[FM21] Return of the Phoe Nix - Rise of the Raven. FC Isle of Man Youth Save.

[Punch]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

The games keep coming, and the goals 

Who is the better keeper? If JJ didn’t need 5 more goals to get his century, who would you select?

At the start of the season it was very close, but JJ was just in front. Foggarty has the higher potential, and I would not be surprised if over the course of the season his CA has edged in front, which is why he is being selected.

But I will probably just keep sending JJ out until at least he gets the 100 goals. Kind of hard to argue that point with the performances he is putting in lately anyway

[Punch]

JAN 2031

Another washout at The Bowl, although this one helps us by making our crazy January one game less crazy, as it landed on an empty weekend in February.

 

Interesting the number of washouts have increased since we had to change from the synthetic field to the grass, as a part of the EFL regulations, when promoted to League Two.

I wonder if this means we might need some more ground upgrades sooner rather than later to help resolve the issue, or if it is just part and parcel of the weather of island life.

 

Up next...after a bit longer break than we expected, we are off to Exeter.

[Sonic Youth]

I think you’ll end up with undersoil heating. Not sure if that’s enough to stop the wash outs.

What qualifies a stadium to have a roof built?

[Punch]

9 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

I think you’ll end up with undersoil heating. Not sure if that’s enough to stop the wash outs.

What qualifies a stadium to have a roof built?

Maybe the pitch being fully covered. I remember from the Notts Co save Meadow Lane was described as not having a roof, despite all 4 stands being covered.

[Punch]

JAN 2031 - Match Day 27

We didn't play particularly well, but full credit for the fight back to salvage a point from this match.

It was the two Jordans who scored, but big efforts from Oliver Wylie in defence, and Levi Halliwell in the midfield to get us back in it.

 

With MK Dons on a tear we have dropped to 5th, aided by our missing games, we are now 4 games down on a few of those around us.

 

Up next...a massive home game against 2nd place Wimbledon.

[Blarney]

Top tier:  Swindon, Wimbledon and Hull

2nd Tier:  Dons, IoM, Wycombe and Plymouth

At least you're keeping right there.

[Punch]

17 minutes ago, Blarney said:

Top tier:  Swindon, Wimbledon and Hull

2nd Tier:  Dons, IoM, Wycombe and Plymouth

At least you're keeping right there.

How we go in those make up games may have a big say in the season.

8th to 15th are not really that far behind either.

Very competitive League.

[Punch]

 

JAN 2031 - Match Day 28

A match where we played well at times, and terribly at others.

Overturning a 0-1 half time deficit to take the lead 2-1, before giving up an injury time equaliser for a share of the points.

 

The draw means we were unable to make any inroads into Wimbledon's lead over us, and remain in 5th place.

 

Up next...FA Cup 3rd Round action as we head to The Den to face Millwall in the first game of our double header against them.

[Punch]

JAN 2031 - FA Cup 3rd Round

A come from behind win, where we started a bit shaky, but then ran over the top of them as we booked our trip to the 4th Round.

 

A disappointing crowd at The Den didn't help the finances much.

 

This might help that problem

The 4th Round takes us to Anfield for the 1st time. A massive moment for this club.

 

Up next...the 2nd match of our double header against Millwall as they come to The Bowl for League One action.

[Punch]

JAN 2031

Our match against MIllwall has been washed out for the second time and has now been pushed back to early February.

 

Up next...hoping the ground has dried out enough as it's only a few days until another tough match up against Wycombe at The Bowl.

[Punch]

JAN 2031 - Match Day 29

We came from behind to level, only to give up another goal, and go down at home.

We created a lot of chances, but their defence was excellent.

 

This was one of those 6 point games as Wycombe have leapt us into 5th, and we have dropped to the chasing pack.

 

Up next...The kids will be in action in the Pizza Cup 3rd Round, away to Bradford City.

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

JAN 2031 - Papa Johns Trophy 3rd Round

 

I was expecting the kids to give a good account of themselves...I was not expecting this

 

In a stunning result, our kids ran riot over Bradford City, racking up a 4-0 lead before they got on the board just before half time.

The kids then showed no let up, keeping their foot on the gas banging in another four goals after the break, sending us to the Quarter Finals for the first time.

 

A nice addition to the finances, only a small crowd so nothing much to worry about there.

 

We are away to Man U under 23s in the Quarter Final.

 

Up next...Anfield awaits as we head to Liverpool for the FA Cup 4th Round.

[Sonic Youth]

I thought the Bradford Cup game was 1-0 at first! 

Back to tipsy-turvey in the league again. Maybe playing the kids is the missing ingredient.

[Punch]

12 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

I thought the Bradford Cup game was 1-0 at first! 

