[CM93/94 BARNET] 99/00 - FINAL SEASON - Barnet at the Bernabéu

[git2thachoppa]

I've played as probably the best team in the game Man Utd and covered the world and other teams.

Now, for the first time ever, I'm starting at the bottom of CM 93/94.

I've only ever played as Man Utd and Brighton, so this is new for me and the hardest possible save.

Unfortunately, it turns out all those non-league names in the 'pick your team' screen are just for show, so no Bognor Regis or Aylesbury. I'll just have to pick the worst football league side.

I can't even pick the lowest side in real life, as the game doesn't reflect real life - every league has 20 teams and some teams are in the wrong division. Aldershot, Maidstone and Halifax were expelled, folded and relegated from Division 3 in 1992 or 1993, but you can't pick them.

I'm tempted to pick my hometown team Brighton, but instead I go through every team in Division 3, looking at the value of their players, squad size, stadium capacity and staff reputation and picking the worst club in the game.

In real life, Martin O'Neill led Wycome to a debut in the football league for 93/94, but in-game it's Barnet who has the worst and smallest squad, and one of the smallest stadiums.

 

Barnet

History

The Bees are steeped in non-league history: they formed way back in 1888 and were founder members of the North London League in 1892, but they actually only lasted 14 years. Two other clubs merged to continue the Barnet name, and they founded what is now the National League in 1979.

Over the decades, they gradually went from amateur to semi-pro to finally achieving promotion to the Football League under Barry Fry in 1991. Only 2 years later in 92/93, they actually got promoted to Division 2 despite transfers bans, a crazy chairman constantly sacking and rehiring Fry, and not paying wages nearly leading to expulsion and bankruptcy. In-game however, they're in Division 3.

In real life, they've become a League 2 / National League yo-yo club.

In my Man Utd save, they were mentioned a few times: In 93/94 they finished safely midtable; beat West Ham, Wimbledon and Forest on a shock 96/97 FA Cup run to the 5th Round; hired a Newcastle scout as manager in 98/99; then were relegated back to non-league in 02/03 and hadn't returned by 2005.

Prime real estate for future European champions!

Stadium

Underhill Stadium has a capacity of 10,000
 

Chairman

Stan Flashman, who is probably second-in-command to Zap Brannigan. It ended badly with the multiple Fry sackings and near death of the club, but he was the guy that brought in Fry and into the football league in the first place.

Squad

It's a funny squad: it was scraped together for Division 2 after near oblivion, but in the game they're the worst squad in Division 3 (and the whole playable game world).

(All players are English.)

Goalkeepers

Gary Phillips - 32 - £5k
After over 300 games in 3 spells (including a loan), Phillips was made player-manager in 1993 in real life.

Andy Pape - 32 - £10k
After failing to make it at QPR, Charlton and Crystal Palace, he'd been at several non-league teams and obscure Danish side Ikast FS before joining Barnet in 1991.

Defenders

Mark Newson - D RC - 33 - £20k
A new signing who made over 500 appearances for Maidstone, Bournemouth and Fulham.

Darren Oxbrow - D C - 24 - £20k
A new signing from Colchester United.

Geoff Cooper - D L - 33 - £8k

Paul Wilson - DM R - 29 - £10k

Midfielders

Carl Hoddle - M C - 28 - £50k
The most famous name in the squad, Glenn's brother is in his 2nd spell at the club.

Hakan Hayrettin - M C - 24 - £100k
Been here a few years, but signed for a Turkish Premier League side... then quickly resigned and stayed at Barnet when it was revealed his Turkish Cypriot parentage would mean national service during a war if he lived there.

Paul Showler - M LC - 27 - £20k
The police officer played for teams like Colne Dynamoes and Goole Town before reaching the football league with Barnet.

Tony Sorrell - M C - 27 - £9k
An influence of 20 is 6 ahead of anyone else, so he's the stand-out captain.

Dave Barnett - M C - 27 - £10k

Attackers

Brian Marwood - MA L - 32 - £100k
A veteran who has been top scorer in the top league with Sheffield Wednesday and won the title with Arsenal will make his debut for Barnet this season.

Nicky Evans - A C - 35 - £5k
Excluding 2 years at Wycombe in 1989 to 1991, Evans has been at Barnet since 1983, racking up over 130 goals in over 250 appearances. Though CM says he's only managed 5 in the last 27.

Mark Carter - A C - 33 - £30k
A regular goalscorer who has scored 30 goals in 77 games so far for Barnet.

Shaun Close - A RLC - 27 - £70k
A new signing from Swindon who has only managed 9 goals in 92 games so far according to CM. 15 in 108 league games if you want to believe Wikipedia instead.

Kelly Haag - A C - 23 - £30k
A new signing from Fulham who scored 9 goals in 30 Division 3 games for them.

Youth

Only 1 'promising' player - an attacker. I wonder if youth players are worth picking at this level and might do well...

With no transfer windows, I'll give everyone a try first.

But evidently we need a new GK to replace our 32-year-olds. Thing is, with no GK attributes, I'll have to wait and see who performs for their club and who's available anyway.
 

Staff

Everyone is 'fair' or 'unknown' ability, so time to overhaul that.

David McDermott from Crewe is hired as our Team Coach

Norwich Team Coach John Deehan comes in as our Youth Scout

For League Scouts, I bring in Nottingham Forest team coach Ron Fenton, Plymouth Team Coach John McGovern and Rochdale Team Coach Jimmy Robson.

Now the staff is all 'Superb' ability, except for the Physio who is 'Good'.
 

Finances

Cash available is £234,841.

My salary of £15k is naturally the joint-lowest in the game.

Pre-Season Preparations

I have the gall to approach Man Utd, Barcelona and all the big European teams for a friendly, but they say no. Brighton are unavailable.

So I just go through the list of teams, approaching all the big names I remember for some gala home friendlies. I want to fill up all the spots and make some money.

After warming up away to non-league Windsor & Eton, we'll play at home to Fortuna Dusseldorf, Brondby, Rosenborg, Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Slavia Sofia and Spartak Subotica.

Edited February 22 by git2thachoppa

[Carambau]

I LOVE THIS!!! Barnet was my club in CM93 as well when i first started playing! Managed to win the league, but never won the european cup though... is Andy Hessenthaler still around somewhere?

Edited September 26, 2023 by Carambau

[erikeagles]

awesome!!
My very first club with CM!!
I will definitely follow this, good luck

[git2thachoppa]

93/94 Season Review

- Haag and co. fire us to shock title on final day

- Man Utd defeated in historic FA Cup giantkilling

 

League: 1st, W27, D4, L7, F87, A38, PTS 85

1) Barnet - 85
2) Brighton - 81
----------------------
3) Crewe - 77

FA Cup: 5th Round

League Cup: 1st Round

You may be thinking "ok he's clearly experienced in this game and is doing all the tricks to win every game", but I've no idea how this all happened! I'm playing mainly with the original squad in a 4-2-4!

 

===

 

Giantkilling The Best Team In The Game

Other than winning the league and promotion, the biggest story was our giantkilling of Premier League champions and leaders Manchester United in the FA Cup, after a replay, extra time and a long penalty shootout.

Both games were the same - we took the lead within minutes, and 20+ shots later United had equalised, but Hughes, Giggs, Cantona and co. failed to finish us off.

A substitution in the 119th minute paid off as the sub scored on the way to a 7-6 shootout win at Old Trafford.

I guess I can quit and say I've finished the game already?

 

===

 

Story And Stats

A strong pre-season saw us play at home to some semi-known names from Europe, with strong performances. Even a draw and a win against Bulgarians Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Slavia Sofia respectively.

Our season started with 11 goals conceded in our first 5 league games, before a clean sheet began a 9-game unbeaten streak (8 of them wins).

Crewe topped the table for half the season, then their season fell off as we overtook them and they failed in the promotion playoffs.

With 2 games left, we secured promotion though lost the lead to Brighton. But we won our final 2 games and Brighton lost both of theirs.

In the end we won 16 home games, losing 1. Notably we were top scorers home and away as our front 4 was key. We only failed to score in 2 games, and scored 3+ goals in nearly half of our league matches.

Haag was the league (and indeed the country's) joint-top scorer with 29 goals. Carter was joint-2nd with 21.

Marwood was awarded Player of the Year as the highest-rated player in the league with 6.95. That's 0.02 less than Division 2's Player of the Year.

I won Division 3 Manager of the Year.

