[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man

[erik45]

Playoff semi final. What???? 3-0?! Let's gooo!!!! We were so good, maybe not 3-0 good, but still the only side that deserved to go through. All the three strikers scored and our defence left opponent shooting from poor positions, I'm so happy with this! 

Playoff final. Away from home, just three days after the semis... this is going to be tough. I am going to make a bold decision and start our 2nd XI. This is a mid-week game so it's their turn!  I think Trafford won't change that many players in the starting line-up so we have the fitness advantage if we use 2nd XI. It is a high risk tactic, but I want to do it.

The previous games have been very even against Trafford. The only worry is that we played against them just a few weeks ago and lost 3-1. But that's not the whole truth as the game was really, really, really even. Just look at the numbers:

[erik45]

Playoff final. WE DID IT?!?!?!! We took an early 2-0 lead and hoped for the best after that. Trafford kept coming and coming, shooting whopping 28 times!  We didn't budge until the 91st minute when they got their first good change: open goal from 2 meters. But it wasn't enough, WE GOT PROMOTED!!! 

Seventh time is the charm, right?? And we did it playing the 2nd XI in the final! I think it was destiny as McMahon, who's been so unhappy with his playing time, scored the penalty. That told me that anything is possible. I'm just so happy and relieved that we actually made it through the playoffs! 

[erik45]

Season review. Finally! We got promoted and we did in style! We scored so much!!! Stalybridge is on a different level with their tycoon budget, but I think we got deservedly promoted, although there was some luck involved (more about that later in this post).

Players sorted by minutes. These were all the players who started at least one game this season. I think the top three were available for the games the first XI played, that level of fitness and consistency will be needed in the next division. I might need to re-think our defence as we conceded 70 goals in the league and our CBs got quite low average ratings throughout the season.

Players sorted by goals. Strikers delivered very evenly this season! Reddy and Walcott 31k were on fire most of the season and Scott 27c & Dugdale 31c backed them up really well. The players from 31 intake are on youth contracts, so I definitely get to keep them at least for another year, hopefully Reddy and Scott 27c want to stay as well. The surprise name on the list is Jamie Doyle, who got a new role for this season - and made it his own! 9G+15A in the league, 11G+15A in total. Those are numbers I've been expecting from CM(a) but he's the first to deliver.

Dugdale 31c also needs his own mention. Look at these rookie year numbers?!

The reason for our promotion can be found from the screenshot below. Our attackers were so active and efficient that they made the promotion possible.

Season end When looking at the 

Tracking. As one can see, this was our best season when it came to final position (and promotion). But if we look at the xGD or xPts, we've had multiple seasons better than this. I said earlier that we need some luck to get promoted and this season it happened through our attack being very, very, very efficient. Hopefully we can keep that up, but probably not gonna happen.  

Contract extension. Promotion means +1, yee-haw! 

[shd34_216_42]

Can you offer part-time contracts yet?

(And you didn't need a million euros of player salary to get promoted!)

[erik45]

8 hours ago, shd34_216_42 said:

Can you offer part-time contracts yet?

(And you didn't need a million euros of player salary to get promoted!)

Thank you for asking, because I thought I couldn't, but I CAN! I haven't moved any further after the season review, so I thought things hadn't changed but...

There are many teams circling around our players. As starting DLF Scott 27c got an offer from another club, I wanted to check if I could offer him a part-time contract because of your question. He was asking non-contract with 1,1k€/game appearance fee.  I tried to offer him part-time contract and my last offer was 240€ p/w and 240 €/game appearance fee + bonuses, but he was not interested. We really can't lose him, hopefully those teams wanting him don't offer anything better. 

I checked and all the teams in the league above have at least some players with part-time time contracts, most teams having yearly wage budget of ~200-300k€/year. I think we should be able to afford close ~200k€/year, but I want to take things slowly.

[erik45]

Season review, part 2. Before going to the new season, I wanted to show two important factors behind our promotion. We had good luck with both transfers and injuries. Yes, we lost two players from the 1st XI (Gibbons 30b and Spooner 29f) and couple of good rotation options, but the big picture is that our team was stronger at the end of the season compared to the beginning.

We also got two players back to the team. We won't be trying to renew Price-Jordan 29g's loan, but Phizaklea 29b is very close of getting to the mezzala role in the first XI.

The other reason is lack of injuries. None of the important players lost more than 2 weeks. In the screenshot below there are all the players who missed 2 weeks or more because of injuries. The list is very short and what is even better that we had only one player who was missing more than a month (Parral).

[shd34_216_42]

6 hours ago, erik45 said:

Thank you for asking, because I thought I couldn't, but I CAN! I haven't moved any further after the season review, so I thought things hadn't changed but...

There are many teams circling around our players. As starting DLF Scott 27c got an offer from another club, I wanted to check if I could offer him a part-time contract because of your question. He was asking non-contract with 1,1k€/game appearance fee.  I tried to offer him part-time contract and my last offer was 240€ p/w and 240 €/game appearance fee + bonuses, but he was not interested. We really can't lose him, hopefully those teams wanting him don't offer anything better. 

I checked and all the teams in the league above have at least some players with part-time time contracts, most teams having yearly wage budget of ~200-300k€/year. I think we should be able to afford close ~200k€/year, but I want to take things slowly.

1.1k/game is something like 45k/yr at your level (depending on cup performances), so he's probably gone unless you can afford something like 800/wk, which is unlikely if you want to keep salary costs at 200-300k/yr. (Your part time offer is about 450/wk as an equivalent, so that explains the lack of interest.)

Ticket prices/season ticket prices are relevant here, it's also fair to assume that your attendances will be higher so you might be able to afford more than 200k/yr but obviously being sustainable beats spending recklessly.

