[FM11] Cymru fo am byth! (Prestatyn)

[Deisler26]

Sorry to hear about your father. Look forward to reading up! (#700!)

[rancer890]

Sorry to hear about your father. But nice to see you back DSYoungEsq.

Calculus is killing me. Triple integrals driving me crazy.

[Raware]

As others have said, sorry to hear about your father but nice to see you back here . Looking forward to catching up on this again

[DSYoungEsq]

Forgettable, in every way - The 2031-32 End of Season Report

Our friendlies.

Our European matches.

Our WPL matches.

Our League Cup matches.

Our Welsh Cup matches.

The Welsh Cup (last four rounds)

The League Cup

The Squad.

The Squad's stats (combined).

The Reserves.

The Youth Rated.

The Youth Team Stats

Transfers This Season.

Every once in a while, we have a bit of a throwaway season. This was one of them.

Europe

We had nothing in Europe in the Spring, as you will recall. We didn't even have the salve of knowing we went out to the eventual winners: United went out in the semis tamely to Barça, and Twente were manhandled in the first round.

Wales

Domestically, we had an up and down season. Our League form was very good, with only one draw and two losses blemishing the record. Indeed, we wrapped up the league title as early as we ever have(7 games left). We didn't score as many as we usually do, and we allowed more than we have been, but we just seemed to get the W while our rivals couldn't keep up.

The League Cup was made interesting by the insistence of the FA in scheduling the second half of the home-and-away semi-final matches during an international break each year. Thus, when we have large numbers of international call-ups, that second game gets weird. This year, I had as many as 21 called up at once. Thus, although we snuffed Neath 4-0 at home in the first game, the second game we won on the strength of our 6th minute strike, then spent the second half biting our nails as our second-string players held off Neath, who had managed to shove four into the onion bag the first half. The final, fortunately, was a formality.

The Welsh Cup should have been a formality, too, but the Final reminded us that, on any given Saturday... The New Saints are always our toughest rivals. For whatever reason, my guys didn't have their heart in the game. After a futile 120 min. of effort to score, it went down to the lottery of penalty kicks. We usually do well at spot kick tiebreakers, but this time, we were sent home hanging our heads, missing three. I expect I'll hear about this from the supporters as a negative for a while.

In the end, then, a very unsatisfying year. No Spring European footie, and no Welsh Cup, is not the sort of season we proudly point to in the history books.

I did do some team revamping during the January window. I sent want-aways Vachal, Habimana and Aitor out the door, for a combined $4.1M. In replacement, I spent that money bringing in:

Ignacio Cuesta - DL:

At 17, this young man is going to be a very good solution to our chronic left back issues. I wanted someone who could and would plug that spot for four or five years, and this lad should be here at least that long. He did a good job for us this season, too. My only worry is that he was injured fairly severely almost at once in January, and I hope it's not an indication of being injury-prone.

Jon Anders Torres - DC:

This fine lad was brought in at some cost to shore up the back line. This he did admirably. He averaged a rating of almost 7.6. At 18 he's quite likely to be with us as long as we can hang onto him. I've signed him for 5 years. With him and Buzenthal in the center at back, we should stop shipping goals in a couple of years, even if Carlos never lives up to his hype.

One sad note: this year's relegated side were Airbus UK Broughton FC. The Wingmakers have been part of the WPL since 2004. Their coach was a good “friend” of mine. Their drop will make the League less fun by far.

The WPL Player Statistics. We did fairly well this season, as one would expect from our dominance.

Manager Overview.

Finances.

Boardroom Overview. Notice that the youth facilities were downgraded.

[DSYoungEsq]

Thank-you, gentlemen. I am glad to be back.

[skullage]

Awesome thread! I still can't leave my Welsh save on FM11, managing Llanelli in the 17/18 season. Qualified for Europa League 1st Knockout Round for the first time, after finishing 3rd in our group above Kilmarnock. Still yet to have any quality whatsoever from my youth intakes, but I do have a few ex-Premiership/Championship players in my team...oh and my Ass Man is Heskey!

[Nobby_McDonald]

Glad you're back. Sorry about your dad.

[DSYoungEsq]

Whither goest thou?: The Year End Summary - 2031/32

Results:

WPL: 1st 30 pts. ahead of Llanelli (P32 W29 D1 L2 F92 A23 GD+69 Pts88)

WC: Lost Final 0-0 (3-5 pens) v. The New Saints

LC: Won 4-0 v. Airbus

Europe: Won 1st tie v. CSKA Sofia (BUL) 6-1 3rd Qualifying Round UCL (Champions)

Won 2nd tie v. FC Basel (SWI) 3-3 a Playoff UCL (Champions)

Finished 4th UCL Group E W1 D1 L4 Pts 4

0-0-2 v Manchester United (ENG) 1-3 H, 2-3 A

1-0-1 v FC Twente Enschede (NED) 3-4 A, 2-0 H

0-1-1 v Stade Rennais FC (FRA) 0-1 H, 1-1 A

Prestatyn Town FC Honors

WPL Player of the Year:

Barry Fitzgerald. Quickly established himself as cream of the WPL crop. Won the WPL Golden Boot, too.

WPL Young Player of the Year:

Palle Eriksen PTFC players swept the top three of this award; any of them could have won (Kotsiopolos and Buzenthal were 2nd and 3rd place).

WPL Team of the Season: Nine of eleven this year: – Carlos, Martin Mortensen, Ross Robinson, Ryszard Burda, Mohamed Buzenthal, Palle Eriksen, Michael Schofield, Renaldo Cremers, Barry Fitzgerald. I've had the #1 GK for I can't recall how long, now, and I'm almost always in possession of the whole back line, as well.

Fan's Player of the Year: Barry Fitzgerald.

WPL Manager of the Year:

Me. Probably would have been Robbie Savage, again, if he hadn't become boss of Wales.

Records by PTFC and/or its Players:

There were no non-attendance records set.

News for Prestatyn Town FC:

Prestatyn dropped to 19th! Classic “what have you done for us lately?” situation. This puts us in less rarified air. Still pretty amazing.

The Wales Season Summary.

We had losses of $11M on turnover of $21M. The cost of no spring footie in Europe? About $33M!.

