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git2thachoppa

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    Barnet - CM 93/94 (See Career Update thread)

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  1. 99/00 - Final (Part-)Season Review - European debut ends with Madrid - England domestic scene is small fry for big Barnet There's a third of the 99/00 season to go. In the league, we've destroyed last season's runner-up Coventry 6-0, and our second XI beat West Ham while also progressing in the Coca-Cola Cup. We're top by 6 points, unbeaten at home. A domestic treble is a certainty one day soon. In Europe, we eased past Albanian opposition before Barnet's biggest ever match: Real Madrid. A 1-1 home draw was followed by a 3-0 loss and the end of the campaign. While Barnet is the biggest club in England now, it also has the smallest attendance by far. Thus, with only £1-2m profit per season, you have to save up for big buys, and top players still don't really want to come, so it has to be punts on prospects. That's a nice challenge, but also a grind just to win 4 knockout games per season to get to the group stage, let alone topping the group stage to reach the European Cup final. It's effectively the same as how the Man Utd save turned out, but much slower. I can't be arsed, to be honest. So I'll end it here. It turned out (kinda disappointingly) easy to take the worst team in the game to the top of England, and match Real Madrid at home. With a grind and luck, Barnet can be European champions. If I play again, which I might, it'll be 'CM 93/94 Part 3: Man Utd again, but this time I try every trick I know to win Europe'. Buying the players I already know are game-breakers from the start to fill a team already containing Giggs, Sharpe, Cantona and Schmeichel, and using tactics and habits I've learned. Until then, I challenge you to win Europe in CM 93/94... without cheating...
  2. 98/99 Season Review - Barnet: Premier League champions! - Also won FA Cup and like basically the League Cup Story And Stats League: 1st, W22, D12, L4, F80, A38, PTS 78 Barnet - 78 Coventry - 71 Liverpool - 67 FA Cup: Winners League Cup: Semi-final UEFA Cup: 2nd Round I changed the tactics to counter-attack to prepare us for European football (as it seems to work well against the 'continental' style they all play) and gave the highest win bonus every game. One, or the other, or both, saw us straight to the top and myself Manager of the Season (with 6 Manager of the Month awards too). Liverpool and Man United continued to underperform, Spurs were trying to get out of Division 1 while Chelsea were being relegated to Division 2 but, annoyingly, Coventry were also taking advantage of the void at the top, so we were in 2nd place near all of the second half of the season... but we managed to leapfrog them with an away win at Highfield Road. They choked as we pulled away. We eventually won by 7 points, but it was a very close title race. We won only 1 more game than last year, but turned all those losses into draws this season... as well as scoring a bunch more goals and conceding a lot less, of course. For the first time, I played away friendlies to see if it made a difference in money. I don't think it did, so we'll go on an away tour of famous stadia next season. We started with a frustrating amount of draws, but ultimately 12 games unbeaten - nearly a third of the season before we lost. A run of 2 losses in 3 games was soon stopped after a couple of loans and transfers, then we only lost 1 game in the next 21. We only failed to score in 4 league games overall. In the UEFA Cup we beat Espanyol and Troodhos of Cyprus (who???), but Evans hacked down Cologne's goalkeeper and got sent off in the first minute of the 2nd leg, away, ruining our good chance of qualifying further. The FA cup was won with little issues, while a second-string reached the League Cup semis. But I debuted a new young defender for the 2nd leg, which we then lost on away goals. Given our dominance of Man Utd this season, who would have been our final opponent, I consider us effectively the winners if we'd tried. Thus Barnet achieved the Effective Treble! Average attendance: 20/20: 10,426 (+799) Capacity was increased by 1000 at a cost of £3,392, leading to another bump up in average attendance. Board confidence: 99% - "We are delighted" - For the first time in this save, it got past 97% Closing balance: £1,818,866 (-£307,788), (+£1,412,212 before transfers) Top scorer: Magee - 29 Highest Average Rating: Caskey - 8.33 Most MOTM: Magee - 30 My salary is increased to £160k per year Records Best League Placing: 1st in PL (1999) Biggest Victory: W7-0 v Bradford (1995) Heaviest Defeat: L0-4 v Rochdale (1994) Highest Attendance: 11,576 v Sunderland (1999) Lowest Attendance: 1,479 v Scunthorpe (1994) Record Buy: £1.9m for Caskey from Spurs (1999) Record Sale: £550k for Sandeman to WBA (1999) Goals in a Season: Haag - 29 (1994) Average Rating in a Season: Magee - 8.18 (1999) Goals in a Match: Multiple players - 3 Results Friendlies L0-3 v Atletico Madrid (Spa) (A) D1-1 v Roma (Ita) (A) L0-3 v Ajax (Net) (A) L1-2 v Bordeaux (Fra) (A) W1-0 v Celtic (Sco) (A) W3-0 v Lierse (Bel) (H) UEFA Cup Preliminary Round 1st Leg: W3-0 v Espanyol (Spa) (H) 2nd Leg: L2-4 v Espanyol (Spa) (A) W5-4 on agg. R1 1st Leg: W1-0 v Troodhos (Cyp) (A) 2nd Leg:W3-0 v Troodhos (Cyp) (H) W4-0 on agg. R2 1st Leg: W3-2 v Cologne (Ger) (H) 2nd Leg: L1-4 v Cologne (Ger) (A) L4-6 on agg. FA Cup R3: W3-1 v Chelsea (D1) (H) R4: D1-1 v Wimbledon (D1) (A) R4r: W4-1 v Wimbledon (D1) (H) R5: W1-0 v Ipswich (D1) (A) QF: W3-0 v Norwich (A) SF: W3-2 v Liverpool (N) F: W3-2 v Forest (N) Coca-Cola Cup R2 1st Leg: W3-0 v Sunderland (H) 2nd Leg: W2-0 v Sunderland (A) W5-0 on agg. R3: W4-1 v Cardiff (D2) (A) R4: W5-1 v York (D2) (H) QF: W2-1 v Brighton (D2) (A) SF 1st Leg: W4-1 v West Ham (H) 2nd Leg: L0-3 v West Ham (A) D4-4 on agg., L0-1 on away goals League W4-1 v Bolton (A) D2-2 v Man City (H) D3-3 v WBA (A) D0-0 v Blackburn (H) D2-2 v Villa (A) W2-0 v Palace (H) W2-1 v Leicester (A) D1-1 v Man Utd (A) D0-0 v West Ham (H) W2-0 v Everton (A) W3-0 v Coventry (H) W3-1 v Sunderland (H) L0-2 v Forest (A) W2-0 v Middlesbrough (H) L1-3 v Leeds (A) W3-0 v Liverpool (H) W4-2 v Arsenal (H) W2-0 v Norwich (A) D2-2 v Newcastle (A) W2-0 v Bolton (H) D2-2 v Man City (A) D3-3 v WBA (H) W3-0 v Blackburn (A) D2-2 v Aston Villa (H) L1-3 v Palace (A) W5-0 v Leicester (H) W3-0 v Man Utd (H) W2-0 v West Ham (A) W4-1 v Everton (H) W3-1 v Coventry (A) D1-1 v Sunderland (A) W2-0 v Forest (H) D1-1 v Middlesbrough (A) W2-0 v Leeds (H) W1-0 v Liverpool (A) W2-1 v Arsenal (A) L0-2 v Norwich (H) W3-1 v Newcastle (H) ====== Staff Our physio's ability improved from 'very good' to 'superb', so now all the staff is at 'superb'. Squad Review Transfers In Stubbs from Burnley for £750k Caskey from Spurs for £1.9m Partner from Wimbledon for £60k Total: £2.71m Out Sandeman to WBA for £550k Mitchell to Watford for £230k Baddeley to Oxford for £210k Total: £990k Total spend: £1.72m Loans In Atkinson from Sunderland McKinnon from Palace Osborn from Palace Srnicek from Newcastle Barton from Wimbledon Main XI ---- Fowler (c) -- Dyer -- Magee --------- ---------- Evans / Haag / Stevens -------- --------- Caskey --------- Hayrettin ------- Croft --- Oxbrow --- Stubbs --- Cross --------------------- Smith --------------------- Tactically I chuck the 11 best players into whatever formation occurs when they're all in position. But there must always be at least: - 1 goalkeeper (not tested having no goalkeeper, but seen the AI do it due to injury!) - 3 defenders (including full backs) - 2 central midfielders - Probably 2 central attackers A player that can play central defence and midfield should be in the Anchor position i.e. inbetween the two. Similarly, a central midfielder-attacker should play Support. A defender-midfielder will have a forward arrow in defence or a backward arrow in midfield, and similar for midfielder-attackers. Don't know if it matters, but the trophies say this approach did no harm. Squad Goalkeepers Mark Smith - 25 - £1m Appearances 56, Conceded 47, Minimum Rating 5, Maximum Rating 9, Average Rating 7.23 Clive Duxbury - 22 - £100k A 2, C 2, Min 8, Max 8, AvR 8 We have 2 good English keepers Pavel Srnicek - 30 - LOAN A 0 Loaned just in case we needed an emergency #3, but he was never required. Defenders Gary Croft - 25 - DM L - £1.3m A 55, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.67 Another stellar season, with the odd disciplinary issue Ryan Cross - 26 - D R - £650k A 48, G 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.33 Darren Oxbrow - 29 - D C - £1.1m A 53, G 3, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.43 No bad games officially, though all the times he got sent off count... Karl Ready - 25 - D C - £350k A 33, G 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.09 Finally had a good season, but may never be a first-teamer. Bradley Sandeman - 29 - DM RC - SOLD A 8, Goals 1, AvR 6.38 184 games and out. Was never the rock I wanted him to be. Alan Stubbs - 27 - DM C - £1.6m A 30, AvR 8.13 I'd signed Sandeman over Stubbs years ago. Now I've sold Sandeman and bought Stubbs, reluctantly as a cheap stopgap waiting for Sol Campbell. Was immense though. Lee Baddeley - 23 - D C - SOLD A 14, AvR 6.71 Improved, but the whole club is on another level now. That's all my first-year Division 3 transfers sold now, 2 of which went to Oxford. Signed from Cardiff on a free, played nearly 200 games for Barnet, then almost got Oxford promoted to D1. Andy Partner - 23 - D C - £100k A 2, AvR 6 A cheap punt, is currently known as the man who lost Barnet the League Cup after a poor debut that saw him taken off at half-time. Warren Barton - 29 - DM C - LOAN A 3, AvR 8.33 Midfielders Hakan Hayrettin - 29 - M C - £1.7m A 55, G 14, Man Of The Match 2, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.84 Still improving every season, scoring a hat-trick at home to Everton. What will happen in his 30s? Dele Adebola - 25 - MA C - £550k A 41, G 3, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.12 A big step up this season, but also not at the level a Champions League clubs needs an attacker to be. Nicky Southall - 27 - MA C - £650k A 31, G 9, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.03 Edging toward the exit despite an ok season Darren Caskey - 23 - M C - £3.5m A 18, G 3, AvR 8.33 He showed potential at Spurs and then Boro bid for him, so I joined in and won. It turns out he's very good, with no bad games. Matthew Hopkin - 23 - M L - £150k A 8, Min 6, Max 8, AvR 6.75 No bad games, but can he raise it to European Cup levels? Paul Jones - 21 - M C - £100k A 5, Min 6, Max 7, AvR 6.6 Ray McKinnon - 27 - M C - LOAN A 4, G 2, AvR 6.25 Scored 2 goals on his debut Simon Osborn - 26 - M RLC - LOAN A 2, AvR 8.5 Attackers Kevin Magee - 27 - A C - £3.1m A 55, G 29, MOTM 30, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.18 30 MOTM awards suggest the Scotland international is on a transcendent level Robbie Fowler - 23 - A C - £1.4m A 54, G 24, MOTM 4, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 8.07 A wonderkid when he's not headbutting people. Barnet's Player of the Season Bruce Dyer - 22 - A C - £1.8m A 49, G 16, MOTM 3, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 7.88 Not 1 bad game out of 49 played. Mike Evans - 26 - A C - £1m A 32, G 1, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7.38 Dropped out of the team as standards got ever higher. Hacked down Cologne's goalkeeper and got sent off in the first minute of our 2nd leg UEFA Cup tie to knock us out of a tie we were ahead in. Kelly Haag - 28 - A C - £300k A 11, G 5, MOTM 1, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 7.55 Didn't get in the team for a long time, but took his chance... until a young whippersnapper took his spot. Jimmy Stevens - 21 - A C - £450k A 24, G 11, MOTM 1, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.71 Story of the season and England's Young Player of the Season. I listed my 3 young strikers with their paths blocked, but gave Stevens a game and he blitzed the opposition. Not bad for £30k from Crewe (imagine how good Crewe would be if we stopped poaching their kids). Peter Wilson - 22 - A LC - £150k A 5, G 3, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.8 Brian Atkinson - 28 - A RLC - LOAN A 5, G 1, AvR 8.8 Man of the Match on his debut, and look at that rating Ian Mitchell - 22 - A C - SOLD A 1, G 1, AvR 8 With so many strikers, he was barely in our top 10 attackers, so had to be sold. His goals helped Watford avoid relegation to Division 3. ====================================== Story So Far 93/94 - Division 3 title 94/95 - Division 2 title 95/96 - Promotion to Premier League 96/97 - FA Cup and 3rd in PL 97/98 - European debut and 2nd in PL 98/99 - Premier League and FA Cup double Are Burnley ready for the European Cup, or will we get destroyed? Will we at least have better luck than the Man Utd save, or will we get knocked out before the group stages every year on away goals thanks to a red card or disallowed goal?
