dafuge's FM11 challenge

[Scooty_BAFC]

NANTWICH TOWN - Blue Square North 2013/14

League Table

Woohoo! After 2 horrible failures in the playoffs I managed to win the league at the 3rd time of asking. Comfortably too. I had 2 losses right at the end when the league was all sewn up so I was mixing it up a bit. Otherwise it could've been even clearer. Had a few strange results. Only 1 of my 8 defeats was against a team in the top half, that being Nuneaton who beat me 5-4 near the beginning of the season. Bottom side Droylsden did the double over me!

Positions Graph

Believe it or not I started the season horrifically inconsistent. Despite having an amazing squad for this level so I thought I couldn't seem to string any wins together. But all of a sudden it just clicked and we rose to the top and never looked back.

Transfers

My lowest amount of signings in a season so far. But all were outstanding for most parts. Darryl Duffy (old screenshot I know but I'm too lazy to do a recent one) in particular tore the league apart. He scored 36 goals and made 22 assists in all competitions.

Squad

Can't complain about anyone in the squad. My first choice 11 were all superb and whenever I needed to call on any backups they fitted straight in no trouble. At this point I'm expecting my squad to remain very similar in the BSP.. although that might change if I find some freebies I just can't say no to.

First time I've mentioned the cups since starting this challenge. For a good reason.. it's the first time I've won any cup matches. In the FA Cup I reached the 2nd round beating BSP Port Vale and League 2 Morecambe on the way. Eventually Hereford beat me 2-1 at their place.

FA Cup Results

In the FA Trophy it was slightly less successful but I still reached the 2nd round beating BSP Barrow on the way before Wrexham dumped me out 3-1. The Wrexham match got postponed twice so I ended up playing it in the middle of a horrible cluster of games in January. League took priority so I rested a few for the Trophy game. That's my excuse anyway.

I don't have a proper goal of the season award this time around because out of my 100 or so goals scored in the season, hardly any were particularly good ones. Here's 2 that stood out enough at the time for me to save them though:

Darryl Duffy - First time I've had a player score with a chip on this game. And it came against higher opposition in the FA Cup.

Soloman Taiwo - Long range effort from Taiwo after a neat breakaway.

Next season: With this squad plus 1 or 2 introductions I should probably have a chance of another promotion. But I'm tactically inept so I'll settle on a mid table finish. Finances also need improving. But I always struggle with finances until I'm in the football league so I'll worry about them later.

Season          League                  Position           Info
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12         Blue Square North       5th                Lost in Playoff Semi Final
2012/13         Blue Square North       4th                Lost in Playoff Final
2013/14         Blue Square North       1st                Promoted as Champions

[roseboy64]

@Roseboy64

I am enjoying both

Managed to do that yeah and got to January now.

[roseboy64]

Managed to climb from mid-table to just outside the playoffs now. 12 points off the leaders.

[vikeologist]

I don't know, but I reckon we should start the campaign. He's (Jordan Swinburne) embarrassing the rest of us

I, on the other hand, am taking a sort of perverse pleasure in making the rest of you look good. At the very least I think I'm the only person who has confessed to being out of my depth managing clubs at any higher level than a Primary School team.

After relegation in my first season, I am now with my second club.

I applied for the job and was given it quite legitimately, and they are a newly promoted club in the 2012/13 season. I have to say, it's very refreshing to be working with a board that look beyond such petty things as my past record, abysmally low reputation and questions such as 'How do you pronounce the name of your dinky little club?'

Anybody can achieve 3 straight promotions and an FA Cup win, but the taste of victory will be all the sweeter for me.

[jordanswinburn]

I've just realised how many ex-City players I have in my squad. Veseli, Henshall, Ibrahim, Nimely, Rusnak, Elabdellaoui. You'd think I was some sort of City fan or something

[jordanswinburn]

Anybody can achieve 3 straight promotions and an FA Cup win, but the taste of victory will be all the sweeter for me.

Can I start following Vikeologism?

