janneff
-
Posts
30 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Articles
FAQs
Online Manual
Support: Blocks
Support: Games
Bug Tracker
SIGames Manual (beta)
Profiles
Posts posted by janneff
-
-
2 hours ago, kozmik said:
@janneff That's pretty amazing, congrats!
1 hour ago, warlock said:Agreed - an outstanding achievement!
Thank you very much. It was definitely unexpected. In retrospect I think that one of the key reasons for our success was probably our domestic players bias. It probably helpt that most of our players were used to playing in England. Something that I haven't really considered in the past.
0 -
Sunderland 2021/2022
These were the transfers that helpt us to win the title. If I don't mention signing it's because that player didn't play any senior matches. Last year we conceded way too many goals. I knew that I couldn't afford to bring in whole new defence so I decided to make tactical switch from 4231 to 4141. Both systems are fairly similar so that didn't affect our squad building at all. Basically our midfield three went from Dlp(s)-BBM(S)-SS(a) to Rga(s)-Car(s)-Mez(s). I wanted to use two roles that had stay wider instructions so Tonali (regista) had more space to roam.
Matias Vargas was our first proper signing. He's very talented argentinian midfielder who's capable of cutting in from left side of the pitch. He played key role and scored 12 league goals. I wasn't particularly looking to add striker but Dominic Calvert-Levin was transfer listed on request. I'm always looking to add domestic talent. He had great season and he ended up scoring 30 goals. However most of those goals were scored in cup competitions. One of my primary target was 3rd choice CB. James Tarkowski was our main target but his wage demands were too high. Darragh Lenihan represented better value.
First player to leave the club was Matthew Targett. Palace made nice offer and we already had Josh Tymon to replace him as our 1st choice LB. However we needed backup now so we brought in Lloyd Kelly from Bristol City. Martin Odegaard impressed us last season while on loan so we offered him contact after Real Madrid released him. I was happy that he accepted our offer. Now we had too many attacking midfielders so I decided to sell Dominik Prokop. He scored us 9 goals last season and was pretty decent but his small size bothered me too much. Ben Brereton and Vincent Janssen also left the club. Janssen had decent season but we had better options now. Matteo Guendouzi arrived on loan at deadline day. We had enough depth but I felt he could add little bit quality. January window was fairly quiet this time. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was transfer listed so we picked him. He's domestic and versatile. Love it.
This is how the league finished. We were leading most of the season and didn't bottle it. We also made FA Cup and Europa League semi-finals but lost them both using heavily rotated squads. Our primary focus was winning the title. It's tough to mention players that did particularly well because basically everybody impressed. My personal favourite was probably David Raya. He was already my favourite GK in FM18. Martin Odegaard won PFA Young Player of the Year award and Josh Tymon, Jack Whatmough and Rob Holding were all selected in the Premier League Team of the Year.
My target was Champions League football and we did even better. I'm very happy that I was able to win the title without exploiting the newgen market. In addtion I'm pleased that we had so many domestic players. I might play one more season and try to win Champions League but otherwise I think my job here is done.
0 -
Most of the early transfers were already discussed in my previous post. However there are few that were not yet arranged when I wrote last time. I wanted to add few players in AM strata and we did exactly that. We signed 23 yo Austrian international Dominik Prokop on free from Austria Vienna. He was able to cover multible positions but his small size (171 cm/59 kg) was slight disadvantage. We also signed young Danish attacking midfielder with similar skill set from Nordsjaelland. Then we loaned Scott McTominay from Man Utd. I was delighted that we were able to make this move permanent in January window. We let few players leave when these transfers were arranged. Toughest one was George Honeyman. Burnley made decent offer and I thought this for a while. He was domestic, versatile and fan's favourite. However in the end I decided to sell him because I wasn't sure that he would be good enough to play in the Premier League and because his determination was only 10. At this point I thought that we had done our business. However few weeks later Josh Tymon become available. He's one of the better english left backs so I couldn't resist. Then my Eastern European scout recommended Dejan Joveljic. He was much better than any of out three strikers so I had to sign him. I had way too many strikers at this point so I decided to loan Josh Maja to Wigan. He wasn't particularly happy that I loan listed him. He had fairly poor season in the Championship and eventually I decided not to extend his contract.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek asking price came down just before January window opened. We offered him £55k p/w but basically laughed at us. He had received £82k p/w offer from Seattle and that's where he signed. Our consolation prize was Kasey Palmer. He was slightly worse but more versatile. We also loaned Martin Odegaard from Real Madrid. His contract was running out and he was interested in signing but his wage demands were really high and in addition he was fairly inconsistent. We didn't really need him and it was more like a trial. Lamine Kone's contract was running out and when Freiburg offered £3,3M we let him go.
