dafuge's FM13 challenge

[Bonzo1]

Congratulations on both securing important promotions, Swinburn and Intrigue. Swinburn, you're just far too good at footy manager

I know that feel Bonzo, it always seems to be at key parts of the season. I had 6 first teamers out over the christmas period this season; not quite as bad as your situation, though.

Its over Christmas for me aswell. The games pile up and the players just drop like flies.

Also I will no longer be looking at Swinburn's updates now he's in the EPL before I've even made the Football League.

[Bidwell93]

Congrats on another league title, is that 3 in a row?

Re stadium: Idiotic board....don't these money men know enough by now to trust your judgement. After all, you've taken them from a club dealing in pennies to dealing in millions...

I'd probably choose the 2nd response, in the hope of appealing to their greed....or the first one to appeal to their ego.

Out of curiosity, how many home games didn't you sell out? And what competitions and who were they against?

That is 3 in a row now, still cant get a foothold in Europe, though. I did go with that option, wussed out of ultimatuming, because my job was in 'secure' rather than 'untouchable'. They said the financial benefits wouldnt outweigh the inital cost. Apparently they're idiots. And my average attendance was 12500, I sold out every single home game. Every one. I have about 8000 season ticket holders now. It is stunningly ridiculous.

Edit: This season I have 9300 season ticket holders. I have about 75% of my stadium sorted before a ball is kicked....

[Brizza]

I'm following your posts in trepidation Bidwell. I'm looking to get promoted out of League 1 with the mighty Fylde and until now I've enjoyed playing 75% of my games at Bloomfield, which serves as a wonderful quasi-homeground with its 17,000 capacity or whatever it is. My stadium expansions make no difference at all, because each you I don't play a proepr home game until March. If things take a downhill turn like yours once I'm in the Prem, then I'm worried...

[Bidwell93]

Yeah, I was thankful for Bloomfield back in the day. I thought as soon as Kellamergh was 20 years old the board would be as anxious as I was to build a new stadium, 12500 just isnt enough in the prem, let alone Europe. But alas, I'm having to struggle through some more whilst bleeding money every month. Ended up with a net profit gain for this season to try and stem the flow, so now I've got my thinnest squad for years. Hopefully I dont get too many injuries.

[blackdevil]

Blimey, didn't notice your capacity was 12500. That really needs upgrading in some fashion or another. The only reason the cost would outweigh the benefits would be if it would need to be a massive 60k+ stadium.

But even a 13k seater stadium that could be extended would be better and more affordable.

[Swinburn]

Congratulations on both securing important promotions, Swinburn and Intrigue. Swinburn, you're just far too good at footy manager

Oh, shush you :o

[Swinburn]

Also I will no longer be looking at Swinburn's updates now he's in the EPL before I've even made the Football League.

You can do it Bonzo!

[stokes_83]

Kettering Town FC

2017-18 Season Summary

Final League Result - 5th Place in nPower League 1 (lost in playoff final to Chesterfield)

Table | Squad | Finances | Confidence | Club Information

nPower League 1 - 5th Place 73 points) Lost in playoff final to Chesterfield

FA Cup - Lost to Brentford in the 1st Round

Capital One Cup -Lost to Sunderland in the 2nd Round

Johnstone's Paint Trophy - Lost to Crystal Palace in the 2nd Round

Top Goal Scorer -Jake Sinclair - 32 goals

Top Playmaker -Jake Sinclair - 17 assists

Top Player Rating - Sean McGinty - 7.48

Fan's Player of the Year: Sean McGinty

Manager's Player of the Year: Jake Sinclair

2017-18 Charmain's Expectations - Avoid relegation. SUCCESS!

2017-18 Manager's Goal - Challenge for Promotion. SUCCESS!

