dafuge's FM11 challenge

[Hans Bwixs]

What are you feeding him to make him score? He's scored 5 in 17 for me - not exactly prolific!

I have him as a Advanced Forward Attack and play him with a target man in a 4-4-2 formation.

[Terk]

Just managed to get myself an assistant manager. He's utterly terrible, but he'll do for now.

[Yidd0!]

What are you feeding him to make him score? He's scored 5 in 17 for me - not exactly prolific!

Steroids

[Yidd0!]

Just managed to get myself an assistant manager. He's utterly terrible, but he'll do for now.

After all my bitching about finding an Ass Manager, I got one. A pretty damn decent one at that. Cant remember his name though, so will put it on here when I get back at about 5pm.

[KLH84]

After all my bitching about finding an Ass Manager, I got one. A pretty damn decent one at that. Cant remember his name though, so will put it on here when I get back at about 5pm.

Ahh but is he as good as Junior McDougald? I always knew Junior was destined for management one day and under my wing he can only fail.

PS He's awful already.

[Terk]

After all my bitching about finding an Ass Manager, I got one. A pretty damn decent one at that. Cant remember his name though, so will put it on here when I get back at about 5pm.

Nice one

Managed to get myself a coach as well

Just made my BSP début with Marine, against AFC Wimbledon who were relegated from League 2 last season. I think it went well.

[Yidd0!]

Ahh but is he as good as Junior McDougald? I always knew Junior was destined for management one day and under my wing he can only fail.

PS He's awful already.

He is as good as Junior. Thats cause it's him.

Much better than anything else in the BSN/S/P

[Terk]

Ahh but is he as good as Junior McDougald? I always knew Junior was destined for management one day and under my wing he can only fail.

PS He's awful already.

He was one of the ones who applied for my assistant position but then refused to enter negotiations He looked about 1,000 times better than the guy I ended up with

[Lanthal]

Tiverton Town Season Review 2011/2012

The League

W:20 D:8 L:14

Final League Position

Graph

Well, for our first season out it was a great run but it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth that we couldn't quite get over the line, falling to Salisbury in the playoff semi-finals. Mind you, I find it really unfair that they start the playoffs 3 days after the end of the season

It was very frustrating because we dropped silly points in games that we had no right losing. Special mention to the Kingstonian muppets who were coming dead last and did me the favour of beating the two top teams on my run into the top but then couldn't have the common decency to lose to me, beating me 1-0.

Still, we did fantastically, playing a good short passing game that opened up defenses quite nicely.

Cup Runs

We did better than expected in the FA Cup making it to the second round before getting justifiably torn apart 4-1 by Swindon. The winnings were handy but didn't really go too far towards aiding the clubs financial worries.

The FA Tropy was over before it began which was annoying because we lost to Mangotsfield who aren't even in the BSB comp...

I didn't mind falling out of the cups to be honest, my squad was struggling as it was to handle the massive load of games that we had.

Players

Transfers

15 players out 22 in. Some of the 22 are ones for the future. My actual main playing squad had a core group of about 16 players. Off screen on the in players is Francis-Reynolds who I signed as one of my useful backups for my wide players when they were exhausted.

Top 3:

3. Harpal Singh was just a machine on my left hand side. He finished with 6 goals and 10 assists. Fitness was an issue for him at times with the sheer amount of games we had.

2. Andrew Milne just tips Singh for second place. It was a tight competition between Milne and Singh, both were amazing but Milne was just a bit more consistent for us terrorizing the right hand side. He was constantly lurking on the far post and jumping on goal chances, finishing with 7 goals and also jumping in with 11 assists.

1. Ryan Limb was just a great pickup for me. 14 goals and 3 assists with 4 MoMs from the 20 year old. It's a shame he wasn't just a touch more accurate because those 14 goals came from 70 shots. He started as a sub for the first few games before earning his starting place.

Special mentions go to midfielder Matty Crowell who was useful and gave us a good free kick and corner taker and Josh Langley in defense who popped up with 3 goals for us and was just a solid defender. Fewer red cards would have been nice though...

Next season:

Do that again but with the playoff win or just straight promotion.

I need to get a bit more depth in my squad to handle the massive load of games that are just destroying my team. Going to have an intensive fitness pre-season too to try and squeeze some extra fitness out of the players.