[erik45]

2 hours ago, shd34_216_42 said:

1.1k/game is something like 45k/yr at your level (depending on cup performances), so he's probably gone unless you can afford something like 800/wk, which is unlikely if you want to keep salary costs at 200-300k/yr. (Your part time offer is about 450/wk as an equivalent, so that explains the lack of interest.)

Ticket prices/season ticket prices are relevant here, it's also fair to assume that your attendances will be higher so you might be able to afford more than 200k/yr but obviously being sustainable beats spending recklessly.

Lucky for me, he didn't accept any of the offers from other teams so he's staying with us with his old contract, which earns him 375 per game.  

[erik45]

First part-time contract. Phizacklea 28b got the honour of getting the first part-time contract in the history of FC Isle of Man! There were some offers for him during the summer so I decided to try if I can get him sign a part-time contract. As he was wanting a non-contract it was difficult to guess the right level of weekly payment. I think I overpaid a bit, but not much. 50-60 € p/w could've been possible.

At the start of the new season we have three players on part-time contracts. At the end of the season we have about 15 players who have their youth contract ending so at that point we need to be ready to offer many more contracts. We have almost 1,2 m€ in the bank so we are in a good position to do that.

[erik45]

Season 2032/2033 preview. First season in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The board wants us to attempt to avoid relegation, I'm aiming for mid-table.

Media prediction. Media thinks in the same manner as our board: we are going to be in the relegation battle. Stalybridge, who got promoted with us, are heavy favourites for the win, once again. They have the highest wage budget (as they are tycoon owned) and I think they will be in the top 2-3 places.

During the pre-season we lost one player from our starting XIs as Onyeka Chidi 29c decided to leave for Clitheroe who play two divisions below us. I don't understand why he did it as he was in the 1st XI for us and Clitheroe don't pay him more than we did.  

Pre-season friendlies. Harrogate was too strong for our 2nd XI, but the rest of the games were relatively easy wins. I'm always happy when we can win another "island team" as we beat Guernsey in our only away game.

Youth product tracking. This is something I've done for the first time in Football Manager in this save. I follow all the players who came through our academy and collect data about how many games they've played for us and how many goals they've scored. Players in italics have left the team. Players with underline have left the team but we have re-signed them. Players with both have been re-signed but they've left again.

These are all the players with 50 or more apps for the team in all competitions. 6 of these players still play in the team (but two of them are not in the 1st or 2nd XI anymore). After this season the list of players with 50+ apps is going to be much longer as we have 10 players from 2030 and 2031 youth intakes in your playing XIs.

Upcoming fixtures. Some fresh air for the start of the season as we don't have FA Cup game as the season opener. We face Basford United who are predicted to be in the relegation fight with us. Then two mid-table sides before starting our cup journey.

Edited March 9 by erik45

[erik45]

August 2032. What a way to start in a new division!   How nervous can a start of the season be? Two red cards and a conceded penalty in the game against Basford is something I don't want to see again. In the first league game the team showed that we belong to this level as we trashed Ashington in front of 1,200 spectators. The last two games of the month were more even. Our strikers haven't found a consistent form yet, but I'm sure they'll do that once they get used to the higher-level games.

Table. 1 win, two losses means we have three points. Stalybridge has started incredibly strong, but they do have the largest wage budget by a mile. If at the end of the season we would be 11th, I would be more than satisfied.

Injury. Our best player is out for 1,5 months. He's done a good job at DLF role and I'm not sure who to put there in the 1st XI on his place.

Finances. Even with just one home game we made some profit. That is a very positive signal. Soon we might offer more part-time contracts for the most important players.

Upcoming fixtures. We have the two of the hardest tests so far this season as we face tycoon-owned Stalybridge Celtic in the league and Barrow AFC in the cup, who play in the league above us. I think we can challenge them both and the minimum expectation is that we get good gate receipt money from the cup game.  

[shd34_216_42]

You made profit because of the FA Cup game, otherwise you would have lost money for the month.

Still, 1200 is good attendance for a home game.

[erik45]

September 2032. Out of the FA Cup, but seven points in the league is a good return. The best game was against Stalybridge who seem to be aiming for back-to-back promotions. The heavy midweek defeats were not really that heavy, opposition was just way too efficient. But I admit, our defence has been horrible this season.   We've also been playing without our best DLF Scott 27c and I feel our current attacking trios are a bit out of sync.

There was whopping 4,920 spectators at our cup loss against Barrow.  The loss hurt, but we got quite nice pile of money from it (but I forgot to took a screenshot about our finances).

Table. 5 points between us and the relegation zone, I'm really happy with that!

Upcoming fixtures. We face Trafford in the FA Trophy., the team we won in the promotion playoff final last season. They'll sure be hungry for revenge! In the league we have four games. I would be happy with two wins, anything better would be amazing!

Edited March 13 by erik45

[erik45]

September 2032. Well... I was aiming for six points, got two in the end. We are not playing badly, we are just not taking our chances.  Last season we couldn't stop scoring, this season the same players can't find the net. There has also been multiple red cards and penalties conceded. The team seems to be a bit more...nervous?

In FA Trophy, Trafford, our rival from last season, got the better of us as they rightfully won 0-3.

Table. Three points between us and the relegation zone. We are in a bad form but so are the teams around us.

Injury. Scott 27c injured his ankle, again. I was slowly giving him more playing time each game, listening to physios, but he still twisted his ankle. He is a big loss, again.

Upcoming fixtures. Can we change our luck in November? We need to find our scoring boots first (and maybe the defensive line needs to have a chat about defending). My full focus is in the league, but I don't mind if the 2nd XI gets through in the league cup - more games for them!  

[erik45]

November 2032. Our 2nd XI is cruising in the league cup, and our 1st XI is doing well enough in the league. The away win against Winterton was a big one as their wage budget is over 1 m€/year and their top earner is on weekly wage of 3,3k€! 

