[FM22] Colchester United youth academy challenge.

[Captain Blackadder]

On 24/05/2022 at 11:25, Steve Bruce Cabbage said:

Been following this one for a bit. I’ve never thought of doing a youth only save but this has definitely got me interested, seems equal parts frustrating and enjoyable. A good platform to build on just missing out on playoffs! And the team can only get better you’d think. 
 

It’s a shame 2/3 of the best in the last intake have low determination though. 

I'd never done one before this one either and as long as the club has a decent academy it's very fun but incredibly frustrating at the same time. Normally in saves when you fall short you know that with just a few signings and you can get out of the division easily but can't doing this. You're right the team does get better but not getting promoted means bigger teams come in and sometimes you have to let players go and then you have to start all over again developing their replacement.

[Captain Blackadder]

2024-25 Season Preview

Transfers

Thankfully for the most part it was a quiet window in terms of interest for our players. The only major outgoing is Maxwell O'Nien who leaves for QPR for a fee of £450k which is our biggest transfer fee yet. That also takes our total academy player sales up to £1.265 Million which for a League 2 side in 4 years is very good. Apart from that the rest of the outgoings are younger players going out on loan.

There's been a bit of interest for a few more players but have been able to reject bids as the players are happy to stay. Junior Tchamadeu has had interest from Burton and Forest Green, Billy Cracknell from Blackpool and Frankie Terry from Peterborough. Martin Okyere has got interest from Bristol City, Blackburn and West Brom but unless a huge offer comes in i'm not letting him go

Squad

So there's a few changes with a few players going out on loan and some have come back. Endurance Johnson comes back from Tonbridge and Scott Murray goes on loan there to replace him.

Center back is a big issue as Namory Kane has gone and no good defenders are coming through the youth system. Bradley Chakawa will replace him as a starter and Graziano Cocola comes up from the youth team to provide depth. 

Sam Cornish returns after 2 seasons on loan to replace the departing Maxwell O'Nien and Simon Roger Ndongala and Eric Petrie have both gone on loan for this season. Warren Oates replaces them to add depth.

And at the top end of the pitch Dale Rockall-Genovese and Mo Shepard are promoted from the youth team to replace Dion Lester who went to Stoke.

Tactics

So this is the tactic that stopped our awful run of form in November of last season. I'm torn on this as 433 has in the past been a tactic that can break the match engine but as far as i'm aware that stopped a couple of years ago. I tried it as i was so desperate for goals and even playing a system like that i only scored 2 or 3 goals at most in a match and even that didn't happen every match.

Ted Collins enters his 4th season as our number 1 and i'm relying on him to be as dependable as ever. Junior Tchamadeu was phenomenal last season getting 9 assists and was the clubs player of the season, can he get double figure assists this time round though. Ryan Clampin was surprisingly disappointing last season so i expect better from him this season. After spending 3 years as backup Bradley Chakawa finally gets his chance replacing Namory Kane, Frankie Terry will continue as captain at the heart of the defence.

It's a big season for Noah Chilvers, he was mainly a squad player last season but comes in to replace Maxwell O'Nien and will play a pivotal role keeping things ticking in midfield. Donell Thomas was fantastic last season dictating play and now has Chilvers next to him to help maintain control in the midfield. Martin Okyere had a very good first season of senior football and now has cemented a starting place, i'm predicting a massive breakout season from him to justify the interest from the Championship.

Jake Hutchinson seems to finally have clicked returning 18 goals last season, the bookies have him 2nd in the golden boot race so another big season is predicted of him. James Williams like Okyere had a good first season last season and now has a regular place, he will play a big role linking the midfield and attack and should get a good number of assists this season. Tom Stagg was recalled from Yeovil in January after a very good spell and came back for the second half of last season returning 11 goals in 13 start. Here's hoping for similar this time round to ease the scoring burden for Hutchinson and hopefully one of them can hit 20 goals this season.

