The Underdogs

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt -AFC Wimbledon

With an impromptu session tonight to finish the season, we are 4 games away from stardom. In just under 2 years I have transformed this BSQ Premier Club into a title challenging team, unfortunately for us Rotherham are far ahead but we sit proudly in 2nd, way over our prediction of 14th. We need just 2 wins from the 4 games to guarantee promotion to League 1 and then the real challenge starts. Last year we werent really good enough to get promoted but this year we have a superstar striker in Milon (34 goals in the League!!!) and a very good defence. My 1st choice XI doesnt include any loan signings altho at the minute I have 12 at the club!!!!

Fingers crossed tonight for a good few games and promotion...

[Dig_Dog]

We finished just short of our target of completing a season every 2 weeks. At the end of play last night we were 4 games shy of the end of the regular season. Therefore, with 4 games plus playoffs. In the BlueSquare Premier ene of Stuart or Matt will take the title whilst the other will have go through the playoffs. In League 2 Mike will hopefully go straight up, but he may drop back into the playoffs. In League 1, Paul is in the plaoff positions but could still go up automatically or drop out all together. Therefore, we're set for at least 7 maybe 8 games in total and we weren't going to play that many afterhours. Thus, we have arranged an impromptu season to finish the season off.

Let's look at how everyone is doing:

Paul - superb from the west country bumkin. He's really taken off and could be set for back to back promotions. Hong Kong Phooey.

Johannes - another superb season as he turned a struggling team right round and eased relegation fears and has gone past me at such speed he's now out of sight! Deputy Dawg.

Steve - the disasterous collapse continues for me, but my position looks to have plateued in a respectable 14th. I have major work to do in the summer. Roobarb (& custard).

Joe - Joe's had a solid season doing better than predicted and keeping well out of trouble. Old Yeller.

Mike - another one who has really turned the corner. An excellent surge in form and Mike should join us in League 1 next season. Scrappy-Doo (scooby-doo).

Jamie - pulled clear of relegation and is now looking to push on or move up. Huckleberry Hound.

Andy - the new dog is struggling badly but this may be due to his overly complex 3 at the back tactics which won't work this far down. Dogtanian (& the muskehounds).

Stuart - has choked at the end and handed Promotion to Matt. Can he go up via the playoffs and will he keep his job? Muttley (wacky races).

Matt - Matt has really hunted Stu down and killed him off in the home straight. An excellent season as he is set to bounce back in style. Brain (inspector gadget).

Barry - on the dole and licking his wounds. Snoopy (peanuts)

[matt 23]

Matt - Barnet

Well been a very intresting season after thinking i was out off the title race at end of febuary being 10 points behind Luton i managed to hunt them down with 4 games to go i was a point in front but credit to Stu he kept on going and his side delivered in the end and beat by 3 points after my side lost 3 off my last 4 matches which was just unacceptable, I would hope we will go up via the playoffs but in this form you never know.

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt - AFC Wimbledon

Well we did it!!! We have exceeded even my expectations by finishing 2nd in the league and grabbing an automatic promotion berth. At the start of the season I would have been happy for a place in the playoffs, but after the 1st half we excelled. We were scoring for fun (finished top scorers in the league with 96), which was mainly due to Dimtri Milon deciding that he did know where the net was and finished the season with 35 goals in the league.

Now the hard work starts, being as 4 other humans now have a years advantage on me, but in essence all I'm really looking for next year is stay clear of relegation, which I feel is going to be harder than it looks. I am pretty sure that my wage budget will not increase too much as I lost over 250k last year ( even tho I must have played over 50 friendlies throughout the season) and I am not particularly sure were we are losing that money as I have only bought 1 player (Dale Bennett for 50k over 48months), we do have an outstanding loan of 625k which I am sure doesn't help but the repayments are not massive.

I have already agreed to sign 3 players. A str who should be a lot better than Milon, a Brazlian RB and a Portuguese AMC. Shouldn't need to buy many other players as I will just plug the gaps with a few loan signings that should hopefully get me through the season.

The Others

Paul: Amazing. Somehow seems to be able to get quality players into Morecambe, this season hes got Frederico Laurito comin in for free from Udinese

Steve: Poor season in the end considering the start he had. Will be desperate to finish ahead of me next season no matter what.

Johannes: Solid season after his assman nearly wrecked it completely, expect another midtable finish next year

Joe: As ever not spectacular, but didnt get relegated, so job done for this year.

Jamie: Picked up towards the end of the season after a tough start, again I expect to finish midtable next year.

Andy: Picked a very tough club, then lost 90% of the fixtures. Hopefully should be battling for promotion next year.

Stu: Rightly got promoted as he has the biggest club in lower leagues. Expect him to finish top 8 next year.

Matt: Blew the chance of auto-promotion in the last 2 games, but his team seem more settled. Expect him to stay up with ease.

Baz: Well hopefully he will get a job soon....

[welshguy21]

Final Tables for season 2

League One

League Two

BSP Premier

[welshguy21]

Jamie - Macclesfield

After more or less a complete squad rebuild in the summer i had high hopes of sneaking a playoff position this season but any chance of that was ended with just one win in our first 12 league games. My tactic that did ok with poor players last season just failed all round with goals being shipped in with my strikers drawing blanks.

After a bit of tinkering i have managed to steady the ship and after xmas we only lost in 3 games and climbed to 17th position which is where we ended last season but we have gained 4 points on last seasons total. Pre season has started and i've managed to bring in much needed new fullbacks and let alot of players leave due to high wage demands.

Target for this season is another mid table position after the huge cuts even this would be an achievement as my board have cut my wage budget from 19k a week down to 12k which i'm well over with a tiny squad due to the players i released. So i will need to be active in the loan market to give me a more balanced squad to have any chace of hitting my target or look to move on to a club that has the fan base to be able to build the club and move through the divisions.

[Johannes]

Rob Jones - Burton Albion

Another week of football finished. Currently we're in season 3 and around 15 league games finished. I had a rough pre-season where due to technical issues (Steve's connection) and work commitments I missed almost all pre-season, only joining in end of july. I managed to get a few good short term loans (Suso for the 3rd season, Shelvey, Spearing, Bueno) and also a few decent players. Signed 16 players in the window (mostly just cheap youngsters as my local youngsters were appalling. We all know that championship is one of the best leagues in Europe, and my team just isnt ready for it yet. However, in league 1 Mike's AFC Wimbledon has had a good start and is in playoff contention. However it's still early days. I had a good start to the season, and winning N. Forest away in league cup was a highlight. But then, I had a horrible spell in which I couldn't find a win in around 10 games, with 6-1 loss to Jamie's Macclesfield in JPT, albeit a **** cup, being a disgraceful result. Not taking anything away from Jamie, his club looks ready for promotion now after two disappointing seasons for the Welsh-born manager. I'm now just above relegation i believe. Here's a few points:

* Tactic: I've been using 4-1-2-1-2 narrow as it suits my players and Paul has used it the whole time with good result. I also feel its easier to get natural DM and AMC because the market demand isn't as strong for these players as MC and MR/ML. However, I've had such a rough spell this week that I've decided to go back for 4-4-2, favorite 4-4-1-1 and/or 4-1-2-1-2 wide. However, I really need more wingers and I have plenty of AMC. Most likely I'm going to use Suso on left wing and Nikon el Maestro (love that name) as AMC. I will have to loan a wing player now.

* Defense: My defense just isn't good enough. My full backs blossomed last season playing 4-1-2-1-2 but they're playing like crap now. I have a young squad so I signed a leader, 31 year old Dan Murray who has played like ****. He might just be too slow and clumsy.

* Lack of goals upfront from new striker: I bought (!) a striker from Sheff Utd and he hasnt been scoring. Maybe he's not getting the service like he needs, but Bueno's scoring like crazy, most due to his Walcott-like pace.