Season Commentary: My first year in League 1 has to be described as a success. Although promotion would have been nice the reality is that at some point luck was not going to be on my side and I was going to lose in a playoff. My club simply was not nearly as strong as the top teams in the division such as Crystal Palace and Bolton. My new signing, Jake Sinclair, had a monster year. However, I would shortly receive devastating news about Jake Sinclair that would tarnish the whole season. (read the outlook below)

2018-19 Outlook

Early in the off-season the club was rocked by the departure of Jake Sinclair to Burnley or £450K. I have not made managing blunder like this while playing Football Manager in quite sometime! His contract contained a release clause o £450k and Burnley was able to invoke that clause before I was able to renegotiate his contract. I've made a horrible mistake! The club and chairman are o course very displeased that I have let one of top players leave, and even more displeased at the low fee I received or him.

My tasks in 2018-19 will be to find a replacement for Jake Sinclair and to once again try for promotion. Heading into pre-season I feel as though my squad is not as strong as last year's, and that this year will be a real struggle for the club. This could be a year to re-foucus my strategy and rebuild the squad.

2018-19 Charmain's Expectations - Safe Mid Table Finish.

2018-19 Manager's Goal - Challenge for Promotion.

Season     Position     Division                   Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14     1st        Blue Square N            League Winners
2014/15     12th       Blue Square Premier      12th Place
2015/16     3rd        Blue Square Premier      3rd Place (promoted via playoff)
2016/17     4th        nPower League 2          4th Place (promoted via playoff)
2017/18     5th        nPower League 1          None.

[Padders]

Into the BSP playoffs again!!

HERE GOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bidwell93]

Ahhh! Good luck Padders!

Unlucky stokes, I made that exact mistake a couple of seasons back and lost a star.

Just had a slightly concerning realisation that my stars from the last 3-4 seasons are all now over 30. However I may have my replacement striker, guy I signed last season. Came on as Benzia got injured 40 minutes in, and I was 3-1 down to spurs. He ends up bagging 4 goals (should have been 5 but given as an OG) and we win 6-4. He might just be getting a start next match.

[Padders]

Lost first leg 2-1 away at Dartford

[Padders]

Lost the 2nd leg 2-1 also

Gutted

[Bidwell93]

Oh. Really thought you'd win it this time. Well, onwards and upwards for next year!

[blackdevil]

Unlucky Padders. Keep plugging away, we're all wanting you to get there.

[Swinburn]

Unlucky Padders! Keep going, you've got like everyone rooting for you. Just imagine the celebrations when you do go up.

[Rashidi]

Padders we working on the crowd chant for you too...

[Rashidi]

Stafford Match Update

Stafford vs Coventry.

The journalists hounded us after we got kicked out from the FA Cup by AFC Wimbledon in the 2nd Round..we had after all lost 4-1. It was our first defeat at home in all competitions and I just sat there smiling; the team that had got us that far in the FA Cup were the reserves and they had been leading at halftime. It was a match they were expected to lose and I had bigger fish in 4 days.

Coventry were coming to Marston Road, noone has beaten us at home this whole season, and the pundits had all forecasted defeat in the rain for the boys. After all, Coventry had the best defense in the league, we were newly promoted and meant to fold. I hunkered down with the players in the dressing room and told em to keep their chins up, noone was expecting us to win, then I pulled each unit together and told them I had faith in them. They left the tunnel looking relaxed and motivated as they adopted a narrow counter attacking stance at home, but within 4 minutes we found ourselves a goal behind from a set piece. It felt like a vicious kick in the teeth and I ran up to the technical line and gave instructions to Nathan to close down their fullbacks. We needed to take control of the game and neutralize their wings, and boy did we do that.

[Padders]

Thanks for the support guys, I love it

I started my new season last night, got a couple of players from the England Under 20's squad

My first game was against Oldham, I spanked them 5-1!

I thought this is it, I'm going to hammer everyone and walk the title. I then dont win another game for 5 games!!! So frustrating

Leamington Spa


Season        League      POS        FA CUP

2013-14        BSN        19th        1st         
2014-15        BSN        14th        QUAL      
2015-16        BSN        16th        1st
2016-17        BSN        19th        QUAL
2017-18        BSN        14th        QUAL
2018-19        BSN        7th         QUAL
2019-20        BSN        9th         QUAL 
2020-21        BSN        17th        QUAL
2021-22        BSN        11th        QUAL
2022-23        BSN        1st         1st
2023-24        BSP        19th        1st
2024-25        BSP        19th        3rd
2025-26        BSP        17th        1st
2026-27        BSP        12th        1st
2027-28        BSP        17th        4th
2028-29        BSP        9th         2nd
2029-30        BSP        4th         2nd
2030-31        BSP        4th         1st

[fcunitedfan]

Promoted to League One! Did it with seven games to go. Now I want to top it off by winning the league.