We finished 7th. In addition we managed to win Carabao Cup. We beat Man City 2-0 at Wembley. jack Whatmough was our top performer. He even got few England call-ups but hasn't made his debut yet. Duncan Watmore had another great season. He scored 11 goals in the Premier League from AMR position. His perceived market value is almost £35M. Then there was Dejan Joveljic. 21 goals in 30 games. Only Harry Kane socred more than he. He justified his late arrival and was probably our most important player.
I have just finished our second season in the Premier League. I'll write review tomorrow but I'll leave this spoiler here.
0 -
These are our goalkeepers currently. They both did well. McLaugglin contract is ending and he is currently unhappy. I'd like to keep him around as backup but currently it seems unlikely. I'd love to buy Svilar but Benfica are not interested in selling. David Raya will be joining us from Blackburn in £3,4M deal. He'll be our number one. If McLauglin refuses to sign new deal we still need solid number two. Possible targets are Joe Waldsmith and Joe Lumley.
Our defensive core is fairly strong. Tom Flanagan and Bryan Oviedo won't be here next season but we have already agreed to sign Rob Holding from Arsenal in £8,75M deal. This will be probably our only defensive acquisition.
Sandro Tonali is by far our most gifted midfielder. He has £16 M release clause for clubs in higher divisions. I'm not sure whether that clause is still active. I hope not because most of the top Premier League clubs are interested in him. Max Power and Tristan Muymba compliments him pretty well, However I think we need to add little bit depth here. Lee Cattermole is not viable started anymore and Richie Towell is better AMC than MC. Diego Poyet still has one more year left in his contract but he's constantly asking better one. I don't see that happening. Bali Mumba has developed quite well but he probably needs one more loan season in the Championship. I'd love to sign Scott McTominay but Man Utd are reluctant to sell at the moment. Kalvin Phillips might be more realistic signing.
These are our attacking midfielders. Duncan Watmore had great season and he's likely to be our starting RW in Premier League. George Honeyman's versatility makes him also very valuable squad player. Jarrod Bowen can play better. All six are contracted at least one more season. I'm looking to bring one or two players in to play these positions. Possible targets are Kasey Palmer and perhaps Jack Grealish if he becomes unhappy after Aston Villa were relegated from Premier League. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is transfer listed and interested but his asking price is £23,5M and I'm not sure I want to spend that much because of his injury proneness.
Jordan Hugill had great season. He won the Championship top scorer award. Josh Maja did very well also considering that he only started 16 games. I could renew Hugill's loan but I'd rather not rely on loans too much. We have agreed to sign Ben Brereton from Blackburn in £5M deal and Vincent Janssen (free) is currently considering our contract offer. Bereton, Maja and Janssen will probably be our strikers next season. It's up to them to take the number on striker spot.
0 -
I always enjoy reading this thread. I have been trying to complete dafuge challenge since beta but I'm currently taking little break from that. I'm in distant future so most of the players are newgens and sometimes I struggle to find connection with them. Therefore I often play another saves. This year I chose Sunderland because I wanted something opposite to my beloved Kettering. Sunderland definitely fit the bill.
We had decent first season. We finished 2nd in the Sky Bet League One. We were promoted comfortably. However it was Barnsley that dominated the league sinde day one. Our top perfomer was probably Chris Maguire that scored 17 goals mostly from AMC position and had 10 assists. Josh Maja did also well scoring 16 league goals but it was his terrible form towards the end of the season that probably cost us the title. When I took charge I was fairly happy with the squad and I ended up doing very little business despite having decent amount of money to spend. I signed Diego Poyet on free transfer to add midfield depth in summer transfer window and bought promising DC Max Broughton from Bolton in January window. However his terrible positioning and modest jumping reach mean that his position is likely to be something else than central defender in the future. Luke O'Nien was loaned to Luton and Aiden McGeady was sold to Cincinnati in £350k deal.
