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Conquering England? It's like taking candy from a baby!


HotChocolate

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This looks a massive challenge, though at least you can operate in the transfer market again.

I could always operate in the transfer market just when I approached to sign a player I could only offer £90p/w max and when it came to accepting or rejecting any bids (whether this be the confirmation of signing a player or an actual transfer offer) that would be dealt with by the administrators.

Good luck clawing back that deficit! Tough old season ahead :)

Thanks, AK! I'm looking forward to the challenge, as you and Nobby said it will be hard but I think we'll pull through!

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I could always operate in the transfer market just when I approached to sign a player I could only offer £90p/w max and when it came to accepting or rejecting any bids (whether this be the confirmation of signing a player or an actual transfer offer) that would be dealt with by the administrators.

You posted a screen showing you were under a transfer embargo.

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I could always operate in the transfer market just when I approached to sign a player I could only offer £90p/w max and when it came to accepting or rejecting any bids (whether this be the confirmation of signing a player or an actual transfer offer) that would be dealt with by the administrators.

You posted a screen showing you were under a transfer embargo.

Yeah I know, I was confused when I was allowed to actively sign players. That's what the Transfer Embargo denied me from doing, what I said above. I'm not sure why though, maybe there are variations of embargos? Because we never actually went into administration. The points deduction was for failure to pay wages, not for going into administration.

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Excellent, now you're overcoming the deduction you should start climbing.

The first game of the season decieved me! We won 3-2 my only other win was the game I've just played (that got me off the bottom). Edit: I didn't realize I had won 3 games, I thought it was only 2, silly me.

Good luck with Celtic. My local club and one I usually start my FM career with. Shame there's not many of the original squad left, in fact looks like there's only Marsh left.

It tends to happen with non-league being 4? Seasons in. Although unfortunately most of this squad is on a 2/3 year contract. When signing the £90p/w players they demanded more than a years contract which I had to accept to get a team.

Good read and you are a very brave man HotChocolate!

Thanks Daz! I'm hoping to get them promoted eventually, it will just take time.

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Disappointing news :(

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I genuinely thought I would have been given a chance to try and get them out of the bottom 3, clearly not. I said finish mid-table at the start of the season but after the embargo, admin and docked points was it really necessary to still expect that? Getting knocked out at the first stage of the FA Cup and the FA Trophy didn't help but we did face league opposition. I'm dissapointed not to have been able to seen it through and actually surprised I was sacked, I was never under pressure at any point.

Fixtures[/url]

Table

The only job available right now is the Eastbourne Borough job! Maybe I should look for a return! :cool:

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I continued through the season and no jobs became avaible which was really surprising, West Ham, Leeds and a few international teams were the only ones that I could actually apply for. So I had to wait till the end of the season for the jobs, then they all came at once. Not a clue which team to pick, where do you want me to go next? (I still have to complete a season in BSN and get promoted from it, but that can be done whenever).

Applied for the job.

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Applied for the job.

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Declared interest.

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Declared interest.

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Adding on the ten points deduction, you'd have sat just below mid table. That sacking was a little harsh.

Wonder which one you'll pick...

That is what I looked at, okay I was out of both cups but I did have league opposition but one thing you are forgetting Nobby is that without the ten point deduction I would have been able to offer bigger contracts and sign better players.

I'm undecided, I want to go for a bigger team but then I want to get out of BSN fairly after failing twice. I'm definitely looking at taking a bigger team and staying with them for a few years though.

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Decisions, decisions.... I'd go to Dagenham, simply because they are mid-table, and that will give you the chance to familiarise yourself with the team without having to battle to avoid relegation.

Tough luck on the sacking, I would have thought you would have got a bit longer to sort out the mess there. It wasn't like you were rock-bottom or anything.

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Decisions, decisions.... I'd go to Dagenham, simply because they are mid-table, and that will give you the chance to familiarise yourself with the team without having to battle to avoid relegation.

Tough luck on the sacking, I would have thought you would have got a bit longer to sort out the mess there. It wasn't like you were rock-bottom or anything.

It's at the end of the season, so Tranmere will be in League 2, Daggers League 2, Cheltenham BSP and Tamworth BSN!

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Here are my reasons for choosing Cheltenham Town over Tranmere, Dagenham & Redbridge, Halifax, Boston and Tamworth.

  • I much prefer to be promoted into a league before managing in it, so taking over a League 2 team wouldn't have felt right for me.
  • They have a real chance of going straight back up, okay the finances are insecure but thats nothing.
  • They have a large wage budget and although I'd hope and expect that is knocked down, I still feel we can create a brilliant team.
  • It gives me chance to give the FA Trophy another shot after the heartbreak with Eastbourne Borough!
  • As Nobby pointed out, I can get to the Cheltenham Festival easily!

