Stalybridge, and their climb up the leagues

[daan27]

My squad.

Goalkeepers.

Karl Rivers has been my goalie for a while on and off. He was in goal in the lower leagues, but as he was young, I replaced him with more experienced keepers. Now he's older, he's been my goalie for the past 2 years.

I have just bought this goalie as a replacement for Rivers.

Defense. I play 3 centre backs. MY first 3 are Jed O'brien, Jonathan Perrin & Abdallah Neilsen. Matthias Johansson is my main backup.

Central midfielders. My formation seems to rely on 2 ball winning midfielders. These 2 work well together. Grassi provides the steel and the experience, and Keita plays well but can still learn from Grassi.

Wingers. Because of the 2 BWM, my wingers can have free reign down the wings. Andy Schwarz was my right winger last year, although Simon Leroy has started there this year. Josh Rigg on the left wing has been my main man for assists for a few years now. He also bangs in a lot of free kicks. Koch is making a strong claim to be a starter on the wings too, and Robbie Doherty has just got his first cap, so I'm well blessed for wingers.

Attacking Midfielder. Reece is my talisman. I bought him for £34,000 a few years ago. He was great to start with and he's improved a lot since then. Although is seems pretty high in the picture, his stamina is probably the worst part of his game, and he does seem to struggle when we get a load of games in a row, but Schwarz, Leroy and Rigg are all capable replacements in the APM role.

Strikers. Robinson and James are rated as my best 2 strikers, but Josh Simpson gets the most goals and the highest ratings.

[daan27]

Season 23/24.

The Europa League draw was made and this group shouldn't hold too many problems for me. Ruben Kazan is the only team I've even heard of...

The league starts with 3 hard fixtures (well, 2 hard fixtures...) I manage to hold my own though and get 2 wins and a draw. I end up in 6th place but with a game in hand.

I get another manager of the month award.

Due to my Europa League win last season, I get to take part in the European Super Cup. AC Milan are my opponents, and I think is probably my best ever result. We ran them ragged.

[daan27]

Yaw Tetteh was one of my free signings for this year and he scored against AC Milan.

Neil Andrew is a product of my youth academy. One of the few that has made it into my team so far. As he's still a bit young, and not good enough for my team yet, he's been loaned out to Blackpool.

Sunday Opara caught my eye as a 16 year old with impressive stats. I got him for free, and as he's a bit young I decided to loan him out. Bristol City took him on and will give him match practise..

My wage bill is getting much higher every year, and I had to put my £2.5 million transfer budget into wages.

The Europa League fixtures have went past quite nicely with 3 wins from 3 games. 9 goals for and only 1 against and things are looking good.

After 10 league games, we've only been beaten once but we're getting too many draws, but we still have that game in hand. Still in the league cup too with wins against Southampton and Man Utd.

[daan27]

November 2023.

November started with the continuation of our Europa League campaign.

A draw against Watford in the league was followed by 3 wins on the trot. Those 3 wins saw us move to the top of the table, on goal difference, but we still have that game in hand.

Our next few European games went the same as before. We did cruise it slightly.

December, for Euro games only. (Full December update to follow.)

Our fixtures list for December was completely full with 10 games scheduled. This would test my squad to the full. Having already qualified from the group, I decided to rest a few players and made changes to the team. I made 8 changes to my starting line-up for the meaningless (at least for me) Rubin Kazan game, with only 3 regulars (Schroder in goal, Perrin at the back, and Will James up front) starting. You wouldn't have known it wasn't a full strength team. My "reserves" stepped up to the plate and came out with another comprehensive win.

I won the table at a canter, and go through to face Napoli in the "first" round.

[Carl Creed]

I think with your current form the Premiership Title is in the offing!!!

[daan27]

Form you say? December in the league and league cup was epic. Chelsea, Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal were all dispatched. Squad rotation was on the menu all month but it didn't sem to matter which team I put out. Near the end, I ran out of strikers and gave 36 year old Luiz Suarez a game against Middlesbrough and he scores twice and gets man of the match in his only game of the season so far.

10 games in December. 10 games won. You can't ask for more.

