FM14: The Sky Bet Football League Thread - Sponsored by William Hill

[Jogo Bonito]

I've reached the end of 2013 with Preston North End, and currently sit 9th in League 1 with 35 points after 23 games. Form has been a bit up and down, and narrow defeats in the last two outings have dropped us just outside the play-off spots. The league is tight, with Sheffield United in 3rd on 38 points and Walsall in 13th on 32 points - each of them just three points away from us at the halfway stage. We were dumped out of the JPT by Shrewsbury in the QF (North), but remain in the FA Cup after beating Cambridge City and Peterborough (at their place in a replay).

I've had a bag load of injuries, including three each to Stevie May and Gary Gardner. Best performers so far have been Paul Hanlon as my left-sided central defender (bargain buy at £100k), Craig Davies who has hit 12 goals in all formats, and Chris Humphrey (eight assists). I've been impressed also by May, who has scored nine goals and added seven assists from his 15(7) appearances in all competitions so far. Joe Garner has struggled more than I expected, with only three goals and seven assists so far from 17(8) outings.

Paulo Nagamura has just left the club after his short-term loan ended before Christmas. He is now a free agent - and did very well for me in midfield - but at 30 he doesn't match my needs going forward. Two more players will be leaving the club on 1st January, with Tom Clarke joining St Johnstone for £350k, and Kevin Davies (at 36) being taken by West Ham on a free transfer (typical Sam Allardyce signing). I'm doing my best to keep finances in check, and those last two deals will take my sales figures to £2.7m. With little of that being made available, it's unlikely anybody will come in - although a 4th choice striker may be an option (possibly on loan) as we don't have any great attackers in the U18 squad who can step up to this level.

Talking of youngsters, I've been able to give valuable playing time to a handful of ours (Brownhill, Browne and Hayhurst), and on a purely aesthetical basis, it's nice that only two of the entire U18 squad are missing player images on my facepack. That minor detail makes me much more likely to bring them through to the senior squad!

[roganp]

Playing with Chesterfield at the moment, not downloaded any of the latest updates so we are in league two and after difficult start where we lost our first two league games and were knocked out of the capital one cup by Leicester, we now find ourselves top of the league after 14 games, 5 points clear of our nearest challengers York and are currently on an 11 match unbeaten run in all comps which included wins against league one sides Oldham and Rotherham in the JPT.

Stand out performers so far have been 20 year old midfielder Ollie Banks who has excelled playing just behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, scoring 8 goals in 13 league appearances. Garry Roberts is another of our top performers thus far providing 10 assists and 4 goals in his 17 appearances so far in all competitions. Lastly, one of the more surprising top performers in our team this season has been 35 year old player/coach Richie Humpthreys who has put in a string of excellent displays at left back along side a very solid back four that includes promising youngster Liam Cooper and skipper Ian Evatt at centre back with Drew Talbot at right back.

EDIT: Forgot to add that I didn't bring in any players and no players were sold, just a couple of younger players going out on loan so we pretty much have the same squad that the club starts with on the last official patch.

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice one 'roganp'. I think Chesterfield have a solid, well balanced squad with particular strength in the midfield, and a decent defence. Perhaps you're lacking a little bit in attack, but other teams have worse than you so it's not exactly awful. I've tried to sign Banks a few times but can never get him for a fee that I think is in order. Roberts (like IRL) is a very talented player for L2, and his creativity from set-pieces is always useful too. It's good to see you are doing well and with no changes to the squad - I like that approach.

Like me at Preston, I think your finances aren't good at the start are they?

[roganp]

Nice one 'roganp'. I think Chesterfield have a solid, well balanced squad with particular strength in the midfield, and a decent defence. Perhaps you're lacking a little bit in attack, but other teams have worse than you so it's not exactly awful. I've tried to sign Banks a few times but can never get him for a fee that I think is in order. Roberts (like IRL) is a very talented player for L2, and his creativity from set-pieces is always useful too. It's good to see you are doing well and with no changes to the squad - I like that approach.

Like me at Preston, I think your finances aren't good at the start are they?

Yeah, one of the only complaints I have about the team so far is that none of our strikers have yet to make the lone striker role their own with Marc Richards, Eoin Doyle and Armand Gnanduillet( have no idea how to actually pronounce this) all rotating in that postion, although the latter has been the most impressive out of the trio. Thankfully the goals from Banks, Roberts and also Jay O'Shea on the right flank have meant that we haven't suffered so far by the absence of a regular goalscorer up top. In terms of the finances you are right they are not great at the start which is why I choose to stick with the squad I took over as even if I wanted to bring in new players I dont think I would have able to improve the squad with the budgets I was given, but the current squad have shown they are more than capable at this level and hopefully that will continue.

[Jogo Bonito]

Yeah, I'm sure you have enough quality to see you through the first season. I'm not too surprised to see your strikers not setting the league on fire, but with no money to spend there isn't much you can do, unless a loan striker becomes available. Best of luck, it's good to see some other updates in here.

[Jogo Bonito]

I've managed to keep Preston North End in and around the play-off zone, despite some mixed results in the first two months of 2014. Stevie May has continued to shine, and has been the main man in this period with plenty of goals and good performances. Unfortunately, our spirited FA Cup run came to an end in a 4th Round replay defeat at Cardiff.

The winter transfer window saw me strive to make even more cash for the board, ever mindful of that initial debt of £35m against the club. In view of this, I sanctioned another array of sales to boost the bank balance further. The only deal that I really regret was the one involving teenage midfielder Josh Brownhill. However, a fee of £2.1m from Celtic plus 25% of any transfer profit, and a loan-back until the end of the season, was deemed reasonable compensation for his services.