No one was promoted to the PTFC Overall Best-11.

News about Wales and the World:

The Welsh ranking takes a hit, finally, dropping to 66th. It's still hard to see how they are that high. My guess is that Savage won't outlast the coming WC qualifying campaign.

The WPL European reputation ranking jumps to 14th, the fourth straight year of yo-yo results. Breaking in to the top 10 is probably a bit much to ask.

The Welsh FA promptly loses it's guaranteed UCL Group stage spot! We dropped back into 14th place. The EURO Cup spots stay the same, but in the '33-'34 season, PTFC will be back to qualifier ties prior to playing group matches.

WPL European qualification was a bit shaken-up this year. We go with Llanelli into the UCL 3rd round of qualifying (Llanelli are in the “Best-Placed” side). TNS get the #3 slot in Europe (Europa League) for finishing 3rd in the League. Afan Lido won the playoff for the #4 Europe slot. Aberystwyth get the last spot by virtue of losing the playoff to Afan Lido (spot available because TNS qualifies as both Cup winner and #3 finisher).

[DSYoungEsq]

Awesome thread! I still can't leave my Welsh save on FM11, managing Llanelli in the 17/18 season. Qualified for Europa League 1st Knockout Round for the first time, after finishing 3rd in our group above Kilmarnock. Still yet to have any quality whatsoever from my youth intakes, but I do have a few ex-Premiership/Championship players in my team...oh and my Ass Man is Heskey!

Heh, with Heskey as Ass. Man., you have someone quite suited for that abbreviated position.

Glad you're back. Sorry about your dad.

Thanks, Nobby. He's off now playing rounds in that wonderful golf course in the sky.

[DSYoungEsq]

PTFC Re-imaged: v. 4.1 - 2032/33 Initial Report

The 2032/3 Season Squad.

The reserves. For a change, I've really got some reserves.

Youth Intake.

Transfer History season to date.

It seems that, every three or four years, I have to re-image our team. Mostly, this is because my incoming players become so expensive to keep in wages, I have to let them go, and that seems to happen in waves. So I get the best result I can out of a group, then send them on and bring in a new group to try with.

Last season showed that we probably have a striker good enough to carry us a fair ways through Europe, if I can surround him with enough talent. So I've been re-tooling the team, finding young players to place in key positions, and signing them to five-year contracts. Last season, I dragged into our squad Kotsiopoulos, Torres, Buzenthal, Mortensen, Cuesta and Carlos. That's fully half a squad. We also made use of talented subs Grieco, Simmonet and Eriksen. I also added somewhat older players in Cremers and Azaïez. The upshot is that we should have a new version of Seasider squad, ready to take us over the next three or four years deep into Europe.

I did dump out of the squad one player brought in last season. Michael Schofield's utility was much more limited than I expected. When I got a bid of almost double what I paid for him last season from Hibernians, I gladly let him go.

I have picked up two young players for development:

Aitor Celihueta - ST:

I'm not sold on my crop of back-up strikers. Akonnor and García don't really impress me. Celihueta looks like someone who will produce more than expected, given a chance. He'll kick around in the reserves this season, and pop up now and again on the field. Hopefully, he'll be a good back-up for when we are playing large numbers of games in short time frames.

David Navarro – D/M/AM/L:

Can play almost anything on the left side. I like versatile players like this. Makes him great to have on the sub bench, especially in Europe.

This year's recruitment class was not great, but there was one good player:

Phillip Evans Y22 – GK

This young lad would be my back-up 'keeper if it wasn't for the presence of the equally talented Kevin Rougier on the squad already. I'll train him up and sell him off to some WPL team.

So now it's patience time as we go hunting in Europe. The goal is to make the final within three seasons. After that, we'll probably have to re-image, again. Someday, maybe I'll get back to when I can keep a player in my squad for a decade or so.

Manager Overview.

Finances. Strong hit from last season.

Boardroom overview.

[Welshace]

i just skipped to the end after reading the first post... did the welsh/celt only experiment not work out well then i take it ?

shame...

think i'll be reading through all of this.. sounds interesting.. especially as a welshman myself

[Adelaidean]

Good to see you back, I really enjoyed this career before.

When signing players to five-year contracts, don't forget to include a "contract extension after x games" clause and set x to 5, that way you get them for an extra sixth year if they play only 5 league games for you in their fifth season.

Good luck in Europe this season!

[Dan BHTFC]

Glad to see you are still doing well in the domestic fixtures, I've now started a career with Prestatyn, ok first season but not enough quality coming through!

[DSYoungEsq]

i just skipped to the end after reading the first post... did the welsh/celt only experiment not work out well then i take it ?

shame...

think i'll be reading through all of this.. sounds interesting.. especially as a welshman myself

I had to give that up very early. Even with the help of Scots players, it was mostly English players who were providing the quality needed to do well in Europe. To this point, there has been one, only one decent Welsh regen, and I had him for as long as I could keep him.

Good to see you back, I really enjoyed this career before.

When signing players to five-year contracts, don't forget to include a "contract extension after x games" clause and set x to 5, that way you get them for an extra sixth year if they play only 5 league games for you in their fifth season.

Good luck in Europe this season!

Thanks for the idea! However, I usually give them up after three years or so because their wage demands become so great I cannot keep them happy. I only sign them for five because then they aren't leaving as free-agents, and I can sell them for some value.

Glad to see you are still doing well in the domestic fixtures, I've now started a career with Prestatyn, ok first season but not enough quality coming through!

Don't be shocked if you never get enough quality to do more than win the WPL. Unless you're playing FM12 and they've changed that.

[DSYoungEsq]

European Championship Finals 2032 (France) Results:

Groups A-C

Groups D-F

Again, very hard to be interested in this, other than academically, since Wales got knocked out in the qualifiers and I didn't get the Wales job afterwards. There were no real surprises in the groups, other than the Cypriots making it into the knockouts, perhaps. It certainly looked set for the Italians to walk their way into the final, with England, Spain, Germany all in the top half. As it turns out, the Hollanders had other thoughts, and crushed the penninsularians, before knocking off the Portuguese, who had simply let England do all the dirty work, then bumped the islanders off.

