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Hoarau

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I honestly didn't even think about spending it. I even felt the loan of Buxton from Derby was probably avoidable - hence only used him twice in three months.

The only players I tried to sign all season apart from Sheehan were all loans: Joe Mason (before getting Nikolic), Michael Mancienne and Alex Bruce. It was great having such an empty shortlist, but the truth is there was plenty of good young players in the U21 and U18 squads already, so recruiting was never an issue.

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I honestly didn't even think about spending it. I even felt the loan of Buxton from Derby was probably avoidable - hence only used him twice in three months.

The only players I tried to sign all season apart from Sheehan were all loans: Joe Mason (before getting Nikolic), Michael Mancienne and Alex Bruce. It was great having such an empty shortlist, but the truth is there was plenty of good young players in the U21 and U18 squads already, so recruiting was never an issue.

Can i ask what formation you play with Wolves? I always want to play with a narrow diamond formation without wingers but Sako is too good not to play so i end up playing with an AMR and AML. Also if you can get Kasper Kusk early he has a release clause and does a cracking job on the opposite side to Sako

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Can i ask what formation you play with Wolves? I always want to play with a narrow diamond formation without wingers but Sako is too good not to play so i end up playing with an AMR and AML. Also if you can get Kasper Kusk early he has a release claus and does a cracking job on the opposite side to Sako

Hi Milky.

I played straight 442 all the way with Sako as ML(winger, attack) and Henry as MR(wide midfielder, support). Most of what Sako did on the left, Henry could do on the right, so I wanted to use their skills. You will see from my seasonal stats that they made 20 and 18 assists respectively - although Sako's were mainly from open play, whilst Henry got some 'bonus' assists from free kick's and corners. You're right, Sako is far too good for that level, and chips in a few goals too - no way should he be left out or fitted in to a less suitable role.

Team: I used balanced/counter with six shouts - more direct passing, drill crosses, exploit the flanks, hassle opponents, stay on feet, higher tempo.

Player: The player instructions for the two wide players were similar. Sako had stay wider, get further forward, cross from byline, shoot less often. Henry had the same but also 'dribble more often' which was a default on Sako's winger role. My two strikers (AF,attack and DLF,attack) both just had 'move in to channels', and my two central midfielders had 'shoot less often'. My left-back (Sheehan) was on FB/support and I added 'cross more often' because of his abilities to do so (his crossing, and set-piece skills were a large part of the reason he was signed). The other three defenders were all on defend with no shouts, although one was a BPD.

Apart from the wingers, my strikers were the only other regular source of assists - the central midfield pair were on BWM(D) and B2B(S) duties and weren't in the team to do much in a creative sense.

Kusk is a good little player and a bargain, but with Ismail and Jacobs already at the club and good enough back-up players, it wasn't necessary for me. Henry, I felt, was more suitable for staying wide on the right, had good set-piece ability himself, and also went to the same school as me (although many years after I did) - so I wanted to make use of his talents :cool:

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Hey Lads,

After my surprise discovering a lack of team threads and then discovering and reading through this thread (which is great by the way :) ) I've decided to take the plunge and start a game with Boro in the championship. I think the championship is def the toughest lower league game by a mile with so many teams having potential to be sleeping giants and after changing my mind a few times I think Boro could be a really good game.

It will be a tough task as they have a lot of deadwood in the squad and have underachieved for along time now but hopefully I can take them back to the promise land of the premiership and it won't take me too long to achieve this, anyways i'll keep you posted on how I get on.

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After looking through the squad and being give a £2.5m transfer budget I was quite confident I had enough quality to aim for a top 6 and play off position at the very least. I did decide to add some players in just really to give the squad enough depth to cope with a 48 game season at the very least (including the fa cup and capital one cup games ;) incase people were like champ is only 46 games lol )

Anyways after the August transfer window my signings were:-

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I would of really liked to try and get Rhodes but although I did have abit to spend I didn't have much in terms of wages with the maximum I could offer being 12k but with some of the loan players mainly Danny Graham upfront I think he will be able to do a good job for me.