Table. Five points from four games is not amazing outcome, but it is enough to keep us above relegation spots. As long as we keep getting 1< points/game, we will be safe.

Upcoming fixtures. Three games against sides around us before we face two teams from the promotion spots. Wins from home, something from the away games?

[erik45]

December 2032. Well... this is just disastrous.  We are not this bad, we just can't score at all and we concede way too easily. Our defensive line constantly gets ratings below 6.4.

The only positive thing came in New Years Day as I forgot to take screenshots before the Ashington game (that we actually won!!!)

Expected stats. If looking at xG, xGa & xPts, we should be 10th in the table. I feel that's fair, but we are also so inexperienced at this level that we just don't know how to handle the games with better quality and tempo.

Table. One point between us and the relegation zone. We actually were below the line but the win against league bottom Ashington helped us a bit.

Youth intake preview. Good goalkeepers (we already have good starting and back-up keeper) and good wingers (not used in our formation)... this is not what we need.  We need quality in CM and CB positions, maybe the B grade will surprise us!

Upcoming fixtures. One in done, hopefully many more to com! I'm eagerly waiting to meet Stalybridge who are cruising to the title. The games where we have the best potential to gain wins are against Basford, Stockton and Witton.

[erik45]

January 2033. After an awful end of the year we turned things around by winning four and losing just one of our seven games of the month. Stalybridge was too strong, as expected, but we played consistently well throughout the month. The away win against Redcar put a smile on my face as it was one of the few games 2nd XI has got play in the league.

Table. Six points above relegation zone. If things stabilise, we will end up being somewhere between 13th and 17th at the end of the season - and I would be pleased with that. Stalybridge is after an unbeaten season! 

Expected goals. I don't know if we actually can stabilise anything as we truly are the agents of chaos in this league. Third most nPxG and xGA, I love it!  

Finances. We are continuing profiting almost every month. This means it's time to ask for facility upgrades. I think I might go for the training facilities. My guess is that the cost could be somewhere between 600,000 - 900,000 €.

Upcoming fixtures. Our 2nd XI continues their league cup run against Redcar who they won earlier this month. This is the furthest we've got in this cup! In the league we have mostly games who I predict to be very even, although Bamber Bridge and Worksop Town will be clear favourites against us. Seven points and I'm satisfied at the end of the month. 

[erik45]

I think this goal sums up our luck. The opposition goalie has gone up for a corner in the 90+1 minute. He starts to run back as we clear the ball but their player passes it to him and he decides to score an absolute worldie from almost 30 metres.  Can't be mad to goal as amazing as this.

[erik45]

February 2033. Oof, this is not ideal. Our league cup run is over, but that's a small issue. In the league we just can't find our form... or the opposition goal  Matlock Town fully deserved their win, but the rest of the games were very even. We were very close of winning Bamber Bridge, but then their goalie decided to do something unheard of (check the previous post). In the game against Darlington, a former player of ours, Lonsdale 28b scored his first goal for his club...in his 46th appearance - and he's a striker. 

Table. Five points from five games is bad, but not that bad that we would be in the relegation zone. Ten games left and seven points separating us from the relegation spots. Bisshop Auckland has found their form, let's hope other teams below us won't do the same.  

Upcoming fixtures. It's the month of youth intake, which should happen quite close to the Wythenshawe Town game. The games against Bradford PA and Alfreton Town are the ones I'm looking to win, and for the rest I just hope we get a bit lucky.   

Edited March 15 by erik45

[erik45]

Youth intake 2033. This looks promising! Less 5-star PA players than in the couple of earlier intakes, but this is still a very good intake.

The best player of the bunch, Coleman 33a, has 2,5 CA and professional personality!  He's CB, and we are in a real need of a good centre-back. We actually got two proper prospects for the position as Hudson 33b, who is 2m tall , is also a centre-back. I also like the look of Gould 33i and Nduwimana 33n, the player profiles can be found below. The only player I won't be signing is Letheren 33p as he doesn't have high CA or PA and he has a bad personality (unambitious with low determination).

 

Youth intake tracking. Not as high potential or ability as before, but I think it is because the level of players already in the team has gotten better. The key stats are not great, but it doesn't mean we couldn't get some really great players from this intake.

[erik45]

March 2033. We are safe from relegation!  Only in the game against Radcliffe we conceded more than once. As we've conceded almost 2 goals a game so far this season, this is an important improvement. We also have a new goalscorer as midfielder Mandic 32d scored his first goal.

Table. 45 points from 38 games is quite good for a first season at this level. If we can keep this form we can get past 50 points.

Facility upgrade. As we have some money in the bank and we are making small profit every month I thought it was time for a training facility upgrade - and the board agreed with us! I could've asked for youth facility upgrade but I chose this instead as our players are not developing too much at the moment.

 

 

First fine. Adams 30c got the honour of being the first player of fined actual money! Before this season we haven't had players with part-time contracts, so this is the first time fining players actually means something. 

New contract. Our best prospect, Adigun 32a, will stay in the team! He was unsure about the new deal as we were in the relegation fight but as we are now safe he was ready to negotiate a deal.  He signed a 2+1 contract and I'm sure we will use the extension.

 

Finances. The facility upgrade created a dent to our finances. Nothing to worry about.

Upcoming fixtures. The last games of the season are tough! Couple of playoff bound teams and then Bishop Auckland who reeled theirselves away from relegation spots with their good spring form.

[erik45]

April 2033. This is as boring end to the season as it can be. We should've won the games against Warrington and Stafford, but just couldn't do it. Doesn't matter, we stayed in the division and that's the important thing!

Final league table. We couldn't rise in the table during the last month, so our first season in the Northern Premier League sees us finishing 15th in the league.