* Club's stature: Despite bringing tiny Burton to league 1 I'm only attracting 950 season ticket holders (up from 400 from season 1). This club just isnt ready for anything more than league 1 at the moment.

* I have a 18 year old frenchman who oozes class. Constantly attracting premiership sides attention. He's signed a new 3 year deal, but cant see myself holding on to him next summer. I'm hoping for a big cash offer for him, million pound absolute minimum plus fat clauses.

* Getting another youngster next January. A center back with a few fogged attributes, but he looks really nice.

* This season might just be another adjusting season for me.

* Most likely I'm giving Burton another 2 full seasons, before really looking for other options. Have looked at the job openings once in a while and Reading and Barnsley jobs have tempted me, without me actually going after it. But i'm worried this club is just too small.

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Plymouth

2012/3

The season started so well as I've said above before nose diving. Come the end of the season I was able to stop the descent and find a bit of form and settle in midtable, finishing 15th. I was some 18 points off the play-offs and 37 points off an automatic promotion place that I had held after a 1/3 of the season. This highlights just how badly the team had done.

My main concern in the summer was, as always, my finances. The club is still in a terrible state whereby the loan repayments are bleeding us dry. To combat this I went to Mike extremes and organised a load of revenue inducing friendlies. Further, I sold my two best players - Ben Mee (£500k to Abderdeen) and Sanchez Watt (£250k to Birmingham). By the end of the summer I had £1.9m in my bank. Yes £1,900,000 in credit in the Plymouth Argyle bank account. I was given none of this to spend and the board again reduced my wage bill so eventually I was able to stretch it back to where it had been the previous season. I tried to offload as many of my big earners who were not automatic first teamers as possible. Including a tearful goodbye to the top scorer in my tenure, Pablo Counago. 34 year old Pablo is now back in spain with Salamanca and we wish him well and will remember him with great fondness. My promotion winning keeper Elliot Parish has joined Stu's Luton revival on a free. Simon Walton left for Torquay after failing to make the step up and wanting too big a wage to sit on the bench. Simon Jelen was released. Samba Kanouté raised £10k by joining Chesterfield.

I did my usual trick of signing every decent youngster my scouts recommended. Major signings included: Michael Paton from Aberddeen (LW, Str), Ben Gordon (LB) James McPake (DC), Chris Martin (Str), Luke Garbutt (LB), and Sam Johnstone (Gk). all arrived for free. A trio joined on loan from Arsenal - Rhys Murphy (Str - for his second season), Ryo Miachi (L/RW), and Criag Eastwood (DM).

So far I am pleased to be in midtable after the season I had last year. The top players we lost have not been replaced. McGivern should be every bit as good as Mee but he is really failing to prove this. Ryo did a good job of replacing Watt, but he's now left following the end of his 3 month spell, and we are lacking as a result. Murphy is linking well with midfield and is a focal point for the attacks. But the real success story is 13 goal Kieran Agard, who has really shone this season and left new signing Chris Martin firmly on the bench. Our weakness is one of the worst defences in the league. Consider that in the first half of last season we were tighter than the proverbial nun's genetallia, we really have slipped and I see we have conceded one less than we did in the first 18 games of last season in only 11 games. What's going wrong at the back? The centre-backs have really struggled so far, both for games and for form and both average between 6.5 and 6.75. At fullbacks it's a question of Gordon starting at LB as Bidwell and Hélan have been appalling, whilst Garbutt was even worse on his debut. Comely and Spillane have been better on the right. We really need to gel the centre-backs into an effective partnership, as well as improving the defence with tactical tweaks. Sam Johnstone has been a disaster between the sticks and now it is Daniel Meineke who is the reliable keeper. However, with a sizeable wage and a £300k valuation, he will be sold if I receive a big offer (+£500k).

I am not going to bring in any more loans and I am going to try and develop the youngsters I have and really try to grow the team. I feel there is a decent XI in there somewhere but it may take a couple of years to bear fruit, but as long as we stay midtable I will not be afraid to put my trust in the kids. Long term, I need to keep buying young, selling the stars, and servicing the debt. Plymouth have big problems and it'll only be once I get back into the championship that we will have a chance to get it under control.

The other clowns:

Mike - the modest dog is leading the pack. He's come up with good momentum and shows no sign of slowing down. He's excellent in attack but his defence is weak. If Mike can shore it up at the back then he definitely has a shot at going up. Superb for him at the moment.

Joe - is up there with Mike, and I don't see why! He's much the same as last season, but things are really clicking at the moment. Let's hope he keeps it up.

Paul - really struggled very early on, but is on a roll now and safely into midtable and past me. The maestro has handcuffs on with his finances but he's still performing magic.

Johannes - another slow out of the blocks, but he's got some excellent players. If he can figure out how to survive once they leave (loans) then he should be safe in midtable once more.

Stu - we have an other Charlton and Stu has launched a rocket. Expect to see him rise through the divisions.

Matt - going down might have been the best thing to have happened to him as he's now rising through the divisions with a plan and defying the odds.

Jamie - he was never going to let the other two have an easy ride and has somehow turned his relegation battlers into promotion chasers! Unbelievable!

If those 3 go up then that will make it 8/10 in the division above where we started within 3 seasons and really show the strength of the clan. Now let's look at the two who bring shame:

Andy - the new guy is still finding his feet but midtable is not that bad.

Barry - should be higher in the conference with Darlo, but I don't really expect him to be topping the table.

[Scarletrion]

Barry - Darlington

If there was just one word that can sum up the season so far with Darlingotn, it's inconsistent. One week, they seem to be able to have the confidence to beat anyone, the next they seem incapable of standing up, let alone beating the opposition. So at the moment, I find myself in mid-table, which is more or less where the board expect me to be. In all honesty, given the injuries we have at the moment and the lack of squad depth due to wage budget constraints, it's not too bad a position to be in. I'm hopeful that once all my players are back from injury, we can then look to start getting some consistency and start climbing up the table.

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt AFC Wimbledon

Decent start to the season where we are well in contention for the playoffs. Probably should have picked up more points so far with 2 losses to Steve and Paul (both away and both scored 2 corner goals each against me!!!) but overall I have got to be happy with my season so far.

I have a good squad and when I can field my 1st choice XI we will give anyone game. Patrik Amoah has scored 14 goals in 12 matches in all competitions and hopefully will stay fit, if he does we will have a chance of the playoffs, but already unless there is a major collapse the season goal is just to not be relegated and that already looks to be completed so early in the season.

Till next week

[matt 23]

Matt - Barnet

Well after the drama off last season and losing out on the BSP title but going up via the playoffs i kept most off the promotion team together i only got rid off the deadwood and replaced with better quality that would help me stay in this league something i failed at first time around. After a slow start to the season not winning in my first 3 games we have really push on in the league and have somewhat suprisingly find ourselves sitting 4th and only a few points off the leaders Luton, dont get me wrong tho i was not expexcting to be up there and dont think i will be come end off the season but only time will tell, we also had a good go in the league cup knocking out the Saints in 1st round 3-2 and taking Brighton to extra time losin 4-3 in the 2nd, I hope we can push on now and if still hovering around the playoffs by the end of this weeks sessions i might believe we have a chance.

[welshguy21]

End of week 1 session of Season 3

League One Tables

League Two Tables

BSP Tables

[welshguy21]

Jamie - Macclesfield

With the wage constrictions given to us this season i've had to drop the squad numbers as much as possible keeping the better players where possible to give myself a chance to put myself in the with a chance of attracting another club. Still 5k over budget with a threadbare squad but thats the risk i have to take to take the maccs anywhere.

What a start to the season we have had i've used the loan market well even to add much needed quality, though most are short term i will have to keep a steady rotation of loan players to keep us pushing the top 6 . Pick of the loans have been tate and situ the rocks at the back that we have for 6 months i'm just hoping i can tie them down for the remainder of the season.

After week 1 we are sitting 4th which i'm really pleased with as i'm looking to get as many points on the board as possible before the possibility of losing our key loan players.

