happy days

More soon

[Dig_Dog]

It was up and down for Plymouth last night. Overall, we lost three games. The first defeat saw us caught by the chasing pack, but retain top spot. Thereafter, we put another winning run together to break free once more. This time paul kept pace and set up a top o the table decider at the end of the night after our second defeat of the night put him right behind us. He won that game and we were knocked off top spot for the first time since early in the season. There were mitigating circumstances as we were without fletch and Walton in centre mid. Young (the backup) was also injured, as we're too wingers. My ultra young midfield was out of its depth against a class side like morecambe. Most importantly, we still have a slight gap on the chasing pack and now we are well past the halfway stage, both us and morecambe look to be the real deal for promotion and hopefully we can get back into our stride once the injuries abate.

We bowed out the FA Cup at the 4th round stage. We put up a brave fight with our diminished midfield but the premier league side were just too good for us, despite our early lead. Plymouth 1 wolves 3.

The other clowns:

Paul - superb from the small club master.*

Johannes - sadly struggling now with burton but still in the promotion chase. Still an excellent season.*

Tushant - his assistant has catapulted him into the upper echelons, will he keep it going?

joe - missed last night and paid the penalty. Still he's in the running and is positioned well if he can get a run of form going.

Stuart - has not really lived up to my lofty expectations of him. However, he's not far off the play-offs, ad can put the cat amongst the pigeons if he gets on a good run of form.

Matt - is up against it now, but he's battling hard and could stay up.

Jamie - has given himself breathing space and can now concentrate and getting ready for next season and progressing up the table. A good solid first season and real foundations have been laid.

Mike - a good season of progress for mike, though he perhaps lacks the patience for this kind of steady development. It remains to be seen whether or not his major restructuring of his first team will effect this. I always think it will, but mike always proves me wrong. No chance of promotion this season and mike needs to build for next season.

Barry - his immediate concern is relegation, that is a battle he is now winning. His next concern is keeping his job, and to do that he needs to carry on climbing the table.

Steve.

[welshguy21]

David O'Dreary - Macclesfield

Up and down season so far 33 games in, We have gone from a poor start to a team that cant stop scoring and at one stage on a 4 match winning streak i thought we may have a chance of making a late playoff push. But unfortunately our shocking defending caught up and a defeat at Steve's Plymouth followed with another 6 losses on the bounce and just a 3 point gap from the dreaded bottom two and panic stations setting in.

Up next was a huge game against fellow strugglers Barry's Crewe and despite being under pressure for the majority of the game we came out 2-0 winners and returned to form with another win a draw and a narrow defeat at promotion chasing Burton to open a 9 point gap from the drop zone.

Overall i'm happy with my young team especially going forward and if i can free up the wages to improve the defence and gk in the summer then the playoffs may be a possibility.

[Dig_Dog]

Stefano Fonzerelli - Plymouth

It was tough going last night for plymouth. We stayed firmly in second place all night and despite a miserable run of form still look secure for promotion, but the chasing pack is swelling and looks hungry just 6 points back and still some 13 games to play.

After ending last night with 3 defeats - the last two a crucial defeat against Paul's Morecambe and the second a defeat by Premier League opposition in the FA Cup, we were pleased to just put the run to an end. However, we then went on a run of draws interspersed with the odd victory. All in all, we won 2 drew 5 and lost 1. This is clearly not championship form and the fact we're still here in the top 2 speaks volumes for how well we had done earlier in the season. As i posted yesterday, a lot of this is down to injury, but morale has also dropped now and the returning players have not recaptured their old form, and in the case of fletch and walton, not stayed fit for long. There is a real lack of strength in depth at the moment and this is what is shining through. However, the finances are not great and there's nothing i can really do.

I don't think we will play the 13 league games we need to to complete the season tonight, but we'll try. In any event tonight will be make or break for us. We need to start picking up form fast, or we'll be caught and there's almost just a big a gap down to 8th as there is 4th, and to finish outside of the play-offs would be a disaster.

On a positive note, Joe and Johannes are both responsible for leading the chase and look set to overtake stuttering Oxford in 3rd. There is a real chance of all four of us going up.

