HaylingZar

Good idea, I didn't think of that!

Macclesfield FC - 2031-32 Season - Season 8 - Sky Bet League 2 (Tier 4) - 1st (Champions!) Season Update Wow! What a season! After the tribulations of last season, I felt like we were sure to capitulate and spend the next few years hanging around League 2 as mid-table certainties, but we just proved anyone who doubted us wrong. We started the season on the wrong foot, experiencing yet more of the same issues - players crying about "lack of squad depth" causing poor morale once again. We took a couple of chance wins which helped float us around mid-table, but overall didn't look impressive. However, this changed in October when a couple of lucky wins boosted our morale just enough to go on a string of victories. Success begets success and we went on to win all but two games between then and the end of the year. Going into the new year period we were top of the table but some typical January form caused us to drop down just to second place. By resting our players we were able to shake off our jadedness and push on to the end of February. We were still second-placed but winning our next match would confirm promotion. We felt confident going in against bottom of the table York, and our confidence was raised further when Densmore scored an absolute rocket in the 9th minute. Hopkins followed it up with a nice header home from a cross just 3 minutes later, and though we were reduced to 10 men as Densmore was sent off for persistent fouling, we were able to hold strong and limit the opponents to a single goal, confirming our status as a League 1 team next season. We didn't stop there as title rivals Newport County dropped points in the penultimate match which we also won, putting us level on points going into the final game of the season, though we trailed on goal difference. The final game versus Exeter was a tough one, but when Defensive Midfielder McCarten curled home a lovely effort from outside the penalty area to put us 2-0 up, we were almost sure of the result. We conceded in the 88th minute as our keeper fumbled the ball but it was of no concern. We knew that anything short of a victory by promotion rivals Newport County would hand us the title, and the news came in - they had drawn on the final day! We were champions! While we dropped out early from all cup competitions to focus on the league, this seemed to have been the right decision. With the margins being so thin, one fewer goal in any number of matches could have been the difference-maker for the title. Youth Candidates This was an OK year for Youth, with a couple of decent-looking prospects but none ready for first-team minutes just yet. We still haven't improved our Youth system at all because our finances are in the mud. Hugo Rodrigues looks to be the most promising of the bunch. Key Player Am I allowed to highlight the same player twice? Well, I make the rules, so please welcome back Dave Richardson for his second appearance! What can I say about this kid that hasn't already been said? He's been in superb form for us this season yet again, even when he isn't scoring or making assists he's creating space and playing great passes for the team. There's a lot of interest in him from other clubs so it will take some effort to hang on to him. Hot Prospect Conor Hamilton is quickly becoming one of our best options up top, with 20 goal contributions in 28 starting appearances this season. His recent form has been nothing short of brilliant. He could become a key player for us. Transfers All good things must come to an end, and no matter what I said, Sivert Topper had his heart set on leaving. I agreed I'd only sell him for a high price, but unfortunately, the most I could negotiate with him was £900k - much lower than my valuation of him. In the end, he left to Ipswich for £900k +40% profit from next sale. Considering he is now worth £12-18M, that should be an extra £4.5-£7M assuming he is sold by Ipswich down the line, although we may sell the clause if we're not sure that it will be triggered. Squad I wouldn't call this squad League 1 Material, hell most of them are hardly League 2 material, but we gotta make the most of the situation and do our best to stay up. I am confident we will stay up although I doubt we will get promoted quickly. League Table Club Info The club completed a takeover although of course, we had no investment... I'm also working towards my continental Pro Licence now. Finances Probably the less said the better, at this rate we won't be upgrading any facilities until we reach the prem! Thanks all for reading, and I hope to update you again soon after my next season.

Thank you for your condolences! I am already part way through the next season and things are looking a lot brighter! New update coming soon...