Season Expectations

If anything the first 3 seasons should have taught me not to get carried away because anytime i do i end up disappointed. I'm slightly hopeful this season though as it seems like i finally have some players capable of scoring. Hutchinson got 18 goals last season and Stagg got 11 in half a season, they always say you need a 20 goal striker to challenge for titles. Hopefully one of them can hit 20, if both can get close to 20 and my defence stays solid then there's no reason i can't be in the play offs at least. I say that every season though and they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. But i've missed out on the play offs on the final day every season so far, something has to change this time right?

[Captain Blackadder]

August

All in all a mixed bag to start with so far as it seems Namory Kane's departure has weakened our defence. Bradley Chakawa has the task of stepping up to replace him and being honest he's going to need a bit of time to make the position his own.

First match against Port Vale, well at least our matches our never boring, a 5-4 loss where being honest neither side could defend for toffee. Despite the scoreline we were good against Swansea in the cup and went toe to toe with them for most of the match before a late flurry from them. A good performance and win against Morecambe, a bad performance but still a win against Sutton. And a very good performance against Harrogate and i still don't know how it was only a draw.

New season same old position, mid table and not far from the play offs. Joking aside based on our start it's about right since we were very good in some matches and bad in others.

Late Transfer

When i made my previous post i wasn't expecting any more outgoings but unfortunately there was a late deal. In order to get Junior Tchamadeu to sign a new contract i had to include a £350k release clause and for most of the summer bids have only been about £100k. So i thought we were ok until January at least, the Burton came in on deadline day and matched the release clause. Nothing i could do and off he went for £350k taking our academy sales so far now up to £1.615 million.

[Steve Bruce Cabbage]

Solid start to the season! Always seems to be something going on when you face Port Vale 

[Captain Blackadder]

September

A good start to the month with a fairly routine win over Watford U'23s followed by a loss to Bristol Rovers where we really didn't play well. Then another loss to Scunthorpe which i've got no idea how as they were battered but conceded from two massive defensive errors. Defensively we were still leaky against Accrington but managed to escape with a win and the month ended with a comfortable win against Barrow.

The departure of Junior Tchamadeu has really hit the team hard as with Namory Kane gone as well half of our established defence is no longer here and the replacements aren't as good. We've been very shaky defensively this month which i hope will improve by giving the replacements more game time giving them the opportunity to get better. I replaced Tchamadeu with young winger Conor Gallagher who came through in last years youth intake and i'm looking to retrain him as an attacking full back. He's done well so far. he's started one match and come on as a sub a couple of times and already has 2 assists, defensively he's not great but that's to be expected.

For the first time in a while we find ourselves in a play off spot which usually means we'll screw up at some point as we can never seem to stay there. Fingers crossed though and we're only 3 points off the automatic promotion places but also 3 points from 16th.

[Captain Blackadder]

October

A very good month with some very impressive performances as well. The month started with a draw against MK Dons which i'll take because they have some real talent in their squad. That was followed by a loss to Wimbledon in the cup where we probable should have won, then a fantastic win against Stockport. A draw against Chesterfield which was a fair result and another brilliant performance and win against Rochdale.

First choice center back pairing Bradley Chakawa and Frankie Terry were both unavailable against Tranmere and the result showed why we need some good defenders in the next youth intake as we are terrible without them. The month ended with a win against Crawley where the scoreline doesn't reflect how dominant we were.

So a very good month and now the table looks really interesting, we've never been this high and i think i'm getting vertigo!!! The season is still early but the signs so far are very promising as we've put in some cracking performances and results.

[Captain Blackadder]

November

We started the month in scintillating form with dominant victories over Newport and Bradford, we were riding the crest of the wave, we thought nothing could stop us then....

Complete and utter embarrassment, we lost to non league Basford in the cup, i don't even know what division they're in they're that bad. In the last few versions of the game i don't think i've won a single cup tie against non league opposition. It's gotten to the point i'd rather face a fellow League 2 side or even a League 1 side than face a team below the Vanarama North/South as i know we'll get turned over.

