dafuge's FM10 challenge

[TugSafc]

Tonbridge Angles - League 1 - 2014/2015

After stabilizing ourselves last year in League 1, our aims this year were to challenge for a play-off place. Like last season, we brought in a lot of loans to try and help us meet our aims and we were fantastic for most of the season. The first few games were a little shaky but from then on, we dominated the league, apart from the last quarter of the season when we had a very bad injury crisis and we could have won the league by a much bigger margin.

League Table

League Positions Graph

After about ten games we started to really show that we were in business to claim promotion and we had a couple of runs where we went 10 games unbeaten or so. We stayed at the top of the table most of the season with Charlton being our biggest challengers.

Transfers

We made a very tidy profit this season and this was because of the amount we brought in from selling players. I was very pleased with the £2.4m we got for Huyghebaert as I brought in a loan LB from Brazil who was just as good as him by my scout report. Also the £1.4m we received for Lippi was a good deal as we never really used him much because he didn't fit into my formation.

I did not want to let Hoiland go, but I guess we got decent money for him and we had a couple of strikers that were better so I would have rather let him go to get first-team even though this angered the fans.

Squad

We had built a squad that was not only good enough to gain promotion but to dominate the league with ease. But we had a lot of injury crisis in the second half of the season, and I mean a lot, especially in midfield which meant a lot of changes with our formation and which in return meant we lost quite a few games in the second half we probably wouldn't have if we didn't have the injury crisis. Our defense I thought was the strongest part of the team.

Finances

As you can see, we have a tidy balance at the moment, mainly because of the amount of transfer money we have brought in, but this will probably shoot down over pre-season until we get some home friendlies under way against higher reputation teams to get in some money that way.

FA Cup

We strolled through to the second round only to struggle against Port Vale at home which took the tie to a replay where we were disappointingly defeated 2-1, we just don't have any luck in any of the cups so far.

Key Players

Torric - Fantastic in the centre of midfield with Gavrilov, was surprised he gained a work permit when he signed, but he was one of our best signings

Badr Saykouk - Started the season brilliantly but wasn't as good in the second half of the season, although the injury crisis wouldn't have helped him

Alexandr Gavrilov - One of our loan signings and a great one of that he was, I'm sure he will proceed to be a great player in the future

Elia Galliani - I love this guy, on loan last season, we got him again this season and both seasons he has been excellent, if this guy doesn't get a chance in the Inter team after a few more year, then I will be surprised

Xabier Sanchez - For a 17 year-old defender he coped very well even though he was effected from the media at times, he was brilliant for his age, with even interest from Liverpool and Tottenham in January, he should be a star in the future

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South        1st         Champions
2011/12   Blue Square Premier      5th         Promoted via playoffs
2012/13   League 2                 1st         Champions
2013/14   League 1                 9th         N/A
2014/15   League 1                 1st         Champions

Next Season

Our aims next season are roughly a 12th-20th place. I would be very happy with this, but I actually think depending on who we sign then I think we could have another good top half finish and I may push for this if I think we are capable of doing this.

We will have to bring in a lot of defenders in pre-season, we will do this with mainly loans probably, as it seems to work really well at this type of level.

Striker wise. We have 2 young players coming in pre-season who look great so that should be sufficient enough for that position.

[jordanswinburn]

I'm not having the best of starts to the BSP. 2 losses and a draw. 1 goal scored. Seriously in need of an attacker. I miss Ajose ¬¬

[SnakeXe]

3 games into my 4-3-3 now, decided to go with quite a balanced philosophy that allows us to switch between playing more on the counter away from home and on the front foot at home. Results so far,

Canvey 2 - 1 Sunderland

Canvey 2 - 0 Leicester

Everton 1 - 3 Canvey

And all three of my strikers have scored in those games (Rooney and Vokes have two each). Starting to hope that I've really hit on the way to get this group of players performing to their best.

Good switch so far Terk, be interesting to see it's longevity

Is it a flat 4-3-3? Haven't used one of them since CM2!

[RomaRulez]

So here's a screenshot of: My Profile

I decided to go with the Robins for 2 main reasons. First off, you're not going to stand a chance to compete financially with the big boys if you have a tiny stadium. Carshalton has the biggest stadium of any Blue Square team that was eligible to be picked. Secondly because that stadium is listed as being poor shape, so I'm hoping that when I get promoted a couple of times the team will build a new pitch.

I have no idea how good the players & coaches are on this team yet or what formation and tactics I'm going to use. Typically when I take over a team I like to clean out the backroom staff and hire new people, but I have to be careful because it'll be difficult to attract people to a team with such a low reputation.

The club has 2 players coming in on a free on July 1st:

WB/L Derek Duncan - AFC Wimbledon

AMR Leon Osborne - BradI hford

Duncan is 23 years old and Osborne is only 20, so at least they're young. I'll have to scout them to figure out if they're any good.

I have an AssMan that I'd like to replace. Will have to see if I can find someone better. He's the only staff I have.

The opening expectations from the board are to avoid relegation. Regardless of what goal I shoot for I get no transfer budget. I get £500/week more wage budget if I say I can earn mid table or top half, so I picked mid table. No reason to put higher expectations on if the money is the same.

My BSS season starts on August 7th at home vs. Eastleigh. When I get to that game I'll make a preseason post. Between now and then I have 4 friendlies, 2 of which are against L2 opponents. Should be good chances to evaluate the team.

[ThfcJoe]

Hey. Starting this challenge, looks good.

Manager Profile:

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2792/joeharthoorn.png

[jordanswinburn]

Come on!

