dafuge's FM18 challenge

[Kaiserwatman]

In a relegation scrap once again - Fixture pile-ups like this don't help

[blaaklint]

Thought I might as well give this challenge a go. Some random bloke Hereford have picked up from the local pub is going to return them to their rightful place... League Two, and potentially even further.

Manager profile

[Warhawk]

ARGH.

Gave up the tying goal in the second leg of the League Cup away at Man City in the 93rd minute (we had tied 1-1 at home, and had taken a 2-0 lead early on away), my left back gets sent off in the 100th minute and they score on the free kick that resulted from the foul that got him his second yellow.  They scored again in the 117th minute too.

[tajj7]

Just picked up Olufela Olomola, the Southampton youngster, on a free half way through my League 2 season, wasn't interested in coming in the summer but oddly has been sitting without a club for 6 months, 16 for pace and acceleration, good finishing, off the ball and composure.

He's already rated as the best player at the club and the coaches think he is a leading League 1 player and can still improve. Valued about 6 times what anyone else at the club is! 

[thomas_e]

 

Season review 2023-2024

Premier League

Our first season in the Premier League has come to a close, and we are putting behind us a year were we learned a lot, played some horrible games against the top six teams, but at the same time made some big steps forward for the club. 

I have a very young squad at my disposal, with several players having the potential to become top class Premier League players. Unfortunately, they are not that today, and when starting a team with 5-6 players aged 18-21 of limited quality we took some real hammerings against the top six teams, showing just how far behind them we are in terms of quality. But we managed to stay up, finishing in a respectable 13th place. Leeds, Bournemouth and Bristol City were relegated, none of them managing more than 29 points, which meant that we didnt need to do alot to stay up. We won three of the last 5 games, which took us from 15th to 13th, giving a nice extra bump in prize money. Luckily though, the board is looking to just avoid relegation next season as well. 

The best and worst game of the season was obvious this year. Our worst game by far (maybe my worst game ever on FM), was a 10-2 loss against Man Utd! We gave away 4 penalties, my central defenders played to shocking ratings of 2,4 and 3,3 and the whole game was just bizarre to watch. It was like my players froze up and at times they didnt even move, the whole thing being almost surrealistic! That was the last game my 19 year old polish CB started in the Premier League, the game showing just how far away from PL level he really is... 

After the embarrasing game against Man Utd we drew Bournemouth 2-2 away, before having Chelsea visit us at home. A fantastic performance resulting in a 4-0 win against Chelsea, a game that more or less secured a renewed Premier League contract for us. A great game, coming just two weeks after the Man Utd trashing that really shook the locker room morale. 

Cups

We made it all the way to the semi final in the Carabao Cup, where Spurs beat us 8-6 over two matches. 

In the FA Cup we lost away to Stoke in the 6th round. 

League Table, Finances and Transfer History

Key Players

We did a pretty good job during silly season this year, securing some young talented players that didn't necessarily provide instant quality, but are looking very good for the future. Our best signing by far was 20 year old Norwegian striker Richard Venås, bought for £1 million from Rosenborg. 21 goals and 14 assists in 35 games gave him a 7,36 rating, and early on in the year I saw that I had to offer him an improved contract with a higher release clause, as this is clearly a player that can become a top class striker. 

Luca Dadic, a young winger from Croatia, did not renew his contract with Hajduc Split and he was a key signing this year, providing great quality in my counter attacking style. 18 goals and 13 assists from the wing is just fantastic, and he will be key going forward. The fact that he still has not gotten caps for Croatia is really strange. 

Third key player of the season, Gabriel Peirano, was bought from Nacional in Uruguay for £850k. Playing in the deep lying playmaker role, he was far better in the first half of the season, but still managed to end the year on a 7,09 rating, which I think is impressive from central midfield in a formation that at times is leaving me vulnerable and outnumbered in central midfield. 

In defense I have young and talented players, but no one that deserves a mention based on the performances they have showed this year... 

 

Goals for next season

The board has given me a transfer budget of £33 million and a wage budget of £1,9 million (£700k now) per week. Not fantastic, but should be enough to bring in a few quality players. I don't see a lot of my players being sold for any real amounts of money, but some of them will be let go, even if I have to give them away for free. I spent £13,75 on Franceso Nerboiller, Switzerlands first choice goalkeeper in January, so I am well set in that position. But we desperately need a central defender, a central midfielder and a striker for next season. A new right winger would also help. If we can strenghten our central line from defense to attack, the goal for next year should be to finish on the top half of the table! Let's see how we do!  

 

 

[13-gigi]

hace 19 horas, Swindon69 dijo:

New stadium

Let's say your board is not good at setting up fancy names. Must I say congrats and enjoy your new stadium or you're still a bit (let's say) upset?

[tajj7]

Just noticed there is a massive difference between salaries in league 2 and league 1, I have the third highest in League 2 at £1.78 million, but that would put me 3rd bottom in League 1! 

[tremor]

I've just gone up to league 2, my average wage is about £550pw and I have a budget of £25k... No transfer funds either... Miles away!!! 😜 

[shader98]

Dorking Wanderers Season 1

 

We were truly an awful squad when I took over.  Head Coach Shade wanted to take the biggest challenge he could and it took an endless assortment of loans that finally sealed the deal and allowed us to get 19th place on the final game of the season!

 

To be honest, I couldn't have done it without 3 offensive players that were already on Dorking as the season began:

Luke Moore, Matty Briggs and Giuseppe Sole had 16, 15 and 9 goals respectively.

