dafuge's FM12 challenge

GreyedOutMan · January 3, 2012

Harrow Borough | Season 2036/37 | Barclays Premier League

Table | Positions Graph | Squad | Finances | Transfers

The major transfer business of the summer was re-signing current players and staff. A large number of important players were nearing the ends of their contracts, and I had to sacrifice a significant amount of transfer budget to put towards increased wages to keep some of my best players. Paul Clarke-Harris, in particular, proved very stubborn. Having had a year to run on his £1.6m per year contract with a tiny minimum fee release clause of just £10m, he eventually signed a deal for

During pre-season I approached the board asking them to build a new stadium and it was instantly granted. So Harrow will be moving from Harrow Stadium to.....

Harrow Stadium. An odd one. Hopefully this will have significant expansion potential, unlike the first Harrow Stadium. Of course the sponsors will re-name the stadium as far as the reports go but you'll have to wait for that revelation until the stadium is built. But also this season, I bullied my board into upgrading the training facilities. This is much needed.

The league started well and until early January we were top of the league. Three games in a row against Man Utd, Man City and Arsenal yielded just two points, and suddenly we were off the pace a bit. However, we did have a much easier run after that starting at Wigan, and Odilon Ondjola was bang on form. He broke the club goalscoring record for a season on 1st March! Back to the league shortly.

Cup Runs saw another first - Champions' League without the need for qualification. I was still seeded 4th though, which meant a tough group comprising Sevilla, Juventus and Schalke. A narrow defeat at Juventus Stadium in the opening game meant qualification would be tough - Sevilla were the highest ranked team in the group. When we lost at home to Juve, too, qualification was out of our hands, although victory or a draw in the final game against Sevilla would secure at least a Europa League spot. We got the draw, and a win wouldn't have been enough to stay in the Champions' League because Schalke had got the draw they needed to seal qualification. Still, I felt the Europa League presented a decent opportunity for our first major trophy, so I wasn't too downhearted. Red Star were to be my first Europa League opponents since I was last in the Championship. Shakhtar or Marseille were the carrot in the 2nd knockoud round. Red Star were dispatched easily, but Shakhtar proved to be a major banana skin! That was disappointing, I would have liked to have made that my first major trophy.

In the league cup, a harsh red-card for Markevich plus two injuries resulted in the team having to play the whole of extra-time against Tottenham away with just nine men. Jacky Jouan had the ball in the net for what would have been his hat-trick only to have it chalked off by the linesman's flag. Predictably, it was old-boy Diego Bertolotti who scored the crucial goal with 8 minutes to go. Spurs got another just before full time while our players were bombing forward looking for an equaliser, but Bertolotti's brace to equalise on 83 minutes and then win the game after 113 was the killer for us.

The FA Cup saw a good run to the Semi-Finals where we were unlucky to draw Man City in the Semi-Final, with Swansea meeting Ipswich in the other one. It definitely felt more like a final. Remember I am still to win a major trophy!

It started well, Jicha giving us the lead in just the 4th minute. Within ten, Ondjola had doubled the lead but within 16, City had pulled one back. It felt like one of those games. I was convinced City would equalise. With just twenty seconds to go, a fourth goal arrived. A legend scored it. Our 2nd Cup Final awaited, and this time we would be hot favourites! Swansea beat Ipswich in the other semi to provide Welsh opposition in the Final.

In the league, things went well briefly after that really tough run in January. With 8 games to go we were in the driving seat with the easiest run-in: Leicester, Newport, West Ham, Ipswich, Burnley, Watford, Cardiff, Liverpool. If we won all of those from there, only Arsenal could finish above us, and they had games aagainst Man City, Spurs, Villa and Chelsea all to come. Of course it wasn't to be that simple, and drawing at home to Newport was certainly not in the script. It suddenly became very close, with just two points separating the top 4 in mid-April, at the time when Ondjola broke the league goalscoring record to add to his overall record. However, we then went and lost at home to West Ham, too! Suddenly the title looked a long, long way off. Arsenal stretched their lead to five points the day we reached the Cup Final to dampen any hopes of an historic double. However, they did have to play Tottenham and Chelsea. Though their other games (Swansea, Newport, West Ham and Watford) looked very winnable, "you never know in football". Liverpool were the other team ahead of us but we played them on the last day of the season - so if Liverpool were to be the main rivals, it would all come down to May 24th at Dalglish Park.

Then, the next week, Arsenal lost at Spurs, and Man Utd were turned over by relegation dog-fighters Swansea. So what happened at Portman Road when Harrow visited Ipswich? You guessed it, we lost 1-0! From being potentially locked in a top 4 separated by just two points, suddenly we were looking over our shoulder, our Champions' League place far from secure. But of course there was another twist just around the corner. Chelsea drew 0-0 with United, both easing concerns for the CL place and dragging United back within striking distance. And on their visit to Villa Park, Arsenal's goalless draw all-but condemned the Carling Cup winners to relegation, but didn't do much for the Gunners either. Liverpool were now in the driving seat of the roller-coaster, but we were on their tails. Back-to-back league defeats against West Ham and Ipswich suddenly looked as if they might really cost us, unless we could get very lucky.

The first leg of that luck arrived. Liverpool could only draw with Newport while we were beating Burnley away. Three games to go:

Arsenal 72

Liverpool 72

Man Utd 71

Harrow 69

The second leg didnt arrive on the next opportunity, although Arsenal's 6-1 thrashing of Chelsea did give me some breathing space in my Champions' League spot. But later that day, we couldn't break down a stubborn Watford side, and the title was all but gone, despite United's 1-1 draw at home to Newport. Liverpool's defeat at West Ham was a mocking side-show. The title, surely was Arsenal's. Two games to go:

Arsenal 75

Man Utd 72

Liverpool 72

Harrow 70

The small matter of the FA Cup Final, and a shot at our first major trophy, interrupted Arsenal's procession. But this Cup Final was to be no Harrow procession, either. It was 0-0 at half time and though we were on top, the Welsh side had seen more than one or two sights of goal. However, Jicha got the opening goal shortly after the restart, and when, with about 20 minutes to go, Jacky Jouan made it two, I started to celebrate the first major trophy at Harrow Stadium.

Back to what was seeming a lost cause in the league, it was Welsh opponents again with the visit to the Cardiff City Stadium on May 16th. The boys were in the mood, and we were 4-0 up after barely an hour before getting sloppy and winning the game only 4-2. It secured the Champions' League again, and remarkably, Arsenal lost, and United drew, to Newport and West Ham respectively. Suddenly we had a last-day scrap on our hands. With Harrow away at Liverpool, United at home to Watford and Arsenal at home to West Ham, the table going into the last day was:

Arsenal 75 (+44)

Liverpool 75 (+34)

Man Utd 73 (+33)

Harrow 73 (+33).

Arsenal, my own team, were clearly massively in the driving seat, but if nothing else, I wanted to help them out by thwarting Liverpool - and although Arsenal losing at home to West Ham seemed inconceivable, if we could beat Liverpool by more than United beat Watford, then it would make the unthinkable....thinkable.

Liverpool lost to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League final just four days before the last match, which surely gave us the edge psychologically. As if to balance it out, my goalkeeper, Aaron Platnauer, got injured the day before the game and was only fit enough for the bench. But going into the game, my front three had 65 goals between them. I knew it was possible that they could have one of those golden days, which would leave me looking only for one result elsewhere.

Sloppy defending from a corner which led to a Liverpool opener in the 11th minute wasn't the best start, but within two minutes Jacky Jouan popped up to do his old club a favour if nothing else by scoring the instant reply, combining with another Arsenal old-boy, Santiago Cascon. Shortly before half-time, though, the assistant referee missed a clear offside call and Liverpool were 2-1 up. I tried to give the team a boost at half-time but despite a valiant effort, the Kop goal was breached in the 72nd minute and the title dream was over for another year. There was some satisfaction to come because it wasn't enough for Liverpool, who lost the title on goal difference to Arsenal for the second time, almost 50 years after the first (Yes, I know it was Goal Average in 1989, but it sounds better like that!).

I was gutted. Although we were closer to the title this year, it was really a step backwards. We lost fewer games, but 13 draws is not acceptable. Had we turned just three of those draws into wins, the title would have been ours. We were there or thereabouts for about 3/4 of the season.

Still, another training facilities upgrade should help things in the next few years. And the new stadium is just two years away! As for the finances dip, do not be alarmed, I signed a few big players early in the transfer window and plan to recoup some of that by selling some players later on!

Key Players

Odilon Ondjola* - the boy came good! Broke records, won awards, and so nearly won us the league with his goals!

Jacky Jouan - Ondjola's most effective foil. 18 assists to add to his modest 12 goals. I made a mistake in February, selling him to Wolves. There are replacements coming, but he was better than I realised.

Jaguare - in the light of Clarke-Harris' January move, Jaguare really stepped up to the plate and has now become a vital player.

Jose Felix Cabello - the Paul Scholes of Harrow Borough is still turning in top-class performances...

Special Mentions to:

(*= fans' player of the year)

The team of the year

The historical best XI - Baggio, Clarke-Harris and Jicha all inducted this year. Bizarrely, Kalema Lukaku is still at Portsmouth. He's 39!

Ondjola was unsurprisingly featured in the Footballer of the Year award, having won the golden boot by a country mile.

Aaron Platnauer lost out to Liverpool's Egan in the Golden Glove award only because he had played more games.

For the first time, I won the Premiership manager of the year award.

As well as Ondjola, who was in the first XI, Jouan and Platnauer were on the bench for the Premiership Select XI.

Key Records Broken

Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £16m for Pablo Martinez from Neuchatel Xamax on 1st January

Top Goalscorer (overall season): 38 - Odilon Ondjola

Top Goalscorer (league season): 29 - Odilon Ondjola

Oldest Goalscorer: Jose Felix Cabello, 32y 162d v Man City, FA Cup Semi Final, 18th April

Highest Average Attendance: 12,662, which is actually the exact capacity of the stadium, which means we sold every single seat this year!

Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)

ERMAN OZKAN

Had lost his place in the team, and so £2.5m of pure profit was too good to turn down.

APPS: 75, GLS: 4, ASSTS: 0, MoM: 2, AvR: 7.01

EFE GARBA

After rotting in the reserves for several years, the forgotten man finally left. Never made much of an impression but played just about enough to merit inclusion here.

APPS: 30, GLS: 5, ASSTS: 6, MoM: 0, AvR: 7.01

MASSIMILIANO ANDREOLI

The perennial subsistute, if you counted the times he was named on the bench he would be up there amongst the top 20 or so appearance holders at Harrow, but was never good enough for a sustained run in the side.

