smplfc123

I never go big clubs. They just don't appeal to me, I prefer to try and build a club up to the point of being a big club, rather than taking over one. However, this thread and the mess(i) that Barca seem to find themselves in at the moment has really drawn me in to loading up a Barca save and embarking on a rebuild! Will definitely take plenty of hints and tips from this group. Will start with the transfers off for the first season to make the rebuild tougher.

Ouch, that is a double whammy

Great start @warlock, good to see Kendrick keeping some clean sheets even if he wasn't your first choice from Barnsley. SUMMER 2020 UPDATE So after finishing 15th this summer was about trying to improve the squad where we could without blocking a pathway for the youngsters to improve. With some big earners leaving on a free, we had plenty in the budget to spend big, but for those of you that have suffered my previous updates, you'll know that's not my style. CB, CM and out wide were the main areas I was looking to improve and this what we did: Anya and Huddlestone were the only 1st team members released and Curtis Davies retired, thus freeing up extra funds. Holmes' form was awful, when he wasn't injured, so I decided it was the right decision to take the £2.1m. With Wierik already agreed, it was finding a left footed partner that topped our priority list. After sniffing around a few, I decided to prise Diego Gonzalez away from Malaga for £700k. Harry Brockbank was brought in from Bolton as our young 4th choice CB. An injury to Wierik just before deadline day led to us bringing in Tangana on loan. Finding the right attacking players to unlock defences really proved to be a struggle. We scouted so many options, but in the end lumped on 2 Portuguese options, Felipe Chaby of Sporting and Fabio Martins of Braga for a combined £3.7m. We also brought in Curtis Jones on loan from Liverpool to add some depth. This how the squad is looking for the new season: GK: Rossbach / Carson RB: Bogle / Wisdom RCB: Wierik / Tangana LCB: Gonzalez / Brockbank LB: Lowe / Malone / Shinnie CDM: Bielik/ Bird / Shinnie CM: Rooney / Knight CM: Chaby / Sibley RW: Martins / Jozefzoon LW: Lawrence / Jones ST: Marriott / Martin / Whittaker Overall I'd say I'd rate my squad and transfer business as 7/10. On one hand, I'm glad I haven't stockpiled as there's clear pathways for Bird, Knight, Sibley and Whittaker to get plenty of game time this season. On the other, I'm not entirely happy with my wide attackers on paper and my centre halves are completely untested in this league, so only time will tell if they turn out to be good purchases.

SUMMER 2020 UPDATE So after finishing 15th this summer was about trying to improve the squad where we could without blocking a pathway for the youngsters to improve. With some big earners leaving on a free, we had plenty in the budget to spend big, but for those of you that have suffered my previous updates, you'll know that's not my style. CB, CM and out wide were the main areas I was looking to improve and this what we did: Anya and Huddlestone were the only 1st team members released and Curtis Davies retired, thus freeing up extra funds. Holmes' form was awful, when he wasn't injured, so I decided it was the right decision to take the £2.1m. With Wierik already agreed, it was finding a left footed partner that topped our priority list. After sniffing around a few, I decided to prise Diego Gonzalez away from Malaga for £700k. Harry Brockbank was brought in from Bolton as our young 4th choice CB. An injury to Wierik just before deadline day led to us bringing in Tangana on loan. Finding the right attacking players to unlock defences really proved to be a struggle. We scouted so many options, but in the end lumped on 2 Portuguese options, Felipe Chaby of Sporting and Fabio Martins of Braga for a combined £3.7m. We also brought in Curtis Jones on loan from Liverpool to add some depth. This how the squad is looking for the new season: GK: Rossbach / Carson RB: Bogle / Wisdom RCB: Wierik / Tangana LCB: Gonzalez / Brockbank LB: Lowe / Malone / Shinnie CDM: Bielik/ Bird / Shinnie CM: Rooney / Knight CM: Chaby / Sibley RW: Martins / Jozefzoon LW: Lawrence / Jones ST: Marriott / Martin / Whittaker Overall I'd say I'd rate my squad and transfer business as 7/10. On one hand, I'm glad I haven't stockpiled as there's clear pathways for Bird, Knight, Sibley and Whittaker to get plenty of game time this season. On the other, I'm not entirely happy with my wide attackers on paper and my centre halves are completely untested in this league, so only time will tell if they turn out to be good purchases.

END OF SEASON UPDATE So with us knowing in February that neither relegation or play-offs were a real possibility, the final third was about giving youngsters more game time and working on a style and philosophy for the future. That didn't exactly start well in February, with me even starting to come under pressure at the end of March with my status showing as 'insecure'. Luckily, a good turn around in form saw us beaten just once in the final 7 games, picking up 4 wins and finally looking like we've got a system in place. This how the table finished: So 15th on 57 points is how it finished for us. I'm fairly happy with that to be honest. It gives us plenty of room to grow. The youngsters were given plenty of chances and all will be involved in the squad next season. Including sub appearances, Bird made 26, Bogle 25, Lowe 36, Knight 38, Sibley 20 and Whittaker 13. Moving forward, Wierik should be a solid addition, but Clarke will need replacing and we could do with more depth at CB on top of that. I'm undecided on if some experienced players like Huddlestone and Martin will stay on, but regardless, more depth in midfield and attack will be sourced during the summer. The aim for next season is top half, with us maybe even flirting with the play-offs if we make the right signings.