[DSYoungEsq]

Back on track – Europe Group report - 2032/3

UCL Group E Table:

Prestatyn UCL match results:

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WPL Table. We're first as usual.

PTFC Squad.

Transfers this season to date.

If you stick to a plan, have confidence in yourself, sometimes you're actually good enough to make it work!.

Europe:

This season represented a new era for Prestatyn Town FC in Europe. For the first time ever, we did not need to slog through qualifying rounds just to make our way into the elite 32. We were seeded straight into the UCL group phase this year. I almost didn't know what to do with the extra time. Our summer tour went to Turkey, but then we had an obscene amount of time to prepare for the WPL opener, and even longer to be ready for the UCL. Kinda boring, really!.

Our group draw wasn't too bad. Obviously Barça will be beyond us, but Kiev is a lightweight at this level, and HSV aren't exactly heavyweights, either. I figured the determination of which spring knockouts we would face would come down to our record against HSV. The fact that we are only 40-1 to win the UCL is also encouraging.

Given this, our opening result at home against Hamburg SV wasn't exactly reassuring. I opted for a very conservative 5-4-1, putting speedster Cremers up top. The Rothosen easily handled our efforts, and although we didn't really give them much, either, we were the ones chasing the home win, so advantage to the Germans. Things weren't any better after the Catalans spanked our butts in L'Estadi Camp Nou. 1 point out of four doesn't lead to wonderful final results, usually. The fact the Germans took three points off the Kievans didn't help, either.

Fortunately, we then had our back-to-back games against FC Dynamo Kiev. The first game was relatively balanced, but they went down a man late in the game, and we pounced for two goals to wrap the points up. The return affair in Kiev two weeks later was entirely one-sided. I had, by that point, thrown away my experimentation with different formations and dropped us into our familiar 4-1-2-1-2 (wide diamond), and we simply dominated the affair. Sadly, while we were doing this, the Hamburgers were nicking a pair of points off of Barça, so we definitely needed to win in Germany to progress in the UCL, not the EURO Cup.

The Germans never knew what hit them. By now we were quite comfortable in our regular formation, and Fitzgerald was making life difficult for opposing backs. We sandwiched two penalty kick goals around a very nice effort right after the half to see off the German threat. With 10 points on our balance sheet, we didn't need anything off of Barça; the best that HSV could attain was nine. We enjoyed the visit of the Catalans to Bastion Gardens, where we managed a relatively even game statistically. Of course, their top striker managed two second-half goals to spare their blushes. Nevertheless, the Seasiders will be back to Spring UCL footie in 2033.

The draw could have been much kinder. Fenerbahçe, or Porto, or Cagliari would have been preferable to FC Internazionale Milano. Of course, we could have done worse, too, so I'll remain optimistic and see what we can do with the Italians.

Home Front:

At home, things are pretty much as expected. Llanelli are trying to keep up, but we have two fewer losses than they do, having dropped only four points in sixteen games played. The cups have been absolutely no trouble at all this season. I expect a clear triple domestically.

I was worried about our firepower going into the season. I'm comfortable with our back line, but using Elissalde as an attacking midfielder was not my best option, and an early injury to Barry Fitzgerald confirmed my suspicions of weakness in offensive power. So while I was clearing out deadwood (mostly on loan: Wilkins Y19, Elissalde and Gallo), I brought in a couple of offensive players to beef up the attack:

Colin Prescott – AMC/MC:

This was, I hope, a steal at $3M. I think he's going to be very useful for us. He can play either the AMC in the wide diamond, or the controlling midfielder in the 4-0-2-2-2. Another player I've grabbed from the Premier League after a loan spell in the Championship. He made Ulrik Nielsen decidedly superfluous, so that worthy was sent packing to Locomotiv Moskva.

Joe Jones – ST: (LOAN)

This young lad is on loan from Liverpool, where his youth precludes playing in the top side. He's not speedy, but he'll do better controlling the ball and creating attacks than either Fitzgerald or Cremers, for all their speed. Costing me almost nothing to have him, a win-win.

Of course, it's only a win-win if he plays for you. Jones tore his hammy almost immediately after arriving. Will be out until the Spring. However, he did bag two goals and an assist in his three European appearances before the injury, so I still have hopes.

I'm not planning much else in the market. I'm happy with our squad, which is mostly nailed down for a long time to come. I was shocked to receive a bid of $10.5M from Lille for Jon Anders Torres. I almost said yes, just because of the dollar figure. But we don't need money, and if he's that valuable now, imagine how valuable he'll be in two or three years AFTER we win the UCL!

International Management

I've had so-so luck in managing internationally. I thought my efforts with Sweden were quite credible. I also thought my Polish U-19 work was pretty decent. However, I've not received too many nibbles when it comes to international jobs. It was with some great joy, then, that in July I received the offer of managing the English U-21 squad. I didn't think twice, I accepted at once.

The job was almost perfect. The squad had two matches left in qualifying for the 2033 European U-21 Championship Finals. We were three points ahead of Slovenia, with a game in hand, and Slovenia's last game was against us in September. We were six clear of the Greeks, who also only had one game left, so they couldn't catch us, either. So I was going to get a chance to learn my team without having to worry too much about my job. As it happened, the two games against Slovenia and Luxembourg were laughers (4-0 each time).

However, winning a group only gets you to a home-and-away playoff with one of the other nine winners, or one of the top four second place teams. Thankfully, we drew Denmark, and soundly smashed them with a pair of 4-1 wins. That puts us into the Finals next summer, along with whoever the hosts are (the game hasn't said yet, and I can't be bothered to figure it out!).

We then took the time in November to remind the Irish of who really invented the game. That was a very satisfying thumping; the Irish lads didn't get one single shot at goal off! As a result, my team rolls into the next year having scored 20 goals in 5 games, allowing only 2. I'm quite confident of a good result next year.

England U-21 Squad

England U-21 Matches 3032

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[url=]Financials.

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Oh, and in the midst of all this, I managed my 1200th game. That's a lot of managing. Whew!

