[FM10] Blyth Spartans - Sunday League To Champions League?!

[John_Utaka_17]

Game loaded with 10.2 database - FM10 - Large database - English Blue Square North/South upward leagues.

Blyth Spartans A.F.C

An Insight:

Blyth Spartans are a Semi-Professional Club Founded in 1899. They are currently playing in the Blue Square North. They are based in Northumberland and lies about 13 miles north of Newcastle. Northumberland's population is estimated at 311,000 with 36,000 in Blyth itself. Commonly known as The Spartans they play their home games at Croft Park which has a capacity of 4000 with only 563 seats. Croft Park recently transformed the Stadium by adding new dugouts and changing the terraces, these changes happened in 2007. The club is very weak in terms of facilities with basic training facilities and a very limited youth setup.

In terms of Fierce Rivals the club doesn't have any; however they are rivals with Gateshead and Whitley Bay.

The Spartans do have a growing history and have enjoyed good results in the FA Cup, as recent as last year they got to the third round for the second time but unfortunately suffered a 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

How it will Work:

I will post many things that happen in my career. These will be things like; League and Cup Results as well as transfers and player stats. My First update will be just after pre season to show how I got on in my friendly matches and any information regarding transfers and other useful facts.

[John_Utaka_17]

End of Pre Season:

Pre season is now over and I am fairly happy with my results so far. Only lost one game and that was to League 2 side Shrewsbury. I am still pleased with how my team played.

Aims for the season:

In terms of the league I am aiming for a top half finish, hopefully around the 8th mark. I would like a fairly good cup run and at least hope to play in the second round of the FA Cup and about the same in the FA Trophy.

The Board would like me to finish with a respectable league position, get to the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup and to the First Round of the FA Trophy.

Budget and Transfers:

My finances set me up with a transfer budget which was limited to 5k and my wage budget was set at about 4.275k and I am just under this at the moment.

I did make a few transfers but none going out, mainly because none of the current players have much value.

All Staff have remained at the club from the previous season however I made one inclusion through a scout. As you can see i have a very limited amount of staff to work with and the board won't allow me to add any other members of staff so they will have to do for the time being.

I requested for a new parent club and was delighted to see that Newcastle United was interested so that link is now intact. The probability of any of their players wanting to come on loan to me is very slim but will look forward to the friendly every season with the gate receipts coming to me.

The Assistant:

My Team Report from my assistant shows that I should consider buying another striker and I will look into that. As you can see I am playing a 4-2-4 which may seem adventurous but that’s the way I play. This may turn into more of a 4-4-2 with high wingers away from home but we will see as the season commences.

His views on my best players:

Joey Hutchinson - A resolute defender and my rock at the back.

Gareth Williams - A solid holding midfielder and my captain for the season.

Robert Dale - HUGE! At 6"7 he is going to be a threat in the air and will probably be the target man.

Extra News:

Probably the best bit of news I have received this season is that a consortium are planning a takeover of the club and this apparently includes a former footballer. Hopefully a cash injection will occur. This would come in handy as my Facilities are very poor so I need to upgrade the training facilities and more importantly the youth setup. However there is a fan day coming up so this may attract future fans.

I am very excited to get the season underway and my next post will probably be at the end of January to show my results, new signings and to let you know how the takeover gets on if it does at all.

Keep Reading......

[TomFM]

I will be following. This should be really interesting, good luck mate.

[John_Utaka_17]

January 2010

Current League Table:

Evaluation so far:

I am extremely happen with how my season is going so far. Currently second and have been juggling around from 1st to 6th all season. The main piece of news was that the takeover finally happened on the 22nd September after it was in doubt for some time. The new chairman is Dobririje Tanasijevic, a Serbian. He hasn't got a major amount with money but did put it 18k and is currently improving the training facilities. It was rumoured that I would get the sack once the takeover was complete but apparently he decided to keep me thankfully. In the cups I managed to progress through to the first round of the FA Cup and the same with the FA Trophy. Major injuries have hit me this season and you may see in my fixtures that I did have a really bad run of form at one point. I have only signed three more players since the last post. 2 are prospects and one loan signing from my parent club Newcastle - Wesley Ngo Baheng

Fixtures: 08/08/09 - 11/11/09... ...Fixtures: 14/11/09 - 2/02/10

The finances are stricken by the amount of the match day expenses. This season the club has spent £86,000 on match day expenses and has only recouped £30,000. This could seem to be a problem. I have had three fan days and two of which have been very successful. The club has sold just over 100 season tickets and the average attendance is just over 600 now but at £9 a ticket you can see why the balance is decreasing.