Key positions that need some help are a striker that can put a few more goals away and a decent backup for my left and right back positions my midfield and centre backs are ok but i'll see if I can find better...

Edit: Further to my comment about Langley and red cards: He was given a 3 match ban and just now a further 2 matches for a single card!!

[Yidd0!]

Tiverton Town Season Review 2011/2012

The League

W:20 D:8 L:14

Final League Position

Graph

Well, for our first season out it was a great run but it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth that we couldn't quite get over the line, falling to Salisbury in the playoff semi-finals. Mind you, I find it really unfair that they start the playoffs 3 days after the end of the season

It was very frustrating because we dropped silly points in games that we had no right losing. Special mention to the Kingstonian muppets who were coming dead last and did me the favour of beating the two top teams on my run into the top but then couldn't have the common decency to lose to me, beating me 1-0.

Still, we did fantastically, playing a good short passing game that opened up defenses quite nicely.

Cup Runs

We did better than expected in the FA Cup making it to the second round before getting justifiably torn apart 4-1 by Swindon. The winnings were handy but didn't really go too far towards aiding the clubs financial worries.

The FA Tropy was over before it began which was annoying because we lost to Mangotsfield who aren't even in the BSB comp...

I didn't mind falling out of the cups to be honest, my squad was struggling as it was to handle the massive load of games that we had.

Players

Transfers

15 players out 22 in. Some of the 22 are ones for the future. My actual main playing squad had a core group of about 16 players. Off screen on the in players is Francis-Reynolds who I signed as one of my useful backups for my wide players when they were exhausted.

Top 3:

3. Harpal Singh was just a machine on my left hand side. He finished with 6 goals and 10 assists. Fitness was an issue for him at times with the sheer amount of games we had.

2. Andrew Milne just tips Singh for second place. It was a tight competition between Milne and Singh, both were amazing but Milne was just a bit more consistent for us terrorizing the right hand side. He was constantly lurking on the far post and jumping on goal chances, finishing with 7 goals and also jumping in with 11 assists.

1. Ryan Limb was just a great pickup for me. 14 goals and 3 assists with 4 MoMs from the 20 year old. It's a shame he wasn't just a touch more accurate because those 14 goals came from 70 shots. He started as a sub for the first few games before earning his starting place.

Special mentions go to midfielder Matty Crowell who was useful and gave us a good free kick and corner taker and Josh Langley in defense who popped up with 3 goals for us and was just a solid defender. Fewer red cards would have been nice though...

Next season:

Do that again but with the playoff win or just straight promotion.

I need to get a bit more depth in my squad to handle the massive load of games that are just destroying my team. Going to have an intensive fitness pre-season too to try and squeeze some extra fitness out of the players.

Key positions that need some help are a striker that can put a few more goals away and a decent backup for my left and right back positions my midfield and centre backs are ok but i'll see if I can find better...

Edit: Further to my comment about Langley and red cards: He was given a 3 match ban and just now a further 2 matches for a single card!!

Unlucky there mate. I'm sure you've got a strong enough squad now, so you should easily get promotion next season

Good luck there.

[Gypsum]

My Chippenham side just got a cracking 1-0 win against 3rd placed Woking, including a last minute diving header off the goal line after having a player sent off to secure the win. That leaves me 7th after 29 games, 2 points off the playoff places and will hopefully spur us into good form after some shakey results.

[KLH84]

He is as good as Junior. Thats cause it's him.

Much better than anything else in the BSN/S/P

True indeed. Secretly scared he's a better manager than me. Must not go on holiday and test that theory.

[Yidd0!]

True indeed. Secretly scared he's a better manager than me. Must not go on holiday and test that theory.

LMAO I thought about doing the same thing. Dont want to risk my precious team or loose any of my players though

[davidbowie]

someone should make a set of temporary badge graphics that just have the teams Reputation value as their crest, and a "P" as the 'small logo' to make it super easy to see what temas were promoted.

[davidbowie]

Hm.. currently doing my save/reloads.

My goal is a low rep team (below 1000 is my minimum), I've got Nantwich once, but I just got FC United. Will keep doing more save/reloads and try to build up a decent 'set' I can pick from. FC United is always tempting, as a MU fan.