The youngster had become a pivotal part of my team, and I've been pairing him more recently with fellow teenager Alan Browne in the central midfield area. Luckily, the gamble on playing both together has been alright, and I'm hoping that Celtic might consider loaning Josh back again next season too. Six other players departed during the month, and the only incomings were Northern Ireland midfielder Jonny Steele, on a free from New York Red Bulls, and 29 year old Omani international striker Imad Al-Hoseni on a short-term loan to take the role of fourth striker until April.

I had hoped to snatch Callum Wilson away from relegation-threatened Coventry, but the bidding went too high (over his value of £675k) so I settled on the experienced Omani as an interim option. Whilst I was already blessed with plenty of players able to play the left midfield role, Steele can also be used in the middle of the park, which was an area where a little more depth was sought.

It's been a fairly heavy turnover of players since I arrived, but now we have almost £1m unused transfer budget, and a spare £10k p/w in wages as an indication of our progress. More importantly, the club is beginning to look much more stable financially. I've taken strong measures to get to this stage, but the board seem to understand and trust my actions. I approached them for a new contract, which was agreed, and our improved status allowed me to add Gary Megson to the coaching staff, and renew/extend contracts on most of my key players. I've also done this for most of the youngsters and staff now too. I feel the building blocks are in place and, wherever we end up, hopefully the second season should be a little easier to navigate.

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 1 review

Well, I think I failed - in a manner of speaking. The media prediction was 7th, and we came 4th. But the board expected promotion, and I delivered 'only' a play-off semi final defeat.

For the first time in FM14, I had discarded counter-attacking football (back in December) in favour of attacking football - home and away. Surprisingly, this yielded better results, and a very good defensive record. It was reverse psychology stuff, at a time when I couldn't defend a lead. I thought it was time for the opposition to fear me, and not have it the other way around. It almost went spectacularly wrong in March when I took that approach when hosting league leaders Sheffield United, the team that (at the time) boasted the top two goalscorers in the division. 3-0 down inside 26 minutes was not what I had in mind, but somehow (I don't know how) we grabbed three goals between the 80th and 87th minutes, to come away with a face-saving point. After that, I kept the faith, and despite the odd blip it served us well. The 4-0 thrashing of play-off chasing Carlisle in April, where Stevie May grabbed all four goals (sadly he failed to find the net again from there on) was a particular highlight on our way to a 4th place finish.

I entered the play-off semi final in positive fashion, maybe overly so. I kept the attacking strategy in place as we headed to Griffin Park for the 1st leg, and we came unstuck. The 2-0 result was harsh, but we had failed to get the away goal I expected, and a deficit of more than one was going to be tough to retrieve. In the 2nd leg, we controlled the game and went ahead after 52 minutes. Before and after that goal we had so many chances, but either missed, saw them saved, or the frame denied us. We couldn't grab another to force extra time - I am convinced we would have gone on to win - and the season was over.

* Shrewsbury pipped Peterborough to 6th spot on the final weekend, and somehow steamrollered Leyton Orient (3rd) by a 5-1 margin in the other semi final. Their overperforming squad couldn't hold off Brentford in the final though, and The Bees secured the final promotion spot that we had craved. Wolves took the title on goal difference from Sheffield United (81 points for each demonstrating it was a fairly tight/poor contest). At the other end, Oldham had already been relegated entering the 46th match, but three out of four other teams could drop down with them. Interestingly all four lost - so Crewe, Coventry and MK Dons joined them in League 2, whilst Bristol City survived by a solitary point.

Here are the results from March to May, 2014...

And the final League 1 table...

Luckily, after the recent contract extension, my job seems safe for now. If not for that, I think the Chairman may have considered sacking me. Hopefully the board will remain supportive for next season, and give me a sensible (modest) transfer and wage budget to achieve promotion. But those ambitions could also depend on how I replace the departing loanees. Declan Rudd was superb in goal, many times keeping us in games or helping us cling on to points, Paul Gallagher was a reliable performer in midfield, Craig Davies was exceptional in attack, and although Gary Gardner had an injury-plagued campaign, he was also useful to have around when fit. I'd like to take all four back again on loan - or permanently if affordable - and the outcome of these negotiations (plus another loan enquiry for Josh Brownhill) could prove make or break for season 2 at Deepdale.

The most influential players during the first season were:

1. May - 22 goals (21 in the league) without any penalties, 12 assists, 9 POTM awards, highest club rating (7.05), 4th highest ranked player in League 1

2. Davies - 17 league goals and 5 cup goals, average rating 6.98

3. Hanlon - 56 starts out of our 59 games, and an average rating of 6.98

Here are the player stats of the first team squad that ended the season with us, showing all competitions...

* Not included are those players sold during the season, whose League 1 appearances are recorded as follows: Tom Clarke 0, Kevin Davies 4, Scott Wiseman 3 and Neil Kilkenny 8. The league appearances of our short-term loan players are recorded as follows: Paulo Nagamura 18 (4 goals) and Imad Al-Hoseni 8.

This screenshot is also interesting, to show the volume of large sales made by the club - compared to others in League 1 - in an effort to stabilise our finances...

To anybody looking for an enjoyable save in League 1, this might be one of the better ones. Whilst the initial debt (£35m), lack of transfer funding (£100k), and ambitious board expectations (promotion) are restrictions you could do without, there are great possibilities if you choose to sell some of your assets and re-build your squad. You don't have to spend even as much as I did (£935k included the luxury of £550k on Cyrus Christie, when you have adequate right-back options), and you have some quality players for this level on loan too. Having done the hard work, I'm really looking forward to seeing what season 2 brings to Preston North End...

[dino]

Unlucky on the playoffs Jogo but as you have mentioned, you have built a solid base for next season. What teams came down from the Championship?

[Jogo Bonito]

Unlucky on the playoffs Jogo but as you have mentioned, you have built a solid base for next season. What teams came down from the Championship?

