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2022/2023 - End of Season Review - Sky Bet League 1

It is often said that League 1 is not very different quality wise from League 2 and that turned out to be the case for us. With only 3 changes to my best XI from last season, we were still able to coast to promotion. The title challenge was on until GW 45 when we faced up to Huddersfield and we were 4 points behind them but we could only draw 3-3 after conceding a late equaliser to Robbie Brady. Fell short of the title by 4 points but an amazing season nonetheless considering champions Huddersfield had the maximum wage salary in the league at 9.41m over the year and we had the least at 1.25m.

Average attendance also improved to 3511, which is 70% of the stadium capacity. Not looking forward to when the board will decide to build a new stadium and cripple us even further financially.

Competitions Overview - Made it to the third round of the FA Cup but was second to Huddersfield in that as well

Transfers

Finances - As always, needed the end of season payments from the league to go into the positive. Thankfully there is only one more year left of the awful stadium sponsorship of 1.2k a year, so hoping we get a much better deal than that.

Key Players

Gary Gardner - Standout performer again. Consistently got 7.5+ ratings but his wage demands for next season were exorbitant so I'm not sure if he will be at the club.

Stefan Thompson - On loan player and easily the player of the season for the first half. Just a constant source of goals and assists from the left wing, which was surprising since he doesn't really look that good except the pace.

Kaylen Hinds - Top scorer and signed up for another 2 years. Hopefully can replicate his form in the Championship.

Nathan Holland - Originally signed as backup but with injuries got his chance and took them brilliantly to end up with 10+ goals and assists from the right wing.

Gareth Hammett - The captain is finding things a little tougher at these higher levels. No longer first choice towards the end of the season but I will evoke a massive protest if I remove captaincy from him so he stays on.

Kasey Palmer - Originally signed because he's from Chelsea IRL but has pushed Hammett out of the starting 11. Not a very consistent player but he can cover a lot of positions

Youth Players

Rob Godfrey - Didn't really improve on stats but still got time on his hands

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| Season     | League             | Position   | Cup Performance    | Achievements    |
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| 2016/17    | Vanarama North     | 4th        | Awful              | Promotion!      |
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| 2017/18    | Vanarama National  | 20th       | Awful              | Survival!       |          
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| 2018/19    | Vanarama National  | 5th        | Awful              | Promotion!      |  
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| 2019/20    | League 2           | 20th       | FA Cup 3rd rnd     | Survival!       |
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| 2020/21    | League 2           | 10th       | FA Trophy runnerup | Stability       |
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| 2021/22    | League 2           | 1st        | Awful              | Champions!      |
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| 2022/23    | League 1           | 2nd        | FA Cup 3rd rnd     | Promotion!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


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And at the end of that season, I decided that we needed something new for the club so here's a new badge (Done by ATL on otf2.com) and new kits for the club!

Badge:

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Home Kit:

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Away Kit:

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Unfortunately, due to a bug in the game, I can only get the away kit working :( :(

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Darlington 1883 16/17 Season End of Year Summary - Vanarama National North

A very frustrating season in the end despite far exceeding expectations. The start of the season saw us comfortably rise to the top half with no threat of relegation but a slump heading into christmas saw Altrincham stride ahead at the top. A change in tactics to a 4-3-3 saw us put our inconsistencies away for a strong spell coupled with Altrincham and AFC Fylde collapsing (at one point Altrincham had the worst 5 game form in the league. We couldn't capitalise and the inconsistency snuck back in, leaving things incredibly tight at the top with us unfortunately afrift in just a playoff place come the end of the season. A few more wins against lesser teams would have seen us take the title.

Our semi-final opponent was AFC Fylde who had drubbed us twice, and most of the rest of the league, their two strikers ending the season with 27 and 32 goals each. I have no idea how they didn't win the league. A good 1-1 away from home left me hopeful but unfortunately we lost to two whipped in crosses, the bane of our season in a 2-1 loss. Thankfully they lost to North Ferriby in the final, allowing us some payback next season.

We also had a decent cup run to the 1st round before capitulating to Kettering with an exhausted squad. We lost in the first round of the FA trophy with a 2nd XI.

League Overview

Finances: A pretty serendipitous transfer clause with Fulham for a former player at the start of the game gave us incredibly positive finances, with which promotion next season was guarenteed. Unfortunately they have decided to spend it all on a dinky 3000 seater stadium, throwing us back into barely positive numbers.

Squad:: Not having played at this level before I didn't rotate anywhere near enough and managed the squad poorly. We had a good chance at promotion with our resources and I'm disappointed we fell at multiple hurdles. However some stellar performances from the team over the season. Getting certain stars to resign is proving difficult however as the world clues in to our lowered financial situation.

Transfers: Lots in and lots out. Certainly wasted some of my wages on players that didn't get enough time and weren't good enough. Looking to improve next season with less resources.

Key Players:

Phil Turnball: played 50ovr, scored 11, assists 6, pom 9. Was incredible throughout the season and 10 of his 11 goals were long range belters. Was at the club as captain before I arrived and was the driving heart behind our strong performance. When we struggled he took it upon himself to score from 30 meters and deservedly won club player of the season.

Aron Gorden: played 46ovr, scored 19, assists 7, pom 4. A young right midfielder signed early on. Started slowly but eventually hit his stride as the clubs top scorer, almost entirely of either scrappy tap ins or far post tap ins from Bell's fantastic crosses.

Anthony Bell: played 43ovr, scored 6, assists 13, pom 3. His left foot was the reason Gordon scored so many goals. Can't get him to sign a new contract and seems destined for the league above with or without Darlington.

Charlie Binns: played 39ovr, scored 8, assists 13, pom 7. Struggled with injury after signing early on but was a touch of class in midfield for most of the season. While weak he always had time on the ball and gave a lot of effort.

Next Season

The aim is to get promoted but a lot of the squad's best players, such as Bell, are refusing to sign new contracts. Also for some reason the quality of player we can sign seems to have dropped. A difficult season looms given the expectation i'm setting myself. The academy also produced a promising attacking midfielder that I hope to get some game time, which seems likely with the squad shortage i'm going to face.

Around the World

Premier League: Arsenal won the league in the holiday season before Wenger retired and they hired Moyes??? He signed a squad of defensive midfielders and was pipped by a resurgent Man City. Utd also had a great season with a World Golden Ball runner up Bernardo Silva managed by Mourinho, but had to sell for 41mil to Barcelona in the Summer. Chelsea missed the Champions league in the holiday season and fell to 8th here. The squad basically revolted and their decline seems continuous.

Other Leagues: Madrid smashes La Liga finishing 10 points above Barcelona losing only 1 game. Bayern finished 2nd to Leverkusen in the German first division and somehow Guardiola kept his job for the new season. Inter finished 3 points above Juventus to clinch Serie A.

Champions League: Moyes made up for his league performance by winning Arsenal their first Champions League trophy, beating Man City on penalities in Cardiff after a 0-0 draw.

Europa League: Tottenham beat Dinamo Kiev 1-0 to bring both trophies to North London.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17   Vanarama Conference North    4th          Playoff - Loss   

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Salford City - Vanarama Conference Premier - 2017/2018

This year, I was kind of into counter attacking soccer. I brought in a lot of players with pace and I wanted to use that pace...so yeah.

League Table - We were okay, I guess.

FA Cup - Never had a chance against a Professional side

FA Trophy - A bit better but were never gonna win it

Transfers- Had a lot of players in and had a lot of players out. Not too bad

Squad -Still a young squad

Finances - Much better after Wembly visit

Key Player Profiles:

Nathaniel Osensi - Regular CB

Cory Whelan - Regular CB

Ashley Smith-Brown - Winger/wingback

Scott McTominay - Our Xavi

Charlie Kirk - Regular Winger

Dean Alexander - Captain of the team

Rusell Griffifts - Our starting goalie

James Graham - Another of our starting CBs

James Horsfield - Our Busquets and we still love him

Alex O'Hanlon - Versatile left sided player

Jorge Intima - Out-n-out winger

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17   Vanarama Conference North    1st          Promoted - League Win    
2017/18   Vanarama Conference Premier  4th          Promoted - Playoff Win

Next Season

We got promoted...so I want to get promoted again :D

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I'll post a full update when I've finished my first season, but I'm now half way through the season and I've just competed in the 3rd round of the FA cup! I managed to dispatch of Scunthorpe and Rochdale before I got a dream tie (both for the team and myself, being a fan of this team): Arsenal at the Emirates. Obviously I got absolutely destroyed (9-0) by a completely full strength Arsenal side, but I can take one positive from the performance at least - I had more possession! 58,267 fans attended the match which has meant that my bank balance has sky rocketed. I'm now sat with an overall balance of £531,064 and I've already convinced the board to upgrade my youth facilities. So far, so good for me!

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so i stuck it out........... got relegated on the last day of the season! All i needed was to draw or win and of course i lost 3-1 the 2 teams below managed to win and the rest is history! Really struggling since the last patch seem to dominate possession but so easy to score against! Back to the drawing board i guess!

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My stupid chairman has just sold my Right Back Facey with 45mins of the transfer window left :(

To make matters worse I'd spent the summer fending off bids for him and had just offered him a new contract to keep him happy, the only good thing was my chairman got a club record £325K for him that was just about more than he was worth.