[jmknpk]

anyone else finding fitness to be a big problem? i am finding by about 60mins half my team is at 60% and having to sub people off or lose performance and even then can only replace 3 of them so last 20 mins of the game i am constantly conceding!

I've only got one win in Blue Square South while I'm active, but I think I've got fitness under control. I went out and found a coach with a good (8) fitness rating. My club can't afford a fitness coach, but I get 2 coaches and I assign that coach to strength and aerobic. I also try to sign players with a 10 or higher stamina. Sometimes I need to settle for some with an 8 or maybe lower, but I try to avoid those if at all possible. Early in the pre-season I set individual training schedules that focus primarily on strength/aerobic, gradually cutting these back as the season approaches. And I have many friendlies. Wear the players out in the pre-season, but it seems to build their endurance for the regular season.

I haven't done it, but I saw a note in the manual that a physio with a high fitness rating can also help.

Anyway with a combination of these things I don't have too much trouble with fitness. Most players starting out at 98-100% can finish the match above 70% and be ready for next week's match.

[KLH84]

Interested to gauge opinion on when to offer full time vs part time contracts.

Now into my third season (first in the BSP) I have taken on a Scout with 15 for Ability and 16 for Potential (woohoo) on a full time basis as well as two full time coaches. Two players in my squad are on full time contracts and I am now looking to make all new contracts full time.

What has everyone else done in the BSP? Are you sticking to part time at the moment or pushing on and trying to take advantage of full time training?

[pickemgenius]

HENDON DONS PRESEASON REPORT: 2015/16

npower championship

notes:

ok wtf is this new stadium has to be scrapped. fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

New Budget: 1.7mill transfer/ 70k/week wage. Might trim the transfer to get bigger wage if needed. (which I did a bit)

It's so weird being able to sign really good players.

New Signings:

Liam Morgan:GK, $1400/week 3 years. 16/20 scout says Good EPL goalie. 18 years old(18 >1month after sign date of june 5)

Anduele Pryor:everywhere midfielder, $6250-/week 2 years. 30 years old

Mohamed Benmoussa:GK, $1500/week 3 years. 19(soon to be 20)y/o GK with good EPL potential. His stats are awesome right now. Is a big guy.(6'2" 200 pounds)

Mark Cullen:ST, $5250/week 2 years. 23 years old. 15 pace/15 finish. 5 foot 6 fireball express.

Frank Nouble:A(MR)/A(ML)/ST:$6500/week 2 years 23 years old-Natural striker which I don't need, but 16 pace on the outside will be nice.

Kiril Kotev:DRC:$3600/week 2 years- 33 years old Bulgarian who should just be awesome. Only 3 attributes under 10(accel//agil/corners)

Sjoerd Winkens: DLC-$2000/week 2 years-32 years old, backup mostly, with a 20 workrate, so should be a fantastic workhorse backup

Jean Rabea: MC-$800 week/3 years, 19 years old(soon to be 20.) Last years dafuge I had a backup EPL Madagascan goalie, so i'd like a MC this time , plus he's pretty good.

Greg Halford: DR/MR:$6250/week/2 years, 30 years old, only bravery@9 is attribute under 10. need a MR so woo.

The youngins:

Mohamed Benmoussa

Jean Rabea

Liam Morgan

League Cup Draw home against Wycombe. woo home draw and against L2 team. yay!

Friendly Results:

2-2 draw with Celtic

1-1 draw with Man City

5-4 win with thurrock

2-1 win with Blackburn

1-0 win with Stoke

Thoughts:

Ok, so.... those friendlies were kinda awesome. Now instead of fretting, I think promoting will be quite easy.

I think basically every new face(exept Liam Morgan GK3/loan bait) will contribute. Just really want to start strong,

and avoid losing streaks as usual. I really don't have too much to say because I'm feeling super confident.

[Dons]

Interested to gauge opinion on when to offer full time vs part time contracts.

Now into my third season (first in the BSP) I have taken on a Scout with 15 for Ability and 16 for Potential (woohoo) on a full time basis as well as two full time coaches. Two players in my squad are on full time contracts and I am now looking to make all new contracts full time.