Thanks mate. It was a bit disappointing in the end, but I feel we did OK and hopefully season 2 will complete the first step of the recovery. I've just finished pre-season and there have been some interesting (not always in a good way) developments.

Relegated from the Championship were Birmingham, Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday - the first two don't really surprise me! We're 4th favourites for promotion behind that relegated trio, with our title odds at 8-1. The clubs promoted from League 2 were Burton, Bury, Chesterfield and Portsmouth.

[Jogo Bonito]

As I mentioned earlier, it’s been an interesting pre-season at Preston.

The squad, budgets, and transfer market

I can’t complain about the board’s support this summer as they set me healthy transfer and wage budgets, but we still struggled to lure our previously successful loan players back for a second season.

Declan Rudd was coming out of contract at Norwich, and I didn’t anticipate having a problem snapping him up on a permanent deal. To avoid compensation, an offer of just £1 (yes, a solitary coin) was agreed by Norwich – but the player wouldn’t even enter talks with me during a two month chase. It was very frustrating as we could have matched his previous salary, but we were never even allowed to start negotiating.

Craig Davies was reinstated to Bolton’s first team squad, and unavailable for loan again. Despite a ‘parting shot’ comment saying he would be willing to come back at any time, it seems that he was toying with me. After a few failed attempts, Bolton finally agreed to sell him to me for £450k – but the player declined to enter talks on financial grounds. That is now a dead deal too.

Paul Gallagher went back to Leicester, and we couldn’t agree another loan. At 29 years old, I didn’t feel he would be good value for money as a permanent signing – so that was the end of that.

Gary Gardner was rarely fit enough to play last season, but has re-joined on a ‘no-fee, no-wage’ seasonal loan deal from Aston Villa. Of all the loanees, he still has the most to prove, but he adds some depth to the squad.

Josh Brownhill also brought me good news. I hadn’t noticed that when he joined Celtic last January, our loan-back agreement was for a 12 month period. So, we have his services until the start of next January at least.

I had grave concerns now over the goalkeeping position, as our ageing reserve goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann was a surprise signing by Manchester City. That £70k sale had already been agreed well before the ‘Rudd scenario’ took place, so for the first two friendlies we only had an untried 19 year old youngster (Steven James) between the sticks.

Worse news came my way before the opening friendly though. Towards the end of last season, I had been trying to extend the contract of Stevie May. His agent wasn’t very friendly, and we could never strike a deal. For the first month of the summer, I kept turning down bids exceeding £1m, testing those clubs with a demand for £2.5m and a loan-back for a year. Still unable to get him sign a new contract, and unaware of his release clause, Stoke came in and matched the magic sum. He was gone for £1.4m, and I didn’t even get a chance to use him for another year as part of the deal.

With him and Davies no longer at the club, I had lost 44 goals from last season’s team. Gallagher, who could have given some cover in that role, was also gone. And that left just Joe Garner plus returning (unwanted) loan player Graham Cummins as my striking options. Oh yeah, and that ‘keeper problem was still there too…

By this point, I had £1m in available transfer funds - it could have been more, but just 10% of the May money came my way. We also had a chunk of spare wage budget, as only £43k of my £63k allowance was being spent (I’d worked hard to reduce last year’s bill from £70k p/w). This gave me strength to enter the market, but I was looking for quality over quantity and would only spend on the right players.

I had two main targets – well, three including Rudd. The men in question were Callum Wilson, from relegated Coventry, and Dwight Gayle, stuck in the reserves at Crystal Palace. Wilson was valued at £450k by now, despite an excellent season last time out, and he also wanted to join me. Sadly, Coventry demanded well over £1m for him, and I just couldn’t go that high. As we speak he is still there, so I retain a small hope that I may be able to secure him by August. I did have better discussions with Palace about Gayle, and they accepted a loan deal that was going to cost me about £13k p/m in fees and wages. Unfortunately after several attempts, the player was still not prepared to join us.

Whilst all this was going on, the pre-season fixtures had started. Needless to say, we stuttered to unconvincing home draws against Coventry and Bristol Rovers, with our inadequate squad causing me some concern. By the time the third match came along though, I’d swooped to add two strikers on free transfers, and a young goalkeeper on a season-long loan.

So it’s a Deepdale welcome to free agent forwards Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Kieran Agard. The former (released by Ipswich) has a point to prove after falling off the radar a little bit in recent times, whilst Agard will most likely be a bench option for the wide right and striking positions. The new goalkeeper is Jordan Pickford, who will cost me nothing during his stay on loan from Sunderland. I’m not entirely convinced by him, but we will see how it goes.

I’m still considering whether to add another keeper (Rudd has now moved to Stoke, and insists on staying there as an understudy) and will continue to monitor the situations of Wilson and Gayle.

Unless anything changes, it means several youngsters will take their place in the depths of my 24-man squad. I had at one stage tried to push through a loan deal for Stephen Quinn (Hull accepted my 20% wage contribution, but the player rejected the move), and almost took a gamble on relatively obscure Kazakhstan international striker Sergey Khizhnichenko. That would have been an interesting capture, but he instead chose to join AEK Athens on a free transfer instead of us. Once those deals collapsed, I backed out of the market.

Exiting the club were the aforementioned Stuckmann and May, plus John Mousinho on a free transfer. There are a couple more players that may leave before the end of the summer window, but nobody that is valuable to me as I have extended all important contracts.

Staff changes

Our fitness coach (Adrian Lamb) refused to sign a new contract, but I don't think that's a major loss as I was able to replace him with Frank Nuttall. I’ve also recruited Peter Farrell as another coach.

Pre-season summary

Pre-season has now ended, and our results improved after the new recruits came in.

