[FM09] East Belfast- Not Exactly A Big Club

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, I am 9 seasons in so there won't be many screenshots until I catch up

Season 2008/2009: Northern Irish Second Division

I went on holiday for a season to get one of the newly promoted clubs, which turned out to be East Belfast, as you may have guessed. Terrible youth and training facilities, which was to be expected, and a stadium capacity of 957. Talk about building a club from the bottom!

The squad was bereft of any serious talents, except for Ricky Adair and Jonathon Steele there weren't many who could really cut it at a high standard even in this league.

Transfers in:

Quite a few players moved in, and they were all needed to have any chance of competing. Brian Quilty was the biggest signing, a Northern Ireland U-19 international from Portadown. My scouts raved about him, and I only got a chance to sign him once he turned 17 and signed a deal, because his value went to £0 from £2k, and with my lack of transfer budget this was the only chance I had, so I snapped him up with the promise of first team football.

Moving out was only Jonathon Steele, who after a strong start to the season, had interest from a number of Premier League clubs. He ended up moving to Glentoran for £55k after the chairman accepted a bid for him.

In the Intermediate League Cup, we did well considering it was our first competitive games, and we qualified from the group in second place, ahead of Glebe and behind Armagh on goal difference.

We then faced Armagh once more in the Quarter Final, and won 3-0 at home. Quite a shock. We played Lurgan Celtic in the Semi Final, and progressed to the final after winning on penalties after a 1-1 draw. In the final, we played against Bangor, and a 3-1 win meant we had won a cup in our first season!

Our Irish Cup campaign was ended in a 2-1 loss to non-league Ballymacash in the second round after we won against Ballyclare Thistle by the same score in the first round.

In the Intermediate Cup, there were 3 high scoring games in the 3 rounds we played. First, we beat AFC Craigavon 5-2 in the first round, then Grove Utd 6-0, before losing 4-2 to Blackers Mill in the third round.

The league campaign got off to a great start, with 3 wins from our first 3 games, before a loss to QUB ended that run, and a draw to Annagh followed by a loss to Ballymoney stopped our momentum somewhat.

The next 6 games resulted in two 4-4 draws, a 3-3 draw, a 6-1 win with a 0-0 and a 2-0 win in between them, which left us in the top half comfortably in mid-December. We then only lost 1 of our next 8 games, with 5 wins in the process, to put us up as champions with two games remaining. The youth lost both of those remaining games 2-1, but no worries, as we would be playing First Division football next year.

Ricky Adair was undoubted star of the season, his 29 goals from 33 appearances, with 18 from 20 in the league, was the backbone to our success. His partnership with Brian Quilty, who provided 15 goals and 20 assists (still a record for any season), made it a comfortable season for our defence, who despite a slight frailty, could be sure that we would score enough to cover the mistakes.

Player of the Season: Ricky Adair

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win

[greenwhitearmy]

Nice, maybe you will make East Belfast as big as Nep's Knockbreda

[kroblues]

Hopefully I'm nowhere near at the moment.

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, I am 9 seasons in so there won't be many screenshots until I catch up

Season 2009/2010: Northern Irish First Division

So, our first year of First Division football, and we needed to strengthen. With no transfer budget to speak of, I was depending on my scouts to find suitable players. A few loan players that were bought in last year had been released, so they were bought in on frees. These were Left Winger Jason Hill and Striker Martin Reilly. Also coming in were midfielder/defender Gary Haveron and midfielder Johnny Rios, an American born Irishman. Winger Johnny McAdam joined from Annagh on a free. Those were all of the notbale purchases.

Transfers in:

Moving out, the only real one of note was last year's star striker Brian Quilty who rejoined Portadown for £40k.

In the Intermediate League Cup, we once again qualified from the group on goal difference, this time ahead of PSNI. Our group results were as follows:

East Belfast 7-1 Crumlin Utd (a)

East Belfast 3-0 PSNI (h)

East Belfast 1-1 Dundela (h)

East Belfast 2-0 Ballymoney Utd (a)

East Belfast 1-2 Armagh (h)

The table looked like this:

In the quarter finals we played Larne, and won on penalties after a 2-2 draw to advance to the semis, where we beat fellow First Division side Loughgall 5-3. A 4-1 win against Ballyclare in the final meant we retained the ILC.

The Antrim Trophy ended badly, with a 1-0 defeat to non-league Wellington Rec in the second round.

We were put out of the Intermediate Cup by Armagh in the 3rd round again, after beating Killymoon 4-2 and 1st Bangor 2-1 in the first two rounds.

We got fairly far in the Irish Cup. A penalty win against Coagh (1-1 AET) in the fourth round was followed by a 3-1 win over Ballymacash in the fifth. We travelled to Premier League side Donegal Celtic in the sixth round, and after a 4-4 draw we lost on penalties.

On to the league campaign. We started well, beating Banbridge 4-0 in the first game, but only won 1 of the next 4 to put us in lower mid table after a quarter of the season. We then won 4 of the next 5 games to bounce us up the table a lot, and a 10 game unbeaten run at the end of the season so very nearly carried us to the title. As it was, we finished second and would face a playoff with the side that finished 15th in the Premier Division: Carrick.

We drew 1-1 in the away leg, but lost 1-0 at home to keep us in the First Division for next season.

League Table:

Martin Reilly finished as top scorer this year, with 26 goals in total, but he was pushed hard by Ricky Adair who got 20. Johnny McAdam finished with 15 assists, the team high.

Player of the Season: Martin Reilly

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, Lost in Playoff

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, I am 9 seasons in so there won't be many screenshots until I catch up

Season 2010/2011: Northern Irish First Division

After the disappointment of missing out on promotion last year, I decided that we needed to strenghten. This didn't mean much in the way of signings as there were several youth players that I felt would be good enough to propel us that little bit further. These were Left Back George Walker, striker Daniel Miskelly and another striker: John Ramsey, who would be the fourth striker on the depth chart after Adair, Reilly and Miskelly. The only permanent signing was David Miskelly, a goalkeeper to shore up our defence because the previous incumbent was really struggling in the first half of the season.

Transfers in:

The Intermediate League Cup went well again, as we qualified top of our group, 4 ahead of Donegal Celtic. The results were as follows:

East Belfast 3-1 Oxford Utd Stars (a)

East Belfast 3-1 Ballymoney Utd (h)

East Belfast 2-0 Banbridge (a)

East Belfast 1-1 Glebe (h)

East Belfast 1-1 Donegal Celtic (a)

In the quarter final we beat Tobermore United 2-1 and followed it up with a 4-0 win over Chimney Corner in the semi final to reach our 3rd consecutive final. Rivals H&W Welders were our opponents, and we won 2-0 to win the ILC for the 3rd time in a row.

In the Antrim Trophy, we beat Killyleagh 2-1 in the second round, then dispatched Larne Tech OB 4-3 in the third. Chimeny Corner were our third victims, as we progressed to the quarter finals with a 4-2 win. We then beat Ballycastle 5-4 to advance to the semi finals where we played Glentoran Seconds. A 1-0 win led us to the final, against Cliftonville Olympic. Another 1-0 win meant we won the Antrim Trophy

Our Antrim Cup campaign ended quickly with a 4-1 defeat to Glentoran in the first round.

We again made it to the quarter finals of the Irish Cup, dumping out Newry (2-1), Larne (2-1) and Ards Rangers (2-0) before a 4-1 defeat to Cliftonville.

In the league we won 3 and drew 2 of our first 5 games before a 2-1 loss to PSNI that was followed by another loss, this time 3-2 to Loughgall. Another 3 win/2 draw sequence followed, which ended with a 2-1 loss to Lurgan Celtic. By this point we were firmly entrenched in the promotion race again. We won 4 and drew 4 of our last 8 games to secure promotion as champions, albeit with far fewer points than was barely enough for second last year.

Ricky Adair was once again top scorer, wresting control back from Reilly. Daniel Miskelly had a good debut season, scoring 14 goals in 21 appearances. Midfielder Darren Frame had the most assists, finishing with 16 overall. In this season, Ricky Adair passed 50 league goals for East Belfast in just 3 seasons, and 86 appearances. A special mention also to Gary Haveron, whose 13 goals, mostly from free kicks, managed to save several points over the season.

Player of the Season: Ricky Adair

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, I am 9 seasons in so there won't be many screenshots until I catch up

Season 2011/2012: Northern Irish Premier Division

Obviously, with the jump in quality we would be facing, some new players would be required. Goalkeeper Ian Parkinson replaced Miskelly in goal, Centre Back Billy Curley replaced Linfield bound Russell Bowers who garnered a fee of £85k. Also coming in were Right Back Andy Mulgrew and Left Winger Phil Bennett to complete the transfers in

Transfers

In the League Cup, we qualified second, behind group winners Linfield. Not a bad debut in this cup competition. The results were:

East Belfast 0-3 Linfield (a)

East Belfast 2-1 Distillery (a)

East Belfast 3-1 Distillery (h)

East Belfast 3-0 Crusaders (a)

East Belfast 4-1 Crusaders (h)

East Belfast 4-4 Linfield (h)

Our first league cup quarter final ended in a 2-1 loss to Cliftonville, so that was the end of that.

