[FM 23] Recovering from Mark Ashton's mess... a Humorous Bristol City Career

[Tanzinho]

 

£42m spent on absolute rubbish, Expensive contracts in an attempt to attract players with resale value just before a complete collapse of the transfer market... It's safe to say that the David Brent of football is not remembered fondly at Ashton Gate. 

Looking to build on the work by Nigel Pearson in reducing the wage budget and stay within FFP the Bristol City board have turned to Welsh funny man Hugh Morris...

The premise of the save is to follow through on the plans outlined by big Nige by clearing the big wages from the squad, promoting youth (Conway, Scott, Semenyo etc) and picking up value from the lower leagues. 

Morris is a keen proponent of the 352 formation and will be lining up with this:

The Finances don't look too precarious at this point, but the wage bill is large and imbalanced:

 

First thing's first- get the diminutive Jay Dasilva out... (This is a personal vendetta...)

 

 

The key to the early part of this save will be to raise funds and wages to be able to tinker around the edges of the squad. The early shortlist of players to bring in include Mehmeti, Ogbene, Assal and Terry Taylor. But until somebody clears off and we can sell Han Noah Massengo it could well be go with what we have...

 

[Tanzinho]

£13k of his £25k off the wage budget... Not ideal to pay £11k a week for the season for him to play elsewhere, but needs must.

 

He's gone. Looking forward to setting our right back to "tackle harder" come the QPR match. (This hatred is irrational, I'm not even sure where it comes from by the way... )

And now the big news, a bunch of wriggle room achieved. Thanks Brighton.

 

 

 

And this is how we've spent the first part of the money earned. Pace and potential is the order of the day. We desperately need one more centre half before the window closes to capitalise on a solid start to the seaon

[Tanzinho]

And here is the start and pre-season results-

A poor pre-season, but they usually are. Plenty of rotation and tinkering with the tactics.

The season got off to the worst possible start when newly appointed captain Matty James was sent off 5 minutes into the opening game against Hull for a "vicious foul" but we followed up with a dominant display against Sunderland where the scoreline flattered them. 

A last minute equalizer forced the cup game to Pens (A rarity for Bristol City... https://www.bristolcitypenalty.co.uk/

Ogbene then hit a purple patch up front, scoring 3 in 2 games in wins over Wigan and Luton before a late Andi Weimann goal gave us a win in the severnside derby.

Norwich look strong (You'd think with that squad...) but the start has given us hope of a play off berth come the season end

 

 

 

[Tanzinho]

The window comes to an end with 3 additional recruits plus Sam Curtis signing in Jan. Hughes is a man mountain and Godwin-Malife gives us cover at RCB. Assal one for the future and gives us the option of reverting to a winger formation from the bench should we need to change shape.

Out of the cup but to be honest who cares about that at this level. A good FA Cup run later in the season would be nice however.

A drab 0-0 with Blackpool with some rotation in the side- It did answer some questions about our back ups though, so we know how much change we can make each game.

A massive last minute penalty (YES, PENALTY) win's the home game with Preston. I was surprised Kal knew what to do when it was awarded 

The Norwich game was an absolute spectacle. Peacock-Farrell was incredible as Pukki couldn't beat him and Semenyo's first game back after a long lay off results in a late winner. Scenes.

A last minute equalizer for Burnley broke our hearts away at Turf Moor, but on the balance of play Ogbene's brace was pretty much all we created and we didn't deserve all 3

and finally a 2 minute double salvo from super sub Semenyo lifted us from the jaws of defeat. A missed pen in the 65th minute had me feeling it really wouldn't be our day. Special mention to Hughes here who won absolutely everything at the back and pocketed Brereton-Diaz all game. Monster.

League table after 10. Striking distance. We need to score a bit more to keep this run going, Feels like a false position at the moment.

Ashton Gate is rocking to the tune of big Hugh.

[deltablue]

Hopefully you can keep up the promotion challenge.

[Tanzinho]

18 hours ago, deltablue said:

Hopefully you can keep up the promotion challenge.

Thanks!

And apologies for Ashton. It's sad to see another scattergun recruitment plan is in full flow for you! Finger's crossed you can get up before the FFP ramifications of that approach hit home as they have done at Ashton Gate...