On paper it looks like we are well set - which often means we are due to get off to a sluggish start! I’m about to find out…

[roganp]

Bad luck on losing in the playoffs Jogo, I know the feeling myself having gone a stage further by getting to the finals with both Sheffield United and Derby and losing both times. Seems like you've endured a bit of a frustrating time in the transfer market during pre-season, but hopefully your new additions can prove their worth and help you battle it our for promotions this season.

[Jogo Bonito]

Bad luck on losing in the playoffs Jogo, I know the feeling myself having gone a stage further by getting to the finals with both Sheffield United and Derby and losing both times. Seems like you've endured a bit of a frustrating time in the transfer market during pre-season, but hopefully your new additions can prove their worth and help you battle it our for promotions this season.

Cheers rogan. I haven't had too many problems with play-off attempts, so I was probably due one! I'm hoping that without much change to my squad (I'll whisper the absence of a proper keeper and 44 goals as unimportant), we should go close again. Good luck with Chesterfield!

[roganp]

Cheers rogan. I haven't had too many problems with play-off attempts, so I was probably due one! I'm hoping that without much change to my squad (I'll whisper the absence of a proper keeper and 44 goals as unimportant), we should go close again. Good luck with Chesterfield!

Thanks mate! things are still ticking over quite nicely at Chesterfield, we are still top of the table after 26 games and find ourselves in the north final of the JPT so a trip to Wembley may be on the horizon, although beating Sheffield United over two legs will be a difficult task , but having overcome four league one sides to get to this stage (Oldham, Rotherham, Walsall and Crewe) I'm confident that my boys have the ability to come through the tie victorious.

[Jogo Bonito]

Going very well there rogan - you can't improve much on that! I only made the JPT North QF stage, and being dumped out by Shrewsbury was nothing to be proud of...

Good luck with the rest of the season, and hopefully you make it to Wembley and win. It's ironic that we are both minus a true goalscorer - and that one of the men I am missing, Craig Davies, was a bit of a hero in his Chesterfield days. I'm sure your fans would be wishing you could grab him again - mine are!

[roganp]

Going very well there rogan - you can't improve much on that! I only made the JPT North QF stage, and being dumped out by Shrewsbury was nothing to be proud of...

Good luck with the rest of the season, and hopefully you make it to Wembley and win. It's ironic that we are both minus a true goalscorer - and that one of the men I am missing, Craig Davies, was a bit of a hero in his Chesterfield days. I'm sure your fans would be wishing you could grab him again - mine are!

I certainly could do with Craig Davies back at the club, I think we'd be literally unstoppable in this division with an out an out goalscorer in our ranks. However, deadline day loan signing Tom Hopper from Leicester did manage to come off the bench to bag a goal on his debut so hopefully that's a sign of things to come. Also brought in Valentin Gjokaj on loan for rest of the season from Derby and he had an excellent debut against Bristol Rovers along side Liam Cooper in the centre of defence.

[roganp]

Incredible! Just beat Sheffield United 4-0 at Bramall Lane in the first leg of the JPT north final. Admittedly, they did play a weakened side, but still an amazing result and one that surely must mean we are on our way to a cup final.

[Jogo Bonito]

Good stuff rogan. After that win over Sheff Utd, it looks like you don't need Davies at all! Hopefully Hopper and Gjokaj continue to perform well too.

[Jogo Bonito]

PRESTON NORTH END - Season 2 progress (League 1)

With slight concerns over my new 20 year old goalkeeper (Jordan Pickford), and doubts over how my attack would perform, we entered the new season with cautious optimism. The glut of goals in pre-season hinted that we would be OK, but Joe Garner and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake exceeded my wildest expectations as they shared six goals in our first three competitive fixtures. However, two days before the third of those matches, I took a brave decision…

Following the sale of Lee Holmes at the end of July (Raith Rovers paid £215k for an unsettled player that I would have happily kept), we had in excess of £1m of transfer funds available. A quick check on my two targets revealed that Dwight Gayle still wouldn’t join on loan, but Callum Wilson was still keen to link up, if a fee could be agreed with Coventry.

I had to find £1m to get their blessing, which was double his listed value. But he had notched 23 goals for them in their League 1 relegation season, and scored in his only outing for them at League 2 level in the new campaign. I backed my judgment, and felt the 22 year old would rise in value, but for this kind of outlay there would be no doubt that he needed to deliver goals.

A structured deal was accepted - £500k upfront, plus a further £500k over 24 months - and a three year contract on wages of £3.5k p/w was negotiated with his agent. I was delighted to finally welcome the talented forward to Deepdale on 7th August, and he took on the number 9 shirt that I had left spare for such a signing.

With my other two strikers in good form, I decided to ease Wilson in from the bench. In his first five substitute appearances he had contributed a goal in the COC triumph at Premier League side Norwich (a superb fightback from 3-1 down there), and three assists too. His first start, in a poor JPT defeat against Bury brought another goal, and then he went back to the bench for the next league game. But he didn’t sulk, and after another assist in that one, I thought he was ready to make his first league start – as my table-topping side travelled to 2nd placed Chesterfield.

They had conceded just four goals in their opening seven league games after promotion – the best record in League 1. But it didn’t take long for Wilson to make his mark, as his quickfire double set us on our way. We switched to counter attacking when Garner added a third soon after, but Wilson grabbed two more in the second half to seal a memorable 5-0 win.

After that, a starting place was his. He followed up with doubles in each of his next two league games (plus a goal in the COC tie sandwiched in between). Not including his goal for Coventry in 90 minutes of League 2 action, his Preston stats so far (628 minutes of pitch time) are not too shabby at all! It’s not just goals he has supplied – there have been six assists in there too…

After the release clause disaster with Stevie May, I am delighted that no such clause exists on Wilson. His wage demands didn’t break my structure (several key players share the maximum £3.5k p/w salary), and he is safely contracted until 2017 too.