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Last night I won the Championship with Ilkeston and was really looking forward to the Premiership after seeing the transfer budgets other people have been given but no, the chairman here is useless. £7m transfer budget & £350k p.w. wage budget. He's still refusing all typs of affiliate. Oh and he's not expanding the stadium, he's just converting some seats despite the fact that the stadium doesn't even meet league requirements for about two divisions below.

Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to the £80m bank balance come the end of the season whether we get relegated or not. Maybe that will make him invest in the stadium.

Something funny I noticed in this years game. Paul Clement was assistant manager at Hull and his stats were excellent so I thought I'd try and sign him only to get his response "I do not like Mayzie so have no desire to work for Ilkeston" or something along those lines. I've had no dealing with Hull, Derby or anyone else he might have been with other than playing against them this season. Why the hate? :D

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Season 4 (our first in the Vanarama National Conference) went pretty much as expected. In the early stages we were mired at the bottom of the table, in and out of the relegation zone. By about mid-season, we had pulled out of the relegation zone and put a bit of distance between us and the drop; however, we were never more than about 10 points above the drop and had to keep up the effort in order to stay away. The 15th place finish was a solid start to our career out of the regional divisions...but only a start.

Offensively, last seasons' top goal scorer for the team, Liam Sayers, continued his goal scoring run yet again. On pace for 25-30 goals, a loss of his primary strike partner due to injury left him on a run of matches (8 or so) without a goal, and ultimately he settled for 20 goals to lead the team. His strike partner, Ricketts-Hopkinson, had a decent season which was cut a bit short due to injury; still, he ended with 12 goals of his own. Newcomer Simon Buckley, picked up as a rotation/injury replacement, filled in quite well, and bagged 14 goals of his own (6 of them at the end of the season when Ricketts-Hopkinson went down injured). He has earned himself a contract extension in the same role for another year.

The major area we need to improve in is defense. The top defense a year ago proved a bit inadequate as we stepped up to the new league. Goalkeeper Russel did manage 10 clean sheets, his 61 goals allowed was actually a decent 13th in the league. An amazing run of 7 shutout matches kick-started our rise out of the red-zone; still, defense remained our weak point. Centre-back Askins (50 matches, 6.79AvR) continued to captain the back line which included fullback Jamie Hatch (33(4) appearances, team highs of 7.17AvR and 16 assists), newcomer fullback (left) Joe Anderson (30 app, 6.8 AvR), and Josef Yarney (32 app, 6.73 AvR). Of course, young DM Garcia (49 matches, 6.99AvR) was also solid and ever-present, not missing a game again all season. (Unfortunately, after 3+ seasons, I will be losing the 20 year old, as the L1 potential Defensive Midfielder looks to move elsewhere to a team that can meet his ambitions). I certainly miss this player who has played every single game since I signed him late in season 1.

PROMOTION/PLAYOFFS

Quite a ways off the mark here!

Cup Competitions

This season saw our deepest run in the FA Cup; a 1-0 win vs Chorley and a 2-0 win vs Nuneaton gave us our first FAC 2nd round appearance. A 72d minute strike by star Sayers against League 2 York gave us a glimmer of hope for a lucrative 3rd round tie, but an 84th minute equalizer saw us going back home for a replay. Unfortunately, the home field advantage wasn't quite enough, and we succumbed to another late (83rd minute) goal to suffer a 1-0 loss. Still, it was a valiant fight against a team we will be fated to see a couple times next season (as York is relegated after just a year in L2).

The FA Trophy saw us crash out in our first match, a 3-1 loss to Braintree, with Sayers netting our only goal of the competition this season.

Additional Details

Team of the Season

Best XI Inductees -- 2 new players have been inducted, Midfielder Dowling and Striker Gardner were the two new players inducted to the Historical Best XI

Fans Player of the Season: No change from last season, with Dowling, Hatch, and Ricketts-Hopkinson remaining the fans' choice for this award. Still no mention of leading goalscorer Sayers...yet again!

Signing of the Season: Connor Kirby (MC) (free)

Young Player of the Season: George Dowling (MC)

Other awards:

Top Academy Graduate

S1: Fullback Dave Clarke -- Potential to be useful in the lower leagues...perhaps he'll backup current starting fullback Hatch next season

S2: Matthew Rogers (AMC) -- looks to be a decent playmaking option already...I may have to adopt a tactic that uses an AMC and see if he can develop.

S3: Michael Mitchell (MC) -- good mental and okay physical stats to start -- if he develops he might be useful in the VN division. Time will tell.

S4: Michael Davies (AM(RLC)) -- not a position I'm currently using, but a 4-5 star potential youngster with great determination/teamwork.

[b][i]Team, Individual, and league records [/i][/b]
A host of records were set or broken this year: (* denotes ongoing record-bold indicates record broke current season)
[b][i]Sutton Coldfield-- Team[/i][/b]
[b]Highest League Position --[/b] [b]13nd[/b] [b]in Vanarama National (2019/20[/b])
Highest Attendance -- 1561 (vs Altrincham, VNN playoff semi final, 11 May 2019) (previous record: 802  vs FC United, FAC2QR, 27 Sept 2017)
Highest Gate Receipts -- £23.66k (vs Altrincham, VNN Playoff semi final, 11 May 2019) (previous record: £13.67K vs FC United, FAC2QR, 27 Sept 2017)
[b]Average Attendance -- 364 (2019/20)[/b] (previous high: 358--2018/19 )
Biggest Win -- 5-2 (vs FC United, 31 Dec 2016)
[b]Biggest Defeat 5-2 (vs Tranmere (VNL) 25 Feb 2020) [/b](previous biggest defeat:  4-2 (vs Chester, 1 Dec 2018)
Highest Scoring Game -- 4-3 (vs North Ferriby, 20 Aug 2016)
Most Games won in a Row -- 5 (20 Apr - 8 May 2019) (previous high -- 4:  28 Oct - 25 Nov 2017)
Most Games without Losing -- 13 (23 Feb - 8 May 2019) (Previous high--8:  28 Oct - 23 Dec 2017 )
Most Games without Winning -- 7, (23 Aug - 20 Sept 2016)  (Previous high: )
[b]Most games without conceding -- 7 (1 Jan - 1 Feb 2020[/b]) (Previous high -- 4:  11-25 Sept 2018 )
[b][i]Sutton Coldfield -- Individual[/i][/b]
Top Goal scorer -- Liam Sayers --36 (2018/19) (previous record: Liam Sayers -- 21 (2017/18)) 
Top League Goal scorer -- Liam Sayers -- 29 (2018/19) (previous record: Liam Sayers -- 19 (2017/18)
[b]Most Goals in a match -- Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson  -- 4 (10 Sept 2019 v AFC Telford)[/b] (Previous record: Aaron Knight -- 3 (20 Aug 2016 v North Ferriby)
Most Assists -- Jamie Hatch -- 17 (2018/19) (previous record: Jamie Hatch -- 12 (2017/18) )
Highest AvR --Ben Drennan -- 7.31 (35 app) (2018/19) (previous record: Ben Drenna -- 7.20 (40 app) 2017/18)
Most Player of Match awards -- Liam Sayers -- 11 (2018/19) (previous record: Liam Sayers -- 7 (2017/18)
[b]Most League goals for club -- Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson -- 72*[/b]
[b]Most League Appearances for club -- Nathan Ben Askins (181*) [/b]Previous Record Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson (138*)
Youngest player -- Jack Cooper (Striker), 16y227d (previous record: Dave Clarke (D(RLC)), 16y264d )
Oldest player -- Phil Trainer (DM), 35y272d (previous record: )
Youngest Goalscorer -- Dave Clarke (D(RLC)), 16y271d (previous record: Liam Sayers (Striker) 18y296d)
Oldest Goalscorer -- Anthony McNamee (AML), 32y213d (previous record: )
Fastest Goal -- Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson: 35s  (previous record: Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson (38s)

Promoted from the Regional Premier Division Teams:

Kidderminster, Nuneaton, Bradford PA, Redditch, Sutton Utd, Hendon

League Winners (relegated)

EPL Chelsea (Derby, West Brom, Sheffield Wed)

Championship Crystal Palace (Birmingham, Wigan, Notts Co)

League One Sheff Utd (Port Vale, Walsall, MK Dons, Shrewsbury)

League Two Carlisle (York, Stevenage)

Vanarama National Lg Grimsby (Bristol Rovers, Dover, Alfreton, Dartford)

Vanarama North Worcester (Corby, Solihull Moors, Ashton Utd)

Vanarama South Hemel Hempstead (Farnborough, Whitehawk, Aldershot)

Cup Winners

English FA Cup Man City (v Sheffield Wed)

Capital One Cup Arsenal (vs Man Utd)

Jonhstone's Paint Trophy Torquay (vs Sheffield Utd)

English FA Trophy Dartford (vs Stockport)

Euro Qualifcation

Champions League Group Stage: Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City

Champions League Best Placed Playoff: Tottenham

Euro Cup Group Stage: Man United, Everton

Euro Cup Playoff:

Euro Cup 3rd QR: Swansea

Euro Cup 1st QR: Southampton

Continental Achievements

Man City -- Eliminated from European Super Cup (by Juventus)

Man City -- Won Club World Championship (vs Cruz Azul)

Stoke -- Eliminated from Euro Cup First Knockout Round (by Panathinaikos)

Liverpool -- Eliminated from Euro Cup First Knockout round (by Roma)

Tottenham -- Eliminated from Champions League First Knockout Round (By Real Madrid)

Newcastle -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Quarter Final (by Dortmund)

Chelsea -- Eliminated from Champions League semi-final (by Bayern)

Man City -- Eliminated from Champions League semi-final (by Arsenal)

Man United -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Semi Final (by Napoli)

Arsenal -- won Champions League (vs Bayern)

Extra detail: none

What's Next?