First win in the BSP. 7 games in. 1-0 win against Workington!

Will my joy be short-lived?

[Almondo]

Suppose I should be flattered by the fact that the media are linking me with the vacant Liverpool Managers job

[Terk]

Good switch so far Terk, be interesting to see it's longevity

Is it a flat 4-3-3? Haven't used one of them since CM2!

Oh yeah, it's very early days yet, but it's the most encouraging start I've had with a tactic in the last couple of seasons on this game, particularly given the level we're at now.

I tend to design the base of my tactic around what I would do playing a similar level of team at home, and then tweak it accordingly for games that don't fit into that scenario. The base of this one lines up like this, so in effect it's a 5x5 split in terms of attacking/defending duties. If we're playing a much stronger team away then I'd play 2 DMs and if we're defending a lead late on then I'll ask the two wider FCs to drop deeper and wider to protect against attacks from their full backs. I had a little bit of success with a 4-3-3 back in the BSS when I first took over at Canvey, but it's many a game since I've had any real prolonged success with it in any version of FM.

[jordanswinburn]

I have 7 strikers, and each one of them is completely useless. 12 games now, and only 2 of my goals have come from the strikers.

However, whilst I am losing a lot, I've only ever lost by 1 goal. So at least I'm keeping it tight. Should have beat Rushden though, I was 2-0 up and they brought it back to win 3-2. ¬¬

[Terk]

My scout just completed his latest search of England for the best U-18 talent. His highest recommendation? The striker Arsenal poached off me at the start of last season That hurt.

[Dons2387]

My scout just completed his latest search of England for the best U-18 talent. His highest recommendation? The striker Arsenal poached off me at the start of last season That hurt.

Pretty unfortunate to be honest. Hopefully you'll be able to find a gem like that in the near future that you manage to keep. I'd love for my scouts to find anyone that can help in the BSP

[Beerish]

Hi everyone, just finished my first season and I'm preparing for my first end of season write up. Sorry I didn't check on other people's games too much, I do tend to post in between season bursts!

Also, I have a feeling it's much too wordy...

[Beerish]

Oxford City - Blue Square North - Season 2010/11

Selecting this team purely on the basis of their cool sounding name and stylish kit (well...) things did not bode well for the side predicted to finish 21st out of 22 teams. But, with a combination of sheer blind luck, abuse of raw pace, and a new found loyalty to my latest adopted team, we managed to get promoted through the play-offs. This is how.

Pre-Season, and all the hopes and expectations therein

Adam Bowerman, Ian Sampson were loaned from Oxford, my parent team, and soon the wonderfully named winger Abdulai Bell-Baggie joined them from my other parent team, Reading, though it would be the only interaction I'd have with them all season! Centre-back Nick Buxton and ex-Newcastle man Glenn Reay were signed on free transfers before June was up. The first week of July saw the impending arrival of Toby Little from Hayes & Yeading completed, joining previous free agents James Marwood, pacy centre back Rhys Coleman, Scottish dynamos Sean Fitzharris and James Keatings as well as Stephen Laidler from Farnborough. Grant Gallacher and a desperately needed goalkeeper, Steve Wilson, would be my only other free transfer additions in pre-season, while Eddie Oshodi was recruited on loan from Watford.

Performances in the team were very average in the first friendly, a 1-2 defeat at home to Darlington, our solitary goal coming from substitute Sean Fitzharris. An epic 2-2 draw followed in the Oxford derby before my first win was recorded in a narrow 1-0 victory over Grays, Fitzharris netting the only goal. A disappointing loss at home to Horsham preceded routine wins over Chippenham and Eastbourne Boro and after 6 pre-season games, new hotshot Sean Fitzharris had 5 goals and optimism for the new season was high.

Transfers

As you can see, an exodus of players conicided with my arrival at the club, as is the norm in dafuge's challenge. Does dafuge cause mass unemployment? Hmm...

The Season!

I started the first month with fairly negative tactics and an awful goalkeeper in Steve Wilson, so at the start of September I made two decisions that would define my season; adopting my approach to a very attack-oriented 4-3-3 and signing a keeper who wasn't terrible. Rob Kiernan would later follow on loan from Watford, and his flexibility would prove invaluable.

September was duly welcomed with three straight league wins, all with a one goal margin, my defence staying fairly solid. A vital win at home to high-flying Boston United coupled with important 0-0 draws at Solihull Moors and Chester kept us unbeaten and propelled us up the table, as we laid just outside the play-offs. A run of 4 wins and a draw secured us there, before we came unstuck as a well-disciplined AFC Telford side beat us 3-1. This only spurred us onto greater things, going on an unbeaten run of 9 games with 21 goals scored (Marwood scoring 5 in consecutive games), many of them assisted by Milwall loan signing Kamil Tevlik, before Ilkeston shocked us at their place 4-2. Form here dipped slightly as we lost ground on Chester and Boston by dropping points against them, but the loan signing of centre back Jermaine Grandison from Coventry gave us some much needed stability.

Inconsistency threatened to wreck our season, as awesome 4-1, 3-0 and 5-0 wins with 5 goals from Fitzharris included were sandwiched by needless draws and missed opportunities. With injuries ravaging our whole squad, with top scorer James Keatings out for the rest of the season, our first choice midfield and half of our defence missing through injury, I signed Terry Stewart out of desperation more than anything. Despite not having played football for over a year, he slotted in wonderfully, earning us a scrappy, but much-needed 2-1 win at relegation candidates Hednesford. Approaching the last three games of the season, we were level on points with Chester, and Stafford weren't far behind in 3rd.