[jordanswinburn]

I love how a lot of people go with FC United because they are Man Utd fans, whereas I'm a City fan who chose them due to their Man Utd rebellion

[KLH84]

Hm.. currently doing my save/reloads.

My goal is a low rep team (below 1000 is my minimum), I've got Nantwich once, but I just got FC United. Will keep doing more save/reloads and try to build up a decent 'set' I can pick from. FC United is always tempting, as a MU fan.

More difficult this year to get a proper sub-1000 team (I spent near to a day trying to get Folkestone)

Pretty sure there are some in the saves thread though

[davidbowie]

More difficult this year to get a proper sub-1000 team (I spent near to a day trying to get Folkestone)

Pretty sure there are some in the saves thread though

I like how this happens every year, with SI forgetting to fix what they fixed in a patch, with the same teams over and over getting promoted.

[jordanswinburn]

More difficult this year to get a proper sub-1000 team (I spent near to a day trying to get Folkestone)

Pretty sure there are some in the saves thread though

I've edited the saves thread so that all the teams that we have got, which are sub-1000, have stars next to them.

You can check the teams here

[mt_mckinlay]

starting my first challenge with canvey island! http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8546/footballc.png

[Terk]

8 games into my BSP season, we've been showed 31 yellow cards already Didn't see them at anywhere near this rate in the BSN and it's getting a little ridiculous, frankly.

[Scab]

starting my first challenge with canvey island! http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/8546/footballc.png

Best of luck.

[jordanswinburn]

Finally getting somewhere, got a good few wins lately, on a nice unbeaten streak and we're up to 8th after 27 games.

[jmknpk]

I'm disssapointed. After a long, boring (searching through all the lists for players and staff) preparation, my Tooting & Mitcham are off to an 0-2 season start. I was hopeful because we went 5-3-2 in friendlies. But haven't been able to prove ourselves in the Blue Square South. Our first game against Basingstoke was a deserved loss. They totally out played us. But in our second game against Weston-super-marie, I went with a 3-5-2 attacking tactic. We dominated the first half, keeping the ball in their half most of the time and missed way too many opportunities. But in the second half, they must have figured out how to play us, because their two strikers kept beating our defenders to the goal.

Meanwhile, we have problems in the locker room. We found cheaper, younger, better replacements for the entire team, except for one defender. Then we offered all the deadwood to other clubs. Most went quickly because, though not as good as the players we'd acquired, they were decent players. But now we have three midfielders that "won't be hounded out" of our club. They are complaining to other team mates. They are complaining to the press. I have to credit SI here, because it seems like I have a real-life dramatic controversy on my hands. And I don't know how to resolve it. If I put my new players down to the reserves to figure the players I wanted to release back into things, the new players will be upset. Plus now I think we are in financial trouble. Maybe this controversy has shown up in problems on the pitch.

Oh well, back at it. Maybe as our team gels, we'll improve.

Edit:

I forgot, we also have a goal keeper in our reserves, that is unhappy about his role on the team. The icon next to his name is "Wnt" indicating that a team wants him. I have him transfer listed at a price of 0 and have offered him to clubs twice. But I don't know how to get the other team to pick him up. Any thoughts?

[KLH84]

Christmas Time etc etc

OK, I was little down on my team earlier in the season but a run of 6 games won in a row before Christmas has put a smile back on my face and saved the reputation of England legend *ahem* Michael Ricketts.

With Junior McDougald on the bench passing me notes containing helpful advice and concise observations my backroom team are pulling together on the good ship Hastings. My physio, Sara (an odd name for a chap), is keeping my players moving and my frankly aged coaching staff are ensuring that what little talent the squad has, remains.

For the stats fans amongst you my two strikers (Ricketts and Amos) are leading the league when it comes to Shots on Target (53% and 60%) respectively - perhaps less of a positive is the revelation that Michael Ricketts covers only 37ft per game. This is, apparently, second only in history to Gary Lineker. Another startling statistic is that of referee Marvin Thompson - in 22 games he has shown 169 yellow cards and 17 red cards.

Anyway, full season review coming when I actually get to the end of the season. Congratulations to all who who are performing well and, those that aren't, follow the advice in the thread. Your team will pick up when you have close to full bars for your chosen tactic in Match Preparation.

[Hans Bwixs]

Finally getting somewhere, got a good few wins lately, on a nice unbeaten streak and we're up to 8th after 27 games.