This is only a brief update but once I finish there will be a bigger update with a lot more information such as; player stats, league stats, final budget and many more so keep reading...

P.S. If you have any questions then feel free to ask...

P.P.S Whilst writing this and still playing the training facilities upgrade has now completed on the 6th March 2010.

[John_Utaka_17]

CHAMPIONS!!!

The season is over and here is how the League Table Finished.

Review

I am more than delighted with how the season finished, obviously. Finishing top was a massive shock and now i am looking forward to the challenge next year.

A highlight of the season was the nine game streak unbeaten however the disappointment was losing to my rivals Gateshead 3-0

A problem I seemed to have was conceding very late goals and i think this could go down to fitness, my players didn't look sharp after about 75 mins so this caused a massive problem. I believe I scored plenty of goals but I will be working on conceding less hopefully. So as you saw in the League Table Solihull Moors were also promoted. Redditch, Harrogate and Stalybridge were relegated.

In the BSS it was Chelmsford and Woking that were promoted with Basingstoke, Hayes and Lewes relegated.

Here is the last set of Results from the last update.

This is the First Team Tactics screen and also the First Team Stats.

I carried on playing the 4-2-4 formation until I had three main strikers all injured at the same time so I had to adapt to playing 4-4-2 for a while.

The star man for me was Robert Dale who was the league's top goal scorer as well as being voted Fans Player of The Year. Wesley Ngo Baheng was an amazing addition to the squad and I will be hoping to extend that loan for the forthcoming season. Newcastle accepted my offer for 3k for him but he doesn't want to make the move permanently despite claiming he was sad to leave.

A not so star man was Darren Craddock how managed to get himself three red cards and fourteen yellows. With an aggression stat of 20 this was to be expected.

This was my starting line up clearly laid out for you with some additional notes(if you want any screen shots let me know)

GK - Jamie Morse - signed for free, only young. Average rating: 6.80

DR - Darren Craddock - the aggressive right back. Average Rating: 7.02

DL -John Brackstone - good solid player: Average Rating: 7.18

DC - Joey Hutchinson - rock at the back. Average Rating: 7.08

DC - Dale Moon - signed later in the year and played well. Average Rating: 7.11

MC - Gareth Williams © - shipped in with 5 goals and played every game. Average Rating: 7.02

MC - Chris Mcabe - helped out with 10 assists and 2 goals. Average Rating: 6.95

ST - Robert Dale - the giant was my best player with 24 goals. Average Rating: 7.31

ST - Wesley Ngo Baheng - the loanee from Newcastle scored 17 in 23. Average Rating: 7.33

ST - Jake Vernon - 8 goals and 8 assists and still young. Average Rating: 6.89

ST - Scott Sinclair - 6 goals and 10 assists and also still young. Average Rating: 6.88

My Assistant Report at the end of the year shows that my best defender was Joey Hutchinson, my best midfielder was Chris McCabe and my best striker is Wesley Ngo Baheng.

Assistant's Best Eleven

The Board and Finances

Other Winners:

Premier League: Chelsea

Championship: Newcastle

League One: Leeds

League Two: Notts County

Blue Square Premier: Cambridge

FA Cup: Man City

League Cup: Aston Villa

Champions League: Real Madrid

World Cup: France

Johnstones Paint Trophy: Charlton

Summary

I am delighted with being promoted, however I know this year will be a massive challenge as I have very little money in the squad and the majority of my staffs contracts have expired and a few players have too. I will need to bring in a lot of new faces in so I will be definitely looking at some free transfers. I will let you know how pre season goes shortly.

As I said above, if you have any questions or request any screen shots then let me know.