APPS: 41, GLS: 2, ASSTS: 5, MoM: 2, AvR: 6.91

PAUL CLARKE-HARRIS

I didn't want to sell him but his refusal to sign a contract meant his £10m switch to Man City was necessary.

APPS: 194, GLS: 1, ASSTS: 14, MoM: 14, AvR: 7.19

MESSIAS

After losing his form in front of goal, and as he was getting on in years, he was shipped off to Milan for £8.5m in January.

APPS: 67, GLS: 28, ASSTS: 18, MoM: 5, AvR: 7.28

JACKY JOUAN

In January I felt he wasn't as good as other options. I think I was wrong!

APPS: 91, GLS: 27, ASSTS: 38, MoM: 7, AvR: 7.34

Next season, we need to win the league at least. It's time.

Targets for 2036/37

Get to the Champions' League Quarter-Final at least. FAILURE - and having gone out of the Champions' League, we should have made a better fist of the Europa League.

Qualify for the 2037/8 Champions' League. SUCCESS, although we will have to qualify.

Win a domestic cup. SUCCESS - our first taste of genuine silverware.

Targets for 2037/38

Win the League.

Get to the Champions' League Quarter-Final at least.

Keep hold of Ondjola, Jicha, Platnauer, Coronel and Churin. There are others but these players will be the core of my team for years to come.

In other news, England lost to Holland 2-0 at the start of the season in the Quarter Final of the European Championships, and Barcelona beat Roma in the Champions' League Final.

Season      Division	          Position     Points    Achievements

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7278263&viewfull=1#post7278263]2012/13[/url]     Blue Square South         17th      45       Stayed clear of relegation.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7287208&viewfull=1#post7287208]2013/14[/url]     Blue Square South          3rd      80       Playoff runners-up.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7294922&viewfull=1#post7294922]2014/15[/url]     Blue Square South          2nd      91       Promoted via playoffs.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7300819&viewfull=1#post7300819]2015/16[/url]     Blue Square Premier       13th      64       Mid-table finish.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7305894&viewfull=1#post7305894]2016/17[/url]     Blue Square Premier       10th      63       Move to Harrow Stadium completed.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7313993&viewfull=1#post7313993]2017/18[/url]     Blue Square Premier       17th      57       None.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7322421&viewfull=1#post7322421]2018/19[/url]     Blue Square Premier       15th      56       Drew with Forest in FA Cup!
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7326026&viewfull=1#post7326026]2019/20[/url]     Blue Square Premier        7th      73       FA Trophy Winners.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7330382&viewfull=1#post7330382]2020/21[/url]     Blue Square Premier        4th      77       Playoff semi-finalists; FA Trophy Winners.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7334472&viewfull=1#post7334472]2021/22[/url]     Blue Square Premier        1st      90       Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7346166&viewfull=1#post7346166]2022/23[/url]     Coca-Cola League Two       1st      92       Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt!
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7354887&viewfull=1#post7354887]2023/24[/url]     Coca-Cola League One       3rd      87       Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7364798&viewfull=1#post7364798]2024/25[/url]     Coca-Cola League One       7th      77       JPT Runner-up.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7368804&viewfull=1#post7368804]2025/26[/url]     Coca-Cola League One       1st      97       Promoted as Champions.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7374349&viewfull=1#post7374349]2026/27[/url]     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      68       Stadium Expansion to just over 7,000 all-seater planned.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7383513&viewfull=1#post7383513]2027/28[/url]     Coca-Cola Championship    16th      53       Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7392674&viewfull=1#post7392674]2028/29[/url]     Coca-Cola Championship    10th      66       Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7396585&viewfull=1#post7396585]2029/30[/url]     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      89       Promotion; Carling Cup Q-Final; FA Cup R5, incl. victory v. Tottenham; Stadium expansion announced (3,500 seats).
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7402642&viewfull=1#post7402642]2030/31[/url]     Barclays Premier League   20th      18       Expansion to 12,662 capacity stadium completed; FA Cup Runner-up & Europa League Qualification.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7406971&viewfull=1#post7406971]2031/32[/url]     Coca-Cola Championship     2nd      96       Europa League 2nd K/O Round, Promotion.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7411171&viewfull=1#post7411171]2032/33[/url]     Barclays Premier League   12th      49       Carling Cup S-Final.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7415622&viewfull=1#post7415622]2033/34[/url]     Barclays Premier League   12th      46       None.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7421567&viewfull=1#post7421567]2034/35[/url]     Barclays Premier League    4th      72       Qualified for the Champions League.
[url=http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/279812-dafuge-s-FM12-challenge?p=7436013&viewfull=1#post7436013]2035/36[/url]     Barclays Premier League    3rd      80       Qualified for the CL group stage automatically.
2036/37     Barclays Premier League    4th      73       FA Cup Winners.

TROPHY CABINET - MAJOR TROPHIES

FA Cup: 2037

Shakes · January 3, 2012

Outstanding goal that Gypsum.
Have a contractual problem with my GK. He's only got 6mths left and I'm trying desperately to keep him. His agent is demanding a £1.1m min release clause in the contract, when he's already worth that (would be more if my reputation was better) and there would be half a dozen EPL teams that would pay that much at the drop of a hat. My wage ceiling is 8,750/week and he already wants that, if I lock the min release at 5mill, he then wants double the wages, which just isn't possible. Also wants a % of selling fee and to match highest earner.

Aside from letting him have the 1.1m release clause and watching him go at the end of the season, is there anything else I can do to keep him? It would cost me probably 3 times that amount to get a reasonably equivalent replacement.

If they're being unreasonable then you just have to sell them for all you can get ASAP. Sounds Machiavellian but why have any loyalty to your players when they'll all just whine they want to go to the bigger clubs anyway? So sell that guy for as much money as he'll fetch and buy yourself the best replacement you can find ... you'll be surprised what will come up. After all you have to believe you can make better use of your funds than the CPU managers to try this challenge to start with, so just back yourself and sell him.

ejthegreat · January 3, 2012

Tooting & Mitcham United Football Club

2019/20 Season Review

Premier League

First season in the EPL really turned out to be two seasons in one.

After a productive off-season, except for the loss of club icon Zac Ansah (who refused to negotiate a new deal and later retired....idiot), we started the season off with the newly promoted momentum we could muster. 5 wins and a draw from our opening 8 matches saw us up into 5th and dreaming of Europe. A somewhat mixed bag followed, but we kept winning vital games and at the halfway point of the season we were sitting comfortably in 6th place and with a decent gap to 8th.

From there though, everything went wrong, our season coming to a grinding halt and those early points were needed as we started sliding down the table. Thankfully, there were many horrible teams this season, so our 45pts was enough for 13th and indeed 31pts would've been enough to survive.

To give an idea how bad our second half was, here is the breakdown

1st half: P19, W9, D6, L4. For 28, Ag 19, GD +9 for 33pts and 5 TV appearances

2nd half: p19, W2, D6, L11. For 16, Ag 38, GD -22 for 12pts and 1 TV appearance

This included finishing the season with 6 losses in a row in which we conceded 21 goals. Really concerned as I could not find anyway to halt the slide and I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to improve next year.

Some of the new arrivals:

Artem Gizatullin First costly player, came in at the start of January, didn't exactly set the world on fire and is having some trouble adjusting, hoping he settles next season.

Barry Howard Brought in as a long term prospect for free after Bolton let him go. Had an awful season, with his only goal coming in the second last game of the season. Chelsea and Man Utd are circling, which at least indicates he must have a lot of potential.

Tobias Horn How could I not get someone called Tobias. He may not be blue but he has enough stats that are, I can see him forming a monster CB partnership with Hallovic in coming years.

Gustav Orheim Young Gus impressed on trial and hopefully with a little fitness work, will be the long term DM I'm looking for.

Panagiotis Troullis Given the boot from Frankfurt, he comes highly rated. Am concerned about his Determination but my wings are my weak area so will give him a chance. Man City are asking about him as well now.

Samuel Otoo Had him in on trial at the same time as Horn. Was only going to sign Horn but then Hallovic and Gault got injured and decided I wanted extra cover with a lot of potential and he only wanted 900/week. For some reason he had delusions of playing first team football and went crazy, demanding to be transfer listed after about 3mths and then offering to terminate contract for 35k. I decided to try and sell him instead and Chelsea obviously saw the potential too, so he'll be leaving for 1.4mil at the end of the season.

Best player this season (avg):

Antonio Amato In his third season with us and with the match day HG rule relaxed, he took over the starting left back role from Martin. Did very little going forward with 0 goals, 1 assist but was my strongest defender when not injured and the only player (back up keeper aside) to average over 7 for the season.

Off-Field we improved the Youth Facilities, will shortly be improving Training Facilities and moving into a new stadium. With the low wage bill, we were able to make around £30m profit this season. With the money I want to bring in better coaches, spend transfer money on slightly older players who can have an impact straight away and be able to pay more for better and more ready talent.

Board Overview

Goals for 2019/20

Stay up Success

Improve squad with HG players to avoid having to play a weaker team Failed but wasn't an issue as in EPL HG rule is only for squad not match day

Make enough to upgrade stadium or pay off debt if board take out loan to upgrade stadium Success, new stadium announced last year, will be open soon.

Goals for 2020/21

Top half finish
Domestic Cup run
Improve current ability of squad with more ready made players.

[u]Season    Division   Position    Achievements[/u]
2012/13     BSS        7th        FA Trophy-3rd Rd
2013/14     BSS        3rd        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-4th Rd
2014/15     BSP        4th        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-3rd Rd, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16     L2         3rd        Automatic Promotion, JPT South Winner, JPT Finalist
2016/17     L1         2nd        Automatic Promotion, League Cup-Qtr Final, FA Cup-3rd Rd
2017/18     CH         8th        None
2018/19     CH         1st        npower Championship Winners, FA Cup-4th Rd, League Cup-3rd Rd
2019/20     EPL        13th       None

darren1983 · January 3, 2012

Darren1983 Kingstonian Season Review

Season 2026/27 Premeir League

Table Graph Transfers Squad

After last seasons 3rd place finish, I stayed out of the transfer market as I felt we had a very good young squad that just needed time to grow together, saw the summer only saw 1 transfer which was the £2.5million signing of Vigneau from Benfica. We started the seaon with a 2-1 defeat in the Community Sheild to Man Utd.

Once again we started the league season slowly, with a 0-0 draw at home to Everton and 3-0 defeat away to Man Utd. We improved to beat Wolves 3-0 and our season was under way, we went on a couple good long (10-12 games at a time) unbeaten runs and we put ourselves amongst the leaders, over the busy christmas period we beat Utd 6-1 at home, then Chelsea 2-0 away in the space of 3 or 4 days to hit top spot, a 2-2 draw away to Everton saw drop back to 2nd and we kept going top then straight away draw and drop down again. We hit top spot again after a good 4-0 win away to spurs and that was that, we never dropped off top again and ended up cruising to the title mainly due to our Man Utd like skill in getting late goals, best shown when away to Cardiff where we had 2 men sent off but grabbed a 94th min goal to win, then 3 days later we were 1 down in the 85th min but manged 2 late goals to steal a 2-1 win.

