Maski Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 How many times do I reload before I give up on trying to get Spennymoor and resort to managing Blyth? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypanimz Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 1 minute ago, Maski said: How many times do I reload before I give up on trying to get Spennymoor and resort to managing Blyth? I saw Spennymoor once in the best part of 6 hours reloading. Unfortunately I didnt keep the save. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 I love Nathan Elder, I don't know how but this tall slow target man has become the expert of running onto through balls on the counter attack and scoring vital goals for me. He is my third striker and as my third striker I play him mostly off the bench as an advanced forward, not a target man, and it should not be working as well as it does but he keeps scoring winning goals off the bench. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
altviewdelete Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Started my 2019/2020 season with 5 straight defeats, on course to break the club record for defeats in a row. So I changed my tactical approach completely and... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swindon69 Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 25 minutes ago, altviewdelete said: Started my 2019/2020 season with 5 straight defeats, on course to break the club record for defeats in a row. So I changed my tactical approach completely and... Nice run of form there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 So my new striker was on a cold streak when I signed him and through 3 games we were 0-1-2 with 33 shots, 14 on target, and 1 goal. Our opponents had 29 shots, 10 on target, and 4 goals. So he gets hurt when we're down 1-0 in our fourth game to preseason league favorites Tranmere, who beat me 3-0 in the FA Cup last year, and I put Corkery in and he scores 2 goals and we win. Which, naturally, begs the question: why did I bench the guy based on his star rating? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_D_K Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Chippenham TownSeason 1 (2017/18)Table / Position Graph / Squad / Finances / Transfers / Manager / Facilities / Annual Injury Report / Confidence / Competitions / Reputation Season One proved to be my most successful 1st season ever in this challenge (or any challenge, for that matter). I decided to give the Chippies a shot as they have been a popular choice in the past. I wasn't sure they would be my long term save (and, in truth, if one of the more rare catch my eyes I might still switch), but it will be hard to drop after this start. To begin, I ended up dropping 7 players whose contracts were expiring, and offered 1 yr p/t contracts to all but two others (to my surprise, no non-contract signings for me this year!) That left me with a solid core. I then hired my physio, AssMan, and a fitness coach, all of whom answered my adverts for the jobs. Then, the first setback hit. I had a few scouts and chief scout applicants answer the advert, only to find that I could only offer £100/wk to any of them --- and the standard starting price was £200/wk. No way to talk them down---and so I started the year without any scouts. As a house rule, I only use adverts for staff, and I only use staff/scouts to find players. If a player was not recommended by my staff, I don't scout them. It makes things more difficult --- but it can be too easy to find great players by tooling through the lists on my own. I figure I've got a staff, I should use them Without a scout, I had to rely on my newly hired AssMan to make a recommendation for the only early hiring I would make --- 16yo DC/ST Anthony Tucker from Sutton Utd which looked useful (even w/ incomplete stats). I figured I needed some depth at centre-back. I figured he might make an emergency striker ---I couldn't tell from the incomplete report --- to back up aging Sandell and Pratt....so I took a chance. It turned out he would make a good centre-back, but not so good a striker. He ended up spending about 1/3 of the year playing for the U18s while I developed him a bit....then make some great contributions in the senior team (20 total senior appearances) as the year progressed. The £31.5K signing fee (requiring an adjustment of wages down to £8100/wk from £8600/wk was steep (steeper after I realized there was a per appearance fee as well!)...but I think worth it in the end. That was the only signing I would make in the preseason. As I started out with some decent DMs and MCs, I went back to my trusty 4-1DM-3-2 narrow that was so great 2 years ago....and passable last year. With only a few minor tweaks for specific matches (a player role adjustment, personal instruction change, etc.) throughout the season, I made a tactic that I ended up not deviating from for even a minute through the season. It just worked that well. Throughout the season I would acquire 4 more players --- all based on AssMan's recommendations and brought in on trial. The two key players included Danny Lewis (GK) was a trialist that became an emergency signing (when starting keeper Ali Aksoy broke his finger and was out for 8 weeks), and DM Akhel Rehman--who looked to be a stronger natural DM than my starters, and who, after a bit of scouting I decided to bring in. (I finally had a scout approach me that had a starting wage demand of only £110/wk -- a former player that had just retired -- so from late fall I did have the ability to scout the recommended players). Rehman was the first player I had a reasonable, if still incomplete, scout report on. The preseason ended 3-2-2, with only one big loss (4-0 to Weymouth), but once the season began it was all domination. In