rlipscombe Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 good improvement there @Biscotti but seriously bad luck with the form in the latter part of the season. Hopefully you can eradicate that next season and get the title and promotion that you probably deserved this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Three (2020/21) The League My customary slow start was even slower than usual this season, prompting a shift away from my possession-based 4-2-3-1 to a more direct playing 4-4-2. We lost 1-0 away at a very strong looking Sport & Leisure on matchday 9 but kicked on from there with only 4 draws and one loss in the remaining 18 fixtures. The loss, unfortunately, being a 4-0 thumping at home to Knockbreda in the final (dead rubber) match of the season. I think the slightly later onset of form helped carry us a bit further this season. After the league split we scored 14 goals in the 5 games against the supposedly 5 other best teams in the league, including a great 3-1 win away at (at the time) top of the table Sport & Leisure. Finished 5 points clear with very few results that ever looked in doubt. League Table | League Fixtures | Past Positions Other Competitions Basically achieved as expected here. Didn't get far enough to get any payout so in general, I'm not at all bothered, as the league was and still will be my main concern. The U18s did again win the league, but nowhere near as comfortably this season. I'm thinking the formation switch doesn't suit them quite so well. Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Adam Hanley (Stats) - My assistant has him pegged as a leading NI Championship level player, but with some consistency problems. This season is the first season where I've not felt the sting of that inconsistency as I've had a stronger team around him to pick up the slack and that has meant that Hanley has been able to shine for me. An average of 2.22 Key Passes per 90 and a 7.32 average rating meant he was absolutely key to my attacking presence and he was voted fan's player of the season with 51% of the vote. Jakub Klobusek (Stats) - I was slightly surprised to find this random Polish lad playing for Beragh in the Northern Irish lower leagues, but I said I was looking to get in someone of my own in place of Dunlop. The fact he'd only scored 29 in 108 before joining us bothered me, but I needn't have worried as he was our top scorer this season with 24 in 33. I'm not sure if he's up to the next level, but I'm not going to be actively looking to replace him. Marty McLaughlin (Stats) - With the change in system I needed a partner for Klobusek who was going to be able to sit a little deeper. McLaughlin has spent the last 2 seasons on the fringes due to his preference to be a Defensive Forward because I'd only been playing with one striker, but this season he got his chance and boy did he take it. A little hampered by injury meaning he played just 14 games, but a fantastic return of 1.06 goals per 90 makes me very happy. If he does keep his spot for next season I'd like to see him contribute a little more with assists. The Squad It's only taken 3 seasons, but finally I have a Team Leader. It has made dealing with unhappy players so much easier this season. I'm still not entirely thrilled by our defensive capabilities, but seeing as we did concede the least goals in the league I guess I really can't complain. I think that actually, the whole squad are probably in a position to stay up, but unfortunately my team meeting at the end of the season highlighted that the players don't agree with me. I don't think I'll be actively recruiting over the summer, but if my scouts unearth a gem I will be snapping them up. Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven (All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Team Report | Records Finances This season the finances were terrible. I know I said I wasn't going to concern myself with them as we pushed for promotion, but if the board hadn't made an investment part-way through the season we'd have been in a world of trouble. I'm hoping that as a championship team we might be able to get bigger attendances than the 10-11% we have been without spending a whole lot more than we already are. Finances | Projected Youth Class of 2019 YP1a - Johnny Grant (NIR) - M/AM C - (Stats) - Again made some slight gains. I promised I'd use him as backup this season and he did indeed play a decent number of games for me. A 6.91 average is certainly passable, but I fear there's a danger of the quality of the squad leaving him behind. I might try and loan him out to an NI Premier Intermediate club for next season to ensure he continues to get games. YP1b - David Browne (NIR) - AM L - Barely played any games at Bangor. Pretty sure he's doomed to rot away in the lower leagues now as I currently have no plans to try and bring him back to us. YP1c - Chris Stewart (NIR) - GK - (Stats) - As the season went on I found myself giving him more and more games. Still nowhere near being first choice, but I'm happy enough with his performances so far and as a Goalkeeper, I would expect his development to be slower anyway. As with Grant, he does run the risk of the club moving faster than he does, but I'm still slightly optimistic. Class of 2020 YP2 - Luke Noble (NIR) - AM R - Very little improvement here and it's disappointing. That personality is doing him no favours because he's such a long way from even being a backup to the first team. Much like Grant, I think I'll look for a loan move for him next season, but I'm still not hopeful. Class of 2021 YP3a - Dougie Thornbury (NIR) - DC - A 15-year-old who's good enough for first team football straight off the bat! You can imagine just how excited I was when I saw him. Another unambitious prospect, which is a shame, but he will most certainly feature in my team. Maybe I'll get lucky and tutor his determination up a little. He played 22 games for us straight off the bat before tearing his hamstring, but I'm expecting him to be first choice for next season. I'm going to need to resist calling him Nigel, though, because he is a smashing player. YP3b - David Beggs (NIR) - GK - With the excitement of Thornbury it'd be very easy to overlook Beggs, but much as I'm a fan of Stewart's Sweeper-Keeper-ness I actually think Beggs might be equally as good as him already despite being two years younger. I think one or other of them will get a loan move next season, with the other acting as my back-up. Season League Position FA Cup Europe Training Facilities Youth Facilities Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment Achievements/Notes Top Scorer Most Assists Highest Avg Rating Capacity/Average Attendance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Premier Intermediate 10th 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Black (13) Falvey (8) Hanley (7.07) 1000 (108) 2019/20 Premier Intermediate 2nd 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Dunlop (26) Walsh (9) McClurg (7.20) 1000 (134) 2020/21 Premier Intermediate 1st 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted! Klobusek (24) Hanley/Robinson (12) McLaughlin (7.47) 1000 (117) Goals This Season Finish at or about the playoff place (1st)Concede ≤ 30 goals (26)Better than 55% possession in the league (50.96%) Next Season Survive! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 congratulations on finally achieving promotion. Hopefully your run of form and a team leader helps you achieve survival next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Still playing my Lyn save - hovering around the playoffs about halfway through the season which I'm pretty happy with. Eliteserien clubs keep trying to buy some of my youth players already which is promising. Hopefully will finish off the season over the next week or so and give an update. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted January 16, 2018 Author Share Posted January 16, 2018 that's a good sign if higher level clubs are after your youngsters... good luck in getting to the play-offs... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 19 hours ago, Crispypaul said: Still playing my Lyn save - hovering around the playoffs about halfway through the season which I'm pretty happy with. Eliteserien clubs keep trying to buy some of my youth players already which is promising. Hopefully will finish off the season over the next week or so and give an update. I'm glad to see someone else is still playing. Was starting to feel slightly lonely with just my updates lately I look forward to seeing how you're getting on Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted January 17, 2018 Share Posted January 17, 2018 14 hours ago, rlipscombe said: that's a good sign if higher level clubs are after your youngsters... good luck in getting to the play-offs... Will have an update on youth intakes with my summary however one is good enough for our first team already, but I don't want to overdo it with a 16 year old as I know that there are issues further down the line with overplaying youngsters. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted January 20, 2018 Share Posted January 20, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Four (2021/22) The League That season did not go the way I planned. I figured we'd have a rough start, pick up enough form in the mid-season to ensure our survival before dropping off again at the tail-end and making it look harder than it was. We instead came out of the blocks with last seasons form. Four wins and a draw in our first 6 had us sat top of the table. Naturally, we couldn't keep that up, and we went on to 11 without a win - we were still picking up points though, with a 6-match draw streak. Our form did pick back up, though, but we just barely missed the top half of the league split. My dislike for league splits is shown very nicely here because we continued our good form and finished in 7th but with only one point less than 3rd. League Table | League Fixtures | Past Positions Other Competitions Notable this season in that we made a run to the semi-final of the League Cup, where we lost to Glenavon. Unfortunately, there's no money to be won for that achievement. We also made the final of the Mid-Ulster cup. Where we lost to Glenavon. And there was no money for that either. Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Kyle Robinson (Stats) - Tough to pick stand-out players this season as nobody was truly incredible. Robinson got voted by the fans as player of the season and it was probably justified. 10 assists, 10 goals and a 7.21 average rating from the right wing. Certainly solid, but if my best player is on similar numbers next season I'll be starting to worry a little. Cathal Farren (Stats) - Our top scorer for this season with 20, but a 0.6 per 90 ratio is a little low for how I like to play. Again, solid enough, but I'll be needing more if I'm looking to push on. Johnny Grant (Stats) - A 7.19 rating for Grant, along with a decent enough tally of 8 assists and 4 goals. I'll talk about his development below, but in the context of this section he's still not at first-team-regular level, but he's definitely getting a good amount of games. The Squad Before this season kicked off I made a massive mistake. I missed a notification about another club offering Hanley a contract. My star player left us for NI Premiership side Cliftonville. I persisted with the 4-4-2 that had served us so well last season, but as our form ran bad it felt like time to switch back to my preferred possession-based 4-2-3-1 and picked our form back up. In January my scouts sniffed out a young winger at an NI Premiership club who wasn't getting games and would fit well within our squad - and so we re-signed Adam Hanley. We conceded the least goals in the competition, yet only had 7 clean sheets. I feel like King has been very mistake prone and I'll be looking to improve my options at centre-back. As for the rest of the squad, I'm not so sure I need to drastically improve. That doesn't mean I won't be looking for upgrades, but I really do feel like we've already got a squad that is capable of pushing on further. Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven (All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Team Report | Records Finances Last season I made a statement about my desire for improved attendance. The only reason our average was better than last season was the 2 big cup games against Linfield and Glenavon. As a result, finances are really not good. I've been very fortunate in that the board have been regularly injecting funds just to keep us afloat, but short of offloading our players and signing a bunch of kids who are willing to play for £30 a game I don't see what I can do to fix the money. I think I''m just going to continue on the current trajectory and pray that we get big enough to make money before we're forced to fold. Finances | Projected Youth Aside from the players who are actually getting game time, I'm going to limit this to just the screenshots. Development is just so slow at this level it seems pointless writing about it. Class of 2019 YP1a - Johnny Grant (NIR) - M/AM C - Still very slow progress, despite quite a lot of football played. Some improvement in his mentals thanks to a bit of tutoring, but I'm really looking for his technical abilities to improve soon. Last season I said something about loaning out some of my youngsters. You'd think I would have realised that you can't loan out non-contract players. YP1b - David Browne (NIR) - AM L YP1c - Chris Stewart (NIR) - GK - (Stats) - I played him for roughly half our games this season and he was competent enough. I still think I ought to be playing Beggs over him though, so he might not play much next season. Class of 2020 YP2 - Luke Noble (NIR) - AM R Class of 2021 YP3a - Dougie Thornbury (NIR) - DC - (Stats) - My best option at Centre-back. That sounds like damning with faint praise, but seeing as we conceded fewer goals than anyone else in the league I think maybe it's not so bad. I'm very conscious that he's still extremely young, though, and I'll be looking to give him slightly more rotation next season if I can bring in someone of reasonable quality. YP3b - David Beggs (NIR) - GK Class of 2022 YP4a - Lewis Kerr (NIR) - AM C - We might have some competition for the playmaker role. He's certainly a little way off Grant at the moment, but he's certainly capable. I'll be looking to get that determination tutored up nice and quick and then we'll see how he does. YP4b - Jamie Scott (NIR) - D RC / WB R - Physically and Technically I'm not convinced, but his mentals attributes look pretty good. Maybe he will be useful in the future, but I'm not going to hold out too much hope. Goals This Season Survive! Next Season Top half finish Top 3 in League for clean sheets Have at least one player with a 7.4 average rating Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Five (2022/23) The League This time around we had a very worrying start. Only one win in the first seven saw me almost abandon my preferred style and go back to the 4-4-2. But then something clicked, and we then only had another 99 games in the league that we didn't win. It wasn't quite enough to topple Institute, who took the automatic spot, but it did put us into the playoff. We faced local boys Lurgan Celtic first up, and a comfortable 2-0 home win was followed up by an equally comfortable 1-0 away win to set us up with a promotion showdown against Warrenpoint. Warrenpoint absolutely tore us open in the first half of the home leg, going in at half-time down 3-0. Turned around the second half somewhat to go into the away leg 4-2 down and not completely out of it. We managed to keep a clean sheet away to them, but unfortunately only the one goal meant we're staying another season in the Championship. League Table | League Fixtures | Past Positions Other Competitions Made the Quarters of the FA Cup, losing out to eventual winners Glentoran. Only made the third round of the League Cup, but we did go on to win the Mid-Ulster Cup. Not exactly worth a huge financial boost, but it's nice to add to my silverware all the same. Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Kyle Robinson (Stats) - Even though he's the best we have on the right-wing, my back room really don't rate him that highly. Yet he still came in with 12 goals and 17 assists in 42 appearances which marks him out as absolutely integral to the way we play. He's moved up to a Team Leader role now, but I am looking to push Luke Noble into the team a bit now though, so maybe Robinson's time is done? Cathal Farren (Stats) - Just like last year, Farren has been the main focus of our attack. He's rewarded us handsomely with a return of 34 goals in 40 and a 7.34 average rating. I still feel like there are some gaps in his game, though, and while he's definitely good for this level I'm not so sure he'd work in the Premiership. Adam Hanley (Stats) - He came back to us last season without quite enough time to have a real influence, but this season he's really powered on. Now also a Team Leader, he was superb this season with 24 assists and 13 goals in 45 appearances, notching up a 7.51 average and taking the Fans' Player of the Season award. At just 21 he is already considered a club icon, and he will probably make short work of becoming a legend too. The Squad I did manage to make some good squad upgrades in midfield but struggled really badly to find any quality upgrades at the back, so just stuck it out again this season. We still finished on joint lowest conceded, so obviously it's not that awful yet. I'm still looking for better players across almost the entire back-line, but I'm now starting to think we should still be able to go up with what we have. Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven (All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Team Report | Records Finances The board still appear to be willing to pump money in on occasion and for that reason, I'm not too bothered as long as I keep within my budgets. We did see attendances start to rise as we made our promotion push - culminating in a record 631 people coming to watch our match against Warrenpoint - so there is still hope that we'll be able to make money eventually. Finances | Projected I'm moving my Youth section to a separate post. Otherwise it's going to start to dominate my updates and that doesn't seem like a good idea. Season League Position FA Cup Europe Training Facilities Youth Facilities Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment Achievements/Notes Top Scorer Most Assists Highest Avg Rating Capacity/Average Attendance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Premier Intermediate 10th 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Black (13) Falvey (8) Hanley (7.07) 1000 (108) 2019/20 Premier Intermediate 2nd 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Dunlop (26) Walsh (9) McClurg (7.20) 1000 (134) 2020/21 Premier Intermediate 1st 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted! Klobusek (24) Hanley/Robinson (12) McLaughlin (7.47) 1000 (117) 2021/22 Championship 6th 4th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Farren (20) Robinson (10) Robinson (7.21) 1000 (130) 2022/23 Championship 2nd Qtr Final N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Farren (36) Hanley (25) Hanley (7.50) 1000 (154) Goals This Season Top half finish (2nd) Top 3 in League for clean sheets (=2nd) Have at least one player with a 7.4 average rating (Hanley - 7.50) Next Season Promotion! Best in league for clean sheets Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted January 23, 2018 Share Posted January 23, 2018 Dollingstown FC Youth Update 2023 Class of 2019 YP1a - Johnny Grant (NIR) - M/AM C - (Stats) - I thought maybe I was going to use him as first choice playmaker this season, but he actually lost out on that to Lewis Kerr. The Back-room still think he's got a bunch of potential, but I'm worried that he'll never get there with the facilities we have and the first-team opportunities available. I may have to start considering offers from other clubs just so he can actually continue his career. YP1b - David Browne (NIR) - AM L - A move from Bangor to Premiership Glenavon saw him make no appearances before he got another move to Ballinamallard United. Still not really getting any games, though, but at 20 he's still got time to make his name. YP1c - Chris Stewart (NIR) - GK - Didn't play a single game for us this season, as I preferred Beggs as our backup option. It might be best for him if he moves one, but I'm not going to force him out of the club. Class of 2020 YP2 - Luke Noble (NIR) - AM R - Didn't get more than a couple of games for us, but he did impress when he had the opportunity, so next season I'm hoping to start him. Maybe not all the time, but if he can play maybe 15-20 games and keeps playing well I'll be very happy. Class of 2021 YP3a - Dougie Thornbury (NIR) - DC - (Stats) - I managed to fix his determination, and now I'm very much hoping he'll continue to develop even just a little more for us. I think if I were to find a partner for him that was as good as he is we'd probably be set for the Premiership. YP3b - David Beggs (NIR) - GK - (Stats) - Played backup for me this season and did pretty well. 7 Clean sheets in 11 appearances and only 11 conceded. I have good hopes for him, but just like the rest of my youngsters, the lack of facilities is likely to hurt him hard. Class of 2022 YP4a - Lewis Kerr (NIR) - AM C - (Stats) - The only thing he's really got going for him over Grant in my playmaker role is a better familiarity with the AM C position, and yet I played him very regularly this season. And he performed well too. If I can up his determination then perhaps he can keep going as well. YP4b - Jamie Scott (NIR) - D RC / WB R - I get the feeling this guy just isn't going to make it. Not that he doesn't have potential, but he's just too far away from getting first-team games. Much like Stewart, I'm not going to force him out, but I also won't be challenging if other clubs come in for him. Class of 2023 YP5 - Stefan McDonnell - D R - The other reason that Scott won't be making it with us. Just look at those attributes. He has a little work to do on his pace but is otherwise very well suited to my attacking full-back needs. The biggest negative is that determination - he's already considered too senior in the squad to be tutored. I will be monitoring this closely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Lyn Norwegian 1st Division2019 Season Review League - Table - finished 8th, a good start. We conceded more goals than I would have liked so I will be tweaking our formation for 2020 Cup - Fixtures - knocked out in the 2nd round by eventual winners Rosenborg Key players: Squad | Transfers Elvind Fallas Dahl - another good season from the midfielder Truls Jorstad - a veteran whom was signed for both his playing skills and that he is a Model Citizen, so a great tutor Olav Dalen - solid from veteran keeper Bardh Shala - top scorer Youth Update: We had another great intake - one player in particular. They also won the U19 league Intake Kim Torp YP19a was the best Finances: not getting any better Season League Position Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2018 Norwegian 2nd Division 1st Champions, Promoted 2019 Norwegian 1st Division 8th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 A good solid mid-table season there @Crispypaul . A great platform for pushing for that next promotion. I've finished my sixth season at Dollingstown now. Not sure when I'll get around to writing up my summary but I intend to get it done sooner rather than later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Six (2023/24) The League Last season I set the goal of promotion for this season and or most of the season the players duly delivered. Matchday 2 was the only time we weren't in the top 3. We did do our best to chuck it away right at the death, but in the end, we were just able to hold on to first place and automatic promotion. League Table | League Fixtures | Past Positions Other Competitions Losing finalists in the League Cup this time out, but nothing much else of note to report here. Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Barry McFadden (Stats) - Our current club captain and the heart of our midfield. Nearly 60 passer per 90 is fantastic for a non-playmaker role and even though he didn't chip in with that many goals and assists, nearly every move went through him making him integral to the way we play Cathal Farren (Stats) - Top Scorer once more, but I think we're possibly starting to suffer from his inability to really support the rest of the team and with our promotion to the Premiership I'll be looking to try and get hold of someone who brings a little bit more to the table. Adam Hanley (Stats) - Still most definitely assured that left wing to himself. Hanley continues to provide so many opportunities and without him, I think we'd really be struggling to create much of anything. The Squad I mentioned that I'd like to improve our striker options, but at the risk of sounding like a broken record I still feel like we need to strengthen at the back. Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven (All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Team Report | Records Finances Still no better, and I'm not going to make the mistake of hoping for our attendances to improve thanks to our promotion. The board are still injecting money, and we're now actually able to offer players part-time contracts instead of the non-contracts we were restricted to, so I'm still optimistic. Finances | Projected Season League Position FA Cup Europe Training Facilities Youth Facilities Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment Achievements/Notes Top Scorer Most Assists Highest Avg Rating Capacity/Average Attendance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Premier Intermediate 10th 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Black (13) Falvey (8) Hanley (7.07) 1000 (108) 2019/20 Premier Intermediate 2nd 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Dunlop (26) Walsh (9) McClurg (7.20) 1000 (134) 2020/21 Premier Intermediate 1st 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted! Klobusek (24) Hanley/Robinson (12) McLaughlin (7.47) 1000 (117) 2021/22 Championship 6th 4th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Farren (20) Robinson (10) Robinson (7.21) 1000 (130) 2022/23 Championship 2nd Qtr Final N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Farren (36) Hanley (25) Hanley (7.50) 1000 (154) 2023/24 Championship 1st 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted Farren (20) Hanley (18) Noble (7.37) 1000 (104) Goals This Season Promotion! (Winners)Best in league for clean sheets (6th) Next Season Safe mid-table Positive goal difference At least one cup final Edit:- Youth update to follow at some point Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Managed to get myself fired 24 games into my second season at White Star Bruxelles. Despite having the highest salaries in the league I couldn't pull them out of midtable. Felt like we should have been better offensively but I couldn't pull it together. Scotland might be calling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 6 hours ago, Tecmo said: Managed to get myself fired 24 games into my second season at White Star Bruxelles. Despite having the highest salaries in the league I couldn't pull them out of midtable. Felt like we should have been better offensively but I couldn't pull it together. Scotland might be calling. sorry to hear that... good luck wherever you head next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 After giving it some thought (and getting a significant distance into the next season) I've decided I''m going to stop putting up the youth updates until I can actually report some progress. If I get any dynamite talents through the ranks I'll highlight them in my season review but there's only so many times I can write "not much improvement, still trying to give him game time". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 10 hours ago, rlipscombe said: sorry to hear that... good luck wherever you head next. Had been close to giving up on that one anyway so I'm not too sad about the sacking. Been wanting to try a team in Edinburgh and got the Civil Service Strollers to come up in 2020 so that looks like our next try. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Seven (2024/25) The League Every season thus far I've set myself fairly modest league targets and I've smashed them every time, so this season I targeted a mid-table finish, knowing fully that this was an ambitious target. This season has been the first time I've had a point where I felt like failure was a possibility. It took us until matchday 9 to pick up our first win, and then by matchday 22 we still only had a total of 3 wins. Luckily we managed to pick up a brief spell of form before a generally inconsistent final stage of the season. It was enough to see us finish 9th, which could be argued as mid-table, but I'm not entirely convinced it could be described as "safe". League Overview | League Fixtures | Past Positions Other Competitions I set myself lofty goals here as well, declaring that I aimed to make at least one cup final this season. It's been a few seasons since we last didn't appear in a Mid-Ulster Cup Final, and this season was no different - this time losing out to Portadown. We also had ourselves an excellent run in the FA Cup where we made it to a final against Championship side Queens University. There was no complacency to be found as we made a thoroughly professional job of winning the game 3-0 to take home our first major piece of silverware and our first foray into Europe. The IRL club seemed to appreciate it as well Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Barry McFadden (Stats) - Was again ever-present for us -now ina box-to-box role - and doesn't look like his place is under threat at the moment. I've got some good looking players coming in over the summer though so maybe that will change? Rhys Millar (Stats) - Joined us in January and very quickly established himself as a very solid playmaker for this level. He may not have the assist count to show it, but any time the play wasn't going route one it was going through him. Adam Hanley (Stats) - I feel like we were hurt by his inconsistent streak this season. Still our best player of the year, but capable of so much better. I'm currently giving some serious consideration to bringing in some competition for him, as there's a couple of lads on my radar who could definitely do the same job for us. The Squad This squad are still not up to the standard I want them. I'm gradually strengthening but it seems pretty much everyone in my squad is a "good championship player" and 95 of the players who have an interest in signing for me are "leading Championship" players at best. I'm currently least happy with my striker options, and while I still feel we're lacking at the back I've already lined up a centre-back and a 'keeper. I think this might be the first time in this save that my Team Report has had a larger negative side than a positive one. One youngster of note through the academy this season - Connor McFarland. He's naturally a left back, but actually, I think his attributes will lend themselves better to a Ball-Winning midfielder, so retraining it is! Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven ( All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Team Report | Records Finances With the cup success, we've actually made a profit this season! Albeit that's also because the board are still dropping funds into the account on a semi-regular basis. Projections look awful, but I have a feeling that doesn't consider that we'll be in the Europa League next season. I haven't yet decided if I'd like to draw a big(ish) club for the spectacle of it or if I'd like as easy a draw as possible to try and reach the groups. As it's our first time I'll be perfectly happy to go straight out if I'm honest. Finances | Projected Season League Position FA Cup Europe Training Facilities Youth Facilities Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment Achievements/Notes Top Scorer Most Assists Highest Avg Rating Capacity/Average Attendance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Premier Intermediate 10th 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Black (13) Falvey (8) Hanley (7.07) 1000 (108) 2019/20 Premier Intermediate 2nd 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Dunlop (26) Walsh (9) McClurg (7.20) 1000 (134) 2020/21 Premier Intermediate 1st 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted! Klobusek (24) Hanley/Robinson (12) McLaughlin (7.47) 1000 (117) 2021/22 Championship 6th 4th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Farren (20) Robinson (10) Robinson (7.21) 1000 (130) 2022/23 Championship 2nd Qtr Final N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Farren (36) Hanley (25) Hanley (7.50) 1000 (154) 2023/24 Championship 1st 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted Farren (20) Hanley (18) Noble (7.37) 1000 (104) 2023/24 Premiership 9th Winners! N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic FA Cup Winners! Robinson (23) Hanley (15) Millar (7.06) 1000 (187) Goals This Season Safe mid-table (9th)Positive goal difference (-21)At least one cup final (FA Cup Winners, Mid-Ulster Finalists) Next Season At least 7th in the League Don't embarrass ourselves in the Europa League >3 players with a 7.00 rating from at least 15 starts EDIT - Holy crap, they gave me a transfer budget!