Macclesfield FC - 2030-31 Season - Season 7 - Sky Bet League 2 (Tier 4) - 5th (Lost in Playoff Semi-Final) Season Update It seems like we have a habit of having a great season immediately following promotion. When we got first promoted into the national league we finished second place in our first season, although it took us 4 more years to get out of that league! This season, we continued that trend with a strong finish. I can only hope that it doesn't become a habit to spend 5 years in each league. Despite what looks like a great performance overall, I was devastatingly let down by the team when it mattered and endured one of the most frustrating experiences I've encountered in my time playing the game. At one point, I genuinely considered putting the game down and having a few weeks off. Still, I've learned a lot and will put these experiences towards a better season next time out. In the off-season, I worked on tinkering with my tactics and developed what felt like a strong playing style. With our club's professional status secured, I also put together some training plans for the upcoming season. After 6 seasons of being unable to train my players properly, this would turn out to be a godsend. I could now focus our training on the key areas for improvement and ensure players were sufficiently rested between matches. I attribute the majority of our subsequent success to this. We started the season decently enough, losing just one of the first 11 league games (although we drew most). Our form picked up in earnest around November (I feel like I say this a lot!) a month in which we won 4 and drew 1 game. This strong spell of form continued into the new year, and suddenly an unlikely promotion looked to be on the cards. As we approached the end of the January transfer window, we were second in the league table and had convincingly won our last 4 league games, including a 7-1 battering of Yeovil and a humbling of fellow promotion rivals Swindon. Our morale was high, everyone was pulling in the right direction, and with the momentum we had, it felt like almost a certainty that we would be playing in League 1 next year. Then, it happened. My captain - Rainford comes to me along with almost every single member of the first team. "Boss, we need to talk about the lack of sufficient quality squad depth in the goalkeeping department". He was right to an extent, our keeper wasn't technically a League 2-level player, more of a VNL keeper. But who cares, he's doing decently enough, we're outscoring the other teams, and we are riding high at the top of the league! Why come to me now? Of course, I couldn't promise to sign new keepers, so I said what was true - I'd like to give some time to youth prospects between the sticks and see how they develop. This did little to placate the troubled captain, and in one fell swoop, the entire squad's morale went from Perfect to Abysmal. I was crushed. We had been on course for a memorable promotion challenge, and with one minor issue, the entire squad became miserable. Of course, following this, we lost 7 of our remaining games (more than we had lost all season up to that point!), dropping us out of the automatic promotion spots and ensuring that we were playoff-bound instead. The misery continued as we lost 0-3 away in the first leg of the playoff semi-final, and subsequently lost 0-2 in the second leg, confirming our status as a League 2 side next season. Don't you just love player interactions? So that brings us to now. A promotion challenge that looked impossible at the start of the season, looked guaranteed halfway through the season, and felt snatched away from our fingertips so unfairly at the last minute. Anyway, enough moaning. Let's get into the fun stuff. Youth Candidates Another year with no improvements to our Youth system, so I'm not surprised that our intake is slightly worse than last year's. Only 2 good talents compared to 3 the year before (and 11 the year before that!) Polat has a good personality and looks like he could be a rotational option for Davies on the left fullback position, while Hopkins joins what feels like a dozen strikers in a battle for 2 spaces in the lineup. Key Player Last season's Hot Prospect becomes this season's key player as Stewart cements his position as our best striker. 31 goals in 46 is simply sublime. He also scored his first goals for his country! #ProudDadMoment Hot Prospect From our Youth Intake this year we get 16-year-old Welsh striker Hopkins, he's already made his mark on the team with 2 goals in his first 5 appearances. While he doesn't especially stand out attribute-wise, he is fairly well-rounded as a striker and has a lot of room to develop in future. He could be a solid rotational option on the bench for now. Transfers Fortunately didn't have to sell anyone this year. Squad I have a love-hate relationship with these guys. They bring me joy with their ridiculous 90+7 winners and misery with their pointless inane issues. League Table God I hate playoffs Club Info We finished some improvements to our training facilities started last season. We also started expanding the stadium. I got my Continental B licence and started on my A. Finances The financial situation is starting to look... Worrying at best. At least we've got 2 million quid lying around in the transfer budget... Thanks all for reading, and I hope to update you again soon after my next season.