Stalybridge Celtic had the chance of creating the new point record, but they lost second game of their season and ended up with 104 points (same as the record). Stafford ended up winning promotion playoffs... and then their manager resigned?!  He didn't have a new job waiting, he's now unemployed.

[erik45]

Season 2032/2033 review.

15th in the league and getting to the quarter finals in the league cup - I'm happy! When looking at xPts we should've been a bit higher, but I'm not complaining. In the spring second half of the season we played very close to the level numbers suggested so maybe next season we can finish higher, maybe even top-half?

 

Best eleven. I wanted to show this as it shows we still have four players who played here before I started managing the team. Next season I will push them out of the 1st XI. We have better options waiting in the line, but so far the older players have had the upper hand as they've been more consistent performers. Also, there won't be another season where a player with 6.5 average gets to the seasonal best eleven, I promise!  

Most minutes played. Parillon 30e played in all the games of the season!  He signed a new contract right after the season ended and it will keep him in the team until summer 2036. For the upcoming season, I want to try new players for DLP (McCaffrey), CB (Moore), WBL (O'Reilly 27i) and CM (Doyle) as the current players are getting "old" and haven't been performing too well.

Most goals scored. We didn't have a prolific goalscorer this season, but I don't know how much I can expect as our strikers are still very, very young. 14 goals by Adigun 32a is good for his first full season and Walcott 31k's 12 goals is fine as well as he mostly played for the 2nd XI. Reddy is going to be the club's record goal scorer for years to come but this might be his last season in the 1st or 2nd XI. My only worry is the DLF position as Scott 27c only got 8G+1A from that position. He should be creating much more, but he only got 1,71 xA?!

Most assists. Somehow the advanced forward from the 2nd XI got the most assists. As mentioned, DLF Scott 27c was a disappointment, but so was WBL O'Reilly 27i with three assists. Our strikers robbed Stewart 31a who got 6,88 xA but only one assist.  

Players debuts. Seven players made their debut this season, Adigun 32a getting the most minutes. According to my assistant manager, he's now the best player in the team!

The number on the left tells how many players have debuted and the numbers on the right are CA and PA of the player at the moment of debut.

As our teams quality is getting better we don't need to push players to the first team right after the youth intake. Only one player from this year's intake, Coleman 33a, got some minutes in the last games of the season. Next year there might be even more debutants as I'm pushing the old guard out of the starting elevens.

New contract. After a somewhat succesful season I felt I could ask for a contract extension. Board agreed with a 2+1 deal where +1 would be activated by promotion (which I think won't happen).

[shd34_216_42]

Congratulations on staying up (and not having to deal with Stalybridge Celtic anymore).

How's the contact situation now for the team?

[erik45]

19 hours ago, shd34_216_42 said:

Congratulations on staying up (and not having to deal with Stalybridge Celtic anymore).

How's the contact situation now for the team?

Thanks!

Most of the players have youth contract (as they are still so young) and then about 10 players have a part-time contract and about as many have non-contract. Of those non-contract players, only one has an important role in the team (Scott 27c). I tried to offer him a new contract, but he asked 675 € per week, he's not that good. 

So contract situation is really good!

I had a small issue with our starting right back Stewart 31a. I triggered his +1 year contract extension and he got mad about it.  He was unhappy for a couple of months but now he's gotten over it

[erik45]

Season preview. This is my 10th season with FC Isle of Man and 2nd season in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. We had quite a bit of problems of getting out of the previous division, I hope we can be more efficient this time. Things have become so much easier as we've been able to offer part-time contracts to our players. I don't think this is the season for promotion, but we could be close the season after this one.

Season tracking. I wanted to show this just to show some of the tracking I do. I don't know if there's any logic to anyone else but me. But about this season: our odds are much better than last season, but I think it's mostly because this season there's no superior favourite to win the league (although there is one team with 1.40 odds).

Facility tracking. We haven't had any upgrades for five seasons, but that's about to change in a month or two as the training facility upgrade is completed. If we keep the nice and steady cash flow going on, I will be pushing for youth facility upgrade.

Manager tracking. I started this tracking in a save many FM editions ago just because I don't understand how managers' skills develop and change. I started with no badges and practically with no skills. Now I have Continental A licence and in my opinion my stats are very good for this level.

What I don't understand is why my tactical style is Wing Play? I don't use wingers or wide midfielders. I have only one proper player on the wing, the left wing back. Then I have a mezzala and a right full-back, who can be counted as players doing some "wing play".

Pre-season friendlies. We dominated all the teams who were expected to be weaker than us and had good battles against sides who are about as good (Guernsey) or better than us (Bradford, Clyde, Exeter).  1st XI played the weekend games and 2nd XI the Tuesday games.

This is the first season that both 1st and 2nd XI is made 100 % out of our academy players. There might be some players who are not youth products getting minutes from the bench. There aren't quality players available (who would be interested to join us) from Crowd Dependencies or British Overseas Territories at the moment, so we are very close of being a "youth only" team.

Media predictions. We are expected to finish 20th which is in line with the board expectations of trying to avoid relegation. I would be very disappointed with that, I want us to finish top-half! 

Our wage budget is the lowest in the league, but we have so much talent and potential that I firmly believe we can be much better than last season (15th). Media thinks our key player is Stewart 31a (I more or less agree), but how it is possible that Armstrong 30d is our hottest prospect?! He's personality is low determination and he hasn't showed any signs of actualy development. He will get his chances in the 1st XI, but he needs to deliver to keep his place.

 

Upcoming fixtures. We start the season facing a new opponent: Emley AFC. I think we are the favourites in this one. Then two games that should be much, much trickier. Six points and win the cup is what I'm after.