Average attendance: 3,249 (7th)

Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted"

Balance: £219,779

My salary will be increased to £25k

My reputation has gone from 'unknown' to 'fair'

===

 

Results

Friendlies

(A) D2-2 v Windsor & Eton (Non-League)
(H) L1-3 v Fortuna Dusseldorf (Germany)
(H) L0-1 v Spartak Subotica (Yugoslavia)
(H) D1-1 v Lokomotiv Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
(H) W1-0 v Slavia Sofia (Bulgaria)
(H) L0-1 v Rosenborg (Norway)
(H) L1-3 v Brondby (Denmark)

League

L1-2 v Scunthorpe (A)
W4-3 v Wrexham (H)
L0-3 v Brighton (A)
W2-0 v Plymouth (H)
L3-4 v Hartlepool (A)
W1-0 v Exeter (A)
W3-2 v Fulham (H)
W1-0 v Torquay (A)
W3-0 v Preston (H)
W2-0 v Doncaster (H)
D1-1 v Crewe (A)
W1-0 v Colchester (H)
W2-0 v Wycombe (A)
W2-1 v Chester (H)
L1-2 v Cambridge (A)
W3-2 v Leyton Orient (H)
W4-0 v Barnet (H)
W5-0 v Huddersfield (A)
W1-0 v Scarborough (A)
W5-0 v Scunthorpe (H)
L2-4 v Wrexham (A)
W3-0 v Brighton (H)
W2-0 v Plymouth (A)
D1-1 v Hartlepool (H)
W4-0 v Exeter (H)
W1-0 v Fulham (A)
W2-1 v Torquay (H)
D2-2 v Preston (A)
W3-0 v Doncaster (A)
D3-3 v Crewe (H)
W3-0 v Colchester (A)
W2-0 v Wycombe (H)
W5-0 v Chester (A)
L1-3 v Cambridge (H)
W1-0 v Leyton Orient (A)
L0-4 v Rochdale (A)
W3-0 v Huddersfield (H)
W4-0 v Scarborough (H)

FA Cup

R1: W4-0 v Stafford (Non-League) (H)
R2: W2-0 v Windsor (NL) (A)
R3: W3-0 v Hereford (NL) (A)
R4: D1-1 v Man Utd (PL) (H)
R4r: W1-1 (0-0 FT), 7-6 on pens v Man Utd (A)
R5: D2-2 v Portsmouth (D1) (H)
R5r: L0-3 v Portsmouth (A)

League Cup

R1
1st Leg: L0-2 v Brentford (D2) (H)
2nd Leg: L0-2 v Brentford (A)
L0-4 on aggregate

 

===

 

Squad Review

Transfers

In
Baddeley from Cardiff for Free
Sandeman from Port Vale for £100k
Lowethorpe from Hull for Free

Out
Wilson to Cardiff for £9k
Evans to Fulham for free

Loans In
Davis from Burnley (x2)
Francis from Reading
Wilkinson from Middlesbrough
Hughes from Luton

I learned a new rule: You can only have a maximum 5 loans per season.

Main XI

Marwood - Haag - Carter - Close
------------- Hoddle - Barnett ------------
Cooper - Baddeley - Newson (c) - Sandeman
--------------------- Pape --------------------

Close was moved to the centre as an inside-right to score more goals. He and Marwood track back.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Andy Pape - 32 - £20k
Appearances 40, Conceded 37, Minimum Match Rating 3, Maximum Match Rating 8, AvR 5.42
Question marks despite clean sheets and facing 43 shots against Man Utd, as he can leak goals at times. I kept faith, but a long-term successor is needed. Whatever happens next, his penalty shootout save at Old Trafford will always be remembered.

Gary Phillips - 32 - £6k
A 7, C 11, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 4.71
Transfer-listed, but the bugger didn't leave at the end of the season and remains.

LOAN: Steve Francis - 28 - <=£50k
A 0
The Sword of Damocles over Pape's head. He had played no games so was of unknown ability, but was desired by West Ham. I never threw the dice and picked him, and thankfully he was never needed.

Defenders

Bradley Sandeman - 24 - DM RC - £150k
A 33, G 3, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.64
EEEEXIT LIGHT, EEEENTEEERRR NIIIIIGHT. Bought instead of Bolton's Alan Stubbs (though I missed out on him later), it was a good choice. I forgot he could play in midfield, I would've played him there more often during injuries.

Geoff Cooper - 33 - D L - £20k
A 47, G 3, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 5.66
Played every minute of every game (I think). Will he still be a mainstay a year older and a league higher?

Mark Newson - 33 - D RC - £30k
A 47, G 1, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 5.81
Our captain, but what contribution will he make next season?

Lee Baddeley - 19 - D C - £20k
A 36, Goals 4, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.58
Signed just because he was free and young - he'd played no games so I didn't know his ability, but he was a Wales U21 regular. It worked out well. He's our highest earner at £530 per week.

Darren Oxbrow - 24 - D C - £20k
A 23, G 1, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5.39
As the team improved, so did his performances, but needs to do better.

Adam Lowethorpe - 17 - D L - £5k
A 0
Another youngster signed just for being free, with no career games so far to indicate his ability. But he does have 20 Tackling and 19 Passing.

Paul Wilson - 29 - DM R - Sold
A 5, G 1, Min 3, Max 5, AvR 4.2
At 29, he wasn't going to get better

LOAN: Steve Davis - 25 - D C - £200k
A 14, G 2, AvR 6.86
A falling out with his manager meant we got 2 very productive loans from him.

Midfielders

Dave Barnett - 27 - M C - £30k
A 42, G 4, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.67
Chased by Division 2 Cardiff, but a bid was rejected. With a name like that, he shouldn't play anywhere else!

Carl Hoddle - 28 - M C - £70k
A 42, G 5, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.67
Looked like he'd have a disappointing season, but played a regular part in the middle.

Paul Showler - 27 - M LC - £30k
A 19, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5.32
An unspectacular season and at risk of being sold.

Tony Sorrell - 27 - M C - £20k
A 18, G 1, Min 3, Max 7, AvR 5
His Influence of 20 got him more game time and is the only positive.

Hakan Hayrettin - 24 - M C - £100k
A 10, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 4.7
Our most disappointing midfielder. Another chance next season.

LOAN: Ceri Hughes - 23 - M LC - £1m
A 6, G 1, AvR 8
A huge coup - I looked up £1m+ players and Hughes was one who wanted to join. A shallow midfield was bolstered massively, to say the least!

Attackers

Kelly Haag - 23 - A C - £70k
A 44, G 29, Man Of The Match 7, Min 4, Max 10, 6.57
Barnet's poster boy. Got a few hat-tricks, and scored that earth-shaking 5th-minute opener at home against Man Utd.

Brian Marwood - 32 - MA L - £100k
A 40, G 9, MOTM 14, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 6.95
Player of the Month 4 times, including 3 in a row, and Player of the Year. The former Premier League top scorer has now won the title at the top and bottom of the football league.

Mark Carter - 33 - A C - £50k
A 43, G 21, MOTM 10, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.79
He has a disciplinary streak but, more importantly, goals. Will never forget opening the scoring at Old Trafford. Can the Barnet Supporters' Player of the Year step up a division at 34 years old?

Shaun Close - 27 - A RLC - £100k
A 42, G 12, MOTM 3, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.57
Moving from right-wing to the inside-right led to more goals.

Nicky Evans - 35 - A C - Sold
A 5, AvR 5
A 4.91 average rating and only 1 goal in 11 games for new club Fulham.

LOAN: Paul Wilkinson - 29 - A RC - £500k
A 3, G 1, AvR 7.33
Another loan coup despite the £2m-rated player wanting to join a "better" club than Boro. He'd already scored 5 in 17 D1 games with an average rating of 6.47. He was being targeted by several Premier League clubs, but they didn't move for him. Shoehorned into the right wing, Boro brought him back after he scored his first for us.

 

On 26/09/2023 at 08:14, Carambau said:

I LOVE THIS!!! Barnet was my club in CM93 as well when i first started playing! Managed to win the league, but never won the european cup though... is Andy Hessenthaler still around somewhere?

He plays for Division 2 Watford and got an underwhelming 5.39 average rating and 9 goals from 41 matches. His personality is 'selfish' and he's now only valued at £100k. We face him next season.

On 14/10/2023 at 12:25, erikeagles said:

awesome!!
My very first club with CM!!
I will definitely follow this, good luck

Thank you, your luck helped!

Edited October 17, 2023 by git2thachoppa

[Sizeman21]

Nice write up here, git2thachoppa. Giving this a follow. What are your plans for this dynasty? Long term or just a drop of nostalgia?

[git2thachoppa]

  94/95 Season Review

- Déjà vu!

- Second title in a row (and better than last year)

- Everton defeated in FA Cup giantkilling (in exact same way)

- 99 league goals scored

 

League: 1st, W28, D4, L6, F99, A33, PTS 88

1) Barnet - 88
2) Peterborough - 75
------------------------
3) Grimsby - 73

FA Cup: Quarter-Final

League Cup: 1st Round

We topped the table for most of the season, winning 1 more game, conceding a few less and scoring a lot more than last season with mostly the same players.

After beating Man Utd on penalties in last season's FA Cup, we did exactly the same against Everton. They needed a late equaliser at our ground and we had to come from behind at Goodison after being dominated. A 120th-minute Tony Cottee chance was tackled, so again we drew 1-1 twice. Our new goalkeeper Smith was the hero with 3 saves in the shootout, including Cottee's.

 

Story And Stats

This preseason had bigger opponents wanting to play us, and we notably beat Cagliari and almost Lyon.

It took 8 games for us to lose, when Birmingham converted their only 2 shots. Our response was to score 3 goals in the next 4 games in a row. But we went through a tricky period of only 5 wins in 10 games, including a Stockport loss with 2 disallowed Stockport goals, an injury for one striker, a sending off for our captain and another striker, and a late winner.

But after our last draw of the season, we won 13 of the remaining 15 games, including pasting title rivals Peterborough after going 3-0 up in 19 minutes.

Promotion confirmed with 3 matches to go and title confirmed with 2 games to go, both earlier than last season, I played the last couple of games with other players and still kept 6 cleans sheets in a row at the end.

We scored 3+ goals in exactly half of our league and cup games. 2 of our strikers were the top 3 goalscorers in the league, with a new signing in 4th from his old club, and another attacker in joint-5th. Our front 4 scored 69 goals altogether.

7 of our players were in the top 9 for average ratings, and attackers Haag, Close and Marwood occupied all the top 3.

We were also the only D2 or D3 side to reach the QF of the FA Cup.

All 3 promoted sides were in the top 6, with Brighton and Cambridge in the playoffs too.

We had a clean sweep of the season-end awards with Manager of the Year, Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

Average attendance: 11th: 4,960 (+1,711)

Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted"

Closing Balance: £237,398 (+£17,619)

My salary will be doubled to £50k.