Question: If I sell a player am I permitted to sell with the "Loan Back Until End Of Season" clause, or would that invalidate the challenge as it counts as a loan in?

Macclesfield FC - 2029-30 Season - Season 6 - VNL (Tier 5) - 1st (Champions!) Season Update What a season! After 5 years in the national league, we're finally going up to the football leagues. It's a dream come true. Now hopefully I can get us promoted in fewer seasons this time. We started the season incredibly strongly, winning most of our games in the first few months. We went unbeaten in September and November. By the time January came around we were beginning to get some injuries and fatigue was ramping up so we ended up suffering a poor spell of form, but this year we had sufficient squad depth to rally and come back from it, keeping us top of the table by goal difference alone as we entered the last month of the season. In April, we lost 0-2 to Grimsby and beat Fylde 4-1, meaning a victory against Worthing would give us the title. So of course we naturally lost 0-4 against Worthing, which meant our fate was in our hands as we approached the final game of the season. Barring our goal difference being overturned, we needed only a point against Hartlepool, a team I traditionally always seem to lose against! For this game, I decided to employ a defensive formation, maximum time wasting, you know the drill. Despite pre-game hopes of a 0-0 draw, we were up 2-0 in the 90th minute, and with both teams scoring once post-90 minutes, it was little more than a consolation goal for Hartlepool as we ended the game 3-1, winning us the league. It was only at this point that I got the news that promotion rivals Dorking had failed to win their final game of the season, meaning the result we got was irrelevant! My board was so impressed with our performance that I was offered a new contract just 3 minutes post-game. Outside of the league, we were progressing well in the cups, but the fixture congestion was just getting too much. Our players were constantly playing with low condition and getting injured. We took a graceful exit from the FA Cup in the 4th round against Premier League side West Brom and then ducked out of the FA Trophy versus Concorde. I was hoping to win the Trophy before we left the national leagues but I didn't want to be stretched so thin, so an exit was probably the best strategy. There will be plenty more trophies to win down the line, I'm sure. Next season will be a struggle, for sure. Most of my players are around the level of "Leading National League North/South Player", with our best players being "Good National League Player". I don't have anyone that's "Leading National League" or above. This will prove to be a challenge, but I'm confident in my squad and believe that we can battle to avoid relegation. National League truly is hell to get out of, so I'm determined to never come back here! Youth Candidates A fairly bad year for Youth, with only 3 potentially good players compared to 11 last year. No one that is ready to contribute to the first team yet, even from the bench. I'm worried that this is a sign of things to come, but we will see. Key Player I want to shout out Dave Richardson, he's been great for us this season on the right wing, although I wish we could develop his weaker foot a bit more as I like to play inside forwards. Hot Prospect We didn't get anyone good in our Youth Intake this year, but I'd like to draw attention to our young Gibraltarian striker Josh Stewart. He's performed very well for us this season, scoring 14 goals in 30 appearances, and has just recently made his first senior international cap for Gibraltar (the first player in my team to ever make a senior international cap!). His development is coming along very nicely. My favourite attributes of his are of course his rapid pace but also his great personality: 16 determination and 15 teamwork / leadership. He could easily become a strong candidate for captaincy down the line. Transfers We sold one youth player with a horrible personality, and released another who looked like he wasn't going to make it. Apart from that it's just loans and more loans. Squad I'm going to let a lot of the original squad go at the end of this season, so we will be left with just one actual player and the rest is newgens. This squad is going to find it tough in League 2, but I believe we can survive! League Table Promotion by winning the league feels amazing. I hate playoffs. Club Info We've made some investments into youth facilities and also improved our youth recruitment as it had dropped down a level. We are now a professional club so our players can actually train in the season! I also got my Continental C license which doubled my discipline attribute. I think it's because I chose "disciplinarian" as my management style at the beginning, didn't realise it made that big of an impact! Maybe this means my players will stop coming to me with pointless problems. Finances Finally, the finances are looking alright for now, although running a professional club can get expensive we should also be making a bit more money from playing in League 2 next season. Thanks all for reading, and I hope to update you again soon after my next season.