Next year, I need to solidify my defense and maybe add a couple more playmakers in the midfield. Already losing standout DM Garcia, I have absolutely no one able to cover that spot with his consistency at the moment. My fullback positions are fairly solid, so it'll be my DC positions I need to shore up a bit. In the midfield, I need some playmaking options, as it was obvious that when strike partner Ricketts-Hopkinson was not available, no one could consistently set up Sayers for scoring.

The board has finally broken down and installed the additional 250 seats required to bring the stadium up to league standard, so we've seating for 500 now. I still need some cash income...I'm hoping to manage a run to the 3rd round of the FAC in order to get out of debt (hovering around £100k after investments after each season so far). I can't afford scouts, coaches, or even a coaching course for myself so far! We have had a small boost in wages (now up to £9k/wk), and I'll likely continue to use about 75% of that in order to keep the overall finances in some semblance of control. That also gives me a bit of wiggle room if I need to pay a small transfer fee (as I did in season one in order to sign DM Garcia).

Career Overview

Season             Team             League          Pos(Predicted)            Achievements
2016/17    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama North        16(19)           Survived!        
2017/18    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama North        10(20)           Solid-mid table finish
2018/19    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama North         2(20)           Promotion via Playoffs!, VNN Overachiever
2019/20    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama National     15(24)           VN Overachievers

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Bad luck with your finances Mayzie, hopefully you kick on. When I created my fresh manager for someone reason Mancini hated me. :p

When you're in the lower leagues what scouting assignments do people generally set? Picked up fm16 after a gap from fm13 and scouting has changed massively, especially for lower clubs.

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When you're in the lower leagues what scouting assignments do people generally set? Picked up fm16 after a gap from fm13 and scouting has changed massively, especially for lower clubs.

At Dulwich I can currently have 3 scouts (one being the chief scout) so I have 1 with high tactical knowledge + high judging current ability for scouting opposition, 1 with high judging current ability to got look for players 4 star and above that can come straight in and a final one with high judging potential ability to look for 4 star and above potential players under the age of 21.

Seems to work for me but am sure others will have different ideas.

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Bad luck with your finances Mayzie, hopefully you kick on. When I created my fresh manager for someone reason Mancini hated me. :p

When you're in the lower leagues what scouting assignments do people generally set? Picked up fm16 after a gap from fm13 and scouting has changed massively, especially for lower clubs.

I generally just use manually scouting at the start - use the filters on the player search screen to search either loan, transfer listed or unattached players by position or other filters to narrow the field, then add a last club and division column to the view and for loans go with the highest division ones first, for unattached players scout the ones released from the bigger clubs first (its a shame the division column doesn't work with released players).

Then to actually scout them I just get the scout report and if there star rating and key attributes are high enough trial them in four weeks which tends to be a quicker way of revealing their attributes as you can trial more players than you can scout (it also helps that one of my staff members is 19/19 for judging).

For the scouts themselves I just go for free ones with the highest judging ability attribute I can get (potential is nice but less important) also a new feature this year is the ability to offer staff members a second job so if you find a coach with good judging attributes you can also make him a scout which doesn't count against your staff limits.

Then once I've been promoted high enough to be able to start scouting other countries I'll sent scouts out on assignments mainly just to get knowledge for the search screen rather than find players, I only really use assignments to find players once I have money to spend and the search screen becomes too full to manualy search even with loads of filters. Though I do tend to leave a scout getting opposition reports.

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Darlington 1883 17/18 Season End of Year Summary - Vanarama National North

The biggest challenge for this season was the difficulty in signing players that matched those I’d lost. The squad was so depleted and the dearth of signable talent early on left me fielding three youth players for the first ten games. Thankfully we held together and found amazing form for the side’s quality, until more free agents were willing to join. Due to the defence being incapable we also shifted to a depressingly slow possession side in the hope we’d have to defend less. The theory worked but we still lost too many games to mistakes and crosses, in spite of our ridiculously high possession rate (top of the league by miles).

The season followed the first very closely, always up challenging yet a mental deficiency meaning as soon as a chance to go top appeared the wheels fell off. The team’s record against the bottom half of the table was terrible and I’m not entirely sure how we were challenging at all. Thankfully AFC Telford and Guiseley were made of similar stuff and we went into the final day with the chance to win automatic promotion if things went right.

Final Day Table

Frustratingly we lost 2-0 to a poor Worcester side and the results would have gone our way, absolutely gutting. Playoffs again and now even more worried about the squad’s mental fragility.

I’d spent a reasonably large amount on a striker late in the season, Luke Lofts, as the scouts had failed to find even remotely decent freebies. His return was pretty poor in the regular season and I feared a flop. Somehow he saved them all for the playoffs and scored seven in the three games as we blasted past Kidderminster and AFC Telford. Promotion!

This time we were out of both cups at the first asking due to conserving the first team. I aim to improve on this situation next year but the long National season makes it difficult.

League Overview

Finances: Could be worse, the sources of income aren’t great and towards Christmas seeing a chance to go top I spent more on some wages than I’d prefer. The playoff matches brought in ludicrous amounts of money.

Squad:: Managed the squad better this year aided by not playing to win in the cups. Less unhappiness with playing time and the youth even got a run out early on as crucial positons needed filling.

Transfers: Better dealings this year. The two fullbacks on loan were very solid all year and thankfully remained fit. Resigned Daniel Jardine after a promising loan last year and he has league 2 potential so hoping to develop him next year. Notably spent a lot of wages on Kelvin Etuhu at Christmas and a massive fee on Luke Lofts, but the scouts couldn’t find an unsigned striker with more than 2 stars potential. Both paid off in the promotion bid.

Key Players:

Phil Turnball: played 47ovr, scored 11, assists 5, pom 7. Played even better than last year despite having lower statistics, due to our conservative play. Won player of the season again with an 80% majority. Has started to decline and won’t accept a contract shorter than two years on very high wages. I feel the fans are going to revolt when I let him leave for a free in June.

Luke Lofts : played 31ovr, scored 18, assists 3, pom 3. Not bad statistics but we spent a lot to secure those goals. Missed too many clear chances for my liking but thankfully found consistency when it mattered. Has been rated at National ability with league 2 potential so will be first in the pecking order for the foreseeable future. Has a bizarre combination of ppm’s.

Kelvin Etuhu: played 24ovr, scored 3, assists 7, pom 4. Signed when given the opportunity despite my relative strength at right midfield. Was rated at leading National ability and showed so in his first game until he went off with a knee injury. My worst fears went unrealised as he returned soon from a twisted knee and bullied left backs with powerful running; a quality the team sorely missed when he wasn’t fit.

Next Season

Survive and sign a few players who can push for promotion the season after.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17   Vanarama Conference North    4th          Playoff - Loss   
2017/18 Vanarama Conference North      3rd	    Playoff - Win

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Overall this was a disappointing season as the team threatened so much more.

Started the season very well and was in 2nd place for a while, Huddersfield were clear from the very start. Dropped out of the playoffs after 30 games after a run of poor form and was never able to get back in.

5 points from the last 5 games sealed a midtable position. Poor home form and a general lack of goals were the cause of the teams problems. Overtook Salford to be the top dafuge team.

Lost 0-2 at home after ET in the League cup to Championship Fulham after going down to 10 men from 70 mins.

Reached the 3rd rd of the FA cup for the first time and faced Fulham again losing 1-2 at home this time.

Lost to MK Dons in the JPT Qtr-final being thrashed 0-3 at home.

Finances are again poor only kept in the black by the solidarity payment, this was in spite of attendances doubling this season to 3195.

Training facilities decreased this season, so far no increases in facilities have occured. Staff numbers allowed doubled at the end of the season, more staff than i actually need.

Due to scouting the world i quickly scouted a few african national teams and found Gueye, a senegal U-20 with italian nationality.

The rest of the defence did quite well along with the midfield.

Saraiva did not have the highest rating for the first season ever although still did quite well considering his age and half star ability. Bunjaku had that honor although i might have wished for more output from him in terms of assists and goals.

Morris was brought in having scored just 3 goals in 47 games for his previous clubs which i didn't notice until after he had signed. Broke the St Neots record for goals in a season.

Johnstone seemed unable to cope with the step up.

Marshall (119 apps, 5 goals) left not having appeared much for the team since the conference. Tierney (111 apps, 6 goals) was a youth product at the club when i joined but never really kicked on in the way Rose did.

Started well again and was battling for the 2nd spot until nov/dec. A horror run of 7 games with just 4 points and a GD of -12 meant the team dropped out of contention.

A run of 7 wins in jan/feb however put the team back into 2nd. Preston overtook me in Mar with a winning run of 13 games. Automatic promotion was still possible going into the last 5 games with 4 at home. Just 2 points meant the team limped into the playoffs.

A 1-1 home draw against Chesterfield was followed by a 2-1 defeat away. A 88th minute equiliser for St Neots was followed by a 90th minute winner although the team was 2nd best for both legs after most of the defence were suspended.

Same problems with poor home form and lack of goals.

