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dafuge's FM18 challenge


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3 minutes ago, TheEarl said:

Fun fact: I had a bit of a bad period, and changed my tactics. From playing a tactic when I chased players based on the tactic it self. I changed to a tactic putting the 11 players I wanted on the pitch first. Then set the formation, and player roles (and some instructions I felt correct). So now I use a Mezzala my self. Played 2 games so far, one win and a draw scoring a lot of goals :p hehe

Yeah, for me it feels like role suitability is much more important now than it was before. Last year I played player unsuited for the role and they did good, if they had the stats I was looking for of course. This year it seems more based on how much the game rate them at the role. At least at this level, it might be more forgiving in the higher tiers since the players are far better.

Though, to be fair, I've gotten in some very good players this summer, so that would also aid the good form.

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Well first report is very short indeed.

Sacked after 22 games as manager of Billericay.

I feel I have something undone with them, so will probably have another go tomorrow with the same team...

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2 hours ago, XaW said:

Yeah, for me it feels like role suitability is much more important now than it was before. Last year I played player unsuited for the role and they did good, if they had the stats I was looking for of course. This year it seems more based on how much the game rate them at the role. At least at this level, it might be more forgiving in the higher tiers since the players are far better.

Interesting - because my counter tactic has the wingers being WM(S) but I am using players best rated as W(S) as there aren't really any others. 

Going to have a look in more detail at the tactics and tailor them to my players better (who should be ok for this level).

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The team dynamics is proving painful. I signed a key midfielder in jan, the vice captain complained that he was taking his place which upset most of the squad. the teams form suffered and a meeting about poor dressing room atmosphere has made it worse.

Just 5 points from 13 games and 1 goal in the last 8 games means relegation is beginning to look nailed on.

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I have been always a journeyman player, starting as in this challenge, but moving to teams when offered the right job. 

I'll try this year to stick to one team.

In my first sim I have the following teams available

Conference South:

- Billericay: Media Prediction 2. Looks like the easy mode, rich owner & professional status (big surprise to see a Pro team at this level, could be a reasearcher's mistake?).

- Merthyr Town: Media Prediction 21. 

- Kingstonian: Media Prediction 22.

Conference North:

- Kettering Town: Media Prediction 20.

- Workington: Media Prediction 21.

- Stalybridge Celtic: Media Prediction 22.

Still considering if I'll try Billericay as it should be way easier (also higher expectations) or to go with any of the others that seems similar, any suggestion?

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Shaw Lane - 2019/20

Much improved this year, especially defensively, but I'm still not sold on the 4-3-3 narrow. We shouldn't be grinding out games, we should be outscoring teams. I think for next year, I'll try to use wingers, but we'll see if the finances let us. As we keep bleeding cash, the board lowered our wage budget below what we're spending, so it's going to be difficult to bring in anyone in the off season, let alone quality wingers. But we did make playoffs this year, so could be much worse.

Vanarama North - Hopefully we can push on for promotion next year, but I'm not confident with our current team or our finances.

FA Trophy - Decent enough.

FA Cup - Not sure where that 9-0 win came out of, since the stats said more like 3-1.

Transfers - Good signings, we only used 1 player from last year in our whole side.

Squad - Looks much more solid and young, I'll get rid of the deadweight on wages and then that only covers my budget that got taken away from me, so I don't know if I'll be able to bring anyone in

Finances - Less said the better; that didn't stop the board from expanding the stadium at the end of the season/

Key Player Profiles:

Ronan Hale - Quality striker, brought in for relatively low wages and led our line.

Khius Metz - Was useful as either a striker or supersub; managed 18 goals, but his lack of finishing was evident.

Jonjoe Loader - Was expecting a bit more with those kind of wages, but he assisted 14 as well as scoring 18 and is only 17.

Jack Hallahan - I'm pretty sure I saw someone else here using this guy, but he was very good for me as a B2B midfielder.

Harvey Whyte - Played either right back of center mid but was solid everywhere.

Dahomey Raymond - Saved the best for last, this guy has been one of my favorite lower league players in the last few years of this challenge. Playing as a DLP(s) this man somehow achieved double digits in goals as well as assists. Absolutely wonderful for very low wages.