[Johannes]

Hello,

The former English international and Liverpool right back Rob Jones had his footballing career cut short because if injuries and leaving him disgusted with football. But during his 12 year Crewe and Liverpool spell the Welsh born footballer learned a lot about football from many people, including manager, coaches and players and when Burton Albion needed a new manager after club legends Nigel Clough and Paul Peschisolido left for other jobs they surprisingly asked Rob Jones to join their coaching staff, originally as a first team coach. At first, Rob Jones, then living in Warrington, decided after many years of disappointment from football that maybe he owed himself another chance in football. After his interview with Ben Robinson, the chairman at Pirelli, suddenly Rob Jones was their frontman for the job as a manager. Ben Robinson had also interview other managers who were looking for jobs, including the American-Italian Stefano Fonzarelli and the Staines legendary only known as Stuart. But for the chairman, his decision was clear, he wanted the former England international as the new Burton Albion manager. For Rob Jones, it was a surprise, he knew the pressure from management through his many managers at Anfield. But he felt welcome at the new stadium Pirelli and Burton Albion had a small but a nice feeling about it. After signing the 2 year 70k contract, he felt like home again. Already receiving greetings from his former teammates and former bosses, including Ian Rush, John Barnes, Graham Souness, Rafa Benitez, Dario Gradi and Kenny Dalglish. He also received fax from Burton legends Nigel Clough and Paul Peschisolido.

At his office at Pirelli, Rob Jones suddenly felt how small this club really was. No first team coach obviously, since he was being interviewed at that post. Also, no physio, no scout and only youth coaches. What a strange setup. The squad was old, some as old as him, the backup keeper, Kevin Poole was 10 years older than him. 48 year old still playing in football league, thought to himself grinning and looking at his shoes and kit wondering if he could play right back at this level.

Despite being new and modern, Pirelli was a tiny stadium. Looking at the league 2 sides, he only knew Crewe Alexandria in any depth, the club he grew up at and played 75 league games. For him Dario Gradi was a legend, but now Dario Gradi is gone. "Who the **** is Jose Poorinho?", he thought. Times are a changin.

First things first, Rob Jones went to King Kenny asking for advice and more importantly to loan a player. Rob actually had three players in mind, the ball playing centre half Conor Coady, the quick wingers Nathan Eccleston and Raheem Sterling. Despite, Kenny being more than okay with loaning them players, they had no intention in joining the low rep Burton Albion. After a few signings, mostly loans the league 2 was on its way. Rob Jones's debut manager season. He had never thought of this, with no intention of being a manager. But he quickly felt at home. During the summer Rob had to finish a few FA courses to being eligible for managerial job in the football league. Rob admits not learning much from it, but I knew he learned more than he said, after seeing his face glowing after each course.

Rob's football was mostly build after his own bosses, taking some bits from everyone. Lots of coaching technique from Dario Gradi and tactics from bosses at Anfield. Rob being old school only knew much about two formations, the classic 4-4-2 and 5-3-2, which in his opinion hardly would work unless you had hard working free running wing backs, like himself he grinned, suddenly seeing Xs and Os on a clipboard. The modern 4-3-1-2, 4-1-1-1-2-1 or whatever the **** it was, wasn't in his football vocabulary. He wanted to play old school hard nosed british football, nothing fancy. 4-4-2 is a balanced formation where everybody has assigned duties. You have the option to sit back with full backs acting as centre halfs and wingers playing as wing backs. Or you have the option to push up, with full backs acting as wing backs and wingers acting as attacking wingers. He also had 4-3-3 and 4-1-4-1 as his backup formations.

During the off season, Rob signed Kevin Lisbie, the London born Jamaican striker, Chris Cleaver the English midfielder playing in Finland, Martyn Lancaster, Ruy Marques and few more, including loanees. After 17 games to the season Burton was sitting 2nd, 4 points from Plymouth. Rob knew there was plenty left, with some of the loan players only signed short term, including the Newcastle striker Ryan Donaldson and the Newcastle Swedish born keeper Ola Söderberg, there would be problems with depth. At Pirelli, Burton had a good home record, but away from Pirelli it was like a different team. In January, at the end of the transfer window, Burton was still in title contention, sitting in 5th, tied with Bradford, only 3 points from automatic promotion Oxford. At 1st and 2nd, surprisingly Morecambe and Plymouth sitting respectively. In the January window, Rob put his money on loanees, including Conor Clifford, the irish wonderboy currently at Stamford Bridge, Raheem Sterling, Will Keane and Billy Paynter (playing 2 games before serious injuries).

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - No club

Benn sacked as Vale boss More soon on my future

[matt 23]

Matt - Barnet

Barnet go down with a fight

Well knowing the season would be tough and being predicted 24th it was always going to be a tough job i ended with dissapointment as we finished 23rd and only really showed any real fight till the last 10 games, got myself known as the tinkerman in game as all season i had been trying to find the right formation and was not till last few games i got it right but ultimatly it was just too late. My biggest problem tho was late goals and not being able to see out a game also 6 red cards over the season the second highest in the league was not on either.