I predicted our home game with Droylsden to be tense, with the quality throughout their side, but we somehow gained a 6-0 win, giving us the advantage on goal difference over Chester. Alfreton was much the same game in scope, but the outcome was much narrower, Bell-Baggie sneaking a 1-0 win.

League Table before last game of the season

Going into the final game of the season at Northwich Victoria, all we had to do was match Chester's result at mid-table Hinckley. Unfortunately, even as they drew, we put in a shocking performance to concede the league title to them as the scoreboard flashed 1-0 to Northwich. Our play-off semi-final would be against Stafford Rangers.

We'd beaten each other on our home patches, so my attitude going to the first leg was slightly pessimistic. But spurred on by right back Grant Gallacher's solitary goal of the season, we bagged a superb 3-1 victory to take the advantage to our own turf. We took our foot off the pedal a bit in the second leg, but a 1-0 win for Stafford was not enough and we were through to face Southport in the final 3-2 on aggregate.

Pain-in-the-backside Jean-Yves Von Der Kaput cancelled out Ball-Baggie's opener, but James Marwood's electric long ranger restored our advantage before Ball-Baggie made it safe and we were promoted.

Final League Table

Positions Graph

Stats

Squad (End Of Season)

Doesn't show our incredible short-term loan signings, but the core did their job as well.

Finances (End Of Season)

Weren't helped by the fact that our attendances hovered around the 300 mark. Gulp.

FA Cup

The income would have been extremely helpful, but a weak side crashed out embarassingly to Truro.

FA Trophy

Margate were a strong team, but that was our worst defeat in the whole season.

Key Players

James Clarke

Converted to a left back early in the season as cover, he soon took over as starter and never looked back. Probably our most consistent player, no winger got the better of him. 2nd highest rating.

Abdulai Ball-Baggie

Dear me. Created all manner of chances with his blistering pace in our 4-3-3 formation, but 4 for finishing and 1 for composure made the process closer to torture.

Eddie Oshodi

Third highest rating in the team, was a rock at the back wherever he played. Missed out the play-off final with injury, but it was probably him that got us there.

James Keatings

The top scorer in the team, and his last game before his hip injury was in March! Took a while to find his feet, but was prone to going into runs of spree-like goalscoring.

James Marwood

Scored 5 penalties, a few free kicks, some crackers from long distance and generally had a positive role in the team from wherever he played.

Nick Buxton

Highest rating in the side over the season, missed a large portion through injury but was a rock at the back when he played. Awesome in the air.

Sean Fitzharris

Somewhat of an enigma to start with, as a great pre-season dissolved into profligacy, he turned a corner at the start of the year and finished with the most assists and could be relied upon for goals with Keatings' injury.

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square North        2nd         Play-off winners

Next Season

Aim for play-offs in the BSP, and get some more fans! Also, win both Oxford derbies.

[Terk]

Pretty unfortunate to be honest. Hopefully you'll be able to find a gem like that in the near future that you manage to keep. I'd love for my scouts to find anyone that can help in the BSP

I'm still smarting over it, to be honest. With my youth facilities now upgraded to 'adequate', I'm hoping that I might get a couple more decent players through, Mills is the only one so far who looked anywhere near good enough, though I did have to play my 17 year old youth academy keeper in the 4th qualifying round of the Europa League this season.

And just as I was starting to get my £6M Austrian striker playing really well, he's gone and broken his leg and is out for the rest of the season. I don't even have any money left to replace him in January. Might have to see if I can get a very cheap loan in, otherwise it could be sell one of my valuable youngsters to fund a new striker.

[Terk]

Great first season, Beerish And I don't mind a wordy report at all A shame you couldn't quite seal the title but at least you got your promotion.

James Keatings sounds like the BSN version of Michael Owen; all about injuries and goal scoring sprees.

Good luck for next season

[Almondo]

5 games to go in Boston's 1st ever season in the 2nd tier of English football and we appear to be safe. It seems as though my squad has gelled finally.

[Rattlesnake_85]

Nice write up Beerish well done on promotion, keep it up

[Terk]

Well done on survival, Almondo

After 14 games of last season we had 5 points and I was forced to go mega negative in the quest for survival. After 14 games of this season, the table looks like this. So over the past 38 games we have amassed 55 points, which would be enough for a top 10 finish if we put it together in the same season.

[CityAndColour]

Terk, 4-3-3 seems to be the way to go on 10.2, with that either being a lone striker with two advanced wingers or a flat three up front. I play a flat back four, a defensive midfielder, a ball-winner, an attacking central mid and a support target man up front flanked by an advanced forward and a poacher.

I just had 14 clear cut chances in a 7-1 FA Trophy win over Potter's Bar. Things are going well in Borehamwood at the moment, with nine wins from the first 14 games having us top of the BSS, the local wonderkid Brett O'Kane leading the league in assists and tackles, and Ademinho banging them in for fun.

[Beerish]

Ah Terk, good to see your Canvey Island in their rightful place! Keeping them up in their first season in the Prem was a phenomenonal achievement - well done. And don't forget, it's only anti-football when you win!

[Terk]

Terk, 4-3-3 seems to be the way to go on 10.2, with that either being a lone striker with two advanced wingers or a flat three up front. I play a flat back four, a defensive midfielder, a ball-winner, an attacking central mid and a support target man up front flanked by an advanced forward and a poacher.