Cliftonville also dumped us out of the Antrim Cup on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

In the Irish Cup Bangor were beaten on penalties after a 1-1 draw, and we then beat Moyola Park 3-0 in the 6th round. Larne put us out in the quarters though with a 2-1 defeat.

Our debut Premier League season got off to an unspectacular start, with 1 win and 3 losses in the first 4 games. A 5 match unbeaten run, including 2 draws, boosted us somewhat until we lost 2-0 at the hands of Ards. 3 wins followed by 3 losses kept up our erratic form. We then won 3 and lost another 2 of our next 5 games, keeping us firmly mid table. We somewhat luckily beat Linfield 4-0 away which led to an unbeaten run till the end of the season. This boosted us up to 5th, a decent start to the Premier League career in anyone's book

Ricky Adair once more bagged 29 goals, equalling his record for a season, but his 22 league goals was a new record. Johnny McAdam took up the assists mantle once more, claiming 14 this season. It was in this season that Ricky Adair passed 100 league appearances for East Belfast, and had over 75 league goals to his name too. John Ramsey performed admirably in his "supersub" role, bagging 9 goals from 10 sub appearances. Daniel Miskelly finished with just under a goal every 2 games, scoring 19 from 40 appearances.

Player of the Season: Ricky Adair

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win
11/12  NIP  5th      None

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, I am 9 seasons in so there won't be many screenshots until I catch up

Season 2012/2013: Northern Irish Premier Division

Phill Bennett was sold for £100k, which kept our finances healthy as the gate receipts from Inverary Playing Fields were not coming close to covering the wage bill. He was the only first teamer to leave, along with a load of youth players who didn't make the grade.

Chris Rutter, a young Welsh Goalkeeper, was perhaps the most important signing as he took over from Parkinson straight away despite his young age. Nicholas Bishop came in to improve the Left Back slot as Walker would probably not be good enough for an eventual title challenge.

Transfers

In the League Cup, there was a 3 way tie at the top of the group, and we won by virtue of our slightly superior goal difference. The results went like this:

East Belfast 4-0 Ballymena Utd (a)

East Belfast 1-3 Cliftonville (h)

East Belfast 2-0 Armagh (a)

East Belfast 1-1 Cliftonville (a)

East Belfast 1-0 Armagh (h)

East Belfast 2-2 Ballymena Utd (h)

We somehow managed to sneak past Linfield 1-0 in the quarter final, but Cliftonville again beat us 3-1 in the semi final. Cliftonville also ended out Antrim Cup campaign in the quarter finals, beating us 3-2 after we beat Carrick 4-0 in the first round.

In the Irish Cup, we beat Bangor on penalties but lost 2-1 to Glenavon in the 6th round.

Our Premier League season began with a win, a loss and a draw but 5 wins out of 7 (included a 2-0 win at Linfield) catapulted us up the table. 1 win and 2 losses in the next 3 games delayed that progress somewhat. We then went 7 games unbeaten which kept us near the top of the table, but never near a title challenge at any point. The best we could hope for was to get Euro Vase qualification, as Linfield and Glentoran were too far ahead to catch. Only 2 losses in the last 9 games was enough to clinch that 3rd place and we made it into Europe for the first time.

Ricky Adair was once again top scorer, with 23 this year as our success was based more on the new Goalkeeper keeping us in most games. Daniel Miskelly challenged Adair this year, scoring 21 goals, albeit in more games. Johnny McAdam again got the most assists.

Player of the Season: Ricky Adair

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win
11/12  NIP  5th      None
12/13  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification

[Bennico]

Nice work so far, and a good read. Look forward to your next updates.

[kroblues]

Thanks, I've been on holiday for the last couple of days but I'm back now and I'll do an update tomorrow I think.;

[Cougar2010]

Good going, congrats on the trophies

I had a 12 season Northern Irish save with QUB on the last FM which I enjoyed, perhaps because of all the different competitions.

Getting to the Premier League seems fairly straight forward but then you have to try to knock Linfield & Glentoran off the top.

I got promotion first season then won the playoff second season to get to the Premier League but then struggled and ended up being a mid-table side.

I didn't have the success you've had in the minor cups but I did win the Irish Cup one season, one of my proudest moments on FM , but then lost over two legs to a Swedish side in Europe

[kroblues]

In the seasons I've played so far, occasionally Linfield or Glentoran do terribly, which gives us or Cliftonville a chance. Update is coming soon btw.

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, I am 9 seasons in so there won't be many screenshots until I catch up

Season 2013/2014: Northern Irish Premier Division

There was again a focus on bringing in quality this season; 16 year old Winger Harry McKee being the pick of the summer bunch. In January centre midfielder Paul Salt, another 16 year old, joined from Glentoran and slotted straight into the side, as did 18 year old right winger Ray Hirst, who joined on a free from Larne, which allowed McKee to slot over to the left wing.

Transfers

In our debut "European Vase" appearance, we were to play Tampere Utd of Finland. We lost 4-3 at home (after being 4-0 down), then 3-2 away (after going 3-0 down) to end our campaign before it really started.

We again made it through the League Cup group phase, finishing second behind Glentoran and one point ahead of 3rd place Larne. Our results were as folllows:

East Belfast 1-2 Larne (a)

East Belfast 3-2 Glentoran (h)

East Belfast 0-0 Larne (h)

East Belfast 3-1 Bangor (h)

East Belfast 1-1 Glentoran (a)

East Belfast 0-0 Bangor(a)

We then went on to lose 1-0 to Portadown in the quarter final.

In the Antrim Cup we also made the quarter finals, beating Carrick 1-0 in the first round but losing to Cliftonville in the next game. Our Irish Cup campaign ended in the 6th round with a 3-0 loss to Glentoran.

In the All-Ireland Cup, a competition I mostly treated as friendlies to be able to keep our stars free of injury, and a competition that helped the club's finances a great deal, we won only one game, beating Ards 2-1. The other 5 were all heavy losses, except for a 4-3 defeat to Ards in the final game.

Our Premier League campaign got off to a flyer, and we lost only 1 of our first 8, winning 6 of them. A 1-0 loss to Larne, followed by a 3-1 win at Ballymena, then saw our best defensive run of the season. We won 5 of the next 6 games, and didn't conceed a single goal. We went unbeaten til the end of the season, but what probably won us the title was a double header with Glentoran in January, where we won 5-2 away then 1-0 at home, effectively putting the title out of their hands. 8 wins and 2 draws in the last 10 games made that a certainty, and we lifted our first league title with 70 points, just 3 shy of the record.

Ricky Adair was once more top goalscorer, and he broke his own record for goals in a season. This time, he notched 31 goals in 40 appearances, including 21 in 26 league appearances. This propelled him over 100 league goals for East Belfast, along with 150 league appearances. His strike partner Daniel Miskelly chipped in with 9 assists, along with 10 goals. Youngster Barry Todd was a surprise, as he scored 15 times in 35 appearances.

Player of the Season: Ricky Adair

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win
11/12  NIP  5th      None
12/13  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
13/14  NIP  1st      CL Qualification

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, I am 9 seasons in so there won't be many screenshots until I catch up

Season 2014/2015: Northern Irish Premier Division

This season, I again focused on improving our quality, and Miskelly couldn't be counted on to provide the quantity of goals that would be needed for a sustained period of dominance (the AM wasn't too thrilled with Adair either for some reason), so Mark McAllister came in from Glentoran for 4k. He was their 4th choice striker, but was still better than both of my previous first choice strikers. Glentoran's backup keeper, Jonathan Tuffey came in to provide our backup for Rutter, as Parkinson left for £20K. Walker hadn't been playing much since Bishop and McKee took over the left side spots, so when we got a £20k offer for him he left too. Tuffey then left the club in January, his wages were too high, especially when the youth keepers could probably have done a decent enough job in the rare occasion they were required. He left for £7k, so at least it was profit.

Transfers

In the Champions League, we actually won a game! We beat APOEL 2-1 at Inverary playing fields, but lost 4-0 away to put us out at the first hurdle again.

The League Cup was another breeze through the group phase, as we went unbeaten, with only one draw.

Of course, as luck would have it, we drew Linfield in the quarters, and we were probably not quite at their level, even with our large margin of a league win last year. They beat us 2-1 to prove that fact.

The other cups didn't go too well either, we lost in the first rounds we played in in both the Antrim Cup and Irish Cup.

We went unbeaten for the entire first half of the Premier League, but too many draws (6) didn't help matters, and when we lost to Linfield in game 16, this didn't help matters any. We won 10 of the next 13, but the 2 draws and a loss against Larne put us out of the title running, so two more draws in the last two games were dead rubbers anyway. Still, keeping up more or less with Linfield and Glentoran is a good achievement, especially when they are signing Premiership cast-offs, and my best players are their cast offs.

