[FM20] It was Cambrogi in Wales, but now it's all about aggression in Wales, in England. Bellicosity, pugnacity and belligerence are all excellent words. But Welsh belligerence, in England now.

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2032.

While the European campaign has been successful and we have qualified for the Group Stages of the Euro Cup 2, it has come at a cost. 

We've played 8 European games over the last 2 months and all of these bar the last game against SK Sturm Graz have featured our strongest available side. As a result, domestic performances will have suffered. Despite that though, I have strengthened the squad and I thought we were going to be plenty good enough to compete with our Reserves. The GK can play twice a week, defenders are not a problem at all and neither are our striking options. Where we seem to be lacking a little is in the middle of the pitch and I need to go out and sign a couple of players to improve us. 

We crashed out of the Mickey Mouse Cup and I wasn't overly overly bothered, but the Cefn Druids and Afan Lido results were really poor. We only beat Bala because I rested the 1st team against SK Sturm Graz and played them in this game instead. Our Reserves just aren't "clicking" at the moment and I don't think that's going to be solved just with the addition of a midfielder or 2. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sept 2032.

Considering we are still in Europe, it was a decent month and we have risen to 2nd in the table behind TNS, (who are in very good form). 

GK Ricketts (ENG) scored the only goal in the win over Connah's Quay, but also missed a penalty in the same game and then missed another in the Llanelli game. 

We battered Cardiff Met Uni, but still ended up losing. I'm having a problem working out my best team and partnerships. I'm trying to let the Ass Man select the squad sometimes, but he seems to not care about conditioning. 

This is where it starts to get a bit strange. I thought we were going to get battered in this Group, but actually we have started really well. I know we haven't played Lazio yet, but they lost 1-0 to Radnik  and we stuck 5 on them so...... anything is possible. Right?

Finances. Are looking ok, boosted not only by the prize money for getting to the Group Stages, but also by the 2 wins at £163k a pop. 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Dynamics. Oct 2032. 

Lat season I had to bring in too many players and it had a big impact on our early-season performances. This season we have brought in fewer, it's still impacting somewhat on Team cohesion. I think this is playing a part in why I don't think we are quite "clicking" in domestic games. We are doing ok, don't get me wrong, but we are not properly firing on all cylinders like I know we can do. If you look at the 6-1 win against Sturm Graz, (with 10 men for half the game), and the 5-0 win against Radnik, this shows the level we can perform at. We're just not doing so regularly. 

The Atmosphere I'm less bothered about. Players are unhappy because I couldn't register everyone for the Euro Cup. Once we are knocked out they will get over it.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[rodesire]

This is brilliant going, how you going to spend all that money?

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2032.

We're still stuttering a little. Barry are one of the big-boys in the league and a 6-0 demolishing of them shows what we can do when we hit our straps, but even if we ignore the undeserved loss to Afan Lido, (who are a good team), we were still just a little under-par in the narrow victories. We should be smashing some of these teams. We're in 3rd at the moment and the top 4 are now 6 points clear of the chasing pack. TNS seem bang on the money at the moment and have conceded just 4 goals in 13 league games this season. It would seem that they have got sick of not winning the league the last couple of seasons and are determined to do something about it. Afan Lido were the team that beat TNS last time out.

This was a really good performance against the Italians and they only beat us in injury time. We sit 2nd in the Group at the half-way stage which is waaaay better than I was expecting. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

55 minutes ago, rodesire said:

This is brilliant going, how you going to spend all that money?

Well I'm not actually going to spend it at all. At least that's the plan anyway. 

I also tried to get the Junior Coaching improved but I couldn't get it past the Chairman. 

The big thing on my shopping list is obviously to get the club to turn Professional, but I know that the cash in the bank level used to be about the £5M mark, so I will probably need to qualify for at least 1 more Group stage, (and possibly 2). 

As mentioned before though, I also want to keep a few million in the bank at all times, (and more as things start to progress), so that the board don't get involved in incoming transfer offers. 