Thankfully we bounced back with a win against Portsmouth to guarantee qualification from the Papa John's trophy to ensure progress from the first round of a competition for 3 seasons. What followed was a match against Swindon where rather than talk about it i'll post a screenshot below so you can see for yourselves. Then a great win against Doncaster and two boring draws against Northampton and Grimsby to finish the month.

We're right in the promotion race being only a few points off the automatic promotion places, but any complacency could see us fall out of the play offs.

Swindon Match

I genuinely don't know what to say about this match and i'm sure pretty much everyone has had one of these matches happen to them as well. We got well and truly Football Manager'd, even worse was they went down to 10 men so early on in the game which just makes it even more embarrassing. 

[Steve Bruce Cabbage]

Great form in the league so far. That Swindon match makes me feel ill, good recovery though. Is it time to start dreaming?! 

[Captain Blackadder]

On 07/06/2022 at 13:39, Steve Bruce Cabbage said:

Great form in the league so far. That Swindon match makes me feel ill, good recovery though. Is it time to start dreaming?! 

Tell me about it, i think we hit the woodwork 5 or 6 times as well, it gets to the point where despite the dominance you get that feeling you're going to get sucker punched at some point and we did.

[Captain Blackadder]

December

December started with a thrashing by Chelsea U'23s in the cup, when they start players like Levi Colwill, Yusuf Demir and Rayan Cherki i'm not really going to complain about the result. Then a narrow win against Cheltenham followed by brilliant wins against Salford and Woking and momentum was starting to build again. An easy win against Woking and the month finished being on the wrong end of another thrashing this time by MK Dons.

We couldn't could we? Bristol Rovers were flying and were nearly 10 points clear for most of the season, but they've faltered and teams have taken advantage. We were 2 points off 1st when we played MK Dons so that defeat stings a bit knowing we'd be right at the top instead of 5 points behind. I'm hopeful because when we're good no team in the division can stop us as our results over the last few months have proven. We can hit 3 goals in a match fairly easily on current form and as long as we stay tight at the back and don't lose momentum maybe we can dare to dream.

[ForzaItalia]

Just caught up with this, what a brilliant idea for a save! Fingers crossed for promotion.

[Captain Blackadder]

January

There were a few tricky fixtures this month with some good teams so i'm happy to come out the other side relatively unscathed. Starting against Stockport were the game was 2-2 until we found two late goals to make the scoreline look more comfortable than it was. Next was a very cagey 0-0 against fellow high flyers Rochdale and a narrow win against Chesterfield. Then another tight game against Tranmere but managed to get the win and a 1-0 win against Crawley but was fairly easy and should have won by more.

After the Crawley game we went top of the league for the first time this season and up next was second place Bristol Rovers and a win would have sent us clear at the top. But what followed was a very poor performance resulting in a 2-1 loss but to be honest we could have been thrashed, we seem to put these types of performances whenever we have the chance to move into play off or promotion contention. 

On the transfer front thankfully it was a quiet window with the only player in demand being Martin Okyere. Both Nottingham Forest and Swansea spent most of the window upping their bids which in the end got to nearly £350k but was able to keep hold of him. But in order to keep him i had to promise him promotion this season otherwise he's off for good in the summer. Apart from that Warren Oates and Sam Cornish went on loan and Ty Calver and Simon Roger Ndongala both did well on loan so are recalled to replace them.

 

As i said heading into the Bristol Rovers game we were top so that loss has put us back in 2nd place, shame since we could have gone clear with a win. But still a good position to be in entering the final third of the season. With only 6 points separating 1st and 6th we can't afford to slip up, good news though is we've got a good points gap to the teams outside the play offs so we're in a good position to get at least a play off spot this season.

[Captain Blackadder]

February

A good month results wise but boy are the nerves starting to show in some of these matches. We started with a good win against Scunthorpe and then a win against Accrington where the scoreline flattered us hugely thanks mainly to 2 late goals to ease the nerves. 

After the Accrington game we went top and like the Bristol Rovers match the second we went into 1st we play awful and surrender the lead, this time it was a 2-2 against Barrow. It seems to be a running theme any time throughout the entire save anytime we move into either the play offs or promotion contention we mess up and can't take advantage. It seems this team prefer to be the chaser rather than be the ones being chased, something that maybe needs to be worked on.