The lack of goals was our undoing this season, as shown by Ricky Adair being our top scorer again this year, but only with 13 this time. Ray Hirst got the most assists this year, as he came into his own on the right wing.

Player of the Season: Ricky Adair

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win
11/12  NIP  5th      None
12/13  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
13/14  NIP  1st      CL Qualification
14/15  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, we're catching up, but not many screenshots still.

Season 2015/2016: Northern Irish Premier Division

The 3 transfers in this season were all to improve on what we had there, in an effort to be somewhere near the quality of Linfield and Glentoran. Aaron Hughes, a young CB came in from Ards, to become 3rd choice centre half behind McGuckin and another new signing, David Joyce, another centre half from Linfield. His former Linfield team mate, Danny Mulholland was bought in as an improvement up front, or a backup left winger.

Transfers

We would be competing in the Euro Vase again this year, and our opponents in the first round were Wisla Krakow. We lost 3-0 at home, and even though we kept them to 1-0 away from home, it was another first round exit for this small Northern Irish club.

In the League Cup, we again made it through the group stage comfortably:

The quarter final finished 0-0 between us and Glentoran, and a penalty shootout win put us through to face Portadown in the semis. We won 3-0 and would face Linfield in our first ever League Cup final. We lost 2-1, Linfield proving just too strong for us on the day.

In the Antrim Cup, we advanced to the quarters past Carrick on penalties, then beat Distillery 1-0. Another penalty win against Bangor put us in the final against Glentoran. They went 2-0 up, we pegged them back to 2-2 to force extra time, then went 3-2 up early on. They equalised to take us to yet another shootout...

Which we won! Our first ever Antrim Cup!

Our Irish Cup campaign was full of exciting games. The kids saw off Banbridge 8-4 after extra time with the scores locked at 4-4. The addition of McAllister made the difference as he scored a 5 minute hat trick. He had only been brought on in case of penalties. We then thrashed rivals Dundela 5-1 in the 6th round and beat Portadown 4-1 in the quarters. Our penalty luck ran out when we faced Linfield in the semi finals, and we lost a shootout after a 0-0 draw.

Onto the League then, and 6 wins out of 7, the other being a 0-0 draw against Distillery, put us in a great position. We lost to Larne, who are fast becoming our bogey team, but an 11 game unbeaten run (2 draws) kept us firmly in the title hunt. One win in the next four dented these hopes somewhat, but a return of 22 points from a possible 27 in the last 9 games pushed us over the line to give us our second Premier Division title.

For once, Ricky Adair wasn't the star of the season. No, that honour went to Mark McAllister, whose 31 goals in 41 appearances pushed us to the league title. Paul Salt, playing in centre midfield, got 15 assists. The 18 year old signing from Glentoran has really become a fixture in my side along with fellow youngsters Chris Rutter, probably the best goalkeeper in the league by far, Harry McKee and his wing partner Ray Hirst, who got 12 goals between them this year and Daniel Miskelly, who continues to chip in with some vital goals. He scored 13 in 28 this year. Adair's goals kept coming too however, and he scored 22 in 34 appearances. He also made his 200th league appearance for East Belfast. He was surprisingly named player of the season, pipping McAllister despite the latter's formidable goal tally.

Player of the Season: Ricky Adair

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win
11/12  NIP  5th      None
12/13  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
13/14  NIP  1st      CL Qualification
14/15  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
15/16  NIP  1st      Antrim Cup Win, CL Qualification

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Note, we've caught up after this one, so a summary will follow.

Season 2016/2017: Northern Irish Premier Division

3 more signings this season, including probably the best deal I've done for a while on FM. Harry McKee was wanted by Glentoran, and they offered £250k to sign him. I was perfectly willing to let him go as we'd got through an equally as good winger through the youth system, but I decided to see if they would put Tim Ewing, their 3rd choice centre half, into the deal too. They did, so I got a £30k rated CB for free, along with £250k. The only downside was that I lost a player I could replace for free. Leigh Newman had been banging in the goals for a struggling Distillery side, and I figured if he could get double figures with that few chances being created, he should get a few from our creative players. He joined on a free along with young DM Martin Power, who was somewhat of a gamble because he joined from unscoutable Merthyr Tydfil, a feeder club of ours who we have a first option agreement with. They accepted £0 offers from Linfield and Glentoran, so I figured the risk was worth it, and he joined because of the first team football on offer. A notable "signing" was our improved youth system paying dividends. Neil Burrows, a 16 year old left back, was already significantly better than Bishop, so he joined the first team, making 41 appearances in his debut season, along with McKee's replacement, Thomas McCullough, who made 42 appearances.

Transfers

Our second Champions League campaign was likely to be much harder than the first, as we drew Georgian side Dinamo Tblisi in the 1st Qual. round. We held them 2-2 at Inverary playing fields, and nearly forced extra time when we got a penalty at 2-1 in the away leg. We missed, but that was certainly progress on the European front. Now if only we could actually win a tie.

Another easy progression through the League Cup group, and frankly I'd be disturbed if it were anything else.

We then lost to perennial title rivals Glentoran 2-0 in the quarter finals.

In the Antrim Cup, we beat Bangor on penalties before beating rivals Dundela 3-0 in the quarter final. When we beat Glentoran 2-1 it set up a second successive final, this time against Cliftonville. One 2-1 win later and we were celebrating defending the Antrim Cup

The Irish Cup was less of a success story. Despite beating Coleraine 4-1, we followed that with a 6th round exit after losing to Ards. In the All-Ireland Cup, like last season and all before that, I treated it as a source of money that we weren't going to progress in. I had to keep my players fresh for the league, but the second string weren't anywhere near the required quality, despite holding both Shamrock Rovers and Linfield to draws.

The League was a two way battle between us and Linfield. They were almost unstoppable, as were we. Glentoran fell away and couldn't keep up with the punishing pace we set. Normally, anything above 65 points should be enough for a title, but it became clear once I had won 13 out of the first 14 and yet still wasn't more than 5 clear of Linfield that 70 points might not even be enough. 3 draws in the next 12 games meant that Linfield could overtake us, and when they beat us 2-1, it was all over. The kids got a run out in the last 3 games because we were miles ahead of 3rd, but to finish 2nd with 70 points was a real blow, and Linfield's 76 point tally was a new record.

Ricky Adair dropped out of the first 11 this year for the first time in his career; new signing Leigh Newman and star of last season Mark McAllister filled the two starting striker berths. It was Newman that finished as top goalscorer, grabbing 21 in his debut season with us, and McAllister got 16. Also in his debut season, Thomas McCullough got the most assists: 12.

Player of the Season: Leigh Newman

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win
11/12  NIP  5th      None
12/13  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
13/14  NIP  1st      CL Qualification
14/15  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
15/16  NIP  1st      Antrim Cup Win, CL Qualification
16/17  NIP  2nd     Antrim Cup Win, Euro Cup Qualification

[kroblues]

Summary So Far

Now we've caught up, I suppose I should fill you in on the players that have got us this far, starting with a run down of the best XI over the years.

GK: Chris Rutter

This guy is awesome. 229 appearances and is only 24. In the Wales squad but no caps as yet. He is one of the league's top players and is being courted by some Premiership clubs, including West Ham. Unsurprisingly, he wants to leave, but with 4 years left on his contract and with him being club captain, maybe he'll stay

RB: Jonny McAdam

Maybe a little unfair to have him at right back as he played a large amount at right wing, but 280 appearances along with 14 goals make him a worthy addition to the best XI. He left the club, a victim of our success, and is playing First Division football for Portstewart

LB: Nicholas Bishop

165 appearances in total for our now solely backup left back. He was a demon at free kicks, scoring 22 goals in those appearances. He may make it to 200, but he isn't a first choice now, despite playing a large part in our two titles to date

CB: Billy Curley

Signed in the First Division, he made 159 appearances with 6 goals at a rating of over 7. Not bad considering he was playing above his likely true level for over half of those appearances. He is playing for mid-table side Glenavon now.

CB: Gary Haveron

Probably here for his goals. He was signed when we were a 2nd Division club at the age of 30, and he made 99 appearances. Normally, this wouldn't be enough to get him into this, but he scored 40 goals in those appearances, taking full advantage of his set-piece duties, including a couple of spectacular free kicks. Now retired.

MR: Ray Hirst

One of the stars of the current team. 174 appearances with 21 goals, but many more assists. He is only 22, so could conceivably get well over 500 appearances as he is probably too good for the league in general.

ML: George Walker

One of the first batch of youth stars, he made 153 appearances and scored 9 goals, mostly at left back but he played further forward once Bishop was signed. After leaving for Glenavon for £20k, he joined Loughgall and is now playing for PSNI.