Career Overview

Season    League            Position    FA Cup       FA Trophy      Training Facilities    Youth Facilities     Junior Coaching     Youth Recruitment   Achievements/Notes     Top Scorer             Most Assists                  Highest Avg Rating 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19   Vanarama North    17th        1st Round    1st Round      Poor                   Basic                Minimal             Limited             N/A                    Chilaka (12)           Walker/Chilaka (6)            Jones (7.01)
2019/20   Vanarama North    7th         4th Q Round  2nd Round      Poor                   Basic                Minimal             Limited             Lost in playoff QF     Hale (21)              Loader (14)                   Raymond (7.23)
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Matlock Town 2018/19

League Table

After flirting with relegation for most of the season, we put together a strong run over the last 10-15 games and pulled comfortably clear of the bottom three in the end, finishing with 13 wins, 12 draws and 17 defeats. Ending up in 17th place, 7 points clear of the relegation zone.

We got through to the first round of the FA Cup where we lost 1-0 to Blackpool.

Got a couple of players that won't sign new contracts and my two best players were on loan so it is a case of finding replacements during the summer and getting rid of the back up players that were brought in last season to add depth to the squad. 

Finances aren't looking great which is why I have had to rely on loan signings for the past season.

Would be nice to sneak into the top half next season but with key players on their way out, it could be a struggle, Got a busy few months ahead.

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49 minutes ago, wynter said:

Anyone managed to get Lancaster City?

@Scab back on Page 2 started with them. Not sure if he will have kept the save or not.

I'm still reloading for a rare team that I like the look of before getting started. I have a few saves of teams I have not seen mentioned anywhere yet if anyone is keen - Harrow Borough, Leiston, Harlow Town and Thurrock.

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After a few false starts with my beloved Chippenham i am thinking i might give it a shot this year after all. Holidaying now. Thinking I might go for Weymouth if i can get them. No real reason apart from me getting an outstanind striker from their a few years back who ended up being with me all the way to the premier league!

 

 

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I'm definitely gonna have a go this year, I tried with Dulwich Hamlet last year but save corrupted in January (in-game January) first season so I lost interest, but I'm gonna give it a real go this year! Hoping for either the club I support, Buxton, or a rare team- let's get loading!! :cool:

(I would just use one of the pre-made saves, but I like the aspect of holidaying and finding those rare teams :D)

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1 hour ago, Swindon69 said:

Getting seriously narked off with the dynamics tbh I told my 4th choice centre half he'd have to wait for his chance and ended up pretty much with a full scale rebellion due to his influence.

This is my fear of dynamics and why I'm waiting until the release patch before I start a real game.    

I tend to keep a fairly big squad and there is always someone who isn't getting the playing time they want.   Before it never really affected anything,  now you seem to instantly lose the whole locker room

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TheEarl's Dafuge Quest (Second try)

After getting sacked the first time I tried, I was determined to test my self with Billericay Town once more as I don't like failures.

Media prediction: 4th

Board demands: Promotion via Playoffs, 1st round of FA Cup, 2nd round of FA Trophy

Player demands (dynamics): Angry when I suggested Playoffs, wanted to win the league.

We started the season really well with a draw to Hereford and then 3 straight wins. 10 points from 4 matches put us top of the table. Then we didn't score for 3 matches, and collected only two 0-0 draws and a heavy loss. Another period of 10 points in 4 games saw us just goal difference behind league leaders after 11 matches at the end of September. 

I was happy with the start, but the squad not. I started having real trouble with the dressing room and dynamics. It didn't help that I over signed a bit and players already complained about their game time. So from this point we went 7 matches without a win in all competitions. Including loosing 1-2 at home to Leatherhead in the 3rd QR of the FA-Cup. 

We raised our game a bit after this, including the only 4 wins in a row in the league, but also lost away to Welling 1-2 in the 3rd QR of the FA Trophy. After this it was all up and down. Never winning more than 2 games in a row, we still managed to stay between 4th and 8th for the remainder of the season. We finished in 4th after a good spell in April with the streak: WWDWW.

Playoffs:

1st round: Billericay vs Havant & W 2-1

My left winger equalized H&W lead after 71 minutes, before the sub striker netted the winning goal 8 minutes later. We dominated the game, and it was duly deserved that we won.