My reputation has increased from 'fair' to 'good'.

 

===

 

Results

Friendlies

W1-0 v Luton (D1) (H)
L1-2 v Sevilla (Spa) (H)
L0-1 v Boavista (Por) (H)
L3-4 v Lyon (Fra) (H)
W3-1 v Cagliari (Ita) (H)
D1-1 v Sparta (Hol) (H)
W1-0 v Bradenburg (Ger) (H)

League

D1-1 v Charlton (A)
W2-1 v Stockport (H)
W4-1 v York (A)
W3-1 v Brentford (H)
W2-0 v Grimsby (A)
W5-1 v Southend (H)
D1-1 v Watford (A)
L0-2 v Birmingham (H)
W3-0 v Cambridge (A)
W3-0 v Hull (A)
W3-2 v Brighton (H)
W3-2 v Peterborough (H)
W2-0 v Swansea (A)
L1-2 v Oxford (H)
D1-1 v Bradford (A)
W2-0 v Bristol Rovers (H)
W3-1 v Rotheram (H)
W3-0 v Bristol City (A)
L2-3 v Cardiff (A)
W3-1 v Charlton (H)
L1-2 v Stockport (A)
W5-0 v York (H)
D1-1 v Brentford (A)
W1-0 v Grimsby (H)
W2-0 v Southend (A)
W2-1 v Watford (H)
W4-1 v Birmingham (A)
W2-0 v Cambridge (H)
W4-1 v Hull (H)
L2-3 v Brighton (A)
W4-2 v Peterborough (A)
L1-2 v Swansea (H)
W3-0 v Oxford (A)
W6-0 v Bradford (H)
W5-0 v Bristol Rovers (A)
W6-0 v Rotheram (A)
W3-0 v Bristol City (H)
W1-0 v Cardiff (H)

FA Cup

R2: W4-2 v Blackpool (D3) (H)
R3: W7-0 v Bradford (D2) (H)
R4: W4-1 v Crewe (D3) (H)
R5: D1-1 v Everton (PL) (H)
R5R: W1-1 v Everton AET, 1-1 FT, 3-2 pens
QF: L0-1 v Tranmere (D1) (A)

Coca-Cola Cup

R1
1st leg: L0-2 v Bristol Rovers (D2) (A)
2nd leg: W3-1 v Bristol Rovers (D2) (H)
L3-3 on agg., 0-1 on away goals

 

===

Squad Review

Players who disappointed last season stepped up, but both our older goalkeepers were replaced and a couple of big name midfielders were sold. I bought a goalkeeper, a couple of defenders, a midfielder and a striker. All 21/22 years old.
 

Transfers

In
Croft from Grimsby for £50k
Smith from Crewe for £80k
Adebola from Crewe for £60k
Ready from QPR for £120k
Evans from Plymouth for £81k

Total: £391k

Out
Cooper to Coventry for £11k
Pape to Bournemouth for £11k
Sorrell to Chester for £55k
Hoddle to Port Vale for £85k
Phillips to Chesterfield for £3k

Total: £165k

Total spend: £226k

Loans In
Hallworth from Oldham
Rodger from Crystal Palace
Bernard from Oldham

Loans Out
Croft to Burnley

Before I could loan in 2 more players, I was reminded of another rule I learned last season: there's a time limit. You can only sign or loan so many players per week, then you 'run out of time' before the world was connected by the internet. Alex Ferguson's beeper can only go off so many times a day.

Main XI

Marwood - Haag - Carter - Close ------
------------ Adebola - Hayrettin ----------
--- Ready (c) - Oxbrow - Sandeman ---
------------------- Newson ---------------------
--------------------- Smith ----------------------

With a new centre-back, I changed the defence from a flat 4 to 3 CBs + sweeper.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Andy Pape - 33 - SOLD
Appearances 4, Conceded 5, Minimum Match Rating 4, Maximum Match Rating 6, Average Rating 5.25
Last season's #1, barely, unsurprisingly wasn't dependable for this division.

Gary Phillips - 33 - SOLD
A 7, C 6, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 5.14
Overtook Pape as #1, but showed he wasn't good enough either.

Clive Duxbury - 18 - £10k
A 5, C 4, Min 5, Max, 6, AvR 5.6
A promoted youth. Did better than his competition, but would only have been our #1 this season if we were aiming for security, but we were aiming for the title and all our rivals' keepers were getting well over 6.

Mark Smith - 21 - £150k
A 30, C 26, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 6.87
We now have a proper #1, and his average rating is better than most Premier League keepers. Also the first player to pick us over other bidders (I don't cheat by doing an Arsenal and outbidding £1 more).

Jon Hallworth - 29 - LOAN
A 0
Loaned on deadline day so that we had 3 keepers. Went back to Oldham and helped them win promotion back to the top league.
 

Defenders

Bradley Sandeman - 25 - DM RC - £300k
A 39, Goals 6, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.54
Had injury problems and actually did slightly worse this season. Sad But True. He did greatly contribute to giving us a dream of double titles.

Mark Newson - 34 - D RC - £40k
A 41, G 2, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6
I thought I'd be selling him this season, but he's clinging on. By the time he put in a transfer request, I refused as he was good cover.

Darren Oxbrow - 25 - D C - £90k
A 41, G 4, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.37
One of a few players who disappointed last season then stepped up this season.

Lee Baddeley - 20 - D C - £60k
A 42, G 5, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 6.29
A great free transfer signing last season at this rate.

Karl Ready - 21 - D C - £100k
A 10, G 3, AvR 7.3
I thought for a long few minutes on whether to buy Ready or loan someone getting higher ratings. I invested and you see it paid off big time despite breaking the wage structure earning quintuple the others. Got injured for 14 weeks, but I've signed a goalscoring defender and captain.

Geoff Cooper - 34 - D L - SOLD
A 5, Min 5, Max 6, AvR 5.66
I thought we could do better, so got a decent bit of money before he could retire. Actually moved up a division, though didn't get a game.

Adam Lowethorpe - 18 - D L - £10k
A 9, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 5.44
A free transfer last season, it's not his time yet, but he may get a chance anyway. Had an interesting career so far with a sending off, bookings and own goals.

Gary Croft - 21 - DM L - £100k
A 18, AvR 5.83
Only play 3 in-game games, getting a two 6s anda 7. But disappointed in his debut season and went out on loan. Maybe next season.

Simon Rodger - 23 - D RL - LOAN
A 3, Min 7, Max 9, AvR 7.66
One of the deadline day loans to fill out the squad, recalled early.

Midfielders

Hakan Hayrettin - 25 - M C - £150k
A 37, G 12, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.59
Last season: "our most disappointing midfielder". This season: "our best midfielder".

Paul Showler - 28 - M LC - £70k
A 19, G 1, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 6.42
Really improved this season, and only didn't play more because of me signing and loaning a couple other midfielders who were just better.

Dave Barnett - 28 - M C - £100k
A 31, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.32
Injured in the middle of the season, so other midfielders got the plaudits.

Carl Hoddle - 29 - M C - SOLD
A 3, AvR 5
Three '5' ratings in a row was enough to leave him out the side, but then it looked like we were going to be a Division 1 side, and he wasn't going to be anywhere near that level. Ironically, he was signed by a D1 side, but he only played twice as they were relegated. His ratings? 5.

Tony Sorrell - 28 - M C - SOLD
A 7, G 1, AvR 5.43
Not improved enough, so moved down a league to Chester.

Paul Bernard - 22 - M C - LOAN
A 7, G 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.57
I was surprised Oldham let me loan their Scotland international and first team regular.

Attackers

Kelly Haag - 24 - A C - £300k
A 41, G 20, Man Of The Match 8, Min 6, Max 10, 7.41
Already a Barnet legend, the Division 2 Player of the Year literally didn't have a bad game.

Shaun Close - 28 - A RLC - £450k
A 44, G 23, MOTM 9, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.2
I rate our captain higher than Haag, a huge season.

Mark Carter - 34 - A C - £50k
A 44, G 17, MOTM 1, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.45
Supporters' Player of the Year last season, but performed worse this year. That's still great form, but how far will he drop at 35 as we rise to the tough Division 1?

Brian Marwood - 33 - MA L - £100k
A 39, G 9, MOTM 13, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.1
Another consistently good season, though lost his temper and got suspended a couple of times.

Dele Adebola - 21 - MA C - £150k
A 25, G 8, MOTM 2, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.12
I made use of a lesson learned from my Man Utd story - if you see a good player, just pull the trigger now, don't be patient. Won D2 Young Player of the Year and Barnet Supporters' Player of the Year. Played in midfield and support ('the hole') mostly.

Mike Evans - 22 - A C - £150k
A 8, G 1, AvR 6.62
Was having a breakout season for D3 Plymouth with 18 goals and a 6.38 rating in 26 matches, hopefully a long-term replacement.

Ian Mitchell - 18 - A C - £10k
A 4, G 1, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 5.5
A youth intake with a bright moment or two

Peter Wilson - 18 - A LC - £10k
A 6, G 2, MOTM 1, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 5.67
Another youth who seemed to have either great or awful games. So, big potential... Also a Wales U21 regular.

 

===============

 

We will debut in the Anglo-Italian Cup next season.

 

On 18/10/2023 at 05:51, Sizeman21 said:

Nice write up here, git2thachoppa. Giving this a follow. What are your plans for this dynasty? Long term or just a drop of nostalgia?

I already did a Man Utd save where I covered every Premier League club and what happened in the game world, while I tried to win the European Cup (something I only ever did once if at all):

I only ever played as Man Utd before and only once played as someone else - my hometown club Brighton, and I got them as far as being a Premier League yo-yo club.