[Fritz13]

Absolutely AMAZING month of December mate !!!!

[#4]

Great stuff there!

Any one else relieved that this has now clicked over to a second page? I was leaving the page open and going to make a cup of tea every time i opened it. It was a bit like playing CM3 on my P166 with 16mb ram.

[daan27]

My browser crashed sometimes when loading the thread, so I went into forum options and changed it from 100 posts per page to 40.

Click on settings on the blue bar next to where it says "Welcome your name", then general settings on the left, then change "Number of posts to show per page" to a smaller number. 20 or 40 usually work well.

The first few images were unedited png straight from my tablet, but I've since made them smaller, and changed them to jpg so the later pictures will load quicker.

[Neil Brock]

What browser type are you running? What version?

[daan27]

I use the latest Firefox, but I'm sure the issue is my laptop which only has 2 GB of RAM. It's forever giving me a "running out of memory. Close firefox" message.

[daan27]

January 24

I had decided that I was going to let Martin go. He's a great player but his lack of stamina means he's not much use over a season.

We went through January still unbeaten and pulled out a bit of a gap in the table.

Our unbeaten run came to an end as Chelsea beat us. 28 games undefeated is a great run.

Our Europa league adventure continued against Napoli. It was a close game and we get a 2-1 win thanks in part to them getting a man sent off.

They showed their class in the 2nd leg though and gave us a sound beating. Our Euro adventure was over for this season.

Our next game was the league cup final and it seemed the wheels have come off our wagon. Beaten easily by Man City.

We were still doing well in the league and holding onto our 10 point lead.

We weren't playing anywhere near was well as we had been. We were also picking up suspensions from red and yellow cards. Injuries were also happening to key players at an important point of the season.

In March or league form was OK and we managed to pull out more of a gap over Chelsea. Our FA cup run came to an end as Liverpool beat us in the quarter finals. After dominating all competitions so far it was a bit of a shock to find us put out of all the cups in such a short space of time, although it did allow us to concentrate on the league.

This draw by Chelsea was a key result for us as it meant...

we won the league without needing to play.

13 point lead and Chelsea can only get 12 from their remaining games.

The rest of April and May was a bit of an anti-climax as the league ran down. We still played well though, winning most of our game and only suffering a defeat against Liverpool (only our 3rd of the league campaign.)

[Fritz13]

Well done that man

[Duncan Greenwood]

Good work and dedication

[daan27]

Thanks. Feels great to have done it.

Forgot to post my manager rating in the last post.

Neil Andrew is a product of my youth system. I sent him out on loan and he had a good time.

I picked up Sunday Opara on a free last year. He was also out on loan and had a good season. I'm going to send them both out on laon again this coming season.

Premier League player stats.

Will James has turned out to be epic. 28 league goals, 11 ahead of the next players.

Grassi and Johansson put themselves put themsleves about more this season and ended up getting booked and sent off quite a lot.

My team arranged by average rating.

Player, young player and manager of the year awards were all ours.

Permier league and European supercup winners!

I received a few offers for my players, which were all turned down. Also turned down £11.5 million from Man Utd for Jed O'Brien.

New (free) players for this coming season. The fans were pleased with Martinez signing.

I'm now in a 30,000 seater stadium and have just opened a youth academy.

Roll on Champions League...

[Jamie King]

Well done on winning the league. Looks like you've got the finances to keep hold of your best players - judging by some of those offers you rejected. What do you get in the way of transfer budget? Be interesting to see how you get on in the Champion's League.

[daan27]

I can't recall off hand what my budgets are, but my allowed wages are much higher than my current wages so I have a fair bit of leeway. The board are always congratuling me on my tight reign over the wage bill. I had a budget of about £18 million last season, but I sold a player for £15 million so that doesn't really count... I'll post a pic later.

I took a break over the weekend, (went back to my Motherwell save) but I'm back playing again. I'll post later but I'm just going to concentrate on Champions league games from now on.