With 4 games to we beat Swansea and that was enough to seal our first title!!!

Cups

Champions League -

our first venture into this competition saw us go striaght into the group stages where we were drawn with Lyon, Athletico Madrid and Werder Bremen, 4 wins and 2 draws saw us through as group winners and a first round knockout game against Marseille, a comfortable 4-0 away win meant that putting out my back up/cup team was the plan for the 2nd leg, and the 3-3 draw meant nothing and we were through to play the holders AC Milan. A fantastic 3-1 win at home gave us a great chance to go through, I think playing at the San Siro got to us, as we produced our worst performace of the season to go down 4-1 on the night and 5-4 on agg to end our adventure

League Cup -

Pretty comfortable run to the final where we were to strong for Championship side Bolton and won our 2nd league cup in 3 years

FA Cup -

Another comfortable run to the final where we beat Spurs after extra time for back to back FA Cup wins and complete a domestic treble

gardenhead · January 3, 2012

Am I too late to start this? I'm not even fashionably late, first time doing this (and posting on the forum, hah) but quite keen to .

Just holidaying now... hopefully get someone quite interesting with some reloading tonight...

darren1983 · January 3, 2012

Nah mate - can join in anytime! Welcome, say goodbye to the rest of your life

gardenhead · January 3, 2012

Ok, I've decided to go as Wealdstone! Not great with the whole links and screenshots things, but I'll work it out eventually haha. For now, I will start to take Wealdstone to the very top (or maybe not!)

Shakes · January 4, 2012

Lewes - 2017/18 Championship End of Season Update - 1st

Table | Positions | Transfers | Squad | Finances

Said I needed a new goal keeper, and the very first thing that happens is the leading youth player cut is a 3.5 star/5 star GK Ross Cuggy ... thank you very much, signed him up quick smart. Think poor Loris Karius saw the writing on the wall as he immediately moaned he wanted to go to a bigger club so I shipped him off. When Alex Nicholson also cracked the sads after I rejected a transfer bid for him it was goodbye to all my players from BSS days.

Unfortunately Cuggy went down for 5 weeks with a hernia right before the first game, which meant a shopping trip for an experienced backup. Shwan Jalal was brought in and performed brillaintly really, 12 clean sheets in 16 appearances ... which meant any thoughts of just a comfortable mid table appearance went out the window as we won the first 5 league games and bolted out to an early lead. Shame Jalal had to make way really, the way he was playing I'd have liked to keep him in there, but Cuggy started complaining he wanted to play once he got healthy and there was no way I was risking losing my 17 year old for the 34 year old!

By about the 30 game mark we were 12 points out in the lead for the league and looking like we'd coast it in, but a late season goal drought from both the strikers and Cardiff going on a 20 game unbeaten run tightened things up considerably. Going into our away match with Cardiff they actually had a chance to pass us ... but we found form at just the right time, thumped them 4-0, then won out the remaining 5 games for an 11 point margin of victory in the end.

Really amazing season ... especially from my star signing Jay Emmanuel-Thomas ... how on earth he sat out the entire previous year I don't know, crazy AI logic in this game. I managed to snap him up once he got desperate in the off season for 1.1k a week ... and he goes on to win the Championship player of the year! Also has by far the best haircut in the game, pity the 3D match engine isn't advanced enough to show it.

The promotion coincides with hitting Legend status with the club too.

League Cup - 3rd Round.

3 league cups 3 3rd rounds ... don't really care and neither do the board, we have an understanding the chairman and I.

FA Cup - Semi Final.

Great run in the FA Cup to make it to the semis, really showed we could mix it with the premier division sides. Pity the semi final performance wasn't up to scratch ... the final score line flattered us after we went 3 goals down, pulled two back to give us a glimmer of hope in the final minutes but we deserved to lose. Still a brilliant run and a much needed financial boost.

Next Season

Getting a new stadium built ... 17.5k seats. Will be a nice boost after this year with our current one seating 6k (and our temporary home for much of the year while that was being expanded only seating around 2.5k). If we can stay up this year then the cash should really start to roll in. Staying up seems quite achievable too, we didn't look completely outmatched during our cup matches.

Otherwise I do need to do some squad pruning ... brought in a bunch of cheap high potential Euro youngsters in the hope of making them home grown over the long haul, without really getting rid of some of the older faces. The squad currently sits at 37 players and really that proved to be too many to get everyone the time they needed to develop. I really need to start being a bit more disciplined about my buying cheap high potential players willy nilly! With only one expiring contract at the end of the year some transfers will have to be made.

Otherwise I just need to find a way to strong arm the board into upgrading the training facilities ... down to only 3 blue stars now, maybe lower once the promotion officially goes through I think. Despite having 4 star coaching in everything some of my better players are actually declining and I think it's due to the abysmal facilities. Certainly my picking up of high potential young players is for nought if they're not getting the right training.

Season    Division      Pos     FA Cup      Other Cups               Achievements
2012/13   BSS           1st     2nd Rnd     FAT RU                   Promoted, FA Trophy Runners Up
2013/14   BSP           3rd     4th Rnd     FAT 4th Rnd              Promotion Finalists
2014/15   BSP           1st     3rd Rnd     FAT Winners              Promoted, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16   League 2      1st     3rd Rnd     JPT Winners, LC 3rd Rnd  Promoted, Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners
2016/17   League 1      1st     3rd Rnd     JPT Winners, LC 3rd Rnd  Promoted, Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners
2016/17   Championship  1st     SF          LC 3rd Rnd               Promoted, FA Cup Semi-Finalists

ejthegreat · January 4, 2012

With the EPL season just finished, I decided to take a really good look at my squad and work out where my weaknesses were and the main area that could be identified was in the central midfield spots, where I only have one player on 3.5stars and the next are on 2.5 stars, although with potential. Went through all my scouting reports which I'd not really bothered to look at since end of Jan window and one stood out with no obvious weaknesses.

Ruiz Would cost me pretty much my entire transfer budget and essentially it would be putting the club's short term future in the hands on one player. I have one player and one coach who speak Spanish and English so I think he would settle okay and it's not listed as a weakness, although also not a strength.

Am I overreacting to our second half of the season that only saw us win 12pts or do I need to improve the team enough now to give the team time and money to reach their potential? I would estimate about a 40-50% chance of being sacked if we were relegated.

ejthegreat · January 4, 2012

With the EPL season just finished, I decided to take a really good look at my squad and work out where my weaknesses were and the main area that could be identified was in the central midfield spots, where I only have one player on 3.5stars and the next are on 2.5 stars, although with potential. Went through all my scouting reports which I'd not really bothered to look at since end of Jan window and one stood out with no obvious weaknesses.
Ruiz Would cost me pretty much my entire transfer budget and essentially it would be putting the club's short term future in the hands on one player. I have one player and one coach who speak Spanish and English so I think he would settle okay and it's not listed as a weakness, although also not a strength.

Am I overreacting to our second half of the season that only saw us win 12pts or do I need to improve the team enough now to give the team time and money to reach their potential? I would estimate about a 40-50% chance of being sacked if we were relegated.

Looks like I won't be able to afford his terms anyway. Wants a min release clause that's the same as what I'm buying him for, wants an insane amount per game and all sorts of extras, probably due to my 12k max wage cap. Going to have to rely on improvement from within again next year, it's nearly impossible to afford to purchase a player that will improve the current standard of the team, best off sticking to high potential players and hoping they come on with game time and don't get me relegated in the mean time.

Liverbird93 · January 4, 2012

2013-2014 Season Review-Chester-Blue Square North

League Prediction: 15th

League Finish: 2nd

League Table

League Positions Graph

Another poor start to the season but once we found our feet we were superb. Unlucky to lose in the playoffs. We lost 5-3 on aggregate to Southport

Squad

Transfers

Finances

Key Players

Daniel Devine-Rock at the back this season. Superb.

Sebastian Carole-Good service to the strikers from the french winger

E llis Martin-Centre mid contributed with 11 assists.

Targets from Last Season

Playoffs

Find a new Striker

Next Season Targets:

Promotion


Season          League                     Position       Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13         Blue Square North          13th           None
2013/14         Blue Square North          2nd            Lost in Playoff Semi Final

Thebaker · January 4, 2012

Worksop Championship 2022/23

Table

Positions

League Cup - Winners

FA Cup - 6th Rd

This season was ultimately a very successful one as i led the league for much of the season. However cup success meant fixture congestion and along with loss of form from players and trouble with the HG rules the team suffered a dip in april where only 2 points came from 5 games. The meant worksop finished in 3rd when the best ever points total previously for 2nd had been 91 points. In the playoffs i won 3-0 away to leicester before drawing 0-0 at home. In the playoff final i won 2-1 against Brighton. In the league Cup i beat 2 L2 sides in Stockport and Walsall before playing Prem Fulham. a 2-1 home win was followed by a 2-0 home win against champ Blackpool. Man city were the next opponents and the prem league champs lost 2-1 at their own ground. In the semi-final prem West Ham were beaten 3-1 away in the first leg which allowed for a comfortable 2nd leg finishing 1-1. In the final i faced Liverpool in a very one-sided final, Liverpool had the consolation of finishing 3rd in the prem. In the FA cup i beat L1 Millwall and then prem Blacburn 3-1 before winning away at champ Bristol City 3-0. In the 6th Rd i faced prem Arsenal at home but easily lost 2-1.

The training facilities were upgraded to adequate which i felt made a difference to the players improvement. A 1750 extra seats were added in the season and an additional 3750 announced at the end of the year which cost 4.5 million and put me firmly in the red.

The performances against the premier sides mean the outlook for next season is good along with the bonus of euro competition.

Transfers

Squad

Transfers in were a combination of some youth players and some backup players. Money was spent for the first time on a player. Pavic came in and took over the number 1 goalie position. Lemoine was a rock at the back and cured the defensive problems, Steifler and Lepper also did well and could be the world class players to take the team foward. Leaving were several backup players including Diakite (59 apps 3 goals) who did well when needed but never showed enough improvement. The standout performer was again Brandt followed by Lemoine and the 2 FB's Bacic and Hajgato.