The second we surrendered 1st place we put in another emphatic victory against Newport which once again put us top thanks to Bristol Rovers messing up so you know what's coming next. Yep another truly dreadful performance and more dropped points with a 2-2 draw against Bradford meaning we surrendered top spot for the third time this season only one match after taking 1st place.

The good news is we've pulled away a little from the rest of the play off contenders so that's a nice cushion to have. But it is incredibly frustrating being constantly unable to take advantage of other teams messing up and putting us top and we just give it straight back. The league is there for the taking as Bristol Rovers keep faltering but we need to take advantage and keep our composure once we get into 1st. With 10 games to go i think it's safe to say we've got a play off spot at least this season but after spending the last few months in the top 3 we need to keep going and get over the finish line.

[Steve Bruce Cabbage]

What a season! The good times keep rolling for now… let’s hope the youngsters can keep their nerve in the run in. Great job 

[Captain Blackadder]

2024-25 Youth Intake

Jamal Atherton

The most talented player to come through this years intake is goalkeeper Jamal Atherton. I'll be honest i didn't really need another quality keeper since i already have Ted Collins as our established number 1 and Scott Murray came through a couple of seasons ago. But still he might come in handy should Ted Collins decide he wants to leave at some point. 

Renaldo Allinson

Like the goalkeeping situation i didn't really need another ball winning midfielder after getting Ty Calver and Simon Roger Ndongala in previous intakes. But again he could come in handy as a squad option should key players depart at some point.

Mike Fry

Another central midfielder, he seems to have good passing and work rate and could be a good box to box midfielder.

Michael Dunne

A decent pressing forward with good heading means Michael Dunne means he could end up being a valuable deputy to Jake Hutchinson and Tom Stagg.

Gary Baptiste

Gary Baptiste is supposedly an inverted wing back but i don't see anything to suggest he'd be a good one. I've got no idea what his best position might actually be and i doubt i'll really have any need for him

Final Thoughts

Despite it being called a "Golden Generation" i've got to be honest i'm extremely disappointed with this years intake in comparison to the last few years. In previous years we've had players like Dion Lester, James Williams, Martin Okyere and Mo Shepard who all had quality attributes and i knew they'd be key for us. There's a clear lack of obvious talent this year summarized by the best player being a goalkeeper and all outfield players mediocre at best.

One thing that has been sorely lacking in every intake so far though has been good defenders, both center back and full back. There hasn't been a single quality player come through in those positions, the best being adequate back ups at the most. Bradley Chakawa and Frankie Terry are the only two good center backs at the club and if one was to be sold i would be completely screwed. Likewise at full back Billy Cracknell and Ryan Clampin are undisputed first choice, Rhys Robinson has been good back up at right back and Connor Gallagher who is a winger has been phenomenal as a make shift left back.

The success of Gallagher and lack of good defensive youth intake options means i'll be looking to retrain some of our midfielders into defenders. Ty Calver, Simon Roger Ndongala and Renaldo Allinson will be retrained into center backs and even if only one of them properly adjusts that'll be good enough for me. I'll evaluate which wingers i feel can become full backs but Gallagher's progress shows that wingers can become very good attacking full backs.  

[Captain Blackadder]

March

We're entering squeaky bum time as the league is rapidly approaching it's end and i'm getting genuinely nervous as i'm quite invested in this save considering the work that's gone into it. After two 3-3 draws against Swindon and Doncaster i was getting an awful feeling that we were going to throw all our hard work away as we were unbelievably shaky at the back, evidenced by conceding six goals in two games.

We thankfully tightened up after that keeping three clean sheets in a row starting with a 2-0 win against Morecambe. Then we went up against our nemesis Port Vale and came away with a 2-0 win, i didn't screenshot what happened as Port Vale calmed down a lot from our previous encounters, just the 5 yellow cards for them this time. The month finished with a very narrow 1-0 win against Harrogate which has now taken us top with 5 games to go and makes things very interesting.