Pre Season and Championship Results so Far

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Had a few tough games so far Leicester, Wigan in the league and Southampton in the cup disappointed to only get 1pt out of the 2 league games but they both have stronger squads so 1pt could be vital in the long term and my formation isn't fluid yet so to only lose narrowly to Wigan in the league and push Southampton in the capital one cup aint too bad. Only result really should of got more than a point from was Charlton but Thuram in goal for them had a blinder pulling off save after save. I'm currently 8th in the league 2pts off the last play off spot and now with the transfer window finished hopefully the team can start to gel and push up the league.

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Blimey Chewy, you've been busy!

I can see why that new squad might take a while to settle down, but at least you get to cash in plenty of airmiles from your travels far and wide. It's a shame you couldn't get Rhodes, but May will be an interesting one to observe.

Good luck.

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I have decided to holiday the first season and see what happens. In an ideal world I would like Barnsley (My hometown and who I have a season ticket for) to get relegated to L1 just like real life so the game is a bit different. I'm in Feb at the minute and they are 23rd so fingers crossed.

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It's so crazy that I might have assembled a better team for this L1 season than you can manage in the Championship first season. Some great free transfers floating about. Looking forward to this season.

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September - December Results Far

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So far it's been like a rollercoaster ride at Alton Towers so far lots of ups and downs in terms of results like a high result of the season was winning away at Leeds but then the worst result getting battered by Birmingham 5-1 at home where in particular Macheda just destroyed us on his own.

We finish the year just outside the play offs by a point which aint too bad as my aim was a top 6 finish at the start of the campaign however I've been really disappointed with most of my squad players like Ledesma, Williams and Graham who's stats would put them among the top players in the division just haven't delivered. Ledesma has 3 goals and 8 assists in 22games where as Graham has only got 10 goals in 21 games which aint great for a striker who should be up near the top of the goal charts.

Also some of the signings although I signed them for back up aint really delivered either Stevie May might be starting to turn the corner as he got 1 goal in his first 5 games coming off the bench but in the last few games has 3 in 2 so now I've changed my formation to put him upfront with Graham where for along time I was just playing 1 upfront which was mainly Graham.

The Board also have screwed me over with my budget they initially gave me 60% of transfer fees back from player sales and I had 1.18m left after the August window they all of a sudden started to move the goal posts which saw my budget slashed to 250k and now only getting 15% back :(.

I was tempted to sell Williams and Ledesma in January as with them underperforming and with a lot of interest in them I was hoping I could get near 10m which would give me the funds to go and sign a top player maybe in Rhodes. I've changed my mind now as I know if I did sell them I'd get hardly any cash back if any at all and with the wage budget also being slashed I doubt I could attract some decent replacements.

Hopefully we can find some consistency in the 2nd half of the season and I hope with maybe 1 or two more additions looking at the free/loan market I can still get a top 6 finish and have a chance for promotion.

Championship Table

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On the transfer side aswell I did have some good news although I didn't see a penny back in my budget it did ease the clubs debts abit with these two messages.

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I'm not sure with the Bennett deal if we will get any more payments but with the Jones deal I put in the transfer we would get 50% sell on if they do sell in the future so with the scouts thinking he will be a star it could be great news in the long term fingers crossed

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You're still in with a shout of promotion Chewy, see how you go. Graham's goal ratio of 1:2 isn't that bad, it would equate to 20+ in a full season. Always good to have the odd cash bonus like those two, especially as the board are obviously keeping a close watch on expenditure.

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January - March Results

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Well after my earlier post where I said I had changed from 1 upfront to 2 upfront it has really paid off and we had a great unbeaten run through to Feb with the only defeat coming to an underachieving Everton side in the FA Cup who are fighting for survival yes survival in the prem along with Southampton, West Ham and Sunderland which is a really surprising bottom 4 to say the least. Feb was abit of hit or miss with an annoying defeat to relegation threated Doncaster, however we picked up a great 3pts at the end of the month with a win over Leeds who we have done the double over.