What has everyone else done in the BSP? Are you sticking to part time at the moment or pushing on and trying to take advantage of full time training?

Personally when signing players, i always use full time when possible. In most cases, i can get the signings for same price. When players are on full time schedule, naturally their stats and game efforts has better potential, compared to part time. The hardest part i have encountered, is getting staff on full time

[Jaffa]

Northwich Victoria

Season 2 - 2012/13 – Blue Square Premier

Preseason - Media Prediction: 19th

Final placing: 7th

We Are NOT Football League

Aim

Into the Blue Square Premier, the board wanted me to attempt to avoid relegation, but I went for mid-table, changing it to promotion when asked probably about 2/3 of the way through.

The Season

This season was very disappointing for me. We started off poorly, then went on an unbelievably good run springing me up to top spot. Your guess is as good as mine what happened after that, to say form was patchy would be an understatement, added to the fact Darlington and a few others got really strong runs of form going just resulted in me dropping to as low as 10th at one point. I really can’t quite put my finger on what went wrong, but I have been trying to operate with just the 1 tactic and then to tweak it depending on home/away and quality of opposition. I think I’ve seen the error in this as the “preparedness” of the team suffers.

FA Cup, I went out early, nothing to see here…

FA Trophy I managed to battle my way to the final of this competition, only to lose in the final DISMALLY 2-0 to relegation candidates Hayes and Yeading. My left back got sent off at 1-0 down and I was never coming back from that.

I have a 12k wage budget, which I think is a lot for the BSP, and I spent it…to no avail. At one point the club was 700k+ in the red with the board refinancing the debt giving me a black balance of 89k. However the finances are what they are if you take a look below

FA Trophy Final

Blue Square Premier Table | Positional Graph

Transfers

Finances

Top Scorer

Harry Bunn

Scored 25 goals, next in line was Callum Bagshaw with 17.

Northwich Victoria Awards

Fan's Player of the Year

Harry Bunn.

Undeserved in my opinion, he had a proper sulk on him for a good 15 games or so at the end of the season. Waste really could of taken me up.

Top Scorer

Harry Bunn

25 goals in 43(6) games. I’ve got to be honest I was disappointed with this tally, he’s capable of much more I feel. Mid-way through the season I just couldn’t seem to pick his morale up off the floor. It was very poor for quite a spell and his dry run was long to say the least. Harry’s form just went totally to pot once we dropped off top spot and he never looked the same player after it. I think I need to put more sugar in his half time brews.

My personal Player of the year award

Oliver Norwood

Consistent performer, scorer of spectacular goals and free kicks (though not enough of them…something to work on..) and general top player for me.

Next Season

I think I need to tighten up at the back, and score a few more aswell as have a back up tactic ready to fire. I really can not aim for anything other than promotion, it’s a must or I reckon it’ll cost me my job. A good few players I need to move on. I'm very strong in some areas, and have below par players in others, I need to fix that.

Career Overview

Code:

Season          League          End Position          Achievements
2011-12          BSN                 2nd              Promotion via playoffs
2012-13          BSP                 7th

[Dons]

[Dons]

Not that bad a season Jaffa. Low rep team playing in BSP for the first time in their history... Norwood is amazing, i love him on my team as well

[Junior89]

Evesham United - 2013/14 BSN

So after two midtable finishes the question was whether I could actually get my team promoted from the bottom division, although once again the media predicted dead last. Just to make things interesting the board cut my wage budget to 2.1k and refused to look for a feeder club, combined with an abysmal youth system this meant putting together a team was tricky. I had to let go Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu but I still had Saric and a south-african - David Somma - upfront so I should have been sorted. There were a few other key players eg the young Turk from Arsenal (Orzugan?) and a load of 18yr olds who would accept really low wages because they were so happy to be playing.

