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Canvey Island - the Rise of the Yellow Army


dafuge

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How on earth do you get through a 46-game league season, plus the good run in the cups with that small a squad? Winning leagues with that side, playing players out of position with that small a squad seems highly unrealistic to me. Either your tactics are exploiting big holes in the engine, or you're the spawniest individual in the history of mankind!

I'm not really doing anything much different to normal. I've always kept a small squad (although that is usually around 20-22) and I'm using the same tactics I've been using since FM05 (with the exception of FM13).

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Canvey Island - Barclays Premier League - 2024/25

In our first season in the top flight, this year was all about building a squad and avoiding relegation.

League Table - we spent most of the season in the top four, but our form dipped towards the end. Squad depth was our issue.

Capital One Cup - this was a bit of a shock as we lost to lower league opposition.

FA Cup - beaten easily by Arsenal.

Transfers - selling my star player turned out to be the best thing possible as I replaced him with someone better and brought in a number of new players.

Squad - we have a mixture of great new players and Championship level squad players that need replacing.

Finances - despite all the spending, we've still made a huge profit.

Key Player Profiles:

Fabinho - he's carried on his goal scoring.

Deleon - the DM who replaced Serio.

Kenneth Wind - signed as an AMC, but finished on the wing.

Jonata Eduardo - signed in January, hopefully will make an impact next season.

David Vera - my first wonderkid.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16   Vanarama Conference South    9th       
2016/17   Vanarama Conference South    1st         Promoted as champions
2017/18   Vanarama Conference Premier  20th        FA Trophy finalists
2018/19   Vanarama Conference Premier  13th        FA Trophy finalists
2019/20   Vanarama Conference Premier  1st         Promoted as champions
2020/21   Sky Bet League 2             2nd         Promoted
2021/22   Sky Bet League 1             2nd         Promoted
2022/23   Sky Bet Championship         10th        
2023/24   Sky Bet Championship         1st         Promoted as champions 
2024/25   Barclays Premier League      8th         

Next Season

If I can sign a few key players I think we stand a decent chance of qualifying for Europe, although my budget doesn't appear to be too great.

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Canvey Island - Barclays Premier League - 2025/26

With a decent 8th placed finish last season and the makings of a good squad, we had hopes of qualifying for Europe this time.

League Table - this was scarily easy as we battered most of our opponents. Only QPR gave us big problems, beating us twice.

Capital One Cup - we won our first major trophy as we beat Liverpool in the final.

FA Cup - QPR causing us a problem again.

Transfers - a couple of big money sales allowed us to bring a number of quality players in.

Squad - most of the weaker players are due to leave, but we need to strengthen the defence.

Finances - a tidy profit.

Key Player Profiles:

Jonata Eduardo - top scorer, but he's losing his place in the team.

Wellington Luís - a huge improvement in his second season at the club.

Alejandro Fernández - the new striker.

Jorge Flores - not bad for a free transfer.

Kenneth Wind - another great season.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16   Vanarama Conference South    9th       
2016/17   Vanarama Conference South    1st         Promoted as champions
2017/18   Vanarama Conference Premier  20th        FA Trophy finalists
2018/19   Vanarama Conference Premier  13th        FA Trophy finalists
2019/20   Vanarama Conference Premier  1st         Promoted as champions
2020/21   Sky Bet League 2             2nd         Promoted
2021/22   Sky Bet League 1             2nd         Promoted
2022/23   Sky Bet Championship         10th        
2023/24   Sky Bet Championship         1st         Promoted as champions 
2024/25   Barclays Premier League      8th         
2025/26   Barclays Premier League      1st         League Cup winners

Next Season

Retaining the title will not be an easy job, especially with the addition of the European games.

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Do you manually search for players yourself, or get scouts to do it? Getting a player like Fabinho in the Championship is unreal!

A bit of both.

I tend to get my scouts to look at groups of players, then get repeated reports from the ones that look good.

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I love how your entire first team squad is made up of South American players! Premier League at its best! haha

This isn't deliberate, but it seems that those players are far more affordable than the Europeans.