While these three helped Dorking to 67 goals, good enough for 11th in the VNS, we allowed 94 goals, worst in the league!

We finished the season with 3 loan players making up a back 3, 2 wingbacks that really aren't wingbacks and a pretty average GK.

Goals for next season:

Make better use of loans.  Many of the long-term loans this year were done early and the players weren't good.  I need to start with short-term loans and only convert to long-term when I know the players are good. (if possible)

Improve the defense!  It's dreadful.  This team, aside from 3 solid VNS players, was essentially a bare roster.

Season 2 keepers

Warren Burrell - M (C) - I signed Burrell about ten games into the season and he was very solid for most of the season.  I'm going to try and re-sign him.

Lee Watkins - M (C) - 19-year old Lee Watkins emerged from the pack midway through the season and finished with a respectable 7.01 rating

Luke Moore - AM - 31 year old Luke Moore will be back

Matty Briggs - AM/S - 23 year old Briggs will be re-signed.

That's it!  The off-season will be extremely important to build this team into a promotion contender.  I think we're going to have a 3-year project in the VNS.  As much as I'd like to move on to the National League, I think this season will be a foundation year for a Year 3 championship team...At least that's the goal.

[Warhawk]

Well, Gillespie hasn't scored in his last 7 matches and just got hurt (for 3-4 weeks, which isn't bad timing since we just hit the end of the overloaded portion of our schedule and he might only miss 2 or 3 matches), but Termanini has 2 hat tricks and Boyd has 4 goals in that span, plus our midfielders have scored 5.  Sitting in 5th right now, 3 points up on Sunderland and 4 points back of Man City.  We're a full 21 points back of the lead though, we're only 1 point closer to 1st than we are to 18th.  Man U is 20-5-1, looks like they're going to end Man City's streak of 4 consecutive PL championships.

Have an away match at 3-8-15 Burnley who we beat 4-0 at home earlier in the seasson, but it gets tough from there.  vs. Man U in the FA Cup, then our next 6 league matches include away matches at Liverpool, Tottenham (who are actually kind of awful this year admittedly), and Chelsea and home against Man City and Sunderland.

[13-gigi]

Somehow we handled to extend young Smith's loan for free till the end of next season as he's performing and developing so well.

It seems some nuts are running Reading as they bought him for 180k +50% next transfer + a friendly game and we're getting him on loan for free through he's whole contract of 2 years. I'm loving it!!!

[Swindon69]

21 hours ago, Kaiserwatman said:

In a relegation scrap once again - Fixture pile-ups like this don't help

I've reported this - it's being investigated.

[Swindon69]

This guy got the England job after I turned it down

[Warhawk]

12 minutes ago, Swindon69 said:

This guy got the England job after I turned it down

He's still U23 manager for Watford in 2025 in my save.  Attributes are about the same.  Slightly lower rep.  Watford actually just brought back Flores as manager in January.

[Kaiserwatman]

It's going to the wire ...  -EDIT   Survived another nail biting season - Forest drop down to League 1

[13-gigi]

hace 3 horas, 13-gigi dijo:

Somehow we handled to extend young Smith's loan for free till the end of next season as he's performing and developing so well.

It seems some nuts are running Reading as they bought him for 180k +50% next transfer + a friendly game and we're getting him on loan for free through he's whole contract of 2 years. I'm loving it!!!

After Richard Smith, big fishes are coming again to take from our hands the other exciting prospect our DoF found for us less than a year ago.

Think this time we took a better deal with + loan back till end of season + 50% next sale + friendly match + buy back price of 2M as he looks very promising. But I think this must be a bug, they offer me 2M and accept a buy back clause of the same amount + 50% next transfer fee

 

 

[Kaiserwatman]

2031-32 (UK & IRE Players Only)

League - Squad - Dynamics - Transfers - Finances

Another season flirting with the relegation trap door as Altrincham once again failed to make any inroads within the Championship.  The season started with several key players asking to speak with clubs of much higher reputation, currently i am not really in a position to stand in their way given the limited wage structure at the club.  But things are slowly beginning to come to fruition , with the money been spent on facilities , The new Stadium is almost paid for , though further expansion may be needed soon.

On the pitch things are not so rosy , tactically i am having issues against sides playing 4-2-3-1 which adds up to unnecessary defeats to go along with the games where i am seriously outclassed it was another relegation battle which went to the wire. A win over already relegated MK Dons with 2 games to go was enough to seal championship status as Forest failed to add to their points total and will play out next season in League 1.

In the Cups there was revenge for last year knocking out Bury in round one before shipping 6 at Burnley in the Carabao Cup. A 2-0 win over Fleetwood setup a 4th round tie at Old Trafford where i was once again shipped 6.

[Warhawk]

Just beat Man U 2-1 in the FA Cup 5th round (and we missed a penalty to boot).  Including friendlies and cup matches, they went into the match with a record this season of 38-7-1.

Noticed Chelsea and Man City also got knocked out by Newcastle and Liverpool, respectively, leaving Arsenal as the only one of the top tier PL squads left.

EDIT: On reflection, with Manchester United being 15 points up with 11 matches to play, it's probably inaccurate to put the other 3 in the same tier as them.  So it's them, then Arsenal/Chelsea/Man City all within 2 points of each other, then us hanging in the middle of a big gap down to Sunderland who are in 6th 9 points back of Man City with 5 teams within 4 points of them.  I'm in 5th and I'm the same distance from 17th placed West Brom as I am to the top spot.