On the transfer front I managed to sign a couple of players Becchio on loan from Norwich to give some competition to Graham and May upfront, a left back called Momha on a free and finally a right back from Galatasaray in Sarioglu.

The Table as it stands

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It's such a tight race for playoffs and promotion spots so at the minute as you can see we are in the top 6 which is great and I'd be more than happy with that finish considering the squad isn't as strong as some in the league however with only 4pts between us and the top 2 then maybe with abit of luck and go on another unbeaten run we could sneak into them spots come the end of the season fingers crossed.

The ex player deals just keep on coming probs the best one so far.

MarkHewitt_NewsInbox-3_zps755059e1.png

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March - May Results

We'll after getting into the top 6 we never looked back and just had a great end to the season seeing us not only get my min target of a top 6 finish but we managed to get automatic promotion finishing only 2pts behind Blackburn. It was just such an incredible season and I dunno Jogo if I'm ready for the premier league as the squad wasn't even one of the best man for man in the championship but with the club £6m in the red I def needed promotion on that front else I dread to think how I would of done next season with an even tighter transfer and wage budget so i'll take it and see what happens :) lol

Final Championship Table 2013-2014

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Current Squad

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As you can see above the squad aint the best so i'll def need to try and pull some gems out the bag next season. All of the loans will go and i'll try and shift some players that I don't think can cut it but I really don't think I should ditch entire squad (although I am tempted) just yet as then it could take me a while for new team to settle in I think I'll build slowly and probs look at trying to strengthen the spine of the side.

To my shock I looked at who went down and aswell as Palace who everyone would expect to go down as they aint as good as they were irl this season Southampton and West Ham also went down so although I might not get loads to spend I might try and nick a few players from them two and who knows might get them a lot cheaper, fingers crossed.

I'm also def going to keep a Saints save separate and maybe once I'm done with Boro i'll try and bring Saints back up to the prem. Anyways thanks for feedback Jogo I'll keep you posted on how I get on in the prem hopefully Steve Gibson will give me a decent budget this time around.

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MB, I would certainly recommend you try your hands with a team with money. Speaking of a team with money looks like the rich got richer when our team got a Consortium takeover. And then, this happened.

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Playoffs is a bitch but guess who scored the last goal to seal the deal?? Kevin Phillips

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Started a save with Gillingham earlier today, 15 games into the league season and it's going well so far. We're sitting in 9th place with 24 points (3 off playoffs) which is far better than the team should be doing given the players i have. Defense is by far the weakest area with 2 of my three defenders either being League 2 or Skrill Prem standard. Likewise for the 2 attacking midfield positions that i use.

I lose in the first round of the Capital One Cup on penalties having drawn 3-3 to Yeovil and we're into the Johnstone's paint trophy quarter finals after beating Leyton Orient on penalties.

I play a formation that uses no wingers so the first thing i done was to sell my wingers; i got 230k for Chris Whelpdale and 145k for Myles Weston who both went to play in Scotland and 69k for Steven Gregory. I bought in Etheridge of Fulham on loan to be my first choice keeper, Pablo Ibanez to add some much needed experience and quality to my defense and Wade Elliot to add some cover in attacking midfield. On top of this, i found a 16 year old keeper and left back who both have Premier League potential but are both Skrill Prem ability, both newgen.

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So i've made it to the end of January. Crashed out of the FA Cup with a 4-1 defeat to bottom placed Port Vale then lost in the Johnstone's paint trophy semi final to Southend on pens after drawing 0-0. Was a bit unfortunate in that both of these matches came when we were having a big dip in form.