Previous Club Watch

Worcester City - Blue Square South - 17th, yes I did write that correctly, they were moved into Blue Square South after a few years in Blue Square North.

Eastbourne Borough - Blue Square Bet Prem - 23rd - Relegated.

Stalybridge Celtic - Blue Square North - 19th - Stayed up, they cleared relegation by a massive 14 points. I'm dissapointed they didn't go down.

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Loving this career so far, although it's not been a successful one in terms of results, the thread has been very entertaining!

Good luck with Cheltenham, hopefully they're not as harsh as Staybridge or more appropriately (Shortstaybridge). :D

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Loving this career so far, although it's not been a successful one in terms of results, the thread has been very entertaining!

Good luck with Cheltenham, hopefully they're not as harsh as Staybridge or more appropriately (Shortstaybridge). :D

Looking at teams you are correct, I've failed with Worcester and Stalybridge but I did manage to get a good team with Eastbourne! I'm looking at staying a while longer with Cheltenham, I've moved around a bit too much recently!

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Hope Cheltenham goes better for you :)

Thanks a lot mate!

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Blue Square Bet Premier - Season 2015/2016

League Table - Carlisle are a very notable team and there are only 2 teams above the letter N in the alphabet!

Squad - We had 2 players once I'd finally got rid of everyone so I believe I've done very well to get this lot together, it will be improving I hope!

Information/Facilities - Media prediction 7th, I wouldn't expect to get as high as that this season.

Transfers - A huge over-haul. It had to be done, even though I have £17k p/w to spend I just had to get rid of people. There were players on £2.5k p/w for an extra year so I'm very glad I got rid of them by selling them rather than releasing them! The players coming in definitely took their time, mainly because I am very strict on contracts and drive a real hard bargain but in the past week or two it's got easier to get players to agree, maybe because the players are starting to get desperate?

Finances - When I joined they had £1.2m in debt but with two board injections and some good money handling (wage + transfers) it's got us up £800k which is nice, hopefully a good cup run can improve that.

Expectations

FA Trophy - I would love to win it, of course, so I will be playing my first team. Lets see how it goes!

FA Cup - Again, I would love a run in this competition and a 3rd round draw at home to a Premier League team would top it off, but I've got a limited squad so it may not be easy.

League - Top half, having re-built the squad from 2 players I wont expect to battle for play-offs. That will hopefully be next season once I've got a settled squad with quality and depth.

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All the best mate :thup: I would revise your FA Cup dream to away at a Prem Club though. You will get hundreds of thousands in gate receipts that way as cup money is split 50/50.

Money wise of course I'd love to be away but only to Manchester United or Liverpool. Any other Prem team, I'd love at home simply because I'd be confident of nicking a draw! :D

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Good luck with the new season - that is quite an overhaul you managed there! 2.5k per week in the BSP is a huge drain, its good you got rid of that.

Yeah, I had to get rid of them. I couldn't have them taking that much wage in non-league.

Good luck with Cheltenham, should be looking for a top-six finish if all your signings settle :thup:

That is a possibility but with the signings having to settle in and a lot of them not having a pre-season it will be a struggle. Most of my players are 'lacking match fitness'

Cheltenham are in discussions about building a new stadium attached to the racecourse.

In the first 2 home games I've got just over 3,000 in which is quite impressive. A big step up for me, but interesting news on the stadium :thup:

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I'm going to start doing mid-season updates because of college work I haven't got as much time.

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Blue Square Bet Premier - Mid Season - 2015

League Table - Just acceptable, I would have liked to have been higher up but we've not deserved to be.

League Positions Graph - We've never been up there (apart from the first 5 games which is anyone's), but we have been lower and at that point my job was insecure.

Salary Per Annum - It's disappointing being 4th in this table but 12th in the on the pitch table, but then it is understandable seen as I started with 2 players.

Squad - A very small squad which does need to be bolstered. No one has really come forward as an out and out goalscorer which can be disappointing at times.

Fixtures - We either hit great form or don't. We really haven't done ourselves any favors in the inconsistency department.

FA Cup - A very poor and disappointing run, we equalized in the last minute to take Burton back to there place for this to happen.

FA Trophy - Only played one game, we just beat Maidenhead. Not too bothered about this, we haven't got the right size squad to keep a run and the league going.

Overall Comment - We haven't been brilliant, but when you throw a bunch of people together and say 'play football' you're not going to get great results. I'm looking for another CB in January and hopefully 2 players in on loan, this will add more strength in depth to the squad which might help us push on a little bit. If I'm honest, around March time I'd expect to be in a similar position and I will then start looking at next season and getting a squad ready to push on and hopefully get us into the top 5.

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Not a bad start considering the wholesale changes that were made to the squad.

The transfers really did dent my play off chances, there is no way the players could hit the ground running.