EDIT 2: Stadium upgrade finished.  Now at 12,500 seats, not great since we were averaging slightly more than that at Turf Moor, but at least it's ours I guess.  Not sure it can be expanded any more though...  at least we're now considered Rich, since our payroll budget is barely half the next lowest team (Norwich) and barely a fourth of the next lowest team after them (Burnley).

[Warhawk]

So what's the top rep club in your saves?

Mine's Monaco.  5 straight Ligue 1 titles (currently in position for their 6th) and 7 of the last 8, 3 Champions League titles and a runner-up, 3 Club World Championships, 5 Coupe de France titles and a runner-up.

[Prank Emperor]

Quick Update Billericay Town 2020-21

This was a completely unexpected season and we have won the League Two with 8 matches still to be played. Barring the 1 defeat early season we have since then gone undefeated for 34 matches.

Detailed report coming up after season finishes, still few months to go for that!  

 

@Warhawk

[jsar]

Haven't got time to do a detailed report atm, but for the sake of updating the scoreboard, just got promoted to League one via the playoffs!

 

 

[Bruce Drundrige]

I lasted 31 leagues games in VLS with Slough Town before I quit...I just didn't have the heart to get to the end of the season with the gap from safety getting bigger and bigger. The game is cruel - all of a sudden after a system and formation change I won 3 games out of 4, all at home and without conceding a goal. I thought I had turned a corner but upon reloading the game a couple of days later I was thumped 1-4 at home and then lost 0-1 away to the team in second bottom - a game I was never really in - and that just broke me.

Somehow I got to the First Round proper of the FA Cup but that was about the only highlight.

It's probably significant that the team I left behind was almost unrecognisable from the team I started with - and the team that my successor finished the season with was dramatically different to the team he inherited. He still finished last...so maybe it wasn't just me.

Anyway, I holidayed until 24/25 June and am now the Grantham Town manager in the VLN. Here we go again...

#thegingerbreads

 

EDIT: I've just noticed that Grantham have a lower rep than Slough... 

 

[Warhawk]

4 hours ago, jsar said:

Haven't got time to do a detailed report atm, but for the sake of updating the scoreboard, just got promoted to League one via the playoffs!

 

 

Need your league position too.  I assume 2022-23?

[jsar]

9 minutes ago, Warhawk said:

Need your league position too.  I assume 2022-23?

lol yes 22-23 and position was 7th

[tremor]

1 hour ago, Warhawk said:

Need your league position too.  I assume 2022-23?

Hi mate, just checked the leader board and I have put Margate on the back burner. 

Currently just been promoted from the VNL in 1st place up to league 2. Just starting the new 20-21 season. I am using Tooting and Mitcham United. 

Cheers 

[Warhawk]

1 hour ago, tremor said:

Hi mate, just checked the leader board and I have put Margate on the back burner. 

Currently just been promoted from the VNL in 1st place up to league 2. Just starting the new 20-21 season. I am using Tooting and Mitcham United. 

Cheers 

Been keeping whatever data is there until people finish their first season with a new team.  Do you want to keep your Margate entry on the leaderboard and just add a new entry, or replace it with the new one?

[tremor]

Replace it please, I can't see me going back to margate now I've got the Terrors up into league 2 

[Thebaker]

After getting sacked by Cirencester i have restarted as Harrow. After 11 seasons in total i have managed the Park the bus achievement which doesn't say a lot for my defending ability.

[Swindon69]

Stopping this for a while - hopefully the next update will sort some of the issues.

[G_D_K]

Gosport Borough FC

Season 3 (2020/21)

Table / Position Graph / Squad / Finances / Transfers / Manager / Facilities / Annual Injury Report / Confidence / Competitions / Reputation

Season 3 saw us finally hit stride and never let up.  After weathering a flurry of early injuries (all to defenders) we took top spot and pretty much stayed there all season long.  

 

 

PROMOTION/PLAYOFFS

 

Cup Competitions

 

Additional Details

Team of the Season

Best XI Inductees -- Newcomer James Boote tops the list of 3 players to be inducted.  The other two are DL Sam Rents and Goalkeeper Bradley McDonagh.

Historical Best XI

Fans Player of the Season:  It was no surprise that Striker Cameron Ebbutt was the hands down favorite for Fans Player of the Season, garnering 70% of the votes.  Fellow striker Matt Mayes (12%) and MC James Melhado (10%) were the other nominees..

 Signing of the Season: James Boote (Free)

Young Player of the Season: Cameron Ebbutt

Other awards: Cameron Ebbutt also took the Player of the Season award, while I managed the Manager of the Year award.

Top Academy Graduate

1. Season 1 Academy Class:  Josh Romain looks almost ready to start in the coming season with just a little improvement over the summer.
2. Season 2 Academy Class:  George Asamoah is another grad that could feature in the senior team immediately.  More so after his bump in ambition (see his new profile above!)
3. Chris Tilley is a 4-5* Potential midfielder that I hope will crack into the senior team in the future!