In support of our new hero, I’ve seen Ebanks-Blake notch six already (curiously, all of them after the 70th minute), and Garner (nine goals) has already beaten his tally of six for the whole of last season. Beyond that, even Kieran Agard has been a good source of assists from the bench although he has only been able to get minutes on the right hand side of my 442 so far. With all this firepower, I think I can stop worrying over where the goals may come from this season!

Further good news was to follow on 23rd September, as I also managed to acquire a second senior goalkeeper (on a two year permanent deal). To be fair, Pickford has done well since his arrival, and will keep the gloves for now - but free agent signing Ross Turnbull (29) is certainly going to keep him on his toes.

Having reached the stage where I felt the squad was well balanced, I’ve rejected a bid of £2.1m for Bailey Wright(22), as there is no pressure to sell anybody now unless I want to. I feel his flourishing partnership in central defence with new captain Paul Hanlon (last year’s winner of the fans Player of the Season award, and also now one of the club’s favoured personnel at 24) is crucial as we look to build a solid promotion-winning platform. Flanked either side by impressive full-backs Ross Gaynor and Cyrus Christie (21), we certainly have the potential to form an excellent defensive unit.

I’ve got 23 men in the first team pool now - including my 3rd choice keeper (19 year old Steven James), who could be sent out on loan to gain valuable first team experience. I’m quite proud that several other youngsters populate my main group too, with Alan Browne (19) and loan stars Josh Brownhill (18) and Gary Gardner (22) usually fighting for the two central midfield spots ahead of previous club captain John Welsh and squad-filler Nicky Wroe. With the likes of Will Hayhurst (20), Ben Davies (19) and Alex Nicholson (20) featuring from the bench too, I’m actively building a youthful squad. Not only that, it's predominantly from the UK and Ireland, with only first choice winger Chris Humphrey (Jamaica) and Wright (Australia) - plus coach Hermann Hreidarsson (Iceland) the only men at the club from outside the region.

Having said all that, I would be interested in bringing back unattached former club favourite Sean St.Ledger (29) for a season, as I only have three senior central defenders on the books (Paul Huntington being the other). So far he won’t enter talks, but maybe after a few more months sat there doing nothing, he might be persuaded to take a short-term offer at his ‘preferred’ club. The remaining members of the squad not yet mentioned are Dave Buchanan, and Jonny Steele - whose consistent performances on the left side of midfield convinced me to let Holmes move on.

And so, at the end of September 2014, we sit at the top of League 1, with 22 points from our first nine league games (W7, D1, L1). The goal tally of 25 is impressive, although with 12 goals conceded, I’ll be looking to tighten that defence up.

Of course, there will continue to be blips – for example, we were 3-0 down at home very early on to lowly Rotherham in our last outing before fighting back with three goals to grab a point. But, after an eventful few months in Lancashire, I’m hopeful that this good start can be maintained. It looks like the fans are right behind us anyway - with 10,001 flocking to Deepdale for that last fixture as attendances continue to improve.

[smplfc123]

@Jogo - Some great posts mate

So good in fact you've convinced me to go Preston!

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks and welcome! I hope you enjoy it - but I know that's no easy task

Are you on a database update? I look forward to seeing how you get on anyway.

[smplfc123]

Thanks and welcome! I hope you enjoy it - but I know that's no easy task

Are you on a database update? I look forward to seeing how you get on anyway.

Yes I am mate, after reading through your posts i'm assuming you're not?

The board still expect promotion, where as the media are predicting a 5th place finish.

[Jogo Bonito]

You're right, I'm on the last official database so we will have slightly different starting squads. It will be interesting to see who you buy/sell on that basis, and indeed how your squad looks at the start. My media prediction was 7th in season 1 - and the board expected promotion from me too.

I reckon this could turn in to a soap opera with us both posting about them - Northenders perhaps? Good luck mate!

[roganp]

Congrats on your excellent start to the season Jogo . Looks like you've built up a deadly strike force there, I'm especially please to see Callum Wilson banging in the goals for you as hes's someone who I have been interested in signing on a few saves after his goalscoring exploits for Coventry irl last season.

[smplfc123]

You're right, I'm on the last official database so we will have slightly different starting squads. It will be interesting to see who you buy/sell on that basis, and indeed how your squad looks at the start. My media prediction was 7th in season 1 - and the board expected promotion from me too.

I reckon this could turn in to a soap opera with us both posting about them - Northenders perhaps? Good luck mate!

I'm determined to give this one a good go mate!

I haven't quit as of yet, despite losing my opening game haha!

[Jogo Bonito]

Cheers rogan, yes it's gone better than I expected in attack so far. I managed Coventry for six seasons on FM13, but Wilson was not a 'great' player then and I don't think he even played for me. I've been really close to managing them in FM14 but kept delaying and now they're heading back home, I am pretty sure I will manage them in FM15 again. As I thought it may become a bit repetitive to do them on three successive versions, I picked Preston instead - but could not remove the desire to manage Wilson as his real life form has been so good. Were you pleased to see how he demolished Chesterfield for me? Haha.

C'mon smp, show some backbone haha! I'm not sure if the squad is better, worse or equal to what I had - but I hope it keeps your interest despite the opening defeat. If not, that's fair enough, but it will be good to see an alternative approach to the same club I am controlling.

[smplfc123]

@Jogo

After 4 hours of hard work, I've failed. A 2-0 defeat to Crewe was the final nail in my coffin. Only 2 wins in the opening 16 games, both away from home was too much for the board, despite me pleading for more time. I'm gutted, but it just wasn't working. My signings didn't pay off, my tactics weren't working and the current players weren't performing.