Second season transfer windows were much busier. Highlight here is definitely Sandro Tonali. Dylan McGeouch was our biggest sale. I tried to find him place in our system but he just didn't fit anywhere. We play 4-2-3-1 and he wasn't defensively good enough to play MC in this system and yet he was not clinical enough to be shadow striker. I kept spending money in January window when it was pretty clear that we would be promoted after season. I was very happy to add two left-footed english players that should do well us in the future.
So this is were things stand at the moment. It's 17th of May 2020 and we are preparing to our first season back in the Premier League. I'll analyze the squad in the following post and talk little about our future plans.
3 -
Kettering Town - Season 30/31
"Kettering will look back on the season as a job well done as they impressed sufficiently to break clear of mid-table obscurity and announced themselves as a club on their rise, finishing above their expectations."
League Table - We finished 8th which was our best finish so far. We also managed to improve our total points. We looked very good and to be honest we were unlucky not to finish higher. We had the second best defensive record and we created second highest amout of chances. However we only scored 10th highest amount of goals. I guess it's safe to say that we ran pretty bad. I don't blame our strikers. Brighton almost won the Premier League. They were leading most of the season but in the end they managed to bottle it. I tried to do well in cups but we were terrible.
Transfers - We lost few of our key players because of minimum fee release clauses. William Kasongo was expected but losing Laurence Capel was particularly disappointing. We have only few quality english players and Lauren was definitely one of them. Rodrigo Musson was probably our most important signing. He's the kind of player that we lacked of and he was probably one of the biggest reason why our defensive record was so good. He's personality is highly questionable but it is what it is.
Key Prospects
Instead of showing key players this time, I'd like to show our key prospects. Though it could be argued that they are our key players already. I believe that these three players will play big part if we are ever going to beat this challenge.
Robert Guerroro is truly amazing central defender. He doesn't have any real weaknessess. Technically he could be slightly better but he has learnt to play simple passing game so he's not liability with the ball. I think he could be world class central defender one day.
Labinot Redjebi is very versatile playmaker or creative forward. He has great dribbling, first touch, techique and vision. He's currently learning to run with ball more often so he can create more chaos.
Michael Roels finally managed to develop his weaker foot. His personality also improved from balanced to fairly determined and his determination also improved. If he can develop his composure, he should be one of the best strikers some day.
Next Season
I want continental qualification. I think our squad is already strong enough to win Europa League. We are also going to make the switch from 4-1-4-1 to 4-2-3-1. I believe this should help us to take the next step.
2 -
On 19/11/2018 at 12:54, Prank Emperor said:
Your save has been going great! I am jealous of how far ahead you are, I am barely into October of the first season!
Best of luck!Thanks Prank Emperor. It's been great save so far. I had lots of time to invest in this save when the beta was released. Now the progress is slightly slower but I'm still confident that I can beat this great challenge.
0 -
39 minutes ago, Thebaker said:
@janneff - well done on another great season and the new stadium. What system have you been playing? i wonder since my systems are failing badly even in the VNL.
Thanks. I have been playing mostly this 4-1-4-1 or 4-1-2-3 DM wide since National League. There are some PIs but they mainly closing down instructions for forwards and midfielders. I think I used fullbacks instead of wingbacks when we were in lower leagues though.
0 -
Kettering Town - Season 29/30
"Few will have tipped Kettering to have been capable of avoiding relegation heading into the season but The Poppies confounded every expectation by achieving a top-half finish."
League Table - It was very similar season than our first in Premier League. We finished 9th once again. I think we got three less points this year so in theory we didn't progress at all. However I wasn't too disappointed. This should still increase our reputation. We could have finished little bit higher to be honest but I decided to explore new tactical options towards the end of the season and I'm not sure that did us any good. I haven't decided yet how we are going to approach next season. I'd like to play more adventurous system than 4-1-4-1 but I'm not really sure how. We don't have players to play 4-2-3-1 yet. Furthermore it was another season without cup success. I keep ignoring them at the moment.
Transfers - Lots of activity both in and out. Most notable sale was probably Pierre-Emmanuel Ekwah Elimby's transfer to Everton. He was our captain had been us since League One but he wanted to move to Everton and I felt that the offer was good enough. Michael Roels was our biggest incoming transfer. I had high hopes on him but unfortunately he suffered two major injuries. Valon Istogu was signing of the season in my opinion.