 

Team, Individual, and league records

A host of records were set or broken this year: (* denotes ongoing record-bold indicates record broke current season)

Gosport Borough FC -- Team

Highest League Position -- 1st in Vanarama South (2020/21)

Most points in a Season -- 89 (2020/21)

Most wins in a Season -- 28 (2020/21)

Most League Goals in a Season -- 80 (2020/21)

Highest Attendance -- 2372 (vs Woking, VNLS Playoff 1st Round, 8 May 2020) (previous record: 1030 (vs Havant &Waterlooville, VNLS, 27 Oct 2018))

Highest Gate Receipts -- £24.55k (vs Woking, VNLS Playoff 1st Round, 8 May 2020) (previous record: £15.67K (vs Chelmsford, FAC4QR, 20 Oct 2018))

Average Attendance -- 852 (2020/21) (previous high: 791 (2020/21)

Biggest Win -- 5-0 (vs Eastbourne Boro, 22 Apr 2019)

Highest Scoring Game -- 6-4 (vs Concord, VNLS 11 Aug 2018)

Most Games won in a Row -- 6 (24 Oct-18 Nov 2020) (previous high: 4 (13-27 Aug 2019))

Most Games Lost in a Row -- 5 (23 Mar - 20 Apr 2019)

Most Games without Losing -- 10 (30 Jan - 3 Apr 2021) (Previous high: 8 (22 Apr-27 Aug 2019))

Most Games without Winning -- 7, (9 Mar - 20 Apr 2019)  (Previous high: )

Most games without conceding -- 2 (5 Sept - 8 Sept 2020) (Previous high: )

Most games without scoring -- 3 (28 Aug - 8 Sept 2018)

 

Gosport Borough FC -- Individual

Top Goalscorer -- Cameron Ebbut -- 38 (2020/21) (previous record: Cameron Ebbutt -- 29 (2020/21))

Top League Goalscorer -- Cameron Ebbut -- 33 (2020/21) (previous record: Cameron Ebbutt (2019/20))

Most Goals in a match -- Matt Mayes -- 3 (26 Jan 2019 vs Hendon) (Previous record: )

Most Cleansheets -- Nick Jordan -- 10 (2018/19) (previous record: )

Most Assists -- Cameron Ebbutt -- 12 (2020/21) (previous record: Matt Mayes -- 11 (2019/20))

Highest AvR -- Cameron Ebbutt -- 7.46 -- 41 app (2020/21) (Previous Record: Kaidyn Michael 7.26 (36 app) (2019/20))

Most Player of Match awards -- Cameron Ebbutt -- 10 (2020/21) (previous record: Cameron Ebbutt -- 6 (2019/20))

Most League goals for club -- Cameron Ebbutt* -- 62 (previous record -- Matt Mayes (35))

Most League Appearances for club -- Ousman Saidy (DC) -- 150* (previous record: Nick Jordan (GK) (88))

Youngest player -- Danny Mahon (WBR), 15y255d (previous record: )

Oldest player -- Jamie Brown (DM/MC), 37y244d (previous record: )

Youngest Goalscorer -- Josh Romain (ST), 15y317d (previous record: )

Oldest Goalscorer -- Sam Rents (DL), 33y271d (previous record: Alek Przespolewski (AMC/ST) 30y31d))

Fastest Goal -- Matt Mayes, 59 sec (3 Apr 2021 -- vs Poole)  (previous record: Matt Mayes, 1 minute 11 sec -- 25 Jan 2020 vs Chelmsford)

The Rest of England

Promoted from the Regional Premier Division Teams:

Billericay, Dulwich Hamlet, Nuneaton, Chesham, Weymouth, Matlock

League Winners (promoted/relegated)

EPL Tottenham (Crystal Palace, Swansea, Brighton)

Championship Burnley (Burnley, Brentford, Aston Villa//Peterborough, Rotherham, Bradford City)

League One  Sheffield Utd (Sheffield United, Oxford, Scunthorpe  // Plymouth, Mansfield, Doncaster, Northampton)

League Two Hartlepool (Hartlepool, Grimsby, Yeovil, Crewe  // Rochdale, Morecambe)

Vanarama National Shrewsbury (Shrewsbury, Dag & Red // Accrington, Bognor Regis, Hampton & Richmond, Guiseley)

Vanarama North Chester (Chester, FC United // Hereford, Blyth, Learnington)

Vanarama South Gosport (Gosport, Chelmsford //  Havant & Waterlooville, Hendon, Whitehawk)

Cup Winners

English FA Cup Man Utd (vs Everton)

Carabao Cup Arsenal (vs Liverpool)

Checkatrade Trophy Arsenal U23s (vs West Brom U23s)

English FA Trophy Leyton Orient (vs Tranmere)

Euro Qualifcation

Champions League Group Stage: Man Utd, Man City, TOttenham, Chelsea, Arsenal

Champions League Best Placed Playoff:

Euro Cup Group Stage: Liverpool

Euro Cup Playoff:

Euro Cup 3rd QR: Southampton

Euro Cup 1st QR:

Continental Achievements

Chelsea -- Won European Super Cup (vs Arsenal)

Arsenal -- European Super Cub Runner up (vs Chelsea)

Man City  -- Eliminated from European Champions Cup Group Stage

Arsenal  -- Won Club World Championship (vs River)

Tottenham -- Eliminated from European Champions Cub Quarter Final  (By A. Madrid)

Arsenal -- Eliminated from European Champions Cup Quarter Final (By Man Utd)

West Ham -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Quarter Final (By Liverpool)

Leicester -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Quarter Final (By Man Utd)

Man City  -- Won Euro Cup (vs Liverpool)

Man Utd  -- Won European Champions Cup (vs Chelsea)

Extra detail

 

What's Next?

I'm hoping that with a few new signings I will be able to put forth a successful campaign and escape the VNL early.  Normally I want to hit league football within 4 seasons in this challenge --- but with all of the first season being run during the Beta (with the various problems associated (set piece problems???) it might take a 5th...but I've got a good foundation I think.  Immediate needs are a new DL and a starting GK, otherwise I'll just need some rotation options to fill in for players on their way out.  The big worry is finances....another £100K deficit and the board still hasn't shown signs of injecting any cash.  We did get a bit of a boost in wages for the coming season....but I'll be keeping well within the cap and trying to save some money.

