Ri916's FM 12 Youth Academy Challenge!

[Conman14]

Carshalton 2012/13 mid-season update

After a great first month, we endured a torrid September and October, with our record over the two months reading two wins, five draws and four defeats. This included being put out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle by Hampton & Richmond. It coincided with an injury for Vines, and it seems that if he has an off day or is unavailable, we go missing. We have stabilised, but once again seem to be faltering as we go through February into March.

Finances are becoming a huge worry for me though, as we seem to be amassing quite a hefty size debt. A couple of players on big wages don't help, and attempts to off-load them in January didn't work.

Anyways, after 28 games, I am sat in mid-table anonymity in 11th place, 10 points off the play-offs.

[Braumiller]

Very jealous of some of the progress you guys are gaining

With my kamikaze tactical approach to the first season my draw total is very opposite what some of you are reporting! Play 33 and drawn only 3 so far! 9 games to go in the season and I am 11 points away from the danger zone and out of any play-off hunt. Just got my first intake of youths and satisfied in general. One need filled (a 15 year old AMC who will go straight into my first team), a couple with backups and one completely ignored!

Cash flow is going to prove to be my next issue.

Started out with 25,000 in the piggy bank, rose to a high of ~70,000 with 3 big name pre-season friendly games, but it has slowly eroded away and now down to 20,000. Might hit red by close season.

My wage bill is currently sitting at 2,690 a week, which I definitely want to trim and will be letting a few of the old guard go who are useless on on a wage now that I have child labor to replace them with!

How are other first season manager's wage bills in comparison? Am I unreasonably high currently?

Next year I definitely want safe mid table football (with a new tactical approach to be installed) and to operate on a profit.

[Goldyrulz]

After losing a little interest in my current save, I thought that attempting this challenge would be a great new game. Something challenging and for the incredibly long term.

So here is the new manager of FC United of Manchester.

[ri916]

FC United of Manchester- Season 4 2015-2016

Welcome to an update on the goings on of my fourth season in charge of FC United.

WARNING- This post contains profanity.

Finances- It looks really good as we have 800k in the bank. Unfortunately we have a £3.2 million loan to pay off for the new stadium which will be ready for next season. The stadium will have half the capacity of the current one we are in (we borrow bury’s stadium) and I will have to wait 20 years to build a new one, so I’m a bit annoyed about it to be honest. The board also seem to think we are in financial meltdown because of it even though its only 20k per month and I still make a profit (Maybe I shouldn’t complain, they pump money in every month to ‘help with the clubs running costs’). So I struggled to get anything improved. That Takeover also went through. No money made available.

Facilities- Our training facilities were improved (we now have 2 silver stars) and our youth facilities are due to be improved provided they are not cancelled as they are going to cost 650k.

League Table- A great season with us squeezing into the playoffs in 5^th place. I have shown you this screenshot because I forgot to take one before the playoffs ended and I didn’t want to give away who won them. It was a year of ups and downs, with us hitting form at just the right time and stringing together an incredible five 1-0 wins in a row (and even then the record was only broken by us winning 3-0) despite that we still had to win on the final day to ensure a playoff spot and we managed it.

Playoff Semi-final- An incredible tie. The first leg was fairly dull, just a 2-1 win for us with them snatching a late away goal. I was worried going into the second leg about their away goal and the slender advantage we had. I was right to be worried. Jordan Ling YP04 gave away a penalty and to my dismay he was sent off! I brought on my third centre back to cover him only to watch Blyth score the penalty. They were ahead on away goals, and I only had 10 men. Oh F**k!!! the rest of the first half went by and the next event happened on about 70 minutes. Blyth-2 Us-0. Well that’s it, Im screwed, I thought to myself. 75 mins……80mins……..85mins…. they all went by. I just thought F**K it, why not have a go. I brought on my youth player with 2 finishing and a bag of pace and told everyone to boot the ball forward to him (in FM terms ; Overload, Get ball forward, Pump ball into box and Take more risks) That’s when I found out why he has 2 finishing. He’s just Xavi with a bit more pace and he plays up front. He played a precision pass to slot Matty Wolfenden through on goal. But he shot straight at the goalkeeper. Just kidding! Well not really, as he did, but I guess Blyth must have just signed a Robert green/Heuralio Gomes hybrid goalkeeper. The ball trickled through his legs. Ha! I thought now the Blyth fans know how I felt when watching England play the USA in the 2010 world up! It was 2-1, and the game entered extra time (I didn’t still have my tactics on overload by the way ) Extra time was probably the most boring thing in the tie, I guess the players were saving up for what was to follow. It went to penalties. Well, the penalties were like a match in their own right. We went behind, they missed. This happened a couple of times and we never had a penalty to win the tie ( they had about 5) 10 penalties each, that’s what it took. As I had ten men, my goalkeeper, who has 1 in the penalties stat stepped up…….. HE SCORED!!!!! Then their player blazed over the bar and it was over, we won 7-6 on penalties! I think I’ll make you sweat it out for the playoff final