[Dan BHTFC]

I've started mine in FM2012, I want to recreate my Neath save of 2011 where I reached 2050 but I did dominate from the start so I thought I'd make it a little harder for myself by starting at a smaller club. Going to be a few more season's before I push for a title but I'm slowly building up

[Flamers]

Finally getting somewhere in International management! It's only a matter of time before you can take the step down to the Wales job

[CoachFlu]

However, winning a group only gets you to a home-and-away playoff with one of the other nine winners, or one of the top four second place teams. Thankfully, we drew Denmark, and soundly smashed them with a pair of 4-1 wins. That puts us into the Finals next summer, along with whoever the hosts are (the game hasn't said yet, and I can't be bothered to figure it out!).

Yeah, I did several U21 jobs over the years, and every time I keep forgetting that winning your qualifying group isn't enough, there's still that playoff to get through.

The hosts of the tournament should be on the Euro U21 Ch'Ship page, below the header. (Holders: team X / Hosts: team Y) Or alternatively under the "Teams" tab. It should be visible in both of those places from as soon as the previous tournament finishes.

Good performance in the CL there. Good luck against Inter - tough draw indeed.

[RichG]

Mate been away for a few months and just come back

One word.... EPIC lol

2032/33 season is mental. Fair play for sticking with Wales for that long. That is real dedication

[DSYoungEsq]

I've started mine in FM2012, I want to recreate my Neath save of 2011 where I reached 2050 but I did dominate from the start so I thought I'd make it a little harder for myself by starting at a smaller club. Going to be a few more season's before I push for a title but I'm slowly building up

Good luck with it! I think you'll find that, if you want to make it "harder", you have to get the usual Wales mod that adds the lower levels and play up from there. That also makes trading Welsh players more fun.

Finally getting somewhere in International management! It's only a matter of time before you can take the step down to the Wales job

As you will see in the next post, very prescient!

Yeah, I did several U21 jobs over the years, and every time I keep forgetting that winning your qualifying group isn't enough, there's still that playoff to get through.

The hosts of the tournament should be on the Euro U21 Ch'Ship page, below the header. (Holders: team X / Hosts: team Y) Or alternatively under the "Teams" tab. It should be visible in both of those places from as soon as the previous tournament finishes.

Good performance in the CL there. Good luck against Inter - tough draw indeed.

Thanks for the info! As you will see, it wasn't Inter who did us in, though.

Mate been away for a few months and just come back

One word.... EPIC lol

2032/33 season is mental. Fair play for sticking with Wales for that long. That is real dedication

Well, no, REAL dedication is doing what someone like dafuge does, playing a career until you've hit 80 years or so. <lol> But thanks.

[DSYoungEsq]

Half-a-loaf is better than ... - The 2032-33 End of Season Report

Our friendlies.

Our European matches.

Our WPL matches.

Our League Cup matches.

Our Welsh Cup matches.

The Welsh Cup (last four rounds)

The League Cup

The Squad.

The Squad's stats (combined).

The Reserves. We have some lads down on the Reserve team who spent plenty of time playing up during the year!

The Youth Rated.

The Youth Team Stats A reminder that my youth players rated one star or better potential are made available for the Reserves.

Transfers This Season.

This was a season markedly better than last season. And, yet, all that does is leave a hunger in the belly, and a bitter taste in the mouth...

Europe

We had a very good Spring, all things considering. No, we didn't progress as far as we have in the past, but we had massive opposition and a very young team, and pushed our opponents to the edge. Going out to eventual champions Atlético Madrid was not something to complain about: look what they did to the other Milanese team in the Final!

As you will recall, we had the fortune to draw F.C. Internazionale Milano for our first knockout round. This was not as imposing a draw as one might think; in this universe, Inter Milan have won the EURO Cup once ('24), and were runners-up in the UCL once (last year). Otherwise, they usually go out of the UCL tamely in one of the first two knockout draws. We've only faced them once in the last ten years (we lost to them in the QF of the EURO Cup the year they won it). So I thought we had a chance getting through.

When I play in Europe knockout ties with a home match first, my goal is to avoid allowing the opposition an away goal. I'll gladly take 1-0, and even walk away with 0-0 and not feel too bad about it. 1-1 is, however, a very poor result, as it forces us to try and take at least two goals in the return away leg. So, of course, when the Nerazzuri came to Bastion Gardens, we gifted them a goal in the 17th minute, and only managed to equalize in the second half. This left us needing to take a win or a high-scoring draw from them in the San Siro. Yeah, I draw that up on the whiteboard all the time. Piece of cake. Not.

So you will imagine my joy when we walked (ran!?) out of Milan with a 2-1 victory, sending us through. The early penalty made up for our stupidity in the previous game, but they quickly equalized to put penalties on the horizon. However, our quickly becoming very stylish young striker, Barry Fitzgerald, punched one home in the second half to quiet the Milanese crowd. A couple days later, we got our reward: the draw for the quarter-finals put us up against Atlético Madrid.

Madrid are a much tougher ask. They are former UCL champs ('28), EURO Cup winners ('16), EURO Cup runners-up ('17, '23), and regularly make the quarters or the semis of the UCL. I knew we'd have a tougher time with them. Fortunately, the first leg was in the Estadio de Madrid, and we have historically done well when needing to produce the goods in a second leg game at Bastion Gardens.

Sadly, we could not penetrate their defense to get an away goal (so vital in these games!). This forced us to win at home (I knew a 0-0 return leg was not happening). The first half was a wonderful display of offensive play, and the whistle signaling the interval found the teams knotted at 2-2, my lads having twice equalized in the first 20 min. of the game. But we had to chase things in the second half, and eventually, we were made to pay. Bojan Milovanovic managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and sent the ball past Carlos in the 66th minute. The fight went out of the team at that point, and Madrid added another cherry to the top of the sundae in the 83rd minute. With that, our Spring in Europe was over.

And, as I said, as we watched the striped shirts of the Spaniards smash their way to the UCL title, all we could think of was, “There but for some sloppy play go we.” It leaves one wanting September to be just around the corner.

Wales

Domestically, we recovered form and made the treble a piece of cake. Our goal differential of +102 in the WPL ranks among our best ever, and makes one wonder how ever we managed four drawn games! Notice the VERY brief visitation to the top flight from Pontardawe, making their first such trip up. With results like this against us, it wasn't a shock they didn't make a home here.