This probably explains why I couldn't get them to upgrade the Junior Coaching. It's already at a pretty decent level compared to everything else. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2032. 

A draw followed by 2 wins suggest that things are moving in the right direction, but I'm not convinced. We are still largely reliant on the bully-boy tactic that I have created, largely based around 2 towering centre-backs, (you will see their height in their nicknames), and Big Ben (ENG) 6'7", who can get by as an AF(s), but completely comes into his own in long-throw situations, where he seems able to occupy 2 opposition centre-backs, allowing others to profit from the ensuing carnage. 

In Europe we have got ourselves into a great position. With 1 game remaining we sit 2nd in our Group and our final game is against 3rd place Sion of Switzerland. The top 3 teams in the group are all level on points with 9 each and I know that a draw in our last game will see us progress to the Knockout stages at the 1st time of asking. It's far from a done deal, but we beat Sion 2-1 away, so I'm at least hopeful of getting a result at home. 

Bully-boy tactics. Some of you will wonder what I mean by this and it's largely based on just over-powering and over-manning the opposition at set-pieces, (particularly long throws), and profiting from it. The following picture shows the top 4 goal-scorers in the squad. 

Webb has taken over from The Cure (IRL) as our main attacking threat and is almost scoring at a goal a game, but the next 3 players are all "special teams" players. Big Ben (ENG) 6'7" is the 4th generation Big Matt that I had at the start of the save. Although it doesn't exactly fit with how I want to play, it's like a drug that I just can't kick and every time I see a new "Big" player, I just think to myself that I will give it 1 more try. Cooper (ENG) 6'7" and Kerrigan (ENG) 6'5" were both signed specifically with this in mind and I'm glad it's working out. Kerrigan (ENG) 6'5" is scoring at just under a goal every 2 games, which is not too shabby at all for a centre-half who doesn't take free-kicks and penalties, and Cooper (ENG) 6'7" is scoring at a slightly slower rate. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake preview. 

I want a refund. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Job interview. Dec 2032.

QPR are 17th in the Championship. This is a big interview....... if I was going to it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Welsh Footballer of the Year. Dec 2032.

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2032.

Before the TNS game we had equalled our best run of consecutive wins with 7. A red card and a defeat against TNS was not who we wanted for our 8th game. Next up we have TNS again. 

it wasn't our best performance, in fact we were a little lucky, but all that matters is that is that we won and we have qualified for the knockout stages. 

The draw has already been made for the 1st Knockout Round and we will face Czech side Viktoria Plzen. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2033.

3 out of our last 4 league games have been against TNS. We have lost each of them by a single goal despite having players sent of in 2 of the games. We have only beaten them twice in 16 games since the save started. They certainly have the sign over us. 

We progressed in the Cup which is a bit of a result considering our form and that of Afan Lido. 

We're 7 points behind Afan Lido and only 1 point ahead of Cardiff Met Uni. We play Cardiff Met Uni twice in our remaining 9 league games and if we can come out on top of them it will go a long way to securing 3rd place. 

[ManUtd1]

TNS stands for many things, few of them repeatable in reputable communities such as this. 

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

TNS stands for many things, few of them repeatable in reputable communities such as this. 

I think that my reporting of their early demise in this save have been more than a little premature. They are absolutely smashing it this season, (domestically at least). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2033.

Following the 3 defeats to TNS in 4 games, out domestic form has really fallen away. The players are unhappy and my tactics, (what tactics), are being questioned in the media. What I usually do at a time like this is go out and sign someone who is even bigger than one of my big blokes. 

On the plus side, we beat Cardiff Met Uni. (our rivals for 3rd place in the league), in the Quarter Finals of the Cup. I actually thought it was a league game until after the match, and was a little gutted.

We need to get back to winning ways in the league. 