[Tanzinho]

 

The good form continued over the last block of 5, although two draws in succession did hurt our challenge to Norwich, who are flying. Not much to report from this (Mainly because it was a couple of days ago and I don't remember!!)

 

[Tanzinho]

 

We head to the world cup break top of the league after a brilliant 5 game stretch is ruined by a truly shambolic display against Boro. The 5-0 away to Reading was a joy to watch and Ogbene is ALREADY being linked with a move away- Powerhouse.

[Tanzinho]

 

Well I told a lie, It wasn't the last game before the break but we absolutely battered Watford to sign off in style. Mehmeti's goal was absolutely out of this world. 

 

Croatia won the World Cup and we came back to the worst hangover ever- This is probably my fault- We went on holiday when we probably should have organised a couple of friendlies to keep everyone fresh. Lesson learned on that front. 

Scott scored a wondergoal in front of Eddie Howe (Hands off!) to salvage a point at struggling Rotherham and then a horror show at home to Stoke. We just didn't get out of first gear and nothing I did had any impact. Felt like one of those games that it was destiny for us to lose.

Good come back against the Baggies, Ogbene continues to bang them in and then a totally dominant 2-0 at The Den, arguably should have been 4 or 5.

You'll notice a points deduction for Birmingham as they enter administration, which is well timed ahead of January and opportunity to add some flair to our squad....

[Tanzinho]

JANUARY WINDOW UPDATE

 

As hinted, we take advantage of Birmingham's precarious financial situation by bringing in the talented and versatile Tatith Chong

Some Midfield cover and leadership in George Dobson

 

Try as we might, we just couldn't get Wells off the wage bill, so a saving of £250k by mutually terminating makes sense...

 

and we bring in Joe Gelhardt as his replacement on Loan, He'll expect to play but likely to be a sub option...

 

And to round off a really exciting window we add one more midfielder in Glen Kamara on Loan from Rangers. A technical player he should slot in to the Regista spot nicely along with Matty James. 

A good window, now we push for that elusive promotion

[Tanzinho]

One final pick up on deadline day after receiving an offer we just couldn't refuse for Andi Weimann...

 

Considering the signing of Gelhardt and the form of Ogbene and Semenyo, We make a choice based as much in "sh*thousery" as in squad building. Matty Taylor was the original snake but now the advertising hoardings around Bristol are adorned with...

WELCOME TO BRISTOL 

 

He's average, but if it winds up the Horse Punchers down the road (Link) then it's the best £300k (All the best transfers from them are for that paltry sum) we'll spend this entire save.

 

FTG.

[Tanzinho]

 

Big draw! Flash backs to "Still life in this perhaps for Bristol City, in by Taylor... IT'S SMITHHHHHHHH"

 

 

Penalties galore, proof if ever it was needed that this game is very unrealistic. Naismith bags 5(4 from the spot) over the course of the month and we knock out BOTH of our friends from over the bridge in the Cup. Finally getting some rewards in the goals for column too. 

Joe Gelhardt LOVES  a late goal off the bench too!

 

Next up, Norwich in a game we need to knick all three to keep our hopes of a title alive. 

[karanhsingh]

Lovely stuff so far, the penalty bit is hilarious, I heard about the website on an Athletic podcast last week.

[Tanzinho]

On 02/02/2023 at 17:58, karanhsingh said:

Lovely stuff so far, the penalty bit is hilarious, I heard about the website on an Athletic podcast last week.

It's been anything but hilarious! I've never seen anything like it. What's most amazing is we've had about 15 really stonewall pens turned down in that period...

[Tanzinho]

A HUGE win against Norwich with a last minute goal from Antoine. We huffed and puffed all game and I really did think it was going to be "one of those days". It took us level on points with them but they're so good, we know we can barely afford to drop another point this season if we want to knick the title...

Another late goal to seal the win against Wigan, Alex Scott with another banger from distance.