Squad – This year I played a 4-3-3 in an attempt to score more goals, and you can tell it has worked well. Wolfenden is back as outright top scorer with 16 goals, but the real story is Billy Smith, with 26 assists to his name, what a year he had.

Youth Squad- Once again I forgot to get the youth intake screenshot. There was one stand out player Danny Wilcox YP08 who got the tag. He has potential to be good league 2 apparently. The rest of the youth squad has potential and a few may make the first team.

Transfers- I’m clean!

YP Watch

Joseph White YP01- Now has some competition. He is slightly better than connor deasy but I wouldn’t be surprised if he became second choice to him. He has been given some games this year but has been sharing with Deasy and Neville for first team action.

David Roberts YP02- Has dropped down the pecking order and had some stats decrease. He still has potential but is no longer 5 stars.

Kristian Colbourne YP03- Has improved well again despite only playing a handful of games. I am determined to let him play as first choice next season.

Jordan Ling YP04- Is now our best centre back after playing over 40 games this season. Wonderful improvements with the only low being the red card in the playoffs

Louis Jordan YP05- also in first team but is now under pressure from YP08.

Connor Deasy YP06- Has developed well and got some first team action.

Ryan Lovell YP07- Has got some action and shown promise.

Player of the season- Billy Smith. 26 assists says it all really.

Playoff Final- Its what you’ve been waiting for, the playoff final. Another cracker of a game that wasn’t decided in 90 minutes. The FC United faithful’s heads dropped when they saw Gainsborough take the lead through a header early on. It wasn’t over through, as at the end of the first half James Keogh weaved through the defence and scored a wonder goal. Minutes ticked by and it was full time after a nervous 50 minutes. Extra time was boring and no goals were scored. Penalties. A much more confident bunch this time, most players stepped up and scored, except for two. We took first and the first 5 pens were scored. Then a lad from Gainsborough missed! Billy Smith stepped up and scored for us and Gainsborough instantly replied. Going into the fifth round of pens, we just needed to score! But we didn’t need to, as Gainsborough missed. I punched the air! This was surely my greatest every achievement on fm. I mean, I only has 2 players that were rated ‘good’ for the league, most were probably not even decent. I still cant believe we won promotion.

Targets for this season

- Get into the playoffs - SUCCEEDED plus more!

- Score more goals- YES, we scored 62 goals in the BSN, 20 more than last season.

- Improve Youth Facilities/coaching- We have got the board to plan improved youth facilities, plus our training facilities were upgraded. So I call that a SUCCESS.

Targets for next season

-Survive

-Make sure youth facilities upgrades go through

I would do 3 targets but I think the two I have set are hard enough!

  Season       Division       Position       Achievement
 2012/13        BSS             15th     Avoided Relegation
 2013/14        BSS             15th     Avoided Relegation
 2014/15        BSS             11th         Mid-table
 2015/16        BSS              5th         Promotion

This has probably been my greatest save so far as I usually struggle to stick to a save. I know I will stick with this one though as its too rewarding not to!

Sorry for the mammoth update but there was quite a lot to go through.

[Nottingham Forest]

Wilcox, if he plays enough will become a great player for you. Reason being is he has determination. Has anyone managed to get a son yet? I know they're rare but I'd thought I'd ask.