the end, we only lost 6 matches (including the final match--a 1-0 loss to Dartford where I fielded 5 16-year old players), while putting up 24 wins and 12 draws. We sealed the title with 4 matches yet to play, and for those final matches I utilized some of my new academy grads just to see them in action, and they acquitted themselves quite well in their respective roles. (I really wanted to avoid one of my newly re-signed senior team members getting a 3-4 month long injury!, but also had some 16yo grads with actual senior team usability -- 2 gold star rating --- as well as several with 3.5+ gold star potential. The sooner I can develop them the better!) Short a 3rd striker throughout the early season, I retrained midfielder Alex Ferguson as a DLF --- and that was a move that paid early dividends, as starter Pratt would spend some time on the injury list. Ferguson ended the season with 10 goals, and played at least 1/3 of his 34(4) matches in the striker position. Strikers Sandell (18) and Pratt (15) proved that age is not a complete detriment, as they would combine for 33 goals and 12 assists. With a relatively low (57--10th in the league) goal total, I would ultimately rely on the strength of my tactic---the defence. And, it was a strength. Throughout the season, we seldom conceded more than 4 shots on target (6 games conceded more than 4 SoT). We averaged 2.5 shots on target against. The centre-backs, along with the DM(A), were rock solid. I kept one fullback (left side) usually on defensive duties as well....and the four of them really cut out the space for any attacking players. The dreaded 4-3-3 with wingers ---- often a thorn in my side last year, was toothless this year. We would end the season 2nd in goals conceded (31), with my two keepers managing 22 (2nd) clean sheets through the year. The one real scare (an off-the-pitch bit of news) came in the late spring when a takeover quietly took place. It had been rumoured for a couple of months---but when it happened it happened quickly indeed (I think the whole process took a week!). Got the achievement notice out of the blue....and it was decided I would remain in charge. The new board took a £285k loan which cleared our debt and gave me a small amount of cash to play with --- which I immediately invested in an U18s coach (academy graduation had happened not long before, and I really need someone to develop some of those 3-5* pot players!) and a chief scout (giving me a Chief and a normal scout). Sadly, I could not yet go on a coaching course, as I "was needed on the training pitch. <sigh> PROMOTION/PLAYOFFS Surprisingly (and somewhat disturbingly), we achieved automatic promotion, winning the league with 4 matches to spare. Cup Competitions We did about as well as expected --- winning two early FA Cup qualifiers against Grays and Dartford, but lost a somewhat spirited 2-1 match vs VNL Chelmsford. In the FAT, we suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat away to rivals Bath (a team we had earlier beat 1-0 at home. We would avenge the loss with a 2-0 victory in the league---a win that was, in essence, the victory that gave us the league trophy. Additional Details Team of the Season Team Stat Leaders Best XI Inductees -- Historical Best XI Fans Player of the Season: DR Matt Day (37 app, 2 goals, 3 goals, 7 assists, 7.15AVR) captured teh FPoY award w/ 41% of the votes. DC Jirbandy (27%) and MC Etahn Millar (20%) took 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Signing of the Season: Ryan Worrall (free) Young Player of the Season: Ethan Millar Other awards: In a close race, I ended up as Manager of the Year, and also captured 4 MoM awards. Top Academy Graduate S1: AM(C)/AM(R) Isaac Francis--2* senior team ability, 4-5* potential. Low pace might limit him, but he's got decent technicals and physicals otherwise. Could develop into a useful player. Team, Individual, and league records A host of records were set or broken this year: (* denotes ongoing record-bold indicates record broke current season) Chippenham Town-- Team Highest League Position -- 1st in Vanarama South (2017/18) Highest Attendance -- 970 (vs Dartford, VNLS, 28 Apr 2018) (previous record: ) Highest Gate Receipts -- £12.34k (vs Darford, VLNS, 28 Apr 2018) (previous record: ) Average Attendance -- 747 (2017/18) (previous high: ) Biggest Win -- 4-0 (vs Hampton & Richmond, 5 Aug 2017) Highest Scoring Game -- 4-2 (vs Whitehawk, 31 Mar 2018) Most Games won in a Row -- 6 (20 Jan - 17 Feb 2018) (previous high: ) Most Games without Losing -- 11 (20 Jan - 24 Mar 2018) (Previous high: ) Most Games without Winning -- 4, (16 Dec 2017 - 1 Jan 2018) (Previous high: ) Most games without conceding -- 6 (5 - 30 Sept 2017) (Previous high: ) Chippenham Town -- Individual Top Goalscorer -- Andy Sandell -- 18 (2017/18) (previous record: ) Top League Goalscorer -- Andy Sandell -- 18 (2017/18) (previous record: ) Most Goals in a match -- Josh Jirbandy -- 2 (22 Aug 2017 vs Welling) (Previous record: ) Most Assists -- Alex Ferguson -- 9 (2017/18) (previous record: ) Highest AvR --Josh Jirbandey -- 7.18 -- 34 app (2017/18( Most Player of Match awards (previous record: ) Most League goals for club -- (previous record) Most League Appearances for club -- David Pratt (147*) Youngest player -- Jon Fielder (MC), 16y102d (previous record: ) Oldest player -- Danny Lewis (GK), 35y314d (previous record: ) Youngest Goalscorer -- Ethan Millar (MC), 19y337d (previous record: ) Oldest Goalscorer -- Andy Sandell (St), 34y183d (previous record: ) Fastest Goal -- Danny Pratt, 2 minute 11 seconds (24 Mar 2018 -- vs Bath) (previous record: ) Promoted from the Regional Premier Division Teams: Dulwich Hamlet, Dorchester, Kingstonian, Nantwich, Stalybridge, Kettering League Winners (relegated) EPL Arsenal (Wolves, Middlesbrough, Swansea) Championship Stoke (Birmingham, Burton, Northampton) League One Wigan (Shresbury, Bolton, Exeter, Oldham) League Two Gillingham (Newport Co, Morcambe) Vanarama National Eastleigh (Dover, North Ferriby, Chester, Hemel Hempstead) Vanarama North Afc Fylde (Bradford PA, Solihull Moors, Corby) Vanarama South Chippenham (Basingstoke, Truro, Hampton & Richmond) Cup Winners English FA Cup Arsenal (v Chelsea) Capital One Cup Man Utd (vs West Brom) Jonhstone's Paint Trophy Newcastle U23s (vs Chelsea U23s) English FA Trophy Barrow (vs Braintree) Euro Qualifcation Champions League Group Stage: Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Champions League Best Placed Playoff: Man City Euro Cup Group Stage: Bournemouth, Leicester Euro Cup Playoff: Euro Cup 3rd QR: West Brom Euro Cup 1st QR: Continental Achievements Man Utd -- Won European Super Cub (vs Real Madrid) Bournemouth -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Group stage () Leicester -- Eliminated from Euro Cup First Knockout Round (By Galatasaray) Man City -- Eliminated from Champions League Quarter Final (by Man Utd) Arsenal -- Eliminated from Champions League Semi Final (By Man Utd) Chelsea -- Won Euro Cup (vs Roma) Man Utd -- Won Champions League (vs Tottenham) Tottenham -- Runner up in Champions League (lost vs Man Utd) Extra detail What's Next? While I am ecstatic over winning promotion in the first year, I am also a bit leery. I usually like taking 2-3 years to build a foundation which will be solid in the conference and (ultimately), league football. I am really not looking forward to next year. I've got 2-3 starters retiring...I've got 5-6 players flagged for release. My scouts will be very busy through the summer as I try to identify targets --- and then I'll have to find a way to attract them. My wage budget has increased by 25% --- to £10k/wk, but I've no transfer funds to speak of (£21k), so I'll likely have to bring in some free agents (though I do have a few I'm scouting with expiring contracts---I'm not hopeful that they won't get a new contract). remember --- players have to be brought to my attention via scouts or staff recommendations!) I really need a pair of fullbacks and a young striker or two to develop, as Sandell is retiring, leaving me with Pratt and Ferguson to cover that position. Career Overview Season Team League Position(Predicted) Achievements 2017/18 Chippenham Vanarama South 1(22) Automatic Promotion/VNS Overachiever Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 G_D_K That is how you do it, crush the opposition and win the league by 10 points. Well done on a brilliant season, good luck in the National League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_D_K Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 4 minutes ago, Upside Down said: G_D_K That is how you do it, crush the opposition and win the league by 10 points. Well done on a brilliant season, good luck in the National League. Thanks --- gonna be a rough start as I search (or, my scouts search) for some replacements. 6-8 rotation/starters retired or otherwise let go. Got a few leads I'm chasing down --- but other teams are beating/outbidding me across the board :-/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Yeah, it's a pain. I went up my first season, have 7 new starters this year (and 4 other new rotational players). Had about a 12k budget to work with, and decided to spend a bit of cash on transfers to address serious needs, ended up with a 11.5k budget (approximately) for the season. I think I'm at 11k at the moment. There's some good players out there, especially now that you won the league and are more attractive to them, but sucks that you got a late start on being able to scout. I at least had the luxury of building up a quality prospect shortlist throughout the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Now all of my strikers are injured. Not going to make the playoffs this season it seems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadCatPT Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 15 hours ago, XaW said: It happened! We also turned professional! And we have quite some cash in the coffers..... Now this changes things. Lucky bastard! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wells Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Definitely a challenge I will fancy doing it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypanimz Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 My 1st round FA Cup match has been chosen for television coverage. Extra £70k in the bank for that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Neat, haven't had a televised one yet. I did just FM the crap out of Accrington in the first round of the Cup, got outshot 26-3 and won 3-2. The 3 shots were all by the same guy, Scott Shulton; he scored once on an assist by my striker, once on a free kick (beautiful shot, that), and once on a penalty. Should be some sort of special name for that kind of hat trick, really. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst21 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Ilkeston 2017-18 Season Review Conference North I don't think I've ever 'officially' done this challenge before (if I have, I failed horribly), but I wanted to give it a good go this year. I went with Ilkeston mostly because they looked like they already had some good players in the team. And they certainly did. (Manager Profile Here) Even though I'm usually pretty, um, terrible at FM, I managed to Win the League by a point! I'm deathly afraid of getting massacred in the Conference, but even my inept management couldn't keep Ilkeston from the title. Cup Runs - Our FA Trophy cup run ended in the first round to Southport. Our FA Cup run was more of a success. Eventually we went out to League One side Shrewsbury who beat us pretty well, but we also carved out some chances in the game to keep us competitive. Ultimately, their quality did shine through. Still the little run did wonders to our confidence and signaled our intent for a successful season. Key Players As you might be able to tell from the Conference North Scoring Chart, we were propelled in attack by two excellent strikers in Anthony Dwyer and Aaron Redboard. Dwyer - The key man up front. Ended top scorer in Conference North and simply could not be stopped. Just a class striker for this level. Redford - Came in on loan and proved to be an excellent partner for Dwyer. Probably won't bring him back next year (because I'm not sure he's that good), but he had a great year for us. Neal - Fantastic left back. Didn't want to sign a deal because he doesn't feel like Ilkeston can meet his ambitions...but he's still here! Would love to sign him on a deal because I don't exactly have cover for him if he leaves... Lee - Kenzer Lee was our best centre back this season. He's...fine? Did the business for us this season though. Forster - The left wing dynamo was amazing for us. Another player that doesn't want to sign a new deal, Forster was clearly looking to impress visiting scouts with his performances. As long as he's here, he's going to play. Class. Durrant - Can't be a top side without a class keeper and we have one in Durrant. Was way too good for Conference North Youth Surprisingly not dire! Cartwright - Looks like he'll be in the squad next year. Decent potential. Ramsden - Was actually at the club when I took over (he signed from the delightfully named Leatherhead). Was a bit part player and didn't really improve that much. Hoping he'll kick on and find that next level. There is actually some other decent prospects in the U18s that might be able to challenge for first team places as well. No one spectacular, but some potential depth for sure. Next season I feel like if I can keep the team together we'll have a good time in the conference. There's good quality in the team (I think) and when we played Conference opposition last year, we didn't look too shellshocked. Our finances are pretty good, the board hasn't had to go into debt at all... But the announcement of a new stadium that's barely bigger than our old grounds is..uh, not exactly what I wanted. Still, we got out of Conference North, and that's a start... Career Overview Season League League Finish Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2017/18 Vanarama North 1st! Winners! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yerug Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Ashton Utd HALF-SEASON 2017/18 Vanarma National League North We’ve had 21 rough games. And we sit at 15th on the table, with no cups to worry about anymore since we lost weeks ago. But to be honest, I think it could have been alot worse! I’ve majorly fudged up the economy of the club, but I will worry about that someday later ^,..,^ Here’s a graph showing our position for the first 21 games. Not all impressive, but using team meetings to boost morale has been very effective after dull periods! As for our previosuly predicted key player Alex Wiles… I’ve not been at all impressed with Alex. Which is why, after a month of shaky midfield play in august, I landed free transfer Tom Brown! I’m more than impressed with the mental attitude of this new player, and it feels good to have him running about on the midfield. I’ve also been forced to swap to a 4-4-1-1 formation after I realised none of our crosses hit our attackers. It’s dull in my opinion to use one attacker, but it’s been for the better and we’re able to not mess up as much with this tactic. I now have faith that we will stay up at the end of the season, unless we get hit by a injury wave or something like that. Fun times! Pre season 17/18| Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Congrats Amethyst. What was your average attendance, out of curiosity? We had a similar wage budget but needed about 200k in cash infusions to cover our losses the first season. EDIT: Never mind, I see you're well under budget. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaW Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Season Summary - XaW - Folkestone Invicta - 2021/22 Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances Well, this was a season to remember! The aforementioned takeover by the Indian billionaire, and the changes it lead to. We've finally gotten the pitch relaid, we got the youth recruitment and youth coaching improved, as well as both training and youth facilities under improvement. Along with this we also turned professional, so a lot of changes to everyone involved with the club. The sudden money flow gave me the possibility to bring in a lot of players for big cash. Though an issue was that not many great players are willing to join us yet. I did get in a couple of good players, and let the poorest ones leave. This however lead to a very poor team cohesion, and this will take some time to get back. After getting in some players we started playing much better in some matches, and we played worse in others. At the end we finished in a very good 10th place. All in all I'm very happy with the season, and I hope I can bring in some very good players in the summer and maybe fight for higher placements next season. In the FA Cup we beat Newport County and Burton Albion before losing to Gateshead in the 2nd round. The FA Trophy went a bit better as we won against Torquay Utd, Morecambe and Dartford before losing on pens to Stevenage. The best players this season was new reliable right back Chiori Johnson, new goalscoring striker Daniel Butterworth and new winger with a nose for goals Faiq Bolkiah. Season | League | Position | Europe | Top scorer | Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2017/18 | Vanarama South | 11th | N/A | Ben Pattie (17) | Mid-table 2018/19 | Vanarama South | 4th | N/A | Ben Pattie (24) | Promoted through playoffs 2019/20 | Vanarama National | 17th | N/A | Harry Smith (22) | Survived relegation 2020/21 | Vanarama National | 11th | N/A | Euan Sahadow (20) | Mid-table 2021/22 | Vanarama National | 10th | N/A | Daniel Butterworth (20) | Tycoon takeover! Mid-table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypanimz Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Enfield Town FC - Vanarama South - 2019/20 This season was very similar to last season. We started with a bang again and led the league as we lost one of our first 13 games. I was thinking this was going to be our season. Unfortunately we then went on to win 3 of our next 10 and slipped down the table. At this point I started to tinker with the tactics which is never a good idea (although I do it far too regularly!) I think I have finally settled on a new idea for next season which looked decent towards the end of the season as we chased the playoffs but ran out of time. We finished 5 points a drift in 8th place. League TablePast PositionsCups - We made the 1st round of the FA Cup and had our match televised netting us an extra £70k however we lost to Gateshead who also knocked us out of the FA Trophy in round 3. Squad - The squad is good enough to reach the playoffs with a few key additions. I'm happy with my strikerforce for next season unless anybody amazing comes up. Finances - In debt, as usual despite the cup run.Key Player Profiles:Andre Brown - Signed mid season. 12 goals in 25 is decent after a very slow start. Can Akyuz - 18 goals for the striker who didnt score in his first 8. Came on strong in the end.Sean Whelan - Replaces Shulton on the left wing and managed 18 goals with 12 assists. Next Season The aim is playoffs. Perhaps a nice cup run also.Career Overview Season League League Finish Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2017/18 Vanarama South 9th 2018/19 Vanarama South 7th 2019/20 Vanarama South 8th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmpn Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 On 10/18/2016 at 10:27, G_D_K said: Save 15: Dorchester, Tonbridge, Billericay, Rushall, Stourbridge, Chesham When I saw this save I knew I was going to have to start over. I had some luck with Rushall last year, and felt them calling me to return. So here I am. Cheers, G_D_K. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairyflump Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Is there a problem with hednesford history? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaW Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 A fun pre-season match against a top class opponent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swindon69 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Hayes & Yeading VNLS 2019-20 Final position 16th (my best so far) So ends my 3rd season in the VNLS - for the 1st time I didn't go into the last couple of games with the threat of relegation hanging over me - that's about the only plus. W 12 D 12 L 18 GD -8 Next season my 1st target is to improve on my form in August In the last three seasons I've won 1 out of 17! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Another entry from the annals of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," despite doing reasonably well in the league I wanted to do something about my lackluster offense (defense is much better this year, it's pretty much the opposite of last year when we led the league in goals by a ton but were weak at the back end), so I tried switching to a 4-4-2 to see if my strikers could be more productive working as a tandem. Well, that lasted 2 and a half games (I actually won the 2 on sheer luck), against decent teams (a mid-table Eastleigh team away, an Accrington team in the FA Cup at home who are currently 22nd in League 2, and a mid-table Dag & Red team at home), where we got out-shot 65 to 19. After a first half against Dag & Red which left us down 2-0 and which we only managed 3 shots to their 14, I switched back to a 4-1-2-3 and out-shot them 11 to 5 in the second half (lost the game 3-2 though). Think I'll just rely on my defense for the rest of the season and live with the lousy offense, and hope striker Joe Ward, who was supposed to be my premier signing of the offseason, gets it together (and stops getting hurt). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Stafford Rangers Season Report 21-22 Profile Squad Finances League Table Whilst in preseason I didn't think I would be writing the report like I am now as both John Sampson and Harvey Knibbs who had been the focal point of my attack for the past few years both decided to leave the club for pastures new so Jason Davidson was drafted in from Forest and Cameron Peters from Walsall to lead the attack , they immediately gelled and the old partnership was hardly missed. Over the years the side hasn't really been chopped and changed too much with natural progression taking fruition as the majority had now clocked 130 - 170 games for the club. Following a decent preseason we immediately shot out of the blocks with only recently relegated Morecambe keeping the pace over the first ten games or so. By Christmas Stafford held a healthy six point lead which at one point did reach as high as eleven before been pegged back a bit towards the end of the season as the fixtures piled up. With the club riding high within the division it also brought some improvements within the cup competitions where Stafford for the first time under my management got to the FA Cup First Round before been dumped out by