MC: Darren Frame

He was playing for the club when I joined, and was still playing some role in the Premier League, although mostly as a backup. He performed well whenever he did play though, scoring 24 in 147 appearances, at around 1 goal in 7 games. He retired after being released.

MC: Jonny Rios

He joined from Dromara in my second season, and made 252 appearances with 17 goals. He was still first choice for the first couple of Premier League seasons, but he was never truly good enough for that level, although he now plays for Larne and is first choice, so who knows?

ST: Daniel Miskelly

Came through the youth system at the same time as Walker, but is still playing for us now, but is the 4th choice striker nowadays. A decent strike rate of just about 1 in 2, with 98 goals from 204 appearances

ST: Ricky Adair

The star of the show for many years, and club captain for a number of those too. He is the only player to pass 300 appearances for the club, with 306 in total, and he is one away from 200 for East Belfast too. This milestone probably won't be reached however, as he was transfer listed at the start of this season because he wouldn't be that likely to play, being 5th choice as he was. Utterly fantastic in the first few years in the Premier Division, but he was another victim of our improvement, despite his loyal service to the club since a 16 year old who tore up the 2nd Division along with Brian Quilty.

I'll play to the half way point of this current season, update then, and we'll have month-by-month updates from then on.

[kroblues]

Version: Football Manager 2008, 8.0.2 patch

Leagues Running: Northern Ireland down to Second Division

Season 2017/2018: Northern Irish Premier Division, First Half

Probably my biggest spending spree this year as I bought in real quality to counter the almost unstoppable force that is Linfield. Young centre back Stuart Davis joined from Cliftonville for £60k. He was already rated as better than Ewing despite his young age, so it was a no-brainer to spend such a relatively large sum on him. Andrew Bond, Glentoran's 3rd choice striker, became the record signing in the club's history with an £80k move to Inverary playing fields. He was rated much higher than McAllister, our previously best striker on the books. Another justified expenditure. The signing I was proudest of, however, was the free capture of Andy Sproule from Irish amateurs Letterkenny. He could feasibly do well in some of England's professional leagues, and would be by far the best midfielder we had on the books, so to get him in on a free was a real coup. Jonathan Flanagan joined in January from Cliftonville for £35k, as we again excercised our newfound financial muscle. He was again a great improvement on what we had, despite the emergence of youth player Alan Keenan, who performed an adequate role at right back. Keenan will now drop into a covering role for both sides of the defence, as well as a last resort centre back. Not bad considering he's only 17.

Transfers

Our Euro Cup tie again ended quickly, as a 3-1 defeat at home followed by a 4-0 defeat away to CSKA Sofia knocked us out once more at the first hurdle. One day. One day I will win a European tie.

Another comfortable progression through the League Cup group, no real worries there.

The quarter and semi finals were also comfortable, a 4-0 win against Portadown followed by a 5-2 win against Cliftonville put us into another final against Linfield, which went like this:

So, yeah, not a good ending. So far the kids have done us proud in the Antrim Cup, as they beat Bangor 3-1 after extra time (even if 2 O.Gs helped us along) and then Wakehurst 3-2 to set up a semi final clash against Larne at the end of January.

In the League, we started off on the back foot because of the fact that by the time we had played 2 games, some other teams had played 6! Us and Linfield were in the same boat though, and I knew we'd have to keep up with them to have a title shot. We both kept up 100% records for a long while, and while we lost ours with a 1-1 draw with Glentoran in game 11, Linfield had already lost theirs. We went top as Linfield proceeded to draw a couple more games while we capitalised on their lost points, and our only 2 other draws in games 14 and 15, against Distillery and Newry respectively, were thankfully in games that Linfield also drew, so we were top at the halfway stage with a game in hand over our fierce title rivals.

The undoubted stars this season have been the new signings. Bond is top scorer with 19 goals from 23 appearances. His strike partner McAllister, while currently injured, is still the second highest scorer with 11 from 19. Sproule, who has made the central position his own alongside Salt, has 13 assists along with 4 goals, to complement Salt's own addition of 7 goals and 6 assists. This creative power, along with Hirst and McCullough, who have 11 and 7 assists respectively, has been a large part of our fantastic form this season.

In defence, youth prodigy Neil Burrows is staking his left back claim with 18 very solid appearances, and new signing Davis is averaging nearly 7.50 a game alongside Ewing at centre half. Both central defenders have also chipped in with a couple of goals this season to help things along, and unsurprisingly, Rutter has been a rock at the back for us once more, with 13 clean sheets in 23 games. The fact he has only missed 2 league games in his entire East Belfast career shows what he means to the team.

Player of the Season Thus Far: Stuart Davis, for his defensive capabilities and his decent goal return, but Sproule was a close second for his creative abilities and a tendency to pull something out of nothing to win a game.

Year League Position Other Notes
08/09  NI2  1st      ILC Win
09/10  NI1  2nd      ILC Win, lost in playoff
10/11  NI1  1st      ILC Win, Antrim Trophy Win
11/12  NIP  5th      None
12/13  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
13/14  NIP  1st      CL Qualification
14/15  NIP  3rd      Euro Vase Qualification
15/16  NIP  1st      Antrim Cup Win, CL Qualification
16/17  NIP  2nd      Antrim Cup Win, Euro Cup Qualification
17/18  NIP  1st      Current Position after 15 games

I'll be going month by month from now on, starting once I finish playing through January. If you're still following along, thanks.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division, January 2018

First things first, and we bought Jonathan Flanagan from Cliftonville for £35k. The right back was much better than both youngster Keenan and also David Joyce, who both went into the "cover" section of the squad I had in my mind. Nobody headed out, but that wasn't for lack of trying by certain clubs. Glentoran made numerous offers for Burrows, including one of £700k plus a centre half, but as it was near the end of the window I thought it might be better to keep him rather than potentially derail our title challenge by selling one of our best players. West Ham also made enquiries for Rutter, but no offers were forthcoming.

A very busy month in terms of games, with 7 in the league and 2 cup games. We'll start with the league:

East Belfast 2-0 Bangor

Danny Mulholland, in for the injured McAllister gives us a half time lead, and a Tim Ewing penalty puts the game beyond Bangor

Distillery 1-1 East Belfast

After going one down, it was left until the very last minute of injury time before Daniel Miskelly went through. His shot was saved but Bond put in the rebound to save a point and keep us top

Newry 2-2 East Belfast

Andy Sproule put us one up with a trademark piledriver of a free kick after 5 minutes, but Newry turned it round in the second half and were winning 2-1 before Stuart Davis' flick on found the corner of the net in the 89th minute

East Belfast 2-1 Armagh

Daniel Miskelly scores twice after half time to end our recent run of draws, despite a late goal from Armagh

East Belfast 0-0 Linfield

The first match of our double header with the title rivals, and we escape with a draw thanks to Rutter's heroics. It could have been more if Whitten, our makeshift left winger due to injuries to both Mulholland and McCullough, could have finished off an easy rebound

Linfield 2-1 East Belfast

Our unbeaten run ends at expected hands, and we relinquish our position at the top of the table, although our game in hand could see us reclaim top spot. Miskelly gave us the lead, but Linfield equalised before half time and won it in the 80th minute

Cliftonville 1-6 East Belfast

The perfect response to that disappointment. Linfield won 6-0 in their game, so still second, but for Bond to end his lean spell with two goals, then Miskelly to grab another couple with an O.G and a header from substitute Joyce was a great way to end the league month

Our two cup games ended fairly well too:

East Belfast 1-0 Ards Irish Cup 5th Round

Andrew Bond seals our progression with 10 minutes remaining. Simples

Larne 0-6 East Belfast Antrim Cup Semi Final

The reserves smash all predictions, although it was a strong reserve side including the likes of McAllister, Salt and Mulholland. McAllister's hat trick set things up, and Whitten, Miskelly and Aaron Hughes also scored

All in all, a decent month. We should still be in with a good shout of winning the league now our Linfield games are out of the way, but a concern may be the fixture pile up with the All Ireland Cup just around the corner.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division, February 2018

Not as many games this month, and also the beginning of the All-Ireland Cup, which apart from providing a nice financial bonus, doesn't really do a lot for me as we are so far behind the Republic's clubs. 5 games this month, and nothing else notable. We start with the league again.

East Belfast 2-0 Glenavon

Andrew Bond scores twice in the second half to keep up the pressure on Linfield

East Belfast 1-0 Ards

Our game in hand, so a must win, and win it we did. Despite a ton of pressure on the Ards goal, we only managed to create a couple of chances, none of which were put away. Our goal came more or less from nothing, as Sproule slotted home from outside the box when I wasn't paying much attention

Of course, Linfield then played when we weren't, and won, so we're back down to second for the time being. It's nice to know we can't finish lower than 7th even at this stage though. Now for the cup games:

East Belfast 6-0 Donegal Celtic Irish Cup 6th Round

At the start of the month, which gave us a remarkable record of 18 goals in 3 games. Another youthful line up, and former East Belfast CB Donnelly set us on the way with an O.G. and Bond added a second straight after. It was 3-0 within 20 minutes when Salt scored. He added a fourth before the break, and Whitten along with Miskelly wrapped things up.