My saves on hold at the minute. It takes the energy out of me to play it continuously. So I'm trying to find a few saves that I don't care about to run alongside it. I'm enjoying it and I can't see myself picking up FM13 straight away at the moment.

When I go back I'll have to decide who to play upfront in place of Rainford .

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

New batch of youngsters have come through

Rob McVarish, finally, someone with a bit of pace, he will fit well with Foulkes up front.

Glenn Franks, a half decent Centre Back, he has decent physical stats, and as he is only 15, they should improve massively.

[TWFL]

Great season there Ri. Nice of you to join us BSP few!

I have a question, it does't really apply to now but later in the game. Are we allowed to re-sign YPs that we have sold? For example I'm about to lose my best striker but in a few seasons time if he fails, or we do really well, I'd quite like to re-sign him. Would that be allowed?

[ri916]

Braumiller- Your wage bill is less than what I had but FC United get massive crowds and have a massive 12k seater stadium, so when I organise a high profile friendly I get about £50k.

Goldyrulz- Welcome to the challenge. Another guy to compare notes with!

TWFL- Nope, sorry. Would go against the philosophy of the challenge mate

[stothy]

Chester 2012/13 Season

After an impecable start to the season, with 8 games unbeaten and 7 of which being wins, things were looking great for Chester. Hailed as a tactical genius with the squad I had, I thought the season was going to be easy. Then they hit a sudden dry spell, not getting any consistent form. The middle of the season was plagues with draws, dropping places all over the place drastic changes were made to the tactics. Not much changed, a few extra wins but more losses too. Finally in the home stretch Stothard managed to get the sort of form his team started the season with together. with 6/7 wins and a draw. It was too late though, restricted to just 3rd place they were destined for the play-offs. This form continued and they passed the semis with ease. The final was going well until the 80th minute when Northwich netted an equaliser. ET brought despair as Chester saw themselves go behind. Then as if by magic in the 118th minute they net an equaliser and the game was sent to penalties. Miss after miss for both teams saw the game go to sudden death. Promotion hung in the balance and Chester held their nerve and won a well deserved promotion!

Fixtures 1 2 3

TABLE SQUAD TRANSFERS

Last season, the previous manager left me with a lovely squad as you can see he made quite a few transfers: 2011/12 TRANSFERS

So here is an analysis of the best players of the season.

GK: Jonny Brain was consistent in goal. In the first half of the season he had conceded less goals than he had played, no doubt helped by the counter attacking game played but he proved a key player in the squad.

FB: Wes Baynes and Joe Anderson, not only the best full backs in the league but 2 of the best set piece takers in the league! With 29 assists between them corners and close range free kicks were a key role in our promotion bid.

CB: Yann Nsaku reached 2nd top scorer in our squad. Ever present in set pieces he really knew how to put them away.8 MOM awards made him the best performer in the squad. At just 19 he has a real future at the club! He lost out to Jamil Adam for player of the season but he will take that with a pinch of salt with such a bright future ahead of him!

CM: Christian Smith was quite a let down, promising at the start of the season he could never string together a good set of results. Still he played his part and more is expected next season.

AML/R: Jack Boyle and Craig King were dangerous all season, they provided a good run of assists and in fact getting on the end of each others crosses for goals. King was also my striker of choice during a bad injury spell and was good at making space for himself, but his poor finishing eventually led to him being put back on the wing. The wings were key in my promotion this season!

ST: Chris Simm led the line on his own until he was hit by injury early on in the season. Jamie Rainford filled in and surprisingly started to score for fun, an injury to him lost him his place at the front but when Simm returned he started scoring for fun becoming club top scorer with a decent 24 goals making him joint 5th top scorer in the league. Work will have to be done on his finishing though as he powered a lot of shots wide of goal when there were simpler options. A strong force at the front has really helped.

Honourable mention to Jerome Wright as he was a super sub during the season being very versatile in where he played and really contributing when he did.

Youth intake

A good intake has made me happy. And will be keeping my eye on Robert Carter YP01. Played in one game and he failed to impress. Still early days!

Anything else people want to know I will be happy to help out!