Then I stupidly set the squad win bonuses low which pretty much ****ed them off for the entire season. For instance Saric's morale was very poor the whole season and consequently he was totally naff, missing sitters every time he played. We would win 3-0 one week and lose 5-1 the next - we beat the eventual champions at home but The Robins also lost to the three relegated teams. Anybody else seeing a large number of crosses being fluked over their keeper's head and into their net, because that was a frequent occurrence at our end. I was relying on the shaky defensive capabilities of a BSN quality centre-back pairing too much due to the profligacy of the forwards: they weren't so such shooting blanks as they were lighting fireworks on the ends of their boots, with all the expected accuracy. Saric in particular must be world-class at ballooning it viciously over the bar when one on one with the keeper. Somma was our only consistent performer, netting 31 goals all season and dragging us to 4th place and the playoff final where we had a home tie against Northwich Victoria. I honestly thought we would make it since our home form had been pretty good and we had already beaten them before, but alas we went down with a whimper to a 1-0 defeat as only 2 of our team mustered a 6.5 performance - this really shocked me as I thought the chance of promotion would be a great motivator.

So it's a 3rd failure to get out of the BSN which I think must rival Vikeologist's claim for worst performance so far! To make it even worse Somma fell out with my left-back and demanded a move to a bigger club, but with a value of just 2.5k I was never going to get any money for him so I was forced to offer him mutual termination to free up his considerable wages for other players. Then the cheeky bugger goes and joins Tamworth, a team in the same league ! This was his "big club".!!! Saric is now also making rumblings of wanting to move which I am hoping I can at least postpone by a season.

The club was taken over just before the playoff final and the new board agreed that the wages should go up - to 2.4k a week. Wow that's backing for you!

PS I can't get the screenies uploaded into photobucket any more and when i could do that i couldn't link to them properly hence lack of picture action.

[Jaffa]

I know what your saying Dons, I should be happy but with the money I'm spending (the plummeting finances -189k now after close season) and the amazing run I had, I guess I just expected a bit more.

Still...onwards and hopefully upwards!

Grats to all who are going great guns by the way, I read the thread regularly and keep up to date

[vikeologist]

Evesham United - 2013/14 BSN

So it's a 3rd failure to get out of the BSN which I think must rival Vikeologist's claim for worst performance so far!

I did get Bradford Park Avenue out of the BSN!

[Junior89]

Ha, so it more than rivals your claim! I'm like the token amateur at the Olympics.

[jordanswinburn]

Crap. I forgot about the Community Shield. I've got Arsenal in that.

Europa League News. In the 4th Qualifying Round, I was seeded (because that makes any difference to me...), and got Debrecen. I'm going out.

[jordanswinburn]

What a goal. Why is that seemingly the only celebration the players ever do?

[Gypsum]

Well that's fortunate! Was going through a rough patch of form with 2 losses then 3 straight draws, then 3 days after my last game, I was set to face my main L2 championship rivals, Tranmere. But the game was postponed thanks to a waterlogged pitch, which game my team a bit of recovery before the next match and we managed to build up some form with 3 wins before facing Tranmere, and managing to win 3-1!

31 games in now and i'm 6 points clear at the top. Only 2nd placed Tranmere and 3rd placed Chesterfield are close, as i'm 15 points clear of 4th place. Looking good for automatic promotion as long as we can avoid any major injuries.

[darren1983]

Anybody can achieve 3 straight promotions and an FA Cup win, but the taste of victory will be all the sweeter for me.

Just remember that failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.

On an other note, I've not played much lately mainly due to work and the fact I want to start again, after 2 and a half years at FC United I still feel no affection for the club, and for me to do well in this challenge I need to feel the love!

On Holiday now

[KLH84]

Crap. I forgot about the Community Shield. I've got Arsenal in that.

Europa League News. In the 4th Qualifying Round, I was seeded (because that makes any difference to me...), and got Debrecen. I'm going out.

Knowing you you'll win that as well...

[darren1983]

Here I go AFC Hornchurch http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q43/darren1983_2006/Dafuge%202011/DarrenHusherProfile_Attributes-1.png

[Dons]

6 matches to go in BSP. This is getting really interesting. Grimsby has been topdog all season.