[Rashidi]

Congrats fcunitedfan :-)

[fcunitedfan]

Congrats fcunitedfan :-)

Thanks. Hold back on the congratulations until I win the league though

[Sean3h]

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f179/Sean3h/SeanMcCullough_OverviewProfile.png

Thought I'd give it a go. I have taken over Lowestoft Town FC!

[TacticalGenius]

Convince the board to build a stadium. Nothing else. ATM TV/prize money is keeping us afloat. We need a stadium bigger than 12500. Frankly, it's embarrassing welcoming Eurpean giants to Kellamergh park at the moment

I'm coming to the end of the 2029/30 season, won the UCL twice (in 3 finals), premier league 5 times (inc this season), and we're stuck in a 17100 capacity stadium. Because we got the stadium in 2018 (fully expanded since around 2020/21), I can't even ask for one yet. We've sold out every single game for 5 seasons at least, including 14k sold out season tickets. So at least you can ask!

[Dons2387]

Season Review.

Finished 4th in the league after coming limping over the line, and lost 3-2 and drew 1-1 in my two leg playoff to get knocked out to Salisbury.

Here are some of my solid players from last season

Edwin Ellis - Forward who let the team in goals but was injured at the end of the season and in the playoffs and it really hurt us

Nathan Nyafli - Other part of my attacking pair and chipped in with plenty of goals.

Richard Orlu Center back who was my third leading scorer, mainly off of corners

Dammy Shitta Defensive mid I signed because of his funny name but actually ended up doing alright and leading the team in assists

Started the next season now, with a game vs Dorchester at home to open. They were a playoff team last year. Nyafli is injured, so with a new right back, and right mid in the squad, I started youth academy product Christian Blackwell at 16 years old. What a debut! 4 goals scored in our 5-1 win. Will he quickly become a BSS legend? We will have to see.

Having this guy on loan doesn't hurt, either. Craig Clay

Come on you Gulls!

[Bidwell93]

Dammy Shitta Defensive mid I signed because of his funny name but actually ended up doing alright and leading the team in assists

Glad to see it's not just me that a player having a funny name affects.

And TG, how much do you lose a month? I dont think I could manage another 2 seasons of having to do well just to break even, let alone 8 more.

[trotter13]

Stafford Rangers

Blue Square Bet North 2014/2015

Club Information l Manager Profile l Confidence l Finances l Squad l Transfers

This season i was hoping to get promoted.

League Table l Positions

We lost 2 of our first 3 games, but then went 14 games unbeaten - winning 11 games, by now,. Then we had the usual fixture congestion starting in december and as usual we couldn't keep up our performance. We only won 5 in 16 games, however, we only lost twice which meant we were only 3 points behind Tamworth. After that we won a few more games and with 2 games to go we were two points ahead. In our penultimate game we scored in the 87th and 92nd minutes to win 2-0 to Boston Utd while Tamworth drew their game 0-0 leaving them need to beat us in the last game by 6 or more goals (we had a 11 higher goal difference) to take 1st position off of us. In the last game we drew 2-2 to our rivals Tamworth and won the league!

Cups

we were knocked out by Boston Utd in the FA Trophy 1st round but this cup was a low priority. In the FA Cup 1st round we beat league 1 side Tranmere to set up a home tie against Port Vale. The tie became the Tom Pope show, he score all the goals in a 3-0 lose.

Key players

Hatib Cham - another good season, 24 goals in 34 appearances, but picked up a few injuries again.

Daniel Wilkinson, Ryan McKinnon - a solid defensive partnership.

Antoni Sarcevic - player of the season.

Daniel Williams - got a few assists from the wing.

Promising Youth Players

N/A - No youth team.

