Here we go

[p1ckk]

I'm a few seasons into this game so here is a quick catch up of the first few seasons, the target is to start with a small team in England, win everything with them and then go on tour and win the league and cup in each other top level country. So here we go.

I took over Hartlepool and saw a team that had a good balance and in Scott Flinders, Marlon Harewood and Jonathon Franks, had some players capable of starring in league 2 Lacking depth at centre back and left wing and without any transfer budget to speak of I went along to a trialists day for released players and spotted a couple of players with some potential, in come Valentin Gjokaj (D-C) and Yannick Bastos (AM-RL) on free transfers. 

I had a dismal pre-season, getting spanked by everyone including a particularly disheartening 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Middlesborough. I knew there was no real hope of getting a positive result there but it really wasn't what I needed right before starting my inaugural campaign in this game. To make matters worse, Scott Flinders' season was over before it began when he damaged his cruciate ligaments in training. I managed to loan Canadian keeper Robert Stillo from Parma for the season who turned out to be an able stand in. I had a decent squad but was missing some quality so in came Jack Barmby, Tom Hopper and Joe Davis on loan to give us a bit more.

Still reeling from the hammerings in pre-season we went down in our first game of the season but then went on an 8 match unbeaten run that had me remembering storming up the divisions with Barnet in CM 01/02. There was a slight dip in form through October but surely nothing to worry about, we were still sitting pretty well in the league. Then 5 losses in 6 games ensured that November would not be remembered fondly. Nearing the end of the year and staring at a results list with a lot of red circles I was beginning to realise that this wouldn't be like my glory days all those years ago. The season continued like that, alternating between depressing losing runs and looking unbeatable for patches. Getting young attacking mid Liam Kelly on loan in January proved to be the missing factor and we finished strongly only dropping 8 points inour last ten games to scrape into the playoffs.
Holy ****, after scraping into the playoffs by finishing fifth we win it in extra time. We're going to
league 1 baby.

Season 2
In League 1 we were expecting a difficult season, three more central defenders were brought in on free transfers and we switched to a 3-5-2 Wing Back formation. The big stories of the year were loanees Chris Regis scoring 26 times and Fred Onyedinma taking out player of the season with 15 assists and an average rating of 7.22. Also of note was the emergence of youth prospect Alex White, a technically gifted midfielder who was my big hope for the future. The season itself was long and tough, we managed quite a few good results but lacked the consistency to manage any better than 15th.

The real form was saved for the Johnstones Paint Trophy, which we managed to take in a 2-0 extra time victory over Shrewsbury 

In the off season bigger clubs were coming in for Alex White, but I convinced him to stay on for another year reasoning that he would develop more getting first team football for us than playing in the reserves for a championship side. Also a good season would make his value shoot up and we could get a lot more money when he inevitably leaves. 

Season 3
Another struggle in League 1, after the wonders of the season before I managed to convince Chris Regis to come on loan for another year, and old favourite Liam Kelly came in on a free transfer. Overall we were a better team but it was still a difficult season. The Alex White project was going off the rails a bit as he couldn't keep off the treatment table for more than an hour, the boy was made of glass. Things picked up after a good winter transfer window bringing Richie Towell and Adam Le Fondre to the club we were starting to look like an outside chance for a playoff spot.

Again we seemed to save our best form for the Johnstones Paint Trophy and took it for a second time in a row, again needing extra time to take a 3-1 victory this time over Peterborough.

I had caught the eye of bigger clubs and promotion bound Middlesborough offered me a job a week later. I was torn, should I carry on trying to build at Hartlepool struggling to balance the books but without the facilities to develop players or go to Middlesborough and try to build a dynasty on top of their fantastic youth setup. My mind was made up as I was looking through the players in the Boro youth squads and saw a 16 year old named Terry Hamilton, this kid could be a world beater I thought. That was it, I was on my way to Boro.

Chris Hughton had left for a Burnley deep in a relegation battle, only managing to win 2 of his 7 games they finished. The Boro team he left were on top of the Championship with it all but won with 7 games to play and well clear of the chasing pack. 

Jesse Lingard and Yaya Sanogo were the stars of the team and local boy Jason Steele is a regular for England, there is a very decent squad here.

Four wins from four to start off took the team to the brink of glory then a point against Charlton was enough to seal the title. I'm not sure how many out there have managed to take out both the Johnstones Paint Trophy and the Championship in one season, but it seemed like an unlikely combination.

Season 4
I was given a war chest of about 13M to strengthen for the premier league. I know how this works I thought, there will be another big fat chunk of budget once the TV money gets announced (I think I remember it working like this in CM 01/02). I wanted a winger, I wanted Theo Bongonda. I sauntered up to Zulte Waregem with a check for 10.5M and went home with my prize.

There was no more budget when the TV money was announced, I had thrown down big on a 21 year old winger only really proven in Belgium. I still needed a right back. Valencia were happy to get a chunk of wages off their budget so in came Vasilis Torosidis on loan for a season. There was very little else done in the transfer market after that since I had spent all of my money in the first day of the window.

Pre-Season went by unbeaten and I was quietly confident of having a successful season in our first year in the premier league. A rude awakening came in the first game when Sunderland put 5 past us. We continued to be consistently inconsistent, never in a good run of form but also steadily picking up points. We didn't have consecutive results the same until February when we suffered defeat to Man Utd and Tottenham

In the end our consistent accumulation of points left us in 8th position, making us the league's biggest overachievers. A good finish and hopefully something I can build on. I'm not sure how it happened but that was enough to get us into the playoff for the Europa League as well.

Terry Hamilton finishes the season top scorer with 17 goals in all competitions.