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Ending a 140+ Year Cup Drought


tomas1

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January 2023

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Usually I'd be delighted with a win and a draw but both performances were disappointing, just as well Worplesdon also slipped up. We picked it up against lower league opposition at Real Holmesdale and Dunford made his return, scoring a goal. Hanwell and Hayes made a mistake signing him because after I re-signed Dunford I plundered the teams best talent and poached one of their transfer targets...

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Also, Colchester in League 1 signed my reserve keeper which I found interesting because that's he's played once for us yet is subject to our highest profile transfer.

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February 2023

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We won won of our biggest games of the season away to Spartan Youth and we are now only 5 games away from potential promotion. Worplesdon are up next and if we avoid defeat we have surely wrapped the league up.

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Junior coaching is now maxed out

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March 2022

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Spend all season avoiding defeat and 3 come in a row! That's the last time I let my assistant take charge of cup games. We had done enough in the first leg of the Spartan Youth game to see ourselves through to the final. Worplesdon briefly went top of the league but we won our game in hand and retook the top spot. Barring a 24 goal swing, 2 wins in our last 2 games will see us promoted.

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April 2023

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We won the penultimate game of the season with a late goal and then lost the final of the cup to our old friends Worplesdon. The league goes down to the last day but...

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How's that for some late drama...

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Worplesdon won their final game meaning we need to win. Just as well we had those massive wins early on in the season because this is very tight.

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That was a much easier game than it could have been. Fans of Worplesdon will say that Epsom rolled over but I disagree, we were superb and played exactly like we have all season. I'll do a season review later but the gif below sums up everything at the moment...

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39 minutes ago, clarkehwbu said:

Wow, it's going to come to the wire!

 

Can we see your finances?

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They're ok but I can see us going in to the red next season. Made the mistake of upgrading my junior coaching a bit more than we can afford. A lot of our income comes from either sponsorship or gates so I hope to see them increase next season as we go in to a higher division.

38 minutes ago, sclinton said:

Loving this so far, great idea for a save.  Good luck with the rest of it!

Cheers mate!

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2 minutes ago, tomas1 said:

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They're ok but I can see us going in to the red next season. Made the mistake of upgrading my junior coaching a bit more than we can afford. A lot of our income comes from either sponsorship or gates so I hope to see them increase next season as we go in to a higher division.

That's what I was thinking and why I asked because of the Junior Coaching.

Congrats on the title!

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Season Review 2022/23

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Wish we had won a cup or two but I'll happily take another promotion

Best 11

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Finances

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May have messed up when upgrading my junior coaching because it has hit the finances. The only reason we're in the black is due to a glitch in prize money for a competition our reserves won

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However it does mean the reserves have went one further and actually won the league we initially started in (we finished 2nd)

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And finally some massive news for the club that will hopefully take us to the next level...

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Expectations

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Some pretty high expectations from the board considering it's our first season at this level. However it looks like we have the players to pull it off.

Transfers

Just one new arrival who I signed just before we turned semi-pro. Signed him from our rivals last season Worplesdon and he's probably our best player right now.

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However we had quite a few departures over the summer...

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That one hurt the most. 

Turning semi-pro has proven quite awkward because none of the players in the first team want to sign a contract because we can't afford their demands and we can't sign anyone of their quality for the same reason so I can see for the next few seasons a period of transition as we look to build up enough money to make a proper push into the upper tiers. Next season we should be eligible for the FA Cup and FA Vase and a good run in either of them can mean a lot to the club financially.

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Not much going for season tickets but I have noticed the price is increasing year on year so we have been making more from tickets.

August 2023

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A very solid start. Hope to keep that up over the next few months.

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11 hours ago, argento said:

semi pro!  That goal difference in the league was very impressive.  Onward and upwards.  Keep up the good work man

Cheers mate!

12 hours ago, ChrisGers said:

Van Dijk looks like he should tear it up at this level, nicely done.

Tbh if he's still with us by Christmas I'll be very surprised, far too good for this level

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September 2023

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A really strong month for us with a very impressive win over our title rivals Heston Bombers. 5 points clear of 3rd.

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He was scoring for fun in the first few games and earned a move to League 1

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Disappointed with this. He was the first player from the youth system who was actually half decent and was starting to get a game in the first team. Annoyingly I wasn't able to tie him down on a full-time contract so he left for nothing.

 

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November 2023

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The only blip in this month was vs Badshot Lea where we found ourselves 2-0 down but came roaring back, sneaking a draw. We also beat Farleigh in  the cup who are in the division above us which is encouraging if we get promoted.

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December 2023

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Disappointed to have lost our first game of the season but we are so far ahead of the teams outside the promotion spots that it shouldn't come back to haunt us. We currently have 3 out of our 4 main defenders injured and have resorted to playing 2 youth players and a right back in centre defence. We had a superb result against Heston Bombers in the cup which was an insane one, 7 out of the 8 goals in the match came in the last 15 minutes.