Finances are still great and new budgets are encouraging. I like that board are not afraid of increasing wage budget aggressively.
Key Players
Vito Mosca had another solid season. He didn't produce that many assists this season but did well nevertheless.
William Kasongo was free transfer from Chelsea. He scored respectable 14 goals in Premier League. Unfortunately he has pretty modest minimum fee release clause in his contract and he's not interested in signing new one when there are multiple interested parties. I expect to lose him.
Next Season
FA figured after one season that our stadium, Robbie Cooke Park, does not meet minimum Premier League requirements. Board agreed to rent King Power Stadium next season. This was pretty good news but it got even better. I was able to request board to build bew stadium despite our current stadium being less than five years old. Board agreed with me and announced plans to build new 33,000 capacity stadium. Good times. Hopefully we can celebrete these news and maybe make a push for continental qualification.
0 -
Kettering Town - Season 28/29
"Few will have tipped Kettering to have been capable of avoiding relegation heading into the season but The Poppies confounded every expectation by achieving a top-half finish."
League Table - It was pretty straightforward season. We had good start and it was pretty obvious straigt away that we should be able to avoid relegation relatively easily. We were poor against top teams but that didn't matter because we beat bottom half teams regularly home and away. I pretty much ignored both cup competitions this season but at least we managed to make FA Cup 6th round. We beat famously Liverpool away despite using mostly backups.
Transfers - It was pretty busy preseason. We sold bunch of players that I knew wouldn't be good enough to play Premier League football and aqcuired bunch of better players. My approach was fairly conservative. We didn't spend much money and maximum wage p/w I offered was £31,5k and no appearance fee. Ali Moulin was our most expensive transfer. He had decent season. He mainly contibuted defensively. Unfortunately I wasn't able to improve his personality and his determination even went down. In my opintion it was Andrew Spickett who was signing of the season. He's a decent box to box midfielder as long as there is holding midfielder playing behind him.
Finances are obviously in great shape. Transfer and wage budgets should be good enough to improve squad.
Key Players
Jimmy West had great season. He has been with us three years now and he has delivered every season. His attributes aren't that great but he is consistent performer. It is my opinion that consistency is easily the most important (hidden) attribute.
Stephen Hart had another good season. He scored 14 goals in Premier League. I don't think we are going to extend his loan however. I'm hoping to sign better striker on permanent deal.
Vito Mosca was on loan from Juventus. He played in multiple positions and did very well. He had most assists in Premier League. I'm delighted that he'll be joining us permanently.
Next Season
Avoid relegation. I'm not particularly interested in Europa League just yet so I'd take similar season without doubt. I think that the most important thing is to do well in preseason and transfer market in general. So far we have been playing 4-1-4-1 because it's fairly forgiving system. I think we continue using the same system at least one more season but I'm looking to acquire more talented players that can play in more complicated systems if necessary.
1 -
Kettering Town - Season 27/28
"Scarce few pundits will have been brave enough to pluck Kettering from mid-table obscurity in pre-season and mark them out for bigger and better things but The Poppies did exactly that, surprising everyone as they marched to a quite remarkable promotion."
League Table - We finished 3rd behind Leeds and Brentford. That meant that we would have to go through playoffs again in order to win promotion. Last time we were in this situation it took four tries but luckily this time we did better. We entered the playoffs in good from so I felt confident. We met Bournemouth first. We had just beaten them easily away so I considered us strong favourites. I was right and we won first leg 1-5. We scored another five few days later and advanced eventually to the play-offs final after a 10-5 aggragate win. We faced Bristol City that we had good record against. Bookies had us slight favourites too. This is how both teams lined up. It was very even match that would eventually go all the way to the penalties where David Rothery would be our hero. He saved three out of four penalties and secured us promotion to the Premier League. We had minor success in domestic cups too. We made it to the Carabao Cup semifinal where we lost to Spurs. We beat Premier League Wolves away in FA Cup 3rd round but lost next round home vs Chelsea.
Transfers - Summer transfer window wasn't too exciting. However things started happening in January window. We received this £14,000,000 offer from Stoke that was too good to refuse. I quickly brought Adam Lewis in to replace Graham Meek. In addition I acquired two transfer listed players CM Steve Cattermole and CB Frank Grant. I was very happy to bring Steve back home. He was part of the squad I inherited when we were still in National League North.