END OF SEASON UPDATE So with us knowing in February that neither relegation or play-offs were a real possibility, the final third was about giving youngsters more game time and working on a style and philosophy for the future. That didn't exactly start well in February, with me even starting to come under pressure at the end of March with my status showing as 'insecure'. Luckily, a good turn around in form saw us beaten just once in the final 7 games, picking up 4 wins and finally looking like we've got a system in place. This how the table finished: So 15th on 57 points is how it finished for us. I'm fairly happy with that to be honest. It gives us plenty of room to grow. The youngsters were given plenty of chances and all will be involved in the squad next season. Including sub appearances, Bird made 26, Bogle 25, Lowe 36, Knight 38, Sibley 20 and Whittaker 13. Moving forward, Wierik should be a solid addition, but Clarke will need replacing and we could do with more depth at CB on top of that. I'm undecided on if some experienced players like Huddlestone and Martin will stay on, but regardless, more depth in midfield and attack will be sourced during the summer. The aim for next season is top half, with us maybe even flirting with the play-offs if we make the right signings.

Argh that must be frustrating. Let's just hope that the new owners are better than certain ones the club has had in the past....!

JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW 2020 UPDATE As there have been a couple of deals done both in and out, I decided I would provide an update so you can see how i'm looking going in to the final third or so of the season. I'm not a massive fan of the January transfer window in general. I find players are overpriced and you very rarely find what you're looking for and end up buying just for the sake of it. I was determined to bring in a certain position as we just weren't strong enough there, with the potential options of strengthening elsewhere. INS: Sondre Rossbach - Odd - £1.2m - For those of you who know my style, I don't like buying players I've bought before. I've seen this lads name floated about on a few forums, so it did put me off buying him initially, but he turned out to be the stand-out option that was available, with other choices either not for sale or just not interested. The young Norwegian does possess some good stats and his value hs almost quadrupled already. If he's only decent, he'll still be a massive improvement on Hamer and Roos. Rochina - Vit. Guimaraes - Loan - The attacking midfielder has joined on loan with an optional future fee should we wish to keep him. To be honest there wasn't much choice out there to cover Lawrence at AML and with Curtis Jones being the only other option who I've signed on previous saves, I went for the 24 year old from Portugal. I was looking for another CB, with Davies 35 and Clarke unlikely to be affordable next season, but there was nothing worth doing. OUTS: Lee Buchanan - Brighton - £6.5m (£11.5m) - I didn't want to sell Buchanan, but a flurry of deadline day bids from PL clubs and the player refusing to sign a new contract unless I guaranteed him a spot as 'regular starter' left me no choice but to get what I could. Whilst I have no doubt he'll develop in to a top player on the game, with Lowe signing a new long term contract and Malone an able HG deputy, I think it was probably a good deal. £4M upfront, £2.5m over 3 years and then a series of clauses. Brighton will be paying £240k per appearance for the first 10 appearances, at which point we will also receive a payment of £1.5m. So that'll be £3.9m accumulated in fees for his first 10 appearances. Added to that an extra £1.2m should he go on to earn 1 international cap and 50% of any profit to be made to come our way, I think we've done well for ourselves. The board were extremely happy with the deal. Kelle Roos - Montreal Impact - £525k - I don't think there's much to say on this one. Just glad someone was willing to pay for him. Craig Forsyth - Cincinati - £375k - Again with Lowe and Malone in the squad, there was no room for Forsyth. A trip to the MLS to finish off his career seems a good move for all involved. So with the transfers sorted, here's how we are looking with February just underway: Still sitting fairly comfortably in 13th. I'm actually closer to the play-offs than the relegation zone, but too far off from either to have anything to play for. With us out of the FA Cup too after a 1-0 loss against Brentford, the final third of the season will be used to focus on giving more opportunities to youngsters and settling on a style and philosophy ready for next season.

JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW 2020 UPDATE As there have been a couple of deals done both in and out, I decided I would provide an update so you can see how i'm looking going in to the final third or so of the season. I'm not a massive fan of the January transfer window in general. I find players are overpriced and you very rarely find what you're looking for and end up buying just for the sake of it. I was determined to bring in a certain position as we just weren't strong enough there, with the potential options of strengthening elsewhere. INS: Sondre Rossbach - Odd - £1.2m - For those of you who know my style, I don't like buying players I've bought before. I've seen this lads name floated about on a few forums, so it did put me off buying him initially, but he turned out to be the stand-out option that was available, with other choices either not for sale or just not interested. The young Norwegian does possess some good stats and his value hs almost quadrupled already. If he's only decent, he'll still be a massive improvement on Hamer and Roos. Rochina - Vit. Guimaraes - Loan - The attacking midfielder has joined on loan with an optional future fee should we wish to keep him. To be honest there wasn't much choice out there to cover Lawrence at AML and with Curtis Jones being the only other option who I've signed on previous saves, I went for the 24 year old from Portugal. I was looking for another CB, with Davies 35 and Clarke unlikely to be affordable next season, but there was nothing worth doing. OUTS: Lee Buchanan - Brighton - £6.5m (£11.5m) - I didn't want to sell Buchanan, but a flurry of deadline day bids from PL clubs and the player refusing to sign a new contract unless I guaranteed him a spot as 'regular starter' left me no choice but to get what I could. Whilst I have no doubt he'll develop in to a top player on the game, with Lowe signing a new long term contract and Malone an able HG deputy, I think it was probably a good deal. £4M upfront, £2.5m over 3 years and then a series of clauses. Brighton will be paying £240k per appearance for the first 10 appearances, at which point we will also receive a payment of £1.5m. So that'll be £3.9m accumulated in fees for his first 10 appearances. Added to that an extra £1.2m should he go on to earn 1 international cap and 50% of any profit to be made to come our way, I think we've done well for ourselves. The board were extremely happy with the deal. Kelle Roos - Montreal Impact - £525k - I don't think there's much to say on this one. Just glad someone was willing to pay for him. Craig Forsyth - Cincinati - £375k - Again with Lowe and Malone in the squad, there was no room for Forsyth. A trip to the MLS to finish off his career seems a good move for all involved. So with the transfers sorted, here's how we are looking with February just underway: Still sitting fairly comfortably in 13th. I'm actually closer to the play-offs than the relegation zone, but too far off from either to have anything to play for. With us out of the FA Cup too after a 1-0 loss against Brentford, the final third of the season will be used to focus on giving more opportunities to youngsters and settling on a style and philosophy ready for next season.

Looking forward to see how that off-season progresses @warlock

Thanks mate and yes i'm happy we're ticking along even though I'm not settled on roles and style yet. Bird is showing as either footed on mine.

END OF 2019 UPDATE So with the board just wanting me to avoid a relegation battle this season, I felt there would be plenty of room to experiment and give youth a chance. We've managed so far to do both, although the experimenting is yet to lead to a style and philosophy I can nail down on. I'm still a little stuck on how I want this team to play and what roles to use, but I feel we're getting closer. This is how the table looks now that we're in to January 2020: So as you can see we're sitting comfortably in 13th, a good 15 points clear of the relegation zone. Scoring isn't a problem, with us sitting 7th in the scoring charts. The goals are evenly spread amongst the team too, with Rooney leading the way on 7. The problem is at the other end. We're too nice and passive for my liking and when the soft defence is beaten, Hamer isn't offering any resistance in goal. With that in mind, GK is the top priority in January. I've already agreed a deal to Sell Roos to Montreal in Feb and Forsyth is also moving to North America to team up with Cincinati. Another CB and LW are also on my list, but I'm not one for buying many in Jan. In good news, Sibley, Lowe, Bogle and Bird have all signed new long-term deals. Those 4, along with Whittaker and Knight, have all seen plenty of first team action too, with a couple of them excelling. The aim is to avoid a second half collapse in this season as it looks likely we'll have nothing left to play for should we go out of the FA Cup in the next round.

END OF 2019 UPDATE So with the board just wanting me to avoid a relegation battle this season, I felt there would be plenty of room to experiment and give youth a chance. We've managed so far to do both, although the experimenting is yet to lead to a style and philosophy I can nail down on. I'm still a little stuck on how I want this team to play and what roles to use, but I feel we're getting closer. This is how the table looks now that we're in to January 2020: So as you can see we're sitting comfortably in 13th, a good 15 points clear of the relegation zone. Scoring isn't a problem, with us sitting 7th in the scoring charts. The goals are evenly spread amongst the team too, with Rooney leading the way on 7. The problem is at the other end. We're too nice and passive for my liking and when the soft defence is beaten, Hamer isn't offering any resistance in goal. With that in mind, GK is the top priority in January. I've already agreed a deal to Sell Roos to Montreal in Feb and Forsyth is also moving to North America to team up with Cincinati. Another CB and LW are also on my list, but I'm not one for buying many in Jan. In good news, Sibley, Lowe, Bogle and Bird have all signed new long-term deals. Those 4, along with Whittaker and Knight, have all seen plenty of first team action too, with a couple of them excelling. The aim is to avoid a second half collapse in this season as it looks likely we'll have nothing left to play for should we go out of the FA Cup in the next round.

Well done on finishing 10th @Ronaldo Beckham, shame about losing a couple of good players though.

I'm using a 4-1-4-1 (DM Wide) but until recently, it's been a bit hit and miss as i'm trying to figure out how best to utilise Rooney, the full backs and the attacking 3. With Bogle now fit, we've got better stability down the right hand side and a few tweaks in roles and instructions has led us to a 9 game unbeaten streak, so long may that continue. What's more pleasing is that I'm starting to play the football I envisaged. I think with so many out injured at the start, so many youngsters being thrown in and with me not fully sold on what I wanted, the sticky start was to be expected. I've got a few on their way out of the door in Jan and hopefully 1 or 2 coming in to help reinforce this rise in form.