[Fritz13]

I can't recall off hand what my budgets are, but my allowed wages are much higher than my current wages so I have a fair bit of leeway. The board are always congratuling me on my tight reign over the wage bill. I had a budget of about £18 million last season, but I sold a player for £15 million so that doesn't really count... I'll post a pic later.

I took a break over the weekend, (went back to my Motherwell save) but I'm back playing again. I'll post later but I'm just going to concentrate on Champions league games from now on.

can you post updated stats for Grassi please mate ?

Was a bit surprised to see that you didn't sell him for £43M ... unless his stats have improved from your May 2023 pic

[daan27]

I'll post Grassi's stats later. I'm at work and to get a picture, I'd have to start up my tablet and game which is kind of frowned upon... I'll get a shot at my tea break at half 4 and post it this evening.

I'm not sure if he's improved or not, but I turned it down because I could and, I'd rather have him than the money and having to look for another player. I also like to try and play frugally. It's nice having loads of money, but I get much more enjoyment by finding free players and players on a bosman, than I do from buying success.

EDIT: It was also an English club. If it was Real Madrid, Barca or AC Milan, for example, I'd more than likely have agreed to sell them.

[Fritz13]

I'll post Grassi's stats later. I'm at work and to get a picture, I'd have to start up my tablet and game which is kind of frowned upon... I'll get a shot at my tea break at half 4 and post it this evening.

I'm not sure if he's improved or not, but I turned it down because I could and, I'd rather have him than the money and having to look for another player. I also like to try and play frugally. It's nice having loads of money, but I get much more enjoyment by finding free players and players on a bosman, than I do from buying success.

No rush mate .. use your break for something more productive !!

.. a cig or a tea perhaps

Nice approach really ... I've tried not to be in a position where I have to sell but then again if I spot someone who is better than a player I currently have, and there is a bit of a profit to be made then I'll jump at the chance !!

Out of interest how big is your first team squad ?

[daan27]

Out of interest how big is your first team squad ?

Last season's squad is in post 115. I've sold a player since then, and gained 2. There are only about 4-5 players in my reserves.

[Fritz13]

Last season's squad is in post 115. I've sold a player since then, and gained 2. There are only about 4-5 players in my reserves.

Cheers mate

I rest the entire first team starting XI for dead rubber euro games plus all cup matches .. will you be tempted to do this next season to ensure a good CL ?

[daan27]

I do rotate my midfield 5 regularly to keep my main guys fit for the big games. My 3 centre backs can play in most games with no issues, as can my 2 strikers, although Robinson needs rested more than James does.

My budget. As you can see, I have £30 million available, and ~£500,000 a week in wages to play with.

My current wage structure. All the players (that I want to keep) whose contracts are up at the end of this season, have been given improved contracts, so that's not going to go up this season.

Here is Grassi. He is a bit aggressive and gets booked and sent off quite a lot, but I like his style...

Grassi then

Grassi now.

This season's European Cup games, so far. Some big teams in the draw but I was hopeful of getting through.

I forgot to take a screenshot of my last game against Brondy, but looking at the final table, (and if my maths is correct,) I won 4-1.

Our next game in the Champions League is against Atletico Madrid.

I started off this season like a train, and went unbeaten for a while. Not quite as long as my unbeaten run of last season, but impressive none the less.

And I'm getting a fair bit of international recognition too.

And this was nice. He didn't win, but it's a great achievement to get a mention in 2nd.

[johnno1979]

Been inspired by your career and have started my own adventure with Boreham Wood (BSS), have so far managed to win the BSS in my first season and scrape a playoff win in BSP to win successive promotion. Now sitting 2nd in league 2.

Out of interest, for the players that you are finding that are relatively cheap but turn out to be ‘stars’ are you scouting UK & Ireland to find these players or just doing a normal player search?

Thanks

Mark

[daan27]

I use a bit of both. Some of the earlier ones were found by my scouts, ie Pope and O'Brien, but the majority were found by looking through players with no club and checking out the youngsters.

[johnno1979]

Thanks - have you had to request your stadium and training facility increases/upgrades from the board over the years or have they been forthcoming with adding capacity and improving facilities without you needing to ask?