How do I create a signature like this ? its good for showing you guys my progress....

[Hans Bwixs]

How do I create a signature like this ? its good for showing you guys my progress....

Ok got to the registration screen... but how do I find out stuff like my team ID, league ID, e.t.c ? :S

[KLH84]

Ok got to the registration screen... but how do I find out stuff like my team ID, league ID, e.t.c ? :S

In FM go to Preferences - Display and Sound and tick Display Unique IDs

[Hans Bwixs]

In FM go to Preferences - Display and Sound and tick Display Unique IDs

Ah cool, thanks. Think I have found out.

Still at work, but will update my sig when I get home.

I take it I need to update my sig everytime I want to show it off again right ?

[KLH84]

Ah cool, thanks. Think I have found out.

Still at work, but will update my sig when I get home.

I take it I need to update my sig everytime I want to show it off again right ?

Indeed you do

[Yidd0!]

I love how a lot of people go with FC United because they are Man Utd fans, whereas I'm a City fan who chose them due to their Man Utd rebellion

Not in my case. I picked them cause they seem like an interesting team to be. Can you tell by my name what team I support... *Answers on a postcard please*

[mt_mckinlay]

Best of luck.

thanks

does anyone know how to make the previous club show when looking for players with expired contracts? cheer!

[Welsh Wizard]

Not in my case. I picked them cause they seem like an interesting team to be. Can you tell by my name what team I support... *Answers on a postcard please*

Arsenal

[Terk]

Good to see that you're Hastings side are picking up, KLH84

[Junior89]

OK, i may have very little FM experience and none with lower league clubs but this looks like fun! I took the Evesham united (600 rep which I gather is quite low lol!)save game from the save game thread. I've got a screenshot but no clue how to load it up here yet.

As you can imagine this was my dream job... or I said it was! My board expect the team to fight bravely against relegation and I told them I could do even better - and actually avoid it.

Evesham have terrible youth facilities - all youth players rated at 0.5 stars and only 16 first team players and one coach.

My ass-man, Huw Lloyd is a former youth coach with great keeping stat and JPA not bad either, and I found a couple of scouts who'll take the ridiculously low wages I can give them. I've kept 2 of the players on and brought in about 25 players that were recommended as 5 star - problem is my expectations were so low that everyone was getting 5 stars. Turns out I've actually got a squad of mediocre bottom half players.

After half a season I'm in 17th. Home: W4 D6 L1 Away: W1 D3 L6 I've never been in the relegation zone but neither have I been more than 6 points away from it. Got knocked out of the FA Cup 4-0 to Bishop's something which was highly embarrassing.

Key players: Jamie Strong - Defender. He has a bit of pace and therefore is not rooted to the ground like a rock when the ball is lobbed over the top!

Frank Zenaba - Central Mid/Defensive mid. Seems to have a pretty cool head when it comes to keeping possession but not sure why he came from Africa to play for a BSN side, I guess anything's worth leaving the Congo for!

Guylain Ndumba-Nsunga -Striker. Tries ridiculous 40yd efforts but is reasonably composed when through on goal. (Mind you the competition is George Bowerman who went a remarkable 18hrs without scoring )

Special shoutout to my leftback Jon Haynes who has played 8 games, given away 3 penalty kicks and got himself sent off in an unrelated incident - he has not played since .

In general I'm playing 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 and look to keep hold of the ball to relieve the pressure on my defence, in one game I had 53% possession but no shots at goal whatsoever!

I'm £250 a week over my wage budget but really need more quality - I'll wait till the summer then release some of them on frees I think.

Definitely not going to be nearly as successful as you guys, hell I might even still get relegated out of the BSN!

[Quavis]

Thanks to all that have offered match preparation advice so far. I had switched from team blend to defensive set pieces after Christmas. I figured that the team had pretty much settled by that point and I was giving up loads of goals from corners (mostly because Mr. Butterfingers couldn't hang onto a cross to save his life). Honestly I have no clue whether it worked or not.

I remember reading something in GD from one of the Devs that match preparation time takes away from the time the time the lads have to work on other things. I've since lowered match prep to low and plan on leaving it this way unless I start to see the current tactics training start to drop or I bring in a bunch of new faces.