Linfield 4-1 East Belfast All Ireland Cup

The kids were playing again, and were outplayed by Linfield, as expected. It was 4-0 at half time though, so we won the second half through McAllister's goal.

East Belfast 1-4 Drogheda All Ireland Cup

Man I wish I could sign some of these players, but they're all greyed out. Another kid-filled line up, and another McAllister consolation after a 4-0 half time deficit

Next month we have the Antrim Cup final, the Irish Cup quarter final, the conclusion of the All-Ireland Cup group along with 3 more league games.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division, March 2018

Another cup-orientated month, with only the 2 league games to go with 7 cup games. As usual, we'll start with the league games:

Glenavon 0-3 East Belfast

A decent win to get us back into the swing of the league, and again allowed us to keep up with Linfield, who surely had to slip up sometime, didn't they? Bond, McAllister and Ewing got all the goals in the first half

East Belfast 2-0 Portadown

And slip up they did. After they went down 4-3 to lowly Newry, we knew a win would put us top by a point with a game in hand. Stuart Davis scored from a corner and Mark McAllister wrapped up a comfortable win to put us on top of the table with 7 games left.

Yay! Top of the table, and we should hopefully be able to keep it that way. 6 wins from those last 7 will secure the league for us. I'm feeling pretty confident we can do that but now I've gone and jinxed it

Cup games:

Linfield 3-2 East Belfast Antrim Cup Final

A third consecutive Antrim Cup wasn't to be, as we went 3-0 down. Ewing and Bond got it back to 3-2, but Ewing went from hero to villain when he missed a late penalty, which denied us the opportunity to sneak into extra time. Ah well, always next year.

East Belfast 3-6 Shamrock Rovers All-Ireland Cup

Not too much to write home about here. I played the first team guys and they didn't do brilliantly, but we were obviously outclassed by the team from the other side of the border. McAllister seems to like this competition though, as he scored again, and the others were scored by McCullough and an unfortunate Rovers defender

East Belfast 0-0 Linfield All-Ireland Cup

Strange how it works out, isn't it? The first team lose to them, but the kids outplay them and nearly sneak a win. Still, a draw is decent too

Drogheda Utd 1-0 East Belfast All Ireland Cup

The kids played well again, and very nearly got another point, but a last minute goal from Drogs stopped that dream

Shamrock Rovers 3-2 East Belfast All Ireland Cup

We went 3-0 down quickly again, but I appear to have stumbled on the right thing to say when losing heavily to superior opposition and you want a consolation, as McAllister scored again, and Miskelly added another to start an unlikely comeback that we couldn't quite finish off

East Belfast 5-2 Cliftonville Irish Cup 1/4 Final

We went two up quickly through Ewing and Bond, but then Cliftonville pulled it level by half time, a certain Titus Bramble grabbing their equaliser. True to form, he cocked up for our third, letting Bond dispossess him and score. Sproule got a fourth before Salt piled on the misery by smashing one home from the edge of the box

East Belfast 2-2 Carrick AET Irish Cup 1/2 Final

We went one up through Bond on 21 minutes, but a flurry of goals early in the second half resulted in McCullough having to equalise to set up extra time. Nothing much happened (except for an injury to Hirst ) until we got a penalty in the 117th minute. Ewing stepped up to put us in the final...

...but missed. That meant a penalty shootout.

First up was Flanagan. Easily scored, 1-0 East Belfast.

McVey for Carrick. He misses! Still 1-0.

Then Ewing can atone for his earlier miss. Comfortably into the corner! 2-0 East Belfast!

Now, can Carrick's McCullough do the business? Apparently so, 2-1.

McAllister steps up...and blazes it over. Still 2-1.

Alan Rose takes the next Carrick penalty and Rutter can't keep it out, 2-2.

Andy Bond up next. Super Striker scores to make it 3-2.

Mark Devine has no worries either, 3-3.

Alan Keenan can't keep his head, so Carrick have a chance to win it. 3-3

But Arnold misses too! 3-3 and sudden death.

Thomas McCullough hits the post, and it's still 3-3

A terrible penalty, so it's back to status quo at 3-3

Sproule scores! 4-3 to East Belfast!

And Noble misses! We're through to the final!

Next Month: A ton of Premier League games as we see if we can beat Linfield to the title.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division, April 2018

So, the conclusion to a thrilling league campaign. We still had our game in hand over Linfield, and the two of us were miles ahead of the chasing pack, which was headed by Glentoran. Therefore the title would be heading to either us or Linfield, and so long as we were in a position to overtake them with our game in hand I was feeling confident, despite a run of 4 away games to finish the season. Here are the results:

East Belfast 2-0 Crusaders

A fairly standard win for us, really. Bond and Ewing got the goals before half time and it was plain sailing from then on

East Belfast 2-0 Glentoran

Probably the hardest game of our run in, made more difficult by the absences of both Davis and Ewing, and then the injury to Salt, who was deputising at right wing for Hirst. In actual fact, it was Salt's substitute Miskelly that got the opener on 85 minutes, and then Davis' replacement Keenan secured the win with a second on 88

East Belfast 3-0 Carrick

Mark McAllister opened the scoring with a shot that got 3rd in goal of the month, and he got another following on from Bond's goal that put us 3-0 up at half time and we cruised the second half. That goal meant Bond was now the record scorer for a season, beating Adair's mark of 31.

Dungannon 2-3 East Belfast

I really thought we'd screwed this one up. We were 2-0 up through Bond and a penalty from Ewing, but I obviously said the wrong thing at half time as it was 2-2 before 50 minutes. Davis rescued us with a flick on from a corner in injury time. At this point we were still just about ahead of Linfield, by one point but we still had that game in hand

Ballymena Utd 2-2 East Belfast

We went one down, then Salt and Bond scored to put us 2-1 up before Ballymena equalised. All in 20 minutes and not much happened after. The really important thing was going on at Glentoran, as Linfield somehow collapsed from 1-0 up at the start of injury time to 2-1 down by full time! This left us 2 points ahead, but more importantly, if we could beat Larne in our game in hand, we would be Champions.

Larne 1-3 East Belfast

That's how to seal a title! Thomas McCullough set us on the way with a screamer, but Larne equalised, briefly giving me panic at a last day shootout. Not to worry though, as Davis put us back ahead before the break and McAllister secured the title just after half time.

Ards 2-4 East Belfast

We went into the last day with nothing to play for except records. 2 goals from Bond would see him finish as our record league goalscorer, and a win would give us the record points tally for any team in the Premier League, ever. Bond got his two before half time, and a brace from Paul Salt secured the win to give us a record points tally.

So, the season's over but for the cup final, so we'll wait until then for a big summary, but there'll be a live update of the cup final as I'm playing it.

[kroblues]

Cup Final: Distillery V East Belfast

So, the first ever Irish Cup final for East Belfast, and it's against the team that finished 7th. Should be fairly easy, you might imagine. Not when Distillery get a free kick just outside the box 4 minutes in and veteran Dean Ashton scores to give them a 1-0 lead.

But only 5 minutes later, we get a corner. Andy Sproule, creator of 30 goals this season, puts it in the box and centre half star Stuart Davis is on hand to head us level at 1-1.

20 minutes in and Distillery break down our left. Ewing brings the winger down and gets a yellow for his trouble.

25 minutes and a cross finds Distillery striker Barnes on the edge of the box. He swivels, and shoots past Rutter for a 2-1 lead to Distillery.

This lead also lasts 5 minutes as Sproule takes matters into his own hands, and his free kick finds the top corner. 2-2.

On 44 minutes, we get an indirect free kick. Sproule lays it back to Bond, who smashes it just over.

Just before half time, Sproule swings in another corner and Ewing meets it, but he heads wide.

Half time: 2-2

On 57 minutes, Distillery get another free kick just outside the box. The shot deflects harmlessly off the wall and Rutter scrambles to collect, which he does comfortably.

With 20 minutes to go, Distillery throw the ball in and it lands at the feet of Barnes. His quick feet beat Burrows and he smashes it home past Rutter for 3-2.

At the start of injury time, Sproule puts in yet another corner, and once more Ewing is off target with his header. Maybe it's slipping away from us now.

To compound the misery, Power is sent off for a second yellow with barely a minute to go. Surely it's all over now

And it is, we don't get another kick of the ball, so we finish runners up yet again in a cup competition. Distillery win 3-2

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division 2017/2018

So, I won't bore you with the details as you've seen the earlier updates. Here is a run down of our competition standings:

Euro Cup: Lost in 1st Qualifying Round

Antrim Cup: Runners Up (Linfield)

League Cup: Runners Up (Linfield)

Irish Cup: Runners Up (Distillery)

All-Ireland Cup: 4th in Group Stage

Premier Division: 1st (Champions)

I'd call that a good season, but a couple more trophy wins would have been pretty good too.