So we've now taken top spot for only the fourth time this season, but with five games to go can we finally keep our nerve and see out the remaining fixtures and win the title. We've guaranteed a play off spot at least and with a five point lead on 4th place Rochdale we've got a bit of breathing room on the automatic promotion side of things. But only two points separate the top three which means any one of either us, Salford or Bristol Rovers could win the title, Rochdale could as well but i'd require a big capitulation from us to do so.

[Captain Blackadder]

April+May

So in the previous post we'd just taken top spot again and normally that would mean a bad result to then surrender the lead again. Well it happened again in catastrophic fashion, two utterly appalling performances and losses against Sutton and Cheltenham not only lost us 1st place, it took us all the way down to 4th. The performances were so bad i thought we'd completely blown our chance at promotion and up next was fellow promotion contender Salford and anything but a win would have pretty much confined us to a play off spot. The game wasn't pretty but we managed to grind out a 1-0 to put us in 2nd with two games remaining which put our fate back in our own hands.

Going into the Northampton game we could go up with a win and other results going our way, well we won and boy did results go our way. Bristol Rovers, Salford and Rochdale all dropped points meaning we not only guaranteed promotion we also went back into 1st place heading into the final day of the season.

So for the Woking match we were already promoted and knew if we won we'd also win the title, but any time we get into 1st we drop points so i was worried that would happen again. Fortunately though we held our nerve and won fairly easily and we have been promoted from League 2 as CHAMPIONS!!!!

  

And there it is, the end of a grueling campaign which has ended in glory for us and ends the clubs nine year stay in League 2. It's also the clubs first trophy since 2006 when Colchester won the League 1 title to gain promotion to the Championship. It was a fantastic season and many players put in the season of their careers which i'll cover in my next post as a general season review. 

[Steve Bruce Cabbage]

Hard work pays off, well done on the promotion, looking forward to seeing how they cope in league one! 

[Brooklyn Jensen]

Congrats on the promotion and league win mate! 

[Captain Blackadder]

2024-25 Season Review

In goal Ted Collins was shakier than what we've come to expect from him in the last couple of seasons and had some absolute howlers. At the end of the day it didn't matter as we got promoted anyway but if he does that in League 1 he'll make things difficult for us. He was out for 6 weeks in the middle of the season so back up Endurance Johnson came in and did extremely well keeping 3 clean sheets in his 7 appearances.

At right back Billy Cracknell was dependable as ever and even got 5 assists this season, Rhys Robinson was his back up and filled in when Cracknell was injured or tired and was a fantastic stand in and got a couple of assists himself. At left back Ryan Clampin was absolutely incredible this season, the attacking threat he offered was insane getting 5 goals and 11 assists. Conor Gallagher was Clampin's back up at left back and is being retrained there as he is naturally a winger but seems a natural as an attacking full back getting 5 assists to his name. Bradley Chakawa had big shoes to fill replacing Namory Kane, he did really struggle in the beginning but really found his feet at the heart of the defence and got 4 goals this season as well. Club captain Frankie Terry was as reliable as ever and his leadership proved valuable leading us to the title. Graziano Cocola and Scott Stephens were pretty poor serving as back ups to Chakawa and Terry but there really isn't anyone else better to deputize.

Ty Calver and Simon Roger Ndongala were both recalled from loans in January to provide depth and didn't really play much although i'm trying to retrain them as center backs to provide better options than Cocola and Stephens. Noah Chilvers has been underwhelming in the last couple of seasons but stepped up and provided 6 goals and 15 assists in the center of midfield and dictated the midfield excellently. Donell Thomas like Chilvers both had the technical ability to dominate matches in midfield this season and even managed to get 4 goals and assists as well. Martin Okyere was a work horse this season covering so much ground and was an attacking threat as well getting 8 assists justifying interest from Nottingham Forest in January. Taizo Marcel provided excellent depth both in midfield and forward areas this season and even chipped in with 5 goals and assists although his development has stalled. Mo Shepherd had an adequate first season at senior level, i was disappointed in him as i expected more although to be fair to him he didn't really get a regular run in the team to find form, maybe next season if players get snapped up by bigger clubs.