Back to tipsy-turvey in the league again. Maybe playing the kids is the missing ingredient.

Wait until you see the next one

[Punch]

JAN 2031 - FA Cup 4th Round

In what must surely go down as one of the biggest results, and biggest upsets in our young clubs history, will also surely go down as one of the most ridiculous games we've been a part of.

Liverpool were expected to stroll this game, and they basically were. We were down 0-3 with 6 minutes to play, Liverpool had been in cruise control all game.

A well constructed series of passes found Marco Petrosino unmarked in the box, and he made no mistake, burying the ball into the net, a massive moment for the young kid, scoring a goal at Anfield, and making the score look respectable at 1-3.

This is where things started to get silly, as Liverpool failed to shut the game down, and a little bit of panic set in. Deep into injury time, Petrosino latched onto a loose ball just outside the area and fired a rocket into the top corner. 2-3, but surely no time left for us now, right?

Wrong, from the ensuing kick off, full blown panic set in for Liverpool, as Jordan Williams stole the ball from their defenders trying to play time wasting tactics and he found Petrosino unmarked in the box who again made no mistake to complete his hat-trick, and the regulation time finished 3-3.

So we go to extra time. The game bogged down a bit, as Liverpool seemed to be still a bit dumb struck, and hesitant to commit too many forward, and we seemed to lack the confidence to take the game on. 3-3 at extra time half time it stayed.

Some words of encouragement at half time seemed to wake our guys up, I'd prefer them to lose, trying to win, then lose trying to hang on for a shoot out. The words worked, substitute Brian McCarthy latched onto a loose ball in the area and buried it to give us a 4-3 lead, this seemed to awake Liverpool as they sent men forward chasing the game all of a sudden, and they hit back almost immediately to make it 4-4.

All of a sudden, the game was end to end free flowing affair, and the nearly capacity crowd had come alive as well.

With 5 minutes to go, Petrosino slammed home his 4th goal of the game, to make it 5-4 to us, and all of a sudden we were dreaming about beating one of the biggest teams in the world, in their own house.

It was short lived, however, as Liverpool struck back just before the end of extra time to make it an astonishing 5-5, which would have seemed an insane notion, just over half an hour previously.

So a penalty shoot out will decide the result, and it was that man again, Jordan Jack, who has been facing pressure for his position, so often the hero for this club, and he stood tall when we needed him the most again, saving two of the four penalties he faced, while equally impressive, was the composure of our boys, to keep their nerve in front of over 50 thousand screaming Liverpool fans, and bury all their chances.

Up 3-0 with 6 minutes to go, Liverpool will be left wondering how they managed to lose that one, while we are celebrating the biggest result in our history.

 

The 1.1 million from our share of the Gate is even more impressive.

 

From a dream result to the Theatre of Dreams, as we will face Man U at Old Trafford for our first venture into the 5th Round.

 

We have played here once before, the first time we made the 3rd Round five years ago, getting thumped.

I wonder if they will be looking at this result and eying us a little more nervously this time around.

 

Up next...no time to party too long, as we have only two days rest before traveling to Scunthorpe, in a return to League One action.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Punch

[Sonic Youth]

Uh what   

[Punch]

12 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Uh what   

Crazy huh

[Punch]

JAN 2031 - Match Day 30

In the hangover of our FA Cup heroics, I have had to rest a lot of players as the extra time and shoot out took it's toll on only two days rest.

In spite of that, we still created enough chances to get a lot more out of this match, and this was a pretty disappointing result.

 

Our worst run of League form, following on from our best.

 

We have dropped out of the play off positions, but we have three games in hand over a lot of those in front of us.

We are going to need to make the most of those to be a chance of making the play offs.

 

Up next...the tough matches keep coming as MK Dons travel to The Bowl.

[Sonic Youth]

Those cup games are not helping your league form like it is your bank balance.

[Punch]

8 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Those cup games are not helping your league form like it is your bank balance.

Yep, the catch 22. Becoming a victim of our own success.

[Punch]

JAN 2031

A great month in the Cups, but a bad month in the League as we failed to win a game.

 

The analyst thinks we are still playing pretty well, and I agree, we are just lacking execution and fluency.

It has been a very stop start season, between international duty reschedules, washout reschedules, and our Cup runs causing further rescheduling, our games are all over the place and we are getting a lot of games thrown together.

 

Plenty of work to do, but a few games in hand to try and make it up.

 

A brilliant month financially somewhat makes up for the poor League performances.

[Punch]

JAN 2013 - continued

 

Goal Scoring Goalkeepers

Jordan Jack still putting in great performances despite growing rumblings about replacing him with Foggarty, who has also played well in the Pizza Cup matches.