Vanarama National side Hartlepool. The FA Trophy was the highlight of the season as the club got a day out down in the Capital before succumbing to Wrexham who were clearly the better side on the day . I was a little lucky with the draws as only Telford were from the division above before coming up short against Wrexham who were promoted to league status. I am expecting a fairly tough step up now as I progress to the National League but this is a local club for the local people save and foundations will be laid slowly and within the clubs means. The club have agreed let me do some studies over the summer months so I will now obtain my first set of badges which to be fair are long overdue. Finances are in a pretty healthy shape as I move up a level. Season | League | Position | Europe | Top scorer | Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2017/18 | Vanarama North | 16th | N/A | Harvey Knibbs (15) | Avoided Relegation 2018/19 | Vanarama North | 16th | N/A | Harvey Knibbs (11) | Avoided Relegation 2019/20 | Vanarama North | 11th | N/A | Harvey Knibbs (27) | Mid-table 2020/21 | Vanarama North | 5th | N/A | John Sampson (29) | Lost in Playoffs 2021/22 | Vanarama North | 1st | N/A | Jason Davidson (25) | FA Trophy Finalists Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swindon69 Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Congrats on the promotion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Well done Amethyst21 and Kasierwatman on the promotions. XaW and Hypaniz hopefully you will be able to push for promotion next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 One of my first signing I made when I joined the club was experienced ball winning central midfielder and now much maligned Frankie Curley. Not the greatest player in the world but I have started him in my midfield in the vast majority of games because he does a job for me and the team seems to do better with him playing there. However the fans hate him, to them he is a terrible signing and he has played badly all season. He does have the lowest average rating of my three main midfielders (I am play 5-3-2), he has the lowest star rating by my assistant but he does his job in the midfield. I am managing the team, we are exceeding expectations, going to finish just outside the playoffs in the first season with him in the team. I have brought in some young better skilled midfielders but we seem to just be a better team with Frankie Curley in the team. What can I do to convince the supporters that he really is a good signing and he is playing well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 This is a local club for the local people - I have just got myself promoted and in a critical window you put me under embargo . On your bike go away . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 4 minutes ago, Kaiserwatman said: This is a local club for the local people - I have just got myself promoted and in a critical window you put me under embargo . On your bike go away . That is shocking timing, how are you supposed to recruit for the step up in division? Hopefully it will be sorted out very quickly Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiserwatman Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 29 minutes ago, Upside Down said: That is shocking timing, how are you supposed to recruit for the step up in division? Hopefully it will be sorted out very quickly Bye Bye Mr Nyilas - you were not welcome anyways - A local club for the local people - I did though lose my top striker Davidson to Blackpool during the embargo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 3 hours ago, Warhawk said: Think I'll just rely on my defense for the rest of the season and live with the lousy offense, and hope striker Joe Ward, who was supposed to be my premier signing of the offseason, gets it together (and stops getting hurt). ...and now he's on a 7 game scoring streak. Prior to October 27th he'd only played in 8 competitive games (due to injury) and had scored exactly 0 goals. Since October 27th, he's scored 9 in 11 matches. (oh and I drew Liverpool away in the FA Cup ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Well done Joe Ward, and enjoy the game against Liverpool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 3 minutes ago, Upside Down said: Well done Joe Ward, and enjoy the game against Liverpool. The game? I probably won't enjoy the game much. I'll enjoy the money though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 3 minutes ago, Warhawk said: The game? I probably won't enjoy the game much. I'll enjoy the money though. What I meant Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_D_K Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 On 10/30/2016 at 12:03, Hypanimz said: The dream! That would be incredible. Keep us posted please. 9 hours ago, Amethyst21 said: Ilkeston 2017-18 Season Review Conference North I don't think I've ever 'officially' done this challenge before (if I have, I failed horribly), but I wanted to give it a good go this year. I went with Ilkeston mostly because they looked like they already had some good players in the team. And they certainly did. (Manager Profile Here) Even though I'm usually pretty, um, terrible at FM, I managed to Win the League by a point! I'm deathly afraid of getting massacred in the Conference, but even my inept management couldn't keep Ilkeston from the title. Cup Runs - Our FA Trophy cup run ended in the first round to Southport. Our FA Cup run was more of a success. Eventually we went out to League One side Shrewsbury who beat us pretty well, but we also carved out some chances in the game to keep us competitive. Ultimately, their quality did shine through. Still the little run did wonders to our confidence and signaled our intent