Table

5 games to go. Grimsby lost. Ashton lost

[Terk]

Right, finished for this gaming session (off to do some tactical experiments with Liverpool). After 11 games we've picked up to 8th place, so things are going better. We're only five points behind league leaders Hartlepool, so there's a long way to go and a whole lot to play for yet.

[KLH84]

My first game in the BSP ended up as a 2-1 home defeat to Stafford. We dominated the game but the curse of the last minute goal struck again.

Sticking with 4-1-3-2 as I feel it offers defensive stability as well as attacking movement - no other teams seem to use the tactic though so I'm either a visionary or an idiot.

My scout (A15 P16) has just picked out a defender (Ged Kent) who, he says, has the potential to be a good premiership player. I don't see it myself but I'm going to trust him.

[jordanswinburn]

Knowing you you'll win that as well...

Naa, I lost the Community Shield 2-1. They were all over me.

[minisav]

It's weird seeing the same names I'm getting in the Big Euro countries SC2BC challenge in here. Callum Bagshaw got me promotion to the Scottish 2nd Division and Ajose just got player of the season in the 2nd division for one of my opponents. Doesn't help my team is filled with youth players from the Premiership. I have from Man Utd alone! :o

And just saw another, star man from last season for me Oliver Norwood!

[foost]

Just finished 4th in the BSN first season... Next on the role: semi final vs AFC Telford

[Gypsum]

A young Italian signing just told me he wasn't settling in in England, so I told him to go back to Italy for a bit. Didin't realise he was going to spend a month there, cheeky bastard!

[Dons]

Play off leg 1 away. I feel sooo robbed

[minisav]

Mon the Dons!

[foost]

F*ck, just lost at home 1-2 to AFC Telford... argh, will be hard to win away... :s

[Dons]

Ow and to make things worse, we just lost FAT final on penalties

[Dons]

Completely devastated. Was 3 pts away from winning BSP - Instead we lost in playoffs and the FAT final - the only 3 really bad games over the season, just had to come at this point QQ

NEED MORE BRIBERY OPTIONS IN THE GAME! (I know its popular in Italy)

[foost]

Whats bribery Dons? To bad tho, feeling the pain.

// I just won 0-2 away vs AFC Telford, meaning I am in the finals vs Hyde. We'll see, missing 4 key players pff

[Gypsum]

The season is grinding to a halt now. 9 games left in L2 and i'm still top, but top scorer Saric has just got injured, adding to other key injuries and the sale of Bailey which has really killed the playing style we had in the first half of the season. 5 draws in our last 6 games is not inspiring stuff. But we at least have a 15 point gap keeping us in the automatic promotion places.

[Gypsum]

Completely devastated. Was 3 pts away from winning BSP - Instead we lost in playoffs and the FAT final - the only 3 really bad games over the season, just had to come at this point QQ

NEED MORE BRIBERY OPTIONS IN THE GAME! (I know its popular in Italy)

Unlucky Dons. Bribery would be a nice option!

[fcunitedfan]

My girlfriend messed my save up! I left my laptop on when I went to work, and she decided to try out my game. She played about eight games, losing all of them because she knows nothing about football or computer games. She knew enough though to save the game when she'd finished messing it up. I could have cried and/or killed her, but instead I'm just going to resart my Colwyn Bay save. I was only half way through my first season anyway. So here it is, my new profile.

[foost]

Just won 0-2 vs Hyde in the playoff final!! WOHO!!!! PROMOTION!

With 7 yellowcards on my side it was a thug game haha... But who cares! BSP here we come!

[fcunitedfan]

Just won 0-2 vs Hyde in the playoff final!! WOHO!!!! PROMOTION!

With 7 yellowcards on my side it was a thug game haha... But who cares! BSP here we come!

Congratulations foost. Are you going to post a season review?

[foost]

Of course! But not now, will most prob do it tomorrow evening!

First some clicking through, then cooking and then have football training this evening so...

// Shame about your game, hope for you she is better in other stuff gl anyway with your new season!