Season        League       Position       FA Cup              Other Cups                Europe              Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13        BSN           13th         4th QRd           FA Trophy - 1st Rd           N/A                    None
2013/14        BSN           3rd          1st Rd            FA Trophy - 1st Rd           N/A                    Promoted via playoffs
2014/15        BSP           6th          1st Rd            FA Trophy - 1st Rd           N/A                    None
2015/16        BSP           2nd          3rd Rd            FA Trophy - Winners          N/A                    Promoted via playoffs, FA Trophy winners
2016/17        L2            14th         1st Rd            LC - 2nd Rd/JPT - Qtr-f      N/A                    None
2017/18        L2            6th          3rd Rd            LC - 2nd Rd/JPT - 2nd Rd     N/A                    Lost in playoff Final
2018/19        L2            3rd          3rd Rd            LC - 3rd Rd/JPT - N- Final   N/A                    Automatic promotion
2019/20        L1            1st          5th Rd            LC - 1st Rd/JPT - Winners    N/A                    League Winners, JPT Winners
2020/21        CMP           11th         3rd Rd            LC - 4th Rd                  N/A                    None
2021/22        CMP           11th         3rd Rd            LC - 4th Rd                  N/A                    None    
2022/23        CMP           3rd          6th Rd            LC - Winners                 N/A                    Promoted via playofffs, LC winners

Shakes · January 5, 2012

Looks like I won't be able to afford his terms anyway. Wants a min release clause that's the same as what I'm buying him for, wants an insane amount per game and all sorts of extras, probably due to my 12k max wage cap. Going to have to rely on improvement from within again next year, it's nearly impossible to afford to purchase a player that will improve the current standard of the team, best off sticking to high potential players and hoping they come on with game time and don't get me relegated in the mean time.

Know the feeling ... I finally managed to negotiate a structured deal worth 12 million for an Argentine striker after several rounds of back and forth then I get to the contract stage and his agent wants over twice the fee the board will let me offer. Was a real facepalm moment because the transfer window had only a few days left to go after all the time spent trying to get to that point.

I'd think even if worst comes to worst and you get relegated the club stature improvements from all the promotions to get to the premier league should keep you safe. I'm starting seasons on very secure at this point, and if you're only promising avoid relegation rather than saying you'll win the title or something I doubt the board are going to move on you.

ejthegreat · January 5, 2012

Know the feeling ... I finally managed to negotiate a structured deal worth 12 million for an Argentine striker after several rounds of back and forth then I get to the contract stage and his agent wants over twice the fee the board will let me offer. Was a real facepalm moment because the transfer window had only a few days left to go after all the time spent trying to get to that point.
I'd think even if worst comes to worst and you get relegated the club stature improvements from all the promotions to get to the premier league should keep you safe. I'm starting seasons on very secure at this point, and if you're only promising avoid relegation rather than saying you'll win the title or something I doubt the board are going to move on you.

Down to secure at the moment, we're just starting preseason games. Andrews has left, club matched the release clause and he jumped, now board, fans and players are unhappy with me for letting him go so cheaply. It's my own fault for waiting until the final season to re-sign him, should've done it at least a year before. Now all my players want min release clauses in their contracts and anyone coming up in 12mths time I need to re-sign now because otherwise their value goes down and the min release clause they want in contract is always their current value. Can't find a replacement keeper as I had my eye on one for 6mths and they wanted 1.5m but now they're rejecting offers up to 2.5m. Also, just before Andrews left I got to National reputation and now that he's gone, I'm back down to Regional, which makes it even harder to keep/sign players.

Also have four players with one agent who hates me. He's wanting a lot more than I can afford to offer (the agent) and if I lock it at even the highest amount, he ends discussions, so I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to re-sign those players. Again, I might have to sell them all off and drop back down into the Championship and try again in a couple of seasons.

ejthegreat · January 5, 2012

With the EPL season just finished, I decided to take a really good look at my squad and work out where my weaknesses were and the main area that could be identified was in the central midfield spots, where I only have one player on 3.5stars and the next are on 2.5 stars, although with potential. Went through all my scouting reports which I'd not really bothered to look at since end of Jan window and one stood out with no obvious weaknesses.
Ruiz Would cost me pretty much my entire transfer budget and essentially it would be putting the club's short term future in the hands on one player. I have one player and one coach who speak Spanish and English so I think he would settle okay and it's not listed as a weakness, although also not a strength.

Am I overreacting to our second half of the season that only saw us win 12pts or do I need to improve the team enough now to give the team time and money to reach their potential? I would estimate about a 40-50% chance of being sacked if we were relegated.

Ended up giving up on Ruiz and went for a younger option in Lazzaroni. Argentinian by birth, as you might have guessed from his name, he also has Italian nationality, so there was no Work Permit issue. Cost me 5.5m for the transfer and again his agent was a nutjob but after the agent walked away the first time because my maximum wasn't enough (for him, player was satisfied), I came back and locked in his fee at the start, then made a couple of adjustments to please the player so now he's mine.

Scout report says he's a model professional, fits in well with my ambitious squad and has no real weaknesses. Physio says he will 'rarely succumb to injury'. Determination is high enough, although 15+ would be nice but I might be able to tutor that into him. If he adapts well, I think he'll be my best midfielder by the end of the season, if not just about straight away.

Elsewhere, with Andrews gone, I bit the bullet and brought in a short term old replacement in Frank Fielding on a free, which means I now have one non-newgen in my squad. Has already formed good relationships with 20 players in my first team squad, although that might be because we so desperately needed someone. Either way, now I'm strongly considering making him captain, or at least vice-captain after the incumbent.

Liverbird93 · January 5, 2012

2013-2014 Season Review-Chester-Blue Square North

League Prediction: 10th

League Finish: 3rd

League Table

League Positions Graph

A good season where I had a shaky spell in the middle but I rallied at the end to comfortably make the playoffs. Once in the playoffs I beat Droylsden on penalties before beating Southport 2-0 in the final. Revenge for last year

Squad

Transfers

Finances

Key Players

Daniel Devine-Rock at the back again this season. Not forgetting his brace in the playoff final.

Sam Abbott-Didn't have a great season last season but was back to his best this season and finished as the league's top goalscorer

Nick Wright-Pacey striker who managed to score goals just when I needed them.

Targets from Last Season

Promotion

Next Season Targets:

Avoid Relegation

Season          League                     Position       Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13         Blue Square North          13th           None
2013/14         Blue Square North          2nd            Lost in Playoff Semi Final
2014/15         Blue Square North          3rd            Promoted via Playoffs
[/color][color=#333333]

midgetram · January 6, 2012

Canvey Island - 2018/19 End of Season Update - PL

Current Progress: 50%...

League: (Positions)

After the disappointment of not getting any closer to the top 6 last season, I went through with a radical plan in order to push ourselves forward. I decided that anyone I thought that wasn't up to CL standards would leave to the highest bidder, regardless of their previous past performances. This also meant that whilst I did have to spend a lot in the summer for a change, along with bringing in a number of now great academy prospects, I was feeling rather confident for a successful season.

And suffice to say, I was not disappointed. With my European exploits keeping me on average 1 game behind the rest for most of the season, more on that later, the fact that I was always within 3 points of the leaders from November onwards increased my hope of sneaking the title, and as both Manchester clubs faded around Easter we used those extra games in hand to create a small gap over them, resulting in a small but significant gap that we managed to hang on to for the remainder of the season. So a completely unexpected title, especially with us scoring 24 goals less than 2nd placed City. Who says defences don't win championships anymore?

Cups

FA Cup : Shock alert! We finally got a home FA Cup tie :eek: . Just a shame we failed to turn up against L1 Forest in the following round, no excuse for that at all.

League Cup : (Final) So close to not conceding throughout the whole competition. But in all seriousness, this was just a fantastic cup run, especially when all of the games [apart from the City result] were played with my subs and depth players.

Euro Cup : (Final) Well well well. Now this was a European adventure and a half. After strolling through the qualifying rounds, I thought the group that was handed to us (Fiorentina, FC Twente and Kayserispor) was going to be a bit more difficult. However, it didn't turn out like that and we basically walked the group as well.

Into the knock-out rounds and we had to rely on our defence to get through the next few rounds (2-0 and 4-1 wins on agg vs Schalke and Valencia) before our travels took us to Braga where we had the 2 wildest games of the season. A 6-1 win away before a 5-4 win at home (in which we through away a 4-0 first half lead) were the only times our strikers needed to show up on this run so far.

After squeaking through a domestic-based semi with Man Utd (courtesy of a 94th min goal at Old Trafford), here we were in our first European final in our first foreign campaign. Feyenoord were probably the weakest of any of the quarter-finalists left so were amazed that they had gotten through this far, and after the red card in the 26th minute, they never stood a chance.

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers (1)(2): As said earlier, I decided to radically overhaul my squad in one window and it worked; for the most part. McEachran and Musacchio were bought for 'fresh' legs in January to help sustain both League and European runs, especially as my summer club record signing Davies went for a club record fee in that window too.

Player of the Season : Paul York - AML

The easiest player of the season choice so far? You cannot ignore a winger who scores 20 goals a season and sets up twice as many. Best part is that my asking price is too much for anyone to pay so far.

Finances : The shareholders took basically all of the club record fee for Davies, which seems ridiculous on two fronts. No new stadium yet, not like I'm expecting one soon.

Other Stuff :At the start of the season [that must be stressed], We climbed up to the first page of the rich list, into 22nd position. I think this may have risen a lot over the season too.

2020 CL final (for those who care): Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal

History:

2012-13: BSS - 1st

2013-14: BSP - 1st, FA Trophy Winners

2014-15: L2 - 1st, JPT Winners

2015-16: L1 - 1st, JPT Winners

2016-17: CH - 2nd

2017-18: PL - 7th

2018-19: PL - 7th

2019-20: PL - 1st, LC Winners, EC Winners

Vipertitan · January 6, 2012

been on holiday for last hour i got St Albans

Manager Overview

Personal Information

Season Expectations

peterdunnebrfc · January 6, 2012

Little bit late to the party I think! Only just got FM though, and this looked like the most interesting challenge for getting into a game. Went on holiday for a year and got who I wanted first time round, sad story and a massive area to develop..

Never managed this low down in England before, so will be even more of a challenge I think! Meet Chester's new manager, Peter Dunne.

Figured with the large area to draw support from, the decent stadium to begin with and the well known background I should be able to build on their recent promotion. First season expectations are for mid-table consolidation, first job will be to hire some staff, seeing as I have none at all..

ejthegreat · January 7, 2012

Sometimes the game is a little stupid. Got a promise reminder from a player who is expecting to be loaned out and if I don't stand by my word then he'll have to take things further. One problem, he's already out on loan :confused:

Shakes · January 7, 2012

Lewes - 2018/19 Premier End of Season Update - 17th

Table | Positions | Transfers | Squad | Finances

Holy crap what a stressful season!

I had said I thought we'd stay up fairly easily ... I knew the top teams would be tough but at home against mid table and weak teams at home we really should be winning those matches ... snatch a few on the road and 10 wins and 10 draws for 40 points seemed realistic. 2 wins from the first 3 seemed to confirm that thought.