[erik45]

August 2033. A very nice start to the season. Six points in the league and win in the cup. I have a feeling Emley AFC don't like as an opponent, we gave them a proper beating both in the league and in the cup.  I was delighted to win Trafford away from home, they've been a very difficult opponent for us in the past. The only loss came against King's Lynn Town in a very even game. 

Table. It's early days, but so far so good. I'm after a top-half finish and this is a good start.

Upcoming fixtures. The highlight of the month will be the game against Halifax Town. I don't think we have too much of a chance of winning it, but it is not totally impossible. At least we will get some money from the tie.

Edited March 23 by erik45

[erik45]

September 2033. This was such a tricky month. We were so close of winning against Halifax on their ground. We were leading 3-1 in the 84th minute, but they scored on 85th and 92nd... In the replay Halifax deserved to win against our 2nd XI. In the league we haven't been at our best. We got what we deserved and we were actually very lucky to get a point against Witton Albion who just battered us.

Table. If looking at our position in the league, we are where I want us to be. But...our form is bad and we are just missing something in our attack. I won't be making changes yet, but if this form continues, I might need to.

New record. The replay against Halifax made us little bit richer.

Facility upgrade. Our training facilities are no longer basic, they are now... *drum roll* ... below average!  I've been also asking for youth facility upgrades, but as we about 600k€ in the bank I think we can't afford further upgrades yet.

I thought this was just funny!  Person named Unwin talking about relegation, that is fitting!

Upcoming fixtures. As one can see, I already played the FA Trophy game...and lost. The board was not happy at all, let's hope it doesn't affect their overall happiness. In the league we should get back to our winning ways. Bamber Bridge and Radcliffe games will be tough, but maybe we can find a good momentum before those games?

[erik45]

October 2033. A rare month as we had time for a friendly during the season. Our FA Trophy run ended on 3rd qualifying round, which is fine to me (but not the board). Good wins against Wythenshawe and Alfreton and then a tight contest against Bamber Bridge who are top of the table.

Table. Two wins and a loss is an okay month in the league and it means we are solidly in top-half.

Potential transfer clause. Fagan 29a is still the only player we have sold for actual money (25k€ in summer 2030). We have an amazing 50 % clause! When Bury bought him they were in Vanarama North. Now they're fighting for the title in League 2. What's even better is that Fagan 29a is now a starting striker. There's yet to be any interest for him but a young player who's scoring 10+ goals a season is something that will be noticed by bigger teams. As long as it is not a free transfer, we will get a nice boost to our finances.

Upcoming fixtures. A busy month of six games. We face again Bamber Bridge, this time in the league cup where our 2nd XI will play. I hope we crawl closer to the promotion spots, even though I think we are not yet ready to actually battle for promotion.

[erik45]

November 2033. Tough start, relieving end of the month. Based on the numbers, it would've been fair for us to win the games against Warrington and Worksop, but on the other hand, we were lucky to win Belper Town and Gainsborough.  In the big picture, this month looks very much like I feel we are doing. Inconsistent performances, but our base level is better than before.

Table. Now we are very much in the middle of the table, but my feeling is we are closer to going up some positions than down.

Facility improvement. As the board was not ready for an upgrade for youth facilities, I asked for upgrade for youth recruitment. Now we need to wait and see how much this affects our monthly expenses.

Upcoming fixtures. Another busy month, with some tricky fixtures. I always enjoy facing Trafford who are becoming somewhat of a rival for us (or for me at least).

[erik45]

December 2033. Darlington got 9 points from their first 16 games - and somehow totally demolished us. After that we understood the task: we need points. I'm very happy with the rest of the month, the win against almost-rivals Trafford being the one that warmed my heart the most.

Against Stockton Walcott 31k scored one of the goal of the season contenders. This is the first time in this save I've seen our player scoring with a bicycle kick! 

 

Table. A solid month of 3 wins, 2 draws and a loss sees us climb to the 8th position.

Youth intake preview. We just got our latest improvement, but I don't know if it starts to affect intakes so soon. Our best players are a GK and a RB, so I don't know how I feel about this intake. Maybe it's good to have more good players for those positions as I think the star players are not ready to renew their contracts.

Upcoming fixtures. We start the new year against Emley AFC who we won 5-2 in the reverse fixture. Let's hope we get a similar result from this game.

[erik45]

January 2034. New year, unbeatable side - what's not to like?! We are playing well and have just the amount of luck that we don't lose games at the moment. Emley game was total dominance and after that we had four evenly contested games where we could win only against Winterton Rangers.

Table. Suddenly we are in the promotion spots! It is very, very even top half in the league and I will be happy if we still get just top half finish. 

Signing (but not for us). Former player of ours, Murphy 27d was available for free after Grimsby Town released him during the season. He was not interested to join us, which I understand as he had been playing solid minutes in League 2. What I don't understand is 1) why did Grimsby release him and 2) how Trafford sign him???? They play in the same division as us, they battle for the same positions and we could've offered the same kind of wage as they did.

Finances. It looks like our newest facility upgrade didn't affect our finances too much (but maybe it happens gradually?). I will be asking for youth facility upgrade as soon as it becomes available.

Upcoming fixtures. Usually I just run through Februaries as I'm just waiting for the youth intake. This time might be different as we are surprisingly close to getting to the promotion playoffs.

[erik45]

February 2034. Okay, this is not the form for a side that dreams of sneaking in to promotion playoffs. When looking at the xG, these were all very even games. But the results... are something different  One thing I've noticed is we've conceded way too many penalties and long shot goals. Two very different goal scoring scenarios, but same outcome...

Table. We are still in a good position for a side that was supposed to battle for relegation. I would like us to be in the promotion spots, but 9th is not bad either.

Facility upgrade. We've been saving money for a while now and it's time for a new facility upgrade!