However i will have competition in the BSP with Stu and others maybe but will be looking to bounce straight back.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Luton Town

Thats right im now at luton. Have to say im very suprised at the set up and fan base. Over 4,000 season ticket holders and a avg gate of 5,500 so thing are looking good. I have been busy in the market and have some real tidy players that im shocked dropped out of the league and into the Blue Square prem.

I should make the playoffs next season, The only problem i see is me. Im shocked how poor i have been with my tactics so i have to learn fast and hit the ground running.

I think its going to be alot of fun on the BQP next season and i also have abit of company with matt who barnet i will be playing next season, If he can keep his players for a season he will be a very strong unit.

All in all the summer will be busy and my tactics will be worked on over the coming days. I really want to make a go with luton but im still gutted i lost my job with Vale.

Its upto me to prove that i can cut it at FM12

[Johannes]

Here's how I see the season for my fellow managers:

Paul - Morecambe - League two 1st

Brilliant season for this man. He got some really good players and was consistent enough through the season. I look for him to be in playoff contention next season in League 1, but i dont think he'll get promoted just yet.

To summarize: Brilliant

Grade: A+

Steve - Plymouth - League two 2nd

Steve was in top 3 all season and never looked back. It never seemed like a question if he would get promoted or not. He was confident and took the pressure of his players. He lacked depth, especially at midfield and that hurt him at times when he struggled. He wasnt able to keep up with Morecambe. However, some of Plymouth's players are too good for LG2, especially some of his defenders. He made a good signing in Pablo Counago who's a LLM beast.

To summarize: Solid

Grade: B+

Joe - Bradford - League two 3rd

The Irishman didnt have a great a start with the promotion candidates, but as season went on he got better. His Bradford side scored lot of goals and I'm sure his 2nd half of the season was the best of human managers. However, Bradford is a side which should be automatic promotion.

To summarize: Just got better and better

Grade: B+

Mike - AFC Wimbledon - League two 10th

He did struggle in the beginning but steadily improved and was in playoff race, but missed playoff spot due to injuries and lack of depth. Look for him to be in serious promotion contention next season.

To summarize: Good 1st season

Grade: B

Stuart - Port Vale/Luton Town - League two 15th/Blue Square Premier

Poor season for Stuart. His defense was all over the place conceding 2 goals per game in league two. I thought he would be in promotion race easily this season with the talent and experience he has. Port Vale is also a big club at this level. Somehow it never worked out. I was surprised, I was always waiting for him to go on a run, but it never happened. Lost his job and is now at Luton Town in BSP. He'll destroy BSP next season. Luton is actually a monster team in BSP.

To summarize: Sacked, but should be better at Luton

Grade: C-

Tushant - Shrewsbury - League two 12th

Tushant was absent quite a lot. I'm sure he would have been in playoff and promotion spot if he would have been online more.

To summarize: Absent quite a lot

Grade: D-

Jamie - Macclesfield - League two 1st - 17th

Not an easy job for Jamie picking the relegation candidates. Maccies is a small side with poor players. Jamie did a decent job, never really in relegation trouble. He'll improve next season.

To summarize: Above relegation zone

Grade: B-

Barry - Crewe/Swindon - League two

Barry picked Crewe a club with one of the best foundation in LG2, good facilites, good staff and decent squad. Media prediction at 8th, he should be in playoffs contention. He never made it work somehow and got sacked, only to get a job at Swindon (how, nobody knows). Should have an easy job getting promoted with Swindon.

To summarize: Never worked for Crewe, hopefully better with Swindon

Grade: D

Matt - Barnet - League two 23rd

Barnet were never going to be an easy job, predicted 24th. Not a mission impossible though. But it didnt work for him, especially tactic wise. In the end he settled for 4-3-3 and got some points, but it was too little too late. He was relegated and will be at BSP next season. Gets points for loyalty and not getting sacked

To summarize: Relegated

Grade: C+

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt - AFC Wimbledon

Just like last year in FM11 I started the season utter crap, couldnt string two wins together and around Xmas time we were well out of it languishing in around 18th place, then 1st January 2012 came, in came the influx of MY players (not the crap that was the squad to begin with). In my squad at the end of January i had 1 player left from the original squad that was the back up gk Jack Turner and we went shooting up the table losing only a few games here and there. If we had won our last game at Gillingham we would have been in the playoffs, and as always if your in there u have a chance.

With 4 human managers now out of my way I fully expect to get promoted next year, I have already signed two DC's and hopefully I will pick up a few loans to beef up the squad, apart from that I am not really going to be spending too much else or strengthening any other areas as I beleive that the players ive got now are the best that I could get in Lg2.