So I thought now that I've got the top of the game figured out, the ultimate challenge was to be the worst team in the game and try to win the European Cup with them.

Edited October 22, 2023 by git2thachoppa

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm a Barnet fan so this is very interesting. Before my time as a fan though.

Gary Phillips nickname is "Sumo". 
In case you don't know Brian Marwood became the Chairman of the PFA after retiring as a player.
Nicky Evans' nickname is God! 
Hakan Hayrettin is now a decent non-league manager.

That season we also loaned an old Danny Dichio from QPR and a young Zeke Rowe from Chelsea. 

Good luck with this. 
 

[git2thachoppa]

   95/96 Season Review

- 3 promotions in a row! (Almost 3 titles)

- Debut season in 'Europe'

- Almost 3 giantkilling cup runs in a row

- A club legend and one of my players are joint league top scorers

- A familiar face returns

 

Story And Stats

League: 2nd, W24, D4, L10, F76, A43, PTS 76

Middlesbrough - 77
Barnet - 76
----------------------------
Crystal Palace - 73

FA Cup: 3rd Round

League Cup: 2nd Round

Anglo-Italian Cup: Intercontinental Group Stage

Brighton - 7
-----------------
Barnet - 5
Crystal Palace - 4
Peterborough - 1

I was not expecting this at all. With Chelsea, Wimbledon, Southampton, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Derby, Palace and Coventry in this league, and their million-pound players, I though we'd finally be aiming to avoid relegation.

But no. Our pre-season saw us lose only 1 game to some European names, and we carried on our strong form to the end.

We turned it on at the right time, winning our final home games against title rivals Middlesbrough, Palace and Derby, before a pitch invasion at WBA after winning 4-1 from 1-0 down and sealing promotion to the promised land.

We missed out on the title - 4 teams were on 70 points with 3 games left. We lost our final game, with the main objective already achieved.

We never dipped below 5th and topped the table for the last few weeks until the final game. Meanwhile Peterborough, who were promoted with us, spent the whole season at the very bottom of the table.

We were knocked out early in the cups, but nearly beat a Premier League side after extra time for the 3rd season in a row.

A genius substitution and tactical change helped Barnet get our first ever taste of Europe by making it out the English section of the Anglo-Italian Cup and facing Italian opposition, only losing 1 game.

Even when losing to the likes of Spurs and Venezia, we dominated.

We only conceded 10 more goals than last season, but only kept 9 clean sheets in 38 games.

Average attendance: 20/20: 6,418 (+1,458) - We're going to have the lowest attendance by far in the Premier League.

Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted" (you'd think it'd be 100% by now)

Closing Balance: £21,389 (-£216,009)

Top scorer: Evans / Haag - 19

Highest Average Rating: Haag - 7.04

Most MOTM: Haag - 10

My salary will be nearly doubled again to £95k

My reputation has stayed at 'good'.

Results

Friendlies

W3-0 v Port Vale (D2) (H)
W2-0 v Lierse (Belg) (H)
W2-0 v Bohemians (Eire) (H)
L0-1 v Admira Wacker (Aus) (H)
D1-1 v PAOK (Gre) (H)
D1-1 v Ferencvaros (Hun) (H)
D1-1v Motherwell (Sco) (H)

League

W2-1 v Wolves (H)
W3-0 v Peterborough (A)
W1-0 v Barnsley (H)
L1-4 v Chelsea (A)
D1-1 v Wimbledon (H)
W5-1 v Burnley (H)
W1-0 v Grimsby (A)
D1-1 v Southampton (A)
W2-0 v Tranmere (H)
L1-2 v Swindon (A)
W3-1 v Stoke (H)
W4-2 v Coventry (H)
L0-1 v Middlesbrough (A)
W1-0 v Bolton (H)
W3-0 v Crystal Palace (A)
W4-2 v Notts Country (H)
L1-3 v Derby (A)
W2-0 v WBA (H)
D2-2 v Portsmouth (H)
L0-1 v Wolves (A)
W4-0 v Peterborough (H)
W2-1 v Barnsley (A)
L0-1 v Chelsea (H)
L0-1 v Wimbledon (A)
W3-2 v Burnley (A)
W3-1 v Grimsby (H)
W2-1 v Southampton (H)
L1-3 v Tranmere (A)
W3-1 v Swindon (H)
W3-2 v Stoke (A)
W5-3 v Coventry (A)
W3-1 v Middlesbrough (H)
L0-1 v Bolton (A)
W2-0 v Palace (H)
D1-1 v Notts County (A)
W3-1 v Derby (H)
W4-1 v WBA (A)
L0-1 v Portsmouth (A)

FA Cup

R3: L2-3 v Burnley (A)

Coca-Cola Cup

R2
1st leg: W3-1 v Scunthorpe (D3) (H)
2nd leg: W2-0 v Scunthorpe (D3) (A)
W5-1 on agg.

R3: L2-2 FT, 2-4 AET v Tottenham (PL) (A)

Anglo-Italian Cup

Group Stage, English Section
W3-2 v Bolton (A)
D1-1 v Peterborough

International Stage, Group
L0-2 v Venezia (A)
W3-1 v Ancona (H)
D2-2 v Lecce ((A)
W1-0 v Cremonese (H)
 

===

Staff

'Good' physio sacked and replaced with withdrawn 'very good' physio.

Squad Review

Some players faded with age, and all our bank balance was used up on new investments.

Those two new investments, Southall and Dyer, would win Player and Young Player of the Month in their first month.
 

Transfers

In
Stevens from Crewe for £30k
Hopkin from Hull for £35k
Southall from Hartlepool for £250k
Dyer from Crewe for £205k

Total: £520k

Out
Newson to Oxford for £11k
Marwood to Birmingham for £38k

Total: £49k

Total spend: £471k

Loans In
Newman from Palace
Tuttle from Sheffield United

Loans Out
Croft to Burnley

Main XI

---------- Haag -- Evans -- Dyer -- Close (c)
------------ Adebola - Hayrettin ----------
Croft / Ready -- Oxbrow -- Sandeman ----
------------------- Baddeley -------------------
--------------------- Smith ----------------------

This XI still has Haag, Close, Hayrettin and Oxbrow who made the journey from the starting squad in Division 3 to the Premier League.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Mark Smith - 22 - £400k
Appearances 48, Conceded 51, Minimum Rating 5, Maximum Rating 8, Average Rating 6.73
Wasn't phased by the increase in quality strikers, even saving a Le Tissier penalty!

Clive Duxbury - 19 - £40k
A 0
Backup to Smith. As there were no unimportant games, he didn't get a single minute.

Defenders

Darren Oxbrow - 26 - D C - £350k
A 48, Goals 3, Man Of The Match 2, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 6.62
Another improvement. Can he handle the Andy Coles and Nigel Cloughs though?

Bradley Sandeman - 26 - DM RC - £350k
A 34, Goals 1, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.53
0.01 worse than last season. I want him to be a rock, but he had bad moments.

Lee Baddeley - 21 - D C - £200k
A 46, G 1, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.43
My first signing, a free transfer in Division 3, will get games in the Premier League. Improving every season.

Karl Ready - 22 - D C - £200k
A 27, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.37
Very disappointing first full season.

Gary Croft - 22 - DM L - £100k
A 35, G 1, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.49
A poor start, but turned it around later on, particularly in midfield.

Adam Lowethorpe - 19 - D L - £40k
A 1, AvR 6
Just didn't get a look-in.

Mark Newson - 35 - D RC - SOLD
A 5, G 1, AvR 5
Time to go, and was one of D2 Oxford's better defenders.

David Tuttle - 23 - D C - LOAN
A 9, AvR 6.56
Disappointing as our loan signings tend to be a level above everyone else in the squad, but an able body. I forgot to try and extend his loan a 2nd time, so he could've played more.

Midfielders

Hakan Hayrettin - 26 - M C - £600k
A 48, G 11, MOTM 3, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7
Proof that you should always give a player more than 1 season to prove himself. Our worst midfielder is now our very best.

Dele Adebola - 22 - MA C - £350k
A 42, G 5, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.81
Stayed in midfield this season and supported the attack

Dave Barnett - 29 - M C - £90k
A 20, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 6.05
Disappointing and could've been sold, if anyone wanted him.

Paul Showler - 29 - M LC - £70k
A 7, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 5.71
Diabolical season. Will he be any good next year?

Paul Jones - 18 - M C - £10k
A 2, AvR 5
A promoted youth player.

Matthew Hopkin - 20 - M L - £100k
A 1, AvR 4
He had only played 1 game, but got a 7 and MOTM. Another team moved in for him, so I joined the bidding and had a punt.

Ricky Newman - 25 - M RLC - LOAN
A4, G3, AvR 7.75
A great loan sadly cut short by his parent club Palace, who he helped get promoted via the playoffs alongside us. D1 Player of the Season.

Attackers

Kelly Haag - 25 - A C - £500k
A 46, G 19, MOTM 10, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7.04
68 goals from Division 3 to the Premier League. Barnet's greatest player?

Mike Evans - 23 - A C - £300k
A 46, G 19, MOTM 9, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 7.02
Haag is the poster boy, but Evans was the reliable attacker of the team, winning Barnet Supporters' Player of the Season.

Shaun Close - 29 - A RLC - £350k
A 44, G 15, MOTM 8, Min 3, Max 10, AvR 6.68
The dirty sod kept getting cards and sending offs. Will probably lose his place next season.

Brian Marwood - 34 - MA L - SOLD
A 22, G 1, AvR 6
a 6-rating was ok but, at 34, we had to cash in now after a couple of top seasons. Didn't do great for Birmingham.