  3. 97/98 Season Review - European debut - Disappointment elsewhere, but in touching distance of the title - Robbie Fowler joins Story And Stats League: 2nd, W21, D4, L13, F63, A52, PTS 67 Crystal Palace - 71 Barnet - 67 Liverpool - 66 FA Cup: 3rd Round League Cup: 2nd Round Cup Winners' Cup: Quarter-final Charity Shield: Runner-up It felt like 'second season syndrome', but statistically it was very similar to last season, even though it felt worse. We spent the season moving between 2nd and 5th. We started well, with me getting Manager of the Month, but then only got 3 wins in 13 league matches. But we remained dark horses for the title behind champions Liverpool. The scousers spent all season choking, and while we picked up points with a late surge, it was Crystal Palace who leapfrogged us both to win a shock title. While we failed to defend our FA Cup and were eliminated early domestically, in Europe we had a couple of good results and reached the quarters. All this while players massively underperformed. Next season I'll offer the 10k win bonus every match and, if they can get back to where they should be, a title is possible. I only added one player, but it was another ex-Man-Utd-dimension striker to join Dyer: Robbie Fowler, who was our best player. I had been saving to buy Spurs' interdimensional United legend Sol Campbell, but never had enough money. Maybe next year. Europe provided exciting moments. Shaun Close scored Barnet's first ever European goal - that's some journey from the fourth Division to Europe! Against Sampdoria we were losing 2-1 on aggregate, but only needing one more away goal, Sampdoria scored in the 79th minute... but it was disallowed. Fowler scored in the final minute to send us through on away goals! Against Sofia, 2 disallowed Barnet goals, 1 saved Barnet penalty and a Sofia red card came in just the first half hour. We dominated, having 22 shots to their 4 in the 2nd leg, yet lost 4-0 on aggregate. Europe was frustrating enough with the riches and talent of Man Utd, I don't know how long I'll last with Barnet. But let's win the title first and see. While the deluge of disallowed Barnet goals was frustrating, I'm sure a few times the AI was suddenly in the lead without a goal being scored... Average attendance: 20/20: 9,627 8,711 (+916) Our capacity was increased by 1,000 to 11,000, helping a 916 increase in the average. Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted" Closing balance: £2,126,654 (+£568,535) Top scorer: Dyer - 13 Highest Average Rating: Fowler - 7.64 Most MOTM: Dyer, Evans - 9 My salary is increased to £150k My reputation has increased to Superb. The only other manager with that is Liverpool's Graeme Sounness. Records Best League Placing: 2nd in PL (1998) Biggest Victory: W7-0 v Bradford (1995) Heaviest Defeat: L0-4 v Rochdale (1994) Highest Attendance: 10,985 v Arsenal (1998) Lowest Attendance: 1,479 v Scunthorpe (1994) Record Buy: £830k for Fowler from Liverpool (1998) Record Sale: £320k for Close to Swansea (1998) Goals in a Season: Haag - 29 (1994) Average Rating in a Season: Fowler - 7.64 (1998) Goals in a Match: Multiple players - 3 Results Friendlies W3-2 v Sporting (Por) (H) L0-1 v Athletic Bilbao (Spa) (H) L0-1 v Fiorentina (Ita) (H) W2-0 v Monaco (Fra) (H) L0-3 v Borussia Mochengladbach (Ger) (H) W1-0 v Celtic (Sco) (H) L1-2 v Rangers (Sco) (H) Charity Shield L1-2 v Liverpool (N) Cup Winners' Cup R1 1st Leg: W2-0 v Benfica (Por) (H) 2nd Leg: D1-1 v Benfica (Por) (A) W3-1 on agg. R2 1st Leg: L0-1 v Sampdoria (Ita) (H) 2nd Leg: W2-1 v Sampdoria (Ita) (A) D2-2 on agg., W2-1 on away goals QF 1st Leg: L0-2 v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bul) (H) 2nd Leg: L0-2 v Lokomotiv Sofia (Bul) (A) L0-4 on agg. FA Cup R3: L1-2 v Notts County (D1) (A) Coca-Cola Cup R2 1st Leg: D2-2 v Forest (H) 2nd Leg: L0-3 v Forest (A) L2-5 on agg. League L1-2 v Arsenal (A) W2-1 v Leeds (H) W3-2 v Middlesbrough (A) W1-0 v Newcastle (H) W2-1 v Forest (A) W2-1 v Coventry (H) W1-0 v Norwich (A) L1-2 v Man Utd (A) W1-0 v Sunderland (H) L0-3 v Liverpool (A) W4-2 v Leicester (H) L0-3 v Tottenham (A) L0-3 v Palace (H) L1-2 v Villa (A) W4-1 v Sheff Wed (H) W3-0 v Wimbledon (A) L1-2 v Everton (H) L1-3 v West Ham (A) D1-1 v Man City (A) W2-0 v Arsenal (H) L1-2 v Leeds (A) W1-0 v Middlesbrough (H) L0-1 v Newcastle (A) D2-2 v Forest (H) L0-2 v Coventry (A) D2-2 v Norwich (H) W2-1 v Man Utd (H) L1-3 v Sunderland (A) L0-2 v Liverpool (H) W2-0 v Leicester (A) W3-1 v Tottenham (H) W2-1 v Palace (A) L1-2 v Villa (H) W3-1 v Sheff Wed (A) W4-1 v Wimbledon (H) D1-1 v Everton (A) W2-1 v West Ham (H) W4-1 v Man City (H) ====== Squad Review Transfers In Fowler from Liverpool for £830k Out Lowethorpe to Oxford for £160k Close to Swansea for £320k Total spend: £350k Loans In Hall from Leeds x2 Kernaghan from Man City Wallace from Leeds Yorke from Sheff Utd Main XI ---- Fowler (c) -- Dyer -- Magee ----- --------------------- Evans --------------------- ----------- Hayrettin -- Southall ---------- Croft ---- Oxbrow / Sandeman ---- Cross --------------------- Smith --------------------- Squad Goalkeepers Mark Smith - 24 - £500k Appearances 45, Conceded 53, Minimum Rating 5, Maximum Rating 8, Average Rating 6.87 Now being touted as England's next #1 Clive Duxbury - 21 - £100k A 3, C 3, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6 A few games again showed he is good enough for at least backup, getting England U21 callups Defenders Ryan Cross - 25 - D R - £750k A 44, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.59 A good start, but fell away Gary Croft - 24 - DM L - £850k A 38, Min 6, Max 8, AvR 7.24 Never disappointed and has come of age. Barnet's Player of the Year. Bradley Sandeman - 28 - DM RC - £400k A 45, Goals 3, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.42 A regular yet not good enough for the team. I rejected bids for him solely because we would've been worse off, but his time is limited. Darren Oxbrow - 28 - D C - £550k A 46, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.72 Had a lot of poor performances. Despite getting the same average rating as last season, another run like that at 29 will see him sold. Lee Baddeley - 23 - D C - £150k A 16, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.12 Another season like that and he should leave Karl Ready - 24 - D C - £150k A 10, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 5.9 He's been here 2.5 years and performed worse with each season. Listed, but no one bid, so he has a chance to save his Barnet career next season Adam Lowethorpe - 21 - D L - SOLD A 4, AvR 5.25 Gareth Hall - 28 - D RC - LOAN A 7, AvR 7.43 Alan Kernaghan - 29 - D C - LOAN A 3, AvR 6.33 Midfielders Hakan Hayrettin - 28 - M C - £1.2m A 48, G 5, Man Of The Match 2, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.25 His first season with me down in Division 3 was a 4.7 rating. He's now getting regular over-7s in the Premier League. Nicky Southall - 26 - MA C - £550k A 46, G 7, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.33 Two seasons in the Premier League, both 6.3, he'll be listed soon if this continues Matthew Hopkin - 22 - M L - £150k A 15, G 1, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.2 Got his first run in the team Dele Adebola - 24 - MA C - £300k A 14, G 2, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.57 Performed too poorly to make the team, but regained his place during the final push Paul Jones - 20 - M C - £100k A 3, Min 5, Max 5, AvR 5 Attackers Robbie Fowler - 22 - A C - £1m A 22, G 6, AvR 7.64 Robbie was a Scouse, then he was a Manc, now he's a... cockney? A huge coup at £830k Bruce Dyer - 21 - A C - £2m A 47, G 13, MOTM 9, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 7.36 The exact same rating as last year, he won 5 Young Player of the Month awards and got his first England callup Mike Evans - 25 - A C - £1.4m A 48, G 10, MOTM 9, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7.06 Despite having to play in a Support role to make way for a front 3, he showed he can play at this level Kelly Haag - 27 - A C - £550k A 29, G 6, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.69 In and out of the team. The poster boy had a disappointing season Kevin Magee - 26 - A C - £2.1m A 29, G 12, MOTM 6, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.1 Was dropped, but regained his place and captained the team to a final surge that clinched 2nd place, thanks to a first-half hat trick against Spurs. Called up for Scotland. Shaun Close - 31 - A RLC - SOLD A 7, G 2, AvR 5.86 Last season's top scorer dropped off drastically. His Barnet journey is over, but the scorer of Barnet's first ever goal in Europe has cemented his place in history Ian Mitchell - 21 - A C - £80k A 4, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6.25 Peter Wilson - 21 - A LC - £150k A 2, G 1, AvR 6 Jimmy Stevens - 20 - A C - £200k A 2, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6 Rodney Wallace - 28 - A RC - LOAN A 2, AvR 7 Dwight Yorke - 26 - MA L - LOAN A 3, AvR 6.67 ====================================== I'm tempted to do the old 'bid £1 more than rivals to get the player' trick, but I think that's on the level of a cheat formation, so I'll only resort to it if we need to do a 'CM 93/94 Part 3 - trying to win the European Cup by any means necessary' thread. At the moment I'm playing fair by matching bids, not buying players who I know are good but aren't performing in-game yet etc.
  4. I feel like we're visiting alternate dimensions as I've also taken Barnet to the Premier League in my CM 93/94 thread, where Liverpool and United were also top 2, after finish 2nd and just missing out on the Championship / D1 title, and too starting a cup feud with Villa. Although you have half the capacity I have despite both our stadium expansions and your 30-year headstart.
  5. 96/97 Season Review - FA Cup winners after replay - Debut Premier League season becomes title challenge, finish 3rd - Finish in top 3 of every league for 4 seasons in a row - Gates and TV money turn Barnet's profit from thousands to millions Story And Stats League: 3rd, W22, D6, L10, F68, A48, PTS 72 Liverpool - 83 Man Utd - 74 Barnet - 72 Sunderland - 60 FA Cup: Winners League Cup: 4th Round 5 players (Barnett, Close, Haag, Hayrettin and Oxbrow) remain from Barnet's original squad in Division 3 and all proved they could play at Premier League level. We immediately saw the benefits of being a Premier League team by the standard of opposition in pre-season. After walloping two relegated sides, we beat Feyenoord and Lazio, matched Valencia and PSG, and only lost to Dortmund with 10 men. In our league opener, it took us 8 minutes for Barnet to score their first ever Premier League goal. But for a disallowed goal, we would have been 2-1 ahead against the champions at half-time. After 3 games, the board sent a message I've never seen before: After the opening loss then draw, we won 7 in a row, including having 23 shots against Spurs. Relegation probably wasn't a threat. In fact, after the 7th game, we never dipped below 3rd, even topping the table a couple of times. Even former players played a part: Fulham's ex-Barnet-captain Sorrell helped our second-XI with an own goal in the league cup... but Chris Bart-Williams, my Man Utd player in the other dimension and current Man Utd player in this one, scored a penalty to help United draw with us and stay 2nd. We also loaned Warhurst, who I signed for Man Utd previously. Halfway in and after 3 understandable losses in a row, I looked to bring in loans. Rather than all in one go, I fed them into the team every week or 3 (as loans tend to get recalled). With relegation obviously not a concern, and happy to finish wherever, I only bought a couple of lower league players for half a million total, as it was wiser to save up for the big players next season and beyond. Still, my young Division 3 striker punt scored 11 minutes into his debut and in his first 3 games. So this personnel movement saw a turnaround and a title charge, with 1 loss in the next 15, before a close battle with Man Utd for 2nd ended with 2 draws and a loss. With 2 suspended defenders and another cup-tied, I specifically loaned a couple of non-cup-tied players... unfortunately, the game decides that they're cup-tied despite not playing in the FA cup before. Ironically, we won the cup anyway after a replay, getting revenge for Villa knocking us out in the Coca-Cola Cup when they dived for a penalty. Captain and poster boy Haag was injured early in the final and the team choked, especially goalkeeper Smith who had a rare bad game. Baddeley dived for a revenge penalty, but Close's pen was saved. The team saved it though and we made it right in the replay, despite another saved Close penalty. The replay gives us a huge cash injection of £300k to go with the £100k prize money. Overall we only failed to score 4 times: away to Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal and Spurs, while Man City and Wednesday suffered conceding 5 goals. All this with the lowest average attendance (by at least 10,000). I've also got into the habit of substituting the substitute if they're doing badly (5 or below). Average attendance: 20/20: 8,711(+2,293) Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted" (Clearly it's bugged and can't get past 97%) Closing balance: £1,558,119 (+£1,536,730) Top scorer: Close - 17 Highest Average Rating: Dyer - 7.36 Most MOTM: Magee - 15 (season) / Dyer - 8 (club) My salary will be increased to £130k. My reputation has increased from 'good' to 'v good'. Records Best League Placing: 3rd in PL (1997) Biggest Victory: W7-0 v Bradford (1995) Heaviest Defeat: L0-4 v Rochdale (1994) Highest Attendance: 9,985 v Middlesbrough (1997) Lowest Attendance: 1,479 v Scunthorpe (1994) Record Buy: £270k for Cross from Hartlepool (1997) Record Sale: £95k for Showler to Doncaster (1997) Goals in a Season: Haag - 29 (1994) Average Rating in a Season: Haag - 7.41 (1995) Goals in a Match: Multiple players - 3 Results Friendlies W3-1 v Oldham (D1) (H) W4-0 v Sheff Utd (D1) (H) W2-1 v Feyenoord (Net) (H) D1-1 v Valencia (Spa) (H) D1-1 v PSG (Fra) (H) W2-1 v Lazio (Ita) (H) L0-1 v Borussia Dortmund (Ger) (H) League L1-4 v Liverpool (H) D1-1 v Newcastle (A) W3-0 v Middlesbrough (H) W2-0 v Everton (A) W1-0 v Tottenham (H) W2-1 v Sunderland (H) W2-1 v QPR (A) W3-0 v Crystal Palace (A) W3-1 v Blackburn (H) L0-3 v Arsenal (A) W3-2 v Norwich (H) L1-3 v Leeds (A) W1-0 v Ipswich (A) L1-2 v West Ham (H) W1-0 v Man City (A) W5-2 v Sheffield Wednesday (H) L0-1 v Man Utd (A) D3-3 v Nottingham Forest (H) W2-0 v Leicester (H) L0-3 v Liverpool (A) L1-3 v Newcastle (H) L1-3 v Middlesbrough (A) W2-1 v Everton (H) L0-3 v Tottenham (A) D2-2 v Sunderland (A) W2-0 v QPR (H) W3-0 v Crystal Palace (H) W1-0 v Blackburn (A) W3-1 v Arsenal (H) W2-0 v Norwich (A) D1-1 v Leeds (A) W2-0 v Ipswich (H) W2-1 v West Ham (A) W5-0 v Man City (H) W2-0 v Sheff Wed (A) D2-2 v Man Utd (H) D1-1 v Forest (A) L1-3 v Leicester (A) FA Cup R3: D1-1 v Forest (A) R3r: D1-1, W2-1 AET v Forest (H) R4: W3-1 v Tottenham (A) R5: W2-0 v Leicester (H) QF: W4-0 v Wolves (D1) (H) SF: W4-0 v West Ham (N) F: D1-1, D1-1 AET v Aston Villa (D1) (N) Fr: W2-0 v Aston Villa (N) Coca-Cola Cup R2 1st leg: D2-2 v Fulham (D3) (H) 2nd leg: W3-0 v Fulham (D3) (A) W5-2 on agg. R3: W3-1 v Exeter (D3) (H) R4: L3-4 v Aston Villa (D1) (A) ====== Staff I sacked our withdrawn 'v good' physio for Bristol City's thoughtful 'v good' physio. Squad Review Transfers In Cross from Hartlepool for £270k Magee from Preston for £250k Total: £520k Out Showler to Doncaster for £95k Barnett (post-season retirement) Total spend: £415k Loans In Warhurst from Forest Black from Forest Prior from Norwich Falconer from Sheff Utd Newman from Palace Loans Out Ready to Doncaster Wilson to Luton Main XI Close -- Haag -- Dyer -- Magee (c) ---- --------------------- Evans -------------------- ---------- Hayrettin -- Adebola ---------- Croft ----------- Oxbrow ----------- Cross --------------------- Smith --------------------- Squad Goalkeepers Mark Smith - 23 - £550k Appearances 47, Conceded 51, Minimum Rating 4, Maximum Rating 9, Average Rating 6.79 Another division, another improved season. Clive Duxbury - 20 - £100k A 4, C 6, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.75 After no games last season, injuries to Smith meant our promoted youth keeper got his big chance, and he impressed. Defenders Darren Oxbrow - 26 - D C - £350k A 48, Goals 5, Man Of The Match 1, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.75 To answer last season's question on whether he could continue improving every season and thus handle the Premier League: yes Gary Croft - 23 - DM L - £650k A 40, G 2, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.62 Has become a dirty player, spitting and all, and needs to keep up his good performances if he doesn't want to be a liability Lee Baddeley - 22 - D C - £200k A 44, G 2, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.39 Bradley Sandeman - 27 - DM RC - £300k A 25, Goals 1, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.08 Never had an amazing season and is losing his place in the squad. Karl Ready - 23 - D C - £350k A 15, AvR 5.93 LOAN - Doncaster - A 13, AvR 6 After a great debut season, he's regressed in his last 2. Being watched by lowly Exeter, will he save his career next season? Ryan Cross - 24 - D R - £600k A 28, AvR 6.79 Bought instead of Phil Babb to improve the defence, and he did that. Has as dirty streak as his fellow full back Croft - he was suspended for the FA Cup final, but still got to play thanks to a replay. Adam Lowethorpe - 20 - D L - £70k A 6, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5.17 Paul Warhurst - 27 - DMA C - LOAN A 2, AvR 6 Spencer Prior - 26 - D C - LOAN A 2, G 1, AvR 8.5 Midfielders Hakan Hayrettin - 27 - M C - £1.3m A 48, G 11, MOTM 3, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.33 Many would have sold him after his first season. Turns out he's Premier League quality. Dele Adebola - 23 - MA C - £350k A 44, G 7, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.73 A near-identical performance to last season despite the step up. Nicky Southall - 25 - MA C - £500k A 40, G 4, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.35 Has yet to really get going after a good few games last season. Dave Barnett - 30 - M C - £100k A 15, G 1, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6.07 I rejected a Doncaster transfer bid and he played his part, but will only get older and worse and already on the outskirts of the team. We mutually agree he should move to non-league football. Paul Showler - 30 - M LC - SOLD A 4, AvR 5 Now back in D3 Matthew Hopkin - 21 - M L - £150k A 4, Min 5, Max 6, AvR 5.5 Paul Jones - 19 - M C - £30k A 2, Min 5, Max 6, AvR 5.5 Willie Falconer - 30 - DM C - LOAN A 5, AvR 7.8 The first player over 30 that I've signed or loaned. Ricky Newman - 26 - M RLC - LOAN A 3, AvR 8.33 Loaned again this season and again had a brief but brilliant contribution. Attackers Kelly Haag - 26 - A C - £450k A 36, G 11, MOTM 6, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.17 After an unspectacular start, headlines were made as Mr Barnet was dropped for Close. He eventually made his way back in, gained the captaincy and scored the 2nd goal in our FA Cup final win. Bruce Dyer - 20 - A C - £1.3m A 47, G 11, MOTM 8, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.36 My investment last season is paying off, as it looks like he'll do as good a job in this dimension as he did in the Man Utd save. Barnet's Player of the Year. Shaun Close - 30 - A RLC - £300k A 41, G 17, MOTM 2, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.71 Was expected to lose his place this season, but forced his way into the side, even replacing poster boy Haag, and ended our top scorer (with 6 penalties)! Mike Evans - 24 - A C - £600k A 44, G 12, MOTM 6, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 6.68 Scored Barnet's first ever Premier League goal, against the champions. A good start faltered and he was shoehorned into a Support / 'in the hole' role. Kevin Magee - 25 - A C - £750k A 12, G 5, AvR 6.92 He already had a 6.89 season for D3 Preston and got 24 goals last season. Unwilling to spend a lot on current players, I took a relatively cheap punt. He scored 11 minutes into his debut and in his first 3 matches, and his 20 influence meant he took the captaincy for league games (as he was cup-tied). Peter Wilson - 20 - A LC - £200k A 4, G 1, AvR 6 LOAN - Luton - A 3, AvR 5.67 Ian Mitchell - 20 - A C - £90k A 3, G 1, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5 Jimmy Stevens - 19 - A C - £150k A 2, Min 4, Max 4, AvR 4 Kingsley Black - 28 - MA L - LOAN A 3, G 2, AvR 7.33 ====================================== As Giggs and Keane go to Juventus and Bayern, Alex Ferguson retires... but why go for the United job when Barnet are near their equals now? Next season: Barnet v Benfica
  6. 95/96 Season Review - 3 promotions in a row! (Almost 3 titles) - Debut season in 'Europe' - Almost 3 giantkilling cup runs in a row - A club legend and one of my players are joint league top scorers - A familiar face returns Story And Stats League: 2nd, W24, D4, L10, F76, A43, PTS 76 Middlesbrough - 77 Barnet - 76 ---------------------------- Crystal Palace - 73 FA Cup: 3rd Round League Cup: 2nd Round Anglo-Italian Cup: Intercontinental Group Stage Brighton - 7 ----------------- Barnet - 5 Crystal Palace - 4 Peterborough - 1 I was not expecting this at all. With Chelsea, Wimbledon, Southampton, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Derby, Palace and Coventry in this league, and their million-pound players, I though we'd finally be aiming to avoid relegation. But no. Our pre-season saw us lose only 1 game to some European names, and we carried on our strong form to the end. We turned it on at the right time, winning our final home games against title rivals Middlesbrough, Palace and Derby, before a pitch invasion at WBA after winning 4-1 from 1-0 down and sealing promotion to the promised land. We missed out on the title - 4 teams were on 70 points with 3 games left. We lost our final game, with the main objective already achieved. We never dipped below 5th and topped the table for the last few weeks until the final game. Meanwhile Peterborough, who were promoted with us, spent the whole season at the very bottom of the table. We were knocked out early in the cups, but nearly beat a Premier League side after extra time for the 3rd season in a row. A genius substitution and tactical change helped Barnet get our first ever taste of Europe by making it out the English section of the Anglo-Italian Cup and facing Italian opposition, only losing 1 game. Even when losing to the likes of Spurs and Venezia, we dominated. We only conceded 10 more goals than last season, but only kept 9 clean sheets in 38 games. Average attendance: 20/20: 6,418 (+1,458) - We're going to have the lowest attendance by far in the Premier League. Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted" (you'd think it'd be 100% by now) Closing Balance: £21,389 (-£216,009) Top scorer: Evans / Haag - 19 Highest Average Rating: Haag - 7.04 Most MOTM: Haag - 10 My salary will be nearly doubled again to £95k My reputation has stayed at 'good'. Results Friendlies W3-0 v Port Vale (D2) (H) W2-0 v Lierse (Belg) (H) W2-0 v Bohemians (Eire) (H) L0-1 v Admira Wacker (Aus) (H) D1-1 v PAOK (Gre) (H) D1-1 v Ferencvaros (Hun) (H) D1-1v Motherwell (Sco) (H) League W2-1 v Wolves (H) W3-0 v Peterborough (A) W1-0 v Barnsley (H) L1-4 v Chelsea (A) D1-1 v Wimbledon (H) W5-1 v Burnley (H) W1-0 v Grimsby (A) D1-1 v Southampton (A) W2-0 v Tranmere (H) L1-2 v Swindon (A) W3-1 v Stoke (H) W4-2 v Coventry (H) L0-1 v Middlesbrough (A) W1-0 v Bolton (H) W3-0 v Crystal Palace (A) W4-2 v Notts Country (H) L1-3 v Derby (A) W2-0 v WBA (H) D2-2 v Portsmouth (H) L0-1 v Wolves (A) W4-0 v Peterborough (H) W2-1 v Barnsley (A) L0-1 v Chelsea (H) L0-1 v Wimbledon (A) W3-2 v Burnley (A) W3-1 v Grimsby (H) W2-1 v Southampton (H) L1-3 v Tranmere (A) W3-1 v Swindon (H) W3-2 v Stoke (A) W5-3 v Coventry (A) W3-1 v Middlesbrough (H) L0-1 v Bolton (A) W2-0 v Palace (H) D1-1 v Notts County (A) W3-1 v Derby (H) W4-1 v WBA (A) L0-1 v Portsmouth (A) FA Cup R3: L2-3 v Burnley (A) Coca-Cola Cup R2 1st leg: W3-1 v Scunthorpe (D3) (H) 2nd leg: W2-0 v Scunthorpe (D3) (A) W5-1 on agg. R3: L2-2 FT, 2-4 AET v Tottenham (PL) (A) Anglo-Italian Cup Group Stage, English Section W3-2 v Bolton (A) D1-1 v Peterborough International Stage, Group L0-2 v Venezia (A) W3-1 v Ancona (H) D2-2 v Lecce ((A) W1-0 v Cremonese (H) === Staff 'Good' physio sacked and replaced with withdrawn 'very good' physio. Squad Review Some players faded with age, and all our bank balance was used up on new investments. Those two new investments, Southall and Dyer, would win Player and Young Player of the Month in their first month. Transfers In Stevens from Crewe for £30k Hopkin from Hull for £35k Southall from Hartlepool for £250k Dyer from Crewe for £205k Total: £520k Out Newson to Oxford for £11k Marwood to Birmingham for £38k Total: £49k Total spend: £471k Loans In Newman from Palace Tuttle from Sheffield United Loans Out Croft to Burnley Main XI ---------- Haag -- Evans -- Dyer -- Close (c) ------------ Adebola - Hayrettin ---------- Croft / Ready -- Oxbrow -- Sandeman ---- ------------------- Baddeley ------------------- --------------------- Smith ---------------------- This XI still has Haag, Close, Hayrettin and Oxbrow who made the journey from the starting squad in Division 3 to the Premier League. Squad Goalkeepers Mark Smith - 22 - £400k Appearances 48, Conceded 51, Minimum Rating 5, Maximum Rating 8, Average Rating 6.73 Wasn't phased by the increase in quality strikers, even saving a Le Tissier penalty! Clive Duxbury - 19 - £40k A 0 Backup to Smith. As there were no unimportant games, he didn't get a single minute. Defenders Darren Oxbrow - 26 - D C - £350k A 48, Goals 3, Man Of The Match 2, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 6.62 Another improvement. Can he handle the Andy Coles and Nigel Cloughs though? Bradley Sandeman - 26 - DM RC - £350k A 34, Goals 1, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.53 0.01 worse than last season. I want him to be a rock, but he had bad moments. Lee Baddeley - 21 - D C - £200k A 46, G 1, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.43 My first signing, a free transfer in Division 3, will get games in the Premier League. Improving every season. Karl Ready - 22 - D C - £200k A 27, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.37 Very disappointing first full season. Gary Croft - 22 - DM L - £100k A 35, G 1, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 6.49 A poor start, but turned it around later on, particularly in midfield. Adam Lowethorpe - 19 - D L - £40k A 1, AvR 6 Just didn't get a look-in. Mark Newson - 35 - D RC - SOLD A 5, G 1, AvR 5 Time to go, and was one of D2 Oxford's better defenders. David Tuttle - 23 - D C - LOAN A 9, AvR 6.56 Disappointing as our loan signings tend to be a level above everyone else in the squad, but an able body. I forgot to try and extend his loan a 2nd time, so he could've played more. Midfielders Hakan Hayrettin - 26 - M C - £600k A 48, G 11, MOTM 3, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7 Proof that you should always give a player more than 1 season to prove himself. Our worst midfielder is now our very best. Dele Adebola - 22 - MA C - £350k A 42, G 5, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.81 Stayed in midfield this season and supported the attack Dave Barnett - 29 - M C - £90k A 20, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 6.05 Disappointing and could've been sold, if anyone wanted him. Paul Showler - 29 - M LC - £70k A 7, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 5.71 Diabolical season. Will he be any good next year? Paul Jones - 18 - M C - £10k A 2, AvR 5 A promoted youth player. Matthew Hopkin - 20 - M L - £100k A 1, AvR 4 He had only played 1 game, but got a 7 and MOTM. Another team moved in for him, so I joined the bidding and had a punt. Ricky Newman - 25 - M RLC - LOAN A4, G3, AvR 7.75 A great loan sadly cut short by his parent club Palace, who he helped get promoted via the playoffs alongside us. D1 Player of the Season. Attackers Kelly Haag - 25 - A C - £500k A 46, G 19, MOTM 10, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 7.04 68 goals from Division 3 to the Premier League. Barnet's greatest player? Mike Evans - 23 - A C - £300k A 46, G 19, MOTM 9, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 7.02 Haag is the poster boy, but Evans was the reliable attacker of the team, winning Barnet Supporters' Player of the Season. Shaun Close - 29 - A RLC - £350k A 44, G 15, MOTM 8, Min 3, Max 10, AvR 6.68 The dirty sod kept getting cards and sending offs. Will probably lose his place next season. Brian Marwood - 34 - MA L - SOLD A 22, G 1, AvR 6 a 6-rating was ok but, at 34, we had to cash in now after a couple of top seasons. Didn't do great for Birmingham. Bruce Dyer - 19 - A C - £500k A 17, G 5, AvR 7 If you followed my first CM 93/94, I signed this guy in 03/04 for Man Utd when my team started breaking the game. He's come good again in this dimension, with a 6.67 season and a 6.86 at just 19 years old before signing him. D1 Player of the Season. Nicky Southall - 24 - MA C - £400k A 14, G 3, AvR 6.79 I emptied my bank account to get Dyer and Southall. Consistently got over 6-rating this season, so I splurged the budget on him. He had a good start as a super sub, then went quiet. Mark Carter - 35 - A C - £20k A 6, G 1, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 6 In real life, you'd probably keep him in the squad - he's been here since the start and deserves a game or two in the Premier League. But this is a video game, so he's nudged to go into non-league instead. Peter Wilson - 19 - A LC - £40k A 12, G 2, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 6.08 Not good enough yet but not bad either. Ian Mitchell - 19 - A C - £30k A 5, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.6 The youth intake's second season. He remains a mystery prospect. Jimmy Stevens - 18 - A C - £40k A 3, G 1, AvR 4.67 I again loot Crewe. He'd played only 3 games, but got a 6, 6 and 7. They listed him for £30k so is worth a punt, and scored a late winner as a sub. =============== With the lowest attendance by far in the Premier League and no real transfer budget, I'll have to rely on the players I've previously invested in, and the Barnet D3 OGs, to keep us up... Or win the title again!