My first XI this season:

GK: Chris Rutter.

Who else? 46 appearances with 23 clean sheets just proves how awesome this guy is

RB: Jonathan Flanagan

Came in in January, but is a firm member of the first eleven now, making 23 appearances in his short career so far

LB: Neil Burrows

Hard to believe this kid is only 18. He made 39 appearances this season, and with a league average rating of 7.40 you have to say he was one of the stars

CB: Tim Ewing

10 goals, and half of the best centre back partnership in the league, but 18 yellows may be a bit of a problem in future

CB: Stuart Davis

The other half, and with 8 goals from 45 appearances at only 18, he could be a first teamer for years to come

MR: Ray Hirst

The man is a legend. 15 assists in 43 appearances, and we suffered while he was injured, creating far fewer chances. Luckily our strikers stepped up and finished more too.

ML: Thomas McCullough

Could have been awkward putting a right footer on the left wing, but he made 40 appearances with 10 assists, so something went right.

MC: Paul Salt

Overshadowed a little by Sproule, but to score 13 and set up another 13 is a great season in anyone's books. Still only 21 and could be a legend in future

MC: Andy Sproule

Whereas this guy is probably a legend now. 31 assists in 47 appearances probably won us the title, and his 7 goals helped us along too no doubt. Only 20 and he could play in the English Premiership eventually I reckon. Hopefully not though as that means we keep hold of him

ST: Mark McAllister

Normally 23 goals in 43 appearances is a good season, but he was by far the second of the striking pair. He certainly played his part though

ST: Andrew Bond

Record signing, record goalscorer, record league scorer. A ton of records for this striker, and he deserved them. His goals probably earn him the player of the year on their own, but to chip in 10 assists too shows what an all round player he is. Bet Glentoran are kicking themselves for letting him go now

And as a slight teaser/info about next season, we are getting a new stadium! At just over 3,500 capacity, it should help us progress much faster, and maybe end up turning a profit over the year as our gate receipts more or less keep up with the wage bill. Here's hoping. The training facilities are also being upgraded too.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division, July/August 2018

In terms of signings, it was mostly just taking advantage of any opportunity that came up to improve the team. Therefore, when I could sign Laurence Stephens, a right back, on a free, I took the chance. Despite already having Flanagan and Keenan, this player was rated as twice the player of Flanagan. For some reason Distillery released him and we swooped. Also coming in was Chris Savage from Glentoran to improve on McAllister, and hopefully combine well with Bond too. Darren Butler, an 18 year old centre back, was the only other signing to slot in alonside Davis in the centre of defence, which was probably my weakest area according to the team report.

4 competitive games in these two months, starting with the Champions League:

East Belfast 2-2 Rijeka Champions League 1st Qual. Round

We went 2-0 down, and I was thinking that it could be the end of our campaign even before we finished the first tie, but Bond and Hirst scored after the break to give us a glimmer of hope to take into the away game

Rijeka 2(4)-0(2) East Belfast

It was always going to be harder here, and despite Rutter producing the game of his life, we couldn't keep them out. Another European loss then. It will be difficult to get much progression unless we turn professional at some point.

In the League Cup, we had a couple of games too:

East Belfast 4-1 Ballymena Utd League Cup

Savage gets his first goal with a penalty, and Bond grabs another couple to keep up his fine form. Sproule gets the fourth after Ballymena made it 3-1

Armagh 0-0 East Belfast

They sat back, and we couldn't break through, especially once Salt got sent off

So, that's the pre-season dealt with then.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division, September/October 2018

I forgot to do an update for September, so it's going in with October. There weren't many league games anyway, just the conclusion of the League Cup group phase. As usual, we start with the league.

Portadown 0-0 East Belfast

Not what you'd call a promising start, but a clean sheet is nice, especially with two new defenders still to fully gel into the back four

Bangor 0-2 East Belfast

Now that's more like it. McAllister, in for an injured Bond, gets our first goal of the new league season and Savage adds another to make it more comfortable

East Belfast 4-0 Glentoran

If there's ever a way to start a season at home, this is it. We thrashed our "sort of" title rivals here, Sproule getting two goals, a penalty and a looping volley that got 2nd in GoTM, and Newman got another couple after he was substituted on for a misfiring Savage

East Belfast 2-1 Carrick

Rutter picked up an injury, so it was his youth understudy Phil McGreevy that donned the gloves for this game, and he promptly conceeded our first league goal of the season. We were still 1-0 down going into injury time, but Sproule popped up with a Gerrard-esque strike at the beginning of injury time, and it was his deflected free kick with virtually the last kick of the game that secured all 3 points

East Belfast 3-2 Glenavon

A game that looks closer than it was thanks to two late consolation goals, but Sproule kept up his fine goalscoring form after Savage had opened the scoring, and an O.G. wrapped up the win

East Belfast 2-0 Armagh

Sproule got another goal, this time a penalty, to keep up his surprising tilt at the golden boot. Bond got the second just to make it more comfortable

So, 6 games gone, and 5 wins and a draw in it. The sort of form we'll need to keep up to win the league again, although we're already ahead of Linfield, who have played 3, won 2 and lost 1.

Now, here are the cup results, starting with the League Cup.

Ballymena Utd 1-1 East Belfast

Butler scores on debut to give us a draw

East Belfast 3-0 Armagh

Bond scored before getting injured, but his replacement McAllister also scored, as did his partner Savage. A successful game for the strikers then

Bangor 0-1 East Belfast

Savage scores just after half time to give us a narrow win

East Belfast 4-2 Bangor

Already qualified as group winners, the kids got a run out, and they showed their worth. 16 year old midfielder William Bailie scored on debut, and goals from Newman, Ewing and a Flanagan penalty gave us a win to end the group on a high

East Belfast 3-1 Ards Quarter Final

The first team came back into the picture for this, and they showed just why they are the first team. Hirst got us underway and McAllister made it 2-0 before half time. Sproule scored our third 3 minutes later and all Ards could muster was a consolation late on

East Belfast 1-3 Linfield Semi Final

Severely depleted by injuries and international call ups, it was a skeleton squad that played against our nemeses. Savage gave us a lead, but our weakened defence was overrun by Linfield and we couldn't keep them out.

After failing to beat Linfield in this competition again, I wasn't happy. It seems our best hope to win it would be for a lucky draw as I fancy our chances to beat anyone else in this league. We went the Arsenal route for the Antrim Cup, and a side devoid of any first teamers whatsoever played against Ballymena Utd in the first round. Our kids took them to penalties but the superior mental abilities of the more experienced Ballymena side shone through and we lost 4-3 in sudden death.

[Cougar2010]

Flying through the seasons.

Can't quite believe how quickly you've established yourself alongside Linfield & Glentoran, I struggled in FM08 to get anywhere near them.

Unlucky in the cups but three finals is a fantastic season alongside the league title.

Do you wish you had loaded more leagues now or are you happy in N. Ireland?

[kroblues]

I'm actually kinda happy in Northern Ireland atm, the only downside is I wish I had loaded England so I could get reserves on loan. Other than that this is suiting me fine. It's more like I've established myself alongside Linfield, because Glentoran have fallen to a sort of Cliftonville level, as in they don't particularly challenge for the title but they put pressure on for a European slot. Here's the update for both November and December, because there was only 2 games in November:

Newry 1-5 East Belfast

Normally the games against Newry are sort of a challenge, and they held us rather well in the first half, but all hell broke loose after half time as Savage and Bond both scored twice to put us 4-0 up within 20 minutes of the restart. Newry pulled it back to 4-1 and Sproule reopened our 4 goal margin in injury time

East Belfast 2-2 Ballymena Utd

They went one up, but goals either side of the break from Savage and Bond put us 2-1 up, and Ballymena got a late equaliser

Dundela 0-2 East Belfast

It looked like this derby was heading for a dull draw, but two injury time goals, from Savage and Stephens, who was playing in a right wing role because of an injury to Hirst, meant we took the points

Linfield 2-4 East Belfast

Our biggest result of the season so far, because it let us overtake Linfield after our couple of draws dropped us back. They were winning 1-0 at half time, and even though Savage equalised, it was 2-1 on 60 minutes. Then came 3 very important goals. Savage got his second, then Bond put us ahead and Sproule secured the win with a free kick

East Belfast 2-2 Distillery

We couldn't quite capitalise on that win, as even though Savage and Davis had put us ahead twice, Distillery came back both times

Larne 1-7 East Belfast

Our game in hand, and we took advantage spectacularly. Bond scored twice in the opening 15 minutes, before Rios proved he was still an East Belfast fan at heart with an O.G. and Salt, along with Sproule put us 5-0 up before half time. A penalty was the only black mark, but Sproule scored his second and Newman, on as a sub for the tiring Savage, wrapped up a comprehensive win

Dungannon 1-3 East Belfast

We went 3-0 up through McCullough, an O.G. and Bond, but they made it 3-1 before half time and we cruised home

East Belfast 3-1 Cliftonville

We again went 3-0 up, this time Savage, Bond and Ewing scored, and it was 3-1 just after half time, but we again cruised to a win

East Belfast 1-0 Ards

Sproule gave us a narrow win with his free kick on 42

After that month, we are top of the table, 5 points ahead of Linfield but they have a game in hand. After 15 games, we are on 39 points.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Irish Premier Division, January 2019

So, we'll start with the transfer window, and we made the two biggest purchases in the league in an effort to cement our position at the top of the table. Phil Jones joined from Ballymena after scoring 17 in 20 in the first half of the season for £45k and Robbie Ross joined for £40k. The central midfielder joins from Distillery, and he was one of my top targets last summer, so to get him for £40k is pretty much a bargain buy.

