CMU Chips

St. Ives - Season 4 - Vanarama North - 1st Finally broke through and dominated the league, nearly from start to finish. I only say nearly because we actually lost the first game of the season despite having a much higher xG. We'd win 5 of the next 6 (including a 7-2 win) with one 0-0 draw before we topped the table for the first time. In matchweek 10 we dropped to 2nd on goal difference, but after we reclaimed the lead in matchweek 14 we never dropped off the top spot. We would finish the season with the most goals scored (117) and the 2nd fewest conceded (46) despite having the smallest average attendance (327). Because of the attendance issues, we continued to leak money (even with more than half our squad being non-contracts) but the board has been keeping us afloat and continued to do so. The cups showed that we were ready to go up last season in spite of our playoff loss. The FA cup run only ended in the second round away to Wrexham who finished 8th in League One. We held a lead in Wales for an hour before an incredible half-volley from a clearance and were denied a replay by a goal in 90+2'. The FA trophy saw similar heartbreak as we led away against Rochdale who missed the Vanarama National playoffs by 3 points before they scored in 90+3' and we missed 2 penalties in the shootout to fall 2-2 (4-3). This season I was more aggressive in benching underperformers as we finally had the depth to rotate properly. As mentioned above, half the team was on non-contract deals. They played well enough that I had to sign 3 to part time contracts just to dissuade them from leaving. Since I was all-in for promotion this year, our 2nd highest paid player going in to the season (third highest by the end) only made 4 appearances. He was outplayed by a non-contract youth release from West Ham's academy who ended the year with 38 goal involvements in 43 competitive games. Lots of room for squad movement if we so choose before next year; only three players have part time deals that extend into next summer or beyond and they were all pretty good. Our ever-present DM (44 league appearances, 15 goal involvements, 7.08 average rating) is definitely the worst of these three in terms of ability but we will be very glad to have our top CM (31 goal involvements in 48 competitive games, 7.16 average rating) and the potential player of the year RW (33 goal involvements, 45 competitive games, 7.29 average rating) returning. Many decisions still need to be made: Our LW was non-contract all season and looked to be little more than a pace merchant but was part of 36 goals in all competitions. He may not be good enough to make the step up. Our GKs were a rotation between a loan player and a player on an expiring deal that suffered a damaged neck late in the season and missed the final month and a half. It's possible that neither of them return, leaving us searching for a replacement who will likely be playing in front of an entirely new defense. Still, the fact that we were so dominant in this league (only 5 losses all year, all to top half teams) and nearly beat two higher division teams leaves me cautiously optimistic. In personal news. the board finally let me study and receive my National C at the start of the year. Once the title was secured I asked for them to pay for a National B and they said yes so that should be finishing right as the next season begins. League Table - Squad Stats - Transfer History -

St. Ives season 3 - Stuck in the north again - 4th Not much to say, we spent the whole season in the top 6 but ran into Scunthorpe in the playoffs and the officials decided to award them three penalties. Typical rigged lower league game. Board keeps refusing to let me take coaching badges and we're losing tons of money so hopefully we can figure out how to push to promotion next season or the club might just go bust. League table - Squad stats - Transfer history -

St. Ives season 2 - Vanarama North (11th) A season where we spent pretty much the entire time just outside the playoff spots. Struggled to get goals from my strikers until a midseason signing. We spent most of the year as the 2nd best team defensively until we conceded 4 from set pieces late in the year and ended 6th best in terms of goals conceded. Entirely let down by our away form; we were the third best team in the league at home (50 points) but couldn't manage even half of that on the road. Money is an issue as the board kept having to pump funds in; we only have an average attendance of 358. Will decide who is staying in the next couple days before I go on vacation. Board still refuses to let me do any coaching courses. League Table - Season Stats - Transfers -

St. Ives Season 1 - Vanarama North (14th) First season recap will be fairly short. Seems like players want more money this year so I only had 16 until I got the youths in at the end. Started the season well, then had both GKs go down with broken hands in the same month with no money to get a third in. Grey GK got 5 points from 9 games and we jumped from +2 xGA to +16. Put us right on the edge of the drop zone but once the GKs came back and I was able to sell some players for free to the lower divisions and get better replacements we stabilized and were mid-table for the rest of the season. Ended up 14th with 62 points; final game of the season we had a 15 year old and a 35 year old score in the same game. Not sure if anyone other than the youths will be back next year; I would like to keep my RW but he wants to go somewhere bigger and won't talk to me. Wouldn't mind getting GK, CB, and LB back but have a feeling they might want wages more than their ability would deserve. Season stats League table Transfer history

Was holidaying to try to get Coalville, instead got an even lower rep team. We'll see if I make it out of season 1:

Pass numbers seem to be at crazy levels since the update, using https://fbref.com/en/comps/9/passing/Premier-League-Stats as a reference, top team in Prem passing this year is City at 87%, I'm in Slovenian first league where player quality is not as high, we have half of the 10 team league averaging higher since I started after update: City also complete ~605 passes per game, top 4 teams all averaging more than that. Not that it's been particularly successful for any of those teams as the top 3 in the league rank 6th, 7th, and 8th in passing so counter attacking/pinging long balls still seems to be king. Small sample so I'm hoping it comes back down.