The League Cup was made interesting by … nothing, really. We smashed our way through the games without yielding a single goal. Given the way Afan Lido and Carmarthen had smashed goals past their opponents just prior to meeting us, that says a lot about our superiority, and our new stalwart defense.

We were determined to win back the Welsh Cup, and it was my job to see that didn't have any chance of being a failed mission. Notice the quite smashing put-down of Taffs Well in the quarters. Given our potent offense, the Final's score looks a bit odd. However, we put in our two in the first 20 min. of the game. After that, the well suddenly ran dry; we peppered their goal with shots (29 in total), but couldn't bag that vital third. Eventually, they got lucky; in the 90th minute they snuck one in on us and forced us to live a nervy injury time. However, we held on and were treble winners. It is amazing these days how smashing much we earn each year we win the Welsh Cup!!

In the end, then, a much more satisfying year than last! Still not enough, but improving.

I did almost no team tweaking, since we were working so well. I did add one player:

Mikel Yanguas - DC:

This was a bit of a steal. Osasuna gave him up for $1.6M, but I'm paying him wages of $365 a week. He's got 3.5 stars potential, and provides much-needed back-up cover, which means I can finally get rid of the under-performing Ille Luca.

The goal, then, is to improve further next season. I want to be back in the UCL Final within two seasons, and I think this team can do it!

The WPL Player Statistics. The top TWO scorers in the League. Notice the assists from Kotsiopoulos. He set some pretty good records this season for assists; he's a real asset for our team!

Manager Overview.

Finances.

Boardroom Overview.

Oh, there is one other piece of news. My smashing success with Prestatyn Town FC this season appeared to finally pay off. At the close of the season, my old nemesis, Robbie Savage offered me the job with Wales coaching the U-19 team. I almost didn't take it, as I wanted very much to see what I could do with the English U-21 team in the Finals this summer, but I was afraid that if I turned Wales down this time, I might never get a chance at the full national team. I'm also hoping that being the U-19 manager will give me a leg up when they sack Savage after he fails to qualify for WC '34. So finally, I'm coaching A Wales national team!!!

[Flamers]

Well done on the 1st Round win! You are getting close, I can feel it

[Nobby_McDonald]

Excellent season and a Welsh team in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League.

That's an obscene amount for winning the Welsh Cup.

[DSYoungEsq]

Well done on the 1st Round win! You are getting close, I can feel it

The question, at all times, is exactly WHAT are we getting close to!?

Excellent season and a Welsh team in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League.

That's an obscene amount for winning the Welsh Cup.

Thank-you, sir. You are right about the money. When I think back to the paltry sum we won in our first season winning the Cup, I chuckle.

[DSYoungEsq]

Stop me if you've heard this one before...: The Year End Summary - 2032/33

Results:

WPL: 1st 25 pts. ahead of The New Saints (P32 W27 D4 L1 F115 A13 GD+102 Pts85)

WC: Won 2-1 v. Caerleon

LC: Won 2-0 v. Carmarthen

Europe: Seeded directly into UCL Group Play

Finished 2nd UCL Group E W3 D1 L2 Pts 10

1-1-0 v Hamburger SV (GER) 0-0 H, 3-0 A

0-0-2 v FC Barcelona (SPA) 0-3 A, 0-2 H

2-0-0 v GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 4-1 H, 4-1 A

Won UCL 1st Knockout Round v. Internazionale Milano (ITA) 1-1 H, 2-1 A

Lost UCL Quarterfinal v. Atlético Madrid (SPA) 0-0 A, 2-4 A

Prestatyn Town FC Honors

WPL Player of the Year:

Giorgos Kotsiopoulos. Has been simply amazing since joining the club at the start of the last season. This season, his 30 assists in 35 appearances (all competitions) was a record for the club; he also set the WPL assist mark with 25. Compiles the highest average rating regularly, except when Fitzgerald is on a goal tear. His only downside is a tendency to injury, and a poor constitution, which requires that he be subbed out often in the waning stages of the game. I agree he deserved this over Fitzgerald this year.

WPL Young Player of the Year:

Giorgos Kotsiopoulos Not even a close call. Notice we also had 2nd and 3rd, again.

WPL Team of the Season: Ten of eleven this year, again falling JUST short of the whole team: – Carlos, Martin Mortensen, Mohamed Buzenthal, Jon Anders Torres, Ingacio Cuesta, Palle Eriksen, Giorgos Kotsiopoulos, Colin Prescott, Renaldo Cremers, Barry Fitzgerald. The only position missed is the defensive midfielder, where we are in transition from Bojan Milovanovic to Mondher Azaïez, and he couldn't stay ahead of Jamie Webb from TNS.

Fan's Player of the Year: Renaldo Cremers. A bit of a surprise choice. However, he and Fitzgerald really had almost identical seasons, and Cremers is more likely to appear in a WPL game when we are in a fixture crush than Fitzgerald is.

WPL Manager of the Year:

Dave Cameron. The WPL hates handing this award out to the same manager twice in a row.

Records by PTFC and/or its Players:

WPL Most Assists Season: 25 – Giorgos Kotsiopoulos. Smashed the old record of 20, held by Tom Rogers of PTFC. Was double the number of the next most helpful WPL player.

Welsh Cup Most Goals Team Season: 25 – PTFC. Winning a game 10-0 helps.

Welsh Cup Biggest Victory: 10-0 – PTFC over Taffs Well.

Welsh Cup Most Goals Game Combined: 10 – PTFC and Taffs Well (10-0)

PTFC Most Assists Season: 30 – Giorgos Kotsiopoulos. Also passed Tom Rogers here.

PTFC Fastest Goal: 14 seconds – Barry Fitzgerald v. Goytre United 1/29/33.

News for Prestatyn Town FC:

Prestatyn moved back up to 15th. Not quite as high as we had been. This puts us back with some giants of the game. Need to get higher, though.

The Wales Season Summary. As usual, lots of PTFC names.

We had profit of $4.5M on turnover of $33M. The Board were willing to declare a $1.8M dividend, too.

Once again, no one was promoted to the PTFC Overall Best-11.