I'm struggling to find or settle with tactics for lower league clubs

I'm looking for a new team to spend a lazy Sunday working on....

[Jogo Bonito]

@Jogo

After 4 hours of hard work, I've failed. A 2-0 defeat to Crewe was the final nail in my coffin. Only 2 wins in the opening 16 games, both away from home was too much for the board, despite me pleading for more time. I'm gutted, but it just wasn't working. My signings didn't pay off, my tactics weren't working and the current players weren't performing.

I'm struggling to find or settle with tactics for lower league clubs

I'm looking for a new team to spend a lazy Sunday working on....

Ouch, that hurts. It's a shame when you put hours in to it and it falls apart rapidly. I assume when you have a transfer update it also puts the teams in their new leagues? Otherwise I would suggest Wolves as an easier League 1 save for you. If that's the case, perhaps somebody like Bristol City or Leyton Orient?

Apart from that, what kind of tactics/formation did you try? And what kind of signings were you making? I'm not an FM guru by any means, but happy to try and help/share ideas if it might make it easier to settle down at your chosen club.

I quite often end up starting in L1 because I find most L2 players don't have much quality, and any Championship save only takes one good season and promotion to reach the Premier League - at which point I lose any interest in continuing. League 1 has the right balance of quality versus challenge for me.

Although we joke about you quitting, at least you got sacked this time! Being serious though, I hope you find a new club soon and continue to post in here.

[smplfc123]

@Jogo Haha, I think i'm still hurting from getting the boot at Leeds a while back!

Yeah it's updated so that Wolves are in the Championship etc.

I'm trying to play passing football, 4-5-1 V shape, but maybe i'm being naive with the players I have by trying to play that way. My signings were O'Brien from Cowdenbeath and Hatfield from Accrington, both young with potential, but maybe I played them too much too soon.

I'm determined to find a team today so I can finally have a game to enjoy

How's PNE going for you?

[Jogo Bonito]

I generally use 442 and try to restrict my team instructions to five/six maximum, and player instructions to just one each (and only on a handful of players). At L1/L2 level, I find that the players can't handle too much information and try to keep it simple. I've used counter-attacking football exclusively in the last few versions of FM, but switched to 'attacking' partway through season 1 with Preston and still run on that now. It goes against my natural desire for good defence and clean sheets, but it seemed to work.

I think having Craig Davies and Declan Rudd on loan by default helped me quite a bit - complimenting some talent we already had in the squad that you would have had too (Wright, Brownhill, Gallagher, Humphrey, Garner). I'm not too sure about the signings you made, but I wouldn't have thought you needed much to form a pretty good squad and team.

A League 1 club with a good squad after the transfer update could be Bristol City. They lost Baldock, but have added some good players like Freeman and Agard, and they have JET still there too. I think Sheffield United's squad has been improved quite a bit too, and Peterborough will always look strong despite the loss of Britt. It's difficult to tell, as I haven't seen how these squads and players look after a transfer update, but those could be worth a look at.

I've only managed a couple more games with PNE, two home draws and a 1-0 away win, but enjoying it. You could always try again

[smplfc123]

Yeah I'm going to go with your idea for my next game and keep it simple tactics wise, focus more on man management and team talks etc.

However after taking an hour to scroll through league 1 i've found no-one I really want to go.

UPDATE

After a whole Sunday deciding who to go, i've chosen Sheff Utd! Come on the Blades.

[Jogo Bonito]

Haha. I have preset my good luck message for a few days time, depending on whether or not you get 'in to it'....

[roganp]

Just finished up with my first season at Chesterfield, here are some screenshots to show how it went:

League two

Johnstones Paint Trophy

FA Cup

Not much to show here as we were knocked in the second round by Bristol City.

Capital One Cup

Same as the FA Cup, not much to show as we crashed out in the 2nd round.

Team Stats

So, a memorable first season in charge at the club for me as we secured promotion to League One as champions and managed to win the Johnstones Paint Trophy. In terms of my expectations for next season in League One I don't really have any to be honest, but I am confident that we will have no problems being able to adjust to a higher level as we showed in Johnstone Paint Trophy that we are able to compete with the sides in that division.

Regarding the squad, I don't want to change too much to be honest as I'm confident that the majority of our squad will be able to make the step up. One thing that is for sure is that the attacking trio of Banks, Roberts and O'Shea will be key for us again next season and hopefully they can rack up the goals and assists in League One aswell. Tom Hopper was a good addition on loan for us and I might look to see if I can retain him on loan for next season and the same goes go for Valentin Gjokaj who formed a solid partnership in the centre of our defence with Liam Cooper. The full back areas need to be improved, but my ability to do that will depend on my wage and transfer budgets for next season which may not be great as the club is not currently in great shape financially. I will update at the end of pre-season to show how we are shaping up going into League One.

[Jogo Bonito]

Fantastic update rogan and congratulations on the impressive double. It's helpful to see the player stats there, and good to see you being successful with just two loanees added. As mentioned, you certainly did get good returns from your attacking midfielders! Hopefully you won't need to do too much in the market ahead of next season - good luck with your summer planning.

[roganp]

Cheers Jogo! I've come towards the end of pre-season now so I should I have an update soon. I'm pretty happy with the business we was able to do in the transfer market, we secured the majority of our key targets and also managed to get a few higher earners off the wage bill who I feel didn't warrant such wages. Just looking forward to getting started in League One now and hopefully we can carry on the momentum from our League Two triumph.

On a little side note I had a big surprise when I had a look to see who would be in the division this season and saw Watford under the management of Kenny Jackett were relegated from the Championship. Interestingly, Kenny Jackett left League One Wolves to take over Watford during last season and Woles are now in the Championship after getting promoted under the guidance of Sean O'Driscoll. Ouch!

