[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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?

 

[[FM24] Truro City]

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

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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...

 

 

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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!

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.

[[FM24] Truro City]

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.'

[[FM24] Truro City]

August 2026

League

It seems to be a feature of this save that we tend to have a really strong August. Our second XI managed to get two wins against Aveley and Enfield, though it needed substitutions to kick them into life a bit. The Slough result was very pleasing as we came back from 3-1 down to dominate them at half time.

I'm not going to say anything but recent experience suggests that this will be as good as it gets for the season.

Transfers

Parker has come in to replace Hall. Wood is now our second choice ARM and Patten comes in to offer some cover at DM. I'm still feeling a bit light at the back, though, so I will hopefully secure another back up DC if I can.

[[FM24] Truro City]

Preseason 26/27

At least the results improved as we went down the leagues. Though the Derby win, I think, shows that we haven't necessarily been playing badly.

Transfers

Biggest news is that our best defender has left and currently going into our first game of the season we are short at the back. Not ideal but hopefully a replacement is just days away from being confirmed.

This is the current list of signings. From my wish list: Maciocia comes in at DM, Donelon our new DL, Covolan our new keeper, Stevens comes in at AMR and Purkis is now our main man up front (though not the physical striker I wanted).

The bookies have us at 8th. We were initially 4th but we have clearly not impressed as much with our transfer dealings. The main takeaway is that we should be challenging for the play off spots and that is what I want to do as a minimum.

Finances

We continue to be rated as insecure even though we now have more money in the bank then at any point this save. No net debt so I continue to have no clue what is going on here. I know the board are investing heavily to keep us running but I don't get how the rating is worked out as the threshold seems to increase each season. I may report it as a bug at this point because something seems off to me but I could well be wrong here.

We are potentially down to spend just under £450k on wages this year. It's getting to the point where I am spending more than I realistically would like to but I think it needs to be done to take us to the next level. This is our fourth season at this level and we have not even had a shot at the play offs yet.

World Cup

He's only gone and won it. On penalties too! I have no idea what would happen if Southgate did actually win the Euros and a World Cup IRL. Lord Southgate?

Maybe he finally learnt and that's why he's had so much success?

[[FM24] Truro City]

National League South 26/27

Start of Preseason

I didn't realise the Bristol Rovers match wouldn't be counted before the reset date so we have already played it. Some sloppy play led to some of their goals and I would say that we gave a good account of ourselves against now Championship opposition. I've gone for a new tactic of slowly reducing the strength of teams as we get to the end of preseason. Hopefully the morale hit won't be too bad!

The Pride of the West Country update

We welcome back Weymouth to the National League South and this is how the West Country shape up for representation this season.

Attendance update

I think this shows that playing back in Truro has made quite a big difference on our attendances. We've more than doubled our average from last season. 

Other news

I did not realise that Bury could get promoted! They start their long climb up again in the National League North. Hopefully it won't be a short stay.

[[FM24] Truro City]

End of Season Competition Updates

The Pride of the West Country

Quite a bit of upward movement this year and again each tier has a representative from the South West. Plymouth lost out in the play off final to Leicester meaning Bournemouth continue to lead the table as the only team in the Premier League. Bristol Rovers join the Championship. Forest Green are back in the league on the second time of asking. Weston-super-Mare replace them in the National League. It's funny how that at the start of the save there were nine teams from the South West in the National League North/South and now, unless someone comes up, that has gone down to just Torquay and ourselves. In fact we are the the only team now that hasn't been promoted or relegated.

Leagues

Premier League

Champions - Man Utd

Champions League - Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham (Champions League winners), Aston Villa, Newcastle (Europa League winners)

Europa League - Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham

Europa Conference League - Crystal Palace

Relegated - Brighton, Burnley, Birmingham

I'm including the table here because the entire top half got a European place. I thought there were rules in place to limit the amount of teams a single nation could have in Europe? There's going to be six teams in the Champions League!