Hence why I've been trying to develop one. Getting numbers into the box seems to be the key on 10.2 with the whole problem of converting clear cut chances. We do occasionally get a bit stuffed on the flanks, and if the opposition have very strong attacking full backs then I'll ask the wider two of my strikers to play as advanced wingers and put pressure on their full backs. For the main though, those two wider strikers are on support duties, linking with the two attack minded MCs and getting the ball into the central striker, who plays as an advanced forward.

Just played away against Liverpool though and set my front three up the way you described as they don't have the tallest of defenders in their team at the moment and it got us a 1-1 draw, so that's a useful variation if I want to play a bit more direct

Starting to get a few sell out crowds now, which is nice. Our average for the season is up over 10,000 and that makes such a difference, we're making a profit every month.

Cheers for the encouragement, Beerish I'm starting to get a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel that maybe, just maybe I could complete this challenge. I'm up for playing this save all the way until FM11 comes out, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to do so, anyway

[CityAndColour]

Hence why I've been trying to develop one. Getting numbers into the box seems to be the key on 10.2 with the whole problem of converting clear cut chances. We do occasionally get a bit stuffed on the flanks, and if the opposition have very strong attacking full backs then I'll ask the wider two of my strikers to play as advanced wingers and put pressure on their full backs. For the main though, those two wider strikers are on support duties, linking with the two attack minded MCs and getting the ball into the central striker, who plays as an advanced forward.

Yeah I guess I play the inverse way of that. I stick my quickest, more creative striker as the advanced forward, and he'll either get good chances from an angle or hit it across the box for the poacher to capitalise on. The central guy plays deeper with the aim of getting the outside forwards involved, and mopping up any rebounds or balls through the centre. With this set up I always have all three forwards returning goals too.

I have my width set to two notches above the middle.

[jordanswinburn]

Shock horror, I have found a striker in my squad who isn't completely useless. Colin Larkin. 15 games, 8 goals.

It's horrifically tight down at the bottom. Hinckley sit comfortably in 24th with 11 points after 27 games. Kettering 23rd with 20. Then from 22nd to 16th, there's only 5 points between them. One win can take you out, and a loss can put you straight back in. I've bounced from 21st to 17th about four times now. Did just trash Gateshead in 16th 3-0 though, so that will hopefully bring some good luck.

[Terk]

My central striker definitely carries the goal burden, but the other two chip in with their fair share. I went with the two deeper lying strikers because I have more creative strikers than I have absolute finishers, so with the two creative players dropping off and finding space there are more openings created for the midfielders who I like to get ahead of the ball.

Also noticing that, with the relative lack of width, my full backs are becoming very important, particularly in the transition between defence and attack. They need to get forward enough to keep the opposition full backs wide and stop them from simply flooding the centre of the park to stop my strikers, but given that I have two of my three midfielders going forward, my full backs can't be too gung ho and play as out and out wing backs. It's a tough balancing act and the key stat I'm not willing to compromise on with my full backs now is work rate. Kyle Naughton, even at 33 and playing on the left rather than his natural right side, is quickly becoming a legend in this formation.

[Terk]

Shock horror, I have found a striker in my squad who isn't completely useless. Colin Larkin. 15 games, 8 goals.

It's horrifically tight down at the bottom. Hinckley sit comfortably in 24th with 11 points after 27 games. Kettering 23rd with 20. Then from 22nd to 16th, there's only 5 points between them. One win can take you out, and a loss can put you straight back in. I've bounced from 21st to 17th about four times now. Did just trash Gateshead in 16th 3-0 though, so that will hopefully bring some good luck.

Good luck Sounds like if you can string a few wins together from somewhere then that could be the key to safety.

[hrbfcrule]

After 14 games of last season we had 5 points and I was forced to go mega negative in the quest for survival. After 14 games of this season, the table looks like this. So over the past 38 games we have amassed 55 points, which would be enough for a top 10 finish if we put it together in the same season.

Well done on an impressive turn around Terk Looks like its Liverpool's turn to get relegated on your game, at least I hope it is.

[TugSafc]

Our first season in the Championship and we started great with these 2 results:

Sheff Wed 0-2 Tonbridge

Tonbridge 3-1 Coventry

I think I got my hopes up thinking, maybe, we have a good enough team to go straight to the Premier, but maybe we don't, our next 2 games:

Leicester 2-1 Tonbridge

Tonbridge 0-1 Nottingham Forest

So and up and down start to season, still what I expected though so I'm happy so far.

[Almondo]

Boston united season 15 2024/25

League Table , Position Graph final position - 11th

A very good season all in all. With the bookmakers and media predicting that we would head straight back down to League 1 it looked at the start of the season as if they would be proved right. However once the squad gelled together we started to play as a team and managed some decent results. Once we got out of the relegation zone we didn't look back and marched up the table eventually finishing 11th.

Cups

I wasn't bothered about the cups to be honest as all the Pilgrims really cared about was staying in the highest ever division they have played in. That being said we managed to make the 2nd round of the League cup. However the best result was taking Manchester United to a FA Cup 4th round replay at Old Trafford after holding them to a draw at York St.

FA Cup

League Cup

Transfers

The biggest transfer news was that fact that I sold Marcus Higgs, a Central Defender for £2 million although the board only gave me £1.4 million of that as budget. Not a bad profit after getting him on a free. I managed to sign a central defender of similar quality form Scunthorpe inthe shape of Gavin Kirk. Kirk has international caps for Northern ireland. The funniest thing is that Higgs is at Huddersfield bulking out their reserve squad.