I forgot to take finances screenshot but current state doesn't matter that much because we are about to get very rich soon.
Key Players
Nuno Oliveira arrived in free transfer from Porto. He was instrumental . He scored 19 league goals and had 17 assists. He won Sky Bet Championship Player of the Year award.
Stephen Hart was on loan from Manchester United. He won Championship Golden Boot award and EFL Young Player of the Year award. We have agreed to extend his loan.
Jake Taylor arrived in free transfer from Premier League Cardiff. He scored respectable 9 goals and had 10 assists from midfield. He should be part of our starting XI next season despite his teamwork and work rate being rather low.
Next Season
Our goal is try to avoid relegation. We might get relegated but it wouldn't be end of the world. Board gave me decent budgets. I'll try to get at least 6-8 new players. Some of them will be loans as usual. Furthermore board finally agreed to expand the stadium. I didn't have the heart to tell them that this expansion doesn't actually meet Premier League stadium requirements. Minimum accepted stadium capacity is 12500. Good effort board, keep on trucking.
3 -
1 hour ago, DazRTaylor said:
An excellent first season in the Championship.
Thanks. However I can promise that the second season is even better!
0 -
Kettering Town - Season 26/27
"Few will have tipped Kettering to have been capaple of avoiding relegation heading into the season but The Poppies confounded every expectation by achieving a top-half finish."
League Table - We had a great start and we were in playoff race most of the season. However final third of the season was pretty much disaster and we only won four out of last 17 games. In the end we finished 8th five points short of playoffs. I was fairly happy however.
Cups - Not much happened here this time.
Transfers - Summer transfer window went as expected. Few loans, lots of free transfers and one small incoming deal. We didn't sell anybody this year. Obviously released plenty of players although it doesn't show there.
Finances - We made £3,500,000 profit but that was only because of parachute payment. Our stadium is too small and frankly our sponsorhip money is pathetic.
Key Players
I brought in Marcus Edwards to replace Wade Hobbs. He did allright. His natural fitness and strength aren't great but I like hid dribbling, flair, agility and balance. Once in a while he looks pretty exciting. I don't really see him as long-term option though.
Gus Williams was on loan from Chelsea. He scored respectable 20 goals in the Championship. Based on his attributes he should be playing in the Premier League but unfortunately he is fairly inconsistent. I try to extend his loan if he ends up signing extension with Chelsea.
Pierre-Emmanuel Ekwah Elimby was our best defender once again. Some might even say that he was wast the best defender in whole Championship because he was named in PFA Championship Team of the Year. Lots of interested parties but I try to keep him around.
Next Season
Our stadium capacity is merely 5319. I believe our every home game was sold out. I asked board to expand the stadium but they said no. Apparently our financial situation doesn't allow that. My relationship with this board is questionable. First they kept rejecting professional status despite we had £2,500,000 in the bank while we were in Vanarama National and now this. In addition we earned only £220,000 sponsorhip money this season. I think it's their responsibility to negotiate these deals. Anyway I'm looking to make serious promotion push next season. I try to keep my best players around at least till January window and then assess the situation again.
1 -
Kettering Town - Season 25/26
"Scarce few pundits will have been brave enough to pluck Kettering from mid-table obscurity in pre-season and mark them out for bigger and better things but The Poppies did exactly that, surprising everyone as they marched to a quite remarkable promotion."
League Table - We probably had our best season so far. Our record was impressive 32-7-7, However that was only good enough for 2nd place because Ipswich had one of the most ridiculous season I've ever seen. We started poorly and we conceded 11 goals in our first three games and only got one point but just like last season, things just started working. No tactical changes or anything. We were still playing 4-1-4-1 which seems to suit us very well.
Cups - FA Cup 5th round was the highlight here. We managed to beat Premier League Watford away in 3rd round. Championship Luton were beaten easily after that but Leeds were too strong. Leeds were struggling a little bit in the Championship so I thought we might be able to proceed even further but it was rather disappointing performance.
Transfers - We had our first million pound sale. It was defensive minded midfielder Anthonyt Daniels that joined us 18 months earlier in £1,4k transfer. We also spent little bit money on very promising RB from Southampton that had already played few games in Premier League.
Finances - Very tiny loss here but we invested £1,800,000 in training facilities, increased junior coaching budget and improved our youth recruitment.
