Tivvy18

The Playoffs Final WE ARE GOING UP! The score line doesn't tell the story of the match as we were under pressure for most of the match. Even at two up I was nervous but come the 80th minute and our third it was clear that the momentum was clearly with us. I think I'm more pleased with the clean sheet than I am with the three goals. Just shows what happens when we take our chances! So what's next? Analysis and proper planning for the next league up will be coming shortly. We've shown this season in the FA Cup that we are able to take advantage of bigger teams so maybe it suggests we are part way there. There's a big difference between a one off match and a season long campaign, though. Plenty to think about before we start the new season. Now if you'll excuse me. I'm going to celebrate promotion with a drink and the snooker.

The Playoffs Semi Final That feeling where you concede a penalty and think it's all over. Our keeper saves and then it a few minutes later we score a counter attack. The story of our season really. We generally have the possession but just can't convert it into goals. I'll try to remember it for the final bit of analysis but our goals scored vs goals conceded paints quite a picture. But that's for another post. Who awaits us in the final? We play Basingstoke who clearly had a bit more fun in front of goal in their tie. Not that I feel it counts for much but this is how we've done against them this season. We lost against them earlier in the month to a very late goal. We've got home advantage in the final so hopefully that counts for something.

Thank you for the encouragement! I love these sort of saves because I can get attached to the club and that offsets the frustrations of not progressing as quickly as I would like. It's a good shout about the "dummy" save. That's how I settled on this season's tactic by playing about with a few as Sporting in Portugal until something started to work more often than not. Maybe I should do something similar with a more limited team but the 4-3-3 that I've been using this season hasn't been too bad. Just needs a bit more firepower.

April 2028 League We're really running out of steam and failed again to take our chances when they fell to us. In the end we finished 6 points off Eastleigh and ended the season as runners up. At least we've got a break before our first playoff tie. You'd think I'd be more optimistic but I'm really concerned that the momentum is not with us. It won't be an all South West final though as we play the winner of Billericay and Weston-Super-Mare in the semi final.

March 2028 League We used up all of our goals against Braintree and the rest of the month felt like a struggle. Those two draws may become a case of what if... We've got the playoff spot wrapped up. Can we topple Eastleigh? With four matches left there is still time for some drama to unfold... Youth Intake Investment in youth recruitment seems to be paying off as we've got some decent potential coming through based on stars. The three choice players from this years intake. Still not saying much and given our limited development opportunities they will probably remain too rough to feature going forward if the club makes any progress.

February 2028 League Another slow month and I think our problem is going to end up being that we aren't playing well against the other teams in the playoffs. Despite struggling Gloucester have a striker having the season of his life and we could only salvage a point. Eastleigh are doing their best to make the run in a proper title race but we are doing our best to not take advantage of their slip ups. With 9 matches to go we have to overturn the six point gap and improve our goal difference as well. On current form I'm not optimistic... Oh and to top it off our goalkeeper is out for two months. This is how he celebrates a new and improved contract offer. We'll have to wait and see how this is going to effect us going forward but this could be a pivotal moment as we enter the run in.

January 2028 League An unbeaten month but a painfully ground out one. The goals haven't been flowing as much as I'd want and most are coming from set pieces. I've tried to play a 4-4-2 in the last three matches as I'm a bit jealous of so many teams having their strikers scoring massive amounts. It's not worked out quite the same for us though and it may be an experiment to try again at a future point. We aren't giving Eastleigh much peace and the chase is definitely on. FA Cup The final score line doesn't reflect the match. We held our own in the first half, only being 1-0 down from a penalty, and then their two goals came from the gulf in class between our defence and their attack. This has been an utterly wild FA Cup run, probably the best I've had in this sort of save. Finances That's a tasty amount in the bank, with around a £300k boost from the Leicester match. I don't really know what the best thing to do with it all is. I'd like to try and upgrade the youth side of things as much as I can as the last training upgrade drained our finances a fair chunk. The rumours of a board takeover are going around again and I don't want to get into a situation where we get someone in who refuses to inject cash.

December 2027 League A mixed month. Eastleigh could have been a draw right at the death but we couldn't make the most of our late game momentum. On the whole we've been off the pace this month but I'm hoping that is a response to the fairly hectic November. We're still in the mix at the top of the league though and hopefully will keep ourselves in a position to pounce on any Eastleigh slip up in the future. FA Trophy We just aren't fearing anyone at the moment. We couldn't match the 90th minute equaliser with penalty heroics this time. I'm not going to complain too much as I feel any success in the FA Trophy realistically will come in the National League and will help with fixture congestion in the future. Injuries Two fairly big injuries over the Christmas period. Harvey is coming to the end of his time as our star man, I feel, so I wasn't willing to spend money on a specialist or protective equipment, and plays in a position that we have enough cover for. Olly Thomas is a bit more of a problem as we are short of cover at AML.