Star Player

The star player this season has been Roberto Allevi

The young Itallian goalkeeper was aquired on a free and once settled between the sticks looked extremely comfortable and seemed as though he'd been there for years.

Key Players

I can't pick any one player as a key player as all the squad were great so here is the Squad

Other news

Republic of Ireland manager Kevin Killbane has finally recognised the class of Aiden Campbell and has decided to give him his first few International caps.

Finances

Season           League              Final Position               Achievments
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11       Blue Square North          7th                         none
2011/12       Blue Square North          2nd                       Promoted Via Playoffs
2012/13       Blue Square Premier        15th                        none  
2013/14       Blue Square Premier        20th                        none
2014/15       Blue Square Premier        12th                        none
2015/16       Blue Square Premier        3rd                       Lost in Playoff Final   
2016/17       Blue Square Premier        1st                       Automatic Promotion, FA Trophy
2017/18       Coca Cola League 2         2nd                       Automatic Promtion
2018/19       Coca Cola League 1         21st                      Relegated to League 2
2019/20       Coca Cola League 2         4th                       Lost in Playoff Final
2020/21       Coca Cola League 2         4th                       Promoted via Playoffs
2021/22       Coca Cola League 1         9th                         none
2022/23       Coca Cola League 1         11th                        none
2023/24       Coca Cola League 1         1st                       League 1 Champions
2024/25       Coca Cola Championship     11th                        none

Other Winners

Premier League - Manchester City

FA Cup - Arsenal

Carling Cup - Wolverhampton Wanderers

Champions League - Inter

UEFA Cup - Benfica

Aims for next season

Consolidate position and maybe push up the table.

[RomaRulez]

I'm curious if your team has built a new stadium for you? You're now 15 years into your sim with a team that started with a decent sized stadium for the Blue Square, but now you're up in the CH and looking to go higher. Your stadium would now be almost 100 years old. Have they built you a new one?

[Almondo]

I'm curious if your team has built a new stadium for you? You're now 15 years into your sim with a team that started with a decent sized stadium for the Blue Square, but now you're up in the CH and looking to go higher. Your stadium would now be almost 100 years old. Have they built you a new one?

No not yet. It's taken a fair while for them to agree to upgrade the youth facilities

[dafuge]

Tooting & Mitcham United FC - Barclays Premier League - 2040/41

We have been dominant in the league in recent years but our cup performances have been rather poor.

League Table

League Positions Graph

I honestly though this was going to be the year that we lost our title as Man Utd led the way for the first half of the season. Their form didn't last and in the end we won it comfortably.

Community Shield - it took a while, but we got the win we deserved.

Carling Cup - finally, we had a good cup run. The final was a bizarre replica of the Community Shield.

FA Cup - we just couldn't come back after going two goals down to Stoke.

UEFA Champions League - we threw away top spot in the group stage with a shocking 4-0 loss to Fiorentina. We had a fairly lucky run to the final, but AC Milan hammered us in the final.

Transfers - nothing to see here.

Squad - we are so close to an all-T&M team now. I am very happy with our defence but we are still lacking a couple of good attacking players.

Key Player Profiles:

Jon Punal - he scored most of our goals once again, he is going to be hard to replace.

Tom McGoldrick - it has happened a year early, but his time has come. He wanted a new challenge and requested a transfer, so I cashed in and arranged a £55m move to AC Milan. The most annoying thing was that he missed the CL final against his new team due to a small injury he picked up in training just days before the final.

Seb Salmon - Ramm, Shutt, Sills, Fry and now Salmon. He becomes the fifth player from our youth team to get the coveted 'wonderkid' tag. About time too as well.

Richard Jones - another player who will be leaving at some point in the next year, he had a great season.

Geoff Bowles - it has been a long time coming, but he will finally get his chance as he becomes an automatic first team player. He won't be able to replace McGoldrick, but then again, who could?

Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South        5th         Promoted via playoffs
2011/12   Blue Square Premier      8th
2012/13   Blue Square Premier      2nd         Promoted via playoffs, FA Trophy finalists
2013/14   Coca-Cola League 2       6th         Lost in playoff final
2014/15   Coca-Cola League 2       1st         Promoted as champions
2015/16   Coca-Cola League 1       4th         Promoted via playoffs, JPT finalists
2016/17   Coca-Cola Championship   9th
2017/18   Coca-Cola Championship   6th         Lost in playoff semi
2018/19   Coca-Cola Championship   4th         Promoted via playoffs
2019/20   Barclays Premier League  16th        
2020/21   Barclays Premier League  11th
2021/22   Barclays Premier League  3rd         FA Cup finalists
2022/23   Barclays Premier League  7th         Carling Cup finalists, FA Cup winners
2023/24   Barclays Premier League  3rd
2024/25   Barclays Premier League  5th         Champions League finalists
2025/26   Barclays Premier League  3rd         Carling Cup finalists
2026/27   Barclays Premier League  2nd
2027/28   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Champions League winners
2028/29   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL and CWC winners, Carling Cup finalists
2029/30   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL, CWC, FA Cup and Carling Cup winners
2030/31   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL, CWC, and Carling Cup winners
2031/32   Barclays Premier League  3rd         Club World Cup winners
2032/33   Barclays Premier League  2nd         FA and Carling Cup winners
2033/34   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL and Carling Cup winners
2034/35   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CWC FA and Carling Cup winners
2035/36   Barclays Premier League  1st         PL, CL, FA Cup and Carling Cup winners
2036/37   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Club World Cup winners
2037/38   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Champions League winners
2038/39   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Club World Cup winners
2039/40   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League winners and FA Cup finalists
2040/41   Barclays Premier League  1st         Premier League and Carling Cup winners, Champions league finalists

Next Season

We have one more year before we move into the new stadium, so this will be my last season with the three remaining 'signed players' Punal, Scales and Jones. I would be happy just to retain the PL title again but I would love to win the CL once more.