EDIT

Next Season Targets

• Avoid Relegation
  
• Improve finances/ Reduce wage bill (from £12.7k p/w :O to 6k)
  
• Improve youth recruiting once more
  
• Improve youth facilities (Currently rented)
  
• Retain current first team squad in the transfer window.
  

[Goldyrulz]

Thanks Ri916 Well done on the promotion

Just had my first conversation with the board, actually went quite well. Hopefully better youths when March rolls along.

[toonbalmy87]

Braulmiller I am over my budget by 1200k and board arnt happy yet I get at least2.5kpeople into the stadium so my balance is healthy try to find a parent club that pays you boost earnings

[TWFL]

TWFL- Nope, sorry. Would go against the philosophy of the challenge mate

Alright just thought I'd check!

Quick update about life in BSP. I am 9 games in and in 7th place. Started the season well only to go on a 4 game winless streak but then to win the next 3 games on the trot. The league is extremely tight with 4 points separating 1st and 10th.

[ri916]

Stothy- A great first season that has brought promotion. Staying up isnt impossible and I think you can do it

[Conman14]

Can we award the YP tag to more than one player? My youth intake has come along and there's a couple I really like the look of.

[toonbalmy87]

Whats all this yp tag buisness about ?? And wat number is the post with the info

[stothy]

Stothy- A great first season that has brought promotion. Staying up isnt impossible and I think you can do it

Thanks mate, I will only post at the end of seasons on here as to me it makes a better read. Sorry about the lack of input

EDIT: Tipped at 20-1 for promotion even!

[Trusler]

FC United of Manchester: Season 2 - 2013/20134

The 'Consolidation, Consolidation, Consolidation' Season

Season round-up (previous season in brackets):

League: BSN

League Position: 15th (19th)

Points: 51 (50)

FA Cup: 2nd Rnd Q (3rd Rnd Q)

FA Trophy: 3rd Rnd Q (3rd Rnd Q)

Top Goalscorer: Fowler (17) (Wolfenden (13))

Top Assists: Walcott (11) (Grimshaw (18))

Star Man: Nicky Platt (Dean Stott)

I'm not a crook

Fixtures:

P1

P2

Squad

Season two over! Another infuriating and frustrating season. We started well, just like the previous season, but we didn't have a points total like last season. I switched from the 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 and it worked to begin with. August, September, October, November were very good months and entering December I was hanging around the play offs. December was average, as was January, but late February to late April we didn't win in 9 games and we plunged down the table.

The midfield was tight, we moved from 17th to 12th in one result and back down again. I did look likely that we would drop towards the end, but yet again another late surge and we somehow finished 15th.

I always wanted to improve from season one, and that we did. Just.

Youth Intake

This years YP:

Lee Jarvis

YP's:

Martin Fowler 12/13 Martin Fowler 13/14 - Knew he'd be key this season. Top goalscorer and still only 16!

Wayne Cope 12/13 Wayne Cope 12/13

Next Season:

I want top half. Very disappointed with S2 and I can't see much changing for S3, but we'll try!

[TWFL]

Pssht. Who said the BSP was hard?!

[Tactic Master]

Very jealous of some of the progress you guys are gaining

How are other first season manager's wage bills in comparison? Am I unreasonably high currently?

First season i was just over 5k or 6k, but I had brought that down by 2k or 3k with releasing players out of contract. At the end of the season, in the last month I went into the red, but promotion from play-offs and the season ticket sales in the new season sorted me out!

After losing a little interest in my current save, I thought that attempting this challenge would be a great new game. Something challenging and for the incredibly long term.

So here is the new manager of FC United of Manchester.

Welcome to the challenge! I love FC United, but right now they are my rivals, with Chester being geographically close I think.

Wilcox, if he plays enough will become a great player for you. Reason being is he has determination. Has anyone managed to get a son yet? I know they're rare but I'd thought I'd ask.

My saves on hold at the minute. It takes the energy out of me to play it continuously. So I'm trying to find a few saves that I don't care about to run alongside it. I'm enjoying it and I can't see myself picking up FM13 straight away at the moment.

When I go back I'll have to decide who to play upfront in place of Rainford .