There is just no stopping us in Europe though. Our big lads have been great form and we are literally bullying the opposition all over the place. I think the issue with our domestic form is that our 3 big lads are playing in Europe and not in domestic games. 

There are no easy games left now. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

You

16 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. 

I want a refund. 

Youth Intake. Mar 2033.

Squad by PPA. 

Squad by PA. 

Squad by CA.

I'm not going to bother showing you any of the players. None of them are going to play for us. 

The only real discussion point here is that the vest player in both CA and PA, (33a) John Hampson. (ENG), only had 3 points between his CA and his PA. 

(33b) has 8 points growth available. 
(33h) has 6 points growth available. 
(33e) has 9 points growth available. 

Basically, we desperately need a Youth Recruitment upgrade. 

[Thebaker]

16 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. 

I want a refund. 

At least with that last line you are forewarned .

Can you get a youth preview with no green positives?

Edited April 11, 2020 by Thebaker

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

At least with that last line you are forewarned

To be honest, I'm only posting about the Youth Intake to keep the continuity going, (and people would think I had been hacked if I didn't). 

We have the money for upgrades right now but the board just aren't having upgrades of anything. 

[Thebaker]

1 minute ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

To be honest, I'm only posting about the Youth Intake to keep the continuity going, (and people would think I had been hacked if I didn't). 

We have the money for upgrades right now but the board just aren't having upgrades of anything. 

I know the feeling, in my current game in sweden the board keep refusing junior coaching upgrades in spite of the fact that my youth players come through with such a low CA they never even come close to approaching their potential. They are not even good enough to loan out, players who come though as 5 star potential players but just 3 silver star current.

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2033.

I basically just want the season to end now so we can pause, take breath, and start again. 

We aren't going to finish 1st or 2nd and we aren't going to get caught for 3rd. Not because we are playing well but simply because Cardiff Met Uni have lost 5 of their last 6 games and Barry have drawn 4 out of the last 5. There are 3 league games still to play and I think it unlikely that either of them will close a 5/6 point gap when we don't have to play TNS or Afan Lido. 

It's not a lot of money, but it's a lot of money to us. 

Not exactly the record I wanted, but the fact that we conceded so many goals possibly suggests that we were in the competition for a long time. 

[Jimbokav1971]

I've been trying, (not very hard obviously), to work out why my left back creates so many assists, but my right back, (who I really like), just doesn't. 

That "Plays No Through Balls" is going to be it then. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Welsh clubs in Europe. Apr 2033. 

Barry Town performed heroically in Europe and even got 2 wins in the Groups stage of the Euro Cup 2. Yes they had a relatively easy route, but this is a Semi-Pro Welsh club we are talking about. 

TNS were probably a little unlucky coming up against Dynamo Kyiv at that stage. 

A poor showing from Bala Town. We need the 4th Welsh club to be doing better than this. Thankfully they won't be in Europe next season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

A poor showing from Bala Town. We need the 4th Welsh club to be doing better than this. Thankfully they won't be in Europe next season. 

Actually, we will play them in the Welsh Cup Final and if they beat us then not only will they play in Europe next season, but we won't. 

Is now a good time to remind you that we have lost the last 2 Welsh Cup Finals? 

 

[rodesire]

No pressure then

[Jimbokav1971]

3rd time lucky. Apr 2033.

After finishing as Runners up in each of the last 2 season, we have finally gone the whole way and won the Welsh Cup ourselves. I didn't target it at all, (until we got to the Semi-Final).

So that's brilliant. We have added some significant silverware to the trophy cabinet and I don't feel I have to buy loads of players, so for the 1st off-season on quite a while I feel I can just take it easy. I can sit back, relax and......... 

What? 

Is this a joke? 

WTF!!! 

We still have another game to play? 

This has got to be some sort of joke!

The league table says that we have qualified for Europe already!

I can understand that if we had lost the Cup Final then it might have thrown a spanner into the works, but we didn't. What the hell is going on?

Legend. 

I would be good to get a competitive rivalry on the go.