  7. 94/95 Season Review - Déjà vu! - Second title in a row (and better than last year) - Everton defeated in FA Cup giantkilling (in exact same way) - 99 league goals scored League: 1st, W28, D4, L6, F99, A33, PTS 88 1) Barnet - 88 2) Peterborough - 75 ------------------------ 3) Grimsby - 73 FA Cup: Quarter-Final League Cup: 1st Round We topped the table for most of the season, winning 1 more game, conceding a few less and scoring a lot more than last season with mostly the same players. After beating Man Utd on penalties in last season's FA Cup, we did exactly the same against Everton. They needed a late equaliser at our ground and we had to come from behind at Goodison after being dominated. A 120th-minute Tony Cottee chance was tackled, so again we drew 1-1 twice. Our new goalkeeper Smith was the hero with 3 saves in the shootout, including Cottee's. Story And Stats This preseason had bigger opponents wanting to play us, and we notably beat Cagliari and almost Lyon. It took 8 games for us to lose, when Birmingham converted their only 2 shots. Our response was to score 3 goals in the next 4 games in a row. But we went through a tricky period of only 5 wins in 10 games, including a Stockport loss with 2 disallowed Stockport goals, an injury for one striker, a sending off for our captain and another striker, and a late winner. But after our last draw of the season, we won 13 of the remaining 15 games, including pasting title rivals Peterborough after going 3-0 up in 19 minutes. Promotion confirmed with 3 matches to go and title confirmed with 2 games to go, both earlier than last season, I played the last couple of games with other players and still kept 6 cleans sheets in a row at the end. We scored 3+ goals in exactly half of our league and cup games. 2 of our strikers were the top 3 goalscorers in the league, with a new signing in 4th from his old club, and another attacker in joint-5th. Our front 4 scored 69 goals altogether. 7 of our players were in the top 9 for average ratings, and attackers Haag, Close and Marwood occupied all the top 3. We were also the only D2 or D3 side to reach the QF of the FA Cup. All 3 promoted sides were in the top 6, with Brighton and Cambridge in the playoffs too. We had a clean sweep of the season-end awards with Manager of the Year, Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year. Average attendance: 11th: 4,960 (+1,711) Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted" Closing Balance: £237,398 (+£17,619) My salary will be doubled to £50k. My reputation has increased from 'fair' to 'good'. === Results Friendlies W1-0 v Luton (D1) (H) L1-2 v Sevilla (Spa) (H) L0-1 v Boavista (Por) (H) L3-4 v Lyon (Fra) (H) W3-1 v Cagliari (Ita) (H) D1-1 v Sparta (Hol) (H) W1-0 v Bradenburg (Ger) (H) League D1-1 v Charlton (A) W2-1 v Stockport (H) W4-1 v York (A) W3-1 v Brentford (H) W2-0 v Grimsby (A) W5-1 v Southend (H) D1-1 v Watford (A) L0-2 v Birmingham (H) W3-0 v Cambridge (A) W3-0 v Hull (A) W3-2 v Brighton (H) W3-2 v Peterborough (H) W2-0 v Swansea (A) L1-2 v Oxford (H) D1-1 v Bradford (A) W2-0 v Bristol Rovers (H) W3-1 v Rotheram (H) W3-0 v Bristol City (A) L2-3 v Cardiff (A) W3-1 v Charlton (H) L1-2 v Stockport (A) W5-0 v York (H) D1-1 v Brentford (A) W1-0 v Grimsby (H) W2-0 v Southend (A) W2-1 v Watford (H) W4-1 v Birmingham (A) W2-0 v Cambridge (H) W4-1 v Hull (H) L2-3 v Brighton (A) W4-2 v Peterborough (A) L1-2 v Swansea (H) W3-0 v Oxford (A) W6-0 v Bradford (H) W5-0 v Bristol Rovers (A) W6-0 v Rotheram (A) W3-0 v Bristol City (H) W1-0 v Cardiff (H) FA Cup R2: W4-2 v Blackpool (D3) (H) R3: W7-0 v Bradford (D2) (H) R4: W4-1 v Crewe (D3) (H) R5: D1-1 v Everton (PL) (H) R5R: W1-1 v Everton AET, 1-1 FT, 3-2 pens QF: L0-1 v Tranmere (D1) (A) Coca-Cola Cup R1 1st leg: L0-2 v Bristol Rovers (D2) (A) 2nd leg: W3-1 v Bristol Rovers (D2) (H) L3-3 on agg., 0-1 on away goals === Squad Review Players who disappointed last season stepped up, but both our older goalkeepers were replaced and a couple of big name midfielders were sold. I bought a goalkeeper, a couple of defenders, a midfielder and a striker. All 21/22 years old. Transfers In Croft from Grimsby for £50k Smith from Crewe for £80k Adebola from Crewe for £60k Ready from QPR for £120k Evans from Plymouth for £81k Total: £391k Out Cooper to Coventry for £11k Pape to Bournemouth for £11k Sorrell to Chester for £55k Hoddle to Port Vale for £85k Phillips to Chesterfield for £3k Total: £165k Total spend: £226k Loans In Hallworth from Oldham Rodger from Crystal Palace Bernard from Oldham Loans Out Croft to Burnley Before I could loan in 2 more players, I was reminded of another rule I learned last season: there's a time limit. You can only sign or loan so many players per week, then you 'run out of time' before the world was connected by the internet. Alex Ferguson's beeper can only go off so many times a day. Main XI Marwood - Haag - Carter - Close ------ ------------ Adebola - Hayrettin ---------- --- Ready (c) - Oxbrow - Sandeman --- ------------------- Newson --------------------- --------------------- Smith ---------------------- With a new centre-back, I changed the defence from a flat 4 to 3 CBs + sweeper. Squad Goalkeepers Andy Pape - 33 - SOLD Appearances 4, Conceded 5, Minimum Match Rating 4, Maximum Match Rating 6, Average Rating 5.25 Last season's #1, barely, unsurprisingly wasn't dependable for this division. Gary Phillips - 33 - SOLD A 7, C 6, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 5.14 Overtook Pape as #1, but showed he wasn't good enough either. Clive Duxbury - 18 - £10k A 5, C 4, Min 5, Max, 6, AvR 5.6 A promoted youth. Did better than his competition, but would only have been our #1 this season if we were aiming for security, but we were aiming for the title and all our rivals' keepers were getting well over 6. Mark Smith - 21 - £150k A 30, C 26, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 6.87 We now have a proper #1, and his average rating is better than most Premier League keepers. Also the first player to pick us over other bidders (I don't cheat by doing an Arsenal and outbidding £1 more). Jon Hallworth - 29 - LOAN A 0 Loaned on deadline day so that we had 3 keepers. Went back to Oldham and helped them win promotion back to the top league. Defenders Bradley Sandeman - 25 - DM RC - £300k A 39, Goals 6, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.54 Had injury problems and actually did slightly worse this season. Sad But True. He did greatly contribute to giving us a dream of double titles. Mark Newson - 34 - D RC - £40k A 41, G 2, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6 I thought I'd be selling him this season, but he's clinging on. By the time he put in a transfer request, I refused as he was good cover. Darren Oxbrow - 25 - D C - £90k A 41, G 4, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.37 One of a few players who disappointed last season then stepped up this season. Lee Baddeley - 20 - D C - £60k A 42, G 5, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 6.29 A great free transfer signing last season at this rate. Karl Ready - 21 - D C - £100k A 10, G 3, AvR 7.3 I thought for a long few minutes on whether to buy Ready or loan someone getting higher ratings. I invested and you see it paid off big time despite breaking the wage structure earning quintuple the others. Got injured for 14 weeks, but I've signed a goalscoring defender and captain. Geoff Cooper - 34 - D L - SOLD A 5, Min 5, Max 6, AvR 5.66 I thought we could do better, so got a decent bit of money before he could retire. Actually moved up a division, though didn't get a game. Adam Lowethorpe - 18 - D L - £10k A 9, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 5.44 A free transfer last season, it's not his time yet, but he may get a chance anyway. Had an interesting career so far with a sending off, bookings and own goals. Gary Croft - 21 - DM L - £100k A 18, AvR 5.83 Only play 3 in-game games, getting a two 6s anda 7. But disappointed in his debut season and went out on loan. Maybe next season. Simon Rodger - 23 - D RL - LOAN A 3, Min 7, Max 9, AvR 7.66 One of the deadline day loans to fill out the squad, recalled early. Midfielders Hakan Hayrettin - 25 - M C - £150k A 37, G 12, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 6.59 Last season: "our most disappointing midfielder". This season: "our best midfielder". Paul Showler - 28 - M LC - £70k A 19, G 1, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 6.42 Really improved this season, and only didn't play more because of me signing and loaning a couple other midfielders who were just better. Dave Barnett - 28 - M C - £100k A 31, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.32 Injured in the middle of the season, so other midfielders got the plaudits. Carl Hoddle - 29 - M C - SOLD A 3, AvR 5 Three '5' ratings in a row was enough to leave him out the side, but then it looked like we were going to be a Division 1 side, and he wasn't going to be anywhere near that level. Ironically, he was signed by a D1 side, but he only played twice as they were relegated. His ratings? 5. Tony Sorrell - 28 - M C - SOLD A 7, G 1, AvR 5.43 Not improved enough, so moved down a league to Chester. Paul Bernard - 22 - M C - LOAN A 7, G 1, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.57 I was surprised Oldham let me loan their Scotland international and first team regular. Attackers Kelly Haag - 24 - A C - £300k A 41, G 20, Man Of The Match 8, Min 6, Max 10, 7.41 Already a Barnet legend, the Division 2 Player of the Year literally didn't have a bad game. Shaun Close - 28 - A RLC - £450k A 44, G 23, MOTM 9, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.2 I rate our captain higher than Haag, a huge season. Mark Carter - 34 - A C - £50k A 44, G 17, MOTM 1, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.45 Supporters' Player of the Year last season, but performed worse this year. That's still great form, but how far will he drop at 35 as we rise to the tough Division 1? Brian Marwood - 33 - MA L - £100k A 39, G 9, MOTM 13, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.1 Another consistently good season, though lost his temper and got suspended a couple of times. Dele Adebola - 21 - MA C - £150k A 25, G 8, MOTM 2, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.12 I made use of a lesson learned from my Man Utd story - if you see a good player, just pull the trigger now, don't be patient. Won D2 Young Player of the Year and Barnet Supporters' Player of the Year. Played in midfield and support ('the hole') mostly. Mike Evans - 22 - A C - £150k A 8, G 1, AvR 6.62 Was having a breakout season for D3 Plymouth with 18 goals and a 6.38 rating in 26 matches, hopefully a long-term replacement. Ian Mitchell - 18 - A C - £10k A 4, G 1, Min 5, Max 7, AvR 5.5 A youth intake with a bright moment or two Peter Wilson - 18 - A LC - £10k A 6, G 2, MOTM 1, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 5.67 Another youth who seemed to have either great or awful games. So, big potential... Also a Wales U21 regular. =============== We will debut in the Anglo-Italian Cup next season. I already did a Man Utd save where I covered every Premier League club and what happened in the game world, while I tried to win the European Cup (something I only ever did once if at all): I only ever played as Man Utd before and only once played as someone else - my hometown club Brighton, and I got them as far as being a Premier League yo-yo club. So I thought now that I've got the top of the game figured out, the ultimate challenge was to be the worst team in the game and try to win the European Cup with them.
  8. For some it's because it's one of the major nations and leagues of its continent. For some it's because it's a different culture and no doubt has its own strange quirks and rules. (I remember they used to have penalties instead of draws.) For some it adds more depth and help to the Asian part of the game, not just at club level but international level. For some it's because we're animé-humping weeaboos. When I went to South Korea in my FM 07 story, it was my most enjoyable time. Weird and wonderful.
