dafuge's FM19 challenge

[DazRTaylor]

My transfer policy of signing as many released Premier League teenagers who have potential as possible has hit the jackpot.

[Rashidi]

21 minutes ago, Ross Ingersoll said:

Rules question, am I allowed to add or remove leagues as the challenge goes. meaning if I get promoted a few times am I allowed to add some other leagues to the save via the add/remove leagues option?

I think you can, I can see why people would need to do that. 

[MadCatPT]

Season 2022/23 - Vanarama North

Another season, another relegation fight. Once more save, but this time hope is on the way! Finally, after saving a huge amount of money my first youth facilities upgrade is on the way!!! Hopefully next season I can show the fruits of the upgrade in much better youth I will use to wreck havoc on the league and eventually gain promotion by 2030 or sooner... I hope.

Youth:

 

Season	League	Position	Win	Draw	Loss	GF	GA	GD	Points	FA Cup	FA Trophy
2019/20	Vanarama South	16th	13	13	16	45	57	-12	52	2nd Round	3rd Q. Round
2020/21	Vanarama South	18th	9	15	18	45	69	-24	42	2nd Round	3rd Q. Round
2021/22	Vanarama North	16th	13	7	22	54	79	-25	46	1st Round	3rd Q. Round
2022/23	Vanarama North	16th	10	12	20	48	66	-18	42	3rd Round	1st Round

Season	Corporate	Training	Data Analysis	Youth Facilities	Youth Level	Junior Coaching	Youth Recruitment
2019/20	Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Fairly Basic	Basic
2020/21	Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Fairly Basic	Basic
2021/22	Basic	Basic	None	Basic	4	Average	Basic
2022/23	Basic	Basic	None	Basic*	4	Average	Basic

* Under construction

Edited November 5, 2018 by MadCatPT

[tremor]

Ok, right... properly given up on getting a 'casuals' team now so am definitely (maybe) sticking with Folkstone Invicta.

Just completed pre-season... think i've picked up a couple of bargains, lets see if i can keep this boat afloat

[MadCatPT]

@tremor Good luck!

[tremor]

Going well so far

[Parkera]

On 04/11/2018 at 23:02, Tecmo said:

First crack at this will be with Bamber Bridge

How many times did it take to get them?  I must be at 50 or more by now! 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Parkera

[Ross Ingersoll]

On ‎20‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 05:42, Impale said:

Couldn't handle reloading anymore. Spent hours and hours trying to get Redditch, as they're my second team, but in the end settled for Halesowen Town.

 

Pros

• Blue - my favourite colour
• Local to West Brom: my team
• Never managed them before

Cons

• Not Redditch

you still want Redditch or have you moved on, I came across them in a save. I also have a bamber bridge if anyone wants it

Edited November 6, 2018 by Ross Ingersoll

[wicksyFM]

Has anybody seen good increases in their manager stats. Especially working with youngsters and level of discipline. Past versions of the game this never increased

[janneff]

Kettering Town - Season 27/28

"Scarce few pundits will have been brave enough to pluck Kettering from mid-table obscurity in pre-season and mark them out for bigger and better things but The Poppies did exactly that, surprising everyone as they marched to a quite remarkable promotion."

League Table - We finished 3rd behind Leeds and Brentford. That meant that we would have to go through playoffs again in order to win promotion. Last time we were in this situation it took four tries but luckily this time we did better. We entered the playoffs in good from so I felt confident. We met Bournemouth first. We had just beaten them easily away so I considered us strong favourites. I was right and we won first leg 1-5. We scored another five few days later and advanced eventually to the play-offs final after a 10-5 aggragate win. We faced Bristol City that we had good record against. Bookies had us slight favourites too. This is how both teams lined up. It was very even match that would eventually go all the way to the penalties where David Rothery would be our hero. He saved three out of four penalties and secured us promotion to the Premier League. We had minor success in domestic cups too.  We made it to the Carabao Cup semifinal where we lost to Spurs. We beat Premier League Wolves away in FA Cup 3rd round  but lost next round home vs Chelsea.

Transfers - Summer transfer window wasn't too exciting. However things started happening in January window. We received this £14,000,000 offer from Stoke that was too good to refuse. I quickly brought Adam Lewis in to replace Graham Meek. In addition I acquired two transfer listed players CM Steve Cattermole and CB Frank Grant. I was very happy to bring Steve back home. He was part of the squad I inherited when we were still in National League North.

I forgot to take finances screenshot but current state doesn't matter that much because we are about to get very rich soon.

Key Players

Nuno Oliveira arrived in free transfer from Porto. He was instrumental . He scored 19 league goals and had 17 assists. He won Sky Bet Championship Player of the Year award.

Stephen Hart was on loan from Manchester United. He won Championship Golden Boot award and EFL Young Player of the Year award. We have agreed to extend his loan.

Jake Taylor arrived in free transfer from Premier League Cardiff. He scored respectable 9 goals and had 10 assists from midfield. He should be part of our starting XI next season despite his teamwork and work rate being rather low.

Next Season

Our goal is try to avoid relegation. We might get relegated but it wouldn't be end of the world. Board gave me decent budgets. I'll try to get at least 6-8 new players. Some of them will be loans as usual. Furthermore board finally agreed to expand the stadium. I didn't have the heart to tell them that this expansion doesn't actually meet Premier League stadium requirements. Minimum accepted stadium capacity is 12500. Good effort board, keep on trucking.

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by janneff

[DazRTaylor]

Premier League.  