Career Overview

Season      Team                 Division          League Position(Predicted)     FAT       FAC    JPT      LC      Euro     CL               

2018/19     Gosport Borough    Vanarama South               19(20)                4QR       3QR     -       -        -       -     

2019/20     Gosport Borough    Vanarama South                4(22)(P/O 2nd Semi)  4QR       4QR     -       -        -       -

2020/21     Gosport Borough    Vanarama South                1(20)                3QR       2R

 

 

 

@HighFlyingDwarf You can now update me on the leaderboard!

 

 

 

 

 

[shader98]

Dorking Wanderers - 2019-2020 - 7th Place - Lost in Semi-Finals of playoffs

 

Well, season 2 is over.  My team was utterly incapable of attracting good talent so I had to rely on a lot of scouting, grabbing of free agents, and improved tactics.  Fortunately I found a set of tactics I like and behind the 40 goals of Matty Briggs, we put ourself in 8th place with one game to go.  We won the final game 6-1 and won the first playoff game 3-0.  But alas, it wasn't to be.  The final game was a disaster and the season ends.

This team definitely played over it's head.  With over 100 goals, we were the best team in the league at scoring...but we also allowed a paltry 87 goals.  I tried everything I could but could never get the defense sorted.

Moving onto season 3 and the goal is clearly to get promoted to the National League.  The hope is that our playoff run makes us an attractive place to play, and that some good players will make the difference.

[Warhawk]

So Manchester United just won the PL in my save, breaking a 4-year run by Manchester City.  They did it with 5 games to play, which matches the earliest that it's ever been done, but arguably better because they're the only team that has actually played 33 matches, everyone else has 6 or 7 games left.  They're 26-6-1 with a 21 point lead on Arsenal.  It's April 12th.

[Bruce Drundrige]

8 hours ago, Warhawk said:

So Manchester United just won the PL in my save, breaking a 4-year run by Manchester City.  They did it with 5 games to play, which matches the earliest that it's ever been done, but arguably better because they're the only team that has actually played 33 matches, everyone else has 6 or 7 games left.  They're 26-6-1 with a 21 point lead on Arsenal.  It's April 12th.

Who's their manager, still Mourinho?

[Kaiserwatman]

2032-33 (UK & IRE Players Only)

League - Squad - Dynamics - Transfers - Finances

Further tweaks of the now rigid 4-1-4-1 formation saw Altrincham brought media attention due to their dire defensive football . The home fans aren't best pleased with it either as at one point it only have 17% confidence as they begged for change. But whilst the football is pretty dreadful , the results have made up for it in the most part as Altrincham enjoyed their best ever league finish .  Premier League Champions Manchester City were amongst the sides who failed to break down the Altrincham rearguard though they were able see off the Robins in the replay.  With average attendances breaking 5 figures for the first time the club have announced plans to add further capacity to The Altrincham Stadium.

The plans for next season is to once again maintain a mid-table position and make further developments off the pitch as the club are still along way behind in many aspects . Transfer record now stands at £250k and highest earner gets £9k a week which is no where near other clubs in the division and limits the choices with incoming players.

 

[Warhawk]

9 hours ago, Edinton said:

Who's their manager, still Mourinho?

No, he got sacked 2 days shy of 6 years on the job.  Managed 1 win each in the PL, FA Cup, Champions League, Europa League, and Club World Cup, plus 5 EFL Cups.  Diego Simeone got the job, didn't win a damn thing his first season, then left in August for Inter.  Then they hired Unai Emery, who had spent the last few years at PSG as the runner-up to Monaco in just about everything (in 6 seasons, they finished 1-2 in Ligue 1, and 5 of those is was Monaco 1, PSG 2).

Fortunately for him, there's no teams nearly as rich, talented, or well known as Monaco in the Premier League.

Oh, and guess who's now managing PSG?

Mourinho.

[Warhawk]

Bah, what a joke.

Had 3 players in the top 6 in average rating, 5 in the top 14.  Got ONE player in the team of the year.  Manchester United had 8 players in the Team of the Year, not too surprising since they dominated the league, but still.  Leon Bailey got the right midfield spot with 10 goals, 10 assists, 7.32 average rating; my right midfielder, Damir Sedlacek, had 8 goals, 13 assists, 7.45 average rating.

Ronnie Gillespie had 33 appearances, 23 goals, 15 assists, 8 PoM awards, 7.57 average rating.  I can understand why he lost both Player of the Year awards to Dybala, but he also lost Young Player of the Year to Vinicius Junior, who had 35 appearances, 14 goals, 9 assists, 5 PoM awards, 7.56 average rating.  Also, Luca Termanini didn't have as high a rating, but he was second in the PL with 25 goals, nothing for him either.

Gillespie had been reported as being in contention for European Golden Boy for 2024, didn't win that either.

We keep playing like this, my guys better get some damn hardware, or I'mma have to choke some virtual folks out.