 

Foggarty got himself on the scoresheet for his 2nd goal of the year.

 

Jordan Jack scored both of his opportunities from the spot this month,

 

Jack now has 9 goals for the season, and 97 for his career.

Foggarty now has 2 for the season and 4 career goals.

 

Another busy month in the League and a Pizza Cup Quarter Final.

[Punch]

FEB 2031 - Match Day 31

A tight game against a play off position opponent and we finally turned some of our luck around.

We done enough to win the game, but it was good to see us grind out a win against quality opposition.

 

The win keeps us in touch with the top 6.

 

Up next...we might finally get to play our twice postponed game against Millwall at The Bowl.

[Punch]

FEB 2031 - Match Day 32

A really disappointing result as we had our chances, but failed to execute against a MIllwall side that showed more desperation than us.

 

This one hurts even more as it was one of our make up games, with no one else playing a win would have taken us to 5th, instead we stay 7th, outside the play off zone, and in the chasing pack.

 

Up next...they just keep rolling with another big match against 9th placed Southend at The Bowl.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

FEB 2031 - Match Day 33

This was a tough, hard fought match, with few chances for either side, so it's pleasing that we managed to hang on for the win.

 

The win propelled us back inside the top 6, but there is only one win between 4th and 8th.

 

Up next...the kids are off to play again in the Pizza Cup Quarter Final away to Man U U23s

[Punch]

FEB 2031 - Papa Johns Trophy Quarter Final

We put in a solid performance but were not able to complete the task against a spirited Man U U23s team.

 

So ends our Pizza Cup run with our best ever performance in making the Quarter Final.

 

Up next...a massive away League game as we head to Hull.

[Punch]

FEB 2031 - Match Day 34

Was always going to be a tough match against 2nd place Hull, and the mission was made harder when we were reduced to 10 men just after half time.

We still gave them a good run for their money but they finally killed the game off as fatigue started to set in at the back end of the game.

 

So tight is the table that a loss dropped us from 5th to 8th.

 

Up next...we are back at The Bowl to take on 22nd place Cambridge.

[Punch]

FA Youth Cup

Our U18s squad, who are the defending FA Youth Cup Champions, are up to their old tricks again, winning through to the semi finals, after defeating Tottenham, who we beat in last years final in the 6th Round.

 

The future for this club is looking strong.

[Punch]

FEB 2031 - Match Day 35

A monster day at The Bowl as we put 6 passed Cambridge, with Richard Paterson scoring a hat-trick, and Jordan Jack scoring a brace.

 

A win takes us back to 5th place. This is going to be an action packed run to the line.

 

Up next...Another tough match up as we head to Plymouth.

[Punch]

Goal Scoring Goalkeeper

 

Jordan Jack Reaches 100 career goals.

 

 

Jordan Jack scored a brace in our latest match against Cambridge, to take his career total to the magical century mark.

 

Goal 99, his 76th career penalty freezes the opposing keeper.

 

And then an absolute stunner for his 24th career free kick, to bring up the century.

 

12 goals for the season has brought him to the magical 100 mark.

[Sonic Youth]

100 goals reach! Now you’ve got decisions to make with your keepers 

Still up and down. Though your u18’s are always up for cup runs and table topping. Maybe they should be more involved with the first team 

[Punch]

7 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

100 goals reach! Now you’ve got decisions to make with your keepers 

Still up and down. Though your u18’s are always up for cup runs and table topping. Maybe they should be more involved with the first team 

I've had nochoice but to start including some of them to help cover fatigue

[Jtomsett11]

Really impressive results in the cup! Your season is also very impressive considering you're newly promoted and making no transfers. Great work!

[Punch]

1 hour ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Really impressive results in the cup! Your season is also very impressive considering you're newly promoted and making no transfers. Great work!

Thank you!

The boys are still hanging in there, showing they are at least competitive, at best comfortable in this League.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

FEB 2031 - Match Day 36

We were expecting a tough match here, and got it. But in a show of improvement, we had a tough fight away, and managed to keep them scoreless for a share of the points. This was the kind of game that we have been losing recently.

Jordan Jack again justifying my decision to keep him as number 1 with a player of the match performance.

 

We hold on to 5th, but this table is so close it's crazy.

 

Up next...March madness starts with a monster game at home to Charlton.

[Punch]

FEB 2031

A very up and down month in the League where we went win loss win loss win draw. I guess some would argue that is consistency

A month we find ourselves still in the fight for a promotion play off spot, and competing against much bigger clubs with more money and more experience.

A month in which we celebrated Jordan Jack scoring his 100th career goal, as a goal keeper.