Finances. The facility upgrade was expensive, but as our finances have been for a positive track for years, I think we can take this dent.

Upcoming fixtures. If we want to battle for promotion, we need to win games. In March we have a proper chance for that as we have four home games!

[erik45]

Youth intake 2034. Another golden generation (as all the intakes so far). The high CA + PA players are mostly playing wide positions.  But multiple players who already have 2 star CA 

When looking them more closely, this is not the most impressing intake. Two best players have bad personality combined with low level of Determination. My favourites are Harris 34c, Lewis 34d and Mahon 34g. You can find their and top 3 prospects profiles below this list.

 

Youth intake tracking. As expected, we are not delivering that many high level talents as we used to. That is down to the fact that our current 1st team players are better than the ones before them. Also, all the English players from the intakes so far have been from the Isle of Man. I don't know how much that restricts what kind of English talents we can get.

In the light of key attributes, this is the worst intake for 7 years.  As we had a youth recruitment upgrade and we are getting a youth facility upgrade as well, we will be fine. This is just one intake. And in the big picture: nine players with 5 star PA, who am I to complain?  

 

[erik45]

March 2034. It was looking like an amazing month... until Darlington, who are in the relegation battle, absolutely smashed us. What's even worse is the fact that it was a very even affair, our goalie just couldn't catch anything and got a rating of 5.4  We are yet to win Darlington in the league and I don't know if we get a new chance as they still look like relegation-bound team.

Table. We have all the chances of making it to the playoffs! We won't win them if we get there, but it's nice to have goals  

Upcoming fixtures. Last month of the season. I think we need 8+ points to make it to the playoffs. Can we make it? The Stockton Town game is the only one I consider somewhat easy, but no team is impossible to win. I think our chances are somewhere of 20-30 % of getting to the playoffs.

[erik45]

April 2034. No, no, no. This is not how I wanted to end the season. The first two games were really tricky, but what really grinds my gears was the the AFC Fylde game. We were better in everything, but they scored three goals from 0.95 xG (which is not impossible, just irritating).

Table. The end for the season was a bit sad, but we need to look at the positives: we were 9th on our second season in this league. Our wage budget is the lowest of the league and we haven't signed anyone during this or previous season. So, when looking at the big picture, we are doing really well! Last season we were 15th, this season 9th...next season 3rd?  

[erik45]

Season 2033/2034 review. My 10th season in charge of the team and third time in a row with the highest ever finish! The board is extremely happy, I'm quite happy, so the overall level of happiness is high!  

Best eleven 2033/2034. This is the first time all the players in the seasonal best XI are youth products! 

xG & xPts. This season we were lucky with our points, but it barely helped us when looking at the final position in the table. When looking at the xG and xGA, we delivered what the numbers suggested.

Season tracking. We were a little better than last season, so there has been progress. In the cups it feels like we just don't have much to give, but it is more about the fact we mostly play our 2nd XI in cup competitions.

Player stat tracking. Dugdale 31c was our top scorer, top assister, top average rater, top player  Moore and Reddy continued to keep their positions as the record appearance maker and record goal scorer. They will keep those positions for at least couple of seasons, but I don't expect them to play much games. Both have been unhappy with their playing time and it is possible they will leave the team (but it is their decision).

Players by played minutes. Parillon 30e played in all of the games and in all of them, full 90s. Why I'm desperate to keep him is not just about his ability but also about his personality. There's "per" in his name meaning perfectionist. At the beginning of this season he was "only" fairly professional. If we could keep him, he would be the perfect tutor for all the keepers to come.

From the stats you can also see, that the 1st XI played 37 games and there were five outfield players who played in all of them. I like to keep same players in the XI but this might be too static, even for me

Finances. We are back on track of gaining profits. What is funny is the next screenshot: why would we want a transfer budget of over 750k€?!  

[shd34_216_42]

Well, you are really good at making all the money...

Overachieving has a positive effect on attendances (especially when you are in contention for titles/promotion playoffs) as you may have noticed. You should also get a nice reputation boost thanks to your league finish.

An update on Stalybridge Celtic would be nice, they are the unofficial rival after all.

[erik45]

On 26/03/2024 at 08:00, shd34_216_42 said:

Well, you are really good at making all the money...

Overachieving has a positive effect on attendances (especially when you are in contention for titles/promotion playoffs) as you may have noticed. You should also get a nice reputation boost thanks to your league finish.

An update on Stalybridge Celtic would be nice, they are the unofficial rival after all.

They really have gotten their groove on as they won their third title and promotion in a row. The tycoon bought the club in 2026, then it was couple of seasons of spending money without success. In 2031/2032 it seemed everything clicked for them and now they are in Vanarama National with 5th highest budget in that league.

As you can see from the screenshot above, their hot prospect is a former player of ours. Stewart 31a was beginning his last year of the contract so I knew if I want to profit from him (from sell-on clause, as I knew his value is very low atm), I need to do it over the summer. There was team in League 2 (maybe Mansfield?) who made an offer, but the board rejected it as it was too low. I didn't care what we get now but what we could profit from the sell-on clause, but I couldn't argue that to the board. We sold Stewart 31a for 1,1k€ to Stalybridge. Even though he's listed as "fringe player" he started the first game of the new season.

I hope Stalybridge doesn't continue climbing the league ladders, at least not yet, as I hope to reinstate the rivalry as soon as possible!  

[erik45]

Season 2034/2035 preview. This is the 11th season of me being in charge of the team. We've achieved two promotions. To be honest, I expected more when I started the save but I love how challenging this has been! I've been lucky with the board as they haven't had any unrealistic expectations in the competitions. Fingers crossed it will stay that way as we just got a new chairman through voting!