[SnakeXe]

Looks like things are going well for you now Terk nearly finished my season, just got the World Cup 2034 to play and I'll be posting an update

Edit: Good season again dafuge, finally had another couple of prospects through my academy worthy of the name so I'll be edging a little closer to that ideal myself

[RomaRulez]

No not yet. It's taken a fair while for them to agree to upgrade the youth facilities

Interesting. Thanks.

[jordanswinburn]

Good luck Sounds like if you can string a few wins together from somewhere then that could be the key to safety.

Looking good so far. Only lost 2 in the last 10. Won 5. Drawn 3. It's put me 15th, 11 points clear of relegation with 8 games to go.

[Beerish]

Just as a general query, what have people found to be the tightest league in their long trek upwards?

[Guest roberto922]

Haven't played in it this year but in previous editions BSP was always a toughie

[Cardiovascular]

Finding L2 a toughie at the moment, did get relegated from the BSP but bounced back, established myself then got promoted. Have been in L2 for about 6 seasons I think.

[dafuge]

Just as a general query, what have people found to be the tightest league in their long trek upwards?

It would be the Premier League for me, seems to take me a while to finally crack it.

[CityAndColour]

Boreham Wood - 2012/13 - Blue Square South

Table

This was the season when everything clicked. We were outstanding defensively and reasonably prolific up front, and never even looked like slipping up.

Position graph

Once we hit top spot, the only time it was relinquished was when we had games in hand.

Up front, my strikers were excellent, with four of my five strikers hitting at least a dozen each. Former Mansfield man Kyle Perry scored 19, Leon Mettam and Charles Ademeno had 16 apiece and Ben Jones had 12 (all of these are real players so I'm not going to give screenshots). Ademeno scored 12 in his first 14 before having two months off with knee ligament damage, and he wasn't the same player after.

Other key players were Chris Tremarco and Joe Magunda at the full back spots, Mark Millar as an attacking central midfielder and Andy Ferrell as a defensive mid.

Brett O'Kane

Honestly, what more can be said? He absolutely ran the show as you'd expect, led the league in assists as a ball-winning midfielder and chipped in with nine goals and the second best average rating in the league. His stats are insane for a teenager too. Every technical and physical attribute is in double figures, while only aggression, flair and influence are under 11 in his mental stats. Having only 5 for influence is annoying, as every other stat is perfect for captaincy (16 workrate, 15 teamwork, 16 composure, 15 concentration, 16 bravery).

Hands down the most balanced youth player I've had on any version and amazingly, I've only had two measly bids for him, despite just about every team below the EPL and in Scotland being interested at some stage and my finances being poorish.

Anyway, one of the benefits to spending three seasons in the BSS is that I've pretty much already got a team good enough for the BSP. Maybe another central midfielder and a keeper.

---

2010/11 - BSS - 8th

2011/12 - BSS - 8th

2012/13 - BSS - 1st (promoted as Champions)

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

that Brett O'Kane is unreal for BSS!

What's his value?

[CityAndColour]

Only 60K. The two bids I got for him were both around 100K, one up front and one in installments. Neither were accepted over my head thankfully.

My youth facilities are adequate though, which I think is what Terk has in the Premier League.

[Terk]

Just as a general query, what have people found to be the tightest league in their long trek upwards?

The further you go the harder it gets, in my experience so far. League 2 was tough, but in the lower divisions getting in just one top quality player can make the difference in your season and that's much less the case in the Championship and the Premier League, where you have to have much better strength in depth across your squad. I very nearly paid for having too many average players in my squad in the PL.

I may occasionally talk about blowing my budget on one mega player, but to be honest I'm always going to go for the option at this level of slowly growing the overall quality of the squad.

[CityAndColour]

Starting to get some Premier League interest in O'Kane now, with Newcastle and Peterborough both apparently willing to pay $275K, which the board would obviously accept (and I wouldn't begrudge him a move to the top level either).

[Beerish]

First game of the BSP campaign? A 2-1 win away to Wrexham that we somehow managed to dig out after going 1-0 down in the first half.

[Terk]

The wheels have come off a little. Had 5 games in 13 days over the new year period and went into it with a few players out injured, so I haven't been able to rotate through these games. My players are now dropping like flies and we didn't win any of those 5 games (3 draws, 2 defeats) and we have another 5 games in the next 13 days.

[SnakeXe]

Just as a general query, what have people found to be the tightest league in their long trek upwards?

Championship - only league I ever thought I was going to be relegated from. Premiership was hard, but I never really was in terrible relegation worries. League One and below I was competitive from the first season

[SnakeXe]

Season 24 - SnakeXe's Merthyr Tydfil

Premier League - 1st, Champions (Table)

Champions League - Winners

FA Cup - Winners

League Cup - Winners

Club World Championship - Winners

European Super Cup - Winners

Community Shield - Runners Up (lost v Liverpool)

Transfers

Another cakewalk other than the Community Shield (noooooooooooooooooooo!)

Grabbed myself another wonderkid, Stuart Harris. He's a centre-half who should be capable of taking on the task of succeeding the legend that is Xavier Garate when the great man decides to hang up his boots. I'm hoping he's got another season or two left in him yet though!