In the League cup the team lost 2-1 away to Premiership West Brom in a one sided match.

Reached the 3rd Rd of the FA cup but faced L1 Northampton away in the midst of poor form. Lost the match 0-1.

In the JPT the team reached the final and faced L2 Crewe. Comfortably won 3-1 but only 10K turned up so i lost money.

Finances are still poor with the solidarity payment keeping the club afloat.

Defence was generally strong apart from 2 patches. Not sure how long Gueye will remain.

Midfield is where the strength of my team is. Bunjaku put in another solid season as did Bartkus.

Brokholm was wanted by clubs such as Barcelona and Celtic and has prem potential, he is Saravia's replacement at AM. Was injured a fair bit but Saraiva stepped in to do well but is now in real decline.

Got Adarabioyo on loan and he was my best player. Described as the next David Beckham he has only championship potential so is unlikely to go that far. Wendling also started to live up to his potential.

Up front Johnstone (154 apps, 63 goals) was let go, Morris had another good season but faded in the last month.

Season            League             Position       FA cup     FA Trophy/ JPT   League cup    Europe       Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2016/17        Conference North        3rd       3rd Qf Rd    3rd Qf Rd       N/A          N/A          None
2017/18        Conference North        10th      3rd Qf Rd    3rd Qf Rd       N/A          N/A          None
2018/19        Conference North        10th      3rd Qf Rd    1st Rd          N/A          N/A          None
2019/20        Conference North        2nd       1st Rd       3rd Rd          N/A          N/A          Promoted
2020/21        Conference National     7th       4th Qf Rd    2nd Rd          N/A          N/A          None
2021/22        Conference National     4th       1st Rd       1st Rd          N/A          N/A          Promoted
2022/23        League 2                12th      1st Rd       1st Rd          1st Rd       N/A          None
2023/24        League 2                15th      2nd Rd       Qtr-Final       2nd Rd       N/A          None
2024/25        League 2                7th       2nd Rd       2nd Rd          1st Rd       N/A          Promoted
2025/26        League 1                11th      3rd Rd       Qtr-Final       1st Rd       N/A          None
2026/27        League 1                6th       3rd Rd       Winners         2nd Rd       N/A          JPT Winners

Salford let all their squad go and just played the remaining 5 first teamers, youths and a few loans. They won the first league game but that proved a highlight :lol:

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2023/2024 - End of Season Review - Sky Bet Championship

Well that was unexpected. Although my tactic makes heavy advantage of the broken fullback defending on the game, I did not expect us to do quite so well just a year into the Championship. My LM/RM were very clutch and put up some superb numbers, so we weren't heavily hindered by not having a very good striker (Note to self: Spend most of next year's budget to get a good striker in).

Although we were not very consistent, we could turn up and beat anyone on our day. Teams hated playing against us, we scored a lot of goals, kept an average of over 55% possession and were complete ***** when defending. We made 826 fouls in the league (2nd highest was 572) and received 133 yellow cards (2nd highest was 88) :D Paid nearly £40k just in fines to the league for not controlling our players.

We were a team that could really turn it on by flipping the switch, as evidenced by this crazy sequence of games

In the end, finished 6th and qualified for the playoffs on GD. Not bad for a team predicted to finish dead last.

Awaiting us in the playoffs were Brighton. The first leg at home was going great and we were leading 3-1 at one point but some daft defending allowed them to make it 3-3. We were unfortunately no match in the return leg and got hammered 3-0. I have a chance to get my revenge next year as Cardiff beat Brighton on penalties to seal the last promotion spot.

Competitions Overview - Fifth round of the FA Cup! Beat Birmingham and Aston Villa to get there, Midlands must absolutely hate me.

Transfers - Feat. our record signing at £600k.

Finances - Championship prize money, come to papa.

Although my board are doing their best to financially restrict us: After a 9 year stadium sponsorship for £1.2k a year finally finished, the board got a new 8 year sponsorship deal worth.... £275 a year. :rolleyes:That's about £5 a week. I know we have only a 5000 seater stadium (with only 2000 seated) but that sponsorship deal is absolutely ridiculous for a club in the Championship. And for 8 years at that!!

Filed a bug for this as well.

Key Players

Wayne Frith - Outstanding season for the newly signed RM, nearly breaking the 20 goal and 20 assist barrier. Scored an absolutely outrageous goal as well

[video=youtube;uYOP6Ct7Wlk]

Stefan Thompson - The other half of the amazing winger duopoly.

Michal Janda - Club record signing, looked amazing and was surprised he was interested to join. Signed him to a 4 year deal and there are already clubs trying to attract his attention (I'm looking at you Wolves). Hoping for an even better season from the lad.

Andre Dozzell - Signed as a potential replacement for Gary Gardner and he did fantastically in that CM position

Gareth Hammett - Assman says he is nowhere near good enough for this level but I have given him a new 2 year deal despite that because he's been my captain for 5 years and he still comes up with goals now and then

Youth Players

NA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Season     | League             | Position   | Cup Performance    | Achievements    |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2016/17    | Vanarama North     | 4th        | Awful              | Promotion!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2017/18    | Vanarama National  | 20th       | Awful              | Survival!       |          
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2018/19    | Vanarama National  | 5th        | Awful              | Promotion!      |  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2019/20    | League 2           | 20th       | FA Cup 3rd rnd     | Survival!       |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2020/21    | League 2           | 10th       | FA Trophy runnerup | Stability       |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2021/22    | League 2           | 1st        | Awful              | Champions!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2022/23    | League 1           | 2nd        | FA Cup 3rd rnd     | Promotion!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
| 2023/24    | Championship       | 6th        | FA Cup 5th rnd     |  Playoff Loss   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   



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Salford City - Vanarama National League - 2019/20 - 3rd (Promoted via Playoffs)

Season Review

A very good season, my aim was to challenge for playoffs this season but we went one better and stayed in the playoff places for the last 15 or so games of the season. We eventually ended up finishing 3rd and getting promoted.

League Table



Past Positions

Finances - Finances were steady once again, finishing high up the league certainly helped, the playoff semi-final saw our biggest gate takings ever (£50k).

FA Cup - We didn't win a single game in the FA Cup this year, knocked out in the 4th qualifying round.

FA Trophy - I wanted to challenge for this and we managed to do just that. We won the whole thing, delighted to get our first cup competition on the board. I was 3-0 up, Barrow somehow managed to pull it back to 3-3 until we scored the winner in extra time meaning we won 4-3 even though we got absolutely battered!

Squad - The squad is a decent one, I've found myself some decent strikers and the midfield seems to be quite strong now. I'm a little worried about the defence, especially at RB and LB but we will hopefully sort that in the summer. Some of the key players were:

Oliver Rathbone - Rathbone doesn't really get many goals or assists but this season he's been an absolute beast, so many key passes each game and a brilliant average rating. He averaged 7.82 in the league.

Joe Hardy - Hardy was having a fantastic season until he damaged his achilles tendon. He still managed to get an impressive haul with 20 goals and 10 assists in 33(1) games.

James Poole - He wasn't really in favour and I was considering releasing him until Hardy got injured, I had no choice but to start him and he didn't let me down at all with 24 goals in 36(7) games.

Transfers - Nothing special once again, all frees. Still, an improvement on the players that I already had at the club.

Career Overview

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 1000]

[TR]

[TD=align: center]Season[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Team[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Country[/TD]

[TD=align: center]League[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Position[/TD]

[TD=align: center]FA Cup[/TD]

[TD=align: center]League Cup[/TD]

[TD=align: center]FA Trophy[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Achievements[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: center]2016/17[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Salford City[/TD]

[TD=align: center]England[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Vanarama National League North[/TD]

[TD=align: center]8th[/TD]

[TD=align: center]3rd Qual Round[/TD]

[TD=align: center]N/A[/TD]

[TD=align: center]3rd Round[/TD]

[TD=align: center][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: center]2017/18[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Salford City[/TD]

[TD=align: center]England[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Vanarama National League North[/TD]

[TD=align: center]1st[/TD]

[TD=align: center]3rd Round[/TD]

[TD=align: center]N/A[/TD]

[TD=align: center]3rd Qual Round[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Promotion[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: center]2018/19[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Salford City[/TD]

[TD=align: center]England[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Vanarama National League[/TD]

[TD=align: center]12th[/TD]

[TD=align: center]1st Round[/TD]

[TD=align: center]N/A[/TD]

[TD=align: center]3rd Round[/TD]

[TD=align: center][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD=align: center]2019/20[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Salford City[/TD]

[TD=align: center]England[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Vanarama National League[/TD]

[TD=align: center]3rd (promoted via playoffs)[/TD]

[TD=align: center]4th Qual Round[/TD]

[TD=align: center]N/A[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Winners[/TD]

[TD=align: center]Promotion

FA Trophy winners[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Next Season



Survival

Turn professional/semi-professional

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Dulwich Hamlet - Vanarama National - Season 2017/18

League Table - First half the season was a struggle and I thought we were in for a tough time, but then after the Christmas period we clicked and put together a couple of nice runs to finish in a comfortable mid table position.

FA Trophy - Frustrating, beat Dover before losing to a mid table side from the league below.

FA Cup - A nice run to the 2nd round, beaten League One Plymouth away in round 1 before their league rivals Coventry outclassed us in the 2nd round.

Transfers - usual turn around, but we had a transfer fund this season and do so again for the next one - not sure I've had that at this level before

Squad - Needs some work if we're gonna kick on.