Semi Final: Whitehawk vs Billericay 0-1

Again I felt we where the better team, but no one seem to be able to score. That was until my right winger found the net 1 min 54 sec into stoppage time.

Final: Wealdstone vs Billericay 3-3 a.e.t.

We where both 0-1 and 1-2 down in ordinary time. Wealdstone felt like the better team. But some good subs and some change of motivation kept us in the game. When one of my strikers netted just in the first minute of extra time we where 3-2 up. Felt we where gonna win this. Wealdstone came back though with just 4 minutes left of second extra time half.

It all went to penalties to decide the promotion: We started the spot kicks with my other striker who scored 2 out of 2 in the season. He missed, Weald. missed, Bill. missed again, W missed again, then one of my cen.mid. scored, W missed again, Bill. missed, W missed again, we could win the match but my defender blasted it over the bar, W then finally scored. In 10 pens only 2 goals and 1-1. Then we missed in the 6th spot kick, Wealdstone scored and we lost 1-2......

Formation(s): I started the season with a 4-2-3-1 (Wide) formation, but also used a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3. It seemed that once the opposition got to know our tactics we had to change in order to win again. But also I changed around with mentality and some instructions. By far the best was towards the end, with our players usually having better skills than the opposition, I switched to Short passing and that gave us more wins than which number combination that I used.

Finances: A hefty wage budget of around 28K per week. This meant we ran heavily in debt. After the season this was cleared out by the chairman with an investment of 1,2M pounds. In total that left us with 166K in red numbers for the first season. 

Final league table

Fixtures part 1 - Fixture part 2 - Fixture part 3 - Fixture part 4 (Sorry will fix this better next time)

Manager development: I requested a coaching course right from the start. And during November I got my National C License , this really helped a bit towards dynamics as the team thought I was an unknown manager taking over the club. It helped raise my stats a little bit. But no further courses was allowed due to the clubs finances. This is how my profile looks at the end of the season.

Youth IntakeNot much to brag about, but considering to give that defender a go in the second season and see if he can improve. (Last player not visible is just crap.)

Stats:

Highest Attendance: 2696 vs H&W 1st Playoff round 

Highest Gate Receipts: 34,7K vs H&W 1st Playoff round

Average Attendance: 1274

Top goalscorer: Tom Heardman 18 goals

Most assists: Ricky Modeste 18 assists

Best Av.rat: Tom Heardman 7,22

Most appearances: Shaun Rowley 45 matches

Most MoM awards: Jamie O'Hara 4 MoM

Career Overview

2018/19 - 4th in Vanarama South - 3rd QR FA-Cup - 3rd QR FA Trophy - Tom Heardman 18 goals - Ricky Modeste 18 assists - Tom Heardman 7,22 Av.rat - Shaun Rowley 45 matches 

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5 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

Well done on a good season even though you just missed out on promotion. 

I am also managing Billericay and I am not doing as well as you have done.

Thanks for encouragement. How is your season? Do you find any good players, or you struggle with formation or dressing room/dynamics?

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Started with 4 wins, then 3 losses, then 3 draws in the league. Draw and then won the replay in the FA 2nd Qual round.

Have not ruined team dynamics yet.

Brought in a 11 players, let plenty go as well. Fairly happy with the squad.

Just changed formation from an unusual one to a more normal one, have to see how it goes.

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Made 10 friendlies against the easiest clubs I could find, struggled at first until I tweaked my tactics to be able to dominate and consistently win against them.

Now the though games will came and let's see if I am able to keep the squad fighting while I figure a way to get some points as I'm rated 22th in the league and didn't get anyone in.

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Makov's Challenge

Billericay Town F.C. Logo.png

Billericay Town F.C

Dynamics | Finances | Schedule- Pt.1  Pt.2  Pt.3 | Squad | Me

The League: We were previewed to finish first from the start to the finish. we started the season in a very mediocre way with a lot of away draws but we managed to overcome that difficulty, it wasn't a walk in the park as Wealdstone pushed us to the end for most of the season before they started to crumble with 8 games to go. we have a wage budget that more than doubles any other wage budget in the league, so failure to getting promoted would have had a deadly impact on our finances next year.