Bruce Dyer - 19 - A C - £500k
A 17, G 5, AvR 7
If you followed my first CM 93/94, I signed this guy in 03/04 for Man Utd when my team started breaking the game. He's come good again in this dimension, with a 6.67 season and a 6.86 at just 19 years old before signing him. D1 Player of the Season.

Nicky Southall - 24 - MA C - £400k
A 14, G 3, AvR 6.79
I emptied my bank account to get Dyer and Southall. Consistently got over 6-rating this season, so I splurged the budget on him. He had a good start as a super sub, then went quiet.

Mark Carter - 35 - A C - £20k
A 6, G 1, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6
In real life, you'd probably keep him in the squad - he's been here since the start and deserves a game or two in the Premier League. But this is a video game, so he's nudged to go into non-league instead.

Peter Wilson - 19 - A LC - £40k
A 12, G 2, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 6.08
Not good enough yet but not bad either.

Ian Mitchell - 19 - A C - £30k
A 5, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.6
The youth intake's second season. He remains a mystery prospect.

Jimmy Stevens - 18 - A C - £40k
A 3, G 1, AvR 4.67
I again loot Crewe. He'd played only 3 games, but got a 6, 6 and 7. They listed him for £30k so is worth a punt, and scored a late winner as a sub.

===============

 

With the lowest attendance by far in the Premier League and no real transfer budget, I'll have to rely on the players I've previously invested in, and the Barnet D3 OGs, to keep us up... Or win the title again!

Edited November 10, 2023 by git2thachoppa

[git2thachoppa]

  96/97 Season Review

- FA Cup winners after replay

- Debut Premier League season becomes title challenge, finish 3rd

- Finish in top 3 of every league for 4 seasons in a row

- Gates and TV money turn Barnet's profit from thousands to millions

 

Story And Stats

League: 3rd, W22, D6, L10, F68, A48, PTS 72

Liverpool - 83
Man Utd - 74
Barnet - 72
Sunderland - 60

FA Cup: Winners

League Cup: 4th Round

5 players (Barnett, Close, Haag, Hayrettin and Oxbrow) remain from Barnet's original squad in Division 3 and all proved they could play at Premier League level.

We immediately saw the benefits of being a Premier League team by the standard of opposition in pre-season. After walloping two relegated sides, we beat Feyenoord and Lazio, matched Valencia and PSG, and only lost to Dortmund with 10 men.

In our league opener, it took us 8 minutes for Barnet to score their first ever Premier League goal. But for a disallowed goal, we would have been 2-1 ahead against the champions at half-time.

After 3 games, the board sent a message I've never seen before:

After the opening loss then draw, we won 7 in a row, including having 23 shots against Spurs. Relegation probably wasn't a threat.

In fact, after the 7th game, we never dipped below 3rd, even topping the table a couple of times.

Even former players played a part: Fulham's ex-Barnet-captain Sorrell helped our second-XI with an own goal in the league cup... but Chris Bart-Williams, my Man Utd player in the other dimension and current Man Utd player in this one, scored a penalty to help United draw with us and stay 2nd. We also loaned Warhurst, who I signed for Man Utd previously.

Halfway in and after 3 understandable losses in a row, I looked to bring in loans. Rather than all in one go, I fed them into the team every week or 3 (as loans tend to get recalled). With relegation obviously not a concern, and happy to finish wherever, I only bought a couple of lower league players for half a million total, as it was wiser to save up for the big players next season and beyond. Still, my young Division 3 striker punt scored 11 minutes into his debut and in his first 3 games.

So this personnel movement saw a turnaround and a title charge, with 1 loss in the next 15, before a close battle with Man Utd for 2nd ended with 2 draws and a loss.

With 2 suspended defenders and another cup-tied, I specifically loaned a couple of non-cup-tied players... unfortunately, the game decides that they're cup-tied despite not playing in the FA cup before. Ironically, we won the cup anyway after a replay, getting revenge for Villa knocking us out in the Coca-Cola Cup when they dived for a penalty.

Captain and poster boy Haag was injured early in the final and the team choked, especially goalkeeper Smith who had a rare bad game. Baddeley dived for a revenge penalty, but Close's pen was saved. The team saved it though and we made it right in the replay, despite another saved Close penalty.

The replay gives us a huge cash injection of £300k to go with the £100k prize money.

Overall we only failed to score 4 times: away to Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Spurs, while Man City and Wednesday suffered conceding 5 goals.

All this with the lowest average attendance (by at least 10,000).

I've also got into the habit of substituting the substitute if they're doing badly (5 or below).

Average attendance: 20/20: 8,711(+2,293)

Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted" (Clearly it's bugged and can't get past 97%)

Closing balance: £1,558,119 (+£1,536,730)

Top scorer: Close - 17

Highest Average Rating: Dyer - 7.36

Most MOTM: Magee - 15 (season) / Dyer - 8 (club)

My salary will be increased to £130k.

My reputation has increased from 'good' to 'v good'.

Records

Best League Placing: 3rd in PL (1997)
Biggest Victory: W7-0 v Bradford (1995)
Heaviest Defeat: L0-4 v Rochdale (1994)
Highest Attendance: 9,985 v Middlesbrough (1997)
Lowest Attendance: 1,479 v Scunthorpe (1994)
Record Buy: £270k for Cross from Hartlepool (1997)
Record Sale: £95k for Showler to Doncaster (1997)
Goals in a Season: Haag - 29 (1994)
Average Rating in a Season: Haag - 7.41 (1995)
Goals in a Match: Multiple players - 3

Results

Friendlies

W3-1 v Oldham (D1) (H)
W4-0 v Sheff Utd (D1) (H)
W2-1 v Feyenoord (Net) (H)
D1-1 v Valencia (Spa) (H)
D1-1 v PSG (Fra) (H)
W2-1 v Lazio (Ita) (H)
L0-1 v Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (H)

League

L1-4 v Liverpool (H)
D1-1 v Newcastle (A)
W3-0 v Middlesbrough (H)
W2-0 v Everton (A)
W1-0 v Tottenham (H)
W2-1 v Sunderland (H)
W2-1 v QPR (A)
W3-0 v Crystal Palace (A)
W3-1 v Blackburn (H)
L0-3 v Arsenal (A)
W3-2 v Norwich (H)
L1-3 v Leeds (A)
W1-0 v Ipswich (A)
L1-2 v West Ham (H)
W1-0 v Man City (A)
W5-2 v Sheffield Wednesday (H)
L0-1 v Man Utd (A)
D3-3 v Nottingham Forest (H)
W2-0 v Leicester (H)
L0-3 v Liverpool (A)
L1-3 v Newcastle (H)
L1-3 v Middlesbrough (A)
W2-1 v Everton (H)
L0-3 v Tottenham (A)
D2-2 v Sunderland (A)
W2-0 v QPR (H)
W3-0 v Crystal Palace (H)
W1-0 v Blackburn (A)
W3-1 v Arsenal (H)
W2-0 v Norwich (A)
D1-1 v Leeds (A)
W2-0 v Ipswich (H)
W2-1 v West Ham (A)
W5-0 v Man City (H)
W2-0 v Sheff Wed (A)
D2-2 v Man Utd (H)
D1-1 v Forest (A)
L1-3 v Leicester (A)

FA Cup

R3: D1-1 v Forest (A)
R3r: D1-1, W2-1 AET v Forest (H)
R4: W3-1 v Tottenham (A)
R5: W2-0 v Leicester (H)
QF: W4-0 v Wolves (D1) (H)
SF: W4-0 v West Ham (N)
F: D1-1, D1-1 AET v Aston Villa (D1) (N)
Fr: W2-0 v Aston Villa (N)

Coca-Cola Cup

R2
1st leg: D2-2 v Fulham (D3) (H)
2nd leg: W3-0 v Fulham (D3) (A)
W5-2 on agg.
R3: W3-1 v Exeter (D3) (H)
R4: L3-4 v Aston Villa (D1) (A)

======

Staff

I sacked our withdrawn 'v good' physio for Bristol City's thoughtful 'v good' physio.

Squad Review

Transfers

In
Cross from Hartlepool for £270k
Magee from Preston for £250k

Total: £520k

Out
Showler to Doncaster for £95k
Barnett (post-season retirement)

Total spend: £415k

Loans In
Warhurst from Forest
Black from Forest
Prior from Norwich
Falconer from Sheff Utd
Newman from Palace

Loans Out
Ready to Doncaster
Wilson to Luton

Main XI

Close -- Haag -- Dyer -- Magee (c) ----
--------------------- Evans --------------------
---------- Hayrettin -- Adebola ----------
Croft ----------- Oxbrow ----------- Cross
--------------------- Smith ---------------------

Squad

Goalkeepers

Mark Smith - 23 - £550k
Appearances 47, Conceded 51, Minimum Rating 4, Maximum Rating 9, Average Rating 6.79
Another division, another improved season.

Clive Duxbury - 20 - £100k
A 4, C 6, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.75
After no games last season, injuries to Smith meant our promoted youth keeper got his big chance, and he impressed.

Defenders

Darren Oxbrow - 26 - D C - £350k
A 48, Goals 5, Man Of The Match 1, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.75
To answer last season's question on whether he could continue improving every season and thus handle the Premier League: yes

Gary Croft - 23 - DM L - £650k
A 40, G 2, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.62
Has become a dirty player, spitting and all, and needs to keep up his good performances if he doesn't want to be a liability

Lee Baddeley - 22 - D C - £200k
A 44, G 2, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.39

Bradley Sandeman - 27 - DM RC - £300k
A 25, Goals 1, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.08
Never had an amazing season and is losing his place in the squad.