Then we went on the most horrendous run of bad form and luck you could ever want to see, not winning for the rest of the calendar year, and picking up only 6 points in 17 matches, slumping all the way to 3 points clear in last place. Nothing seemed to go right, had goals disallowed for offside when my player was onside by 2 or 3 meters, got called for ridiculous penalties, couldn't buy a penalty myself (OK, we got one, but of course we missed ...) and even when the luck wasn't against us we'd blow simple shots or score an own goal or find some way not to win.

Come the opening of the transfer window I had a decision to make: did I go all out and try to change up the squad, or did I think they could recover? I chose the latter and decided to leave things as they were and concentrate my efforts on bringing over a couple of players on free transfers at the end of the year.

The new year brought in a change, and we beat then league leaders Arsenal 4-0. In fact we turned our home ground into a blood bath for a short period, following that up with another 4-0 and a 6-1 result, showing that the team could play and really shouldn't be in the position they were in. Still we struggled to get any sort of a result on the road, and with the start we'd given other teams and a tough run of games toward the end of the season we went into the last day of the season only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

With us at home to mid-table Newcastle while Norwich had to travel to Tottenham we should have had the advantage ... but we managed to score an own goal within the first few minutes, dipping us into the relegation zone. Thankfully we banged in the equalizer quickly, and then another ... and when Norwich went down a goal shortly after half time it should have been smooth sailing. Of course nothing was ever easy this year and we gave up a couple of goals to go down 2-3, but frantic checking of the Norwich scored showed them down 3-0 so we survived by the two sweetest words in the English language: DE FAULT!

League Cup - 4th Round.

Made it one round further than usual this year ... but with the battle for survival we had on our hands and the huge profits we had from the TV money the Cups were never a priority.

FA Cup - 3rd Round.

A very short FA Cup adventure this year ... really should have won against a championship side but that sums up the story of the year really. Personally I was glad to be rid of the distraction even if the board were a little less than happy.

Next Season

With over 20 million now in the bank, the new stadium due to be finished in another year, training and youth facility upgrades in progress and most of my squad still young with a lot of room to grow the long term outlook certainly looks very good.

The -10 goal difference for the year shows we're better than the 33 points we earned, so the big challenge for next year is to get the results to match the play. I have two Argentine players already arranged to come in on free transfers, a striker and a centre back, as well as a Moroccan keeper who had a low foreign release clause. By scout reports these three will immediately be the best 3 players in the squad, so hopefully I can find a few more bargains to strengthen the squad further. I certainly don't want a repeat of this year, 17 games without a win and sweating results on the last day was only fun because we didn't end up going down in the end!

I'd say a mid table finish should be the goal next year, with a push for a Euro place the year after.

Season    Division      Pos     FA Cup      Other Cups               Achievements
2012/13   BSS           1st     2nd Rnd     FAT RU                   Promoted, FA Trophy Runners Up
2013/14   BSP           3rd     4th Rnd     FAT 4th Rnd              Promotion Finalists
2014/15   BSP           1st     3rd Rnd     FAT Winners              Promoted, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16   League 2      1st     3rd Rnd     JPT Winners, LC 3rd Rnd  Promoted, Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners
2016/17   League 1      1st     3rd Rnd     JPT Winners, LC 3rd Rnd  Promoted, Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners
2017/18   Championship  1st     SF          LC 3rd Rnd               Promoted, FA Cup Semi-Finalists
2018/19   Premier       17th    3rd Rnd     LC 4th Rnd               -

jsar · January 7, 2012

Hey guys not posted for a While but still playing, might do a mega update in a bit, but anyways quick question.....

Those of you in League 1 or who have already passed that what kind of Wage budget do you/did you have?

I currently have a total of a 21k wage budget not to mention only being able to scout in the UK and Ireland which just seems odd at this level, especially when looking at the clubs around me they have individual players who are on 1/4 of my entire wage budget!

Gricehead · January 7, 2012

Gricehead ** Tooting & Mitcham ** Blue Square South ** 2015/16

"When 92 points wasn't enough. Again."

Squad Improvements

With an empty piggy bank, and a skimpy wage budget (£3700p/w), only one signing came through the door in pre-season. Two left, however. Ryan Astles I was happy to see go (he joined Boreham Wood, the scamp, but spent the season on loan with Hampton & Richmond in our division). Raphael Branco I was livid with. As were the board. I wanted to offer him a new contract, but they wouldn't pay anything like his demands. And then they had the cheek to say they were "disappointed with his departure." Despite offering the olive branch several times, he refused to talk and retired at the end of the season. Aged 24. Ridiculous.

Roll forward to February, and I had to almost break the bank to sign Molloy and Ansah onto new contracts. Fortunately, Bernard Mensah and Chris Blade were cheaper (and better?) than Kudus Oyenuga and Richie Barroilhet, so they were moved on meaning we almost broke even overall.

Of the (remaining) signings - all youngsters on £5p/w - James Shaw is probably the most promising,

Transfers

Blue Square Bet South 2015/16 ** Board Expectation: Win Promotion ** My Expectation: Win Promotion

We started the season with a 0-0 draw against Woking. Hard to tell what that meant. Going through August unbeaten, including a win at perenially fancied Eastleigh, suggested we were doing OK. Another win came at the start of September, but we were already four points behind a Truro side who held a 100% record. They lost that when we visited, but a draw was no good to us. Two more victories followed, but more points were dropped when Dartford twice pegged us back.

Lewes (remember that name) were the first team to beat us, in early November, and it took a late Theo Brown goal to rescue a point against Dorchester in the next game. It would be one of only two times we would fail to win in two games all season. We bounced back with a win against Basingstoke, but were pulled back from 2-0 at Havant & Waterlooville to drop two more points. Then Eastbourne shut us out, scoring a single goal, and all but killing our hopes of automatic promotion.

Now twelve points behind Truro, we managed to win nine out of the next eleven, losing shockingly to struggling Staines, and then 3-0 to Eastleigh who looked destined to rise into the playoffs and end our dream there as well. We played some of our best football in this period, hammering Braintree 7-1 at their place. Just as Truro started to look fallable, we stumbled to a draw against Dartford and then a home defeat to Weymouth. True revenge for our 5-1 hammering of them earlier on.

Truro was our next game, and I could hear them laughing even before they got to the ground. On what for us was a huge slump, we couldn't hope to get a result, could we? In fact we could. 3-1, and straightforward at that. It was the kick we needed to start fighting, and we dropped only five points in the remaining twelve games. In the process, we scored three or more another seven times, amassing 103 goals for the season, but still finishing a vital three points short of Truro. Into the playoffs then...

Eastbourne were to be our opponents, and wary of our last encounter, we started a little more defensively than usual. You couldn't tell. Although Eastbourne scored first, we utterly obliterated them. 6-1 was kind, and rendered the second leg irrelevant. We rested players, and were punished for it of course, throwing FM into confusion as it tried to work out whether to give me a pasting or praise in the press conference.

Lewes surprisingly beat Eastleigh in the other semi, and set us up a final that looked extremely tight on paper. It wasn't to be the goalfest of the Semi, and the south coast side were on top for the first twenty minutes. Then they imploded, getting a man sent off. We scored the only goal of the game soon afterwards, and as the result slipped away Lewes completely lost their discipline. Excellent.

Table ** Positions ** Fixtures (1) ** Fixtures (2)

Playoff 1st Leg ** Playoff 2nd Leg ** Playoff Final

Once again, the attendance for the playoff final was almost 50% down on our home leg of the semi-final. What's that all about?

FA Cup ** Board Expectation: 3rd Qualifying Round ** Achievement: 1st Round

The story of this run was not three comfortable qualifying round wins (where we never looked in trouble in the slightest), nor the thrashing we took at Chesterfield. It was the decision to televise the 1st round tie, netting around £120k including gate money, which saved our season financially and allowed us to end the year in the black.

Fixtures

FA Trophy ** Board Expectation: First Round ** Achievement: 1st Round

Another non-event in this competition, although we can take some solace in the fact that Dover went on to win it...

Fixtures

Players

Squad

Nothing to note here, except that my entire used squad still fits on a single page.

Key Players:

For once all my key players are under contract.

Ciarán Molloy Blue Square Bet South Player of the year, and developed into an absolute beast this year. Has an agent who was willing to negotiate down on wages in exchange for a bit of a bung, thankfully, so is now here for at least the next two seasons.

Sam Fitzgerald Best midfielder at the club, but only managed about half the games due to the form of Gary O'Neil. Also signed a reasonable three year contract this term.

Gary O'Neil No surprise really that Gary was a rock in the playmaking midfield role

Jack Bartham Fans player of the year. Stepped up above his ability and adapted well to our tactics. Challenged by Shaw as the youngster developed, but rose to that challenge well.

Kayleden Brown Kayl's ability to shadow in at the back post and get on the end of a Stuart O'Keefe or Jack Bartham cross gained us at least nine points.

Dominic Iorfa The latest rock at the heart of our defence, and soon softened the blow of losing Branco in the summer. Canny knack of getting on the end of set pieces helps.

Zak Ansah He's still here, although it took quite a while to win him round after last season. Suffered a couple of injuries, and a three match suspension after a sending off that eventually cost us the game against Basingstoke. Still excellent, though, and the perfect foil for Molloy

Next Season

We simply have to at least stay up next season. We're starting with a settled squad this time, and who knows there might even be a bit of money to flesh out the squad and make sure we don't suffer the exhaustion of last season.

Targets

Stay up, break even. That means another cup run, I guess.

Season    Division    Pos     FA Cup      Other Cups             Achievements
======================================================================================
2012/13   BSS         10th    4th QR      FAT: 2nd R             None
2013/14   BSS          2nd    2nd R       FAT: 2nd R             Promoted via Playoffs
2014/15   BSP         21st    1st R       FAT: 1st R             Relegated
2015/16   BSS          2nd    1st R       FAT: 1st R             Promoted via Playoffs

Sideshow Robbie Earle · January 7, 2012

Those of you in League 1 or who have already passed that what kind of Wage budget do you/did you have?
I currently have a total of a 21k wage budget not to mention only being able to scout in the UK and Ireland which just seems odd at this level, especially when looking at the clubs around me they have individual players who are on 1/4 of my entire wage budget!

That budget sounds about right. I probably sacrificed some of my transfer budget to go a bit over that in mid-season. I think I could scout Europe in the Championship, and then the world when in the PL, but just UK and Ireland before that.

Shakes · January 8, 2012

Hey guys not posted for a While but still playing, might do a mega update in a bit, but anyways quick question.....
Those of you in League 1 or who have already passed that what kind of Wage budget do you/did you have?