Lanthal: 4th is a fantastic start. The playoffs are really hit or miss and I can't ever seem to get promoted from them. It sounds like you have a good core group of players now and should be able to challenge for the title and automatic promotion next year!

jordanswinburn: City have fans? I think a lot of United fans still dislike the Glazers even with the recent success the club has had with them here. FC United is a way to express that frustration without turning your back on your club. If Chippenham hasn't come up for me, or if/when they sack me for being rubbish, I'll likely start a game with FC United.

jmknpk: As long as you leave them rotting in the reserves and they have no friends in the 1st team it shouldn't affect your first team chemistry at all. If you leave them with an asking price of 0 and there is a "wnt" Icon, eventually you will get a 0p bid for them. I even managed to get one for Mr. Butterfingers, but I got greedy and tried to get 5k for him for the pain and suffering he caused. You may have to wait for the official transfer window as the AI doesn't seem to operate outside them as much, even below the football league.

Has anyone else noticed backroom meetings seem utterly useless so far? It may just be because my assistant and coaches are utterly rubbish, but half of my advice offerings seem to be for position training. They always say that player x is being played in position y, which he isn't comfortable in. The thing is... I'm not playing them in position y, and have no intention of playing him there. The ppm suggestions never seem to change either, and they are usually rubbish. I've pretty much started skipping the meetings lately. I used to enjoy these in FM 2010 as they really seemed helpful some of the time. I hope that if they are bugged its fixed in the January patch, or that they become more useful when I find a decent assistant.

On another note, I'm stuck in the office for the next 8 hours.... so keep those updates coming!

[Satio]

John Rambo’s Marine

MARINE - BSN

SEASON REVIEW – 2012/13

Personal Prediction/Expectations – Play-Offs

Media Prediction – 22nd

Board expectations – Avoid relegation

Actual Position 4th

SEASON SUMMARY

• League

Last year we had a dismal year, finishing 19th. This year we were predicted to do worse. I was given the same budget as last year and with very little room to manoeuvre, I signed the odd player taking my wages to aprox £600 over budget for most of the year. But, it paid dividends as we moved up the table, down and then back up again. The end of the season was tense, playing my closet four rivals for a play-off position one after the other. The results weren’t perfect, but they did enough to secure me 4th place. To be fair to the squad, we did only lose 9, but threw away chances to win, resulting in 15 draws. Edit: Oh, and I won manager of the year. Get. In.

Playoff Semi Final

:

We drew the first game 1v1, which to be fair to Nuneaton, they should have won. The second leg was a frenzy of fouls culminating in the sending off of a Nuneaton player during extra time (98). It had to go to penalties, with our team managing to hold on as the home side pressed with their ten men. We missed our first, but thankfully scored the rest while the Nuneaton players fluffed theirs.

Playoff Final

:

A thriller of a game. Two early goals for both sides got the game going, and me nervous when they got their 2nd just 12 minutes in. I feared the worst. Lucky, we came back with a reply in the 59th minute and took it to extra time. Eastwood had a player taken off and with no one to replace him, we were a man up. We took advantage and slotted what appeared to be the winning goal on the 116th minute. But it wasn’t, with Reilly putting one in for Eastwood two minutes later. Penalties it was. Like Nuneaton, Eastwood appeared to falter at penalties, scoring the first, but spooning the second and hitting the third directly at my keeper. All we needed to do was score a 4th consecutive penalty – and thats just what we did!

League

Past Positions

• Cups

Not really worth mentioning, similar run to last years of nothing.

• Transfers

As stated, there wasn’t originally much planned to go on here. I sold one player in January, who was earning a high wage and not doing anything. £500 was better than nothing. I got six transfers in, one on loan that I had no idea about from my somewhat random parent club I never asked for.

Robert Maloney was a new signing, a good one too when I needed him but Adams, also a left back, took the first team position most of the year.

One of my better signings was

Jeffrey Monakana

, an ex Arsenal product who played as an inside forward on the wing for much of the season, scoring 6 goals in 25 matches. A decent player.

Edward Plant was signed as a backup, being able to play on both the left and right was very useful. Not a fantastic player, but player 17matches whilst the others were injured.

David Fox – A late signing for me, very late signing on in April – played 5 matches and is probably one of the better players in the squad, attribute looking wise anyway.