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, rodesire said:

No pressure then

We overcame the pressure, but not sure what is going on at the moment. 

[Jimbokav1971]

The draw for the Semi-Final is made on 5th May, (so tomorrow), but I have just been offered a new 2 year contract. 

It looks like they have agreed to upgrade Youth Facilities, or is that what I have already asked them to do? 

[Edit]

Actually, it's a 3 year deal. I'm really confused. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Oh oh oh oh oh. I have some news........ 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Big News. May 2033. 

Wow. The board want to talk to me about turning Pro. 

The message was sent at 11:49. What time is it now? 

Great..... oh hang on...... 

They have had the meeting without me. 

But I can still go to the meeting. 

What the hell. Let's do it! 

I was tempted to say that I didn't think it was a good idea, but I didn't want to screw things up if they had reversed things. 

For anyone who is interested in how much money we had when we turned pro...... 

 

We're currently spending £11,665 per week. 

The most we have ever spent on a player is £525.

[Jimbokav1971]

The World is my Oyster. May 2033. 

[Edit]

There are only 250 players available to scout, but I don't have a Senior package so that could be right. most of the players are young. 

It won't let me sign up to a package right now. 

I wonder what sort of player the DoF suggests now....

Edited April 11, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Playoff. May 2033.

We are indeed playing in the Semi-Final of the Playoff, despite the fact that we have won the Welsh Cup. Maybe if we win the Playoffs then whoever we beat in the Final, (Bala), get to play in Europe. (I hope that doesn't happen). 

The best team here, (other than ourselves), is Barry. Ideally they will qualify for Europe with us. 

I don't want them to qualify instead of us though......

[Jimbokav1971]

Playoffs continued. May 2033.

Semi-Final. 

Final. I'll be honest with you. If I was 100.00% positive that we had already qualified for Europe and it's a choice between either Barry Town getting the 4th European place by beating is in the Playoff Final, or Bala qualifying bu virtue of being Runners in the Cup, (and us winning the Playoff), then i would throw this game and let Barry Town play in Europe. 

As it is it didn't matter in the end as despite falling 2-0 behind by virtue of not 1 but 2 direct free-kicks, we dragged ourselves back to level and then won in extra-time despite having another player sent off. Whatever else happens, WE ARE PLAYING IN EUROPE NEXT SEASON. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Confusion reigns. May 2033. 

Despite all that, they have STILL given the Playoff spot to Barry Town.  

I don't know what the hell is going on! 

[rodesire]

@Jimbokav1971, my best bet the following is happening.

League winner gets UCL spot.

Wales have 3 spots left for EC2.

Second place gets one, Cup winner gets one and the last one is decided via a play-off.

Since you did not finish top2 but third, you were in the European play-off.

Now you got the Cup spot and the play-off EC2 spot, so there's one overflow spot left.

It goes to the next best team in the league that is not going to Europe left. Which happens to be P4 Barry.

If you were P6, having won Cup and Playoff, pretty sure P3 would get the last EC2 spot.

[DazRTaylor]

You need to up your scouting budget to be able to buy some scouting packages.

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season Summary. May 2033. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Rankings. Jun 2033.

[Jimbokav1971]

Player called up for International duty. Jun 2033.

This isn't a huge deal in a normal save, but to have a HG player called up is significant at this stage of this save. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Player progression. Jun 2033. 

I don't really want to sell the player, (he's one of my "big" centre-backs), but Plymouth have just been promoted to League 1 via the Playoffs and I don't think I can stop a player going from our level to that level. It doesn't seem, right. £50k is neither here nor there. We just don't need the money that bad. 

Either way though, the player is going. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Jun 2033.

[Jimbokav1971]

Professional clubs in Wales. Jun 2033.

I'm pretty sure that TNS were the only Pro club when the save started. I haven't looked recently, but it's no surprise at all that Afan Lido are Professional now because they have been consistently decent over the last couple of seasons. They actually turned Pro in Apr 2032. Bala Town surprisingly turned Pro the year before, in Jun 2031. 