New contract. I was feeling self-confident, so my first interaction with the new chairman was to ask a new contract for me. The board was happy to give me one. My salary hasn't gone up once in this save, but again I got two year deal with option for one more if promoted.

Facility upgrade completed. This is going to be the last upgrade for a while, but I'm happy that we've gotten such good academy settings at this point of the save.

Reputation update. Even if we have one of the highest average attendances in the league, our reputation is one of the lowest in the league. Better reputation should help us get better players from youth intakes (and it would make it easier to lure new players to the team, as it is almost impossible right now), but otherwise I'm not too interested in this topic.

 

Friendlies. Two losses (one against our rich rival Stalybridge), one draw and 8 wins, that's a nice record from friendlies. My favourite results weere the win against Edinburgh City (they're in League 2 in Scotland) and draw against Notts County (League 2). There was also our first testimonial, for our centre back Moore, who has made the most appearances for the club. He was the backbone of our defence for several seasons, so I think he really deserved this testimonial. He's never been very good, but sometimes it is enough to get to the starting XI that you have more experience than others.

 

Board expectations. Cup expectations are as ambiguous as they can be, but in the league we have a clear target: avoid relegation. I think that underestimates our team. My minimum expectation is top-half. I think our ceiling is somewhere between 3rd and 5th. It won't be a disaster if we don't make it to the playoffs this season, but I would be a bit disappointed.

Top goalscorer odds. I think this is the first time our striker has been in this list, at least this high. Last season Adigun 32a scored 13 goals in the league and the top scorer got 26 goals. So he needs to double his tally to be in the contest for the golden boot! I don't think it's impossible, but he's yet to be that consistent to get to those numbers.

Media predictions. During the pre-season our odds were all over the place. At one point we were as high as 5th in the odds table, and at some point we were as low as 16th. Our odds at 34.00 are better than ever in this league, so that's tells something about our progress. Curzon Ashton are clear favourites, and almost as clear 2nd favourites are Winterton Rangers. They are the only teams with wage budget of over 1m€, rest have 450k€ or less (we are just above 100k€).

The journalists have identified our GK Parillon 30e as our best player - and I agree. He's so good that he's actually pushing other players' star ratings down.   I think the best player is usually spot on, but the hot prospect can be anyone with 5 star potential ability. This time it's Clarke 34b. He can play anywhere in the middle and has nice base attributes, but I just don't know 1) where to play him and 2) if his personality will hinder all the progress.

 

Starting XIs. 1st XI pictured above, 2nd XI below. 1st XI will play during the weekends, 2nd XI during weekdays. I made some changes to the starting lineups. Lennon 32f, Codling 32j, and Hayward 32k got promoted to this level. They all spent the previous season on loan and I got the feeling they have something to offer for the first team now. Our midfield is not the strongest and for some reason midfield players haven't been progressing too much - I hope this changes soon. We rely on our quality attacking trio and our star goalie. If they deliver results consistently, we have a good chance of getting close to promotion spots. The achilles heel of the team is the central defence, I hope they take it seriously when I instruct them to take fewer risks.  

The 2nd XI is selected purely on potential ability and vibes. Goalie is the same, but that's just because I loaned out our 2nd best goalkeeper. My highest expectations are on Lewys Lewis 34d (love the name!), Sweetser-Hawkes 34a and McMenemy 31f, who's been on loan for the last two seasons.

Parillon 30e and Adigun 32a are the stars of our show and their profiles are already in this post, but I wanted to show a couple of more. Dugdale 31c has been fans' player of the year two times in a row and fans' young player of the year three times!  Last season he got 14G+8A in the league and I hope he can continue on that path. I also have high hopes on Gould 33i who's been getting better and better. He has an important role as WBL as he's basically in charge of that side alone.

 

Upcoming fixtures. We start our season relatively late as our first league game is in mid-August. Three games, all should be winnable, but I guess there will be some surprises for us  

 

Edited March 29 by erik45

[erik45]

Thread update.

As this has been the first save I've been posting about to this forum, I made two targets for myself when I started the thread.

The first target was that I get three full pages of posts. As I'm a person who starts things and never finishes them, I needed some achievable target for the amount of posts. Now I'm almost at the end of the fourth page. First target: achieved 

The second target was to get at least 3,000 views to my thread. I achieved this target earlier this week. I had no idea how many people would actually be interested to see a forum newcomer to learn how to make an interesting story, but I'm happy to see that some people are still reading this! Second target: achieved 

I'm planning to continue posting as long as this save feels enjoyable to me. At the moment I really, really enjoy this save, so I'm not expecting to stop posting anytime soon.

Thank you for the views and comments so far, they really mean a lot to me! <3

[erik45]

August 2034. Well, this is just a very boring start to the season.  We won what we deserved to win, but we should've gotten a point against Silsden.

Table. I want to get closer to the promotion playoffs. As we've played only three games so far, no need to worry (yet).

Upcoming fixtures. Our cup starts against Wythenshawe Town who are in the same division with us. They've started the league strongly with 2 wins and a draw, so this is not the easiest game. After that, so many league games that there will be chances for both the 1st and the 2nd XI.

[erik45]

September 2034. A heartbreaking exit from the cup! In the first game we were in 2-0 lead until the 86th minute. Then they scored in 87th and 88th minutes... In the replay I chose to use our 2nd XI. They defended really well until Wythenshawe got a penalty on the 85th minute. After that, an acceptable loss against Worksop Town before we found our shooting boots (and goalie gloves ). I'm happy with all but one league result. Check out these stats from the Squires Gate game:

Table. Good results mean that we climb up in the table. Curzon Ashton looks like an unbeatable force in the league, but the rest of the league is very even.

Finances. The cup games made this month one of the financially best months. My plan is to get a youth facility upgrade next, but it will take 1-2 seasons to have that kind of money.