  9. 93/94 Season Review - Haag and co. fire us to shock title on final day - Man Utd defeated in historic FA Cup giantkilling League: 1st, W27, D4, L7, F87, A38, PTS 85 1) Barnet - 85 2) Brighton - 81 ---------------------- 3) Crewe - 77 FA Cup: 5th Round League Cup: 1st Round You may be thinking "ok he's clearly experienced in this game and is doing all the tricks to win every game", but I've no idea how this all happened! I'm playing mainly with the original squad in a 4-2-4! === Giantkilling The Best Team In The Game Other than winning the league and promotion, the biggest story was our giantkilling of Premier League champions and leaders Manchester United in the FA Cup, after a replay, extra time and a long penalty shootout. Both games were the same - we took the lead within minutes, and 20+ shots later United had equalised, but Hughes, Giggs, Cantona and co. failed to finish us off. A substitution in the 119th minute paid off as the sub scored on the way to a 7-6 shootout win at Old Trafford. I guess I can quit and say I've finished the game already? === Story And Stats A strong pre-season saw us play at home to some semi-known names from Europe, with strong performances. Even a draw and a win against Bulgarians Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Slavia Sofia respectively. Our season started with 11 goals conceded in our first 5 league games, before a clean sheet began a 9-game unbeaten streak (8 of them wins). Crewe topped the table for half the season, then their season fell off as we overtook them and they failed in the promotion playoffs. With 2 games left, we secured promotion though lost the lead to Brighton. But we won our final 2 games and Brighton lost both of theirs. In the end we won 16 home games, losing 1. Notably we were top scorers home and away as our front 4 was key. We only failed to score in 2 games, and scored 3+ goals in nearly half of our league matches. Haag was the league (and indeed the country's) joint-top scorer with 29 goals. Carter was joint-2nd with 21. Marwood was awarded Player of the Year as the highest-rated player in the league with 6.95. That's 0.02 less than Division 2's Player of the Year. I won Division 3 Manager of the Year. Average attendance: 3,249 (7th) Board confidence: 97% - "We are delighted" Balance: £219,779 My salary will be increased to £25k My reputation has gone from 'unknown' to 'fair' === Results Friendlies (A) D2-2 v Windsor & Eton (Non-League) (H) L1-3 v Fortuna Dusseldorf (Germany) (H) L0-1 v Spartak Subotica (Yugoslavia) (H) D1-1 v Lokomotiv Plovdiv (Bulgaria) (H) W1-0 v Slavia Sofia (Bulgaria) (H) L0-1 v Rosenborg (Norway) (H) L1-3 v Brondby (Denmark) League L1-2 v Scunthorpe (A) W4-3 v Wrexham (H) L0-3 v Brighton (A) W2-0 v Plymouth (H) L3-4 v Hartlepool (A) W1-0 v Exeter (A) W3-2 v Fulham (H) W1-0 v Torquay (A) W3-0 v Preston (H) W2-0 v Doncaster (H) D1-1 v Crewe (A) W1-0 v Colchester (H) W2-0 v Wycombe (A) W2-1 v Chester (H) L1-2 v Cambridge (A) W3-2 v Leyton Orient (H) W4-0 v Barnet (H) W5-0 v Huddersfield (A) W1-0 v Scarborough (A) W5-0 v Scunthorpe (H) L2-4 v Wrexham (A) W3-0 v Brighton (H) W2-0 v Plymouth (A) D1-1 v Hartlepool (H) W4-0 v Exeter (H) W1-0 v Fulham (A) W2-1 v Torquay (H) D2-2 v Preston (A) W3-0 v Doncaster (A) D3-3 v Crewe (H) W3-0 v Colchester (A) W2-0 v Wycombe (H) W5-0 v Chester (A) L1-3 v Cambridge (H) W1-0 v Leyton Orient (A) L0-4 v Rochdale (A) W3-0 v Huddersfield (H) W4-0 v Scarborough (H) FA Cup R1: W4-0 v Stafford (Non-League) (H) R2: W2-0 v Windsor (NL) (A) R3: W3-0 v Hereford (NL) (A) R4: D1-1 v Man Utd (PL) (H) R4r: W1-1 (0-0 FT), 7-6 on pens v Man Utd (A) R5: D2-2 v Portsmouth (D1) (H) R5r: L0-3 v Portsmouth (A) League Cup R1 1st Leg: L0-2 v Brentford (D2) (H) 2nd Leg: L0-2 v Brentford (A) L0-4 on aggregate === Squad Review Transfers In Baddeley from Cardiff for Free Sandeman from Port Vale for £100k Lowethorpe from Hull for Free Out Wilson to Cardiff for £9k Evans to Fulham for free Loans In Davis from Burnley (x2) Francis from Reading Wilkinson from Middlesbrough Hughes from Luton I learned a new rule: You can only have a maximum 5 loans per season. Main XI Marwood - Haag - Carter - Close ------------- Hoddle - Barnett ------------ Cooper - Baddeley - Newson (c) - Sandeman --------------------- Pape -------------------- Close was moved to the centre as an inside-right to score more goals. He and Marwood track back. Squad Goalkeepers Andy Pape - 32 - £20k Appearances 40, Conceded 37, Minimum Match Rating 3, Maximum Match Rating 8, AvR 5.42 Question marks despite clean sheets and facing 43 shots against Man Utd, as he can leak goals at times. I kept faith, but a long-term successor is needed. Whatever happens next, his penalty shootout save at Old Trafford will always be remembered. Gary Phillips - 32 - £6k A 7, C 11, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 4.71 Transfer-listed, but the bugger didn't leave at the end of the season and remains. LOAN: Steve Francis - 28 - <=£50k A 0 The Sword of Damocles over Pape's head. He had played no games so was of unknown ability, but was desired by West Ham. I never threw the dice and picked him, and thankfully he was never needed. Defenders Bradley Sandeman - 24 - DM RC - £150k A 33, G 3, Min 4, Max 9, AvR 6.64 EEEEXIT LIGHT, EEEENTEEERRR NIIIIIGHT. Bought instead of Bolton's Alan Stubbs (though I missed out on him later), it was a good choice. I forgot he could play in midfield, I would've played him there more often during injuries. Geoff Cooper - 33 - D L - £20k A 47, G 3, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 5.66 Played every minute of every game (I think). Will he still be a mainstay a year older and a league higher? Mark Newson - 33 - D RC - £30k A 47, G 1, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 5.81 Our captain, but what contribution will he make next season? Lee Baddeley - 19 - D C - £20k A 36, Goals 4, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.58 Signed just because he was free and young - he'd played no games so I didn't know his ability, but he was a Wales U21 regular. It worked out well. He's our highest earner at £530 per week. Darren Oxbrow - 24 - D C - £20k A 23, G 1, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5.39 As the team improved, so did his performances, but needs to do better. Adam Lowethorpe - 17 - D L - £5k A 0 Another youngster signed just for being free, with no career games so far to indicate his ability. But he does have 20 Tackling and 19 Passing. Paul Wilson - 29 - DM R - Sold A 5, G 1, Min 3, Max 5, AvR 4.2 At 29, he wasn't going to get better LOAN: Steve Davis - 25 - D C - £200k A 14, G 2, AvR 6.86 A falling out with his manager meant we got 2 very productive loans from him. Midfielders Dave Barnett - 27 - M C - £30k A 42, G 4, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.67 Chased by Division 2 Cardiff, but a bid was rejected. With a name like that, he shouldn't play anywhere else! Carl Hoddle - 28 - M C - £70k A 42, G 5, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 5.67 Looked like he'd have a disappointing season, but played a regular part in the middle. Paul Showler - 27 - M LC - £30k A 19, Min 4, Max 7, AvR 5.32 An unspectacular season and at risk of being sold. Tony Sorrell - 27 - M C - £20k A 18, G 1, Min 3, Max 7, AvR 5 His Influence of 20 got him more game time and is the only positive. Hakan Hayrettin - 24 - M C - £100k A 10, Min 4, Max 6, AvR 4.7 Our most disappointing midfielder. Another chance next season. LOAN: Ceri Hughes - 23 - M LC - £1m A 6, G 1, AvR 8 A huge coup - I looked up £1m+ players and Hughes was one who wanted to join. A shallow midfield was bolstered massively, to say the least! Attackers Kelly Haag - 23 - A C - £70k A 44, G 29, Man Of The Match 7, Min 4, Max 10, 6.57 Barnet's poster boy. Got a few hat-tricks, and scored that earth-shaking 5th-minute opener at home against Man Utd. Brian Marwood - 32 - MA L - £100k A 40, G 9, MOTM 14, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 6.95 Player of the Month 4 times, including 3 in a row, and Player of the Year. The former Premier League top scorer has now won the title at the top and bottom of the football league. Mark Carter - 33 - A C - £50k A 43, G 21, MOTM 10, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.79 He has a disciplinary streak but, more importantly, goals. Will never forget opening the scoring at Old Trafford. Can the Barnet Supporters' Player of the Year step up a division at 34 years old? Shaun Close - 27 - A RLC - £100k A 42, G 12, MOTM 3, Min 3, Max 9, AvR 6.57 Moving from right-wing to the inside-right led to more goals. Nicky Evans - 35 - A C - Sold A 5, AvR 5 A 4.91 average rating and only 1 goal in 11 games for new club Fulham. LOAN: Paul Wilkinson - 29 - A RC - £500k A 3, G 1, AvR 7.33 Another loan coup despite the £2m-rated player wanting to join a "better" club than Boro. He'd already scored 5 in 17 D1 games with an average rating of 6.47. He was being targeted by several Premier League clubs, but they didn't move for him. Shoehorned into the right wing, Boro brought him back after he scored his first for us. He plays for Division 2 Watford and got an underwhelming 5.39 average rating and 9 goals from 41 matches. His personality is 'selfish' and he's now only valued at £100k. We face him next season. Thank you, your luck helped!
  10. I've played as probably the best team in the game Man Utd and covered the world and other teams. Now, for the first time ever, I'm starting at the bottom of CM 93/94. I've only ever played as Man Utd and Brighton, so this is new for me and the hardest possible save. Unfortunately, it turns out all those non-league names in the 'pick your team' screen are just for show, so no Bognor Regis or Aylesbury. I'll just have to pick the worst football league side. I can't even pick the lowest side in real life, as the game doesn't reflect real life - every league has 20 teams and some teams are in the wrong division. Aldershot, Maidstone and Halifax were expelled, folded and relegated from Division 3 in 1992 or 1993, but you can't pick them. I'm tempted to pick my hometown team Brighton, but instead I go through every team in Division 3, looking at the value of their players, squad size, stadium capacity and staff reputation and picking the worst club in the game. In real life, Martin O'Neill led Wycome to a debut in the football league for 93/94, but in-game it's Barnet who has the worst and smallest squad, and one of the smallest stadiums. Barnet History The Bees are steeped in non-league history: they formed way back in 1888 and were founder members of the North London League in 1892, but they actually only lasted 14 years. Two other clubs merged to continue the Barnet name, and they founded what is now the National League in 1979. Over the decades, they gradually went from amateur to semi-pro to finally achieving promotion to the Football League under Barry Fry in 1991. Only 2 years later in 92/93, they actually got promoted to Division 2 despite transfers bans, a crazy chairman constantly sacking and rehiring Fry, and not paying wages nearly leading to expulsion and bankruptcy. In-game however, they're in Division 3. In real life, they've become a League 2 / National League yo-yo club. In my Man Utd save, they were mentioned a few times: In 93/94 they finished safely midtable; beat West Ham, Wimbledon and Forest on a shock 96/97 FA Cup run to the 5th Round; hired a Newcastle scout as manager in 98/99; then were relegated back to non-league in 02/03 and hadn't returned by 2005. Prime real estate for future European champions! Stadium Underhill Stadium has a capacity of 10,000 Chairman Stan Flashman, who is probably second-in-command to Zap Brannigan. It ended badly with the multiple Fry sackings and near death of the club, but he was the guy that brought in Fry and into the football league in the first place. Squad It's a funny squad: it was scraped together for Division 2 after near oblivion, but in the game they're the worst squad in Division 3 (and the whole playable game world). (All players are English.) Goalkeepers Gary Phillips - 32 - £5k After over 300 games in 3 spells (including a loan), Phillips was made player-manager in 1993 in real life. Andy Pape - 32 - £10k After failing to make it at QPR, Charlton and Crystal Palace, he'd been at several non-league teams and obscure Danish side Ikast FS before joining Barnet in 1991. Defenders Mark Newson - D RC - 33 - £20k A new signing who made over 500 appearances for Maidstone, Bournemouth and Fulham. Darren Oxbrow - D C - 24 - £20k A new signing from Colchester United. Geoff Cooper - D L - 33 - £8k Paul Wilson - DM R - 29 - £10k Midfielders Carl Hoddle - M C - 28 - £50k The most famous name in the squad, Glenn's brother is in his 2nd spell at the club. Hakan Hayrettin - M C - 24 - £100k Been here a few years, but signed for a Turkish Premier League side... then quickly resigned and stayed at Barnet when it was revealed his Turkish Cypriot parentage would mean national service during a war if he lived there. Paul Showler - M LC - 27 - £20k The police officer played for teams like Colne Dynamoes and Goole Town before reaching the football league with Barnet. Tony Sorrell - M C - 27 - £9k An influence of 20 is 6 ahead of anyone else, so he's the stand-out captain. Dave Barnett - M C - 27 - £10k Attackers Brian Marwood - MA L - 32 - £100k A veteran who has been top scorer in the top league with Sheffield Wednesday and won the title with Arsenal will make his debut for Barnet this season. Nicky Evans - A C - 35 - £5k Excluding 2 years at Wycombe in 1989 to 1991, Evans has been at Barnet since 1983, racking up over 130 goals in over 250 appearances. Though CM says he's only managed 5 in the last 27. Mark Carter - A C - 33 - £30k A regular goalscorer who has scored 30 goals in 77 games so far for Barnet. Shaun Close - A RLC - 27 - £70k A new signing from Swindon who has only managed 9 goals in 92 games so far according to CM. 15 in 108 league games if you want to believe Wikipedia instead. Kelly Haag - A C - 23 - £30k A new signing from Fulham who scored 9 goals in 30 Division 3 games for them. Youth Only 1 'promising' player - an attacker. I wonder if youth players are worth picking at this level and might do well... With no transfer windows, I'll give everyone a try first. But evidently we need a new GK to replace our 32-year-olds. Thing is, with no GK attributes, I'll have to wait and see who performs for their club and who's available anyway. Staff Everyone is 'fair' or 'unknown' ability, so time to overhaul that. David McDermott from Crewe is hired as our Team Coach Norwich Team Coach John Deehan comes in as our Youth Scout For League Scouts, I bring in Nottingham Forest team coach Ron Fenton, Plymouth Team Coach John McGovern and Rochdale Team Coach Jimmy Robson. Now the staff is all 'Superb' ability, except for the Physio who is 'Good'. Finances Cash available is £234,841. My salary of £15k is naturally the joint-lowest in the game. Pre-Season Preparations I have the gall to approach Man Utd, Barcelona and all the big European teams for a friendly, but they say no. Brighton are unavailable. So I just go through the list of teams, approaching all the big names I remember for some gala home friendlies. I want to fill up all the spots and make some money. After warming up away to non-league Windsor & Eton, we'll play at home to Fortuna Dusseldorf, Brondby, Rosenborg, Lokomotiv Plovdiv, Slavia Sofia and Spartak Subotica.