I'm not sure how many years it has been since I had an English player :o

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This isn't deliberate, but it seems that those players are far more affordable than the Europeans.

I'm not sure how many years it has been since I had an English player :o

This is true! I found from doing your challenge in the past that the South Americans are a lot more affordable, especially if you snap them up young! I remember the state of the English game when I was 30 odd seasons in... I hade a 25 year old Left winger that played on average 10 games a season (from the bench!) for about 3 consecutive seasons and he was a starter in the England World Cup squad... dear god!

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What's the average quality of the players you sign? Do you usually sign players with 2.5* ability or less?
2.5 would be the absolute minimum ability, unless they are young with great potential then I might consider 2. Usually my new signings have ability of around 3.5-4.
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2.5 would be the absolute minimum ability, unless they are young with great potential then I might consider 2. Usually my new signings have ability of around 3.5-4.

Interesting how we play the game differently.

I look for the potential stars first and foremost and unless I have a huge gap in my team (in which case current ability is vital). But I will always buy a teenager if they have 4/5 star potential, no matter what the current ability is (even silver stars).

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dafuge..next challenge for you.

Win the league and CL with a squad full of English players. ;)

Had any EPL class regens?

Ooo I like this. There is a challenge similar on the challenge forum that incorporates this. Would be great to attempt this! Only use the players that come through the youth system and never sign another player from another club!

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dafuge..next challenge for you.

Win the league and CL with a squad full of English players. ;)

Had any EPL class regens?

I have done that a few times, but I have a feeling it would a lot harder this time with the way my squad is going!

My youth intakes have all been awful, but the facilities still have quite a lot of room for improvement.

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Canvey Island - Barclays Premier League - 2026/27

As Premier League champions, we were looking forward to making our European debut.

League Table - Man City were poor, it was United who pushed us all the way this time.

Community Shield - we lost out on penalties.

Capital One Cup - we failed in our attempt to retain this trophy.

FA Cup - the semi final was the highlight, but we just about got the win in a close final.

UEFA Champions League - after beating Galatasaray 9-1, I thought we were going all the way. Real Madrid quickly ended those hopes.

Transfers - two huge sales financed a couple of big new signings.

Squad - still room for improvement, but the squad is pretty well balanced.

Finances - another decent profit.

Key Player Profiles:

Alejandro Fernández - he's settled into the poacher role really well.

Tobias Koller - perhaps a bit disappointing given his price tag.

John Victor - an amazing new signing.

Jorge Chumba - a brilliant replacement for Vera.

Wellington Luís - another great season, but he'll have competition for his place next season.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16   Vanarama Conference South    9th       
2016/17   Vanarama Conference South    1st         Promoted as champions
2017/18   Vanarama Conference Premier  20th        FA Trophy finalists
2018/19   Vanarama Conference Premier  13th        FA Trophy finalists
2019/20   Vanarama Conference Premier  1st         Promoted as champions
2020/21   Sky Bet League 2             2nd         Promoted
2021/22   Sky Bet League 1             2nd         Promoted
2022/23   Sky Bet Championship         10th        
2023/24   Sky Bet Championship         1st         Promoted as champions 
2024/25   Barclays Premier League      8th         
2025/26   Barclays Premier League      1st         League Cup winners
2026/27   Barclays Premier League      1st         FA Cup winners

Next Season

Success in Europe is the main aim.

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Dafuge, what was your finances like in the championship 2nd season?

I'm in the championship now(1st season 2025/26) with my created team, losing about 500k/month spending 99k/week on wages

Here they are, we were losing money but we had clinched promotion so it really didn't matter.

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Canvey Island - Barclays Premier League - 2027/28

After retaining the Premier League title, we were hoping to open up a gap between us and second.

League Table - we scored our way to the title with an incredible 133 goals.

Community Shield - this was revenge for last year.

Capital One Cup - Watford gave us our toughest test as we won this trophy for a second time.