Key Players
Aaron Byrne scored 25 goals in League One and was big part of our success. I'll keep him around and see whether he's capable of playing in the Championship.
Pierre-Emmanuel Ekwah Elimby joined us in free transfer was immediately our most impressive defender. He is a physical beast.
The one and only Wade Hobbs. He had his best season so far. He learnt tries killer balls often player trait and took full advantage of it. Unfortunately Blackburn are finally looking to give him a chance so it's unlikely that we are able to extend his loan. He's been integral for us several years and we'll miss him.
Next Season
We received message that our new stadium project is delayed. This is actually good news because our new stadium will be way too small as expected. Importantly I think we should be able to avoid relegation. I'm fairly happy with our defence. We need to find replacement for Wade Hobbs and strengthen our midfield and attack. We have little bit of transfer budget but our wage budget is so low that I don't really see us spending too much money. We'll try to exploit the loan market once again.
1 -
Yeah Steam is updating now.
0 -
Kettering Town - Season 24/25
"Kettering had been expected to struggle for much of the season and find themselves entrenched at the bottom of the standings but defied all odds by remarkably finishing top of the pile and claiming an unlikely title."
League Table - I had good feeling about this and the team truly delivered. We didn't have the best start. We lost five out of our first eleven games and I was starting to second guess my expectations. Few simple role changes did the trick however and we only lost four more times in our remaining 35 games. We scored most amount goals but I was mostly impressed with our defending. We only conceded 35 goals and had 23 clean sheets.
Cups - Our Carabao Cup debut went fairly well. We beat League One Bury home and took Premier League Aston Villa all the way to the penalties. I used mostly backups in EFL Trophy. However I was pleased to see us progressing all the way to the Quarter Finals. There's decent money in this competion even though it seems pretty stupid. FA Cup saw us progress furthest so far. We hammered League One Barnsley 5-0 in the 3rd round but lost to Leicester in the 4th round. All in all these results made our season even sweeter.
Transfers - We made two relatively big sales in January transfer window. Both players joined only six month earlier. At this point I try not to get attached to my players too much. We are selling club.
Finances - Profit thanks to player sales and parachute payment. I think the correct profit number here is £451,942.
Key Players
Wade Hobbs did his thing. I'll try to extend his loan again.
Matt Blake was very solid left back. He should be starting in League one.
Technically gifted defender Saul Milovanovic did very well. He'll part of the next season squad. However I probably move him to Half Back because I'm not sure he's defensively good enough to be all day Central Defender in League One.
Next Season
This is a little bit of guess. Based on financial numbers - mainly salary per annum - we should finish bottom four. However players seem to expect that we should aim for midtable finish next year. If they think that we should be able to get midtable it usually means that we can finish even higher. Third promotion in a row would be amazing but probably not likely.
0 -
Kettering Town - Season 23/24
"Kettering had been expected to be in the running for a playoff place but performed even better than expected in securing promotion to EFL League Two."
League Table - Finally! It wasn't easy though. We finished second after very tight season in National League. In the end it was Carlisle that won the league but top six teams were all within seven points of Carlisle. We finished second after strong finish. We started strong and were top of the table till December when the midseason slump hit us. However we were able to recover from it and this time I had the confidence that we would do well in playoffs. That wasn't easy either. We dominated versus Tranmere but we were trailing after half time. Wade Hobbs equalised 27 minutes into the second half and it took full 90 minutes before we scored or actually they scored an own goal. In the Final we met Salford. After strong first half and thanks to Wade Hobb's two goals we had comfortable 2-0 lead. They scored seven minutes into the second half but had man sent off after 84th minute. However they somehow managed to equalise in the 91st minute. I was pretty furious at this point and players knew that too. It looked like it would go all the way to the penalties but it was our CB who scored 120-th minute game winning goal. We even scored once more one minute later to seal the deal.
Cups - I decided to use backups in both cup competions this year. They did pretty well.
Transfers - Wade Hobbs joined Blackburn in £650k + 50 % deal. It was too good offer to refuse. However Blackburn were very kind and agreed to loan him back to us immediately.
Finances - We would have made small loss without the sale of Wade Hobbs. It seems that we need to rely on player sales or lucky cup draws from now on if we want to make profit.