I said i needed a 20 goal a season striker to get out of the division and guess what, i got 2. Jake Hutchinson and Tom Stagg were utterly brilliant leading the line and fired us into League 1, they still can't score with their feet but in the air the big galoots are unstoppable. Ellis Emptage was mainly a back up this season but was a phenomenal super sub with his late goals gaining valuable points for us. He was back up to James Williams who recorded 13 goals and 5 assists and was our main creative attacking outlet and did so brilliantly. Dale Roakcall-Genovese didn't play much this season but still managed to get 4 goals in 9 starts, he'll go on loan next season to develop.

Player Awards

So Tom Stagg got player of the year but didn't make team of the year which i feel is a bit unfair. But we dominate Team Of The Year as Billy Cracknell, Bradley Chakawa, Ryan Clampin, Noah Chilvers, Martin Okyere and Jake Hutchinson all feature. I find it bizarre that we have such a young team which dominates Team Of The Year and also win the league's Player Of The Season yet not one of my players was in the running for Young Player Of The Season.

As far as preparations for League 1 go it's an odd experience as when you move up a division you naturally look to sign players to strengthen the team so they can compete in the higher division. But here many of my players are in demand and there's a possibility i go into League 1 with a weaker team than the team that got promoted, i hope i can keep them but we'll see. The two biggest players in demand right now are Martin Okyere and Ellis Emptage who are both wanted by over 10 teams in the Championship so that'll be a battle to keep hold of them.

[Captain Blackadder]

2025-26 Season Preview

Transfers

Thankfully it's been a quiet window with the only major departure is Ellis Emptage who sparked a bidding war from pretty much half of the Championship. In the end though he went to Blackburn for a fee of £325k which now takes total academy sales up to £1.94 million. The rest of the transfers are just players heading out on loan to get some experience.

Sam Cornish, Endurance Johnson, Al-Amin Kazeem and Kai Redgrave are all players who've played games for us at various points in this save but have all been released as they haven't developed as hoped and are no longer good enough.

Squad

There's been a few changes to the squad ahead of this season although it's mostly depth and squad players as i've managed to keep hold of most of our best players. Goalkeeper Endurance Johnson was out of contract and signed a new one so he's been released and is replaced by Jamal Atherton.

At center back Graziano Cocola has gone out on loan and Renaldo Allinson has impressed in pre season being retrained as a center back so he becomes 3rd choice ahead of Scott Stephens. 

In midfield Simon Roger Ndongala has gone on loan and is replaced by Ryan Lowe who has come back from a loan spell at Kidderminster. 

And lastly in attack Warren Oates returns from a loan at Braintree to replace Ellis Emptage and Michael Dunne is promoted to replace Dale Rockall-Genovese who has gone on loan to Oxford City for the season.

Tactics

I'm going to be using the same tactics as last season and i've been able to keep hold of our starting 11 so i don't need to go through any changes as there are none.

As far as expectations go for this season i think the main goal is to stay up and hopefully maybe push higher up towards mid table. Although if our pre season form is anything to go by we're heading for a record low points tally. We've largely played teams in League 2 and the National League and didn't win a single match and only scored twice. Particularly bad results were losing 3-0 to Crawley in League 2 and an absolutely terrible 5-0 loss with a full strength team to Cambridge who are in the National League. Let's hope though that it's just a blip and we'll be back to our usual selves once the season starts.

[Captain Blackadder]

August

New season, new division and new optimism of what might be in the coming season, pre season wasn't great but i don't really think that matters too much. The season opened with an away trip to Lincoln where it was a tight game and we came away with a narrow 2-1 loss. Then i played my second string team in the cup against Bristol Rovers to give them some minutes which didn't go well so we'll move swiftly on. Up next was Leyton Orient where we dominated but got hit with a late equalizer at the end, these are the type of matches we need to win as every point won or lost could be vital this season.