[roganp]

Ok, I've read the rules and ready to get started on this challenge for the first time here is my Profile:

http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n551/foreverunited1/RoganPhillipsProfile_Attributes.png

Could someone please tell me how I can name my link's so I can keep them shorter thanks.

[jordanswinburn]

We managed a 0-0 draw against Debrecen at Gigg Lane. I've now got to go pull off a miracle in Hungary

[Dons]

Ashton Utd - Season Summary 2012-13

Wont be making too long a post regarding the season, but will take a little time to share what i found out during the season instead.

Had a really good season for a first time in BSP. From midway and to the end, Ashton was in top 5. Was 3 pts away to win BSP, but an 8 week injury to key striker and 5 weeks away to key midfield was too much for team to handle. Final position: 2nd lost in play off semi finals both away and home to Lincoln.

Cup run was ok for FA - 3rd round exit to Blackburn. FAT lost on penalties in the final.

Table - Graph - Squad - Transfers - Finances - Profile ------------------ Key players this season Richard Bryan - Oliver Norwood - Romone Rose - Danny Uchechi

Now for the second part of the post. I will share the things that has worked for me, so following are my personal spoilers!

For training and increase in stats on players:

<player> -> training -> training levels -> (if you are not satisfied with your players current training level) private chat -> development -> training -> .....place for first team

If they agree great. If they dont agree tell them you are boss and you pick the team! You should see their stats increase over the next month. Personally i checked players every month and its just rinse and repeat.

For keeping morale high:

In game situations, players are suckers for positive words. What I noticed is: use <you can win this> or <encourage> - doesn't really matter if its away or home. If you use <expect better> and team looses, morale will drop. If you use the 2 other options (and occasionally <sympathise> when you loose) morale will stay indifferent on 90% of your players!

Game setup: People talk about and discuss the 3 attacker game mechaninc flaw. I have used a straight forward 4-4-2 at all time. I have attacking wingers, ball control mid, playmaker mid, target man and fast striker.

The playmaker should have a good freekick, and will make alot of assists or goals, target man will either pass or score.

Players vs Finances:

I have chosen a large squad. Agreed hurting finances, but my players are cheap. When scouts have found prospects that are either leading L2 or good/leading L1. if I can sign them cheap (and use the 30 match played wage increase option) I do that. Reason? Simple.. Games/morale/player condition go hand in hand. Naturally in theory, I could field a strong team at all time, but in reality it would be with players that are 80+ con. The games i have won the with most goals and least effort, is when my players "out-condition" the opponent.

So signing alot of potentially good young players for 3 reasons: 1) Subs when mains are low con 2) as the game progresses, I can most likely sell some with a nice profit. 3) It's fun to see if they develop good

Also, when i had a little cash from FA - first thing I did was to increase staffs (coaches) asked for increased scouting range and got it (

continental scouting in BSP!) followed by asking for more scouts, which also was accepted.

There are many great free players for the BSS/N to L1 - why not use all your cash on increasing chance to get them? as welll as increase facilities, rather than buy that 1 CH rating striker? Money will come later with ease, so personally, I would rather increase chances of finding gems/have better facilities - than buy players the chairman will sell over my head

IF YOU READ the full small guide i wrote - YOU NEED A LIFE

[Dons]

My girlfriend messed my save up! I left my laptop on when I went to work, and she decided to try out my game. She played about eight games, losing all of them because she knows nothing about football or computer games. She knew enough though to save the game when she'd finished messing it up. I could have cried and/or killed her, but instead I'm just going to resart my Colwyn Bay save. I was only half way through my first season anyway. So here it is, my new profile.

Sure, blame your gf because your tactics failed

On a side note, I hate when my cat does the same

[TugSafc]

Half way through second season and we are 2nd, a couple of points behind Darlington who are frustrating me by keeping on winning when I am

[Gypsum]

[Annihilator666]

1 win in the last 8 matches means my lead at the top of the BSP has been cut to 4 points...

[Gypsum]

Just secured promotion to League 1 with 3 games to go! Now to push on and claim 1st place. Currently 3 points clear, but our form is unconvincing, and our two remaining good strikers both got sent off in the last match!