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Plymouth

After a horrible start to the season we have been able to pull ourselves up the table. It has been extremely difficult and led me to find myself thinking of nothing else for most of the last two weeks. Finally we arrested the slide, we turned defeats into draws and then draws into victories. We pulled up from 19th position to 13th, but sadly, we ended with two defeats and have now slipped back to a lower position. However, we did lose to top of the table and the other was a defeat to a promotion chasing side after we played almost the whole game with 10 men.

Developments on the playing side:

Meineke - £600k bid accepted to sell my keeper.

Chris Martin - now out in the cold after he took exception to being fined for being sent off.

Finances:

I had put £2m in the bank in the summer. It's now January and there is only £500k left! Hopefully the sale of the keeper will prevent any further headaches.

I'm £10k over my wage budget. I persudaded many players to sign for me or to sign new deals on the premise that I'd "buy now, pay later". Unfortunately, now is later, and contracts are rising all accross the board!

The other clowns:

Paul - has shown again why he's the best in the clan and after struggling he's rocketed up the table to be top human as things stand. 9 out of 10

Joe - confounds me by chasing promotion with what I think is a mediocre side. 8 out of 10.

Mike - has a horrible defence, yet he is still chasing promotion. Hat's off. 9 out of 10.

Johannes - Burton really do appear to be out of their depth and Joh is doing wonders to even be keeping them away from relegation. 7 out of 10.

Matt - after going down with Barnet, few expected him to be doing anything other than consolidating this season, so how on earth is he set for automatic promotion? 10 out of 10.

Jamie - has struggled for 2 years with Macclesfield, and everyone thought this might be the year he succumbs to relegation. Nope, Jamie is top of the table. 10 out of 10.

Stuart - expected to chase promotion and he is doing that. He'll be disappointed that he's no longer top, but hopefully this is just a blip and he'll be back on it soon. 7 out of 10.

Barry - struggling still, I expected him to be top 6 at least. 5 out of 10.

Andy - finding it tough at Gateshead. Hopefully he will pick up soon. 6 out of 10.

[superstar111111]

End of week tables

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Luton Town

After not posting for 2 weeks we have alot to catch up on,

SUMMER WINDOW

When i last left you we had just won the league and was looking at the summer ahead. I started off by saying goodbye to 14 of my first team players, they were all out on contract in the summer and i knew if i had any chance of staying up then better players would have to join. Unlike my time at port vale this time i worked on my back line and then work my way forward. First of all i signed a keeper from Derby county and then went and added 2 center halfs, one was a ex swed international who was more than good enough for league 2, even at the age of 35. I went onto sign another 2 center halfs that have also done well for me this season. Then i needed a new midfield and i got abit lucky as i had signed 2 players before the season ended, one from hibs and another attacking midfielder from a small belguim side. Both have done well this season and adding darren potter on a free really saw me with one of the strongest midfields in the league. My forward line was a big problem, out of the 14 players that had gone, 4 of them were forwards and i was at a loss who to sign. I had one striker left and i do like 5 strikers in my team, i got 2 loans in from Fulham and West ham but was still short of an out and out striker, Then i found a young lad Portuguese lad called Mario Carvalho ( Remember the name ) he was only 19 but even so he looked the real deal, i signed him on a free under a 4 year deal worth 2k a week and i could not have asked more from a player, to be fair he has single handed keeped me in and around the playoffs with 30 league goals this season, and we are only in feb. His speed and is to much for any league 2 side and his power to hold off players at such a young age is outstanding. For me to keep a player like him i will need to get into the championship within 3 years or i think i will have to sell him, he is easy worth 2million now and he is easy going to be a superstar on this game. In jan i also signed neil mellor on a free and he has added to my strike force and has taken alot of pressure off my young striker.

LEAGUE SO FAR

It started so well for me i hit the ground running beating all teams that i came up against and beating them well. After 12 games i was top of the league and it was not till November 18th did things go really wrong. From being top of the league i then went onto lose 9 of the next 12 league games with my team (bar Carvalho) playing the worst football since i took over, Things had to change fast as i thought my board would start to get on my case. Lucky for me it seems i have a board who is willing to give there manager the time to turn things around after such a bad run even the players morale was starting to fall away. When things get this bad you know there is only one thing to do "BACK TO BASIC'S!!!, A flat 442 and more direct style of football, soon as i did that i played walsall and smashed them 4-0 Carvalho got a 3 and and a og helped me get my first win 13 games, The next week i had Matts barnet who i also best 3-1 at his place, I then missed a game and lost 3-1 to southend before high flying jamie came to my gaff and took me apart, his team is so strong that im not suprised how far clear he is in the league, if he dont win Manager of the year ill be shocked. I ended the week with a 1-1 draw away to crewe and found myself still in the playoffs, Im also 5 points off the top 3 so after the bad run that i have had im still in there with a shout of going up.

CUP RUN

League cup : Not really much to say about this, i went out in the first round to burnley who wacked me 5-1.

JPT : Im not a fan of the cup and went out in the Q'final, i had put my kids out for the games so i was happy with how they done, also found out i have a class act in my under 18s but thats a story for another day.

FACUP: I always aim for the 3rd round and hope for a really big team away. Well i made the 3rd round again by beating Forest green in the 1st round at home. The 2nd round i had scunthope who are a league 1 side and fighting it out at the top end of the table. I was drawn at home to i fancyed my chances, at that time i was flying myself and we took the game to them for the full 90min Carvilho got the goal in the 78min but we failed to hold on and a late goal by them saw us with a reply, I stuck a full team out in the reply but went to a 4-5-1 and we won the game 2-0 and it was the best we have placed all season. I was hoping for a big draw in the 3nd round but ended up with Millwall away and we lost 5-1 out goal came from, yep u guest it Carvilho.

MY FELLOW PROS

Mike : Great season for mike, first season in league 1 and is fighting it out for a playoff place. Its a double-edged sword for mike. It would be a great job done if he was to go up but on the other hand how on earth his team would cope in the championship is another matter all togetter.

Johanne : How is this lad doing it! Small team with burton and had one of the smallest reps to start with is now in the playoffs of league 1. at the start he found it hard but has now for his team working well. Question is can he hang on in there, and like mike if he was to go up how would that small club cope.

Paul: Yet again hes flying up the league, but like me had a bad run that cost him top spot in the league. Hes back on track now and looks like will be playing championship fooball next season.

Joe: Has done well this season but i cant help thinking he could have done alot better. Joe has not done a full session this week and has left early on each of the 3 nights because of work, and everytime he has done this his assman has let him down. If he can do full sessions then i think he will also make the playoffs.

Steve: Have to feel the lad, massive debt hanging over him, has to sell of his best players every window and has been going on a run so bad that i think most would of smashed there pc up by now. He is still hanging on in there tho and the debt is coming down. Untill then tho it just has to stay in league 1.

Jamie: like i said before without doubt odds on for manager for the year. Its one thing keep a club like Macclesfield in the league, but to walk the league like he has done with no money no rep and no fan base to talk of is simply mind blowing. Not many times a human manager kicks my arse but he did this season and hats off to him. OUTSTANDING JOB.

Matt : Me and matt have built up abit of a rivalry over the past 2 seasons, going back to the almighty scrap we had in the BSQ. Matt has also done a great job with barnet, he went down and rebuilt the side and only added to it in the summer, he has a game in hand over most in the league and if he wins that then i think he will go up, so long he dont blow up like he did the end of last season.

Andy: Seems to have found it abit hard in the non league, its a shame because he has a club that could go onto big things. The last few games tho it seems Andy has got his team playin the way he wants, maybe if he can add to his side this summer he can make a push to get back into the league.

Barry : oooooh dear, Took on a darlington side who have not dont much at all. When i played them last season they were in a mess and barry has tryed his best to turn them around it seems that the board are not willing to give him the time. Lets hope he can change it around

So thats whats been going on with me and my views of my fellow pros. Next week will get the season finished and there are so many teams fighting it out for there own little bit of glory.