I haven't got a son yet, but I think several of us will do before the end of our saves!

RI [/Quote]

Congratulations on your promotion! Best of luck for next season, but it's a shame about the stadium problem, thats a bit harsh!

New batch of youngsters have come through

Rob McVarish, finally, someone with a bit of pace, he will fit well with Foulkes up front.

Glenn Franks, a half decent Centre Back, he has decent physical stats, and as he is only 15, they should improve massively.

Half decent striker there Drew, hopefully he'll have enough pace to score some goals for you!

Alright just thought I'd check!

Quick update about life in BSP. I am 9 games in and in 7th place. Started the season well only to go on a 4 game winless streak but then to win the next 3 games on the trot. The league is extremely tight with 4 points separating 1st and 10th.

That happens a lot in the BSP, you have those months where you are unbeatable, but then the next month you get slaughtered!

Whats all this yp tag buisness about ?? And wat number is the post with the info

You tag the player/players who you think can be first teamers and be a main point in your side. I have a rule where I only tag one per season, I suppose that may change if I get 2 around the same level, but so far it's only one definate challenger for me. Should be in the OP I think. It helps you track their progress.

Trusler [/Quote]

Well done on consolidations! Now for a mid-table finish!

[Tactic Master]

Pssht. Who said the BSP was hard?!

I wouldn't speak too soon, my start was like that, but i've really slumped again. That is more like my season in the BSN when I was up there most of the season and fell at the last hurdle

[TWFL]

I wouldn't speak too soon, my start was like that, but i've really slumped again. That is more like my season in the BSN when I was up there most of the season and fell at the last hurdle

Yeah I'm using an attacking tactic which is catching a lot of teams out but I think I'm beginning to get sussed out, just lost to 20th place Cheltenham after drawing against Gateshead. I'll be happy with a mid table finish if I'm honest.

[Tactic Master]

Yeah I'm using an attacking tactic which is catching a lot of teams out but I think I'm beginning to get sussed out, just lost to 20th place Cheltenham after drawing against Gateshead. I'll be happy with a mid table finish if I'm honest.

I think you could end up like I did around 9th - 14th, but with a bit of luck, you may come higher!

[ri916]

Toonbalmy- Theres no definate rule, I just tag players that come through that I think have very good potential and will be good first team players. Some have chosen to just do one a season though, so do what you want

[slich]

Hmm, when you nickname a player, is it possible to still have his name show up properly on the match screen? Its kind of annoying to have the person's whole name show up, like Bailey Donaldson YP01 for me, instead of just Donaldson or Donaldson YP01. Maybe I'll just have to tag him only when I post up screenshots and then remove it again, but I imagine that'll get annoying after a while

[ri916]

Trusler- I came 15th in my second season, It aint that bad . You just need a few good players in the next intake and I think you can get that midtable. This challenge is monumentally hard to start with. I believe once people get momentum and better and better players coming through promotions should become closer to every 2-3 seasons than 4-5 (unless your chester, then you should be looking at promotion in the first season )

[ri916]

Hmm, when you nickname a player, is it possible to still have his name show up properly on the match screen? Its kind of annoying to have the person's whole name show up, like Bailey Donaldson YP01 for me, instead of just Donaldson or Donaldson YP01. Maybe I'll just have to tag him only when I post up screenshots and then remove it again, but I imagine that'll get annoying after a while

Does it really irritate you that much? You could just nickname him Donaldson YP01 instead of having his first name. Also, in the OP it just says I would 'like' you to do it, you dont have to if you dont want

[slich]

Its not irritating per say, its just really weird when the balls being passed around the midfield and the names that pop up goes, Reed to Smith to Brown to Bailey Donaldson YP01 back to Reed I'll probably get used to it eventually, but I was just wondering to see if anyone knew a way to only have a part of the name show up on the field. I like the YP tag concept since its bringing through youth, so I'll try to stick with it

[toonbalmy87]

Arghh rite cheers Ri

[Braumiller]

No 'reveals' until I finish my first season and put together my first seasonal update (hopefully tonight), but loving the injection the youth intake gives a tiny squad like mine!