[Thebaker]

2 hours ago, wicksyFM said:

Has anybody seen good increases in their manager stats. Especially working with youngsters and level of discipline. Past versions of the game this never increased

after 3 seasons i have continental c license and the attributes have increased to about 8-12 except for fitness and GK which are 5. Youngsters, level of discipline and adaptability are all still 1

[wicksyFM]

1 minute ago, Thebaker said:

after 3 seasons i have continental c license and the attributes have increased to about 8-12 except for fitness and GK which are 5. Youngsters, level of discipline and adaptability are all still 1

Still not fixed then. Its been years 

[Tecmo]

11 hours ago, Parkera said:

How many times did it take to get them?  I must be at 50 or more by now! 

Think it was my 4th try, sorry

[Brys1]

I've decided to give the challenge a go this year, normally I do a North/South game every season and this seems like a logical extention of that.

Only problem is I wanted Met Police or one of the two wonderfully named 'Casuals' as my team. Sadly this is proving almost impossible, I'm at 400 odd tries at this stage

So I need to decide between one of the teams I have been able to get so far, the choices are.

• Weymouth
• Basford
• Lewes
• Enfield
• Rushall
• Poole
• Leatherhead
• Nantwich
• Folkestone
• Tonbridge
• Whitby
• Lancaster
• Marine
• Frome

Need to some research it seems to find the one for me

[Thebaker]

1 hour ago, wicksyFM said:

Still not fixed then. Its been years 

Last year (FM18) I had level of discipline reach ten on a save. Adaptability only seems to increase if you move countries a lot. Working with youngsters i have never seen increase, even though i just had a  news item about the fact i prefer signing young players with a average age of 22.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Thebaker

[DazRTaylor]

Mid Season Review

Season 2021/22

Kettering Town

Sky Bet League Two

A good first half of the season, though we have had some annoying losses.

F.A. Cup

We are through to the third round and have been drawn away to top flight West Ham.

Carabao Cup

It looks like we have had an excellent cup run, which we have, but it is somewhat tempered by the fact the higher league opposition have always played their reserves against us.  Expected, but disappointing.  It has cheapened our achievement somewhat.

Checkatrade Trophy

I am going all out to win this trophy as I haven't won a cup yet, so I am fielding strong sides in the competition.  As a result, we are comfortably through to the third round and won our group easily.

Squad Dynamics - Overall, it is very good, though the Match Cohesion could be better.

Transfers In - Mostly free transfers and loans make up the new arrivals.

Transfers Out - A few departures, plus quite a lot have gone out on loan.  No big sales though.

Finances - I have already burned through the money from the Sam Robinson transfer clause, so more player sales are going to be required.

[DazRTaylor]

3 hours ago, Brys1 said:

I've decided to give the challenge a go this year, normally I do a North/South game every season and this seems like a logical extention of that.

Only problem is I wanted Met Police or one of the two wonderfully named 'Casuals' as my team. Sadly this is proving almost impossible, I'm at 400 odd tries at this stage

So I need to decide between one of the teams I have been able to get so far, the choices are.

• Weymouth
• Basford
• Lewes
• Enfield
• Rushall
• Poole
• Leatherhead
• Nantwich
• Folkestone
• Tonbridge
• Whitby
• Lancaster
• Marine
• Frome

Need to some research it seems to find the one for me

Please not Weymouth.

[Brys1]

Well after deciding on Rushall, I then realised my 400+ tries were pointless as I'd not added the North/South leagues to my game

After a short cry I started again and decided I'll choose from what ever teams I get from one hour of trying. With only a few minutes remaining of my hour I was pretty much set on going Lancaster or Folkestone, then this happened...

It seems like it was destiny for me to forget the North/South first time around... still shame about the two 'Casuals'

[JJFM]

Like the look of the challenge. I think I'll give a go on here if that's ok

[Ross Ingersoll]

2 hours ago, Brys1 said:

Well after deciding on Rushall, I then realised my 400+ tries were pointless as I'd not added the North/South leagues to my game

After a short cry I started again and decided I'll choose from what ever teams I get from one hour of trying. With only a few minutes remaining of my hour I was pretty much set on going Lancaster or Folkestone, then this happened...

It seems like it was destiny for me to forget the North/South first time around... still shame about the two 'Casuals'

damn you, lol

[titan1019]

another season done and PROMOTION PARTY IN MERTHYR!!!!!!

 

[GromozekA]

I'm in for the challenge.

I would prefer to pick Leamington side instead all those tricky manipulations. It's nor stronger, nor developed, nor famous club in comparison with listed. It even relegated in my save. But rules is rules, so i picked Warrington. It's lowest reputation team managed to rise up in league.

It's funny that my wage here is 4 time higher, than what i had at Leamington in my previous save. Top player's wage here is 99k/y, just wow! Usually, such wages i only pay on a Sky Bet 1 level.

Edited November 6, 2018 by GromozekA

[OriginalCMmanager]

I am looking forward to finally starting this challenge. Profile --Here--

I did not want to keep reloading so had a pick of the following:-

Hednesford , Halesowen, Kings Lynn, Bishops Stortford, Kettering and Kingstonian

I chose Kingstonian for the challenge - lowest capacity, worst facilities and no affiliate.

 

[G_D_K]

South Shields Mariners F.C.

SEASON 2 (2020/21)

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

Summary

We got off to a slow start for the first few matches of the season, and I had a bit of concern that I'd not strengthened the squad enough to meet my ambitions.  Board expectations (and the players) were top-half finish, but after last year's successful run my own personal goals were playoff spots at a minimum, with a preference of top-3 finish (to allow for the home match and playoff bye if it came to that).  My fears proved to be unfounded, as after match day eight we hit the playoff spots and never fell out of them.  The squad was anchored by last year's top goal scorer for the team, Darren Brannigan, who exceeded last year's tally of 25 by one, giving him 51 goals for the team in 2 seasons.  Arguably our best player, 34yo MC Phil Turnbull was solid as well, scoring an impressive 12 assists and 7 goals, with an AvR of 7.26.  The league thought well of Turnbull as well, as they named him the league Player of the Year!  Aiding the effort of these two, ST Niall Huggins (signed mid-year in season 1) scored 19 goals, while St Jake Kelly (signed this year as a Sheff Utd castoff) scored 18 goals.  The team combined for 98 goals (1st in the league), while our defense was also solid, conceding only 57 goals (6th in the league).  Not to be left out of the action, our midfielders were also top-notch, assisting the team to the league's 2nd best 56% possession and 2nd best 73% pass completion rating --- just the style I aim for with my teams!