[pooman2279]

Congrats! Wouldn't mind posting Robert Dales stats would you? Being "6,7" I imagine his heading and jumping stats are immense.

[John_Utaka_17]

Well funnily their not great for someone of his size. I think most of his goals came from the floor. But he still is a threat in the air.

Robert Dale

[John_Utaka_17]

End of Pre Season:

01/08/10

I had a horrible pre season this year. Didn't win a single friendly and got smashed 7-0 by Newcastle, this was to be expected though. I would like to add that they have a regen called Dan Bentley who destroyed me on his own!

Aims for the season:

The main aim will be to stay up this year. I think this will be a very difficult challenge with my finances getting worse and worse. I wouldn't be too supposed if i am forced into administration to be honest. I have started this season with a bank balance that is in the red and with none of my players really having any value to them i have no way of getting any extra income. I did manage to get a bumper crowd of 4000 when Newcastle cam to town so this was a help in hand as well as the annual fee they pay for being the parent club.

The Board are expecting me to stay clear of the relegation zone and to get into the first round of the FA Cup. I would like a good cup run this year because i need the money. They also expect me to get to the second round of the FA Trophy.

Budget and Transfers:

My finances set me up with a transfer budget which was limited to 1.5k and my wage budget was set at just under 6.5k and I am about 1k under at the moment.

I did make a few transfers to add a few extra players for the first team as well as few youngsters. Didn't get any money from players going out because they all left after their contract expired. No one offered for any of my other players.

Most of my staff left at the end of the year so i did have to bring a few new faces but the staff list is still very short, mainly to keep the finances low.

One piece of news that i was devastated to hear was that Newcastle didn't renew Wesley Ngo Baheng's contract and he didn't want to sign a contract for me despite offering him the maximum I could (including a 30k signing on fee!). He did move to Walsall but they wont allow him to move on loan because of his first team commitments. Newcastle didn't have any other players that were available for loan apart from a right winger that wasn't brilliant.

The Assistant:

My Team Report from my assistant shows that I should consider buying a better goalkeeper and I will look into that. As you can see I am now playing a 4-3-4 now. This is partly down to playing harder opponents and I will need more bodies in midfield. I may still play the 4-2-4 if i am heavy favourites but that doesn't seem likely.

His views on my best players:

Jordan Collins - Currently on trial and has had many clubs offering him a contract including me.

Jack Creswell - Walsall released him, being only 17 it looks like he will have a lot of potential.

Moses Ademola - I've gone for a bit of pace up front this season and another free transfer.

Extra News:

The current chairman says he intends to stay at the club for a very long time which isn't great to be honest because I would prefer another take over with someone who actually has money throughout the season rather than to upgrade my training facilities from minimal to fairly basic which was a bit of a waste of money.

I am very excited and weary to get the season underway and my next post will probably be at the end of January again to show my results, new signings and to let you know how the finances are. Oh and if the club is still alive!

Keep Reading......

[John_Utaka_17]

January 2011

Current League Table:

Evaluation so far:

I am fairly happy with how my season is going so far. Currently 14th in the league and my highest league position was about 10th. I believe i will need about 50 points to stay up because this is how much it was last year and i have nearly gained that because i am on 39. The main piece of news is that the finances are getting out of control! I am currently £127,000 in debt which is a lot of money for a club in the BSP. There seems to be a very thin chance of another owner of the club and i have no idea on how to reduce this debt. None of my players have much value to them and no one wants to buy them. In the cups I managed to progress through to the first round of the FA Cup an got beat by Brighton 4-2 but i was very unlucky.I am still in the FA Trophy and have got a replay against Eastbourne Borough. I have had a few injuries again this season and i am sticking with the 4-3-3 formation but with an 'anchor man'.

Updated Transfers:

I signed four more players in the first transfer window from when you last saw but none in January. Another loan from Newcastle was striker Aaron Spear.

Fixtures: 07/08/10 - 13/11/09... ...Fixtures: 20/11/09 - 29/01/10

This is another brief update because not a lot has happened since last time. The next one will be at the end of the season with a final league table and any other information.

Keep Reading and Posting...