  11. This thread suddenly got popular for some reason, so I'll give you the only surefire way of getting this working, to save you downloading dodgy crap or spending days or weeks trying every weird 'fix' and messing with your registry: Use an old OS i.e. Window 7 or Windows 10. It's obvious when put like that, but what I mean is you can just get another hard drive (or use part of your current drive) and install Windows XP or 7 on it, or get an old PC out and use that. Virtual machine might work too I did the same to play old XP and Windows 98 games that don't work any more.
  12. 04/05 Season & United Team Review - The Final Season Game World Leagues No team could get close to Man Utd as they won their 9th title in 11 years. Had they played their first team in more of their matches, it may well have been a 100-point season. Top Goalscorer: Paul Ellender (Burnley), S. Short (Sheff Wed), D. Ablett (Man Utd) - 24 Most MOTM: M. Flitcroft (Liverpool) - 23 Dirtiest Player: F. Garner (N. Forest), M. Howard (Wolves) - 40 points Player of the Year: A. Ward (Man Utd) - 9.17 Young Player of the Year: N. Hodge (Man Utd) - 7.60 Current and former Man Utd players make up 15 of the top 16 players. Manager of the Year: Me Superb-Rated Managers: Me, David Webb (Liverpool), Terry Burton (N. Forest) Highest Average Attendance: Man City - 45,568 Arsenal finally won promotion after a decade away. Southampton, who were in the Premier League 3 years ago, are now in Division 2. A non-league side 9 years ago, Maidstone had earned double promotion into Division 2 and became a yo-yo club. They've now achieved another double promotion to reach Divison 1 for the first time, after beating champions Hartlepool 4-1 on the final day while Fulham choked. Former Premier League sides Oldham and Crystal Palace are now all the way down in Division 3. Stockport are the latest football league regulars to be relegated into non-league. Charity Shield: (PL/FA) Man Utd 0 - 1 Liverpool (PLRU) FA Cup Final: Man Utd 3 - 1 Burnley D2 Fulham reached the semis, knocking out Liverpool on the way. Coca-Cola Cup Final: Man Utd 6 - 0 Torquay Bristol Rovers knocked out Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday on the way to the QF. Anglo-Italian Cup Final: Southampton 0 - 3 Cremonese European Cup Final: (Fra) Marseille 0 - 1 Barcelona (Spa) Cup Winners Cup Final: (Fra) Bordeaux 1 - 1 Ajax (Ned) FT, AET, 3-4 Pens UEFA Cup Final: (Eng) Liverpool 1 - 1 Cologne (Ger) FT on agg., AET, 3-4 Pens Northern Irish side Glentoran knocked out Fiorentina 4-3 on aggregate. Aberdeen knocked out AC Milan 3-2 and PSG on away goals. Sackings Wimbledon's Joe Kinnear, Crewe's Dario Gradi and Colchester's Roy McDonagh all retired after over a decade in charge. The equally longevitous (?) Danny Bergara was sacked after relegation to non-league. Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday appointed Southampton's PHYSIO as their new manager. Notable Transfers N. Ward from N. Forest to Man Utd for £6m C. Dolby from Liverpool to Man Utd for £4.3m Neil Mitchell from Man Utd to Leeds for £4.1m Sol Campbell from Man Utd to Burnley for £3.6m George Ndah from Man Utd to Leeds for £3.55m David Kerr from Aston Villa to N. Forest for £3m Steve Watson from Newcastle to Sheff Wed for £550k C. Aldridge from (Eire) to Leeds for £200k Jason Dodd from Southampton to Sunderland for £10k Man Utd - The Domestic Treble! League: 1st W28, D4, L6, F86, A25, 88PTS Charity Shield: L1-0 v Liverpool FA Cup R3: W2-0 (A) v Birmingham (D1) R4: W1-0 (H) v Middlesbrough R5: W4-1 (H) v Milwall QF: W6-1 (A) v Sheff Wed SF: W5-1 (N) v Fulham (D2) F: W3-1 (N) v Burnley Coca-Cola Cup R2: W5-0 v Brentford (D2) on agg. R3: W3-1 (H) v Tottenham R4: W2-0 (A) v Ipswich (D1) QF: W2-0 (H) v Bristol Rovers (D3) SF: W7-0 v Leicester on agg. F: W 6-0 (N) v Torquay European Cup R1: W5-1 v Aris B (Gre) on agg. R2: W1-1 v Red Star (Yug) on agg FT, AET, W 4-2 Pens Group Stage W2-1 (H) v D Prague (Cze) L2-0 (A) v Marseille (Fra) L2-1 (H) v Porto (Por) W4-1 (A) v D Prague W1-0 (H) v Marseille W1-0 (A) v Porto We missed out on goal difference. But what this shows for sure is that the European Cup is winnable, even inevitable. In the past few seasons we've beaten former champions like Bayern, Red Star and Porto, and been 1 goal away from a final. So this is where it ends. All future seasons now will just be me hoovering up the best players during the season, my squad being a slew of generic regen names coming in, and generic regens going out, and shoving them in line-ups in only a few meaningful matches per season. Example: on the match of deadline day, with our 2 new signings, we thrashed the 2nd-placed team away from home 4-0, with every player rated 10. It's a bit boring slogging through that just to tick the 'Won CL' box. Since I'll next be restarting as a non-league side, and aim to go all the way to the top, it'll be the same process in the end, if I reach it! At least we can say I finished by accomplishing the Domestic Treble, to go with my first 'treble' a few years ago. Top Goalscorer: Ward - 23 Supporters' Player of the Year: Ablett Highest Average Rating: Ward - 9.17 Most MOTM: Ward - 15 Dirtiest Player: Hodge - 25 Average Attendance: 44,694 Transfers In N. Ward from N. Forest for £6m Ablett from Aston Villa for £2.6m Wilson 2.9m from N. Forest for £2.9m Henderson from N. Forest for 2.5m Dolby from Liverpool for £4.3m Atkinson from WBA for £2m Total: £20.3m Out Ndah to Leeds for £3.55m Johnson to Tottenham for £2.9m Chamberlain to Tranmere for £85k Campbell to Burnley for £3.6m Bates to Exeter for £130k Burrows to WBA for £1.7m Redmond to Stoke for £2.5m Mitchell to Leeds for £4.1m Total: £18.565m Total Spend: £1.435m Post-Season Terminations: Flowers Squad Review Main XI ---- Fowler - A. Ward (c) - Ablett -- ---------------- N. Ward ------------------ --- Butterworth - Jackson - Carter - --- Wilson / Henderson - Sainty - Gannon --- --------------- Davies --------------- I experimented with 3 at the back, and it seemed to be fine. With an abundance of goals and quality up front, we ended up playing 3-3-4, or 3-2-1-4 with a striker in the hole too. Goalkeepers Martin Davies - 29 - £1m Appearances 34, Conceded 12, Minimum Match Rating 5, Maximum Match Rating 10, AvR 7.91 12 conceded in 34 games is hugely impressive. Then you see Walker's record... Ian Walker - 33 - £1.1m A 17, C 4, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 7.65 I nearly sold him, but I decided to keep 3 keepers just in case. Both our other keepers got injured, so it was the right choice. He ended up doing better than last season. Gerry Farrington - 27 - £1.3m A 15, Conceded 15, AvR 7.53 Defenders Ray Sainty - 28 - D C - £5.8m A 44, Goals 5, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.7 Our best defender. Completely reliable. Gary Gannon - 26 - D C - £3.6m A 43, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.93 Paul Flowers - 30 - D C - £1.4m A 40, G 3, MOTM 1, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.2 Damien Henderson - 29 - D C - £2.6m A 28, G 1, AvR 8.36 I sold so many players that I ended up short of defenders that could do a job, so I had to reinvest some of that money into a short-term buy. Neil Hodge - 21 - D L - £750k A 25, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.60 Continuing his rise to Bale levels. Terry Redmond - 27 - D C - £2m A 21, G 1, AvR 7.86 Below 8 is just not good enough, so was sold for a good price. Andy Wilson - 28 - D L - £3.2m A 20, AvR 8.5 The clear standout defender in the league this season, so I signed him. Sol Campbell - 30 - DM LC - £3.5m A 14, AvR 8.36 Andy Johnson - 29 - DM C - £3.5m A 9, AvR 8.11 Lee Bates - 21 - D C - £100k A 8, AvR 6.5 Des Chamberlain - 22 - D C - £200k A 2, AvR 5.5 Midfielders Graham Butterworth - 27 - M LC - £11.2m A 37, G 10, MOTM 5, Min 7, Max 10, AvR 9.11 A value of £11.2m breaks Giggs' record of 'highest-valued player I've ever seen'. After a flop of a debut season, he has become one of the best. Jason Jackson - 23 - M C - £6.2m A 37, G 11, MOTM 1, Min 7, Max 10, AvR 9.05 The cause of me having Janet stuck in my head. Doesn't Really Matter though as he didn't have a Nasty season. Let's Wait Awhile and see him get even better with time. Kevin Carter - 24 - M C - £8.5m A 37, G 8, MOTM 3, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 9.05 Lee Groves - 28 - M C - £2.4m A 42, G 7, MOTM 2, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.31 Nicky Butt - 28 - M C - £1.6m A 27, G 3, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 7.81 Butt has had a great United career but, regardless of age, he's now been surpassed by an elite squad of 9-rated players. Charlie Dolby - 27 - M C - £4.8m A 13, G 1, AvR 7.85 Neil Mitchell - 30 - MC - £4.5m A 12, G 1, AvR 8 Attackers Alex Ward - 27 - A C - £3.4m A 46, G 23, MOTM 15, Min 7, Max 10, AvR 9.17 Robbie Fowler - 29 - A C - £6.6m A 38, G 19, MotM 11, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 9.05 Dave Ablett - 27 - A C - £5.7m A 29, G 13, AvR 9.03 A bit of an accidental signing. He was on my shortlist and Stoke wanted him, so I joined the bidding and snatched him. I'd forgotten his club (Villa) were in Division 1 now, so when he'd got 11 goals and 8 MOTM awards in 13 games this season, I was quick to sign. Turned out to be one of our best strikers though. Neil Ward - 22 - A C - £3.4m A 31, G 14, AvR 8.71 A painful transfer. I spotted him when he was scoring 20 goals a season for York and was only £1m or £2m. After huge ratings and goals at a couple of Premier League clubs, I finally bought him for £6m instead. Can play in the hole. Matthew Beardsmore - 20 - MA L - £450k A 27, G 5, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.07 Bruce Dyer - 28 - A C - £2.6m A 25, G 13, MOTM 5, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.76 Graeme Burrows - 24 - A C - £2m A 14, G 2, AvR 8.29 Kevin Atkinson - 23 - A RLC - £2.4m A 7, AvR 8.86 A new young signing that can play on the flanks, opening up the option of having 4, 5 or even 6 strikers on the field to overwhelm opponents. Conclusion I resign. The board responds: Club Records What CM 93/94 Predicted - Shearer will join Newcastle United for a British record fee on deadline day, help them lift the title months later, then sodd off to Italy next year. - Arsenal will be relegated and struggle to come back - Liverpool will also have a relegation scare, but eventually win the title again - Spurs will rise as the new star-studded megapower, led by top English youngsters like Anderton, Barmby, Walker, Sheringham, Campbell and Sir Jason Cundy. - Burnley will be the next to rise to the top and challenge for the title and Europe - West Ham's league existence will come into jeopardy as they fall down the leagues - Portugal will become a major European force, winning several titles. Things I Learned - Pull the trigger on signing a player. If you wait too long to sign a star player because you didn't need him, he'll move to Europe and you might never get him at his peak when you DO need him - It's better to sign and play strikers with ~8.0 average ratings that don't score than to play lower-rated strikers that score some goals. Ratings > goals. - Always have someone ready to replace your 29-year-old. This is the age where it might be time to cash in on all but the very best performers and reinvest in a replacement. - The win bonus doesn't seem to simply make players perform better, but make them more likely to make a comeback after half-time. - Someone performing at a '6' rating in a match doesn't have to be subbed off. If you're 2-0 up and going along fine, leave him be. - Sign Englishmen where possible if you want to make European progress, due to the '4 foreigners restriction' (Scottish, Welsh and Irish is still 'foreign') - Check the tactics of the opposition and play the same tactic, since man-for-man we usually have the better side, and go from there. - Insure everyone, as the maths means you save money overall - Player match ratings are relative to the players around them. So a rubbish 5-rated player will get an 8 when everyone else is a 9 or 10. - All the regen names for managers tend to come up with criminals in a Google search My Personal XI Sheringham - Cantona - Fowler Sharpe ---------- Ince ---------- Giggs Irwin - Campbell (c) - Ndah - Parker ---------------- Schmeichel -------------- Schmeichel, Irwin and Parker provided consistency in the early days. Sol Campbell stayed through the entire game. Ndah was a defender-striker, so could could both stop and score goals simultaneously. Sharpe and Giggs became world class wingers as predicted, and stayed most of their career before inevitably moving abroad. Ince goes above Keane due to his consistency. Cantona and Sheringham was a beloved partnership, and what could've been in real life. And of course I have to add Mancunian legend Robbie Fowler in there! He was our first big young striker signing that delivered. That's the end of this save. But next I'll start as a non-league side, like Bognor Regis, and see how far I can go, maybe even win the European Cup this time. " "Goodnight." EDIT UPDATE Part 2 - Starting at the bottom with the worst club (Barnet) is here:
  13. 03/04 Season & Man Utd Review Game World Liverpool chased United down all season, and it was an exciting race with both teams winning nearly every week, but in the end United didn't drop enough, and a demoralised Liverpool went from 6 points behind to 17 points behind. Milwall won the Division 1 title by an even bigger margin and are promoted to the Premier League. West Ham have been relegated again and are one more relegation away from becoming a non-league club. Top Goalscorer: Alex Ward (Man Utd) - 23 Player of the Year: Kevin Carter (Man Utd) - 8.62 Young Player of the Year: N. Ward (Forest) - 7.95 Most MOTM: Ward (Leicester / N. Forest) - 24 Dirtiest Player: Michael Johnson (Liverpool) and Shaw (Middlesbrough) - 40 Newcastle United were fined £55k for excessive foul play. Manager of the Year: Me (Man Utd) Superb-Rated Managers: Me (Man Utd), David Webb (Liverpool), Martyn Thompson (Norwich), Jimmy Mullen (Burnley) Highest Average Attendance: Man Utd - 47,349 Charity Shield: (PL) Man Utd 1 - 1 Tottenham (FA) FA Cup Final: Man Utd 2 - 0 Chelsea Non-League Exeter reached the 4th round. Division 1 Coventry reached the semis. Coca-Cola Cup Final: Bolton 0 - 1 Burnley Burnley finally win their first major trophy since 1960! Anglo-Italian Cup Final: Venezia 1 - 0 Cambridge European Cup Final: (Fra) Marseille 0 - 1 Benfica (Por) Portugal have produced 3 of the last 4 European champions. Cup Winners Cup Final: (Tur) Fenerbahce 1-1 Dinamo Moscow (Rus) FT, 1-1 AET, 3-1 Pens Hajdur reached the semis. Rangers have become good enough to be considered seeds for a European trophy. UEFA Cup Final: (Ita) Inter 5 - 2 Standard (Bel) LKS Lodz knock out Liverpool on way to semis Burnley knocked out Napoli 5-3 on agg. Managers Neil Warnock u-turned on his resignation to be appointed West Ham manager Martin O'Neill resigned from Crystal Palace Luton's Terry Butcher retired at 65 Bolton's Gerry Francis retired at 62 Notable Transfers Regen Andy Wilson from Cardiff to N. Forest for £3.9m Regen Graham Butterworth from Tottenham to Man Utd for £3.9m Eddie Digweed from Everton to Napoli (Ita) for £3.1m Graham Potter from Arsenal to Tottenham for £2.6m Regen Keith Gouck from Derby to Aston Villa for £2.6m Nick Barmby from Man Utd to Sheff Wed for £2.4m Regen Neil Ward from Leicester to N. Forest for £2.1m Regen Gary Gannon from Middlesbrough to Man Utd for £2m Juergen Sommer from (USA) to Cardiff for £550k Ross Kerr from (Scotland) to Middlesbrough for £500k Mikael Andersson from (Sweden) to Maidstone for £100k Stan Collymore from N. Forest to Cambridge for £70k Pavel Srnicek from Newcastle to Tottenham for £60k Man Utd Review League: 1st W29, D4, L5, F78, A25, 91PTS Charity Shield: D1-1 (N) v Tottenham FA Cup R3: W2-1 (A) v QPR (D1) R4: W1-0 (A) v Plymouth (D3) R5: W3-0 (H) v Leicester QF: D0-0 (A) v Leeds QFR: W3-0 (H) v Leeds SF: W4-1 (N) v Coventry (D1) F: W2-0 (N) v Chelsea Coca-Cola Cup R2: W9-1 v Hereford (D3) on agg. R3: W2-0 (H) v Man City R4: W1-0 (A) v Liverpool QF: L2-1 (A) v WBA SF: L2-2 v Middlesbrough on agg, 2-1 away goals European Cup R1: D4-4 v Bayern Munich, L1-0 on away goals We won the first leg 4-1... Being knocked out early on away goals again led to an overhaul of the squad, as I felt it was weaker. 7 players were brought in and 5 sold, many older players, with more sales to come if anyone will buy. Average Attendance: 47,349 Top Goalscorer: Ward - 23 Supporters' Player of the Year: Butt - 8.26 (again I don't know why) Highest Average Rating: Dyer - 8.83 Most MOTM: Fowler - 11 Dirtiest Player: Gannon - 15 Transfers In Gannon from Middlesbrough for £2m Butterworth from Tottenham for £3.9m Farrington from Tottenham for £1m Jackson from N. Forest for £1.9m Johnson from Burnley for £2.5m Dyer from Everton for £2m Flowers from Liverpool for £1.4m Total: £14.7m Out Hodge to Walsall on loan Beardsmore to Colchester on loan Chamberlain to Rotheram on loan Murphy to Everton for £1.475m Rankine to Birmingham for £120k Jenkins to Tottenham for £520k Cross to Derby for £92k Barmby to Sheff Wed for £2.4m Hunt to Leicester for £740k Total: £5.347m Total spend: £7.353m Squad Review Main XI ---- Fowler - Dyer - Ward (c) --- --- Carter - Mitchell - Jackson --- -- Campbell - Johnson - Ndah -- ----------------- Sainty ----------------- ---------------- Davies ----------------- Goalkeepers Martin Davies - 28 - £1.9m Appearances 29, Conceded 12, Minimum Match Rating 6, Maximum Match Rating 9, Average Rating 7.83 It always feels like we concede more than we actually do, but the stats say only 12 goals conceded! Gerry Farrington - 26 - £1.4m A 11, AvR 7.82 I want the 2 best goalkeepers in the game at all times, so I signed Spurs' keeper again. Despite the sub-7 rated season this year, he has had around 7.4 in the last 2 seasons. He replaced Davies well. Out for some of next season with a broken leg. Ian Walker - 32 - £1m A 12, C 8, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.42 Could probably still do a job as #1. Jim Cross - 23 - £100k A 3, AvR 6.67 Sold and moved down to Division 1 Defenders Ray Sainty - 27 - D C - £6.4m A 46, Goals 4, Man Of The Match 4, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.43 Our best defender. Completely reliable. Sol Campbell - 29 - DM LC - £4.9m A 46, G 2, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.26 George Ndah - 29 - DA C - £6.2m A 44, G 6, MOTM 3, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.32 Disappointingly quiet after 2 incredible seasons. I will look to cash in at 30. Gary Gannon - 25 - D C - £3m A 38, G 1, AvR 8.13 My defence needed numbers, so I added Gannon, who got average ratings of 7.41 and 7.60 in the Premier League despite being 23/24 years old. Didn't make a big impact in his debut season though. Iain Jenkins - 31 - D L - £500k A 24, G 1, AvR 7.83 Sold Terry Redmond - 26 - D C - £2.3m A 23, G 1, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.83 After a couple of season on the edge of the first team, he has left it entirely. Looks like it's time to sell. Andy Johnson - 28 - DM C - £4.1m A 12, G 2, AvR 8.33 After 8 games without a clean sheet, I went to Burnley again to boost the defence (and midfield) with a player rated 8.03 this season. Paul Flowers - 29 - D C - £1.8m A 9, AvR 8.33 A short-term buy just to strengthen our defence... and weaken Liverpool's. A tactical buy - our only title rival was Liverpool, and I bought their best player, who is average-rated 8.11. He may only be good for this season, but I can always sell him again. Des Chamberlain - 21 - D C - £150k A 4, AvR 5.25 Loan - Rotheram (D3): A 23, AvR 4.78 Nowhere near good enough, even at his young age. Neil Hodge - 20 - D L - £500k A 8, AvR 7.25 Loan - Walsall (D3): A 18, G 2, AvR 5.22 Good ratings, a Welsh international already and 20s in passing, pace and flair. Is this Gareth Bale? Lee Bates - 20 - D C - £150k A 7, AvR 6 Midfielders Kevin Carter - 23 - M C - £6.4m A 45, G 7, MOTM 6, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.62 Our best midfielder again. Neil Mitchell - 29 - MC - £5.2m A 30, G 2, Min 7, Max 10, AvR 8.33 Injury-prone, so didn't see too much of him. Did fine, but fine isn't enough at Man Utd now. Lee Groves - 27 - M C - £3.8m A 28, G 3, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.18 A slight improvement, but still on the edge of the first team level. Nicky Butt - 27 - M C - £2.4m A 27, G 13, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.26 An ok but unspectacular first half of the season led to him being transfer-listed, but he did better in the second half. Graham Butterworth - 26 - M LC - £2.6m A 23, G 4, AvR 8.17 After a few games, I listed Nicky Butt and signed 26-year-old replacement Butterworth from Tottenham. At 23 years old he already had an 8.06-rated season and has been keeping close to that ever since. An awful Jonathan Woodgate-calibre start made him look a flop, but he got better. But needs to be even better still. Jason Jackson - 22 - M C - £1.3m A 21, G 2, AvR 8.38 WIth money and squad spots to spare, I signed another young performer. Nick Barmby - 29 - MA C - £2m A 18, G 2, AvR 7.83 Only 39 goals in 186 games is very disappointing. He wasn't quite a flop, but nowhere near what he should've been. Sold to Wednesday. Matthew Beardsmore - 19 - MA L - £300k A 7, G 1, AvR 7.14 Loan - Colchester (D3): A 18, AvR: 5.72 Got his first goal in the final league game and is already an R.o.Ireland international. Steve Rankine - 26 - M C - £200k A 4, AvR 6.5 Attackers Alex Ward - 26 - A C - £2.7m A 43, G 23, MOTM 15, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.51 Our best striker. Robbie Fowler - 28 - A C - £6.1m A 33, G 13, MotM 11, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.39 Another season where he did worse then last season, but that's still a high bar. Graeme Burrows - 23 - A C - £1.6m A 23, G 4, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 7.65 A poor season but a bright future. Jonathan Hunt - 31 - A C - £1m A 18, G 8, AvR 8.17 Sold on deadline day. Risky, as he was still rated high, but his skill and value will crash next season. So only stayed for 2 half-seasons, and is now scoring for Leicester alongside another player called Hunt. (Leicester are doing ok with a couple of right Hunts in their team, and big Wood bringing up the rear.) Shaun Murphy - 31 - A C - £2.5m A 12, G 3, AvR 8.5 I cashed in as the goals seemed to dry up. Bruce Dyer - 27 - A C - £2.9m A 12, G 5, AvR 8.83 On deadline day I moved for Everton's striker, who regularly scores 12 a season but gets the high end of the 7s average rating per season. While playing for Everton, I should add. Was our best player this season.
  14. 02/03 Season & Man Utd Review Game World With Tottenham and Liverpool underperforming, Man Utd were allowed to run away with the title, finishing 19 points ahead while playing much of the season with youth players. Burnley were the closest challengers, and continue to improve despite Man Utd buying all their best players. The fall of Blackburn continues. They suffered their 2nd relegation in 4 seasons and the former champions will now play in Division 2. Barnet were relegated into non-league. Top Goalscorer: David Farrell (Burnley) - 24 goals Player of the Year: Robbie Fowler (Man Utd) - 8.73 Young Player of the Year: N. Ward (Leicester) - 7.27 Manager of the Year: Me! Most MOTM Awards: Regen Steven Short (Sheff Wed) - 18 Dirtiest Player: Steve Lomas (Middlesbrough) and Phil Whelan (WBA) - 30 points Highest Average Attendance: Leeds - 48,279 Superb-Rated Managers: Me (Man Utd), Jimmy Mullen (Burnley), David Webb (Liverpool) Charity Shield: (PL/FA) Man Utd 3 - 1 Tottenham (PLRU) FA Cup Final: Tottenham 4 - 0 Coventry Division 3 Bradford reached the QF, including wins over Premier League Derby and Sheff Wed. Division 1 Norwich reached the semis. Coca-Cola Cup Final: Middlesbrough 1 - 2 Tottenham Battling relegation from the football league, Division 3 Maidstone reached the QF Anglo-Italian Cup Final: Norwich 1 - 1 Bologna FT, 4 - 5 Pens European Cup: Scroll down... CWC Final: (Por) Benfica 0 - 2 AIK (Swe) AIK Solna knocked out Inter and Ajax on the way to a shock trophy. UEFA Cup Final: (Por) Sporting 1 - 4 Juventus (Ita) on agg. Aberdeen reached the semis, knocking out Napoli on away goals on the way. Plymouth and Scarborough were rescued by £500k takeover deals. Sackings Billy Bonds was sacked by West Ham early, with the club in the relegation zone of Division 2. Assistant manager Harry Redknapp took temporary charge before Shaun King took over. Neil Warnock was sacked by Huddersfield, replaced with Terry Cooper. Peter Shilton was sacked by Swansea and replaced with Barry Lloyd. Terry Butcher resigned at Sunderland. Terry Cooper was sacked by Birmingham, who appoint York manager Alan Little. Retirements Charlton boss Alan Curbishley, Oldham manager Joe Royle and Hartlepool manager Viv Busby retired at 62/63 Notable Transfers Jonathan Hunt from Tottenham to Man Utd for £3.3m Regen F. Garner from Bolton to N. Forest for £3.1m Steve McManaman from Wolves back to Liverpool for £2.8m Graham Kavanagh from Middlesbrough to Stuttgart (Germany) for £2.8m Steve Froggatt from Leeds to Lazio (Italy) for £2.5m Paul Gilchrist from Wolves to Juventus (Italy) for £2.3m Kevin Sharp from Chelsea to WBA for £2.3m Lee Jones from Coventry to WBA for £2.3m Neville Baddeley from (Wales) to Stoke for £1.8m Darren Ferguson from Man Utd to Newcastle for £1.3m Don Hutchinson from (Italy) to Everton for £750k Grant Leitch from (South Africa) to Leicester for £250k Roger Nilsen from (Norway) to Stoke for £100k Ronny Van-Geneugden from (Belgium) to Blackburn for £100k Craig Ramage from Derby to Swansea for £50k Dimitri Kharine from Chelsea to Derby for £30k Man Utd Season Review, Euro Run & Squad Review League: 1st W28, D6, L4, F100, A30, 90PTS 100 goals scored, including an 8-0 win over Cardiff and plenty of 6, 5, 4 and 3-goal wins. We were so comfortable in the league after a few months that I played youngsters and still got points. Charity Shield: W3-1 (N) v Tottenham FA Cup R3: W3-1 (A) v Crewe (D2) R4: W3-0 (H) v Peterborough (D2) R5: W3-0 (H) v Cardiff QF: W3-0 (A) v Bolton SF: L3-2 (N) v Tottenham Tottenham have shown themselves to be our equals on the pitch. But over a season, not quite so much. Coca-Cola Cup R2: W5-1 v Bristol R (D3) on agg. R3: W2-0 (A) v Southampton (D1) R4: W1-1 FT, 2-1 AET (A) v Reading (D3) QF: W2-0 (H) v Derby (D1) SF: L2-2 v Middlesbrough on agg, 2-1 away goals As I was heavily rotating in the league anyway, I put more effort in winning all the domestic cups, but Middlesbrough just squeaked through. European Cup Run Round 1 v PSV We faced one of the seeds and a major European name. First Leg - Home --- Fowler - Murphy (c) - Barmby --- --- Carter - Mitchell - Butt --- Jenkins - Campbell - Ndah - Jones ------------------- Walker ------------------- The best keeper in the game, the ex-Spurs keeper Ian Walker, was in goal. In defence was Everton product Iain Jenkins, Liverpool Stalwart Rob Jones and ex-Spurs man Sol Campbell. Palace product and ex-Spurs player George Ndah was in defence, but he's an attacking goalscoring threat. In midfield, we still had one of