Transfers: When I took over Ricay they had a small squad so I signed 14 players and loaned another 3 in, in hindsight I didn't need 4 of the player I signed and one of the loans. we had a strong and big squad to go with our busy season.

FA Cup: after barely going through the second qual. round we managed to get all the way to the 4th round which really helped our finances although we didn't play a large team.

Season awards: So, James Carvell took all the awards and he isn't in the team of the season:idiot:

Key players: 

Paul Woolston: He was brilliant all season long leading our defense as the best defense in the league, also got 18 clean sheets. He is young so he can be out first team keeper even until league two.

James Carvell: He was very solid in the games he played and deserved his awards, his goals were vital and he won games by himself

Louie Theophanous: His goals to game ratio is ridiculous if only for most of the season he wasn't our 3rd choice striker, who would know how much would he have got. 

 

Season          League          Position       FA Cup          FA Trophy          Top Scorer          Most Assists          Highest Avg Rating
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19         Vanarama South   1st           4th round       3rd round         Theophanous(21)       Modeste(12)            Theophanous(7.24)
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Upturn in form, definitely starting to put it together and the team is getting behind me as well. Pushing for a Top 10 Finish and maybe a sneaky look at the playoffs, we just demolished Blyth 3-0 and gave Hednesford and FC United some very tough matches so the squad has the ability for sure. 

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Merthyr Town Season 2019/20 Report

League- Our aims were to break into the top ten and hopefully grab a spot in the playoffs but we fell way short. This season went really badly and we ended up finishing in 14th, 3 places below last year. We started pretty well and had a few good performances here and there but also had long runs of horrible performances. The two major problems were that none of our strikers were able to find any kind of goalscoring form and that our defence was just so, so awful. I started no less than 7 different strikers throughout the season, with most of them characterised by long dry spells interrupted by the odd goal. I finished the season with a strike pairing of a 17 year old from our youth setup and a 36 year old Ivorian I picked up on a free a few weeks previously, and that was honestly the best strike partnership we had all season! My defence is abysmal as well, and our best centre back was injured for 4 months in the middle of the season. I hate my left back with a passion, but I have no one else at the club who can even remotely play there so that will be target number 1 for next season. This has not stopped me taking him off before half time in 3 of our last 5 games.

Cups- The FA cup saw us draw 3-3 with Havant & Waterlooville and then lose a ridiculous game 8-4 in the replay. My goalie was then furious that I fined him for conceding 11 goals in 2 games against a pretty average team! The FA trophy saw us get 2 good wins but then lose a close one to Sutton.

Finances- Really, really bad. 

Transfers- 14 in and 1 out. Clearly I am still struggling with the new scouting system and finding good players. Could have done without about 12 of the 14 new additions.

Youth Intake- Not as good as last year but a few decent players. The only positive of this season was the emergence of one of last season's intake Sean Edwards who looks like a very good prospect.

Best players- Most goals: Cameron Walker- 11 This guy is pretty trash, got those goals from about 40 appearances and was somehow better than most of my other strikers.

Most assists: James Morton- 7 Our left midfielder was not as good as last season but still one of our better players.

Highest avg rating: Kyran Wiltshire- 7.27 This guy is the shining light of the team. As a ball-winning midfielder in such a crappy team, to get the kind of ratings he does is insane. One of my few good signings so far in the challenge.

Most POM: Wiltshire- 7

 

Next year- I haven't actually been offered a new contract yet, so still hoping that there will be a next year. If they do keep me around, I'm just going to aim for an improved squad and to aim for a top 10 finish. The team desperately needs a new left back and striker, and could definitely do with some more quality across the board.

Season          League          Position       FA Cup          FA Trophy          Top Scorer          Most Assists          Highest Avg Rating
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19         Vanarama South  11th           3rd qual round  3rd qual round     Fleetwood(28)       Morton(10)            Patten(7.25)
2019/20         Vanarama South  14th           2nd qual round  Second round       Walker(11)          Morton(7)             Wiltshire(7.27)

 

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Giving up on Lancaster as I couldn't help but try a bunch of random experiments and new feature tinkering instead of, you know, going for results. In hindsight making this my very first save before testing the new features and ME on something else was decidedly unwise, but perhaps a few lessons were learned.

Starting over with Mickleover.

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