I currently have a total of a 21k wage budget not to mention only being able to scout in the UK and Ireland which just seems odd at this level, especially when looking at the clubs around me they have individual players who are on 1/4 of my entire wage budget!

Didn't get scouting of Europe until championship, and world until premiership. I think if you're lucky enough to get an ambitious board they might give in to your requests before then, but I had no such luck.

Wage budgets have gone something like 5k in BSS, 7-8k in BSP, 10k in L2, 20k in L1, 50k in championship and 150k in the premier. I managed to up mine a fair bit from league 1 onwards by selling players then moving the wage slider all the way to the left to gobble up the percentage of transfer revenue the board were giving me (since you rarely actually want to buy players until premier anyway).

duccio · January 8, 2012

Hey Kingstonian managers who have have made good progress up the divisions. Has Kingstonian built a new stadium on your save? What sort of capacity does it have? I have not reported on my progress as The K's manager since my 1st season (I'll try to squeeze one bigger one at some point), but I've had some success and now the board is planning, though not building, a new stadium.

Also what do you think would be a good name for a new Kingstonian stadium? I thought up some, but as I'm not local (and I certainly have deficiency in my skills what it comes to using article "the" in the potential name ) I have no idea what would be a good one. Kingstonian Stadium sounds a bit bland to me.

The K's Stadium

Kingston upon Thames Stadium

Thames Stadium

The King's Castle Stadium

The New Kingsmeadow Stadium

Royal Borough Stadium

The Coronation Stone Stadium

Ground Field Park Stadium

The Hogsmill Stadium

The Stadium

Or something totally different?

Sideshow Robbie Earle · January 8, 2012

18,000 capacity Kingstonian Stadium. Started planning after 1st season in Championship, we won promotion in the 2nd season and the stadium was built during the 1st season in the PL. I don't know about the local area, but anything would be preferable to the current name!

jsar · January 8, 2012

Didn't get scouting of Europe until championship, and world until premiership. I think if you're lucky enough to get an ambitious board they might give in to your requests before then, but I had no such luck.
Wage budgets have gone something like 5k in BSS, 7-8k in BSP, 10k in L2, 20k in L1, 50k in championship and 150k in the premier. I managed to up mine a fair bit from league 1 onwards by selling players then moving the wage slider all the way to the left to gobble up the percentage of transfer revenue the board were giving me (since you rarely actually want to buy players until premier anyway).

Ok cheers,

Just wasnt sure if it was normal as it just felt so low in comparison to the other teams in the league

ejthegreat · January 8, 2012

Tooting & Mitcham United Football Club

2020/21 Season Review

Premier League

On the face of it, there would seem to have been no progress made this season. We finished 13th again after spending the first half of the season comfortably in the top ten and challenging for Europe before falling away towards the end of the season. Whilst this is true and we only won one of our final 12 matches this season, we did finish with 6 more points than last season and with a +16 better goal difference. At the bottom end, 29pts would've been enough to ensure survival over Watford, Huddersfield and Forrest, whilst at the top end of town, Tottenham's run of three consecutive EPL titles came to an end with local rivals Arsenal claiming the title ahead of Man City who are still yet to win the title since the new owners arrived (although they did win the 2018/19 CL) but have finished second in three of the past four seasons.

On the league front we had a good FA Cup run, making it to the 6th Rd for the first time in our history. Wins over lower division sides Doncaster, MK Dons and Sheff Utd got us there but Chelsea eeked out a 2-1 win over us in a very even match. Stoke would go on to win the cup, having a great season by finishing 5th in the EPL as well.

New signings of note this season:

Roberto Lazzaroni My first costly signing, this teenage sensation settled in very well with 10 assists and a 7.19 average over the season

Tafael Also improving my first team was a much cheaper signing on the right wing. 5 goals and 5 assists was a decent first season, he hasn't learnt any English yet but I'm hoping he'll start to shine next season after taking time to settle.

Adding to these two were a trio of young Germans who seem to be readily available in this game.

Christian Piotrowski Young talented left back. Was second choice for most of the season but he's close to challenging for the number one role. Tottenham sniffing around

Mario Hahn Hadn't intended to buy another right back but with first choice Falkenmayer injured, Hunt not really up to standard and Tournier on loan, it was a freebie that landed in my lap. Should be better next year

Anes Hadzibulic Technically BIH but like my other (Halilovic), he's also German. Spent most of the season as a sub striker getting starts when injury/form allowed. Man City are asking about him already.

Other notable players this season:

Andrew Jenkins Top creator with 13 assists, I've been unable to get him a new contract due to agent wanting too low a min release clause. He's transfer listed by request but still has two seasons on his current contract to go. Birmingham and Cardiff want him, I'm hoping to keep him one more year, to allow younger players to catch up to his ability, then I'll sell him off.

Artem Gizatullin Teenage Russian striker was equal top scorer with 12 goals. Hasn't improved as much as I'd hoped given I got him just after 18th b/day. Has settled in alright now though and can speak basic English, so I'm hoping there's improvement left in him like all my coaches tell me there is.

Nils Jung Equal top scorer is my "veteran" striker at 22. Going to a two pronged attack this season, he led the line with Gizatullin. Will probably start to get overtaken by Hadzibulic or the other young striker...

Barry Howarth Topping the ave rating with 7.22 and with 10 goals and 7 assists, Howarth is showing good promise and will continue to get more games. He combines well with the other strikers, being a point of difference with his extra speed and selfishness.

At the other end of the park are the twin towers.

Bojan Halilovic and Tobias Horn Halilovic is my best defender and is not only dominant in the air but generally fast enough to deal with most strikers. Horn started the season as back up to Rault but with Rault's injury issues, he ended up playing more matches than expect and acquitted himself well. He's a touch slow for what I'd like and both need to improve their technical aspects of defending but they work well together

Off-field:

The big news was the move into our new stadium, named after the club itself. Only a 13,276 capacity, we averaged about 97% capacity across all matches and the extra gate income improved our financial position again this season, such that we now have over £40mil in the bank (although shareholders will no doubt take some as they took £8m at the start of the year). Elsewhere, we improved our training facilities to "average" and have another improvement planned for this coming off season which will cost about £3mill.

Board Overview

Goals for 2020/21

Top half finish Failed

Domestic Cup run Success-ish

Improve current ability of squad with more ready made players Current Ability improved by transfers in 2 spots. Pass?

Goals for 2021/22

European Qualification
Semi-Final of Domestic Cup Competition
Stadium Expansion Edit: Already done

[u]Season    Division   Position    Achievements[/u]
2012/13     BSS        7th        FA Trophy-3rd Rd
2013/14     BSS        3rd        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-4th Rd
2014/15     BSP        4th        Promoted via Playoffs, FA Cup-3rd Rd, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16     L2         3rd        Automatic Promotion, JPT South Winner, JPT Finalist
2016/17     L1         2nd        Automatic Promotion, League Cup-Qtr Final, FA Cup-3rd Rd
2017/18     CH         8th        None
2018/19     CH         1st        npower Championship Winners, FA Cup-4th Rd, League Cup-3rd Rd
2019/20     EPL        13th       None
2020/21     EPL        13th       FA Cup 6th Rd

Edit: Once again, I really should keep going for a week before doing write-up as board, without any pushing from me, having decided to expand stadium by 6,638 seats at a cost of £8m and taking 6mths. Currently reduced to 12,347 capacity, it will end up at 19.914 around mid December.

Shakes · January 8, 2012

Ok cheers,
Just wasnt sure if it was normal as it just felt so low in comparison to the other teams in the league

The problem is when you go up rapidly your infrastructure doesn't keep up ... when you're playing teams with stadiums that hold 5 times as many people as yours does it makes sense that they should have bigger wage budgets.

duccio · January 8, 2012

18,000 capacity Kingstonian Stadium. Started planning after 1st season in Championship, we won promotion in the 2nd season and the stadium was built during the 1st season in the PL. I don't know about the local area, but anything would be preferable to the current name!

That capacity is definately an improvement on Kingsmeadow's 6,200, and you can probably expand it to twice the original 18,000. I still think, based on prior experience, that it would be better to get the new stadium (beginning of building it) after at least 1 season on the highest level - bigger capacity from the get go and better corporate facilities. On my save Blackpool are a well estblished Premier Division side, and they are about to move to Blackpool Stadium with room for 27,000 spectators. Looks like my Kingstonian most likely will not be competing on the highest level before the stadium works begin, so I will have to do with initially a bit more modest stadium.

Usually when the building of a new stadium is announced, the stadium name is taken from the club's short name (Kingstonian, Blackpool etc. Stadium). It means that by using .lnc file to temporarily change the clubs short name before the board makes a decicion to build the stadium, one can effectively choose whatever name sounds good. The word Stadium will be automatically included. It seems words Arena or Park are used when stadiums are named after favourite personnel.

midgetram · January 8, 2012

Canvey Island - 2020/21 End of Season Update - PL

Foiled by the French...

League: (Positions) After winning the title last season, it was vital that we kept up the progress and at least challenged for the title again. With new challengers this season, Liverpool being the closest challengers for the first since I came up, we even improved on last season. We even had a quick-ish start for a change; with wins over Arsenal, Man City and Spurs in the first 5 games. Although we had a couple of poor results around November time, including a 3-1 defeat at Bristol City, after Christmas we managed to step-up our game to secure a 2nd consecutive title quite convincingly in the end. Despite the 100 goals scored, we only conceded twice more than last season too.

Cups

FA Cup : (Final) Now this is much more like it. After last season's shock exit, decided to play a stronger side throughout the run. We were a bit unlucky not to win the final in 90 mins, but it didn't cost us anything in the end.

League Cup : (Final) Slightly harder draw than last season, but with City playing a reserve side (again) against us, most games were quite straight forward. The final in a couple of words was no contest.

Community Shield : Is this a cup? Might as well put it in here though. That missed penalty didn't help matters but when you play against an inspired goalkeeper there isn't much you can do.

Euro Super Cup : Is this a cup? Traditional curtain raiser for Europe, and it was a cracking game. A pretty much full strength Barca side this was too, but we need to win games in which we control like this in 90 minutes if we want to be successful in Europe.

Champions League : Our first foray into the competition and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. Entered the group stage as the 3rd seeds, the bottom of the 3rd seeds though, we drew a manageable group of FC Porto, AS Roma and Bursaspor. Group was so manageable in fact that we qualified after only 4 games, although the group was only won with a 1-1 draw in Italy in the final game. In the last 16, we drew Olympique de Marseille who finished AC Milan in their group. A nightmare first leg meant that we had to win well at home, and we did. But our openness meant that we went out on away goals from a tie we really should have progressed from.