We have a new shirt sponsorship deal! The new deal triples our earnings yearly, but runs for nine years. Still, it's about time we began to cash in on our popularity, such as it is.

News about Wales and the World:

The Welsh ranking remains at 66th. However, I have to concede that Savage is turning things around. They beat Croatia away in the WC Quals, and have managed a string of draws this year in the Four Nations Tournament.

The WPL European reputation ranking drops to 17th, the fifth straight year of yo-yo results. The League is probably settling in at about 15th, on average. It will take consistent results in Europe from teams other than Prestatyn for that to change.

The Welsh FA recovered its guaranteed UCL Group spot for '34-'35. We moved up into 11th place, the highest we've ever been. The EURO Cup spots stay the same, but in the '34-'35 season, PTFC will be back to going straight into group play in the UCL. Let's hope the coming season's need to qualify is a true aberration.

WPL European qualification was mostly normal. We go with The New Saints into the UCL 3rd round of qualifying (TNS are in the “Best-Placed” side). Llanelli get the #3 slot in Europe (Europa League) for finishing 3rd in the League. Haverfordwest won the playoff for the #4 Europe slot. Non-league Caerleon get the last spot by virtue of finishing as Welsh Cup Runners Up to already qualified winners PTFC.

In other news:

PTFC Old Boy Jamie Kirton is again Welsh Footballer of the Year ('32). He's clearly the class of Wales at this point.

Pontardawe didn't really distinguish themselves in their brief stay. Their final tally was 105 goals allowed, 15 more than the prior record. It's not the sort of mark you expect broken any time soon.

[DSYoungEsq]

Throw 'im in the deep end! - 2033 Mid-Year International Report

The 2033 Mid-Year Wales U-19 Squad.

Match results 2033 I joined the team as coach May 8th.

European U-19 Championship Second Qualifiers Group 1 Table. So Close!

When I received the request from Robbie Savage to take over coaching the Wales U-19 squad, I hadn't been paying any attention to their deeds. I was fully focused on the upcoming U-21 Championship Finals effort with England. Of course, I had applied for the Welsh U-19 position some time ago (these appointments tend to stay undealt-with for years), but had long since given-up hope anyone would act on it. It was mildly shocking to hear from Savage, as it was.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I figured out that I was expected to coach the team the very next day! Indeed, the team had three qualifier matches in the space of five days, and I barely knew anything about the squad! Talk about sink or swim.

It did help that we had a relatively easy group. We didn't have any of the usual power-houses in the mix (England (hosts), Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, France). Further, we had avoided the more troublesome second-tier teams (Holland, Czech Republic, Russia, Croatia). So I thought we actually had a decent chance of nipping a result or two. I was not in any way expecting we could do more than that, since I'm fully well aware of the lack of quality showing up in Welsh Premier League team youth intakes.

So I was quite shocked when, inside of 40 min. against Denmark, we had a 3-0 lead! The first goal had been scored by my own youth intake, Paul Jenkins Y20 (who, of course, will never see time with the first team at PTFC). I thought to myself, “Let's get this into the locker room at half-time and then see what we can do to protect it.” Sadly, within four minutes of our third goal, our inexperience showed, and we conceded a needless penalty, which was neatly tucked away by the Danes, stealing our momentum, and diminishing our belief. Although we held our own statistically overall, we were not the same threatening side we had been the first half, and in the end, we conceded two more to let the Danes steal a point from the match at 3-3.

The second game was a mere two days later. I hate this sort of schedule; it means you literally have to field two separate sides, or you have to go into the game totally on rubber legs. I opted for a compromise against the team I expected to be our toughest ask. Sure enough, I was right. Although we matched the Swiss blow for blow on the pitch, their incisive 4th minute strike was enough to see us off 0-1.

This knocked us out of the tournament, since everyone was beating the Belgians. Still, pride and all, and I was certain the Belgians would be aiming to avoid a perfect 0 for 3 record, so I patched up my side as best I could, and sent them out to do battle. And battle it was! Two traded goals at the end of the first half simply whetted the crowd's appetite for blood. And blood there was: the Belgians struck first, right after the interval was over, but then we stabbed two home in quick succession to retake the lead. A fourth went home at about the two-thirds done mark, and while the other team tried hard to catch up, they could only manage one more. When all was done, we ran out winners 4-3 over Belgium, with a hat-trick claimed by a lad who is a near neighbor to Prestatyn Town FC. Stephen O'Sullivan plays for next-door Rhyl (long-term readers of this blog will recall when we used to play that team every pre-season). I'm sure it made him quite happy to out-do the U-19 players on the squad from the now far more famous Seasiders squad.

In reflection, it was a very good qualifying group result for us. As was shown just a month later, we aren't really in the same quality level as teams like Denmark (3-0 winners over us in a June U-19 friendly played in Denmark) or Switzerland. But we rose to the occasion. Indeed, had we managed to stick a goal in against Switzerland, and drawn that game, I'm not sure WHAT would have happened, since absolutely the only difference among the three teams at the top of the table would have been our better offensive output against Belgium (all other results among the non-Belgium sides would have been draws).

Going forward, my goal will be to keep our heads above water internationally. I do plan to use a fair number of my PTFC lads, since they will have familiarity with the system. But my real goal is to be here, toiling away with good results when the FAW finally sack Savage (I predict it will come this fall when he fails to qualify for WC '34). Then, hopefully, the FAW will see their way to elevating me to the WMNT spot.

[DSYoungEsq]

Chugging along - 2033/34 Initial Report

The 2033/4 Season Squad.

The reserves. Still some true reserves.

Youth Intake. Total nothing.

Transfer History season to date.

As you can see from the transfer history, I'm quite satisfied with the team I've got. Joe Jones is loaned to us for the whole season, so I'm under no pressure to add someone at Striker. I'm going to get rid of Bojan Milovanovic this summer, since he's simply not able to hold his own any more against players like Elissalde (who will be back from his loan at month's end) and Azaïez. But I intend mostly to take these players into a second year of work towards the ultimate goal, without many changes. Sometimes, standing pat is fine.

One trouble we will have this season is that WPL games require a minimum of two U-19 players on the picked squad. I'm starting to run out of talented U-19s on the team, so that might force me to be a bit creative in squad selection. In the past, players like Palle Eriksen kept the selection in this area easy, but he and the others have grown up.