Next Season's Goals

Survival

Career Overview

Season         League        League Finish        Achievements

[color=#333333]------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/color]
[color=#333333]2013/14   Blue Square North       15th         Survival & FA Cup 1st Round
[/color]2014/15   Blue Square North       13th         none
[color=#333333]2015/16   Blue Square North       1st           League Champions & FA Cup 2nd Round[/color]

[Bidwell93]

Losing my star AMC at the end of the season, he's getting on and wants too much money, so I'm looking at replacements. The guy I spied was listed for 35M, way too much, and unsurprisngly the 2 Manchesters bid for him. Joins city and 3 days later is out for 2 months with a dislocated shoulder. Karma. Not sure what for, but karma.

[dafuge]

Wingate & Finchley - npower Championship - 2024/25

Last season we struggled in the Championship, but with a young squad we had the potential to improve.

League Table

League Positions Graph

We spent the whole season battling with Sunderland for top spot, and despite our poor form at the end of the season we managed to secure the title on the final day with a 3-2 win over Chesterfield.

Capital One Cup - we had little interest in this cup.

FA Cup - we had a superb run making a trip to Wembley, even if it ended in defeat.

Transfers - there were very few changes as I kept most of the squad from last season.

Squad - based on the cup games I think this squad should be capable of competing in the Premier League, so hopefully I can add a few players to improve our chances.

Finances - we made a slight profit this year, adding to the investment from the new owners.

Key Player Profiles:

Mourad Adrar - joint top scorer, and probably our best striker.

David Gehrmann - the other joint top scorer.

Mehdi Sergent - not far behind them in the scoring from midfield, and easily our best player of the season.

Gregory Jeanne - he's being moulded into a DM and he's made a good start.

Mikhail Malakhov - he spent a lot of the season injured, but could have been a star.

Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14   Blue Square Bet South    2nd         Promoted via playoffs
2014/15   Blue Square Bet Premier  19th
2015/16   Blue Square Bet Premier  18th
2016/17   Blue Square Bet Premier  6th
2017/18   Blue Square Bet Premier  3rd         FA Trophy winners and Playoff finalists
2018/19   Blue Square Bet Premier  12th         
2019/20   Blue Square Bet Premier  4th         Playoff finalists
2020/21   Blue Square Bet Premier  1st         Promoted as champions
2021/22   npower League Two        1st         Promoted as champions
2022/23   npower League One        1st         Promoted as champions
2023/24   npower Championship      20th
2024/25   npower Championship      1st         Promoted as champions

Next Season

We showed the quality in our squad in winning the title so hopefully most of the squad can carry on into the big league. Our scouting range has been increased so I'm expecting an influx of South Americans to help us progress in the Premier League.

[American Rover]

Lowestoft Town - Blue Square Bet North - 2014/15

This year the team got stronger as the year went on. 4 weeks into the season it looked like it was going to be another long season in the North division sitting in 17th. However, steadily the team climbed to 9th by week 14. After another week the team climbed into a playoff spot by Week 20 and never fell out of a playoff spot again settling into the #4 slot from game 28 until the final game of the season when a result elsewhere threw Lowestoft into 3rd on goal differential. On the whole this was a rewarding feeling and by about midseason I was starting to feel really good about this team. They

League Overview

FA Cup - 2nd Qualifying Round. Drew my first game of this cup 0-0 against Chelmsford and in the replay at home lost 4-2. This was back in the time while the team was still gelling.

FA Trophy - 3rd Qualifying Round. No longer run in this this season. Lost 3-1 to Billericay at home in first game of cup. Perhaps it was a blessing in the end to not do well in either cup as it allowed my team to focus on the league and be a bit more rested.

Squad 1

Squad 2

- Team is looking much better.

Transfers - Johnathan Miles was a huge grab for me at GK. He made 42 appearances only conceding 40 goals with a 6.93 average rating. Chelmsford released him on free after he couldn't crack their squad. He may not be able to stay much longer than BSP if there, but he was instrumental in promotion ending the year around 320ish straight minutes without conceding a goal including both semi-final legs and the final to obtain promotion through playoffs. Miles had 15 clean sheets.

Youth Intake - No one of consequence.