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers: Again following last season's thought pattern of getting rid of players who aren't good enough for the CL. Also, later transfers were of those who were refusing to sign contracts past this season, so deciding to cash in on them beforehand and letting others to stake their claim in the squad.

Player of the Season : Lewis Hopkinson - ST

When the goals are flowing, you have to pick the top scorer. Also managed to sneak 2nd place in the Golden Boot, despite only starting 60% of the league games.

Finances : Not as bad as recent seasons on the dividends front, but still a hefty amount. We need to either cut down on the salary or increase our stadium capacity (HINT HINT board)

Other Stuff :

Last year's player of the season, Paul York, managed to sneak himself into the World Team of the Year with an average calendar year rating of 7.93 :eek:

A couple of job offers this season. Started the season with an offer for the Swiss national side, which if I weren't in a challenge would be actually appealing. At the end of the season, Man Utd offered me the chance to succeed Steve Bruce, gladly rejected though.

At the start of the season [that must be stressed], We climbed up into the top 10 of the rich list.

2021 CL final (for those who care): AC Milan 0-1 Barcelona, becoming the first team to retain the CL since it was renamed.

History:

2012-13: BSS - 1st

2013-14: BSP - 1st, FA Trophy Winners

2014-15: L2 - 1st, JPT Winners

2015-16: L1 - 1st, JPT Winners

2016-17: CH - 2nd

2017-18: PL - 7th

2018-19: PL - 7th

2019-20: PL - 1st, LC Winners, EC Winners

2020-21: PL - 1st, LC Winners, FA Cup Winners, ESC Winners

Sideshow Robbie Earle · January 8, 2012

That capacity is definately an improvement on Kingsmeadow's 6,200, and you can probably expand it to twice the original 18,000. I still think, based on prior experience, that it would be better to get the new stadium (beginning of building it) after at least 1 season on the highest level - bigger capacity from the get go and better corporate facilities. On my save Blackpool are a well estblished Premier Division side, and they are about to move to Blackpool Stadium with room for 27,000 spectators. Looks like my Kingstonian most likely will not be competing on the highest level before the stadium works begin, so I will have to do with initially a bit more modest stadium.

Mid-table PL and I'm not filling 18,000. I don't think that I've had a capacity crowd, even Chelsea, ManU etc brought in only around 17,000. Those who started with Kingstonian are in a decent position, I didn't start getting anywhere near filling Kingsmeadow until we were in the Championship. That meant we didn't have to go into debt in the lower leagues for a stadium that we'd need to keep expanding. The issue with the K's is getting the youth facilities improved, as they're rented and there doesn't seem to be an option to request building some of our own. Also, the youth recruitment is still on fairly basic, and I can only ask the board to cut back on that rather than extend it.

darren1983 · January 8, 2012

I also have the Kingstonian Stadium (and as someone who lives half hour away from the current stadium, it's prob the only name they could use) but after winning the Premier League it now holds 26000, had a few sellouts, mainky against title rivals and in the Champions League

mshort22 · January 8, 2012

http://s1219.photobucket.com/albums/dd426/mshort222/?action=view&current=MattieShortOverview_Profile.png

The journey begins:)

Geordie111 · January 8, 2012

Going to give this a go as FC United

ejthegreat · January 9, 2012

Andrew Jenkins Top creator with 13 assists, I've been unable to get him a new contract due to agent wanting too low a min release clause. He's transfer listed by request but still has two seasons on his current contract to go. Birmingham and Cardiff want him, I'm hoping to keep him one more year, to allow younger players to catch up to his ability, then I'll sell him off.

Had hoped to keep him for at least one more season but the board have decided to go over the top of me and accept an offer for Jenkins. The offer is 1.9m + 5.75m over 24mths. The amount in total is about as much as I could have asked for but would've preferred more of it upfront. Wasn't planning on buying in the centre of midfield this offseason but might have to now.

Shakes · January 9, 2012

Lewes - 2019/20 Premier End of Season Update - 3rd

Table | Positions | Transfers | Squad | Finances

Hard to complain about a 38 point improvement!

Spent a lot of money bringing in better players (got to love monthly instalments), but honestly they didn't really star other than the GK who was far more reliable than the man he replaced. However what they did do was give us depth where we could play our second team and not get blown away, and also they rarely had the terrible matches that some of the previous lot had. Also some of the recruits from last year picked up ... a settling in period plus their own natural improvement helped.

Went most of the year hovering around the 5th-6th place mark but the signings from the second transfer window gave us a nice little boost and we really pushed on. The title never really looked in reach, but after we won our 36th and 37th fixtures and those in front slipped we found ourselves 1 point behind West Ham and equal with Man U. With our inferior goal difference it was always going to be a big ask anyway, and we could only manage a draw in our last game, and Man U won theirs, leaving us to take third.

League Cup - 3rd Round.

Still not taking this one seriously, rested a lot of players but put up a pretty credible performance away to Man U to take them to extra time in a game we probably had the slight edge in.

FA Cup - Semi Final.

This one hurt, I really thought it was our year for the FA Cup with the other finalists being cellar dwellers Aston Villa. Couldn't get past Chelsea in the semi final though, we'd beaten them on their home turf 2-0 just 2 weeks ago but couldn't repeat it and they edged us in a very even game.

Next Season

Now we've gotten this close the obvious goal is to win it. I think the players I got in this year will be better after a year of blending into the side, and there's still improvement left in pretty much every rotation player. How the side will do in European competition I'm less sure ... the squad might be a bit thin with the home grown rules the way they are.

Speaking of the to sell list, I also have to sell all the players I loaned out for the season for cash ... should be a busy transfer window. On the incoming side I don't really have any targets since I'm pretty happy with my squad, I'll just see what bargains come available and look to pounce.

Still waiting on the new ground ... was supposed to be ready for the start of next season but got pushed back and now wont be completed until the end. While saying you have a full house to every game sounds nice, it's not so profitable when it means only 6k people came.

Season    Division      Pos     FA Cup      Other Cups               Achievements
2012/13   BSS           1st     2nd Rnd     FAT RU                   Promoted, FA Trophy Runners Up
2013/14   BSP           3rd     4th Rnd     FAT 4th Rnd              Promotion Finalists
2014/15   BSP           1st     3rd Rnd     FAT Winners              Promoted, FA Trophy Winners
2015/16   League 2      1st     3rd Rnd     JPT Winners, LC 3rd Rnd  Promoted, Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners
2016/17   League 1      1st     3rd Rnd     JPT Winners, LC 3rd Rnd  Promoted, Johnstone's Paint Trophy Winners
2017/18   Championship  1st     SF          LC 3rd Rnd               Promoted, FA Cup Semi-Finalists
2018/19   Premier       17th    3rd Rnd     LC 4th Rnd               -
2019/20   Premier       3rd     SF          LC 3rd Rnd               Qualified for Champions Cup, FA Cup Semi-Finalists

glennuk · January 9, 2012

Haven't played in a few weeks due to christmas and travelling, and then i got on today and played for about 3 hours.

This happened.....MY BEST RESULT EVER :) SOOOO HAPPY

glennuk · January 9, 2012

Wow and what i didnt know is that i qualify for the Euro Cup

duccio · January 9, 2012

Mid-table PL and I'm not filling 18,000. I don't think that I've had a capacity crowd, even Chelsea, ManU etc brought in only around 17,000. Those who started with Kingstonian are in a decent position, I didn't start getting anywhere near filling Kingsmeadow until we were in the Championship. That meant we didn't have to go into debt in the lower leagues for a stadium that we'd need to keep expanding. The issue with the K's is getting the youth facilities improved, as they're rented and there doesn't seem to be an option to request building some of our own. Also, the youth recruitment is still on fairly basic, and I can only ask the board to cut back on that rather than extend it.

Form what you and darren1983 are saying, it looks like attendances do not soar quite like I thought they would. In the Italian league attendances seem to practically explode after you reach Serie A (and win/compete for top spots), which is rather unrealistic. On the other hand, I noticed you were many times promoted through play offs rather than winning the divisions - I do think winning boosts attendances quite a bit (or maybe its just somehow more emphatic in Italy where I have mostly managed in recent FMs). One thing I can say, is that the promotions I have gotten on my Kingstonian save were by winning the divisions, and during my 1st season in Championship I had 100% attendance record at Kingsmeadow.

I have not once asked for youth facilities to be improved (the option is available), and the board have not done so. Yet, according to the info Kingstonian have "average youth facilities (rented)" which is alot better than when I took over. Could the board have rented better youth facilities without telling about it?

I also have the Kingstonian Stadium (and as someone who lives half hour away from the current stadium, it's prob the only name they could use) but after winning the Premier League it now holds 26000, had a few sellouts, mainky against title rivals and in the Champions League

Why do you think Kingstonian Stadium is prolly the only name could use? Obiously its very descriptive, but from what I have gathered, quite often stadiums in england are named after the place they are situated in.

glennuk · January 10, 2012

Best day of Football Manager in a long time.

Just got promoted with my Bury Town side Via Playoffs

darren1983 · January 10, 2012

Form what you and darren1983 are saying, it looks like attendances do not soar quite like I thought they would. In the Italian league attendances seem to practically explode after you reach Serie A (and win/compete for top spots), which is rather unrealistic. On the other hand, I noticed you were many times promoted through play offs rather than winning the divisions - I do think winning boosts attendances quite a bit (or maybe its just somehow more emphatic in Italy where I have mostly managed in recent FMs). One thing I can say, is that the promotions I have gotten on my Kingstonian save were by winning the divisions, and during my 1st season in Championship I had 100% attendance record at Kingsmeadow.
I have not once asked for youth facilities to be improved (the option is available), and the board have not done so. Yet, according to the info Kingstonian have "average youth facilities (rented)" which is alot better than when I took over. Could the board have rented better youth facilities without telling about it?

Why do you think Kingstonian Stadium is prolly the only name could use? Obiously its very descriptive, but from what I have gathered, quite often stadiums in england are named after the place they are situated in.

I had the same, and at the moment am getting nearly 25,000 every home game in the Premier League.

On your question I just think Kingstonian Stadium is the only name to use, due to where the cllub is, not really anything else around the area of Kingston, they are in a place called Kings Meadow ( what the current stadium IRL is called) but other then that nowhere else really about that I think they could use as stadium names

duccio · January 10, 2012

On your question I just think Kingstonian Stadium is the only name to use, due to where the cllub is, not really anything else around the area of Kingston, they are in a place called Kings Meadow ( what the current stadium IRL is called) but other then that nowhere else really about that I think they could use as stadium names

Isn't Kingstonian a demonyn for residents of Kingston (upon Thames) though? Shouldn't the stadium be called Kingston Stadium if it was named after the place? According to Wikipedia the club's previous home before Kingsmeadow was Richmond Road ground (I'm guessing it is/was located somewhere near a road of same name), which at some point was called The King's Castle. I'm thinking about recycling that name for the new stadium my board is contemplating to build. Do you know if the name The King's Castle is a reference to Kingston upon Thames' name/past, or to a sponsor or something like it?

midgetram · January 10, 2012

Canvey Island - 2021/22 End of Season Update - PL

Paying the penalty...