In the next match we face neighbors Ipswich in the Scrappy Doo derby. By that i mean Colchester are just like Scrappy Doo, they see Ipswich as rivals whereas all Ipswich see is an adorable harmless little puppy who's no threat at all. Except this time Ipswich didn't realize little Scrappy had brought a chainsaw to the fight, a valiant effort and a fantastic 2-2 draw for plucky little Colchester. The month finished in style as we pick up our first win of the season defeating Carlisle 3-2 in a match where the scoreline was closer than the stats suggested.

An excellent start all things considered but it's too early to really judge how we'll do as we're still only 2 points from the relegation zone. It seems our home games will be huge for us and we need to pick up as many points as we can there and try and steal a few points away from home as well. 

[Steve Bruce Cabbage]

Good transfer window keeping hold the team and a great start to the season all things considered. 
 

Love the term scrappy doo derby 

[Captain Blackadder]

September

So at the start of the month starting goalkeeper Ted Collins was ruled out for a few weeks with an injury meaning rookie Jamal Atherton would be stepping into the No.1 spot for the time being and i was dreading it thinking he wasn't ready but boy was i wrong. Four clean sheets in a row and we look so much more secure with him in goal as Collins has been conceding a few howlers over the last year or so.

The month started with a hard fought win against Charlton in the cup and a superb 3-0 win against Wigan where the game was tighter than the scoreline suggested but Atherton was fantastic in keeping them out. Then a solid victory against Crewe and a draw versus Peterborough where Atherton kept us in it by saving a penalty. The month finished with a defeat against Gillingham where again the game was tight but they scored three sublime goals in which Atherton couldn't do anything about any of them so was unlucky in a sense. 

It's good to have healthy competition in goal and for the time being Atherton will keep the No.1 shirt as he's done nothing to warrant being dropped and unless he has a bad patch Ted Collins will have to make do on the bench.

A very good month has propelled us into the top half and very close to the play offs. Not getting carried away though as a few bad results can easily drop us down the table very quickly but it's nice to see we can get results at this level.

[Captain Blackadder]

October

Another excellent months results wise and we seem to have tightened the defence up (minus the last two matches). We started with an easy win against Shrewsbury and a draw against Plymouth in the cup. Up next was Rochdale where we were very fortunate to escape with a draw as we were completely outplayed, but normalcy resumed with another comfortable wins against Rotherham and Plymouth.

Then we went to top of the table Portsmouth, like Rochdale we were outplayed but somehow lead for most of the match. We were 2-1 up with five minutes to go then we fell apart due to two appalling defensive errors from goalkeeper Jamal Atherton which cost us the match. He'd done so well up to this point but he was so bad i put Ted Collins back in goal for the Walsall match which we won 3-2. But we were completely dominant and they scored from their only two shots on goal and Collins should have saved both shots easily. 

I'm going to go back to Atherton as our starting goalkeeper as he's so much more dependable (apart from the Portsmouth match) and i feel much more confident with him in goal. While Collins is a good keeper he's prone to a howler and every time there's a shot on goal i think he's going to mess it up, plus it seems we keep more clean sheets with Atherton in goal as well.

A good month of results has propelled us into a surprise promotion position although there are teams below with games in hand so we'll probably drop a few places when they play. But overall i'm very happy with how things are going right now and hopefully we can maintain this good form.

[Captain Blackadder]

Hey guys sorry for the lack of updates recently, i've been having issues with my laptop for a few weeks then a few days ago died completely. Got a new laptop now so will spend the next few days getting everything set up again and then hopefully some more updates will follow.

[Captain Blackadder]

Hey everyone, after getting my new laptop i wasn't able to transfer my save from the old one as the old one completely died so wasn't able to use a usb stick and stupidly didn't save to the cloud. It seems this save has run it's course unfortunately, it's a shame since i enjoyed this one massively and thanks to everyone who commented and showed interest in my save.

I'll be doing a new save with a new team, it might be another youth challenge or it might not as i haven't decided yet so hopefully i'll see you guys there as well.