Key Players:

Billy Law - Again led my team in goals with 25 with a 7.22 rating in 39 starts and 1 sub appearance. Unfortunately got injured in the second leg of the semi-final and wasn't able to play in the finals to win promotion.

Greg Crane - Appeared in 39 starts and 1 sub with a 7.47n average rating anchoring my defense. He's a bit grizzled at 30 and doesn't have much left in the tank, but gave me no reason to yank him out of the lineup this year.

Cory Galvin - My assistant manager suggested me Galvin in a backroom meeting and he was magical for me from the left midfield spot. In 22 starts after being acquired midseason he gave me a 7.12 rating with 6 goals. The 19 year old will definitely be a part of my team next year. Signed from Ipswich who released him on the free.

Career Overview

Season     League   Pos     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14    BSN      15th    
2014/15    BSN	     3rd    Promoted

[Bidwell93]

Is it bad that a large part of my plan for Domestic domination revolves around waiting for a few years until Bonilla (32 years old) Dunn (30) and Vos (30) get past it and retire? They are Man Utd, Chelsea and Spur's strikers respectively who always score against me no matter what tactics I employ. However they have no one of that calibre coming through the ranks, so I'm somewhat hopeful.

Also congratulations on the promotions, guys.

Edit: Dont we all wish we had as cool a name as this guy, the Benin manager?

[midgetram]

Canvey Island - 2022/23 End of Season Update - npower Championship

Still a one-man team...

League (Positions) : We started much better this season, although we had a very easy run of early fixtures to help bed in the new signings, which put us top for a while before Christmas. Then, in the last international break before the winter, Eze was ruled out for 3 months, meaning that I had to rely on a mis-firing Bull as well as an unsettled German and a striker that is L1 standard if I was being generous. Not surprisingly, our form dipped quite dramatically and we were barely holding onto our playoff place by the time he returned to full fitness in mid-Match.

Once he returned though, our spark was back and we pulled back the gap to Mansfield and Crewe to be in shout of automatic promotion. We won 6 of our last 7, including a hammering of Ipswich on the final day to secure promotion, but we were just short of pipping Crewe to the title. Nevertheless, we'll be playing PL football next season

Cups:

FA Cup

Played poorly but managed to squeeze through to the last 8 through getting quite lucky draws. In the Quarters, Man City inexcusably decided to play their reserve side - which Eze single handedly dismantled and so we got a nice day out at Wembley against Man Utd. Unsurprisingly, they played the big guns and we never looked like threatening an upset at all. Still managed to get a nice handy payday with the run too.

League Cup

Another dose of luck meant that we got a nice draw for the first 3 rounds, meaning easy progress to the last 16. In the 4th round, we just about managed to squeeze past an under-strength Newcastle side but we couldn't do the same against the Arsenal B-side, with Wilshere coming off the bench to send us out in the 94th minute.

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers: I've started acquiring young Europeans thanks to my Director of Football; some of which have been great, some of which haven't been. We need 3 things to be able to survive next season, some quality at full-back, wingers and a massive pile of bubble wrap so that Eze doesn't get injured during training at all during the season.

Player of the Season: Emmanuel Eze - ST

Another year being top scorer in the league, despite missing nearly half of the fixtures. We need to give him support next season if we want to stay up, and also a bit of magic to try and force him down from his £90k p/w demands he wants for a new contract.

Finances : More stadium upgrades at the end of the season means that I'll be ground sharing at Craven Cottage for the majority of next season, which will actually be a plus for gate receipts. Also got another youth upgrade just because I could afford it and we're still lagging behind most Championship clubs in that respect.