More comfortable against Sunderland with Kamara scoring a corker

and then to quote the Bristolian lady from the meme "ANOTHER ONE" as Gelhardt bangs in yet another late goal to seal the deal against Hull

The cup game was a horrible watch. We just didn't get close to them. If we get up then we are going to need a couple of good runs to keep ourselves away from danger as the step up feels massive. Okoroji's goal was majestic though, edge of the box curler past De Gea

And the "no dropped points" concept withered away at Cardiff. Abysmal showing, hungover from the cup defeat we just could not string a pass together. Need Norwich to slip up now.

 

9 points clear of Watford feels like a pretty good buffer, but we've barely had a patch of bad form this season, so who knows. Playoffs look certain now, which is a massive thing for us regardless.

Cardiff and Swansea look in deep doo doo. Good. 

[karanhsingh]

34 minutes ago, Tanzinho said:

It's been anything but hilarious! I've never seen anything like it. What's most amazing is we've had about 15 really stonewall pens turned down in that period...

I guess the refs just want to see how long they can keep taking the p*ss at this point 

[Tanzinho]

IT'S IN OUR HANDS!

Norwich slip up by drawing 4 in their last 6 whilst we only drop points in two poor Desmonds.

We come back with a bang after looking like we couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo for most of the month with 10 goals in two games, The Boro game was just one of those where everything we touched turned to goals including a Scott wonder goal after 31 seconds!

The final push is on and rather fortuitously, Teemu Pukki is out for a year after doing his cruciate. Never a nice thing, but it feels like the gods are smiling down on us now! 

 

Next up a massive test away to 3rd place Watford. We don't have a kind run in with Sheff U, Burnley and QPR, only Rotherham is supposedly easy and they just took a point at Norwich.

One. More. Push.

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Tanzinho

[Tanzinho]

 

 

COYR

[Tanzinho]

 

It's DONE. An incredible run to finish the season with goals aplenty and Norwich just couldn't stop drawing!

Sheff U should have been much more comfortable in truth, we brought on some fresh legs at 3-1 and almost let them back in, 4-0 up after 36 minutes against Rotherham eased all our concerns and nerves and we claimed the title with a clean sheet against Burnley- We arguably should have won that one too.

And with the title wrapped up we gave some fringe players a game and Andy King got his final appearance- Will be offering him a full time coaching role to keep him with me.

 

109 points, 99 goals and the Welsh both relegated. If Carlsberg did seasons....

[Tanzinho]

Some end of season awards...

 

Carrick wins manager of the year, which is an absolute travesty.

 

 

[Tanzinho]

Transfer Window

Some solid investment in the squad over the summer, with key additions along the spine of the team. 

Cooper will offer height and compete with Hughes for the central CB role. He's clearly an improvement, but Hughes has first dig at it as he was a colossus in our promotion season.

Rose gives us another option at RCB with Godwin. Similar scenario to that described above. We've also brought in Jake O'Brien, a move sorted in January. He'll go out on loan and probably won't make it here, but another with height, which I like.

We bring in Brereton Diaz and Gyorkes from the champ to boost our front line and I just couldn't resist bringing Bobby back to the Gate- He'll provide a good and versatile option.

Nyambe at RB is a quality addition.

Vadis is experienced and very good technically and he will support both Kamara, who's loan is made permanant and Levitt in midfield along with Scott and Mehmeti.

And finally we bring in Mike Cooper to fight with Peacock-Farrell. Good keeper, but P-F is better on the ball so we will see.

 

We make reasonable money on Joe Williams and Matty James and use the loan market to keep some of those we invested in last season fresh and developing.

 

No Loans, we will keep them handy for January.

[Tanzinho]

Previous post edited as the game crashed and I lost the Chelsea defeat- One moment of luck in a truly horrendous start. Gulp.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Tanzinho

[Tanzinho]

 

WE ARE BACK. 

Unbeaten month and progress in the cup against the cheats. Unreal. 

 

The football has been mixed, but objective number one is remaining in the division for another season. Safe to say Boro are in a bit of bother...

[Tanzinho]

Here we go, we've got the football going a bit and if we could defend a bit better late in game's we'd have 4 more points after a late equalizer from Norwich and a late winner for Leicester.

Huge win against Newcastle- totally dominant- Was worried about Gyokeres after the first 5, but he's flying now.