The youth intake was rubbish, again. Obviously, my ability to shake the foundations of European soccer isn't translating to better recruits at the youth level.

I have signed no new players between last season's end and the coming season's start. If a good deal pops up, I'll take it, but I'm not in a hurry.

So again it's patience time as we go hunting in Europe. The goal is to make the final within the next two seasons. I believe it is doable. We'll have to see if the team agrees.

Manager Overview. Notice who our first friendly is against! I thought it only appropriate after what their young lad did for the Welsh U-19 team in May.

Finances.

Boardroom overview.

[TWFL]

Great stuff KIU.

How are the other welsh teams doing? Compared to when you first began how much of a difference is there? Like are there big wages, higher attendances and better players? What English league would you compare most of the teams to? Be nice to know how much of a difference there has been over 20+ years..

[sambos]

Wow just finished reading 8 pages amazing career DSYoung...

[DSYoungEsq]

As good as ever – Europe Group report - 2033/4

UCL Group H Table:

Prestatyn UCL match results:

.

WPL Table. We're first as usual.

PTFC Squad.

Transfers this season to date.

Well, we're a bit ahead of schedule, I think!

Europe:

Sadly, this season we were forced back into the grind of qualifying games to get to the UCL groups. In the process, we met up with some old friends of ours. My worry was that we might be a bit blasé playing games like this. But I think MSK Zilina (SVK) might wish we had been a bit more blasé, after we pounded them into submission 12-1 on aggregate. FC Sheriff Tiraspol, from tiny Moldova, did better, but still left the second game 5-2 losers total. I'm sure they would have preferred to see someone else in the qualifiers!

Our group draw also brought us some old friends. Barcelona have always been a bit beyond us, except for one famous result in 2030. Leverkusen we've never played, but we've matched up against other Bundesliga clubs and have been iffy at best in our results. Panathinaikos we played once before at the group stage, and took a win and a draw from them. So going in, it looked like a fight for second place, with Leverkusen favored. At odds of 40-1 to win the Champions League it was clear the odds-makers thought we had a shot to qualify out.

My estimate of our chances was considerably upped when we won the first game at Leverkusen 3-1. We took the game by the throat in the first half. Then, fortunately, when it looked like Leverkusen would get back in it, they had a man sent off, and we tucked an insurance goal in to seal the deal. Running out of the BayArena winners was a satisfying feeling.

If we thought that was satisfying, imagine our feelings when we smashed Barcelona 4-1 at Bastion Gardens! This was no fluke result, stolen from under their noses. We smashed our way to a 4-1 lead with two halves of excellent football, playing our 5-1-3-1 comfortably well. If not for a late penalty, we would have blanked the best team in the world. Not surprisingly, our backs had excellent ratings. After two matches, we topped the table, and we faced the easiest two matches on the program back-to-back.

Two games later, we were still on top. We didn't let the Greeks even sniff a result. The 6-1 mauling in Athens included five goals from Barry Fitzgerald, who was simply en fuego. Notice the full-time ratings for my team. Of course, Barcelona weren't letting grass grow under their feet, either. But this meant that, with two games left, the only issue left to decide was whether it would be us or Barça at the top of the table at the end. Qualifying for the knockouts with two left was a very nice feeling.

After we dispatched Leverkusen at home 3-0, the situation was the same. To knock us off the top, the Catalans had to beat us, and do so by at least three goals, scoring at least four. We went again with the 5-1-3-1. This time, Barça did what they needed to win, but holding them to 0-1 left us at the top of the table. This is the best we've ever done.

Sadly, finishing first wins you nothing when it comes to the knockout draw. The draw wasn't too bad, though. 'Boro are not the scariest of teams, and we avoided the big English and Spanish teams. So, with some continued good play, we should make the quarterfinals. After that, it's just luck of the draw.

Home Front:

Domestically, we've been dominant. We drew the first game of the season in the WPL, but after that, we've been smashing our way to wins. We've scored almost four a game, and allowed only 5 in 15. The League Cup gave us a bit of a scare, but we survived a penalty shootout with Llanelli in the semi-finals (the usual silliness; we had to play the game minus most of our squad, away on international duties). The Welsh Cup's only game was a blow-out.

I've done nothing to bolster the squad. We are set with all we need, and then again some, I believe. To this point, Barry Fitzgerald has scored 37(!) in all competitions (20 starts, 4 relief appearances). Kotsiopoulos has 20 assists on the left, and Gabriele Grieco has tossed in 13 assists from the right. Our defense is rock solid. Clearly, we can match up with the top squads in Europe, and although we may not win, we shouldn't be blown out. No real need to tinker exists, here.

In other news of substantial import, TNS made the EURO Cup Group stage. They got there by beating Olympiakos in the third round of the Best Placed teams, before getting spanked out of the competition by Porto 8-0 on aggregate. Of course, once there, they weren't overwhelming, but they did manage one draw, to collect a point. Clearly, the WPL is slowly becoming better, dragged willy-nilly along by the success of my Seasiders.

International Management

As I expected, Wales failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals in '34, though in fairness, they certainly weren't terrible. Robbie Savage was sacked, and the Welsh National Team job became open. I, of course applied. Who else should they choose, I thought?

I, of course, failed to get the job. Danny Harris is 34, has never managed ANYTHING, and didn't even PLAY THE GAME. So, of course they went with him.

The Boardroom Overview.

Financials.

.

[MattSpurs94]

Middlesborough? :confused:

[DSYoungEsq]

Great stuff KIU.

How are the other welsh teams doing? Compared to when you first began how much of a difference is there? Like are there big wages, higher attendances and better players? What English league would you compare most of the teams to? Be nice to know how much of a difference there has been over 20+ years..

Thanks! The other Welsh teams who inhabit the top of the table are doing better (TNS, Llanelli, Afan Lido). But the rest of the teams are pretty much at about the same point they always were. I'm doing a review of this shortly, which will show exactly how the WPL compares 24 years on.

Wow just finished reading 8 pages amazing career DSYoung...

Well, it's been a real roller-coaster, yes.

Middlesborough? :confused:

No such place.