The race to the playoffs was close thru to a point about 8 matches from the end of the season.  League winners Brackley seemed a lock to win the league, as, after an 11-match win streak they were on pace for well over 100 points.  Then, they started dropping points....and both we and York looked possible to overtake them...but with four to play, Brackley picked up a couple wins, leaving them 5 points atop the table w/ 2 to play.  We finished strong (with 11 wins to close out the season), but Brackely picked up the important win in the penultimate match to secure the title.  The last match of the season saw us level on both points and goal differential with York, meaning that with both of us either winning or losing, whoever gained an extra point of goal differential would end up 2nd.  We had the tie-breaker, so we just had to do better overall than York to finish 2nd....and when the dust settled, our 2-1 win (coupled with York's loss) gave us the pole-position, a 1st round bye, and home advantage through the playoffs.

 

Promotion/Playoffs

The playoffs proved to be mostly anti-climatic.  Our first round by gave us a bit of a rest, and the semi-final brought us a match against Chester.  Previously we'd had 2 1-1 draws against them this season, a 3-3 draw and a 4-1 loss against them in our first season.  I was prepared for a very tough match....but this was anything but.  Chester didn't help their own cause at all, as they had accumulated an astonishing 5 bookings...inside the first 30 minutes of the match!  The 2-0 final scoreline flattered them quite a bit, as overall we absolutely dominated them (as a side-note, the refs flagrantly disallowed a fluke goal by Darren Brannigan, whistling him for an offside infraction where FOUR defenders had him onside on the pass out wide --- THREE of them having him onside by AT LEAST three yards!  His cross towards Huggins actually went into the net (and yes, Huggins was onside by at least a couple yards when the cross was sent in).  The ref rating of 6.6 might have been a bit lenient---in the opinion of both managers!   Regardless, 2-0 was enough and we were through to the finals.

The finals pitted us against 3rd place York, another team we'd struggled against in our first two seasons (obtaining 2 draws and 3 losses in league and FAT matches).  They got through their playoff after an extra-time affair, but had a full week to recover, so I was once again prepared for a tough match.  An early York goal (14th minute) against the run of play had me gritting my teeth, as we were thoroughly dominating them, and it wasn't until a 74th minute penalty award that my multi-purpose defender Hickey got an equalizer that I could relax slightly, as we were once again dominating play and looked the more dangerous.  It only took 5 more minutes for my 4th choice striker Tom Clare to get the go-ahead goal, his first for the team (in only 4(3) appearances).  We were able to hold onto the lead, with another complete domination of a team that had given us fits.  Not the title winners, but we're through to the Vanarama National regardless!

Cup Competitions

The cup competitions saw us exceeding board expectations in both cases.  In the FA Trophy competition, We managed a fairly easy 2-0 win over Coleshill in the FAT3QR, before facing a repeat of last year's playoff, away to Nuneaton Boro.  This proved to be a slightly less scoring affair, but we did prevail w/ a 2-1 win, both goals coming from the midfield and putting us through to the 2nd round.  Here we faced a strong York team, a team which we have failed at previously, and our home advantage was not enough to see us through to victory, and we succumbed to a 3-2 defeat.  We would later get our revenge, as we met them at home again in the playoffs...and, well, you know the rest :).

The FA Cup also saw us more than meeting expectations, as wins against Rushden & Diamonds, Hitchin, Nuneaton Boro (again!) got us through the qualification rounds.  The first round was likely going to be our last, as we were pitted against VNL Tranmere --- but they proved that taking a lot of long shots (7 of 13) wasn't going to challenge us all that much, and we managed to escape with a 1-0 win, with newcomer Jake Kelly netting the only goal of the match (and his 4th of the competition).  Against all odds, we were through to the second round.

The second round pitted us against L1 Southend United, and once again, we didn't harbor a lot of expectations about advancing, and we met those expectations :P

Like our previous match, this one was decided by only a single goal, despite being bombarded by Southend (20 shots to our 4).  One managed to sneak through just before the half hour mark, and, of course, we managed very little in the way of chances ourselves, though Jake Kelly had a great chance at the end of the first half, breaking into the box but unable to get the shot off before getting charged down from behind.  Oh well.... time to concentrate on the league instead!

Additional Details

Team of the Season

Best XI Inductees  Led by new striker Jake Kelly, 6 players were inducted into the historical top XI.  In addition to Kelly, DR Tattum, MCs Mark Helm, Peters, DM/DR Roberts and DC Thornton were added. 

Historical Best XI

Fans Player of the Season  Phil Turnbull once again won Fans Player of the Season w/ 57% of the vote, and this year I approve (he also won league Player of the Year!).  Newcomer Jake Kelly (17%) came in a distant 2nd, with MC Daniel Wright getting his 2nd appearance on the list, this year in 3rd w/ 15% of the vote.

Signing of the season went to Jake Kelly who scored 18 goals/8 assists and 5 PoM (7.21 AvR) in 35(5) appearances in his debut year with the team.

Young Player of the Season: Daniel Wright for the 2nd year running.

Goal of the Season: Jordan Hickey, whose goal in the semi-final against Chester put us through to the playoff final!