Finances - nice, making a profit at this level is usually hard to do so am happy with this.

Key Players

Kabongo Tshimanga - 31 goals in the league (we only scored 66) shows his worth, only player to get into double figures for goals

Kane Haysman - brought in during the season & had to wait for his chance, took it with both hands.

Laurent Davis-Wilson - not as good as last season but his role changed, he was like a non league Xavi at times by assisting the assister.

Alex Pike - doesn't look up to a great deal but we are a much poorer side when he doesn't play.

Nik Tzanev - big man in goal, was flying & got an international call up, next game dislocates his shoulder and misses the rest of the season, won't sign a new deal either. Gonna miss him.

Career Overview

Season         League                            Position       Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17        Vanarama National League South    1st           League winners and manager of the year
2017/18        Vanarama National                 13th

Next Season

Try and kick on.

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Darlington 1883 18/19 Season End of Year Summary - Vanarama National

A pretty miserable year in that we were never really in a relegation battle and had no hope of finishing even mid table. Combined with playing dull football consisting of a 4-5-1 counter with endless long balls over the top to Lofts in the hope he'd be onside once in a while. The team played well on occasion and hopefully this years necessary mediocrity can be surpassed next year with some signings.

Not very many acolades but Lofts did crush the offside leaderboard.

FA Cup: Beat Gainsborough and Lincoln on route to a disappointing 1-0 loss to AFC Wimbeldon in the 2nd round.

FA Trophy: Lost to North Ferriby from the VNN in the third round.

The midfield pair of Wiltshere and Tuohy are a little gung-ho at getting forward but should be decent at this level and a young core is being assembled with talents Ebanks and Dyche.

Finances: Bad this year, made a huge loss. The worst offenders in terms of wages will be sold next season and hopefully the new Stadium to be completed in the Summer will help. Our attendances are actually very good for this level. Hartlepool dropping into the division also gives a potential max capacity game.

Squad: A large squad this year and no one got unhappy with playing time. Managed to blood the new youth signings nicely with sub appearances (explaining Ebanks' pretty poor return, but to be fair we just weren't scoring at all). Andy Taylor dropped off this year and isn't likely to ever make the grade, which is disappointing. Our youth setup seems terrible.

Transfers: We lost Turnball as he wanted too much money to be a sentimental back up. He had however made it to Icon status; the fans and I are both sad to see him go. His direct replacements in Tuohy and Wiltshere on frees were outstanding for this level while Motley-Henry provided needed pace on the wings. The rest of the signings were average bar Steel on loan, a good right back who will never sign for us, and the young prospects from City Dyche and Ebanks.

Lofts won't sign a new contract and with a month left Wrexham made a £1000 offer with a 25% next sale clause in a bizzare scenario. His value had dropped to £500 so the fans were delighted with my "savvy transfer skills". We'll miss him and I hope he does well in L2. We also sold Kane Richards to them for £6000 after this, he's pretty garbage and on high wages for his ability. Sorry Wrexham!

Key Players:

Jack Tuohy: Was a step above in midfield and providide a decent return of 6 goals and 5 assists. Has league 2 potential and won our player of the season, goal of the season and signing of the season. Has a worrying injury prone warning in his report i'll need to keep an eye on.

Dylan Mottley-Henry : A bright spark in a dull season. Could take on anyone when he tried and my tactic next season will involve utilising the pace Dylan and my new signings have brought to the team.

Next Season

Sign some talent on decent wages and get promoted, preferably win the league. Make less of a loss or god forbid a profit.

Career Overview

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17   Vanarama Conference North    4th          Playoff - Loss   
2017/18 Vanarama Conference North      3rd	    Playoff - Win
2018/19 Vanarama National              20th        Survival!   

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Salford City



Salford City Unveil New Manager

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Salford City have announced the unveiling of their new manager, Jordan Swinburn. Jordan's most recent managerial role came in a short, unsuccessful stint with CE Europa, but is hoping to find his feet again in his native country. Furthermore, he no longer has to use a translator.

Club Information | Squad

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It's not a double post, I'm also taking over Salford City as my entry to the challenge. :)

What can I say, I'm American, and I honestly know more about their club than most of the other choices. So away we go.

https://americanwerewolffootball.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/startofchallenge1.png <-- Jason Jackson on 24 Jun 2016.

Thanks very much and good luck to all of the other challengers this year. I will be blogging at http://americanwerewolffootball.wordpress.com as well as posting my seasonal updates in thread!

I'm not doing it as a strict youth challenge, but very heavy emphasis, as you can see from my attributes. :)

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Finally did it in the year 2036. Won the CL the year before but not the league. This season, we finally completed the challenge.

Club history below.

5l0urJ1.jpg

Many thanks to dafuge for his yearly challenge. Always a pleasure!

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Dulwich Hamlet - Vanarama National - Season 2018/19

League Table - huge step back from last season, the formation that served us so well had to be changed as we shipped goals and didn't score them, we never spent more then a game or 2 in the relegation zone but it was only in the last few weeks that we pulled away.

FA Trophy - Bit rubbish from us as we lost, again, to a side in the league below us.

FA Cup - League one Wycombe were too good for us in the 1st round

Transfers - high turnover, lot's of crap out, not much better in sadly

Squad - need to sort out my back line

Finances - still pretty good.

Key Players

Kane Haysman - his broken leg affected us as he was playing well before.

Jake Taylor - injuries and the formation change limited his playing time, did well when played though.

Ravin Shamsi - 9 goals and 12 assists from the right wing has hopefully solved a problem position

Kerian Higgs - started the season as back but took his chance and ended as top scorer with 21 goals in 42 starts.

Alex Pike - not as good as last year but we're still much worse off when he doesn't play.

Career Overview

Season         League                            Position       Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17        Vanarama National League South    1st           League winners and manager of the year
2017/18        Vanarama National                 13th
2018/19        Vanarama National                 19th

Next Season

Tighten up at the back, look to keep away from relegation battle.

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I am in! Farnborough F.C. onwards and upwards!

I will have to use the in game editor to change the kit. I cant stand to watch it. Is there anyway to close the in game editor after I am finished editing? I never use it anyways. Just for editing cosmetics. If there is a mismatch between skin color in 3D match and profile picture etc. Hope this is ok?

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Dulwich Hamlet - Vanarama National - Season 2019/20

League Table - awful season, was so glad when it was over. We started off OK with 4 wins in our opening 6 games then we crashed, injuries all over the face and the fact we couldn't stop teams scoring. Only 3 teams lost more games then us, no one conceded more goals then us, but n the flip side only 6 teams scored more then us - we gave value for money that's for sure!

FA Trophy - lost to a team from the league below. Again.

FA Cup - Made it to the 2nd round but lost to Braintree - a team we had beaten 5-0 a few weeks before.

Squad - Need a clear out.

Transfers - usual high turnover.

Finances - not great but we do have a new chairman (some may recognise the name)

Key Players

Kieran Higgs - top scorer again with 19 goals

Josh Dasilva - Back up/partner to Higgs ended with 14 goals

Ravin Shamsi - another good season.

Ibrahim Laurent - On loan French wide man, created more goals then anyone else.

Kenneth Goodwin - was a solid DM when fit - wasn't fit often enough though.

Career Overview

Season         League                            Position       Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17        Vanarama National League South    1st           League winners and manager of the year
2017/18        Vanarama National                 13th
2018/19        Vanarama National                 19th
2019/20        Vanarama National                 16th

Next Season

Be better.

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Darlington 1883 19/20 Season End of Year Summary - Vanarama National

A season of change as we moved in the completed Darlington 1883 Stadium after two seasons construction. A mighty 3000 capacity with 3000 room for expansion; if promotions keep coming it will also prove a mighty waste of money.

We started off incredibly roughly with an inability to find the net. A run of 1-0 losses and 1-1 draws worried me we were in for a torrid season again. However a switch to a 4-3-3 utilizing Motley-Henry's and Bingham's pace saw us go on a incredible run from November through to January with just one loss. We couldn't concede and were crushing 3-0 almost every game. A steady rise in the league saw us move to top in January and though the form dipped at the end of the season, meaning no guaranteed win til the last day at Darlington Stadium, we weren't delodged. Champions!

Some key performers were Ebanks, Motley-Henry and new signing Paulinho. Signed on a coach's recommendation after Tuohy tore his groin muscle early in the season, Paulinho lit up the National and won Darlington Player of the Season in a landslide. Over 45 games he averaged 7.95 and the fact he didn't win outright player of the season is a travesty. He and the squads younger members will be making the step up next season, hopefully it isn't too challenging.

FA Cup: The kids (plus a late minute super sub Ebanks goal) beat Ashton Utd 5-4 in a thriller before we shut out Port Vale in the 1st round 1-0. We were so close to a potential 3rd round dream tie but lost to Colchester in heartbreaking fashion, 1-1 and losing on penalties.

FA Trophy: Beat Bradford PA before losing to Staines, annoyed as I wanted to have a go at this competiton before promotion.

Finances: Prize money helped a lot as did increased attendances. The fanbase for Darlington is pretty large and I hope to max out the existing stadium at some points in L2. The board has also started a 700 standing expansion to comply with league regulations.

Squad: Good performances all round this year. As per usual a large quanity of goals from all quarters, as I prefer to play, with the striker performing a largely supporting role. Ebanks isn't a great support striker in a one striker system, but balanced it out by finishing quite well.