Roll on next year

[welshguy21]

[Dig_Dog]

Stefano Fonzerelli - Plymouth

My media prediction was 14th and my board demanded more or less the same. I had had a quick trial run with the Pilgrims on the demo and in that go I tried to see if i could brink them back from the brink of going into admin once more. I could not and all I did was too delay the inevitable takeover. The biggest shock was that despite pulling back £1m on the balance, the new board paid off the clubs short term deficit of £2m and then loaded the club up with £6m more debt. I considered things, I had tried to manage the club prudently, I'd sold all the decent players, I was working without funding and playing a team full of kids. We would only be in a tight spot for years to come as it's hard to make money at the best of times in LG2. I had no chance of turning things around this way.

Instead, I hatched a plan to keep everyone good enough for my first team, to reduce the wages as much as possible to ease the immediate financial crisis somewhat. Then once I had reduced the players big wages down to a more manageable level I found that I could now actually have wages to spare in order to bring in new players. We actually spent £26k on Oliver Lancashire a centre back who would be a rock all season. Also brought in were Simon Jelen a young striker, James Comley who i converted to a right back, Cian (son of Chris) Houghton a back up right back, Samba Kanouté a back up defender, Kiernan Hughes-Mason a winger / striker to provide back-up, and then the big two. The best signing for me was Pablo Counago, who scored 28 goals in 41 games. A big injury for him 2/3s of the way into the season derailed our title bid. The top earner was former England international, Franny Jeffers. Jeffers was less prolific than Counago managing just 10 goals in 31 games and unfortunately, his injury problems are still dogging him.

So with the wage budget exhausted it was certain that the financial troubles would hit again soon. I was gambling on going up. If I could get promoted back to LG1 and increase my revenues then I had a shot at bringing this club back from the brink. We got a great start and that was key. Once the juggernaught got rolling we never looked like dropping out of the automatic promotion places and never were below 4th, and not below 2nd for the last 34 games.

A great season, a gamble that paid off, and the squad looks healthy for next year. On the results front there's not much to tell you about. Paul kept a good distance ahead of us. Joe was about the same distance behind us and it was a little dull as we cruised our way to promotion.

The other clowns:

Paul – aka the maestro. What can be said about this man? An undoubted lower league master. There is no one better. He did it with Yeovil, now he's doing it with Morecambe. Wow, just wow.

Joe – proved me wrong. Joe looks to have got off to a good start and he has all the tools at Bradford to take him to the Champ at least. He should be given time and so should get there. Just remember that Joe is never in a hurry.

Johannes – phenomenal. My manager of the season. For me there was little difference between Burton and Barnet. One went down the other went up. Johan worked wonders and will need to do so again to keep them up.

Mike – excellent season from Mike in the end. He had a tough job and looked to be doing ok, but not great. Then he took off after January and almost gatecrashed the play-offs. Big things expected next season from the King of FM10.

Jamie – solid season with Macclesfield. Got a tough start but recovered well enough and was always out of the danger at the business end. Needs to step it up next season.

Barry – awful awful season from Barry. Had the best team out of all of us, but just never got going. Now he's at Swindon. He needs a good start there or he'll find himself experiencing deja vu.

Stuart – the lower league specialist on FM11 succumbs in his dream job. He was unlucky to get off to a bad start and never recovered. Now he's paid the price of dropping to the BSP and will have to get up and running early there, as Luton will expect promotion and have little patience.

Tushant – was up there early doors, but his form suffered when he was not able to make the full session. He fell away in the end and whilst he did ok, i'm sure he'll feel that with the base he had, there are some human managers who outperformed him. Tush will mean business next season.

Matt – this is a hard one to assess. It seemed like his team had a bit about them before the game got underway. As the season progressed it was aparent that Matt had the hardest job. Question is could Joh have done what he did with Burton, with Barnet. In my opinion, both are similar. That said, Matt never gave up, he battled hard, he tried things and seemed to deserve more than he got. Which I can vouch for in our games. I expect him to bounce back, if the board let him keep his players.

[Johannes]

Well, here we are then. First season for new manager Rob Jones at Pirelli stadium in Burton-on-Trent. Also this being his first season as a manager since returning to football. A great start for the former England international. After a strong start to the season he saw his Burton side struggling a little bit at times and showing its side vulnerability. However with some good signings of Kevin Lisbie, Joseph Ndo (joined halfway during the season), Chris Cleaver (a solid midfielder on a 0.12k a week) and Rui Marques Burton managed to secure its place in playoff and never looked back really. But in the end there was a real excitement as Cupid Stunt's AFC Wimbledon made a run for playoff but in the end 5th place was Burton's and a place in the playoffs against Oxford.