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Civil Service Strollers FC - 2020 Attempt 2, giving it a try with Civil Service Strollers FC out of Edinburgh Scotland. Visited Edinburgh in November, loved the city so I've wanted to give a try with a team there. Had to push a couple years forward to get one of their clubs u from the Lowland League. Club History My Profile Club Overview We're the favorites to go down, unsurprisingly, although just barely behind Queens Park. Looks like I actually have some decent defenders and I have a pretty impressive 16 year old target man so some useful pieces to start out with. Definitely need some help in the middle though, I'm not very happy with anyone we have there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Ugh. So most of my players had been offered new contracts already when I took over. For whatever reason most of them rejected the offers and other teams are trying to poach them. And they won't listen to my offers because we just had a breakdown in negotiations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 Good luck with the Strollers, @Tecmo. Sounds like it's going to be a very tough start for you... In other news, Dollingstown just played the biggest match in their history, and didn't embarrass themselves: I'd like to personally thank the 4 away fans that made up our section of the 22,031 strong crowd. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 good luck with the new save @Tecmo @Biscotti - not a bad performance at all there against Fiorentina. What was the score? As for me, i am struggling a bit at present with my Sheffield Wednesday save so i might be dipping my toes in the challenge... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 1 minute ago, rlipscombe said: good luck with the new save @Tecmo @Biscotti - not a bad performance at all there against Fiorentina. What was the score? As for me, i am struggling a bit at present with my Sheffield Wednesday save so i might be dipping my toes in the challenge... If I wanted to reveal the score I'd have posted the whole screenshot You'll have to wait for my end of season report which, at the pace I've been playing, will most likely be some time next weekend. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 6 minutes ago, Biscotti said: If I wanted to reveal the score I'd have posted the whole screenshot You'll have to wait for my end of season report which, at the pace I've been playing, will most likely be some time next weekend. worth a try!! Looking forward to it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 21 minutes ago, Biscotti said: Good luck with the Strollers, @Tecmo. Sounds like it's going to be a very tough start for you... In other news, Dollingstown just played the biggest match in their history, and didn't embarrass themselves: I'd like to personally thank the 4 away fans that made up our section of the 22,031 strong crowd. You're doing a heck of a job with Dollingstown. My first ever serious FM save was a now defunct Northern Ireland team called Blackers Mill. Somehow got them to Europa League. Need to give NI another shot sometime, very fun league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Starting the season with the Betfred Cup is harsh. Instead of easy friendlies to build confidence, we faced a Premiership side in St. Johnstone as well as a championship side, league 1 side and the favorite in our league on the road. Results were not pretty to say the least. But at least my players will negotiate again and I didn't lose anyone of real consequence. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted February 8, 2018 Author Share Posted February 8, 2018 On 06/02/2018 at 07:03, Tecmo said: Starting the season with the Betfred Cup is harsh. Instead of easy friendlies to build confidence, we faced a Premiership side in St. Johnstone as well as a championship side, league 1 side and the favorite in our league on the road. Results were not pretty to say the least. But at least my players will negotiate again and I didn't lose anyone of real consequence. That does seem tough, especially for confidence. I am hopefully in a position now whereby i can make a start in the challenge in the next few days. Just need to decide on where to go and an interesting team to be.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Eight (2025/26) The League It started so very well. 11 games in and I felt like we were very thoroughly on for a top-half finish. And then reality caught up and we went on a miserable run. I'm not even entirely sure what caused it, although I have a feeling my tinkering to try and fix things wasn't helping. Luckily we had such a strong opening we were never really at risk of relegation, but I think this is the first season of the save so far where I've not improved over the previous one. League Overview | League Fixtures 1 & 2 | Past Positions Other Competitions I have a feeling this will be a section you guys will be drawn to straight away. A strong win in the Preliminary round at Faroese team NSI set us up for a First Qualifying round match against Armenian team Gandzasar. A superb home win followed by a thoroughly professional job away gave us safe passage into the Second Qualifying round. The biggest crowd Dollingsstown have ever played in front of saw 22,031 fans (4 away) descend upon Artemio Franchi where we played Fiorentina. A very respectable 2-1 loss in Florence gave us every chance of stealing it in the home leg. Bringing the Italian team back to the sold-out Mourneview Park - our own Planters Park being too small to host Europa League games - and again acquitted ourselves extremely well. After 9 minutes, we were up by a goal and the impossible suddenly became possible. On 23 minutes we went down to 10 men after centre-back Stuart Todd hacked down Khouma Babacar at the edge of the area. The resulting free-kick was converted and suddenly we were on the ropes. We still didn't give up, though and it took until the 89th minute for Fiorentina to finally see us off. We can be duly proud of our hard-fought loss to the team that were arguably the biggest to enter the competition at this stage. The rest of our cup competitions wwere nothing special to write home about - winning the Charity Shield but losing the final of the Mid-Ulster Cup. Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Sean Watson (Stats) - The first time in a long while since I had a 'Keeper trouble the clean sheets record. Still not so amazing as a player, but a considerable step up on what I had before. Rhys Millar (Stats) - Second on goals scored only to our first-choice striker, Millar regularly got himself into great positions and contributed fantastically to the team. First name on the team sheet as far as I'm concerned and that means it's the end for the young prospects that I had been using here. Adam Hanley (Stats) - Still arguably our best player. Still doesn't turn up at all on occasion. The only player with assists in double figures, but I'm starting to feel like I'm in the market for a replacement who's more consistent. The Squad I'm gradually overhauling areas of the team to bring the squad as a whole up to a Premiership standard, but it's a slow process when money is tight. I'm not sure there's anywhere that couldn't still be improved upon, but finding players who are interested is still a little bit of a problem. We're still nowhere near reputable enough to start looking abroad to recruit and I feel like this is hampering my ability to get the right players. Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven (All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Team Report 1 & 2 | Records Finances This season the board injected precisely £0 into the club. The flipside of that is that we mad something in the region of £500k from our little European adventure. Most of that whittled away over the course of the season, but we're still sat with just over £200k in the bank. I think it's going to take consistent European football to turn this club into a properly profitable one. I did make the ambitious request to upgrade our youth and training facilities when we had our windfall, but when the time came to finalise the plans at the end of the season there wasn't enough left in the coffers to move forward with the upgrades. Finances | Projected Season League Position FA Cup Europe Training Facilities Youth Facilities Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment Achievements/Notes Top Scorer Most Assists Highest Avg Rating Capacity/Average Attendance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Premier Intermediate 10th 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Black (13) Falvey (8) Hanley (7.07) 1000 (108) 2019/20 Premier Intermediate 2nd 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Dunlop (26) Walsh (9) McClurg (7.20) 1000 (134) 2020/21 Premier Intermediate 1st 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted! Klobusek (24) Hanley/Robinson (12) McLaughlin (7.47) 1000 (117) 2021/22 Championship 6th 4th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Farren (20) Robinson (10) Robinson (7.21) 1000 (130) 2022/23 Championship 2nd Qtr Final N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Farren (36) Hanley (25) Hanley (7.50) 1000 (154) 2023/24 Championship 1st 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted Farren (20) Hanley (18) Noble (7.37) 1000 (104) 2024/25 Premiership 9th Winners! N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic FA Cup Winners! Robinson (23) Hanley (15) Millar (7.06) 1000 (187) 2025/26 Premiership 9th Qtr Final 2nd Qual Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic First run in Europe Roscoe (17) Hanley (11) Millar (7.19) 1000 (379) Goals This Season At least 7th in the League (9th)Don't embarrass ourselves in the Europa League >3 players with a 7.00 rating from at least 15 starts (2) Next Season At least 7th in the League >3 players with a 7.00 rating from at least 15 starts 25 goals in all competitions from a single player Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 To the relegation playoff we go tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 I hope it went well @Tecmo I want there to be someone else making some progress before this thread stagnates properly Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 5 hours ago, Biscotti said: I hope it went well @Tecmo I want there to be someone else making some progress before this thread stagnates properly I finished my season - haven't had time to do an update yet but will do one tonight Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Civil Service Strollers FC - 2020-2021 So did I just pull off the ugliest survival ever? Possibly. So yeah, a pretty awful season. We won our first and last games and not much in between. I pretty much rebuilt the entire squad and took it from oh my god bad to just bad. Luckily, last place still gets to be in a relegation playoff and we ended up facing Cove Rangers. First game really didn't go well, we couldn't keep possession and were down 3-1 until a late goal gave us some hope, going home down only 1 goal. The second game went much better. We were actually able to hold possession and limit their chances. Didn't do much ourselves but a goal off a corner tied up the goal difference into half time. We finally broke through late in the second half, getting a successful penalty and then quickly adding a 3rd goal. Cove scored in injury time but it wasn't enough and we survived 5-4 on aggregate. Keeping up the morale was the biggest challenge. Had a couple of players complain about the atmosphere but we managed results at just the right time to prevent a full out mutiny. I think, still have one of my highly influential players concerned. We came into the season with very low expectations so our board was extremely lenient, always staying at least satisfied. A decent Scottish Cup run helped as we knocked off Hawick RA, Stranraer and Preston Athletic before falling to last place League 1 side Alloa. Our other cups didn't go so well, getting brutalized in our Betfred group and falling in a tight game to Hearts Under 20s in the IRN-BRU. Key Players: MC Stevie Nicholls - Our player of the year, on loan from Clyde, he was an engine for us, pretty easily our best player. Hoping to get him back on loan or transfer for next season. ST Kane McCrory - Our leader in goals and assists with 10 and 8. I used 6 different strikers and he was the best of the bunch but I still need to find someone dependable up top. AMC Jay Moffat - This guy I think has the best future on my team, I'm trying to make him the playermaker at the tip of the diamond in the 4-4-2 that I'm using. Financially we're in good shape, just a bit under the red. Ton of payroll available, mostly because I had difficulty finding players willing to join our squad. But that helped keep the board content. I'm not expecting miracles next season, just want to stay out of last place this time. Our side is getting more cohesive and definitely played better in the final third or so of the year. Defense is the big need, we gave up 85 goals in 36 games. I have one center back I like currently, maybe a competent goalkeeper and decent fullbacks although they'd be better off in backup roles. Hopefully after surviving a season our respect will go up a little and we can get some better players on loan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Lyn Norwegian 1st Division2020 Season Review League - Table - a close battle for a while with Start but we eventually secured promotion as champions Cup - Fixtures - a decent run to the quarter finals until eventually being hammered by Valeranga Key players: Squad | Transfers Hakon Helland Hoseth - a great loan signing from Odd, extended for another season Bardh Shala - top scorer again Christer Kleiven - also had another good season Torsteinn Mjonner - solid at the back Youth Update: Got upgrades to recruitment and coaching - although intake not as good this year and I lost Torp to Rosenborg (albeit with a loan back to the end of the next season) Intake Finances: despite the money for Torp, prize money from the league and the cup, these are still terrible. Probably because of the youth setup being top class.... Season League Position Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2018 Norwegian 2nd Division 1st Champions, Promoted 2019 Norwegian 1st Division 8th 2020 Norwegian 1st Division 1st Champions, Promoted Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 Hmm, the top division in Norway is going to be a struggle. We're the only semi-pro side, have the lowest attendance and the lowest wage bill, which is 1/3 of the side above us. Currently 6 games in, won 1 lost 5. Hopefully I can scrape through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fabreth Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 1 ora fa, Crispypaul ha scritto: Hmm, the top division in Norway is going to be a struggle. We're the only semi-pro side, have the lowest attendance and the lowest wage bill, which is 1/3 of the side above us. Currently 6 games in, won 1 lost 5. Hopefully I can scrape through. Yep, happened to me last FM with Lyn. If you survive this season, in the beginning of the next your board should switch pro. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoalieManPat121 Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 Still chugging along in Finland. Played 4 seasons or so since my last update. Will get them up soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 21, 2018 Share Posted February 21, 2018 As I'm going to be taking a week or so away from this save, I thought it might be fun to have a look at some of the wider footballing world as Dollingstown continue their gradual rise. Dollingstown FC | 2026 Aside World Cup Everyone loves an underdog story and in 2018 it was Uruguay who managed to lift the trophy, beating Spain in the final. More surprisingly, though, were Denmark, who defied all the odds to make it all the way to the Semi-Finals - beating Argentina 5-0 on the way. Tree Next time around it was the turn of the USA to stun the pundits, making a run to the final before narrowly losing out to Portugal. Other notables were both Australia and jamaica making it out of their groups, but neither advanced through the knockout rounds. Tree Onto our most recent season and it was the turn of Serbia to make a run to the final, only for Portugal to again deny the underdog victory, this time on penalties. Japan and Paraguay also both made the second knockout round. Tree Euros At Euro 2020 it was mostly business as usual but Croatia caught some people out taking the win with a fairly easy run to the final. Most surprising of all, perhaps, was defending World Champions Denmark didn't even make it out of their group. Tree In 2024 we were treated to perhaps an even bigger shock as England went on to win their first tournament since 1966. Nothing too much else to shout about on this one, except maybe Russia and Switzerland making the second knockout round. Tree --------- A couple of other things to have a nosey at - Champions League winners | Europa League Winners |Ballon d'Or Winners | FIFA overall World XI | Leading transfers If there's anything else from around the world feel free to ask. I make no promises, but I'll try Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted February 24, 2018 Share Posted February 24, 2018 Feeling very optimistic about our upcoming season in Scotland. We stole a pair of young strikers from Edinburgh rivals Spartan FC, found another center back and a playmaker to control the middle of the pitch. We pulled down a very respectable result in our Betfred Cup group with shootout wins over Ayr and Stirling from the Championship and League 1 respectively, lost a narrow game to Dunfermline from the Championship and got blown out by Premier side Hamilton playing mostly backups. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted February 24, 2018 Author Share Posted February 24, 2018 6 hours ago, Tecmo said: Feeling very optimistic about our upcoming season in Scotland. We stole a pair of young strikers from Edinburgh rivals Spartan FC, found another center back and a playmaker to control the middle of the pitch. We pulled down a very respectable result in our Betfred Cup group with shootout wins over Ayr and Stirling from the Championship and League 1 respectively, lost a narrow game to Dunfermline from the Championship and got blown out by Premier side Hamilton playing mostly backups. sounds encouraging... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 I may or may not have said I was going to take some time off and then played a season anyway... It was a positive one though, so I'll see about putting an update up in the next couple of days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Lyn Norwegian Premier Division2021 Season Review League - Table - wow this was tricky. As I said earlier we were the only semi-pro side in the division, and it showed, with regular beatings. However we scraped enough points to finish 14th and qualify for the relegation play off, where we beat Jerv. Cup - Fixtures - Another run to the quarter finals Key players: Transfers Tobias Olsvik - didn't start that many games but scored a lot and was a good tutor Petter Mathias Olsen - young attacking midfielder who will hopefully get better Petter Steenberg YP19b - one of our two youth products who featured the most, he had a breakthrough season Kim Torp YP19a - has turned into a great player, shame he won't be with us next season Youth Update: Not quite as good before but still pretty solid. Intake Finances - a good cup run, bigger attendances, prize money in the league mean this is healthier but may drop off I suspect Season League Position Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2018 Norwegian 2nd Division 1st Champions, Promoted 2019 Norwegian 1st Division 8th 2020 Norwegian 1st Division 1st Champions, Promoted 2021 Norwegian Premier Division 14th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted February 28, 2018 Share Posted February 28, 2018 Oh - and we didn't turn professional and the board said no when I requested so another tough season ahead.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted March 1, 2018 Author Share Posted March 1, 2018 congratulations on survival @Crispypaul. Shame about not going professional too. That might impact on your chances of winning the title to keep up your pattern of a title every other year...!! Looking forward to how you get on next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 45 minutes ago, rlipscombe said: congratulations on survival @Crispypaul. Shame about not going professional too. That might impact on your chances of winning the title to keep up your pattern of a title every other year...!! Looking forward to how you get on next season. Cheers - although I am expecting another long season, both promoted teams are also professional.... If I can move up a couple of places and try and get further in the cup should hopefully have enough prize money to trigger professional status. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Nine (2026/27) The League Results this year were very inconsistent. Our league position, on the other hand, was very consistent - never higher than 6th or lower than 9th. In the end, I don't feel too hard done by the 7th place finish because when the split happened we were a fair distance from Coleraine. Somehow at the end of 9 seasons in Northern Ireland, I was still surprised by the fact that in 7th place I qualified for the Europa League place playoff. First up was Linfield and it went to extra time at 1-1 before a 116th minute Roscoe strike saw us through. A final against Dungannon was probably the most tense game I've had in this save yet, and it again went to extra time at 2-2. Once again we were able to keep playing through the extra 30 and scored on the 112th to take us into our second European adventure! League Overview | League Fixtures 1 & 2 | Past Positions Other Competitions Nothing too exciting to report here. We won the Mid-Ulster Cup again, but honestly, that no longer feels like an achievement. The sixth round of the FA cup and Quarter Finals of the League cup were also fairly unremarkable, but seeing as we had such success in the league I'm ok with that. Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Aaron Owens - After picking out Watson as one of my key players last season, I then went and replaced him. I think Owens might be the real deal though. Starting 'Keeper for Northern Ireland U21s and by far the highest rated ability on my team by my staff and definitely still improving. I desperately need to start upgrading our available facilities. Niall Owens - Niall transitioned from a more holding midfield role into a more forward-thinking Mezzala and absolutely bossed it - often being the man making the bursting run for the through ball. Rhys Millar - Once again my first choice playmaker. His stats don't really reflect how pivotal he is, as he's less about assists and more about playing the wingers/wingbacks in. His passing percentage is a little low too, which I'm slightly at a loss to explain, but he's certainly in no danger of being dropped. He also made up for my strikers being a bit lacking, which is something I need to fix. The Squad I think I've reached a point where I no longer fear relegation. I still suspect it'll be slow going breaking the top of the table, but at least forward progress is still happening. I'm also sad to report that Johnny Grant (YP1a) has been the first of our youth to retire after he was unable to find himself a new club. Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven (All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Records Finances I'm now seeing just how vital it is that we continue to get European football. In just 2 seasons we've managed to leak away all that £500k we made from our first Europa League run, and that's without us having been able to upgrade any of our facilities. At the current rate, I think I'll need to make Europe at least every other season to start making money. Finances | Projected Season League Position FA Cup Europe Training Facilities Youth Facilities Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment Achievements/Notes Top Scorer Most Assists Highest Avg Rating Capacity/Average Attendance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Premier Intermediate 10th 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Black (13) Falvey (8) Hanley (7.07) 1000 (108) 2019/20 Premier Intermediate 2nd 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Dunlop (26) Walsh (9) McClurg (7.20) 1000 (134) 2020/21 Premier Intermediate 1st 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted! Klobusek (24) Hanley/Robinson (12) McLaughlin (7.47) 1000 (117) 2021/22 Championship 6th 4th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Farren (20) Robinson (10) Robinson (7.21) 1000 (130) 2022/23 Championship 2nd Qtr Final N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Farren (36) Hanley (25) Hanley (7.50) 1000 (154) 2023/24 Championship 1st 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted Farren (20) Hanley (18) Noble (7.37) 1000 (104) 2024/25 Premiership 9th Winners! N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic FA Cup Winners! Robinson (23) Hanley (15) Millar (7.06) 1000 (187) 2025/26 Premiership 9th Qtr Final 2nd Qual Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic First run in Europe Roscoe (17) Hanley (11) Millar (7.19) 1000 (379) 2025/26 Premiership 7th 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic EL Qualification Millar (15) Hanley (14) N. Owens (7.08) 1000 (202) Goals This Season At least 7th in the League (7th) >3 players with a 7.00 rating from at least 15 starts (6)25 goals in all competitions from a single player (15) Next Season Top half finish Some kind of facilities upgrade 25 goals in all comps from a single player I know I missed a couple of my usual screenshots. By the time I realised I was too far past the end--season for it to be worth including. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscotti Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Hugo De Luca - Dollingstown FC - Northern Ireland - End of Season Nine (2026/27) The League Another very uninspiring year which at one point forced me back to the 4-4-2 just to put an end to a game losing streak. We may have finished 6th, but I definitely wasn't happy with the nature of it. We didn't even make our way through the European playoff to clinch the Europa League spot. League Overview | League Fixtures 1 & 2 | Past Positions Europe FH were easily dispatched in the first qualifying round, followed by our biggest scalp to date - taking out Dinamo Minsk in the second qualifying. Unfortunately, we were to go no further, as we were drawn against Schalke in the 3rd qualifying round and they were much too strong for us. Other Competitions With the league being a little underwhelming and only a short run out in Europe I'd have hoped for a good cup run, but alas we only made the quarters of the League Cup and the semis of the FA Cup. Competitions Overview | Fixtures Key Players Aaron Owens - I genuinely believe that without Owens we'd be barely on the edge of relegation, such is his importance to us. I have no evidence to suggest it, but I strongly believe that he gained us more points than any other player in the squad. Adam Hanley - I have actually been giving some consideration to replacing him recently, but this season Hanley really stepped up and performed like I need him to. Dean Andreson - It's been a couple of seasons since I last had a somewhat regular goalscorer. As a one-in-two man Anderson isn't exactly tearing the league up, but it's nice to have a focal point to the attack again. The Squad I'm still basically only able to afford a squad of 23 players who are good enough for this level, but I'm at least starting to see interest from more potential targets. Might be looking into a large overhaul sometime soon. Squad Overview | Club Awards | Best Eleven (All Time) | Dynamics | Hierarchy | Social Groups | Records Finances That European run again topped us up nicely, but with no continental football again next season it's all going to trickle away again. I have at least managed to make some upgrades to youth recruitment and junior coaching, and my coaching badges are coming along nicely along with my managerial attributes. Finances | Projected Season League Position FA Cup Europe Training Facilities Youth Facilities Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment Achievements/Notes Top Scorer Most Assists Highest Avg Rating Capacity/Average Attendance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Premier Intermediate 10th 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Black (13) Falvey (8) Hanley (7.07) 1000 (108) 2019/20 Premier Intermediate 2nd 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Dunlop (26) Walsh (9) McClurg (7.20) 1000 (134) 2020/21 Premier Intermediate 1st 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted! Klobusek (24) Hanley/Robinson (12) McLaughlin (7.47) 1000 (117) 2021/22 Championship 6th 4th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Survival Farren (20) Robinson (10) Robinson (7.21) 1000 (130) 2022/23 Championship 2nd Qtr Final N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Playoff losers Farren (36) Hanley (25) Hanley (7.50) 1000 (154) 2023/24 Championship 1st 5th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic Promoted Farren (20) Hanley (18) Noble (7.37) 1000 (104) 2024/25 Premiership 9th Winners! N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic FA Cup Winners! Robinson (23) Hanley (15) Millar (7.06) 1000 (187) 2025/26 Premiership 9th Qtr Final 2nd Qual Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic First run in Europe Roscoe (17) Hanley (11) Millar (7.19) 1000 (379) 2025/26 Premiership 7th 6th Round N/A Basic Basic Fairly Basic Basic EL Qualification Millar (15) Hanley (14) N. Owens (7.08) 1000 (202) 2025/26 Premiership 6th Semi Final 3rd Qual Basic Basic Average Average N/A Anderson (25) Hanley/Woods (14) Hanley (7.14) 1000 (567) Goals This Season Top half finish (6th)Some kind of facilities upgrade (Recruitment and Coaching)25 goals in all comps from a single player (Anderson - 25) Next Season Qualify for Europe >55 league points >80% passing accuracy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Just over halfway through our second Scottish season, we're not last! But going through a tough patch that has put us within 2 points of it. Hoping to finish off the season this week, for better or worse. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispypaul Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Hope everyone's games are going well. Just finished my 2nd season in the Norwegian Premier Division, update hopefully tonight Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tecmo Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Civil Service Strollers 2021-2022 Well, we were better this season, but not good enough to stay out of last place unfortunately. We managed to avoid the bottom until the 30th game of the season. But we went winless in our last 16 league games and were eventually caught by Cowdenbeath. But the relegation playoff went our way as we won the first leg at Brora 2-1, then fought back from two early penalties that Brora to send the second leg into extra time where we got the winner off a corner with 2 minutes left to avoid penalty kicks. League Table We were actually able to score some goals this season, thanks in large part to Jordan Macrae, who we signed away from Spartans, another Edinburgh team. 25 goals in all competitions along with 6 assists. If we could do better with our distribution he could be really deadly. He'll be our captain next season. Macrae's striker partner who came with him from Spartan, Ewan Macpherson, was less impressive, only managing 6 goals. Unfortunately they both have fairly similar skillsets, neither really works as the deeper striker in a pair so Ewan will have to move into a backup role next season. We did pretty well in the cup competitions this season considering how poor we were in the league. Didn't finish last in our group in the Betfred Cup this time, won 2 games in the IRN-BRU Cup before losing to Inverness CT and then won got through one round in the Scottish Cup before losing to Dundee. No problems on the financial side, I've been keeping the payroll well below budget. We're losing a little money year to year but nothing significant. Hopefully we can see some real improvement next season. A lot of dead weight will be gone including all of the players that I started with and the first season signings that were failures. Running a 5-3-2 now so I really need to find someone on the right wing who can deliver some crosses. And defense, more defense. I have one center back that I'm comfortable with and I need to find a goalkeeper who can deal with opposing crosses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlipscombe Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 Congrats @Tecmo (if that is the right word) on surviving for another season. Hopefully once the deadwood have finally gone you can make some progress. Good luck next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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