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January 2024

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So, so close to promotion...win the next game and we are UP! We're also in the semis of the cup where we face Dorking Wanderers in the league above us after another hammering. Our two biggest wins of the season have both came in the cup.

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This just came in. I previously said we'd be lucky to have him at Christmas so I should be happy he stayed for this long. A bit disappointed with the choice of club though, for the last few months there were loads of reports linking him to League 1 and even the Eredivisie but he decided to join a team in the 9th tier. However they are the Man City of this level and are loaded.

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February 2024

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YES!!!! Another great season and we have our 3rd consecutive promotion. 5 games to go and we're 4 points clear, would be good to get another league trophy.

Youth Intake

A decent intake and there's a few players I like in there. Howell's stats look great and Rayner and Benyu both have the best potential. 

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March 2024

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3 wins in 3 sees us 6 points clear at the top and in to a final where we face our old rivals TFT South West. Like us, their squad has been weakened since turning semi-pro but they are still a formidable side and have already won the league above us by over 20 points.

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I think this might be one of my favourite ever results in FM. Years of finishing below them, watching them attract better players than us and winning cup after cup is worth it just for this match. We hammered them, just look at the stats and the thing is... it could have been 8 or 9. This also is very encouraging for us going in to next season because TFT are 25 points clear at the top of the division we'll play in next year and they had a deep run in the FA Vase cup.

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9 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Becoming all too easy.

 

20 hours ago, clarkehwbu said:

Brilliant season, I think you have 1 or 2 more 'easy' seasons and then the true hard work will start!

 Cheers guys! Next season could be tricky...23 teams and 1 promotion place

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End of Season 2023/24

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We won both competitions we competed in this season and our 3rd consecutive promotion. Level 9 awaits next season along with the Wanderers long awaited return to the FA Cup!

Best 11

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Finances

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Ugh! Why did I decide to upgrade my JC last season, our finances have plummeted since. The thing is we are producing good players but other teams are snapping them off us because we can't offer them contracts for some reason (it only lets us give them non-contracts with appearence/ goal bonuses). Next season we will be in the FA Cup and the FA Vase which will give us more income to play with. Also the takeover is looking quite promising (the word tycoon stands out)

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Finally, I gave my high expectations to the players for next season, they were not impressed with my "lack of ambition"

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Preseason 2024/25

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Not too shabby in preseason

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Not really much happening on the transfer front, Worthington is off to Ilkeston who have risen to League 1. This window was more about keeping players at the club than bringing in new ones. We managed to get most of the youth players tied down as well as a few senior players like Hopkinson and Jones which is going to be vital if we have promotion aspirations.

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Some lofty expectations from the board and with our squad we are expected to win the league with ease but with one promotion spot available and a load of games, it is going to be a challenge.

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After 144 years, Wanderers are back in the FA Cup!

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We made it well worth that 1 away fan's journey with a comfortable win. To match the boards expectations we will need to win another 4 rounds.

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Harleston from Norfolk are our opponents. They play in the level above and should be tough opposition for us. Delighted with the home draw and I'd love to break our record attendance for this fixture.

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August 2024

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Superb start to a new league, we thrashed our old rivals from earlier seasons Kew Park Rangers (who won 5 promotions in the first 5 seasons but haven't done anything since). Now we move on to the FA Cup...

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A fantastic result in front of a record attendance, we gained another £2000 in prize money on top of the £1000 from the previous round as well as some massive gate receipts...

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The draws for the next round of the FA Cup and FA Vase are in and it's 2 home draws ($$$) and against beatable opposition

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21 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Man, that new board are dicks

I'm unsure, they did keep the finances healthy but they have changed the philosophy (I never had "sign high profile players") and have very high demands. As long as we're winning I'm sure they'll be happy. With the board coming in we have now been able to sign players on part-time contracts which means we have kept players who otherwise would have left by now.

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Our FA Cup run continues and we're pocketing a decent amount of cash from it. 3k in prize money and an additional 5k from gate receipts. Another home game next and we face Glossop from the level above us. Should be a cracker!

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What a way to win a match! More money in the bank and we broke our attendance record for the second time this season. Hurst Green up next and it's going to be a tough one. If you remember they managed to take Van Dijk off us as well as a few others. They've smashed their way up the leagues and are loaded with cash. Thankfully Van Dijk is gone having moved to Shrewsbury for £160k

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3 hours ago, tomas1 said:

If you remember they managed to take Van Dijk off us as well as a few others. They've smashed their way up the leagues and are loaded with cash. Thankfully Van Dijk is gone having moved to Shrewsbury for £160k

Shame you didn't see any of that in add ons.

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The biggest game in the clubs modern history and we rise to the occasion smashing 7 past a team 2 leagues above us at their place. We lucked out on the draw a bit and face Carlton Town in the 8th tier, if we win we'll be in the main draw of the FA Cup.

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