[Jogo Bonito]

That sounds good rogan, I'll look forward to seeing what changes you made to the squad. Poor old Jackett. I've rated him as a manager since his Swansea days, but that choice to swap Wolves for Watford certainly wasn't very inspired! I'm still amazed Watford could get relegated though...

I've just reached January of season 2, so it's time for a progress report...

League results have been pretty good, with only a couple of narrow defeats in the last three months. The 3-3 draw at Swindon on 25th November 2014 was memorable for good and bad reasons. Joe Garner fractured his ribs after 33 minutes and was ruled out for six weeks (he's not yet back) and we were 3-0 down after 38 minutes. Callum Wilson was also out injured at the time, so I summoned Kieran Agard from the bench and gave him a rare opportunity to play as a striker. After some harsh words at the break, we fought back bravely to grab a point - with Agard bagging two late on. That was the third or fourth time we had come back from a three goal disadvantage since I took over - which is obviously positive and negative at the same time!

One of the narrow losses came at Birmingham - which was a shame as we were top and they were second at the time. Although we edged most aspects of the game, we couldn't respond when they hit us with an opener against the run of play in the first half. That result put them ahead of us, and that situation has remained the same until now. After 25 league games they have 51 points, and we have 50 points in second place. I'm due to play away at Wolves in my next fixture, an FA Cup 3rd Round tie. Progress to that stage has been fairly easy, after two routine victories away at non-league clubs.

As you can see, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake has been in prolific form and is currently my top scorer with 20 goals from 21(8) appearances in all competitions. Wilson had taken his place earlier in the season, but even from the bench he had been scoring regularly. Then, once Garner got injured, it's been him and Wilson starting in attack - and he has gone goal crazy. I'm delighted with this, and it's been an excellent return from a free transfer signing that I had some doubts about!

Wilson hasn't quite maintained his lethal strike-rate, but is scoring and creating. He also gets about one goal per game ruled out for offside - I'm beginning to think he might have too much pace for the linesman (oops, assistant referee) to keep up with. He currently has 17 legal goals from 20(7) appearances - and has provided nine assists too. Garner is stuck on 13 goals from 20 appearances due to his injury absence.

Something that I found odd on my strikers is that their values have not risen like I expected with all these goals flying in. They're contracted until 2016 (2017 in Wilson's case) so expiring contracts isn't an issue. Two of them have stayed at similar values for months, but Ebanks-Blake's value reduces game by game despite the hot streak that he is on. Maybe it will increase if he draws a blank or two...

In addition to my three main strikers, other key players have again been captain Paul Hanlon and his partner Bailey Wright. Wright has been away since Christmas representing Australia - and won't be back until the end of January. Other players to recently gain first international caps have been Agard (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) and Jonny Steele (Northern Ireland). The latter got a wage hike because of his cap and is now highest earner on £4k p/w - but he has been playing well for the club on the left side of midfield, as has Ross Gaynor behind him at full-back.

There hasn't been much need for further transfer activity, but I chose to play safe as the deadline for loans and free transfers came along in November. A further experienced defender was always a consideration, but with Sean St.Ledger still not willing to even talk to us, I signed another free agent instead. In hindsight, with Wright's absence, it was a wise move - but it will come as little surprise to anyone that the man I signed on a deal until 2016 isn't always available to play. His name? Sam Hutchinson...

I resisted the urge to sign another striker during Garner's absence as Agard could cover, and I still had Graham Cummins stuck in the dormant reserve team if necessary. Beyond that, one of our original youth strikers (Lyle Magolis) has been doing well at U18 level since I've been at the club, and the 18 year old has been given a pro contract now. I'm hoping he may come through to the first team squad next season as 4th/5th choice striker.

I had fees/contracts agreed with a couple of central midfielders - wary that two of my men (Brownhill and Gardner) are only on loan, and Welsh and Wroe are out of contract at the end of the current season. I'm happy to sell Wroe for a minimal fee now, but may keep Welsh as a back-up for another year if he accepts a lower deal. That left only teenager Alan Browne as a definite retainee in that role, but as I have just persuaded Celtic to extend the loan of Brownhill until the end of the season, I've probably convinced myself not to complete on deals for Conor Hourihane (£50k) or Robert Muhren (free).

In other news, I've refused six interviews at other clubs - Blackpool, Sheffield Wednesday plus four Championship sides - as I want to complete my work here. However, Gary Megson (coach) was poached by Tranmere to become their new manager. I replaced him with Carl Cliff-Brown, who is a bit of a nobody but has some good attributes.

[xantheose]

I'm currently playing with Leeds United, but I've spent two seasons in Championship to rebuild the team. I can gladly recommend you guys Dani Nieto, he is a superb inside-forward or winger, trashed every oposition in Championship and does well in Premier League, the only thing is that he's injury prone and you should consider having a back-up to him, but when he's fit, he's storming the league.

[smplfc123]

Haha. I have preset my good luck message for a few days time, depending on whether or not you get 'in to it'....

HAHA! Fair point!

I am going to get in to it, I am determined. The 3 games i've actually ever manage to stick to within the football leagues, i've been sacked on 2 of them, but my 3rd was amazing, where i ended up managing Lazio in Serie B!

I havent been on for a day, as I was busy policing Dortmund Vs Arsenal < (Sorry but I had to get that in there)

I shall be making progress today!

How is your save going?

[roganp]

Good to hear your progressing well Jogo and I'm not surprised to see Ebanks-Blake scoring alot of goals for you, he's an excellent striker to have at League One level. My Chesterfield save has actually been on hold for a few days, strangely I haven't had as much motivation to play it after my promotion and I've been really tempted to start up a save with Bristol City who have alot of potential for an excting save in my opinion. I will decide what to do in a bit, but if I did start up a Bristol City save I will probably do it on an updated database as I really like the look of their squad this season, even without Sam Baldock.