Karl Ready - 23 - D C - £350k
A 15, AvR 5.93
LOAN - Doncaster - A 13, AvR 6
After a great debut season, he's regressed in his last 2. Being watched by lowly Exeter, will he save his career next season?

Ryan Cross - 24 - D R - £600k
A 28, AvR 6.79
Bought instead of Phil Babb  to improve the defence, and he did that. Has as dirty streak as his fellow full back Croft - he was suspended for the FA Cup final, but still got to play thanks to a replay.

Adam Lowethorpe - 20 - D L - £70k
A 6, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5.17

Paul Warhurst - 27 - DMA C - LOAN
A 2, AvR 6

Spencer Prior - 26 - D C - LOAN
A 2, G 1, AvR 8.5

Midfielders

Hakan Hayrettin - 27 - M C - £1.3m
A 48, G 11, MOTM 3, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.33
Many would have sold him after his first season. Turns out he's Premier League quality.

Dele Adebola - 23 - MA C - £350k
A 44, G 7, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.73
A near-identical performance to last season despite the step up.

Nicky Southall - 25 - MA C - £500k
A 40, G 4, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.35
Has yet to really get going after a good few games last season.

Dave Barnett - 30 - M C - £100k
A 15, G 1, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6.07
I rejected a Doncaster transfer bid and he played his part, but will only get older and worse and already on the outskirts of the team. We mutually agree he should move to non-league football.

Paul Showler - 30 - M LC - SOLD
A 4, AvR 5
Now back in D3

Matthew Hopkin - 21 - M L - £150k
A 4, Min 5, Max 6, AvR 5.5

Paul Jones - 19 - M C - £30k
A 2, Min 5, Max 6, AvR 5.5

Willie Falconer - 30 - DM C - LOAN
A 5, AvR 7.8
The first player over 30 that I've signed or loaned.

Ricky Newman - 26 - M RLC - LOAN
A 3, AvR 8.33
Loaned again this season and again had a brief but brilliant contribution.

Attackers

Kelly Haag - 26 - A C - £450k
A 36, G 11, MOTM 6, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.17
After an unspectacular start, headlines were made as Mr Barnet was dropped for Close. He eventually made his way back in, gained the captaincy and scored the 2nd goal in our FA Cup final win.

Bruce Dyer - 20 - A C - £1.3m
A 47, G 11, MOTM 8, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.36
My investment last season is paying off, as it looks like he'll do as good a job in this dimension as he did in the Man Utd save. Barnet's Player of the Year.

Shaun Close - 30 - A RLC - £300k
A 41, G 17, MOTM 2, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.71
Was expected to lose his place this season, but forced his way into the side, even replacing poster boy Haag, and ended our top scorer (with 6 penalties)!

Mike Evans - 24 - A C - £600k
A 44, G 12, MOTM 6, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 6.68
Scored Barnet's first ever Premier League goal, against the champions. A good start faltered and he was shoehorned into a Support / 'in the hole' role.

Kevin Magee - 25 - A C - £750k
A 12, G 5, AvR 6.92
He already had a 6.89 season for D3 Preston and got 24 goals last season. Unwilling to spend a lot on current players, I took a relatively cheap punt. He scored 11 minutes into his debut and in his first 3 matches, and his 20 influence meant he took the captaincy for league games (as he was cup-tied).

Peter Wilson - 20 - A LC - £200k
A 4, G 1, AvR 6
LOAN - Luton - A 3, AvR 5.67

Ian Mitchell - 20 - A C - £90k
A 3, G 1, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5

Jimmy Stevens - 19 - A C - £150k
A 2, Min 4, Max 4, AvR 4

Kingsley Black - 28 - MA L - LOAN
A 3, G 2, AvR 7.33

======================================

As Giggs and Keane go to Juventus and Bayern, Alex Ferguson retires... but why go for the United job when Barnet are near their equals now?

Next season: Barnet v Benfica

Edited November 29, 2023 by git2thachoppa

[git2thachoppa]

  97/98 Season Review

- European debut

- Disappointment elsewhere, but in touching distance of the title

- Robbie Fowler joins

Story And Stats

League: 2nd, W21, D4, L13, F63, A52, PTS 67

Crystal Palace - 71
Barnet - 67
Liverpool - 66

FA Cup: 3rd Round

League Cup: 2nd Round

Cup Winners' Cup: Quarter-final

Charity Shield: Runner-up

It felt like 'second season syndrome', but statistically it was very similar to last season, even though it felt worse. We spent the season moving between 2nd and 5th.

We started well, with me getting Manager of the Month, but then only got 3 wins in 13 league matches. But we remained dark horses for the title behind champions Liverpool. The scousers spent all season choking, and while we picked up points with a late surge, it was Crystal Palace who leapfrogged us both to win a shock title.

While we failed to defend our FA Cup and were eliminated early domestically, in Europe we had a couple of good results and reached the quarters.

All this while players massively underperformed. Next season I'll offer the 10k win bonus every match and, if they can get back to where they should be, a title is possible.

I only added one player, but it was another ex-Man-Utd-dimension striker to join Dyer: Robbie Fowler, who was our best player. I had been saving to buy Spurs' interdimensional United legend Sol Campbell, but never had enough money. Maybe next year.

Europe provided exciting moments. Shaun Close scored Barnet's first ever European goal - that's some journey from the fourth Division to Europe! Against Sampdoria we were losing 2-1 on aggregate, but only needing one more away goal, Sampdoria scored in the 79th minute... but it was disallowed. Fowler scored in the final minute to send us through on away goals! Against Sofia, 2 disallowed Barnet goals, 1 saved Barnet penalty and a Sofia red card came in just the first half hour. We dominated, having 22 shots to their 4 in the 2nd leg, yet lost 4-0 on aggregate.

Europe was frustrating enough with the riches and talent of Man Utd, I don't know how long I'll last with Barnet. But let's win the title first and see.

While the deluge of disallowed Barnet goals was frustrating, I'm sure a few times the AI was suddenly in the lead without a goal being scored...

Average attendance: 20/20: 9,627 8,711 (+916)

Our capacity was increased by 1,000 to 11,000, helping a 916 increase in the average.

Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted"

Closing balance: £2,126,654 (+£568,535)

Top scorer: Dyer - 13

Highest Average Rating: Fowler - 7.64

Most MOTM: Dyer, Evans - 9

My salary is increased to £150k

My reputation has increased to Superb. The only other manager with that is Liverpool's Graeme Sounness.

Records

Best League Placing: 2nd in PL (1998)
Biggest Victory: W7-0 v Bradford (1995)
Heaviest Defeat: L0-4 v Rochdale (1994)
Highest Attendance: 10,985 v Arsenal (1998)
Lowest Attendance: 1,479 v Scunthorpe (1994)
Record Buy: £830k for Fowler from Liverpool (1998)
Record Sale: £320k for Close to Swansea (1998)
Goals in a Season: Haag - 29 (1994)
Average Rating in a Season: Fowler - 7.64 (1998)
Goals in a Match: Multiple players - 3

Results

Friendlies

W3-2 v Sporting (Por) (H)
L0-1 v Athletic Bilbao (Spa) (H)
L0-1 v Fiorentina (Ita) (H)
W2-0 v Monaco (Fra) (H)
L0-3 v Borussia Mochengladbach (Ger) (H)
W1-0 v Celtic (Sco) (H)
L1-2 v Rangers (Sco) (H)

Charity Shield

L1-2 v Liverpool (N)

Cup Winners' Cup

R1
1st Leg: W2-0 v Benfica (Por) (H)
2nd Leg: D1-1 v Benfica (Por) (A)
W3-1 on agg.

R2
1st Leg: L0-1 v Sampdoria (Ita) (H)
2nd Leg: W2-1 v Sampdoria (Ita) (A)
D2-2 on agg., W2-1 on away goals

QF
1st Leg: L0-2 v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bul) (H)
2nd Leg: L0-2 v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bul) (A)
L0-4 on agg.

FA Cup

R3: L1-2 v Notts County (D1) (A)

Coca-Cola Cup

R2
1st Leg: D2-2 v Forest (H)
2nd Leg: L0-3 v Forest (A)
L2-5 on agg.

League

L1-2 v Arsenal (A)
W2-1 v Leeds (H)
W3-2 v Middlesbrough (A)
W1-0 v Newcastle (H)
W2-1 v Forest (A)
W2-1 v Coventry (H)
W1-0 v Norwich (A)
L1-2 v Man Utd (A)
W1-0 v Sunderland (H)
L0-3 v Liverpool (A)
W4-2 v Leicester (H)
L0-3 v Tottenham (A)
L0-3 v Palace (H)
L1-2 v Villa (A)
W4-1 v Sheff Wed (H)
W3-0 v Wimbledon (A)
L1-2 v Everton (H)
L1-3 v West Ham (A)
D1-1 v Man City (A)
W2-0 v Arsenal (H)
L1-2 v Leeds (A)
W1-0 v Middlesbrough (H)
L0-1 v Newcastle (A)
D2-2 v Forest (H)
L0-2 v Coventry (A)
D2-2 v Norwich (H)
W2-1 v Man Utd (H)
L1-3 v Sunderland (A)
L0-2 v Liverpool (H)
W2-0 v Leicester (A)
W3-1 v Tottenham (H)
W2-1 v Palace (A)
L1-2 v Villa (H)
W3-1 v Sheff Wed (A)
W4-1 v Wimbledon (H)
D1-1 v Everton (A)
W2-1 v West Ham (H)
W4-1 v Man City (H)

======

Squad Review

Transfers

In
Fowler from Liverpool for £830k

Out
Lowethorpe to Oxford for £160k
Close to Swansea for £320k

Total spend: £350k

Loans In

Hall from Leeds x2
Kernaghan from Man City
Wallace from Leeds
Yorke from Sheff Utd

Main XI

---- Fowler (c) -- Dyer -- Magee -----
--------------------- Evans ---------------------
----------- Hayrettin -- Southall ----------
Croft ---- Oxbrow / Sandeman ---- Cross
--------------------- Smith ---------------------

Squad

Goalkeepers

Mark Smith - 24 - £500k
Appearances 45, Conceded 53, Minimum Rating 5, Maximum Rating 8, Average Rating 6.87
Now being touted as England's next #1

Clive Duxbury - 21 - £100k
A 3, C 3, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6
A few games again showed he is good enough for at least backup, getting England U21 callups

Defenders

Ryan Cross - 25 - D R - £750k
A 44, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.59
A good start, but fell away

Gary Croft - 24 - DM L - £850k
A 38, Min 6, Max 8, AvR 7.24
Never disappointed and has come of age. Barnet's Player of the Year.