TOP ACADEMY GRADUATE

1. Season 1 Academy Class:  Top Graduate Samuel Godwin looks to be a potentially useful starting DC if he can get pace and tackling up early.  3.5-4.5* potential
2. Season 2 Academy Class:  A bit lackluster overall, with George Thorne being touted as the best of the lot.  2-3* potential...if he actually is able to meet the potential he might be useful later on.

TEAM, INDIVIDUAL, AND LEAGUE RECORDS

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

Spoiler

South Shields FC -- Team

Highest League Position -- 2nd in Vanarama North (2020/21)  // Previous record 6th in Vanarama North (2019/20)

Most points in a season -- 83 (2020/21)  // Previous record 64 (2019/20)

Most League Wins in a Season -- 26 (2020/21) // Previous Record 19 (2019/20)

Most League Goals in a season -- 98 (Vanarama North 2020/21)  // Previous Record 71 (2019/20)

Highest Attendance -- 3500 (vs Chester, VNLN Playoff Semi Final,  8 May 2021) // Previous Record 2381 (vs York, VNLN, 7 Dec 2019)

Highest Gate Receipts -- £35.13 (Vs Hitchin, FAC3QR, 3 Oct 2020) // Previous Record £31.41K (vs Sutton Coldfield, FAC3QR, 5 Oct 2019)

Average Attendance -- 1914 (2020/21)  //  Previous Record 1792 (2019/20)

Biggest Win -- 7-1 (vs Darlington, Vanarama North, 24 Oct 2020)  //  Previous Record 6-1 (vs AFC Dunstable, FAT1R, 26 Dec 19)

Highest Scoring Match -- 5-3 (vs Chorley, VNLN, 28 Sept 2019) 

Most Matches won in a row -- 11* (13 Mar - 15 May 2021)) // Previous record 6 (27 Aug - 21 Sept 2019)

Most matches w/o Losing -- 11 (12 Sept 2020-24 Oct 2020) // Previous Record 10 (27 Aug - 9 Oct 2019)

Most matches lost in a row -- 3 (12 Oct - 22 Oct 2019)

Most Matches w/o Winning -- 6 (28 March - 25 April 2020)

Most Matches w/o Scoring -- 3 (9 Oct - 19 Oct 2019)

Most matches w/o conceding -- 5 (19 Sept - 3 Oct 2020) //Previous Record 3 (7 Sept - 14 Sept 2019)

South Shields FC -- Individual

Most League Goals for club -- Carl Finnigan (69)

Most League Appearances -- Rob Briggs (164)

Total Goals in season -- Darren Brannigan -- 26 (2020/21) // Previous Record 25 (Darren Brannigan, 2019/20)

Total League Goals in season -- Darren Brannigan -- 22 (2020/21) // Previous Record 21 (Darren Brannigan, 2019/20)

Highest Average Rating -- Daniel Wright -- 7.30 (2020/21) // Previous Record Daniel Wright (7.06, 2019/20)

Most goals in a match -- Carl Finnigan -- 3 (vs Chorley, VNLN, 28 Sept 2019)

Most goals in a League match -- Carl Finnigan -- 3 (Vs Chorley, VNLN, 28 Sept 2019)

Most assists in a season -- Phil Turnbull -- 12 (2020/21) // Previous Record 11 (Darren Brannigan, 2019/20)

Most Clean Sheets in a season -- Brendan Pearson -- 12 (2019/20)

Most Player of Match awards in season -- Darren Brannigan -- 6 (2019/20)

Oldest Player -- Phil Turnbull -- 34y128d* // Previous record Carl Finnigan (33y217d)

Youngest Player -- Bob Devitt -- 16y215d

Oldest Goalscorer -- Phil Turnbull -- 34y100d

Youngest Goalscorer -- Thomas Cole -- 18y114d

Fastest Goal -- Darren Brannigan -- 1m18s (vs Nuneaton Boro, VNLN -- 14 Mar 2020)

The Rest of England

Spoiler

PROMOTED FROM THE REGIONAL PREMIER DIVISIONS

Merthyr T, Stalybridge, Farnborough, AFC Hornchurch, Salisbury, Gainsborough

LEAGUE WINNERS (PROMOTED/RELEGATED)

EPL:  Man United (Blackburn, West Ham Utd, Crystal Palace)

Championship: Newcastle (Newcastle, Southampton, Reading // Preston, Luton, Rotherham)

L1: Portsmouth (Portsmouth, Sheff Wed, Bolton // Lincoln, Accrington, Gillingham, Coventry)

L2: Mansfield (Mansfield, Plymouth, Doncaster, Chesterfield // Aldershot, Gateshead) 

VNL: Billericay (Billericay, Yeovil // Tranmere, Guiseley, Concord, Blyth)

VNN: Brackley (Brackley, South Shields // Stalybridge, Alfreton, Halesowen)

VNS: Maidenhead (Maidenhead, Maidstone // Farnborough, East Thurrock, Hungerford)

CUP WINNERS

English FA Cup: Man City (vs Chelsea)

Carabao Cup: Man City (Vs Tottenham)

Checkatrade Trophy: Man Utd U23s (vs Gillingham)

English FA Trophy: Hartlepool (vs Wrexham)

EURO QUALIFACTIONS

Champions Cup Group Stage: Liverpool, Man Utd, Tottenham, Arsenal, Man City

Euro Cup Group Stage: Chelsea, Everton

Euro Cup 2QR: 

CONTINENTAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Arsenal -- Won European Super Cup (vs Olympic Marseilles)

Arsenal -- Won Club World Championship (vs Boca)

Tottenham -- Eliminated from European Champions League First Knockout Round (by AC Milan) 

Arsenal -- Eliminated from European Champions League Quarter Final (by Liverpool)

Everton -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Quarter Final (by Sevilla)

Man Utd -- Eliminated from European Champions League Semi Final (by Liverpool)

Man City -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Semi FInal (by Lazio)

Chelsea -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Semi Final (by Sevilla)

Liverpool -- Won European Champions League (against Paris-St. Germain)

Extra Details

We have a stadium expansion started in order to meat compliance standards for the Vanarama National League.  We'll be temporarily down 300 seats (300 capacity overall---3200 from 3500) until about December.  Expansion is adding 500 seats and 500 standing space, for a total of 4500 space).  Payments of £3K/mo isn't too exorbitant -- hopefully we'll be able to cover the extra cost and still make a profit.