November 2027 League Our good form continues as the fixtures come thick and fast. Our first XI only played twice in the league this month as we rotated with the FA Cup and Trophy. Eastleigh are running wild with two players at the 20 goal mark at the half way point. We sit a fairly distant second as it looks like the fight may end up being who finishes with a bye in the playoffs. It's still quite close with 5 points separating us in 2nd and Eastbourne in 10th. FA Cup We saw off League Two Bromley easily in the replay and then went one better by utterly thrashing League One Tranmere in the next round. I don't think their manager was able to handle just how badly their away day to Cornwall went. He says robbed. I say utterly outclassed. Premier League Leicester away in the Third Round so I'm hoping for a relatively good payday. FA Trophy We couldn't take our chances in either of the back to back matches against Chesham but we managed to get through on penalties in the end. Goalkeeper Margetson being the hero with a couple of saves.

September and October 2027 League September was frustrating. October was less so. Things clicked with a few tactical tweaks and all of a sudden the flood gates opened for us. Welling were 2nd when we played them and only a penalty separated us in the end but I'll take the win. FA Cup Our cup run so far has faced two teams in the lower leagues, relegation battlers Dover and then League 2 Bromley. Poor decisions at the back threw away our lead against Bromley and so we go to a replay at home. Club vision I take full credit for this. The fact that the board have put in over £500k so far this season in completely irrelevant. Personal League One promotion hopefuls Charlton want me. This save is still intended to be firmly Truro focused but I just wanted to point out that I am being praised for my tactical acumen in the game world. Clearly I've got some sort of reputation as a non-league Pep, despite my best achievements being surviving relegation somehow and being thrashed in the playoff semi final last season.

August 2027 League A fairly decent start to the season but nowhere near as dominant as the last few seasons have been. A worrying trend is that we can dominate a match but just not take our chances. Carshalton pretty much FM'd us and it took a late equaliser to salvage something. If we can find a goal scoring touch we may be in for a good season.

National League South 27/28 Preseason It's taken a while to get going but I'm back. I don't think any of the results against league opposition were actually bad. Most of the goals conceded just came from better quality but apart from Bristol City I think we held our own. Transfers These are just the signings since the league reset. I released 11 players from last season as part of a massive squad overhaul. Only Tyler Harvey remains from the very beginning at this point just because he remains one of our best players, though getting on in age. I'm in super serious mode now. If I can replace someone then that is exactly what needs to happen. Finances We sit at an 'insecure' £300k, helped continuously by the board injecting funds. I'm not complaining and if this is how I meet the challenge of repairing our finances then so be it. Still don't understand what's going on here. The League The bookies are serious about us. The board are less ambitious only asking for mid-table which suits me fine. The league has either got much weaker or we have got much stronger. Whatever it is, the challenge is to get us playing. The Pride of the West Country update I have got no idea if anyone is actually interested in this but I will continue doing it as I'm finding it interesting how the South West clubs are doing as a whole. If clubs do better it will benefit us as it means the players they produce should be better. Promoted Gloucester join us in the National League South this season. Teams continue to move around us be we remain planted where we are. Bournemouth could lose top spot now they are in the Championship but given what usually happens I fully expect them to go straight back up.