I use newgan as well. It works fine 90% of the time, it's only 10% of players where it will give the wrong ethnicity, for example my Ivorian player Abdoulaye Ouattara got a white face because he has English second nationality, I'm not sure if it manages correctly with mixed race / nationality players.

Macclesfield FC - 2028-29 Season - Season 5 - VNL (Tier 5) - 5th (Lost in Playoff Semi-Final) Season Update To be honest, this update may be brief. I'd almost finished typing out my post and my PC crashed, losing everything. I don't have the energy to type it all out again! In summary, a great season for us, with plenty of new youth prospects showing their worth. We performed well in the league and were narrowly beaten in the playoffs semi-final. We also performed well in the cup competitions, causing an upset in the FA cup by knocking out championship side Reading before losing to Premier league side West Ham. The FA Trophy went well as we finished in the semi-finals. Assuming we don't lose our best players to the many bigger clubs that are coming in for them over the summer, we may have a real shot at promotion next season. Youth Candidates This intake is really quite special. Check out Sivert Topper, with 3.5 stars Ability already. Key Player Key player goes to Elliott Davies for his consistently great performances this season. If we can keep him for this summer he'll remain as one of our best players next season. Hot Prospect I've never seen a Youth Intake player over 2.5 stars in my game before, so this is a proud moment. I mean look at his performances, I just know he's going to be great for us. Transfers Loan farm is ramping up... Squad I know I say this a lot, but this squad is getting better and better. League Table I'm proud of how we performed this year. That said, we couldn't match our Youth team's performance - they won every single game with a total GD of 139! Club Info Not much has changed here, my board doesn't seem to like my endless requests. They have agreed to upgrade the club's professional status at the end of the 2029-30 season though. Finances Well at least we're not in hideous amounts of debt for now, but the expenses are starting to add up! Thanks all for reading, and apologies for such a brief summary this season. I hope to update you again soon after my next season.

Congratulations!

Thank you! Yes do post yours as well!