Championship

Champions - Fulham

Promoted - Wolves

Play Off Winners - Leicester

Relegated - Portsmouth, Blackpool, Bolton

League One

 

Champions - West Brom

Promoted - Wigan

Play Off Winners - Bristol Rovers 

Relegated - Walsall, Stockport, Grimsby, Port Vale

League Two

 

Champions - Swindon

Promoted - Bromley, Tranmere

Play Off Winners - Wrexham

Relegated - Morecambe, Stevenage

National League

 

Champions - Scunthorpe

Play Off Winners - Forest Green

Relegated - Spennymoor, Blyth, Boreham Wood, Ebbsfleet

National League North

Champions - South Shields

Play Off Winners - Scarborough

Relegated - Brackley, Banbury, Bradford (PA), Guiseley

National League South

 

Champions - Weston-super-Mare

Play Off Winners - Worthing

Relegated - Farnborough, Folkestone, Dover, Margate

Domestic Cups

FA Cup

Man City 2 - 1 Tottenham

League Cup

Man Utd 2 - 1 Tottenham

Community Shield

Arsenal 2 - 1 Man Utd

EFL Trophy

Rotherham 1 - 2 West Brom

FA Trophy

Torquay 0 - 1 Weston-super-Mare

Continental Cups

Champions League

Tottenham 1 - 0 PSG

Europa League

Lille 0 - 2 Newcastle

Europa Conference League

Real Sociedad p 0 - 0 Sassuolo

Super Cup

Tottenham 1 - 0 Barcelona (after extra time)

[[FM24] Truro City]

End of Season Analysis

Squad

How much can I take the ratings into account? We chopped and changed so much this season that I don't think it is entirely fair to put much consideration into the average ratings. I am pleased to see five of the players that I would deem the core of our squad are green though. The thing that does seem to be lacking are goals. Neal provided was clear top goal scorer and no one else broke the 10 goal mark. I like that the assists seem fairly spread about with the main number coming from Harvey and Beckett on the left.

Finances

We are once again insecure so the board won't consider any investment in facilities (not that they do anyway).

Plan of attack for preseason

The squad needs trimming. I am pretty set on playing a 4-2-3-1 next season so that gives some focus on where to recruit and which players can slip away once their contracts expire. 

Unfortunately our top goal scorer this season, Neal, is asking for a wage increase that I'm not happy to meet. He will be 33 next season and I feel that his time as first choice is coming to an end. I've already got someone at the club who I think should be a suitable replacement.

The only thing that worries me about Edworthy is his work rate. He hasn't been the most prolific when he has played but then Neal hasn't been the most consistent scorer either. In terms of a like for like replacement, I think I'm set. However, one thing that I am finding is that I lack any kind of physicality up front and will be looking to sign a striker who has a bit of height to him.

Priority targets are a new DL, AMR, DM and a physical ST. Secondary targets are GK and DC.

[[FM24] Truro City]

April 2026

League

2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. A disappointing end to the season.

If we had got the three wins we would have pipped Dartford to 7th on goal difference. We would likely not have made it anywhere in the play offs but still. The fans can go away dreaming of what could have been and I have to start the hard work of strengthening the squad.

Youth Intake

This was such a non-event that I completely missed the intake. The pick of the bunch is an AML who probably won't amount to much.

In fact the more I look at him the less I see in him. The most I can say is he has physicals to do something but meh... The board are really reluctant to do anything youth related which annoys me. Despite asking plenty and having a decent bit in the bank the most I can get out of them so far is to improve the recruitment and even that was an argument.

[[FM24] Truro City]

March 2026

League

We just don't have the consistency. The second XI went down to 10 men before they decided to start having a go at Wealdstone. Aveley were lucky given how many times we hit the woodwork and that should have been a win for us. Never got going against Welling and then we managed to snatch a draw at Dartford.

With five matches left this is how it stands. We are still in touching distance of 7th.

I think we would need at minimum three wins to be in the picture at the end of April but we have to play three teams currently sitting in the play off spots. I'd like to think we could pull off a shock but I'm not going to be disappointed if we don't. My plan is to finish as strongly as possible and then strengthen over the summer for the big push next season. 