In the semi final title contenders Rotherham who managed a 7th place, a great feat after struggling horrible in the start of the season, matched against Bristol Rovers, who were in top 7 all season. Jones was satisfied playing against Oxford, who in my opinion, were the weakest of playoff sides. After 1st leg playing away Burton got a strong performance and a good win. The experience of this old Burton squad really paid dividence as veterans Ndo and Lisbie played great. In the 2nd leg Oxford would really go at it and give it their all, but in the end Burton won it at and going to London to play Rotherham. At Wembley more of the same for Burton as Rotherham had no chance against quick counter attacks from Burton as Lisbie destroyed them. A huge 6-1 win meant the tiny Brewers were promoted to league one, along with the surprise league 1 winners Morecambe, Plymouth and Bradford.

2nd season for Burton Albion in league 1 wont be easy at all. With pundits predicting them a difficult relegation battle and most predicting them the 24th place Rob Jones knows he has to improve his team and especially their away performance. There are some really strong team in league 1. Ben Robinson, Burton's chairman told reporters during the start of the pre-season that the board would allow their manager to improve the team with bigger transfer budgets. He also introduced a new linkage with Liverpool, allowing younger Liverpool players to join Burton on loan. Last season youngster Raheem Sterling had short term loan with Burton and reporters are already speculating to see Sterling joining Pirelli on long term loan along with youngsters Conor Coady and Nathan Eccleston.

When asked about stories linking manager Rob Jones to the likes of Bury he told reporters that Rob Jones is contracted until 2013. Jones has already told reporters that his future lies at Pirelli. Some have also speculated to see him joining Wrexham, Crewe and Liverpool coaching staff.

[welshguy21]

David O'Dreary - Macclesfield

Season one over and first target hit of finishing out of the bottom two which in the end we did with ease. Goals were never a problem with 77 goals scored we just need to tighten things at the back as we conceeded a shocking 89 goals and i fell if we can do that we can push for a playoff spot next season.

Rebuilding has already started with 6 or 7 squad players from last season including our first choice gk were shown the door. Lots of work to do in the next session as the new squad takes shape.

[Dig_Dog]

So we've absolutely caned FM12 for two weeks and completed the first season. In game it is now 23rd June 2012 and we're just about to do budgets. Hopefully we will get to games tonight.

Just to recap the players line up like this for season 2, after everyone started in League 2:

League 1:

Paul - Morecambe

Steve - Plymouth

Joe - Bradford

Johannes - Burton

League 2:

Mike - Wimbledon

Tushant - Shrewsbury

Jamie - Macclesfield

Barry - Swindon

Conference Premier:

Matt - Barnet

Stuart - Luton

Good luck boys and come on you Pilgrims!

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Plymouth

It was an interesting window for me. I started well over wage budget, then sold my best player on the drip for 150% of his value, damn board!, and then got 0% of the funds. Next contract clauses led to dramatic increases in wages. Thereafter, I was so over buget the most I could offer key players was £90 per week! So I sent my scouts out trawling for kids. To cut a long story short, I ended up signing loads of them, I think I made 30 signings in total. Mostly 16-18 years of age. At £55 per week, these guys were not going to trouble my wage budget too much.

The new look squad:

GK:

Elliot Parish - last years on loan goalie is now signed permanently after Villa released him.

Daniel Meineke - new star keeper from Austria. He's returning from serious injury (hence the fact no one else could sign him) and will be eased into the side.

RB:

Michael Spillane - a free transfer from Brentford for the ex Norwich youth.

Samba Kanouté - more of a centre back, but he's covering the right back this season.

Damilola Ajagbe - slipping down the pecking order now and yet to play a league game.

LB: There's a Bhasera sized gap here, but I’ve filled it well:

Jeremy Helan – the former man city player.

Jake Bidwell – former Everton youth.

CB: The absence of 18 year old Curtis Nelson will be massive but we now have:

Ben Mee – former Man City youth signed for free;

Ryan McGivern – another ex Man City youth signed for free;

Oliver Lancaster – the only player I have bought (£26k) did well last season.

Ladije Soukara – fringe player for the future.

DM:

Simon Walton – key man from last season but injury prone,

James Comely - moving back to his more natural defensive midfield slot after playing right back last season,

Jordan Copp - youngster hoping to continue to threat the first team.

CM:

Carl Fletcher © – influential skipper,

Luke Young - youngster hoping for more playing time.

LW:

Alex Henshaw - on loan winger from QPR

Jed Harper-Penman – youngster is pushed back tot eh fringe once more

RW:

Nathaniel Mendez-Liang - on loan winger from Wolves

Luke Daley - youngster dropping down the pecking order.