Upcoming fixtures. Only one home game, but we have a chance to get a revenge from Wythenshawe in the FA Trophy. We also face one of our rival-ish opponents, Trafford, and end the month against big favourites. 

[Carninho]

Great save, very impressed  

I'm in a relagation scrap with my IoM save. I wanted to have a youth only save but after the first promotion the money dried up and the board wouldnt improve the youth facilities etc (for the next 8 seaons). I only got to use a handful of youth players and even then nobody made more than a few apperances.

I also got kicked out of the stadium as it wasnt fit for purpose in the Football League and relocated to Barrow. This is my first season back on the island in a 5k seater stadium. 

The plan is to max out the facilites and still have a youth only save. Now I'm in the Prem that can happen as I finally have money in the bank

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[erik45]

23 minutes ago, Carninho said:

Great save, very impressed  

I'm in a relagation scrap with my IoM save. I wanted to have a youth only save but after the first promotion the money dried up and the board wouldnt improve the youth facilities etc (for the next 8 seaons). I only got to use a handful of youth players and even then nobody made more than a few apperances.

I also got kicked out of the stadium as it wasnt fit for purpose in the Football League and relocated to Barrow. This is my first season back on the island in a 5k seater stadium. 

The plan is to max out the facilites and still have a youth only save. Now I'm in the Prem that can happen as I finally have money in the bank

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Thank you! This save has been a real training for patience.  As there are close to 0 good players who want to join us this has been much more youth only style of save than I predicted. But I'm happy with the progress, especially with the facility and youth training upgrades.

I haven't thought about the stadium thing, thanks for bringing that up! We have enough seats (800), but the overall capacity is too low for the National Leagues (2790 vs. 3000). Let's hope that if (and when) I get promoted, we have enough money in the bank and a wise board who are ready to expand the capacity a little bit.

 

You've really been flying through the divisions, you've had an excellent momentum! Hopefully you stay in the PL so you can start to put money towards facility upgrades. Are you actually allowed to play PL home games at the FC Isle of Man stadium? It seems way too small for the league

Good luck with the relegation fight in the PL! 

[erik45]

October 2034. Excellent results in the FA Trophy... and then not-so-excellent in the league. Yes, the away games were very difficult, but I thought we could've been in a fight for draws. I would've preferred to win against Wythenshawe Town in the FA Cup, but this is a nice payback.

Table. After a difficult month in the league, we slowly move towards mid-table. But I have a feeling we've faced most of the most difficult opponents of the first half of the season, so maybe things will get better.

Upcoming fixtures. Another busy month as we continue in the FA Trophy + start our League Cup journey. The season before last we made it to the quarter finals, could we do better this time? 

[erik45]

November 2034. 7 games, 21 goals scored!  The loss against Blyth Spartans hurt, as we didn't deserve it, but I don't mind too much because the rest of the month was so, so good.

The best player from last spring's intake, Sweetser-Hawkes 34a, showed that on top of his potential he already has the skills to make a difference as he scored 4 goals against St. Helens!  It was also the very first time that we achieved more than 5 xG in a competitive game.

Table. Even with the quite good results, we don't climb up the table. But... pointswise we are really close to the promotion places

Upcoming fixtures. No cup games to disrupt our rhythm in the league, but still a busy month. We face this season's rival Wythenshawe for the fourth time!

[shd34_216_42]

6 hours ago, Carninho said:

Great save, very impressed  

I'm in a relagation scrap with my IoM save. I wanted to have a youth only save but after the first promotion the money dried up and the board wouldnt improve the youth facilities etc (for the next 8 seaons). I only got to use a handful of youth players and even then nobody made more than a few apperances.

I also got kicked out of the stadium as it wasnt fit for purpose in the Football League and relocated to Barrow. This is my first season back on the island in a 5k seater stadium. 

The plan is to max out the facilites and still have a youth only save. Now I'm in the Prem that can happen as I finally have money in the bank

Seems like a bug if you're in the Premier League with a 5k seater stadium because the minimum requirements are much higher. (Also, shouldn't the base stadium have an expansion capacity of 8k?)

The FM22 version of the save is hilariously overpowered (starting off with 1500+ attendances at home, and the team is a tier lower to start with and starts with rather low reputation), so it looks like the FM24 version is way more of a challenge.

[Carninho]

5 hours ago, shd34_216_42 said:

Seems like a bug if you're in the Premier League with a 5k seater stadium because the minimum requirements are much higher. (Also, shouldn't the base stadium have an expansion capacity of 8k?)

The FM22 version of the save is hilariously overpowered (starting off with 1500+ attendances at home, and the team is a tier lower to start with and starts with rather low reputation), so it looks like the FM24 version is way more of a challenge.

the stadium took 2 years to bulid and was planned when i was in league 1 or 2. 

in a previous IoM save in FM22 maybe, I moved to Goodison Park, but only when i was upgrading the stadium. I think it was 8,000 before then. 

no sign of any minimum requirements. only news item was to enter the Football League and I was given 2 years to meet the requirements

(in the current save they are building a whopping 2,000 extra seats for me)

 

*actually this has just happened now

Spoiler

 

One thing i did find is that its really easy to find OP staff. I had a DoF who was Premier League standard while none league asking for minimal wages. only issue is that they come on a one year contract and move on at the end of the season, but it helps to have a good scout. My National League setup carried me through for years (players, staff etc) 

Edited March 31 by Carninho

[Carninho]

7 hours ago, erik45 said:

We face this season's rival Wythenshawe for the fourth time!

They were my biggest rival too and cost me Promotion in the playoffs, not that they went up either. Had a few cup defeats too.

When i went up the next season I encounted Wythenshawe Town which caused me to double take.

They stood out as I was born in Wythenshawe hospital, which is my one and only visit IRL