Julien Wiesemes had a great year individually, bringing home World Footballer of the Year, World Player of the Year, European Footballer of the Year, European Midfielder of the Year, English Footballer of the Year, Champions League Best Player, and making World Team of the Year plus the Champions League Dream Team.

Massimiliano Maggio continued his great form, picking up 38 goals this season, plus European Striker of the Year and the Champions League golden boot.

The League Cup was won against Spurs, they gave us a decent game and it looked like not being our day as we piled forward only to be repelled again and again, but eventually wonderkid John Hollis broke their resistance, before Daniel Lanza grabbed the winner in extra time.

The FA Cup was a brilliant match against Man City, who, having beaten us 4-0 earlier in the season () were feeling confident. When they went 2-0 up without breaking a sweat, they probably felt cockier still, but we nicked a goal back and my half-time team talk worked wonders - storming away to a 4-2 win.

The Champions League was far more routine, with a 2-1 win over Fiorentina securing the trophy yet again.

One of my ex-academy graduates Paul Smith is now Everton manager, and ex centre-half Christian Bordes, who helped us to complete the challenge for the first time, is now managing France

And my job security is the best I've ever seen on FM10 now!

On a personal note, it's nice to see us supply 5 players to the England World Cup squad - including our very own academy graduate Joe Thomas.

Season    League                  Position  Achievements                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square South       1st       Blue Square South Champions, Promoted
2011/12   Blue Square Premier     1st       Blue Square Premier Champions, Promoted
2012/13   Coca-Cola League Two    4th       Play-Off Winners, Promoted
2013/14   Coca-Cola League One    6th       Play-Off Semi-Finalists
2014/15   Coca-Cola League One    4th       Play-Off Semi-Finalists
2015/16   Coca-Cola League One    17th      Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners
2016/17   Coca-Cola League One    2nd       Promoted
2017/18   Coca-Cola Championship  18th      None
2018/19   Coca-Cola Championship  21st      None
2019/20   Coca-Cola Championship  9th       None
2020/21   Coca-Cola Championship  6th       Play-Off Winners, Promoted
2021/22   Premier League          13th      None
2022/23   Premier League          14th      None
2023/24   Premier League          9th       None
2024/25   Premier League          4th       League Cup Runners Up
2025/26   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions
2026/27   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, League Cup Winners
2027/28   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, League Cup Winners, Club World Championship Winners
2028/29   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, FA Cup Winners, Club World Championship Winners
2029/30   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, FA Cup Winners, League Cup Winners, Club World Championship Winners
2030/31   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, FA Cup Winners, Club World Championship Winners
2031/32   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, Club World Championship Winners
2032/33   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, FA Cup Winners, League Cup Winners, Club World Championship Winners[b]
2033/34   Premier League          1st       Premier League Champions, Champions League Winners, FA Cup Winners, League Cup Winners, Club World Championship Winners[/b]

Previous Season Reports:

Season 1 - 2010/11

Season 2 - 2011/12

Season 3 - 2012/13

Season 4 - 2013/14

Season 5 - 2014/15

Season 6 - 2015/16

Season 7 - 2016/17

Season 8 - 2017/18

Season 9 - 2018/19

Season 10 - 2019/20

Season 11 - 2020/21

Season 12 - 2021/22

Season 13 - 2022/23

Season 14 - 2023/24

Season 15 - 2024/25

Season 16 - 2025/26

Season 17 - 2026/27

Season 18 - 2027/28

Season 19 - 2028/29

Season 20 - 2029/30

Season 21 - 2030/31

Season 22 - 2031/32

Season 23 - 2032/33

[SnakeXe]

Season 24 - SnakeXe's International Career - Italy

World Cup Qualifying - 1st (Group 8)

World Cup - Winners

Friendlies - Played 3, Won 2, Drawn 0, Lost 1

The World Cup Qualifying ended with a 100% record, so I was fairly optimistic ahead of the World Cup. However, my first ever defeat as Italy manager in a friendly against Argentina was not ideal preparation for the finals.

Still, I went into the group stages feeling confident - confidence that was clearly misplaced. An opening 0-0 draw against Romania wasn't too concerning as they have some very good players, and we were the better side, but a 2-1 loss against Egypt was unforgivable.

Luckily we managed to put together enough of a performance against Algeria to record a 2-0 win, and qualify in second place behind Romania. 3 goals (all scored by Maggio) and just one win from such an easy group left me feeling worried ahead of the knockout stages, so I changed systems from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and hoped for the best.

I was rewarded with a much better performance against Portugal in the 2nd Round, taking a 3-1 lead after 75 minutes. I hadn't reckoned without some comedy defending though, and Portugal scored twice in two minutes to take it to extra time. Both sides were clearly nervous, as nothing much happened in the added period, so penalties it was.

Italy keeper Salvatore Venturi made up for his earlier clownery to save one of Portugal's five kicks, and luckily we put all five our ours in the back of the net to get through to the next round.

Next up was a truly mental Quarter Final against Germany. We took the lead early on, only for the Germans to smash 3 past us to take a seemingly insurmountable lead. Insurmountable clearly does not translate to Italian, however, as Giuseppe Grossi came off the bench, pounded in a couple of belters to take the tie to extra time and slotted home the hattrick from close range to win it 4-3!

With Grossi well and truly cementing his place in the starting lineup, I was again feeling confident ahead of a semi-final against Croatia. Again, this confidence seemed well-placed after storming into a 3-0 lead, Maggio's 5th goal of the tournament kicking things off this time. Again, we tried to throw it away, Croatia bringing it back to 3-2 by the 76th minute, but we hung on to claim an unlikely (considering our rubbish performances) place in the Final against France.