Bradley Sandeman - 28 - DM RC - £400k
A 45, Goals 3, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.42
A regular yet not good enough for the team. I rejected bids for him solely because we would've been worse off, but his time is limited.

Darren Oxbrow - 28 - D C - £550k
A 46, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.72
Had a lot of poor performances. Despite getting the same average rating as last season, another run like that at 29 will see him sold.

Lee Baddeley - 23 - D C - £150k
A 16, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.12
Another season like that and he should leave

Karl Ready - 24 - D C - £150k
A 10, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 5.9
He's been here 2.5 years and performed worse with each season. Listed, but no one bid, so he has a chance to save his Barnet career next season

Adam Lowethorpe - 21 - D L - SOLD
A 4, AvR 5.25

Gareth Hall - 28 - D RC - LOAN
A 7, AvR 7.43

Alan Kernaghan - 29 - D C - LOAN
A 3, AvR 6.33

Midfielders

Hakan Hayrettin - 28 - M C - £1.2m
A 48, G 5, Man Of The Match 2, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.25
His first season with me down in Division 3 was a 4.7 rating. He's now getting regular over-7s in the Premier League.

Nicky Southall - 26 - MA C - £550k
A 46, G 7, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.33
Two seasons in the Premier League, both 6.3, he'll be listed soon if this continues

Matthew Hopkin - 22 - M L - £150k
A 15, G 1, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.2
Got his first run in the team

Dele Adebola - 24 - MA C - £300k
A 14, G 2, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.57
Performed too poorly to make the team, but regained his place during the final push

Paul Jones - 20 - M C - £100k
A 3, Min 5, Max 5, AvR 5

Attackers

Robbie Fowler - 22 - A C - £1m
A 22, G 6, AvR 7.64
Robbie was a Scouse, then he was a Manc, now he's a... cockney? A huge coup at £830k

Bruce Dyer - 21 - A C - £2m
A 47, G 13, MOTM 9, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 7.36
The exact same rating as last year, he won 5 Young Player of the Month awards and got his first England callup

Mike Evans - 25 - A C - £1.4m
A 48, G 10, MOTM 9, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7.06
Despite having to play in a Support role to make way for a front 3, he showed he can play at this level

Kelly Haag - 27 - A C - £550k
A 29, G 6, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.69
In and out of the team. The poster boy had a disappointing season

Kevin Magee - 26 - A C - £2.1m
A 29, G 12, MOTM 6, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.1
Was dropped, but regained his place and captained the team to a final surge that clinched 2nd place, thanks to a first-half hat trick against Spurs. Called up for Scotland.

Shaun Close - 31 - A RLC - SOLD
A 7, G 2, AvR 5.86
Last season's top scorer dropped off drastically. His Barnet journey is over, but the scorer of Barnet's first ever goal in Europe has cemented his place in history

Ian Mitchell - 21 - A C - £80k
A 4, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6.25

Peter Wilson - 21 - A LC - £150k
A 2, G 1, AvR 6

Jimmy Stevens - 20 - A C - £200k
A 2, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6

Rodney Wallace - 28 - A RC - LOAN
A 2, AvR 7

Dwight Yorke - 26 - MA L - LOAN
A 3, AvR 6.67

 

======================================

I'm tempted to do the old 'bid £1 more than rivals to get the player' trick, but I think that's on the level of a cheat formation, so I'll only resort to it if we need to do a 'CM 93/94 Part 3 - trying to win the European Cup by any means necessary' thread. At the moment I'm playing fair by matching bids, not buying players who I know are good but aren't performing in-game yet etc.

Edited December 16, 2023 by git2thachoppa

[git2thachoppa]

  98/99 Season Review

- Barnet: Premier League champions!

- Also won FA Cup and like basically the League Cup

Story And Stats

League: 1st, W22, D12, L4, F80, A38, PTS 78

Barnet - 78
Coventry - 71
Liverpool - 67

FA Cup: Winners

League Cup: Semi-final

UEFA Cup: 2nd Round

I changed the tactics to counter-attack to prepare us for European football (as it seems to work well against the 'continental' style they all play) and gave the highest win bonus every game. One, or the other, or both, saw us straight to the top and myself Manager of the Season (with 6 Manager of the Month awards too).

Liverpool and Man United continued to underperform, Spurs were trying to get out of Division 1 while Chelsea were being relegated to Division 2 but, annoyingly, Coventry were also taking advantage of the void at the top, so we were in 2nd place near all of the second half of the season... but we managed to leapfrog them with an away win at Highfield Road. They choked as we pulled away. We eventually won by 7 points, but it was a very close title race.

We won only 1 more game than last year, but turned all those losses into draws this season... as well as scoring a bunch more goals and conceding a lot less, of course.

For the first time, I played away friendlies to see if it made a difference in money. I don't think it did, so we'll go on an away tour of famous stadia next season.

We started with a frustrating amount of draws, but ultimately 12 games unbeaten - nearly a third of the season before we lost. A run of 2 losses in 3 games was soon stopped after a couple of loans and transfers, then we only lost 1 game in the next 21. We only failed to score in 4 league games overall.

In the UEFA Cup we beat Espanyol and Troodhos of Cyprus (who???), but Evans hacked down Cologne's goalkeeper and got sent off in the first minute of the 2nd leg, away, ruining our good chance of qualifying further.

The FA cup was won with little issues, while a second-string reached the League Cup semis. But I debuted a new young defender for the 2nd leg, which we then lost on away goals. Given our dominance of Man Utd this season, who would have been our final opponent, I consider us effectively the winners if we'd tried.

Thus Barnet achieved the Effective Treble!

Average attendance: 20/20: 10,426 (+799)

Capacity was increased by 1000 at a cost of £3,392, leading to another bump up in average attendance.

Board confidence: 99% - "We are delighted" - For the first time in this save, it got past 97%

Closing balance: £1,818,866 (-£307,788), (+£1,412,212 before transfers)

Top scorer: Magee - 29

Highest Average Rating: Caskey - 8.33

Most MOTM: Magee - 30

My salary is increased to £160k per year

Records

Best League Placing: 1st in PL (1999)
Biggest Victory: W7-0 v Bradford (1995)
Heaviest Defeat: L0-4 v Rochdale (1994)
Highest Attendance: 11,576 v Sunderland (1999)
Lowest Attendance: 1,479 v Scunthorpe (1994)
Record Buy: £1.9m for Caskey from Spurs (1999)
Record Sale: £550k for Sandeman to WBA (1999)
Goals in a Season: Haag - 29 (1994)
Average Rating in a Season: Magee - 8.18 (1999)
Goals in a Match: Multiple players - 3

Results

Friendlies

L0-3 v Atletico Madrid (Spa) (A)
D1-1 v Roma (Ita) (A)
L0-3 v Ajax (Net) (A)
L1-2 v Bordeaux (Fra) (A)
W1-0 v Celtic (Sco) (A)
W3-0 v Lierse (Bel) (H)

UEFA Cup

Preliminary Round
1st Leg: W3-0 v Espanyol (Spa) (H)
2nd Leg: L2-4 v Espanyol (Spa) (A)
W5-4 on agg.

R1
1st Leg: W1-0 v Troodhos (Cyp) (A)
2nd Leg:W3-0 v Troodhos (Cyp) (H)
W4-0 on agg.

R2
1st Leg: W3-2 v Cologne (Ger) (H)
2nd Leg: L1-4 v Cologne (Ger) (A)
L4-6 on agg.

FA Cup

R3: W3-1 v Chelsea (D1) (H)
R4: D1-1 v Wimbledon (D1) (A)
R4r: W4-1 v Wimbledon (D1) (H)
R5: W1-0 v Ipswich (D1) (A)
QF: W3-0 v Norwich (A)
SF: W3-2 v Liverpool (N)
F: W3-2 v Forest (N)

Coca-Cola Cup

R2
1st Leg: W3-0 v Sunderland (H)
2nd Leg: W2-0 v Sunderland (A)
W5-0 on agg.