LOOKING FORWARD

A fantastic end to the season. Play-offs and finals are quite possibly my favourite thing in football manager, making me tense, nervous and all the other feelings you get in real life when watching a cup final. The sense of relief and happiness on scoring that winning penalty – few. Now though, we look on to a difficult season where we are just aiming for safety in the BSP. Firmly secure our place in the BSP, please.

Season	- Marine	     League                   Position     Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12		     BSN		     19th  	      N/A
2012/13		     BSN		     4th	   Playoff Winners

[KLH84]

Well done Satio - onwards and upwards.

[Terk]

Great to see you promoted, Satio

[Satio]

Thanks guys, now I'm just hoping that the board will give me a slightly increased wage budget so I can grab some decent players. Releasing a load within a month as their contracts expire, so that will free a fair bit of budget up.

[timers]

Wow, every goal I seem to concede is from a cross from the wing or a corner. Not even kidding. My CBs do absolutely nothing to defend. Sooooooo frustrating. Anyone else have the same problems?

[Satio]

You will have to try some specific individual tactics. I can only rec Strickland, but I highly doubt he will be free. Fantastic centre back.

On another note - I'm set to rake in a fair amount from pre-season with Leeds, Birmingham and Ipswich all coming to play me.

Edit: Oh poop. promotion = player contract changes = £4444 spent on wages p/w. Thats £500 over my budget.

Edit: Snap that, released a load of players - £2500 wage costs with a budget of £4000. Yummy

[Yidd0!]

Home and gaming. Running net off a Vodafone Dongle thing, so uploading vids at the moment is a big no no. Got some QUALITY goals to upload from my 6-1 victory against Eastwood

[edin-dzeko]

First year attempting the challenge, I've gone for Bradford Park Avenue

Profile

[jmknpk]

Another game, more frustration. We were in a draw, hoping for our first point in the league, until the 89th minute, when St. Albans scored on us. Now we apparently set a record for most consecutive losses at 6. It must be counting last season though, since we've only played 4 this season. Now we are the only team in the league table with no points. When I set the goal as avoiding relegation, I didn't think it would be this difficult. Keeping my hopes up though... we almost had a draw. That's not much. But it's an improvement.

[Willy Wonka]

ok ignore the question, but appreciate the pass and 'move'.

[Quavis]

Wow, every goal I seem to concede is from a cross from the wing or a corner. Not even kidding. My CBs do absolutely nothing to defend. Sooooooo frustrating. Anyone else have the same problems?

Mine are fairly useless as well. I seem to have solved the crossing/corners problem by getting a keeper who can actually hang onto the ball. I also did the match preperation - defensive set pieces for awhile which may also have helped. However my CBs won't close ANYONE down at all. They always continue to back off and unless they are already beaten they will never actually attempt to make a tackle. At least their positioning seems to be relatively good and they do force many shots wide. Anyone with good long shots rating absolutely destroys me though.

[Quavis]

Satio: Were all the players you released ones that started with the club or had you signed lots of people to just 1 year deals?

[Satio]

Satio: Were all the players you released ones that started with the club or had you signed lots of people to just 1 year deals?

Erm, most were ones that either started with the club or that I signed in the first year and never really got played. It was poor management on my side, for picking up bad players really who were pointless in the team bar backup for the back up players. But cutting their contracts hurt more with the compensation so I just let them run out.

[Quavis]

Erm, most were ones that either started with the club or that I signed in the first year and never really got played. It was poor management on my side, for picking up bad players really who were pointless in the team bar backup for the back up players. But cutting their contracts hurt more with the compensation so I just let them run out.

At least with your "poor management" you gave the guys short contracts! I was trying to lock everyone in long term early and made the same mistakes as far as signings go. I'm now stuck with them for the next 4 years or so unless I can get someone else to come in for them. The reasoning behind my long term contracts was that I had loads of trouble last year retaining my top guys. As soon as I went to give them extensions as we made our way from the BSP to League 2 they all started wanting stupid money that I couldn't offer. It is going to be an interesting off season for me tonight or tomorrow as I'm unlikely to gain promotion and the squad still needs help.

Edit:

Timers: 2nd place is still a fantastic result! The single automatic promotion slot makes the BSP one of the hardest leagues for me. As previously mentioned I'm horrid in the playoffs and automatic promotion is the only way to go. I'm sure you'll win the league next year!