A decent run of form, and you might still make the playoffs :thup:

I just know it wont happen, we are so inconsistent. We had a run where we won 1 in 10 games then straight after that we won 6 of our next 8 games followed by 3 defeats including a 6-2 and 6-0. So yes play-offs is possible but when you are losing, winning, drawing, losing, winning etc you'll never move up the table but then again you don't tend to move down.

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Blue Square Bet Premier - Season 2015/2016

League Table - Dissapointed to finish in the bottom half of the table but we really didn't deserve anything more.

League Table Graph - We got worse as the season went on and slowly went down the table without ever threatening to get back up.

Fixtures - Worse than the first half of the season, we never put together a good run and won the odd match, threw away way to many points.

FA Cup - Very dissapointed.

FA Trophy - Again, dissapointed. Went out to lower league opposition.

Squad - We added depth, but no quality. The team lacks a solid defence and lacks a striker that will get you a goal from nothing so we were never going to damage anyone.

Transfers - A lot of in's and out's which definitely hampered our season.

Finances - We are only in this position because the board gave us cash injections all season.

Salary Per Annum - To finish 17th with the 3rd highest is very disappointing indeed.

Key Players

Michael Rose - Played nearly all the games and was the only consistent performer.

Kayleden Brown - He was our top goalscorer and that's the only real reason I can think of.

No one else impressed and to be honest the above two didn't do anything spectacular.

Aims for this Season

  • Win the FA Trophy - Knocked out in our 2nd round.
  • Get to the 3rd round of the FA Cup - Knocked out in the 1st round.
  • Finish in the top half of the table - Finished 17th, bottom half.

Career Aims

  • Completed my 2nd season in the BSP.

Previous Club Watch

Worcester City - Blue Square North - 16th.

Eastbourne Borough - Blue Square South - 6th.

Stalybridge Celtic - Blue Square North - 21st relegated. (yes!) :cool:

Overall Comment: As you have probably gathered already, it was a very dissapointing season for us. We failed in every department, can't defend, can't attack can barely win games. We only just get past the small teams in the league so a lot is needed for next season, more than what I thought. I will have to see how our summer goes to see if we stand a chance of play-offs.

Career History.

Season		Team				Competition			Finished		Notes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/2012	Worcester City			Blue Square Bet North		13th			Appointed in October
2012/2013	Eastbourne Borough		Blue Square Bet South		1st			Promoted as League Winners
2013/2014	Eastbourne Borough		Blue Square Bet Premier		12th			FA Trophy Runners-Up
2014/2015	Stalybridge Celtic		Blue Square Bet North		21st			Sacked in November
2015/2016	Cheltenham Town			Blue Square Bet Premier		17th			N/A

Manager History.

Team				Days in Charge		Played		Won		Drew		Lost		Win %
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worcester City			191			35		17		6		12		48%
Eastbourne Borough		741			105		54		29		22		51%
Stalybridge Celtic		176			18		5		2		11		28%
Cheltenham Town			N/A			51		18		14		19		35%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall				1108			208		94		51		63		45%

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Not the best season ever.

How come you have the long names in the league tables?

I downloaded the editor data that changes all the club names to full and proper, there were some stupid ones to be fair like FCP for FC Porto, the editor data had all the names in full. It is much, much better. Same as the big kits.

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Blue Square Bet Premier - Season 2016/2017

League Table - There are some big names like AFC Wimbledon, Burton Albion and Southend.

Squad - I've really improved it over the summer and although we don't have depth due to the budgets we do have quality.

Information / Facilities - Media predict 16th, I think we can finish a lot higher than that. Also for the eagle eyed of you, you will notice we have no youth set up. I declined the U18 league invitation and the board asked if I wanted to scrap youth for good to save money, so I agreed.

Transfers - There was more activity than expected but that was because players wanted too much wage wise and left at the end of the season, so they had to be replaced but I am really happy with who came in.

Finances - If it wasn't for the board we'd be in real trouble they keep injecting money constantly, without them we'd be in at least £2.5m debt.

Transfer Budget: £0 (same as last season)

Wage Budget: £13,750 (down from £17,500)

Current Wage Budget: £14,000

Aims for this Season

  • Push for the Play-Offs so finish top 8.
  • FA Cup 3rd round.
  • Reduce the debt.

Overall Comment: I am confident this season, we have good players that cover all the positions and with a little tweak in my tactics I think we might be able to go far this season. The one problem will be injuries, if we pick up 2 or 3 it could really dent us. I'm trying to bring in a few players on loan to help as we have maxed out our Wage Budget so we will see if we can get some back-up which we do need.

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Not a great season, but it looks like a lot less expectation is being placed on your shoulders this season, so that could work in your favour.

You'd think so but it's not started great, my LB got injured and the replacement substitute came on, gave away a penalty and gave away another penalty later in the game :rolleyes:

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