In the League we're now 29 games in with 45 points, sitting in 10th place ( 5 points off playoffs). Form has been a bit patchy, we'll rack up 3 or 4 wins but then go and lose a few which drops us back down again which is frustrating. My aim to to get 6th place but it's quite unlikely with the team i've got.

In the January transfer market we were able to get rid of Danny Kedwell to Luton for free who was eating up 1.5k a week of the budget which is too much for a 3rd striker. I tried to do the same with Akinfenwa who has 0 goals in 15 apps but we has agreed a pre contract instead. 2 loans have come in to give me some cover up front, first is Coulibaly from parent club Spurs, the second is Osman Sow from Crystal Palace, neither has set the world alight since they arrive but Coulibaly did get a goal on his debut in a 2-0 win over Wolves.

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Nice one Jack. I managed Gillingham for three or four seasons in FM13, and as you say, they really don't have a good squad. You're still in with an outside shot of the PO places, which would be an achievement. Having another crack at L1 next term wouldn't be bad though, you'll probably have a better group of players by then.

Edit: Forgot to mention, when I managed them last year there were big sell-on clauses from Ryan Bertrand that could be cashed in, to give you extra funds. I'm not sure if it's still there in FM14, but is worth a look...it really makes a difference if you can do it.

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Right, i've decided to go for my biggest challenge yet.

I''ve started as Leeds Utd and I plan to completely change the club around. I've pretty much written off the first season as a season of transition, getting rid of a lot of overpaid, old deadwood, creating my version of attractive football tactics and bringing in players that will fit my system. This will take time to do but here's the start i've made:

Out:

Tonge - Free

Diouf - Free

Brown - Free

Warnock - £300k

Drury - £68k

Pugh - Free

I've promoted youth players to cover positions as I look to restore some local pride back in to the club.

I know this isn't going to be a good 1st season, but i'm hoping to stick with it and turn this club around!

Wish me luck!

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Gillingham 2013/14

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Results

Well i exceeded my expectations for my first season in charge, safely mid table for almost the whole time with a slight push for the playoffs towards the end. A shame i couldn't quite get to the playoffs as i was only a point or two off but realistically we wouldn't have gone up anyway, nor would i wanted to with a squad like this. With the loan signings we would have fared much much worse. Our best player this season was Wade Elliot who, despite being on the decline, managed 9 goals and 11 assists.

What has annoyed me is how the media and the players have been going on all season about how we are under achieving. We're a newly promoted side expected to finish 20th so i really don't understand the logic in this, what's worse is that some players have really thrown a paddy about it which upsets team morale.

January loanees Sow and Coulibaly proved to be quite contrasting; Coulibaly started well but ended with just 3 goals in 19 apps whereas Sow managed 8 in 17. Sow's contract is expiring this summer so i'm going to try and bring him in for some cover upfront as he still has a lot of potential to improve, even if he is 23.

My plan for the summer is to buy 2 new attacking midfielders, 2 central midfielders, 2 centrebacks and a goalkeeper. Hopefully once those areas are sorted i can get started with bulking the squad out with some decent loan signings.

Finances

Transfers

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Just had a 2.3 mil bid from Southampton for an 18 year old left back with leading Premier League potential. Very tempting as it would give me one or two upgrades for the club but i think i'll try and hold onto him for a couple more years and hopefully get more money.

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My first chance to get rid of some of the deadwood in the club, most of the outgoings were youngsters who were never going to make it for us. The one player who we actually sold was Alan White who came through the club last season, he's a CM/CDM with top League One potential so i thought i'd take the money plus 25% of any future profit given he'd probably leave on a free in a few years.

Transfers In

Reece Wabara: 22 year old released by Man City, can play as a right back or centre back and has Championship potential (current League 1). Will be a first choice on the right side and i'll be using him as cover should i need it in the centre.

Danny Grainger: Left back released by Dunfermline, should provide good backup on the left but nothing more.

Osman Sow: Loan signing from last year signed on a free, hoping he'll bang in the goals now he has a better team around him.