9 games this month, with 8 in the league. The Irish Cup 5th Round was played against Glenavon, and Bond scored twice with another from Ewing to give us a 3-0 win and put us through to the last 16. Here are the league games:

East Belfast 8-0 Bangor

Our biggest ever win, and we showed our title credentials in a big way here. McCullough scored twice, as did Bond. Sproule also scored two, and Butler along with an O.G got our 7th and 8th goals.

Glentoran 4-3 East Belfast

First league defeat of the season, and it was an injury time goal from former player Harry McKee that did us. Hirst had earlier equalised and Bond had put us ahead, before Glentoran did the same to go 3-2 up. Sproule equalised which left it open for McKee to inflict our first league defeat, and let Linfield close in on us to within 2 points, still with a game in hand.

Glenavon 1-4 East Belfast

A good response to that defeat. Savage and Sproule put us two up, and Glenavon pulled one back quickly. Bond restored our cushion and youngster Gary Vauls got his first ever goal to seal the win.

East Belfast 5-0 Portadown

Bond scored a fantastic hat trick to set up our comprehensive win. Savage and Ewing added the others

East Belfast 3-0 Linfield

A much needed win against our title rivals, and Bond again set it up with two goals. Darren Butler was the other scorer as we widened the gap to 5 points again

Carrick 0-2 East Belfast

McCullough and 4th choice striker Leigh Newman, in for injured Bond and Jones, get our goals in this routine win

East Belfast 1-0 Larne

Loads of pressure from us, and I thought we'd blown it when Newman missed a late penalty, but he made amends with two minutes left

Armagh 0-3 East Belfast

Linfield didn't play, so we stretched our lead to 8, albeit it could drop back to 2 if Linfield win both games in hand. Newman scored again, and Savage and Butler got the other two

We're certainly looking like title favourites at the moment, with 7 games left and us on 60 points, I would like to think we can do it.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Ireland Premier Division, February, March, April 2019

I decided to go for 3 months in one because I don't really think the All-Ireland Cup warrants a full update. Suffice it to say we lost every game. In the Irish Cup we beat Institute 4-0 and then lost 2-1 to Linfield in the quarter finals. Linfield

So, on with the league games.

East Belfast 2-0 Newry

Savage and Sproule continue our good form and keep us ahead of Linfield. They are our only competitors at the moment, as the others are way too far behind to catch us at the moment

Ballymena Utd 0-1 East Belfast

Sproule does it again. 5 games to go now, and Linfield are still behind us

East Belfast 0-0 Dundela

We can't find a breakthrough against our rivals, which allows Linfield to close the gap slightly. We're still ahead though, with 4 games to play, even if Linfield win their game in hand they'll be 2 points behind us

Distillery 1-4 East Belfast

We keep our noses in front of Linfield, and despite going down to 10 men after 16 minutes, Bond scores a hat trick to go along with a Distillery O.G. 3 left and 5 ahead.

East Belfast 1-1 Dungannon

We draw, but so do Linfield. If we'd won then the title would have been almost certainly ours, but still, 5 ahead with 2 to play (3 for Linfield). Phil Jones rescues that vital point for us

Cliftonville 3-4 East Belfast

A nervy game where we had to come from behind twice. Phil Jones got his first hat trick for us and Bond kept up his fine form to keep us 5 ahead.

Linfield then won their game in hand against Glentoran, so the table looks like this heading into the last game:

We will play against Ards in the final game, while Linfield face Ballymena. If they win then only a win will be good enough, but if they draw then we've won the title anyway.

[kroblues]

With three suspensions going into the last game, we've certainly made it unneccessarily hard for ourselves. Sproule is perhaps the biggest loss, but Butler and Burrows being absent will certainly weaken our back line. It's all on Rutter to have a good game and make up for these losses. Here is the team that will play:

-------------Rutter-------

Stephens---Davis---Ewing---Flanagan

---------Salt-------Ross-------------

Hirst-----------------------McCullough

-------Bond-------Jones-------------

We'll be relying on the strikers to score and make up for the defensive weakness, but I'd take a scrappy 1-0 anyday. On with the game:

5 minutes in and we get a corner. It is delivered and an Ards Defender head it into his own net. 1-0 East Belfast! And even better, it's 1-0 Ballymena too!

On 37 we get a penalty. Jonathan Flanagan steps forward to take it...

...and hits the post! Hirst can't quite squeeze in the rebound, so still 1-0. Hopefully that won't cost us.

Half time: 1-0

On 65 we get another penalty. Surely this time Flanagan can score?

No, apparently not, he blazes it wide. Linfield are winning now, so we need to hold on or get a second.

We hold on! East Belfast win another Premier Division Title!

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Nothern Irish Premier Division 2018/2019

Again, I'm not going to bore you with the specifics, but here's a run down of the competitions and the first team:

Champions League: 1st Qual. Round (Lost Vs Rijeka)

League Cup: Semi Final (Lost Vs Linfield)

Antrim Cup: First Round (Lost Vs Ballymena Utd)

Irish Cup: Quarter Final (Lost Vs Linfield)

All-Ireland Cup: Group Stage

Premier Division: 1st (Champions!)

First Team:

GK: Chris Rutter

Again, who else? 42 appearances and 19 clean sheets. A big part of our defence

RB: Laurence Stephens

New signing at right back, and he played well in his 45 appearances

LB: Neil Burrows

Still only 19 yet has over 120 appearances for the club. Is one of several that may breach the 500 appearance mark. A great 42 games this season

CB: Darren Butler

Only made 30 appearances because of various injuries, but his 3 goals helped matters along in the league campaign

CB: Stuart Davis

Our first fully capped player; the 20 year old has 4 caps for Australia under his belt. He made 44 appearances this year, and while not as prolific as last year, he still chipped in with a couple of goals

MR: Ray Hirst

Again, who else? He has made the AMR slot his own over the last 6 seasons, and he made another 45 appearances, with 13 assists and 4 goals

ML: Thomas McCullough

Starting to show some real talent, and made 46 appearances with 10 assists and 4 goals. Unfortunately, if I am going to strengthen the team it will be at AML, so he may not make too many appearances

MC: Andy Sproule

After his monster assist haul of last year, he got fewer this year, but his 23 was still far better than anyone else in the league. He added goalscoring to his locker too, and was equal 2nd in the golden boot race for the club, matching Savage's 19 goals. This kid is brilliant, that says it all really

MC: Robbie Ross

Only joined in January, and was solid in his 11 appearances. Nothing else of note, but he should do better next year

ST: Phil Jones

Another January signing, and he made 14 appearances, and scored 5 goals as he tried to settle in. I'm looking for around 4 times that next season

ST: Andrew Bond

Jones has something to live up to. Bond again finished as top scorer, and very nearly broke his own record for league goals in a season; getting 22 this year, just one shy of the 23 of last season. 35 appearances, 27 goals and 12 assists. Another brilliant season

Hopefully the new stadium will help us progress more next season, but I'd be happy if we could just get to the second qualifying round of the CL tbh.

[kroblues]

Okay, no update at the moment because I haven't played up to the end of August yet, but here's a teaser.

Andrew Bond just scored at the Emirates Stadium.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Ireland Premier Division, July and August 2019

On the transfer front, there was only one major transfer, both coming in and going out. Finally succumbing to the lure of the Premiership, Chris Rutter submitted a transfer request. This led to a flurry of offers from big English clubs, and he accepted the offer from Leicester. He moved for a total of £1M, along with 40% of next sale and a friendly. A big blow, to be sure, but we managed to somewhat replace him with Ards' 22 year old keeper Marc Andrews for £300k. Luckily, the money Rutter bought in pushed us over the threshold for an improvement to the youth facilities. With any luck these better youth players will lessen the need for further expensive purchases.

We were entered into the Champions League, thanks to our league win last season. We drew Slovenian side Gorica in the first qualifying round.