Key Players
Wade Hobbs had another great season. His stats were not that impressive but his role was also different. His versatility allowed us to use him either as MC, AML or even ST. I'll try to extend his loan.
Sam Habergham was on loan from Wrexham. I wanted more experienced players this season and he represented exactly that. He performed his left back duties very well in several different roles. Sometimes he played as traditional FB, next day he was attacking WB or even IWB.
Jack Webb had good first season but his second season was even better. He scored 18 goals from right wing and was our top scorer. He played mostly traditional winger role but his player trait Runs With Ball Through Centre influenced his game alot so he was almost playing like raumdeuter.
Next Season
My minimun goal is to achieve midtable finish. We spent four years in National League developing both our club and players. This should help a lot. This wasn't unexpected promotion by any means. We had the most amount of possession and completed passes in National League. We also had the best pass completion ratio. However we struggled to create chances. We only created 5th highest amount of chances. If we can solve this problem, I wouldn't be surprised to see us winning back to back promotions. Board gave us 38k p/w wage budget and this should be one of the biggest in League Two if we decide to use it all.
Unfortunately our current ground doesn't meet Football League requirements so board announced new stadium plans . This is not great news to be honest. This stadium is way too small for my ambitions. Meanwhile we move to The PTS Academy Stadium in Northampton.
3 -
Kettering Town - Season 22/23
"Kettering had been expected to finish in the top half of the table and will have been delighted to find themselves in the playoff places."
League Table - This year we finished 5th again. However we got three points more than last year so this count as progress. We beat Eastleigh easily in the playoff 1st round but once again playoff semifinal was too much to handle. We played fairly well but unfortunetely we didn't have answer to Hartlepool's three strikers system.
Cups - Best season so far. We made the FA Cup 3rd round first time and we were rewarded immediately with away match vs Man City. We won FA Trophy once again despite using backups all the way to the final.
Transfers - Lots of ins and few outs. This was massive though.
Finances - Very strong year. We made profit once again despite investing £1,800,000 in new training facilities. We had board takeover but nothing exciting happened. I asked professional status several times but I was rejected once again every time.
Key Players
Wade Hobbs had great season. He scored ten goals from midfield and assisted 15. Pretty much every Championship team is interested in him so this might have been his last season here.
Josh Thomas scored 25 goals. He was on loan from Luton but I have signed him already permanently. He is our first top scorer that doesn't leave club immediately.
Former Welsh international Adam Matthews was superb WB early on. However he declined quite rapidly during season and we are not going to extend his contract.
Next Season
Promotion but how? I have been thinking what went wrong on these three seasons and I have some theories. First of all we have pretty young squad. Most of our players are former Premier League or Championship academy players. They are very talented but they haven't played first team football at all or very little. This means that their consistency is low. Therefore I try to sign few more established veteran players next season. Fitness is another issue. Most of the teams are professional and thus they have advantage over us. There's not much we can do about that. However I try to run very fitness heavy preseason and hope that helps. In the past preseason didn't matter but in this year edition it's supposed to actually make a difference. Last but not least I'm going to ditch 5-3-2. It's a solid formation but it requires that especially WBs and CMs are capable of playing two-way game. These kind of players are pretty hard to find. I plan to switch to more simple 4-1-4-1. This allows us to have more defined defensive, midfield and attacking units. I want to use proper holding midielder and wingers so 4-1-4-1 seems logical. Hopefully next season will be ours.
Season League Position Notes 19/20 National League North 1st 20/21 National League 6th 21/22 National League 5th 22/23 National League 5th This table is messed up but I don't seem to be able to delete this so I just leave it here.
2 -
Kettering Town - Season 21/22
"Kettering had been expected to be amongst those settling for mid-table safety at the start of the season but they were able to break out of the pack and secure a playoff berth."
League Table - We finished exactly the same amount of points than season before. This year however it got us 5th place instead of 6th. We met Stockport in playoff 1st round and won 3-1 AET. Next up was Crewe away. Unfortunately our players were still tired after last match and we didn't play particularly well. In the end we lost 3-1.
Cups - We did well in FA Cup. We beat League Two side Carlisle away but League One Blackpool was eventually too much. However highlight of the season was FA Trophy which we managed to win.
Transfers - Usual amount of business here. We spent some money on few players. No notable sales this year.
Finances - Looking good. Almost one million pound. I have asked board several times to go professional but unfortunately they keep rejecting.
