alexcharliemann Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Yeah I'm actually ridiculously excited. Only just noticed he's 6'4", excellent in the air, great range of passing, and can play at either DM, MC or AMC. Might retrain him as a DC as well so he can play anywhere woop woop. Ok need to calm down now... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyosullivan Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 You've Dunne good in getting some quality players coming through your academy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 February/March 2016 Well last time I updated you all we were in 18th and worrying about relegation. 9 matches later, we have won 8 matches, and lost only the one game when we dominated and got hit on the counter. Confidence is flowing, players are scoring, and our two new midfielders are leaving their mark. It was particularly pleasing to best Bristol Rovers as Nick Powell was playing for them, and he was awful. They are in fact going to get relegated. I don't think he'd have even got in this side now. Dom Yoffe is also on the verge of signing a new three year contract which would be a massive boost. His contract was due to finish June 2017 and I was worried he wouldn't sign, meaning he'd need to be sold this summer. Martyn Brunskill is also stepping up and adding a lot more goals to his game. Both him and Dom Yoffe are now regarded as leading Championship strikers and future leading Premier League strikers, so I can' see my front line changing whatever level we play at. Would be remarkable if we made it to the Premier League and had the same striker force as in the BSP. There are 6 matches left, and we are 4 points off automatic promotion and 5 off the title. Going to be a nail biting month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 You've Dunne good in getting some quality players coming through your academy Truly awful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyosullivan Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Truly awful. Yep, but you have to admit, you loved it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Wow! Nice luck in the youth intake Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Wow! Nice luck in the youth intake You call it luck, I call it stupidity We are now £2.6m in debt and I think that's mostly due to all the investment in youth. I can see us being forced to sell a couple of them for big bucks to balance it out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 looks very open, you could go up automatically, get play-off's or miss out on play-off's altogether, hopefully it isn't the latter option! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 April/May 2016 We did it! Three successive promotions as we are promoted automatically on goal difference. Not bad given that mid-Feb we were in 18th place worried about relegation. From our last 15 games we won 13, drew 1 and lost 1. We lost out on the title only by a solitary point. I think the young midfielders joining in March was a real turning point, as they just sat in front of the defence and pinged fantastic direct passes to our pacy front line, and some hammerings of lesser teams boosted our goal difference decisively to get promotion. Dom Yoffe finished the season as top rated player in the league with 7.31. He also finishes as top Crewe goalscorer ahead of Martyn Brunskill, 21 and 20 goals each. Westwood and Lundstram top the league with an 87% pass completion rate. Full season review to come! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Nice job on promotion! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Great run to go up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Great run to go up Thanks. Not sure how we'll cope in the Championship though, with the exception of a few youth, Ben Chorley and George Porter it is still the BSP squad! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Financial woes Still hemorrhagic, around £150k in an average month, with no sign of the board doing anything. At what point does the club go into administration! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Great intake but shame about the finances. I'm sure the big clubs will be after him soon and if you have to you can get some big bucks for him. Just remember to set a high asking price so your chairman doesnt sell him under your nose! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Great intake but shame about the finances. I'm sure the big clubs will be after him soon and if you have to you can get some big bucks for him. Just remember to set a high asking price so your chairman doesnt sell him under your nose! Oh half my squad has been bid for already this summer it's crazy. Tom Dunne has had bids from Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea. Blackburn are after my keeper, half the Premier League are after Dom Yoffe etc. I have set asking prices of £5m + 50% of next sale for all of them and won't sell unless that's met (or the board makes me ) - want to keep this team together! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyosullivan Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 What's your highest expenditure? Mine is loan repayments in my current save Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 What's your highest expenditure? Mine is loan repayments in my current save For last season: -Player wages: £1.37m -Youth Setup: £1.02m -Match Day Expenses: £0.865m -Tax: £0.802m -Loan Repayments and Interest: £0.558m Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Oh half my squad has been bid for already this summer it's crazy. Tom Dunne has had bids from Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea. Blackburn are after my keeper, half the Premier League are after Dom Yoffe etc. I have set asking prices of £5m + 50% of next sale for all of them and won't sell unless that's met (or the board makes me ) - want to keep this team together! Looks like you've got a good plan in place with that. Just make sure you cash in if they dont sign new contracts! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Looks like you've got a good plan in place with that. Just make sure you cash in if they dont sign new contracts! No danger of that, sign them all on three years contracts and give them a year extension every year. It probably costs me more than it should that way but it's worked so far. The only player I've lost so far is Nick Powell and he really wasn't that great, he wouldn't even get into this team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Crewe Alexandra Season Review - 2015/16 English League One - 2nd place League - Positions Graph - Started around the play offs, dropped down with 18th in February, before our 40 points from 45 points run to finish the season saw us sneak into 2nd and our 3rd successive automatic promotion. FA Cup - Lost in 3rd round to League One Middlesborough. Almost emabarrassed by BSS Tonbridge in first round! League Cup - Needed extra time and penalties in first two rounds, before bowing out 2-0 in the third to Championship Hull City. JPT - Most pointless trophy ever. My team selection reflected this. Transfers Overview - Only signings I could afford on freebies were a 5th choice centre back, an old dude who I only wanted as my fitness coach, and an emergency midfielder for an injury crisis when no one would join me on loan. Nick Powell left after throwing his toys out the pram, but no one would pay for him due to high wage demands. 50% of next transfer clause secured, he joined relegation threatened Bristol Rovers, and moved to Championship Blackburn Rovers in the summer to net me £90k. Key Players Jack Cope - Only joined through my youth intake in March but this amazing midfielder got 5 assists in 10 games and added a touch of creative class to our midfield, spurring us onto promotion. Already in England U19s, compared to Scott Park, and been bid for by Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea. Hands off. Dom Yoffe - Just gets better. 25 in 45, he really led the line and was unplayable at times. Now worth £2.3m. Could conceivably have a 20 year career with the club at the highest level. Martyn Brunskill - Stepped out Dom's shadow with 24 goals of his own. He plays a different game: is he is slower, but better in the air and has a better eye for a killer pass to bring others in. They compliment each other very well. George Porter - The one key player who didn't come through my youth system, but this young right winger adds an extra dimension with his direct running. 9 goals helps too. Kerry Robinson - His attributes don't look up to much compared to the others but still plays a blinder on the left wing netting 10 goals and will probably keep that spot. Best Eleven Next Season Signed another extension so got at least 3 years here left. I had anticipated moving around more in this career but really want to stay with this young bunch and see how they develop. I don't know how the Championship will play out. Logic says you need a season to catch up after 3 successive promotions. But I think what helps us is we're not relying on new players to come in every year to raise the bar while taking time to gel: we have the same players who play as a great team unit, and those players developing at the same rate we're getting promoted. So who knows. Promotion would be nice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 Career Overview Season Club Country Division Position Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2012 Frigg Norway Second Division Group 4 2nd None 2013/14 Crewe Alexandra England Blue Square Premier 1st Promotion; FA Trophy Runners Up 2014/15 Crewe Alexandra England League Two 2nd Promotion 2015/16 Crewe Alexandra England League One 2nd Promotion Youth Products YP1 - Jan Morten Kjolberg - At Ostsiden in the Norwegian 2nd Division Group 1. Not making much of an impact. YP2 - Dom Yoffe - Great season with 25 goals. Now has 54 goals in 106 league games for Crewe. Still only 18. Fans Player of the Year for a second year in the row. YP3 - Martyn Brunskill - Great season for me with 24 goals. 32 goals in 87 league games. Just turned 18. YP4 - Michael Hill - First full season for the pacy Welsh striker but mainly restricted to appearances from the bench due to the strength of Yoffe and Brunskill. Still did good though with 7 goals in 34 league appearances, mainly as a 20 minute sub! YP5 - Tom Dunne - This beast of a midfielder joined us in March and made 9 appearances, bagging a winning goal in his first match. True star of the future. Lots of Premier League interest and already appeared for England U19. Former Club Watch Frigg - a credible 9th place for their second season in the Adeccoligre. No signs of going beyond that though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 England at Euro 2016 Thing's looked promising before the tournament as they trounced Russia 6-1 and Belgium 2-0 in their warm ups. Then in the first game they did this: They walked the group, but stumbled in the quarter-final, narrowly squeaking past Slovenia with a 121nd minute Welbeck goal! Their luck run out in the semi to Les Bleus. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 You must have Crewe to their highest league levels ever now Congrats. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 29, 2012 Author Share Posted June 29, 2012 You must have Crewe to their highest league levels ever now Congrats. Actually about ten years ago they were a semi regular fixture at this level. I remember watching them on the football league highlights at this level, albeit as one of the smaller teams. So far this has been a mission to restore. Now it's a mission to grow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Nice win for England there . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 My computer is becoming a major issue, will likely be changing in the next day or two. Question: is it possible to copy a game to a new system? Do you just copy the save file? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Yep, and put it in the saves folder when FM is reinstalled. I've done it a few times so it's simple enough. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 Transfer Window: Summer 2016 A busier summer in the transfer market than I'd necessarily envisaged but it was important. The main clear out has been in central defence where 4 of my 5 left: they wouldn't be up to the Championship. In particular, Ben Chorley our regular for the past two seasons went: he had hit 33 and although a monster in the end he is now way too slow. Also, as a better goalkeeper came up I chose to cash in Danny Ireland to Sheff Utd in the Prem for £200k. He'd been our no.1 for 3 seasons and did nothing wrong: a better keeper simply came up and I wasn't going to bank on Danny being happy in reserve. Of my signings, 6 are first teamers, along with an England U21 keeper I then shipped out to Fleetwood on loan, and a young Austrian playmaker for my youth team. Here are the first team signings: Raphael Wolf started his career in Berlin but as an Austrian moved to Kapfenberger Sport for 7 years, but as they then dropped down the leagues he wanted a move. A very strong all rounder, he is capped by Austria and will excel at this level. David Bentley has enjoyed spells in the Prem with Wolves and Bolton, where he was a regular. Now 31, he still has a decent range of passing and crossing, so will probably be my first choice on the right, with George Porter in reserve for when we need some pace. Victor Wanyama is our star signing, the Kenyan centre back joining from Celtic where he spent 5 seasons as a rotation option, winning a number of trophies. A beast for this level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 Murray Wallace is a Scottish centre back who started at Rangers, and joins us from Championship Aston Villa. Will be our third choice centre back but already better than anything we had before. Andreas Kuen is the third Austrian to join us this year, coming from FC Wacker Innsbruck in the Austrian Prem where he spent 6 years and 161 games. As a 21 year old left winger, he has a lot of U21 international experience and will be a rotation option in left midfield for us. Chancel Mbemba Mangulu is a Congan centre back and joins us from Belgium where he started at Anderlecht, before being a first team starter with Charleroi in the Pro League. Bit of a gamble as he doesn't speak English, but with Wanyama he speaks Swahili, and they will be my first choice centre back pairing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 Crewe Alexandra 2016/17 - Season Preview English Championship Three successive promotions have been fantastic and I hope to continue the success this season. I don't envisage us battling against relegation: for me the question is whether are promotion contenders or a strong mid-table team. The close season has seen me focus on strengthening the defence, with 4 centre backs going out and 3 stronger ones coming in, as well as a veteran in Bentley on the right wing, and a new international goalkeeper. The stand out youth up front (Yoffe, Brunskill, Hill and Robinson) have developed even quicker than the club so they have no problem at this level and I didn't bring in any attackers. I also think the finances might sort themselves out. We did reach £3m in debt, but season ticket sales and TV money have already reduced that to £2.5m, and I am hopeful we might claw some more back during the season. We shall see! Transfer Budget: £70k. Wage Budget: £40k (+16k) Wage Bill: £45k (£+18k) Finance Overview: £2.5m in the red. We lost £1.5m last season. Hoping to claw some back this year. Club Reputation: Up half a star to two stars. Competition Rep: 3 star Championship. Squad Overview: Some of the youth who weren't immediately ready for the first team are starting to break through and we have strength in depth in most positions, except arguably at left back. Facilities: Training facilities reduced from 5* to 3* due to 'technological advancements'. This slightly annoys me. Surely technological advancements should surely mean that we can simply be doing better, not that the facilities are any worse? If the facilities themselves haven't got worse, why should the effect on training be worse? It should be actual facilities that count, not relative. Rant over. Almost the 'perfect' pre-season with only 1 goal conceded. The first 3 games were all warm ups against non-league teams, playing the first XI and second XI in each half. We then invited St Johnstone, strong midtable SPL team, and outplayed them, playing the first XI for the whole match. The next day the second XI took on Bury and also won convincingly with 90 minutes. Then we played Ceske from the Czech Prem in our final warm up, against splitting the match with first and second XI, also winning convincingly. First match is at home to West Brom on the TV - they're about to buy a defender called 'Surprise'. Lets hope we can Surprise them! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted June 30, 2012 Author Share Posted June 30, 2012 Exciting news with the international call ups: I have 5 players in the England U21 squad and 4 in the U19 squad. And of those 9, 8 are my own homegrown players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Very good pre-season. Hope it transfers into the real deal! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welsh Wizard Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Some great signings and a Great pre-season. Dunne looks like a Great DLP at that lvl. Will be a tough call wether to focus making him a CB or a DLP. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Some great signings and a Great pre-season. Dunne looks like a Great DLP at that lvl. Will be a tough call wether to focus making him a CB or a DLP. Yeah Dunne is awesome, every team in the PL is sniffing around him. I think I'll keep him as a DLP, he's an excellent screen and attack starter. Very good pre-season. Hope it transfers into the real deal! It's been a mixed start but not a disaster Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Our problem This shows the dilemma we are having this season. Going into this match, Blackburn were in 4th place and scoring goals for fun. We absolutely dominated the match with 66% possession, and 88% of passes completed (our AMC and MR completed 100% of passes, 79 out of 79 between them), but we lost 2-0. Teams at this level take their chances, and so far Yoffe isn't scoring for us: 7 games and 0 goals so far. Edit: I needn't have worried. Next game away to sixth place Norwich I benched Yoffe....he came on and scored a twenty minute hattrick in a 4-0 win!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 August/September 2016 A very mixed bunch but at no point have we been outclassed. On the first day we lost to an injury time goal. In a rematch from the same stage 2 years ago, we more than matched Arsenal before succombing as we chased the game. in fact most of the 'bigger' scorelines against us have been tight games where we chased an equaliser and left ourselves open. In the last game at Palace all 3 goals were in the last 10 minutes. Pleasingly, we have handed out some of our own thumpings. Dunne and Cope, our two youth product midfielders, have been a different class. Our goalie epic. I think we just need all the new players to gel then we can have our usual consistent season. Midtable is a good place to be at this point! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted July 1, 2012 Share Posted July 1, 2012 Nice to see Yoffe stepping up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 1, 2012 Author Share Posted July 1, 2012 Nice to see Yoffe stepping up He's class. I've been dropping Brunskill back to an AM role to help out the midfield in linking the forward play and giving them a shorter option. I think this is making the opposition defence push out slightly to close him down, giving Yoffe a bit more space to turn and shoot, he's doing well. Incidentally, watching the Euro final is really making me want to try and build a 4-6-0 team. I wouldn't do it with this Crewe team, but maybe once I've taken Crewe and to the very top (well, if!), I might take over a team and build a 4-6-0 squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 More than two times the wage budget, a fair bit of money... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyosullivan Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I'd stay at Crewe, things are going well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Haha yeah, a no brainer. But then a couple days later... Man, 16 times my wage budget, and half of it is free, and £17.5m, would love to have money to spend...could take the Crewe boys with me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 October 2016 Very good month, with 3 wins, and positioning ourselves for a play off push. Dom Yoffe scored in every match and is now the league top scorer. Exciting times. Job offer still on delay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 It's tough but I'd stay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 QPR would tempt me to jump ship I must say. Thats a cracking budget as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 4, 2012 Author Share Posted July 4, 2012 November 2016 Never have I been more disappointed to win 7-1 Someone forgot to tell us we were going for a month of 1-1! Credit to Michael Hill who spent a month out on loan in League 1 to get some game time, then came back to score 4 in his first match back. The 7-1 was great as like us Leicester are chasing the play offs. We played the whole match with a contain formation, we just kept hitting the counter attack. The 1-1 draw with Ipswich was a class act too as they are running away with the league. Feel sorry for Swindon. Needless to say, I turned down QPR. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 Ipswich running away with the league! Stupidly unrealistic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted July 5, 2012 Share Posted July 5, 2012 I'd probably move to QPR. But that's me Completely understand you staying. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 December 2016 - March 2017 Play offs definitely not on this year. Despite not winning many games, very rarely have we been outplayed. We've had a lot of possession and passing, but we simply don't finish teams off and it usually bites us. Still, our current league position is good after three successive promotions and a season of consolidating was probably on the cards. The problem was made worse by Dom Yoffe and Martyn Brunskill, my first choice strikers, as well as their back up Kerry Robinson, all being out injured for three months each. This has meant young Michael Hill playing up front on his own. He's still a fantastic player but this was a bit earlier than I'd have liked. To sum it up, in the January transfer window I signed Reinhold Yabo, a winger on either flank, from Nurnberg. Fantastic winger, would easily be our best. In his first match, after 37 minutes he broke his foot and that was his season over! So all things considered we've not done too bad. Youth intake coming up! On a financial note, the board has inputted £1.3m over the season and we are still £2.6m in the red, so doesn't look like I'm getting transfer funds any time soon, so praise the Lord for the youth system. Arsenal bid £5m for Dom Yoffe in January which I managed to repel, and even get him to sign a new contract. If the finance gets worse though the next big bid might be taken out of my hands. Kudos to Swindon conceding over 100 goals with 8 games still to go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexcharliemann Posted July 7, 2012 Author Share Posted July 7, 2012 Ipswich running away with the league! Stupidly unrealistic Rectified I'd probably move to QPR. But that's me Completely understand you staying. I normally would, but super attached to these young players. I've never taken a young team of prodigies through their entire career and I'd love to do that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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