CF:

Pablo Counago – can last season’s star man step up a level at the old age of 33?

Rhys Murphy - on loan striker from Arsenal.

Keiran Agard – ex Everton youngster arrives for free.

Simon Jelen – youngster moves up the pecking order

Matt Lecointe – youngster is still only 17 but finding more quality ahead of him.

So with quite a lot of changes to the squad I was worried about what would happen when the favourites for the title, Preston NE, came to town. I need not have worried as Preston were beaten 1-0 in a tense affair. Whilst a draw may have been fairer, we certainly showed that we are capable of mixing it with the best in this division and I now feel that we should stay well clear of the drop zone.

I made 11 changes for the league cup as I wanted to give youth and other new signings a run out. The side was pretty strong but was beaten 1-0 the Posh, which is understandable due to the changes and most importantly the fact that they play in a higher division and were at home.

I feel this could be a great season for us and the start of our catapult up the leagues. Paul looks like he may take a while to adjust here, Johannes has his work cut out, but Joe should be safe.

[welshguy21]

David O'Dreary - Macclesfield

Well all is not well at the moss rose as the rebuilt team i felt could really do well this season has spent the first 15 games or so in free fall. The massive problem of conceeding two goals a game from last season is still there with a new centreback partnership but even worse than last season and even more worrying is the lack of goals from my strikers just 5 between the lot of them and thats relegation standard.

And the bottom two is where we have spent the majority of the first half of the season. So i've decided on a complete rethink tacticly to try and tighten things up and i'm testing a 451 tactic that has seen us pick up a few results over the last few games and creep back up to 20th in the table after 18 games. I just hope this isnt another false dawn and maybe i can pick up a goalscorer on loan in the jan window.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Luton Town

I could not have asked for a better start to the season, my weeling and dealing over the summer has really payed off and the loan signing i have brought in have taken to non league football really well. I find myself sitting top of the league a point league of Matts barnet but i have a game in hand on him so there is a chance of pulling away from his strong barnet side.

Ive also had a cracking result in the Facup I drew high flying Bristol Rovers who were top of league 2 when i played them at home. After a solid first half i really went for it hitting the bar once and the post twice, i was really unlucky not to win the game and ended up with a replay, something i could of done without. In the replay the 1st half hour Rovers showed why they are so high in the league by camping in our area and taking a 1-0 lead but as soon as they did get there goal my team came to life and hit back from the kick off, From that moment we never looked back and ended up going onto win the game 1-3 firings Me and our wonderful fans into the 2nd round to face another hard side in AFC Bournemouth

who are in the playoffs of League 1. I dont hold much hope of beating them but we are at home so we will give it a right good go.

Just a quick shout about our supporters. Here i have a non league side with Fans that follow the team all over the country, every away end is taken and over 6,000 fans turn up at home . Our FACup Clash with Bristol Rovers saw 7,789 packed into the ground and Our game against Bournmouth have seen over 9,000 Tickets sold. When you have fans like this it really does help the team and our home record proves that teams dont like coming to our gaff.

So there you have it, a great start for me and luton town and at last i have got my tactics right.

More soon

[Dig_Dog]

End of Week Tables:

BARRY - On the Dole

Tushant - has left the clan

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Plymouth

So far it's been a fantastic season and we have hit the front twice. Recently, injuries have taken their toll on the first XI and as a result we have now dropped to 5th, having only won one of our last seven games. The star man for the season has been Pablo Counago once more, having scored 5 in 10 and averaging 7.18. We've suffered after losing Counago, Fletcher, Walton, Lancashire Spillane and Bidwell all to long term injuries.

In order to arrest the slide we need to get some wins on the board early. I still hope to maintain my play-off position and if I can return to my early season form then automatic promotion is not out of the question. To assist me I have lined up some quality reinforcements who will join in January.

A quick look at the other clowns:

Paul: back on the rise and set to be well clear of relegation. Can he mount a late play-off push?

Joe: has been comfortable until he suffered some bad form at the end of the week. Looks set to stay up though.

Johannes: missed crucial sessions and paid the penalty. He needs to galvanise his side ready for a relegation battle.

Mike: got off to a bad start again, but is now looking a serious contender for the play-offs.

Jamie - continues to flirt with relegation, but is showing plenty of fight.

Stuart: He has to go up, the pressure is on, but it is not showing as Stu cruises to victory after victory.

Matt: He kept his job, and then surprised all who predicted a transitional season and consolidation by getting himself firmly in the promotion hunt.