FA Cup - Huddersfield nearly knocked us out, but we recovered to make it to Wembley. We left it late to turn on the style in the final.

UEFA Champions League - Lyon gave us a shock defeat, but we showed our class to make it to the final. Just like the FA Cup final, we left it late to get the deserved win.

Transfers - we made a loss here, but the players signed were brilliant.

Squad - we badly need a new keeper and both full backs.

Finances - we were in bad debt midseason, but the prize money sorted that out.

Key Player Profiles:

Alejandro Fernández - he was scoring for fun until he broke his foot.

Tobias Koller - a stunning season for the supporting striker.

Park Min-Ho - signed as backup, but found himself leading the line with the injury to Fernández.

Didier Kouakou - a long term transfer target, signed on a free.

Wellington Luís - second choice, but makes the most of his opportunities.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16   Vanarama Conference South    9th       
2016/17   Vanarama Conference South    1st         Promoted as champions
2017/18   Vanarama Conference Premier  20th        FA Trophy finalists
2018/19   Vanarama Conference Premier  13th        FA Trophy finalists
2019/20   Vanarama Conference Premier  1st         Promoted as champions
2020/21   Sky Bet League 2             2nd         Promoted
2021/22   Sky Bet League 1             2nd         Promoted
2022/23   Sky Bet Championship         10th        
2023/24   Sky Bet Championship         1st         Promoted as champions 
2024/25   Barclays Premier League      8th         
2025/26   Barclays Premier League      1st         League Cup winners
2026/27   Barclays Premier League      1st         FA Cup winners
2027/28   Barclays Premier League      1st         League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League winners

Next Season

The squad still has plenty of room for improvement, so if I can sign a couple of key players then I will be happy.

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Canvey Island - Barclays Premier League - 2028/29

We won the lot last season, so all we could hope for was a repeat.

League Table - not quite as convincing as last season, but still a win.

Community Shield - we were lucky to get this win.

UEFA Super Cup - this win was well deserved.

FIFA Club World Cup - as was this one.

Capital One Cup - this was a bit of a shock.

FA Cup - three in a row.

UEFA Champions League - once again, Real Madrid got the better of us.

Transfers - a decent profit with some good young players coming in.

Squad - still room for improvement, but the squad is in good shape.

Finances - a big loss.

Key Player Profiles:

Park Min-Ho - top scorer.

Tobias Koller - an amazing player.

Didier Kouakou - a superb winger.

John Victor - brilliant yet again.

Marco Meijer - a solid defender.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16   Vanarama Conference South    9th       
2016/17   Vanarama Conference South    1st         Promoted as champions
2017/18   Vanarama Conference Premier  20th        FA Trophy finalists
2018/19   Vanarama Conference Premier  13th        FA Trophy finalists
2019/20   Vanarama Conference Premier  1st         Promoted as champions
2020/21   Sky Bet League 2             2nd         Promoted
2021/22   Sky Bet League 1             2nd         Promoted
2022/23   Sky Bet Championship         10th        
2023/24   Sky Bet Championship         1st         Promoted as champions 
2024/25   Barclays Premier League      8th         
2025/26   Barclays Premier League      1st         League Cup winners
2026/27   Barclays Premier League      1st         FA Cup winners
2027/28   Barclays Premier League      1st         League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League winners
2028/29   Barclays Premier League      1st         CWC and FA Cup winners

Next Season

The Champions League has to be our main aim.

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2.5 would be the absolute minimum ability, unless they are young with great potential then I might consider 2. Usually my new signings have ability of around 3.5-4.

So let me get this straight.

From the word go, you only sign players whose current ability is at least 2.5 stars (relative to your team, of course).

If they are young and have big potential, you might consider 2 stars, which then means you never buy really young players, like 15/16/17 because usually they're far from 2.5 stars, even when their PA is 4 stars, i.e. they have loads of potential.

Do you look for specific attributes or a certain combination of them (especially in the lower leagues) or you just rely on stars as they mean a player is overall an improvement to your team?

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