History

2013/14: BSS - 14th, FA Cup - 2nd Quali Rd, FA Trophy - 3rd Quali Rd

2014/15: BSS - 12th, FA Cup - 2nd Quali Rd, FA Trophy - 1st Rd

2015/16: BSS - 12th, FA Cup - 2nd Quali Rd, FA Trophy - WINNERS

2016/17: BSS - 1st, FA Cup - 3rd Rd, FA Trophy - WINNERS

2017/18: BSP - 1st, FA Cup - 3rd Rd, FA Trophy - 2nd Rd

2018/19: NL2 - 1st, FA Cup - 5th Rd, League Cup - 3rd Rd, JPT - Quarters (South)

2019/20: NL1 - 7th, FA Cup - 3rd Rd, League Cup - 1st Rd, JPT - 2nd Rd (South)

2020/21: NL1 - 2nd, FA Cup - 5th Rd, League Cup - 2nd Rd, JPT - Quarters (South)

2021/22: NCH - 5th, FA Cup - 4th Rd, League Cup - 4th Rd

2022/23: NCH - 2nd, FA Cup - Semis, League Cup - Quarters

[TacticalGenius]

And TG, how much do you lose a month? I dont think I could manage another 2 seasons of having to do well just to break even, let alone 8 more.

Around £3m a month on average, but UCL TV/prize money keeps us in the black by the end of the season, as well as being in profit on transfers. Currently have £200m in the bank, at the start of the 2030/31 season. Miles says there is no set gap between stadiums (I tweeted him) but going on info from dafuges' previous saves and also others, 20 years seems to be the norm. Roll on 2038!

[Bonzo1]

BSP playoffs! Hope it doesn't take 3 goes to get up this time!

[Bidwell93]

AFC Fylde 2026/2027

Challenge Complete.

League Past Positions Squad Transfers Finances

FA Cup Fixtures Champions League Fixtures.

We set off with high hopes for this season. We had a thin squad, but enough for cover 2 deep in most positions, and alot of the squad can play multiple positions so I was feeling good. The league started off well, not as well as last year, but pretty great nonetheless. Our league form has been startlingly good for the last few seasons, so this wasnt too much of a surprise. I was impressed with the changeovers I've begun to make, too. With 4 of my key players over 30, and it becoming apparent that Adryan, my AMC, was going to leave at the end of the year on a free, I started to play a new striker and new AMC (24 and 20) who would replace the old guard. And both of them did great.

As expected, the finances were wavering, we really need that stadium rebuild.

The league kept going well, and as we approached the 30th game of the season I noticed something - we were unbeaten in the premiership. So with only Chelsea left in our last 8 fixtures who would realistically get a win over us, I began to see an invincibles season coming. And it did. We werent troubled at all, even beating Chelsea 2-1, and secures the premiership with games to spare, and capped it off by having a beautiful 0 in the losses column for the year. That'd the 4th year we've won the premiership, it's almost a formality now, there are only 4 teams in the league we realistically worry about playing, and that only tends to be if we play them away.

The league cup saw us lose out in the semis, but no one gives a toss about that trophy.

The FA cup was great this year. We got handed unbelievably easy fixtures, in the quarters the only challenging team left were City, who we played and beat in the final, helped by their injury problems.

However the big story was in the champions league. Qualifying comfortably despite a couple of losses in the group stage, we played Inter in the first knockout round. I was surprised when we waltzed to a 2-0 victory at their place, but then in the return we went down 2-0 in 15 minutes. A quick tactical shakeup saw us storm back to win 4-2 on the night, and 6-2 on aggregate.

Onwards, to some old rivals in Atletico. We scraped a 1-1 draw at theirs, and romped away in the home leg, they only scored their 2 right at the end when I took my better players off for energy conservation, and they were throwing the kitchen sink forward.

We were drawn Munich in the semis. I was very, very wary of this team as they have beaten us at this stage before. So off to their stadium we went, and I'm ashamed to say I shut up shop from minute 1. I wanted to come out still having a chance in the return leg, so just went all out defensive. I thought we were going to get a 0-0, but right at the death a shockingly bad own goal from my right back meant I took a 1 goal deficit back to Kellamergh park. It was a nervy affair, as I took the 2 goal lead I was massively wary that even 1 goal for Munich could see us eliminated again on the away goals rule. In the 88th minute, my heart skipped a beat as they hit the bar, but my left winger scooped up the ball, legged it down the other end and squared it to give us a 3-0 advantage. We were in our first ever CL final.