Macclesfield FC - 2027-28 Season - Season 4 - VNL (Tier 5) - 9th Season Update After unlikely success last season culminating in a second-placed finish, we felt primed at the start of this one to confidently seize the league and make a firm push for promotion. Despite losing key players such as Konstantin Fischer (Those who saw my season 1 post will be familiar), we were keen to see what impact the fresh faces around the club could have. Unfortunately, we experienced many difficulties that hindered our progress, and despite a string of hopeful results in the early stages of the season, including just 2 losses in the first 10 games and an undefeated November period, we encountered an all-to-familiar mid-season slump that quashed any hopes of a meaningful title challenge. We floundered around the playoff places for most of the season and eventually capitulated to the weight of fixtures and sunk to a meagre 11th place before the final game of the season. In a meaningful game for our key player Sam Perry, he lead the squad to an impressive 6-0 victory in his last game for the team, a result which bumped us two places up the league table to finish in a respectable, if not impressive, 9th place. Sam, who has played 193 games for the club and is undoubtedly our best player, made it clear at the start of the season that he would not be renewing his contract with us as he felt he had outgrown the club. He went on to make 39 appearances for us this season, carrying us to results we surely would not otherwise have achieved. He has been a great servant to the club and his impact will be sorely missed. As mentioned above, we also missed the contributions of key Defender Fischer, who forced an exit after I made the heinous decision to play him as a Ball Playing Defender instead of a Central Defender (seriously!). I guess that "Fickle" personality did come back to bite us in the end. On the subject of personality, our Season 2 Hot Prospect Morgan Stone has caused nothing but headaches all season. I'm never keeping a "Temperamental" player again! He's since been transfer-listed. All that being said, this has been an enjoyable season, if frustrating at times. I've learned a lot of valuable lessons and we've continued to develop our Youth players, with 18-year-old Attacking Midfielder Haydn Rainford being one of the team's standout performers and 18-year-old Defender Elliott Davies making a huge impact. With a number of first-team-ready prospects coming through our youth intake again, we look like a squad that will only get stronger over time. New prospect Dave Richardson became a record-breaking youngest goalscorer at 15 years and 260 days, and new Belgian Midfielder William Kudimbana looks to be an acceptable option to fill the Perry-shaped hole in our midfield. Although we'll be in a weaker position next season with our best player leaving the club, I hope we can at least make a push for playoff places. Youth Candidates Another excellent year for youth. 10 "Elite Talents" make this a promising crop of youngsters. I also love to see nationalities like Gibraltarian represented. Still not quite sure why such a thing as a "Defensive Winger" exists, though! Key Player Perhaps a sign of the changing tides; the first of our Youth intake players to take the recognition for this section. 18-year-old Attacking Midfielder Haydn Rainford has been in superb form for us this season, with an extremely impressive 11 goals and 24 assists in 37 appearances. He's also got plenty of room to develop. His best attributes are his pace and stamina, and his well-roundedness makes him a solid contributor. Also, with a Leadership of 18 he could be a solid option for team captain in years to come. Hot Prospect With yet another highly promising Youth Intake, it was difficult to identify one in particular to highlight, but when 15-year-old Winger Dave Richardson smashed both the Team and League youngest goalscorer record, it felt natural to select him. Contributing toward 3 goals in his first 4 appearances, Richardson looks to be very exciting for the future. A skillful and pacy attacking player, he could become one of the best players at the club if given the right experience. Transfers We made use of affliate club Sheffield for the first time to send players out on loan. We have now several young prospects gaining first-team experience in the lower leagues of the country. For some reason Consett was desperate for our players and loaned 3 of them! Squad Many of our players are starting to develop very well. While it will be a huge loss when Sam Perry departs, hopefully it will provide an opportunity for someone new to make an impact. League Table Admittedly a dismal showing compared to last season's success, we still finished 15 places above our pre-season expectations of 24th! In my eyes, this is still a great result. Let's really push on into next season and show this league what we're made of. Club Info We improved the Youth Recruitment a lot. I also got the board to approve another coaching course for me, bumping me up to a National A Licence. Finances We are still turning a profit for now, although I note that our Youth Setup is now costing us more annually than player wages - Eek! Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite us... Thanks all for reading, and I hope to update you again soon after my next season.

Very kind of you to say. I'll have an update for my fourth season ready shortly. Unfortunately, not quite the success story I had hoped for, but still an enjoyable, if challenging season.