More soon

[AndyFal36]

Andy - Gateshead

After taking over Gatehead at the beginning of December last season with the side in 22nd place,there seemed to be hope for the fans that the team would avoid relegation. This was not the case and the team dropped back down to the BSP largely due to tactics that were employed, were too advanced for the sub-standard 1st team I had inherited or any lower league team.

With a starting wage budget of 16k, which I was already over and struggling to offer any sort of wage to a player,things weren't looking bright for the North East side. With wins against St.Johnstone, Stenhousemuir, Berwick and Bolton pre-season was mixed bag with some heavy defeats against Very Large opposition as funds were needed.

I was relying on the players to put in better performances than they did last year but after the first 9 games it looked likely I could of become first casualty of the season after managing only 1 win and accumulating 6 points.With a few tactical tweaks and the loan signings of Tomlinson (Macclesfield) with 17 goals in 29 appearances, Stella (Morecambe) thinks started too look up for the The Tynesiders with 4 wins in 5 games but then a 3-0 defeat away to Manfsfield started a run of 9 games in all competitions which the team only manged 2 more wins, a 3-0 win over Hereford in the league and a victory over Darlington in a FA Cup Replay. With 10 league wins from 14 games mainly due to the goals from Tomlinson, and and some free transfers in the January window to bolster the squad among those the 6'3 Algerian 22yr old CD Rachid Bouhenna and the Irish 20yr old forward Alan Keegan both chipping in with some goals in their first 10 games.

Unfortunately I missed out on a few other signings due to ridiculous wage demands that the club could ill afford to pay.

With 12 games left and 7 of them away the play offs are out of reach as we are 15 points behind 6th place . The medias prediction of 13th could in the end be right come the last week of April. with the team in there highest league position of the season in 11th at the end of the week but hopefully we can continue in a good run of form and finish as high as possible.

In the cups a 3-0 home defeat v Crawley ended our FA Cup dream and 2-0 defeat against fierce rivals Bltyh Spartans halted our progress in the FA Trophy at the 3rd Round stage.

[welshguy21]

Jamie - Macclesfield

Wow what a season so far its exceeded all my expectations 11 points clear at the top with 12 remaining games.

My first eleven looked strong at the beginning of the season, but with 5 of the starting team on a short term loans and my back up squad very small due to wage restrictions, I have been waiting for the collapse that just hasnt come so far.

I've managed to rotate loan signings through the season and injuries to key players have been very few and far between.

Key loans this season :

Alan Tate CB - 6 Months followed by 5 months - Avg Rating 7.21 - 39 Apps 6 Goals

Darnell Situ CB - 6 Months - Avg Rating 7.51 - 25 Apps 7 Goals

Wayne Routledge AMR - 3 Months - Avg Rating 7.57 - 9 Apps 2 Goals

Leroy Lita ST - 3 Months followed by 5 months - Avg Rating 7.74 - 15 Apps 14 Goals

Ferre Bodde DM - 3 Months - Avg Rating 7.05 - 7 Apps 1 Goal

Cameron Park AMR/L - Season - Avg Rating 6.81 - 18 Apps 1 Goal

Luke Moore ST - 3 Months - Avg Rating 7.49 - 18 Apps 13 Goals

David Cotterill AMR - 3 Months - Avg Rating 7.27 - 13 Apps 3 Goals

Erwin Koster CB - 5 Months - Avg Rating 7.09 - 9 Apps 3 Goals

Grant McCann - 5 Months - Avg Rating 7.02 - 6 Apps 2 Goals

If i continue to stay at maccs with the resources they have then loans are going to be the lifeblood of the club, even with the success this season the fans just havnt turned up with only 55% attendance to ground capacity. The debts have grown this season we have just been lucky the board have kindly kept giving cash injections to help the cause with out loaning it to the club or i think we may have been in administration by now.

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt - AFC Wimbledon.

Well omg!!! What a storming season we are having. At the end of play this week we sit nicely in 3rd, which is way above everyones expectations, but in my opinion we are deservedly so. We can beat most teams on our day, and with Amoah banging over 33 so far this season it makes life a little easier. Also we are the top scorers in the league but we continue to struggle in defence, particularly defending corners....

My main worry is that we miss out on the 2nd automatic promotion spot and have to try our luck in the playoffs, as they are some really strong sides compared to little old us.

Transfer front we have signed 3 players to come in for free end of season, all of them will go straight into my 1st team when they get here. Also I would like to say a massive thank you to my parent club Chelsea, who managed to convince some Prem quality players to drop down and come play for us fora few months at a time, was a shame any of them wanted to return.

Looking forward to a massive week as to be the 1st one in the Championship will create some great bragging rights (esp over Stefano(even tho we are gonna finish way ahead of him))

Come on AFC

[Johannes]

Rob Jones - Burton Albion

A little update here after this week of football. We're close to the end of 3rd season, 12 games remaining in league 1. I've had a good week after a tough start to the season, but especially the last 1-2 sessions have been brilliant. My team has been playing really well, i've been scoring lots of goals. Nikon el Maestro has been brilliant as the attacking midfielder. He has been scoring and setting up goals. My defence has been playing at an acceptable level, but its still a bit shaky. At times this season I had only been thinking about the next season, but I've had a great run and suddenly i'm deep in promotion race, at 5th place. I'm 17 points from 1st, 8 points from automatic promotion. I'm hoping I can get a few loan players to strengthen my squad's depth before the final games. The league is still really close and a lot can still happen. Paul's Morecambe and Mike's AFC Wimbledon are also in this league's promotion contention. Paul has been hit with injury to his star striker and he's been struggling a little bit, but Mike's still going strong. I'm not optimistic about auto-promotion. There are loads of really good sides in league 1 so playoffs will be tough. Until next time.

[matt 23]

Matt - Barnet

After being absent for half the sessions this week due to work a special mention and not much off an update by myself between me and my ass man we have manage to keep Barnet in the promotion places for most off the season ot expecting to get promoted i would be dissapointed not to get at least the playoffs this season it would seem that Jamie and Maccs are a shoe in for the title but Stu could gather a bit off pace in the final few games which could harm my promotions push.

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt - AFC Wimbledon

Well we nearly managed it, a playoff final defeat to a very strong Morecambe side is nothing short of exceptional in my 1st season in League 1. Its just a shame that we couldnt fulfill that mega longshot as we were predicted 24th and relegation favourites.

We now have a tough challenge ahead with 3 more humans joining League 1, and Burnley and Reading being relegated its going to make getting out of this division a very tough acheivement.

Fellow managers:

Johannes: Has a quality side, and has some quality players coming in for free. I expect him to be promoted next year. It must also be said that I beat him 4 times out of 4 this year

Joe: Started brilliantly but faded quickly to a safe midtable posistion. Expect more of the same next year.

Steve: Towards the end of teh season he started to pick up points consistantly and finished ouyt of the playoffs by 8 or so points. If he gets off to a decent start I expect he will near the playoffs EOS. Just to clarify, I finished ahead of him, something that he stated at the start of the season 'would never happen'

Paul: Got promoted, so job done, other than that a season to forget as his team didnt really perform and where very lucky to get into the playoffs on goals scored(not goal difference). He beat me 3 times throughout the season scoing 12(IIRC) corner goals!!! Expect to stay in the champ, if only just.

Jamie: Came from nowhere to win League 2. Can he keep them up?

Matt: Back to back promotions! not much else to be said, should join Joe in mid-table safety.

Stu: Another back to back promotion, but he has a much bigger club, with a nice big stadium. I expect him to be fighting for the playoffs

Andy: Solid season, will now need to make strides to get up the leagues before he is too far behind

Barry: Sacked again. Will he ever be able to keep a job for more than 18months?

[Johannes]

End of season 3 - Start of season 4

Burton Albion

For some reason I wasnt able to upload my screenshots, either via imageshack or uploading it from computer, but anyways.