[daan27]

I've had to ask for all of those. I usually asked for a stadium and youth facilites improvements each year (if I remembered...)

[daan27]

Champions League fixtures.

I got a good result in Madrid which I managed to hold onto to get through to the next round.

Quarter finals saw us drawn against Inter, We held our own in the first leg, but when we got to Milan, they showed we still have a lot of work to do...

We finished 4th in the Premier, so we acheived our aim of qualifying for next years Champions League. We got to the final of the FA cup but got beaten by Chelsea.

So all in all, an OK season but not as good as it could have been and some strengthening will be required for next season.

Manager rating.

[daan27]

New signings.

I signed Molina on a bosman. He should fit in nicely at the back.

Tol was signed for £8.5million. He's rated as my best midfielder ahead of Grassi.

And I needed a keeper too. Marc Andre ter Stegen has been the best goalie in the game for years. I wasn't able to buy him but it looks like I managed to buy his replacement. I had to spend £19 million to get Mikhail Zaitsev but he should be worth every penny.

Champions League qualifying round was against Roma. After our defeat by Inter last year, I was slightly worried about this but we made it through OK.

The draw was OK and the group shouldn't hold too many worries for us.

Bad injury for Robinson. I didn't send Sunday Opara out on laon this year, so he should be able to step in.

So some great results there. 9 goals scored and none against is a great start.

Our league fixtures are ticking over nicely, but then we started like this last year too. Lets hope I can hold onto it this year. My defense and goalie are playing excellently, with only one goal scored against us in the league so far, and my attack are punishing the opposition. The one draw I've had so far was a 0-0 against Cardiff...

[Fritz13]

Hi mate

Is Zaitsev your record signing now then ?

Don't ever recall you spending over £10M before.

[daan27]

Easily. My previous highest signing was £6 million for my last keeper.

[RichardMagpies]

Thanks so much for this, I really enjoyed reading it! Inspired me to start my own one hahaha

[Fritz13]

Hi again mate

I know that you are now focussing on screenshots of your Euro exploits but is there any chance you could maybe post some of your league results - maybe just against the bigger teams etc .... I miss them

[daan27]

OK. Keep watching...

Our Champions League campaign continued with us off to Turkey to play Fenerbahce.

That result meant we qualified from the group, so future group games would mean I could put out a reserve team to keep my main players fresh. Again, my reserves stepped up and you wouldn't know it was a reserve team, although it was James who got the goal against Dinamo.

I missed a photo of the last game again, but I won 4-0 against Lyon. No goals against in the group is a really impressive stat. We have AC Milan in the next round so that should be a tough game.

Our league form has continued and we brush aside most teams. Our games against the other top teams haven't been that exciting. I think this shows that I've reached their level and am now slightly better. Before, it was anyone's guess what would happen as I had the ability to win, but I also had the capability of being thrashed. Now, we're more even and I'm just coming out on top.

The rest of our results are below.

Still unbeaten in the league and I'm top by a handy margin. All I need to do is to hold onto it... Our only defeat so far was by Chelsea in the league cup quarter final. Our league game against Chelsea was a 0-0 draw so Chelsea seem to be my bogey team.

And Will James goes one step better than last year and wins the World Player of the Year for 2025!

[franc_ices]

Hi man, very nice results there. Keep up the good work!

I've got some questions and really need your help:)

Firstly, how did your players's stats are very nice, nearly stay at highest level at all? Even a 16yold had impressing stas which I never seen before. I'm currently handling Southampton, season 2014/2015. As my saved, top young talents never been like yours. I meant, it seems like in my saves top talents just too weak comparing to yours. Can you please help me to understand it? Just few hours before, I'm very happy with my youngters, but I feeling disappointed about them rightnow-_-

Anyway, I think even famous players in my currently save like Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Rooney couldn't be as like as your youngters when they was young.

Secondly, can you take some pics of your training setting? I would like to see it and learning about as I thought my training is somehow worst atm. It would be very helpful to me!

That's all. I will keep waiting for your reply and keep cheering the topic too!

Thank you a lot!