A couple of special people were recognized this year as well:  First, Phil Turnbull won the league Player of the Year.  Very fitting for the player that I considered to be my best, and who worked tirelessly.  

Secondly, yours truly also got recognized, though I prefer to let the team take all the credit!

Career Overview

Spoiler

         SEASON        TEAM               Division               League Position        FAT        FAC        JPT        LC        UEFA        CL

• 2019/20      South Shields FC      Vanarama North                           6 (22)                         1st Rd        4QR              -                 -                 -                  -                
• 2020/21      South Shields FC      Vanarama North                           2(18)                          2nd Rd      2nd Rd

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by G_D_K

[Ross Ingersoll]

Swindon Supermarine. My Profile

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Ross Ingersoll

[G_D_K]

Good luck with the SuperMarines @Ross Ingersoll

[Ross Ingersoll]

Just now, G_D_K said:

Good luck with the SuperMarines @Ross Ingersoll

Thanks, I am going to need it lol

[Ross Ingersoll]

btw, last clubs I will ask about but if anyone wants either Bamber Bridge or Coalville, I have a save for both , only England loaded. 

[Superowl90]

 

21/22 SEASON REVIEW

PRE SEASON;

Again a mixed bag  for pre season, didnt win a game but signed a few decent players, Okera Simmonds on loan from Barnsley with bags of pace. Ended up top goalscorer for me with over 30. Signed a few Full backs that would prove pivitol in yet another formation change mid season. 2 cracking mids for the league and 2 decent CBs.

SEASON START:

The first 2 months was great with only 2 draws 10 wins but i wasn't happy with how we were conceding easy goals and finding it hard to score with just one up top. We changed to a 3-5-2 WBs and the goals started to flow.

 

MID SEASON:

Coming into December we hadn't lost a game and were sitting pretty in 1st position. I didn't expect it to last but was hoping with a decent run later i could still secure a play off postion. we lost our first game to Sutton Utd away and i thought here we go...

 

END OF SEASON:

In january there was a genuine wobble as we won only 1 of 7 then went into feb also only winning one of 4. march and april we only lost 1 game and somehow ended up being champions quite comfortably. I thought it would take years to get into the football league but only 2 years and we're up. I expect a hard season in league 2 with some good teams from league one relegated.

 

WE ARE CHAMPIONS!!!

 

CUPS:

We got knocked out of the FA Trophy first round which was disappointing.

We boosted the coffers with a 4th round tie with Aston Villa away. This run helped us get up to 900K in the bank and looking very healthy 

 

[Kimera56]

After 4 hours i gave up for Wimbourne FC and start with Merthyr Town.

[cregan]

I don't know how much of the challenge I'll end up doing, but having reloaded a zillion times trying to get Lewes, I figure these saves might help for a few hard-to-land clubs I've seen mentioned on the thread. Saves have all UK+I leagues active, large database + players from regional premier divs + I think top Central European clubs (or possibly in continental competition, or both; I forget.). And an unretired and truly terrifying holiday manager as a bonus.

Lewes

Met Police

Basford

Edited November 7, 2018 by cregan

[Lenzar]

Kettering Town - 2019/20 (Season 1) Review - National League North

League - A strong start got us into the top spot early on and we never looked back, although Brackley weren't far behind for most of the season. A comfortable victory in the end sees us promoted back into Kettering's 'traditional' spot in the National League. There were however quite a few 0-0 draws, far more than I've ever seen in FM before.

Cups- Identical story in both the FA Cup and FA Trophy - knocking out lower league sides before losing to National League opposition.

Key Players

Emmanuel Dieseruvwe - Defenders struggled to cope with him almost as much as I struggled to pronounce his name! Emmanuel lead the attack comfortably with 25 goals in the league.

James Spruce - A loan signing who has already declined the chance to return next year, Spruce was often on hand when Emmanuel was having an off-day.

Paul White - A very solid goalkeeper at this level - White managed to keep clean sheets in more than half of our league games. His excellent goalkeeping saved our skin on more than one occasion. 

Best Match

v Solihull Moors (A) - 6-0

An excellent performance where we looked like scoring every single time we had an attack. Especially pleasing as it was away from home.

Worst Match

v Alfreton (A) - 0-1

This early season defeat worried me that we were doomed to a playoff finish, but it turned out to be our only one all season.

Season Best XI | Overall Best XI | Transfers

Leaderboard Rankings

Single Game: 58,628th (384,778)

Single Season in Nation: 28,034th (384,778)

Single Season in Division: 523rd (384,778)

Progress

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season|Division|Pos|FAC|CC/FAT|EUR|Rep|Notes|
19-20   VNN     1st 4Q    1st   -  114th
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Lenzar

[Ross Ingersoll]

30 minutes ago, cregan said:

I don't know how much of the challenge I'll end up doing, but having reloaded a zillion times trying to get Lewes, I figure these saves might help for a few hard-to-land clubs I've seen mentioned on the thread. Saves have all UK+I leagues active, large database + players from regional premier divs + I think top Central European clubs (or possibly in continental competition, or both; I forget.). And an unretired and truly terrifying holiday manager as a bonus.