Here we met Porto. And I was confident. We already had the double by this point, and the only time I've played porto before I spanked them. Still, I was wary of overconfidence. We were on top of the entire game, and a red card for one of their players after 70 minutes only increased this. But we could not find the goal we so desperately needed, despite the 20 shots we rattled in during normal time. Extra time loomed. A couple of subs to keep the legs fresh and I was still hoping we could win. And just as I thought it was going to penalties (which I dont think I could have handled), the ball fell to my new striker, Ivica Milinkovic. He beat a couple of defenders before slamming home to win us the CL, complete the treble and complete the challenge.

I will carry on managing Fylde until I think we can win the champions league comfortably - it was a real skin of the teeth thing this year. The board STILL refused to build a stadium, despite the CL win.

Key Players

Ivica Milinkovic - our striker to replace Benzia 38 goals and 17 assists in his first full season was a stunning return. Hopefully 8 more years of him to come.

Mauro Lima - The young centreback brought in on a free. Now, still only 20, he's stunningly good. A real handful at corners too.

Vukan Vulovic - Another great season, 29 assists and 13 goals.

Also, European rankings. Now ranked 5th in Europe, 2nd in England.

[Bonzo1]

Winning the treble might make them think "why do we need to spend on a new stadium when we can win everything anyway?":D

[Bidwell93]

Winning the treble might make them think "why do we need to spend on a new stadium when we can win everything anyway?":D

Their reasoning is that they cant imagine our fanbase expanding. Cant imagine it. Just after winning the treble. My head hurts from the stupidity. WIth the lack of cash I'm generating, I cant afford to compete in the transfer market. It's really, really bad atm.

[Bonzo1]

Their reasoning is that they cant imagine our fanbase expanding. Cant imagine it. Just after winning the treble. My head hurts from the stupidity. WIth the lack of cash I'm generating, I cant afford to compete in the transfer market. It's really, really bad atm.

Really?? that seems madness. I mean maybe on a local level it might not build but your more likely to pick up Norwegian fans once you have won the champions league!

[blackdevil]

Ashton United

The Robins!

2021-22 - Barclays Premier League

This season we cemented ourselves as a Premier League team. During the pre-season the board announced they were extending the Ashton Utd Stadium from 13452 to 17330. This meant that until February we'd be playing at the Britannia Stadium in Stoke...Why we couldn't use a more local stadium I don't know. The City of Manchester stadium is free as blue trash now have their own Ali Babawatzitz stadium, unless they sold it and kept the cash... Anyway, playing the Britannia meant that we were able to get bigger crowds than normal and smallest crowd for a league game there was 24781 against Arsenal. The attendance at all the other home games at Stokes ground was over 25k so hopefully the board will see the business sense in a ground upgrade again.

We started as we left off from last season and maintained a steady course throughout finishing comfortably in fifth place, eight points behind forth place Chelsea and two ahead of Man City \o/ and Liverpool were 17 behind us in 7th. So Europa League football qualification from a league position. The bigest plus was having the second best defence in the league with 37 conceded with the best defence being champions Man Utd with 32 conceded despite the 5-0 drubbing we gave them. However we were the lowest scorers of the top six scoring just 63 times.

I'm absolutely delighted with how the season went as I've had one of the worse bouts of injuries that I can ever recall. It gives us a good platform for next season where hopefully our new signings from this year will have settled and have learned english and hopefully that will translate to better performances and we can continue to progress.

League Table | Progress Chart

I targeted the cups this year to try and get into europe and Our Capital One Cup run took us to the semi final where we lost out Champions League holders Tottenham.

We went one better in The FA Cup and progressed to the final where we suffered defeat again Chelsea.

So two good cup runs which whilst ending in disappointment we can point to them as a sign of our continous improvement. Hopefully we'll be able to get our grubby mitts on a trophy soon.

Finances | Transfers | 1st Team Squad

Key Players

Lucky Pila Our goalkeeper is absolutely amazing at saving penalties. Without him our cup runs would have ended sooner.

Lucas Morales Our top creator of goals. He suffered with injury mid-season and didn't play as many games as I'd have liked.

Lucas Gomez Our new striker signed to provide options at the top end of the pitch and provided a good return of assist and goals.