the original Man Utd players - Nicky Butt was still only 26. Alongside him was Blackpool product Neil Mitchell and 22-year-old regen wonderkid Kevin Carter. Up front is scouser Robbie Fowler, ex-Spurs legend Nicky Barmby, and Notts County product and best player in the whole game Shaun Murphy. Though it would be nice to still have Chris Bart-Williams here, or even trio Keane, Giggs and Sharpe. Man Utd 1 - 0 PSV 40 Butt It was an ok performance with mostly 7s. I'm happy to avoid conceding an away goal. Now we just need to get one away ourselves. Away Leg --- Fowler - Murphy (c) - Ndah --- --- Carter - Mitchell - Campbell --- Jenkins - Redmond - Sainty - Jones ------------------- Walker ------------------- Subs: GK Davies, Butt, Burrows I focus on putting my highest average-rated players into an XI. The lowest average rating (excluding goalkeepers) on the pitch is Jones' 8.3. Sol Campbell moves into midfield and Ndah into attack, allowing regens Redmond and Sainty to come in. Butt has had a great season but even he can't make such a first team today. Barmby doesn't make the bench after a 6-rated performance in the first leg. PSV 1 - 2 Man Utd 78 #9 54 Campbell 80 Redmond Red card: 33 #5 Man Utd win 3-1 on aggregate. For once, it's the other team that suffers a sending off and / or injury. Though maybe we would've won it regardless. It was all 8s and 9s in the player match ratings. Round 2 v Bayern Munich To rub it in, we're drawn against arguably the 2nd-best team in Europe after Real Madrid. Bayern won it in 1996 and 2000 as well as lost the 1998 and 1999 finals to Real Madrid. If we reach the group stage, we will have earned it. 1st Leg - Away --- Fowler - Murphy (c) - Ward --- --- Carter - Mitchell - Campbell --- Jenkins - Ndah - Sainty -------------- ---------------- Redmond ---------------- ------------------ Davies ------------------ Subs: GK Walker, Jones, Groves Walker had a couple of poor performances, reminiscent of David James' sudden drop-off a while ago, so new signing Davies comes in after 8 games, 2 goals conceded and 8.12 average rating for us alone. Attacker Ward, another new signing, starts for his 2nd debut in 3 games, after a loan spell of just 2 games being enough to prove his worth to us. Meaning Ndah moves into defence and Rob Jones is out. Bayern 3 - 1 Man Utd 22 #2 4 Carter 53 #7 77 #4 We absolutely dominated. The goalkeepers (who I substituted) got a 6 rating, Carter was MOTM with a 9. Everyone else got an 8. I didn't realise I had left the #11 position on the left, significantly lowering centre-forward Ward's rating. He still got a 7. What would the score have been if this hadn't happened? Do I need to reload? Should I face the prospect of needing to keep a clean sheet at home or score 3 or more to right this wrong. I decide to wait and see what happens in the 2nd leg. If we lose 3-0 then it won't exactly matter. 2nd Leg - Home Our top scorer by far and best player, Ndah, who has 20 goals in 21 games, then gets a 22-week injury... we're screwed. SO I need to sign an emergency attacker for right now. The best available even if he'll be too old next season. Jonathan Hunt is the only player in the top 12 highest average-rated in the game world that doesn't play for Man Utd yet. He's also the 3rd-highest scorer after Ndah himself and Andy Cole. More importantly, since joining Spurs, his average ratings have been 8.2, 8.2, 8.02 and 8.53, with 60 goals in his last 81 games. He scores 7 minutes into his league debut and has a hat-trick by half-time. He starts. --- Murphy (c) - Fowler - Hunt --- --- Mitchell - Carter - Groves - Jenkins - Campbell - Sainty --- ---------------- Redmond --------- ----------------- Davies ----------------- Subs: GK Walker, Jones, Ward Campbell moves back and Regen Groves plays in midfield. Man Utd 3 - 1 Bayern 6 Fowler 90 #7 9 Hunt 31 Groves 2 disallowed goals and a final-minute equaliser... Extra Time: We go into extra time with not much happening, so I make 2 late penalty subs: Ward and a change of goalkeepers - Ian Walker has saved a third of penalties he's faced (and I forgot that I used to check the record of goalkeepers after I signed them, so I didn't know Davies' penalty record). Mitchell took United's first penalty. It was saved. Bayern scored, but so did our new signing Hunt. Both subs do their job as Walker saved Bayern's penalty then Ward scored his. Then Walker saved again. Groves scored his, and Bayern's scored theirs. Centre-back Sainty would win the game if he scored his. He did. Finally. I wouldn't call it a panic buy, but the tactical short-term transfer of Hunt paid off! Group Stage We're drawn against seeds Real Madrid and Red Star, as well as Czech underdogs Banik Ostrava. We can test ourselves against the defending champions, as well as another big European name. It's worth nothing that it's 2 points for a win. Home v Real Madrid I use the same team that beat Bayern 3-1 at home in the 2nd leg. Can they do the same to the European champions? Man Utd 2 - 3 Real Madrid 7 Fowler 23 #7 80 Sainty 34 #8 42 pen #10 Mitchell and Groves didn't perform well. Close. Other Result: Banik O 1 - 3 Red Star Table Red Star - 2 Pts (+2 GD) Real Madrid - 2 (+1) Man Utd - 0 (-1) Banik O - 0 (-2) Away v Red Star No changes. Red Star 0 - 0 Man Utd We dominated, but can't be mad at a point in Yugoslavia. Result: Real Madrid 1 - 1 Banik O Red Star - 3 Pts (+2 GD) Real Madrid - 3 (+1) Man Utd - 1 (-1) Banik O - 1 (-2) Home v Banik O No changes in the first team. Man Utd 2 - 0 Banik O 37 Murphy 63 Own Goal #4 GK Davies and DL Jenkins got a 9, everyone else got a 10. Result: Real Madrid 0 - 0 Red Star Red Star - 4 Pts (+2 GD) Real Madrid - 4 (+1) Man Utd - 3 (+1) Banik O - 1 (-4) Away v Real No changes. Real Madrid 0 - 0 Man Utd Again we had control for most of the game. A goal would've put us in charge of the group. Result: Red Star 1 - 1 Banik O Red Star - 5 Pts (+2 GD) Real Madrid - 5 (+1) Man Utd - 4 (+1) Banik O - 2 (-4) Home v Red Star No changes. Man Utd 1 - 1 Red Star 37 Groves 56 #9 MU Disallowed Goal 72 Result: Banik O 1 - 2 Real Madrid Real Madrid - 7 (+2) Red Star - 6 (+2) Man Utd - 5 (+1) Banik O - 2 (-5) It's impossible to qualify now. In our final match we drew 1-1 in the Czech Republic, while Real finished an unbeaten group stage with a 1-0 win in Belgrade. We've beaten Bayern and Red Star, and controlled Real Madrid but only got 1 point. We can win the European Cup, it will just be hard and take time. European Cup Final: (Spa) Real Madrid 0 - 1 Porto (Por) Man Utd Results R1: W3-1 v PSV on agg. R2: W4-4 AET v Bayern on agg, 4-2 pens Group Stage: 3rd L2-3 (H) v Real Madrid D0-0 (A) v Red Star W2-0 (H) v Banik O D0-0 (A) v Real Madrid D1-1 (H) v Red Star D1-1 (A) v Banik O ================ Top Scorer: Ndah - 20 Player of the Season: Barmby - 8.00 Highest Average Rating: Fowler - 8.73 I don't know why Fowler (or indeed a dozen other players) didn't get the PotS award instead of Barmby. Most MotM: Hunt - 13 Dirtiest Player: Campbell - 15 Average Attendance: 44,746 Board Confidence: 100% - We are delighted Squad Review Transfers In Groves from Burnley for £2m Burrows from Burnley for £1.9m Davies from Burnley for £780k Ward from Everton on loan and then £1.3m Hunt from Tottenham for £3.3m Out Cross to Plymouth and Bournemouth on loan Beardsmore to Wycombe and Blackburn on loan Bates to Bradford on loan Ferguson to Newcastle for £1.3m Chamberlain to Fulham on loan Hodge to Port Vale on loan Total Spend: £7.98m Post-season terminations: Jones, Walsh, Warhurst Main XI ---- Murphy (c) - Fowler - Ndah --- ----- Carter - Mitchell - Groves --- Jenkins - Campbell - Sainty ------- ----------------- Redmond ----------- ------------------ Davies ------------------- Our season was so ridiculous, that a rating around 8.2 (usually reserved for one of the best players in the game) or below was disappointing! The high ratings seem to raise many younger players' games, so they were getting 6s and 7s rather than 3s and 4s, despite being too weak for the Premier League in reality. Goalkeepers Martin Davies - 27 - £1.3m Appearances 27, Conceded 9, Minimum Match Rating 6, Maximum Match Rating 9, Average Rating 7.85 Wow, 9 goals conceded in 27 games. And this guy was backup at Burnley. With money to spend, I signed the best keeper available, and he clearly did the job for us. Ian Walker - 31 - £1.6m A 26, C 18, Min 5, Max 9, AvR 7.35 Lost his place after David James-calibre form, but didn't do so bad when he got more games. Gary Walsh - 34 - £250k A 8, C 5, Min 5, Max 8, AvR 7.12 In normal times, this is the performance of the best goalkeeper in the game. But we have 4 keepers and he's only going to get worse. His 3 decades of United service are over. Jim Cross - 22 - £150k A 6, Min 3, Max 8, AvR 7 Loan - Plymouth (D3): A 3, AvR 4.67 Loan - Bournemouth (D2): A 10, AvR 4.6 Total Conceded: 27 Did ok in our first team. But in Europe, we really need 2 top class goalkeepers, in case one gets injured. Defenders Ray Sainty - 26 - D C - £5.1m A 46, Goals 5, Man of the Match 2, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.24 Sol Campbell - 28 - DM LC - £5.9m A 43, G 4, MOTM 2, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.44 Terry Redmond - 25 - D C - £3.2m A 51, G 8, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.14 Continues to be our 'weakest' starting defender but continues to improve. Iain Jenkins - 30 - D L - £2.2m A 44, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.2 A great season. Does he have one more? Rob Jones - 31 - D R - £750k A 41, G 1, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 7.66 A clear divide between a group of defenders headed by Jones at 7.7, and the first team at 8.2+. His value also suggests he's going to be rubbish next season, so it's time for a release after 152 games for United Paul Warhurst - 33 - DMA C - £100k A 19, G 1, Min 6, Max 9, AvR 7.21 Got game time as I rested the entire team, but clearly not good enough and will be released. Lee Bates - 19 - D C - £100k A 14, AvR 6.15 Loan: Bradford (D3) - A 19, AvR 5.32 Master Bates began to settle in with ok performances, but still far too weak at the moment. Des Chamberlain - 20 - D C - £100k A 12, AvR 4.75 Loan - Fulham (D3): A 17, AvR 4.82 Youth players take up squad space. So if I list them all, he is a prime candidate to go. Neil Hodge - 19 - D L - £250k A 16, G 1, AvR 7.25 Loan - Port Vale (D2): A 17, AvR 6 A Wales international already, showing all the signs that he has a future at the top. Midfielders Kevin Carter - 22 - M C - £7m A 39, G 6, MOTM 5, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.56 Our best midfielder at only 22 years old. Neil Mitchell - 28 - MC - £4.3m A 37, G 5, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.32 A quiet season after his goalscoring explots last year Lee Groves - 26 - M C - £4.1m A 37, G 5, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.11 Signed from my shortlist as Everton bid for him, after a 7.76-rated season for Burnley aged 25 last season, following a 7.24 season the year before. Another buy from Burnley. Groves represented the 'best of the rest' in midfielders in our squad. Can he raise it to the crazy heights we need? Nick Barmby - 28 - MA C - £2m A 40, G 9, MOTM 3, Min 4, Max 10, AvR 8 Disappointing and lacking goals. I didn't list him because he's shown for Spurs that he can be one of the best. Being 29 next season, he has one last chance to do it. Nicky Butt - 26 - M C - £2m A 35, G 9, MOTM 1, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 7.74 A nice player, but with our standards so high, can he match them? Matthew Beardsmore - 18 - MA L - £60k A 22, AvR 6.05 Loan - Blackburn (D1): A 2, AvR: 5 Our new promoted youngster looked rubbish, but also grew into the team. Still rubbish though. Steve Rankine - 25 - M C - £150k A 22, G 2, Min 4, Max 8, AvR 6.27 The only reason he played so many games is because I was keeping my first team injury free for the group games. Still needs to go. Darren Ferguson - 30 - M C - £2.5m A 1, AvR 7 After 13 years and 181 games, Fergie moved on to Newcastle and did well (7.41). Attackers George Ndah - 28 - DA C - £7.5m A 22, G 20, MOTM 8, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.68 Our best player until injury meant he couldn't take part in the group stages. Next season... Robbie Fowler - 27 - A C - £6.5m A 41, G 16, MotM 6, Min 7, Max 10, AvR 8.73 Actually had a worse season than last season, but was arguably our best striker. Shaun Murphy - 30 - A C - £7.7m A 37, G 13, MOTM 10, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 8.65 In normal circumstances, it would be Murphy's time to go, despite another great season. But Cantona kept going for years into his 30s, so let's see if Murphy does the same. Jonathan Hunt - 30 - A C - £3.5m A 18, G 9, MOTM 13, Min 7, Max 10, AvR 8.61 An emergency signing after our best striker Ndah got injured for the rest of the season. He did the job and helped United to the group stages. Alex Ward - 25 - A C - £2.3m A 27, G 9, MOTM 13, Min 5, Max 10, AvR 8.33 An impressive 2 goals in 2 games on loan was followed by 7 in 25. Can do better! Graeme Burrows - 22 - A C - £1.8m A 27, G 13, MotM 5, Min 6, Max 10, AvR 7.89 On loan initially, he scored on his debut against his own club! I'm ruining Burnley's team as I buy yet another player from them - a 22-year-old who scored 26 in 46 last year and already got 8 in his first 5 Burnley games this season! If I didn't exist in this game, Spurs and Burnley would be league champions. Big potential. Just a few more for this Man Utd save. Then I'll start again as Bognor Regis or something in a few months or so!
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