What a season it was! Promotions, playoffs and excitement. This season had it all. After a poor start to the season I really found some form and was storming up the table. Me, Mike (AFC Wimbledon) and Paul (Morecambe) were in playoff race and hoping for auto-promotion. The last games were thrilling, as Sheff Wed tried to hold on to their 2nd place while me and Mike challenging them. Meanwhile Paul was struggling to reach playoffs. In the last game auto-promotion was out of reach for me and Mike and it was only about seedings in the playoffs. With me, Mike and Scunthorpe secured and Paul fighting Coventry for the last spot. I have had problems playing Mike the whole season, constantly loosing to him, so I really wanted Scunthorpe instead. Despite me winning the last game, Mike didnt win his last game and therefore Scunthorpe were 3rd, Mike 4th and i was 5th. Paul was 5th on goals scored, not goal difference. He deserved it though after loosing on playoffs last season, but he was a bit lucky. He was drawn to Scunthorpe, who in my opinion were the weakest team. I lost 5-3 on agg to Mike, and nothing more to say about that really. I had injuries, but more importantly i just could not cope with AFC. Meanwhile Paul was giving Scunthorpe a real beating. Paul then won Mike in the finals. So Paul was promoted.

Paul - Morecambe

4-1-2-1-2 Narrow

Like me and Mike he has a club with poor reputation and with poor infrastructure. We also have similar problems where our defence needs strengthening. But he a good midfield and very good attackers. His team looks like scoring every time they cross the midfield line. Paul got promoted to Championship. After being the clan's best manager so far he struggled a bit in the 3rd season and looked like missing out on playoffs. Next season will be really tough, but he should be okay.

Mike - AFC Wimbledon

4-2-3-1 deep

He had a good season. He really played a number on me. Beating me 4 times in the league. He's hoping for auto-promotion next season. It will be tough, with the likes of Reading in league 1 and some tough human teams newly promoted. But he will be right up there.

Steve - Plymouth

4-4-2

After a decent start to the season he's been struggling recently and his finding his club at mid table.

Joe - Bradford

Mid table.

Jamie - Macclesfield

After two seasons of disappointments where he was struggling in league 2, he's now comfortably at the top in league 2 and looks in good shape for automatic-promotion. I've noticed Jamie has been loaning similar and same players we had been using earlier with such a good result. He's also relying more on pace now (which works wonder in league 2) and that's one of the reasons he's doing so well at the moment. His loan players have been the key to his success with him getting the likes of Leroy Lita, Wayne Routledge

Stuart - Luton

After a good first season in Blue Square Premier (BSP) he's done a good job in league 2 at getting promoted in his first season in league 2. He's signed some quality players. I dont think he will get promoted again straight away, might need another season, but look for him to be close to playoffs or in playoffs.

Andy - Gateshead

Needs to get promoted next season.

[AndyFal36]

Andy - Gateshead

After a poor start to the season Gateshead failed to reach the play offs so we will have to settle for another season in the BSP with Barry who once again is on the dole following his sacking by Darlington. With only 4 draws in the league the last coming in October it was either win or lose with The Tynesiders last season, so hopefully this season the team can gain precious points by turning defeats into draws or wins. The season finished on a downer after my ass was left in control and managed to lose the last 2 games only scoring 1 and conceding 8 in the process.

The team should be looking for promotion this year by either means but the media disagree with this, with their prediction dropping from last years 13th to 15th this year, and a decent cup run in the FA Trophy.

Will we need to raid the loan market again this year with no transfer budget and having nearly all my wage budget done.

Well done to Jamie for MOTY.

[welshguy21]

End of season 3 tables

L1

L2

BSP

[Dig_Dog]

Steve - Plymouth

Analysis of the end of the season

It was a strange season for me. I started having had no option but to sell and amongst others I sold my defensive rock, the young centre back Ben Mee. He was a 5* defender and I had a ready made replacement in McGivern. He was a similar type of player big and strong, but slow. More of a stopper. Therefore the two could never play together and so I hoped that McGivern would flourish in Mee’s place. I was very wrong as whilst McGivern had all the attributes and the coaches gave him 4* in current ability, he simply just did not play that well, and more than that, at times he was a liability. Along side him I tried a variety of partners. My best and most experienced centre back is Oliver Lancashire, but he was often on the bench early on as I wanted someone with a bit more pace to cover McGivern. This tended to be the excellent young swede Johan Hammar. Johan played well at times but in combination with McGivern could be a liability. Eventually, I secured Eastmond on loan from Arsenal and went with Lancashire and McGivern and my old defensive prowess returned. At full back, my preferred choice was Bidwell on the right and Gordon on the left. Gordon played consistently well and was a real star man. Bidwell was more in and out of the team as he suffered from injuries and lapses in form. Comely covered for him.

In midfield, Comely started in the holding role, Fletcher had a go there, but things improved once Eastmond arrived and offered greater protection. Early on we were a much better team with pacy wingers on loan from Arsenal. By the end of the season, I had added Chamberlain on loan and in tandem with Mason we were a threat once more. Fletcher and Young took turns in the middle, depending on whether or not I needed a second ball winner or a playmaker.

Upfront, Agard’s goals dried up but he still smashed 23 home in the leaqgue. Murphy continued to play well, when fit. At the end of the season we brought in Adobe on loan and he picked up where Agard had been earlier in the season.

We were losing too many games in the middle part of the season and were constantly on losing runs. Eventually, I was able to shore the defence up, as I explained above, and those defeats became draws. Many, many draws. I ended the season with so many draws that I had the most draws in the whole division. We even managed to go 3 or 4 months unbeaten finally losing in the last game. Had we sorted ourselves out earlier we may have even challenged the others for a playoff spot as we were only 2 wins back before our final day defeat dropped us from 9th to 13th.

[Dig_Dog]

The Summer

For me, summer is a time I dread. Every summer the board cuts my wage budget, after I had carefully built it up over the course of a season and all my players get a 20 or 30% wage increase. Others may go to a much increased wage during the course of the season, as a condition of playing so many games. These factors combined with a match highest earner clause, saw two of my players end up on £6,250 per week. I was left paying out £46k a week but only allowed to spend £25k. You may say I had a serious problem. That and the fact, that as always, I needed to raise serious capital to keep the impending financial doom at bay, meant I was not a happy bunny over the summer. I did slash my wage budget but did so by selling half my first team, including McGivern, Mason, Johnstone, and Comely and I also sold 5* 17 year old Greasly for £150k and a 50% of future sell on fee. My team was ripped to bits, I had about £500k to show for it, I was still at a dangerous level over my wage budget and had a depleted side and no chance of signing anyone. In the end I had to keep selling and releasing decent players for next to nothing just to get my wages down and my wage budget up. Meanwhile, fat cats Agard and Gordon are still on the books, and that cheeky bar steward Agard wants to be paid money to leave!!

Eventually, I was able to tie down a few key players to new deals, such as Oliver Lancashire. I then brought a load in on frees, promoted some youth and secured some loans. Suddenly, I have a decent side and I’m confident that I’m finally a better side than the one that came up two years ago. After selling players ever since, I had feared that I would never get a team as good as the one I assembled to come up ever again, and I would be stuck in a perpetual cycle of signing freebies and youth and then selling them on just to keep the sharks at bay.

Finances

People really do need to get some perspective here. Plymouth are a small club. Their greatest ever achievement was getting to the Championship a few years ago. They have only got to the second tier twice in their history. They are the only club in the western peninsula, and so have a good fan catchment area, and yes they are top 8 for average attendance in our division and have one of the bigger grounds, but let’s not exaggerate, this ground and this fan base would be bottom 6 in the championship. This a small club and it is at it’s natural level in League One. Now we get onto the state of affairs off the pitch. We are completely screwed. We really are screwed. Are people taking notice? We are screwed. We lose £1.0m a year. Yes £1.0m a year. It’s up to me to find that money every season through player sales. If I do not find that money then we do not get a board handout, we go under. When my balance drops to £500k in credit (that is we have £500k of our money in our account – not that we are £500k overdrawn) then the panic alarms start and our status drops to very insecure financially. We are a hair’s breadth from administration. Are people taking notice of this? We are completely and utterly screwed. I cannot contemplate keeping my best players, you will see no hissy fits from me that my board just sold my best player. I am usually the one selling him just to keep afloat. I have raised £500k this summer and will need to find the same again in January.