Diego Our £30m superstar finished as our top goalscorer. He's shown glimpses of amazing quality but I think he's just taking a little while to settle in. Looking for even more next season.

Joaquin Becerra I haven't loved CM/FM player this much since CM2-97/98. When we've got possesion he'll keep play moving and always seems to offer a passing option similar to how Carrick & Scholes do for Man Utd but without the Hollywood long balls (I might try turning his TTB to often and see how he does with it). He'll also shields the back 4 and if the back 4 do get caught out he sweeps up behind them. It really is amazing to watch his all action performances when watching the matches in full. I wish I had 9 more of him. The only disappointment from both his and my point of view was an injury keeping him out of the FA Cup final. This lad will one day be our captain and I've no doubts he'll lead us to glory. And he was a steal at £9.5m

History

Season          League                         League Finish     Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14         Blue Square North              2nd               Promoted via Playoffs 
2014/15         Blue Square Premier            15th              Survival
2015/16         Blue Square Premier            5th               Promoted via Playoffs
2016/17         Npower League Two              4th               Promoted via Playoffs
2017/18         Npower League One              4th               Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup Finalists
2018/19         Npower Championsip             3rd               Promoted via Playoffs
2019/20         Barclays Premier League        14th              Survival
2020/21         Barclays Premier League        11th
2021/22         Barclays Premier League        5th               FA Cup Finalists

A good season although I think we got a little carried away in the transfer market. Hopefully there won't be too many moves in or out during the summer and the lads can gell even more and our good team spirit should see us improve next year. And next year we're back in europe and I've already done better than last time this year we enter at the group stages \o/

Also I've just been informed that the youth facilities will be upgraded which is desperately needed and the stadium expanded by 6351 seats to take our capacity to 23681 so back to Stoke again next season, this time until March.

[blackdevil]

Congrats Bidwell!! Hopefully you'll get a new stadium soon.

And congrats to everyone above too!!

[Dons2387]

Go on Midge! Love the fellow Canvey Island success

[Padders]

Guys, I am in terrible danger of winning the Blue Square Premier

I abandoned the 4-3-3/4-5-1 which I have been playing for years and used a standard 4-4-2 counter

I've only lost 3 games all season. My defence has been superb and haven't lost a game in 20 now

[Brizza]

Go on Padders!!

[Bidwell93]

Go Padders, you can do it!

[blackdevil]

Good going Padders, I've got my fingers and toes crossed for luck.

[Bidwell93]

Just ended up kind of breaking the bank to bring in a new AMC, but hopefully he'll be incredible. And he's young. Just need a young AMR to come through now and I'll be set for a while. I hope. My striker also has had a huge wage hike, I just needed to keep him here. I so desperately need extra ticket sales, already again 10000/12500 seats at my stadium are gone on season tickets... It's just foolish.

[Sean3h]

PROMOTION!

Very pleased with the team - we managed to achieve promotion via the playoffs in our first season.

As you'll probably see from the league table - I got an awfully high amount of draws. I was playing a 5-2-2-1 formation for most of the season so would up getting quite a few 1-1 or 0-0 draws.

Top Goalscorer - Jack Defty with 17 goals in 34(4) games

Most Assists - Lee Smith with 17 assists in 43 games (also chipped in with 12 goals)

Highest Rating - Lee Smith with an average rating of 7.18

Smith was probably my best player, and this was recognised by the fact that he was given the "Player of the Season" award for the BSN.

Aims for next season - I've already got Papa Bouba Dip and Ian Harte coming in, hopefully they will drag my team through the BSP despite their ageing legs.

EDIT: Thought I needed to add something to this, look!! Was not expecting this at all!

2nd EDIT: I am now almost £3m in debt and close to administration. Thank you board for building a new stadium and lumping me with debt!

[Padders]

I've done it, won the league with two games to spare

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Padders]

I am now a target for a takeover

Squeaky bum time

[Padders]

New Chairman taken over, another £900k loan taken out

The minimum requirement they want in League 2 is Mid Table finish! Seems a bit harsh

[blackdevil]

I've done it, won the league with two games to spare

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Congrats Padders