for a successful season. Key Players As you might be able to tell from the Conference North Scoring Chart, we were propelled in attack by two excellent strikers in Anthony Dwyer and Aaron Redboard. Dwyer - The key man up front. Ended top scorer in Conference North and simply could not be stopped. Just a class striker for this level. Redford - Came in on loan and proved to be an excellent partner for Dwyer. Probably won't bring him back next year (because I'm not sure he's that good), but he had a great year for us. Neal - Fantastic left back. Didn't want to sign a deal because he doesn't feel like Ilkeston can meet his ambitions...but he's still here! Would love to sign him on a deal because I don't exactly have cover for him if he leaves... Lee - Kenzer Lee was our best centre back this season. He's...fine? Did the business for us this season though. Forster - The left wing dynamo was amazing for us. Another player that doesn't want to sign a new deal, Forster was clearly looking to impress visiting scouts with his performances. As long as he's here, he's going to play. Class. Durrant - Can't be a top side without a class keeper and we have one in Durrant. Was way too good for Conference North Youth Surprisingly not dire! Cartwright - Looks like he'll be in the squad next year. Decent potential. Ramsden - Was actually at the club when I took over (he signed from the delightfully named Leatherhead). Was a bit part player and didn't really improve that much. Hoping he'll kick on and find that next level. There is actually some other decent prospects in the U18s that might be able to challenge for first team places as well. No one spectacular, but some potential depth for sure. Next season I feel like if I can keep the team together we'll have a good time in the conference. There's good quality in the team (I think) and when we played Conference opposition last year, we didn't look too shellshocked. Our finances are pretty good, the board hasn't had to go into debt at all... But the announcement of a new stadium that's barely bigger than our old grounds is..uh, not exactly what I wanted. Still, we got out of Conference North, and that's a start... Career Overview Season League League Finish Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2017/18 Vanarama North 1st! Winners! Congrats on the promotion! I too have some decent youth players --- I think I have 5 or 6 that are "useful" first team players or better (1.5 gold star). Of course, what that likely really means is that despite crushing the VNS --- my first team is still suspect 6 hours ago, cmpn said: When I saw this save I knew I was going to have to start over. I had some luck with Rushall last year, and felt them calling me to return. So here I am. Cheers, G_D_K. Hehe --- no problem...and good luck with them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Tonbridge Angels, 2017/18 season, Varanama South League, 8th Place So the first season managing Tonbridge Angels is over, it was an up and down season, a season of opportunities blown and at times being blown away by sides. In the end we finished 8th, a position I am quite happy about. We had one period of very good form but the loss to League Two side Carlisle in the FA Cup 1st round ended that run of form. We never consistently regained it although we had some individual games I thought we played that level. Our defence was usually quite strong, we ended up having the best defence in the League by 10 goals conceding only 34 goals in our 42 games. I did set up in a rather defensive 5-3-2, with a slow tempo and short passing. Something which worked in most games but there were games were we just could not keep hold of the ball. The defence of three CBs and two wing backs was very good. The rock of our defence was young CB Ricardo Thompson who played very game, was extremely consistent despite his young age and made the right centre back position his own. The star of the defence and the team overall was RWB and team captain Rodrigo Schimitdinger Mann. He was very good defensively but also was the teams most creative player going forward. He ended up with 4 goals and 13 assists. He and LWB Jordan Gough, another star of the team, both had 8 POM awards, the highest in the team. The midfield was quite good, the first choice trio of Abdulla, Phipp and Curley produced our best form and when any of them were missing we seemed to play worse, although Phipp played almost every game. Young players Curtis Young and Rui Da Costa played well as well, and Da Costa is objectively the best midfielder at the club. If he stays he will be a key player in us doing well next year. So do I keep the aging, unpopular with the fans Frankie Curley whose defensive ball winning role seemed vital to our best form and worked well with the other two, or do I let him go? Up front with struggled and only scored 42 goals, the third lowest in the league. The talented Tom Youngs was our best forward with 17 goals but overall he was disappointing. I played him mostly as deep lying forward as he really struggled when I played him as his supposed best role as poacher. He will be leaving the club and I am not that unhappy that he refused to sign a new contract. He will probably go up a division or two and be a good player. Nathan Elder was the surprise of the season, a target man who I played as an advanced forward he ended up with 11 goals from not a huge number of starts. Quite a few of his goals were late winners and he defied his physical limitations to be able to get on the end of through balls a number of times to score these goals. I don't think I will resign him due to his age and the fact he did miss a lot of clear cut chances. Ramadan was a failure and so was late in the season signing Billy Bricknell brought in when all of the