The Final (from a Merthyr perspective) was Maggio vs Magalhaes - the precocious young striker vs the sublimely talented playmaker. It would be Maggio who struck first blood with the opener for Italy after just 7 minutes, a lead which was doubled by Stefano Soave just before half time. I wasn't going to make the same mistake again with over-confidence, and aimed to hold on to the ball and frustrate the French in the second half. The plan looked to have backfired when France grabbed one back, but Campagne's strike was all that was to come - Italy winning their first World Cup since 2006!!

Maggio claimed the golden boot with 6 goals, to finally announce his arrival on the international stage

Season    Nation                  Achievements                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2030/31   England                 None
2031/32   England                 European Championship Winners
2032/33   Italy                   None[b]
2033/34   Italy                   World Cup Winners[/b]

Previous Season Reports:

Season 21 - 2030/31

Season 22 - 2031/32

Season 23 - 2032/33

[Beerish]

Unreal. Shaun Cummings, on loan from Reading scores 4 goals on his full debut from right wing! Shame I'd already given him subs appearences, means I don't get a record.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

FC United - Season 2010/2011 - Blue Square North

The League:

We started the season on fire really with 3 straight victories but after that we let our form dip slightly winning just one out of the next five. Our main problem for a while was clean-sheet's, especially away from home and after 7 away games, we had picked up just 5 points and conceded 13 goals in the proccess compared to conceding 3 in our first 8 home games and winning 5.

Things started to change a little around the Christmas period, we won two straight away games, 0-1 and 0-2, I thought that could of been the turning point but for some reason, it was just a straight swap as we lost our next two home games 0-3 and 1-4, this came after conceding just 5 goals in our first 12 home matches!

Just after the half way stage, we found ourselves around the play-offs spots in a tight group of teams, seperated by 5/6 points were about 10 places! Unfortunately we couldn't seem to find any consistancy as our first 3 league games all ending in victories was the only time throughout the season we were able to string 3 back to back wins together.

Throughout the season, I went with a 4-4-2 formation simply because I didn't have enough midfielders to really play a 4-4-1-1 which I'll look to do next year successfully. Alot of injuries hampered our season, although things looked brighter after we went 6 unbeaten including 4 victories from matches 30-35 to push into 5th place, 2 points clear of 6th place.

However this position was short lived as we lost the very next game before losing to Fleetwood who had just over-took us the week before to be 4 points behind a play-off spot with 5 games remaining. We recovered quickly from this and won 3 games out of the next 4 to leave us just one point behind Fleetwood going into the final game of the season.

Unfortunately on the last day, we couldn't break down a tough Alfreton side while Fleetwood won comfortably against Worcester to book their place in the play-off's. It was a solid season for us but our main problems were the fact we rarely won comfortably. We struggled to score too many goals which meant if our defence weren't performing well then we would have no chance of winning a match and throughout the season, that was the case in many games.

League Table.

Home Form.

Away Form.

The Squad!

Goalkeeper - Sam Ashton - Had a pretty solid season for us, he's a good keeper and throughout the season could rarely blame him for many goals scored while in the proccess he pulled off some fantastic saves.

Right Back - Shaun Densmore - At right back for most of the season was this lad, payed £60,000 for him (mostly in installments) but he was really good for us and will be in the plans next year.

Left Back - Simon Garner - Good left back, was at the club at the start of the season, despite his free-kick rating, he didn't score one all season (free-kick) and also gave away 4/5 costly penalties but his overall level of performance was okay.

Centre Back - Craig McAughtrie - He was decent for us but getting on a little now and got caught in behind a few times throughout the season but was experienced and will provide decent cover next season.

Centre Back - Greg Young - Probably our best player throughout the season. Quick, strong, good in the air and despite looking a little on the gay side, he was absolutely top notch for us.

Right Midfield - Lewis Nightingale - Bought as a central midfielder but could also play on the right. Caused teams alot of problems on the right, cutting inside but also having ability on the outside. Good season for him.

Central Midfield - Jonathan D'Laryea - Holding midfield player, did the dirty work, broke the play up well and had an okay season but nothing special, expecting more next season.

Central Midfield - Dorian Smith - He didn't start early on and had a limited impact but a few injuries bought him into the side and his performances kept him there as in the 2nd half of the season, he was probably our best player.

Left Midfield - Zeyn S-Latef - Highest wage player and his performances for the most part showed why, although he didn't add enough end product to his game, something which can be improved for next season.

Striker - Tom Denton - On loan from Huddersfield, he played well, as the more deep lying striker, scored plenty of goals and overall was the better of the two strikers.

Striker - Tony Gray - He scored more than his partner but often throughout spells in the season, he would go completly missing which didn't help but a fairly good season taking everything into account.

Cups and Finances:

Neither cup run went particularly well. In the Fa Cup, we were knocked out by fellow Conference North side Gainsborough Trinity in the 4th round of qualifying, while in the Fa Trophy, we lost away at Accrington Stanley (who are they?) in the first round fairly comfortably.

Fa Cup Defeat

Fa Trophy Defeat

Financially, I was pretty stable throughout the season and never once dropped into the red. Luckily, we were hitting attendances of 2,000+ per week which meant fairly big turnover. Season ticket sales, also gives us £100,000+ in turnover. This years wages were high but I'm looking to trim that down a little more to save money and hopefully help our further growth in future years.

Finances

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11   Blue Square North        7th         N/A