[DSYoungEsq]

Gutted! - The 2033-34 End of Season Report

Our friendlies. Note summer vacation was in France this year.

Our European matches.

Our WPL matches.

Our League Cup matches.

Our Welsh Cup matches.

The Welsh Cup (last four rounds)

The League Cup

The Squad.

The Squad's stats (combined).

The Reserves. Celihueta often plays with the first team in the WPL.

The Youth Rated.

The Youth Team Stats A reminder that my youth players rated one star or better potential are made available for the Reserves.

Transfers This Season. Essentially no action.

As the saying goes, Second Place is simply First Loser.

Europe

Our first bit of Spring Euro Footie was a visit to the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough. Given how we had played, I had high hopes for this match; nick an away goal or two and even if we lost, we'd be in the driver's seat, I felt. Of course, we promptly lost all scoring touch, and limped (wimped, really) our way out of the Midlands 0-1 losers. So in the return fixture, we got all stern and demanding and a 5-0 spanking of 'Boro sent us through to the UCL quarter-finals.

As usual, the teams available to play in the quarter-finals were no patsies. At this point, I'm usually of the opinion that it doesn't matter who you play: either you're good enough to win, or you're going home. Since we aren't all dicey with our finances, the extra income of the semi-final round isn't that important to us to worry about sneaking into them on the basis of a lucky draw.

So I wasn't upset or pleased when we got handed Valencia. We had never played them, so I had no way to judge their ability. In the past, they've been primarily a EURO Cup team at knockout time, but they did make the UCL Final against Barcelona a couple years back, so their current squad I felt was likely to be good. Speaking of Barça, note their absence from the Q-Fs. They took a 3-0 first leg lead against Chelsea, only to let Chelsea wax them 0-4 in London. I was a bit pleased to see that result.

As it turns out, we didn't have much trouble with Valencia. A pair of 2-1 victories saw them off comfortably. At this point, my heart started racing a bit, because after all, if you make the semi-final round, you're just one lucky set of games away from a date in the Final. And the semi-final teams included Lyon, whom I felt we could beat, given the chance. O Frabjous Day, calloo, callay, I chortled.

Sure enough, it was a date with the men from the banks of the Rhône we collected. I began to plot our way to the final, where I felt certain a certain club wearing red tops and black shorts would be awaiting us. Of course, as it turned out, all the planning was almost for nothing. In the first leg, in France, they shrugged off our 18th min. opener and scored a brace immediately after, followed by one more right after the interval for good measure. Fortunately, our talisman, Barry Fitzgerald, dumped a second goal into their onion bag, allowing us to take two away goals home with our 'L'. Good thing, too, because at Bastion Gardens, we had to weather an awful storm of shots. However, Renaldo Cremers stole a goal right before the whistle ending the first half, and we made it hold up for a 3(a)-3 win on aggregate.

And, as expected, it was the Red Devils themselves who showed up in Dublin to contest the Final. I didn't expect much from the game. We've never beaten Manchester United in 6 previous efforts, though we have managed a pair of draws to go with our four losses. Further, although our squad was healthy, we hadn't had a match in 14 days, and I worried about sharpness. I toyed with the idea of trying to play them straight-up, with our potent 4-1-2-1-2 wide diamond, or possibly a 5-1-2-1-1 version. In the end, I tried something totally new: 4-2-1-1-2. In essence, I swapped our width for better deep play, without sacrificing our ability to attack in front of goal. The upside was the presence on the field of Elissalde, Azaïez, Fitzgerald and Cremers. The downside was the lack of a place for Giorgos Kotsiopoulos, our goal-creator.

It almost worked. No, you don't need to adjust the TV set: we went in at the half up 2-1! We had come back after their star striker had scored, and fired ourselves into the lead. But it didn't last long enough. A corner kick from Utd. resulted in a glancing header towards goal, and Carlos couldn't keep it out, the bad carom off the crossbar hitting him and going in. After that, neither team could manage much of a sold effort on goal. I swapped fresh legs in late, but even with the extra time to score, we couldn't poke another one by their 'keeper.

I wasn't that upset at the game going to penalties. We've had a good record over the years in penalty-kick shootouts. But this time, our youth and nerves showed. The Mancunians nailed four straight kicks (Carlos didn't even touch them). Meanwhile, we blazed one over the bar and had one saved easily. And, with that, all the effort, all the dreaming, all the hopes and excitement was over.

Wales

Domestically, we did as we usually expect. Besides the opening draw, we dropped points only one other time (a loss third game from the end). The League Cup was a blowout against the team which had beaten us in the WPL just two weeks prior. We smashed our way to the Welsh Cup final, where we played around with TNS (letting them have too much play in the process) before walking out 4-3 winners. Ho Hum, another year in Wales for Prestatyn Town Football Club (during which I managed my 1200th game in charge of PTFC).

None of that can make up for the deflated feeling after the final whistle blew in Dublin.

I did nothing to change the squad in the spring. I figured what was working should be let to work.

The WPL Player Statistics. We were dynamite. Notice our pass-completion stat leaders.

Manager Overview.

Finances.

Boardroom Overview. Upgrading Youth Facilities again, as they got downgraded, again.

It's hard to put into words the feeling right now. I'm sure it will be in perspective at some point.

[City2000]

Just skimmed through this thread, looks a cracker!

You've given me something to look forward to this week by getting to read through it thoroughly.

[MattSpurs94]

Incredible. Unbelieveable. Unlucky.

Only three words I can think of that sum up that season

[Nobby_McDonald]

Excellent run in the Champions League, bugger to lose it that way.

[JackJCFC]

Good luck with completing this challenge, judging by your most recent post your making great progress. I got to 2040 on mine and just lost interest. I could go back to it but its all too unfamiliar now. I may try this again on FM 12 once i get bored with my Chelsea game.

[jayahr]

Wow. Still an incredible run there.

[Plobdork]

OMFG this reminds me so much of rfc's career back in fm10 over at sortitoutsi WELL DONE I have 3 requests!

1)please can you post a screeny of your facilities

2)Please can you post a screeny of jamie kirtons history

3)Keep this going FOREVER!

[Plobdork]

errrm is this dead?

[Taytaz]

I really hope not