Lewes

Met Police

Basford

Thank you sir, will come in handy for some

Edited November 7, 2018 by Ross Ingersoll

[G_D_K]

For those looking for a BASFORD save, I just got one posted on the third post on page one of this thread

[Otis]

After what feels like hundreds of reloads, I've started as Lewes. Let's go. 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by Otis

[Ross Ingersoll]

16 minutes ago, Otis said:

After what feels like hundreds of reloads, I've started as Lewes. Let's go. 

 

I thought you were Will Smith for a moment. Good luck with them

*it is Will Smith* lol

Edited November 7, 2018 by Ross Ingersoll

[russ the womble]

Starting as Margate

[DazRTaylor]

End of Season Review

Season 2021/22

Kettering Town

League Table - Another good season saw the club win their third successive league title and promotion to the Sky Bet League One.  Too many dropped points meant we didn't walk away with the league, however.

League Fixtures 1 & 2 - More long unbeaten spells saw the club wrap up another league title.

F.A. Cup - We made it to the third round before being outclassed by West Ham, as they beat us convincingly.

Carabao Cup - We went as far as the semi finals before losing to Everton over two legs.  The home win over them was very satisfying, however.

Checkatrade Trophy - Despite fielding very strong sides throughout, we were eliminated in the third round, losing away to Bristol City.  We topped our group with ease.

Pre Season Friendlies - A decent enough pre season, though I still don't have a big scalp.

Squad - A decent squad though for the first time, I am not convinced they are strong enough to go up again.

Youth Candidates - Another "Golden Generation", with Joe Reynolds YP22A18 looking the pick of the bunch.

Squad Dynamics - Improved throughout the season and is now at a good level.

Transfers In 1 & 2 - I did break my transfer record, though the vast majority of acquisitions were free transfers or loans.

Transfers Out 1 & 2 - Two big sales on transfer deadline day in January boosted the coffers.

Finances - It looks good, but I am losing money every month.  So the sales need to continue.

Key Players

Niklas Haugland - Another solid season from the loanee.  This year, he returned 27 goals in his 53 games.

Mihai Formagiu - Signed in the January transfer window, the young Romanian striker became an automatic selection.

Jamal Curtis - A loanee from Manchester United, he can play in a number of positions and played well enough for me to want to bring him back next season.

Saliou N'Diaye - Signed for a club record transfer fee, the teenage Senegalese defender is already a full international.

Daniel Robbins - Costing just £5,000 from Welsh side The New Saints, the young midfielder had a fine season.

Next Season

A playoff push, subject to the right signings.

Personal Contract

Season     Contract Start Date          Contract Expiry Date          Wage Pre Tax          Wage After Tax
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    25 June 2018                 30 June 2020                      £625 p/w                £475 p/w
2019/20    29 November 2019             30 June 2021                      £725 p/w ↑              £550 p/w ↑
2020/21    24 June 2020                 30 June 2022                      £925 p/w ↑              £650 p/w ↑
2021/22    28 November 2021             30 June 2023                    £1,300 p/w ↑              £875 p/w ↑

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications          Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Minimal   (0.25*)     None                      1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     4     1     1     1     4     1     1     1
2019/20    Nominal ↑ (1.25*) ↑   National B ↑↑             7 ↑   7 ↑   2 ↑   1 =   2 ↑   2 ↑   7 ↑   7 ↑   7 ↑   4 =   1 =   6 ↑   6 ↑   7 ↑   1 =   7 ↑   7 ↑
2020/21    Decent ↑  (2.00*) ↑   Continental C ↑↑         10 ↑  10 ↑   3 ↑   2 ↑   3 ↑   4 ↑  10 ↑  10 ↑  10 ↑   4 =   1 =   8 ↑   8 ↑  10 ↑   1 =  10 ↑  10 ↑
2021/22    Okay ↑    (2.50*) ↑   Continental B ↑          12 ↑  11 ↑   4 ↑   3 ↑   5 ↑   4 =  11 ↑  11 ↑  11 ↑   4 =   1 =  10 ↑  10 ↑  11 ↑   1 =  12 ↑  12 ↑

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Data A'sis Facilities  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation    Club Ranking  League Reputation    League Ranking   National Team Ranking
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Adequate             Below average     None                   Adequate              Average          Average            1.50 stars              N/a          1.00 star             140th                 7th
2019/20    Adequate =           Below average =   None =                 Adequate =            Good ↑↑          Established ↑↑     1.50 stars =            N/a =        1.00 star =           140th =              11th ↓
2020/21    Adequate =           Below average =   Basic ↑↑↑↑↑            Adequate =            Exceptional ↑↑   Extensive ↑↑       1.50 stars =            N/a =        1.50 stars ↑           93rd ↑               5th ↑
2021/22    Adequate =           Adequate ↑        Basic =                Adequate =            Exceptional =    Extensive =        2.00 stars ↑            N/a =        2.00 stars ↑           71st ↑               3rd ↑

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Drawn Percentage     Loss Percentage     Goals For Per Game     Goals Against Per Game
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20      54        39        9        6         145              62                 +83              72.22%              16.67%               11.11%                 2.69                    1.15
2020/21      56        39       10        7         148              61                 +87              69.64%              17.86%               12.50%                 2.64                    1.09
2021/22      61        41       10       10         140              63                 +77              67.21%              16.39%               16.39%                 2.30                    1.03

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------
2019/20    Vanarama National League North.
2020/21    Vanarama National League.
2021/22    Sky Bet League Two.

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------

1 x Sky Bet League Two - 2021/22.
1 x Vanarama National League - 2020/21
1 x Vanarama National League North - 2019/20.

Career Overview

Season     Champions League     Europa League          League                                     Position     F.A. Cup        League Cup      Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20           N/a                N/a               Vanarama National League North                1st       First round         N/a         Appointed on 25 June 2018.  Promoted as champions.
2020/21           N/a                N/a               Vanarama National League                      1st       Fifth round         N/a         Promoted as champions.
2021/22           N/a                N/a               Sky Bet League Two                            1st       Third round     Semi final      Promoted as champions.