[MaxeyN17]

Does anyone else ever end up doing stupidly well with a FL team in a short time and feel like it's too unrealistic? I have a save as Peterborough (my local team, UTP!) and after back-to-back promotions, found myself in the PL after two seasons. First season in the PL and I finish sixth whilst winning the League Cup. Obviously I'm pleased to do that well but it just hasn't been the long haul I wanted it to be and I might just restart the save but impose a few rules on myself.

[smplfc123]

I've been sacked....AGAIN! This time by Sheffield United.

Even though I pinpointed my recent downfalls with previous clubs, i still tried to play impressive football in a team that was not capable.

I'm thinking I might give League 1 a break and have another crack at Leeds, now they've offloaded a few players.

[Jean0987654321]

I've been sacked....AGAIN! This time by Sheffield United.

Even though I pinpointed my recent downfalls with previous clubs, i still tried to play impressive football in a team that was not capable.

I'm thinking I might give League 1 a break and have another crack at Leeds, now they've offloaded a few players.

Well, thats weird. I made a save recently with them and I got them up with the first time asking. Using a very possessive 4-3-3 as well. :o

[smplfc123]

Well, thats weird. I made a save recently with them and I got them up with the first time asking. Using a very possessive 4-3-3 as well. :o

Maybe i'm just not getting my tactics right at all

[Jogo Bonito]

Haven't been able to allocate time to Preston this week, but should get some more time in over the next day or two as I'm on a UK trip.

@smplfc123: sorry to hear about that, was hopeful you would enjoy Sheff Utd. Personally I try lower than second tier because it doesn't take long to get to the top flight and then I get bored! But good luck wherever you end up, I will enjoy reading about it.

@roganp: will look forward to your updates, whether it be Chesterfield or Bristol City (or somebody else). I got very close to taking on Bristol myself, but very narrowly decided on Preston. I think they are a club set up perfectly for this kind of challenge.

@MaxeyN17: yeah, I know what you mean. I prefer to keep some realism, taking time to build something up, and instant success can make it less rewarding. I had two seasons with Hereford, expecting a slog to get a poor team in to the Football League - but parked it up after two successive promotions. Enjoyable, but not what I started it up for.

[MaxeyN17]

The thing is, I can't bring myself to be any FL team other than Peterborough because I don't feel I know enough about any other clubs or have any connection to them. I struggle to get into saves where I don't already have some sort of affinity with the club, hence Peterborough, Tottenham and Atletico Madrid being the only teams I've actually made it past a season with.

On the other hand, I have always been tempted by Crewe, but I don't think I'd enjoy a save where all my top youngsters are poached by the bigger clubs. Any suggestions for clubs from anyone? Preferably League 1 or 2, not too keen on jumping straight into the Championship.

[xantheose]

Bradford City?

[smplfc123]

@Jogo Cheers I'm not going to give up yet!

[MaxeyN17]

Bradford City?

Actually went with these and had a fairly decent first season.

Squad was quite small when I started and lacked depth in some key areas. In the first transfer window alone I signed nine players, one of which went onto become the player of the season. Spent a total of £1.2M over the season, however most of this was offset by the £700k sale of James Hanson to Inverness. The key transfers were Richie Towell for £500k, Josh McQuoid for £300k, Wade Elliott on a free transfer and Aaron Jameson for £11.75k (Aaron was originally on loan from Sheffield Wednesday and I liked his potential so made the move permanent straight away and he was my first choice keeper from the start of the season).

Wade Elliott was my player of the season, in 35 league appearances he scored 10 goals and assisted 11, with an average rating of 7.01, earning him another year on his contract.

Overall, we could never string together a decent sequence of results. We had absolutely no problem scoring goals, in fact our tally of 81 was the highest in the league. Unfortunately, nobody conceded more than us, including all the relegated teams and our defence was very often our downfall and, in my opinion, the reason we finished 9th instead of in the play-off spots which I felt our attacking play deserved. I tried to rectify this in January, bringing in Shaun Brisley from Peterborough for £275k however no improvement was made. Deep down I knew my issue was my tactics so this is a priority come the new season. The cups were literally of no importance and in fact I can't remember what rounds I went out in each of them. A big loss to the season was Aaron McLean. 29 games in and he was our top scorer with 15 goals but a ruptured ligament ended his season prematurely and despite trying to replace his goals with Will Hoskins and Gary Martin, neither had a decent enough impact.

So, with the new season ahead, I told the board I expected a top-half finish, however secretly I was aiming for a play-off spot. So far, I've brought in a mix of youth and experience without outlaying much money at all. Bobby Zamora and Simon Davies both bring experience from leagues above, Danny Swanson has had two seasons in League 1 at Peterborough whilst Conor Henderson, Christian Burgess, Ryan Edwards, Jack O'Connell and Josh Pritchard all show good potential whilst being enough to play for the first team this season. Six players have also left on free transfers.

[Jogo Bonito]

Entertaining stuff by the sounds of it Maxey. Hopefully your new group of young players will help you improve in the second season.

I'm a 'defence first' kind of manager but, like your Bradford side, my Preston team is also scoring loads and rarely keeping a clean sheet. I'm in March of season 2 and still in the top two, hopeful of promotion from League 1. I'll update with more info soon.

[MaxeyN17]

Well, 13 games into the new season and I've been sacked after only two wins. I don't really like going from club to club, I prefer to stay at one for the entirety of my career so I think I'll be starting again. Possibly going to go with Hartlepool; Luke James is one of my favourite FL players in real life, absolutely stoked Posh signed him. Although I'm open to any suggestions for clubs.

[xantheose]

Notts County, Coventry City or Swindon Town.