East Belfast 3-0 Gorica

A fantastic way to christen our new stadium, and it gave us the best chance we've ever had to progress in a European competition. Flanagan scored a penalty to open up the scoring, and McCullough then scored the second. I'd have been happy with that to take into the second leg, but Bond scored a third to almost guarantee our passage.

Gorica 2-2 East Belfast

Bond gave us the lead, which meant Gorica would need to score five to progress. The got one soon after, but then Ewing made it 2-1. Gorica equalised but found no further goals. We progressed in Europe for the first time ever!

I was almost in disbelief at this result, but I didn't give us much hope of progressing against a much stronger FC Zurich side than the Gorica side we had just dispatched. We played the first leg away from home this time, and I was looking for something, anything, that we could hold onto and give us hope for the second leg. If it was still close after the first leg then anything could happen at the new stadium.

FC Zurich 2-1 East Belfast

That's certainly something to hold onto. We went 2-0 down early on and I was thinking the worst, but a mistake by the Zurich centre half let Phil Jones score a vital away goal to take back to Northern Ireland.

East Belfast 1-0 FC Zurich

We're through! It didn't look like it was going to happen when Zurich put on a ton of pressure early on, but we came out storming in the second half. We were camped in their half for nearly the entire second half, but we couldn't find the breakthrough. That was, until Andrew Bond picked up a loose backpass. He went round the stranded keeper and slotted it home with 10 minutes to go. Despite heavy Zurich pressure it was us that came closest to a goal, when Sproule's free kick hit the post. Still, we held on to progress to the third Qualifying Round

Into the last qualifying round, and we hit the jackpot. Arsenal! Of course, we weren't hoping for much. Hell, we'd have been happy to keep it down to single figures per game. The first leg was at the Emirates, where we'd face some truly world-class opposition.

Arsenal 6-2 East Belfast

To be expected, really. We were 4-0 down in the blink of an eye as Arsenal's superior strikers showed the talent with 4 goals from 5 shots, and Rutter didn't have a chance with any of them. Andrew Bond wrote his name into East Belfast history when he scored a fantastic goal to make it 4-1, and then Hirst followed suit to make it 4-2. The comeback to end all comebacks was on! For about 5 minutes, as Arsenal scored a 5th and then quickly a 6th to make our task pretty much impossible in the second leg

East Belfast 2-3 Arsenal

This so nearly went down as the proudest moment in our history. Arsenal were 1-0 up at half time, but a quickfire double by Phil Jones gave us an unlikely lead. We held on until 79 minutes, but the same striker that scored the first then got a second and finally a third to break our resistance

So our fairytale run came to an end, but we were entered into the UEFA Cup, where we would play Trabzonspor in the first round. Progress isn't that likely, but it's been a fantastic journey anyway.

I'll update on the League Cup when the group is all finished, to avoid cluttering up this post, which was mostly dedicated to the European campaign.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Ireland Premier Division, September and October 2019

Another 2 month update here, because incredibly, we still haven't started our league season, despite some teams having already played 6 games. In the UEFA Cup 1st Round, we were always going to be up against it against Trabzonspor, and we showed that by losing 4-0 away in the first leg. We then pulled off one hell of a shock in the home leg though, as Hirst, Newman and then Jones gave us a 3-0 win, which unfortunately wasn't quite enough. Still, that run is certainly going to help matters for us in future.

Here is the league cup update:

Ballymena Utd 1-4 East Belfast

Jones, Butler, Bond and Sproule get our domestic season off to a fantastic start

East Belfast 7-0 Armagh

Another brilliant win, and Bond was the star of the show this time, as he scored 4 goals to set up this huge margin of victory. Sproule got another 2, and young midfielder Bailie got the seventh with a penalty

East Belfast 2-2 Ballymena Utd

We went 2-0 down after half an hour, and a Phil Jones double saved the point for us

East Belfast 4-3 Ards

A high scoring game, and Bond, Jones (x2) along with Davis made it 4-1 after Ards had gone ahead early on. Ards pulled back two late on but we held onto the victory

Ards 1-5 East Belfast

Somehow the reserves did even better than the first team, as they got a game because we had already qualified. Leigh Newman scored 4 in his first game of the season, giving him an incredible strike rate Chris Savge got the fifth

Armagh 2-2 East Belfast

Again, the reserves did alright, and we secured top spot in the group. Ian Whitten and Jonathan Flanagan from the penalty spot put us ahead twice but Armagh came back twice to get a point

Onto the quarter final, where we played Dungannon, and Darren Butler scored twice to put us into the semis, which was against Ards once more. They were again beaten easily, 4-1 at home. Andrew Bond scored twice, and Jones along with Butler sealed the win, which led to another final against Linfield. They went two up quickly, and even though Bond pulled one back, Linfield again beat us in a final. Linfield

In the Antrim Cup, we only played one game, and the reserves did us proud, beating 1st Division Newington 4-0 at home. Newman, a Ewing double, and Savage scoring the goals.

The next update will finally incude some league games, and I imagine there will be a major fixture pile up at some point

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Ireland Premier Division, November and December 2019

I've decided to go to bi-monthly updates, which should make it a little easier on me, because I tend to get into a flow of playing.

We started the league campaign knowing that it would take a while to catch up to the leaders, and all we could do was to try and keep wining our games to close in on leaders Glentoran, who had a perfect record in their first 5 games. Linfield had already lost one, so they were at a major disadvantage, and we played them first too, which gave a lot of added spice to the opening day.

East Belfast 2-1 Linfield

We christened our new stadium for the league in style. Linfield went ahead early on, but Sproule equalised just after a quarter of an hour. I would have been happy with a draw, but then Robbie Ross picked a fine moment to score his first league goal to give us the win

Carrick 2-2 East Belfast

We were looking in good shape, after Jones scored twice to put us 2-0 up, but then Davis got sent off and Carrick came back to put a small dent in our ambitions even at this early stage

Cliftonville 1-3 East Belfast

Butler scored from a corner early on but then Cliftonville got a penalty which led to their equaliser. An O.G put us back in front before Sproule then secured our win

East Belfast 5-1 Portadown

Doubles from both Bond and Sproule, along with a Ewing penalty make this a comfortable win, even with Portadown's consolation near the end

East Belfast 4-0 Armagh

Another simple win, and Butler, Jones along with a second consecutive double from Bond pushed us further up the table

Crusaders 1-5 East Belfast

This time away from home, but another 4 goal winning margin. Jones scored one, and then Butler got sent off, but Bond got another double, and then Hirst scored another two to give us another win

East Belfast 7-2 Glentoran

Not quite sure what happened here. We just took all of our chances, and Bond kept up his fine form with a goal, but he was unfortunately injured and would be out for a month. Jones took up the mantle and scored a hat trick, and goals from Ross, Bond's replacement Newman, and Hirst sealed a massive win over our title rivals

East Belfast 1-1 Dungannon

We felt Bond's loss keenly, even though his replacement Newman scored our goal, Dungannon came back and equalised

East Belfast 2-0 Ballymena Utd

Back to business as usual, Newman kept up his great goalscoring record and Jones got our security goal in injury time

Bangor 1-2 East Belfast

Jones opened the scoring, but we went down to ten men and then Bangor equalised. Barely a minute later however, Newman scored our winner to keep up our great form thus far.

Unfortunately, a knock to Jones had meant that we are down to our 3rd and 4th choice strikers for the next game at least, and maybe a couple more. We are now in 4th, but if we win the rest of our games in hand we will comfortably be 1st.

[kroblues]

East Belfast: Northern Ireland Premier Division, Antrim Cup

I decided to break down the cup updates into seperate posts too, in order to keep them organised. I just completed the Antrim Cup campaign for this year, so here's the update.

After beating Newington 4-0 in the first round, we played Larne in the quarters. They held on for quite a while but this was the first team that they were playing against, and Phil Jones broke their resistance with a quarter of an hour left. He then scored a second to give us a 2-0 win and put us into a semi final game against Glentoran.

Phil Jones also opened the scoring in this game too, but Glentoran's top scorer ended up equalising for them with 15 minutes to go. Andy Sproule, on as a substitute, then scored a free kick two minutes later, and with five minutes to go he sealed it with another free kick. Final score: 3-1 to East Belfast

This led to yet another final against Linfield. They were certainly starting to annoy me, but to be the best you have to beat the best, as the saying goes, so it was another strong team that was put out. The only deviation from the strongest XI was Salt in for Sproule, who was still recovering from a minor injury. As in the two games before, Phil Jones gave us the lead, and despite us pushing for a second, Linfield equalised with 20 minutes to go. Then Sproule came on, and another of his trademark free kicks in injury time put us ahead! We then held on for a 2-1 win to seal another Antrim Cup win.

[MeLikeFM]

If you read my update, I regurulary make the Group Stages of European Comps with Shamrock Rovers but Trabsponspor always beat me. Surprisingly wonderful side.

You called us Rovers. I love you.