4th game after my intake, and I played 4 of them in my starting 11 with another on the bench! Won 1-0, with my AMC YP1 scoring a direct free-kick and claiming the MoM award.

Now my intake did not set the non league world alight, but anything would work with the rag-tag bunch I inherited

[Braumiller]

Hmm, when you nickname a player, is it possible to still have his name show up properly on the match screen? Its kind of annoying to have the person's whole name show up, like Bailey Donaldson YP01 for me, instead of just Donaldson or Donaldson YP01. Maybe I'll just have to tag him only when I post up screenshots and then remove it again, but I imagine that'll get annoying after a while

I have to admit to loving it myself.

I have added another level of depth to my naming convention and see it more often and love that I can see at a glance if my new kids are influencing the game

[TWFL]

Playing the first round of the F.A Cup and this happened. They're bottom of League 1 and Freeman just destroyed them..

[Tactic Master]

Playing the first round of the F.A Cup and this happened. They're bottom of League 1 and Freeman just destroyed them..

I bet they never saw that coming!

[ri916]

Playing the first round of the F.A Cup and this happened. They're bottom of League 1 and Freeman just destroyed them..

TWFL you have just unwittingly tied yourself in the hall of fame with greyham. 4 goals by a YP in a match

[TWFL]

TWFL you have just unwittingly tied yourself in the hall of fame with greyham. 4 goals by a YP in a match

Haha I hadn't realised. The same guy will be in there again soon as he has 94 League goals.

I bet they never saw that coming!

I never saw it coming!

[ri916]

Where can you find out how many league goals a player has? I dont actually know :o

[Tactic Master]

Where can you find out how many league goals a player has? I dont actually know :o

History, Career Stats

That will take you straight to the seasonal stats + overall stats.

[Conman14]

CARSHALTON ATHLETIC FC

2012/13 Season

Blue Square South

Media Prediction - 18th

Finished - 14th - Table

Top Scorer - Paul Vines (20) =2nd Top scorer

FA Cup

2nd Qual Round	Hampton & Richmond 1-0 Carshalton Athletic

FA Trophy

3rd Qual Round	Carshalton Athletic 4-2 Eastbourne Town
1st Round	Thurrock 6-0 Carshalton Athletic

Transfers - I'm no fackin' wheelah dealah

Final Squad v Dartford

And so ends my first season. On the plus side, we were never in any real danger of being relegated. Indeed, we started off extremely brightly and looked like we could challenge for the play-offs. However, as injuries and suspensions took their toll over the season, the form dropped, culminating in horribly inconsistent spells. When we were on form, we were unbeatable, and up front we had a natural goalscorer in Paul Vines, usually being assisted by Francis Quarm from the centre of the park. However, we were heavily reliant on them - without them, we were useless, and even they were usually hit and miss at times.

Overall, the main aim of stabilising was by and large achieved, but the finances are still a cause for concern, and a number of players on high wages will be cut over the summer. A cup run or two next season would also be nice to get some extra income and exposure.

Welcome to the Crazy Gang

Youth Intake

The overall consensus is that the intake this season is promising. Most of the players will no doubt slot into the team at some point. I did, however, mark out a few stars to make their mark towards the end of this season.

Wayne McAuley - DC. Performed ably in the 6 games he appeared in, showing the early signs of a good centre back. His height is a huge bonus, definitely one to watch.

Apps	Gls	Pens	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Drb	ShT	Fouls	FlsAg	AvRat
3(3)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.10	60%	-	-	7	3	6.70

Terry Daly - DL. Highly rated by my assistant, but has much to learn based on his early forays into the first team.

Apps	Gls	Pens	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Drb	ShT	Fouls	FlsAg	AvRat
3(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.28	72%	-	-	4	3	6.30

Marco Razafindrakoto - ML. Tipped from the off by my assistant. His early form suggests he will definitely be in and around the first team next season. Looks lively on the ball, and has already got off the mark for the club with a cheeky strike from the corner flag catching the Staines goalie off his line. And for future reference, he is part Madagascan.