[Warhawk]

Lancaster City

Premier League 2024-2025

Year-End Update

Calendar

    

Competitions

Premier League

No really interesting transfers out this season (nobody was even really interested in any of our players) except we did end up selling Richard Stimson for $120k, as he was surplus to requirements and probably not cut out for the Premier League except as an iffy depth player, and I'd rather use someone with a bit more potential there.  We made 8 major additions to the squad.  Our first was one of our best players this season, 23 year old right midfielder Damir Sedlacek, who we purchased for $1.5 million from Bordeaux and who had previously spent time with PSG.  Three days later we wrapped up the deal for another player who ended up being outstanding for us, 21 year old Austrian central midfielder Reinhold Schneider, bought for what eventually turned into $5.25 million from Dortmund.  At the end of June we made probably our best value-for-money deal, signing 24 year old left midfielder Javier Marcen following the expiration of his contract with Zaragoza.  At the same time we signed two defenders whose contracts had recently expired, Italian center back Mauro Martorana, last with Fiorentina, and English left back Lewis Gibson, last with Everton.  Neither were great and I will be looking for upgrades, but both have been competent enough to have a depth role going forward.  On July 30th we pulled off another major transfer, bringing in 23 year old goalkeeper Alessandro Bettini from Juventus for $4.6 million, who did a fantastic job covering up for our poor defensive performance this season.  On August 6th our free transfer of 18 year old Italian striker Luca Termanini went through, and we made our last major move on August 15th, bringing in former Monaco center back Benoit Badiashile, who ended up being our best defensive player this season.

We had a decent preseason outside of a very poor performance in a 1-1 draw to Celtic, a somewhat unlucky home loss to Swansea, and a disgraceful collapse where we let a 3-1 lead after 29 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday turn into a 6-3 loss.  We began the season on television by going down 2-0 at Newcastle before fighting back to get a 2-2 draw, but lost our next two matches against Arsenal at home and West Ham on the road.  That would be the last time we would find ourselves in the relegation spots.  We won 4 of our next 5 and 5 of our next 7, the best of which were a 4-2 win at West Brom and a 2-1 win at home against Liverpool (we also beat a miserable Burnley squad, who were eventually relegated, 4-0 at home).  Following a 1-2-2 stretch, we won 3 of our next four, beating Everton, Southampton, and Newcastle at home but falling 5-3 to Manchester United on the road.  After a 6-3 loss at Arsenal, we had our best run of the season, going on a 7-4-1 run, losing only a home match against Manchester City by 1 goal, and putting up a 2+ goal margin in all 7 of our victories, including wins over Bournemouth, Stoke, Leicester, Burnley, Swansea, Sunderland, and Norwich (Stoke and Sunderland in particular were our competitors for continental qualification, and we beat Stoke by 4).  We lost our next 2 away matches including a rather frightening 6-5 loss at Leicester, but still found ourselves in good position to qualify for the Europa League, though we were likely too far behind to have a chance at the Champions League.  In our third to last league match of the season, we put ourselves in commanding position by coming back from a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat fellow continental qualification contenders Southampton 2-1 on the road.  Though we lost to Manchester United 3-1 in our next match, results elsewhere locked up qualification for us, and a 1-1 draw in our final match at Everton ensured we would capture 5th place, one point ahead of Sunderland.

Final Table

FA Cup

A much better run after losing our first match last season, though it nearly ended in embarassing fashion.  After taking an early lead against eventual mid-table Championship squad Middlesbrough, we found ourselves down 3-1 midway through the second half.  Goals from Ronnie Gillespie and James Young in the 80th and 86th minutes, respectively managed to salvage a draw, and while we went into the half in the home replay down 1-0 due to an own goal plus a missed penalty on our part, we eventually cruised to a 4-1 victory.  In the 4th round, despite another own goal (we had rather a lot of those this season, actually), Luca Termanini's hat trick secured a 3-2 victory.  Our 5th round match was perhaps the highlight of our run, managing a 2-1 upset of Manchester United where, despite being out-shot 30-18, our shots on goal were almost identical, and we scored in the 16th and 17th minute, holding on to the win despite missing a penalty later on as well.  Even including friendlies and all cup matches, Manchester United only lost 3 times all season - at Southampton in the PL, at us in the FA Cup, and against Manchester City in the EFL Cup finals (they did get knocked out of the Champions League as well, but that was on away goals after a pair of draws with Real Madrid).  In the 6th round we won 3-2 against Sunderland despite YET ANOTHER own goal.  The semifinal against Newcastle was pretty uneventful for most of the match, without even a carding the entire time, until Sedlacek scored in the 90th minute to put us through to the final with a 1-0 victory.  Unfortunately, we got off to a poor start in the final and found ourselves down 2-0 at the half, and while we were much improved after the break, ended up on the wrong side of a 3-2 defeat, our second loss in the FA Cup final in 3 years.

EFL Cup

Deja Vu was the flavor of the season apparently, as not only did we repeat our FA Cup run to the final of two seasons ago, we also repeated our EFL Cup run to the semi-final of two seasons ago.  An early 3-0 lead led us to a 3-1 win over Fleetwood in the 1st round, and we followed that up by demolishing Wycombe 5-0 in the second round.  We scored in the 5th minute against Stoke in the 3rd round, but ended up going to extra time tied 1-1, where Ryan Glover scored his second of the game in the 112th minute to give us a 2-1 win.  We had a very lucky 1-0 win against Bournemouth in the quarter final after a pretty miserable offensive performance.  In the first leg of the semi-final at home against Manchester City, we secured a 1-1 draw, and things got off to a great start on the road as we took a 2-0 lead in the 32nd minute.  They immediately cut the lead to 2-1, but we held onto that lead all the way until the 93rd minute, when they scored a gutting equalizer.  Our left back was sent off in the 100th minute, and they scored on the resulting free kick, adding another to beat us 4-2 in the second leg and 5-3 on aggregate - we were seconds away from making the final, but were left with our second semi-final loss in 3 years.