I have the hardest job in clan. It is nigh on impossible. There is no realistic chance of ever turning this around, unless I do this for 16 years more! So can I stop reading about how I’m struggling or how I should be doing better. My club should have gone bust long ago. If I had not got out of League 2, I would have gone bust already. I have no chance of ever going up, because if I start well, then I’ll only have to sell in January anyway.

I am going to be lower half of the table again. Of course I am. How can I not be? This is one team doomed to go bust, and as much as I keep putting plasters on the financial wounds, they are terminal and one summer will come where I cannot find £500k and the club will go into administration. This is the situation people. Expect me to fail, not to go up. It’s a wonder I haven’t done so already.

Total Transfer Income:

2011/2 £150,000

2012/3 £900,000

2013/4 £1,900,000

2014/15 £750,000

[Dig_Dog]

The start to the new season

Well as expected we sit in midtable. Our new star striker lasted only 45 minutes before one of matt’s brutes snapped his ankle and he’s ecpected to be out for 4 months. We got a draw with Matt despite being much the better side. We then won a couple, both impressive and unexpected wins, before ending the night with a defeat and a draw. I’m doing well at the moment. I have Murphy and Eastmond on loan once more. The defence has 3 promising young additions at centre half and if one of them can gel with Lancashire, then perhaps we can push for a surprising play-off bid. Hammar looked ok, but had a nightmare when we were defeated. The new keeper looks top notch, but he missed 2 games when internationals robbed us of 7 players and saw a patched up reserve side easily bettered. I finished the night by introducing Rouger to the fans as he comes in to replace my other new striker who currently lies in traction in hospital following Matt’s assault.

The other clowns:

Paul – amazing start again! If he get’s into the prem this season then we may as well stop playing and spend our nights worshipping this living FM god. 14th.

Mike – I think that he did superb last season. I expect him to suffer from difficult second season syndrome this season though. However, he should still be top 10. 7th.

Johannes – he’s not a happy bunny at the moment and he is looking at the exit. He started badly but once again is moving up the table. I expect play-offs again and Joh to stay. 6th.

Joe – again he’s struggling, but he’s got no money to put things right. Maybe Joe needs a change in transfer policy and should buy some kids. I predict 16th (again).

Stuart – his Luton side are still sizable even for this division and whilst he really should expect to be no higher than midtable, I have faith that Stu will still steer them to a top half finish. 8th.

Jamie – he’s had an amazing start, but tells me he has massive debts. I do not think his side looks too good. I expect him to go into one of those nose dives that I have experienced too often. I predict 18th.

Matt – from our game, despite his point, I think Matt needs to improve. He’s got a tough season ahead of him. He’s done a marvellous job so far and I expect he will continue to defy the odds. 17th.

Andy – finally got things going at Gateshead and is sitting top of the table. I don’t know if he can stay there, but I’d like to think he will. 3rd.

Barry – he’s took on a tough job at Boston. Hopefully he will last the year. 20th.

[Dig_Dog]

A quick look at four of Plymouth's best:

Here's one of the £6k a week men. Ben Gordon a free signing after he was released by Chelsea:

Gordon is prinicipally a left back but is almost as good on the right. He's a solid player, and balances well with a more attacking fullback on the other side. He's one year left on his contract, and unless he halves his wages, this will be his last season at Plymouth and we are actively looking to sell him as soon as possible.

Next up is my second best left back, who is so good, I've had to convert him to a right back to make sure he gets a game! Jake Bidwell was signed on a free transfer after Everton released him.

Thirdly, comes the only player I have bought. Oliver Lancashire. A £26,000 signing from Walsall, and like me, he is now in his 4th season at Plymouth.

Oliver is solid but not spectacular and he has obvious strengths and flaws.

Finally, the new star man of the team is Quentin Rouger. I've been after this lad for some time, but it was not until we got the wage bill right down, and Quentin became more desperate, that we were able to get him to talk to us. and thankfully he's now signed. He adds obvious pace to our front line and in combination with loan signing Rhys Murphy (now in his third straight year on loan from Arsenal) a crafty deep lying attacker, they should provide an awesome combination

[Dig_Dog]

THE LATEST HALL OF FAME POINTS STANDINGS AS PER THE END OF SEASON THREE:

If you are interested in how we count the points for the HoF then please go to our website, and scroll to the bottom of the Hall of Fame page. http://theunderdogclan.ezweb123.com/#/hall-of-fame/4555342510

[welshguy21]

Jamie - Macclesfield

Summer arrived and as last season success was based on loans that in the main are not available this season i have had to raid the bargain basement to pick up whatever we could to give the maccs a chance at survival going into league two. Here is who we brought in with Dedic being a player i have high hopes for in the up and coming seasons.

Big season ahead for me at macclesfield as the crowds have finally arrived with an avg attendance so far this season of 5222 which is close to capacity at the moss rose.

We have sold over 1700 season tickets which is nearly double last season as the crowds gather to watch the gung ho style we have adopted over the past 18 months.

And gung ho is the only way we can play as we have one of the poorest squads in the league so we have to play to our strengths which is the pacy duo of Dedic and Couberra who have managed to step up to league one in style with 9 goals between them in the opening 4 games they have played, that coupled with a hard working midfield has seen the maccs hit the ground running in the league and the league cup where a tough fought game with premiership team norwich seen a 4-4 draw after et followed by a maccs win on pens and a place in the 3rd round at Sheffield Wednesday.

As good as our start i cant see us keeping up this pace as the squad hasnt got any depth and 2k over the wage budget for the season so any further signings are unlikely. So the loan market is where i have been searching and where we had so much success last season but this time around there doesnt seem to be the interest from the players i have enquired about that could make a real difference to our squad.

So we will soldier on with what we have and see where that takes us.

[welshguy21]

Here are the tables from the end of this weeks session.

Championship

League One

Blue Square Premier

[Johannes]

End of week post - Burton Albion

The last game day of the week (wednesday) was a tough one for me. The pre-season wasn't easy as didnt manage to improve the team's defense enough. I'm far too often loosing transfer targets to teams in lower divisions and i can't get the domestic players I want. So my key players are non-UK players and some new signings might need long adjusting period.

The board accepted an offer for my star 19 year old centre back. The offer of 1m pound was one I would have negotiated to 2m, as I didnt need to sell him and I'm sure i could get premier league teams interested. Also, it was in August and not easy getting replacement. However, I decided on getting experienced but cheap replacement and went for one adding something new to this team. The board's decision on selling my star defender along with me being really unhappy about the lack of support from the fan's has made me more frustrated. The team really lacks the infrastructure and support. Despite being in playoffs last season there are only 950 season ticket holders. This club hasn't got enough potential. I declared interest in Reading's post (League 1) which might be available soon, but i'm not sure that was a good decision. I'm also following the situation at Coventry (also League 1). I'm starting to see my future outside Burton-upon-Trent at the moment. At times last session i was thinking about resignation but that was just the frustration talking. But if I wont get promoted this season or next season I will find me another club. I will consider available jobs until then, but only top league 1 clubs and championship clubs.