Apps	Gls	Pens	Asts	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Drb	ShT	Fouls	FlsAg	AvRat
5(1)	1	0	1	1	0	0	3.04	66%	1.87	33%	4	1	6.83

Next season

As I meantioned earlier, a good cup run is a must after our poor showing last season. Promotion would be nice, but I accept that it may be too much to ask for so soon. Further consolidation and growth will do nicely.

[ri916]

Conman- Good season to start of the challenge with and some decent prospects.

TM- Thanks

[slich]

Bury Town - Season 1 2012-2013

End of Season Update

First things first, here's the Transfers!

League Table - It was a pretty successful season, but we just barely missed out on a shot at the playoffs finishing 7th. We blew our chances towards the end when we lost to both Nuneaton and Kettering in April as they finished 3rd and 4th. I'm not too disappointed though since it was obvious we massively overachieved as our GD was only +6 while everybody else in the top 8 was higher than +20. We'll just try again next year.

Finances - A bit deceptive, as even though we're only barely in the red, that's largely due to the board takeover right before the end of the season and the 65k loan that came with it. It'll be a problem if we don't manage to gain some money from friendlies.

Youth Intake - Not really that great both in quality and quantity, but it does help with depth especially with some of our old guys not having their contract renewed. It did however give us our first left footed Left back in Ray Knighton (for some reason, both my natural left backs in the squad are right footed), whose even a Model Pro as well. I'm hoping he progresses quickly to challenge for first team. However, the YP01 tag belonged to Bailey Nicholson, and he had a decent season in the first team after being called up, becoming the youngest goal scorer in both the team and the league thanks to his penalty kicking skill. As an added bonus, he has a fairly professional personality and I'm already on his favored personnel.

Squad - Our squad on the final day of the season. As you can see, Sam Reed kept up his Vamon Perster form as his 32 goals accounted for exactly half of the 64 team goals that was scored. We do have a bit of an old squad as our captain is already 35, and we have some other over 30's as well. We'll lose some of them as they're declining and to allow us to free up our wage bill as well, but we'll have to see if that makes any adverse impact on the team.

Goals for Next Season:

Get Promotion!

Get some money

Get some better youth, especially on defense

Season        Division    Position      Achievement
2012-2013        BSN        7th        Consolidation

[Conman14]

Here's a new one, just conceded three penalties in one game. The ref is certainly not being kind to us at all this season...

[Tactic Master]

Good strong finish there Slich, it seems to be coming together nicely! Best of luck for the next season and i'm confident you will get promoted! The youth-intake was a bit disappointing for you, lets hope next season brings something better.

[jaxika]

Hi. I just read about this challenge and i want to give me a chance to prove myself:)

I picked AFC TELFORD.

http://kepfeltoltes.hu/view/120326/Jakab_Zoltan__Overview__Information__www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.png

[Charlie_B]

Charlie Nguyen - Carshalton Viet 2012/13 - Blue Square South

Summary

Promotion! OKish YPs. Rubbish cup run. Small facilities increase.

Overall: Success.

Early days

The staff were rubbish, so my first aim was to sort that out. I brought in a pretty awesome AM and got the board to agree to fund 4 coaches. Brilliantly, the board also agreed to increase youth coaching right off the bat. Arranging half a dozen high-profile friendlies pushed the bank balance up to 90k but wasn't enough to get the training facilities increased.

The season

A couple of lucky red cards in early games saw us build up some momentum and we soared to the top of the table. Falling at the first hurdle of the FA cup (2nd qual) was very disappointing, as was failing to get past the FA trophy 2nd round although christ knows how I'd have coped with the fixture congestion if I had got further.

I always seem to get a new-year hangover in the lower leagues and this season was no different, going on a dreadful run of 1 win in 7 that the team never really recovered from. Fortunately we'd put away enough goals in the early season that we remained competitive in a bizzarely close league - with two games to go five teams could have been crowned champions.

Roll the dice

We hadn't had a great time against the top teams so I was nervous going into the playoffs, particuarly when we drew Dover who'd trashed us twice already this season. We got an early goal in the home leg then changed tactics and sat back for 150 minutes, squeaked through and setting up a finale against Bromley - the one big team we'd beaten already this season. Again we scored early, but Bromley came back strong and equalised. The second half was pretty even and we were into extra time. With exhausted players I had to make changes and did so with an eye on the penalty taking stat. To my surprise we scored twice straight after the restart, and it was all over. Premier League here we come!