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Drawn Percentage     Loss Percentage     Goals For Per Game     Goals Against Per Game     Time At Club
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20          54        39        9        6         145              62                 +83              72.22%              16.67%               11.11%                 2.69 ↓                  1.15 ↓                312 days
2020/21         110        78       19       13         293             123                +170              70.91% ↓            17.27% ↑             11.82% ↑               2.66 ↓                  1.12 ↓                691 days
2021/22         171       119       29       23         433             186                +248              69.59% ↓            16.96% ↑             13.45% ↑               2.53 ↓                  1.09 ↓              1,063 days

 

 

[janneff]

Kettering Town - Season 28/29

"Few will have tipped Kettering to have been capable of avoiding relegation heading into the season but The Poppies confounded every expectation by achieving a top-half finish."

League Table - It was pretty straightforward season. We had good start and it was pretty obvious straigt away that we should be able to avoid relegation relatively easily. We were poor against top teams but that didn't matter because we beat bottom half teams regularly home and away. I pretty much ignored both cup competitions this season but at least we managed to make FA Cup 6th round. We beat famously Liverpool away despite using mostly backups.

Transfers - It was pretty busy preseason. We sold bunch of players that I knew wouldn't be good enough to play Premier League football and aqcuired bunch of better players. My approach was fairly conservative. We didn't spend much money and maximum wage p/w I offered was £31,5k and no appearance fee. Ali Moulin was our most expensive transfer. He had decent season. He mainly contibuted defensively. Unfortunately I wasn't able to improve his personality and his determination even went down. In my opintion it was Andrew Spickett who was signing of the season. He's a decent box to box midfielder as long as there is holding midfielder playing behind him.

Finances are obviously in great shape. Transfer and wage budgets should be good enough to improve squad.

Key Players

Jimmy West had great season. He has been with us three years now and he has delivered every season. His attributes aren't that great but he is consistent performer. It is my opinion that consistency is easily the most important (hidden) attribute.

Stephen Hart had another good season. He scored 14 goals in Premier League. I don't think we are going to extend his loan however. I'm hoping to sign better striker on permanent deal.

Vito Mosca was on loan from Juventus. He played in multiple positions and did very well. He had most assists in Premier League. I'm delighted that he'll be joining us permanently.

Next Season

Avoid relegation. I'm not particularly interested in Europa League just yet so I'd take similar season without doubt. I think that the most important thing is to do well in preseason and transfer market in general. So far we have been playing 4-1-4-1 because it's fairly forgiving system. I think we continue using the same system at least one more season but I'm looking to acquire more talented players that can play in more complicated systems if necessary.

[Dons]

Dorking Wanderers

Season 2019/20
Position 9th

Table - Graph - Squad - Transfers - Finances - Competition - Injuries - Manager Profile - Season Review

Season Summary:

A season with a lot of new things to get used to, engine wise. Did start really great with 5 straight wins, followed by roller coaster mode. First place as highest and 13th as lowest. Finishing in 9th position, just a few pts from playoffs was better than expected. Biggest personal surprise, was winning Man of the Year.
Hardest part was managing the finances, and had it not been for the black numbers that were already in the club, we would have bled a lot more. Next season should be somewhat easier, as a player like Prior doesn't take up the wages of 4 other players. 2 players took combined 1.3k of the wage budget, which is too much when the total was at 7.7k.

Managed to get my hands on 2 good players for this level. Luke Nippard, a former Bournemouth reject, was our best midfielder by far. Alex Gilbert, a former West Brom reject was the biggest surprise. Scored an amazing 34 goals in 33 apps, giving him the league scoring award.

Season	League	Position	FAT/CHT	FA Cup	Car.Cup	Euro	Ch. Lea.
2019/20	VNS	9th	2nd Rnd	1st Rnd

 

 

[grungeandgaze]

I went for Whitehawk, let's see if I can knock Brighton of their perch.

[XaW]

 XaW - Kettering Town - 2024/25

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Two good seasons, then a bad one last season, what would this season bring? Well, a very hard one, it turns out. We only won two of our first 10 matches, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the season. After the poor start we continued in the same form, struggling to pick up points, and playing poor in general. This caused me to tinker with tactics, and that led to even worse results. Going into the new year we started one of the worst runs I've ever had in any Football Manager game.

Yeah, we didn't win for almost 4 months. As some in the chat can attest to I were about to accept relegation and all that follow. But I did a final tactical tinkering, going back to basic. Classic 4-4-2 Hoofball. Get the ball and hoof it as far as possible and hope for the best. And somehow that turned us around. And we won, and kept on winning! With 4 games left we had a real shot at staying up.

Of those 4 matches we won two and lost two, but that was enough to keep us up! 20th for the second year running, but we managed it. The hardest season I've played in years, but also the best comeback ever. We rose as a phoenix from the ashes! I won't go all poetic on you, but it really felt like an achievement!

In the FA Cup we somehow stumbled our way to the 3rd round were we lost to Championship side Burnley. In the FA Trophy we went out in the first round after a replay against Stockport.

We had a very good youth intake with Joel Henderson 25f as the most exciting one.