End of Season Competition Updates The Pride of the West Country As the permanent fixture of the National League South we watch as the names change around us but we stay put. The big news is Bournemouth have been relegated from the Premier League which means for the first time this save the South West has no representation at the top. Leagues Premier League Champions - Chelsea Champions League - Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Man Utd Europa League - Leeds, West Ham Europa Conference League - Crystal Palace Relegated - Bournemouth, Brentford, Southampton Championship Champions - Birmingham Promoted - Reading Playoff Winners - Blackburn Relegated - Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol Rovers, Wigan League One Champions - Derby Promoted - Lincoln Playoff Winners - Barnsley Relegated - Fleetwood, Shrewsbury, Bromley, Wrexham League Two Champions - Stockport Promoted - Salford, Leyton Orient Playoff Winners - Bradford City Relegated - Newport, Barrow National League Champions - Barnet Playoff Winners - South Shields Relegated - Dag & Red, Weston-super-Mare, AFC Fylde, Gateshead National League North Champions - Blyth Playoff Winners - Boston Utd Relegated - Nuneaton Boro, Oxford City, Gainsborough, Hemel Hempstead National League South Champions - Torquay Playoff Winners - Wealdstone Relegated - Weymouth, Hampton & Richmond, Tonbridge, Enfield Town Domestic Cups FA Cup Man City 2 - 1 Liverpool League Cup Chelsea 0 - 2 Crystal Palace Community Shield Man City 1 - 2 Man Utd EFL Trophy Blackpool 1 - 4 Derby FA Trophy Ebbsfleet 1 - 3 Yeovil Continental Cups Champions League Borussia Dortmund 0 - 1 Milan Europa League Chelsea 1 - 3 Arsenal Europa Conference League Gent 1 - 0 Frankfurt Super Cup Tottenham 0 - 1 Newcastle

The Playoffs Semi Final Don't get too excited... A better performance, a worse result. Wealdstone show the advantage of being professional and also not having played a match only three days ago. I was a bit hopeful taking them into half time at 1-1 but the penalty in the 70th minute really killed us off. The final ends up being 2nd vs 3rd which is a bit boring. If Wealdstone don't go on to win it will be an utter scandal. They finished 2nd on 101 points, missing out on the title on goal difference. Ebbsfleet meanwhile finished 3rd with only 88 points. And so ends our season... and the save? We finally made the playoffs but it ultimately ended in disappointment (and unfortunately embarrassment). To be fair I always felt this was going to be the outcome as soon as I realised we were in the bracket with Wealdstone. I can point to so many things that they had going for them (TWO 30 goal strikers, professional, the week gap between matches to name a few) and it was going to be a big ask to overcome them. I could see how we fared here would be a sign to what would likely happen next season if we did get promoted. Relegation and the sack would probably follow unless I managed a tactical masterclass. Ultimately we just weren't strong enough to realistically be in with a shout. So where to now? Four seasons into the save and all I have to show for it is a failed playoff campaign. The save is losing it's sparkle a bit as the same issues keep popping up and I'm not feeling that I'm capable of resolving them. Playing with Truro is difficult as you are really limited to who will even consider coming to you so I'm finding it difficult to improve the squad in the same way I have done in the past. It doesn't seem anyone in the South West is producing/releasing decent enough players either so the usual tactic of signing all the released youth isn't really an option. I'm still trying to work out if it is my tactics or if it is actually my players. With the way this season has gone maybe it is more of a question of the squads ability? I don't know. I think the problem is that I'm losing the momentum to keep going and the save is becoming a bit of a grind. I'm playing it but not necessarily enjoying it and I really don't want to feel like "oh got to do an update lets just throw the results up and say how naff the month has been" which I think has come across a few times this season. It could be a lot of things but I know that repeating those three games to try and work out my tactic was really not fun, particularly when it didn't seem to make a difference. Maybe when I look back on the season I will see that actually things haven't been too bad they just haven't been amazing like I want it to be. Apologies for the ramble but if I can't share my thoughts on the save in my own thread about the save, where can you? I'll finish this post off with a simple thank you to everyone who has read this so far and the comments that I've had. I hope that there is enjoyment to be found in saves like this where success isn't necessarily matching ambition.

The Playoffs First Round A single goal in extra time as we continue to haunt Dulwich Hamlet. I think we could and should have won in normal time but a win is a win. The players are knackered and there's not long to rest for those who don't finish 2nd or 3rd. Who's our opponent in the semi finals? Now you might remember Wealdstone as being the team we played in the last game of the season. How did that go? To save any scrolling up, I will remind you. It didn't go well. But that was a meaningless match at the end of the season. THIS is our most important match of the season as it stands. Will our tired lads rise to the occasion to see us through to the final?

April 2027 League So did we do hold on? Truro are Play Off bound after we finished in 5th place. The Maidenhead match was frustrating but the 6-3 thrashing of Eastbourne and 3-0 win over Gosport was enough to make it a question of who we would play rather than if we would make it. The Wealdstone result was a dose of reality though. Against 10 men for the entire second half and they went onto score instead. Dulwich Hamlet await in the first round. Club news

Unexpected generosity! This is going to change EVERYTHING! Given the amount of money they've been throwing at me in £120k and £50k increments, clearly they have decided to throw it all at me in one go I can't believe it... Just think of all those players I can sign now! How can I not accept?! Oh... Now that's just mean... Sadly, I've known about this for years so I didn't get too excited... At least once I realised what it was. This seems to be the first time I have ever played the game on April 1st as I have never seen it for myself before. Given I'm in the middle of a possible board takeover, as soon as I saw the item in my inbox I thought that we had been snapped up by a tycoon. If anything it was very well timed and if I hadn't known about it beforehand I would probably have cried.