James Dunne: CAM/CM released by Stevenage signed to bulk out the squad a little for the busier times in the year. Picked up a 3 month injury in pre season which is unfortunate.

Grant Hall: Solid CB signed on loan from Spurs, a good player at this standard and will no doubt be important if we are to be sucessful.

Shwan Jalal: Experienced keeper signed on a free, only intended as a stopgap for a year.

Joe Partington: Signed on loan from Bournmouth, can play at the back or in midfield, only needed as cover.

Cristian Ceballos:Former Barcelona and Tottenham CAM with Championship potential, excited by this signing and should be a real upgrade on the guys we had last year.

David Morlberg-Karlsson: Pacey striker on loan from Sunderland, will be using him as an impact sub when chasing matches.

Kallum Higginbottom: Solid looking CAM who's spent the past few years playing in the Scottish Premier League, an upgrade on the ageing Wade Elliot.

Eric Djemba Djemba: He may not have made it at United but he's still good enough at this level, at 33 i only intend to keep him for a year but he will be a good rotation player for the two midfield roles.

League Update: We're at the end of August so we're 4 games into the league season and so far we've picked up 10 points which is very promising given how many players have come in this summer. We did however crash out of the league cup to Coventry, losing 2-1 after extra time.

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Great updates Jack. I agree, it doesn't make sense about that under-achieving stuff, that's a good finish to come 8th with Gillingham.

You did well in the market during season 1, receiving good money for little talent. I see you've also gone another window without any outlay - other than the small loan fee on Partington. He should do a decent job by the way. I managed him at Portsmouth and he is solid if not spectacular, but the versatility you mentioned comes in useful. I'm assuming the sell-on clause for Ryan Bertrand no longer exists in this version?

Nice start in season 2, good luck.

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Great updates Jack. I agree, it doesn't make sense about that under-achieving stuff, that's a good finish to come 8th with Gillingham.

You did well in the market during season 1, receiving good money for little talent. I see you've also gone another window without any outlay - other than the small loan fee on Partington. He should do a decent job by the way. I managed him at Portsmouth and he is solid if not spectacular, but the versatility you mentioned comes in useful. I'm assuming the sell-on clause for Ryan Bertrand no longer exists in this version?

Nice start in season 2, good luck.

The Ryan Bertrand clauses still exist, i cashed out one of them worth 100k for 79k as i didnt think he'd be making another 13 appearances for Chelsea but it seems he may well do as i got given 100k after another 3 league appearances this season. I think they also have one where they get a percentage of the profit when he's sold so potentially a million or so if he does well.

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Good to see the Bertrand clauses still exist, not so good to hear of the dramatic loss of form. Always worth switching off when those runs happen, because whenever I do, it's a completely different team again when I start up the next time. I'm not on about replaying the matches, it just seems to happen that way for me if I'm on a bad run. Anyway, it's a realistic challenge, which keeps it enjoyable(ish!).

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Well i've just reached the end of January 2015 and i've managed to steady the ship a bit since the dramatic loss of form. We dropped from 1st to 10th in the space of 7 matches but form has been slowly picking up and we're now in 7th place, 2 points off a playoff spot with a game in hand (30 played).

Cup runs this year haven't been quite as good; we made it to the 2nd round of the Johnstone's paint trophy, losing 4-3 to Leyton Orient. In the FA Cup we reached the 3rd round having beaten Chesham and Portsmouth, in the 3rd round we had a home tie against Derby, we took an early lead but they came back into it in the second half, scoring twice in the final 10 minutes.

Transfers

Not a huge amount of January action, i sold Mitchum, a keeper who came through the academy last season, for 52k. He had the potential to be a League One goalkeeper so i wasn't too fussed about losing him. I also let Danny Grainger leave on a free as he was moaning about not being first choice which was a waste of wages.