Squad & Awards

Given our massive defensive deficiencies, our team's success was heavily dependent on two factors - outstanding play by our strikers and wingers, and an excellent goalkeeping performance that ensured that our opponents converted only a low percentage of the many chances they got (Bettini had nearly 3 saves, held + parried, per goal conceded, a very good ratio compared with other goalkeepers in the league).  Luca Termanini scored 33 goals, 25 in the league, plus contributed 12 assists, while Ronnie Gillespie scored 29, with 23 in the league, plus 20 assists (besting his own club assists record yet again).  Michael Boyd chipped in 11 goals for us, while our wingers, Damir Sedlacek and Javier Marcen, contributed 10 goals & 14 assists, and 9 goals & 12 assists, respectively.  The club leader in average rating was James Young, though he mostly played early on in cup matches; Gillespie was our leader among regular first teamers, followed by Marcen, Sedlacek, and Termanini.  Gillespie and Termanini both had 10 Player of the Match awards.  We had 3 of the top 6 players in average rating in the league, and 5 of the top 14 - Gillespie (3rd), Sedlacek, (5th), Marcen (6th), Termanini (10th), and Reinhold Schneider (14th).  Termanini tied for 2nd in goals, with Gillespie 4th.  Gillespie and Sedlacek were 1st and 2nd in assists.  Gillespie also led the league in key passes and chances created - Termanini, Marcen, and Sedlacek were all in the top 14 in those statistics as well, along with Schneider in the former.  Gillespie and Termanini were also in the top 9 in shot and shots on target.  While our defense as a whole was poor, Benoit Badiashile found himself high on the rankings in many defensive statistics, including having the most interceptions in the league.  Bettini, though conceding 70 goals, led the league in saves held and saves parried, both by substantial margins.

As a team, we scored the most goals with 86, but conceded the 5th most goals with 70.  We were worst in the league in possession and passing ratio, but were 2nd in shots on target ratio, were effective at crossing, and scored the second most goals from corners.  In spite of our poor defense we only allowed 3 goals from corners and won the third most tackles (though we were among the leaders in fouls and cards).  We did win the most headers, though our ratio was on the lower end of the rankings.

Some decent prospects in our youth intake, but we got one guy who looks like he could be very good, a center back named Kevaughn Smith, though consistency looks to be a knock on him.

Our players (and myself as well) received a variety of awards, listed below.

Fans' & Manager's Player of the Season: Ronnie Gillespie

Fans' Signing of the Season: Reinhold Schneider

Manager's Signing of the Season: Damir Sedlacek

Fans' & Manager's Young Player of the Season: Ronnie Gillespie

Premier League Team of the Year: Ronnie Gillespie

Runner-Up for Top Goalscorer: Luca Termanini

October Player of the Month: Damir Sedlacek

November Player of the Month: Ronnie Gillespie

January Player of the Month: Luca Termanini

Runner-Up for Player of the Month (Luca Termanini, April)

Third Place for Player of the Month (Javier Marcen, April)

September Young Player of the Month: Luca Termanini

October Young Player of the Month: Luca Termanini

November Young Player of the Month: Ronnie Gillespie

January Young Player of the Month: Luca Termanini

February Young Player of the Month: Jake Iles

April Young Player of the Month: Luca Termanini

Runner-Up for Young Player of the Month (Ronnie Gillespie, August, September, October, December, January, & April)

Third Place for Young Player of the Month (Michael Boyd, December; Luca Termanini, February; Jake Iles, March)

Third Place for Manager of the Month (February)

Manager of the Year

 

State of the Club

From a financial perspective, the club had a profit of approximately $106 million last season, primarily as a result of Premier League tv revenue.  Our season ticket revenue more than tripled from under $2 million to nearly $7 million. We have again been given an increased payroll budget and transfer budget, currently (with the slider set all the way to wage budget) at approximately $1.2 million per week and $66 million, respectively.

Our upgrade to a 12,500 capacity stadium is complete, and we paid the $18 million loan off early at the end of this season.

Our average attendance for the season was 14,039, lowest in the league.  We had 5 sellouts.

My goals for the upcoming season are as follows:

• Europa League Qualification
• Reach the FA Cup 5th Round
• Reach the 5th round of the EFL Cup
• Get out of the Group Stage of the Europa League

 

Season	 League				Finish  	Achievements
2018-19	 Vanarama North			7th     	Playoffs
2019-20	 Vanarama North			1st     	Champions; FA Trophy Finalist
2020-21	 Vanarama National		1st     	Champions; FA Trophy Winners
2021-22  Sky Bet League Two		1st     	Champions; Checkatrade Trophy Winners
2022-23  Sky Bet League One		2nd     	Promotion; Checkatrade Trophy Semifinalist; EFL Cup Semifinalist; FA Cup Finalist
2023-24  Sky Bet Championship    	1st		Champions
2022-23  Premier League 		5th     	Europa League Qualification; EFL Cup Semifinalist; FA Cup Finalist

[tajj7]

Billericay End of  Season 3 Update (League 2)

Another league down and another league fairly comfortably won -

Very pleased to pass the 100 goals and 100 points mark, especially with a fluid attacking/pressing style, I have even had media comments and press-conference questions where people have criticised the team's style saying it wouldn't work at this level which I thought was quite cool. 

Cups were again a bit of disappointment, especially that Bristol City lost as I thought we could maybe get a lucrative 5th round draw there, but in an even game we narrowly lost to a set piece goal.