 

The attack is still producing, but the defence slipped to the leaky side of the graph.

 

With 10 games to play, everything is still on the table.

We are only four wins from first place, but we are within 3 or 4 wins of 10 teams behind us.

 

Another great month financially as those big home crowds in The Bowl are really paying off for us.

A trip to Old Trafford in the next month should help as well.

 

A slightly quieter month in March might help the fatigue and a few niggles that we are carrying, but a monster clash at Old Trafford is coming soon in a busy start of the month.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - Match Day 37

A really tough hit out but we came out with the 3 points in front of a full house at The Bowl.

Jordan Jack missed his first penalty for 3 years after hitting the post, but we secured the win with a strike deep into injury time.

 

We jump to 4th, but at the moment depending on results teams are changing places from 4th to 10th.

 

Up next...another massive game as we are away to 2nd place Swindon.

[Punch]

2030-2031 Carabao Cup Review

Man City take out the Carabao Cup, while there was no recognition for our exploits, being knocked out in the 4th Round by Newcastle.

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - Match Day 38

A tough assignment away to Swindon, and they scored the only goal of a game that won't go down in history of the beautiful game.

Very few chances created, and even less taken.

 

Wycombe and Dons winning drops us to 6th, just highlighting how tight this area of the table is.

 

Up next...a huge day for the club as we head to Old Trafford to take on Man U in the FA Cup 5th Round

 

Edited January 20, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - FA Cup 5th Round

Expected to be thrashed by the bookies, and told to just go out and enjoy the experience by the scouts, we gave Man U an almighty fright in front of 63 thousand at Old Trafford.

We took an early lead before they hit back quickly, and then score two late goals to go to half time 1-3.

But in the second half our much younger guys played without fear and took it to them in their own house.

Kaine Tomlin stunned them by scoring our second goal and we gave them a nervous half hour as we rattled the woodwork twice.

But it wasn't to be and their experience seen them home and through to the next round.

 

Not much for losing, but the 1.2 million for our share of the Gate will be a massive boost to the finances.

 

So ends our best ever FA Cup run, our first trip to the 5th Round, defeating a Premier League side along the way, and taking the fight to a second.

 

Up next...back to League One action as struggling 22nd place Coventry travel to The Bowl, in what is a must win game for us.

[erikeagles]

So close against Manchester United 

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - Match Day 39

A disappointing result this one as we lead possession, shots and on target, but could not get a second goal to get the win.

 

We still hold 6th, but there is only one point separating us and 9th.

 

Up next...Doncaster travel to The Bowl.

[Punch]

33 minutes ago, erikeagles said:

So close against Manchester United 

Yes I think we give them a hell of a fright.

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - Match Day 40

Everything clicked as we put the cleaners through Doncaster, racking up five and conceding none.

 

Places remain the same as pretty much everyone won.

 

Up next...a two week break for internationals before we head to 22nd place Peterborough.

[Blarney]

That's a really tight table. Need some separation so you can breathe. 

[Punch]

4 minutes ago, Blarney said:

That's a really tight table. Need some separation so you can breathe. 

It's insane. 1st to 3rd are all on equal points, separated only by goal difference. 4th to about 13th separated by only 6 points. Not sure I've ever seen a table like it.

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - U18s League Champions

Our U18's have won their third straight League title, with 5 games to spare.

Not only are they undefeated, they have won all 23 games played.

 

Not only have they won all 23 games, they've smashed in 89 goals, a conceded only 8.

Those are some stunning numbers.

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - Youth Intake

A 5* striker, three 4.5*'s, and a few 3.5*'s.

 

Our 11th youth intake ranked by attribute score.

Seems a bit disappointing compared to our last few.

 

And this time ranked by PA.

There is some big numbers and massive potential among these kids.

 

The Top 4

Spoiler

A young striker with massive potential, and while his finishing can use some work, he has pace to burn. Looking forward to seeing how he develops.

 

An exciting looking right back who already has some good numbers and plenty of potential.

 

Awesome to see a goal keeper with big potential, even though his attributes are low, he's tall, solid, and already showing some good numbers.

 

Looks like a solid defensive intake this year as we find a central defender already showing some good numbers to go along with the potential.

 

An interesting intake this year as we have only two IoM natives in the bunch, but there is some massive potential amongst this group.

[Punch]

MAR 2031 - FA Youth Cup Semi Final

Our boys continue their winning ways in the FA Youth Cup winning the two legs against Aston Villa U18s.

 

We will face West Brom U18s over two legs to defend our title from last season.

[Punch]

MAR 2031

We have had 11 players called up for international duty.

 

As a result, our match against Peterborough has been postponed back to early April.