Coming in we have Scott Allen, released by West Brom in the summer. He can play in the centre of midfield or just behind the striker and has Championship potential so i'm hoping to keep him in the long term. I also bought in Velikovic on loan from Spurs, he's a solid centre back who will slot into the first 11, i'm hoping he'll be better than Hall who has been a bit shaky at times.

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Gillingham 2014/15

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A bumpy season form wise but we just about managed to earn promotion to the Championship, which in my opinion is well deserved, even if we did finish 6th :D. As mentioned earlier in the thread, we had a great start to the season which was then cancelled out by an awful run of form which took us out of the top 6. Form slowly came back in our favor and we went 15 games unbeaten, this put us briefly into 2nd place until we once again hit a really poor bit of form at the end of the season, failing to win any of the last 7 matches and dragging us down to 6th.

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So we went into the playoff in the worst possible form and with the first choice striker having not scored for 11 hours. However, we stepped up to the plate and managed two solid 1-0 wins over a good Bristol City side, Macdonald was able to end his goal drought in the 25th minute of the first leg which boosted team morale.

The final was against 5th placed Crawley who we'd never lost against in 6 matches. We dominated throughout with 63% posession and 15 shots to Crawley's 5 but it took us until the final 5 minutes to get the breakthrough to win promotion!

Results

Transfers

The only transfer not reported earlier was the loan signing of Wellington Silva in March, he was only a backup who scored just once in 11 appearances. The most successful signings this season have to be Higginbottom and Ceballos. Higginbottom managed an impressive 16 goals, 21 assists in all competitions whilst Ceballos got 17 goals, 5 assists and finished as our top goal scorer. Whether they can make the step up to the Championship remains to be seen but they should at least be decent backups.

My target for the summer is to get a goalscoring forward, a new goalkeeper and 2 new centrebacks. I think we're pretty strong in midfield but should the right player become available i will have to make a move for him.

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Congrats on the promotion Jack! That was an up and down season, but you got there in the end. I'm a defensive kind of manager, so love the fact that you won 1-0 in all three of your play-off matches. It will be another challenge next season, and I'll be interested to see what squad you knit together for that.

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Congrats on the promotion Jack! That was an up and down season, but you got there in the end. I'm a defensive kind of manager, so love the fact that you won 1-0 in all three of your play-off matches. It will be another challenge next season, and I'll be interested to see what squad you knit together for that.

Cheers, my tactic certainly isn't defensive so i was quite surprised to get three 1-0 wins on the trot :D.

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Transfers Out: With promotion to the Championship, i was forced to let the contracts of the 'squad' players from last season go which did leave some rather large gaps in places, particularly defense. The only player i actually sold this summer was Osman Sow, he was a third choice striker who hadn't performed in League One so i didn't want to have to trust him in the Championship, 190k is a nice little profit for a years work.

Transfers In

Shane Duffy: 23 year old CB released by Everton, he becomes our best defender and has the potential to become a good Premier League player. His only downside is he lacks a bit of pace, an issue for all my CB's at the moment :D.

Mana Dembele: Rated highly by scouts so i took the plunge and spent 140k on him. Certainly an upgrade on Sow but still nothing special at this level. He does have good physical's so he has the potential to be a good sub.

Marco Soares: Offered to me by an agent and signed for 80k. At 31 he might not be around much longer but he'll fit very nicely into the deep lying playmaker role which i employ.

Mamadou Samassa: 25 year old GK who replaces Jalal, rated as 'good' for the Championship and a 6ft 6' he seems to be quite formidable in the air!

Silvan Wildmer: Backup RB signed on loan from Udinese, decent for this level but i don't expect amazing performances from him.

John Fleck: Technically gifted midfielder who i intend to use behind the striker, a good player for this level. I'd probably rate him as my favourite signing this summer.

Darren Bent: 31 years old and on a free, it's hard to resist that sort of experience in a striker like Bent. He probably only has a season in him at this level but i'm hoping he'll get the goals to keep us up.