Barry: Needs to learn the basics once. He's a decent manager but it is not going his way with 2 sackings in 18 months.

Tushant: did well so far, but left for another clan due to uni commitments. We wish him well.

[dcu223]

Wow Steve nice Job

[djwillster]

good going steve doing really well

[Scarletrion]

Barry - unemployed (again)

Well it's been not so much a rollercoaster of a start to this year's game but more of a neverending downhill slope. With only a season and a half gone, I've already gone through 2 clubs (Crewe and Swindon) who were not the most patient (well Crewe were sort of patient, they just had rubbish players ) and coudn't see the obvious masterplan I had to take their sides storming up the league...

So as a new week starts, I'm hoping that I'll find a new club early doors so that I can get back in to the routine of ruining yet another club.. ahem... I mean turning them around and brining them the glory they deserve...

Until next time...

[matt 23]

Matt - Barnet

Well a new season has come round and after the disapointment off last years relegation which was expected my hope is that i can bounce back straight away but the board and the media have other ideas with a top half finish expected from the board and a media prediction off 14th which i was suprised at as the side i have are more than capable of at very least playoffs and would be disapointed with anything less, After managing to keep most off the good players i had from last season and adding some new quality at this level the tea, have exceded everyones expectation and sit 2nd 3 points behind stu as Jan is upon us Stu's Luton are expected to win this league at a canter to be honest so all the pressure is on him and if it was not for some very late winners his season could be very different for him but everyones luck has to run out and even if he says otherwise the pressure is starting to show with his random relief at goals and constant abuse he is giving on mic so i understand so it could be the job centre along with a regular down there Barry.

Elsewhere my side have just earned a 3rd round replay with Sheff Utd in fa cup when i probs should have one the 1st game but the cash from the replay will come in very handy for the level i am at.

Just one last message to Stu and his Luton side as we like to say in clan "NO UP NO JOB" the pressure is on let the mind games begin.

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Plymouth

Last I posted I was still full of optimism but was telling you all how the wheels were coming off my season. Well things got no better last night and instead we not sit firmly in mid-table. There's only a few points to gain to get back into the play-offs but our form is relegation standard and has now been this way for 15 games. I think we now need to brace ourselves for a continued period of implosion and work towards rediscovering our form in time for next season as we are certainly safe from relegation this term. I think the problems are in midfield. When Walton and Fletcher were fit and on form we were unstoppable. Since injuries hit and they dropped out of the side we have struggled to maintain our grip on midfield and without this our passing ability cannot shie as we do not have the ball. We have also been exposed several times for pace at the back despite me trying to play a deeper line. I have brought a youngster in from the premier league on loan, who despite his tender 17 years, is already one of our best players. Hopefully he can plug the Walton sized hole in the midfield and the fit again Fletcher can try and reclaim his form and the new signing Watt can show some class from left wing.

May I congratulate Paul who after a dificult start has now surged past me and is making a real run for the play-offs. He's doing a wonderful job once more, and perhaps would be higher if he had not been distracted by his early season League Cup run.

[Johannes]

Rob Jones - Burton Albion

Season 2

Our second season coming to an end. Only 1 or 2 sessions left of the season (not 100% sure where we at, around 10 league games left i believe). I have (knock on wood) achieved my goals this season and then some. My goals were to improve the team with steps towards championship and stay clear of relegation. Anything else would be a bonus. Media predicted me a bottom 24th spot in the league 1 division. Not surprisingly considering Burton is a tiny club, smaller than many BSP clubs and competing in league 1. My first season I got promoted (somehow), but I didn't have a lot to build on. I hadn't improved the team so much. I hadn't signed any league 1 level players to be honest. I relied heavily on loan players (managed to get brilliant players on loan).

Pre-Season

However, my board still trusts me with some nice transfer/wage budget to improve the club. No debt, low salaries and a decent balance plays a part in that. In the summer I was busy signing players on Bosman. I decided to rely heavily on loan players and experienced players with a mixture of youngsters. So I went to central Europe and signed a few veteran players there. I had money lined up for 2-3 league 1 level UK players but I was unable to get my players. I didn't improve the defense as much as I wanted. Usually my bet in lower end of the football league has been to sign solid defenders and loan younger attackers. When the window opened again I had 8 players joining and most on key players wages, meaning I had almost no budget left. Looking at the players I had signed, I wasn't happy enough. I had the feeling I had signed the wrong blend of players and not signed enough defenders, especially no center backs.