R3: W4-1 v Cardiff (D2) (A)
R4: W5-1 v York (D2) (H)
QF: W2-1 v Brighton (D2) (A)

SF
1st Leg: W4-1 v West Ham (H)
2nd Leg: L0-3 v West Ham (A)
D4-4 on agg., L0-1 on away goals

League

W4-1 v Bolton (A)
D2-2 v Man City (H)
D3-3 v WBA (A)
D0-0 v Blackburn (H)
D2-2 v Villa (A)
W2-0 v Palace (H)
W2-1 v Leicester (A)
D1-1 v Man Utd (A)
D0-0 v West Ham (H)
W2-0 v Everton (A)
W3-0 v Coventry (H)
W3-1 v Sunderland (H)
L0-2 v Forest (A)
W2-0 v Middlesbrough (H)
L1-3 v Leeds (A)
W3-0 v Liverpool (H)
W4-2 v Arsenal (H)
W2-0 v Norwich (A)
D2-2 v Newcastle (A)
W2-0 v Bolton (H)
D2-2 v Man City (A)
D3-3 v WBA (H)
W3-0 v Blackburn (A)
D2-2 v Aston Villa (H)
L1-3 v Palace (A)
W5-0 v Leicester (H)
W3-0 v Man Utd (H)
W2-0 v West Ham (A)
W4-1 v Everton (H)
W3-1 v Coventry (A)
D1-1 v Sunderland (A)
W2-0 v Forest (H)
D1-1 v Middlesbrough (A)
W2-0 v Leeds (H)
W1-0 v Liverpool (A)
W2-1 v Arsenal (A)
L0-2 v Norwich (H)
W3-1 v Newcastle (H)

======

Staff

Our physio's ability improved from 'very good' to 'superb', so now all the staff is at 'superb'.
 

Squad Review

Transfers

In
Stubbs from Burnley for £750k
Caskey from Spurs for £1.9m
Partner from Wimbledon for £60k

Total: £2.71m

Out
Sandeman to WBA for £550k
Mitchell to Watford for £230k
Baddeley to Oxford for £210k

Total: £990k

Total spend: £1.72m

Loans In

Atkinson from Sunderland
McKinnon from Palace
Osborn from Palace
Srnicek from Newcastle
Barton from Wimbledon

Main XI

---- Fowler (c) -- Dyer -- Magee ---------
---------- Evans / Haag / Stevens --------
--------- Caskey --------- Hayrettin -------
Croft --- Oxbrow --- Stubbs --- Cross
--------------------- Smith ---------------------

Tactically I chuck the 11 best players into whatever formation occurs when they're all in position. But there must always be at least:

- 1 goalkeeper (not tested having no goalkeeper, but seen the AI do it due to injury!)

- 3 defenders (including full backs)

- 2 central midfielders

- Probably 2 central attackers

A player that can play central defence and midfield should be in the Anchor position i.e. inbetween the two.

Similarly, a central midfielder-attacker should play Support.

A defender-midfielder will have a forward arrow in defence or a backward arrow in midfield, and similar for midfielder-attackers.

Don't know if it matters, but the trophies say this approach did no harm.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Mark Smith - 25 - £1m
Appearances 56, Conceded 47, Minimum Rating 5, Maximum Rating 9, Average Rating 7.23

Clive Duxbury - 22 - £100k
A 2, C 2, Min 8, Max 8, AvR 8
We have 2 good English keepers

Pavel Srnicek - 30 - LOAN
A 0
Loaned just in case we needed an emergency #3, but he was never required.

Defenders

Gary Croft - 25 - DM L - £1.3m
A 55, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.67
Another stellar season, with the odd disciplinary issue

Ryan Cross - 26 - D R - £650k
A 48, G 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.33

Darren Oxbrow - 29 - D C - £1.1m
A 53, G 3, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.43
No bad games officially, though all the times he got sent off count...

Karl Ready - 25 - D C - £350k
A 33, G 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.09
Finally had a good season, but may never be a first-teamer.

Bradley Sandeman - 29 - DM RC - SOLD
A 8, Goals 1, AvR 6.38
184 games and out. Was never the rock I wanted him to be.

Alan Stubbs - 27 - DM C - £1.6m
A 30, AvR 8.13
I'd signed Sandeman over Stubbs years ago. Now I've sold Sandeman and bought Stubbs, reluctantly as a cheap stopgap waiting for Sol Campbell. Was immense though.

Lee Baddeley - 23 - D C - SOLD
A 14, AvR 6.71
Improved, but the whole club is on another level now. That's all my first-year Division 3 transfers sold now, 2 of which went to Oxford. Signed from Cardiff on a free, played nearly 200 games for Barnet, then almost got Oxford promoted to D1.

Andy Partner - 23 - D C - £100k
A 2, AvR 6
A cheap punt, is currently known as the man who lost Barnet the League Cup after a poor debut that saw him taken off at half-time.

Warren Barton - 29 - DM C - LOAN
A 3, AvR 8.33

Midfielders

Hakan Hayrettin - 29 - M C - £1.7m
A 55, G 14, Man Of The Match 2, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.84
Still improving every season, scoring a hat-trick at home to Everton. What will happen in his 30s?

Dele Adebola - 25 - MA C - £550k
A 41, G 3, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.12
A big step up this season, but also not at the level a Champions League clubs needs an attacker to be.

Nicky Southall - 27 - MA C - £650k
A 31, G 9, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.03
Edging toward the exit despite an ok season

Darren Caskey - 23 - M C - £3.5m
A 18, G 3, AvR 8.33
He showed potential at Spurs and then Boro bid for him, so I joined in and won. It turns out he's very good, with no bad games.

Matthew Hopkin - 23 - M L - £150k
A 8, Min 6, Max 8, AvR 6.75
No bad games, but can he raise it to European Cup levels?

Paul Jones - 21 - M C - £100k
A 5, Min 6, Max 7, AvR 6.6

Ray McKinnon - 27 - M C - LOAN
A 4, G 2, AvR 6.25
Scored 2 goals on his debut

Simon Osborn - 26 - M RLC - LOAN
A 2, AvR 8.5

Attackers

Kevin Magee - 27 - A C - £3.1m
A 55, G 29, MOTM 30, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.18
30 MOTM awards suggest the Scotland international is on a transcendent level

Robbie Fowler - 23 - A C - £1.4m
A 54, G 24, MOTM 4, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 8.07
A wonderkid when he's not headbutting people. Barnet's Player of the Season

Bruce Dyer - 22 - A C - £1.8m
A 49, G 16, MOTM 3, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 7.88
Not 1 bad game out of 49 played.

Mike Evans - 26 - A C - £1m
A 32, G 1, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7.38
Dropped out of the team as standards got ever higher. Hacked down Cologne's goalkeeper and got sent off in the first minute of our 2nd leg UEFA Cup tie to knock us out of a tie we were ahead in.

Kelly Haag - 28 - A C - £300k
A 11, G 5, MOTM 1, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 7.55
Didn't get in the team for a long time, but took his chance... until a young whippersnapper took his spot.

Jimmy Stevens - 21 - A C - £450k
A 24, G 11, MOTM 1, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.71
Story of the season and England's Young Player of the Season. I listed my 3 young strikers with their paths blocked, but gave Stevens a game and he blitzed the opposition. Not bad for £30k from Crewe (imagine how good Crewe would be if we stopped poaching their kids).

Peter Wilson - 22 - A LC - £150k
A 5, G 3, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.8

Brian Atkinson - 28 - A RLC - LOAN
A 5, G 1, AvR 8.8
Man of the Match on his debut, and look at that rating

Ian Mitchell - 22 - A C - SOLD
A 1, G 1, AvR 8
With so many strikers, he was barely in our top 10 attackers, so had to be sold. His goals helped Watford avoid relegation to Division 3.

 

======================================

Story So Far

93/94 - Division 3 title
94/95 - Division 2 title
95/96 - Promotion to Premier League
96/97 - FA Cup and 3rd in PL
97/98 - European debut and 2nd in PL
98/99 - Premier League and FA Cup double

Are Burnley ready for the European Cup, or will we get destroyed?

Will we at least have better luck than the Man Utd save, or will we get knocked out before the group stages every year on away goals thanks to a red card or disallowed goal?

Edited December 27, 2023 by git2thachoppa

[git2thachoppa]

99/00 - Final (Part-)Season Review

- European debut ends with Madrid

- England domestic scene is small fry for big Barnet

 

There's a third of the 99/00 season to go.

In the league, we've destroyed last season's runner-up Coventry 6-0, and our second XI beat West Ham while also progressing in the Coca-Cola Cup. We're top by 6 points, unbeaten at home. A domestic treble is a certainty one day soon.

In Europe, we eased past Albanian opposition before Barnet's biggest ever match: Real Madrid. A 1-1 home draw was followed by a 3-0 loss and the end of the campaign.

While Barnet is the biggest club in England now, it also has the smallest attendance by far. Thus, with only £1-2m profit per season, you have to save up for big buys, and top players still don't really want to come, so it has to be punts on prospects.

That's a nice challenge, but also a grind just to win 4 knockout games per season to get to the group stage, let alone topping the group stage to reach the European Cup final. It's effectively the same as how the Man Utd save turned out, but much slower.

I can't be arsed, to be honest. So I'll end it here.

It turned out (kinda disappointingly) easy to take the worst team in the game to the top of England, and match Real Madrid at home. With a grind and luck, Barnet can be European champions.

If I play again, which I might, it'll be 'CM 93/94 Part 3: Man Utd again, but this time I try every trick I know to win Europe'. Buying the players I already know are game-breakers from the start to fill a team already containing Giggs, Sharpe, Cantona and Schmeichel, and using tactics and habits I've learned.

Until then, I challenge you to win Europe in CM 93/94... without cheating...

 

Edited February 22 by git2thachoppa

[petertr]

Pretty much the only thread here on CM93 that is recently active - so sharing something I've recently posted elsewhere:

 

In case anyone is interested, the people on the CM93 facebook group figured out how to update the game data and a few other things, and are playing an updated version at the moment.

Facebook group 576960316361770 "Championship Manager 93-94" - I don't think I would be allowed to post a direct link.  Feel free to PM me if you need it.