We have just turned Pro in May 2033. 

Something that might be of interest is that Cardiff Met Uni are still listed as an Amateur club and I'm guessing that they are hard-coded as such due to the nature of the team. It's surprising then that they have been performing as they have. 

[Jimbokav1971]

TV Rights. Jun 2033.

I'm pretty sure that our TV rights deal last season was smaller than this. 

Yeah, I have checked and it's gone from £83,200 to £100,000.

[Jimbokav1971]

Pre Season. Aug 2033. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Astonishment. Aug 2033. 

Yes. That really happened. 

I had never heard of Aluminij and even right now, (more than 24 hours later I don't even know where they are from but I'm going to look now). 

They are from Slovenia.  Still never heard of em!

We played the 1st leg away and should have won but didn't. I was "trialling" a new tactic and assumed that however bad we were, we would still get through. We didn't manage to put the ball in the back of the net although we did hit the post, but Rome wasn't built in a day as they say so I was confident that we would have enough about is to get the job done at home. 

We led early on and everything was going well. We hit the post again and were creating decent chances but then we went and had yet another player sent off. (Which was the whole reason for the new tactic in the 1st place), and from there it went from bad to worse. We conceded just after the dismissal, but then GK Ricketts (ENG) had a chance to put us in front from the spot. This was just what we needed and would see us through and....... he missed the target...... 

The rest as they say is history. We didn't score again and they did and we are out and they are in the next round. I would like to say that i was really busy yesterday and it had nothing to do with the almighty strop I was in after losing this game, but that would be a load of old Michael Ballacks. If I had a cat it would have got kicked! 

Billington-Edge was the player that got sent off. I haven't released him yet, but only because it would be too expensive to cancel his contract and the board won't let me do it, (not that I have tried of course). 

Yes, I can laugh about it now. Just. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Around the Grounds. Aug 2033.

This is how the other Welsh teams finished last season. 

Premier League. 

Championship. Cardiff and Swansea both comfortably mid-table again. 

Cardiff. 

Swansea. 

League 1. After finishing 3rd and losing in the Playoffs the previous season, Newport County have been relegated down to League 1. What a difference 3 points make. 

Newport County. 

League 2. 

Conference National. Wrexham finished 20 of 24 last season, avoiding relegation by a single goal. 

Wrexham. 

Merthyr. While Conference National is active Conference North/South are not. The AI does not rate Merthyr. Promotion from a non-playable league is largely based on reputation, with a little randomness thrown in for good measure, (so it's still possible). 

[rodesire]

Jeez, you got hammered by Aluminij.  Better luck next year

[Nobby_McDonald]

Yeah, poor result Jimbo.

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2033. 

I think I have to accept, (for a while at least), that TNS are going to be a tough opponent. The problem with losing to them so regularly is that there is a knock-on effect in terms of a morale hit and I think this played a part in only drawing at Barry. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2033.

I have been doing some tactical tinkering on my tactic and a by-product seems to be an increase in the number of penalties that we are being awarded. The up-shot of this is that we have had a penalty awarded in all 6 of our games this month. 

The loss in Europe that I suffered at the beginning of the season, (a couple of days ago now in real life), has acted to really make me slow down and focus a little more than I was doing. While we won a lot of games in Europe the previous season, the truth is that what we actually had were q few really good performances in individual legs rather than a period of significant over-performance. Basically, I think I believed my own hype and now I am going back to basics and really paying attention to the small details. 

We've had a really good month and were unlucky to lose against Airbus, but I had "gone strong" against Afan Lido in the Cup and were weakened in the Airbus game. I hoped it was going to be enough, and it should have been, but we didn't take our chances and when we were really pushing late on, any hope of a late equaliser was scuppered with a red card. 

[rodesire]

TNS with 5 games in hand! 10 points behind!