Macclesfield FC - 2026-27 Season - Season 3 - VNL (Tier 5) - 2nd (Lost in Playoff Semi-Final) Season Update After a brutal previous season, I knew we had to make some changes. During the pre-season, I made a lot of tactical changes, setting up a more defensive counterattacking formation, and a more offensive pressing formation to be rotated between depending on our opponent. This made an immediate impact. We flew out of the gates, going undefeated for August. A brief wobble in September but we were back to winning ways after that and went undefeated again for October and November. After this period we remained comfortably top of the table for the rest of the season, even as our fatigue and injuries caught up to us and our form cooled off. Unfortunately, nothing I could do would change our fortunes, and after dominating the league for most of the season, a poor run of form onwards from February in which we won just 4 in 13 games would lead to us dropping down into second place just 3 games before the end of the season. With dreams of automatic promotion quashed in the final game of the season due to an unconvincing 1-1 draw with 15th-placed Chester, we braced ourselves for playoffs. Unfortunately, it was not to be, and we were handily beaten by 5th-placed Bromley in a tense penalty shootout, despite leading 2-0 at the 73-minute mark. Nonetheless, this was an excellent season following a relegation scrap, so onwards and upwards! In the FA Cup, we enjoyed moderate success, knocking out League 2 Cheltenham before being squarely defeated 5-1 by Championship side Swansea in the third round proper. However, we were knocked out of the FA Trophy at the first time of asking. We also enjoyed a great youth intake (though not as encouraging as previous years), with 6 "Elite Talents". Some were inducted immediately into the first-team squad. This was also a year where previous youth intake players firmly established themselves in the squad, with Konstantin Fischer, Jack Harrison, Haydn Rainford, and Owen Brannigan becoming regular starters. I'm hoping that with our new players, facilities, and development we'll be able to make a solid push for promotion again next season. Youth Candidates Another great year for youth with several Elite Talents being welcomed into the club. Key Player The recognition this year goes to Full-Back Brandon Lee, who came back from an 11-month injury last season to be one of the team's best performers. He contributed an outstanding 25 assists and 1 goal in 38 appearances this season. His acceleration and pace are really his only good attributes, but sometimes that's all you need! Hot Prospect One of the best young prospects at the club is 17-year-old Goalkeeper Owen Brannigan. Despite his young age he's already forced his way into the starting lineup, making 31 starts this season in comparison to veteran keeper Conor O'Keefe's 21. His aerial reach and ball handling skill put him a notch above. Transfers Nothing of note, we loaned out a couple of players who aren't quite ready to make an impact with the first team yet but are too old for the U18 squad. Squad This squad is looking better year-on-year! I really think we are going to have a good chance next season. League Table Exceeded expectations, or bitter heartbreak? You decide. Shoutout to Aldershot who gained back-to-back promotions! Club Info An improvement to training facilities and youth recruitment didn't go amiss. Still not quite ready for the semi-pro to pro club leap, although targeting that for post-promotion if possible. We also expanded the stadium. Finances Finances took a hit due to a number of facilities and stadium upgrades, but still comfortably in the black. Thanks all for reading, and I hope to update you again soon after my next season.

Macclesfield FC - 2025-26 Season - Season 2 - VNL (Tier 5) - 20th Season Update Well, I was expecting it to be tough, and it delivered. This was probably the most challenging season of FM I've had the pleasure of playing. We started the season strongly, with a respectable 10 points from a possible 18 in our first 6 games. We took a nosedive after that, and spent the entire season in the bottom reaches of the table, only avoiding relegation on the final day after fellow relegation candidates Solihull Moors failed to take a single point from bottom-placed Wealdstone, guaranteeing our survival even as we lost 2-4 to 16th-placed Kidderminster. On a more positive note, we had a successful FA Trophy cup run, reaching the semi-final, and enjoyed moderate luck in the FA Cup, reaching the Second round of the Cup proper. We also had an even better youth intake than the previous year, with a fantastic 11 "elite talents", several of whom immediately took the place of tired or injured first-team players for the final games of the season. Many of our youth intake players from last year played a big role this season in the squad, including Konstantin Fischer, Elliot Davies and Jack Harrison. I'm looking forward to more youth players becoming established first-team players over the next season. It took a lot of work to avoid relegation and will be challenging to do so again next season. Although with our new youth players, we have a bit more squad depth than we did this season, even if many of them are not quite at the league standard yet. Youth Candidates As mentioned, we have an excellent intake with 11 "elite talents" and 5 "top talents". I hope that they will relish the opportunity to prove themselves in the first team next season. Key Player Our standout player this season was easily 27-year-old Full-Back Tre Pemberton. He was diligent in defence and made attacking runs as well, racking up 2 goals and 11 assists in 40 starting appearances. He also filled in as an attacking midfielder when needed. Hot Prospect While it may be too early to tell, perhaps the most promising of our Youth Intake players is 16-year-old Welsh striker Morgan Stone. He's made a good start to life at Macclesfield, scoring 2 goals in his first 5 appearances for the club. Of particular note is his Jumping Reach attribute, with 15 JR at just 16 years old, there's a decent chance this will improve as he still has time to grow taller! Transfers We lost one of our best centre-backs Laurent Mendy due to his work permit expiring. Nothing much else to say here. Squad The new youth intakes have swelled the ranks. It may get to the point soon where we can consider selling players(!). We still are lacking in quality depth in pretty much every position, though. League Table After a long and arduous season, we've managed to stay up. Not sure how I feel about this, to be honest. Maybe going back down and spending some time improving the club would have been better. Ah well, we take the opportunities that we have been given and hope to turn it into some longer-term success. Club Info I was able to convince the board to improve the Training Facilities and Youth Recruitment. They also found some funding for a stadium expansion, which will be good as our reputation has grown a bit over the past season. We also managed to set up a senior affiliate with Stoke for a bit of extra cash. Can't hurt. Finances Our finances are now "secure" - probably because we haven't bought anyone and youth wages are fairly low! Thanks all for reading, and I hope to update you again soon after my next season.