The season didnt start well, as i lost twice to Jamie's Macclesfield, in league cup and in the league. I also lost my first league game, at home to Leyton Orient. Those 3 losses where really tough to take as I have much better players than them. But since then i've won 2 in a row in the league and 1 in JPT cup. The morale is back up after being really low in the start of the season. My defense isn't good enough for auto-promotion, and I've struggled to get good defenders on loan. But my attack is quite good and I should be able around playoffs. But I'm not getting my hopes up. The other lads do have good teams and I've struggled with Jamie and Mike recently. Mike will pick up the pace. Stuart has a good team. Jamie has had a great start. It's still early days. But next week will be tough for me due to work and I'm hoping my assman will not fcuk things up. I will probably miss 2-3 games each session next week. That might prove very costly.

[FFCStu1428]

Stuart - Luton Town

WOW what a week for luton town. When we last spoke i was hanging onto the last playoff spot and was just starting to find my form again. I went into the week thinking if i could get a playoff place then i would have a real chance of going up. The week started with a 3-3 draw at home to 3rd place harlepool i was 2-0 down and went 3-2 up in the 88th only for them to get a 92minute goal that almost saw my laptop fly out the window, After spitting the dummy ( not on mic thankgod or the lads would have really took the ****) i got my head down and played 2 dmc away from home and a normal 442 at home, this seemed to work a treat and i won my next 5 games, i then lost to notts country 1-0, how i have no idea it was just one of them games. The final 5 games of the season saw me 12 points off 3rd place but also 5 clear ahead of the team outside of the playoffs, But i did note that jamie and matt and myself had to play Bristol Rovers and if them lads could beat them i would go into our game with Rovers only 6 points off them with 3 games to. I was now set on looking out for other scores as i knew my team was flying and knew that i would beat any team that i came up against.

THE FINAL 5

I beat aldershot 4-0 and jamie beat Rovers and the gap was down to 9 points, could matt now help hes rival out and beat rovers, DAMN STRIGHT he could, as he wacked Rovers i went away to york and won 3-0. The gap was down to 6 with 3 games to go. NEXT UP BRISTOL ROVERS v LUTON TOWN. This is what it came down to a win for me here and i would be 3 points off them with 2 games left and Rovers had to go away to Hartlepool so i had a chance. I set my team up as normal with 2 DMC , and it worked!, rovers had all the ball but could not break me down, and with only 10 minutes to go carvalho broke the offside trap and thumped the ball into the top right corner, YESSSSSSSSSS!!!. GAME ON GAME ON!! was the cry as the ref blew for fulltime. 2 games to go and its my last home game of the season Rovers are away to hartlepool this is the chance ive wanted win my game against Crawley and hope that Rovers lose. We make a flying start and go 1-0 up in the first 10 minutes, seconds later a Cheeer goes up in the home end HARTLEPOOL 1 UP was the cry, the buzz round the ground soon got to the players and we pushed on again, attack after attack wave after wave of luton pressure could we get a 2nd before half time, just as i said it to myself Mellor goes down in the box PENALTY!!! as the ref points to the spot the ground goes nuts!! this is it 3rd place But no mellor hits the post and it the follow up is blasted over as the ref blows for half time. 2nd half we came out flat and Crawley took the game to us, then after 65 minutes we give away a penalty but my keeper saves it, with that save it seemed to fire us up again, we took the game back to crawley and with only SECONDS to go crawley get a corner, from the corner the REF!! somehow saw a push and gives a 2nd Penalty and crawley scores 1-1 FT. With only one game to go we are 2 point behind with Rovers at home to Stevenage and we go to Dags and Red. There was still a chance as we were 1 goal better off than Rovers so a draw would do it aslong as we won And thats just what happend We went to the dags and won 2-3 and Rovers Drew 0-0 at home to Stevenage sending us up into lg1. WHAT A SEASON WHAT A WAY TO END IT, WHAT A PARTY!!.

SUMMER SIGNINGS

Was a very busy summer for me after the madness of the last day of the season, we had lost 6 key players whos wage demands were out of the question below is a list of my summer signings.

Andrew Davies - FREE

A Back up signing DC who will fit in nice if players get hurt

Oliver Jennings - FREE

A young superstar who has what it takes to make it all the way to the premierleague

Dennis Malura - Free St Pauli

27 year old right back who is a championship player in League 1

Thomas Van Der Haegen - Free Zulte Waregem

Super quick Left winger who got hurt in pre season and is out for 5 months. Will make a real impact when fit

Luca Scapuzzi - Free Man City

Top striker who signed for me on a 3 year deal only 22 years old and has a bright future

Abdi Ibrahim - Free Man city

Midfielder playmaker who signed for me over 2 championship sides.

Herita Ilunga - Free Hull city

Was lucky to sign him from hull and will do a fine job in lg1

Ricardo Tavares - Free

Portugal Under 19s star who is a DC a monster of a player, ill be lucky to hang onto him

Paulo Azevedo - Free

My signing of the season also Portugal under 19 star who has just been called upto the under 21's. Wont be to long before premierleague clubs come for him.

Corentin Rioult - Free

French under 19 star who will also be a in the premiership in a few years time, lets hope its with me.

Paul Craig & Mateusz Piontek - loan Man utd

2 players from my feeder club one a left back the other a striker, Very good future ahead.

Season so far

4 league games played 1 win 3 draws so far with some big clubs already out the way im hope to move up the table soon. 15th so Far.

League cup : Good league cup run, beat Championship ipswich 1-0 away from home and only lost to watford in extra time. Also a 70 yard goal helped them on there way. YES 70 YARDS!!

So thats you all upto date now.

More soon.

WE ARE LUTON TOWN SAY WE ARE LUTON TOWN!!

[dcu223]

Stuart - Luton Town

WE ARE LUTON TOWN SAY WE ARE LUTON TOWN!!

[superstar111111]

This is the match stats from the game that we should have lost agaisnt the biggest moaner in the clan (especially in games against me).

Answers on a postcard to who you think should have won. BTW his 1 ccc and 1 of his shots on target was a penalty.

[Jack92P]

So that proves it, Mike is the better manager!

Steve, what have you got to say for yourself ?!

[dcu223]

Well Done Mike

When Mike leaves the game maybe you can win some games

[alvaan]

Well done on the game, awful picture making lad! Get a grip and sort it out!

And Stevo, Stevo, Stevo. What's going on mate?

[Postman pat]

seems like mike deserved to win

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt

Pretty so so week, Monday we were sh*t. Tuesday we started in 17th and rocketed up the table finishing the session 4th, winning 8 straight games. Weds we were normal, 3 wins 3 draws 3 losses.....

I have had to sell a load of players as they were just eating up wages while I have pretty much kept my same starting XI all year. I have really struggled to replace Amoah, who scored 38 goals last year, as I can't get one striker to perform every game, Marcos Nunes was sold over my head for 625k, after scoring 14 goals in 17 starts so I now find myself back to square 1 in trying to find someone to lead the line. I'm the top scorers in the league(not sure how), but my defense just leak far too many silly goals.

Stu's Luton are leading the way and just seem to win everygame maintaining a 6point or so advantage over me. Steve's Plymouth have come from nowhere last night and are sitting in 2nd at close of play this week.

TBH at best I was hoping for was a playoff, but with Steve and Stu occupying the top 2 at the minute there are some strong teams around the playoffs and I'm not too sure my young team will be able to keep pace.

At the end of the session I realise that all of my back 4 were going back home, to Chelsea, so I panic bought a few players to get us through the season, Garry O'Conner, who I thought would be an ok lone striker has done appalling in the 2 games so far, and the quite good looking Paul Konchesky who will be 1st LB after wonder kid Lundie (5* current ability) goes home.

Finances are still not good, despite playing Liverpool away in the 3rd round, and selling a few players/lowering my wage bill so I am gonna have to play a friendly a week to try and get close to even for this year.

On a much more positive not I have signed 4 players to join me next year, Marc Cuomo for Catania, Regen Str from De Graafschaap, DM and a DC so the spine of my team next year should be better.

Untill next week,

[welshguy21]

End of week tables

Championship

League One

Blue Square Premier

You may have noiced a change of management which i will update on my post later on

[Johannes]

Burton Albion

End of week post from me.