Transfers: Lofts and Richards went as described in the last post while Howell, Wakefield and other dead weight left after their wage rises went too high for their ability.

A bunch of youngsters were again signed and performed reasonably well over the year. We've become something of a Man City reserve XI over the past year. Signing of the season was by far Paulinho on a free to replace an injured Tuohy. Holloway was a Christmas signing from a lower league team who signed him from another lower league team. Has chamionship potential and fufils the support striker role pretty well with good physicality. Can't finish unfortunately.

I will probably be letting Tuohy go in the Summer as his wages are pretty high and he was injured for practically the whole season with a torn groin and relentless niggles on his return.

With promotion we can now scout all of the UK, so I expect a lot of Irish players to be making the trip over to Darlington Stadium.

Key Players:

Paulinho: What a season. An average rating of 7.92 and 16 POM's over 45 league games is ridiculous. He didn't assist much considering his rating but all of our good play went through him. A masterclass season and is already an icon. I cannot believe that he didn't win the league's player of the season, that award going to a regen free kick specialist. Will be trying to tie him down to a long, full time contract when we turn professional as he is rated as having massive potential.

Kyran Wiltshere: Was pretty excellent in midfield as Paulinho's partner. Has good physicals for a midfielder and despite being rated as only average was the vital engine of the team. Will probably need to be replaced over the next two seasons but I may give him a chance in L2.

Rod Ebanks: A Man City youth reject who arrived last season and put in some average performances in his brief chances. The season started with him missing some clear chances but come Christmas he picked up a knack for scoring the vital goal in our close games. Performed pretty well in supporting our build up despite not having the stats for it. He will unfortunately be a casualty in me trying to find a perfect fit for that role, but will be kept around for when we need a goal.

Next Season

Try not to embarrass ourselves and limit the damage turning professional will have on the finances.

Career Overview

I've completed two badges now and my stats have improved a bit. I've also now caught up the updates to where I am in game so can hopefully keep up with stuff like this a bit better.

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17   Vanarama Conference North    4th          Playoff - Loss   
2017/18 Vanarama Conference North      3rd	    Playoff - Win
2018/19 Vanarama National              20th         Survival!   
2019/20 Vanarama National              1st!!        Champions

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Congrats. :) Did they field a weakened team? All my cup ties against larger teams, no matter the round, have been full strength crushings. Though you're in the Championship so the disparity is a little lower.

Slightly weakened from what I could see based on their previous lineups.

Lost to Aston Villa in the next round :( /o\

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I am in! Farnborough F.C. onwards and upwards!

I will go for Barwell instead. The lower leagues equivalent to Norwich City. A low reputation club indeed. A real challenge. Ist there anyway you guys to swap kits with Norwich? How could I do that? Would be great to have both onscreen and 3Dkits for immersion into the club. Very similar color set up and the both have "The Canaries" as nick name.

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2024/2025 - End of Season Review - Sky Bet Championship

Say hello to the new champions of the Championship! Had a quiet start to the season because of a few injuries. I typically have a very small squad (maybe 18-20 players only) along with a couple of loanees who can cover multiple positions. Cover in the ST and RM spots was minimal which affected us at the start. After the main striker returned, we hit form and went on a record breaking 20 game unbeaten streak from October which put us in contention.

Norwich were leading the table for most of the year but stumbled right at the end in the last 2 GWs. 3 teams (Norwich, QPR and us) went into the final game tied on points but their game was against each other which turned out to a 0-0 draw whilst we convincingly won at relegated Ipswich. Norwich and QPR will be joining us in the Premier League next season however.

Somewhere in the middle of the season, I was also elevated to the status of a legend at the club :cool: :cool: :cool:

We also had a successful board takeover by some random dude which injected about 4m into the club this year. Also gave us a 400k wage budget and 19.5m transfer budget for next season (although our finances aren't particularly good)

Now that we're in the Premier League, every player now wants a new contract /o\

Competitions Overview - Finally got something interesting to write about here. Although we didn't reach the final few stages, we beat both Manchester United (in the Capital One Cup) and Chelsea (in the FA Cup) this season.

Transfers - Broke my transfer record twice!

Finances - For some reason, we never got the end of season tv money :( Oh well.

Key Players

Mohamed Bouguelmouna - Signed as a backup LM but ended up first choice very soon. Although he's not highly rated by the coaching staff, he was in brilliant form almost throughout the year to end up with 10+ goals and assists

Tamas Korhut - Big money striker signing. Gets injured a lot (6 injuries in the year iirc) but always scored goals when he played (had 10 goals in a 5 game stretch in between). Ended up as top scorer.

Kevin Greenwood - Free transfer from Chelsea and was the second top scorer. Originally signed for the AMC spot but played a lot as the ST whenever Korhut was injured.

Charly Musonda - Wanted to keep the Chelsea RL youth connection going after letting Kasey Palmer go, so signed Musonda and he was even better. Fantastic little player.

Bruno Miguel Gens Luis - CBs are very exposed in my tactic so to end up with a 7.2+ avg rating is quite good, helped by scoring a few key goals. Almost my record incoming transfer.

Youth Players

NA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Season     | League             | Position   | Cup Performance    | Achievements    |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2016/17    | Vanarama North     | 4th        | Awful              | Promotion!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2017/18    | Vanarama National  | 20th       | Awful              | Survival!       |          
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2018/19    | Vanarama National  | 5th        | Awful              | Promotion!      |  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2019/20    | League 2           | 20th       | FA Cup 3rd rnd     | Survival!       |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2020/21    | League 2           | 10th       | FA Trophy runnerup | Stability       |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2021/22    | League 2           | 1st        | Awful              | Champions!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2022/23    | League 1           | 2nd        | FA Cup 3rd rnd     | Promotion!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
| 2023/24    | Championship       | 6th        | FA Cup 5th rnd     |  Playoff Loss   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
| 2024/25    | Championship       | 1st        | Causing Upsets!    | Champions!      |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   


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Season 5 (S2 in the Vanarama National League) was a bit of an improvement over the previous season. Never threatened promotion or playoffs, but never threatened with relegation etiher. We stayed solid mid-table all season, ending up 11th after a strong finish (7 unbeaten, 15 points from those final 7 matches). It could have been much better, but the team had a bit of a lapse starting early December (a run of 8 w/o a win from 1 December to 2 January). Still, it was a satisfying 2nd season, and has hopefully set me up for a playoff run or better next season.

Offensively, last seasons' top goal scorer for the team, Liam Sayers, is still scoring, but this year he had to share the top goal-scoring spot with Simon Buckley (25 goals each). The Duo, with 45 league goals between them, were the top league goal-scoring duo in the league this season, and put the team in a solid 4th place for team goal-scoring as well. Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson had a bit of a fall-off, playing only 18(8) matches, but still managed 7 goals of his own.

It is in the defense that the team is still lacking, as we finished 18th in goals conceded (69). We seem to be solid in the fullback position, but the parade of DCs I had to choose from couldn't seem to stem the flow of goals conceded. At 34 years old, my top goalkeeper Russel is likely to have seen his last days with the team as well. I did pick up a young DM prospect early in the season, Warren Brothers, who I tried to use to replace Garcia (who took his "ambition" down to King's Lynn). After a dozen average starts, making no real mistakes but not really excelling, I picked up another DM who would end up starting most of the season. Clovis Kamdjo will hold the position and hopefully tutor young Brothers until the youngster can become the starter I hope him to be.

PROMOTION/PLAYOFFS

Quite a ways off the mark here at 11th...but only 5 points from the playoff spots in the end.

Cup Competitions

The cups were pretty much the same as last year....early FAC wins over Doncaster and Hyde saw us to the 2nd round again, where Simon Buckley managed our only goal in a 3-1 loss vs L1 Preston. The FAT saw us knocked out in our first round matchup...a 2-0 loss vs Dag & Red in a very lackluster performance.

Additional Details

Team of the Season

Best XI Inductees -- Three players were considered to be good enough for the overall best XI: Jack Clarke (MC), Joe Anderson (DL), and Simon Buckley (ST) were the three new players inducted to the Historical Best XI

Fans Player of the Season: Dowling once again ran away with the award, with 51% of fans voting for him. New fullback, and record-holder for assists in a season, Turner came in second, with midfielder Malcom Melvin making a return to the FPoY voting at 3rd place.

Signing of the Season: Lewis Turner(DR) (free)

Young Player of the Season: George Dowling (MC)

Other awards:

Top Academy Graduate

S1: Fullback Dave Clarke -- Potential to be useful in the lower leagues...perhaps he'll backup current starting fullback Hatch next season

S2: Matthew Rogers (AMC) -- looks to be a decent playmaking option already...I may have to adopt a tactic that uses an AMC and see if he can develop.

S3: Michael Mitchell (MC) -- good mental and okay physical stats to start -- if he develops he might be useful in the VN division. Time will tell.

S4: Michael Davies (AM(RLC)) -- not a position I'm currently using, but a 4-5 star potential youngster with great determination/teamwork.

S5: Royston Thomas (AM(R,L,C) -- I'm getting a lot of AM top graduates....I really need to come up with a tactic to use these guys!