Coming soon...

Don't get too excited. I know I'm not...

[[FM24] Truro City]

February 2026

A bit like Groundhog Day

League and the tactical process

I feel like all I've done this week is play Torquay, Maidenhead and Farnborough, trying to work out why things are going wrong. I don't mind not winning. I do mind not winning when things just stop working. We've not been doing well since the turn of the year - possession hasn't translated into goals and I could almost guarantee where a goal was going to come from. It's got to the point where I could carry on not playing well, tweaking every match in the hope of sorting things out and not have fun or I could just reload a few games and tweak each time to try to understand what's going wrong and fix it that way (and not have fun). I opted for the latter and I think I have found something that seems good enough to build on. I'm sure that isn't the first time I have said that in this thread...

The 4-3-3 just wasn't cutting it and I've decided to change shape. The AP-s is set to roam and the DMCR is set to hold position. The DL has changed from a FB-a to an FB-s as I was finding the flank was getting too far forward too quickly. The IFB-D has changed to a WB-D as it finally clicked that the W-A was often isolated and had no choice but to go it alone (which he still often does but at least there's more of a choice now).

It's been a week long process of deciding that I wasn't getting the penetration with the 4-3-3 and no matter what I tried nothing seemed to work. The good thing about these set of matches is that it covered the whole league - Torquay are fighting for play offs, Maidenhead are midtable, Farnborough are fighting relegation - it is just a shame that I had to play my weaker 2nd squad against Maidenhead. I don't think we deserved to lose the match and if we took a few more chances it would have been 3/3 wins.

So where are we now? Performances have improved in these three matches and it's got to the point where I can say "we lost because we didn't take our chances" rather than "we lost because how I think they should play isn't how they are playing." I would love it if FM had the facility to do this sort of thing without replaying matches over and over again. As there isn't such a feature I felt like this was the best thing to do otherwise I could see this save coming to a premature end due to frustration. Thanks for the support. Hopefully this will be a turning point in the save where I can start thinking about tactical consistency to really push on.

[[FM24] Truro City]

January 2026

Confession time: I rage quit the game when I played Hampton & Richmond (first game in February) without saving since the Eastbourne match. I will leave the original set of results at the bottom of the post so that it will forever remain a source of shame for me. I hope you can forgive me 

League

The lack of goals is concerning me and our efficiency up front needs addressing soon. I'm just not entirely sure how. I've swapped the side I play my AP-s in midfield over which seems to have made a big difference with how we are keeping the ball (I don't think I have actually shown my current 4-3-3 tactic) but something is just not clicking up front.

The original January 2026 before rage quitting

[[FM24] Truro City]

December 2025

League

Our best month in the league since August and all it took was to tell everyone to pass it shorter. It's been clear our passing has been all over the place for quite a while but it took a moment of inspiration to decide to actually tell them what to do rather than leave it up to them. Results and performances have improved markedly though I am still not happy about dropping our fun tactic from earlier on... Another thing clear is that our second XI is not strong and saw our only loss in the league this month. I'll have to be very careful when I rotate the squad going forward. We end the year sitting 5th and holding on to our play off spot.

FA Trophy

I think I would rather focus on the league then get distracted by cups this season but this was a bad loss.

Finances

Seems that £680k is the magic number that makes our finances okay. The board aren't considering any upgrades though but have let me start the next coaching course.

[[FM24] Truro City]

November 2025

League

Fun is over. The Welling match was one were we got ahead and they pegged up back immediately. The Dartford game was essentially the final straw. I've dropped the fun tactic because we've decided defending is just too difficult and I've switched to a 4-3-3 that, though defending much better, is lacking much goal scoring currently. Admittedly Tonbridge and Braintree were difficult opponents and confidence is lacking at the moment, I am hoping that once the goals get flowing we might find ourselves in a better place. As it stands we are currently holding onto 7th.

FA Cup

As expected, Fleetwood battered us.

FA Trophy

We found our level in the FA Trophy. I think the stats speak for themselves and yet we only managed one goal from open play and the other came from a corner.