The team is largely the one that did so well in the Conference -

Kehinde, Deering, Olowu, Eyoma and Wells have all been there since the Conference South days, and 3 of them are most of my defence.  You can see in the overall best eleven they have been very consistent performers up the leagues -

Deering who is a club legend sadly left the club at the end of the summer, I was quite amazed he progressed this far as he wasn't rated that highly in the conference south!

As for the others I fully expect them to be key parts of the team in League 1, if they keep progressing as they have then they might even make it as Championship players if we get there. Especially my Nigerian contingent of Kehinde, Olowu and Eyoma who are all academy rejects from top clubs (Man Utd, Arsenal and Spurs IIRC).  Wells was picked up as first year regen from another Conference South club by my scouts and has been a solid right back ever since and is not even 20 yet. 

We also moved into our new stadium at the end of the season -

Very imaginatively named! We are filling it out fairly regularly in League 1, so I expect an expansion might be on the cards next year, also after the Chairman dumped nearly £3 million into the finances at the end of the season I quickly set about getting some upgrades in to everything, as especially our youth recruitment and coaching was poor and I have had terrible intakes so far.  We have now hit average for most stuff which is much better and there seems to be a bit more money available in League 1 so we are actually sitting at a positive balance for the season.

The League 1 start has been indifferent but we have found some form and are up into the playoffs now, I am struggling to get consistency our my strikers and AMC, which are key to our formation. Not a huge amount of additions to the team because I couldn't find many obvious upgrades especially with very little transfer budget and many decent youngsters available at loan don't want to join me, even though they will go to other League 1 clubs. 

[Kaiserwatman]

It's been like building a 1000 piece jigsaw , took a very long time before progress could be seen but things are coming to fruition at Altrincham

[tajj7]

So I have just had my weirdest sale ever, my backup GK, who played in League 2 for me last season but I upgraded last year, who is 28, I transfer listed because he wanted first team football, has just agreed to sign for Chelsea.

Currently top of the Premier League Chelsea, for a transfer fee of £9k.

What? 

[Kaiserwatman]

6 minutes ago, tajj7 said:

So I have just had my weirdest sale ever, my backup GK, who played in League 2 for me last season but I upgraded last year, who is 28, I transfer listed because he wanted first team football, has just agreed to sign for Chelsea.

Currently top of the Premier League Chelsea, for a transfer fee of £9k.

What? 

Had the same last season ,  sub keeper sold to Chelsea  -  It was purely to meet UEFA Registration rules as the current Chelsea side don't have enough domestic players in squad . Probably same in your save

[tajj7]

3 minutes ago, Kaiserwatman said:

Had the same last season ,  sub keeper sold to Chelsea  -  It was purely to meet UEFA Registration rules as the current Chelsea side don't have enough domestic players in squad . Probably same in your save

Ok cool, thought it was weird, they do only have 3 GKs in the whole club but thought they might be able to find a better keeper!

----------------------------

Will also use this opportunity to show off my Assistant Manager because I think he is probably one of the best AMs I have ever had at a lower level club -

[Swindon69]

Bah - limping into the play-offs again!

Play off Final here I come.

[Swindon69]

Finally .....

[tremor]

5 hours ago, tajj7 said:

Ok cool, thought it was weird, they do only have 3 GKs in the whole club but thought they might be able to find a better keeper!

----------------------------

Will also use this opportunity to show off my Assistant Manager because I think he is probably one of the best AMs I have ever had at a lower level club -

Those are some amazing stats for a member of staff who doesn't even have a continental A licence yet!

[Swindon69]

Season 2026/27

Hereford FC

Championship - Pos 4th (Playoff winners)

FA Cup - 4th round

Carabao Cup - 3rd round

I'm not sure what to think about this season - I finished 16 points adrift of 1st and 5 from 2nd, I was rather annoyed to miss out on automatic promotion but four draws in my last eleven games made the gap unbridgeable. I'd also hoped to win each division as I went through it but you can't have it all. Rather annoyingly my stadium is 500 seats short of the required capacity so the board in their infinite wisdom are adding just 500 seats - you'd have thought they might have added more than that.

 

Once again I have a new top scorer - Colin Lammiman finished with 31 goals overall

The top rated player was Scott Miller who had a bit of a breakthrough season

End of season club awards

Commercial update £60k non-domestic sales.

[jsar]

away for the xmas break so not got time for a write up, but season one in League one now completed, solid start with a safe 16th place. proper updates on this and the last season to follow at some point. That being said I might do a few more seasons whilst at the in laws so might have more to report at some point.

[tajj7]

7 hours ago, tremor said:

Those are some amazing stats for a member of staff who doesn't even have a continental A licence yet!

I know it's mental, hence why we are paying him a lot to keep him, was signed as player/assistant in the first season and has just shot up. It's also funny because whilst the club kept refusing my licences they have funded his every time and he is on twice what I am paid as manager! 

[Swindon69]

Does this mean that wp's aren't required in the Premier Division?

[blaaklint]

Hereford, 2018/19:

I've just finished my first season of the challenge and, fair to say, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The team has shown both the sublime and the ridiculous in parts this season and, if they can remove some of the mistakes from their game and I recruit well, I see no reason why we cannot be promoted next season.

Fixtures (pt. 1) | Fixtures (pt. 2) | League | Past positions | Squad | Dynamics | Transfers

Season  | Pos.  | Division          | FAC   | LC    | ECC   | EC    | Top scorer        | Most assists      | Best player
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2018/19 | 13th  | Vanarama North    | 4QR   | N/A   | N/A   | N/A   | Luca Novarra (17) | Pablo Haysham (8) | Scott Shulton (7.11)