[b][i]Team, Individual, and league records [/i][/b]
A host of records were set or broken this year: (* denotes ongoing record-bold indicates record broke current season)
[b][i]Sutton Coldfield-- Team[/i][/b]
[b]Highest League Position --[/b] [b]7th[/b] [b]in Vanarama National (2020/21[/b])
Highest Attendance -- 1561 (vs Altrincham, VNN playoff semi final, 11 May 2019) (previous record: 802  vs FC United, FAC2QR, 27 Sept 2017)
Highest Gate Receipts -- £23.66k (vs Altrincham, VNN Playoff semi final, 11 May 2019) (previous record: £13.67K vs FC United, FAC2QR, 27 Sept 2017)
[b]Average Attendance -- 426 (2020/21)[/b] (previous high: 364--2019/20 )
Biggest Win -- 5-2 (vs FC United, 31 Dec 2016)
Biggest Defeat 5-2 (vs Tranmere (VNL) 25 Feb 2020) (previous biggest defeat:  4-2 (vs Chester, 1 Dec 2018)
Highest Scoring Game -- 4-3 (vs North Ferriby, 20 Aug 2016)
Most Games won in a Row -- 5 (20 Apr - 8 May 2019) (previous high -- 4:  28 Oct - 25 Nov 2017)
Most Games without Losing -- 13 (23 Feb - 8 May 2019) (Previous high--8:  28 Oct - 23 Dec 2017 )
[b]Most Games without Winning -- 8, (1 Dec 2020 - 2 Jan 2021)  [/b](Previous high: 7 (23 Aug - 20 Sept 2016)
Most games without conceding -- 7 (1 Jan - 1 Feb 2020) (Previous high -- 4:  11-25 Sept 2018 )
[b][i]Sutton Coldfield -- Individual[/i][/b]
Top Goal scorer -- Liam Sayers --36 (2018/19) (previous record: Liam Sayers -- 21 (2017/18))
Top League Goal scorer -- Liam Sayers -- 29 (2018/19) (previous record: Liam Sayers -- 19 (2017/18)
[b]Most Goals in a match -- Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson  -- 4 (10 Sept 2019 v AFC Telford)[/b] (Previous record: Aaron Knight -- 3 (20 Aug 2016 v North Ferriby)
[b]Most Assists -- Lewis Turner -- 23 (2020/21)[/b] (previous record: Jamie Hatch -- 17 (2018/19) )
[b]Highest AvR --Lewis Turner -- 7.42 (41 app) (2020/21)[/b] (previous record: Ben Drenna -- 7.31 (35 app) 2018/19)
Most Player of Match awards -- Liam Sayers -- 11 (2018/19) (previous record: Liam Sayers -- 7 (2017/18)
[b]Most League goals for club -- Liam Sayers -- 94* [/b]Previous Record Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson (72)
[b]Most League Appearances for club -- Nathan Ben Askins (227*) [/b]Previous Record Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson (138)
Youngest player -- Jack Cooper (Striker), 16y227d (previous record: Dave Clarke (D(RLC)), 16y264d )
Oldest player -- Phil Trainer (DM), 35y272d (previous record: )
Youngest Goalscorer -- Dave Clarke (D(RLC)), 16y271d (previous record: Liam Sayers (Striker) 18y296d)
Oldest Goalscorer -- Anthony McNamee (AML), 32y213d (previous record: )
Fastest Goal -- Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson: 35s  (previous record: Nathan Ricketts-Hopkinson (38s)

Promoted from the Regional Premier Division Teams:

Gloucester, Chorley, Billericay, Whitehawk, St. Neots, Skelmersdale

League Winners (relegated)

EPL Arsenal (Southampton, Norwich, Cardiff)

Championship Sheffield Wednsday (Sheffield Utd, Peterborough, Oldham)

League One Luton (Rochdale, Bury, Bradford City, Leyton Orient)

League Two Wrexham (Mansfieldd, Bolton)

Vanarama National Lg Tranmere (Hemel Hempstead, Lincoln, Margate, Bromley)

Vanarama North Harrogate (Kidderminster, Bradford PA, Nuneaton)

Vanarama South Dartford (Lewes, Sutton Utd, Weston-super-Mare)

Cup Winners

English FA Cup Liverpool (v Norwhich)

Capital One Cup Newcastle (vs Aston Villa)

Jonhstone's Paint Trophy Colchester (vs Scunthorpe)

English FA Trophy Cheltenham (vs AFC Telford)

Euro Qualifcation

Champions League Group Stage: Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd

Champions League best placed playoff: Man City

Euro Cup Group Stage: Liverpool, Newcastle

Euro Cup Playoff: Watford

Euro Cup 3rd QR:

Euro Cup 1st QR:

Continental Achievements

Arsenal Won European Super Cup (against Napoli)

Arsenal Eliminated from Club World Championship (by Corinthiansl)

Southampton Eliminated from Euro Cup First Knockout Round (by A.C. Milan)

Chelsea Eliminated from Champions League First Knockout round (by Juventus)

Man Utd Eliminated from Euro Cup Second Knockout Round (By Swansea)

Arsenal Eliminated from Champions League Quarter Final (by Tottenham)

Man City Eliminated from Champions League quarter-final (by Leverkusen)

Everton Eliminated from Euro Cup quarter-final (by Roma)

Swansea Eliminated from Euro Cup quarter Final (by Dortmund)

Tottenham Eliminated from Champions League Final (vs Leverkusen)

Extra detail: none

What's Next?

More defense! Already signed a DC that I hope will help shore things up in the back, I'll be looking for one or two more with the potential to bottle things up in the back. I'll likely be looking for a new goalkeeper as well...the youngster I brought in to eventually replace Russel hasn't developed to my liking...and while he seems to be matching Russel's stats in shot-stopping...I need a bit more. I've a couple 4 and 5 stars with contracts expiring that I'm keeping my eyes on. Aiming for a minimum of a playoff spot this season!

Career Overview

Season             Team             League          Pos(Predicted)            Achievements
2016/17    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama North        16(19)           Survived!        
2017/18    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama North        10(20)           Solid-mid table finish
2018/19    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama North         2(20)           Promotion via Playoffs!, VNN Overachiever
2019/20    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama National     15(24)           VN Overachievers
2020/21    Sutton Coldfield    Vanarama National     11(24)           VN Overachievers

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Dulwich Hamlet - Vanarama National - Season 2020/21

League Table - A change in tactics saw us shoot up the league, ending the season with enough points to have won the league in every other season, but an injury crisis where I lost all 4 of my strikers to injury costs us in the run in and so it was was the playoffs where we faced Bolton. A comfortable away win in the first leg put us in a good position. An early red card in the second leg made that game tougher then it should have been but we made it to the final where we would face Grimsby, a side side we had never beat. A goal in the 119th minute for Grimbsy saw the match end 2-2 and promotion would be decided by penalties. They scored 4 of their 5 but we scored all of ours to seal promotion to the football league!

FA Cup - what a run we had here, beat sides from leagues one and two along the way before a quarter final match against Premiership side West Ham, with 15 mins to go we were at 1-1 but their class came through after a dodgy penalty and 2 late goals saw us lose 4-1.

FA Trophy - in the mix of our FA Cup and league run we were outclassed, again, by a team from the league below.

Squad - Used loan signings to make the squad stronger.

Transfers - Not the usual massive turnover and tried to ensure quality over quantity, with some help from the loan market.

Finances - very, very healthy after our cup run with 3 or 4 stadium sell outs.

Key Players

George Marsh - Ours and the league's player of the season.

Ross Holland - Marsh's partner, was a clutch player, of his 5 league goals this season 4 of them were in the 88th minute or later to win us a game.

Ravin Shamsi - excellent from the right wing again with 19 goals and 13 assists.

Scott Waldren - Right back on loan from Ipswich played every minute of every game.

Emka Akinade - Pacey left winger on loan from Arsenal

Dan Watson - Top scored with 21 goals and the only striker to perform consistently over the season.

Career Overview

Season         League                            Position       Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17        Vanarama National League South    1st           League winners and manager of the year
2017/18        Vanarama National                 13th
2018/19        Vanarama National                 19th
2019/20        Vanarama National                 16th
2020/21        Vanarama National                 2nd           Playoff winners and manager of the year

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Darlington 1883 20/21 Season End of Year Summary - League Two

A pleasant suprise of a season. It began with shaky away form (we didn't win for 10 away games) yet a sterling home record. I was expecting this pattern to level out for the worse, with the home form getting chipped away as we slipped into the bottom table. Instead we actually started to win away and play decent football, again a 4-3-3 based on wing play. We again ended up in the playoffs, a fantastic achievement for a team new to league football and a fair notch down in quality.

Our record against the better teams was terrible again so I anticipated a large defeat in the semi's against Cambridge. Instead Kyran Wiltshere scored two goals in ten minutes, having scored three others all season, to put the first leg away before it began. The second leg saw Cambridge take a 2-1 lead in the second half, with us being pressed hard. Yet the ball broke from a corner and Wiltshere obviously stroked it home from the edge of the box. Good time to find some scoring boots.

On came the final, with it a massive finance boost and heavy expectations. Shrewsbury went ahead and we equalised, twice. Into extra time and who does the ball fall to at a corner for a scrappy header. Wiltshere!! Doubled his goal tally for the season in the playoffs and single handedly wins us promotion. Earned a place in the clubs favoured personnel, if I could bump him higher I would.

FA Cup: Made it to the 3rd round for the first time, beating Crewe and Doncaster before losing to Sheffield Utd in a close game. Still no big money tie.