Season	|       League	             | Position |   FA Cup      |   Europe	|   Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	|   National League North    |   9th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Just of playoffs
2020/21	|   National League North    |   1st	 |  4th qual     |   N/A	|   Promoted as champions
2021/22	|   National League          |  16th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Survived
2022/23 |   National League          |  14th     |  4th round    |   N/A        |   Mid-table, good cup run
2023/24 |   National League          |  20th     |  1st round    |   N/A        |   Almost relegated
2024/25 |   National League          |  20th     |  3rd round    |   N/A        |   Almost relegated

Edited November 8, 2018 by XaW

[Boyd The Beast]

Dorking Wanderers

Season 1 - 2019/20

 

League -  First season you never know how it is going to turn out. We started off slow as we weren't able to attract quality players but were never in any danger. In October we were finally able to sign our top target Zane Banton who we had on trial during pre-season but either refused to sign or then was demanding too high of wages. His pace at this level is lethal, as soon as we got him our fortunes changed and we started climbing up and challenging the play off spots. We had a terrible spell in February and March were we only picked up 2 wins from 9 games. This put us in danger of missing out on the play offs...but somehow we managed to sneak in thanks to a win on the final day and a Woking loss. Unfortunately for us our play off dreams were short lived, we crashed out in the first round against Hemel Hempstead. We were outplayed which was frustrating as their best player was suspended for the match and they were in bad form.

Next year I hope we are able to build off our good first season and bring in some new faces to push us over the edge.

FA Cup and FA Trophy both were terrible experiences for us this year. We crashed out against our first opponents in each competition. In the FA Cup we lost in the 2nd Qualifying Round to Sevenoaks. We got a home reply and proceeded to lose 0-1 without putting up any fight. This was unacceptable and made my players well aware of this.

FA Trophy was a 0-1 loss away to Dartford, which was disappointing but acceptable. 

Transfers - Nothing special here, lots of new players in to fill out our team. 

Finances - Finances steadily declined all year and with no cup wins at all we ended up in the red. Our board refuses to accept my requests for an affiliate even though it would help tremendously with our cash flow. I did however get 2 coaching badges before things got worse. Don't expect to get anything new in our current state though.

Career History:

Season	League	Position	FA Cup	Achievements	Top Scorer
2019/20	VNS	7th	2nd Qual. Round	Made playoffs	Zane Banton (27)

Club Information:

Season	Stadium	Avg Attendance	Training Facilities	Youth Facilities	Youth Level	Junior Coaching	Youth Recruitment
2019/20	3600	427	Poor	Poor	0	Minimal	Fairly basic

 

Read through the updates from everyone at work today. Some fantastic progress made by some! I am jealous of some of the players you are able to attract, keep up the good work!

Edited December 24, 2018 by Boyd The Beast

[CMU Chips]

Season 4 - Vanarama North

We signed better players and in the early season it seemed like we had improved as a team. After 15 games or so we were in the title picture, but it began slipping away and a terrible run in the second half of the season almost saw us miss the playoffs. Instead we finished 7th for the third time in 3 years in the Vanarama North. Just like last year, we wouldn't be able to re-create our first year run through the playoffs and we were bounced in the first round. I'm struggling to figure out what to do to fix our problems. Despite having seemingly good defenders they were constantly allowing balls over the top and just showing no effort to make good tackles as we broke the league record for worst discipline. I won't go over transfers in any real detail since most of them were on one year contracts and I'll be looking to completely rebuild the majority of this team again. The team is very young, with most of the players coming from the first waves of newgens to be released from the larger academies. Carl Corcoran gets a particular highlight as the former Forest academy player scored 9 and assisted 13 from central midfield to lead the league in average rating. We tried to mimic our opposition's tactics of balls over the top with us having close to the league lead in pace and acceleration, and it resulted in us being 1 goal shy of the most in the division. If we can just solve the defending issues next year we may have a chance.

We did have our first sale for actual money as Swindon took our starting RB at the start of the year for 28k+50% of next sale, though I imagine he'll end up leaving there on a free as he isn't anywhere near their level. Board thought it was too good to turn down.

[grungeandgaze]

When you're meant to be fighting for relegation but you find yourself in 4th place and hammering 6th place teams. Although I've probably just jinxed myself now.

[DazRTaylor]

Mid Season Review

Season 2022/23

Kettering Town

Sky Bet League One

Another fantastic first half of the season.  Strangely, we are better away from home than in Kettering.  I am gutted to lose both league games against Bolton.

F.A. Cup

The third round was in December this year, so it has already been played.  Despite leading 4-1 at half time, we went to extra time against Reading and went through to the fourth round on penalties, after a 5-5 draw and only after we equalised in the 120th minute.

Carabao Cup

Heartbreaking as, once again, we went out to Everton.  This time on penalties in the third round.

Checkatrade Trophy

Despite a fantastic start, a 5-1 away win over Mansfield, we lost both home games and thus did not make it out of our group.

Squad Dynamics - It is looking excellent, with match cohesion especially pleasing.

Transfers In - One player arrived for a transfer fee, otherwise it is the usual free transfers and loans.

Transfers Out - Quite a lot of sales, over £5m worth, which have been vital to keep the finances in the black.

Finances - In the black, due to millions being brought in in player sales, as well as close to £2m after selling clauses.

[tortugas]

Why is there no mention in the rules if hidden attributes should be on or off? Doesn’t that have quite a big impact on the difficulty of the save?

Is it because all players have to be scouted?

 

sorry. I think I used the incorrect term here. I am referring to the “disable player attribute masking” during the game setup. 

Edited November 9, 2018 by tortugas

[grungeandgaze]

2 hours ago, tortugas said:

Why is there no mention in the rules if hidden attributes should be on or off? Doesn’t that have quite a big impact on the difficulty of the save?

Is it because all players have to be scouted?

 

sorry. I think I used the incorrect term here. I am referring to the “disable player attribute masking” during the game setup. 

It does say they should be hidden as the box should be unticked "All of the boxes should be left unticked apart from 'do not add key staff' and 'prevent use of in-game editor'. It should look like this."

[tortugas]

10 minutes ago, grungeandgaze said:

It does say they should be hidden as the box should be unticked "All of the boxes should be left unticked apart from 'do not add key staff' and 'prevent use of in-game editor'. It should look like this."

How did I miss that?

thank you