[Fritz13]

Increbible league form mate .. W-O-W !!!!!!

[daan27]

Firstly, how did your players's stats are very nice, nearly stay at highest level at all? Even a 16yold had impressing stas which I never seen before. I'm currently handling Southampton, season 2014/2015. As my saved, top young talents never been like yours. I meant, it seems like in my saves top talents just too weak comparing to yours. Can you please help me to understand it? Just few hours before, I'm very happy with my youngters, but I feeling disappointed about them rightnow-_-

I can't explain that one. I guess I was just lucky to find them at the right time.

EDIT: Just noticed you're only on '14/15. The young players I've found will probably be regens of existing, retired, players (but I don't look into it to find out who) and you haven't played long enough for enough older players to have been regenerated yet.

Secondly, can you take some pics of your training setting? I would like to see it and learning about as I thought my training is somehow worst atm. It would be very helpful to me!

I haven't changed any of the settings within training. I have my defenders on defending, my midfielders on general, and my strikers on attacking, and that's all I've done.

Increbible league form mate .. W-O-W !!!!!!

Yeah, I can't quite believe how good my defense and goalie have been this year. The £19 million I spent on Zaitsev was well worth it.

[Marc Vaughan]

You're doing amazing - looks like this year might be the one for you to lift the Premiership title.

(it'll be interesting to see if you have to adapt your transfer style a little when 4.3 comes out as I've improved some of the AI for non-human teams with regards to bosmans and suchlike ...)

[daan27]

You're doing amazing - looks like this year might be the one for you to lift the Premiership title.

I've won the Premier before, and I'm currently only 3 points away from it this year. My main target this year is Champions League.

(it'll be interesting to see if you have to adapt your transfer style a little when 4.3 comes out as I've improved some of the AI for non-human teams with regards to bosmans and suchlike ...)

More competition for signatures then? One of the first things I do in January is to search for anyone whose contract is expiring, and the AI certainly don't seem to do it as early.

[daan27]

It took until the 11th of February for us to be defeated in the league.

Our bogey team then beat us in the FA cup, although as the game after this was a Champions League game, I did put out a completely reserve team.

Back to the Champions League and we had to play against AC Milan. First leg was a tight affair but we sneaked a 1-0 victory away from home.

The 2nd leg was more open, especially after they got a man sent off, and it turned into a bit of a rout.

Our league form had picked up again after the stutter against Man City, and we won the league on the 21st of March.

But it wasn't all good as Neilsen suffered an injury that would keep him out for the rest of the season.

The Champions League Quarter final was next, and Barcelona... I sneaked a 1-0 victory and it's all nicely poised for the 2nd leg.

Some interesting, 1st leg, results in the other ties too.

If I'm to get to the final, I don't want to play a Manchester team. I would like to be a proper "European" game, so I'll be cheering on Real and Bayern in their 2nd leg games.

[aaron1606]

I suspect Real are going to need more than just some support to turn that one around!

[daan27]

The 2nd leg of the quarter final was a bit of a damb squib and ended 0-0, so our first leg win sees us qualify

Real gave it a go, but couldn't overhaul City. United get an away win to beat Bayern, and Inter are looking a bit fearsome with a 10-1 aggregate win over Dortmund...

And who do I get in the semi. Inter. Oh, dear. The first leg was at home and we get a 1-1 draw. Not great, but not rubbish either, although we still ahve a lot of work to do in the 2nd leg to get through.

All I can say about this is, I bloody love you mr linesman... I think Inter were done a bit there. I'm taking some of the claim though as I had to do something to score so I subbed Pope and put Robert on in his place. Pope is an APM, but Robert plays in the same position but is an inside forward. Minutes after coming on Robert scores, and paved the way for our victory.

City overcome United to become my opposition in the final.

We got a great start in the final with a goal after 7 minutes, but City came back at us to level the game after 23 minutes. Reece Pope scored 8 minutes before the break to give us back the lead. We controlled the game in the 2nd half, and we held on for the win.

The final league table. After we sealed the league, our form dipped a bit, but we still played well and kept our huge lead.