League: (Positions) Two back-to-back titles done, I expected another one this season, or at the very least a strong challenge. With most of the top teams changing their manager, it was left to a 2 horse from a very early stage of the season between ourselves and the Craig Levein-lead Chelsea. In fact, by Chirstmas we were both 10 points ahead of the chasing pack it was that clear. Despite being in the lead for most of the season, the gap was never any more than 7 points at any one given time; meaning that any dip in form would lead to a very tight finale. Two defeats in 5 games brought that gap down to 2 point with just 3 games remaining when we then had an almost unexplainable 2-0 home defeat to Cardiff (the first of which was a very debatable penalty). This led to the lead changing hands, with Chelsea one point clear with just 2 games remaining. We then went on to draw a game away to Arsenal, allowing the Blues to gain their first title since 2015.

Very gutted on how it end, but 88 points would've normally won the league in many other seasons and 6 defeats is really too many to win a league title safely.

Cups

Community Shield : Is this a cup? Might as well put it in here though. Great performance this year compared to last, hoped this was a sign of things to come.

FA Cup (Final) : A bit more troublesome than last season, especially as I only rescued a draw in the 4th round in the 91st minute. The final itself though was remarkably simple.

League Cup (Final) : Shock horror, is that 3 home draws I see :eek: . All PL sides faced though, which is why the scores are closer than in previous years. Took control of the final early on which was key in a surprisingly even game after the first 15 mins.

Champions League : Second season in the CL, and once again disappointed on how we were eliminated. The group looked tricky at the start, containing Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon and Shamrock Rovers. Once again though, we qualified quite easily, and won the group in style at home on the final matchday. In the last 16 we faced Valencia, who we had beaten on our way to the EL a few seasons ago. This time was more difficult though, especially losing a tight first leg in Spain 1-0. In the 2nd leg, we dominated from start to finish but inexplicably only scored the 1 goal in 120 minutes to take it to a penalty shootout, where thanks to Parkes and Devaney we lost the shootout 4-3. I feel that winning the CL may be down to luck more than anything else, or maybe not running into goalkeepers on fantastic form.

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers: Amazing how I managed to rotate everyone to an extent that my most played player started only just over 50% of the games this season. More youngsters from the academy coming through to replace those who moved on, although looking at my youth squad now it is very bare of any 1st team talent.

Player of the Season : Carlos Alberto Costa - AMR

Bought last January for £9m, this was his first full season and boy did he show up. Injured for 2 months in the new year paid any chance of him getting near the end of seasons awards, put whenever he did play he was fantastic. Once again my top scorer was a winger, says a lot about my team I think.

Finances : Actually made a loss on the year, when dividends are included, all because of the wage bill increasing to now the 8th highest in the league. Need a stadium bigger than 12,581 I feel.

Other Stuff :

I feel I need to create a sub-section called 'Paul York Awards'. This season saw him not only included in the World Team of the Year once again, but also picking up both the Ballon d'Or and the World Player of the Year :eek: (yes they are different apparently)

Making slow progress up that rich list, 8th spot was ours at the start of the season.

2022 CL final (for those who care): Real Madrid 0-1 Chelsea, finally Abramovich has his CL trophy.

History:

2012-13: BSS - 1st

2013-14: BSP - 1st, FA Trophy Winners

2014-15: L2 - 1st, JPT Winners

2015-16: L1 - 1st, JPT Winners

2016-17: CH - 2nd

2017-18: PL - 7th

2018-19: PL - 7th

2019-20: PL - 1st, LC Winners, EC Winners

2020-21: PL - 1st, LC Winners, FA Cup Winners, ESC Winners

2021-22: PL - 2nd, CS Winners, LC Winners, FA Cup Winners

darren1983 · January 10, 2012

Isn't Kingstonian a demonyn for residents of Kingston (upon Thames) though? Shouldn't the stadium be called Kingston Stadium if it was named after the place? According to Wikipedia the club's previous home before Kingsmeadow was Richmond Road ground (I'm guessing it is/was located somewhere near a road of same name), which at some point was called The King's Castle. I'm thinking about recycling that name for the new stadium my board is contemplating to build. Do you know if the name The King's Castle is a reference to Kingston upon Thames' name/past, or to a sponsor or something like it?

No idea about Kings Castle, but that would be a great name for a stadium Richmond Road ground is one I've not heard of before, so not to sure where that stadium was, but the Richmond road is a road that runs from Kingston to Richmond (shockingly ) but the current stadium is a good 10-15 min walk from being anywhere near to that road.

Sideshow Robbie Earle · January 10, 2012

#81 - Kingstonian. Season '24-'25. Premier League.

League position: 11th

FA Cup: 3R

League Cup: 3R

Summary: League table Past positions Squad Aim was to survive and improve; we did, and finished 11th - mid-table obscurity all season! The new stadium 18,000 capacity stadium opened, but we aren't filling it. I looked back through my history, and I haven't won a trophy since 2015 (BSS!), and haven't gone far in the cups in years, so I think our reputation is poorer than it could be.

Transfers: Transfers I had a decent budget for the first time, and spent it sparingly, mostly on youngsters. Some are good enough for the 1st team now, others will need to mature. A few who didn't make the grade are proving difficult to shift, even on frees.

Future prospects: Club is financially healthy, backroom is adequately staffed, youth team has a few prospects, though I've had to buy rather than recruit locally. Having spent just over £4m of out transfer budget (net), I could afford to splash out over the summer. A new centre-back and play-maker, to go straight into the first-team. Hopefully I'll be writing about them next year.....

History:

1718 - BSP 5th (Promoted through play-offs)

1819 - L2 6th (Promoted through play-offs, JPT South area runners-up)

1920 - L1 4th (Lost in play-off semis)

2021 - L1 6th (Promoted through play-offs)

2122 - Ch 12th

2223 - Ch 2nd (Automatic promotion)

2324 - PL 14th

2425 - PL 11th

Vipertitan · January 10, 2012

just got Stafford Rangers

darren1983 · January 10, 2012

Darren1889 2027/28 Kingstonian Season Review Premier League

Table - Graph - Transfers - Squad

Community Sheild -

Didnt play well and deserved to go down to Chelsea

After the domastic treble last season, and the young average of my players (just 22) the only move in the transfer market I made was to bring in young English Striker

Charles Hands from Southampton for £8.25 million, I also allowed Pepe to leave as £10 million was to much for me to turn down for a back up player when I had a young English prospect needing game time to progress. Our usual slow start meant we threw away a 2 goal lead at home to Everton to lose 3-2 and a 3 goal lead away to Fulham and draw 3-3 and once again ( for the 3rd straight season) we had to wait for the 3rd game of the season to win, this time a 2-0 win at home to Spurs.

As uaual this kick started a unbeaten run that went on until early December, over christmas we (and everyone in the league) and to play 3 games in 3 days on the 26th, 27th and 28th of December, 2 wins and a draw (3-3 at home to Man Utd with them getting a 95th min offside goal

) put us top, we only lasted ther for a couple of weeks as poor form started to creep into our play, in fact with 10 games to go we were 10 points behind Man Utd so I gave up on the league for other comps (more on that soon!!) but we then hit some form by beating Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal in the space of 5 games, but then lost at away to Stoke and somehow at home to relegated West Brom where we hit the woodwork 3 times and they scored from there only shot :mad:

Going into the final game we were 3rd 1 point behind Chelsea and 1 ahead of Man Utd who we played, we went down 3-0 and our Title defense failed as we finished 3rd

Cups

League Cup -

With games against Man City and Liverpool our run to the final had been hard, so that made

losing to Newcastle even harder to take

FA Cup

- A comfortable run to the final and a routine win over

Sheff Wed gave us our 3rd straight FA Cup

Champions League

- A group that gave us Austria Wein, Schalke and Valencia saw us win 5 and lose 1 and top the group where we drew Shakhtar, a scrappy 2-1 away win and a routine 3-1 home win saw us through. In the 1/4 we were handed a tough trip to the San Siro to play Inter, in the first half we froze again (last season after being 3-1 against AC Milan we lost 4-1 at San Siro to go out) and were 3-1 down at half time, but a half time rollicking at a woeful 2nd half from Inter RB Marin (who scored an OG and gave away a pen) we snuck out of Italy with a 3-3 draw. At home we tore into them and we were 3-0 up by half time, we saw out the 2nd half to win 4-1 on the night and 7-4 on agg.

In the Semi Final we had Barcelona, the first leg was at home and after a slow start we found confidence and hammered them 4-1, we managed to see out an early Barca onslaught in the 2nd leg to earn a 1-1 and a 5-1 agg win and a place in our first ever Champions League Final!!

In the final we played the team that knocked us out last season - AC Milan. And early goal form Felipe gave them a 1-0 lead, then just before half time a mistake by world class CB Carazinho put us level at 1-1 going into the break. 2nd half continued in the same vein of them keeping us in our half and us making quick breaks, on one of these breaks in the 77th min saw our Spanish WonderKid Xavier Arribas ponce on a mistake and burried the shot to give us a 2-1 lead, Milan came flying at us and some world class Goalkeeping form Fabein Andre kept them out and we sneaked a

2-1 win and get our first ever Champiosn League title!!!!

For the first time ever (been playing this challenge for the last 4 or 5 years) I've done it!!! Gonna continue with the save as want this to be the only save I have on this years game

Kazpeer · January 11, 2012

St. Albans – Championsship – 2024/25

Media prediction: 24th

My prediction: Top15

Actual finish: 10th

League Table

Past Positions

Great season. I just conceded way too many goals.

Squad

Transfers

Key Player Profiles:

Bernard Mensah – Topscorer once again. This season he made 18 goals.

Marco Schäfer – Had a pretty good season.

Alan Moores – Same thing as Marco. Pretty good season.

Career Overview

Season    League                   Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13   BSS                     9th         n/a
2013/14   BSS                     1st         BSS
2014/15   BSP                    10th         n/a
2015/16   BSP                    12th         n/a
2016/17   BSP                     4th         Promotion via Playoff
2017/18   L2                      2nd         Automatic promotion
2018/19   L1                     18th         n/a
2019/20   L1                     11th         n/a
2020/21   L1                      7th         n/a
2021/22   L1                      4th         n/a
2022/23   L1                     17th         n/a
2023/24   L1                      1st         Automatic promotion
2024/25   CH                     10th         n/a

Next Season

Improve position in the league.

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