others were injured briefly. So off season will be tough, I expect a high turnover of players as some might join Youngs in not re-signing and I will let others, some who played a lot for the side, go. I will also have to have a look at the tactics as teams seemed to be counter-acting the teams wing backs wide play more successfully in the later part of the season. Best player : Rodrigo Schimitdinger Mann Highest Goal Scorer: Tom Youngs - 17 Most Assists: Rodrigo Schimitdinger Mann - 13 Best Young Player: Ricardo Thompson My Profile The Squad Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhawk Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 lol, I scored in the 4th minute against Liverpool. Went on to lose 2-1, but actually we should have tied it up on like 3 wide open chances in the 81st minute that we botched. Still, went from 200k in the red to 850k in the black, so, yay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 2 minutes ago, Warhawk said: lol, I scored in the 4th minute against Liverpool. Went on to lose 2-1, but actually we should have tied it up on like 3 wide open chances in the 81st minute that we botched. Still, went from 200k in the red to 850k in the black, so, yay. That is great, well done, relatively good result in the game and a pile of money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thebaker Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 9 hours ago, XaW said: A fun pre-season match against a top class opponent. Are you under pressure from the owner after last season,they can't have been impressed with 11th. i assume they want you to win the league now? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upside Down Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 I am currently trialling a young goalkeeper by the name of Jose Mourinho, yes the son of the special one although it does not seem to be noted in the game. Nor does another real life son of, Julian Schwarzer, also at Fulham with Mourinho in real life, have his relationship noted that I can find Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swindon69 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 6 minutes ago, Upside Down said: I am currently trialling a young goalkeeper by the name of Jose Mourinho, yes the son of the special one although it does not seem to be noted in the game. Nor does another real life son of, Julian Schwarzer, also at Fulham with Mourinho in real life, have his relationship noted that I can find I had him as a back-up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreddyGuarin16 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 I am going to get in on this, this year. However currently stuck between the following teams to choose: Frickley, Met Police, Enfield Town, Buxton or St Neots Any thoughts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaW Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 1 hour ago, Thebaker said: Are you under pressure from the owner after last season,they can't have been impressed with 11th. i assume they want you to win the league now? Actually not under any pressure at all. Last season the expectation after the takeover was still to avoid relegation, as it had been before the relegation. This season the expectation is still to avoid relegation, though my own expectations are higher. I think they look at the reputation of the club when deciding the level of ambitions, and we are still quite low compared to other teams in the division. Though I think I will have to continually improve to keep my job. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mushtaq Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 Adamant that I will find a rare team no one is using yet before I start. I did get Warrington Town to come up early on but didn't save it. Would prefer the Conference South anyway. Running out of options though I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreddyGuarin16 Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 31 minutes ago, Mushtaq said: Adamant that I will find a rare team no one is using yet before I start. I did get Warrington Town to come up early on but didn't save it. Would prefer the Conference South anyway. Running out of options though I think. Yeah i have reloaded so many times waiting for Market Needham to come up, I am leaning towards Met. Police at the moment purely because it's a weird team name and wouldn't mind seeing Met. Police in the prem at some stage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soviet Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 43 minutes ago, FreddyGuarin16 said: Yeah i have reloaded so many times waiting for Market Needham to come up, I am leaning towards Met. Police at the moment purely because it's a weird team name and wouldn't mind seeing Met. Police in the prem at some stage. You should play Met. Police with hard tackling for extra immersion and police brutality. Meanwhile I'm still reloading for Merthyr Town. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Demus Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 10 minutes ago, Soviet said: You should play Met. Police with hard tackling for extra immersion and police brutality. Meanwhile I'm still reloading for Merthyr Town. So did I. About 100 reloads, and it didn't happen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Demus Posted November 1, 2016 Share Posted November 1, 2016 http://www.filedropper.com/dafugeclubs I did an excel file with all the clubs. You can see basic info about the town (population and shire). Personally I like to pick my team based on town population. I don't feel it would be realistic that a town with 5k inhabitants had a PL team for instance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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