Finances: Prize and Wembley money obviously helped out massively here. The stadium is basically filled before the season begins so every month is a massive loss. The board are converting standing space into seats so capacity is going to be reduced for next season. Wish they hadn't built a stadium so soon.

Our youth facilities and junior coaching were also improved after the windfall came in.

Squad: Certain players played most of our games, notably Jimmy Wedge who set a standard for robustness on the left wing. Keeping the core fit and playing well was crucial and I dread a season with an actual injury crisis.

Transfers: I let Tuohy go as his stats had declined and I couldn't trust his injury record. Paulinho and Wiltshere stepped up in midfield along with new signing Bangoura who was amazing when fit. Otherwise the usual mixture of freebies coming largely from premiership sides. Nelson added to our City contingent with Championship potential while Wedge put in a stunning season after being released by Liverpool.

I've started picking up Irish talent as the market is fairly unchallenged. Unfortunately missed out on a free transfer who was later sold to West Ham for £2 million.

Key Players:

Paulinho: Another strong season from our main creative spark. Doesn't rack up the numbers but has been incredibly consistent despite the step up in league. Here's hoping he can do it again, hopefully turning his icon status into legend.

Jimmy Wedge: A bit of a coup seeing as he had L1 ability. Tore up the left wing with 18 goals and 10 assists, just pipped to top scorer by Nelson. Has pace and dribbling ability, but poor mentality. Will likely get found out a bit more in L1 but the confidence of this successful season might carry on.

Danny Nelson: A Man City youth reject signed largely due to Ebanks being inconsistent and Holloway still not being ready to lead the line. Put in a great debut season despite some injuries and got top scorer with 19 goals. Another player who should step up well.

Niall Steel: On loan from Rotherham for the third season in a row Steel has been at the club for it's best years. He put in the best season so far and won player of the season for his solid defensive work and occasional forays up field. Somehow this 7.55 avg season saw him bumped from favoured to club legend, but fair enough to the lad. Sadly he isn't L1 quality and Rotherham no longer want to loan him out. Hopefully his career takes off there.

Next Season

Consolidate as I'm pretty sure, bar a few players, the squad isn't good enough to compete. The defense needs a complete overhaul as it was this years biggest weakness.

Other Notes

Poor Morecambe, that's a pretty horrendous record.

Season    League                       Position    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17   Vanarama Conference North    4th          Playoff - Loss   
2017/18 Vanarama Conference North      3rd	    Playoff - Win
2018/19 Vanarama National              20th         Survival!   
2019/20 Vanarama National              1st!!        Champions
2020/21 League 2                       6th        Playoff Winners

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Dulwich Hamlet - Sky Bet League Two - Season 2021/22

League Table - after losing our first game we then went 11 games unbeaten (9 wins) and from that moment we were never out of the top 3, our defence kinda fell apart in the run which probably cost us the title but 2nd place in our first ever season in the football league was pretty good.

JPT - lost in the first round.

League Cup - lost in the first round.

FA Cup - Guess what? Yep, lost in the first round.

Transfers - a decent turnover, but will probably be a high one this summer now we're going to be in league 1

Squad - some very good players but we really to so strengthen at the back.

Finances - looking healthy but we're selling out our 2250 stadium but the council just blocked an upgrade so we might take a hit here next season.

Key Players

Josh Dasilva - was meant to be back up this year but got his chance early on and ended up with 18 goals.

Mick Stowell - left winger on loan from Bristol City and ended as our top scorer with 24 goals.

Andy Jones - Northern Irish U21 international signed on a free, if he can stop picking up little injuries he could really kick on.

Jose Manuel - Right Back signed as cover, got his chance and never looked back.

Luke Whalley - Right winger that I had been tracking for a couple of seasons, picked up on a free from Birmingham

Career Overview

Season         League                            Position       Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17        Vanarama National League South    1st           League winners and manager of the year
2017/18        Vanarama National                 13th
2018/19        Vanarama National                 19th
2019/20        Vanarama National                 16th
2020/21        Vanarama National                 2nd           Playoff winners and manager of the year
2021/22        Sky Bet League Two                2nd           Promotion

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I've just downloaded FM 2016 after seeing my mate play it a few nights ago. I'm a veteran of the series since the beginning, but gaven't really played since 2011 version. And I've forgotten my username and passwords to this forum. Now I'm ready to welcome back the addiction and I'm gonna learn this game the hard way by doing this challenge. I completeted this with 2010 version, if I recall correctly.

Holidaying now, can't wait to get started.

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SuperDan's Dulwich Hamlet



Season One 2016/17 - Hamlet-To be or not to be?

7nnf46I.png

Definitely not to be. Despite a strong start to the season, where we were second at one point, we fell apart and ended up finishing 17th. Now for me, your relationship with your Football Manager side is like your relationship with a special lady (or man). I think I speak for everyone when I say it's important to get invested in a team on Football Manager to have a long term save with them - otherwise they get boring real quick. I definitely have that relationship with Hamlet already - there's a particular charm about them and, as a result, The Pink & Blues now have a new follower on Twitter and someone looking out for their scores on the weekend. Next step is acquiring a shirt.

Here's the league table in which the more unconventional Vanarama South sides reigned. Margate had a strong season thanks to their strikers. Maidenhead got to the playoff final, before losing to Ebbsfleet, who, by all accounts, tend to go on to be a strong side. I do feel that you will only succeed in the lower leagues if you have a huge goalscorer - this was the case for the teams at the top of the league. Ebbsfleet had Danny Haynes (no idea how - he's still relatively young as well) who scored more than 20 goals.

I want my challenge to be about stability. When I took over, the Hamlet were teetering around the £0 mark and the last thing I wanted was for them to go into debt. I had an OK cup run, getting to the first round of the FA Cup - but more on that further down the post. I had a wage budget of £6,750, but I kept way below that - keeping it at around £5,000 a week.

I retained most of the players from the start - assigning them to new one year contracts at a lower wage and brought in players for no more than £325 per week. The only players I brought in were for free transfers or no cost loans.

With regular attendances of more than 550, a lower wage spend and a relatively good cup run, my finances went up to £158k at the end of the season. This has brought my transfer budget up from £0 to £17k and my wage budget up to £6k for next season.

Although I set up for promotion (I think it's always best to aim for the best possible outcome) - I quickly understood I didn't have the quality in the squad nor the size to get promoted. At first instance, even if we did go up - we wouldn't have a budget or quality to sustain ourselves in the Vanarama National and it would be a disaster.

Cups

My indication for this was in the cup. In the FA Cup, we did well against lower or equal teams but struggled against Dover in the league above. This was also show in the FA Trophy - where we lost to Woking. Both sides are good indicators of how you'd fare in the league above and I understood we weren't ready.

Key players

Elvis Menayese - This little gem, formerly of Cardiff City, made the difference to my season. Still relatively young and a name that made me change his name to Elvis Mayonnaise - he injected goals into my team. Oft on a late night FM session would I wake my girlfriend with a 'GET IN MAYONNAISE' - he made game winning goals. I can assure you Mayonnaise is here for next season.

Jamie Spencer - My third signing and top scorer for this season. We missed him when he was out with injury. Hopefully we'll keep him fit next season as he goes well with Mayonnaise.

Aidan Blanchard - I acquired Aidan for the season and he was a great playmaker, scored a few scorchers for us this season too.

Morgan Bruce-De-Rouche - This loanee from Stevenage was a rock in midfield for me this season and scored a few goals in the process too.

Aims

I'm going to try for playoffs next season. My players seem to think fighting relegation is still the aim, but I'm going to strengthen areas where I can. I've got a good young keeper, a good young CB, a couple of good midfielders and I need one more striker.

Season   League            Position    Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17  Vanarama South      17th   

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Dorchester Town - 2019/20 Season Report - Skybet League Two

League (5th, won in playoffs)

I expected to struggle but a great start to the season gave us enough points to secure a playoff berth. After sneaking past Stevenage thanks to a fluke goal, we held Tranmere to a 0-0 draw before taking the game on penalties. A good first Wembley appearance. :)

Overall, we were the best defence in the league, but our attack was incredibly poor at times - I don't think I've ever had so many 0-0 draws in a season!

Cups

In the League Cup, we lost 4-0 to League One Luton. We beat Newport in the Paint Pot, but crashed out in the second round to League One high fliers Plymouth. We did a little better in the FA Cup, reaching the third round and getting a big tie against Manchester City; we were thrashed, but the money received went a long way to securing our finances.

Key Players

Josimar Quintero

Our main creative force, Quintero was exactly what we needed in a team that otherwise lacked much in the way of chance creation.

David Donnelly

A January signing who gave us a much needed improvement in the centre of the park.

John Rooney

Just like his big brother, John was brilliant for us when in the mood, but often short of the mark. Scored some excellent 30 yarders throughout the season.

Dimitar Mitov

This Bulgarian keeper 'Mitov' helped our promotion - a very solid shot stopper for League Two level. Saved two penalties in the shootout against Tranmere.

Transfers | Season Best XI | Overall Best XI

Season  Division  Position Avg. Attendance  Leaderboard Points (Pos) Notes
16-17   VNS        2nd       902               7,101 (133,749th)     Promoted via playoffs
17-18   VNL        5th        1,009             38,997 (227,347th)
18-19   VNL        1st         1,066            621,208 (146,517th) Promoted as Champions
19-20   Lg2         5th        1,774            666,905 (216,035th) Promoted via playoffs

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