Burton In League 1

Due to work commitments I missed a session or two in beginning of the season and saw my Burton side struggling in relegation zone. That was expected, as my squad was still blending together. Early on I had to accept my pre-season signings were not good enough and too expensive. My inability to improve the defense and signing players with too high salaries and no real market value seemed to have cost me a bit, but i was still only a few points from 20th place. When I could finally commit to my team and was online for two consecutive sessions I improved the team greatly with loan players and some interesting signings (free transfers mostly) and a new formation (opted for 4-1-2-1-2 narrow, instead of the balanced 4-4-2) which suited my players better as my wingers are poor, but I have solid center mids and quick strikers.

Transfers

Due to raising wage bill (around 30k most of the time) and struggle in the league, I sold, I loaned and dumped a few players. Some of the new players were unhappy, none more than the dutch striker Sandro Calabro (sp?) whom I had a few heated private chats leading to his departure (mutual termination, as in get the **** out of here) and a good riddance of his lousy personality, AWOL in trainings, inability to finish and his 2.8k a week. I also had serious fallout with another of my signings (this one from the 1st season), Belgian versatile defender Kristof Lardenoit (sp? (on a 3k a week)), who has been horrible and way too expensive. He's now on loan with most of his wages being paid. I'll dump him before he goes on the train back to lovely Burton-on-Trent. I also sold Sergio Pachon (pre-season signing; my 35 year old Spanish striker who I saw as my answer to Steve's Pablo Counago) for free. These players have been part of my not so great transfer policy. I hope I will learn from them.

I've signed a few regen players, none better than a French 17 year old named Matthieu Tixier. With potential to be a good premiership centre mid and touted the new Rio Mavuba I finally got my youngster with some real market value. This guy has been really good season and adjusted quickly. I was also lucky enough to get Liverpool as my parent club and I got 6 players on loan from Liverpool (Pacheco, Suso, Bijev, Wisdom, Jack Robinson and Bueno (Mexican striker)). After the success first season I had loaning 2 players from Liverpool (Sterling and Eccleston) I knew they would improve the club greatly. However, only Bijev and Suso were long term loan. Suso was the main reason I opted for 4-1-2-1-2 because he would fit brilliantly as the AMC playmaker. At the moment, I'm mid table with hardly nothing to fight for. I had a nice FA cup run, in which saw an ending in 5th round against Bolton at home (7 HOF points there).

The Other Dogs

After tonight's session I'm tied with Steve's Plymouth, an amazing turnaround considering before Monday's session I was in relegation zone and Steve in playoff zone. Steve's been unlucky with his young side, after a great but surprising start to the season. He has seen his club declining from playoff brilliance to mid table mediocre. I was behind Joe before Monday, but I've gone past him and then some. Due to Ireland national team playing the 2nd leg in EURO qualification he was missing tonight. He needs to step on the gas to stay clear of relegation, but I think he's around 17-18th place. Paul has done well with Morecambe. He came to Pirelli this week and went back with 3 points in his pocket, something most managers this week have been unable to do. He has improved steadily and is heavily involved in playoff battle in league 1. Media predicted him 23rd, but Paul has showed that nothing is out of reach for him. Some of his signings have been nothing short of brilliant and he has players everywhere in the player stats columns. He still can compete for auto-promotion, but lets not jinx it yet.

The league 2 dogs have had rather quiet time (if you can ever call Mike quiet), but Mike is in line for his promotion. He has struggled at times (and isn't shy about telling us). Jamie has been very unspectular in mid table. New dog, Andy has his Gateshead side really struggling at 24th in league 2. He's adjusted really well to the clan, but still has some adjusting to do in league 2. Lucky for him only 2 teams are relegated from league 2, but at the moment he's really struggling. He has only found 1 win in his first 16 games has the manager of Gateshead.

In Blue Square Premier it has been a two dog race all season. Stu has Luton town leading the league but Matt sniffing around at 2nd place. Matt has taken his job security up to being untouchable. As usual Stu takes the banter straight to his rival, probably easing the pressure of himself. His Luton side is a big club at the BSP level and he knows the pressure is on him, "No up, no job".

We've gone through managers and we're only 9 dogs at the moment (we always have 10 managers).

[Dig_Dog]

As the race for the Blue Square Premier Title heats up, and Stuart's Luton are seeing Matt's Barnet eat up nearly all of their 10 point lead, Stuart has been showing the signs of pressure in his post match interviews:

Stuart: “When you do that with footballers like he said about Newport… I’ve kept really quiet, but I’ll tell you something: he went down in my estimation when he said that – we have not resorted to that. But I’ll tell ya – you can tell him now if you’re watching it – we’re still fighting for this title, and he’s got to go to Dartford and get something, and… and I tell you honestly, I will love it if we beat them – love it.”

Just remember Stuart - No Up, No Job!