Stalybridge Celtic. Premier League champions and Champions League winners in 2026.

[Fritz13]

Well done mate

[daan27]

Ta Fritzy. I'm glad I was alone in the staff room when I won the Champions League final!

Manager rating. All 20s (except for the unimportant one...)

Will James was just epic this year. 53 goals from 51 games.

League stats.

I'm coming to get you Allegri...

[daan27]

The new bosman signing for this year was Sergio Garcia. He seems to have retired from golfing and has taken up football...

As I have won the premier and champions league, I was wondering if I'd want to continue this save for the coming season. This'll keep me going...

If the FA can cope with a Scotsman in charge of the England team, then I can cope with managing them.

The World Cp had just finished. England got through the groups but were then beaten 1-0 by the USA. The previous manager (I didn't see who he was) was sacked and I got the job. I was a bit perturbed to get this message.

It wiznae me....

We got our own back on Chelsea in the Community Shield, and gave them a right good thrashing.

My first England game was a friendly against Columbia. I had a llok through the Stalybridge squad for Englishmen. They are a bit scarce, but in addition to Pope and James who were usually called up, I selected O'Brien at the back, Hunt in midfield and 29 yo Josh Rigg as left wing. All 3 were picked for the first time. The press were surprised by Rigg's call up and were surprised that I'd left out Jack Wilshere. Wilshere is now 34 though so he has no future for the national team. (Pope was injured for this game.)

Nice one Riggy. 1st cap, player of the match, a goal, and an assist. England are now playing the same 3-4-1-2 formation that has served Stalybridge well over the years.

[daan27]

Just a wee note to say I'm not going to post any more major updates here.

I've achieved more than I thought possible with bringing Stalybridge from the Blue Square North up to the Premier League, and also achieving major European success by winning the Champions League too. I'm still playing the save and still managing Stalybridge and England and I'll keep you updated as to how I get on with England in the European and World cups.

Question for the SI guys (or anyone else that knows) regarding international management. With me using the Android version and having the English leagues only, is England the only international team I can manage?

I'd like to thank you all for reading and for the comments.

[aaron1606]

Just a wee note to say I'm not going to post any more major updates here.

I've achieved more than I thought possible with bringing Stalybridge from the Blue Square North up to the Premier League, and also achieving major European success by winning the Champions League too. I'm still playing the save and still managing Stalybridge and England and I'll keep you updated as to how I get on with England in the European and World cups.

Question for the SI guys (or anyone else that knows) regarding international management. With me using the Android version and having the English leagues only, is England the only international team I can manage?

I'd like to thank you all for reading and for the comments.

There are a handful of international teams you can manage, I can't remember which off hand. It's all based on the number of players loaded for the country that determines whether they're manageable or not.

[Fritz13]

Just a wee note to say I'm not going to post any more major updates here.

I've achieved more than I thought possible with bringing Stalybridge from the Blue Square North up to the Premier League, and also achieving major European success by winning the Champions League too. I'm still playing the save and still managing Stalybridge and England and I'll keep you updated as to how I get on with England in the European and World cups.

Question for the SI guys (or anyone else that knows) regarding international management. With me using the Android version and having the English leagues only, is England the only international team I can manage?

I'd like to thank you all for reading and for the comments.

One of the best careers I've ever read mate

.. congrats :winner:

[daan27]

There are a handful of international teams you can manage, I can't remember which off hand. It's all based on the number of players loaded for the country that determines whether they're manageable or not.

So Scotland is a possibility then? Craig Levein got sacked quite early on in the game IIRC but it was too early on for me to have been a serious contender.

One of the best careers I've ever read mate

.. congrats :winner:

Thanks.

As I'm sure I've said before, this is by far my best ever CM/FM game and I've been playing since CM1 on the Amiga. There must have been a happy collision of atoms just at the time I created the game for everything to go this well.

[Marc Vaughan]

So Scotland is a possibility then? Craig Levein got sacked quite early on in the game IIRC but it was too early on for me to have been a serious contender

I think they may well be - I believe there are enough Scottish players loaded between the big Scottish teams and those playing in England to make it feasible.