Key Players
Simon Shaw - On loan from Sheff Wed. He scored 21 times but unfortunately he was very inconsistent. His low determination didn't help.
Fergal Hale-Brown - It's pretty rare that you see GK here. However he did well. 14 clean sheets total and over 7.00 avere rating.
Wade Hobbs - He didn't have the most impressive stats but he is very talented and by far our biggest prospect. Ass man seems to think that has potential to be an EFL Championship attacking midfielder int he future.
Next Season
Third time's the charm? I'd rather avoid playoffs next season if possible. However winning the league will be tough because Billericay were relegated. Last time they were here their annual salary budget was over four million pounds. We spent around 650k this season. Yet I reckon we might have a chance. This is the first time that I feel that we have some solid building blocks here. Maybe 4-5 new starters and depth would be enough during summer. So far we have been playing 5-3-2 every season but it's fairly difficult to find good WBs at this level so I might consider some other options too.
Season
League
Position
Notes
19/20
National League North
1st
Promoted
20/21
National League
6th
Lost in Playoff 1st round
21/22
National League
5th
Lost in Playoff SF, FA Trophy Winners
4 -
Kettering Town - Season 20/21
League Table - Another productive season as we finished sixth in Vanarama National League. Unfortunately we lost playoff 1st round to Leyton Orient . We were the top scorers in our division but our defence was too leaky and that was the biggest reason why we didn't finish higher. That's definetly something that we have to address going forward.
Cups - We were terrible. Especially FA Cup home defeat versus National League North side was embarrassing.
Transfers - Good business here. We made solid profit.
Finances - Still strong. Without player sales we would have been break even but now we turned profit second year in a row.
Key Players
Steve Cattermole - Luckily he agreed to sign new contract. He bossed midielf once again and thanks to his strong performances we sold him to Hull in January transfer window but part of the deal was clause that he would be loaned back to us till the end of the season.
Luke Brennan - 29 goals. Signed him on free, sold to Burton in January transfer window and loaned him back immediately.
George Green - 15 goals from AMC position. His average rating is a bit low but it seems that AMCs get low ratings unless their score or assist a goal. However I was pleased what i saw. His flair is exceptional at this level.
Next Season
Hopefully I can make another promotion push. Lots of our contracts are expiring and I won't be reneving them. 2/3 of the squad including all our CBs will be released so it will be busy preseason.
Season | League | Position | Notes | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2019/20 | National League North | 1st | Promoted | 2020/21 | National League | 6th | Lost in Playoff 1st Rnd |
2 -
Kettering Town - Season 19/20
"All of Kettering's dreams came true this season as they defied expectations suggesting that they would be relegation certainties and instead mounted an almost unbelievable title-winning campaign."
League Table - It was very tight title race all the way but in the end we clinched the title. We faced Hednesford last day of the season and win would guarantee us the title and promotion. I was very nervous but boys did their their job marvellously and we won 4-0. It wasn't smooth sailing all the way and most of the season we were out of the playoff places. However we were unbeaten in the last 20 games and that was enough.
Cups - We enjoyd fairly solid cup runs. 2nd round of the Fa Cup was obviously the highlight.
Transfers - Decent amout of business here. One loan signing from Oxford and another from our new senior affiliate AFC Wimbledon. Rest of the boys had succesful trials before joining.
Finances - Despite overspending on wages most of the season we made pretty good profit.
Key Players:
Fabio Lopes scored 27 goals in all competitions and was our top scorer.
Jonah Ayunga joined us in January and was very solid. 12 league goals in 18 starts.
Steve Cattermole midfield dynamo. I assume he was part of the very first Kettering's youth intake. He bossed midfield and developed very nicely. Unfortunately his contract is running out and he isn't interested in renewing.
Next Season plans: Strengthen the squad and achieve solid midtable finish. Board also announced plans to expand the stadium which is exciting.
Hope this works now. I messed up editing several times already.
2 -
This is my first official attempt to complete this challenge. Last year I managed to complete this with Billericay but I didn't record my progress. This time I intend to do both. I'm the new boss of Kettering.
1
FM19: The English Football League thread
in Good Player & Team Guide
Posted
- Carabao Cup winner not qualifying for Europe if previous Euro Cup winner was English & outside top 4
Perhaps this is the reason.