Macclesfield FC - 2024-25 Season - Season 1 - VNLN (Tier 6) - 2nd (Promoted via Playoffs!) Season Update An ideal first season. VNLN/S is an absolutely brutal league to get out of, with only 1 automatic promotion place for 24 teams. Unfortunately, we weren't able to secure promotion automatically but fought admirably through the playoffs, comfortably dispatching 5th-placed Chorley 4-0 in the Semi-Final, and scraping a hard-fought 2-1 victory against 4th-placed Scarborough in the Final. We spent the majority of the season hanging around third place, but thanks to a long run of bad form in the latter stages of the season by promotion rivals Scarborough we climbed to second place on the last day of the season proper. While we've done very well to get promoted, it will take a lot of work to avoid relegation next season. We are losing some players who didn't want to renew their contracts, and one player is retiring. None of our youth players are ready to play a role in the first team yet either, so we will essentially be competing with a weaker squad in a stronger league. Still, I'm optimistic for the future! Youth Candidates We had an excellent intake with 5 high-potential players. This will be critical in our longer-term development. (Note: Ignore the bugged player faces, I've since fixed them with NewGAN!) Key Player We had no standout players this season, but the best of a bad bunch was 23-year-old Sam Perry. He was ever-present for us in the defensive midfield position this season, scoring 5 and assisting 7 in 50 starts. His ability to fill in as a central defender or right fullback when needed was helpful. He will be crucial in our upcoming relegation battle. Hot Prospect Our intake brought in several promising-looking players, the pick of the bunch being 15-year-old German-English Defender Konstantin Fischer. His mentals and technicals need work but his physicals are already average for this level, so he should be able to start contributing soon. His main weakness is his personality type being Fickle, which I'll hopefully be able to address through mentoring. Transfers I unfortunately was unable to prevent 2 players from leaving the club on a free. Obviously, no one came in! Squad Looks like we'll still be relying on our starting squad for most of next season. League Table We placed second a long way behind Champions Scunthorpe, but a successful run through the playoffs will have us competing in the 5th tier next season! Club Info I was able to secure the board's investment into improving Youth Facilities, Junior Coaching Budget AND Improved Youth Recruitment. At this rate, by the time we're in the top division, we'll have the best Youth Setup in the world! I did also request a Senior Affiliate purely for the extra cash, but unfortunately only one club wanted us and they weren't willing to pay a penny! I'll have to try that again next season... Finances Finally, the finances: We're doing OK for now due to our success in the league and decent runs in the cups, so no immediate risk of catastrophic financial collapse. Thanks all for reading, and I hope to update you again soon after my next season.