January, February and March 2027 League Clearly I have had enough of this save and just gave up on updating Well... maybe there is a slight bit of truth in that. Apologies for the lack of activity, I tested positive for Covid last week and spent most of it in bed or not wanting to deal with FM24. The good news is that I'm feeling better and still not wanting to deal with FM24. But here I am with a bumper update! As you can see, our form hasn't been great but at least we've not gone on any serious losing runs. I'm still not happy with how we play and I think I have come to the conclusion that we are a midtable side that is doing better than we probably should be. So where does this leave us in the table as we enter the final month of the season? We cling to the Play Offs with just four games left of the season. Apart from title chasing Wealdstone, we play teams lower down the table but that hasn't meant much this season. The trend seems to be 75 points is enough to claim 7th place. If we base things on that, we need at minimum two wins and no thrashings to lose our goal difference advantage. Doable? Yes. Hopeful? No. Club news I'd like to think it was worth the expense. At least shows some sort of ambition from the chairman... Maybe he got fed up of me constantly asking for stuff? I take it that means we will no longer be fan owned if/when it goes through. Personal Caught up at the wrong end of League One, Shrewsbury ultimately went for someone else. It hasn't gone well for them so far. Clearly they aren't aware of my reputation for being able to turn around slumps in form...

December 2026 A much better month. Wealdstone are fighting at the top of the league so the loss was expected. Aveley was an awful result against someone fighting relegation. Shipping 22 goals in the last two months has been abysmal and I really don't know what has caused it to happen. We've changed tactic to play a 4-4-2 DM which has at least seemed to have done something with our goal output. It's still not working for our forward players though so I'm still trying to get that working.

November 2026 Defending? What is that? An absolutely horrendous month. I don't even want to say that it is a case of we are getting completely dominated. Generally speaking we are good with possession but just can't take our chances. The reverse is true for everyone else. We cling to a play off spot but the chasing pack are all just one win away from dragging us into midtable obscurity or worse... At some point I am going to have to humble myself and head off to the tactics forum to ask for advice. Clearly just taking inspiration is not working!

If I'm inspiring someone to play the game then I must be doing something right! Thank you for that feedback. I know the save isn't exactly a thrilling story of straight promotions but I think this is part of the charm of challenges of Dafuge saves. You find somewhere that you end up connecting with for some reason and then you just start identifying with them. Honestly if it wasn't for the extra story telling part of this save and doing this thread I think I would have abandoned it long ago. I'd definitely recommend the Dafuge challenge. Despite my continued lack of success with it, it's the sort of save that gives me the most enjoyment playing the game. Hope whoever you end up choosing provides you with a good story however long it lasts.

October 2026 League A decent month though I still have concerns about our inability to convert chances. FA Cup As expected we lost to Dag & Red. Can't complain as we were second best for most of the match. Finances October began with another cash injection which took us finally to an 'okay' rating. I took little time to pester the board yet again about various improvements. To my surprise I eventually got 3/3 accepted. The training facilities has pretty much drained our finances and we are back to being insecure. I can understand why this is considered insecure as our net debt now sits at £438k. Knowing my luck this is where the board decide to stop injecting cash as a matter of routine.

September 2026 League The worrying signs have started again First we stop being able to take the chances and then the defence starts to fall apart. At the moment I would say that we don't deserve to lose the matches in the sense that we aren't taking our chances and the opposition are. FA Cup Two easy ties against lower league opposition. We took the one chance we needed at Farnborough but it was late on and we should have been home and dry by that point. Next up is against National League strugglers Dag & Red where I wouldn't write us off just yet but I'm not hopeful of going much further. Finances Still listed as insecure and the board aren't considering some upgrades because of it.

Just making a note to say that I've now reported my finances being listed as 'insecure' as a bug. I don't want to diminish the save at all but it feels like the board pumping in £120k and £70k consistently is due to us being rated as 'insecure' and now it's impacting my ability to ask for improvements. I'm still hoping I've just missed something and it all makes perfect sense. What that would be at this point I'm just guessing but I've had saves before FM24 where I've been deep in the negatives and still rated as 'okay.'