Josh Sheehan: 20 year old CM released by Swansea, has solid all round stats but none that really stand out. Has the potential to be a Premier League player but at the moment it seems he's only League One. Nonetheless, he should be a good backup/bench player as long as he develops.

Michael Wiemann: 28 year old CB who has been plying his trade in the lower levels of German football. I was really struggling to find any central defenders of quality and this guy wasn't my first choice but i just hope he'll do the job needed of him.

Emannuele Rovini: 20 year old attacking midfielder, not quite championship standard but he has decent technical and physical stats so he may surprise me.

Jean Alain-Fanchone: RB signed by my director of football who seems to love Udinese, for 350k. Very good all round and is a definite upgrade on Paddy Harris who hasn't quite reached Championship level yet.

Masahudu Alhassan: Another left back brought in by the DoF, very similar to Fanchone so he will more than likely be rotated until i can settle on who i think is better.

League Update: First of all we've made it into the 3rd round of the Capital One Cup where we will play Chelsea away. To get there we managed to beat Southend and Premier League Wigan. In the league we've exceeded initial expectation, picking up 8 points from the first 5 games. That includes draws against Everton and Bournmouth and wins against Yeovil and Middlesbrough. The defeat came away to Burnley.

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Nice update Jack.

Fleck and Bent seem to stand out on your transfer dealings, although some of the others might prove useful. By the looks of it, you had a one week holiday in France early on, and then another week in Italy later. I like that you passed the buck to your DOF incase the signings don't work out though :lol:

You've made a very good start in the league and cup, the momentum from promotion is obviously in play there.

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Nice update Jack.

Fleck and Bent seem to stand out on your transfer dealings, although some of the others might prove useful. By the looks of it, you had a one week holiday in France early on, and then another week in Italy later. I like that you passed the buck to your DOF incase the signings don't work out though :lol:

You've made a very good start in the league and cup, the momentum from promotion is obviously in play there.

Yeah i got my scouting upgraded and it makes such a difference that i went a bit crazy! I'm looking towards Scandinavia at the moment as there's always some real bargains to be had there for this sort of level.

The last 3 signings were all my DoF but i signed him up this summer so i thought i'd put him to good use :D Colombian too so hopefully i get the next James Rodriguez through the youth team!

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Just ask your DOF to bring you the 'real' James Rodriguez. I can see him enjoying life in Kent :lol:

I wish, bit out of my wage budget :D. It certainly is a contrast given he's not worked outside of South America before, the strange thing is that he actually applied for the job through an advert so i have no idea how he found it :lol:

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Haha. I heard his family visited England so scanned and sent him the advert from the newspaper. No idea if that's the case or not...

Being serious though, the improved scouting does help a lot when taking a small club up to a higher level. Hopefully it works out well for you.

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I've reached the end of January and so far i'd say its been a successful season. In the League we've been pretty consistent since our great start, although we did have a patch of drawing too many games. After 30 games we sit in 6th place with 50 points, 9 points off the top spot. I'm hoping for a good run of form so we can challenge the automatic promotion places but it's very tough and there's some big teams around us. Even a playoff place at this stage would be amazing though.

In the Capital One Cup we lost in the 3rd Round away to Chelsea, the final result being 3-1. We gave them a good game but their quality shone through in the end. In the FA Cup third round we got Aston Villa, in the first leg at home we got a respectable 1-1 draw in a match we could easily have won on another day. In the replay at Villa Park we put in another brave performance but Agbonlahor came off the bench to score the winner 20 minutes from time.

Transfers

Since the last transfer window we've managed to get Harry Kane in on loan who has been a very useful to rotate with Bent. This has forced Dembele to the sidelines as a third choice striker which he wasn't happy with. In the final days of the January transfer window i was able to sell Dembele for 160k which recovers the money we spent on him, this money was then used to entice Gael Kakuta to join the club in a two year deal, a real upgrade on anything we currently have in his position so i'm looking forward to seeing how he does.

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