I'm 8th at the moment, only 5 points from auto-promotion, where Stu and Steve are. I'm 2 points from playoffs. 3 of my key players have been sold this season, 2 offers accepted by the board and 1 player sold by myself. I've got more than 3m from these 3 players, so thats not too bad. I knew Tixier (19 year old french regen DM and current captain) has been attracting interest and the board accepted 1.9m offer (600k initial and 1.3m on 18months) + 10% of profit from Nice in France. I was unhappy they didnt stall the offer or negotiated. I knew a lot of prem club have been lurking around him and I would have been able to negotiate the money and sell on fees. I also decided to sell el Maestro. He's a great talent, with Ronaldinho-like technical attributes, but his mental and hidden attributes are not good. He moans too easily and has games where he's anonymous. I've also started to play less AMC than I did. He went for 350k + 10%.

My team isnt looking good enough at the moment and I'm looking more towards next season. It has been stated here, by me and Steve, that I've not been too happy at Burton lately and that hasnt changed much. I've applied for a few jobs, including the Reading job. I'm hoping to strengthen the club for next season and I'm also hoping some of the human managers will be promoted next season. That will make my job next season a bit easier in league 1. I'm a bit surprised how strong Plymouth have been this season, but Luton doesnt really come as a surprise. Stu has done a good job and Luton is a perfect fit for him. He might be on his way to his third straight promotion, which is a great feat in online game. Dont know if people appreciate how much harder the game is in online mode. Mike is also on his way for playoffs at least, and he will challenge Steve for auto-promotion. I will not be surprised if Stu, Steve and Mike get promoted next season, leaving me alone in my 4th straight season in league 1.

[welshguy21]

Jamie - Reading

After a storming start to league one with macclesfield work commitments meant my assistant manager took over for most of our first session this week. He set about detroying the clubs form and morale with a 6 game losing streak leaving the club in the bottom four for my return.

On my return i was struggling to rebuild the players morale with my top 2 goalscorers injured for a few weeks and results were hard to come by when reading declared interest in me becoming their manager. But they couldnt afford the compensation so i took a massive risk and resigned from macclesfield, with a heavy heart in the end as i had grown fond of the club and wanted to see how far i could take them but the offer of reading was too good to turn down and straight away the job offer came in.

Reading were just one place above my former team macclesfield at 22nd in league one but had a pretty strong but ageing squad. In wide areas the team is very strong with the likes of Kebe, Mcnuff, Robson-Kanu all still at the club. Defence is the weak area of the team and i managed to bring in Anton Ferdinand on a free to boost that area for the second half of the season.

On the pitch and reading are back on the up with 9 wins from 11 league games since i took over leaving the club in 11th place 8 points from the playoff places. I am hoping to keep this form going until the end of the season and sneak a playoff place but that may end up in the hands of my assistant manager as work commitments over xmas will mean i will miss long periods of the sessions this week.

[dcu223]

Well Done Lads Keep it Up

Premiership Glory game needs a strong feeder game

[Dig_Dog]

Steve – Plymouth

This season has been sensational so far. I was hovering around in lower midtable for the first few games. I was then up and down as I moved into upper midtable, hitting the heights of 2nd before dropping back to 11th. I then fought my way back to 5th before dropping to 7th. This is where I stood 5 games ago. Since then 5 successive wins have taken me to second once more. No one had really noticed Plymouth slowly moving to the fringes of the play-offs and our last stay in second was so brief and so early that we quickly slipped all the way back to midtable. Also our early season league positions were inflated as a result of playing a game more. Now we were halfway through the season and even if we suffer a loss of form, we are still firmly in the play-off / promotion chase.

There's no doubt as to who is my star man so far this season:

the irony is that at the start of the season, when asked to consider my best xi, I'd have put Paton on the bench, with Muamer Tankovic taking his place at left wing. Paton himself, prefers to be a striker, but he's a long way behind our preferred choices there.

Time for the clown run-down:

Paolo – how is he in 10th in the Championship with Morecambe? He's a miracle worker. 9 out of 10.

Stuart – blasting his way against the odds to the top of the table in LG1 with Luton. 10 out of 10.

Mike – still punching above his weight, and in with a great shot in 4th of going up. 9 our of 10.

Johannes – like Mike, contuinues to defy the odds and consistently punches above his weight. Play-offs are just out of reach at the moment. 8 out of 10.

Jamie – Macclesfield were in freefall, so moving clubs was a smart move for Jamie. Reading are a good club and it's no surprise that Jamie has immediately rocketed up the table. 9 out of 10.

Joe – not able to kick on with Bradford. He's stuck just above the drop zone and needs to get some results fast to get away. 5 out of 10.

Matt – has risen too far too fast, and looks a man out of his depth with Barnet. 6 out of 10.

Andy – continues to excel in the BSP. Hopefully he will get promotion. 9 out of 10.

Barry – rooted to the bottom of the BSP. 1 out of 10 and the clown of the week award.

[matt 23]

Matt - Barnet

After promotion last season alot off my players got too big for there boots and coming to end off there contracts started asking for a more money than i could afford so were released leaving me with just 7 1st team players in my squad so a big overhual had to be made, a team like Barnet struggle to attract some off the more of the decent players that the other guys can attract but we have got by by signing youth and has beens like issac osbourne and stephen Darby to name but two,the loan system has been kind to me at time over the season as at the start off season i managed to bring in David Fox from my parent side. Season started off not to bad after w/c 5th i found myself in mid table after 6 games and into the 3rd round off the LC and looking ok for the season ahead, for most off W/C 12th my ass man was in charge due to having to be away for family reasons and getting regular updates it proved that my ass man was not up to the task as we slowly slipped to the bottom off the table and when i came back for the last couple off hours in the last weekly session i found myself 9 points from safety thankfullyit was the Transfer window and mangaged to bring in Micheal Tonge on a free along with Stephen Ireland and Liam ridgewell on short term loans and in the 3 lrague games i played i managed 2 wins and a defeat to leave myself only 4 from safety with 19 to play so i am confident i can pull myself out off it.

[Dig_Dog]

No chance Matt!

[AndyFal36]

Andy - Gateshead

With the team starting the way I had hoped Gateshead finish the week sitting top of the pile in the BSP after 28 games with a 2pt and 4pt lead over Wrexham and Cambridge and into the FA Trophy 3rd Round. The team is in the top 3 for goals scored but with the team still conceding plenty of goals, but hopefully Reece Wabara on loan from Bristol Rovers can help the defence tighten up, my goal difference is poor compared to the other 2 teams at the top. With the weeks run of games finishing with 7 out 0f 10 away games and the 1st game of the new week away to Hereford I am very happy where the club currently stand. As are the board who only want a respectable league finish this season and are delighted that the team bettered their minimum expectations in the cups.

The star performer for the club is 21yr old German/Iranian Hamid Sefa Reizi who has scored 13 goals and has an impressive 16 assists so far this season and not far behind him is Alan Keegan also with 13 goals, hopefully these 2 and AMR Jason Beasley (14 assisits) stay fit the club could end up doing the double.

With average attendances around about 1400 we are filling about 12% of our capacity which is poor as we sit top of the league and with finances not too clever i will have to depend on loan signings to bolster the squad and do a Mike and have a few friendlies in the 2nd half of the season to boost the coffers.

[superstar111111]

Cupid Stunt - AFC Wimbledon

After a truly terrible night last night, we now find ourselves in the playoffs tonight. Unfortunately there is only 1 team that is gonna win them and that is Jamie's Reading. They have a very strong team and I have got to play them in the semi-final with the away leg 1st.

I am truly disappointed as for the 2nd season in a row we have collapsed from a decent position and find ourselves in the lottery of the playoffs, along with Hull and Steve's Plymouth. I have already agreed to sign a few players (8) so the summer window will be very quiet unless the right player comes available. Hopefully next year if we can be near the top with a few games to go my form wont go completely out the window.