Transfers

Ooh. I hadn't noticed that the previous manager had already made a transfer this season. As you can see from the date it was before I joined the club. Rose started 6 games for me - an average signing at best.

Table

It was, as I said, a pretty close league.

Finances

Not good. The few friendlies I played pre-season helped, but I was haemorraging money every month despite a wage bill of just over 2k. I reaped the benefits of a play-off final which brought in 50k but then the board spent 150k installing seats to accommodate our anticipated Premier league glory supporters. We could really do with a cup run next year!

Youth

My first intake.

It was better than I expected, but intakes like this really bring home the enormity of the challenge facing all of us. If they work really hard and are trained really well a couple of these players might possibly just be good enough to play in the BSP in the future. Am I being ungrateful? Possibly. I've given Chris Fraser the YP tag and stuck him into a few first team games - he did quite poorly, the one highlight being setting up a goal in the play-off final.

Player of the Season

Step forward the mighty Dean McDonald. He was head and shoulders above every striker in the division (second place top scorer was another Carshalton player - Vines - with 20). Sadly he didn't win the League PotS award but it was still a cracking season. The cheeky bugger demanded a 125% pay rise to sign another contract and while I argued him down a little he's still become the highest paid player Carshalton had ever had (probably). But he's worth it.

Facilities

Improving. Slowly. The requisite stadium expansion put paid to any hopes I had of a facilities upgrade this season but we got Junior Coaching improved at the start of the season and Youth Recruitment at the end.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Drew. Lowestoft Town. Blue Square South. 2014/2015

Table - We managed to finish 3rd, which is our highest ever position, and again we made it into the play-offs, but, we managed to lose our last 3 games and entered the semi-finals against Dover in poor form, and with awful morale, which ultimately led to Crashing out for the 2nd time in a row; I would have to say that drawing too many games was our downfall, with two youngsters up front, we didn't have the experience to put the ball into the back of the net.

The Squad

Aradavan Dobinson YP1 had an okay season, until he lost his place to Malcolm through loss of form, but went into the last 6 games as number one, still a lot to learn and a big season from him next season unless he gets replaced.

Callum Foulkes YP2 done well in his first full season, 18 goals in total, hopefully he'll get some more next season.

Rob McVarish YP3 was given a few games, and scored once, he has decent pace, and will need to work on his composure and finishing, but I feel he will be a decent player for us within the next few seasons.

Glen Franks YP4 finally, a decent Centre Back, he may not be the best physically, but he is young and will only improve, looking forward to seeing him play next season.

Finances - Was able to increase Junior Coaching to Average this season.

Proof I didn't cheat

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Hi. I just read about this challenge and i want to give me a chance to prove myself:)

I picked AFC TELFORD.

http://kepfeltoltes.hu/view/120326/Jakab_Zoltan__Overview__Information__www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.png

AFC Telford were in the Blue Square Premier in the 2011/2013 season, you need to pick a team who were PROMOTED to either the Blue Square North or Blue Square South.

[Avramski]

Ever notice there is 1 team every season who you get in every competition and can't beat?

[TWFL]

Ever notice there is 1 team every season who you get in every competition and can't beat?

Farnborough in BSS. I can't stand them, they're my bogey team.

Hall of Fame Claim:

Anthony Freeman has just scored his 100th Career League Goal for Carshalton. Proof at the bottom of the screen.

[jaxika]

AFC Telford were in the Blue Square Premier in the 2011/2013 season, you need to pick a team who were PROMOTED to either the Blue Square North or Blue Square South.

Sry, i missed that. And i played a lot with Telford:( But i have the save from jun 23 2012. Fc United of Manchester its ok?

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Sry, i missed that. And i played a lot with Telford:( But i have the save from jun 23 2012. Fc United of Manchester its ok?

Yep, that's fine.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

I'm still having trouble scoring, we seem to have at least 15 attempts at goal, with only 3 or 4 on target